Friday, May 20, 2016, D.Scott Nichols and C.C. Burnikel

Title: The HEAT is on. LISTEN.

The sixth pairing of our resident Santa, Argyle, with C.C. brings us a single clue puzzle to unravel. HEAT yielded 2 grid-spanners and 2 fourteen letter fill giving us a quick 58 letters in the theme. These single word, single clue ones mean lots of work for me as I really need to solve many perps to get to the theme fill. Lots of nice fill like DE NADA,  WET HEN,  HEE HEE, ERECTS, LESS TAR, SERAPES,  MIGRANT, SPLICES, SARASOTA,  FOOLED ME, D.H. LAWRENCE,  OPEN SECRET. Well if you can't take the heat, get our your eraser.

17A. Heat : INTENSE PRESSURE (15). For example, the heat is on Hilary about her deleted emails.

31A. Heat : QUALIFYING RACE (14). For example, Mark Spitz won his semi-final heat in world record time.

38A. Heat : MIAMI HOOPSTERS (14). Their season is over, but no Whiteside and no Bosh for most of the Toronto series.

59A. Heat : HABANERO FEATURE (15). For example, you can READ all about hot peppers.

Okay, now solve:

Across:

1. Light source : BIC. As in:

Recognize Orson Bean's voice?

4. Sea bordering Uzbekistan : ARAL and the ever confusing to me 32D.  1,509-mile border river : URAL. They are both back again to add to our geography miseries.

8. Online money source : E-LOAN. They must be more popular in the midwest.

13. Prepare for a snap : LOAD. I guess this refers to the old fashioned need to put film in a camera.

15. "Sons and Lovers" author : D. H. LAWRENCE. This was one of his earliest works LINK ; his most famous perhaps being his last major novel

19. Tuscan hill city : SIENA. My son's many trips to dig in Italy helped me with my European Geography.

20. "__ does it!" : THAT.

21. Zipped : SPED.

22. Gulf Coast resort city : SARASOTA. A wonderful little city with white sand beaches and it rhymes with Minnesota which is great for limercists.

24. Like sriracha sauce : HOT. LIke the reference to "TODDLERS" in yesterday CHILD theme, I am ambivalent about this being in a HEAT puzzle.

26. Smidgen : DAB. Brylcreem anyone?

27. Colorful cover-ups : SERAPES. Forgive the partial  NUDITY.

35. Alley wanderer : CUR. But not dressed like that.

36. Popular truck brand : RAM.

37. Important time : AGE.

45. Unites, in a way : SPLICES. A thoughtful Friday clue. LINK.

46. PETA concern : FUR. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. I have always had mixed feeling about how they promote this effort.

47. Turn right : GEE. If you are a horse.

48. "No, really?" : FOOLED ME.

53. Egg on : SPUR. More horse talk?

56. L, vis-à-vis C : HALF. 50 is half of 100.

58. Junkyard material : SCRAP. Sometimes.

62. It's thinly disguised : OPEN SECRET. Nice rarely used fill.

63. Fries, e.g. : SIDE order.

64. Medicare card specification : PART A.

65. Fabulous runner-up : HARE. FABLE leads to fabulous here.

66. Talk trash to : DIS. A simple version of disrespect.

Down:

1. Euphoria : BLISS. So many choices  joy, happiness, pleasure, delight, ecstasy, elation, rapture.

2. Region that rebelled against Persia in about 500 B.C. : IONIA. A bit of HISTORY.

3. Work at weddings : CATER.

4. Hulu distractions : ADS.The rerun service.

5. Butler in a classic film : RHETT. My first thought was Arthur Treacher.

6. Greek leader : ALPHA. Cute clue.

7. Logan of "60 Minutes" : LARA. She was made part of a horrible STORY. She did well on Jeopardy Tuesday.

8. EMS destinations : ERS. No bitter vetch? Will Weng where are you?

9. Advertised advantage of some lights : LESS TAR.

10. "Get __": 1967 Esquires hit : ON UP.

