Wednesday July 15, 2009 George Fitzgerald

Theme: LEVEL (64A: It can follow the last word of 20-, 27-, 47- and 53-Across)

20A: Not give an inch: STAND ONE'S GROUND

27A: Garage door gadget: ELECTRIC EYE

47A: Dairy Queen treat: BANANA SPLIT

53A: Solar or wind power, e.g.: RENEWABLE ENERGY

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY would be a great answer for 53A too. Needs a bigger grid though.

Great tie-in clues:

15A: Aborted, as NASA: NO-GO. Hopefully there is no more NO-GO for Endeavor.

51A: NASA moon craft: LEM (Lunar Excursion Module). The 40th anniversary of moon landing is days away.

26D: Industry bigwig: TITAN

31D: Industry bigwigs: EXECS. I like how these two "bigwig/s" mirror each other in the grid.

Thanks for the great IMPULSE suggestions yesterday. How would you clue RISE (59D: Stand) then? STAND is part of the answer for 20A, so "Stand" is not an ideal clue here.

Across:

1A: Hamas-controlled strip: GAZA. Fatah controls the West Bank.

5A: Supply-and-demand subj.: ECON

9A: Dog attractor: SMELL. Kept reading the clue as "Dog attacker".

14A: TV host Trek: ALEX. "Jeopardy!" host.

16A: Comedian Fields: TOTIE. No idea. What a strange name: TO TIE.

17A: Auburn color named for a painter: TITIAN RED. Titian often painted women with red hair.

19A: When many coffee breaks occur: AT TEN. "Coffee breaks hr." would be TEN AM.

22A: Tomcat: GIB. New word to me.

23A: Vegas job: Abbr.: DLR. Dealer I suppose.

34A: Clay, since 1964: ALI. He changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad ALI in 1964 after he joined the Nation of Islam.

35A: Four.: Pref.: TETRA. Sometimes it's clued as "Colorful fish".

36A: Like most income: TAXED. Citibank plans to use bailout money to raise their employees' salaries (and dodge the bonus restriction of course).

37A: Ship's post that secures cables: BITT. See this picture. Another new word to me.

41A: Mailroom stamp: REC'D. Ah, see this monkey belly button tattoo J.D. found.

42A: __ Mountains: central U.S. range: OZARK. Interesting, Wikipedia says OZARK might be derived as a linguistic corruption of the French abbreviation "aux Arks" (short for Aux Arkansas, or "toward Arkansas" in English). Makes sense. The pronunciation is the same.

46A: Third-century date: CCI. Roman 201.

49A: Bear lead-in: SHE. Ha ha, I was thinking of FOR, forbear.

50A: Tenn. athlete: VOL (Volunteer). University of Tennessee. The Volunteers. I simply forgot.

62A: "The Hot Zone" virus: EBOLA. Named after a river in Congo.

63A: Antique work: RESTORING. Used to love "The Antiques Roadshow".

65A: Japan is in it, with "the": EAST. And Japanese golfer ISAO (66A: Golfer Aoki). Followed Nick Price a few holes at the 3M Championship last week. He just could not putt.

67A: Hair woe: SNARL. Thought of SPLIT (ends).

68A: Smack ending: EROO. "Switch ending too". AROO is "Buck ending".

69A: Okla. or La., once: TERR

Down:

1D: Hoods' guns: GATS. "Hoods' gals" is MOLLS.

3D: Epsilon follower: ZETA

5D: Elevates in rank: ENNOBLES

7D: S-shaped molding: OGEE. Have not seen OGEE for a long time.

9D: Twinkly at night: STARLIT. "Starry, starry night".

10D: British wheels: MOTORCAR. Rolls Royce leaped into my brain.

11D: Brute question?: ET TU. Caesar's last words: "ET TU, Brute?". Great clue.

12D: Security interest: LIEN. I was in the safety/security direction.

13D: Advance: LEND

21D: East Berlin's land, initially: GDR (German Democratic Republic). Mindlessly penned in GER.

24D: Fat cat: NABOB. "Nattering NABOBS of negativism" - Spiro Agnew.

25D: "Wouldn't It Be Lovely?" singer: ELIZA (Doolittle). I was stumped. The song is from "My Fair Lady".

28D: Cultural spirit: ETHOS

29D: Writer's woe: CRAMP. Have never heard of Writer's CRAMP. Wanted BLOCK.

30D: Sri Lankan language: TAMIL. I don't like curry, do you? It's rooted in TAMIL.

32D: "Ick factor 10": YECCH. Or Yech. I only knew YUCKY.

33D: Rocker Van Halen: EDDIE. He was born in Amsterdam.

38D: One with itinerary: TRAVELER

40D: Type of heel: STILETTO. Ah, the famous STILETTO Race in Amsterdam.

43D: One claiming to have answers: KNOW-ALL. Had trouble obtaining the answer.

45D: Court worker: STENO

54D: Irving Bacheller's "__ Holden": EBEN. Absolutely no idea. I've never heard of Irving Bacheller either. Wikipedia says he founded first modern newspaper syndicate in the US. I wonder what paper it was.

55D: PBS science show: NOVA

56D: Marcia's "Desperate Housewives" role: BREE. Unknown to me also. Marcia Cross is in the middle. Eva Longoria plays Gabrielle.

