Saturday December 26, 2009 Michael Wiesenberg

Theme: None

Total blocks: 31

Total words: 72

This grid is framed by a pair of triple stacked 15-letter two-word answers at the top and bottom:

1A. Medieval castle feature: SPIRAL STAIRCASE. Nice entry. Good visual imagery.

16A. Harding's Laddie Boy, for one: AIREDALE TERRIER. Originated in Airedale, England. Laddie Boy was President Harding's dog. Stumped me.

17A. Health club option: PERSONAL TRAINER

59A. With "The," 1958 Hudson/Stack movie about a former WWI ace: TARNISHED ANGELS. See this poster. I've never heard of the movie.

63A. Longtime pal: OLD ACQUAINTANCE. My favorite fill today.

64A. Christianity dominates it: WESTERN RELIGION. Buddhism dominates Eastern religion. Hinduism too, I suppose, considering the number of followers in India.

Hard workout for me. Only penned in a few short entries on my first try. Then I gnawed and gnawed. Was amazed by how much I actually filled in before peeking at the cheat sheet.

Across:

19. Indicates: SAYS. Wanted CUES.

20. Asian holidays: TETS. Only in Vietnam.

21. Univ. awards: DEGS (Degrees)

23. Risked: STAKED

26. Actor Harris et al.: EDS. I liked him in "Stepmom".

29. Three-time A.L. MVP: A-ROD. Finally got his World Series ring.

30. Help a checker: BAG. Checker here refers to cashier, right?

33. Gamblers' mecca: MONTE CARLO. Las Vegas too.

37. Composer Bartók: BELA. Hungarian.

38. Barhopping: ON A TOOT. New phrase to me.

39. Some specials: ENTREES. Excellent clue.

41. Uproar: TO-DO. Nice crossing with SET-TO (22D. Tiff). We also have ADOS (5D. Fusses).

42. Gadget largely pooh-poohed by men until the 20th century: WRISTWATCH. Was unaware of this fact. How silly.

44. Dubbed period: ERA. I rather like this new clue.

45. Russian pancake: BLIN. Only know the plural blini.

46. Oldest child in the comic strip "Baby Blues": ZOE. Tough crossing with KOONTZ (25D. Dean of horror). I knew neither of them.

47. Under-the-sink item: SOS PAD. Yeah, I store mine under the sink.

53. Open end?: TOED. Open-toed (shoes).

55. "Do or do not. There is no try" speaker: YODA. From "Star Wars".

58. Miss out?: DEB (Debutante). "Miss" here is a noun. I was not fooled.

Down:

1. Tasty: SAPID. This word sure doesn't sound tasty. Maybe I am influenced by tepid.

2. See 40-Down: PIECE. And TWO (40D. With 2-Down, like a bikini).

3. Not std.: IRREG. IRR appears in grids more often.

4. They precede mis: RES. Scale notes. Do, Re, Mi ...

6. Turner, for one: LANA. Lana Turner.

7. Really cracks up: SLAYS

8. Launch of 1962: TELSTAR. Just learned that NASA was only established in 1958.

9. 1-800-CALL-__: rival of 1-800-COLLECT: AT & T

10. Cash add-on: IER. Cashier.

11. Violent, probably: R-RATED

13. Frowned-upon contraction: AIN'T. Widely used though.

14. Views: SEES

24. City that inspired van Gogh: ARLES. Absolutely love his "Bedroom in Arles".

27. __ gratias: DEO. Latin for "thanks to God".

28. Glares: SCOWLS

30. Sugar source: BEET. Pickled beet is very tasty, so is pickled herring.

31. Pollster Gallup: ALEC. Did not know Gallup's given name. So now we've had Elmo Roper and John Zogby, all pollsters.

32. Razor cut, maybe: GASH. Did not come to me readily.

33. Dust unit: MOTE

34. Words before before: ON OR. Was this a gimme to you?

35. Zilch: NADA

36. Anchor position: ATRIP. Just clear off the bottom. Learned from doing Xword.

37. Highland hillsides: BRAES

43. Next Christmas: IN A YEAR. Not really fond of this clue, despite its Christmas connection.

45. Dirndl part: BODICE

47. Gérard Larcher is its current president: SENAT. French Senate. Don't think Gérard Larcher is well known outside France.

48. Stevens who sang "Pink Shoe Laces" (1959): DODIE. No idea. Here is the clip. Wikipedia says she's only 13 when she recorded the song.

50. Certain Arabian Peninsula native: ADENI. Oh, the native of Aden is Adeni.

51. Car battery pioneer: DELCO. Unknown to me also. It stands for Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co.

52. "Barnaby Jones" star: EBSEN (Buddy). Recognized his face only when I googled him.

53. Account: TALE

54. Traffic regs., e.g.: ORDS (Ordinances)

56. Twain's jumping frog: DAN'L (Webster). Completely foreign to me. Why Dan'l instead of Daniel?

57. Like contrarians: ANTI

59. Auto club service: TOW

60. Plaza abbr.: SQR. Square?

61. Vandal: HUN. Like Attila.

62. Choke or joke: GAG. Superb clue. Nice rhyme.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday December 25, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: Deliver-ANCE - ANCE is attached to the second word of a common phrase.

