Friday, December 27, 2019 David Alfred Bywaters

"I, uh..."

17. A vat, some cloth, etc.?: DYER NEEDS.   Dire needs.

24. One in a Mesoamerican cleanup crew?: MAYAN SWEEPER.   Mine sweeper.

38. Apothecary's concern?: PHIAL MANAGEMENT.    File management.  As Canadian Eh would tell us, phial is just another name for vial.

47. Large cat romantically interested in opposite-sex large cats?: STRAIGHT LION.   Straight line.

60. Surprisingly genteel outbreak of lawlessness?: CIVIL RIOT.   Civil right.


Had to ask for help to get the theme on this one.   The common phrases follow the 5 theme answers.   Just not sure that I agree about 17A, but the others all change a long I sound to an uh sound.  Dyer and Dire sound like the same pronunciation to me. 

Across:

1. Stop lying: RISE.   Get out of bed, perhaps.

5. Suburban expanse: LAWN.

9. Comes impressively into view: LOOMs.

14. One may be pitched to a publisher: IDEA.

15. Canal that helps connect the Great Lakes to the Atlantic: ERIE.   Excellent story and photos in this PBS article.

16. Capital SSW of Damascus: AMMAN.   The capital of Syria is Damascus.  The capital of Jordan is Amman.  The currency of Syria is the Syrian Pound.   The currency of Jordan is the Jordanian Dinar.

19. Surprise in a bottle: GENIE.  

20. Shade tree: ELM.

21. Jazz saxophonist __ Cobb: ARNETT.   No idea.   He was known as "Wild Man of the Tenor Sax."  JzB probably nailed it.    I would have known war correspondent Peter Arnett.

23. Angle or angler's necessity: LINE.   LurE first.  Should have paid attention to both parts of the clue.

26. Not from around here: ALIEN.


29. Any of four palindromic emperors: OTTO.    I wonder if any of them were nicknamed Desper ?

30. Gels: SETs.

31. Moody: IN A PET.    I read that "in a pet" can mean a fit of peevishness, sulkiness, or anger.

35. Object of podiatric study: TOE.

41. Serious misdeed: SIN.  

42. Not on the fence: OPTING.

43. Túpac Amaru, e.g.: INCA.   Perps.  There was a rapper named Tupac Shakur, so Tupac struck a bell.  Amaru did not. 

44. Beige look-alike: ECRU.

46. Big celebrations: FETEs.

53. Oxen group: TEAM.   The yoke's on them.

54. Ex __: out of nothing, in Latin: NIHILO.   Thank you perps.

55. Saddlebag carrier: ASS.

58. Make over: RENEW.   A variant for the typical redo.

62. Being dragged behind: IN TOW.   There goes Jinx !

63. Largest human joint: KNEE.

64. Not doing anything: IDLE.

65. No longer hip: PASSE.   Huey Lewis sang to us that "It's hip to be square."

66. Fax button: SEND.

67. Like some pockets: DEEP.   Deep pockets are required for the fitted sheets on some thicker mattresses.   In your gums, they are bad for the health of your teeth.   And as we all know, it's another term for being financially well off.

Down:

1. Lift: RIDE.

2. Pastoral verse: IDYL.    Hey !   What happened to the other L ?   Either way, after listening to some pronunciation clips, it sounds like idle or idol to me.  

3. Appear: SEEM.

4. Facial projection: EAR.

5. Not sure (of): LEERY.

6. Sports venue: ARENA.

7. Increase in girth: WIDEN.

8. Fits one within another: NESTs.   Nesting dolls, boxes, bowls, tables, measuring spoons... What else ?

9. Hang back: LAG.

11. Capable of anything: OMNIPOTENT.   A powerful word.

12. Nearly half of New England: MAINE. 

13. Express contempt: SNEER.

18. Indian bread: NAAN.

22. With 10-Down, breakfast choice: TWO EGG, and 10-Down: See 22-Down: OMELET.   Two egg omelet.   How adding cheese, diced ham, green bell peppers and onions ?

24. Tableland: MESA.   Devils Tower, pictured at 9A, is considered a butte, not a mesa.

25. Suffix with cigar: ETTE.

26. Egyptian serpents: ASPS.

27. City near Provo: LEHI.   I've never been to Utah.  I thought the 4 letter city near Provo was Orem, since that is what we most often see in crosswords.  People from the state are called ?????

28. Nomadic sorts: ITINERANTS.   Nailed it with the IT start.

31. Call into question: IMPUGN.

32. Member of the 2019 World Series champs: NAT.   The Washington Nationals.

33. Request from a Midwestern cheerleader, maybe: AN I.    Take your pick from Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, or Iowa State.    I watch when the Ohio State marching band dots the i.   I haven't heard any college cheers where the name is spelled out.  High school, yes.

34. God with a flute: PAN.   Didn't know Jean Pierre Rampal or James Galway from a couple of puzzles in the last few weeks, but Pan was a gimme.

36. Barely at all: ONCE.  Sometimes, barely at all is once too often.

37. LAX postings: ETAs.

39. Actress Petty: LORI.   No idea.   But then I learned she played Geena Davis's little sister in "A League of Their Own"


40. Comportment: MIEN.

45. Hitchcock was known for them: CAMEOs.   Here's 20 of the documented 39, but I couldn't spot him in a few.


46. Deluded one: FOOL.

47. Denude: STRIP.

I would have loved to see the clue simply as Delude, followed by Denude, but it was still fun.

48. Singer __ Marie: TEENA. The "Ivory Queen of Soul" here singing  "Square Biz"

"In 2004, while Teena Marie was sleeping in a hotel room, a large picture frame fell and struck her on the head. The blow caused a serious concussion that caused momentary seizures for the rest of her life." - Wikipedia

49. 2006 "American Idol" winner Taylor __: HICKS.   Nailed it with Taylor.   DW is a fan of Idol.

50. Yours, once: THINE.

51. Animate: LIVEN.

52. Sheepish admission: I LIED.   Until I finally decided to stop lying and get out of bed.

55. Assistant: AIDE.

56. Cobbler's concern: SOLE.   You can get sole year round from New England fishmongers, and you can probably find an old-timey cobbler to resole your shoes if needed.

57. Dance part: STEP.

59. "SmackDown" org.: WWE.    World Wrestling Entertainment.   SmackDown is a brand for this professional wrestling and sports entertainment corporation.

61. Unburden: RID.

You can also check your answers here:

Friday, December 20, 2019, David Alfred Bywaters

Title: LET IT BE CHRISTMAS

It is not often I am inspired to begin a puzzle write-up with a musical link but 'tis the season. Chanukah (Hannukah or however you want to spell it in Roman letters) begins this year on Sunday at sundown and Christmas is next Wednesday. The world is loaded with HOLIDAYS and I hope you all enjoy yours. I don't want to forget Festivus or Kwanzaa.

On to our delightful puzzle from DAB. When I started blogging here more than a decade ago, the first thing I learned was to look at 17 Across for a hint to the theme.  This week that is SAYCHEESE. If that is a themer then HAIRSALON also has to be part of the theme. That left me a BIGMESS. The second thing I learned from C.C. was "don't panic", so next is to look around the edges or at the Down fill. TA DAH! I found the rare Friday reveal: 26D. Disappointment ... and a hint to four puzzle answers: LET DOWN (7). So we need four fill with the trigram LET heading down from L-T.  The rest was interesting mental pictures.

3D. That one curl that makes the whole hairdo work?: KEY RINGLET (10). A Key Ring...

