Saturday March 26, 2011 Julian Lim

Theme: None

Total words: 70

Total blocks: 32

Congrats to Julian Lim on his first themeless!

Plenty of lively entries today. Very ambitious grid: triple stacks of 9s in the upper left corner and lower right corner, then one 15 in the middle crossing four Down 10s which in turn intersect another pair of 9s. Nice interlock. The marquee answers are:

36A. Roll with the punches : TAKE IT AS IT COMES

11D. Not at all like rocket science : IDIOT-PROOF. So simple in retrospect.

12D. Fight fiercely : GO TO THE MAT

27D. It was blamed for reduced pasta sales in 2003 : ATKIN'S DIET. Filled this in with authority. I occasionally rock!

28D. Relax : FEEL AT EASE

My favorite today is OBAMACARE (15A. 2010 health statute, informally). Has to be one of the seed entries.

Quite a few head-banging moments for me. Did you think of deck of cards when seeing ACE (6D. Valuable diamond)? Did you want GEM?

Across:

1. Its first mascot was a toque-wearer named Speedee : McDONALDS. Here is Speedee, McDonald's mascot til 1961.

10. Father in the comic strip "Bringing Up Father" : JIGGS. Well, maybe eddyB & JD knows. I've got no idea.

16. Deify : ADORE. Not the same to me.

17. Beastly place? : MENAGERIE

18. Protest tactic : SIT-IN

19. Galway Bay's __ Islands : ARAN. West coast of Ireland.

20. Groupings affected by natural selection : GENE POOLS

22. Asked for a ticket? : SPED. Nailed it.

24. Pluck : METTLE

25. Leisure wear : LOAFER

29. Werewolves do it : MORPH. And ISO (32D. Prefix with 29-Across). Isomorph is a new word to me. Wikipedia says it's "an organism that does not change in shape during growth". I am not one then.

30. Among other things, in Latin : INTER ALIA

33. Iranian-born TV director Badiyi : REZA. Total stranger to me. Reza seems to be a popular Iranian name.

39. Shrub yielding an indigo dye : ANIL

40. Dollars for quarters? : HOME LOANS. Awesome clue.

41. 2008 runner : NADER (Ralph)

44. Still running : LEFT ON. Oh, left the water on. .

45. Beer named for a river : AMSTEL. Was unaware of the river connection.

47. Ham relative : SHEM. Both Noah's sons. Got me.

49. Ruined the family photo, maybe : MADE A FACE

51. Cooling treats : ICES

55. Like a baseball bat's symmetry : AXIAL

56. Potter's concern : VOLDEMORT. A sweet clue for all you "Harry Potter" fans. I was stumped.

59. Piece maker? : REESE. Oh, Reese's Pieces.

60. Bizet's "Habanera," for one : OPERA ARIA

61. Ethyl butyrate, e.g. : ESTER

62. Folded : WENT UNDER

Down:

1. Home of V. Van Gogh's "Starry Night" : MoMA. Here is Don McLean's "Starry Starry Night". Always makes me want to cry.

2. Handle user : CBer

3. "SNL" cast member with Phil and Kevin : DANA (Carvey)

4. Majlis al Jinn cave site : OMAN. I've never heard of the cave before.

5. Shrew : NAG

7. Coffeehouse option : LARGE

8. Like some flowers : DRIED

9. Detected : SEEN

10. "The Eyre Affair" author Fforde : JASPER. Another stumper. I faintly recall Melissa or Clear Aye mentioned this book before.

13. Cook, in a way : GRILL

14. Meaning : SENSE

21. Dashboard Confessional music genre : EMO. What?

22. Brunei's capital Bandar __ Begawan : SERI. Silly, but I really don't know this.

23. Fall lead-in? : PRAT. Pratfall.

25. "Kiss Me Deadly" singer Ford : LITA. Alright, here's a clip.

26. "... __ open fire" : ON AN

29. Seriously injure : MAIM

31. Memorable movie lion : LAHR (Bert). "The Wizard of Oz".

34. Greek known for paradoxes : ZENO

35. The "A" in many org. names : ASSN

37. Beginning to cast? : TELE. Beginning of the word Telecast.

38. Skelton's Kadiddlehopper : CLEM

42. One in a pit : DEALER. Casino pit.

43. Wrap artist? : ELF. Cute clue.

45. Six-time NBA All-Star Stoudemire : AMAR'E. Sorry, man, don't know you.

46. Plateaus, with "out" : MAXES

47. Sniper's aid : SCOPE

48. Annie's student : HELEN (Keller). Anne Sullivan.

50. Make no bones about : AVOW

51. Supermodel with a Global Chic collection : IMAN. I wanted EMME.

52. Line with juice? : CORD. Power "juice".

53. Ohio tribe : ERIE

54. Rock or tin follower : STAR

57. "The 5000 Fingers of __": Seuss film : DR T. Yet another unknown.

58. Feu extinguisher : EAU. Feu = "fire". Hey, Splynter, only one French today.

Answer grid.

C.C.

PS: Regarding yesterday's "Pu-Pu platter", in Cantonese, Pu = Jewel/Treasure,  which is spelled as Bao in Mandarin.  Babies are often called "Bao Bao". I've never heard of Pu-Pu platter until I came to the US.

Friday, March 25th, 2011 John Lampkin

Theme: HALF- BAKED, and I was half baked this morning, and did not see it was a John Lampkin puzzle til later - one of the few constructors that I know of, and I like his style. The usual misdirection, and a tough to get theme, with it's circular reference - but hey~! it's Friday, right?

