Tuesday, October 3, 2017 ~ Roland Huget

Theme: Let's Make A Deal!

42D. "Agreed!" ... and what can be said about the start of the answers to starred clues: "IT'S A DEAL!"

17A. *Boot camp newbie: RAW RECRUIT. Raw deal.

66A. *Defensible alibi: GOOD EXCUSE. Good deal.

11D. *Grand scheme of things: BIG PICTURE. Big deal.

29D. *It may be rational, in math: REAL NUMBER. Real deal.

Argyle here, dealing from the top of the deck. Roland makes a rare trip to the start of the week. It is a pinwheel but then again, it sort of looks like a Q.

Across:

1. Carpet thickness: PILE

5. Crowbar, basically: LEVER

10. Vanishing ski lift: T-BAR. More accurate than yesterday's clue.

14. Preemptive rescue op: EVAC. (Evacuation) Is the hurricane season over?

15. Wear down: ERODE

16. MasterCard rival: VISA

19. Not fer: AGIN. For and against.

20. Slap in the face: INSULT

21. Play the hand you were dealt: STAND PAT. 36-A. Starts the kitty: ANTEs

23. Smooth engine sound: [HUM]

25. __-Locka, Florida: OPA. Opa-tisha-wocka-locka (Seminole)

                               Historic City Hall.

26. Aetna's bus.: INS. (insurance)

27. Michelin product: CAR TIRE

31. Ancient vase in a museum, say: RELIC

33. Fuel-efficient Chevy: AVEO

34. Physics work unit: ERG. The erg is a unit of energy and work equal to 10−7 joules.

39. Truth stretcher: LIAR directly above 44-A. Untrue: FALSE

40. Nebula Award genre: SCI-FI. Awarded for the best science fiction or fantasy works of the previous calendar year.

43. Undiluted: PURE

46. Acquired: GOT

47. __ Minor: Little Bear: URSA

48. Chinese menu promise: NO MSG. (MonoSodium Glutamate)

51. Company co-founded by J.P. Morgan: US STEEL. Founded: 1901 by Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, Charles M. Schwab, Elbert Henry Gary.

53. "The Simpsons" disco guy: STU

55. Sport-__: 4 x 4: UTE. A utility vehicle.

56. 90 deg. at the North Pole, e.g.: LAT. (latitude)

57. Overly long and generally unproductive activity: TIME SINK. Related to "fun sponge"?

60. One of Santa's reindeer: DASHER. Time to start getting them back into shape.

65. "SOS" pop group: ABBA

68. Baked desserts: PIEs

69. Latest craze: MANIA

70. Ointment additive: ALOE

71. Tortoise racer: HARE

72. Spiritual guardian: ANGEL

73. Identity hider: MASK

Down:

1. Prefix with scope: PERI

2. Hall of Fame catcher Rodriguez: IVAN. Iván Rodríguez, "Pudge". In his career, he played for the Texas Rangers, Florida Marlins, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, Houston Astros and Washington Nationals. Wikipedia

3. Newton's motion trio: LAWS

4. Color of raw silk: ECRU

5. Professors' talks: LECTURES

6. Boot the ball: ERR

7. "Parlez-__ français?": VOUS. "Do you speak French?"

8. Manuscript fixer: EDITOR

9. Make another recording of: RETAPE. This is as dated as the T-bar.

10. Promo on the tube: TV AD

12. From China, say: ASIAN

13. Tirades: RANTS

18. Pre-college, briefly: ELHI. Grades 1 to 12. (ELementary and HIgh-school)

22. Simba's playmate: NALA. I'm not lion.

24. Defunct Ford division, for short: MERC. (Mercury)

27. Baby whale: CALF

28. Sports shoe brand: AVIA

30. Sculptor's subject: TORSO

32. Data to be processed: INPUT

35. Band tour booking: GIG

37. Highland tongue: ERSE

38. Close tightly: SEAL

41. Basketball transgression: FOUL

45. Grounded Aussie birds: EMUs

49. Mark of disgrace: STIGMA

50. Columbus, by birth: GENOAN 

        The Biosphere and the Porto Vecchio in Genoa.

52. Lay's chips-in-a-can brand: STAX. Pringles competition.

53. Dangerous bacterium: STAPH

54. Knee-to-ankle bone: TIBIA

58. Lessen, as pain: EASE

59. Skull Island ape: KONG. (King)

61. Rip-off: SCAM

62. Island dance: HULA

63. Those, in Mexico: ESOS

64. Cause serious nose-wrinkling: REEK

67. Stop working, as an engine: DIE

Argyle

Note from C.C.:

Today dear Santa Argyle wrote his 800th blog post. Day after day, he's here for us. Thank you, Santa.

Saturday, May 13th, 2017, Roland Huget

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing F,Q,Z)

Blocks: 30

Mr. Huget is cranking out the Saturday puzzles for the LA Times this year - today we have #3; number two was last month at Easter.  I did not see the triple stack when I started on this one - and then I saw the 15-letter climber in the DOWN later.  With a few crossings, I was able to fill them in with little trouble, and the net result of a grid with stacks is a higher small word count, too - which usually helps.  Lots of proper names, but none that didn't "self-solve" through perps; other answers came to me from doing lots of crosswords.  The long fills from the middle;

32a. Metaphor for high speed : PEDAL TO THE METAL - see 64a., 24d, 26d.

