Friday October 15, 2010 Kelsey Blakley

Theme: Get the L in Here! - Y is replaced by LY at the end of first word of each two-word familiar phrase.

17A. Mentioned with a yawn? : DULLY NOTED. Base phrase is Duly Noted. Adv to Adv.

23A. Tightfistedness scale? : MISERLY INDEX. Misery Index. Not a familiar economic term to me. A measurement of unemployment & inflation rate. Noun to Adj.

53A. Like a centaur? : PARTLY ANIMAL. Party Animal. Centaur is part human & part horse. Noun to Adv.

64A. Old enough to know better? : HARDLY BOYS. The Hardy Boys. Noun to Adv.

The first two theme answers experienced a vowel sound change after the transformation. Nothing happened to the last two.

Sometimes our Monday puzzles have more theme entries than Friday's, but the theme concept is definitely more complicated on Friday: Adding/Deleting/Replacing letter (or letter strings), or punny wordplay. Monday's theme tends to be more straightforward, so is Tuesday's. Then we progress to Wednesday & Thursday (often) with a unifier.

Across:

1. A popular one is modeled after the Winchester rifle : BB GUN. Stumped immediately. Wiki says "One of the most famous BB guns is the Red Ryder BB Gun, modeled after the western Winchester rifle".

6. Three-time A.L. MVP : A-ROD. Four letter, with abbr. hint in the clue, who else could it be?

10. Narcissist's obsession : SELF

14. Oil source : OLIVE

15. __ fide : BONA

16. Gin flavoring : SLOE

19. Inn group member : MAID. Nice play on "In group".

20. __ trap : SET A. Didn't emerge quickly.

21. Like jellybeans : OVOID

22. Memo header : IN RE. Latin for "in the matter of".

26. Swiffer WetJet, e.g. : DAMP MOP. Have never heard of Swiffer WetJet.

29. Bereft : LORN

30. Jupiter, for one : ORB. Oh, God, I wanted GOD.

31. Allen contemporary : PAAR (Jack). Steve Allen. I was at a loss.

33. Lollipop-licking cop : KOJAK. Played by Telly Savalas.

37. Ristorante staple : VEAL

39. Explore deeply : PROBE

42. Derelict, perhaps : WINO. "Perhaps" yes.

43. Contest entry : ESSAY

45. Factor opening : BENE. Opening for the word benefactor. I don't think I would have gotten the answer even with a question mark in the clue.

47. Bucko : MAC

48. Goofs (around) : BUMS

51. Battle preparation place, in metaphor : WAR PATH

57. Actress Falco : EDIE

58. Oarlock pin : THOLE. Used to throw me off.

59. Vanishing points : ENDS

63. Outfits : RIGS. New definition of "rig" to me.

66. Send out : EMIT

67. End of a lover's ultimatum : OR ME. I penned in ELSE.

68. Designated : MEANT

69. Aussie sleep sounds? : ZEDS. Z is Zed in Australia.

70. European coal region : SAAR. No idea. Where is it?

71. Fire proof? : ASHES. We've seen similar clue before.

Down:

1. Mr. Olympia contestants' obsessions : BODS. The only Mr. Olympia I know is Arnold.

2. Risqué : BLUE. In China, yellow means risqué. By the way, this is for Jayce. Just omit the bamboo shoots. No such ingredient in authentic Chinese dumplings.

3. Thin ornamental layer : GILT

4. Black light, briefly : UV LAMP. Not familiar with the term. What is it used for? Why "black light"?

5. Marshal under Napoleon : NEY. Napoleon called him "bravest of the brave".

6. Good, except on the links : ABOVE PAR. Always happy with a double bogey round.

7. Eggbeater feature : ROTOR

8. Tip of Massachusetts : O'NEILL. Tip O'Neill. From Massachusetts. Former Speaker of the House. Great clue.

9. Beatnik's address : DADDY-O. Unknown to me. Like today's "dude". Doesn't sound cool at all.

10. Gilligan's shipwrecked ship : S. S. MINNOW. The insane SSM* start made me doubt my crossing entries.

11. Savanna grazer : ELAND

12. River through Tours : LOIRE

13. Fly-by-night co.? : FEDEX. Nice clue too.

18. "It'll never wash!" : NO SOAP. Another new slang for me.

