Friday January 15, 2010 Jack McInturff

Theme: HE'S GETTING AWAY (52A. Cry during an escape, and this puzzle's title) - HE is removed from the start of the second word of a familiar phrase.

20A. Air-conditioning commuter trains?: COOLING ONE'S (HE)ELS. Cooling One's Heels. Commuter trains = ELS.

32A. Pitch from a personified spud?: MR. POTATO (HE)AD. Mr. Potato Head (the toy). Pitch = AD.

41A. Like finger-painters?: YOUNG AT (HE)ART. Young at Heart.

Cute unifying theme title. Rather light theme entries. Maybe I am used to Dan Naddor's heavy themage on Fridays.

Not fond of the three "GO" entries:

18A. Continue: GO ON. "Thug" for GOON would have avoided the GO repetition.

9D. Rotten: GONE BAD

42D. Enter: GO IN

Lots of Wite-Outs for me. Fell into every possible trap. Favorite clue is BAIL (46A. Cost of freedom?).

Across:

1. It's rarely a hit: SIDE B. Sometimes it's B SIDE.

6. Acted like a rat: SANG. Sing is slang for "squeal".

10. Pre-bedtime fare: NEWS. Was thinking of food/drink.

14. "The Three Faces __": OF EVE. Have never seen the movie. Starring Joanne Woodward (wife of Paul Newman). Enviable long-lasting marriage.

15. Lickable treat: OREO

16. Apple for the teacher, perhaps: IMAC. Apple computer.

17. Let fall, as tresses: UNPIN

19. "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" musical: GIGI. I liked Leslie Caron better in "An American in Paris".

23. Old comm. giant: ITT

24. Demure: COY. I often confuse "demure" with "demur".

25. Ill humor: BILE

26. Allocation word: PER

27. __ flakes: BRAN. Plunked in SNOW.

29. Anteater's slurp in the comic "B.C.": ZOT. No idea. ZOT does not sound slurp-y to me.

36. Set of standards: CODE. Wrote down NORM first.

37. Craters of the Moon monument site: IDAHO. I've never heard of Craters of the Moon. Lava fields.

38. Eastern sash: OBI. Literally "sash" in Japanese.

39. Piercing weapon: TALON

40. Poet Sandburg: CARL. His poetry was mostly focused in PJB's Chicago.

43. Quiz: ASK

44. Some fiction: PULP. Pulp fiction.

45. Sue Grafton's "__ for Outlaw": O IS. The only possible clue for OIS.

49. Single, for one: Abbr.: SYN (Synonym). (Added later: Single is a synonym of "one").

56. Mitchell with the 1969 album "Clouds": JONI. I can't think of any other Mitchell.

58. In the slightest: AT ALL

59. Ocean hunter: ORCA

60. Alençon's department: ORNE. A department as well? Man, I thought it's just a river name.

61. Fool in "Pagliacci": TONIO. No idea. Italian for Tony?

62. Automobil route: BAHN. Automobil is German for "automobile" I presume.

63. Student stats: GPAS

64. Doc Golightly portrayer in "Breakfast at Tiffany's": EBSEN (Buddy). I finally saw "Breakfast at Tiffany's" a few weeks ago. Did not pay attention to the Doc actor though.

Down:

1. Sans __: carefree: SOUCI. Literally "worry" in French.

2. Otherwise: IF NOT

3. Station: DEPOT

4. Mean business: EVIL. I don't understand the clue. Why "business"?

5. Treat kindly: BE NICE TO. Mine was BEFRIEND.

6. Overwatered: SOGGY

7. Buck add-on: AROO. Buckaroo. Switch/smack add-on is EROO.

8. Strip lighter: NEON. Oh, Las Vegas Strip.

10. Bruce of Sherlock Holmes films: NIGEL. Stranger to me. The British actor who played Watson.

11. "Thérèse Raquin" novelist: EMILE ZOLA. Not familiar with the novel. Thérèse Raquin is the eponymous heroine.

12. Funny ones: WAGS. That's our Lois.

13. It's not always exact: Abbr.: SCI. Science?

21. Nick's wife: NORA. From "The Thin Man". Asta is their dog.

22. It may be deadly: SIN. Seven Deadly Sins. Jack likes to have biblical/church clues or fill in his puzzles "as a reminder of eternal values".

26. Four-time Hugo winner Frederik: POHL. Nope, sorry! Four-time Hugo does not mean anything to me.

27. Emerge suddenly: BOB UP

28. It's forecast in percentages: RAIN.

30. Glade target: ODOR. Glade is the air freshener brand.

31. Caterpillar's creation: TENT. No idea. It's cocoon also called TENT?

32. Glittery mineral: MICA. I've never associated mica with "glittery".

33. Nutritional stds.: RDAS

34. Stroller's rest spot: PARK BENCH

35. Saw, e.g.: TOOL. Thought of "old saying" saw first.

36. Musical with Grizabella and Growltiger: CATS. Waiting for Buckeye to comment.

39. Stadium party site: TAIL GATE. Great entry.

41. Hot Christmas staple: YULE LOG. Tom and Jerry jumped to my mind first.

44. Babe, for example: PIG. Babe is the name of the pig in the movie "Babe".

47. Turk, most likely: ASIAN. Some are European.

48. They have highs and lows: TIDES

49. Trumpeters on a lake: SWANS

50. "Boola Boola" singer: YALIE. "Boola Boola" is Yale's fighting song.

51. Hose material: NYLON

52. Dance that may involve a chair: HORA. The traditional Romanian and Israeli round dance. Was a chair involved in your wedding dance, Hahtool?

