Monday, May 3, 2010 Nancy Salomon

Theme: Greetings - Three phrases (one split into two entries) used to greet old friends.

17A. Warm welcome for an old friend: "LOOK WHO THE..."

27A. Warm welcome for an old friend: "HELLO, STRANGER!"

43A. Warm welcome for an old friend: "LONG TIME NO SEE!"

59A: See 17-Across: "... WIND BLEW IN!"

Argyle here.

Much as I like starting a puzzle with some BABAS (1Across Rum cakes), and easy theme entries, I feel some of the fill isn't Monday material. I will say the perps usually filled in the difficult words. I wonder if "Look what the cat dragged in!" didn't meet the nothing untoward before breakfast rule.

Across:

6A. Greek god of love: EROS.

10A. Quite a long time: AGES.

14A. Got up: AROSE.

15A. Light fog: MIST.

16A. Knight's lady: DAME.

19A. Big bore: DRAG. Someone or something tedious, perhaps in the sense time drags when around them.

20A. Calligraphers' supplies: INKS.

21A. Mr. T's TV gang: A-TEAM.

22A. Othello's false friend: IAGO. Shakespeare. As adviser to Othello, a general of Venice, Iago lies to his master and eventually drives him to murder his wife. Dictionary.com

23A. Wheels connector: AXLE.

25A. Kentucky Fried piece: WING.

32A. Levels in the ring: KAYOs. The letters KO (knock out) spelled out. Boxing ring.

33A. Make, as money: EARN.

34A. Urgent call at sea: S-O-S.

36A. "__ a man with seven wives": I MET. (Nursery Rhyme) As I was going to St. Ives I met a man with seven wives, Each wife had seven sacks, each sack had seven cats, Each cat had seven kits: kits, cats, sacks and wives, How many were going to St. Ives?

37A. Tubular pasta: PENNE.

39A. Sail support: MAST.

40A. Exerciser's unit: REP. Repetition.

41A. Saintly glow: AURA. And 18D. Angel's topper: HALO.

42A. Flower associated with Holland: TULIP.

47A. Welcome word on a bill: PAID. Indeed!

48A. Fontanne's stage partner: LUNT. Alfred Lunt (1892-1977) and Lynn Fontanne (1887-1983) became known as the first family of the American theater. The Lunts lived for many years at Ten Chimneys, in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin.

49A. Make a backup of: COPY.

51A. Loathing: ODIUM. Almost straight from Latin.

54A. Took a bus, say: RODE.

58A. Hertz competitor: AVIS.

61A. One of Columbus's ships: NIÑA.

62A. Moniker: NAME.

63A. Puppeteer Bil: BAIRD. One of his better known creations was Charlemane the lion. He and Cora Eisenberg produced and performed the famous puppetry sequence for The Lonely Goatherd in the film version of The Sound of Music. From Wikipedia.

64A. Uptight: EDGY.

65A. Iditarod racer: SLED.

66A. "Golden Boy" dramatist Clifford: ODETS.

Down:

1D. "__ Ha'i": "South Pacific" song: BALI. Charlotte Church sings Bali Ha'i.

2D. Elvis's middle name: ARON.

3D. Library volume: BOOK.

4D. Makes daunting demands (of): ASKS A LOT.

5D. Do some quilting: SEW.

6D. Hams it up: EMOTES.

7D. __ of passage: RITE.

8D. Fed. workplace regulator: OSHA. Occupational Safety & Health, signed into law on December 29, 1970.

9D. Goblets and such: STEMWARE. Tinbeni's favorite glass.

10D. Tacking on: ADDING.

11D. Event for unloading junk: GARAGE SALE. Does your town have town-wide garage sales?

12D. Online periodical, briefly: E-MAG.

13D. Lily with bell-shaped flowers: SEGO.

24D. Big tee sizes: XLs.

26D. Quaint lodging: INN.

27D. Veronica of "Hill Street Blues": HAMEL. Picture. Description below. (Oops! Right description, wrong actress. This is Sophia Bush, from One Tree Hill, TV show.) Veronica Hamel

28D. Amazing to behold: EYE-POPPING.

29D. Common coffee break hr.: TEN AM.

30D. Made tracks: RAN.

31D. "__ Radio" (O'Donnell talk show): ROSIE.

32D. White wine apéritif: KIR. And a good use of stemware.

35D. Gas additive brand: STP.

37D. Belittling remarks: PUT-DOWNS.

38D. Verdi aria "__ tu": ERI. For a baritone voice.

39D. 3-Down not to be missed: MUST READ.

