Sunday February 20, 2011 Peter Wentz

Theme: Find Out - Parse it as "F in/D out" - D is replaced by F in each of the 8 common phrases.

23A. Flight attendant's reminder when serving alcohol? : THIS IS NOT A FRILL. This is not a drill.

32A. Equine exhibition with poor visibility? : FOG AND PONY SHOW. Dog and pony show.

45A. Stick around for sautéing? : HANG OUT TO FRY. Hang out to dry.

64A. Energizing bluegrass instruments? : FUELING BANJOS. Dueling banjos. From "Deliverance". What a scary movie!

75A. Craze for some moms? : STAY-AT-HOME FAD. Stay-at-home Dad.

95A. Pixie dust? : FAIRY PRODUCT. Dairy product.

104A. Written warning about gangster Gotti? : FEAR JOHN LETTER. Dear John Letter. John Gotti. The Teflon Don.

119A. Imposing monetary penalties with a nice Chianti? : WINING AND FINING. Wining and dining.

Clever title, isn't it? I wonder what came to Peter Wentz first, theme or theme title? I suspect the latter. Sometimes a phrase can  inspire a theme. Sunday puzzle is a different animal. Very often constructors have a set of theme answers ready, then work on a fitting title, which has to be pertinent to the theme but can't be too revealing lest it spoil the solve.

Interesting for me to see THE WAY clued as "100D. Tao, literally". Tao actually just means "way", sans "the", since Chinese language has no articles. I often omit "the" when it should be present.

Across:

1. Come again? : REVISIT. Can't fool me.

8. Sampled, with "of" : HAD A BIT. Don't feel "of" is necessary. You?

15. Bright bunch : MENSA. Dennis is one, and he knows how much trouble I have with "the".

20. Anthem with the line "The True North strong and free!" : O CANADA

21. Muscle ache cause : OVERUSE

22. Prestigious octet : IVIES. Ivy League had 8 schools.

25. Mideast peninsula : SINAI

26. Fixed, as a pump : SOLED. Thinking of gas pump, not shoe.

27. Org. with a Double Down sandwich : KFC. No bread. Not real sandwich.

28. Hip-hopper's adjective : LIL. You'd think they want something big, so ego-driven.

29. Crashed, so to speak : SLEPT

30. Up to, in invites : TIL

37. "Conan" airer : TBS

40. __ Equis: Mexican beer : DOS. Two Xs.

42. Dice, e.g. : CUBES

43. Prefix with natal : NEO. Neonatal.

44. Be beholden : OWE

48. Well-mannered manor man : BUTLER. Liked the M alliteration.

50. Fridge problem : ODOR

51. It probably won't keep you up : DECAF. Clever clue.

52. Collectible frame : CEL. Disney cartoon cel.

55. "All yours!" : HERE

56. Sobriety checkpoint target, for short : DWI

57. "Tasty!" : MMM

58. '70s-'80s NHLer known as "Lucky Pierre" : LAROUCHE. First encounter with this guy.

62. Didn't deviate from : KEPT TO

69. U.K. medal : OBE. Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

70. Conservatory subj. : MUS. OK, Music.

72. Decrease : ABATE

73. Subj. for refugees : ESL (English as a Second Language)

74. "Annabel Lee" monogram : EAP (Edgar Allan Poe)

78. Fig. in many churches : ST MARY

80. Bronchitis sufferers' aids : INHALERS

81. Spinning toy : TOP

83. Orthogonal joint : ELL

84. Spill preceder : TRIP. Ah, spill here refers to "fall" then.

87. Conclusion letters : QED

88. "Yippee!" : WAHOO

90. Heads of England? : LOOS. Toilets. JOHN if the clue is singular.

92. Baseball's Matsui : HIDEKI. With the Yankees for a long time. Fun guy, unlike the somewhat aloof Ichiro.

98. Dutch city : EDE. Learned from doing Xword.

99. Iowa hrs. : CST

101. Gathers opinions from : POLLS

102. BART stop : STN

103. Chicken Little's concern : SKY. The sky is falling.

108. Auburn's conf. : SEC (Southeastern Conference)

110. Many a 19th-cen. map : LITHO

111. Fair-hiring abbr. : EOE

112. TV's "Science Guy" : NYE (Bill)

114. Shot with extreme spin : MASSE. Billiards shot.

118. Negative particle : ANION. We see ION so often.

124. Old tablet material : STONE

125. "No surprise" : AS USUAL

126. Holiday burner : YULE LOG. Sweet entry for Argyle.

127. Makes better : HONES

128. Mocha residents : YEMENIS. Mocha the port in Yemen.

129. Tiptoe past : SNEAK BY

Down:

