Friday March 5, 2010 Gary J. Whitehead

Theme: M-ending - The last letter N of a three-letter word in a familiar phrase is changed into letter M.

17A. Suggestion to singer Lennox after a garlicky meal?: ANNIE GET YOUR GUM. Base phrase is the musical "Annie Get Your Gun". Singer Annie Lennox.

24A. Jamaican group winding down after a gig?: BAND ON THE RUM. "Band on the Run". Paul McCartney's song. Unknown to me. Jamaicans drink lots of rum? I don't understand the "Jamaican group" and RUM connection.

45A. Moocher at McDonald's?: HAMBURGER BUM. Hamburger Bun. Moocher = Bum.

58A. Feared words from an accountant?: HERE COMES THE SUM. "Here Comes the Sun". The Beatles' song.

Such a fun theme! Which is your favorite theme answer? ANNIE GET YOUR GUM made me laugh.

All our Friday puzzles seem to be letter addition/deletion/replacement. Rich Norris sure loves wordplay.

Maybe this constructor Gary J Whitehead is working on another puzzle with M to N replacement.

Across:

1. Bank statement no.: ACCT (Account)

5. The Miners of Conf. USA: UT EP (University of Texas, El Paso). Have never heard of Conference USA. Not a college sports fan.

9. One way to attend a party: STAG

13. Lincoln feature: BEARD

15. __ City: Baghdad suburb: SADR. Where Muqtada al-Sadr (al is Arabic for "the"), one of the most influential Iraqi religious/political figure, came from. Now exile in Iran.

16. Cook book: COMA. Robin Cook's thriller "Coma". I was fooled before.

20. Half of the Brady bunch, to Carol: STEPSONS. No idea. Have never seen "The Brady Bunch".

21. Clothes line?: CREASE. I bet Dennis nailed it. He loves ironing.

22. Samuel Johnson portraitist John __: OPIE. Cornish painter. Complete stranger to me. Here is his portrait of Samuel Johnson. The constructor must be very exited to discover a new clue for OPIE.

23. Traitors: JUDASES

28. "Yours truly calling": IT IS I

29. Downed: ATE

30. "Ditto": SAME

34. Warmup toss: LOB. Baseball. A pitcher will lob a few balls to get his arm loose.

35. City in Thessaly: LARISSA. Wikipedia says "Legend has it that Achilles was born here and Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, died here". Who knows?

39. "Oedipus __": REX. "Oedipus the King". Rex = "King" in Latin.

40. Sylvester's problem: LISP

42. Hägar creator Browne: DIK. Not on my radar.

43. Roman moon goddess: DIANA. "Greek moon goddess" = Artemis.

49. Acid neutralizers: ALKALIS

52. Outer area of an escutcheon: ORLE. Heraldry term. The border of shield. I did not know the meaning of "escutcheon", Latin for "shield".

53. Afternoon service: TEA SET

54. Fragments: SNIPPETS

60. Frankfurt's river: ODER. The Poland-Germany border river. Flows to the Baltic.

61. Canceled: NO GO. At NASA.

62. Emcee's job: INTRO

63. Nos. divided by dashes: SSNS

64. He played Obi-Wan: EWAN (McGregor). Gimme. Just listened to his interview with Terry Gross on "Fresh Air". Also learned the Sadr City from Terry.

65. Strong taste: TANG

Down:

1. "__ le roi!": French Revolution cry: A BAS. Literally "down with" in French. I wonder if anyone recklessly penned in VIVE without reading carefully the "Revolution cry".

2. Tiny amount: CENT. The answer is always IOTA.

3. Mr. Peanut prop: CANE

4. Surveyors' tools: TRIPODS

5. Online newsgroup system: USENET

6. Does lacework: TATS

7. Eponymous ice cream maker: EDY. Edy's Ice Cream.

8. Gets by special means: PROCURES. Great entry.

9. Roller coaster sounds: SCREAMS

10. Senate apparel: TOGAS. Roman Senate.

11. Tickle pink: AMUSE

12. Fun partner: GAMES. Fun and games. I blanked.

14. Pillage: DESPOIL. New word to me. Looks like the opposite of "spoil", doesn't it?

18. "__ Out of My Head": 1964 hit: GOIN'. Here is the clip.

19. Language heard in Karachi: URDU. One of the official Pakistani languages. Written in Arabic alphabet.

23. Flies, in a way: JETS

24. Law in the works: BILL. Once a bill passes the Congress and is signed by the president, it becomes a law.

25. Paris possessive: A TOI. French for "yours".

26. Writing points: NIBS. Pen points.

27. 17-syllable poem: HAIKU. The three-line poem.

31. Libyan, probably: ARAB

32. You might get one right after being seated: MENU. D'oh! Of course.

33. Checkup: EXAM

36. Ticket order?: ADMIT ONE. The "order" confounded me.

37. Barbecue order: RIBS

38. Long Island university: ADELPHI. No idea. Where did it get its name?

41. Sci-fi weapons: PHASERS

44. Words of atonement: I REPENT

46. Baldwin of "30 Rock": ALEC. He's going to co-host this year's Oscar with Steve Martin.

47. Recent Zippo acquisition: RONSON. Not familiar with Ronson lighter. I like that threesome ad.

48. Gumption: GRIT

49. Oldest musketeer: ATHOS. Was ignorant of this trivia. The other two are Porthos & Aramis.

50. It's on the Aire: LEEDS. Was unaware of River Aire, which passes through Leeds. Nice play on "It's on the air".

51. Carpenter with a soothing voice: KAREN. My husband loves Karen Carpenter.

54. Nintendo rival: SEGA. It stands for SErvice GAmes (of Japan).

55. This, in Tijuana: ESTA. Or ESTO.

56. Make a right, say: TURN

57. Industrial pollutant: SMOG

59. Cut: MOW. Cut the grass.

Answer grid.

