Monday, September 27, 2010 Betty Keller

Theme: Three Diminutive Swine - First word of the first three long entries describe the protagonist of this classic children's tale. Also included are the integral structures associated with the story.

17A. High rollers: BIG SPENDERS

29A. "Do as I say, not as I do" speakers: BAD EXAMPLES

45A. Shrill "compliment" to a pretty woman: WOLF WHISTLE

61A. Catch your breath, or what the subject of this puzzle (found at the start of 17-, 29- and 45-Across) does: HUFF AND PUFF

Also:

39A. Like the house this puzzle's subject couldn't destroy: BRICK. Very center of the grid.

26D. Like a house destroyed by this puzzle's subject: STRAW

33D. See 26-Down clue: STICK. Both fragile houses are symmetrically placed along the edges of the grid. Very nice.

And a bonus entry: PENNED (6D. Confined, as pigs).

Argyle here.

Heavy themeage (57 theme squares) for a Monday with some questionable abbreviations but no real problems. It has been over a year since we have had a puzzle from Betty Keller and again, she isn't big on trickery or obscurity, as is right for a Monday. I think "cute" would be my description of this puzzle.

Across:

1. Sign up : ENROL

6. "My Cousin Vinny" star Joe : PESCI

11. Cooperstown shrine: Abbr. : HOF. The official site of the National Baseball Hall of Fame is in Cooperstown, NY.

14. First lady before Michelle : LAURA. Mrs. Bush.

15. Revolutionary Allen : ETHAN. Vermonter. His brother, Ira, did not get the press that Ethan did.

16. Tic-tac-toe loser : OXO

19. Pin for hanging : PEG

20. Election losers : ALSO-RANS

21. Observing : EYING

23. Musical scale unit : NOTE

24. Morales of "Jericho" : ESAI. We have seen this regular lately. His vowel-laden name use to show up on a seemingly weekly basis.

26. Duped person : SAP

34. Deal in stocks : TRADE

36. Stimpy's partner : REN. Ren is the scrawny "Asthma-Hound" Chihuahua

37. Actor Brad : PITT. Must post picture or else! Image.

38. Thinker Descartes : RENÉ. "Father of Modern Philosophy".

41. K-12 sch. years : ELHI

42. On a cruise : ASEA

43. "The View" network : ABC

44. Dig discovery : RELIC

49. "How revolting!" : ICK

50. One, to Beethoven : EINS. German.

51. Den or parlor : ROOM

53. One in a multiple birth : QUINT

56. Pet lizards' homes : TERRARIA

60. German conjunction : UND. More German.

64. Swearing-in words : I DO

65. Motionless : INERT

66. Nightmare loc. of film : ELM ST.

67. D.C. deal-maker : POL

68. Like a catching-up letter : NEWSY

69. Some towed vehicles, briefly : REPOS

Down:

1. Napoleon's exile isle : ELBA

2. File target : NAIL

3. Carpets : RUGS

4. Director Welles : ORSON

5. Carriage passenger's warmer : LAP ROBE

7. Approx. takeoff hrs. : ETDs. Estimated Time of Departure (ETD)

8. Boater's pronoun : SHE

9. Automobile : CAR

10. Crotch-to-ankle pants measure : INSEAM

11. Native Arizonans : HOPI

12. Plow pullers : OXEN

13. Verne's circumnavigator Phileas : FOGG. World traveller in Jules Verne's 1873 novel, "Around the World in Eighty Days". (Updated later: the original clue Phineas is a typo.)

18. "I could __ horse!" : EAT A

22. "Yahoo!" : YIPPEE

24. Biz VIP : EXEC. Very Important Person in business.

25. Went down like a stone : SANK

27. "Am not!" retort : ARE SO

28. Group of judges : PANEL

30. Idle and Clapton : ERICs. Eric Idle, English comedian, performed as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python. Eric Clapton, English guitarist, performed as a member of rock bands the Yardbirds and Cream.

31. Actress Palmer : LILLI. She was married to Rex Harrison. Image.

32. Code of conduct : ETHIC

35. Overwhelm with noise : DEAFEN

39. German road : BAHN. More German...again.

40. MLB scoring stats : RBIs

44. Stock up again : REORDER

46. Live __ one's means : WITHIN

47. The "T" in NATO : TREATY. North Atlantic Treaty Organization

48. Forsaken : LORN. Forlorn is the more common usage.

52. Source of Canada's symbolic leaf : MAPLE

53. Comical comment : QUIP

54. Cancel : UNDO

55. Fan club favorite : IDOL

56. Swaps between accts. : TFRS.. Is this a common abbreviation?

57. Type of roast : RUMP

58. In that event : IF SO

59. P.M. periods : AFTS. Now this abbreviation is a strain.

62. A, to Berlioz : UNE. Louis-Hector Berlioz was a French composer, regarded as a pioneer of modern orchestration.

63. Not many : FEW

Answer grid.

