Monday, July 12, 2010 John Lampkin

Theme: Joyous Monday - The first word of each two-word (all ten letters) theme answers are what you might be after solving this puzzle. Additionally, each "joyous" synonym contains 2- syllables, with second containing a long E sound.

17A. "Have a nice day" emoticon : SMILEY FACE. If any one has been lucky enough to have missed seeing the ubiquitous smiley face, your luck ends here.

60A. Blackbeard's flag : JOLLY ROGER. The Skull & Bones.

11D. Shakespeare's women of Windsor : MERRY WIVES. "The Merry Wives of Windsor" is a comedy and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life.

28D. Bar discount times : HAPPY HOURS. Typically, it is in the late afternoon and lasts longer than a single hour. Bars that are near mills with a third shift often have a morning happy hour.

Argyle here. Not much to say. Happy Hour is a euphemistic term and usually isn't all that joyous of a time.

Across:

1. Salty drop : TEAR

5. Game for little sluggers : T-BALL

10. Gathering clouds, to some : OMEN

14. "In that range" : OR SO

15. Elephant gone amok : ROGUE

16. Nevada gambling haven : RENO

19. Ear-to-ear expression : GRIN. Like a smiley face.

20. Not as risky : SAFER

21. Archaic "For shame!" : FIE. It's a general sound of disgust that seems to have developed independently in most languages. Online Etymology Dictionary. "Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard?" Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth.

22. Avant-__ : GARDE. French. Literally "advance guard" in a military sense; borrowed as an artistic term for "pioneers or innovators of a particular period." The advance group in any field.

23. Perry with a phenomenal success rate : MASON. Erle Stanley Gardner's fictional lawyer and crime-solver.

25. Like Tim Cratchit : TINY. The fictional character in the classic story "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.

26. Kelly, to Regis : CO-HOST

29. Feature of a bad air day : SMOG

31. Needing a diaper change : WET

34. Dump truck filler : LOADER. Clip. If you wonder what he is doing, the operator of the loader is trying to flip the material to the far side of the dump box.

35. Pull, as a water-skier : TOW

36. Home with hexagonal cells : HIVE (Bee hive.)

37. Andersen character with "new clothes" : EMPEROR. "The Emperor's New Clothes" is a short tale by Hans Christian Andersen about two conniving weavers who promise an Emperor a new suit of clothes invisible to those unfit for their positions or incompetent. No one wants to admit that they can't see the clothes(including the Emperor) but when the Emperor parades before his subjects in his new clothes, a child cries out, "But he isn't wearing anything at all!"

39. Lifelong residents : NATIVES

41. Washer or dryer: Abbr. : APPL. (appliance)

42. Frat party buy : KEG

44. Hamster or gerbil : RODENT

45. Commandment word : THY

46. Promo recording : DEMO

47. Like a top hat and tails : DRESSY

48. Sibilant boo : HISS

50. Like Satchmo's voice : RASPY. I had forgotten about this gem. Hee, he..., I mean "Ho, Ho, Ho!"

52. Leading edge of a weather system : FRONT

54. Tupperware topper : LID

55. "Gone With the Wind" family name : O'HARA

59. Gomez Addams portrayer __ Julia : RAUL. From TV's "The Addams Family". Update: Per L-714, it was John Astin on TV and Raul Julia in the movies.

62. Fairy tale villain : OGRE

63. Kukla's puppet pal : OLLIE. "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" was an early American television show using puppets and Fran was Fran Allison.

64. Period before Easter : LENT

65. Wind increase : GUST

66. Spills the beans : BLABS

67. Swirling current : EDDY

Down:

1. Pregame coin flip : TOSS

2. Witty Bombeck : ERMA

3. "__ I care!" : AS IF

4. One to look up to : ROLE MODEL

5. Take a stab at : TRY

6. Huge, at the box office : BOFFO

7. Opposed to : AGAINST

8. Time co-founder Henry : LUCE. Henry Robinson Luce (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967)

9. Spike or Ang : LEE. Spike Lee, African-American movie director, or Ang Lee, Oscar winning Chinese film director.

10. Broadway Phantom's instrument : ORGAN. Erik, The Phantom of the Opera.

12. Geraint's lady : ENID. Geraint is a character from Welsh folklore and Arthurian legend, Enid and Geraint.

13. Poor dog's portion, in rhyme : NONE. From Mother Goose.

18. Solver's "undo" implement : ERASER

22. Date for a jazz cat : GIG

24. The 4 in "par 4" : STROKES. (golf)

25. Facing : TOWARDS

26. Golf shoe gripper : CLEAT. Argued before it should be SPIKE. (but we had SPIKE Lee)

27. Get-up-and-go : OOMPH

30. "__ Dieu!" : MON. French

32. Levels off : EVENS

33. Easily irritated : TESTY

36. Secret place : HIDEY HOLE. Where they found Saddam. Image.

38. Dream letters : REM. (rapid eye movement, when a person is dreaming.)

40. Extreme sluggishness : TORPOR

43. Greatest of the great apes : GORILLA

46. "Spring ahead" abbr. : DST. (daylight saving time)

