Thursday, November 3rd 2016 Mary Lou Guizzo

Theme: Rocky Horrors, or Let's do the Time Warp. Allow the reveal to explain:

52A. Period needed to fulfill a request ... and a hint to words hidden in three long puzzle answers : TURNAROUND TIME. 

The turnaround time for getting your car repaired when rats have chewed the main wiring harness to bits is three weeks. The dealer just called me to tell me my car is finally ready.

20A. Goal for some college-bound students : EARLY ADMISSION. (Day.) A higher percentage of early applications to the top schools result in admissions, vs. regular applications.

34A. Record-setting slugger in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame : SADAHARU OH. (Hour.) He olds the world lifetime home run record with 868. Like Babe Ruth, he started his career as a pitcher.

41A. Ocular organs of cephalopods, say : CAMERA EYES. (Year.) We have camera eyes too - apparently the octopus's version is superior to ours as the optic neve doesn't penetrate the retina, causing our blind spot in each eye.

Two genuinely obscure theme entries here (for me at least). It might be World Series fever time, but if you're going to throw me a fastball, a breaking ball, a curveball, a slider, a change-up and a knuckleball all in one baseball clue, you'd better be sure that the crosses are solid.

I'm also not a squid squint expert, so once again, please give me some help!

Fortunately, Mary Lou and Rich are good at this stuff, made tougher by the fact that five of the crosses intersect the two theme entries, Bravo!

Even when I'd filled in Mr. Oh, I simply couldn't parse his name. SADA HARUOH was my best guess, so I went to go look him up.

Let's see what else we've got:

Across:

1. Workbench gadget : CLAMP

6. Antlered beast : STAG

10. Glasses, in ads : SPEX. In comics, usually the X-Ray variety. I'd post you a punk rock link to the quite appalling Poly Styrene who had  her 15 minutes of fame with the band X-Ray Spex in 1970's London. I quite liked them at the time, but the passage of time has not done them any favors.

14. Popular depilatory : RAZOR. Occam makes a reliable brand, I hear.

15. Campaign staffer : AIDE

16. Rochester's bride : EYRE

17. Part of the soft palate : UVULA

18. Lady of the knight : DAME

19. Concussions generally aren't visible on them : MRI'S

23. "What was __ was saying?" : IT I

24. Tie __ : ONE ON

25. Rat Pack member : LAWFORD. Peter. JFK's brother-in-law among other things.

29. Growing concerns? : FARMS

33. Like a used hibachi : ASHY

38. General on a menu : TSO. Never tried this concoction. Anyone?

39. Gadgets : DEVICES

40. One of 34-Across' 2,170 : R.B.I. Runs Batted In. I guess you'll get a ton of these when you hit a boatload of homers in your career.

43. Aspirin target : PAIN

44. Nocturnal carnivore : HYENA

45. Perambulates : STROLLS

47. Piece of cake : CINCH. Tried CRUMB, was wrong.

51. Poet's contraction : O'ER

Gliding o'er all, through all,

Through Nature, Time, and Space,

As a ship on the waters advancing,

The voyage of the soul—not life alone,

Death, many deaths I'll sing.

Walt Whitman.

58. Homey : COZY

59. Pack firmly : TAMP

60. "__ making this up" : I'M NOT

61. Spigot issue : DRIP

62. Site with tech reviews : C-NET

63. Trilateral trade agreement, briefly : NAFTA. North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico, USA and Canada.

64. Tag line? : COST

65. Grinder : HERO

66. Speed units : KNOTS. Nautical miles per hour. The yacht I used to charter from Marina Del Rey would make somewhere around eight knots in a good sailing wind across to Catalina Island if the sails were trimmed just right. There's formula to calculate the maximum hull speed of a yacht, you can't just keep getting faster.

Down:

1. Mötley __ : CRUE. Should be pronounced "murt-ly" if we're going to pay attention to the umlaut, but of course we don't.

2. Fiery flow : LAVA

3. Bleu hue : AZUR. The French Riviera between Toulon and the Italian border is also known as the Côte d'Azur. The first time I saw it I couldn't believe a sea could be so blue, Growing up in England, I thought all seas were gray.

4. Placate : MOLLIFY

5. Beseech, as a deity : PRAY TO

6. Anti-DWI gp. : SADD. Tried MADD first, natch!

7. Venetian valentine message : TI AMO. This is a serious declaration in Italian.

8. Ones in charge, for short : ADMIN

9. Sixth-day Christmas gift : GEESE. A-laying. That's a lot of omelets just after Christmas.

10. Workshop : SEMINAR

11. One who likes to light up? : PYRO

12. "__ go bragh!" : ERIN. "Ireland Forever".

13. Chooses, with "in" : X'ES

21. Two-front, as a Coast Guard rescue : AIR-SEA.

22. Divans : SOFAS

25. Trunk piece : LATCH

26. Put a value on : ASSAY

27. Words before "Yeah, you!" : WHO, ME?

28. Brubeck of jazz : DAVE

30. Like much of New York : RURAL. Not "URBAN" then. Steady on there, Turbo!

31. Company with a longtime travel guide : MOBIL

32. They often have guards : SHINS

35. Self-help letters : D.I.Y.

36. Super-duper : ACES. I suppose that "aces" can mean "Super-duper" but I can't find a reference anywhere. Accept and move on.

37. 1959 Ben-Hur portrayer : HESTON. I think all that I remember of this movie is Charlton yelling "heYAR heYAR" at his horses in the chariot race.

39. Let out gradually : DRAIN

42. Use an Enigma machine, say : ENCRYPT

43. "Black Swan" Best Actress Oscar winner : PORTMAN. The very talented Natalie. Many people think she's related to British actor Eric - she's not.

46. Bad bottom line : RED INK

48. "No prob!" : NATCH!

49. Origami staple : CRANE. According to Japanese lore, if you fold 1,000 cranes in a single year, you will be granted a wish (or eternal good luck, depending on who you believe).

50. Reason to trot : HOMER. 868 reasons, in Oh-san's case as we heard earlier.

52. Corrida beast : TORO. Food! Oh, no, wait - that's tuna belly. Darn.

53. Israeli weapons : UZIS

54. Until : UP TO

55. Scoop : INFO

56. Suffragist Lucretia : MOTT. Her maiden name was Coffin, and her uncle, Mayhew Folger, was a whaling boat captain who found the last living "Mutiny on the Bounty" mutineer on Pitcairn Island. The things we learn.

57. RR station predictions : ETA'S

58. Govt. health org. : C.D.C. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Someone forgot the "P" in the abbreviation.

Oh look - here's the grid creeping up on me. I'd better skedaddle before I get flattened by it.

Steve

Thursday, October 27th 2016 Ed Sessa

Theme: Mind the Gap! Removing the space between each pair of circled entries gives you four kinds of gaps:

GENDER gap

GENERATION gap

INCOME gap and

TRADE gap.

