Thursday July 23, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: Take Actions

18A: Take on: GO UP AGAINST

23A: Takeoff: AIR DEPARTURE

32A: Take up: BEGIN LEARNING

41A: Takedown: WRESTLING MOVE

48A: Take in: PUT ONE OVER ON

57A: Takeout: HOT FOOD TO GO

Dictionary defines "Takedown" as "a move or series of maneuvers that succeeds in bringing a standing opponent down onto the mat." New word to me. I also did not know the idiom PUT ONE OVER ON.

I am often taken aback by Dan Naddor's productivity. I wonder how much time he commits to constructing puzzles every day. He is so thorough and ambitious in theme answer researches/designs. Six-theme entries seem to be very common for his 15*15 grids. On/off, up/down & in/out are all paired up nicely.

I really felt dumb this morning. Could not even parse A.F. OF L (62A: Union founded by Samuel Gompers, for short). I am more used to the AFL abbreviation. A.F. OF L is American Federation OF Labor.

Across:

1A: Spill catcher: BIB. Spilled some cherry juice on my white tank top the other day. So surprised that the stains came off rather easily.

4A: Cornered: AT BAY

9A: A pump lacks one: STRAP. Cameron Diaz' "In Her Shoes" is pretty funny.

14A: Sun Devils' sch.: ASU (Arizona State University)

16A: Hogwash: TRIPE

17A: Strauss's "__ Rosenkavalier": DER. German "the". DER Rosenkavalier = The Knight of the Rose. Have never heard of this opera.

20A: __artery, which supplies the kidneys: RENAL. Guessed, since RENAL is often clued as "Kidney-related".

22A: Tee-hee: SNICKER

27A: Expectoration sound: PTUI. The spitting sound. Expectoration/Expectorate (verb) is a new word to me.

28A: River inlet: RIA. Last time Dan Naddor clued it as "Esturary". I always want BAY.

29A: Bando of the 1960s-70s: SAL. Got his name from the Down fills.

38A: Like some auto engine: REBUILT. Did not come to me immediately.

40A: Daughter of King Minos: ARIADNE. She helped Theseus escaped the Labyrinth, but he deserted her. She later married Dionysus, God of fertility/wine.

43A: Place for a stud: EAR. Stud earrings. I like how it crosses the anagrammed baseball ERA (39D: Diamond stat).

44A: DUI's excess: ALC

45A: "Make __ Away": Sheryl Crow song: IT GO. What does IT refer to? Love?

53A: Big name in art glass: STEUBEN. I could only think of Tiffany.

61A: Windy City transportation grp.: CTA (Chicago Transit Authority).

63A: Y, sometimes: VOWEL. My favorite clue. Sometimes Y is a consonant, as in "Yes".

64A: Kenan's TV pal: KEL. Nickelodeon's "Kenan & KEL". I simply forgot.

65A: Kirsten of "Spider-Man": DUNST. I liked her in "Marie Antoniette". So innocent.

66A: Land formation named for its usual shape: DELTA

67A: Cannes condiment: SEL. French for salt. Last time "Poivre's partner" stumped many. Poivre is French for pepper.

Down:

1D: Unfair judgment, slangily: BAD RAP. Silly that some people eschew potatoes because of the carbs. Carbs are not fattening. Excess calories are.

2D: "Thar she blows!": I SEE IT

3D: Peel out: BURN RUBBER. "Peel out" is a new slang to me.

4D: Perspective: ANGLE

6D: HVAC measure: BTU

7D: Band aid?: AMP. Nice play on Band-Aid.

9D: Flight segment: STAIR

10D: Very short time: TRICE. I used to confuse TRICE with THRICE.

11D: Lemieux's milieu: RINK. Mario Lemieux. The only person to win the Stanley Cup as both a player and an owner (Penguins).

12D: It adjoins the altar: APSE. APSE & NAVE often confuse me.

13D: Rock: Pref.: PETR. As in petrify.

19D: Bearded grazer: GNU. Ah, OK, this wildebeest (GNU) does have beard.

21D: Parting words: ADIEUS

24D: Dry residue from molten liquid: PRILL. Like this? I've never heard of this word before.

25D: "__ a stinker?": Bugs Bunny line: AIN'T I

26D: N.C.'s capital: RAL. Raleigh.

29D: Gets off the point: SIDETRACKS

30D: First name in advice: ANN. ANN Landers.

33D: "Skedaddle!": GIT. Variant of get.

34D: Birdie beater: EAGLE. Golf term. Birdie is 1 under par. Eagle is 2 under par. I don't like "beater". Hate the image it conjures up.

35D: AK Steel Holding Corp. formerly: ARMCO. No idea. ARMCO stands for American Rolling Mills Corporation.

36D: __ Grande: RIO. Just saw "Blame It on RIO" the other day. Demi Moore seems to get more beautiful as she ages. She only eats raw food.

37D: Marine combatants: NAVIES. The warships? I was picturing those tough Marines fighting in Iraq/Afghanistan.

38D: "Nature" author's monogram: RWE. Ralph Waldo Emerson. I was stumped. Did not know Emerson's full name.

42D: Indian bread: NAN. Chinese Muslims call the bread NAN too.

46D: Colonel Sanders trademark: GOATEE

47D: Prepared to be summoned: ON CALL

48D: Light, filled pastries: PUFFS. Croissants are PUFFS pastries, right? They are heavy though.

49D: Letter-shaped fastener: U-BOLT

50D: Fabi of racing: TEO. Total stranger to me. Wikipedia says he participated in 71 Formula One Grands Prix.

