Tuesday November 10, 2009 Donna S. Levin

Theme: DRIVE (68A: Hit from a tee, and word that can follow the first words of 20-, 28-, 49- and 59-Across)

20A. One-hit wonder: FLASH IN THE PAN

28A. Controversial school subject: SEX EDUCATION.

49A. President's selective rejection: LINE ITEM VETO.

59A. Pact addressing nuclear proliferation: TEST BAN TREATY.

FLASH DRIVE: A small electronic device used to store digital data, more portable and robust than a hard drive, ranging in capacities from 64MB to 256GB. I'm not savvy enough to need one.

LINE DRIVE: Baseball term for a batted ball that travels low, fast, and straight. The bane of pitchers.

TEST DRIVE: Taking a car out for a ride prior to purchase.

I left out SEX DRIVE because who here doesn't know about that!

Argyle again. This puzzle is not as scrabbly as Barry's yesterday, but smooth as well. Several nice Bob Klahn style clue echos (either sequential or crossing).

Some might have some trouble but the perps will probably rescue them.

Across:

1. Labor union foe: SCAB. SCABS was just clued as "Picket line crossers" yesterday.

5. 1999 Ron Howard film: ED TV. Starring Matthew McConaughey.

9. Clunker of a car: LEMON.

14. Building passage: HALL. Crossing SHAFT (1D. Mine passage). Nice "passage" echo.

15. Retired Cunard flagship, for short: QE II. Trouble for anyone?

16. Atlanta campus: EMORY. The university is recognized internationally for its outstanding liberal arts college, superb professional schools and one of the Southeast's leading health care systems. Emory's main campus is located in the suburban Atlanta neighborhood of Druid Hills.

17. Diva's number: ARIA.

18. Samovars: URNS. Samovar is a Russian term for a metal urn with a spigot, used to boil water for tea and traditionally having a chimney and heated by coals. Picture

19. Love, to Luigi: AMORE. Italian. OK, here is Dean Martin's "That's AMORE".

23. Stylistic judgment: TASTE.

24. Fishing aid: NET.

25. Hitter's stat: RBI.

36. It may be copped in court: PLEA. Cop a plea.

37. VCR successors: TIVOS. C.C. won't like 13D: TV's "Science Guy": NYE. because of TV in the clue.

38. Oodles: A LOT.

40. Mlles., in Spain: SRTAS. Mademoiselle is French for Miss, señorita in Spanish.

43. Soccer immortal: PELE.

44. Like thick carpets: PLUSH.

46. Beehive State college team: UTES.

48. No-goodnik: RAT.

54. European toy dog, briefly: POM. Pomeranian.

55. Enter, as data: INPUT. Data is the plural of DATUM (31D. Bit of information)

64. Gemologist's weight: CARAT. What's the difference between CARAT and KARAT again? (From Crockett: CARAT a unit of weight and KARAT a unit of pureness.)

66. Perjurer: LIAR.

67. "__ and Away": 1960s hit: UP, UP

71. Hood's scheme: CAPER.

72. Halloween cover-up: MASK.

73. IRS IDs: SSNS. Typical bottom edge word.

Down:

2. "Cheers" waitress: CARLA. Rhea Perlman (CARLA) is married to Danny DeVito. And 6. Actor Bruce: DERN. Bruce is the father of actress Laura Dern, whom he had with his ex-wife, actress Diane Ladd.

3. Fictitious name: ALIAS. Oh, C.C. gets quite a few annoying porn comments from this Nora Pearlstone (Rich Norris alias name) blog entry. Can someone have a look and see which link might cause such problem? Be careful with what you link at the Comments section too.

4. Explosions: BLASTS.

5. Prefix with lateral: EQUI. Meaning "same".

7. Windshield option: TINT.

8. Four-armed Hindu deity: VISHNU (VISH-noo). “The Preserver". Brahma is the Creator and Shiva is the Destroyer.

9. Eagerly took advantage of, as an opportunity: LEAPT AT.

10. Jane Austen novel: EMMA.

11. Song with the lyric "I'm crossing you in style": MOON RIVER. "Moon River", was composed by Johnny Mercer (lyrics) and Henry Mancini (music) in 1961, for the movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's.

12. NHL legend Bobby: ORR.

21. Dickens schemer Uriah: HEEP. From "David Copperfield".

22. Common Mkt.: EEC. European Economic Community.

26. When repeated, Yalie's cheer: BOOLA. "Boola Boola" is Yale's fight song.

27. Map in a map: INSET.

29. T-shirt sizes: XLS.

30. Eternally, in poems: E'ER. V is normally omitted (as in ne'er too).

31. Bit of informatition: DATUM

32. Bit of advice: TIP. Sequential "Bit of..." echo.

33. Canada's national tree: MAPLE. Hi, Geri!

34. Do-or-die poker bet: ALL-IN.

35. There and back: ROUND TRIP.

39. Mao __-tung: TSE. Wayne R Williams is probably still using his "Half a fly?" every day now. Tung simply means "east" in Chinese.

