Thursday, August 21, 2014 Mark Feldman

Theme: "Speak!"

17-Across. Tarot card representing union : TWO OF CUPS.

24-Across. Brightening near a sunspot : SOLAR FLARE.

35-Across. Mixer? : BAR KEEPER. Great clue! And this is a scene with my favorite mixer.

49-Across. Ingredient that mimics the flavor of an edible fungus : TRUFFLE OIL. It really doesn't, though. I prefer real truffles, but have only had them on rare occasions.


And the reveal:
58. Checkers' speech? (or what are hidden in 17-, 24-, 35- and 49-Across) : DOG SOUNDS. Checkers is perhaps the most famous dog who never lived in the White House.

Very nice!  Well-hidden dog vocalizations: three split between two words, one hidden totally in the first word. I seem to have had a run of easy puzzles for the past few Thursdays. There may have been a couple trouble spots, but eventually perps revealed the correct answers.


Across

1. Travelocity user's request : AISLE. Nope, I prefer the window.

6. Get too personal : PRY.

9. Prepare a spread for : CATER.

14. Word after open, in retail : UNTIL.

15. Duvall's role in "Gods and Generals" : LEE. The movie focuses on Stonewall Jackson.

16. Rap sheet entry : CRIME.

19. Hobbles : LIMPS.

20. Wind that can be controlled : HORN. And then we have 18-Down. Trumpet protector : CASE. I sense a CSO to Jazzbumpa!

21. Chowed down : ATE.

22. Prairie home : TEEPEE.

23. Fertility lab supply : OVA. Singular ovum.

26. Genre that evolved from ska : REGGAE. Not to be confused with "raga."

29. Spanish article : LAS.

30. Wordless okay : NOD.

31. __ preview : SNEAK.

32. Leveling piece : SHIM.

34. Spruce cousins : FIRS.

38. Auto club amenities : MAPS.

41. Work for : EARN.

42. See 5-Down : SANTA. And 5-Down. 42-Across helper : ELF. Not much to go on here, except 5-letters and three-letters, with "helper," will almost always point to SANTA and his ELF. CSO to Argyle!

46. Mountain ending : EER. Mountaineer.

47. Inclined : APT. I am apt to agree...

48. Pantomime : ACT OUT. Oh, so that's what the little brats are doing at the supermarket when they can't get the candy they want?

53. Citi Field player : MET. Citi Field replaced Shea Stadium.

54. Set of devotional prayers : ROSARY.

55. Genetic stuff : RNA.

56. React to yeast : RISE. You won't get a rise out of me, yeast!

57. Time piece? : ISSUE. Cute misdirection.  The magazine, not the watch.

60. Nickel and dime : COINS. Straight-forward, but nice misdirection as well.

61. Lennon's love : ONO.

62. Swindler : CHEAT.

63. Cut drastically : SLASH.

64. Youngster : TOT. The ones doing pantomimes at the supermarket.

65. Low cards : TREYS. Three OF CUPS? It's meaning is joyful camaraderie.

Down

1. King and Queen : AUTHORS. Great misdirection.  Stephen KING. Ellery QUEEN was actually the pen name of two cousins: Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee, which were assumed names of Daniel Nathan and Manford Lepofsky. (Quiz, later.)

2. Meshed together : INWOVEN. This answer didn't mesh at first.

3. Place to put things : STORAGE. Simple!

4. Beast in the Royal Arms of England : LION. Lucky WAG.

6. Second-most-massive dwarf planet : PLUTO. The New Horizons probe will visit it next July.

7. Force back : REPEL.

8. __-man : YES. Or in Reggae, "Yeah, mon."

9. Symbols seen in viola music : C CLEFS.

10. "The Tempest" spirit : ARIEL.

11. Percussion instruments : TIMPANI.

12. Beethoven's last piano concerto, familiarly, with "the" : EMPEROR. Officially titled "Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 73," it was dedicated to his patron Archduke Rudolf. It was the English publisher  who called it "The Emperor" concerto. I only linked a portion - the full concerto is 45 min. long, and I am sure you would finish reading this post long before it was over!

