Friday, December 6, 2013, Marti DuGuay-Carpenter

Theme: Turn the puzzle upside down, by Warti.

As I heard the story, this was inspired by the divine one's childhood, when she was little she was called Warti, which made her embarrassed, so she changed her name to Marti, and this puzzle ensued. (I hope she does not sue me for libel!). Or maybe Ian Fleming changed his mind about the name of James Bond's boss? Fun, simple theme presented in a pinwheel (2 across, 2 down) with a very cute but too late to be helpful reveal. The 'in the language' phrases are tweaked with the simple W to M change to create new and amusing phrases. So much fun in marti's puzzles, I am going to shut up and let her entertain you.

20A. Odd way to check for ore? : M(W)INE TASTING. (11). We know our resident oenophile may have started with this seed entry. Licking rocks does not sound appealing.

57A. What you need when your car is stuck in the mud? : M(W)IRE SERVICE. (11). Nice convoluted clue, which I hope did not bog you down.

11D. Summons from the cosmetician? : M(W)AKEUP CALL. (10). Really great visual of the beautician calling and saying, "Quick get in here now, your mascara ran!"

29D. Fix potatoes the hard way? : M(W)ASH BY HAND. (10). Another great transition to a visual.

and the reveal, in the center of the grid...

37D. Audi rival, and, when spoken as a command, a hint to this puzzle's theme : BMW. "Be M, W." Maybe this was the seed....Gather up all of the Ws and make them M, that will turn the Morld on its ear.

Across:

1. Some arm bands : TATS. Fun clue and the perfect counterpart for the last Across clue. 71A. "Toodles!" : TATA. A repeat from yesterday.

5. Work on the web : SPIN. I am sure marti planned this is a misdirection involving spiders and not the internet, but with the spin doctors out there, it works both ways.

9. Grant access : ADMIT.

14. Earthy hue : ECRU.

15. "That can't be!" : OH NO.

16. Heat energy source? : MIAMI. Cute since So'Fla. is often the only place in the US where the sun is warm this time of year. The the team seems bored, waiting to see of Greg Oden is healthy.

17. On the roof of : ATOP.

18. __ accompli : FAIT. A French expression clearly in the language in the US meaning already done. You can see where our word accomplished comes from.

19. Seeing red : IRKED.

23. Dreyer's partner in ice cream : EDY.

24. Blooms with hips : ROSES. Did you know roses bore FRUIT ? Many health benefits.

25. Waimea Bay locale : OAHU. Supposed great surfing, too bad all of our Hawaii posters are not active.

27. Uncomfortable place to be in : LIMBO. Initially a religious concept.

30. Friendly response to a knock : IT'S OPEN.

33. Atty.'s group : ABA. American Bar Association.

34. Letter before mu : LAMBDA. Do you know your Greek ALPHABET? (2:19) Sing it!

38. It may be a lot : ACRE. Wonderful play on words.

39. '50s sitcom name : DESI. Mr. Arnaz, or Mr. Lucille Ball?

41. Pyle of Mayberry : GOMER. More tv, Jim Nabors, the loveable marine from Mayberry, who Rock Hudson found so fetching; maybe it was the music.

42. Mumbai music : RAGA. My learning moment. Obviously you need to know Bombay is now Mumbai, and then know about Indian music. LEARN. Think of it as the beginning of Reggae.

43. 1939 Garland co-star : LAHR. Bert, and I am not Lion.

44. Without exception : ALWAYS.

46. Remove : LOP. We will lop off a few inches.

47. Attaché's place : EMBASSY. Not the case, the diplomat.

49. Is inclined : TILTS. Another clever use of words, taking the literal meaning of an incline.

51. Shows of support : YEAS. Raise your hands if you like this clue?

52. Bit of a scrap : RUN IN. Not iron, confrontation.

55. Dash no. : MPH. My "eh" of the puzzle. Dash = dashboard?  Sure, but only in context, or maybe this is just too clever for me. 100 yards was my first thought.

62. Muse for Millay : ERATO. What kind of middle name is VINCENT for a woman?

64. Culture medium : AGAR.

65. Scraped together, with "out" : EKED. I think this may be the most used fill of all.

66. Maker of the Mighty Dump : TONKA. Oh, the toy....my first thought did not pass the breakfast test.

67. Pace : GAIT.

68. Texter's button : SEND.

69. Optional component : ADD ON.

70. Some shooters, briefly : SLRS. A single-lens reflex (SLR) camera is a camera that typically uses a mirror and prism system (hence "reflex", from the mirror's reflection) that permits the photographer to view through the lens and see exactly what will be captured, contrary to viewfinder cameras where the image could be significantly different from what will be captured. (Wikipedia).

Down:

1. One in the standings : TEAM.

2. Opening on Broadway : ACT I. They all have to start somewhere.

3. "__: Uprising": Disney sci-fi series : TRON.

