Monday, August 17, 2009 Alex Boisvert

Theme: Three phrases with double OOK in them

20A: Gave additional consideration: TOOK A SECOND LOOK

36A: Falsifying accounting records: COOKING THE BOOKS

49A: In any way possible: BY HOOK OR BY CROOK

Argyle here. (Note: This puzzle has no three-letter word entry.)

If there is anything clever in the theme, I missed it. I felt the whole puzzle was flat and tedious for a Monday.

I need to thank Kazie for her tip yesterday.

You can print the whole puzzle by opening the "print" drop down-window and choose "print with my solutions". However, I think you have to leave at least one letter blank to get the clues with it.

Across Lite didn't have the puzzle available early today and I had to use the Flash version.

There is a food sub-theme: Cheese, oils, ice cream, gumbo, rice and chicken(Foghorn Leghorn).

Across:

1A: Sandler of "Funny People": ADAM.

5A: Do a pre-vacation chore: PACK.

9A: Musicians' org.: ASCAP. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers

14A: Island tourist destination in Indonesia: BALI. Map

15A: 1975 Wimbledon champ Arthur: ASHE.

16A: Words of compassion: I CARE.

17A: Like flights from the USA to Eur., e.g.: INTL. INTernationaL

18A: "Birthday suit": SKIN.

19A: Vacation time, for short: R AND R. Rest and recreation

24A: Bosses (around): ORDERS.

25A: Corsage flower: ORCHID. The shy boys would give a wrist corsage.

28A: __ Jones's locker: DAVY. The bottom of the sea.

30A: Detox locale: REHAB. Both Detox and REHAB are words formed by shortening.

31A: '70s-'80s consumer electronics giant: AIWA. Purchased by Sony Corporation.

32A: Sharp cheese: BLEU.

39A: "Even __ speak ...": AS WE.

40A: Anise-flavored liqueur: OUZO. Widely consumed in Greece and Cyprus. Its taste is quite similar to pastis (France), Sambuca (Italy), mastika (Chios), raki (Turkey), and arak (Lebanon).

42A: Days at an inn: STAY.

44A: "Bless you!" elicitor: AH-CHOO. Updated to add the hyphen

48A: Agent 007: BOND. For C.C.

56A: __ stick: bouncing toy: POGO.

57A: Dust Bowl migrant: OKIE. And if they stayed and played sports, 42D: Oklahoma athlete: SOONER.

59A: Letter-shaped fastener: T NUT. Various styles.

60A: Paris-__ Airport: ORLY.

62A: Trig ratio: SINE.

Down:

1D: Slightly: A BIT.

2D: "Book'em, __!": "Hawaii Five-O" catchphrase: DAN-O. Dec. Danny Williams was played by James MacArthur.

7D: In fashion: CHIC.

8D: Popular bar game: KENO.

9D: Hang on a clothesline: AIR DRY.

10D: Burn badly: SCALD.

12D: Intense passion: ARDOR.

13D: Company car, expense account, etc.: PERKS.

22D: Exploding stars: NOVAE. Singular: NOVA

26D: Vintage cars: REOS. I wonder if there were any other old cars with only three letters.

27D: Chuck wagon fare: CHOW. GRUB is four letters, also.

28D: Scatterbrained: DITZY.

29D: Dr. Seuss's "Horton Hears __": A WHO.

31D: Water in Juarez: AGUA. Spanish.

32D: Conference table site: BOARDROOM.

34D: Heart tests: Abbr.: EKGS.

37D: Prohibited: NOT OK.

38D: Mel who voiced Foghorn Leghorn: BLANC. He was the voice SO many others....

43D: Toon Wile E., e.g.: COYOTE. Suppose he was a cousin to 45D: "Laughing" critter: HYENA.

44D: Bottomless depth: ABYSS.

46D: IHOP or Borders: CHAIN.

47D: Nomadic tribe: HORDE.

48D: Shooter with small shot: BB GUN. Now if I wanted to be 58A: Slyly derogatory: SNIDE, I would say it was ANON.

50D: Elects: OPTS.

51D: Rice-A-__: RONI. The San Francisco Treat.

53D: Cook's array: OILS. Question of the Day: How many different oils do you have in your kitchen? (I just have Penzoil.)

54D: Florida islets: KEYS.

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is a lovely photo of our fellow solver Kazie and her family at her older son's wedding in Saxony last August .

She said: "Left to right: Our younger son, my husband, the happy couple, my husband's brother and sister, her husband and me. In the background you can see some of the Augustusburg Castle where it all took place."

Argyle

Sunday August 16, 2009 Mike Pelusa

Theme: INJURED. Or rather ON THE DL (85D: Temporarily not playing, in a baseball lingo (and a hint to this puzzle's theme) - D & L starting two-word phrases.