13. Deals with a patchy lawn : RESEEDS.

22. __ steamer : TRAMP. TRAMP ships carry goods from one port to another, without any fixed schedule. They are still used today, but they no longer are powered by steam.

25. Stranger : ALIEN.

27. Yaks : GABS.

28. Letters in a dossier : AKA. Also Known As.

32. Do lutzes, say : SKATE. Here's an incredible quadruple lutz by Brandon Mroz. Now, that's skating!  0:19

33. The Beatles' "And I Love __" : HER.

34. Host of some off-campus parties : FRAT. With beer kegs and togas.

36. Wedding invitation request : REPLY.

37. "Abort!" key : ESC.ape.

38. Poet's art : METRICS.

39. Spray : AEROSOL.

40. Frederick the Great's realm : PRUSSIA.

43. Party choice : NOMINEE.

44. Time associated with graceful children : TUESDAY. I'm a Wednesday child. You?

Monday's child is fair of face,

TUESDAY's child is full of grace,

Wednesday's child is full of woe,

Thursday's child has far to go,

Friday's child is loving and giving,

Saturday's child works hard for a living,

But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day

Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

45. Swears (to) : ATTESTS.

47. From the beginning : AFRESH.

48. "That's a shame!" : ALAS.

50. Mythical goat-men : FAUNS.

Rubens

51. Academic Maine town : ORONO.

52. Gold brick : INGOT.

56. Oberhausen's region : RUHR. Germany.

58. Period, for one : DOT. It was already filled for me by the across answers, but did anyone want "era?"

59. Autumn mo. : OCT.ober. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you!!

And that's all I have to say about that...0:05

Marti

Sunday January 26, 2014 Mark Feldman

Theme:  "Just Say No" - No is inserted into each common phrase.

24A. Congressman lacking influence? : LEGISLATIVE NOBODY. Legislative body.

31A. Inexperienced company leader? : NOVICE PRESIDENT. Vice president.

53A. Conquer one's Pachelbel addiction? : KICK THE CANON. Kick the can. Click here. Jayce probably needs to conquer his Pachelbel addiction. I'm not familiar with the guy or his Canon.

69A. Flight getting in at 12:00? : NOONTIME ARRIVAL. On-time arrival.

85A. Chamber group income? : NONET REVENUE. Net revenue.

103A. Promo line for an open wine bar? : BOTTOMLESS PINOT. Bottomless pit.

116A. Unimportant orbiter? : MINOR SPACE STATION. Mir Space Station.

Last Sunday we had "Oh, No!", today we have "Just Say No". Eager to see what's the gimmick for next Sunday's LAT.

Three NO's are attached to the beginning of the first word, one attached to the start of the second word, three are inserted inside the word. This multiple approach in letter insertion does not happen often with LAT.

Across:

1. Paddle : OAR

4. Peter who produced James Taylor's debut album : ASHER. Unknown figure to me.

9. Stash : STORE

14. Old Dodge : ARIES

19. Pair : DUO

20. Now, in Spain : AHORA. Vowel-rich, like most foreign words in Xwords.

21. Yam, e.g. : TUBER

22. Time-share unit, often : CONDO

23. Investment adviser's suggestion, for short : IRA. Are you still thinking of retiring, TTP?

27. Where you might see "Hello" : NAME TAG. Hello, my name is ...

29. Take on : HIRE

30. O. Henry device : IRONY

36. Wit : CARD

39. Those, in Spain : ESOS

40. Myth ending : ICAL. Mythical.

41. __ room : REC. And 46. __ room : HOTEL.

