Saturday January 15, 2011 Brad Wilber

Theme: None

Total words: 70

Total blocks: 29

Looks like Brad planned the grid with triple stacks of 10s in the upper left and lower right, then added two black squares in the corner to get the smoothest fill. Here are the resulting four 10s:

14A. Manhattan clam chowder feature : TOMATO BASE. New England clam chowder is milk-based.

16A. Nanny's challenge : HOLY TERROR. Fun to say.

55A. Dramatic atmosphere source : FOG MACHINE. Needed crossing help.

58A. Some tree sculptures : TOTEM POLES. Nice full name.

Difficult solving for me. Brad Wilber has strong backgrounds in literature, art & theater, and his grids naturally reflect his interests. Stuff like DANILO (41D. "The Merry Widow" hero) is just out of my wheelhouse.

On the other hand, I was so happy to see THOME (14D. Jim with 589 lifetime homers). Such a classy guy. Twins just signed a one-year contract with him on Friday. He's going to reach 600 homers this coming season. The new Target Field certainly fits his eyes.

Across:

1. Its leaves are used as a heart stimulant : DIGITALIS. Foxgloves. Don't think they grow in Minnesota.

10. More than comfortable? : RICH

15. "The Aviator" actor : ALDA (Alan). Four letter? I could only picture CATE Blanchett & her amazing portrayal of Katharine Hepburn.

17. Disco family name : GIBB. Andy Gibb or any of the Bee Gees?

18. Like the Ford logo : OVAL

19. 2/9/2010 victory parade honoree : SAINT. The Superbowl winner New Orleans Saints.

20. Lemming predator : SKUA. Had no idea skuas prey on lemmings. Both live in the Arctic region.

21. 59-Across element : METER. 59. Frost lines? : POEM. Robert Frost.

23. The Lean One, in "Peer Gynt" : SATAN. Unknown to me. I've never read "Peer Gynt".

25. Directional suffix : ERN. As in western.

26. "... __ we extinguish sight and speech": Browning : ERE

27. Kennedy associate : ALITO (Samuel). Anthony Kennedy. Supreme Court.

29. Nitrogen compound : AMINE

31. Lupe's "Later!" : ADIOS. Is Lupe a typical Spanish name?

32. Van Helsing's creator : STOKER (Bram). Only know he wrote "Dracula".

33. Serving : PORTION

36. Imaginary monster : CHIMERA. Fire-breathing monster: with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail.

37. Certain Honshu resident : OSAKAN. I confused it with Okinawa, the Blue Zone prefecture, where people live a long long life.

38. Exotic smoothie ingredient : GUAVA. Love tropical fruit. Not guava though.

39. Lennon love song : WOMAN. Ode to Yoko Ono.

40. Arens of Israel : MOSHE. Stumper. Only know MOSHE Dayan. His face does look familiar though. Must have seen his interview somewhere.

41. Part of HUD: Abbr. : DEV. HUD: Department of Housing and Urban Development,

44. Logical tips? : ELS. Letter L starts and ends the word "logical".

45. Mom's dinnertime plea : TRY IT

47. Pundit : SWAMI

49. Handbook list, briefly : REGS

51. Otherwise : IF NOT. Give OR ELSE a rest.

53. Spanish cordial : ANIS. How does it taste like, Santa?

54. Latin I word : AMAT. Amo (I love), amas (You love), amat (He loves).

57. Somewhat, with "a" : MITE

60. Inventory site : STOREROOM

Down:

1. Mulligan, e.g. : DO-OVER. Golf. Some men are so vain, often take several mulligans per round.

2. White Rabbit's cry : I'M LATE

3. Rabbitt's "You and I" duet partner : GAYLE (Crystal). Eddy Rabbitt. Here is the clip. I like the consecutive "Rabbit" and "Rabbitt" clues.

4. Derby-wearing Addams : ITT. Cousin ITT. The Addams Family".

5. Water testers : TOES

6. Neosporin target : ABRASION

7. Rodeo twirlers : LARIAT. Spanish for "La Reata".

8. Sees through : IS ONTO

9. Sealy competitor : SERTA

10. Cleaning aids : RAGS

11. 1950s Irving Berlin campaign song : "I LIKE IKE". Know the slogan, not the Berlin reference.

12. Modern storage aid : CD BURNER. Thanks to Al, now I've got FLASH DRIVE.

13. Sultry Cuban dance : HABANERA. Does this look sultry to you?

22. Luminous : RADIANT

24. Locals : NATIVES

28. Savanna stalker : LION

30. NYC home of Dali's "The Persistence of Memory" : MoMA

31. Alaskan island : ATKA

32. Bygone Persian title : SHAH

33. PA system essential : POWER AMP. Our PA often blasted a song for Chairman Mao every morning when I woke up.

34. The Tony Martin hit "There's No Tomorrow" is based on its melody : 'O SOLE MIO. Not familiar with the Tony Martin reference. Elvis's "It's Now or Never", yes.

