Thursday May 13, 2010 Gareth Bain

Theme: Let's Anagram! - The first words of all theme answers are all anagrams of "Cats".

17A. Demonstrates sincere intentions: ACTS IN GOOD FAITH. Plural act. (Update from Argyle: Acts is third persona verb. Not a plural noun.)

28A. Wonderful thing, in old slang: CAT'S PAJAMAS. Bee's knees. Possessive cat. I would not have liked the answer if it were just a plural cat. It'd be the same scheme as the plural act.

46A. Jazzy vocal style: SCAT SINGING

57A. Stereotypical movie epic feature: CAST OF THOUSANDS. What's your favorite epic movie? I liked "300". Muscular Spartan soldiers.

Gareth also weaved three "capitals" in his clues:

10A. Capital south of Quito: LIMA. Peru's capital. Quito is the capital of Ecuador.

25A. Capital replaced by Abuja: LAGOS. Nigeria's old capital. Gareth lives in South Africa. He probably thinks it's incomprehensible that I had never heard of Abuja or MAURITANIA (31D. Senegal neighbor). North of Senegal.

64A. Capital of Oman: RIAL. Currency "capital". The capital city is Muscat.

Surprised OSLO (56D. Nobel Institute site) is not clued as "Norway's capital". Probably too much.

Nice to see TAI (20A. __ chi) and JET LI (48. Martial artist co-star of "The Forbidden Kingdom") in one grid. Jet Li is a big part of my childhood memory. A real mainland Chinese cultural icon, unlike the Hongkong born Jackie Chan or US born Bruce Lee. Cantonese and Koreans often spell Li as Lee, as in Ang Lee.

By the way, Rich Norris apologized for the ANG clue error yesterday. He said the error was "discovered a couple of days ago and corrections were issued to all newspapers and web site." Obviously Cruciverb still had the wrong clue when some of us downloaded.

Across:

1. Be in a funk: MOPE

5. 1979 sci-fi blockbuster: ALIEN. And ETS (43D. They're out of this world).

14. Filthy deposit: CRUD. Couldn't jam in MONEY.

15. Gentle prod: NUDGE

16. "Trinity" novelist: URIS (Leon)

21. At no time, to Bernhard: NIE. German for "never". Bernhard means "strong, brave bear". Is it a typical German name? I only know golfer Bernhard Langer.

22. Like much junkyard metal: RUSTY

31. Humanities degs.: MAS.

34. Prefix with musicology: ETHNO. Ethnomusicology. Defined as "the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts", according to Wikipidia. New to me. Makes sense, with ethno's "race"/"culture" prefix meaning.

35. Work with notes: OPUS. Musical notes.

36. Sea dog: SALT. Both slang for sailor.

37. Cosby often wore one on his show: SWEATER. Bill Cosby. I was stumped.

39. Egg-cooking aid: SPATULA. Was picturing the coddled egg porcelain cup.

41. Waterproof cover: TARP

42. "Zip-__-Doo-Dah": A-DEE

44. Comic Cheech: MARIN. Cheech and Chong (Tommy). We also have Arnold STANG (33D. Old-time comic Arnold), whose name simply escaped me.

48. Long __: JOHNS

49. Cause of reduced visibility: MIST

50. Draws back: SHIES

53. "In Treatment" network: HBO. Easy guess.

54. Bustle: ADO

62. Either of a Monopoly pair: Abbr.: UTIL. Got the answer via crossed.

63. Informed: AWARE

65. Ricky portrayer: DESI (Arnaz). "I Love Lucy".

66. Lose one's mind: GO MAD

67. Put on the canvas: KAYO. KO (knockout) spelled out.

Down:

1. Aspiring MD's hurdle: MCAT (Medical College Admission Test)

2. Black-and-white swimmer: ORCA

3. "Shake!": PUT IT THERE. I don't get the clue.

4. Paper heads, briefly: EDS (Editors)

5. Eight-time LPGA Player of the Year Sorenstam: ANNIKA. Loved Annika. Lorena Ochoa too. Sad to see Ochoa retire so early.

6. Downhill racer: LUGE

7. Words sealed with a kiss: I DO. Sweet clue.

8. Psyche part: EGO

9. Composer Rorem: NED. Nice to meet you, sir.

10. Island bashes: LUAUS

11. It regulates the size of the pupil: IRIS. I totally dig "it"/"they" clues.

12. Specialized glove: MITT. Baseball glove.

13. Washed-out: ASHY

18. Joint that's jumping: IN SPOT. Why "jumping"?

19. Bushy styles, for short: FROS

24. "I can do it with my eyes closed!": A SNAP

25. Yorkie's perch: LAP

26. Tickles pink: AMUSES

27. [Horrors!]: GASP. The square brackets suggest non-verbal behavior or gesture.

28. Jai alai basket: CESTA. See this picture. The jai alai ball is called "pelota". Learned from doing Xword.

29. Like Russia and Japan, for most of 1904-'05: AT WAR

30D. River crossed in Joshua: JORDAN. Jordan River. Easy guess. Who crossed the river? Jesus?

