Saturday September 28, 2010 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: None

Total words: 70

Total blocks: 32

Hallmark of Bob's Saturday themeless: three grid-spanners, all colloquial expressions:

17A. "Beats me" : I HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE

36A. Reservation opening : ON SECOND THOUGHT

52A. "And afterward?" : WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

He must have a notebook full of 15-letter common expressions. Besides the above three 15s, Bob also gives us 11 more multi-word entries.

D, R, S & T are probably the most frequently used English consonants in crossword grid. Today we have 27 Ts. T can start or end a word. Form consonant blend like TR, TW or ST. Very versatile, just like S, but much better looking. Too many plural S or third person singular S at the bottom/right edge can make a boring grid. Singular ASS, SOS, SAS, ASSESS is not much better.

Across:

1. "Get going!" : SNAP TO IT. I sure did not start well.

9. Bantam : PETITE. Always associate bantam with chicken, not person.

15. Consort of Gustav I : KATARINA. I did not even know who Gusatav I was. According to Wiki, he's the founder of modern Sweden.

16. Like many barber shops : UNISEX

19. Bulbs in the kitchen : LEEKS. Not light bulbs. ONIONS can be clued this way also.

20. Speed : ROCKET. Can you make a sentence for me to show how they are interchangeable?

21. Wins approval : SELLS

23. Fellow : GENT

24. Contraction of a sort : TIC. Muscular contraction. Twitch. Great clue.

25. Botanical opening : STOMA. Greek for "mouth". New to me.

27. "Oh, sure!" : I BET

31. Italian classic : O SOLE MIO. Classic what? Food? Car? Beauty? I sure needed "song" in the clue.

34. Many a Middle Easterner : SEMITE

38. Arrives at : GETS TO

39. Vaulter's target : CROSSBAR

40. Before, before : ERST

41. Cast : THREW

43. Gasteyer of "SNL" : ANA. Learned from doing crossword.

44. Main call : AHOY. Bounding main. Ocean.

45. Points at dinner : TINES. The fork points.

47. In the habit of : USED TO

50. Big fan : FIEND

56. Explosive solvent, as it was formerly called : TOLUOL. Sigh! Nope. Luckily the crossing ETUI (49D) has become a gimme, otherwise letter U can be a wild noun guess.

57. Some tiny rods and spheres : BACTERIA. Too sophisticated a clue for me.

58. Funny bit : SHTICK. Consonants rich.

59. Versatile auxiliary wind-catcher : STAY SAIL. Stumped me again.

Down:

1. Word with run or jump : SKI

2. "No way!" : NAH

3. Regardless of the consequences : AT ALL COSTS. Nice entry.

4. "Star Trek" character __ Chekov : PAVEL. Mystery answer for me. Have never watched "Star Trek".

5. Poem with the line "Who intimately lives with rain" : TREES

6. Pen emission : OINK. Nailed it. Pig pen. I've been thinking lately why Jayce says sometimes clever clues please him, sometimes annoy him. Clues such as OINK are lovely. A big "Aha" or "D'oh" when you get it. On the other hand, "Chinese bread" (normally question mark is not provided on Saturdays) for RENMINBI will irk many, simply because most solvers are not familiar with the currency. A clever clue will not help. But try to commit RENMINBI (literally "people's money") to your memory, it will come up in a puzzle some day.

7. Stats for QBs : INTS. Interceptions I suppose.

8. Touching game : TAG

9. Fake it : PUT ON A SHOW. Great answer too.

10. Pass : ENACT. As law.

11. Little sucker : TICK. Fun clue.

12. You usually can't walk to one : ISLE. Draw a blank.

13. Ger. : TEUT. OK, Teuton/Teutonic.

14. Computer filename ending : EXE

18. Utah County city : OREM. South of Salt Lake city.

21. Moe, for one : STOOGE. The other two are Curly & Larry.

22. "The Spirit" comics writer Will : EISNER. First encounter with this guy.

