Sunday, April 19, 2009 Dan Daddor

Theme: Put a Lid on It!

24A: Winner's prize in a programming competition?: VICTORY LAPTOP

29A: Frijoles prep area? BEAN COUNTERTOP

41A: Writing surface available only occasionally?: PERIODIC TABLETOP

54A: Peak that reeks?: FOUL TIPTOP

78A: Crew cut after a sloppy wrestling match?: MUD FLATTOP

88A: Milk of Magnesia bottle cap?: PHILLIPS SCREW-TOP

99A: Proof of evil purchases?: PANDORA'S BOXTOP

110A: Shirt needing a chemical rinse: SEPTIC TANK TOP

15D: Convertible for a Canadian hockey player? MAPLE LEAF RAGTOP

40D: "Say hello to your average asphalt contractor?": MEET JOE BLACKTOP

The last one is playing on the movie title "Meet Joe Black", isn't it? I still don't understand the cluing rationale of 15D. I know the Toronto Maple Leafs. Is RAG the nickname for a hockey player? I have never heard of PHILLIPS SCREW before.

Nice theme, great theme title too. The lid is the word TOP. All the above theme answers feel like Jeopardy's "Before and After".

Dan Naddor mentioned his love for "heavy themage" in his interview. This grid has 10 theme entries, some of them are very long, two 16, two 15. The two shortest ones still have 10.

I had my normal struggle with LAT Sunday. Could not get into the constructor's wavelength. When I read 93A: Prepare to be shot, I did not think of the happy "Say Cheese" POSE. I pictured something horrible, you know, like the photo of Daniel Pearl in handicuff, with a gun at his head.

My favorite clue today is for C-SPAN (46D: House shower). You have to think outside the box, show-er, C-SPAN covers and shows the activities of the House of Representatives. It's like "Parisian flower?" for SEINE river. River flows, flow-er, not the real flower.

Across:

1A: Offering at the fast foodery El Pollo Loco: BREAST. Stumped immediately. Have never heard of this chicken franchise El Pollo Loco, Spanish for "The Crazy Chicken".

7A: Intimidate: DAUNT

17A: Add one's two cents: CHIME IN. Thought of OPINE.

19A: Long Island university: ADELPHI. I forgot. Saw this answer somewhere before.

21A: Like some trucks going uphill: IN LOW. No idea. Why?

22A: 1982 Toto hit: ROSANNA. Here is the clip. I've never heard of the band, nor the song.

23A: Star who's out?: HAS-BEEN. I like this clue.

26A: Fish caught in pots: EELS. Oh, I had no idea that EELS are caught in pots.

27A: Fatty acid salt: OLEATE. I forgot also. It's clued as "Soap ingredient" in our puzzle before. Did not know there is "salt" in soap.

33A: "I didn't know that": GEE

34A: Former Radiohead label: EMI. Easy guess, since Radiohead is a British band.

35A: Circle dance: HORA. Often clued as "Jewish dance".

36A: Soprano Maria: CALLAS. "La Divina". Maybe Ari Onassis should have married her instead of Jackie.

39A: Start of an idea: GERM. I like this clue.

49A: Midas's undoing: GREED. He later did change his view about gold/money, didn't he?

51A: Confuse: CROSS UP. New phrase to me.

52A: Charlie Brown's cry: AARGH. See this picture. He cried so after he missed the football.

57A: Newton fruit: FIGS. Fig Newton.

58A: Hold back: RESTRAIN

60A: Penn, e.g.: Abbr.: STA. I wrote down STS.

61A: "There's hoping...": I PRAY. Did not come to me easily.

63A: One of the Simpsons: JESSICA. D'oh. The real Simpsons (Jessica and Ashely). I was thinking of the animated "Simpsons". I did get STU (97A: "The Simpsons" disco guy) immediately.

66A: Sluggishness: INERTIA

69A: Japanese chess: SHOGI. Literally "General's Chess". Gi means "chess". A corruption of Chinese qi (chess).

71A: Charger's org: AFC. Penned in NFL again.

73A: Sign of desperation: LAST GASP

77A: Syngman of Korea: RHEE. The first president of South Korea. RHEE is the same as Chinese Li (as in Jet Li).

83A: 10th century emperor dubbed "the Great": OTTO I. No idea. I was way off, thinking of the Russian Emperor PETER the Great.

84A: Poet's feet: IAMBI. I wrote down IAMBS.

86A: One working on the sheep: SHEARER

87A: Ideal of dieters: NO CAL. More ideal than NO FAT.

