Saturday March 12, 2011 Brad Wilber

Theme: None

Total words: 70

Total blocks: 29

Triple stacks of 10s are very common in themeless. But we don't often see grid structure like today's: black square in the middle, a pair of 7s flanked by a pair of 12s. Often you'll find short-entries in the middle.

Here are marquee answers:

1A. Closer's bane : BLOWN SAVE. Baseball. Could also be Home Run or Base Hit.

15A. "My Father at 100: A Memoir" author : RON REAGAN. I like him a lot. Very articulate.

17A. Spoiled brat, stereotypically : ONLY CHILD. Made me think of China's "One-child policy". 

31A. Thematic musical release : CONCEPT ALBUM. New to me.

39A. Like architecture involving cedar shakes : SHINGLE STYLE. I bet it's a familiar term to Splynter. Have a look at his work. Isn't it gorgeous?

58A. Band with the 1997 double platinum album "So Much for the Afterglow" : EVER CLEAR. Are they very famous?

61A. "This doesn't look good, guys!" : WE'RE TOAST. I've been hassling Dennis about the validity of some colloquial expressions.

63A. Drains : ENERVATES

Probably my favorite Brad Wilber puzzle. Quite a few entries resonate with me, esp the stacks in upper left corner.

Across:

10. Like some drinking cups : CONIC. Lots of whining about CONED last time.

16. Race arbiter, at times : SLO-MO

18. Fibonacci, by birth : PISAN. Identical clue in a Dec 2010 LAT.

19. __ mission : ON A

20. Eagle relative : KITE. Husker Gary must be thinking of golf score "eagle".

21. Comic strip units : PANELS

22. __ Lisa Vito: "My Cousin Vinny" role : MONA. Easy guess.

24. Tree with above-ground roots : BANYAN. I wouldn't want to look like this if I were a tree.

26. "Out of Sight" co-star, familiarly : J-LO. With George Clooney.

27. PMs or GMs : LDRS (Leaders). PM = Prime Minister. GM= General Manger. Not a good fill. Nice clue.

29. Sleeper, for one : CAR

30. Surge in sales : BOOM

35. Environmental summit topic : ETHANOL

38. Gluck opera based on a Euripides play : ALCESTE. No idea. Gluck is a German opera composer.

41. Hand over : CEDE. Power.

42. Cheerios grain : OAT

43. Pinned arrangement : UPDO. Was worried the clue might be asking for the wrestling "pinned".

46. Galoot : APE

47. Feature of some Birkenstocks : T-STRAP. Sandals.

50. Ruin : SINK

52. Cattle drive gear : RIATAS. Or reatas.

54. Brash radio host : IMUS (Don). And 30D. Cover-ups involving 54-Across? : BLEEPS.

56. Org. with June finals : NBA

57. Country on the Gulf of Guinea : GABON. West Africa.

60. Pax Romana year : ONE AD. Got me. Wikipedia says Pax Romana spans 207 years, from 27 BCE to 180 CE.

62. Chalet beverage : TODDY

Down:

1. Curling tool : BROOM. Neat clue.

2. The Khmer Rouge overthrew him : LON NOL. Always preferable  to see a full name, not to mention a  palindromic one.

3. No longer cruising : ON LAND

4. Like some one-liners : WRY

5. Banjo part : NECK

6. Indian honorific : SAHIB. Urdu for "master".

7. Mylanta target : AGITA

8. Number denoting an ion's bonding capacity : VALENCE. The clue means nothing to me.

9. Close : END

10. House channel : C-SPAN. Congress. Remember the tricky "House shower" clue? Show-er.

11. Lena of "Chocolat" : OLIN

12. Some facial surgeries : NOSE JOBS. Nice entry.

13. Disappointing news about a sale item : I'M ALL OUT. Another good one.

14. It requires a lot of simmering : CONSOMME. Stock, broth, all same to me.

21. Somewhat : PARTLY

23. Obscure : ARCANE

25. Pester shrilly : YAP AT. Like dogs.

28. "Yesterday" or "Tomorrow" : SONG. Nailed it.

