Wednesday, September, 20, 2017, Roger and Kathy Wienberg

TITLE: If I had a dime for every time I got distracted, I wish I had a puppy!

Roger and Kathy have given us assembled masses a lovely entry in the Wednesday sweepstakes. Their puzzle celebrates SCATTERBRAINS among us and who better to represent this stereotype than this lovable character who was a truly savvy business person but played her wacky alter ego to perfection.

How the Wienberg's physically did this is shown below as B  R  A  I  N is scattered among the long entries in the grid. I include the grid in the event your medium did not carry the circles.

The reveal shows the gimmick clearly:

53. Forgetful person literally indicated by this puzzle's circles : SCATTER BRAIN

Theme Entries:

19. Bulb that's more sweet than pungent : BERMUDA ONION - What a great home for one!

31. Basic two-element computation : BINARY OPERATION This $1.50 calculator has the four basic BINARY OPERATION keys neatly nested on the right. Those of us that had to use a slide rule rue the fact we never had one of these.

39. Concern for a marketing department : PUBLIC RELATIONS - Their job:

Now for the balance of Roger and Kathy's very focused humpday offering:

Across

1. Helps illegally : ABETS

6. "London Fields" writer Martin : AMIS - Friends in Paris too easy for Wednesday?

10. Serengeti grazer : GNU

13. French name meaning "born again" : RENEE

14. Goal-oriented suburban parent? : SOCCER MOM - Jennifer Lawrence's life before movies intervened

17. Mexican pyramid builder : AZTEC - I have difficulty even pronouncing Tenochtitlan

18. Late with one's payments : IN ARREARS

21. Scheming : SLY

22. Quarterback Dawson : LEN

23. Renewable fuel made from organic matter : BIOGAS - Collecting BIOGAS from a well drilled into a landfill

27. Crow's cry : CAW

28. Building guideline : SPEC

30. Tokyo, long ago : EDO

36. "Want the light __ not?" : ON OR

37. "Golly!" : GEE

38. Good-sized backyard : ACRE - One ACRE lots in Clinton, Utah

44. One of the Galápagos, e.g.: Abbr. : ISL. - Where Darwin changed the world

45. Fed a line to : CUED - ...or not to be! ...or not to be!

46. Cartoon frame : CEL

47. Balance precariously : TEETER

49. Justice Dept. division : DEA


50. Car stat with city and hwy. components : MPG - 8 MPG for a 1959 Caddy was no big deal with $.25/gal gas

57. Fundraising portmanteau : WALK-A-THON - I got swamped with requests at school

60. "You Don't Join Us, We Join You" insurance company : AETNA

61. "Monday Night Football" airer before ESPN : ABC SPORTS - When football morphed into show biz

62. Lingering looks : GAZES

63. Deleted, with "out" : XED - MLK advisor Wyatt King advised him to X OUT the "Dream" part of speech since it was so trite and cliche

64. Scheme : RUSE

65. Wade noisily : SLOSH


Down

1. Many Mideast natives : ARABS

2. Chisel's cutting edge : BEZEL

3. Contest submission : ENTRY

4. Abound (with) : TEEM - These signs are a hot property these days

5. Not connected to the church : SECULAR

6. From Thailand, say : ASIAN

7. Like old records : MONO

8. "__ See for Miles": The Who : I CAN 

9. Metal-marking tool : SCRIBER

10. "Today" rival, familiarly : GMA

11. Fish-fowl link : NOR

12. Hesitation sounds : UMS - Don't use it here!

15. Beethoven's Third : EROICA - Italian for hero

16. Nevada city near Tahoe : RENO - Lots of wedding rings got thrown in the Truckee River there 

20. Like morning grass : DEWY

24. Company with "save you 15%" ads : GEICO

25. Beautify : ADORN

26. Loudness units : SONES

27. Astronomer Sagan : CARL

28. Ignore the limit : SPEED 

29. Spa treatment : PEEL - Sounds painful

31. Hasbro game requiring quick reflexes : BOP IT
'

32. Unavailable : IN USE - Talk about yer IN USE!

33. Duke or duchess : NOBLE - Royal blood doesn't cut much for me

34. Fairy tale brute : OGRE

35. Elongated comet part : TAIL  - An astronomy prof once told me that the tail of a comet is as close to being nothing and still being something as there is

40. Arctic covering : ICE CAP

41. Museum manager : CURATOR

42. Big name in PCs : ACER 

43. Lipton pouches : TEA BAGS - Some on this site would never consider one of these methods

48. Disdainful clicks : TSKS

49. Like thick fog : DENSE

50. Passover cracker : MATZO

51. Needle bearers : PINES - Pine Wilt has killed millions of trees around here

52. Grind, as teeth : GNASH -The phrase "(there shall be) weeping and gnashing of teeth" (in the original Greek ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων) appears seven times in the New Testament as a description of the torments of the damned in Hell.

