Saturday March 6, 2010 Barry Silk

Theme: None

Total words: 72

Total blocks: 34

I'm guessing either FORT MCHENRY (23A. War of 1812 battle site) or the intersecting KEY BRIDGE (21D. Potomac span named for a poet, familiarly) is Barry's seed entry.

Wikipedia says Fort McHenry (in Baltimore) is named after James McHenry, Secretary of War under George Washington & John Adams. And it was during this bombardment of this fort that Francis Scott Key was inspired to write "The Star-Spangled Banner". Interesting Key connection in the crossing two clues.

It always delights me when the constructor weaves various clues together, like the below different bugs:

40A. Small bug: MITE

9D. Bugs: ANNOYS

50D. Really bugged: ATE AT

I struggled again today, despite the friendly help from various plural S answers. Some of the clues are just too tricky and certain answers out of my knowledge zone. INC (57D. Business issue) for example. I've never heard of the business magazine Inc. So my "Aha" moment came only after I googled post-solve.

Across:

1. Dramatic descents: SWOOPS

7. Down with relish: SCARF UP. Only familiar with "scarf down".

14. Adorns, as curtains: TASSELS. Verb here.

16. Grant: CONCEDE

17. Mike's Hard Lemonade, e.g.: ALCOPOP. From Alco(hol) + (soda)pop. New word to me.

18. Organs and such: INNARDS. Haggis really looks awful.

19. Health and Human Services agcy.: FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Was unaware that FDA belongs to the Dept. of Health and Human Services.

20. Start enjoying: TAKE TO

22. Stutz contemporary: REO

26. Coll. divisions: YRS

27. No matter what: AT ANY COST

29. 1970s CIA director, familiarly: BUSH SR. He was the CIA director from Jan 1976 to Jan 1977. Got me.

32. North Sea country: Abbr.: BEL (Belgium). I miss Christmas in Brussels.

33. "@&#^$%!," e.g.: OATH

37. Legalese, say: ARGOT. Jargon.

38. J and others: DRS. Drew a blank, even though I knew NBA's Dr. J.

39. "Laugh-In" regular: BUZZI. Have never heard of Ruth Buzzi. What a strange surname!

41. French pronoun: TOI. "You".

42. Send by wire: TAP OUT. Such an old feel.

43. Nightly news snippet: SOUND BITE. Great answer.

46. Stick (out): JUT

49. 1993 Dean Koontz best-seller: DRAGON TEARS. No idea. Here is the book cover.

53. "Until every one comes home" org.: USO (United Service Organizations)

54. Ingratiate: ENDEAR. To me, "ingratiate" has a negative connotation. Endear does not.

55. Honduras family member: TIA. Spanish for "aunt".

56. Portia's maid in "The Merchant of Venice": NERISSA. Man, I can't even remember Portia.

58. Not in over one's head: SOLVENT. So, "in over one's head" means "insolvent"?

61. Narrow window: TRANSOM. The one above the double door.

62. Like child's play: TOO EASY. Did not come to me readily.

63. Refuse collectors: ASH CANS

64. More prosperous: FATTER. I guess it's too sensitive to clue it as "chubbier".

Down:

1. Employees: STAFF

2. Literary middle name: WALDO. Ralph Waldo Emerson.

3. Prize since 1929: OSCAR. And SLOT CAR (6. Lionel creation of 1912). I like the year trivia in both clues.

4. Bear, in Bolivia: OSO. And PESO (13D. Cuban currency). Alliteration in both clues.

5. Sparkle: PEP

7. Math and others: SCIENCES. We see the abbreviated SCI too often.

8. Mastery: CONTROL

10. Company that developed TV's Indian Head Test Pattern: RCA. Unknown fact to me also.

11. Styx crosser: FERRY. Souls of the dead were ferried across Styx, a river in the underworld Hades.

12. Dairy container?: UDDER. The clue makes me smile.

15. Winningest baseball southpaw: SPAHN (Warren). Ah, I mentioned this trivia last time when he appeared in our puzzle. Total 363 wins. Hall of Famer.

