Thursday, December 8, 2011 Don Gagliardo

Theme: Oh, Really? - Five phrases starting with an 'O' homonym.

17A. Evian, in Evian : EAU MINERALE. French mineral water.

23A. Thankfully credit : OWE EVERY THING TO ...

35A. One way to serve beef : AU JUS. French for "with [its own] juice".

50A. Sweet treat with an exclamation point in its name : OH HENRY! CANDY BAR. There is no definitive explanation as to the exact origin of the name.

56A. Classic noel : "O TANNENBAUM". German for "O Christmas Tree", Classic clip.(1:57)

Argyle again. Don "Hard G" doing a solo today. Two grid spanners, a season song; a trifle easy for a Thursday but who's complaining. Well, maybe HeartRx because she missed out blogging it but that's what you get if you go traipsing off to Europe.

Across:

1. Bombed : STANK

6. Hindu title : SWAMI

11. Easy letters? : ABC

14. Board : HOP ON

15. Bar mixer : TONIC

16. Mme., across the Pyrenees : SRA.

19. One who can't pass the bar? : SOT

20. Marked for removal : DELED

21. House coat : PAINT

28. Org. concerned with the No Child Left Behind Act : NEA. This time it is the National Education Association (NEA) and not the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), I think.

29. Ambulance arrival sites, briefly : ERs

30. London taxi : HACKNEY. Boston police department has a Hackney Carriage Unit, analogous to taxicab regulators in other cities, that issues Hackney Carriage medallions to its taxi operators.

31. She played Julia in "Julie & Julia" : MERYL. Streep

33. Bohemian dance : POLKA. Not what I'm familiar with.

34. Novelist Ferber : EDNA

37. SASE enclosure, maybe : RSVP

41. Weaklings : WIMPS

43. Place for a large umbrella : PATIO

44. Mooches : SPONGES

47. She turned pro before her 16th birthday : WIE. Michelle (golfer)

49. Sch. with a Mesa campus : ASU. Arizona State University.

53. One of the deadly sins : PRIDE

54. Pianist Claudio : ARRAU. Short but powerful clip.(1:29)

55. __ Tomé : SÃO. Off the west coast of Africa. Map. In 1908, Sao Tome had become the world's largest producer of cacao which still is the country's most important crop.

62. __ Today : USA

63. Joint-forming bones : ULNAE. Forearm.

64. Surface with legs : TABLE

65. Author : PEN so 4D. __ plume : NOM DE. pen name.

66. Tell off : SCOLD

67. Slammin' Sammy of golf : SNEAD. Snead(1912 - 2002) won a record 82 PGA Tour events including seven majors but failed to win a U.S. Open.

Down:

1. Sailor's pronoun : SHE

2. Ode title words : TO A

3. Kwik-E-Mart guy on "The Simpsons" : APU. Nahasapeemapetilon.

5. 1999 Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductee : KNIEVEL. Evel

6. Takes the wheel : STEERS

7. Prolix : WORDY. Word Origin & History: PROLIX - 1412, from O.Fr. prolixe (14c.), from L. prolixus "extended," lit. "poured out," from pro- "forth" + base of liquere "to flow". Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

8. Santa __ winds : ANA

9. "Cool" amount : MIL. as "a cool million"

10. Chipping tool : ICE PICK

11. Make responsible for, as a case : ASSIGN

12. 19th-century literary family name : BRONTË

13. Stuffed mouse, e.g. : CAT TOY

18. Card or Met : NLer. Baseball.

22. Capital south of the Black Sea : ANKARA. The capital of Turkey.

23. "My treat!" : "ON ME!"

24. Whacker's target : WEED

25. Merit : EARN

26. Grand : THOU. $1,000

27. Dutch Golden Age painter : HALS

32. Showed disinterest, maybe : YAWNED

33. Early a.m. wear : PJs. Might see them being worn anytime at Walmart.

35. AKC part: Abbr. : AMER.

36. Daisy lead-in : UPSY

38. Try : STAB

39. Plastic choice : VISA. I chose MasterCard.

40. Decant : POUR

42. Formed by the solidification of magma : IGNEOUS

43. Bookish types : PEDANTS

44. Absorbs, in a way : SOPS UP

45. More than words : PHRASE

46. Buckeye : OHIOAN

47. Put on alert : WARNED

48. Concerning, in memos : IN RE

51. Erie __ : CANAL

52. John Arbuckle's coffee : YUBAN. Decades ago there was a Yuban coffee ad campaign with the tag line: “as John Arbuckle would say, 'You get what you pay for'. Very interesting man. Info.

