Sunday March 1, 2009 Willy A Wiseman

Theme: Verbatim

23A: Bankruptcy reorganization: CHAPTER ELEVEN

39A: Felon's full term: LIFE SENTENCE

61A: Annual muscleman contest: MR. UNIVERSE

85A: Repeat, but not verbatim: PARAPHRASE

104A: Japanese compact model: NISSAN STANZA

125A: Product for contemporary penners: MICROSOFT WORD

17D: Tim Allen film: THE SANTA CLAUSE

50D: NYC talk show host: DAVID LETTERMAN

I am confused by the theme title. All the above theme answers feel like part of a virtual epic poem. I don't know how they are connected to "Verbatim". Maybe I don't fully understand the meaning of "Verbatim".

Not a very tough puzzle. Some of the obscure answers are gettable from crossing fills. Still, I had to rely on Google for some thorny sticklers. But it's just such a bothering solving experience. I was/am clueless about the theme.

Some quibbles:

13A: Device for tossing empties: EJECTOR. It intersects OUSTED (18D), which is clued as "Ejected". Why not "Forced out"? Rod Blagojevich style!

41D: Dead Sea kingdom: EDOM. "Ancient" is needed for the clue.

79D: Crosses: SPANS. Intersects EONS (92D: Geologic span).

Is Barry Silk's "The Cruciverbalist" (NY Times syndication) puzzle in your paper today? Feel free to post your comments here. I am interested in what you have to say. Here is Dr. Dad's blog post on Barry Silk's LA Times themeless. Click here for Argyle's post on "Over and Over".

Across:

1A: Gloomy gus: SOURPUSS. Good clue alliteration.

9A: Lacking zip: SLOW. I interpreted "zip" as "oomph" rather than "speed". So the answer did not jump to me immediately.

20A: Irrationality: UNREASON. Did not know this is a word. It can also be a verb.

21A: Small and weak: PUNY. Mine was TINY initially.

28A: Handlelike parts: ANSAE. I can never remember this loopy word ANSA. Besides, I thought the plural form is ANSAS.

31A: Parts of bird wings: ALULAE. No idea. ALULAE is also called "Bastard Wing" or "Spurious Wing". Ala is Latin for "wing". The answer reminds me of "Spaces between leaf veins" AREOLES. Weird looking words.

38A: Radicals of the '60s: SDS (Students for a Democratic Society). Not a familiar group. I was thinking of SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) which is often clued as "Radical group". But they are of '70s. Wikipedia says Tom Hayden is one of the founders of SDS. I presume all their activities are related to Vietnam War protests.

44A: In force: VALID

45A: Willie Wonka creator: DAHL (Roald). Another PETR style odd looking name. Maybe his mom did not know how to spell Ronald, as Mark said the other day. (Note: DAHL means "valley" in Norwegian language.)

48A: South of France: MIDI. Need Kazie's help here. I wanted SUD (106D: Nord's opposite). To me, MIDI is "noon". The best explanation I could find is that "Midday is synonymous with the direction of south because in France the Sun is in the south at noon".

68A: In an irregularly notched fashion: EROSELY. Like these EROSE lips.

84A: Part of AST: ATL. I blanked on this one. AST is Atlantic Standard Time.

90A: Satellite of Jupiter: ELARA. This small moon escaped me long time ago. It's named after the mother by Zeus of the giant Tityus, who, according to Wikipedia, was phallic being who grew so vast that he split his mother's womb and had to be carried to term by Gaia herself. Tityos attempted to rape Leto at the behest of Hera and was slain by Apollo and Artemis. As a punishment, he was stretched out in Hades and and tortured by two vultures who fed on his liver. This punishment is extremely similar to that of the Titan Promeheus, whose liver was eaten by a huge eagle every day only to have it grow back to be eaten again the next day. Kind of like the dripping venom over Loki's face, right? Are you still reading? OK, what is phallic being?

96A: Racing org.: NHRA

102A: Dugout stack: BATS. Awesome bat. Every baseball bat I've seen seems to be made by Louisville Slugger. Why?

111A: Calais summers: ETES. See this map. Calais is French port nearest England. It's on the Strait of Dover.

112A: Soviet mil. intelligence: GRU. Absolutely no idea. I wrote down KGB. GRU stands for Glavnoe Razvedyvatel'noe Uupravlenie (Chief Intelligence Directorate). Founded in 1920 as a complement to the KGB.

123A: Homo sapiens: HOMINID. New word to me. Are we all HOMINID?

130A: Dimensions: abbr. MEAS. Measurement I presume.