39a. Sacrificed considerably : PAID A STEEP PRICE

You can send money to my PayPal account. Thank you.

40a. Fixers : TROUBLESHOOTERS

7d. Awkward moment makeup : ABSOLUTE SILENCE

OnwRRRRd~!

ACROSS:

1. Old man, in Mannheim : ALTE - I vaguely remembered the German word, but filled in ALDE at first.

5. Key with five sharps: Abbr. : B MAJ - oops, put in "E" first; "E" is one of the two non-sharps in the key; the other is "B" - all the black keys of a piano get used

9. Mess up : BOTCH

14. Unavoidable : MEANT TO BE- the irony with some of the answers in the puzzle....

16. Oocyte producer : OVARY - my DOWN crossings messed up this corner to start

17. Relaxed to the max : MELLOWEST

18. Name probably derived from scat singing : BEBOP

19. Like Orson, on a '70s-'80s sitcom : ORKAN - along with Mork from Ork

20. Band with a self-named 1978 debut album : TOTO - my personal favorite song from this band;

188,112,538 views; I think the story presented in the 

video is stirring

22. "Lady Jane Grey" playwright : ROWE - filled via perps

23. Queen of Thorns portrayer on TV : RIGG - filled via perps

25. Floaters in a Japanese ceremony : LANTERNS

Cool

27. Turkish title : AGA - got it from doing crosswords

29. Cassowary cousin : EMU

31. Dog in the Reagan White House : REX - the "X" was an educated guess

41. Sign of summer : LEO - astrological sign

42. Leb. neighbor : ISRael - oops, not SYRia

43. Low mark : DEE

44. 1942 Hayworth/Mature musical : MY GAL SAL - I suppose the "G" offered some solvers a Natick with the vague Greek name crossing

48. Neutral shades : TANS - ah, such a lovely shade....

51. Surface application : COAT - I figured it was this, or "FILM"

52. Overly precious, in Portsmouth : TWEE - I need to start using this word at UPS; it's hiring season, and most of the people coming in don't last more than two days; I'll have seven years in June, and I am getting the "itch" - especially since the newest ruling from above no longer allows us to listen to music on the job.  Really~?

54. It makes everything taste better, they say : BACON - I have to agree

57. Child with dishes : JULIA - clever, but I got it - do you think she likes bacon~?

59. Talus : ANKLEBONE - I pondered BIRD'S FOOT

61. Classic theater : ODEON

62. Glaze causes : ICE STORMS

63. __ Doon, Bay Area community named by a Scotsman : BONNY

64. One may be taken on the road : TEST - I was just reading Road & Track while waiting to get my hair cut, and in this issue they test drove a McLaren along with 9 other 'supercars'; one of the authors crashed it.  Ouch.  I like the McLaren

65. Sugar source : BEET

DOWN:

1. Clip contents : AMMO

2. Lascivious look : LEER

3. Broadcast genre : TALK RADIO

4. Zhou __ : EN LAI

5. Start of a modern afterthought : BTW - By The Way

6. Chandon's partner : MOËT - champagne

8. Beetle cousin : JETTA - ah, the car, not the insect

9. Short do : BOB - dah~! Not 'FRO

10. Exhaust (oneself), as in a workout : OVEREXERT

11. Drum with a fife : TABOR - Dah~!! Not SNARE

12. Symbol of sovereignty : CROWN - I had this, and took it out because it did not jibe with SNARE

13. Strong pitches : HYPES

15. Grab, as at a smorgasbord : TONG

21. Restricted pending disciplinary action : ON REPORT

24. Takes a turn for the worse? : GETS LOST

I couldn't resist

26. Pace : TEMPO

27. Cal. entry : APPT.

28. Driver's choice : GEAR - could have been IRON, as in golf, but rarely does one use an iron as a driver; maybe from the tee of a par three....?

30. Speck : MOTE - not IotA, but that's 100% 50% correct

33. Sycophant's specialty : ADULATION - a Kiss A**

34. Record trademark : LABEL

35. Sneaky chortles : HEHs

36. 50-50, say : TIED SCORE - seemed unlikely, but I filled it in, and it stayed

37. Real estate buy : ACRE

38. Suffix with Congo : LESE - Congolese; hey, it's Saturday

44. Teen's source of funds : McJOB

45. "Really?" : "YOU DO~?"

46. Ancient Greek physician : GALEN - the "N" was my last fill

47. Anticipate : AWAIT

49. Help on the job? : ABET

50. Big shot : NABOB

53. Scratches (out) : EKES

55. "Your money's no good here" : ON ME

56. First flight launch site : NEST - I pondered N CAR, for the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk; nope, just the home of the animals God intended to fly....