4. A-one : SUPERB. The exact reverse from yesterday.

5. Remote hiding places? : SOFAS. More cute misdirection, marti is really in control today.

6. Introduce gradually, with "in" : PHASE.

7. DDE and JFK, e.g. : INITS. My initial nit of the day.

8. Words of denial : NOT I?  At least by an English teacher.

9. Pamplona pals : AMIGAS. The female friends from Spain.

10. E, but not A, I, O or U : DIRection. Actually more misDIRection.

12. Contacted, in a way, briefly : IM-ED.

13. Neat : TIDY.

21. Trade item? : TOOL. Not trade like an exchange, but a career.

22. Official with a seal : NOTARY. Every office needs a few.

26. Winter coat : HOAR. The sliver of silver coating the ground.

27. Serve from a pot : LADLE.

28. Steel girder : I-BEAM. You knew she would get one of these in the puzzle.

30. Bean sprout? : IDEA. Oh such wit! Hers is obviously in full bloom.

31. Rye fungus : ERGOT. Home for LSD.

32. Some tides : NEAPS.

35. "Open" autobiographer : AGASSI. I am so bad with with book titles, I read it and did not know it was his until I had the AG. Did you know you cannot copyright a Title? Want to do your own Gone with the Wind?

36. Herb that protected Odysseus from Circe's magic : MOLY. All perps, never knew of this HERB, which once again is Greek in origin.

40. "Dies __" : IRAE.

45. Move a little : STIR.

48. South Pacific islander : SAMOAN.

50. Use money to make money : INVEST.

52. Majestic : REGAL.

53. Allegheny, as of 1979 : USAIR. From a regional to a huge international, to swallowed up by American....

54. "Darn!" : NERTS. An old variation of NUTS, probably from the regional dialect of the northeast.

55. Self-referential prefix, in modern lingo : META. Metadata, data about data is the only example I can think of, but it is more of our recent clue fascination with all that is Greek.

56. Impel : PROD.

58. Tabloids, to some : RAGS. Riches to others.

59. Flat pack furniture seller : IKEA.

60. One seen in a store dish : CENT. Take a penny, leave a penny.

61. Icelandic literary work : EDDA. A word I know only from crosswords, but I have seen it for so many years.

63. Ref's ruling : TKO. Technical Knock Out.

Speaking of Out, I am out of material, so it is time to hit the road. Thanks marti, I got dizzy doing this while standing on my head. I hope you all have the blood rushing to all the right places. Have a great week end. Lemonade out.

Notes from C.C.:

1) Here is a picture JD took on her first trip to South Africa. She said "The children created this likeness of their hero on a wall in Cape Town, Nelson Mandela, using hand prints."

2) Happy Birthday to dear Lucina, the only regular I've met in person. She's just as cheerful and fun as she is on the blog.

(L-R back row: Chickie, Clear Ayes, Garlic Gal; Front: JD, Lucina, Dodo. 

Picture taken on June 23, 2011

Friday, November 29, 2013, Mark Feldman

Theme: Sounds like a letter

Mark Feldman pops up quickly after last Sunday's effort, with the opposite of miss marti's favorite letter-word words. Each of the theme answers undoes a familiar letter-word and creates a new and amusing sound alike two word phrase.  The theme answers are short, but there are 8 of them. With stacked 7s in each corner, the third row from the top and from the bottom being part of the theme, this one took some work to get going and must have been a real challenge to build. This was the hardest Friday for me in a very long time. The theme came easily and saved me or I would have never been able to finish.

17A. Call from a collection agency? : OWE RING. (7) (O-ring). Really cute but convoluted image of the phone ringing with a debt collector caller.

18A. Questionable alliance? : WHY AXIS. (7) (Y-axis). Axis being the enemy of the Allies in WWII, the big one.

23A. Social attire? : TEA SHIRT.(8) (T-shirt).

39A. Sheep transport? : EWE BOAT.(7) (U-boat).

41A. Message from the captain? : SEA NOTE. (7) (C-note).

49A. Suggestion from one waiter to another? : QUEUE TIP. (8) (Q-tip).

61A. Hive workers? : BEE TEAM. (7) (B-team).

63A. Lasik ray? : EYE BEAM. (7) (I-beam).

Across:

1. Approaches aggressively : ACCOSTS. A great word, but such a hard way to start.

8. Like some scenic highways : COASTAL. PCH anyone or US1?

15. Avant-garde neighborhood : BOHEMIA. A name taken from the gypsies, I think. LINK.

16. On the line : AT STAKE.

19. Compass pt. : WSW. It is always ENE or WSW, never WNW.

20. Malicious look : LEER.

22. "You __!": Ren, to Stimpy : EEDIOT.

25. Rash symptom : ITCH.

28. Best : TOP. See if you can come up with a better clue.

29. Eastern priest : LAMA. I wonder if anyone ever introduces him with this song playing in the background. LISTEN. (2:29).

33. Playground troublemakers : DARERS. and its counterpart 58D. Bit of derring-do : DEED.

36. Something that's going around : ORBITER. Another nice long fill that really required work to unearth.

42. Internal device on most cellphones : ANTENNA. Ah, anyone still have an old phone somewhere with the outside antenna?

43. German port : BREMEN. In Northern Germany; I will ask our travelers Kazie and marti to discuss.

44. Strong cleaners : LYES.

45. "Keep it down!" : SHH. Really, after all the tryptophan from the turkey, I am sleepy.

48. Stamp of approval letters : USDA. I have no beef with this fill.

53. Agamemnon's father : ATREUS. This KING from ancient GREEK lore is not one of the more famous figures, but his failure to sacrifice a lamb led to much suffering. A Friday clue and the first in our Greek history lessons.

57. Flubs the shot, e.g. : ERRS. We forgive you.

58. Stranded stuff : DNA. Nice play on the fact that DNA is a strand.

65. Humor : INDULGE.

66. Tease mercilessly : TORMENT. What older brothers do.

67. Always-open merchant : ETAILER.

68. New York tribe : ONEIDAS. Not to be confused with the OREIDA potato people.

Down:

1. Take __ : A BOW. If you finished this one unaided in your normal Friday time.

2. Intimidates : COWS. I wonder if this comes kowtow, which may come from the Chinese,  Cantonese 叩頭 / 叩头 where one bows so low they touch the forehead to the ground?

