Wednesday, February 1 2012 Robin Stears

Theme: B+. B homophones PLUS another word to complete the phrase. For extra B credit, every single clue across and down starts with a B.

17A. Buzz-filled 2007 animated film : BEE MOVIE. A Dreamworks Animation vehicle for Jerry Seinfeld who co-wrote the screenplay and voiced the lead character.

30A. Betty White co-star in "The Golden Girls" : BEA ARTHUR. I wonder what her Shortz Factor is?

43A. Biotin, thiamine et al. : B VITAMINS. There seem to be many more vitamin B's than A, C or D's. Someone cleverer than what I is can explain.

57A. Behave candidly : BE HONEST. OK, I'll give this an A+

Steve at your service, pinch-hitting on this first day of February (where did January go?) Robin "Stears" us into the month with a blazingly brilliant alliteration exercise. I've never seen anything quite like this treatment of the cluing before, has anyone else?

Across:

1. Bank heist : JOB

4. Bedframe piece : SLAT

8. Beyond harmful : LETHAL

14. "... by __ other name ..." : ANY. Juliet's words to Romeo could well be described as a PAEAN

15. Bare bones : PITH. Not the orange peel or helmet pith, but the root of the "pithy phrase"

16. Billiard ball feature, about half the time : STRIPE. In the UK you play billiards with three balls, none of which have a stripe. Here in the US however, you have seven solids, seven stripes and the black 8-ball.

19. Brings together : UNITES

20. Burdensome additional levy : SURTAX. I think I've only ever seen this word used on a "Chance" card in Monopoly, I always seemed to be paying out taxes. A life lesson at an early age?

22. Boldly states : AVERS. No-one on this blog ever avers.

23. Birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen : ODENSE. Here he is in his hometown.

26. Baker's meas. : TSP. I can never remember if it's meant to be a level teaspoonful or a heaped one. I don't bake for that reason.

28. "Behold," to Brutus : ECCE

29. Ball-shaped frozen dessert : BOMBE. Food! Preferably chocolate, please.

32. "Ben-Hur," e.g. : EPIC

33. Bedrock resident : BARNEY Rubble, Fred's BUB

34. "But then again ..." : YET

35. Bug-bitten? : ILL

36. Brown who wrote "The Da Vinci Code" : DAN

37. Billion-year period : EON

40. Brother of Judah : SIMEON. Something I learned today!

42. Bump off : SLAY. Somehow, bumping off seems a nicer way of consigning someone to the hereafter than slaying them.

47. Blinked the sleep from one's eyes : AWOKE

48. Bothersome parasites : LICE. Ewwwww. I refrained from posting a link here, the pictures gave me the shudders.

49. By order of : PER

50. Bigheaded sort : EGOIST. I always thought the word was EGOTIST until I started doing crosswords and discovered they are synonyms.

51. Bing Crosby's "__ You Glad You're You?" : AREN'T

53. Baseball team's list of players : ROSTER Basketball would have worked here too, but most other sports wouldn't have alliterated (if that's a real word?)

55. Balanced state : STASIS

61. Black-tie wear : TUXEDO. I'm oddly proud that my tux still fits, and no, I didn't buy it last week.

62. Bardot's "the same" : EGAL. Brigitte's "equal". The national motto of France is "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" - Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood.

63. Breathtaking snake? : BOA

64. Began, as a lawn : SEEDED. We also have SOD later to cover all our grass-growing bases.

65. Beachfront property? : SAND

66. Buddy : BUB

Down:

1. Boxer's punch : JAB

2. Binary digit : ONE

3. "Bon voyage!" : BYE

4. Better half, so to speak : SPOUSE. I like how this is gender-neutral!

5. Burgundy book : LIVRE. I wanted WINE LIST first, but it's French-language February!

6. Bickering : AT IT. Knock it off, you bloggers back there.

7. Box office setting : THEATER

8. Baton Rouge sch. : L.S.U. We fondly know them from puzzles as the Tigers.

9. Blower of Sicilian smoke : ETNA

10. Buffer between a hot plate and a dinner table : TRIVET

11. Built for NASA, say : HI-TECH. As "built" is past tense, that's accurate. Your cellphone has about a billion times more computing power than the Space Shuttle. (From C.C.: "Built" here is a past particle and used as an adjective, no?)

