Monday June 22, 2009 Donna S. Levin

Theme: WIMBLEDON (55A: Annual English sports event that begins today, and a hint to this puzzle's theme)

18A: Grand Theft Auto, e.g.: VIDEO GAME

27A: Sterling afternoon serving pieces: SILVER TEA SET

44A: Ideal mate: PERFECT MATCH

I don't know why Grand Theft Auto is so popular. Orgy of violence. I've never had tea in a silver cup. I like my Twins' mug. Many beautiful things are often imperfect, including your mate.

Nice timely theme. I hope Roger Federer gets his 15th Grand Slam title. Must be painful for LENDL (41D: Tennis great Ivan) to see his name crosses WIMBLEDON. He never won there.

I am not fond of the clue for OBAMA (14A: McCain beater). It brought to mind an unpleasant image of Senator McCain being beaten and tortured in Vietnam.

Smooth sailing today. Rich Norris said this eased-up phase will last at least a few months.

Across:

1A: Humped beast: CAMEL. Some has two humps. The Arabian CAMEL has only one.

21A: General __ chicken: Chinese dish: TSO'S. I think I mentioned this before, TSO or its Mandarin spelling Cao is also the Chinese F word. Intonation can totally change the word meaning.

23A: Stateroom: CABIN. On Cruise ship.

25A: Nine-to-five grind: RAT RACE. The movie "Nine to Five" is very silly.

31A: Tense: ON EDGE

33A: A/C capacity meas.: BTU

36A: Best poker pair: ACES. Too bad it's not clued as tennis related.

37A: Dew's chilly cousin: FROST

39A: Rachel's sister: LEAH. Two other Biblical figures: ABEL (60A: 52D-Down son) & ADAM (52D: Sixth-day creation).

40A: Golfing standard: PAR. Ricky Barnes is going to win the US Open today!

42A: Actor Danny: AIELLO. I liked him in "Léon: The Professional". Can never remember his surname.

52A: Highest-ranking USN officer: ADM (Admiral)

62A: Bucky Beaver's toothpaste: IPANA. Wiki says IPANA is a leading toothpaste in Turkey. I learned this brand from doing Xword.

64A: Toy dog, briefly: PEKE

Down:

1D: Chilly: COOL. Wanted COLD.

5D: Final race segment: LAST LEG

6D: Frolic: CAVORT. FROLIC will be a great fill, with C at the end.

7D: Hertz competitor: AVIS. Named after its founder Warren AVIS.

10D: "The African Queen" costar: BOGART. He drank/smoked too much.

13D: New Hampshire city: KEENE. Got the answer from Across fills. What is KEENE famous for?

22D: Foolproof: SURE-FIRE

24D: Some men's underwear: BVDS. Just learned that it stands for Bradley, Voorhees & Day, the original three founders.

25D: Actress Charlotte and explorer John: RAES. The other RAE is Actress RAE Dawn Chong. "The Crying Game" actor is Stephen REA.

26D: Per what was previously mentioned: AS STATED

27D: Suds source: SOAP. S, s & S.

33D: Suspenders alternative: BELT. Do you like the decorative BELTS on her skirt?

38D: Gridiron zebras: REFS

43D: Put in danger: IMPERIL

44D: Zuni or Hopi home: PUEBLO. Spanish for "people", or "town"/"village", according to dictionary.

47D: "Survivor" unit: TRIBE. "Zuni or Hopi" would be a great clue too, right?

45D: Recoil in fear: CRINGE

53D: "Flintstone" pet: DINO

54D: Ghostly sound: MOAN. "Ecstatic sound" too.

Answer grid.

I'm going to change my blog title into "LA Times Crossword Corner" soon. To those who find me every day by googling "Star Tribune Crossword Corner", please simply bookmark the blog site (www.crosswordcorner.blogspot.com) and put it into your Favorites list.

C.C.

