Sunday March 24, 2013 Michael Blake & Myles Callum

Theme: "If Ever I Would Leave You" - I is removed from each theme entry.

23A. CliffsNotes bio of a civil rights leader? : CONDENSED MLK. Condensed milk.

36A. Junk-rated salad? : BBB LETTUCE. Bibb lettuce.

64A. Popular cosmetic surgery? : NOSE ABATEMENT. Noise abatement.

92A. Winnebago-driving elder? : OLD MAN RVER.  Old Man River.

111A. Prison? : CON COLLECTOR. Coin collector.

17D. Art teacher's tip for drawing a lion? : REMEMBER THE MANE. Remember the Maine.

42D. What the team's goat mascot did? : SWALLOWED THE BAT. Swallowed the bait.

Noticed there are no extra I's in the theme entry at all? Nice touch. Sometimes we see letters removed from the key words, but not completely from all theme answers.

Of course, there are still 21 I's in non-theme entries. Hard to completely avoid a common letter when there are 375 empty squares to fill.

This grid only has 138 words & 66 black squares. Fairly low compared with the 144 & 78 norm we get on Sundays.

Across:

1. Term attributed to architect Le Corbusier : ART DECO. New trivia to me. More familiar with our Xword stalwart Erté.

8. Black cloud : anger :: light bulb : __ : IDEA

12. Amazon checkout option : GIFT-WRAP

20. Everest climbers : SHERPAs

21. Brits' outerwear : MACs

22. "Who would refuse that?!" : I'D LOVE TO. 8D. "That's about it" : I'M DONE. 35. "My turn" : I'M NEXT. All nice entries.

25. Shoebox creations : DIORAMAS

26. Worshipped : ADORED

27. Five-star : A-ONE

28. "Awakenings" drug : L-DOPA

29. Biblical suffix : ETH

30. Curtail : PARE

31. It can be spun two ways : YARN

33. Author Potok : CHAIM. "My Name is Asher Lev".

35. Hungary's Nagy : IMRE. Learned from doing Xwords.

38. Stereotypical Monroe roles : BIMBOS. Poor Marilyn.

40. TV funded by "Viewers Like You" : PBS

43. Arctic explorer John : RAE

44. Gretzky, once : OILER. Edmonton Oilers.

45. TV reporter Peter : ARNETT. Been out of news for quite some time.

46. Oregon Coast Aquarium city : NEWPORT. Only know the one in RI.

48. "Sesame Street" crank : OSCAR

49. Garson of Hollywood : GREER

50. Some 6-Downs : CLARKS. And 6D. Snack stand array : CANDY BARS

51. NYU, for one : SCH

52. Edinburgh native : SCOT

54. Bonus, in adspeak : XTRA. Love the Xtra serum (left) I got yesterday. Smells divine. Eager to try the shampoo/conditioner after I'm done with this write-up.

57. Beat : PULSE

58. Monkeyshines : ANTICS

61. "Give Peace a Chance" co-songwriter : ONO

62. Crossword solver's ref. book : THES. OK, thesaurus.

63. Lip-reading alternative: Abbr. : ASL

68. Terrestrial newt : EFT

69. Frat jacket P's : RHOS

71. Title for Connery : SIR

72. Online persona : AVATAR. Turn blue! It's very simple.

73. One about to shoot : AIMER

75. Small flightless bird : KIWI

76. Sticks on : ADDS

78. Miguel's "more" : MAS. No mas!

79. Mena of "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" : SUVARI. Never saw the movie. But "Mena" is enough. She's Kevin Spacey's daughter in "American Beauty". (Correction: Spacey's daughter is played by Thora Birch.)

80. Story in la maison : ETAGE

82. Pros' foes : ANTIS

85. Approached dusk : LATENED. Spell check does not like this word.

86. Title for Dickens's Defarge : MADAME

88. Liquid fat : OLEIN

89. It may be tapped : ALE

90. Rare shoe width : EEE

91. Team with a star in its logo : ASTROS. American League now.

95. Slangy negatives : NAHS

96. Getting warm : CLOSE

97. "Uh, excuse me ..." : AHEM

98. Pet pad : CAGE

102. Pavarotti's trio : TRE

103. Not in any way : NO HOW

105. Kindle read : ZINE

107. Colonel Klink's clink : STALAG. Never saw "Hogan's Heroes". Wiki says Stalag is a contraction of Stammlager, "base camp". Stamm = Base, same as our Stem then. Lager = Camp.

