Saturday, Oct19th, 2013, Doug Peterson & Brad Wilber

Theme: DP&BW

Words: 72 (missing Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 30

This one from our flip-flopping Saturday Duo was 50/50 for me.  I smoked through the top half, but then faltered in the bottom. Ended up taking my usual solve time. Two grid spanners:

17A. Irish folk song that was a Grammy-winning vehicle for Metallica :  WHISKEY IN THE JAR - Nailed it - a music link must....the 'official' video is more to the point, but it won't pass the "breakfast test"

but then....

53A. Woolf pack? : BLOOMSBURY GROUP - a complete unknown; learning moment

Six 10's:

1A. Italian for "little ribbons" : FETTUCCINE

12D. Asian aluminum exporter : TAJIKISTAN - Crossword constructors gotta love places with these names - map

15A. High anxiety? : ACROPHOBIA - nailed it; I know my "fear of heights" $2 word

25D. Late 1990s Nasdaq phenomenon : DOT COM BOOM - anyone here fall into this bust?

57A. Iron Man and Captain America, e.g. : TITLE ROLES - I wanted "-- HEROES", or something like that

59A. One who goes out regularly : STEADY DATE - I'm accepting applications today

And four 8's:

6D. Subcompact that debuted in 1975 : CHEVETTE - My buddy Jeff owned one in high school, and he used to like to say he had a " 'Vette "

26A. Neurologist's concern : MIGRAINE

41A. Goldbricks : GOOF OFFS - I tried GOOSE (E)GGS, but it had only one "E"; definition

35D. Seemed to own the runway, say : SASHAYED

ONWARD~!

ACROSS:

11. Site of the Delicate Arch : UTAH - not featured in Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade, tho

16. Cold caller's reward : SALE

19. Montréal label : NOM

20. Anxious times for some : EVES - Like kids at Christmas

21. One of the halogens : IODINE - I had "SODIUM" (BZZZT~!), which is the other half of the "salt" equation; alkali metals + halogen gas = salt; periodic chart

22. Pressure source : PEER - "everybody's doing it; you're nobody if you don't~!"

23. Criticize : KNOCK

24. Make some concessions : ADAPT

29. "Get real!" : C'MON

30. Old autocrat : TSAR

32. Problematic lighting? : ARSON - firebug crime

34. Cranky : PECKISH

36. Be a burden to : TRY - "You're peckishness is TRYing my patience~!"

37. Come about : OCCUR

39. Cave-dwelling princess in Donald Duck comics : OONA

40. Mariner's org. : NASA - Dang it~! Fooled me again - not sports related; Husker got it, I'm sure

43. Rise to the top : SHINE

45. Unifying idea : MOTIF

46. Great Lakes catch : CHUB - I had SOLE, then CRAB, then CRUB....which doesn't sound any less appetizing than the actual answer

47. "Epitaph for a Spy" novelist : AMBLER - Eric, and the Wiki

49. "The Godfather" Oscar nominee : CAAN - I tried PUZO; I was 'right' - list of awards

50. Union busters of the 19th cen. : CSA - the Union of the North, and the Confederate States of America

56. Venting venue : BLOG - No one vents on OUR blog....

58. __ Martin: cognac brand : RÉMY - another potable NEVER over ice

DOWN:

1. Play the sycophant to, with "over" : FAWN

2. Agree by repeating : ECHO - like sycophants - "oh, yes, yes, sir~!"

3. Barber shop request : TRIM

4. Set-__: rows : TOS - a Set-to is a fight; a rOW, not rOE

5. Homeowner's concern : UPKEEP - Now that I am working as a driver 7am to 6, 7, 8, 9pm, my UPKEEP is a lot harder

7. Not as forthcoming : COYER

8. Winged University of Miami mascot : IBIS

9. Writer who said "What I cannot love, I overlook" : NIN - Anais

10. Busy with courses : EATING - Those courses

11. With 33-Across, Saturn or Mercury site : USED CAR and 33A. See 11-Down : LOT

13. Freed from radio music : ALAN - Perhaps could have used a "?", since this is a proper name here; Alan Freed - his Wiki

