Thursday, November 10 2011, Bill Thompson

Theme: “Say the secret word and win yourself a hundred dollars!” - Hint: It’s a “VETO”, hidden in the pockets of the theme entries.

17A. Symbolic gifts: LOVE TOKENS. For Valentine’s day, do you give “symbolic gifts” like chocolate hearts or roses? Or, something really significant like diamonds, or even a Ferrari??

22A. Exasperate: DRIVE TO DRINK. My mother always yelled this to us kids, although I don’t remember her ever taking anything stronger than a tiny glass of Ernest and Julio Gallo on New Year’s Eve…

35A. Soother for men: AFTERSHAVE TONIC. Would that be with gin??

45A. Indigenous language: NATIVE TONGUE. Mine is English. What’s yours?

and the unifier:

56A. President’s option, and a hint to the puzzle theme in17-, 22-, 35- and 45-Across: POCKET VETO. In this case, VE-TO is split the same way in all four theme entries. In other puzzles, constructors might try to split a hidden word in different ways. But can you think of common phrases with words ending in –v and the next beginning with eto-, or ending in –vet and beginning with o-? (I didn’t think so…)

Marti here, so it must be Thursday again. (Really, already??) (Yep, so get crackin’!) (OK, OK, already!)

Across:

1. Gaucho’s weapon: BOLA

5. What two lanterns in the Old North Church signified: BY SEA. From “Paul Revere’s Ride”, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

“…One if by land, and two if by sea:

And I on the opposite shore will be…”

10. Shenanigan: LARK

14. “Paradise Lost” setting: EDEN

15. Assessed: RATED

16. Holder of small tools: ETUI. Hello, old crosswordese friend!

19. Jose’s hand: MANO … a mano.

20. Like some ink cartridges: TRI-COLOR. I just bought a new printer today, but it only does B&W.

21. Vitruvian Man is on some Italian ones: EUROS. This is the Vitruvian Man, by Leonardo da Vinci.

Unfortunately, more people recognize him from this movie than from the work in the Louvre…

22. Pago Pago resident: SAMOAN

28. Sosa’s 1,667, briefly: RBIs. HA!! I knew this had to be a baseball clue, as I am beginning to recognize Sammy Sosa as some guy in baseball. But it still eluded me, if the clue was looking for ERAs or RBIs. Sighhh….OK, C.C. I did my due diligence: Sammy Sosa is from the Dominican Republic, and while a member of the Chicago Cubs, he and Mark McGuire achieved national fame for their ability to hit home-runs.

29A. Conspiracy theorist’s worry: PLOT

30. Zeno, notably: STOIC. (I had the “C” from filling in EDICT down…so what else could it be??)

32. Styled after: A LA. As in “Chicken à la King” (Does that mean the king is a chicken??). and a clecho with 33D. Styled after : LIKE

39. Stadium sound: RAH. Or boooo, if they are playing badly?

40. Shake: ELUDE. As in, shake (off) the cops.

41. Victory goddess: NIKE. And you thought she was just a sneaker, huh?

42. ___ Deion: NFL nickname: NEON. I had no clue, but with N-ON from perps, not hard to guess the rhyming nickname here.

43. Bk. After Proverbs: ECCLES. “Bk.” gives the hint that the answer is an abbr. of “Ecclesiastes”. (I had the darndest time spelling out that full name just now!!)

50. Selectric selection: ELITE. Does anyone still use an IBM Selectric (electric) typewriter? And, just which“Elite” does the answer refer to? There was the Elite 72, Auto Elite, LargeElite (12), Prestige Elite 72, Prestige Elite 96…not to mention the Presidential Elite!

51. Became one lane, say: NARROWED. Boston is famous for having 16 lanes narrow into one. So do you wonder why we have such aggressive drivers??

