Sunday June 13, 2010 John Lampkin

Theme: Final Advice - Familiar phrases are playfully clued as advice on how to ace a seemingly related course in finals.

23A. To ace Music Theory, don't wander off __: IN LA-LA LAND. Zoned out. La "a note to follow so". The sixth tone.

28A. To ace Oceanography, don't let the prof know you've __: GONE FISHING. Store sign. Taking a break.

40A. To ace Agricultural Science, avoid __ : GRASPING AT STRAWS. Being desperate.

69A. To ace Electrical Engineering, don't fall __: ASLEEP AT THE SWITCH. Not attending one's job.

95A. To ace Math, avoid being __: AT SIXES AND SEVENS. A state of confusion/disarray. Numbers & Math connection.

114A.To ace Cosmology, don't get __: LOST IN SPACE. The '60s sci-fi series.

120A.To ace Culinary Arts, avoid being __: OUT TO LUNCH. Not in touch with the real world. Crazy.

As the norm with John Lampkin (a musician) puzzles, there are music references:

116A.Clementi work: SONATINA. Clementi was an Italian composer best known for his piano sonatas and sonatinas, according to Wikipeida.

126A.Piano players?: HANDS. Wicked clue!

5D. Played crisply and detached, in mus.: STAC (Staccato)

36D. Slowing, in mus.: RIT (Ritardando)

115D.Schoenberg's "Moses und __": ARON. Three-act opera by Schoenberg, an Austrian/American composer. Maybe Elvis knew. I've got no clue.

Many probably would not notice that there's no cheater square in the whole grid (140-word, 4 less than our normal Sundays), which spoils the elegance of the puzzle in John's eyes. It takes some discipline and effort not to use the shortcut when you know it's there.

Again, a pangram, all 26 letters are used at least once. John said he always makes his Sunday a pangram to spice up the fill. And of course, his legendary cross-references & clue echos, which are highlighted in green colors in my write-up.

My favorite clues today are:

103./: SLASH

104., : COMMA

Very unexpected and fun. Great placement too. At first I thought those were printing errors.

Across:

1. 1996 Dream Team nickname: SHAQ (O'Neal). And LAY-UPS (24D. Dream Team shots).

5. Hit hard: SMASH

10. Bit of dough: CLAM. And LUCRE (22. "Filthy" dough)

14. Puritans: PRIGS. And MAYFLOWER (13D. Puritans' transport).

19. Machu Picchu's country: PERU. And INCAS (112D. Machu Picchu natives).

20. It goes from one joint to another: TIBIA. And KNEES (124. Creeping joints). Brilliant misdirections. Not the seedy bar joints I had in mind.

21. Role in the 1992 film "Chaplin": OONA. Easy guess.

25. Word with clerk or hall: CITY. City clerk. City hall.

26. "Save me __": A SEAT

27. Closet hangers: TIE RACKS

30. Piquant: ZESTY

31. Sycophant: YES-MAN

34. Rear-end: SLAM INTO. And DENT (127. Rear end blemish?).

35. Held by us: OUR. Our blog.

37. Done for: KAPUT. A seldom seen entry.

39. Arab League member: OMAN. IRAQ too, also 4 letters.

46. Clarified butter: GHEE. Indian cooking.

50. Clerical VIP: REV. And DIR (60. Film studio VIP).

51. Mink kin: STOAT

52. Certain about: SURE OF

54. Waterfront org.: ILA (International Longshoremen's Association)

55. Sudanese president __ al-Bashir: OMAR. Not familiar with this dude. Looks like a tyrant.

57. Vacuum, e.g.: CLEAN. Verb "vacuum".

61. Olympic racers: LUGES

63. Brobdingnagian: GOLIATH. Brobdingnagian is named after Brobdingnag, fictional land in Johnathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels", where everything was huge.

66. Shape using heat: FORGE. Verb "shape".

68. Beach protection: SUN HAT

73. Scrapped, as a car: JUNKED. And LEASE (75. Car dealer's deal). Consecutive "car" clues.

76. Poetic "soon": ERELONG

79. Ref. set: ENCYC (Encyclopedia)

80. Harmless cyst: WEN

81. Cheri of "SNL": OTERI. She has become a gimme.

84. Smack back?: EROO. Back of the word smackeroo.

85. Fed. medical org.: NIH (National Institutes of Health)

86. "We build, we fight" military member: SEABEE. From letters CB (Construction Battalion).

89. Tennessee father-son politicos: GORES. Nice change from gory horn related clue.

92. Turn on the waterworks, so to speak: SOB. True.

93. Jump for Sonja: AXEL. And HENIE (2. 1932 Lake Placid gold medalist Sonja) & SKATE (32D. Emulate 2-Down).

99. Uruguay's Punta del __: ESTE

101.Rationed (out): DOLED

102.Clavell's "__-Pan": TAI. Literally "big" in Cantonese. Pan = Boss. "Tai-Pan" = Big Boss.