23A: Vietnam War program: DRAFT LOTTERY

29A: Driver's warning, perhaps: DASH LIGHT

54A: What spies often lead: DOUBLE LIFE

70A: Desert phenomenon: DRY LAKE

89A: Place to sign: DOTTED LINE

110A: Leer or sneer: DIRTY LOOK

121A: It's no longer spoken anywhere: DEAD LANGUAGE

38D: Be slain by a stand-up comic? DIE LAUGHING

43D: Murray offering: DANCE LESSON

DL stands for Disabled List. David Ortiz was always on the DL when he was with the Twins. Hated when he flourished with the Red Sox.

The clue for DIE LAUGHING is the only one with ? mark. I wish it were consistent with the other straight clues.

I penned in MIRAGE for 70A first. Did not know Arthur Murray the dancer, thought it refers to Bill Murray.

Nice, real baseball sub-theme in this puzzle:

22A: Baseball family name: ALOU

57A: Hall of Famer Slaughter: ENOS

95A: Third-winningest active baseball manager: TORRE (Joe). After Cardinals' Tony La Russa & Braves' Bobby Cox.

4D: Mariners' park, familiarly: SAFECO. SAFECO Field. My first baseball card is a Ichiro rookie.

41D: One of Willie Mays' 20 in 1957: TRIPLE. I wonder why the constructor picked Willie Mays' 1957 season as a clue for TRIPLE? What's so special about it?

83D: Winning of losing run: STREAK

115D: National League division: EAST

Fun puzzle. I've been waiting for Mike Peluso's byline. We used to get his puzzles on Wednesdays. So, when I saw his name, I was very happy and dived into the puzzle very impatiently. Flitting from place to place and penning in all those fill-in-the blanks & other easy answers. I won't repeat this strategy again. It feels better to start with upper left and systematically move to lower right.

The clue for ACRO (2D: Bat opening) needs a ? mark to indicate wordplay. Acrobat.

Across:

1A: "In My Own Fashion" autobiographer: CASSINI (Oleg). Jackie Kennedy's designer.

8A: Mil. decorations: DSCS. DSC = Distinguished Service Cross.

12A: Handicapper's hangout, briefly: OTB (Offtrack Betting)

15A: Ukr. et. al. once: SSRS

19A: Like an albatross: OCEANIC. Because albatross lives in the ocean? I wanted something related to burden or the golf term "double eagle" albatross.

20A: Conference USA's Miners: UTEP (University of Texas, El Paso). Largest university in US with a majority Mexican-American students, according to Wikipedia. I did not know their sports team name.

25A: Show uncertainty: HESITATE

27A: Olden days: YORE

28A: Guitar inlay material: NACRE. Mother-of-pearl. Some drums have such inlay too.

30A: Piston pusher: CAM

33A: Words after pass and raise: THE BAR

35A: Toulouse evening: SOIR. Or NUIT, as in "Bonne NUIT!" (good night!).

36A: Daily agenda: TO DO LIST

42A: Given as compensation: PAID TO

47A: Some pop groups: TRIOS. Like Destiny's Child.

49A: Public place, in a phobia: AGORA. More used to the "Greek marketplace" clue. Not familiar with agoraphobia.

51A: Romanov leaders: CZARS. Fell to the trap of TSARS.

52A: Toots: BEEPS

58A: "Le Roi d'Ys" composer: LALO (Édouard). I just forgot. French composer. LALO is of Latin origin, meaning "to sing a lullaby".

59A: Italian scooter: VESPA. The one used in "Roman Holiday".

62A: Second century date: CII. Roman 102.

63A: Upper East Side NYT eatery: ELAINE'S. No idea. ELAINE'S counts Woody Allen, Norman Mailer, Andy Warhol,, Frank Sinatra, Jack Nicholson and many other celerities as its frequent customers.

67A: Contract terms, at times: LEGALESE.

69A: __ Bator: ULAN. Mongolia capital. Literally "red".

73A: Henry James biographer Leon: EDEL. Learned his name from doing Xword. He wrote a five-volume biography of Henry James and won Pulitzer for his work.

74A: Narrow loaf: BAGUETTE. Hmm, jambon, gruyere & crudité on a BAGUETTE. Want some?

77A: Old United rival: TWA. Howard Hughes's airline.

78A: Rebuke silently: GLARE AT. Tiger Woods's glare is quit cold and intimidating. However, Padraig Harrington is not to be intimidated today. Curl your top lip and go!

81A: __Kosh B'Gosh: OSH

84A: Onetime members of the Winnebago Nation: OTOES. I guessed.

86A: SAS destination: OSLO. The "KLM destination" would be Amsterdam.

87A: Digestion aid: ACID

92A: Online bulletin board runner: SYSOP (System Operator). Not a familiar abbreviation to me.

93A: Hole in the head: SINUS. No idea. The clue conjures up a bloody image to me.

96A: Old burners in a lab: ETNAS. The Sicilian volcano ETNA is Greek for "I burn".

98A: Three Dog Night hit written by Nilsson: ONE. Here is the clip. Unknown to me. Sounds nice.

99A: Mesopotamia border river: TIGRIS. And Euphrates. The two rivers.

101A: So out it's in: RETRO

103A: 1066 battle site: HASTINGS. Norman Conquest fame.

