Thursday March 11, 2010 Scott Atkinson

Theme: TURNSTILE (57A. Metro access, and a hint to the circled letters in 17-, 28-, 34- and 43-Across) - Each set of circled letters contains the turned (anagrammed) STILE. (Added later: The turned letters are in rotational order. Thanks, MJ.)

17A. Mah-jongg pieces, e.g.: GAME TILES. Mah-jong(g) is Ma-Jiang in Mandarin Chinese. This turned TILES is the only real word. ISLET is another possible alternative.

28A. Notable achievement: MILESTONE

34A. Site of the Beatles' last commercial concert: CANDLESTICK PARK. San Fransisco Giants's ballpark before 2000.

43A. Likely to spread disease: PESTILENT

Great theme! Very clever & creative interpretation of TURNSTILE. Like nuts, crazy, TURN is often an anagram indicator in cryptic crosswords.

Nice triple columns of 8s in the upper left and lower right corners. So open. No cheater/help square in this baby, an important measure of puzzle elegance for our LAT constructor John Lampkin.

My favorite non-theme entry today is KVETCH (22D. Whine). Fantastic string of consonants. What don't you love about this puzzle? Kvetch away!

Across:

1. Perform high-tech surgery on: LASE

5. Crack, in a way: CHAP. Crack from dryness. I was cracking nuts in my mind.

9. Capital near Casablanca: RABAT. Capital of Morocco. Casablanca is Morocco's largest city.

14. Being aired: ON TV

15. Spydom name: HARI (Mata). Always want BOND.

16. Rial spender: OMANI. So is Yemeni/Iranian.

19. Paul in the center square: LYNDE. Paul Lynde was a regular "center square" guest in the game show "Hollywood Squares". Stumped me.

20. Cry to a faith healer, maybe: I CAN SEE. Not into faith healing & its ritual.

21. Pug's stat: TKO (Technical Knockout). Pug is short for pugilist. Not dog.

23. Proof initials: QED. Mathematical proof.

24. In a way: SORT OF

25. AFC North, e.g.: DIV (Division). AFC = American Football Conference.

26. Place to dock: QUAY

27. Demolition supplies: TNTS. A common enough word not to need an abbreviation hint, a la Jerome.

30. Mean Amin: IDI. Nice rhyme.

31. "What __!": "This is fun!": A GAS. I think it will be fun but exhausting to be with Lois.

33. Clavell's "__-Pan": TAI. Here is the book cover. Tai means "big" in Cantonese. Tai Pan = Big Shot.

40. Off one's feed: ILL. I misread the clue as "off one's feet". We also had EAT (49A. Polish off).

41. "A Hard Road to Glory" author: ASHE (Arthur)

42. Reading room: DEN

47. Suffer from: HAVE. I suffer from coconut obsession now. Put coconut milk/flake in everything I eat. Thanks for the shrimp recipe, Jeannie!

48. Film in which Woody Allen voices Z: ANTZ. The 1998 animated bug film.

50. Flap-door home: TEEPEE. I've never seen a teepee in person.

52. Victrola company: RCA

53. Surg. centers: ORS

54. Can opener: PULL TAB

55. Hose problems: KINKS

59. 1944 Italian beachhead: ANZIO. No idea. It's a town in central Italy. Allied troops landed there on Jan 22, 1944.

60. Niagara River feeder: ERIE

61. What avengers get: EVEN. Get even. Nice clue.

62. Parasails, say: SOARS. Parasail = Para(chute) + sail. New to me.

63. Canyon perimeters: RIMS

64. Funny Foxx: REDD. Alliteration.

Down:

1. Like a wedding planner's skills: LOGISTIC. Only familiar with logistics or logistical.

2. Jungle crusher: ANACONDA. The large jungle boa.

3. Part-French, part-Dutch isl.: ST. MARTIN. The island in the northeast Caribbean.

4. Decathlon's 10: EVENTS

5. Top dog: CHIEF

6. In tiptop shape: HALE. Hale and hearty.

8. Flower organ: PISTIL. Flower's seed-bearing female organ. Stamen is the pollen-bearing male organ.

9. Caramel candy brand: ROLO

10. '70s-'80s first daughter: AMY (Carter)

11. "Macbeth" ghost: BANQUO. I peeked at the answer sheet.

