Tuesday, May 17 2016, Jeff Stillman

Theme: Picture Perfect.

20. Outgoing sort : PEOPLE PERSON
 
33. Extra-earnest entreaty : PRETTY PLEASE
 
56. Clerical worker, facetiously : PENCIL PUSHER

41. KP duty need : POTATO PEELER.   

Two word phrases in which each word is six letters beginning with P. I can think of lots of P* P* phrases, but only PETER PIPER fits the six letter rule. Otherwise, there's Pentagon Papers, Pleasantly Plump, Personal Pronoun, Polling Place, Poison Pen, Pickled Peppers, Priscilla Presley. 

Melissa here. Got through this one in record time - in large part because I realized the theme early on with PEOPLE PERSON. My one bad entry was misspelling WIENIE as weenie. 

Across: 

1. Negotiated agreements : PACTS

6. Coagulate : CLOT

10. Cry of disbelief : WHAT

14. Wake-up call alternative : ALARM

15. Talk wildly : RAVE

16. Dance that tells a story : HULA

17. Arm bones : ULNAE

18. Sign of things to come : OMEN

19. Wild goat with recurved horns : IBEX. For many solvers, this is one of the first memorized answers.

23. Spews : EGESTS

24. Sets upright : ERECTS

28. Danger color : RED

29. Body shop fig. : EST

31. Feel remorse over : RUE

32. Chop (off) : LOP

36. Crate component : SLAT

39. Multivolume ref. work : OED. Oxford English Dictionary. From their website, "The OED is the definitive record of the English language, featuring 600,000 words, 3 million quotations, and over 1000 years of English."

40. Common diagnosis for distracted kids: Abbr. : ADHD

46. Back in time : AGO

47. Black __: spy doings : OPS

48. Critic Reed : REX

49. Punching tool : AWL

52. Sales enticement : REBATE

54. National park on the Maine coast : ACADIA

60. April honoree? : FOOL. Cute.

63. German automaker : AUDI

64. Occupy, as one's time : SPEND

65. Bridges in Hollywood : BEAU

66. TMZ twosome : ITEM

67. Creepy : EERIE

68. Vexes : IRKS

69. Gather in the fields : REAP

70. Expression of disdain : SNEER

Down:

1. Prince's lookalike, in a Twain novel : PAUPER. Little bonus, The Prince and the Pauper.

2. Assert without proof : ALLEGE

3. Enjoyed a ride in a birchbark : CANOED. Don't think I've ever heard this as a verb before. This author can make anything fascinating.

 

4. Police stings, e.g. : TRAPS. Or this Police Sting.

5. Metal refinery : SMELTER

6. Edit for size, as a photo : CROP

7. __ duck : LAME.

8. "Back to you," in CBspeak : OVER. Or a tune by John Mayer.

9. Stiffen in fear : TENSE UP

10. Moan and groan : WHINE

11. Center of activity : HUB

12. Draft pick : ALE

13. Price add-on : TAX

21. Latin 101 infinitive : ESSE

22. Sports analyst Hershiser : OREL

25. Unlike Lady Godiva : CLAD

26. Poppycock, to a Brit : TOSH. Didn't remember this, perps to the rescue.

27. Made tracks : SPED

30. Car roofs with removable panels : T-TOPS

31. Golf's __ Cup : RYDER. Biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the U.S.

33. Class-conscious gp.? : PTA. Parent Teacher Association. Clever.

34. Golf ball support : TEE

35. Musical gift : EAR. See 61 Down.

36. Box for practice : SPAR. So sneaky. Wanted RING, but waited for perps.

37. Theater section : LOGE. Private box for seating.

38. Get from __: make slow progress : A-TO-B

42. Carryall bag : TOTE

43. Outdoor : OPEN AIR

44. Spring : LEAP

45. Reasons that may be flimsy or lame : EXCUSES

49. Cling : ADHERE

50. Dog at a roast : WIENIE. That spelling just looks funny to me.

51. Kitchen storage area : LARDER. Vaguely familiar with this word but needed perps for help. A storage room for food, commonly used before refrigeration.