57. LPN skill : TLC

58. California's __ Nuevo State Park : AÑO. On the southern San Mateo County coast, Año Nuevo(New Year) is the site of the largest mainland breeding colony of the northern elephant seal. Fifty-five miles south of San Francisco, a low, rocky, windswept point juts out into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish maritime explorer Sebastian Vizcaino sailed by the point on January 3, 1603. His diarist and chaplain of the expedition, Father Antonio de la Ascension, named it Punta de Año Nuevo (New Year's Point) for the day on which they sighted it in 1603.

59. 16th prez : ABE. Honest!

60. Form ending : ULA. (formula)

61. Post-op dose : MED. Short version of medicine and for most of us, it's meds.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Happy Birthday to Jazzbumpa (Ron). May you never lose the beat. Here is a recent photo of Ron and his beautiful wife Gloria. Here is their ad hoc trombone quartet (from left to right): Ron, Mike, Jeff and Dan. Very cool!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 Don Gagliardo

Theme: Windmills(2:18) - As the unifier states, there is a synonym for CIRCLE hidden within the themes. If your puzzle has the circles(and they're in the right spots, see here), it makes it a little easier.

17A. St. Patrick's day shout : "ERIN GO BRAGH!"

32A. Business that serves smokers : TOBACCO INDUSTRY

39A. With "leave," settle for the existing situation : WELL ENOUGH ALONE

60A. Privileged group, and an aptly highlighted feature of 17-, 32- and 39-Across : INNER CIRCLE

Argyle here. I'm tempted to comment on the wording of 32-Across but I'll take the advice of 39-Across. Hard G has given us an ambitious Tuesday. There are two spanners and the theme makes a nice diagonal stripe down the face of the grid.

Across:

1. "I'm clueless!" : "GOT ME!". A bad situation for a constructor.

6. Half of Ethiopia's capital : ABABA. Addis Ababa Image.

11. Finger-to-lips syllable : "SHH!"

14. 1994 peace prize sharer Yitzhak : RABIN. Actually, there were three: Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin.

15. C.S. who created Narnia : LEWIS and 52D. Narnia lion : ASLAN. From the fantasy novel, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".

16. Chinese word of enlightenment : TAO

19. IV administrators : RNs. But don't call them bag ladies!

20. 0, in Spain : CERO. Spanish for "Zero".

21. Linus awaits the Great Pumpkin in one : PATCH

22. Singer's aid : MIKE. We see MIC quite often these days.

23. Unconventional merchandise quantity : ODD LOT

25. "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" singer Neil : SEDAKA. Skip the clip(2:14) if you want, I'll understand.

27. Lewinsky confidante Linda : TRIPP. No image available.

30. Delinquency word more commonly heard in the plural : ARREAR

36. Fifth in NYC, e.g. : AVE.

37. Contraire à la __: illegal, in Lyons : LOI. French

38. Finished first : WON

46. "M*A*S*H" system : TRIAGE. The process of determining the priority of patients' treatments based on the severity of their condition.

47. Drum major's cap : SHAKO. Take one home today.

48. Heat rub product : BENGAY

50. Oysters-on-the-half-shell seller : RAW BAR

54. Menlo Park middle name : ALVA. TAE - Thomas Alva Edison. Haven't heard from Nikola Tesla lately.

55. Somewhat warm : TEPID

58. Wave radio maker : BOSE

59. Work the soil : HOE

62. Bachelor in personals, briefly : SWM. Single white male.

63. Short explosive? : NITRO

64. It's not an express : LOCAL

65. Half and half : ONE. It adds up.

66. Yarn unit : SKEIN. How many yards of yarn? "a hank of yarn," from O.Fr.

67. Buck of country music : OWENS. Skip the clip(2:16) if you want, I'll understand.

Down:

1. Artist El __ : GRECO. He was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" (The Greek) was a nickname, a reference to his Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters.

