Tuesday, May 26, 2015 Gareth Bain

Theme: Redundancies - Redundancies.

17A. Cash source, redundantly : ATM MACHINE. (automatic teller machine)

28A. 17-Across access code, redundantly : PIN NUMBER. (personal identification number)

38A. College entrance exam, redundantly : SAT TEST. (Originally, Scholastic Aptitude Test)

47A. Adobe file spec, redundantly : PDF FORMAT. (portable document format)

63A. PC linking system, redundantly : LAN NETWORK. (local area network)

Argyle here. This should make some Cornerites happy. They have complained about some of these redundancies before. I felt the fill was the right step-up in crunchiness from yesterday.

Across:

1. "Shake a leg!" : C'MON

5. Deprive of one's nerve : UNMAN

10. __ noire: dreaded thing : BÊTE

14. Sharpen : HONE

15. Herman's Hermits frontman Peter : NOONE

16. Skip over : OMIT

19. Gull relative : TERN

20. Sweet-talk : WHEEDLE

21. Ethiopia neighbor : ERITREA

23. Refine, as ore : SMELT

25. Flirtatiously shy : COY Miss Piggy 7D. "Little ol' me?" : "MOI?"

26. Half of sechs : DREI. German 6/3

33. Speaks too well of oneself : BOASTS

35. Sign before Virgo : LEO

36. Spanish explorer Hernando de __ : SOTO

37. Compact submachine gun : UZI

41. "I thought so!" : "A-HA!"

42. Tennis great Lacoste : RENÉ. Jean René Lacoste was a French tennis player and businessman. He was nicknamed "the Crocodile" by fans because of his tenacity on the court; he is also known worldwide as the creator of the Lacoste tennis shirt, which he introduced in 1929.~ Wikipedia

44. Apt. coolers : ACs

45. Large __ Collider: particle accelerator : HADRON. Brief background from Wiki.

50. Empties (of) : RIDS

51. Frequently, in poems : OFT

52. Drivel : TRIPE

54. Dickens miser : SCROOGE

58. Gracious : AMIABLE

62. Berth place : PIER. For the berthing of boats.

65. Los Angeles-to-Phoenix direction : EAST

66. Novelist Jong : ERICA

67. Lip balm additive : ALOE

68. Things to connect : DOTS

69. First name in TV talk : ELLEN DeGeneres

70. Longings : YENS

Down:

1. Wad of tobacco : CHAW

2. Clothes closet pest : MOTH

3. "You can count __" : ON ME

4. Luthor and Zod, to Superman : NEMESES. Individually, each is a nemesis.

5. Ben or Sam : UNCLE

6. Like vague hints, usually : NO HELP

8. Author Rice : ANNE. No relation to Uncle Ben's Rice.

9. __-do-well : NE'ER

10. Bell-__: flared pants : BOTTOMS

11. Manicurist's buffer : EMERY BOARD

12. Run out of gas : TIRE

13. Sicilian volcano : ETNA

18. Opens the door to : ADMITS

22. Post-op setting : ICU

24. Attacks, knight-style : TILTS AT

26. Slept for a bit : DOZED

27. Amazonian ecosystem : RAIN FOREST

29. Alumna bio word : NÉE

30. Small snack : NOSH

31. Cultural values of a group : ETHOS

32. Colorful horse : ROAN. Did anybody ride a roan on the Ponderosa?

33. Tupperware sound : BURP

34. German coal region : SAAR

39. Film buff's sta. : TCM

40. Mammoth-preserving locale : TAR PIT. La Brea Tar Pits, bonus entry.

43. Serious attempts : EFFORTS

46. Wane : DIE AWAY

48. Oklahoma native : OTO or Otoe.

49. Hypnotic state : TRANCE

53. "In other words ..." : "I MEAN ..."

54. Risked a ticket : SPED

55. Florentine farewell : CIAO. Italian “hello, goodbye”.

56. TV musical comedy that ended in 2015 : "GLEE"

57. British peer : EARL

59. Tree trunk : BOLE

60. Dianetics creator __ Hubbard : L. RON. Dianetics is a set of ideas and practices regarding the metaphysical relationship between the mind and body which was created by L. Ron Hubbard and is practiced by followers of Scientology and separate independent Dianeticist groups.~ Wikipedia

61. Endures hardship to make, with "out" : EKEs

64. Zero, in soccer : NIL

I'd like to thank Wikipedia for their help in writing this piece.