53. Top grade : A-PLUS

55. Colorado skiing mecca : ASPEN

57. Baby-faced : CUTE

58. Invention beginning : IDEA

59. Like overcooked pasta : LIMP.  ew.

60. Justice Dept. agency : FBI

61. On top of, in an ode : OER. As in, "O'er the land of the freeeeeeee" (certainly unconstrained by *pitch*).  I'm pretty sure this is exactly how I sound when I sing. The piano was hilariously added later, "It was clear that what the singer really needed was just a sympathetic accompanist."

62. Furniture wood : OAK

Note from C.C.:

Please click here for Blue Hen's quick cheater's porcini risotto recipe. I thought it's a genius idea to re-hydrate porcini in white wine. Thanks for the recipe and the story behind it, Blue Hen!

Monday, May 2, 2016 Jeff Stillman

Theme: No Reveal Monday - Point/Counterpoint.

19A. "Fiddler on the Roof" song : SUNRISE / SUNSET

31A. Like businesses specializing in international trade : IMPORT / EXPORT

40A. Beatles hit that begins, "You say yes, I say no" : HELLO / GOODBYE

54A. Like some government partnerships : PUBLIC / PRIVATE

Argyle here. This is different; there are many things I could link but little that I need to. I'll search for some pretty pictures.

Across:

1. "Dragnet" star Jack : WEBB

5. Campus military prog. : ROTC. (Reserve Officers' Training Corps)

9. Die-hard : AVID

13. Gillette razor : ATRA

14. Bridal path flower piece : PETAL

15. Hindu princess : RANI

16. Apply crudely, as paint : DAUB

17. Samuel on the Supreme Court : ALITO. Conservative.

18. To be, to Tiberius : ESSE. Oh, to be a Star Fleet Captain!

Captain James Tiberius Kirk

 

22. "What a relief!" : "AHH!"

24. Continental trade gp. : EEC. (European Economic Community)

25. Ritzy residence : ESTATE

26. Corned beef-and-Swiss sandwich : REUBEN

28. Quantities: Abbr. : AMTs. Amounts.

30. '60s hallucinogen : LSD. (Lysergic acid diethylamide)

34. Second in command: Abbr. : ASST. (assistant)

Number Two

 

35. Golfer's concern : LIE

36. Convenience : EASE

45. Sci-fi saucer : UFO

48. Bears or Cubs : TEAM

49. At the back of the pack : LOSING

50. Poe's "The Murders in the Rue __" : MORGUE

52. ATM access code : PIN

53. __ Moines : DES

58. Hipbone parts : ILIA

59. "__-ho!" : HEAVE

60. European capital west of Helsinki : OSLO

63. No longer working: Abbr. : RET'D. (retired)

64. Forgetting to carry the one, say : ERROR

65. In the sack : ABED

66. Scots Gaelic : ERSE, Hey, Derek Bowman, that's close to ARSE.

67. Sheep fat : SUET

68. Unit of force : DYNE. Repeat from the 19th.

Down:

1. Fistful of bills : WAD

2. Approx. landing hour : ETA

3. Quick reviews, as before a test : BRUSH-UPs

4. Hindu title of respect : BABU

5. Archaeologist's find : RELIC

6. Big name in elevators : OTIS

7. London gallery : TATE. Tate Modern opened in 2000.

 

8. In the vicinity of : CLOSE TO

9. "__ you clever!" : AREN'T

10. Feudal servant : VASSAL

11. Enlarged map segments : INSETS

12. Cut down on calories : DIETED

14. PepsiCo, to Quaker Oats, e.g. : PARENT

20. __-do-well : NE'ER

21. SALT I participant : USSR

22. Opera solo : ARIA

23. Garment edges : HEMS

27. This and that : BOTH

28. Geometric given : AXIOM

29. Video file format : MPEG

32. Jazzy Fitzgerald : ELLA

33. Kennedy and Turner : TEDs

37. Obeys, as rules : ABIDES BY

38. "Auld Lang __" : SYNE

39. Brain scans, briefly : EEGs. Have at it.

41. Small needle case : ETUI

42. Freeloaders : LEECHES

43. Twist who asked for some more : OLIVER

44. Chaplin of "Game of Thrones" : OONA

45. Judge at home : UMPIRE

46. More unpleasant : FOULER. Not the batter staying alive? Ok, more unpleasant for the pitcher.

47. Planetary paths : ORBITS

51. Air freshener brand : GLADE

William Shayer: Resting In A Wooded Glade

 

52. Turn on one foot : PIVOT

55. Ecuador neighbor : PERU

 

56. In very short supply : RARE

57. Creek croaker : TOAD

61. "Dancing With the Stars" judge Goodman : LEN. A professional ballroom dancer.