32. "He won't be missed" : NO LOSS. Didn't come to me quickly.

33. Turf piercer : CLEAT

34. First Amdt. lobby : ACLU. So Amdt = Amendment? I've never seen this abbreviation before.

35. Bistro appetizer : ESCARGOT. Yummy!

36. "Schindler's List" beat it for Best Picture : THE PIANO. 1993. I like Anna Paquin's character.

37. Studio space-saver : HIDE-A-BED. Studio apartment.

40. Tried hard : STRIVEN

44. Patronize, in a way : DINE AT

45. Contemplating stealing, maybe : ON BASE. Baseball again.

47. "Driving Miss Daisy" Oscar winner Jessica : TANDY

48. "Honour is __ scutcheon": Shak. : A MERE. Saw this clue before.

49. More pristine : PURER

51. Small racers : KARTS

53. No dreamboat : TOAD

55. Show with an "American Bandstand"-like spoof called "Mel's Rock Pile" : SCTV (Second City Television). Canadian TV.

58. Pronoun in a rebus : EWE. For you. See here. You are the apple of my eye.

59. Long, on Lanai : LOA. As in Mauna Loa (Long Mountain).

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday, March 11, 2011, Donna S Levin

Theme: Pun for the Money, Too for the Show. The title of an early TV game show has one word changed to a sound-a-like, resulting in an evocative and witty new show. For those who are much younger than I am, this may be a difficult puzzle, but I have never blogged a puzzle more in my wheelhouse, as these are still somehow fresh in my mind from 50+ years ago. I do love me some puns.

17A. Game show about bribery at a checkpoint?: SALE OF THE SENTRY. Really funny clue. SENTRY sounds like CENTURY. SALE OF THE CENTURY was a late 60s early 70s general knowledge game show, which began with Jack Kelly, the actor who portrayed Bart Maverick, to James Garner’s Bret Maverick, as the host. He was replaced by Joe Garagiola, a second string catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, who was a teammate of Enos Slaughter (see below).

27A. Game show about an Algerian governor's search for his spouse?: QUEEN FOR A DEY. DAY sounds like DEY. This was the most difficult because I was unfamiliar with the term Dey (Arabic: داي, from Turkish Dayı, to mean the ruling governor under the Ottoman Empire. However, because the game show was apparent and only the switching of the A for an E would sound the same, it was not too hard. QUEEN FOR A DAY was one of the earliest reality TV shows, which began on radio in the 40s, and went to TV, hosted by Jack Bailey in the 50s, a sob story with no quiz show question asked, but the audience selected the winner based on my old favorite, the applause-o-meter. This was a most distressing show, where the more horrible a woman’s life was, the greater her chance to win. Jack Bailey went on to host TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES where he stayed until he was replaced by a young BOB BARKER.

48A. Game show in which "Stuttering pig" might be a clue?: NAME THAT TOON. I wonder if Donna picked the reference to Porky Pig, when she saw the two Ts together in the answer? TUNE sounds like TOON. NAME THAT TUNE was another radio show which was brought to television in the 50s, featuring two contestants trying to name a song after the fewest notes. It was revived in 70s with a young singer then named KATHIE LEE JOHNSON, who later married football great FRANK GIFFORD, and co-hosted Live with Regis and Kathie Lee along with current media darling, Regis Philbin.

63A. Game show in which couples confess indiscretions?: TWO TELL THE TRUTH. A fun show and perhaps a new reality TV show starring our wild and crazy celebrity couples. TO sounds like TWO. This is the oddball one, as in each of the first three, it is the last word which morphs into a sound-a-like. TO TELL THE TRUTH has been a tremendously successful and resilient show airing in 6 consecutive decades beginning in the 50s, when it was hosted by the incomparable BUD COLLYER who had achieved fame both as the voice of Superman on the radio, and as the host of BEAT THE CLOCK . After hearing my mother sing, he offered her a job, but she was in nursing school, and my chance to grow up in show business was lost.

Hi, Lemonade here, with my first Donna Levin, an honor and a joy. Forgive me, but once again the puzzle has so many references to my life, I had so much fun. On to the rest of the story.

