Saturday August 8, 2009 Gail Grabowski

Theme: None

Total blocks: 28

Total words: 70

Tough puzzle. Tough (but clever) cluing. Hardest Gail Grabowski I've ever solved. The grid is anchored by two 15-letter fills crossing each other right in the middle:

36A: Washington address: MISTER PRESIDENT

8D: Timber, for one: NATURAL RESOURCE

I was thinking of the place "address". Got the last intersecting letter T from ENTRE (31D): immediately, so I confidently filled in *STREET at the end of 36A. Very nice "Between, in Brest" clue. Delicate sexual innuendo. Alliteration too of course. Brest is the west extremity of France. ENTRE nous = "between us".

ELS (44A: 1994 U.S. Open champ) and EAGLE (21D: Some U.S. Open scores) were gimmes. Double bogey, bogey, par, birdie, EALGE are common US Open scores. Rare to see double EAGLE (albatross).

Across:

1A: Village People classic: MACHO MAN. Not a good clue, as CLASSICS is the answer for (60A: Some required reading). Y.M.C.A. is their biggest hit.

9A: Locale of a Stephen King residence: BANGOR. Look at his Victorian mansion.

15A: Latin-American pastry: EMPANADA. No idea. Looks like it's savory.

16A: Simple life?: AMOEBA. "Simple" indeed. But what a stumper for me. Kept thinking of the idyllic life little Heidi lives.

17A: Visited overnight: STAYED AT

18A: One might excite a gambler: HOT TIP

19A: Hinny's mother: ASS. Hinny is an offspring of a male horse and a female donkey. Female donkey is JENNY.

20A: Site of Europe's Parkpop festival, with "The": HAGUE. No idea. Wikipedia says Parkpop is the largest free pop festival in Europe, and it's held at Zuiderpark in the HAGUE on the last Sunday of June.

22A: Up in the air: UNSET

23A: Focus group?: CAMERA CREW. Despite the ? mark, I still thought of A.C. Nielson style "Focus group".

25A: Apollo's nymph: DAPHNE. Literally "laurel" in Greek. DAPHNE did not want Apollo's love and was changed into a laurel tree when pursued. The tree then became sacred to Apollo, who crowned the victors with laurel wreath at the Pythian Game (forerunner of the Olympics). Origin of "resting on one's laurel".

28A: Reminiscing word: AGO

29A: Not localized: WIDE

32A: Beginning of a response to "Eh?": I SAID. And ERS (56D: Sounds from the stumped).

33A: Stand for: ALLOW. OK, I won't stand for/ALLOW this behavior. I was in the "represent" direction, as in CRS stands for "Can't remember sh*t".

35A: It's often blocked on beaches: SUN

39A: Seasonal hrs.: EDT (Eastern Daylight time)

40A: Takes in: DUPES

41A: One with a pad, perhaps: NOTER. Thought of STENO first.

42A: They may be rough: SEAS. Of course, I thought of the golf fairway rough. U.S. Open always has the toughest rough.

45A: Kick out: DEPOSE

46A: Movie nerd, e.g.: STEREOTYPE. Stymied.

49A: View from the Acropolis: AGORA. The old Greek market. Parthenon stands atop Acropolis.

51A: Less ambiguous: SURER

52A: "We don't know yet, "on skeds: TBA

55A: Carnival ride?: CRUISE. Carnival CRUISE Lines.

57A: Starving: RAVENOUS. And EATS A LOT (62A: Reacts to being 57-Across).

59A: "Freestyle" performer, perhaps: RAPPER. Have never heard of "Freestyle rap". It's an improvised rap style.

61A: Pacers and Rangers: EDSELS. Nope. Both EDSEL Pacers and EDSEL Rangers were strangers to me. Thought of the NBA's Indiana Pacers and baseball's Texas Rangers.

Down:

1D: Formation with walls: MESA. Steep walls and flat top.

2D: Balance, e.g.: Abbr.: AMTS

3D: Bk. reviewers?: CPAS. Financial books. Very tricky clue.

4D: It's cut and dried: HAY. Perfect clue for our charming farmer/philosopher Windhover.

5D: Like a diving catch: ONE-HANDED

6D: Title for Dickens's Defarge: MADAME. No idea. MADAME Defarge is a character in "A Tales of Two Cities".

