Thursday November 5, 2009 Xan Vongsathorn

Theme: SILENCE IS GOLDEN (57A. Apt adage for this puzzle ) - Common phrases signaling "mum's the word" (I'll be quiet and say nothing). "Non-speaking line" means "saying a line about not speaking".

17A. Non-speaking line?: MY LIPS ARE SEALED

22A. Non-speaking line?: I'M ALL EARS

34A. Non-speaking line?: WORDS ESCAPE ME

50A. Non-speaking line?: NO COMMENT

Today's constructor Xan Vongsathorn is a student in Pomona College, CA. Xan is pronounced as “Chawn”.

This puzzle reminds me the quote "Don't talk unless you can improve the silence" Dennis or Hahtool brought to the blog a while ago.

As usual, I jumped around. Got MY LIPS ARE SEALED very quickly and filled in SILENCE IS GOLDEN immediately. Then I thought the theme is about keeping secret.

Across:

1. Thumper's buddy: BAMBI. Thumper is a young rabbit in "Bambi". Unknown to me. We often see ENA clued as "Bambi's aunt".

6. La Scala production: OPERA. And AISLED (45D. Like theaters)

11. Cap seen on a brae: TAM. Scottish cap. Brae is Scottish hillside.

15. Ad target: BUYER. Sigh! I hardly use my Jack Lalanne juicer. The TV ad was just so appealing.

16. "If you ask me," in chat room shorthand: IMO

21. Spill the beans: TATTLE. A contract to "Silence is Golden".

27. State of rest: REPOSE

28. Little women: PETITES. Good play on the novel "Little Women". And LARGE (56A. Soda size).

31. Aurora's Greek counterpart: EOS. Gimme, correct? I've been mentioning Aurora every time EOS shows up.

32. Romantic hopeful: SUITOR. Silly, but I struggled with the answer. I like to be romanced.

40. Vital anatomical passage: AIRWAY. No idea. It's a passage by which air passes from the nose or mouth to the air sacs of the lungs.

41. George Gershwin's brother: IRA. The clue is a full name, the answer is only a given name. "George's songwriter brother" is much better.

43. Blankety-blank type: SO AND SO

46. Jaime Sommers, TV's "__ Woman": BIONIC. Bionic stands for Bio(logy) + (electro)nic.

49. The Phantom of the Opera: ERIK. Oh, thought it's ERIC.

53. Magnetic inductivity units: TESLAS. Named after physicist Nikola Tesla.

63. Too trusting: NAIVE

64. Prefix with surgery: NEURO. Neurosurgery. Neuro = nerve.

66. "Li'l" guy: ABNER. Li'l Abner.

67. Bygone anesthetic: ETHER

Down:

1. Mooch, as a ride: BUM

3. Start to practice?: MAL. Malpractice. Great clue.

4. Under-the-sink brand: BRILLO. Latin for "bright". I am using the S.O.S. pad.

5. Gets moving: IMPELS

6. President with a Grammy: OBAMA. Two Grammys, for the spoken word books of "Dreams from My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope".

11. Attack à la Don Quixote: TILT AT. He tilts at the windmills (fights against an imaginary enemy). Tilt here means "joust", using a lance.

12. 2001 French film starring Audrey Tautou: AMELIE. Ah, Embien liked this film. So did I. Just lovely.

13. Cover girls, e.g.: MODELS. CoverGirl is a cosmetics brand.

18. Hook's right hand: SMEE. In "Peter Pan".

19. Worn things: ATTIRE. Might have got it quickly if the clue were "Things to wear".

23. Cat call: MEOW. Not the rude catcall. Several nicely worded clues in today's puzzle.

24. Lhasa __: Tibetan dog: APSO. Literally "bearded" in Tibetan language.

25. Like much Thai cuisine: SPICY. That's why they use coconut often, to balance out the spiciness.

29. Greek "H": ETA. See the shape.

30. High point: TOP

32. Attach, as a patch: SEW ON

33. Country where Häagen-Dazs H.Q. is: USA. Man, somehow I always thought Häagen-Dazs is based somewhere in Europe.

35. Continue to irritate: RANKLE

37. Some coll. students: SRS. Xan Vongsathorn is a senior in college. Very unusual name.

38. Diamond source: MINE. No more baseball diamond. Damned Yankees. What Lola wants, Lola finally gets! I kind of like Andy Pettitte though. Very honest handling of his steroid use. Congratulations, Danabw and Democrat in a Red State.

39. Celtic land: ERIN. Or EIRE. Hibernia is Latin for Ireland.

43. Goes after: SETS AT

44. Tater Tots maker: ORE-IDA. Portmanteau of Ore(gon) = Ida(ho).

46. Five-time Wimbledon champ: BORG (Björn)

47. "Later, bro": I'M GONE

48. Brunch staple: OMELET. I like plain one. No cheese, or meat or vegetables.

51. Source of edible oil: OLIVE

52. Crime planner: CASER. Case is a slang for "to check out a bank/house in planning of a crime".

54. "Happy tune" whistler of Broadway: ANNA. No idea. The song "I Whistle a Happy Tune", from the musical "The King and I".

