Sunday September 13, 2009 Pamela Amick Klawitter

Theme: Rainbow Connection - Familiar phrases/names starting with (the orderly placed) colors of the rainbow.

22A: Fake footprint at the murder scene, e.g.: RED HERRING. Something intended to divert the attention from the real issue. Joe Biden used the phrase RED HERRING very often during his campaign TV appearance.

26A: Tea type: ORANGE PEKOE. Just black tea. No orange flavor.

33A: Coward, slangily: YELLOW-BELLY. Learned this phrase, lily-livered and mealy-mouthed together in one Op-Ed piece.

66A: Anne's home, in a 1908 Montgomery classic: GREEN GABLES. "Anne of GREEN GABLES", new novel to me. GREEN GABLES is a fictional farm in Prince Edward Island. Montgomery is a Canadian author.

98A: Aristocratic: BLUE-BLOODED. Wikipedia says blue blood is from Spanish phrase "sangre azul," indicating noble birth or descent. And the term derived from the fact that the native Spanish have thinner-walled (bluer) blood vessels than people of Arab origin (the Moors).

107A: "Closer to Fine" folk-rock duo: INDIGO GIRLS. They are featured prominently in "Wordplay". Crossword nuts.

115A: Ponytailed pal of Lucy Van Pelt, in "Peanuts": VIOLET GRAY. No idea. Can't really see her poneytail.

And 49D: Mnemonic for this puzzle's theme: ROY. G. BIV, placed perfectly in the heart of the grid. I like how those color phrases are structured. Very orderly and elegant. I just can never remember ROY G. BIV. So complicated. It's easier to remember the color sequence.

There are also three Biblical figures in this puzzle:

19A: Brother of Moses: AARON. He helped lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. I've never heard of him. More used to the Hank AARON clue.

80D: Twin of Jacob: ESAU. He sold his birthright to Jacob. Probably crossword constructors' favorite Biblical figure, with all those vowels.

95D: Third son of King David: ABSALOM. Hebrew for "father of peace". Ab(h)=father. Salom = peace. Completely unknown to me. I had AB????M, then I decided ABRAHAM sounds good.

Very pleasant solving. Lots of clever clues.

Across:

5A: 12th century year: MCII. Roman 1102.

9A: Tante's spouse: ONCLE. French for uncle. Tante=aunt.

20A: Santa's favorite snack cakes?: HO HOS. Ho, ho, ho, lovely clue for our Santa Argyle.

21A: Limp-watch artist: DALI. In his "The Persistence of Memory", the watches are limp.

28A: Story starter? ESS. Letter S starts the word Story, hence starter.

27A: Kiss drummer Peter: CRISS. No idea. He is the Catman. Those guys have very strange makeup.

30A: Bite hard: CHOMP

31A: Conjurer's word: PRESTO

39A: Net business: ETAIL. Like Amazon/Ebay.

40A: It may have a code: AREA. Stumped me. Nice clue.

43A: A-Team muscle man: MR. T. Would prefer another clue due to TEAM (123A: Locker room group).

46A: Fitness franchise primarily for women: CURVES. There is one closer to our home.

48A: Related to the lower back: SACRAL. The noun is sacrum. Latin for "holy bone". No wonder it sounds sacred.

52A: Adjusts, as sagging socks: HIKES UP

54A: Helmsley and others: LEONAS. "The Queen of Mean" hotelier.

56A: 1930s-40s singer/actress Durbin: DEANNA. Unknown to me. She looks pretty. Canadian. Still alive.

57A: Stuffed shirt: SNOB

59A: "As a matter of fact," informally: Y'KNOW

62A: Stare: GAPE. Thought of OGLE.

71A: Paperless tests: ORALS. And DEES (74A: Bad marks) & BEAR (58D: Nasty exam).

73A: Meal on a stick: KABOB. Shish KABOB. Lots of weird food-on-a-stick at our State Fair.

76A: Nursery rhyme loser?: BO PEEP. "Little BO BEEP has lost her sheep". Stumper for me. All nursery rhymes are.

78A: Make a home (in): RESIDE. And ADOBE (102D: Southwestern home).

81A: "Like that'll ever happen!": DREAM ON

86A: Shows up: APPEARS

88A: Correct, as text: REVISE

90A: Site of a bread line?: BAKERY. Nailed it.

91A: "L.A. Law" costar: DEY (Susan)

92A: Go round and round: ROTATE. I liked the clue.

97A: Island east of Java: TIMOR. Sigh. I can only think of BALI. West TIMOR belongs to Indonesia. East TIMOR is an independent country.

100A: Pay attention in class: LEARN. Wanted LISTEN.

