Thursday, July 16, 2015 Rick Papazian

Theme: Back-up Plan

19-Across. Seedless citrus fruit : NAVEL ORANGES.

32-Across. Dish named for its French place of origin : QUICHE LORRAINE.

39-Across. Recitation from Matthew : THE LORDS PRAYER.

55-Across. Psychodrama technique ... and a literal hint to what's hidden in 19-, 32- and 39-Across : ROLE REVERSAL. Simple theme, with ROLE appearing backwards in the theme entries. Similar to the FLIP SIDE puzzle I blogged last week.

We first saw Rick about a year and a half ago. That sort of frequency does not allow you to get used to a constructor's style, so I was all over the place with this one. How did you do?

Across 

1. Fictional Carpathian Mountains resident : DRACULA. Bran Castle is for sale.

8. Bat wood : ASH.

11. Embroidered pronoun : HIS. On bath towels.

14. Protects, in a way : ENCASES. Coddles? Cushions? Sandbags? (I can see I'm gonna need a little perp help here.)

15. "Handcuff Secrets" author : HOUDINI. Gimme.

17. "... folks dressed up like __": "The Christmas Song" : ESKIMOS.

18. Quiet : SILENCE.

21. "Later" : BYE.

24. Traditional observance : RITE.

25. Medical tube : STENT.

26. Gauchos' weapons : BOLAS.  I used to have trouble remembering which was the weapon and which was the tie.  BOLAs are shaped sort of like an "A" on the business end.

Bolo ties have an "O" that goes around the neck:

28. "__ so fast!" : NOT.

31. Baja bear : OSA. Spanish.

37. Painter Cassatt : MARY. Gimme - one of my cats is named after her.

38. Entice : BAIT.

45. Comic strip boy with a giant squid pal : LIŌ. Never saw this comic strip. The squid's name is Ishmael.

 46. North __ : SEA.

47. Work hard : SLAVE.

48. Probably will, after "is" : APT TO.

51. Programmer's glitch, perhaps : LOOP.

54. Car wash option : WAX.

59. Whammy : EVIL EYE.

60. Greets rudely : ACCOSTS.

64. Deeply regret : DEPLORE.

65. "It's better to be looked over than overlooked" speaker : MAE WEST.

66. Logical operators : ORs. Part of that programmer's glitch?

67. Pennant race mo. : SEP.tember.

68. Storehouse : ARSENAL.


Down

1. Low mark : DEE.

2. Med. personnel : RNs.

3. "Egad!" : ACK.

4. Son of Eve : CAIN.

5. Dr. Richard Kimble pursuer : U.S. MARSHAL.

6. Byzantine emperor after Basil I : LEO VI. Sure, I knew that. (Not!)

7. Accounts receivable, e.g. : ASSET.

8. "Oh, I see" : AH SO.

9. Évian evening : SOIR. French.

10. Luau entertainment : HULAS.

11. Contingently follow from : HINGE ON.

12. Tick off : INCENSE.

13. Nogales nap : SIESTA. More Spanish.

16. Trade-in deduction : DENT.

20. Fallon followed him : LENO.  Ugh. Fair warning: DO NOT Google about his recent finger injury.

21. Cookout, briefly : BBQ.

22. "__ rang?" : YOU.

23. Member of college music's Whiffenpoofs : ELI.

27. Pinnacle : ACME.

29. Eyes in verse : ORBS.

30. Drainpipe section : TRAP.

33. Cupid's counterpart : EROS.

34. Old instrument played with a plectrum : LYRE.

35. Jurisdictional atmospheric areas : AIR SPACES. The flight to Cancun used to change by 2 hours, depending on whether the airline could get permission to fly over Cuban AIR SPACE.

36. Font choice: Abbr. : ITAL.ics

39. Topple : TIP OVER.

40. "MASH" nickname : HOT LIPS. Houlihan.

41. Valley : DALE.

42. Deviate from a course : YAW.

43. Perón of Argentina : EVA.

44. Stout in the mystery section : REX. The creator of Nero Wolfe.

45. Rio Grande city : LAREDO.

49. Inform : TELL.

50. "Wonderfilled" treats : OREOS.

52. Store display suffix : ORAMA. So would a cookware store display be called a PANORAMA?

53. First name in wieners : OSCAR.

56. Rochester's bride : EYRE. My first thought is always this Rochester from the old Jack Benney show.

57. Ford, but not Lincoln : VEEP.

58. Actor Rob : LOWE.

61. D.C. VIP : SEN.ator

62. Dept. of Homeland Security org. : TSA. Transportation Security Administration.

63. After N.Y., team with the most World Series wins : ST. L. I'm guessing St. Louis?

So, there you have it.
Marti

Wednesday December 11, 2013 Rick Papazian

Theme:  GET A ROOM (63A. "Whoa! Do that somewhere else!" ... which hints at what can be shared by the beginning and end of the answers to starred clue) - Room can follow the first word & precede the second word in each theme entry.

16A. *Colonial imposition that led to a "party" : TEA TAX. Tea room. I had to ask Argyle what "Room tax" is.

17A. *After-school chum : PLAYMATE. Play room. Roommate. 

28A. *FedEx, for one : DELIVERY SERVICE. Delivery room. Room service.