58. Partner of all : ANY - any & all

60. D-Day craft : LST - crossword staple

Splynter

Saturday, Apr 15th, 2017, Roland Huget

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing V,W,X)

Blocks: 27

Second Saturday from today's constructor this year, and looking over that puzzle, I noted that I had one cheat - well, there was none of that today. I did have a slow start and some vague cluing which was not that vague once I realized my first thought was the right answer.  The NW corner was last to fill in, and I had just enough in my wheelhouse to make this a challenge, but doable.  Quad 9's and triple 7's in the corners of this grid;  I am working from my desktop "tower" computer for the first time this week, and it takes some getting used to with the much wider monitor - 25 whole inches - and the "big buttons" keyboard.  My laptop has Windows XL, which Firefox no longer supports, so the internet was crashing too often.  The technological turnover in devices these days is sometimes too fast....anyway, some of the longer answers;

19. Asylum seeker : IMMIGRANT - we'll open with a musical refernce

The Immigrant Song

14. Candidate for Photoshop : EYESORE - forget the fact that this is also a courthouse, but to me, a real eyesore....

57. Carousel riders : SUITCASES -got it because I was not thinking of little kids on a carousel - it was because Airplane~! was on TV yesterday;

37. Water or gas : UTILITY - makes me think of Monopoly

or this one - warning~!

ACROSS:

1. Nevada's state flower : SAGEBRUSH - guess there's not a lot to choose from in plants out there

10. Yippie Hoffman : ABBIE

15. Silver tongue : ELOQUENCE

16. Like some winds : REEDY - my first thought, but thought it was too seedy

17. Becomes ripe : MATURATES

18. "Joyful, __ nations, rise": carol lyric : ALL YE

20. Walk quartet : BALLS - drew a complete blank, even after I finished, but then I finally got the V-8 can moment and figured out it's a baseball reference; see 11d.

21. Rathskeller turndown : NEIN - I spelled it 'backwards', which didn't help - we have a running gag at the poker table that there's a German playing when a "nine" comes out - get it~?

22. In silence : MUTELY

24. Half of Bennifer : JLo - Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck

25. "Inferiority complex" coiner : ADLER - pondered FREUD

27. "Unfaithful" co-star : GERE

28. Hold 'em holding : PAIR - I tanked in last week's game - and we're not playing tonight

29. Calif. NHL team, on scoreboards : LA Kings - who did not make the playoffs this year, but beat the NY Rangers for the Stanley Cup in 2014.  The Rangers gave it away last night to the Canadiens

30. How many TV shows are aired : IN HD

32. Liftoff sensation : G-FORCE

34. Record flaw : BLOT - ah, a 'criminal' record, not an LP

35. Moonraker, for one : SAIL - got stuck in James Bond mode

36. "You kiss by the book" speaker : JULIET - got it from -U--ET

39. Solar __ : CELL - not WIND

40. Word heard before a pistol fires : SET - ready, set, go~!

43. Heavy traffic may affect them, briefly : ETAs

44. Buddy : CHUM

46. Seriously hurts : MAIMS - had it in, took it out, put it back

48. First date concern : ZIT - first dates these days don't concern zits - compatibility seems to be the big issue at my age

49. Civil War battle site : SHILOH

51. Tahari of fashion : ELIE

52. Young would-be 19-Across in 2000 news : ELIAN

54. River across Quebec, in Quebec : St. LAURENT

56. Overindulgence : BINGE

58. Business that requires browsing : eTAIL

59. Lily's "Laugh-In" operator : ERNESTINE

60. Janitor's supply : LYSOL - oops, I threw in an "S" at the end thinking it would be plural

61. Collector's targets : DEADBEATS - I tried "WHOLE SETS", which fit, but seemed awkward

DOWN:

1. Pioneering : SEMINAL

2. Oakland's county : ALAMEDA - pretty good WAG from some crossings

3. Dairy line? : GOT MILK~?

4. Like some mounts : EQUINE

5. Hamlet : BURG - not TOWN

6. Prepare for a new assault : REARM

7. Innate : UNTAUGHT

8. Like many candles : SCENTED

did you see the candles~?

9. Hawthorne's Prynne : HESTER - forced high school reading - The Scarlet Letter

10. Sheikdom of song : ARABY

11. Coach of Nadia and Mary Lou : BELA - the "A" was my last fill, and I guessed

12. Protective display cover : BELL JAR

13. Charmingly rustic : IDYLLIC

23. By the book : LEGAL

26. Get to : RILE

28. Campaign pro : POLitician

31. V-shaped cut : NOTCH - I have finally gotten around to building my entertainment center after months of planning - the unit divides my space into "living room" and "bedroom"; I mounted the TV and the fake fireplace on a swivel, can see both from either room now

33. Thin coat : FILM

34. Grafton's "__ for Burglar" : B IS

35. Pasta ingredient : SEMOLINA - my first thought, but was not jibing with my crossings

36. Biblical wife of Ahab : JEZEBEL - good WAG from the "J" and the "L"

38. Selena and others : LATINAS

39. Lab dish subject : CULTURE

40. Historical Oder River region : SILESIA - filled via perps

41. Distinguished : EMINENT

42. Flies over Africa? : TSE-TSES

45. Sounded displeased : HISSED

47. Make bubbly : AERATE

49. Fishhook connector : SNELL

50. More than a little unpopular : HATED

53. Currency exchange fee : AGIO - hah~!  I knew this~!

55. Sch. in the same system as Berkeley : UCSB - somehow I managed to try U CAL, but it helped

Splynter

Thursday, March 9, 2017 Roland Huget

Theme: Beforehand. The three circled words are clued as "synonym" found in "a thing".

