Saturday, August 17, 2019, Michael Ashley

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Michael Ashley

August 17th has been designated  to celebrate one of my favorite things in the world: The #2 Pencil! Like all of you, I have done the puzzle online occasionally and have also been forced to use a, gasp, ink pen but the old Ticonderoga #2 is my fav. All right, I am partial to the Paper Mate Sharpwriter too because it has a good eraser!

Someday this math/physics teacher will understand why students always seem to have a plethora of ink pens, markers and even crayons but hardly ever a #2 wooden pencil. I bought many boxes of them over the years and handed them out daily - usually to the same kids!

Today's constructor is Michael Ashley and this is a reposting from my blog of his puzzle on 10/27/18: I lived nearly 20 years in Manhattan, New York, and have now lived with my wife and two children in Scottsdale, Arizona, since 1993. Besides being a maniacal online chess buff, in my spare time I dabble at another sport which, on my better days, strongly resembles golf. 

Irrespective of what implement or technology you employed to solve Michael's offering, let's review its content. For me it was a quite fast but pleasant experience with, as usual, the long fills opening the floodgates.

Across:

1. Cute but nerdy: ADORKABLE - Congrats if you knew this, uh, cute portmanteau (ADORABLE/DORK)

10. Praises highly: LAUDS.

15. Area adjoining a bridge: RADAR ROOM - This bridge is one from which the ship is commanded and the RADAR ROOM supplies data for its safe passage

16. Hall of fame: ANNIE - A Woody Allen/Diane Keaton film

17. "Search me": I'VE NO IDEA

18. Service period: STINT - The hash marks on Command Master Chief Marilyn E. Kennard's sleeve indicate she has served many STINTS in the Navy

19. "Red Rocks" city: SEDONA, AZ from the air

20. Epic: BIG.

22. Vermont tourist destinations: INNS - Bob Newhart's TV Stratford INN in Vermont was really the Wayward Inn in Middlebury, VT

23. Animated queen: NALA - Disney's new live-action remake of The Lion King features Beyonce voicing NALA

25. Inc. relative: LLC - Limited Liability Corporation 

27. Match at the poker table: SEE.

28. Make a pick: OPT.

31. "My Way" singer, 1998: USHER - Definitely not Sinatra nor my cuppa tea

33. Jimmy: PRY - Forgot your key? Derivation of the term

34. Half a comedy duo: MEARA - My first encounter with them

Ed Sullivan, Ann Meara, Jerry Stiller

37. Apart from the rest: TO ONE SIDE.

39. Title voice actor in "Puss in Boots" (2011): ANTONIO BANDERAS - Ok

41. "Feels like" weather calculation: HEAT INDEX - We had a week of HEAT INDICES near 115F and now it has turned very nice

42. Be a debtor of: OWE TO 

43. DOJ branch: ATF.

Moire Pattern

44. Wavelike pattern: MOIRE - Wazzat?

45. Man cave, for some: DEN.

46. Bud: BRO.

47. Wrap up: END 

48. Very: SUCH.

52. Work to acquire: EARN.

54. Retract, as words: EAT -  Try to make your words very sweet, for you may have to EAT them!

56. '60s-'70s crime drama: THE FBI - Efrem Zimbalist Jr. was the star

60. Dogpatch name: ABNER - It's a Li'l name

62. Common epidemic factor: CONTAGION.

64. Veil: CLOAK- A dagger can be an accessory

65. Fronded rainforest plants: TREE FERNS.

66. Conform with: HEW TO - Many politicians HEW TO the dictates of their party or else...

67. United Federation of Planets service: STAR FLEET - "To boldly go..."

Down:

1. Onassis and others: ARIS - Another might be Fleishner 

2. 1993 Kevin Kline title role: DAVE.

3. Had too much: ODED - My Netflix bingeing might qualify

4. Was loquacious: RAN ON - I have a SIL who does that. She never fails to talk for ten minutes when ten seconds would suffice. TMI!

5. Icelandic monetary unit: KRONA - A KRONA = $.0081

6. Easy-to-read font: ARIAL.

7. Hunk's pride: BOD - Redux from last week

8. "Firecracker" singer Lisa: LOEB - Here ya go!

9. Online forgeries: EMAIL HOAXES - I'd be suspicious of EMAIL from that Nigerian Prince

10. Avila article: LAS - In Avila, Spain the plural of cockroaches would be LAS cucarachas

11. Not a source of support for: ANTI.

12. Trite: UNINSPIRED - I suspect most editors say this of unsolicited manuscripts 

13. Start of many a romance: DINNER DATE 

14. Catches sight of: SETS EYES ON - A memorable moment for millions

21. Close in films: GLENN - Her IMDB listings

24. Self-taught people: AUTODIDACTS - An interesting take here:

26. System of belief: CREDO.

28. D-Day hot spot: OMAHA BEACH - So many brave men died there 75 years ago

29. Porous: PENETRABLE - Bad football defenses can are often called porous 

30. Casual parting words: TATA FOR NOW - Way too cheesy for me

32. Not at all high: SOBER.

35. Go to seed: ROT - Dandelions breaking down and going to seed

36. "The Red Turtle" genre: ANIME.

