Friday November 5, 2010 David Poole

Theme: Internet Destination, Before and After; each of the four theme answers takes an every day phrase, and by adding a new beginning, creates a humorous phrase which starts a famous internet site.

17A. Favorable time to place an online bid?: EBAY WINDOW. E added to BAY WINDOW, with the meaning a WINDOW of opportunity, and EBAY the auction site.

27A. Online networking site trainee? : MYSPACE CADET. MY added to SPACE CADET, yields MYSPACE and CADET as trainee.

44A. Detective's job concerning a personal online relationship? : FACEBOOK CASE. FACE is added to BOOK CASE, with CASE what detectives investigate.

58A. Spinner seen in an online video?: YOUTUBE TOP. YOU added to TUBE TOP, creates a TOP SPINNING ON YOU TUBE. When my brothers and I were growing up, we used our Dradles for the battles.

Happy Friday, and Happy Guy Fawkes Day, from Lemonade714, which being sentimental, I celebrate every year as the anniversary of the first time I fell in love. Mr. Poole is becoming a more regular contributor, and this puzzle has plenty of misdirection and humor and creative cluing, beyond the theme, which seems like a nice idea, but a bit tortured.

Some fun:

64A. Ones changing locks: DYERS. Dyeing the hair, nice misdirection.

30D. Fly catcher: TOAD. Not the San Francisco outfield.

42D. "Hey, ewe!": BAA. For some reason I like it when certain people get my attention with “hey you”.

46D. Serious depression: CRATER. I hope you all got that and did not get blue, except of course being blue is good here.

52. Cop stopping traffic?: NARC. My favorite, stopping drug traffic.

We continue:

ACROSS:

1. Tic __ :TACS. The first of the strong mints.

5. Travis of country: TRITT. Yes it is a GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE.

10. Arrange in a tournament: SEED. The use of this term comes from needing to separate seeds to let them grow, just as you separate the very good teams, to allow them to meet later in a tournament.

14. Eliza's greeting: ELLO. Ms. Doolittle has had a strong run this fall.

15. 2009 Man Booker International Prize winner Alice: MUNRO. This Canadian short story writer is a recipient of many fiction awards, including this biennial award for one’s life work, presented by a British investment firm.

16. Poi base: TARO. A tuber, associated with the plant we call Elephant Ears, here in Florida.

19. "__ Almighty": 2007 film: EVAN. Like 56.D. Movies with "II" in their titles: Abbr. : SEQS this movie was a sequel to BRUCE ALMIGHTY which Jim Carrey wisely chose not to star in, Bruce II became EVAN with Steve Carrell, both of which has Morgan Freeman as the Almighty, and no doubt the inspiration of 20A. Sacred scroll: TORAH.

21. Silent: SOUNDLESS.

23. Wellness gp.: HMO.

24. __ de toilette: EAU. Just a touch of French, toilet water sounds so much better in French.

26. Nobelist Bohr: NIELS. Thanks to Martha Grimes, this always reminds me of SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT, or is it dead?

31. What odes do: PRAISE. Before there were scrolls, or other writings, singers toured the land writing and performing songs of praise for the lords in power, and ODE is derived from the Greek word for song.

34. 1987 Costner role: NESS, prohibition policeman Elliot; do we like or dislike Kevin, or was ROBERT STACK the embodiment of the role? What guest stars! Does anyone watch Boardwalk Empire ?

35. Hope-Crosby destination: RIO. One of the many ROAD TO… movies they did with Dorothy Lamour.

36. Pay for periodic use: RENT.

37. Coll. of 12 signs: ZOD. Notice that collection is abbreviated, so the response must be an abbreviation as well. We are deep in Scorpio now.

38. Afghanistan's Tora __ region: BORA. This is the region where the US believed bin Laden was hiding in a cave, and where US troops were sent after 9-11, but despite killing and capturing many al Quaeda, no leader.

39. 2007 honor for Hugh Laurie: Abbr.: OBE. It is easy to forget how British Hugh Laurie is after watching him as House for so many years, so go rent the Bertie Wooster/Jeeves series, or Black Adder and see him in his original incarnation. Of course, Jeeves, loved the poem 40A. "__ Ben Adhem": ABOU, a simple poem which many were forced to memorize.

