Monday, November 23, 2009 Joan Buell

Theme: Lower Body Parts - Clothing items starting with a word indicating "lower body part".

17A: Beatles footwear: ANKLE BOOTS.

66A: Stockinglike workout wear: LEG WARMERS.

10D: Goalie's protective pair: SHIN GUARDS.

30D: Pants with a low waistline: HIP HUGGERS.

Argyle here. It seemed a little loose today. The theme was muddled by the inclusion of other body parts. 27A: Seasoned pros: OLD HANDS, 50A: Sledding spot: HILL SIDE and 49D: Winter hat feature: EAR LAP.

Maybe it's just me.

Across:

1A: Closes in anger, as a door: SLAMS.

6A: Cause damage to: HARM. From slamming too hard?

10A: Cover for a pillow: SHAM.

14A: Psychic's card: TAROT. A. Tarot, are you still with us?

15A: Belle man: BEAU. BEAU of the ball.

20A: In a dishonorable way: BASELY.

21A: Japanese electronics giant: NEC. Nippon Electronics Corporation, mostly in computer related products and net working.

22A: Pinot __: NOIR. Grapes and wine. It is a difficult variety to cultivate and transform into wine.

25A: Spanish wine punch: SANGRIA. A popular drink among tourists . (Any personal experiences?)

32A: The "T" in some fraternity initials: TAU.

33A: 503, in old Rome: DIII.

34A: Casa kitchen crock: OLLA.

36A: Half a '60s pop group: MAMAS. The other half: PAPAS

40A: Like the diving-board end: DEEP. I got caught thinking it referred to the board itself and not the pool.

41A: WWII noncombat females: WAACS. Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. Sloppy clue, should have said something about being service related. Were there any combat females?; I think not.

43A: Sitar music: RAGA.

44A: Seaweed-wrapped Japanese fare: SUSHI.

46A: Analogy phrase: IS TO.

47A: Contest with pistols: DUEL. I still laugh when I think of our school advertising a DUEL(dual) position.

48A: Put into service: USE.

52A: Word game involving a stick figure: HANG MAN.

56A: "No way, laddie!": NAE.

60A: Double-checks the math: READDS. Boo!

65A: Copenhagen native: DANE.

69A: Apex: ACME.

70A: Words after have or save: A SEAT.

72A: Sampras of tennis: PETE.

73A: Burial places : TOMBS.

Down:

1D: Wild guess: STAB. aka, WAG.

2D: Superboy's girlfriend Lang: LANA. Superman's girlfriend was Lois Lane. Was he O/C? (obsessive-compulsive)

3D: Boats like Noah's: ARKS.

4D: Beauty mark: MOLE.

5D: "A Streetcar Named Desire" woman: STELLA. Stella!

6D: "Real Time With Bill Maher" network: HBO.

9D: Oman's capital: MUSCAT.

12D: Computer text code: ASCII. American Standard Code for Information Interchange. I admit I always thought it was ASC II, you know, like the second version.

13D: Anne of "Archie Bunker's Place": MEARA. The show aired for four seasons, '79-'83. Anne Meara played Veronica Rooney (1979-1982), the cook at Archie Bunker's Place, the bar Archie bought. She and her husband were the Stiller and Meara comedy duo.

18D: "See ya later": BYE NOW.

24D: Stevenson who lost twice to Eisenhower: ADLAI.

26D: "Apocalypse Now" setting, briefly: NAM.

31D: Cut dramatically: SLASH. 39D: Bargain hunter's delight: SALE.

35D: Join the cast of: ACT IN.

42D: Sporty Toyota Camry: SOLARA. A mid-size coupe/convertible.

45D: Suffix with intellectual: ISM.

52D: Mythological underworld: HADES. Greek.

53D: Tequila plant: AGAVE.

54D: Octet plus one: NONET.

59D: Corp. leadership gp.: MGMT. management.

61D: "I __ busted!": AM SO. I thought of Dennis and his "False Confession Day"

62D: Judge: DEEM.

63D: Colorless: DRAB.

64D: Retd. Air France fliers: SSTS. But they will never retire as crossword fill.

67D: Like early morning hours : WEE.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Tuesday June 9, 2009 Joan Buell

Theme: They are Capital-ists

17A: "Fanny" composer and lyricist: HAROLD ROME

26A: "Mallrats" costar: JEREMY LONDON

43A: "God Bless America" writer: IRVING BERLIN

58A: Frequent "Happy Days" director: JERRY PARIS

Of the 4 theme entries, IRVING BERLIN was the only one I knew of. But I cottoned onto the theme pretty quickly. The only trouble I had was obtaining HAROLD ROME's given name. Wikipedia says his music also appeared in "Rear Window".

