Thursday, April 26, 2012 Steven J. St. John

Theme: "My sentiments, exactly!". Each of the grid-spanning theme entries reflect many of my crossword-solving frustrations!

17A. Frustrated crossword solver's cry : I HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE

34A. Frustrated crossword solver's cry : COULD BE ANYTHING

43A. Frustrated crossword solver's cry : IT'S A MYSTERY TO ME

61A. Relieved crossword solver's cry : FINALLY ONE I KNOW

Our last SJx2 was earlier this month, on a Sunday. This one is a fun Thursday puzzler, with appropriate crossword solver's sentiments. I hope you will enlighten us with which phrase was the seed for this one, Steven? And only a "Q" away from a pangram!

Marti here, to explore all the ins and outs.

Across:

1. Party boss? : HOST. Not the infamous Tweed, but one who gives a gala.

5. Bunks, e.g. : BEDS

9. Lavish meal : FEAST

14. Wine-growing region : ASTI. Geography lesson. Region famous for its "Spumanti" sparkling wine.

15. Neural conductor : AXON

16. '80s-'90s legal drama : L.A. LAW

20. Kindle competitor : NOOK. Sorry, I use an iPad.

21. Chew toy material : RAWHIDE. Sweet!!

22. Scholarship, e.g. : AID

24. Spits out, as a DVD : EJECTS. Or, as watermelon seeds?

27. Small beef : NIT. Oooh, I bet we'll get one or two on the blog today...

28. Move through muck : SLOG. Some people complain that the day's puzzle was a SLOG. Not today, though!

30. Brand at Williams-Sonoma : OXO

31. Little songbird : TIT. OK, just for you guys...

40. Kindergarten rejoinder : IS TOO. Kindergarteners need some anger management courses...

41. Kan. hours : CST. Central Standard Time in Kansas.

42. Hacienda honorific : SENOR.

46. Formula One racer Fabi : TEO. This guy. (Recognize him?) (It's on his car...)

47. Enzyme suffic : ASE

48. Spirited horse : ARAB

49. Shriner hat : FEZ. Abejo owns several!

52. Two-time Bond portrayer : DALTON. Timothy.

55. PH.D. seeker's exam : GRE. Graduate Record Examination

56. Keys at a bar, perhaps : IVORIES. Piano keys, that is.

59. Onetime larva : PUPA

66. Nice states : ETATS. Not nirvanas, but the word in Nice, France for "states".

67. Co-star of Tom in "Angels & Demons" : EWAN. Tom Hanks and EWAN McGregor (So sexy!!). Sequel to "The Da Vinci Code".

68. Telathon request : GIVE

69. It may be roja or verde : SALSA. Roja = red, verde = green, in Spanish.

70. Shirts with slogans : TEES. "I'm with stupid ---->"

71. Walkout walk-in : SCAB. Fun clue/answer.

Down:

1. Yes, in Yokohama : HAI. I immediately thought of Richard Chamberlain in "Shogun", but couldn't find the link!

2. ___ Kosh B'Gosh : OSH. It bothers me that the clue has the answer, twice. (Not that I wouldn't stoop to using it myself...but, it still bothers me!)

3. Superior talents : STANDOUTS

4. Save for later, in a way : TIVO. Have never used it. My Apple TV can record anything.

5. Holdup : BANK JOB. Great movie! Have you seen it?

6. Bus. line : EXT.ension on a bus.iness phone line.

7. Track relentlessly : DOG

8. Show derision : SNORT. I almost snorted wine out my nose when this one filled in! (Remember, I am writing this at 10:00 PM, not 5:30 AM !!)

9. One may be fatal : FLAW. Who wanted "blow"?

10. Per capita : EACH

11. Bold poker bet : ALL IN. This has paid off big time for me online. Anyone else play? (I have won about $2,500,000 in fake dollars. I never use real money...unfortunately!!)

12. Jidda native : SAUDI. Another geography lesson. Often spelled "Jeddah".

13. Short online posting : TWEET. Whatever happened to the "Canary sound" clues? F.Y.I., "Twitter message" was first used by Fred Jackson III in the LAT on Thursday, July 30, 2009 !!

18. Job ad abbr. : EOE.Equal Opportunity Employer. Or EEO, "Equal Employment Opportunity", or EEOC, "Equal Employment Opportunity Commission". Remember them all - they are bound to crop up again.

19. "Delicious!" : TASTY

22. It has defs. for 128 characters : ASCII. American Standard Code for Information Interchange. Here is the full chart, for you would-be programmers out there.