17A. Done in a comprehensive plan? : BLANKET COVERAGE. Done as in finished.

35A. Tied up in a government program? : CRIME PREVENTION. Tied up as in evened the score.

55A. Out in a classic sports car? : FORD THUNDERBIRD. Out as in knocked out by anesthetic.

Hi all! Fun theme from Roland, I like the way the circled words are clued. Three full grid-spanners for the theme entries and a very solid-looking grid.  I don't know if he was connecting the circled letters as being words that can follow "hand"; that's just my theme title.

Definitely some Thursday-level stuff going on today. Let's see what jumps out

Across:

1. Fish feature : GILL. I never thought of a gill in the singular before.

5. Sporty sunroof : T-TOP

9. Impressionist's métier : APERY.I know it's a word, but this and the related "aper" just don't work for me.

14. Mount between Pelion and Olympus : OSSA. Dug this out of the cranial recesses.

15. Bat mitzvah dance : HORA. Didn't dig this out, thank you crosses.

16. "__ Theme": "Doctor Zhivago" song : LARA'S. Let's hear it from The City of Prague Philharmonic.

20. Primed : SET, as a fuse.

21. Duffers' dreams : ACES. A duffer of a golfer can only dream of a hole-in-one. I've got one which I count as "unofficial" because it was on a par-three course, and it doesn't make me any less of a duffer, believe me. One of my friends got a legitimate one with a club I'd given him the week before, so I claimed the assist.

22. Gamer's game face : AVATAR. You choose an avatar to represent you when playing online video games. Apparently. Here's one of mine from Facebook:

23. Criticize harshly : SLAM

24. Emailed a dupe to : CC'ED

25. Darth, before he turned to the Dark Side : ANAKIN.

28. Postgrad challenge : ORAL EXAM

32. Quarrel : RUN-IN

33. Pit-__: heart sound : A-PAT

34. Target of annual shots : FLU

39. Useful Scrabble tile : ESS. Useful because you can add it to pretty much any existing word on the board.

40. Fairy tale heavy : OGRE

41. Suez Canal ship : OILER. Oil tankers are not the only commercial traffic to use the canal, but oil from the Arab countries is carried through the canal bound for nothern Europe and the U.S. East Coast. As the price of oil has fallen, since 2016 some carriers are choosing to take the longer way around the southern tip of Africa to avoid paying the toll charges for passage through the canal.

42. IBM's chess-playing computer : DEEP BLUE. It could beat me blindfold and with one microchip tied behind its back. I'm a lousy chess player.

45. To a greater degree : MORE SO

46. Singer India.__ : ARIE. Note the period after India - it's part of her name. This is a new name for me, but she's won four Grammys. Crosses filled her in for me. Striking-looking woman.

47. Word with candy or sugar : CANE

48. Book with tablets : EXODUS

51. Candle holder : CAKE

52. The White Stripes, e.g. : DUO. Here's "Seven Nation Army" - drums and guitar. Catchy riff on the base notes.

58. Veil material : TULLE

59. Bolivia neighbor : PERU

60. "It follows that ... " : ERGO. Cogito ergo sum - "I'm pink, therefore I'm Spam" - wait, what?

61. Lid woes : STYES

62. Intervene, with "in" : STEP

63. Some game : DEER

Down:

1. Scads : GOBS. Lots, slangily.

2. Part of a chain : ISLE

3. Atty.-to-be's hurdle : LSAT

4. System of connected PCs : LAN. Local Area Network. My home network has a load of things connected to it, most of which are not PC's. The oddest one is probably my sous-vide immersion cooker which talks to the controller app on my iPhone.

5. Lockup, in slang : THE CAN

6. Carved symbol : TOTEM

7. "Warcraft" killers : ORCS. Never played the game, but didn't take a lot of guessing once the "O" appeared.

8. Kung __ chicken : PAO

9. British school test : A-LEVEL. Funny, I was just talking about these to a friend yesterday. Short for "Advanced Level". I've got a couple in Economics and Computer Science.

10. Annual Macy's tradition : PARADE

11. Q.E.D. word : ERAT. Not "Quod" so you need one cross to be sure. It's not "demonstrandum" either, 'cause that doesn't fit.

12. Indian music style : RAGA. Plenty of opportunity for musical links today. Here's the fantastic closing credits/dance scene from "Slumdog Millionaire".

13. North Sea feeder : YSER. Crossword staple. Here it is flowing past the village of Roesbrugge in Belgium.

18. Tigers Hall of Famer Al : KALINE. No clue. Solid crosses to the rescue again.

19. Move out : VACATE

23. 1% alternative : SKIM. I saw "fat-free half-and-half" in the market last week. Doesn't that completely defeat the purpose?

24. Have a jones for : CRAVE

25. Like football passes : ARCED. I tried AIRED first as in the QB "airing out" the ball, but it turned out I was 40% wrong.

26. "Scrubs" extra : NURSE

27. Herbal flavor similar to licorice : ANISE

28. __ citato: in the work cited : OPERE. Usually abbreviates to Op. Cit.