2. Rowed : OARED. Or sculled.

3. Classic Ford : T-BIRD

4. Company that merged with Konica : MINOLTA. Not just cameras anymore.

5. Stonehenge loc. : ENGland

6. Actress Jessica : ALBA. Nice hair.

7. Lion player Lahr : BERT. Nice hair.

8. Sky surveillance acronym : AWACS. Airborne Warning and Control System

9. Swollen ego : BIG HEAD

10. Smudge on Santa? : ASH

11. Ump's call : "STRIKE TWO!"

12. "Hammerin'" baseballer : HANK AARON. Two baseball clues.

13. Watering aid : HOSE

18. Fiber-__ : OPTIC

22. Fourth planet : MARS. Um-m-m. We've had a Fifth Avenue and now a Mars Bar.

24. Dungeons & Dragons monster : ORC

26. R&B's __ Hill : DRU. All four original members of were natives of Baltimore, Maryland. Formation.

28. Casual shirt : POLO

29. Reverent : PIOUS

31. Sandberg with nine Gold Gloves : RYNE. More baseball.

32. "I __ I taw a puddy ..." : TAWT

33. Excessive : OVERBLOWN

34. "This is no lie" : "BELIEVE ME"

35. Expected soon : NIGH

40. Turner on screen : LANA. She was a Sweater Girl.

41. Poached fare : EGG

42. Slob's opposite : NEATNIK

43. Either of the first two consonants in "coccyx" : HARD C. Don's signature clue/answer.

44. Wanted poster abbr. : AKA. Also Known As.

45. Unintellectual : LOWBROW

49. Broadway matchmaker : YENTE

51. Italian ball game : BOCCE

53. Fishing gear : REELS

54. Facetious "I see" : "AH SO"

56. Prefix with scope : PERI

57. Crease remover : IRON

60. Access points : INS. So egress points are 'outs', right?

61. UN workers' gp. : ILO. International Labour Organization.

Answer grid.

By the way, yesterday's mystery boy is Barry G.

Argyle

Constructor note:

The phrase “inner circle” was the inspiration for this puzzle. I just had one of those moments where I saw the phrase, and naturally thought that it could be the subject of a puzzle. I knew that I wanted a hidden word to reflect a circle. I decided to go with four-letter words, for some reason. My search yielded three candidates. It was not as easy as I thought to find words that can mean circle that are four letters long. But it did give me a break. I am always trying to make puzzles with five or six theme answers.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011 Don Gagliardo

Theme: CAT-ITUDE. each theme answer describes a characteristic of a cat.

17A. *Like some ovens : SELF-CLEANING. more things should come with this option. like cars. and kids. and where's the self-cleaning toilet?

17A. *Checking, as books : BALANCING

35A. *Field action : HIGH-JUMPING

53A. *Part of many a magic act : DISAPPEARING. my cat does this all the time. about which my son says, 'he's a man, he'll be fine.'

58A. New York resort area, and what the answers to starred clues are : CATSKILLS - or CAT SKILLS. cute pun. see note from don hard g at the bottom.

Across:

1. Work on, as a part : COMB. i suppose.

5. Donald, to his nephews : UNCA. easy guess.

9. Polite title : MADAM. ma'am is short for madam.

14. [Turn the page] : OVER.

15. Indian flatbread : NAAN

16. Monterrey girlfriend : AMIGA. monterrey is mexico's third largest city.

19. Plymouth's county : DEVON. plymouth is a city in england. in this map of devon county, you can see plymouth to the southwest.

22. Expand operations : UPSIZE

25. Expand one's belly : EAT. partial clecho.

26. Goose egg : NIL. zip, nada, zilch.

27. Hard work : MOIL. not to be confused with mohel.

28. Activist with Raiders : NADER. ralph nader recruited hundreds of idealistic college students and lawyers to work with his center for study of responsive law.

31. 1987 Masters champ Larry : MIZE. best known for this shot.

