Friday Dec 16, 2011 Bruce R. Sutphin & Doug Peterson

(Please click here to solve the LA Times Daily Crossword in old format.)

Theme: HOODOO (45D. Bad luck, and a hint to the four longest across answers) - HOO is added to each common phrase.

20A. Anti-sweatshirt slogan? : NEVER SAY HOODIE. Never say die.

25A. Rabid B-ball fan's shout? : HOOPS, I LOVE YOU. P.S. I Love You. Very moving movie.

43A. Conspiracy resting place? : CAHOOT'S CRADLE. Cat's cradle.

50A. Harried photographer's wish? : RESHOOT IN PEACE. Rest in peace. The clue reminded me of Anna Wintour and her demanding style.

C.C. here. Lemonade will be back in his blogging seat next Friday. He was ready to go today, but I felt he needed one more week's recovery.

I don't quite get today's unifier HOODOO. What does DOO have anything to do with the HOO addition? Other than that, all is great. Very smooth fill.

I mentioned before that 14's are tricky to maneuver, esp if they're your first/last theme entries and you have 5 long Across theme entries. Today, we have 4. So no problem here.

Across:

1. Something to do between class and homework : MCJOB. Thought of outdoor sports rather than a part-time job.

6. "Animal House" house : DELTA. Never saw the movie.

11. Acting as : QUA. This little word always gives me trouble.

14. São __ : PAULO. So, their OK sign is not really OK.

15. Unfamiliar : ALIEN

16. Prefix with form : UNI. Uniform.

17. Auger shape : HELIX. I often confuse "auger" with "augur".

18. Globe fleck : ISLET

19. Green source, briefly : ATM. Lots of clever clues for ATM, unlike EKE or URAL.

23. Shogunate seat of power : EDO (1603-1806)

24. Major course : ENTREE. What do you want for your last meal? I want sashimi, freshly grilled unagi & mochi ice cream.

31. Lennox of the Eurythmics : ANNIE. "Sweet Dreams are made of this..."

32. "__ only kidding!" : I WAS

33. Get-up-and-go : PEP. What Dennis has.

36. "Waverley" novelist : SCOTT. Sir Walter Scott. I've never heard of "Waverley", a historical novel.

37. Boston's Liberty Tree, e.g. : ELM

38. Word of welcome : HELLO. Ni Hao! Literally "You good".

40. Push-up target : PEC

41. Progress measure : STEP. Tricky clue for me.

42. Two-dimensional products : AREAS

47. Guiding light : BEACON

49. Much of the daily paper : ADS. Esp on Sundays.

56. D-backs, on scoreboards : ARI

57. Harry's Hogwarts nemesis : DRACO. Gimme for Argyle/Jazzbumpa. A draconian clue for me, a non-Harry Potter fan.

58. "The Office" airer : NBC TV

60. Uruguayan uncle : TIO

61. Saharan refuges : OASES. Lots of dates there. Fed to camels and horses. What a waste.

62. Use a short form of : ELIDE

63. __ master : ZEN. Doug Peterson is a grid master.

64. Not sharp, say : ON KEY. I need "or not flat" in the clue to think musically. Stupid!

65. Believer in the clockwork universe theory : DEIST. What is "clockwork universe theory"?

Down:

1. Daytona meas. : MPH. Nailed it, eddy? Daytona 500.

2. French city near the English Channel : CAEN

3. Styne of Broadway : JULE. "Funny Girl", "Gypsy", etc.

4. Greek salad leftover : OLIVE PIT. Have yet to finish my jar of olive pate. Incredibly salty, Steve!

5. Ardent fan's purchase : BOXED SET

6. Speaker's platform : DAIS

7. Supermodel Benitez : ELSA. Here she is. Your clue, Bruce?

8. Plant family including tulips : LILY

9. Giggles : TEEHEES

10. Caesar colleague : ANTONY (Marc). Cleopatra was a Wonder Woman.

11. Adjusted for a larger group, as a recipe : QUADRUPLED. I like this entry.

12. Free : UNTIE

13. Pop singer Mann : AIMEE

21. Dauphin's destiny : ROI. Dauphin was French ROI's oldest (eldest?) son.

22. Nebraska native : OTO

25. Door closer : HASP

26. "I'll try anything __" : ONCE. Will you, Desper-otto?

27. Irregularly : ON OCCASION. Nice answer also.

28. Not be up-front with : LIE TO

29. Nocturnal newcomer : OWLET. "Newcomer" made me laugh.

30. Improvises : VAMPS. New meaning of "vamp" to me. Jazz term.

34. Mideast flier : EL AL

35. Put forward : POSE

38. Got set : HARDENED

39. Subject to removal : ERASABLE

41. Desert bordering the Mojave : SONORAN

44. German grouse? : ACH. Lovely clue/answer for Kazie, Spitzboov and Misty, who is from Austria.

46. Ceiling : CAP

47. Lush-lipped doll brand : BRATZ. They all look quite pretty, except their "lush lips".

48. More than odd : EERIE

51. Thing to stay on : TASK. Stay on task.

52. Big name in slush : ICEE

53. Prying : NOSY

54. MX ÷ V : CCII. 1010/5= 202. I don't mind Roman numeral in a grid at all.

55. Approx. takeoff hrs. : ETDs. ETD = Estimated Time of Departure.

59. Thoroughly examine : VET. Vet a potential candidate for a Supreme Court Justice position, for example.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Thursday December 15, 2011 Mark Bickham

(Please click here to solve the LA Times Daily Crossword in old format.)

