Friday August 27, 2010 Mike Peluso

Theme: Odd Ending (oddity)- ITY is added to the end of the second word (a noun) of a two-word common noun phrase. The resulted nouns all have different roots than the originals.

20A. Oil company's penchant for employee transfers? : EXXON MOBILITY. The base phrase is Exxon Mobil.

29A. Measure of neighborhood drug traffic? : OPIUM DENSITY. Opium Dens, the places where opium was sold.

46A. Egotism that brings you to tears? : MOVING VANITY. Moving Van.

56A. Pigmentation variations? : SKIN DIVERSITY. Skin Divers. Skin diving is defined as "the sport of swimming under water with flippers and a face mask and usually with a snorkel rather than a portable air supply". Not a familiar term to me.

Though the changing pattern for 29A and 56A is the same, adding ITY to a S ending phrase, the original words are profoundly different.

It's a carefully selected & rather exhaustive theme set. Not easy to attach ITY to any noun phrase and come up with a sensible new phrase ending with a different root word. Constructors give lots of considerations to their themes.

I thought of author (Anonymous Author) & authority. But the two derived from the same word, not to mention ANONYMOUS AUTHORITY has 18 letters. Equal & equality do not work either. John Major (former British PM) might though, since Major is a proper name here. Major & Majority. But then how do you clue JOHN MAJORITY?

Tough puzzle. Tough cluing.

Across:

1. W.E.B. Du Bois was among its founders : NAACP. Stumped immediately. Did not know who this Du Bois guy was. He's the first African-American graduate of Harvard.

6. Coot's cousin : RAIL. Oh, man, I did not know coot is a bird. Always associate it with old & crotchety person. We also have ERNE (15A. Coastal predator).

10. Barcelona-born muralist : SERT. Josep Maria Sert. Rockefeller Center muralist. Quite a few art references in this grid.

14. Of an arm bone : ULNAR

16. Hawaii neighbor : MAUI. Could be a clue error. Mike probably wanted "Lanai neighbor" or "Hawaii island". (Correction: The clue is correct.)

17. "The Wreck of the Mary __" : DEARE. Mike used the same clue in his last puzzle.

18. Benefit : SAKE

19. Far Hills, N.J.-based sports org. : USGA (United States Golf Association). Who knows? You'd think USGA is based somewhere in Florida. PGA is there, right, Lemonade?

23. Pennzoil letters : SAE. No idea. Society of Automotive Engineers.

24. Carrier with a hub at LAX : UAL

25. Con opening : NEO. Opening for the word neocon, the likes of Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard). Windhover can give you 10-page essay on them.

26. Arena cheer : RAH

32. Part of CPA: Abbr. : ACCT

35. Where Charlie was trapped, in a Kingston Trio hit : MTA. Learned from doing Xword.

36. Doomed city : SODOM. The sin city.

37. Red : RARE. Was not thinking of steak. Dennis would love a "Pink" clue.

38. Peruvian address : SENOR. Not a real place address.

41. "Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story" star Sherilyn : FENN. Total stranger. Alluring look, yes?

42. Puccini offering : OPERA. And CARO (4D. Puccini's "O mio babbino __"). Literally "dear" in Italian. "O mio babbino caro" = "oh, my dear papa". I was stymied.

44. "__ Woman": 1975 hit : I'M A

45. Muy, across the Pyrenees : TRES. Was ignorant that "muy" means "very" in Spanish.

50. "Wheel of Fortune" buy : AN A. Or any vowel.

51. Half a cocktail : TAI. Mai tai.

52. "Kinda" suffix : ISH

53. Half-witted : DIM

60. Pedestal : BASE. The supporting base for statue/column, etc.

62. Like Erté's art : DECO

63. Any Frankie Avalon song : OLDIE

64. Follow : OBEY

65. Gardener, at times : HOER. Boring.

66. Like many a motel air conditioner : NOISY. So true.

67. Crown's girl, in a 1935 opera : BESS. I've never seen "Porgy and Bess". What's the crown reference?

68. "Gotcha" : I SEE

69. One who's generally bottled up? : GENIE. Genie in a bottle.

Down:

1. Sculptors' subjects : NUDES

2. Billy Joel's daughter : ALEXA. She tried to kill herself with sleeping pill last year. Big headline.

3. Has __ to grind : AN AXE

5. Asset protection plan, briefly : PRENUP (Prenuptial). Drew a blank.

6. Determined : RESOLUTE. Nice entry, crossing 2 theme answers.

7. __-Israeli War : ARAB

8. Equitable way to pay : IN KIND. Confused me last time.

9. Sobieski of "Joy Ride" (2001) : LEELEE. No idea. She looks like Jewel, doesn't she?

10. Blue books? : SMUT. Blue = Off-color/Risque.

11. 1969 road movie : EASY RIDER. Bet Gunghy and Windhover loved this movie.