3. Enjoy some Trident : CHEW. Finally one I knew.

4. Anthem preposition : O'ER the ramparts we watched...

5. Facial arc : SMILE. What a fun definition.

6. Skin woe : TINEA. Two of our favorite FUNGI jock itch and athlete's foot. More Friday cluing.

7. Most like a guru : SAGEST.

8. Avian cry : CAW.

9. With "The," 1971 best-seller about an evil twin : OTHER. A Tom Tryon novel, that made for a very creepy MOVIE. (3:09)

10. So far : AS YET.

11. Dutch town : STAD.  A word in many Germanic languages, probably from the Latin root STATUS from which we get our word Stand.

12. Sitcom set in a garage : TAXI. Did you all like Andy Kaufman?

13. Japanese wrestler Sato : AKIO. Now this made the northeast so hard, who knows this female judo champion?

14. "__ we forget" : LEST.

21. Greek consonant : RHO. Looks like a P sounds like an R.

23. Ancient city whose ruins are in modern Luxor : THEBES. The Greek name for the ancient Egyptian city of antiquity. Greek the language of the day.

24. Wall St. debuts : IPOS. Initial Public Offerings.

25. Perfect : IDEAL.

26. Yellowish-brown : TAWNY. Why do I think of this GIRL (0:52) from the Whitesnake video?

27. Land of the Minotaur : CRETE. The STORY. More Greek.

29. Get in position for the parade, as a band : LINE UP.

30. Proton carriers : ATOMS.

31. Rationed (out) : METED.

32. Amphitheater : ARENA.

34. "Arrested Development" narrator Howard : RON. You can watch new episodes on Netflix.

35. __ Miguel: Cozumel city : SAN.

37. Confederate : REB. Should this be an abbreviation?

38. Musical measure : BAR.

40. Zap, in a way : TASE. Famous FILM. (2:24).

46. Tint : HUE.

47. Contract adverb : HERETO. A nice law word.

49. Put down : QUELL. Like a rebellion.

50. Custom : USAGE.

51. Test, in a way : TRY ON.

52. Rhone feeder : ISERE. marti have you rafted this water in Grenoble, France?

53. Rose's Broadway beau : ABIE. Once the longest running Broadway play.

54. Simple shelter : TENT.

55. Prynne's stigma : RED A. An opposite letter word. Poor Hester; I recently reread the book and it was mostly boring.

56. Holder of needles and such : ETUI.

59. Granny : NANA. I am anxious to learn what Charlotte will call me. She pointed at me during Thanksgiving and said Gigah (or so it sounded) but who knows.

60. Qts. and pts. : AMTS. Amounts.

62. Côte d'Azur view : MER. French for Sea.

64. Ratio involving ht. and wt. : BMI. Body Mass Index. A very misused concept that ignores muscle weight and tells too many they are obese.

Well I am fat and sleepy as everyone went all out on the food, with too much, turkey and fish and mashed potatoes, and corn casserole and green beans, and roasted brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, and ...  all tasty and way too many desserts. I hope you received your just ones, and I wish you all a happy holiday season. Now shop! Thanks Mark. Lemonade out.

Friday, November 22, 2013, Steve Blais

Theme: Where did I hide my computer?

Each of the four sets of words has the names of a computer manufacturing companies overlapping the adjacent fill, with a reveal.  The first row and the last row each result in two companies, the middle two rows use all three clues to create a single company.. You have to see a puzzle as row 1 through 15 to understand the reveal. This was one of the hardest themes in a long time for me to suss out even though I said earlier I love run-ons, as well as puns and anagrams. To use up 5 complete rows (1/3 of the grid) for a theme is awesome. I am always surprised when a theme starts with 1A, but Steve has made us work even on his Monday and Tuesday efforts. This is his 11th LAT published in less than 2 years, along with a NYT in April. I missed blogging his only other Friday when our Steve took over while I was out for the New Year holiday a couple of months ago. Lots of nice fill like EL PASO,  EVEN SO, LETHAL,  MINGUS, SESAME, SPOT ON, DAMAGES,  SEE TO IT, HIGHNESS, LEMONADE, DATE STAMP and GENE AUTRY.

1A. Brother of Raúl and Juanita : FIDEL along with 6A. Purple candle scent : LILAC. This gives us DELL computers. Living in So.Fla, Fidel was a gimme. 11A. Poetic time reference : ERE. ACER.

20A. Calendar entry : EVENT and 21A. Kyrgyzstan city : OSH and 22A. Construction beams : I-BARS. TOSHIBA. If you want to know more about OSH, this is a LINK.

58A. Source of much Indian tea : ASSAM. A very productive REGION. 60A. Sky light? : SUN. How cute is this for a three letter fill. 61A. Pumpkin, e.g. : GOURD. SAMSUNG.

69. Diddy ditty : RAP. Another cute three letter one. Has Sean Combs changed his name again, or only P. Diddy? 70A. Arraignment answers : PLEAS. APPLE. Arraignment is the first step of any criminal case where you say guilty or not guilty. 71A. "That's all __, dude": "Not my fault" : ON YOU. SONY.

and the unifier,  which shows you the name of the computer companies are chopped in pieces (hacked)

40A. Web concerns ... and based on six familiar names hidden in rows 1, 4, 12 and 15 of this puzzle grid, what the black squares in those rows symbolize : COMPUTER HACKERS. Interesting theme which certainly did not help solve any of the puzzle.

