Tuesday, September 4, 2018 Paul Coulter

Baked Goods - Idioms

16. With 58-Across, "sweet" expression about consequences: YOU CAN'T HAVE YOUR.
58. See 16-Across: CAKE AND EAT IT TOO.  You have to pick one.  Either or. 

22. With 48-Across, "sweet" expression about consequences: THAT'S THE WAY THE.
48. See 22-Across: COOKIE CRUMBLES.  Sometimes bad things happen, and there's nothing you could have done that would have have prevented it. 

36. Experiencing some "sweet" consequences: EATING HUMBLE PIE.  Having to admit that you were wrong, or that you couldn't back up your boasts.

Paul takes the cake today in providing us with an easy as pie early week puzzle that has three grid spanners, proving again that he's one smart cookie !   Nothing half baked here; the proof is in the pudding.

Across:

1. Sail supports: MASTs.

6. Forearm bone: ULNA.

10. Balls and strikes caller: UMP.

13. Off-the-cuff: AD LIB. 

14. What insomniacs count: SHEEP.  Never worked for me.

15. Slithery squeezer: BOA.

19. Courses for coll. credit: APs.  Advanced Placement courses. 

20. __ de cologne: EAU.

21. Defensive trenches: MOATs.

27. Forest floor growth: MOSS.

28. Funnyman Jay: LENO.

29. Supercharged engine, for short: TURBO.

32. Bit of gel: DAB.

33. Flock female: EWE.

41. Gym shirt: TEE.

42. Car nut: LUG.  Not an automobile aficionado, but these:

The link to Lug Nut on Wikipedia

43. Be of use to: AVAIL.

44. Kind of butter used in moisturizers: SHEA.

46. Half up front?: HEMI.  Hemi won out over semi due to HULAS at 46D.  Saved my bacon.

54. Photographer Adams: ANSEL.

55. Yale student: ELI.

56. Soak (up), as sauce: SOP. 

63. Acapulco aunt: TIA.

64. Enjoys a novel: READS.

65. Songs for two: DUETs.

66. Bargain bin abbr.: IRR.  Irregular.

67. Thanksgiving side dish: YAMs.  I like them candied, as long as they are not cloyingly sweet.

68. Daisy variety: OXEYE.  Fine in your gardens,  but invasive in your pastures.

Down:

1. Poet Angelou: MAYA.

2. Take home from an animal shelter: ADOPT.

3. Partly melted snow: SLUSH.  Also, a type of fund in some circles.

4. Idiosyncrasy: TIC.

5. Entrepreneur-helping org.: SBA. Small Business Administration

6. "Yeah": UH-HUH.  No it isn't.  Yes it is.  Uh-uh.  Uh-huh. 

7. Pasture: LEA.   Paul, you got in EWE, SHEEP and LAMB and now Pasture/LEA.   Are you a part time shepherd or sheepherder ?   Or is this just a "sweet" consequence of coincidence in your fill today ?

8. Ariz. neighbor: NEV.

9. Theoretical primate: APEMAN.

10. WWII sea attacker: U-BOAT.  Unterseeboat - German for submarine, abbreviated and hyphenated to U-boat.

11. River delta area: MOUTH.

12. Break down grammatically: PARSE.

14. Sports figures: STATs. Statistics, not people.  Stats make it easy to compare player and team performance, but organizations are increasingly using analytics to get more meaningful information to aid in their decision making processes.

17. Loch with a legend: NESS. 

18. Up-and-down toy: YOYO.  My sister had a loving cat named Tinkerbell that had a Jacks ball that was her "Up-and-down toy."   In the early AM hours, Tinker would carry the ball up the stairs, and then push it down.  Then rumble down after it.  Then hide it when my dad got out of bed.  This went on multiple times until someone finally found the ball.   

23. Prefix with dextrous: AMBI.

24. Warner Bros. creation: TOON.

25. Jack of "Rio Lobo": ELAM.

26. Jack of "Dragnet": WEBB.  Played Sgt. Joe Friday.  Loved that show.  The opening, with dum-de-dum-dum sounds, was,  ''This is the city.  Los Angeles, California. I work here. I carry a badge. My name's Friday.  The story you are about to see is true; the names have been changed to protect the innocent."  Snopes fact checked and indicated that he never actually said, "Just the facts, ma'am." 

29. Vietnamese New Year: TET.

30. Abu Dhabi's federation: Abbr.: UAE.  United Arab Emirates.   "The Trucial States of the Persian Gulf coast granted the UK control of their defense and foreign affairs in 19th century treaties. In 1971, six of these states - Abu Dhabi, 'Ajman, Al Fujayrah, Ash Shariqah, Dubayy, and Umm al Qaywayn - merged to form the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They were joined in 1972 by Ra's al Khaymah." -  The World Factbook.

31. GPS suggestion: RTE. Route

32. Found really groovy: DUG.  Feeling groovy.


33. Antipollution org.: EPA. Environmental Protection Agency

34. Nintendo game console since 2006: WII.

35. Slithery swimmer: EEL.

37. Pure joy: GLEE.

38. '50s Red Scare gp.: HUAC.  House Un-American Activities Committee.

39. Souvlaki meat: LAMB.  Souvlaki is an ancient Greek word meaning skewer.  I think of kebabs.

40. Bad to the bone: EVIL.

44. __-Ball: midway game: SKEE.

45. Two-time Oscar winner Swank: HILARY.

46. Luau dances: HULAs.

47. Discharge: EMIT.

48. Spiny desert bloomers: CACTI.

49. "We're live!" studio sign: ON AIR.

