Friday July 16, 2010 Joon Pahk

Theme: ZZ Top - ZZ is inserted to familiar two-word phrases, changing mostly long vowel sounds into short vowel sounds.

17A. Amaze a racing legend? : DA(ZZ)LE EARNHARDT. The base phrase is Dale Earnhardt, the racing legend.

26A. Simple but exciting abode? : PIZZA(ZZ) HUT. Pizza Hut. Pizzazz is also spelled as pizazz. No long vowel to short vowel sound change in this one. What is the English word with the most Zs?

48A. Headgear delayed in shipment? : LATE FE(ZZ)ES. Late Fees. Did not know the plural for fez is fezzes. The only theme answer ZZ is added to the second word.

61A. Furniture design flop? : FI(ZZ)LING CABINET. Filing Cabinet.

Total 11 Zs. The record is 18. Low black square count too. Only 33.

Must be a bear to construct this puzzle. Hard to come up with common Z containing words to conveniently intersect those Zs in the theme answers, esp when Z is the second letter in a word. AZIZ (23D: Saddam Hussein adviser Tariq) the "Who?" dude just has to be there. No other good alternative. It's easier when the slot has a *ZE ending pattern, like 3D & 41D.

Additionally, the constructor tried to be original & tricky in his clues, hence quite a few unfamiliar references. Just a slog for me.

Puns are always subjective, don't you think? What tickles one might not work for another. Even good puns can be painful.

Across:

1. Place to get clean? : REHAB. Clean the bad addiction.

6. Dip : SWIM

10. Grade-schooler's reward : STAR

14. Roasted, on Mexican menus : ASADA. As in Carne Asada (roasted meat).

15. Animal in two constellations : URSA. Bear. Ursa Major & Ursa Minor (constellation).

16. "Hiya, José" : HOLA

20. Seek retribution, in a way : SUE

21. Prefix with meter : ALTI. Altimeter is an instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. New word to me.

22. Unchallenging courses : EASY AS. Learned Easy A courses from doing Xword.

23. "I ain't got no quarrel with the Viet Cong" speaker : ALI. Not aware of this quote.

24. A goner, in slang : TOAST

30. On the road : AWAY

34. When Macbeth kills Duncan : ACT II. Had ACT?? there forever.

35. Blender brand : OSTER. We also have T-FAL (53D. Maker of nonstick cookware). Two kitchen appliance brands.

37. Knock out, so to speak : AWE

38. Brainchild? : WHIZ KID. Was in the "idea" line of thinking.

40. Iris parts : AREOLAS. Was only familiar with the nipple ring definition.

42. Time Warner spin-off of 2009 : AOL. Did its stock price rise after the spin-off?

43. America's most wanted? : A LIST. Playing on the TV show "America's Most Wanted".

45. Yvette's "our" : NOTRE. As in Notre Dame.

46. "__ chic!" : TRES. Two French in a row.

50. Draw out : EDUCE

52. "Maa" ma : EWE. Nice clue.

53. Basic religious tenet : THEISM

56. Silents star Naldi : NITA. Can never remember this lady's name.

58. Four-song discs, briefly : EPS. EP = Extended Play. Got me.

64. Toward shelter : ALEE

65. Stooge chuckle : NYUK. Curly's chuckle: Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk.

66. Off one's trolley : LOOPY. "Off one's trolley" is a new idiom to me.

67. House member : LORD. House of Lord. British Parliament. Stumped.

68. Choosing word : EENY. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe". Mystery for me.

69. Newark's county : ESSEX. No idea. Only knew the Essex in England. Not NJ.

Down:

1. Angular measures: Abbr. : RADS. Radians. See this diagram.

2. Twin in the Torah : ESAU. Jacob's twin. Was picturing the animals in Noah's Ark.

3. Skyline obscurer : HAZE

4. Tool whose blade is at right angles to the shaft : ADZ. Know the word. But the clue stymied me.

5. Russian instrument with a triangular body : BALALAIKA. A complete stranger.

6. Bird feeder filler : SUET. Really? My neighbors use millet.

7. Ghostly figures : WRAITHS

8. Knesset's land: Abbr. : ISR. And EZER (55. Weizman of 8-Down), whose name escaped me again.

9. Femme fatale : MAN EATER. Another new slang to me.

10. View from Weed, California : SHASTA. Mount Shasta. I've never heard of Weed. It's 10 miles west-northwest of Mount Shasta.

11. Labourite's opponent : TORY. The British Conservative party. Labourite is a person who supports the Labour Party. Another new word to me.

