Saturday May 15, 2010 Barry Silk

Theme: None

Total words: 70

Total blocks: 36

Barry anchors his puzzle with three 15-letter Across entries right in the middle of the grid, and intersects them with another two 15 Down grid spanners:

34A. Minor league team with a locomotive in one of its logos: READING PHILLIES. Phillies' AA affiliate based in Reading, PA. Here is their logo. Unknown to me. You can always find some Phillies' reference in Barry's puzzles.

38A. He played Will Scarlet in "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves": CHRISTIAN SLATER. Saw the movie. But all I can remember is Kevin Costner.

39. New England setting: EASTERN TIME ZONE. And BOOLA (47. New England cheer word). Boola Boola. Yale's fight song. Nice New England echo.

5D. Someone to build a team around: FRANCHISE PLAYER. Like Twins' Joe Mauer.

10D. Runway displays: FALL COLLECTIONS. Loved this entry.

There are also 16 7-letter entries, including those triple stacks in each corner.

Across:

1. Move to new places?: SHUFFLE. Move the play cards to new places. Got me.

8. Exotic vacations: SAFARIS. A happy fill for JD who just safaried last year.

15. Bird known for hovering in a headwind: KESTREL. Hence nickname windhover. Hovering directly above IRELAND (17. Bunratty Castle site). A shout-out to Windhover and his wife Irish. I am not familiar with Bunratty Castle.

16. Like some birthstones: OPALINE

18. Source of relief?: BULLPEN. Relief pitchers.

19. Best Actress winner for "Two Women": LOREN (Sophia)

20. Wagner's father-in-law: LISZT

21. Look at, to Livy: ECCE. As in "Ecce Homo", "Behold the Man".

24. Suffix with fluor-: ESCE. Fluoresce.

26. 1930s Kansas governor Landon: ALF. I only knew him as the guy who ran against F.D.R. in 1936.

29. Cupcake: HON

30. Racer Fabi: TEO. Former Formula One racer. Waiting for more lessons from our racing expert EddyB.

31. Entrepreneur-aiding org.: SBA (Small Business Administration)

40. Soft & __: Dial product: DRI

41. "MS. Found in a Bottle" author: POE. I guessed.

42. Pres. title: CIC (Commander in Chief)

43. Nancy Drew's boyfriend: NED. Another guess. I've never read any Nancy Drew story.

44. Problems: ILLS

45. Where some "SNL" regulars got their start: SCTV. Second City Television. Unknown to me.

50. Child's retort: I AM SO

54. Seek acceptance at: APPLY TO

57. Mexican salamander: AXOLOTL. Stumper. Strange looking word. Strange looking too. Does it live in the water only?

59. "New York Mining Disaster 1941" was their first U.S. hit in 1967: BEE GEES. The answer emerged itself.

60. Like some academic positions: TENURED

61. They aren't on the program: ENCORES. Didn't come to me readily.

62. Gives in: ASSENTS

Down:

1. Black & Decker competitor: SKIL. I forgot this tool brand again.

2. Long lunch?: HERO. Nailed it.

3. Beta tester, e.g.: USER

4. Army post named for a CSA general: FT. LEE. In Virginia. I just found out that there's another Ft. Lee in New Jersey.

6. Author Deighton: LEN

7. "We '__ our bloomin' own": Kipling: 'ELD. Held?

8. ___ sister: SOB

9. "The Simpsons" shopkeeper: APU. Learned from doing Xword.

11. Divorcée Lowell in an '80s sitcom: ALLIE. From "Kate & Allie".

12. Tough currents: RIPS. New definition to me.

13. Spanish name meaning "chaste": INEZ. I mentioned this trivia on the blog before.

14. Elated: SENT. I know Argyle will link "You send me".

22. Restraint: CONTROL

23. Locomotives: ENGINES

24. Cultural group members: ETHNICS

25. Like many tsunamis: SEISMIC. Great C-ending word.

26. Like rainbows: ARCED

27. Operettist Franz: LEHAR. Famous for "The Merry Widow". Hungarian composer.

28. Modern Persian: FARSI

31. Squelch: SIT ON. The bad news.

32. Designer Geoffrey: BEENE. First encounter with this fellow.

33. Comparable to a beet: AS RED

35. Morse "E": DIT

36. Light hit: PAT

37. __-Boy recliner: LAZ

44. Volunteer's words: I'LL GO

46. Prize: VALUE

47. Symbol of innocence: BABE

48. Exposed: OPEN

49. Nigeria is its most populous member: OPEC. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa.

51. Poetic period: MORN

52. Go back on the dele?: STET. "Don't change".

53. Defunct GM line: OLDS

55. Beginning of Time?: TEE. The beginning letter of Time. Why capitalized Time?

56. Org. in the 1946 film "Cloak and Dagger": OSS. Forerunner to C.I.A..

58. Strikes (out): X'ES

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday May 14, 2010 Matt Ginsberg & Pete Muller

Theme: ON END (50D. Upright, and what's been removed to form this puzzle's theme answers) - The "ON" end in each two-word familiar phrase is dropped.

18A. Underwear that never needs washing?: MAGIC JOHNS (ON). Eww! Magic Johnson.

20A. Attack of Tolkien's Ents?: TREE SURGE (ON). Tree Surgeon. Interesting career. New to me. We often see ENT clued as "Tolkien's tree creatures". The above two theme answers overlap.