24. Chevy SUVs: TAHOES

25. __ Helens, Wash.: MT ST

28. It may cover a spot: TOUPEE. I sure was not thinking of bald spot.

29. Emeril exclamation: BAM. Bam! Kick it up a notch! Emeril is sweet.

30. Ocean State sch.: URI (University of Rhode Island)

31. Pepper, e.g.: Abbr.: SGT. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" from the Beatles. Of course, I was thinking of salt & pepper.

34. __ dye: chemical coloring: AZO. Learned from doing crossword.

35. Shih __: Tibetan dog: TZU. Shih Tzu is Literally "lion" in Chinese. The complete name is Shih Tzu Kou. Kou = dog.

36. Successful: HIT. Successful is an adjective. Hit is a noun. How can they be equivalent?

38. Actor who often said, "Sorry about that, Chief": DON ADAMS. In "Get Smart". I peeked at the answer sheet.

39. Matted cotton sheet: BATT. New word to me.

41. Excites: TURNS ON

42. Inexpensive home protector: TIN ROOF. Ah, cat likes a hot one.

44. West Texas city named by Russians: ODESSA

45. Let out hot air?: BOAST. Nice clue.

46. Small ruling faction: JUNTA. Burma is ruled by the military junta.

47. Web browsers, e.g.: USERS

48. Ark contents: TORAH. The Torah cabinet ark, Not Noah's Ark.

51. Salon job: RINSE

52. Member of Dionysus' retinue: SATYR. The guy (left) with a perpetual erection. Part human, part goat, forever drinking & chasing nymph.

59. Long, on Niihau: LOA. Hawaiian for "long'. Niihau is island in Hawaii. Mauna Loa = Long Mountain.

60. Examine carefully: VET. Some of the vetting process goes too far.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday March 5, 2010 Gary J. Whitehead

Theme: M-ending - The last letter N of a three-letter word in a familiar phrase is changed into letter M.

17A. Suggestion to singer Lennox after a garlicky meal?: ANNIE GET YOUR GUM. Base phrase is the musical "Annie Get Your Gun". Singer Annie Lennox.

24A. Jamaican group winding down after a gig?: BAND ON THE RUM. "Band on the Run". Paul McCartney's song. Unknown to me. Jamaicans drink lots of rum? I don't understand the "Jamaican group" and RUM connection.

45A. Moocher at McDonald's?: HAMBURGER BUM. Hamburger Bun. Moocher = Bum.

58A. Feared words from an accountant?: HERE COMES THE SUM. "Here Comes the Sun". The Beatles' song.

Such a fun theme! Which is your favorite theme answer? ANNIE GET YOUR GUM made me laugh.

All our Friday puzzles seem to be letter addition/deletion/replacement. Rich Norris sure loves wordplay.

Maybe this constructor Gary J Whitehead is working on another puzzle with M to N replacement.

Across:

1. Bank statement no.: ACCT (Account)

5. The Miners of Conf. USA: UT EP (University of Texas, El Paso). Have never heard of Conference USA. Not a college sports fan.

9. One way to attend a party: STAG

13. Lincoln feature: BEARD

15. __ City: Baghdad suburb: SADR. Where Muqtada al-Sadr (al is Arabic for "the"), one of the most influential Iraqi religious/political figure, came from. Now exile in Iran.

16. Cook book: COMA. Robin Cook's thriller "Coma". I was fooled before.

20. Half of the Brady bunch, to Carol: STEPSONS. No idea. Have never seen "The Brady Bunch".

21. Clothes line?: CREASE. I bet Dennis nailed it. He loves ironing.

22. Samuel Johnson portraitist John __: OPIE. Cornish painter. Complete stranger to me. Here is his portrait of Samuel Johnson. The constructor must be very exited to discover a new clue for OPIE.