9D. Perfectionist butcher's pride?: CUTLET CORNERS (13).
The meat man does not Cut Corners.

18D. Breakfast theater offering?: HAMLET AND EGGS (13). Our Shakespeare fill, Ham and Eggs.

30D. Hollywood's latest canine discovery?: DOG STARLET (10).
Dog Star following in Lassie's paw steps.

There was one serious Friday clue/fill difficulty - ALBEDO - I am looking at you

Across:

1. Work with dough: BAKE. We kneaded to start with a pun.

5. Cylindrical granary: SILO. Hmm, silo (n.) 1835, from Spanish silo, traditionally derived from Latin sirum (nominative sirus), from Greek siros "a pit to keep corn in." It sounds like some Asian influence.

9. City in Illinois' Little Egypt region: CAIRO. I did not know the current status of the Southernmost CITY in Illinois.

14. Blessing ender: AMEN.

15. Letter-shaped auto feature: T-TOP. I like it near 19A. Chophouse choice: T-BONE.

16. Stomach trouble: ULCER. Stomach ulcers, which are also known as gastric ulcers, are painful sores in the stomach lining. ... This allows the digestive acids to eat away at the tissues that line the stomach, causing an ulcer. Stomach ulcers may be easily cured, but they can become severe without proper treatment. I will not post pictures.

17. Words before snapping: SAY CHEESE. Pictures not tempers. It perhaps comes from former Ambassador Joseph E. Davies and is guaranteed to make you look pleasant no matter what you’re thinking. Mr. Davies disclosed the formula while having his own picture taken on the set of his “Mission to Moscow.” It’s simple. Just say “Cheese,” It’s an automatic smile. “I learned that from a politician,”

20. Estonia, once: Abbr.: SSR. Soviet Socialist Republic.

21. Inlet: ARM. Meh.

22. Eases up: RELENTS.

24. Self-conscious question: IS IT ME? Yes, it is!

26. Performed eye surgery on, maybe: LASED. A mini-CSO to me as I have had YAG Laser surgery - not the popular one.

27. Win-win: NO LOSE. A partial?

29. Not getting along: AT ODDS.

33. Troll's cousin: OGRE. Are they REALLY related?

34. Code of conduct: ETHIC.

36. "Wow!": OOH. It needs an "AAH" to make sense to me. It has a clecho - 39A. "Wow!": OH GEE.

37. Dark: UNLIT.

38. Stir: ADO.

41. Really dug, with "up": ATE.

42. Hard wear: ARMOR. Very funny clue.

44. Antarctic explorer James: ROSS.
This famous MAN.

45. Spiral pasta: ROTINI.

47. Tree used for furniture and food: WALNUT. In case you want some nuts or syrup HOW TO RECOGNIZE a Black Walnut Tree.

49. Jingle-writing guy: ADMAN. Don Draper.

51. Render fizzy: AERATE. Like some others, I think of golf courses and greens.

54. Difficult and confusing situation: BIG MESS. I told you NO POLITICS!

57. Source of animal protection: FUR.

58. Sushi garnish: ROE. I am not caviar or other fish egg lover.

59. Script you can eat: ICING. We can't write in script here but Happy Birthday.

60. Permanent purveyor: HAIR SALON. Nice alliteration.

63. Obscure: BEFOG.

64. Magazine with a pronoun for a title: ELLE. A French pronoun.

65. Baseball team whose original full name is rarely used: METS. They were officially named the New York Metropolitans, after an 1883 short-lived team.

66. Outplays: BESTS. Like Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy.

67. Speculator's panicky cry: SELL.

68. 53-Down synonym: ITSY. Teeny weeny? 53D. 68-Across synonym: EENSY.

Down:

1. Low voices: BASSI.

2. Gather: AMASS. Like Uncle Scrooge- a fortune.

4. Letter abbr.: ENClosure.

5. Man cave setup: STEREO. Surround sound?

6. Bag of chips at checkout, say: ITEM. Random.

7. __ Altos, California: LOS. They have many very pretty and very expensive houses there.

8. __ house: OPERA. It was the only five letter fill that came to mind.

10. Planetary reflected-light ratio: ALBEDO. After reflecting on this clue, I realized I did not know it was the proportion of the incident light or radiation that is reflected by a surface, typically that of a planet or moon. The word comes from the Latin  ALBUS.

11. One who is more than just famous: ICON. Same start and length as IDOL.

12. Monthly check: RENT. Somewhat random.

13. Mine products: ORES. No, they are mine!

23. Actor Morales: ESAI. The first crosswordese fill I learned.

25. Bagels and donuts, shapewise: TORI. I like bagels and donuts, but I feel like some music with my coffee.

28. Tailor's task: SEAM. This seems incomplete.

31. "That __ it!": DOES. See, I told you so!

32. That girl: SHE. This show predated the Mary Tyler Moore Show

Now I get mail from her and St. Jude's weekly.

33. Not taken by: ON TO.

35. Group dance with hand-holding: HORA.

37. Nasser's org.: UAR. The United Arab Republic was a state formed by the union of the republics of Egypt and Syria in 1958. The juxtaposition is fun!

40. Happy __: HOUR. Are you aware of Sober Curious? Or do you get buzzed and dance the Hora by the Hour?

43. Lens holders: RIMS. Meh.

46. "You're wrong about me!": I AM NOT. Not a chance.

48. Poet's honor: LAUREL. These days you get a hardy handshake and no wreath on your head.

50. Hearth sweepings: ASHES.

52. Sweetie: TOOTS. This term is no longer pc to call a female. Spenser still calls Dr. Silverman "toots" at times.

54. Lettuce type: BIBB. Bibb lettuce is smaller butterhead lettuce with soft leaves used primarily as a salad green but also works well as a wrapper for foods.

55. Frozen drink brand: ICEE.

56. Computer images, briefly: GIFS. Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe.

57. Sate: FILL.

61. Tankard contents: ALE. Arrgh.

62. Athos, vis-à-vis Aramis: AMI. They were French after all, just like M. Dumas.

We made it to the end of the puzzle and what appears to be my last puzzle blog of 2019. Thank you all for all the kind words and happy thoughts during the 11th year of C.C.'s creation. Thank you, DAB for being one of our regular Friday warriors. Also kudos to everyone who has created for our enjoyment. C.C. what a nice place you have here. Until next year GWATCDR, Lemonade out.

Friday, December 13, 2019 Victor Barocas

Time to Trim That Tree !

17. "O Tannenbaum" and others?: PINE NUMBERS.   Pin Numbers.   I mostly use four of them, all between 0 and 9.  Seems like too few possibilities.   

24. One trying to photograph a partridge during the holidays?: PEAR SHOOTER.   Pea shooter.   So quaint.  Wish it were now.

38. Muchacho working with wood?: ELM NINO.   El Nino.  Perfect clue / answer agreement with Muchacho / El Nino.

50. Boob tube yule log residue?: ASH SEEN ON TV.   That's just funny !  One channel airs continuous loops of "It's a Wonderful Life", another of "A Christmas Story", and another of "The Yule Log" from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day.  A television tradition.

60. Do some holiday decorating ... and what you need to do to four puzzle answers to produce familiar phrases?: TRIM THE TREE.

The Pine, Pear, Elm and Ash trees all need to drop a letter in Victor's imaginative creation, rather than the now more commonly accepted meaning of "trimming a tree",  as in adorning.

More commonly accepted of course, unless you are old-school and still relish in the final pruning of the tree you and your family have just hewn from the local Christmas tree farm. 