11. Amount to plow : ACRE.

12. Cry out for : NEED.

14. "You're welcome," in Havana : DE NADA.

16. Anger simile : WET HEN. Did you KNOW?

18. Like Willie Nelson's voice : NASAL. Well that sounds a bit critical but Willie is an interesting MAN.

23. Kabuki accessory : OBI. My sash a week continues.

25. URL ender : ORG.

27. Easy mark : SIMPelton.

28. Host after Allen : PAAR. I have written often about Jack Paar.

29. Med. tests using leads : ECGS.

30. "Now do you believe me?" : SEE. Mira.

31. Wit's end? : QUIP. The end result of wit.

33. Big dos : FROS.

34. 2011 NBA retiree : YAO. HOF center with bad feet.

35. Divs. on some rulers : CMS. Centimeters which is pronounced??

39. "The Grapes of Wrath" character : MIGRANT. I tried to dredge up a character name until the perps kicked in.

40. Make sure of : ICE. They are out to get Tinman these days.

41. Titter : HEE HEE. I always like TEE HEE.

42. Bay Area travel letters : SFO.

43. Home of the WNBA's Shock : TULSA.  They have moved to Dallas LINK but do post star Skylar Diggins

44. Puts up : ERECTS.

48. Botanist's field : FLORA.

49. Proposal : OFFER.

50. Old Celtic religious leader : DRUID. Never understood this GROUP.

51. Column in un calendrier : MARDI. Tuesday in French.

52. Fencing swords : EPEES.

53. Hunt for bargains : SHOP.

54. Hemingway sobriquet : PAPA. Self imposed? LINK.

55. Cab company competitor : UBER. I recently used one, and it was great.

57. Image on Missouri's state quarter : ARCH. The gateway arch.

60. "Citizenfour" org. : NSA. The movie about Edward Snowden and the National Security Agency.

61. Saison in Provence : ÉTÉ. Summer is coming.

That means the regular tv season is over, lots of characters lying dead on the screen but we soldier on. Great fun, thank you Scott and C.C. and thank you all for the comments I will read soon. Lemonade out.

Thursday, May 19th, 2016 Greg Johnson

Theme: Growing Pains - the circles reveal a squad of squabblers.

17A. Overindulged oneself : WENT TO TOWN. Tot. Going to town on tots can result in a Captain Morgan-sized hangover.

22A. Communications feature since the 1870s : QWERTY KEYBOARD. Tyke. Deliberately designed to slow people down to reduce typewriter lever jams. The French have AZERTY, for reasons known only to themselves. Odd folks, that Gallic lot. You know what the French can't do? Type "TYPEWRITER" using only the top row of letter keys. Mwaaahaaahahhaaa. They're SO missing out.

34. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" duettist : KIKI DEE. Kid. I saw her at a free concert in London's Hyde Park in the 70's along with Steve Hillage, supporting Queen. I don't recall a lot about her set though. Here's the production-values-challenged video of the hit with Elton John. Catchy tune,admittedly. Here I am - twenty-thousandth dot from the right middle tree. And it didn't rain! Yay!

44. "Looks pretty good, huh?" : WHAT DO YOU THINK? Youth. Or "yute" per Joe Pesci in "My Cousin Vinnie". The scene where Marisa Tomei is called as an expert witness is one of my all-time movie favorites.

and the reveal:

52. Psychology subject ... and what's contained in this puzzle's circles : INNER CHILD. Something to channel.

Morning! Tongue-in-cheek with my theme name today, I'm sure all the lovable little darlings in this puzzle are quite angelic.

