Saturday December 4, 2010 Bruce Venzke

Theme: None

Total words: 68

Total blocks: 32

Bruce Venzke often has grid-spanners in his puzzles, themed & themeless. Today we have:

17A. Like versatile antennas : OMNIDIRECTIONAL. New word to me.

20A. More important matters : BIGGER FISH TO FRY. Nice answer.

50A. 1890s warning song for sailors : ASLEEP IN THE DEEP. No idea. Maybe Spitzboov is familiar with the song. Such a deep voice.

54A. Avon work, say : DOOR-TO-DOOR SALES. This could be the seed entry. Sparkling.

Triple columns of 7s are then stacked in each corner. Very choppy solving for me. Some of the clues are way out of my league.

Across:

1. Big event : GALA. Easy start.

5. Acid-tongued : ACERB

10. Soyuz letters : CCCP. Cyrillic for USSR.

14. Lakers forward Lamar : ODOM. The guy on the right. The only Laker I recognize is Kobe Bryant.

15. Kentucky college town with an annual Spoonbread Festival : BEREA. What is Spoonbread?

16. Ding Dong relative : HO HO. What, no shout out to our sweet Santa?

21. Picking up a prescription, say : ERRAND

22. Atelier items : EASELS

23. Go green, in a way : REUSE

24. PETA concern : FUR

27. Karaoke essential : LYRIC. Boomer loves Karaoke.

28. ID theft item : SSN

29. Compound cry of displeasure : BOO! HISS!. Well, I sure hear "Boo!" and the hissing sound. Never "Hiss!".

32. Protected whale : SEI. Not familiar with sei whale, Wikipedia says "sei" is the Norwegian word for pollock.

33. Jalopy : CRATE. Did not know crate can mean "old car".

34. Primatologist's subject : APE

37. Spa fixture : JACUZZI. Scrabbly.

39. Scale notes : FAs. Musical scale.

42. Bit of rodeo gear : REATA

44. Ron who played Tarzan : ELY

45. Memorable WWII gesture : V-SIGN

47. Boat ramp site : MARINA

49. Saw-toothed formation : SIERRA

55. Seine feeder : AUBE. No idea. It's pronounced like OH-b.

56. TV exec Arledge : ROONE. Learned his name from doing Xword. Longtime chairman of ABC News.

57. Longtime Balkan leader : TITO. A Heroic figure in our history book.

58. Got the lead out : SPED. "Get the lead out" is new idiom to me.

59. Expressed reproval of : TSKED

60. Orwell's alma mater : ETON. Guessed.

Down:

1. Nestlé peanut snack : GOOBERS. Why peanuts are called goobers is beyond me.

2. Finds appealing : ADMIRES

3. Words signifying commitment : LONG RUN. I don't get this clue.

4. Juanita's friends : AMIGAS

5. "__ Without Wings": Celtic Thunder song : A BIRD. First encounter with the song. Oh God, it sounds so good.

6. "What's My Line?" panelist : CERF (Bennett). I can never remember his name.

7. "... kissed thee __ killed thee": Othello : ERE I. Could only get the answer if it were Elba related.

8. LPs : RECS (Records)

9. Soak : BATHE

10. Particular : CHOOSY

11. Gives : CONFERS

12. Commercial tuna : CHARLIE. This refers to StarKist's Charlie the Tuna I presume?

13. Study of govt. : POLY-SCI. Political Science?

18. Bright star in Cygnus : DENEB

19. Tilted type: Abbr. : ITALS (Italics)

24. Compel : FORCE

25. Ryder rival : U-HAUL

26. Like five-diamond hotels : RITZY

30. Andean staple : OCA. Xword staple.

31. Slangy word before or after "who" : SEZ

34. Ill-fated attackers of 1588 and 1589 : ARMADAS. The Spanish Armada.

35. Meteorological metaphor : PEA SOUP. Dense fog.

36. Spot for a stud : EARLOBE. Stud earrings.

37. Critic Maslin : JANET. Film/Literary critic for the NY Times. Foreign to me.

38. Penn and others : IVIES. Was thinking of Sean Penn rather than the University of Pennsylvania.

39. Like s'more-makers' faces : FIRE-LIT

40. Accept : AGREE TO

41. Attaches with a click : SNAPS ON. What click?

43. Like most stadiums : TIERED

46. Calm : SEDATE

48. Left on the boat : APORT

49. Tear up : SHRED

51. Church exchange, perhaps : I DOs. See, this is the commitment I was thinking for the 3D clue.

52. Breakfast spot : NOOK

53. Muscle quality : TONE. I want her arms. Super-toned.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday December 3, 2010 Pamela Amick Klawitter

Theme: No scotch, just add A RY(e). I am not good at naming these add on themes. By adding ARY to the end of the second word of a common phrase, a new and entirely different phrase emerges, with oodles of frivolity.

