Friday February 12, 2010 Kurt Mengel and Jan-Michele Gianette

Theme: Alter E (go) - Letters EE in the second word of a familiar phrase is changed to EA. Long E sound remains.

20A. Theft with a clean getaway?: STAINLESS STEAL. Play on Stainless Steel. "Clean" = STAINLESS.

25. Filling the shelves with no leftover merchandise or space?: STOCKING FEAT. Stocking Feet. Not a familiar expression to me.

47A. Loud signal when the fries are done?: POTATO PEALER. Potato Peeler. Groan on pealer.

55A. Yoko?: JAPANESE BEATLE. Japanese Beetle. Has Yoko Ono ever been referred to as a Beatle?

English is complicated. EE, EA, EI (Conceit), IE (Chief), EY (Key) all have the long E sound. So can letters E (Me) and I (Unique).

An easier than normal Friday for me. Maybe I mind-melded with the two constructors from the very start. Thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle.

Tricky & entertaining clues like AESOP (14A. Fabulous storyteller) aplenty. "Fabulous" here doubles as the adjective of fable and "incredible". Superb clue. AE here has a long E sound as well.

Across:

1. Big theme park star: SHAMU. SeaWorld star.

6. Fancy dance: BALL

10. Cookie fruit: FIGS. Fig Newton.

15. Reed instrument: OBOE

16. Katz of "Hocus Pocus": OMRI. "Sheaf of grain" in Hebrew. I can never remember his name. He's in "Dallas" also.

17. Mill input: GRIST. Gristmill.

18. Two-time 1980s skating gold medalist: WITT (Katarina). Got her name from crossings. German figure skater.

19. German wheels: OPEL

23. Bruise treatment: ICE

24. Corpulence: OBESITY

30. Manx, for one: CAT. The tail-less cat.

31. Insult: SLUR

32. Attractive locale: MECCA. Struggled with the answer. Tricky crossing clues.

36. Short range: A TO B

38. Play for time: STALL. Like filibuster.

41. [It's gone!]: POOF. Put in PFFT first.

42. No-frills: BASIC

44. Word repeated in a famous FDR quote: FEAR. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

46. St. whose northernmost division is Boundary County: IDA (Idaho). Drew a blank.

51. Without means of support?: BRALESS. Nailed it.

54. Mil. rank: SGT

60. Take too much of, briefly: OD ON. OD = Overdose.

61. Fictional plantation: TARA. In "Gone With the Wind".

62. They have their pride: LIONS. Pride = a group of lion.

65. __ Valley: Reagan Library site: SIMI. I mentioned this trivia in my writeup before.

66. 1940s-'50s NFLer __ "Crazylegs" Hirsch: ELROY. Nicknamed for his unusual running style. Total stranger to me.

67. Turndowns: NOES. Always thought the plural for NO is just NOS.

68. Carrier since 1948: EL AL. Israel achieved its independence in 1948 too. I liked trivia clues.

69. Heads to sea: SAILS

Down:

2. Bierce defines it "His": HERS. In his "The Devil's Dictionary", Ambrose Bierce defines "Hers" as "His". What does it mean? I don't get it.

3. "__ stands now ...": AS IT

4. Inlaid work: MOSAIC

5. Market advances: UPTICKS. Stock market, right?

6. Get a spare, perhaps: BOWL. My husband just bowled a 793 series.

7. Irish Rose's guy: ABIE

8. Plenty: LOTS OF

9. Doesn't bother with: LETS BE

10. Suspense movie sound: FOOTSTEP. Vivid clue. I can almost hear the sound.

11. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame architect: I. M. PEI. I was unaware that PEI designed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was born in Guangzhou, where I lived before moving to the US.