7D: Byword: ADAGE. Did not know the meaning of "Byword".

9D: Cross word: BAH. Cross is an adjective here, angry/annoyed.

10D: Illicit affair: AMOUR. It's just French for "love", fair l'AMOUR = make love.

11D: Unsurprising: NOT NEW. Wanted COMMON.

12D: Figures out: GETS WISE TO. This multiple word fill just drives me nuts.

13D: Award for "Hot l Baltimore": OBIE. No idea. The neon light of letter e of Hotel was burned out, hence Hot l.

14D: Engaged, in a way: RAPT

23D: Receipt: CHIT. Used to the IOU clue.

24D: __Bay, largest Oregon Coast City: COOS. No idea. The city is located in COOS County, where the COOS River enters COOS Bay on the Pacific Ocean, according to Wikipedia.

25D: Symbols of thinness: DIMES. I wanted RAILS. Have never heard of the expression "thin as a dime".

26D: Where all kidding occurs?: ASIDE. Idiom: "all kidding ASIDE".

27D: Some Campbell's creations: PASTA SOUPS. I make my own soup.

30D: Kara Kum features: DUNES. Kara Kum is a desert in Central Asia. Turkish for "Black Sand". New to me.

33D: Half an incomparable mixture: APPLES. Comparing APPLES and oranges.

34D: Gallo gadget: WINE PRESS. Not familiar with the Gallo Winery, the largest exporter of California wines.

37D: Hand wringer: RUER

38D: Knucklehead: DOPE

43D: ATM card feature: STRIPE

45D: Textile factor fixture: DYE VAT

47D: Means of support: EASEL. Oh, support for painters.

48D: Lilting refrain: TRA LA

49D: Parcel unit: ACRE. Was thinking of the post office parcel package rather than the plot of land parcel.

50D: Scholarship drive donor: GRAD

52D: One of Churchill's four offerings: TOIL. Churchill's famous line: "I have nothing to offer but blood, TOIL, tears and sweat".

53D: Osso __: BUCO. Osso=bone. BUCO=hole. Have some.

54D: Short staffer?: ASST. Nailed it immediately.

58D: Bug-loving org.: NSA. D'oh, the listening device bug.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday August 7, 2009 Gareth Bain

Theme: TERminus (TER is added to familiar phrases.)

17A: Megaphone for a ghost?: BOO BOOS(TER)

27A: Fault-finding artist?: NAGGING PAIN(TER)

44A: Reason to bring a relief pitcher? FALLING STAR(TER)

58A: Drunk-as-a-skunk skunk?: LIT CRIT(TER)

FALLING STARTER tipped me off the theme. Only learned a few months ago that LIT can mean "intoxicated". LIT CRIT is a shortening of Literary Criticism.

I was surprised that both CTRL (19A: Key not used by itself) and MCS (21A: Mike holders) have no abbreviation hints in the clue. I guess CTRL is OK, as it's shown as such on the keyboard. It's indeed a "Key not used by itself", you often press CTRL with Alt & Del. Very clever clue.

A much easier puzzle than last Friday's, though I still had troubles here and there. This is an eased-up week I think.

Across:

1A: Longtime Boston Symphony conductor: OZAWA (Seijin). He was born in China. Lived in Beijing until he was 6.

6A: Pack: CRAM

10A: "Goodbye, Columbus" author: ROTH (Philip). Has anyone read this book?

14A: Rental sign: TO LET. Be careful of "letter" clue, as it might refer to one who lets.

15A: Senate garb: TOGA. Roman senate.

16A: Grammy winner for the New Age album "Amarantine": ENYA. Yanni, Enigma are New Age artists too.

22A: "Over here!": YOO-HOO

24A: Special something: AURA. And HALO (13D: Saintly symbol).

26A: Fill (with): IMBUE

32A: San __, Calif.: MATEO. Spanish for "St. Matthew".

33D: Negative link: NOR. Neither/NOR.

34A: Far from exciting: TAME

35A: Mount in Crete: IDA. Zeus was born in MT. IDA.

38A: Programme shower: BBC. Shower=show-er, one who shows. Programme is the British spelling. Hence BBC rather than ABC, my initial answer.

