Tuesday, August 29, 2017 ~ Lonnie Burton & Nadine Anderton

Theme: Word Jumble - In the circles, various formations of the word, SPARE.

17A. Microsoft Excel tool: SPREADSHEET

24A. Like lutes and mandolins: PEAR-SHAPED

36A. Gentle hose setting: FINE SPRAY

49A. Stain remover for wrinkle-resistant fabric: PERMA-PRESS  

58A. Pocket coins, or what can literally be seen in each set of puzzle circles: SPARE CHANGE

Argyle here. So one jumble forms a word, (pears), and one is a prefix, (après-); three span two words while one is wholly contained in one word. It has some strong columns in the corners; all-in-all, a satisfactory third LAT puzzle from this duo.

Across:

1. Ruin: SPOIL

6. Pesto herb: BASIL

11. NYC financial newspaper: WSJ. (Wall Street Journal)

14. Dodgers and Giants: TEAMS. Both former NYC teams.

15. Spanish girl: CHICA

16. Boo follower: HOO

19. It's found in lodes: ORE

20. Disc in the dishwasher: PLATE

21. Parish residence: RECTORY

23. Mount sacred to Judaism: ZION. Mount Zion is a hill in Jerusalem just outside the walls of the Old City.

                                      rare snow

27. Splinter groups: SECTS

29. Beer drinker's option, briefly: IPA. (India pale ale)

30. River from Lake Victoria: NILE

31. First animal rescue vessel?: ARK

32. Ex-Yankee Martinez: TINO. Both a third baseman and first baseman, Wiki.

34. John of Monty Python: CLEESE

38. Shoot for, with "to": ASPIRE

41. New Mexico art hub: TAOS

42. Chicken __: itchy malady: POX

45. Paper mishap: TEAR

46. Building wing: ELL

47. Yankee manager Joe with four World Series wins: TORRE. He serves as Major League Baseball's chief baseball officer since 2011.

53. Close by: NEAR

54. Gets away: ESCAPES

55. When many take coffee breaks: AT TEN

57. "__ you listening?": ARE

62. Animation frame: CEL

63. Prohibit, legally: ESTOP

64. Fencing swords: EPEEs

65. Masthead VIPs: EDs. (Editors)

66. Small and large: SIZES

67. Actress Streep: MERYL

Down:

1. 42nd and Wall: Abbr.: STs. NYC, 42nd is mid-town and Wall Street is down at the tip.

2. More lively: PEPPIER

3. Dinghy attachment: OARLOCK

4. "That is to say ... ": "I MEANT ... "

5. J.D.-to-be's exam: LSAT. (Law School Admission Test)

6. Former NCAA football ranking sys.: BCS. Bowl Championship Series, a system that selected matchups for major college football bowl games between 1998 and 2013.

7. Spa sigh: [AHH!]

8. Mountain chain: SIERRA

9. Fruity frozen drinks: ICEEs

10. Fastening device: LATCH

11. __ pie: cream-filled chocolate cake: WHOOPIE. My sugar spiked just looking at them.

12. Reddish-brown horses: SORRELS

13. "Peppermint Twist" lead singer: JOEY DEE and the Starliters.

18. ATM transaction: Abbr.: DEP. (deposit)

22. Dred Scott decision Chief Justice: TANEY. Bio.

23. When doubled, a Gabor: ZSA

25. German article: EINE

26. Biblical disciple: APOSTLE

28. Verb in a recipe: STIR

33. Suffix with chlor-: INE

34. Zagreb's country, to the IOC: CRO. (International Olympic Committee/Croatia)

35. Bringing up the rear: LAST

36. Terra __: solid land: FIRMA

37. Friends: PALS

38. Content (with): AT PEACE

39. Becomes incensed: SEES RED. I guess peace didn't last.

40. FedEx deliveries: PARCELS

42. Feather-fixing bird, e.g.: PREENER

43. Like a bad fake tan: ORANGEY

44. Gen-__: millennial preceder: Xer

46. Fake: ERSATZ. Thank you whoever used it in the comments the other day.

48. Already recorded: ON TAPE

50. Church recesses: APSEs

51. Cola choice: PEPSI

52. Anatomical pouch: SAC

56. Those folks: THEM

59. Fish eggs: ROE

60. Mini-albums, for short: EPs. (extended play)

61. Subj. for immigrants: ESL. (English as a Second Language)

Argyle

Notes from C.C.:

1) Let's continue keeping our Texas regulars in our thoughts and prayers. D-Otto has not replied my email either. Hope he just lost his internet. Thanks for the updates, Anon-T, Peg and TX Ms.

2) Here are two pictures from JD.

This one was taken on Sunday night when her grandson Truman celebrated his 10th birthday. How time flies! JD joined our blog shortly after Truman was born.

 

JD and her husband Bob

The picture is from her recent vacation with Dick (an old blog regular) and his wife Irene in Switzerland. They take vacations together every year. JD said "We couldn’t go up in the gondola (today’s CW entry) to the Matterhorn because of high winds, so we took a tram up to the 2nd highest peak: Gornergrat... it was very windy with snow, dust and gravel blowing."

Wednesday, November 23, 2016 Lonnie Burton & Nadine Anderton

Theme:: CLAMS UP  (24. Figuratively, stops talking ... or, literally, what are hidden in this puzzle's four longest answers)  - CLAM goes up in these four entries.

3D. Bell-shaped graphic : NORMAL CURVE. I did not know there's a term for this shape.

8D. Treat in a box with a circus wagon design : ANIMAL CRACKER. Like this? I never had Animal Crackers.

17D. District attorney's filing : FORMAL CHARGES

 

26D. Dissatisfied sorts : MALCONTENTS. You can be sure that constructors tried but could not find one more entry where MALC span across two words like the other three.

C.C. here. 

The blog record shows that this is the second puzzle we got from Lonnie Burton & Nadine Anderton. Their last puzzle had an anagram gimmick.

For this type of Up/Down theme, all the theme entries are placed in Down slots for visual effect. Construction-wise, it's no easier or harder than our normal puzzle. Same.

Across:

1. Temporary shelter : TENT

5. Boeing product : JET

8. Blue hue : AZURE. Rather a scrabbly top edge.

13. Decor finish? : ATOR. Drecorator.

14. Mediocre : SO SO. I noticed this morning that Blogger changed the link color in the Comments section. I much prefer the previous solid blue. You can't see, but our internal Draft title color and label color are changed also. The label is now gray. Hard to read. Sigh! Read the last comment for our Bad Request glitch. I reported the issue on Nov 2. Hard to believe it takes Google engineers so long to solve a problem, but the bland/double post glitch we face when we write the blog have been going on for months. The font size bug remains unsolved. So be tolerant when you see a typo in our write-ups, as every post is produced with efforts.

15. Stuffy-sounding : NASAL

16. Comparatively frugal : THRIFTIER

18. Apple products : IPODs. Trimmed down my Podcasts to 15.

19. Prepares to sail, maybe : UNMOORS. Spell check does not like this word.

20. Common fall hiree : TEMP

22. Extinct emu-like bird : MOA

23. Campus military org. : ROTC. Not such org in our campus. We did have Youth League. Its members were groomed to be Communist Party members.

25. Member of the flock : LAYMAN

29. Word with light or shade : LAMP

31. Idle : LOLL

33. Tavern offering : ALE

34. For example : SUCH AS

36. Baldwin of "Beetlejuice" : ALEC. I really liked the SNL debates.

37. Go beyond fudging : LIE

38. Same old same old : USUAL

39. Tussaud's title: Abbr. : MME. Never been to a Madame Tussauds. You?

40. Tried to outrun : RACED

42. Poetic contraction : E'ER

43. NFL sportscaster Collinsworth : CRIS. The guy on left. "Do you believe in miracles?"

45. Sticks for drum majors : BATONs

46. Mo. or Miss. : RIV. I had RI?, just could not believe the answer.

47. Rwanda native : HUTU

48. Desktop graphic : ICON

49. "Word Freak" author Fatsis : STEFAN. Forgot. We had him before.