62. Keats' "To Autumn," e.g. : ODE. Bah! Wrong time of year.

Ode to Spring

 

 

Argyle

Thursday, April 7th, 2016 Jeff Stillman

Theme: Prime Minister's Questions

17A. *Big-time : MAJOR LEAGUE. John Major. Had a reputation for being tremendously dull, and thus lampooned by the satirical show "Spitting Image" by always portraying him in monochrome.

30A. *Local legend sought in a 1999 horror film : BLAIR WITCH. Tony Blair. AKA "Teflon Tony" for his ability to dodge scandal and criticisms.

44A. *Oatmeal sweetener : BROWN SUGAR. Gordon Brown. nicknamed the "Big Clunking Fist" by his party colleague Tony Blair. It was intended to be a compliment, but the media seized upon it as a term for Brown's perceived lack of diplomacy.

58A. *She voiced Princess Fiona in "Shrek" movies : CAMERON DIAZ. David Cameron. He was caught smoking weed when he was at Eton when he was 16, but famously was not expelled. Unlike Bill Clinton, he didn't claim that he didn't inhale.

and the reveal:

65A. Brit. leaders, the last four of whom begin the answers to starred clues : P.M'S. There have (by generally-accepted definition) been 53 different Prime Ministers since Robert Walpole kicked things off back in 1721. Pleasingly, the four we have here are the four most recent PM's, and neatly appear in chronological order. Major was number 50, Blair 51, Brown 52 and the incumbent Cameron rounds out the list at 53.

Very nicely-executed theme from Jeff; the names came pretty easily for me; because of my roots your mileage might have varied. Let's see what else we've got.

Across:

1. Regular patterns : HABITS

7. Mass robes : ALBS

11. __ time : TEE

14. Madrid-based airline : IBERIA

15. Bantu language : ZULU. I misspelled "LEGOSI" at first, then I wondered why I'd never heard of ZELU. Then a penny-dropping moment.

16. Keats' "still unravish'd bride of quietness" : URN. Our old friend the Grecian one.

19. Barnyard noise : MOO

20. Topeka-to-Peoria dir. : E.N.E.

21. Spiny houseplant : ALOE

22. Rwandan ethnic group : HUTU

23. Reporter's query : HOW. "The five W's and one H" - Who, what, when, where, why and how.

25. Pundits : SAGES

27. Baseball commissioner before Manfred : SELIG

28. "May I get a word in?" : AHEM

32. Round building : SILO

33. Thumbs-up : YES

34. Low-tech propeller : OAR

35. Most swanky : POSHEST

37. Whistleblower's request : AMNESTY

41. __ card : ATM. Needed an alphabet run to stumble across the M.

42. Ancient greeting : AVE

43. 1986 #1 hit for Starship : SARA. Crosses all the way. Never head of the song.

48. Bamboozle : SNOW. Another unknown; I don't think I've seen this usage of SNOW before.

49. Sri __ : LANKA

50. Pretend : LET ON. I found this whole area tricky. I generally use LET ON meaning to reveal something, not to pretend.

52. MD for women : GYN.

53. Old French coins : ECUS

54. Cantina crock : OLLA

55. Something to come up for : AIR

57. St. whose motto is "Forward" : WIS. Forward! And don't forget the cheese!

62. Press into service : USE

63. Cries of clarity : AHAS

64. Very cold period : ICE AGE

66. Bakery output : BUNS. Gym output too, if the LA Fitness commercials are to be believed.

67. Parable feature : LESSON

Down:

1. Finger-pointing pronoun : HIM. YOU went in. YOU came out.

2. Its first champion was the Pitt. Pipers : A.B.A. American Basketball Association. A short life but a merry one for the franchise. They won the inaugural title in 1967, moved to Minnesota in 1968, moved back to Pittsburgh in 1969, changed their name to the Condors in1970 and folded in 1972.

