Tuesday July 21, 2009 Bruce Venzke

Theme: Water Transportation Vehicles

17A: Salem trials crime: WITCHCRAFT

57A: Press suppression: CENSORSHIP

11D: Aorta, for one: BLOOD VESSEL

25D: Shake things up: ROCK THE BOAT

What are the exact differences among CRAFT, VESSEL and SHIP? I only know BOAT is a small SHIP.

Also, why "Clumsy vessels" for ARKS (36A)? Why "Clumsy"? I don't like the clue anyway, as VESSEL is part of the theme answer for 11D.

I pwned this puzzle. Felt good.

Across:

1A: Hippie adornments: BEADS. Easy guess. I don't really know what kind of stuff those Hippies wore in the 60's.

6A: Weaponless self-defense: JUDO. Literally, "gentle way". DO is the same as Chinese TAO (way).

10A: Semi driver, at times: CB'ER

14A: Ancient people of south-central Mexico: OLMEC. Are they part of AZTEC?

15A: François's "with": AVEC. Opposite SANS.

16A: Neutrogena rival: OLAY. I love the smell of OLAY cream (the original). Been using it since my college days.

19A: All in a huff: SORE

21A: Convertibles, slangily: RAGTOPS

26A: Worked in a soup kitchen: LADLED

28A: "Our Gang" dog: PETEY. "Pete, the Dog With the Ring Around His Eye". Unknown to me.

30A: North Pole crew: ELVES

38A: Jeweler's glass: LOUPE. Some of the marked Taxco Mexico sterling pieces can fetch thousands of dollars on Ebay.

40A: Dept. of Labor agency: OSHA

41A: Pity-evoking quality: PATHOS. Sitting atop ETHIC (46A: Moral principle).

45A: Met, as a poker hand: SAW. I forgot. We had SEE and RAISE discussions before.

48A: Doe in "Bambi": ENA. Bambi's aunt.

49A: Surround, as with a circle of light: ENHALO. Did not know ENHALO is a word.

51A: "Believe It or Not" guy: RIPLEY. "Believe It or Not", I learned this name from our great farmer/philosopher Windhover.

53A: 1996 loser to Bill Clinton: BOB DOLE. "Easy, boy."

55A: "M*A*S*H" Emmy winner for acting, writing and directing: ALDA

56A: Childlike race in "The Time Machine": ELOI. Two races in "The Time Machine": The ELOI and the Morlocks, the latter eat the former. Yum!

62A: Smelter's waste: SLAG

63A: Dian Fossey subjects: APES

65A: Makes doilies: TATS. Oh, reminds me of that long word antimacassar.

65A: Da's opposite: NYET. Russian for no. Ja & NIEN in German.

67A: Bit of casino action: WAGER

Down:

4D: Fake drake, e.g.: DECOY. Good rhyme.

5D: Hauls with effort: SCHLEPS. Awesome word. Only one vowel.

7D: Charlottesville inst.: UVA (University of Virginia). Founded by Thomas Jefferson.

8D: Offset, as expenses: DEFRAY

9D: Square dance group: OCTAD. Octet too.

10D: Rocker Elvis: COSTELLO. No idea. His name came from Elvis Presley.

12D: 1870s Dodge City VIP: EARP (Wyatt). The O.K. Corral guy. Funny to call him VIP, a word that did not appear until 1940's.

18D: Trix and Kix: CEREALS. Another rhyming clue.

23D: Predicament: SCRAPE. New definition of SCRAPE to me.

26D: Set the stage for: LED UP TO

29D: Pedro's uncle: TIO. Pedro's "uncle" could be NO MAS too.

31D: Natural gas component: ETHANE

32D: Shipping route: SEAWAY. Nice entry, considering the theme today.

35D: "The Munsters" actress Yvonne: DE CARLO. Lily Munster.

37D: Galas: SHINDIGS

42D: Cinco y tres: OCHO. Spanish for eight. OTTO in Italian.

44D: Vagrants' hangout: SKID ROW

50D: Highway through the Yukon: ALCAN. AL(aska)-CA(nadian) Highway. Built during WWII.

52D: Old Turkish VIP: PASHA. The other Turkish VIP's are AGA and BEY. "Russian villa" is DASHA.

55D: Type of coach: Abbr. ASST

59D: Crone: HAG. Lois confused crone with crony last time.

