Friday August 13, 2010 Julian Lim

Theme: Film at the Animal Farm - Part of five theme entries (including four movies) is punnily substituted by the sound the corresponding animal make, and the clues and answers together form a funny animal "what film to watch" decision-making story.

17A. The animals were bored, and the cows suggested a __ : MOO-VIE NIGHT. The base phrase is Movie Night. Cows moo.

20A. "Great idea!" said the goats. "Let's watch '__'" : MAA-S ATTACKS. Mars Attack!. Directed by Tim Burton. Goats maa. The first two and the last two theme answers have an impressive 7-letter overlap.

35A. "How lowbrow!" said the cats. "We much prefer '__'" : THE COLOR PURR-PLE. The Color Purple. Not a familiar movie to me. Cats purr. The only entry where the pun is on the last word instead of the first. I'd prefer the central entry puns on Prince's "Purr-ple Rain", so the sound would be consistent with the other theme entries. The resulting phrase has 11 letters, nice but not ideal for the central entry. Constructors prefer a central 15-letter grid spanner as it's easier to work around.

50A. "Too serious!" said the pigeons. "Why don't we go with '__'?" : COO HAND LUKE. Cool Hand Luke. Starring the great Paul Newman. Pigeons coo.

55A. But in the end, the sheep had their way, and they all watched "__" : BAA-BAA-RELLA. Barbarella. Jane Fonda movie. Sheep baa.

Fun theme. Reminds me of John Lampkin's "Pet Food" puzzle, in which part of a common food/beverage is substituted with the sound the animal make.

The cluing is fun too. Patrick Berry uses this style in some of Chronicle of Higher Education puzzles. John Lampkin also employs this clue/answer combination story in his "The Clothier's Apprentice".

The clue for ELENA (45A. Supreme Court nominee Kagan) is obviously not updated, since she just became our Supreme Court justice last Saturday. Rich Norris edits all the puzzles a month in advance, hence the error.

Across:

1. Weenie : TWERP. Was thinking of hot dog.

6. Certain alien : LEGAL. "Alien" always refers to "foreigner" rather than "extraterrestrial being" in late week puzzle.

11. With 58-Down, "Taking Woodstock" director : ANG. And LEE (58D. See 11-Across). New Ang Lee reference to me.

14. Many an IM user : AOLER. All of its letter components can be the first & second letter of any word, very construction friendly. So, you keep seeing it again and again.

15. "But I don't want to go among mad people" speaker : ALICE. "Alice in Wonderland". Was ignorant of the quote.

16. Co. in Cannes : CIE. Kazie explained this before.

19. False pretense : ACT

22. One may have an undulating floor : FUNHOUSE. I've never been to one.

26. Viti Levu is its largest island : FIJI. Stumper. I don't know where Viti Levu is. Fiji's capital Suva is in this island and the majority of Fijians live here, a la Wikipedia.

27. Salt's salutations : AHOYS. Alliteration. Salt = Sailor.

28. Nouveau riche : UPSTART

31. Piece conclusion : CODA. Did you think of "musical piece" immediately?

32. Software for creating bibliographies : ENDNOTE. Not aware of this software.

40. Check for flaws : INSPECT

41. Give __ up: assist : A LEG

42. Cry at a faith healing : I CAN SEE. Nice multi-word.

46. Abolitionist Lucretia : MOTT. No idea. She's a Quaker.

47. 1949 Gatsby portrayer : ALAN LADD. I only know Robert Redford's "The Great Gatsby".

54. Sanctioned : OK'D

60. Jar head : LID. Of course I fell the trap of reading the clue as one word Marine "Jarhead" and thinking of Dennis & Argyle.

61. "Bye!" : ADIEU

62. Say "Hi!" to : GREET. I like the consecutive "Bye" and "Hi".

63. L'École __ Roches: French private school : DES. I suppose you can deduce if you know French, since "des" = de + les. Too much for me.