Mostly smooth sailing for me today, a couple of rip currents in the Pacific North West caused me some momentary unease, but the ship came through without undue distress. I thought a pangram was on the cards when QWERTYK showed up, but it wasn't to be - we're missing an F and a Z. Let's see what else we do have:

Across:

1. Toddler coddlers : MAMAS

6. Office stock : PENS

10. Port container : CASK. Originally old brandy barrels to help preserve Portuguese wine on the voyage to England.

14. What's made "just in case" : EXTRA. I wanted "PLAN B" here, but as much as I wanted it, I didn't get it.

15. Follow : OBEY, Aye, aye, Captain!

16. Eclipse, to some : OMEN

19. It may sweep you off your feet : WAVE

20. "Me too" : DITTO

21. Sleeper's malady : APNEA. A couple of months ago in San Diego I had a meeting with the company who invented the sleep apnea breathing devices. In their lobby they have an array of disembodied mannequin heads wearing examples of the technology through the years. It looks a little weird.

26. Breakfast choices : JUICES

27. Spot for breakfast : NOOK

28. El __ : PASO

29. They're usually covered by grilles : AIR VENTS

33. __ out a living : EKE

37. WWII battle site, for short : IWO. Iwo To, or Iwo Jima in English. Sulfur Island.

38. Just beginning to develop : GERMINAL

40. Emailed a dupe to : CC'ED. We cc C.C. on blog-related emails.

41. Research ctr. : INST.

42. White of the eye : SCLERA. Not CORNEA then, as I confidently filled in first, in spite of being totally wrong.

49. 1945 meeting site : YALTA. Churchill, Stalin and FDR met to carve up post-WWII Europe. See how well that turned out for everyone.

50. Stern with a bow : ISAAC

51. __ marker : MILE. When you reach the first one in a marathon, you gleefully think "Great! Only 25 more of these, tack on 365 yards at the end and we're done!".

57. Rapper with the debut album "Trouble" : AKON. Who? I'm sure I should know Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam, but I don't.

58. Porch torch type : TIKI

59. Sun: Pref. : HELIO-. Greek root. Helio Castroneves isn't Greek, he's a Brazilian race car driver in the IndyCar series. He looks like he gets a lot of sun though.

60. Common allergen : NUTS

61. Right on an atlas : EAST. Unless you hold it upside down, or get the Australian edition.

62. A bit off : ASKEW

Down:

1. Litter attention-getter : MEW

2. Hefted tool : AXE

3. Hood, for one: Abbr. : MTN. Mount Hood in Oregon. I've flown over it a few times on the way to Seattle, it looks like a perfect snow-capped cone.

4. Like Radio City Music Hall : ART DECO

5. "The Daily Show" device : SATIRE

6. Where wee ones go : POTTY

7. Waiting room read : E-BOOK

8. Just out : NEW

9. Case, for instance: Abbr. : SYN. Nice clue! Parse it as "Case" for "Instance", and you'll see one is a synonym of the other.

10. Ranch hand : COWPOKE

11. Its website has a range finder : AMANA. Oh! Cooktops and kitchen equipment. Got it. Clever.

12. Divide into parts : SEVER. I got a new cleaver recently. Two pounds of severe severing steel sharpness. I'd better be careful with this bad boy. Finger (currently still attached) shown for scale.

13. Prep, at a pizza parlor : KNEAD

18. Mel and Ed with World Series rings : OTTS

21. Not subject to, as suspicion : ABOVE

22. Fault product : QUAKE. Plenty of these in my neck of the woods.

23. More learned : WISER

24. Plains "Queen Wheat City" : ENID

25. Days long gone : YORE

26. Photo file format : JPEG. "Joint Photographic Experts Group". It's a "lossy" compression algorithm - "lossy" because when the image is re-opened it has lost some definition. If you keep re-saving a JPEG you'll notice the quality degrading.

29. Feel poorly : AIL

30. Tidy (up), facetiously : NICEN. Not sure I've used this term. Facetiously though?

31. Dance provocatively : TWERK. No, I'm not going to link Miley Cyrus.

32. Pop : SODA

34. Cousin of "-ish" : KINDA

35. __ many words : IN SO

36. Pop's Perry : KATY

39. Things on strings : MITTENS. Hand up for my mother sewing my gloves onto a ribbon and threading them through the sleeves of my coat. Lost glove drama instantly averted. Playground lost cred instantly achieved.

