Monday, March 27, 2017 Morton J. Mendelson

Theme: Borrowed Words - Lexical borrowing is the adoption of individual words or phrases in their native language and used "as is" in our English.

39A. With 42-Across, cars like BMWs and Audis ... or 18-, 24-, 53- and 63-Across: FOREIGN. 42-Across: IMPORTS

18A. Writer's chief work (Latin): MAGNUM OPUS. (great work)

24A. Done deal (French): FAIT ACCOMPLI. (fact accomplished)

53A. English, in many non-English speaking countries (Italian): LINGUA FRANCA. Literally "Frankish tongue". Good definition by Merriam-Webster. LINK Read the "Did You Know?" section.

63A. Young sensation (German): WUNDERKIND. (a wonder child)

Argyle here. Don't shoot the messenger.

Across:

1. Ponzi scheme, e.g.: SCAM

5. Impersonated: APED

9. Your __ Highness: ROYAL. 37D. Princess' headpiece: TIARA

14. Drilled bowling ball feature: HOLE

15. Artist Magritte: RENE

16. Shah of Iran, in 1979-'80: EXILE. ??

17. Bahrain big shot: EMIR. Kingdom of Bahrain is a small Arab monarchy.

20. Sphere of influence: AMBIT. The adjective form is ambient.

22. Drinking glass edges: RIMs

23. Ambulance initials: EMS. (emergency medical service)

28. Farm country skyline highlights: SILOS

29. Nissan model: SENTRA

33. "Take me for a walk!": [ARF!]

36. Expel from office: OUST

38. Amazon's business: E-TAIL

44. Rhett's last words: A DAMN

45. Siamese, now: THAI

47. __ dye: food-coloring compound: AZO. Infrequently seen fill.

48. Live (in): RESIDE

50. Lover of Euridice, in a Gluck opera: ORFEO. Wiki  Previously clued as Monteverdi title character. Not Monday friendly.

58. Word with health or day: SPA

61. Oboist's need: REED

62. Lagoon-enclosing isle: ATOLL

67. Sinister: EVIL

68. Cortés subject: AZTEC. I believe this refers to Cortés personally governing the Aztecs, making them his "subjects".

69. Wrinkle, as a brow: KNIT

70. San __, Italy: REMO

71. Suppose for argument's sake: POSIT

72. Many van Goghs: OILS

73. Killed, as a dragon: SLEW

Down:

1. Harvest bundle: SHEAF

2. Grammar class subject: COMMA. Also, in the news.

3. Legal defense mechanism?: ALIBI

4. Advantages: MERITS

5. Shortstop's asset: ARM. He has to rifle the ball to first base to beat the runner.

6. Green soup veggie: PEA

7. Thoroughly absorb: ENGROSS

8. Jeans fabric: DENIM

9. Dreaming phase: REM SLEEP. (rapid eye movement)

10. Kitchenware brand: OXO

11. Frightened exclamation: [YIPE!]

12. University fund-raising target: ALUM

13. A smaller amount of: LESS

19. Quartet assigned to bases: UMPs. In the big leagues, at least.

21. Mai __: TAI

25. Plumber's challenge: CLOG

26. Dracula's title: COUNT

27. Avid about: INTO

30. Skater Lipinski: TARA. Roller skating as a nine-year-old.

31. Nabisco cracker: RITZ

32. "Wait, there's more ... ": "ALSO ... " for a limited time.

33. Miles away: AFAR

34. Traveled by bike: RODE

35. Abbey titles: FRAs

40. Oscar winner Jannings: EMIL. The first Oscar recipient and one of the first persons you learn when doing crosswords.

41. Roundabout, as a route: INDIRECT

43. Offend slightly: MIFF

46. Entertainer who often got tied up in his work?: HOUDINI. Cute clue.

49. Part of DOE: Abbr.: ENERgy

51. Historic period: ERA

52. Many top-rated TV shows of the late '50s/early '60s: OATERS. Westerns.

54. Gordon __, "Wall Street" antagonist: GEKKO. "If you need a friend, get a dog."

55. James Joyce work: NOVEL. CSO

56. Weather, in poems: CLIME

57. Permit: ALLOW

58. Tit for tat, e.g.: SWAP

59. "The Godfather" novelist Mario: PUZO. It was on TV this weekend.

60. Teeny colonizers: ANTs

64. Agnus __: DEI. (Lamb of God)

65. Zip, in soccer: NIL

66. Wino's woe: DTs. (delirium tremens)

Argyle

Thursday, January 5th 2017 Morton J. Mendelson

Theme: Emoticon Explications :)

Four theme phrases clued by their emoticons:

17A. >:-(  I'M REALLY FURIOUS

25A. :-(  WHAT A DOWNER

47A. ;-)  JUST KIDDING

60A. :-O  THAT'S SURPRISING!

Four emoticons - these ones are described as "sideways, Latin only". These were the first, simple ways of denoting a facial expression in textual form and used in early chat rooms. They've now developed into a quite complex sub-language, and also sparked the development of the graphical emojis that you find on your mobile phone.

One of my favorites is the portrait of Homer Simpson  ~(_8^(I)

This puzzle looks to be the LA Times debut for Morton, so congratulations are in order. He's been published in the New York Times prior, but I can't see any history in the LAT. Four nice in-the-language phrases matching the facial expressions.

Let's see what else we've got:

Across:

1. Gucci of fashion : ALDO

5. Manual reader : USER

9. Certain highlands musician : PIPER. The Great Highland bagpipes, the ones you're probably most familiar with, are inflated by blowing down the chanter. Irish pipes use a bellows instead, so all those pipers you see on St. Patrick's Day are using the wrong instrument. Also, this tune, which you also hear a lot on March 17th is called "Scotland the Brave". Never ceases to amuse me.

