Saturday July 24, 2010 Mark Diehl

Theme: None

Total words: 66

Total blocks: 36

Average Word length: 5.73

The total block count is relatively high compared with its word count, but 12 are help squares in each corner, consuming 1/3 of them.

The puzzle is framed by a 11/13/15 on top and a 15/13/11 at the bottom. All of them are multi-word entries:

1A. Co-star of TV's "Chuck" : ADAM BALDWIN. Cross-referenced with MY BODYGUARD (56A. 1980 film debut for 1-Across). Have never heard of this dude. Looks cool. I liked how the cross-referenced pair bookends the grid.

12A. One might raise the roof : CRANE OPERATOR. Was thinking of something temper related.

14A. Situations that aren't clear-cut : BORDERLINE CASES. My favorite entry today. This might be the seed entry.

52A. 1983 ELO hit with the lyric "She loves that drivin' beat" : ROCK 'N' ROLL IS KING. Blind spot for me.

55A. They may be spotted at pet stores : CALICO KITTENS. Not a pet person. So, yeah, another blank stare.

Very difficult solving for me. Unable to sync with the constructor. I seldom do on Saturday, regardless of who constructs the puzzle. The clues are just too tricky & ambiguous.

Across:

16. State with a five-sided flag : OHIO. Unknown trivia to me. Boy, that's strange looking, isn't it?

17. Raccoon kin : COATI. With long & ringed tail.

18. Multipurpose lyrics : LA LA. Because they are often refrained, Santa?

19. Story : LEVEL. Was in the tale "Story" direction.

21. Cat lead-in : SNO. Snowcat.

22. Plush, in a way : PILED. As velvet.

23. Top quality : GRADE A

25. Oregon Trail river : PLATTE. A gimme for our Oregon gang.

26. It's often smoked in Sweden : EEL. I thought it's pickled there.

27. Kind of well : ARTESIAN. Named after the French region Artois. It's "a well that is dug into the ground to the water table and is under pressure and will spray out of the well head like a oil geyser". Who knows?!

31. Some rtes. : RDS

32. Luminescent critter : FIREFLY. Awesome fill. With two Fs.

33. Org. that infiltrated Germany in the '40s : OSS. I am used to the "CIA forerunner" clue.

36. Exude an air of disinterest : BLOW COLD. Also a new phrase to me. Crossing BRISKLY (36D. How a cool wind blows). Blow duplication.

37. Balderdash : PAP. Only familiar with the baby food definition.

38. For only a select few : SECRET

41. Very much : SORELY. For those who have been missing Clear Ayes,, she has a photo for us today.

43. Aquiline nose, e.g. : TRAIT

44. Area between N. and S. Korea : DMZ

47. Capital east of Dhaka : HANOI. Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh. My brain nerve for directions is damaged. So, no idea, Sir!

48. Goes on to say : ADDS

49. One of the fire signs : ARIES

51. "Let's go!" : C'MON

Down:

1. Airport board heading : ARRIVALS

2. Grooved, in carpentry : DADOED. Here is a dado joint. Did not know it can be a verb, Jerome!

3. Hydrocarbon suffix : ANE. Learned from doing Xword.

4. Hired gun, briefly : MERC (Mercenary)

5. Official ties of New Mexico : BOLOS. Neckties!

6. Like bees : APIAN

7. Tempo marking : LENTO. "Slowly".

8. Bavarian trio : DREI. Three in German. A gimme for Kazie/Spitzboov.

9. Mil. branch from 1943 to 1978 : WAC. Women Army Corps. Stumper.

10. Restaurant guide category : ITALIAN

11. Margarita option : NO SALT. Hmm, that would not be margarita.

12. Stuck : COHERED. Tricky clue.

13. Got a new tenant for : RELET

14. Tony-winning star of "Where's Charley?" (1948) : BOLGER (Ray). Only know him as the scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz".

15. 1986 Best New Artist Grammy winner : SADE. Had the S in place, so SADE came to me immediately. Love her.