42. Warned, in a way: BEEPED. In Florida is is against the law to blow your horn except to warn of danger, though it is not enforced that way. We also have, 38.D. Buzzer: BEE.

47. Bottom bits: DREGS. When the grapes were crushed, the remaining skin etc was the dregs.

48. Word before or after pack: RAT. Frank and the boys as the RAT PACK, and my uncle, who kept every bill he ever paid, as a PACK RAT.

49. 27-Down, e.g.: SCH. This leads to 27.D. 49-Across from which Buzz Aldrin turned down a full scholarship: MIT. And, 31.D. 27-Down fig.: PROF.

52. Colorful fish: NEON TETRA. Another fishie clue.

55. Kirin beer rival: ASAHI. The two most popular beers; the brewery where my youngest works, just was signed by a much larger distributor, so the world of ORLANDO BREWING, the only organic brewery in Florida is picking up.

57. Starting stake: ANTE. In card games, for example.

60. Bakery buys: RYES. We go ERGOT, to the bread made from the grain.

61. Seaside flock: ERNES. These birds are our most popular feathery friends.

62. Bit of Marx's legacy: QUIP. Groucho, not Karl, and also 33.D. Toastmasters' stock: ANECDOTES.

63. It may number in the thousands: CAST. Cecil B. DeMille always advertised his movies had them.

65. Agile: SPRY.

DOWN:

1. Effectiveness: TEETH. The NFL needed to put some Teeth into the ban on helmet to helmet hits, by suspending players without pay.

2. "Tuesdays With Morrie" author: ALBOM. Mitch, who is a regular in the Detroit newspaper, as well as on ESPN’s SPORTS REPORTERS ; I read the book. Morrie was smart, but the book seemed just exploitive and without any real insight, but it was a big hit.

3. Light smoke: CLARO. I believe the term is used for certain light tobacco cigars, but I have never been much of a smoker, and only the perps got me there.

4. Milk source: SOYA. It is taking over, and clearly a misnomer, as how can a nut give milk. And in contrast, 18.D. Milk by-products: WHEYS. Little Miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet (and what a fine tuffet it was!) eating her CURDS and….

5. "I didn't need to know that!": TMI. TOO MUCH INFORMATION; hard to keep up with the short cut minds of the young; my latest embarrassment was not deciphering oic, to mean Oh, I see.

6. Accumulates: RUNS UP. Ah yes, Wimpy accumulated quite the tab for Hamburgers.

7. Chinese leader?: INDO. Indochinese, by now we all know leader often is used to mean the beginning of a word.

8. Defeated decisively: TROUNCED.

9. Student resenters, perhaps: TOWNIES. When I was young, I was sent to boarding school, and once a month or so, the school would load up a bus and take some students into the big city (Pittsfield, Massachusetts) and drop them off, to be picked up 5 hours later. Man the townies hated us, except the girls, who were much too nice…It was West Side Story, suburban version.

10. "__ By Starlight": jazz standard: STELLA. So many versions of this SONG .

11. Gather information secretly: EAVESDROP. The drop part comes from the purpose of the eave was to have the water drop (or drip) from the roof, and not into the house.

12. Some are named for music genres: ERAS. We certainly know the BIG BAND era.

13. Slips into: DONS. Clothing.

22. Winter mos.: DECS. Egads, we are almost there again!

25. Suffix with lip-: ASE. ASE is a suffix for enzymes, and LIPASE in humans is created in the pancreas and is is critical in neutralizing triglycerides and other non-soluble fats.

28. Actress Aimée: ANOUK. A very natural BEAUTY .

29. 53-Down's homeland: EIRE. More dual clues, but at least a new one for 53.D. Singer born Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin: ENYA.

32. Sitcom whose theme song was sung by its star: REBA. SURVIVOR .

37. Albee play, with "The": ZOO STORY. An international SUCCESS .

40. Put oneself at risk, in a way: ABET. Ading and abetting a Felon…

41. Messed up a hole, maybe: BOGEYED. No longer a bad score for me.

43. Cornerstone abbr.: ESTAB. Established.

45. He played Marty in "Marty": ERNEST. Ladies, for you Mr. Borgnine .

49. Prepared to take notice?: SAT UP.

50. Church area: CHOIR. Tricky, because of the choir being filled with the choir.

51. Wide-haunched: HIPPY. Not a phrase to be used as a compliment, “ my your wife looks really wide-haunched, “ even though it helps in delivering babies, and we know many men really like a broad beam in more than just their boat.