Across:

1. Innocents: LAMBs.

6. Uncool crime?: ARSON.    Literally and figuratively.

11. "That cracks me up!": LOL.  Laugh Out Loud

14. Video game giant: ATARI.   Early successes were Pong,  Asteroids and Missile Command.

15. Old-school: RETRO.

16. Leave breathless: AWE.

19. Resting place: INN.

20. Meal in a pot: STEW.

21. Meal in a pot: SOUP.   Loved the consecutive clue duplication.

22. Styx home: HADES.   They're not from Hades.  They are from Chicago.   You may not recognize their name, but you would most likely remember so many of their hit songs from the '70s and '80s.

27. Submerge: ENGULF.

30. Multilevel marketing giant: AMWAY.   "Multilevel marketing" just seems to reek of a pyramid scheme to me.  Caution flags go up. 

31. Most Belgraders: SERBs.  Belgrade, Serbia.

32. Playing with a full deck: SANE. 

34. Free game version, perhaps: DEMO.

37. This answer's consonant count, aptly: TWO.   Creative clue.

41. Title for Jagger: SIR.   Mick Jagger. 

42. NRA member?: ASSN.    National Rifle Association

44. Actress Skye: IONE.   Her father was Donovan, perhaps best known for mid '60s pop hits  Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow. 

45. Barely leading: UP ONE.

47. Lacrosse need: STICK.   La crosse is of French Canadian origin.  It literally means crooked stick.

49. Finds exciting: IS IN TO.
 
53. Fail to match: CLASH.     Like plaid pants and a striped shirt.   Or, The Clash.  "The only band that matters."   An English band that you may recall from the song "Rock The Casbah" 

54. Air Force prog. that first admitted women in 1969: ROTC.   Reserve Officer Training Corps.

55. Sworn statement: OATH.

59. Like rappers Jon and Wayne: LIL.   Spotify now lists over 8,000 artists with “Lil’” or “Lil” at the beginning of their name. 

63. Monopoly abbr.: AVE.   Mediterranean Avenue, Baltic Avenue, Oriental Avenue, etc.

64. "Biography" channel: A AND E.

65. Toroidal bread: BAGEL.

66. Victorious shout: YES.

67. "Understood": ROGER.

68. Fair-haired: BLOND.

Down:

1. Track count: LAPs.

2. Fighting: AT IT.

3. Clydesdale feature: MANE.   Perhaps Clydesdale was chosen on the off chance that someone might not know of the famous horses.   But I would say that the most significant feature of the Clydesdale is their massive size.     In the area where I grew up,  there are various breeds of heavy horses still being used for farm labor, especially by the Amish and Mennonites.   We called them Pennsylvania draft horses or just draft horses,  regardless if they were Belgian, Percheron, or Clydesdale.

4. Craft beer server: BREW PUB.    Budweiser was hardly a craft beer when August Busch Jr. presented his father with the famous hitch and first case of beer after the repeal of Prohibition.  Busch Sr. saw the marketing potential and had the team sent by rail to NY and New England, delivering cases of beer to both Alfred E Smith and Franklin D Roosevelt.  The rest, as they say, is history.

5. Serious code-breaking?: SIN.

6. Strong suit: ARMOR.   The deck of cards clue had me thinking of card games.

7. Picture puzzle: REBUS. 

8. Zimbalist of "Remington Steele": STEPHANIE.    The show launched the career of Pierce Brosnan.      

9. Hockey legend: ORR.   Bobby.   His primary role on the ice was as a defenseman, but he twice led the NHL in scoring.  He scored the game winning goals in each of the two Boston Bruins' Stanley Cup victories in the early '70s.  He remains the only defenseman to have ever won the scoring title. 

10. Reason for an empty seat: NO SHOW.

11. Saw: LAID EYES ON.   Have you seen the Peloton  "The Gift That Gives Back" commercial ?   Struck me as cringe worthy.    I found it on YouTube and the comments were not favorable, and then comments were disabled as the story went viral. 

Then Ryan Reynolds hired her for a commercial for his Aviation Gin product.   In this take, she's having a different perspective after receiving a Peloton from her husband.  I love how her girlfriends are trying to figure out what to say and how to help her.  

12. "For sale by" sign poster: OWNER.    Obvious, but cute.   Gives me an idea for a practical joke to pull on a buddy.

13. Spyglass part: LENS.

18. Its Space Command has HQ in Colorado: USAF.  

23. Not much at all: A TAD.

25. Otherwise: ELSE.

26. Sign to interpret: OMEN.

27. Cuban pronoun: ESTA.   

28. Latest: NEWS.

29. Financial report line: GROSS SALES.

32. Caterpillar's exhalation in Disney's "Alice in Wonderland": SMOKE RING.   I didn't specifically remember.    Looked it up later.    The caterpillar was lazing on a mushroom and smoking from a hookah pipe.  

33. Andy's doll pal: ANN.   The Raggedy siblings.

35. 36-Down flavor: MINT.  

36. Classic cookie: OREO.    Anyone ever try a mint flavored Oreo ?

39. Tiny parasites: LICE.

40. Drive from power: OUST.

43. Unnamed degrees: NTHs.

46. Indispensable: PIVOTAL.

48. Fictional title country in a 1987 film: ISHTAR.   Roger Ebert said,  "It's not funny, it's not smart and it's interesting only in the way a traffic accident is interesting."  He gave it one star.

49. Foot fraction: INCH.   Foot fracture ?   You'll probably need the special boot.  Been there, done that.  

50. Still in the game: ALIVE. 

51. __ plume: NOM DE.   A pen name or pseudonym.

1. David John Moore Cornwell ?
2. Charles Dodgson ?
3. Eric Arthur Blair ?
4. Stanley Lieber ?
5. Samuel Clemens ?

52. River swimmer: OTTER.   Eric "Otter" Stratton became a successful Beverly Hills OB/GYN after leaving Farber. 

53. Art class medium: CLAY.

56. Ship to Colchis: ARGO.  Perps.

57. Many a gamer: TEEN.   Our language evolves.  Before video games and RPGs, # 2 was # 1.

1. 
   

   a person who plays video games or participates in role-playing games.
2. 
   

   North American (especially in sports) a person known for consistently making a strong effort.

       Similar to a gamer, calling a basketball player a baller is a compliment.

58. Kept: HELD. 

61. '90s Indian prime minister: RAO.   Perps.

62. Recede: EBB.    Reseed: Sow (again).

PSA - Speaking of the clue at 2D.  Fighting:

A flu shot is your best protection.

Check you answers here:

Friday, December 6, 2019, Jeffrey Wechsler

Title: Change the channel?

We are back under the magic spell of the creative mind of Jeffrey Wechsler. For this opus, he has combined two favorite themes - letter substitution and sound-alike. Of course, his goal is humor with the cluing. He pulls it all together with a very classic grid-spanning reveal smack dab in the middle [etymology is a bit vague- LINK] of the puzzle. Since JW's mind works differently than most, I am not sure what came first, the "T" changing to "V" or the sound changes in the new phrases. Such is the joy of solving. As is usual with JW,  he builds a consistent grid with the change in the first word in themer 1/5 and the second word for 2/4. Overall, the puzzle is not one of his most difficult ones with many 3 and 4 letter-fill to keep the solving going. He does add GYM SHOES, VANTAGES and SALES SLIP and introduces LINE C and PAPARAZZO to our vocabulary list. JD, if you are solving, do you still keep a list?
The theme:

17A. Street stand with full permits?: LEGAL VENDOR (11). Legal TENDER is the base phrase.

