Saturday, Mar 28th, 2015, Kevin Christian and Doug Peterson

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing V, X, Z)

Blocks: 33

  Man, I thought this one was going to crush me.  In the end, I had to cheat - two items, but it was worth it.  The SE corner had some genuine screw-ups on my part, which slowed me down something fierce.  Lots of white-wash in the top half as well, which left me discouraged - but then, a glimmer of hope~!  Triple 9-letter corners made up the longest answers; 

15a. Spider producer : ALFA ROMEO - lots of car manufacturers make a "spider", but this company seems to be most closely associated with the style.  Did you hear about the UK Top Gear presenter getting fired~?  I'm not sure I'm watching next year....

17. 54-Down cause, in modern jargon : FAT FINGER - Funny.  This should have clued me in that my 54d. "MEMO" was wrong

 58a. Little League game ender, perhaps : MERCY RULE - Some "baseball" for C.C.; I had "--- BUNT", and that wasn't making any sense - the Wiki

32d. Where billabongs flow : AUSTRALIA - not the clothing line - a new word for me; the Wiki

oh, and -

44a. What some authority figures wear? : THE PANTS - "Let me tell you, I'm the one who wears the pants around here~!

Game - ON -ward~!

ACROSS:

1. Discouraged : SCARED OFF

10. Father of Reuben, in Genesis : JACOB - OK, I cheated.  I had to look this one up.

16. __ Bowl: Boston College won the last one in 2000 : ALOHA

18. Samurai without a master : RONIN - I recalled this from an "X-Files" episode

19. Sell the scene : EMOTE

20. __ Air : BEL

22. Have more than enough : O.D.  ON

23. Mtge. application datum : SSN

24. Hayek of "Frida" : SALMA

26. Meld : FUSE

27. Shafts, so to speak : RAW DEALS - as in "they gave me the shaft"

30. Court pos. : CTR - meh.

31. Hillshire Brands predecessor : SARA LEE

34. "Bad idea" : "NAH"

35. Skosh : TAD

36. High-protein grain : QUINOA - OK.  I cheated here, too - I was pretty sure "QUINCE" was wrong, but the "OA" was not coming to me

37. Great Plains tribe : LAKOTA - oops, not Dakota

39. Sch. whose marching band played on Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" : USC

40. Spray-making co. : FTD - ah.  I did not know these arrangements were called "sprays"

42. Golden Globe nominee for "Tommy" : DALTREY - Roger, from The Who

43. Second-most populous Afr. country : ETHiopia

46. God in 56-Across : ARES

48. Past : OF OLD

49. K.C. setting : CST - OK, I thought Kansas City was in MDT; sorry, my mid-west friends, I thought you were further west....

52. Item on a carhop's tray : MALT

53. Fox's leg? : GAM - my kind of clue~!

54. Reno-__ Intl. Airport : TAHOE

56. It concludes with Hector's funeral : ILIAD

61. __ mentality : SIEGE - I am familiar with "herd" mentality, but I have not "heard" this phrase

62. Yosemite attraction : EL CAPITAN - Old Faithful did not fit; besides, it's in Yellowstone....

63. "Blade Runner" actor Rutger __ : HAUER

64. "Days," for one : SOAP OPERA - my mom calls her favorite daytime drama "Days", in reference to "Days of Our Lives"

DOWN:       

1. Gun holders : SAFES - ugh, took W-A-A-A-Y too long to figure out the "F"

2. Bucks : CLAMS - money slang

3. River in a Burns poem : AFTON - mostly perps

4. Great quantity : RAFT - r-aft and aft-on

5. City with a Penn State campus : ERIE - educated WAG

6. Get into : DON - Pondered "DIG" here, but we're talking clothes, not 'style'

7. Surprise letters : OMG - Text-speak for "Oh My God~!"

8. Ineffective : FEEBLE

9. Court leader : FOREMAN

10. Shake up : JAR - I got jarred in my hockey game this past Wednesday; I made the save on the guy who crashed the net, but I still have the headache

11. Hard to reach : ALOOF

12. Copper, notably : CONDUCTOR - the "T" from TAD led me to try "---- METAL" - bzzzt~!

13. Jack Nicklaus Museum campus : OHIO STATE - I WAGed "STATE" from TAD as well, and this worked

14. Time to celebrate : BANNER DAY - WAGed "DAY" from TAD, too~!

21. Dream state? : LA-LA LAND - shout-out, Linda~!

24. Misfit '70s sitcom character : SWEATHOG - Mista Kotter~!

25. Power chaser? : ADE - Powerade, the sports drink

27. Bolted : RAN

28. Up : ALOFT - ugh.  RISEN~? AWAKE~? ALIVE~? Nope.

29. Old will? : SHALT - Thou will not covet...

31. Easily appalled : SQUEAMISH - BANG~! Got it with just "---M--H"

33. "The Three Musketeers" antagonist : RICHELIEU - mostly perps

38. Ring concerns: Abbr. : KTS - dah~!  I had KOs, the boxing kind of ring, not the engagement type

41. Vilifies : DEFAMES - ooops, not ASHames

42. Indian lentil dish : DAL - all perps; last week, we had VORTEX cross with TEX; this week, it's DAL and DALtrey

45. Asian citrus fruit : POMELO

47. Part of a process : STAGE

49. Drag racing safety feature : CHUTE

50. __ system : SOLAR - DAH~!! Put in HONOR, and that blew up the whole corner; I was 40% correct

51. "Lovergirl" vocalist __ Marie : TEENA - WAG & perps

54. Paper slip : TYPO - Dah-dah-dah~!  Not MEMO; should have known it was wrong with the cross-referenced 17a.

55. "What __!": "I've been swindled!" : "A RIP~!"