12. Epithet for many leaders, with "the": GREAT. Like Alexander/Catherine the Great.

13. Frivolous: SILLY

21. Diamond et al.: NEILS. Neil Diamond. I was thinking of the gemstone diamond of course.

22. Mine stratum: SEAM. New definition of seam to me.

25. Line crosser of a sort: SCAB

27. Plains natives: OTOS

28. Enthusiast: NUT

29. Plant connection: GRAFT. Didn't come to me readily.

33. Prepare to strike, snake-style: COIL. Very descriptive clue. Nice S alliteration.

34. It can't be understood until it's broken: CODE. Got me again.

35. Whence the wise men?: AFAR. This refers to the three wise men traveled afar to see infant Jesus, correct?

37. Some crop dusters: BIPLANES

40. End: LAPSE. End here is a verb (expire), isn't it?

43. Either of two filmmaking brothers: COEN. They grew up here in Minnesota.

45. Grandly entertains: REGALES

48. Fly over Africa?: TSETSE. Great clue. I am glad the old TMS "Half a fly?" days are over.

49. Go after with vigor: ASSAIL

50. Hun king: ATTILA. Attila the Hun.

51. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame the same year as Billie Jean: BJORN (Borg). In 1987. Easy guess.

52. Music player: RADIO

53. Strike __: model: A POSE. Nice pose.

57. Leave in a hurry, slangily: BAIL

58. Actress Petty: LORI. No idea. Looks like Buddy Holly's glasses.

59. Hydroxyl compound: ENOL. Four-letter compound is always ENOL.

63. Method: Abbr.: SYS (System)

Answer grid.

C.C.

Thursday February 11, 2010 Nancy Salomon

Theme: LOVE IS ALL AROUND (38 Across: 1968 Troggs Top 10 hit, and a hint to the hidden puzzle theme in the answers to starred clues) - All two-word theme answers start with LO and end with VE.

17 A. *"Get going!": LOOK ALIVE. Sounds from the past, Dennis?

24 A. *1986 Pulitzer-winning Western novel: LONESOME DOVE. By Larry McMurtry, made into a TV movie.

53 A. *Gunpowder, e.g.: LOW EXPLOSIVE. I didn't know this was a real term: They are compounds where the rate of decomposition proceeds through the material at less than the speed of sound. The decomposition is propagated by a flame front (deflagration) which travels much more slowly through the explosive material than a shock wave of a high explosive.

65. *Duffer's thrill: LONG DRIVE. Until it goes into the damn sand trap that some sadist figured out was exactly where a person would land on a par 5 double dog-leg. Not that I'd know about that, mind you...

Hi, all, Al guest blogging today.

A tricky puzzle, I thought. (18D. Big-time:) A LOT of clues seemed specifically designed to be misleading today. The theme actually helped me in a couple places today.

Across :

1. Holy pilgrimage: HADJ. Muslim obligation to visit Mecca at least once in their lifetime.

5. Kids' getaway: CAMP. Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda, here I am at, Camp Grenada.

9. "Gimme a break!": AW MAN

14. Nobelist Wiesel: ELIE

15. "This looks like trouble": UH-OH

16. Leonard Marx, familiarly: CHICO. The pianist Marx brother with the silly hat.

19. Peyotes, e.g.: CACTI. Lophophora Williamsii, the source of mescaline. Err, I've heard...

20. She played Donna in the film "Mamma Mia!": MERYL (Streep). Convincing actor, not nearly as convincing a singer. My wife and daughter liked the movie more than I did, but it was OK, I guess.

21. Sinus specialist, briefly: ENT. Ear, nose, and throat doctor. Not to be confused with an enterologist, who treats gastric problems.

23. Baseball Hall of Famer Speaker: TRIS. I only know him from crosswords.

28. Feel the heat: SWELTER. Not doing much of that lately.

31. Food critic Sheraton: MIMI. No Wiki entry?

32. "Bingo!": AHA. On the nose.

33. X-Games bike, briefly: BMX. Bicycle motocross. (an X is a cross).

35. Run at a red light?: IDLE. Hyper-milers turn the engine off.

44. Jeans joint: SEAM

45. Yield to gravity: SAG. Do you throw 'em o'er your shoulder, like a continental soldier...What? I meant ears, of course...