Across:

14. Tequila source : AGAVE.

15. Month in Madrid : ENERO. Spanish January.

16. Sprinkling on French fries? : SEL. French salt.

17. Uses as a reference : CITES.

18. Many pets : MUTTS. Mongrels, apparently shortened from muttonheads.

19. For example : SAY.

24. Julia's "Ocean's Twelve" role : TESS. 

25. Legend of the links : SNEAD. Slammin' Sammy, still three victories ahead of Tiger.

27. Old __, Connecticut : LYME. Near where I grew up.

28. "They went __ in a Sieve, they did": Lear : TO SEA. A shout out for our own OwenKL, as Mr. Lear was a renowned limercist and poet. UPDATE: It appears Mr. Lear may have started all this Limerick stuff. LINK.

30. Logan of "60 Minutes" : LARA. A South African raised journalist involved in controversy.

32. Words in a dish : À LA. Mode anyone?

34. Relinquish : CEDE.

36. Jazz double bassist Charlie : MINGUS. Fun fill.  I defer to JzB to discuss this ARTIST. (5:03)

43. West Texas city : EL PASO.

44. Approaching : NIGH. Basically near. Did you all watch the Professor Proton, Bill Nye the science guy episode of TBBT?

45. Tiny complaint : NIT. marti?

46. Uno y dos y tres : SEIS. One plus two plus three equals 6, but more Spanish.

48. Migratory birds : GEESE.

50. Oaf : LOUT.

53. Some Staples employees : TECHS.

55. Bear whose bed was too hard :  PAPA. Goldilocks, where are you?

62. Moo __ pork : SHU.

63. Graduated series : SCALE. On a scale of 1 to 10 what did you think?

65. 10th-century Holy Roman emperor : OTTO I. Constructors like his vowels.

66. Mountain end : EER. Mountaineer.

67. Increases, with "up" : RAMPS.

68. "It Wasn't All Velvet" memoirist : TORME. The Velvet Fog. JAZZ.

Down:

1. Aspect : FACET.

2. "Just tell me" : I GIVE. Guess who gave me all the answers to the test? I do not know, just tell me. I give.

3. Librarian's device : DATE STAMP. Nice long fresh fill. Not to be confused with the mark you get put on your hand when you are out at the club getting hammered.

4. Nevertheless : EVEN SO.

5. Out of concern that : LEST.

6. Summer quaff : LEMONADE. Thanks Steve for the major shout out on a Friday. Steve B. comments at puzzle blogs often.

7. Taken : IN USE.

8. More than harmful : LETHAL.

9. Works on walls : ART. Not re-wallpapering.

10. Mozart's "__ fan tutte" : COSI. A tribute (?) to Women? LINK.

11. David Sedaris work : ESSAY.  This GUY.

12. Lack faith in a truce, maybe : RE-ARM.

13. "Family Ties" mother : ELYSE. The lovely Meredith BAXTER.

23. Space on a form : BLANK.

25. "I want results!" : SEE TO IT. My mental PICTURE. (0:15).

26. Lawsuit goal : DAMAGES.

29. "__ Me While I Kiss This Guy": book of misheard lyrics : SCUSE. My unknown of the day; the lyric is from Jimi Hendrix; he was kissing the sky.

31. Loaded, in Limoges : RICHE. French, like our friend the Nouveau riche.

32. Big club : ACE. Or big spade, or big heart or big diamond. I guess this does not conflict with the hidden ACER above.

33. Cyberchuckle : LOL. So many old people thought this meant 'lots of love'.

35. Predatory bird : ERN.

37. Singer and longtime owner of baseball's Angels : GENE AUTRY. My favorite singing COWBOY.

38. Sch. 30 miles south of Providence : URI. University of Rhode Island.

39. Bygone boomer : SST. The Concorde.

41. Elbows to nibble : PASTA.

42. Royal title : HIGHNESS. You think because they sat on thrones?

47. Bagel choice : SESAME. Sez who?

49. Perfect : SPOT ON.

50. __ tag : LASER.  The reigning CHAMPS? (0:35).

51. "Ulysses" actor Milo : O'SHEA. He died this year. LINK.

52. Take by force : USURP.

54. Apology ending : CULPA. Latin: Mea Culpa.

56. Teaser : PROMO.

57. Parting mot : ADIEU. More French.

59. Dealership amt. : MSRP. Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price.

61. Attend : GO TO. Where did you go to college? Was it in....

64. Western st. : CALifornia?

Nope I am a UConn Husky. And a tired one at that, having conducted 8 real estate closings yesterday. Well we are sneaking up on Thanksgiving and my time to thank C.C., each and everyone of you, and each person who has contributed over the years. It is great fun to do this for those who read and discuss the puzzles and the perspectives. I also want to thank Argyle who is amazing, melissa, Ron and Steve, who are fun and funny,  marti who is divine and Splynter who is incomparable. Also Mr. Blais, thank you also for the puzzle. Finally, 50 years ago, I was coming back to my dorm room after an intramural football game, when I saw the events in Dallas. I remember it like yesterday.

Lemonade

Friday, November 15, 2013, Jerry Edelstein

Theme: I'LL be back.