57. Aachen article : DER

59. Onetime Hertz owner : RCA

60. Tube top : CAP - ah, not the clothing

Splynter

Friday, October 31, 2014, Doug Peterson

Theme: A, that's a wrap.

One word of a common phrase is wrapped in As, with an A inserted at the beginning of the word, and an A inserted at the end of the word. Doug has been a prolific and skilled constructor for the past 12 years, and was among the early INTERVIEWS C.C. did after the change to LAT puzzles. He was very forthcoming and helpful. Doug also edits and collaborates with others. Doug does many themeless puzzles, but this version of add a letter was fun with the added layer of complexity adding both beginning and end. Not a crusher Friday, and some nice long non-theme answers like I’LL PASS, BAD PATCH, GOTTA RUN, MEAL TIME, RAIN DROP, all of which are compound fill. Multi word fill seems to be the focus here, but most were not obscure. Well I see the bat-signal so it is time to save Gotham and solve the puzzle.

17A. *Media member with a curly tail? : PRESS AKITA, (10). Press kit + AA=

25A. *With 50-Across, travel guide that touts Oranjestad's worst hotels and restaurants? : ARUBA THE. (8) 50A. See 25-Across : WRONG WAY (8). Rub the Wrong Way becomes a travel guide from hell.

38A. *"Whatever you say, wise goddess!"? : ALL RIGHTY ATHENA. (15). All right then, let's read about this GG. LINK.

 61A. *Refrigerator on the front lines? : AMANA OF WAR. (10). I like this one best
And the reveal.

64D. Smallish batteries, and a hint to how the answers to starred clues are formed : AAS.(3).

Across:

1. Common telenovela theme : AMOR. Spanish soap operas are all about LOVE.

5. Travel needs for many : VISAS. Another area I know very little about.

10. Lose, in a Vegas game : BUST. Isn't it odd how this repeat fill can be both so sad and so nice?

14. Amplify, in a way : MIKE. I have heard the phrase 'mike-up' so I guess this makes sense, but it took a while.

15. Not available : IN USE. Also known as Occupied, Occupado.

16. Fit : ABLE.

19. Word with barn or storm : DOOR. I think we have a puzzle where DOOR was the hidden end to the theme answers.

20. Sorceress jilted by Jason : MEDEA. Well, thanks for the CSO, but she was not a nice WOMAN . With the mini-theme: 67A. Legendary galley : ARGO. Galley is a type of ship (I linked recently that discussion) and this was Jason's.

21. "Not interested" : I'LL PASS.

23. Seahawks' org. : NFC. National Football Conference. Interesting, especially as they began in the AFC.

26. "Time to split!" : GOTTA RUN. Modern shortspeak spelling.

30. Ore. setting : PST. Pacific Standard Time.

31. José __: frozen Mexican food brand : OLE.

32. Sitar selections : RAGAS. Read all about IT. Raga to Ragga to Reggae?

34. Santa __ Mountains: coastal California range : CRUZ. West Coast Warriors, you want to expand?

42. In-land link? : LA LA. This may have begun with bedtime music but as a phrase is attributed to Los Angeles and the attitudes there.

43. Henie on the ice : SONJA. Back again so soon? Never forget Carol.

44. Grammy-winning "We Are Young" band : FUN.

45. Cybernotes : IMS. Instant Messages.

48. Six, for many : MEAL TIME. Sadly here in So.Fla, this is when the second shift eat dinner.

54. "King Kong" studio : RKO. Radio-Keith-Orpheum.  HISTORY.

55. Franklin's note : HUNDRED. It is all about the Benjamins.

56. "Cheers," e.g. : TOAST.

60. Qatari potentate : EMIR.

65. In __ parentis : LOCO. A hark back to last week's Latin exercise, "in the place of parents."

66. What a shin guard protects : TIBIA.

68. __ school : PREParatory. Been there.

69. How-to units : STEPS.

70. Actor Gosling : RYAN. We end this part with this face: His eyes do not match, but don't tell Eva.

Down:

1. Digital clock toggle : AM/PM.

2. Squishy area : MIRE. I enjoy the Ocean Spray commercials in the bog in Maine.

3. Didn't deny : OKED. Tricky, as I was thinking verbal assent.

4. Feel offended by : RESENT. Context, as it looks just like RESENT.

5. Itinerary word : VIA. More Latin.

6. India __ : INK.

7. Fashion designer Anna : SUI. For me a mostly unknown DESIGNER who reminds me of C.C. Only because of Target have I heard her name.