23A. "Who wants to visit Muscle Beach?"?: VENICE ANYONE (12). TENNIS anyone. Venice Beach California.

45A. Dumps litter in the woods, e.g.?: VEXES RANGERS (12). Baseball's TEXAS Rangers.

57A. King's pulse, BP, etc.?: ROYAL VITALS (11). Royal TITLES.
And the reveal:

37A. Got ready to binge-watch ... or a hint to phonetic changes in four puzzle answers: SWITCHED ON THE TV (15). A classic "reveal" that clearly inspired the creation of the puzzle.
On to the specifics:

Across:

1. Skip: BYPASS. Not the easiest of starts, but straight forward once you see it. The word has morphed from simply not doing something (I will bypass dessert) to become a significant medical term and procedure.

7. Say good things about: LAUD. Straight from the Latin laudare: to praise. We get our academic cum laude but not Lauderdale. More Latin ahead.

11. Umami source, briefly: MSG. MonoSodium Glutamate. We have discussed this new taste sense recently.

14. City grid feature: AVENUE. Perps are streets, among others.

15. Detective's need: INFO. A bit unfair as the phrasing does not suggest an abbreviation, but CLUE.

16. "So there it is!": AHA. Our moment. And ANA and ONO.

19. Filch: ROB. Played by Dick van Dyke when he was young.

20. Tee preceder: ESS. ARR ESS TEE

21. Sufferer cleansed by Jesus: LEPER. Too clearly a religious topic but you can find it in the KJV, Mark 1:40-45

22. See 35-Down: GIRL. 35. With 22-Across, proud parent's cry: IT'S A. One of two for those who hate this paired fill.

26. AFC South athletes: TITANS. With their new "star" quarterback- Ryan Tannehill.

29. Sen. Warren, e.g.: DEM. Senator - Democrat,

30. "... for none of woman __ / Shall harm Macbeth": BORN. Act IV, Scene 1
MACBETH
Had I three ears, I’d hear thee.

SECOND APPARITION

Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth.

31. Receipt: SALES SLIP.

40. Shutterbug who bugs: PAPARAZZO. The singular of Paparazzi and the topic surrounding the death of Princess Di.

41. Brewer's kiln: OAST. Will Owen host a poem about a boast from a brewer's oast to be read coast to coast?

42. VW Golf model: GTI.

43. Considered to be: SEEN AS.

51. Stout choices: ALES. Some beer punning.

52. Violate a truce: REARM.

53. Onetime part of Portuguese India: GOA. There much to learn about Portuguese Estado da Índia

56. Drug injector: PEN. Linked to 18D. 56-Across prefix: EPI.

60. Tokyo-born artist: ONO.

61. Group with pledges: FRAT.

62. "Quit it!": ENOUGH.

63. Was the boss of: RAN.

64. Numbers game: KENO. Sid Caeser in a Chevy Chase Vacation Movie, or

65. Pinball wizard's reward: REPLAY.

Down:

1. Farm storage unit: BALE. Not related to Christian.

2. First name in couture: YVES. St. Laurent.

3. Categorizes: PEGS.

4. Carrier with Tokyo HQ: ANA. All Nippon Airways.

5. In a dark mood: SULLEN. Morose,  dour, hostile, churlish, petulant, somber, gloomy, ugly, glum, surly, grumpy, bad-tempered, cheerless, crabby, cross, cynical, dismal, dull, fretful, gruff.

6. Winning slot machine line: SEVENS. More gambling. Hmm JW lives near Atlantic City?

7. Where to claim a W-4 head-of-household allowance: LINE-C.
Form W-4 2020
Employee’s Withholding Certificate
Enter Personal Information
(a) First name and middle initial Last name
Address
City or town, state, and ZIP code
(b) Social security number
▶ Does your name match the name on your social security card? If not, to ensure you get credit for your earnings, contact SSA at 800-772-1213 or go to www.ssa.gov.
(c) Single or Married filing separately
Married filing jointly (or Qualifying widow(er))
Head of household (Check only if you’re unmarried and pay more than half the costs of keeping up a home for yourself and a qualifying individual.)

8. Author Gide: ANDRE. An Essayist and Novelist I read in college both in English and French. You might like his WORKS or at least his perception. "It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not."

9. Airborne mystery: UFO.

10. Palme __: film award: D'OR. From the 72nd Cannes Film Festival

11. Super __: MARIO. The co-star of the great NES games. I wonder why they are not the Super Luigi Brothers?

12. Cut off: SHORN. I always think of Samson.

13. Gothic architecture feature: GABLE. Yes, they use Clark's picture on all the throwback buildings.

22. Fitness training apparel: GYM SHOES. I am not sure if shoes are in fact apparel. Look at a mall map for example. It's broken down into Men's Apparel, Ladies Apparel, Children's Apparel, Shoes, and depending on the size of your mall accessories (such as handbags, baby equipment, and jewelry).

If you look at it from a big box store perspective, such as Wal-Mart or Target, shoes are located in a completely separate area away from their core fashion. Men's shoes are never in the men's department for example. Also promotionally, if Target were to have a sale on apparel, such as 25% off all summer fashion, it would never include footwear unless it was explicitly stated.

23. Superior positions: VANTAGES. Ad?

24. Port SSE of Sana'a: ADEN.

25. Source of tweets: NEST. Not the one from Google, but nature.

26. Culinary meas.: TBSP.

27. "Field of Dreams" locale: IOWA. It is in Dubuque County, Iowa, near Dyersville.


28. Vacation option: TRIP.

31. "__ who?": SEZ. Sez me!

32. Hatchet relative: ADZ. An axlike tool, for dressing timbers roughly, with a curved, chisellike steel head mounted at a right angle to the wooden handle.

33. John in Albert Hall: LOO. So why is the term for bathroom in Britain? One theory - when emptying chamberpots out the window, British servants warned passersby in the street below with the shout “Gardez l'eau!” (French for “Watch out for the water!”), which was pronounced “gardy loo” in Britain and later shortened to “loo.”

34. Steakhouse order: LEAN. Sounds to me more like a corned beef or pastrami order.

36. Low mil. ranks: PVTS. And parts of a Howard Stern book title.

38. Old PC monitors: CRTS. Cathode Ray TubeS.

39. '60s musical: HAIR. A musical that began in 1968 reflected the hippies and anti-war and NUDITY! Still talked about, it was a show that impacted Broadway and mainstream counter-culture.

43. Sommelier, e.g.: SERVER. In America often called the Wine Steward.

44. White weasel: ERMINE.  White weasel, while alliterative, does not sound appealing. Popular in the pre-PETA days and appearing twice this week in the LAT.

45. Steam, for one: VAPOR. Hence vaping.

46. John Paul's successor: ELENA. Justice Stevens and Justice Kagan. Not Popes.

47. Element from the Greek for "strange": XENON. Also, Xenophobia.

48. Indo-__ languages: ARYAN. How many have watched MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE on AMAZON? Tiny spoiler alert.

49. "Peachy!": NEATO. Keen!

50. 128 fl. oz.: GAL. Right next to...

53. Conquest for Caesar: GAUL. "Omnia Gallia in tres partes divisa est." Six years of Latin should not go to waste.

54. Lingerie brand: OLGA. This is a deja vu moment for me, but perhaps I saw their products while shopping at Kohls with my wife.  LINK. I was sure it had just been in a puzzle here as clued.

55. Grayish: ASHY. We have many variations of this word lately.

57. '60s A.G.: RFK. Robert F. Kennedy was the Attorney General of the US-appointed by his brother.

