Saturday December 19, 2009 Barry Silk

Theme: None

Total blocks: 28

Total words: 72

Barry weaved a mini-theme in this grid, with four non-symmetrically placed entries. (Corrections: This is not a mini-theme. From the editor Rich Norris: Cross-referencing alone doesn't qualify. The main mini-theme answers should be either symmetrically placed or crisscrossed in the middle.)

50A. Singer with four recent best-selling albums of pop standards: ROD STEWART. What's your favorite Rod Stewart song? I like his "Have I Told You Lately".

1D. Soul immortal: JAMES BROWN. "The Godfather of Soul".

43A. 1-Down or 50-Across, e.g.: MALE

54A. Where 1-Down or 50-Across may be heard: ON THE RADIO

There are also six very noticeable "it" clues in the puzzle:

34A. It's sometimes deep-fried in the South: OKRA. I've never deep-fried mine.

44A. It heats up your food immediately: TABASCO. Superb clue. Hot!

2D. It may be twisted apart: OREO COOKIE. Sweeter than OREO alone.

7D. Think of it: IDEA. Somehow the grammar of this particular "it" clue bothers me. You?

38D. Washington is on it: QUARTER

52D. Chattering tongues do it: WAG. Just lovely.

Lots of V-8 moments for me during the solving. Tricky clues aplenty. And I was so pleased to see the new clue for TORII (44D. Angels outfielder Hunter who has won nine straight Gold Gloves). Just mentioned a few days ago about Torii Hunter and his Gold Gloves when TORII was clued as "Shinto temple gateway". Eat worm if you missed it. I met Torii a few times at various Twins events. He's super friendly.

Across:

1. Prominent bloodhound feature: JOWL. Scrabbly start.

5. Southwestern site of gypsum dunes: WHITE SANDS. In New Mexico. Unknown to me.

15. Burnoose wearer: ARAB. Dictionary defines burnoose (also spelled as burnous) as "a hooded mantle or cloak, as that worn by Arabs".

16. Accountant's concern: AUDIT TRAIL. Have only heard of money trail.

17. Citi Field team: METS. Started this year. Citi Field is named after the Citigroup. Another baseball reference is ERA (51D. Hurler's stat). Barry is a Phillies fan.

18. Polite invite: PLEASE STAY. Triple-stacks of 10-letter answers in each corner makes this puzzle look very open.

19. Want ad abbr.: EOE (Equal-Opportunity Employer)

20. "Diana" singer: ANKA (Paul)

21. Places for dips: POOLS

22. Fights: SCRAPES. Misread the clue as "Flights".

24. Benefit: BOON

26. One unhappy about a split: BOWLER. D'oh, bowling split.

27. "Coppélia" costume: TUTU

28. Trapper's ware: FUR. Was picturing pottery ware rather than the merchandise.

31. 1976 best-seller that spanned three centuries: ROOTS. By Alex Haley. I watched a few episodes in Chinese.

32. Frightening ordeal: NIGHTMARE. Frightening indeed.

35. Chihuahua chicken: POLLO. Spanish for "chicken" I presume.

36. Hamburg's river: ELBE. It flows to the North Sea.

37. User-edited online compendium of notable snippets: WIKIQUOTE. Refreshing answer.

39. Like ens: NASAL

40. Nintendo's Super __: NES

41. Coffee houses?: URNS. Nice clue.

42. Pop, e.g.: PARENT. Was thinking of the music genre "Pop".

45. Can't stand: ABHOR

48. Pixels: DOTS

49. Work on the road: TAR. And PAVE (53A. Work on the road). I absolutely dig this kind of clue connection.

55. Independent: FREE

56. Swearing-off words: NEVER AGAIN. Nailed it.

57. Key in a corner: CTRL. Lower left corner of your keyboard.

Down:

3. Source of tears, slangily: WATERWORKS

4. Dumbbell abbr.: LBS

5. Original "People's Court" judge: WAPNER (Joseph). Nope. Total stranger to me.

6. Clumsy vessels: HULKS. Rich Norris once clued "ARKS" as "Clumsy vessels".

8. Familia member: TIA. TIO too. Spanish aunt/uncle.

9. Some say they live among us, briefly: ETS. Oh, I've never heard anyone says so.

10. Leave temporarily: STEP OUT

11. Hot pursuit?: ARSON. Awesome clue. I was still in awe of Barry's "Illegal firing?" for ARSON last time.

12. Brussels-based intl. alliance: NATO

13. Watch part: DIAL

14. Stone and Stallone: SLYS

20. Galoots: APES

23. __ Mountains: Central Asian range: ALTAI. Al is Turkic for "gold", Tai is "mount".

24. Army brass?: BUGLE. Another great clue.

25. Emperor Galba's successor: OTHO. The Roman emperor who reigned for a short three-month (January to April 69). His name simply escaped me.

27. Arcade violations: TILTS

28. Race infraction: FALSE START

29. Unauthorized explorer of city tunnels and sewers: URBAN CAVER. Not in my vocabulary.

30. Cassette alternative: REEL TO REEL. Did not come to me readily.

32. "__ Knows": 1958 hit: NO ONE. Here is the clip. By Dion and The Belmonts. I was stymied.

33. "Awakenings" actress: MEARA (Anne). Got me. Have never seen "Awakening".

