Thursday October 22, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: Great Food - Each theme answer ends with a /ood/ pronunciation.

17A. Lost it: CAME UNGLUED. Say it ain't so, Joe (Torre). I bet he RUED some of his strategies.

25A. Dismissed out of hand: POOH-POOHED

37A. Like Starbucks coffee, every 30 minutes: FRESHLY BREWED. Wrote down FRESHLY GROUND first.

48A. "That's too bad, man": BUMMER, DUDE. Do you like "The Big Lebowski"? The Dude is a strange character.

60A. "I don't feel like cooking" option: TAKE-OUT FOOD

Is this the Tiger Woods inspired puzzle, Dan?

Those different theme entries sure cover all the possible /ood/ sound spellings. Plus, 20 non-theme entries with 6 or more letters, very high Dan Naddor index. Nice long Downs in NE and SW corners.

I was stumped immediately with MALAGA and MCCOYS, but managed to fill in all grid with only two peeks at the cheat sheet. A success for me, so happy MOOD here in Minnesota.

Across:

1. Sweet Spanish wine: MALAGA. Named after the Spanish city Malaga where the wine originated.

11. Inst. that turns out lieutenants: OCS (Officer Candidate School). And GIS (62A. Enlistees, briefly).

15. Cause of a worldwide 19th century fever: GOLD. D'oh, the Gold Rush. I was thinking of the sickness fever. AGUE jumped into my head. Too bad there is no other way to clue the Peter Fonda movie ULEE'S (51D. "__ Gold").

16. Old school dance: HOP. How old?

21. In copious amounts: GALORE. Oh, I forgot BRA (19. Victoria's Secret offering). Which one do you like the best?

22. Ivy in Philly: PENN. And YALE (23. Ivy in New Haven). Nice consecutive "Ivy" echo.

27. Pizazz: STYLE

29. Trumpet sound: BLARE

30. Party list: INVITEES. This easy entry makes all the Down 3-letter fill readily obtainable.

36. Bug: VEX. Irk is another 3-letter word.

40. Bard's "before": ERE. Bard's "always" is E'ER.

41. Software customers: USER BASE

42. Three-time world champion alpine skier Hermann: MAIER. No idea. This guy is from Austria.

44. Feast where the Haggadah is read: SEDER. Haggadah is pronounced as huh-GAH-duh. Dictionary says it's literally "narration" in Hebrew.

54. Brazilian soccer legend: PELE. His campaign definitely made an impact in Brazil's Olympic bidding.

55. Prime Cuts in Gravy brand: ALPO. Not a pet person. This dog food brand always stymies me.

56. Crude fleet: OILERS

58. Busy co. on Valentine's Day: FTD. Ah, red roses & chocolates.

63. Slurpee relative: ICEE

64. Capital on the Missouri River: PIERRE. Capital of South Dakota. Charming little city.

65. Wee hour: ONE

66. High degrees: Abbr. PHDS. Boy, academic "High degrees". I recklessly penned in NTHS.

67. Aftershock: TREMOR

Down:

1. Real people?: MCCOYS. What's the meaning of "the real McCoy"? The cleverness of the clue is lost on me.

2. Biblical debarkation point: ARARAT. The landing place of Noah's Ark.

3. How bad excuses are given: LAMELY

5. Guzzling sound: GLUG. New word to me.

6. "Piece of cake!": A SNAP

8. Club for country kids: FOUR-H. It stands for head, heart, hands and health.

10. Anomalous: ODD

11. Austin Powers catchphrase: OH, BEHAVE! Absolutely no idea. "Austin Powers" just looks silly to me.

12. Trapped: CORNERED. Kept wanting ENSNARED.

13. Stretchy fabric: SPANDEX. Lycra is the most famous spandex brand.

18. Day-__: pigment brand: GLO

22. D.C. deal maker: POL (Politician). Wanted SEN.

26. Preoccupy: OBSESS.

28. Make certain: ENSURE. No INSURE dilemna this time.

31. Videotape type: VHS

32. Land in la mer: ILE. French for isle.

33. Norse god of single combat: TYR (teer). Oh, "single combat" god, good to know. I simply thought of him as "god of war".

34. Diminish: EBB

35. Pitching stat: ERA. However Cole Hamels pitched last night, Phillies won!

37. German miss: FRAULEIN. Man, I was so influenced by Jazzbumpa's "chen" being German diminutive when he commented on the Gisele Bundchen picture. I wanted Frauchen.

38. Put back in force, as an expired tax: REIMPOSE

39. Blubber: WEEP. Whale fat too. Speaking of fat, I simply can't get used to the taste of coconut oil. I do believe in many of Mercola's diet/nutrition ideas though.

40. Economic warfare tactic: EMBARGO

43. Funnyman Philips: EMO

45. Mar the beauty of: DEFORM. Thought of DEFILE initially.

46. Corrida snorter: EL TORO. Spanish for "the bull".

49. Raid target: ROACH. The bug killer Raid. I was picturing a police raid.

50. Protected by levees: DIKED

52. __ volente: God willing: DEO. Whenever I see "God willing", I hear Muslims' "Insha'Allah".

