Friday, January 18, 2013 David Poole

Theme: "You dirty - !" (hmmmm...something seems to be missing here)

17. Bolshevik film festival fodder? : R-ratED MOVIES. Loved the alliteration in the clue. Too bad there isn't a well-known Russian city beginning with "F." Would "Dr. Zhivago" be considered a red movie?

21. With 51-Across, Puerto Rico pecan and Cuban coconut custard? : PIratES OF THE
51. See 21-Across : CARIBBEAN. Yummm...caribbean pies.  More alliteration. Coconut custard is one of my favorite pies - second only to pecan!

26. Auden's vineyard? : THE GRAPES OF WratH. A quick check tells me I have never read W.H. Auden's work.

46. Side dish made with russets and Tanqueray? : POTATOES AU GratIN. This one made me laugh out loud.  I'll have to try that recipe sometime!!

62. Legendary musician responsible for what's missing from 17-, 21-, 26- and 46-Across : PIED PIPER. Who, of course, led all the rats out of Hamelin and became a hero.

Marti here, on a Friday no less. And thank you Lemony for so eloquently pinch-hitting for me yesterday under cruel and unusual circumstances!

Across:

1. Socks for Clinton, e.g. : PET. Didn't fool me, but I couldn't remember if it was a cat or a dog. (Nope. Just a pet.)

4. Mums' relatives, in a way : GLADS. Ok this one got me.  I definitely was not thinking of chrysanthemums or gladiolas.

9. Weber State University city : OGDEN. Total unknown. Needed some perp help before I could make a WAG.

14. Trouble : ADO.

15. Petrol purchase : LITRE. British spelling hinted at by "petrol."

16. ___ Laredo, Mexico : NUEVO. It is across the river from Laredo, Texas. Map.

19. Key of the "Eroica" symphony : E FLAT. I always remember this because E is the first letter of "Eroica."

20. Grant : ENDOW. As in National Endowment for the Arts.

23. Ode preposition : O'ER.

25. Musician's deg. : MFA. Not to be confused with 45A. Doctor of music? : DRE. And also 24D. 45-Across genre : RAP.

33. Dawn deity : EOS. When I searched for images, I got more cameras and cars than dawn goddesses.

34. Last words : EPILOG.

35. "___ Peach": Allman Brothers album : EAT A. A musical Mountain Jam intermission. 13:38

38. Subdued : MUTED.

40. Montréal moniker : NOM. French for "name."

41. Jewel box item : CD ROM. Why is it called a jewel box? I just learned that it comes from the word for the two plastic bearings in the hinges on the CD case. Watchmakers call these types of bearings "jewels" because they were often made from gemstones, which had low friction properties. So there you have it.

42. Gym ball : PROM. Nice misdirection. Ball as in dance, not as in basket or volley...

43. Attic window : DORMER.

49. Sigma follower : TAU.

50. Hosp. readout : ECG. Electrocardiogram.

57. "The Kiss" painter : KLIMT. This was a gimme - I have a poster of it in my office.

61. Lot of baloney : CROCK. That's a crock, and you know it!

64. It's often stored upside-down : CANOE. I wanted kayak...but mine is stored right-side up suspended from chains in the garage.

65. City on the Penobscot : ORONO. Maine.  Where is Mainiac?

66. Have a life : ARE.

67. "Naturalis Historia" author : PLINY. Without looking it up: Elder or Younger?

68. Parlement français division : SENAT. More French.

69. "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" author Brown : DEE.

Down:

1. Cut down : PARE.

2. Adam's apple spot : EDEN. Cute clue.

3. Lincoln in-law : TODD.

4. Looked askance : GLOWERED. Not exactly synonymous, imho. Looking askance seems more sideways or dubious. Glower is the look I give DH when he forgets to take out the trash!

5. Actress Tyler : LIV. Daughter of Aerosmith's Steven Tyler.  I always remember her from her role as Arwin in "The Lord of the Rings." So hauntingly beautiful!

