Thursday November 19, 2009 Jack McInturff

Theme: Fools Rush In - Common phrases that end with a synonym of "fool".

20A. Weightlifting event: CLEAN AND JERK

30A. Golf course pest: CANADIAN GOOSE

39A. Spinning toy manipulated with sticks: CHINESE YO-YO

49A. Honest info: STRAIGHT DOPE

So many synonyms for fool: idiot, blockhead, imbecile, jackass, nitwit, etc. I like dummy. Use it almost every day.

I read Jack McInturff's original theme proposal after I was done with the puzzle, and was so glad PROJECT CREEP did not make the cut. A complete unknown phrase to me.

Used Wite-out several times today: AIRPORT instead of ISRAELI for 23A. Ben-Gurion, e.g., and OCEAN instead of BRINY for 28A. Sea. Did you also fall for the traps or was I but a fool?

Across:

1. Choir member: TENOR

6. Quite: SUCH. Mine was MUCH.

15. Faulkner's "As __ Dying": I LAY

16. Pearl Harbor site: OAHU. Honolulu is on southeast coast of Oahu.

18. Common nickname for a doter: NANA. I sure miss mine.

19. 66 and others: Abbr.: RTES. Route 66.

26. "It's __ business": NO ONE'S

27. Kind of biological network: NEURAL. Neural network.

32. Corp. money manager: CFO. Now we know the constructor was a CFO before.

35. Fighting: AT IT. Hey, it's back! TER next.

37. Hang onto: HOLD

43. River in Lyons: SAONE (Sohn). See this map. It rises in northeast France and flows to the Rhone River at Lyons.

44. Belfast's province: ULSTER. The long, loose ulster overcoat is named after this county.

45. Early Ford success: MODEL A. And EDSEL (48D. Ill-fated Ford). How is Model A different from Model T, Dennis?

48. Actors, often: EMOTERS.

52. Road sign silhouette: DEER. Deer ticks cause Lyme disease.

53. Debt indicators: IOUS. Wrote down LOSS first. Dennis's Bozone Layer (The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating) definitely fogged my brain.

54. Ticked off: IRKED

59. Dresden's river: ELBE (EL-buh). The North Sea feeder.

60. Landlocked African country: NIGER. Ah, Bush's infamous "Sixteen Word" uranium country.

61. A handful of: SOME

62. Navy commando: SEAL. Our ex-governor Jesse "The Body" Ventura was a Navy Seal.

63. Gothic house feature: GABLE. The triangular section at the end of a pitched roof.

Down:

1. La Brea goo: TAR. Brea is just Spanish for "tar".

2. Seventh Greek letter: ETA

3. Christmas quaff: NOG. Hmm, nutmeg.

4. 200 milligrams, to a jeweler: ONE CARAT. Crockett just mentioned last time that carat indicates weight, karat purity.

5. Original primer used to paint the Golden Gate Bridge: RED LEAD. Unknown to me.

6. Source of the Law: SINAI. Does the Law here refer to the Ten Commandments God gave Moses?

7. __ Bator, Mongolia: ULAN. Iterally "red" in Mongolian.

8. Where Jesus turned water to wine: CANA. No idea. Illiterate on Bible.

9. Cape Cod site of a JFK museum: HYANNIS. Hyannis Port. The Kennedy Compound is there.

10. How some jump?: FOR JOY. Got the answer from crosses. Nice clue.

11. Corroded: EATEN

12. Sex researcher Hite: SHERE

13. Mammoth features: TUSKS. Usually, but not always in pairs.

21. Contemporary of Dizzy and Billie: ELLA

22. Finished: DONE. Or OVER.

23. Early Peruvians: INCAS

24. Senate posts: SEATS. Was thinking of the tweet posts from some of the senators.

25. Confrontation: RUN-IN

28. Carried: BORNE. Did not come to me immediately.

29. Classroom drilling: ROTE

31. Come out ahead: GAIN

32. British actor Robert, the original Colonel Pickering in "My Fair Lady": COOTE. Stranger to me. Is Coote pronounced the same as coot?

33. Candidate's handout: FLYER. Or flier.

37. Common crowd reaction in monster films: HYSTERIA. No monster film for me.

39. Colombian city: CALI. The Colombian drug cartel city.

40. Some heroes: HOAGIES. Hero sandwich.

41. Sport for 300-pounders: SUMO

42. Like lovers skipping church?: ELOPING. Valid clue without the question mark too.

43. Pharmaceutical giant that developed Celebrex: SEARLE. Pfizer wouldn't fit. I've never heard of Searle before.

45. Windows predecessor: MS-DOS

46. Alamogordo's county: OTERO. In New Mexico county. Spanish for "height". Again, I strung the answer together from Across.

47. Nightmare, e.g.: DREAM

50. Putter's target: HOLE. Golf.

51. Very big wind: TUBA. Wind instrument. Good clue too.

55. Soviet spy org.: KGB. The East German secret police is STASI.

56. Snakelike fish: EEL. Yep, snakelike. Delicious!

57. Hip-hop Dr.: DRE. I wonder why he named himself "Dr. Dre". Such a Xword friendly name.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Wednesday November 18, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: BAR (65A. Happy hour site, and word that can follow each last name in the answers to starred clues) - Famous people whose last name can precede the word BAR.

18. *"Seven Year Ache" country singer: ROSANNE CASH. Cash bar. Rosanne Cash is Johnny Cash's daughter. I was not familiar with the song.

20. *"All I Wanna Do" singer: SHERYL CROW. Crowbar. I love "All I Wanna Do". Is this the seed entry, Dan?

