Thursday, November 17, 2011 Gary Cee

Theme: Be careful how you pet my cats!

17A. Pirates' home : PITTSBURGH. This Major League Baseball team is the Pittsburgh Pirates, in the Central Division of the National League.

26A. Group working on tips? : NEWS BUREAU. Fun clue. "Tips" aren't the extra cash left on the restaurant table, but news items furnished from those in the know.

48A. Jersey Shore city popularized by Springsteen : ASBURY PARK. "The Boss" performed regularly at this seaside resort in the 70's. Here's his "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)".

59A. Trudeau comic : DOONESBURY. One of my favorite un-PC comics here. (Note: A "Deaniac" was a supporter of the liberal Vermont Governor Harold Dean's unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2004).

And the unifier:

39. Bugs, or what's literally found in 17-, 26-, 48- and 59-across : RUBS THE WRONG WAY. In each of the theme entries, the word "rubs" appears the "wrong way", or backwards.

Marti here, so it must be Thursday again. I started off very slowly on this one, but when I finally went back and figured out 2D. UZI, it finally seemed to all flow in the right direction! Loved this unusual theme, and clean execution. Let's look at the fill:

Across:

1. Big picture : MURAL. Why yes, that would be a really big picture.

6. Title holder? : SASH. I wanted "belt"...

10. Bean used in Asian sauces : SOYA. I'm sure C.C. uses this bean in her cooking, right?

14. Protective layer : OZONE. I skipped this one for the time being...

15. "Salome" solo : ARIA. This Strauss opera highlights Salome's disturbing obsession with St. John the Baptist that drives her to demand his head on a platter, in exchange for performing the "Dance of the Seven Veils".

16. Piece of mind? : OP-ED. "Opposite the Editorials (page)". And 11D. Write a 16-Across : OPINE

19. Complete, in Cannes : FINI. Literally, "end". Seen at the end of French films in Cannes.

Correction from Kazie (thank you!): "Fini" actually means "finished" rather than end which is "fin", which I think is more likely at the end of movies. 

And then we have 13D. Final word at Orly : ADIEU. Yes, I guess the last word you would say to someone embarking on the plane in Paris would be "adieu" (good-bye!)

20. Committed to : SET ON. I'm set on having a turkey next Thursday for dinner.

21. "Divine Comedy" poet : DANTE

22. High-tech printer capability : SCAN. I just bought a new printer that faxes, scans, and prints wirelessly. Problem is, I can't figure out how to make it work !

28. Playwright Pinter : HAROLD. Surely you know him as the author of "The French Lieutenant's Woman"?  Correction: Harold Pinter wrote the screenplay adaptation.  John Fowles didn’t write it, either (really).  In 1977, Fowles translated the 1893 novel “Ourika” by Claire de Duras, and titled it “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”. He later revised it in 1994.  What a tangled web !

30. Six-pack muscles : ABS. We have a mini-muscle theme going on here, with 29D. Back muscle, for short : LAT. (Could have been clued as "Publisher of this puzzle: Abbr."). And this is for the gals...

31. Laundry room brand : AMANA. I was looking for a detergent, not the washing machine!

32. About half a million square miles of Asia : GOBI. The Gobi desert is most notable as the location of several cities along the Silk Road.

35. Dept. of Labor arm : OSHA. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

42. Caesarean infinitive : ESSE. "To be" (or not to be...). Not to be confused with a Caesarean section, which has an entirely different meaning!

43. It parallels the radius : ULNA. The two bones of the forearm.

44. John Barleycorn : BOOZE. The "Z" in this one was my very last fill. I was thinking of "Daniel BOOnE". (What was I thinking???)

45. "___ Sera, Sera" : QUE. What will be, will be.

47. One with goals : SCORER. Loved this clue/answer! A real V-8 moment, when I realized they were talking about things like hockey goals. I bet Eddy B and JD got this one immediately!

54. Pol. convention attendees : DELS. I had "DEmS" at first. Then realized, they wanted "delegates", not "democrats".

55. Swing vigorously : FLAIL. I think of "flailing" as swinging randomly, not vigorously?

56. Flexible wood : OSIER. Willow wood, used for making baskets and other crosswordese items.

58. Down the drain : LOST. Oh goodness, my train of thought just went down the drain...

64. Largest of the Near Islands : ATTU. Part of the Aleutians, and site of a famous ski hill. (You knew I had to get in a reference to my favorite sport, right?)

