Wednesday, November 16, 2011 Julian Lim

THEME: GO OFF, don't GOOF OFF! Common phrases starting with the words, "GO OFF" are clued* as if the words showed up in the theme answers; but instead, they are reserved for the unifier. This results in some odd-looking partials until you pull it all together. Then, you find that the theme questions define the answers quite nicely.

* With asterisks.

A 17. *Get carried away : (GO OFF) THE DEEP END.

A 64. *Act prematurely : (GO OFF) HALF COCKED.

D 11. *Lose it : (GO OFF) ONE'S ROCKER.

D 28. *Digress : (GO OFF) ON A TANGENT.

And the unifier: A 40. Explode, and words needed to complete the four starred answers : GO OFF. This filled in partially from the perps, and it was not immediately obvious how to parse the goofy-looking "_OOFF" until I took a good look at the clue.

Hi, gang. Reporting here from the DEEP END, it's JazzBumpa, the HALF-COCKED trombonist. I don't recall seeing a theme approach quite like this before, so high marks to Mr. Lim for a creative and tight theme. With that in mind, let's GO OFF exploring it. We'll find some other gems, for sure.

ACROSS

1. Response to a good barb : OH, SNAP! Really? the urban dictionary informs me that this is a playful phrase, usually uttered by a bystander rather than the barbee, and attributes it to Tracy Morgan of SNL.

7. Wyo. neighbor : IDA. Why oh, why oh did I ever leave Ohio? 'Cuz I went to IDAHO in search of spuds. Or abbreviations.

10. Horticulturalist's supply : POTS. Flower pots, perhaps. Is there another interpretation?

14. Water delivery system : PIPAGE. I stumbled over this odd, clumsy, but perfectly legitimate word.

15. Relatives : KIN. I have one sister, and three brothers-in-law.

16. One-named "May It Be" singer : ENYA. This is not the first time Eithne Ní Bhraonáin has appeared in my puzzle blogging. I totally forgot that she performed this hauntingly beautiful song - her original composition - over the closing credits of The Fellowship of the Ring, the first movie of the Lord of the Rings sequence. The rest of the magnificent score is by Howard Shore.

19. Didn't chuck : KEPT. Chuck, as in throw out.

20. The Trojans, familiarly : SO. CAL. The SO CALLED Trojans are the athletic teams of Southern California University. Is there another interpretation?

21. Obvious : EASY TO SEE. I hope everyone was able to see this easily.

23. Sash worn in a ryokan inn : OBI. Having no clue what a ryokian inn might be, but having the "I" from a perp, I took a swag at OBI.

25. Always : EVER.

26. Everett of "Citizen Kane" : SLOANE. He played Mr. Bernstein.

30. __Vista: Google alternative : ALTA. Does anyone use ALTA VISTA? Does it mean "Another View?"

32. Missions, to spies : OPS. Operations. Not just for spies, though. My older step-son (more KIN) is in the USAF Special Ops. I have no idea what he does, though, and he aint tellin'!

35. Fly without a plane : HANG GLIDE. Is GLIDING really flying? Let's check with Rocky.

37. Car window adornment : DECAL. This is a shortened form of the original Decalcomania. Decorated glassware is often made from a ceramic decal fired onto the glass surface.

39. Course often taken with physiol. : ANAT. Physiology and Anatomy. Short courses, apparently.

42. Scottish terrier breed : SKYE. From the Hebrides Island of the same name, I presume.

43. "Midnight Cowboy" hustler Rizzo : RATSO. Played by Dustin Hoffman.

45. Informed of the latest news : UP TO SPEED. In the know. On top of things.

47. Korean automaker : KIA.

48. Bark's pole : MAST. A bark is a ship with anywhere from three to five masts, all of them square-rigged except the after mast, which is fore-and-aft rigged. I have no idea what this means.

50. Comedy, horror, etc. : GENRES. Categories of films or novels

51. 12 : NOON. Timely clue and answer.

53. "We the Living" author Rand : AYN. One of her lesser known works.

54. Nutty Hershey's treat : MR. GOODBAR. Little peanut chunks surrounded by chocolate. Yum!

58. Alacrity : HASTE. From the Latin alacritās, from alacer lively.

63. Bailiff's cry : OYEZ. Does anyone know why?

66. Breeze indicator : VANE. Weather vane

67. Mil. training academy : O.C.S. Officers Candidate School. Note abbrv 'n cl & ans.

68. Flubbing it : ERRING. Consult that awful Lions-Bears game from Sunday for many real life illustrations.

69. Laryngitis specialists, for short : E.N.T'S. Ear, Nose and Throat. Dr's. Not Tolkein's Tree-like entities, who are covered with BARK, but never go sailing.