12. Toupee : RUG

13. Madre's hermana : TIA. Hermana = Sister.

21. Injures badly : MAIMS

22. They're not free of charge : IONS. They are charged. Awesome clue.

27. Make restitution : ATONE

28. Service songs : HYMNS. Church service.

29. '90s "SNL" regular Cheri : OTERI

30. Frenzy : MANIA

31. Hardly the drill sergeant type : SOFTY. Never know what the words those drill sergeant are muttering.

32. Coffee asset : AROMA

33. Fowl on a menu : CAPON. Castrated chicken.

34. Climbers' obstacles : CREVASSES. New word to me. Same as "crevice".

39. Man, e.g. : OMNIVORE. Too tricky a clue for me.

40. See, and then some : RAISE. Poker.

43. Fighting : ANTI. Wanted AT IT.

47. Kingsley role : GANDHI. Great movie.

48. Family gathering staples : VIDEOS

49. Crowd : THRONG

53. Slew : DID IN

54. Formal doorstep response : "IT IS I". Keep waiting then!

55. "Yeah, right!!" : MY EYE. "Baloney!"

57. F and G, but not H : KEYS. Would make me happy if Jayce was fooled!

58. Slurpee alternative : ICEE

59. __ gin : SLOE

60. Sportscaster Costas : BOB. I like him.

61. Harlem Globetrotters founder Saperstein : ABE. Uh uh. Nope. He died in 1966. The two founder clues today killed me.

Answer grid.

Our Crossword Corner blog team photo series ends today with two recent pictures of the beautiful Melissa Bee from her Girls Weekend Out (Santa Cruz) trip. Here is Kaya and Melissa (in pink scarf). Here are the girls on the wharf. For more delicious pictures, click here.

C.C.

Thursday August 26, 2010 Don Gagliardo

Theme: "Hit the..." Idioms - Spelled out in the clues for 22D HIT and 42D THE which reference each other: Words that can precede the answers to starred clues. Please see the note from constructor Don Gagliardo at the end of my write-up for his theme inspiration.

1A. *Bag: SACK. Hit the sack: Go to bed.

5A. *Pump output: GAS. Hit the gas: Step on it.

8A. *Follow: TRAIL. Hit the trail: Take a hike.

16A. *Road surface: PAVEMENT. Hit the pavement: Get moving.

18A. *Holdup causes?: BRAKES. Hit the brakes: Cut it out.

28A. *Rain protection: ROOF. Hit the roof: To the moon, Alice!

44A. *Grilling site: DECK. Hit the deck: Duck!

59A. *Cola holder: BOTTLE. Hit the bottle: Get drunk.

60A. *Range target: BULL'S -EYE. Hit the bull's-eye: Right on.

64A. *Warehouse aids: SKIDS. Hit the skids: Bottom out.

65A. *Guinea pig food: HAY. Hit the hay: Get some sleep.

66A. *Location: SPOT. Hit the spot: I'm stuffed.

22D. With 42-Down, words that can precede the answers to the starred clues: HIT

42D. See 22-Down: THE. Unusual unifier placement, with a black square placed in between.

Al here today.

Wow, 14 theme entries (total 66 theme squares) in a weekday puzzle, including the two tip off down clues. Pretty impressive effort to squeeze that many in symmetrically. None of the theme answers is longer than 8-letter due to the unique theme.

There are probably a few more answers that might work: books, bricks, road, lights, floor, wall...how many more can you come up with? I found solving this one pretty easy, more like a Tuesday perhaps. I didn't officially time myself, but I know it was well under 10 minutes, and I didn't even see several of the clues until I added them here.

Across:

13. Longtime portrait studio __ Mills: OLAN. I wonder if they use 36A. Like many cameras: DIGITAL.

14. Strasbourg street: RUE. French city, french word for street.

15. For this reason: HENCE. Sounds like a word you would hear in ye olde shoppe.

19. More than frown on: SNEER AT. Billy Idol.

20. Morrie Turner comic strip about ethnically diverse kids: WEE PALS.

21. D-Day carrier: LST. Landing Ship, Tank.

22. "__ Tonic": 1945 Bugs Bunny title: HARE. I see the pun you made there...

23. Green source, briefly: ATM. Green = money from an automated teller machine. And 2D. Greenspan concerned with green: ALAN. once again, green = money. The chairman of the Federal Reserve until 2006.

