Friday May 7, 2010 Donna S. Levin

Theme: Made-up Signs - Part of a familiar sign is substituted and the resulting punny phrase is clued with question marked appropriate place name.

17A. Sign at a laundry?: WRING FOR SERVICE. Ring for Service. Crossing PHONES (6D. Ringers). Letter W is added. No sound change.

24A. Sign at a nuclear reactor?: GONE FISSION. Gone Fishing. The only theme entry with no add-letter(s) scheme. Sound change.

42A. Sign at Cape Canaveral?: OUT TO LAUNCH. Out to Lunch. Letter A is added. Sound change.

54A. Sign at the Ukrainian tourism bureau?: WATCH YOUR STEPPE. Watch Your Step. Steppe is the vast grassland plain area in Russia and Central Asia. Letters PE is added. No sound change.

Donna also gives us three baseball references:

46A. Batter's position: STANCE

19D. Fielder's flub: ERROR

29D. Baseball record breaker of 4/8/1974: AARON (Hank). Dennis' favorite all time player. Hank Aaron hits his 715th career home run and breaks Babe Ruth's record.

A few thorny spots here and there. Overall an easier Friday for me. I was on Donna's wavelength most of the time.

Across:

1. More, to a minimalist: LESS. Less is more.

5. Coll. performance barometers: GPAS

9. Boatloads: SCADS

14. Reflection in a cave: ECHO. Thought of the cave echo in "A Passage to India".

15. Its quarter reads "Birthplace of Aviation Pioneers": OHIO. And REEDED (21. Like a quarter's edge). This reed meaning is new to me: make vertical grooves on the edge of a coin/medal. Quarter echo in the two clues.

16. Petty objection: CAVIL

20. Low cells: DUNGEONS. I tend to confuse this word with bludgeon.

22. Uno e due: TRE. Italian for "three".

23. Wilbur Post's buddy: MR. ED

29. Killer __: powerful software: APP. Not aware of this computer jargon.

32. Turkish peak: ARARAT. Landing peak for Noah's Ark.

33. Dept. headed by Tom Vilsack: AGR. Former governor of Iowa. I have his autograph.

34. First king of Israel: SAUL

35. Secondary: MINOR

36. Results of some receptions: Abbr.: TDS (Touchdowns)

37. __ deaf ear: TURN A

38. Soft footwear: MOCS

39. Strong squeezer: BOA. Loved the soft and strong contrast in the two consecutive clues.

40. Wisconsin college or its city: BELOIT. Unknown to me. Is Beloit a Native Indian name? What does it mean?

41. Whatever: ANY

44. Not exactly exact words: OR SO

45. Perps' patterns: MOS. MO = Modus Operandi.

49. CD holder: JEWEL BOX. Terrific answer.

56. Culprit in some food recalls: ECOLI

57. Pro's opposite: ANTI

58. Either "Raising Arizona" director: COEN. The Coen brothers.

59. Like the Taj Mahal: DOMED

60. Exploit: FEAT

61. Eldest daughter of Cronus: HERA. Did not know the eldest trivia. Her mom is Rhea.

Down:

1. Bawdy: LEWD

2. Neutral shade: ECRU

3. Commonly bruised bone: SHIN

4. Track, perhaps: SONG. Tricky clue.

5. Words of encouragement: GO FOR IT. And GET FAR (18. Be very successful). Thought of the courageous Clear Ayes and her always sunny attitude.

7. Pretensions: AIRS

8. Message in a storm: SOS. I wonder what's message in that bottle, Jazzbumpa?

9. Shield from view: SCREEN

10. Submitted: CAVED. Meh, "cave" is part of clue for 14A.

11. All fired up: AVID

12. Rolling "bones": DICE. Bone is slang for dice, I gather?

13. Arctic carrier: SLED

23. "Top Gun" enemy planes: MIGS

24. Third in a sequence: GAMMA. Alpha, Beta, Gamma. Greek alphabet sequence.

25. Sirius' master, in some depictions: ORION. Sirius is the Dog Star. I was unaware that Sirius is part of the Orion Constellation. Have no knowledge about stars.

26. Sluggo's pal: NANCY. The "Nancy" comics. I guessed.

27. Fertility deity: EROS

28. Time's 1977 Man of the Year: SADAT (Anwar). Here is the Time cover.

30. Like the wars between Carthage and Rome: PUNIC. Oh, so the Punic Wars were fought between those two?

31. Subject of the 2003 film "Sylvia": PLATH. About Sylvia Plath. Very depressing movie.

34. Enterprise helmsman: SULU. Of "Star Trek".

36. Miss Gulch's bête noire: TOTO. "The Wizard of Oz".

37. Afternoon service: TEA SET

39. "The Buddy Holly Story" star: BUSEY (Gary). Can't remember his name. Did love the movie though.

40. Screws up: BLOWS IT. Ah, Lois!

42. Prom flower: ORCHID

43. Puzo novel: OMERTA. Gimme. I've read every Puzo novel. Omerta is the the mafia code of silence.

44. Frère de la père: ONCLE. French for uncle. Aunt is TANTE. Frère de la père = Brother of the father.

46. Lang. that gives us "ombudsman": SWED. Oh, good to know.

47. Tex-Mex nosh: TACO

48. Molecule constituent: ATOM

49. Flag Day month: JUNE

50. Solidarity hero Walesa: LECH

51. Gp. led by a Grand Exalted Ruler: BPOE (Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks). Was stumped. I had trouble in this corner.

52. "0" button letters: OPER. Phone button.