23. "Didn't bring my A-game" : I LOST

25. Business biggies : EXECS

26. By the sea : COASTAL

29. Respond smugly to 23-Down's speaker : GLOAT. Not sporting, old chap!

32. ___-bitsy : ITSY. Again, answer contained in the clue...

33. Greek letter : THETA. Ok, give us a little help here! "Eta follower", "Iota predecessor"???

35. It may be retractable : DOME. Who else wanted "roof"? Duh!

36. Desert trial : N-TEST. 'K, nuff said.

37. Like non-hydrocarbon compounds : INORGANIC

38. Baseballer married to soccer's Mia : NOMAR. Garciaparra and Mia Hamm. For now...

39. Diving bird : GREBE. Pretty bird.

44. Mountain warble : YODEL. Finally, a music link. (You have to watch this one - she's incredible!) 2:26

45. Takes another look at, as a cold case : REOPENS

49. Small winds : FIFES. Classic, with drums. 8:06. Well worth watching!

50. Musical with the song "A New Argentina" : EVITA. What other musical is there, in Argentina? ("Finally, one I know!") 4:21

51. Divided into districts : ZONAL. I really wanted "zoned" for this one. That's what I get for trying to do "downs" before "acrosses"!

53. Till now : AS YET

54. Rapa ___: Easter Island : NUI. Recognize these?

57. "Peanuts" cry : RATS.

58. She met Rick in Paris : ILSA

60. UPS deliveries : PKGS. Abbr. for "packages". OK, b-cuz UPS is the abbr. of "United Parcel Service". Splynter's forté.

62. Carry a balance : OWE

63. Brush-off on the brae : NAE. "Brae" is the lowland Scots language word for the slope or the brow of a hill.

64. Reproductive cells : OVA. Plural of OVUM.

65. Homespun home : WEB. Another fun clue, not to be confused with internet milieu.

Answer grid.

That's all until next week, folks!

Hugs,
Marti

Interview with Steven J. St. John

This is our 4th puzzle from Steven J. St. John. All his previous LA Times creations fell on Tuesdays, all with light and fun themes: from "Airline inconvenience", to "The King", to the last scrabbly "HIDDEN GEMS" with amazing theme entry intersections.

As many of you do, I always enjoy reading Steve's theme inspiration and original clues. And I hope this interview will give you a better understanding of his mind set.

What's the inspiration for this puzzle and what are the other theme entries you considered but failed to make the cut?

Looking back at my notebook, I think RAISIN DETRE was the first entry I came up with. I really liked the clue – Grape in the sun? The translated answer “Raisin to be” gives a laugh (hopefully) only after you unpack two layers – the bad translation and the life history of a raisin. I was able to brainstorm most of the other entries pretty quickly. They were all under 15-letters, so I had to decide if I wanted to take my best 4-5 and make a daily puzzle, or “go for it” and try for a Sunday.

My notebook has 11 theme answers, but I couldn’t “pair off” all of them (if you have one 8-letter answer, you need another to fit in the opposite part of the grid). So I liked, but couldn’t use PADEDEUX (Father of two?). Likewise, I had no match for MALDEMARE (Horse sickness?). With a 9-letter answer like MALDEMARE you can sometimes use it without a pair in the center of the grid, but I also had 3 11-letter entries and I wanted to save the center for one of those.

So from my initial list, I only had 9 entries I could use, and because all of the entries were fairly short (10-13 letters), I figured I needed to use all of them. That’s an uncomfortably thin margin when working a Sunday – and add to that I had never submitted a Sunday before. Imagine my surprise then when I was not only able to fill the puzzle, but that the puzzle seemed, to my eyes, to have very few iffy words (one, ADENITIS, Rich Norris would later edit out, to my appreciation). I thought it was a bit miraculous that I could fill the puzzle with no extra theme entries to spare.

Then, a couple of days later, I made a very disappointing discovery! As I started to write clues, I realized that I had somehow completely overlooked the fact that I had used two theme entries that played off of the same French root: LAISSEZFARE (Cabby gives a free ride?) in the center and SAVOIRFAIR (Mensa event?). I was stunned at my stupidity! Even though the puns are different in each case, I was pretty sure no editor would let me milk the same root word twice. Plus I knew that I had already been on every “French phrases used in English” internet list site there was and had zero acceptable ones left.

