Thursday June 29 2017 Gerry Wildenberg

Theme: Mohr, Mohr, Mohr! On a scale of one to hard ...

35A. Gritty ... and a description of this puzzle, which is also a hint to completing eight answers : HARD-EDGED

1A. Angry Orchard product : [HARD] CIDER

6A. Bony part of the roof of the mouth : [HARD] PALATE

66A. Contacts option : [HARD] LENSES

67A. Punishing work : [HARD] LABOR

12D. Hockey puck material : [HARD] RUBBER

15D. Stubborn : [HARD] HEADED

38D. Real estate, gold, silver, etc. : [HARD] ASSETS

45D. Gotten with considerable effort : [HARD] EARNED

Fun puzzle! The penny finally dropped with the theme when I got to 15D.

I was grumpily thinking that "HEADED" is not a term I'd ever heard for being stubborn and then it all clicked. I try to avoid solving the reveal clue ahead of completing the rest of the grid; I like to try to figure the theme out as I go. Lots of goodies in the fill, so nice job all around by Gerry.

Let's have Roxy Music's cover of Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" as the soundtrack for the rest of the commentary.

Across:

12. 1988 Schwarzenegger cop film : RED HEAT. I started off entering ROBOCOP but stopped short. Can't have "cop" in the answer if it's in the clue.

14. Put an end to : ABOLISH

16. Clears a stoppage from : UNCLOGS

17. Entertainer nicknamed "The Schnoz" : DURANTE. Jimmy had a strikingly large nose.

18. "Be Prepared" org. : BSA. Boy Scouts of America.

19. Party hearty : CAROUSE

21. Monterrey Mrs. : SRA. Señora in Mexico.

22. Outlying area, briefly : 'BURB

24. Whitman of TV's "Parenthood" : MAE. Thank you crosses.

25. Slightly : A TAD

26. Earth along the Elbe : ERDE. German. Per Wikipedia "Die Erde ist der dichteste, fünftgrößte und der Sonne drittnächste Planet des Sonnensystems."

27. Lyric tribute : ODE

29. French course : SALADE. Food! Fun.

31. Score silence : REST

32. Guideline : RULE

34. Spot for wheels? : CAR AD. Nice clue/answer combo.

38. "... __ lovely as ... ": Kilmer : A POEM

41. European volcano : ETNA

42. Seis doubled : DOCE. Español. I took my first Spanish language class last week. I can speak menu Spanish, but I thought it would be nice to be able to actually converse beyond "buenos dias", "adiosbb " and "uno mas cerveza, por favor."

46. Beat the bushes : SEARCH

48. Note site : PAD

49. Exploring Griffith Park, say : IN LA. Griffith Park is my go-to local hiking spot. I took this picture of what is known locally as "The Wishing Tree" last Sunday at the top of the Cahuenga Pass in the park. It's about a 1,000 ft hike/scramble to get up there.

50. Sushi bar drink : SAKE. I had sake on Tuesday with my sushi. I keep a bottle in the refrigerator.

51. __-Locka, Florida : OPA. This reminds me of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" when I see this word. Opa!

53. Not e'en once : NE'ER

54. Terrestrial newt : EFT. I tried ERT first, for no good reason whatsoever.

55. Hammer at an angle : TOENAIL. This is a new expression for me. Here's toenailing in action:

59. Sun shade : TAN

60. Destructive storm : TORNADO

62. Agenda opener : ITEM ONE

64. Administer an oath to : SWEAR IN

65. Made do : MANAGED

Down:

1. Official rebuke : CENSURE

2. Security issues? : ID CARDS. I just got a new one for NBC Universal, one of my clients. I was hoping it would get me into the theme park; sadly it just gets me access to the lot and a bunch of office buildings. Boo.

3. FedEx alternative : DHL. Could have been UPS. Wasn't.

4. Anti-discrimination org. : E.E.O.C.

5. Musical style of Anoushka Shankar's 2015 album "Home" : RAGA. They play this all the time in the Indian market that I shop at. She's a very talented sitar player.

6. City near Venice : PADUA

7. Mistreats : ABUSES

8. Traditional accounts : LORE

9. Chef's phrase : A LA. Here is Sushi A La Steve which I made earlier this week. I popped into the Japanese market in downtown LA for a couple of things, then saw they had some super-good-looking yellowtail and hamachi, so Sushi Tuesday it was.

10. Sheriff's badge : TIN STAR

11. "CHiPs" actor : ESTRADA. I heard that the recent movie remake was absolutely dreadful.

13. Original Dungeons & Dragons co. : T.S.R. Really? How absolutely fascinating. Next.

20. Breakfast cookware : OMELET PAN. Not me, my breakfast cookware is a coffee machine.

23. "Don't forget our date" : BE THERE

25. "Arabian Nights" character : ALADDIN. I must remember that he is not spelled "ALLADIN". It looks wrong across the page, I didn't catch the mistake as it's running vertically downwards.

27. Hockey immortal : ORR

28. Guy : DUDE

30. Breeze through : ACE

33. Author Ferber : EDNA

36. "Better Call Saul" network : AMC

37. Wander : GAD

39. Pheasant kin : PEAFOWL. Noisy, too. Steve Jobs got a small flock as a gift when he lived next door to Larry Ellison. Ellison pleaded with him to find them a new home, they were ruining his Zen moments.

40. Yellow ribbon holder of song : OAK TREE. You can go and find the song yourself if you need a reminder of how sappy it is. Maybe it was only an irritant in the UK.

43. "Almost finished!" : ONE TO GO!

44. Pledge, e.g. : CLEANER. Nice misdirection.

47. Identity-concealing garb, perhaps : HOODIE

52. Lowly workers : PEONS

55. Completes a street : TARS. Still not quite complete. You need to paint the road markings.

56. Purpose : AIM

57. Tilted type: Abbr. : ITAL.

58. "Not That Kind of Girl" memoirist Dunham : LENA

61. Indian bread : NAN. I gave up trying to make these at home. You need a tandoor or an oven that gets up to around 800F.

63. Shakespeare's fairy queen : MAB

"O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.

She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes

In shape no bigger than an agate-stone

On the fore-finger of an alderman ...." 

So says Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet.

And so says Steve - here's the grid!

Adios!

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to Barry G, who used to post on our blog faithfully when he worked at home. How are you doing, Barry? We miss you!

July 2, 2016

Thursday, June 22 2017 Peter A. Collins

Theme: Office Space - Four corners, four varieties of offices - as the reveal succinctly explains:

38A. With 41-Across, corporate status symbol ... and a hint to the circled letters : CORNER

41A. See 38-Across : OFFICE

Four corners, four offices and two paired reveals across the center. The four offices are clockwise from noon: HOME, TICKET, POST and OVAL. Quite lovely. A couple of years ago I tried to construct a circle puzzle based on OFFICE in an oval shape. I messed around with that idea for way too long and then abandoned it. Peter went in another direction and nailed it.

A "hidden" theme like this is extremely hard to pull off. Kudos to Peter for that - and let's see what else jumps out.

Across:

1. Sheepish? : OVINE. Bugger. Why do I always confidently go with USINE which has nothing to do with sheep? First misstep at 1A. Go Steve! Now this is a thing of beauty! Those border collies are quite amazing,

6. Seeks information : ASKS. "Excuse me, what is the descriptive adjective for sheep?"

10. Wave back? : ECHO. Nice. Was playing with EVAW for a while.

14. Fashion flap : LAPEL

15. Eliza Doolittle's creator : SHAW. George Bernard. "Pygmalion" and thence "My Fair Lady". The wonderful Audrey Hepburn.

