Monday, April 16, 2012 Jennifer Nutt

Theme: Black Clouds - The first word of the themed entries can follow, i.e. chase, the first word of the unifier.

17A. Dish that's thrown together? : TOSSED SALAD. "Like a STORM_TOSSED ship upon the sea."

30A. Where 6-Across often are when performing : CENTER STAGE. (6A is DIVA) STORM CENTER can mean the eye of the storm or this.

39A. Protective feature of most power strips : SURGE SUPPRESSOR. STORM SURGE definition from NOAA.

46A. Wall protector near a room entrance : DOOR STOPPER. This is the odd man out, STORM DOOR. The other three are meteorological phenomena.

62A. One who follows tornadoes ... or an apt description of the starts of 17-, 30-, 39- and 46-Across : STORM CHASER. "Even storm chasers have agents." (at the end of the clip)

Argyle here and if I may, I will quote myself from my write-up of Jennifer's last puzzle, "Jennifer is proficient in this format. Always a pleasure." I'm not sure I would have gotten the connection without the unifier.

Across:

1. Puts behind bars : JAILS

6. Opera headliners : DIVAs

11. Dairy creature : COW

14. Stan's sidekick, in old comedy : OLLIE. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy

15. Call forth : EVOKE

16. Hubbub : ADO

19. Fix a button, say : SEW

20. PDQ, in the ICU : STAT

21. "__ I a stinker?": Bugs Bunny : AIN'T. 8 second clip.

22. Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa : ALPS. Mel Blanc was the voice of Bugs Bunny.

24. Belted out : SANG

26. __ B'rith: Jewish org. : B'NAI

27. Phone bk. info : NO's. #

35. Most of 34-Down's surface : OCEAN. 34D. Fifth-largest planet : EARTH

37. Sugar suffix : OSE

38. Visiting Hollywood, say : IN L.A.

43. Ticklish Muppet : ELMO

44. Bearded grassland grazer : GNU

45. Rib cage locale : CHEST

50. Campfire residue : ASH

51. Catches some Z's : NAPS

52. Musical work : OPUS

54. Traveler's entry document : VISA

55. Woman's sleeveless undergarment, for short : CAMI. camisole

57. Watchman's order : HALT

61. Tasseled headgear : FEZ

65. Get along in years : AGE

66. "Casablanca," for one : MOVIE. 3D. "Casablanca" heroine : ILSA

67. Protein-building acid : AMINO

68. Low-quality : BAD

69. Make off with : STEAL

70. Liberal voter, slangily : LEFTY. And now a musical interlude. Saginaw, Michigan(3:38) - Lefty Frizzell (1963)

Down:

1. Scribbles (down) : JOTS

2. "That's __ of hooey!" : A LOT

4. Leans to port or to starboard : LISTS

5. "Get it?" : "SEE?". 13D. "Holy guacamole!" : "WOW!". 58D. "In your dreams!" : "AS IF!". 61D. "Marvy!" : "FAB!".( like, for sure.)

6. Draw up plans for : DESIGN

7. "Fathers and Sons" novelist Turgenev : IVAN. Fathers and Sons is an 1862 novel. A show of hands for those of you that have read it.

8. Chevy's plug-in hybrid : VOLT

9. Rap sheet abbr. : AKA

10. Some Avis rentals : SEDANS. Volt is available at participating locations in CA, TX, MI, NY, NJ, CT and DC.

11. The Volga River flows into it : CASPIAN SEA. Today's geography lesson. Map.

12. Dedicated poetry : ODES

18. Copenhagen native : DANE. Denmark

23. Not quite timely : LATISH

25. Skin breakout : ACNE

26. Uncle Remus title : BR'ER

27. Hard-__: very strict : NOSED

28. Eye-related prefix : OCULO

29. Spoke from the pulpit : SERMONIZED

31. Refresh, as a cup of coffee : TOP UP. Is this regional? We TOP OFF around here.

32. Psychic hotline "skill," briefly : ESP

33. Shine : GLOSS

36. Old Greek markets : AGORAs. (agorae)

40. Capt. saluters : SGT's

41. "__ momento!" : UNO. Italian; "un momento" - Spanish; "um momento" - Portuguese.

42. Neutral shade : ECRU

47. Cricks and tics : SPASMS. Cute clue.

48. Saddle knob : POMMEL

49. Sweeping in scope : EPIC

53. Disgrace : SHAME

54. Folk singer Suzanne : VEGA. Caution: earwig (3:39)

55. Sheltered inlet : COVE

56. "The Marriage of Figaro" highlight : ARIA

59. Pre-Easter time : LENT

60. City tricked by a wooden horse : TROY. Hello, Irish Miss.

63. Trike rider : TOT

64. Actor Holbrook : HAL. Clip from "Barney Miller" ending with a trumpet player using a mute.(6:30)

Answer grid.

Argyle

Note from C.C.:

Happy 84th Birthday to dear Dot! And a belated Happy 98th Birthday to her husband Irv, the oldest LAT solver that I know.