20A. Where a witch's influence ends?: SPELL BOUNDARY. Or is SPELLBOUND really one word? I like the imagery of a boundary on spells.

25A. Office employee to avoid?: DEADLY SECRETARY. Deadly secret. I am not really familiar with this as a phrase, though I know there is a movie, and the newspapers use it often, like when describing the Toyota cover-up.

47A. Shuttle evangelist?: SPACE MISSIONARY. Space mission. I think many of our televangelists would be better if sent off in a rocket ship, but that is just me.

53A. Bird in a landfill?: GARBAGE CANARY. Garbage can. My favorite, as it turns a can into a bird.

Well, it is your semi- recovered Lemonade here for your Friday entertainment. This is my first blogging of Ms. Klawitter, but we have had many of her puzzles this year, mostly on Sundays, but last month’s Wednesday effort with all the swapping and trading was fun.

Some really fun clues:

23A. River past Memphis: NILE. Ha ha, fooled you, Memphis used to be the capital of Egypt, before Cairo.

33A. Teen sensation?: ANGST. Great clue, man. For me it was ages 11 to 14.

9D. Treetop rocker: CRADLE. Oh. I LOVE this clue, they get you thinking about music, and rockers and then slip in my favorite lullaby, which was obviously written by someone who did not like kids. I mean what kid wants to hear about falling out the top of a tree?

40D. Item in a stirring picture?: SPOON. Another great clue, simple elegance..

On we go.

ACROSS:

1. Actor Gyllenhaal: JAKE. Did the controversial BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN with Heath Ledger, dated Reese Witherspoon among others, and his sister, Maggie appeared in the DARK KNIGHT which is the Batman movie where Heath Ledger was so fabulous as the Joker. Also, see below for more Batman stuff.

5. Big rolls: WADS. The online dictionary says this goes back to the US in 1778.

9. "Zorba the Greek" setting: CRETE.A wonderful, fun MOVIE .

14. Very top: APEX. Not to be confused with ACME, also four letters beginning with A.

15. Cartoon drooler: ODIE. Poor baby, he gets such bad press because of the CAT.

16. Invoice word: REMIT.

17. Downed shot: BELT. The first shout out to our shot downer, Tinbeni.

18. Eugene O'Neill's daughter: OONA. Also, married to Charlie Chaplin.

19. Lab flask contents, perhaps: ACIDS. Like my stomach tonight, ick.

24. Tim's "Tool Time" sidekick et al.: ALS. Ick, a gratuitous plural, when Lou Gherig’s disease could do it.

34. What a recent ex may need: TLC. Or recent eye surgery patients….

35. With 62-Down, call: SEE A, 62d. See 35-Across: BET. Poker rules, still.

36. Early 16th-century date: MDI.

37. "Also sprach Zarathustra" composer: STRAUSS. I am not the music expert, but is the music used for Space Odedsey:2001 ?

41. Shade on a beach: TAN. A wonderfully tricky clue, as I was trying to think of a three letter word for umbrella. I am a tan freak. We also have, 63A. Sunburn soothers: ALOES, to keep those tans safe.

42. Cookie recipe morsels: NUTS. Okay, I refuse to go back to that discussion, just believe me, there is no gravitational issue.

44. Fitting: APT.

45. Phoenician dialect: PUNIC. Well, while we may not know the clue directly, most of us have been taught about the Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage, and the famous pictures of Hannibal crossing the Alps on elephants to attack Rome from the north. Of course, having a son getting his PhD in Roman archaeology may have made this a touch easier for me.

51. Part of a roadie's load: AMP. Okay, here is where I tell my tales of going on the road with bands I represented, traveling by bus, eh, maybe later.

52. __ bomb: ATOM. Well BOOM! BAM!(Forgive me Emeril and BATMAN).

59. Actress Thomas who is now St. Jude's National Outreach Director: MARLO. Danny’s daughter, and the star of That Girl .