23. Emotionally therapeutic episode : GOOD CRY. Do you cry easily?

25. Convince using flattery : SMOOTH TALK. Beautiful phrase.

26. Badge material : TIN

27. "God's Other Son" radio host : IMUS (Don). Not familiar with the show.

28. Swing time? : BIG BAND ERA. Gorgeous clue/answer.

29. Flammable gas : ETHANE

30. Bright swimmers : TETRAS. Brightly colored fish.

32. "O, swear not by ... the fickle moon ... __ that thy love prove likewise variable": "Romeo and Juliet" : LEST. Man, Shakespeare gives me trouble all the time, esp his damned quotes, never know what the guy wanted to express.

33. Outside: Pref. : ECT. Or ecto. Opposite of "endo-".

35. Aurora's counterpart : EOS. Greek dawn goddess. Also learned from doing Xword.

37. Three abroad : TRE. In Italy. Uno, due, tre. Sometimes it's clued with a tricky "It's over due?".

42. Shooter's target : HOOP. Basketball.

44. Literally, "for this" : AD HOC

45. Petulant : TESTY

46. Laura of "ER" : INNES. Total stranger.

47. "That's not good!" : UH OH

48. Old man of the sea : SALT. Slang for "sailor", but why "old"? It's not used any more? Or just playing on Hemingway's book title?

49. Small tool case : ETUI

50. Great achievement : FEAT

51. Tambo Colorado builder : INCA. Was ignorant of Tambo Colorado. The Inca adobe complex in Peru.

52. Mg. and kg. : WTS (weights)

53. "Frontline" airer : PBS

54. Noon indicator : XII. Clock/watch. Got me.

55. Chess champion who succeeded Botvinnik : TAL (Mikhail). The Latvian chess champion. I don't know who Botvinnik is, but the three-letter chess guy is always TAL, meaning "rain", "dew".

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday September 17, 2010 John Lampkin

Theme: AP → IP - AP is replaced by IP in the first word of each two-word common phrase.

17A. Ballet? : TIP DANCING. The base phrase is Tap Dancing.

27A. Photo session with a klutz? : TRIP SHOOTING. Trapshooting. Constructor John Lampkin is an avid photographer and recently shot some scenes at sea on the Maine Coast the day after Hurricane Earl blew by. In other words, he did some TRIP SHOOTING OF WATER. See his dramatic images here.

47A. Part of a barber shop review? : SNIP JUDGMENT. Snap Judgment. Fun clue.

62A. Christmas morning ritual? : RIP SESSION. Rap Session. Such an evocative answer.

The first and the last both have one consonant in front of IP, the middle pair have a double consonant blend. I like the symmetry, intended or not.

I wonder if John tried three blend consonant clusters like STR, you know, Strap Down to STRIP DOWN. Sounds good to me.

I mentioned last week how constructors pride themselves in debuting a new word/phrase, today we have WINGNUT (24D. Hand-tightened fastener). With the I & U (from two pre-set theme answers) in place, John could have gone with DISH OUT or FIRE UP or any other existing choices. He went extra mile and got WINGNUT. Safe clue. No political controversy. I loved the fill also because it's a nickname for carrier based fighter pilot. Familiar with the term, Spitzboov?

Across:

1. Bulldogs' home : YALE. Yale Bulldogs.

5. Controversial 2009 Nobelist : OBAMA. Controversial indeed.

10. Tevye's toast subject : LIFE. Tevye is the father in "Fiddler on the Roof". L'chaim (literally "to life")!

14. Airline with a King David Lounge : EL AL

15. Drink disparaged by W.C. Fields : WATER. "I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it."

16. Bridal gown shade : ECRU

19. Iberian Peninsula invader : MOOR (756-1492)

20. Cartographic detail : INSET

21. Au pair in a ring? : KTS (Karats). Au = Gold (Thanks, Dennis) chemically. Why pair? The "Au pair" play is lost on me.

