Wednesday Dec 27, 2017 Jason Mueller

 Theme: BRANDED (40A. Labeled ... or, divided into three parts, what surrounds the answers to starred clues)- Read it as BR and ED.

 17A. *More than just indoctrinated : BRAINWASHED.

62A. *Brunette : BROWN-HAIRED.

11D. *Hit at an intersection, maybe : BROADSIDED.

28D. *Alert and peppy : BRIGHT-EYED.

Boomer here.

Good morning or afternoon as the case may be.  I am excited to notice that daylight hours are getting longer again, but not too enthused about double digit below zero temperatures.  You would think after 70 years in Minnesota I would be used to winter, but I am already looking forward to Springtime.
  

Across:       

1. Bottomless gulf : ABYSS

 
6. See 8-Down : MAJOR 8D. With 6-Across, prime minister before Tony Blair : JOHN - I don't pay much attention to British politics.  I remember Tony Blair and Winston Churchill.

11. Murphy __ : BED - tough clue.  Not many homes have a Murphy bed anymore.

14. Lerner collaborator : LOEWE

15. "That's my wish" : I HOPE

16. "Fahrenheit 451" novelist Bradbury : RAY - 'Twas also a good movie.

19. Ducks' home: Abbr. : ORE - Strange name for a college football team, almost as odd as Gophers or Badgers.

20. Hindu retreat : ASHRAM

21. Available to watch anytime : ON DEMAND

23. Classic Fords : LTDs I owned one years ago.  An affordable but upscale model.  I believe it competed with the Chevy Impala.

25. Pomegranate bit : SEED - There are about 100 seeds in one fruit.  Said to be very healthy.

26. Three-time Pulitzer-winning playwright : ALBEE - most famous for "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf" (About a middle aged couple named Martha and George).  I'm not sure if George chopped down the pomegranate tree.

29. Big letters in home security : ADT - American District Telegraph - Their security packages are pretty expensive though.

32. Costume items for horror movie villains : MASKS

35. __ of paradise : BIRD - HOF Indiana Pacer.  Larry is on a 1981 rookie card with Magic

36. Top : BLOUSE - Blouse is a good word.  Top is a lousy clue.

38. CD yield : INT - Yes, and not very much these days.

39. "Rope-a-dope" boxer : ALI - The Greatest ?

41. Actress Ruby : DEE - I remember her in "A Raisin in the Sun" with Sidney Poitier.

42. Pester : NAG

43. Irritated reply to "Aren't you ready yet?" : I AM NOW

44. Toolbar button with a question mark : HELP

45. Messenger service replaced by Google Hangouts : GCHAT - Is this one of those social media things ?

47. Suffix with front : IER - I get it but I am not sure about suffixes in Crossword Puzzles.

48. Area component : WIDTH - times length and you got it.

49. Lipstick holder : TUBE

51. High-five sound : SLAP - We do high and lower fives in bowling, but no slaps.

53. Homers, in baseball lingo : GOES YARD - Dinger, four bagger, outta here, Sportscasters must have thousands of names for a home run. 

57. Have high hopes : ASPIRE - Frank Sinatra - "Once there was a silly old ram, thought he'd bust a hole in a dam."  He had high hopes.

61. At all : ANY - Again, I did not like the clue.  It's like people saying "As Well" instead of "Too".   

64. Frozen water : ICE - Plenty up here in MN.  People drive their vehicles on the lakes.  (We have 10,000 of them.  Not me though.  Every year we have stories of cars breaking through to the bottom of a lake.

65. Cry after a golfer's ace : IT'S IN - I don't think so, but I have never witnessed a hole in one in person and I have never made one either.

66. Human __ : BEING

67. Journalist Koppel : TED

68. The ones here : THESE

69. Newspaper copy : ISSUE

  

Down:

  

1. "Sin City" actress Jessica : ALBA - A couple of "Sin City" s and a "Good Luck Chuck".

2. Knight of the Round Table : BORS - Never heard of him. OK, he was a buddy of Lancelot.

3. "You said it!" : YEAH

4. Blew in circles, as the wind : SWIRLED - Or how Dairy Queen makes a Blizzard.

5. 100-lawmaker group : SENATE - You probably heard that one of our senators resigned.  As of January 2, 2018, Minnesota will be one of only four states represented by two female senators.