32. 61-Down resident : PIG, and 61D. 32-Across home : STY

33. Versatile, powerwise : AC/DC. "DC is the abbreviation for direct current, which is a type of electrical current that travels through a circuit in only one direction. Direct current is the type of electrical power that is produced by fuel cells, batteries, and generators equipped with commutators. While DC power was the first type of electricity to be commercially transmitted, it has been widely replaced by alternating current (AC) electricity, and is now used primarily in electrochemical and metal-plating applications."

34. Subdivided : ZONED. tricky.

39. Flat-topped formation : BUTTE. courthouse butte near sedona, arizona.

41. Boston or Baltimore : PORT

42. Blame, slangily : RAP. according to the book, 'the whole ball of wax,' by laurence urdang, the expresssion is taken facetiously, from a ‘rap on the knuckles.’ that shows what i know, i would have guessed it was related to rap sheet, which is an acronym for record of arrest and prosecution.

45. Blame : ONUS. from latin.

46. Flower girl's path : AISLE. timely - gotta love this shot.

48. Geologic procession : EONS

49. Bert Bobbsey's twin : NAN

50. Little devil : IMP

51. Lunch time : MIDDAY

57. Place to play : ARENA

62. Best Buy squad members : GEEKS. before i switched from pc to mac, i had a stool there with my name on it.

63. Busy as __ : A BEE

64. Toned-down "Awesome!" : NEAT. extra credit for anyone who knows where this comes from: "dear annie. thanks for your letter. you sound neat."

65. Ferber and a Dame : EDNAS

66. Mama __ : CASS

67. Plucky : GAMY. if you say so...

Down:

1. Cheap pipe material : COB. scroll down this page for instructions on making your own corn cob pipe.

2. Ooplasm containers : OVA. the ooplasm is cytoplasm of an oocyte. oo yeah, i knew that off the top of my head.

3. Blanc who voiced Bugs : MEL

4. Sergio Mendes & __ '66 : BRASIL. remember this?

5. Relax, as one's fist : UNCLENCH. made me think of this.

6. Greenhorn : NAIF. a naive or inexperienced person.

7. Call off an appt. : CANCel. often abbreviated cx.

8. "Hulk" director : ANG LEE. didn't know that, never saw hulk.

9. Ticked off by : MAD AT. wanted irked.

10. Word of agreement : AMEN

11. Water shower? : DIVINING ROD. show-er. get it?

12. Fret (over) : AGONIZE

13. Really botched up : MANGLED

18. Pince-__ : NEZ. the style of spectacles worn by teddy roosevelt.

21. Poor listener's in-and-out organ : EAR. in one ear, out the other.

22. One wearing black at home : UMP. umpire.

23. Island dish : POI

24. Trusting way to purchase : SIGHT UNSEEN

29. Descriptive wd. : ADJ. adjective.

30. Bra choices : D-CUPS.

31. Day for the fair-of-face child: Abbr. : MON. "Monday's child is fair of face." what day were you born?

33. Some do it gracefully : AGE. like her.

34. Teen omen : ZIT. acne.

36. "__ for me to know ..." : IT'S. '... and you to find out.'

37. Kind of biol. : MOL. the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity, commonly mol bio.

38. Bases for arguments : PREMISES

39. "Of Human __" : BONDAGE. novel by w. somerset maugham.

40. Like some TV pilots : UNAIRED

43. Nostalgist's suffix : ANA. as in, americana.

44. Future therapist's maj. : PSY. psychology.

46. Band booster : AMP. amplifier.

47. Medicinal syrup : IPECAC. ick.

48. Garden container? : EDGING. nice.

50. "None for me, thank you" : I PASS

52. Publicity : INK

54. Songwriter Paul : ANKA

55. Rhyme scheme in Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" : AABA. yes, but only the first stanza:

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

lines 1, 2, and 4 all have the same rhyme sound, while line 3 introduces a new sound. see this link for the rhyme scheme of the remaining stanzas.

56. Hwys. with nos. : RTES

59. Thompson of "Back to the Future" : LEA

60. Flee : LAM. didn't know this could be a verb, meaning escape. usually hear it as a noun, 'escaped convicts on the lam.'

Answer grid.