38. Mend, in a way: SEW.

40. Words after all or hole: IN ONE - My first thought for all-in-one

49. Speak: UTTER.

50. Threshing remains: CHAFF - Wheat CHAFF dispensed out the back of this John Deere combine

51. German idealism pioneer: HEGEL - Here 'ya go

53. Spruce: NEAT - I use it with "up" as in Spruce Up something 

55. Libel or slander: TORT.

This site says - 1 is a crime, 2 is a tort and 3 could be either one

57. Gift from Prometheus: FIRE.

58. Joint component: BONE - 82% of NFL career-ending injuries occur with an injury at this confluence of BONE joints

59. Research ctr.: INST - Like the Massachusetts INSTitute of Technology 

61. One of the Big Five in Hollywood's Golden Age: RKO.

63. Org. awarded a Special Tony in 2016: NEA - The National Endowment For The Arts 

Perhaps in your comment, you can tell us what instrument you used to complete the puzzle.

Saturday, October 27, 2018, Michael Ashley

Themeless Saturday By Michael Ashley


Today we celebrate a holiday that will be met with, uh, great gusto at our little literary popsicle stand here: National Beer Day. Ales and beers of all description populate our puzzles and discourse. I don't imbibe but will raise an imaginary glass to you on this sudsy holiday! Salut, Cheers, Skol, L'Chaim, Here's mud in yer eye!

Today's constructor is Michael Ashley. I blogged his last puzzle here on September 15 which of course was another themeless marvel and this is what I found out about Michael that day:  I lived nearly 20 years in Manhattan, New York, and have now lived with my wife and two children in Scottsdale, Arizona, since 1993. Besides being a maniacal online chess buff, in my spare time I dabble at another sport which, on my better days, strongly resembles golf. 

Across:

1. "Grab that guy!": SEIZE HIM - A 1965 Lee Faulk Book Guild Poster of Prince Valiant on the lam!

9. Indonesian dyed fabrics: BATIKS - I was so surprised how quickly I wrote in this word

15. Speaking to a TV audience, say: ON CAMERA.

Hey, it's great to be here at the
LA Times Crossword Blog today!

16. Name attached to 14 Grand Slam tennis titles: EVONNE - From an Australian aboriginal family

17. Ultimate degree: NTH POWER  9ⁿ = 3 - Math peeps will know what NTH POWER of 9 makes this true

18. Pick up: NEATEN 

19. Urgent event: CRISIS  - The one that leaps to my mind

21. Agitated states: STEWS - The state Americans were in during the CRISIS above

22. Only driver to win Indy and Le Mans in the same year: A.J. FOYT - Number 14 at Indy and Number 1 at the 24 hours of Le Mans which he won with co-driver Dan Gurney in 1967

25. 2017 NLDS player: NAT - Washington NATional 

27. Gaelic tongue: ERSE -  Bobby Burns in Gaelic and translated on this beer day: `O gude ale comes and gude ale goes; Gude ale gars me sell my hose, Sell my hose, and pawn my shoon – Gude ale keeps my heart aboon!'' 
`O good ale comes and good ale goes; good ale makes me sell my hose (stockings), Sell my hose and pawn my shoes – Good ale keeps my heart afloat!'')

28. School closing?: MARM  - A SCHOOLMARM circa 1890

29. Link with: TIE TO.

31. Music with expressive lyrics: EMO.

32. Offering from your server: E-MAIL

34. Corn containers: CRIBS - The ones around here are all slowly wasting away, having been supplanted by silos and bins

36. Malamute pair?: EMS - MalaMute - Yup!

38. Principal aluminum ore: BAUXITE - Mining BAUXITE in India

40. Habitual surfer: NETIZEN - A citizen of the net, sometimes to excess. Who me?

42. Red Cross provision: AID.

43. California's __ Beach: PISMO - A clam diggers paradise

45. Mississippi river to the Mississippi River: YAZOO - A fiendishly clever clue that refers to the YAZOO River IN Mississippi that empties INTO the Mississippi River just above Vicksburg

46. Green target: CUP - It's that 4" receptacle that we golfers stew about trying to get the ball to drop into

48. Besmirch: TAINT -  The TAINT of steroids made these home run records suspect. McGwire did 52. Cop to: OWN his usage but Sammy has 't yet

50. Single-channel: MONO - MONOaural and not stereo 

51. Stock trader's option: CALL - If you really want to know about Puts and CALLS

53. Put down: ABASED.

55. Real estate basics: AREAS - This 1395 sq. ft. house would fetch well less than half this price in my AREA

57. Title for Versace: SIGNOR - SIGNOR Versace is one of those single-named people for whom SIGNOR is usually omitted

59. Pressured, in a way: DUNNED - In this scene from Godfather II, a young Vito Corleone is being DUNNED for a cut of a robbery by Don Fanucci. Suffice it to say it did not work out well for SIGNOR Fanucci. 