40. Played-out sayings : CLICHES

42. Ratings unit : STAR

43. Ballroom dance : CHA CHA

44. Longtime Rolling Stones bassist Bill : WYMAN. Keith Richards claimed that Bill was only allowed to join the band because he owned an amplifier. Reading Keith's autobiography it's pretty apparent that he didn't think too much of the "walking bass".

45. 17-syllable work : HAIKU

Help me. I am trapped

in a Haiku factory.

Save me, before they 

46. Divvy up : ALLOT

47. Down and dirty noises : OINKS

48. "Can you __ in a sentence?" : USE IT. Not only a spelling bee clarification question, but the litmus test of crossword construction.

52. Relative of "-ian" : -ITE

53. Actress Peeples : NIA. Useful crossword name. I'm not really familiar with the her work.

54. Kind : ILK

55. One of a rat's pack? : LIE

56. Financial measure, with "the" : DOW

And .. here's the grid, circles 'n all.


Steve

Wednesday, May 18, 2016 Jerry Eldstein

Title: NOR ANY DROP TO DRINK

Husker Gary on board, blogging Jerry's wonderful Wednesday-level puzzle that combines a famous line from Coleridge's poem of the ill-fated, albatross-slaying sailor and eight, count 'em, eight phrases that can be formed when WATER precedes both words of two word theme fills. WATER, WATER everywhere indeed! Very impressive to this land lubber!

THEME FILL (where I freely admit there are alternate interpretations):

26. Oil conduit : PIPELINE - One of which, runs from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez in Alaska or

WATER PIPE - A conveyance for a buzz

or

WATER LINE  - What has been receding behind Lake Mead during the SW drought

31. Electricity source : POWER PLANT - What is inside Hoover Dam that uses the waters of Lake Mead or

WATER POWER - a rough idea of what happens inside Hoover Dam

or WATER PLANT - A facility that makes your water potable

42. Reaganomics term : SUPPLY SIDE - Economic system where government gets less money and private enterprise gets to keep more or

WATER SUPPLY - What can be threatened when these run too much in dry years

or WATER SIDE - A great San Antonio location

47. Primary entrance : MAIN GATE - A Disney Park front door or

WATER MAIN - They can be spectacular when they break

or WATERGATE - Enough said!

The fabulous THEME REVEAL:

17. With 59-Across, words from a fictional mariner ... and a hint to both parts of 26-, 31-, 42- and 47-Across : WATER WATER and 59. See 17-Across : EVERYWHERE. 

Now let's sail on to see what else Jerry has cast upon our crossword waters:

Across

1. Pricey : STEEP - Who ever thought water would cost more per gallon than gas?

6. Place for a chicken : COOP

10. Herring prized for its roe : SHAD

14. Use a lectern : ORATE - You'd better have a sandwich, el presidente is gonna be a while!

15. A fan of : INTO

16. Tortilla snack : TACO

19. Any minute now, to a bard : ANON

20. Tampa-to-Jacksonville dir. : NNE - It's 198.4 miles

21. Frosty coat : HOAR - A HOARY engraving from our poem du jour of the crew and that bird

22. Fern-to-be : SPORE

23. Criticize sneakily : SNIPE - Here it is usually to criticize as an ANON

28. Chef's tool : SPATULA

30. Fire, or fire-fighting tool : AXE - Or Gene Simmons' bass

34. Astronaut Grissom : GUS - He almost drowned on the second Mercury mission

37. Incriminate with false evidence : FRAME - Did OJ ever find the real killer?

38. __-Locka, Florida : OPA - Originally Opa-tisha-wocka-locka

39. Emaciated : GAUNT

41. Messy spot : STY

44. __ Kan: Alpo rival : KAL

46. Fit as a fiddle and tough as nails : SIMILES - The one about me ends ...as a rock

52. Exams for would-be attys. : LSATS

53. Shore eagles : ERNES - Our old cwd friend and a surprise prey

54. Object of worship : IDOL

56. Dick's wife, twice : LIZ - Liz Taylor was Mrs. Richard Burton twice

58. __-Seltzer : ALKA

62. Safe document : DEED

63. Left : GONE

64. Conundrum : POSER 

65. They may be split or tight : ENDS - Pretty easy to discern

66. __ buco: veal dish : OSSO

67. Make a mess of : MISDO - Okay


Down

1. Seeded : SOWN - Some consider the SOWER atop Nebraska's capital buliding to be, uh, controversial when its image is transferred to our sesquicentennial license plate

2. Convey : TRANSPORT

3. Completely eroded : EATEN AWAY 

4. Nice season? : ETE - Je n'étais pas dupe! (I was not fooled!)

5. Part of 60-Down : PER - My sister typed over 100 words PER minute 50 yrs ago. I once got half that.

6. "Ta-ta" : CIAO

7. Coming up next : ON TAP

8. Ferrell's "SNL" cheerleading partner : O'TERI

9. __ favor: Pedro's "please" : POR

10. Paper clip alternative : STAPLE 

11. Onetime capital of French Indochina : HANOI

12. Oak nut : ACORN - "Gee! Ahma tree!", exclaimed the mathmatically mature ACORN.

13. Charity, say : DONEE - I would think the DONEE receives the charity

18. Puppy : WHELP - Dura-WHELP makes a box for them

22. Masters and Johnson subject : SEX - Their research revealed sexual intimacy could last well beyond 70. Could, mind you!

24. Agenda line : ITEM

25. Partner of simple : PURE - 70-year-old Dolly has launched her 2016, 60-city PURE And SIMPLE Tour 

27. First lady after Lady Bird : PAT

28. Suntan lotion numbers, briefly : SPFS

29. Baseball's Matty or Felipe : ALOU

32. Droid download : APP

33. Snoozes : NAPS

34. Free from blame : GUILTLESS from  35. Not wanted : UNDESIRED calories?

36. Fr. holy women : STES

39. Places with rings and horses : GYMS - In Lego Land

40. Massive land mass : ASIA

42. Gp. that kidnapped Patty Hearst : SLA

43. Big name in pharmaceuticals : LILLY - And for our kitty (one L please)

44. Works on, as dough : KNEADS

45. Top prosecutors: Abbr. : AGS - Attorneys General

47. Maryland's Fort __ : MEADE - Named for the the Union Commander at Gettysburg

48. "Over the Rainbow" composer Harold : ARLEN - Some MGM execs wanted it cut from the movie because they thought it slowed down the pace

49. Signed in pen : INKED

50. DVR devices : TIVOS

51. Blissful places : EDENS

55. Treat often split : OREO - Found nestled among these most common cwd answers

57. Nothing : ZERO

59. __ trip : EGO

60. Typing meas. : WPM

61. __ polloi : HOI - Ah, ya gotta love the classics!

Wisdom, wisdom everywhere and plenty for us to read. Let those unfiltered comments rip!

The Grid

Tuesday, May 17 2016, Jeff Stillman

Theme: Picture Perfect.

20. Outgoing sort : PEOPLE PERSON
 
33. Extra-earnest entreaty : PRETTY PLEASE
 
56. Clerical worker, facetiously : PENCIL PUSHER

41. KP duty need : POTATO PEELER.   

Two word phrases in which each word is six letters beginning with P. I can think of lots of P* P* phrases, but only PETER PIPER fits the six letter rule. Otherwise, there's Pentagon Papers, Pleasantly Plump, Personal Pronoun, Polling Place, Poison Pen, Pickled Peppers, Priscilla Presley. 

Melissa here. Got through this one in record time - in large part because I realized the theme early on with PEOPLE PERSON. My one bad entry was misspelling WIENIE as weenie. 