41D. Form 1040 calc.: AGI. Adjusted gross income.

42D. Whole bunch: TON.

44D. Reject: NAYSAY.

45D. Sidestepped: ELUDED.

46D. Feeling no pain: NUMB.

49D. Vaudeville dancer's prop: CANE.

50D. Roman poet banished by Augustus: OVID.

52D. Retro phone feature: DIAL.

53D. "By the power vested __ ...": IN ME. And another wedding 57D. Comes to a close: ENDS.

55D. Boo-boo, in totspeak: OWIE.

56D. Dust and grime: DIRT.

60D. Debt-heavy corp. takeover: LBO. Leveraged buyout.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Sunday May 2, 2010 Jared Banta

Theme: Schwalterations - Common phrases with a schwa sound are altered into OF connecting phrases, which are humorously interpreted and clued. The schwa sound remains.

23A. Passion for Ferris wheels and funnel cakes?: TORRID LOVE OF FAIRS. Torrid Love Affairs. The A in "Affairs" is a schwa sound, so is the O in OF. Have never had funnel cakes. Not aware of its fair connection.

40A. Bozeman native named after a "Star Wars" character?: HAN OF MONTANA. Hannah Montana. The Miley Cyrus character. Ah is a schwa sound. Han Solo.

66A. Mom's bearing?: AIR OF PARENT. Heir Apparent. Letter A.

74A. Mary Poppins outburst?: HOOT OF NANNY. Hootenanny. Thingamajig. New slang to me. Letter e is schwa.

98A. Math class curse?: HEX OF DECIMAL. Hexadecimal. A numeral system with a base of 16. New to me. Letter a again.

117A. Occasion to hang up the fangs?: RETIREMENT OF COUNT. Retirement Account. Letter A also. Count here refers to Count Dracula, right?

3D. Country's military organization?: CORPS OF NATIONS. Coronation. Letter O. Thought of corporation first.

61D. Describe a trip to work?: TELL OF COMMUTE. Telecommute. The E in my dictionary is not shown as schwa. It has a short i sound.

Schwa is the most common vowel sound in English. Besides the A, O, E in the above theme answers, u in "circus", i in "pencil", y in "syringe" all have schwa sounds.

I got all the theme answers without much struggle. But as a non-native English speaker who is constantly struggling with English pronunciation, the base phrases took me some time to nail down. I hope my understanding of the theme is correct.

Liked the three "Ignited" echo clues:

36A. Ignited: SPARKED

116A. Ignited: LIT

60D. Ignited: AFLAME

Across:

1. Start of a kids' learning song: ABCDE

6. It may be spiked: PUNCH. The spiced beverage.

11. Prof's pointer: LASER

16. Disposed: APT

19. Mid-ninth century pope: LEO IV. Who knows?

20. Italian town NW of Venice: ASOLO. No idea. I bet the constructor was pleased to find this is an actual place when he needed this fill.

21. Get used (to): INURE

22. Former CNN anchor Dobbs: LOU. He was great when he focused his attention on the Enron guys.

26. Is for all of us?: ARE. Plural of "Is".

27. iPhone add-on: APP

29. Least scarce: AMPLEST

30. Runs: COSTS

32. Strikes a chord: RESONATES

35. One may be yellow or chocolate: LAB. Labrador.

38. Affected type: SNOB

39. Spot playmate: REX

42. Mattress spec: FIRM

44. Schrödinger equation symbols: PSIS. The pitchfork-shaped letters. I did not know what Schrödinger equation is. Still don't. All Greek to me.

46. Ray, Jay or A: ALER (American Leaguer). Rhyme.

47. Super Bowl XLIV runner-up, briefly: INDY. Indianapolis Colts.

48. Grass bristle: AWN. Like this.

50. Built from: MADE OF

52. Amt.: QTY

53. AM frequency meas.: KHZ (Kilohertz)

59. Diggs of "Rent": TAYE. Great body.

64. Grub: EATS

65. One-named Nigerian singer: SADE. I am in the mood for her "Someone Already Broke My Heart".

69. Isolde's lover: TRISTAN

71. Carmen, e.g.: MEZZO. Wanted OPERA.

73. Silent film star who played Carmen in "Blood and Sand" (1922): LILA LEE. No. Nope. She looks glamorous. Nice consecutive "Carmen".

76. Start of a run: SNAG. Stockings.

78. Like molasses in January: SLOW

79. "King Kong" heroine: ANN. Easy guess.

80. "Wow!": GEEZ

81. Affirmative reply: YES I AM

83. Was brilliant: SHONE

84. Coldcocks, briefly: KOS (Knockouts). Coldcock is a new word to me. It means "to knock (someone) unconscious, as with the fist". I was picturing a frozen banana.

