Tuesday, April 19, 2011 John Lampkin

Theme: Home Bodies - Five animals from across the land who have where they are found as part of their name. (Like Broadway Joe?)

(There is a constructor's note at the end.)

18. Grassland burrower : PRAIRIE DOG

23. Mojave lizard : DESERT IGUANA

37. Flippered ocean critter : SEA LION

51. Sure-footed Rockies denizen : MOUNTAIN GOAT

60. Playful swimmer : RIVER OTTER

Argyle here. Click on the name to get an image. Not much to say. Good continuation of the week.

Across:

1. Chase, as a fly : SHAG. As a fly ball, not the insect.

5. Comme ci, comme ça : SO-SO. French phrase meaning, literally, “like this, like that.”

9. Whaler's rear end : STERN. Har, that would be the back end of the boat.

14. "__ Fly With Me": Sinatra standard : COME. Clip(3:21)

15. Swan's "Swan Lake" wear : TUTU

16. Hawk's home : AERIE. No TUTU wearing hawks.

17. Boo-boo, in tot talk : OWIE. Crossword 2D. Canadian comic Mandel : HOWIE

20. "Hungarian Rhapsodies" composer Franz : LISZT

22. "My __!" : GOODNESS

26. Boulevard, e.g. : ROAD

27. Comical Coca : IMOGENE. Classic clip(1:11) with Sid Caesar.

31. "You betcha!" : "YES SIREE!"

35. Bad doings : EVIL

36. Soft drink suffix : ADE

41. Jack Horner's last words : "...AM I". Nursery rhyme.

42. Zoom or macro : LENS

44. Orange-and-black-winged butterflies : MONARCHS. See John's link at the bottom.

46. Dangles a carrot in front of : ENTICES. For such a common phrase, this is the only photo I could find of an actual occurrence.

50. Jay with jokes : LENO

56. Prayer set to music by Schubert and Gounod : AVE MARIA. Here is the search results from YouTube. Pick your own version to hear.

59. 1945 conference site : YALTA. Yalta is a city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and General Secretary Joseph Stalin discussed Europe's post-war reorganization. It had been preceded by the Tehran Conference in 1943. We had something about that recently.

63. Object of worship : IDOL

64. Some '80s Chryslers : K-CARS

65. Crescent's tip : CUSP

66. It flows through Egypt : NILE

67. Feel intuitively : SENSE

68. AMA concerns : HMOs

69. Slippery fish : EELs

Down:

1. Chew out : SCOLD

3. Not quite right : AMISS

4. Old coots : GEEZERS. Old coots following a miss?

5. "The Racer's Edge" : STP

6. "... __ daily bread" : OUR. From the Lord's Prayer.

7. College football immortal Amos Alonzo __ : STAGG. Stagg played football as an end at Yale University. 30D. "Boola Boola" singers : ELIs. 31. "Boola Boola" university : YALE

8. "Yes, yes, Fifi" : "OUI, OUI". French, French.

9. Verbally refused : SAID NO

10. Like most adolescents : TEENAGE

11. Earth, in Germany : ERDE

12. 60-Across habitats, to José : RIOs

13. Strips in a photo lab : NEGs

19. Wander : ROAM

21. Cinq moins deux : TROIS. French, French, French (5-2=3)

24. Container weight : TARE

25. Gray matter creation : IDEA

28. Flood emergency op : EVAC. the Emergency Volunteer Air Corps organizes general aviation pilots, amateur radio volunteers, and others to be of assistance during disaster.

29. Gp. that funds psychiatric drug testing : NIMH. National Institute of Mental Health.

32. Paradise : EDEN

33. Email status : SENT

34. "Slippery" tree : ELM. There are approximately 30 to 40 species of elm. Slippery elm is useful as a natural herb.

38. Kansas city : IOLA. As of the census of 2000, there were 6,302 people. As of the census of 2000, there were 32,170 people in Natick, MA.

39. R.E.M.'s "The __ Love" : ONE I

40. Au pair : NANNY

43. Almost boils : SIMMERS

45. Hair-raising product? : ROGAINE

47. Like some sandpaper : COARSE

48. Continental coin : EURO

49. Tattletale : SNITCH

52. "Paper Moon" Oscar winner O'Neal : TATUM

53. Nostalgic record : OLDIE

54. Ring-shaped reef : ATOLL

55. Fairy stories : TALES

56. Torah holders : ARKS

57. Smoking or drinking, some say : VICE

58. "__ Almighty": 2007 film : EVAN. Starring Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman, Lauren Graham.

61. That, in Toledo : ESO. Spanish

62. Fast-spinning meas. : RPS. Revolutions Per Second, when it's too fast for RPM.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Constructor's Note:

This puzzle is a direct response to Scott Atkinson's fun LAT offering of Monday, 6/28/2010 where he used a "double animal name" theme with TIGER SHARK, ELEPHANT SEAL, SPIDER MONKEY, and TURTLE DOVE. After saluting Scott and kicking myself for not thinking of it first, I realized I could raise the stakes a notch by getting three layers in there: a critter, it's habitat, and it's characteristic behavior. Some fun!