55. Hammer feature: CLAW. Ok, hands up for whoever entered the crosswordese “peen” here. (one, two, three, four, five…)

58. Soprano TeKanawa: KIRI. To my surprise, not everyone appreciates a pure operatic soprano voice like this. Do you?

59. Gets zero mpg: IDLES.

60. First name in bike stunts: EVEL. Knievel, motorcycle daredevil of the 70’s. After living through all of his unbelievable stunts, he died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

61. Fall runner’s goal, perhaps: SEAT. Fall elections, that is.

62. Requirements: NEEDS

63. Take it easy: REST

So, after our brief REST, let’s continue

Down:

1. Whack: BELT. OK, OK, I’m awake after my REST!!

2. Glade target: ODOR. “Ewwww…fried fish tonight, dear??”

3. “Hello, Dolly!”surname: LEVI.

5. Josh of "True Grit" (2010) : BROLIN. I liked John Wayne better than this guy...

6. Comedian Smirnoff : YAKOV. Funny guy, famous for his ironic portrayals of life under communism. But back in the 80's, it seemed more "cutting edge" than it would now, I guess.

7. Cordwood measure : STERE

8. Bard's nightfall : E'EN

9. Many pop-ups : ADS. grrr, I hate those things!

10. Madagascar mammals : LEMURS

11. Asteroids maker : ATARI

12. Syntax problem : RUNON (... like the answer)

13. Newsstand booth : KIOSK

18. When said three times, a WWII film : TORA

21. Order from on high : EDICT

23. Valuable stash : TROVE

24. Tony's cousin : OBIE. Not Tony Orlando, silly! The American Theater awards.

25. Bandy words : SPAR. Do you bandy words with your boss? My DH would check to see if the spar tar was in good condition before going on a long trip. But then, he is from the south...

26. It's five before Foxtrot : ALFA. NATO phonetic alphabet.

27. Light-headed insect? : MOTH. Loved this clue! And a chance for a fav song.

30. Railroad switch : SHUNT. Much better clue than "Atrial septal defect with left-to-right ___"

31. Smidgen : TAD

32. Indigo dye source : ANIL

34. Whizzes : ACES. (Oops! I put "pees")

36. "The Canterbury Tales" estate manager : REEVE. "The Reeve's Tale" is the third of the Canterbury tales.

37. Gin flavoring : SLOE. Oh, here's the gin I was looking for at 35A !!

38. Quick look : ONCE-OVER. Hmmm, wanna come up and see me some time?

42. Dipstick : NITWIT

43. Door to the street : EGRESS

44. Brusque : CURT

45. Kisses and then some : NECKS... Hmmm, wanna come up and see me some time?

46. Kate's TV roommate : ALLIE. "Kate and Allie", a popular TV series in the 80's.

47. Regal topper : TIARA

48. Frère de la mère : ONCLE. Sorry Abejo, here is your required French entry...

49. Blunt, as truth : NAKED. Yeh, sure. We know how this was originally clued, right?
:
:
:
("The ___ Ape" !!)

52. "Houston, __ had a problem" : WE'VE. Often misquoted as "Houston, we have a problem..."

53. Nice warm times : ETES. Ahhh, here's our nice misdirection. Nice, as in the city in southern France. I would really, really love to see this just once clued as "Summers (Fr.)" (Sorry Abejo, that makes two in one puzzle!)

54. Dimbulb : DOLT

56. Verb associated with blame : PIN. Not the tail on the donkey?

57. Neruda's "__ to Conger Chowder" : ODE. You really should read this...it is a very different poetic offering than the dishes served up by our dear Clear Ayes!

Answer grid.

Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to comment!

Hugs,

Marti

Wednesday, Nov 9 2011, Mark Bickham

theme: YIN AND YANG- all the theme entries are in the pattern of A B AND C, both "A B" & "B AND C" are common phrases.

16A. Recommendations at the salon : HAIR-DOS AND DON'TS. anyone remember the episode of mary tyler moore with mary's 'hair bump?'

21A. Intricacies of cells : PHONE-INS AND OUTS

34A. Attributes at the links : GOLF-PROS AND CONS

51A. Vicissitudes of cargo space : HOLD-UPS AND DOWNS. a vicissitude is an alternation between opposite or contrasting things.