64. Support pieces : BASES

65. Produce some cliff notes? : YODEL. Because there are lots of cliff and mountains in the Swiss Alps?

Down:

1. Highlander's cap : TAM

2. Seek support from : WOO. Or seek affection.

3. Jeff Lynne's band : ELO. Easy guess.

4. MLK's title : REV

5. Piano duet parts : PRIMOS. Not a familiar "primo" definition to me.

6. Turner and Wood : LANAS. Lana Wood is the sister of Natalia Wood.

7. Beethoven title name : ELISE. "Für Elise".

8. Inverse of nano- : GIGA. Nono= one billionth. Giga = billion.

9. Eight, in Aachen : ACHT. Well, gimme for Kazie/Spitzboov I am sure. It escaped me again.

10. Lithuanian's neighbor : LETT. Latvian.

11. Whistling thorn, e.g. : ACACIA. First encounter with whisteling thorn.

12. Channel for little kids : NICK JR. Total unknown to me. Owned by Viacom.

13. Laughs at a joke : GETS IT

18. Perrier, e.g. : EAU. Quite expensive bottled water.

21. Nevertheless : AFTER ALL

22. Trivia buff's fodder : FACT

23. "Here comes trouble!" : UH OH

24. Anatomical knot : NODE

25. Plant with colorful flower clusters : HYACINTH. Named after the Greek mythological figure who was loved and accidentally killed by Apollo.

28. Gender-biased, briefly : UNPC. PC = Politically Correct.

29. Sulk : POUT

30. Violas' sect. : STR (String)

32. More : ELSE

33. Informal turndown : NOPE

34. "Forgot About __": hip-hop hit : DRE. No idea. By Dre, obviously.

36. Walk-__: bit parts : ONS

37. Fervent request : PLEA

38. Give conditionally : LEND

39. Quaint "Yowza!" : EGAD. Lucina uses "Yowza!" often.

42. "Turn up the heat!" : I'M COLD. Finally it's going to cool off a bit here in MN. So hot and humid in the past few weeks.

43. Lunchbox snack : COOKIE

44. Like bitter rivals : AT ODDS. Had difficulty parsing the answer.

45. Verve : ENERGY

47. "The Zoo Story" playwright : ALBEE (Edward). Have never heard of the play.

48. Events where the dessert haupia is served : LUAUS. What is haupia?

49. Dossier abbr. : A.K.A. Oh, police dossier.

51. Rhyme scheme in many sonnets : ABAB. Wish Clear Ayes were here.

52. Bupkis, in Barcelona : NADA. Bupkis is Yiddish for nothing. Another unknown to me.

53. Address site : DAIS

56. Ranch closing? : ERO. Closing for the word ranchero. Gimme, Lois?

57. Spearheaded : LED

59. Part of NATO: Abbr. : ATL

Answer grid.

Here is a recent photo of our quick-witted trombonist Jazzbumpa, who's been on vacation with his talented grand-kids the past few days, thus the sparse appearances. All the fill symmetries have been feeling ignored, Jazzbumpa!

Finally, I'd like to say a special "Thank you" to Spitzboov for a beautiful Annin US flag (3'X5") he surprised me yesterday. When Boomer opened the package and told me the story, I was AGOG and could not stop saying "Oh, my God, oh, my God..". Boomer later showed me how to fold the flag properly.

I then discovered that the Marines raised an Annin flag in Iwo Jima, and the NASA Apollo 11 moon flag is an Annin also. I wonder if those flags draping the coffins of our fallen soldiers are Annin.

I just cast my first vote as a US citizen in the primary on Tuesday, and this flag, made in the US and sent from a former Navy "salt", means a lot to me. Xie Xie, Spitzboov! I'll never take my privileges & rights as a citizen for granted.

C.C.

Thursday August 12, 2010 Bruce Venzke

Theme: Self-centerdness or INNER SELF (65A. A synonym for it is hidden in 17-, 24-, 40- and 52-Across) - The word EGO is found somewhere in the middle of all the theme answers and is consistently broken between the E and the G. A minor inconsistency is that one answer has three words instead of two, but since "THE" doesn't really count in book titles, we'll just overlook that, right?