51. President between Tyler and Taylor : POLK

53. To boot : TOO

56. More than annoys : IRES. Wish it were IRKS. 

58. Name of 14 popes : CLEMENT

60. Mimicry : APING. I tried APERY first.

63. Sign, as a contract : ENTER INTO

65. Actress Zellweger : RENEE

66. Looked at : EYED

67. Store in a hold : STOW

68. Finishing nails : BRADS

69. Poll fig. : PCT (Percent)

70. "Around the Horn" channel : ESPN. We just had AROUND THE HORN last Saturday.

 

 Down:

1. Jazz pianist Art : TATUM

2. Prefix with musicology : ETHNO. Wiki says "Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it". A mouthful.

 

4. Charlie's Angels, e.g. : TRIO. And 52. 4-Down plus five : OCTET

5. Support beam : JOIST

6. L.A.-to-Tucson dir. : ESE

7. Legal wrong : TORT. Also 34. Plaintiffs : SUERS

9. Speedy : ZAPPY. I've only used ZIPPY. Not ZAPPY. 

10. "Force Behind the Forces" tour gp. : USO

11. "Totally cool, dude!" : RAD

12. Raised railroads : ELs

14. Barbershop bands? : STROPS. Nice clue.

21. Couture magazine : ELLE. Elle China used to be my guilty read.

27. Not of this world : ALIEN

28. Prerequisites : NEEDS

30. "Caught you!" : AHA

32. Spanish cheer : OLE

35. Start of a fitness motto : USE IT. We also have A TO (41. Words on Volume One, maybe)  & IN A (62. __ nutshell). Normally partials are limited to 2 for a 15*15.

39. Cambridge univ. : MIT

44. Mystic character : RUNE

45. Handed the check, say : BILLED

50. Cited, in a way : FINED

54. In first place : ON TOP

55. "All or Nothing" boy band : O-TOWN. Unfamiliar to me.

57. Leak slowly : SEEP

59. __-en-scène: stage setting : MISE

60. Wall St. trader : ARB (Arbitrager)

61. Pricing word : PER

64. Home of LGA and JFK : NYC

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones. Thanks for hanging out here every day. I enjoy your daily puzzle comments, musings, limericks, quotes, silly picture links, recipes,  advice & banters.

I want to say "Thank you" to Rich, Patti, their test solvers, fact checker, all LAT constructors. Thank you for another year of entertainment and education.

Also big "Thank you" to my blogging team: dear Santa Argyle, Melissa, Gary, Ron, Steve, Lemonade & Splynter. Week after week, year after year, their commitment and dedication remain unchanged.  They blog when they're traveling. They blog when they're under the weather. They blog when the blog is glitchy. They give each puzzle its deserved attention and analysis. Total pros!

D-Otto does not blog regularly, but he's always there for me and this blog. Always gives me quick and reliable feedback. TTP is another behind the scenes hero, who saved us out of the Google Hell a few years ago and continues to help me with every Blogger glitch.

My thanks also goes to Agnes (Irish Miss) and all my puzzle collaborators, thanks for the trust and opportunities!

I'm so grateful that you're in my life.
 

Tuesday, September 27, 2016 Lonnie Burton and Nadine Anderton

Theme: Jumbles - Take a word, change up the letter order and hide it an answer.

18. Churchgoer's "If it's meant to be": LORD WILLING, and the creeks don't rise.

26. Another name for the gladiolus: SWORD LILY, because of their sword-shaped leaves.

38. Post-Cold War hierarchy ... and what is literally contained in the circled squares: NEW WORLD ORDER

51. Out-of-the-office assignment: FIELD WORK

60. They're often passed on the road: SLOW DRIVERS

Argyle here...or is it Garley? First LAT puzzle for Lonnie and a debut for Nadine. Sure'd be nice if they dropped by.