8. Buzzing with activity : ASTIR. A word!

9. Close securely : SEAL UP.

10. Run of lousy luck : BAD PATCH. I guess if you fix your clothes and do a bad job might be where this phrase meaning a run of bad luck comes from?

11. Threat to a WWII destroyer : U-BOAT. A German submarine.

12. Splash clumsily : SLOSH. People who are sloshed often splash clumsily.

13. Clipped : TERSE. All perps, but reasonable in retrospect.

18. Trip to see the big game? : SAFARI. Really nice mis-direction, no Super Bowl here.

22. Birth announcement abbr. : LBS. Lesbian Baby Sister? Oh, pounds.

24. Climbing challenge : CRAG.

25. Subject for da Vinci : ANATOMY.

26. One may go into an empty net : GOAL. Very common in Hockey where teams pull the goalie in the last minute when down.

27. Earthenware pot : OLLA.

28. Bluff betrayer : TELL. The TV popularity of poker seems to be waning, though I think everyone learned about 'tells' from watching the World Series of Poker, Rounders etc.

29. Words of disgust : UGHS.

33. Holiday song closer : SYNE. Scottish for 'since.'

35. S&L offering for homeowners : REFInance.

36. Word on the Great Seal of the United States : UNUM. And still more Latin, E Pluribus.

37. Novelist Grey : ZANE. Great writer of westerns.

39. Shower harbinger : RAIN DROP.

40. Cracked open : AJAR. When is an A word not an A word.

41. Have words with : TALK TO.

46. Dept. head : MGR. Manager.

47. Workout garb : SWEATS.

49. Beyond reasonable limits : TOO FAR. All right this time you went too far!

50. Young wolf : WHELP. I used to love reading Jack London's books.

51. One may be going around : RUMOR. better than the flu.

52. Ready if required : ON ICE.

53. Not turn away : ADMIT. Not turn away, oh as in they had to turn away thousands who went to see Taylor Swift at Times Square.

57. Not right : AWRY. And then everything went awry.

58. Multigenerational tale : SAGA. Not related to RAGA.

59. Suffix with Jumbo : TRON. A shout out to the scrappy KC Royals.

62. Mount Rushmore figure, familiarly : ABE.

63. Tang : NIP. Nope, no idea.

Well this is the last day of this month; remember to turn your clocks back on Sunday, and enjoy the extra sleep. Thanks Doug P. always good to see your work; also thanks for an amazing performance by Madison Bumgarner. Lemonade out.

Sunday March 9, 2014 Doug Peterson

Theme:"Incidental Music" - Musical notes are orderly added to the start of each theme answer.

23A. Donut lover's discipline? : DOZEN MEDITATION. Zen meditation. My landlord (a Buddhist) in Shanghai chanted in front of burning incense every day. His meditation.

32A. Kicking back with the drones? : RESTING LIKE A BEE. Sting like a bee.

41A. Japanese soup, apparently? : MISO, IT SEEMS? So it seems. I love the simple  Wakame & Tofu miso.

67A. So-so joe? : FAIRISH COFFEE. Irish coffee. Ha ha, Avg Joe!

 

74A. Bangle, often? : SOLID BRACELET. ID bracelet.

99A. Snorkeling area patrol unit? : LAGOON SQUAD. Goon squad.

106A. Broadcaster who goes on and on and on? : TIRING ANNOUNCER. Ring announcer. I met Gophers' announcer Dick Jonckowski at Twin Cities Sports Collectors' Club banquet 2 weeks ago. He was an AWA Wrestling ring announcer sometime ago.  Look at his bobblehead collection.

122A. "Water that poor plant before all the leaves dry up!"? : DOUSE IT OR LOSE IT. Use it or lose it.

What a delightful theme from Doug Peterson! Nothing heavy metal related. Doug loves heavy metal noise :-)

Doug Peterson

The fill is incredibly clean, Doug's hallmark. He's one of the very limited few constructors who can make Monday/Tuesday puzzles, themeless puzzles & Sunday grids. Rich Norris, Patrick Berry, Jeff Chen & Liz Gorski are the other few that come to mind. Who else?

Doug is also a fast solver. Look at here. He's currently 14th. See Rich Norris & Patti Varol? LAT rocks!

Across:

 

1. Campfire residue : ASH

4. Volkswagen sedan : PASSAT. And 21. Four-ring-logo company : AUDI. Owned by

Volkswagen.

10. Speak for yourself? : BRAG. Got me!

14. Office __: Staples rival : DEPOT

19. Suffix with señor : ITA. Senorita. Like our -ette, feminizing.

20. Outfielder who had a single-season record 262 hits in 2004 : ICHIRO. With the Mariners then. Love this Ichiro stretching picture.

