Friday December 9, 2011 Robert W. Harris

Theme: Computer Terms for Dummies - Humorous re-interpretation of computer terms in non-computer sense.

17A. Correspondence between philistines? : YAHOO MAIL. Not a Yahoo Mail user.

25A. Telecommuting congressional aides? : HOME PAGES. The House is ending their page program.

38A. Grand Central waitstaff? : TERMINAL SERVERS. Desper-otto might know this term. Not me. He was an Application Developer.

47A. Drum major's concern during a parade through narrow streets? : BAND WIDTH

59A. Single-cut and rat-tail? : FILE TYPES. I've never heard of either the file type. Not a tool guy, obviously.

C.C. again. Lemonade called me on Wednesday afternoon, but I could not hear clearly what he said other than he was hospitalized. I hope it's nothing serious and he could return to us soon.

Part of today's gimmick delighted me as this is one of my favorite theme types. Part confused me due to my unfamiliarity with the theme answer or the clue.

Across:

1. Goya subject : MAJA. Naked and clothed. Crossing MAYA (1D. Builders of the Tikal temples).

5. Party guy, perhaps : STAG

9. Brought down : RAZED. This puzzle is a pangram, all 26 letters are used at least once.

14. "El __ brujo": de Falla work : AMOR. "Love, the Magician", according to Wiki. Unfamiliar to me.

15. Prefix with foil : AERO. What is aerofoil?

16. Adversary : ENEMY

19. Analogy symbol : COLON. Damn it: English :: Ta Ma De: Chinese

20. Rescinds : ANNULS

21. Poetic time reference : ERE

23. Social conclusion : ITE. Socialite.

24. Chromosome component : DNA

28. Barely got, with "out" : EKED. No other way to clue this little word.

30. Fin. neighbor : NOR (Norway)

31. Off-rd. vehicle : ATV

32. Charge : FEE. Quite pricy to get Geek Squad for a home visit.

33. Currency on which Marconi appeared : LIRA. No idea. Marconi appeared on 2,000 lira note. LIRE is the plural of "lira". (Sorry for the error earlier.)

34. Explore : GO INTO

41. Record holder : SLEEVE. Was thinking of a person.

42. Fleming and others : IANs

43. Ex-NBAer Unseld : WES. Stranger to me. Wiki said he spent his whole career with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets.

44. India neighbor, to the IOC : NEP. OK, Nepal.

45. The Tupolev Tu-144, e.g. : SST. The clue means nothing to me.

46. Like Magellan, often : ASEA

51. Dada co-founder : ARP (Jean)

52. Ring cheer : OLE

53. Like Beethoven's Sonata Op. 109 : IN E

54. Count Almaviva's valet, in opera : FIGARO. "The Marriage of Figaro".

57. Bobby __ : SOXER

62. Fall breaker : CHUTE

63. Behan's land : ERIN. Brendan Behan was an Irish poet. Another new name to me.

64. Sister of Rachel : LEAH. Jacob's first wife. And the real name of our dear Chickie.

65. Refuges : OASES

66. Like core courses: Abbr. : REQD (Required)

67. First name in humor : ERMA (Bombeck)

Down:

2. "God is not __ ...": Numbers : A MAN.

3. Baler maker : JOHN DEERE. Great entry.

4. In the area : AROUND

5. Big wholesale club : SAM'S

6. 1773 jetsam : TEA

7. NFL's Cardinals, on scoreboards : ARI

8. Artificial being of Jewish folklore : GOLEM. Inspired Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein".

9. Molecules that respond to stimuli : RECEPTORS

10. "Wheel of Fortune" purchase : AN O

11. Woody Allen film : ZELIG. Mockumentary (1983).

12. Ham it up : EMOTE

13. Physics class units : DYNEs

18. Rock-__: jukebox brand : OLA. I only know Wurlitzer.

22. Oxalic acid, e.g. : REAGENT. Whatever.

25. Wedding ring? : HORA. Ring dance.

26. Teacher of spoken language to the deaf : ORALIST. Spellchecker does not like this word.

27. Tel __ : AVIV

28. Immature newts : EFTs

29. Balance beam? : KEEL. OK, sailors, explain it to me.

30. Back-row bowling target : NINE PIN

33. Balls of energy : LIVEWIRES. Dennis is one. Don't think he ever had a quiet day.

35. Where many columns are found : NEWSPAPER

36. One with a trunk : TREE

37. Greek peak : OSSA. Mt Ossa.

39. Fix up : MEND

40. Window part : SASH

46. Varicolored pattern : ARGYLE. Look at our Argyle's socks.

47. Milk flavorer since 1928 : BOSCO

48. Hello, to some Americans : ALOHA

49. Link : NEXUS

50. Put off : DEFER

51. River island : AIT. Same as "islet", correct?

54. Ward (off) : FEND

55. Staples purchase : REAM

56. Workplace inspection org. : OSHA

58. Juillet is part of it : ETE. Juillet = July.

60. Glower inducer : IRE

61. Matter state: Abbr. : LIQ (Liquid)

Answer grid.

1) Happy Birthday to our always caring and attentive Hahtool!

2) Please click her (Chicago Tribute's website) if you're not happy with the new LA Times crossword format.

C.C.

Thursday, December 8, 2011 Don Gagliardo

Theme: Oh, Really? - Five phrases starting with an 'O' homonym.