44. Really enjoyed : ATE UP

49. 1987 Costner role : NESS (Eliot)

50. Slightly, to Salieri : POCO. Italian.

51. Cheerleader's accessory : POM-POM

56. Doe in "Bambi" : ENA

57. Becoming fond of : TAKING TO

61. Rib : NEEDLE

62. "Smokey and the Bandit" city : TEXARKANA. Tex-Ark-ana. Sort of portmanteau word.

64. Scout group : TROOP

68. Tart fruits : SLOES

72. Santa ___ : MARIA

75. "Oklahoma!" aunt : ELLER

76. Gashed : LACERATED

80. Ukrainian port : ODESSA

82. Teacher's concern : ABSENTEE. Me in college. I bet Yellowrocks seldom missed her classes. Great news about your shoulder.

84. Altar vow : I DO

89. Bland stuff : PABLUM

91. Significant periods : ERAS. Cultural Revolution is certainly the most important period in my life. Been through quite a bit of the nightmares in my life.

92. Angry : IRED. Spell check does not like this word.

93. Scrawny : GAUNT

97. Family member : NIECE

98. __ Aviv : TEL

99. FDR's mother : SARA. Oh, I did not know this.

100. They're expected : PARS. For the pros.

102. Keats creations : ODES

109. Slow movement : LARGO

111. "You really think that's true?" : IS IT

112. At : TOWARDS.  I often struggle with one-word clues.

121. See 122-Across : OUT. And 122. With 121-Across, force from hiding : SMOKE

123. Persona : IMAGE

124. First-aid kit item : GAUZE

125. Half and half : ONE. Simple & effective clue.

126. Some are dominant : GENES

127. Colorado resort : ASPEN

128. Bugs' nemesis : ELMER

129. Not many : FEW

Down:

 1. Thor's father : ODIN

2. Ghostly glow : AURA

3. Gad about : ROAM

4. Finnish architect Alvar __ : AALTO. Splynter might have heard of this guy. Not me. What's his most famous work?

5. Bundle, as wheat : SHEAVE

6. Greedy : HOGGISH. Not a word I use.

7. "___ tu": Verdi aria : ERI

8. Most daring : RASHEST

9. Oldest Beatle : STARR. My former boss is named Ringo because he liked Ringo Starr. Most people in Hong Kong have a Chinese name & an English name.

10. One in a class by himself? : TUTEE. Nice clue for a blah fill.

11. Kimono sash : OBI

12. Gun : REV

13. Before, in poems : ERE

14. __ squash : ACORN.  This looks yummy & perfect for D-Otto who just went through a yankage. Never had cranberries before. I bet raisins work as well.

15. Automaton : ROBOT

16. Part of, plotwise : IN ON

17. Whirlpool : EDDY

18. Tofu base : SOY. Have any of you tried fermented Tofu? It's definitely an acquired taste. Sort of like Blue cheese.

25. Sass : LIP

26. Ratings giver : NIELSEN

28. Eventually become : END UP

32. Gentle sound : COO

33. Ruin : SINK

34. "New Jack City" actor : ICE-T

35. Short run : DASH

36. 10th century French king : CAPET. Hugh Capet. Stranger to me.

37. Make amends : ATONE

38. Big name in real estate : RE/MAX

41. Sonata section : RONDO

42. Pierre's school : ECOLE

43. Scoop holders : CONES

45. Hearty entrée : POT ROAST. I just can't seem to like beef.

47. Hosp. test : EKG

48. One who more than just trash-talks? : LITTERBUG. Ha ha.

50. Spanish dish : PAELLA

52. Deadly shark : MAKO

54. Mrs. Dithers in "Blondie" : CORA

55. Special delivery? : CESAREAN. Nice clue also.

58. Classic Welles role : KANE

59. Part of IBM: Abbr. : INTL

60. Clinch : NAIL

63. Liqueur flavorings : ANISES

65. Heraldic border : ORLE

66. Setting for Camus' "The Plague" : ORAN. Gimme!

67. Ancient Celt : PICT

70. Average : MEAN

71. Nixon, in the '50s : VEEP. To Ike.

72. "Haystacks" series painter : MONET. Monet, Manet dilemma.

