Wednesday January 12, 2011 Ken Bessette

Theme: CIRCLE THE WAGONS. The circled letters at the beginning and end of each theme answer spell out a four letter word for a type of wagon.

17A. When some suits don't wear suits : DRESS DOWN FRIDAY. Companies often permit casual attire on Fridays. DRAY = a strong cart or wagon without sides. Like this.

23A. The Pawtucket Red Sox, e.g. : TRIPLE-A FARM TEAM. From Wikipedia: Triple-A (or Class AAA) refers to the highest level of play in minor league baseball in the USA. Teams at this level are divided into three leagues: the International League, the Pacific Coast League, and the MLB-independent Mexican League. Each of the 30 Major League Baseball teams has an affiliation with one Triple-A team in the United States. However, Mexican Triple-A teams are not included in the organized farm team system. TRAM = a four-wheeled wagon that runs on tracks in a mine.

52A. Sandals in Jamaica, e.g. : CARIBBEAN RESORT. CART = a two-wheeled wagon, normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals.

60A. Assume a defensive position (and what we did to highlight this puzzle's theme) : CIRCLE THE WAGONS. On long trips, wagon trains would form a circle with their wagons for protection from enemy attack.

Melissa here.

So many different words for wagon, who knew? I can can think of five-letter paddy and buggy, but there's also conestoga, carriage, and coach. And of course there's the classic 'woody.' Station wagon!

Across

1. The Renault 5, in North America : LE CAR

6. One-named New Ager : ENYA

10. Lake plant : ALGA. Singular. Always makes me think of my favorite book as a kid.

14. Street of San José : CALLE. Spanish word for street.

15. Ending with play or party : GOER. Does she go?

16. Rosemary, for one : HERB.

20. Sound from Simba : ROAR. Hakuna Matata wouldn't fit.

21. Frat "T" : TAU

22. Fords with racing stripes : GT'S

28. Nuclear org. created under HST : AEC. Atomic Energy Commission.

29. __ Grey tea : EARL. Flavored with bergamot.

30. Deep Throat's org. : FBI. Mark Felt revealed his identity in June 2005. I still have the Vanity Fair magazine issue. (He died in December 2008.)

31. Bamboozle : SCAM

33. Christian surname? : DIOR. Christian Dior.

35. How oaths are taken : ALOUD

39. __ de espera: waiting room : SALA. Needed perps, muy poquito Spanish for me.

40. She played Buffy : SARAH. Buffy the Vampire Slayer played by Sarah Michelle Gellar. Never watched it.

42. River to the North Sea : TYNE. In North East England.

43. Derby town : EPSOM

45. Trig ratio : SINE

46. "Sonic the Hedgehog" developer : SEGA. Video game.

47. Shad delicacy : ROE

49. Schoolyard claim : DIBS. Thought it might be AM SO at first.

51. Frame for Roger Rabbit : CEL

57. Sinatra's Gardner : AVA

58. Mideast "son of" : IBN. The Arabic particle بن (English: son of) should be transliterated ibn. I had no idea, had to look that one up.

59. Cheese or its town : EDAM

66. Hard downpour : HAIL. Nice clue.

67. Music biz sensation, perhaps : TEEN

68. "If I Were a Rich Man" singer : TEVYE

69. Feminine suffix : ENNE. As in, comedienne.

70. Mex. miss : SRTA. Senorita.

71. Clear : ERASE. Fooled me, I was thinking adjective, not a verb.

Down

1. Elec. readout : LCD. Liquid crystal display.

2. Field unit : EAR. Corn.

3. Some temps : CLERICALS

4. Journalist Stewart or Joseph : ALSOP. Not familiar with either one.

5. Consignment shop transaction : RESALE

6. Swelled head : EGO

7. Word of urgency : NOW

8. Gossipmonger : YENTA

9. Kennel double talk? : ARF ARF

10. Tuna at a luau : AHI

11. Building shelf : LEDGE

12. Persona non __ : GRATA. Latin, literally meaning "an unwelcome person," indicating a proscription against a person entering the country.

