Thursday June 17, 2010 Robert W. Harris

Theme: Double Features - Each theme answer contains two movie names, the "short" & circled one is a single word and placed orderly from left to right (the first and last one are actually in perfect symmetry).

17A. Alan Alda feature with a Will Smith short: CALIFORNIA SUITE. The circled (green color) movie title in the answer is ALI (Muhammad, the boxer). Interesting to see 54D. Branch of Islam: SHIA in the grid, which means "followers of Ali", and is based on the teaching of Muhammad and his successor (cousin) Ali. Coincidence?

27A. William Hurt feature with a Warren Beatty short: ALTERED STATES. Circled movie: REDS.

47A. Barbara Stanwyck feature with a Dustin Hoffman short: NO MAN OF HER OWN. Circled movie: HERO.

62A. Michael Redgrave feature with a Helen Gahagan short: THE LADY VANISHES. Circled short movie name: SHE.

I found this a little tough for a Thursday, especially getting started in the southwest corner. Maybe because I was a bit anxious at starting to be a regular once per week.

Al here, hope you all had a good time with this one, I know I liked the challenge. So, let's get started.

Across:

1. Tired: LIMP. Wow, a DF answer right off the bat...

5. Hall & Oates hit "__ Smile": SARA.

9. Beast of burden: LLAMA. An "orgle" is the mating sound of a llama or alpaca, made by the male. The sound is reminiscent of gargling, but with a more forceful, buzzing edge. Males begin the sound when they become ready to mate and continue throughout the act—from 15 minutes to more than an hour. That must be as annoying as a vuvuzela...

14. Higher than: OVER.

15. GM subsidiary since 1929: OPEL. Wir Leben Autos (we love cars)

16. Lady who reportedly exchanged barbs with Churchill: ASTOR. Nancy Witcher. A Viscountess, the first woman to sit as a Member of Parliament.

20. Like some condors: ANDEAN.

21. Net worth factor: DEBT. Yes, your only worth in the US is to go into debt, to keep the economy going. I know I've done my share of patriotic duty...

22. __ leaf: TEA.

23. Part of a process: STEP.

25. They take vows: NUNS. From the WTF department: "Nunnery" is slang for a brothel??

32. Prefix with sac: OVI. Usually a deposit of insect or arachnid eggs.

33. Familiar saying: SAW. Old English "sagu" (proverb), also Old Norse "saga", which is from an Old English root "secgan" (say), also related: sage.

34. Fuses, as ore: SMELTS. From German schmeltzan, which contains the word melt.

36. Prepare to fire on: AIM AT.

39. Terhune collie: LAD. Albert Payson Terhune is the author of "Lad: a Dog".

41. Hot fragment: EMBER.

42. Sets aside for later consideration: TABLES. In parliamentary sense, originally "to lay on the (speaker's) table for discussion", but it has come to mean to postpone indefinitely.

44. "Excellent!": RAD. Slang shortening of the word "radical".

46. Montana motto word: ORO. "Oro y Plata" (Spanish: Gold and Silver)

51. Frantically: AMOK. To run amok first recorded 1670s, from Malay amuk "attacking furiously." Earlier the word was used as a noun or adj. meaning "a frenzied Malay," originally in the Portuguese form amouco or amuco.

52. Management ally of a sort: SCAB. Meaning of "strikebreaker" first recorded 1806, from earlier sense of "person who refuses to join a trade union" (1777), probably from the meaning "despicable person"

53. Former flier: SST. The Concorde's last flight was on November 26, 2003.

56. Dick of adventure fiction: MOBY. I was trying to come up with a detective name, like MOTO or CHAN.

58. WWII encryption machine: ENIGMA.

65. Ipse __: DIXIT. A Latin phrase meaning he himself said it. The term labels a statement asserted but not proved, to be accepted on faith. Usually from a person of standing, such as Aristotle.

66. Grand Marquis, briefly: MERC. A Mercury full-size car, equivalent to a Ford Crown Victoria. I think I heard a rumor that Ford will shut down the Mercury line soon.