22. Hidden repository : CACHE

26. C.S. Lewis lion : ASLAN

27. Symbol of steadiness : EVEN KEEL

28. School-wk. start : MON. And 72. Honoree on the third 28-Across in Jan. : MLK

29. Shell lobbers : MORTARS

31. Copy editor's mark : DELE

36. Emulate Eminem : RAP

39. "CSI" actor George : EADS. I can never remember his name. Quite handsome.

40. Literature Nobelist Canetti : ELIAS

46. Gander, e.g. : MALE. Trick clue.

47. Player with earbuds : IPOD. So what's your favorite podcast? Mine is  Fresh Air.

51. Lyricist Gershwin : IRA

52. Dustin's "Midnight Cowboy" role : RATSO

53. One of a hotel room pair : TWIN

55. Medina native : SAUDI

56. Feeling sluggish : LOGY. I think I learned this word from another Doug P puzzle.

58. Defunct '80s gridiron gp. : USFL (United States Football League)

60. Recipe quantity : ONE CUP

63. Missile stabilizer : FIN. Learning moment to me.

64. Shinbone neighbor : KNEECAP

70. Forbidden : TABOO

73. Squiggly diacritic : TILDE. The stuff in Jalapeño.

79. Julius and Augustus, e.g. : CAESARs

83. Blubber : CRY

84. Haile Selassie followers : RASTAs

85. De Matteo of "The Sopranos" : DREA

87. Many a Royal Troon golfer : SCOT. Held a few British Opens. JD visited St Andrews last year.

88. Be on the same page : AGREE

90. State secrets? : BLAB. Nice clue. Verb "State".

92. Longhorn rival : AGGIE

95. Baton Rouge sch. : LSU

96. Romney's 2012 running mate : RYAN (Paul)

97. 1/640 of a square mile : ACRE

102. __ cotta : TERRA. Some of you saw these terra-cotta warriors in person. The biggest tourist draw in Xi'An.

104. Singer Tennille : TONI

105. The "t" in Crete? : TAU. Just their T.

112. Farm Belt state : IOWA

116. Swallowed one's pride : ATE CROW

117. MD workplaces : ORs

118. Item kept near brushes : PAINT CAN. Poor Marti must be tired to see those cans.

121. Name on many video games : MARIO

126. Fallback option : PLAN B

127. "And don't forget ..." : ALSO

128. Break : RECESS

129. "__ Maria" : AVE

130. "The Playboy of the Western World" dramatist : SYNGE (John). Not familiar with the play or the author.

131. Scrabble two-pointers : DEES

132. Enthusiastic : RAH-RAH

133. Folk hero Kelly : NED

Down:

1. Gave a ride, say : AIDED

2. Log cabin warmer : STOVE

3. Eye color : HAZEL

4. Best of health, figuratively : PINK.  Also Victoria Secret's lingerie line.

5. Climber's goal : ACME

6. Hosiery variety : SHEER

7. Move furtively : SIDLE

8. D-backs, on a sports ticker : ARI

9. Typical "Yo Gabba Gabba!" viewer : TOT

10. Relay sticks : BATONS

11. Feeling sorry about : RUING

12. Stir : ADO

13. Cheap saloon : GIN MILL

14. Beltway region, briefly : DC AREA

15. Taiwan's locale : EAST ASIA. This missing Malaysian Airlines is so mysterious. Could it be hijacked somewhere?

16. Programming class setting : PC LAB

17. Orchard Field, today : O'HARE

18. Keyed up : TENSE

24. Año opener : ENERO

25. In the thick of : AMIDST

30. Great Depression migrant : OKIE

33. Take to the airport, say : SEE OFF

34. Floppy topper : TAM

35. Most pleasing to Jack Sprat : LEANEST

37. Bubble filler : AIR

38. Sch. meeting group : PTA

41. Cereal go-with : MILK

42. Weights, when pumped : IRON

43. Judicious : SAGE

44. Zombielike states : STUPORS

45. Suffix with lion : ESS

46. Skimpy skirt : MINI. And 91. Skirt companion : BLOUSE. Try it, it's not easy to find a pretty Blouse & Mini picture, Dave!

48. Powder __ : PUFF

49. Patient of Dr. Liz : ODIE. I drew a blank of Dr. Liz.

50. Enjoy a meal : DINE

54. Got the job done : WORKED

55. Fine china name : SPODE. LENOX also has 5 letters.

57. High-elevation enigma : YETI

59. San Diego suburb whose name means "the table" : LA MESA. Very helpful clue.

61. Loop site : CHICAGO

62. Pac-12 school : UCLA

65. Core group : CADRE

66. "Take a Chance on Me" quartet : ABBA

68. Down with something : ILL

69. Come clean, with "up" : FESS

71. Muffin stuff : OAT BRAN. I don't eat any bran stuff. Or brown rice.

74. Dueling memento : SCAR

75. Unrestrained party : ORGY

76. Constellation named for an instrument : LYRA

77. NASCAR Hall of Famer Yarborough : CALE

78. Like some flaws : TRAGIC

80. Scopes Trial gp. : ACLU

81. Historic Parks : ROSA. Noticed P is capitalized.

82. Simple earring : STUD

86. Psych 101 topic : EGO

89. Hard to resist : ENTICING

93. Mtge. feature : INT

94. Panamanian pronoun : ESA

97. 2012 Best Picture : ARGO

98. Crustacean used in Cajun cuisine : CRAWDAD. I don't think I've had any authentic Cajun food.  (From Marti: I chuckled when I saw CRAWDAD in the grid today. Here is a picture of a Crawfish Boil we had down in Florida with friends from New Orleans.  It was the gen-u-ine thing!)