109. Applied during a massage : RUBBED IN. Melissa knows her oils.

113. Causing worry : ALARMING

114. Film adventurer, informally : INDY. I only know the films are Indie films. (Argyle: Indiana Jones.)

115. Lose freshness : GO STALE. And 49D. Toast, with "a" : GONER. Minor dupe. GO/GONE. Tough to spot when constructing.

116. '70s fad items shipped in boxes with air holes : PET ROCKS

117. Most '90s Prizms : GEOS

118. Parched : ATHIRST. Kind of like AREEL, ALOP, yes?

Down:

1. Tin Pan Alley gp. : ASCAP

2. Tenant in Carlton the Doorman's building : RHODA. Stumper for me. But Valerie Harper is one brave woman.

3. Voice above baritone : TENOR

4. Snoop Dogg's discoverer : DR. DRE.  Learned this trivia from cluing DRE.

5. Sport with feinting : EPEE

7. William Donovan's WWII org. : OSS. Donovan created OSS and was considered the father of CIA.

9. Rhett's last word : DAMN

10. Varied : ECLECTIC

11. Use the reference desk : ASK

12. More flighty : GIDDIER

13. Down in the dumps, say : IDIOM. Nice clue.

14. Dud : FLOP

15. __ Bora: Afghan mountain area : TORA

16. Harpers Ferry's st. : WVA. Yellowrocks might have visited Harpers Ferry.  She really has an encyclopedic mind.

18. Semi-quickly : AT A TROT

19. Most swanky : POSHEST

24. Title for Devereux : EARL. Earl of Essex.

28. Moms, before knot-tying lessons : LACERS

32. Act as accomplice to : ABET

34. Symbolic dance : HULA

36. On the blink : BROKEN

37. Japanese TV pioneer : TOSHIBA. The TO part stands for Tokyo.

38. MacLane who played General Peterson on "I Dream of Jeannie" : BARTON. Never heard of him. Was it a gimme to you?

39. Spleen : IRE

40. Pirates' home : PNC PARK. Twins play at Target Field. Corporate names!

41. Jim of "According to Jim" : BELUSHI

47. Common string that omits Q : PRS.  Phone. 7.

48. Twice tetra- : OCTA

51. Bergen dummy : SNERD

53. Unconscious states : COMAS

55. Ring figure : REFEREE

56. In the saddle of, traditionally : ASTRIDE

58. Thespian's whisper : ASIDE

59. Ohio cager, briefly : CAV. Can't picture LeBron James returning there.

60. Triathlete's need : STAMINA

65. Siouan speakers : OSAGES

66. Updated midflight nos. : ETAs

67. More high-strung : TAUTER

70. Long-necked strings : SITARs

74. Bobby Rydell's "__ Got Bonnie" : I'VE

77. Sickly-looking : SALLOW

79. King novel with two apostrophes in the title : 'SALEM'S LOT. From Wiki: The story involves a writer named Ben Mears who returns to the town where he lived as a boy between the ages of 9 through 13 (Jerusalem's Lot, or 'Salem's Lot for short) in Maine to discover that the residents are all becoming vampires.

81. Latin lover's word : AMO.

83. Sparks and Beatty : NEDs

84. Mountain, e.g. : TIME ZONE. Art of cluing. "Mountain or Pacific" will give the answer away. 

85. Cleanse : LAVE

86. Seductress : MANTRAP. Hmmm, let me guess what Barry will say: I really wanted MAN EATER. I don't think I've ever seen a woman referred to as a MAN TRAP before.

87. Generally speaking : AS A RULE

88. Chinese teas : OOLONGs

93. Kwan and Kerrigan : NANCYS. "The World of Suzie Wong" is a popular seller at Hong Kong Airport.

94. Prefix with stat : RHEO

96. Armor problem : CHINK. Alright!

98. Sonoran flora : CACTI

99. A train may be headed for it : ALTAR. Great clue.

100. Plymouth pokies : GAOLs. The beauty salon I visited in Guangzhou is next to a police station. I heard beating and crying all the times and thought nothing of human rights or whatever. I just thought those bad guys deserved the punishment. No surprise I'm for waterboarding.