Oddly, I've never photographed any of these species, but I do have a nice image of a pair of mating MONARCHS. [pic attached]. For those of you contemplating trying this at home, do not, I repeat, do not attempt this in a hammock.

Best to you all,

John Lampkin (http://www.johnlampkin.com/)

Monday, April 18, 2011 Gail Grabowski

Theme: Plug it in - The four longest entries end in synonyms for electrical energy.

17A. Mott's product : APPLE JUICE

55A. Gust of wind, e.g. : AIR CURRENT

10D. Nightclub minimum : COVER CHARGE

24D. '60s-'70s passive resistance slogan : FLOWER POWER

Argyle here. Not much to say. Good start to the week.

Across:

1. Key in : ENTER

6. The thing over there : THAT

10. Stalactite site : CAVE. Illustration.

14. Sticky : GOOEY

15. Get a new mortgage for, briefly : REFI. Refinance .

16. Opinion piece, for short : OP-ED. (I didn't know this.) An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page (though often mistaken for opinion-editorial), is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board. These are different from editorials, which are usually unsigned and written by editorial board members.

19. Tear up, as a check : VOID

20. __ Moines : DES. Iowa.

21. Transvaal settler : BOER. Map of current area. Note: Position of Lesotho also shown.

22. With all one's heart : DEEPLY

24. What daredevils seem to lack : FEAR

25. Place to fish from : PIER

26. Wore an upside-down frown : SMILED

29. Rail chemical carriers : TANK CARS. It seems last time, some people needed a picture.

33. Burgundy, for one : COLOR. Derives its name from wine made in Burgundy, a duchy in France.

34. Pitched shelter : TENT

35. Dickens's Uriah : HEEP. From his novel "David Copperfield".

36. State purposefully : AVOW

37. Latin ballroom dance : TANGO

38. Mythological ship : ARGO

39. Hop out of bed : RISE

40. Whizzes : ACES

41. Monastery member : FRIAR

42. Fix : SET RIGHT

44. University officer : REGENT

45. Greenhouse containers : POTS

46. Constructed : MADE

47. It starts after the overture : ACT ONE

50. Newspaper unit : PAGE

51. Captain's "I need help ASAP!" : SOS

54. Extinguish, with "out" : BLOW

58. Hamster's home : CAGE

59. Drop anchor : MOOR

60. Counters with beads : ABACI. Plural of abacus.

61. Train for a bout : SPAR

62. Japanese wrestling : SUMO

63. Water bottle capacity : LITER

Down:

1. Antiquated exclamation : "EGAD!"

2. "Don't think so" : "NOPE"

3. Does better than : TOPS

4. Sinuous swimmer : EEL

5. Microbrewery offering : RYE BEER. Schremser Rye Beer is a product of the Lower Austrian private brewery Karl Theodor Trojan in Schrems.

6. More loyal : TRUER

7. Estate beneficiary : HEIR

8. Org. with Raiders and Steelers : AFC. American Football Conference.

9. Was linked with : TIED INTO

11. Each : A POP

12. Bridal accessory : VEIL

13. Rapids phenomenon : EDDY

18. "The Grapes of Wrath" family name : JOAD. From the 1939 novel by John Steinbeck.

23. "A spider!" : "EEK!"

25. Dieter's feelings of distress : PANGS

26. Marks for life : SCARS

27. Studio production : MOVIE

28. Gambler's words of lament : "I LOST!"

29. Church belief : TENET

30. High-altitude nest : AERIE

31. Cordelia's sister : REGAN. King Lear's three daughters are: Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. (Shakespeare.)

32. Golf or tennis : SPORT

34. RPM gauges : TACHS. To tell how many Revolutions Per Minute a motor is turning.

37. Wrestling duos : TAG TEAMS

41. Part of FBI : FEDERAL

43. Physics particle : ION

44. Old World Style pasta sauce brand : RAGU

46. Computer user's shortcut : MACRO. I may use it but it takes a programmer to really understand it. MACRO instruction: A single computer instruction that initiates a set of instructions to perform a specific task.

47. Elementary lessons : ABCs

48. Applaud : CLAP

49. Old Roman wrap : TOGA

50. Seniors often take limos to it : PROM

51. Bench, for one : SEAT

52. It's often enough : ONCE

53. Instigate, with "up" : STIR

56. Debtor's letters : IOU

57. Hitter's stat : RBI

Answer grid.

Argyle

Note from C.C.:

Here are a few stunning photos from JD's recent Safari trip. Unfortunately I could only afford a limited time for photo uploading/editing. Hopefully JD can work out a link to her Shutterfly album so you can see more of her adventures.