Saturday April 25, 2009 Barry Silk

Theme: None

Total blocks: 28

Total words: 72

Almost a pangram. Only letter Q is missing. Our fellow LAT solver Anon HP said the other day that it's called a lipogram. A rather scrabbly lipgram, 2 J's, 2X's, and a Z, several K's as well, hallmarks of Barry Silk.

This grid looks interesting. The upper left corner and the lower right corner are almost blocked off, if not for the letter A (Intersection of 20A: ASTR & and 8D: GREAT WHITE SHARK) and its symmetrical partner letter H (Intersection of 47A: MATH and GREAT WHITE SHARK ). Phew! Dangerous.

I had huge, huge trouble with this puzzle. The grid itself does not look as intimidating as eight 15-letter themeless we had a while ago, only two 15-letter fills crossing each other, right in the middle of the grid. But boy, those 8-letter long words are hard to get. And there are 12 of them.

Lots of clever, tricky clues. My favorite clue today is AUGERS (41D: Boring things). I was thinking of the ENNUI boring boring.

I also noticed that our editor Rich Norris likes to clue one-word answer with one word clue that has the same first letter. In today's grid, there are SAG (Slump), MAUL (45A: Manhandle) and ASTONISH (12D: Amaze).

Across:

1A: Super: WHIZ-BANG. Stumped immediately, since my crossing answer for 1D: Totals (WRECKS) was SUMS UP.

9A: Winged mimics: MYNAHS. Barry used the identical clue for this bird last time. Also spelled as myna.

15A: Listening device: RECEIVER. Ah, of course, but I was thinking of the hidden camera/bug.

16A: Where to see saucers: TEA SET. I was trapped again. Could not get the flying saucers out of my mind.

17A: Drill: EXERCISE. Did not get this one either.

18A: Turkey appendage: WATTLE. Kind of ugly. Dewlap is 6-letter too.

19A: Trysting places, perhaps: CAFES. Oh, I thought a tryst always involves sexual activities.

20A: Sagan's subj.: ASTR (Astronomy). ASTR/ASTRO is a prefix for star.

22A: Sugar ending: OSE. As in fructose, sugar found in fruits.

23A: Presidential middle name: KNOX. James K. Polk.

24A: Needing to reorder: OUT OF. Mine was EMPTY.

26A: Shrub of the genus indigofera: ANIL. See this shrubby picture. "Genus indigofera" means nothing to me. I am more used to the "Blue dye/Indigo" clue.

27A: Line part: Abbr. SEG. I failed here also. Total mess in this upper left corner.

28A: Major artery: Abbr. EXPWY (Expressway). Another swampy area for me.

29A: It may be fine: PRINT. I was thinking of flour.

30A: God to more than a billion: ALLAH. Gimme. Last time Fred clued ISLAM as "Faith of more than 1 billion".

31A: Kawasaki watercraft: JET SKI. Have never heard of this brand name, nor have I heard of its manufacturer Kawasaki. Do they have factories here in the US?

32A: Immigrant's status perhaps: DUAL CITIZENSHIP. For some yes, China does not allow dual citizenship.

36A: Detach, in a way: UNCLIP. I suppose so. I thought UNCLIP is a made-up word. But it exists in dictionary.

37A: Yellowish brown: TAWNY. Oh well, last time it's clued as "Brownish orange". Good evening, are you TAWNY?

38A: Honored formally: CITED. I felt stupid. I had *ED there forever.

39A: O'Connor of "Xena: Warrior Princess": RENEE. No idea. Wikipedia says she plays the role of Gabrielle. I do know Lucy Lawless though.

43A: Speaker of baseball: TRIS. Should be a gimme for everyone now.

44A: German-speaking Swiss city: BASEL. Also spelled as BASLE. See this map. German-speaking indeed. Wikipedia says it borders France and Germany. And many pharmaceutical companies like Novartis and Roche are headquatered there.