16A. Communist revenue management?: RED FINANCE. Redfin. The freshwater minnow with red fins. Communist = Red.

21A. Atonement from a soda jerk?: FOUNTAIN PENANCE. Fountain pen. Soda fountain. Atonement = Penance.

32A. Love that blossomed in a music store?: CD ROMANCE. CD-Rom. Love = Romance.

48A. Voice of choice? FAVORITE SONANCE. Favorite Son. Voice = Sonance.

55A. Square up with actor Jack?: PAY PALANCE. PayPal. My first encounter with actor Jack Palance. Wikipedia says he won an Oscar for "City Slickers".

Today's Dan Naddor Index (non-theme entries with 6 or more letters) is 24. Very high. Great columns of triple 7's in each corner. The total word count is a themeless-like 70.

While solving this puzzle, I thought of Dennis' s trivia on the only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous and hazardous.

Tough slogging for me. Lots of tricky clues. My favorite is NARC (24D. Buster?). I still don't get POS (55. Bldgs. with boxes). PO Box, yes. Why buildings?

Across:

1. Hoodwink: CON

4. Exhausted, with "out": WIPED. Crossing DIE (8D. Go kaput).

9. Exaggerated fanfare: HYPE

13. Mayo is in it: ANO. Spanish for "year". Mayo here refers to the month "may". I was thinking of the sandwich spread mayo.

14. Italian deli offering: PANINI. With a bit of grilled eggplant. Yummy!

15. Skyrocket: SOAR

18. Toro, in sushi bars: TUNA. Toro is the fatty belly portion of the tuna. Very tasty.

19. Become: AMOUNT TO

20. Small batteries: AAS

26. Tarzan creator's monogram: ERB (Edgar Rice Burroughs). Stumped me.

28. Mike famously bit him in a 1997 fight: EVANDER (Holyfield). Tyson bit Holyfield's ear.

29. __ date: SET A. Wrote down UP TO first.

31. Torpors: INERTIAS

36. Faultfinding: CAPTIOUS. New word to me.

39. Old Dodge: DART. And PINTO (14D. Old Ford). Car makers and models are definitely my blind spots.

43. Prayers: ORISONS. Same root with oration. Learned from doing Xword.

44. Edible ginseng plant: UDO. Both the leaves and stems are edible. Japanese veggie.

47. Comic strip cry: WAH. Baby cry?

51. Waitress at Mel's: FLO

52. More isolated: LONELIER

53. Town-line sign abbr.: ESTD (Established)

57. Bum: REAR. I am surprised by the cluing.

58. Starts: ONSETS. Noun "starts".

59. __ station: GAS

60. Dash for a recipe, maybe: SALT

61. Restaurant row?: SCENE. The brawl "row", not those lines of seats.

62. Mexican Mrs.: SRA

Down:

1. Some wine containers: CARAFES. The left one?

2. Another: ONE MORE

3. Surely: NO DOUBT. Of course!

4. Classified: WANT AD

5. Rare way for football games to end: IN A TIE. And EVEN (23D. Neck and neck).

6. Attribute to, as blame: PIN ON

7. Ref. work: ENC (Encyclopedia). Or OED.

10. 1982 Eddie Rabbitt/Crystal Gale duet: YOU AND I. No idea. The tune sounds familiar though.

11. Elixir: PANACEA

12. They can fix slips: ERASERS. What slips were you thinking? Lingerie?

17. Frolic: FUN

22. Clinton cabinet member Federico: PENA. Alas, his name escaped me again. Tony Peña next time, please!


25. Fed the kitty: ANTED. Pot kitty. Nice clue too.

30. "Don't __ innocent": ACT SO

31. AOL exchanges: IMS

33. New Look designer: DIOR (Christian)

34. Food-box word with a cable car in its "o": RONI. Rice-A-Roni, the San Fransisco Treat.

35. Depose: OUST

36. Strongboxes: COFFERS

37. Asian border lake: ARAL SEA. The shrinking sea. Good to have its complete name for a change.

38. Like a deciding moment: PIVOTAL. Pivotal moment.

40. Shade providers: AWNINGS

41. Wheels on a track: RACE CAR. Race track

42. Russell of "Black Widow": THERESA. Nope. I like how she looks.

44. Ben Hogan won it four times: US OPEN. Gimme. Ben Hogan had the most effective swing.

45. Contribute: DONATE

46. First-year law students: ONE LS. First year law students.

49. "Family Ties" mom: ELYSE. Simply forgot.

50. King preceder: A LA. Shouldn't it be "King preceders" (plural)?

54. 2000 Gere title role: DR T. "Dr. T and the Women". So star-studded. But I've never heard of the movie.

56. Mandela's org.: ANC (African National Congress)

Answer grid.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!

C.C.