As the reveal tells you:

54A. With 57-Across, negotiate ... and what needs to be done to make sense of this puzzle's circles : CLOSE

57A. See 54-Across : THE GAP

Very clever theme from Ed. I confess to a rare Did-Not-Finish today - I was personally natick'ed by the U in the crossing of LAU and EUBIE. Neither name was familiar to me. LAW and EWBIE looked like they might work, but alas, no.

On a side "gap" note, Bank Underground Station in the City of London has the biggest gap between the train and the platform on the entire system. My morning and evening commutes for at least ten years were serenaded by the dulcet recorded tones of actor Oswald Laurence intoning "Mind the Gap". Here's a rather charming news item on his voice, and how his widow would travel through Embankment station to listen to him after he passed away.

Let's see what else we've got:

Across:

1. Dench of "Philomena" : JUDI. A Dame Commander of the British Empire now. Not that there's a lot of Empire left to command.

5. Alternative strategy : PLAN B

10. "Ladies First Since 1916" sneakers : KEDS. Learning moment. Keds marketed the first canvas-topped "sneakers".

14. Tourney format, briefly : ELIM. Elimination tournament. An alternative format is the round-robin. The FIFA World Cup is a combination of the two.

15. Secretary Thomas Perez's department : LABOR

16. Chicken vindaloo go-with : NAAN. Food! I could list about 200 other go-withs off the top of my head, but not many with four letters. Vindaloo was originally a pork dish from the southern part of India, but has now morphed into a restaurant staple of chicken, lamb or shrimp, with an expectation of a two-alarm fire chili heat level.

17. Sister of Rachel : LEAH

18. Jazz pianist Blake : EUBIE. Part 1 of my Natick. I discover he was a ragtime and jazz musician and appeared in the movie "Scott Joplin" in 1977.

19. Logician's word : ERGO. Latin "therefore". Descartes' "Cogito, ergo sum", or "I think, therefore I am". Near chlecho with 56D - I'd have been tempted to clue them both identically.

20. Sasquatch, for one : LEGEND. I have a soft spot for Sasquatch. The first LAT puzzle that I had published (with C.C.) used the word.

22. Rub the wrong away : ERASE. Lovely clue - it's easy to read "way" rather than "away".

24. Head covering : RUG

25. Walk of life : SPHERE. Some sporting spheres here, courtesy of the master of the red headband, Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits.

29. Home of the Oregon Ducks : EUGENE. Careful with that axe.

32. Limited portions of : RATIONED

34. L.A. commuter org. : M.T.A. Now branded as "Metro".

35. German coal region : SAAR. You need at least one conforming cross here to decide between RUHR and SAAR.

37. New York Harbor's __ Island : ELLIS. My boss, Larry Ellison's last name was taken by his adoptive father to recognize his point of entry into the United States.

38. Large pears : BOSCS

41. Sing-along syllable : TRA-

42. Colonial hero Silas : DEANE. Thank you, crosses. He had something of a checkered career.

43. Home of the Imagination! pavilion : EPCOT

44. Cookout choice : RIBS. Food! I cook my ribs "in". I sous-vide them and then throw them in a 500F oven to give 'em a nice sear.

46. Animation sheet : CEL

47. Extremely focused : DIALED IN

49. Promising performers : COMERS. I've always heard this along with "up and ..."

52. Carpentry tool : SANDER

53. "That's so __!" : YOU

61. Poet Angelou : MAYA

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.

64. Dry up : PARCH

66. Sing in the shower, say : SOLO. I think I sound pretty good in the shower. Which is weird, because I can't hold a note out of it.

67. Fivers : ABES. "Honest" notes:

68. Bored with it all : BLASÉ

69. Fingerprint feature : LOOP. Cousin of the whorl and the arch.

70. Skin condition : RASH

71. Sasquatch kin : YETIS. They're getting quite common around these parts this week!

72. Mid-month time : IDES. Chum of the Nones and the Kalends.

Down:

1. Crystallize : JELL

2. Film beekeeper : ULEE. Played by Peter Fonda in 1997.

3. Laptop screen meas. : DIAGonal measurement. My ThinkPad is 14" corner-to-corner.

4. "Anybody around?" response : I'M HERE

5. Certain campus newbies : PLEDGES

6. Renowned '70s-'80s batting coach Charley : LAU. Second part of my Natick. I'm sure you've all heard of him. Not me.

7. French friar : ABBÉ

8. Roulette bet : NOIR. One of the basic roulette strategies, betting on red or black.

9. Chicken serving : BREAST. More Food! I mostly cook thighs, rather than breasts, for flavor and texture.

10. Desk space : KNEE-HOLE

11. Whisperer's target : EAR

12. Hammarskjöld of the UN : DAG. Secretary-General from 1953 until 1961 until he was tragically killed in a plane crash.

13. __-Caps: candy : SNO

21. One with a habit : NUN. It's getting close to Hallowe'en and the "alternative" nun costumes.

23. Spotted : SPIED

26. Wrap around : ENLACE. Not my first thought. Nor my second, come to that.

27. "This Is Spinal Tap" director : REINER

28. Motown flops : EDSELS. Nice misdirection. Was thinking musical acts at first.

29. War zone journalists : EMBEDS. The practice of "embedding" journalists with the military began during the Persian Gulf war in 1993.

30. Ideal setting : UTOPIA

31. Lawn maintenance accessory : GAS CAN. Tried GAS CAP. Was wrong.

32. __ to go : RARIN'

33. Sleek horse : ARAB

36. Abruzzi bell town : ATRI

39. Payment required of known deadbeats : COLD CASH

40. 1943 penny metal : STEEL

45. Grain cutters : SCYTHES. Can be grim coves, those reapers.

48. Pay a call : DROP BY. Had DROP IN first.

50. Awe-ful sound? : OOH! Think "fireworks" and the like.

51. Breakfast mix : MUESLI. Food! I like mine with Greek yoghurt and a few slices of banana.

55. Word with bake or fire : SALE

56. Logician's "E" : ERAT. Quod Erat Demonstrandum.

58. Yummy : GOOD

59. 70-Across application : ALOE. Cross-referential misery for some. I like them.

60. Boston __ : POPS

61. Spoil : MAR

62. Esq. group : A.B.A. American Bar Association for all those Esquires out there.

63. Assent : YES

65. CBS series with a N.Y. spin-off : CSI. Crime Scene Investigation. Originally based in Las Vegas, then spin-offs aired based in Miami and New York. Almost 800 episodes have been made, one of CBS Television's most successfully franchises.

And ...  here's the grid, all circled for your delectation.

Steve

Thursday, October 20th 2016 Jacob Stulberg

Theme: V-oice Exercise: A vowel progression on "V". I shared a flat with two drama students in London many moons ago, and they would trill their vowel progression voice exercises over breakfast: "Mah-may-mee-my-mow-moo-mah" or in this case "Va-Veh-Vih-Voe-Vuh". Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders were in the same class; Jennifer's boyfriend owned the house we were renting. What's that got to do with the price of gas? Not a whole lot, let's get back on track.

18A. Personal guide : VALUE SYSTEM. Not Nordstrom shopper?

24A. Shoe fastener : VELCRO STRIP. My bike cleats have these. Handy.