100. "Barbara __": 1960s hit : ANN

101. Bails : QUITS

103. Dress like a justice : ENROBE

104. Statue subjects : TORSOS

106. Packs down : TAMPS

107. Land of the Apennines : ITALY

108. Showed again : RE-RAN

109. Futile : NO USE

110. Period in history : EPOCH

111. More valuable, possibly : RARER. Like the Mickey Mantle rookie card.

113. Giant squid's home : OCEAN

 114. Give up : WAIVE

115. Paid to play : ANTED

119. Rick's flame : ILSA. "Casablanca".

120. Light bite : NOSH

123. Ringside cheer : OLE

124. Clearance rack abbr. : IRR

125. Genteel gathering : TEA

C.C.

Saturday, February 1st, 2014, Doug Peterson

Theme: DP

Words: 72 (missing F,J,Q)

Blocks: 30

  Mr. Peterson is flying solo this Saturday, and while this was a challenging and solvable puzzle, there were too many proper nouns crossing people and places, which takes the enjoyment out of it, at least for me.  Heavy corners today with triple 7's, and triple 6's on the walls.  In the middle we have two 12-letter and 2 9-letter spanners;

19A. Sub : HERO SANDWICH - slightly redundant in my neck of the woods; if I said I was "going for a hero sandwich", my friend's would ask me if I was OK. 

34A. "Arrow-maker's daughter" in a Longfellow poem : MINNEHAHA - I had no clue, but once I had MINNE----, I recalled hearing this name somewhere.  According to Wiki, she's 'another' popular individual in MN

44A. Subject of weekly ratings : TV PROGRAM

55A. Where Superman made his debut : ACTION COMICS - well, I started with MARVEL COMICS, and I am sure aficionados would cringe at the thought - Action was originally published under Detective Comics; it's how we come to have DC Comics today

onward~!

ACROSS:

1. Sign with a sting? : SCORPIO - I gave this one a moment, considered "road" signs, then decided to move on - and just as I clicked to the next clue, the astrology meaning popped into my head, and the V-8 can flew

8. Anatomical blade : SCAPULA - I gave no moment to this one - had to wait on perps; oddly, there were quite a few answers that eluded me this week, and looking back, I am ashamed to admit it. 

15. Key keys for many secretaries : HOME ROW - A,S,D,F <-> J,K,L,; - my typing skills have come from AutoCAD, and keeping a daily journal on the computer for the last 9 years; on my laptop, there's literally an indent on the left end of my space bar, the "A" has worn off its key, and I still have trouble hitting comma, period, colons and quotes

16. "Guess again!" : NO SIREE~! - well then, I'll choose HOSIERY~!

17. Stacked : IN A PILE

18. Free-spirited locale? : OPEN BAR - free = open, spirits = alcohol; the local locale of the blog is Villa Incognito

21. Yahoo! rival : MSN - Microsoft Network - Internet and Email providers; yep, I went with AOL to start.

22. Bar order : RYE - Dah~! Went with ALE first

23. Certain tributes : ODES

27. Fitness brand : AVIA - my first instinct was this fill, but I had AOL in already; this meant "AA" for 4d., and that looked wrong

30. Big name in Tinseltown tittle-tattle : TMZ - Again, this was my first fill instinct; I call it  'hype' news; I can't stand the commercials, never mind the show.  Learning moment; TMZ stands for Thirty-Mile Zone, the 'studio zone' of Hollywood. 

32. Soften : RELENT - neatly followed by:

37. Score directive : LENTO - If the next word was ENTOMB, that'd be really cool.  Well....

38. __ Arizona : USS - I stared at this way too long; it took the middle "S" before the "Duh" hit me

39. Three-time McDonald's LPGA Championship winner : SE-RI PAK - Crossing Iolanthe, Dr. Zhivago and Elko is just brutal, period. 

41. Like the vb. "have" : IRRegular - that's strange; I use the word "have" pretty regularly (From C.C.: Irregular conjugation here.)