46A: Yom __: holiday, in Hebrew: TOV. Elissa just mentioned that certain Jewish holidays never falls on Sabbath (Saturday). I forgot which ones. TOV is literally "good". Yom TOV is "Good day". Mazel TOV is "good fortune" in Hebrew.

47A: Course with many functions: MATH. I am bad at MATH. Are you?

48A: Dance with a kick: CONGA. No idea. Like this?

49A: Mate's response: AYE SIR. Ship officer. I was thinking of the Autralian pal "Mate". G'DAY is 2 letter short.

51A: Declared: ADJUDGED. New word to me.

54A: Picket fence: PALING. Also a new word. I think I will remember this word. Will associate it with Sarah Palin.

55A: Space science: ROCKETRY. Was this a gimme to you?

56A: Bastille Day party site: ELYSEE. I had no idea that French president holds an annual garden party at the Palais de L'ELYSEE on Bastille Day.

57A: London-born supermodel: KATE MOSS. Great to see her full name in a grid. That's her iconic tousled hair. My first thought was CAMPBELL (Naomi) though. It has 8 letters as well.

Down:

2D: Hydrocarbon obtained from petroleum: HEXANE. No idea. HEX is a prefix for six, and ANE is a suffix for saturated hydrocarbon.

3D: Weather phenomenon also known as pogonip: ICE FOG. Like this? I did not know the meaning of pogonip. Dictionary defines it as "an ice fog that forms in the mountain valleys of the western U." I wrote down EL NINO, knowing full well it's not right.

4D: Prestone competitor: ZEREX. Both are antifreezes. It appears in our puzzle before. Identical clue. But I forgot again.

5D: Some pens: BICS. My first fill.

6D: Prefix with fauna: AVI. Prefix for bird.

7D: Super __: game console: NES. Learned from doing Xword.

8D: Two-ton predator: GREAT WHITE SHARK. Is two-ton their average weight?

9D: Cal. sequence: MTWTF. Week days. I did not get this one. But I will next time. He can add Saturday and Sunday as well.

10D: Time for a revolution?: YEAR. I like this clue.

11D: Jazzman Adderley: NAT. Not a familiar name to me.

13D: National Museum of Finland site: HELSINKI. Easy guess. Where else could it be?

14D: Dart feature: STEEL TIP

21D: Vegan staple: SOY. Ah, Barry Silk.

24D: Plant in the primrose family: OXLIP. I had no idea that OXLIP belongs to the primrose family.

25D: __ the crack of dawn: UP AT

26D: Bohemian: ARTSY. So what's the difference between ARTY and ARTSY?

28D: Conqueror of Valencia in 1094D: EL CID. Interesting, Wikipedia says EL is from the Spanish article EL, then CID comes from the Arabic sidi meaning lord.

29D: Trattoria offering: PENNE. Plural of Italian PENNA, feather/quill pen in origin.

30D: Everything, to Ernst: ALLES. German for "Everything". Unknown to me. I could only think of the French TOUT(E).

31D: Valuable rock: JEWEL

32D: Multipurpose roll: DUCT TAPE. Only found out this morning that it's developed by Johnson & Johnson. I always thought it's a 3M invention.

33D: It merged with Goodrichin 1986D: UNIROYAL. No idea. Wiki said UNIROYAL was called The United States Rubber Company before 1961. And it's one of the original 12 Dow stocks.

34D: In an energetic way: ACTIVELY. I suppose so.

35D: First name in Western fiction: ZANE (Grey). Total stranger to me. Wiki says he was born in Zanesville, Ohio. And the city is named after his maternal ancestor Ebnezer Zane, some land speculator and road builder.

40D: Serenaded: SANG TO

42D: Knight who sings: GLADYS. This name looks very familiar to me. I must have googled her before. The only Knight I could think of is the Knight who throws a chair.

44D: One might precede a tug: BARGE. It's flat bottomed. It needs to be towed or pushed. That's all I know about BARGE.

45D: Way to the web: MODEM. I wanted LOG IN.

47D: Infielder's cry: MINE. 6-letter blank would be I GOT IT.

48D: Salad veggie: CUKE. Love pickled cucumber.

50D: Reunion moniker: SIS

52D: 1988 noir remake: DOA. No idea. The remake starred Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. The 1950 original starred Edmond O'Brien (1950).

53D: Where sts. meet: JCT (Junction). Sts = Streets. I thought it's saints. But I can't think of a good abbreviation for heaven. Very tricky clue.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday April 24, 2009 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: Short Paths

18A: Speed?: BURN UP THE RD (Road)

24A: Average Joe?: MAN ON THE ST (Street)

35A: Badly fluster?: DR (Drive) TO DISTRACTION

50A: Excessive charge?: HWY (Highway) ROBBERY

57A: Way out?: AVE (Avenue) OF ESCAPE

Maybe it's not structurally possible to position all the above street-type theme answers at the very end of the phrases. Or all in the beginning.

Dictionary says "man in the street" means "Average Joe", not "on the street". I found out that MAN ON THE STREET is a Bob Dylan song. Actually, several of the above theme entries are song titles.

I had huge trouble with this puzzle. I always do when I can't catch the theme earlier on. Lots of abbreviations in the grid. Robert H. Wolfe (the last one on the list) is another of Stan Newman's Newsday regular contributors. His bio says he is a veterinarian.

Across:

1A: Year in which Michelangelo began work on "David": MDI. I got M immediately from MAI (1D: Printemps month), which is French for May. Printemps is "spring". But I had trouble obtaining DI. The clue would have been a straightforward "Roman 1501" if it were a Monday/Tuesday puzzle.

4A: NCAA Mountain West Conf. team: UNLV. University of Neveda, Las Vegas. The Runnin' Rebels. Wikipedia says it's located in a Las Vegas suburb called Paradise. Here is a list of all Mountain West Conference members.

14A: Jordin Sparks duet: NO AIR. See this clip. Someone (Embien?) linked this song on the blog before. But I forgot all about it. Jordin Sparks is the winner of Season 6 of "American Idol".

16A: Place: STEAD. I was thinking of a verb.

17A: Doctrine: ISM

20A: Marching band wind: FIFE. Just learned that FIFE is rooted in German Pfeife, meaning " pipe". FIFE can be a verb also. Chinese dizi is a kind of flute too.

22A: Kept in the loop, for short: CCED. Trouble for me. I was not thinking of the email cc.

23A: Barbera d'__: Italian wine: ASTI. Easy guess, since ASTI is the wine region. I've never heard of this red wine.

26A: Center: CORE

27A: Exaggerate: OVERDO

28A: Sash insets: PANES. Oh window. I was picturing kimono obi. Obi is literally "sash" in Japanese.

29A: Jacket specification: LONG. Not large?

30A: Antique shop transaction: RESALE. Someone bought this first issue of Sports Illustrated at an antique shop for only $15. I've never had any luck there. How about you?

41A: Puts out: ISSUES. I did not know "Put out" can mean publish.

42A: "Getting to Know You" singer on Broadway: ANNA. From "The King and I". I've never heard of the song.

43A: Splendor: ECLAT. Ah, "Brilliant success". I often confuse this word with ECLAIR.

47A: In any way: SO EVER. I've never used SO EVER alone, always "What SO EVER".

49A: Collar: NAIL. Verb.

54A: "Power Lunch" airer: CNBC. I like Sue Herera. The guy on her right is Bill Griffeth. My husband watches "Power Lunch" every day.

55A: San __: REMO. Which one are we referring to here?

60A: One might be run before bedtime: TUB. Yep, every night, for me.

62A: Volley: SALVO

63A: Folded food: TACOS. Not a fan of Mexican food. Too hot.

64A: "Walking on Thin Ice" singer: ONO. I was not aware of this song. Wikipedia says Yoko Ono and John Lennon concluded the recording of this song on Dec 8, 1980. And it was upon their return from the recording studio to their home that Lennon was murdered.

65A: Colchester's county: ESSEX. Alliteration again. I guessed. I pen in ESSEX for all the 5-letter county clues. I had no idea where Colchester is. Wikipedia says it claims to be the oldest town in Britian.

66A: Ships, to sailors: SHES

67A: Dietary no.: RDA. Is it Recommended Daily Allowance or Recommended Dietary Allowance?

Down:

2D: The doghouse, so to speak: DISFAVOR. Would not have got the answer without the across fills.

3D: At hand: IMMINENT. Are they really interchangable? Can you give me an example? I thought "At hand" means "close by".

4D: Straighten: UNBEND. Mercy me! This is a real word. I thought the constructor made it up.

5D: __-turn: NO U. Boy, I felt stupid. The answer did not come to me readily at all. Need more time to adjust to multiple word fills.

6D: Tree with durable wood: LARCH. Wikipedia says it's waterproof too, hence it's used in building yachts and boats. Like teak, I suppose.

6D: Edwards who played Ben Casey: VINCE. New actor to me. Have never heard of the TV series "Ben Casey" either.

9D: Odysseus' kingdom: ITHACA. OK, here is Sean Connery's ITHACA again. Still can't believe Connery is a misogynist.

10D: "Rob Roy" actor: NEESON. Which is your favorite Liam NEESON movie? Dennis probably likes his "Les Misérables".

11D: "La Nausée" author: SARTRE. See the book cover. All SARTRE's love interests (except Simone de Beauvoir of course) seemed to be pretty but dumb. He declined the Nobel Prize. Probably mad that Camus got his first.

12D: Swirls: EDDIES

19D: Summer term at UCLA?: PDTS. PDT is Pacific Daylight Time. I outsmarted myself, thinking "summer" is a wordplay on one who sums up, so I wrote down ADD immediately.

21D: Pass up: FORGO. "Precede" is FOREGO.

24D: Form: MOLD

25D: Spelling et al: TORIS. I was trapped again, thinking of the spelling spelling, not Tori Spelling.

28D: Fan-shaped muscle: PEC. I suppose it's "Fan-shaped".

31D: Leader of Senegal?: ESS. Can't fool me! Senegal starts with letter S, hence "leader".

32D: Onetime Beatle Sutcliffe: STU. I know there was a 5th Beatle. Could not remember his name though. I am so happy that it's not clued as "Alphabet trio" again like RST (8D: Alphabet trio).

34D: Catch, oater-style: LASSO

36D: Code word: DIT

37D: Billy Blanks' fitness program: TAE BO. Portmanteau of TAE kwon do and Boxing.

38D: Market figure: INVESTOR. I was thing of the real number, not person. Good clue.

39D: 18 holes, say: ONE ROUND. More used to "A ROUND".

43D: Box up: ENCASE

44D: Boxing surface: CANVAS. Just learned this fact a few weeks ago.

45D: Risks a lawsuit, in a way: LIBELS. I often misspell this word as LIBLE.

46D: dining area, perhaps: ALCOVE

48D: Haunt: OBSESS. Wrote down HARASS, which is actually "Hound".

50D: Otto I was its first leader: Abbr.: HRE. Holy Roman Empire (800-1806). The last one is Francis II, who abdicted and dissolved the Empire during the Napolenic Wars, according to Wikipedia.

51D: Lincoln-to-Cheyenne direction: WEST. I like this clue.

52D: Character-building grps.: YMCAS

58D: Roald Dahl's "Fantastic Mr. __": FOX. The answer revealed itself. I am not familiar with this book.

59D: "Annabel Lee" poet: POE. Nice clip.

61D: Squeezer: BOA. No idea. Is it because the snake squeezes?

Answer grid.

Happy Birthday to our fellow solver Kazie!

C.C.