49. Shoreline nook : INLET

51. Wing it on stage : AD LIB

52. Croaking critter : FROG

53. Pasta sauce brand : RAGU

54. Act like a couch potato : LOLL

56. Matured, as cheese : AGED

57. Rip apart : REND

58. Superficially cultured : ARTY

60. To-do list item : JOB

61. "I'd be delighted!" : YES

Answer grid.

Here are two fun pictures with funny captions from today's constructor John Lampkin. Click each one for enlargement.

Happy 80th Birthday to our blog grammar teacher Sallie!

Argyle

Sunday July 11, 2010 Pamela Amick Klawitter

Theme: Geek Squad - TECH is embedded and spans each two-word theme answer.

23A. Welsh pop singing sensation : CHARLOTTE CHURCH. Beautiful voice.

37A. Cookie tidbit : CHOCOLATE CHIP

60A. "The Awakening" author (1899) : KATE CHOPIN. No idea. But I know she's not well known when the construcotr has to put 1899 in the bracket.

85A. Knifehand strike : KARATE CHOP

101A. Environmentalist's concern : CLIMATE CHANGE

123A. 1971 counter-culture film revue hosted by Richard Pryor : DYNAMITE CHICKEN. Not in my radar.

15D. Holiday song that begins "The sun is shining, the grass is green" : WHITE CHRISTMAS

53D. Legislative meeting area : SENATE CHAMBERS

120D. Support worker hiding in the eight longest puzzle answers : TECH

Geek Squad is a subsidiary of Best Buy, which is based here in Minnesota. Had to get their TECH help last time when my computer was sick.

Simple & elegant theme. Sunday puzzles tend to have lots of Fill-in-the-Blank clues/entries (8 in today's case), which can ease up the solving considerably. Lots of 4-letter word too, 54 in this grid.

Alliterative clues aplenty. And of course, I am fond of all the "it" clues:

11D. It might be wild : CARD. Wild card.

106D. It's a plus : ASSET

124D. Make it happen : ACT

Across:

1. Addition, e.g. : MATH

5. Five-sided home? : PLATE. Home plate. Baseball. Quite a few question marked clues in the puzzle, though all the theme clues are straightforward.

10. Sandy color : ECRU

14. __ pants : SWEAT

19. Princess Fiona, e.g. : OGRE. The princess From "Shrek".

20. Ben-Hur portrayer Novarro (1925) : RAMON. "Latin lover" in silent movies, a la Wikipedia. Stranger to me.

21. Place for a speaker : DAIS

22. Letter after eta : THETA

26. Like some carpets : PILED

27. Capital near the Gulf of Tonkin : HANOI. And NAM (33. 27-Across site, briefly). Can picture pain in Dennis' face.

28. Davis who voiced Yar in "Dinosaur" : OSSIE

29. Datsun starter? : DEE. The starting letter of Datsun. Awesome clue.

30. Cruising : AT SEA

31. Gives, as homework : ASSIGNS

35. Matter of interest? : RATE

42. Place to pick up chicks : COOP. Ha ha, not bars.

46. Price limit : CAP

49. Pageant prop : TIARA

50. If-__: conditional statements : THENS

51. Stock market stat : HIGH. And UPS (115A. Stock market stats).

52. Off the mark : AMISS

54. 1860s Jefferson contemporary : ABRAHAM. Jefferson Davis. Abe Lincoln.

57. ERA component : EARNED. And ERAS (70. Times to remember). Different meanings. OK to have ERA duplication.

59. Function : ROLE

63. Gives a thumbs-up : LIKES

64. Curling tool : IRON

65. Liam Neeson's land : IRELAND. "Liam Neeson's country" would have avoided Land repetition.

66. Downs a sub? : EATS. Sandwich.

68. __ blocker : BETA

69. Leader leader? : LOSS. Leader of the term "Loss Leader". Got me.

72. Clay pigeon hurler : TRAP

76. Powder mineral : TALC

78. Choir production : CANTATA

81. 1974 Lucille Ball role : MAME

82. Yacht spots : COVES. Hopefully our yacht boy Gunghy will be back next week.

88. Some 75-Down : ANTS. And PESTS (75. Exterminator's targets).

89. Cochise, for one : APACHE. Have never heard of the tribe chief Cochise.

91. Ice cream soda ingredient : SELTZER

92. Broad-ended cravat : ASCOT

93. Sensitive area : RASH

94. Pertaining to birth : NATAL

96. Strike lightly : TAP ON

99. Sounds from Santa : HOS. Is Santa bald?

100. Entreaty : PLEA

105. Teen hangout : MALL

107. Poivre companion : SEL. Salt in French. Poivre = Pepper.

108. Picked on : NEEDLED

112. Parts of a butcher's inventory : SLABS

118. "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" singer : EVITA

121. "South Park" mom : LIANE. No idea.