A few days later I took what I assumed to be the last look at the puzzle. It’s an unusual grid: 3 theme answers are partly stacked in the middle. (One of those, LAISSEZFARE, was one of the words that killed the puzzle, and since it was in the center there was no hope of replacing it.) Because the theme answers are also short, it occurred to me that maybe I could extract SAVOIRFAIR in the NE and save the rest of the puzzle – presuming I could come up with an alternative that happened to be 10 letters long and whose first letter makes sense with the last letter in ESPRITDECORE. I honestly don’t know where TRUMPLOEIL came from – it’s a term I first heard because my wife is a talented painter – but it struck me as a funny entry (especially with Trump all over the news – he was musing about running for President at the time) and it had some pretty friendly letters. I never in my wildest hopes thought I’d get JUJUBES and JAILCELL out of it – to think that a last-minute desperate hope theme entry actually improved the fill was just too lucky.

What's your background? What prompted you to make your first crossword?

I’m a physiological psychologist/neurobiologist. I used to do the crossword every day in my college newspaper, and later I tried to make several by hand. I found some of those first ones not long ago, and the only ones I ever completed apparently were those that broke the rules (e.g., had two letter words).

I was always more interested in making games than playing them. I spent hours as a kid making sports simulation games. In school I programmed (in BASIC and later Visual Basic) a computerized version of Yahtzee, I sent word-searches to friends in letters, I “modded” computer games like Civilization, I was the “Dungeon Master” in D&D. I used to spend days making golf courses (rather than playing them) in the Tiger Woods golf game by EA Sports.

Which part do you normally spend the most time on in the construction process: theme brainstorming, gridding or cluing?

I’m not good at generating themes. I’m trying to get better and cleverer. I think today’s puzzle is an example of where I got a bit lucky. But this is a hard question to answer because those 3 components are so different. Cluing takes a set amount of time: you’ve got about 76 words (or, for a Sunday, 140 words) you have to write clues for. It’s very rewarding to come up with a really clever clue (from a rejected puzzle of mine: DEFROSTED: Took out for dinner?), and sometimes you’ll work really hard to get some fresh clues. But it doesn’t pay to do that for all 76 words because no one would publish a puzzle that’s all misdirection like that. Also, it can be fun as a constructor to tie in the words with one another, but too much cross-referencing (Son of 24-Across) gets really annoying for the solver. So cluing takes as long as it takes – you can’t get it done faster and there’s not much profit in over-thinking it.

Gridding on the other hand can take an hour (with a computer program assisting you, of course) or weeks. If you really like a theme but have some tough letters or constraints, you may try every combination under the sun to get it to work for you. On my hard drive I have a Working Folder, and there are some puzzles that have been in there for months waiting for me to find the right combination of black squares and the right order of theme entries. Others move from the Working Folder to the Submitted Folder on the same day (or next day – I make sure to have a “cooling off period” before submitting a completed puzzle).

As for theme brainstorming, that has two parts: the jot down the idea part, which takes about 15 minutes (just enough to ensure it deserves wasting one piece of paper) and the let’s get serious and cover all the basis part, which for a linear thinker like me, can take a long time and end with disappointing results!

How does constructing change your solving experience? And what kind of themes/fill fascinate you as a solver?

I solve now with a purpose beyond just enjoying myself. I’m looking for inspiration – great words, clever ideas. If you’ve ever started a puzzle and thought you guessed the theme and then it turned out the theme was going somewhere else – well, I’m hoping for that kind of mistake. Because then maybe I can use the theme I thought of while solving!

I’m definitely most impressed by themes or ideas I know I never would have thought of, or would have thought of but never would have tried to execute because I was sure it was too hard to pull off. I love astronomy, and I could imagine coming up with the idea of hiding the names of the planets in phrases, but I never could in a million years imagine myself pulling off the planetary orbits puzzle that Patrick Berry put in my Sunday paper one day in 2008 (http://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=12/28/2008).

I tend to be most-impressed with pun themes that make me laugh, because in my brainstorming of theme ideas, that tends to be where I’m weakest. Again, today’s puzzle feels like a lucky break given my tendencies.

What puzzles do you solve every day and which constructors do you find most inspiring?

My paper, the Orlando Sentinel, prints the LA Times puzzle Monday through Saturday, so I do those every day. For some reason it does not print the Sunday LA puzzle, but prints the NY Times Sunday puzzle (2 weeks out of date) and Frank Longo’s syndicated puzzle. Also, the college I teach at provides the NY Times Monday-Friday during the Fall and Spring semesters, so I almost always do that one as well. Every once in a while I will download recent puzzles from the Chronicle of Higher Education and work those as well. I have submitted one puzzle there (rejected) but would someday like to publish a puzzle there.

If I see Patrick Berry or Elizabeth Gorski’s name on a puzzle, I can’t wait to start working on it. I think Merl Reagle and Frank Longo are other-worldly geniuses. Kevin Der has produced some pretty amazing puzzles, especially his Chinese Zodiac puzzle (http://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/30/2011) with Jessica Hui. There’s 10 or 12 others in my pantheon, including some of the themeless maestros (Manny Nosowsky et al.).