57A. Miscellany of benevolence? : GOOD-ODDS AND ENDS

melissa here. in buddhism, the four vicissitudes, or 'worldly winds' are praise & blame, gain & loss, pleasure & pain, and fame & disrepute. self-explanatory theme, but the clues were quite tricky. on the other hand (get it?), the non-theme clues seemed a bit on the easy side.

lots of artsy references today (theater, literature, and music), which i've highlighted in blue, just for fun.

across:

1. It may be shown to an usher : STUB

5. Flying Disney critter : DUMBO

10. Semi compartment : CAB. truck.

13. Like a firelit room on a cold night : COZY.

14. 1992-'93 NBA Rookie of the Year : O'NEAL. shaquille.

15. Apollo's org. : NASA

19. Greatly smacked of : OOZED

20. At the right time : ON CUE

26. Gloss target : LIP

27. Collector's goal : SET. c.c. collects baseball memorabilia, any other collectors out there?

28. Roleo roller : LOG. we had this word recently - log rolling competition.

29. Word with weight or worth : NET. many people wish their net weight decreased as much as their net worth.

30. __ Bator : ULAN. capitol and largest city in mongolia.

32. Feverish fits : AGUES. ague - a fever (as malaria) marked by paroxysms of chills, fever, and sweating that recur at regular intervals.

41. Exams for future attys. : LSATS

42. "As __ saying ..." : I WAS

43. Airport safety org. : TSA. transportation security administration.

46. Brit. record label : EMI. electric and musical industries, ltd. one of the 'big four' record companies, along with universal music group, sony music entertainment, and warner music group.

47. Hugs, symbolically : OOO. x's and o's.

50. Crew tool : OAR

55. 11th-century Spanish hero : EL CID. in case you're curious.

56. Jacket material : TWEED

63. Not for : ANTI

64. Levels : TIERS

65. Talk show host Banks : TYRA.

66. LAPD rank : SGT

67. One in a black suit : SPADE. playing cards.

68. Site of Charon's ferry : STYX. river in greek mythology. the band styx was named after this river - vocalist dennis deyoung says it was the only name "that none of us hated."

down:

1. PTA meeting place : SCH. school.

2. __ fault: excessively : TO A

3. Action film weapon : UZI

4. "She Walks in Beauty" poet : BYRON. there's your CUE, clear ayes.

5. Lollapalooza : DOOZIE. also an annual music festival.

6. Like some angry email, wisely : UNSENT

7. Honey beverages : MEADS

8. Shut out : BAN

9. __ Spice aftershave : OLD. the smell makes me think of my dad.

10. Yucatán resort : CANCUN

11. Sharp as a tack : ASTUTE

12. Most abject : BASEST

15. It's verboten : NO-NO

17. Mates for bucks : DOES

18. Didn't exactly answer, as a question : DODGED. most politicians make an art of it.

21. Advertisement : PLUG

22. Hawaii's __ Bay : HILO. who's been there?

23. Birthstone after sapphire : OPAL. september is sapphire, opal is october. any opals here?

24. Pond plant : ALGA. this makes jeannie and me think of sam gribley in 'my side of the mountain,' and his alga experiments.

25. It may be proper : NOUN

31. Org. for Bucs and Jags : NFL

32. Biblical mount : ASS

33. Biol., e.g. : SCI

35. False start? : PSEUDO. nice.

36. Wheelchair access : RAMP

37. Bluesman Redding : OTIS. sittin' at the doc of the bay.

38. "Man, that hurts!" : OW OW

39. Asian bread : NAAN

40. Old red states?: Abbr. : SSR'S. soviet socialist republic.

43. Something to step on while driving : THE GAS

44. "Bye" : SO LONG

45. "Little Women" author : ALCOTT

47. Leader's exhortation : ONWARD

48. Danish seaport : ODENSE

49. Had too much, briefly : OD'ED

52. Gogo's pal, in "Waiting for Godot" : DIDI. samuel beckett play.

53. Sailing, say : AT SEA. yesterday it was clued as 'bewildered.'

54. "Awake and Sing!" playwright : ODETS

58. Souse's syndrome : DT'S. delirium tremens, latin for shaking frenzy.

59. Party bowlful : DIP

60. "All the news that's fit to print" initials : NYT. new york times motto.

61. Prohibitionist : DRY. among other things.

62. Jazz combo horn : SAX. ha, last wednesday we had sacks, sachs, saks and sax.

to finish off, today's perfect 'theme' song: opposites attract.

answer grid.

melissa