67. Depressing situation, with "the": PITS. Said to be a shortened form of armpits. Could be worse...

68. "Gymnopédies" composer: SATIE. Eric, a frequent crossword clue.

69. Spot: ESPY. Old French: espier, to spy.

70. Kiln for drying hops: OAST. Frequent crossword fill.

Down:

1. Crazy, in a Ricky Martin song: LOCA. Living la vida loca (the crazy life) Hot stuff!

2. Russian John: IVAN.

3. Blend: MELD. One for Argyle and Tinbini: The original reference is to whiskey-making.

4. Christian guide: PRIEST. Greek Presbyteros, to Latin prester, to Old English preost.

5. Norman athletes: SOONERS. Norman, Oklahoma, Oklahoma University.

6. Boston Marathon mo.: APR. Abbreviated clue (month) = abbreviated answer

7. Split apart: REND. Also rive and rent, all related.

8. Klingons, e.g.: ALIENS. Latin alienus, belonging to another, variant of Latin alius (other), related: alias.

9. Job application line: LAST NAME.

10. Fightin' Tigers' sch.: LSU. Lousiana State University.

11. Working: AT IT. OK, right, "working"...

12. Small particle: MOTE.

13. Region: AREA.

18. Inevitable outcome: FATE.

19. Borders: ABUTS.

24. Big ring: PEAL. From a bell. Clever clue, I was thinking bathtub and wondering: There's a name for that?

26D. 31-Down opposite: STEM. and 31D. 26-Down opposite: STERN.

27. Bird-related: AVIAN. Latin avis. (Rara Avis = rare bird, a pecular person)

28. Dance at a bar: LIMBO. The bar you bend under, not the one where you get bent out of shape.

29. Doc, for one: DWARF. Happy, Dopey, Sneezy, Grumpy, Bashful, Sleepy, and a list of about 50 unused names.

30. Attention-getting joint: ELBOW. Especially a poke in the gut.

32. Cereal grass: OAT.

35. Sign at a popular musical: SRO. You have to want to see a show pretty badly to pay and have to stand up all the way through it...

37. __ mater: ALMA. Bountiful mother.

38. Rice, to Montana: TEAMMATE. Tight End and Receiver both were the right length, too.

40. Some code signals: DAHS. And DITS. Morse code pulses.

43. Hair net: SNOOD.

45. Propriety: DECENCY. Appropriateness.

48. "I find that acceptable": OK BY ME.

49. Indian royal: RANI. For Queen, or the alternate spelling of RAJA for king.

50. San Luis __: OBISPO. Saint Louis, the Bishop. Halfway between San Fran and L.A.

53. Agreed-on guidelines: Abbr.: STDS. Standards. We have a saying at work, "The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from". Unofficial, of course...

55. Message often sent using thumbs: TEXT. I'm not one for doing phone text myself; I prefer the feel of a real tactile interface.

57. First name in fashion: YVES. Saint Laurent.

59. Karmann __: sports car: GHIA. Multiple car name clues today. This one's a VW.

60. 1986 World Series champs: METS. Game 6 is another coincidental movie theme tie in for this puzzle.

61. Helper: Abbr.: ASST.

63. First-century date: LII. 52. Wasn't thrilled with the clue for this. Could have been clued Caesar's deck, or something else helpful, instead of random unguessable Roman letters.

64. Dada daddy?: ARP. Jean, but also went by Hans. The other founders of the Dada movement were Max Ernst and Alfred Emanuel Ferdinand Grünwald.

LA Times website has no circles since its software does not support circled squares. You can see our Answer Grid to identify where circled letters are.

Al

Note from C.C.:

I am very pleased to announce that Al will blog Thursday puzzles from now on. Al has been a quiet hero, always there when I have a computer or crossword related question. Welcome on board, Al.

Wednesday June 16, 2010 Pancho Harrison

Theme: MUSIC, MAN! - Three long theme answers, two of them grid-spanning, employ homophone puns to transform mundane phrases into humorous musical references.

17 A. Songs by German wolves? LIEDER OF THE PACK. Play on "leader of the pack. LIED (pl LIEDER) is the German word for song. So - songs of the pack. This got a chuckle and a groan.

