Thursday August 13, 2009 Don Gagliardo

Theme: ALFRED HITCHCOCK (7D: Born 8/13/1899, he directed the answers to the starred clues)

21A: *Very difficult task: MURDER!

29A: *Aristophanes comedy: THE BIRDS

38A: *You may be picked up if you are under it: SUSPICION

49A: *Music to an interrogator's ears: I CONFESS

57A: *Loony: PSYCHO

12D: *Sunnybrook Farm girl: REBECCA

13D: See 51-Down: SCENE

41D: *Dizziness: VERTIGO 1958

51D: With 13-Down, something 7-Down is famous for in his films: CAMEO

Wow, 10 theme entries. Don "Hard G" Gagliardo did it again. Great tribute puzzle.

ALFRED HITCHCOCK had a CAMEO role in all the five Across movies. Excellent intersection. I also like vertical placement of VERTIGO. REBECCA is kind of scary, so is "Rear Window". I wish I had never seen PSYCHO.

Of all the HITCHCOCK movies, I like "To Catch a Thief" the most. How about you?

I don't know who Aristophanes was, but THE BIRDS came very easily, so did the other theme answers. I just adore this puzzle. Almost aced it.

Don G, if you are reading this blog, can you email me crosswordc@gmail.com?

Across:

1A: Toto's two?: ARF ARF. Toto is Dorothy's dog from "The Wizard of Oz". I was fixated on the two letter T/O in Toto's name.

7A: PC key next to the space bar: ALT

10A: Needle bearers: FIRS. Pine needle.

14A: Soap opera, e.g.: SERIAL

15A: Grassland: LEA

16A: Certain util.: ELEC

17A: Infant who succeeded Russia's Empress Anna in 1740: IVAN VI. Ivan the Terrible. I had IVAN?I sitting there forever.

18A: Interoffice memo, maybe: FAX

19A: North Sea feeder: ELBE. It simply means "river".

20A: Fifth bk. of the Torah: DEUT. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and DEUTERONOMY.

24A: Gazzara or Stiller: BEN. Only know BEN Stiller.

25A: Unit of work: ERG. From Greek ergon, meaning "work". It's ten-millionth of a joule.

26A: Freelancer's end: SAE (Self-Addressed Envelope). SASE (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope) is more common.

27A: Seldom seen: SCARCE

33A: Sans opposite: AVEC. Voulez-vous coucher AVEC moi (ce soir)?

34A: Clinton's department: STATE. Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State. Boy, she was testy.

35A: Towel word: HIS

37D: Educator LeShan: EDA. Always wanted ADA/IDA.

41D: Chocolate-making vessel: VAT. Tend to associate VAT with wine.

43A: Chocolate lover, often: TOT. I like the consecutive "Chocolate" clues.

44A: Fetch: GO GET

47A: Perry's creator: ERLE. Perry Mason. ERLE Stanley Gardner. Inspiration for Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

51A: Pressing issue?: CREASE. Great clue.

53A: Bunny __: HOP. Dance?

54A: "Fantasia" frame: CEL. Some of those cartoon CELS are highly collectible.

56A: Words with distance: AT A. Oh, AT A distance.

59A: Ale designation: PALE

60A: "La Bohème" heroine: MIMI. Obtained the answer from Down fills.

62A: Seesaw need: TWO

63A: Intervene: STEP IN

65A: "Omigosh!": EGAD. God probably does not really mind people invoke his name directly.

66A: Vocation: Abbr.: OCC (Occupation)

67A: Hire: TAKE ON

68A: "It slipped": OOPS. I do hit the PREVIEW button before I press PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT. Still have OOPS. .

69A: Indus R. country: PAK. Again, got the answer from Down fills. Not familiar with Indus River, the longest river in Pakistan. It rises in Tibet.

70A: Like some icy weather: SLEETY

Down:

1D: Lateral remark: ASIDE

2D: Goes back (to): REVERTS. Wrote down RETURNS first.