85. __ Maria: liqueur: TIA

87. Resulting from this: HEREBY

89. G-man: FED

90. It stops at la estación: TREN. Spanish for train. La estación is the station I suppose.

93. "__ Three Lives": '50s TV drama: I LED. Another guess.

96. "South Park" kid: ERIC. No idea.

101. Book end?: ISH. Bookish. Great clue.

103. Tip respectfully: DOFF

106. Red Sea nation: ERITREA. One less letter than Ethiopia.

107. "Whether __ nobler ...": Hamlet: 'TIS. "To be, or not to be..."

108. Cookie nut: MACADAMIA. The only nut I don't like.

110. Social order: CASTE

111. Sugar pill, say: PLACEBO

114. Land in l'océan: ILE. Island in French.

115. Half a cocktail: MAI. Mai tai.

122. Muse of poetry: ERATO

123. Be hospitable to: ASK IN

124. Haitian capital?: AITCH. Spelled out H. The capitalized letter in Haitian.

125. Place to turn in: BED

126. Full at the table: SATED

127. Wine characteristics: NOSES

128. Turns tail: FLEES

Down:

1. Wedding settings: ALTARS

2. Show willingness to listen: BE OPEN

4. Compass pt.: DIR

5. Dasani competitor: EVIAN. Ours is Aquafina.

6. Taste: PALATE

7. GI support gp.: USO

8. Celestial phenomena: NOVAS. It's often NOVAE.

9. Pitcher Labine of the '50s Dodgers: CLEM. Not familiar with this guy.

10. To-dos: HOOPLAS

11. One of 20 on the Titanic: LIFEBOAT. Ha ha, I knew the trivia.

12. Literary collections: ANAS

13. "I'm down with that": SUITS ME

14. Get knocked out of the spelling bee: ERR

15. Checkout correction, perhaps: RESCAN

16. Sarah Palin, e.g.: ALASKAN. And IDITAROD (86. Mushers' race). Great fill, the latter.

17. Forebode: PORTEND

18. Third in a sequence: TUESDAY. Didn't come to me immediately.

24. Greg's TV partner: DHARMA. I peeked at the cheat sheet.

25. Spanish dessert: FLAN

31. David __, baseball's "Big Papi": ORTIZ. Was with the Twins for several years. Hurt all the time.

33. Geisha's band: OBI

34. Consume: EXPEND. And USE (121. Consume).

37. Last speaker in many an old cartoon: PORKY PIG. "That's all, folks!".

40. LP player: HI-FI

41. Reach via jet: FLY TO

45. Grave: SOLEMN

48. Big name in soul: ARETHA

49. Become annoying to: WEAR ON

51. Senator Feinstein: DIANNE

52. Surprise in class: QUIZ. Pop Quiz.

54. Make good as new: HEAL

56. Sibilant "Ahem!": PSST

58. Rapper who feuded with Dr. Dre: EAZY-E. Another stranger to me.

62. Common soccer score: ONE-ONE. And TIE (119. 62-Down game, e.g.).

63. Worried: STEWED

65. Good place to err: SAFE SIDE. Err is an answer to 14D. Duplication.

67. More promising: ROSIER

68. Foolhardy: RASH

70. Like some orders: TO GO

72. New Age superstar: ENYA

75. San Diego State athlete: AZTEC. I forgot.

77. Aslan's land: NARNIA. We often see ASLAN clued as "Chronicles of Narnia" lion.

83. Six-Day War country: Abbr.: SYR (Syria)

84. California berry farm founder: KNOTT (Walter). Another alien name to me. Is he very famous?

88. Interest: BEHALF

90. Auto security device hawked in infomercials: THE CLUB

91. Poker ploy: RE-RAISE

92. Was once there: EXISTED

94. Grabbed, as an opportunity: LEAPT AT

95. One playing near a bag?: BASEMAN. One more baseball reference.

97. Mrs. McKinley: IDA

99. Bordeaux brothers: FRERE. French for "brothers". Alliteration.

100. They rest on pads: MICE. Oh, now I get it. Computer mouse. The plural is mice too? How strange!

102. Progeny: SCIONS

104. Groom-to-be: FIANCE

105. Belief systems: FAITHS

108. Frock wearers: MONKS

109. Regular alternative: DECAF

112. Dieter's word: LITE. Boring! Drink real drink. Eat real food.

118. Important period: ERA

120. Manet, maybe: OIL. Here is his Olympia again.

Answer grid.

C.C.