Across: 

1. Negotiated agreements : PACTS

6. Coagulate : CLOT

10. Cry of disbelief : WHAT

14. Wake-up call alternative : ALARM

15. Talk wildly : RAVE

16. Dance that tells a story : HULA

17. Arm bones : ULNAE

18. Sign of things to come : OMEN

19. Wild goat with recurved horns : IBEX. For many solvers, this is one of the first memorized answers.

23. Spews : EGESTS

24. Sets upright : ERECTS

28. Danger color : RED

29. Body shop fig. : EST

31. Feel remorse over : RUE

32. Chop (off) : LOP

36. Crate component : SLAT

39. Multivolume ref. work : OED. Oxford English Dictionary. From their website, "The OED is the definitive record of the English language, featuring 600,000 words, 3 million quotations, and over 1000 years of English."

40. Common diagnosis for distracted kids: Abbr. : ADHD

46. Back in time : AGO

47. Black __: spy doings : OPS

48. Critic Reed : REX

49. Punching tool : AWL

52. Sales enticement : REBATE

54. National park on the Maine coast : ACADIA

60. April honoree? : FOOL. Cute.

63. German automaker : AUDI

64. Occupy, as one's time : SPEND

65. Bridges in Hollywood : BEAU

66. TMZ twosome : ITEM

67. Creepy : EERIE

68. Vexes : IRKS

69. Gather in the fields : REAP

70. Expression of disdain : SNEER

Down:

1. Prince's lookalike, in a Twain novel : PAUPER. Little bonus, The Prince and the Pauper.

2. Assert without proof : ALLEGE

3. Enjoyed a ride in a birchbark : CANOED. Don't think I've ever heard this as a verb before. This author can make anything fascinating.

 

4. Police stings, e.g. : TRAPS. Or this Police Sting.

5. Metal refinery : SMELTER

6. Edit for size, as a photo : CROP

7. __ duck : LAME.

8. "Back to you," in CBspeak : OVER. Or a tune by John Mayer.

9. Stiffen in fear : TENSE UP

10. Moan and groan : WHINE

11. Center of activity : HUB

12. Draft pick : ALE

13. Price add-on : TAX

21. Latin 101 infinitive : ESSE

22. Sports analyst Hershiser : OREL

25. Unlike Lady Godiva : CLAD

26. Poppycock, to a Brit : TOSH. Didn't remember this, perps to the rescue.

27. Made tracks : SPED

30. Car roofs with removable panels : T-TOPS

31. Golf's __ Cup : RYDER. Biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the U.S.

33. Class-conscious gp.? : PTA. Parent Teacher Association. Clever.

34. Golf ball support : TEE

35. Musical gift : EAR. See 61 Down.

36. Box for practice : SPAR. So sneaky. Wanted RING, but waited for perps.

37. Theater section : LOGE. Private box for seating.

38. Get from __: make slow progress : A-TO-B

42. Carryall bag : TOTE

43. Outdoor : OPEN AIR

44. Spring : LEAP

45. Reasons that may be flimsy or lame : EXCUSES

49. Cling : ADHERE

50. Dog at a roast : WIENIE. That spelling just looks funny to me.

51. Kitchen storage area : LARDER. Vaguely familiar with this word but needed perps for help. A storage room for food, commonly used before refrigeration.

53. Top grade : A-PLUS

55. Colorado skiing mecca : ASPEN

57. Baby-faced : CUTE

58. Invention beginning : IDEA

59. Like overcooked pasta : LIMP.  ew.

60. Justice Dept. agency : FBI

61. On top of, in an ode : OER. As in, "O'er the land of the freeeeeeee" (certainly unconstrained by *pitch*).  I'm pretty sure this is exactly how I sound when I sing. The piano was hilariously added later, "It was clear that what the singer really needed was just a sympathetic accompanist."

62. Furniture wood : OAK

Note from C.C.:

Please click here for Blue Hen's quick cheater's porcini risotto recipe. I thought it's a genius idea to re-hydrate porcini in white wine. Thanks for the recipe and the story behind it, Blue Hen!