I enjoyed the Sausage Sentence Links yesterday, thanks for playing!

C.C.

Tuesday November 24, 2009 Gary J. Whitehead

Theme: Homophones - The last words of the three theme answers are homophones.

20A: Sophisticated taste, foodwise: REFINED PALATE

36A: Studio item with a thumbhole: PAINTER'S PALETTE

47A: Portable shipping platform: FREIGHT PALLET

The bees (Barb & Melissa) blogging.

We didn't recognize the constructor's name. So we looked him up. Gary Whitehead is a poet, painter, teacher and crossword constructor. Get this. He also wrote this piece for the Christian Science Monitor titled A question of morels.

Homophones are words that are pronounced the same, but are different in spelling and meaning. PALLET can also mean a mattress or small, temporary bed. There are probably a lot of visiting family members sleeping on pallets this week. That might be next for Barb B, a.k.a. Goldilocks. The futon is too hard, and the couch is too soft. Maybe a pallet would be just right. Or maybe she just needs a massage.

Lots of expensive scrabbly letters, but alas, no K, Q or W.

Across:

1: Job detail, briefly: SPEC.

5: First appearance: DEBUT.

10: Irish dances: JIGS.

14: Prefix with space: AERO.

15: Really peeved: IRATE. Michael Smith's famous mad bluebird photograph. What's your pet peeve?

16: Campus south of Sunset Blvd: UCLA.

17: Investor's goal: GAIN.

18: Subsidiary building: ANNEX.

19: Thoughtful: DEEP.

23: B&Bs: INNS. Mother and daughter, too.

24: Jane Fonda, to Peter: SIS.

25: Ping-Pong need: PADDLE.

28: Airing, as an ESPN game: ON TV.

30: Schmooze: GAB.

33: See eye to eye: AGREE.

34: "Night" author Wiesel: ELIE.

35: Nod off: DOZE.

39: Datebook entry: Abbr.: APPT.

40: Improves in the wine cellar: AGES.

41: Western: OATER.

42: Guitarist ____ Paul: LES. June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009. Moonglow. RIP Les.

43: 1982 Disney sci-fi movie: TRON.

44: Pessimistic types: CYNICS.

45: Sidekick: PAL.

46: Sargasso et al.: SEAS. The Sargasso Sea is in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle, and named for the sargassum seaweed that floats in it. Wide Sargasso Sea is a prequel to Jane Eyre, made into a movie.

53: "The Haj" novelist: URIS. Haj = pilgrimage to Mecca. Haji = one who has made a pilgrimage. Who remembers this Hadji?

54: Racetrack borders: RAILS.

55: Giant screen format: IMAX.

57: Vitality: ZEST.

58: Els on the links: ERNIE. Crossword staple. Currently ranked 16th. Career earnings: $35,810,558.

59: Free from doubt: SURE. And 4D: Free from doubt: CONFIDENT. Nice echo. Nice echo.

60: Foreboding date for Caesar: IDES.

61: Dublin-born poet: YEATS. From A Prayer For My Daughter: Have I not seen the loveliest woman born...

62: Romanov ruler: TSAR.

Down:

1: Droop: SAG.

2: Anjou or Bosc: PEAR. Homophones: pair and pare.

3: Toledo's lake: ERIE.

5: California senator Feinstein: DIANNE.

6: Maritime raptors: ERNES.

7: Robinhood's merry men, e.g.: BAND. Including Maid Marion and Friar Tuck.

8: Longhorn State sch.: UTEP. University of Texas at El Paso.

9: Oil, informally: TEXAS TEA.

10: Biblical traitor: JUDAS.

11: Rapper-turned-actor: ICE T.

12: Tickled-pink feeling: GLEE. Right Dennis?

13: Maple yield: SAP.

21: Bay or cove: INLET.

22: Actress Tyler: LIV. Aerosmith's Steven Tyler's daughter.

25: Of the Holy See: PAPAL. "See" comes from the Latin word sedes, meaning the seat or residence of the bishop.

26: Showing shock: AGAPE.

27: Plumbing problems: DRIPS.

28: Jimmy of the Daily Planet: OLSEN.

29: Playful bites: NIPS.

30: Gangster dubbed "The Teflon Don": GOTTI. Dapper Don. John Gotti Jr. is following in his father's footsteps. He's on trial for racketeering and murder, current jury deadlocked after three hung juries.

31: Ancient Mexican: AZTEC.

32: Tavern round: BEERS.

34: Consequently: ERGO.

35: Academic honor: DEAN'S LIST.

37: Tea named for William IV's prime minister: EARL GREY. Infused with bergamot.

38: True blue: LOYAL. Hey! What?

43: Mai ___: cocktail: TAI.

44: Breaks off: CEASES.

45: Roaches, ants, etc.: PESTS.

46. Bowler's headache: SPLIT. Also the word that starts Bananagram game. We've been playing. Barb B keeps winning.

47. Wilma's mate: FRED.

48. Greet the day: RISE.

49: Cocksure Aesopian racer: HARE.

50: "Saturday Night Live" alum Fey: TINA.

51: Outback runners: EMUS. Have you tried Emu oil?

52: O'Hara home: TARA. Rhymes.

53: Action film gun: UZI.

56: Gen-____: boomer's kid, usually: XER. Generation X.

Answer grid.

Barb & Melissa