26. Give as a task: ASSIGN. From Latin ad signare/signum (to make a mark or a sign).

32. Southern stretch?: DRAWL. To draw out (lengthen) or protract.

34. Yours, in Tours: ATOI. French city, french word.

35. On Vine St., say: IN LA. Los Angeles. Hollywood and Vine is the center of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

38. Retailer offering video streaming: NETFLIX. I have an internet-ready blue-ray player. I may use it for downloading movies some day if I ever catch up on the backlog on my DVR...

40. Legendary work, often: EPIC.

41. Miller __: LITE. Or Park, or Time.

43. Emit, as a sigh: HEAVE. That's a heavy sigh.

45. Musical satirist Tom: LEHRER. You don't hear much about National Brotherhood Week any more.

47. "Indubitably!": YES. Yogi Bear said this all the time. Comic books and cartoons were a big source of vocabulary when I was young.

48. D-Day month: JUNE.

49. Pep: VIM.

51. To some degree: OF A SORT.

55. Bridge supports: PILINGS.

61. __ ease: ILL AT.

62. Braves, on scoreboards: ATL. Atlanta

63. 1998 skating gold medalist Lipinski: TARA. Won at the age of 15, remains the youngest ever to win gold.

Down:

1. Cleans (up) using Bounty: SOPS. The quicker picker-upper.

3. Batman's hideout: CAVE.

4. Get down to earth?: KNEEL. Literally.

5. Immortals: GREATS.

6. Patty or Selma, to Lisa Simpson: AUNT.

7. Combo's group of numbers: SET. Musical numbers. And 8D. Number in a combo, maybe: THREE.

9. Collect: REAP. As in harvest.

10. "My Way" lyricist: ANKA. Paul.

11. Eyjafjallajökull's country: Abbr.: ICEL. Iceland, with the unpronounceable volcano name.

12. More, some say: LESS. Less is more. Minimalism.

17. Shaker on the kids' show "Blue's Clues": MR SALT. A talking salt shaker, married to Mrs Pepper, with a child named Paprika.

18. Convicted Ponzi schemer Madoff: BERNIE.

20. Western driver: WAGONER.

23. Said further: ADDED.

24. Rubbish: TRIPE. Tripe is "entrails used as food". Considered worthless to some, the meaning spread to anything deemed unworthy of having, and even what others may have said.

25. Orlando cagers: MAGIC. Basketball.

27. Conspicuous: SALIENT. Something that jumps out at you. "Leaping," a heraldic term, from Latin salientem/salire "to leap".

28. All over: RIFE. Old English for "abundant".

29. Dental restoration: ONLAY. Both inlays and onlays are fillings, but an onlay replaces part of a cusp. A crown covers the entire surfaces.

30. Martini garnish: OLIVE. Or onion.

31. Many business letters: FAXES.

33. Oil lamp feature: WICK. Keep your lamp trimmed and burning.

37. Siren quality: ALLURE. Oh Brother Where Art Thou.

39. It might be cheap: THRILL. Old English þyrlian, from þyrel "hole", originally meant to pierce, penetrate. To give a shivering, exciting feeling was a metaphoric notion of being pierced with emotion.

46. How villains laugh: EVILLY.

48. Throws for a loop: JOLTS.

50. Waters gently: MISTS.

51. Asian sashes: OBIS.

52. Acoustic guitar genre: FOLK.

53. Hun king, in Scandinavian legend: ATLI. Attila. He appears under the name Etzel in the Nibelungenlied and under the name Atli in Icelandic sagas.

54. Dutch town: STAD. German stadt. The name for a place or a standing. Related words: steadfast, and once again our crosswordese friend STET (let it stand).

55. "__ lid on it!": PUT A.

56. Minimum-range tide: NEAP. A tide that occurs when the difference between high and low tide is least; the lowest level of high tide.

57. Lamb sandwich: GYRO. Modern Greek "gyros" (the word is singular) for a circle, the way the meat is cut from a rotating spit.

58. Usher's find: SEAT. From Latin ostiarius "door-keeper," from ostium "door, entrance," related to os "mouth." You can pick your friends, and your seat, but you can't pick your friend's seat.

60. Part of a legendary Christmas complaint: BAH. Humbug. Scrooge, from A Christmas Carol by Dickens.

Answer Grid.

Notes from Don:

"This is one of those puzzles where you are going along in conversation, you hear something that sounds interesting, and you go, “What was that that sounded so interesting?” You need to carry a notebook to catch these. I thought HIT THE ____ was an interesting idiom that should be explored. I was pleased to cram in as many theme words as I did, as usual giving myself fits trying to fill around them. One lucky insight that I had was to put HIT THE down the middle, divided by a black square. I don’t think that is something solvers see very often, and I thought it would be fun. I hope you all enjoyed it."

Al