Theme: DF families

I will give the reveal first:

59A. Show since 12/17/1989 whose five main family members are hidden in this puzzle's other long across answers : THE SIMPSONS

...and then I'll introduce the leading characters:

17A. Tomato-based concoctions : CHILI SAUCES. Lisa, a precocious 8-year old activist.

20A. Do-it-yourselfers' projects : HOME RENOVATIONS. Homer, the father, who works as a safety inspector at a nuclear power plant (God help us!).

29A. Birthplace of the Bauhaus movement : WEIMAR GERMANY. Marge, the stereotypical housewife and mother.

41A. Mughal emporer, 1556-1605 : AKBAR THE GREAT. Bart, the 10-year-old troublemaker.

52A. Lone Star State collegiate athlete : TEXAS A AND M AGGIE. Maggie, the pacifier-sucking baby who never speaks.

Homer would say, "MEH"...This puzzle is packed with theme entries -nice! I have never watched the Simpsons, and only know their names from doing crosswords!

Marti here, so it must be Thursday already?

Across:

1. Goes on : LASTS

6. "Dude!" : MY MAN

11. Jamboree gp. : BSA. Boy Scouts of America.

14. Wise youngster? : OWLET

15. Dumas's Edmond Dantes, e.g. : COMTE. French count.

16. PC-to-PC system : LAN. Local Area Network.

19. Not safe : OUT. "Y'errrrrr out!!"

22. Lee org. : CSA. Confederate States of America, General Robert E. Lee.

23. Word after mess or media : KIT

24. End of the war : V-DAY. "Victory" Day

25. Lowdown : INFO

28. They may be tipped in acknowledgement : HATS

36. Totally dominate : OWN

37. "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" actress : MIA SARA. A.K.A. Sloane Peterson in the movie.

38. High deg. : PH.D

44. Race invented about 800,000 years before its time : ELOI. From H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine"

45. Schools of thought : ISMS

46. Field workers : OXEN

47. End of many a riddle : AM I.
(I have an eye but cannot see. I am stronger and faster than any man alive but have no limbs. Who am I?)

50. Range part: Abbr. : MTN. Mountain.

58. Greek vowel : ETA

60. Dreamer's acronym : REM

61. Coastal safety measure : LEVEE. ..Not so safe in New Orleans in 2005, though.

62. Lincoln and Ford : AUTOS

63. Return adressee, briefly? : IRS. Internal revenue Service, where we must send all of our tax RETURNS

64. "Waiting for Lefty" playwright : ODETS

65. Sudden burst : SPATE

Down:

1. Ness, for one : LOCH

2. "Horton Hears ___" : A WHO

3. Not good, chance-wise : SLIM...to none!

4. BellSouth, for one : TELECOM

5. Moves a muscle : STIRS

6. Thom ___: Shoe brand : MCAN

7. Concerned query : YOU OK?

8. XCV years from now : MMCVI...do the math!

9. Troubled a lot : ATE AT

10. Leaves home? : NEST...OK, this one stymied me. Help?

11. A and B, e.g. : BLOOD TYPES. We had A NEG yesterday...

12. Hot spots : SAUNAS. When we were children, my father had a sauna every Saturday for his Finnish friends...us kids would have to wait until they were done, before we got to go into the sauna.

13. Not sitting well? : ANTSY

18. Noted septet member : SEA

21. Russian John : IVAN

25. ___ Jima : IWO

26. Mint : NEW. I bet Dennis and C.C. both have mint baseball cards in their colletions...

27. Reason for cramming : FINAL EXAMS

28. Den ___. Nederland : HAAG

30. Prefix with dexterity : AMBI

31. River inlet : RIA

32. Spearlike fish : GAR. Yes, they are spear-like!

33. Recordholder's suffix : EST

34. Word of support : RAH

35. G.I. chow : MRE. Meal, Ready to Eat.

39. One acting badly : HAM

40. Boozer's syndrome : DTS. Delirium tremens...not a nice thing to go through.

42. ___Coast, Hawaiian coffee district : KONA

43. Calls, in Chelsea : RINGS UP. One of my 'Brit friends used to say "I'll knock you up in the morning..." Nice Cuppa, is that a familiar phrase for you?

44. English cathedral city : EXETER

46. Former "SNL" regular : OTERI

47. Sounded content : AAHED

48. Novelist Binchy : MAEVE

49. Atlas enlargement : INSET

50. "Delicious!" : MMM

51. Spanish bar snacks : TAPAS. MMM!!

53. D-Day target city : ST LO

54. Fizzles out : DIES

55. "___ light?" : GOT A. First time I went to Germany, I needed a cigarette lighter and asked, "Haben sie ein licht?" The guy looked up at the ceiling light, quizzically wondering what I wanted! I think the correct way to say it would be "Haben sie feuer?" Maybe Kazie can correct me...

56. Trying to get untied, briefly? : IN OT. My favorite clue/ans of the day. In overtime, trying to break a tied score!

57. To be, to Brutus : ESSE

Answer grid.

Now it is time "to be" going.

Hugs,

Marti