6. Actress Farrow : MIA - Gossip tabloids exploded with stories about Mia and Frank Sinatra.  She got her career started on "Peyton Place" which I never watched.  I remember her in "Rosemary's Baby" - Although I hated the movie.

7. "Got it" : AH SO  - I have never been to Japan, but I doubt if they say this.

9. Newspaper essays : OP-EDs - Opinion / Editorials.  Not my favorite section.

10. Used, as credit card rewards : REDEEMED - Could be, however - Has anyone ever redeemed Gold Bond Stamps?  How about S & H Green stamps?

12. Merit : EARN

13. Made blue, in a way : DYED - Tricky clue

18. Iraq War concern: Abbr. : WMD

22. "Do __ favor ... " : ME A

24. Sandwich meat : SALAMI - Baloney had too many letters

26. Go out with __ : A BANG

27. Flowery candle scent : LILAC  -  Green grow the lilacs all sparkling with dew.

30. "No man is an island" poet : DONNE

31. Henry VIII et al. : TUDORS - The Tudor Monarchy lasted from 1485 - 1603.  I did not know that, I Googled it.  I thought Tudor was a body style of a car.

33. Prepared to pray : KNELT

34. Two-time NBA MVP Curry : STEPH - Turned down a trip to the White House. 

36. Bikini half : BRA

37. Wrap (up) : SEW - Once again, I feel the clue does not fit

40. Gradually : BIT BY BIT - Nothing gradual about these coins.

44. Many Woodstock attendees : HIPPIES - Could be an opinion.  Woodstock was in New York State.  Hippies were flower children of northern California.  I am not sure how many could travel 3000 miles when they made their living begging for quarters. 

46. Ger. neighbor : AUS (Austria) - A relatively small country near Munich.

48. Sushi condiment : WASABI - really bad tasting mustard.  I think you need granite taste buds to put this in your mouth. 

50. Third of eight : EARTH - Used to be nine, then Pluto ran away.

52. "Well, __-di-dah!" : LAH

53. Walking pace : GAIT

54. Previously : ONCE

55. Wine choice : ROSE - To be a true Rose wine, you need one of those little hash marks above the "E".  Otherwise, it's just a flower.

56. Sobriety checkpoint concerns, for short : DWIs - We have DWIs in Minnesota, (Not Me), but I have never seen a sobriety checkpoint. Other states?

58. Spring flower : IRIS

59. Bausch + Lomb product : RENU - A must for contact lens users.

60. Brink : EDGE - Or could be a Ford SUV.

63. Peoria-to-Green Bay dir. : NNE - If you really want to go to Green Bay.  Some guys were shirtless Saturday at Lambeau's 4 degree Packers/Vikings game.  What a way to get on TV!

Boomer

Notes from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to dear Dudley, who's been with our blog since April 2010. Dudley started the "Rabbit, Rabbit" tradition, WBS (What Barry Said) and a few other popular blog Abbrs. This picture was taken during Montana's visit to Northeast in September, 2013.

Left to right: Marti, Dudley, Hondo & Montana

Look at this special pizza Christmas gift Dear Gary and his wife Joann made for their granddaughter Elise!

Wednesday Dec 20, 2017 Agnes Davidson & C.C. Burnikel

Theme: WHAT'S FOR DESSERT? (59A. Dinner table question answered by this puzzle's circled letter)- Torte, Pie, Sorbet and Flan are hidden in each theme entry.
 
17A. Polygraph procedure : LIE DETECTOR TEST 

23A. Aunt Bee's boy : OPIE TAYLOR - PIE is contained in one word.

38A. Five-card draw variation : JACKS OR BETTER-

48A. Tract : PLOT OF LAND -

Boomer here.

I just want to start by wishing all of you faithful blog visitors a very Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah as the case may be, and a prosperous New Year 2018!!! 

