Thursday June 4, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: Complete Failures

18A: 1963 international treaty subjects: ATOMIC BOMBS

23A: Politicians' dilemmas: FLIP-FLOPS

37A: Heavy gamebirds: WILD TURKEYS

51A: They usually involve undercover work: DRUG BUSTS

57A: Cowboy boots and Stetson hats: WESTERN DUDS

Very tight theme. All the "clunker" words are at the end of the theme entries. And all of them are all in plural form. What other synonyms can you think of?

Wanted DRUG RAID for 51A: They usually involve undercover work. Conducted quite a few raids with the old company. But never about drug. FLIP-FLOPS reminds me of John Kerry's disastrous "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it" statement. I've yet to find a politician who never changes his positions.

I had fun chewing this puzzle. Several tricky clues. My favorite is LOCK (9D: It might be picked). I wrote down LICE first and thought I was pretty smart.

Across:

1A: Gordon Shumway's title alias, in a sitcom: ALF. Easy guess. I've never seen ALF.

4A: Minnesota twin?: ST PAUL. Nice one. "Minnesota twins?" is a great clue for ENS too.

10A: Chick follower: ADEE. How many toes does a chickadee have?

14A: Chinese chairman: MAO. I bet nobody but I thought of "Zhuxi", which is Chinese for "chairman".

15A: Piemonte city: TORINO. Italian for Turin (upper left corner). The 2006 Olympics was held there. I don't know where Piemonte is.

20A: Dietary claim: LESS FAT

22A: Kind of chop: KARATE. Great clue. I was picturing pork chop.

27A: Vacation site: ISLE

28A: "You've go the wrong person": NOT I. I always say "NOT ME" and I know I am wrong grammatically.

31A: Mil. troop unit: CMD. Command?

34A: Lightweight bayou vessel: PIROGUE. No idea. Looks very long.

39A: Triumph: PREVAIL. Verb. Victory has 7 letters too.

41A: Soft & __: Henkel brand: DRI. Holy cow! I've never heard of Henkel. Are they very famous?

44A: Señor's "Absolutely": SI SI

54A: Not necessarily against: OPEN TO. I am against closing Guantanamo Bay, and I am "Not necessarily against" torture. I truly believe harsh measures are needed sometimes.

56A: Expand the viewed area, in a way: ZOOM OUT

60A: Cholesterol initials: LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein). The bad cholesterol. The good one is HDL ( High-Density Lipoprotein).

61A: Offensive comment: SLUR

62A: Pricey timepieces: SEIKOS. Cool watch. OMEGAS also has 6 letters.

64A: Notice: ESPY. Also the annual sports award.

65A: Quirk: ODDITY

66A: Dawn deity: EOS. The goddess of dawn. Aurora for the Romans. The Romaine lettuce is COS.

Down:

1D: Italy's __ Coast: AMALFI. The answer revealed itself. See this map. Also a town in Salerno. About 24 miles southeast of Naples, according to Wikipedia.

3D: Paleontologist's find: FOSSIL

6D: Positive particle: PROTON. Nice crossing with ATOMIC BOMBS.

8D: Lateral beginning: UNI. Unilateral.

10D: Dig deeply: ADORE. Lovely clue.

11D: Capital ESE of Beirut: DAMASCUS. Capital of Syria. I trust the constructor's direction is accurate.

12D: Drop in the ocean: EBB TIDE. Nice clue too.

13D: One of the reputed Dead Sea Scrolls writers: ESSENE. Got the answer from Across fills. Don't know who ESSENE is. It's only one letter away from essence.

19D: Spot for a screwdriver: BAR. The cocktail screwdriver. Nailed it immediately.

21D: Metallic money: SPECIE. New to me.

24D: Having caught on: POPULAR. Struggled with this fill.

25D: Brouhaha: STIR. Not TO-DO today.

29D: Rubs the wrong way: IRKS

32D: MMXC halved: MLV. 1/2 of 2110 = 1055.

33D: Time to attack: D-DAY. Nicolas Sarkozy finally got his wish. Obama will be at the Normandy the day after tomorrow for the D-DAY commemoration.

35D: Antipoverty agcy.: OEO (Office of Economic Opportunity). Unknown to me. I wrote down WHO (World Health Organization) first.

36D: Drywall mineral: GYPSUM. Could not keep plaster out of my mind.

37D: Records in detail: WRITES UP. I have problem with "in detail".

39D: Pushes forward: PROPELS. "Pushes forward" what?

41D: Nap: DROWSE. Verb. Thought of SIESTA.

43D: Maker of Boulevard motorcycles: SUZUKI. Have never heard of SUZUKI Boulevard.

45D: Tristan's love: ISOLDE. I can never remember this girl's name.

46D: Loft, perhaps: STUDIO

47D: Agave fibers: ISTLES. What's the difference between ISTLE and SISAL?

49D: Blog piece: ENTRY. Like what I am writing here every day.

50D: ___ Jeanne d'Arc: STE. French for saint. Feminine.

52D: Title character not in the cast: GODOT. Got it from across fills.

53D: Overbearing: BOSSY

55D: Not exactly: OR SO

58D: "Waking __ Devine": 1998 film: NED. Nope. New film to me.

