Wednesday, November 28, 2012 Doug Peterson

Theme: RESIDENT EVIL.  Today, Doug gives us a hidden word theme, with EVIL tucked into 4 starred entries, and plainly identified in the unifier.  I try to avoid solving the unifier too soon, so as to not spoil the gimmick, so for this kind of give-away unifier, it's good to place it close to the end.  Let's see where EVIL lurks (other than in the minds and hearts of men.)  With 4 answers, one of them grid-spanning, there is lots of opportunity.

20. *Darth Vader, e.g. : MOVIE VILLAIN.   Well, this is just about perfect.  A major nasty from a block-buster epic series.

Not a good drinking partner, no matter what the drink

Source

28. *City near Sacramento : ROSEVILLE.   I don't know anything abut the place, though we also have one here in MI.  Maybe the CA coven can fill us in. 

Something EVIL might be happening there - if you're a crustacean.

Source

38. *Weekly newspaper with three Pulitzers : THE VILLAGE VOICE.  The definitive source of information for news, music, movies, restaurants, reviews, and events in New York - such is their claim.

Beware of EVIL content

Source

46. *Bottom-feeding fish : DEVIL RAYS.  Also an American League baseball team since 1998.

 They only look EVIL

Source

And the unifier -- 53. Horror video game/film franchise, and a literal feature of the answers to the starred clues : RESIDENT EVIL.  This is a series of video games and movies in the horror genre about which I know next to nothing.  But I was able to find this picture.

Alice has some big guns, but is not that EVIL looking

Source

Hi gang.  JazzBumpa here.  This is a strong theme, and a good one if you don't give in to it.  Let's see what else is lurking in this puzzle - if you dare join me.  I'm taking amulets, a light saber, and a lobster cracker, just in case.

Across:

1. Blue toon : SMURF.  Not evil, just annoying, and not worth a link, IMHO.

6. Stats at Anaheim's "Big A" : RBI'S.  Runs Batted In.  It's only been a few weeks since my beloved Tigers went down to ignominious [not to mention EVIL] defeat, and already I miss baseball. Only about 3 1/2 months until Spring Training.

10. Thyme rackmate : SAGE.  Companions on the spice rack, or perhaps they might both be used to flavor a rack of lamb. I won't take the thyme to make any SAGE DF rack comments.

14. Garbage can insert : LINER.  This is referring to a plastic bag.  I just spent several futile minutes trying to find an image of an ocean LINER in a trash can.

15. Vane point : EAST.  Weather vane and direction, respectively

16. Supermodel Heidi who inspired a 2009 Barbie doll : KLUM.  I did not know that.

Those are EVIL looking heels

Source

17. Wonderland wanderer : ALICE.   What's your opinion of the Queen of Hearts?

18. Arctic obstacle : FLOE. Serious navigation hazard. What's the difference  between a FLOE and an iceberg?

19. Words before a conclusion : IF SO.  Then again, maybe not  .  .  .

23. Educ. support org. : PTA.  Parent Teacher's Association. 

24. Place to see long lines, briefly : DMV.   The much maligned Department of Motor Vehicles - still better than trying to deal with an Insurance Company.

25. Copier tray abbr. : LTR  "Letter" size paper - remember, it might not be EVIL, but nor is it legal.

33. Luciano's love : AMORE  Italian for Love in general, not Pavarotti's paramour in specific.

35. Common bill : ONE.  AKA "The single" -  the smallest denomination of U.S. folding money.

36. Never, in Munich : NIE.  If I were in Munich, I certainly wouldn't. 

37. Workplace in many crime shows : DNA LAB  The place where skilled technicians derive evidence from bodily residues to help track down EVIL doers.

42. It's ground in a Southern side dish : HOMINY  I've heard it's a bit gritty.

43. Desperate letters : SOS.  The universal cry of distress in Morse code for those who are asea. It was in effect internationally from 1906 until 1999. It is now illegal for a ship to signal that she is in distress in Morse code. I am not making this up.

44. __ Aviv : TEL  The second most populous city in Israel.

45. Calvin of couture : KLEIN  Maker of the world's finest designer underwear for men and women. I'm not making this up, either.

49. Weird : ODD. Like certain trombonists' senses of humor.

50. Developer of the one-named "Jeopardy!" contestant Watson : IBM  Formerly International Business Machines, now just IBM.

52. "You don't say!" : GEE  Actually, I don't say, "Gee."