Argyle

Saturday, May 16th, 2015, Gareth Bain

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 32

  Oh, I was so close on this one - but I had to cheat, just once, and then I peeked at the red-letters to see where I was wrong - silly mistake on my part.  Great puzzle, had my brain going, and a decent mix of clues both obscure/vague and "oh, I know this".  This is Gareth's third Saturday offering!  We just had him on Thursday, May 7th with his anagram puzzle.  A climber crossing a spanner today, with clever pairings of 11-letter answers in the Down, and 9-letter ones in the Across, plus two 12-letter names rounding out our long fills;

19. "Let Sleeping Vets Lie" author : JAMES HERRIOT - this should have been a gimme, but instead I got the V-8 can; growing up, my mother always loved the PBS presentation of the "All Creatures Great an Small" TV show  Such a "feel good" theme song - I still love it

"Piano Parchment" - J Pearson

47. Subject of the biopic "I Saw the Light" : HANK WILLIAMS - biography clue #2 - I did not know this was a Hank Williams song

George Thorogood

Move it ON-oh-waRD~!

ACROSS:

1. Crowd in Berlin? : DREI - always good to start off with an "I know this~!" - German for three, as in "Three's a Crowd"

5. Baptizes, say : WETS

9. Ever so slightly : A TAD

13. "Handsomest of all the women," in an 1855 epic : MINNEHAHA - From this poem; there's a Minnehaha Blvd in one of my Southold trucks, off Hiawatha's Path - I always think "little laugh"; get it~?  Also a very popular name in MN

15. What a "B" may mean : BORON - didn't come to me immediately; was thinking "C Flat"

17. Modern mining targets : DATABASES

18. U Nu's country : BURMA - My one cheat.  Forgot about this man

 21. Like the ruins of Chichén Itzá : MAYAN

24. Back-to-back contests? : DUELS - har-har

25. Large vessel : VAT

26. Bibliography note : IDEM - Latin for "the same" in citation

27. 410-year-old Siberian city : TOMSK - um, OK.  perps.

28. Ever so : VERY - I went with MERE, then NARY.  Drat.

29. __ de canard: duck feathers used to tie fishing flies : CUL

30. Fertilization target : OVUM

31. "__ but known ... " : HAD I - this borders on 'fun sponge'

32. Ready signal : ALL SYSTEMS ARE GO

37. Level, e.g. : TOOL - I hesitated to put this in, but it was my first thought

38. Life-of-the-party type : RIOT

39. More than cool : RAD - ah.  Not ICY

40. Stitches : SEWS

41. 1990 film that featured "Unchained Melody" on its soundtrack : GHOST

43. Four times duo : OCTO

44. Genesis 6 creation : ARK - The boat Ark, not the Covenant one

45. Psalm 23 comforter : STAFF - I did not get this until I looked it up afterwards.  When I typed "psalm" into Google, it suggested "23" right away

46. __ ring : ONION

50. Autobiography whose first chapter is "Nut Bush" : I, TINA

51. Rent : TORE APART - I had a feeling this did not have to do with "leases"

55. Suit : BEFIT

56. Always prepared : EVER READY

57. Film crew locales : SETS

58. Edit menu option : REDO

59. Blackened surface : CHAR

DOWN:   

1. Drill user, briefly : DMD - ah, Doctor of Medical Dentistry, not DDS - Doctor of Dental Sciences

2. River inlet : RIA - knew this, but spelled it rYa first

3. Endoscope user, briefly : ENT - Ear, Nose, Throat

4. Stuck : IN A JAM

5. '80s pop duo with an exclamation point in its name : WHAM!

Everything She Wants

 6. Removed with finesse : EASED OUT - you mean, like a Splynter~?

7. Hippie phenomenon : THE SUMMER OF LOVE

This AIN'T The Summer of Love

8. Scouts' accessories : SASHES

9. Some dict. entries : ABBRs

10. Overseas vacation, perhaps : TOUR - clecho #1

11. Overseas farewell : ARRIVEDERCI - clecho #2

12. Overseas thanks : DOMO ARIGATO - clecho #3

14. South African-born Middle East diplomat : EBAN - perps

16. Smart : NATTY

20. __ crossing: Canadian sign warning : ELK

21. Mineral whose name is Latin for "crumb" : MICA

22. Doctors : ADULTERATES

23. Canadian territorial capital : YELLOWKNIFE - Northwest Territories, to be specific

27. Sports bar array : TVs - the NY Rangers edged out the Capitals and start the Eastern Conference Finals vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning today....anyone in Fla a fan~?  I know that half the Rangers from last year went to TB as free agents, including my guy Brian Boyle - should make for a cool series

28. Dict. spelling tag : VARiations

30. Thimble Theatre name : OYL

31. Job, metaphorically : HAT - I wear about three these days; pre-load at UPS, "property maintenance director" both at aMano and A Lure restaurants, and still doing side work