20. Certain handout : LEAFLET

22. Toy in resealable cans : PLAY-DOH. Nice clue/answer.

24. "__ is the language of the unheard": M.L. King Jr. : A RIOT. Have never heard of this quote before. What does it mean? Sounds violent to me.

25. Dispensary stock : PILLS

28. Credit checker Experian, formerly : TRW. No idea.

29. Continental trade org. : EEC (European Economic Community)

30. Virgin America hub: Abbr. : SFO. Peeked at the answer sheet.

33. Negotiating asset : OPEN MIND. Another great entry.

34. Watering holes : SALOONS. Watering hole = bar/saloon.

35. Bond activity? : SPYING. James Bond.

38. Macy's logo : STAR

39. Triage MD : ER DOC. Had ERD?? forever.

40. High-tech engineering acronym : CAD/CAM. Computer-Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing. Got me.

42. Eightball loser, often : RACKER. Don't know any pool terms.

44. Title name in an unfinished Dickens work : DROOD. Dickens's "The Mystery of Edwin Drood".

45. Whitish : MILKY

46. Chameleon-like Woody Allen character : ZELIG. Woody Allen's mockumentary (1983). We had this clue before.

49. String music direction : ARCO. With the bow. I can never remember this term.

50. In __: as found : SITU

53. Tip of a pen : NIB. Neb too, right?

54. RR depot : STA

Answer grid.

Here is a sweet photo of our beloved Clear Ayes & her granddaughter Rachael. she said the picture "was taken on Easter Eve 2010 when my granddaughter and I were making a huge mess dying Easter eggs. They weren't exactly works of art, but we had a great time making them and every one was colored with splashes of laughter". She'll be back with us once her family issue is resolved.

C.C.

Friday July 23, 2010 Donna S. Levin

Theme: Hat Pun - The first word of each two-word familiar phrase is replaced by a type of hat, and the resulting phrase is humorously clued.

20A. Opportunity to examine some headwear? : CLOCHE ENCOUNTER. The base phrase is "close encounter". Cloche hat is bell-shaped & close-fitting, worn by those flappers in 1920s. Last consonant sound change.

33A. Call-in broadcasting for chefs? : TOQUE RADIO. Talk radio. Chefs wear toque. Vowel & last consonant changes.

40A. Northerners who dress with Scottish flair? : TAM YANKEES. "Damn Yankees" the musical. First consonant change.

47A. Hats that are soft and angular? : BOWLER OPPOSITES. Polar opposites. First consonant change also.

Minor inconsistencies. Tough to come up a focused set of theme entries with consistent sound change.

Still a fun theme theme. Wish clues were more consistent though: the first & last theme clues have a direct reference to hat, not the middle two.

Other than one Q, no other expensive letters (J/V/X/Z) today. And plenty of 4-letter words (total 36) in the grid, which always makes the puzzle accessible, to me any way. FYI, the average word length in this puzzle is under 4.97, shorter than our average Fridays.

Across:

1. Stage routines : ACTS. Rare to gain an immediate toehold on Fridays.

5. Full of spunk : SASSY

10. Shenanigan pullers : IMPS

14. Multilayer farm site? : COOP. Hens lays eggs again and again, hence "multilayer"?

15. Twaddle : TRIPE. Twaddle suggests silly talk. Tripe is just rubbish. No equation to my ears.

16. "Ta ta!" : CIAO

17. It's entered and processed : DATA

18. Needle bearers : PINES. Pine needles.

19. Pachacuti, for one : INCA. Have never heard of Pachacuti (literally meant "earth-shaker"), Inca Empire builder.

23. Grub : EATS

24. Recycled T-shirt? : RAG. Not the cryptic signal "recycle".

25. Carol beginning : ADESTE. "Adeste Fideles".

28. Proactiv target : ACNE

30. One of a cup's 48: Abbr. : TSP (Teaspoon). I bet Jazzbumpa saw "... A Cup's...". He's been concerned about the deflation effect on bra size in crossword.

35. Pampas weapon : BOLA

36. "Seinfeld" actress Julia __-Dreyfus : LOUIS. Elaine Benes.