3D: Full of , with "with": FRAUGHT

5D: Toyota __ 4, SUV model: RAV. Ridiculous ad. RAV4 stands for "Recreational Active Vehicle with 4-wheel drive". Did not know that.

6D: Like the worst excuse: FLIMSIEST

8D: X-ray vision thwarter: LEAD

9D: Political hot button: TAXES

11D: Lacking social graces: ILL-BRED

22D: Old Mideast org.: UAR (United Arab Republic). A union of Egypt & Syria, from 1958 to 1961.

23D: Color TV pioneer: RCA

28D: Vindicate: AVENGE

30D: "Chico and the Man" setting, briefly: EAST LA. The answer revealed itself. Have never heard of the sitcom "Chico and the Man".

31D: Heat unit, briefly: BTU

32D: [error left as is]: SIC. Here are the brackets marks again, indicating a non-verbal expression.

36D: Turnpike features: SIGN POSTS

39D: Pasty Hawaiian staple: POI

40D: Gut-punch reaction: OOF

42D: Local cartographer's creation: AREA MAP

45D: Reason for a search party: ESCAPEE

46D: "Four Quartets" poet: T. S. ELIOT. Nice to see his full name in the grid.

48D: Uncommon sense?: ESP

50D: "Wow!": OOH

52D: Legally prohibit: ESTOP. Learned from doing Xword.

55D: Controversial Bruce: LENNY. Why was he controversial?

58D: Fem. advocacy group: YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association). Established in 1855.

59D: Chinese toy: PEKE. We call them lion dogs due to their resemblance to the guardian lions. The lions always come in pairs, male on the left, female on the right.

61D: Fingers: IDS

64D: 1960-'61 chess champ Mikhail: TAL. "The Magician from Riga". He was born in Riga, Latvia.

Answer grid.

Alright, as promised yesterday, here is a closer look at our blog "it" girl Melissa Bee. She is just beautiful, including her incredible brain. I also adore this avatar photo, ethereal looking.

C.C.

Wednesday August 12, 2009 James Sajdak

Theme: MARGIN OF VICTORY (Winning difference - a small one starts 17-, 26- and 47-Across)

17A: "That fact is worth considering": A POINT WELL TAKEN (basketball/football/tennis)

26A: "Brilliant": A STROKE OF GENIUS (golf)

47A: Wall Street nightmare: A RUN ON THE MARKET (baseball)

Hmm, another scrabbly puzzle. Only one letter Q away from a pangram. 6 K's.

Four 15-letter theme entries. Lovely. No A GOAL for the hockey/soccer fans though.

I am not familiar with A RUN ON THE MARKET. Similar to the stock market crash we just weathered?

I don't understand the clue for LONG (18D: Unlike any vowels in dictionaries?). Is it because all the vowels in the word "dictionaries" have short sounds?

Across:

1A: Hook's mate: SMEE. The pirate in "Peter Pan".

5A: Swedish import: SAAB. GM still owns SAAB, though won't for long.

9A: Letter vender?: SAJAK (Pat). Host of "Wheel of Fortune". I was in the rental let-ter (one who lets) direction.

14A: Utterly unapproachable: COLD AS ICE

16A: Love abroad: AMORE. Italian for "love".

19A: Approaching the hour: TEN TO. I used to say five fifty (5:50) rather than TEN TO six.

20A: Janis's comics mate: ARLO. "ARLO and Janis".

22A: Clandestine maritime org.: ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence). The Navy CIA. I simply forgot.

24A: Sgt., for one: NCO

35A: Japanese drama: NOH. Derived from Chinese "Neng", literally "ability". Most NOH characters are masked. Actors are usually males.

36A: Fair-sized fair: EXPO. Nice clue.

37A: Petrol measure: LITRE. Petrol is British for "gas", hence British spelling of LITER.

38A: Angelou's "And Still __": I RISE. Penned in "I SING". Must have confused it with something else.

41A: Places for RNs: ERS. ORS too.

42A: Café container: TASSE. French for "cup". TASSE à café = coffee cup.

43A: Not hit off the ground: TEE UP. You use a tee to TEE UP (i.e., not "hit off the ground") when teeing off. I felt stupid not being able to interpret the clue.