58. Natural resource: ORE. A natural resource is defined as a resource that cannot be replaced in our lifetime. They include metal ores, fossil fuels, earth minerals, and in some in certain situations groundwater

59. Word with dollar or dog: TOP. Once again we reach the bottom of the puzzle, but come out on top from a very entertaining roller coaster ride.

We have had a great week of weather. Not quite cold enough for a fireplace, but we had fun with the grandkids at their firepit. I hope you all weathered the storm and slalomed your way through Jeffrey's latest opus. Lemonade out.

Note from C.C.:

Happy 82nd birthday to dear Lucina, who's been with our blog for over 9 years. Lucina travels to CA often and has met with a few of our blog (ex) regulars.

Left to Right: Chickie, JD, Garlic Gal and Lucina.

June 3, 2015 

Friday, November 29, 2019 David Alfred Bywaters

"Turn of Phrase"


17. Plumbing expert?: DRAIN BRAIN. 

25. Cub Scout meeting refreshment?: PACK SNACK.

30. Candlemaker's choice?: WICK PICK.

45. Zookeeper's job, at times?: BEAR CARE.

51. School sports upset: JOCK SHOCK.

64. Inflated thread-count scam?: SHEET CHEAT.

Swap the words in the answers to get the real phrase.   I have no idea what a pick wick is, but a few references say it is a pick like tool used for raising the short wick in an oil lamp.

Across:

1. Fit together: MESH.

5. Explodes: POPS.

9. Sources of shade: ELMS.    So elms throw shade ?  They seem more stately than that.

13. Lope opening?: ANTE.   "Home, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play."   Except, of course, they're really not antelope.  They're pronghorn.   Kind of like buffalo v. bison.  Commonly accepted misnomers.

14. Pacifies: CALMS.

16. "The disease of kings": GOUT.    I once had to see a backup doctor when mine was away.   My sprained wrist was misdiagnosed as gout.    Gout is now on my record at the hospital.  

19. Tasmania's highest peak: OSSA.   Didn't we just have Abel Tasman last week ?  Or was it in a link from Lemonade ?  Anyway, Mount Ossa is as high as Denver, CO.

20. Lively movements: RONDOS.  Help me get her out of my heart   Sounds like the definition of a rondo to me.   The refrain.   Yes / No ?

21. Snare: TRAP.

23. Idiosyncrasy: TIC.

24. Break up: END IT.    Cause ending it is hard to do.

27. Mex. neighbor: USA.

29. Robbery: HEIST.

35. Food distribution giant: SYSCO.   The world's largest.  Headquartered in Houston. 

38. Instrument named for an animal part: HORN.   Love the opening of this song.

39. Name related to Marge: PEGGY.    I tried Midge.  My Aunt Peg would have been disappointed.

42. __ beer: NEAR.   Tried one once.

43. Two-run homer situation: ONE ON.

47. United Kingdom language: SCOTS.  One of three native languages spoken in Scotland today.

50. Private __: EYE.   A gumshoe.   A detective.   A dick.    Have you ever seen The Bank Dick starring W.C. Fields as Egbert Sousé, "...a drunk who must repeatedly remind people in exasperation that his name is pronounced "Sousé—accent grave over the 'e'!", because people keep calling him "Souse" slang for drunkard" ? 

54. Kosher deli offering: LATKE.    They tasted a lot like potato pancakes to me too, Yellowrocks.

59. Place for a slip, perhaps: ICE.    Cute clue.

60. Cry of pain: YOWL.     Tried yelp.   Painful reviews.

61. Drawing tool: SIPHON.    Nice wordplay in the clue.   Loved it.

62. Give temporarily: LEND.   First instinct was loan.  Waited for another letter from a perp.

66. "I did it!": TADA.    No melodic tada at WaPo like we had at the Mensa site.

67. Like cornstalks: EARED.

68. Wight, for one: ISLE.    The Isle of Wight is just south of England.

69. Highbrow, perhaps: SNOB.

70. Pugilistic victories, briefly: TKOs.    Technical knockouts

71. Prized: DEAR.

Down:

1. Familia member: MADRE.    Esposa de su padre.   As Hahtoolah would quip, today's Spanish lesson.

2. Company whose failure brought down an accounting firm: ENRON.   Arthur Anderson.

3. Remain in force: STAND.   e.g. The judge's gag order will (remain in force) (stand).

4. Alpine protagonist: HEIDI.   Johanna Spyri's Swiss miss

5. Banned pollutants: PCBs.    Polychlorinated biphenyls

6. Tool secured by tholes: OAR.    Typically mounted on the gunwales

7. Oro y __: Montana's motto: PLATA.

8. Taint: SMIRCH.

9. Psych 101 subject: EGO.

10. Drifting, possibly: LOST AT SEA.

11. Bach's bailiwick: MUSIC. 

12. Neat pile: STACK.

15. Treacherous type: SNAKE.   "Instead you lay still in the grass, all coiled up and hissin' " - Keep on Loving You - Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon.

18. Still in bed: NOT UP.   But not necessarily asleep.

22. Pitchfork-shaped letters: PSIs.

25. Walk or run: PACE.

26. Timberlake's former band: NSYNC.   Justin Timberlake. 

28. Liquid sample: SIP.

30. Question of identity: WHO.   Who Are You is an album and song by English rockers The Who.

31. It carries a charge: ION.

32. Orchestral climax: CRESCENDO.   There are two in The Beatles A Day in the Life.

33. Rap: KNOCK.  

34. Cold War agcy.: KGB.   Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti - Committee for State Security

36. Sleeper or diner: CAR.  

37. Smeltery supply: ORE.

40. Nerd: GEEK.    It's all geek to me.

41. Happy fan's word: YAY.   

44. Intrusive: NOSY.

46. Natural history museum item: RELIC.

48. 56-Down's opposite: THOSE.   And, of course,   56. 48-Down's opposite: THESE.

49. "I'm not impressed": SO WHAT.   "Big whoop"

51. Stuns at the altar: JILTs.   Maggie Carpenter left three grooms at the altar before the big city columnist came to town to investigate.  Name the movie.

52. Eel's element: OCEAN.

53. Counter tender: CLERK.   Be harsh. 

55. Ladybug prey: APHID.    I read that each ladybug can eat up to 50 aphids a day.

57. Eucalyptus eater: KOALA.    Heartwarming story last week about the lady that saved the koala from the fire in New South Wales.

58. Put in: ENTER.  

61. Norms: Abbr.: STDs.    Who says, "The standard is the standard ?"   Don't rack your brain unless you are an NFL fan.  NFL Article from 2015

63. Apply with care: DAB.    And the initials of today's constructor !

65. Fair-hiring letters: EEO.   Equal Employment Opportunity.

Here's another place to check your grid:

Note from C.C.:


Here's a picture of Bill G's granddaughter Bella enjoying the rain. Good to see you back in blue, Bill! Thanks for persevering through the login troubles.

Friday, November 22, 2019, Jeffrey Wechsler

Title: Come right in - no queue here.

Jeffrey is back on schedule with me and delivers another of his letter substitution puzzles. The letter "W" replaces "QU" in a varied group of common phrases. To understand how his mind must work, you need to think of the sound of "QU." From the dictionary, "quick/kwik/." So he is just removing the "k."
As I solved it seemed he was going for another group where all of the switched letters preceded the same vowel, but that was not to be. Instead, he ramped up the difficulty by adding some very original fill and his usual witty cluing. His long non-theme fill shows three introductions, highlighted in BLUE and one second-appearance highlighted in GREEN. He packs all of this into a 70-word gem. AIR TANK,  ALGIERS, ALL TAKEN, APHELION, MAGNOLIA, TIRE CARE, TRAIN SET and TSUNAMIS are his sparklers.