61D: Word before se: PER. Hard to come up with a clever clue for PER.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Monday, July 20, 2009 Robert W. Harris

Theme: Giant Leap For Mankind

16A: 57-Across, 12-Down or 24-Down: ASTRONAUT

35A: Landing site of 7/20/1969: TRANQUILITY BASE

57A: 16-Across Neil: ARMSTRONG

12D: 16-Across Buzz: ALDRIN

24D: 16-Across Michael: COLLINS

42D: __ 11, mission celebrated in this puzzle: APOLLO

Bonus fill : 9D: 35-Across is on it: MOON. Where they landed. Its symmetrical partner EERO (53D: Architect Saarinen) is not part of the theme, hence bonus.

Argyle here.

It was forty years ago today when, at 02:56 UTC on July 21 (9:56pm CDT, July 20), 1969, Armstrong made his descent to the Moon's surface and spoke his famous line "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind". See this picture of the APOLLO 11 crew.

Across:

1A: Federal job safety org.: OSHA. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

15A: Early programming language: COBOL. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language.

18A: Secretly stock up on: HOARD.

19A: Wicker furniture maker: CANER.

20A: One of a crab's grabbers: PINCER. PINCERS pinch.

21A: Gaza Strip gp.: PLO. Palestine Liberation Organization. Hamas controls West Bank.

23A: TV kid "in the middle": MALCOLM. A sitcom on the Fox Network, the series was first broadcast on January 8, 2000, and ended its six-and-a-half-year run on May 14, 2006. Frankie Muniz as Malcolm. "Boss of Me Now", theme song by 'They Might Be Giants'. (Full Version)

26A: Sch. with a Providence campus: URI. University of Rhode Island. Hey, Dr. Dad.

27A: Holy, in Le Havre: SACRE. SACRE bleu!

32A: Dawdling type: DALLIER; 48A: More foamy, as soap: SUDSIER; 43D: More squarish: BOXIER.

40A: What bikinis expose, informally: TUMMIES. And 42A: Sit-up targets: ABS. On the beach.

41A: Informed about: IN ON.

45A: Yemen city: ADEN.

46A: Pretentious one: PSEUD. Shortened pseudointellectual: a person of fatuously earnest intellectual, artistic, or social pretensions.

47A: "The Tell-Tale Heart" author: POE.

51A: Naval noncom: Abbr.: CPO. Chief Petty Officer.

52A: Yoked beasts, collectively: OX TEAM.

56A: It's slightly larger than a quart: LITER.

61A: Ogles: LEERS.

62A: Asian desert: GOBI.

66A: Mother of Castor and Pollux: LEDA. LEDA's twin sons are famous for their fraternal affection and regarded as the protectors of persons at sea. LEDA is also mother of Helen of Troy.

Down:

1D: "...man __ mouse?": OR A.

3D: Wintertime drink: HOT COCOA.

4D: Gillette razor: ATRA. What would constructors do without this Gillette razor?

5D: Sleep disorder: APNEA.

6D: Oyster's gem: PEARL.

7D: __ de Cologne: EAU.

8D: Former fast flier, for short: SST.

10D: Beaded calculator: ABACUS.

11D: Bullring VIP: TORERO.

15D: Sweep's milieu: CHIMNEY. The environment or a setting for the worker cleaning your flue is the CHIMNEY.

17D: "Drinks are __": ON ME. Not heard often enough!

20D: Braids: PLAITS.

21D: Sibilant "Hey!": PSST.

25D: Hardy of Laurel and Hardy: OLLIE.

32D: Kind of bullet that expands on impact: DUMDUM. The Hague Convention prohibits the use in international warfare of DUMDUMS.

33D: Got ready to fire: AIMED.

34D: Score-producing stats: RBIS.

36D: Highly luminous cosmic objects: QUASARS. Quas(i-stell)ar.

37D: Often-amusing story: ANECDOTE. Don't take it for poison; there you need an antidote.

38D: Gazpacho, e.g.: SOUP.

39D: Within: Pref.: ENDO. Opposite ECTO.

44D: Part of a living room set: SETTEE.

46D: Methodist, e.g.: Abbr.: PROT. Methodist is one of the PROTestant churches.

49D: Poetry feet: IAMBS. Metrical feet.

50D: Borden mascot: ELSIE. Elsie, the cow, and family.

55D: Russia's __ Mountains: URAL.

57D: Part of USDA: Abbr.: AGR. United States Department of AGRiculture

58D: French king: ROI. The oldest son of a French ROI is called DAUPHIN.

60D: Coll. student's concern: GPA. Grade Point Average.

Answer grid.

Argyle