101. Wetlands wader : EGRET

103. 2013 Northeast superstorm : NEMO. The blizzard.

104. Like Pindar's poetry : ODIC

106. Chinese intro : INDO. Indochina. The real intro is "Ni hao" ("Hello!"). Ni = You. Hao = Good. Sounds very ungrammatical, doesn't it? "You're very beautiful" in Chinese is "Ni Hen Piao Liang", literally "You very beautiful".  Ungrammatical too. Ni = You. Hen = Very. Piao Liang = Beautiful. No "are" in this case.

108. "Intelligence for Your Life" radio host : TESH (John)

110. Cold comment : BRR

111. Short pack item : CIG

112. Flushing Bay airport letters : LGA

C.C.

Wednesday, April 13 2011, Michael Blake

Theme: Pay the Piper. each theme answer is a phrase beginning with a synonym for bill.

20A. Unable to reach a human, no matter which buttons one presses : IN VOICE MAIL JAIL.  anymore, that describes pretty much every call to any business. when i have to call my son's school it takes several minutes just to get to the part where i can push a button. if i need to actually talk to someone at the bank ... i need to take the afternoon off.

25A. Word processor setting : TAB ALIGNMENT. remember physically setting the sliding tabs on ibm typewriters?

42A. 1791 legislation : BILL OF RIGHTS. first ten amendments of the us constitution.

48A. Verify ahead of time, and a hint to what 20-, 25- and 42-Across have in common : CHECK BEFOREHAND. beforehand = in advance. i wonder why no one says afterhand? 

fun, just-right wednesday level puzzle, with two grid-spanning theme answers, and some fresh and fun clueing. we've seen michael blake twice before here at the corner. he had a perfect score at the 2008 silicon valley puzzle day.  i found this article, and this image.

melissa blogging.

Across:

1. Explorer Vasco da __ : GAMA. Had no clue (yuk yuk). Portuguese navigator who led an expedition at the end of the 15th century that opened the sea route to India by way of the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa.

5. Political channel : C-SPAN

10. Blabbers : GABS. too short to be a plural noun, had to be a verb.

14. Actor Sharif : OMAR. holds a degree in mathematics and physics from cairo university. best known for playing sherif ali in lawrence of arabia (1962) and the title role in doctor zhivago. 

15. Broom rider of comics : HILDA. coincidentally, blake used this same clue/answer in one of his two previous puzzles blogged here (by c.c.). in the comic, broom hilda is atilla the hun's ex-wife.  kazie commented before: an obvious play on the name Brunhilde from the legend on which Wagner based his "Der Ring des Nibelungen" opera, and provided this link.

16. Brother of Daniel, William and Stephen : ALEC

17. Titanic bane : BERG. images of the actual iceberg that sunk the titanic. roughly only 8%-11% of an iceberg is visible above the surface of the ocean - thus the phrase 'tip of the iceberg.'

18. Alaskan native : INUIT

19. "Battle for __": Peter Yates WWII book : ST. LO

23. Highest ordinal number? : NTH

24. Changed course : VEERED

31. Ryder rival : U-HAUL.  i just drove a 14-foot one in february. 350 miles. in the snow. little scary.

32. Screech owls don't make them : HOOTS. cute.

33. 'Hood pal : BRO

36. It may be put in a washer : BOLT

37. Bingo relative : LOTTO

38. Pet plaint : MEOW

39. Observe : EYE

40. First of 12 popes : PIUS I. don't know my popes.

41. Bed that can be stored during the day : FUTON. 

44. Prison in 1971 headlines : ATTICA. new york. riot based in part upon prisoners' demands for better living conditions.

47. Some pop-ups : ADS. some are not ad-related ...

55. Skye of film : IONE

56. Mythical weeper : NIOBE. queen of thebes, one of the more tragic figures of greek mythology. after her husband and 14 children were slain she turned to stone, and a stream (the Achelous) formed from her ceaseless tears. She became the symbol of eternal mourning.

