Friday, June 29, 2012, Stephen Edward Anderson

Theme: Fun with the 'fun'etic alphabet, NATO style.

Each of the 5 theme answer are familiar abbreviations presented as they would be called out by a pilot on his radio. The ultimate in clecho themeage. This was a puzzle where you either got the gimmick or you were doomed to much hard work. I lucked out and was off to the races. This is our second puzzle from Mr. Anderson who had his debut here the day after Thanksgiving, 2011, where C.C. was generous enough to blog so I could hang with my sons. So what do you think gang? What was your initial reaction? A few tough proper names (no J!) but not many long words, except for two excellent non-theme fill in FACSIMILE and EMPHASIZE. Time to work it.

17A. Brightness measure, to a pilot : INDIA QUEBEC.(11) Brightness as measured in an Intelligence Quotient test.

26A. Green light, to a pilot : OSCAR KILO.(9) OKAY.

39A. It's dropped for a trip, to a pilot : LIMA SIERRA DELTA. (15)Ah the sweet smell of the 60's with the LSD in bloom.

50A. Undergraduate degree, to a pilot : BRAVO ALFA.(9) Bachelor of Arts.

62A. Den centerpiece, to a pilot : TANGO VICTOR. (11) Does anyone still have their TELEVISION as a centerpiece in a room?

No need for a unifier, so lets see the cluing skills....

Across:

1. Knocks the socks off : WOWS. A nice upbeat start.

5. Nab in a sting : ENTRAP. Well, it depends on the sting; the police do not like it when you use this word for their operations, as ENTRAPMENT is forbidden.

11. Airwaves monitoring grp. : FCC. Federal Communications Commission. Foxtrot Charlie Charlie.


14. Wide-mouthed jug : EWER. Veh is mir, this vase keeps showing up.

15. Sister of Venus : SERENA. The legendary tennis sisters.

16. RR listing : ARRival.

19. Pool tool : CUE. Rhyme time.

20. Letters after some officers' names : RETired.

21. Ukr. et al, once : SSRS. Okay, time to retire this fill.

22. Let up : EASED.

24. Dangle limply : DROOP. Man, that sounds worse than sagging.

29. Ireland's ___ Féin : SINN. No comment, it would be POLITICAL.

31. State through which the Brahmaputra River flows : ASSAM. Central INDIA.

32. Work on a wall : FRESCO. From the Latin meaning fresh. Don't get fresco with me hearti!

35. Upper limb : ARM. and 68A. It's out on a limb : HAND. I have to hand to him; a mini clecho.

36. Cousin of -esque : ISH. Funny, she did not look SHREWISH.

43. Strike caller : UMPire. Cute clue, and baseball for our F L.

44. Terr. divided in 1889 : DAKota. You take the North, I am keeping the South.

45. Rules of order documenter : ROBERT. Your reading ASSIGNMENT. Judge. "Order in the Court". Groucho. " I'll have a martini."

46. Gorp consumer : HIKER. GORP, more letters, everyone remember?

49. Lyric poet Teasdale : SARA. POET. It was really great to hear from Clear Ayes.

53. Watching : EYING. Oh goody, an eye reference.

57. Hem over, say : RESEW. Hmm, kinda like an A word.

58. William Saroyan's son : ARAM. Nope, means NOTHING to me.

60. 1988 noir remake : DOA. Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan in happier days, redoing the old solve my own murder plot. The 50's versions starred Edmond O'Brien. NCIS did one as well.

61. Mono- relative : UNI. Only one way to understand this clue.

66. ___ Perce tribe : NEZ. Not to be confused the eyeglasses. The name comes from the French meaning pierced nose, though it was the Chinook who used piercings. A Columbia river tribe hounded and chased by the US Cavalry in 1877.

67. Crew activity : OARING. I used to go with me 'Oney, right Steve?

69. Funny shirt, perhaps : TEE. Hee.

70. Loud metallic sounds : WHANGS. Man, where are Carol and Lois when you need them to tell us the morel of this untold story.

71. "A Death in the Family" author : AGEE. The must mean the work of the author James Agee, not the great arc in Batman by Jim Starlin in the 80s.

