Friday, December 30, 2011, Marti Duguay-Carpenter

THEME: The old reverse, a DOSE DOUBLE of our own Marti, blogging and constructing. Each of the theme answers are alliterative familiar phrases where the original first words are reversed with the second word clued to inspire much hilarity. It is always a special day to write up the work of one of our own, our New England nightingale, Marti. This was almost an easy Friday but it had pitfalls.

18A. Daily take in the Lumber department? : BOARD BREAD. A Bread Board is a cutting board for Pain (french for bread) rather than money derived from the sale of wood.

23A. Revenue in Lingerie?: SLIP SALES. Don't let your wife see the SALES SLIP from Victoria's Secret, unless you bought it for her.

40A. Outlay in Electronics?: POWER PURCHASING. You must have lots of Purchasing Power to keep up with all the electronic devices to buy.

51A. Merchandise capacity in Men's Wear?: SUIT SPACE. Do you own a SPACE SUIT? Halloween? I do not own many suits anymore, so my closet has lots of space.

60A. Display case in Wine & Spirits?: STILL STAND. The traffic was at a STAND STILL. STILL being the abbreviation for Distillery.

Nice long theme fill, now lets see the rest...

Across:

1. Constantly: EVER. I am constantly amazed at the talent in our group.

5. Numbers, e.g : DATA.

9. Longing words: I HOPE. I hope Marti and I puzzle and amuse you.

14. New Zealand fruit : KIWI.

15. Open-mouthed: AGOG. An A word.

16. Cinched, with "up: SEWED.

17. Univ. seniors' tests: GRES. Graduate Record Examinations.

20. Broods: SULKS.

22. Currency of Freetown: LEONE. The Capitol and Capital of Sierra Leone.

26. Guys' mates: GALS. What about DOLLS? (3:14) Surprised?

30. Rash protection: TALC. Next time I contemplate doing something rash I need to get some powder!

31. Over the top: TOO TOO. Tootsie goodbye.

33. "Third Rock From the Sun" family, e.g : ETS. Our old extraterrestrial friends. John Lithgow is a fine actor.

36. There's often a colon in one: RATIO. 35:7 as 5:?

39. India's first prime minister : NEHRU. Jawaharlal was more than a Jacket

43. Jejune: INANE. from the Latin Jejunus, empty of food.

44. Spider-Man Parker: PETER. Alliterative alter ego. Fits the theme.

45. "Don't think so": NAH.

46. First tea sold in individual packets: SALADA. But Lipton introduced the flow through tea bag.

48. Cupid counterpart: EROS. Roman and Greek.

50. Blondie drummer Burke: CLEM. Wow, this was obscure for me, and I liked Debbie Harry.

56. Pianist Gilels et al : EMILS. If you don't name two, why plural? Unknown to me LINK.(4:09)

58. Outcast: EXILE.

65. Shamu, for one: ORCA. What a nice way to say killer whale.

66. "Hill Street Blues" actress: HAMEL. VERONICA.

67. Life-of-the-party type: RIOT.

68. "JAG" spin-off: NCIS. My brother's favorite show, I have just started to watch.

69. Fail to hold up, as a bank: ERODE. Really witty clue, not a money bank, a river bank.

70. Contributes: ADDS. To the delinquency of a minor?

71. Band with the debut album "Diamond Life": SADE.

Okay, the rest.

Down:

1. ER lines: EKGS. How appropriate for me.

2. Bug: VIRUS.

3. Controversial Gettysburg general: EWELL. You AGREE?

4. Take a gamble: RISK IT. Along with 10D. Words before a stunt: HERE GOES. Nothing...

5. Blot away, as a tear: DAB. How many other than me thought of Brylcreem when the answer appeared?

6. Back in time: AGO.

7. "__ the Girls I've Loved Before": Nelson/Iglesias hit: TO ALL. LINK.(3:06)

8. Go along: AGREE. needed between husbands and wives, see below.

9. Dust jacket no.: ISBN. International Standard Book Number.

11. Be in debt: OWE.

12. Green shade: PEA. Better than pee red.

13. Byrnes of "77 Sunset Strip": EDD. Known as Kookie.

19. "__ thou love me?": Juliet: DOST. Did anyone watch Letters to Juliet?

21. Bickered: SPARRED. verbal sparring, see below.

24. __ shot : SLAP. Hockey term and a possible answer for the theme.

25. Go on the fritz: ACT UP. Do you think the phrase on the fritz is onomatopoetic?

27. "It's __ line between love and hate": 1971 song lyric: A THIN. Not only a song lyric, by the Persuaders, but as one who practiced divorce law for a very short time, it is all too true.

