Thursday June 18, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: Extra! Extra! (two letter X'es in each theme answer)

17A: One some roads, it might be several miles after the last one: NEXT EXIT

20A: Like interest on some bonds: TAX EXEMPT

36A: She may oversee an estate: EXECUTRIX

57A: Halo 2 and Project Gotham Racing, notably: XBOX GAMES

63A: Route on which to "get your kicks," in a pop standard: SIXTY-SIX

8D: Fajitas, for one: TEX-MEX DISH

29D: Product of a major 1999 merger: EXXONMOBIL

Holy cow! Total 14 letter X'es in the grid. NY Times' record is 13.

Typical Dan Naddor puzzle. Heavy themage. Perfectly placed EXECUTRIX. I like how it intersects the other two Down theme entries. New word to me though. But -TRIX is common feminine suffix, so the answer came to me rather quickly.

So sweet to see XI'AN (39D: Central Chinese provincial capital) in the grid, though the clue is inaccurate, to a nitpicking native Xi'Anese like me. XI'AN is the capital of Shaanxi Province, which is actually classified as Northwestern China. And XI'AN is often regarded as the most important city in Northwestern China. XI'AN (西安), literally "Western Peace".

But I totally understand Dan Daddor's "Central Chinese provincial capital". XI'AN, one of the oldest cities in China, is most famous for its terra-cotta soldiers. Chairmao and the Communist Party picked Beijing over XI'AN in 1949 to be the capital of China. And of course, I grew up there and I just mentioned it yesterday.

Across:

1A: Words spoken with glass raised: A TOAST

7A: Bellicose declaration: IT'S A WAR. And PAX (35A: Peaceful period). Roman goddess of peace.

13A: Disciplines: CHASTENS

16A: Snookums: DEARIE. Snookum does not sound sweet to me at all.

18A: Run out, as a subscription: EXPIRE

19A: Pitching start: ERA. Poor Johan Santana, he is losing steam now.

22A: HMO workers: DOCS

25A: They're just looking: EYERS. How many millihelens? Whom do you like better, Alessandra Ambrosio or Andriana Lima?

30A: Tic-tac-toe loser: OOX

32A: Colorful card game: UNO

33A: Building toy with apostrophe in its name: K'NEX. I only know LEGO.

34A: Campus hangout: QUAD. What exactly is a QUAD? We hung out at DORM.

40A: Delivery person?: MOM. Nice clue.

43A: Gumbo pod: OKRA. So sticky!

44A: Jedi adversary: SITH. No idea. Not a "Star Wars" fan. Wanted EWOK.

48A: PBS benefactor: NEA

49A: Sounds of hearty laugh: HA HA HA

51A: Rattler's threat: VENOM

53A: __ to a one's neck: IN UP. I am familiar with "up to one's neck", not with "in".

55A: Some House votes: NAYS. Some "State Duma votes" would be NYETS.

60A: Otto minus cinque: TRE. Italian for three. Otto (8) minus cinque (5). French five is cinq.

61A: "__ & Mrs. Miller": 1971 Beatty/Christie film: MCCABE. New film to me. Juliet Christie is a beautiful woman.

65A: Begin successor: SHAMIR. I got the answer from Down clues. SHAMIR is of Likud party, so is the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

66A: South Australia's capital: ADELAIDE. See this map. The city is named after Queen Adelaide, a Germanic name meaning “nobility.”

67A: Bottom lines: TOTALS

68A: In folders, say: SORTED

Down:

1D: Broken out in blemishes: ACNED. I only know the noun ACNE.

2D: Alcatraz, familiarly: THE ROCK. Movie title as well.

3D: Southern Mexican: OAXACAN

4D: 49th-state police gp.: AST. I suppose it's Alaska State Troopers?

6D: Gas company with a star logo: TEXACO

7D: Bordeaux brainstorm: IDEE. French for "idea".