24. Little cut-up : IMP. "Cut-up" = Prankster. Followed by IRK (25. Bug like a 24-Down).

26. Went off the deep end : DOVE. Great idiom play.

27. God wounded by Diomedes in the "Iliad" : ARES. Greek war god. Was ignorant of the wound he suffered in "Iliad".

28. Wheels of Fortune? : MBAS. Tricky clue.

32. Knock over : ROB

34. "Sands of Iwo __": 1949 film : JIMA

35. Med school subj. : ANAT

36. "Mayor" author : KOCH (Ed). Needed crossing help.

38. Doctor's orders, often : LAB TESTS

40. Stump : BEWILDER

41. Plaque holder? : ENAMEL. The question mark should point you at the teeth direction.

44. James's "Westworld" costar : YUL (Brynner). No idea. Not familiar with the movie. James Brolin.

46. Time slice : ERA

49. Aristotle's first element of tragedy : MYTHOS. See here. It consists of 6 parts, a la Aristotle. Another learning moment.

50. Home to many Berbers : SAHARA. Berbers are those North African tribesmen.

52. Annapolis newbies : PLEBES

53. Two-time Venezuelan president Carlos : PEREZ. Alien to me.

54. Turn on __ : A DIME

55. Intolerant : RIGID

56. "__ Rae" : NORMA

60. Early animal handler : NOAH. OK, Noah handled those paired animals in his Ark.

61. Bit of force : DYNE

62. Ret. fliers : SSTS

65. Sumac from Peru : YMA. Classic crossword name.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Thursday October 14, 2010 Matt Matera

Theme: Aye-Aye, Sir - Various ways to answer in the affirmative appear at the starts of the answers to starred clues, with different language bracketed at the end of each clue as a hint. Tip off in the clue for 66A. Parliamentary votes : YEAS.

1A. *Hip-hopper who married Beyoncé (German): JAY-Z. Symmetrically placed with YEAS.

20A. *Old stories (English): YESTERDAY'S NEWS.

28A. *Inferred cosmic substance (Russian): DARK MATTER. Matter that cannot be detected directly, but "must" exist because "something" massive is interacting with the observed gravitational behavior of the matter that can be detected.

44A. *Séance device (French): OUIJA BOARD. Actually, the trademarked name comes from combining two "yes" words, OUI and JA. That makes this answer stand out a bit from the others.

51. *Fatal problem in Genesis (Spanish): SIBLING RIVALRY. Cain v. Abel.

Al here.

A fairly "agreeable" puzzle today, no? A pangram. Kind of slow starting, but once it got going, it filled in faster for me than yesterday's. More than a few obscure names and places make this a Thursday puzzle, though.

ACROSS:

5. Sturdy fabric: DENIM. From French serge de Nîmes, cloth from a town in southern France.

10. Delhi wrap: SARI. Women's wear in India. Also has an alternate of spelling saree. A seemingly infinite variety of styles.

14. Movie apiarist: ULEE. Peter Fonda's character in Ulee's Gold was a beekeeper.

15. Like sandalwood leaves: OVATE.

16. Green Zone site: IRAQ. A heavily fortified central portion of Baghdad that contained several palaces of Saddam Husein. The International Zone. Also a recent movie about the same starring Matt Damon.

17. Gets into: DONS. Puts on clothing.

18. Brewers' kilns: OASTS.

19. Things you saw while out?: LOGS. Sawing logs, slang for snoring.

23. "Paris, je t'__": 2006 film: AIME. (Paris, I love you) a film made up of 18 short stories, and had 22 directors.

24. Charged particle: ION.

25. Nashville awards gp.: CMA. Country Music Awards.

33. Mythological ride: CARPET. Close your eyes, girl, or if you prefer, don't you dare close your eyes.

35. Derisive cry: YAH. If you say so, I guess.

36. Pivotal part: CRUX. Latin for "cross".

38. Bug, perhaps: ERROR. Latin errare, wander, go astray.

39. Hottie: FOX. Obligatory pic. Just don't google images for her with the word "thumbs"...

40. Easternmost state: MAINE. Ayuh is another way to say yes.

41. "Don't touch that __!": DIAL.

42. Body art, in slang: TAT. Tattoo.

43. High-speed raptor: FALCON. Raptor (Latin) and rapid are related words. To call a raptor high-speed is sort of redundant.

47. Former World No. 1 tennis player Ivanovic: ANA. What is it that draws attractive women to tennis?

48. With 6-Down, one in fear of an audit: TAX. and 6. See 48-Across: EVADER.

49. "Dagnabit!": RATS. Charlie Brown's second-favorite interjection, especially at Halloween. "Rats, another rock."

