Saturday September 26, 2009 Barry Silk

Theme: None

Total blocks: 33

Total words: 68

There are exactly 34 Across and 34 Down fills. Very balanced. We don't often see an equal number of across and down entries.

Hey - it's Dennis. I really enjoyed this puzzle. Not just because it's a Silky, but also because a) there's no three-letter answers, a real construction feat (probably the reason why this puzzle is not a pangram), and b) there's a pair of stacked ten-letter entries in each of four quadrants, and I love the longer answers. Also several of the clues and answers hit home personally, as you'll see as you go through the write-up.

Barry said his seed entry was Cole Hamels. He had released 2008 Phillies Championship Tribute on our blog in Jan 2009. HAMELS was part of the theme answer, clued as "MVP of the 2008 Phillies". C.C. mentioned that the puzzle eventually made it into Phillies' organization.

Across:

1A: Dr.'s calendar item: APPT (Appointment).

5A: Arizona's southwesternmost county, or its seat: YUMA. Do you remember '3:10 to Yuma'? I remembered the 1957 version, with Glenn Ford & Van Heflin, but not the 2007 remake with Russel Crowe & Christian Bale.

9A: Narrow one's brows (at): SCOWL. Look displeased/angry.

14A: Tigger's pal: POOH. Just vaguely remember the characters of "Winnie The Pooh" in Hundred Acre Wood.

15A: "Stop pouring now!": WHEN. Think our DFettes ever say 'when'?

16A: NFL commentator Long: HOWIE. He was a great defensive end.

17A: Prefix with marketing: TELE. Telemarketing. We all love telemarketers.

18A: Phillies pitcher who received the 2008 World Series MVP Award: COLE HAMELS. Obviously, one of my favorite clues. Cole got us only our second World Series Championship in over 120 years. He's married to Heidi Strobel from Survivor.

20A: Car roof with removable panels: T-TOP. Here's an example.

21A: Instants of revelation, as for puzzle solvers: AHA MOMENTS. Who doesn't love that moment when the light comes on?

22A: Easier version, in music scores: OSSIA. From the Italian for 'alternatively'. Was originally spelled o sia, meaning "or be it".

24A: Iditarod destination: NOME. A great test of endurance for both people and dogs.

25A: Sports intermission: HALF TIME.

28A: Elvis's swivelers: HIPS. But not everyone got to see them initially. Early TV shows kept the camera above his waist when he performed. Watch this example from the Ed Sullivan show.

32A: Co-proprietor: JOINT OWNER. Scrabbly J.

34A: French 101 verb: ETRE. I was expecting 'amas' or 'amat' (Latin) from force of habit.

35A: Existing independent of experience, in logic: A PRIORI. Deductive or presumptive. Opposite a posteriori. Buckeye has given us several long lectures on A PRIORI.

36A: Libya neighbor: TUNISIA. It's at the very top of Africa. See it? Capital city is Tunis, which was gridded in our puzzle on Thursday. An intentional ALGERIA trap.

38A: Pimples: ZITS. Almost put a picture here but didn't, 'cause it wasn't pretty.

39A: Photographer known for his black-and-white American West scenes: ANSEL ADAMS. I love his photographs. This is my favorite of his works; I want that road.

41A: Citrus peel: ZEST. Only the colored portion of the rind. The white pith is bitter.

42A: Emits, as pheromones: SECRETES. I love how it perps 29D, 'It's a secret'.

43A: Part of MSG: MONO. Monosodium glutamate. The Chinese restaurant next to my hobby store is always filling our dumpsters with empty MSG drums.

44A: Snow coasters: SLEDS.

47A: Angler's item: FISHING ROD

53A: Bra size: B CUP. A bit smaller than this one, and a LOT smaller than this one.

54A: Carefully entering: EASING INTO. Ah, the images...

55A: Cube maker Rubik: ERNO. We should all have this guy memorized by now.

56A: Goaded, with "on": EGGED. Wanted 'urged' initially.

57A: Fiddling tyrant: NERO. He fiddled while Rome burned.

58A: Flat fee?: RENT. Good clue. British call apartment "flat".

59A: Hotsy-__: TOTSY. We have many on this blog.

60A: Dutch export: EDAM. Named after the town in the Netherlands where the cheese was first made.