Besides crosswords, what are your other hobbies?

I love playing and watching sports and I love all things related to science, including science fiction. I wish puzzles were more sports and science friendly because I’m sure I would have a thicker theme notebook if they were. I have two smart, beautiful kids, the eldest of whom (at 10) tends to dive in to all of my interests, and she has, on more than one occasion, handed me a page full off phrases to add to my word list. She’s even generated a couple of themes (though I’m not sure we’d be able to sell SEEINGRED, FEELINGBLUE, BLUSHINGORANGE, TURNINGPURPLE, GOINGFORTHEGOLD). The kids make me smile a lot.

Sunday April 8, 2012 Steven J. St John

Theme: Failing French - Puns on common French-rooted English.

23A. Sense of unity among apples? : ESPRIT DE CORE. Esprit de corps. Morale.

28A. Deceptively realistic painting of The Donald? : TRUMP L'OEIL. Trompe-l'œil. Literally "deceive the eye". L'œil =Le + œil (eye, masculine). Tricky spelling.

45A. Terrible night's sleep? : LAY MISERABLES. "Les Misérables". Dennis loves the musical. I think he brought this to us before everyone was aware of Susan Boyle.

60A. Having a weed-free lawn? : COUP DE GRASS. Coup de grâce. Literally "blow of mercy".

65A. Passenger who doesn't bug the cabbie? : LAISSEZ FARE. Laissez-faire. Literraly "let do".
Savoir-faire means "know what to do".

73A. Justification for a dried grape? : RAISIN D'ETRE. Raison d'être. "Reason for existence".

89A. Garden figure taking up arms? : GNOME DE GUERRE. Nom de guerre. Literally "Name of war". I don't know why it morphed into pseudonym. Nom de plume makes sense to me.

104A. Ocean trip with a skeleton crew? : BONE VOYAGE. Bon voyage.

114A. Perfume at Garfield's house? : ODIE TOILETTE. Eau de toilette. "Toilet water" is not an apt translation. Toilette comes from TOILE the woven cloth, then the diminutive suffice "ette", so, "little woven cloth".

I thought of Splynter & Barry G immediately after I downloaded the puzzle. Their "affection" for French is well-known on the blog.

Fun romp for me. I was entertained by the the theme clues and just know enough French to mangle the language.

Construction wise, the grid has a relative low black square count. Only 68. I mentioned last Sunday that 74-78 is our Sunday norm. And it's Steve's first Sunday! Look at the middle theme entries: 6-letter overlapping. Not easy to do.

Across:

1. __ finish : PHOTO

6. Latin for "heads" : CAPITA. Or TETEs in French.

12. Tease : JEST

16. Uncouth one : OAF

19. Like hayseeds' hangouts : RURAL

20. Issue in May-December romances : AGE GAP. This kind of marriage is often solid.

21. Straighten out : UNTANGLE

25. Place to dry out, in oaters : JAIL CELL. I still thought of "Rehab center", despite the "osters" qualifier.

26. Goddess with a European capital named for her : ATHENA. Athens.

27. "Fooled you!" : NOT

30. Dressed : CLAD

31. Much souvenir shop merchandise : KITSCH. Lovely entry. Consonants heavy.

34. Concert wind : OBOE

35. Egg source : HEN

36. Triumphs : WINS

37. Horn, in Hastings : HOOTER. Did not know British call "Horn" as "Hooter", Steve!

39. They may have soft shoulders : ROADS

44. Point at the dinner table : TINE

47. "__ Irish Rose" : ABIE'S

50. Heyerdahl craft : RA I. Poor Aishwarya Rai. She never gets the credit she deserves in LA Times.

52. Vacation souvenir : TAN

53. Come through : DELIVER

54. "Porgy and Bess" aria : SUMMERTIME

57. Tease : RIB

59. Many families begin at them : ALTARS. Where weddings are held.

62. Humble reply to a compliment : I TRY

64. Nurse's tool : HYPO. So sorry to hear the bad news about your brother, Lucina.

68. Michigan-based financing co. formed in 1919 : GMAC. Now called Ally Financial.

72. Workbench tool : VISE

75. Early online bookstore : AMAZON

79. QB protectors : RGs

82. Admitting, as a lesser charge : PLEADING TO

83. Restraint : LIMITER

85. Pasture : LEA

87. Cholesterol initials : LDL. The bad one.

88. Allergy season runners : NOSES

92. Latvian Academy of Sciences home : RIGA

94. Syrian president : ASSAD. His wife is nuts about Louboutins.

95. Charming, e.g. : PRINCE. Oh, Prince Charming.

96. "Law & Order" panel : JURY

97. 33 1/3 rpm spinners : LPs

100. Country lowland : GLEN

101. New York town named for its salt-mining industry : SALINA. Never heard of it. Makes sense with its salty sounding name.