54. Drive-__ window : THRU

55. Youngsters : TOTS

56. Legitimate : REAL

57. Car wash extra : WAX

58. Prez in a stovepipe hat : ABE - Abe's stovepipe hat he wore to Ford's Theater on April, 14, 1865 with the black mourning ban for his dead son Willie. This hat was not put on display until 1893 at the Smithsonian 

59. Type of TV display : LCD

SCATTERBRAINS and regular ones are now welcome to opine:

Wednesday, September 6, 2017, Samuel A. Donaldson

TITLE: A CURRENT WAR

Husker Gary on the scene for this report of one of the great technological battles of the 19th century between two scientific giants. Nikolai Tesla who favored transmitting electric power using Alternating Current and Thomas Edison who wanted to use Direct Current. 

In the end Tesla's AC method proved superior as it could be transmitted great distances and is still used today. Tesla sold most of his patents to George Westinghouse and died in poverty while business savvy Edison made millions with his (and others') inventions.

The gimmick was pretty easy if you had the circles in your puzzle as was true in my Omaha World Herald. Once the AC/DC coupling was obvious, the remaining circles were pretty much  fish in a barrel.

The reveal:

56. Influential pairing, and a hint to the circles in four puzzle answers : POWER COUPLE

which was fitting for these two bitter rivals as they were a COUPLE, albeit not an amiable one. Samuel chose to split the DC across the last two words as you will now see in his theme fills.

17. Tennessee whiskey cocktail : JACK AND COKE - I wonder if Tinman has this setup?

23. Fruity dessert : PEACHES AND CREAM - The summer solstice of June 21st also serves as this tasty holiday.

35. One above criticism : SACRED COW - or traffic tickets

49. Pre-employment investigation : BACKGROUND CHECK - Mine might put the investigators to sleep

BTW, AC/DC's Australian brothers Malcom and Agnus Young took the name for their band from their sister after she saw AC/DC on a sewing machine.

Here are the rest of Samuel's current entries:

Across

1. One taken for a fool : DUPE - Edison reneged on a $50,000 payment to Tesla and it was all downhill after that

5. Question at a reunion : MISS ME? -And your name is...

11. Game show hosts : MCS

14. Camped in a trailer, for short : RVED - Hey, if you're gonna live in an RV...

15. Sort of : IN A WAY

16. Spoil : ROT

19. MLB's Indians, on scoreboards : CLE

20. __ Alamos : LOS

21. Groundbreaking tool : HOE

22. Aquatic plant : ALGA

28. "My package has arrived!" : IT'S HERE - In The Music Man it was via the Wells Fargo Wagon

29. "Darn it!" : OH RATS

30. Fun time, in slang : GAS

31. "Othello" antagonist " IAGO - "I hate the Moor, And it is thought abroad, That 'twixt my sheets 'Has done my office." Iago intimates that Othello is "Officing" his wife under his own sheets.

34. Unsurpassed : A-ONE

38. Good opponent : EVIL

40. Fair-to-middling : SO SO

41. MMDX ÷ V : DII - 2,510 ÷  5 = 502

44. Actor Estevez : EMILIO

46. Stump speech : ORATION - Edward Everett talked for two hours at Gettysburg but Abe's two minute ORATION is what every school kid learns

52. Morsels : BITS

53. Conditions : IF'S - If IF'S and but's were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas.

54. Done with one's career: Abbr. : RET - Everyday is Saturday now!

55. Yale alum : ELI

61. President pro __ : TEM - Orrin Hatch is the President Pro TEM of the senate and is therefore third in line for succession to the presidency

62. __ Jug: British Open trophy : CLARET - Jordan Spieth hit this incredible shot over that mound from a parking lot/driving range to help win this year's British Open.

