Friday July 24, 2009 David W. Cromer

Theme: ICed - IC is inserted into familiar phrases.

18A: Break from soldiers' training?: BASIC RELIEF

24A: Clown settlement?: ANTIC COLONY

38A: International affair?: TOPIC OF THE WORLD

49A: O. Henry stories?: IRONIC WORKS

60A: Copperfield's limo?: MAGIC WHEELS

Hmmm, IC, maybe I SEE (12D: Now that makes sense) is a better theme title.

I did not know there is a special term for those chrome wheels. Mag wheels are so named because "the aluminum is mixed up with a bit of magnesium to form a stronger alloy", according to one article.

Another hard puzzle for me. Lots of misdirections. I just don't think I am capable of solving late week puzzles. My "Yes, I can" hope has faded into "Probably not", just like some of Obama's ambitious plans.

O'NEAL (64A: Center of Cleveland?) clue is tricky. I actually knew Shaq was traded to Cleveland Cavaliers last month. I remember his "Win for Ring for the King" (LeBron James) quote in the newspaper. But I did not make the connection. Thought it's just another wordplay on the very center of word Cleveland.

Across:

1A: Devious, in a way: COY. Plunked in SLY immediately.

4A: Bad states: SNITS. My husband is easily peeved.

9A: You often see a lap in one: CHAIR. Ha ha, I was picturing someone's lap, but I could not see a CHAIR.

14A: Bullet in a deck: ACE

15A: Strange: OUTRE. Tried EERIE first.

16A: Kind of trader: HORSE. Could only think of FUR.

17A: Royal sleep disturbance, in a tale: PEA. Hans Christian Andersen's "The Princess and the PEA".

20A: Ill-advised: RASH. Is "Ill-advised" the same as "Ill-considered"?

22A: Flames' org.: NHL. Our NHL team is Minnesota Wild.

23A: Gives the slip: EVADES. "Give the slip" is a new phrase to me.

27A: Old waste allowance: TRET. After the deduction for TARE (the weight of a vehicle).

28A: Resemble strongly: PASS FOR

33A: ID necessity, often: PHOTO. The clue is asking for an abbreviated answer, isn't it?

36A: Plow into: RAM. Dictionary explains "Plow into" as "to strike with force". New to me.

37A: Like Chinese dishes, frequently: TO GO. My instinctive reaction is FATTY.

42A: It may be gross in med. sch.: ANAT

43A: OPEC member: UAE. The world's tallest building (Dubai Tower,2,684 feet) is in UAE.

44A: Development units: HOMES. And ACRES (65A: Some plots). I thought of the fictional plots.

45A: Picks: SELECTS

47A: Monopoly cards: DEED

54A: Pizza chain: SBARRO. No idea. Not a fan of pizza or Italian food. The logo looks like SHARRO.

58A: Like Bizet's only symphony: IN C. I had IN? sitting there forever.

59A: Night light: NEON. Nice rhyme. I was in the moonlight direction.

63A: Short sentence about a long term: I DO. Tricky clue. I thought of prison term/sentence.

66A: "I reckon not": NAW. Hillbilly slang I suppose.

67A: Noodleheads: GEESE

68A: "Siddhartha" author: HESSE. Has anyone read this book? Hermann HESSE also wrote "Steppenwolf". He won Nobel Literature in 1946.

69A: It's up to you: SKY. Of course! But I was too stupid to know.

Down:

1D: "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" director: CAPRA. I watched "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" simply because of Chris Matthews. It's one of his favorite movies.

2D: Shore thing: OCEAN. Sure.

4D: __ story: SOB

5D: Fine point: NUANCE

6D: August comment: IT'S HOT. And WHEW (41D: See 6-D). I don't understand the rationale for the WHEW clue.

7D: Warbling sound: TRILL

8D: IPO overseer: SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)

9D: Malibu and Tahoe: CHEVYS. Oh, cars.

10D: Guadalajara greeting: HOLA. What do you normally say when you pick up the phone? Chinese say "Wei", same pronunciation as Michelle Wei's surname.

11D: Ideal for Joshua trees: ARID. Joshua trees grow in desert.

13D: Trio in an NBA game: REFS. Wow, I did not know this. Not interested in basketball.

19D: Entitle, as an altered file: RENAME

21D: Ancient Indo-European: HITTITE. No idea. It's "a member of an ancient people who established a powerful empire in Asia Minor and Syria, dominant from about 1900 to 1200 BC".

25D: Swift reptile: CROC. Did not know CROC is a reptile member.

26D: Vividly colored fish: OPAH. Or TETRA, another colorful fish.

29D: Used as an elevator: STOOD ON

30D: Blob's lack: FORM

31D: Rubberneck: OGLE. The answer is always GAWK.

32D: Eye cells: RODS. I forgot this "Eye cell" meaning of ROD.

33D: NEA supporters: PTAS

34D: Fine-tune: HONE

35D: Fall birthstone: OPAL. Birthstone for October.

36D: Itinerary abbr.: RTE

39D: Have a better crew than: OUTROW. Wrote down OUTMAN.

40D: Burkina __: FASO. I've never heard of this landlocked nation. It's in West Africa.

46D: Group with common interest: CIRCLE. "Charmed CIRCLE, Gertrude Stein and Company" is a very interesting read.

47D: Some booth occupants: DINERS

48D: Proverbs follower: Abbr.: ECCLES. Bible book. Stumped again.

50D: Heiress, perhaps: NIECE

51D: Equestrian tools: REINS

52D: Maker of Advantix cameras: KODAK. Not familiar with Advantix. AIG replaced KODAK as a DOW component several years ago. Now Kraft Foods has replaced AIG.

53D: Blizzardlike: SNOWY

54D: Urban hazard: SMOG

55D: Proverbial thorn: BANE

56D: "A Death in the Family" novelist: AGEE. James AGEE also co-wrote the script for "The African Queen".

57D: England's Portsmouth Harbour and and others: RIAS. I don't know Portsmouth Harbour is a RIA, which is often just clued as "Narrow inlet".

61D: "As if!": HAH

62D: Mariner's hdg.: SSE. Oh well, it can be any direction.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday July 17, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: The Double(t) Is Double(d) TT → DD

17A: Evidence of a spilled dessert? PUDDING ON THE DOG

22A: Nervous ticks?: SHUDDER BUGS

35A: Linens for jockeys?: OFF-TRACK BEDDING

51A: Slope where sycophants hang out?: NODDING HILL

57A: What a yenta exam does?: TESTS ONE'S MEDDLE

Just learned the idiom "putting on the dog" a few months ago from a LAT puzzle. Notting Hill is an affluent area in West London. Also a very romantic movie starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant.

Bitter & bidder should be interesting to work with. Latter & Ladder might not be fun. What else can you think of?

Quite a few tricky clues in today's puzzle:

54A: It may be added to impress: IVE. Impressive.