59. Composer Bartók : BELA  One of the most important composers of the 20th century - and a Hungarian.

62. Privy to : IN ON.  Like the Privy Council I once discussed.

63. Pizzeria order : SLICE.  We had a mountain of pizza Thanksgiving Eve

64. Folk singer associated with Dylan : BAEZ  I don't remember the association, but it's been a looong time.

65. As is proper : DULY.  Such as giving the devil his due.

66. Chromosome components : GENES.  The genetic bits that add up to make you what you are.

67. Student's surprise : QUIZ  An EVIL sort of surprise.

68. This, in Havana : ESTA  Spanish

69. Bouquets : ODORS  Technically, this is correct. But we don't typically speak of appetizing odors and EVIL bouquets.

Down:

1. Sound of an angry exit : SLAM  Don't let the door hit you .  .  . OK - too late.

3. Deg. issuer : UNIV  Degree and University, respectively

4. Rachael Ray offering : RECIPE  Does anybody ever use recipes they find on TV?

5. Motel come-on : FREE TV  This is quite retro.  Now free TV is a given and the come-on is free WIFI - though that's pretty much a given too, these days.

6. Mtge. payment-lowering option : REFI  ReFinance - take out a new loan, with more favorable terms, to pay off the old one.

7. Musket projectile : BALL 

8. Lover of Tristan : ISOLDE  A legend dating back to the 5th century, made into a 3 act opera by Wagner, and a 2006 movie by Ridley Scott.  It is full of violence, death, weird turns of fate, and illicit love.  The early pilot for all soap operas.

9. Mirror obscurer : STEAM  The bathroom mirror.

10. Shallot covering : SKIN  OK - but why not onion, or apple, or any person?

11. TV E.T. : ALF  Extra-terrestrial and Alien Life Form - yet another TV show I never watched.

12. Mercury Seven astronaut Grissom : GUS  He was the 2nd American in space, and the first to go there twice.  Along with Ed White and Roger Chaffee, he died in a fire during a pre-launch test of Apollo 1 in January, 1967.  The module contained a wide range of lethal hazards, and this sort of tragedy was, alas, probably inevitable.

13. Mopey music genre : EMO  Derived from mid 80's hard core punk, originally called "emotional hardcore" or "emocore."  The rest is history

21. For naught : VAINLY

22. Joint tsar with Peter I : IVAN V  IVAN was the nominal Czar from 1682 to 1696.  He was a chronic invalid with sever physical and mental deficiencies.

25. Nabokov nymphet : LOLITA  Humbert Humbert's favorite ingenue. Will our Lolita show up today?

26. Actress Gold of "Growing Pains" : TRACEY  She played Carol Seaver on this 80's sitcom that I never watched.

27. Rejects authority : REBELS  Here, REBELS is a verb.  I can relate.

28. "Orange, Red, Yellow" painter Mark : ROTHKO  You tell me.

29. In phone limbo : ON HOLD  Where you end up after climbing the infernal automated telephone tree - a truly EVIL invention. 

30. Came off as : SEEMED

31. Hip-hop's __ Kim : L'IL  Image.   Doesn't look so L'IL.  Maybe she's short.

32. Car shopper's option : LEASE  Mine is up in March. Maybe I'll buy this time.

34. 1972 host to Nixon : MAO  I'll bet C.C. knows more about him than I do. (From C.C.: Trivia: Chairman Mao loved hot & spicy food. He was born and grew up in Hunan Province, where they put loads of hot peppers in their dish.)

37. Decorator's study : DESIGN

39. Final article of the Constitution : VII.  The full text:  The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.  I think it was a success.

40. Navel variety : INNIE  We all know what this means.  This turned out to be another time waster, since I couldn't find an attractive picture that I thought met the high standards of this blog.

41. URL ending for many agencies : GOV  For Government agencies.

46. It's usually barely passing : D-MINUS  Try harder, please.

47. "Time to split!" : LET'S GO

48. Aroused the patrolman's suspicion : REELED  This one confused me, until I figured out he suspected you were drunk.

51. Hit back? : B-SIDE  The flip side of a hit record.  Tricky.

53. Make fun of : RAZZ    Derived from "raspberry."  I wanted JAPE.  I just like that word.

54. Blockhead : DOLT

55. Gaelic music star : ENYA. Eithne Ní Bhraonáin and I must have some sort of mystical connection. I get her every time.

56. Ristorante beverage : VINO   Italian wine for an Italian eatery.

57. Éclair finisher : ICER  One who applies icing.