13. Wide gulf : ABYSM

18. Bob Marley feature : DREADS

19. Cuban dance : RUMBA

23. Café cup : TASSE. French. Café = coffe, tasse = cup.

24. Roundup : RECAP

25. Met favorites : ARIAS

26. Where to see a lot of keys : FLORIDA. A few days ago it was valet.

27. Knight games : TILTS. Tilting is jousting.

32. Haka dancers of New Zealand : MAORI. Holy hotwick haka dance, that's a lot of testosterone.

34. Made a quick stop : RAN IN

36. Santana hit also covered by Tito Puente : OYE COMO VA. Original version written by Cachao.

37. Madison's foil : UNGER. Oscar Madison and Felix Unger of The Odd Couple. Funniest. Scene. Ever.

38. Passed out in Vegas? : DEALT

41. Sharon's language : HEBREW

44. Company that uses Pegasus as a symbol : MOBIL

48. Brooklyn's __ Field : EBBETS

50. Get under control, in a way : SEDATE

52. Buried supply : CACHE. Wagon train parties would sometimes cache supplies to lighten their load and ford rivers and streams.

53. Like most cardinals : AVIAN. Most? Okay, not these.

54. __ to go : RARIN'

55. Pencil maze word : ENTER

56. More wise : SAGER

61. Cavs, on scoreboards : CLE. Cleveland Cavaliers. I hear they might have a new announcer.

62. Worked (up) : HET

63. Bambi's aunt : ENA

64. Where Rockefeller was gov. : NYS

65. Match, as a raise : SEE

Answer grid.

Melissa

Wednesday March 3, 2010 Ken Bessette

Theme: The Ayes Have It - The last word of each theme answer rhymes with "ayes".

17A. Fibs: LITTLE WHITE LIES. IES spelling.

25A. Seductive peepers: BEDROOM EYES. YES variation. Or is it eyes?

45A. Like large cereal boxes: ECONOMY SIZE. IZE form.

57A. 1963 Elvis hit with the lyrics "You look like an angel ... but I got wise": DEVIL IN DISGUISE. ISE alteration.

Any more long "I" spelling alternatives? I've never heard of Elvis' song "Devil in Disguise". Man, he looks so handsome in that clip.

This puzzle reminded me of Dan Naddor's "Great Food" puzzle. All theme answers end with /ood/ pronunciation, different spellings of course: CAME UNGLUED, POOH-POOHED, FRESHLY BREWED, BUMMER, DUDE, TAKE-OUT FOOD.

Today's is our third Ken Bessette since the TMS switch in March 2009. I enjoyed very much his last STOUT puzzle, in which STOUT is clued as "Heavy brew, and a clue to this puzzle's theme and ST is cut out from all the theme phrases. Very clever interpretation of ST OUT.

When did you catch the theme? I did not glom onto it until I completed the grid.

Across:

1. Hit bottom?: SIDE B. D'oh, hit record. Got me immediately.

6. Irritate: MIFF

10. Excessive elbow-benders: SOTS. Did not know "elbow-benders" means heavy drinkers.

14. Put down: ABASE

15. Sandy color: ECRU

16. World's largest furniture retailer: IKEA. True!

20. Author LeShan: EDA (Thanks, Hahtool!)

21. "Bad" cholesterol letters: LDL. The "good" one is HDL.

22. Scrooge creator: DICKENS (Charles)

23. The first film it aired was "Gone with the Wind": TCM (Turner Classic Movies). Unaware of this trivia.

24. Inauguration Day events: GALAS. I bet there were a few went uninvited at Obama's Inauguration galas.

32. A car with this is often easier to resell: ONE OWNER

33. What quibblers split: HAIRS. Split hairs.

35. Asian on the Enterprise bridge: SULU. Played by George TAKEI, who was just in our crossword the other day. Enterprise is the ship in "Star Trek".