Across:

1. Equipped with 6-Across: ARMED. Okay, she started out with one of those now popular, unfair pairs, where you cannot begin to get answers until you solve the perps. The downs were okay though, so you also got 6A. See 1-Across: GATS, which is a colloquial name for guns.

10. May or Ann: CAPE. Tricky, Cape May is off New Jersey and Cape Ann is north of Boston, unlike its more famous Cape Cod, which is south.

14. Permission: LEAVE. By you leave, sire. An old fashioned word, 'Leave' has been used with the meaning of permission since at least the 9th century, and was very popular in my friend Will Shakespeare's work (more on him later).

15. Natural shade: ECRU. This common puzzle word comes from the French meaning raw, or unbleached.

16. Turow memoir: ONE L. This abbreviation for the first year of law school is a fairly new phrase which did not exist in my day.

20. Warning: OMEN.

21. Understanding words: I SEE. Mira, mira.

22. Elite octet: IVIES. We had reference to the eight IVY League schools just recently.

23. Paragon of redness: BEET. Beets are really not all that red, and in New England we said Red as a Lobster, which are not that red until you boil them.

25. Maneuver: FINESSE. Are you a direct, or finesse player?

31. Muse who inspires poets: ERATO. This is a crossword must know, as are all the muses.

32. 1,000-yr. realm: HRE. Ah, we already had an indirect reference to the Ottoman Empire, and now we have the Holy Roman Empire, which began after Charlemagne and lasted until the 1800s. The OTTOMAN ran from about 1300 to the 1920s.

33. One-time neighbor of French Indochina: SIAM. Now known as Vietnam and Thailand.

37. Arabic is one of its two official langs.: ISR. An abbreviation for Israel, whose population is 20% Arab.

38. Surfer's guide: SITE MAP. Internet surfers, fooled you?

42. "Exodus" hero: ARI. Another Israel reference, this to the engrossing historical novel by Leon Uris.

43. Suffix with grammar: IANS. Ah, we have some GRAMMARIANS among us.

45. Nonsense: ROT. That is a bunch of Rot!

46. Links coup: EAGLE. Two less than par in golf. A hole in one on a par three is also an eagle. I have never made one.

52. Biblical betrayer: DELILAH. The Torah temptress who sold out poor Sampson by cutting his hair, and the inspiration for this SONG .

55. __ dixit: IPSE. See, more for me; a law term meaning something said but unproven.

56. Up in the air: ALOFT.

57. They may be wild: OATS. Yes, and you must sow them while you are young, or so I have read.

59. Stage group: CREW. I tried to make this more complicated than it was, thinking about a team of horses.

66. Relax: EASE. A verb variant.

67. Slobbering canine: ODIE. Again, my first thought when I glanced through the clues was CUJO.

68. Mobile one of song: DONNA. A beautiful deception, as the Italian pronunciation is masked, and the constructor gets her name in the puzzle. This SONG is from Verdi's Opera Rigoletto and the lyrics are:"Woman is flighty Like a feather in the wind." I heard this music often as child.

69. Batik artist: DYER. All you wanted to know about this CLOTH.

70. Tech support caller: USER.

71. Worry about: SWEAT. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, and its all Small Stuff. RELAX, we made it through to the Downs.

Down:

1. As well: ALSO.

2. Chew (out): REAM
 

3. Gander, e.g.: MALE. Not the verb; what's good for the goose? She needs a Gander.

4. It's as likely as not: EVEN BET. Nicely clued.

5. "In __ Speramus": Brown U. motto: DEO. Latin, meaning "In G-d We Hope." In English the word 'aspiration' and others come from this root.

6. Bothers: GETS TO. Those un-clued related clues like 1A and 6A are getting to me.

7. Dull discomfort: ACHE. They give me an ache behind my eyes.

8. Timber producer: TREE FARM. Hmm, too simple for me.

9. Pension start?: SUS. Suspension. A nice classic prefix clue; did you suss it out?

10. Transmits: CONVEYS. Carries etc.

11. They're not pros: ANTIS. Probably the first misdirection clue I remember from watching my parents do the Sunday Times; they are not Amateurs.

