Monday November 2, 2009 Pancho Harrison

Theme: Time and Time Again - "Time" can start both parts of a two-word common phrase.

17A: *Like secret military facilities, to civilians: OFF LIMITS

64A: *Furniture with folding legs, usually: CARD TABLE

10D: *One-armed bandit: SLOT MACHINE

24D: *Novel that evokes prior times: PERIOD PIECE

71A: Given moment, which can begin both parts of the answers to starred clues: TIME

Argyle here.

A lot of action for a Monday; a sort of two for one, hey?

17A: TIME OFF & TIME LIMITS

64A: TIME CARD & TIME TABLE

24D: TIME SLOT & TIME MACHINE

71A: TIME PERIOD & TIME PIECE

Outstanding theme. One noticeable flaw is the clue for ERASE (13D: Clear, as a tape), which intersects CLEAR (16: Not Cloudy).

Across:

1A: Shapely legs, slangily: GAMS. From an older time.

9A: Makeup maven Lauder: ESTEE.

14A: Actor McGregor: EWAN. Such a bad boy.

15A: Flightless South American bird: RHEA.

19A: "Lucy, you got a __ 'splainin' to do!": LOTTA. It seems what he really said was "...some 'splainin' to do." but this quote has been used quite often by others.

20A: High on the hwy.: DUI. Driving Under the Influence covers drugs, DWI - Driving While Intoxicated covers alcohol. [ Dick said BTW in western PA we now use DUI to cover both drugs and alcohol violations. Is that customary in other areas of the country? Come to the comments area and let us know.]

21A: Scatterbrained: DITSY. And 43A: Screwy: LOCO. Lucy, before she became DITSY, showing off her gams.

22A: Gillette razors: ATRAS. The usual suspects.

23A: Slip by: ELAPSE. Funny how time slips away. Willie wrote it.

25A: Give life to: ANIMATE.

34A: Not worth debating: MOOT.

36A: Chowder ingredient: CLAM.

40A: Actress Spelling: TORI.

42A: One who saves the day: HERO.

46A: Souse's affliction, for short: DTS (Delirium Tremens). Souse is slang for a drunk.

48A. Red-breasted bird: ROBIN. This should delight our own ROBIN. Hey, Robin!. Sort of a bird undertone. See BASTE (41A: Moisten the bird) and COO (32D: Dove sound)

50A: "The Avengers" heroine, to Steed: MRS PEEL. Emma's gams.

54A: Log-on need: USER ID.

58A: Old photo tint: SEPIA.

59A: Muscat resident: OMANI. Map.

62A: Suffix in enzyme names: ASE. and 11D: Prefix with -cycline: TETRA. Our daily chemicals. Tetra is prefix for "four".

67A: Cancel, as a newspaper story: KILL. Have you seen "A TIME to Kill" ? It's a pretty good thriller.

69A: Villainous look: SNEER.

Down:

1D: Crystalline stone: GEODE.

2D: Beyond bad: AWFUL.

3D: Cosa Nostra: MAFIA. Their code of silence is called omertà. Cosa Nostra is literally "our thing" in Italian.

4D: NBC show with Baba Wawa skits: SNL.

6D: IOU: CHIT. Obsolete chitty, from Hindi ciṭṭhī, note, letter, from Sanskrit *citrikā, *citritā, note. (I always wondered where CHIT came from.)

7D: Queens ball team: METS. Queens, NY. And another National League team STL (31D: Initials on a Cardinal's cap: STL). Baseball's St. Louis Cardinals. Yankees won again last night.

8D: Unchallenging college course: EASY A.

12D: Trouble greatly: EAT AT.

18D: "My guess is ...": I'D SAY.

26D: TV's Nick at __: NITE.

28D: 'Zine on the Net: E-MAG.

29D: Runner-up: LOSER.

32D: Dove sound: COO. And 39D: Cow sound: MOO. Now what does the ghost say?

33D: Golf ball path: ARC. Not necessarily, with some of my shots!

35D: Other, in Mexico: OTRO.

37D: Had followers: LED. Nice clue.

41D: Military command center: BASE. Might be OFF LIMITS.

45D: Stop in on: VISIT.

47D: Ad to lure you in: TEASER. Like ads for LOSS LEADERS.

49D: __ of joy: new baby: BUNDLE. Ahh...

50D: Popular PC interface before Windows: MS-DOS.

55D: Synagogue leader: RABBI and 56D: Muslim's faith: ISLAM and they are right next to each other.

60D: Letters in a box: MAIL.

61D: Singer Guthrie: ARLO.

