Tuesday August 3, 2010 Gary J. Whitehead

Theme: Track Bets - The start of the first word of each two-word familiar phrase is a bet on horse race finish, in win, place & show order.

20A. Cellarmaster's vessel : WINE DECANTER. Win. Finish first. Can you think of any other "win" containing phrase?

36A. Response to sugar pills, perhaps : PLACEBO EFFECT. Place. Finish second. My favorite theme entry.

53A. It might have a massage setting : SHOWER NOZZLE. Show. Finish third. Scrabbly entry. Letters JQ are missing in this grid.

64. With 65-Across, what the starts of 20-, 36- and 53-Across are : TRACK

65. See 64-Across : BETS

Tight theme. Each bet word is contained in the first word of its mother phrase. The unifier TRACK BETS is placed at the bottom edge. Clear enough for solvers to identify.

Ideally the split unifying words should be placed symmetrically, but TRACK and BETS do not have identical number of letters.

Lovely long Downs (a pair of 8s and 9s) to cross all the Across theme answers. Quite a few multi-word none-theme entries too.

Across:

1. Seize : GRAB

5. Wife of Jacob : LEAH. Rachel's sister, and the real name of our Chickie (in powder blue).

9. Center of Florida? : EPCOT. Epcot Center. I knew it's not Shaq. Thought it's playing on letter R in the very middle of Florida.

14. Move to a new city, briefly : RELO

15. Down-home music venue, familiarly : OPRY. The Grand Ole Opry.

16. Dutch cheese : GOUDA. Edam too.

17. "The Good Earth" heroine : OLAN. "The Good Earth" is the best book I've read about pre-1949 China.

18. Nasty habit : VICE

19. 20 Mule Team cleanser : BORAX

23. Small-screen heartthrob : TV IDOL

24. American or Continental : AIRLINE. Were you thinking of breakfast?

28. Cock and bull : HES. This kind of clue used to trick me.

29. Wedding symbol : RING. No wedding ring for me.

32. In the warehouse : STORED

33. Like many wallets : BIFOLD

35. Farm females : SOWS. I really liked the pigtail clue last time.

40. Wiener schnitzel meat : VEAL

41. __-faire: tact : SAVOIR. Literally "knows what to do".

42. Wan : PALLID

45. Inflection : TONE. Mandarin has four tones. Cantonese nine. Crazy.

46. Ukr. neighbor : RUS

49. Finished, as a deck : STAINED. Unexpected clue for me.

51. Imagined : DREAMT. The only English word that ends in mt, Linda said.

56. Expand, as a collection : ADD TO. Sure need some autographed baseball cards to add to my collection.

59. Author Wiesel : ELIE

60. Colorful horse : ROAN

61. Lose one's cool : PANIC

62. Those, in Tijuana : ESOS

63. Mired, after "in" : A RUT

66. Past fast fliers: Abbr. : SSTS

Down:

1. Investor's concern : GROWTH. Nice cluster of consonants.

2. Go through again : RELIVE

3. "Hand in My Pocket" singer Morissette : ALANIS. She dated Ryan Reynolds for a few years.

4. Like a fillet : BONED

5. Cosmo topic : LOVE LIFE. Cosmo magazine.

6. Grand in scope : EPIC

7. Medieval Spanish chest : ARCA. Is it Spanish for "ark"?

8. Shenzi or Banzai in "The Lion King" : HYENA.Easy guess.

9. __ Sousé, W.C. Fields's "The Bank Dick" role : EGBERT. No idea. Dictionary says the name is from old English, meaning "bright sword".

10. Bad sport : POOR LOSER. And GLOAT (31. Be a bad sport). Clue echo.

11. Mangy mutt : CUR. Alliteration.

12. Harem room : ODA. "Room" in Turkish.

13. Penultimate line on most bills : TAX. Phone/gas bill. The last item before the Total.

21. Greek architectural order : DORIC

22. "My country __ of thee ..." : 'TIS

25. __-Z: classic Camaro : IROC. Just remember it as I Rock

26. Ex-Speaker Gingrich : NEWT

27. Mag masthead names : EDS

30. Wealthy Londoners : NOBS. New meaning to me.

33. Irrational way to go : BALLISTIC. Go ballistic.

34. "Whip It" band : DEVO. Just learned that Devo comes from de-evolution (backward evolution).

36. Bog fuel : PEAT

37. Singer's syllables : LA LA

38. Affection : FONDNESS

39. '80s Pontiac : FIERO. It means "proud" in Italian and "wild", "fierce" or "ferocious" in Spanish, a la Wikipedia.

40. Biden and Bush: Abbr. : VPS

43. At the pawn shop : IN HOCK

44. "Gloria in Excelsis __" : DEO. Latin for "Glory to God in the highest".

46. Five o'clock shadow removers : RAZORS

47. German diacritical : UMLAUT. German men are hard to understand (and date).

48. Surgical blockage relievers : STENTS

50. Nerd : DWEEB

52. Poet Pound et al. : EZRAS

54. Apart from this : ELSE

55. Urban uprising : RIOT

56. Liable : APT

57. __ es Salaam : DAR. Largest city in Tanzania. Arabic for "house of Peace". I can never remember the name.

