Saturday October 16, 2010 Barry Silk

Theme: None

Total words: 72

Total blocks: 28

Quite low black square count. One letter V away from being a pangram.

Barry framed this puzzle with 12 ten-letter entries, triple-stacked in each quadrant:

5A. Younger partner : JESSE JAMES. The Younger brothers. Four Js in the grid, two in this fill alone.

16A. Field for bug bugs : ENTOMOLOGY. I used to confuse it with etymology.

18A. They need to be transcribed : STENO NOTES

58A. Networking asset : SHARED FILE. Gorgeous entry.

62A. Scotch part? : PINE NEEDLE. Not familiar with Scotch Pine.

64A. Agent's accounts : SPY STORIES

1D. Southwestern national park, or the primary plant that grows there : JOSHUA TREE. This is a theme answer in Jerome's tease puzzle, with JOSH embedded in front.

2D. Apparent : OSTENSIBLE

3D. Strength-training exercises : ISOMETRICS. No idea. It strengthens an isolated area?

30D. Three-time U.S. Open champ : TIGER WOODS. Nailed it.

31D. He played Max Bialystock in "The Producers" : ZERO MOSTEL. Nailed it as well, since I got the crossing TZU easily.

32D. Act diplomatically : USE FINESSE.

A typical Silk puzzle. Long & scrabbly answers. Several baseball references as well, including his home team.

Across:

1. Bring together : JOIN

15. Bone, to Benito : OSSO. Osso Buco = Bone with a hole.

17. USAF plane for limited runways : STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing). Drew blank again, Dudley!

19. Surgical instrument that stops bleeding : HEMOSTAT. Hemo is prefix for "blood".

21. Ice cream choice : QUART. Was thinking of flavor.

22. A, in Arles : UNE

23. Crime show in its 11th season : CSI. "Crime" hint was a big help.

24. Modem speed unit : BAUD. Kept reading "Modern speed unit".

26. "Per ardua ad __": RAF motto : ASTRA. Literally "Through Adversity to the Stars".

28. Pope before Paul V : LEO XI. Educated guess.

30. Lao-__ : TZU. It's Lao-Zi in Mandarin Chinese. Literally "Old Master".

33. Bitter outburst : TIRADE

35. 2008 World Series champs : PHILLIES. Barry made a tribute puzzle to celebrate the win.

37. Baseball stats : RBIS

38. Small opening? : MICRO. As in microscope.

40. Fiend : OGRE

41. Stiff's nickname : EL CHEAPO. I was picturing a priggish old woman.

43. Formed from : MADE OF

45. Some MIT grads : EES

46. Screams : RIOTS

48. Manhattan Project notable : FERMI (Enrico). 1938 Nobel Winner in Physics.

49. Forward : BOLD

50. Result in a roped-off area, briefly : TKO. Boxing.

52. Earned : WON. Oh, as in earned/won the trust.

53. Equally hot : AS MAD. I had different "hot" in mind.

56. Cobra-killing carnivore : MONGOOSE. Was ignorant that it feeds on cobra.

61. Scribbles : JOTS

63. Sidewalk sale items : ADES

65. Bikini component : ISLE. No bra. Just Bikini Atoll.

Down:

4. Court plea, briefly : NOLO. Nolo contendere.

5. Kids : JESTS

6. Necessitate : ENTAIL

7. Proof mark : STET. "Ignore the change" mark.

8. Didactic term of address : SON. Nice clue.

9. Expressive rock genre : EMO. Three letter rock genre has to be EMO. Dark stuff.

10. Flower in the amaryllis family : JONQUIL. No idea. See here. Dictionary says it's rooted in Latin juncus, meaning "rush".

11. Voiced : ALOUD

12. Manny with 150 career pinch hits : MOTA. Totally unknown. See this photo. #11. Dodgers. Did you get it immediately, Bill?

13. Hungarian wine region : EGER. Well, maybe Jazzbumpa knows.

14. Part of SSS: Abbr. : SYST

20. Large number : SCAD. And 55. Myriad : MANY.

24. Quantum physics pioneer : BOHR (Niels). Nobel Physics 1922.

25. Accepted principle : AXIOM

27. Impetuous : RASH

29. Disney acronym : EPCOT

34. Spam, at times : EMAIL

36. Rich supply : LODE

39. 2001 high-tech debut : IPOD. That early?

42. Like wind and surf : ERODENT

44. Clueless, after "in" : A FOG

47. 1966 U.S. Open champ Fred : STOLLE. Tennis. I drew a blank. Just knew it's can't be Couples. Fred Couples has never own US Open.

49. Discloses : BARES

51. Places for pads : KNEES. And MIDI (56. It covers the 51-Down). Did you want PADS?

53. Ancient royal symbols : ASPS. Ancient Egypt.

54. Crow's-nest sighting : SHIP

57. Resort NNE of Ventura : OJAI. Man, this has become a popular city in Xword.

59. __ gratias : DEO. "Thanks be to God".

60. French iron : FER. No idea. Fer-de-lance = Iron of the lance. Strange name for a snake.

Answer grid.

C.C.

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.