32. Last-ditch bet: ALL IN. Poker bet.

36. Harts: STAGS

38. A pop: EACH

40. Prenatal tests, for short: AMNIOS. Amniocentesis. New word to me also.

46. Passable: SO SO

47. Permeated: IMBUED

50. Gulf War missile: SCUD

51. Odium: HATE

52. Sister of Osiris: ISIS. Or wife of Osiris.

53. dance: HORA. The Jewish wedding dance. Wikipedia says "Hava Nagila" is a Hebrew folk song, meaning "let us rejoice".

55. Decisive '40s event: D-DAY

58. __ end: cloth remnant: FAG. New word to me.

59. Thematic number on 61-Down: TWO. And ARK (61. Early craft). Noah's Ark. Everything in pairs.

60. Scene stealer: HAM

Answer grid.

C.C.

PS: Happy Birthday, Jeannie!

Wednesday May 12, 2010 David W. Cromer

Theme: Four Aces - All the theme answers are clued as definitions of "ACE".

17A. ACE: FLAWLESS SERVICE. Filled in FL* immediately, then I wanted FLYING something.

28A. ACE: VENTURA IN FILMS. Movie "Ace Ventura".

45A. ACE: BANDAGE ACRONYM. I only use Johnson & Johnson's Band-Aid. Have never heard of Ace Bandage.

59A. ACE: HALF OF BLACKJACK. Got the answer via crosses. Don't play Blackjack.

No hole-in-one (golf), or pitching star (baseball) or perfect serve (tennis), the aces I am familiar with.

David also gives us three math terms:

63. Geometry calculation: AREA

46D. Geometry calculations: ANGLES. Nice intersection.

48D. Advanced math subj.: CALC. Quite a few abbrs. in this grid.

ANG (51A. "Spider-Man" director Lee) was an easy fill. But I don't remember Ange Lee directed any "Spider-Man" movie. "Hulk", yes.

Across:

1. Pest control target: ROACH

6. Get down the road?: PAVE. Great clue.

10. Hired soldier, briefly: MERC. Mercenary I presume.

14. Big name in foil: ALCOA

15. Ongoing auction site: EBAY. Baseball card mecca.

16. Asian domestic: AMAH

20. Abe Lincoln's boy: TAD. Learned from doing Xword.

22. "Gerontion" poet's monogram: TSE. Easy guess.

23. Just out: NEW. Then we have EFTS (53D. New newts). New duplication. Meh!

24. Acts as lookout, say: ABETS

33. Knotted scarf: ASCOT

34. Reunion attendee: NIECE

35. Ripped: TORN

38. Help for a busy mgr.: ASST

42. Small amounts: IOTAS

44. 100 clams: C-NOTE. Clam is slang for a dollar. Got me.

49. Door squeaker: HINGE. I liked this clue.

50. Flight component: STAIR. Flight between floors.

52. Drink with a string in it, perhaps: TEA

55. Letters in a business name: LLC. Did you want LTD also?

56. One of the three states of matter: GAS. And Solid & Liquid.

65. Message obeyed by Alice: EAT ME. Wonderland cake message.

67. Narrow aperture: SLIT

68. Cornered: TREED

Down:

1. Huck's ride: RAFT

2. Earthenware pot: OLLA. I really love this olla. Some artist signed piece can cost a ton.

3. Phillips, e.g.: Abbr.: ACAD. Phillips Academy.

4. Leather source: COW

5. Largest flatfish: HALIBUT. Oh, I did not even know halibut is flatfish.

6. Dinero replaced by the euro: PESETA (puh-SEY-tuh). The former Spanish currency. I forgot.

7. Six-pack muscles: ABS. Beautiful abs.

8. Seemingly endless: VAST

9. Places for pupils: EYES. We also have SYST (66A. Part of CBS. Abbr.).

10. Dallas cager, familiarly: MAV. Dallas Mavericks.

11. "8 Mile" rapper: EMINEM

12. The Andrettis, e.g.: RACERS. OK, EddyB, your turn to comment.

13. Masticates: CHEWS. Masticate is a new word to me.

19. Dig find: RELIC. Thought of Lemonade's son.

24. Making reparations: ATONING

25. They're often sensitive to allergens: SINUSES

27. Rigby of song: ELEANOR. "Eleanor Rigby", the Beatles' song.

28. Napa Valley vessel: VAT

29. Juan's "that": ESO

30. Maker of bar code scanners: NCR

31. "Collages" novelist: NIN (Anaïs)

37. Joplin work: RAG

39. Young fellow: SON

40. Porcine abode: STY. Pigs will be happy with this clue: "abode", so dignified.

41. President pro __: TEM. Robert Byrd is the current President pro tempore of the Senate.

44. Nocturnal noisemaker: CRICKET

45. Like computer code: BINARY. Two digits.

47. Words of relief: AT LAST

49. Mirthful sounds: HAHAS

54. Genesis victim: ABEL. First ever victim. The second son of Adam and Eve, slain by his brother, Cain.

56. Concert receipts: GATE. Not a S ending answer. Tricky clue.

57. Wile E. Coyote's mail-order house: ACME

58. List of appts.: SKED. Cavil away!

61. Flowery welcome: LEI

62. It holds the mayo: JAR

Answer grid.

Notes from the constructor:

I've done a few definition themes before and the word ACE struck me as a good candidate while watching a rerun of "Ace Ventura". I did have to reconstruct the whole puzzle however after learning that ACE was an acronym for a bandage produced by 3M. I originally had "Ventura in Movies" and "Bandage Producer". The other two entries are the same.

C.C.