73. Be gaga over : ADORE

74. Kind of artery : RENAL

77. Did floor work : TILED.  And 113. It may be 77-Down : ROOF

78. Draw out : EDUCE

79. Field protectors : DOMES

81. British bluebloods, informally : ARISTOS

83. Vast amount : SEA

86. Part of Q.E.D. : ERAT

87. ___ Beach, Fla. : VERO

88. Wax-wrapped cheese : EDAM

90. Regional life : BIOTA

94. Steal the spotlight from : UPSTAGE

95. Drop off : NAP. And 101. Drop off : SNOOZE

96. Isotope of hydrogen : TRITIUM. Learning moment to me also.

103. Penniless : BROKE

104. Fairy tale baddies : OGRES

105. Feudal lord : LIEGE

106. City near Düsseldorf : ESSEN

107. Pose : SIT

108. One with a title : OWNER

109. Green shade : LIME

110. Before long : ANON

114. Buggy site : DUNE

115. Brood : STEW

116. Stir-fry additive : MSG. Not in my stir-fry. Nor do I use any cornstarch.

117. Actress Zadora : PIA

118. Morning hrs. : AMs

119. Cover : CAP

120. Singer Bachman : TAL. Canadian singer. Also an unknown figure to me.

C.C.

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.

Sunday November 24, 2013 Mark Feldman

Theme: "Cooked Books" - Each theme entry sounds like a well-known novel. (Added later:  I did not catch the theme fully. Please click here to read Orange's explanation. Two of the words in each book title rhyme with the original words.)

25A. Tolstoy novel about game hunting? : BOAR AND GEESE. "War and Peace".

 

31A. London novel about gentlemen coming to blows? : BRAWL OF THE MILD. "Call of the Wild".

 

52A. Salinger novel about an alien abduction? : SNATCHER IN THE SKY. "Catcher in the Rye"

70A. Dreiser novel about a prominent British prince? : MISTER HARRY. "Sister Carrie".

82A. Brontë novel about the rigors of ballet training? : SMOTHERING TIGHTS.  "Wuthering Heights".

104A. Forster novel about the mysterious death of Tutenkhamen? : A TOMB WITH A CLUE. "A Room with a View". King Tut.

115A. Steinbeck novel about a spiritual vegan? : OF RICE AND ZEN. "Of Mice and Men".

Did I miss any extra layer that further coheres the theme? 

When I read the puzzle title "Cooked Books", I thought it might be an anagram. Consulted with our Oracle Argyle, he said "It doesn't pay to analyze puns too much".

I'm eager to read what you guys have to say.

Across:

1. Skye cap : TAM. Saw this clue before, so an easy start.

4. Long yarn : SAGA. Bob, who reads but not comments on our blog, sent me these pictures last night. It's carved from a single tree trunk.  Total length: 12.286 meters. Click here to for more. 4 years. Talk about patience.