28. Doone in Exmoor: LORNA. By Richard Doddridge Blackmore, she was a sharp cookie.

29. Murmuring sound: SOUGH. Pronounced 'sou' my learning moment.

32. Like some soap: ON A ROPE. More American marketing genius, just don't drop it in the shower.

33. Certain Prot : EPISC.Opalians. Marti's Meh for the day.

34. Like Schubert's music: TONAL. As opposed to the work of Arnold Schoenberg, LISTEN.(4:11)

35. Wet lowland: SWALE. They all belong to the city in Ft. Lauderdale.

37. Anger: IRE. Grrrr.

38. Certain chamber music group: OCTET. Our word of the week, maybe if we see it eight times...

41. Like much Le Creuset cookware: ENAMELED.

42. Oft-embroidered word: HERS. Or His on the towels.

47. Yard sale proviso: AS IS. Most foreclosed homes are sold this way.

49. Battle of Hastings fighters: SAXONS. Fought in 1066 with the Normans.

52. Extreme: ULTRA. Remember ULTRAVIOLENCE? (2:07)

53. "Huh?" response opening: I SAID. Weren't you listening DEAR!

54. About: CIRCA. From the Latin meaning around, approximately.

55. 1961 Heston role: EL CID. A true classic MOVIE.(3:27)

57. M.'s counterpart: MLLE. M. is the French abbreviation for Monsieur (Mr.), MLLE for Mademoiselle (Miss).

59. Simplicity: EASE. We are on a roll now.

60. Petal-plucking pronoun: SHE. Loves, She loves me knot?

61. Main man?: TAR. The bounding Main, nice clue.

62. Chatspeak qualifier: IMO. In My Opinion.

63. Approval of a kind: NOD. Nod my first choice.

64. Some NFL linemen: DTS. Defensive Tackles. I was a bit defensive when I first tackled this fun Friday, but it is now done and time to get ready for a new year. Peace and good health to all. Well my work here for the year is done. By next year I may have my strength and wit back, until then enjoy.

Answer grid.

Lemonade 714

Note from C.C.:

Here are a few wonderful photos Husker Gary took of his local golf course. Click Next to view all of them. I've never seen a green so brown.

Thursday, December 29, 2011 Ed Sessa

Theme: Music To My Ears! (But only if I listen!)

17A. *Fifth amendment right: DUE (Do) PROCESS OF LAW

25A. *Decorator’s forte: EYE(I) FOR DETAIL

46A. *No place in particular: HERE (Hear) AND THERE

59A. *End of an old pasta product jingle: UH (A) OH SPAGHETTIOS

66. Disney et al., or when added to the starts of the starred answers, a 1965 musical (listen!): WALTS (Waltz)

And you do have to “listen” to the starts of the starred answers to get this theme, “Do I Hear a Waltz?”, which is a rather obscure musical by Arthur Laurents, with music by Rodgers and lyrics by Sondheim, from a 1952 play “The Time of the Cuckoo”, also the basis for the1955 film “Summertime” starring Katherine Hepburn. Whew!

I won’t say how long it took me to “get” this one. But it was satisfying to finally get it, after all. I can’t say if other solvers would be enamored of this theme, but as a constructor, I thought it was absolutely brilliant! To find five entries that make up the title of a musical, including a pluralization of a pronoun (“Walts”), with each word an exact homophone of the corresponding movie title words...it just astounds me. Kudos to you, Ed Sessa, and do stop by today and let us know what was the seed entry for this one? My guess would be “Walts”?!?

Marti here, so let’s get crackin’ on the rest of this bad boy:

Across:

1. 16-Across's style : SCAT. Hoo boy, we start right off the bat with a cross referential clue. So, let's skip that one for now. Because [16A. 1-Across singer : ELLA] didn't give me much to go on...(maybe some perps can help???)

5. Step like Bigfoot : TROMP. I would much prefer a clue like "Step on the accelerator, like on the autobahn..."

10. Panache : DASH. Someone who has panache is "dashing", or they could just be going o'er the fields in a one horse open sleigh.

14. Two-time Italian prime minister Moro : ALDO. Kidnapped by the infamous Italian left-wing Red Brigade, and then killed.

15. Writer who said, "I am not young enough to know everything" : WILDE. Oscar.

20. Factor in the Andrea Doria/Stockholm collision : DENSE FOG. In what could have been an epic disaster on the scale of the Titanic sinking, "only" 46 people lost their lives off the coast of Nantucket in this accident.

21. Water pipes : MAINS. Anyone else think of these?

22. Flamenco shout : OLE

23. Portmanteau name for an O-Cedar cleaning product : SCRUNGE. For "scrubbing sponge".

30. Shower accessory : LOOFA.

31. "___ out?": dealer's query : IN OR. I ask my cats that all the time...