1. Spoils : ROTS

2. Comeback : ECHO

3. Resort WSW of Boulder : VAIL. The Colorado ski resort.

4. Blown-up detail : INSET

5. Took the plunge : SAID "I DO". MARRIED has the same amount of letters.

6. Makes, as a perp : IDs

7. Word with car or top : TANK

8. Ski lodge drink : HOT COCOA

9. Charlton's "Earthquake" co-star : AVA (Gardner)

10. Excellent, in slang : DEF (Definitely)

11. SFO posting : ARR

12. Physiques : BUILDS

13. Long Island town : ISLIP. Not familiar with the town. What's it famous for, Splynter?

14. Rat out : TELL ON

15. Love letter sentiment : MISS YOU. Aww.

16. Pandora's boxful : EVILS. Thought of BANES.

17. Like a quick links round : NINE HOLE. Golf links.

18. 16th-century Spain, for one : SEA POWER

19. So to speak : AS IT WERE. In a way.

24. Wrong : OFF. He's off.

31. Indiscreet type : LOUDMOUTH. Nice answer.

33. Nonsense : GUFF

34. Like some bks. for kids : ABR (Abridged)

35. Napoleon cohort : NEY (Michel). Napoleon called him "bravest of the brave".

36. Big 12 rival of Kan. : NEB. Will become a Big 10 this July. For more info, ask Husker Gary.

37. E'en if : THO

38. Creditor's loss : BAD DEBT

39. Chinese food veggie : SNOW PEA. I like sugar peas more.

41. Flower feature : STEM

46. Sandpaper coarseness measure : GRIT

47. Airer of many old MGM films : TCM

49. After that : THEN

52. Shouted : CRIED

53. Years and years : EON

54. Winter Olympics event : LUGE

58. Thumbs (through) : LEAFS

59. Mont. neighbor : ALTA. Here it's again. Alberta.

60. Masters TV venue since 1956 : CBS SPORTS. Golf again. Masters & US Open are my favorite majors.

61. Word before "Who goes there?" : HALT

62. Fighter's stat : KOs (Knockouts). Boxing.

63. Fed after Capone : T MAN

64. Well-known : FAMED

65. Slangy prefix meaning "super" : UBER

66. Green-eyed : JEALOUS

67. Rowboat device : OARLOCK

68. Mole, perhaps : SPY

71. Oldest active NBAer : SHAQ. Oh, nice to know this trivia. Shaq is now 38 Years old.

76. "Goodness me!" : YIPE

77. Bulls' fans' chant? : OLE. Bullfighting. I was thinking of Chicago Bulls.

79. Pinochle declaration : MELD

81. Quaker possessive : THY

82. "Clumsy me!" : OOPS

84. Speedy superhero : THE FLASH. Was ignorant of this superhero.

85. Arrive at, cowboy-style : RIDE INTO

86. Thought process : IDEATION. We've seen IDEATE before. Weird word.

88. Sag : WILT

89. Clip joints? : ARSENALS. Cartridge clip.

91. Messy room, to mom : STY

93. Former Celtics guard and coach : K C JONES. Hall-of-Famer.

94. Metric lead-in : ISO. Isometric.

95. Hatfield, to a McCoy : FOE

96. PC space bar neighbor : ALT. Keyboard.

97. Four laps, often : ONE MILE. Four laps = 800 meters to me. We had 200 meter track.

101. Full legislative assembly : PLENUM

105. Lake Geneva feeder : RHONE

106. White __ : NOISE

107. Rembrandt van __ : RYN

109. Former capital of Crete : CANEA. No idea. Checked Wiki, then found out its current capital is Heraklion. Let's go back to Canea then.

113. "Grand" brand of ice cream : EDY'S

115. Epitome of smoothness : SILK

116. Stuffed shirt : SNOB

117. Like challah bread : EGGY

120. Sussex verb suffix : ISE. Ours is IZE.

121. Sister : NUN

122. Moo goo __ pan : GAI. Literally "chicken".

123. Good times : FUN

Answer grid.

Happy Birthday to Argyle, our witty and sharp Santa. I'd like to share with you a story. Sometime last year I mentioned to Argyle that it's bothering me that I still had not figured out the theme of a few earliest TMS Daily puzzles I blogged. I was not even sure I got the theme answers correct, as in those days I only wrote a few sparse clue/answer comments and attached no answer grid. Argyle went to his local library and found the exact puzzles for me. Like Dennis, he's done lots of small things for me, on and off the blog. Thanks, Santa, may your birthday be filled with sunshine, love and smiles.

C.C.

Saturday February 19. 2011 Bruce Venzke

Theme: None

Total words: 70

Total blocks: 32

Amazing symmetry in this puzzle: the normal 180-degree rotation; left to right; and top to bottom.