131A: Island in the Baltic Sea: SAAREMAA. Nope! Lots of those words end with MAA? I suppose it means "land" in local language.

132A: Linear distances: LENGTHS

133A: Comic Johnson: ARTE. His name is tailor-made for crossword.

134A: In a stupid manner: OBTUSELY. I felt dense. The answer did not come to me easily.

Down:

1D: For example: SUCH AS

3D: Seventh planet: URANUS. Fun trivia. It has 27 known moons. all of which are named after characters from the works of Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

7D: Alphabetize: SORT. Mine was LIST.

8D: Macbeth's dagger: SNEE. Thought of dirk. Never know when to put which.

9D: Relieved: SPELLED. Forgot this definition.

10D: Jack Lemmon film: LUV. I guessed. Is it romantic?

12D: Keenan or Ed: WYNN. Ed WYNN is a comedian. Keenan the actor is his son. They were strangers to me.

13D: Of Icelandic tales: EDDAIC. Only know EDDA.

14D: "The Joker is Wild" subject: JOE E LEWIS. I googled this one. Played by Frank Sinatra. I like this Joe Lewis quote: "I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating, and in 14 days I lost two weeks."

33D: Brennan and Heckart: EILEENS. I guessed. Don't know who they are.

42D: French student: ELEVE. Have not seen ECOLE in our puzzle for a long time.

47D: Fish for fertilizer: ALEWIFE. No idea. Why "fertilizer"? Are they not edible? Strange name. I can't find a fish that's named ALE HUSBAND.

55D: Indo-European: ARYAN. Why do I associate this word with Hitler?

57D: Distance measure: ROD. Unknown to me. "Distance" of what? And how long?

58D: Goddess of dawn: EOS. Aurora for the Romans. That's a perfect body. I want to have it.

63D: Slugger Garciaparra: NOMAR. He is married to Mia Hamm.

64D: Luigi's island: ISOLA. Is Luigi a common Italian name? Somehow I thought of the "Dracula" actor Bela Lugosi and started to imagine an island in Transylvania. My mind is not well constructed.

67D: Missionary Junipero: SERRA. The answer revealed itself. Have never heard of this guy.

75D: "Magnificent" Medici: LORENZO. Would not have got his name without the crossing fills. According to Wikipedia, this dude was the de factor ruler of the Florence Republic during the Italian Renaissance.

97D: More accessible: HANDIER

102D: Town near Jerusalem: BETHEL. A bit north of Jerusalem. Hebrew for "house of god". I only know Bethlehem.

105D: Sultan's decrees: IRADES. Arab for "Will/wish". I was only aware of FATWA, which is often issued by those terrorists.

107D: Over distance: pref.: TELO. As in Telodynamic, "pertaining to the transmission of mechanical power over considerable distances, as by means of endless cables on pulleys". I don't understand what I just wrote.

108D: DNA code: GENOME. Forgot. It's a combination of Gene & (chromos)om.

109D: Of religious rites: SACRAL. Another new word.

115D: "Love Boat" co-star: TEWES (Lauren). Well, the only "Love Boat" I was aware of is our Vikings' Love Boat Sex Scandale. But Daunte Culpepper won't fit. Lauren TEWES looks pretty, very fine facial LINEAMENTS.

121D: Utah city: MOAB. Was this city a gimme to you? I was stumped. The 4-letter answer for "Utah city" is always OREM.

C.C.

Sunday February 22, 2009 Linda and Charles Preston

Theme: Over and Over (Blogged by Argyle)

23A: Resumé accompaniment: COVER LETTER

42A: Cowboy: CATTLE DROVER

64A: President from New Jersey: GROVER CLEVELAND

90A: Bill Holman comic strip: SMOKEY STOVER

111A: “Lethal Weapon” sidekick: DANNY GLOVER

14D: Road arrangement: CLOVERLEAF

71D: Bulldozer: EARTHMOVER


Theme Song

Across:

IA: Rice dish: PILAF. Chow Time

6A: Defensive or end: ZONE. Defensive zone: hockey. End zone: football.

10A: Pilot’s place: PALM. Redneck Palm Pilot

14A: Leader Guevara: CHE. Castro’s amigo.

17A: Peninsular mideast region: ARABIA. map

19A: He finishes the cake: ICER.

20A: Steel support: I BEAM.

22A: Fall behind: LAG.

23A: Resumé accompaniment: COVER LETTER. A letter to coalesce the various items in the resume.

25A: Hugo hero: QUASIMODO. Victor Hugo wrote “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and Quasimodo was the hunchback.

27A: Compass pt.: E N E.

