Saturday September 4, 2010 Barry Silk

Theme: None

Total words: 72

Total blocks: 30

Barry placed triple stacks of 11s (all multi-words) on the top and bottom of the puzzle, sandwiched with a single 9 in the middle of the grid:

1A. Symbol of concentration : THINKING CAP. I was picturing a Zen monk meditating.

15A. Noted pier site : SANTA MONICA. Could only think of San Fransisco.

17A. Rap sheet notes? : HIP HOP MUSIC. Not criminal rap sheet. Great answer/clue.

38A. Clearance level : TOP SECRET. Security Clearance.

62A. Stock, usually : LIQUID ASSET. Was thinking of goods instead of shares.

67A. Calcium oxide : CAUSTIC LIME. Both the clue and answer meant nothing to me.

69A. Accepting personal responsibility : ON ONE'S HONOR. Didn't come to me easily.

Barry then stacked most of his 7s (total 11) in Down, paralleling one another. Two pairs of 8s cross each other.

I had a disastrous solving. Never mind-melded with Barry. So many unknowns, unfamiliar references and tricky clues.

Across:

12. Water potential symbol : PSI. Wikipedia says water potential (???) is expressed by Greek letter Psi. Who knows?!

16. Org. offering the Canine Good Citizen program : AKC (American Kennel Club). Gimme for Clear Ayes.

18. Manhattan liquor : RYE

19. Vexation-plus : IRE. Was so vexed that I could not even nail this one.

20. Irish __ : SEA

21. Make potable, in a way : DESALT. Remove salt from sea water.

23. Some phones : RCAS. Drew a blank.

25. Emit coherent light : LASE

28. "Sexy" Beatles woman : SADIE. Thought of "Lovely Rita". Have never heard of "Sexy Sadie".

29. Folded parts : TUCKS

31. The south of France : MIDI. Literally "noon"/"midday". The sun is in the south at noon, hence the synonym.

33. __ fide : BONA

34. Milk sources : TEATS. Wow!

36. Stumblebums : LUMMOXES. Add F, we have confusing "flummox".

40. Pocono and others : RACEWAYS. Hmm, gimme for our Dilbert.

43. Virginie et Floride : ETATS. Virginia and Florida in French.

46. Out of control : AMOK

47. Sound heard very close to your ear : SNIP. When you have haircut.

49. Mexican waters : AGUAS

51. Spoke Abyssinian? : MEWED. Did not know Abyssinian is a breed of cat. Not a pet person.

53. "Don't __ word!" : SAY A

55. -an counterpart : ENNE. As in comedian/comedienne, feminine ending. Got me.

56. Hoped : PRAYED

58. Polish, say : RUB. My mind was in Poland.

60. Memorable time : ERA. Rare gimme.

61. Respectful title : SIR. I wonder if Vidwan penned in SRI.

66. Cologne conjunction : UND. "And" in German.

68. Orgs. with chiefs : PDS. Police Departments, I suppose.

Down:

1. Item for a camp project : T-SHIRT. Ideal grid edge word, full of consonants.

2. Buzz, e.g. : HAIRCUT. Drew a blank also.

3. Good way to go : IN PEACE. Does this refer to death?

4. High degree : NTH

5. Mr. Big's org. on "Get Smart" : KAOS. I simply forgot.

6. Press forward : IMPEL

7. Polite turndown : NO MA'AM

8. Savanna sighting : GNU

9. USSR successor : CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). Not a familiar abbr to me.

10. Biting : ACID

11. Shows impatience, in a way : PACES

12. Seeming contradiction : PARADOX. He always tells lies.

13. View when landing, perhaps : SKYLINE

14. Summer refreshers : ICE TEAS. Again, no D.

22. Spy's doing : SABOTAGE. Nice fill.

24. Old-fashioned tightening tool : SKATE KEY. Mystery answer to me. I've never skated.

26. Historical Oder River region : SILESIA. Located mostly in Poland. Rich in coal and iron-ore. I peeked at the answer sheet.

27. Cabinet dept. : EDUC

30. Store : STOW

32. 2002 Literature Nobelist Kertész : IMRE. Well, I am sure Hahtool knows this fellow. Hungarian Jewish writer. Imre is the Hungarian variation of English name Emery.

35. Places for sweaters? : SPAS. Sweater = One who sweat.

37. Physics leader? : META. Leader of the word metaphysics.

39. Fine and dandy: Abbr. : SYNS. Fine and dandy are synonyms.

40. Increases sharply : RAMPS UP

41. Portmanteau word for a certain native : AMERIND. American Indian.

42. Each of them is "one who, in a perilous emergency, thinks with his legs": Bierce : COWARDS. I used "think with your legs" on the blog once, responding to an Anonymous.

44. Receives on the radio : TUNES IN

45. Italian Riviera resort : SAN REMO. We often see REMO as a partial.

48. Fool's gold : PYRITE

50. Two-__: tandem : SEATER

52. Car battery ignition system pioneer : DELCO. Stumped me last time.

54. Q5 and Q7 : AUDIS

57. Anthropologist Fossey : DIAN. Can never remember her name.

59. "The Well-Tempered Clavier" composer : BACH. Anything classic is beyond me.

63. Locus in __: the place in which (Lat.) : QUO. Quo = Which, correct, Bob/Kazie?

64. SEAL's org. : USN (US Navy). Our ex-governor Jesse Ventura is a former Navy SEAL.

65. Pitch preceder : SLO. Slo-Pitch softball.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday September 3, 2010 Anthony J. Salvia

Theme: ID THEFT (36A. Web danger, and a hint to this puzzle's theme) - ID is stolen from the first word of each two-word common phrase.