8. Wide open areas? : SPACES

14. Fix after an outage, as a clock : RE-SET

19. Genetics lab study : RNA

20. Yemen neighbor : OMAN

21. Old Spanish sailing force : ARMADA

22. Small egg : OVULE

23. Fingers : IDs. Verb.

24. __ the Merciless: Flash Gordon foe : MING

27. Most texts : MESSAGES. Do you texting  or calling your kids, PK?

29. Informer : RAT

30. Intimidated : DAUNTED

35. Assembled : MET

36. Computer acronym : ASCII

37. Get : SEE

38. DDE rival : AES (Adlai Ewing Stevenson)

40. "__ Miniver" : MRS

43. Murder mystery staple : CORPSE

45. Credit (to) : ASCRIBE

49. Court happening : TRIAL

51. Spot for a pad : KNEE

56. Good, in Hebrew : TOV.  "Mazel tov!"

57. Clear : RID

58. Bygone bringers of blocks : ICEMEN

59. Spanish appetizer : TAPA. I like Korean appetizers (Banchan). I like all pickled stuff.

63. Stir up : WAKEN

65. Tinted : HUED

68. Despicable : BASE

69. "What a shame!" : ALAS

72. Big name in elevators : OTIS

73. Daffy : BATS

74. NFL pick sixes, e.g. : INTS (Interceptions)

75. Red dye : EOSIN. Rooted in Eos, the Greek goddess of the dawn. Hence red, I suppose.

 76. Guy dolls : KENS

77. Check : ARREST. One-word clue can be very tricky.

79. Belief: Suff. : ISM

80. Cleo's undoing : ASP

87. One may overlook a loch : BRAE

91. Perfume with myrrh, say : CENSE. Valid word, as Yellowrocks showed us once. Please ignore those snarky anons, Kathy, do tell you about your visit to Israel. What's their typical breakfast? Do they have bagel shops there?

92. Crowd __ : PLEASER

93. Crowd : THRONG

95. More than feasts (on) : ODs

96. Pancake-making facilitator : MIX

97. Photo __ : OPS

100. Swiss mathematician : EULER

101. Email attachment, briefly : PDF

109. Gulf War missile : PATRIOT

113. Former president of Pakistan : ZIA. Wiki said he's Pakistan's longest-serving head of state, ruling eleven years.

114. Lozenges, e.g. : SOOTHERS

118. "__.0": Comedy Central show : TOSH. Never watched the show. Hosted by Daniel Tosh.

119. Bad opening? : DYS. Like Dysfunctional.

120. Booze : SAUCE. Drunk.

121. R or X : RATING

122. Curved molding : OGEE

123. Not leave, with "up" : USE

124. Corners, in a way : TREES

125. Preoccupy : OBSESS

126. "O, let me not be mad" speaker : LEAR. I bet no Shakespearean clue can stump our Keith. He and Misty are both professors at the University of California, Irvine, though I don't think they've met each other.

127. Times in want ads : PMs

Down:

1. Sculpt, as hedges : TRIM BACK

2. "Winesburg, Ohio" author Sherwood : ANDERSON. Never heard of this guy or the book. 

3. Total drubbing : MASSACRE

4. Horn of Africa natives : SOMALIS

5. Baja buddy : AMIGO

6. Crooks, in slang : GANEFS. Learned from doing xwords.

7. Unsettled feelings, in Frankfurt : ANGSTE. New word to me. Quite close to our Angst.

8. Buffalo hockey player : SABRE.  I don't think I know any player from Buffalo Sabres, Splynter.

9. Tournament kickoff, perhaps : PRO-AM

10. Cremona craftsman : AMATI. Violin.

11. Beetle, for one : CAR.

12. Author LeShan : EDA

13. Bank deposit : SAND. Great clue.

14. Scoundrel : ROGUE

15. Affair : EVENT

16. Haggis ingredient : SUET. Suet is beef fat. Lard is pig fat.

17. "What __ is new?" : ELSE

18. Began a round, with "off" : TEED

26. Farm mom : DAM

28. Lift : SWIPE

32. __ wave : HEAT

33. Den : LAIR

34. Actress Mazar : DEBI

39. House mate?: Abbr. : SEN. Senate. I was stumped.

40. Pair, as two odd socks : MIS-MATE. This is the clue & Answer dupe (mate/MATE) Anon-T referred the other day.

41. Earns copiously : RAKES IN

42. Cunning : SLYNESS

44. Approx. : EST

46. Cliffside debris : SCREE

47. Violin parts : CHIN RESTS

48. Great American Ball Park player : RED

49. Cannabis compound : THC

50. Nike rival : REEBOK. Afrikaans spelling of rhebok, some kind of gazelle.

53. Sure to end badly : NO-WIN

54. "Stop, sailor!" : AVAST

55. Considerable : TIDY

59. Hot stuff : TABASCO. I bet Lucina has a bottle in her fridge.

60. Fearful : ALARMED

61. Arts supporters : PATRONS

62. Furniture and fixtures, say : ASSETS

64. Gold meas. : KTs (Karats)

65. Eats : HAS

66. Dickens' Heep : URIAH

67. "The Hat Makes the Man" artist : ERNST (Max)

