Friday, December 23, 2011, Mike Peluso

Theme: No F words here! The letter F is taken from the end of the second word of a common phrase and is replaced with either a sound alike or the word without the F to create a new and witty phrase. This is my second Mike Peluso puzzle to write up, and like the other it has many 3 and 4 letter words, which should be easy, but they are not. It also has lots of themeage, so let us see what we have to work with today.

18A. Answered on "Name That Fabric"?: CRIED WOOL. Cried wolf. My favorite, and seeing the theme really helped.

20A. Just the binding?: BOOK SHELL. Book shelf. Here the F leaves but an added L comes in to play.

36A. Scale model of an ancient rival of Rome: MINIATURE GAUL. Miniature golf. Here we lose the F sound and have a sound alike. As Julius Caesar said, "Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres."

54A. Burger queen?: GROUND BEE. Ground Beef. The F is gone, no sound alike. Queen Bee, a convoluted pun with Burger King as well. A shout out to our amazing BEES.

57A. Non-contraband cheese?: LEGAL BRIE. Legal Brief. This one also just has the F removed. Brie the french soft cheese.

The unifier: 65A. Disappearing sound, and a hint to this puzzle's theme: PFFT. Not much help, but I had the theme long before I git here.

Time for the rest of the story.

Across:

1. Tic, for one: SPASM. Like that of Inspector Dreyfus.

6. Arcade trademark word: SKEE. Skee Ball, the first game where we teach kids to gamble to win prizes.

10. Its website has a "Rodents 101" section: DCON. Gotta love em, CLIP (0:18).

14. "__ Go Again": Whitesnake #1 song : HERE I. CLIP.(4:33).

15. Brand at Petco: IAMS. The founder of the company was Paul Iams.

16. Pats on a buffet: OLEO. No, not on the waitresses' bottom.

17. '30s-'40s Kildare portrayer : AYRES. Lew, who ironically studied to be a doctor at the University of Arizona.

22. Pocatello sch : ISU. Idaho State University.

23. Texter's "Oh, before I forget ..." : BTW. By the Way.

24. Pah lead-in: OOM. Is this too close to 40A. Oomph: ZING?

25. Car radio selection: PRESET.

28. Hedger's OK: YES, BUT...what if? See below?

30. Land measurement ACRE.

32. "Discreet Music" composer: ENO. Sounds better than elevator music.

33. Surrealist Jean: ARP. A regular in our world.

34. On the __ vive: alert: QUI. From French, who lives, being the inquiry of the guard of the gate.

35. City south of Fort Worth: WACO. I guess forever linked to David Koresh, the wacko from Waco.

41. DOD arm: NSA. Department of Defense. National Security Agency.

42. Aus. currency : DOL. Austrailian Dollar.

43. Seasonal helper: ELF.How many liked the Will Farrell movie?

44. Olds 442 rivals: GTOS. My brother has a 1967.

45. Honolulu's __ Palace: IOLANI. The only real PALACE in the US.

49. Mouth formations: DELTAS. Mouths of rivers, my favorite was Miss Florida.

51. H.S. dropout's exam: GED. General Educational Development are the tests not the diploma.

52. Author Yutang: LIN. Out of my knowledge base, perhaps other can give some history. (From C.C.: Lin Yutang was a giant in Chinese literature, known for his beautiful prose.)

53. High dudgeon: IRE. An odd word never used by itself, and with no known origin like its cousins BLUDGEON and CURMUDGEON.

60. Rock's Burdon et al : ERICS. and the Animals.

61. He lowered the New York Times' price from 3¢ to 1¢: OCHS. And raised circulation from 7,000 to 900,000. Interesting MAN.

62. Doofuses : OAFS.

63. Reds, maybe: WINES.

64. Clothes alterer of a kind: MOTH. Cute, but I do not see many moths here.

66. Tex's "What if ...": S'POSE. This one fooled me for a while even after I filled in all the letters, I suppose I just did not see it.

Down:

1. Ramshackle: SHABBY. I started with SHANTY, thinking of an old house.

2. Native American hallucinogen: PEYOTE. When I was in college lots of people wanted to be indigenous Americans so they could experience the ritual of mescaline, the hallucinogen in Peyote.

3. Pointers: ARROWS.

4. Tuner option: SEEK. Being from New England I like my TUNER to be Albacore. Also and Anagram for SKEE, and the derivation of SIC.

5. Where Clark met Lewis in 1804: MISSOURI. The state or the river?

6. "Attack!": SIC EM. likely from "seek them."

7. Jazz great Malone: KARL. This was so cool, not the music, but the NBA team.

8. Oscar winner Jannings : EMIL. A silent film star who won the first best Actor award in 1929; he later became a Nazi propagandist, and his Hollywood career was over.