106A: One of a world majority: ASIAN

117A: Wittenberg's river: ELBE. Wittenberg is a town on the ELBE River. Famous for its connection with Martin Luther and the dawn of the Protestant Reformation. Unknown to me.

118A: Knock off: CEASE

119A: Wrong move: ERROR

120A: Mythical matchmaker: AMOR. Cupid. Roman love god. YENTE is the "Musical matchmaker" in "Fiddler on the Roof".

121A: Highland rejections: NAES

122A: Specter on the Hill: ARLEN. Pennsylvania senator. Started as a Democrat, then changed to Republican, and now back to a Democrat.

124A: Slider's goal: BASE. Baseball.

Down:

2D: Aggressive Greek god: ARES. Greek god of war. TYR is the Norse equivalent.

5D: Cousin of the xylophone: MARIMBA. New instrument to me also. What kind of wood is it made of?

6D: Veggie drawers: CRISPER. I put my grapes/peaches in the CRISPER.

8D: Having one sharp, musically: IN G. Nope. Music term is definitely my blind spot.

9D: Chicago site of many connections: O'HARE. Airport. Second busiest airport in the world, after Atlanta.

11D: Seaman's song: CHANTEY (SHAN-tee). New word to me. I will just connect it with chanter, French for "sing".

12D: A million to one, say: LONG ODDS

13D: Italian noble family: ESTE

14D: Gigi's goodbye: ADIEUS. Does Gigi here refer to Leslie Caron's "Gigi" or just a common French name?

15D: Warmongers: HAWKS. Like Paul Wolfowitz. Man, this guy is incredible. Expensive suit, no?

16D: Economist Janeway: ELIOT. Got the answer from Across fills. He was the economic advisor to FDR and LBJ.

17D: Gets the lead out?: MINES. Metal lead.

19D: Hood's weapon?: ARROW. Robin Hood.

23D: Lacking auditory feedback: ECHOLESS. Did not know it's a word.

28D: Jazz trombonist Kid: ORY. Nope. Complete stranger to me. I do know the answer for "Jazz trombonist grandpa": RON. Our jazzbumpa.

29D: Chinese leader: PREMIER. Zhou Enlai is our first and most beloved PREMIER.

30D: Horror writer Barker: CLIVE. Nope. He does not look like a writer. I like this CLIVE (Owen). Daniel Craig too. I find them to be very attractive.

31D: Put: PLACE

33D: "Ugh!": YECH. JD uses this word sometimes.

34D: Case for tweezers and such: ETUI (ey-TWEE). PTUI is pronounced like TOO-ee.

35D: Symbol of happiness: LARK. Happy as a LARK.

36D: "Boston Public" actress Sharon: LEAL. No idea. Do you like her lipstick color?

38D: Like no news?: GOOD. No news is GOOD news.

41D: Decaf pioneer: SANKA. Have never had it.

42D: "If at first you don't succeed" course of action: PLAN B. This answer gives me trouble all the time, regardless of how it's clued.

44D: Keep getting Mad, say: RENEW. Mad magazine. M is capitalized.

45D: Old dynasts: TSARS

47D: Like most pop hits: SUNG. Did not come to me immediately.

51D: He succeeded Fidel: RAUL. Brothers.

53D: Politically motivated spending: PORK. Pork barrel.

62D: Turn: GO BAD

63D: Soap-on-__: A ROPE. What is this? The Urban Dictionary definitions sound awful.

64D: Popeye's dad Poodeck __: PAPPY. No idea. PAPPY is just a Southern slang for dad, correct?

65D: Civil War's Robt. __: E LEE

67D: Big name in criticism: EBERT. Film critic Roger EBERT.

69D: Long time follower?: NO SEE . Long time NO SEE.

69D: Certain Slav: SERB

72D: Chef's high-temperature technique: SEARING. Hmm, I want some seared tuna.

75D: Vacation area: SEA COAST. "Vacation spot" is better as AREA is an answer to 40A.

77D: Annual dance: PROM

79D: Lollapalooza: DILLY. Lollapalooza is a fun word.

82D: Goodyear's home: AKRON. Once “the rubber capital of the world”.

83D: Hoover Dam's lake: MEAD

85D: "Blue" TV squad: NYPD. "NYPD Blue".

87D: More boring: STODGIER

89D: __ Fagan, Billie Holiday's birth name: ELEANORA. No idea. Thought Billie Holiday is her real name.

93D: New kid on the block, e.g.: ARRIVAL. Interesting intersection with RIVAL (114A: Honda, to Toyota).

97D: Toys "R" Us purchases: TRIKES

98D: Real est. ad. count: BRS

99D: Hybrid big cat: LIGER. Lion & tiger. Offspring of a male lion and a female tiger. Tiglon = Tiger & lion, the offspring of a male tiger and a female lion.