38A. Historic Manhattan jazz club : VILLAGE VANGUARD. Crosses all the way for me. The club opened in Greenwich Village in 1935 and became an all-jazz venue in 1975.

48A. Cloud above a peak : VOLCANIC ASH. One of those tricky-to-parse entries. I had "CASH" in place at the end, and once you see something like that, it's tough to un-see it.

58A. Source of the Romance languages : VULGAR LATIN. Or what is inscribed on the walls of Roman public bathrooms? We studied Latin poetry at school; let me tell you, some of the stanzas from Catullus and Martial would make your hair curl. Google at your peril.

Solid Thursday from Jacob; minor gripe is that VANGUARD repeats the first vowel progression and doesn't form part of the theme, although it's part of a theme entry. Minor, but a gripe.

Let's see what else we've got:

Across:   

1. One of a pair in "Waiting for Godot" : ACT. Not "tramp" or derivative thereof - nice cluing. I once saw a production of "Godot" where Vladimir and Estragon were both in grecian urns with only their heads visible. It's not exactly the most exciting play, and this static staging was curious to say the least.

4. __ ray : COSMIC

10. Where rds. meet : JCTS. Roads/Junctions. How about some Tuxedo Junction?

14. Frat address : BRO. bluto@deltatauchi.bro? Maybe not that kind of address.

15. Iris ring : AREOLA. I'm going to sit back and wait for the picture links in the comments.

16. Obama's birthplace : OAHU

17. Basic resting place : COT. Basic Training. Barracks. Cot. Basic it might have been, but very welcome.

20. Start of "A Visit From St. Nicholas" : 'TWAS the night before Christmas ...

22. Common base : TEN. We geeks also have binary, octal and hexadecimal in our bag of bases.

23. "Joke's on you!" : HA HA!

27. Animal's gullet : MAW

30. "To see __ is a picture": Dickinson : HER

31. Make subservient : ENSLAVE

33. Nincompoop : BOOB. Snigger. With 15A. Snigger.

35. "Biggest Little City in the World" : RENO

37. Next Dodger after Fernando to win the Cy Young Award : OREL. If Clayton Kershaw keeps it up, he's going to be the next Cy Young winner.

41. Ancient Icelandic text : EDDA

42. Birthstone for some Scorpios : OPAL

43. Bavarian count opener : EINS, zwei, drei ...

44. Pose anew, as a question : REFRAME

46. Hosp. areas : E.R.S

47. Put away : ATE

54. Hideout : LAIR

56. Crude shelter : HUT

57. Thing on a string : KITE

62. Sound after a punch : OOF!

63. How some games are won, briefly : IN O.T.

64. Dawn goddess : AURORA

65. Aflame : LIT

66. Cuts : MOWS. All sing along: "One man went to mow, went to mow a meadow, one man and his dog went to mow a meadow. Two men went to mow, went to mow a meadow, two men one man and his dog, Spot, went to mow a meadow. Three men went to mow ... " Continue ad nauseam.

When I used to go to Stamford Bridge in London in the '70s to watch my soccer club Chelsea, prior to kick-off the pitch would be given the once-over with the mower, Zamboni-style, and the crowd would serenade the mower guy up and down the pitch. He usually finished around "Twenty-three men went to mow". We were easily amused in those halcyon days. You want an ear worm? Here you go!

67. Shows disapproval, in a way : HISSES

68. Far from friendly : ICY

Down:

1. "How to Get Away With Murder" airer : ABC TV

2. Actor Russell : CROWE

3. Whole : TOTAL

4. Member of the reigning NBA champs : CAV. This clue breaks the "time-independent" convention for crosswords. If I came to solve this puzzle next year, there's no guarantee this clue/answer would be correct.

5. Big talker : ORATOR

6. Graf rival : SELES. Steffi and Monica of 90's professional tennis.

7. See 12-Down : MOUNT. Cross-referential angst for some.

8. The Seine's __ Saint-Germain : ÎLE. The city's' foremost professional soccer team is Paris Saint-Germain, which gives English-speaking commentators a crisis of pronunciation. Do you say "Paree" or "Paris"? You can't say "Parriss Saint Jerman", that sounds all wrong, "Parriss San-Germanne" is a curious hybrid and the correct "Paree San-Germanne" seems peculiar when you've been calling the city "Paris" all night. I'd stick to "PSG", but it's fun to listen to the manglings on TV.

9. Use to one's advantage : CASH IN ON

10. Tease : JOSH

11. Regatta racer : CATAMARAN

12. With 7-Down, sermon site : THE

13. (In) brief : SUM

19. Prattles : YAPS

21. Gentleman, at times? : SCHOLAR. Not always.

25. Sitcom that starred a singer : REBA

26. Kidney-related : RENAL

28. States as fact : AVERS

29. Join with heat : WELD

32. Comedian who said, "I have a lot of beliefs, and I live by none of 'em" : LOUIS C.K. Never heard of him, so had to look up how to parse the name. Crosses all the way for me. His real name is Louis Székely.

33. Lavatory fixture : BIDET. The first time I saw one I thought it was for washing your socks.

34. Chap : OLD FELLOW

35. Turn off : REPEL

36. Green of "Penny Dreadful" : EVA. Thank you, crosses. BBC America "psychological thriller" series, apparently. Here's Ms. Green looking appropriately deep and disturbed:

38. Designer Wang : VERA

39. Scene of biblical destruction : GOMORRAH. Twin city of Begorrah, Ireland. No, wait ...

40. Spice Girl Halliwell : GERI

45. Nike competitor : AVIA. I had ASIC first, forgetting the final "S".

46. Whole : ENTIRE

49. Blackens : CHARS

50. Jaguars, for instance : AUTOS. Funny, I'm much more likely to think of German cars as "autos" rather than British ones. Automobiles, maybe.

51. Garlicky spread : AIOLI

52. Unlikely to come unglued : STOIC

53. Big name in the bags aisle : HEFTY. Was looking for purses at first. Louis Vuitton didn't fit, Coach didn't work with my crosses, then I was struggling. Ah, trash!

55. Fed. employees : AGTS

58. Energetic spirit : VIM. Usually partnered with "Vigor". A tennis doubles duo you don't want to come up against.

59. Game with wild cards : UNO. Never played it. Anyone know the rules?

60. Him, to Henri : LUI

61. "A Queens Story" rapper : NAS. Slowly but surely this is taking root in my crossword brain.

Alrighty then! Heeere's the grid! My work here is done.

Steve

Thursday, October 13th 2016 Doug Petersen & Patti Virol

Theme: Three-Ring Themer: Circus-related entries for the three long acrosses ..

20A. Circus barker turned hurler known for brushbacks? : INSIDE PITCHMAN. The inside pitch in baseball is to encourage the batter to stop encroaching on the strike zone. Also known as "buzzing the lighthouse" when the ball comes close to the batter's head.

40A. Circus emcee turned fry cook? : ONION RING MASTER. I've never cooked onion rings. I've got a feeling that I never will.

55A. Circus performer turned gardener? : DANDELION TAMER. The only "added" word that isn't a word in and of itself. We loved dandelions as kids, but drove our Dad mad when we blew the seeds all over the lawn.