7D: Jet problem?: LAG. Jetlag.

I struggled with the multiple-word entries today.

Across:

1A: Per se: IN ITSELF. Per se is literally "by itself" in Latin.

9A: Research, perhaps: LOOK UP. Hmm, I often LOOK UP the word in my dictionary during solving. I am not cheating. Just doing my research.

15A: Statue, perhaps: MEMORIAL. I guess I understand the controversy over a Chinese designing MLK Memorial Statue. Maybe it should be sculpted by an African American. However, MLK transcended racial line.

16A: When some shifts start: AT NINE. Never know when to put AT NINE, when to put NINE AM.

19A: Symbol of love: EROS. Ha ha, I thought of ROSE. Red rose is my favorite flower.

20A: Any of the Beverly Hillbillies: YOKEL

21A: PC linkup: LAN (Local Area Network)

28A: Consider overnight: SLEEP ON. Don't think too much. Just do it.

30A: Sicily's capital?: ESS. Letter S is the first (capital) letter of Sicily.

32A: They're usually rolled outs: TARPS. D'oh, ballpark. I was thinking of dough.

34A: Hipbones: ILIA

41A: Miss equivalent?: MILE. I've never heard of the proverb "A miss is as good as a MILE". Thought of the French miss MLLE.

42A: W, once: YALIE. George W. Bush graduated from Yale. Harvard Business School as well.

43A: Sports drink suffix: ADE. Gatorade.

44A: Pinch, so to speak: NAB. I did not know pinch is a slang for arrest.

47A: Staples Center NBAer: LA LAKER. I am glad Kobe Bryant got his NBA Championship ring sans Shaq.

55A: Playground assertion: IS TOO

56A: 1961 space chimp: ENOS. I wonder why they named him ENOS.

63A: "The Joy Luck Club" author: AMY TAN. A rare author gimme for me. She is a Chinese American. "The Joy Luck Club" is the name of the mahjong club the four ladies formed. Great read.

64A: Fetch: RETRIEVE

65A: Artist's home, perhaps: COLONY. I am not familiar with this definition of COLONY. I thought of STUDIO.

66A: 2009 film based on a TV show that premiered in 1966A: STAR TREK

Down:

1D: Drives forward: IMPELS

2: __ network: NEURAL. Had problem piecing the answer together.

3D: "Finished!": I'M DONE. One blank too much for VOILA.

4D: "Dracula" (1931) director Browning et al?: TODS. I can never remember this guy. Last time the clue was "Pioneer filmmaker Browning".

5D: Hindu honorific: SRI. Sanskirt for "splendor/majesty". SRI Lanka means "Venerable Island".

6D: Cologne article: EIN. Or DER, DAS, all German articles.

8D: Rock's Pink __: FLOYD

9D: Fried fare often served with applesauce: LATKES. I don't know, I've never had LATKES or the Norwegian lefsa.

10D: Catchall column heading: OTHERS

11D: Produce amt.: ONE LB. Cherries are in season now. My favorite snack at the moment.

12D: Tease: KID

13D: Game with Draw Two Cards: UNO

14D: Takedown units?: PEG. Oh, "take down a PEG".

18D: Junction point: NODE

22D: Bandy words: SPAR. I think Chris Matthews (Hardball) has the best job in this world.

23D: Group dance done while holding hands: HORA. The Jewish wedding dance.

24D: Offensive to some, briefly: UN-PC (UN - Politically Correct). And ETTE (29D: Suffix which may be 24-Down). I don't understand why ETTE is UN-PC.

25D: Wrinkly fruit: UGLI. It's actually quite sweet.

26D: Cross the threshhold: GO IN

27D: Beast with a rack: STAG. Ha ha, I just typed in "Breast with a rack" a moment ago.

33D: Shade of blue: SKY. The clue is quite Monday-ish.

34D: Flash of sorts: IDEA

35D: Arabian Sea nation: OMAN. Capital Muscat.

36D: Generic pooch: FIDO. What's the name of your dog(s)?

37D: Hightailed it: FLED

38D: Site of the active volcano Mount Agung: BALI. Guessed MALI first.

39D: Airline to Eilat: EL AL. Eilat, pronounced as ey-laht, is the southernmost city of Israel.

40D: Pickle flavoring: DILL. The only herb I use are chives. The basil at the Farmer's Market makes me headache.

44D: Xterra maker: NISSAN. My knowledge on car makers is as weak as my understanding of Bible.

45D: "I come to bury Caesar" speaker: ANTONY (Mark). "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him...".

46D: Weed __: lawn care product: B-GON. Not familiar with this brand at all. No chemical spray in my garden. And HOERS (53D: Weed whackers).

49D: Exhibit Darwinism: EVOLVE. This clue feels so highbrow.

52D: "Same here!": DITTO. Interesting to see a lone TT here.

56D: Work for Money, maybe: EDIT. I did not pay attention to the capitalized Money (Money magazine).

57D: Part of a winning trio: TAC. Tic-TAC-Toe. Stumped also.

58D: Musical genre related to punk: EMO

59D: Dict. division: SYL (Syllable). I wanted SYN (synonym).

60D: An hour's worth of tunes, maybe: SET. OK, Dictionary says SET can refer to "a group of pieces played by a band, as in a night club, and followed by an intermission". Is this the correct rationale?

61D: NYC subway inits.: MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority). I wrote down IRT (Interborough Rapid Transit).

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday July 10, 2009 Ken Bessette

Theme: STOUT (64A: Heavy brew, and a clue to this puzzle's theme) - ST OUT (ST is cut out from the theme phrases)

17A: Ennis and Jack in "Brokeback Mountain"?: (ST)RANGE BEDFELLOWS

25A: Etchings?: (ST)ART FROM SCRATCH

42A: Gerontologists?: (ST)AGE TECHNICIANS

56A: Tried to get into Guinness by gobbling hot dogs?: (ST)ATE FOR THE RECORD

This puzzle is very similar in concept to Gareth Bain's NIXON puzzle, where ON is nixed in each theme entry.

I liked ART FROM SCRACH the most, very evocative. Watching the 4th of July hotdog gobbling contest made me sick. Horrifying scene. I always associate TECHNICIANS with mechanical stuff, so AGE TECHNICIANS for "Gerontologists?" came as a surprise to me. My husband does not allow me to netflix "The Brokeback Mountain".

Nice puzzle. Very creative tie-in STOUT. I actually got STOUT earlier on, unfortunately I could not parse it correctly. So it did not really help my solving at all.

Across:

1A: Helps a certain hacker, say: ABETS. North Korea just hacked into many US government websites.

6A: Map showing easements: PLAT. Easement is "A right, such as a right of way, afforded a person to make limited use of another's real property." Unfamiliar definition to me.

10A: "__ Baby": "Hair" song: ABIE. No idea. ABIE is often clued as "Irish Rose's lover".