Across:     

1. Jeans joints : SEAMS - Seams like old times

6. Big coffee holders : URNS -  Every morning I yearn for a coffee urn

10. Window unit : PANE - A window can be a pane in the glass !

14. Major deity in Indonesia : ALLAH

15. Sentence structure element : NOUN - No un ever called a noun an element.  An Element is a mini Honda SUV.

16. Entry on a list : ITEM

20. Boots from school : EXPELS - Here in Minnesota in December kids wear boots to school.

21. Latte option : MOCHA - Most of these coffee names make no sense to me.  I think Starbucks named them so they could charge more bucks per cup.

22. Small swallow : SIP - Do people really swallow sips?  I thought we were looking for a small bird flying in to Capistrano !

28. Jicama or ginseng : ROOT - Root, root, root for the home team, if they don't win it's a shame!

31. Two-time Oscar-winning director Lee : ANG

32. Stock market debut, initially : IPO - IPOs should do well in this bull market, and that ain't no bull!

33. Racket : NOISE

35. St. Peter holds its keys : HEAVEN - Time out. A fellow named Tony passed away and was met by St. Peter and was issued a harp and wings.  He asked St. Pete if he knew a friend of Tony's, Sam Fink who had passed earlier.  Peter said no, but he could check down at the other place.  Tony went down and found his friend running a nightclub discotheque. They had a long chat but then Tony returned to the pearly gates.  St. Peter stopped Mr. Bennett and asked about something missing.  "Oh my gosh" said Tony, "I left my harp in Sam Fink's Disco."  

41. Professional pursuit : CAREER

42. Sidekick who rode Scout : TONTO - "Who was that masked man, I wanted to thank him."  I bowled a tournament now and then at the now closed West Side Lanes in St. Paul.  They had a back dining room with hundreds of autographed 8 X 10s, one of which was Clayton Moore.  I often wondered if he had a silver bowling ball.

43. Ventilate : AIR - I supposed there was not room in the puzzle for AIR OUT.

44. Article in Der Spiegel : EIN - The first word Army soldiers stationed in Deutschland learned.  The second word was bier

45. Veterinarian's subj. : ANAT

53. Tease : RIB - Adam traded one in for his wife.

55. "I understand!" : GOT IT

56. Disney World's county : ORANGE - Absolutely !  Minnesota Twins used to hold Spring training in Orange County but they moved to Lee. (I wonder if they make Jeans with Seams there).

63. No longer here : GONE

64. Ancestry.com diagram : TREE - Their commercials drive me crazy.  Who pays money to find out where their great great grandpa was from?  Apologies to any of you who have done it.

65. Pop by: VISIT

66. They catch fish : NETS - Terrible, give the fish a chance.  Use a rod, reel, hook, line and sinker like most of us Minnesotans do.

67. "Size matters not" Jedi master : YODA - Not the best looking, but at least the most intelligent.

68. Out of style : PASSE - Or this could be in Tom Brady's play book, right after Pass A, B, C, and D.
  
Down:
  
1. Black Friday events : SALES - We survived this over- advertised promotion to shoppers,  The only black Friday I ever experienced was November 22, 1963.

2. Magical mixture : ELIXIR

3. Syrian city on the Silk Road : ALEPPO-Chris Matthews of MSNBC made a mockery of Gary Johnson when he was not familiar with Aleppo

4. Conjured up : MADE

5. Author Silverstein : SHEL - Famous for his work in Playboy Magazine.

6. One, for Monet : UNE

7. Mythical big bird : ROC - I am a Roc, I am an Island !

8. Apple pie spice : NUTMEG - I am no baker but cinnamon seems more appropriate,  I guess there were not enough spaces for a longer word.  Shows you what I know about crossword puzzles.

9. Supercilious type : SNOOT - I believe there are too many "O"s in this answer.

10. Brief and forceful : PITHY

11. Totally creamed : ATE ALIVE - Hey watch your third grade grammar.  Should be "EATEN ALIVE".

12. Video game letters : NES - Nintendo Entertainment System.  "Legend of Zelda" will drive you crazy.  How do you think I got this way?

13. Life-saving pro : EMT - This is an acronym for something.  My Graybar Electric career taught me that EMT was electric metallic tubing. aka thin-wall pipe.

18. General on Chinese menus : TSO

19. Early TV maker : RCA - Also early phonograph maker, advertised famously by Nipper.

24. __ Robles, California : PASO - See Tom Brady's list above.