29. Case for Scully : X-FILE. Clever singular form.

30. Leafy healers : ALOES

31. Canadian Alice with a Nobel Prize : MUNRO. Fiction writer. Her Nobel Prize in Literature is as a "master of the contemporary short story".

33. Tell it to the judge : ARGUE. I'm not sure I'd want to be arguing with the judge. I assume you're arguing your case.

36. Refinement : POLISH

37. Lunchtime tryst : NOONER

38. Run out of gas : TIRE. When you run out of tire, you're on your rims.

43. Get the canoe going : PADDLE. I saw a bumper sticker on a truck in northern Georgia near where "Deliverance" was filmed. It read "Paddle faster, I hear banjos".

44. Savages : BRUTES

45. Bury the hatchet : MAKE UP

47. Tight-knit group : CADRE

48. Young newts : EFTS

49. Cross off : X-OUT

50. Alternative to de Gaulle : ORLY. Parisian airports. ORY used to be the main airport until CDG was opened.

51. Tech news site : CNET. The name doesn't seem to be an acronym for anything.

52. Desperate : DIRE

53. Sugar craving, say : URGE

54. Wrinkled-nose cause : ODOR

56. Co. with brown trucks : UPS. My brother drives for UPS in England. Our own Splynter takes the wheel here in the US.

57. Place to plant : BED. Flower bed. Here's a pretty one in the English countryside.

And with that, I think my work here is done. Salut!

Steve

Saturday, Jan 14th, 2017 Roland Huget

Theme: None

Words 68 (missing B,F,J,K,Q,Z)

Blocks: 25 

A perfectly symmetrical construction with chunky corners and no way to get from one to the other without going through 15-letter spanners and climbers makes this possibly the most difficult grid to work with;  I have to own up to one Google cheat, but other than that, I call this one a win - no fun-sponge answers, and solid fill throughout.  The last Saturday puzzle from Mr. Huget was nearly an identical grid, and I re-read my write-up and it was a struggle then as well.  Still, I liked the challenge, and I was within my personal allotted time, so one cheat is fair, right~?  Anyway, the four spanners and climbers;

31a. Classic children's story about healing : THE SECRET GARDEN - I'd heard of it, but knew nothing about it, so I went to the the Wiki

36a. '60s TV sidekick : AGENT NINETY-NINE - from Get Smart - one of my favorite openings for a show and theme song - here's the 60's Agent 99; I liked Anne Hathaway in the 2008 movie myself

GET SMART

7d. Find the weakness of : HIT WHERE IT HURTS

8d. Accessory for FDR : CIGARETTE HOLDER - see also 55d. for a WWII contemporary

bONnieWARD~!

ACROSS: 

1. "Yikes!" : "OMIGOSH~!"

8. Whitewash : COVER-UP

15. Ancient Roman coins : DENARII - I took Latin for four years in school, so the couble "I-I" at the end was acceptable

16. "It's not an option for me" : "I HAVE TO." - I have to add a leg image - it's not an option for me

17. Court exhibit, perhaps : DNA TEST

18. Squared up : GOT EVEN - I was not sure if this was a carpentry clue, or an "I.O.U." one

19. Customs : MORES - dah~! Not NorMs

20. '70s org. for 21-Down : WHA - I immediately filled in NHL, as I knew who we were looking for at 21d - and I was wrong~!  The WHA was the World Hockey Association, a league I had never heard of - I grew up with the NY Rangers, the team my dad followed before the birth of the Islanders - who got their start from the legal battles of the NHL with the WHA - the Wiki
 

22. Viking family dog of comics : SNERT - Hägar the Horrible

23. Notable periods : ERAS - a gimme for Saturday

24. Side issue? : THORN - a "thorn in one's side" - har-har

26. Piano __ : TRIO - yeah, this one was vague, at best; I pondered LEGS

27. Hound : NAG - oops, not the 'other' hound - DOG - I have an idea for a new board game that I have been working on all week, and there's a good chance I can produce it if the prototype is good - my friend Mike works with China to produce backyard games and such

28. Little ones : PEE-WEES

30. "Microsoft sound" composer : ENO - perps

34. "What's Hecuba to him, __ to Hecuba": Hamlet : OR HE - OK, the only fill that was "meh", but not too bad when you quote Shakespeare

35. St Ives gallery : TATE - a WAG off  '--TE'

43. Discount tag abbr. : IRRegular

44. One giving a thumbs-up? : HITCHER - Always makes me think of the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

45. Put the kibosh on : NIX - ARGH~! not HEX, not POX

46. Actors Glass and Silver : RONs - both have died; I knew Ron Silver - he was a lawyer on Law & Order, but I had to look up Ron Glass - ah, from Barney Miller, just before my time

48. Total confusion : CHAOS - I mentioned this word last week - and KAOS was in Get Smart, too

49. High seas adverb : THAR - she blows~!

50. Creamer of the LPGA : PAULA - perps and WAG

52. Search result : URL - oops, not HIT

53. "Rocky IV" antagonist Ivan : DRAGO - this was "my time", but Rocky movies were not my thing; 1985 was a good movie year - Back to the Future, A View to A Kill, and a tie-in to 28a. - see here

54. Being tracked, in a way : ON RADAR

56. Think it likely : DARESAY - I pondered DEEMS SO

58. Reference : RESPECT - should this have been reVerence~?  I'm calling blooper

59. Hyundai 1990 launch : ELANTRA - Nailed it, even if it was a WAG

60. Locks : TRESSES

61. Unfair treatment : RAW DEAL 

 DOWN:

1. Leftover : ODDMENT

2. Festival of Lights symbol : MENORAH - big help in the NW

3. Really ticked : IN A RAGE

4. 36-Down areas : GATES - did not work with my NorMs

5. They may be picked out : ORES - ah, a fresh clue for an old fill

6. Family nickname : SIS

9. "Look what I found!" : "O HO~!"