16A. Colbert et al.?: WITS FOR THE NIGHT (15). JW, which comes first, the idea of QU to W or does a specific fill pop into your head?

29A. Part of a candlemaker's design process?: WICK DECISION  (11). I am glad he didn't clue this with a reference to this MOVIE. Definitely R-rated for violence.

34A. Outdoor wedding guests on a steamy day?: WILTING PARTY (11). When my son married they chose June in Florida for an outdoor wedding at the Miami Botanical Gardens. Oops.

51A. What a hiker might do after a nap on the trail?: WAKE IN ONE'S BOOTS (15). I always take mine off before sleeping in the forest.

Across:

1. New England's only National Park: ACADIA.  In Maine.

7. Eponymous explorer of Australia: TASMAN. I do not think ABEL TASMAN was much of a devil, just an explorer.

13. Pressure sensors attached to buoys are parts of their warning systems: TSUNAMIS. A learning moment.


15. Recorded, in a way: ON TAPE.

18. Useful thing: ASSET.

19. Additionally: TOO.

20. Coastal raptor: ERNE. Also known as the SEA EAGLE. They are a link to the Dinosaurs but not vegetarians.

21. Something to file: NAIL. Why do we file files but don't nail nails?

22. Frond source: PALM. There are a lot of old fronds of mine here.

23. With 53-Down, maxim: OLD. 53D. See 23-Across: SAW. A proverb or maxim, as in "Mom's always repeating the old saw, "Haste makes waste". This term uses saw in the sense of saying, and old in the sense of wise rather than old-fashioned.

25. Ob-__: GYN. A CSO to my dear departed mother who worked in that field for 50 or so years.

26. Jacket fabric: DENIM.

27. First name in a 2010s first family: MALIA. Means "Mary" in Hawaiian. Perfect for a Hawaiian born father.

31. Subarctic forest: TAIGA. Taiga, also called a boreal forest, biome (major life zone) of vegetation composed primarily of cone-bearing needle-leaved or scale-leaved evergreen trees, found in northern circumpolar forested regions characterized by long winters and moderate to high annual precipitation. Who knew?

33. Hawke of "Boyhood": ETHAN. Two weeks ago, it was ETHAN ALLEN.

38. "Over the Rainbow" composer: ARLEN. Somewhere was not in the title, and it was written specifically for the movie. Harold Arlen only wrote the music but this is a classic sung by so many. HISTORY. Judy Garland's version is embedded in the link.

39. Bowling venue: ALLEY. Another CSO to Boomer and TTP.

40. PD alert: APB. It has taken me a while to adjust to PD not meaning PUBLIC DEFENDER. With all the police procedurals on TV, I finally got it.

43. Understand: GET. Thee to a nunnery.

44. Oil equipment: RIGS.

45. "Because Freedom Can't Protect Itself" org.: ACLU. American Civil Liberties Union.

46. Meditation goal: CALM.

49. Keurig Dr Pepper brand: BAI. "Bai's mission is to share the powerful antioxidant goodness of coffee's superfruit and always move toward optimum, healthy living." I missed the $18,700,000,000.00 acquisition by Keurig in 2018. Their list of brands is very impressive and hard to avoid. LIST.

54. December decor: WREATH. It's beginning to smell a little like Christmas. The trees are already out for sale and it isn't even Thanksgiving.

55. Gift with tracks: TRAINSET. We took the family on a BRIGHTLINE train ride, and my 2-year-old grandson loved the ride. He now owns a beginner train set.

56. Absinthe herb: FENNEL. Traditional absinthe is made of anise, fennel, and wormwood (a plant), and various recipes add other herbs and flowers to the mix. Did you hallucinate when you tried it?

57. Chocolates, e.g.: SWEETS.

Down:

1. "You've heard this from me before ... ": AS I SAY. Over and over again.

2. Replaces a dancer: CUTS IN.

3. Adams with negatives: ANSEL. This PHOTOGRAPHER.

4. Bonkers: DAFT. Two old terms for mentally unwell.

5. "Here's a thought," briefly: IMO. In My Opinion.

6. Reef diver's need: AIR TANK. Most divers use scuba tanks filled with simple compressed air (filtered and dehumidified).

7. Sock part: TOE.

8. Prince Harry's aunt: ANNE. Elizabeth II's  children are Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex

9. Ado: STIR. About nothing?

10. Early Mississippi flag symbol: MAGNOLIA.

11. Farthest-from-the-sun orbital point: APHELION. The perihelion is the point on the orbit of a planet or comet that is closest to the sun. The point on the orbit farthest from the sun is the aphelion. The speed of a body in the solar system is greatest at the perihelion and least at the aphelion.

12. Monarch catcher: NET. Butterflies. Hey- double CSO to John Lampkin, who was the constructor that introduced APHELION to the crossword world as well as teaching us about butterflies.

13. Country music sound: TWANG.

14. Unexcitable: STOLID.

17. Marseille man: HOMME. French.

22. Pie-topping nut: PECAN. A perfect almost Thanksgiving fill.

24. Newscaster Rather: DAN.

26. Invitation to eat: DIG IN. More Thanksgiving.

27. Daydreaming Walter: MITTY. 1947

2013


28. Wan: ASHY. Pale, white.

29. Bic's __-Out: WITE. Oh, gee.

30. First known asteroid: CERES. Dwarf planet Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and the only dwarf planet located in the inner solar system.

31. Car manual topic: TIRE CARE.

32. Like the seats in an SRO performance: ALL TAKEN. Somewhat tortured way to get there.

34. Funny one: WAG.

35. She never went to 50-Across ceremonies: GARBO. 50D. 1954 Honorary Award for 35-Down: OSCAR.

36. Flexible: PLIANT.

37. North African capital: ALGIERS.

40. Confront boldly: ACCOST. You need to careful these days.

41. China pieces: PLATES. Not Hong Kong and Mongolia.

42. Pop: BURST. My sons never call me burst.

45. Together: AS ONE.

47. Corned beef order: LEAN.

48. Tiny insect: MITE. All you did not want to know about these arachnids. Mites are not actually insects but belong to the related class Arachnida, which also includes spiders, scorpions, and ticks. The major morphological differences between mites and insects are found in the number of major body parts and the number of legs.
LINK.

50. "Hamilton" award: OBIE. Off-Broadway.

51. Scrabble-like app, briefly: WWF. Words With Friends.

52. Puckish org.?: NHL. Punishing pun dropped here.
Before we go, I must go back to my early life and remember this date in 1963 when the history of this country was changed forever. Not a perfect man but a memorable one. RIP.

Always a pleasure to be the caddy for our prolific Friday legend. I

hope you had as much fun as I did and thanks for your views and your words. We all exist only because of you who read. Happy 

THANKSGIVING!

Lemonade out!

Friday, November 15, 2019 Joe Deeney

" What's My Line ? "


16. Clothes line?: HOW DO I LOOK ?

24. Tag line?: YOU'RE IT.

37. Border line?: PASSPORTS PLEASE.

46. Pick-up line?: WHERE TO ?

59. Defensive line?: I DIDN'T DO IT.

Joe constructed last Saturday's themeless.    If you aren't a Saturday solver, take a few moments to read Joe's comments.    Now, back to today...   A fairly easy Friday, don't you think ?   Let's call that a confidence builder.

Also, did you notice ?  Joe gave us a pangram !

