Wednesday October 7, 2009 Lee Glickstein

Theme title: A-FRAMES (39A. Houses with sharply angled roofs, and what this puzzle's four longest answers literally have in common) - Letter A bookends/frames each theme answer. (Update: Martin noticed all the theme answers end in place names.)

17A. 49th state's largest city: ANCHORAGE, ALASKA. The Iditarod starts at ANCHORAGE and ends in Nome.

27A. E.M. Forster classic set in fictional Chandrapore: A PASSAGE TO INDIA. Have heard of the book/movie. Not the author. Chandrapore is a fictional Indian city.

47A. Classic Italian "farewell" song: ARRIVEDERCI ROMA. Ah, I've linked this song or some other version a few times when ROMA appeared as a fill. Arrivederci (ahr-ree-ve-DER-chee) = Au revoir.

63A. Two-part drama that won two Best Play Tonys and a Best Miniseries Emmy: ANGELS IN AMERICA. Was unaware of the specific awards it garnered.

A-FRAME is a house shaped like letter A, or inverted V. I learned this term last time when Argyle linked an A-FRAME coop picture. He said it helps protect those chickens in the nighttime. Very clever unifying answer.

Smooth sailing. Was familiar with all the four 15-letter theme answers. Rare for me.

Across:

8. Check signers: PAYERS. You don't find a checkbook in a common Chinese household. We jumped from cash transactions directly to debit/credit card.

14. 1950 Edmond O'Brien suspense classic: DOA. Got the answer from crossings. Looks scary.

15. Sliding __: DOOR. Kind of related to the A-FRAME theme.

16. Hide out: LIE LOW. That's exactly what Kanye West has been doing, lying low, after the Taylor Swift incident.

21. Sly: FOXY

25. "Was __ hard on him?"I TOO

36. Washroom, briefly: LAV (Lavatory). WC in China.

42. Point to pick: NIT. Wait for Jazzbumpa to comment.

43. Sam of "The Piano": NEILL. Wanted O'NEIL. Sam NEILL is a Kiwi.

45. Dapper guy?: DAN. John Gotti's nickname is "The Dapper Don".

46. __ about: approximately: ON OR

53. Loud crowd noise: ROAR. Did you hear the roar at the Metrodom? What an unbelievable game! Twins seem to suffer an Inferiority Complex when facing the Yankees though. In Lemonade's words, they are "choke artists destined to fade away into Yankee oblivion".

56. Community service org.: YMCA. Founded in 1844.

59. Popeye's creator: SEGAR (E. C.). No idea. Obtained his name from crosses again. Had S?GAR, then I thought of SUGAR first.

66. Freezing period: ICE AGE

68. Acne spot: ZIT

69. Clinton press secretary Myers: DEE DEE. The first woman to serve as White House Press Secretary.

Down:

3. Diplomat's forte: TACT. Well, obviously John Bolton does not have this attribute.

4. Has a crush on: ADORES

5. NYC's Bronx, e.g.: BOR (Borough)

7. Thus, to a logician: ERGO. Latin for "therefore", as in "Cogito, ERGO sum" (I think, therefore I am).

8. __ win: go all out: PLAY TO

9. Afflict: AIL. What had been ailing the Tigers? Unprecedented collapse! My husband really likes Miguel Cabrera.

10. Beginning of time, figuratively: YEAR ONE. "Figuratively" confused me a bit.

11. Film lioness: ELSA. From"Born Free".

12. Korean soldiers: ROKS. The soldiers in the ROK (Republic of Korea/South Korea)

13. Trade: SWAP. And PLIER (28D. One with a trade). Nice "trade" clue echo.

18. "Steppenwolf" writer Hermann: HESSE. Nobel Literature winner (1946).

19. Way off the turnpike: EXIT

27. Health Net rival: AETNA. Not familiar with Health Net. We have UnitedHealthcare here.

29. Moving about: ASTIR

30. Needle-toothed fish: GAR

31. Give the slip: EVADE. Just learned the idiom "Give the slip" a few months ago.

32. "Hawaii Five-O" nickname: DANNO. "Book 'em, DANNO!"

33. Figure of speech: IDIOM. They are not interchangeable to me. TROPE, yes.

34. Stars, in Latin: ASTRA. Have not seen the French star étoile for a while.

39. Thomas __ Edison: ALVA. An A-FRAME word too.

40. Scuff or scratch: MAR. Alliteration.

44. Interpret via mouth movements: LIPREAD. "Read my lip: no new taxes", coined by Peggy Noonan.

46. Neatness: ORDER

48. Paris palace: ELYSEE. ELYSEE Palace is the French "White House".

50. Maps within maps: INSETS

53. Vice squad action: RAID

55. "The African Queen" co-screenwriter: AGEE (James). Co-written with John Houston.

57. "The Suze Orman Show" channel: CNBC. Suze Orman looks very intimidating.

58. 50-and-over org.: AARP

60. City near the Sphinx: GIZA. Near the Great Pyramids too. On the Nile.

61. Word before rain or rock: ACID

65. Goat's cry: MAA. Ah, missed an opportunity to weave with CALF (24D: Young cow). CALF maa too.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Tuesday October 6, 2009 Mike Peluso

Theme: LATIN Trio (31A: Classic language, and with 61-Across, hint to the puzzle theme found at the starts of 20-, 37- and 57-Across) - theme answers start with the first conjugation of Latin verb LOVE (61A: Cherish), in orderly fashion.