35. Knitting loop: PURL

39. Busts: NABS. Again, I was in the sculpture bust direction.

42. Battle of the Bulge commander: PATTON. Did you like the movie "Patton"?

43. Arens of Israel: MOSHE. Nope, not in my radar. Somehow Ariel Sharon popped into to my mind.

45. Cal's brother in "East of Eden": ARON. Gimme. I liked the movie.

46. Something to pick?: BONE. Nailed it.

47. Cutting-edge set, briefly: HD TV

48. Arp works: DADA. ARP is often clued as "Dada pioneer". Nice to have a clue/answer swap.

53. Rank below cpl.: PFC (Private First Class)

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday December 18, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: Give It a (T)RY - RY is added to the T-ending first word of a common phrase.

17A. Battlefield success strategy?: INFANT(RY) FORMULA. Infant Formula.

21A. Church pool table features?: VEST(RY) POCKETS. Vest Pockets.

35A. Downside of grits and chicken-fried steak?: COUNT(RY) CALORIES. Count Calories.

43A. Armed guard?: SENT(RY) PACKING. Sent Packing. I don't quite get this one. What's the connection between "guard" and PACKING?

50A. Customs of dessert chefs?: PAST(RY) PRACTICES. Past Practices. Not a familiar legal term to me.

Today's Dan Naddor Index (non-theme entries with 6 or more letters) is 18. Quite high. Nice pairs of 7-letter Across entries in each corner. Heavy 71 theme squares.

Wish EAT ON (22D. Use, as china) were clued as stationery brand EATON to avoid the duplication with EAT IT (26A. Absorb a loss, slangily).

I am used to seeing Dan's question-marked theme clues. His hallmark. Just like the vibrant yellow & blue colors in van Gogh's paintings. Last week's PHENOMENAL simply felt bland.

Across:

1. News: TIDINGS. Had the urge to fill in UPDATES.

8. Lumberyard tools: RIPSAWS

15. From 1988 to 1999, a record 856 consecutive games were played in Dodger Stadium without one: RAINOUT. Not aware of this Major League record.

16. Slightly: A WEE BIT

19. Big name in calculators: CASIO. "Big name in watch" too.

20. In an apt way: FITLY

27. Time co-founder: LUCE (Henry)

28. Minute Maid Park baseballer, locally: STRO. Houston Astros.

29. "What a looong day!": I'M BEAT

32. Store proprietor on "The Simpsons": APU

38. Mich. neighbor: ONT (Ontario)

40. Cross inscription: INRI. Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews).

41. Its county seat is Grand Junction, Colorado: MESA. Where the Grand Mesa is located I presume.

42. Composer Bruckner: ANTON. An Austrian.

56. At risk of being lost in a hard drive failure: UNSAVED

57. Yes-men: TOADIES

58. Medical probes: STYLETS. What's the difference between a lancet and a stylet?

59. That much or more: AT LEAST

Down:

1. Numerical prefix: TRI. Prefix for "three".

2. "At Seventeen" singer Janis: IAN. See this clip. I've heard of the song, not the singer.

3. "What's the __?": DIF

4. Dormancy: INACTION. This one intersects three theme answers.

5. Dada, to many of its critics: NON-ART. Did you want NOT ART?

6. Brave: GUTSY

7. Steakhouse order: STRIP. Oh, bacon.

8. Battle of Britain gp.: RAF (Royal Air Force)

9. Target of WWII's Operation Detachment, familiarly: IWO. Was ignorant of the fact that Battle of Iwo Jima is also called Operation Detachment.

10. Tapered cigar: PERFECTO. No idea. Looks rather thick. What's their length?

11. Arab, e.g.: SEMITE. "Israeli, e.g." too.

12. Borders: ABUTS

13. Source of heir cuts?: WILL. Nice play on "hair cuts".

14. Canine command: STAY

18. "__-hoo!": YOO

21. 1970s fugitive financier Robert: VESCO. Nope. Not in memory bank. This guy was involved in the Watergate scandal.

23. Swaggering gait: STRUT

24. Like a smooth getaway: CLEAN. Fleeing getaway.

25. __ Lumpur, Malaysia: KUALA. A big part of "Entrapment" happened in Kuala Lumpur.

29. "__ my case": I REST

30. Polyester film trademark: MYLAR. What's the name origin of this brand? I can never remember it.

31. Pre-A.D.: BCE (Before the Common Era)

32. "__ a stinker?": Bugs Bunny line: AIN'T I

33. "Evita" subject: PERON (Eva)

36. "How dare they!": THE NERVE

37. Like premium hockey seats: RINK SIDE. Easy guess. Have never attended a hockey game.

39. State capital near the Big Belt Mountains: HELENA. And PLATA (45D. Oro y __: Montana's motto).

41. Like unwritten notes: MENTAL. Mental notes. Great clue.

42. Alcohol-based compound used in cosmetics: ACETAL. Al is a suffix for "alcohol".

43. Coward: SISSY

44. Suffix with law: YER. Lawyer. Sawyer too. Here is a great suffix list Clear Ayes found for us. YER = IER, meaning "one who".

46. Fancy scarf: ASCOT

47. Catalogued work: OPUS

48. Sound after a sprint: PANT. By the way, what does your "Runner's High" feel like? And how long does it normally last?

52. Law and order gps.: PDS (Police Departments). Silly, but it stumped me.

53. Covert fed. group: CIA

54. Some Caltech grads: EES (Electrical Engineers)

55. Old Atl. crosser: SST. Crossword constructors just can not live without SST.

Thanks for the awesome airport code information yesterday, everyone.

Answer grid.

C.C.

PS: Here is Orange's write-up on the warm story behind Merl Reagle's musical notes puzzle last Wednesday.