9. Toledo-to-Akron dir : ESE.

10. Not spare the rod?: DOWSE. The art of finding water with a stick, not to be confused with DICKY the STICK promoted by Johnny Carson.

11. Sellers role: CLOUSEAU. Truly in a class by himself with his tormentor/tormentee 57D. Herbert who played 11-Down's nemesis Inspector Dreyfus: LOM. A perfect FOIL for Seller's silliness.

12. Antipoverty agcy: OEO. Office of Economic Opportunity.

13. Exiled Cambodian Lon __ NOL. My favorite palindromic leader.

19. Like some consequences: DIRE.

21. Revealing '60s-'70s fad: HOT PANTS. I remember Goldie Hawn.

25. Literally, "pray G-d : PRIE DIEU. Where people kneel to pray.

26. SASE, e.g.: ENCL. Enclosure.

27. Overly: TOO. Like SOFIA sometimes?

29. Slam: BANG. Thank you ma'am.

30. Blue hues: AQUAS. Very big here in Florida.

31. Heel : CUR. An old fashioned word.

35. Medieval fortification: WALL. Anyone watching the mini-series made from Pillars of Earth?

36. Sports Authority Field altitude: MILE. The only stadium anyone cares about altitude is in Denver, home of the Broncos and now Tim Tebow, a Gator.

37. Like some movies: IN FLIGHT. This was really hard for me to parse. The perps finally filled, but this was a struggle.

38. Chicken general?: TSO. A staple both in the restaurant and the puzzle.

39. It may be a relief: GOOD NEWS. Very obscure clue.

40. Last of 26, in Chelsea: ZED. The British way to designate the letter "z."

44. Erse speaker, perhaps: GAEL. Gaels, the Celtic peoples of Scotland, Ireland. Erse became Irish.

46. White rat, e.g.: ALBINO. Or my favorite...

47. Reunion attendees: NIECES.

48. Actually existing: IN ESSE. Literal Latin.

50. Contentious talk: TRASH. The language of the NBA and NFL.

51. "Whither thou __ ...": Ruth: GOEST. "whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people..."

54. Five-time U.S. Open champ: GRAF. Wife of Andre Agassi; you think their children will pay?

55. Jazz phrase: RIFF. Riffs are found primarily in rock music, Latin, funk and jazz, classical music is also sometimes based on a simple riff, such as Ravel's Boléro.

56. Coffee choice: DRIP. I much prefer having my coffee with an interesting person.

58. Green prefix: ECO. Ecology and all that.

59. Gillespie's genre: BOP. John Birks 'Dizzie' Gillespie was a major figure in both bebop and JAZZ. (3:47) Listen and enjoy as he ends my return to the saddle. JzB, cheeky bastard wasn't he.

Answer grid.

Thanks and it is good to be back, if still a bit out of shape. Have a very happy holiday week all.

Lemonade

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to our Capricorn Misty! Found the Capri pants yet?

Thursday, December 22, 2011 John Lampkin

Theme: Who Wears the Pants in the Family? Different kinds of pants are hidden in this puzzle's theme entries.

17A. *Neat, practical types, so it's said : CAPRICORNS. CAPRIS are pants named for the Isle of Capri in Italy. They were popularized by Grace Kelly, who often wore them while visiting the island.

58A. *Easter Bunny's delivery : JELLY BEANS. The now ubiquitous JEANS were originally the working man's pants, until they were popularized among teens in the '50s when James Dean sported them in "Rebel Without a Cause".

10D. *Ceremonial flag carriers : COLOR GUARDS. CORDS, or corduroy pants were never popularized. They do, however, have their own "Appreciation Day" on 1/11 and 11/11 each year. 11/11/11 was considered the holiest of corduroy appreciation days...

24D. *Arch supports, e.g. : SHOE INSERTS. SHORTS come in many styles, including cargo shorts, bermuda shorts, cut-offs and boxer shorts, among others. But I'll just link a picture that includes one popular style.

And the amusing unifier:

38A. Different kinds of them are split (but not in an embarrassing way) in the four starred answers : PANTS.

Marti here, happy to be blogging this delightful offering from John Lampkin. I like the fact that all four theme entries are plural. Having them in a pinwheel pattern adds to the visual effect of splitting, don't you think?

Across:

1. Popped (out) : FLIED. I was thinking "appeared", as out of nowhere. But of course, a baseball term referring to a high flying ball would throw me off!

6.Pet welfare org. : SPCA. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. My pets have them on speed dial, because they always feel like I am starving them to death...

10.Swear : CUSS. Anyone else have "avow"?

14.One drawing a bead : AIMER

15. Feeds, as cattle : HAYS. We had the discussion of straw Vs. hay yesterday. I will call on those same experts to let me know if this is the term commonly used when feeding cattle?

16.Kevin's "A Fish Called Wanda" role : OTTO. Kevin Kline. Funny movie.