50. Liam's "Schindler's List" role: OSKAR.

51. Marshy grasses: REEDs.

52. Cosmetician Lauder: ESTEE.

53. Like a chimney sweep: SOOTY.

57. Sit for a picture: POSE.   I wonder if she was part of the family ?  Or just happened to be sitting there ?

59. Cultural funding org.: NEA. National Endowment for the Arts. 

60. Beaver's output: DAM. "Gee, Wally..."

61. Altar vow: I DO. Thought I DOs were "Words between partners" in Greg Johnson's Saturday stumper. Nope, it was ANDS. 

62. Prom rental: TUX. Tennessee Tuxedo didn't need to rent a tux.  Here shown with his friend Chumley, who went on to stardom on Pawn Stars.

The grid:

Tuesday, Aug 21, 2018 Paul Coulter

"Headcases"

17. *Top dog: BIG CHEESE.  Bighead - I've heard it used most often by children.  A conceited person.  Cheesehead - Can be used affectionately or derogatorily to refer to a Wisconsinite or Packer-backer.

39. *Beef: RED MEAT. Redhead.  A ginger.  Hello Scotland and Ireland ! Rusty Staub was known as Le Grande Orange.  Also, in the trades, a brand of concrete anchors.  Meathead - A stupid person. Archie Bunker's nickname for son-in-law Michael Stivic.  Rusty was not a meathead.  He learned French after being traded to the Montreal Expos.

11. *Equestrian's path: HORSE TRAIL.  Horsehead.   The opposite end from a horse's ass.  Served with a guy from Horseheads, NY. Smart guy.  Hi Merlin ! Trailhead - That's where hiking, biking, horseback riding, off roading adventures and cattle drives start. 

28. *Undeliverable bit of mail: DEAD LETTER.  Deadhead. To prune the spent blooms from your flowers.  Also, driving your semi (tractor trailer) without a load.  Oh, and of course, a Grateful Dead fan.    Letterhead.  The heading or leading page of formal correspondence, usually containing company logo, name address etc.

62. Racer's advantage ... and what each part of the answers to starred clues can be: HEAD START.

Paul comes back to visit with today's puzzle.  Easier than last Friday's puzzle.  He has something for everyone, and every skill level !

Across:

1. Big butte: MESA.  Butte comes to us from French, meaning mound. Mesa comes from Spanish, meaning table.   Buttes are smaller than mesas. 

5. Michael of "Superbad": CERA.   This guy.  Superbad was a 2007 "coming of age" movie.  Not familiar with either.

 9. Timetable: Abbr.: SCHED.  ule.

14. Cartel acronym: OPEC. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

15. Gravy base: ROUX.  Fat and flour, and get creative from there.

16. Writing that isn't poetry: PROSE.

19. Surrounding glows: AURAE. Had auras at first until deep dish pizza mandated the e.

20. Chicken: SCARED. 

21. Prepares to serve, as melon: SLICES UP.  Gallagher used the Sledge-O-Matic.

23. Textbook division: UNIT.  A standard standard.

25. Stadium attendance counter, perhaps: STILE.  I know them as turnstiles.  Hey, that's why the perhaps is in the clue !

26. Fill with freight: LADE.  From Dutch and German laden.

29. Spam producer, for short: BOT.   A Spam Robot, or Spambot, or just plain Bot.

The other Spam producer, Hormel,  just sold one its two US processing plants that makes Spam.   The Fremont, Nebraska processing plant has been sold to a group of Minnesota and South Dakota farmers, dba Wholesale Farms, and has announced intentions to locate their execs and HQs there.  Husker Gary would know about this. 

31. Squabbles: SET TOs. 

34. Versatile blackjack cards: ACES.  Can be used as ones or elevens. 

35. Hibernation spot: LAIR.

37. Egg cream ingredient: SYRUP.  Now this was interesting to me.  I've never heard of an egg cream.  It's similar to a milkshake, and got its start in NYC, but is also well-known in Detroit and New Orleans. 

38. Former "Great American Baking Show" co-host Vardalos: NIA.  She of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" fame.  A lovely person.

41. Azores' ocean: Abbr.: ATL.  Or the Braves (Atlanta), on scoreboards.  In this case, it's the abbr. for Atlantic.

42. Build an extension on: ADD TO.  Husker Gary should expect to see a decrease in his property taxes after the new Costco plant gets built and execs for Whole Farms move into town and ADD TO the tax base.  I think that's how it's supposed to work.  The clue today is in the sense of a building addition.  We know that as an ell in crossword fill. 

44. Strong desires: YENS.

45. Verdi princess who sings "O patria mia": AIDA. Six years ago,  Verdi and Aida would have left me in the dark.  Now, thanks to hundreds of solves, I know this crossword staple.

46. Specks in the sea: ISLETS.  Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton had a # 1 hit song with Islands in the Stream.

48. __ room: play area: REC.

49. Mail opening in a door: SLOT.  Remember that scene from Home Alone where McCauley Culkin looked through the mail slot ?

50. Big name in stationery: EATON. 

54. Very brave: INTREPID.

57. South Florida city: NAPLES.  Too bad about the red tide. 

61. Away from the office: NOT IN.

64. Prepare to talk to a child, maybe: KNEEL.

65. Doing nothing: IDLE. 

66. Comparison words: IS TO.

67. "My bad": SORRY.  "No problem"

68. Show the way: LEAD.  Anyone remember the book, Jump Off the Cliff,  by Hugo Furst ?

69. Enjoy, as gum: CHEW.  Enjoy, as gossip: Chew the fat.

Down:

1. Black Friday crowds: MOBS.  Not once.  Never.   Wild horses.

2. Grand-scale tale or grand-scale fail: EPIC. 

3. Arcade name: SEGA. Tie in with  52A. "__ #1!": winners' cry: WE'RE.  SEGA had 213 arcade games;  Atari had 117.  

4. Builds up: ACCRUES.  the ability of something to accumulate over time, and is most commonly used when referring to the interest, income or expenses - Investopedia.