103. Enjoy a hot tub : SOAK

110. American __ : LIT

111. Saudi neighbor : QATARI. Crossing 93D. Citizen of Basra : IRAQI. Both U-less.

113. Allergic inflammation : RHINITIS. New word to me.

117. Louis Sachar kids' book heroine : ANGELINE. Never heard of this book.

118. Empty __ : NESTER

119. Bill who said, "It's all been satirized for your protection" : MAHER. "Real Time with Bill Maher" is funny at times.

120. "Silly me!" : D'OH

121. Certain tech sch. grad : ENGR

122. Zen enlightenment : SATORI. Literally "awakening"/"understanding". I just call it "D'oh".

123. Downhill racers : SLEDS

Down:

1. Take the pulpit : PREACH

2. Try to catch up : HUSTLE

3. Oliver Twist, e.g. : ORPHAN

4. Accounted for the container : TARED. Wow, TARE can be a verb also?

5. Actress Lena : OLIN

6. Dishonorable dude : CAD

7. Representatives : AGENTS

8. Carlsbad's river : PECOS.

9. "Makes sense to me" : I GOTCHA

10. Deck swabber : TAR

11. In __: miffed : A PET

12. Movie goodies : JUJUBES. Chinese dates is also called JUJUBES. That are not sweet as medjools.

13. Smitten : ENAMORED

14. R.E.M. frontman Michael : STIPE

15. One way to walk : TALL

16. Curved molding : OGEE

17. Sheryl Crow's "__ Wanna Do" : ALL I. That song was quite popular when I first arrived in the US.

18. Dropped : FELL

22. Cpl., e.g. : NCO

24. "__ It to the Streets": Doobie Brothers hit : TAKIN'. Here is a clip.

29. Spiral pasta : ROTINI

32. Helium or neon : INERT GAS

33. Knuckleballer Wilhelm : HOYT. Hall-of-Famer of course. He retired when he was 49 years old. Same as Jamie Moyer.

36. Became less reckless, say, with "up" : WISED

38. Poet Khayyám : OMAR

39. Pre-closing bell excitement : RALLY

40. Dead lines? : OBIT. Nice clue.

41. Inventing middle name : ALVA. Thomas Alva Edison.

42. A hundred bucks, maybe : DEER. English is so irrational. Why can't DEER be plural?

43. Estonia and Armenia, once: Abbr. : SSRS

44. Conductor's beat : TEMPO

45. Green beans : LIMAS. They're not green when dried.

46. Hit from behind : REAR END

47. Social psychology pioneer Solomon : ASCH. Nope. Stranger to me.

48. Elevate : BUOY

49. "It's not too early to call" : I'M UP

51. Less stuffy : AIRIER

55. Put a new layer in, as a jacket : RE-LINED

56. Road race challenge : ESS

58. Not neutral : BIASED

61. Rev.'s address : SER

63. Test : TRIAL RUN

66. Skip over, as ads : ZAP

67. Future femme : FILLE. "Daughter" in French.

68. Middle Ages rival of Venice : GENOA

69. Conf. table events : MTGS (Meetings). And 71. Conf. table heads : CEOs.

70. Renoir output : ARTE. French for "art".

72. Chose, with "for" : VOTED

74. Not at all bright : DINGY

75. Pond organism : ALGA

76. Hr.'s 60 : MINS

77. Singer Tori : AMOS

78. Old Coors product pitched as "Zomething different" : ZIMA

80. Grade school art activity : GLUING

81. Experienced : SEEN. Hi there, Seen!

84. Dealing with an invitation : REPLYING

86. Fly ball paths : ARCS

90. Pomaded '50s subculturist : GREASER. Look here, Wiki says they liked Converse Chuck. I like my Vans.

91. Idealist's opposite : REALIST. Too many similar letters in clue/answer.

96. TV image fluctuations : JITTER. New word to me also.

97. Detest : LOATHE

98. "When We Two __": Byron poem : PARTED

99. Downhill racers : SKIERS

100. Arrived : GOT IN

102. Mislead : LIE TO

103. Rip off : STEAL

104. Thin fastener : BRAD

105. [Gasp!] : OH NO. My mouse suddenly stopped working earlier. Putting in new batteries did not help. Had an "Oh no" moment..