16. Noah's firstborn : SHEM. Confidently tried SETH first. That didn't help a lot.

17. __ blank (was stumped) : DREW A

18. Big East hoopster : HOYA. If you'd have told me 25 years ago I'd even know that there was a thing called College Basketball I'd have been stumped. 25 years later, not even a thought about the Georgetown U athletics program.

19. One of many on a sweater? : PORE. Great clue. That was me yesterday at my periodontist. Google British Dentisty 1960's and you'll know why my pores were getting a workout. My first dentist (I was five years old) drilled my teeth with a foot-treadle-operated drill and no anesthetic. This was way before Novocaine was available.

20. Headshot, e.g. : PIC

21. Rapper-turned-actor in "NCIS: Los Angeles" : LL COOL J

24. Tiny, made tinier : LIL. Rapper designate also. 'Sup, Cool J?

25. Collect : REAP. As ye sow. so ye shall reap ....

27. Cake grain : OAT ... cake grain? No thanks, I'm inventing vodka!

28. Decadent : EFFETE

30. Perceived Hollywood oversight : OSCAR SNUB. Loved this. Unhappy that Daniel Day Lewis decided this week to hang up his boots. What a fantastic actor. Never snubbed.

33. Gold standard : KARAT

34. Univ. aides : TAS

35. Luau fare : POI. FOOD! It's really good if it's made well. That's a big caveat.

37. Joyful dances : JIGS

43. Hindu title : RANI

44. Modeled for a portrait : SAT

46. See 54-Across : OUT. Cross-reference haters rejoice! Here's one with the second word first! Have at it in the comments section!

47. Tennyson's "__ Arden" : ENOCH. Crosses all the way.

49. Character who debuted in "First Blood" : JOHN RAMBO. I can never remember his first name.

54. With 46-Across, quit working : CONKED. See 46A. Personally, I like it.

56. Fam. member : REL. We say "relation" here. Brits say "relative". Discuss.

57. Spotted : SEEN

58. Terminate : END

59. Genuine, for real : SYNONYM. LOVED this clue. I wish I was so original when I'm cluing a crossword.

62. Bloke : LAD

63. "Rich men sin, and __ root": "Timon of Athens" : I EAT. Obscure? Yes. Gettable with crosses? Yes.

65. Princes, but not princesses : SONS

66. Advice to sinners : ATONE. Not "Don't be a knucklehead and don't it again"? That would be my advice before starting the whole atonement process.

68. __ stick : POGO

69. "Beetle Bailey" pooch : OTTO

70. Slice-and-dice product suffix : -MATIC. Don't. REALLY don't. REALLY DON'T order anything from the TV called -MATIC anything. Period.

71. Crimean War leader : TSAR

72. Lamp gas : NEON

73. Walter White's Pontiac model in "Breaking Bad" : AZTEK Easily one of the ugliest cars designed - ever.

Down:

1. Hardly a neophyte : OLD PRO

2. Fluctuates : VARIES

3. Emetic drug : IPECAC. Completely ineffective and, as it transpires, quite dangerous.

4. Never used : NEW

5. Airline since 1948 : EL AL. "To the skies" et al. Sorry, I meant el al.

6. Rubbish bin : ASH CAN. Do we have these anymore? Genuine question.

7. Have a growth spurt : SHOOT UP

8. Drop to the canvas : KAYO. Variations on Knock Out, KO or crosswordese KAYO. Sorry, didn't like this.

9. Marshy hollow : SWALE. I'm not seeing this. A marsh is flat, wet and reedy. A swale is a lovely dry haven in a meadow. Ne'er the twain shall meet.

10. Mentalist's gift : ESP

11. Ill-tempered : CHOLERIC. Word of the day.

12. Ancestry : HERITAGE. Wine style of the day: Meritage. C'mon, I have to get my food/wine hat on sometimes!

13. Morning orders : OMELETS. Food! Mushrooms, cheddar cheese, spinach. Thank you.

22. Setbacks : LOSSES

23. 35th pres. : JFK

26. Indy racer Danica or sportscaster Dan : PATRICK. I watch the Dan Patrick Show most mornings on NBC Sports. Dan has a life-sized stand-up of Danica in his studio. There was an ongoing debate about whether it was Danica, or a stock model of a guy with Danica's face Photoshop'ed onto it, due to the size of the hands. The jury was out - either it was Danica, who has "Man Hands", or it was a Photoshop fake. Very entertaining.

29. Sizzling Tex-Mex dish : FAJITAS. Food! SoCal favorite.

31. Conducted : RAN

32. Didn't say __: had no comment : BOO

36. Words of regret : IF ONLY

38. Camera named for a goddess : CANON EOS. I gave my daughter one for Christmas one year, I made sure it worked first, She almost didn't get it.

39. Five Nations tribe : ONONDAGA. Thank you, crosses

40. "The Big Bang Theory" astrophysicist : RAJ. Thank you, crosses, I know this is a show I should have watched but .....

42. Pelt : FUR

43. Register printout : RECEIPT

45. Home city of Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper : TORONTO. One of those two better be syndicating the LA Times puzzle, or there will be trouble, eH? Don't have any doot aboot it. Canadian Eh! may need to mediate..

48. Cock and bull : HES. Masculine plural - wasn't sure how to punctuate it, so you get it in the raw form.

50. Muppet master : HENSON

51. Giant in Cooperstown : MEL OTT

52. Small cap : BEANIE

53. Next up : ON DECK. Lemonade, tomorrow

55. Bagless vacuum pioneer : DYSON. I love how he sounds so British. And all balls, too.

60. Staff member? : NOTE

61. Crib cry : MA-MA

64. Craggy peak : TOR

67. Tornadic Looney Tunes spinner : TAZ

It's been a long day, so I'm done (put a fork in me) . Grid below. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Thursday. Those of you in tornado territory - be careful. Those of you in insanely hot territory - look after yourselves.

Steve

Thursday, June 15 2017 Brian Thomas

Theme: Un-hip Paragon- as the 1960's flower child might describe her squeaky-clean parent.

The reveal sits across the middle of the grid:

36A. With some unscrambling, the contents of each set of circles : PERFECT SQUARE

The four nine-letter scrambles are, clockwise from the North-West: SIXTY-FOUR, THIRTY-SIX, EIGHTY-ONE and FORTY-NINE, or 8x8, 6x6, 9x9 and 7x7.

Very inventive puzzle from Brian, and it also appears to be his LAT debut; if so congratulations! I did a little Googling and found a namesake of his who occasionally comments over on Amy Reynaldo's blog. Stop in at the Corner, Mr. Thomas and tell us something about yourself!

This was a fun puzzle to solve. It took me way longer than my regular Thursday time but fortitude paid off. My last fill was the A of ULTIMA/ABT which was, quite honestly, a toss-up between A and O, ballet not being my strong suit.

Regarding the theme, I filled in the "49" square first, and was thinking about NFL teams but that didn't last long.

I did find it a little "bitty" with a slew of 3's, 4's and 5's, but crafting around those four cubes isn't easy. Nothing really annoyed me though. Maybe ABT did, a tad.

Let's see what else we've got.

Across:

1. Port initials : USB. I started off on the wrong foot here by filling in FOB and feeling smug that I was hep to shipping terms.

4. Fallon's predecessor : LENO

8. Negative quality : MINUS partnering 8D's MERIT. Very nice.

13. Late July arrival : LEO

14. No longer hung up on : OVER

15. Composed : SERENE

16. Going rate? : TAXI FARE

18. Younger daughter of Hi and Lois, in comics : TRIXIE. No clue, thank you crosses.

19. Admission of defeat : I LOST! Which I would have done if I'd have given up early on this puzzle

20. Petal pusher? : FLORIST. Hand up for reading "pedal" and trying to work out why CYCLIST should be clued with a question mark. I left it alone and when I came back to it I read the clue properly.