10D: News article: WRITE-UP

11D: Go public with: AIR. Hmmm, Senator John Ensign was forced to AIR his extramarital affair yesterday. The forbidden fruit is always tempting. Sweeter too, yes?

12D: R & B artist Des'__: REE. Nope. Have never heard of this singer. Her original name is Desiree Weeks.

14D: His Western White House was dubbed La Casa Pacifica: NIXON

21D: Deletes: X'S OUT

23D: Portly pirate: SMEE. "Peter Pan" pirate.

27D: Chicago team, briefly: SOX. CUB as well.

31D: It fits in a lock: OAR. Oarlock. Of course I thought of KEY.

34D: In the capacity of: QUA. Sometimes it's clued as Sine QUA non.

38D: Guy with a helpful online list: CRAIG. Nice clue. I bought a few bobbleheads from CRAIG's List.

40D: Dallas NBAer: MAV. Mark Cuban is a colorful character.

41D: __ Miss: OLE. University of Mississippi.

42D: Often tailless feline: MANX CAT

45D: "We're done here": THAT'S IT

46D: Halloween jaunt: HAYRIDE. No idea. I've never seen anyone takes HAYRIDE during Halloween.

49D: Sticky: HUMID. Like the weather in Guangzhou, so HUMID. Takes days to dry my clothes in the raining season. Most Chinese do not have dryer at home.

50D: High points: APEXES. The plural of apex can also be apices. So close to apiece.

54D: Apollo's creator: NASA. Very timely fill. NASA is going to launch an unmanned rocket to the moon today. I wonder if anyone thought of Zeus, who is the father of Apollo.

56D: H.S. health course: SEX ED

58D: Much of the MTV Generation: X'ERS. I am one.

59D: 1944 battle site: ST LO. Close to Caen.

61D: Cheyenne hrs.: MST. I wonder if we have any fellow LAT solvers in Cheyenne.

62D: Comic Margaret: CHO. Korean-American. Chinese for CHO is Zhao or Cao.

64D: "Babi __": Shostakovich symphony: YAR. No idea. I suppose it's related to the Babi Yar massacre.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Wednesday June 17, 2009 Mike Peluso

Theme: They Are Angels

20A: Angel: HEAVENLY SPIRIT

36A: Angel: AMERICAN LEAGUER

53A: Angel: BROADWAY BACKER

Angel is rooted in Greek angelos, meaning "messenger". Demon is from Greek daimon, "divine power". Strange. Nothing diabolical. You would think it shares the same root as devil.

Anaheim Angels (I am used to their old name) won the World Series in 2002 when I was back in Xi'An. Fun to watch the playoffs in Chinese.

Dictionary also says angel can be a verb -"to provide financial backing for".

"Charlie's Angels" are missing. Who is your favorite? Lucy Liu is kind of mean in the film. Have never seen the old Farrah Fawcett/ Jaclyn Smith "Charlie's Angels". Oh, by the way, look at this terrific HOURGLASS FIGURE link J.D brought to the Comment section yesterday. Scarlett Johansson's measurements are shown to be 36-23-34. Incredible.

I had a bit trouble with lower left corner, otherwise, smooth solving. Favorite clue today is ABACI and 38D: Government finger-pointer?: UNCLE SAM. Can't believe the term was used in 1812 already.

Across:

1A: Rock concert equipment: AMPS

14A: Sonny and Cher, e.g.: DUET. "I Got You Babe". Their only daughter Chastity Bono has just decided to become a man.

15A: "The Many Loves of __ Gillis": old sitcom: DOBIE. Got the answer from Down fills.

17A: This, in Seville: ESTO. Or ESTA, the feminine "this".

19A: Swan lover of myth: LEDA. Mother of Helen of Troy.

23A: SFO datum: ARR (Arrival). SFO is San Francisco International Airport.

25A: Asian counters: ABACI. Plural of abacus. Count-er. Just like the wordplay on flow-er for river. Nice clue.