54. Odd character: RUNE. The old way TO WRITE .

59. Sub letters: USS. Can you imagine being underwater for months on THIS .

Answer grid.

Welcome to my new home as Friday’s child, which in fact I am both literally and figuratively. Keep the cards and letters coming and enjoy.

Lemonade

Thursday November 4, 2010 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: "You have to find the key" to unlock this puzzle. The reveal entry was no help: 50D. Clue for 20-, 32-, 39- and 48-Across: LOCK.

20A. See 50-Down: CERTAIN WINNER. "It's a lock." A Dutch book is a set of odds and bets which guarantees a profit to the bookmaker no matter what happens in the contest.

32A. See 50-Down: HAIR CLUSTER. A tress, curl or ringlet. A common superstition is to keep a lock of hair from a baby's first haircut, for luck.

39A. See 50-Down: CANAL DEVICE. Lock, in the sense of a barrier or an enclosure on a waterway.

48A. See 50-Down: WRESTLING HOLD. Headlock, hammerlock, etc.

Al here.

This was tough, and a catch-22 at that. You needed the clue to get the theme, but you needed to solve the theme answers to figure out the clue. I think I spent close to 40 minutes on this one picking away a few letters at a time, some guesses, then looking away and seeing how to make words out of the few perps I could manage. The last letter to fall was the C at the cross of Cozened and Canal device. Imagine how that across word looked with the beginning letter missing... The three and four letter answers were outnumbered today: only 33, compared to 39 answers of five letters or longer.

ACROSS:

1. Home of Brigham Young University: PROVO. Utah.

6. __ Mahal: TAJ.

9. Fat substitute brand in some potato chips: OLEAN. A brand name for olestra, a fat substitute, infamous for its unpleasant side-effects, such as reduced digestive absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, and steatorrhea (I leave looking up this word to you). Although, to be fair, it can also bind with dioxins, the same as normal fat, and so might be useful someday to treat victims of dioxin poisoning.

14. Not loaded: SOBER. Misdirected to think of firearms and ammunition, so EMPTY came to mind.

15. Ambient music pioneer: ENO. Such works as "Music for Airports". It might make you sleepy and miss your flight...

16. Swindler with a scheme named for him: PONZI. A fraudulent scheme of paying investors a little from what is collected from continuous new investors. Bernie Madoff ran the largest one in history.

17. Hemlock, for one: EVERGREEN. A related species, even though they do belong to the family of evergreens, tamarack (larch) needles turn yellow and fall off just like deciduous trees, so they are not always green year-round.

19. Grain disease: ERGOT. Mainly affecting the rye family of grains, alkaloids are produced that if eaten can cause convulsions and even gangrene.

22. Covet: ENVY.

23. Battery, bond or baseball club designation: AAA. An AAA bond rating means the company issuing it is extremely credit-worthy, i.e. prime. BBB or lower are considered "junk" bonds. They go down to D or "in default". AAA minor league players can be invited up to play in the majors.

24. Belgrade's land: SERBIA. A portion of what was formerly Yugoslavia.

27. Libel and slander disputes are part of it: CIVIL LAW. A legal system inspired by Roman law, the primary feature of which is that laws are written into a collection, codified, and not (as in common law) determined by judges.

34. Brit. record co.: EMI. Electric & Music Industries, Ltd.

35. Spanish pronoun: ESTA.

36. Restful resort: SPA. Name taken from a mineral springs resort in Belgium. Waloon for spring, fountain.

37. Prayer opener: O GOD.

38. Old-fashioned get-together: BEE. As in the sense of social insects working busily together in a common cause.

43. "Beanz meanz Heinz," e.g.: AD SLOGAN. From Gaelic sluagh-ghairm, a battle cry used by Scottish Highland or Irish clans," from sluagh "army, host, slew" + gairm "a cry".

45. Truck capacity: ONE TON. Guessed at the TON ending, but had to wait for at least one perp for the rest.

46. AIDS-fighting drug: AZT. Azidothymidine.

47. __ dire: juror examination: VOIR. From O.Fr. voir “true” + dire “to say.”