122. "Charles in Charge" co-star Willie : AAMES. Nope. First encounter with this fellow.

126. Link in a chain? : STORE. Beautiful clue.

127. __ the Red : ERIC

128. Rolling in francs : RICHE. French for "rich" I presume.

129. Actress Polo : TERI

130. Bank caper : HEIST

131. Michaelmas mo. : SEPT. Paolo or someone else mentioned Michaelmas Day on the blog a while ago.

132. Workout consequences : ACHES

133. Signs of success, for short : SROS. SRO = Standing Room Only.

Down:

1. Starbucks choice : MOCHA

2. Turkish chiefs : AGHAS. Also spelled as Aga.

3. Former prefix? : TRANS. Transformer.

4. Medal-worthy : HEROIC

5. Woods or Els : PRO. Golf pro.

6. Play on which a Puccini opera was based : LA TOSCA. I peeked at the answer sheet. We also have AMORE (47. Puccini's love). Italian for "love". Puccini echos.

7. Small quantities? : AMTS. OK, I guess "Small"= "Abbreviated".

8. Hose fillers : TOES

9. Spanish name for the holm oak : ENCINA. Just learned this trivia a couple of months ago.

10. Univ. URL ending : EDU

12. Sushi staple : RICE

13. Herald, as a new era : USHER IN

14. Mar. parade honoree : ST. PAT

16. Slippery swimmers : EELS

17. Precisely, with "to" : A TEE

18. "There!" : TA-DA

24. Wrigley Field's lack until 1988 : LIGHTS. Unknown fact to me.

25. It can drive people to the mountains : HEAT. No mountain here.

32. "There's __ in 'team'" : NO I

34. Madness may involve one : METHOD. Idiom: There's a method to one's madness. Learning moment for me.

36. Cathedral section : APSE

38. Spouts off : ORATES

39. Stickers : LABELS

40. Mate : CHAP

41. Spherical opening? : HEMI. Opening to the word hemispherical.

43. Porker's plaint : OINK

44. Arced molding : OGEE

45. Ones who get a third degree : PHDS

46. Antilles native : CARIB

48. Tube test? : PILOT. TV tube.

55. HDTV brand : RCA

56. Philip __, Asian-American actor known for war movie roles : AHN. Ang in Chinese, as in Ang Lee.

58. Flying level: Abbr. : ALT (Altitude)

60. Veto : KILL

61. Hard as __ : A ROCK

62. "Awesome!" : NEATO

67. Quickly, in memos : ASAP

70. "Blah, blah, blah," briefly : ETC ETC

71. Enthusiastic : RAH RAH

73. Dressing choice : RANCH

74. Sandbox retort : AM TOO

77. Eyjafjallajökull output : ASH. Spitzboov has been waiting for the volcano to appear.

78. Coloratura legend : CALLAS (Maria). Coloratura is a new word to me. It's "runs, trills and other florid decorations in vocal music".

79. Bar passer: Abbr. : ATT (Attorney)

80. Pince-__ : NEZ

82. Moan and groan : CARP. Nice rhyme.

83. Down Under gem : OPAL. Australia looks beautiful through Kazie's eyes.

84. Flower holder : VASE

86. Piedmont wine area : ASTI. And ANGELI (92. Gabriel et al.). Italian for "angels" I gather.

87. Paper purchase : REAM

90. SASE, for one : ENCL

95. Refers casually (to) : ALLUDES

97. Dash : PANACHE

98. Washington is on it : ONE

102. Overflow : TEEM

103. "Movie Macabre" host : ELVIRA. Can never remember her name.

104. Orders from on high : EDICTS

109. California cager : LAKER. Bill's homeboys.

110. January, to Jorge : ENERO. Lots of alliterations in the clue.

111. Patron saint of France : DENIS. Oh, good to know.

112. Obi, e.g. : SASH

113. Past curfew : LATE

114. Madame's mine : A MOI. French for "mine".

116. Rite heap : PYRE

117. Salon sound : SNIP

119. Meteor ending : ITIC. Meteoritic.

125. Bucks and rams : HES

Answer grid.
Congratulations to our LAT constructor Fred Jackson for his first Sunday (Newsday) construction!

Here is Part III of Kazie's Oz pictures. Very scenic.
C.C.