Down:

1. Strange : WEIRD. All this work and we are only half way home.

2. Title holder : OWNER. Not the champ, but the poor chump who bought a home in 2006.

3. Closely affiliated with : WED TO. I don't know, I am not married to this fill.

4. Indian honorific : SRI. has the root meaning of radiance, or diffusing light, much like the English word "illuminate" (per wiki).

5. ABA titles : ESQS. Esquires, for our lawyer ref.

6. Cell using a synapse : NEURON. Mine are not synapsing on all cylinders.

7. Locks of Love donation : TRESS. This GROUP.The shed a new light on an old problem, to keep kids from wigging out.

8. Gray in an outfit : REBel.

9. Game show purchase : AN E. Pat, Vanna....

10. Three-time '70s ABA champs : PACERS. They moved lock stock and three pint shot into the NBA, but they are losing Larry Bird, exec of the year.

11. Xerox, e.g. : FACSIMILE. One of the lawyers I work with will never use the word 'fax.' Nice fill.

12. Mean, and then some : CRUEL.

13. Words to live by : CREDO.

18. Edible suspensions : ASPICS. I always thought aspics were just ICK, but maybe you like PIG TROTTERS

23. Dossier initials : AKA. Also Known As.

25. Tasmanian mount : OSSA. I have a devil of time recalling this 5000 foot mount off of Oz.

27. Vocalist Vikke : CARR. She really had many HITS. (2:43). Any favorites?

28. Capital north of Addis Ababa : ASMARA. Capital of ERITREA.

30. "Haven't the foggiest" : NO IDEA. I hear you dude.

32. Winter bane : FLU. InFLUenza.

33. Canyon viewpoint : RIM. time for a rim shot?

34. Play up : EMPHASIZE. Like this PIC of Marion Cotillard, who was great in Midnight in Paris.

35. Old flood insurance? : ARK. I Noah where he got this clue, very cute.

37. The Bosporus, e.g.: Abbr : STRait. The name comes form mythology just in time for this MOVIE which is I guess bombing.

38. One may be in the ring : HAT. This clue is old....

40. '50s-'60s chief justice Warren : EARL. The justice who surprised Ike.

41. Shekels : DO RE MI. Cousin of dough.

42. Selling point? : EBAY.

47. "___ seen enough!" : I'VE. No we must march on to the finish.

48. Bow and scrape : KOWTOW. More shout out to our F L; word is borrowed from kòu tóu in Mandarin Chinese (per wiki).

49. Luau garb : SARONG. Did anyone ever do them better than Dorothy Lamour?

50. Force to be borne : BRUNT. I can take it.

51. Zellwinger of "Chicago" : RENEE. She has had an interesting career. LINK.

52. Dickens villain : FAGIN. Oliver Twist.

54. "Hello! I'm..." badge : ID TAG.

55. Nary a soul : NO ONE.

56. Word just before a duel? : GARDE. and right after "EN."

59. Many sports nos. : AVGS. Averages.

63. "That feels great" : AAH. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH, we are almost done.

64. Org. for a marksman : NRA. They aim to please, they are the National Rifle Association.

65. When doubled, a dance : CHA. Cha cha cha, time for me to dance away for another week, be well all.

Answer grid.

Lemonade

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to Barry G, the Cal Ripken Jr. of this blog. I know I can always count on him to give me solid feedback on my theme ideas and grid entries. 生日快乐!

Friday Nov 25, 2011 Stephen Edward Anderson

Theme: PI Day - PI is inserted in each common phrase.

17A. Field operation run by idiots? : STUPID FARM. Stud farm. Funny clue.

23A. Track meet category for joggers? : LOPING DIVISION Long division.

36A. Views from Hamilton? : BERMUDA OPINIONS. Bermuda onions.

49A. Hook on a raft? : FLOATING PIRATE. Floating rate. The interest rate that changes periodically.

59A. Obsessive cleaners? : WIPING NUTS. Wing nuts.

Three in singular form, two in plural. Nice set. You don't want 4 in singular form, and 1 in plural. No odd man out!

Heavy themage (63 squares). The fill is rather clean. Only wish there's a PIS somewhere to unify the theme, to give a rationale/climax for the letter addition gimmick. March 14 will be a perfect day to run this puzzle also.

C.C. again, giving Lemonade a much-needed break for the holiday. I think this is Stephen Edward Anderson's LA Times debut. Congrats!

