Friday, November 2, 2012, Gail Grabowski

THEME: "IN URE FACE!"

In the two across theme answers,  the letters URE are added to the last word of a familiar two word phrase; in the two down clues, they are added to the end of the first word. If you are like me, you have always had trouble distinguishing INURE from ENURE. Anyway, Gail is a very prolific constructor both by herself and with others, with her LAT output way over 100. Here is one of C.C.'s early INTERVIEWS. I found this to be a simple theme and puzzle, with some of her classic style showing through and maybe a couple of nits to pick;  let's plunge.

17A. Stallone’s garden supply?: MACHO MANURE. (11) I bet this was the seed entry as the juxtaposition of a Macho Man being full of.. well, I guess I can say "manure" is a great visual. 

56A. Santa’s risky undertaking?: ROOF VENTURE. (11) A nice shout out to our dear workhorse Argyle, as a simple Vent in a Roof almost becomes an adventure.

11D. Movie about artificially grown bacteria?: CULTURE FILM.  (11). Nice cross discipline clue with the chemistry lab mixing with cult films to give us some high brow entertainment.

25D. Fast-talking salesman’s training materials?: PRESSURE KIT. (11). From high brow to high pressure, and with the campaign raging and the media in a frenzy looking for something to write when they get their press kit, this is timely.

ACROSS:

1. Bright-eyed: ALERT. Not bushy tailed.

6. Student of Socrates: PLATO. SPA being the acronym to remember the order of teacher and student of the big three in Greek philosophy. 

11. “The Mentalist” network: CBS. I really hope they get rid of the Red John crap finally, now that we saw his face, and just have a fun mystery show.

14. Cut over: RE-SAW. Well, if you were going to saw a log, that would not be the same as

15. Get ready to surf: LOG ON. Surfing the web not the ocean.

16. Last word?: Abbr.: ULTimate. 

19. Halifax head: LOO. The British influenced Canadian province, where you do not go to a bathroom or a rest room.

20. Lively dance: CONGA. I linked this dance a few weeks a go. Not to be confused with another lively dance, 32D. Hand-holding group dance: HORA. Can you do THIS. (1:38).

21. Cage, for one: ACTOR. Nicholas who is born a Coppola.

23. Movie theater appliances: POPPERS.  Did we like the MOVIE? (2:30).

27. Casually mention, with “to”: ALLUDE.

28. Sacred structure: SHRINE. 

29. Buck: DOLLAR. Our homage to marti's buccaneer pun from last Friday.

31. Influential sports figure: AGENT.  Show me the MONEY.(2:30).

32. Brewery flavoring: HOPS.  A shout out to my brewer boys.  The key to the beer.

33. Beginning to cure?: PEDI. NIT number one, I like the clue but not in this puzzle; marti? Jerome? SJSJ? Gareth? C.C.?

36. French article: LES. Means The, plural masculine.

37. Lacking: SHORT OF. Oh, now we have to stoop to short JOKES. (2:11)

40. To benefit: FOR. See ENURE.

41. Cubs’ spring training city: MESA.

43. Prominent periods: ERAS. Add an "E" and you have 63A. Eliminate: ERASE.

44. Cádiz cohort: AMIGO.  Notice the similarity of Spanish to French for the word friend, here you add GO but do not collect $200.00. 

46. Post office flier: US FLAG. Wonderful visual clue.

48. Allied leader: STALIN. Tricked you with that one as Joe was one of the big boys in WWII.

49. “Gave it my best”: I TRIED.

51. News source since Dec. 1881: LA TIMES. I love these inside references, but we need to remember this.

52. Musical inadequacy: NO EAR. My choir teacher insisted I lip sync because not only was I bad, I made everyone around me bad. He said I was tone deaf and pitch black.