10. Brewery fixtures : VATS

11. What happened : EVENT

12. Venerated : REVERED - still calling blooper at 58a.

13. Womb-related : UTERINE

14. Floatplane feature : PONTOON

21. Six-time Hart Trophy winner : HOWE - either HOWE or HULL

24. Lego line that may include gears and motors : TECHNIC - my favorite collection of Lego sets; I have several kits still in a closet at mom's house, including the "old" helicopter set - here's the latest helicopter, but all the new kits have pre-molded parts that take some of the fun out of building

25. Countermands : NEGATES

28. Capital of Western Australia : PERTH - ooh, good WAG off just the "H"

29. Faun look-alike : SATYR

32. Male issue : SON

33. Cartoon canine : REN

36. Site with scanners : AIRPORT

37. It usually doesn't get a laugh : GROANER

38. Hospital triage pro : ER NURSE

39. Mayberry's home: Abbr. : N. CARolina

40. At the last minute, say : IN HASTE

41. New York county north of Erie : NIAGARA - my one cheat - and living in NY, I shoulda known....

NW corner - polar opposites; I'm in Suffolk, SE

42. 2016 World Series MVP Ben Zobrist, e.g. : EX-ROYAL - hockey is my thing, not baseball

47. Sharp rebukes : SLAPS

49. General direction : TREND

51. Citrus coolers : ADES

53. Main attraction : DRAW

55. Dogfight participant : ACE - Iron Maiden's Aces High

57. Like : À LA

Splynter 

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to dear JD, who joined our blog after she retired in 2008. Below is the first picture JD shared with us back when her daughter Shelby got married. Truman was only a baby then. How time flies. You can click here for many beautiful pictures JD shared with us over the years.

Thursday, December 29th 2016 Roland Huget

Theme: Whaddya know? Synonyms in the Circles, as the reveal tells us:

55A. Privileged information demonstrated by this puzzle's circles : INSIDE KNOWLEDGE

17A. Producer of lavish revues : FLORENZ ZIEGFELD (LORE). The Ziegfeld Follies. I never knew the first name until today. When it appeared, I was surprised as I thought the impresario was a guy, so I went to look and ... "Flo" and behold, he was a guy.

25A. Where everything turns out all right : STORYBOOK ENDING. (KEN) Depends on what kind of story you're reading.

42A. New Orleans spectacle : MARDI GRAS PARADE. (GRASP) Here's a part of one on St. Charles:

Thursday already? And three more days until the New Year? Tempus fugit, for sure. Nice clean puzzle from Roland today, four grid-spanning theme entries and a tidy grid. Let's see what else jumps out.

Across

1. Little bit of progress : DENT. STEP went in, then came out to be replaced by INCH. Not a clean start for me today.

5. Mike supports : BOOMS. Had me wondering what on earth another name for a STAND could be.

10. Capitol cap : DOME

14. Zeno's home : ELEA. Crosses all the way. Zeno of Elea, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. I never studied philosophy.

15. Great-grandfather of Noah : ENOCH. Nailed it. Learned from crosswords.

16. Struck (out) : EX'ED. Now then, you constructors and editors, pay attention. You can have X'ED or you can have EX'ED, but you can't have both. Pick one or the other. Thank you.

20. Catch some rays : TAN

21. Chop __ : SUEY. Food! Chinese-American cuisine, and the title of a song from alternative metal band System of a Down. Raucous Music Advisory.

22. More than enough : PLENTY

23. Pollutant concentration meas. : P.P.M. Parts Per Million

24. Splint site : SHIN

33. Part of Great Britain : WALES. The bit on the left across from Ireland. The place names can be baffling if you don't know the Welsh language. Try "Pwllheli" or "Pencaennewydd" before tackling "Llanfairpwllgwyngyll".

34. Jersey, for one : SHIRT. Because "Channel Island" doesn't fit. I've got quite a collection of soccer jerseys; both from games I've seen around the world and bought the home team's jersey as a souvenir, and quite a few of my own team, Chelsea FC.

35. "The Purloined Letter" writer : POE

36. British tennis star Murray : ANDY. He's a good sport - he sold ice cream at a tournament in Cincinnati last year.

37. Internet greeting : E-CARD

38. Lawyer's job : CASE

39. Ham may be seen on it : RYE. It's funny, but thinking about it, I'd never put ham on rye. Wheat would be my choice.

40. "What I dream of is __ of balance ... ": Matisse : AN ART. He goes on to say "... of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue." Sounds nice.

41. Track divisions : LANES. Athletics tracks.

45. Spring bloom : IRIS

46. Recede : EBB

47. International economic bloc : G-SEVEN. Quickly - name them off! (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the USA.)