14A: Raven's sound: CROAK. Ha ha, I thought only frogs CROAK.

15A: Doth own: HATH. Does own = HAS.

16A: Item in a belt: TOOL. I was picturing a buckle. OK, hopefully you can find AWLS (25D: Punching gadgets) in a TOOL belt.

20A: Inning trio?: ENS. Three N's in innings.

21A: Magic prop? WAND. Glinda the Good Witch of the North has one.

22A: Sheepish response?: BAA BAA. Cute clue.

23A: Plane starter?: AERO. Aeroplane. I did not know British call airplane aeroplane.

24A: "Sometimes __ a pleasure": Byron: SIN'S. Have never heard this line. Makes sense though.

31A: Baba __: Gilda Radner persona: WAWA. A spoof of Barbara Walters.

32A: NE New Jersey city: LODI. See this map. I only knew the LODI in California.

33A: Big ref.: OED (Oxford English Dictionary)

35A: Prevaricator: LIAR

36A: Puts away: STOWS. And SALT (49D: Store (away)). Is it correct to put two brackets at the right end?

38A: Magazine content: AMMO

40A: "Let it be": STET. To an editor.

41A: Pirate of fiction: SMEE. "Peter Pan".

47A: Landscaping shrubs: YEWS. Why are they used as shrubs when they are poisonous?

48A: Minnesota's St. __ College: OLAF. Marvelous. All Minnesota clues make me happy.

49A: Sister of Venus: SERENA. She just won Wimbledon.

52A: "The Witches of Eastwick" actress: CHER. Easy guess. Have never heard of the movie. Looks scary.

53A: Musician's degree: MFA

59A: Outdoor feast: LUAU. Literally "young taro tops", which were served at outdoor feasts. Taro cakes are very tasty.

60A: Old timepiece: DIAL

61A: Peninsula bordering Israel: SINAI. Belongs to Egypt.

62A: Ones place: TILL

63A: Short cut: SNIP. I sprinkle freshly snipped chives in everything I cook now. My green beans look very weak this year. Might have bought the wrong kind of seeds.

Down:

1D: Lot, sometimes: ACRE. I was not thinking of farmland "lot".

3D: Big times: EONS. Wrote down ERAS. To me, EONS are long long times.

4D: Phone __: TAG

5D: Barbecuing aid: SKEWER. Shrimps + pineapple + green onion. Delicious.

6D: Prodigy: PHENOM

7D: Fawcett's "Charlie's Angels" successor: LADD (Cheryl). No idea. She looks pretty.

8D: DOJ bureau: ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms). ATF belonged to Treasury Department before 2003.

9D: 1963 thriller set in Bodega Bay: THE BIRDS. I only saw the end of this movie. Terrifying.

10D: Words after a holdup: AT LAST. Struggled with the answer.

11D: Knucklehead: BOOB. I wonder if BOOBS has ever been directly clued as breasts in any major puzzle before.

12D: Major caucus site: IOWA. Ah, Tim Pawlenty 2012.

13D: Lanchester of "Bride of Frankenstein": ELSA. First encounter with this actress.

18D: Prefix with meter: BARO. Barometer.

19D: It's part of Maui county: LANAI. Dan Naddor just clued it as "Island where Bill and Melinda Gates were wed" 2 weeks ago.

23D: Yonder: AFAR. Could not jam in THERE.

24D: Tub: SCOW. Did not know the "old, slow, clumsy vessel" meaning of tub.

26D: Mrs. Gorbachev: RAISA. My goodness. I did not know RAISA is dead. Obama just met with Gorbachev a few days ago.

27D: Country sound: TWANG. D'oh, country music.

28D: Animal that sleeps upside down: SLOTH. No idea. I only knew BATS sleep upside down.

29D: One might appear many times in a long list: COMMA. I love Mickey Mantle, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Kirby Puckett, Johan Santana and Justin Morneau. OK, that's plenty of commas.

30D: Studs: HE-MEN

34D: Stag mates: DOES

36D: Wine openers: STEWARDS. My favorite clue.

37D: Private eyes: TECS. Detectives. Like the Pinkerton guys.

38D: "That's not happening!": AS IF

40D: Pool worker: STENO. I was imagining a swimming pool.

43D: As much as one cares to see: EYEFUL. I just can't believe how lucky these girls are. Look at their waists. So tiny.

44D: Of little use: NO HELP

45D: Robert of "The Soprano": ILER. Gimme. Learned this name from Dennis's mistake. He tried to re-clue ILLER as ILER last time.

46D: Gentle touch: CARESS

50D: Sewing case: ETUI

51D: Unlike a figment: REAL

52D: Trendy tea: CHAI. Why "Trendy"? CHAI is rooted in "Cha", Chinese for tea.

53D: Like 45s: MONO. Monophonic?

54D: Lady of the Haus: FRAU. Haus is German for "house".

55D: Ore seeker's entrance: ADIT. This has become a gimme.

58D: Loc. __: CIT. The other footnote is IBID.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday July 3, 2009 Jeff Chen

Theme: Set In

17A: 1988 biopic about Dian Fossey, literally: THE GORILLAS MIST (Gorillas in the Mist)

27A: It's too important to ignore, literally: THE ELEPHANT ROOM (Elephant in the Room)

49A: Kids' ball game, literally: THE MONKEY MIDDLE (Monkey in the Middle)

65A: Metaphorical philosophical conflict used as an album title by The Police, literally: THE GHOST MACHINE (Ghost in the Machine)

Difficult puzzle for me. I did not get the theme until I cheated and solved the grid. I had only noticed the THE in front of each theme answer.

Out of the four theme entries, "elephant in the room" is the only familiar phrase to me. Then I realized the constructor simply changed the order of the phrase and literally placed ELEPHANT in THE ROOM.

The last one is a bit odd. Maybe Jeff Chen could not find a 15-letter "Animal in the __" phrase. Can you?

Quite a few clever clues. My favorite is ADS (67D: Pitches between innings?). Excellent sales pitch.

Across:

1A: Powerful court opponent: ACER. Tennis court.

5A: Remote location?: SOFA. Remote control.

9A: City near Syracuse: UTICA. And DOME (42D: Carrier __: Syracuse stadium). Very interesting, Wikipedia says there is no airconditioning in the Carrier DOME due to the weather.

14A: Bay relative: COVE

15A: Surefooted goat: IBEX. The wild mountain goat with recurved horns. Why "surefooted"?

16A: Frigid: POLAR. STIFF would be a great answer too.

20A: Navigational aid: SONAR

22A: Oenophile's word: OAKY. Oeno is goddess of wine. I like how it crosses CASK (12D: Large container). Wish it clued as "Wine vessel".

23A: Race unit: LAP. And EAR (25A: Corn unit). Nice consecutive "unit" clues. Then TOE (45D: Corn site). A pair of different corns.