36 A. Obvious melody?: AIR APPARENT. Play on "heir apparent," the most likely successor. An AIR is a melody, obviously.

58 A. Intonations from the monastery locker room?: CHANTS OF SHOWERS. Oh my. "Chance of showers," meaning it's probably going to rain. Or, here, some very clean Gregorian chant.

Each play is on the first word in the phrase, substituting a homophone or near-homophone. Nice and tight. YMMV on puns and their quality. I thought these were rather long stretches; but that doesn't make me like them any less. And I do like them, quite a lot.

Plus, these musical encores:

57 A. Haggard of country music: MERLE

39 D. Roxy Music alum Brian: ENO

53 D. Jerry or Jerry Lee: LEWIS

Not being a country music maven (I'm more of a city boy) I'll leave it someone in the know to find the best links for Merle and Jerry Lee. And, yes, comedian Jerry Lewis did also sing, occasionally. I actually know nothing about Brian ENO, except he's in puzzles a lot.

Hi gang, it's JazzBumpa, your humble resident trombonist and music appreciator. I was pretty much in tune with this one, and able to wood-shed it in 15:27. Pancho Harrison has composed a verbal symphony for us today with only a few sour notes. Let's get inside the score.

Across:

1 A. Glass in a frame: PANE. Why is a piece of glass called a pane? I worked in the industry for 17 long, miserable years, and never gave it a thought. We called a piece of glass a "light" which is even ODDER.

5 A. Motivation target, often: SELF. In my 20+ years as a supervisor, I learned that if you won't motivate yourself, nobody can.

9 A. Hold forth: OPINE. I do this rather a lot. Opinions are cheep, or even free.

14 A. Site of a Biblical plot: EDEN. Nice double meaning: plot of land, and site of the Eve-Serpent cabal.

15 A. Flash in the brainpan: IDEA. Another clever clue, playing on "flash in the pan." I first heard this in the context of baseball, meaning a promising rookie who turns out to be a bust. The phrase comes from panning for gold, where sometimes things that glitter are worthless.

16 A. Like some ancient characters: RUNIC. Another great clue. "Characters" here mean letters or other types of symbols. RUNES were characters used in Old Norse. They are composed of straight lines so they can be easily sliced into wood or scratched onto stone.

20 A. Farther out?: ODDER. Farther out, man.

21 A. Like some highways: TWO LANE. Though not necessarily.

22 A. Huaraches, e.g.: SANDALS. Hecho en Mexico. Es verdad!

25 A. Stubborn one: ASS. Yup!

26 A. Blunderer's cry: DOH!

28 A. Final conclusion?: IST. Referring to a finalIST, one of the last standing in a contest. I offer this to the Navajo gods.

29 A. Rational: SANE. Good thinking!

31 A. Motion support: SECOND. From Robert's rules of order. May I have a motion? Second? All in favor, say "DOH!"

33 A. Overhaul: REVAMP. Is something ever VAMPED? If not, how can it be REVAMPED? English is ODDER, sometimes.

35 A. "The Clan of the Cave Bear" author: Jean AUEL.

39 A. Exile isle: ELBA. Napoleon was exiled here, and given the job of cleaning the place. It took a lot of ELBA GREECE. That's when he said, "I may not be Abel, but I do the best I Cain," which is no kind of palindrome.

41 A. Accent: STRESS.

42 A. Loch legend nickname: NESSIE. The Loch Ness Monster, not to be confused with her brother Elliot Ness.

45 A. Reb's opponent: YANK. Short for Yankee. Not necessarily from New York, but we can't rule it out.

46 A. Hoo-ha: ADO. Possibly a reference to Willie Shiverjavelin's play, "Much Hoo-ha About Nothing." What else could it mean?