61A: Souped-up Pontiacs: GTOS. My favorite muscle car. This is identical to one of the ones I had.

Down:

1D: Is __: probably will: APT TO.

2D: Meter experts?: POETS. Poetic meter. Very clever.

3D: Golfers' tops: POLO SHIRTS. I was initially going for something involving a visor.

4D: 2002 film about a musician who survived the Holocaust: THE PIANIST. Remember Adrien Brody's liplock on Halle Berry at the Academy Awards?

5D: Girls' rec. center: YWCA. Since 1858. YMCA was established in 1844.

6D: "Here comes trouble": UH OH.

7D: Skin pigment: MELANIN. Albinos are not able to produce melanin.

8D: Wind-speed measurer: ANEMOMETER. From the Greek 'anemos' (wind); measures wind speed. Here is a simple one.

9D: Humiliate: SHAME. I was expecting 'abase'.

10D: Arrive: COME. Nope. Not touching it. Lois, any comments?

11D: Wilson of "Marley & Me": OWEN. He's been here in Philly lately shooting a movie.

12D: Droop like aging flowers: WILT. Any time I see 'wilt", I think of Wilt Chamberlain -played for Philly and the only player to score 100 points in an NBA game. He claimed in his book to have "slept with 20,000 women". Must've been a narcoleptic.

13D: Not so much: LESS.

19D: Self-government: HOME RULE.

23D: Range below soprano: ALTO.

26D: Dirt-cheap: FOR A SONG.

27D: Like some remote-control planes: TWIN ENGINE. We sell quite a few R/C planes, and about 90% of them are single engine. Twin engines add a whole new level of complexity, just as they do in real thing.

28D: German university town: HEIDELBERG. HEIDELBERG University is one of Europe's oldest educational institutes.

29D: "Don't tell anyone": IT'S A SECRET

30D: Schoolmarmish: PRIM.

31D: Sailors' milieus: SEAS. Was expecting 'bars'...

32D: Cool cat's music: JAZZ. JAZZ typifies Barry's hallmark scrabbliness.

33D: Mayberry tyke: OPIE. An old friend who visits often.

37D: Washington team: NATS. Washington Nationals. The doormats of the National League.

40D: Treated with disdain: SCORNED. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. I speak from experience.

43D: Mork's friend: MINDY. Played by Pam Dawber.

45D: Slangy "Beats me!": DUNNO.

46D: Windex targets: SPOTS

47D. Word after bare or square: FEET

48D: "Othello" traitor: IAGO. Another frequent visitor. No Moor!

49D: USMC rank: SSGT. Staff Sergeant (E-6). Would've been my next rank had I stayed in.

50D: Goes quickly: HIES

51D: Other, in Oaxaca: OTRA. Feminine. OTRO is masculine.

52D: Dire Destiny: DOOM. Nice alliteration.

Answer grid.

Should you have time, try to solve Barry's Newsday Stumper today. It's quite the hammer.

Dennis

Note from C.C.: Happy Birthday, Dennis! Thanks for the fun, knowledge and words of wisdom you bring to us every day.

Friday September 25, 2009 Kurt Mueller

Theme: Kinship - KIN is inserted into a familiar phrase.

17A. Gear up for Halloween?: PRIME THE PUMP(KIN). Dictionary defines "prime the pump" as "to increase government expenditure in an effort to stimulate the economy". So the current economic stimulus package is pump-priming, correct?

38A. Yokel resting in the woods?: BUMP(KIN) ON A LOG. "Like a bump on a log" = unmoving/inactive. New idiom to me.

60A. Steals the dinner cloth from Garfield's lap?: TAKES A CAT NAP(KIN). Take a catnap. Garfield is a cat in comic strip "Garfield".

How I wish the last theme answer started with KIN*! It would be very balanced.

We seem to follow the old TMS Daily mode now. Monday and Tuesday puzzles get a bit tougher than normal and the late week puzzles are considerably easier.

How do feel about this trend? Happy? Unhappy? Come to the Comments section and let me know your opinion.

Across:

1. Held (on) by stitches: SEWN. It's clued as "Attached with thread" the other day. Rich mentioned he tries not to repeat the same clue for at least 2 months.

