Sunday June 27, 2010 Ed Sessa

Theme: The Ends Justify the Meanings - The end word in each theme answer is split into a compound word, and the first part of which forms a familiar "__ and __" phrase with the start of each theme entry.

23A. Angler's go-to lure?: BREAD AND BUTTER FLY. Bread and Butter. Butterfly. Anglers use artificial flies as lure.

37A. Intermittent photo session?: ON AND OFF SHOOT. On and off. Offshoot.

67A. "Father Knows Best," to some: MOM AND POP CORN. Mom and Pop. Popcorn. I've never watched "Father Knows Best". Is it really corny?

97A. Zigzags?:: IN-AND-OUT LINES. In-and-Out. Outlines.

114A.Wavering conservative faction?: BACK AND FORTH RIGHT. Back and Forth. Forthright. Conservative faction = Right.

16D. Thrill from using a mouse?: DRAG AND DROP KICK. Drag and Drop. Dropkick. Fun clue/answer.

43D. Fancy dance marathon?: HUFF AND PUFF BALL. Huff and Puff. Puffball. Very evocative answer.

Fun theme.

It reminds me slightly of Doug Peterson and Barry Silk's collaboration Sunday puzzle "And another thing...". Different approach of course.

None of the expensive letters J/Q/X/Z is used in this grid. Out of 36 3-letter & 32 4-letter entries, quite a few are abbreviations. Fortunately most of them have become gimmes to me. I've been solving & blogging puzzles for more than two and a half years.

Across:

1. Long cold spell: ICE AGE. Nice clue.

7. "The Whiffenpoof Song" words: BAAS. Wikipedia says "The Whiffenpoof Song" ends in "Baa, baa, humbug!". Unknown to me.

11. Big bang: BLAST. Triple alliteration.

16. Mil. decoration: DSM (Distinguished Service Medal)

19. Grand Canyon nester: CONDOR. Had trouble obtaining the answer.

20. Quartet named for its singers: ABBA. Initials of their first names.

21. Alice's husband in '50s TV: RALPH

22. Reine's spouse: ROI. Reine = Queen (in French)

26. Hole puncher: AWL

27. Dustin's "Kramer vs. Kramer" co-star: MERYL(Streep)

28. "Jingle Bells" contraction: O'ER

29. Some nest eggs, briefly: IRAS

30. Mirrored: IMAGED

32. Sign that makes an angel happy: SRO (Stand Room Only). Angel here refers to a person who finances a Broadway show or a film.

33. Religious symbol: ICON

35. "Hold on __!": A SEC

36. Say over: ITERATE. And REPEAT (121.Echo)

40. __ White: SNOW

41. '90s Olds: ACHIEVA. Replaced by Alero in 1999. New trivia to me.

44. Work at assiduously: PLY

45. Took potshots: SNIPED

47. Lugs: HAULS

48. "A Doll's House" heroine: NORA. I forgot.

50. Passé platters: LPS. Cool clue!

52. Candy named for its creators: M AND M'S. Odd to see M & M's spelled out.

55. Overrun en masse, as ants: INFEST

57. Pedal pusher: CYCLER

59. Minsk's home: BELARUS. Nailed it.

60. Where wildebeest roam: Abbr.: AFR. Wildebeest = Gnu.

61. Possess, to Burns: HAE. "Have".

63. Two bells, at sea: ONE AM. Guessed. Don't really know the bells and the corresponded time.

65. Admission of defeat: I LOST

66. Palindromic Altar: ARA. Literally "Altar" in Latin.

71. Ale servings: Abbr.: PTS (Pints)

72. Yorba __, Calif. : LINDA. Just learned that the Nixon Library is located here.

74. Cockamamie: INANE

75. Here, to Pierre: ICI

76. Letters before a 76-Down: AKA. Nice crossing with ALIAS (76D. See 76-Across).

77. Blues Brothers toppers: FEDORAS. And SNL (118.Where the Blues Brothers began, briefly).

79. Like some outfield walls: PADDED

82. Quartz compound: SILICA

85. Quakers in the woods: ASPENS. Aspen quakes. The "in the woods" did not dissuade me from thinking of the religious Quakers.

86. These, to Thérèse: CES

87. Formerly, formerly: ERST

89. Suitable spot for a statue: NICHE. Triple alliteration in the clue.

90. Has the last of: USES UP

92. TV Guide abbr. : TBA

93. Director's do-overs: RETAKES

95. Sword handle: HAFT

101.1980s-'90s N.Y. senator D'Amato: ALFONSE. I peeked at the answer sheet.

103."Denial __ just a river in Egypt": Twain: AIN'T

104.State with conviction: AVER

105.Sleep lab acronym: REM

108.Bump off: RUB OUT

109.Anthem starter: O SAY

110.Expected: DUE

111.Typical start?: PROTO. Start of the word Prototypical.