5. Trustworthy: CREDIBLE.  Investopedia is a credible financial dictionary.

6. Non-discrimination letters: EOE.  Equal Opportunity Employment (or Employer).

7. Former Wisconsin senator Feingold: RUSS.

8. Skating jumps: AXELS.  OK, now here is a really good article that explains each of the skating jumps, along with GIFs showing them being accomplished. 

9. Most ditzy: SPACIEST.  Goldie Hawn persona on Laugh-In

10. The "C" of SPCA: CRUELTY.  Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

12. Jacob's twin brother: ESAU.

13. __-dish pizza: DEEP.  Fold your laundry, not your pizza.

18. Farm squawker: HEN.

22. "Live from New York, __ 'Saturday Night!'": IT'S.    A nice collection:


24. Apple-polisher: TOADY.

26. Hawaiian island: LANAI.

27. Litmus reddeners: ACIDS.

30. Oven buzzer: TIMER.

32. Perform better than: OUTDO.

33. Wet impact sound: SPLAT.

36. Extend a subscription: RENEW. 

39. In a nasty manner: ROTTENLY.

40. Climbed: ASCENDED.  Ascend.  Middle English: from Latin ascendere, from ad- ‘to’ + scandere ‘to climb.’ 

43. Needing more tissues, probably: TEARIER.

45. Sterile: ASEPTIC.  "a" and "an" as prefixes to Greek base words means no, without, not having, free of, or not.   English adopted those as prefixes to many words that originated in other languages as well, with the same purpose.

Then we have  "a"  as a prefix from an Old English root, which meant on, toward, to, or into.  So we get words like ablaze (on) and asunder (to).

So aseptic and asocial mean free of septic and not social , and we have words like afire and ablaze, meaning on, and asea meaning....  Well, never mind, I'm going to stop before I go awry.  

47. Soak (up), as gravy: SOP.  

51. Nothing, in Latin: NIHIL.

53. Univ. dorm overseers: RAs.  Resident Advisor or Resident Assistant.

54. Calligraphy supplies: INKS.

55. Taboo: NO NO.


56. "__ Dinah": 1958 Frankie Avalon hit: DEDE.  No clue.  Thank you perps.

58. Eyelid hair: LASH.

59. One-named Deco artist: ERTE.  Romain de Tirtoff.    Better study the name and spelling.  It might come up in a crossword someday.

60. Stash in a hold: STOW.

via GIPHY

63. Pie __ mode: A LA.  Hot apple pie with cold vanilla ice cream melting on top is a favorite dessert in this household.

Friday, August 17, 2018, Paul Coulter

Title: Breaking out the creatures.

PC makes a rapid return with this very creative 'reorganize the word' theme. As an added bonus each separation results in a living being.  The themers are set out in a pinwheel pattern, with wonderful consistency, as 1, 3 and 5 have an animal appear with 2 and 4 revealing bugs. Really well done. This is not an easy solve, but if you remembered the people in AVATAR are called NA'VI the whole puzzle falls in place. We have had many puzzles where the reveal was dependent on reparsing a word, but I do not recall one like this one. The hard part, of course, is that the clue does not inform as to the fill directly. The fill is just the pieces that together make a real word. The challenge of the concept left little room for much long fill, but we do get AMASSES  ROSEATE ROUTINE SMOTHER and TRISECT.

17A. Alien reptile in "Avatar"?: NA'VI  GATOR.(9). NAVIGATOR. This word is derived from the identical Latin word Navigator. Na'vi came from the mind of James Cameron; I loved the MOVIE. You think Cameron was thinking about the Navy?

42A. Pest that's gotten into the cheese?: BRIE  FLY (7). BRIEFLY. Brie was named from where it was first made; briefly from the Latin BREVE, which also gave us brevity. 

68A. Long-eared mascot of an L.A. newspaper?: TIMES  HARE (9). TIMESHARE. I love this CSO to the publisher, though I doubt a rabbit is the mascot of the paper. Most have decided timeshare is a waste of money, but the business still thrives.

11D. Tiny insect that casts spells?: COVEN  ANT (8). COVENANT. They both derive from the Latin word "convenire", which is a contraction of "com venire" or "come together". The words convene (to come together at an appointed place and time) and convent (a home for nuns) also have the same root. various. I love the imagery of some ants getting together inside a pentagram. 

41D. One of a group of feline predators?: GANG  LION (8). GANGLION.  Another wonderful mental picture of lions wearing leather and tats hanging out by their hogs.  It all has nothing to do with a structure containing a number of nerve cell bodies, typically linked by synapses, and often forming a swelling on a nerve fiber. I have a ganglion cyst on my shoulder. Oo plays with it and considers it her 'toy.'

On that bizarre note on to the solving. 

Across:

1. Amendment dealing with states' rights: TENTH. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." No politics.

6. Hobby shop buy: KIT. A CSO to former hobby shop impresario and longtime Corner fixture DENNIS.

9. Longtime Wall Street name: SACHS. Goldman Sachs is major and controversial diversified investment company which was led by founder Marcus Goldman and his son-in-law SAMUEL SACHS. No politics.

14. Spanish month: ENERO. January.

15. Draft pick: IPA. Not a sports clue, but draft beer and India Pale Ale.

16. Outfielder Mike who finished first (twice) or second (three times) in 2012-2016 A.L. MVP voting: TROUT. This excellent PLAYER is not related to one of my favorite Detroit Tiger players of the past Dizzy Trout.

19. Snake, e.g.: RIVER. This water often winds its way into a grid.

20. Racks up: AMASSES.

21. Corpulent: OBESE. Or perhaps - fat, overweight, plump, portly, stout, chubby, paunchy, beer-bellied, heavy, bulky, chunky, well upholstered, well padded, well covered, meaty, fleshy, rotund, broad in the beam, tubby, pudgy, beefy, porky, roly-poly, blubbery, corn-fed. Cruel or not?