46. Sportage maker: KIA. An example of an SUV, or UTE.

47. Fresh response: SASS.

50. Serious-and-funny show: DRAMEDY. A portmanteau of DRAMA and COMEDY.

57. They're not returned: ACES. Tennis, volleyball, etc. serves.

58. Bosox great: YAZ. Carl Michael Yastrzemski. Also a birth control drug getting a lot of heat and lawsuits filed due to reputed side-effects.

59. Comforting comment: IT'S OK.

63. Parts partner: LABOR I worked at a Ford dealership parts counter for too long in an earlier life.

68. Native Alaskan: ALEUT

69. Treater's words: ON ME. A Spiller's words, too.

70. Persian Gulf land: IRAN.

71. __ and all: WARTS. I fully accept you, even with all your faults.

72. Prime minister before Rabin: MEIR. Golda.

73. Ancient British Isles settler: CELT. Celtic Woman


Down:

1. Bridge position: HELM. Aboard a ship, not the card game east or west seat, as I first wanted.

2. Burn balm: ALOE

3. Fashionable Christian: DIOR

4. Stevenson physician: JEKYLL. Dr. Henry. And Edward Hyde.

5. __-de-sac: CUL literally "bottom of the bag". A dead end.

6. Yellowfin tuna: AHI. Becoming a victim of overfishing.

7. Changes places: MOVES

8. Rising star: PHENOMenon

9. N.C. State's conference: ACC. Atlantic Coast Conference, A collegiate athletic league consisting of: Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest.

10. "Who, me?": WHAT'D I DO? Quite a few vernacular entries like this today.

11. Tiny: MICRO

12. When Brutus sees Caesar's ghost: ACT IV.

13. Hullabaloo: NOISE

22. "I didn't need to know that," informally: TMI. Too Much Information.

25. Birds' bills: NEBS.

26. Humorist Bombeck: ERMA

27. Islamic leader: EMIR

28. __ soda: SAL. Washing soda, sodium carbonate.

29. Grinch victims: WHOS. Dr. Seuss Christmas classic.

30. Place for Christmas lights: EAVE. Anyone else fall for the trap at first and put "tree"?

34. Tee choices: XLS. T-shirts, not golf tees for once.

36. Gospel writer: LUKE.

37. Camelot lady: ENID. Wife of Geraint in the Aurthur legend. I think she moved to Oklahoma eventually.

39. Removes gently: EASES OUT. umm, err, nope, not going there.

40. Eye-opening theater: IMAX. Image MAXimum.

41. Fellows: LADS

42. Rural prefix: AGRI. As in agriculture. Could have been AGRO as in agronomy.

43. Beatles' "A __ in the Life": DAY. I read the news today, oh boy.

48. Security threat: SPY. Actually in the computer world, the largest security threat is the legitimate users being naive, or simply not being careful

49. Course for weavers?: SLALOM. Skiing course, tricky clue.

51. Fired up: AVID

52. Like some weights: METRIC

53. Bochco series: LA LAW. How did Laurie Partridge ever find time to study law with all the touring her family did?

54. City NW of Orlando: OCALA. Near Silver Springs Park.

55. Brand on a patio, maybe: WEBER. Anyone still use charcoal for grilling anymore?

56. Hole site: OZONE. Another hot debate along with global warming.

60. Foal's parent: SIRE. Had MARE at first.

61. Rink, often: OVAL

62. Canterbury's county: KENT

64. Some NFL linemen: RTS. Right Tackles.

66. Feature of a two-ltr. monogram: NMI. No Middle Initial.

67. Neighbor of Aus.: GERmany. Austria's two-letter abbreviation is AT. Can you imagine if someone named Dot worked at the Austrian Department of Transportation and had to tell someone her email address? dot@dot.gov.at (say it out loud).

Answer grid.

Al