Clever theme. Tight too. All of them have world capital (all in Europe) as their surname. PARIS HILTON would have ruined everything, as she often does, stealing others' boyfriend. I also loved the four long Down answers.

Both CRAB (16A: Chesapeake Bay catch) and OHIO (25A: River that forms at Pittsburgh) appear in the puzzle second day in a row, but with different clues. I have yet to see Rich Norris uses identical clues consecutively. Remember how we used to see TSE clued as "Half a fly?" day after day?

Across:

1A: Money on the Web: ECASH. Like the money in your PayPal account.

6A: Kind of palm tree: SAGO. Hmm, I want some SAGO pudding.

10A: "__ Angel": Mae West film: I'M NO. Got the movie title with Down fill help. Thought of Marlene Dietrich's "The Blue Angel".

14A: Broadway's Rivera: CHITA. She was in the original "Chicago".

15A: Fed under Ness: T-MAN (Treasury-Man)

19A: Waffle brand: EGGO. From Kellogg's.

20A: Handwriting on the wall: OMEN

21A: Coupling device: YOKE. Somehow this clue brought to mind David Carradine and his strange death. So dark!

22A: Get __ of one's own medicine: A DOSE

23A: Course of study for future docs: PREMED. And LSAT (56D: D.A.-to-be's exam)

34A: Hard to handle: EELY. This Dragon Sushi Roll (eel) looks so tasty. "Easy to handle".

37A: Wood for crafts and rafts: BALSA. Spanish for "boat"/"float".

39A: Fun house feature: MAZE

42A: Second careers for thoroughbreds: SIRES. Poor Calvin Borel. He rode the wrong "Bird" last Saturday.

47A: Slaughter of baseball: ENOS. And "Speaker of baseball" is TRIS.

53A: Texas city, familiarly: BIG D. JFK was assassinated here. That's the image I have of Dallas.

60A: Boo Boo's buddy: YOGI. Had YO?? in place, so I wrote down YOYO, which matches well with Boo Boo.

62A: Youngest of Chekhov's "Three Sisters": IRINA. Unknown to me. Last time OLGA (the oldest) was clued as "One of Chekhov's "Three Sisters". The other one is Masha.

63A: "Ignore the change," to a printer: STET

65A: Experimental bomb blast, briefly: N-TEST

Down:

1D: Parrot: ECHO. Verb?

2D: Titleholder: CHAMP. Wrote down OWNER.

3D: ABC or NBC, e.g.: AIRER. Ugh. I was trying hard to shorten "network".

4D: Moonshine container: STONE JUG

5D: Henry V, as a prince: HAL. Wow, who knows!

6D: Walked with purpose: STRODE

7D: Frantic way to run: AMOK

8D: Clue, e.g.: GAME. Excellent clue.

9D: 1300 hours: ONE. Shouldn't it be ONE PM?

10DL Stranded at O'Hare, perhaps: ICED IN. And SNOW (41D: Winter coat?") & RAINS (50D: Pours or drizzles).

11D: Hershey's product: MR. GOODBAR. Have never had this candy. Boy, peanuts in Milk Chocolate. All high allegic ingredients.

24D: Player at the new Citi Field: MET. My favorite MET. Shea Stadium is now history.

25D: Paella pot: OLLA

30D: Aberdeen turndowns: NAES. Scottish for "no". NYETS are "Moscow turndowns".

31D: Piedmont wine area: ASTI

32D: '30 heavyweight champ Max: BAER. Another crossword Max is the "Dadaist Ernst".

33D: As often as not: ON AVERAGE

38D: Wall St. hedger: ARB (Arbitrageur)

39D: Many a gas station store: MINI-MART

42DL Charlotte, to Anne or Emily: SIS. The Bronte sisters.

44D: A party to the plot: IN ON IT. Often see IN ON.

46D: Tramp's love: LADY. "LADY and the TRAMP". Nice clue.

49D: Beyond unusual: EERIE

51D: Grant and Carter: AMYS. Only know AMY Carter.

54D: Appliance on a board: IRON

58D: Chew the fat: JAW. Wanted YAK first. Strange saying, "chew the fat". "Chew nuts" sounds more sensible.

59D: ATM user's need: PIN

Answer grid.

C.C.