Sunday June 21, 2009 Fred Piscop

Theme: Unknown Endings (Letter X is added to a familiar phrase)

23A: Rodriguez upset with negative publicity?: BITTER ALEX (Bitter Ale)

25A: Film timepiece seen briefly?: CAMEO ROLEX (Cameo Role)

43A: Instability of sterotypical BMW drivers?: YUPPIE FLUX (Yuppie Flu)

64A: World's most perplexing problem?: GRAND CRUX (Grand Cru)

87A: Buckingham Palace add-on: QUEEN ANNEX (Queen Anne)

107A: Rubber bedsheets? SLEEP LATEX (Sleep Late)

109A: Cat on steroids?: MUSCLE MANX (Muscle Man)

36D: Encrypted Scriptures? SECRET CODEX (Secret Code)

39D: Highest point in North Africa? BARBARY APEX (Barbary Ape)

I was aware of the chronic fatigue syndrome. Did not know its alternative name Yuppie Flu though. Barbary Ape is a new name to me also. Messed up 23A with BITTER A-ROD.

Easiest LAT Sunday since our switch. Most of the clues are very straightforward. I might have aced this puzzle if I had more time.

Thought it might be a pangram. But I could not find letters V & J.

Across:

1A: Hand-dyeing method: BATIK. Using wax as a dye repellent.

10A: Carpenter's groove: DADO. Can never remember the name for the groove.

14A: Philanthropist Brooke: ASTOR

20A: Tropical tuber: TARO. I miss Cantonese TARO cakes.

21A: Prep school for some princes: ETON. Both Prince William and Harry attended ETON.

27A: Team with the most Super Bowl victories: STEELERS. Total 6.

28A: Oil source: SHALE. I was thinking of the real crude oil.

31A: Seventh day activity: REST. Saturday or Sunday?

32A: Reside: DWELL. Wrote down ABODE, which is actually a noun.

33A: Ramadan practice: FAST. No food, no drink from dawn til dusk, then some dates.

34A: Perp subduer: TASER

37A: Char: SEAR. And BURNT (55A: Well done, then some).

38A: Not permanent, as dye: RINSABLE. Had trouble getting this answer.

47A: The kinkajou has a prehensible one: TAIL. "Prehensible" gives away the answer. I don't know what a kinkajou is.

53A: "V for Vendetta" actor: REA (Stephen). No idea. Have never seen the movie.

56A: __ 1: speed of sound: MACH. Named after the Austrian physicist Ernst MACH.

57A: Contest award: RIBBON

59A: Radium discoverer born in Warsaw, Pol: MME CURIE. MME is short for Madame.

61A: Hebrides isle: IONA. Skye is a "Hebrides isle" too. Might be the origin of actress Ione Skye's name.

62A: Chunnel terminus: ENGLAND. Chunnel is Channel & Tunnel.

63A: Short or long measure: TON. UK uses long TON. Ours is short TON. I penned in TEE.

67A: Isl. south of Corsica: SAR. Sardinia. Unknown to me. See this map. SAR is often clued as "Patriotic org."

71A: Gen. Robt. __: E LEE. I prefer "Gen. Robert __". The Gen. abbreviation is enough.

72A: 1989 undersea thriller: THE ABYSS. Nope. Have never heard of this movie. It's directed by the "Titanic" guy James Cameron.

76A: Crease maker, at times: IRONER

77A: Indian honorifics: SRIS

78A: Unfair treatment, with "the": SHAFT

80A: He "does not throw dice": Einstein: GOD. Nice clue.

81A: Vitamin in liver: NIACIN. New name to me. It's a component of Vitamin -B complex.

83A: __ Mattress: DIAL-A. Have never heard of this brand before.

84A: Laundry concern: SPOT

85A: "Mockingbird" singer Foxx: INEZ. Just clued as "Don Juan's mother" yesterday.

89A: Prompter start?: TELE. Teleprompter.

90A: Bathroom dispenser item: DIXIE CUP. Why "Bathroom"?