57. Baking soda target : ODOR

58. Let go : DROP

59. Swashbuckling Flynn : ERROL

60. Mosaic piece : TILE

61. Without : SANS

62. Type in again : RE-KEY

63. White man's makeup? : SNOW. snowman.

Down:

1. Mongolian desert : GOBI

2. Congregational yes : AMEN

3. Wonderful, in slang : MARV. marvelous.

4. Mythical sailor : ARGONAUT

5. Affectedly elegant : CHI-CHI. hm. i'm guessing this is pronounced "shee-shee," perhaps based on chic. i work at a chi-chi-foo-foo spa. pronounced a different way, it means something entirely different.

6. Trig function : SINE

7. Fellow suspect of Mustard : PLUM. from the board game clue.

8. 1998 Sarah McLachlan hit : ADIA

9. Hailing from : NATIVE TO

10. Stove nozzle : GAS JET

11. Hitching post? : ALTAR. great clue.

12. Prove false : BELIE

13. Bawl out : SCOLD

21. "__ have to do" : IT'LL. what'll i do?

22. Camera eye : LENS

25. Poster mailer : TUBE

26. Greeting from a deck : AHOY

27. Hayride seat : BALE. who's been on a hayride?

28. Grave robber : GHOUL

29. False : NOT SO

30. Theme : MOTIF

33. Sister of Meg, Jo and Amy : BETH. little women.

34. Carrot or cassava : ROOT

35. Has title to : OWNS

37. Tiny Yokum's big brother : LI'L ABNER

38. Pictures of perps : MUG SHOTS. 

40. Elect : PICK

41. Bona __ : FIDE. latin. "in good faith."

42. Curl beneficiary : BICEPS. cute.

43. Hardly ever : RARELY

44. Etching supplies : ACIDS

45. Birch of "American Beauty" : THORA

46. Mortise's mate : TENON

49. Galway's land : EIRE. in my high-tech days we had a site in galway - always liked working with them just to hear the accent.

50. Driver's decision point : FORK. pssst - take the one less traveled by.

51. Bassoon kin : OBOE

52. Server's edge, in tennis : AD IN

53. Court plea, for short : NOLO. nolo contendere. lemonade and/or hahtool can expain better than i.

54. Depicted : DREW

Answer grid. 

melissa

Friday November 20, 2009 Michael Blake

Theme: ADDLE (65A. Confuse - or what to do to four common phrases to form this puzzle's theme answers) - Letters LE are added to the starts of four common phrases, hence ADD LE.

17A. Maximum tolerance for a stand-up comic's jokes?: (LE)NO LIMIT. Jay Leno.

26A. "All Trotsky, all the time" channel?: (LE)ON TELEVISION. Leon Trotsky.

47A. When dogs can't run loose?: (LE)ASH WEDNESDAY

63A. Nuts about Danish toys?: (LE)GO CRAZY. Did not know Lego is based in Denmark.

This puzzle reminds me of Merle Baker's "slangy turndown" IXNAY puzzle, where IX is nixed from familiar phrase. Or Gareth Bain's NIXON one, where letters ON are nixed in every theme answer.

Very clever interpretation of ADDLE, isn't it? It makes adding/deleting a letter puzzle so much fun.

I actually got ADDLE earlier on, but I could not parse it properly to gain any advantage in filling in the themes. Patchy Bozone Layer (The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating) on several spots. Had to peek at the cheat sheet.

Across:

1. Symbol of gentleness: LAMB. Jesus is the lamb of God.

5. Torahs' homes: ARKS

14. Fridge problem: ODOR. Fresh pineapple pieces always make our fridge smell good.

15. R-rating reason, perhaps: GORE

16. Longship sailors: NORSE. A longship is a medieval ship used in northern Europe esp. by the Norse. Unknown to me.

19. AT&T Park player: GIANT. San Francisco Giants.

20. Start of a memorable 1961 admonition: ASK NOT. JFK line: "Ask not what your country can do for you..."

21. Force: STRENGTH. A bunch of consonants.

23. Gripe: CRAB

25. Slippery swimmer: EEL. Embien just mentioned unagi (freshwater eel) and anago (saltwater eel) yesterday. I like former. Also love NORI (44A. Edible seaweed used for sushi).