32. Press watering hole? MEDIA BAR (ON). Media Baron. Like Rupert Murdock. More familiar with the title Media Mogul.

44A. English horn?: ANGLO SAX (ON). Anglo Saxon.

56A. Chest bump cousin? BELLY BUTT (ON). Belly Button.

61A. Fido's greeting? WELCOME WAG (ON). Welcome Wagon. The last two theme answers also overlap.

Might be our first LAT from Matt Ginsberg (The happy Pete Muller is in the middle. The guy with glasses is Peter Gordon), who has constructed quite a few puzzles for NY Times.

Very nice theme concept. Entertaining clues too. Some made me laugh. BELLY BUTT conjures up a fun image. Do you like the tie-in ON END?

I was quite fond of the four long Down non-theme answers. I liked how they paralleled each other and crossed two theme answers.

Filled in CHINA instead of ENLAI (51D. 1972 host to Nixon). Zhou Enlai indeed hosted Nixon during the latter's historic visit to China in Feb 1972. But ENLAI is a given name, while the clue Nixon is surname. I dig when clues and answers fully correspond to each other.

Across:

1. Dell drivers: Abbr. : CPUS. Dell computers.

5. Holy struggle: JIHAD. Literally "struggle" in Arabic. More accurate a translation than "Holy war".

10. Like some activists: ANTI. And WET (26. Against prohibition).

14. Cellar prefix: OENO. Prefix for "wine", as in oenophile.

15. Place to live: ABODE

16. Roger Rabbit, e.g. : TOON

17. Noted cat suit wearer: LAHR (Bert). The Coward Lion of "The Wizard of Oz".

22. Imperiled layer: OZONE

23. Per: A POP

24. Spigoted vessel: URN

27. Judy Jetson's brother: ELROY. Literally "the king". From "The Jetsons".

29. Pretend to be: POSE AS

34. Main ideas: THEMES. Can't avoid the word "theme" for the tie-in 50D.

38. Hip to: IN ON

39. African capital: ACCRA. Ghana's capital.

41. Give a ticket to: CITE

42. Colorado conqueror: RAFTER. Colorado River I suppose.

46. Many a Type A suffers from it: STRESS. And ANTSY (48. Like many a Type A). I don't really know the characteristics of Type A people. But don't all people suffer from stress from time to time and get antsy occasionally?

49. Garden tool: HOE

52. Hesitation: HEM

53. 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., e.g. : ADDR

54. Boutros-Ghali's successor: ANNAN (Kofi)

63. Concerning: AS TO

64. Bump on a log: KNAR. Learned from doing crossword. Wait for Argyle for the bump link.

65. Flat condition?: BROKE. New meaning of "flat" to me. Of course I was thinking of apartment.

66. Put away: STOW

67. Peter Gunn's girlfriend: EDIE. No idea. Have never heard of Peter Gunn before.

69. "Around the Horn" channel: ESPN

Down:

1. Piece maker?: COLT. Piece is slang for firearm.

2. High-fiber fruit: PEAR. True.

3. Without precedent: UNHEARD OF. Awesome entry.

4. Conflict sources: SORE POINTS. Not enough blanks for my HOT SPOTS.

5. Clog, as a copier: JAM UP

6. Support beam: I BAR

7. Boss on "The Dukes of Hazzard": HOGG. I peeked at the answer sheet.

8. Tours ta-tas: ADIEUS

9. Solstice mo. : DEC

10. It covers everything: A TO Z. Nailed it.

11. "Ain't gonna happen": NO HOW

12. Winchester weight: TONNE. Alliteration.

19. Prophet with a fishy story?: JONAH. I thought he was swallowed by a whale.

21. Miso bean: SOYA. Miso soup is delicious!

25. Put on sale, say: RETAG

27. Kuwaiti VIP: EMIR

28. "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" star Headey: LENA. Total stranger to me. Great body.

29. __-10 conference: PAC

30. Ocean predators: ORCAS

31. Bag behind a mound: SECOND BASE. Depend on where you stand.

33. Dancer's warmup aid: BARRE

35. Is very wary of: MISTRUSTS

36. JFK approximations: ETAS

37. Hot: SEXY

40. OR VIPs: RNS (Registered Nurses). I bet it's a gimme for our Chickie & Lois, who both have a RN daughter. I thought of Oregon naturally.

43. Biology opening: ETHNO. Man, we've seen a lot of this entry lately. Nice clue though.

45. 1955 title role voiced by Barbara Luddy: LADY. Obtained the answer via crosses.

47. Fire proof: EMBERS. Was thinking of proof against fire. Not "evidence" proof.

49D. Ethan of "Fast Food Nation": HAWKE

53. Rags-to-riches author: ALGER (Horatio)

55. Plot part, perhaps: ACRE. Triple alliteration. Did you think of story plot also?

57. Hairy sci-fi critter: EWOK. The "Star Wars" creature.

58. Michigan, for one: LAKE. Not enough space for my STATE.

59. 'Vette roof option: T-TOP

60. Hamlet's kin: TOWN. Tricky capitalized hamlet placement. The constructors/edior want to trap you with Shakespeare's Hamlet and his DANE kin.

62. Management sch. offering: MBA

Answer grid.

C.C.