Argyle

Added 8:45am:

Congratulations to constructor Mangesh Ghogre and his wife Rupali. They just had a new baby boy today. Their first, I think.

Sunday September 26, 2010 Damien Peterson

Theme: Mal de Mer -"Mer" is added to the ends of various parts of common phrases.

23A. Response to "What's a six-letter answer for 'Silent performer'?"? : MUMMER'S THE WORD. The base phrase is "Mum's the word".

50A. Seaside vacation disappointment? : BEACH BUMMER. Beach bum. We also have PIERS (27. Spots for seaside strolls) and SHORE (30A. Spot for seaside strolls). Three "seaside" clechos (clue echos).

60A. Prison performer? : SLAMMER DANCER. Slam dancer. Slammer is a slang for "prison".

75A. Team in an agricultural all-star game? : THE FARMER SIDE. The Far Side. From Argyle. I don't get the joke.

84A. Station that exclusively plays rapper MC's hits? : HAMMER RADIO. Ham radio. Rapper MC Hammer.

118A. Like steak cooked by an enchanting chef? : CHARMER BROILED. Charbroiled.

32D. Sugary complaint? : CANDIED YAMMER. Candid yam. With a bit of toasted walnuts, delicious!

34D. More cordial old-timer? : WARMER VETERAN. War veteran.

Some of the MERs are inserted to the end of the first word, some the middle word, some the end. Nice variety. Five of the them are attached to a M-ending word.

Like Doug Peterson's last "El Week" (playing on "Hell Week" ), the title "Mal de Mer" is just a title, not a direct summary of the theme, nothing seasick, nothing mal with de mer. But French references aplenty:

70A. Capital of Nord, France : LILLE. Je ne sais pas. De Gaulle's birthplace.

104A. Idée source : TETE. Head in French.

106A. French wine region : RHONE

58D. 1956 star of Vadim's "And God Created Woman" : BARDOT (Brigitte). Gorgeous.

61D. "Les __" : MIZ

71D. M.'s partner : MME. Monsieur/Madame.

85D. Dada co-founder : ARP (Jean)

111D. Fille's father : PERE. Fille = Daughter.

Interesting theme entry placement. The grid has a nice week-day style edges, with two fingers (the black square blocks, called so because they look like fingers poking into the grid) rather than three fingers, resulting in plenty of 7s and 6s on the outside and lots of 3s in the middle, esp Downs, several are abbrs.

Across:

1. Railroad foundation : ROADBED. Had road track in mind.

8. Short chat? : CONFAB. Short for confabulation.

14. Destroys : WRECKS

20. Philosopher's term : A PRIORI. Argument without evidence/analysis.

21. Portugal's second-largest city : OPORTO. Also PORTO, from which port wine gets its name.

22. __ reason : WITHIN

25. Superficiality : FACADE

26. Memo opener : AS PER

28. Professor's end? : IAL.End to the word professorial.

31. Agnus __: Mass prayers : DEIS

32. Poolroom array : CUES

33. Loud bird : MACAW

35. The whole shebang : A TO Z. Colorful clue.

36. Bermuda hrs. : AST. Atlantic Standard Time.

37. Five-time NBA championship-winning coach : PAT RILEY. Came to me without difficulty. We must have seen either his given name or surname in the puzzle before.

40. Shah's land, once : IRAN

42. Manhattan cooler? : ICE. Cocktail.

43. Siskel or Shalit : GENE. Only know former.

44. Sleeveless garment : VEST

45. Dinghy pair : OARLOCKS

47. Mountainous region in Genesis : GILEAD. No idea. In Jordan.

52. Sub in a tub : OLEO. Sub of butter. Nice rhyme. Has a Clear Aye style poetic euphony/rhythm feel.

53. Actress Lupino : IDA

55. Being, to Augustus : ESSE

56. Corn remnants : COBS

66. Full of team spirit : RAH RAH

68. Different : ODD

69. Picture cards? : IDS. ID cards.

71. Super Bowl honoree : MVP. Vikings have never won a Super Bowl.

72. Palindromic "before" : ERE

73. Agitated state : FRENZY

78. Roller on a Rolls : TYRE. Good clue.

79. Rhein tributary : AARE

82. Worked (up) : HET

83. Pair at the altar : I DO'S. Pair of oaths.

90. Sci-fi psychic : EMPATH. I only know empathy, rooted in empath, I presume?

92. Declared : AFFIRMED

95. Powerful energy-market gp. : OPEC

96. Abbey titles : FRAS

97. Mex. title : SRA

98. Bench-presser's pride : PECS

99. "Risky Business" co-star : DE MORNAY (Rebecca). Recognized her face when I googled.