65. Ornamental vases : URNS.

66. Aqua ___: alcohol : VITAE. Thank goodness, the constructor provided the "alcohol" hint. Otherwise, I would have penned in VELVA without any hesitation!

67. Singer who said "Men should be like Kleenex: soft, strong and disposable" : CHER. Always the philosopher, that one...

68. Enlightened response : I SEE.

69. Frost and others : POETS

Down:

1. Clean, in a way : MOP

2. Israeli gun designer ___ Gal : UZI. My one gate-opener for this puzzle! It's usually clued as "Israeli submachine gun". Nice to see this attribute to it's creator. (I think...)

3. Turn bad : ROT.

4. Exterminator's target : ANT. Wanted "rat", at first.

5. Diminished state : LESS. Ah, but "Less is more", right?

6. Brown : SAUTE. Wow! This one whacked me upside the head when I finally sussed it through perps. What an ambiguous clue for such a common word. Loved it!

7. Robin's weapon : ARROW. Had to think: "Batman" or "Hood"?

8. Traces : SIGNS

9. "That's rich!" : HAH. HAH! Loved this one, too!

10. "Everything's fine for now" : SO FAR SO GOOD. Wonderful, lively fill. And so far so good...only 31 more clues to unravel.

12. Gossipmonger : YENTA. A Yiddish busybody.

18. Give a little : BEND

21. Add (in), as music to a film : DUB

22. Piece of the pie : SHARE. Hands up for all who filled in "slice"??

23. "The Stranger" writer : CAMUS. "L'Etranger" by Albert Camus. Said to be an existentialist novel, but the novel had much broader meanings and explores absurdism to the extreme. Curious to know, have you read it, Hahtool?

24. Most Egyptians : ARABS

25. Conclusion that doesn't follow : NON SEQUITUR. "So, I plan to make meatloaf for dinner tonight..."

27. Scott of "Happy Days" : BAIO

32. Hair goop : GEL

33. Have : OWN

34. Uplifting garb : BRA. For the guys..

36. Cursed : SWORE. #*^@&!~$%#&@* puzzle...

37. Not brown or blue, perhaps : HAZEL. Like this here.

38. Australia's ___ Rock : AYERS. In the land of "Oz" (Australia).  I immediately thought of our Kazie.

40. One of three duck brothers : HUEY. Dewey and Louie are the other two, but they wouldn't fit here.

41. Letters after C or MS : NBC. CNBC and MSNBC are both cable networks. CNBC is the "Consumer News and Business Channel". MSNBC is another cable news channel, whose name comes from a combination of "Microsoft" and "NBC".

46. www address : URL. Does anyone need an explanation of this one? (email me...)

47. Arcade game starter : SKEE. -ball

48. Company with a spokesduck : AFLAC.

49. A deadly sin : SLOTH. To cover all the bases, you need to have wrath, greed, pride, lust, envy and gluttony as well.

50. Moisten while cooking : BASTE. See 20A. It requires careful basting.

51. Standard partner : POORS. Standard & Poors, a US based financial services company that publishes financial research analysis on stocks and bonds.

52. In cahoots : AS ONE. Any questions?

53. Light wash : RINSE. Hmmmm...I still think a light wash requires some sort of soap?

57. Invitation letters : RSVP. "Répondez s'il vous plaît". Literally, "Respond, if it pleases you." Well, what if I don't feel like responding?? Emily Post would frown on that attitude, I'm afraid.

59. SADD focus : DUI. Students Against Drunk Driving are concerned about people who Drive Under the Influence.

60. Theater program item : BIO. Biography. No hint of abbr. in the clue? So, I guess "bio" is a legit modern term?

61. Colorado native : UTE. What's a "ute"??? (See "My Cousin Vinny" clip, done before.)

62. Informer : RAT. "You dirty rat..."

63. Celebratory cry : YES! ("I FINISHED THIS BAD PUPPY!!")

Answer grid.

Thanks for hangin' with me for a while. I'm looking forward to hearing all your comments. I am flying down to Chapel Hill, N.C this morning to meet DH (he's doing a project down there this week). So I will be offline for part of the day. But I will check in as soon as I get settled into our hotel room. In the meantime, carry on, and play nice!