37A. *Wrestling move : LEGLOCK. Legroom. Room lock. I just call it "lock", never "room lock".

46A. *Some like it hot : BATH TEMPERATURE. Bathroom. Room temperature. This is often a TEA clue.

65A. *Summary of atlas symbols : MAP KEY. Map room. Room key.

C.C. here, filling in a blogging gap.

 

It's hard than it looks to come up with natural phrases where both words can precede/follow a certain word or like today's, one precedes/one follows.

This type of grid with stacked 8's & 6's start is notoriously hard to fill cleanly. There is a reason why most first theme entry is 9+ letters. And this grid has 7 themes (2 grid spanners). So you could imagine the changes the constructor faced during the filling process.

I think this is Rick Papazian's LAT debut. Congratulations, Rick, I'm sure your next grid will be easier :-)

Across:

1. __ Husky : SIBERIAN

9. Shoot for, with "to" : ASPIRE

15. Like poisonous mushrooms : INEDIBLE. I'm not an adventurous mushroom eater. I also find it hard to make mushrooms tasty.

18. "I __ a clue!" : HAVEN'T

19. Fun-with-bubble-wrap sound : POP

20. Sign of success? : SRO (Standing Room Only). Marti might have gone with ALTA for 7D to avoid the ROOM dupe.

21. Sweetie : DOLL

22. Novelist Hunter : EVAN.  Also known as Ed McBain. Lemonade likes him.

24. Dropped in : CAME OVER

32. Simple : BASIC

33. Sty fare : SLOP

34. Prince Valiant's boy : ARN. ALETA isPrince Valiant's wife. I learned both from doing xwords.

 

41. Record producer Brian : ENO

42. Tract for Heathcliff and Cathy : MOOR. "Wuthering Heights"

44. Any Elvis number : OLDIE

53. Direct opposites : INVERSES

54. Receiving customers : OPEN

55. Wild party : BASH

56. Sportscaster Costas : BOB. Who is your favorite sportscaster, Buckeye Bob?

59. Hwy. : RTE

60. 7-Up, in old ads : UNCOLA

66. Notice in passing? : OBITUARY. Nice clue.

67. Cheers up : AMUSES

68. They're often displayed on a cart : DESSERTS. This Apple strudel is waiting for me at the fridge right now. I was too full to eat yesterday. 

 

Down:

1. Nursed : SIPPED

  

2. Under Cupid's spell : IN LOVE. I was 16 when I fell in love with the boy I grew up with. We were together for 7 years. How about your first love?

3. "Help me out, will ya?" : BE A PAL

4. Eponymous ice cream maker : EDY

5. Salty spots on margarita glasses : RIMS

6. Steel beam : I-BAR

7. Midrange voice : ALTO

8. Wedding column word : NEE

9. Where telecommuters work : AT HOME. Do you work at home also, Anon-T?

10. Deck coating : SEALER. Oh, I thought it's called SEALANT. 

11. __ dog: conditioned reflex experiment : PAVLOV'S

12. Meteor tail? : ITE. Meteorite.

13. Was published : RAN

14. Telephone no. add-on : EXT.

21. Courtroom VIPs : DAs

23. Beak : NIB

24. One-eyed monster : CYCLOPS

25. Repulsive : VILE

26. Nobel Prize subj. : ECON

27. Confiscated auto : REPO

29. Actor Kilmer : VAL

30. Laramie-to-Cheyenne dir. : ESE

31. Big truck : RIG

34. Prefix with dextrous : AMBI

35. Colorful horse : ROAN

36. Kid's punishment : NO TV. Like GOUP & PERSE, Tricky to parse at times.

 

38. Bullfight "All right!" : OLE

39. USN officer : CDR. Spitzboov was a Commander when he retired from the Navy Reserve. I love these pictures.

Sallie & Spitzboov

40. Sephia automaker : KIA

43. South African antelopes : RHEBOKS

45. Ike's WWII arena : ETO (European Theater of Operations)

47. Seat of County Kerry : TRALEE. Unfamiliar to me. What's it famous for?

48. School writing assignments : ESSAYS

49. "So what" : MEH

50. Racket : UPROAR

51. Sharp comeback : RETORT

52. "The __ in view; draw up your powers": "King Lear" : ENEMY'S. For Keith.

56. Actress Neuwirth : BEBE

57. Elevator name : OTIS

58. Dugout rackmates : BATS

60. Thurman of "Kill Bill" : UMA

61. '60s-'70s arena, briefly : NAM

62. PC component : CPU

63. Word on U.S. currency : GOD

64. Repent : RUE

Here is one more tip for Sallie and those who want a clearer picture for their avatar. 

Click on your Blue Name, then "Edit Profile" on the upper right, then scroll down to "Profile Picture", then click on "From Your Computer", then upload the picture & click on "Save Profile".

If you click on my blog picture on the left, you'll notice that it can be enlarged while others on the blog remain the same. It's because I did not click on "From Your Computer", I picked the second "From the web. Paste an image URL below". See below (click it, a clearer picture will show up).

I simply copy and paste a link from my Ginger Roots blog. You can copy & paste any link you like, whether it's from my Ginger Roots Blog Photo archive, or your Facebook, Instagram or any website (like here for Sallie's Crab).

Again, it might take a few tries. Be patient.

C.C.