Across:

1. Civil __: WAR

4. Tropical fish with large peepers: BIGEYE. "I've got my eye on you."

10. Add to the staff: HIRE

14. Jungle swinger: APE

15. Rapper whose professional name sounds like a candy: EMINEM

16. Sport, for ports: Abbr.: ANAG. Nag a ram.

17. Kindled: LIT

20. Explorer Ericson: LEIF

22. Kitchy-__: KOO

23. Blame taker: GOAT. A scapegoat.

24. Curtain material: SCRIM. The term scrim has two separate meanings in terms of fabric. For curtains, it is the light gauzy material.

30. Cable box display: TEEVEE

32. Dispensable candy: PEZ

33. High bond rating: AAA

34. Geological epoch in which mammals arose: EOCENE

37. Leave __: reward the waiter: A TIP

42. Mortar carriers: HODs

43. __ Fables: AESOP'S

44. Nonprofit URL ending: ORG.

45. Adherent's suffix: IST. Cruciverbalist.

47. Muscat residents: OMANIs

55. Point of view: SLANT

56. Peau de __: satin-weave cloth: SOIE

57. Wide shoe width: EEE

59. In any way: EVER

64. Holiday threshold: EVE

65. Starting course: SOUP

66. Austrian capital: VIENNA

67. "__ Misérables": LES

68. Chris of "The Good Wife": NOTH

69. First female Shuttle pilot __ Collins: EILEEN

70. H.S. 12th-graders: SRs

Down:

1. NYSE locale: WALL ST. (New York Stock Exchange/Wall Street)

2. Per unit: A PIECE

3. Head to bed: RETIRE

4. Brussels' land: Abbr.: BEL. (Belgium)

5. "Don't worry about me": "I'M OK"

6. Copter predecessors: GIROs or GYROs.

7. Provide with funding: ENDOW

8. Evergreen that's a homophone of a vowel: YEW

9. Political refugee: ÉMIGRÉ

10. Judaism: kosher :: Islam: __: HALAL

11. Start: INITIATE

12. Took part in a marathon: RAN

13. Cake mix need: EGG

19. City southwest of Warsaw: LODZ. Łódź.

21. Reporter's quintet of questions: FIVE W's. Who, What, When, Where, Why.

25. Ask for Whiskas, perhaps: [MEOW?]

27. Opinion columns: OP EDs

28. Lion's den: LAIR

29. Jabber: YAP

31. Prefix with friendly: ECO. (Environmentally friendly)

35. Muse of poetry: ERATO

36. Marlins' MLB div.: NLE. (National League East)

37. Source of media revenue: AD SALE

38. "Me neither": "NOR I"

39. Barely beats: EDGES OUT

40. Valentine card hugs: OOO. XXX - kisses.

41. LP measures: RPMs. (vinyl records)

42. Baseball inst. in Cooperstown: HOF

45. "__ it my way": I DID

46. Turn sharply: SWERVE

48. Orange choices: NAVELs

49. "Well, __!": "What an outrage!": I NEVER

50. Blood pressure elevator: STRESS

52. Acid test outcome, possibly: LOW PH. Conversely, alkaline test outcome, possibly: HIGH PH.

53. Party hearty: REVEL

54. Nancy Drew creator Carolyn: KEENE. Somewhat bogus clue. The Nancy Drew books were written by ghost writers, all of them given the name Carolyn Keene. The mystery fiction series was created by publisher Edward Stratemeyer.

58. White-tailed coastal bird: ERNE. We see his name but never the bird.

60. Nine-digit ID: SSN. (social security number)

61. Lav, in Bath: LOO

62. Three on a sundial: III

63. __ Antonio: SAN

Argyle