63. Take a long bath : SOAK - Did it seem easier to get out of the tub a few years ago?

64. Most GRE takers : SRS

65. Iran, once : PERSIA

66. Holy recess : APSE - The Chair Of St. Peter in the APSE at St. Peter's Basilica

Down

1. Hall of Fame Sixer, familiarly : DR. J - Back when they used to win

2. Charlottesville sch. : U.VA. 

3. Course that makes you sweat, briefly? : P.E. CLASS 

4. "How'm I doing?" New York mayor : ED KOCH

5. Hr. segment : MIN

6. Swing voter: Abbr. : IND

7. Actor __ Baron Cohen : SACHA  and 36. Alter ego of 7-Down : ALI G - Not my cup of comedic tea

8. Faint : SWOON

9. Get by : MAKE DO

10. Pupil's place : EYE

11. Magic Eraser spokesman : MR. CLEAN

12. Palmolive's corporate partner : COLGATE

13. Cooks, as broccoli : STEAMS

18. Tennis legend who wrote "Days of Grace" : ASHE - Athletic and elegant

22. Traffic light symbol : ARROW - Huh?

23. Sty dweller : PIG

24. LAX posting : ETA

25. Lindros in the Hockey Hall of Fame : ERIC

26. Blackens, as tuna : SEARS

27. Former Labor secretary Elaine : CHAO - If you are into politics at all, you know Elaine is married to the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

32. Prefix with caching : GEO - This device says it is 31' away from the goal of 28.170N and 48.175W which is in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

33. Uses too much : OD'S ON - I may be approaching that as I have watched six of the fourteen seasons of NCIS in two months

35. Jockey's wear : SILKS

37. Wood measure : CORD

38. Screen writer? : E-MAILER

39. Con targets : VICTIMS - This kitty can't be conned!

41. Sugar-free soft drink : DIET POP - Diet Dr. Pepper is big around here

42. Summer Games org. : IOC - Look up "corrupt" in the dictionary and you'll find this organization

43. Tattoo, in slang : INK

44. __ Field: Brooklyn Dodgers' home : EBBETS - It greatly upset my dad when they left

45. Colorful songbird : ORIOLE


47. Height: Pref. : ACRO and 51. Operators : USERS - I have always wanted to Operate one of these tower cranes but I'm afraid my ACROPHOBIA would get the best of me

48. Where Springsteen was born? : THE U.S.A.

50. Tug __ : OF WAR

56. Angel dust, for short : PCP

57. Outdoor gear retailer : REI - Not for me if I can use the luxury RV above!

58. Transp. group in the Loop : CTA - I'll bet most of you know what will be found near this stop if you catch the Chicago Transit Authority Red Line train in the loop

59. Scale syllables : LA'S - After the Do's, Re's, Mi's and Fa's

60. Squeeze (by) : EKE

Now, no matter how you are wired, you may comment!

Sunday, September 3, 2017, Don Gagliardo and C.C. Burnikel

TITLE: FIRST THINGS FIRST

Don's and C.C.'s wonderful Sunday collaboration was a treat for me to do.  I'd like to think I would have gotten the theme without the title but my mental density is quite high! This great crossword team has used seven phrases/names where the first word is, well, the first word in a familiar sequence. Way cool! Let's explore what Don "Hard G" and C.C. have given us today.

First of all the theme fills.

21. Willie Mays won 12 in 12 consecutive years : GOLD GLOVE AWARDS - Annual award to best fielder at their position in MLB and the Olympic medal awarded to athlete who is FIRST in their event

39. "Mad Men" actress : JANUARY JONES - Mrs. Don Draper and the FIRST month of the year

68. Certain group leader : ALPHA MALE - My idea of an ALPHA MALE and the capital letters of the Greek Alphabet with ALPHA being the FIRST and 13. Fraternity O's : OMICRON(S) being the 15th

94. Early '60s group that included John Glenn : MERCURY SEVEN - The first group of NASA astronauts and the planet that is FIRST in order from the Sun

116. 1990 movie with a muscular teacher : KINDERGARTEN COP - A "meh" Ahnold movie and the FIRST class most kids have in school.

14. "Rip Van Winkle" author : WASHINGTON IRVING - The early 19th century (corrected from earlier mistyped 18th) American author and the man who was the FIRST U.S. president

36. Component of hair bleach : HYDROGEN PEROXIDE - I am familiar with the phrase "Peroxide Blonde" and Hydrogen is the FIRST element in the periodic table

Now let's examine the balance of Don's and C.C.'s fill from the FIRST to the LAST

Across

1. Pocket for falafel : PITA

5. Crossing sign? : PLUS or multiply

9. Some old notebooks : IBMS - Their first notebooks took a pretty substantial lap

13. Came up short : OWED

17. USNA part: Abbr. : ACAD

18. Snuck : CREPT - Wow, September certainly CREPT up on me

19. Eponymous store founder : MACY - We don't shop there but here is the image it engenders to us

20. Gulf State native : OMANI

24. Brake components : DISCS - They are clearly visible on my wheels

25. "More!" : ENCORE

26. Left hanging : IN LIMBO - In the movies and TV they call them Cliff Hangers

27. John Wayne types : MACHOS

28. In the offing : NEAR - Seeing Halloween decorations for sale means the time to see Christmas items on the shelves is NEAR