94A: Escargots: SNAILS

98A: Many ATM deposits: CKS. First time I see CK in a crossword.

108A: Smooth routine: GROOVE

113A: Fundraising events: DINNERS. Thought of RAFFLES.

117A: "No damage done": IT'S OKAY

118A: Farm song refrain: EIEIO. The lyric of "Old McDonald Had a Farm" does not make any sense to me, esp EIEIO.

119A: Latvia neighbor: ESTONIA. See this Baltic region map. And Russia, Lithuania, all end in IA. Romania too.

121A: Alan and Diane: LADDS. I forgot who Diane LADD is. She is Laura Dern's mother.

122A: Elements on the road: HONDAS. HONDA Element. I was thinking of gravels/stones.

Down:

1D: "Humph!": BAH

2D: Food std.: RDA. Recommended Daily/Dietary Allowance. I don't know which is correct.

3D: Some Caltech grads: EES (Electrical Engineers). Stumped again. Just not used to this EE abbreviation.

4D: Truman veep Barkley: ALBEN. No idea. Wikipedia says ALBEN Barkley was actually the first veep. His grandson coined the title to replace the long "Mr. Vice President". And he was the only vice president to marry while in office.

6D: Area defined by an el: THE LOOP. Have heard THE LOOP in Chicago. Had no idea it's "defined by an el".

7D: Fairway chunk: DIVOT. I am often amazed by the huge chunks of DIVOTS on the golf courses. Some golfers hit their balls so hard.

8D: Doddering: ANILE. Could only think of senile.

9D: Gastric woe: ULCER

10D: Absent from: NOT AT. Had trouble getting this multiple-word answer.

11D: "Scotty, __ beam up": TWO TO. Unknown to me. Not a "Star Trek"/"Star Wars" fan. I could only find "Beam me up, Scotty".

12D: Call (out): CRY

13D: Jan. 1st, e.g.: HOL. See EVE clued as "Dec. 31, e.g." more often.

14D: Columbus sponsor: ISABELLA

16D: Opposite of exo-: ENTO. Prefix for "Inner". Exo is "outer".

17D: When some ties are broken: IN OT (Overtime)

25D: Gym unit: REP (Repetition)

29D: Lazarus, for one: BEGGAR. I thought he was a leper.

30DL Become visible: EMERGE

31D: They put on shows: AIRERS. Would not have got the answer if not for the across fills. Too abstract to me.

32D: GRF's veep: NAR (Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller). Tough clue. I actually know Ford's veep is Rockefeller, but I knew neither's middle name. GRF is Gerald Ruldoph Ford.

33D: Shoot the breeze: GAB. Wanted YAK.

36D: Crime boss: CAPO. I need "Mafia" in the clue for CAPO to emerge.

37D: Places in the heart: ATRIA. I like this clue too.

38D: Saturated: SOGGY

43D: Magic, on scoreboards: ORL. Orlando Magic. Another good clue.

44D: Last Supper question: IS IT I. Who asked this question?

47D: "For shame": TUT. Sometimes it's TSK.

48D: Acidity nos.: PHS. Thought of 7. PH7=neutral. <7> 7 alkaline.

50D: Freedom from govt. control: DEREG (Deregulation)

55D: Clandestine maritime org.: ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence). Often clued as "Sailor's Org." in our old puzzle.

56D: Worst: PITS. New slang to me.

59D: "__ sure you know ...": AS I'M

62D: Climber's spike: PITON

64D: Champs-Élysées sights: CAFES. Yes indeed. Along with those lovely shops.

65D: Company with a spokesduck: AFLAC. Ben Affleck once mentioned that AFLAC had never approached him for commercials.

67D: "Evil Woman" grp.: ELO. Here is the clip. I guessed. Three letter music grp is often ELO.

68D: Eschew the doorbell: RAP

69: Persian potentates: SHAHS

70D: Surround: HEM IN. Another multiple word.

72D: Gideon Fell's creator: CARR. Have never heard of this author John Dickson CARR nor the character Gideon Fell.

74D: Fire sale phrase: AT COST

75D: Such that one might: SO AS TO

76D: Rubbernecking cause: PILE-UP

77D: Fabric flaw: RIP. What is a RIP flaw?

80D: The N.L. doesn't use them: DHS (Designated Hitters). A.L. does use them.

81D: Trip souvenir: TEE. Mine was HAT.

82D: Credit-reporting company now called Experian: TRW (Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc.). A complete stranger to me.