113.GP's gp. : AMA

119.Taken as a whole: IN ALL

120.__ worlde: quaintly fashionable: OLDE

122."Rebel Without a Cause" actor Mineo: SAL

123.World carrier: ATLAS. The clue needs a question mark, does it?

124.Lanolin source: WOOL. Did not know the meaning of lanolin: a fatty substance obtained from wool and used in soaps, cosmetics, and ointments.

125.Fuel in a can: STERNO

Down:

1. Some WMDs: ICBMS. Stumper. ICBM = InterContinental Ballistic Missile.

2. Semicircular utensil: CORER. I seldom use our corer.

3. Hot time in Chile: ENERO. January.

4. Beatles' "__ in the Life": A DAY

5. Sanctity: GODLINESS

6. '70s NOW cause: ERA. I know NOW = National Organization for Women. But I don't get the clue.

7. Villains often come to one: BAD END. Wish it's true in real life.

8. Mass. or Miss.: ABBR. Can't get STATE out of my mind.

9. "Aladdin" monkey: ABU. No idea.

10. Make happy: SATISFY

11. Dam damage: BREACH

12. "__ and the Real Girl": 2007 film: LARS. Here is the poster. Doesn't look interesting to me.

13. Franklin's 1936 foe: ALF (Landon)

14. Mid-race statistic: SPLIT TIME. Car race?

15. Part of a Simon & Garfunkel quartet: THYME. "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme". Love the song.

17. Johannesburg area: SOWETO. Nope. What's it famous for?

18. Shower problem: MILDEW

24. Reagan speechwriter: NOONAN (Peggy)

25. Spanish crowd?: TRES. Spanish for "three". Three's a crowd.

31. Military depot: ARSENAL

34. Cleveland hoopster, for short: CAV. Cavaliers.

35. Company with a spokesduck: AFLAC

36. Charge carrier: ION. I blanked on the clue.

37. Crude carrier: OILER. Nice consecutive "carrier' clues.

38. Venue for Minnie Pearl: OPRY

39. CIA predecessor: OSS (Office of Strategic Services)

41. Sashimi fish: AHI. Yummy!

42. Birds named for an island group: CANARIES

46. Monty Python member: PALIN. Someone is pouting for the clue.

49. Neptune's domain: OCEAN

50. O'Brien's successor: LENO

51. Type of school: PREP

53. Pencil or toothbrush, e.g.: MUSTACHE. Devious clue!

54. Retd. boomers: SSTS. Nailed it.

56. Howe'er: THO

58. Ran easily: LOPED

59. College QB, often: BMOC (Big Man on Campus)

62. "Time's Arrow" author: AMIS (Martin). Has anyone read the book?

64. Bases' antitheses: ACIDS

66. Bravo preceder: ALFA. Alfa and Alpha both right.

67. Seine tributary: MARNE. Can never remember this river.

68. Kitty pickup spot: NAPE

69. Spiral molecules: DNAS

70. Grafton's "__ for Ricochet": R IS

73. Argumentative cry: DOES TOO

78. Second: ASSISTANT. Constructors love this kind of ambiguous part of speech.

80. Coming-out: DEBUT

81. Part of Q.E.D.: ERAT

83. Make sense of: INTERPRET

84. DDE adversary: AES (Adlai Ewing Stevenson)

86. Audit rep: CPA. And HRS (117. 86-Down billing units).

88. Hot-pot support: TRIVET. Three-legged stand.

91. Somme one: UNE. In French.

92. Wally Cleaver portrayer: TONY DOW. Learned from doing Xword.

94. Reno-to-Elko dir.: ENE

95. Bust chops: HARASS. "Bust chops" is new slang to me.

96. Wellesley grad: ALUMNA. Women's college.

98. Some sonorant sounds: NASALS. Another triple alliteration.

99. "Gorillas in the Mist" subject Fossey: DIAN. Can never commit her name to my brain.

100. Victory emblem: LAUREL

102.Ancient Nile Valley kingdom: NUBIA. Current Egypt-Sudan region. JD said Aida is from Nubia.

105.Ham's "Gotcha": ROGER

106.Frome of fiction: ETHAN

107.Words often etched in stone: MOTTO

109.Sooner St.: OKLA. Lois is there now.

110.Birdbrain: DODO. Our Dodo got her avatar name from the starting two letters of her given & family name.

112.Ready to pluck: RIPE

115.Baseball "Iron Man" Ripken: CAL. So humble!

116.Waitress at Mel's: FLO

Answer grid.

Happy 75th Birthday to Jeannie's Dad!

C.C.

Saturday June 26, 2010 Joel Fagliano

Theme: None

Total words: 70

Total blocks: 32

The empty grid sure does not look intimidating, does it? No forbidding stacks of long letter entries or grid spanners. Just a couple of 8s and 9s, then a bunch of 7s (total 24).

But it's a tough journey for me. The clues are very tricky, epitomized by TO BE (50A. Part of a stage question). "To be, or not to be". Devious!