3. Decorates, as a royal crown : BEJEWELS

4. Waffle __ : IRON

5. Flags : TIRES

6. Tessio in "The Godfather" : SAL. Portrayed by the actor Abe Vigoda who sadly passed away recently, more that 35 years after "People" magazine famously reported him as deceased back in 1982.

7. Rhododendron varieties : AZALEAS. The azaleas are in full bloom in my neighborhood at the moment. I love spring in LA - I took this picture yesterday of the bougainvillea on my neighbor's wall.

8. Star of "Dracula" (1931) : LUGOSI.

9. Risqué : BLUE

10. Seek damages : SUE

11. Ruckus : TUMULT

12. Hot : EROTIC. Blue and erotic? We need some ICE AGE to cool things off around here!

13. Just the right amount : ENOUGH

18. Aerie fledgling : EAGLET

22. Many a soap heroine : HEIRESS

23. Briefcase fastener : HASP

24. Where Lima is : OHIO. Quite obviously PERU was my first effort.

26. Deep gulfs : ABYSMS. A very unusual word and the "M" was my last fill. It has never appeared (in the plural form) in the LAT crossword (at least not during the Rich Norris era)

"What seest thou else in the dark backward and abysm of time"?

William Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

27. Adult cygnet : SWAN

29. Mostly-shaved-head hairstyles : MOHAWKS

31. Classical guitar family name : ROMERO' Los Romeros Guitar quartet. Talented bunch!

36. Volcano near Catania : ETNA. I know the letter sequences are handy, but maybe there should be a constructor's pact to let ETNA and OREO take a well-deserved break.

37. Online icon : AVATAR

38. Fruity wine drinks : SANGRIAS

39. City fooled by a horse : TROY

40. Betray boredom : YAWN

42. Not ephemeral : AGELESS

44. Hit the roof : BLEW UP

45. "To Kill a Mockingbird" theme : RACISM

46. Burdens : ONUSES

47. Tracey of sketch comedy : ULLMAN

51. '30s V.P. John __ Garner : NANCE. Saved by the crosses.

54. Pearl Harbor site : OAHU

56. March time? : IDES. The Ides of April never seemed to get as bad a rap.

58. Hailed transport : CAB

59. Wildcatter's find : OIL. One of the largest oil finds in the US, the East Texas Field, was discovered by prospectors looking for  .... salt. Mark Kurlansky's book is a great read.

60. In times past : AGO

61. __ master : ZEN

On a Florida swing this week - was hoping to grab a beer with Lemonade but it looks like customer schedules won't permit. Next time.

And ..... here's the grid.

Steve

Wednesday, December 23, 2015, Jeff Stillman

Theme: The EYES have it!

Jeff "only has EYES" for us today. His Christmas Eve, Eve (can I say Christmas here?) offering has him dropping the word EYE behind two and into two "in the language" phrases to produce some amusing new verbiage. Jeff is back in the lineup six days after his fun "Magazine-themed" offering from last Thursday where I was in the THROEs of despair for one bad cell.  I'll bet most of you are carrying an "all-seeing EYE" theme symbol with you right now:

Theme Answers:

18. "The 11:00 p.m. flight is now boarding"? : REDEYE ALERT - Emergency or when you absolutely, positively have to be there overnight 

28. Inconsolable freshwater fish? : WAILING WALLEYE - The WAILING WALL in Old Jerusalem or the WALLEYE that required a Cree guide to take off my hook

47. Fearful Iowan? : CHICKEN HAWKEYE - Three species of North American HAWKs or The HAWKEYE team across the Muddy Mo with whom Huskers have a mostly good relationship

62. Fictional sailor's pies? : POPEYE TARTS - What many think is junk breakfast food or pastries for Olive Oyl's main squeeze