41. Off-road ride, briefly: ATV. Repeated offender.

45. Cool cat: HIPSTER.

47. Mix: STIR.

51. The Democrats' donkey, for one: EMBLEM.

52. Outdoes: ONE-UPS.

56. Half of the "California Dreamin'" singers: PAPAS.

57. One-eighty: U-TURN. 180 degrees is half-way round a circle (360 degrees)

58. Works on a keyboard: TYPES.

60. Icicle site: EAVE.

61. Verdi's slave girl: AIDA. The princess from Nubia (thanks, JD, and welcome back).

63. Difficult journey: TREK.

64. Swine flu watchdog agcy.: CDC. Center for Disease Control. Quite a topical fill.

65. Coach Parseghian: ARA. Of Notre Dame. Literally "Altar" in Latin.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Monday November 9, 2009 Barry Silk

Theme: Hocus Pocus

20A. Toy that might answer "It is decidedly so": MAGIC EIGHT BALL.

35A. Sly inquiry: TRICK QUESTION.

51A. Cesar Millan dog-training apparatus: ILLUSION COLLAR. Unknown to me. He is The Dog Whisperer. His wife's name is Ilusion Wilson Millan, so is the collar an allusion to her?

If it is Monday, then I must be Argyle.

Alright! A Barry Silk for a Monday. Sixties music and muscle cars. And just short a 'V' from a pangram. Three Z's. Plenty of lively multiple words too, esp Down entries. Neat to have END (64A. Finish) complete the grid.

For those of you that may never have had a Magic 8 Ball, it has little sayings that float up to the viewing window after you turn the ball over a few times. Like all seers, it is often cryptic. The Wikipedi article has the list of the 20 standard answers. Plus, there are several specialty 8 Balls out there.

Across.

1. Sends a duplicate to, for short: CCS. Carbon Copy, used as a verb. (or as a shout-out to our leader.)

4. Half-baked, as ideas: CRAZY.

9. Tended: SAW TO.

14. Fink: RAT. Both verb and noun.

15. 3:1 or 7:2, e.g.: RATIO.

17. Thurman who played June in "Henry & June": UMA. The 1990 film was loosely based on the book Henry and June by our old friend, French diarist Anaïs Nin.

18. Maine college town: ORONO. Hi Mainiac!

19. Improvise lines: AD LIB.

23. Pub orders: BREWS

24. W. Hemisphere defense gp.: OAS. Organization of American States

25. "Cats" poet's monogram: TSE. T S Eliot.

27. Average: SO-SO.

28. Ancient moralist: AESOP.

31. Despair's opposite: HOPE.

32. Knight fight: JOUST. A la Don Quixote, though he tilts at the windmills.

34. Imus's medium: RADIO. Don Imus, shock jock.

40. Charlatan: FAKER. A good entry for today.

41. Helen of Troy's mother: LEDA. Helen's father is Zeus.

42. OneZip bag maker: HEFTY. Rival of Glad.

48. Cell "messenger," briefly: RNA. RiboNucleic Acid, a single chain, while DeoxyriboNucleic Acid is a double chain, the famous double helix. (Was in yesterday's puzzle.)

49. Critic Reed: REX. Film critic.

50. Barbecue equipment brand: WEBER.

58. Cavity fillers' org.: ADA. American Dental Association.

59. Crooner Mel: TORME. "The Velvet Fog". Silky!

60. November birthstone: TOPAZ. Pure topaz is colorless and transparent but is usually tinted by impurities; aren't we all?

61. Meditative sect: ZEN. Derived from Chinese Chán, literally, "quietude".

63. Covered with marsh vegetation: SEDGY.

Down.

1. Bread bits: CRUMBS.

2. Chevy muscle car: CAMARO.

3. Puts on, as a show: STAGES.

6. Yours, in Paris: A TOI.

7. Criticize in a witty way: ZING.

8. Classic chocolate drink brand: YOO-HOO. Yogi likes it; I didn't.

9. Picket line crossers: SCABS.

11. Affluent: WELL-TO-DO.

12. Sudden and precipitous downturn: TAILSPIN.

21. Pacific island on which a memorable WWII photo was taken: IWO JIMA. !

22. Audible dance style: TAP.

26. Job listing initials: EEO. Equal Employment Opportunity

28. Northern diving bird: AUK. The Great Auk is extinct.

29. Attorney's abbr.: ESQ. Esquire. Also, Esqr.

30. Fill, as with padding: STUFF.

31. Styling goo: HAIR GEL. For some, only Dapper Dan will do.

33. Military training acad.: OCS. Officer Candidate Schools.

34. Hwy.: RTE. Highway - Route

35. Miley Cyrus, for one: TEEN IDOL. Her ticket sales are not that hot any more.

36. Ready-for-the-worst status: RED ALERT.

38. Wild blue yonder: SKY. Nice clue.

39. Camera type, for short: SLR. Single-Lens Reflex.

42. "__ So Fine": 1963 #1 hit: HE'S. By The Chiffons.

43. Is: EXISTS.

45. On fire: ABLAZE. I originally had AFLAME but for a Barry Silk puzzle, I needed ABLAZE.

46. Hard to move: LEADEN.

47. Quick trip that's "run": ERRAND.

49. Foot-long stick, often: RULER.

50. Reeling from a blow: WOOZY.

52. Tibetan priest: LAMA. One 'L'. Literally "guru". Dalai means "ocean". Dallai Lama, "Ocean Teacher", means a teacher who is spiritually as great as the ocean.

53. Native Nebraskan: OTOE. The clue may not be accurate; they moved around a lot but they always show up in crosswords.

54. "Law & Order" gp.: NYPD. New York(city) Police Department

55. Jagged rock: CRAG. Like this picture. Those mountain goats do not seem to have tails, do they?

56. "Let's call __ day!": IT A.

Answer grid.

Argyle