Tuesday, December 15, 2009 Joel Fagliano

Theme: Aye Aye, Sir - Eight-letter, Two-word Assonant Phrases (Long "I" vowel rhyme).

20A: Like Tater Tots: BITE-SIZE.

24A: Metaphorical site of some presidential chats: FIRESIDE.

48A: Lengthy guarantee period: LIFETIME.

53A: "Ditto": LIKEWISE.

4D: Delicate path to walk: FINE LINE.

40D: Energetic type: LIVE WIRE.

Argyle here. I don't know what to say. It's a pangram puzzle, but it has the feel of a puzzle put together by a computer program. Just not much life to it.

Would be cool if long "I" sounds were completely eliminated from non-theme fill.

Across:

1A: Valley girl's "Pshaw!": AS IF.

5A: Ere: AFORE.

10A: Facial bones: JAWS.

15A: City attacked by Godzilla: TOKYO. Movie monster

18A: Bee parts that are really cool?: KNEES. Coined in 1920s as part of the flapper language, 'the bee's knees' meant excellent, as did 'the cat's pyjamas'.

19A: Online prefix with -pedia: WIKI. I would be lost without it(but I don't always trust it.)

22A: Jeered: GIBED.

23A: Novelist Deighton: LEN.

27A: "Haste makes waste" and others: MAXIMS.

30A: Sassy: FRESH.

31A: Tree of life site: EDEN.

32A: Baked __: BEANS.

33A: Automne preceder: ETE. French. Summer (ete) precedes autumn (automne).

36A: Place for a Pinot: WINE BAR.

39A: Handyman's carryall: TOOL BOX.

41A: __-Caps: candy: SNO. Usual found in movie theaters. Sno-Caps

44A: "Dies __": hymn: IRAE.

45A: Bravery: VALOR.

46A: Chunks of fairway: DIVOTS. Something I'm familiar with. "Please replace your divots."

51A: Many a Roddick serve: ACE.

58A: Turin-based automaker: FIAT. One-time largest auto maker in the world.

59A: Dispatch boat: AVISO. Finally has become a gimme for me.

63A: Ceiling: LIMIT.

64A: Pro __: RATA.

65A: River of Hades: STYX.

67A: Prefix with distant: EQUI.

Down:

1D: Graceful horse: ARAB.

2D: "The Open Window" storywriter: SAKI. I loved that story.

3D: Part of LBJ, e.g.: Abbr.: INIT.. Initial.

5D: "Diet Revolution" doctor: ATKINS.

6D: "Aaay!" sayer of '70s-'80s TV: FONZ.

7D: Painter Georgia: O'KEEFFE.

8D: Deli request: RYE.

9D: Dawn deity: EOS. Aurora for the Romans.

10D: Like the calendar established by Hillel II: JEWISH. The Jewish calendar is lunisolar. That is, its months are synchronized with the phases of the moon, but its average year length approximates the mean length of a solar year.

11D: Cover story?: ALIBI.

12D: Roused: WAKED.

13D: Said with a sneer: SNIDE.

21D: Future father's sch.?: SEM..

22D: Plaster painting surface: GESSO.

25D: Teed off: IRATE.

26D: Attorney general under Clinton: RENO. Janet Reno.

27D: Kittens' cries: MEWS.

28D: Server's edge, in tennis: AD IN.

29D: Alien: Pref.: XENO.

32D: Dustpan's partner: BROOM.

33D: Spanish river: EBRO. Northern Spain. Map

34D: Perfectly: TO A T.

35D: It can be awkward when they run into each other: EXES.

37D: Rhythms: BEATS.

38D: "__ want for Christmas ...": ALL I.

43D: Fights before the main event, for short: PRELIMS.

45D: Highest point: VERTEX.

46D: Actress Fanning: DAKOTA. She was seven when she won a role in the movie Tomcats(2001).

47D: Rocks at the bar: ICE.

48D: Hay storage areas: LOFTS.

49D: Chucklehead: IDIOT.

50D: Like freshly poured beer: FOAMY.

54D: "__ just me, or ...": IS IT.

55D: Baghdad's land: IRAQ.

56D: In __: as found: SITU.

57D: Morales of "La Bamba": ESAI.

59D: Mont Blanc, e.g.: ALP.

60D: Through: VIA.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Monday, December 14, 2009 Samantha Wine

Theme: Keep It Under You Hat - Three items that you can cover with a lid. (Both cover and lid are slang for hat.)

17A: Comical character in "Star Wars" films: JAR JAR BINKS.

33A: Novel by a hack: POTBOILER.