14. Present : HERE

18. Shout of triumph : HOORAH - DAH~!!!  I had hooraY, and that just messed me up

22. One-star write-up : PAN

23. Heineken distributor in Japan : KIRIN

24. Standard Oil offshoot : AMOCO

26. Sharks whose teeth were used in Maori jewelry : MAKOs

27. Old tongue that gave us "rotten" and "egg" : NORSE

28. Gaelic music star : ENYA

29. Thick-soled shoe : CLOG

31. Speak derisively : SCOFF

34. For now : PRO TEM - Latin, pro tempore

38. Focus of an annual festival in New Mexico : UFOLOGY - Once I put the "U" and New Mexico together, this became an 'educated' WAG - Roswell; a "great place to crash~!"

40. Penpoint : NIB

42. Ones for the record book : FIRSTS

44. Strongly motivated : HUNGRY

46. "Cheers" role : CARLA - Coach, Cliff, Diane and Woody fit, too

47. 48-Down, e.g. : ABBReviation

48. M.'s counterpart : MademoiseLLE

49. Clever : CUTE - this stymied me for a long time

50. It gets flat over time : COLA - or SODA....

51. Steak-and-kidney-pudding ingredient : SUET - Eww

52. Abbey nook : APSE - or NAVE....

54. Was taken in : BIT - I had "FIT", like clothing taken in; this is like the people taken in, or 'bit', but the DOT COM BOOM

55. Fly __ : ROD

Splynter

Note from C.C.:

I hope our readers in Southern California will take part in this year's  Crossword LA to be held next Saturday Oct 26. Our own Steve will be there competing. Do say hello to today's co-constructor Doug Peterson, who will be volunteering at the event. Look, I found this nice photo of Brad & Doug & Tyler Hinman.

Saturday, Aug 31st, 2013, Doug Peterson & Brad Wilber

Theme: DP+BW

Words: 68 (missing J,Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 31

   Doug and Brad combine again for a tough, but do-able, challenge this week.  For me, it was a hit....and then a miss; a hit....and then a miss.  A near perfect symmetry to the grid; two more black squares and it would look the same even if you rotated the puzzle through 90°.  Two 13-letter climbers in sequence;

14D. Currency printed on only one side : MONOPOLY MONEY - I landed on BANDO - need $200

15D. Rued years : MISSPENT YOUTH - I spent my youth well; it was after missing out on film school that I could say I 'rued' the next 15 years

And a pair of hard-to-work-into-a-grid 14-letter spanners;

30A. "That's the pot calling the kettle black!" : YOU'RE ONE TO TALK

35A. London arena that Pelé dubbed "the cathedral of football" : WEMBLEY STADIUM - Nailed it - but not too difficult for me, since my parent's were born in England, and my father was a HUGE (football) soccer fan - he wanted his ashes scattered at  midfield there; we may still....

~!

ACROSS:

1. Hits the dirt? : SCRUBS - not a good start to this one; my whole NW corner was either blank or filled in with the wrong answers

7. Window in many loft conversions : DORMER - better; carpentry is my thing; I like this one

13. Prepared to fire : TOOK AIM - DAH~!  I filled in "AIMED AT" - right, but wrong

15. Tool for hackers : MACHETE - who else was on a computer hacker train of thought?

16. Name on "The Name of the Rose" : UMBERTO - not a clue

17. Spoke like an uninspired lecturer : INTONED

18. Smartphone component, for short : CPU - DAH~!  I put in APP - and only one "P" was good.

19. Soothes, in a way : SINGS TO

21. Mars, for one : ORB - DAH~! I went with the "GOD" version

22. Throw : CAST - DAH~!  I put in TOSS ( and thought it was too easy, too )

24. Old language that gives us "berserk" : NORSE - WAGed it

25. Home of the Czech Republic's Supreme Court : BRNO - I got down to one cell, and it was the second here, fifth in the down clue - both foreign places, and the "R" was a total WAG - and when I got "Ta-Da~!", I still didn't like Brno - but I do like their advertising campaign....