23. Connecting point: NODE.

24. "Bad Moon Rising" band, initially: CCR. Credence Clearwater Revival.

                                       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BmEGm-mraE

26. First of a series: OPENER.

29. Small amount: TRACE. Made famous by CSI.

31. Worked the soil: HOED. Be careful there Mr. Imus.

33. Shopper stopper?: SALE.  Who doesn't love a good rhyming clue?

34. TV schedule abbr.: TBA. To Be Announced.

36. Buttonhole, say: SLIT.

38. Affirmative action: NOD. Cute.

39. Bit of horseplay: GAG. For three letters, this was tricky.

44. Castilian kin: TIO. Uncle. Spanish.

45. GP gp.: AMA. American Medical Association for General Practitioners.

46. Mex. miss: SRTA. Senorita. Spanish.

47. Jr. and sr.: YRS.

49. Brass component: ZINC. Brass is a metallic alloy that is made of copper and zinc.

51. Bit of swearing: OATH.

53. Slate et al., for short: EMAGS.

57. Merchant ship flotilla: ARGOSY. 1. a large merchant ship, esp. one with a rich cargo. 2. a fleet of such ships. 3. an opulent supply or collection. Not a word I use.

59. Ring bearer: EAR. Cute misdirection.

61. Baker: OVEN. More misdirection as it is, after all,  the oven that bakes it.

62. Sprite flavor: LEMON. I knew Paul liked some of my write-ups, and it is great to be in one of his puzzles - oh it wasn't for me?

64. Stage bit: ROUTINE.

66. North African site of a 1943 conference: CAIRO. An echo of last week's WWII conferences.

70. Stun: SHOCK.

71. "We've exceeded seating capacity" sign: SRO.

72. Gauge: METER.

73. Chief Justice after Marshall: TANEY. Two very influential jurists, and members of a very exclusive group. There have only been 17 CHIEF JUSTICES compared to 45 Presidents. No politics.

74. It's big in London: BEN. Clock humor.

75. Salad green: CRESS. We have this word going back to 2008 when C.C. did all the blogging. LINK.


Down:

1. Letter?: TENANT.  This is also cute but is not a real word, as it is the landlord who has an apartment to let-  "chiefly British: to offer or grant for rent or lease let rooms."

2. Captivate: ENAMOR. Derived from the French, AMOUR. Love.

3. Area 51 locale: NEVADA. The true STORY.  Or if you prefer...

4. Cut into three equal parts: TRISECT. BI = 2. TRI = 3.

5. Keeps to oneself: HOGS.

6. Lawn gnomes, e.g.: KITSCH. Not to be confused with brownies. Infra. Kitsch is considered to be in poor taste but appreciated in an ironic or knowing way.

7. Snapchat had one in Mar. 2017: IPO. Initial Public Offering. Stock offering, actually pioneered by Goldman and Sachs, I think.

8. Poi source: TARO. Do you think a Hawaiian dish made from the fermented root of the taro, which has been baked and pounded to a paste sounds yummy?

9. Antibiotic target: STREP. Streptococcus bacteria. A nasty little guy a threat not only to your throat.

10. Crops up: ARISES.

12. Peach, e.g.: HUE. Hey you, what your hue, Hugh?

13. Orch. section: STRings.

18. Old nuclear agcy.: AEC. We had this recently.

22. __ harm: BODILY.

25. Promising: ROSEATE. Picturing the world through rose-colored glasses.

27. Wells race: ELOI. Always nice to have an excuse to post a pic of Yvette Mimieuz.

28. Make over: REDO.

30. Drops off: EBBS. And flows.

32. Brownie, in folklore: ELF. This was unknown to me. The most well-known and loved house elf in folklore is the Scottish Brownie. A brownie or broonie, also known as a brùnaidh or gruagac. The Brownie is a small male creature, between one and two feet tall, who takes up residence in a deserving family's home and is helpful. They were the precursor to Alexa and other modern household helpers. Various sources.

35. Dry gulch: ARROYO.

37. Rubber in a boot?: TYRE. Boot being British for the trunk of a car where you keep your spare "tire."

39. __ Strip: GAZA. Gaza is a densely populated strip of land that is mostly surrounded by Israel and peopled almost exclusively by Palestinians. Israel used to have a military presence but withdrew unilaterally in 2005. Gaza was part of the Ottoman Empire before it was occupied by the United Kingdom (1918–1948), Egypt (1948–1967), and then Israel, which in 1994 granted the Palestinian Authority in Gaza limited self-governance through the Oslo Accords. Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been de facto governed by Hamas, which claims to represent the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestinian people. Various sources. No politics.

40. "The Kite Runner" boy: AMIR. A very powerful and disturbing book and movie. A must watch, but no politics.

43. "Give __ rest!": IT A.

48. Overwhelm: SMOTHER.  A little daily double of mayhem, with...

50. Strong-arm: COERCE.

52. Mark of "NCIS": HARMON. When I first watched NCIS, initially it seemed like a mediocre cop show, as some have suggested. Now having watched all 15 seasons with Oo I see the skill of the writers who are putting forth a family drama, with all kinds of interesting twists and turns of personality.

54. Do the Wright thing?: AVIATE. I did not say it was not a real word, it just sounds funny to me. Now on the popular list.

55. Types: GENRES. I learned the word from watching movie reviewers.

56. Nasty smiles: SNEERS. Snidley Whiplash had my favorite sneer.

58. Idaho's __ Mountains: SMOKY. This chain is part of the Rocky Mountains and not to be confused with the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.

Idaho                      Tennessee
↞                            ↠






60. Fluke-to-be: ROE. Roe is fish eggs, and Fluke is a fish.
All Fluke Are Flounder but Not All Flounder Are Fluke. Generally speaking, left-side up flounder are flukes, and right-side up flounders are called flounders.  That sounds easy enough to remember, but it gets worse.  Flukes are also called “summer flounder,” and flounder, or right-side fish, are called “winter flounder.”