65D: Lawyer: Abbr.: ATT. Hahtool/Lemonade, do you use ATT or ATTY often?

Answer grid.

Argyle

Sunday November 1, 2009 Robert W. Harris

Theme: "That Hurts" - OW in inserted into familiar phrases.

23A. Distinctive Farrah Fawcett feature?: SH(OW)Y LOCKS. Shylock is a loan shark, named after Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice". I wanted SHAGGY LOCKS.

29A. Candlemaker's monthly receipt?: TALL(OW) ORDER. Tall order = Tough task. Candles were made of tallow.

41A. Rollerblading partner of movie camera pioneer Bell?: H(OW)ELL ON WHEELS. Completely stumped me. Not familiar with the base phrase Hell on Wheels or the movie camera pioneers Bell & Howell.

67A. Methods of separating chaff from grain?: WINN(OW)ING WAYS

90A. People afraid of playing the stock market?: TRADING C(OW)ARDS. I like this entry a lot. I collect baseball trading cards and I am definitely a trading coward. Stupid stock market.

108A. Borders for oval paintings?: B(OW)ED FRAMES. Is this a bowed frames, WM?

115A. Including Monopoly money in a trousseau?: D(OW)RY HUMOR. Hilarious.

I knew the gimmick before I even got started. The theme title is very self-revealing, though I thought the inserting word is OUCH, which is too tough as an insertion I suppose.

How long did you spend on this puzzle? I did not peek at the cheat sheet until 45 minutes into the solving, very rare for me on a Sunday. Hope I can be so engaged and self-disciplined next Sunday.

Across:

1. Illinois-based brewery: PABST. Somehow I thought PABST is based in Wisconsin.

19. Correspond: AGREE

20. Some antique radios: RCAS

22. Haughty: ALOOF. Rod Carew is rather aloof. He does not seem to enjoy interacting with fans at all.

25. Earth: SOIL

27. "The Banger Sisters" costar: HAWN (Goldie). Have never seen this film. Looks fun.

31. One at a brayer meeting?: ASS. Ass brays. Nice clue.

33. Coinage: SPECIE. Money in the form of coin. I was stumped last time. Again today.

36. Herbal array, perhaps: TEA BAGS. Perhaps.

39. Son of Seth: ENOS

40. Bluffing strategies: RAISES. Poker. I was thinking of Kim Jong-il's bluffing one-upmanship.

47. Key to getting out of trouble?: ESC. Computer key.

53. On a liner, e.g.: ASEA. AT SEA too.

54. Sharp barks: YAPS. Dogs.

56. Sources of cabinet wood: ALDERS. I wonder if our kitchen cabinet is made of alder.

59. Response to being cut off: HONK. My husband does so often.

60. Jalapeño feature: TILDE. Good clue. Hot!

62. Returning lover's question: MISS ME? Felt silly struggling with this answer.

64. Single show: EPISODE

66. __ Karate: old aftershave: HAI. See this vintage ad. Unknown to me. Hai is simply "Yes" in Japanese and Cantonese.

71. Hindu honorific: SRI

72. Display case: ETAGERE. To display your knickknacks.

74. Know somehow: INTUIT

77. Ted Williams wore it: NINE. Gimme. Mantle's number is 7. Ruth 3.

78. What the heirs split: ESTATE

83. Diminishing returns: LESS. Can you make two sentences for me? I don't understand how the clue & answer are interchangeable grammatically.

86. Proverb ending?: IAL. Proverbial.

87. Bonding words: I DO.

95. 1990s Toyotas: PASEOS. No idea. "Paseo" is Spanish for "a walk" or "a stroll."

98. Copter's forerunner: GIRO (JAHY-roh). Short for autogiro. I forgot also. Gyro is a prefix for "circle"/"spiral". Sandwich too of course.

99. Tennis wear item: SNEAKER. Odd to see a singular noun.

102. Trying experience: ORDEAL

105. Scot's cap: TAM

106. Corn Belt st.: NEB. And TENN (29D. State bordering eight others: Abbr.).

110. Laundry basketful: LOAD

112. The Mideast's __ Strip: GAZA. In the hands of Hamas.

113. As a friend, to Fifi: EN AMI. Fifi is short for Josephine. French name.

117. "__ Grows in Brooklyn": A TREE

118. Actor Santoni: RENI. Nope. Wikipedia says this guy was in "Dirty Harry".

119. Heaviest modern fencing weapon: EPEE. Did not know this trivia.

121. Gardeners, at times: HOERS

122. Nick and Nora's pooch: ASTA. In "The Thin Man".

123. Pills, briefly: MEDS

124. Whimpered: PULED. Got it this time.

Down:

1. Former Turkish title: PASHA. The other Xword Turkish titles are: AGA/AGHA & BEY.

2. Horrified: AGHAST. Always a tricky answer for me, regardless how it's clued.

3. Use Google, e.g.: BROWSE. SEARCH seems fit the clue better, doesn't it?

4. Hanging on by a thread: SEWN. Not "hanged on by a thread"?

5. "Miss Pym Disposes" author: TEY (Josephine). See the book cover. She's clued as "Mystery writer" in our puzzle a couple of weeks ago.