37A: Barber's device: STROP

38A: "Sicko" filmmaker Michael: MOORE. "Sicko" is too negative. Dcumentaries are supposed to be objective.

39A: Commotion: STIR. And SIRED (41A: Brought into being) & WHIR (43A: Blender sound). Three IR answers in this row (#8).

44A: Acclaim: ECLAT. Thought of WM (Kathleen Wolf). Eager to see her interview next week. What she has achieved is stunning.

46A: Kind of drive: CD-ROM. I was in the golf drive direction.

52A: __ green: PEA. Isn't strange that pea coat is always navy blue color?

53A: Source of low-fat meat: EMU. My goodness, I did not know EMU is a source of food.

54A: Pop: SODA. Sounds silly, but I really did not know what POP is when I first arrived in Minnesota.

57A: Chuck: TOSS

61A: Not happy: IRKED

68A: Archer, at times: AIMER. Not fond of the er repetition. "To love, in Paris" is much better. AIMER is French for "love", verb. Je t'aime, mon amour.

69A: Musician's forte?: LOUD. Musical "forte", as opposed to piano (soft).

71A: Subject of a promise to deliver, with "the": GOODS. Deliver the GOODS. I kept thinking of Exodus.

73A: Lion's share: MOST. So much power is concentrated in the hands of so few.

Down:

1D: John follower: ACTS. Books of Bible. I can never remember the order.

2D: Small salmon: COHO

3D: Fifty-fifty: EVEN. What was I thinking? I wanted HALF, which is 50%.

4D: Wine and dine: REGALE

5D: Paul McCartney, e.g.: SIR. Nick Faldo is now a SIR too.

6D: Decorative Eastern accessories: OBIS. Loved "Band from Asia" (OBI) clue last time.

7D: Experienced: FELT

8D: Hot rod rod: AXEL. Saw identical clue before. Still like it.

9D: Bulls' predictions: UPS. "Bears' predictions" is DOWNS.

10D: Song that begins "The sun'll come out": TOMORROW. The only "Annie" song that I know.

11D: Pelvic bones: ILIA

13D: Affectedly cultural: ARTY

18D: Hurdles for would-be doctors: ORALS. Oh, doctor degree. I was thinking of physicians.

24D: Guinea pigs, maybe: PETS

26D: Green dispenser: ATM. Green is slang for money.

27D: Tube, so to speak: TV SET

28D: Thumb: HITCH. Short for hitchhike?

29D: Novelist Zola: EMILE. "J'accuse".

30D: Blood test feature: PRICK. Ouch!

31D: Throng: HORDE

32D: Impressionist's skill: APERY. And MIMIC (47D: Copy)

33D: Marveled audibly: OOHED. Aahed too.

34D: Projecting window: ORIEL

35D: Country Music Hall of Famer ___ Travis: MERLE. No idea. What's his most famous song?

40D: Rushed violently: RAMPAGED

50D: Alb. and Cros. joined in 4/1/2009: NATO. Nailed it.

51D: North Carolina college town: DURHAM. Duke University.

54D: Alone: STAG

55D: Home to Columbus: OHIO. I used to confuse Buckeye with Hawkeye.

56D: Audition handout: DEMO

58D: 1952 Olympics host: OSLO. Formerly Christiania.

59D: Knock off: STOP

60D: Blue books?: SMUT. We call off-color books "yellow books" in China.

63D: Son of Seth: ENOS. Or "Slaughter in Cooperstown".

64D: Debugging application?: DEET. D'oh, the real bug.

66D: Store posting: Abbr.: HRS

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday June 26, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: Have Ewe Herd These Puns? (L added before D)

18A: Rhinovirus kept under wraps?: SECRET COLD (Secret Code)

24A: Saved up for the slots?: HELD QUARTERS (Headquarters)

34A: One great baseball play after another?: FIELDING FRENZY (Feeding Frenzy)

50A: Flared pants for steelworkers?: WELDING BELLS (Wedding Bells)

56A: Dessert that's been out for too long?: PIE A LA MOLD (Pie a la Mode)

A special 16*15 grid to accommodate the 14-letter theme answer FIELDING FRENZY. Normally the central theme answer has an odd number of letters.

I thought of Fool's Gold. But I don't think Fool's Goad fits the pattern.

This is the most interesting Dan Naddor puzzle I've solved. Loads of fun. Dan mentioned that he tries to shoot for at least 20 entries of 6 letters or more in his puzzle. I counted 18 6-letter entries in Down alone.

Across:

10A: GE and GM: MFRS (Manufacturers). I just could not keep Dow out of my mind, though I was aware that GM was kicked out of Dow 30 (replaced by Cisco).

14A: One who never gets out: LIFER. Nice clue.

15A: "__ Rappaport": 1986 Tony winner for Best Play: I'M NOT. I guessed. Have never heard of this play/movie.

17A: Old-time actress Massey: ILONA. Got her name from Down fills. Wiki says she was billed as "The New Dietrich", but she did not live up to the hype.

20A: Pink lady liquor: GIN. What's your favorite cocktail? Mine is Long Island Iced Tea.

21A: Historic Italian city near Naples: NOLA. The answer emerged itself. Wiki says Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of Rome, died in NOLA.

23A: Quaking?: SEISMIC. Saw similar clue before. Still like it.

27A: Bond rating: AAA. The highest bond rating.

28A: Audition: TRYOUTS

29A: __ Hashanah: ROSH. I love apples dipped in honey.

30A: "My Boys" airer: TBS. No idea. Have never heard of "My Boys".

32A: Bungler: OAF. The mostly klutzy words in crossword world.

33A: Security concern: MOLE. I wrote down LEAK.

40A: Blowup source, briefly: NEG

42A: Reading and others: Abbr.: RRS

43A: A, in communications: ALFA. Not ALPHA?

45A: Buttercup family member: ANEMONE. Also called windflower. Rooted in Greek anemos, meaning "wind". Dictionary says it's so named because the petals are easily lost in wind.

49A: D-H filler: EFG. Monday clue. "DH filler" is better.

52A: Public face: PERSONA

55A: Passbook abbr.: DEP (Deposit)

58A: Island where Bill and Melinda Gates were wed: LANAI. On Jan 1, 1994. I was not aware of this trivia.

60A: Type type: Abbr.: ITAL

61A: Black tea: PEKOE. Chinese origin. Literally "white down/hair".

62A: Car dealer's offering: LEASE

63A: Where el sol rises: ESTE. East is "EST" in French/Italian.

64A: Imperial Oil brand: ESSO. Imperial Oil is Canada's largest petroleum company.

65A: Certain NCOs: SSGTS

Down:

1D: Affront: SLIGHT. I like this noun/verb ambiguity.

2D: More cunning: WILIER

4D: Boggy locale: FEN

5D: Serene: TRANQUIL. Quality fill.