5. Cavalry weapon: LANCE. Oh, still no Armstrong reference? "It's Not about Bike" is a great read.

10. Farm females: EWES. Tell us more about EWE or you, Windhover. What are you going to bring to the Farmer's Market tomorrow?

15. Starting unit: A-TEAM

20. Heart-to-heart talk: TETE-A-TETE. Just mentioned this phrase the other day. Literally "head to head".

21. Hurricane feature: EYE

22. Maui strings: UKE. Waiting for Al for some G string education.

23. Pin near the gutter: TEN. Or SEVEN.

24. Per se: AS SUCH

27. "Frankenstein" author Shelley: MARY. Poet Shelley's wife.

29. Swings around: SLUES

32. Mahmoud Abbas's gp.: PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). Abbas looks like a person of reason. Arafat was hopeless.

36. How ballerinas dance: ON TIPTOE

41. Split up: SEPARATE

43. Withdrawal site, for short: ATM. Ha ha, money. I was picturing a REHAB center.

44. Arcade games trailblazer: ATARI

46. Univ. sports organizer: NCAA

50. Any one of Cinderella's stepfamily, e.g.: MEANIE. JD has over 60 versions of Cinderella.

52. Expert on IRS forms: CPA. This answer pops up way too often.

55. Fest mo.: OCT. Octoberfest.

56. Wood of the Rolling Stones: RON

57. Enter stealthily: SNEAK INTO. There is a KIN inside this phrase.

63. Rink jump: AXEL

65. Ballesteros of the PGA: SEVE. He'll be at the British Open next year. No Tom Watson miracle I am afraid.

66. Queens team: METS. Sigh! Tigers won again, Jazzbumpa/Fred.

Down:

1. Facial wall that may be deviated: SEPTUM. New word to me. The clue means nothing to me.

2. "Bingo!": EUREKA. Ah, California!

3. Columnist, e.g.: WRITER. "Blogger, e.g." too.

4. Alaskan gold-rush town: NOME. Gold-rush around 1899, when NOME was the most populated city in Alaska.

5. Cappuccino cousin: LATTE

6. Capital north of the Sea of Crete: ATHENS

7. Big name in hair-removal cream: NEET. Rival of NAIR.

9. Big bird: EMU. Big and flightless. I like the two "Big" clue echo.

10. Annual sports awards: ESPYS. ESPY Awards = Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards.

11. Be roused from sleep by, as music: WAKE UP TO

12. Yale Blue wearer: ELI. "Boola Boola" is Yale's fight song.

18. Put away: EAT. Got the answer from Across fill. Not a familiar definition to me.

19. Handel oratorio: MESSIAH. Handel's most famous work.

24. Health insurance giant: AETNA. Named after the volcano ETNA. AETNA might have start ed as fire insurance company.

25. Roto-Rooter target: CLOG

26. Weeding tool: HOE. I am going to grow zucchini next year. Sounds fun.

28. Arizona city on the Colorado River: YUMA

30. Soloist?: LONER. Reminds me of the single bullet theory. Who do you think killed JFK?

31. Game with Skip cards: UNO

34. Wrist twists, e.g.: SPRAINS. I've sprained my left ankle three times.

35. Boot with a blade: SKATE

38. __ noire: bane: BETE. Literally beast. BETE noire = black beast.

39. High-end, as merchandise: UPMARKET. New word to me.

41. Friend of Frodo: SAM. Easy guess. Have never read "The Lord of the Rings".

45. Summer drink with a lemon twist, maybe: ICE TEA. Or ICED TEA. The latter is more common. I only drink hot tea.

47. Bopped on the bean: CONKED

48. On the go: ACTIVE

53. Cultivated violet: PANSY. Delicate yet hardy.

54. Rap sheet letters: AKA

58. Part of N.L.: Abbr.: NATL

59. __ facto: IPSO. Literally itself. facto= fact. IPSO facto = by the fact itself.

60. Skye cap: TAM. Skye is an island in Scotland. The clue plays on skycap the airport porter.

61. Dismiss, informally: AXE

62. Pal of Pierre: AMI. Boring clue, isn't it? Alliteration won't help.

Answer grid.

When you have time, read this crossword article Dennis linked yesterday. The constructor Bernice Gorden is 95 years old and still at it.

Come back tomorrow to celebrate the birthday and the guest-blogging debut of a regular commenter.

C.C.