22. Baseball's Wills and TV's Povich : MAURYS

24. __ zone: shallowest oceanic region that sunlight doesn't reach : BATHYAL. Pure learning moment. Or, as a southern Mom might say to her muddy tyke - BATH, Y'ALL

27. Co. once led by Baryshnikov : A.B.T. American Ballet Theatre. I tried MET first which fit nicely with BOX OUT but this area required some serious unpicking at the finish.

28. Sap sucker : APHID

31. Green prefix : ECO-

32. Suffix with Bieber : MANIA.Not from me.

34. Like aged cheddar : SHARP

40. Invoice word : REMIT

41. Blow one's fuse : ERUPT

42. Once-sacred snake : ASP

43. Straight sides of a pizza slice, e.g. : RADII. Food! I don't eat a lot of pizza, but there's a joint near me where the chef is credited with inventing the barbecue chicken pizza, one of CPK's best sellers.

45. Relaxation destination : SPA

48. Low-down prank? : HOT FOOT. I'd never heard of this.Setting someone's shoelaces on fire. Seems like a recipe for instant and unpleasant revenge.

51. __ torpedo: "Star Trek" weapon : PHOTON

54. Symbol of complementary principles : YIN-YANG

57. Watching intently : EYING

58. Bakery-café chain : PANERA. Food! They make pretty good sandwiches. Soup's nice too.

60. Man of steel? : CARNEGIE

62. "Wild" author Strayed : CHERYL. Very good book. She didn't hold anything back, she's a strong woman to reveal some of the things she'd done in her life.

63. Actor Baldwin : ALEC

64. Tillis of country : MEL. Crosses filled this in for me.

65. "Sonatine Bureaucratique" composer : SATIE. Erik. Born Éric Alfred Leslie Satie. Not sure if you've ever heard anything he composed? Yeah, you have.

66. Soothing succulent : ALOE

67. Pitches during breaks : ADS. Warm-ups from the bullpen? No, C.C. isn't here today.

Down:

1. Word's last syllable : ULTIMA. Torn. Ultima/Ultimo. Both seemed reasonable. As I said at the top of the blog, I WAG'd it.

2. Aquanaut's base : SEALAB. Cartoon Network had a big hit with their late-night animation of the same name.

3. Block during rebounding, in basketball : BOX OUT. The NBA finals just finished. Lots of fun. Contrast and compare "finals" with "final" at 37D.

4. Up in the air : LOFTY. Anyone taller than 6' tall when I was growing up in England was guaranteed to be nicknamed "Lofty", I made it to 6' even, so never was awarded the moniker. It annoyed my elder brother to heck though, he only made 5'11" and only accepted that I was taller than him during a family visit a couple of years ago. He's still grumpy about it.

5. Actress Longoria : EVA

6. Soft toy brand : NERF

7. Russian city where Turgenev was born : OREL. Mr. Hershiser gets a rest from clue duty today.

8. Positive quality : MERIT. Great pairing with 8A today.

9. "Fighting" Indiana team : IRISH. Gimme. This is me at the Aloha Bowl in Honolulu in 2008. I didn't have anything better to do that year, so why not Christmas on Oahu watching the Irish?

10. When some fans have to wait till : NEXT YEAR. Most fans. Most years. My UK soccer team, Chelsea, won the Premier League this year, so no waiting in 2017 for me. My Champions T-Shirt is en route.

11. Solitary prefix : UNI-. Tard. Cycle. Vision? I'm sure there's plenty more, but I've run out of ideas.

12. "Told you!" : SEE?

15. Fine fiddle : STRADivarius.

17. Med. nation : ISR.ael.

21. Sapporo sash : OBI

23. Reasonable : SANE. Took a while to see this, but if you make a sane argument, you're being pretty reasonable.

25. Zoning unit : ACRE

26. Cut : LOP

29. Shot : PIC

30. Word repeated twice in a Roger Ebert title about bad movies : HATED. I tried to look this up, but I drew a blank - even IMDb doesn't list a title which has Roger Ebert credited? What did I miss?

32. Injured pro's test, perhaps : MRI

33. Toward the stern : AFT. Get back there, you salty swab.

34. "What's doin'?" : 'SUP?. Obligatory man-nod required. Upwards chin-tilt, not the downwards one. Try it. "'Sup?" (Upwards chin-tilt) See? You'll be hanging with your new homeys in no time.

35. Haberdasher's item : HAT

36. Latin American capital : PESO. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Capital as in currency.

37. Like some late-game hockey goals : EMPTY NET. The last goal of this NHL season was an empty-netter scored by Pittsburgh against Nashville in the sixth game of the Stanley Cup Final. Now, look back to 3D and try and explain Finals vs Final.

38. Hindu title : SRI

39. Wisecrack : QUIP

40. Fan sound : RAH! 

43. __ blue : ROYAL

44. Words with clip or crossroads : AT A

45. Mark of shame : STIGMA

46. Paid (up) : PONIED

47. Cloud dwellers? : ANGELS

49. Guy in the kitchen : FIERI. He's a horrible cook, a terrible food critic but a great host and personality. Dear Food Network, please stop him critiquing other people's food and get him to stick to being a natural on TV. You notice he doesn't have his own cooking show any more?

50. Deli order : ON RYE. Food! Pastrami, please. At Katz's Deli on Houston in the lower East Side in Manhattan. Pickle spear. Fries if you must. Don't lose the ticket they give you on the way in, I believe you get thrown in the East River if you can't produce it on your way out to show what you ate and cash out.

52. For this reason : HENCE. Hence don't lose your ticket at Katz's

53. "Listen up," to Luis : OYE!

55. Indiana-based sports org. : NCAA. Two Indiana shout-outs today. South Bend for Notre Dame, and these wonderfully organized, rational and non-profit-making people in Indianapolis.

56. Chutzpah : GALL

58. Best Buy buys : PCS. I bought the Lenovo I'm composing this compostable blog at Best Buy a couple of months ago.

59. "That's it!" : AHA!

61. Flying Cloud, for one : REO. I really only know the Speedwagon, and that's because of the band. What a lovely car - this one is from 1931.

What's left? I'm sure I'm forgetting something ... oh wait - the grid!

Steve (Rory McIlroy to win the US Open, you heard it here first)

Thursday, June 8 2017 Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: Cervantes Shout-Out - all the theme answers are connected by the protagonist in Miguel's two-part classic novel "El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha"

17A. 60-Across' noble status : KNIGHTHOOD. Possibly self-appointed though.

24A. 60-Across' home : LA MANCHA. "Somewhere in La Mancha in a place I do not care to remember ..."

49A. 60-Across' beloved : DULCINEA. "... her neck alabaster, her bosom marble, her hands ivory ..."

60A. Classic character whose exploits inspired the phrase in this puzzle's circles : DON QUIXOTE

Here he is doing that very thing:

Buenos dias! Jeffrey takes us on a literary tour with his theme, and nicely done. Four solid theme entries and a 15-letter diagonal grid-spanner gives the puzzle a nice structure. Two pairs of 9's in the downs underpin a really nice construction. I basically solved this in an anti-clockwise direction finishing up with HANES.

In a fun coincidence, Terry Gilliam, the ex-Monty Python actor and noted film director, announced on Tuesday that he had finally finished his Don Quixote movie, which was 17 years in the making and was such a disastrous production that the attempts to make it were themselves the subject of a documentary. Here's the full tale, courtesy of The Guardian newspaper.

Across:

1. Sting, essentially : TRAP.

5. Wingding : BASH. Or one of the symbols in the Wingdings font in Microsoft Word.

9. Word often improperly punctuated : ITS. Drives me nuts. It's, its. Use the mnemonic "It's an apostrophe" if you're not sure.

