Monday, October 12, 2009 David W. Cromer

Theme: "With "in", where our summer weather is!" - theme answers all end with synonyms of exiting.

20A: Corporate-sponsored vacation: COMPANY RETREAT.

40A: Retirement account transaction that may incur a penalty: EARLY WITHDRAWAL.

59A: Local airline trip: COMMUTER FLIGHT.

Argyle blogging.

Shivering Santa here. We get our first freeze this morning. That should stop any zucchini that maybe left.

Straightforward puzzle today. Only wish TORO (39A: Matador's foe) were clued as a "Big name in lawn mowers" to pair up with DEERE (45A: Big name in tractors). TORO is based in Minnesota.

Across:

1A: A little batty: DAFT.

10A: Skips, as ads on a taped show: ZAPS. I'm not good with this clue.

14A: "Garfield" dog: ODIE.

15A: What an ump's protector protects: CHEST. To protect them from the jabbing fingers of managers.

16A: Approximately: OR SO.

23A: Ruhr valley city: ESSEN. 28A: Mediterranean island republic: CYPRUS. 31D: River through southern Russia: URAL. 53D: "Boot" country prefix: ITALO. All part of our European vacation.

33A: Place to retire to?: BED. Yes, it is (as soon as I get this blog done.)

36A: Tournament matches before finals, briefly: SEMIS.

44A: "Iliad" setting: TROY.

47A: Challenge a verdict in a higher court: APPEAL.

50A: Money you owe: DEBT.

55A: Love poetry Muse: ERATO.

64A: "A guy walks into a bar ..." may start one: JOKE.

65A: Christener: NAMER.

66A: Go-__: small racer: KART.

70A: Herbal brews: TEAS. What's your favorite herbal tea?

Down"

1D: "La __ Vita": DOLCE. Italian for "sweet".

2D: "Later, amigo": ADIOS.

3D: Law corporations, e.g.: FIRMS

4D: Conical abode: TEEPEE.

5D: CAT procedure: SCAN.

6D: Greeting at sea: AHOY.

7D: __ cotta: TERRA. Ah, Xi'An.

8D: Colorado's __ Park: ESTES.

9D: Unwanted radio noise: STATIC.

10D: No-fly __: ZONE.

13D: Brillo rival: SOS.

21D: Unable to sit still: ANTSY.

22D: Jamie Foxx biopic about singer Charles: RAY. Great movie. Foxx got a Oscar for his performance.

35D: Bit of medicine for the eye or ear: DROP.

37D: Suffix with meteor: ITE. Meteorite.

42D: Dr. of rap: DRE.

43D: Insurrectionist: REBEL.

51D: Tots' rides: TRIKES.

56D: Wide open: AGAPE.

57D: Crowd quota?: THREE. As in "Three's a crowd".

59D: Planetary center: CORE.

60D: Cajun vegetable: OKRA. Have you tried cooking with fresh OKRA? Quite tasty.

61D: Army meal: MESS.

62D: Actress Russo: RENE. She is in "Tin Cup", one of the best golf movies.

63D: Barney's Bedrock pal: FRED. Flintstone.

64D: "Jumbo" flier: JET.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Sunday October 11, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: Why, Yes! - punning on "Y, Yes!". Y sound is inserted in familiar phrases. (Please go to the Comments section and read the constructor's 11:18am post for more explanation.)

24A. Designer Christian doing a pirouette?: REVOLVING DIOR. Revolving Door. Christian Dior was a French fashion designer.

33A. Unadulterated moonshine?: PURE SPIRITS. Poor Spirits.

52A. "Actor Laurie goes after you"?: HUGH'S NEXT?. Who's Next? Hugh Laurie stars in in TV drama "House".

69A. Pool tool in the army rec room?: MILITARY CUE. Military Coup.

87A. Sign at a broken gas pump?: NO FUELING. No Fooling.

104A. Ongoing dispute about chemical use in farming?: ORGANIC FEUD. Organic Food.

115A. Former Vietnamese president's dining reservation?: TABLE FOR THIEU. Table for Two. Thieu (tyoo) was the Vietnamese president from 1967–75.

3D. Gorgeous newborns?: BABY BEAUTIES. Baby Booties.

5D. Speechless moments?: MUTE POINTS. Moot Points.

65D. Coastal Norse horse?: FJORD MUSTANG. Ford Mustang. Fjords are those long, narrow inlets with steep sides in Scandinavian countries.