70. Wee bit : MITE

71. Pal, slangily : HOMIE

78. Lady, e.g. : SHE

79. Supermarket franchise initials : IGA

81. L.A. hours : PST. I think Rich does read our blog, Bill G, probably not every day, as he's extremely busy with all the puzzle submissions/editing/reader mails and other newspaper stuff we're not aware of.

83. Turning meas. : RPM

84. Hip bones : ILIA

85. Call in a bakery : NEXT

86. Develop : GROW

87. "Scottish Fantasy" composer : BRUCH (Max). Jazzbumap knows him. Not me. German composer. Died in 1920.

 

88. In a ball : ROLLED UP

89. Arterial problem : ANEURYSM

90. Exits : EGRESSES

94. Subtly mottled, as fabric : HEATHER. Oh I know the pattern. Just don't know it has a specific name.

98. Starter's gun : PISTOL

99. Easy mark : STOOGE

101. Damage, so to speak : PRICE. I don't get this one. Can you give me a sentence to show how these two are equivalents?

102. Cubes in the kitchen : DICES. Verb "Cubes"!

103. Antagonist : FOE

105. Harriet's TV spouse : OZZIE

106. Appearances : MIENS. Also learned from doing xwords.

107. Beatle trademark : BANGS

108. Old Testament prophet : HOSEA. Needed crossing help.

109. Put up : POST

110. At a distance : AFAR

111. Faithful : TRUE

112. Poi source : TARO

116. Collar : NAB

117. Sot's problem : DTS

I'm excited to show you a recent picture of Agnes, our loving and witty Irish Miss. She said:

"I am on the right next to my sister, Eileen. This was taken Friday night (Nov 22, 2013)  at my sister Peggy's house, celebrating her 6 year old granddaughter's Luau-themed birthday party."

Notice her rings? Read here for details. She has since added a new ring.

Wednesday Jan 23, 2013 Mark Feldman

Theme: Fun with Fauna, or Fauna-cation

The eight theme answers dotted throughout today's puzzle pair an animal with a noun to come up with a well-known word or phrase.

18A. Animal's paw warmer? : FOXGLOVE. We used to put foxgloves on our fingers as kids and pretend we had purple and green talons.

29A. Animal's hiking gear? : RAT PACK. Was there a rat pack before Sinatra and his cronies? Is "pack" the collective noun for a number of rats? How many more questions can I ask about one clue?

30A. Animal's laundry? : HOGWASH. Hopefully not all of my blog today. Doubtless some of it.

44A. Animal's golf club? : PIG IRON. His partner Fido uses a DOG WOOD.

47A. Animal's undergarment? : COWSLIP. Immediate mental image of the hippos in tutus in Disney's "Fantasia"

54A. Animal's apartment? : MOUSE PAD. The feline who lives in the apartment underneath gets in a CAT FLAP when there's too much noise upstairs.

3D. Animal's timepiece? : DOG WATCH. If you stand the Dog Watch during summer's Dog Days, can you be double-dog dared?

36D. Animal's instrument? : BULLHORN. Bullhorns always seem to crackle, but maybe that's just when someone is quoting cliches through them.

Hi all - Steve here with a fortuitous outing on the day the blog came back from Google's Slough of Despond where it was banished for reasons still unclear. C.C. has been dealing with the bureaucracy that is the Blogger Police Department and deserves a medal and a huge round of applause from everyone for doggedly pursuing justice, freedom and liberty for her blog.

I liked the theme today with eight clues both across and down. Some of the fill was a little scrappy but I'm getting the feeling that's the trade-off you make when you have so many theme answers in a 15x15, but I'm totally out of my depth analyzing puzzle construction and I'll leave that to the experts.