25. Subject of Newton's first law : INERTIA - What goes up, must come down.

26. "0" button letters : OPER - Remember when you had to dial "O" to get an operator to assist you on a long distance call.  This must be an Agnes clue.  C.C. is not old enough to know why OPER is on the "0" button.

27. Director Howard : RON - A repeat reference to OPIE TAYLOR.  Famous for American Graffiti, Happy Days and lots of good stuff.

29. It may be enough : ONCE - It could also be upon a time.

30. Dealer's tip : TOKE

34. Negev Desert land: Abbr. : ISR

35. Lady bird : HEN - No Way !  Claudia Johnson would be unhappy with that response.  Lyndon and Lucy Baines may not like it either.

36. Soul singer James : ETTA

37. Oceans : A TON - I am sure that oceans weigh more than that

38. "Just Visiting" Monopoly square : JAIL - Of course.  Tell the truth in comments if you have a Monopoly game in your home.  Some of the newer versions are fascinating.

39. Overbearing : ARROGANT

40. City on the Rhine : BONN

41. Gas tank cover : CAP - Well, the CAP really does not cover the tank.  My clue would have been "Anson of the Chicago White Stockings".

44. Matador's opponent : EL TORO - This is Bull

46. "Gunsmoke" star James : ARNESS - Matt Dillon of "Gunsmoke" fame was born in Minneapolis Minnesota in 1923.  The most popular Western aired for 20 years and is now rerun regularly on cable and satellite TV.  PS. Dennis Weaver did not really have a limp.

47. Mosul Dam's river : TIGRIS - Euphrates River runs parallel and said to host the Garden of Eden.  Whaddya think?

49. Convenient bags : TOTES

50. Some NHL endings : OTs

51. Old Glory's star count : FIFTY - One for each state,  But a U.S Grant bill is said to be bad luck in Las Vegas.

52. Female deer : DOE - A deer, a female deer, Re, a drop of Golden sun, Mi, a name I call myself, Fa, a long, long way to run.  Sol, a needle pulling thread, La, a note that follows sol, Ti, a drink with jam and bread, that will bring us back to Do.  And the hills are alive, with the Sound of Music.

54. Davis of "All About Eve" : BETTE

57. Invitation request : RSVP - This is an acronym for French - "Let me know if you are coming or not.

58. Much of the Silk Road is in it : ASIA

59. Chicago-based cable superstation : WGN - Too bad, they no longer have White Sox or Cubs games.  I guess Fox Sports pays more money to the team at Guaranteed Rate Field, or the gum chewers at Wrigley.

60. Tool that gets ground up : HOE - Clever clue, I was thinking of coffee.

61. Flushed : RED - I may have clued the "Galloping Ghost" (Mr. Grange.)

62. Org. in the 2000 film "Traffic" : DEA - That would be the Drug Enforcement Agency. I think they only deal with PEDs and Opioids.  My Metformin is safe.

Boomer

Wednesday, December 13 2017, Brian Gubin

Theme: PET NAMES

 

3. *Friendly words to departing guests : GLAD YOU CAME. LADY is the Cocker Spaniel from Disney's Lady And The Tramp.

 

10. *Like medicine that works quickly : FAST ACTING. Regular crossword solvers recognize  ASTA as the Wire Fox Terrier from The Thin Man series.

 

21. *Extremely retro food regimen? : PALEO DIET. PAL, a Collie, was the original Lassie.

 

30. *"Cruel Summer" band : BANANARAMA. NANA is a St. Bernard who appears in Disney's 1953 animated film Peter Pan.

 

26. Common yoga pose ... and a hint to hidden names in the answers to starred clues : DOWNWARD DOG

 

Melissa here. A fun change to see down theme answers - and doubly fun for all the dog lovers.

 

Across:
 

1. Brainiac : EGGHEAD
 

8. Campus eatery, for short : CAF. I've never heard this shortened form uttered.
 

11. Flying Solo? : HAN. Star Wars - fun clue.
 

14. Brewpub brew : PALE ALE
 

15. Auburn University home : ALABAMA
 

17. #2 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time : CLAPTON. See the list here.
 

