Sunday January 16, 2011 Jonathan Black

Theme: Put Me In, Coach - ME is inserted in each familiar name/phrase/word, and the resulting phrase is then humorously clued.

23A. King of workouts? : HENRY THE FIR(ME)ST. Henry the First.

45A. Belittle Short? : DE(ME)AN MARTIN. Dean Martin. Martin Short.

96A. Rogaine-induced reverie? : DREA(ME)D LOCKS. Dreadlocks. I've never heard of Rogaine. Drug for hair loss.

119A. Institution for Shrek and Fiona? : HO(ME)LY MATRIMONY. Holy matrimony.

15D. Footballers who draw flags? : DIRTY LINE(ME)N. Dirty Linen.

48D. Purloined sirloin? : (ME)AT HEIST. Atheist.

51D. Zoo area for dromedaries? : CA(ME)L ZONE. Calzone. Have yet to taste it.

64D. Silent cowboy flick? : MI(ME)D WESTERN. Midwestern.

Nice set of 8 theme answers. Half of them have one-word base phrases. No easy task to comb through **ME** words & come up with cluable answers.

I also like the intersection of 4 theme answers. Always impressive. The theme title is rather self-revealing though. I bet many of you grokked the gimmick quickly.

Could be Jonathan Black's debut. If so, congratulations.

Across:

1. Toward the ship's rear : ABAFT. Nailed it.

6. It may be rolled out : TARP. Was picturing red carpet.

10. Sandler of "Big Daddy" : ADAM

14. Really dig : ADORE

19. Man of La Mancha : SENOR. Nice play on the film "Man of La Mancha".

20. Asian nurse : AMAH. Lots of Filipinos working as nannies in Hongkong.

21. Steam (up) : RILE

22. River to the Tyrrhenian Sea : TIBER. Through Rome.

26. Cache : TROVE. Ah, now Argyle and I fully understood how important those cached files are.

27. Jam time : SESSION

28. Balaam's mount : ASS. Biblical mount.

29. Upscale groups : ELITEs

31. Swore : ATTESTED

34. By far : EASILY. Easily the best.

36. Seed protector : ARIL. Like the tiny white stuff covering the pomegranate seeds.

39. Isolate, in a way : ENISLE

41. Green sides : SALADS. Took me a minute.

50. __ Victor : RCA

52. Country where Baha'i was founded : IRAN. Their calendar consists of 19 months of 19 days.

53. Lab subject : DNA

54. Bully : COERCE

55. Hip bones : ILIA

57. Milky Way phenomenon believed to occur almost weekly : NOVA

58. Delay : LAG

59. Bullet that leaves a trail : TRACER. New to me.

60. Wordsworth works : POEMS

62. Commander, in Arabic : EMIR

63. Fragrant resin : ELEMI. Learned from doing Xword.

65. "My mama done __ me ...": song lyric : TOL'. Grammatically incomprehensible.

66. One paying a flat fee : LESSEE

67. Earned : MADE

68. Creep : INCH. Needs "along" in the clue, no?

70. Good in the 'hood : BAD

71. Bowler's assignment : LANE

73. Cup part : BRIM

76. Parting shot, say : RETORT. I don't get this clue. Why "parting"?

79. La __ : PAZ. Bolivia. Paz = "Peace"

81. Chimborazo's range : ANDES

85. Bank deposit : LODE. River bank. Awesome clue.

86. Beauty pageant prize : TIARA

87. Pounds : THROBS. What did you want, Dennis?

89. "__ fallen ..." : I'VE

90. Word most often heard around midnight : AULD. On New Year's Eve.

91. Talk with one's hands : SIGN. Sign language?

92. A lot of thinking is done in them : CRANIA. I feel the left side of my skull is bigger than the right side.

93. Truck capacity unit : TON

94. Hasenpfeffer, e.g. : STEW. I've never heard of this German rabbit stew, Kazie. Hase = Rabbit. Pfeffer = Pepper, a la Wiki.

95. Antitrust law enforcer: Abbr. : FTC

99. Mezzo Berganza : TERESA. No idea. She's Spanish.

101. They have reservations : HOTELS. Thought of Indians.

103. Quaker's pronoun : THEE. I confuse Quakers with Shakers.

104. Confined : SHUT IN

106. Most austere : BLEAKEST

111. Compound used to stabilize perfume : KETONE. Learning moment.

113. Charlotte-to-Raleigh dir. : ENE. I trust the constructor gets it right.

115. Self-playing instrument : PIANOLA

118. Like some floors : TILED

124. Bestow : AWARD

125. "-zoic" things : ERAS. I like this clue.