Let's check out the rest:

Across:

1. Exemplar of cruelty : SADIST. The Marquis De Sade's castle is now owned by Pierre Cardin (along with many of the other properties in the village).

7. Approach furtively, with "to" : SIDLE UP

14. Split and united? : ELOPED. Great clue, loved this.

15. 2001 Disney film subtitled "The Lost Empire" : ATLANTIS.

17. Pioneer transports : WAGONS.

19. Boston-to-Providence dir. : SSW I need to brush up on my geography. I pretty well always have to wait for crosses to get these right.

20. Strauss's "__ Rosenkavalier" : DER

21. Neighbor of Ger. : POL. I had "HOL" first and was going to pick nits about Holland not being a country, but then I found out I was wrong. The nits remain unpicked for now.

22. Subject of a China/India/Pakistan territorial dispute : KASHMIR.

26. Tokyo airport : NARITA. My only visits to Japan have been to Narita to change planes. Some day I'll get to stop for longer.

31. Put in a zoo, say : ENCAGE

32. Tippy transport : CANOE. Nice play on Tippecanoe.

33. Suffix like "like" : ISH

34. Sets the pace : LEADS

36. Marcel Marceau character : BIP. M. Marceau is responsible for us all being subjected to watching our friends attempt "man walking against wind" or "man in glass box", always badly.

39. Indian spice : CURRY. Nit Pick alert: "Curry" is a blend of spices.

41. Assistant professor's goal : TENURE.

48. Like some bagels : ONION-Y. My bagels are "everything-y".

49. Undoes, as laws : REPEALS

50. Heart lines: Abbr. : ECG. Electrocardiogram. I thought the "electro" bit was because the monitoring device is electrically-powered, but in fact it measures the electrical activity of the heart muscles.

51. Brief life story? : BIO

52. HEW successor : HHS. I had NO idea about this one. I was trying to think of presidents and eventually the crosses filled it in for me. I went to look it up here.

58. Melodic : ARIOSE. The "R" here was my last letter to complete. I was torn between "RNA" and "DNA" for the down clue, and decided that "ADIOSE" just didn't smell right. WAG'd the R and - Yay!

61. Wet ink concern : SMEARING. When we had to write in pen and ink at school this was truly traumatic. One smear and you start all over again. No UNDO in 1865.

62. Night noises : SNORES. Guilty as charged.

63. One on the lam : ESCAPEE

64. Hot spots : SAUNAS

Down

1. Stitches : SEWS

2. The Palins, e.g. : ALASKANS. My British brain knee-jerked Michael Palin (ex Monty Python) and wondered what his family had done for crossword-recognition.

4. Wall St. debut : I.P.O. Initial Public Offering of part of a company's equity. It used to be done to raise capital for investment, in recent years it's become more of a "cash in your chips" event for the early investors.

5. Obama, before he was pres. : SEN. I was trying to fit "not stressed out".

6. NFL stats : TD'S. Plenty of these in the Conference Championship games on Sunday; let's hope the Superbowl delivers more of the same.

7. More secure : SAFER

8. "Do __ else!" : IT OR. "Please" would be nice.

9. CCLXXX x II : DLX

10. Trail : LAG

11. Lab blowup: Abbr. : ENL. Not the chemistry lab, but a photo enlargement. "Doc" Rees, High School chemistry teacher, bored with tossing little chips of sodium in a beaker of water and watching them catch fire and zip around, went one step beyond on the last day of term and tossed a sizable lump of caesium into the school swimming pool and was lucky not to set fire to us all. Happy Days.

12. Paradise : UTOPIA

13. Turns on one foot : PIVOTS

16. Psalm instruction : SELAH. I'd only ever come across this in the letters of Hunter S. Thompson, it was one of his favorite sign-off lines.