53. Diamond cover: TARP. Baseball diamond.

54. Albacore, e.g.: TUNA. Toro (in Sushi bar) is the fatty belly portion of tuna. Delicious!

55. From __: slight progress: A TO B

56. Assignment: JOB

Answer grid.

C.C.

Thursday January 14, 2010 Ed Sessa

Theme: SHEEP (65A. Animal family hidden in 17-, 35- and 57-Across)

17A. Hackneyed line: HAVE WE MET BEFORE. After "You look familiar". EWE is embedded.

35A. Chowder base: CLAM BROTH. LAMB is hidden. What is the difference between broth and stock?

57A. Summertime cosmetic mishap: MASCARA MELTDOWN. Sweat. RAM is enclosed.

What an coincidence! Windhover just mentioned last night that kidding and lambing season is about to start.

All of the above hidden animal names are spread between two words. Nice consistency. Simple theme & light theme entries, which allow for plenty of long letter non-theme entries. I counted total 18 seven-letter entries, 12 of them are stacked in in each quadrant. Very Dan Naddor-like.

I was also delighted by the sparkling clues for short answers:

21A. Heros: SUBS. Hero Sandwich.

22A. Male delivery: SON. Playing on "mail delivery".

29A. Killed, in a way: VETOED. Killed "bill".

32A. MA and PA: STS (States). Pun on "Ma and Pa".

53A. Rear admiral's rear: AFT. Oh, the rear of his ship.

30D. Move in high circles?: ORBIT. For the planets.

39D. Talking a blue streak?: PROFANE. "Blue" here means "risqué".

55D. Brest friend: AMIE. Playing on "Best friend". Brest is a seaport in western France.

Easier than our average Thursday, wasn't it? Maybe I just mind melded with the constructor (Thanks, Argyle).

Across:

1. Italian port on the Adriatic: BARI. In southeast Italy. And AMORE (20A. Love, in 1-Across)

5. Los Alamos project, briefly: A-BOMB. Thought of A-TEST first.

10. Newspaper family name: OCHS. Of the New York Times.

14. Yemen's main port: ADEN

15. Roofed patio: LANAI. Literally "roofed patio" in Hawaiian.

23. Frothy fountain drinks: MALTEDS. Partially alliterative clue.

26. Green soldier: RECRUIT. "Green" = inexperienced. Tyro.

31. River in NW France: ORNE. See this map. If flows to the English Channel.

33. Bakery worker with a gun: ICER

34. Spirited equine: STEED

38. "__ moi, le déluge": Louis XV: APRES. Literally "after". Après moi, le déluge = After me, the flood. Just means that nothing matters after he's dead.

41. New Rochelle, NY, college: IONA

42. "Pygmalion" monogram: GBS (George Bernard Shaw)

45. 1975 A.L. MVP and Rookie of the Year __ Lynn: FRED. When he was with the Red Sox. His baseball cards are not worth much. Ichiro is another player who won both MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same year (2001).

46. "The evil that men do lives after them" speaker: ANTONY. From "Julius Caesar". Not a familiar line to me.

48. Brutally harsh: RAW. As weather.

49. __ stone: ROSETTA. Shouldn't "stone" be capitalized?

51. How architects draw: TO SCALE

54. Crimson Tide, briefly: 'BAMA. They just won the BCS Championship.

56. "Flip This House" network: A AND E. I've learned to parse AANDE.

61. Hall of Famer Slaughter: ENOS

62. Book from which the film "What's Love Got to Do With It" was adapted: I, TINA. I know it's Tina Turner's autobiography. Have never heard of the film though.

63. Netman Nastase: ILIE. Alliteration in the clue.

66. Buffoonish: ZANY

Down:

1. Commonwealth off Florida: BAHAMAS

2. Uncompromising: ADAMANT. I am, sometimes.

3. Rises up: REVOLTS

4. At a standstill: INERT. The grammar confuses me. "At a standstill" is an adjective, Kazie?

6. Kapow cousin: BAM. I want Kapow to be in quotation. "Kapow".

8. Come of age: MATURE

9. Like many lobster eaters: BIBBED

10. Galoot: OAF

11. Sense of completeness: CLOSURE

12. Sandra Bullock role, e.g.: HEROINE. Sandra Bullock is always so goofy.

13. Like some candles: SCENTED

18. Agricultural pests: WEEVILS. Here is one. Report please!

19. Corner PC key: ESC. Upper-left corner.

24. Numerical prefix: DECA. Prefix for "ten". As in decathlon.

25. Pipe part: STEM

27. Portnoy creator Philip: ROTH (Philip). Has anyone actually read "Portnoy's Complaint"?

34. Patronizes, as an inn: STAYS AT

35. Hand over: CEDE

36. Canine anchor: ROOT. Canine tooth. Not dog.

38. Popular ski country homes: A-FRAMES. Drew a blank. Easy for snow to slide off the roof I presume.

40. Sits atop: RESTS ON

42. Hiker's snack: GRANOLA. I am so in love with my raw cashew & Medjool dates bar lately.

43. Longtime Steinway rival: BALDWIN. Piano maker. I've only heard of Steinway.

44. Todd of Broadway: SWEENEY. Sweeney Todd.

46. Classic video games: ATARIS

47. "Broadway Joe": NAMATH. Quarterback Joe Namath is nicknamed "Broadway Joe".

52. City near Gibraltar: CADIZ. Here is the map. Quite far from Gibraltar, isn't it?

58. Western KY clock setting: CST. Had no idea that KY has 2 different time zones.

59. Santa Barbara-to-Vegas dir.: ENE. Direction is often my weakness.

60. Slurp (up): LAP

Answer grid.

C.C.