Wednesday November 10, 2010 Pamela Amick Klawitter

Theme: Barter Town - The first word of each two-word theme answer is a synonym for 'trade.'

18A. Flea market cousin : SWAP MEET. San Jose, Ca hosts "The Original World's Largest Flea Market."

24A. Mickey Mantle or Mark Teixeira, notably : SWITCH HITTER. A player who bats both left- and right-handed.

39A. Fill in at school : SUBSTITUTE TEACH. Nice shout out to several of our regular commenters.

51A. Currency differential : EXCHANGE RATE.

62A. Commercial imbalance : TRADE GAP. The amount by which the value of a country's visible imports exceeds that of visible exports.

Melissa here.

A rare weekday puzzle from our LAT Sunday regular constructor Pamela Amick Klawitter. The grid design resulted in lots of 4-letter (30) & 5-letter (19) entries.

Across:

1. "60 Minutes" correspondent : SAFER. Morley. Did three tours in Vietnam.

6. __ Helens, Wash. : MT. ST. Mount Saint Helens. May 18th of this year marked the 30th anniversary of an eruption there which lasted 9 hours. The result of an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale.

10. Setup punch : JAB

13. Pump option : PREPAY. Gas pump.

15. Tad : IOTA

16. L.A.-based oil giant, familiarly : OXY. Occidental Petroleum Corporation.

17. Get there : ARRIVE

20. Soccer VIPs? : MOMS. Haha, nice.

21. Source of low-alcohol wines : ASTI. A white sparkling wine produced in an area to the south of the town of Asti, in Piedmont, Italy.

23. No longer newsworthy : PASSE

27. Diet successfully : LOSE

28. Counsel : ADVISE

32. "__ Gold": Peter Fonda film : ULEE'S

35. Helper: Abbr. : ASST.

38. Lobbying gp. : PAC. Political Action Committee.

43. Modern __ : ERA. Bit of a stretch I thought.

44. Friend's pronoun : THEE. 'All the world is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer'. Robert Owen (1771-1858).

45. "Then ..." : AND SO

46. Karate instructor : SENSEI. Japanese title of respect, used to address teachers and professionals.

49. Glued to the tube, say : RAPT

57. Shoelace protector : AGLET. We all know this by now.

60. Smack back? : EROO. Smackeroo. Also with sock- or stink-. Or more appropriately, switch.

61. It's wet in Oaxaca : AGUA. Spanish for water.

64. "The Sound of Music" quintet : OSCARS. Best director, Best film editing, Best score, Best picture, Best Sound.

66. "Awesome!" : RAD

67. Botanical junction : NODE. The point on a stem where a leaf is attached. Like this.

68. Golf commentator Pepper : DOTTIE. Did not know her.

69. Poet Lowell : AMY. Welcome back, Clear Ayes!

70. Texter's sign-off : TTYL. Talk to you later.

71. Many Miley Cyrus fans : TEENS.

Down:

1. Sends unwanted e-mail : SPAMS

2. Road sign symbol : ARROW

3. Nuclear pioneer Enrico : FERMI. Italian physicist who developed the first nuclear reactor.

4. Bible letters : EPISTLES. Twenty one epistles in the New Testament (not counting Revelation), most believed to be written by Paul.

5. Toyota __4: SUV model : RAV

6. Peruvian volcano El __ : MISTI. Again with a volcano.

7. Namely : TO WIT. "That is to say."

8. Ticketing place: Abbr. : STA. Station.

9. Danced like Bojangles Robinson : TAPPED. Remember this scene?

10. Stereotypical diner name : JOE'S. Eat at Joe's.

11. Forest choppers : AXES

12. Unit of computer memory : BYTE. Eight bits make one byte.

14. Slangy assents : YEAHS

19. Sportscaster Albert : MARV. Broad jumper. I KID!

22. Knife holder : SHEATH

25. Budgetary concern : COST

26. British art institution : TATE. Network of four art galleries in the UK (Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Tate Modern, and Tate St. Ives).

29. Apple touchscreen computer : I-PAD

30. Anatomical pouches : SACS

31. Return from a cave? : ECHO. Sneaky, but I nailed it.

32. Finds a purpose for : USES

33. Dangle a carrot in front of, so to speak : LURE

34. "My Country" author : EBAN. Subtitle, "The story of modern Israel." Needed perps.

36. Seek damages : SUE

37. Buffet heater : STERNO.

40. Suffix with meteor : ITIC. Meteoric rise to fame. Sometimes unexplainable.

41. Finish line indicator : TAPE.

42. Play break : ENTR'ACTE. French for "between the acts."

47. Watermelon bit : SEED

48. Magnitude : EXTENT

50. "... 'What __ boy am I!'" : A GOOD. Little Jack Horner nursery rhyme.

52. Exciting : HEADY.

53. Adrien of cosmetics : ARPEL

54. Colorful quartz : AGATE

55. Shroud city : TURIN. Shroud of Turin.

56. Lets up : EASES

57. Name on a razor : ATRA

58. Fat measure : GRAM

59. __ Luck : LADY

63. Understood : GOT

65. Heavy drinker : SOT

Answer grid.
Melissa

Tuesday, November 9, 2010 Julian Lim

Theme: All In - TV poker. The dealer gives two face down cards to each player. They may look at their cards and a round of betting ensues.