57D: Jet-setter's jet: LEAR. Got the answer from Across fills.

60D: Growl: GNAR. This word just looks so wrong.

61D: Demented blacksmith in "Son of Frankenstein": YGOR. Oh, YGOR and IGOR are the same person, correct?

Answer grid.

C.C.

Tuesday July 14, 2009 Chuck Deodene

Theme: Vowel Progression

20A: Christmas service: MIDNIGHT MASS

23A: With "A", 1986 Ted Danson film: FINE MESS

38A: The Rebels of the Southeastern Conference, familiarly: OLE MISS

52A: Waifish supermodel from Britain: KATE MOSS

54A: Easy to use, in adspeak: NO FUSS, NO MUSS

I am not familiar with the Ted Danson/Howie Mandel film "A FINE MESS". The poster looks quite intense.

Great to see OLE MISS in the puzzle. We often have OLE alone, sometimes clued as " __ Miss". I did not know their sports teams are The Rebels.

NO FUSS, NO MUSS is the only theme entry with two USS, maybe the constructor could not find another *MUSS ending phrase. Dennis often describes his Monday/Tuesday solving experiences as "No muss, no fuss".

I often wonder how the constructors position their theme entries. Is overlapping more desirable? Is it hard to carry out? The first two and the last two theme answers overlap in this grid.

Not fond of the clue for IMPULSE (42D: Sudden urge) as URGE is the answer for 64A: Craving. Come to the Comments section if you have a better clue for IMPULSE.

Across:

1A: "Now we're in for it": UH OH

5A: Whopper of a meal: FEAST. Maybe we can all "eat less and live longer". But animals display testy/irritable behaviors when they are on calorie restriction. They are just not happy.

10A: Tattooist's surface: SKIN. And ANKLE (63A: Popular tattoo site). "Tramp stamps" sound so harsh for lower back tattoos.

14A: Fan mag: ZINE

15A: Developing egg: OVULE. How is it different from ovum?

17A: Worshiped carving: IDOL

18A: Gave false hope to: LED ON

26A: At ease with: USED TO. I am USED TO the Minnesota winter, but I am not really "at ease with" it.

27A: Web forum user's self-image: AVATAR. I love Sallie's AVATAR (Sally Lightfoot Crab).

28A: Red giant or white dwarf: STARS. Nice "colorful" clue.

30A: Down Under gem: OPAL. More than 90% of the world's OPAL is supplied by Australia. It's their national gemstone.

37A: California Santa __ River: ANA. Easy guess. Have never heard of Santa ANA River. Santa ANA Winds, yes.

41A: Tongue of Tiberius: LATIN. Alliteration again. And ID EST (12D: "That is,", in 41-Across), often seen as i.e.

44A: Soft cheese: BRIE

47A: Brought a smile to: AMUSED

49A: More's perfect place: UTOPIA. Thomas More. He coined UTOPIA.

57A: Claim as one's own: CO-OPT

58A: Carry out: OBEY. OK, "Carry out" an order, OBEY an order.

62A: Harbor pushers: TUGS. Lots of S'es in the puzzle. Total 22.

66A: Spanish sovereigns: REYES. REY is Spanish for "king". REYES is the plural.

67A: Cornet note: TOOT. Woodwind instruments all TOOT, right?

Down:

1D: Six-Day War weapon: UZI

4D: Batters' protection: HELMETS. No S for protection?

5D: Poppycock: FOLDEROL. Or falderal. New "nonsense" to me.

6D: Two, four, six, etc.: EVENS

7D: German wheels: AUDIS. Oh well, can't really see the four-ring logo of her AUDI.

8D: Trudge, as through mud: SLOG

9D: Opposite of "At ease": TEN-HUT. I still feel attention is easier to pronounce.

10D: Vacation times: SUMMERS

11D: Work on sore muscles: KNEAD. I don't enjoy massage, do you?

21D: "__ bad boy!" Lou Costello: I'M A. "Who's On First?" is all I know about Abbott and Costello.

23D: Like some mistakes: FATAL. Do you confuse venal and venial also?

24D: The first Mrs. Trump: IVANA. The second is Marla. The current one is Melanie. I like that baby doll shirt.

25D: Pester persistently: NAG AT

31D: Home to many llamas: PERU. "Home to lima beans" as well.

34D: Left-hand page: VERSO. "Right-hand page" is recto.

38D: "__ the loneliest number": '60s song lyric: ONE IS. No idea. I've never heard of Three Dog Night either.

39D: Law book contents: STATUTES. Three T's in this word.

44D: Saddens, slangily: BUMS OUT. I felt so bad that Cristie Kerr faltered during the final round of U.S. Open. She is very pretty.

46D: Daytona 500 org.: NASCAR

48D: Enero or mayo: MES. Spanish for month. So what's the plural for MES then?

50D: Figure, as a sum: TOT UP. Figure is a verb here.

51D: No longer a minor: OF AGE

52D: Wild and crazy: KOOKY. I thought KOOKY means strange/weird, not wild.

59D: 'Hood buddy: BRO

60D: Word before booster or tripper: EGO. EGO-tripper is new to me. Only familiar with ego trip the noun.

61D: "Is it soup __?": YET. Nope. Totally unaware of this phrase. I've never had Lipton/Campbell's soup. I make my own.

Answer grid.

C.C.