33. Desperate letters : S.O.S.

34. Didn't go off : MISFIRED

35. Barfly : SOT

36. Take to excess : O.D. ON

40. Indian title : SAHIB

41. Sporty Golf : GTI - Volkwagen, that is

42. Bikini option : HALTER - show me YOUR choice of pics; I prefer the "bottom half", if you know what I mean

43. How much freelance work is done : ON SPEC

45. Goes for flies : SWATS

46. Acting brother of Cuba Gooding Jr. : OMAR

48. Grow together : KNIT

49. Sol lead-in : AERO - Aerosol....D'oh~! I went with "mi fa", as in do re mi fa SOL la ti do

52. Patient remark? : AAH - Open wide, I have my endoscope

53. Nutritional stat. : RDA

54. One-handed Norse god : TYR

Splynter

Note from C.C.:

Happy 94th birthday to Jazzbumpa's mother!  Ron said that his mom and her twin sister are the only ones remaining from 9 siblings. Click here to read Ron's musing in 2013.

Mother's Day, 2013

Thursday, May 7, 2015 Gareth Bain

Theme: Anagram

17-Across. Washington landmark : CAPITOL BUILDING.

Night image

38-Across. Escher's "Relativity" is an example of it : OPTICAL ILLUSION.

Kind of like the stairs at Hogwarts

61-Across. 9-Across treatments : TOPICAL STEROIDS.

What else can I say?

Did you see the common letters as you were solving? I had to go back and look for the theme when I was done. Pretty straight forward, and just a hint of deviousness in the clueing, so I was wondering if I had the wrong day of the week?!

Across

1. __ of Cleves : ANNE.

5. Ink, so to speak : TATS.

9. Skin problem : RASH. Get out those TOPICAL STEROIDS.

13. Genuine : REAL.

14. "How much wood __ a woodchuck chuck ..." : WOULD. ("...if a woodchuck could chuck wood. A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.")

16. "__ Wood sawed wood": tongue twister opening : ESAU. Did he beat the woodchuck, though? I wonder if our resident thespian Ol' Man Keith knows this one?

20. Hidden supply : STASH.

21. Major installation? : ARMY BASE. Here's a bit of that devious clueing I mentioned. Not an art exhibit or a new kitchen, but the home of a high ranking officer.

22. Pianist Dame Myra __ : HESS. Most famous for her luncheon concerts during the London blitz.

25. Site of South America's westernmost mainland point : PERU. The key word is "mainland."

26. Fairy tale patriarch : PAPA BEAR.

30. Latin dances : SALSAS.

34. Saccharide suffix : OSE. Glucose...fructose...sucrose...(am I being verbose?)

35. Legal write-up : BRIEF.

37. Elizabethan strings : LUTE.

42. Provided with an email dupe : CC'ed. Shoutout to our leader!

43. Poke around : SNOOP.

44. Many corp. logos : TMs. Trademarks

45. Apollo home : HARLEM. The Apollo Theater in Harlem.

48. "The Wolf of Wall Street" director : SCORSESE. I didn't catch that one - any good?

50. Prominent theater sign : EXIT.

52. Suture securer : KNOT.

53. Impeded : SLOWED UP.

57. Bandleader Shaw : ARTIE.

64. NASCAR route : OVAL.

65. Incline : SLANT.

66. __ school : PREP.

67. Use a blowtorch on : WELD.

68. James of jazz : ETTA. And a partial clecho:

69. James portrayer : SEAN. Connery. Bond.


Down

1. Hammer-throw trajectories : ARCS.

2. With 59-Down, "Very clever!" : NEAT. And 59-Down. See 2-Down : IDEA.

3. Popular wine source : NAPA. Lately I have latched onto Chilean wines - their Carménères originate from Bordeaux.

4. Prophet in 2 Kings : ELISHA.

5. "Tea for __" : TWO.

6. Former Time Warner division : AOL.

7. Big wind : TUBA. Another little misdirection.

8. Drink noisily : SLURP.

9. Popular energy drinks : RED BULLS.

10. China setting : ASIA. Were you fooled? We have had this clue many times before.

11. Comic __: typeface : SANS. Hint: Unless you are applying for clown college, do not use this font for your resume!

12. Whopping : HUGE.

15. Places to see FDR : DIMES.

18. "Doctor Who" broadcaster : THE BBC.

19. Constellation named for an instrument : LYRA. Beautiful old celestial map showing Lyra on the right.

23. Shot contents : SERA. Did you really want "ryes," Tin?

24. Some voyages : SAILS.

26. Shelter resident : POOCH. And another partial clecho:

27. Shelter org. : ASPCA.

28. Hero in a Prokofiev work : PETER. The wolf always gets second billing.

29. Rider's handful : REINS.

31. Hotel choice : SUITE.

32. Elemental bits : ATOMS.

33. "Common" asset : SENSE. It' s the least common one...