58. Reduced by : LESS  According to the free dictionary, in this usage, LESS is a preposition.  Five less three is two.

59. Jul. 4th party, often : BBQ  Burger, dog or brat?

60. __ Claire : EAU  A city in WI.  "Clear Water" in French

61. Ring of blooms : LEI   A new clue for a crossword stalwart.

There you have it.  A pretty solid puzzle with no blatant clunkers, but with 20 3-letter words and an abundance of abbreviations and a smattering of foreign words. Not sure how I feel about that. What about you?

Cool Regards!

JzB

Wednesday, July 11, 2012 Doug Petersen

Theme: Convenience Store Bandit!

The last word of each theme clue is typically writ large (at least 72 point) in tabloids to describe someone who has - oh, probably overstayed his time at a parking meter, or jumped the line at the ATM, or - of course! - held up the 7-11!

17A. "The Wonder Years" star : FRED SAVAGE He looked too innocent to have a name like that:

25A. Muppet with a voracious appetite : COOKIE MONSTER. His real name is Sid and he eats fruit and vegetables now.

45A. Online news site that merged with Newsweek in 2010 : THE DAILY BEAST. If you've never read Evelyn Waugh's satire on newspaper reporting "Scoop" I highly recommend you do.

59A. Onetime shelfmate of Count Chocula and Franken Berry : FRUIT BRUTE I needed the crosses for this - a cultural gap in my knowledge!

Hi everyone, Steve here and I thoroughly enjoyed Doug's puzzle. There's some really fresh stuff in here, some really nice cluing and a theme which was slick. I've got a couple of mini-themes myself which I'll wrap up with, but let's look at the rest of the puzzle.

Across:

1. As a shortstop, he won the A.L. Gold Glove in 2002 and 2003 : A-ROD. Alex Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees after 2003, and moved to third base. You'd wonder why on earth you'd do this, until you remember that Derek Jeter was doing rather nicely, thank you, at short for the Bronx Bombers.

5. Salsa scoopers : CHIPS

10. Predator of the deep : ORCA. Deep? Hmmmm ... I've seen film of killer whales pretty much dragging themselves onto the beach to grab a penguin or two. Shallows, much more apt.

14. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" co-star Rooney __ : MARA.

15. Convent outfit : HABIT

16. Shipbuilder in Genesis : NOAH

19. Tie with a cord : BOLO. Nice misdirection here, I was thinking of the verb, not the noun.

20. Seasickness : MAL DE MER. An awful thing in any language, but the French sounds a little more poetic.

21. Common cat name : FLUFFY. I'd be careful calling this dude "Fluffy" - it's MR Cat to you!

23. "You got it!" : YEP

24. Palomino's pace : GAIT. I was thinking "pace" in terms of speed, not in terms of method.

31. Hit on the noggin : BOP

32. Wise Athenian lawgiver : SOLON. We were taught the classics back at school in England in 1782 or something, and I remember this chap being known for legalizing brothels in Athens to promote "equality of opportunity". He looks a bit gruff to me.

33. November birthstone : TOPAZ

35. New coin of 2002 : EURO. I'd never really looked closely at one of these (other than to complain when the Coinstar machine rejected one from my change jar) but actually they're pretty neat with the map of Europe and the countries in the Euro zone identified.

37. English actor Hawthorne : NIGEL

39. Highest sudoku digit : NINE

40. Clog-clearing brand : DRANO. I love brand names like this. Now we have focus groups, test marketing and advertising agencies and we come up with bland. That's not the Ford Bland, or the Budweiser Bland, but it really should be. I think I'll go trademark it, it's only a matter of time.

42. Three-dimensional : CUBIC

44. Fire : CAN. I once set fire to a trash can and tried to put out the blaze by stamping on it, all that happened was the flaming trash can got wedged to my foot and shot fire up my pant leg. Hilarity in the office ensued.

48. Scandal fodder : DIRT

49. "Treasure Island" author's monogram : RLS. With a name like Robert Louis Stevenson you absolutely have to become a famous author so as not to waste a name like that.

50. Chemicals giant : DUPONT

53. Gazelle chasers : CHEETAHS. Gazelles can reach 50 MPH. They're feeling pretty smug until they get in a foot race with Mr. Cheetah, as he can hit 70 when he puts the paw to the pampas.

58. All-inclusive : A TO Z. Before the days of GPS, everyone in London had a copy of this classic Street Atlas in the car - we pronounced it the A to ZED of course.