41A: Ticket-selling place: BOX OFFICE.

59A: "Stop complaining!" (and what you might do to the start of 17-, 33- or 41-Across): "PUT A LID ON IT!".

Argyle here. Tough for a Monday. Things like 35D: Fitzgerald of scat: ELLA. are ok but 6D: Elephant boy portrayer of film: SABU. seem like they are later in the week entries. I'll admit 39D bolloxed me up but good!

Today's constructor Samantha Wine is Rich Norris himself. Anagram of "What's in a name".

Nice looking lay-out. Scrabbly too. Three J, two Q's, 1 X and five K's.

Across:

1A: Trumpet mufflers: MUTES. Trombones, too.

6A: Like pretzels: SALTY. Like Popeye, too,

11A: CD-__: ROM.

14A: Observe Yom Kippur: ATONE.

16A: Latin lover's verb: AMO.

19A: __ Bartlet, "The West Wing" president: JED. President Josiah 'Jed' Bartlet (Martin Sheen)

20A: O.K. Corral event: SHOOT-OUT.

21A: Old enough: OF AGE.

23A: French designer's monogram: YSL. Yves Saint Laurent

24A: Father of Isaac: ABRAHAM.

26A: Takers of pics: CAMS. As a mechanic, I don't think of pics when I hear CAMS.

29A: Be superior to, as in the military: OUTRANK.

32A: Japanese sash: OBI.

37A: Hit on the noggin: BONK.

39A: Davis of "Dr. Dolittle": OSSIE. He portrayed Dr. Dolittle's father, Archer Dolittle, in the 1998 Eddie Murphy film.

40A: "Golden" principle: RULE.

43A: P. Hearst's kidnappers: S.L.A.. Symbionese Liberation Army. She was kidnapped in February of 1974.

44A: "Is the gamble worth it?": "DO I DARE?".

46A: London guy: CHAP.

47A: "Fencers, prepare to duel!": "EN GARDE!".

50A: Sine __ non: essential: QUA.

52A: Seismic event: QUAKE.

53A: "Could be": "I SUPPOSE".

58A: Suffix with sub: URB.

62A: Lead-in for metric: ISO.

63A: Whisky __: Hollywood disco: A GO-GO. Note the spelling of "Whisky".

64A: Dad's brother, in Bordeaux: ONCLE.

66A: Excited cry: WHOOP.

Down:

1D: They're above capts.: MAJS..

2D: Great Salt Lake state: UTAH.

4D: Gets a kick out of: ENJOYS.

7D: Not very much: A BIT.

8D: Data-sharing syst.: LAN.. A local area network (LAN) is a computer network covering a small physical area, like a home, office, or small group of buildings, such as a school, etc..

9D: Displeased cluck: TSK!.

10D: "Make up your mind!": "YES OR NO!".

11D: Indian bigwig: RAJAH.

12D: Last Greek letter: OMEGA.

13D: Digital data transmitter: MODEM.

18D: Hershey's caramel-and-chocolate brand: ROLO.

22D: Hindu wonder-worker: FAKIR. Alt. sp., fakeer, faqir, faquir.

24D: More hoity-toity, in a cultural sense: ARTIER.

25D: Ruth of the Yankees: BABE. "The Sultan of Swat"

26D: Actor Lee J. __: COBB. He had a long and illustrious career in film and on Broadway. He died in 1976.

28D: Hussy: MINX.

30D: Rising trend in the market: UPSIDE.

31D: Puccini title heroine: TOSCA. She is Floria Tosca, a celebrated singer in Rome about June 1800.

38D: Instamatic maker: KODAK.

39D: "The Wizard __": OF ID. Oh, yeah, I had OZ. Messed me up for quite awhile. The Wizard of Id is a daily newspaper comic strip created by American cartoonists Brant Parker and Johnny Hart. The Wizard.

42D: Cat's front foot: FOREPAW.

45D: Same: Pref.: EQUI.

47D: Furnish with gear: EQUIP.

48D: Emergency room VIP: NURSE.

49D: Eva or Zsa Zsa: GABOR.

51D: High hair styles: UPDOS.

53D: Othello's betrayer: IAGO.

54D: Sty food: SLOP.

55D: In days gone by: ONCE. In days gone by, my boyhood job was to slop the hogs.

56D: Fancy hat fabric: SILK.

57D: Sorbonne summers: ETES.

60D: "That's icky!": UGH.

Answer grid.

Here are a few wonderful pictures J.D. took during her recent trip to Las Vegas. Click on each one for clearer photo. J.D. has been busy babysitting and helping her daughter moving out.

Argyle