32. Wall map marker : TACK

36. Navigational suffix : ERN. East-ern, south-ern, west-ern, north-ern. Or, this crosswordese sea bird.

37. Bleach : DECOLOR. Hmm, do you know any "decolored" blondes?

40. Magic org. : NBA. Hah! I am finally "getting" these clues for Magic, Jazz, etc.

41. Tuxedo part : VEST

43. Word game piece : TILE. I am playing online scrabble with my BFF of 47 years. The TILEs are quite realistic!

44. V8's veggies, e.g. : OCTET. Duh, a real V8 moment, when I realized that the "8" in V8 refers to the number of veggies in there!!

49. Thickness measurer : CALIPER. Or, how long it takes me to do the crossword at 11:00 at night...

52. Sit in a cellar : AGE. I showed Dudley my wine cellar today, but the wines in there don't sit very long.

53. Have because of : OWE TO. Awkward one to clue.

54. As a point of fact : ACTUALLY.

62. Woody scent : PINE. Can't you just smell it?

63. Firefighter Red : ADAIR. Can never remember his name until I fill in a few perps...

64. Lieutenant Tragg creator Gardner : ERLE

65. Cast topper : STAR. I thought of Yellowrocks and her recent cast.

67. Raise : REAR

Down:

1. Teen safety gp. : SADD. Students Against Drunk Driving.

2. Lead for Poirot : CLUE

3. Port of Yemen : ADEN. Geography lesson for the day. (You might want to zoom out a bit...) (...OK, maybe a lot)

4. Caps : TOPS OFF

5. Broadway deal : TWO-FER. Why "Broadway"? Isn't any two-for one sale a "deal"?

6. Suitor of 57-Down : RICO. Another cross-reference. But at least this one had some meat to latch onto in the referential clue: [57D. "Copacabana" siren : LOLA]. (Do we really want to hear a link to the Barry Manilow ear worm again?) (....nah, didn't think so!!) (Just hum it to yourself...) (C'mon, you know the words!!) ("Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl. With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there...") (hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm, hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm...)

7. Designer Cassini : OLEG

8. OR workers : MDs

9. Latin foot : PES. Masculine, third declension. Genitive = "pedis". Just take my word for it, and move on...

10. Assumed value : DEFAULT. Anyone else have a problem with this definition? I thought de fault was all in de failure of de guy to pay his debt.

11. Plumb tuckered out : ALL-IN. In Texas Hold-em poker, an "All-in" bet means putting all your remaining chips into the pot. Maybe it's because the player is plumb tuckered out and just wants to go back to his hotel room to get some sleep?

12. Much street talk : SLANG. So they can sound kewl...

13. Ship's anchor hole : HAWSE. How's that for a clue, Spitzboov?? (I know, the pronunciation is more like "hoz". But I'm from New England, so I can make up any pronunciation I want!)

18. Prepare to shoot again : RELOAD. Guns or cameras?

19. Katz of "Hocus Pocus" : OMRI. This kid.

23. Hot : STOLEN. Great clue/answer!

24. Dear, to Donizetti : CARO. My chance to link opera! (3:04) Giuseppe Giordani is credited for composing the song "Caro Mio Ben" in his opera "L'Epponia", but it is suggested that the song actually pre-dated it by some 50 years.

25. Shasta no. : ELEV. For some reason, I filled this in without even thinking about it.

26. Days gone by : YORE

27. A really long time : EONS

28. More touch-and-go : DICIER

29. ___ Gay : ENOLA

33. Opening stake : ANTE

34. Transmitting trucker : CBer. Do truckers still use CB radios? Or are they all wireless internet texters now? Scary thought...

35. Hudson of "Almost Famous" : KATE. She's so pretty, I don't know why she hides half her face with her DECOLORED hair.

38. To be, in Paree : ETRE. (Abejo - maybe Santa will bring you RosettaStone next Christmas?)

39. Cheap hooch : ROTGUT...oooohhhh, brings back memories of those nights in college that I spent laying there clinging to the grass for dear life, because I was afraid I would fall off the lawn...

42. Toward that place, to Shakespeare : THITHER...and yon.

45. Proctor's concern : CHEATER

47. Long verse : EPOS

48. Antique dealers, at times : DATERS. I wonder if they meet their dates on match.com?

49. Masterstrokes : COUPS

50. At all : A WHIT

51. Hotelier Helmsley : LEONA

54. "(I've Got ___ in) Kalamazoo" : A GAL. If anyone called me a "gal" these days...
.
.
.
I'd probably kiss him for thinking I was so young.

55. Voucher : CHIT

56. Currency discontinued in 2002 : LIRE. Plural of "lira", the old Italian currency. When I lived in Italy in 1988, a bottle of water (1 liter) cost 2000 lire. A bottle of the local wine was 1000 lire. Guess what I drank?

58. Strategic WWI rivr : YSER

60. Hillbilly relative : PAW.

61. Org. for drillers? : ADA. American Dental Association

Answer grid.

So now I'm plumb tuckered out, and off to bed!

Hugs,

Marti