36. Congregation : FLOCK.

39. New York airport name until 1963 : IDLEWILD. It was renamed after the assassination of JFK.

40. "On Golden Pond" bird : LOON.

41. Big fuss : UPROAR.

46. Suit : EXEC.

47. Mythical gold maker : MIDAS.

49. Barbershop sharpeners : STROPS.

51. Bridal shop netting : TULLE. I always wonder what they are hiding under there?

53. Put in the overhead bin : STOW.

54. "All you need," in a Beatles song : LOVE.

55. Australian export : OPAL.

56. Hurdle for a jr. : PSAT.

58. Flag : TIRE.

60. "World Series of Poker" channel : ESPN.

62. Explosive initials : TNT.

63. Greek vowel : ETA.

After Zeta

Marti, over and out!

Thursday, April 2, 2015 Gareth Bain

Theme:"Here Comes Peter Cottontail"

17-Across. Holy woman sculpted by Bernini : SAINT TERESA. (of Avila)

25-Across. It may call for lateral thinking : BRAIN TEASER . Here's an apt one for this puzzle:
" There are six eggs in the basket. Six people each take one of the eggs. How can it be that one egg is left in the basket?" (*Answer at the end)

35-Across. Van Gogh painting depicting peasants : THE POTATO EATERS. He considered it one of his best works.

48-Across. Many a sofa : THREE SEATER.

And the reveal:
57-Across. Words spoken often this time of year, one of which is anagrammed four times in this puzzle : HAPPY EASTER. Very tight theme, with the last word of each entry an anagram of EASTER.


Across

1. Sweet Spanish wine : MALAGA. From Andalusia. Gimme.

7. Work unit: Abbr. : FT LB. Foot Pound (libra).

11. Mendel's sci. : BOT. I wanted "Genetics" at first, but that science came about as a result of Mendel's work with pea plants in the field of BOTany.

14. Place to surf : THE NET. Gimme.

15. Washbowl partner : EWER.

16. Protein-building molecule : RNA.

19. Battleship letters : USS. Spitzboov!

20. Self-conscious question : IS IT ME?

21. Preceder of old age? : RIPE. "He lived to the RIPE old age of 95."

22. Peoria-to-Decatur dir. : SSE.

28. Iconic figure with an anchor tattoo : POPEYE.

30. Tenochtitlán natives : AZTECS. It was their capital city, complete with floating islands.

31. Zenith : APEX.

32. Chanted phrase : MANTRA.

41. Hostile advance : INROAD. I don't always associate them with being "hostile." You?

42. Toe loop kin : AXEL.

43. Not around much : SCARCE.

46. Campaign ad urging : VOTE NO. "...on Question 2."

52. Common animal in "The Far Side" comics : COW. Gary Larson has pleaded with people not to infringe on the copyrights of his cartoons by copying them and displaying them on websites. I bow to his request.

53. Participated in a poetry slam : READ.

54. Holey reef dweller : SPONGE.

56. Give __: pay attention : EAR.

62. Whirlpool site : SPA.

63. __ nitrate : AMYL. I have to confess, this was my first thought. But I wondered how well known the compound is to the average puzzle solver?

64. Allow : ENABLE.

65. Lush : SOT.

66. In the wrong business? : NOSY. Ha ha!!

67. Scone fruit : RAISIN.


Down

1. High pts. : MTS. Mountains.

2. "So that's the answer!" : AHA.

3. Island souvenir : LEI.

4. Years in the Roman legion : ANNI. Latin years, that is.

5. Manages : GETS BY.

6. It's worn : ATTIRE.

7. Physics Nobelist of 1938 : FERMI.

8. Typical "Divergent" reader : TWEEN. I take offense - we did the book for our book club last year!

9. Guitar man Paul : LES.

10. Beach top : BRA.

11. Banana blemish : BRUISE.

12. How many artists work : ON SPEC.

13. Police weapons : TASERS.

18. Greek vowel : ETA.

21. Gangster film sound effect : RAT-A-TAT.

22. Cross words : SPAT.

23. Junior-to-be : SOPH.omore.

24. Sport with double touches : ÉPÉE. They must occur within 40 milliseconds of each other, in order to count as a "double touche."

26. Museum that awards the Turner Prize : TATE. Awarded to an artist under the age of 50.

27. Biblical scribe : EZRA.

29. No longer valid : EXPIRED.

32. "Nixon in China" tenor role : MAO. Which reminds me of this incredible video I found this week. 3:59

33. __ moment's notice : AT A.