17A. Like a dialect coach? : ACCENT PRONE. The base phrase is Accident Prone.

53A. Answer from LL Cool J? : RAP RESPONSE. Rapid Response. LL Cool J is a rapper.

11D. Christmas? : PRESENTS DAY. Presidents Day. Wikipedia says it can also be Presidents' Day.

25D. Herbivorous reptiles? : FLORA GATORS. Florida Gators. Shout-out to Gator Mom, who pointed out my tent dress mistake last time.

Nice pinwheel grid design, with the central hub ID THEFT, which made its LA Times debut today. Great tie-in. We don't often see a unifier in letter(s) addition/deletion/substitution puzzles.

The constructor's black square blocks along the four edges (called fingers, as they look like fingers poking into the grids) and the central parallel ladder-style break-downs give us plenty of 3 & 5-letter words, hence an early week-ish low average word length.

Across:

1. What some sirens do : TEMPT. Knew immediately that "siren" refers to the vamp.

6. 1990s-2000s Irish leader Bertie : AHERN. Alien to me. The dude on the right.

11. Pres. counterparts : PMS (Prime Ministers)

14. It may be blank : STARE. Great clue.

15. Food processor setting : PUREE. Last E prevented me from thinking of BLEND.

16. Outback critter : ROO

19. End of an academic address : EDU

20. Periods : SPELLS

21. Amount-and-interval numbers : DOSES. Drew a blank.

23. Not connected : OFF LINE. Nice entry.

26. Reel art : CINEMA

27. Knack : TALENT

28. Whalebone : BALEEN. Stumped me again.

30. New York home of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute : TROY. Who knows?!

31. Three-time French Open champion : SELES (Monica). French Open '90, '91, and '92.

32. Its symbol is Sn : TIN. Immediately followed by its symmetrical partner EAR (35. Musical knack). Knack clue echo with 27A.

38. Murcia Mrs. : SRA. Have never heard of Murcia, a city in SE Spain.

39. Nutritional stat : RDA. Recommended Daily Allowance.

40. Like some panels : SOLAR

41. Genesis locale : EDEN

42. Key of Mozart's Symphony No. 40 : G MINOR. Got MINOR part quickly.

44. Where the Maine sank : HAVANA. "Remember the Maine! to Hell with Spain!". Everything I learn, I learn from Xword.

46. Expects : AWAITS

48. Consequences of an all-nighter : RED EYES

49. Obsess : EAT AT

50. Titania's consort : OBERON. No idea. The King of "A Midsummer's Night Dream".

52. General on a menu : TSO. General Tso's Chicken.

58. Where Nina Totenberg reports : NPR. She's the legal affairs correspondent for NPR.

59. Inuit for "women's boat" : UMIAK. Kayak means "man's boat".

60. Gives some TLC to, with "in" : TUCKS

61. Doofus : ASS

62. They're heavier than foils : EPEES. Did not know foil is a fencing weapon as well.

63. Source of brown fur : STOAT

Down:

1. Airport safety org. : TSA

2. Last letters on some lists : ETC. Etc, etc...

3. Slicker : MAC. The "raincoat" meaning of slicker is new to me. I am eager to see what funny line Lois can make out of this answer.

4. Performer with five #1 hits in his first year on the Billboard charts : PRESLEY. When was that?

5. One at the edge of the gutter : TEN PIN. Bowling lane "gutter".

6. Record label launched in 1968 : APPLE. Unaware of this trivia.

7. Pitch : HURL. Man, Aroldis Chapman can sure pitch.

8. Lover of Psyche : EROS. Yep. I am aware of their affair.

9. Toon dog : REN. Ren and Stimpy.

10. Most impoverished : NEEDIEST

12. Cable __ : MODEM

13. "Semper Fidelis" composer : SOUSA. Sousa served in the Marine Corps. Do you all like "Full Metal Jacket?". I was just telling Dennis how cruel and humiliating the boot camp was.

18. It may pop up in a clearing : TENT. What "clearing"?

22. Vending machine insert : ONE

23. Fish-eating mammal : OTTER

24. Capacitance unit : FARAD. No idea. It's named after English physicist Michael Faraday. Dudley and Jayce shouldn't have any problem with this one.

26. Bass symbol : CLEF

28. Joy of "The View" : BEHAR

29. A or Ray : ALER. AL = American League. Oakland A's. Tempa Bay Rays. The rhyming clue does not do much for me.

31. City SE of Cherbourg : ST LO. See this map. What is Cherbourg famous for?

33. Papas of "Zorba the Greek" : IRENE. Nope. Another unknown. Greek actress.

34. Family matriarchs : NANAS

36. "For real?" : IS IT TRUE?

37. Oxford fellows : DONS. Like our professors, correct?

41. Become balanced : EVEN OUT

43. Athletes for Hope co-founder Hamm : MIA. Bill G had a close encounter with her.

44. Word on a towel : HERS

45. Embraces : ADOPTS

46. Cigna competitor : AETNA. Named for the volcano Etna.

47. Mud daubers, e.g. : WASPS. Not familiar with the mud dauber wasp.

48. Smells : REEKS

50. Boy with a fishing pole in a '60s sitcom title screen : OPIE. Stumper. I've never watched "The Andy Griffith Show".

51. Highlands hillside : BRAE

54. Rock concert fixture : AMP

55. U.S. Army E-6, e.g. : NCO. What other 3-letter answer could it be?

56. Jamaican genre : SKA

57. Phila. setting : EST. I am guessing the constructor is from Philadelphia.

Answer grid.

C.C.