42. Loser's metaphor : SHIRT - "lost my shirt when the market crashed"

46. Make lovable : ENDEAR

48. Bolted down : ATE

49. Well-sinewed : ROPY - I went with WIRY to start

50. Face-to-face contest : DUEL - meh, not really - they're about 20 paces apart, at least using pistols.  I can see getting in close using swords, but my mind was stuck on boxing, and even chess

51. Cousin of com : ORG - DAH~!  I put in EDU, since NET wasn't going to work, nor BIZ, but for some reason, ORG completely eluded me. When I first read the clue, I thought it said c o r n , not com

53. Bud abroad : AMI - Frawnch

61. Red wood, perhaps : HOT COAL - I can walk on hot coals - of course, my shoes are ON

64. Asana accessory : YOGA MAT - I had --AT at the end, was thinking "asada", or grilled "meat", so this one took a while to appear

65. Martha's Vineyard paper since 1846 : GAZETTE

66. Train : EDUCATE

67. Like some Thanksgiving turkeys : TRUSSED - ah, not STUFFED

68. Old-fashioned messages : TELEXES

DOWN:

1. With 63-Down, toy from Tibet : SHIH ; 63. See 1-Down : TZU - First and last; paired clues for bookends

2. Froyo holder : CONE - we have a Frozen Yogurt place in town, but in my head, I see it as "Fro-Yo" ; froyo looks like the Spanish word for a kitchen accessory

3. Old Persian poet : OMAR

4. Pro with a tow truck : REPO MAN

5. Uptight type : PRISS - D'oh, I went with PRUDE, slowed me down

6. Gilbert and Sullivan operetta that satirizes Parliament : IOLANTHE - Never heard of this, so after I filled it in using perps, I went to Wiki

7. "Children of Men" star Clive : OWEN

8. White : SNOWY - This was just a downright awesome one-word Saturday clue/answer

9. Staples staple : COPIER - TONER, PAPER, PENCILS didn't fit, and I was AT Staples today - again, the obvious did not occur to me

10. "Hold on __!" : A SEC

11. Source of a slow leak, perhaps : PINHOLE

12. Sub finisher? : URB - SubURB - I went with ARU first -  SubARU

13. Bucolic spot : LEA

14. __ Arann: Irish carrier : AER - Again, seems obvious now that I am done

20. Physician married to Tonya Gromeko : DR. ZHIVAGO

24. "A Bronx Tale" director : DE NIRO

25. Lead on : ENTRAP

26. Dark 'n' __ (rum and ginger beer cocktail) : STORMY

27. Kept occupied : AMUSED

28. Four-armed deity : VISHNU

29. Favorable track position : INSIDE - I'm on the inside track to being recalled to drive for UPS; I've been back on the pre-load side since Jan 10th.

31. Outlet : MART

33. Nevada city : ELKO

35. Verb in first-year Spanish : ESTA

36. Patient request: Abbr. : APPT

40. Trio preceding an exchange : AREA CODE

43. Tightens, as a corset : RELACES

45. Sign of displeasure : GRIMACE - I put GRUMBLE in first; 57% correct

47. Take a turn : ROTATE

52. Beside oneself : RILED

54. Heavy hitter : MOGUL

56. Storable sacks : COTS - ah, that kind of sack

57. It may be heard in Orel arguments : NYET - Russia, that is; I was stuck on the OrAl we had Wednesday, and thought it was a biblical reference

58. Theater giant? : IMAX

59. " The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" co-star Blanchett : CATE

60. Some Fr. martyrs : STEs

61. Lic. number : HGT - I started with D.O.B., which didn't help. The abbr in the clue told me it couldn't be AGE, then a-ha~! either WGT or HGT

62. Shell mover : OAR - dah~! that kind of shell

Splynter(ed), from Wednesday's 11d.

Wednesday, May 23, 2013 Doug Peterson

Theme: Mental Wealth - each of the theme entries begins and ends with MI-ND as the unifier explains

 17A *Tiny time unit: MILLISECOND When I was younger it bothered me that there weren't a million milliseconds in a second. Now I've got better things to worry about.

 

 24A *Compromising position: MIDDLE GROUND I was nicely misdirected here - I wasn't thinking "a position of compromise" but something a little racier.

 39A *Prop for an emcee: MICROPHONE STAND A prop in the sense of something to lean on?

 

 51A *Loitered: MILLED AROUND Plenty of that going on at the conference/expo I'm at today.

 63A Mood, and a literal feature of the answer to each starred clue: FRAME OF MIND Ahh - the answers are "framed" by MI-ND. I'm in New Orleans this week, and in the "Big Easy" frame of mind.

Happy Wednesday everyone - Steve here with Doug Peterson's latest offering, a solo outing this time. Purists might quibble about one single-word and three two-word theme entries, but I'm fine with it. Let's see what else we've got.

Across:

1 Short sermon: HOMILY

7 Barrier along a bank: DIKE

11 Breakfast meat: HAM. Food!

14 Easy-entry baby outfit: ONESIE

15 “Happy Days” actress Moran : ERIN There's been some unflattering photos of Erin in recent years, but let's stick with the happier days

16 Skater Midori: ITO Famous for having jumped completely out of the rink at the 1991 World Championships and carried on still smiling.

19 “Brave __ World”: NEW. Aldous Huxley's best known opus.