Across:

1. Sonar pulses : PINGS. Any Ping in your bag, Husker Gary?

6. Subj. for Aristotle : RHET. OK, rhetoric.

10. Staff note : MEMO

14. Gridiron strategy : SNEAK. Football just does not appeal to me.

15. First name in design : EERO (Saarinen)

16. Like much lore : ORAL

19. Diamond homecomings? : RUNS. Diamond = Baseball in late week puzzles.

20. Thrice, in Rx's : TER. Marti is the authority on this clue.

21. Do the honors : POUR. Boomer poured himself some Scotch yesterday, then he said "I'm grateful I can pig out today".

22. Hallmark : BADGE

27. To __ : A TEE

28. Thick : MIDST

29. Stone measuring 5.5 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale : OPAL. Please give stone measuring 10 to your girlfriend/wife.

32. Dojo discipline : JUDO. Ju = Soft/Gentle. Do = Chinese "Dao" = Way

33. Gaelic John : IAN. Ian = John.

41. __ alai : JAI

42. Appoint : NAME

43. Be intimate with : KNOW

44. Scrabble 10-pointer : Z-TILE. I bet Jerome beats everyone in Scrabble.

46. Liqueur flavoring : SLOE

54. Reunion attendees : AUNTS

55. Face-saver of a kind : ALOE. Nice clue.

56. Italian counterpart of the BBC : RAI. No idea. This is the most beautiful RAI (Aishwarya) in the world.

58. Sitter's concern : BRAT

62. Jay with jokes : LENO

63. Ecua. rejoined it in 2007 : OPEC. Hey, they just had a meeting on Wednesday.

64. Alternate version, in scores : OSSIA. Got me, Jazzbumpa. Rooted in "O sia" (let it be), says Dictionary.com

65. Petrol pick : ESSO

66. Slog (through), as tedious text : WADE. "Slog" again. I need to take WADE seriously.

67. Sharp : NATTY

Down:

1. Soft "Yoo-hoo!" : PSST

2. Chip maker : INTEL. Crunchy and fat-free.

3. Surgery opening? : NEURO. Neurosurgery.

4. Disparity : GAP

5. "Never mind" : SKIP IT

6. Place of cover : REFUGE. Can you believe people lie when applying Refugee Visa to the US?

7. Learned : HEARD

8. Bark up the wrong tree : ERR

9. Cartoon cat : TOM

10. Quagmire : MORASS

11. Learning : ERUDITION

12. Juicy fruit : MANGO. Try Whole Foods for SweeTango, Jayce. Or next year. These apples are available for a very short period of time each season. For a limited quantity only. Very precious.

13. '80s-'90s NFL commentator Merlin : OLSEN. His name escaped me again.

18. Cooked : DONE

22. Try to buy : BID ON

24. Date source : PALM. Have you had Medjool dates? So sweet.

25. Groggy words, perhaps : I'M UP. Oh, in bed.

26. Part of an old boast : VIDI (I saw). "Veni, vidi, vici".

29. Vb. target : OBJ. Verb/object.

30. Princess's nighttime problem : PEA

31. Casa Grande residents : ARIZONANS. We have quite a few Arizonans on our blog.

32. Sixpack with no special qualities? : JOE. Joe Sixpack. Disparaging term, no?

34. Yucatán year : ANO

35. Sydney is its cap. : NSW. New South Wales, where Kazie is from.

37. Pecks and feet, e.g. : UNITS

38. Flamboyant surrealist : DALI

39. "Yes!" : AMEN

40. Its headquarters are in Delft : IKEA. Did not know this trivia.

45. Body work? : TATTOO. Any body work, Tinbeni/Ant? You both sound pretty bad.

46. Do some film editing : SPLICE

47. Griffin's rear : LION. Looks majestic!

48. Old trail terminus : OREGON

49. Jean de La Fontaine story : FABLE. French fabulist. "A hungry stomach can not hear". He said.

50. Attracts : LURES. Ah, the macaroni, Dennis!

51. Rubbernecked : GAPED

52. Word on a coin : TRUST. In God we Trust.

53. Weird Al Yankovic song parody : EAT IT. I'm not linking. He's too weird for me.

57. "Indeed!" : I SAY

59. Flabbergast : WOW

60. Type of beer orig. brewed in England : IPA. India Pale Ale.

61. Ultra-secretive gp. : NSA (National Security Agency)

Answer grid.

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C.C.