85D: '50 political slogan: I LIKE IKE. I have this button. A reproduction.

89D: Parisian pronoun: ILS. French for "they".

90D: Airport safety org.: TSA (Transportation Security Administration). Created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

91D: Kind of kick: ONSIDE. Stumped again. Vaguely remember someone explained ONSIDE kick on the blog before.

92D: Avoid perishing: PUBLISH

96D: Discuss: GO INTO

99D: __ Tour: PGA. And LPGA, Sr. PGA (Champions) & European Tour.

100D: Synthetic fiber: ARNEL. Was it a gimme to you? I've never heard of this fiber. Dictionary defines it as "a brand of fiber manufactured from cellulose triacetate", whatever that is.

101D: Finnish mobile phone giant: NOKIA. Holy cow. I always thought it's a Swedish company.

102D: Fussed over, with "on": DOTED

103D: Egg-shaped: OVOID

104D: Some auction sales: REPOS

105D: It's a gas: XENON. Yes, indeed, it's a gas. A noble gas.

111D: Aries or Taurus: CAR. I was thinking of Zodiac. Good clue.

112D: Pennington et al: TYS. No idea. I've never heard of this guy, host of "Extreme Makerover: Home Edition". TY Cobb is more famous in my opinion.

115D: Estuary: RIA

116D: Airline to Stockholm: SAS. "Airline to Amsterdam" would be KLM, both have three letters.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Saturday April 18, 2009 Scott Atkinson

Theme: None

Total block: 31

Total word: 72 (maximum allowed for a themeless)

Lots of 7-letter words in this puzzle, 24 I think. Funny how grid can be so deceptive. I felt this puzzle has more black squares than last Saturday's eight 15-letter themeless. But that one turns out to have one more block. This one by Kevin G. Der holds the record for fewest blocks (18). I bet 17 is not so far away.

I teed off perfectly with BARBARO ( 1A: 2006 Kentucky Derby winner), thanks to the crossing REBECCA (3D: Novel that begins "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again"). I thought of Giacomo first. It has the same amount of letters. Giacomo is named after Sting's son, and his wife bet big and won big at the 2005 Derby.

BARBARO jumped the gun in Preakness Stakes and then broke his legs. I had no idea that an injured leg can be fatal to a horse. I read REBECCA long time ago, in Chinese. Linda mentioned a few weeks ago that dreamt is the only English word ending in mt.

Anyway, after BARBARO, my struggle started and continued until the very end. Still, I was able to fill in plenty of blanks. Good enough for me. I wonder how long it takes a constructor to build a Saturday themeless. Probably 4-5 hours at least. It's just not right for Dan Feyer to conquer the grid under 5 minutes. He needs to slow down.

Across:

8A: Libyan leader whose name has more than 30 spellings: QADDAFI. "30"? That's why we need a clear standard for romanizing Arab names. Gaddafi seems to be more common. His given name Muammar sounds weird too.

15D: Demand too much of: OVERTAX

17A: It often has branches: LIBRARY. I pictured trees, then banks.

18A: Unstoppable: ON A ROLL

19A: Stubbing victim: TOE. The image of a cigarett popped into my mind immediately.

20A: Took down a peg: DEMOTED

23A: Letter-bottom letters: ENCL (Enclosure)

25A: 007 wore one: ROLEX. Is that a ROLEX? Why "wore" one instead of "wears" one?

26A: __ Fein: SINN. IRA's extremely left wing party. I filled in SEIN first.

27A: Red Sox pitcher Matsuzaka's nickname: DICE K. Ah, gimme. His name is Daisuke, pronounced like Dice K.

29A: Traffic stopper: RED. I asked our editor Rich Norris about this RED clue/answer duplication the other day. He says it doesn't bother him, and he will change "if a long (6 letters or more) or prominent word is duped in a clue".

30A: Out of it: DAZED. New definition of "Out of it" to me.

31A: Common Yuletide mail: CATALOG

33A: Teases, in slang: JIVES. New slang to me also.

35A: Life in the Yucatán: (retype): VIDA. Here is Ricky Martin's "Livin' La VIDA Loca".

36A: Jackal or fox: CANID. I can only think of canine. Is "id" a suffix for something, Kazie? Dictionary defines CANID as "any animal of the dog family Canidae, including the wolves, jackals, hyenas, coyotes, foxes, and domestic dogs".

38A: Manatee relatives: DUGONGS. Another unknown. They can be found at the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. No hind limb. Huge!