106. Near : NIGH

107. Dallas-to-Memphis dir. : ENE

108. Contemptible : VILE

109. Long times : EONS

112. Benevolent donations : ALMS

115. Narc's employer : DEA

116. "Do it, __ will!" : OR I

Answer grid.

Please click here if you're looking for an creative Mother's Day gift. And an heartfelt "Thank you" to those who bought our package. Don and I appreciate your support.

C.C.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012 Steven J. St. John

Theme: A Gem of a Puzzle - To make it a little harder, the loot is divvied up between two words.

58A. Some buried treasure, or what are literally found in the answers to starred clues : HIDDEN GEMS

17A. *Ten times the seller's cost, say : HUGE MARK-UP

34A. *Green labyrinth : HEDGE MAZE

41A. *Groundbreaking desktop publishing software : PAGE MAKER. Wiki.

10D. *Fundraising receipts : PLEDGE MONEY

24D. *Child star's parent : STAGE MOTHER

Argyle here. I like the gems crossing each other in two spots. See grid. Steve gave us a pangram today with few three-letter entries and zero cheater squares. Maybe too many proper names though.

Across:

1. Word before dark or hours : AFTER

6. Black Friday event : SALE. AFTER Thanksgiving.

10. Prefix with fall : PRAT

14. Where towels are the usual attire : SAUNA

15. Nice price? : PRIX. (Nice is French this time.)

16. Rob of "Parks and Recreation" : LOWE

19. Actor McGregor : EWAN

20. "All My __ Live in Texas": George Strait song : EX's. Clip

21. Pre-A.D. : BCE. (Before the Common Era)

22. Waiters take them : ORDERS

24. Comes down hard : SLEETS. Comes down as frozen raindrops.

27. Come to terms : AGREE

28. Tin alloy : PEWTER. Certain athletic contests, such as the United States Figure Skating Championships, award pewter medals to the fourth place finishers. Per Wiki.

31. "__-ho!" : HEAVE

33. Homeric war epic : ILIAD. So not on my reading list.

38. Dynasty known for porcelain : MING

39. Sleepiness inducers : BORES

40. Draft animals : OXEN. They are giant yet docile creatures.

43. Golfer Sam : SNEAD. (Slammin' Sammy)

44. Less than zero : MINUS

45. Competes in a bee : SPELLS

46. Where dos are done : SALON

49. How the rain in Spain falls on the plain : MAINLY

51. Warning to a pest : "QUIT IT!"

53. Once named : NÉE

54. Slangy morning drink : JOE. Coffee (and another shout-out).

57. Provo's state : UTAH

62. Top-notch : A-ONE

63. Lake near Lake Ontario : ERIE

64. College big shots : DEANS

65. Ivan IV, for one : TSAR

66. "Das Kapital" author : MARX.(Karl) I think of Russia when I hear his name but he was German and died in London.

67. "The King" of golf, to fans : ARNIE (Palmer). Remember Steve's last "The King" puzzle?

Down:

1. 1968 U.S. Open champ : ASHE Tennis.

2. Imitation : FAUX. What!? No FAUX gems here.

3. Harbor towers : TUGS. They are pushers, too.

4. Hydrocarbon suffix : ENE

5. Spoke absent-mindedly : RAMBLED. What my commentary feels like today.

6. Spending outing : SPREE

7. Genesis craft : ARK

8. Actress Lucy : LIU

9. Former Montreal player : EXPO. (baseball)

11. Dinghy propeller : ROWER. How's that for tricky?

12. Conscious (of) : AWARE

13. Uptight : TENSE

18. Excellent server : ACER. Back to the usual.

23. All-night party : RAVE

25. Maria __, former queen of Hungary : THERESA

26. Passover meal : SEDER

28. MTV's "__ My Ride" : PIMP

29. Director Kazan : ELIA

30. Chicken morsel : WING

32. Justice Dept. heads : AG's. (attorney general)

34. Hooey : HOKUM

35. It may follow a Salchow : AXEL

36. Intensity : ZEAL

37. Conclusions : ENDS

39. Prohibition : BAN

42. Revealing skirt : MINI

43. Dieter's sweetener : SPLENDA

45. Dagger of yore : SNEE

46. Powerlifter's move : SQUAT

47. Roadsters, e.g. : AUTOs

48. Rainforest vine : LIANA

50. Back-of-the-book reference section : INDEX

52. The opposition : THEM

54. Stapleton who played Edith Bunker : JEAN

55. Luxury hotel : OMNI

56. In __: actually : ESSE. As opposed to "in posse": in potential

59. Nest egg letters : IRA

60. Movie set VIP : DIR.ector

61. Pol. neighbor : GER. (Poland/Germany)

Answer grid.