54. Foreign: ALIEN. Xenophobia is the irrational fear of foreigners.

56. "The Dick Van Dyke Show" regular: ROSE MARIE. Her role was a comedy writer, Sally Rogers along with Buddy Sorrell, played by Morie Amsterdam.

57. __ Nast: CONDE. Worldwide publisher of such magazines as Vogue, Allure, Golf Digest, Wired, many others.

58. Winter hazard: ICE. Can't argue with that. Although, I wouldn't want to be out in this hailstorm in Georgia, and that's nothing to do with winter. If you click it, watch for at least 25 seconds.

59. Family nickname: AUNTY. Hubby? Wifey? Sissy?

60. Tolerated: STOOD. "That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more." ala Popeye the sailor.

61. Gives the go-ahead: OKS. A long explanation and debunking of other explanations: oll korrect, a deliberate misspelling.

62. Tart fruit: SLOES. They do look like little plums.

DOWN:

1. Minute segment of a min.: PSEC. Picosecond. That is one trillionth, or 0.000 000 000 001 seconds. A picosecond is to one second as one second is to 31,700 years.

2. Wander: ROVE.

3. Upper, in Ulm: OBER. German city, word for over, as in above.

4. Spinal column component: VERTEBRA.

5. Like some farming: ORGANIC.

6. Minute: TEENY.

7. Fresh way to start: ANEW.

8. "Help Me" vocalist Mitchell: JONI.

9. Alfresco: OPEN AIR. Confusingly, al fresco also means "painted on plaster that is still wet".

10. Maker of EverPure shampoo: LOREAL.

11. Former Caltech sr., perhaps: ENGR. Senior in college, Engineer abbrevs.

12. __ dye: chemical coloring: AZO. JZB just explained this the other day.

13. Little thing to pick: NIT. I always wonder why this has a bad connotation. Seems like a useful service. I wouldn't to leave them on me.

18. Competitor: RIVAL. Latin rivalis originally, "one who uses the same stream" (or "one on the opposite side of the stream"), from rivus "brook" The notion is of the competitiveness of neighbors.

21. Basilica section: NAVE. The main portion of a church, connected with naval from Latin navis "ship" based on some vague resemblance.

24. Ancient queendom: SHEBA.

25. Let up: EASED.

26. Customary ceremonies: RITES.

27. It covers the Hill: C-SPAN. Live TV coverage of the House of Representatives. C-Span2 covers the Senate. If Brian Eno's ambient music was being played on either station, you'd never wake up...

28. Da Vinci's lang.: ITAL.ian

29. On the up and up: LEGIT.

30. It started as Standard Oil of Indiana: AMOCO. American Oil Co, now merged with British Petroleum.

31. Expand: WIDEN.

33. John McCain's alma mater: Abbr.: USNA. United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD.

37. Revamp: OVERHAUL. Originally nautical, "pull rigging apart for examination," which was done by slackening the rope by pulling in the opposite direction to that in which it is pulled in hoisting.

39. Hoodwinked: COZENED. Uncertain origin, but perhaps from French cousiner "cheat on pretext of being a cousin;" or from Middle English cosyn "fraud, trickery"

40. "The X-Files" extras: Abbr.: AGTS. FBI agents and extra terrestrials. What's not to love? The truth is out there.

41. Ridd's love, in a Blackmore romance: DOONE. Lorna.

42. They're hard to figure out: ENIGMAS. Riddles. Same length, too.

44. Rio Grande city: LAREDO. Texas.

47. Workshop gadgets: VISES.

48. Skid row figure: WINO.

49. Charlie's Angels, e.g.: TRIO. Tricky, since there were six of them, just not all at the same time.

51. "Deal __ Deal": OR NO. Howie Mandel's game show. Wishful thinking. For the money, of course; what did you think I meant?

52. Lo-cal: LITE.

53. Bygone Tunisian rulers: DEYS. "Title of a military commander in Muslim north Africa," from Turk. dai "maternal uncle," a friendly title used of older men, especially by the Janissaries of Algiers of their commanding officers.

54. Summer coolers, briefly: ACS. Air conditioners.

55. Used car site: LOT.

Answer Grid.

Al