I'd also like to highlight the "it/its" clues in this puzzle:

7A. You might be unprepared for it: POP QUIZ. Scrabbly. Letters H & X are unused in today's grid.

16A. It makes it easier for you to lose your balance: ATM CARD. Sly clue!

27A. Its capital is Doha: QATAR. Know it only because of Doha Conference.

46A. It may be thrown in: TOWEL. Throw in the towel.

51A. Old Navy is one of its brands: GAP. I like their jeans.

Do you enjoy those "it/its" or too many for your taste?

Across:

1. Comfort food snack for some, briefly: PB AND J. It's either "Comfort food" or "snack" for me. I've never used the full term "Comfort food snack".

14. Country with a mostly red, white and blue flag: SERBIA. OK, here's their flag. Why "mostly"? It seems the flag consists of those three colors only.

15. Receiving aid: ANTENNA

18. General plan: ROAD MAP

19. Time out?: NAP. The question mark did not prevent me from thinking of sports.

20. Einstein and Planck, e.g.: GERMANS. Not familiar with Max Planck, founder of quantum theory.

22. Unproven ability, for short: ESP

23. Brew choice: DRIP. Oh dear. I was thinking of beer. Don't drink coffee.

25. One of the Allmans: DUANE. Not familiar with his name either. He died at age 24 of a motorcycle accident.

26. Scruff: NAPE

29. LP filler?: MNO. Alphabet: L (MNO) P. Nailed it.

30. Colombian title: SENOR

31. Modus operandi: SYSTEM

33. Gettysburg general: PICKETT (George). Have vaguely heard of Pickett's Charge. Could only think of R.E. Lee.

35. Weighed: EVALUATED

37. "I intend to live __. So far, so good": Steven Wright: FOREVER. I guessed.

39. Forgetful, in a way: SENILE

43. Crow: VAUNT

44. Five-time Fiesta Bowl champs, for short: ASU (Arizona State University). The Sun Devils.

47. Digging, so to speak: INTO

48. Six-time U.S. Open winner: EVERT (Chris). Tennis. Sad to hear her marriage to Greg Norman ended so quickly.

52. Urges: PRESSES

54. Accident consequence: JAM. Did not leap to me quickly.

55. Salad bar option: ITALIAN. Dressing.

57. Trig inverse: ARC SINE. No idea. I was totally confused at my high school math class. Inverse of sine.

59. Driving need: LICENSE

60. Shade of pink: SALMON. I bet this was a gimme for ARBAON. She was just talking about
salmon and coral the other day.

61. Like aftershave: SCENTED

62. Wide of the mark: ERRANT. Shouldn't be "Wide off the mark"?

Down:

1. Things to mind: PS AND QS. Mind one's Ps and Qs.

2. Radioactive emission: BETA-RAY. New phrase to me.

3. Axillae: ARMPITS. This I knew.

4. "Heroes" home: NBC

5. Bishop's rte.: DIAG (Diagonal). Don't play chess.

6. "Chapter 27" star Leto: JARED. His mug looks familiar. Don't recall his name at all.

7. "Knowing all the facts," according to Woody Allen: PARANOIA. The quote clue feels incomplete to me. I'd prefer: "It's knowing all the facts, " according to Woody Allen.

8. Two __: hockey advantage: ON ONE. Hockey clue always stumps me.

9. Class-conscious orgs.?: PTAS. Got me again.

10. Logical letters: QED. Can't jam ERGO in.

11. Not intended: UNMEANT. Man, I checked. It's in the dictionary.

12. Up the creek: IN A SPOT

13. Remote: ZAPPER. Was unaware that zapper is slang for remote control.

17. Word with kettle or steel: DRUM

21. Handbag counterparts: MAN PURSES. Just like this?

24. Major college football's winningest coach: PATERNO (Joe). Penn State. Some blog comments about him a while ago.

26. Is unobliged to: NEED NOT

28. Protect from erosion, as a riverbank: REVET. First encounter with this word.

30. Shooting sport: SKEET

32. Amer. Airlines Center player: MAV. Dallas Mavericks.

34. Tender abbr.: CTS. I don't get this one. Cents? Tender here refers to "money"?

36. Unlike matzo: LEAVENED

37. Monomaniac: FANATIC

38. Beat: OUTPACE

40. Mount Suribachi's island: IWO JIMA. I peeked at the answer sheet.

41. Part of ancient Phoenicia, today: LEBANON. Gimme, JD?

42. Gold, e.g.: ELEMENT

43. Watches: VIGILS. I was looking at my own watch and could not come up with anything.

45. __ Minor: URSA. Penned in ASIA.

48. Remove: ERASE

49. Clipped: TERSE. Can you give me examples about how they are interchangeable?

52. Pub serving: PINT

53. __ tissue: SCAR

56. Football Hall of Famer Dawson: LEN

58. Point-and-shoot alternative, briefly: SLR (Single-Lens Reflex)

Answer grid.

Happy 45th Wedding Anniversary to Spitzboov! Have a great cruise to Bermuda!

C.C.