google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner

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Mar 5, 2010

Friday March 5, 2010 Gary J. Whitehead

Theme: M-ending - The last letter N of a three-letter word in a familiar phrase is changed into letter M.

17A. Suggestion to singer Lennox after a garlicky meal?: ANNIE GET YOUR GUM. Base phrase is the musical "Annie Get Your Gun". Singer Annie Lennox.

24A. Jamaican group winding down after a gig?: BAND ON THE RUM. "Band on the Run". Paul McCartney's song. Unknown to me. Jamaicans drink lots of rum? I don't understand the "Jamaican group" and RUM connection.

45A. Moocher at McDonald's?: HAMBURGER BUM. Hamburger Bun. Moocher = Bum.

58A. Feared words from an accountant?: HERE COMES THE SUM. "Here Comes the Sun". The Beatles' song.

Such a fun theme! Which is your favorite theme answer? ANNIE GET YOUR GUM made me laugh.

All our Friday puzzles seem to be letter addition/deletion/replacement. Rich Norris sure loves wordplay.

Maybe this constructor Gary J Whitehead is working on another puzzle with M to N replacement.

Across:

1. Bank statement no.: ACCT (Account)

5. The Miners of Conf. USA: UT EP (University of Texas, El Paso). Have never heard of Conference USA. Not a college sports fan.

9. One way to attend a party: STAG

13. Lincoln feature: BEARD

15. __ City: Baghdad suburb: SADR. Where Muqtada al-Sadr (al is Arabic for "the"), one of the most influential Iraqi religious/political figure, came from. Now exile in Iran.

16. Cook book: COMA. Robin Cook's thriller "Coma". I was fooled before.

20. Half of the Brady bunch, to Carol: STEPSONS. No idea. Have never seen "The Brady Bunch".

21. Clothes line?: CREASE. I bet Dennis nailed it. He loves ironing.

22. Samuel Johnson portraitist John __: OPIE. Cornish painter. Complete stranger to me. Here is his portrait of Samuel Johnson. The constructor must be very exited to discover a new clue for OPIE.

23. Traitors: JUDASES

28. "Yours truly calling": IT IS I

29. Downed: ATE

30. "Ditto": SAME

34. Warmup toss: LOB. Baseball. A pitcher will lob a few balls to get his arm loose.

35. City in Thessaly: LARISSA. Wikipedia says "Legend has it that Achilles was born here and Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, died here". Who knows?

39. "Oedipus __": REX. "Oedipus the King". Rex = "King" in Latin.

40. Sylvester's problem: LISP

42. Hägar creator Browne: DIK. Not on my radar.

43. Roman moon goddess: DIANA. "Greek moon goddess" = Artemis.

49. Acid neutralizers: ALKALIS

52. Outer area of an escutcheon: ORLE. Heraldry term. The border of shield. I did not know the meaning of "escutcheon", Latin for "shield".

53. Afternoon service: TEA SET

54. Fragments: SNIPPETS

60. Frankfurt's river: ODER. The Poland-Germany border river. Flows to the Baltic.

61. Canceled: NO GO. At NASA.

62. Emcee's job: INTRO

63. Nos. divided by dashes: SSNS

64. He played Obi-Wan: EWAN (McGregor). Gimme. Just listened to his interview with Terry Gross on "Fresh Air". Also learned the Sadr City from Terry.

65. Strong taste: TANG

Down:

1. "__ le roi!": French Revolution cry: A BAS. Literally "down with" in French. I wonder if anyone recklessly penned in VIVE without reading carefully the "Revolution cry".

2. Tiny amount: CENT. The answer is always IOTA.

3. Mr. Peanut prop: CANE

4. Surveyors' tools: TRIPODS

5. Online newsgroup system: USENET

6. Does lacework: TATS

7. Eponymous ice cream maker: EDY. Edy's Ice Cream.

8. Gets by special means: PROCURES. Great entry.

9. Roller coaster sounds: SCREAMS

10. Senate apparel: TOGAS. Roman Senate.

11. Tickle pink: AMUSE

12. Fun partner: GAMES. Fun and games. I blanked.

14. Pillage: DESPOIL. New word to me. Looks like the opposite of "spoil", doesn't it?

18. "__ Out of My Head": 1964 hit: GOIN'. Here is the clip.

19. Language heard in Karachi: URDU. One of the official Pakistani languages. Written in Arabic alphabet.

23. Flies, in a way: JETS

24. Law in the works: BILL. Once a bill passes the Congress and is signed by the president, it becomes a law.

25. Paris possessive: A TOI. French for "yours".

26. Writing points: NIBS. Pen points.

27. 17-syllable poem: HAIKU. The three-line poem.

31. Libyan, probably: ARAB

32. You might get one right after being seated: MENU. D'oh! Of course.

33. Checkup: EXAM

36. Ticket order?: ADMIT ONE. The "order" confounded me.

37. Barbecue order: RIBS

38. Long Island university: ADELPHI. No idea. Where did it get its name?

41. Sci-fi weapons: PHASERS

44. Words of atonement: I REPENT

46. Baldwin of "30 Rock": ALEC. He's going to co-host this year's Oscar with Steve Martin.

47. Recent Zippo acquisition: RONSON. Not familiar with Ronson lighter. I like that threesome ad.

48. Gumption: GRIT

49. Oldest musketeer: ATHOS. Was ignorant of this trivia. The other two are Porthos & Aramis.

50. It's on the Aire: LEEDS. Was unaware of River Aire, which passes through Leeds. Nice play on "It's on the air".

51. Carpenter with a soothing voice: KAREN. My husband loves Karen Carpenter.

54. Nintendo rival: SEGA. It stands for SErvice GAmes (of Japan).

55. This, in Tijuana: ESTA. Or ESTO.

56. Make a right, say: TURN

57. Industrial pollutant: SMOG

59. Cut: MOW. Cut the grass.

Answer grid.

I enjoyed the Sausage Sentence Links yesterday, thanks for playing!

C.C.