6. Mentor's charge: PROTEGE

7. __ homo: ECCE. Latin for "Behold the Man".

8. Fermented Japanese brews: SAKES. Mirin is the cooking rice wine.

9. "Wild Bill" Donovan's WWII org.: OSS. The CIA forerunner.

10. Gets agitated, Bart Simpson-style: HAS A COW. Nailed it.

11. Put an end to: ABOLISHED

12. Deviousness: GUILE

13. Normandy battle site: ST. LO. Near CAEN, another battle site.

14. Ecclesiastical law expert: CANONIST

16. Behind-the-scenes band worker: ROADIE. And TOTERS (17D. 16-Downs, e.g.). I like cross-references.

18. "I shall be there __ you": "King Lear": AFORE. Poetic "before".

24. Alternative to immediate purchase: LAYAWAY. Not familiar with this payment plan.

30. Prosperity: WEAL. Learned it from doing Xword.

32. Black, to Blake: EBON. Poetic "black". Alliteration again.

34. Menial worker: PEON. Serf is "Menial worker" too.

37. In front: AHEAD

38. Mention casually: SLIP IN. Is this a common phrase?

40. Give fresh life to: RECREATE

42. Catch, as a dogie: LASSO

43. Dubuque-to-Chicago dir.: ESE

44. Like some elephants: ASIATIC. I just do not like Asiatic.

50. Rocket stage: BOOSTER

51. She played Honey Ryder in "Dr. No": ANDRESS (Ursula). I was clueless. See this photo.

52. Yarn units: SKEINS

53. Greek goddess of wisdom: ATHENA. Athens was named after her.

55. Identity crises?: AMNESIAS. My favorite clue today.

56. Nitrogen compound: AMINE

57. 40-day period of penitence: LENT. Fasting sounds very hard.

58. Observe covertly: SPY

61. Barnyard female: EWE. Can't fill in this answer without thinking of our ASCETIC (or Hedonist) Windhover.

63. Houlihan portrayer: SWIT (Loretta). "Hot Lips" from "M*A*S*H".

69. Former "SNL" character Father __ Sarducci: GUIDO. Uh-uh, nope. Wikipedia says he was played by Don Novello. The only GUIDO I know is the music guy. ELA used to be clued as "Guido's high note".

70. Spouses of sports nuts, facetiously: WIDOWS. Golf/baseball are the only two sports I watch.

73. "Really!": GEE

76. Hooch holder: FLASK

79. Bit: TAD

80. Wheel correction: ALIGNMENT

82. "Done so fast?": ALREADY?

85. Regular guys: STEADIES. New definition to me. I always connect steady with dating partner.

91. Massage deeply: ROLF. Named after Ida Rolf. The inventor of such method. Stumped me.

92. Most populous African country: NIGERIA. I had ALGERIA first.

93. Pinot __: GRIS. Penned in NOIR.

94. Brightest star in Scorpius: ANTARES. Ant(i) = rival. Ares, Greek god of war, equivalent of Roman Mars. The planet Mars is of red color. So, Antares, "Rival of the Mars", has to be red and bright I suppose.

95. "Now!": PRONTO

96. Program producing pop-ups: ADWARE

97. Pretender: SEEMER. Man, it's listed in the dictionary.

100. Dentist's concern: ENAMEL

101. Alter, as area boundaries: REZONE

102. Island folk magic: OBEAH (OH-bee-uh). The West Indian sorcery. It escaped me. We had it a while ago.

103. House martins nest under them: EAVES

104. Become a pair without an affair: ELOPE. Wedding affair. I was thinking of the extramarital affair.

107. Displayed openly: BARED

109. __ avis: RARA. Like Kazie. She is so unique and linguistically talented.

111. Didn't pay yet: OWED. This whole puzzle is OW-ed.

115. Jackson was the first to become pres.: DEM. Andrew Jackson. New trivia to me. Lincoln is the first Republican president.

Answer grid.

Note to solvers in Canada: What's on your paper today, "That Hurts" or "Not in Canada"?

C.C.