55. Picketer's bane: SCAB

58. "Ich bin __ Berliner!": EIN. JFK line.

59. "How could I miss that?!": D'UH. No difference from D'OH, correct?

Answer grid.

Thanks for the newspaper information yesterday. I am so sorry some of you lost LAT puzzle. Do go to LA Times' website and join us for discussions when you have time.

C.C.

Wednesday November 4, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: INLETS (43D. Coastal irregularities, and word anagrammed in this puzzle's four longest answers) - The starting word of each theme entry is an anagram of INLETS.

17A. Respond to Uncle Sam's poster request: ENLIST IN THE ARMY. Pat Tillman did.

28A. Movieland: TINSELTOWN. Hollywood.

40A. "Pay attention!": LISTEN HERE! "Here" did not come to me readily. I could only think of "Listen Up".

53A. Passive-aggressive tactic: SILENT TREATMENT. It causes bitterness on both ends.

Today's Dan Naddor Index (non-theme entries with 6 or more letters) is 19. Quite high. And 13 of them are Down entries, several crossing two theme entries.

Smooth sailing for me. Simple theme and mostly straightforward clues. I tend to have trouble with Dan's sound change puzzles due to my poor command of English pronunciations.

Across:

4. Absurd sham: FARCE. A tragedy played at a thousand revolutions per minute.

9. Music performance rights org.: ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers). And TIN PAN (2D. __ Alley: old music-publishing district).

15. Where work may pile up: INBOX

16. Bit of wisdom: PEARL. Pearls of wisdom (succinct sayings).

20. Navajo relative: APACHE. The Military helicopter is named after this tribe.

21. Wood decay: DRY ROT. Caused by fungi.

22. Tall and long-limbed: LANKY. Can you use LANKY to describe Gisele Bünchen?

23. Hope/Crosby film title word: ROAD. "The Road to ...".

24. Captured: TOOK. Tricky past tense.

33. Outdoor nap site: HAMMOCK

36. Women, in old-fashioned parlance: FAIR SEX. I remember Dennis used this phrase before. Maybe he is old-fashioned.

38. Blow one's top: ERUPT

39. Chasms: GULFS. See, letter L is pronounced in Gulf, but not in HALF/CALF.

43. Pesky little tyke: IMP

46. Retailing pioneer R.H. __: MACY. Odd to see the old Marshall Field's become Macy's.

47. Eternities: EONS

48. Zellweger of "Chicago": RENEE. She played Roxie.

56. Land along the ocean: COAST. Alas, "Coastal irregularities..."

57. Two under par, on a hole: EAGLE. "On a hole" seems so unnecessary.

59. Aches: HURTS. Not PAINS.

60. Father of Beau and Jeff: LLOYD (Bridges). OK, here is a picture of Jeff, LLOYD and Beau. Stumper for me.

Down:

1. Lofty principles: IDEALS

3. Old White House middle name: DELANO. The "D" in FDR.

4. Suspicious: FISHY

6. Sac fly stat: RBI. I wonder what's the record for the most sacrifice flies in a ball game.

7. Approve tacitly: CONDONE

8. Crowd scene actors: EXTRAS

9. Copycat: APER. Reminds me of DEEMER.

10. Furry North Pacific swimmers: SEA OTTERS. And FURS (38D: Animal rights activists' concerns).

11. Hanna-Barbera output: CARTOONS

13. Thickness: PLY

19. Jekyll's alter ego: HYDE. Dr. Jekyll's evil side.

23. Actuary's calculation: RISK. Did you hear the news about a 4-month old 17-pound baby being denied health insurance because he's too fat? Just absurd.

25. Cut or scrape, in totspeak: OWIE

26. Lego relative: K'NEX. How can I remember this brand name? What the heck does it mean?

29. Eric the Red's son: LEIF. Literally "heir". Learned from doing Xword.

30. Loneliness syndrome when kids leave home: EMPTY NEST. I am sure many of you have experienced such loneliness.

33. Captain's position: HELM

34. "Carmen" highlight: ARIA

35. Like weightlifters: MUSCULAR. Don't often see this word in a grid.

37. Draft choice: ALE. Was thinking of sports draft.

39. Five-star leader: GENERAL. My first thought was hotel ranking.

42. Low-cost lodging: HOSTEL

44. Stinker: MEANIE. Are they synonymous to you?

45. Mortar and __: PESTLE. Great to ground toasted sesame seeds.

51. Tolkien tree people: ENTS

52. Six-time Emmy winner Tyne: DALY. Dan Naddor (or Rich Norris) must not like John Daly. They keep cluing this Tyne lady.

54. Chit: IOU. We just had CHIT clued as "IOU" on Monday.

Answer grid.

I'd like to update the list of newspapers that carry LA Times Daily Crossword. Come to the Comments section if your paper is not there, or your paper has dropped LAT. Thanks.

C.C.