28A: Wells vegetarians: ELOI. The Eloi are one of the two post-human races in H. G. Wells' 1895 novel The Time Machine ; the other race, the Morlocks, are not vegetarians.

29A: Beyond help: SUNK. A goner.

30A: “When ___ Cry”: DOVES. The “Artist” Prince has muted all YouTube versions of his song so here are some originals.

31A: Wise ___ owl: AS AN. Wise as an owl.

32A: Acted like a chick: PEEPED. They’re coming soon. PEEPS!

35A: Actress Moorehead: AGNES. Agnes Moorehead, on the radio version of The Shadow in 1937, portrayed Margo Lane, The Shadow's confidant. The Shadow’s famous ability to "cloud men's minds," made him an invincible crime fighter, a figure never seen, only heard. Very convenient for radio!

36A: Ooze: SEEP.

39A: “Pal Joey” author: O’HARA. Pal Joey is a 1939 epistolary(written as a series of letters) novel by John O'Hara, which became the basis of the 1940 stage musical comedy and 1957 motion picture of the same name.

40A: Enter the picture: APPEAR. This reminds me of a clip I saw. Two elderly women are dozing in chairs at the beach; their camera on the table beside them. Some boys come along and one sneaks up and takes the camera.
“Oh,” you think to yourself, “he’s stealing the camera.” But instead he takes a picture of another boy ‘mooning’ the camera and then puts it back on the table and they go on down the beach.
I would have liked to have been there when the women got those photos back.

42A: Cowboy: CATTLE DROVER. One who drives cattle to market.

46A: Spruce: NEAT. Spruce, meaning smart, neat, fashionable, and spruce, the tree, come from the same root(Prussia) but by very different roads. The word, Pruce, indicates from Prussia, where the spruce fir came from. Also, a very fine leather came from Prussia and apparel made with 'spruce leather' was neat and dapper.

47A: ___ Cruces, NM: LAS. Famous for it's breathtaking sunsets.

50A: Fireplace residue: ASH.

51A: Spur: INCITE. The cattle drover spurred his horse and incited it to move faster.

52A: “The Lion King” villain: SCAR. Animated Disney movie

53A: Gave for a while: LENT. ‘Gave up for a while’ time?: LENT

54A: Creepy Christopher: LEE. He doesn't look so creepy...wait a minute...yes, he does!

55A: “The Jungle Book” bear: BALOO. Nothing scary about this bear.

56A: Does nothing: IDLES.

58A: Paul Anka hit: DIANA. 1957, singing about his babysitter.

59A: Grasso or Raines:ELLA. Ella Grasso, 1919 – 1981, was an American politician, and first woman elected governor of Connecticut. She was elected governor "in her own right," without being the wife or widow of a past governor. Ella Raines, 1920 – 1988, was an American actress. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; one for movies, the other for TV.

61A: Wire gauge: MIL. one mil = 0.001 of an inch

62A: Inter ___: ALIA. Inter Alia, means among other things, in Latin.

63A: Go into a huddle: CONFER.

64A: President from New Jersey: GROVER CLEVELAND. Stephen Grover Cleveland, 1837 – 1908, was both the 22nd and 24th President of the United States. Cleveland is the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms (1885–89 and 1893–97) and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents.

69A: See 107 Down: SEEGER. 107 Down: PETE. An American folk singer and song writer. as the author or co-author of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?", "If I Had a Hammer ", and "Turn, Turn, Turn!". Pete Seeger with his wife Toshi Seeger, founded the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc., an organization that seeks to protect the Hudson River through advocacy and public education.

72A: Med subj.: ANAT.. Medical subject: anatomy: the study of the structure of animals.

73A: Fled: RAN.

74A: Eastern discipline: YOGA. In Hinduism, a set of mental and physical exercises aimed at producing spiritual enlightenment.

78A: Actor Delon: ALAIN. Alain Delon is a César Award-winning French actor. He rose quickly to stardom, and by the age of 23 he was garnering comparisons to famed French actors such as Gérard Philipe and Jean Marais, as well as American actor James Dean. He was even called the male Brigitte Bardot.

79A: Reno or Jackson: JANET. Janet Reno was the Attorney General of the United States (1993–2001). Janet Jackson is an American recording artist and entertainer. She is the youngest child of the Jackson family of musicians.

81A: Velvety fabric: PANNE. A soft, lustrous, lightweight velvet with flattened pile.

83A: Down in the dumps: LOW.

84A: Bog: MIRE.

85A: Foodless day: FAST.

86A: Stuck one’s neck out: RISKED.

87A: “___ Sentimental Mood”: IN A. A jazz composition by Duke Ellington. I expect someone to give us a link to their favorite version of this composition.