The sound of "I'LL" is attached to the end of in the language phrases to create a new and entertaining phrase. The second effort in the LAT by JE, who was introduced to us by Argyle back on D-O's birthday. All the words that are added on to are three letters, with only one part of a three word phrase. This type of consistency is part of creating a sound grid, I am told. Structurally, this does not seem like a Friday puzzle, as many of the words are 3 or 4 letters long, but the cluing of many of those requires some patience to find the fill. let's see where he takes us this time.

16A. Porky's jacket and tie? : PIG STYLE. (Pig Sty) (8). Another cartoon reference; I like cartoons.

27A. Prohibition at the Ivory soap factory? : NEVER SAY DIAL. (Never Say Die) (12). My favorite, mental picture, with lots of bars of soap floating in the factory.

44A. Pre-law classroom exercise? : COLLEGE TRIAL. (College Try) (12). Along with Beer a common Friday topic.

60A. Bad place to be shipwrecked? : EVIL ISLE. (Evil Eye) (8). My favorite SCENE. (2:58).

Across:

1. "__ goes!" : HERE. I needed to wait on this simple phrase.

5. Runway model? : JET. Really cute misdirection, and a way to make a three letter answer Friday word.

8. Brewery shipments : CASES. The Friday Beer reference out of the way early.

13. U.S. citizen : AMER. Ooo, a tortured abbreviation.

14. "Come __ the sea, / Maiden with me": Thomas Moore : O'ER. How appropriate here at poetry central that we have this POEM.

15. Area : LOCALE. The what becomes of hicale?

18. Hunter's trophy : ANTLER. Normally we nit about an unnecessary plural, here I wonder how a hunter would get just one.

19. Source of many dialogues : PLATO.

20. Big name in game shows : MERV. Griffin, who brought back Jeopardy and created Wheel of Fortune as well as having his own talk show, years as a band singer and hung out in Manhattan with Eva Gabor.

22. FDR power program : TVA. Tennessee Valley Authority. one of the earliest and most comprehensive of programs in response to the Great Depression.

23. Longing : YEN. Do Japanese people long for money when they are short?

24. Circle : REVOLVE. Revolve the wagons just does not have the same zip.

32. __ ghanouj: eggplant dish : BABA. The dip, quite yummy. Learn HOW.

35. Theoretical foreigners, briefly : ETS. Aliens, Extra Terrestrials

36. Declaim : ORATE.

37. Twist et al. : OLIVERS. I like it better when a second one is added, like Twist and Hardy, but that may be too easy for Friday.

39. Compact containers? : GARAGES. Another simple but effective misdirection.

41. It rarely happens at home : STEAL. A baseball clue, hidden here.

42. Equinox mo. : SEP. Along with MAR.

43. "__ you be my neighbor?": Mister Rogers : WON'T.

48. 1993 Disney acquisition : MIRAMAX. Nobody really knows this, but after a while it emerged.

49. More, in Morelia : MAS. Roberto Duran now denies saying "No mas" in the Leonard fight.

52. Spice : ZIP.

55. Daredevil Knievel : EVEL. More "evil' in our puzzle; where is Mike Myers?

56. "Awake in the Dark" author : EBERT. Movie critic intensive lately. BUY?

58. Waiting to buy tickets, say : IN LINE.

63. Allows : GRANTS.

64. Sermon topic : SIN. Do they sin in Cincinnati?

65. Making waves, perhaps : ASEA. An A word that is very common in puzzles.

66. Excites : SENDS. YOU SEND ME. (4:19).

67. Geometry shortening : TANgent. One way to get a gent in this room.

68. Go down : SINK. Well, I guess it is time to go to the down clues.

Down:

1. __ hour : HAPPY. Are we really limited to 60 minutes of joy per day?

2. Rousseau's "__, or On Education" : EMILE. No clue as to this BOOK.

3. Duke of Cornwall's wife, in Shakespeare : REGAN. In King Lear, who also has been popular lately. Love me the Shakespeare.

4. Back then, back when : ERSTwhile. A real but probably archaic word.

5. Delight : JOY. More than hour.

6. Fish with no pelvic fin : EEL. So that's the difference.

7. Seismograph readings : TREMORS.

8. __ belt : CONVEYOR. This is nice long, original fill, which I had from the perps.

9. Legislative decision : ACT.

10. Season, in a way : SALT.

11. Height meas. : ELEV. Denver really is 5280 feet.

12. Day song word : SERA. We had this song as the basis of a punny theme answer last week.

15. Baby bug : LARVA. Hi John Lampkin.

17. Rent : TORE. Really very difficult clue/fill, as the mind wants to think of a lease payment, not a garment ripped apart. As I said, while the puzzle has lots of short fill, like earlier in the week puzzles, much of the cluing is challenging.

21. Little League starters? : ELS. A nice change from the Golfer Ernie, clue.

25. "Oh, when will they __ learn?": Seeger lyric : EVER. The only song for which I know all the words.  Where have all the flowers, gone. Especially if you live up north.

26. November honorees : VETS. A few days late, but we all should honor our vets every day of the week.

27. Maritime : NAVAL.

28. "Gone With the Wind" feature : DRAWL. The Southern accent affected by the cast.

29. "Aladdin" parrot : IAGO.

30. "... with __-foot pole!" : A TEN. I would not touch that with a ten foot pole...