6D: Not spread carefully: SMEAR. I am often confused by "not". Can never tell whether the answer should be a present tense verb or past participle style adjective. SMEARED would be a correct answer too, if there were two more blanks, correct?

7D: SASE, e.g.: ENC

8D: In direr straits: WORSE OFF. Good clue.

9D: Keeps the car on the road: STEERS

10D: Apple products: MACS. Come on, shock me, let the answer be CIDER someday.

11D: Completely: FROM A TO Z. Oh my goodness. I struggled with this multiple word again.

12D: In a way you can count on: RELIABLY

13D: Tsk evoker: SAD CASE. To me, a SAD CASE brings out more sympathy than "tsk".

15D: __ Canarias: ISLAS. Canary Islands.

19D: Mrs. Addams, to Gomez: TISH. Somehow I confused her with MRS C, which was clued as "Richie's mom, to Fonzie" before. Can't tell you how frustrated I am by those old TV fills.

22D: Exposed publicly: OUTED

25D: Peace advocates: DOVES. As opposed to the hawks.

26D: "Perry Mason" lieutenant: TRAGG. Again, got the answer with Across fills.

32D: Early first century date: ONE A.D. Ah, no Roman numeral.

33D: Muse of memory: MNEME. Unknown to me. That's how we get mnemonic I suppose. Dictionary says she is one of the three original muses, together with Aoede (muse of song) and Melete (muse of meditation).

34D: Gives up: FORFEITS

35D: Words before "to be alive" or "to be back": IT'S GREAT

36D: Kindles, as passions: INFLAMES

37D: Slender and long-limbed: RANGY

38D: Looks over closely: EYEBALLS. Or "Measure/estimate visually".

39D: Private school teen: PREPPIE. Or preppy.

43D: MP's quarry: AWOL

44D: Delaware tribe: LENAPE. Literally "original people."

46D: Racing has-been: OLD NAG. I wonder how the steroid-user Big Brown is doing.

47D: Place for Marlins, briefly: NL EAST. Also inclued the Mets, Phillies, Braves and the Nationals. This answer often gives me trouble.

48D: Glimpses: ESPIES

51D: Block house: IGLOO

53D: Rep's success: SALE

59D: JFK's UN ambassador: AES. Adlai Stevenson served as JFK's UN ambassador from 1961 to 1965. He was actually hoping to get the Secretary of the State post, which surprisingly went to Dean Rusk.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday June 19, 2009 Stella Daily and Bruce Venzke

Theme: Diamonds Are Forever

17A: Start of a quote: I NEVER HATED A MAN

41A: Quote, part 2: ENOUGH TO GIVE HIM

64A: End of a quote: HIS DIAMONDS BACK

And ZSA ZSA (72A: Speaker of the quote, familiarly). Nice addition to the quote.

Zsa Zsa Gabor also said: I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house. I wonder how many diamonds/houses she has obtained through this strategy.

This is our first Quote/Quip themed puzzle since the LAT switch, correct? I polished it off rather quickly, with a few errors. The quote itself was very familiar, so I was able to fill in plenty of blanks without the normal Titanic Friday struggle.

My favorite clue today is OBI (61A: Band from the East?). I was picturing a music band not the kimono band. I also like the clue for DELETE (69A: Takeout order?). Thought it might have something to do with the takeout food order or gang's order to kill someone.

Across:

1A: Tolkien's Legolas: ELF. Legolas is portrayed by Orlando Bloom in the movie.

10A: Striker's bane: SCAB. Reminds me of the SNAFU (54A: Messy scenarios) during 1989 Tiananmen Square Incident. Many of the SCABS were actually conscientious workers.

16A: __ stick: POGO. I rather like "We have met the enemy and he is us" speaker clue for POGO.

20A: Shivering fit: AGUE. See, English is weird, words ending in AGUE (plague, vague, league, etc), have completely different pronunciations.

21A: State until 1991: Abbr.: SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic). Every time I see this clue, I see the birthmark on Gorbachev's bald head. Do you have birthmark also? Gorbachev's Nobel Peace is probably well-deserved.

22A: Part of a woodlands stash: ACORN. I still can't believe people once drank ACORN coffee.

23A: 1519 Yucatán arrival: CORTEZ. According to Wiki, Hernando CORTEZ's arrival caused the fall of the Aztec empire and started the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. I obtained the answer from Down fills.

26A: Remote function: PAUSE

28A: "Rubáiyát" poet: OMAR. Wow, I just found out the OMAR means "first born son" in Arabic. No wonder so many people are called OMAR.

30A: "Star Trek" weapon: PHASER. Like this. Saw this clue before.

34A: Apple pie go-with?: MOM. Why? I wanted baseball, hot dogs or Chevrolet. None fits.

37A: Alcohol-based solvent: ACETAL. ACET(o) +AL(cohol). Perfume ingredient.

40A: Palestinian city: GAZA. GAZA Strip. Controlled by Hamas.

45A: Arrival: ADVENT

47A: Plane site: HANGAR. I don't think they will find the blackbox of that Air France Airbus. Quite a few conspiracy stories have been swirling around.

51A: Rolls partner: ROYCE. Rolls -ROYCE.

58A: Go furtively: SNEAK

63A: Radius neighbor: ULNA

68A: Mont Blanc, par exemple: ALPE. Mont Blanc is the highest peak of the Alps.

71A: Make (one's way): WEND. New word to me.

73A: Scout units: Abbr.: TPS (Troops). Which one is the eagle scout pin? Awesome collection.

Down:

1D: Pioneering computer: ENIAC. Developed in 1946.

2D: Shop talk: LINGO. Sometimes the answer is ARGOT.

3D: Lilas or tulipe: FLEUR. French for flower. The real flower. Not Rich Norris' fake Seine flow-er.

4D: Miler Sebastian: COE. He headed the London bid for the 2012 Olympics.

5D: Boston Garden legend: ORR (Bobby). Easy guess. I've never heard of Boston Garden.

8D: Violet lead-in: ULTRA. Misread the clue as "Violent lead-in".

9D: Manhattan liquor: RYE. I like Long Island Iced Tea.

10D: Period that started with Sputnik: SPACE AGE. In 1957.

11D: How, in Jerez: COMO. The answer would be "COMMENT" in Paris.

12D: Bio lab gel: AGAR. Food thickener as well. Made from seaweed.

13D: Former European capital: BONN. Capital of West Germany (1949-1990).

18D: Put the kibosh on: VETO. Latin for “I forbid”. The Sicilian ETNA volcano is literally "I burn".

19D: Recipe bit: DASH

24D: Salon or Slate, briefly: E-MAG. Eliot Spitzer is now a columnist for Slate.com. Too bad, he only writes financial stuff.

25D: Millard's predecessor: ZACHARY (Taylor). I can never remember the exact order.