63. Black-box analyzers: Abbr.: NTSB. National Transportation Safety Board.

65D. Camp Pendleton letters: USMC. United States Marine Corps.

66. K.C. hours: CST. Central Standard Time.

67. "Caught you!": AHA. We all have our AHA moments here, as well as ones that inspire...

69. Rage: IRE.

I hope you have all put aside any anger in your lives and felt the joy of solving another fun but challenging puzzle from Paul. There was lots going on but in the end, we came to the end. Lemonade out.

Note from C.C.:

Here are two pictures of Lemonade's lovely granddaughters Charlotte and Harper. Lemonade said, "Charlotte is in real kindergarten" now. Click here for more. 

 

 

Friday, August 3, 2018, Paul Coulter

Title: Sounds like a punny puppy.

Paul makes a quick turn around after his Thursday last week,  this time featuring humor as the primary theme. The basics- take a breed of dog and pair it with a sound-alike word that creates a funny image. Then clue them all with "Dog who loves..." With only 40 squares of theme and no reveal, we have a variety of longish fill - EPISODE, ITERANT, MANDALA, MONOPOD RAINOUT, TREATER, BREATHER and INERRANT.  As we will discuss, ITERANT and INNERANT are both very much Friday words. We have some sports, some music, some food, some French, Italian and Spanish, lots of fun for me. Let's go.

17A. Dog that loves a burger topping?: ONION BEAGLE (11).  The ONION BAGEL often dresses up the lox and cream cheese with onion and tomato. Spitz, am I right the word bagel comes from a German word for bracelet?

29A. Dog that loves a winter sport?: HOCKEY PUG (9). Hockey and the PUCK are our first sport of the puzzle and the basis of this punny pup. Ice hockey and its various precursor games utilized balls until the late 19th century. By the 1870s, flat pucks were made of wood as well as rubber. At first, pucks were square. The first recorded organized game of ice hockey used a wooden puck, to prevent it from leaving the rink of play. wiki.

49A. Dog that loves to play in the rain?: MUD POODLE (9). A poodle playing in a mud puddle is a pretty cool image, especially if it a white one. 

65A. Dog that loves spaghetti?: PASTA COCKER (11). The use of a PASTA COOKER rather than merely boiling water may seem extreme, but a Cocker Spaniel eating spaghetti is a great image.

On to the solve.

Across:

1. Indian state bordering Bhutan: ASSAM.

6. Pasture sound: BLEAT. And the clecho 34A. Called from the pasture: BAAED.

11. Cheese go-with: HAM. Sorry, this was hard for me.

14. Fiji neighbor: TONGA. Geography 2.

15. Asperity: RIGOR. Fun five letter word, but I never thought of them as synonyms.
Asperity-harshness of tone or manner. Rigor-severity or strictness.  Dictionary.


16. Trick taker, often: ACE. Bridge, spades, hearts, etc. and a repeat fill from yesterday.

19. Mme., in Madrid: SRA. A little Spanish, literally.

20. Blueprint: MAP. We have two so far today.

21. Loved ones: DEARS.

22. Colorless: ASHEN.

24. Repeating: ITERANT. Ah, here we are; we have all heard people reiterate and probably iterate, but the definition repeating; iterating; as an iterant echo? I love this quote from George Sand, “Iteration, like friction, is likely to generate heat instead of progress.”

26. "__ Day": chapter in the '50s "The Thin Man" TV series: ASTA. What an odd way to clue the dog, but perhaps a bonus dog fill.

28. Noel: CAROL. A little early Christmas.

36. Bearish?: URSINE. If you remember the frequent URSA major/minor, this is easy.

37. "The Facts of Life" actress Charlotte: RAE. This diminutive DIVA goes all the way back to Car 54 where are you?

40. Barbecue, say: BROIL.

42. "As if!": NOT. A popular phrase from the 80s.

43. Equanimity: APLOMB.

46. Vacant, as an apartment: UNLET. Let's undo this un-answer.

51. Green pair, often: PUTTS. Par is determined by an estimated 2 putts on every green.

55. "Do __ others ... ": UNTO.

56. Cancellation of a sort: RAINOUT. Common in baseball.

58. Bit of statuary: TORSO.

61. Undercover cops' gear: WIRES. Did you all watch the WIRE?

63. Part of un giorno: ORA. Day and Hour in Italian. Buon Giorno!

64. Brown, e.g.: IVY. Out of my league.

68. Born, in Brest: NEE. French.

69. Vast quantity: OCEAN.

70. Socially active sort: DATER. My meh of the day.

71. Triage ctrs.: ERS.

72. Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred: DURST. Then and now.

73. Black shade: EBONY. No Ivory today.


Down:

1. Very minute: ATOMIC.

2. Beethoven's "Moonlight," for one: SONATA. Clecho 44D. 27, for Beethoven's "Moonlight":  OPUS.

3. Inveterate critic: SNIPER. That sounds harsh, but then I think of Gibbs.

4. Back: AGO.

5. Hindu meditation aid: MANDALA. A mandala (Sanskrit: मण्डल, maṇḍala; literally "circle") is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, representing the universe. In common use, "mandala" has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a microcosm of the universe. wiki.

6. Rest: BREATHER.

7. Pinocchio, at times: LIAR. And now a star of TV commercials.

8. Arachnid's hatching pouch: EGG SAC. All you need to KNOW.

9. Verizon subsidiary: AOL.

10. Generous bar buddy: TREATER. Not my favorite clue/fill.

11. Chop finely: HASH. Dictionary says to chop (food, such as meat and potatoes) into small pieces.

12. Real estate unit: ACRE.

13. Signify: MEAN.

18. Oscar winner Kingsley: BEN. 35 years ago. 1983 OSCAR.

23. Comes out with: SAYS.

25. Take badly?: ROB. A repeat but fun.

27. "Hamlet" prop: SKULL. Our very brief Will S. reference this week for Friday after yesterday's double dip.