31. For fear that : LEST. I end up with all those cooties.

32. Bartlett cousin : BOSC. The most famous pear pair.

33. Musical range : ALTO. Another theme word returns.

34. Jessica of "Total Recall" (2012) : BIEL.  The remake of the Arnold movie. Two minutes for the boys. LINK. (2:03).

38. Halogens, e.g. : ELEMENTS. Our periodic LESSON of the day.

39. Lysol target : GERM.

40. Samoan port : APIA. The capital and largest city. I love the Mai Kai restaurant here in Fort Lauderdale and their Polynesian show.

42. Most hackneyed : STALEST. hey I know some of the jokes are old, but...

45. Hosts : GIVES.

46. Poetic preposition : ERE.

47. Dorothy Hamill maneuver : AXEL. Always a shout out to our dear departed Clear Ayes.

49. Soccer star Lionel who won the Ballon d'Or each of the last four years : MESSI. For those who like to shout GOAL. (2:06).

50. "Stormy Weather" composer : ARLEN.  Great song by HAROLD.

51. Salisbury __ : STEAK.

52. Sharp turns : ZIGS. Do not zag.

53. Memo start : IN RE. Latin. 59D. Great Lakes st. : INDiana. 62D. Place to retire : INN. A final misdirection, not where you go when you are through working.

54. Blueprint : PLAN.

57. Decision clouder : BIAS. Oddly phrased clue.

61. Through : VIA. Latin.

I did not struggle too much with this one but it did take work, and I hope you all did not either. Thank you Jerry and see you next time. We begin with Porky and end, that way. BYE. (0:09). Lemonade.

Friday, November 8, 2013, Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: Hum the Homonym Hymn

It is Friday, and JW is back with a fun 'sound alike' puzzle where the second word in each of the 5 theme answers is a four-letter word which sounds like the end of the first word, but spelled differently, all clued whimsically. A very classic Friday format, with a central theme answer bracketed by two others top and bottom. Once you get the gimmick the theme is easy and very helpful. The fill has enough 3 and 4 letter words to make it doable and enough 8- letter fill like ALL HEART, ELEVENTH, I HOPE I DO,  LAST NAME,  SIDE DRUM, TORI AMOS to make it a challenge. What I did not know lined up nicely by perp. It also is one letter short of a pangram (for the newbies: a puzzle containing all 26 letters) and I will not whine about the missing one. Instead let's dance...

19A. Stadium section for charity workers? : VOLUNTEER TIER. (13). Speaking of Tennessee, did anyone watch the CMAs the other night?

26A. Really old hardwood? : ANTIQUE TEAK. (11).  This is a little different since it has five letters sounding like four.

35A. Disney's "Bambi"? : WHITETAIL TALE. (13). Nice clue, as they were all whitetail deer; the quotation marks tell you it is not the character. Interestingly DEAR DEER are also sound alikes.

44A. "Merrie Melodies" theme song? : CARTOON TUNE. (11). Warner Brothers cartoons pop up again. I was looking for a specific song at first.

54A. Emperor Justinian as a young man? : BYZANTINE TEEN. (13). This is a little different as TINE has to be heard in context.  This EMPEROR is one of the most influential of all time.

Across:

1. Something to pass or lower : THE BAR. Not the easiest way to start; I have done both in my life.

7. Crocus kin : IRIS. I am not good at flower families.

11. Samosa veggie : PEA. How many three letter veggies are there? For Jeannie.

14. Biblical dancer : SALOME. The Dance of the Seven Veils. While associated with the Christian bible as the cause of John the Baptist's death, she is never mentioned in the New Testament. How about RITA? (6;30).

15. Item in a musician's kit : SIDE DRUM. Not familiar with this term; it appears to be another term for snare drum, which did not fit? My musical mavens, help!

17. Western, e.g. : OMELET. Time to break some eggs people.

18. Kind and caring : ALL HEART. A clear shout out to our own divine one.

21. Keats work : ODE. Are we Keats intensive or what these days? 25A. Keats' "Sylvan historian" : URN. One of the ODE ON poems.

23. Steam : IRE.

24. Calypso relative : SKA. More island music.

32. "Phooey!" : RATS. I love that this is placed next to...

34. Give a damn? : CURSE. I really enjoyed this misdirection.

41. Paralyze with dense mist, as an airport : FOG IN.

42. "Horse Feathers" family name : MARX. Now we get to horse around. Go Groucho.

50. One of two single-digit Yankee uniform numbers that aren't retired : SIX. Two being the only other one, but after 20 years of Derek Jeter, can it be far behind? Can you name all the retired numbers through 10? 1 was the hardest for me.

51. A, in Acapulco : UNA.

52. "Mazel __!" : TOV. Literally luck good. Schlemazel made famous by Laverne and Shirley is its opposite.

53. Ranch handle : TEX. Fun clue.

61. "That's my intention" : I HOPE I DO. A rare four word phrase.

62. Around the bend, so to speak : INSANE.

65. "Flavor" singer/songwriter : TORI AMOS. I really like complete names. LINK.(4:06).

66. Beat badly : PUMMEL. Rhymes with pommel sometimes.

67. Letters to the Coast Guard : SOS.

68. TV component? : TELEvision?

69. Quick : SPEEDY. "Quick Alka Seltzer" just did not sound great as a company mascot.

Down:

1. Chicken general? : TSO.

2. Boar's Head product : HAM. The masters of meat.

3. Like November, in a way : ELEVENTH. Month.

4. Simple tie : BOLO. Back when I first was in a courtroom, a young attorney from the panhandle of Florida appeared before a judge wearing a BOLO; the judge would not let him speak until he had on a 'proper' tie.

