Wednesday July 29, 2009 Jerome Gunderson

Theme: Just a Tease!

17A: Mojave Desert grower: JOSHUA TREE

26A: Flashy theatrically: RAZZLE-DAZZLE

44A: VIP at a grand opening: RIBBON CUTTER

60A: Place to wade: KIDDIE POOL

A pangram. 5 Z's. Unbelievable. There are also 6 V's in the grid. Quite unusual.

Such a tight & focused theme. RAZZLE-DAZZLE is certainly the showiest entry. Wish NEEDLE (45D: Bit of Christmas debris) were just clued as "Tease".

I had trouble with lower right corner. Penned in TROY instead of EPIC for 55D: "Cast-of-thousands movie" and messed up the whole corner.

Across:

1A: Knocks senseless: DAZES. And TKOS (52AD: Ali stats).

6A: "__ Zapata!": 1952 film: VIVA. Elia Kazan film, starring Marlon Brando. I obtained the answer from Down fills. I had ?IVA there and thought of DIVA first.

10A: Hook for landing large fish: GAFF. Faux pas is GAFFE.

14A: Send to the Hill, say: ELECT. Capitol Hill.

15A: Sister of Ares: ERIS. Twin sister to be exact. ERIS is the apple thrower who indirectly initiated the Trojan War. Greek goddess of discord.

16A: Teen follower?: AGER. Teenager.

19A: Tear to pieces: RIVE. So the person who tears the stuff to pieces would be RIVER?

20A: Coin-op eatery: AUTOMAT

21A: Moved to and fro, as a golf club just before swinging: WAGGLED. I'm glad Sergio Garcia gave up his waggle habit. Painful to watch. Just hit the damned ball.

23A: Harris' __ Rabbit: BR'ER

25A: Last Olds ever made: ALERO. Discontinued in 2004. Some source says ALERO is a Nigerian name meaning "Grace of the Land".

32A: "Tiny Alice" dramatist: ALBEE (Edward). The answer emerged itself.

33A: Rattler's pose: COIL

37A: Haunted house sound: MOAN

38A: Scout's job, for short: RECON

42A: Former wrestling star __ Brazil: BOBO. No idea. Wikipedia say this guy was credited with breaking down barriers of racial segregation in professional wrestling, and he is often referred to as the Jackie Robinson of wrestling,

43A: Luxurious fur: SABLE

47A: Up and about: RISEN

51A: Exams for would-be Mensas: IQ TESTS. Why did those Kamikaze pilots bother to wear helmets?

54A: Perfumery product: ESSENCE. ATTAR is often clued as "Essence of roses".

59A: Simon & Garfunkel et al.: DUOS

62A: Show flexibility: GIVE. A perfectly ripe mango should GIVE a little when pressed.

64A: Popular DVRs: TIVOS

65A: Seine summers: ETES. What Jerome himself said.

67A: 1"=100', e.g.: SCALE. What kind of SCALE?

Down:

1D: __ vu: DEJA. "DEJA Vu" is also a Denzel Washington movie. Very strange.

5D: Trip: STUMBLE. Verb.

6D: Checked out thoroughly: VETTED. Brutal vetting process in politics.

7D: Bargain tag abbr.: IRR

8D: Penthouse feature: VIEW

10D: Use Listerine, say: GARGLE

11D: Mentally quick: AGILE. "Physically quick" too.

12D: Peggy Lee signature song: FEVER

13D: Feckless Corleone brother: FREDO. He is indeed feckless. Sonny is hot-headed and reckless. Michael is just a perfect Godfather, calculated and ruthless.

18D: Bern's river: AARE. Or AAR. The river flows from the Alps into the Rhine. Aa is an old German for "running water". R is "river" I presume?

22D: It may be unmitigated: GALL. Is "unmitigated GALL" a common phrase?

28D: Letter-shaped beam: Z-BAR. No idea. Like this?

29D: Buddhist sect: ZEN. I like how it mirrors ZIN (31D: California red, briefly) in the grid.

34D: Cardholder's woe: DEBT

35D: Car bar: AXLE. Nice rhyme.

36D: Textile worker: DYER

39D: Fall away: EBB

42D: Trash holders: BINS. Wrote down CANS first.

43D: Romantic lowerings: SUNSETS. Did not come to me immediately. I was stumped by "lowerings".

44D: __ Pieces, candy brand: REESE'S. I've never had this candy. Do they taste similar to M & M?

46D: Mozart's "__ fan tutte": COSI. Italian for "Thus do all (women)" or "Women are like that". COSI = thus, in this way. Fan=do. Tutte=feminine form for "all". Mozart's comic opera (buffa). Alien to me.

47D: Ruffles potato chip feature: RIDGE

48D: Fed-up employee's announcement: I QUIT

49D: Potbelly, e.g.: STOVE. Wikipedia says the potbelly sandwich name is derived from the potbelly STOVE.

53D: Hindu "Destroyer": SIVA. Or Shiva. Plus Brahma the "Creator" & Vishnu the "Preserver". Hindu Trinity.