Hugs,

Marti

Wednesday, November 16, 2011 Julian Lim

THEME: GO OFF, don't GOOF OFF! Common phrases starting with the words, "GO OFF" are clued* as if the words showed up in the theme answers; but instead, they are reserved for the unifier. This results in some odd-looking partials until you pull it all together. Then, you find that the theme questions define the answers quite nicely.

* With asterisks.

A 17. *Get carried away : (GO OFF) THE DEEP END.

A 64. *Act prematurely : (GO OFF) HALF COCKED.

D 11. *Lose it : (GO OFF) ONE'S ROCKER.

D 28. *Digress : (GO OFF) ON A TANGENT.

And the unifier: A 40. Explode, and words needed to complete the four starred answers : GO OFF. This filled in partially from the perps, and it was not immediately obvious how to parse the goofy-looking "_OOFF" until I took a good look at the clue.

Hi, gang. Reporting here from the DEEP END, it's JazzBumpa, the HALF-COCKED trombonist. I don't recall seeing a theme approach quite like this before, so high marks to Mr. Lim for a creative and tight theme. With that in mind, let's GO OFF exploring it. We'll find some other gems, for sure.

ACROSS

1. Response to a good barb : OH, SNAP! Really? the urban dictionary informs me that this is a playful phrase, usually uttered by a bystander rather than the barbee, and attributes it to Tracy Morgan of SNL.

7. Wyo. neighbor : IDA. Why oh, why oh did I ever leave Ohio? 'Cuz I went to IDAHO in search of spuds. Or abbreviations.

10. Horticulturalist's supply : POTS. Flower pots, perhaps. Is there another interpretation?

14. Water delivery system : PIPAGE. I stumbled over this odd, clumsy, but perfectly legitimate word.

15. Relatives : KIN. I have one sister, and three brothers-in-law.

16. One-named "May It Be" singer : ENYA. This is not the first time Eithne Ní Bhraonáin has appeared in my puzzle blogging. I totally forgot that she performed this hauntingly beautiful song - her original composition - over the closing credits of The Fellowship of the Ring, the first movie of the Lord of the Rings sequence. The rest of the magnificent score is by Howard Shore.

19. Didn't chuck : KEPT. Chuck, as in throw out.

20. The Trojans, familiarly : SO. CAL. The SO CALLED Trojans are the athletic teams of Southern California University. Is there another interpretation?

21. Obvious : EASY TO SEE. I hope everyone was able to see this easily.

23. Sash worn in a ryokan inn : OBI. Having no clue what a ryokian inn might be, but having the "I" from a perp, I took a swag at OBI.

25. Always : EVER.

26. Everett of "Citizen Kane" : SLOANE. He played Mr. Bernstein.

30. __Vista: Google alternative : ALTA. Does anyone use ALTA VISTA? Does it mean "Another View?"

32. Missions, to spies : OPS. Operations. Not just for spies, though. My older step-son (more KIN) is in the USAF Special Ops. I have no idea what he does, though, and he aint tellin'!

35. Fly without a plane : HANG GLIDE. Is GLIDING really flying? Let's check with Rocky.

37. Car window adornment : DECAL. This is a shortened form of the original Decalcomania. Decorated glassware is often made from a ceramic decal fired onto the glass surface.

39. Course often taken with physiol. : ANAT. Physiology and Anatomy. Short courses, apparently.

42. Scottish terrier breed : SKYE. From the Hebrides Island of the same name, I presume.

43. "Midnight Cowboy" hustler Rizzo : RATSO. Played by Dustin Hoffman.

45. Informed of the latest news : UP TO SPEED. In the know. On top of things.

47. Korean automaker : KIA.

48. Bark's pole : MAST. A bark is a ship with anywhere from three to five masts, all of them square-rigged except the after mast, which is fore-and-aft rigged. I have no idea what this means.

50. Comedy, horror, etc. : GENRES. Categories of films or novels

51. 12 : NOON. Timely clue and answer.

53. "We the Living" author Rand : AYN. One of her lesser known works.

54. Nutty Hershey's treat : MR. GOODBAR. Little peanut chunks surrounded by chocolate. Yum!

58. Alacrity : HASTE. From the Latin alacritās, from alacer lively.

63. Bailiff's cry : OYEZ. Does anyone know why?

66. Breeze indicator : VANE. Weather vane

67. Mil. training academy : O.C.S. Officers Candidate School. Note abbrv 'n cl & ans.

68. Flubbing it : ERRING. Consult that awful Lions-Bears game from Sunday for many real life illustrations.

69. Laryngitis specialists, for short : E.N.T'S. Ear, Nose and Throat. Dr's. Not Tolkein's Tree-like entities, who are covered with BARK, but never go sailing.