103.Kids' transports: SCOOTERS

107.Removed soap from: RINSED

110.Holy quest object: GRAIL

118.Mideast capital once called Philadelphia: AMMAN. Jordan's capital. Was unaware of this trivia.

119.Mata __: HARI

122.With 64-Down, wiseguys: SMART. And ALECS (64D. See 122-Across).

123.Love god: EROS

125.French state: ETAT

128.Shabby: SEEDY

129. Sonoran assent: SI SI. Sonora is a state in Mexico.

Down:

1. Thick-furred dog: SPITZ. German for "pointed'. The dog has erect ears.

3. Inspiration for Van Gogh: ARLES. Look at my compact mirror. Van Gogh's "Bedroom in Arles".

4. Publishing formats for Shakespeare: QUARTOS. No idea. Four leaves (eight pages).

6. Like liquid in 10-Down: MILKY. And COCONUTS (10. Palm produce). Fresh coconut water is actually not milky.

7. Denigrate: ABASE

8. Sloth, for one: SIN

9. Possessed: HAD

11. Cut of meat: LOIN

12. Chips in a chip: ANTES. Good clue.

14. TV type: PLASMA

15. Super Bowl stat category: RUSHING

16. Trap up north, maybe: ICE IN

17. Research money: GRANT

18. Ready followers?: SET GO. "Ready, Set, Go!"

28. Voids: GAPS

29. Retort to a skeptic: I AM SO. And NOT SO (59. Skeptical retort). Not fond of the SO repetition.

33. Pin cushion?: MAT. Wrestling "pin" = "fall". Great clue.

38. Plod: TRUDGE

40. Blackbeard's quaff: GROG. Blackbeard the pirate.

41. San __: Riviera resort: REMO

42. Big snow fall?: AVALANCHE. Awesome answer/clue.

43. Night, in Nogales: NOCHE. Alliteration. I've never heard of Nogales, a city in Sonora, Mexico. Also a town in Arizona, bordering the Mexican Nogales.

44. Liq. measure: GAL

45. Taurus preceder: ARIES. First zodiac sign.

47. Haughty attitude: HIGH HORSE. Get off your high horse.

48. Zeno's town: ELEA: Zeno of Elea. Greek philosopher.

49. Right way to go?: EAST. Direction. Nice clue.

53. Toaster's glass: FLUTE

56. Dicey: RISKY

58. Mennen lotion: AFTA. After Shave.

62. Org. in a '60s spy series: U.N.C.L.E. Spy series "The Man from U. N. C. L. E."(United Network Command for Law and Enforcement). I forgot.

65. Knight on TV: TED

67. Part of the anc. art of discourse: RHET (Rhetoric). Anc is "ancient"?

68. Common honorific: SIR. And PLEBS (70. Common folk). Another consecutive echo.

71. Virgil epic: AENEID

72. More than strange: WEIRD

73. German university city: JENA. Have never heard of University of Jena.

74. Windows alternative: UNIX. Operating system.

77. Certain halfway point: NOON. D'oh!

78. Oodles: GOBS

80. Transition point: WATERSHED. Watershed moment.

82. "Tarnation!": EGADS. "Tarnation" is new expression to me.

83. '70s-'80s pitcher Guidry: RON. Gimme. Spent his whole career with the Yankees. I have quite a few of his baseball cards. Unfortunately they are not worth anything.

87. Corroded: EATEN

88. Dispossessor?: EXORCIST. No problem!

90. Part of ETA: Abbr. : EST

91. "Fire Down Below" star: SEAGAL (Steven)

94. It's named for a trapeze artist: LEOTARD. Can you picture Dennis in his infamous leotard? I just can't.

96. "Night" writer Wiesel: ELIE

97. H. Clinton, once: SEN

98. Good points: VIRTUES. Sweet clue.

100.Tours of duty: STINTS

105.Turkish empire founder: OSMAN. No idea. Ottoman Empire is named after him.

106.Doughnut for the road: SPARE. Why? The tires are doughnut shaped?

108. Big name in compacts: ESTEE. Oh, Cosmetics products.

109.Fussed over, with "on": DOTED

111."__ a stinker?": Bugs Bunny line: AIN'T I

113.Emmy winner Christine: LAHTI. Man, I can never remember her name.

117.Curious to a fault: NOSY

120.Green lights: OKS

121.A, in France: UNE

Answer grid.

JD's Crossword Story continues. Here is the updated version with letter D.

C.C.

Saturday June 12, 2010 Brad Wilber

Theme: None

Total words: 68

Total blocks: 25

Quite low black square count. Brad places four multi-word grid-spanners in his puzzle:

14A. Source of overcompensating bravado: NAPOLEON COMPLEX. Overcompensate for their short stature. Type of Inferiority Complex.

17A. Stay away: DISTANCE ONESELF. Nice one.