39A: Stereotypical escapee's tool: FILE. Not familiar with hand FILE tool. Wanted ROPE.

48A: Refreshing spot: OASIS. In a desert.

49A: City on the Irtysh River: OMSK. See this map again. The city on the Ural is called ORSK.

50A: Talk incessantly about: HARP ON

53A: Foot in a line: IAMB. Poetic foot.

57D: GM line until 2004: OLDS

62A: Oratorio highlight: ARIA

64A: Pal in a Stetson: PARD. Short for "partner", cowboys' way of saying "pal". Stetson hats are part of Cowboys's outfit.

66A: White poplar, e.g.: ASPEN. I can almost hear the ASPEN leaves fluttering at the slightest breeze.

Down:

1D: Gambling outlets, for short: OTBS. OTB = Off-Track Betting.

2D: __ suiter: '40s dude: ZOOT. Here are two modern ZOOT suiters. Very high-waisted pants.

3D: Flowering succulent: ALOE. Did not know "succulent" can be a noun.

4D: Wikipedia article, e.g.: WEB PAGE. Have you ever paid attention to Wikipedia logo? It's a globe of jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces.

5D: Words on an initial reference volume: A TO. Volume 1, A TO ..., I was stumped. From A TO Z is more at my comprehension level.

6D: Diagnostic pic: CT SCAN. No idea. Also called CAT SCAN. CAT = Computerized Axial Tomography. I can only think of MRI/X-RAY.

8D: Just a number, it's said: AGE. AGE is just a number, so true.

9D: Gospel duo with the single "Shackles": MARY MARY. Unknown to me. See this clip. Sounds like hip hop rather than gospel.

10D: Election extender: RECOUNT. I did not expect the Minnesota Senator seat RECOUNT to last that long.

11D: Offered: ON THE TABLE. And its symmetrical partner A TALL ORDER (28D: One difficult task). Both are three-word fills. Nice pair.

12D: First-time: TYRO. Or TIRO. Latin for "novice".

18D: Katz of "Dallas": OMRI. Headache. I can never remember this guy. OMRI is of Hebrew origin, meaning "sheaf of grain".

23D: Sash traditionally tied with a bow: OBI. Yes, indeed.

25D: Actor Tognazzi: UGO. No idea. He was an Italian actor. UGO means "intelligence", variant of Hugo.

26D: Apple in your pocket: IPOD. So much free publicity for Apple.

27D: First name in Olympics perfection: NADIA (Comaneci). The first gymnast to be awarded a perfect 10 in Olympic history.

29D: Pesky swarm: GNATS

30D: Fireplace bit: EMBER

31D: Geometric fig.: RECT. Rectangle.

32D: Rub the wrong way: MIFF

36D: Acquired kin: SON-IN-LAW

37D: Follows tightly, as a curve: HUGS

40D: Slipped by: ELAPSED

42D: Stimulus check org.: IRS. Nice clue.

43D: Nevis's sister island: ST KITTS. See this map. Stumper for me. Wikipedia says The Federation of ST KITTS and Nevis is the smallest sovereign nation in the Americas. Nice crossing with ISLET (42A: Speck in the ocean).

45D: Prefix with therm: ISO. Prefix meaning "equal".

46D: Froot Loops mascot: TOUCAN. Not familiar with TOUCAN Sam. Chinese don't eat cereal for breakfast.

47D: Made in the U.S.: AMER. Called to mind this amazing Star Tribune article. What's your best flea market/garage sale find?

50D: Lion tamer's prop: HOOP

51D: Rootless plant: ALGA

52D: Move a muscle: STIR. Alliteration.

5D: Like mortals?: MERE. Us MERE mortals. I got the answer from Across fills.

56D: Falklands War gun: BREN. An acronym of Brno, the Czech city of design, and Enfield, site of the British rifle factory. I first wrote down STEN, which is derived from the weapon's chief designer Major Reginald Shepherd and Harold Turpin, and the same Enfield factory.

59D: "Mad About You" cousin: IRA. Easy guess. I don't remember this character at all. Did watch several episode of "Mad About You".

60D: "Hope __ good breakfast": Bacon: IS A. Francis Bacon's full quote is "Hope IS A good breakfast but a bad supper". I like the breakfast & Bacon connection.

Answer grid.

C.C.