34. Auction bid, often : NOD.

36. Formerly : ONCE.

37. Half of seis : TRES.

38. Board member, usually : EXEC.

39. Slots spot : RENO.

40. Impede : SLOW.

43. Overachiever's concern : STRESS.

44. Chintzy : CHEAPO.

45. Turkish peak : ARARAT.

46. Thin layer : VENEER.

47. "Star Wars" surname : ORGANA.

49. Best Angler and Best Jockey, e.g. : ESPYs. Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly.

50. Ask (for), as a job : APPLY.

51. First car, for many : TOY.

55. Actor Morales : ESAI.

57. Harrison role : HAN.

58. Ovid's "I love" : AMO.

59. CNN launcher : TBS.

60. Wearer of a "Y" sweatshirt : ELI. Y for Yale, not "the" Y.

61. Stimpy's chum : REN. Ren is the psychotic chihuahua, and Stimpy is the dimwitted cat.

*Answer: The sixth person took the basket, with his egg in it.

That's all for now!
Marti

Wednesday, February 4, 2015 Gareth Bain

Theme: Pounding Heads. Four hardware fasteners and one booze-fest contribute to today's theme.

I say this to myself most days

18A. "Being John Malkovich" director : SPIKE JONZE. Why did I think he was spelt "JONES" at first?

22A. "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" co-star : BRAD PITT. One of my favorite actors. His performance in Guy Ritchie's "Snatch" is one of the all-time great ones, in my humble opinion.

49A. Saddle storage area : TACK ROOM. Redolent with the smells of old leather, horses and hay. I'd use it as my car air freshener if someone could bottle it.

54A. Nervous habit : NAIL BITING. I used to bite my nails - my mom painted them with a foul-flavored concoction called "Stop 'N Gro" and guess what? I liked the taste. She was not pleased, to say the least.

35A. Slangily, overimbibe; literally, what the starts of 18-, 22-, 49- and 54-Across can do : GET HAMMERED. It's only really "over-imbibing" if you didn't mean to get schnockered. If you did mean it, then you end up with precisely the right quantity of bibe. Right?

Woo Hoo!

Hi all. Welcome to the first Wednesday of February (what happened to January?) and Gareth's latest. I thought this one had a bit of a disjointed feel about it - the fill seemed a little 'bitty' and has the occasional "yeah, I get it, but no-one really uses it" (I'm looking at you, DEFAT). Some good stuff like AKIMBO and ARMADA though.

Across:

1. Beginning on : AS OF

5. No ordinary party : BASH

9. Keister : PRAT. A fool in British slang.

13. Big Island coffee region : KONA. Meaning "the lee side" of an island in the Hawaiian language. Quick - how many letters are there in the Hawaiian alphabet?

14. Sap-sucking insect : APHID

16. Put on board : LADE. I first came across this word when I worked for a marine insurance underwriter - the Bill of Lading was required to as proof of what cargo the ship was carrying when filing a claim for loss or damage.

17. Learning ctr. : INST. Some pretty wild architecture can be found at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

20. Bit of dust : MOTE

21. Readies for another voyage : REFITS

26. Portions out : ALLOTS

29. One making waves : OAR. I just finished reading 'The Boys in the Boat" by Daniel James Brown, a wonderful book telling the story of the 1936 US rowing eight who went to the Berlin Olympics. I think the coaches would be alarmed if those oars were making waves, the ideal technique leaves nary a ripple.

30. Sean Lennon's mom : ONO. A quibble here would be that Sean Lennon's mom is "Yoko Ono".

31. Occasionally : AT TIMES

32. Three-time Hopkins role : LECTER. Hannibal from "The Silence of the Lambs" and sequels.

34. At hand : NEAR

38. Fictional archaeologist Croft : LARA. The Tomb Raider.

40. Bakery array : LOAVES. There are 13 in a baker's dozen for absolutely no good reason I can find.

41. Promises : PLEDGES

44. "Hawaii Five-0" actor Daniel __ Kim : DAE. Thank you, crosses.

45. Cellular messenger : RNA. Dashed clever stuff, that ribonucleic acid. It contains four-stranded guanine tetraplexes amongst other doodads for those of you keeping track of your tetraplexes at home.

48. Ambien maker : SEARLE. I wasn't familiar with this company - I discover it's part of Pfizer.

51. Longhorn rival : SOONER. Texas and Oklahoma college sports rivalry. Oklahoma's "Boomer Sooner" fight song is notable in that the melody was "borrowed" from Yale and the last verse "borrowed" from UNC.

53. Mandlikova of tennis : HANA. She retired 25 years ago; she won four Grand Slam titles so we'll cut her some slack on the crossword longevity stakes.

58. Prophet's concern : OMEN

59. Promgoer's concern : ACNE

60. Really enjoy : EAT UP

61. One of 28 Monopoly cards : DEED. For all its ubiquity, Monopoly is consistently rated as one of the worst board games of all times. Hasbro announced yesterday that they're releasing a special edition of the game in France, some of which contain real Euro notes.