6. Left ___: rewarded : A TIP.

7. Cologne crowd? : DREI. German for "three."

8. Zaire's Mobutu ___ Seko : SESE. Pronounced seh'-say.

9. Unrepeated event, in Essex : ONE OFF. Everything you need to know about this saying here.

10. Roared : GUFFAWED. I do that a lot when reading some of your comments!

11. Upper-bod muscle : DELT.

12. Cole Porter's "Well, Did You ___?" : EVAH. Another musical interlude, from the movie "High Society."

13. A or E, but not I, O or U : NOTE. Musical notes.

18. Instrument heard on Simon & Garfunkel's "Bookends" : MOOG. And more music! Listen for the moog...

22. EPA concern : SMOG.

26. Sub : TEMP. Substitute / temporary worker.

27. Happy ___ : HOUR. It's five o'clock somewhere!

28. Legally prohibit : ESTOP.

29. Côte-d'Or crop : PINOT. Côte-d'Or is a town in the burgundy region of France, famous for both PINOT noir and Chardonnay wines.

30. Ecuadoran province named for its gold production : EL ORO. "Gold" in Spanish.

31. Its capital is Amiens : SOMME. Back to northern France. The cathedral there is breathtaking.

32. Gauge opening? : HARD G. Hey Don!

36. Bagels, shapewise : TORI. We have had this before. Plural of "torus." Some people might recognize it as the shape of a hemorrhoid pillow:

37. Closing word : AMEN.

39. Cyberface : EMOTICON. (^0^)

41. Nutty : CRACKPOT. It can be a noun or an adjective, like a "crackpot idea."

43. Smear : DAUB.

44. Denver-to-Wichita dir. : ESE. I guess.

47. Q neighbor : TAB KEY. On the keyboard, not in a James Bond movie.

48. Citrus hybrid : UGLI.

51. Soviet letters : CCCP. Союз советских социалистических республик, where they show RED MOVIES?

52. Kazakhstan border sea : ARAL.

53. Pasta ___: food brand : RONI. From the makers of Rice a Roni, the Golden Grain Company.

54. Long poem : EPOS.

55. Yorkshire river : AIRE.

56. Gas on Broadway : NEON. There are a lot of NEON signs there.

58. Tech debut of 2010 : IPAD. That recently? It's already time for me to upgrade!

59. Just : MERE. Simple clue/answer that had me going for a while.

60. Genealogy chart : TREE.

63. Trial evidence, at times : DNA. I have done additional reading about the "co-discoverers" of DNA since they last came up in December. Very controversial, but fascinating when you understand some of the back-stabbing that goes on in scientific research.

That's it for now.  I'll be back in my regularly scheduled spot next week!
Marti

Notes from C.C.:

1) Happy Birthday to dear Blue Irish (Susan)! She told me "My Birthday falls on January 18th.  Usually everyone is tired from the holidays and bad weather and cold has set in. Not my favorite time of the year." In Chinese, 18 is very lucky number, The office floors in 18th floor tend to be more expensive than other floors. 

2) I was very pleased that our blog was restored yesterday afternoon. I want to thank Lemonade for alerting me as soon as he discovered the problem. And Husker Gary for his invaluable mailing list and hard work to inform everyone about our glitch & the Ginger Roots change. I also want to thank those who reported to Blogger forum about the removal of our blog. It's incredibly comforting for me to see familiar names there and "Where's our blog" reports (I read all your posts). I'm so grateful that you cared & took actions. Thank you also to those who wrote to me privately & regulars who stoically stuck with us at Ginger Roots!

3) After much discussion with Dennis and Argyle, I've decided to use Captcha between midnight & 5:30 am (Central Time) in the Blog Comments section to prevent spam. You'll need to type in those hard-to-recognize letters when you want to comment in those early  hours. I've long resisted Captcha because I want a friendly & easy-to-interact Corner, but we've been hit hard by spam lately. Thanks for your understanding.