Saturday, Feb 4th, 2012, James Sajdak

Theme: None

Words: 68

Blocks: 32

I'm DEAF ~!!! Just came back from a live show, great bands, including my buddy's original tunes group, "Evil Eye", which I think played out for the first time tonight. Came home, jumped right into this puzzle, and it was a "BEHEMOTH"....Lots of really obscure names and concepts, some I had to drag up from the depths of my brain. Looked bleak, but in the end, I finished under my personal time, but not without red-letter help in the SE corner - I just did not know three foreign words and a fictional (?) city. Oh well, every now and then I need to be 'sacked' by a Saturday constructor.

Two spanners, one climber;

17A. Blue chip, e.g. : SOUND INVESTMENT - A list of some; and speaking of --- BLUE --- Sorry, BarryG....Brady needs to get sacked, too ~!

55A. Fitness ideal : PICTURE OF HEALTH - Here's my guys playing tonight - such a picture of health, right???

8D. "You look familiar ..." : HAVE WE MET BEFORE? Didn't try this line with any of the "metal chicks" that were there tonight - they all seemed to be "taken"

Onward ~!

ACROSS:

1. Monster : BEHEMOTH - I like MONSTER, the drink; it's what I have when I go out instead of anything alcoholic

9. "Doesn't anyone else see this?" : IS IT ME ?

15. Ivory tower milieu : ACADEMIA

16. Ottoman officials : PASHAs

19. It's south of Vesuvius : ETNA

20. Vermont ski resort : OKEMO - trail map....how's the skiing, HeartRx ?

21. Bar choice : SODA - these days, it's my choice if I don't smuggle in a Monster

22. URL part : DOT - Had "COM" first

23. Lamb kin : EWE

24. Flushed : RED

25. Small change, maybe : ONES - Had "CENT" first

27. Réunion attendee : FRERE - Had "ONCLE" first; the é implies French, so I went with Uncle, turned out to be Brother

29. Job transfer consequence, for short : RELOcation

30. Winner of the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Music : NED ROREM - One of those "seen it in crosswords before" answers

32. Incan herd members : LLAMAS - I think they look cool, but I like their camel cousins better

34. Artisan : TRADESMAN - I consider myself a tradesman; actually have some work to post to my other blog

36. Horn of Africa native : SOMALI

39. Disney character voiced by Robby Benson : THE BEAST - Er, this guy

43. Spacewalks, for short : EVAs - Extra Vehicular Activities

44. Bargaining side : LABOR - Right now, I am on "THIS" side of the bargaining table; I am still waiting to hear about the "DARK SIDE" (management) position....

46. Uruguay's Punta del __ : ESTE

47. Pump choice: Abbr. : REGular - Gasoline, octane

48. Augsburger's article : DER - Not "EIN"

49. Neapolitan crowd? : TRE - Italian 'three'

50. Spring bloomer : IRIS - Not "LILY"

52. Soft bunches : TUFTS - tough clue to understand until you get it; 'soft bunches' of what?

54. Foot massage expert? : POET - Anyone else think of Pulp Fiction here ?  Poetry is usually written in "feet", a basic metrical unit in Western verse

58. 17th/18th-century division of New France : ACADIA

59. Motel posting : ROOM RATE

60. Grammer with Emmys : KELSEY - This guy, who won for Frasier, the show and the character; he's not a Grammy with an Emmer....

61. Intern, often : E.R. DOCTOR

DOWN:

1. Adaptation words : BASED ON - like the film was a adapted from the book; "Bladerunner" was BASED ON Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

2. Transition zone between plant communities : ECOTONE - Straight up definition

3. Obsessed : HAUNTED

4. Poet __ St. Vincent Millay : EDNA - another name from the depths of my crossword knowledge

5. NSAID, e.g. : MED - Non-Steroid Anti-Inflammatory Drug

6. "__ babbino caro": "Oh my beloved father" (Puccini) : O MIO - Tough to parse in the vertical

7. Monkeyed (with) : TINKERED

9. __ fatso: bit of Archie Bunker language-mangling : IPSO

10. Didn't play : SAT

11. Creeds : -ISMs

12. Euclidean proposal : THEOREM

13. Honoree of a six-meter-high Johannesburg statue : MANDELA

14. Oaxaca y Veracruz : ESTADOS

18. Part of FEMA: Abbr. : EMER

26. Guayaquil girls: Abbr. : SRTAs

27. Delicate : FRAIL

28. Iconic bull : ELMER - El Tor? El Cid? Oh, DUH....



29. Indian princess : RANEE

31. Team that plays in Fla.'s Amway Center : ORLando

33. Chocolate companion? : LABrador - the dogs, my friends

35. An abbreviation of : SHORT FOR

36. LPGA star who is the youngest living World Golf Hall of Fame inductee : SE RI PAK - total unknown, but a great CW fill; more HERE