20. Cartoonist Browne : DIK. I had DAN first, it sounded familiar, then it was ohhhh -  no, wait.

23. Health resort : SPA

24. Crone : HAG. "When shall we three meet again?"

25. Neil __, Defense secretary under Eisenhower : MCELROY. Toss-up between this and MCILROY. I guess I've been watching a lot of golf and Rory M. over the last few months.

26. Continuous : NONSTOP. I love nonstop flights, but I'm glad that the pilot decides to break the rules and make one stop.

27. Past : AGO

28. "The American Scholar" essayist's monogram : RWE. One of Emerson's most famous essays. Apparently. (I plead ignorance, I tried to  read "Walden" a number of times and eventually realized that it was going to join "Finnegans Wake"on my shelf of the "will never get past page 20" books.

29. Portuguese king : REI.

30. Swindled : HAD. This is an odd word - I've only heard it in the past tense, and passive at that - "I've been had!"

32. Low islet : CAY

35. Coastal flier : ERN

37. It surrounds the Isle of Man : IRISH SEA. The Isle of Man has no speed limits and hosts a week of motorcycle racing each year on a twisting street circuit around the island. When the racing is finished, the circuit is opened to anyone with a motorcycle and a death wish on a day known as "Suicide Sunday". And yes, people die. Every year.

38. Vigor : PEP

39. Gp. in a 1955 labor merger : C.I.O. Now the AFL/CIO

40. Coffee holder : URN

42. Ram's mate : EWE

43. Ultra-secretive org. : N.S.A. The National Security Agency.

44. Burns bread and butter? : POEMS. Favorite clue of the day. Robert Burns wrote the words to "Auld Lang Syne", mangled by all who sing it today.

45. Tips may be part of it : INCOME. And you must declare these in box something on your tax returns. You promise you will, right?

46. Lively Baroque dances : GIGUES

47. Corp. head honcho : C.E.O.

49. Fingerprint feature : RIDGE. The ridges make up whorls and loops. I don't know anywhere else you find a whorl.

51. Ruination : BANE

53. Cong. meeting : SESS. Congo? Conga? Conger? Ohhhh - Congress - in Session! Gotcha.

55. Anatomical bag : SAC

56. Victorian, for one : ERA

57. Die dot : PIP

58. Donkey : ASS

59. Biological messenger : RNA. Always torn between this and DNA as I mentioned earlier.

60. Debtor's marker : IOU. They don't take these in Vegas, at least not from me. Cash only.

That's it! Have a great day everyone, and Welcome Back Blog! Huzzah!

Steve

Notes from C.C.:

1) So Google (owner of Blogger) wrongly thought we're a spam blog and locked us from Saturday night until early Tuesday night. Here is their answer this morning:

"I wish that it was possible to identify specific characteristics of a given blog, that make it more or less susceptible to spurious spam classification.  Unfortunately, that will never be possible.  Fuzzy spam classification cannot be described, with any certainty, in words. Sorry."

2) In case you missed our puzzle discussions on my Ginger Roots blog, please click here for Sunday post, here for Monday post and here for Tuesday.

3) Captcha will be used in blog Comments section from now on. I know it's hard to recognize those damn letters, but it's a safe measure we need to take. Here are a few tips:

• Please always save your comments in a Word document or in an email draft. In case you lose your comments to the blog black hole, you can always copy and paste.

• Argyle discovered that you don't need Captcha to Preview. Captca is involved only when you try to hit the "Publish Your Comment" button.

• It might take a few tries to get an easy-to-read Captcha. So please be patient. Other bloggers/posters have been using Captcha for a long time. We sure can take up the challenge and overcome this obstacle. This will be a learning experience for all of us.

Thanks again to Husker Gary for taking the time to inform all the regulars in his mailing list about our glitch & move of the blog. Contact him gschlapfer@gmail.com if you want to be included in his list.

Thanks also to TTP for giving me & Argyle detailed explanations about some technical issue. We learned a lot from him.

And to our long-time readers, Thank you so much for your loyalty and support.