Across:

1. River past the Museo Galileo: ARNO.

5. Wipe out: ERASE.

10. "Antiques Roadshow" airer: PBS.    I like how they show old clips from earlier seasons, updated with the currently appraised values. 

13. Half of rock's '60s "it" couple, per Time: CHER.   The other half would be Sonny.

14. "I've got this": LET ME.    Martin "Marty" Crane was the pragmatic and salt-of-the-earth father to psychiatrist sons Frasier and Niles Crane on the sitcom Frasier.

In the episode, "A Tsar is Born" they take a clock to the Antiques Roadshow and learn of its history.

15. Chipotle serving, casually: GUAC.   Eat This, Not That - Worst Chipotle Menu

18. Approximately: OR SO.

19. County bordering London: ESSEX.    British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is from Essex.

20. Ingredient in arròs negre, a squid-and-rice dish: INK.   Never saw the clue.

21. Pursuit: QUEST.   Do you recall Jonny Quest ? 

22. Solidified: FROZE.

26. Able-bodied: HALE.

28. Green of "Casino Royale": EVA.    The first of the Daniel Craig Bond movies.

30. Iraq War danger: Abbr.: IED.   Improvised Explosive Device.

31. "The Wire" antihero __ Little: OMAR.   No idea.   Wikipedia tells me The Wire is an American crime drama television series broadcast by the cable network HBO.

32. Think back to: RECALL.

34. Gym surface: MAT.   I wanted a wood at first.  Oak or Ash.

40. Vague ending: ISH.

41. Bilingual Muppet: ROSITA.  No idea, but the perps helped.

42. MD's diagnostic tools: MRIs.  Magnetic Resonance Imagings

43. Big bird: EMU.   More from Sesame Street.   This Big Bird is an oversized canary.

44. Relative of Da and De: VON.    Surname prepositions.  e.g. Oscar de la Renta.  Or,   El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes.   Or the von Trapp family from the Sound of Music.  Da is Portuguese, often seen in names such as da Silva, da Costa, da Bears etc.

45. Leaning: BIAS.

50. Rte. with a Lake Michigan ferry crossing: U.S. TEN.   U.S. 10.    The S.S. Badger
 

52. Times New __: ROMAN.

53. Health care provider: Abbr.: LPN.   Licensed Practical Nurse

55. "Set Fire to the Rain" singer: ADELE.

58. Beyond regulation play, briefly: IN OT   In Overtime.

61. WWII Axis general: TOJO.

62. Kansas Army fort: RILEY.   Home of the Big Red One.    The 1st Infantry Divison.   The 1st Infantry Division Museum is at Cantigny Park in nearby Wheaton, Illinois.  

63. Slaughter on the diamond: ENOS.

64. Asian honorific: SRI. Indian honorific.

65. Neglected: SEEDY.

66. Grant's opposite: DENY.

Down:

1. Overexertion symptom: ACHE.

2. Frat letters: RHOs.

3. Ironic "This should come as no surprise ... ": NEWS FLASH.

4. Ones stocking up: ORDERERs.   Whoa !  A buyer ?  Stocking up for resale,  or stocking up on consumables ?   That's my best guess.   I'll bet blog reader Montana stocks up for the winter in case the highways become impassable.

5. Lilly of drugs: ELI.

6. Bullpen staff: RELIEVERs.  

7. Loads: ATON.

8. Like the air around a campfire: SMOKY.

9. "What's THAT?": EEK.

10. Applesauce, e.g.: PUREE.

11. Low singers: BASSI.   Singers (being plural) told me it would end in the I.

12. "Waverley" novelist: SCOTT.    The Waverley Novels - Sir Walter Scott

15. Squash, for one: GOURD.  Versus gored. 

Bet he wished he'd picked a different sport. Perhaps squash ?

17. Big name in spatulas: OXO.    I like the ergonomic grips on their kitchen utensils.

21. Put down: QUELL.

23. Reset: ZERO OUT.

25. Crankcase reservoirs: OIL PANS.

26. Kachina carver: HOPI.

27. Reddit Q&A sessions: AMAs.  Ask Me Anything

29. When Prospero says, "We are such stuff as dreams are made on": ACT IV.   Filled in ACT and waited.

33. Blew away: ASTOUNDED.

34. Ford carrier in the mid-'70s: MARINE ONE.   Wasn't firing on all cylinders as I tried to recall Ford car models...  until I got enough perps to see Marine One.   President Gerald Ford, of course.

35. Tibet's place: ASIA.

36. Julia's "Ocean's Twelve" role: TESS.   Juila Roberts played Tess Ocean, divorced wife of Danny Ocean, played by George Clooney.

38. Guys who spin: PR MEN.   Started with DJ Men spinning records, and ended with Public Relations men spinning the conversation.

39. Like some war correspondents: EMBEDDED.    Or videos in this blog.

43. Poetry Muse: ERATO.   OwenKL has been struck by the poetry muse.  Ditto for Chairman Moe, Haiku Harry and Limerick Larry.

46. Court directives: WRITS.

47. Esteem: HONOR.

48. Heart Eyes or OK Hand: EMOJI.    Definitely needed perps, and then it was, "Aha, now the clue makes sense !"

49. "Yesterday," today: OLDIE.    Nailed it.   From falling in love to the heartache,  Beatles style:

"Eight Days A Week"
Oh, I need your love, babe
Guess you know it's true
Hope you need my love babe
Just like I need you

"I Feel Fine"
Baby's good to me, you know
She's happy as can be, you know
She said so
I'm in love with her and I feel fine

"Ticket to Ride"
I think I'm gonna be sad
I think it's today, yeah
The girl that's driving me mad
Is going away

"Yesterday"
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday
Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hanging over me
Oh, yesterday came suddenly
Why she had to go I don't know she wouldn't say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday

51. Bit of body art: TAT.   Tat or ink.

54. Stack: PILE.

56. Safari sight: LION.

57. Online marketplace: ETSY.    Started with eBay. 50 % wrong.

59. Returns home?: IRS.    Great clue. The Internal Revenue Service is where you send your tax returns.

60. Big Apple team, on crawl lines: NYY.    NY and wait for the perp.  Could have been G, J, or M and possibly others. Sports news crawl lines.

Check your grid here:

Friday, November 8, 2019, Jeffrey Wechsler

Title: To B? Yes!

A quick turn around for me with another Friday JW special. This is an add a letter puzzle with the simplicity and consistency that are hallmarks of his work. "B" is added to the first word of the 1st and 3rd theme fill and to the last word of the 2nd and 4th. The resulting fill is very amusing and clued to enhance the humor. But the touch that makes this a Jeffrey creation- each word that has the added letter originally started with a "U." This is the least used of the vowels, so I guess it was chosen to make the puzzle more of a challenge to create. In our afternoon at the airport, we did not discuss this puzzle, but he did mention challenging himself. While I did not discuss the changed clues, I did ask about a few. As always, Jeffrey has variety and some Will Shakespeare, as well as much fun sparkle like: ADULATE, BANK JOB, CRUELLA, ETERNAL, FLEECED, GO BELOW, HINGE ON, HOWARDS, LAST ONE, MODESTY, RETORTS, SANDFLY, and READ A POST which is introduced to the LAT here.

17A. Total confusion at the creamery?: BUTTER CHAOS (11).  This is a fun image with all kinds of slapstick being churned up.

30A. Foot condition seen in oaters?: WESTERN BUNION (13).  The slight outlier, as the pronunciation of the added B-word is changed. I was in my 40s before I knew a bunion is a painful bony bump that develops on the inside of the foot at the big toe joint.