70. Reporter's question : WHO? Along with What? Where? When? Why? and How? An old singing TV AD for the Detroit News went "What in the world's going on? If you read the News you'll know."

71. Taoism founder : LAO TSE

DOWN

1. Elects : OPTS

2. Greeting from Kermit the Frog : HI-HO. According to Answers.com, this is correct. Ribbit!

3. Design detail, briefly : SPEC. Specification.

4. Zilch : NADA. Nothing, slangily.

5. Unending : AGE LONG. I tried TOO LONG, which was just LONG enough, but wrong.

6. End of a quip? : PEE. The letter "P." This is awful. A spelt out letter is lame, lame, fill; and cluing it self-referentially only compounds the lame-itude, marring an otherwise fine puzzle.

7. Big name in do-it-yourself furniture : IKEA. Some of my KIN love this place.

8. Loud noises : DINS. The rule for quiet hideaways is "no DINS in the dens!"

9. "Even so ..." : AND YET

10. Earl Grey alternative : PEKOE. Teas for your nice cup, eh! Perhaps someone can fill us in on the subtleties of tea GENRES. I can say that Earl Grey is black tea flavored with essence of bergamot, a citrus fruit.

12. Compose email : TYPE. We all type, but does anyone use a typewriter, these days?

13. Fill totally : SATE. Typically, but not exclusively, referring to an appetite.

18. Prov. in the Gulf of St. Lawrence : P.E.I. Prince Edward Island. Here you can take a tour.

22. Living room plug? : TV AD. This was slow to sink in. An advert (plug) on the telly. Mine, however is not in the living room.

24. Where Flanders red ale is brewed: Abbr. : BELG. Belgium, where they make some darned fine brews (not tea.)

26. "Jaws" menace : SHARK. It has pretty teeth, dear.

27. Molokai neighbor : LANAI. These are lesser known Hawaiian Islands.

29. CIA employees : AGTS. Agents of the Central Intelligence Agency

30. Get from a shelter : ADOPT. Acquire from a pet shelter. Sneaky.

31. Remaining : LEFT. Quite a few clues LEFT. Are you still with me? If not, raise your hand.

33. Check recipient : PAYEE.

34. Hillside whizzers : SLEDS. Frolicking children gliding down a snowy hillside on their sleds, now that I get it. You don't want to know what mental image this elicited.

36. Chits in a pot : I-O-U-S. Chit and I-O-U are synonyms for a brief document indicating debt. Evidently, gamblers use these when they run out of cash.

38. Jocks' channel : ESPN. All sports, all the time; a channel, not a station.

41. Square oldster : FOGY. AKA: fuddy-duddy.

44. Melville adventure : OMOO. This puzzle evergreen gets clued in a variety of ways. I don't recall ever seeing Moby Dick in a X-word.

46. Portuguese lady : SENHORA. Like Spanish, kinda, sorta, but spelt different.

49. "Amen!" : AND HOW! Odd phrase indicating emphatic agreement.

52. Exhibits in abundance, as confidence : OOZES. Another odd phrase. OOZE seems a bit unsightly.

53. Corgi's cry : ARF. Barking dogs.

54. Budge : MOVE. Usually indicated in the negative.

55. Strikeout king Nolan : RYAN. He pitched in the Major Leagues for 27 years, playing for the Mets, Angles, Astros and Rangers. Wow!

56. "Hunting Cantata" composer : BACH. Johann Sebastian, not one of his many musical KIN. Never heard of it. And, at 33 minutes, I'll probably never hear it - though it does start off nicely.

57. Besides : ALSO. Plus, too, in addition, etc. . . Besides the long theme answers, this puzzle has lots of 7 and 9 letter fill.

60. "MADtv" segment : SKIT

61. Summer's column : TENS. Major misdirection for the number column between the units and the hundreds. I could make no sense of this until I realized that "Summer" mean "Adder." Snaky sneaky.

62. Perimeter : EDGE. Border. Rim.

65. Disney gift store purchase : CEL. Short for CELlulloid, a clear plastic sheet used for drawing an animation.

Answer grid.

Hope you enjoyed the puzzle, and I didn't GOOF or GO OFF on too many TANGENTS.

Cheers!

JzB