12. Like vicuña: ANDEAN. Wikipedia says vicuña is the national animal of Peru. Like our bald eagle.

13. Project done to a tee: TIE-DYE. Tee = T-shirt. I was trapped into the idiomatic "to a tee". You wicked Scott!

18. Chinese menu general: TSO. Man, I am tired of this guy.

25. Far from cordial: DISTANT

26. Swab brand: Q-TIP

28. Some advanced degs.: MAS

29. Sushi bar order: SAKE. Rice wine. The sweet rice wine is mirin. Used in cooking.

31. "... for __ care!": ALL I

32. See 58-Down: GELLER. And URI (58. With 32-Down, self-proclaimed "mystifier"). Had no idea that he called himself "mystifier".

35. Scatterbrain: DITZ. I only know the adjective ditzy.

36. Ideal conclusion?: IST. Idealist.

37. Capable of change: ADAPTIVE

38. Uncovered: REVEALED

39. Calisthenics exercise: KNEE BEND. Was reading a biography on Greta Garbo. She's very into calisthenics.

43. Winter outerwear: PARKAS. Still some snow left in our yard.

44. San Fernando Valley community: ENCINO. A district of LA. Spanish for "evergreen". Got me.

45. Song section: STANZA. Poem section too.

46. Hams are often seen on it: EASTER. Ham is the traditional food on Easter Sunday. I was picturing some kind of bread.

47. __-skelter: HELTER

50. iPod files: TUNES

51. High trains: ELS

53. Barcelona bears: OSOS. Alliteration again. The she-bear is OSA in Spanish.

54. Strait-laced: PRIM

56. Wine-and-cassis apéritif: KIR (Keer). No idea. It's an apéritif of white wine flavored with cassis (black currant). Named after Canon Félix Kir (1876–1968), mayor of Dijon, who is said to have invented the recipe.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Wednesday March 10, 2010 Gary Steinmehl

Theme: The Ties That Bind - The first words of the five theme answers are all homophones, with a different spelling of the "tie" sound. The village Tye Green was left out.

17A. National sport of South Korea: TAE KWON DO. Foot hand art.

29A. Longtime skating partner of Randy Gardner: TAI BABILONIA

38A. Places to order tom yum goong: THAI RESTAURANTS

47A. Host of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition": TY PENNINGTON

65A. Overtime causes: TIE SCORES. That would be 20 to 20.

Hey all, Al here.

This didn't seem too tough for a Wednesday, pretty much sped through it. Not too much really stood out, but we'll see what can be educed from it anyway.

Across:

1. __ de deux: PAS. A dance for two.

4. Therapy center, for short: REHAB

9. Parts of fast food orders: SODAS

14. Four-legged bugler: ELK

15. Where the ecstatic walk: ON AIR

16. Salt's "Halt!": AVAST. Also a free anti-virus program if used non-commercially.

19. Having a beanpole physique: LANKY

20. "Baseball Tonight" station: ESPN. Entertainment and Sports Programming Network

21. Year-end mall temp: SANTA. Argyle. Missed it by one day.

23. Jon Stewart's "moment of __": ZEN

24. Like drive-thru orders: TO GO

27. Bosom buddy: COMRADE. 1590s, from M.Fr. camarade, from Sp. camarada "chamber mate,"

33. The Trojans of the Pac-10: USC. University of Southern California. I wonder if they ever respond to criticism with: "I am rubber, you are glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you"?

34. Go hither and yon: ROVE

35. Au __: menu phrase: JUS. French. Meat served in its own juices.

44. "Xanadu" band, for short: ELO. Electric Light Orchestra, with Olivia Newton John.

45. __ time: pronto: IN NO. Pronto (sp.) from Latin promptus: prompt.