37. Not neat : OVER ICE - Hell, NO, right Tin???

38. Mysteriously enchanting : MAGICAL

40. Elaine's home, in Arthurian legend : ASTOLAT - CAMELOT fit, which didn't help; here's the WIKI

41. Close overlap of fugue voices : STRETTO - New musical term for me; again, the WIKI

42. Ring around a crib? : TEETHER - cute, the baby's mouthpiece

45. Score words for a pair : ADUE

51. Criteria: Abbr. : STDs

52. Caterer's delivery : TRAY

53. Like many horses : SHOD - not "SHOW"

54. Seurat's Seine scene : PARC - DAH ~!! F'n French got me again; I tried BANC, thought I was all clever....

56. Road reversal, familiarly : UIE - seen it as "UEY", too, but essentially, a U-TURN

57. Punk rock offshoot : EMO

Also wanted to add that the other bands that played tonight were an Iron Maiden cover band, "Live After Death", and a Zeppelin cover band, "Black Dog" - check them out, too ~!!

Answer grid.

Splynter

Wednesday, October 26, 2011 James Sajdak

Theme: ROUND AND ROUND WE GO. Each of four theme entries - two of them grid-spanning - ends in a word signifying some type of revolution or rotation.

17A. Latitude between the South Frigid Zone and South Temperate Zone : ANTARCTIC CIRCLE. It's around the South Pole.

27A. Tried something out : GAVE IT A WHIRL. Origin uncertain: perhaps related to taking a chance at a roulette wheel, or trying your hand at a whirlygig toy.

48A. Test-drove, with "in" : WENT FOR A SPIN. Took a short drive in that sexy new car. Could this be from going ROUND the block?

63A. Macroeconomic theory to explain inflation : WAGE PRICE SPIRAL. Remember cost of living adjustments from back in the 70's? Prices went up, wages went up, rinse, repeat. Not now, though. Wages are stagnant.

Hi gang. JazzBumpa here with a fine entry from James Sajdak, involving circular reasoning and a bit of misdirection, some of which is musical . Let's play around with it.

Across:

1. Finish using TurboTax, say : E-FILE. File your tax return electronically, and you'll get your refund quicker.

6. They have scales and keys : MAPS. This musical misdirection gave me pause, but it is spot on.

10. Avon lady, e.g.? : BRIT. Not musical, but another misdirection. Instead of a cosmetics sales lady who rings your bell, it's any lady from the no-longer-existent county of Avon on the west coast of - 62 D. Merrie __ England : OLDE. Olde English spelling of a fine olde Anglo-Saxon word.

14. Pitch man? : TUNER. Not an aggressive, flamboyant salesman or promoter, but the guy who tunes your piano. Another musical misdirection.

15. Little bit of everything : OLIO. A miscellaneous collection, a hodgepodge. I've always known about OLEO, the ersatz butter substitute, but only learned about OLIO from crosswords. It might be derived from olla podrida, a traditional Spanish rich, spicy stew of meat and vegetables.

16. Tip-top : A-ONE. ¡Lo mejor! Probably not ersatz.

20. Surfboard fin : SKEG. Really?!? Thank you, perps. By the time you read this, I will already have forgotten - what was that again . . . ?

21. Native of Lima : OHIOAN. Ha! Can't fool me. I are one - or was before I became a displaced person. More misdirection, not musical, but still of the cartographer's scale and key variety.

22. Novelist Kesey : KEN. His most famous work is One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

23. Hindquarters : RUMP. But -- but . . . I had to back into this one, and almost fell behind. No link.

25. Arms treaty subjects, briefly : N-TESTS. Nuclear test ban treaties.

32. Cleaned one's plate : ATE. Figuratively. Even after cleaning my plate, I still wash it.

33. Indian megalopolis : DELHI. Located in North-central India.

34. Copious : AMPLE. Abundant. More than sufficient.

38. Agent under M : BOND. James Bond, Secret Agent 007, licensed to kill. No?

40. Highways and byways : ROADS. Lines on MAPS.

42. Chimney sweepings : SOOT. Mandatory link.

43. Lipstick mishap : SMEAR. Might need the Avon Lady.

45. Springs, in a way : FREES. From prison. Not very obvious.

47. Ref's decision : TKO. Technical Knock Out. The Ref stops a boxing match, lest the under-performing opponent get injured.

51. Environmental activist Jagger : BIANCA. Mick's first Ex.

54. Copyeditor's catch, hopefully : TYPO. What you get when you press the wrong key

55. Commentator Coulter : ANN. Moving right along . . .

56. 16th-century Spanish fleet : ARMADA. In 1588 the Spanish fleet attempted to attack the BRITS, but were repelled by fireships - literally, boats loaded with combustibles set afire and directed toward enemy ships. The ARMADA retreated north of Scotland where they were further damaged by severe storms. Only about 50 of the original 130 ships made it back to Spain.