44A: Premature, perhaps: RASH

46A: W. Hemisphere alliance: OAS (Organization of American States).

51A: Shaq's alma mater: LSU (Louisiana State University)

52A: Wall St. wall plaque: MBA. Do they really display their MBA on the wall? Even after this financial meltdown?

53A: Inclusive prefix: AMBI. Prefix for "both", as in ambidextrous.

60A: Middle of three black keys: A FLAT. Easy guess.

67A: Menotti's shepherd boy: AMAHL. "AMAHL and the Night Visitors". Literally "labor"/ "hard work" in Hebrew/Sanskrit. Maybe it's related to AMAH.

68A: "Reach": STICK 'EM UP

69A: Sip or bite: TASTE

70A: Piece of work: TASK

71D: Musician's mailing: DEMO

Down:

1D: Word to a pest: SCAT

2D: Brood: MOPE. Sometimes I feel blue for no reason.

3D: North Carolina campus: ELON. Wow, this Tar Heel State sure gets lots of play lately.

4D: Prose pro: EDITOR. Yes, you are a "Prose pro", Rich!

5D: Old JFK arrival: SST

6D: Bygone audio brand: AIWA. Sony acquired AIWA in 2002, and then discontinued the brand in 2006.

7D: One offering outstanding services?: ACER. Is "service" the same as "serve" in tennis?

8D: Bossy's ringer: BELL. I wonder why a cow is called bossy.

10D: Endangered South American watershed: AMAZONIA. New word to me.

11D: Part of a routine: JOKE. Oh, "comic routine". Not a JOKE that Kathy Griffin is now dating Sarah Palin's 19-year-old almost son-in-law.

12D: War deity: ARES. Greek God of War.

13D: Daily Planet reporter: KENT (Clark)

15D: "That's __!": parental warning: A NO NO

23D: Tina's ex: IKE

25D: Druid, for one: CELT. Druid is ancient CELT. Dictionary says druid is derived from duiwid, dru means "oak", (w)id means "to know". No wonder Druids worshipped oak trees.

26D: Ekberg of "La Dolce Vita": ANITA. I remember this scene. But her name escaped me.

28D: 1960s-'70s South Vietnamese president: THIEU. No idea. This guy was South Vietnam's last president (1965-1975).

29D: Bring to bear: EXERT

30D: Daytime TV mogul: OPRAH. Ennui.

31D: "All that Jazz" choreographer: FOSSE (Bob). Wikipedia says he won an unprecedented eight Tony Awards for choreography.

32D: "Not to worry": IT'S OK

33D: Latin bears: URSAE. Mine was URSAS.

34D: Behold, of old: SEEST. Biblically. I was thinking of ECCE, the Latin "behold".

39D: Morning awakener, perhaps: SUNLIGHT. What came to your mind first?

40D: Long poem: EPOS. Literally "tale" in Greek. "Odyssey" is an EPOS. New word to me also.

45D: "I'm thinking ...": HMM

48D: Former Georgia senator Sam: NUNN. Georgia senator from 1972 to 1997.

50D: Took a Grand Canyon trip, say: RAFTED

53D: Latin trio word: AMAT. Amo (I love), amas (You love) & AMAT (He loves).

55A: Tops at the beach: BRAS. So pretty.

57D: Go for: COST

58D: Mennen lotion: AFTA. A pun on "after".

59D: Dollar competitor: AVIS

61D: Togo's capital: LOME. No idea. See this map. They speak French, so Lomé is pronounced like law-MEY.

62D: Carla lily family: ARUM. Learned from doing Xword. Jack-in-the-pulpit belongs to the ARUM family also.

63D: Slip of the finger?: TYPO. Lovely clue.

65D: Seine sight: ILE. French for "island".

Answer grid.

C.C.

PS: Here is photo of our fellow solver Elissa and her family after bar mitzvah last week. In her words: "You can just see me next to my husband (the handsome guy with the mustache) peeking over my mother's head. In my next life I plan to be tall!"