Hi all! This is going to be a little brief today - I'm running up against the deadline to get this published so I'll stick to the salient points. In the wonderful words of Douglas Adams: "I like deadlines, I love the sound of them rushing by". I'm in Jacksonville, just missed the hurricane rushing by too. Phew.

Three weighty theme entries in this one from Doug and Patti. Add to the start of a circus-related person and you get a whole new profession.

Really clean fill in the rest of the puzzle, not much to even think about wincing at. Great stuff.

Have at it if you see anything you want to link!

Across:

1. "__ Secretary": CBS drama : MADAM. Never saw it, but didn't hesitate with this one.

6. Tense period? : PAST. Past tense. Very nice.

10. Studio payment : RENT. Residual didn't fit

14. Anaheim's Honda Center, e.g. : ARENA

15. West Coast sch. : UCLA. Down the street from me in Westwood. Nice campus.

16. Harbinger : OMEN

17. Woody Woodpecker's creator : LANTZ. Crosses, thanks.

18. Commuter option : RAIL

19. Skip over : OMIT

23. Auditorium : HALL

24. Sound sometimes choked back : SOB

25. Harvest-ready : RIPE

28. Wooded valley : DELL

31. Olympics volleyball great Kerri __ Jennings : WALSH Beach volleyball great with Misty May-Trainor. She was still competing in this year's Summer Games in Rio after goodness knows how long in the sport.

35. Like fans after a tough win, probably : HOARSE

37. Pro words : YEAS

39. 29-Down's rock gp. : E.L.O. Jeff Lynne makes an appearance in the downs. Nice.

43. Reason to wear earplugs : DIN. Not E.L.O.

44. A, in many orgs. : ASSN.

45. Saws : ADAGES

46. Emmy contender : ACTOR

48. French cathedral city : METZ. The "TZ" might make you think German or Belgian. Close to the Germany border, but solidly French.

50. "Not gonna happen" : NOPE

51. With 27-Down, sign on a damp bench : WET. Cue groans from the cross-referential clue haters.

53. Party leader : HOST

62. Disturbs : JARS

63. Button on some remotes : MENU. I tried MUTE briefly, but I think they all have those

64. Family name in a 1936 classic : O'HARA

65. Dramatic accusation : ET TU

66. Send a quick message to : PING

67. Contribute, as to a kitty : PAY IN

68. Stinging insect : WASP. I got one of these little buggers inside my shirt once and got about 20 stings before I could get my shirt off.

69. Merit badge holder : SASH

70. Baton, say : STICK

Down:

1. West African country : MALI

2. Ireland's __ Islands : ARAN. Not to be confused with Scotland's Arran Island.

3. Lairs : DENS

4. Film noir protagonist : ANTI HERO

5. Miata maker : MAZDA

6. Prince's "__ Rain" : PURPLE. Live performance from 2007

7. Berry at health food stores : ACAI

8. Narrow cut : SLIT

9. Soft minerals : TALCS

10. Disc-shaped robotic vacuum : ROOMBA. Don't read the articles about what happens if your pet leaves a "present" when you're out and Roomba is around.

11. Austen classic : EMMA

12. Nuremberg no : NEIN

13. Blasted stuff : TNT

21. Respected tribe members : ELDERS

22. Tearful words : HOW SAD

25. Sitcom with a 1974 wedding episode : RHODA. Guessed. Guessed right!

26. Greek column style : IONIC

27. See 51-Across : PAINT

29. Jeff of 39-Across : LYNNE

30. Chair part : LEG

32. Release : LET GO

33. "To __: perchance to dream": Hamlet : SLEEP

34. Epsom Downs racer : HORSE

36. Caught : SNARED

38. __ Prime : AMAZON. Great deal if you're a regular Amazon shopper. Prime membership costs around $80/year and gets you free two-day delivery on many items.

41. Ideology : ISM

42. Red-and-white topper : SANTA HAT

47. Admits (to) : OWNS UP

49. Yet : THOUGH

52. Estimates on weather maps : TEMPS

54. Dots on a subway map : STOPS

55. Excel input : DATA. I've been doing a lot of that over the last couple of weeks, hence the late deadline.

56. Graphic __ : ARTS

57. General Organa in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" : LEIA

58. Days and Holiday : INNS

59. Permission-seeking phrase : MAY I

60. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" writer Carle : ERIC. A wonderful book that I remember reading to my young daughter.

61. Military status : RANK

62. Hanukkah celebrator : JEW

And here's the grid!


Apologies again for the brevity this week!

Steve

Thursday, October 6th 2016 Ed Sessa

Theme: Monster Munch - the Cookie Monster chomps through an Oreo

17A. OREO : CHILD'S SNACK. All the theme entries with the exception of 38A have a repeated letter in the middle which can sometimes make for tricky parsing.

24A. ORE : MINED DEPOSIT.

38A. OR : SURGERY. The place, not the procedure. An operating room can also be called a surgery.

52A. O : ANTHEM'S START. Not "Oh say can you see ..."

62A. Muppet's explanation of the four all-caps clues : ME EAT COOKIE. He looks mighty dapper in this picture.

Welcome to Thursday, everyone. Tricky puzzle from Ed, I got a little bogged down in the New Mexico region but eventually things worked out. The odd letter combinations in the four of the theme entries contributed to a little of the crunch in this puzzle for me. Nice idea with the theme, I love the OREO gradually disappearing as we work down the puzzle.

Let's see what else jumps out.

Across:

1. Full of beans : PEPPY. Not gassy?

6. "I don't need __": regular patron's comment : A MENU

11. Sellout letters : SRO. Standing Room Only. I still don't think this is a sell-out if you can still get  a standing ticket - unless standing is free.

14. Apple app mostly replaced by Messages : ICHAT

15. Connoisseur : MAVEN

16. Recyclable item : CAN

19. TSA requests : ID'S

20. Aria, usually : SOLO

21. Suffix with social : -ITE

22. Bovine icon : ELSIE. The Borden spokes-cow.

28. Crème brûlée topping : CARAMEL

31. Defensive comeback : AM TOO. Took me a while to see this. I was on the "punt return" train of thought for a long time.

32. Little pill : TWERP

33. When workers may be dressed down?: Abbr. : FRI.

34. Terminal conveyance : TRAM. Tried TAXI and then tried to convince myself that Guy Friday was one of the X-Men.

37. Nicki Minaj genre : RAP

42. Langley org. : C.I.A.

43. City on the Rhône : LYON. Beautiful city, and home to the notable French chef Daniel Boulud. They say Lyon has the best food in all of France - it that's the case, it's going to be spectacular. I was young and broke when I visited, so I stuck to bread and cheese. I have to say, I still remember the bread.

45. Apartment bldg. info : NOS.

46. Medina native : SAUDI. I was thinking of the golf club in Illinois for a while, but then realized that's spelled "Medinah".

48. Offer a contrary opinion : REBUT

50. Reduced to pure metal : SMELTED

55. Saint __: Caribbean island : LUCIA

56. Card game using the entire deck : WAR. Not played this game, but I know of it.

57. Goof reaction : OOPS

61. Mont. neighbor : IDA. Aha! Here's a good excuse for some musical wackiness from the B-52's.

66. Title for Anthony Hopkins : SIR.

67. Serviceable : UTILE. I actually used this word the other day - I was rather proud of myself, until I had to explain what it meant. Defeats the purpose somewhat.

68. Pointless : INANE

69. "The Splendid Splinter" Williams : TED. New one for me, but I guessed baseball and I only think I know one Williams in the game.

70. Having glass sections : PANED

71. Hen, for one : LAYER

Down:

1. Short shots? : PICS. They don't seem to be called "snaps" any more.

2. Off-the-wall answer? : ECHO. Nicely done.

3. Dad of Haley, Alex and Luke on "Modern Family" : PHIL. Crosses for me. I've never seen the show, but I hear it is (was?) great.

4. California observatory site : PALOMAR. Owned and operated by Caltech. They're nice and let Cornell and the JPL play with it from time to time.

5. Annual rpt. column : YTD. Year To Date.

6. Dutch beer brand : AMSTEL. Named for Amsterdam's river. Here's a pic (snap!) I took in Amsterdam a couple of years ago - I tried for the grand slam of bicycles, trams, canals and the Heineken brewery in one fell swoop. I could have got extra credits for a windmill, Edam cheese, a pair of clogs or a weed shop.

7. Like lions, but not tigers : MANED

8. Actress Longoria : EVA

9. Japanese tech company : NEC

10. Broken, as promises : UNKEPT

11. Hair salon technique : SCISSOR CUT. My hairdresser uses scissors rather than the clippers.

12. Two of three sides of a typical pie slice : RADII. Because "straight" didn't fit

13. First stage : ONSET

18. __ wave : SINE

23. Crook's haul : LOOT

25. Little devils : IMPS

26. Take a chance : DARE

27. Mideast dignitary : EMIR

28. PC key : CTRL

29. Like the visiting team : AWAY

30. Course record? : REPORT CARD

33. NFL scores : FG'S. Field goals. Three points, or "wide right" if you live in Buffalo.

35. Guy Friday, for one : AIDE, yeah, not X-MAN.

36. Servant for the inn crowd : MAID. Barmaid, maybe. "Serving wench" went out of style in 1708.

39. E pluribus __ : UNUM

40. Spoils : ROTS

41. 1914 battle river : YSER

44. Radar O'Reilly's pop brand : NEHI.

47. City with a Penn State campus : ALTOONA. I'm assuming we're talking about the town in Pennsylvania, not the ones in any of Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Washington and Wisconsin.

49. Admit to the Enterprise, in a way : BEAM UP. Another famous phrase that was never actually spoken was "Beam me up, Scottie".

50. Pronounced : STATED

51. Singer Anthony : MARC

52. Top-tier invitees : A-LIST

53. Show that shows too much? : NUDIE. The L.A. Times Crossword is getting racier by the decade.

54. Marshy lowland : SWALE. The obvious SWAMP put a spanner in my works

58. Acceptable : OKAY

59. Fragrant wood : PINE

60. Reader of tea leaves : SEER

63. It may be delayed by rain: Abbr. : E.T.A. Rain? It'd better be a pretty biblical rainstorm to delay my E.T.A is this referring to travel arrivals.

64. German article : EIN

65. Black gold : OIL. AKA Texas Tea.

Thursday, September 29th, 2016 Bruce Venzke and Gail Grabowski

Theme: Kitchen Crises - there are legumes cascading all over the grid.

Six types of spilling beans picked out by the circles - PINTO, BUTTER, GREEN, WHITE, SOYA and BLACK are all present and correct and hinted at by grid-spanning reveal across the center.

Tricky little puzzle, this one from Bruce and Gail. The four corners took some unpicking - the southwest caused me the most problems. I liked how the beans were all "spilling" down the puzzle. The fill was tight and clean, just a couple of entries made me wince a little, but that's probably reasonable for a 78 word puzzle. Let's see what jumps out:

Across:

1. "La Vie en Rose" singer : PIAF. Splendid excuse for some gravelly soundtrack from the chanteuse.

5. Ashtray array : BUTTS

10. Interest greatly : GRAB

14. "There __ joy in Mudville ... " : IS NO. From the splendid Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer.

15. Livid : IRATE

16. Cambodian currency : RIEL. A couple of repeats from yesterday - this and ARIA at 64A

17. Lump : CLOT

18. Hasbro soldier : GI JOE

19. Raison d'__ : ÊTRE

20. Lake Michigan port : KENOSHA

22. Dietary need : PROTEIN

24. TriBeCa neighbor : SOHO. The "Triangle Below Canal Street" and "South of Houston" neighborhoods in Manhattan.

26. Backspaced over : ERASED

27. 1974 hit with a Spanish title meaning "You are" : ERES TU

31. Jedi Council VIP : YODA. For the Star Wars fans:

33. VCR successor : TIVO

34. Brief meeting? : SESS. Not my favorite fill today. It's legal, just not very elegant.

36. Army rank above maj. : LT.COL

41. Told ... and a hint to this puzzle's six sets of circles : SPILLED THE BEANS

44. Ivy League sch. : YALE U.

45. "Rebel Without a Cause" star James : DEAN

46. Where a retriever may be retrieved: Abbr. : SPCA. Adopting a mutt from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

47. Blacken : CHAR

49. Prepare : GET SET

51. Kansas motto word : ASPERA. Ad Astra Per Aspera. "Though hardships to the stars". Kurt Vonnegut used it as the motto of the Martian Imperial Commandos in The Sirens of Titan.

55. Omit : SKIP

57. "Moby-Dick" crew : WHALERS. This got me started in this corner. I didn't see the blindingly-obvious ARIA for quite some time.

59. Made possible : ENABLED

64. Italian air : ARIA

65. Cumberland Gap explorer : BOONE

67. Hall of Fame linebacker Junior : SEAU

68. Copper that's mostly zinc : CENT

69. Corned beef __ : ON RYE. Food! I started another batch of corned beef yesterday. Only 17 more days to go!

70. Not fem. : MASC

71. __-Ball : SKEE. I didn't know this thing actually had a name, I just thought it was "that game at Chuck-E-Cheese".

72. Construction rod : REBAR

73. Long haul : TREK

Down:

1. Draft item often traded : PICK

2. Vacation destination : ISLE

3. Erelong : ANON

4. Snap, commercially : FOTO

5. Michigan Stadium nickname, with "The" : BIG HOUSE. The largest stadium in the country with a capacity of just under 110,000

6. Heep of trouble? : URIAH

7. __ Mahal : TAJ. Big marble mausoleum in Agra, India, but more importantly a pretty great Indian restaurant on Ventura Boulevard up the road from me in Encino. Here's their famous Chicken Tikka Masala:

8. Camaro roof option : T-TOP

9. What 15-Across people do : SEE RED

10. Former Fox News anchor Van Susteren : GRETA

11. Ceremonies : RITES

12. Where eagles hatch : AERIE

13. Some of this and some of that : BLEND

21. JFK-to-Heathrow flier, once : SST. Because "Concorde" doesn't fit. By far the noisiest plane that came over my house in London on the way to landing at Heathrow.

23. Dental care name : ORAL B

25. Seafood found in beds : OYSTERS

27. Website for handmade art : ETSY

28. Electrolux spokeswoman Kelly : RIPA

29. Pernicious : EVIL

30. Something underfoot : SOLE

32. DOL division : OSHA

35. Scandinavian literary work : EDDA. Here's the first verse of Sæmund's Edda. Seems to be sensible advice:

1. At every door-way,
ere one enters,
one should spy round,
one should pry round
for uncertain is the witting
that there be no foeman sitting,
within, before one on the floor.

37. Try out : TEST

38. Toy gun ammo : CAPS

39. Almost never : ONCE

40. Six-part undergrad exam : LSAT

42. Money : LUCRE. Is lucre always filthy? I've never seen a quanity of lucre described as "sparkling".

43. Tech graduate : ENGINEER

48. Abet, in a way : HARBOR

50. Grime-fighting org. : E.P.A. Nice clue - Environmental Protection Agency

51. Spy plane acronym : AWACS Airborne Warning And Control System. I'm not really sure this is a spy plane, just a method of extending your radar detection capability.

52. Toondom ogre : SHREK

53. "Common Sense" writer : PAINE. Crosses. Thomas Paine's 1775 pamphlet advocating independence from Great Britain. Smart cookie, that guy.

54. Give a big lift : ELATE

56. Uganda neighbor : KENYA

58. 40-decibel unit : SONE. Strictly speaking, it's equal to 40 phons, not decibels, but the distinction is minor so I won't stir up trouble.

60. Realty ad abbr. : BSMT. My "uggh" fill of the day. Personally, I'd have tried to fill this section differently to avoid it.

61. "I am a very foolish fond old man" speaker : LEAR. King Lear, Act 4 Sc vii. Crosses filled this in for me, then I was thinking it might refer to Edward, master of the nonsense verse.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,

Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

And hand in hand on the edge of the sand,

They danced by the light of the moon. 

From The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear

62. Comfort : EASE

63. "Fore!" : DUCK! One of my golfing buddies once hit a screamer of a drive that didn't get two inches off the ground - it hit one of the ladies' tee markers and came back at us so fast that no-one had a chance to do anything except dive for cover.

66. Sun or moon : ORB

That's about it from me. As Yoda would say: "A wrap, it is". Heeere's the grid.

Steve

Thursday, September 22nd, 2016 Roger Wienberg

Theme: A mob of Sicilians? No, as the reveal elegantly states:

34D. Raise stakes in a game ... and a hint to a hidden feature of five Down puzzle answers : UP THE ANTE

3D. Europe's highest active volcano : MOUNT ETNA. Nice to see the mountain getting a starring role for once, rather than consigned to the supporting cast of fill.

5D. Cold War Baltic patrollers : SOVIET NAVY. The US Navy was patrolling as well, but out of sight under the surface.

10D. "The Deer Hunter" setting : VIETNAM. A beautiful country - it's on my bucket list to visit.

30D. Green sign information, traditionally : STREET NAME. They're blue in my part of the world. 

43D. Wings eaters' needs : WETNAPS. When I first moved here I was amused to see that these things had instructions on the back. I can still remember verbatim: "This is a moistened towelette. It is a towelette, moistened. Open and use".

Thursday already? Roger's theme is all in the downs as the direction-change wouldn't work with the reveal if the entries ran cross-wise.

I'm guessing that MOUNT ETNA was the seed entry for the theme and a rummage through the dictionary pulled out the other four. Some lively fill and some cluing trickery makes for a satisfying Thursday. Let's go for a meander through the fill and see what jumps out.

Across:

1. It's often a stretch : LIMO

5. Grim, as a landscape : STARK. You can be a stark landscape without necessarily being grim. This looks pretty grim though:

10. Debit card choice : VISA. Both of my debit cards are Visa-branded. I recently opened a checking account with Chase because they offered me $300 if I'd direct-deposit at least $500/month and keep the account open for at least six months. Two weeks later, the $300 was in my account. Never turn down free money.

14. Superstar : IDOL

15. Command : ORDER

16. Troublesome tykes : IMPS

17. Bad-blood situation : FEUD

18. One out for blood : VAMPIRE BAT. Nasty-looking little buggers. The common vampire bat will feed off any mammal, including humans.

20. Some browns : TANS

21. Number in an outline, perhaps : III. More likely to be seen as iii. Most style guides recommend using western numerals for major outline points, lowercase roman numerals for sub-outlines. Same goes for Shakespeare citations (see my comment at 48D)

22. Put in stitches : SUTURE

23. Variety show array : TALENTS

26. Disdainful look : SNEER

27. Holes in sneakers : EYELETS

29. Cruising : ASEA

31. Slender-stemmed palm : RATTAN

32. Where to see a wake : AFT. More nautical references this week after a slew of them on Monday.

33. Botch : MUFF

37. Lease alternative : OWN

38. Babies, or what some babies wear : PAMPERS. The verb "babies", not the noun. Had me thinking for a second.

41. Historic beginning? : PRE-

42. Kentucky Fried side : SLAW. KFC have their own branded Wetnaps. 

44. Brewery fixture : VAT

45. In-groups : ELITES

47. Irish New Age singer : ENYA. Let's have a quick "Orinoco Flow" before we get to the downs.

49. Runs aground : BEACHES

50. Striped quartz : AGATE

53. Pork-filled pastry, e.g. : MEAT PIE. Food! Here's a batch of famous Melton Mowbray pork pies from England. They have their own association too.

 
55. Ruined in the kitchen : BURNED. I tend to burn myself, not the food.

57. Brooke Baldwin's network : CNN

58. Auto parts giant : NAPA. Or the National Automotive Parts Association, to be posh about it.

61. Pearl Harbor battleship : USS ARIZONA

63. Third-generation Genesis name : ENOS. Grandson of Adam and Eve. Depending on who you read, his Dad, Seth was either 105 or 205 when Enos was born.

64. Remote button with a square : STOP

65. Capital on the Willamette : SALEM

66. Pedometer measure : STEP

67. Many millennia : EONS

68. Sky scraper? : SPIRE. Here's a picture of Salisbury Cathedral in England, built between 1220 and 1258. The spire is the tallest in the UK, standing 404ft above Salisbury Plain.

 
69. Stage layouts : SETS

Down:

1. Garage contraption : LIFT.

2. What a light bulb may mean : IDEA

4. Veteran seafarer : OLD SALT

6. Coaches : TRAINS. This could be read two ways - either in the sports sense, or as I just noticed, rakes of coaches forming trains?

7. Acknowledge : ADMIT

8. Account exec : REP

9. Angel who replaced Jill, in '70s TV : KRIS. Charlie's Angels. Cheryl Ladd's character Kris replaced Farrah Fawcett's Jill in 1977.

11. Saturate (with) : IMBUE

12. Let off the hook : SPARE.

13. Late bloomer? : ASTER. Late summer to fall, according to the American Horticultural Society, who know about such things.