60. Science fiction prize : HUGO. Named for Hugo Gernsback.

66. Faded in the stretch : DIED. Like the Tigers many times over and the Red Sox this year.

67. Dust Bowl migrant : OKIE. Pejorative term for impoverished Oklahomans who migrated to California during the dust bowl years of the other Great Depression,

68. Denoting a loss, as on a balance sheet : IN RED.

69. Every twelve mos. : YRLY. Abbrv. in cl. & ans.

70. Unites : WEDS.

71. Napoleon, ultimately : EXILE. Nap was EXILED to the isle of Elba. Hence our favorite palindrome. Recite it if you're able.

Down:

1. Guesstimates at Maryland's BWI : ETAS. Estimated Times of Arrival.

2. Name on a dictionary : FUNK. Along with Wagnalls.

3. Involve oneself : INTERVENE. More than just involvement. One intervenes to affect the outcome.

4. Roughly three miles : LEAGUE. I remember reading Roughly 60,000 Miles Under the Sea.

5. Push the wrong button, e.g. : ERR. A TYPO, frex.

6. Candlelight visitor? : MOTH. Great imagery.

7. Et __: and others : ALII. Latin.

8. Trillionth: Pref. : PICO. We just discussed this a few days ago.

9. "You're not the only one!" : SO CAN I. Anything you can do . . .

10. Block : BAR. Ban. Veto. INTERVENE, perhaps.

11. Is way cool : ROCKS. Did your teen years ROCK?

13. "The Wonder Years" years : TEENS. Blunder years in my case.

18. Whirlybird : 'COPTER. Helicopter, that is. Note slang in clue and ans.

19. Prefix with mural : INTRA. Refers to sports competition between teams from the same institution.

24. Near the center : MID.

26. Shady group? : ELMS. Famous shade trees from by-gone Americana, depleted by Dutch Elm disease, alas.

27. Ties up the line : GABS. or YAKS. Needed perp help to decide.

28. Element element : ATOM. The basic building block of matter - and an internal clecho. Nice!

29. High, as a kite : ALOFT. Up above, and less rankling than the typical A- word.

30. Quay : WHARF. What's updock? The other end of the pier.

31. Pitcher Nomo : HIDEO. Japanese baseball player who had an up and down career in the Major Leagues, playing for the Dodgers, Mets, Cubs, Brewers, Tigers, Red Sox, Dodgers again, Devil Rays and Royals. Plus other teams in other countries. You need a MAP.

35. "Jeopardy!" category : POTPOURRI. Why don't they call it OLIO?!?

36. Mischief-making Norse god : LOKI. Nothing low key abut this guy, in some very confusing mythology.

37. Henry VI's school : ETON. Four letters, School in Merrie Olde England: enter ETON and be on your way.

39. "Rosy-fingered" time of day, per Homer : DAWN. That is downright poetic.

41. "Counting Sheep" mattresses : SERTAS. Hmmm. Not up on my mattress adverts.

44. Postgame rundown : RECAP. Sort for recapitulation, which has way to many syllables for the 21st century.

46. "I just had an idea!" : SAY. Say what? I'd say the correspondence of clue and fill is quite strained.

49. __-minded : NARROW. Lacking tolerance, breadth of view, or sympathy. Vide supra.

50. Egyptian with a riddle : SPHINX. The SPHYNX sat by the side of the road and asked his famous riddle of all who passed by. Woe to him who got it wrong.

51. Like some limericks : BAWDY. There once was a blogger named Bumpa / Who sat overlong on his RUMPA / When finally he stood / (He felt that he should) / He fell with a hideous thumpa. (Cut me some slack, OK - it's after midnight.)

52. ". . . the bombs bursting __ . . ." : IN AIR. From the Star Spangled Banner. BTW, Detroit has the best anthem singers. No contest.

53. California pro : ANGEL. Could not think of this team. Needed lots of perp help.

57. Karaoke prop : MIKE.

58. Stomach product : ACID. For digesting proteins.

59. Unenviable grades : DEES. And a bit of unenviable fill.

61. Highlands native : GAEL Per Wikipedia, "The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx."

64. Joseph of ice cream fame : EDY. And an occasional treat in crosswords

65. Diner dessert : PIE. Mmmm - PIE. For PIE a la mode, vide supra.

Answer grid.

I'd say James took us for a nice spin. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Cheers!

JzB

Monday, September 12, 2011 James Sajdak

Theme: Back in School - Four grid spanners that start, in order, with high school/college grades.