58. Genetic letters : DNA

Answer grid.

Here are the last pictures from Gunghy's bike trip. Thanks for the awesome pictures and wonderful captions, Punk! I bet you solved at least one crossword along the road, no?

C.C.

Monday August 2, 2010 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: OL' MAN RIVER (57. "Show Boat" classic, and where to find the ends of 17-, 26- and 44-Across) - The ends of first three theme entries are parts of a river.

17A. Soft mattress topper : FEATHER BED

26A. Edison's electrical preference : DIRECT CURRENT

44A. Government-owned financial institutions : NATIONAL BANKS

I am not familiar with the song. The Ol' Man River does refer to the mighty Mississippi, correct?

Actually, a 5-letter RIVER will work as a unifier too. But OL' MAN RIVER provides a more sparkling choice, in addition to its 10-letter symmetry to FEATHER BED.

Quite a scrabbly 74 worder. Only letter J is missing. Total 18 entries are of medium 6/7-letter length. A nice mix. Also a few clue echos.

C.C. here. Argyle's sister is visiting. He'll be back next Monday.

Across:

1. Money in Mumbai : RUPEE. Alliteration.

6. Lose effectiveness, as painkillers, with "off" : WEAR. And WEAKENS (10D. Loses strength).

10. Wild or Old region : WEST

14. Pole vault, e.g. : EVENT

15. Palindromic pop group : ABBA. And 'N SYNC (33. "No Strings Attached" pop group). Pop group echo.

16. Big fair : EXPO

19. Eagerly excited : AGOG

20. Monterey County seat that's the birthplace of John Steinbeck : SALINAS. I forgot. We had this clue before.

21. '50s-'60s USSR leader Khrushchev : NIKITA. Cold War is so far away.

23. Grafton's "__ for Corpse" : C IS

24. Set aside for later : STORE. TABLE also has 5 letters.

31. Bills with George on them : ONES. I'd prefer "Bills with Washington on them". Also ABE (8D. Prez on a penny).

32. Roman moon goddess : LUNA

36. NBA position : CTR (Center)

37. Grazing land : PASTURE. And LEA (58D. Grazing land).

39. Small taste : SIP

40. Composer of marches : SOUSA. He died in the month of March also.

42. Like most pets : TAME

43. Fashion's Chanel : COCO

47. Super Bowl XXI MVP Phil : SIMMS. Wikipedia says he's known for inaugurating the phrase "I'm going to Disney World!".

48. Big mouth, in slang : YAP

49. Diocese leader : BISHOP

52. Abandon : FORSAKE

56. Workplace protection org. : OSHA

60. Scold severely : FLAY

61. Croat's neighbor : SERB. I've never understood the Balkan War. Is it about religious conflict?

62. Online read : EZINE

63. Online help pages, briefly : FAQS. Frequently Asked Questions.

64. City transport : TAXI

65. Real bargains : DEALS

Down:

1. NFL arbiters : REFS

2. Eye layer containing the iris : UVEA. Latin for "grape".

3. Ring loudly : PEAL

4. Draws in : ENTICES

5. Cultural, as cuisine : ETHNIC. I miss authentic Thai food & my experiences.

6. Major conflicts : WARS

7. Flow away, as a tide : EBB

9. Philadelphia suburb : RADNOR. What is it famous for?

11. Former soldier : EX GI

12. Dick and Jane's dog : SPOT. Obtained the answer via crossers.

13. Forum garb : TOGA

18. "Born in __": Cheech Marin film : EAST LA

22. Good-night girl of song : IRENE. Have never heard of the song "Goodnight, Irene".

24. Beach bronzings : SUN TANS

25. Psychological shock : TRAUMA

26. Medicos : DOCS

27. Division word : INTO

28. Show over : RERUN

29. Standard practice : CUSTOM

30. Boxing's "Iron Mike" : TYSON. I remember the ear-biting incident.

34. Shaver's mishap : NICK

35. USN noncoms : CPOS (Chief Petty Officers)

37. Barbecue site : PATIO

38. Trust, as a friend : RELY ON

41. Walks with attitude : SASHAYS. Lucina likes to use this word.

43. Turn over at sea : CAPSIZE

45. Customs levy : IMPOST

46. Kept out : BARRED

49. Big Broadway hit, in slang : BOFF. So is BOFFO.

50. Land in el mar : ISLA

51. NBAer O'Neal : SHAQ

52. Formula One racer Teo __ : FABI. His name escaped me also.

53. Nike competitor : AVIA. Latin for "fly".

54. __ Ration: pet food : KEN- L. Third time in a month?

55. "__ Tu": 1974 hit : ERES. Eres Tu = "It is You".

59. Mysterious guy : MR. X. Nice edge word.

Answer grid.

Here is a recent photo of our Cool Hand Larry (Windhover). Looks more like a philosopher than a farmer, no? Still want to share his bike, Annette?

C.C.