30. Two-time N.L. batting champ Lefty: O'DOUL.  Hewas so much MORE than just a very successful baseball player and manager.

31. One standing at the end of a lane: PIN. More sports, and a CSO for Boomer.

32. A, in Acapulco: UNO.

33. Acquire: GET.

35. Brothers' keeper?: ABBOT. Cute clue, as the head of the monks.

37. Zodiac critter: RAM.

38. Toon storekeeper: APU. The Simpsons, not a favorite here. Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is an Indian Immigrant settled in Springfield.

39. Antiquity, in antiquity: ELD.

41. Perfectly correct: INERRANT. This has a religious meaning, basically infallible but also has a meaning from astronomy : 1650s, in reference to "fixed" stars (as opposed to "wandering" planets), from Latin inerrantem (nominative inerrans) "not wandering, fixed (of stars)," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + errans, present participle of errare "to wander, stray, roam, rove" (see err). Meaning "unerring, free from error" is from 1785.

45. One-legged camera support: MONOPOD. Tripod- three. Mono- one.

47. Netflix installment: EPISODE. They are going after the world of entertainment since streaming began working and you did not have to wait for a disc in the mail.

48. 252 wine gallons: TUN. That is about what my friend drinks annually.

50. Divining rod: DOWSER.

52. Grew fond of: TOOK TO.

53. Deep dish: TUREEN. Generally to serve soup. LINK.

54. Like a cloudless night: STARRY.

57. NRC forerunner: AEC. Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Atomic Energy Commission.

58. Food sticker: TINE. Generally more than one on your fork.

59. "Your turn": OVER.

60. Bakery selections: RYES. It is so hard to find a good rye bread in the south.

62. See __ an omen: IT AS.

66. Prefix with pressure: ACU. Not to be confused with APU.

67. Hack: CAB.  You wonder why? Hack short for "hackney cab," which referred to a carriage for hire drawn by a hackney, or an ordinary horse -- leading to the use of "hack" to mean "writer for hire," and the word "hackneyed," which means cliche-ridden. The use of "hacker" to refer to a computer user dates back to the mid-1970s.

Wow, that was work and fun; so much to say, so little time. Thank you, Paul our own PC constructor, and you the readers and writers. Lemonade out.

Note from C.C.:
 

Happy birthday to Jaelyn's beautiful grandma Melissa, creator of Adopt an Inmate project and our faithful Wednesday Sherpa. Melissa's compassion, tenacity and and adventurous spirits continue to inspire me. She is also a deeply spiritual person, always so calm and cool. Have a beautiful day, dear Melissa!

Thursday, July 26th 2018 Paul Coulter

Theme: Can you spare some speared pears to pare? Scrambles on the theme of "pears".

17A. Led: SPEARHEADED. Here's the Kovel spearhead (or at least a reproduction of it) excavated in the Ukraine in 1858. The original was looted and lost during WWII.

31A. Barbecue favorite: SPARE RIBS. Food! I tried "SHORT RIBS" first for absolutely no good reason. I sous-vide my spare ribs with a dry rub for 36 hours before painting them with sauce and finishing them off in a searing hot oven. Purists tell me that's not barbecue. Taste Buds don't object.

38A. Reduces, as spending: PARES DOWN. Usually only by a few slivers, but a reduction nonetheless.

51A. Cooked fruit dessert ... and a cryptic hint to the start of 17-, 31- and 38-Across: STEWED PEARS. More food! I'm a happy camper today.

Solid Thursday-level puzzle from Paul. There is a reveal entry, and so you can dispense with circles to alert the unwary to the presence of the theme scrambles. The fill is smooth, and the long downs give some pleasing cohesion to the whole. Let's see what jumps out:

Across:

1. Org. that awards the Spingarn Medal: N.A.A.C.P.  Awarded annually for outstanding achievement by an African-American.

6. Bochco series: LA LAW

11. Peter, Paul and Mary: Abbr.: STS. Nice clue! Saints, not states and nothing whatever to do with the folk trio. Here's Seal singing Peter Yarrow's Puff the Magic Dragon in my submission for the "Tenuous Link Of The Week" competition.

14. Counterpart of "a": ALPHA. I suppose it is a counterpart, never thought of it that way before.

15. Bacteria in undercooked meat: E.COLI. Let's be clear, the bacteria is present in contaminated meat and if that meat is undercooked can present a health risk. No need to swear off your medium-rare hamburger or your kibbeh nayyeh if you source your meat carefully.

16. Not just "a": THE

19. Bonanza contents: ORE

20. Many a Bon Appétit subscriber: FOODIE. The canny foodie gets Bon Appétit online.

21. Tablet download: E-BOOK

23. Flips, in a way: RE-SELLS

26. Ball beauties: BELLES. Here's a question - can a ball have more than one belle, or do multiple belles have to divvy up the balls between them? We should be told.

27. Hardened: INURED

28. Decline to recline?: STAY UP. Nice!

30. Bursts: POPS

34. Suffix with glob: -ULE

35. Held closely (to): ADHERED

37. "O wad some Pow'r the giftie __ us": Burns: GIE. "Oh, would some power give us the gift ..."

O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us

To see oursels as ithers see us!

It wad frae mony a blunder free us,

An' foolish notion:

What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,

An' ev'n devotion!

Robert Burns, "To a Louse".

40. Manage (for oneself): FEND

41. Melonlike tropical fruit: PAPAWS. Food aplenty. I know 'em as pawpaws, and long before I'd ever seen one in the flesh, I knew the name from the "Bear Necessities" song from The Jungle Book Disney movie.