61. Bogus : FAKE

62. Not yet firm, as Jell-O : UNSET. This could also be previously-firm.

63. Supportive contraction : ATTA. Only Girl or Boy. Never heard "Dad", "Mom" or "Cheetah".

64. Afterwards : THEN

65. Wild West show prop : LASSO. I always want to put another O at the end, then I run out of squares and leave it as it is.

66. Cuts off : LOPS. My LASSO always feels LOPPED.

Down:

1. Letters on a radio switch : AM/FM. Because Amplitude Modulation/Frequency Modulation doesn't fit on the switch.

2. __ avis : RARA. I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess that this means "Rare Bird". You can't look everything up on Google.

3. Russian city east of Kiev : OREL. Twinned with Hershiser, Pennsylvania. (OK, I made that up, but Hershiser, PA sounds totally believable).

4. Dude, to a hipster : DADDY-O.

5. Victor : CHAMPION

6. Privileged person : HAVE. As opposed to Have Not.

7. Support beam : IBAR. A place where Apple Computer fans hang out: iBar

8. Porky or Petunia : PIG

9. Tennis great Edberg : STEFAN

10. Thing to press to get started : ON BUTTON

11. Shingle site : ROOF

12. Farm youngster : CALF

13. "Yo, mate!" : AHOY

18. Goes looking for : SEEKS

22. Mention one by one : LIST. "Interminable" is often paired with this word at awards ceremonies.

24. Elapsed : GONE BY

25. Try to win over : COURT

26. TV tycoon born in Mississippi : OPRAH

27. Draw out : ELICIT

28. Skier's challenge : MOGUL. I once skied a mogul field in Verbier, Switzerland and only touched the first and the last one with my skis - for the rest (about 200 yards of downhill) I was bouncing from one to the next on my back.

29. Homeric works : EPICS

30. Charged : RAN AT

31. Gardener's preparation : BED

34. Branch of Buddhism : ZEN

36. Donut buy : ONE DOZEN. Two Cops.

38. Booklet for an operagoer : LIBRETTO. I've always wondered about this. I've never taken a Cliff's Notes translation to a Shakespeare play - why would I take a libretto to the opera?

41. Chief Norse god : ODIN

43. TMZ regular : CELEB

46. Crafty : ARTFUL

47. Starlike : ASTRAL

50. Bonkers : DAFT

51. Wyoming neighbor : UTAH. I'm going to Utah for the first time at the beginning of August. Completely the wrong season for MOGULS, which might not be a bad thing.

52. Elbow : POKE

53. Use bad words : CUSS

54. Makes haste : HIES

55. Prius, e.g. : AUTO

56. Internet address starter : HTTP. Because if we'd had to type "Hypertext Transfer Protocol Colon Forward Slash Forward Slash Double-U Double-U Double-U" the internet would never have taken off and you'd not be reading this blog.

57. Pirates' milieus : SEAS. Favorite clue today. Arrrr!

60. Basic biological molecule : RNA. Thank goodness for Ribonucleic Acid, or where would we all be?

Answer grid.

A couple of theme-lets made me laugh - we have CHIPS AHOY, COURT CHAMPION STEFAN and MOGUL CELEB OPRAH.

That's all from me - have a great 7/11 and try to keep cool!

Steve

Saturday, May 5th, 2012, Doug Peterson

Theme: None

Words: 70

Blocks: 28

Plenty of 63D. "D'oh~!" moments for me today. A pleasant offering from Mr. Peterson; lots of clues that made me think, plus a few write-overs. A good-looking grid with triple 9's in the across, triple 8's in the down, and two 'cheater squares' to add to this week's 'blogversation'. Two 12-letter spanners that are 24D., 'hardly easy' to fit;

33A. Evidentiary home movie studied by the Warren Commission : ZAPRUDER FILM - Abraham Zapruder, the man who captured the assassination of President John F. Kennedy with his home-movie camera in Dallas, Nov. 22nd, 1963. Seed entry?

41A. Programs for quick studies : CRASH COURSES - first "D'oh" moment for me - stared at this one for too long.

On - WARD~!

ACROSS:

1. St. Basil's Cathedral locale : RED SQUARE - my next "D'oh" moment, as I was thinking "Basil" is a British Isles kind of name - yet I know this place...

10. "Whereupon ..." : AND SO...