Argyle

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 Steven J. St. John

Theme: A Winning Hand - Most of the time, four kings will take the pot.

20A. 33/63-Across, in golf : ARNOLD PALMER

28A. 33/63-Across, in stock car racing : RICHARD PETTY

45A. 33/63-Across, in swing music : BENNY GOODMAN

54A. 33/63-Across, in rock 'n' roll : ELVIS PRESLEY

33A/63A. With 63-Across, nickname for four immortals in this puzzle : THE and 63-Across. See 33-Across : KING

Argyle here, among the royalty. Our second puzzle from Steven and he's come through again. (His first one). Amazing all four names had the same numbers of letters. A pangram, too!

Across:

1. Indian royals : RAJAs

6. Pulitzer-winning columnist Maureen : DOWD. Columnist on The New York Times.

10. Popular British brew : BASS

14. Kuwaiti neighbor : IRAQI

15. Albany-to-Buffalo canal : ERIE

16. Game point, in tennis : AD IN

17. Make a case : ARGUE

18. Actor Kilmer et al. : VALs

19. Not common : RARE

23. Kirby Puckett and Mickey Mantle, by pos. : CFs. Centerfielders.

26. Tech sch. near Albany : RPI. Across the Hudson in Troy. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

27. Withered with age : WIZENED

31. See 7-Down : EXAM 7-Down. With 31-Across, postgraduate test : ORAL

32. Words with a nod : "I SEE"

36. Mark replacements : EUROS

38. Ran into : MET

39. West Indies native : CARIB. They are an Amerindian people whose origins lie in the southern West Indies and the northern coast of South America.

41. Secretly watch, with "on" : SPY

42. Holler's partner : HOOT

44. 2011 Libyan arms embargo enforcement gp. : NATO

49. Climbed on : BOARDED

52. Imperfect, as mdse. : IRR.

53. Hog's home : STY

57. Family group : CLAN

58. Suffix for the wealthy : AIRE. (millionaire)

59. Protect : GUARD

64. "Top Chef" judge Simmons : GAIL. Chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges on the cable television network Bravo. Gail Simmons was born in Toronto, Canada, and has been a judge on the show from the start.

65. Like mentors vis-à-vis mentees, usually : OLDER

66. Complete collections : SETS

67. Differ ender : ENCE. (Difference)

68. High-maintenance : NEEDY

Down:

1. Estuary : RIA. That part of the mouth a river in which the river's current meets the sea's tide.

2. LAX touchdown : ARR. (Arrival)

3. Drinking binge : JAG

4. Color similar to turquoise : AQUA

5. __ Nevada mountain range : SIERRA

6. Bereft (of) : DEVOID

8. Setting for saloons and shootouts : WILD WEST

9. Regardless of : DESPITE

10. Beer grain : BARLEY

11. Rhett Butler's final words : A DAMN. Everyone should have it this time,

12. Yes-Bob connection : SIREE

13. Wooden Mortimer : SNERD. Mortimer Snerd was the secondary dummy of Edgar Bergen, and appeared with Bergen and Charlie McCarthy.

21. "All Things Considered" airer : NPR. National Public Radio.

22. Templo Mayor worshiper : AZTEC. The Templo Mayor was one of the main temples of the Aztecs in their capital city of Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City.

23. Alberta natives : CREEs

24. Renovate : FIX UP

25. Frightening : SCARY

29. Health care gp. : HMO

30. Devoutness : PIETY

33. Mine transports : TRAMS

34. Attempt to strike : HIT AT

35. Black wood : EBONY

37. Loses, as winter fur : SHEDS

38. Dutch artist Piet : MONDRIAN. Not my cup of tea but here is a Google's worth of his art.

40. Also : AND

43. Résumé length, often : ONE PAGE

45. Raises, as a subject, with "in" : BRINGS

46. Brazilian supermodel Bündchen : GISELE. Nice image.

47. The Magic of the NBA : ORL. The Orlando Magic is a professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida.

48. Washington rival, in college sports : OREGON. The states.

49. Bremen brew : BECKS

50. Stan's sidekick : OLLIE. Laurel and Hardy

51. __-garde : AVANT

55. Old Norse mariner : ERIC the Red.

56. Eggnog season : YULE

60. Suffix with Gator : ADE

61. Wine choice : RED

62. Wine choice : DRY. Shiraz, just love the name.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Tuesday, September 27, 2011 Steven J. St. John

Theme: Oh, Bother! - Self-explanatory theme.

17A. Invasive airline inconvenience : BODY SCANNER

29A. Uncomfortable airline inconvenience : CRAMPED SEAT

46A. Wearying airline inconvenience : LONG LAYOVER

64A. Excruciating airline inconvenience (the last straw!) : LOST LUGGAGE

Argyle here. This appears to be a debut puzzle for Mr. St. John. Well done.