12. Small stream : RILL

13. Satellite radio giant : SIRIUS. It's actually SiriusXM. Not sure I like the clue.

15. "__ lied" : SO I

16. Jackie Robinson Stadium sch. team : UCLA. You can see the field from the 405 freeway in Westwood.

19. "Bother someone else!" : SCAT!

20. Footnote term : IDEM. "The same" to reference a previously-cited source.

21. Collagist's supply : PASTE. This didn't come easily. Pasting collage materials onto the work.

22. Musical impediment : TIN EAR

26. Well-suited : APT

27. "O god of battles! __ my soldiers' hearts": Henry V : STEEL. I tried STILL first, and then realized that's probably not what Henry would want to happen to his army.

28. Be obstreperous : ACT UP

31. White House section : WING

34. Bunch : SLEW

36. See 42-Down : D'OR. Just to annoy the cross-reference dislikers even more, this two-parter even comes out of order. I've never heard of the opera, but high school French lessons rendered the translation without any great effort.

37. Bringers of great relief : SAVIORS

40. Spanish pronoun : ESO

41. ESPN's Hershiser : OREL

43. Johnny who was the last pitcher to face Babe Ruth : SAIN. The Boston Braves didn't have much depth in pitching, hence "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain".

First we'll use Spahn

then we'll use Sain

Then an off day

followed by rain

Back will come Spahn

followed by Sain

And followed

we hope

by two days of rain.

44. Catcher on the ranch : LASSO

46. Thinks : DEEMS

48. Racket : DIN

52. "Turn up the thermostat!" : I'M COLD!

56. Hunter on high : ORION. One of the more recognizable constellations.

57. Wolverine, for one : X-MAN

59. Hipbone prefix : ILIO-

62. Some annexes : ELLS

63. Santana's "__ Como Va" : OYE. First recorded by Tito Puente back in 1963. Carlos' version is the best known.

64. Hurries : SCOOTS

65. Khartoum waterway : NILE

66. Sautéing sound : SSS

67. Top 500? : INDY. Nice clue. King of the 500-lap races, the Indianapolis 500.

68. Hole starters : TEES

Down:

1. Many a charitable organization : TRUST

2. "The Addams Family" film actress : RICCI. Christina Ricci played Wednesday Addams.

3. Macabre fiction middle name : ALLAN. Edgar Poe.

4. Almost all of Tibet : PLATEAU. The bit of Tibet that isn't on the plateau is decidedly hilly. Or Himalayan, if you prefer.

5. Tight spot : BIND

6. Disney mermaid : ARIEL. I always hesitate deciding between an E and an A.

7. Summation symbol in math : SIGMA

8. "Come again?" : HUH?

9. Like some triangles : ISOSCELES. Took me a couple of cracks to spell this correctly.

10. Ineffective : TOOTHLESS. Dentist visit today. I hope I don't come back in this condition.

11. Record half : SIDE A

13. Part of a Girl Scout uniform : SKIRT. Really? Can't they wear shorts?

14. Mar. honoree : ST. PAT. St. Patrick more formally. NEVER St. Patty.

18. Playtex sister brand : HANES. News to me.

23. They run on cells : APPS. Cellphones. Tricky little clue.

25. Catholic title: Abbr. : MSGR. Monsignor. Big cheeses, but not as big cheeses as the cardinals or the Pope.

28. Fuss : ADO

29. Pants with texture : CORDUROYS. It's not from "Corde du Roi", contrary to popular opinion.

30. Natural boundaries : TREELINES

31. One of two states formed during the U.S. Civil War : W. VA. I didn't need crosses for this. Yay me!

32. Sundial marking : III. I never understand why VIII is allowed on clocks and sundials, because it breaks the roman numeral rules. It should be IIX.

33. Payment beginning? : NON-

35. Try to win : WOO

38. Gp. with common interests : ASSN.

39. Long, as odds : SLIM

42. With 36-Across, French title of a Rimsky-Korsakov opera that translates to "The Golden Rooster" : LE COQ. Here's a bottle of pineau, an aperitif  from the Cognac region of France.

45. __ history : ANCIENT

47. Without : MINUS

48. Eats well : DINES

49. Extinct birds : DODOS

50. Half a 1999 gas merger : EXXON. Merged with Mobil. The deal was announced in 1998, but closed in 1999.

51. In __: sullen : A MOOD. What if you're in a good mood? Can't you be "in a mood" and happy?

53. Stan's partner : OLLIE

54. De Gaulle's birthplace : LILLE. Nice place, close to the Belgian border.

55. Prescription indications : DOSES

58. DOJ employee : ATTY.

61. Here, in Le Havre : ICI. Quite a bit of French today.

Fin. C'est tout, mes amis!

Étienne

Notes from C.C.: 

 

The Sixth Minnesota Crossword Tournament will be held at the beautiful Landmark Center in Saint Paul on Sunday, June 11, 2017. 

Constructors include our puzzle master Jeffrey Jeffrey Wechsler, Christopher Adams, George Barany, Victor Barocas (also our editor), David Hanson, Andy Kravis, Mark McClain, Andrea Carla Michaels, David Liben-Nowell, Tom Pepper and Andrew J. Ries.

Jeffrey is  flying to St. Paul again this year to help the tournament. Thank you so much, Jeffrey, you're the best!

Thursday June 1st 2017 Agnes Davidson & C.C. Burnikel

Theme: Hide from GOgres: Three kinds of bedding, three little words hiding beneath them.

As  you can see in the grid, the word "GO" is found beneath three sets of covers as the reveal explains:

62A. What narcs may do ... or what can literally be found in three pairs of puzzle answers : GO UNDER COVER

Agnes, AKA Irish Miss here on the blog and C.C. back with another joint effort. Neat theme and smooth fill. I did look a little askance at "EMB" but it's not an uncommon entry, so no harm, no foul. What else? Let's hide and go seek:

Across:

1. Wines that can be white or red : PINOTS. Pinot Noir and Pinot Grigio, for example. Some of the best Pinot Noirs come from the Santa Ynez Valley here in California. I go up there wine tasting two or three times a year. I've got a couple of 2010's in magnum that I should be thinking about drinking soon. Here's one signed by the winemaker, Kathy Joseph.

7. Greetings : HI'S

10. Lighthouse view : SEA

13. Widely recognized : ICONIC. Nice word, nice letter progression for a crossword.

14. Sleep on it : SERTA. Mattress brand.

16. Immediate caregiver, briefly : EMT

17. Highlighted publication part : CENTER SPREAD. Fresh entry, never before seen in the LAT, and a themer to boot.

19. "All Things Considered" airer : NPR

20. Mongrel : CUR

21. Brest bestie : AMIE. Brittany port city. It's really an effort to go to Brest, it's on the west coast of France and not on the way to anywhere else. Any further and you'll fall into the Atlantic Ocean.

22. Howe of hockey : GORDIE. GO Gordie!

24. Singer DiFranco : ANI

25. Halves of some master-servant relationships : GENII. If I tell you that my first try for 6D was SCRAP, then you'll understand why I was a little surprised when a different word appeared here.

27. Little pitchers have big ones, per an old maxim : EARS

28. Pioneering computer : ENIAC. A few computer throwback entries today. All a stroll in the park for me.

30. Stick-in-the-mud : WET BLANKET

33. Cabbage : MOOLAH

35. Insect stage : IMAGO. GO insect emerging from your pupa!

36. Quarterback Roethlisberger : BEN. Pittsburgh Steelers' signal-caller.

37. Nice and easy : NO HASSLE

40. Degree for Dr. Oz : MBA, And an MD. He obtained both degrees when he graduated from Penn in 1984. That's quite some achievement.

43. Southwestern lizards : GILAS

44. Traveling from gig to gig : ON TOUR. I saw U2 on their "Joshua Tree" tour at the Rose Bowl the weekend before last. That's quite a tour, I lost count of the number of big rigs that trucked in the staging and lighting and were parked outside the bowl.