88A: Tuck into a torte: EAT. Tuck into is a verb phrase meaning to eat with gusto and a torte a rich cake made with many eggs and little flour and usually containing chopped nuts.

89A: Big rig: SEMI. Tractor-trailer While we use the term semi to indicate the whole rig, it is more exact to call it just the trailer. A semi-trailer is a detachable trailer for hauling freight, with wheels at the rear end, the forward end being supported by the rear of a truck tractor when attached. A full trailer is a trailer supported entirely by its own wheels.

90A: Bill Holman comic strip: SMOKEY STOVER. Smokey Stover was a comic strip written and drawn by Bill Holman from the 1930s until he retired in 1973. Distributed through the Chicago Tribune, it featured the misadventures of the titular fireman, and had the longest run of any strip in the screwball genre.

93A: Priam’s wife: HECUBA. She was the wife of Priam, King of Troy therefore she was the queen in Greek Mythology. Priam and Hecuba had nineteen children. Nadya Suleman hasn't caught up with her...yet.

95A: Moisten the marigolds: WATER.

96A: Collie’s concern: HERD. Look at those eyes.

97A: Inlay: EMBED. Embed has more meanings than just inlay.

98A: Less benevolent: MEANER.

100A: London district: SOHO. Soho has the densest concentration of restaurants, cafés, clubs and bars in central London, and represents the vibrant, bustling heart of the city. The area immediately surrounding Old Compton Street in the southern part of Soho is widely recognized as London's premier gay village.

103A: Decorate: ADORN.

104A: “Schindler’s ___”: LIST. movie, 1993, Directed by Steven Spielberg. With Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes. It is about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand Polish Jews.

105A: Celebration: GALA.

106A: Choose, with for: OPT.

109A: Religious observances: DEVOTIONS.

111A: “Lethal Weapon” sidekick: DANNY GLOVER. As Sergeant Roger Murtaugh, he is afraid that Sergeant Martin Riggs(Mel Gibson) will get him killed in this series of films.

115A: In accord: ONE.

116A: Mead’s milieu: SAMOA. Margaret Mead authored of Coming of Age in Samoa.

117A: “Rigoletto” rendition: ARIA. “Rigoletto”, an opera (1851) with music by Giuseppe Verdi but not an individual aria so I feel this is a bad clue.

118A: Fly: AVIATE. You can’t be an aviator unless you aviate.

119A: Ukr., formerly: SSR. Ukraine is an independent country in Eastern Europe now, but at one time, it was a Soviet Socialist Republic.

120A: Not any, with a: NARY. I always heard it as “nary a one”.

121A: Make money: MINT. In debt, just mint more money(reserved for government use only).

122A: Where cats congregate: ALLEY. But at one time, they were on Broadway!

Down:

ID: Single step: PACE.

2D: Nutritional need: IRON.

3D: Wash: LAVE.

4D: Saperstein or Vigoda: ABE. Abe Saperstein was founder, owner, and coach of the Harlem Globetrotters Basketball Team. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1970. Abe Vigoda is an American movie and television actor. He's best known for his portrayal of Detective Sgt. Phil Fish on TV’s “Barney Miller”.

5D: Occasions for alarms: FIRES.

6D: Rigatoni relative: ZITI.

7D: UN Day month: OCT.. United Nations Day is the 24th of October.

8D: Society-page word: NEE.

9D: Stray: ERR.

10D: Stimulate: PIQUE.

11D: Plenty: ABUNDANCE.

12D: News source: LEAK.

13D: Bell and Barker: MAS. “Ma” Bell refers generally to all AT&T companies. “Ma” Barker’s sons went on a crime spree but she is thought to have not been involved in any actual crime. After she was killed in a shootout, J. Edgar Hoover tried to portray her as the leader to justify her death.

14D: Road arrangement: CLOVERLEAF. Interchange

15D: Pluto’s place: HADES. Pluto was the Roman version of the Greek God, Hades. The Romans called the underworld Hades. Confused yet?

16D: Inflatable items?: EGOS. Cute clue.

18D: ___ breve: ALLA. Alla Breve is tempo marking indicating a quick duple meter with the half note rather than the quarter note getting the beat (2/2 rather than 4/4). I’m sure somebody will explain it better in the comments section.

21D: Very small: MIDGET. Very small for its kind.

24D: Years on end: EON. Comprised of two or more eras.

26D: ___ Lisa: MONA. Aw, you know what she looks like.

29D: Practice punching: SPAR.

31D: Inclined: APT.

32D: Snapshot: PHOTO.

33D: Roof edge: EAVE.

34D: Poetic preposition: ERE. Before.