36. Deadens: DAMPS

39. Spanish hand: MANO. Mano-a-mano (one on one) is literally "hand to hand". I used to think it's "man to man".

40. Seagoing mil. training group: NROTC (Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps)

42. Montgomery native: ALABAMAN. Who are the most famous Alabamans?

44. His, to Henri: SES. His or her or its.

48. Online suffix with Net: SCAPE. Netscape. Belongs to AOL. Does anyone actually still use Netscape as browser?

49. Some dashes: ENS. Sometimes it's EMS.

50. Like test papers awaiting grading: IN A PILE. Nice answer, though PILE appears in the clue for AMASS (34D. Pile up)

53. __ chi ch'uan: TAI. Chinese martial art. Cantonese spelling. Mandarin Chinese is Tai Ji Quan. Very scrabbly.

54. Swell, slangily: FAB

61. Signaled backstage, perhaps: CUED

62. "The Da Vinci Code" star: HANKS (Tom). I liked the book more.

63. Shake, as a police tail: LOSE

64. TV's tiny Taylor: OPIE. Another triple alliteration.

65. Typical O. Henry ending: TWIST.

Down:

1. Black Friday store event: SALES. Mayhem!

2. Term paper abbr.: IBID. "Ditto".

3. Excel input: DATA

4. Part of i.e.: EST. Latin "id est" (i.e.).

5. Easily heard herd leader: BELL COW. We also have MAA (29. Barnyard sound). So many lambing in Windhover's farm. Ewe got to be kidding.

6. Feeble cry: MEWL. Baby cry.

7. German "I": ICH. Ich liebe dich.

8. "Dragnet" sergeant: FRIDAY. Sergeant Friday.

9. Useless: FUTILE

10. Jockey's wear: SILKS. Light.

11. Steinbeck migrant: OKIE

12. Suffix with four, six, seven and nine: TEEN. Felt silly not getting the answer immediately.

13. Say freshly: SASS

18. __ Dantès, the Count of Monte Cristo: EDMOND. One of my favorite books.

19. PayPal "currency": E-CASH

23. Brook fish: TROUT. Freshwater fish.

24. On point: GERMANE. Don't see this word in grid often.

25. Cap'ns' subordinates: BO'S'NS. Boatswains. The warrant officers (warship) or petty officers (merchant ship). Never know where to put those apostrophes.

26. Make used (to): ENURE

27. Apollo's birthplace, in Greek myth: DELOS. Birthplace of Artemis too, since they are twins.

29. Home of the Hurricanes: MIAMI. The University of Miami sports team.

30. Cuban-born TV producer: ARNAZ (Desi). Husband of Lucille Ball.

31. United: AS ONE

37. Mideast political gp.: PLO

38. No different from, with "the": SAME AS

41. De Beers founder Rhodes: CECIL. Founder of the Rhodes Scholarship as well. I wonder why he named the company "De Beers".

43. When "They Drive," in a 1940 Raft/Bogart film: BY NIGHT. I've never seen "They Drive By Night". I spotted our crossword stalwart Ida Lupino.

46. Cat of many colors: CALICO. Many colors indeed. The clue is a play on "Coat of many colors", the clothes Joseph owned.

47. Demand from a door pounder: OPEN UP. Frightening!

48. Vindictiveness: SPITE

50. Superstar: IDOL

51. Pixar clownfish: NEMO. "Finding Nemo".

52. Alamo competitor: AVIS. Car rental.

53. Ocean motion: TIDE

54. Done, to Dumas: FINI. Another alliteration.

56. "__ in Show": BEST

58. __ gratia: by the grace of God: DEI. So easy to confuse "Dei gratia" with "Deo gratias (thanks to God").

59. Mich.-based labor group: UAW (United Automobile Workers)

Congratulations to our LAT constructor Fred Jackson for his Newsday debut today.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Sunday November 22, 2009 Ken Bessette

Theme: Literal Translation - Familiar phrases consisting of an anagrammed word of the capitalized theme clue and anagram indicators.

23A. TOG?: GOT TURNED AROUND. GOT was turned around and became TOG.

38A. GLIBNESS?: MIXED BLESSING. BLESSING was mixed and became GLIBNESS.

51A. FELT?: LEFT IN DISARRAY. LEFT was in disarray and became FELT.

66A. GOES?: ALTER EGOS. EGOS was altered into GOES.

69A. RAGE?: GEAR SHIFT. GEAR was shifted into RAGE.

89A. SING?: OUT OF ORDER SIGN. SIGN was out of order and became SING.

97A. EARTH?: CHANGE OF HEART. Heart was changed into EARTH.

118A. STOP?: POST REFORMATION. POST was reformed into STOP.

I realized the theme is about reverse anagram after seeing all those capitalized theme clues. But I am not a cryptic fan, so the puzzle was a bit tough for me to unscramble. Cheated very early on.

All the above theme answers are actually clues, and the clues are answers. That's why all the clues are capitalized. Correct, Jerome?

I feel this puzzle is to be admired afterward. Lots of cleverly twisted clues.

Across:

1. Soft drink option: SODA POP

8. Regal rod: SCEPTER. Symbol of authority.

15. Get ready to eat?: RIPEN. Delicious clue. "Ready to eat?" would be great for RIPE too.

20. Blue books?: EROTICA. The question mark hints at the risqué meaning of "blue".

21. Way over the ocean: AIR LANE

22. Overcome glossophobia: ORATE. Glossophobia is fear of public speaking. New word to me.

25. Law school subject: TORTS

26. Pot creators: ANTES

27. NASA rank: CMDR (Commander). Stumped me.

28. One of Jason's men: ARGONAUT. Jason and the Argonauts. Jason's ship is ARGO.

30. Country's Acuff et al.: ROYS. Roy Acuff, King of Country Music. Rang a dim bell to me.

31. Annual parade city since 1890: PASADENA. Rose Bowl city.

35. Like the vb. "be," e.g.: IRR (Irregular)

36. Shipbuilding wood: TEAK. Water resistant, isn't it?

44. H, as in "Hera": ETA. The letter H in Greek goddess Hera is a vowel.

47. Multicolored: PIED. Ah, the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

49. Cantina fare: TAMALE

50. Symphonic wind: OBOE. Wind instrument.

55. Song on the Beatles' "Revolver" album: TAXMAN. Here is a clip.

57. Political position: STANCE

58. Mecca for N.Y.C. art lovers: MOMA (Museum of Modern Art)

59. Penguin on skates, for short: NHLER. The Pittsburgh Penguins.

61. Nautical pronoun: SHE

62. 1968 self-titled folk album: ARLO. Arlo Guthrie.

63. Cock and bull: MALES. Nice play on "a cock and bull story".

64. Pieces of 8?: ARCS. Is it because of the shape of 8?

74. Squeezes (out): EKES. Ekes out a living.

75. Cancels: NULLS. Thought of nixes first.

76. Island accessories: LEIS. Island in Hawaii.

78. Monk's address: FRA

81. Shocked intakes: GASPS. Nice clue.

84. "All __": 1984 film featuring an old song of the same name: OF ME. Nope. Not familiar with the movie or the song.

85. Overly affected: TOO-TOO

87. Confessions may be given under it: DURESS. Great clue too. I fell into Dennis' trap yesterday and really thought he was adopted.

92. Old Roman road: ITER

93. Picked: CHOSEN

95. Silverware point: TINE

96. Light period: DAY. "Light" indeed.

101. Micro ending: COSM. Microcosm. My initial thought was SOFT.

103. Mortgage pmt. component: INT (Interest)

104. Canal locale: INNER EAR. Not the waterway canal.

106. B'way ticket abbr.: ORCH (Orchestra). Was stymied.

110. "Says who?": IS THAT SO

115. Nitwit: SIMP

116. Mild cigar: CLARO. Learned from doing Xword. Spanish for "clear".

117. It's traditionally placed to the right of the knife: SPOON

123. "Not possible": I CAN'T

124. 12:30, on a ship: ONE BELL. See this list. Are they still using the bell to indicate time?

125. Beckett contemporary: IONESCO (Eugène). No idea. He's a Romanian/French playwright. Theater of the Absurd pioneer. Samuel Beckett was an Irish dramatist. Nobel Literature winner 1969.

126. Stuffs: SATES. Read "Stuffs" as noun.

127. Bargain hunter's stop: TAG SALE

128. Like some markets: OPEN AIR. I miss farmer's markets.

Down:

1. Olive Oyl's creator: SEGAR (E. C.). Can never remember his name.

2. Maine town named for a Penobscot chief: ORONO. Good to know.

3. Eccentric: DOTTY

4. Bear witness: ATTEST

5. __ XII, WWII pope: PIUS. There are 12 pope named Pius.

6. Text-interpreting technology, briefly: OCR (Optical Character Reader)

7. Flattened: PANCAKED. Did not know pancake can be a verb.

8. Gulf War foe: SADDAM

9. Poet John who translated Dante's "Divine Comedy": CIARDI. Stranger to me.

11. Mideast political gp.: PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). Rival of Hamas.

12. Letter before upsilon: TAU. Greek T.

13. Sicilian resort: ENNA. The Sicilian volcano is ETNA.

14. Put through one's paces again: REDRILL. RETRACE jumped to my mind.

15. Copter blades: ROTORS

16. Curling gadget: IRON

17. Legal opening?: PARA. Paralegal.

18. Rebuke before the senate: ET TU. Roman senate. "Et tu, Brute?", Caesar's dying rebuke.

19. Cheep place to stay?: NEST. Puns on "cheap".

24. Ambulance letters: EMS

29. Welcoming ones: GREETERS

31. Revolutionary pamphleteer: PAINE (Thomas)

32. Crowd seen at a film festival?: EXTRAS. Excellent clue.

33. Around the corner: NEAR

34. Marketing pro: ADMAN

37. "Beowulf," for one: EPIC. Beowulf is an epic poem.

39. Indiana senator: BAYH (Evan)

40. Beantown team, casually: SOX. Red Sox.

41. Certain PCs: IBMS

42. Early matchmaker: NOAH. Noah collected a pair of each animal on his ark. Brilliant clue.

43. Type of therapy: GENE. Have never heard of gene therapy before.

44. Film feline: ELSA. The "Born Free" lioness.

45. Aquarium swimmer: TETRA

46. Riding for __: acting overconfidently: A FALL. Courting for danger. New idiom to me also.

48. Yankees' #5, familiarly: DIMAG. Joltin' Joe DiMaggio.

52. Govt. security: T-NOTE. OK, T-Bills mature in one year or less. T-Notes mature in two to ten years. And Treasury Bonds mature in ten or more years.

53. Flight training milestone: SOLO

54. Iowa State home: AMES

56. Classy entranceway: ARCH. Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

60. Metallica drummer Ulrich: LARS. Gimme for Matt (Red State Democrat) I am sure. Alien to me.

63. Slob's creation: MESS

65. Farm storage spots: SILOS

67. Ticker tapes, briefly?: EKGS. The heart ticker chart.

68. Second time to the top: REASCENT. Well, I guess you can just RE anything.

69. Sass: GUFF. Also a new word to me.

70. Pollster Roper: ELMO. Another unfamiliar name. He was the the first to develop the scientific poll for political forecasting. And he predicted the election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt correctly, all three times ((1936, 1940, 1944).

71. Warning: ALERT

72. Far from fragrant: FETID

73. New York town on the Susquehanna: TIOGA. No idea. See this map. I presume it's a Native Indian word. What does it mean, Argyle?

75. Reagan biographer Peggy: NOONAN. "When Character Was King" has been sitting on my bookshelf forever, unread.

77. Discman maker: SONY

78. S&L protector: FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)

79. Dr. who wrote "Sex for Dummies": RUTH

80. Word after Bay, gray or play: AREA. Bay is capitalized.

82. Magic word: POOF

83. Bite-sized food: SUSHI. Hmm, yummy yummy.

85. Pavarotti, e.g.: TENOR. Oh, by the way, I don't Italian food.

86. Metal containers: ORES. Wow, big containers then.

88. Seaside raptor: ERNS

90. Member of many an idol's fan base: TEEN

91. "Catch Me If You Can" star: DICAPRIO (Leonardo). Great movie.

94. Trendy club: HOT SPOT

98. Super Bowl XLII champs: GIANTS

99. Act as middleman, perhaps: RESELL. A rather commonly used re word.

100. It's not important: TRIFLE

102. Liquefied by heat: MOLTEN. Molten hell.

105. Rock music genre: EMO

107. Mrs. Gorbachev: RAISA. A secret fashionista.

108. Spring bloomers: CROCI. Plural of crocus. I was picturing pansies.

109. Accept, as a coupon: HONOR

110. Egyptian fertility goddess: ISIS. Sister and wife of Osiris.

111. Shelter org.: SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). Animal shelter.

112. Exactly: TO A T. "To a tee" is more common, isn't it?

113. Give an edge to: HONE. I liked this clue too.

114. Disney duck princess: OONA. No idea. Is this princess named after Oona Chaplin?

116. Support staff?: CANE. Got me.

119. Geom. class line part: SEG

120. Airer of baseball's Division Series: TBS

121. Stephen of "Interview With the Vampire": REA. He and ENYA are probably the most famous Irish names in our Xword world, outshining Bono.

122. Swab: MOP

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday July 10, 2009 Ken Bessette

Theme: STOUT (64A: Heavy brew, and a clue to this puzzle's theme) - ST OUT (ST is cut out from the theme phrases)

17A: Ennis and Jack in "Brokeback Mountain"?: (ST)RANGE BEDFELLOWS

25A: Etchings?: (ST)ART FROM SCRATCH

42A: Gerontologists?: (ST)AGE TECHNICIANS

56A: Tried to get into Guinness by gobbling hot dogs?: (ST)ATE FOR THE RECORD

This puzzle is very similar in concept to Gareth Bain's NIXON puzzle, where ON is nixed in each theme entry.

I liked ART FROM SCRACH the most, very evocative. Watching the 4th of July hotdog gobbling contest made me sick. Horrifying scene. I always associate TECHNICIANS with mechanical stuff, so AGE TECHNICIANS for "Gerontologists?" came as a surprise to me. My husband does not allow me to netflix "The Brokeback Mountain".

Nice puzzle. Very creative tie-in STOUT. I actually got STOUT earlier on, unfortunately I could not parse it correctly. So it did not really help my solving at all.

Across:

1A: Helps a certain hacker, say: ABETS. North Korea just hacked into many US government websites.

6A: Map showing easements: PLAT. Easement is "A right, such as a right of way, afforded a person to make limited use of another's real property." Unfamiliar definition to me.

10A: "__ Baby": "Hair" song: ABIE. No idea. ABIE is often clued as "Irish Rose's lover".

14A: Raven's sound: CROAK. Ha ha, I thought only frogs CROAK.

15A: Doth own: HATH. Does own = HAS.

16A: Item in a belt: TOOL. I was picturing a buckle. OK, hopefully you can find AWLS (25D: Punching gadgets) in a TOOL belt.

20A: Inning trio?: ENS. Three N's in innings.

21A: Magic prop? WAND. Glinda the Good Witch of the North has one.

22A: Sheepish response?: BAA BAA. Cute clue.

23A: Plane starter?: AERO. Aeroplane. I did not know British call airplane aeroplane.

24A: "Sometimes __ a pleasure": Byron: SIN'S. Have never heard this line. Makes sense though.

31A: Baba __: Gilda Radner persona: WAWA. A spoof of Barbara Walters.

32A: NE New Jersey city: LODI. See this map. I only knew the LODI in California.

33A: Big ref.: OED (Oxford English Dictionary)

35A: Prevaricator: LIAR

36A: Puts away: STOWS. And SALT (49D: Store (away)). Is it correct to put two brackets at the right end?

38A: Magazine content: AMMO

40A: "Let it be": STET. To an editor.

41A: Pirate of fiction: SMEE. "Peter Pan".

47A: Landscaping shrubs: YEWS. Why are they used as shrubs when they are poisonous?

48A: Minnesota's St. __ College: OLAF. Marvelous. All Minnesota clues make me happy.

49A: Sister of Venus: SERENA. She just won Wimbledon.

52A: "The Witches of Eastwick" actress: CHER. Easy guess. Have never heard of the movie. Looks scary.

53A: Musician's degree: MFA

59A: Outdoor feast: LUAU. Literally "young taro tops", which were served at outdoor feasts. Taro cakes are very tasty.

60A: Old timepiece: DIAL

61A: Peninsula bordering Israel: SINAI. Belongs to Egypt.

62A: Ones place: TILL

63A: Short cut: SNIP. I sprinkle freshly snipped chives in everything I cook now. My green beans look very weak this year. Might have bought the wrong kind of seeds.

Down:

1D: Lot, sometimes: ACRE. I was not thinking of farmland "lot".

3D: Big times: EONS. Wrote down ERAS. To me, EONS are long long times.

4D: Phone __: TAG

5D: Barbecuing aid: SKEWER. Shrimps + pineapple + green onion. Delicious.

6D: Prodigy: PHENOM

7D: Fawcett's "Charlie's Angels" successor: LADD (Cheryl). No idea. She looks pretty.

8D: DOJ bureau: ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms). ATF belonged to Treasury Department before 2003.

9D: 1963 thriller set in Bodega Bay: THE BIRDS. I only saw the end of this movie. Terrifying.

10D: Words after a holdup: AT LAST. Struggled with the answer.

11D: Knucklehead: BOOB. I wonder if BOOBS has ever been directly clued as breasts in any major puzzle before.

12D: Major caucus site: IOWA. Ah, Tim Pawlenty 2012.

13D: Lanchester of "Bride of Frankenstein": ELSA. First encounter with this actress.

18D: Prefix with meter: BARO. Barometer.

19D: It's part of Maui county: LANAI. Dan Naddor just clued it as "Island where Bill and Melinda Gates were wed" 2 weeks ago.

23D: Yonder: AFAR. Could not jam in THERE.

24D: Tub: SCOW. Did not know the "old, slow, clumsy vessel" meaning of tub.

26D: Mrs. Gorbachev: RAISA. My goodness. I did not know RAISA is dead. Obama just met with Gorbachev a few days ago.

27D: Country sound: TWANG. D'oh, country music.

28D: Animal that sleeps upside down: SLOTH. No idea. I only knew BATS sleep upside down.

29D: One might appear many times in a long list: COMMA. I love Mickey Mantle, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Kirby Puckett, Johan Santana and Justin Morneau. OK, that's plenty of commas.

30D: Studs: HE-MEN

34D: Stag mates: DOES

36D: Wine openers: STEWARDS. My favorite clue.

37D: Private eyes: TECS. Detectives. Like the Pinkerton guys.

38D: "That's not happening!": AS IF

40D: Pool worker: STENO. I was imagining a swimming pool.

43D: As much as one cares to see: EYEFUL. I just can't believe how lucky these girls are. Look at their waists. So tiny.

44D: Of little use: NO HELP

45D: Robert of "The Soprano": ILER. Gimme. Learned this name from Dennis's mistake. He tried to re-clue ILLER as ILER last time.

46D: Gentle touch: CARESS

50D: Sewing case: ETUI

51D: Unlike a figment: REAL

52D: Trendy tea: CHAI. Why "Trendy"? CHAI is rooted in "Cha", Chinese for tea.

53D: Like 45s: MONO. Monophonic?

54D: Lady of the Haus: FRAU. Haus is German for "house".

55D: Ore seeker's entrance: ADIT. This has become a gimme.

58D: Loc. __: CIT. The other footnote is IBID.

Answer grid.

C.C.