19.Father of Cordelia : LEAR. The king. Shakespeare.

20.Slip : ERR

21.Swore : VOWED. Not enough letters for "cussed"...

22.Piano's opposite, in a score : FORTE. "Piano" meaning "soft", not to be confused with 25. Keys for a music room? : IVORIES.

23.Rhone feeder : ISERE. Seine, Loire, Saone...how many five letter rivers can you name?

27.Department store employees : CASHIERS

30.Dog days mo. : AUG

31.Sing like Michael Bublé : CROON. I guess this guy is a little more modern than Big Crosby.

32.Is leery of : MISTRUSTS

37.Kin of -ess : ENNE

39.Make __ with: impress : A HIT

40.Radiation detection device : DOSIMETER

42.Inclined (to) : PRONE

43.Here-there link : NOR. Yes, but that's neither here nor there...

44.Invaded, with "on" : WAGED WAR

46.Epitome of thickness : PEA SOUP. No, the epitome of thickness is me at 11:00 at night, trying to figure out a crossword puzzle...

50.Clutch : GRASP

51.Insect-trapping resin : AMBER. This would creep me out if I had to wear it around my neck...

52.Man of many words : ROGET. Thesaurus man.

54.Le Mans law : LOI. Abejo, another French word for you to learn!

57.Kind of miss : NEAR.

60.Bar peel : ZEST. Like the zest of a lemon or lime, not the bar of soap!

61.Pulitzer-winning author James : AGEE. "A Death in the Family" (autobiography).

62.As if it were scripted : ON CUE

63.Mars, to the Greeks : ARES

64.Lout : BOOR

65.Ninnies : GEESE

Down:

1.Deal with : FACE

2.Whopper creator : LIAR. I was trying to think of the name of the Burger King owner. But Kramer and Burns wouldn't fit.

3.Puts away : IMPRISONS. I was still off on that Burger King tangent, and wanted "wolfs down".

4.It's always in Shakespeare : E'ER. Clever clue for the poetic "always".

5.Big screen locale : DRIVE-IN

6.Slip preventer : SHOWER MAT

7.Peel : PARE. Not to be confused with zest.

8.Singer Lauper : CYNDI. I'll let her fan link a song.

9.Beast of burden : ASS

11.Wombs : UTERI

12.Country : STATE. "Sovereign state".

13.Abrasions : SORES

18.Innermost part : CORE. Not to be confused with peel...

22.Final complement, perhaps : FOUR. ??As in, final four teams competing for the play-offs?? I had trouble with this clue. (From C.C.: NCAA's Final Four. Elite Eight. Sweet Sixteen.)

26.Relatives of drums : VATS. Lots of tricky clues today. In this case, "drums" refer to metal containers (like oil drums), not the things you play.

27.Emailed a dupe to : CC'ED. And a hat tip to our fearless leader.

28.Cartoonist Peter : ARNO. Now deceased, his political cartoons once appeared regularly in "The New Yorker".

29.Resilient strength : SINEW. Again, a tricky meaning for the word.

33.Poky follower : STRAGGLER. I was thinking "MON?", until I realized that poky was being used as an adjective here. Anyway, it's Pokémon, not Pokymon.

34.Hearst Castle, for one : SHOWPLACE. Has anyone else been there? No argument from me about it being a showplace!

35.Brown of publishing : TINA. I think she is still editor of "Newsweek" and "The Newsweek Daily Beast" (its joint venture)?

36.Dump closing? : STER. Dumpster.

38.Chincha Islands country : PERU. I tried to get you a map, but the islands are so small, even google maps can't see them...

41.Marshy wasteland : MOOR. Anyone else think of Heathcliff? And then there is the clecho with: 42.Marshy fuel source : PEAT BOG.

45.Neutral shade in London : GREY. As opposed to "gray" spelling, in New York.

46.Quixote's squire Sancho : PANZA

47.Arab chieftain : EMEER

48.Demean : ABASE

49.Barilla rival : PREGO. I use Barilla pasta, but always make my own sauce.

53.Butter alternative : OLEO.

55.Albatross : ONUS. Like an albatross around your neck...

56."Got it" : I SEE.

58.Punch that might make you reel : JAB. HaHa, I wanted to somehow fit "spiked eggnog" in there.

59.Yachtsman's course: Abbr. : ENE. Now I'm off to set my course for bed!

Answer grid.

Hugs,

Marti

Notes from C.C.:

1) Welcome back, Jeanie! I miss your presence and the warmth you always bring to the blog.

2) Here is a beautiful photo from John Lampkin, taken in October. He said "This is a cloud of Queen butterflies taken at Falcon Dam, near Roma Texas. A group of volunteers maintain a natural garden there packed with native butterfly-friendly plants. As a result, it's a mecca for butterflies and butterfly enthusiasts of which there are many. At times it's like walking through a fairyland."