20A. 2005 Margaret Peterson Haddix children's thriller: AMONG THE ENEMY. Amo, I love. The book is about a time in which drastic measures have been taken to quell overpopulation.

37A. Accumulate wealth: AMASS A FORTUNE. Amas, You love.

57A. Non-remunerative athletics: AMATEUR SPORTS. Amat, He loves.

Plus,

Amamus: We love.

Amatis: You (plural) love.

Amant: They love.

This is Al, guest-blogging today.

For a TUE (64D: Election Day: Abbr.), this was a pretty good puzzle. It didn't give me a lot of GRIEF (9D: Reaction to personal loss).

I think I may have overdone it with the links.

Across:

1. Washing machine sequence: CYCLE. Here is a laundry CYCLE.

6. Pirate's booty: SWAG. Slang for loot. A treasure chest.

10. Twilight time: DUSK

14. Start of an old Army slogan: BE ALL. Be All You Can Be.

15. Rock group's trip: TOUR. Here is a magical tour.

16. In the past: ONCE. Anyone put ERST here first?

17. Jack of rhyme: SPRAT. He could eat no fat. Lolcat.

19. Persia, now: IRAN. We just had FARSI yesterday.

23. 1958 #1 hit sung in Italian: VOLARE. Italian for "to fly". Also called "Nel blu dipinto di blu" ("In the Blue Painted Blue"). This is the song I remember.

25. In error: OFF. The clue was kind of close to the answer ERRATA (50D: List of mistakes).

27A: Lyricist Gershwin: IRA. Also a Roth account.

33. Property measure: ACRE. One furlong (660 feet) by one chain (66 feet), 43,560 square feet, possibly the approximate amount of land one ox could plow in one day.

35. Moray, e.g.: EEL. To fit in with today's theme, that's amore.

44: Schoolbook: TEXT. Another theme video.

46. "Beak" for "nose," e.g.: SLANG

49. 100 bucks: C-NOTE. C for century. If I had 50 female pigs and 50 male deer, would I have a hundred sows and bucks?

51. "__ the ramparts"...": O'ER. The melody of our National Anthem was "borrowed from an old English drink song..."

52: Trip segment: LEG. I would definitely be tripped by these. Actually that photo is of a group called Bond, a quartet of classically trained musicians. Nice "trip" clue echo with TOUR earlier.

53. Thurman of "Kill Bill": UMA. Played Beatrix opposite David Carradine.

62. Aussie greeting: G'DAY. G'Day mate.

66. Till bills: ONES. A "Michigan bankroll".

67. Fish organ: GILL. Singer Vince too. Baseball great Hodges is GIL.

68. Prepare to advance after a fly ball: TAG UP.

69. Computer adventure game: MYST. Released in 1993.

Down:

2. Slangy assent: YEP. Yup, too.

3. Parking lot siren: CAR ALARM. Quite annoying...

4: Andean beast: LLAMA. The one-l lama, He's a priest. /The two-l llama, He's a beast. /And I will bet A silk pajama /There isn't any Three-l lllama.- Ogden Nash.

5. Matador's foe: EL TORO. "The bull" in Spanish.

6. Men-only party: STAG

7. Refuses to: WON'T

8: Write: AUTHOR. LEMONY (47D: Tart, as a citrus drink) Snicket, author of "A Series of Unfortunate Events".

10. "__ What Comes Natur'lly": DOIN'. Can they actually print this clue in a family publication?

11. Pre-riot state: UNREST. It's people like you what cause unrest.

12. Garlicky shrimp dish: SCAMPI

13. Nairobi native: KENYAN. So many marathon winners.

22. Key above D: E-FLAT. D-Sharp as well, but that won't fit.

24. SeaWorld attraction: ORCA. The sign said Free Willy, but it still cost $7 to get in...

29. Teachers' org.: NEA. National Education Association.

30. Fairylike: ELFIN. ELFIN.

32. Lie alongside: ABUT

36. Capri's Blue __: GROTTO. Rooted in Italian word grotta. Too many to pick from.

38. Transition to the next subject: SEGUE

39. Ear: Prefix: OTO. Could have been worse, they might have wanted us to spell otolaryngology. AURI is "Ear: Prefix" too.

40. Las Vegas Strip feature: NEON SIGN

41. Marked, as a ballot: EXED. Or XED.

46. Sinuous ski race: SLALOM. Rooted in Norwegian slalåm. slad, sloping + låm, path.

48. Mescal sources: AGAVES

49. Aerobic exercise, in gym-speak: CARDIO. Cardiovascular.

54. Seriously humid: MUGGY

56. Old lab burners: ETNAS. Named for the volcano ETNA, Greek for "I burn".

58. Final grade factor: TEST

59. Polio vaccine developer: SALK. Also Sabin, who developed the oral vaccine. People vaccinated with injected Salk vaccine could still pass on the disease.

60. War journalist Ernie: PYLE. Pulitzer winner (1944). Killed in the war in 1945. He was awarded a Purple Heart. Very few civilians got Purple Heart.

65. Mo for fools: APR. Also National Humor Month.

Answer grid.

Al