53. Feudal lord: LIEGE. As an aside, the term HOMAGE comes from the ceremony whereby fealty was pledged to the Lord.

55. Wine flavoring: OAK. From the casket, I presume, not ground up and put in a blender with the grapes.

62. First name in dictators: IDI. Amin, we are sick of hearing about this guy. I really min it.

64 Ryder rival: U-HAUL. We used Penske to move my son.

65. WWII carrier: LST. Landing Ship, Tank. They were built to immediately off load on a beach.

66. Domingo, e.g.: TENOR. What a VOICE. (3:18) I love the Spanish sub-titles.

67. Hides: PELTS. Another classic misdirection. Animal hides not a hiding animal.

DOWN:

1. Hand holder?: ARM. I really like this misdirection, took me a while to finger it out.

2. Rural expanse: LEA. Also can be called a PASTURE.

3 Changed-my mind key: ESC. For me it is the DEL key. 

4. Encouraging word: RAH. Rah ree, kick 'em in the knee, rah rah rass, kick 'em in the other knee.

5. Unsolicited opinion: TWO CENTS. You think after all these years of inflation, we might have to put our two dollars worth in the conversation?

6. Doesn’t wing it: PLANS. Like all good Corner bloggers, right Argyle, melissa, marti....

7. Like a boring lecture, probably: LONG. Or at least they seem long, right D.T.?

8. Río contents: AGUA. Rio is river, agua is water.

9 A.L. East team, on scoreboards: TORonto. The Blue Jays of baseball.

10. Low tie: ONE ALL. This was harder to see than it should have been. 1-1.

12. Lineage: BLOOD. Blood of my blood; this reminds me of the great love story of DAENERYS & DROGO (2:29) (r-rated).

18. Seconds: MORE. Mommy I want more! So, we have 39D. Add some meat to: FATTEN UP. C'mon eat up, we have to put some meat on those bones.

22. Storm harbinger: CLAP. I had this fill from the perps, and my first thought made no sense, then I realized she meant of Thunder.

23. Old Testament poem: PSALM.

24. Wistful remark: OH GEE. Not to be confused with the CW staple OGEE.

26. Jewelry item: PIN. Do college boys still "pin" their sweethearts? I did not mean to the mat....

27. To boot: ALSO. Is this a regional PHRASE? 

29. Dome cover: DO RAG. Ah, the dome as head, like in chrome dome.

30. Drops (out): OPTS.

34. Oater orphan: DOGIE. Remember all those lost little motherless calfs (calves?) from the 50's westerns. 

35. Mashie and niblick: IRONS. Old names for golf clubs, the woods were Brassies and Spoons; not like 57D. Source of iron: ORE. 

38. Decided in court: HELD. Welllll, it is more complicated than that, but a judge's ruling is a holding.

42. Kolkata’s locale: ASIA. We just had this spelling of Calcutta earlier in the week.

45. Avril follower: MAI. No not LAVIGNE, simply April and May in French. 

47. Polecat kin: FERRET. I was not aware of this, but the perps helped me ferret out the answer.

48.  Saltimbocca herb: SAGE.  Jumps in the mouth in Italian (Bocca like boca raton in French it is Bouche). The RECIPE.

49. How much sautéing is done: IN OIL. Apparently we have reached the cooking part of the puzzle as the recipe requires sautéing the veal in oil.

50 Warty amphibians: TOADS. For all the ladies who have kissed one to find her prince:

And then, after:

 51. Subject for Archimedes: LEVER.  "Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world." More GREEK today.

53. Buyer’s aid: LOAN. Which often can lead to foreclosure.

54. “Based on that ...”: IF SO.

58 With 13-Down, errand runner’s destination: THE. 13. See 58-Down: STORE.

59 2002 Chapter 11-filing flier: UAL. United Airlines. Why a 2002 one? Then again, why 61 D. 2002 British Open champ: ELS, who also won the Open (no need to say British Open) in 2012.

60 Track: RUT.  They were made by the wagon wheels in the old westerns. Well, I guess I may be in a rut but it lead to the end of the write up, so I guess it is time to pack my wagon and hit the trail, my first write up as a grandfather; thank you all for the kind words and thoughts and C.C. for helping me share my joy. 

Notes from C.C.:

1) Final installment of JD's Italy trip: Pompeii and Sorrento. Click here for more pictures. Thanks for sharing with us your trip, JD.

2) Splynter is safe and sound. He got power back late yesterday afternoon. Welcome back, Yellowrocks! Now we need Dave to show up.