Tuesday, September 27, 2011 Steven J. St. John

Theme: Oh, Bother! - Self-explanatory theme.

17A. Invasive airline inconvenience : BODY SCANNER

29A. Uncomfortable airline inconvenience : CRAMPED SEAT

46A. Wearying airline inconvenience : LONG LAYOVER

64A. Excruciating airline inconvenience (the last straw!) : LOST LUGGAGE

Argyle here. This appears to be a debut puzzle for Mr. St. John. Well done.

Across:

1. Dinner wear for the highchair set : BIBs

5. Talisman : AMULET. Just in time for Halloween. Image.

11. Spoil : MAR. As in "My great vacation was marred by the horrible flight home!"

14. Working without __ : A NET

15. Next to : BESIDE

16. Sam Adams product : ALE

19. Groovy relative? : RAD. Dead relative, I think. But then groovy doesn't look too healthy either.

20. One with an office couch, maybe : ANALYST. Possible connection to our constructor, I don't know.

21. Untrustworthy : KNAVISH. Knave, which formerly meant merely a boy or servant, in modern use emphasizes baseness of nature and intention.

23. __ garden : ZEN. Maybe you could fit this in your carry-on luggage and find inner peace while waiting on the tarmac. Image.

24. A/C measure : BTU

26. Durante's "__ Dinka Doo" : INKA. Clip (3:31) and I pity anyone who gets an earworm from THIS!

27. Wood-dressing tool : ADZ. Another How To clip.(3:35)

33. President when Texas was annexed : POLK. In 1845, the Republic of Texas annexed and admitted it to the Union as the 28th state.

35. With 1-Down, discoverer of cave treasure : ALI. 1D. See 35-Across : BABA

36. Island ring : LEI

37. Salon polish target : TOE NAIL

39. Flippable card file : ROLODEX

43. Mag. edition : ISS. Magazine issue

44. Father's Day mo. in Australia : SEP. The first Sunday in September.

45. Congenial : NICE

51. Lawn strip : SOD

52. Moonfish : OPAH. Image. Check out the site it's from.

53. Lumberjack's tool : AXE. An axe and an adze together.

54. Subj. with x's : ALG. Algebra.

56. Faraway : DISTANT

59. Paid no attention to : IGNORED

63. Roam (about) : GAD. Do you remember this guy?

66. Due-in hr. : ETA

67. One way to share : EVENLY

68. Clickable image : ICON

69. Not optional: Abbr. : REQ. Required.

70. French film festival site : CANNES. On the south coast of France.

71. "__ la vie" : C'EST. French, "Such is life".

Down:

2. Part of, as a plot : IN ON

3. Awe : BEDAZZLE

4. Panache : STYLE

5. Basics : ABCs

6. Spaghetti go-with : MEATBALL. I had marinara first.

7. Mil. branch : USN

8. Connection : LINK UP

9. Barbara who played a genie : EDEN

10. Giga- x 1,000 : TERA. 10¹²

11. Oceanic : MARINE

12. State with the Big Dipper on its flag : ALASKA. Flag.

13. Papa Smurf's headgear : RED HAT. Image.

18. Pop music's 'N__ : SYNC

22. Sight : VISION

25. "More than I need to know!" : TMI. Too Much Information.

27. Suited : APT

28. Scooby-__ : DOO

30. Mrs. Gorbachev : RAISA. Here with Rev. Moon.

31. Skip church, in a way? : ELOPE

32. Sci-fi's Lester __ Rey : DEL. American science fiction author and editor. Del Rey is especially famous for juvenile novels.

34. Jumping chess piece : KNIGHT. Moves are L-shaped.

38. Comm. for the hearing-impaired : ASL. American Sign Language. COMM stands for communication, in this case?

39. Military day starter : REVEILLE

40. Shame : DISGRACE

41. Green prefix : ECO

42. Struck (out) of the text : Xed

44. Red or White team : SOX

46. Inn resident : LODGER

47. Morphine, e.g. : OPIATE

48. Where YHOO stock is traded : NASDAQ. Yahoo!, not Yoo-Hoo.

49. China's Sun : YAT-SEN. The foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" (國父), a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China.

50. Pealed : RANG

55. Spock's forte : LOGIC

57. Baldwin of "30 Rock" : ALEC

58. Bright star : NOVA

60. Dolls' dates : GUYs

61. They may not be quiet on the set : EGOs

62. Small body-shop job : DENT

65. Former Opry network : TNN. The Nashville Network, is usually referred to as TNN. The Opry was aired from 1985 until 2000 on TNN.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Note from C.C.:

I'd like to share with you this beach "postcard" I got from JD. So sweet! Here are a couple of Nenes. JD said: They plan to catch all of them and transfer them to Maui. When we first started going to Kauai, about 15 years ago, there were about 20 pairs (they mate for life) and were on the endangered list. They have multiplied and nest and congregate too close to the airport. Many of them live at the Kauai Lagoons Golf Course which is next to the airport.