53. Spew lava: ERUPT

57. Show signs of life: STIR

60. Service reward: TIP. And FEE (61. Service charge). Nice clue echo again. Loved the last four consecutive S starting clues.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Wednesday October 21, 2009 Donna S. Levin

Theme: Hockey Penalties - the starting word of each theme answer is a type of hockey penalty.

17A. Electrical worker's action: TRIPPING A SWITCH. A tripping penalty is called when a player trips an opposing player with his stick/his body.

24A. Discount retailer's action: SLASHING A PRICE. A slashing penalty occurs when a player slashes/swings at his opponent with his stick.

41A. Feuder's action: HOLDING A GRUDGE. A holding penalty is caused when a player grabs/holds his opponent from moving with his body/stick.

54A. Accused speeder's action: FIGHTING A TICKET. A fighting penalty happens when a player engages in a physical fight with his opponent.

47D. Place where the starts of this puzzle's four longest answers result in a penalty: RINK

Without RINK the unifying answer, I'd never had figured out the theme. Not a hockey fan, not wild about our Minnesota Wild at all.

Hope my understanding of above terms is correct. Those penalties all result in a 2-minute stay in the penalty box, correct, Dennis?

Definitely a tougher puzzle than last Wednesday's. I was stalled several times.

Across:

5. Benchwarmer: SCRUB. Second-stringer.

14. Spiritual guide: GURU. Sanskrit for "teacher".

15. Pageant trophy: TIARA. Always associate trophy with cup.

20. Stuff to capacity: SATIATE. Surfeit is 7-letter too.

21. Like the healthiest corned beef: LEANEST. Oh, speaking of food, I did not have a cold or flu. Just ate something I should not have touched.

22. White House advisory gp.: NSC (National Security Council)

23. "Don't tase me, __!": BRO. Uttered by a University of Florida student during a John Kerry appearance.

35. Exaggerated publicity: HYPE. And RAN IN (39A. Arrested). Man, the balloon boy hoax. The family sure got the fame they craved.

40. Parson's home: MANSE

46. Traffic jam causes: CRASHES

50. Toronto skyline landmark: CN TOWER. Now Dubai Tower is the tallest, with 160 floors.

57. Two-time U.S. Open winner Fraser: NEALE. I drew a blank. An Aussi. I thought Slazenger is only a golf ball brand.

58. Opposite of aweather: ALEE. Aweather is in the direction of the wind.

60. Freezing cold: GELID. Was stumped last time when Allan E. Parrish clued it as "Quite cold".

Down:

1. Bilko and York: Abbr.: SGTS. Anent abbr, wish we had NHL today.

2. Subtle emanation: AURA. Funny how I've never got tired of AURA as a crosswordese.

3. "True __": John Wayne film: GRIT. What's your favorite John Wayne movie?

4. Rotate face-up, as one's palm: SUPINATE (SOO-puh-neyt). New verb to me. I only know the adjective supine (lying on the back). Prone is lying on your face.

5. Pain in the side: STITCH. Oh, I've never heard of the term side stitch, though I've experienced such pain after reading the explanation. I was picturing pain au chocolat. Pain is French for bread.

6. Movie: CINE. I fell into the FILM trap.

7. Tabloid: RAG

8. Russia's __ Mountains: URAL. The Europe/Asia border mountain.

9. America's pastime: BASEBALL. Cole Hamels is going to pitch for the Phillies tonight. Hope he won't disappoint Barry Silk and all your Phillies fans.

10. Key of Beethoven's Ninth: D MINOR. The answer emerged itself.

12. Gremlin and Pacer: AMCS

13. Capital of Thailand?: BAHT (baht). Capital here refers to currency. See these images. Bangkok is so far away now.

18. Out of fashion: PASSE

19. Time irregularities, in sci-fi: WARPS

24. Prefix with foam: STYRO. Styrofoam.

25. Boutonniere site: LAPEL. Just learned that Boutonniere old French for "buttonhole".

27. Spanish sweetheart: NOVIA. Or fiancée/bride. Feminine. Novio is masculine sweetheart or fiancé/groom. Both new to me.

29. "Of Thee __": I SING

30. Thicket: COPSE. Same pronunciation with cops. I used to confuse it with corpse.

31. Olympics sword: EPEE

32. Peacock Throne occupant: SHAH. The name comes from the shape of a throne, having the figures of two peacocks standing behind it.

36. Challenging the rapids, maybe: CANOEING. Several non-theme ING-ending words in this puzzle.

37. Police cruiser: RADIO CAR

40. Poly- equivalent: MULTI. Both mean "many".

42. Sprints: DASHES

46. Corp. money bigwigs: CFOS. Andrew Fastow (ex-Enron CFO) will be out in 2 years.

49. Dagger of yore: SNEE. Scottish dagger. Learned from doing Xword.

50. Colombian cartel city: CALI. Gimme, right? I've mentioned the drug connection a few times. Loved the C C C alliteration.

51. How many employees are pd.: WKLY

55. Word before Friday or pal: GAL. Thought it's Girl Friday.

Answer grid.

C.C.