Let's look at Jeff's "easy on the EYE" (there's a bottomless pit of variations) puzzle:

Across     

1. Dictionary abbr. : ADJ - I know one ADJECTIVE I feel is way over-used today

4. Pests repelled by cedar : MOTHS

9. Give birth to : SPAWN - These Brown Bears are EYEING SPAWNing Salmon

14. __ Kappa Epsilon: U.S./Canada frat with more than 250 chapters : TAU

15. Skylab's path : ORBIT - When Skylab fell out of ORBIT in 1979, most of it landed in sparsely populated SW Australia. A motel in Balladonia, Australia (pop. 20) used some reclaimed parts of for a "museum" (back right in photo)

16. Impish type : PIXIE

17. Out of the ordinary : ODD

20. Rabies victim : MAD DOG

22. Org. making raids : DEA - After proclaiming his innocence for years, AROD finally admitted to years of PED use to the DEA last year. 

23. Fruity coolers : ADES

24. Capital near the Gulf of Tonkin : HANOI - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) has 3x the population  

26. Figure out : GET

34. Trac II cousin : ATRA

35. "Frasier" sibling : NILES - The episode where they take an Auto Shop class is my favorite

36. Out of use : OLD

38. "The Shoop Shoop Song (__ His Kiss)": Cher hit : IT'S IN - I'll take Betty Everett's '64 version everytime

40. Suffix with chlor- : IDE - See Sodium ChlorIDE in 9 Down and 39 Down

41. Lexus competitor : ACURA

43. Personal quirk : TIC - Can also be a poker "tell"

44. __ in the right direction : A STEP

46. Rock 'n' roll middle name : ARON - Not what Vernon had put on his son's grave

51. Stallone nickname : SLY

52. More resentful : SORER

53. Star with tons of fans : IDOL

56. Darling : PET 

59. Go kicking and screaming : RESIST - Rage, Rage!!

65. "I'm impressed!" : GEE

66. Speak from a podium : ORATE - T'will soon be everywhere! 

67. Zagreb native : CROAT

68. Whammy : HEX - "Big bucks, no Whammy's!"

69. Party dip : SALSA

70. Laughs heartily : HOWLS

71. Rubble creator : TNT - Hey, Rubble's creator was Hannah Barbara!

Down

1. Tiny power source : ATOM

2. Cry from a crib : DADA - DADA getting top billing for a change

3. Two-time Emmy winner for "Taxi" : JUDD HIRSCH

4. Capital of the Comoros : MORONI - If you knew this, you're a better geographic man than I am Gunga Din!

5. Its state tree is the Douglas fir : OREGON

6. Up in the air, on a sched. : TBD

7. Hurried, old-style : HIED - A word of Shakespearean times - "Hie thee hence, or lose your life!" i.e. "Get outta here or you're dead!"

8. Case for an ophthalmologist : STYE - Aha, another EYE reference

9. Salt scrub venue : SPA - I may "go gently into that good night" before I get one of these 

10. "Ecce homo" speaker : PILATE - "Behold the Man. Hey, I'm just the Roman Prefect here..."

11. Cut down : AXED - NOT the past tense of ASK!

12. Toaster-to-plug link : WIRE

13. Brooklyn hoopsters : NETS - NBA team formerly of New Jersey. As of yesterday they were 8 - 20

19. Bald __ : EAGLE - BALD EAGLEEYE - Yul Bryner with great vision?

21. __ Lama : DALAI - I shopped an H around trying to spell this first

25. Start to burn : IGNITE

27. Disney queen who sings "Let It Go" : ELSA - Dylan Thomas would beg to differ

28. "Let me catch up!" : WAIT - Uh, never mind, go ahead!