14. Celebrity : LION. This is our local celebrity lion - the mountain lion which hunts in Griffith Park.

Photograph by Steve Winter/National Geographic

15. Salon service : PEDI

16. Eco-friendly spa brand : AVEDA.  Salon brand also - they make hair products as well.

20. Gazpacho ingredient : TOMATO' Food! Basic recipe, I give mine a bit of zing with a dash of balsamic and Worcestershire sauce (repeat after me - wuster sauce, not war-sester-shyre!)

21. Grammatical unit : SENTENCE

22. Make up for skipping classes, perhaps : CRAM. I did my fair share of this back in the day.

24. Scholar's deg. : PHD. 

30. Carpooling calc. : ETA. I think this refers to the time you're going to get picked up when you're part of a carpool. Makes a change from the airport clues though.

33. Frigid end? : AIRE

34. Straight man : STOOGE. Were the Three Stooges all straight men? Patricia Heaton from "Everybody Loves Raymond" was one of the best.

35. Bust : NAB

36. Vegetation : FLORA

38. Tarzan creator's monogram : ERB. Edgar Rice Burroughs. He owned a ranch a few miles from me in the San Fernando Valley, which is now the neighborhood named "Tarzana".

39. Virus named for a Congolese river : EBOLA

41. Trains above the road : ELS. Giving Ernie a rest today.

42. Allows to attack : LETS AT

45. "Smack That" rapper : AKON. Thank you, crosses.

46. Manhattan part : RYE. Bartenders tell me that the only cherries that you should use are the ones made by Luxardo. Cheers!

49. Pro : FOR

50. Cabinet dept. with an Office of Science : ENER. A guess, but seemed reasonable.

51. Dined at a table for one : SAT ALONE

56. Near-failing grade : D-MINUS

62. Reached, as expenses : RAN TO

63. Veiny cheese : BLEU. Food! Here's English Stilton, "The King of Cheeses".

64. Work with needles : KNIT

65. Med. specialty : OB-GYN

66. Couture line : SEAM. Nice clue/answer combo.

67. Gels : SETS

Down:

1. Came to rest : ALIT

2. Long drive? : LIMO. Took a couple of beats to see this one.

3. Brown digs? : DORM. Brown University.

4. Many an Albee play : ONE-ACTER. I tried ONE-ACTED first which had me looking sideways at "FLODA"

5. Puts on the internet, e.g. : UPLOADS. Like I'll do with this blog in a few minutes.

6. Poivre companion : SEL. I was given a set of electric pepper and salt grinders this Christmas, appropriately made by Peugeot, a French car company. What a car manufacturer is doing making kitchen equipment I have no idea.

7. Slow Churned ice cream : EDYS. Dreyer's out here in the West. Same stuff.

8. Swarming (with) : RIFE

9. Where many aces can be seen : PAR THREE. Most holes-in-one on the golf course come on the shorter par-3 holes. I've never made one, but I gave a club to a friend of mine, and he hit a hole-in-one with it the very next time out on the course. I claim an assist.

10. Like some academic walls : IVIED. Some baseball grounds too, Wrigley most famously.

11. Menial worker : PEON

12. Part of NEA: Abbr. : EDUC.

13. Demolish, in Devon : RASE. "Fawlty Towers" was based on a hotel in Torquay in Devon, which is a long way round of saying that John Cleese would be called John Cleeze here.

18. Gillette brand : ATRA

19. Remove wooden pins from : UNPEG

23. Sacred songs : MOTETS. Learning moment. I knew the word, I didn't know that they were sacred.

25. Mass consumption? : WAFER. Nice. Communion wafer.

26. Like links-style golf courses : HILLY. "Hilly" isn't the first adjective I'd choose to describe a links course. The Old Course at St. Andrews, the most famous of them all, is as flat as a pancake.

27. Sprang up : AROSE

28. Razzie Award adjective : WORST

29. Easy to prepare, as desserts : NO-BAKE

30. Mushroom in Asian cuisine : ENOKI. Food! I'm getting full here. Also known as enokitake, Great in noodle bowls.

31. Raptor's weapon : TALON

32. Go out with __ : A BANG

37. "The Jazz Singer" singer : AL JOLSON

40. Applicants with low credit scores, to loan officers : BAD RISKS

43. Dutch banknotes : EUROS

44. Günter Grass novel, with "The" : TIN DRUM

48. __-plié: ballet movement with knees half-bent : DEMI. Not known, but the "half-bent" makes this easy to guess.

49. Like marbled steak : FATTY. Food! I cooked a prime rib roast on New Year's Day. I dreamt about it last night. I wonder about myself sometimes.

* For extra credit, what's unique about the word "dreamt" in the language?

51. Houston pro, locally : 'STRO. Baseball's Astros. We had the long version of the name yesterday.

52. Captain who says, "For hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee" : AHAB. From "Moby Dick."This monomaniac was in our "Captains" puzzle a couple of Thursdays back.

53. Sharp flavor : TANG

54. Well-used crayons : NUBS

55. Creator of Perry and Della : ERLE. Crosses for me. Perry Mason, Della Street, Erle Stanley Gardner.

57. Diamond complement : NINE. I had to stare this one down before the penny dropped. Nice players on a baseball team.

58. Minute, e.g. : UNIT

59. Some NCOs : SGTS

61. __ shooter : PEA

That wraps it up for me. Time for dinner!

Steve