42. Slapstick trio member: STOOGE. 

44. Loosey-__: GOOSEY

46. Fishing lure: SPINNER

47. Less experienced: RAWER. or rare, as opposed to medium-rare, to continue my food! theme of the day.

48. Plump: ROTUND

50. Mike and __: fruity candy: IKE

56. Part of mpg: PER

57. Quilt filler: EIDER

58. Latin stars: ASTRA. Should be familiar from many mottoes and a ton of cultural references. I know "Per Ardua ad Astra" as the motto of the Royal Air Force.

59. "Star Trek" rank: Abbr.: ENS. ign.

60. Tea go-with: SCONE. If you're ever in Devon or Cornwall, make sure you get clotted cream on your scone.

61. Bikini blast: N-TEST. Bikini atoll. Contrary to popular opinion, the swimsuit isn't a "bikini" because it's a two-piece, it's because of the alleged explosive effect of wearing one when they were first introduced.

Down:

1. Hip-hop artist who narrates Netflix's "The Get Down": NAS. Knew the artist, but not the show.

2. Hurdle for Hannibal: ALP. Also a hurdle for the riders in the Tour de France which is currently heading for the finish in Paris this weekend.

3. Act like: APE

4. Plant-eating scarab beetles: CHAFERS. Thank you, crosses. I will file this away for future scarab reference.

5. Sentence shortener: PAROLE. Nice one. I was on the ET AL, ETC train for a while.

6. City on the Aire: LEEDS. A given for me. We lived in Leeds when I was a little kid and the city was the site of a lot of firsts for me - riding a bike unaided, kissing a girl (on a dare, naturally!), tearing open an artery falling out of a tree (I still have the scar), breaking a leg. I never fell in the river Aire though, which was just as well. Back then, I wouldn't have drowned, I'd have slowly dissolved in the chemicals.

7. Antioxidant berry in smoothies: ACAI

8. Valuable deposit: LODE. What a lode of ore we have today.

9. Tap output: ALE

10. Innocent-looking: WIDE-EYED

11. Informer: STOOL PIGEON

12. Pang: THROE

13. Goes after: SEEKS

18. You might hear music on it: HOLD. Usually really awful, crackly, repetitive stuff. People who implement on-hold music and announcements should be forced to listen to the tape loop for a full day, then see how they like it.

22. Cloud: BLUR

23. Make confetti of: RIP UP

24. Name on a 1945 bomber: ENOLA

25. Dominant states: SUPERPOWERS. My superpower is my Vitamix blender. It's got so much horsepower that if you leave it running for a minute or so the contents of the jug get hot enough to simmer just from the friction of the blades.

26. Spartan: BARE

28. Expels: SPEWS

29. Mountain lake: TARN

31. Larry McMurtry's "The Last Picture __": SHOW

32. __-watch: BINGE. The nearest I've come to binge-watching was settling down to all six seasons of Downton Abbey over a period of a few weeks.

33. Feast where the Haggadah is read: SEDER

35. Bad-mouths: ASPERSES. What a cracking word! We're all familiar with the noun form, as some of the snarky anons in the comments like to throw aspersions around like confetti, but the verb form is new to me. I resolve to use it. Not in the first person active though.

36. "Saving Private Ryan" event: D-DAY. I saw this in the theater when it was first released. There was a stunned silence for the first 40 minutes or so.

39. Let up: EASE

40. Most affectionate: FONDEST

42. 5'7" Webb, shortest to win the NBA Slam Dunk Contest: "SPUD". All-Name Hall of Fame. Another first-round All-Name Hall-of-Famer is the 5'3" "Muggsy" Bogues who was the shortest player to ever play in the NFL and HE could dunk. Think about that. The hoop is at 10'.

43. __ Alley: TIN PAN

44. Beef: GRIPE

45. Like Cognac casks: OAKEN. Or dwarves' shields, according to The Lord of the Rings.

46. About 1.3 cubic yards: STERE. Or a cubic meter, more simply put. There's some discussion about whether to use the cubic meter for cut wood, and the stere for uncut wood, but frankly I shouldn't lose any sleep over it.

48. Give a makeover: REDO

49. "A Prayer for __ Meany": John Irving novel: OWEN. A fabulous novel in my humble opinion, this had me enthralled from start to finish.

52. Personal quirk: TIC

53. Downed a sub?: ATE

54. Syst. of cars on tracks: R.R.S. Railroads. I'm thinking of building a model railway, but it would have to be the super-tiny "N" scale. Not sure if me old bones and eyesight are up to the task.

55. Convened: SAT

And that should do it. I'm hungry after all this food!

Steve

Monday May 14, 2018 Paul Coulter

Theme: (Split) Word Chain - Four rows of words form a word chain.

14. With 15-Across, station with a hook and ladder: FIRE. Firehouse.

15. With 16-Across, indoor chores: HOUSE. Housework.

16. With 28-Across, tireless sort: WORK. Work horse.

28. With 31-Across, big biting insect: HORSE. Horse fly.

31. With 32-Across, sticky strip: FLY. Flypaper.

32. With 40-Across, bills to pay with: PAPER. Paper money.

40. With 42-Across, financier: MONEY. Money man.

42. With 43-Across, strength needed for a team job: MAN. Man power.

43. With 61-Across, turn off, as a computer: POWER. Power down.

61. With 62-Across, Australia: DOWN. Down under.

62. With 63-Across, attempt: UNDER. Undertake.

63. With 14-Across, become ignited: TAKE. Take fire.

Boomer here. Happy Monday everyone! Demanding theme for a Monday, but C.C. said "Amazing grid work".  