50. Sheltered at sea : ALEE

52. Epitome of slipperiness : EEL

58. Advance : LOAN

59. Start of a kid's rhyme : EENIE

60. Boil over : RAGE

61. Irish Rose's guy : ABIE. Thank you crosses, no clue. I discover that he is from an Anne Nichols play first performed in 1922.

62. Bring up : RAISE

63. Out of control : AMOK. I can't think of ever seeing this word used without being paired with the verb "to run".

Down

1. Like a magician's hands : DEFT

2. "__ and Louis": 1956 jazz album : ELLA

3. Element #10 : NEON. This chap: [He] 2s²2p⁶

4. Smelly sealant : TAR. I love the smell of fresh tar. I remember as a kid being bewitched by the road crew laying fresh blacktop on our street.

5. Render senseless : BENUMB

6. Number after dix : ONZE

7. Seeping slowly : OOZY. Oozy? OK, I'll let this one go.

8. Old Sprint rival : MCI. Part of Verizon now.

9. One often seen with a crook : SHEPHERD. It never ceases to amaze me how many dog owners have a German Shepherd, but don't know how to spell it.

10. Stand up for : DEFEND

11. Ground-breaking team, at times : OXEN. Enjoyed this clue.

12. Lunch order : MELT

13. Drain swirl : EDDY

18. Best Championship Performance and Best Team : ESPYS. The annual ESPY sports awards on ESPN.

19. Sparkle : GLINT

23. Carnivore's target : PREY

24. Goes around : SKIRTS

25. Buzzing cloud : SWARM

26. Self-named 2002 country album : TANYA. Thank you, crosses.

27. From an earlier time : OLDER

28. Statuettes that were made of painted plaster during WWII : OSCARS. That's a learning moment. I didn't hesitate to put it straight in though.

29. 1939 Leigh role : O'HARA

30. Bucky Beaver's toothpaste : IPANA. What happened to this stuff? It looks like it's still sold in Turkey: "Healthier and Brighter Teeth from the First Day"

31. Edged (out) : NOSED

32. Former goslings : GEESE

37. Mastermind : ENGINEER. The verb, not the noun. Nice clue/answer combo.

38. Certain dieter's concern : CARB-ohydrate

40. Made public : AIRED

41. Shop tag : LABEL

43. Godlike : DIVINE

44. Hall of Famer Reese : PEEWEE

47. Coolidge Dam's river : GILA. I really need to remember this, I was almost Natick'ed at GILA/ABIE.

48. Highbrow, perhaps : SNOB

49. Morales of "NYPD Blue" : ESAI

50. Years in Rome : ANNI

51. "Family Guy" mom : LOIS

52. Dutch export : EDAM. They do make other cheeses, but Edam always gets top billing.

53. French Toaster Sticks brand : EGGO

54. One of 33-Across' national emblems : LEEK. "Ydych chi eisiau benthyg fy cennin?" (Do you want to borrow my leek?)

56. Mauna __ : KEA. It's a big bugger too, 13,802 feet, the highest point in the state.

57. Starter's stat : E.R.A. The baseball pitcher's Earned Run Average. Lower is better.

I think that's my journey done for the day. Let's make sure I've got everything - keys, wallet, passport ... oh wait, the grid. Here it is:

Steve

Saturday, Nov 12th, 2016, Roland Huget

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing J,Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 26

Today's puzzle proved to be as difficult as it looked - whenever the symmetry separates the corners (as in this grid) and makes each of the corners independent, for me, that means either getting a foothold, or falling short.  I was able to fill in all the cells, but alas, no ta-DA~!  So I went back and found four red-letter mistakes.  Still, a solid effort on my part, and under my personal allotted time, as well.  7x7 chunky corners, two 9-letter crossings in the center, and four 8-letter "tie-ins";

35a. "Got a minute?" : "CAN WE TALK~?" - a certain catch-phrase for someone, too

21d. Prime example : POSTER BOY

 

  

HanWARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Where member golfers gather, familiarly : THE CLUB

8. Tybalt's house : CAPULET - Montague did not fit, and I was guessing he was a part of one of the main characters houses - either Romeo's or Juliet's

15. French roll : ROULEAU - I tried BAGUETE, which I figured needs another "T"

16. Cognizant of : ALIVE TO

17. Like some wake-up hours : UNGODLY - I like watching people's reactions when I tell them I am usually up for work at UPS about 2:30AM - they get that "It's unGODly~!" look on their faces - and in two weeks, it'll be 11PM for peak season

18. Wine product : VINEGAR

19. Biases : SKEWS - my initial Downs led me to try EDGES here

20. Corp. fundraiser : IPO - ah, a financial ploy, not a person

22. Greeted at the door : SAW IN - oops, not LED IN

23. Dollywood locale: Abbr. : TENNessee

24. __ door : STORM - I tried ENTRY first

26. Broadway seductress : LOLA

27. "__ tu": Verdi aria : ERI - learned from Crosswords

28. Oater accessory : TIN STAR - STETSON would fit, but clashed with CAVORT

30. Like half a deck : RED - I have been playing poker on Saturday nights for two months now, so this type of "deck" was foremost in my mind.  I am up $6 for the eight weeks, with a $20 buy in, and my best night was a $61 take

31. French appetizer : ESCARGOT

33. Hall of Fame knuckleballer Phil : NIEKRO - a Yankee, and I dredged him up from the depths of my mental past

37. Ponderosa order : RIB  EYE - I vaguely recalled that there was a restaurant chain known as Ponderosa, and it must have been from back in my Upstate NY or Cincinnati OH days; none around here

40. Performer who must be from 5'6" to 5'10½" tall : ROCKETTE - pretty good guess on my part; not that I knew of the height restrictions.  I think they must have "minimum leg requirements", too

44. No power can change it : ONE - ah, mathematics.  I was thinking in terms of "power outage", and having no electrical power.  Duh.