77D. Late '70s Wimbledon headline? BJORN AGAIN. Born Again. Björn Borg won 5 consecutive Wimbledon singles: 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980.

Not sure I understood the theme and theme title correctly. I am terrible at pronunciations and puns.

DIOR & Door does not really fit the oo to yoo pattern. And FJORD & BJORN feel a bit repetitive. Maybe Dan can explain to us his rationale at the Comments section.

Several clever clues in today's puzzle. My favorite is DEAR ABBY (86D. Support column?).

Across:

1. 1987 film about Ritchie Valens: LA BAMBA. And BIOPIC (123A. 1-Across, e.g.). Our crossword stalwart ESAI Morales was in this movie.

8. Birthplace of St. Francis: ASSISI. A town in central Italy.

14. Airheads: DUMBOS

20. Hurrying: IN A RUSH

21. Ahab or his craft: WHALER. His craft is Pequod.

22. Accustoms: ENURES. More used to INURES.

23. Lhasa native: TIBETAN. Lhasa is the capital of Tibet.

26. "Family Ties" mom: ELYSE. No idea. I only recognized Michael J. Fox.

27. __ disease: tick-borne illness: LYME. Kind of arthritis, isn't it?

30. Hip-hoppers Salt-N-__: PEPA. Easy guess. Have never heard of these girls before.

38. Hydrocarbon suffix: ANE

39. Praying figure: ORANT. Same root as oration. Look at this ORANT figure, with outstretched arms. I learned it from doing Xword.

41. John, Paul and John Paul: POPES. Nice clue.

42. Gusto: ELAN

44. Grazing ground: LEA

45. "What an exhausting day!": I'M BEAT

47. Like musically challenged ears?: TIN. Tin ear.

48. Ancient mystic: ESSENE (ESs-een). The Ancient Jewish ascetic. I simply forgot.

50. Radii neighbors: ULNAS. The plural can be ulnas too.

55. Clinch, with "up": SEW

56. Quarreling: AT IT. Here we go again.

57. Singer Lopez: TRINI

59. Pioneering electronic calculators: CASIOS. My first one is a CASIO.

61. Leaves port: SAILS

62. End of __: AN ERA

64. Martin/Tomlin comedy: ALL OF ME. No idea. I like neither of them, so no Netflix for me.

68. Long haul: TREK

73. In __: stuck: A JAM

74. Lives: RESIDES

76. Diner's decision: ORDER. Dan mentioned that the seed entry for his last GO puzzle is SOUTHEAST ASIAGO. He saw ASIAGO on a menu and was inspired by the ASIA GO combination.

77. N.L. career stolen base leader Lou: BROCK. Hall-of-Famer of course. I once pulled an authenticated autographed card of Lou BROCK. Rickey Henderson holds the MLB record.

78. Nobleman's address: MILORD. New word for me. Derived from "my lord".

81. Done to __: repeated too often: DEATH. New idiom to me as well. Like ad nauseam I suppose.

83. Creep: JERK

91. Ate too much, as chips: OD'ED ON. OD = Overdose.

93. Sgt., e.g.: NCO

94. State of mind: TEMPER

96. Unruly locks: MOP

100. Jack's fairy tale victim: GIANT. Not familiar with the fairy tale "Jack the GIANT Killer".

103. Old Mideast assn.: UAR (United Arab Republic). The former Egypt-Syria alliance (1958-61).

108. Talkative bird: MYNA

109. Cousin of calypso: SKA. Precursor to Reggae.

110. Invite for a nightcap: ASK IN

113. "The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral rights" speaker: GETTY (J. Paul). I was unaware of the origin of the quote.

120. How some stunts are done: ON A DARE. Love this fill.

122. Prepare to leave one's plane seat: UNBELT

124. Wheel adjuster: ALIGNER

125. Seaman's "Help!": MAYDAY

126. Declines: SAYS NO

127. Breaks a promise: RENEGES.

Down:

1. Hardly figurative: LITERAL. Such a straightforward clue.

2. Oily compound used in dyes: ANILINE. No idea. Only knew ANIL the indigo dye.

4. Son of Zeus: ARES. The Greek war god.

6. Troop gp.: BSA (Boy Scouts of America). I was thinking of military troops.

7. Philip of "Kung Fu": AHN. I just mentioned last time that the name AHN (Korean) = ANG in Chinese, as in ANG Lee.

8. Haywire: AWRY

9. Brother of Moe and Curly: SHEMP. Could only think of Larry, who was a friend of the Howard brothers. Wikipedia says the original "The Three Stooges" cast consisted of Moe, Shemp and Larry, and Shemp was later replaced by Curly.