As usual, Bruce likes to have grid-spanning answers anchor his puzzle. Today, we have six:

15A. TV host's segue : BE BACK IN A MINUTE. Reminds me of Don's ABOUT TO GO LIVE answer.

17A. Sources of track reports : STARTER'S PISTOLS. Report = Gunshot sound. Had to ask Dennis for help.

34. Lonely guy in old 60-Down : MAYTAG REPAIRMAN. And ADS ( 60D. Some pitches). Sales pitches.

41A. Fighting words : LET'S STEP OUTSIDE

58A. Creed foe, with "The" : ITALIAN STALLION. Nickname for Rocky. Apollo Creed, an unfamiliar character to me.

63A. Maneuver through a tight opening : THREAD THE NEEDLE

Quite a few abbreviations in this puzzle, the by-product of a very demanding grid structure.

Across:

1. Set off, as an alarm : TRIPPED. Tripped an alarm.

8. Elko native : NEVADAN. We've seen ELKO clued as "Nevada city" a few times.

18. Certain border, to a philatelist : PERF. OK, perforated.

19. Menlo Park wizard, initially : TAE (Thomas Alva Edison)

20. Egyptian fertility deity : ISIS

21. It might be req. for some new furniture : ASSY (Assembly). This abbreviation stumped me also.

24. Eject : SPEW

27. Velvet's older sister in "National Velvet" : EDWINA. Hard for me, since I don't know the crossing 27D & 29D.

30. Sends, in a way : EMAILS. I wanted ELATES.

38. Author Levin : IRA

39. Kind of blouse : PEASANT. Looks pretty on this model.

40. Shade : HUE

44. Impressive property : ESTATE

45. Filled in : TEMPED. Don't know temp can be a verb.

46. Travel about : ROAM

48. Fed. inspection group : USDA. Food inspection.

49. Letter on a sweater : ZETA. Oh, the fraternity letter.

52. Defense gp. formed in Bogotá : OAS (Organization of American States). In 1948.

54. Shortfall : LACK

64. High-powered : INTENSE. I associate "intense" with feelings, not "high-powered" though.

65. Lower : DEGRADE. Verb "lower".

Down:

1. Medicinal amt. : TBSP

2. Anatomical network : RETE. Neural network. Learned from doing Xword.

3. Support beam : I-BAR

4. Layered dessert : PARFAIT. Not to my taste.

5. Election night fig. : PCT (Percent)

6. Just make, with "out" : EKE. This little three word is constructor's best friend, same as OREO.

7. Bad way to play : DIRTY. Play dirty.

8. Collars can hide them : NAPES. Neck backs.

9. Former Radiohead label : EMI. Guessed. English band, what label could it be?

10. As far as the eye can see: Abbr. : VIS. Vision? (Correction: It's visibility.)

11. Dovelike : ANTIWAR

12. Batman and Robin et al. : DUOS

13. King of the Huns, in Norse myth : ATLI. Same as Attila the Hun.

14. Loch seen from Urquhart Castle : NESS. Loch brought me the answer. Don't know the castle.

16. Secretive org. : NSA

22. Shapes up : SNAPS TO. New phrase to me.

23. Smart-sounding brew : SAGE TEA. Have never had this tea.

25. Very little money : PEANUTS. Work for peanuts.

26. Gave off : EMITTED

27. '60s boxing champ Griffith : EMILE. Sigh! I googled this guy before, then promptly forgot all about him.

28. Braves : DARES

29. Peter's "Easy Rider" role : WYATT. Had ??ATT there for some time.

31. "You dig?" response : I'M HIP

32. Cum __ : LAUDE

33. Ed __, runner-up in the first Masters sudden death playoff : SNEED. Not a familiar name to me. 1979 Masters. Lost to Fuzzy Zoeller, according to Wikipedia. Fuzzy is one noisy guy.

35. "The Facts of Life" actress : RAE (Charlotte)

36. Debatable "ability" : ESP

37. Kung __ chicken : PAO

42. Illinois-based food giant : SARA LEE

43. Compressed : SMALLER. Tricky part of speech.

47. __ Cristo: fried sandwich : MONTE. First encounter with this sandwich. Does it taste good, Bill?

48. Peruvian pronoun : USTED. Just "you".

49. Rigatoni relative : ZITI

50. Race: Pref. : ETHN. ETHNO is more common. 

51. Sharp : TART

53. Butt end : ASH. Nice clue.

55. Musical with the song "Radames' Letter" : AIDA. Radames is her love.

56. Under 20, to most : COLD. Was thinking of age, not temperature.

57. Joint for guitarists? : KNEE. Don't get this clue, Al/Splynter!

59. Golfer Woosnam : IAN. Very hot-tempered guy. I used to follow European Tour fervently.

61. Chemical suffix : ANE

62. It may be pulled : LEG. I wanted TAB.

Answer grid.

C.C.