17A. "Good job!": NICE GOING.

24A. Hughes Aircraft prototype: SPRUCE GOOSE.

40A. Sermonize: PREACH THE GOSPEL.

52A. Game with discs and baskets: FRISBEE GOLF. Also called FOLF.

Al here.

Definitely a Thursday step-up in difficulty for me, I had to keep going back and forth chipping away at words a letter at a time in places, but it finally fell with no help other than the perps.

Across:

1. Eponymous salad creator: COBB. Named for the owner of the restaurant it was created, Robert Howard Cobb, first cousin of baseball legend Ty Cobb.

5. "Man Plus" author Frederik: POHL. A Sci Fi novel about remotely inhabiting specially created bodies to exist on a planet which is not capable of sustaining human life. Sounds suspiciously like part of the plot of Avatar...

9. Moral fiber: SPINE. Grow a backbone!

14. Its juice is sometimes used to treat heartburn: ALOE. Interesting thing to know...

15. Award for "Rent": OBIE. Off Broadway theatre awards, the "ie" was probably added to make them sound like Emmy, Grammy, I'm guessing. Or perhaps just O. B. with the "b" spelled out differently than a crossword answer.

16. John of Middlesex: ELTON. Middlesex, England, origin from "middle Saxtons". Sir Elton Hercules John, (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight).

19. Colorful stable residents: ROANS.

20. Major malfunction: SNAFU. Situation Normal, All Fouled Up. JANFU is Joint Army-Navy Foul Up. FUBAR is Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition. The process of substituting foul for a different four-letter word is called bowdlerization or expurgation, named after Thomas Bowlder, who "cleaned up" Shakespeare to be more "fit" for women and children.

21. Certain analyst's input: DATA. A data analyst sorts, organizes, sifts through numbers looking for correlations or interesting anomalies on which to base business decisions. For example, did a coupon significantly increase sales?

23. Gymnast Mary __ Retton: LOU. First female gymnast outside of Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title.

28. Moscow ballet theater: BOLSHOI.

32. Cheerleader's offering: YELL.

33. Psych finish: OTIC. Added suffix: psychotic. From Gk. psykhe "the soul, mind, spirit, breath, life, the invisible animating principle or entity which occupies and directs the physical body" (personified as Psykhe, the lover of Eros)

34. Kin of a 911 call: SOS. It later became a "bacronym" associated with "save our ship" or "save our souls". It initially (pun?) didn't actually have any meaning other than to simply be three easy recognizable letters in Morse Code, consisting of three dots, three dashes and then three dots.

36. Objects of look-ups?: IDOLS. Lots of google searches for famous people. And 44A. Judge of many 36-Across: PAULA. Abdul. Left the show last season, and this season it looks like Randy will be the only original judge returning. Did anyone see the shark jumping?

45. Bauxite, e.g.: ORE. For Aluminum (or Aluminium outside of the US).

46. BMW competitor: AUDI. Now owned by Volkswagon, the company name is based on the surname of the founder August Horch, meaning listen — which, when translated back into Latin, becomes Audi.

47. "At Wit's End" author Bombeck: ERMA.

50. Persistently chews on: GNAWS AT.

56. Roulette choice: RED. Roulette is French for "little wheel". Red is one type of bet.

57. Legal letter phrase: IN RE. In the matter of.

58. Travel guide: ATLAS.

63. Veggie bin staple: ONION. And 72A. Kin of 63-Across: LEEK.

68. Wrap: STOLE. From Latin stola "robe, vestment," such as might have been worn by the clergy.

69. Inland Asian sea: ARAL.

70. Response to a shock: GASP.

71. Abominations: HATES. I probably wouldn't title a list of my dislikes as "hates", but for puzzles later in the week, they do try to make the clues more obscure.