59D: Impersonated: DID. APED won't fit.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Wednesday June 3, 2009 Peter A. Collins

Theme: BROKEN CODES (60A: Crytographers' successes (and what can be found in the circles in this puzzle's long answers)

17A: Colonial fair artisan: GLASSBLOWER (Law)

24A: Reasons for an R rating: SEX AND VIOLENCE (Silence)

38A: Keep an eye on things: HOLD DOWN THE FORT (Honor)

49A: Lickety-split: LIKE THE DICKENS (Ethics)

Are there circles in your paper? There is none in LAT's website.

All the above theme code entries are broken, spanning across several words. Additionally, break the law and break the silence are both common phrases. I liked the layered nuances.

LIKE THE DICKENS is a new phrase to me. Interesting to see SEX AND VIOLENCE after our gratuitous sax and violins discussion a few weeks ago.

What other codes can you think of? Bar code, zip/area code came to my mind. I enjoyed today's puzzle. The theme held my interest.

Across:

1A: Makeshift bookmark: DOG-EAR. Nice crossing with REBIND (6D: Put a new book cover on).

7A: Relax: LAZE. Thought of EASE & REST.

11A: Sta. that might show a Bogie flick: TCM (Turner Classic Movies)

15A: Wash basin partner: EWER

19A: Baja bear: OSO. Alliteration again. Spanish for bear.

22A: Stage awards: OBIES. Or TONYS.

29A: It may be roja or verde: SALSA. Red sauce (SALSA roja) or green sauce (SALSA verde). I wrote down SALAD.

30A: "The Zoo Story" playwright: ALBEE (Edward). He also wrote "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

34A: QB's goof: INT. Ah, I got it this time.

43A: Place to crash: PAD. And DIGS (1D: Home, informally). Nice pair.

44A: Took another plunge? REWED. Great clue.

45A: Seder month: NISAN. I used to remember this month. All I could think this morning is ADAR, the Purim month, which is imediately before NISAN.

47A: Tire gauge meas.: PSI

57A: Look down: MOPE. They are not synonymous to me. The former indicates scoreful disdain.

64A: "The Loco-Motion" singer Little __: EVA. Named after the character from "Uncle Tom's Cabin". I got her name from down fills. Here is the clip.

65A: Mother of Helen of Troy: LEDA. She was seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan.

66A: Tennessee team: TITANS. Is their team named after the Greek gods TITANS?

67A: Trim: SVELTE. Adjective. I was thinking of a verb.

Down:

2D: Clay pots: OLLAS. This one is so pretty.

3D: Maker of PlugIns: GLADE. Do you use air freshener at home?

4D: County north of Ken: ESSEX

5D: Two-time loser to DDE: AES. Ah, loser. I prefer opponent.

7D: Pope during the Battle of Ostia: LEO IV. Easy guess.

9D: 25% of zero?: ZEE. Letter Z is 25% of the word zero. I thought of NIL first.

10D: "Misty" composer Garner?: ERROLL. Have never heard of this composer. His name is so close to Errol Flynn.

11D: Streak beginning?: TWO IN A ROW. Oh, I was picturing someone streaking in public.

12D: Trig ratio: COSEC. This stuff confused me a lot when I was in school.

13D: Long-headed mammal: MOOSE. How long?

18D: Former Fords: LTDS. The cars. I thought of former President Ford.

23D: "Don't take silly chances": BE SAFE

25D: Served past: ACED. Is past an adverb here? I like "Served perfectly".

31D: It stops at each sta.: LOC. No idea. What is LOC?

32D: Reacted to, as sudden bright light: BLINKED AT

34D: Evansville's st.: IND (Indiana). Not familiar with Evansville. For a minute, I thought their Senator Evan Bayh might be from Evansville. Wrong. He was born in Shirkieville, part of Terre Haute, which appears in crossword occasionally.

36D: Dander: IRE

37D: LAX posting: ETD. Or ETA sometimes. Just learned from the Air France crash that the black box emits signals for only 30 days.

39D: Moonfish: OPAH. Still can't believe OPAH is used for sashimi.

41D: The Phantom of the Opera: ERIK. The deformed ghost. I forgot his name.

46D: Quarter horse quarters: STABLE. Nice clue. Reminds me of the Kentucky Derby/Preakness horse General Quarters. I liked his trainer/owner. So fiercely independent and quiet. Do you think he looks cool?

47D: Plumber's piece: PIPE. Neat p, p and P.

48D: Sachet emanations: SCENTS

49D: Three-star mil. officer: LT GEN (Lieutenant General). General would would be four-star I presume?

50D: "Monday __ Friday on my mind": 1967 song lyric: I HAVE. Easy guess. I don't know who sang the song.

51D: Senegal's capital: DAKAR. I checked my map. It's the the westernmost African capital. I wonder what DAKAR means in local language. Beijing means "northern capital" in Chinese. My hometown Xi'An means "western peace".

53D: Situated at a junction: NODAL. Like her knees? I had huge trouble with this answer.

54D: Ran through: SPENT. New meaning of "run through" to me.

63D: Kind of engr.: CIV. Civil engineer.

Answer grid.

C.C.