google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Myles Callum

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Showing posts with label Myles Callum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Myles Callum. Show all posts

Mar 24, 2013

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.