62. Places for hats : PEGS

63. Jazz singer Horne : LENA

64. Icelandic literary work : EDDA

Down:

1. With hands on hips : AKIMBO. Great word. Here's Rembrandt's  "Portrait of a man half-length with his arms akimbo". Quite an unwieldy title, if he'd have added "wearing clothes and a hat and staring at the artist" we needn't have bothered looking at the painting at all.

2. Northern Mexican state : SONORA. Neighbor of Arizona and New Mexico.

3. GM navigation system : ONSTAR. It can also connect you to roadside assistance in case of emergency. I heard an audio clip of a race-tuned Camaro automatically calling for assistance when it blew a head gasket at the racetrack and the driver telling the operator he didn't need anyone to come and help.

4. Meant to be : FATED

5. __-relief : BAS

6. iPhone purchase : APP

7. See 12-Down : SHIRT. Hey Barry - here's your awkwardly cross-referenced clue of the day!

8. Enjoy the Pacific Crest Trail : HIKE

9. Literary arcs : PLOT LINES. Why arcs? Because a plot line is "an over-arching story", or arc for short.

10. Redeemed from captivity : RANSOMED

11. Carpenter's tool : ADZ. Someone chopped off the "E" with an axe?

12. With 7-Down, punny message site : TEE

15. Make leaner : DEFAT. I know it's in the dictionary, but I've been around food and cooking for donkey's years and I've never seen this term used. I trim meat and skim stock.

19. Leave at the altar : JILT

23. Expert on feet? : POET. Best clue of the day for me.

24. Foot part : INCH

25. Wrecks completely : TOTALS

27. Tetley offering : TEA

28. Estonia, until 1991: Abbr. : SSR. One of those pesky Soviet Socialist Republics.

31. Doomed 1588 fighting force : ARMADA. The Spanish fleet sent to invade England. A combination of bad planning, indecisiveness, English fire ships and storms conspired to give "armada" a bad name ever since.

32. Gigs for 22-Across, often : LEAD ROLES.

33. Expressive rock genre : EMO

35. Bribing : GREASING

36. Rescue op : EVAC

37. Smell bad : REEK

38. Old DJ's platters : LPS. Long-Playing records. Seems so quaint nowadays - you were lucky to get 30 minutes out of one side - I've got 11.5 days' worth on my phone.

39. India Pale __ : ALE. Brewed with extra hops to help preserve the beer on the journey from England to troops stationed in India, hence the name.

42. Shapeless mass : GLOB

43. Start of a selection process : EENIE. Meenie, Miny, Moe. Many alternate spellings too - great for crossword constructors.

45. Didn't stay put : ROAMED

46. "Thanks, but I'm set!" : NO NEED

47. Actress Plummer : AMANDA. Christopher Plummer's daughter.

49. Hackneyed : TRITE

50. __ Island : RHODE. The state motto is "Ictu Carebitis Eam" ("Blink, you will miss it"). OK, it's not, I made that up.

52. Bibliog. catchall : ET AL Et Alia - "and others"

54. Brief refresher : NAP

55. Solitaire foundation card : ACE

56. Wimple wearer : NUN

57. Credit-weighted no. : GPA. Grade Point Average. Credit hours weigh into the calculation.

finally the grid (you can see I disliked DEFAT so much I had to leave it until last to fill it in!):

Toodle-Pip!

Steve

Monday, January 19, 2015 Gareth Bain

Theme: Top Brass - A bringing together of diverse Generals.

17A. Military bed-making features : HOSPITAL CORNERS. General Hospital, long time running TV soap opera.

28A. Classic jazz vocal group originally composed of four siblings, with "The" : MILLS BROTHERS. General Mills, founded in 1866! (Wiki)
 

 

46A. "Special" lobbying faction : INTEREST GROUP. General Interest, like CBS Sunday Morning.

61A. UN organ ... or what the first words of 17-, 28- and 46-Across comprise? : GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Argyle here. Marvelous Monday...and we need it. I worried needlessly when I saw Gareth's name. Two grid spanners, strong corners, good fill with a little crunch to keep it interesting. And I liked the wide range of entries.

Across:

1. Pod used to thicken gumbo : OKRA

5. Moonshine containers : JUGS. I stuck in JARS first.

9. "24" superagent Jack : BAUER

14. __-chef : SOUS. Second-in-command in the kitchen. Not a general yet.