29. Web site : ATTIC - CobWEBS that is

30. Spread out : WIDEN 

31. Talmud letters : ALEPHS - Can you find one in this Hebrew Word Search?

32. "Couldn't agree more" : YOU'RE RIGHT

33. Jetson who attends Little Dipper School : ELROY - From the same peeps that created Rubble

37. Hamlet or Ophelia : DANE

39. Component of ocean H2O : NACL - Harvesting Sea Sodium ChlorIDE in Thailand

42. Bakery display : CAKES - Our Cross-EYEd Dave's electronic specialty

45. Video calling option : SKYPE - SKYPING grandkids from Long Beach, CA impressed us more than it did them.

48. Fiji's 500-plus : ISLETS

49. Like some matters of the heart? : AORTAL

50. Forcibly removes : WRESTS

53. NYSE debuts : IPOS - Largest Intial Public Offerings 

54. Cartoon explorer with a talking backpack : DORA - I wonder if she ever bumps into Carmen San Diego

55. October birthstone : OPAL

57. Make a lasting impression? : ETCH

58. Hawaiian starch source : TARO - I suspect our Chef Wendy in Kauai is an expert

60. Not overlooked : SEEN

61. Smartphone message : TEXT - Not quite getting it yet, are you Dad?

63. Word of support : YEA

64. Chairs may be arranged in one : ROW - Not important in C.C.'s flower garden :-) 

EYE'll bet there'll now be a lot of EYE-opening comments to follow although some of us won't see EYE to EYE (All right EYE quit)! 

Husker Gary

 (Thanks for the Answer Grid, Owen!)

Thursday, December 17th 2015 Jeff Stillman

Theme: Read all about it. Names of magazines begin each theme entry clued in a hilarity-ensues fashion.

20. Financial magazine tracking device? : FORTUNE COOKIE. Cookie in the web browser context. For any nerds out there, the original computing cookie actually was called a fortune cookie because it contained an embedded message.

37. Newsstand selling many a human-interest magazine? : PEOPLE MOVER. My local newsstand on Laurel Canyon sells about a million titles. I don't know how the owner keeps track of them all.

44. Keeping cool with a fashion magazine? : ELLE FANNING. Teen actress, and sister of the perhaps better-known Dakota.

59. Rolled-up news magazine drifting at sea? : TIME IN A BOTTLE. This was apparently a Jim Croce hit in 1972. I'm guessing it didn't make the charts in the UK as I'd never heard of it, and listening to it on YouTube I have to confess I don't think I missed much.

Good day, all! Steve here reporting from snowy Denver and feeling glad that I remembered to pack my gloves and scarf. Scraping the snow off the windshield isn't something that I have to do very often in Studio City!

A straightforward enough theme with some Thursday-level cluing misdirection. The middle-top section came last for me due to some biblical name amnesia and aforementioned clue-trickeration.

Let's see what else we can find.

Across:

1. Covenant : BOND

5. Poorest : WORST

10. Eldest son on "Bonanza" : ADAM. "Madam, I'm Adam".

14. Snack choice : OREO. If I had a dollar for every time I've filled this into a grid, I'd have .... a lot of dollars.

15. Eldest son of Cain : ENOCH

16. City ENE of Petaluma : NAPA. It's also WSW of Sacramento and NNE of San Francisco for the direction-trivia fans in our midst.

17. Musically off : FLAT

18. Stage __ : ACTOR

19. A four beats it : TREY. Here's aptly-numbered Trey Burke, Utah Jazz point guard.

23. Earliest stage : ONSET

24. Abbr. on a business card : TEL

25. Family guy : DAD

28. Credit card bill list : DEBTS. Odd clue - I'd say a credit card bill is a list of charges, not debts.

32. Development sites : UTERI. Not a word most people use pretty much - ever.

34. World currency org. : I.M.F. The International Monetary Fund.

40. Spring tide counterpart : NEAP. The spring tide is when there is the greatest distance between low and high tide. The neap tide is when there is the least difference.

42. Pleasant surprise : TREAT

43. Salon option : TINT

47. Wager : LAY

48. Green sauce : PESTO Food! What to make when you've got a shed-load of basil. Traditionally made with pine nuts, but these are so expensive nowadays almonds are often substituted.

49. Horse-drawn wagons : DRAYS. I enjoyed this. I used to live near Young's Brewery in London and they continued to deliver beer to local pubs by dray well into the 1980's. The horses were more economical over short distances than diesel-fueled trucks.

51. Golf bag item : TEE

52. One who helps break the case : RAT

55. Piece between steps : RISER. Do you know your nosings from your stringers? Staircases are fraught with specialist vocabulary.