12. Robert of Broadway's "Guys and Dolls" : ALDA. No idea. He's the father of Alan Alda.

13. "Phooey!" : RATS

18. Daughter of Henry VIII: Abbr. : ELIZ. OK, Elizabeth I, daughter of Anne Boleyn.

19. Is down with : HAS. I don't get this clue.

25. Defeated in an annual Nathan's contest : OUT ATE. Know the repulsive hot dog contest, not the venue.

26. Grab for roughly : PAW AT

27. Blood of the gods : ICHOR. Learned from doing Xword also.

28. Scrabble 10-pointer: Z TILE. Could be an alternative theme title, no?

29. 12-sign system : ZODIAC

31. Minute piece? : WALTZ. Chopin's "Minute Waltz".

32. Not ignorant : AWARE

33. Sycophants' replies : YESES

36. Like wind energy : RENEWABLE. Terrific answer.

39. Shed light on : ILLUMINE. Only know illuminate.

41. Slow mover : OOZE. And ICKY (57. Like 41-Down, perhaps).

44. Simply designed British firearm : STEN GUN. We seen STEN often.

47. Appropriated : SEIZED

49. Crumbly cheese : FETA

51. Broadband option: Abbr. : DSL

54. Big Island city : HILO (Hee-loh)

58. Chimp in the Mercury program : ENOS. I forgot.

59. Skunk Le Pew : PEPE. Pepe Le Pew.

60. Charon's river : STYX. The Hades river. Charon is the ferryman.

62. Emmy-winning scientist : NYE. Bill Nye the Science Guy.

63. Cyclades island : IOS. Another stumper. Homer is said to be buried on this island.

Answer grid.

Here is Part VI of Kazie's Oz series. Day 2 on their Kakadu tour. That resting place under the rock looks dangerous, doesn't it? Click here to see all the pictures from her Oz trip.

C.C.

Thursday July 15, 2010 Jerome Gunderson

Theme: Route Puns - Double word roadway terms (all in plural form) are humorously reinterpreted and clued as if they are "Routes to work" for a person of certain occupation.

17A. Routes to work for a bell ringer?: TOLL ROADS. Toll is the sound of a bell, or a price to pay.

32A. Routes to work for a water company engineer?: MAIN STREETS. Water main, the name of the principle street in many towns.

41A. Routes to work for a window treatment installer?: BLIND ALLEYS. Window blinds, and a road with only one way in or out.

59A. Routes to work for a diet guru?: FAST LANES. To abstain from eating, (usually) the innermost lane on a highway, freeway, or turnpike.

Other words in the puzzle loosely related to the theme:

16A. Mayflower employee: MOVER

62A. Unlucky fisherman's catch, in comics: TIRE.

63A. It's hard to run on it: EMPTY.

31D. Classic Jags: XKES.

Here we go, dissecting an offering from our own Jerome. I found this puzzle to be a bit easier than the past couple of Thursdays, no black marks for me from AcrossLite. Seemed like there were quite a few proper nouns, but a pretty good balance of perps that allowed enough room to guess at them.

I especially liked: 46D. Who's on it (FIRST), 60A. gadget on a pad (MOUSE), and 63A It's hard to run on it (EMPTY). There was a bit of crosswordese here and there, but sometimes those are all I have to get started. When that happens, I know I'm in trouble. Not today though.

Across:

1. Balkan native: SERB.

5. "Fernando" singers: ABBA. Their group name for their first commercial single was originally Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid (Frida). Why would you ever change that?

9. Obviously impressed: AGAPE.

14. Maker of Java Freeze: ICEE. 210 calories = 58 minutes of brisk walking.

15. No bull: TRUE. Apparently from old French boll, deception, trick, scheming, intrigue

19. "SNL" alum Cheri: OTERI.

20. Mourned poetically: ELEGIZED

21. Leave in the dust: OUTRUN. "Blow the doors off of" would have made this word theme related as well.

22. Do an usher's job: SEE IN.

23. New Ager with the album "Dare to Dream": YANNI.

25. View from la costa: AGUA. Depending on which coast, the view today would more likely be el petróleo instead of water.

28. Hood's heater: GAT. Old gangster movie slang for machine guns, from the original rapid fire weapon invented by Richard Gatling. Gat eventually came to mean any gun. Another term for a gun was an "eraser" as in 37A. Rubs out: OFFS. Shortened form of "kills off".

29. "Sour grapes" critter: FOX. Aesop's Fable.

36. Proceeding normally: AOK. Unrelated to this, but worth mentioning, Karaoke means "empty orchestra" in Japanese.

38. Peace personified: IRENE. Greek goddess.

39. Shipwright's tool: ADZE. Related to axe, hatchet

40. Response to "Speak!": ARF. Talking dogs.

43. Cracker Jack bonus: TOY.

44. Tyler of "Jersey Girl": LIV. A pic with her Dad Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. Sure, the resemblance is obvious...