5. First name in flight : AMELIA. More H(e)art.

6. Library requirement : RETURN.  Who doesn't love Mr. BOOKMAN. (2:36).

7. "The wolf __ the door" : IS AT. A very common expression during the depression.

8. Get to : RILE.

9. Sit in traffic, say : IDLE.

10. Very, in Vienna : SEHR. Sehr gut, getting some German in.

11. Words of tribute : PRAISE.

12. Golden State motto : EUREKA. From the gold rush days followed immediately by

13. California Zephyr operator : AMTRAK.

16. "Law & Order: SVU" rank : DETective.

20. Bottom line : NET. Do they rhyme?

21. Word of possession : OUR.

22. Western challenge : DRAW. Is there any more famous? CLIP. (2:35).

27. Terse refusal : I CAN'T. Is this better than I won't?

28. Who, in Paris : QUI. Moi!

29. Item shortened at bitly.com : URL. This was totally beyond my computer knowledge.

30. Md. hours : EST. Eastern Standard Time in Maryland.

31. Cooperative group : TEAM. Go Dolphins.

33. Cake recipe word : SIFT. So many four letter cooking words, I had to sift through all of them in my mind to get this.

36. As well : TOO.

37. Massage beneficiary : EGO. Not pec or lat; ah well.

38. Its atomic number is 50 : TIN. Tinbeni gets shout outs on so many Fridays, and today, two. 56D. Bar order : NEAT.

39. Common sorting basis : LAST NAME.

40. Lakeside Pennsylvania city : ERIE.

43. Love letters? : XXX. OOO.

44. Ark units : CUBITS. Another ancient word, basically the length from the elbow (Cubitum in Latin) to the tip of your middle finger.

45. "As I was sayin' ..." : ANY HOO. I can hear our dear California coven using this phrase.

46. They may be straight : RAZORS. No un-pc jokes needed here. (Send to my email).

47. 4 x 4, briefly : UTE.

48. Policy at some restaurants : NO TIPS. Really!?! I have never eaten in one. And I am only part French Canadian.

49. Align carefully : EVEN UP.

55. Prefix with culture : API. Despite loving Sherlock Holmes books etc., the reference to bees (Latin APIS) would have escaped me without perps.

57. "The devourer of all things": Ovid : TIME. There is even a series of coffee mugs featuring Ovid quotes. LINK.

58. Statue of Vishnu, e.g. : IDOL. Indian deity.

59. Oenophile's criterion : NOSE. A quick recall of yesterday's wine theme.

60. __ Squalor: Lemony Snicket character : ESME. I do not know the books or Jim Carrey movie, but I did recall the short story. What does the Lemony mean in his name? Am I a Snicket?

63. Composer Rorem : NED. We get Ned often, so a TASTE of his music. (2:06).

64. English cathedral city : ELY.

I must stop putting off my trip to England; I will not put off my trip to a long week end. Enjoy and remember all the veterans including our own, Dennis and all you others who served.  Until next time, thank you Jeffrey and thank you all for reading. Lemonade out.

Thursday, October 24, 2013, Marti DuGuay-Carpenter & Jerome Gunderson

Theme: Twist and Shout,  it is anagram time!

Well this Thursday offering from our new Titanic Twosome, had me twisting in the wind in places until I finally shouted Eureka! I used up my anagram last time I blogged this pairing, so you all are on your own. Anagram puzzles are different because either you see it or you do not, which would make it very hard even with the reveal, but remember words like, Change, Shake Up, or in this case SWITCH etc. tell you it is an anagram. Lemonade here pinch writing for our shy Thursday thumper, unraveling the product of two beautiful minds. I am still not used to the day, but this had some very nice intermediate fill, such as NUDISTS, PARASOL, PATROLS, PLOPPED, CATWOMAN and SEAFARER and a couple of real challenges. Let's take a walk on the wild side and see.

20A. *Garden display : FLOWER PETALS. (12).

34A. *Paper fastener : METAL STAPLE. (11).

41A. *Feature of some kilts : KNIFE PLEATS. (11). As the grandson of a Tailor, I am embarrassed to say I did not know this TERM.

51A. Electrician's covers, and a hint to the ends of the answers to starred clues : SWITCH PLATES. (12).

Time to flick to ON and get to work.

Across:

1. Like much Oscar-night attire : CHIC. Not an easy one for me to see and I was struggling with 1 down too; This is one of those puzzles where I could provide a link for almost every answer, but I will restrain myself so you can focus on their words.

5. Under-the-sink installation : P TRAP. Is there a hyphen? For all you DIY people.

10. Take a shine to? : BUFF. Okay, maybe a few.

14. Jazz singer Horne : LENA. 70 years ago. LISTEN. (5:05). A real treat.

15. Island near Curaçao : ARUBA. Two of the three Dutch ABC islands off of the Coast of Venezuela.

16. 1930s migrant to California : OKIE. A no no? 23A. Oklahoma tribe : OTOE.

17. Far __ : EAST.

18. River where Romulus and Remus were abandoned : TIBER. My son the archaeology major named his dog REMUS, but after the Harry Potter character!