Melissa

Constructor note:

What an interesting word, Catskills. I wonder about its origin. For some reason one day, I just heard it as Cat Skills, two words. I grew up with cats, and was always amazed at what they can do. They do have extraordinary abilities. Why not do a puzzle about them? It helps that Rich is a cat person. Thanks to Rich, he helped me to round off my list of cat abilities. There may be some others that I have forgotten. Will the cat people out there write in to tell us about cat’s skills that others of us may have forgotten?

Thursday, April 7, 2011 Don Gagliardo

Theme: How would you have spelt it? Revealed in 51 Across: Spin, as a cue ball, and how to answer each starred clue in this puzzle?: PUT ENGLISH ON IT. The last word of each answer is how you would find it in the OED (Oxford English Dictionary).

20. *Not exactly a nightie: FLANNEL PYJAMAS. From India and SW Asia "paijama", The English changed ai to "y", and the US simply dropped the "i". As for the clue, sometimes a suggestion of something hidden can be more alluring than outright exposure...

24. *Scales are part of it: PIANO PRACTISE. Practice is the noun, practise is the verb, but Americans are in the practice of always using practice.

33. *Reinforced road traveler: STEEL-BELTED TYRE. From tire "equipment, dress, covering", a shortened form of "attire". The notion is of the tire as the dressing of the wheel. The original spelling was tyre, which had shifted to tire in 17c.-18c., but since early 19c. tyre was revived in Great Britain with the advent of the pneumatic rubber form and become standard there.

43. *Headquarters: CONTROL CENTRE. The -er, -re ending confusion can be traced to Noah Webster, who attempted to reform English spelling in the US.  Despite his efforts, we still kept words like acre (instead of aker), ogre, and theatre (classy or pretentious?) Across the pond, Johnson's dictionary is considered authoritative for the -re endings, and seems to be a source of national pride (don't quote Webster to them...)

Hi all, Al here. I have to say, today the theme helped a lot. The top was refusing to fill in, but after getting CENTRE, the other theme spelt words fell quickly which gave me just enough to start getting perps.  I'll let Don's notes (included at the end) speak for themselves.

ACROSS:

1. Fictional falcon seeker: SPADE. Sam, as played by Bogie.

6. Fictional falcon source: MALTA. The Maltese Falcon. I've never seen this movie, maybe it's time to finally chase it down. Today's geography lesson.

11. "The Sting" number: RAG. Music from the movie originally composed by Scott Joplin, arranged by Marvin Hamlish.

14. Much of Israel: NEGEV. Desert.

15. Provide with heat?: ENARM. Heat, as in weapons.

16. Shaft discovery: ORE. A mining shaft of course. Any other interpretation would probably have you running to a urologist...

17. Speak above the crowd?: ORATE. Both literally (loudly) and figuratively (on a soapbox). I'm not sure if I have those backwards...

18. Solitude: TIME ALONE.

22. Jack edged him out in the 1980 U.S. Open: ISAO. AOKI. Golf. Both names are common crosswordese clues and answers, but usually one clues the other.

23. Jumbo, say: SIZE.

31. Some time ago: ONCE. upon a time.

32. Screwball: LOON.

41. "__, 'tis true, I have gone here and there": Sonnet 110: ALAS.

42. Choice word: EENY. Meeny Miny Moe.

48. Pole or Croat: SLAV. Apparently we get the word slave from slav because of their history of being conquered and being sold into servitude.

50. Where parts of the '95 film "Higher Learning" were shot: UCLA.

58. Radical: EXTREMIST. By definition, one far from the norm, thus should not be construed as representative, yet human nature will try to force a pattern...

59. Bathroom sink fitting: P-TRAP.

61. Bathroom, across the pond: LOO. More bonus English.

62. Berry picked for an Emmy: HALLE.

63. Sister of Thalia: ERATO. Muses.

64. Stab: TRY.

65. Loper leader: INTER. Prefix clue. An interloper is a "self-interested intruder".

66. Easily colored synthetic: DYNEL.

DOWN:

1. Desk globe filler?: SNO. Really kind of boring unless Pixar interprets it.

2. Line to tear along: Abbr.: PERForated.

3. "I've Got __ in Kalamazoo": A GAL. A Glenn Miller oldie.