27D: Earth-to-satellite connections: UPLINKS. Data path from earth to satellite. Opposite DOWNLINKS, data path from satellite to earth. Both new words to me.

29D: Like many Ariz. residents: RETD (Retired). More in Florida, right?

31D: Satirical Mort: SAHL. He is still alive.

32D: He played Emile in "South Pacific": EZIO (Pinza). Oh, the Broadway "South Pacific". I kept picturing the Emile in the film "South Pacific". EZIO Pinza won Tony for the role.

35D: __ Day: dietary supplement brand: ONE A. Wish those multivitamin pills are smaller.

36D: Maker of ShowHouse faucets: MOEN

38D: "Mazel __!": TOV. Hebrew for "Congratulations". I should say this to our Elissa for her HOURGLASS FIGURE. Hell will freeze over before I get a 24" waist.

39D: "The African Queen" co-screenwriter: AGEE. Katherine Hepburn has some fun description of the shooting of "The African Queen" in her biography. Amazing amount of alcohol were drunk everyday. The excuse was that the water there was unsafe.

42D: Went for more memory, say: UPGRADED. Computer memory.

43D: Dodge Viper engine: V-TEN. Easy guess. I did not really know the engine for Dodge Viper.

48D: 2004 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Isao: AOKI. Just look at those highlighted green letters, you should be able to remember his name. One starts with I, one ends with I; One ends with AO, one starts with AO.

50D: Slap on: DAUB

53D: Virus named for an African river: EBOLA. Nice trivia. The river is in Congo.

55D: Bluegrass great Lester: FLATT. What's the technical name for their hats?

56D: Open, in a way: UNCAP

58D: "Arms and the Man" playwright: SHAW. I guessed. Have never heard of this play. I only know SHAW's "Pygmalion".

59D: Shade of green: NILE. Is it somehow related to the river? You would think NILE is "Shade of blue". Thought of LIME.

60D: What many jocks watch: ESPN. I like this clue.

62D: Don Juan's mother: INEZ. Spanish for Agnes, "pure"/"chaste".

65D: Cooper's tool: ADZ. Ha ha, I thought of the handsome Anderson Cooper (CNN) immediately.

66D: Consequence of getting bombed too often?: DTS (Delirum Tremens). "Bombed" is slang for drunk.

67D: Wet expanse: SEA. MER in French and MAR in Spanish.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday June 12, 2009 Robin Stears

Theme: Try It!

17A: Where Jerry Garcia kept food for the band?: DEAD PANTRY (Deadpan)

28A: Minimalist wall hanging?: BLANK TAPESTRY (Blank Tapes)

47A: Small clergy group?: MICRO MINISTRY (Micro Minis)

64A: Wedding cake mock-up?: FAUX PASTRY (Faux Pas)

About a month ago, Rich Norris clued CHERRY GARCIA as "Ice cream flavor honoring a Grateful Dead icon" in his "Shades of Red" puzzle.

I figured out the theme very quickly, and immediately gave BLANK TAPESTRY and every other theme entry a TRY. I think this girl's micro mini skirt would look better without the big belt. Yes? Thought of WM's love for a cake blog and her "Faux Finisher" daughter when I filled in FAUX PASTRY.

I liked this puzzle a lot. It's BEAUT (36A: Doozy). The theme is so simple yet creative. The original base phrases and the new made-up entries are quite livley.

Lots of black squares, 44, the limit on Rich Norris's 15*15. Most of the other newspaper puzzles cap the number at 38.

Have a look at the constructor Robin Stears's blog. She has written several books.

Across:

1A: Schooner features? JIBS. Nice to start a grid with a letter J.

5A: Kingdom called the Friendly Islands: TONGA. Ugh. I thought of Bhutan where Gross National Happiness index rather than GNP is measured. TONGA is literally "South" in many Polynesian language, according to Wiki.

10A: Biblical plague insect: GNAT. Easy guess. I am not aware of GNAT's Biblical reference. I thought it's locust.

16A: Wear the crown: RULE. Or REIGN.

20A: Fertilizer source: ALGAE

22A: Tar Heel State university: ELON. Often clued just as "North Carolina university".

23A: 1990s speed skating gold medalist: KOSS (Johann Olav). Absolutely no idea. Johanna Olav KOSS is from Norway.

26A: One with a habit: NUN. A rare repeat clue.

35A: Chichi: ARTY. It's the same as ARTSY, isn't it? The clue made me think of Golf Hall-of-Famer Chi Chi Rodriguez.

38A: North Carolina country: ASHE. Unknown to me. Here is the map. Was it named someone surnamed ASHE?

40A: Blue shades: TEALS. The answer might be AQUAS if this were a Barry Silk puzzle.

42A: __ race: ARMS

45A: "East of Eden" brother: ARON. His twin brother is Cal. I thought James Dean was so so in the movie.

46A: Expressive rock genre: EMO. What exactly is the EMO genre?

51A: __-de-vie: brandy: EAU. Literally water of life.

56A: Bygone carrier: TWA. Recklessly wrote down SST.

67A: Blacken: SEAR. I love seared tuna, crusted with sesame seeds, YUMMY! (33D: Scrumptious).

68A: Slacker: IDLER

71A: Bear named for a president: TEDDY. T.R. originated "Speak softly and carry a big stick".

72A: Strategic WWI river: YSER. This has become a gimme. YSER river flows to the North Sea.

Down:

1D: Actress Pinkett Smith: JADA. Another gimme. Will Smith's wife. Both are scientologists, I think.

2D: Country on the Denmark Str.: ICEL. Ah, its most well-known citizen is probably Björk. I thought that swan address is rather cute. Don't understand why it's ridiculed.

3D: Crow: BRAG

4D: "Bad Blood" singer: SEDAKA. This singer does not look like Neil SEDAKA. Maybe I am familiar with the aged SEDAKA.

5D: Luggage-screening gp.: TSA (Transportation Security Administration). Established after 9/11.

6D: Part of BYO: OWN. Bring Your OWN.

8D: "The Day the Earth Stood Still" robot: GORT. Stumper. Here is a picture. Is it related to the Jewish robot golem?

10D: Beverage brewed in a gaiwan: GREEN TEA. "Gaiwan" is literally "lidded bowl".

13D: Many a "One Tree Hill" character: TEEN. The answer revealed itself. Not familiar with this TEEN TV drama.

18D: Drudge: PEON. Noun. I thought of TOIL first.

24D: 32-card game: SKAT. For three players.

25D: Flow: STREAM

27D: Plug-and-play PC port: USB (Universal Serial Bus)

28D: Like a close buddy: BOSOM

29D: Actress Christine: LAHTI. Total stranger to me. Wiki says her name is Finnish for "gulf"/"bay"/"cove". And she won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her role in "Chicago Hope".

30D: __ 2600: early game console: ATARI

31D: Road cones: PYLONS. Holy cow. I had no idea that these cones have a special name.