101. Flightless bird, nowadays? : SST. Now grounded, hence "flightless".

108. Heads or tails, e.g. : NOUN. This kind of clue gets me all the time.

109. Repentant one : RUER

110. Wrap-up : RECAP

112. Program file suffix : EXE

113. Relief agcy. founded in the U.K. in 1942 : OXFAM. Stands for Oxford Committee for Famine Relief. Unknown to me.

115. NFL ref, in slang : ZEBRA

116. Sacred birds : IBISES. Sacred in Egypt.

121. Bistro, informally : NITERY

122. Comes up : ARISES

123. Unisex : EPICENE. Does not seem to have "sex" root, does it? Not that I know what "sex" root is.

124. Yellowstone attraction : GEYSER

125. "Candid Camera" bits : PUT-ONS

126. Name of earthshaking importance? : RICHTER

Down:

1. Inn crowd option : RAMADA. Great play on "In crowd".

2. Musical works : OPUSES. Thought of OPERAS first.

3. It's exposed many times during the singing of "YMCA" : ARMPIT. Wow, let's see. Awesome clue.

4. 40% of quarters? : DIMES. Yep. I had to calculate in paper. I can't do mental math.

5. Transvaal settler : BOER. Dutch has those kind of aa clusters.

6. Make a misstep : ERR

7. Argument : DISPUTE. Followed by COHESIVE (8. Like good arguments). Another clecho.

9. Phone abbr. : OPER

10. "__ the time!" : NOW'S

11. Not to : FRO. To and fro.

12. Hotel courts : ATRIA

13. Amazing, in dialect : BODACIOUS. Crockett likes to use this word.

14. Hulk Hogan's '80s-'90s org. : WWF (World Wrestling Federation). Learning moment.

15. River inlets : RIAS

16. __ Sketch : ETCH A

17. Hardly orderly : CHAOTIC

18. "All Summer Long" singer, 2008 : KID ROCK. Great song.

19. Cold signs : SNEEZES

24. Theater section : TIER

29. '40s-'70s Coliseum team : LA RAMS. Needed crossing help.

33. It's not true : MYTH. TALE too.

37. Stew veggie : PEA

38. Cow country : LEA

39. Part of many a mtge. payment : ESC. Escrow?

41. Marlins' div. : NLE. National League East.

43. Trig. prerequisite : GEOM

46. Mus. ensemble : ORCH

47. Become lenient, as on crime : GO SOFT. The judge, right?

48. Offer to a dishwasher : I'LL DRY. Dishwasher does all the work for us.

49. Boss : LEADER

50. Counterfeit : BAD

51. Kentucky college or its city : BEREA. Not familiar with Berea College. What is it famous for?

54. Operations mgrs. : DRS. Directors?

57. Food company named for two states : ORE-IDA. Oregon-Idaho.

59. "Yikes!" : SHEESH

62. Modify : ALTER

63. Bethesda-based research org. : NIH. Unknown trivia to me.

64. Largest OH airport : CLE. You'd think it's Cincinnati.

65. Santa staffer : ELF

67. Car loan abbr. : APR. Annual Percentage Rate. I drew a blank.

74. Grape soda brand : NEHI

76. P-like letter : RHO

77. Makes a drink last : SIPS

80. "Cocoon" Oscar winner : AMECHE (Don). Again, recognized him only after I googled.

81. Fenway souvenir : RED SOX CAP. Man, this opens a slew of possible new entries. Twins' Cap, Twins' Program, Twins' Jersey, etc.

86. Used taxis : RODE

87. Big klutz : APE

88. JFK, but not LAX : DEM. Of course I was thinking of JFK Airport. It would really be a cool clue if LAX were named after a famous Republican.

89. Case-breaking words : I CONFESS. Nice entry.

91. When moms are honored : MAY

92. Guitar's second-lowest : A STRING. Well, Al knows.

93. Hotel soap, say : FREEBIE

94. Easy Street's metropolis? : FAT CITY. Both new slang for me. Comfortable living.

96. Stop in photography? : F NUMBER

100. Engine sound : ROAR

101. Lease prohibition : SUBLET

102. Unruffled : SERENE

103. Wall Street worker : TRADER

105. Facilitates : EASES

107. India's prime minister before Shastri : NEHRU. Intuitive guess. Was ignorant that Shastri is India's second prime minister.

109. Wealthy, in Weimar : REICH. Oh, really? I thought it's a just noun.

113. Roughly : OR SO

114. Marvel Comics heroes : X-MEN

115. Suffix with Paleo- : ZOIC

117. Half of the UAR : SYR. The other half is Egypt.

119. Thames islet : AIT. Classic crosswordese.

120. Sch. in Troy, NY : RPI. Spitzboov's alma mater.

Answer grid.

Happy Birthday, Dennis! Hope it's a memorable one and filled with love, joy and every pleasure you desire.

C.C.

Added later: Damien Peterson is another alias name of Rich Norris, anagram of "Editor's Pen Name".