28A: Lady of Bavaria: FRAU. "Mrs." in German. Wife of HERR.

33A: Disney villainess __ de Vil: CRUELLA. From the "101 Dalmatians". I only saw the Chinese version of the movie. Could not remember her name.

41A: Portuguese capital: ESCUDOS. Monetary unit. I was thinking of LISBON. Wiki says ESCUDO is Portuguese for "shield". Shouldn't "Portuguese capital" be EURO now?

43A: Math subj.: ALG

46A: Supporter: ALLY

48A: Lundi follower: MARDI. Tuesday. As in MARDI Gras. Lundi is our Monday.

50A: Diamonds, to a fence: ICE. Fence is a person who deals with stolen goods.

58A: Assess: LEVY. Wrote down RATE first.

59A: Honor with barbs: ROAST. Like what those journalists do at the annual Gridiron Club dinner.

60A: Egyptian fertility goddess: ISIS. Wife/sister of Osiris.

62A: First place: EDEN. And ABEL (7D: Genesis victim). The real first families.

64A: Ideal for tubing, as a river: LAZY. I am stumped. Why?

65A: Senator from Kansas or North Carolina: DOLE. Bob DOLE (Kansas) or wife Elizabeth DOLE (North Carolina).

67A: Dark clouds, often: OMEN. Or "the writing on the wall".

Down:

2D: Grow exponentially: MUSHROOM

3D: Baseball's all-time leader with 4,256 hits: PETE ROSE. He should be in Hall-of-Fame. PETE ROSE played with a real passion.

4D: Colonnade of ancient Greeces: STOA. Colonnade is rooted in column.

5D: Bye that's bid: ADIEU. Bid ADIEU to.

6D: "Death, be not proud" poet: DONNE (John). He wrote lots of elegies.

8D: Boglike: MIRY

9D: Complete collections: SETS. Anyone owns 1955 Topps doubleheaders? Those cards look very neat.

10D: Ignore the script: AD-LIB

12D: Florentine ruling family: MEDICI. The Renaissance art patron family. I also learned this morning that the MEDICI family produced 3 popes (Leo X, Clement VII and Leo XI) .

21D: Beta alternative: VHS. History now.

22D: Zahn of TV news: PAULA. I watched her/CNN a lot immediately after 9/11. PAULA Zahn is a great cellist.

23D: He played Pierce on *M*A*S*H: ALDA (Alan).

27D: Parisian pop: PERE. Mon PERE, ma MERE, mes FRERES (brothers) et mes SOEURS (sisters).

28D: New Brunswick's Bay of __: FUNDY. No idea. See this map. Wiki says the name "Fundy" is thought to be a corruption of the French word "Fendu", meaning "split".

30D: Bass and others: ALES. Not familiar with Bass Ale brand. I don't drink beer.

33D: XXXV x X: CCCL. 35x10=350

34D: Fidel's successor: RAUL. Gimme, gimme. They are brothers.

35D: Lago contents: AGUA

37D: "I am ... __": Neil Diamond hit: I SAID. Here is the clip. Unknown to me.

39D: Put under: ETHERIZE. New verb to me. Same as anesthetize?

43D: Strolled lazily: AMBLED

44D: Texas border city: LAREDO. EL PASO came to me first.

45D: Humble oneself shamelessly: GROVEL. Both PANDER and KOWTOW have 6-letters too.

47D: Japanese computer giant: NEC

49D: "I'll Be Your Shelter" singer Tayler: DAYNE. Not familiar with the song.

50D: "A Doll's House" playwright: IBSEN (Henrik). The only Norwegian playwright I know.

51D: Spiteful: CATTY

54D: Court order: WRIT

56D: New Haven Ivy: YALE. The Bulldogs.

57D: Unit of mass, briefly: KILO. Kilogram. Equals to 2.2 pounds.

Answer grid.

C.C.