45. Divided sea: ARAL.

46. Knocks for a loop: FAZES.

48. Like a milquetoast's spouse, often: BOSSY. Caspar Milquetoast, the timid soul, an old comic strip.

52. Wish for: DESIRE. I wish I had not done a google image search for desiree with the safe search option off. What has been seen cannot be unseen.

55. Payload's place: NOSECONE. Payload originally referred to the revenue producing portion of a conveyance. With a bomb attached to a rocket, that lends a whole new meaning to the term "money shot".

58. Ornament: ADORN. Used as a verb, not a fragile glass ball.

60. Gadget on a pad: MOUSE.

61. Bug and more: RILE.

64. Tons: A LOT.

65. Chows down: EATS.

Down:

1. Developer's offerings: SITES. Real estate.

2. Nice school?: ECOLE. French word for school. Nice is French city, pronounced like "niece".

3. J.E.B. Stuart's boss: R. E. LEE. Confederate generals, James Edward Brown (Stuart), Robert Edward Lee.

4. Antwerp natives: BELGIANS. Also Flemish, but that was a letter short.

5. The whole kit and caboodle: A TO Z.

6. Scottish hillside: BRAE. From old words for eye and eyebrow becoming the brow of a hill.

7. One to hang with: BUDDY.

8. 1950s political monogram: AES. Adlai Ewing Stevenson. Defeated twice for the Democratic bid for president by DDE, later because Ambassador to the UN.

9. Is equivalent (to): AMOUNTS. That don't amount to a brae 'o beans.

10. "The Teflon Don": GOTTI. Almost all attempts at getting a conviction didn't stick to him.

11. State firmly: AVER. Related words: verify and very. To make true or prove to be true.

12. Emperor Atahualpa's land: PERU. The last Incan emperor, died in 1533.

13. The Auld Sod: ERIN. The old land, Ireland.

18. Audi logo quartet: RINGS.

21. Painting the town red: ON A TEAR. A riotous spree.

24. Chairman's list: AGENDA.

26. Put into play: UTILIZE. I hate it when someone utilizes this word (see how silly that sounds?). It just sounds like the person is trying to impress you with his vocabulary instead of his (lack of) knowledge. Reminds me too much of corporate-speak, a faker's language used to make a lot of noise without actually saying anything at all. Just use "use".

27. Make it big: ARRIVE. After 30 years of practice you too can become an overnight sensation.

29. Lose vitality: FADE.

30. Like sap: OOZY.

32. Zoo barrier: MOAT.

33. Early Jesse Jackson do: AFRO. Hairdo.

34. Up in the air: IFFY.

35. Bard's nightfall: EEN.

39. Parcel out: ALLOCATE. To locate, to place.

41. Flattery: BLARNEY. Lady Blarny, the smooth-talking flatterer in Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield" (1766) preceded naming the Blarney Stone (1796).

42. Bar code's place: LABEL.

46. Who's on it: FIRST. The old Abbot and Costello routine. Who is the name of the man that is the first baseman.

47. Spiral-shelled creature: SNAIL.

49. Widow of Rajiv Gandhi: SONIA. Never even saw this clue, got it all through perps.

50. Hägar's dog: SNERT. Comic strip characters by Chris Browne.

51. Toadies' words: YESES. Originally, a toady traveled with a medicine man and literally ate a toad (which was thought to be poisonous) to enable his master to "cure" him and sell to all the easy marks. Not so different from ads on TV today.

52. Title for Kiri Te Kanawa: DAME. Operatic soprano.

53. Nation of Esau: EDOM. Esau was the brother of Jacob, the founder of Israel. Talk about sibling rivalry.

54. First course, sometimes: SOUP.

56. City founded by King Harald III: OSLO. Burned to the ground, then was rebuilt and renamed Christiana. Later it was renamed back to Oslo again.

57. Proofer's mark: STET. Let it stand, change the change back to the original text.

59. Monk's title: FRA. Friar. Probably derived from the French word frère ("brother" in English). According to Wiki, friars and monks aren't quite the same. A Monk is devoted to and lives within a single community away from the rest of the world, and a Friar has a wider range, spending time in each of several different provinces, but doing similar work.

Answer grid.

Here are some great pictures Gunghy took from his recent bike trip to Texas via California, Arizona & New Mexico. He finished 13 miles short of 4000 in 11 days in his Yamaha Raider. He's racing for High Sierra Regatta today. Good luck, Gunghy! Kazie's Oz Series will continue tomorrow.

Al