70. Reporter's question : WHO? Along with What? Where? When? Why? and How? An old singing TV AD for the Detroit News went "What in the world's going on? If you read the News you'll know."

71. Taoism founder : LAO TSE

DOWN

1. Elects : OPTS

2. Greeting from Kermit the Frog : HI-HO. According to Answers.com, this is correct. Ribbit!

3. Design detail, briefly : SPEC. Specification.

4. Zilch : NADA. Nothing, slangily.

5. Unending : AGE LONG. I tried TOO LONG, which was just LONG enough, but wrong.

6. End of a quip? : PEE. The letter "P." This is awful. A spelt out letter is lame, lame, fill; and cluing it self-referentially only compounds the lame-itude, marring an otherwise fine puzzle.

7. Big name in do-it-yourself furniture : IKEA. Some of my KIN love this place.

8. Loud noises : DINS. The rule for quiet hideaways is "no DINS in the dens!"

9. "Even so ..." : AND YET

10. Earl Grey alternative : PEKOE. Teas for your nice cup, eh! Perhaps someone can fill us in on the subtleties of tea GENRES. I can say that Earl Grey is black tea flavored with essence of bergamot, a citrus fruit.

12. Compose email : TYPE. We all type, but does anyone use a typewriter, these days?

13. Fill totally : SATE. Typically, but not exclusively, referring to an appetite.

18. Prov. in the Gulf of St. Lawrence : P.E.I. Prince Edward Island. Here you can take a tour.

22. Living room plug? : TV AD. This was slow to sink in. An advert (plug) on the telly. Mine, however is not in the living room.

24. Where Flanders red ale is brewed: Abbr. : BELG. Belgium, where they make some darned fine brews (not tea.)

26. "Jaws" menace : SHARK. It has pretty teeth, dear.

27. Molokai neighbor : LANAI. These are lesser known Hawaiian Islands.

29. CIA employees : AGTS. Agents of the Central Intelligence Agency

30. Get from a shelter : ADOPT. Acquire from a pet shelter. Sneaky.

31. Remaining : LEFT. Quite a few clues LEFT. Are you still with me? If not, raise your hand.

33. Check recipient : PAYEE.

34. Hillside whizzers : SLEDS. Frolicking children gliding down a snowy hillside on their sleds, now that I get it. You don't want to know what mental image this elicited.

36. Chits in a pot : I-O-U-S. Chit and I-O-U are synonyms for a brief document indicating debt. Evidently, gamblers use these when they run out of cash.

38. Jocks' channel : ESPN. All sports, all the time; a channel, not a station.

41. Square oldster : FOGY. AKA: fuddy-duddy.

44. Melville adventure : OMOO. This puzzle evergreen gets clued in a variety of ways. I don't recall ever seeing Moby Dick in a X-word.

46. Portuguese lady : SENHORA. Like Spanish, kinda, sorta, but spelt different.

49. "Amen!" : AND HOW! Odd phrase indicating emphatic agreement.

52. Exhibits in abundance, as confidence : OOZES. Another odd phrase. OOZE seems a bit unsightly.

53. Corgi's cry : ARF. Barking dogs.

54. Budge : MOVE. Usually indicated in the negative.

55. Strikeout king Nolan : RYAN. He pitched in the Major Leagues for 27 years, playing for the Mets, Angles, Astros and Rangers. Wow!

56. "Hunting Cantata" composer : BACH. Johann Sebastian, not one of his many musical KIN. Never heard of it. And, at 33 minutes, I'll probably never hear it - though it does start off nicely.

57. Besides : ALSO. Plus, too, in addition, etc. . . Besides the long theme answers, this puzzle has lots of 7 and 9 letter fill.

60. "MADtv" segment : SKIT

61. Summer's column : TENS. Major misdirection for the number column between the units and the hundreds. I could make no sense of this until I realized that "Summer" mean "Adder." Snaky sneaky.

62. Perimeter : EDGE. Border. Rim.

65. Disney gift store purchase : CEL. Short for CELlulloid, a clear plastic sheet used for drawing an animation.

Answer grid.

Hope you enjoyed the puzzle, and I didn't GOOF or GO OFF on too many TANGENTS.

Cheers!

JzB