101D: First name in B-29 lore: ENOLA. ENOLA Gay.

104D: Rub off: ERASE

108D: Willy of "Free Willy": ORCA

111D: "Get Smart" evil agency: KAOS. Obtained the answer from Across fills.

112D: Thomfield Hall governess: EYRE. Jane EYRE.

115D: Check for accuracy: VET. Such rigorous vetting process for those White House nominees.

116D: Gift of the garrulous: GAB. Kiss the Blarney Stone, you'll get the gift of GAB.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Saturday September 12, 2009 Don Gagliardo

Theme: None

Total blocks: 28

Total words: 68

A few notes first:

1) If you solve today's puzzle via Cruciverb's website, there is an error for 5A. The answer is ADDER instead of ADDED. Rich Norris (LA Times Crossword Editor) has notified Cruciverb, but it's not been been updated yet. Click here for the correct Across Lite grid.

2) Rich acknowledged the error for LOOIE ("Certain NCO, slangily") clue immediately on Thursday morning in an email to Dennis. I should have put his response on the blog main entry. Rich said these recent problems are all the result of last-minute changes requested by Tribune. And they've smoothed out the process, which should soon put an end to the glitches.

3) Today's puzzle is the first themeless by Don "Hard G" Gagliardo (Congratulations, Don!). He kindly provided us with his creating process:

"The September 12 themeless puzzle happened from a desire on my part to expand my challenges. I had never done a themeless, and wanted to see what it is like. To try something a little different, I thought it would be interesting to cross six 15-letter entries (three across, three down) and have them spread out in the grid. Rich pointed out that this does not work well on two accounts: it makes it difficult to have other long entries, and at least a couple of the 15's are probably not going to be very interesting. Rich referred me to Barry Silk's puzzle that week, and how he got , I believe it was, 22 entries at least 7 letters long. It was a beautiful puzzle and so I was inspired. I decided on two 15's to cross at the center. My novelty was to try to clue them the same way (I don't know if it made it this way to publication). Those two long entries determined a great deal how the rest of the puzzle filled in. I tried for variety, and answers that could have interesting clues. At that time, I did not have Crossword Compiler. It was extremely hard to create this puzzle with paper and pencil! My first version was almost acceptable. With a small revision, Rich accepted the puzzle. BTW, Rich was noted as being Mr. Saturday at the New York Times. To have him accept this puzzle was a great honor. Rich has a book of puzzles out, "A to Z Crosswords", which explores the themeless style at great length. Amazingly, each puzzle in the book is a pangram. It is extremely enjoyable solving."

The two grid-spanning 15's are:

32A: "See?!": WHAT DID I TELL YOU?!

7D: "Sound familiar?": DOES IT RING A BELL?

Great intersection at the very center of the grid. Such vibrant colloquial phrases.

Not a very focused solving for me. Got distracted by the error warning and then peeked at the answer sheet way too early.

Across:

1A: Absorbed: RAPT. "Wordplay" is a very absorbing documentary on NY Times crossword.

5A: Snake with a puff variety: ADDER. Dictionary says Puff ADDER inflates its body and hisses when disturbed. Extremely venomous.

10A: Shakespeare's Avon calling?: BARD. The BARD of Avon, Shakespeare's nickname.

14A: Become equitable in the long run: AVERAGE OUT

17A: Remote measuring devices: TELEMETERS. No idea. It measures/transmits/receives data between a ground station and an artificial satellite. Can also be a verb.

18A: Cheese coated in red paraffin: EDAM. Named after the town in the Netherlands where the cheese originated.

19A: China's Zhou __: ENLAI. Mandarin spelling. Cantonese is Chow ENLAI. The only high-level Chinese leader who survived Mao's Cultural Revolution purge.

20A: That, in Madrid: ESO. Sometimes it's ESA.

21A: Museum in Madrid: PRADO. Both Goya's "The Naked Maja" & "The Clothed Maja" are housed in PRADO. Nice consecutive Madrid clues.

22A: "Tea for Two" for two, e.g.: DUET. "Tea for Two" is a DUET in musical "No, No, Nanette".

23A: Country singer Yearwood: TRISHA. Oh, it's she who sings "How Do I Live" in Nicolas Cage's "Con Air".

25A: Geometric fig.: CIR (Circle)

26A: Show featuring agents 86 and 99: GET SMART. Watched Steve Carell & Anne Hathaway's "GET SMART" a few weeks ago. Just plain silly.

28A: Web search tool: ENGINE. My first reaction: GOOGLE.

30A: Lumberjack, at times: AXER. And RUER (16A: One with regrets). Remember we used to get lots of RE, ER, EST, ED, S, ING affixes in the old Saturday puzzles?