15. What Henry taught Eliza : ELOCUTION - "My Fair Lady", "Pygmalion"

16. Diner choice : BOOTH

17. Rash : HOT-HEADED

18. Did stable work : SHOED - MUCKED didn't fit

19. Heaps : A PILE - meh, I had "PILES", and it wasn't working out

20. Forever, it seems : AGES - Not "EONS"

22. Arctic explorer John : RAE

23. Good-hearted : BENIGN

25. Building with a dome : ROTUNDA - CAPITOL fit, and it has both a DOME and a ROTUNDA, but....

28. Snorkel, e.g.: Abbr. : SGT - Crossword regular, Sergeant

29. Shell mover : OAR - another "D'oh" moment, was stuck on 'shell game', and considered "rat" as the answer....but we're looking for this

32. Angora goat fabric : MOHAIR - and another "D'oh" moment, as I was trying to "59A." Cashmere, Kashmir, and Kasmir in there....

36. Short-term funding source : ATM - Fresher clue for this old answer

39. Site of regular slopping : PIG FARM - ah, you guessed it, I wanted PIG STY, needed another letter....

40. Soap component : LYE

44. Hoodwink : TAKE IN - Like in a Shell Game

45. Catch on : SEE

46. AMEX, e.g. : MKT - stock exchange 'market';  a learning moment for me

49. Indulged in to excess : OVERDID - yep, I overdid the beer (1D.)

51. Aglow in the gloaming : TWILIT - such eloquence, pronounced "TWY-lit", and yet the word looks like an insult - "you Twilit~!!!"

54. Morass : FEN - I tried MUD first, seemed sensible

55. Michael of "Juno" : CERA

58. Colleague of Clarence and Ruth : ELENA - Supreme Court justices;  is this 'annotated'~??

59. Squeeze : WRING - yeah, I get it, but I think of these "compressions" as being different from each other....

62. Target for some keglers : CANDLEPIN - kegler, from German "to bowl", is a perfect score of 300 in American bowling, or 12 straight strikes - isn't Boomer a bowler ??? (From C.C.: Yes. In fact, Boomer just had 9th perfect game two days ago. To me, kegler = bowler.)

64. Dandy's accessory : ASCOT

65. Like many bibliographies : ANNOTATED

66. Bagpipes and saxes : REEDS - not HORNS or WINDS

67. Overdrawn account? : FISH STORY - well said~!

DOWN:

1. Recovery locale : REHAB - been there, done that....

2. Gets together quietly? : ELOPES

3. Prone to spoiling : DOTING - grandparents, not grapes

4. "The beer that made Milwaukee famous" : SCHLITZ - despite my 1D. stay, I never actually had Schlitz, go figure

5. Wouk captain : QUEEG - The Wiki, for those who would like to see more

6. First name in acting instruction : UTA

7. "O patria mia" singer : AIDA

8. "Walkabout" director Nicolas : ROEG - one of those "constructor friendly" names

9. Rear-__ : ENDER

10. Chiseled muscles : ABs

11. Masked drama : NOH - Japanese theatre

12. Epitome of deadness : DOORNAIL - Dead Horse wouldn't work here

13. With regularity : STEADILY

14. "My heavens!" : OH DEAR ME

21. Cheddar's county : SOMERSET - Today's map

24. Hardly easy : NO PICNIC

26. Self-titled jazz vocal album of 1958 : TORME

27. Old dial letters : UHF - TV dial, remember those?



30. Castor and Pollux sailed on it : ARGO

31. Chaka Khan's old group : RUFUS - I do not remember "Rufus"; I grew up with Chaka, and this song

34. Plant pest : APHID

35. Provoke : DARE

36. Pearl Harbor attack, e.g. : ACT OF WAR

37. Pass over : TRAVERSE

38. Act friendly : MAKE NICE

42. Source of Sun. light? : SER

43. Flirt with, in a way : SMILE AT

47. Pick-up artist? : KLEPTOmaniac, a thief; one who uses the "five-finger discount"

48. More minuscule : TINIER

50. Joltless joe? : DECAF - none for me, thanks, I like my coffee with kick

52. Painful paintball mementos : WELTS - and HOW~!! Stings like a mo***f'er

53. Early personal computer maker : TANDY

56. Mumbai royal : RANI

57. Journalists Compton and Curry : ANNs

60. Show boredom : NOD - needs "off" to make more sense, really

61. Alfa Romeo sports cars : GTs

63. Head-slapper's cry : "D'oh~!" - Homer Simpson, and his now dictionary-worthy expression

Answer grid.

Now go out and have your tequila with salt, and your Coronas with lime - do one for me

Cinco De Mayo ~!!!

Splynter