35A. Comparison of a motorcoach to all other travel options?: BUS VERSUS THEM (13). I also think this is pretty funny.

52A. Barista's occupational hazards?: COFFEE BURNS (11). Our local Starbucks staff are more careful than that.

 Across:

1. Long-nosed fish: GAR. Gar, is any of seven species of large North American fishes of the genera Atractosteus and Lepisosteus, in the family Lepisosteidae.

4. Took to the cleaners: FLEECED. A subtle CSO to me and the Golden Fleece.

11. With 29-Down, anticipates potential trouble: HAS. 29D. See 11-Across: AN OUT. The escape route.

14. Burns wrote one on a louse: ODE.  This POEM talks about how we are all equal to a louse.

15. "After this, no more questions": LAST ONE. Is this your clue Jeffrey? See how demanding I am now that he cooperated once. JW's response:  My clue: When it’s gone, you’re left empty-handed. 

16. Tahiti, to Gauguin: ILE. French.

19. Actor Cage, casually: NIC. He changed his name to Nicolas Cage (no H, just like his birth name Nicolas Coppola) after the comic book anti-hero LUKE CAGE who you may not know.

20. Avoided a family affair, perhaps: ELOPED. Very nice clue/fill.

21. Fabled beast: ASS. I wonder which one this refers to? Buridan's Ass?

22. Golden __: AGER. That's us, baby.

23. Carefree adventure: LARK. Not sure why, but this popped into my head. 

24. Little tunneler: ANT. Hey, John Lampkin how are you?

25. "The L Word" co-creator Chaiken: ILENE. I did not know of this successful PRODUCER with a varied background from the Fresh Prince of Belair to Empire and Stumptown.

26. Giant among Giants: OTT. A nice clue for some old-time crossword glue.

27. Alicia Keys record label: RCA. Who really knows or cares? I think she is very talented and attractive but who buys records?

29. Without markup: AT COST.

34. Checked the latest blog entry, say: READ A POST. A nice CSO to each and every one of you.

39. Gershwin classic: SWANEE. The PERFORMANCE is very un-pc.

41. Ike's WWII command: ETO. European Theater of Operations. (Thank you anon. Sometimes I forget what I am doing. Comes with age)

42. Prefix with laryngology: OTO.

43. Throws the game: TANKS. No doubt written for all the Dolphin fans. Of course, they ruined their perfect season by beating the Jets last Sunday.

44. O'er and o'er: OFT. Archaic synonyms.

46. Thunderstruck: AWED.

47. Synagogue storage cabinets: ARKS. Where the Torahs stay when not in use. A nice one at our synagogue.

48. T'ai __: CHI. Tai chi, short for T'ai chi ch'üan or Tàijí quán, is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for both its defense training, its health benefits, and meditation.

49. Compassionate words: WE CARE. Do you really?

51. TX library honoree: LBJ. There are a few.

54. "Don't Bring Me Down" gp.: ELO. Electric Light Orchestra.

55. Fur-loving de Vil: CRUELLA. Do you like the Emma Stone version?

56. "Who __?": New Orleans Saints chant: DAT. The entire chant is: "Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?" "Who dat" may also be used as a noun, describing a Saints fan.

57. Lee follower: REB. R.E. LEE, makes sense.

58. Beach pest: SANDFLY. Rhymes with...

59. "You __ devil!": SLY.

Down:

1. Visit the engine room, perhaps: GO BELOW. A CSO to Spitzboov and others.

2. Put on a pedestal: ADULATE. A word directly from Latin meaning to fawn over, praise (someone) excessively or obsequiously. It probably is not as familiar to your ear as ADULATION but it is the same thing.

3. Sharp answers: RETORTS. Which has nothing to do with TORTS? How can we re-tort anyway? Nero Wolfe solved one of his cases when the young killer fell for, "So have they taught you how to draft a tort yet?

4. Head for the hills: FLEE.

5. Frying medium: LARD. Two weeks in a row with pork fat.

6. It's NW of QWERTY: ESC. Literal look at the keyboard.

7. Allen of Vermont: ETHAN. Furniture guru? A fellow Connecticut boy, Ethan Allen was born in 1738 in Litchfield, Connecticut. He fought in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. He shares his BIRTHDAY with the Corner. 

8. "See the ___ clear'd, and then we will depart": "King Henry VI": COAST. JW's weekly Will Shakespeare clue. Act I, Scene 3.

Lord Mayor of London.

See the coast clear'd, and then we will depart.

Good God, these nobles should such stomachs bear!

I myself fight not once in forty year.

9. Grandson of Adam: ENOS. Enos or Enosh (Hebrew: אֱנוֹשׁ ʾĔnōš; "mortal man." Son of Seth.

10. __ Arc, Arkansas: DES. The obscure Friday clue. Thank you for the perps.

11. Require for success: HINGE ON. Hinge is back without any dating app.

12. Ones from afar: ALIENS. Another interesting word that can mean someone from 50 miles away in Mexico or from light-years away on Alpha Centauri.

13. It may be hard to keep: SECRET. Generally bad for all involved.

18. State hwy., often: TPK. Turnpike. For you young'uns an expressway, especially one on which a toll is charged.

22. "Jo's Boys" author: ALCOTT. I recently reread Little Women, but not any of the sequels.

24. "Storage Wars" network: A AND E. Arts and Entertainment kept only its acronym.

25. "I speak the truth": IT IS SO. Make it so is more familiar to me.

27. Brand munched by E.T.: REESES. Pieces. We all know that during the production of E.T., Amblin Productions approached Mars, Inc. about a possible tie-in between M and Ms and the film. For whatever reason, Mars said “No” to the proposition.

28. Want badly: CRAVE. Want some M and Ms?

31. Boxer's boxers: TRUNKS. Cute clue. Is it your clue Jeffrey? I’m pleased to say that this is my clue.  I’m quite happy that Rich used it.  However, moving on... 

32. Gold __: BAR. Very random- -BUG, CUP, BAR... this is not mine. I loved "[Where a priest and a rabbi might share a joke?]." Too many words? 

33. Agitated: UPSET.

35. Many a heist: BANK JOB.

36. E.M. Forster's "__ End": HOWARDS. No apostrophe.

37. Opposite of momentary: ETERNAL.

38. Reason for a cover-up?: MODESTY.  Do you all recall BLAISE?

39. Less fresh: STALER. Meh.

40. Emulate a nightingale: WARBLE. Maybe "(of a person) sing in a trilling or quavering voice."

44. "Whoop-de-doo": OH FUN.  Is this serious or sarcastic?

45. Played a piccolo-like instrument: FIFED. (verb) ARCHAIC -play the fife.

46. Needle front?: ACU. This was very hard to parse. Once the lightbulb came on with acupuncture, it seemed so right.

48. "Downton Abbey" countess: CORA.

countess cora

49. Deftly: WELL.

50. StubHub parent: EBAY. They bought the ticket exchange company for $310,000,000.00 in 2007. Now the PLAN has changed.

52. IV units: CCS. Also measured in mLS, milliliters. They have a one to one ratio. These are cousins of milihelens, for those who remember.

53. 2003 holiday film: ELF. We end with an early Christmas reference to a new classic.

I had a very nice time as we were led on a wonderful JW treasure hunt, unlocking little gems along the way. The solve took a bit longer than usual but I did keep distracting myself, chasing down rabbit holes. We are supposed to get our first "cold spell" nothing in the 80s! Life is hard. Thank you, Jeffrey and all who read. Lemonade out.