35. English Channel resort : RAMSGATE. Was ignorant of this resort. Must have lots of rams there.

36. Pitch target? : CUSTOMER. Sales pitch.

38. Attending : GOING TO

40. "Oh, ri-i-i-i-ght!" : "MY FOOT!"

42. "8 Mile" rapper : EMINEM

43. Workbench gadgets : VISES

46. Schisms : RIFTS

48. Exultant yell : "WAHOO". I've yet to cry out a "Wahoo!" on a Brad Wilber puzzle.

50. Goblet feature : STEM

52. Not very edgy : TAME

56. Lifeguard's skill, for short : CPR

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday, January 14, 2011 Dan Naddor

Theme: No K, OK? A two word common phrase in which the first word ends in CK, has the K removed to reveal a new and humorous phrase.

18A. Apple delivery vehicle?: MAC(K) TRUCK. MAC being your Apple computer product, not edible fruit. MACK TRUCKS have been the premier manufacturer of heavy trucks for years, though the company is now owned by Volvo, it is a classic American success story.

19A. Lobbying gp. bigwig?: PAC(K) LEADER. Political Action Committee (PAC) is our modern organized lobbying group, not to be confused with the LEADER OF THE PACK .

39A. Trap for large reptiles?: CROC(K) POT. I use a crock pot to cook stews so they are ready when I get home from work; I do not recommend giving a crocodile any weed, because we are what they eat when they have the munchies.

58A. Coalition celebration?: BLOC(K)PARTY. The Soviet Bloc did not last very long, did it? Are BLOCK PARTIES popular anymore, now that we do not know our neighbors? I went to one on the 4th of July.

61A. Court dispute over footwear?: MOC(K)TRIAL. Oh what fun, as always the puzzle I blog has some law to explain. A MOCK TRIAL is the playing out of a trial, where the lawyers examine witnesses in front of a make believe jury, to practice for a real trial. MOOT COURT is where make believe appellate court arguments are presented to a panel. Trial court is where evidence is put in and appellate court is where the results of a trial are reviewed by one or more judges. We have had MOC for Moccasin often.

3D. Movie with style?: CHIC(K) FLICK. This is perhaps the trickiest because CHIC, meaning stylish is from the French and is pronounced sheek, unlike all the other clues where removing the “K” did not alter the sound of the word.

35D. Employee using a word processor?: DOC(K)WORKER. Brilliant, recognizing that WORD documents are designated DOC. I will always think of this DOCK WORKER .

Happy Friday all, Lemonade here, back in the saddle and blessed with a Dan Naddor (who says wishes do not come true, right MTNEST995). This is so wonderful and a great example of his heavy themeage, his originality and his wit. On with the show:

ACROSS:

1. Illustrative words: SUCH AS. Dan loved his two and three word answers, so visually challenging.

7. Burst: RUPTURED. I never realized how many meanings this word has; made me think of an appendix.

15. Casual top: T SHIRT. Do you really think they look like “T” when they are laid out flat?

16. Intimate meeting: ONE ON ONE. Or perhaps you like the more romantic sounding tête-à-tête?

17. Baroque composer Cavalieri: EMILIO. No familiarity at all with this COMPOSER .

21. Great Seal symbol: EAGLE. Designed by Charles Thompson from written instructions from Congress. It said Ben Franklin preferred the Wild Turkey as the symbol of our new nation. Of course, if you read Dan Brown, you know it is all mysticism.

22. Lab complaints: ARFS. In honor of our recent dog puzzle, Dan deceives with a quick misdirection.

23. CD-__: ROMS. Compact Disc- Read Only Medium.

25. Hardy's "Pure Woman": TESS. Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented is a very sad book about rape and murder, ironically.

26. "S" on an invitation: SIL. Okay, RSVP, Respondez SIL Vous Plait. Man this filled from the perps but my brain did not see why for a long while.

27. Label for many Elton John hits: MCA. Another handy reference for me, as MCA signed the first band I negotiated a record deal for, and I got to visit the Black Tower often, and go to their parties.

29. Ready-to-mail item: Abbr.: SASE. Self-addressed stamped envelope. Often used as 13D. Things with ltrs.: ENCLS. The enclosure in a letter.

31. Ristorante suffix: INI. Rotini, linguini, all merely the Italian suffix meaning little.

32. Pittypat, in "Gone With the Wind": AUNT. An obscure character in the book, the maiden aunt of Scarlett’s first husband, Charles Hamilton. It is at aunt Pittypat’s house that the famous, "Oh, Miss Scarlett, I don't know nothing about birthing no babies." is uttered by Miss Prissy.