36. It's often left in the copier: Abbr.: ORIG (original)

38. Wolf (down): SNARF. Wrote down SCARF first. Dictionary says SNARF is a blend of snack and scarf.

41. Mountain ride: BIKE. I've never rode a bike along a mountain.

42. Marine threats: ORCAS

46. Clear: NET. Tricky clue for me.

51. Estuary: RIA. Are they really the same?

52. Senior golfer Aoki: ISAO. Crazy vowel combination. Senior golf indeed. I've never seen him play in Senior PGA (Champions Tour) in person.

53. Lover's sweet talk?: NOTHINGS. Sweet nothings. Lovely clue.

58. Precipitated: CAUSED. Wanted RAINED.

62. Cuban boy in 2000 news: ELIAN (González)

66. Plus-size supermodel: EMME. Somehow I thought it's EMMA. Just learned that her original given name is Melissa too. She's about perfect size, no?

67. To be, in Brest: ETRE. Alliteration again. Nothing to beat last time's "Brest milk" clue for LAIT. Awesome. Brest is a seaport in France.

68. Hull damagers: REEFS

69. Signs of nervousness: TICS

70. Interpret, as tea leaves: READ. Would be a difficult clue without the additional "as tea leaves".

Down:

1. 1970 hit by the Kinks: LOLA. Not familiar with the song.

3. Religious ascetic: MONK. And REV (22D. Relig. title).

4. You can count on a lot of bucks from one: BRONCO. Bronco habitually bucks. Clever clue.

5. Stirs up trouble: AGITATES

6. CD follower?: ROM. CD-ROM.

8. Den piece: SETTEE. Again, "piece" brought to mind furniture immediately.

9. Saintly: ANGELIC

10. Knock off: DO IN. Both slang for "to kill".

11. Big bore: DRAG. DRIP too.

13. Clockmaker Thomas: SETH. Finally I remembered his name.

18. Doone in Exmoor: LORNA. "Lorna Doone" is set at the wilds of Exmoor, new trivia to me. A 1869 novel by Richard Blackmore.

24. Capital northwest of Rome: BERN. The clue would be valid for EURO too, right? EURO is definitely used in northwest of Rome.

26. He played Ugarte in "Casablanca": LORRE (Peter)

27. "All My Children" vixen: ERICA. Played by Susan Lucci.

29. Sad sound: SOB

30. Skater Slutskaya: IRINA. Always wanted IRENA.

31. Best way to sing: ON KEY. Oh, I am often off-key then.

32. Veto from Lenin: NYET. Russian for "no". Opposite of "Da".

33. Mislead: FOOL

37. Great time, slangily: GAS

40. Sistine Chapel features: FRESCOES. Thought the plural is just frescos.

43. Sacred sites: SHRINES

48. Come out on top: WIN

49. Aerie newborn: EAGLET. Does an owlet live in aerie too?

50. More morose: DOURER. Anyone else wanted SADDER?

53. Adjacent: NEAR

54. Quaint retail adjective: OLDE

55. Sand castle's undoing: TIDE

56. Even share, perhaps: HALF. Was thinking of stock even/odd shares.

57. Huge hauler: SEMI

60. Biblical reformer: EZRA. What did he try to reform? Ezra is a Hebrew name meaning "help".

61. Like blue hair: DYED

64. Tracker maker: GMC. One-time GMC sport ute.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Wednesday September 16, 2009 Michael Blake

Theme: Dog-tired-all theme answers are clued as "Really exhausted".

20A: ON ONE'S LAST LEG

28A: READY TO DROP

36A: ENERVATED

47A: TUCKERED OUT

56A: WORN TO A FRAZZLE

Normally I have trouble with same word(s) used as clues for theme answers style puzzle. Not today.

Maybe because all the theme entries are familiar to me. Just learned ENERVATE a few months ago. I used to confuse ENERVATE with the exact opposite INNERVATE (invigorate/energize) until I read Kazie's prefix "é" = out/away explanation.

Can you guess how old the constructor Michael Blake is? His clues are quite expressive: "Really exhausted", "Love to pieces", "Really cold", etc.