12. Brief summary : APERCU. More French, but this word is adopted into English now, and usually written without the cute cedilla accent dangling from the C.

13. __ Bear: Ursa Minor : LESSER I wanted LITTLE first, then backtracked.

18. Broadcaster of "Morning Joe" : MSNBC

21. Blackboard symbols in the locker room : X'S AND O'S. Here is the winning play in Sunday's upcoming Superbowl (sorry, I can't remember which coach drew it up for me)

23. Bride's passé promise : OBEY. I over-thought this and had "I DID" first.

24. Birdbrain : DOPE. Me for a few of my first guesses today.

25. Belch, say : EMIT.

27. Blissful song : PAEAN

30. Better for enjoying the outdoors, as weather : BALMIER

31. "Belshazzar's Feast" painter Rembrandt van __ : RYN

33. "Black Sunday" airship : BLIMP. We'll see the blimp at the Superbowl, just hopefully not as closely as in the movie.

35. Biblical prophet: Abbr. : ISA

37. Blond sci-fi race : ELOI. Those "War of the Worlds" folk.

38. Barrel sources : OAKS. For aging your Chardonnay, whiskey or anything else that takes your fancy.

39. Bolshevik's denial : NYET

41. Bundles up (in) : ENROBES. A BOMBE is ENROBED in chocolate. I'm getting hungry.

42. Bound by oath : SWORN

43. Blaring siren sounds : BLASTS

44. Basis of morality : VIRTUE

45. Belaying tool for climbers : ICE AXE. Climber Pete Schoening saved six climbing companions who fell while roped together on K2 in an incredible feat known as simply "The Belay"; he was the seventh and last climber and arrested all of the fallers with a belay around his ice-axe.

46. Became edgy : TENSED

47. Belonging to an ancient time : AGE-OLD

50. "Blood Simple" co-screenwriter Coen : ETHAN. Joel's brother.

52. Bay of Fundy wonder : TIDE. The bay has a tidal range in excess of 50 feet.

54. Big name in video games : SEGA

56. Bald spot filler : SOD

58. Backward flow : EBB. The EBB TIDE in the Bay of Fundy is pretty dramatic!

59. Bronze coin of old France : SOU

60. Bar bill : TAB. I'm out of here, can I get mine please?

Answer grid.

Steve

Note from C.C.:

I'm very happy to announce that from now on Steve will blog one (or two) Wednesday puzzle for us every month. Steve is a British and came to the US in 1995. A serious foodie. I look forward to many yummy offerings from him.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: Easy Anagram - So easy, it's a snap ... or an anagram of it.

17A. Bakery cookware : MUFFIN PANS

28A. Quiet times for baby ... and mom : AFTERNOON NAPS

44A. Ability to focus : ATTENTION SPAN

58A. Crisp cookie : GINGER SNAP

El Gray here. Allan has been MIA the past year but is back with a nice Tuesday offering. I did have some difficulty but I think that was just me. Discovering the last word in the themes is an anagram didn't happen until the whole thing was done. No problem.

Across:

1. Woo : COURT

6. Goldfish or koi : CARP

10. Peak : ACME. and 10D. Very top : APEX

14. Sleep malady : APNEA

15. 1847 Melville work : OMOO

16. Sound repeated before "fizz fizz," in ads : PLOP

19. Coin on the Continent : EURO

20. Non-revenue-generating TV ad : PSA. Public Service Announcement (PSA)

21. Quite befuddled : LOST

22. Southwestern cuisine : TEX MEX

24. Water pitcher part : SPOUT

26. Bro's sib : SIS

27. Work at : PLY. As in PLY one's trade.

32. Orchestra section : REEDS

33. Period of watchful attention : VIGIL

34. Mimic with wings : MYNA. "And I can dance, too!"

35. Steals the bank blueprints for, e.g. : ABETS

37. Haunted house outbursts : EEKS

41. Not even once : NEVER

43. Chair maker Charles : EAMES. Charles Eames was greatly influenced by the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen (whose son Eero, also an architect, would become a partner and friend). Charles married "Ray" Kaiser and together they continued their work in architecture and modern furniture design.