46. Score keeper? : SHEET MUSIC. Nice clue.

51. Takes care of : TENDS

52. Boss of fashion : HUGO. GO suit designer!

53. Procedures involving suction, familiarly : LIPOS

55. FDR agency : NRA

56. "How nice!" : I'M GLAD

59. Bridge, e.g. : GAME. Took a while for the penny to drop on this one.

60. Dandy : FOP

61. Sought office : RAN

66. "Microsoft sound" composer : ENO. Brian, co-producer of  "The Joshua Tree" album. Here's the opening track.

67. Meanies : OGRES

68. Result of a big hit : BRUISE

69. Circle div. : SEG.

70. Vicious of the Sex Pistols : SID. The various "Sid and Nancy" documentaries were fascinating and depressing all at the same time.

71. Levels of society : STRATA

Down:

1. Short movie? : PIC

2. Quebec Winter Carnival race vehicle : ICE CANOE. Total guess. Never heard of one. Looks like hard work!

3. Like some workers in an open shop : NON-UNION. Was thinking along the "suntanned" or "frostbitten" lines at first.

4. Seeking exoneration, in a way : ON TRIAL

5. Deadlock : TIE

6. Skinny sort : SCRAG

7. "I found the place!" : HERE IT IS!

8. Wrath : IRE

9. Deer fellow : STAG

10. "Where the Wild Things Are" author : SENDAK

11. Rome, once : EMPIRE

12. Not moving : AT REST

14. Chiropractor's concern : SPINE

15. Bother : ADO

18. Fish-eating duck : SMEW. Pretty-looking thing, unless you're a fish.

23. Truckee Meadows city : RENO. I thought it was a city in its own right, but nope, it's part of Reno.

26. Pioneering PCs : IBMS. They set the standard for commercially-available personal computers. We got one of the first when I worked at a bank in London. We found we had to go buy the operating system DOS which didn't come in the box and the computer didn't have a hard drive, just two floppy drives. Ever wondered why your hard drive is drive C? That's because the two floppies were A and B.

28. Diplomatic HQ : EMB.

29. "Oh, be quiet!" : CAN IT!

31. Composer Schifrin : LALO. Thank you, crosses.

32. Secret Service title : AGENT. I think there was a chance to cross-reference this with the puzzle reveal; perhaps Agnes and C.C. decided against it.

34. Fighter Holly who ended Ronda Rousey's undefeated streak : HOLM. I wouldn't want to run into either of them in a bad mood in a dark alley.

38. Schlep : HAUL

39. Given as homework : ASSIGNED

40. African capital named for an American president : MONROVIA. Learning moment. The capital of Liberia and one of only two national capitals to be named for a U.S. president. Hmm, I wonder which is the other?

41. Capital on the Danube : BUDAPEST. Two cities, Buda and Pest as we've explored before.

42. Horace's "__ Poetica" : ARS

43. Natural sci. : GEOL

45. "Copy that" : TEN-FOUR

46. British counties : SHIRES. A lot of them, but not all. Devon, Cornwall, Avon, Essex, Norfolk are some non-conformists that spring to mind. And remember the lesson I taught you about how to pronounce Worcestershire? You can apply the same principals to Leicestershire. Now Hertfordshire, Herefordshire and Hampshire? A dearth of hurricanes. Also, a dearth of enunciating "shire" in the first two counties. Good luck trying to figure out.

47. Compassionate : HUMANE

48. Creamy quaff : EGG NOG. Staple of the holiday season.

49. Popular tablets : IPADS

50. Show up : COME

54. Some Croatians : SERBS

57. In the past : AGO

58. Ballpark fare : DOGS. GO Dodgers! Or should that be OG Dodgers?!

63. The Rams of the Atlantic 10 Conf. : URI. University of Rhode Island.

64. Old PC component : CRT. Cathode Ray Tube display.

65. Blues-rocker Chris : REA. Let's play out with one of his hits.

That was a fun ride, definitely not a "Road to Hell" - here's the grid!

Steve

Thursday May 25th 2017 Victor Barocas

Theme: Occupational Apt-itude Three materials are paired with one of three artisans:

18A. Virginia politician for whom a university is named : GEORGE MASON. Their men's basketball team made it to the Final Four in the NCAA tournament in 2006 having never won a game in March Madness before. Quite the story.

24A. Magical literary orphan : HARRY POTTER. I've vaguely heard of him; he's a wizard or something.

33A. "Close to You" singer : KAREN CARPENTER. Lovely voice. Passed away sadly young.

42A. "Westworld" actress (who complements 33-Across?) : EVAN RACHEL WOOD. I always hesitate with her first name.

47A. 1960 Olympic boxing gold medalist (who complements 24-Across?) : CASSIUS CLAY. He fought as a light-heavyweight in 1960.

60A. "Basic Instinct" star (who complements 18-Across?) : SHARON STONE. I won't mention the infamous (or famous) leg-crossing scene. Ooops - I just did.

Clever puzzle from Victor. I thought I'd spotted the theme after the first two entries and when I filled in the third I wondered why no-one had done this theme before. Then came the fourth and the clever symmetry. Slick stuff. A whopping 72 letters of theme-age doesn't leave a lot of room for much in the way of long fill, but there's some nice 7's and 5's to keep thing ticking along. Let's take a look.

Across:

1. Reggae relative : SKA. It's Madness, I tell you.

4. Amount before deductions : GROSS. Nicely matched with 62D.

9. Unpleasant : HARSH

14. "U R funny!" : LOL!

15. Vital supply line : AORTA. Vital? I'd say.

16. Throat dangler : UVULA. Lovely word this, but - what on earth is it for?

17. Bran source : OAT

20. Ride on runners : SLED

22. __ Testamento : NUEVO. That's a new one on me.

23. Custard base : EGG. Food! The French call it "Crème anglaise". My mom used to make it from powder out of a tin. I don't think the French would have been impressed.

27. Meeting vote : YEA

28. Falls phenomena : MISTS. Here's one from Iceland at Skogafoss. Pretty.

39. Old World Style sauce : RAGU. Food! The stuff in the bottle is labelled "Old World Style". The made-from-scratch recipes such as ragù alla bolognese don't bear a whole lot of resemblance. There are many claims for the "original" recipe Bolognese, but the official version resides in the Bologna Chamber of Commerce placed there by the Accademia Italiana della Cucina, so that one seems pretty legit.

40. Formal orders : DICTA

41. Pet peeve? : FLEA

45. Analyze, in a way : PARSE

46. __ Lingus : AER

55. Like the name "Will," for an estate lawyer : APT. Or "Bill" for any kind of lawyer.

58. Get behind : TRAIL

59. If-then-__: programmer's flow : ELSE.

IF
    DAY="THURSDAY"
THEN
    BLOGGER:="STEVE"
ELSE
    BLOGGER:=!"STEVE"
ENDIF

64. Letters between names : AKA

65. Where "Ratatouille" was cooked up : PIXAR. The studio. Food! I really wanted PARIS for this as that's where the movie was set but was dissuaded by the R which I had in place.

66. Refuge : HAVEN

67. Came together : MET

68. Not at all trustworthy : SLIMY

69. Glacial ridge : ARÊTE. Here's the North-East arête back in 1921.  A lot less traffic on the mountain back then.

70. Agency creations : ADS

Down:

1. Walk through puddles : SLOSH. Wellington boots are handy for a good puddle-sloshing.

2. It isn't really a bear : KOALA. Still cute.

3. Make different : ALTER

4. __ order : GAG

5. Sushi topper : ROE

6. Home of Stephen King's alma mater : ORONO. I only learned this from crosswords.

7. Structural support : STRUT. Should really be a strutural [sic] support in my book.

8. "Full House" star Bob : SAGET

9. "Think of it as an indulgence" : HUMOR ME

10. Oscar-nominated director DuVernay : AVA. Thank you, crosses.She won Best Director at Sundance in 2012, the first African-American woman to win the award. She comes from down the road in Long Beach and graduated UCLA.

11. Subterfuge : RUSE. Great word, subterfuge. Latin subterfugere ‘escape secretly,’ from subter- ‘beneath’ + fugere ‘flee.’

12. Uphill climb : SLOG

13. Pal around (with) : HANG

19. Big night : EVE

21. Dress rehearsals : DRY RUNS

25. "__-haw!" : YEE

26. It is really a bear : PANDA. Also cute.

29. Effective, as a rule : IN FORCE

30. D-Day city : ST LÔ. The city was practically destroyed in prolonged fighting during the 1944 liberation of France.

31. Set up for a drive : TEED

32. Mrs., in Madrid : SRA

33. Polynesian intoxicant : KAVA. This almost foxed me due to the EVAN name uncertainty.

34. Seaweed product : AGAR

35. Pres. title : C.I.C.
.
36. Günther's gripe : ACH!

37. Hwy., e.g. : RTE.

38. Micronesian republic : PALAU

39. Weightlifter's unit : REP

43. Parish house : RECTORY. Home to a rector. A parson lives in a parsonage, a vicar in a vicarage, a dean lives in a deanery and a priest lives in a priestary - wait no, in a presbytery, just to spoil things.

44. Director Anderson : WES

48. Prince Valiant's son : ARN. Thank you, crosses. Never saw the TV series.

49. Beyoncé's "I Am... __ Fierce" : SASHA

50. Lute kin : SITAR

51. "How do __ thee?" : I LOVE. From Elizabeth Barrett Browning's 43rd sonnet:

Let me count the ways. 

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, 

when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. 

I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. 

I love thee freely, as men strive for right.

52. Camel relative : LLAMA

53. Sought answers : ASKED

54. "I Am of Ireland" poet : YEATS

55. Nile hazards : ASPS

56. Knight who co-founded Nike : PHIL. He's worth a couple of bucks now. I bought a pair of Nike running shoes back in 1982. The sole of one came unglued within a week and the store refused to exchange them. I never shopped there again and I've never bought a pair of Nikes since.

57. One in an airport line : TAXI

61. Bash : RAM

62. Amount after deductions : NET

63. Chemical suffix : -ENE

Here's the grid, and that's it from me!

Steve

Thursday May 18 2017 C.C.Burnikel

Theme: Passing Lines - five different homonyms in the clues:

17A. Words requesting a pass : OPEN SESAME! The response hopefully is not a Lord of the Rings-style "Thou shalt not pass!"

21A. Words indicating a pass : NO THANKS. I'll pass.

39A. Words constituting a pass : SO, WHATS YOUR SIGN? Not a chat-up line I've ever used. I like to think the passes I've made were subtle.

55A. Words printed on a pass : ADMIT ONE. My Universal Studios annual pass just expired. I got pretty good use out of it though.

61A. Words seen in a pass : SHARP CURVE. Your Thai language lesson for the day:

Wow. This one gave me conniptions. I can't remember the last time a Thursday puzzle took me more than half an hour to git 'er done, but this one did. I had acres of white space after my first pass through.

Well now. A real challenge from C.C. but finally it all came together. The northwest was the most problematic for me, not helped by filling in DEMON at 1A . I finally saw the folly of my ways and eventually everything fell (no, was dragged (or drug)) into place. Very solid theme and some devious fill and cluing What a good crossword is all about.

Across:

1. Halloween costume that may involve a red cape and tail : SATAN. DEVIL and DEMON were my first tries. Wildly incorrect.

6. Respected men : SIRS. Yessir!

10. Banana Boat initials : SPF. Sun Protection Factor.

13. "I Fall to Pieces" singer : CLINE. Patsy. I love her voice.

14. "America's FLAVORite Frozen Beverage since 1967" : ICEE. I don't believe I've ever tried one of these. Should I put it on the bucket list?

15. Considerable age : AEON. Handy vowel sequence for constructors.

19. Apple choice : GALA. My first thought was to choose between iPad and iPod, but I held off, thankfully.

20. "Phooey!" : OH RATS!

23. Prof's aides : TA'S. Now known as Paraprofessionals.

24. Cardio chart : ECG

26. Overly : TOO

27. Team with 121 medals at the Rio Olympics : USA. Surprisingly, Great Britain came second with 67. China came in third with 70, which seems odd accounting, but GBR had more golds.

28. Throw water on : DOUSE

30. Put the kibosh on : VETO

32. Before, once : ERST. From whence "erstwhile."

36. Genetic material : RNA. _NA and wait for the crosses.

37. Cantaloupe and honeydew : MELONS

42. Infomercial staples : SPIELS

43. Tack on : ADD

44. "I almost forgot ... " : ALSO ...

45. "I'm extremely interested in squalor" speaker of literature : ESMÉ. Crosses got this for me. From a J. D. Salinger short story.

46. Ripoff : THEFT

48. "Viva __ Vegas" : LAS

49. Homer stat : RBI. C.C.'s first baseball reference for the day.

51. Camera inits. : S.L.R. Single Lens Reflex. When introduced, this type of camera allowed the photographer to see the exact same framing as would be captured on film, removing the parallax issue arising from having a separate viewfinder. I bought my first SLR many years ago, hence the research notes. I sold it when I was dead broke trying to make a living when I first left home.

52. Hrs. at Coors Field games : MDT. Denver's ballpark.

58. Childcare worker : AU PAIR. Took a while to get this. I dated a Danish au pair when I lived in London. She smoked a pipe and drank Tuborg beer in 20oz pints, which attracted a few funny looks.

60. Nullify : VOID

63. View from a pew : APSE. Nice clue for an old staple.

64. Dalí house : CASA. Spanish lesson for the day. There's a pub in north London called the "Case is Altered" which is (allegedly) a corruption of "Casa Alta", the "High House". It is on a hill, so I'm buying it.

65. Great Lakes natives : ERIES

66. That, in Tijuana : ESA

67. URL starter : HTTP. Hypertext Transfer Protocol, as we nerds all know.

68. Holding corporation that owns Kmart : SEARS

Down:

1. Get moving : SCOOT. "Scoot your buns!"

2. Dominant : ALPHA. TYPE-A got in the way of progress in this area.

3. Levels in a park : TIERS. Four tiers at Dodger Stadium. I'm going to the Rose Bowl on Sunday to see U2 playing the "Joshua Tree" tour. I bought the album when it was released 30 years ago, so I'm a tad excited. I've still got the vinyl; it's hanging on my wall next to my guitars.

4. Gunn of "Sully" : ANNA. Thank you, crosses. Enjoyed the movie.

5. Like matryoshka dolls : NESTED

6. Kim, to Khloé Kardashian : SIS

7. Offer of help : I CAN. Who can handle this for me?

8. Faraway : REMOTE

9. Take care of : SEE TO

10. It often spans decades : SAGA

11. Egg roll cooking medium : PEANUT OIL. I generally use mustard oil. Technically, you are not meant to cook with it in the US due to the fact that it contains levels of erucic acid that the powers-that-be suggest are not healthy. I'm still going strong and my doctor tells me I'm heart-healthy so ....

12. Pete Seeger's forte : FOLK SONGS

16. Rocket launcher : NASA.

18. Chaperones : ESCORTS

22. Emulate a news helicopter : HOVER. I live close to the 101 freeway, and one morning I was awoken by the sound of the hovering of two or three news helicopters. I went out on my bedroom  balcony and couldn't figure out why the morning smelt of margaritas. I turned on the news and saw that a truckload of limes had spilled on the freeway and been turned into juice as the traffic ran over them. Fun, except not so much for the commuters backed up behind the clearance crew.

25. Tries hard (for) : GUNS

29. Doctor's request : SAY AH!

31. Disney character who sings "Let It Go" : ELSA "Frozen".

32. Curved letter : ESS

33. Ali ring trademark : ROPE-A-DOPE. His technique of laying on the ropes absorbing punches to tire out the opponent, then coming at him late in the bout when tiredness set in.

34. Simply Cocoa maker : SWISS MISS

35. Other people : THEM

37. Splash guard : MUDFLAP

38. __-Cat : SNO

40. Frost advisory, e.g. : ALERT

41. Poetic paeans : ODES

46. Doughboy's helmet : TIN HAT. Actually made of steel. "Hat" is a delicate term too.

47. Peace offerings : TRUCES. The act, not the olive branch.

48. Soap brand with volcanic pumice : LAVA. Thank you, crosses.

50. Big name in kitchen appliances : BOSCH. I've got a couple of their grinders, one for coffee and the other for spices. They're great. Why two? So that my ground spices don't taste of coffee, and my morning coffee doesn't make me bust out in a sweat due to raw ground Scorpion chili contamination. Smart.

52. Two-time French Open winner Sharapova : MARIA

53. Sunken ship explorer : DIVER

54. Long lock : TRESS

56. Creative flash : IDEA

57. __ China Sea : EAST. I've sailed on the South China Sea out of Hong Kong Island. I met a Cathay Pacific airline pilot in the bar at my Kowloon hotel and he took me and a couple of colleagues out on the company yacht. Great fun. We didn't make it far enough to cross into the East China Sea though. Great lunch at a tiny seafood shack on a little isle just off Hong Kong. Four of us, a local dog, two fisherman and a cook. I really have enjoyed a lucky life. He also explained to me the 12-hour rule "Booze to Cruise" or "Bottle to Throttle" for pilots.

59. Untainted : PURE

62. Genre using speakers? : RAP. Nice clue. I like Eminem; some other hip-hop artists don't work so well for me.

Well, that's about it for me. I just need to post the grid and it's over and out! I hope you enjoyed the ride!

Steve

Thursday May 11 2017 Mark McClain

Theme: Echo-o-o-o A word echoed in each theme clue

17A. Workshop sticker : EPOXY RESIN. This stuff. The red bits (scientific term!) are the hardener.

27A. Kitchen sticker : FRIDGE MAGNET. Here's one of mine from a winery near Santa Maria (no surprise there!)

43A. Mailroom sticker : POSTAGE STAMP. Here is the world's most valuable stamp, the British Guyana 1¢ Magenta. It sold at auction in 2014 for $9.5m. That's some return on your one-cent investment back in 1856.

58A. Desk-bottom sticker : CHEWING GUM. Yuck.

Nice theme-in-the-clue pangrammatic puzzle from Mark. There's a lot of fresh fill too, much more than a usual Thursday. I enjoyed the variety in the four "stickies". Let's see what else we've got.

Across:

1. Eye-related prefix : OPTI

5. Acht minus sechs : ZWEI. If you want to clearly differentiate between "two" and "three" (drei) in German, you use "zwo" instead. I've heard the guy counting down a skier at the start of the Hannenkahm downhill in Kitzbühel incanting "drei-zwo-ein".

9. Con : SCAM

13. Rock guitarist Eddy : DUANE

15. Make : EARN

16. Dracula costume item : CAPE

19. Major in astronomy? : URSA. Nice clue.

20. 64-Across's realm : RUSSIA. Filled in easily enough once I'd got to the end of the "Across" clues and found TSAR.

21. Pacified : QUELLED

23. CBS maritime drama : NCIS. Never seen it, but I know it stands for "Naval Criminal Investigative Service". Was Tom Cruise an NCIS agent in "A Few Good Men?"

26. Lay bare : EXPOSE

32. Personal assistant : AIDE

33. "Zounds!" : EGADS! Yikes!

34. __ Mahal : TAJ

37. Had already learned : KNEW

38. City north of Memphis : CAIRO. 20 miles away. Here's a few old rocks in Memphis - actually, they're the remains of columns from a temple to Rameses.

39. Pacific island where much of "Lost" was filmed : OAHU. Where you can chow down on pupus.

40. Scrape (out) : EKE

41. "Wheel of Fortune" name : VANNA. Speaking of which, the proffered answer of "On The Spot Dice Spin" didn't win this one. Indiana U. fail.

42. Half-note feature : STEM

46. Kicks out : EXPELS

49. Water source : WELL

50. I-15 city between Los Angeles and Las Vegas : BARSTOW. Name-checked on the song "Route 66."

52. Service interruption : OUTAGE

57. Stage direction : EXIT. Stage Left.

61. Icy coating : RIME. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is not referring to frost on his beard.

62. Numbers game : KENO

63. Knife hawked on infomercials : GINSU. I think I've seen the commercials - isn't this the knife that cuts through a can and then cuts tomatoes? I hate to see knife abuse of this sort!

64. Old despot : TSAR

65. Try to find : SEEK

66. Is appropriate : FITS

Down:

1. River through Frankfurt : ODER

2. __ platter : PUPU. Food! A Hawai'ian staple. Make sure there's a couple of Spam musubi on there for me.

3. City near Ghost Ranch, a favorite Georgia O'Keeffe retreat : TAOS.

4. "Devil Inside" band : INXS. My first wife worked for their record company. They were pronounced "Ink-sis" by the folks at the label, so as not to been seen taking the talent too seriously.

5. Crazy consonant? : ZEE. And with "Z" this puzzle becomes a pangram, all letters of the alphabet appear today.

6. Used to be : WAS

7. La Salle of "Under the Dome" : ERIQ. I know him from "House."

8. Subtle slur : INNUENDO.

9. Make busts : SCULPT. Not a Victoria's Secret Uplift Semi Demi bra?

10. Producer Ponti : CARLO. Thank you, crosses.

11. Spots for religious statues : APSES

12. Civil War general : MEADE. Famous for Gettysburg and building lighthouses. He was born in Cadiz, Spain, which may or may not explain the lighthouse fascination.

14. Getting a good look at : EYING

18. 10K, say : RACE. Fun Run for some, Agony Run for others, Race for the select few.

22. They may not be on speaking terms : EXES. Especially if they live in Texas.

24. Clarifying words : I MEANT ...

25. City "it took me four days to hitchhike from," in Paul Simon's "America" : SAGINAW. I heard this five minutes ago - the song is currently being used in a VW car commercial.

27. Hoops move : FAKE

28. Zamboni domain : RINK. The Zamboni was invented, and is still manufactured right here in Southern California, in Paramount.

29. __ fixe : IDÉE. An obsession. I didn't notice this during the puzzle, crosses filled it in for me.

30. Meadow drops : DEW

31. Parking place : GARAGE

34. "Cheerio!" : TA-TA! I just finished watching all six seasons of "Downton Abbey" after a few years' delay. Jolly good! I cried in every episode. I cry all time in movies; I even cried in the first "Toy Story." I went to see "The Cider House Rules" at the AMC Theater in Burbank when it was first released wearing a light gray t-shirt. When I came out, the front was dark gray due to my tearful sobbing.

35. "Shh!" relative : AHEM

36. Head start : JUMP

38. Full-length clerical garments : CASSOCKS. I wore one of these in my days as an altar boy. See below for parental dragging-by-the-ear reference.

39. East of Essen : OST. A couple or three Germanic references today. I like the play on "East of Eden" in the clue.

41. Electric Chevy : VOLT

43. Annoy : PESTER

44. Childlike race in "The Time Machine" : ELOI

45. Thrown : SLUNG

46. Critic Roger : EBERT. One of the thumbs up. Or down.

47. Line on which y = 0 : X-AXIS.

48. Ballerina descriptor : PRIMA. Top banana at the barre.

51. "This is fun!" : WHEE!