18. Burger bun flavorings : SESAMES. Did not come easy - have never seen this pluralized.
 

19. Out-of-date : OLD
 

20. Usual people in a roundup? : SUSPECTS
 

22. Small dogs : TOYS. Dog breeds by size.
 

24. Trafficking org. : DEA. Drug Enforcement Administration.
 

25. Insisted on it : SAID SO
 

29. Gaming rookie, in slang : NOOB. Aka, Newbie.
 

31. "Treasure Island" author's initials : RLS. Robert Louis Stevenson.

33. Cape : CLOAK. Jane Eyre wore one.
 

34. Six-sided state : UTAH. See?

 

 

36. Steinbeck's "__ of Eden" : EAST
 

38. Simple card game : WAR

 

39. Pal of Sleepy : DOC. The Seven Dwarfs.

 
41. "Taras Bulba" novelist Gogol : NIKOLAI

 
43. Org. with Thunder and Heat : NBA

 

44. Eggs in a lab : OVA

 

45. Amino __ : ACID
 

46. Chew (on) : GNAW
 

48. Male bodybuilder : HE MAN. Or a little rascal.

 

 

50. Uncle, in Mexico : TIO
 

52. Homecoming figure : GRAD
 

54. Rock show venues : ARENAS
 

56. U.K. country : ENG
 

58. Palm smartphone : TREO
 

60. Welcomers at the church door : GREETERS. Or Walmart.

 

 

63. Car seller's employer: Abbr. : DLR. Dealer.
 

64. Like some celebrity memoirs : TELL ALL.
 

67. Desperate : DO OR DIE
 

69. Salaries : INCOMES
 

70. Composer Puccini : GIACOMO. Never knew his first name. "The greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi". Wikipedia.
 

 

71. 28-Down, essentially : POD

 

72. Solid __ rock : AS A
 

73. Steams up : ENRAGES
 

Down:
 

1. Spaceship Earth locale : EPCOT
 

2. Unit at the pumps : GALLON

4. Old-school "cool" : HEP
 

5. Has : EATS
 

6. Spoken : ALOUD
 

7. More heavily populated : DENSER
 

8. Attorney's assignment : CASE
 

9. Smart guys? : ALECS

11. Smoked meat : HAM
 

12. Zion Church letters : AME. I did not know this.
 

13. "One Mic" rapper : NAS. Wikipedia.
 

 

 

16. Pasta sauce herb : BASIL
 

23. Drunkard : SOT
 

27. Former Swedish automaker : SAAB
 

28. Southern veggie : OKRA
 

32. Mineo of movies : SAL
 

35. Hyphenated fruit drink brand : HI-C
 

37. Droop : SAG
 

39. Qatar's capital : DOHA
 

40. Done : OVER
 

42. Young fox : KIT
 

47. Hotel lobby hangings : ART
 

49. Prefix with Saxon : ANGLO
 

51. Nervous : ON EDGE
 

53. Remove calcium deposits from : DELIME
 

55. Tennis great Monica : SELES
 

57. Area below the abdomen : GROIN
 

59. Cookie bits in some Milka chocolate bars : OREOS
 

61. "Born Free" lioness : ELSA
 

62. Fly high : SOAR
 

64. Gratuity : TIP
 

65. Rock producer Brian : ENO
 

66. HDTV choice : LCD
 

68. HDTV brand : RCA

Wednesday, December 6, 2017, Neville Fogarty

TITLE: BURIED TREASURE

Husker Gary here again on a search for buried (or at least concealed) treasure. Neville has constructed a hunt for us where GEM has been hidden in bigger phrases much as these Emerald Crystals that can be found in veins of calcite in the Muzo area of Columbia.

Our friend Neville has literally taken the word GEM and hidden it where the GE portion ends the first word of a phrase and the M begins the second word. If you search carefully below, you can see where Neville has hidden the GEM in these theme answers:

17. *Intricate feature of some Victorian gardens : HEDGE MAZE - Here is a MAZE near London along side a domestic CORN MAZE in Gretna Nebraska

24. *Politician for whom a Virginia university is named : GEORGE MASON - George Mason refused to sign the U.S. Constitution in 1787 because it had no national bill of rights (if you enlarge the picture below, you will see James Madison's signature in the Virginia section). He then helped author the Bill Of Rights that were added in 1791.