15. Jacob's twin : ESAU

16. Happen next : ENSUE

20. Rose pest : APHID

21. Pimply breakout : ACNE

22. On the __: precisely : DOT

23. Civil rights activist Parks : ROSA. Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

26. Chancellor von Bismarck : OTTO

33. Financial claim : LIEN

35. Sport __: versatile wheels : UTE. (utility)

36. OB/GYN test : AMNIO. Shortening of amniocentesis.

37. Goof : ERR

38. Comic strip with Snoopy : PEANUTS

41. Md. neighbor : DEL. Maryland/Delaware

42. Pierre's "There it is!" : "VOILA!"

44. Bigheadedness : EGO

45. "Should __ acquaintance ..." : AULD

50. Mideast strip : GAZA

51. In the mail : SENT

52. Magazine fillers : ADS

55. Intravenous process : DRIP

57. Ride without pedaling : COAST

65. San Antonio battle site : ALAMO

66. Cookie added to a McFlurry : OREO

67. Banned fruit spray : ALAR

68. Make into confetti : RIP UP

69. Enjoy a Kindle, e.g. : READ

70. Printed goof : TYPO

Down:

1. Fed. workplace monitor : OSHA. (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)

2. Surgeon general under Reagan : KOOP. Another General.

3. Make haste : RUSH

4. Pain-relieving pill : ASPIRIN

5. Jumbo __ : JET

6. Stars and Stripes land: Abbr. : USA

7. Black-tie party : GALA

8. Relief : SUCCOR

9. Italian pistols : BERETTAS

10. Cape NNW of Cod : ANN. Boston is in between them.

11. Second-hand : USED

12. Franc replacement : EURO

13. What's leftover, with "the" : REST

18. Revered star : IDOL

19. Not hoodwinked by : ON TO

24. Revolve on an axis : SLUE

25. Nick and Nora's dog : ASTA

27. Electrical unit : OHM

28. Be worthy of : MERIT

29. Poet Stephen Vincent __ : BENÉT

30. Turn out to be : END UP

31. Cambodian currency : RIEL

32. Happy sign for a Realtor : [SOLD]

33. Jeans maker Strauss : LEVI

34. Crease remover : IRON

38. Send down using chutes, as supplies : PARADROP. Or some really big stuff.

39. Fleecy footwear brand : UGGS

40. Injured, as a ligament : TORE

43. Table support : LEG

45. Quaint coin-op eatery : AUTOMAT

47. Poet Pound : EZRA

48. Crew member : SAILOR

49. A single time : ONCE

52. Lab gel : AGAR

53. Pastrami purveyor : DELI. Cute alliteration.

54. Lose it : SNAP

56. Remove, as a peel : PARE

58. With skill : ABLY

59. High-five, e.g. : SLAP

60. Rookie : TYRO

62. Outback bird : EMU

63. Mediterranean __ : SEA

64. Clump of turf : SOD

Argyle

Wednesday, January 7th 2015 Gareth Bain

Theme:  Papal Staples – each of the theme answers ends with a name adopted by multiple pontiffs.

18A. Black-eyed peas dish : HOPPIN’ JOHN. Food! A traditional good-luck New Year’s Day dish from the southern states. Any left-overs served the next day are called “Skippin’ Jenny”. How much of this did I know before I looked it up? None of it.

27A. Pretend nothing's going on : LOOK INNOCENT. Usually accompanied by whistling with your hands behind your back and drawing circles in the dirt with your toe.What? Me?

47A. Brunch fare : EGGS BENEDICT. More Food! Allegedly, one hungover New Yorker,  Lemuel Benedict, ordered the first incarnation of this dish at the Waldorf Hotel in 1894.

The bacon on the side is probably a tad unnecessary

 59A. Country star with an un-countrylike name : KEITH URBAN. He’s a real mixture – an Australian, born in New Zealand, who sings country. He’s also married to Nicole Kidman.

... tucked away at the bottom is the reveal:

56D. Religious leader associated with the ends of the four longest puzzle answers : POPE

Wow, Wednesday’s upon us already! Steve here with Gareth’s first LAT of 2015 (that didn’t take long, did it?) He slips in a couple of references to his native continent with RAND and MOGAMBO. I liked the theme and the tucked-away reveal. I did think the KEITH URBAN entry was just a little too close to POPE URBAN, whereas the other three were not people, but it didn’t bother me unduly.

Let's see what else we've got.

Across:

1. Neutral hue : ECRU. Seen in two places - the crossword and the hosiery department.

5. Book of legends? : ATLAS

10. Irreverent radio host : IMUS. I've never listened to him. From what I read, I've not missed much.

14. Become painfully dry : CHAP

15. Airboat area : SWAMP

16. Narrow margin : NOSE. How long is a nose in horse-racing parlance? At some point you stop winning by a head and start winning by a nose. I'm not sure where a horse's nose begins.