34. Aiming aid in some gun sights: RED DOT. The laser pointer indicator; do not sit still if a red dot appears on your forehead.

38. Fourth-qtr. month: DEC.

41. Reveal, poetically: OPE. Open.

42. Glacial ridges: ESKERS. Remarkably all the words I had trouble with were revealed from the same perps, as I know nothing of these DEPOSITS .

44. It parallels the radius: ULNA. The bones in your forearm.

45. Radar's rank: Abbr.: CPL. Corporal Walter “Radar” O’Reilly who loved his grape Nehi and could predict the future.

46. Fish-eating bird: LOON. No doubt, Dan’s shout out to C.C. for her Minnesota connection, and the decision made on the corner to adopt the Loon.

48. Pollster's query: AGE.

49. Heartache: WOE.

50. Homer Simpson's mom: MONA. Poor Homer had been lead to believe his MOTHER was dead, when she was on the run from the law.

53. Chestnut horse: ROAN.

55. Cartoonist Walker: MORT. This amazing 87 year old cartoonist still draws Beetle Bailey, with his sons writing the words. He also created Hi and Lois, a rare comic strip spinoff featuring Beetle’s sister Lois

56. Nailing, as a test: ACING. The very words we all say.

63. Prepare for a break: RACK UP. When playing pocket billiards (pool) you put the balls in the rack, not to be confused with Torquemeda and his games.

64. Texas city on I-40: AMARILLO. I guess Dan was going though Texas because he added 40D. Dallas suburb: PLANO.

65. Colorless gas: ETHENE. There are so many, this also waited for perps.

66. With composure: SEDATELY. Hmm, I think of sedate as more depressing and formal, but I know it is accurate.

67. "__ Waldo?": WHERE'S. And why do we care?

Okay, time for a rest, the on to the

Down:

1. Make way : STEP ASIDE. Again, Dan begins with a two word answer.

2. Dept. of the Navy component: US MARINES. A shout out to our own Dennis and others.

4. Black __: HILLS. South Dakota home of the BADLANDS .

5. Luyendyk of auto racing: ARIE. A Dutch race car driver who has won the Indianapolis 500 twice.

6. Greek colonnade: STOA. We have this word periodically, I guess it is crosswordese.

7. Rival of Paris: ROMEO. Very tricky, as we forget Paris was the prince Juliet’s father had arranged to be her husband. Paris who took Helen to Troy and even Paris Hilton came to mind along with the city.

8. Takes pieces from?: UNARMS. Pieces meaning weapons, firearma.

9. Workout target: PEC. Like this IMAGE of the Pectoral, chest muscles.

10. Carry: TOTE.

11. Like some films: UNRATED.

12. Compact item: ROUGE. Do women still carry Rouge? A cousin to our friend from yesterday, RHODO, from the French for RED.

14. Hockey ploys: DEKES. This comes from the Canadian twisting of the word DECOY.

20. Pipe cleaner: DRANO. Not what you had in mind when you wanted your pipes clean was it Dennis, WH?

24. Wrapped garment: SARONG. A skill for all to learn HOW TO TIE .

27. Prefix with economics: MACRO.

28. Insertion point indicator: CURSOR. The boobly thing that moves where you send it.

30. Biological bristles: SETAE. Our Latin lesson for the day, from the word which means bristle.

33. Mountain West Conf. team: TCU. Since Dan created this TCU after their recent undefeated season, have joined the Big East, to compete for the automatice BCS Bowl bid which went this year to UConn.

36. Auspicious: OPPORTUNE.

37. Sends, obsolescently: TELETYPES. Love the clue, as trying to figure out an obsolete, out of date way of sending something was a fun challenge.

43. Hyundai model: ELANTRA.

47. Cricket violation: NO BALL. Way too COMPLICATED for me; help Nice Cuppa? Kazie?

50. Family nicknames: MAMAS. I never called my mother that.

51. Carol opening: O COME. All ye faithful…

52. Battery acronym: NICAD. I think it is actually more a portmanteau of Nickel and Cadmium.

54. Magnalium, e.g.: ALLOY. I know this is a portmanteau of Magnesium and Aluminium.

55. Papier-__: MACHE. Do mothers still make Papier Mache stuff for their children to take to school.

57. Pluck: GRIT. I remind you all how much I enjoyed the movie, no takers for the Jeff Bridges’ True Grit ?

59. Captain's underlings: CREW. James T. Kirk?

60. Step on it: PATH.The puzzle is all done, and I did not even see this clue, which is my favorite, what classic misdirection, calling up images of speeding or hurrying up, but filled by the perps, drat.

62. __ du Diable: former French penal colony: ILE. We finish with the Devil’s Island .

Answer grid.

Well good to be home and a joy to have another Dan under my belt, as previously stated, what a week from Don G., John L and Dan. Peace out all.

Lemonade