Thursday May 21, 2009 Sefton Boyars

Theme: Baa-ed Homophones

17A: Wonderful sheep-fleecing job?: SHEAR PERFECTION (Sheer Perfection)

38A: Gets Dolly the sheep to defect?: MAKES A EWE TURN (Make a U-turn)

60A: Use a young sheep as a beast of burden?: TAKE IT ON THE LAMB (Take it on the Lam)

Hmmm, not baaad at all. Lovely puzzle. Wish MEEK (38D Overly compliant) clued as "Sheepish".

Weird to see A rather than AN in front of EWE. I am still struggling with article a/an in front of a "U" sound.

I loved the cross-referenced clues in today's grid (15A/22A & 10D/23D). I am in the mood for all those tie-in answers/clues and cross-references lately. My favorite clue today is EURO (59A: German bread). Would be easier to obtain if there were a ? mark in the clue. But it's not really necessary.

Across:

4A: "If I had a Hammer" singer Lopez: TRINI. Here is a clip. Learned this guy's name from doing Xword. I like Peter, Paul and Mary's version.

9A: To one side: ASKEW

14A: Computer program suffix: EXE. What does EXE mean exactly?

15A: His 2,297 RBI is a major league record: AARON. Hank AARON had 755 home runs, second only to Barry Bonds, whose 762 record needs to be stripped.

16A: Second longest African river: CONGO. The Nile is the longest.

20A: Heels: CADS. Bad MEN (1A: Old boys).

21A: Annoy: MOLEST. Was surprised to know last time that "Annoy" is the #1 meaning of MOLEST.

22A: 15-Across was one in 21 of his 23 seasons: ALL-STAR. Incredible, isn't it? Just learned that both Stand Musial and Willie Mays had a record 24 ALL-STAR appearances.

26A: Way cool: RAD. Do you say this word in your daily conversation?

27A: Org. with some lightweights: WBA (World Boxing Association)

30A: Sheltered side: LEE

37A: Rodger's partner before Hammerstein: HART (Lorenz). Wikipedia says Richard Rodgers is one of only two persons to have won an Oscar, a Grammy, an Emmy, a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize. The only guy is composer Marvin Hamlisch ("A Chorus Line").

42A: Old VHS alternative: BETA

43A: Pack animals: LLAMAS

48A: Sitter's challenge: IMP

51A: Letters before a pseudonym: AKA

52A: Syncopated musical work: RAG. What does "syncopated" mean?

54A: Cause to reel: STAGGER

65A: Noodle products?: IDEAS

66A: Carpentry pin: DOWEL. No idea. Are they metals?

67A: Glasgow negative: NAE

68A: Man with a mission: PADRE. Is that how San Diego PADRES got their name?

69A: Ivory's partner, in song: EBONY. "EBONY and Ivory".

70A: Start of an afterthought: AND

Down:

1D: Agave liquor: MESCAL. I forgot. Last time I was also stumped when PEYOTE was clued as "Mescal".

2D: Say "Whew!", say: EXHALE

3D: Hypo: NEEDLE. I did not know "hypo" is short for hypodermic. I was actually thinking of hype. "Hypo" is a Greek suffix for "under", opposite of "hyper" (over).

5D: Type of sheet or session: RAP. What is a RAP session?

6D: Wilde country: Abbr.: IRE (Ireland). The movie "Wilde" was kind of shocking. Well, it sure is wild. I like the clue.

8D: About to endure: IN FOR. I had IN??R, somehow I wanted INCUR, which does not correspond with the clue grammartically.

9D: Give the nod (to): ACCEDE

10D: They're potted: SOTS. "Potted" is slang for drunk. And TOPE (23D: What 10-Down do). I was thinking of flowers of course.

11D: Most sweaters and jerseys: KNITWEAR

12D: Source of chutzpah: EGO. I wonder why we seldom see CHUTZPAH as an answer. Too many consonants?

18D: Balaam's carrier: ASS. Not aware of Balaam and the donkey story. What is it about? I thought Balaam is a capital city of some country and the clue was asking for an airline name.

19D: Jack of old Westerns: ELAM

25D: Kidney-related: RENAL

28D: Brought into the world: BORN. Wrote down BORE first.

29D: Works on the wall?: ART. Alliteration again.

34D: Ergo: THUS

39D: Went after: ATTACKED. And CHASE (56A: Pursue). Wish the clue were "Go after".

41D: Seville snack: TAPA. Another alliteration.

42D: Top of a two-piece: BRA. Hmmm, really hot!

46D: It's right on the map: EAST

48D: Critter in a Tennessee Williams title: IGUANA. No idea. Have never heard of "Night of the IGUANA". All I could think of is "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof".

49D: "Gypsy" star, 1959: MERMAN (Ethel). I wonder why she changed her name into MERMAN. For mermaid connection?

50D: Delved into: PROBED

53D: Crystal-lined rock: GEODE. No idea. What is GEODE used for?

58D: Start to appeal?: SNOB. SNOB appeal. It appeared in our puzzle before.

61D: Nabokov novel: ADA. Alliteration in the clue again. ADA, PNIN & LOTITA. That's all you need to know about Nabokov.

63D: Egg source: HEN. Why did ROE come to me first? It's the damned "Caviar source".

64D: English cathedral town: ELY. It escaped me. Saw this clue before. ELY is 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge, according to Wikipedia.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Wednesday May 20, 2009 Bonnie L. Gentry

Theme: BREAKING UP (54A: Disbanding, and a literal hint to the hidden theme in 17-, 23- and 46-Across) - UP is broken and spans the last two words of the theme entries.

17A: Pancake-wrapped Chinese dish: MOO SHU PORK

23A: Peppered entree: STEAK AU POIVRE

46A: Judge's query after charges are read: HOW DO YOU PLEAD

Too bad 46A is not food related. It would have been a tighter theme. Great "BREAKING UP" title. But Like Jack McIntuff's "Herd Mentality", this kind of word embedding/spanning does not really excite me.

The first time I had MOO SHU PORK was in San Francisco, my sister-in-law was shocked that I did not know what the dish is. Quite a few American Chinese dishes were foreign to me then. I've never had STEAK AU POIVRE, way too much poivre in this picture. Nice to see it as part of an answer rather than "Poivre partner" for SEL (French salt & pepper).

Since we have ALITO (14A: O'Connor's successor) in the grid, I wish SAM (33A: "Uncle" with a red bow tie) were clued as a tie in to ALITO. Whom do you pick to replace Justice Souter? I'll bet on Sonia Sotomayor, female and Hispanic.

Today's constructor Bonnie L. Gentry is a senior financial adviser at Merrill Lynch. She is based in Scottsdale, AZ. And her puzzle appears in LAT once a month, according to this article. I found it interesting that she does not like cluing either.

Across:

1A: Still in force: VALID

6A: Serve with summons: CITE. Alliteration again.

15A: Partly revitalized sea: ARAL. I don't understand the "partly revitalized" part. Does it refer to the revitalized economy in that region?

19A: Harper's Bazaar artist: ERTE. Big name in "Art deco".

20A: Transportation secretary under Clinton: PENA (Federico). Obtained his name from the Down clues. He co-chaired Obama's campaign.

21A: Nickelodeon dog: REN. Often clued as "Stimpy's pal". Stimpy is a cat.

22A: Father of Paris: PRIAM. The last king of Troy of course. He was played by Peter O'Toole in the movie "Troy". Orlando Bloom is Paris. The girl on his left is Helen, whose face launched a thousand ship. How many millihelen do you think Megan Fox radiates? This girl's picture is everywhere now.

27A: Goodyear offering: RADIAL

29A: Knotty and twisted: GNARLED. This one is totally out of shape. Pretty ugly.

30A: Sound from a nest: TWEET

31A: Fill with bubbles: AERATE

36A: "Little Red Book": MAO. My dad could recite every sentence in "Little Red Book".

41A: Court sport, for short: B-BALL. Basketball.

43A: Italian inkeeper: PADRONE. New to me. So close to patron.

49A: Cup with crumpets: TEA. Is it because crumpets/scones are always served with TEA?

53A: Climb, as a tree: SHIN . New verb meaning to me.

58A: Cougar maker, briefly: MERC. Crossing BMW (54D: 5 Series automaker).

59A: "Cheers" waitress: DIANE. Easy guess. The lady in red?

60A: Work measures: ERGS. Rooted in Greek ergon, meaning work.

62A: "No surprise to me": I KNEW

Down:

1D: Seductress: VAMP. The word VAMP always brings to mind Theda Bara.

3D: Pride's quarters: LION'S DEN

4D: Shout evoked by a dead heat: IT'S A TIE. I love all the long Down answers today. Vibrant.

5D: 2001 OED addition that cites "The Simpsons": D'OH

6D: "RUR" playwright: CAPEK. The guy who coined "robot".

7D: When forging started: IRON AGE. Around 12th century BC.

9D: Fraternal society member: ELK. Or "Lodge member".

10D: More than just clean: STERILE. I was expecting an ER ending adjective.

12D: Old explosive device: PETARD. New word to me. So close to retard.

13D: Teacher's note next to an F: SEE ME. Did you get F's in school? Were you a good student?

22D: Like laptops: PORTABLE

24D: Suffers humiliation: EATS CROW. Maybe she will. Maybe she won't. What a waste of time to go back and dredge up those waterboarding briefings. I am against closing Gitmo.

25D: Strip, as a ship: UNRIG. Why do I always want de-rig? Too much bug and de-bug in my previous work I suppose.

26D: Early late-night host: PAAR. What's your favorite Jack PAAR memory? I learned his name purely from doing Xword.

31D: Protein building block, for short: AMINO. AMINO acid.

34D: "Hey!" to a mate: AHOY. Wish TAR (8D: Road-surfacing goo) were clued differently to pair up with AHOY. It's a slang for sailor. I am very into tie-in fills lately.

36D: Title character who "returns" in a Neil Simon title: MAX DUGAN. Have never heard of this movie. Is it romantic? The title sounds like a soldier returns after the war and then finds his wife in love with another man.

40D: Spays: NEUTERS. I had no idea that Mine That Bird was gelded until Clear Ayes pointed it out.

42D: '50s - '60s counterculturist: BEATNIK. MAN, I DIG. That's all I know about BEATNIK.

43D: More swanky: POSHER. Wrote down TONIER first.

44D: Storefront shade: AWNING. Holy cow! I did not know there is a special term for this shade.

45D: Harsh criticism: FLAK. I always have problem spelling out criticism.

46D: Waste maker?: HASTE. HASTE makes waste.

51D: Do some piano maintenance: TUNE. Can you also clue it as "Do some guitar maintenance"?

52D: Emulate a geyser: SPEW

55D: Stephen of "Citizen X": REA. Have never seen "Citizen X". Liked his "The Crying Game". Very shocking ending.

Answer grid.

C.C.