I certainly hope that all of you young ladies out there had a happy and satisfying Mother's Day.  Congratulations to your families!  I had an interesting week.  I bowled in the Minneapolis "700 Club" tournament.  This is a 4 game scratch (no handicap) tournament for any bowler who has had a 700 + series in league.  There are 5 divisions separated by age, and I am in the "Older than dirt" division. (70+).  The tournament is held across 8 lanes so we move after each game.  I do not recall ever bowling a set like the one I had last Thursday.  254 - 262 - 140 - 246!  I left 4 splits in the ugly 3rd game but still recovered enough (902) series to win my division.  Sometimes it pays to be older than dirt.

Across:

1. Big name in PCs: ACER.  Makes me think of my 1975 AMC Pacer.  Great idea but they should have made one that was more dependable.

5. Play idly, as a guitar: THRUM. Now is this a strum with a thumb ?

10. Not that: THIS.

17. Particle for Fermi: ATOM. Nobel-winning physicist Enrico Fermi.

18. Out-of-use anesthetic: ETHER.

19. Blunted blade: EPEE. I never could figure out how a sword got this name.

20. One fighting back: RESISTER.

22. "The Quiet American" novelist Graham __: GREENE. - wrote novels and short stories before my time.

24. First stage of grief: DENIAL.

25. Firmly resolved (against): DEAD SET.

26. Election winners: INS

27. Company head: BOSS. The head is usually the CEO.  A boss is in charge of a chain gang.  "When I came down to Old Hannah, had a number for my name.  They chained us together and we started cuttin' cane"

37. Big cheese: EXEC. He could be a CEO

38. Wide shoe size: EEE.

39. Azerbaijan's capital: BAKU. If you have never been to Azerbaijan, you probably came to this blog to get the answer.  Welcome!

44. Censor's target: SMUT.

46. Friend of Frodo: SAM. Frodo Baggins/Sam Gamgee. Green eggs and ham, Sam I am!

47. Elk relative: RED DEER. I don't believe these are prominent in the U.S.  We have brown deer in Minnesota, but there is one around Christmastime with a red nose.

51. Dungarees: DENIMS.

54. Mistakes: ERRORS. A baseball stat with Runs, Hits, and Left on base.

55. Hand-tightened fasteners: WINGNUTS. A famous product of Ideal to connect wires,  I am sure Graybar has sold millions of them.

57. Galway Bay's __ Islands: ARAN.

58. New Orleans NFLer: SAINT. Lost to the Vikings last playoff with an unbelievably ridiculous "Hail Mary" pass to Stephon Diggs.

60. Lotion additive: ALOE. - C.C. has an Aloe Vera plant in our home.

64. "Do it, or __!": ELSE.  Or ELSE what ?

65. Wordsworth words: POESY.  Sounds like catcher Buster of the Giants, but spelled differently.

66. Fed. power dept.: ENER. I know they are talking energy, but we don't buy our power from the feds, do we?

Down:

1. A long way off: AFAR.  "We three kings of Orient are, bearing gifts we traverse afar".

2. Credited in a footnote: CITED.  If you text while driving you may get CITED.

3. Like jagged edges: EROSE.  Did anyone send or receive an "E rose" for Mother's Day? It's sort of like an email but it smells nicer.

4. Wax nostalgic: REMINISCE.

5. Angle symbols: THETAS.

6. Marriott or Hyatt: HOTEL. Well known national names,  I prefer the "Orleans" in Las Vegas.  Bowling lanes on the second floor.

Boomer, 2018, the Orleans

7. German industrial region: RUHR.

8. Apply: USE.

9. Traffic slowdown spots: MERGES. We have a ton of these this year in MN.  Late Spring, no the powers that be a fixing every road in the greater Metropolitan area.  Took me an hour each way to and from the bowling tournament I mentioned earlier.  (The bowling center was a whopping 15 miles from my home.)

10. Coarse cloth: TWEED. Tweedle Dee Dee, Tweedle Dee Dum.

11. Aspirations: HOPES.  My Mom's name was Hope. Happy Mother's Day Mom, wherever you are!

12. Cara of "Fame": IRENE. Good night.

13. Trapshooting: SKEET.

21. Triangle ratio: SINE. This math went well over my head.

23. Farrier's abrasive tool: RASP.

25. Elder statesman: DOYEN.

27. Sound from the fold: BLEAT.

28. Sewn edge: HEM. If a sewn edge is a hem, then what is a haw?

29. Kitchenware brand: OXO. Not a common name.  I think they make Farberware.

30. Stimpy's sidekick: REN.

31. Thigh bone: FEMUR. Connected to the HIP bone.

33. Loathe: ABOMINATE.

34. Cat foot: PAW. Father's Day is next month for Opie and all of you who have a Paw.

35. Just get (by): EKE.

36. Capek's robot play: R.U. R.

41. 1914 battle river: YSER. I've heard of it, it's in Europe somewhere, but I don't think I could find it on a map.

43. Hunger twinge: PANG.

45. Really botch: MESS UP.  Error did not work, plus we already had it.

46. "Who goes there?" guard: SENTRY.

47. Aptly named novelist: READE.

48. Swashbuckling Flynn: ERROL. Errol was a bit before my time and I managed to never see an Errol Flynn movie.  The only black and white films I saw were the Three Stooges and Laurel and Hardy.  "Hard boiled eggs and nuts" is one of my favorite expressions.

49. Tied chess games: DRAWS.  I used to play chess but I was no good.  Somehow "Stalemate rings a bell but if you only have five letters to fill, Draws are okay.

50. "Death, be not proud" poet: DONNE.

51. Uses the good china: DINES. What's it called if you use paper plates ?

52. Disney's Chinese warrior: MULAN.

53. Feed, as a fire: STOKE.

55. Like a 10-lane highway: WIDE. - I saw 16 lanes (8 coming and 8 going) in Atlanta once.  Minnesota traffic could use that however we don't have plows wide enough for winter wear.

56. Tarot reader: SEER.

59. Chilean year: ANO.

Boomer