Wednesday, Aug 10, 2011 Julian Lim

theme: downpour (see answer grid for circle placement)

what a fun puzzle. all the down theme answers (arranged vertically for visual effect) contain the words cat or dog.

1D. Actress Blanchett : CATE

3D. System for which Super Mario Land was developed : NINTENDO GAMEBOY

9D. "Ego Trippin'" rapper : SNOOP DOGG. perps helped here.

11D. Gothic Spanish landmark : TOLEDO CATHEDRAL. impressive.

33D. Dispersed, as a crowd : SCATTERED

57D. Old Venetian judge : DOGE. if i've seen this word before, i forgot. wiki to the rescue again."The "doge" was the senior most elected official of Venice and Genoa; both cities were republics and elected doges."

and the unifier:

7D. Really come down, as illustrated in this puzzle's circles : RAIN CATS AND DOGS

Across:

1. Six-pack units : CANS. thought abs at first, not enough letters.

5. Danish director von Trier : LARS. had no idea. wikipedia says he began making his own films at the age of 11.

9. Select the temperature on, as a thermostat : SET AT

14. Dictator Idi : AMIN

15. Parent company of half.com : E-BAY. easy guess.

16. Mother Judd : NAOMI. mother to ashley and wynonna.

17. In vain : TO NO AVAIL. thou shalt not take the lord thy god's name to no avail.

19. Had an eye for figures? : OGLED. love this clue. david beckham, caught ogling.

20. Tallinn native : ESTONIAN. estonia is on the banks of the gulf of finland, south of helsinki and east of stockholm.

21. 1974 Dolly Parton chart-topper : JOLENE. an updated version.

22. George Orwell's alma mater : ETON. another easy guess.

23. Penned (up) : COOPED

25. Every, in an Rx : OMN. hm. must be a bit obscure, does not appear on this master list.

27. Pushed to the limit : TAXED

28. Text-scanning technology, briefly : OCR. optical character recognition.

31. Actor Paul and journalist Hughes : RUDDS. knew paul, but not hughes, who died in 1992 at the age of 71. according to wikipedia he earned a purple heart, six air medals and a silver star as an artillery spotter pilot in the army.

34. Place to play faves : OTB. off track betting.

35. Frère de la mère : ONCLE. french. mother's brother = uncle.

37. Geologic age meaning "without life" : AZOIC. if you say so.

38. Club for GIs : USO. united service organizations. a place to go for dances and social events.

39. AOL alternative : G-MAIL

40. Molten rock : MAGMA. holy hotwick lava bomb. hi lois.

41. Offer in response to "Shake!" : PAW

42. U.S. base in Cuba, in headlines : GITMO. guantanamo bay.

43. Rap sheet initials : AKA. also known as.

44. Many 3-Down users : TEENS

46. Fathers and sons : HES

47. Hard to comb : MATTED

49. Beekeeper played by Fonda : ULEE. welcome back.

52. Enjoyed Wrigley, e.g. : CHEWED. brand of gum. wrigley field is named after william wrigley, jr., the chewing gum magnate.

54. Counted (on) : DEPENDED

58. Picture book elephant : BABAR

59. 1947 Hope/Crosby film : ROAD TO RIO

60. Bring to mind : EVOKE

61. Farming prefix : AGRO

62. Singer k.d. : LANG. barefoot.

63. Like asters : RAYED. see?

64. Qtys. of sugar : TSPS. teaspoons.

65. On the safer side : ALEE

Down:

2. Hebrew prophet : AMOS. old testament, after joel and before obadiah.

4. High-and-mighty type : SNOOT. funny word.

5. "Rosemary's Baby" author : LEVIN. ira. directed by roman polanski.

6. Simple rhyme scheme : ABAA

8. Word part: Abbr. : SYL. syllable.

10. Postal service symbol : EAGLE

12. "I totally agree!" : AMEN

13. Oceanic routine : TIDE

18. Enero to enero, e.g. : ANO. spanish. january to january = year.

21. Average guy? : JOE

24. U-shaped river bends : OXBOWS

25. Store display suffix : ORAMA. meaning "spectacular display or instance of," abstracted frompanorama, ultimately from Greek horama [ὅραμα] "sight."

26. Carols at the mall, usually : MUZAK

27. Rug with nothing swept under it? : TOUPEE. great clue.

29. Weather, in verse : CLIME. clear ayes, got an example for us?

30. Moves, to a Realtor : RELOS. relocates.

32. Hard to read by, as light : DIM

36. Abbr. for John Doe, perhaps : NMI. no middle initial. seems like it should be no middle name.

45. SFO info : ETD. airport talk for estimated time of departure.

48. Up and about : AWAKE

49. French twists, e.g. : UPDOS

50. Gave permission : LET

51. Name on a celebrated B-29 : ENOLA. the enola gay. first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb (on hiroshima) as a weapon of war.

52. Radio-active one? : CB-ER. nice.

53. "__ Nagila" : HAVA

55. O.K. Corral lawman : EARP. wyatt.

56. A, to Albrecht : EINE. german. one, or a, or someone. i'll let kazie help me out here.

59. Dock rodent : RAT

Answer grid.

melissa