20 Blues legend James: ETTA

21 Words with instant and hour: IN AN

22 Four Tops tune, e.g.: OLDIE. Crosses helped me out here.

27 “Sesame Street” music teacher since the show’s inception: BOB Crosses helped me out here too! Can I call a repeated blog comment a blecho?

 

30 Negative replies: NOS

31 Start a bridge hand: DEAL. Don't you shuffle before you deal?

32 Standoffish: ALOOF

34 Grifter’s game: CON

35 It’s all in your head: IDEA Sometimes it feels like all I've got in my head are dim, distant recesses and voices.

43 “Times of Your Life” singer Paul: ANKA

44 Popular Calif. destination: LAX. I'm not sure I'd call Los Angeles International Airport a popular destination for me - I'm in and out of that place far too often - I'll be back there on Thursday.

45 Buzzy instrument: KAZOO. Annoying instrument might be better!

46 Clump of dirt: CLOD. I like this word.

48 Tiki bar accessory: LEI

50 Capital of Saskatchewan?: ESS Because Canadian Dollar doesn't fit. Capital letter.

56 Coastal recess: INLET

57 Show willingness to compromise: BEND

58 Director Kazan: ELIA

62 Steeped brew: TEA

66 Turntable letters: R.P.M. I wonder how long it will be before we need the "archaic" convention for this?

67 Musical syllables: LA LA

68 “The Wrestler” star Mickey: ROURKE

69 Seventh Greek letter: ETA. ETTA, ELIA and ETA. Not quite a mini-theme, but I'll call these a grouping.

70 Bark excitedly: YELP

71 Orderly arrangements: ARRAYS

Down

1 Spot for an office: HOME. My office is at home so I didn't hesitate with this one.

2 Handling the job: ON IT

3 Hot sandwich: MELT Food! I've been moderating my diet since January, Currently I can only eat a melt vicariously though pictures.

4 Muhammad Ali’s faith: ISLAM

5 XXVI doubled: LII It amazes me how the Romans managed to do math - did they invent the abacus or was that the Greeks?

6 Unequivocal agreement: YES I DO. I had YES SIR at first which slowed things up a little.

7 Transferrable image: DECAL

8 Like a 7-Down, perhaps: IRONED ON Nice run-on!

9 Many holiday guests: KIN I was thinking along the "houseful" lines at first.

10 “Bewitched” mother: ENDORA. Crosses all the way for me with this one. I had not even a vague, dim-and-distant idea here.

11 Many a Mumbai man: HINDU. And there are many Mumbai men - the first time I stepped outside the airport there I couldn't believe the bedlam.

12 Picked up pizza, say: ATE IN Took me quite a while to see this

13 Tended the turf: MOWED

18 Phases out: ENDS

23 Nabokov title girl: LOLITA

25 A gumshoe often pays for it: INFO

26 Trait transmitter: GENE

27 The Crimson Tide: BAMA. I think this a great example of clue/answer symmetry - in this case both are nicknames.

28 Swedish actress Lena: OLIN Who is she? I need to bone up on my actors and actresses, they've caused me nothing but trouble today.

29 Strong lager: BOCK Ah - now we're back in my comfort zone. Originally German, now many varieties brewed around the world Prost!

33 Mythical source of wisdom: ORACLE. With a shameless plug for my employer, check out this clip of the Oracle Team USA America's Cup catamaran in San Francisco Bay - I've been playing this on a loop all day at the Oracle booth at the conference.

34 Longtime Aniston co-star: COX Jennifer's friend Courtney. Also Bruce Springsteen's friend in the Dancing in the Dark video.

36 Throw for a loop: DAZE

37 Grandson of Eve: ENOS Officially clueless. Me that is, not him.

38 Kerfuffles: ADOS. "Kerfuffle" is one of my favorite words.

40 Walk heavily: PLOD

41 Really enjoyed oneself: HAD A BALL

42 Shallot covering: SKIN I overlooked the blindingly obvious here and was trying to remember what the Lady of Shallott was covered with in Tennyson's ballad. When I dug up "robed in snowy white" from the inner memory recesses I was stumped. Then the penny dropped.

47 Threw: LET FLY

48 Unique: LONE

49 Writer Welty: EUDORA. ENDORA/EUDORA

51 British bishop’s topper: MITRE I didn't know these were unique to bishops from my homeland. That's one big hat though.

52 Hardly handy: INEPT

53 Peruvian grazer: LLAMA Twinned with BAMA. Lots of these today.

54 Update to reflect new roads, say: REMAP. It's a lot easier nowadays with satellites. It took 50 years to produce the first complete maps of the UK - they pretty much had to go right back again and start over.

55 Voice an objection: DEMUR

59 Pre-euro currency: LIRA. I need to wait now to see if this is LIRA or LIRE.

60 Dark and murky: INKY

61 Sugary drinks: ADES

64 “Norma __” : RAE. JEA - oops, not enough room for Marilyn.

65 On behalf of: FOR

That about wraps it up for today. Time to go and find something to eat - of course, that's not exactly difficult in NOLA!