17A. High jump technique created by 1968 Olympic gold medalist Dick: FOSBURY FLOP. Dick Fosbury would go over the bar with his back towards it. The standard method at the time was the scissors kick, Clip.(0:22) The FLOP in the poker game is when the dealer turns over three cards at one time in front of himself. All remaining players may use them in figuring their hand and decide on whether to bet or fold(drop out).

27A. K-shaped reversal on the road: THREE POINT TURN. From the left side of the road it may look like a K. Diagram. The TURN, the dealer places one more card face up and another round of betting occurs.

45A. Longest Canadian waterway: MACKENZIE RIVER. It runs north to the Beaufort Sea. Map. The River, sink or swim time, the last card the dealer exposes. One last round of betting before the remaining players show their hand.

60A. World Series of Poker Main Event no-limit game whose 2010 winner will be revealed tonight—the last words of 17-, 27- and 45-Across refer to the cards dealt between rounds of betting: TEXAS HOLD 'EM. I never heard of this game before it appeared on TV. Informal poker games usually do not have a non-playing dealer.

Argyle here.

An interesting puzzle theme. Is our constructor a gambler, I wonder. I'll bet most of us had an easy time with the puzzle with only one or two tricky crosses.

Across:

1. One who's all skin and bones : SCRAG. Not a common word but one we've had recently.

6. Talmudic scholar : RABBI, The Talmud is the primary source of Jewish religious law.

11. Attire in which to retire, briefly : PJs

14. __ donna : PRIMA. Italian: literally, first lady. The principal female singer of an opera company.

15. Startle : ALARM

16. Jay-Z's music genre : RAP

19. December 24th, e.g. : EVE. Ho, ho, ho!

20. String ensemble instrument : CELLO

21. French greeting : 'ALLO. Presumably, an approximation of the French saying the English word, hello.

22. Lumberjack's tool : SAW

23. Street shaders : ELMS

25. Some nest eggs, for short : IRAs

33. Filmdom's Farrow : MIA. Her images.

34. Leftover scraps : ORTS

35. Chilling : EERIE

36. "My Dinner With Andre" director Louis : MALLE. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. Passed away in 1995.

39. "__ a done deal" : IT'S

40. Victoria's lasted longer than that of any other British monarch : REIGN

41. Dahl's "Fantastic" title character : MR. FOX. Had this just yesterday; anybody suffer short-term memory loss?

42. Speak highly of : TOUT. In Sunday's puzzle.

44. Saldana of "Avatar" : ZOE. As she appeared in "Avatar". Image.

49. Puerto __ : RICO

50. Matching : SAME

51. Caribbean music : SKA

53. Eye layer : UVEA

56. Sales pitch : SPIEL

59. Candy in a dispenser : PEZ

63. Milne's "Now We __ Six" : ARE

64. Año beginning : ENERO

65. Popeye's creator : SEGAR. The cartoon, not Popeye Doyle.

66. Get __ of: discard : RID

67. Ppd. enclosures : SASEs. Prepaid self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE)

68. Utopias : EDENS

Down:

1. Sunscreen letters : SPF. Sun Protection Factor.

2. Swamp beast : CROC

3. It may be meteoric : RISE

4. Slow walker : AMBLER

5. Charles de __ : GAULLE. French President from 1959 to 1969.

6. Blu-__ Disc : RAY. For recording movies and such, until something new comes along

7. With 18-Down, sporty Italian wheels : ALFA. 18D. See 7-Down : ROMEO

8. Really good time : BALL

9. "W." star Josh : BROLIN, 2008 movie where he portrayed the American President from 2001 to 2009

10. Tariff payer : IMPORTER

11. Prepare, as a bottle launcher : PRESSURIZE

12. Jakarta's island : JAVA. Map. Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia.

13. Expel with force : SPEW

24. Perfume squirt : SPRITZ

26. Suit to __ : A TEE

27. Pageant crown : TIARA

28. Somewhat unhinged : HALF-CRAZED

29. 10th-century emperor : OTTO I

30. Comic books, e.g. : ISSUEs

31. Hardship : RIGOR

32. Maui goose : NENE

33. "That tastes great!" : "M,M,M,M!"

37. Norse trickster : LOKI. Norse mythology.

38. Does, as a task : EXECUTES

43. Speak ill of : TRASH

46. Nine-day devotion : NOVENA

47. Levy, as a tariff : IMPOSE

48. Like many Muslim women : VEILED

51. Trade easy punches : SPAR

52. Skin lotion brand : KERI

54. Spouses no more : EXes

55. River in the Bernese Alps : AARE

57. On __: nervous : EDGE

58. Far from fatty : LEAN

61. Urgent call at sea : S-O-S

62. __ Fields: cookie brand : MRS.

Answer grid.

Argyle