33. *Disney miser who swims in his money : SCROOGE MCDUCK - As seen here

49. *Game to settle a score : GRUDGE MATCH - These "matches" have sold a lot of tickets!

... and the reveal:

57. Diamond in the rough ... or a literal feature of each answer to a starred clue : HIDDEN GEM - American Idol was looking for a hidden GEM in the group of 4,000 hopefuls in 2013 auditions in Omaha

Here are some more of Neville's Gems:

Across


1. Rope often coiled : LASSO - Here's one attached to the cockpit of a working cowboy

6. __ Lanka : SRI - Formerly Ceylon located just off 30. Nepal's continent : ASIA 

9. Selassie of Ethiopia : HAILE 

14. "One more time!" : AGAIN - Rick actually said, "You played it for her, you can play it for me!"

15. See 16-Across : EAR and 16. With 15-Across, cochlea site : INNER - A cochlear implant can have an external component which can be recommended by an 29. Sinusitis-treating MD : ENT - Ears/Nose/Throat M.D.

19. Anglican leader : VICAR - Enter Murder At The Vicarage in YouTube and you can view an entire Miss Marple adventure (1:20:00)

20. Rainbow hue : INDIGO - ROY G BIV

21. Eye part that may become detached : RETINA

22. What circled R's may indicate: Abbr. : TMS - ®

26. Point of giving up : WITS END - The Giants were at their WIT'S END with QB play and so...

28. Quarterback Manning : ELI - After 210 consecutive starts, ELI's mediocre play in 2017 got him benched last Sunday

31. Swig or sip : DRINK

39. Clock radio feature : ALARM

40. Valley : DALE - "Over hill, over DALE" is now "First to fight, for the right"

42. Word after black or photo : OPS - Some celebrities and politicians are avoiding photo OPS these days

45. Nike's __-FIT fabric : DRI - DRI-FIT fabric can be found in all manner of Duck clothing like this hooded sweatshirt which 46. Guarantees : ASSURES you it will wick sweat away from your body

52. Badminton court divider : NET

53. President after Jimmy : RONALD - Reagan "The Gipper"

54. "Bob's Burgers" daughter : LOUISE - I have never seen this cartoon! I might have opted for 54. Maurice Chevalier's woman of song (Man, I'm old!)

56. Emcee's opening : INTRO

60. Give direction to : STEER

61. Salinger's "Franny __ Zooey" : AND - Would people think me more literate if I wore this t-shirt?

62. Tender beef cuts : LOINS

63. Frost-covered : HOARY - I had a picture of this last Wednesday

64. "Certainly!" : YES - Alternate pronunciation

65. Lived : DWELT


Down

1. __-di-dah: pretentious : LAH

2. Number on many a birthday card : AGE

3. Extremely cruel : SADISTIC

4. Communicate with a deaf person : SIGN

5. Antsy : ON EDGE - What's that dog doing?

6. Neptune, for one : SEA GOD

7. Shaving device : RAZOR - I'm a straight edge kind of guy

8. Boiling blood : IRE


9. Collective intelligence : HIVE MIND - Alll 31. Obama, e.g.: Abbr. : DEM's - voted against the tax bill last Sunday and all REP's but one voted for it. Tell me again why they waste hours and hours debating?

10. Baker with Grammys : ANITA

11. Cut into : INCISE

12. Use for support : LEAN ON - The wonderful lyrics from Bill Withers' song

13. Knight-__ : ERRANT - Literature's most famous

18. Demeanor : MIEN

21. Artifact : RELIC - What? You were alive when JFK got shot?

22. Bankrupt airline : TWA


23. Battleship call : MISS - Hasn't every math teacher used Battleship® to teach coordinates?

25. Microbe : GERM

27. Poet Teasdale : SARA - Okay

32. African antelope : KUDU - An amazing looking animal

34. The Stars and Stripes : OLD GLORY

35. Rowed : OARED - It ranks right up there with "APED" on my Verb dishonor roll.

36. Dreadful : GRIM

37. Manhattan concert hall : CARNEGIE - How do you get to CARNEGIE Hall? [You all know the punchline]

38. Bauhaus artist Paul : KLEE - An icon for the Bauhaus Art School in Weimar, Germany and an example of work by one of its students Paul Klee (Senecio 1922)

