Thursday, March 1, 2012 Jack McInturff

Theme: Ole !!  Five phrases beginning with words that could follow the word "bull":

17A. *Competitive business concern: MARKET SHARE. I would love to see a bull market once more...

22A. *Done with one's stint, maybe: HEADED FOR HOME. I am not bull-headed.  I'm just sure that I'm always right...

35A. *Arctic racer: DOG SLED. I think a bull dog makes an adorable pet!

38A. *Lewis Carrol, for one: PEN NAME. Uh-oh...I'm treading on unfamiliar territory when I talk about the baseball bull pen!

47A. *Make fit: WHIP INTO SHAPE. Modern "sport" bull-whip crackers claim that the original bull whips never touched the livestock.

And the unifier:

53A. Informal chat, and based on the starts of the starred answers, this puzzle's title: BULL SESSION

MartRx here, just shooting the bull on another Thursday puzzle. By the time you read this it will be the first of the month, so "rabbit, rabbit!!"

Across:

1. Huge: JUMBO. Gi-normous wouldn't fit.

6. Capital of India: RUPEE. New Dehli wouldn't fit...

11. Source of some Genesis attire?: FIG. "I don't give a fig, Adam!"

14. ___ flu: ASIAN. "Swine" fit, but it was wrong...(Are you starting to get the picture, of how this one started out for me???)

15. Aromatic compound: ESTER. Was Ester Williams aromatic? (Just kidding - I know it's "Esther". But, it's tough to make a joke about aromatic compounds...)

16. Wash. neighbor: ORE. Ore, a type of mineral.

19. Farm butter?: RAM. HaHa. Funny punny clue. A ram often is a "butt-er".

20. Big wheel's wheels: LIMO. Can you picture a CEO on one of these?

21. Crunchy candy components: NUTS. Sometimes you feel like a ...

(...sometimes you don't!)

28. Woody: SYLVAN

29. Fancy cases: ETUIS. Fancy crosswordese. In the plural, yet.

30. Circumnavigating, perhaps: ASEA

31. Deep chasm: ABYSS

32. Bit of horseplay: GAG

40. Whatever: ANY

41. Isolated: ALONE

43. Ken of "thirty something": OLIN. Third from the right.

44. Leonardo's love: AMORE. Da Vinci left his serving woman "a black cloak of good stuff, with a fur edge"... I don't think he loved her very much.

45. Notable 2007 communications release: iPHONE

50. Raised: BRED

51. Sigh of relief: ALAS

52. Striking scarf: BOA

60. Part of a yr.: QTR

61. Licorice-flavored seed: ANISE. You either love licorice, or you hate it. DH gags every time he smells it...

62. Horror film locale: ELM ST. Does anyone in this corner live on Elm St.?

63. Part of a match: SET. Not "tip"...tennis match.

64. Storage areas: HOLDS. On boats.

65. Emotional substance: DEPTH

Down:

1. Pickle: JAM

2. "Psych" airer: USA

3. Fallen orbiter: MIR. Russian space station which was de-orbited on March 23, 2001.

4. Layered Turkish pastries: BAKLAVAS. Nut and honey-soaked phyllo. Yumm!

5. Five Nations tribe: ONEIDA

6. Patch, as a lawn: RE-SOD

7. Show to a seat, slangily: USH. Ugh.

8. Class-conscious org.?: PTA. Parent Teacher Association.

9. Musket end: EER. "Musket-eer"

10. Poetic preposition: ERE. "I was young ere I became a musketeer..."

11. Discussion venue: FORUM.  They had lots of discussions at the Roman one.

12. Really mad: IRATE

13. Masterpieces: GEMS

18. "Untouchable" feds: T-MEN. I'm pretty sure this means "Treasury Men", but feel free to correct me!

21. Signs of resistance: NOs. Also, signs of the "Terrible Twos". Why is "no" the first word they always learn?

22. Chinese green tea: HYSON. Also known as "Lucky Dragon" tea.  It is made of tightly rolled young leaves that unfurl when brewed.

23. Ode's counterpart: ELEGY. Odes are written with enthusiasm and praise, while an elegy is written in a sad tone, mourning for the deceased.

24. Only mo. that can begin and end on the same day: FEB. Interesting clue. This year, February ended (yesterday) on a Wednesday, and began on a Wednesday - and it's possible only in a leap year!

25. Like universal blood donors: O TYPE.  I wanted "O Negs", as they are the only truly "universal" blood donors.

26. Bait-and-switch, e.g.: RUSE. I chuckled at this clue, as it brought back memories of my first puzzle, with the theme answer BAIT SWITCH ("Worm change?")

27. Word on a boondocks towel?: HIS'N.

28. Tony winner Thompson: SADA. She won it for her role in "Twigs", a play in four vignettes.

31. Decorate: ADORN

32. Double-time dance: GALOP. A forerunner of the polka.

33. Nitrogen compound: AMINE

34. Heredity unit: GENE

36. Dorm room accessory: LAMP. Bunk, desk, cell, 'frig, iPod...

37. Morlock prey: ELOI

39. "Piece of cake": NO HASSLE. I'm not sure why the clue is in quotes here. "No hassle" sounds like an adjective to me, not a declarative sentence...

42. Green table divider: NET. Ping pong table.

44. First or financial follower: AID

45. Barbados, e.g.: ISLE

46. Stopped gradually, with "out": PHASED. I wasn't stopped gradually by this answer (out).

47. Kept in touch: WROTE. ...or, texted.

48. Core: HEART.

49. Havens: OASES

50: Patio parties, briefly: BBQs. I thought we were approaching BBQ season, but today's snowstorm has put that idea on hold for a while...

53. Word of annoyance: BAH. Humbug!

54. Game with Reverse cards: UNO.

55. "Her name was Magill, and she called herself___": Beatles lyric: LIL...But everyone knew her as Nancy...

56. It's illegal to drop it: LSD

57. Sitter's handful: IMP

58. Dusseldorf direction: OST. "East", in English. But in Dusseldorf, they speak German.

59. High degree: NTH. Did you think "PhD"? It's always a toss-up, but the perps had already given me this one.

Answer grid.

Thanks for stopping by this bull moose party today!

Hugs,

Marti

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