56D: 1960s-'80s Chevy: NOVA. No idea.

57D: Calm under pressure: COOL. "Grace under pressure" = COURAGE (Hemingway).

58D: "All __ being equal...": ELSE

61D: Hydroelectric project: DAM. China's Three Gorges DAM is the world's largest hydroelectric project.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Tuesday July 28, 2009 Scott Atkinson

Theme: WAIT (49D: Bide one's time, and a word that may precede the answers to starred clues)

17A: *"We aren't finished here": IT ISN'T OVER

53A: *"Give me another sec": I'M NOT READY

11D: *"It's on the tip of my tongue": DON'T TELL ME

28D: *"I haven't told you everything yet": THERE'S MORE

All of the theme answers contain 10 letters. I wonder if the puzzle is inspired by NPR's "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!".

Americans are rather impatient. We want things HERE and NOW. I suppose impatience can be a virtue. It drives and speeds up innovation/progress at various fields. Had we waited and waited for the perfect moment, I doubt men would have landed on the moon.

It felt like I was climbing up the stairs in the middle. The grid just looked pretty to me. I also like how IDLE (50D: Just sitting around) parallels WAIT. Nice to see BUSY (24A: In use, as a phone line) in the puzzle too. Just WAIT!

Across:

1A: Potato holders: SACKS. Potatoes are nightshade veggies, so are tomatoes, eggplants and bell peppers.

10A: Kids' party occasion, briefly: B'DAY

14A: Andean beast: LLAMA. Alpaca & LLAMA are both domesticated guanacos.

15A: Actress Gershon: GINA. Does GINA Gershon strike you as sexy? I've only seen her in "Showgirls".

19A: Tolstoy's Karenina: ANNA. Impossible love story often ends tragically.

22A: Encourage: FOSTER

25A: Cinco de Mayo celebrations: FIESTAS

26A: Acela Express operator: AMTRAK. Acela is pronounced ah-CEL-la. Wikipedia says Acela is meant to be evocative of acceleration and excellence.

29A: Mottled T-shirt: TIE-DYE. Such a bright burst of colors.

30A: Broadway's George M.: COHAN. I always want to spell his name as COHEN.

32A: Wall St. takeover: LBO (Leveraged Buyout).

35A: __ & Chandon champagne: MOET. Part of Louis Vuitton.

40A: Bugs' pursuer: ELMER. ELMER Fudd.

41A: Noble's home: ESTATE. Misread the clue as "Nobel's home". That would be SWEDEN.

44A: Deteriorate, slangily: GO SOUTH

46A: Chopped liver spread: PATE. PATE de foie gras, yum!

47A: Group together: LUMP IN

48A: Dover fish dish: SOLE. I love walleye.

49A: The LPGA's Michelle: WIE. Michelle WIE likes wearing dangling earrings.

56A: Filly's father: SIRE

57A: Menthol cigarette: KOOL. Lots of interesting cigarette ads in those old Life magazines.

58A: Author Zola: EMILE. The French plantation owner in "South Pacific" is also called EMILE.

Down:

1D: __ to none: poor odds: SLIM. Like my chance of finishing a LAT Friday/Saturday/Sunday puzzle without cheating.

3D: Eve's oldest: CAIN. Then Abel, then Seth.

4D: Canada hwy. distances: KMS

5D: Puerto Rico's capital: SAN JUAN. I just realized that SAN JUAN is "Saint John (the Baptist)" in English.

8D: Washington's bill: ONE. Nice president clue to pair up with GARFIELD (9D: President after Hayes).

10D: Sounding like marching bands: BRASSY. I suppose Jazzbumpa's trombone sounds BRASSY too.

12D: Nighttime breathing disorder: APNEA

23D: Multivolume Brit. references: OEDS (Oxford English Dictionaries).

25D: "The X-__: FILES.

26D: Very top: ACME. And ATOP (52A: At the apex of).

27D: Drop anchor: MOOR

29D: Silky-voiced Mel: TORME. Nicknamed "The Velvet Fog".

33D: Woodstock singer Joan: BAEZ. There might not be iPod today had Joan BAEZ actually married Steve Jobs.

36D Bongo-playing '50s-'60s sterotypes: BEATNIKS

37D: Get out of Dodge: FLEE. "Get out of Dodge" is a new slang to me. I've vaguely heard of Dodge City.

39D: Spitter's sound: PTUI. Whoa, no more PTUI, otherwise, Elissa might just give up LAT.

42D: __up (absorbed, as gravy): SOPPED. SOP also means "bribe".

44D: Cinderella's slipper material: GLASS

45D: Protruding navel: OUTIE. Opposite INNIE.

46D: They often have deep ends: POOLS


54D: Bovine bellow: MOO. Alliteration.

55D: Comedian Philips: EMO. Interesting, baby name origin says EMO is German for "serious", I always thought EMO is just short for emotional.

Answer grid.

C.C.