19. Bit of subterfuge : RUSE

24. Entrechat, e.g. : LEAP. Ballet trickeration.

25. Call at home : SAFE. I'm taking my visiting brother to Dodger Stadium tonight, his first ever baseball game.

27. Lover of Psyche : EROS

28. Ketch kin : YAWL. What does a third baseman from the South say when he throws to home plate? "ketch it, y'awl!". The ketch and the yawl are both two-masted vessels, the difference is that the mizzen mast on a yawl is stepped behind the rudder post, rather than in front of it.

32. Suitable : APT

35. Like many apps : FREE

36. Cop to the crime, with "up" : FESS

39. Address with an apostrophe : MA'AM

40. Smack : SLAP

46. Aloof demeanor : ICINESS. Tricky letter progression to parse.

48. "In thy dreams!" : NE'ER!

ROMEO: Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, for I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, scene v 

49. Hung sign : BANNER

50. Treat badly : ABUSE

51. Zest : GUSTO. Great word!

52. Illegal firing : ARSON

54. USDA inspector's concern : E.COLI. Ick.

56. Ph.D. hurdle : DISS. Dissertation.

59. Well-versed artist? : POET

60. Deadly slitherers : ASPS. These have been rearing their heads quite a few times recently.

62. Fast-forward through : ZAP. I record most of the shows that I watch so I can zap through the ads. I watch the Premier League soccer live though; but the great thing about soccer is - no commercial breaks, except at half-time.

I think that's it from me. Heeeeere's the grid, all color-coded and everything!

Steve

Thursday, September 15th 2016 C.C. Burnikel

Theme: Scrubbing Bubbles - the circles all contain the brand name of a soap, as the reveal neatly explains:

40A. Speaker's stand ... or what each set of circled squares graphically represents : SOAP BOX

A neat Thursday from C.C. The four soap brands ZEST, DIAL, DOVE and LAVA are found clockwise in the puzzle's circles. I use Irish Spring, but have been known to eat Dove, of course(!) that's the chocolate version.


I was given the nickname "Soapbox" many years ago when I worked for Warner Bros. in London due to my penchant for sounding off on pretty much any subject. A couple of my friends still call me that even though I think I've tamed the "haranguing" beast.

Some fun stuff in the fill, let's go take a look.


Across:

1. Host of "Late Night Joy" : BEHAR. Not exactly a stranger to the soapbox herself.

6. Pennant contest : RACE. C.C. takes precisely two clues to get a baseball reference in!

10. Herbal seed used in smoothies : CHIA

14. Truly impress : AMAZE

15. Screen image or screen idol : ICON

16. Called : RANG. "You rang. M'Lord?"

17. Eleventh hour : LAST SECOND. If it's the last second, that really is taking the eleventh hour down to the wire.

19. Language of Pakistan : URDU

20. Beach toy : KITE

21. "Otello" composer : VERDI

22. She played Jackie on "Nurse Jackie" : EDIE. Actress Falco. Never saw the show myself. She looks a little glum.

23. Age of Reason philosopher : LOCKE. "The mind is furnished with ideas by experience alone" according to John. Serious-looking cove:

25. Short fiction : NOVELLAS. Cunning use of the plural form of "fiction."

27. Sloth and envy : SINS. Deadly ones at that.

29. First name in scat : ELLA

30. Super __ : PAC

33. Words after save or take : A SEAT

36. Afghan capital : KABUL. Three neighbors referenced today - Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

39. Lamb nurser : EWE

42. Mama bear, in Baja : OSA

43. Sauce made with pine nuts : PESTO Three Food! items one after another across the grid. I don't think I'll be eating all three together though.

45. Roll dipped in wasabi : SUSHI

46. __ cabbage : RED

47. Drawn tight : TAUT

49. Big name in golf clubs : PING. The company started out making a single type of putter. The club actually did "ping" when the ball came off the face, hence the name.

51. Bugs' voice : MEL BLANC.

55. Storied monsters : OGRES. Shrek didn't seem so bad as ogres go. There's always one or two that give a group a bad name.

58. Airline known for tight security : EL AL

59. About : CIRCA

61. Algerian seaport : ORAN. In Arabic وهران Arabic crosswords are solved from right to left, I assume?

63. Humorist Barry : DAVE

64. Unparalleled : ONE AND ONLY

66. Plugging away : AT IT

67. Heated contest, in more ways than one : MEET. Great clue. At an athletics or swim meet. The heats lead to the finals, which lead, hopefully, to a heated contest for the medals. Favorite clue/answer of the day.

68. Aquafina rival : EVIAN. I drink good old Los Angeles Tap.

69. Some skinny jeans : LEES

70. Torah cabinets : ARKS

71. Like a neglected garden : WEEDY

Down:

1. Refuse to, with "at" : BALK. We add an unnecessary "U" in England. Of course we do. I thought C.C. might have snuck in another baseball reference here.

2. Outlook messages : EMAIL. More fun with plural forms the same as the singular.

3. Lacks choices : HAS TO

4. Quetzalcoatl worshipers : AZTECS

5. High-__ image : RES

6. Jasmine __ : RICE Food! I use it when I cook Thai curries, the flavor is a nicely-scented contrast to the curry. If you've got jasmine growing in the garden, pick a couple of the flowers for garnish.

7. Part of an autumn stash : ACORN

8. Many a beach rental : CONDO

9. Bitter green in mixed greens : ENDIVE. This is making me hungry.

10. Fur-loving de Vil : CRUELLA. Delightful character from Disney's "101 Dalmatians"

11. Work that may be imposed with a prison sentence : HARD LABOR

12. 29-state country : INDIA

13. Feverish bouts : AGUES

18. "Still ... " : EVEN SO

24. Honda Fit competitor : KIA SOUL. A little on the boxy side. I've driven a couple recently as rentals from Hertz. They're not exactly the peppiest of cars that I've experienced.

26. Warning sign in the Rockies : ELK XING.

28. High waters : SEAS

30. Abundance in the cheerleading squad : PEP

31. Reverence : AWE

32. Observation with a sigh : C'EST LA VIE

34. Kwik-E-Mart clerk : APU. "The Simpsons" store owner. He's from INDIA originally.

35. Kitchen amt. : TBSP. Three tsps in a tbsp.

37. Take for a sucker : USE

38. Little fellow : LAD

41. Many an Indian fan : OHIOAN. Aha! Baseball is back. The Cleveland Indians.

44. Computers that travel well : TABLETS. My iPad didn't travel very well when I dropped it poolside on vacation in Mexico. I got the screen repaired but it was never the same again.

48. Puget Sound city : TACOMA. I was just on the Puget Sound a couple of weeks ago. Here's a picture from that little jaunt, it was a beautiful day.

50. It's on the record : GROOVE. Quick - how many grooves are there on an average LP?

51. Wartime award : MEDAL

52. Fill with joy : ELATE

53. Forty-__ : NINER. The LA Rams got off to a great start on Monday against the Niners - not.

54. Links hazard : CREEK

56. Banks with a statue at Wrigley Field : ERNIE. Nailed it! Counting three baseball references so far!

57. Course with leaves : SALAD

60. Jazz lovers : CATS

62. Part of a Wall St. address : NY NY "... it's a wonderful town, the Bronx is up and the Battery's down, the people ride in a hole in the ground ...."