17A. Evian, in Evian : EAU MINERALE. French mineral water.

23A. Thankfully credit : OWE EVERY THING TO ...

35A. One way to serve beef : AU JUS. French for "with [its own] juice".

50A. Sweet treat with an exclamation point in its name : OH HENRY! CANDY BAR. There is no definitive explanation as to the exact origin of the name.

56A. Classic noel : "O TANNENBAUM". German for "O Christmas Tree", Classic clip.(1:57)

Argyle again. Don "Hard G" doing a solo today. Two grid spanners, a season song; a trifle easy for a Thursday but who's complaining. Well, maybe HeartRx because she missed out blogging it but that's what you get if you go traipsing off to Europe.

Across:

1. Bombed : STANK

6. Hindu title : SWAMI

11. Easy letters? : ABC

14. Board : HOP ON

15. Bar mixer : TONIC

16. Mme., across the Pyrenees : SRA.

19. One who can't pass the bar? : SOT

20. Marked for removal : DELED

21. House coat : PAINT

28. Org. concerned with the No Child Left Behind Act : NEA. This time it is the National Education Association (NEA) and not the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), I think.

29. Ambulance arrival sites, briefly : ERs

30. London taxi : HACKNEY. Boston police department has a Hackney Carriage Unit, analogous to taxicab regulators in other cities, that issues Hackney Carriage medallions to its taxi operators.

31. She played Julia in "Julie & Julia" : MERYL. Streep

33. Bohemian dance : POLKA. Not what I'm familiar with.

34. Novelist Ferber : EDNA

37. SASE enclosure, maybe : RSVP

41. Weaklings : WIMPS

43. Place for a large umbrella : PATIO

44. Mooches : SPONGES

47. She turned pro before her 16th birthday : WIE. Michelle (golfer)

49. Sch. with a Mesa campus : ASU. Arizona State University.

53. One of the deadly sins : PRIDE

54. Pianist Claudio : ARRAU. Short but powerful clip.(1:29)

55. __ Tomé : SÃO. Off the west coast of Africa. Map. In 1908, Sao Tome had become the world's largest producer of cacao which still is the country's most important crop.

62. __ Today : USA

63. Joint-forming bones : ULNAE. Forearm.

64. Surface with legs : TABLE

65. Author : PEN so 4D. __ plume : NOM DE. pen name.

66. Tell off : SCOLD

67. Slammin' Sammy of golf : SNEAD. Snead(1912 - 2002) won a record 82 PGA Tour events including seven majors but failed to win a U.S. Open.

Down:

1. Sailor's pronoun : SHE

2. Ode title words : TO A

3. Kwik-E-Mart guy on "The Simpsons" : APU. Nahasapeemapetilon.

5. 1999 Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductee : KNIEVEL. Evel

6. Takes the wheel : STEERS

7. Prolix : WORDY. Word Origin & History: PROLIX - 1412, from O.Fr. prolixe (14c.), from L. prolixus "extended," lit. "poured out," from pro- "forth" + base of liquere "to flow". Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

8. Santa __ winds : ANA

9. "Cool" amount : MIL. as "a cool million"

10. Chipping tool : ICE PICK

11. Make responsible for, as a case : ASSIGN

12. 19th-century literary family name : BRONTË

13. Stuffed mouse, e.g. : CAT TOY

18. Card or Met : NLer. Baseball.

22. Capital south of the Black Sea : ANKARA. The capital of Turkey.

23. "My treat!" : "ON ME!"

24. Whacker's target : WEED

25. Merit : EARN

26. Grand : THOU. $1,000

27. Dutch Golden Age painter : HALS

32. Showed disinterest, maybe : YAWNED

33. Early a.m. wear : PJs. Might see them being worn anytime at Walmart.

35. AKC part: Abbr. : AMER.

36. Daisy lead-in : UPSY

38. Try : STAB

39. Plastic choice : VISA. I chose MasterCard.

40. Decant : POUR

42. Formed by the solidification of magma : IGNEOUS

43. Bookish types : PEDANTS

44. Absorbs, in a way : SOPS UP

45. More than words : PHRASE

46. Buckeye : OHIOAN

47. Put on alert : WARNED

48. Concerning, in memos : IN RE

51. Erie __ : CANAL

52. John Arbuckle's coffee : YUBAN. Decades ago there was a Yuban coffee ad campaign with the tag line: “as John Arbuckle would say, 'You get what you pay for'. Very interesting man. Info.

57. LPN skill : TLC

58. California's __ Nuevo State Park : AÑO. On the southern San Mateo County coast, Año Nuevo(New Year) is the site of the largest mainland breeding colony of the northern elephant seal. Fifty-five miles south of San Francisco, a low, rocky, windswept point juts out into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish maritime explorer Sebastian Vizcaino sailed by the point on January 3, 1603. His diarist and chaplain of the expedition, Father Antonio de la Ascension, named it Punta de Año Nuevo (New Year's Point) for the day on which they sighted it in 1603.

59. 16th prez : ABE. Honest!

60. Form ending : ULA. (formula)

61. Post-op dose : MED. Short version of medicine and for most of us, it's meds.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Happy Birthday to Jazzbumpa (Ron). May you never lose the beat. Here is a recent photo of Ron and his beautiful wife Gloria. Here is their ad hoc trombone quartet (from left to right): Ron, Mike, Jeff and Dan. Very cool!