26. Second to none : ON TOP - DAH~!  I had ELITE

28. Spot in a casino : PIP - the dimples on dice

29. Crème de __ : CACAO - MENTHE did not fit, even with the "E" being silent

33. Hose holder : REEL

34. Indoor football name : NERF - not the league, just the toy

41. Fauvist painter Dufy : RAOUL

42. 5, spelled out? : MAY - The FIFTH month

43. Rayed bloom : ASTER - Crossword staple, Saturday cluing

45. Tendon attachment? : ITIS - tendonITIS

46. Pamplona runners : TOROS - Da Bullz

48. Green opening : HOLE - Second time the guys threw me this week; instead of getting crafty with a prefix like "ECO-" or "AGRI-", we are looking for the a plain old cup in the grass of a golf course....

49. Mdse. : GDs - Goods

50. Like many consonants : LINGUAL - I tried "GLOTTAL"

52. Cat's batter : PAW - Did anyone else think of cake mix at first?

53. Ancient Syrian : HITTITE - Learned from watching Ghostbusters

55. First golfer to win the U.S., British and Canadian Opens in the same year : TREVINO

57. Overly sentimental : TREACLY

58. Side effect of a bike helmet : HAT HAIR - this is NOT what YOU were thinking....

59. Pet : STROKE - hwwwwsh - I had CARESS; so close....

60. Disrespected outwardly : SASSED

DOWN:

1. Masonry finish : STUCCO - here's where I could tell my first ACROSS pass was a 'fail'; I knew what masonry finish the guys were looking for;  I did one for a customer on her porch, my shed is getting the treatment, and my future home will definitely be stucco

2. Firm : COMPANY - noun? adjective? verb? had to wait

3. Humidor item : ROBUSTO - I likes me a cigar; I prefer a Tatiana flavoured cigarillo over a robusto; refers to the ring size of the smoke

4. Island entertainment : UKE

5. Places to see a lot of spirits : BARS - yep, tis where I spent those 15 years....

6. March alternative : SIT-IN - I was on a toccata, fugue, corale wavelength

7. Poet translated by Longfellow : DANTE

8. Pi preceder? : OCTO - octopi, the plural of octopus....gritting my teeth

9. Pi follower : RHO - Greek letters

10. Mediterranean island, to locals : MENORCA - I guess everyone else refers to it as M-I-norca, as opposed to the other island in the area, Mallorca (MAJORca)

11. Like amaranth flowers, in myth : ETERNAL - from the Greek, for unwilting; I have taken inspiration from Yellowrocks, and found this poem

12. Magazine in which "The Thin Man" first appeared : REDBOOK - I have heard of it; more here from Wiki

20. Put on a happy face : GRIN

23. Sightseers can be seen on one : TOUR BUS

25. Spade-shaped reef swimmer : BATFISH

27. Alberto VO5 rival : PRELL - hair care products

29. Una __: using the soft pedal : CORDA

31. Brogan classification : EEE - shoe size

32. High __ : TEA

35. Pair commemorated on North Carolina's state quarter : WRIGHTS - the bicycle brothers who designed and built the first flying machine

36. Humble oneself : EAT DIRT

37. More likely to win the bakeoff, maybe : MOISTER

38. '33 Chicago World's Fair puppeteer : SARG - Fascinating; I found this clip - watch the king (sultan?) hitting the hookah (@6:55), and then it gets a bit DF about 8:15.  If you want to see a modern take, there's some more marionettes in the movie "Still Breathing"

39. Beauty spots? : UTOPIAS

40. One-named singer/songwriter of the 1970 Woodstock-inspired hit "Lay Down" : MELANIE - link away~!

44. Paraphrase : RE-WORD

46. Safe-deposit box document : TITLE

47. Author Paretsky and others : SARAS

50. Defeat : LICK - Well, the guys could have gone the other way with the cluing

51. "Why, then, __ soldier drink!": Iago : "LET A"

54. Confucian path : TAO

56. Old Beta rival : VHS - Video Home System; definitely the winner in the consumer market, but the news shows I worked with swore by Beta.

Splynter