32. *Longtime "American Bandstand" host: DICK CLARK. Clark bar. Brand of candy bar.

45. *Notable member of The Second City improv group: JOHN CANDY. Candy bar. I was ignorant on The Second City. Did recognize John Candy's mug when I googled.

59. *French writer who befriended Chopin: GEORGE SAND. Sandbar. "Befriended" is an understatement. They were lovers, though they might not be sexually involved due to Chopin's health.

63. *"The Mark of Zorro" star (1940): TYRONE POWER. PowerBar. I've only seen Antonio Banderas's "The Mask of Zorro".

It's been some time since we last saw Dan's stacked theme style (the first two and the last two theme answers have a 6-letter overlap). Such a tightly focused & colorful BAR unifying theme. Very nice. Heavy themage too, total 63 theme squares.

Today's Dan Naddor Index (non-theme entries with 6 or more letters) is 16. Once again, two of the Down ones, ie, ACRYLIC and CODE RED, intersect three theme entries.

I've been thinking lately how crossword solving can be a very personal experience. Certain answers resonate with some people and bring back sweet memories. I was just musing on George Sand's "I love strongly, exclusively and steadfastly" yesterday morning, and was so pleasantly surprised to see her name in the grid. What were your touch points today?

Across:

1. Popular: HOT. And COOL (5D. Not nerdy).

4. Takes steps: ACTS

8. Does some garden maintenance: WATERS. And ADAM (26D. Eden gardener).

15. Masked critter: COON. Raccoon.

16. "Ditto": I DO TOO

17. Ecol. or agric.: SCI

22. 1963 role for Liz: CLEO. "Cleopatra". Shortened name in clue, shortened name in answer.

24. Nissan sedan: ALTIMA. More luxurious than Nissan Sentra but less so than Nissan Maxima, according to Wikipedia. All of them have 6 letters.

26. Mimosa family tree: ACACIA. The gum-yielding tree. I was unaware of its biological classification.

29. Part of TNT: NITRO

36. Lover of Christine, in "The Phantom of the Opera": RAOUL. I could only remember ERIK the Phantom.

38. Gardner of "Mogambo": AVA. And UTA (41A. Hagen of Broadway). Still remember "Yma Dream" sketch from Anne Bancroft? Both Ava Gardner and Uta Hagen were mentioned. And Ida Lupino, Oona Chaplin and many other Xword friendly names.

39. Parkinsonism drug: L-DOPA. I forgot again.

42. Bette's "Divine" nickname: MISS M. The "The Divine Miss M". Bette Midler.

48. "The Merry Widow" composer: LEHAR (Franz ).

50. Time-share units: CONDOS. Thought of Annette and her ordeal in the past 4 years.

51. Rolled oats cereal: MUESLI. Not fond of the taste.

55. Banned pesticide: DDT. Banned in 1972.

56. Voice above tenor: ALTO

66. World's largest river by volume: AMAZON. Nile is the longest.

67. King, to a subject: SIRE

68. Greater N.Y.C. campus: L.I.U. (Long Island University). I got the answer from down fill.

69. Not naked: DECENT

70. City west of Tulsa: ENID. Both Oklahoma cities.

Down:

1. "Bonanza" brother: HOSS. I can never remember those brothers name.

3. Hears arguments in court: TRIES A CASE.

4. Painter's medium: ACRYLIC. And CODE RED (46D. Official emergency status). Both connect three of the theme answers.

6. Puccini opera: TOSCA. Puccini answer is always Tosca.

7. Warning from a doghouse: SNARL

8. Best type of situation: WIN-WIN

9. Fruit drink suffix: ADE

10. Bach work: TOCCATA. New word to me. From Italian "toccare" (touch). Dictionary defines it as "a composition in the style of an improvisation, for the piano, organ, or other keyboard instrument, intended to exhibit the player's technique".

11. Catchall abbr.: ET AL. And others.

13. Fashionable London area: SOHO

19. "Just kidding!": NOT

21. Gibraltar landmark: ROCK

25. Fallen space station: MIR. Fell in 2001. Russian for "peace".

27. __ union: same-sex relationship status: CIVIL

30. King Arthur's meeting spot: ROUND TABLE. Camelot! Camelot! Summer lingers through SEP (52D: Labor Day mo.).

31. Finish ahead of: OUTDO

33. Noun modifier: Abbr.: ADJ

34. Friend of Pooh: ROO. From "Winnie-the-Pooh". Kanga's kid.

35. Canadian rd. sign letters: KPH (Kilometers Per Hour). I felt goosey, did not know Canada uses metric system.

37. Fires, with "off": LAYS

40. Very old: Abbr.: ANC (Ancient). Have never seen this abbreviation before.

43. Chat idly: Var.: SHMOOZE. Only knew schmooze.

44. Half a Kenyan rebel: MAU. Mau Mau. Learned from doing Xword.

49. University officer: REGENT

54. Author Shaw: IRWIN. Mindlessly penned in ARTIE the Clarinetist Shaw.

56. Just barely: A TAD

57. __ tick: disease carrier: LYME. Wanted DEER. Lyme disease & deer tick.

58. Gillette's __ II: TRAC. Fell for ATRA, anyone?

60. Spice Girl Halliwell: GERI. Ginger spice.

61. Wood fastener: NAIL

62. Bongo or conga: DRUM

64. Nantes negative: NON. Alliteration again. Nantes is French city on the Loire River. Edict of Nantes.

Answer grid.

C.C.