Wednesday, December 25, 2013 Marcia Mathis

Theme: Opening Presents - each of the four theme entries "opens" with a Christmas-related word

17A. Breeders' Cup track : SANTA ANITA. Now the only racecourse remaining here in Los Angeles - Hollywood Park closed two days ago after 75 years in business. Santa Anita is a beautiful venue though.

28A. Horticulturist with a berry named for him : RUDOLPH BOYSEN. I got "Boysen" from crosses and "Rudolph" once I realized the theme.

47A. 2000 Ben Affleck thriller : REINDEER GAMES. I never saw this, and judging by the reviews I don't think I missed much.

63A. Classic Leroy Anderson holiday tune : SLEIGH RIDE. A nice orchestral version here to get us in the swing of things today.

Merry Christmas everybody! Steve here with today's Yuletide challenge from Marcia Mathis. I don't see Marcia's name in the blog history so this may well be her LA Times debut; a nice Christmas present for her if it is!

I thought the theme was nicely worked - I had some quibbles with the fill - I thought there was some odd cluing - but nothing too upsetting. This was a slower-than-usual solve for me today, the north-west section was something of a struggle. Let's see what caught my eye.

Across:

1. Dying-out sound : PFFT. What? I'm still not sure I understand this and I've looked at it for a long time. Is it something to do with air escaping?

5. Arafat's successor : ABBAS

10. __ job : SNOW. This slang term for a cover-up was new to me; part of a mini-theme going on too.

14. Aftershave additive : ALOE

15. "Tales of Trail and Town" author : HARTE. Crosses all the way. This Bret Harte book was published way back in 1898.

16. Super : A-ONE

19. Paid attendance : GATE. I love it when you're at a baseball game and the paid attendance is announced - usually it's at least twice as many as there are people in the stadium. Season-ticket holders are counted even if they're not at the match.

20. Soft drink options : SIZES. Hmmm. Not sure about this one.

21. Hangout featuring doo-wop music : MALT SHOP

23. Doo-wop __ : ERA. Nice pairing with the previous clue.

24. Uganda's Amin : IDI

27. Toll booth waiter : CAR. I sat in 20-minute "cash only" line in a rental car a couple of years ago at the Holland Tunnel into Manhattan - only to be told that I had EZ-Pass when I got to the front of the queue. Doh!

35. Part of an act : SCENE TWO

37. Sucking-up type : TOADY

38. Anklebones : TALI. Latin plural of "talus". I'm glad I was paying attention in Latin class all those years ago.

39. Watertight frames : HULLS. I've never considered a hull being a "frame" before. Doesn't the planking over the frame complete the hull?

42. Oscar-nominated Peter Fonda role : ULEE. From the movie "Ulee's Gold".

43. Home that may include a tunnel : IGLOO. Second mini-theme entry.

45. Ostensible : APPARENT

50. Bill: Abbr. : INV.  No idea. Someone smarter than what I is will need to explain this one! (Added later: Invoice)

51. Parisian pal : AMI. That friend has probably got a tête full of idées too.

52. Peter, Paul and Mary: Abbr. : STS. Three saints.Nice!

55. Periodically : OFF AND ON

60. Bowler's concern : SPLIT. I'm sure Boomer can tell us exactly how to handle this tricky problem. (Boomer here, - I have left this now and then, it usually results in an open frame.  You need to roll the ball perfectly to the right of the six pin.  The ball will take out the ten and the six needs to slide across the lane and hit the seven.  I would say about 5% conversion rate, even for an accomplished bowler.)

62. Former student : ALUM

66. Popular bar game : KENO

67. Old piano craftsman's raw material : IVORY

68. Word in many golf tournament names : OPEN. An "open" tournament means that anyone can enter for qualifying to play in the event (subject to certain minimum playing standards). Some gatecrashers always seem to make it into the first round of qualifying, however.

69. Fifth Avenue store : SAKS

70. Midmorning hr. : TEN A.M.

71. Beckoning sound : PSST. More "air escaping" sounds!

Down:

1. Old hat : PASSÉ

2. Natural ability : FLAIR

3. Sitcom Arthur better known by his nickname : FONZARELLI. The Fonz. I wasn't sure if there was an "A" or an "E" after the "Z" contributing to my slow progress in this area.

4. Idée source : TÊTE. Those French ideas have to come from somewhere.

5. Exclamation when a light goes on? : AHA! All of us have these moments solving puzzles.

6. Prohibit : BAN

7. Edge : BRIM

8. Staple or glue : ATTACH

9. Aquanaut's workplace : SEA LAB. Here's the first one:

10. Drops over time : SAGS. Never a good thing, no matter what is sagging.

11. Biblical captain : NOAH

12. Not taken in by : ON TO

13. Blubber : WEEP

18. In reserve : ASIDE

22. Easy pace : TROT

25. "The bell __ toll for him ...": Donne : DOTH. From John Donne's 16th-century poem. Also contains the oft-quoted "Ask not for whom the bell tolls - it tolls for thee" and "No man is an island".

26. Stevedore's gp. : I.L.W.U. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

29. Confederacy foe : UNION

30. Frigid : POLAR. Third of the mini-theme.

31. "__ kidding!" : YOU'RE

32. Christmas shopper's accumulation : SALES SLIPS

33. Paradise : EDEN

34. Duma negative : NYET. A duma is a Russian parliament or assembly. Complete WAG for me, to be honest - I had to look it up afterwards!

35. Ado : STIR

36. Ticket seller's enclosure : CAGE

40. Solheim Cup co-sponsoring org. : L.P.G.A. The Solheim Cup is a team competition in women's golf between the USA and Europe. The Ladies' Professional Golf Association and the Ladies' European Tour sponsor the event.

41. Junk email : SPAM

44. Chief Valhalla god : ODIN

46. "Witness" sect : AMISH. Harrison Ford starred in the movie.

48. Throws him out, say : ENDS IT

49. Develop slowly : EVOLVE

53. Nautical table listing : TIDES

54. Arterial implant : STENT

55. Flooring trees : OAKS

56. Dog bugger : FLEA. A "bugger" in the UK is something quite different, I'm not sure this clue would be allowed there.

57. Dejected spell : FUNK

58. Big name in cookies : AMOS. A famous name indeed.

59. Flashy sign : NEON

61. "West Side Story" knife, e.g. : PROP. I was looking for a slang word for "knife" for quite some time.

64. Playwright Levin : IRA

65. Training site : GYM

 Steve

Notes from C.C.:

1) Merry Christmas! Today we also celebrate the birthday of three regulars: The erudite & always positive Yellowrocks (Kathy), math-whiz Fermatprime (send me a photo) & the car expert Zcarguy.

Kathy & Buddha, Japan, 2008. Kathy speaks Japanese.

 

Zcarguy and his wife Kathy

2) Lemonade & Montana finally met in Denver! Lemonade is visiting his son and Montana (Darlene) is babysitting her grandkids. I recognize Lemonade's son on his left.

Lemonade & Montana, Denver, 2013