41. Superlative suffix : EST

42. Like Shrek : OGRISH - My Spell Checker said, "Huh?" and Dictionary.com offered OGREISH as the preferred form

43. "ASAP!" : PRONTO

44. Beverage brewed outdoors : SUN TEA - A summer tradition here in the hinterlands 

46. Not seeing eye to eye : AT ODDS - I know our tea connoisseur friends Steve and C.C. would be AT ODDS by my choice of Lipton tea bags

47. Gulf War missile : SCUD - Saddam Hussien's futile weapon of choice

48. Lancer's protection : SHIELD - Here's a Lancer using his SHIELD for protection by shattering his opponent's weapon

50. Challenger : DARER

51. Flared skirt : A-LINE

55. It may come down in winter : SNOW - It can be pretty before you have to get out the blower

57. Stable serving : HAY - For the unbridled appetite.

58. Photo blowup: Abbr. : ENL

59. Salt Lake City hrs. : MST - 14th largest city with MST. Seven AZ cities are bigger












Now we await the GEMS you uncover in your mines/minds:

DA GRID:

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to dear Lucina, who's been with our blog since Feb 2010. So sweet to see this picture again. Lucina travels to CA once a year, and she often meets with our Californian Coven there.

Left to Right: Chickie, JD, Garlic Gal and Lucina.

June 3, 2015 

Wednesday, November 29, 2017, Claire Muscat and David Steinberg

TITLE: AN INSIDE JOB

Claire and David have given us a very clever Wednesday offering featuring Matroyshka DOLLS that stack up and nest inside each other as you can see here:

Husker Gary on duty for a tour of what our  two constructors have done graphically in their wonderful puzzle as you can see in the grid below. They have the letters for the word DOLL in the circles getting progressively and symmetrically closer and closer, until they culminate in the single word DOLL. (Could this reveal have worked without the circled DOLL letters?)

But wait, there's more! They have added the two adjectives that describe this arrangement - NESTING and STACKED in a very neat seven letter stack at the bottom (part of 7, 8, 9/9, 8, 7 letter corners) as shown in the reveals: 

42. With 68-Across, each successive one of a set graphically depicted by this puzzle's circles : NESTING - DO and LL eventually NESTING at the bottom

45. Arranged like the 68-Acrosses in the answers to starred clues are designed to be : STACKED - DO and LL STACKED until NESTING at the bottom. Other visuals for STACKED were considered but...

68. *See 42-Down : DOLL - Here is a seasonal Matroyshka set 

Pretty cool, huh?

Now let's look at the theme fill elements:

18. *Is unsuitable : DOESN'T FIT THE BILL - At first glance it might appear that Earl Boykin DOESN'T FIT THE BILL to play against Shaquille O'Neal

32. *Literary character with an evil alter ego : DOCTOR JEKYLL - John Barrymore transistioning from the good Doctor Jekyll to the evil Mr. Hyde in the 1920 silent movie of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic

50. *Threshold : DOOR SILL - This kitty is protecting hers!

Let's set off to see what else Claire and David have nested in this stack of clues

Across

1. Schooner features : MASTS - or BEERS


6. Frosty coating : RIME

10. Shine : GLEAM

15. Advil competitor : ALEVE

16. __ of March : IDES - The soothsayer Spurinna warned Caesar to beware

17. EVE's companion, in a 2008 Pixar film : WALLE

21. "__ ideas?" : ANY

22. "Back to the Future" vehicle : DELOREAN - At 88 mph the question becomes not "Where is the DeLorean?" but "When is the DeLOREAN?"