4. Suspect, maybe: DETAINEE. With all the airport security measures now, I think the terrorists did win...

5. "Given that ...": EVEN SO.

6. Sky streaker: METEOR.

7. Deep blue: ANIL. The west indian shrub called the indigo plant, from which blue dyes are made.

8. Harpsichordist's aid: LAMP. I can only assume this is what the clue intended...

9. It has few pips: TREY. Playing card spots.

10. Key of Beethoven's Sym. No. 7: A MAJ. Second Movement (8:19)

11. Frosh assignment: ROOMIE. Often in the first year of college, you must stay in a dorm, and you can't always pick your own roommate.

12. Ball partner: ARNAZ. Lucy and Desi.

13. Sky honkers: GEESE. Did you ever notice that one side of their V formation is always longer than the other and wonder why that happens? It's because there are more geese on that side.

19. Lad's sweetheart: LASS. Scotland terms could be interpreted to be related to today's theme.

21. Hammock session: NAP.

24. Batt. terminal: POSitive. or NEGative.

25. NFL drive killer: INTerception in football.

26. Score very high on: ACE. As with an exam.

27. "This is __ sudden!": ALL SO.

28. Motel extra: COT.

29. Nail holder: TOE. A little tricky, and not my first thought.  Also, eww... but just a little.

30. Ill. neighbor: IND. Illinois and Indiana.

34. Data-sharing syst.: LAN. Local Area Network, connected computers, usually within a single building. Between buildings usually requires a WAN, Wide Area Network.

35. Lunch initials: BLT.

36. __ candy: EAR, and clecho: 40D. __ candy: EYE.

37. Renters, collectively: TENANTRY. Perhaps a bit archaic Middle English-like, and doesn't quite slide easily off your tongue, but at least it isn't boring.

38. Nevertheless: YET.

39. Time off, in mil. slang: RNR. Rest 'N Recreation

43. Yarn or bell, e.g.: CAT TOY.

44. Page-bottom directive: OVER.

45. Polish goal: LUSTER.  A disguised capitonym clue. "Hiding" it at the beginning of a sentence is a Thursday level of trickiness.

46. "The Shield" actress __ Pounder: CCH. Carol Christine Hilaria.

47. Made hasty altar plans: ELOPED.

48. Broke down, in a way: SPELT. Bonus theme-related English spelling.

49. Pyramid-shaped Vegas hotel: LUXOR.

52. Soda reportedly named for a bottle size: NEHI. One story is that the company founder sent one of his salesmen across the Chattahoochee River from Columbus to check out his competition in Alabama. The happy salesman returned to report that Alabama competition was only "knee-high". The other recurring story concerns the checking of bottle samples that were being considered for the new flavor line. Most of the drinks of that era were of the 6 or 7 ounce sizes. When the tall 9 ounce Nehi sample was set beside the competitors brands, the comment was made that the smaller bottles looked "knee-high" beside their new container.

53. Fed: G-MAN.

54. Happy tune: LILT. To "lift up".

55. Crow's-nest sighting: ISLE. On a Thursday, LAND was too simple.

56. Afghanistan neighbor: IRAN.

57. Thames gallery: TATE. More England references.

60. Capitol Hill mover: POL. Whenever I see this word, I think of Pol Pot...

Answer Grid.

Constructor's notes:

"It may be that this puzzle was inspired by a coworker of my wife, Barbara.  He is very English.  He solves my puzzles regularly and loves the diversion from his usual grind.  I have met others from England, and cannot help but marvel at their colorful phrases.  We walk our dogs in the snicket now.  I did not know the narrow, wooded glen was a snicket until the English neighbor told me so.  I cannot even find that word in an English dictionary, so who knows how many words are out there that are not even in print.  I have also marveled at the spelling changes from one language to the other.  The goal was to make as many kinds of substitutions as possible, and try to keep the word the same length.  I think I also tried for one-letter substitutions, but I cannot recall if I succeeded.  This puzzle will probably drive some people crazy at first, who think they got it right but find that it does not work out.  The unifier was important.  Fortunately there was a phrase that explains it all.  I wonder where that phrase, “Put English on it” comes from.  I used to hear people use it in reference to billiard shots.  I have even heard it on the golf course.  Does anyone know the origin of this phrase?" 