45. Calder sculpture : STABILE - learning moment for me.  Alexander Calder "invented" the art form of mobiles, and the ones that don't 'move' are called stabiles.  More from Wiki

There's an example right down the road from me that can be seen from NY 27, Sunrise Highway - referred to as the "big deer head", its title is actually "Stargazer"

47. Burgundy on screen : RON - good guess on my part - from the Will Ferrell movie "Anchorman"

48. Cookware portmanteau : T-FAL - "portmanteau" is one of those things I learned doing crosswords, as well - essentially, it's blending two words, like "SMOG" - smoke and fog.  In this case, as I just learned, it's short for TEFlon and ALuminum

50. Took : STOLE - I hesitated, but was on the "burglary" form of "took" wavelength

51. Paris green? : PARC - I tried EURO, for the money kind of green; then it was BANC, and that seemed acceptable; but BOINT was not - it was my 42d that I guessed wrong

52. Wyandot people : HURON - OK, I cheated - I Googled

54. Tournament pass : BYE

55. Axle in a wooden toy : DOWEL - a complicated definition of a simple item - followed by this clue;

56. One of two nuclides with the same neutron number but different proton numbers : ISOTONE - uh, OK, so I decided isotoPe was good enough, but I was 1/7th wrong

58. Contest name coined by its eventual winner : THRILLA - in Manila, a boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier

60. London-based news agency : REUTERS - took half perps for this to come to me

61. Goes underground : TUNNELS

62. Elaine's home, in Arthurian legend : ASTOLAT - my second "A" was an "E" at first

63. Me time? : EGO TRIP

DOWN:
       
1. Board member : TRUSTEE

2. Geese : HONKERS - I tried "GANDERS", which was 100% 3/7ths correct

3. Concerned with good breeding : EUGENIC - I had HYGENIC, which in the Down looked right, but it's Hyg-I-enic; I've never actually looked at the eugenics definition until today

4. One who's not serious : CLOWN

5. Some arena displays, briefly : LEDs - Light Emitting Diode displays

6. O'Hare initials : UAL - why did I think this was ORD at first~? Because that's the Airport Code.  When I looked up UAL, I was in Luau, Angola - the answer is the abbr. for United Airlines.  Tricky.

7. eBay option : BUY IT NOW - the only way I will buy anything off eBay - I can't be bothered to watch how my bids are doing

8. Frolic : CAVORT

9. "Aladdin" prince : ALI - could have been tied into 58A. if you ask me

10. Strike victims? : PINS

The revenge of the pins

11. __ layer: eye part : UVEAL

12. Old-fashioned investigation : LEGWORK - these legs work for me

13. Noncash business : eTAILER

14. Phenomenon measured by the Enhanced Fujita Scale : TORNADO - I mentioned the EF scale in a puzzle last month or so

24. Small seals : SIGNETS - I was thinking seals, the 'animal' - but mixed up my CYGNETS

25. Handcuff : MANACLE

28. Printer inserts : TRAYS - I was thinking "please don't be REAMS" - I cannot get that much paper in my home printer, though I guess one could do so with a commercial unit

29. "The Book of Hours" poet : RILKE - perps

32. Top performer : ACE

34. Squeeze (out) : EKE

36. Grooming process : TOILETTE

37. Estate planner's advice : ROTH IRA - being in the DOWN, I stared at this for way too long before the V-8 can flew

38. Imbues : INFUSES

39. Back up : BEAR OUT - I was 'meh' about this, but then I figured out that you better "back up" your argument, or the facts won't "bear out"

41. Net user : TRAWLER

42. Baroque composer Giuseppe __ : TORELLI - perps and one goof

43. Embrace : ENCLASP - OK, but for me, meh. Clecho with 59d. Embrace : HUG

46. Ideally : AT BEST

49. Numbers game : LOTTO

51. Essential thing : POINT

53. Winter air : NOEL - air as in "tune" or "song" - but "COLD" did pass thru my thoughts

55. 1962 title villain played by Joseph Wiseman : Dr. NO - bang~! Nailed it, but I am a big James Bond fan

57. FDR program : NRA - yeah, uh, this makes more sense than "P.R.E."

Splynter

Note from C.C.:

Happy birthday to Rich Norris, editor of LA Times Daily Crossword. Often half or more clues of each puzzle are Rich's creation. Like many other constructors, I've benefited so much from Rich's patient & expert guidance. Rich has not made any puzzle for NYT since 2008, yet he's still the fourth most published constructor in Shortz era.

Rich and his wife Kim