30. "99 Luftballons" singer : NENA - A song about the insanity of war 

31. Org. created in a 1949 sports merger : NBA - The Basketball Association of America merged with the National Basketball League. The Chicago Studebakers of the NBL broke the pro sports color line with six black players six years before Jackie Robinson broke in in 1949

33. Lyft offer : RIDE - We are huge Uber fans and will never rent a car in a big city again.

34. German exclamation : ACH - ACH Du Lieber! ACH is a German exclamation, Du is "my" and Lieber is "my beloved" Gott (God) is sometimes added as well.

37. Pitt of "The Big Short" : BRAD

42. Glasgow's river : CLYDE - This beautiful bridge is one of twenty-one that cross the River Clyde near Glasgow.

44. Vineyard grape : PINOT

46. Decorative metalwork : PLATING

47. "And there you have it!" : TADA - A satisfying refrain for us crossword solvers

48. "No worries" : IT'S OK

49. Kept out of sight : HID

50. Brewery named for a Dutch river : AMSTEL

53. Stonehenge worshiper : DRUID - What they will be doing eighteen days from now

55. Brahms' "Variations on a __ of Paganini" : THEME - Not on my playlist

57. Putin's former org. : KGB - Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti 

58. Wish Tree artist : ONO - Gee, I wonder why she's famous

59. Canada's most populous province : ONTARIO

61. Pot growth from overwatering : ALGAE - Our yard has mushrooms growing in it during this wet summer

64. Sonata finale, perhaps : RONDO - A more familiar use of RONDO to this cultural philistine 

66. "I __ differ" : BEG TO

70. Hunter with a belt : ORION - The best constellation in the winter sky!

71. Von Trapp girl who sings "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" with Rolf : LIESL - Later in the movie, Rolf has to choose between LIESL and the Fuhrer and we all know how that came out.

72. Eye twinkle : GLEAM

73. Enable : EMPOWER

75. Subject for Keats : URN

76. "__ Kapital" : DAS - Karl Marx's seminal work

78. Capri or Elba, locally : ISOLA - L'ISOLA di Capri è incredibilmente bella (The island of Capri is incredibly beautiful)

80. Jack in the deck : KNAVE

82. Settles, as a debt : REPAYS

84. GI bill? : DOL - A DOLlar is a bill that is Issued by the U.S. Gov't. Hmmm...

86. Stout quantities : PINTS

88. Enter the pool, in a way : DIVE

90. Exotic vacation, maybe : ECOTOUR -Probably no skyscrapers or theme parks on this tour

92. Praline nut : PECAN - Pronunciation? 

93. Ed with Emmys : ASNER - Look up the word "Irascible", it has wonderful Ed's picture

97. Cherry-pick : CULL - Another use - I've seen many teachers who deserved to be CULLED from the profession. Tenure is a two-way street

99. Sound near a "Beware of Dog" sign : GRR

100. Dog attractor : ODOR

101. East, to Goethe : OST - Berlin ist 177 Meilen östlich von Hannover (Berlin is 177 miles EAST of Hanover)

102. Shelter chorus : ARFS - Sights and sounds at these places tug at my heartstrings

104. Kite trailer : TAIL

106. Philly cagers : SIXERS - They are 109 - 301 in the last 5 years.

108. Hotel convenience : BAR SOAP  

111. Heir and heiress : SCIONS

115. Way to step : ASIDE - Tennessee Ernie warned 'em!

118. Like acid in some disinfectants : IODIC - Dictionary.com - "Containing iodine"

119. Fascinated by : INTO

120. Citrus hybrids : UGLIS

121. James of jazz : ETTA

122. Tech gadget review site : CNET - Popular with geeks and non-geeks alike

123. Trade org. : ASSN - A better abbr. than DOL 😁

124. Island in a computer game : MYST

125. Roulette bet : NOIR - Je vais mettre 100 euros sur onze NOIR (I will put 100 euros on eleven black)


Down

1. Printer output : PAGE - I renewed my Substitute Teacher's Certificate online last week and was able to print it out the PAGE home two days later. Oh yeah, they wanted $55 too.