105A: Take __: A BOW. Mine was THAT.

107A: Oxygen-consuming bacterium: AEROBE. Aer(o)=air. Be is from Greek bios (life). New word to me.

109A: Adm.'s milieu: USN (United States Navy). Adm. here is admiral.

114A: __-France: ILE DE. We often see ILE clued as __ de-France.

116A: Make pictures: DRAW

120A: Web sellers: E-TAILERS

124A: Danish shoe brand: ECCO. I wonder how ECCO obtained its name. ECCO is Italian for ECCE, "behold".

125A: Some operators: Abbr. MDS. MD here stands for Doctor of Medicine (Latin: Medicīnae Doctor) I presume?

126A: Woody's son: ARLO. Lemonade witnessed his drugged state in Woodstock.

127A: The ghost of Mrs. Muir?: SPECTRE. Mrs. Muir from "The Ghost of Mrs. Muir" is a British, hence the British spelling SPECTRE. I've never heard of the movie, so the cleverness of the clue is lost on me.

128A: Fen- __: banned diet aid: PHEN

129A: DOD division: NSA (National Security Agency).

130A: Like many signers: DEAF. Did not know a signer is a person who uses sign language.

131A: Syrup, essentially: TREE SAP. Maple syrup.

Down:

1D: Wyoming city: CODY. Can never remember this city. It's named after Buffalo Bill CODY.

3D: Precook, in a way: SEAR. Wrote down SOAK.

5D: QB's overthrow: INT. Interception I suppose.

6D: Zip: NIL

7D: Desktop figure: ICON

8D: Like "aardvark", e.g.: DUTCH. Oh, I did not know aardvark is of Dutch origin.

9D: Entertainment system: STEREO

10D: Brainy: CEREBRAL

11D: Thriller hero, often: SPY

12D: Workplace protection org.: OSHA

14D: Queen's neighbor?: BISHOP. Chess. I obtained the answer from Across fills.

15D: Make fun of: SATIRIZE. Satirical tone can be hard to detect for a non-native English speaker.

16D: Refinery residue: SLAG

18DL Haggis ingredient: SUET. Ewww.

24D: Skin coloring?: TATTOOS. Clever clue.

26D: Connected to the hipbone: ILIAC

29D: Anticipates in a big way: DROOLS. The clue brought to mind Stanley Tucci's "Big Night".

31D: Hgts.: ALTS (Altitudes)

32D: Russian for "peace": MIR. That's how the Russian space station got its name.

34D: Spirit in le ciel: ANGE. French for "angel". "Ciel" is "The sky"/"heaven".

36D: It may be periodic: TABLE. Another great clue.

37D: Ryan of TV's "Peyton Place": O'NEAL. Farrah Fawcett's love.

39D: Opposing team: SIDES

44D: Marseilles crowd?: TROIS. French for "three". Three is a crowd.

48D: More than great: SUPER

50D: "I'll do it for __": A FEE. Funny. Mine was FREE.

53D: WWI French solider: POILU. Literally "hairy one". I can never remember this word.

56D: Marx collaborator: ENGELS. They co-wrote "Communist Manifesto". This poster (Marx, ENGLES, Lenin, Stalin & Chairman Mao) was an important part of my childhood memory.

59D: Let off steam: VENTED

64D: Dundee denials: NAES. Scottish for "no".

68D: Brown of song: LEROY. "Bad, bad LEROY Brown". I was stumped, thinking of R & B singer Bobby Brown (Whitney Houston's husband).

70D: Visa user: DEBTOR. Well, I am a DEBTOR then.

71D: Getting unauthorized R & R?: AWOL. Nailed it.

74D: "Veni, vidi, vici, ", e.g.: BOAST. Nailed it also. Loved the clue.

75D: computer acronym: ASCII

78D: She played Thelma: GEENA."Thelma & Louise".

80D: Has a few too many: TOPES

88D: Length of time: DURATION

90D: Romani de Tirtoff, famously: ERTE. The French pronunciation of his initials R. T.

91D: Behind: DERRIERE

92D: Grounded fliers: SST

94D: Soothsayer: SIBYL

97D: Tempe sch.: ASU (Arizona State University). The Sun Devils'.

100D: Like most church service: SOLEMN

102D: "C'est magnifique!": OO LA LA. Always thought it's OOH LA LA. "C'est magnifique!"="This is magnificent".

104D: Bring about: INDUCE

106D: "Eating __ has never given me indigestion": Churchill: WORDS. Not a familiar Churchill quote to me. Does not sound like him.

108D: __ roses: BED OF. Had trouble stringing the answer together.

111D: Restless desire: ITCH

112D: Dash, for one: RACE. I was thinking the Morse code dash.

113D: Mount of Greek myth: OSSA

117D: "Darn it": RATS

118D: Indian tourist city: AGRA. Taj Mahal city.

121D: Family nickname: DAD. It's ba ba in Chinese. Ma ma is Mom.

122D: "All Things Considered" airer: NPR

Answer grid.

C.C.