10. Put aside: SAVE UP

11. UN workers' agcy.: ILO (International Labor Organization). Nobel Peace winner 1969. What a burden for Obama to be awarded Nobel so earlier in his presidency.

12. French seasoning: SEL. French for salt.

13. "Mr. Chicago" journalist Kupcinet: IRV

14. Teeth: Prefix: DENTI. What is "Tooth, prefix" then?

15. Felix the neatnik: UNGER. No idea. From "The Odd Couple".

16. Chocoholic desserts: MUD PIES. Want some?

17. Brush hairs: BRISTLES. Oh, the hairs of a brush. I thought the clue was asking for a verb.

18. War on Poverty org.: OEO (Office of Economic Opportunity). Unknown to me.

19. Lith., e.g., once: SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic)

25. AOL and MSN: ISPS

32. Blue Ribbon brewer: PABST. Have you tried Tsingtao beer?

34. "Portnoy's Complaint" author: ROTH (Philip). See the book cover.

35. Protestant denom.: EPISC. Episcopal I suppose.

36. Medicinal shrub: SENNA

37. On one's rocker?: SANE. Great clue. Off one's rocker = insane.

40. Sesame paste: TAHINI. Yummy, yummy.

43. Fresh: NEW

46. Set the radio dial on: TUNE TO

48. Banishment: EXILE

49. Small-strip aircraft acronym: STOL. No idea. It stands for Short Takeoff and Landing.

51. Rapper with the debut album "Hard Core": LIL' KIM. One of her most famous dresses.

53. Yankee manager Joe: GIRARDI. He replaced the other "Yankee manager Joe (Torre) last year. Here is a photo of them together. I don't believe in miracles when Twins face the Yankees, esp in Yankee Stadium, new or old.

54. Isaac's eldest: ESAU. Jacob's twin.

56. Bern's river: AARE. It joins the Rhine River at the Swiss-German border.

58. "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo __": Irish classic: RAL. Here is Bing Crosby's version.

60. Skyrocketed: SOARED. Wrote down SPIKED first.

61. Narrow waterway: Abbr.: STR (Strait)

63. Impassioned: ARDENT

66. Keystone Cops creator Sennett: MACK. How can I remember his name?

67. Mass. senator's monogram, 1962-2009: EMK (Edward Moore Kennedy). Man, I thought his middle initial is F, just like JFK and RFK.

70. __ use: avails: IS OF

71. Sound barrier breaker Chuck: YEAGER. Dennis loves to quote this guy.

72. PC component: CRT (Cathode-Ray Tube). Old PC component.

75. Bedrock pet: DINO. Bedrock threw me off. I am used to "The Flintstones" clue.

79. Written in mystical letters: RUNIC. Wrote down CODED first.

80. Cappuccino request: DECAF

84. Comfy footwear: MOC

85. Personal: Prefix: IDIO. As in idiosyncrasy.

90. Caught in the act: SEEN

92. Iditarod vehicle: DOG SLED

97. Strength symbol: OAK TREE

98. Mass communications?: PRAYERS. Another great clue.

100. NFL Hall of Famer Marchetti: GINO. One of the greatest defensive ends, too bad I've never heard of him.

101. Dutch export: TULIPS

105. Cub Scout leader: AKELA (uh-KEE-luh). Named after Akela the leader of the wolf pack in Kipling's "The Jungle Books". New to me also

106. Excellent: NIFTY

107. Expected to arrive: DUE IN

112. Osso __: BUCO. Stew with veal shank. Literally "bone hole" in Italian. Osso = bone. Buco = hole.

115. "Cats" cat Rum __ Tugger: TUM. Got the answer from crosses.

117. NFL ball carriers: RBS (Running Backs). Adrian Peterson is the RB for the Vikings.

118. __ Maria: liqueur: TIA. Coffee liqueur.

119. José 's "today": HOY. How to pronounce HOY?

120. Row: OAR. I was thinking of ADO.

121. Braves' div.: NLE (National League East)

Answer grid.

C.C.