37D: Eponymous Chinese general: TSO

39D: Substitute for dropped items: ET CETERA. Probably my favorite clue today.

44D: Palindromic altar: ARA. This has become a gimme also.

48D: Equip: OUTFIT

49D: Something to keep a teller busy?: SAGA. Nice play on tell-er.

50D: Inferior: TRASHY. Somehow I thought of ersatz.

53D: Fresh approach?: SASS. The answer revealed itself. I did not know "fresh" can mean "impudent" as well.

55D: Bold alternative: Abbr.: ITAL. Italic.

57D: 1973 defendant: WADE. Roe v. WADE

58D: "Should __ acquaintance ...": AULD. Again, the answer revealed itself. I only know the song title "AULD Lang Syne".

61D: Della's creator: ERLE. ERLE Stanley Gardner. Della Street is the secretary of Perry Mason.

62D: Batik worker: DYER

66D: Meddle: PRY. Rhymed with the theme TRY.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday June 5, 2009 Gareth Bain

Theme: ET TU (59D: Famous last words (and homophonically, a hint to this puzzle's theme))

19A: Genetic coding for an official legislative trip?: JUNKET DNA (Junk DNA)

23A: NASA scrapheap?: ROCKET PILE (Rock Pile)

51A: Long-eared dog's performance?: BASSET SOLO (Bass Solo)

52A: Young hen's bar bill?: PULLET TAB (Pull Tab)

2D: Horn section?: CORNET ROW (Cornrow)

34D: Dance after getting a shock from an outlet?: SOCKET HOP (Sock Hop)

"ET TU, Brute?" are Julius Caesar's famous last words. I got the answer immediately. Then I got PULLET TAB in a hurry and realized that ET is added into the theme answer. But I simply could not parse ET TU. Forward to 1:24, you will hear ET TU is pronounced like "Add TU", homophonically. I was confused.

I've never heard of Junk DNA, but JUNKET came easily. Is Jack Abramoff sentenced yet? I think I would have taken his Scotland golf JUNKET too. I actually did not know what a pullet is. Only knew the French "poulet". Not familiar with the Sock Hop dance either.

Very choppy solving today. Quite a few tricky clues. I really liked the overlapping and the interlocking of the theme answers.

The helper squares Gareth Bain mentioned in his interview refer to two black squares directly above and below ADJ (13D) and BEL (60D).

Across:

1A: Bank holding: Abbr.: ACCT

5A: Village Voice awards: OBIES. Yep, OBIES are given by Village Voice.

10A: Place to wear a coat: LAB. Nice clue. I did not get it immediately. I need a science or chemist word for hint.

13A: Parting of the Pacific?: ALOHA. Another great clue. I was misguided into really "parting" the Pacific like Moses did with the Red Sea.

14A: They help form joints: ULNAE. More used to the "Arm bones" clue.

15A: Loved, with "up": ATE

16A: Florida home of Golf's WGC-CA Championship: DORAL. Played on its Blue Monster Course. Used to be the spot for DORAL Open.

17A: Jazz great Art: TATUM. I forgot. Googled this guy before. His left eye was blind.

18A: Columnist Hentoff: NAT

21A: It's shaken out: SALT. My favorite clue. I suppose PEPPER can be clued the same.

22A: __ Spielgel: German magazine: DER. German for "The Mirror". A weekly magazine. Similar to our Time or Newsweek.

28A: Organic compound: ENOL

29A: Mo. in which the Civil War began: APR. April 12, to be exact.

31A: Hercules' neighbor: LYRA. See this diagram. I did not know Hercules is a constellation. I kept thinking of the young boy Hylas, who found the treasure chamber with Hercules in "Jason and the Argonauts".

33A: Inventor friend of Henry Ford: EDISON. Easy guess. I don't know those two were friends.

37A: Ruth's mother-in-law: NAOMI

39A: H.S. VIPs.: SRS. Never attended a school here. Don't know why SRS are VIPS. You'd think the principals are.

46A: Cry near the ears?: CAW. Why? I wanted COO.

47A: Blacksmith's item: SHOE. For horse? I don't know.

49A: "Eight Days __": A WEEK. Beatles' song.

55A: Pic source: NEG. And PAN (30D: Shoot with a moving camera).

57A: Large group: ARMY. Like Arnie's ARMY, fans of the golf legend Arnie Palmer.

61A: Mauna __: KEA. Wrote down LOA immediately. Mauna KEA is "white mountain". Mauna LOA is "long mountain". LOA=long. Both are volcanos.

62A: Larry Flynt concern, briefly: PORNO. I forgot who Larry Flynt is. Did know his "Hustler" though.

65A: Funny pair?: ENS. Two letter N's in Funny.

66A: Give the boot: EVICT

67A: Fairy tale threat: TROLL. Do you collect TROLL dolls?

68A: Sound of support: RAH. Wanted OLE.

69A: Places for guards: GATES. This is so unfair. We see Mac and iPod so often in the grid, yet Bill GATES has never been given an opportunity to shine.

70A: Org. with carriers: USPS. Mail carriers.

Down:

1D: Audibly: ALOUD

3D: Yoga energy point: CHAKRA. No idea. It's also spelled CAKRA. Sanskrit for "wheel"/"circle". Humans have seven CHAKRA points. I guess I know why #7 is.

4D: Ghost story, e.g.: TALE

5D: Great area?: OUTDOORS. Stumped. Is this about the movie "The Great OUTDOORS"?

6D: Man with many voices: BLANC (Mel).

7D: Pipe opening: INTAKE. Silly. But I really did not know this.

8D: Evian, par exemple: EAU. Evian is part of Danone, which has many joint ventures in China.

10D: Island on the Kalohi Channel: LANAI. Well, I know LANAI the Dole "Pineapple Island". Have never heard of Kalohi Channel. Please come to Comments section if you found a good map.

11D: In any way: AT ALL

12D: Davis of "The Little Foxes": BETTE. Ignorant of the movie.

13D: Dict. designation: ADJ. Adjective. Got the answer from Across fills.

20D: Priam's kingdom: TROY. Priam is the father of Paris/Hector/Cassandra.

21D: Took off: SPLIT

24D: 67.5 degrees: ENE. Mine was NNE.

27D: Happy-go-lucky: BLITHE. This word always brings to mind Blythe Danner, mother of Gwyneth Paltrow.

29D: "Wheel of Fortune" buy: AN I. I like this clue better than the black ANI bird.

32D: Discipline: ART. Don't get this one.

35D: Words with whim: ON A. On a whim.

36D: Out-of-the-box: NEW

38D: Hip-hopper Elliott: MISSY. Ha ha, a rare gimme for me. She is quite slim now.

40D: Leek cousins: SHALLOTS. Oil/Vinegar/SHALLOT/mustard, classic vinaigrette recipe.

43D: Angry: HOT. Mine was MAD.