37. Posed : SAT

38. Idol whose fans are known as Claymates : AIKEN

39. Gray area?: Abbr. : ANAT. Gray's Anatomy.

42. Condiment for pommes frites : SEL. French for "salt".

43. Livens (up) : PEPS

44. Delicate : DAINTY

45. Mendicant title : FRA

46. God attended by Valkyries : ODIN. We just had AESIR yesterday.

55. Plant used for first aid : ALOE

56. More than 70% of Earth's surface : OCEAN

57. Stretched just short of the breaking point : TAUT

58. Tidings : NEWS

59. Sudden movement : START. Thought of JERK.

60. Gumbo ingredient : OKRA

61. "Gee willikers!" : GOSH

62. Keep an __ the ground : EAR TO

63. McJob performer : PEON. Did you think of TEMP also?

Down:

1. Versatile, electronically : AC/DC. Didn't emerge easily.

2. Historic Newcastle resource : COAL. Don't know where Newcastle is. Not familiar with the idiom "selling coal to Newcastle" either, a foolhardy or pointless action, a la Wikipedia.

3. Miss Gulch's bête-noire, somewhat literally : TOTO. " The Wizard of Oz" dog, which appears in many of Donna's puzzles.

4. Garb for Apollo : SPACE SUIT. Pictured the Greek god Apollo, not that I know what garb he's wearing.

5. Religious guardian : ST. PETER. For heaven. No abbr. hint in the clue.

6. Astrological ovine : ARIES. Ram sign.

7. __ Fein : SINN

8. Blueprint item, briefly : SPEC

9. "Just give me an answer already!" : YES OR NO. Nice answer/clue.

10. Hockey infraction : ICING. No idea. Don't follow hockey.

11. After-dinner item : MINT

12. Step : PACE

13. Look down on the clouds, perhaps : SOAR. Dudley our pilot guy would love this clue.

21. Can't take : HATES

22. Seven sheikdoms fed. : UAE (United Arab Emirates)

25. Rand's shrugger : ATLAS. "Atlas Shrugged".

26. Shortbread cookie surname : DOONE. Got me. Have never had "Lorna Doone".

27. Peer : EQUAL

28. Apple or ale lead-in : ADAMS. Adam's ale = water.

29. Pierre, e.g. : CITY. I've got to think of South Dakota next time Pierre comes up.

30. Perfunctory : TOKEN

31. Wintry woe : SLEET

32. Flower name derived from the French for "thought" : PANSY. New trivia to me. Pencer is French verb for "to think". Sounds similar. (Correction: It's penser. Thanks, Kazie!)

34. PDQ cousin : ASAP

35. Halter, perhaps : BIKINI TOP. In a way, yes.

38. "Henry & June" role : ANAIS. Stumper. Returned my Netflix on this movie. Could not warm myself to it.

40. Lady Hillingdon is a cultivar of one : TEA ROSE. Yellow and has a tea fragrance. See here.

41. Enlarge, as a house : ADD ONTO

43. Ante- equivalent : PRE

45. Meat : FLESH

46. Victor Vasarely's genre : OP-ART. Victor Vasarely was a Hungarian French artist whose work is generally seen aligned with Op-Art, says Wiki. Total stranger to me.

47. Explosion : BANG

48. It's found in tubs : OLEO. Not bathtub.

49. Awes : WOWS

50. Tetra- times two : OCTA. Prefix for "eight". Tetra, "four".

51. Fruit with a "check the neck" ripeness test : PEAR

52. Steal : TAKE

53. Slovenia capital : EURO. "Capital" always refers to "currency" in late week puzzles.

54. Ollie's sidekick : STAN

Answer grid.

In the next few Fridays, I am going to show a recent photo of our regular blogging contributors. We start today with Darling Santa Argyle. He said: "My cousin took a picture of me saying a prayer before his son attacks my hair and beard. I'm not gonna showing the "after" picture." Argyle's nicknames: Scott, Scotty, Cid/Sid, Skid, Skidney, El Cid and "Hey, you".

C.C.