61A. Not well thought out : HALF-BAKED

Each theme answer is half of a common phrase:

17A. 61-Across Asian appetizer? : PU PLATTER - pu-pu platter, used to get this all the time.

21A. 61-Across cheer? : HIP HOORAY - "Hip-hip, horray ~!!!"

37A. 61-Across musical? : BYE BIRDIE - Bye-bye Birdie - not familiar with the "actual" story - according to Wiki, it's an Elvis related one.

55A. 61-Across gag? : KNOCK JOKE - Knock-knock joke, as in;

"knock, knock...who's there ?...Disguise...Disguise who ?...This guy's doing the blog today ~!"

Splynter

And away we GO ~!

ACROSS:

1. Work on a batter : STIR - theme related, and I was immediately mis-directed by John, thinking this was a baseball clue: Pitch didn't fit, and I'm not a big fan, so I waited on the perps.

5. Grandly appointed : POSH - again, I was looking for named, voted, etc....

9. Stand for : ABIDE

14. Strong-spined volume : TOME - Slight clecho w/23A. Spine movement? : SHIVER

15. Forte : AREA - ugh, so easy I missed it

16. "I __ Piano": Irving Berlin hit : LOVE A - my only music clue today.

19. Class figs. : PROFS - professors

20. Bleak : GRIM

25. Code-cracking gp. : NSA - National Security Agency; their website has a "7D. Greet warmly : SEE IN" feel to it....

26. Chatspeak qualifier : IMO - 'In My Opinion'

27. Batter's supply : PINE TAR - ah, now we have baseball; I need some pine tar when I play the drums - I keep dropping my sticks ~!

29. Select, in a way : SCREEN - good clue

32. "Then again ..." : YET

33. Doglike carnivore : HYENA

36. Ballet __ : RUSSE - total unknown, it's the Russian Ballet company

39. Ashes, e.g. : TREES - Baseball bat wood.

42. Geometry basic : AXIOM - I am familiar with the 'common' version - you can read about the geometric, Euclid version here.

43. Animal's gullet : MAW

46. Personally give : HAND TO

48. Meadow bloomer in the buttercup family : ANEMONE - Image

50. Hamburger's article : EIN - Hamburg, Germany, not French, thank you...

51. A.L. rival of N.Y. : BOS - yes, the hard-core baseball rivalry, BOSton Red Sox vs. New York Yankees. AL= American League.

54. Flashes : GLINTS - good clue/answer

59. Seed coating : ARIL - crossword word

60. Inspire profoundly : IMBUE

64. Great Lakes explorer La __ : SALLE

65. Convenient abbr. : Et. Al. - and others, from the Latin Et Alia

66. "Pretty Woman" actor : GERE - Richard Gere

67. Fishhook connector : SNELL - didn't know - here's how to tie one.

68. Disallow : DENY

69. Highland tongue : ERSE

DOWN:

1. Letters at Indy : STP

2. Head-scratcher : TOUGHIE - and, 13D. Hardly a head-scratcher : EASY ONE

3. Fossil indentation : IMPRINT

4. Be haunted by, perhaps : RELIVE

5. Square on the table? : PAT - oh, butter

6. Sports MD's specialty : ORTH - Orthopedic - my mom is slowly healing from her broken ankle, toughing it out at rehab for one more week - hopefully.

8. Dwells incessantly (on) : HARPS

9. Chow chow : ALPO - Chow, the dog; had one; they can be vicious

10. Town name ending : BORO - from German burg, meaning "fort", and the English version "bury"

11. They don't laugh when they're tickled : IVORIES - ah, "I Love A Piano"

12. Discredits : DEFAMES

18. Purple hue : AMETHYST - great clue, and my birthstone

22. Eats : HAS

23. Code user : SPY - and, my shortened nickname

24. Comedic actress Martha : RAYE

28. 1988 self-titled C&W album : REBA

30. FBI facility since 1932 : CRIME LAB

31. Nice street : RUE - Yup, here we go....Nice, in France, the town, and the French for street - three times, now, man.

34. Disallow : NIX

35. Diva's moment : ARIA

37. Daffodils' digs : BED

38. Bell sound : DONG

39. 1889 work of art deemed unsuitable for general display at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair : THE KISS - don't know it: here it is.

40. Title savant in a 1988 Oscar-winning film : RAINMAN - Played by Dustin Hoffman; my good friend Elizabeth was the bank officer that Tom Cruise speaks to - she's listed on IMDb, and still gets paid for her two lines....

41. Dignify : ENNOBLE

43. Handle : MONIKER - great clue

44. Pair in a rack : ANTLERS - down, boys - I wondered, too... hey~! "show me your links"

45. Horror filmmaker Craven : WES

47. Gram. case : OBJ - object, as in subject, verb, object: "John fooled Splynter", and I am the object in this sentence.

49. Illusion : MIRAGE - as in thinking you were going to see some "racks".

52. Gasped in delight : OOHED

53. Ray in the sea : SKATE - We have a "touchy-feely" tank of these at Atlantis, the aquarium in Riverhead.

56. Select : CULL - lumber reference, too, to pull out the warped boards, etc.

57. Sailing stabilizer : KEEL

58. Vigorous style : ELAN

62. Annoying buzzer : FLY

63. Danish capital? : DEE  - Capital letter in Danish.

Answer grid.

Stepping in for Lemonade today - thanks for letting me be a part of this wonderful blog, and part of your morning ritual ~!

Splynter