126. Cork's home : EIRE. Cork county, Ireland.

127. Bistro bill of fare : CARTE

128. Fool : NINNY

129. Coastal raptors : ERNS

130. Artistic impressions, briefly? : TATS (Tattoos).

131. See 2-Down : KNEES. And 2D. With 131-Across, greatest thing : BEES. Bee's knees.

Down:

1. Lenten symbol : ASH

3. Writer Tyler : ANNE. She is from Minnesota.

4. On eBay, e.g. : FOR SALE. I just buy.

5. Assignation : TRYST

6. California border lake : TAHOE

7. Words of agreement : AMENs

8. Churchill's "so few": Abbr. : RAF. Was unaware the "so few" in "Never was so much owed by so many to so few"refers to the Royal Air Force.

9. Key letter : PHI. Fraternity/Sorority key. Got me. (Correction: KEY here refers to the PHI Beta Kappa symbol. Thanks, Lemonade.)

10. Guns : ARMS

11. Semi filler : DIESEL

12. Capone and Capp : ALs. Then we have 114D. Capone harasser : NESS (Eliot). Capone echos.

13. Allots, with "out" : METES

14. Fifth-century scourge : ATTILA. Attila the Hun, Scourge of God.

16. O, in old radio lingo : OBOE. No idea.

17. Guns : REVS

18. "... __ he drove out of sight" : ERE

24. Little bird : TIT. Made me TEHEE (105. Giggle).

25. Pie cuts, essentially : RADII

30. Dr. Cuddy on "House" : LISA. Got via crosses.

32. 1970s-'90s Toyota : TERCEL. Wiki said "Tercel" derives from Latin meaning "one third" as the Tercel was slightly smaller than the Corolla.

33. Come in : ENTER

35. Mountain homes : AERIES. For the eagles.

36. Discombobulate : ADDLE. Fun word, discombobulate.

37. Kidney-related : RENAL

38. Candidate's concern : IMAGE

40. Threw barbs : SNIPED

42. Pizzeria attraction : AROMA

43. Longtime Seinfeld collaborator : DAVID (Larry)

44. Catch : SNARE

46. Join the cast of : ACT IN

47. "__ any drop to drink": Coleridge : NOR

49. "Giovanna d'__": Verdi opera : ARCO. Know nothing about operas.

56. __ Altos, California : LOS

61. Caribbean, e.g. : SEA

66. Delt neighbor : LAT

69. PC component : CRT

70. German chancellor, 1969-'74 : BRANDT (Willy). First encounter with this guy. He won Nobel Peace in 1971.

72. Like Willie Nelson's voice : NASAL. Boomer loves his songs.

73. Great time : BLAST

74. Beat : ROUTE

75. Dynamo's antithesis : IDLER

77. Discipline involving slow movement : TAI CHI. Very slow. Mostly practiced by old people in China.

78. Web address ending : ORG

79. "Wheel of Fortune" category : PHRASE

80. Saroyan's "My Name Is __" : ARAM. I've never heard of the book.

82. Abandon : DITCH

83. Arouse : EVOKE

84. Taste, e.g. : SENSE

87. Immune response component : T CELL

88. Nod, maybe : BID

95. Man-goat deity : FAUN. Satyr is a faun, right?

97. Mutiny : REBEL

98. It can help you relax : OTTOMAN. Sofa.

100. Poorly made : SHODDY

102. Like some bands : ONE-MAN

107. Like soldiers and their families, usually : APART. Poignant clue.

108. Toys with tails : KITES

109. Ring bearer? : EAR. Earrings?

110. Small cut : SNICK

111. Smallest ratite bird : KIWI

112. Brio : ELAN

116. Traditional wisdom : LORE

117. A chip, maybe : ANTE

118. "The Joy Luck Club" author : TAN (Amy). Very authentic portrayal of Chinese-American immigrants.

120. "Catch-22" pilot : ORR. Wow, no idea, Bobby!

121. "Are we there __?" : YET

122. "Mamma __!" : MIA

123. "Absolutely!" : YES

Answer grid.

C.C.

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.