Across:

1A: Colored part of the eye: IRIS. Greek for "rainbow".

14A: John Wesley's relig.: METH. Wesley founded Methodist Movement.

15A: Love to pieces: ADORE. Nice crossing with IDOL (6D: Object of worship).

17A: Arizona city: MESA. And the "Arizona county/river" is GILA (HEE-luh).

18A: Fenway Park team, briefly: BOSOX. They won the first ever World Series (1903, against Pirates), which takes place in OCTOBER (42D: Halloween month).

24A: Honey maker: BEE. Ah, our blog BEE's , sweet!

27A: 11-point blackjack card, at times: ACE

33A: Copier paper size: LTR. 8.5" x 11".

34A: Creole vegetable: OKRA. Fried OKRA sounds delicious.

35A: Mil. school at Annapolis: USNA. Senator John McCain's alma mater.

40A: Bassoon cousin: OBOE. Derived from French hautboy/hautbois (HOH-boi). Bois = wood. Haut = high, as in "haute couture" or "haute cuisine".

54A: Concrete -reinforcing rod: REBAR. Re = Reinforcing. New to me.

61A: Ali who stole from thieves: BABA. We got "Open Sesame" from "Ali BABA and the Forty Thieves".

62A: Broom rider of the comics: HILDA. No idea. Have never heard of Broom-HILDA the green-skinned witch. According to Wikipeida, she is Attila the Hun's ex-wife and she is perpetually looking for a new husband. Good luck then.

63A: With 66-Across, roadside stop: REST. Placed directly above AREA (66A: See 63-Across).

67A: Sitcom radio station: WKRP. "WKRP in Cincinnati".

68D: Gunslinger's "Hands up!": REACH

Down:

1D: Unethical: IMMORAL. Like Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling of ENRON (21D: Bankrupt energy company).

2D: Bring to life again, as a Civil War battle: REENACT

3D: Romance-ending words: IT'S OVER. Sad, "that's all she wrote".

4D: 1953 Alan Ladd Western: SHANE

8D: Singing Bing: CROSBY. Great golfer as well. Founder of the current Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

9D: Moderate-sized chamber group: SEXTET. Group of six. Sex is Latin for "six". Don't know what is Latin for "sex".

10D: Board game with suspect: CLUE

11D: Closet assortment: HANGERS. Same pronunciation as airport HANGERS.

12D: Jennifer of "Friends": ANISTON. She plays Rachel. Maybe Jennifer ANISTON should date a baseball/football player instead of actors/singers.

13D: House cat: PET. And EEK (36D: Response to a mouse).

31D: Camp for presidents: DAVID. Named after Ike's grandson DAVID.

42D: Faulty firecracker: DUD. Alliteration.

37D: Latin 101 verb: AMO. AMOS (I love), amas (you love), amat (he/she/it loves).

38D: Sigma follower: TAU. The Greek T.

39D: Additional: EXTRA. Two X's, and two Z's in this grid.

40D: Horse player's hangout, for short: OTB (Offtrack Betting).

41D: Defensive wall: BULWARK. Rampart is seven letter too.

44D: Really cold, temperaturewise: SUB-ZERO. Lived in sub-tropical Guangzhou before I moved to Minnesota in 2001. Our coldest days are in January, average low is 50F.

45D: Shrunken Asian lake: ARAL SEA. Nice to see its full name for a change.

46D: Furtive listening device: WIRETAP. The coolest guy I've worked with is an ex-Marine. He is a debugging expert.

48D: Extensive period: EON

49D: Preferably: RATHER

50D: Star, in France: ETOILE. Our state motto is "L'ETOILE du Nord" (the Star of North). What's yours?

55D: Poet Pound and others: EZRAS. Cornell founder is EZRA Cornell.

58D: Edison's middle name: ALVA. Learned from doing Xword.

59D Banking regulatory agcy.: FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). Ben Bernanke just said that the recession is probably over. He predicted earlier this year that the recession would probably last until Oct.

60D: Diaper problem: RASH. Have never changed a diaper in my life.

Answer grid.

C.C.

PS: Please email me crosswordc@gmail.com if you have any family photos to share.