46A. 2009 addition to Wimbledon's Centre Court: RETRACTABLE ROOF. My favorite answer today, esp since I nailed it.

49A. Like a master criminal: SLIPPERY AS AN EEL. Lively entry.

I had a slightly easier time with this Brad offer. I normally struggle mightily with his puzzles. Probably because I nailed a few long ones. Or the ladders (those strings of black squares along the diagonal line) gridding made the puzzle more accessible, as many entries share the same starting letter.

Still had to cheat.

Across:

1. One in a coup group: USURPER. Assonance in the clue. Brad has six 7-letter & 8-letter entries today.

8A. Tenochtitlán founders: AZTECS. Tenochtitlán was the capital of Aztecs. Present day Mexico City. Unknown to me.

18. Old Greek theater: ODEON. My first toehold.

19. Carpenter with drums: KAREN. Boomer loves Karen Carpenter. He just bowled a 300 yesterday.

20. Van Halen's "Somebody Get __ Doctor": ME A. Not familiar with the song.

21. Start of an intermission?: ENTR. Start of Entr'acte (intermission). Got me.

22. Seedless greenhouse denizens: FERNS. Always associate "denizens" with animals, not plant.

23. Judicial seat: BANC

24. Flare, maybe: SOS. Got it via crosses.

25. Makes an example of: CITES

26. Declaration in a playground game: NOT IT. "Tag" declaration.

27. Vitamin K source: CHARD. So are most dark green veggies. Need fat to best utilize the Vitamin K. Or any vitamin, right, Al?

28. Over: FINITO

29. Yin and yang, e.g.: DUALITY. Yin & Yang is factored in my cooking.

32. One who doesn't do Windows?: MAC USER. Nailed it.

33. Native Alaskans: INUITS

34. Seemingly charmed entrepreneur: MIDAS. I don't get this clue. Why "charmed"?

35. Rival of Sparta: ARGOS. I can only think of PERSIANS.

36. Like unsorted mail: PILED

37. Beaut: GEM

40. Course objectives for many: PARS. Golf course. I'd be happy with a bogey on a par 5.

41. Black-tie events: BALLS

42. Florida's __ Chica Key: BOCA. Have never heard of this island. It's about 3 miles east of Key West. Wikipedia also says Boca Chica is literally "small mouth" in Spanish.

43. Ophelia's niece, in "Uncle Tom's Cabin": EVA

44. Actress Palmer: LILLI. Nope. Not in my radar. German actress.

45. Peer's realm, perhaps: DUCHY. Oh, Duke's realm.

50. Impertinent: SNIPPY. Much better than our normal edge word SASSY.

51. Loses all its water: RUNS DRY

Down:

1. Annuls: UNDOES

2. Declined: SAID NO

3. Sports page headline grabbers: UPSETS. Did not leap to me quickly.

4. Turning part: ROTOR. So simple in retrospect.

5. Design: PLAN

6. Morn's opposite: E'EN

7. Hobby involving launches: ROCKETRY. Sign up and ride along with all the punks.

8. Nuts in cupules: ACORNS. Cupule is a new word to me.

9. Tunes (out): ZONES

10. Bootleggers' nemeses: T-MEN

11. Mini-albums, for short: EPS

12. Showy arbor vine: CLEMATIS. The one with the red flowers.

13. Crystalline gypsum variety: SELENITE. Named after Greek moon goddess Selene. And then mineral suffix-ite. New word to me also.

15. Approached: NEARED

16. Unknown: X FACTOR. Noun "Unknown".

22. Edicts: FIATS

23. Employee of the Month incentive: BONUS

25. Markers: CHITS

26. Battery acronym : NICAD (Nickel-cadmium battery)

27. Madison Avenue honors: CLIOS. Advertising awards.

28. Diminishes: FADES

29. Nursery supply: DIAPERS. Was picturing plants/flowers.

30. Figures out: UNRAVELS

31. With a browned crust, as potatoes: AU GRATIN. I like oven fried potatoes. You?

32. Air pressure unit: MILLIBAR. Another new word. Milli = One Thousandth.

34. First woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: MILLAY. Edna St. Vincent Millay. Was unaware of this trivia.

36. Meager: PALTRY

37. Expand the admission pool, in a way: GO COED

38. Parrot: ECHOER

39. Bass prey: MAYFLY. Had no idea that bass eats mayflies.

41. Arm wrestler's pride, as it's commonly called: BICEP

42. Seethes: BURNS

44. Reindeer herder: LAPP. The northern Norwegian. Kept thinking of Santa and his reindeer, Argyle!

45. Academic list keeper: DEAN

47. Engineering sch. on the Hudson: RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). Learned from doing Xword.

48. Sch. with a yearbook called the Gumbo: LSU. Interesting trivia. Good to know.

Answer grid.

JD's Crossword Story continues. See her C installment.

C.C.