23. Wild place : ZOO - Famous for much wild life in Lincoln, NE!

24. Rays or Jays : TEAM

26. RAM part : MEMORY - I remember when 64K of Random Access Memory was a big deal

27. First light : DAWN

28. Egyptian snake : ASP

30. Wide shoe spec : EEE - President Obama seems pretty impressed with the width and length of his Shaquille O'Neal autographed shoe

38. Anti-cruelty org. : PETA

39. "Hold up!" : WAIT

40. Radiate : EMIT

Bob Dylan

42. Twangy-voiced : NASAL - This guy's NASAL voice hasn't kept him from a big career 

43. Breakfast order : EGGS

44. BFFs : FAVES

46. Gets a glimpse of : ESPIES - Not in my verbal or written quiver 

48. Most innocent : PUREST

49. Canonized Mlle. : STE - Joan Of Arc may be the most famous one

55. Bus depot: Abbr. : STA - Marilyn Monroe starred in a 1956 movie about a Bus Depot in Tonganoxie, Kansas

56. Corrida opponent : TORO

58. Paddock sound : WHINNY

Walt and Hank

59. Hank's job on "Breaking Bad," briefly : NARC - Hank is not too happy with his meth cooking brother-in-law in this scene

60. Modern-day Persian : IRANI

62. Tiny annoyance : GNAT

63. Former One Direction singer Zayn __ : MALIK - No idea/interest

64. Frequent presidential candidate Ralph : NADER - You can't 67. Skim (over) : GLOSS over the fact that a lot of people didn't like Gore or Bush

65. Fairy tale baddie : OGRE - Except for Shrek

66. In reserve : ASIDE - How much money do you have set ASIDE for that inevitable rainy day?

69. Knight's horse : STEED


Down

1. Angry with : MAD AT

2. Without assistance : ALONE

3. "Later!" : SEE YA - Wouldn't wanna BE YA!

4. Family room sets : TVS - We now have way more TV'S than the number of channels we  used to have

5. Final email step : SEND - Think before you hit SEND!!

6. Search quickly through : RIFLE

7. Figure of speech : IDIOM

8. Way around D.C. : METRO - A 10 min. Uber ride would have taken a half hour on the METRO for us in March

9. Perfume compound : ESTER

10. No Doubt lead singer Stefani : GWEN - Now, her I know!

11. Chocolate dog : LAB

12. "My Fair Lady" heroine : ELIZA - Here is Wendy Hiller as ELIZA in the 1938 non-musical movie Pymaglion. A role that Audrey Hepburn later made famous.

13. Let happen : ALLOW

14. Fruit that's still a fruit when two of its letters are switched : MELON - Switch the first and third letters and you get my first car

19. What sirens may do : TEMPT - Greek mythology tells of these creatures who used enchanting music and lovely voices to lure sailors to their doom on rocky shores

20. Actress Salma : HAYEK

25. Chinese liquor brand : MAOTAI - Alexander Haig warned President Nixon to not actually drink any of this very potent liquor during toasts. Dan Rather called it "liquid razor blades"

27. San Diego suburb : DEL MAR - A city of 4,356 whose name means "By The Sea" and is home to a famous horse racetrack 

29. Climbed : SCALED

31. The Eiffel Tower, aptly? : EYEFUL - Cute! Granddaughter did not go up the tower last week because of the daunting lines

32. Western outlaw : DESPERADO

33. Be indebted to : OWE

34. Cleaning cloth : RAG


35. Irish dance : JIG - For some reason a guy is doing pushups while the girls are dancing a JIG

36. "Close Encounters" beings : ETS - I loved the cantina scene from Star Wars

37. Hides one's true self : LIVES A LIE - Fewer people have to do this now

38. Idyllic : PASTORAL


41. Take for a first drive : TEST RIDE - Al Pacino played a blind man who took a Ferrari for a TEST RIDE in Scent Of A Woman

47. Farm mom : SOW

48. Tissue layer : PLY - Some schools save money with single PLY toilet tissue. Yikes!

51. "What a nightmare!" : OH GOD

52. Fab Four drummer : RINGO - The luckiest man in Rock 'n Roll history?



53. [Don't touch my bone!] : SNARL

54. Info a spy might gather : INTEL

57. Dollar bills : ONES

59. Condé __ : NAST - The man who is credited with giving us our modern version of Santa Claus with this 1881 drawing in Harper's Bazaar

61. Recipient of much Apr. mail : IRS

63. More, in Madrid : MAS - Esas son todas las pistas. No hay más. (That's all the clues. There are no more.)


Now feel free to stack and nestle your comments: