Sunday November 22, 2009 Ken Bessette

Theme: Literal Translation - Familiar phrases consisting of an anagrammed word of the capitalized theme clue and anagram indicators.

23A. TOG?: GOT TURNED AROUND. GOT was turned around and became TOG.

38A. GLIBNESS?: MIXED BLESSING. BLESSING was mixed and became GLIBNESS.

51A. FELT?: LEFT IN DISARRAY. LEFT was in disarray and became FELT.

66A. GOES?: ALTER EGOS. EGOS was altered into GOES.

69A. RAGE?: GEAR SHIFT. GEAR was shifted into RAGE.

89A. SING?: OUT OF ORDER SIGN. SIGN was out of order and became SING.

97A. EARTH?: CHANGE OF HEART. Heart was changed into EARTH.

118A. STOP?: POST REFORMATION. POST was reformed into STOP.

I realized the theme is about reverse anagram after seeing all those capitalized theme clues. But I am not a cryptic fan, so the puzzle was a bit tough for me to unscramble. Cheated very early on.

All the above theme answers are actually clues, and the clues are answers. That's why all the clues are capitalized. Correct, Jerome?

I feel this puzzle is to be admired afterward. Lots of cleverly twisted clues.

Across:

1. Soft drink option: SODA POP

8. Regal rod: SCEPTER. Symbol of authority.

15. Get ready to eat?: RIPEN. Delicious clue. "Ready to eat?" would be great for RIPE too.

20. Blue books?: EROTICA. The question mark hints at the risqué meaning of "blue".

21. Way over the ocean: AIR LANE

22. Overcome glossophobia: ORATE. Glossophobia is fear of public speaking. New word to me.

25. Law school subject: TORTS

26. Pot creators: ANTES

27. NASA rank: CMDR (Commander). Stumped me.

28. One of Jason's men: ARGONAUT. Jason and the Argonauts. Jason's ship is ARGO.

30. Country's Acuff et al.: ROYS. Roy Acuff, King of Country Music. Rang a dim bell to me.

31. Annual parade city since 1890: PASADENA. Rose Bowl city.

35. Like the vb. "be," e.g.: IRR (Irregular)

36. Shipbuilding wood: TEAK. Water resistant, isn't it?

44. H, as in "Hera": ETA. The letter H in Greek goddess Hera is a vowel.

47. Multicolored: PIED. Ah, the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

49. Cantina fare: TAMALE

50. Symphonic wind: OBOE. Wind instrument.

55. Song on the Beatles' "Revolver" album: TAXMAN. Here is a clip.

57. Political position: STANCE

58. Mecca for N.Y.C. art lovers: MOMA (Museum of Modern Art)

59. Penguin on skates, for short: NHLER. The Pittsburgh Penguins.

61. Nautical pronoun: SHE

62. 1968 self-titled folk album: ARLO. Arlo Guthrie.

63. Cock and bull: MALES. Nice play on "a cock and bull story".

64. Pieces of 8?: ARCS. Is it because of the shape of 8?

74. Squeezes (out): EKES. Ekes out a living.

75. Cancels: NULLS. Thought of nixes first.

76. Island accessories: LEIS. Island in Hawaii.

78. Monk's address: FRA

81. Shocked intakes: GASPS. Nice clue.

84. "All __": 1984 film featuring an old song of the same name: OF ME. Nope. Not familiar with the movie or the song.

85. Overly affected: TOO-TOO

87. Confessions may be given under it: DURESS. Great clue too. I fell into Dennis' trap yesterday and really thought he was adopted.

92. Old Roman road: ITER

93. Picked: CHOSEN

95. Silverware point: TINE

96. Light period: DAY. "Light" indeed.

101. Micro ending: COSM. Microcosm. My initial thought was SOFT.

103. Mortgage pmt. component: INT (Interest)

104. Canal locale: INNER EAR. Not the waterway canal.

106. B'way ticket abbr.: ORCH (Orchestra). Was stymied.

110. "Says who?": IS THAT SO

115. Nitwit: SIMP

116. Mild cigar: CLARO. Learned from doing Xword. Spanish for "clear".

117. It's traditionally placed to the right of the knife: SPOON

123. "Not possible": I CAN'T

124. 12:30, on a ship: ONE BELL. See this list. Are they still using the bell to indicate time?

125. Beckett contemporary: IONESCO (Eugène). No idea. He's a Romanian/French playwright. Theater of the Absurd pioneer. Samuel Beckett was an Irish dramatist. Nobel Literature winner 1969.

126. Stuffs: SATES. Read "Stuffs" as noun.

127. Bargain hunter's stop: TAG SALE

128. Like some markets: OPEN AIR. I miss farmer's markets.

Down:

1. Olive Oyl's creator: SEGAR (E. C.). Can never remember his name.

2. Maine town named for a Penobscot chief: ORONO. Good to know.

3. Eccentric: DOTTY

4. Bear witness: ATTEST

5. __ XII, WWII pope: PIUS. There are 12 pope named Pius.

6. Text-interpreting technology, briefly: OCR (Optical Character Reader)

7. Flattened: PANCAKED. Did not know pancake can be a verb.

8. Gulf War foe: SADDAM

9. Poet John who translated Dante's "Divine Comedy": CIARDI. Stranger to me.

11. Mideast political gp.: PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). Rival of Hamas.

12. Letter before upsilon: TAU. Greek T.

13. Sicilian resort: ENNA. The Sicilian volcano is ETNA.

14. Put through one's paces again: REDRILL. RETRACE jumped to my mind.

15. Copter blades: ROTORS

16. Curling gadget: IRON

17. Legal opening?: PARA. Paralegal.

18. Rebuke before the senate: ET TU. Roman senate. "Et tu, Brute?", Caesar's dying rebuke.

19. Cheep place to stay?: NEST. Puns on "cheap".

24. Ambulance letters: EMS

29. Welcoming ones: GREETERS

31. Revolutionary pamphleteer: PAINE (Thomas)

32. Crowd seen at a film festival?: EXTRAS. Excellent clue.

33. Around the corner: NEAR

34. Marketing pro: ADMAN

37. "Beowulf," for one: EPIC. Beowulf is an epic poem.

39. Indiana senator: BAYH (Evan)

40. Beantown team, casually: SOX. Red Sox.

41. Certain PCs: IBMS

42. Early matchmaker: NOAH. Noah collected a pair of each animal on his ark. Brilliant clue.

43. Type of therapy: GENE. Have never heard of gene therapy before.

44. Film feline: ELSA. The "Born Free" lioness.

45. Aquarium swimmer: TETRA

46. Riding for __: acting overconfidently: A FALL. Courting for danger. New idiom to me also.

48. Yankees' #5, familiarly: DIMAG. Joltin' Joe DiMaggio.

52. Govt. security: T-NOTE. OK, T-Bills mature in one year or less. T-Notes mature in two to ten years. And Treasury Bonds mature in ten or more years.

53. Flight training milestone: SOLO

54. Iowa State home: AMES

56. Classy entranceway: ARCH. Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

60. Metallica drummer Ulrich: LARS. Gimme for Matt (Red State Democrat) I am sure. Alien to me.

63. Slob's creation: MESS

65. Farm storage spots: SILOS

67. Ticker tapes, briefly?: EKGS. The heart ticker chart.

68. Second time to the top: REASCENT. Well, I guess you can just RE anything.

69. Sass: GUFF. Also a new word to me.

70. Pollster Roper: ELMO. Another unfamiliar name. He was the the first to develop the scientific poll for political forecasting. And he predicted the election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt correctly, all three times ((1936, 1940, 1944).

71. Warning: ALERT

72. Far from fragrant: FETID

73. New York town on the Susquehanna: TIOGA. No idea. See this map. I presume it's a Native Indian word. What does it mean, Argyle?

75. Reagan biographer Peggy: NOONAN. "When Character Was King" has been sitting on my bookshelf forever, unread.

77. Discman maker: SONY

78. S&L protector: FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)

79. Dr. who wrote "Sex for Dummies": RUTH

80. Word after Bay, gray or play: AREA. Bay is capitalized.

82. Magic word: POOF

83. Bite-sized food: SUSHI. Hmm, yummy yummy.

85. Pavarotti, e.g.: TENOR. Oh, by the way, I don't Italian food.

86. Metal containers: ORES. Wow, big containers then.

88. Seaside raptor: ERNS

90. Member of many an idol's fan base: TEEN

91. "Catch Me If You Can" star: DICAPRIO (Leonardo). Great movie.

94. Trendy club: HOT SPOT

98. Super Bowl XLII champs: GIANTS

99. Act as middleman, perhaps: RESELL. A rather commonly used re word.

100. It's not important: TRIFLE

102. Liquefied by heat: MOLTEN. Molten hell.

105. Rock music genre: EMO

107. Mrs. Gorbachev: RAISA. A secret fashionista.

108. Spring bloomers: CROCI. Plural of crocus. I was picturing pansies.

109. Accept, as a coupon: HONOR

110. Egyptian fertility goddess: ISIS. Sister and wife of Osiris.

111. Shelter org.: SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). Animal shelter.

112. Exactly: TO A T. "To a tee" is more common, isn't it?

113. Give an edge to: HONE. I liked this clue too.

114. Disney duck princess: OONA. No idea. Is this princess named after Oona Chaplin?

116. Support staff?: CANE. Got me.

119. Geom. class line part: SEG

120. Airer of baseball's Division Series: TBS

121. Stephen of "Interview With the Vampire": REA. He and ENYA are probably the most famous Irish names in our Xword world, outshining Bono.

122. Swab: MOP

Answer grid.

C.C.

Saturday November 21, 2009 Barry Silk & Doug Peterson

Theme: None

Total blocks: 29

Total words: 70

Can you picture the big smile on my face? Just a great puzzle from two of the best crossword constructors. Refreshing long word answers and twisted new clues for some of the regular short entries.

I don't know how Barry and Doug collaborated. I certainly could not not tell who worked on which section. My favorite part is the lower right corner. Simple & interesting to me. Not sure if Doug knows the DF meaning of MORELS (19D. Gourmet mushrooms) on our blog. Barry does, I think. Maybe it's Barry's proposed word? Fantastic!

I had expected a hard struggle when I saw the byline. Was rather surprised that I was able to fill in so many blanks on the first pass. Nailed all the clever wordplay clues except OCHO (22D. Three less than once). Spanish for "eight". I did not know "once" is Spanish for "eleven". I don't like today's mix of English "three" with Spanish "once". How about you?

Across:

1. Hired goons: MUSCLE. Slang for "thugs".

7. Snub: HIGH-HAT. Always thought high-hat is a just noun.

14. Power to attract: APPEAL. Don't understand Johnny Depp's appeal. People's Sexist Man Alive again?

15. Like an unexpectedly large gift: GENEROUS

16. Buys time: STALLS

17. Heed: LISTEN TO

18. "The Bridges at Toko-Ri" setting: KOREA. Set during the Korean War.

19. Sticking points?: MIRES. Write down MOOTS first.

20. Suggested actions: DO'S. And Don'ts.

21. "Fantastic Voyage" setting: BLOODSTREAM. No idea. Don't think I want to see the film now I've learned the setting.

24. Bad check letters: NSF (Not Sufficient Funds). Dennis has probably encountered bad checks at his hobby stores.

27. Land buy: ACRE

28. Refuse to make changes: SIT PAT. Same as "stand pat", isn't it?

30. Heroic: EPIC

32. Cologne title: HERR. Got the last R quickly, so no HERR/FRAU wobbling.

34. Rivera with two Tonys: CHITA. I guess Clear Ayes knows which two musicals brought her the two Tonys.

35. Its contents are under pressure: AEROSOL. I was picturing our cooking spray.

37. Authority level: ECHELON

39. Nottingham's river: TRENT. Thames wouldn't fit. Trent is England's third-longest river. River Severn is the longest.

40. 1973 Toni Morrison novel: SULA. See the book cover. Unknown to me.