17. Hardly noticeable amount : HINT

20. Like some Netflix movies : ON DISC. A ever-dwindling proportion of their distribution.

22. Wore a belittling look : SNEERED

23. Notable gap : CHASM

26. More pleasant : NICER

31. Empty the recycle bin, e.g. : ERASE

32. Petri dish gel : AGAR

33. Cast off : SHED

37. Informal pass : NAH. I'd have gotten a clip around the ear from my Mom if she ever heard me say "nah" rather than "no thank you".

38. "Also sprach Zarathustra" composer : STRAUSS. Richard, in this case. Famously the overture music to "2001 A Space Odyssey".

41. Miner issue : ORE

42. Reunion attendee : ALUM

44. Third Pillar of Islam subject : ALMS. Sounds a little more pleasant than "compulsory charity" which is how I've seen it written before.

45. Short stroke : TAP-IN

50. Bygone Detroit brewery : STROH. I just finished reading a fascinating book about the USA's great brewing families, mostly of German origin. Stroh were one of the biggest brewers; eventually they sold out to Pabst and Miller.

52. Gas leak warnings : ODORS

53. Starts a revolution : UPRISES. I don't buy this one. I just can't hear a revolutionary leader saying "I think I'll uprise tomorrow and see who else wants to uprise with me". Nope.

55. Comparable to, with "with" : ON A PAR

62. What "will keep us together," in a 1975 hit : LOVE

63. Hamburg's river : ELBE. The town of Plzen is part of the Elbe watershed, and gives its name to Pilsner beer, which was the style of beer brewed by Bernhard Stroh when he opened his Detroit operation in 1850. I claim the prize for linking two totally unrelated clues.

64. "Transcendental" Liszt piece : ETUDE

65. Blunted blade : EPEE.

66. Downhill coaster : SLED

67. Pitching scout's device : RADAR. Official opinion varies, but the fastest pitches in Major League Baseball have been delivered at around 106 mph. That's some heat!

68. Lowly worker : SERF

Down:

1. Bounce back : ECHO. And how a RADAR gun works.

2. Uppercut target : CHIN

3. It's tender in Johannesburg : RAND

4. Market advances : UPTICKS. Are there downticks? I've only heard "downturns" - hmmm.

5. Picnic area barrel : ASHCAN

6. __-Face: duplicitous Batman foe : TWO. Harvey Dent, as portrayed by Aaron Eckhart in "The Dark Knight Rises"

 

"You really should get that looked at"

7. __ cat : LAP

8. Rock concert gear : AMPS

9. Dreidels and pinwheels : SPINNERS

10. Adds to a conversation, as a remark : INJECTS. I would use "interject" in this context, but probably that's just me.

11. "A Visit From St. Nicholas" poet Clement Clarke __ : MOORE. Also known as, and perhaps better known as, "'Twas the Night before Christmas". I had no idea of the poet's name. Thank you, crosses.

12. Seat finder : USHER

13. Delight : SEND

19. Frau's refusal : NEIN

21. Draws back in fear : SHIES

24. Hairbrush targets : SNARLS

25. Gable/Gardner classic set in Africa : MOGAMBO. More a Gardner/Kelly classic to be honest - Ava and Grace both received Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress.

27. Actress Olin : LENA. Who? I left her until the end.

28. __ hygiene : ORAL

29. Pearl Harbor locale : OAHU

30. Led to : CAUSED

34. Native Arizonans : HOPI

35. Obama attorney general Holder : ERIC

36. Bit of hail damage : DENT. DING went in, then came out.

39. Swiss luxury watchmaker : TAG HEUER. I thought they were German, but now I know better.

Yours for a mere $14,000, give or take a couple of hundred

40. Strict : STERN. IMUS and STERN in the same puzzle? Don't let them get too close to each other, they're not the best of friends.

43. Deserved : MERITED

46. Source of TV revenue : AD SALES

48. "Crikey!" : GOSH!

49. Midday tryst : NOONER

50. Compete in a bee : SPELL

51. 34-Down, e.g. : TRIBE

53. Luau strings : UKES

54. Arg. miss : SRTA. This abbr. falls into my "that's a bit 'orrible" category, but it's common enough in crosswords. A young woman in Argentina is a senorita, hence a yng. wm. in Arg. is a Srta.

57. State as fact : AVER

58. Great Barrier __ : REEF

60. Future bloom : BUD. BUD and STROH in the same puzzle? Cheers! *clink*

61. Oral health org. : A.D.A.

That's it from me. I'm off to Google "SRTA" and see what comes up first, apparently that's the way to explain crossword clues.

Steve 

Note from C.C.:

Here are two pictures from Bill G, who's been with our blog since 2009. His dog Sammy is no longer with them. Bill's wife Barbara is a retired teacher also, and an avid quilter.

Bill & Sammy

Bill & Barbara