Monday, November 16, 2009 Nancy Salomon

Theme: A Man of Action - Action phrases ending with synonyms of "huge".

17A: Striding self-confidently: WALKING TALL

60A: Enjoying an extravagant existence: LIVING LARGE

11D: Shooting for the stars: AIMING HIGH

29D: Carrying on conceitedly: TALKING BIG

I'm not sure what else to to call these four words. Three (TALL, LARGE and BIG) relate to size but HIGH is about position. Does that make sense? UPDATE: I see now I should have considered both words in the entries as the theme, so C.C. and I changed my theme title.

Argyle here, it is a scrablely puzzle, 3 X's but no q or z. Two Across theme entries and two Down entries are all 11 letter long and are all 'in the language'. Very tightly focused theme, as is always the case with Nancy's puzzles.

And plenty of 7/8/9 - letter non-theme answers to cohere the whole grid.

Across:

6A: Movie music: SCORE. And SONG (31D. iTunes download).

11A: Cigar residue: ASH.

14A: Like loud crowds: AROAR.

15A: "Family Matters" nerd Steve: URKEL. The "Did I do that?" kid.

16A: "I like __": '50s campaign slogan: IKE.

19A: Blender setting: MIX.

20A: Having sufficient skill: ABLE.

21A: No-brainer college course: EASY A.

22A: Lamp-to-plug link: WIRE. I wanted CORD.

23A: God of thunder: THOR. Germanic and Norse mythology.

25A: Short races: SPRINTS. NASCAR Sprint Cup races, however, are not SPRINTS. Go figure!

27A: It's a virtue, so they say: PATIENCE.

31A: iTunes download: SONG. Today's theme SONG.

32A: Midterms, e.g.: EXAMS.

33A: Emitted a delighted sigh: AAHED.

35A: Beaver or boater: HAT.

38A: Tick off: RILE.

39A: Paid to play: ANTED. You put some money in the pot to be dealt into a hand of poker. Small stakes games might have a nickel ante and a quarter limit to any raises.

40A: Hepcat's jargon: JIVE.

41A: Condescending cluck: TSK.

42A: Climbing tool for frozen surfaces: ICE AX.

43A: TV host Philbin: REGIS. I liked it when his wife, Joy, would co-host.

44A: About, in a memo: IN RE.

46A: Words while delivering a blow: TAKE THAT. AND THAT, for a second blow.

48A: Team supporters, collectively: FAN BASE.

51A: Hobbling gait: GIMP.

52A: Tiny pond plant: ALGA.

53A: Aired, as a TV show: WAS ON.

55A: Wolf's shelter: LAIR. Check out the alternate meanings to LAIR.

59A: Dry gently, as tears: DAB.

62A: Brit. record co.: EMI. (Electric & Musical Industries Ltd.)

63A: "Maria __": 1940s song: ELENA. Beautiful.

64A: Kitchen tearjerker: ONION.

65A: Pooch: DOG.

66A: '50s Ford flop: EDSEL. A success in crosswords, though.

67A: Part of a Santa costume: BEARD.

Down

1D: Muted trumpet sound: WA-WA. How about a clip, Jazzbumpa?

2D: Mideast native: ARAB.

3D: Dice throw: ROLL.

4D: Provide a schedule slot (for): MAKE TIME.

5D: Indian title: SRI.

6D: Crop yielding a common sweetener: SUGARCANE.

7D: PC monitors: CRTS. What with flat screens now this might soon be 'former computer terminals or monitors that included a Cathode Ray Tube.'

8D: Gives the nod to: OKAYS.

9D: Went off the wagon, e.g.: RELAPSED.

10D: Right-angled pipe: ELL.

12D: Mini, midi or maxi: SKIRT.

13D: Whammies: HEXES.

18D: Casino sign gas: NEON. The Strip.

24D: "For __ a jolly ...": HE'S.

26D: Towel holder: ROD.

27D: Saucy: PERT.

28D: Graph's x or y: AXIS.

30D: Bother big-time: EAT AT.

34D: Six-sided: HEXAGONAL.

36D: Nike competitor: AVIA.

37D: Try out: TEST.

39D: Game in which "bullets" can be whatever card you decide: ACES WILD. "Bullets" is poker lingo for aces.

40D: 747, for one: JET PLANE.

42D: Nest egg component, for short: IRA.

43D: Sleep lab acronym: REM. That is an acronym not for the sleep lab itself but what they use for a stage of sleep, Rapid Eye Movement, characterized by dreaming.

45D: Org. with dribblers: NBA. National Basketball Association.

47D: Crowned checker: KING.

48D: Washed-out: FADED.

49D: San Antonio mission: ALAMO.

50D: Gutter sites: EAVES.

54D: Trig function: SINE.

57D: Operatic prince: IGOR. Prince IGOR is an opera in Russian by Alekander Borodin.

58D: Tear apart: REND. Past tense can be a tricky RENT.

61D: Soft toss: LOB.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Sunday November 15, 2009 Mike Torch

Theme: Ling-uistics - Ling is inserted into familiar phrases.

24A. Migration of gregarious birds?: STAR(LING) TREK. "Star Trek". Starlings are gregarious and noisy birds.

50A. Bovine argument at the lanes?: OX BOW(LING) INCIDENT. I've never heard of the movie "The Ox-Bow Incident". "The" is cut in the new phrase. Bowling lanes.

71A. Game for lazy kids?: ID(LING) TAG. ID Tag.

95A. Drinking too much?: PICK(LING) YOUR BRAIN. Pick Your Brain. Do you find the new phrase amusing?

122A. Courtroom intuition?: LEGAL FEE(LING). Legal Fee.

3D. Result of way too much praise?: EGO TRIP(LING). Ego Trip.

31D. McCarthy suspicion?: RED INK(LING). Red Ink.

58D. Affleck on the mound?: BEN HUR(LING). "Ben-Hur". Ben Affleck. My favorite theme phrase.

74D. Quartet of storytellers?: FAB(LING) FOUR. Fab Four. The Beatles. Did not know fable can be a verb.

Besides the "quartet" in the last theme clue, we also have several Latin "group" clues:

21A. Common sonnet line quintet: IAMBI. Stumped me. Plural of iambus.

42D. Deadly septet: SINS

111D. Salty septet: SEAS

Clever theme and dense theme answers. But the two affixes, real as they are, feel so forced to me:

128A. Prefix with -nomic: GASTRO. Gastronomic. Gastro means "stomach".

82D. Psychological suffix with para-: NOIA. Paranoia. Noia means "conditions of mind".

Across:

1. Full of: Suff.: OSE. As in verbose. Often clued as "Sugar suffix".

4. Played (around): HORSED

10. Helmsman's challenge: SHOAL. Sandbank.

15. PC programs: APPS (Applications)

19. Truck stop sight: RIG

20. Ring of color: AREOLE. Or AREOLA (AREa + OLA). Like these two rings. And of course, the beautiful Katrina Kaif.

22. Model T contemporaries: REOS

26. Eden-to-Nod direction: EAST. East of Eden.

27. Release to attack: LET AT. Release the dog?

29. President who attended Eureka College: REAGAN. Eureka College is in Illinois.

30. Responds to "Come again?": ITERATES. "Come again?" = "Excuse me?"

32. Go from pub to pub: BARHOP. My wasted precious youth in Guangzhou.

36. Yr.-end period: DEC

37. Gary's home: INDIANA. Gary is a city in Indiana. Nailed it.

41. Squirrel's partner, to Boris and Natasha: MOOSE. From "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show".

44. Mosque toppers: DOMES. What's the name of the prayer cap Muslims wear?

48. Very softly, in music: PPP. P, PP & PPP all indicate "soft" in varying degree.

53. Will Varner's daughter-in-law in "The Long, Hot Summer": EULA. Got the answer from crosses.

55. Beethoven dedicatee: ELISE. "Für Elise".

56. Krakatoa's country: INDONESIA. Easy guess. I've never heard of Krakatoa, an volcanic island in Indonesia.

57. Bounces on a court: DRIBBLES. Basketball.

59. Handful: FEW. Not many.

62. Home in bed, maybe: SICK

63. Radical campus gp.: SDS (Students for a Democratic Society)

65. Most passengers in "Titanic," e.g.: EXTRAS. The cast, not the real passengers.

68. Disney lioness: NALA. "The Lion King" lioness. I wrote down ELSA ("Born Free" lioness) first. And today ELSA is clued as 118D: Supermodel Benitez, an unknown Mexican model to me.

73. As a joke: IN FUN

80. Like many home movies: ON TAPE

84. West Point letters: USMA (United States Military Academy)

87. Like material goods: TANGIBLE. Tangible goods.

89. Amusement park rides: MONORAILS

92. Best of the best: ELITE. Crème de la crème.

94. Declined: SLID. As price.

99. Part of TGIF: IT'S

100. 1972 U.S./Soviet pact: SALT I. Well, I am sure it's not called SALT I at that time.

101. Denounces: DAMNS

102. Write: SET DOWN. And PENS (114D. Writes). I love this kind of clue echos.

104. Southernmost Canadian prov.: ONT (Ontario)

108. "__ at the Opera": A NIGHT. Nope, have never heard of this Marx Brothers film.

111. Temporary fixes: STOPGAP

116. Conqueror of Mexico: CORTES (Hernando). Also an unknown figure to me. Wikipedia says his expedition caused the fall of the Aztec empire.

121. Rank below marquis: EARL. The answer emerged itself.

126. __ breve: ALLA. An indication to play in cut-time. Alla is Italian for "according to the". Learned from doing Xword.

127. Mural opening?: INTRA. Intramural. Valid (and clever) prefix cluing.

129. Half of dos: UNO

130. Smirnoff alternative: SKYY. So blue. No wonder the name.

131. State in northeast India: ASSAM. The tea state.

132. Certain Nebraskan: OMAHAN. Warren Buffett is called "Oracle of Omaha".

Down:

1. Dental floss brand: ORAL-B

2. It's usually a hit: SIDE A. Cassette. I was thinking of baseball hit.

4. Concerns, with "with": HAS TO DO. Multiple words again.

5. Scrap: ORT. One of the very early crosswordese I've learned.

7. Angry: SORE

8. First name in scat: ELLA (Fitzgerald). The scat queen.

9. Condescend: DEIGN

10. Enlists: SIGNS ON. Penned in JOINS IN first.

11. Monopoly token: HAT

12. Ahab's father in the Bible: OMRI (OM-rahy). No idea.

13. Help the wrong way?: ABET

14. Enjoyed: LIKED

15. Three-digit ID: AREA CODE

16. Gardening moss: PEAT

17. Photographer's suggestion: POSE. Too short for SAY CHEESE.

18. Old Atl. crossers: SSTS. Atl. = Atlantic.

28. "Kung Fu" actor: AHN (Philip). I mentioned a few times before that the Korean name Ahg = Chinese Ang (as in Ang Lee). It can be either surname or given name.

33. Digital dots: PIXELS

35. "If the fans don't come out to the ballpark, you can't stop them" speaker: YOGI (Berra)

39. Made a racket: NOISED. I was picturing tennis racket rather than "noise' racket.

40. Nursery reactions: AWS

43. Credits follow it: ENDING. D'oh, film credits.

46. City WNW of Stillwater, Oklahoma: ENID. Easy guess.

47. RR stops: STAS

48. Pitcher Martinez: PEDRO. With the Phillies. Not really a bad World Series for him.

54. Didn't miss __: A BEAT

60. Beach birds: ERNES

61. Conestoga driver: WAGONER. Did not know wagon can be a verb. Also did not know the real name for this kind of wagon.

66. Good-sized sizes: XLS. Needs an abbr. hint in the clue.

67. Apt name for a cook?: STU. A good name indeed. Stew.

69. Opposing forces: ANTIS

71. Under consideration: IN MIND

72. Outfit: ATTIRE

75. Illuminated indirectly: UPLIT. Uplight is a verb?

76. Calls for: NEEDS

80. Flatware company, or the New York community where it began: ONEIDA. Literally "erected stone".

81. Calls the game: UMPS. Baseball.

83. Part of the pkg.: INCL. ENCL too.

85. Bit of plankton: ALGA

88. Rat-__: A-TAT

90. Ready for action after an injury, in sports: OK TO PLAY. I can't believe I was right.

91. Mozart's No. 1 through No. 41: SYMS. Symphonies? New abbreviation to remember then.

93. Scale divs.: LBS

96. A buck: ONE CLAM. Nailed it. Clam is slang for money.

97. "What's the __ Wond'rin'": "Carousel" song: USE OF. No idea. Here is a clip.

98. Nine-sided shape: NONAGON. Nona is a prefix for 9.

103. Mich. neighbor: WIS

105. Shire of "Rocky": TALIA. She also played the annoying Connie in "Godfather". Most of the actor/actress today were gimmes to me.

107. Ragú rival: PREGO. Ah, we just had plenty of discussion on tomato sauce.

109. Co-creator of Yogi and Boo Boo: HANNA. Hanna-Barbera cartoons. YOGI is an answer in the grid, albeit clued differently.

110. Town on the Firth of Clyde: TROON. Royal Troon Golf Club has held several British Opens.

112. Converse: TALK. Oh, I was thinking of "opposite' converse.

113. Paris hub: ORLY. Charles de Gaulle too.

115. Some NCOs: SGTS

117. Squad: TEAM. Sports squad.

119. Group that opposed the Jedi: SITH. "Star Wars".

123. Neighbor of Scorpius: ARA. Latin for "altar". Three letter star is always ARA.

124. Org. with a lot of heaters?: NRA. Heater is slang for "gun". It's an "Org. with a lot of haters" too, gun-haters.

Answer grid.

To Canadian solvers, your Mail and Globe Saturday 21*21 is by Wayne R. Williams (the previous TMS editor) and the puzzle is not on-line. Do feel free to post questions at the Comments section if you need help.

C.C.