65. Meadow drops : DEW

I think that's it from me. I had the pastrami I started (four weeks ago) for dinner last night. Not *quite* as good as Katz's deli on the lower East Side in Manhattan, but close enough! Enjoy your day, everyone.

Steve

Note from C.C.:

Here are a few sweet family photos from Yellowrocks (Kathy). She said:

"While we were down the shore last week, my older son David and his wife Motoko stayed in Wildwood, too. We spent the evenings together going out for delicious seafood. Here are some pics of David, Motoko, Alan and me. Alan is the one with the mustache."

Motoko (David's wife)  & Alan

Yellowrocks, Alan & Motoko

Yellowrocks and son David

David, Yellowrocks and Alan

Thursday, September 8th, 2016 Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme. ¿Hablas Español? Seven Spanish-language entries stepping across and down the grid as neatly explained by the grid-spanning reveal.

13A. Common refreshment : AGUA. I knew right away that something was afoot when this had no indication of "in Spanish" in the clue.

14D. "I'm outta here" : ADIOS. I like how "Amigo" is another of the seven themers.

28A. Chef's creation : SALSA. Once I saw this I was off to the races. I've never solved a puzzle diagonally before but the other four theme entries went in one after the other.

30D. Buddy : AMIGO

48A. Not us : OTROS. The others.

50D. Figure of veneration : SANTA. All females. The men are "San". When I can't sleep I sometimes try an alphabet run of place names, one for each San/Santa. I haven't been able to come up with a Santa "Z" yet, but there is a San Zaccaria church in Venice.

68A. Museum contents : ARTE. The Keats-Shelley memorial museum is in the house where Keats lived at the top of the Spanish Steps.

and the reveal:

39A. Roman landmark graphically portrayed by this puzzle's circles : THE SPANISH STEPS. Either "Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti" or "Scalina Spagna" in Italian depending on who you ask. You need to get up early to see them this devoid of people:

Buenos dias amigos y amigas! Steve here with Jeffrey's quick Spanish 101 quiz. A neat theme and a tidy grid with only one entry I wished wasn't there (I'm looking at you, S.F. FAN). There's a lot of unusual or unique fill; the whole puzzle feels very fresh. ¡Bravo!

Right then, let's see what else we've got. Ándale!

Across:

1. The 1% in 1% milk : FAT

4. Court activity : HOOPS

9. Baseball's "Georgia Peach" : COBB. Nailed it! Getting better at baseball icons.

15. TV comic Kovacs : ERNIE. I knew the name, but I never saw the show. He died in a car crash here in Los Angeles when I was three.

16. Campers' gathering place : FIRE. Not SITE as I had first.

17. Bill "Bojangles" Robinson's forte : TAP-DANCING

19. Actress Lena : OLIN. I always forget her. Thank you, crosses!

20. Amazon's biz : E-TAIL

21. Really dug : ATE UP

23. One may be tipped : HAT

24. Translate, in a way : DECODE

26. Landscaper's contraption : SEEDER. This one is not messing around:

31. Heavenly figure : SERAPH. Top of the heap of the celestial hierarchy. That's one boss angel.

33. Cadillac compact : ATS. It's the smallest of the brand's model line.

36. Soup bean : LIMA

38. Cookout spot : PATIO

43. Big fight : MELEE

44. Elegant molding : OGEE. Comes from "Oh gee, that's some nice molding you've got there".

45. Collecting Soc. Sec. : RET. Not RTD, which I tried first.

46. Claim in a tissue ad : SOFTER

51. Brand in a B-52 cocktail : KAHLÚA. Comes from Mexico, appropriately enough for this puzzle's theme. Kahlúa, Baileys Irish Cream and triple sec, layered.

53. Jerks : SPASMS

57. Promise : VOW

58. One rooting for the Niners, briefly : S.F. FAN. Not my favorite.

61. Open, in a way : UNCAP

62. "Iliad" warrior : AJAX. Also a Dutch soccer team. I saw them play in Amsterdam and have a souvenir jersey.

64. Chaucer narrative told by Huberd, with "The" : FRIAR'S TALE. He was mean about a summoner, and so the summoner told a mean tale about a Friar in turn. We read the Canterbury Tales at school, and to the credit of all concerned, our textbook was unexpurgated. It was a lot of fun translating the rude bits.

66. Trim : PARE

67. "__ Doone" : LORNA

69. Produced with effort, with "out" : EKED

70. English assignment : ESSAY

71. Transitory passion : FAD

Down:

1. Destined : FATED

2. Striped stone : AGATE

3. Rapper __ Shakur : TUPAC. A controversial figure; he was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996, aged 25.

4. Coop occupant : HEN

5. Sea predator : ORCA

6. "Will do!" :  ON IT!

7. Cone makers : PINES. Nicely obscure - I wanted something ice-cream related.

8. Smooth transitions : SEGUES

9. One who might be a CPA : CFO. Because Chief Financial Officer is too long to fit in three squares.

10. Winter warmer : OIL HEATER

11. Holmes accessory : BRIAR PIPE.  He also never said "Elementary, my dear Watson".

12. Like a crowbar : BENT

18. Six-time Emmy winner : ALDA. Five for writing, directing and acting in M*A*S*H and one for Best Supporting Actor in The West Wing. His real name is Alphonso D'Abruzzo.

22. Chums, slangily : PEEPS

25. First name in jazz : ELLA

27. "Well, shoot" : DRAT

29. Chinese: Pref. : SINO-. As in the "Sino-Soviet Split" during the Cold War.

32. Colbert, for one : HOST. Currently with The Late Show on CBS. Funny guy.

33. Devices with security cameras : ATMS

34. TV cop with a Tootsie Pop : THEO KOJAK. Didn't even hesitate with this one. I'm not sure how I knew he was called "Theo" but somehow I did.

35. Mindful of one's own needs : SELF-AWARE

37. As __: grouped together : A SET. I tried A LOT at first. Didn't stay in there long.

40. MacFarlane of "Family Guy" : SETH

41. Juicing discards : PEELS

42. "If she did play false, the fault was __": Shak. : HERS. From King John, Act I scene i in which John converses with a character charmingly called "the Bastard".

47. Dust __ : RUFFLE

49. Work : OPUS

52. Fluffed-up dos : AFROS

54. Winter accessory : SCARF

55. Island near Sicily : MALTA. The British Navy used to have a base close to the capital, Valetta. This street, nicknamed "The Gut" was infamous (or famous, depending on your point of view!)

56. Clip : SPEED

57. Enjoy an e-cig : VAPE. E-cigs are getting to have as bad a name as the real things.

59. Pretensions : AIRS

60. Family nickname : NANA

63. Struck (out) : X'ED

65. Slight manifestation, as of hope : RAY

I think that does it for me. Con rapida ... here's the grid!

Steve