16A. Newcomer to Capitol Hill : FRESHMAN SENATOR

25A. Promising rookies' doses of reality : SOPHOMORE SLUMPS

41A. Young company supervisor : JUNIOR EXECUTIVE

56A. Breaks for AARP members : SENIOR DISCOUNTS

Argyle here. If you didn't get this theme, well.... Our constructor is more familiar for puzzles towards the end of the week and some of the fill reflects that. I confess I lingered over the NE corner way too long. The theme entries are all solid in language phrases.

Across:

1. Hawaiian greeting : ALOHA

6. Recital highlight : SOLO

10. Fr. religious figure : STE.

13. Fragrant purple flower : LILAC

14. Stadium level : TIER

15. Bookstore sect. : BIOG. Biography.

19. Long story : SAGA

20. Vessels like Noah's : ARKS

21. Frère du père : ONCLE. French, brother of father : uncle.

22. Massage facility : SPA

24. Begin a trip : SET OUT. I was 31-Across and thought it might be the start of a fall.

31. Nitwit : IDIOT

32. They may be locked in battle : HORNS. Clip(1:46) Yes, I know they are antlers. Stifle yourself.

33. Flexed : BENT

34. Heavenly head covers : HALOs

35. "Whatever shall I do?" : "AH, ME"

39. Writer Diamond or actor Leto : JARED. Jared Mason Diamond authored The Third Chimpanzee, Guns, Germs, and Steel, and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. He is currently Professor of Geography and Physiology at UCLA. Jared Joseph Leto - American actor, director, producer, musician and of late, sharing crossword space with Apollo's mother.

40. Overfill : BLOAT

46. Amerigo Vespucci, vis-à-vis America : EPONYM. Someone who gives his or her name to something

47. Score-raising stat : RBI. Baseball: bat in a run, raise the score. Question: Bottom of the ninth, tie score, runners on second and third. Batter hits into the corner and the runner on third scores before the outfielder reaches the ball. Is that the end or does the play continue until the ball is thrown back into the infield?

48. Whoop : SHOUT. Clip(0:02)

49. Home of the Buckeyes : OHIO

52. VCR insert : TAPE

59. Quod __ demonstrandum : ERAT. Latin.

60. "The Razor's __": Maugham novel : EDGE

61. Make sense, to a detective : ADD UP

62. China's Sun Yat-__ : SEN. Sun Yat-sen was the leader of China's republican revolution. He did much to inspire and organize the movement that overthrew the Manchu dynasty in 1911.

63. Arthur of tennis : ASHE. Arthur Ashe Stadium, Flushing, NY site of the US Open.

64. Varnish component : RESIN

Down

1. TV E.T. and namesakes : ALFs. Acronym for Alien Life Form.

2. Former coin of Italy : LIRA

3. Designer Cassini : OLEG

4. Just might pull it off : HAS A SHOT

5. "Bah," in Bavaria : "ACH". German.

6. Hollywood Walk of Fame feature : STAR

7. Sound from a snout : OINK

8. A smaller amount : LESS

9. Salem is its cap. : ORE

10. "Scrubs," for one : SITCOM

11. Get ready for production : TOOL UP

12. White wading birds : EGRETS

15. African language group : BANTU

17. Hat-tipping address : MA'AM

18. Yuletide carols : NOELS. Like 39D. "__ the World" : JOY TO

23. Stovetop item : POT

24. Federal IDs : SSNs

25. One of the fam : SIB

26. Shelley tribute : ODE

27. Wrestler's objective : PIN

28. Windy City airport : O'HARE

29. Pricey timepiece : ROLEX

30. Wash away slowly : ERODE

34. Injure : HARM

35. Cockpit reading : ALTITUDE

36. __ polloi : HOI. "The majority" in Greek.

37. Dallas NBAer : MAV. Basketball's Dallas Mavericks.

38. Août's season : ÉTÉ. French, August, summer.

40. Fella : BUB

41. James and Owens : JESSES. Jesse Woodson James, outlaw; James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens, track and field athlete.

42. "Psst!" from above : "UP HERE!"

43. Political columnist Peggy : NOONAN. Image.

44. Alaskan native : INUIT

45. Gator's cousin : CROC

49. __ and ends : ODDS

50. A bit tipsy : HIGH

51. "Makes sense to me" : "I SEE"

53. Common conjunctions : ANDS

54. Seed-spitter's sound : PTUI. Another baseball reference?

55. "Baseball Tonight" channel : ESPN

57. Stephen of "V for Vendetta" : REA. Also appeared in Michael Collins, Interview with the Vampire, Breakfast on Pluto and nominated for an Academy Award for The Crying Game.

58. Rowing need : OAR

Answer grid.

Argyle