46. Like some grins: SLY

52. 12 Tribes religion: JUDAISM

55. Caesar's unlucky number?: XIII. I know that some solvers dislike roman numerals, but I found this one amusing for some reason. Fifteen (the ides) could have been used if the answer was one letter shorter.

56. Schooner filler: ALE. One of my hometown favorites.

57. One of the Yokums: PAPPY. L'il Abner's sire in Dogpatch.

60. Pre-dye shade, perhaps: GRAY. If things keep going the way they are now, I'll never have to worry about gray hair. I wish there was a food remedy for that.

63. Open, in a way: UNCAP

68. Mother-of-pearl: NACRE. 97% lime, but has a thousand times higher breaking strength due to layering.

69. In first place: ON TOP

70. Prior to, in verse: ERE

71. Tiny amount: TRACE

72. Tack room gear: REINS

73. Rimsky-Korsakov's "Le Coq __": d'Or. The Golden Cockerel.

Down:

1. "Our Gang" dog: PETE

2. Word of pity: ALAS. Self-pity, perhaps.

3. Having one's doubts: SKEPTICAL. My dictionary has a picture of me by this word.

4. Heed the coxswain: ROW

5. Ambient music composer Brian: ENO

6. Brinker of kiddie lit: HANS. The Silver Skates book had an often excerpted sub-story in it about a nameless little boy who used his finger to plug the dike. It wasn't Hans, though, he was probably the first reference to speed skating in the US...

7. Operatic slave girl: AIDA. Why do famous love stories always seem to have tragic endings? No wonder guys don't want to commit.

8. Old Ford SUV: BRONCO

9. Sub meat: SALAMI. Don't read this if you like salami.

10. In vitro cells: OVA. Latin.

11. Tony of "Who's the Boss?": DANZA. Played the father of a young Alyssa Milano, who turned out well.

12. Part of FAQ: ASKED. Frequently Asked Questions. Infrequently read answers.

13. "Gypsy" composer Jule: STYNE, also Funny Girl and Pal Joey.

18. Door feature: KNOB. Funny how knockers is also spelled the same way.

22. Bricks unit: TON. Did this hit you right away?

25. "Mr. Mom" actress: GARR. Teri.

26. Instrument to which an orchestra tunes: OBOE

28. Big Indian: RAJA

29. Word of rebuke: TUT

30. Big Apple tennis stadium: ASHE

31. Drips in an ICU: IVS. Or DRS if they have bad bedside manner.

32. Open the door to: LET IN

36. Like 007's martinis: UNSTIRRED

37. Normandy battle site: ST LO

39. Wee bit: IOTA

40. Gothic novelist Radcliffe: ANN. Her books always came up with a real explanation for unreal events.

41. Operating system developed at Bell Labs: UNIX. I've spent 22 years on this so far and probably understand less than half of everything it encompasses.

42. Rice-A-__: RONI

43. Roget entry: Abbr.: SYNonym

48. "Hooray!": YIPPEE. --Darth Vader.

49. Non-commercial TV spot: PSA. Public Service Announcement.

50. Caveat __: EMPTOR. Buyer beware.

51. Computer acronym about faulty data: GIGO. Garbage in, Garbage out.

52. Quick trip: JAUNT

53. Of an arm bone: ULNAR. Radius, Ulna (lower pair), and Humerus (upper arm). Your "funny bone" is really the ulnar nerve located near the lower end of the humerus.

54. Bing Crosby's primary label: DECCA. The name "Decca" was coined by Wilfred S. Samuel by merging the word "Mecca" with the initial D of their logo "Dulcet" or their trademark "Dulcephone." Samuel, a linguist, chose "Decca" as a brand name as it was easy to pronounce in most languages.

58. Bench material: PINE

59. Hairy mountain sighting: YETI. They do exist.

61. Musical prefix with smith?: AERO. Aerosmith. Dream on.

62. River of Flanders: YSER

64. Slo-pitch path: ARC

66. Zak, to Ringo: SON

67. Early computer printer speed meas.: CPS. Characters per Second. 1 character = 8 bits = 1 byte.

Answer grid.

Al