Across:

1. Dinner wear for the highchair set : BIBs

5. Talisman : AMULET. Just in time for Halloween. Image.

11. Spoil : MAR. As in "My great vacation was marred by the horrible flight home!"

14. Working without __ : A NET

15. Next to : BESIDE

16. Sam Adams product : ALE

19. Groovy relative? : RAD. Dead relative, I think. But then groovy doesn't look too healthy either.

20. One with an office couch, maybe : ANALYST. Possible connection to our constructor, I don't know.

21. Untrustworthy : KNAVISH. Knave, which formerly meant merely a boy or servant, in modern use emphasizes baseness of nature and intention.

23. __ garden : ZEN. Maybe you could fit this in your carry-on luggage and find inner peace while waiting on the tarmac. Image.

24. A/C measure : BTU

26. Durante's "__ Dinka Doo" : INKA. Clip (3:31) and I pity anyone who gets an earworm from THIS!

27. Wood-dressing tool : ADZ. Another How To clip.(3:35)

33. President when Texas was annexed : POLK. In 1845, the Republic of Texas annexed and admitted it to the Union as the 28th state.

35. With 1-Down, discoverer of cave treasure : ALI. 1D. See 35-Across : BABA

36. Island ring : LEI

37. Salon polish target : TOE NAIL

39. Flippable card file : ROLODEX

43. Mag. edition : ISS. Magazine issue

44. Father's Day mo. in Australia : SEP. The first Sunday in September.

45. Congenial : NICE

51. Lawn strip : SOD

52. Moonfish : OPAH. Image. Check out the site it's from.

53. Lumberjack's tool : AXE. An axe and an adze together.

54. Subj. with x's : ALG. Algebra.

56. Faraway : DISTANT

59. Paid no attention to : IGNORED

63. Roam (about) : GAD. Do you remember this guy?

66. Due-in hr. : ETA

67. One way to share : EVENLY

68. Clickable image : ICON

69. Not optional: Abbr. : REQ. Required.

70. French film festival site : CANNES. On the south coast of France.

71. "__ la vie" : C'EST. French, "Such is life".

Down:

2. Part of, as a plot : IN ON

3. Awe : BEDAZZLE

4. Panache : STYLE

5. Basics : ABCs

6. Spaghetti go-with : MEATBALL. I had marinara first.

7. Mil. branch : USN

8. Connection : LINK UP

9. Barbara who played a genie : EDEN

10. Giga- x 1,000 : TERA. 10¹²

11. Oceanic : MARINE

12. State with the Big Dipper on its flag : ALASKA. Flag.

13. Papa Smurf's headgear : RED HAT. Image.

18. Pop music's 'N__ : SYNC

22. Sight : VISION

25. "More than I need to know!" : TMI. Too Much Information.

27. Suited : APT

28. Scooby-__ : DOO

30. Mrs. Gorbachev : RAISA. Here with Rev. Moon.

31. Skip church, in a way? : ELOPE

32. Sci-fi's Lester __ Rey : DEL. American science fiction author and editor. Del Rey is especially famous for juvenile novels.

34. Jumping chess piece : KNIGHT. Moves are L-shaped.

38. Comm. for the hearing-impaired : ASL. American Sign Language. COMM stands for communication, in this case?

39. Military day starter : REVEILLE

40. Shame : DISGRACE

41. Green prefix : ECO

42. Struck (out) of the text : Xed

44. Red or White team : SOX

46. Inn resident : LODGER

47. Morphine, e.g. : OPIATE

48. Where YHOO stock is traded : NASDAQ. Yahoo!, not Yoo-Hoo.

49. China's Sun : YAT-SEN. The foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" (國父), a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China.

50. Pealed : RANG

55. Spock's forte : LOGIC

57. Baldwin of "30 Rock" : ALEC

58. Bright star : NOVA

60. Dolls' dates : GUYs

61. They may not be quiet on the set : EGOs

62. Small body-shop job : DENT

65. Former Opry network : TNN. The Nashville Network, is usually referred to as TNN. The Opry was aired from 1985 until 2000 on TNN.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Note from C.C.:

I'd like to share with you this beach "postcard" I got from JD. So sweet! Here are a couple of Nenes. JD said: They plan to catch all of them and transfer them to Maui. When we first started going to Kauai, about 15 years ago, there were about 20 pairs (they mate for life) and were on the endangered list. They have multiplied and nest and congregate too close to the airport. Many of them live at the Kauai Lagoons Golf Course which is next to the airport.