19. Hot : SEXY. Equal time.

24. Sends regrets : SAYS NO.

28. Crazed Muppet drummer : ANIMAL. A man, a woman and now for you furries, HIT IT. (0:43).

31. Bright light : NEON.

33. Bamboozled : HAD. Tricky clue for a little answer.

36. Where Andy Capp 'angs 'is 'at : 'OME.

37. Noggin : BEAN. Mr. Bean would be at 'ome with Andy.

38. Go in haste : HIE. A Shakespeare word, how cool.

39. Stretch : SPAN.

40. Med. lab letters : LDL. Low-density lipoprotein The bad cholesterol. Lipo proteins often lead to liposuction.

45. Actor Wallach : ELI. He played the UGLY. (5:04).

46. Creatures of habit? : NUNS. Really fun example of the minds of our constructors.

47. Unfancy to the max? : LOATHE. Fancy meaning to like, not the adjective. Did it fool you?

48. Ready to be served : SEATED.

50. Three French horns, in a Prokofiev classic : WOLF. A true CLASSIC. (4:11).

57. Take a verbal shot at : ZING. Not to be confused with Bazzinga.

60. Small porch : STOOP. To me, it just means the steps in front of the porch.

61. Sitarist Shankar : RAVI. His famous daughter is Norah Jones, this is ANOUSHKA. (6:23).

62. Busy : AT IT.

63. Mel-Tones frontman : TORME. The velvet fog and muse for Night Court.

64. Place for the first 42-Down? : EDEN. Really cute cross-referential with 42D. Colony residents : NUDISTS. No ant colony for these two, and of course I have to add

65. Opens, as a car trunk : POPS. So many choices.

66. Sprinter's asset : SPEED.

67. Stinky : RANK. May be from our word RANCID?

Down:

1. Pitch indicator : CLEF. Man I need to go back to music class, when I was in school I was not only tone deaf, but pitch black.

2. Get back on one's feet : HEAL.

3. "You are __ much trouble!" : IN SO. a common sibling comment.

4. Supervillain with a whip : CATWOMAN, There have been so many beautiful women in that costume, who is your FAVORITE?

5. Pounds a beat : PATROLS.

6. Sheer nonsense : TRIPE. We know of the food made from entrails, so I guess it makes sense for the Slang definition: something, especially speech or writing, that is false or worthless; rubbish.

7. Hick : RUBE.  I guess there were a lot of Reubens in the country.

8. Disable the security system for, say : ABET. Complicated clue for a simple answer.

9. Lightweight umbrella : PARASOL. This is actually from the French to protect from the SOLEIL.

10. Domineering : BOSSY.

11. Maui strings : UKE. Where are all the the Hawaiians?

12. Tough spot : FIX.

13. Tina of "Date Night" : FEY. She is out of work and not happy, I hear.

21. Abbr. for the nameless? : ET AL.

22. Shipping route : LANE.

25. Patronize : SHOP AT.

26. Jet legend : NAMATH. Joe Willie, will the Jets ever have another hero?

27. Danish seaport : ODENSE. I am not really familiar with this city, though I can see the name coming from the Norse god, Odin and therefore a Jerome clue/fill. It looks like Aruba with the orange roofs.

28. Moseys : AMBLES.

29. Compass point? : NEEDLE. Another one, where you say, damn north, east, south, west are all too short.

30. Venezia's land : ITALIA. For marti our travelling saleswoman.

31. Innocents : NAIFS. The same stem as naive; there is a similar Yiddish word.

32. Foil kin : EPEE. Not tin or aluminum.

35. Deli slicing request : THIN. So why do we get it sliced thin and then out 6 pieces on the sammich?

39. Old salt : SEAFARER. Swabbie, sea dog, tar...or our missing marine?

41. More than suspected : KNEW.

43. Sat (down) ungracefully : PLOPPED. But did not fizz.

44. Hang out in the hammock : LOLL.

49. USAF E-6's : T-SGTS. "Technical Sergeant is the sixth enlisted rank (pay grade E-6) in the U.S. Air Force, just above staff sergeant and below master sergeant. " No longer a rank in the Army and not to be confused with 52D. 'Vette roof option : T-TOP. marti loves those 'letter-word' words.

50. Question before "Yeah, you!" : WHO ME?

53. Pear remnant : CORE. How cute, let's trick them and not use apple.

54. "Yay, me!" : TADA. Almost time.

55. Neck and neck : EVEN. I hope you are keeping up with me.

56. Hole on the green : SINK. Hole the verb, not the noun/ "Man, he holed a 50 footer!"

57. Static jolt : ZAP. Don't drag your feet on the carpet.

58. Skater Midori : ITO. I always link her for dear Clear Ayes, but this time I will pour a Midori sour.

so we can finish up with a

59. Swig : NIP.

What fun it is to toast these two, even with green liqueur on the rocks (sorry Tinbeni). A bit confusing for my Friday brain, but much fun. I leave you with some words from the divine one.

This is another puzzle that Jerome and I co-constructed. I love it that Rich published both in the same month! I was working on a theme idea with the unifier "SWITCH PLATE" that had anagrams of "plate" in it. When I got stuck trying to find good entries, I turned to the master of anagrams and asked for help. He suggested making PLATE plural, and came up with the theme entries.

Having only four entries, I told him I thought I could design a respectable grid, and he said: "I DON'T WANT TO BE PART OF ANYTHING RESPECTABLE!!" So that's how 42-Down got into the grid...

Note from C.C.:

Please click here to solve Marti's "Top Bananas" puzzle published at George Barany's website. Love that banana picture! Click here to see a cool picture of Marti and a funny bio. Who else on our blog can brag that he/she had a hole-in-one? Husker Gary's was a great mulligan.