35D: On ___ with: equal to: A PAR.

36D: It’ll give you a weigh: SCALE. Clever.

37D: Art supporter?: EASEL. Used to be clever.

38D: Merman or Mertz: ETHEL. Ethel Merman, 1908 – 1984, was an American actress and singer known for musical theatre; well known for her powerful voice. Ethel Mertz is a fictional character played by Vivian Vance in the 1950s TV sitcom I Love Lucy, where she was Lucy’s friend and landlady.

39D: Baltimore Batsman: ORIOLE. A baseball player on the Baltimore Orioles team.

41D: Soup veggies: PEAS.

43D: Prog.: LIB.. I think they meant a member of a PROGressive party. Party members are LIBerals.

44D: Captivate: ENAMOR.

45D: CCXVIII tripled: DCLIV. 218 X 3 = 654

48D: Prince Philip’s daughter: ANNE. Prince Philip is Queen Elizabeth’s husband and their four children are Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward.

49D: Show-stopper: STAR. But the show must go on.

52D: Eastern European: SLAV.

53D: Jitterbug dance: LINDY. This is NOT how we did it at our record hops.

56D: ___ ease: uncomfortable: ILL AT. Ill at ease; socially uncomfortable

57D: Spare fare: DIET. Another clever clue.

58D: Oxford bigwig: DON. The English have Dons instead of Deans like American Universities.

60D: Certain marble: AGGIE.

62D: Sebaceous gland problem: ACNE. Sebaceous is such an icky word.

63D: Cinema site: CANNES. I pondered this clue for awhile, thinking they wanted a type of theater. The Cannes Film Festival is one of the world's oldest, most influential and prestigious film festivals. The private festival is held usually in the month of May at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France.

65D: Stimpy’s pal: REN. The Ren and Stimpy Show is an American/Canadian animated television series created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi. The series first aired on MTV before going to Nickelodeon. They had a reputation for controversy, mostly stemming from imagery and cartoon violence. They pushed TV animation to new, borderline-tastelessness with episodes such as “Stimpy’s First Fart.”

66D: Carry on: RANT.

67D: School item: ERASER. Often a crossword item, also.

68D: Like Lincoln: LANKY. There is talk of getting some Lincoln’s DNA to see if he did, in fact, have Marfan’s syndrome.

69D: Identical: SAME.

70D: Literary pseudonym: ELIA. The pen name of Charles Lamb, 1775–1834, English essayist and critic.

71D: Bulldozer: EARTHMOVER. Early Japanese bulldozer.

75D: Popeye’s favorite color?: OLIVE. Popeye’s favorite gal, Olive Oyl.

76D: Hopeless case: GONER.

77D: Oscar or Tony: AWARD. Oscar is awarded for achievements in motion picture production and performance. Tony is awarded for achievements in theatrical production and performance.

79D: Door part: JAMB.

80D: Near East: ASIA MINOR.

81D: Tightwad: PIKER.

82D: NY hours: EDT. Eastern Daylight-saving Time.

85D: Clan clash: FEUD.

86D: Learning method: ROTE.

89D: Hunts like a hound: SCENTS.

90D: Ruth’s sultanate?: SWAT. The Great Bambino, The Sultan of Swat, The Colossus of Clout

91D: Chess piece: MAN.

92D: Triumphant cry: OHO.

94D: Spanish river: EBRO. The main river (Rio Ebro) of northern Spain.

97D: Barbara and Anthony: EDEN. Barbara Eden is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for her starring role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie. This is one outfit that never made it on to television. Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, 1897 – 1977, was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957.

99D: English-class assignment: ESSAY.

100D: Utter: SAY.

101D: Gymnast Korbut: OLGA. Olga Korbut, Gold Medalist 1972 Olympics, the Munchkin of Munich.

102D: Turkish treat: HALVA. A confection consisting of crushed sesame seeds in a binder of honey.

103D: Commotions: ADOS.

104D: ___ Linda, Cal: LOMA. Here

105D: Pesky insect: GNAT.

106D: Egg-shaped: OVAL.

107D: With 69 Across, “Turn! Turn! Turn” composer: PETE.

108D: Deck member: TREY. As in a deck of cards, the three. If there had been nautical clues/answers in the area, this could have been a stinker.

110D: Rock musician ___ Hunter: IAN. Ian Hunter was formerly frontman of Mott the Hoople;

111D: Beaver’s construction: DAM.

112D: Onassis’ nickname: ARI.

113D: Diarist Anais: NIN. Anais Nin (1903-1977). She wrote Delta of Venus which has been called porno for poets.

114D: It may be crude: OIL.

Argyle