42. She played WKRP's Jennifer: LONI (Anderson).

43. Fancy watches: OMEGAS. You can find plenty of counterfeit Rolex and Omega in China. Fake Microsoft Windows products too.

47. Defense agency since Nov. 2001: TSA (Transportation Security Administration). In response to the Sept 11 attack. The abbreviation escaped me.

48. Geneticist's pursuit: DNA RESEARCH. Fairly easy to string together today.

51. Keep entirely to oneself: HOG

53. Rhodes with a scholarship: CECIL. Founder of the diamond company De Beers. I obtained his name from crosses.

57. Some tattoos: INITIALS

59. Equivalence: PARITY

60. "I kid you not!": HONESTLY

61. "8 Simple Rules" star John: RITTER. Son of Tex Ritter.

62. Son of Agamemnon: ORESTES (aw-RES-teez). I've linked Remorse of Orestes several times before. He was being chased by the Furies because he killed his mother Clytemnestra, who murdered his father.

63. Biological catalyst: ENZYME. Exists in fresh veggies/fruit. Cooking kills enzyme.

Down:

1. Diver's need: MASK. Thought of Tank first.

3. Box for training purposes: SPAR

4. Tabloid subject: CELEB

5. "Deck the Halls" ending: LA LA LA. I vaguely remember we had this clue before.

6. Some commuter lines: ELS (Elevated Railways)

7. They're next in line: HEIRS. Nailed it.

8. Detailed windows: INSETS. Oh, the map closeup windows.

9. Rakes it in: GETS RICH. "Rake it in" is a new phrase to me.

10. Realm until the 19th cen.: HRE. Until 1806.

11. SUV that replaced the Passport: HONDA PILOT. Cars are always my blind spots.

12. Cuckoos in clocks, e.g.: AUTOMATONS. Struggled with the answer.

13. Chinese menu possessive: TSO'S. General Tso's chicken.

15. Quiet aircraft: GLIDER. Drone is quiet too, isn't it? CIA uses drones to kill those targeted terrorists, who can't hear the approach of the drones until too late.

23. Waters of music: ETHEL. Unknown figure to me. Pretty picture.

24. "Super-duper!": NEATO. Just like this puzzle.

25. Solution for a fertility problem, perhaps: SPERM DONOR. So simple in retrospect.

26. Vehicle with a deluge gun: FIRE ENGINE.

29. Patty Hearst's nom de guerre: TANIA. I forgot. Her kidnappers were SLA, often clued as " Radical 1970s gp.".

31. Partygoers may get their kicks out of one: CONGA. D'oh, dance.

33. Switch magazines, maybe: RELOAD. Another clever clue. But you can't fool me with "magazines" any more.

36. "Sorry, Charlie" brand: STARKIST. Here is an old commercial. I was ignorant of the catchphrase "Sorry, Charlie".

38. "Locked room" mystery writer John Dickson __: CARR. Uh-uh, nope. Have never heard of this guy.

41. Restless: UNEASY

44. Hill body: SENATE. Capitol Hill.

46. 2002 Campaign Reform Act co-sponsor: MCCAIN. Gimme. The McCain-Feingold Act.

49. Hawks: SELLS

50. Big name at airports: HERTZ. Car rental.

51. Jaunty greeting: HI HO. Hi-Yo Silver!

54. Normal in Illinois, say: CITY. Normal is a city in Illinois. Easy guess.

55. One often follows a bullet: ITEM. The dot bullet •, not ammo bullet.

56. Instrument played with a plectrum: LYRE. Again, the answer emerged itself.

58. Some NFL pass catchers: TES (Tight Ends)

59. Post- opposite: PRE. Both prefixes. Very straightforward clue.

Answer grid.

C.C.