Wednesday, May 10, 2017, Agnes Davidson and C.C. Burnikel

TITLE: MUSH!

Our own Irish Miss and C.C. have doggedly produced a lovely Wednesday puzzle that provided a fun exercise for me while their theme escaped my blood hound instincts. There was also just enough challenge to make my solving experience enjoyable.

What these ladies did was to supply five two-word theme answers wherein both words can serve as a "LEAD" for the word DOG. This is all tied up in their theme reveal:

37. Iditarod front-runners ... or what both parts of the answers to starred clues can do? : LEAD DOGS - As you can see by the picture here, being the LEAD DOG does have its advantages!

The previous puzzle I blogged was last Wednesday's where the phrase OUT OF could precede each word in a two word phrase to give two new phrases and so there was some similarity. 

Now let's take a look at the theme fills, some of which are canine related and some not so much:

18. *Suffering harsh criticism : UNDER ATTACK which yields

55. *Highway patrol group : STATE POLICE and we also get

 3. *Deep trouble : HOT WATER 

6. *Member of a 1960s Chinese paramilitary group : RED GUARD

36. *Hard-to-control blaze : WILD FIRE where Agnes and C.C. also give us

Let's see what else is in their, anything but shaggy, dog story:

Across

1. __ Wednesday : ASH - The day after Mardi (Tuesday) Gras (Fat)

4. Rock of comedy : CHRIS

9. Miata automaker : MAZDA - The star of the movie Husker Gary's Midlife Crisis

14. 6-Down leader : MAO

15. Moocher : LEECH

16. Cannes concepts : IDEES - En France, les bonnes IDEES peuvent impliquer des vin (In France, good ideas can  involve wine)

17. CPR pro : EMT

20. Attach, as a patch : SEW ON 

22. All skin and bones : GAUNT

23. See 39-Down : LEE 39. With 23-Across, "Life of Pi" Oscar winner : ANG - ANG LEE - Lots of CGI required

24. Put up, as wallpaper : HANG

25. Fleecy boot brand : UGGS - Tom Brady was a spokesperson at one time

26. Word on a sample check : VOID

27. Sneaky guy? : PETE

28. Charlotte of "The Facts of Life" : RAE

29. Lawman Earp : WYATT

31. Portable gifts for book lovers : E READERS - Do you like turning the pages like I do?

33. Very long spell : EON

34. Part of mph : PER - Do you really want to get your 'vette going this fast?

35. Exchange rate abbr. : USD - Your Canadian loonie is worth about .73 USD

36. Like some smiles : WRY

37. NYC airport code : LGA

40. Cat, often : PET - We have one of those

LILY

41. Clam : SIMOLEON - Ah, the euphemisms abound

43. "Sailing to Byzantium" poet : YEATS - I did better understanding calculus and relativity

45. Where LeBron plays home games, on scoreboards : CLE - Has any athletes ever meant as much to one city as LeBron has to CLEveland?

46. Yin partner : YANG

47. Standard : NORM

48. Passed down, as folk mus. : TRAD - I didn't understand TRAD until I saw mus. Hence TRADtional music

50. Antique shoppe adjective : OLDE

51. Wilder's "__ Town" : OUR

52. "Mrs. Dalloway" novelist : WOOLF - I ain't afraid of her

53. Bicycle part : PEDAL - Once you attach your foot to the PEDAL there could be issues

58. Have debts : OWE

59. Ancient Aegean region : IONIA


60. Bugs of crime : MORAN - George "Bugs" MORAN was on his way to the garage on Valentine's Day 1929. Good thing he was late.

61. Came down with : GOT

62. Chopper blade : ROTOR  - One horizontal and one vertical

63. Gushes : SPEWS

64. Caution to drivers : SLO 



Down - Picture seemed appropriate here with the clue direction and the theme...

1. Iowa college town : AMES

2. "One for me, too" : SAME HERE

4. Held tightly (to) : CLUNG

5. Coop resident : HEN

7. Glacial periods : ICE AGES

8. Show of indifference : SHRUG

9. Baker's accessory : MITT


10. Electronic security corp. : ADT - The telephone ran them out of their original business

11. Fanatic : ZEALOT

12. Duplicity : DECEIT

13. Posed a question : ASKED

19. Mom's demand for an explanation : ANSWER ME - Been there, heard that!

21. Top draft status : ONE-A - This IV status card was "found" on him on 11/22/63 using an alias

26. Moving vehicle : VAN

27. __ rally : PEP 

28. Road trip convenience : REST STOP


30. Go up and down : YOYO - A lot of this motion is NOT up and down

32. Tune for two : DUET

38. Left base illegally : GONE AWOL

40. Kitchen spray : PAM

41. Edible mollusk : SCALLOP

42. Country singer Lovett : LYLE - Yeah, I know who he was married to for two years and I don't know why either

43. "Right back atcha" : YOU TOO

44. Off the mark : ERRANT - William Tell pulled two arrows and told Gov. Gessler that the second arrow would have been for Gessler if the first shot was ERRANT and had killed his son and then... 

47. Respectful refusal : NO SIR

49. Destinations in Clue : ROOMS - The original ROOMS

50. Pops the cork from : OPENS

52. Be dressed in : WEAR

54. Jared of "Suicide Squad" : LETO

56. Juan's uncle : TIO - An Almost Perfect Uncle

57. Bit of cornfield cacophony : CAW

Now, after my DOG and pony show, let's have some good comments 

THE GRID