51D: Available from Netflix, say: ON DVD

52D: String quartet member: VIOLA

53D: River herring: SHAD. Had no idea that SHAD is a kind of "River herring". Pickled herrings are delicious.

54D: Vegan staple: TOFU. TO is literally 'bean". FU means "ferment".

55D: Orwell's alma mater: ETON. "James Bond's alma mater" too.

58D: Water tester: TOE. Nice clue.

59D: Barn bird: OWL. Thought of HEN first.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Wednesday July 22, 2009 Timothy L. Meaker

Theme: SANDWICH (70A: Lunch order that can follow the starts of 1-, 35- and 43-Across)

1A: Bar mixer: CLUB SODA

35A: Jerusalem prayer site: WESTERN WALL

43A: Unrestricted trading areas: OPEN MARKETS

What kind of bread do you use for WESTERN SANDWICH? I've never heard of it before.

I used to love baguette with crudité, jambon et gruyere, you know, those delicious sandwich you find at every boulangerie in Paris. Now my lunch are mainly onigiri (rice balls).

Interesting that SANDWICH is placed symmetrically with CLUB SODA. We don't often see unifying theme answer positioned in such a way.

I enjoyed the puzzle. Food-themed grid is always pleasant to solve.

Across:

2A: Long pace: STRIDE. And TROTS (51A: Easy gaits).

15A: Tangy dessert: LEMON PIE. Have never had this dessert. Sounds tart.

16A: Deceive: LEAD ON

18A: In the prior month: ULTIMO. Next month is PROXIMO. And the current month is INSTANT. All new to me.

19A: Precisely: TO A T. Or TO A TEE.

22A: Beat overwhelmingly: CRUSH. And CLUTCH (1D: Shifting mechanism). Both terrific fills, with only one vowel.

24A: Taxing mo.?: APR. Don't feel question mark is needed.

25A: Title role for 13-Down: FATSO. And DOM (13D: Actor DeLuise). DOM is short for Dominick. I've never seen the film. Not familiar with the actor either.

30A: Riled (up): HET. Dialectal variant of "heated".

31A: Has much too much, briefly: ODS. What's the clue in your paper?

37A: Negri of silents: POLA. I can never remember this girl's name. She's Pol-ish.

41A: Pelota catcher: CESTA. The jai alai basket. Learned from doing Xword.

42A: Buck tail?: AROO. Buckaroo. "Buck tail?" can clue EYE too. Buckeye.

46A: Le Car maker: RENAULT. Citroën has 7 letters too.

47A: "Michael Collins" actor: REA. Liam Neeson played Michael Collins. One of my favorite IRA themed films. Stephen REA's "The Crying Game" is still the best.

48A: Spaniards roll theirs: ARS. I did not know the spelled-out form of letter R is AR.

52A: UFO pilots, in theory: ETS. Why "in theory"?

54A: Discover with effort: DIG UP

56A: Wild West showman: CODY. I did not know Buffalo Bill's real name is CODY.

58A: Edge (out): NOSE

59A: Community west of Montebello, Calif.: EAST LA

63A: Unwavering: RESOLUTE

68A: Like much of Rossini's work: OPERATIC

69A: Groups of eight: OCTADS

Down:


2D: Lost love in "The Raven": LENORE. No idea. All I know about "The Raven" is "nevermore". LENORE is short for Elenore.

3D: Düsseldorf feature?: UMLAUT. The diacritical dots mark above letter ü.

6D: Brief photo sessions?: OPS. Photo OPS.

8D: Man of many morals: AESOP. The adjective of fable is fabulous.

9D: Disparaging remark: SLUR

10D: 1977 Bronson/Remick mind-control thriller: TELEFON. No idea. The poster does not look interesting. TELEFON is German for telephone.

11D: Stoolie: RAT

12D: First name in tyranny: IDI. Uganda's IDI Amin. Shame on me for thinking of MAO first. MAO is a surname. Chinese put family in front of given name. Yao Ming's surname is Yao.

14D: Rock producer Brian: ENO. He created the Windows 95 startup sound, using his Mac. How ironic!

24D: Said positively: ASSERTED

26D: Former Sanyo competitor: AIWA. Sony acquired AIWA in 2002.

28D: WWII French battle site: ST LO

29D: Nobel Peace Prize city: OSLO. All the other prizes are presented in Stockholm.

36D: "Mustn't do that": TSK. Ah, vowelless fill.

37D: Computer connection: PORT

38D: Letters near zero?: OPER. Phone button.

44D: Like Mr. America: MUSCLED. Too much.

48D: Rabbitlike rodent: AGOUTI. Wikipedia says AGOUTIS give birth to litters of two to four young after a gestation period of three months. Some species have two litters a year in May and October while others breed year round. The same with rabbits I suppose.

49D: Backwoodsy: RUSTIC

50D: Soapbox output: SPEECH

53D: Greenhorns: TYROS. I am not a crossword TYRO any more.

55D: Marriage acquisition: IN-LAW. I love being married.

61D: Met: SAT. As a meeting. "The council met in session last night." or "The council SAT in session last night." (From Argyle).

62D: Defunct flier: TWA. Howard Hughes owned TWA from 1939 to 1966.

64D: AQI user: EPA. AQI is Air Quality Index.

65D: One of a D.C. 100: SEN. Yeah, Al Franken was finally swore in several weeks ago. Now we have 100 senators.

66D: Former Monterey Bay fort: ORD. Fort ORD was closed in 1994.

Answer grid.

C.C.