2. Tapped image : ICON

3. It's 1 on the Mohs scale : TALC - It's been in the news quite a bit lately

4. Accessory : ADD ON - Does your car really need $5,000 rims?

5. Expert : PRO

6. Big name in denim : LEVI - A Reno, NV tailor Jacob Davis invented canvas pants reenforced with copper rivets but LEVI Strauss got the patent and made millions

7. Home to the first collegiate business sch. : U PENN - Also the home of the Quakers in Ivy League Athletics

8. Groan elicitor : STALE JOKE

9. 1967 Spencer Davis Group hit : I'M A MAN

10. Stinging rebuke : BARB


11. Pioneering fast food name : MCDONALD - Dick and Mac MCDONALD went to a tennis court in San Bernardino, CA and drew an outline to develop their "speedy service" model. Ray Kroc then came in and took it world-wide whether the brothers liked it or not

12. Part of TBS: Abbr. : SYS

15. Protect from hackers, hopefully : ENCODE

16. Insults : DISSES 

18. Golf-friendly forecast : CLEAR - Our eclipse forecast left in some wispy clouds but the event still qualified for that most overused of adjectives - AWESOME!

20. __ Mae: Whoopi's "Ghost" role : ODA

22. Diving bird : GREBE

23. Succeed in : WIN AT

27. Whirlpool brand : MAYTAG - These MAYTAG, Whirlpool and Kenmore washers are all made in the same factory in Clyde, Ohio

29. Totally absorbed : RAPT

32. Push-up top : BRA

34. Take the stage : ACT

35. Garbed : CLAD

38. Purify, as whiskey : DISTILL - This famous DISTILLERY is in "dry" Moore county and so you can tour the facility but you can't buy any of their whiskey there.

40. Reuters rival : UPI

41. Fullback on the NFL's 1960s 
All-Decade Team : JIM BROWN - He was like a man among boys

43. Unnerves : DAUNTS

45. Pessimist's words : NO HOPE - Only Faith and Charity showed up and so there was...

48. Wyo. neighbor : IDA - I am not repeating that joke about why no girl wants to be Miss IDAHO

49. Captain's post : HELM

51. Inner: Pref. : ENDO

52. Minnesota's state bird : LOON - Fabulous Katharine Hepburn as Ethel Thayer conversing with the LOONS in On Golden Pond

54. "See?!" : I TOLD YOU - "We should never have tried to drive through that water over the road!"

56. Polite addresses : MAAMS - It took my daughter a while to adjust to being called this when she started teaching

57. Stay fresh : KEEP

60. Cleaning cloths : RAGS

62. Language that gave us "galore" : GAELIC

63. Annual fact book : ALMANAC 

65. Daphnis and Echo, e.g. : OREADS - Ancient Greek nymphs who seemed to have everything in the wash

66. Fuzzy image : BLUR

67. Its legislature is the Oireachtas : EIRE - Irish legislature

69. Hard rain? : HAIL

74. Signs off on : OK'S

77. Colt .45s, since 1965 : ASTROS

79. Venue for free discussion : OPEN FORUM - Many of these venues today seem to be confrontational 

81. Constantly : EVER

83. Sanction, as a college : ACCREDIT

84. London trash cans : DUSTBINS

85. Prospector's target : ORE

87. Letter-shaped bolt holder : T-NUT

89. __ on the side of caution : ERR

91. Cries of dismay : OYS

92. As such : PER SE - In and of itself. Many people in Texas are not first responders PER SE, but they are acting like ones when necessary.

93. Tea party attendee : ALICE

94. Inlaid design : MOSAIC

95. Rival of Tesla : EDISON - Tesla once worked for EDISON but quit when he felt he was cheated

96. __ Trophy: annual PGA honor for lowest scoring average : VARDON - In this lovely movie, 20-year-old Francis Ouimet defeated golf legend Harry Vardon in the 1900 U.S. Open. For some reasons the actors' names are over the wrong character.

98. Doesn't fade : LASTS

103. Yielding to gravity : SAGGY

105. Tablecloth material : LINEN

107. DVR button : REC

109. Farm swarm : ANTS - Our classroom had an ANT FARM when I was in sixth grade

110. Besties : PALS

112. Numerical prefix : OCTO - I am nine years away from becoming an OCTOgenarian

113. "Moi?" : NOT  I - But everyone wanted to eat the bread

114. Go toe-to-toe : SPAR 

116. Korean carmaker : KIA












117. Slowing, to an orch. : RIT - Look carefully and you will find it here:

The grid:

 LAST things LAST - Time for comments: