Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Kurt Mengel and Jan-Michele Gianette

Theme: Vowel Progression - First word starts with FL followed by vowels A to U, then T.

17A. Penniless : FLAT BROKE

26A. Like champion sprinters : FLEET-FOOTED

41A. Worker in the sky : FLIGHT ATTENDANT

52A. Suggest something tentatively : FLOAT AN IDEA

64A. Piece for two winds : FLUTE DUET. "The Flower Duet" May it inspire some flowers to make an appearance soon.

Argyle here. A straightforward puzzle today. Nice grid spanner. I can't help but wonder how much trouble it would have been to include an FLY.... A couple of long crossing columns.

Across:

1. Pi r squared, for a circle : AREA

5. Encyclopedia tidbit : FACT

9. Big-time : MAJOR

14. Speeds (up) : REVs

15. __ about: roughly : ON OR

16. Render speechless : AMAZE

19. Powerful person : NABOB. "nattering nabobs of negativism" : voiced by Spiro Agnew, coined by William Safire.

20. Cozy corner : NOOK

21. Monogram part: Abbr. : INITial

23. Singer DiFranco : ANI

24. Crone : HAG

29. Capri suffix : OTE. "A Capriote" by John Singer Sargent.

30. Little lie : FIB. 52D. Like lies : FALSE

31. Church-founded Dallas sch. : SMU. (Southern Methodist University)

32. FDR's dog : FALA. Scottish Terrier.

34. Confused mental states : FOGs

37. Mythological sky holder : ATLAS

44. Foil maker : ALCOA

45. Struggling to decide : TORN

46. Bone: Pref. : OSTE

47. Queue after Q : RST. Quite cute clue.

49. 20s dispenser, for short : ATM

51. Darjeeling, for one : TEA

57. "Bad" cholesterol letters : LDL. The "good" is HDL and the ratio between them is important. An optimum ratio is 3.5-to-1. Mayo Clinic

58. Key next to the space bar : ALT

59. "A Visit From the Goon Squad" Pulitzer-winning novelist Jennifer : EGAN

60. March Madness org. : NCAA. Basketball.

62. Pig __ : LATIN

68. Pillar from a fire : SMOKE

69. Film director's unit : TAKE. Tricky. A scene is made up of different units or takes.

70. Look at rudely : OGLE

71. Slipped gently (into) : EASED

72. Renders speechless : AWES

73. Wobbly table stabilizer : SHIM

Down:

1. "Bowwow!" : "ARF!"

2. Belief sys. : RELigion

3. Pertaining to the gospel : EVANGELIC

4. Concerning : AS TO

5. Warehouse vehicle : FORKLIFT

6. "It's __-win situation" : A NO

7. Newswoman Roberts : COKIE. Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Roberts.

8. River through Nottingham : TRENT

9. Direct, as a father-son conversation : MAN TO MAN

10. Doctors' org. : AMA

11. Try to punch : JAB AT

12. Layer with "holes" in it : OZONE

13. Opener's second call, in bridge : REBID

18. Big Broadway hit, slangily : BOFF. Shortened from BOFFO, slang for a hit on Broadway

22. Stipulations : IFs. There is always an IF, eh?

24. Teamsters president James : HOFFA

25. For any reason : AT ALL

27. WWII torpedo craft : EBOAT. On the water, eboat; under the water, uboat

28. One-up : OUT-DO

33. Greek marketplace : AGORA

35. Pontiac muscle car relaunched briefly in 2004 : GTO. It was an Australian car. Link I had no idea!

36. Valuable violin : STRAD

38. Comeback victor's vindication : LAST LAUGH. "He who laughs last, laughs best"(or longest)

39. Fed the kitty : ANTED

40. Filch : STEAL

42. Hurried : HASTENED

43. International accords : ENTENTES. [French: understanding]

48. Schoolyard game : TAG

50. Riot control weapon : MACE

53. Alpaca kin : LLAMA

54. Director Preminger and others : OTTOs

55. U.S.-Mexico-Canada commerce pact : NAFTA. (North American Free Trade Agreement, 1994)

56. Bride's new relative, say : IN-LAW

61. Hullabaloos : ADOs

63. Eisenhower nickname : IKE

65. Guitar cousin : UKE

66. Brother of Peyton Manning : ELI

67. President pro __ : TEM

 

 

Argyle

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to our lovely Mari! Hope it's a beautiful day in Chicago. Snow has been melting steadily here in MN. (To Dave: Cats (obviously) & needlepoint.)

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 Kurt Mengel and Jan-Michele Gianette

Theme: Football Frailties

17A. New Orleans team confused? : SAINTS BEDEVILED

26A. New York team punished? : JETS GROUNDED

46A. Indianapolis team stymied? : COLTS LASSOED

59A. San Diego team upset? : CHARGERS SHOCKED

Yay! It's Superbowl Week! (oops, I should say "Big Game Week" as we at the blog don't pay royalties to the NFL for the use of the word "Superbowl" and we're already in enough trouble with the Blogger Police Department. We don't want Roger Goodell piling on here).

Today we have four theme teams that sadly didn't make it to New Orleans for "The Big Game" for reasons most aptly described by Kurt and Jan-Michele. To add insult to  injury, the Bedeviled Saints had to clear out of their own locker room for a couple of weeks to allow temporary lodging for the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers in the Big Easy.

NFL fans can make their own jokes regarding the aforementioned Commissioner, the Saints and "punished", "grounded", and "upset", let alone "confused".

Steve here! This was a corker of a theme for me, I loved it. I got the teams right away, then spent a LOT of time noodling around the rest of each theme answer and needed crosses, more crosses and then some perps to git 'er done.

A couple of nits to be picked, but let's see how the rest played out.

Across:

1. Net help pages, briefly : FAQS. When I was small, my most frequently-asked question was "Are we there yet?". I'm not sure I ever got a reliable answer.

5. County counterpart, in Canterbury : SHIRE. Major nit. I know the alliteration is part of the charm of this clue, but it doesn't really make sense. Canterbury is in Kent, which is a county. "County" and "Shire" are not really synonyms. It would help if if Kent was short for Kentshire, but it's not.

10. Boring : BLAH

14. Longtime Stern rival : IMUS. Howard Stern and Don Imus faced off in a ratings battle in Philadelphia early in Stern's career.

15. Little bits : IOTAS.

16. Baltic capital : RIGA

20. __ Who : THE

21. Little bits : ATOMS. Nice clecho. Yodel-eh-ee-o!

22. Silly : INANE

23. Musical quality : TONE

25. Chooses : ELECTS

31. Fail to mention : OMIT

32. Picky eaters of rhyme : SPRATS. Jack and his wife. Even as a lad I wondered how Jack's wife managed to keep her girlish figure when all she would eat was fat. I guess she had the Jane Fonda Workout Tapes (we're going back a few years here, I don't think pilates was invented yet!).

33. Different : ODD

36. "Network" director : LUMET. Sidney. If you've never seen "Twelve Angry Men" from way back in 1957, you have a treat in store.

38. Old West mil. force : CAV. The Cavalry, a Military Force.

39. Andrea Bocelli, e.g. : TENOR

41. Half a fly : TSE

42. More than a sobber : WAILER

45. Small or large : SIZE

48. Loads to clean : WASHES. I didn't skip a beat with this one, then I've been wondering why; it's not exactly obvious?

51. Person in a sentence, say : NOUN

52. Convention pin-on : ID TAG. I think I've probably got my own weight in these things. One peculiar property of ID tags hanging from a lanyard is that they ALWAYS turn to face the wrong way however you try to arrange things.

53. Heroic poems : EPICS

56. "Homeland" airer, briefly : SHO. Hmmm. Nymmmm. Hmmmmmmm. Could do better if you resort to this fill, methinks.

62. Hardly friendly : COLD

63. Go on and on : PRATE. Is there a rule for using PRATE vs PRATTLE? I'm guessing the root is common.

64. Take on : HIRE

65. Golf rarities : ACES. I've had one. I took a friend out to play for her first time on a "real" golf course and I aced the par-3 third. She didn't understand why I was so excited, she thought that as I'd been playing for 30 years I should be doing that every day. A fair point, in hindsight.

66. Fur fortune-maker : ASTOR

67. Football positions : ENDS. Schoolboy hilarity ensues about "tight" and "defensive" varieties. We were all young and foolish once.

Down:

1. Punch source : FIST

2. Indian nursemaid : AMAH. I think this qualifies as crosswordese. I know it, but ...

3. Being alone with one's thoughts : QUIET TIME

4. IRS ID : S.S.N. I wonder who had 000 00 0001? That's an awesome Social Security Number. There was probably some money in the pot when he or she retired too.

5. TV drama about Alex, Teddy, Georgie and Frankie Reed : SISTERS. Crosses all the way.

6. Vagabond : HOBO

7. News piece : ITEM

8. X-ray units : RADS. I need to stop overthinking four-letter fill, ROENTGEN is simply not going to work, I don't even know if it's got anything whatsoever to do with the clue, but I couldn't move beyond it.

9. Linguistic suffix : ESE.

10. Pickled : BRINED. Oh! Not too much vodka then?

11. Purple __: New Hampshire state flower : LILAC.  Very pretty - looks a little like the foxgloves/digitalis from last week to my untrained eye:

(Note to self. - Filling in ILLAC doesn't make the NE quadrant any easier to complete)

12. Word with travel or talent : AGENT. I wanted SCOUT for the longest while, I almost convinced myself that there are professional TRAVEL SCOUTS out there.

13. Underworld : HADES

18. Zippy flavor : TANG

19. Most nasty : VILEST

24. Bone: Pref. : OSTE. Again with the hmmmmmm fill. Not a fan.

25. NH summer hours : E.D.T. The Eastern Time bit is always a given for me, but why can I never remember when it's "Standard" and when it's "Daylight"?

26. Quite a blow : JOLT

27. Tall runners : EMUS. EMUS and IMUS must be related.

28. Footnote ref. : OP. CIT. "Opere Citato" or "in the work cited" to refer to a previously-credited work to avoid needless repetition of the full title.

29. Mount Narodnaya's range : URALS.

30. __ orange : NAVEL. I had NAVAL first, I guess I was going with my own LIMEY nautical citrus theme.

33. Thin paper : ONION SKIN.

34. Nap : DOZE

35. Slave Scott : DRED.

37. Like many omelets : TWO EGG

40. "Mi casa __ casa" : ES SU. Not to be taken toooo literally.

43. Gore and Hirt : ALs

44. Stock market VIP? : RANCHER. Loved this clue/answer.

46. Casual wine choices : CHARDS. There are many nice ones from my home state of California. I had a glass of Sterling tonight - an odd choice considering I'm in South Beach, Miami for the day. I should be drinking rum and channeling Hemingway.

47. Not bad, not good : SO-SO. Related to the above?

48. Modern witch's religion : WICCA

49. For this purpose : AD HOC. A learning moment. If challenged to define "ad hoc" I'd have been offering up variations of "ad lib" or "off the cuff".

50. Old, as a joke : STALE

53. Goofs : ERRS. "To goof is human, to err is Bill Buckner". I just made that up! Almost 30 years too late to make a fortune selling t-shirts in New York, alas.

54. Exam sophs may take : P-SAT

55. Colon, in analogies : IS TO

57. Sheep together : HERD. Another one I got right away then looked back and said "huh"? "Shepherd" makes this work, otherwise you'd look for "FLOCK" as the answer or "Cow Together" as the clue, right?

58. Keats works : ODES

60. Org. concerned with greenhouse gas : E.P.A. The Environmental Protection Agency has a lot to worry about right now.

61. Ally of Fidel : CHE. Castro's amigo Guevara. The dictionary definition of "iconic" should simply cite this image:

That's all, Folks!

"The Superbowl", "Saints", "Jets", "Colts", "Chargers" and related names and indicia are the sole property of the National Football League and may not be used or reproduced without the express written consent of the NFL. "Lilac" image may be subject to copyright. "Jane Fonda Workout", "Emu" and "Imus" copyright their respective owners. "Che" copyright the William Soler Pediatric Cardiology Hospital in Havana, Cuba. I think that's got us covered today :)

Wednesday, December 19 2012 Kurt Mengel & Jan-Michele Gianette

Theme:  Meanwhile, back at the ranch  .  .  .   or, Mammas, don't let this happen.  Four long theme answers are common phrases related to a cowboy's typical activities, but with figurative meanings.  Two of these are grid spanning, and the other two only miss by 1 letter, so the themeage is pretty rich.

17A. Lay a trip on, cowboy-style? : SADDLE WITH GUILT.  This one baffled me until I had enough perp help to suss it out.  Pretty clever, now that I get it.  Someone can try to lay a guilt trip on you, the way a cowboy burdens his horse with a saddle.  But, unlike the horse, you don't have to accept it.

 27A. Motivate, cowboy-style? : SPUR INTO ACTION.   This is a pretty literal image, since a cowboy kicks his spurs into the horse to get it going.  A variation on the kick-start idea, maybe.

43A. Control spending, cowboy-style? : REIN IN THE COSTS.  And this is equally and oppositely  literal, since our intrepid western hero pulls on the reins to get his horse to stop running.

 56A. Hang in there, cowboy-style? : RIDE OUT THE STORM.  Cowboy's do ride, but this is the only theme answer that evokes a nautical rather than an old west image.   Does this detract from the coherence of the theme?  I can't decide.  Anyway, for another grid-spanner, it's worth it.

Hi gang, it's jazzbumpa.  C'mon, pards, let's ride on out and see what we can lasso.

Across:

1. "__ Comes Mary": Association hit : ALONG.  They don't write songs like that anymore.

6. Black-clad subculturist : GOTH.  A post-punk splinter group with influence on music and fashion.  Whatever turns you on, I guess.

10. "Famous" snack maker : AMOS.  Famous for his cookies.

14. Fracas : MELEE.  A confused struggle, possibly involving hand to hand combat.  A brawl.

15. Finis : OVER.   Done.  Stick a fork in it.  Like the Lions, frex.

16. Logan of "60 Minutes" : LARA.  This EMMY-winning CBS news correspondent was brutalized by a mob while covering the Egyptian uprising of 2011.

20. Hockey legend : ORR.  Bobby, No. 4 of the Boston Bruins, finished his career with the Chicago Blackhawks.

21. Breezed through : ACED.  Thus spoken of schools exams and unreturnable tennis serves.

22. Tony's cousins : EMMYS.  Television production awards. 

23. Nobelist Hahn et al. : OTTOS.   This German chemist won the  Nobel prize in chemistry for discovering nuclear fission. During WW I he developed poison gas.  I'm speechless.

25. City on the Rhine : BONN.  On a happier German note, they have a monument to Beethoven there.

32. Decathlon gold medalist Ashton __ : EATON.  No clue.

33. Minor quibbles : NITS.  I've had a few.

34. Chest protector : BIB.  Protection from vagrant food residue, worn by babies and lobster eating adults.

36. __ rain : ACID.  Just what is sounds like - rain with a high acid content [low pH.] It can result from natural phenomena such as volcanoes and lightning, or from pollution resulting from human activity.

37. Selassie worshipper : RASTA.  RASTAfarians believe that Ethiopian emperor Haile Sellassie [ruled 1930-74] is the reincarnation of Jesus.

39. One-time teammate of 20-Across, familiarly : ESPO.  Tony ESPOsito had a long and illustrious career playing goalie for the Blackhawks.  But the nick-name refers to his brother Phil, who had a long and illustrious career playing forward for the Blackhawks, Bruins and Rangers.  Tony's first NHL start was a 2-2 tie with the Bruins, in which he made 33 saves and his brother Phil scored both goals on him.

40. Guys : MEN.

41. Actress Skye : IONE. Her film career started in 1986, and in addition to Say Anything and  Wayne's World is a long list of movies I've never heard of.  Anyone here a fan of Girls in Prison or One Night Stand?

42. Winner of 82 PGA Tour tournaments : SNEAD.  Slammin' Sammie.

47. WWII battle site : ST LO. It was almost totally destroyed in WW II during the battle of Normandy.

48. Out of whack : AMISS.  Why is nothing ever in whack when it's going well?

49. Town __ : CRIER.  An official whose duty is to make public announcements.  A bit passé these days, but several municipalities in North America, Australia and New Zealand still have Town CRIERS.  Should I be disturbed that the first answer I thought of was DRUNK?  It fits.

52. Acquisitions in a certain race : ARMS.  Weapons of greater or lesser degrees of destruction.

53. Treat, as a bruise : ICE.  Here, ICE is a verb, meaning to place an ice bag [or equivalent] on the afflicted region.  Actually, a bag of frozen peas works really well.

60. Sheryl Crow's "__ Wanna Do" : ALL I Wanna Do is have a little fun before I die.  Seems like a modest enough goal.

61. Baby's word : MAMA.  Often baby's first word, and sound meaning "mother" in many languages around the world

62. "... but it could be otherwise" : OR NOT.   Only maybe.

63. Swimming contest : MEET.  Or a foot race contest. 

64. Needy : POOR.  Two reasons why we don't need the word "indigent."

65. Carpenters' tools : RASPS.  Rough files used for shaping.  Also great for scraping knuckles.

Down:

1. Playground retort : AM SO.  Are not  .  .  .

2. King with three daughters : LEAR.  It's hard to have much sympathy for a guy who would name his daughter Goneril.  How is she ever going to get a date?

3. Thing to break free of, perhaps : OLD ROUTINE.  If you are in a rut.

4. Folk hero Kelly : NED. Or cold-blooded murderer.  Who you gonna believe? He was an Irish-Australian bushranger, and bankrobber.  Eventually, he was hanged.

5. Glue base : GELATIN.  This is animal protein glue, though I never think of GELATIN in this context.

6. Greeley's advice : GO WEST.  Horace was a newspaper editor, abolitionist, vegetarian, and socialist.  Probably wouldn't do Jello shots.

7. Exiled Roman poet : OVID.  In 8 AD he was exiled by emperor Augustus from Rome to Tomis (now Constanţa, Romania), on the shores of the Black Sea, for reasons unknown.  At that time Tomis was a remote outpost at the edge of civilization, for Siberia had not yet been invented.  Maybe some of his pithy poetry pithed off old Augie.

8. Asian holiday : TET.   "Tết Nguyên Đán" is the Vietnamese New Year.  Why is Viet Nam so often conflated with all of Asia?   Or is this just another NIT?

9. Royal title: Abbr. : HRH.  Her Royal Highness.

10. Grads : ALUMNI.  Originates from the Latin alere, "to nourish or be nourished."

11. Hurt badly : MAIM.  Likely causing permanent damage.

12. Paris airport : ORLY.  Located 8 miles south of Paris, the 2nd busiest airport in France.

13. H.S. hurdles : S.A.T.'S.  Scholastic Assessment Tests. 

18. MBA's course : ECON.  I had Finance and Accounting classes in my MBA program, but no ECONomics. 

19. Classy guys : GENTS.  Abrv. for GENTlemen.

24. Walked : TROD. 

25. Worms, e.g. : BAIT.  For some reason, this was elusive.

26. Prefix with -gon : OCTA.  Could have been POLY, HEXA, DECA  .  .  .

27. Jeans joint : SEAM.  I tried KNEE, then SEAT.  Neither SEAMed quite right.

28. '70s AMC compact : PACER.  A genuinely ugly vehicle, with none of the Edsel's piquant charm.

29. Beginning : ONSET.

30. More than just desires : OBSESSIONS.  I took "desires" to be a verb, and entered LUSTS AFTER.  Hey - it fits, in more ways than one.

31. Try to bite, puppy-style : NIP AT.  Oh, my.

35. Spa displays? : BODS.  BODies, that is.  Could be, I guess.

37. Stir up : ROIL.  Am I stirring things up too much?

38. __ Domini : ANNO.  The year of our Lord, Roman calendar convention.

39. Grandson of Eve : ENOS.  The son of Seth, Adam and Eve's third son. Also a very forgettable Dukes of Hazard spin-off.

41. Brief opening : INTRO.  Brief meaning abrvtd.

42. Cut : SCISSOR.  Here, SCISSOR is a verb. I'm having some problems with parts of speech.

44. Response to "Look!" : I SEE IT.

45. Sarcastic laugh : HAR-HAR.

46. Palindromic fashion model : EMME. A plus size-model, and 22A homophone.

 

49. Squeeze (in) : CRAM.  Just the sound of the word makes it sound like a struggle.

50. Annoy : RILE.  And a near sound-alike to 37A.  Are these fleckos?

51. Vegging out : IDLE. 

52. Sphere starter : ATMO -  Meh!  The layer of air surrounding the earth.

54. Harvesting target : CROP.

55. Paramedics, briefly : E.M.T.'S Emergency Medical Technicians

57. Diamond caller : UMP.  Used to be the UMPire calling balls and strikes incorrectly at the old ball game, but the short form now seems pretty standard.

58. Eastern path : TAO.  The Chinese word for path, route or way.  Laozi's metaphysical concept that is the basis for Confucianism and Zen Buddhism.

59. Song syllable : TRA.  Usually travels with La.

That's it, fellow travelers.  Overall a beefy and enjoyable puzzle, though I did round up a few stray NITS.

Cool regards!

JzB

Note from C.C.:

Here are two great pictures of Jazzbumpa (Ron) at the Schoolcraft Winter Wonders Concert on Dec 17, 2012. Everything seems to be perfectly IN WHACK! Love his festive tie. Nothing is more cool than seeing a trombonist at work.

Tuesday Nov 22, 2011 Kurt Mengel and Jan-Michele Gianette

Theme: PUTTING ON THE DOG (54A. Assuming an attitude of importance, and a hint to what ends 17-, 26- and 41-Across ) - The last words of all three phrase are hot dog toppings.

17A. Is well-versed in a subject : KNOWS ONE'S ONIONS. Don't know much about onions. I do know a lot about apples.

26A. Achieves required standards : CUTS THE MUSTARD.

41A. Obviously enjoys a meal : EATS WITH RELISH. "Ah, food!", said Steve.

Notice all the theme answers are in third person singular form. Very consistent.

C.C. again. Delighted with the theme. I bet Seen likes it too. Brings him right back to Marge Schott's $1 hotdogs. She made lots of bad decisions, uttered lots of thoughtless and offensive remarks, but she truly loved the Reds and baseball. And her dogs of course.

Across:

1. Filled with wonder : AWED

5. Trade punches : SPAR

9. Shire of "Rocky" : TALIA. Also Connie in "Godfather" series. Drove me crazy.

14. Hurry : RACE

15. Opportunity to play : TURN

16. Shi'ite leaders : IMAMS. So Sunni's leaders are not IMAMS?

20. Salon service : SET

21. Samoa's capital : APIA

22. Makes an offer for at auction : BIDS ON. I like E-Bay's Buy It Now.

23. Fertile desert spot : OASIS

25. Parisian summers : ETES. Wow, real summers.

31. Quick raid : FORAY

32. Hung. neighbor : AUST (Austria). Been there, Jayce?

33. "Who, me?" : MOI

34. __ rain : ACID

35. More than bad : WORSE

37. Skier's transport : T-BAR. Marti has probably been to every famous skill resort in the US.

38. Uno follower : DOS

39. One of those things : THAT

40. Prepare (oneself), as for a jolt : BRACE

45. Essence : PITH

46. Out of order : AMISS

47. Early birthday milestone : AGE ONE

50. Work subtitled "A Life": Abbr. : BIOG. Oh, biography.

51. Pale or brown brew : ALE

57. Pop singer John : ELTON

58. Herbal balm : ALOE. So, Lucia, can I grow aloes in Minnesota?

59. Roman robe : TOGA

60. Like hash in diners : SLUNG. I drew a blank.

61. Atlantic, to Brits : POND. I enjoy very much Steve & Nice Cuppa's British wits.

62. Acceptability on the street, in slang : CRED (Credential)

Down:

1. Torah holders : ARKS

2. Dwindle : WANE

3. Traveler to an environmentally protected area : ECO-TOURIST. I bet Melissa likes this answer. Great one.

4. Morning glistener : DEW

5. "No more!" : STOP IT

6. Discipline : PUNISH. Spanking was very very common in the neighborhood where I grew up.

7. Vicinity : AREA

8. MDs' co-workers : RNs

9. Most minuscule : TINIEST

10. Surrounded by : AMIDST

11. Vientiane's land : LAOS. They keep Kip there.

12. "__ expert, but ..." : I'M NO

13. The "A" in many org. names : ASSN

18. Cheeky : SASSY

19. Dense : OBTUSE. Tinbeni used this word a few times in the past, I always thought he meant "obscure", not "dense".

24. Ever so slightly : A TAD

25. Avian Aussies : EMUS. Funny clue, Kazie. Jimbo is doing well, by the way. Still bowls. 150 average. Not bad for a 87-year-old. His team leads in the league again this year.

26. Hershey's drink : COCOA

27. Worm's milieu : EARTH

28. Diplomatic official : AMBASSADOR. Here is our ambassador (Gary Locke) to China. Lovely family. He does not speak Chinese.

29. Motel victim? : ROACH. I don't understand this clue. All I can think of is "Psycho".

30. Desperate : DIRE

31. Lose brightness : FADE

35. Bleach : WHITEN

36. Promise : OATH

37. Baseball Hall of Famer Speaker : TRIS. Enshrined in the hall in 1937. Same year as Cy Young. Tony Oliva 2012!

39. Interweaving : TWINING

40. Bounty captain : BLIGH. From "Mutiny on the Bounty".

42. Exactly right : SPOT ON

43. Spoil, as a parade : RAIN ON. Three "On" dupes in this grid.

44. Hammed it up : EMOTED

47. Kong's kin : APES

48. Shore squawker : GULL

49. Caesar's disbelieving words : ET TU. "Et tu, Brute?"

50. Western tie : BOLO

52. Theater box : LOGE

53. "Yipes" : EGAD

55. Trendy clothing giant : GAP. Love Gap Jeans.

56. And more: Abbr. : ETC

Answer grid.

C.C.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011 Kurt Mengel and Jan-Michele Gianette

Theme: Before and After - Just like on Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy!, with the extra wrinkle that the first phrase leads into a state. If you haven't seen either of these TV game shows, the end of the first word or phrase becomes the start of the second word or phrase. The two words or phrases are unrelated otherwise.

17A. Having a sense of the Prairie State? : FEELING ILLINOIS (feeling ill)

27A. Webster's impression of the Natural State? : NOAH'S ARKANSAS (Noah's ark)

44A. Watch the Evergreen State? : EYE WASHINGTON (eye wash)

59A. Close to the Magnolia State? : NEAR MISSISSIPPI (near miss)

Argyle here. Now this is more like it. Two grid spanners and two near grid spanners. Cute theme. Two long perps crossing three of the themes each.

Across:

1. Crick in the neck, e.g. : SPASM

6. Exec's "I want it now!" : ASAP

10. Sci. class : BIOL. Biology.

14. Foil maker : ALCOA. Did they ever make an épée, I wonder?

15. The Big Easy, briefly : NOLA. New Orleans, Louisiana. Also, one of Chef Emeril Lagasse’s New Orleans restaurants. Associated with 47D. Mardi __ : GRAS

16. Golden rule word : UNTO

20. Retreats : EBBS. If you thought, 'noun', you might have put down 'spas'.

21. Pub quaffs : ALES

22. Between then and now : SINCE

23. "V for Vendetta" actor Stephen : REA. He portrayed Fergus in The Crying Game.

24. Mil. morale booster : USO. United Service Organization.

25. Scandinavian capital : OSLO. The capital and largest city in Norway.

33. '50s song, e.g. : OLDIE

35. Fr. holy women : STEs.

36. Not con : PRO

37. Soccer score : GOAL

38. En __: all together : MASSE

40. Like the Reaper : GRIM. Reaper is capitalized to indicate it is the black-cloaked, scythe-wielding personification of death and not one of these reapers.

41. Breakfast food : EGG

42. __ rug: dance : CUT A

43. Skip over : ELIDE

48. One-named Deco designer : ERTE

49. Mine output : ORE

50. Verizon forerunner : GTE

53. Test during pregnancy, briefly : AMNIO. Amniocentesis can give doctors essential information about the health of the fetus.

56. Start of a birth announcement : IT'S A. Hopefully, it's a healthy....

58. Potting soil : LOAM

62. Have to have : NEED

63. Sooner State tribe : OTOE

64. Staggering : AREEL

65. Estimate words : OR SO

66. Political org. until 1991 : USSR

67. Things to solve for, in some equations : X AND Y

Down:

1. Not so dangerous : SAFER

2. West Point rookie : PLEBE. Short for plebeian; I never realized that.

3. Injury treatment brand : ACE BANDAGE

4. Beethoven's fifths? : SOLs. The syllable used for the fifth tone of a diatonic scale.

5. Spring month in Paris : MAI. Our May, when I hope our snow is gone!

6. Latino's white American buddies : ANGLOs

7. Sorbonne silk : SOIE. The French word for silk.

8. What it takes, in an inclusive idiom : ALL SORTS. I tried to fit in "ALL'S FAIR".

9. Buddy : PAL

10. Toe inflammation : BUNION

11. Aware of : IN ON. ON TO is the more common answer for this clue.

12. Suffix with narc : OTIC. Narcotic.

13. Misplace : LOSE

18. Poet Ogden : NASH

19. __ Canarias : ISLAS. Canary Islands.

24. Its cap. is Abu Dhabi : UAE

26. __-Ball: arcade game : SKEE. Image.

28. Olive or peanut product : OIL

29. Very, in music : ASSAI. Italian.

30. Emulate a jack-in-the-box : SPRING OPEN

31. Saharan : ARID

32. Vague number : SOME

33. Architect's S-curve : OGEE

34. Feeling sluggish : LOGY

38. Has to : MUST

39. Nonbelievers : ATHEISTS

40. Mop & __: floor cleaner : GLO

42. Pool shot : CAROM

43. Lyon summer : ETE

45. Nut : WEIRDO

46. More snoopy : NOSIER

51. Recorded, in a way : TAPED

52. Most popular baby girl's name, 1996-2007 : EMILY

53. A.D. part : ANNO

54. The Mediterranean, to Hans : MEER. German for "sea". Here we start a little run of foreign words.

55. Scot's turndowns : NAEs

57. General __ chicken : TSOs

58. Old Italian dough : LIRA. Currency.

60. Debt acknowledgment : IOU

61. Clinton played one : SAX. Please hold any political comments.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Friday February 12, 2010 Kurt Mengel and Jan-Michele Gianette

Theme: Alter E (go) - Letters EE in the second word of a familiar phrase is changed to EA. Long E sound remains.

20A. Theft with a clean getaway?: STAINLESS STEAL. Play on Stainless Steel. "Clean" = STAINLESS.

25. Filling the shelves with no leftover merchandise or space?: STOCKING FEAT. Stocking Feet. Not a familiar expression to me.

47A. Loud signal when the fries are done?: POTATO PEALER. Potato Peeler. Groan on pealer.

55A. Yoko?: JAPANESE BEATLE. Japanese Beetle. Has Yoko Ono ever been referred to as a Beatle?

English is complicated. EE, EA, EI (Conceit), IE (Chief), EY (Key) all have the long E sound. So can letters E (Me) and I (Unique).

An easier than normal Friday for me. Maybe I mind-melded with the two constructors from the very start. Thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle.

Tricky & entertaining clues like AESOP (14A. Fabulous storyteller) aplenty. "Fabulous" here doubles as the adjective of fable and "incredible". Superb clue. AE here has a long E sound as well.

Across:

1. Big theme park star: SHAMU. SeaWorld star.

6. Fancy dance: BALL

10. Cookie fruit: FIGS. Fig Newton.

15. Reed instrument: OBOE

16. Katz of "Hocus Pocus": OMRI. "Sheaf of grain" in Hebrew. I can never remember his name. He's in "Dallas" also.

17. Mill input: GRIST. Gristmill.

18. Two-time 1980s skating gold medalist: WITT (Katarina). Got her name from crossings. German figure skater.

19. German wheels: OPEL

23. Bruise treatment: ICE

24. Corpulence: OBESITY

30. Manx, for one: CAT. The tail-less cat.

31. Insult: SLUR

32. Attractive locale: MECCA. Struggled with the answer. Tricky crossing clues.

36. Short range: A TO B

38. Play for time: STALL. Like filibuster.

41. [It's gone!]: POOF. Put in PFFT first.

42. No-frills: BASIC

44. Word repeated in a famous FDR quote: FEAR. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

46. St. whose northernmost division is Boundary County: IDA (Idaho). Drew a blank.

51. Without means of support?: BRALESS. Nailed it.

54. Mil. rank: SGT

60. Take too much of, briefly: OD ON. OD = Overdose.

61. Fictional plantation: TARA. In "Gone With the Wind".

62. They have their pride: LIONS. Pride = a group of lion.

65. __ Valley: Reagan Library site: SIMI. I mentioned this trivia in my writeup before.

66. 1940s-'50s NFLer __ "Crazylegs" Hirsch: ELROY. Nicknamed for his unusual running style. Total stranger to me.

67. Turndowns: NOES. Always thought the plural for NO is just NOS.

68. Carrier since 1948: EL AL. Israel achieved its independence in 1948 too. I liked trivia clues.

69. Heads to sea: SAILS

Down:

2. Bierce defines it "His": HERS. In his "The Devil's Dictionary", Ambrose Bierce defines "Hers" as "His". What does it mean? I don't get it.

3. "__ stands now ...": AS IT

4. Inlaid work: MOSAIC

5. Market advances: UPTICKS. Stock market, right?

6. Get a spare, perhaps: BOWL. My husband just bowled a 793 series.

7. Irish Rose's guy: ABIE

8. Plenty: LOTS OF

9. Doesn't bother with: LETS BE

10. Suspense movie sound: FOOTSTEP. Vivid clue. I can almost hear the sound.

11. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame architect: I. M. PEI. I was unaware that PEI designed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was born in Guangzhou, where I lived before moving to the US.

12. Epithet for many leaders, with "the": GREAT. Like Alexander/Catherine the Great.

13. Frivolous: SILLY

21. Diamond et al.: NEILS. Neil Diamond. I was thinking of the gemstone diamond of course.

22. Mine stratum: SEAM. New definition of seam to me.

25. Line crosser of a sort: SCAB

27. Plains natives: OTOS

28. Enthusiast: NUT

29. Plant connection: GRAFT. Didn't come to me readily.

33. Prepare to strike, snake-style: COIL. Very descriptive clue. Nice S alliteration.

34. It can't be understood until it's broken: CODE. Got me again.

35. Whence the wise men?: AFAR. This refers to the three wise men traveled afar to see infant Jesus, correct?

37. Some crop dusters: BIPLANES

40. End: LAPSE. End here is a verb (expire), isn't it?

43. Either of two filmmaking brothers: COEN. They grew up here in Minnesota.

45. Grandly entertains: REGALES

48. Fly over Africa?: TSETSE. Great clue. I am glad the old TMS "Half a fly?" days are over.

49. Go after with vigor: ASSAIL

50. Hun king: ATTILA. Attila the Hun.

51. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame the same year as Billie Jean: BJORN (Borg). In 1987. Easy guess.

52. Music player: RADIO

53. Strike __: model: A POSE. Nice pose.

57. Leave in a hurry, slangily: BAIL

58. Actress Petty: LORI. No idea. Looks like Buddy Holly's glasses.

59. Hydroxyl compound: ENOL. Four-letter compound is always ENOL.

63. Method: Abbr.: SYS (System)

Answer grid.

C.C.