60. For all of us: OURS.

61. Certain line crosser: SCAB. Unions were very serious when I was growing up, and while they did much good in the 40’s and 50’s, eventually they became tools of bad people and did much to ruin American Industry.

64. Actor Baldwin: ALEC. My favorite of the brothers.

65. Kate __, a.k.a. Batwoman: KANE. This was very difficult for me, as I never knew of the 2006 change to BATWOMAN who is no longer Kathy Kane, but is a Jewish lesbian! In the continuing saga of clues relating to my life, I collected comic books while in law school and for years after, and had my own store in Gainesville until I had to move to South Florida for a previous eye operation.

66. Air ducts: VENTS.

67. "There you have it!": TA DA. The word of the whole corner!

68. USMC rank: SSGT. They have a lot more SERGEANTS than I knew. Dennis, was this just for you?

DOWN:

1. Setup punch: JAB.

2. Fossey focus: APES. Dian who lived among GORILLAS .

3. Source of the food thickener alginate: KELP. No clue, but with Jake being easy, so was this.

4. Lengthens: EXTENDS. Okay, Lois and Carol and ladies, I know where this one fits in your memory banks.

5. Wild associate?: WOOLLY. Don’t know why but this reminded me of this classic SONG .

6. Sun-dried structures: ADOBES. Unlike the tomatoes…

7. Flintstones' Snorkasaurus: DINO. Their pet; very cute.

8. Linebacker Junior who played in 12 consecutive Pro Bowls: SEAU. He played many years in San Diego, came to Miami for a couple of years and then EXTENDED his career with the Patriots. Sadly, I think he has retirement adjustment PROBLEMS .

10. Changes the actor: RECASTS, and the similar, 31D. Televise again: REAIR. REGURGITATE?

11. Kuwaiti VIP: EMIR.

12. Unlike folks on "Hoarders": TIDY. I have never and never will watch this “reality” show from A&E (Arts? Entertainment?) which exploits the sad life of mentally ill people.

13. Saturn drivers?: ETS. Cute, but drivers?

21. Light melodies: LILTS. Okay ladies, help me here, because this is all I thought of from my YOUTH , am I the only one?

22. Some traffic monitors: NARCS. We had this in a puzzle I blogged recently.

25. Condemns: DAMNS. Most famous ONE . Which leads naturally, even if spelling does not work, to 43D. Like an infamous "A": SCARLET.

26. Become, finally: END UP.

27. Antacid target: AGITA. Fascinated that this ITALIAN SLANG would be an acceptable term.

28. Texas and Tennessee, in Toulouse: ETATS. Well, this is silly, since there are no states in Toulouse named Texas, why not “to Toulouse” to show it is a French answer?

29. Gulager of "The Virginian": CLU. He is still working, now in horror movies at 82 ACTOR and has since 1956, when I first began watching TV; always sounded like he swallowed something wrong.

30. Insurance company named for a mountain: AETNA. A Hartford Connecticut mainstay, the company not the mountain.

32. "The Waltons" handyman Tucker: YANCY. Another one I did not know, but it is Friday. He was played by ROBERT DONNER, a weird looking dude.

38. City on its own bay: TAMPA. Okay Tin man who did you pay today?

39. Sch. in Troy, NY: RPI. And another Spitzboov reference?

46. Exposes: UNMASKS.

48. Make stand out: EMBOSS. Another opportunity ladies?

49. Divine: SACRED.

50. Mississippi source: ITASCA. We have had this river in Illinois, trying to trick us before.

53. 8 on the Beaufort scale: GALE. My first love was GALE, and I thought she was 10.

54. Elvis __ Presley: ARON. My oldest boy's name, spelled wrong,

55. Billy __: GOAT. For you again Tinbeni, I wanted MARTIN.

56. "The Long, Hot Summer" vixen __ Varner: EULA. We just had this back in an October offering from Ed Sessa.

57. Some HDTVs: RCAS.

58. Bright side?: YANG. Please somebody help, I know YIN, and I know YANG represents the bright colors in Feng Shui, so I guess this is what it must mean, but honestly I never saw the clue and would never put YANG in there except the corner was already filled. (From C.C.: Yang is literally "bright" in Chinese. Yin means "shady".)

59. Dallas NBAer: MAV.

Answer grid.

Well peoples, it is good to be at least partially back; enjoy the day and week end; bruised but not broken, Lemonade 714.