45D: Missing at roll call, maybe: AWOL

48D: Lively wit: ESPRIT. Wrote down BON MOT.

50D: Partner of breaks: ENTERS. "Partner" in the clue always suggests an "and". Breaks and ENTERS.

51D: One of a nursery rhyme trio: BAKER. Butcher and the candlestick maker.

52D: Spartacus' stage: ARENA. Oh, the gladiator. I confused Spartacus with Spartan.

53D: Shatter: SMASH

54D: Wee bit: OUNCE

56D: Certain Scots: GAELS. Are CELTS "Certain Scots" too?

60D: Sound measure: BEL. I forgot. Saw this clue before. It's equal to 10 decibels. SONE is "Loudness measures".

62D: Hanging aid: PEG. I was in a totally different direction, thinking of the hanging of Saddam.

63D: Oft-donated cells: OVA. Oh, I thought only sperms are "Oft-donated".

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday May 29, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: I Like "U" (I → U)

17A: Flared garb for Tarzan: JUNGLE BELLS (Jingle Bells)

24A: Manage to provide morning refreshment?: MUSTER COFFEE (Mister Coffee)

37A: Scarf makers?: BOA CONSTRUCTORS (Boa Constrictors)

46A: Wrinkle on a dessert topper?: CHERRY PUCKER (Cherry Picker)

57A: Wolves full of themselves?: BLUSTER PACK (Blister Pack)

Why BELLS for "Flared garb"? I don't understand the connection. My favorite theme entry is BLUSTER PACK. I've been opening so many Blister Packs of baseball cards. And it also reminded me of Kim Jong-il and his blustering brinkmanship. Insane!

Typical Dan Naddor puzzle. Lots of theme squares (61). There are also four noticeable 10-letter long Down entries intersecting three of the theme entries:

11D: 1989 Daniel Day-Lewis film: MY LEFT FOOT. Wikipedia shows that the film won several Oscars. I've never seen it.

12D: One putting on a show: IMPRESARIO

27D: Cutting-edge farm parts: PLOWSHARES. Gimme for Windhover. But it's a new word to me. PLOWSHARE does not sound "cutting-edge" at all, PLOWSHARP does.

28D: It's hoisted on ice annually: STANLEY CUP. Nice, timely fill.

Quite a few clever clues. My favorite is BLTS (30A: Alphabetical orders?). I got B & S in position, then I filled in BCDS immediately, completely ignoring the question mark in the clue.

Across:

1A: Debacle: FIASCO. I've got no interest to read the sequel to "FIASCO".

7A: Fish used in sashimi: OPAH. Holy moley! I love sashimi, but I've never had OPAH. Wanted TUNA.

11A: "Good Will Hunting" setting, briefly: MIT. Great movie. The setting for Kevin Spacey's "21" is also MIT.

14A: Racket: UPROAR

15A: Denpasar is its capital: BALI. I had to check my dictionary to see where Denpasar is.

16A: Sumac from South America: YMA. From Peru. Her name means "Beautiful flower".

19A: Old platters: LPS

20A: First woman to land a triple axel in competition: ITO (Midori). Interesting trivia.

21A: Crumb: LOUSE. Did not know crumb is a slang for "worthless person". Was thinking of bread crumb.

22A: Levels: TIERS

26A: Orbital point: APSIS. Thought of APOGEE first.

29A: Keisters: PRATS. Both are new slang to me.

31A: Mogadishu native: SOMALI. The only SOMALI I know is Iman, wife to David Bowie.

35A: Actress Wray: FAY. Stranger to me. Wikipidia says FAY Wray is the first ever scream queen, originating from her appearances in the 1932 film "Doctor X" and the 1933 film "King Kong".

40A: Wheat beard: AWN. Fun clue. It reads like "Wheat bread".

41A: Short stops: PAUSES. Another great clue. Made me think of baseball's shortstop.

42A: Silk, in St. Étienne: SOIE. And TASSE (13D: Café cup). Alliteration in both clues.

43A: Finely contoured: SLEEK. I like the sequential clue order of 42 "Silk..."and then 43 "Finely contoured".

45A: Ulan __: BATOR. Ulan BATOR is literally "Red Hero". Russia's Ulan Ude is "Red Uda".

51A: Clapton hit that won the 1992 Best Rock Song Grammy: LAYLA. Here is the song clip. It's about Pattie Boyd, then wife of George Harrison.

52A: Off-the-wall piece on the wall: OP ART. Excellent clue.

53A: Humanities degs.: BAS

56A: Tolkien creature: ORC

60A: Modern, in Mannheim: NEU. Same pronunciation as our "new", Kazie? What is German for "old"?

61A: Tales and such: LORE

63A: Sixth of five?: ESP. The Sixth Sense. Stumped me.

64A: Odessa-to-Waco direction: EAST. I like this new cluing.

65A: Lacing air: EYELET

Down:

1D: Big film maker: FUJI. Also the highest mountain in Japan. And of course, FUJI apples.

2D: "__ a Spell on You": 1957 Screamin' Jay Hawkins song: I PUT. Here is the song. I wanted CAST.

3D: Florentine flower?: ARNO. River flows, hence flow-er.

4D: Soak, in British dialect: SOG. No idea. Thought of RET, which is often clued as "Soak flax".

5D: "We want to hear from you": CALL US. Nailed it immediately. But when I looked at my finished grid, I kept seeing CALLUS.

6D: Ingredients in a McFlurry, perhaps: OREOS. Stumped. I've never had McFlurry.

8D: Not so bright: PALER. As in color?

10D: Memorable: HISTORIC

18D: "Despite what I just said ...": BUT

23D: "__ tree falls ...": IF A. "IF A tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?".

25D: Not quite a B: C PLUS

31D: Serpentine: SNAKY

32D: Home of the NCAA's Buckeyes: OSU (Ohio State University). Just learned that Jack Nicklaus attended OSU.

33D: Whitney et al.: Abbr.: MTS. Thought of ELI Whitney first.

36D: River to the North Sea: YSER

38D: In working order: OPERABLE

39D: 1917 abdicator: TSAR

44D: Goethe's "The __-King": ERL. Gimmie after yesterday's Schubert's "The ____-King" clue. So, the boy is indeed fevered and hallucinating about the ERL-King?

46D: Knockoff: CLONE

47D: Falls heavily: POURS. D'oh, rain!

48D: Discomfit: UPSET

49D: Ailurophobe's dread: CAT. Had to check the dictionary for ailurophobe.

50D: Last word in a doughnuts: KREME. Krispy KREME. Not a fan of doughnuts. I wrote down EAT ME first.

54D: Teen breakout?: ACNE. Got it immediately. Saw identical clue somewhere before.

55D: Game with no card lower than seven: SKAT

58D: Mauna __: LOA. Hope to see the full MAUNA LOA in a grid someday.

Answer grid.

C.C.