31A: 1980s-'90s Buick sports car: REATTA. No idea. Wikipedia says it's a hand-made luxurious sports coupe by Buick. Short-lived. From early 1988 to 1991. One more T than the rodeo rope REATA.

37A: 1993-2001 White House maiden name: RODHAM. Hillary Clinton 2016? Possible!

38A: Symbol on a staff: NOTE. Musical staff.

39A: Like most piano technician services: IN-HOME

40A: Football setting: GRIDIRON. Favre + Vikings = Superbowl? Possible!

45A: Peg under a dimpled ball: TEE. Such a vivid clue. Golf ball weighs 1.62 ounces or less.

46A: Legal term that's French for "on a bench": EN BANC. BANC is French for "bench". Wikipedia says this legal term refers to the hearing of a legal case where all judges of a court will heard the case (an entire bench), rather than a panel of them. Unknown to me.

48A: Sushi wrapper: NORI. Love NORI seaweed. Sometimes I crumble them in my soup.

49A: Chelmsford's county: ESSEX. Have never heard of Chelmsford. Quite close to London. What is it famous for?

51A: Blood typing letters: ABO. Shouldn't it be "Blood type letters"?

52A: Photons' family, in physics: BOSON. Named after the Indian physicist S. N. Bose. Both the clue and the answer mean nothing to me.

53A: Elec. supplier: UTIL (Utility)

54A: 2002 film for which Adrien Brody won a Best Actor Oscar: THE PIANIST. It's on our Netflix queue.

56A: Ruse: PLOY

57A: Used car dealer's spiel, say: SALES PITCH

58A: Dict. offerings: SYNS (Synonyms)

59A: Clay bakers: KILNS

60A: Southwestern art colony town: TAOS. In New Mexico.

Down:

1D: OK for kids, filmwise: RATED G. Do let your kids watch "The Greatest Game Ever Played". One of the best golf movies I've ever seen. So inspiring. Everything begins with a dream.

2D: Michigan in Chicago, e.g.: AVENUE. No idea, Sir. Michigan AVENUE is a major north-south street in Chicago. Too clever a clue for me.

3D: Bit of buckshot: PELLET

4D: Dog training aids: TREATS

5D: Time of your life: AGE. Wow, so simple. I'm 38 and I am a pig.

6D: Checked: DETERRED. I was in the "verified" direction.

8D: Continental currency: EUROS. Such a straightforward clue for a Saturday.

9D: ACLU concerns: RTS. Is it a common abbreviation for rights?

10D: Rabbit or Bear's title: BR'ER. Uncle Remus stories.

11D: Gall: AUDACITY. Thought of CHUTZPAH first.

12D: Interpret by inference: READ INTO

13D: H. G. Wells's island researcher: DR. MOREAU. No idea. "The Island of Dr. MOREAU" is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells.

21D: Like some den walls: PANELED

23D: Cabbies in Canterbury: TAXIMEN. We just call them taxi drivers in China.

24D: One seriously straying from the flock?: HERETIC. Was thinking of MAVERICK.

27D: Sargent portrait of a mysterious Frenchwoman: MADAME X. Here is the painting. Both the portrait and the painter were strangers to me.

32D: Newspaper accounts: WRITE-UPS

33D: With no deception: HONESTLY

34D: Bonding: ADHESION. Tricky clue. I thought the clue is asking for an ING ending verb.

35D: Even if, informally: THO'

36D: Like gift wrap on Christmas morning: TORN OPEN. I open some on Christmas Eve, and save some for Christmas morning.

41D: Like con artists' shills, e.g.: IN ON IT

42D: Bilingual Muppet: ROSITA. Forgot. The "Sesame Street" character. She speaks Spanish and English.

43D: Pitcher Jesse, who had the most career appearances: OROSCO. Total 1,252 games pitched. Can't believe I've never heard of this guy. He was with the Twins in 2003.

44D: Final innings: NINTHS. I like how OROSCO paralles NINTHS.

47D: Mideast religion that preaches equality: BAHA'I (buh-HAH-ee). Founded in Persia in the 19th century.

50D: Bridge expert Culbertson et al.: ELYS. The authority on contract bridge.

52D: "Southern" relig.: BAP. Southern Baptist. Not a familiar abbr. to me.

54D: "For shame!": TSK

55D: Unit of Time: Abb.: ISS (Issue). D'oh, Time magazine. I did not even pay attention to the capitalized T.

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is great Father's Day photo of our fellow LAT solver Jimmy B, his wife Diane and their three boys. Their middle son (on the left) had just finished the police academy, hence the buzz cut.

C.C.