Steve

Saturday, Jan 5th, 2013, Doug Peterson

Theme: Heat~???

Words: 72

Blocks: 29

  Coming to you LIVE from Philadelphia, PA, it's the Saturday solving duo of Splynter and Mike (we're out here doing a kitchen remodel).  Fun solve today, with a lot of "hot" clechos "*".  Tricky & chunky 7-letter corners, with two 14-letter spanners, and two 11-letter climbers. 

33. 2010 film about George VI : THE KING'S SPEECH - I didn't see the movie, but my mother enjoyed it.  IMDb

39. Not related : BESIDE THE POINT - usually in conversations

10. Tots' coolers : KIDDIE POOLS - sometimes, adults, too; and I needed its related clue to get it:  3. Filler of 10-Down : GARDEN HOSE

 24. Took an informal survey : ASKED AROUND


!~DRAW-NO

ACROSS:

1. Style associated with Prince Valiant : PAGEBOY - the haircut

8. It may hold old records : JUKEBOX - I said to Mike "seven-letter word, "K" in the third...and he just says "jukebox".  I was of a "File-a-fax" mentality

15. Oakland's county : ALAMEDA

16. Duds on a field : UNIFORM - not firecracker duds

17. Layered German dessert : STRUDEL - who's got the best recipe~!?

18. Bouquet item : RED ROSE

19. Covers, as a bare spot : SODS

20. Substantial, sumwise : TIDY

22. Overly possessive type? : DEMON - Anyone else like the movie 'Constantine'~? 

23. Get on : AGE

24. Not berthed : ASEA

25. Point : AIM

26. Long runs : TEN-Ks - Ah.  Thought it was TEARS first, then TREKS

28. Fabric ridge : WALE - not SEAM

30. "Listen, ewe!" : BAA - Har-Har~!!

37. "If all goes well" : I HOPE SO

38. Tops with tops : HOODIES

41. Field fare, briefly : MRE - Meals, Ready-to-Eat

42. Surface statistic : AREA

43. Sanctioned : LEGIT

45. Heat source? : IRE

46. Shiloh battlers : REBS - Civil War soldiers

49. One of two teams to join the NCAA Big 12 in 2012 : TCU - Texas Christian University, and their "Horned Frogs"

50. Dance popularized by Perez Prado : MAMBO - Love this song, featured on Ocean's Eleven soundtrack

53*. Emanating heat : SEXY - Oh yeah, this is emanating heat; and one for the ladies

54*. Result of excessive heat : CHAR

55. Jungle movie costume : APE SUIT - LOIN CLOTH didn't fit; and they both make you hot; one's too much fabric, one's too little....

57. "Argo" director : AFFLECK - Ben

59. Strength : POTENCY

60*. Heat measure : CALORIE

61. Singlet synthetic : SPANDEX

62. Work that ends badly : TRAGEDY

DOWN:

1. Jetta relative : PASSAT - Volkswagen cars

2. Utterly : ALTOGETHER

4. Runners with striped chicks : EMUS

 

5. Dream world? : BED

6. "Golden Boy" playwright : ODETS

7. New Haven matriculator : YALIE - students at the Connecticut college

8. Dozen in a box : JURY - good clue/answer

9. Sorbonne one : UNE - French

11. First name in violinists : EFREM - Zimbalist; bio here; his granddaughter is more in my wheelhouse, and I love her name - Stephanie

12. Good time : BOOM

13. Not quite on the dot : OR SO....

14. Group that battles Magneto : X-MEN - I have sideburns; occasionally, I am asked why I am going with the "Wolverine" look

21. Dippy __: original name of Disney's Goofy : DAWG

25. Journalist Stewart or Joseph : ALSOP - I linked these guys a couple of weeks ago

27*. Soldier's chapeau : KEPI - I linked a pic of this not too long ago, too; it had some heat, too

29. Court legend : ASHE - Arthur of the tennis courts

30. Showing one's support : BEING THERE

31. Main component of vinegar : ACETIC ACID

32. Patient replies : AHs - "open wide"

34. France's Grenoble-__ Airport : ISERE

35. Eminence : NOTE

36. Sedgwick portrayed in "Factory Girl" : EDIE

37. Company with an Extreme Blue internship program : IBM - International Business Machines, also known as "Big Blue" - gave it away for me

40. March __ : HARE

44. Flop : TURKEY

45. "When We Dead Awaken" was his last play : IBSEN

47. Better than close : EXACT

48. Without a doubt : BY FAR

50. Boundary showers : MAPS - "Show me the boundary~!"

51. Not collectively : A POP

52. Prefix with fiction : META - "Don Quixote" is considered an example; more here

53. "Paradise Lost" river : STYX

54. Tub trouble : CLOG - ick

56. Rocks : ICE - Easy, Tin, easy, it's just a clue....

58. Hollywood's st. : FLA - the "other" Hollywood - map

On the drive over the Verrazano Bridge, you can see the Freedom Tower progress

Splynter