94A: __ out: peaked: MAXED

98A: Bug-eyed: AGOG

102A: In coils: SNAKY

103A: Ivory tower milieu: ACADEMIA

111A: Chat room chatters: USERS. Internet chat room.

115A: Man with a code: MORSE

117A: Moon buggy org.: NASA. NASA just launched a rocket to the moon a few days ago.

Down:

2D: Plugging away: AT IT

3D: Pledge drive giveaway: TOTE. More used to the full TOTE bag.

4D: Bond payment: INTEREST

5D: Baseball Hall of Famer Willie: KEELER. Got his name from Down fills. And I don't feel bad not knowing him. He died in 1923. Could only think of the Say Hey Kid Willie Mays.

6D: Square one: START

7D: Ones to hang with: PALS. Shouldn't the clue be "Ones to hang out with"?

8D: Bard's preposition: ERE. Before.

9D: Crew's control: COXSWAIN

10D: Modeling accessory: DECAL. Oh, I was in the wrong model direction.

12D: Kremlin feature: DOME

13D: Number on a driver: ONE. Golf clubs have numbers marked at the sole for easy identification. Who do you think will win US Open? Ricky Barnes looks good.

14D: Puzzle direction: ACROSS

15D: Try to hit: SHOOT AT. Gun? Would be SWING AT if it's golf/baseball.

16D: Pinball no-no: TILT

17D: Works of Sappho: ODES.

18D: Latin king: REX. And RES (24D: Latin thing). I like the consecutive order.

26D: African port: ORAN. In Algeria.

29D: "Take one": HERE. Ha ha, so simple in retrospect.

32D: Redcap's place: DEPOT

33D: Prix __: FIXE. Vs. a la carte.

35D: Chili rating unit: ALARM. The Scoville scale.

37D: Brent who played Data on"Star Trek: T.N.G.": SPINER. Could only picture his face. Don't know his name.

38D: Compensate for oversleeping: RUSH

40D: Rest atop: LIE ON. I was imagining a bird resting atop a branch.

41D: Dik-dik cousin: ELAND. Had to check the dictionary for dik-dik. Strange name.

43D: Part of MYOB: YOUR. Wrote down MIND first.

44D: Removes gear from: UNRIGS. As a ship.

45D: Nancy's home: FRANCE. The French city Nancy.

46D: Old compact from 45-Down: LE CAR

52D: Roots around in: DIGS AT. New meaning of "root" to me.

55D: Eponymous burner designer: BUNSEN (Robert). Saw this clue somewhere before.

56D: Statistical figures: MODES. I don't understand. How can MODES be "figures"?

58D: Ruin the surprise: BLAB

60D: Hard cash?: COIN

62D: Show relief, in a way: EXHALE

65D: Lofty home: AERIE

66D: '60s United Nations leader: U THANT. U means "Mister".

69D: Product suffix suggesting noodles: ARONI. New to me. As in macaroni I suppose.

73D: www transmission: E-FAX. Had trouble getting the answer.

77D: Atlantic food fish: SCUP. Barry Silk clued it as "Type of Porgy" last time.

82D: Marine hue: AQUA

83D: Many Wisconsin farmers: DAIRY MEN

84D: Show biz parent: STAGE MOM. Like Lindsay Lohan's mom.

86D: Closers of a kind: ZIPPERS

88D: Site of North Amer.'s geographical midpoint: N DAK. I knew this trivia.

92D: Room in a big house?: CELL. "Big house" is slang for prison.

94D: Ford classic: MODEL A. Introduced in 1928. I thought of MODEL T, which was actually discontinued in 1927.

97D: Campaign issue: TAXES

98D: Ghana's capital: ACCRA

104D: N.Y. Giants' founder and longtime owner Tim: MARA. I got the answer from Across fills. Wiki says his grandson John Mara is the current Giants' president.

106D: Things to grind: AXE

107D: Bottom line: SUM

Answer grid.

Happy Father's Day!

C.C.