47. Photo taker : CAMera

49. Gallery work : ART

50. Sacred song : MOTET. The name comes either from the Latin movere, ("to move") or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian mottetto was also used. If the word is from Latin, the name describes the movement of the different voices against one another. (Per Wikipedia)

Or

motet - "choral composition on a sacred text," late 14c., from O.Fr. motet (13c.), dim. of mot "word," from L. mutum "grunt, murmur." (per Online Etymology Dictionary)

51. Sister of Magda and Eva : ZSA ZSA. The Gabor sisters. Photo: Zsa Zsa Gabor, left, with her sisters Magda, center, and Eva, on Dec. 20, 1955.

53. Medium, e.g. : SIZE

54. Singer Sumac : YMA. We haven't "heard" from her lately.

57. Complexion concern : ACNE

61. Fishing gear : RODS

62. Cole Porter's "Well, Did You __?" : EVAH. Clip(3:33)

63. To-be, in politics : ELECT. Usually stuck on the end of the position, as in Senator-elect.

64. ER "Immediately!" : "STAT!"

65. USAF NCO : SSGT. Staff Sergeant E-5.

66. Lavishes affection (on) : DOTES

Down:

1. Temporary shelter : CAMP

2. Numbered musical piece : OPUS. Are his days numbered?

3. Remove, as a seatbelt : UNFASTEN

4. Gridiron official : REF

5. Some sewers : TAILORS. They may be alterers, too.

6. Admits guilt for, as a lesser charge : COPS TO

7. Latin I verb : AMAT. The big three: amo, amas, amat.

8. Jaworski of "Monday Night Football" : RON. "The Polish Rifle" was raised in the steel town of Lackawanna, New York.(near Buffalo) He quarterbacked for Los Angeles Rams, Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins, and Kansas City Chiefs.

9. Bulletin board items : POSTINGS

11. Small groups, as of bushes : CLUMPS

12. Edible mushroom : MOREL

13. Strong adhesive : EPOXY

18. Bill or gates, e.g. : NOUN

23. Morales of "La Bamba" : ESAI. We may be seeing more of him. According to IMDb, he has roles in production, one in pre-production, and one in post-production.

25. Nit-picking type : PEDANT. Hmmm? Who do we know ....

26. Irritated state : SNIT. Those hairsplitters are alright unless they get in a SNIT.

28. Kind of wrestling done while sitting : ARM

29. Seven-time Emmy winner Tina : FEY. She is great!

30. Not concealed : OVERT

31. Bring contentment to : PLEASE

35. Sports section decimals : AVERAGEs. Interesting clue.

36. Hunched (over) : BENT

38. Uncontested, as a late-game hockey goal : EMPTY NET. Perhaps Splynter can tell us when this tactic makes sense.

39. Mauna __ : KEA. is a volcano on the island of Hawaii and neighbor of Mauna Loa volcano.

40. Job application ID : SSN

42. JFK guesstimates : ETAs

43. Walked into : ENTERED

44. Actress Bearse or Plummer : AMANDA. Bearse was Marcy on "Married with Children". Plummer was "Honey Bunny" in  Pulp Fiction.

45. "Consider me a maybe" : "I MIGHT"

46. Flow slowly : OOZE

47. Industry leaders : CZARS

48. Dandy's neckwear : ASCOT

52. Pep : ZEST

53. Unexpected complication : SNAG

55. Mugging defense : MACE

56. Bldg. units : APTs

59. ER hookups : IVs

60. __-pitch softball : SLO

Answer grid.

Argyle

Notes from C.C.:

1) Happy Birthday to Bill G, who always brightens my day with his fun links and cheerful comments.

2) Happy Birthday also to Barry G's little boy Joshua, who turns 7 years old today. Hope you're getting better and enjoyed your Pizza Party last weekend.