12. Famille members: PERES. Now for my French lesson, and a question. PERE means FATHER and FAMILLE is FAMILY; but is it fair because there is only UN PERE PAR FAMILLE, so how can it be plural?

13. "Family Ties" mom: ELYSE. Michael J. Fox's TV mom, a pretty California woman as seen in this LINK who was married for 15 years to David Birney, with whom she worked in Bridget Loves Bernie and now now Meredith has announced she is in a committed relationship with another woman.

18. Feudal holding: FIEF. Another essentially legal concept, describing land which was titled to an individual who could then pass ownership to his heirs in exchange for loyalty to the ruler of the land. The word has morphed into FOEFF and then FEE, which is why land transfers are now said to be in FEE SIMPLE.

19. Strauss's "__ Nacht in Venedig": EINE. A NIGHT IN VENICE, by JOHANN STRAUSS, Jr. While his father was famous for his waltzes, Junior gained favor for his light operettas.

24. Slaughter on a diamond: ENOS. The original hustling ball player, he and Garagiola were stars of the 1946 World Series where St. Louis beat the Red Sox.

26. Notion: IDEA. I have an Notion to give you a good spanking...

27. Former Cunard fleet member, for short: QEII. I love cruising, and once owned a travel agency so I could cruise inexpensively.

28. Starry-eyed bear?: URSA. Do you like Major or Minor better?

29. Make: EARN. What did you make last year?

30. Bonnie Blue's daddy: RHETT. Another GWTW memory.

34. "I hate the Moor" speaker: IAGO. More Shakespeare, from OTHELLO .

35. Woodstock singer before Joan: ARLO. I have previously ranted on ho disappointed we all were sitting in the mud in Bethel New York, when Arlo performed and refused to play even the short version of ALICE'S RESTAURANT which now that his star has dimmed, he is happy to play. I changed my avatar to my uncollected ticket to Woodstock.

36. Manner: MIEN. Another old fashioned word.

39. "__ la Douce": IRMA. A cute MOVIE starring Shirley McLaine and Jack Lemmon (coming to my aid?).

40. Points of initial progress: TOE HOLDS. Our favorite word, describing the pint we first began to solve a puzzle. You think Donna reads blogs?

41. Some motel guests: PETS. I wanted ROACH, but...

44. Napoleon vessel?: SNIFTER. NAPOLEON BRANDY is a designation of how long the liquor has aged. Oddly, I was at dinner with a nephew and his girl friend, explaining about how brandy was first distilled from wine (grapes) but is now made from fruits also, Schnapps, is a form of fruit brandy. COGNAC is a brandy from a specific region in France (just as Champagne, is a sparkling wine from a different region).

47. Recanted in embarrassment: ATE CROW. Meaning admitting you were wrong to the public, perhaps because cooked crow is very unpalatable.

49. Der __: Adenauer epithet: ALTE. Well, after this week you could not get this one wrong.

50. "That sly come __ stare": "Witchcraft" lyric: HITHER. This LOOK was featured in the song made famous by Frank Sinatra.

51. Church area: APSE. Crossword staple.

52. Out: DATED. PASSE and DATED both have 5 letters.

53. His Super Bowl MVP performance was his last NFL game: ELWAY. One of the few to retire on a high note, which I guess is what Bret wanted.

54. Out: LOOSE. This took a while, but I guess it is like let the dogs out.

58. Play to __: A TIE. Kiss you sister, mister?

60. Cryptic character: RUNE. These are the old alphabets which used in Europe until replaced by the Latin one we use today.

61. Italian volcano: ETNA. In Sicily.

62. Comedy routine infielder ...: WHAT. Classic comedy, which like a crossword is based on MISDIRECTION . 64D. ... and Bud's partner in the routine: LOU.

65. QB's scores: TDS. Cheerleaders, just would not fit.

Answer grid.

Well, there you have it, a very fun, and seemingly quick solve, filled with memories and humor. Donna at her best. Until next time, remember to eat your vegetables, and there is always room for J E L L O.

Lemonade