23. Traitors: JUDASES

28. "Yours truly calling": IT IS I

29. Downed: ATE

30. "Ditto": SAME

34. Warmup toss: LOB. Baseball. A pitcher will lob a few balls to get his arm loose.

35. City in Thessaly: LARISSA. Wikipedia says "Legend has it that Achilles was born here and Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, died here". Who knows?

39. "Oedipus __": REX. "Oedipus the King". Rex = "King" in Latin.

40. Sylvester's problem: LISP

42. Hägar creator Browne: DIK. Not on my radar.

43. Roman moon goddess: DIANA. "Greek moon goddess" = Artemis.

49. Acid neutralizers: ALKALIS

52. Outer area of an escutcheon: ORLE. Heraldry term. The border of shield. I did not know the meaning of "escutcheon", Latin for "shield".

53. Afternoon service: TEA SET

54. Fragments: SNIPPETS

60. Frankfurt's river: ODER. The Poland-Germany border river. Flows to the Baltic.

61. Canceled: NO GO. At NASA.

62. Emcee's job: INTRO

63. Nos. divided by dashes: SSNS

64. He played Obi-Wan: EWAN (McGregor). Gimme. Just listened to his interview with Terry Gross on "Fresh Air". Also learned the Sadr City from Terry.

65. Strong taste: TANG

Down:

1. "__ le roi!": French Revolution cry: A BAS. Literally "down with" in French. I wonder if anyone recklessly penned in VIVE without reading carefully the "Revolution cry".

2. Tiny amount: CENT. The answer is always IOTA.

3. Mr. Peanut prop: CANE

4. Surveyors' tools: TRIPODS

5. Online newsgroup system: USENET

6. Does lacework: TATS

7. Eponymous ice cream maker: EDY. Edy's Ice Cream.

8. Gets by special means: PROCURES. Great entry.

9. Roller coaster sounds: SCREAMS

10. Senate apparel: TOGAS. Roman Senate.

11. Tickle pink: AMUSE

12. Fun partner: GAMES. Fun and games. I blanked.

14. Pillage: DESPOIL. New word to me. Looks like the opposite of "spoil", doesn't it?

18. "__ Out of My Head": 1964 hit: GOIN'. Here is the clip.

19. Language heard in Karachi: URDU. One of the official Pakistani languages. Written in Arabic alphabet.

23. Flies, in a way: JETS

24. Law in the works: BILL. Once a bill passes the Congress and is signed by the president, it becomes a law.

25. Paris possessive: A TOI. French for "yours".

26. Writing points: NIBS. Pen points.

27. 17-syllable poem: HAIKU. The three-line poem.

31. Libyan, probably: ARAB

32. You might get one right after being seated: MENU. D'oh! Of course.

33. Checkup: EXAM

36. Ticket order?: ADMIT ONE. The "order" confounded me.

37. Barbecue order: RIBS

38. Long Island university: ADELPHI. No idea. Where did it get its name?

41. Sci-fi weapons: PHASERS

44. Words of atonement: I REPENT

46. Baldwin of "30 Rock": ALEC. He's going to co-host this year's Oscar with Steve Martin.

47. Recent Zippo acquisition: RONSON. Not familiar with Ronson lighter. I like that threesome ad.

48. Gumption: GRIT

49. Oldest musketeer: ATHOS. Was ignorant of this trivia. The other two are Porthos & Aramis.

50. It's on the Aire: LEEDS. Was unaware of River Aire, which passes through Leeds. Nice play on "It's on the air".

51. Carpenter with a soothing voice: KAREN. My husband loves Karen Carpenter.

54. Nintendo rival: SEGA. It stands for SErvice GAmes (of Japan).

55. This, in Tijuana: ESTA. Or ESTO.

56. Make a right, say: TURN

57. Industrial pollutant: SMOG

59. Cut: MOW. Cut the grass.

Answer grid.

I enjoyed the Sausage Sentence Links yesterday, thanks for playing!

C.C.