61. Defies all logic: CAN NOT BE - Recently I posted John McEnroe screaming "You CAN NOT BE serious!"

65. Ran the show: EMCEED - I just got a very gracious note from a band director for a show I EMCEED a month ago.

66. Service companies: AGENCIES - My Sister-In-Law has spent years helping in a local AGENCY that helps abused women

67. Fly to flee: TSE TSE

68. Ashley's twin: MARY KATE - Here is a 24 second voice-over they did on The Simpsons

Down:

1. Family business partner: SON - e.g. Sanford and SON

2. Fangorn Forest dweller: ENT - ENTs are tree-like creatures that are found in the Fangorn Forest in JRR Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings. You can buy some sculptures of them online. 

3. Goethe's "I": ICH - ICH liebe dich is the only German phrase I know and I bet you know it too!

4. 1960s pioneer in countercultural strips: ZAP COMIX - They came around in the late '60's when I was diverting my comic book money to groceries for my family 

5. Atlanta university: EMORY - Founded in 1836 in Oxford, GA

6. "60 Minutes" creator Don: HEWITT  - Don and the boys

7. Angers: IRES.

8. Venus probe craft: MARINER - In 1962, MARINER 2  became to the first spacecraft to reach another planet and today orbits the Sun

9. Rock's Harper or Folds: BEN - On Saturday you get singers BEN Harper and BEN Folds not BEN Franklin and Uncle BEN

10. Forum greetings: AVES.

11. Just right: TO A TEE - My blogging fits my meager skills TO A TEE

12. Brahms piano pieces: INTERMEZZOS - Originally pieces written to fill in between acts of a play or movements of larger musical works. Brahms wrote his as stand alone creations. Yeah, I knew that! 😏

13. Had an in: KNEW SOMEONE - How to get work in some institutions 

14. Intuit: SENSE - Women can intuit/SENSE things better than men as far as I am concerned 

20. Attended casually: SAT IN ON - Woody Allen SAT IN ON (WITH) The Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band at the Cafe Carlyle in NY

22. Microscopic specimen: AMEBA.

23. Island spirits: JAMAICA RUMS - Hey! This is beer day!

24. Deceit: FRAUDULENCE - Wanna learn how to practice FRAUDULENCE? Google this video

26. Hamlet's first choice: TO BE - or not TO BE

30. Sharp winter tools: ICE SAWS - Those blocks the iceman brought had to originate from somewhere

33. Rim: LIP - A Rim out or a LIP out

35. Home near a cote, perhaps: STY - Here is a oil painting entitled A French Sheep COTE which could be near a pig STY

37. Hair net: SNOOD - A bi-level SNOOD

39. Former Yugoslav leader: TITO.

41. Final cut on the "Sounds of Silence" album: I AM A ROCK - An anthem for isolation and emotional detachment

44. A luge driver might wear one: MINICAM - 1:14 of insanity

47. Revolver?: PLANET - Yes, kids, Planets revolve as they rotate around the Sun 

49. 1977 Australian Open winner Roscoe: TANNER.

51. VMI student: CADET - VMI first admitted women in 1997

54. Like a pretty lass: BONNY.

56. Matches in Hold 'em: SEES - Same as calling a poker bet

58. Lady of song: GAGA  - In the latest iteration of this movie, Lady GAGA has received good reviews for her acting and great ones for her voice

60. '50s ticket initials: DDE.

62. __ Maria: TIA - Aunt Maria - A dark liquor whose main flavor ingredients are coffee beans, Jamaican rum, vanilla, and sugar, blended to an alcoholic content of 20%.

63. One might be made on the nose: BET - A BET for a horse to win a race

64. Canton ending: ESE - Find it below?

Now before you hoist up a stein, tankard, glass or can, how 'bout a comment:

DA GRID

Notes from C.C.:

Happy 71st birthday to Boomer, the sun of my life! This picture was taken on August 22, 2014 when Gary and his wife Joann visited Minneapolis.

Left to Right: Boomer, Gary, CC & Joann