22. Salsa instrument : BONGO

23. Can't commit : SEESAWS. Hey, CC alliteration.

25. "Don't gimme that!" : C'MON

32. Realtors' database: Abbr. : MLS. Dictionary says it stands for Multiple Listing Service. Not a familiar term to me.

35. Abbr. part, often : INIT (Initial). Drew a blank.

36. "The nerve!" : I NEVER

37. Court cry : OYEZ. Used to think it's O YES. Another CC alliteration.

39. Airborne annoyances : GNATS

41. Dynamic opening? : AERO. Aerodynamic.

42. Gibbon, e.g. : SIMIAN

44. Naldi of silents : NITA. Lives forever in Xword due to her Xword friendly name.

46. Use a seed drill : SOW. What is a seed drill?

50. She played Elizabeth I in "Elizabeth" : CATE (Blanchett). Very sculpted face.

51. Wrote a Dear John : ENDED IT

55. Shot to the face? : BOTOX. Man, I understands the humor, but this clue still sounds a bit violent to me.

58. ESP, e.g. : PSI. Just learned the telepathy meaning of PSI a few weeks ago.

60. Predawn : EARLY

61. Pundit's piece : OP-ED. Alliteration.

64. Area between gutters : LANE. Bowling.

65. Come about : OCCUR

66. Further : ELSE

67. Line discontinued in 2004 : OLDS

68. Military camp : ETAPE. Learned from doing Xword.

69. Blonde, at times : DYER

Down:

1. Elusive Himalayans : YETIS

2. "Drop me __" : A LINE. Or A NOTE.

3. Dropping the ball, so to speak : LAPSE. Hmm, "so to speak", I bet Lois seldom lapses.

4. First arrival : ELDEST

5. MYOB part : OWN. MYOB = Mind Your Own Business.

6. English, maybe : BACKSPIN. The pool term "English". Can it also mean SIDE SPIN, Lois?

7. Arguing : AT IT

8. Good guy : MENSCH. Nice consonants-rich word.

9. Its mon. unit is the peso : ARG (Argentina)

10. Throat-soothing brew : LEMON TEA. Iced Lemon Tea is very popular in Hongkong.

11. Macintosh's apple, e.g. : ICON

12. __ legs : FROG. Delicious! Delicacy in Guangzhou.

13. Prefix with bond or dollar : EURO. We had this clue before.

18. Game company first called Syzygy : ATARI. Unaware of the trivia. What does Syzygy mean?

22. Godsend : BOON

26. What misters do : MOISTEN. Misters = Ones who mist. Notice it's not capitalized?

28. Ford muscle car, to devotees : STANG

29. Lithographer James : IVES

30. Fabled fiddler : NERO. Alliteration. Nero fiddles while Rome burns.

31. Generate interest : GROW

32. Damp area growth : MOSS

33. The Eagles' "__' Eyes" : LYIN'

34. Big Mack : SEMI. Nice play on "Big Mac".

38. 60606 and 70707, e.g. : ZIP CODES. Awesome clue. Where are those two places, by the way?

40. Proctor's announcement : TIME IS UP. Another debut entry.

43. "Iliad" hero : AJAX. He rescued the body of Achilles and killed himself when Achilles' armor went to Odysseus.

45. Much of Chile : ANDES

48. Portray : DEPICT

49. Ribbed : TEASED

52. How deadpan humor is delivered : DRILY

53. Terse concession : I LOSE. Always wanted I LOST.

54. Jazz pianist McCoy __ : TYNER. Sorry, Sir, don't know you. I am sure Jazzbumpa will pick a smooth link for us.

55. New Mexico's official neckwear : BOLO. Can you picture Gunghy with a bolo tie?

56. Fire __ : OPAL. The fill-in-the blank clues today are not that easy.

57. Be inclined (to) : TEND

59. Shelter org. : SPCA

62. Some eggs : ROE. Now I see "egg", I see IRA. Nest egg.

63. Long lead-in : ERE. Erelong.

I did not notice any clecho (clue echo), you? Go there and thumb up, lurkers. Thanks.

Answer grid.

C.C.