41A: "Platoon" actor Willem: DAFOE. Saw the movie "Platoon". Can't remember his name though. So close to Defoe, the author of "Robinson Crusoe".

45A: U.S. Marine Corps E-6: SSGT (Staff Sergeant). See this list. I suppose the ranking is different in the Army/Air Force/Navy?

46A: Power problem: SURGE

48A: 1 for H, e.g.: AT NO (Atomic Number). H is Hydrogen. More here. Carbon is 6. Neon is 10.

49A: '60 VP: HHH (Hubert Horatio Humphrey). LBJ's VP. Gimme for any Minnesotan. Walter Mondale is another veep from Minnesota. We've never had a president though. How about your state?

50A: Like Lake Mead: MAN-MADE. It's the largest MAN-MADE lake in the world, isn't it?

52A: "Gimme __!": Columbus cheer beginning: AN O. I guessed. I surmise it's the cheerleading sound from Ohio State University?

53A: Ebbing: ABATING

55A: Reels off: RECITES

57A: Encountered: RAN INTO. Had problem obtaining this multiple word answer.

58A: Thankless one: INGRATE

59A: Magazine revenue: PRINT AD. There were only 2 letters in my brain, AD, then nothing else.

60A: Yields: ASSENTS. I only know the "Agree" meaning of assent.

Down:

1D: Downed quickly: BOLTED. Was ignorant of "Down quickly" definition of BOLT. Don't BOLT. Food is to be enjoyed.

2D: Relating to Space Age technology: AVIONIC. Also new to me. The noun AVIOTICS = AVI (ation) + (Electr)ONICS.

4D: Polar outburst?: BRR. I wrote down RAY, confusing Polar with Solar.

5D: Somewhat: A TAD

6D: More valuable, as coins: RARER. And MINT (50D: Spanking new). Both remind me of coins and baseball cards.

7D: Deafening silent, e.g.: OXYMORON. Elissa linked this list last time. Sallie likes jumbo shrimp.

8D: Used another's words: QUOTED

9D: Attach: ANNEX. I wanted ADD ON.

10D: Obsolete: DEAD. Thought of GONE.

11D: Patriotic org.: DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution). The other choice is SAR (Sons of American Revolution).

12D: Make a mist of: ATOMIZE

13D: Catty types: FELINES. I was thinking of the mean catty catty, not cat-like catty.

14D: Like the Aral Sea: INLAND. SHRINKING has too many letters. It's indeed INLAND.

21D: Jackie's designer: OLEG (Cassini). Michelle Obama likes Jason Wu's design.

24D: "I'd rather skip it": LET'S NOT. And DID OK (30D: Managed). Neither came to me easily.

26D: Safari destination: SAVANNA . I was thinking of a country rather than the general grassy plain.

32D: Little dude: LAD

33D: Carpentry guide: JIG. No idea. Which part is JIG?

35D: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" barony: VULGARIA. Big stumper. See here for more information. Wikipedia says it's a scenic, mountainous region that can't be found any where in the world. I did not know it's authored by Ian Fleming.

36D: Hardly a free-spirited place?: CASH BAR. No idea. Why?

37D: Kabul coin: AFGHANI. I thought it's RUPEE, since Afghanstan is close to India and Pakistan where rupee is used. Anyway, Dictionary says AFGHANI can also refer to the people, same as Afghan. And the abbreviation of the currency AFGHANI is AFG.

38D: Frequent pizza delivery destination: DORM. I had O in place, so I went with HOME first.

39D: Enjoy the sunshine, perhaps: GET A TAN

40D: Big name in slapstick: SENNETT. Mack SENNETT, "The King of Comedy". I forgot all about him. Wikipedia says his Keystone Studios started the careers of Gloria Swanson, Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, Charlie Chaplin, etc.

41D: Key before E: D SHARP

42D: The Aztecs' Tonatiuh: SUN GOD. I don't know what's the meaning of Tonatiuh, so complete blank here. The same as Greek Helios/Roman Sol I suppose.

46D: Seasonal temp: SANTA. I thought temp is short for temperature. Good clue.

51D: Heart lines: Abbr.: ECGS. I wrote down EEGS, which is actually the brain scan "Head lines".

54D: Like the Wizard's heartless visitor: TIN. Did not get it easily, though I love the movie and know clearly that the Tin Man has no heart. I guess I always thought of TIN as a noun rather than an adjective. So, what would be the answer for "Like the Wizard's courgeless/brainless visitor"? MANED & what?

Answer grid.

C.C.