Here you go, Don:  Spin imparted to a ball, from French anglé "angled," which is similar to Anglais "English."

Al

Thursday, March 3, 2011 Don Gagliardo

Theme: Revealed in 36 Across: One of six in this puzzle: ANAGRAM CROSSING.

1A. SPOUTS crosses 5D. TOSSUP

18A. MANATEES crosses 10D. EMANATES

28A. PASTA crosses 24D. TAPAS

48A. TOTEM crosses 35D. MOTET

61A. PEAR TREE crosses 37D. REPARTEE

68A. MENTAL crosses 49D. MANTLE

Al here. I eliminated the clues in the above, hopefully to make the theme answers and their relationships clearer, but included them down in the rest of the write-up. One of those puzzles where the theme really didn't come into play for me. Just as with Dan's puzzle yesterday, this "solved" like a themeless puzzle. Even once I knew they were supposed to be there, I had to look for places where the across and down were the same length, and of course the symmetric positions, after I was done solving. Very heavy theme count, 13 answers, 79 squares. Lots of tricky cluing as well, so a fun solve, but not a walk in the park by any means.  I made a colored picture showing the theme layout, but there are so many crossings with other answers, I'm not sure it helps all that much. At the bottom there are notes from Don about constructing something like this.

ACROSS:

1. Orates: SPOUTS. As in a fountain spouting, comes from a root word meaning to spit. It was also the slang term for the lift in a pawnbroker's shop, up which articles were taken for storage, hence fig. phrase up the spout "lost, hopeless, gone beyond recall"

7. Hourly wage, e.g.: BASE RATE.

15. Refuses to: CANNOT. This one took me a long time to agree with, so I held off filling it in at first, but when someone says "I cannot help you", it does usually mean they won't, not that they are unable to.

16. Astronomy measurements: AZIMUTHS. The definition is just confusing: Distance of a star from the north or south point of the meridian. A picture works better.

17. Engrave: INCISE. Cutting into.

18. Sea cows: MANATEES. Dugongs are in the same family.

19. Brief needlework?: TATS. Tatting is making knotted lace. (Correction, as several regulars pointed out, and I originally missed, this is short for tattoos)

20. Megan's "Will & Grace" role: KAREN. Megan Mullaly, Karen Walker. Grace's secretary, who doesn't really need to work because she married into money several times.

21. Label for some Glenn Frey hits: MCA. Music Corporation of America.

22. Physicist with a law: OHM. I was taught this as V=IR (voltage = amperage times resistance)

23. Acting teacher Hagen: UTA.

25. "It __ far, far better thing...": Dickens: IS A. From Tale of Two Cities, It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known.

26. Wages: PAY. Can't argue with that...or else you'll get canned.

27. Get: SEE. I get it, see?

28. Noodles, say: PASTA.

30. The Simpsons, e.g.: TOONS.

32. Wedding dance: HORA. The chair dance, right?

34. Fabled mattress lump: PEA.

35. Mal de __: MER. Sea sickness. Also once meant scurvy.

42. Some tech sch. grads: EES. Electrical Engineers.

43. Top ten item: HIT.

44. Sign: OMEN.

45. Pricey: STEEP.

48. Pole symbol: TOTEM.

50. Wall St. exec's degree: MBA. Master of Business Administration.

51. Collar: NAB. Variant of nap "to grab or seize" as in kidnap.

52. "Aladdin" monkey: ABU. The Disney version.

54. Frat letter: ETA. College Greeks.

55. Food scrap: ORT.

56. Geneva-based workers' gp.: ILO. International Labour Organization.

57. Babe and Baby: RUTHS. A candy bar and a baseball great shaped like one.

59. Gijon goose egg: NADA. Spanish for nothing. A numeric zero on a scoreboard looks like a big fat goose egg.

61. Orchard grower: PEAR TREE.

63. An iamb's second half gets it: STRESS.

65. Noteworthy: ESTEEMED. As in estimated, from ais-temos "one who cuts copper," i.e. mints money.

66. Mount McKinley's home: ALASKA. Did Mrs. McKinley ever visit? I dunno, I'll ask her.

67. Relax: REST EASY.

68. Word with health or illness: MENTAL. I was disappointed when this show was canceled. I should go work for the networks, I think. If I like a show, they'll know not to even bother making it and save a lot of money. Firefly, New Amsterdam, John Doe, all too short-lived. The networks are all Mental.