58. Colombia neighbor: PERU.

59. Funnel-shaped: CONED.

60. Architect Mies van der __: ROHE. Father of "modern" architecture. i.e. big square buildings with lots of glass. Also tubular steel furniture.

61. Animal shelter: LAIR. Related to "lie", as in lie down.

62. Gather: AMASS.

63. Intuited: KNEW. Not quite the same? My sense of the word is to perceive or guess immediately without thinking, but without knowing beforehand. Maybe I'm wrong.

64. About: OR SO.

65. Greet respectfully: BOW TO.

DOWN:

1. Kids' author Blume: JUDY.

2. Succulent plant: ALOE.

3. Dieters may fight them: YENS.

4. Keebler cracker: ZESTA. Saltines competition.

5. Pushover: DOORMAT.

7. Org. with rovers: NASA. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Rover as a remote exploration vehicle, not a dog. SPCA for first thoughts anyone?

8. __-bitty: ITTY.

9. Handel bars?: MESSIAH. Cute musical pun, bars of music, Handle's Messiah. (famously, the Hallelujah chorus)

10. '20s White House nickname: SILENT CAL. Coolidge. 30th president. A possibly apocryphal story has it that Dorothy Parker, seated next to him at a dinner, said to him, "Mr. Coolidge, I've made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you." His famous reply: "You lose."

11. ... ducks in __: A ROW. Explanations from decorative plaster ducks on the mantle in the 70's, to shooting galleries, are everywhere, but the likely origin is much simpler, think of the image of a mother duck leading her ducklings across a pond, which could have been observed ever since there were ducks.

12. Poverty, in metaphor: RAGS. From rags to riches.

13. Brightness nos.: IQS. I wanted something to do with lumens, or other light sources.

21. Down source: EIDER. Harvested from nests after the ducklings mature and leave it.

22. "Kidding!": NOT! Popularized by Wayne's World skits and movies (from SNL).

25. Included in the e-mail chain: CCED. Carbon Copied, a holdover from business snail mail. You can still buy carbon paper, but why?

26. Video game plumber: MARIO. Nintendo's go-to guy has appeared in over 200 games since 1981 where he was "jumpman" in the Donkey Kong arcade game.

27. Pianist Claudio: ARRAU. From Chile, which also neighbors 58A. Peru. Moonlight Sonata.

29. Honshu city: KYOTO. The Koyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emission reduction (the US has refused to participate) was first adopted there. And 45D. Airline to 29-Down: JAL.

30. Top limit: MAX.

31. Actress Durance who plays Lois on "Smallville": ERICA. On the one hand it wasn't clued with (Erica) Jong. On the other, hand, if you're not into comic book heroes made into TV shows, you're unlikely to have heard of her. This year is the last season for Smallville, which has been somewhat more soapy than super. We don't know yet if Ms. Durance has a fear of flying yet, as the red and blue blur has not figured out how to do it yet in this alternate Superman story line.

32. Bad sentence: RUN ON.

34. Former Kremlin policymaker: POLITBURO.

37. TV princess: XENA. Lucy Lawless.

39. Terrif: FAB.

40. Former sketch comedy that used Don Martin cartoons: MAD TV.

42. Hailed ride: TAXICAB.

43. "I wish 'twere otherwise": 'FRAID SO.

46. Slap the cuffs on: ARREST.

50. Like a biting remark, in British slang: SARKY. Sarcastic.

51. Burn slightly: SEAR.

52. Novelist Murdoch: IRIS. Apparently one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Sorry to say her work is completely unknown to me.

53. Pitcher Hideo: NOMO. First Japanese major leaguer to relocate to US MLB (Dodgers).

54. Chew: GNAW. Sort of an onomatopoetic word.

55. Unaccompanied: LONE. Had SOLO at first.

56. Flightless bird: RHEA. Finally. Something other than EMU. Not new to crosswords, though.

57. Trees used to make longbows: YEWS. Foliage is poisonous, especially to horses. Rare to poison humans, unless you're like Euell Gibbons and eat everything in the forest. (Actually, that's not true. Euell died of a complications due to a genetic disorder, not from eating pine trees.)

58. Abbas's gp.: PLO. Palestine Liberation Organization. Mahmoud Abbas succeeded Yasser Arafat.

Answer Grid.

Al