49 A. Feedbag morsel: OAT. We do eat a lot of these in puzzle land.

50 A. O'Neill's "The Hairy __": APE. The Hairy Ape, a play by Eugene O'Neill, has a character in it called "Yank."

52 A. Wooden in manner: STILTED.

54 A. Tread roughly: TRAMPLE. Don't trample on me!

61 A. Right-hand page: RECTO. What is the left hand page called?

62 A. "An Essay on Man" poet Alexander: POPE. He also translated The Odyssey.

63 A. Horned goddess: ISIS. From ancient Egypt, horns and all.

64 A. Big name in lawn care: ORTHO. They make Scott's Miracle-Gro.

65 A. Notable periods: ERAS.

66 A. Plato's promenade: STOA. In ancient Greece, a public covered walkway or portico. Where you been, Plato? I had to go to the STOA.

Down:

1 D. First female Speaker of the House: PELOSI. Nancy from CA.

2 D. Reebok rival: ADIDAS. We run into these a lot, too.

3 D. "You __ bother": NEEDN'T. I needn't, but I can't resist this link.

4 D. Ran out: ENDED. BP's time ran out, but the oil flow didn't. Also: 7 D. Ran out: LEFT. This is the "I've had enough" kind of ran out, as in exit, stage LEFT.

5 D. Anthony Hopkins, for one: SIR. Aha - Anthony is a knight. My oldest grandson made up this joke: Why could they fight after dark in the middle ages? They had knight lights!

6 D. Tokyo, before 1868: EDO

8 D. Islamic decree: FATWA

9 D. Threat words: OR ELSE

10 D. Insect stage after larva: PUPA. It's when insect pups go through PUPATY .

11 D. Hard to reach at the office, say: IN AND OUT. I used to be in the office every day. Now I'm always out.

12 D. "Good shot!": NICE ONE. A complement on the golf course.

13 D. Luther opponent Johann __: ECK. He defended Catholicism. Turns out, his real name was Maier. What the ECK is that all about?

18 D. Corrective tool: ERASER. Well, nobody's perfect.

19 D. Ben Cartwright's middle son: HOSS. Plus Little Joe and . . . Luke?

23 D. Soap brand with pumice: LAVA. I didn't know this was still around. Lava los manos!

24 D. Goes nuts: SNAPS. Loses it. Goes around the bend. Flips one's lid.

27 D. "Good" cholesterol, for short: HDL. You want your High Density Lipids to be High, and your Low density lipids to be low. Easy mnemonic.

30 D. Totally drained: EMPTY. They way you felt after you RAN OUT.

33 D. Narrow inlets: RIAS. Are they the same as estuaries? I learned the word here at the Corner.

34 D. Legal aides: PARAS. Evidently referring to PARAlegals. Ugly partial. Meh.

36 D. Like a Jackson Pollock painting: ABSTRACT. Could be. I thought this was a wiring diagram.

37 D. Temporary use fee: RENT. I'll do the cookin' honey, I'll pay the rent, if I can use you temporarily.

38 D. Inuit, once: ESKIMO. Not necessarily. Could also be a Yupic or an Aleut.

40 D. Elbow patch material: LEATHER. Especially on tweed jackets.

43 D. Words of agreement: I AM TOO. Are you tired?

44 D. Omar of "House": EPPS. Never watched it.

46 D. Not in motion: AT REST. I had STATIC, which made my hair stand on end.

47 D. Texas border city: DEL RIO.

48 D. Texas oil city: ODESSA. Evidently having been moved there from the Ukraine.

51 D. Run off to join a union?: ELOPE. Very clever.

55 D. Lit. compilation: ANTH. Short for anthology. Abrev. in cl. & ans.

56 D. __ effort: E FOR. I always got an A for effort. Well, not really, but it IS in the language . . .

58 D. Vel attachment?: CRO. Velcro. I'm torn over this one. There's my aversion to affixes, or - as in this case - psuedo-affixes, which are even worse. But, OTOH, VelCRO is an attachment. I'll give in to the cleverness here, and let it go, but not without reservation.

59 D. Relaxing retreat: SPA. Or the kind of whirlpool tub found in my bathroom, and lots of puzzles.

60 D. Dudes: HES. He and he are HES - he he! The musician's first rule is to always end on a good note. Didn't happen here, alas, as this puzzle runs out with a big, flat blat at the end. Wie Shade.

Other than that, though, a fine, harmonious composition, and a fun romp. Hope y'all enjoyed it.

Answer grid.

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

Cheers!

JzB