DOWN:

1. __-fi: SCI. An "old" abbrev for Science Fiction. SF writers prefer it to be called SF these days, but that's too short for a crossword answer.

2. Temple of the gods: PANTHEON.

3. Being filmed: ON CAMERA.

4. Platoon, for one: UNIT.

5. Anybody's guess: TOSSUP.

6. Chateau __ Michelle winery: STE. A new and different way to clue a French abbrev for a female saint.

7. The Tide: BAMA. They call Alabama the crimson tide. Deacon Blues.

8. Hank who voices many 30-Across: AZARIA. Also played three roles in the "Night at the Smithsonian" movies: Kahmunrah/The Thinker/Abe Lincoln.

9. Cosecant reciprocals: SINES. A graph showing the relationship.

10. Arises: EMANATES. Directly from Latin emanare "flow out, arise, proceed,"

11. Groove: RUT. Sure, they mean the same thing, except when they don't idiomatically. If I'm "in the groove", I'm certainly not "in a rut".

12. At the original speed, in music: A TEMPO.

13. Jail, in slang: THE CAN. If you played kick the can, someone had to go to jail. I wonder if one is related to the other.

14. Tests that are hard to guess on: ESSAYS.

20. Deejay Casey: KASEM.

22. Dept. of Labor agency: OSHA. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

24. Spanish appetizers: TAPAS. Lots of different kinds.

29. Speed: Pref.: TACHO. Straight from the Greek.

31. Meeting time qualifier: OR SO.

33. One-time Time critic James: AGEE.

35. Sacred choral piece: MOTET.

37. Comeback: REPARTEE.

38. Solemn acts: RITES.

39. Bold: IMMODEST.

40. Big 12 school soon to be in the Big Ten: NEBRASKA.

41. No-see-um, say: GNAT.

45. Hard-to-see shooter: SNIPER.

46. "Thy Neighbor's Wife" author: TALESE. About "free love", i.e. a marriage-less society.

47. WWII torpedo launchers: E-BOATS. The "E" is thought to mean Enemy, but could be from Eilboot (hurry boat). They were called Schnellboots by the German navy.

48. Some learners: TUTEES.

49. It's beneath the crust: MANTLE. Layers of the earth, crust, mantle, core. (OK, two mantles and two cores if you're picky).

53. Siam neighbor: BURMA. Today's geography lesson.

58. Actress Lamarr: HEDY. Along with being quite the looker, she co-invented an early technique for spread spectrum communications, a key to many forms of wireless communication from the pre-computer age to the present day.

60. Sweater style named for Irish islands: ARAN.

62. Like some mil. officers: RET. Military, retired.

63. Yosemite __: SAM. The rootinest tootinest shootinest bob tailed wild cat in the west.

64. ESPN reporter Paolantonio: SAL. Not in my sphere of awareness.

Answer Grid.

Al

Here are some thoughts from Don about today's puzzle:

"Anagram Crossing:

Sometimes a theme shows up while one is constructing another puzzle. In this case, I noticed two words in a grid crossing each other that were anagrams of each other. I thought that was interesting, and started to play with the possibilities. One needs a unifier in this case, and ANAGRAM CROSSING was a lucky choice, being exactly 15-letters long. That meant that it had to be in the center, because anywhere else would require another 15-letter word to reflect it, and that would disrupt the theme pattern. I thought that I could get six anagram crossings, and it ended up that I could barely do that. The central 15-letter answer makes it a great challenge. On the plus side, there are many anagrams to choose from. On the down side, they have to cross in my scheme, and possibly cross the central answer, and I wanted to enter them symmetrically in the grid and cross at the same places. I don’t know why. It just looks prettier that way. So I just kept hunting, and eventually worked it out. On my first submission, Rich thought that I shouldn’t have a brand name entry, so I had to change things. I think I ended up with five different grids, if that is an indication of how difficult it is to change something like this. I don’t think I’ll try that again!"