53. "What a brutal week!" : TGIF! Thank Go[odness] it's Friday!

54. Lambs, in Latin : AGNI. I think this one is a tad obscure. I knew it because of my Catholic parents dragging me to church by the ear and therefore knowing the "Agnus Dei", married with the fact I was taught Latin at school, so I could figure out the plural. Tough one.

55. A strong one may invert an umbrella : GUST. Tried GALE, was wrong.

56. Big birds : EMUS

59. Hydrocarbon suffix : -ENE

60. Asian pan : WOK. Don't get a non-stick one - you want to be able to push food up the sides and have it stay there rather than sliding back to the bottom like Sysyphus' boulder.

And with that, my work here is done. Here's the grid!

Steve

Thursday May 4th 2017 Craig Stowe

Theme: METEing out. Our four themers have a letter scramble as nicely explained by the reveal:

61A. Collectors' event, and a hint to what's hidden in the answers to starred clues : SWAP MEET

And here are the players:

18. *"Thinking ... " : LET ME SEE ... When I saw these together I thought there might be a theme here. Alas not. (Correction: 18A is a theme entry.)

20A. *Shakespeare play set on an enchanted island : THE TEMPEST. Source of much crossword angst trying to decide between "Arial" and "Ariel".

32A. *Busker's performance, perhaps : STREET MAGIC. David Blaine is the master of this genre. Quite amazing.

42A. *They may be crowned : WISDOM TEETH. Not mine. They were yanked at what I felt was a ridiculously early opportunity and left the rest of my teeth to spend the remainder of their lives rearranging themselves. Jokes about British dentistry are not misplaced. My first dentist (before numbing was invented) operated a drill with a treadle, much like a sewing machine. I was five. The trauma Dr. Cotton caused me still keeps me awake at night.

57A. *Proven longterm : TIME-TESTED. I have time-tested recipes. Feel free to inquire (enquire?) if you have a particular need.

OK, here we go! I liked the theme, I loved how the clue lengths allowed the blog entries to step down nicely - look upstairs and you'll see what I mean. Talking of upstairs, I was in an office building today which had its three-year fire drill. Walking down 21 flights seemed mean; but the posh folk upstairs had 35 to cope with.

Nice job from Craig. Let's see what else we've got!

Across:

1. Overlook : IGNORE

7. Monte Mario's city : ROMA Nice learning moment. I had **MA and guessed LIMA. Was wrong.

11. Gravy, on menus : JUS. OK, so, restaurant owners - when you say "Prime rib with au jus", you know you're saying "Prime rib with with juice"? You have been told.

14. At anchor : MOORED

15. Somber notice : OBIT

16. German direction : OST. Let's try this from memory - Nord, Sud, Ost, Oest, I think.

17. "Proceed as planned" : IT'S A GO



22. Period in ads : NITE

23. Lair : DEN

24. Bladed tool : AXE. Conveniently with or without the "E" for constructors.

25. Ancient Greek theater : ODEON

26. "Thought I should share," briefly : FYI. "For your information, Steve's blogs suck".

28. Pit gunk : TAR We have the La Brea (The Tar) Tar Pits here in LA. So let's go visit The Tar Tar Pits.

30. __-wolf : SHE

31. Candy heart word : LUV

38. Specialty : AREA.

40. Vital circulation component : AORTA. Fair enough, you're missing an aorta, your circulation is not working too well

41. Provocative : RACY

45. __ Alamos : LOS. "The Poplars". If you ever find yourselves in Los Alamitos (The Little Poplars) make a beeline for "The Fish Company" restaurant. Not many saplings to be seen, but the best Fish & Chips I've ever had.

46. "Forgot About __": Grammy-winning duet featuring Eminem : DRE

47. Actor Stephen : REA

48. Army crawler : ANT

49. Stale : PASSÉ

52. One in a cheering crowd : FAN

54. Moving wheels : VAN. Nice clue, U-Haul or equivalent.

56. Classic "You as well?" : ET TU, Brute?

63. Hot : ON FIRE

64. Wheels : CAR

65. First name at Woodstock : ARLO. Crossword enthusiasts know the lineup at Woodstock better than the musicians themselves.

66. Canadian coin : TOONIE. Two Canadian Dollars, eh Canadian Eh? It's aboot a buck fitty. (See what I did there? I'm tri-lingual)

67. Tick off : IRE. Pretty much hated this. "Let me ire you", "I'm sorry I ired you"? No. Flat-out no. Did you ire me with this clue? No, you irked me.

68. First queen of Carthage : DIDO

69. Performer with 20 Oscar nominations : STREEP Now there's some serious bragging rights.

Down:

1. Tag line? : I'M IT Usually not a good situation,

2. Many a black-clad teen : GOTH

3. Serious downturns : NOSE-DIVES. Not serious if you nose-dive into one of my dinners.

4. Talk with style : ORATE

5. University officials : REGENTS

6. Ancient Dead Sea kingdom : EDOM Thank you, crosses, Not really up on my Old Testament much.

7. Swiss luxury brand : ROLEX, Wimbledon sponsors since before sponsors were officially "allowed"

8. Quite heavy : OBESE. "Quite" heavy? Master of understatement there, I think.

9. Baker's protection : MITT

10. Bread machine? : ATM. "Machine" is in the name. So it's an ATM. Just as it's not a PIN number, it's a PIN. Rant over.

11. Leader of the animated Pussycats : JOSIE

12. Was of __: helped : USE TO

13. Dutch Golden Age artist : STEEN. Fond of a lot of people,brawling, dogs and wine.

19. Make lovable : ENDEAR

21. Echo : PARROT

25. Electrical unit : OHM.

Schrodinger, Heisenber and Ohm are in a car.

They get pulled over. Heisenberg is driving and the cop asks him "Do you know how fast you were going?"

"No, but I know exactly where I am" Heisenberg replies.

The cop says "You were doing 55 in a 35." Heisenberg throws up his hands and shouts "Great! Now I'm lost!"

The cop thinks this is suspicious and orders him to pop open the trunk. He checks it out and says "Do you know you have a dead cat back here?"

"We do now, you idiot!" shouts Schrodinger.

The cop moves to arrest them. Ohm resists.

26. Glitch : FLAW

27. Cosmonaut Gagarin : YURI. First man in space.

29. "... love hath made thee __ snake": "As You Like It" : A TAME

30. Put into words : STATE

33. Poetic adverb : ERE

34. Endless, poetically : ETERNE. A poetic double

35. Aspic-coated French chicken dish : GALANTINE. Food! Here's a classic (and, frankly, not very appetizing-looking) rendition:

36. Tappable image : ICON

37. Dermatologist's concern : CYST

39. Accumulates : ADDS UP

43. Mine output : ORE

44. One without : HAVE NOT

49. "Casino" co-star : PESCI. I missed the "I", I always want to call him Joe PESCE. Corrected finally, when ERE didn't make much sense. "My Cousin Vinnie" - a must-watch every time I'm channel-hopping

50. In conflict, seriously : AT WAR

51. Gawk : STARE

52. Specialty : FIELD. We had "AREA" earlier. Similar enough.

53. Defensive retort : AM TOO. More playground antics.

55. Concerning : AS FOR

57. Actress Hatcher : TERI

58. Wee ones : TOTS. Taters? Yum.

59. Lackawanna's lake : ERIE

60. Word with freeze or fry : DEEP

62. Ticked off : MAD. Not IRE. Now I'm happy.

I started a new consulting gig this week, and so far so good. Hope you all have a great Thursday!

Aaaaaannnnd *drum roll* ........ here's the grid.

Steve