53. Princess from Amphipolis: XENA

55. Lummox: OAF. Add one more letter, it becomes flummox (confuse).

Answer grid.

A special "Thank you" to xtulmkr for bringing back "lethologica" to me.

C.C.

Thursday May 6, 2010 Jack McInturff

Theme: AFTERLIFE (62A. Spiritual existence, and where the ends of 17-, 23-, 39- and 49-Across can go) - Life can precede the end of each theme answer.

17A. Hunk: DREAMBOAT. Lifeboat. Ah, Daniel Craig, my dreamboat. Jeannie does not seem to be attracted to him.

23A. Upstages a performer, e.g.: CRAMPS ONE'S STYLE. Lifestyle. I thought "cramp one's style" just means "restrict your style".

39A. Becomes less leery: LOWERS ONE'S GUARD. Lifeguard. More familiar with "let one's guard down".

49A. Gets a single, double, triple and homer in one game: HITS FOR THE CYCLE. Life Cycle. Gimme. If a player hits the above in the exact order, then it's a natural cycle.

Jack also gives us two more baseball references:

2D. Boot in the field: ERROR

18D. N.L.'s Pujols and A.L.'s Mauer in 2009: MVPS. Mauer is with the Twins. Pjulos is my husband's favorite current player.

Very nice three 15-word grid spanner theme entries. AFTER LIFE is a great unifier too. To borrow Spitzboov, Bravo Zulu, Jack!

Across:

5. Muslim journey: HADJ. Or HAJJ.

9. Dig deep: PROBE. Alliteration.

14. First name in mystery: ERLE. Erle Stanley Gardner.

15. '50s Hungarian premier Nagy: IMRE. Pronounced like EEM-ruh. Thanks again for Inogolo, Lucina. What does dtr mean, by the way?

16. Kind of police gun that doesn't use bullets: RADAR. Nailed it.

19. Thus follower: AND SO

20. It's charged: ION

21. One of a Latin trio: VICI. Caesar's boast: Veni, vidi, Vici.

22. Called, old-style: DIALED

26. 33-time Rose Bowl sch.: USC (University of Southern California)

27. You, to Yves: TOI. Alliteration.

28. Campus home for some: FRAT

31. "Whoops": UH -OH

34. Pat, for one: NFLER. Oh, Pat here refers to New England Patriots then. Home team for the handsome Joshua.

44. Jam causes: LOGS

45. Beautician's supply: DYE

58. '50s-'60s TV Earp portrayer: O'BRIAN (Hugh). Not familiar with this guy. Wikipedia says he married for the first time in 2006, at the age 81. Sweet!

59. Congo river: UELE (WEY-luh). I forgot. UELE is on the upper right corner, to the south west of The Sudan. I saw Ebola too.

60. Fireplace shelf: HOB

61. "Bye Bye Bye" singers: N'SYNC. Here is the clip. The song was very popular around the time I left China.

64. Do a winter airport maintenance job: DEICE

65. Knock for a loop: STUN

66. "A Jug of Wine ..." poet: OMAR. "... a Loaf of Bread, and Thou Beside me ...". So romantic.

67. Tossed in a chip: ANTED

68. Nile biters: ASPS. Nice play on "Nail biters". Thought of Gunghy and his pet snakes. I can't breathe picturing a 7-foot (50 lbs) boa coiling around him.

69. Baltic dweller: LETT. People of Latvia.

Down:

1. Doc: MEDIC

3. Actress Verdugo: ELENA

4. Crumpets' partner: TEA. Have not had crumpets for eons.

5. Flower used in herbal teas: HIBISCUS. I've never had hibiscus tea. Not fond of TEA/teas duplication. So close together.

6. It began as Standard Oil of Indiana: AMOCO

7. Bathtub feature: DRAIN

8. Deep black: JET

9. Applauding: PRAISING

10. Attacked on foot: RAN AT

11. "Strange to say ...": ODDLY

12. Swiss city on the Rhine: BASEL (BAH-zuhl). See the map. The name escaped me also. So similar to basil in spelling.

13. Eat away at: ERODE

22. Brit. military award: DSO (Distinguished Service Order)

24. Deadens: MUTES

25. Old knockout cause: ETHER

28. Showman Ziegfeld: FLO. The name just flowed to me.

29. Hold up: ROB

32. Firefighter, at times: HOSER

35. To the nth degree: FULLY

36. Mekong River dweller: LAO

37. Work measure: ERG

38. Tobacco and Abbey: Abbr.: RDS. I've never heard of Tobacco Road. It's in North Carolina, referring to the tobacco-producing area.

40. Embarrassed: RED-FACED

41. 1980 erupter: ST. HELENS. Two nice consecutive long entries.

46. Over there, poetically: YON

48. One serving well: ACER. Tennis serve.

49. Civic engineer?: HONDA. Great clue.

50. "Peer Gynt" playwright: IBSEN

51. "Have a little": TRY IT

52. "__ You Went Away": 1944 Best Picture nominee: SINCE. Here is a poster. New to me also. Saw Shirley Temple's name.

53. The great horned owl has prominent ones on its ears: TUFTS. Stumper. He seems irked. What's the matter, pal?

54. Excited: HET UP

55. Add one's two cents, with "in": CHIME

56. Dieter's catchword: LO-FAT

57. "Questions for the Movie Answer Man" author: EBERT (Roger)

62. Comparison words: AS A

63. Online yuk: LOL

Answer grid.

Several weeks ago, Dennis mentioned a long word meaning "forgetting about words". Does anyone still remember how that word is spelled? It's been bothering me.

C.C.

PS: NY Times is running Dan Naddor's last puzzle today.