64. Biblical preposition : UNTO. Topically "Unto us a child is born".

66. Pot boiler : STOVE

67. Camera feature : IRIS

68. Singer Redbone : LEON. Thanks, crosses. I need to "bone" up on my Cyprus-born Canadian/American ragtime/jazz singers.

69. Bygone : OLDEN

70. Au naturel : NUDE. Stop snickering at the back.

71. Deep-six : TOSS. Originally referred to a depth of six fathoms, or 36 feet. It was difficult to recover something from this far below the surface.

72. Dukes and barons : PEERS

73. Proofreading mark : STET

Down:

1. Smashing, in show biz : BOFFO. I love this word, and the various headlines in Variety magazine that spawn some great slang words: "Boffo at the B.O."

2. Synthetic fabric : ORLON. Fill in ON and wait for the crosses.

3. Verges on : NEARS

4. Like staccato notes : DOTTED "Dit dit dit dit dit dit ....."

5. Withdraw by degrees : WEAN. Tricky area for me here today. This and the next four downs caused some slow going.

6. Back in the day : ONCE. I tried "THEN" first, and along with trying OPEC below I was way off base.

7. Drilling gp. : ROTC. Parade ground drilling, not oil wells.

8. Hotfoot it : SCOOT

9. Sharp pang : THROE. Not often felt outside of crosswords. The plural is more likely to be encountered in day-to-day speech, and often misused. You need to be in the middle of something painful or unpleasant to be "in the throes of" that situation.

10. Not backing : ANTI

11. Big risk taker : DAREDEVIL

12. Gorilla, for one : APE

13. Possibly will : MAY

21. The Miners of Conf. USA : U.T.E.P. Nailed it! University of Texas at El Paso.

22. "Project Runway" host : KLUM. I know of Heidi, I don't know the show. A friend of mine occasionally provides security for her in Los Angeles, and describes her as completely down-to-earth and a pleasure to work for.

26. Sports spot : ARENA

27. Unscrupulous : DIRTY

29. __ blocker : BETA. Commonly taken to alleviate high blood pressure caused by misuse of the word "throes".

30. In a quandary : TORN

31. Lay out : SPEND

33. Preschooler : TOT

34. All thumbs : INEPT. There is no good reason that I can find why "ept" is not a word meaning "capable".

35. Fracas : MELEE

36. Some doo-wop voices : FALSETTOS. High ones.

38. Bestial hideaway : LAIR

39. Mount near Catania : ETNA. I didn't know where Catania was, but it didn't stop me from filling this in without a thought.

41. Like a preferred theory : PET

45. Diving judge's concern : FORM

46. Sandwich with tzatziki sauce : GYRO. Yum! Here-o, jeer-o, jire-o, whatever you like to call it.

50. Peaceful protests : SIT-INS

53. Notable author of animal tales : AESOP

54. Proof of ownership : TITLE

56. Walk like Jagger : STRUT. A little late in the expo for a music link, but I couldn't resist this one. Here's Maroon 5 and Christine Aguilera. Check out the interview clips with a very young Mick. If you're a Stones fan like me, be sure to look out for the documentary "Crossfire Hurricane" if you ever see it pop up on your TV listings.

57. Skip over, in speech : ELIDE

58. Pedometer button : RESET

60. Physics particles : IONS

61. Point of connection : NODE

62. State categorically : AVER

63. Uncle __ : BEN'S. I buy my rice in 10lb sacks from the Asian markets for about the same price as an 8oz box of the supermarket brands.

64. Final: Abbr. : ULT

65. Prefix with con : NEO. Although usually used to refer to a neo-conservative, the word actually is a trademark of the group who organizes an annual commercial interior design exposition. Who knew?

That's about it from me. Heading back to the warmer climes of SoCal after my brief dose of a Colorado winter. See you all next week!

Steve

Note from C.C.:

I'd like to introduce you to Adopt an Inmate, a cause Melissa has been championing the past two years. Read that article in Melissa's blog post. I can't tell you what a caring and inspiring sister Melissa is.