73. Walked heavily: TROD.

Down:

1. Preserves, in a way: CANS.

2. "Chocolat" actress: OLIN. Lena.

3. City near West Palm: BOCA. I'm guessing at West Palm Beach and Boca Raton, Florida..

4. Gripe: BEEF. Origin unclear, possibly US Soldiers complaints about quality or quantity of meat rations..

5. Nanki-__, son of the Mikado: POO. and 6D. "The Mikado" accessory: OBI. The Mikado is the Emperor of Japan. Nanki-Poo desires Yum Yum, who is engaged to Ko Ko, the Lord High Executioner (but created in a comic sense). Hilarity and song ensues.

7. Veda devotee: HINDU. The vedas are Hindu texts composed in Vedic Sanskrit.

8. Bequest: LEGACY.

9. Title setting for a Mozart abduction: SERAGLIO. The sequestered living quarters used by wives and concubines in a Turkish household. The Mozart Opera.

10. West Bank initials: PLO. Palestine Liberation Organization.

11. "Mr. Palomar" writer Calvino: ITALO. Total blank to me, Got it all from perps. Apparently the last novel he wrote.

12. Things to avoid: NO-NOS. Unless you're five. Then those are the things you head straight for.

13. Occur next: ENSUE. From L. insequi "to pursue". Related word: sequel.

18. Flow copiously: GUSH.

22. Place to start a round: TEE. Round of golf. The tee is the grassy area where the tee is placed.

25. Ritzy: POSH.

26. Very funny person: RIOT.

27. "Too many cooks ...," e.g.: OLD SAW. ...spoil the broth. But "Many hands make the work light."

28. 1995 comet spotter Thomas: BOPP. As Comet Hale-Bopp reached its brightest point, after Thomas photographed the comet, his brother and sister-in-law were killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. "This has been the best week of my life. And the worst," he said.

29. Other, in Madrid: OTRA.

30. Substitution word: LIEU. In lieu of. Old French for "place", so in place of.

31. Fish features: SCALES.

35. Movie station letters: SHO. Showtime.

37. "Mr. Holland's __": OPUS. Richard Dreyfus as a musician, winds up as a teacher for 30 years and wonders what he has actually accomplished. His Opus, of course, turns out to be all the pupils he has positively affected all those years, not the music he had been trying to finish.

38. Castor's mother: LEDA. Lots of variation in the mythology for this family, but this is the only consistent relationship. Sometimes Zeus is the father, sometimes Tyndareus. Pollux is sometimes Castor's twin, and sometimes his half-brother.

39. Letter opening?: SLIT.

41. Musket relatives: CARBINES. Shorter barrels...

42. "This being the case ...": ERGO. Latin "therefore," possibly from *ex rogo" from the direction," from ex "out of" + root of regere "to guide". Related words: regal and right.

43. DDE, for one: GENL. Eisenhower, general

48. Chess pieces: MEN.

49. Passé reception aid: AERIAL. A shortening of "aerial antenna".

51. Not at hand, to say the least: AFAR.

52. College newbie: FROSH. Freshman.

53. __-Wreck: RENT-A. Used cars re-purposed for economy rentals.

54. Fool: IDIOT. Baka in Japanese. Depending on inflection and suffix, baka can range in meaning anywhere from a mild and friendly "you big dummy" to bastard or a**hole or even worse. I'm told there are no actual curse-words in Japanese per se, it's all done in the emphasis or impolite manner that it is presented.

55. Category: GENRE. Old French for "sort" or "type". Related word: gender

59. USAF noncom: T-SGT. Technical Sergeant or E-6 rank in the Air Force. Falls between Staff and Master Sergeants.

60. A jet or a king: LEAR.

61. "Wait, there's more ...": ALSO.

62. Calif. group with a seven-point badge: SFPD. San Fransisco Police Department.

64. Flamenco cheer: OLE.

66. "In your dreams!" in Dundee: NAE. No in Scotland.

67. Big game animal: ELK. I was expecting something from Africa...

Answer Grid

Al