Monday, February 13, 2012 Anna Gundlach

Theme: What Little Girls Are Made Of

17A. Baker's sweetener : GRANULATED SUGAR

26A. Cinnamon blend for a Thanksgiving recipe : PUMPKIN PIE SPICE

37A. Little ones who, they say, are made up of the ends of this puzzle's four longest entries : GIRLS

43A. "All finished!" : "THAT'S EVERYTHING"

57A. 1966 Beach Boys hit : "WOULDN'T IT BE NICE". Clip(2:24)

Argyle here. It has been awhile since Anna's last puzzle but if you are going to fit FOUR! grid spanners into a Monday .... A little crosswordese must be expected.

What's next? Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails?

Across:

1. Hitchhikes : THUMBS. Vanity Fair(2:59)

7. Hiker's snack mix : GORP

11. "Cocoon" director Howard : RON

14. "Très sexy!" : "OO LA LA!"

15. Chevy hatchback : AVEO

16. Tavern order : ALE

20. Columnist Landers : ANN

21. Swiss calculus pioneer : EULER, Leonhard.

22. Odds and ends : STUFF

23. "__ silly question, get . . ." : ASK A

24. "Twittering Machine" artist Paul : KLEE

33. "The Sheik of __": 1920s song : ARABY

34. "Poor me!" : "ALAS!"

35. Carpenter's cutter : SAW

36. Places for compost : BINS

39. Israel's Netanyahu, familiarly : BIBI

40. Took a load off : SAT

41. Writing implements : PENS

42. Elegant dress material : SATIN

47. Make less difficult : EASE

48. Ages upon ages : AEON

49. Heart or liver : ORGAN

52. The devil : SATAN

54. Tavern spigot : TAP

60. Sick : ILL

61. __ pro quo: substitute : QUID

62. Laundry employee : IRONER. Remember the time we had MANGLE?

63. Santa's little helper : ELF. They're all on vacation now.

64. Trig function : SINE

65. Equivalent of A flat : G SHARP. You get A FLAT if you run over somethinG SHARP?

Down:

1. Old Roman garment : TOGA

2. Sound of traffic frustration : HORN

3. __ Bator, Mongolia : ULAN

4. Fellow : MAN

5. Feature of a clear day : BLUE SKY

6. Dog also called a Persian Greyhound : SALUKI. Wikipedia link.

7. Garden entrance : GATE

8. Too much of a good thing : OVERKILL

9. Little wagon's color : RED

10. Have in one's hands : POSSESS

11. Classico competitor : RAGU

12. Norwegian royal name : OLAF

13. Indoor ball brand : NERF

18. Shepard who hit golf balls on the moon : ALAN

19. Lone Star State sch. : UTEP. University of Texas at El Paso.

23. LAPD alerts : APBs. All Points Bulletin.

25. Grazing lands : LEAs

26. Blue Ribbon beer : PABST

27. Dickens villain Heep : URIAH. Misty, how you doing on the book?

28. Underwater ray : MANTA

29. Examine grammatically : PARSE

30. Last Supper query : "IS IT I?"

31. Mountain quarters : CABIN

32. "Dallas" surname : EWING. Prime time soap opera.

37. Thousands, in a heist : GEEs. Slang One thousand dollars is a grand, G, gee or (1000) large.

38. Buy for the future, as gold : INVEST IN

39. German road : BAHN. (Autobahn)

41. Manners to be minded : P's AND Q's

42. Rock-throwing protesters : STONERS. Not the stoners I know, man.

44. Marsh duck : TEAL

45. Heavy metal band named for a rodent : RATT. I'll let Ant or Splynter link it.

46. "'Bout this large" : "YEA BIG". Needs accompanying hand gesture.

49. Boo-boo, to tots : OWIE

50. Turn at the casino : ROLL

51. __ of Mexico : GULF

53. Senate page, for one : AIDE

54. Rocking Turner : TINA

55. Expert server, in tennis : ACER

56. Whodunit quarry : PERP

58. Rapa __: Easter Island : NUI. Easter Island was given the name Rapa Nui (Great Rapa) by Tahitian sailors, in the 1860's, as it reminded them of Rapa - a small island in French Polynesia (now commonly referred to as Rapa Iti). Before 1863, the name was unknown on the island. -S. Fischer, "The Naming of Rapanui". Crosswordese candidate.

59. Japanese dramatic form : NOH. Drama that often uses masks. Crosswordese candidate.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Note from C.C.:

Here is a lovely picture of 9-year-old Hudson helping grandpa Husker Gary solve yesterday's LA Times puzzle "after he took a sip of coffee out of my NASA mug. He got UTTER and others too, some with prompting and some on his own! My wife is scared he is turning into Papa!".

Sunday Feb 12, 2011 Bonnie L. Gentry

Theme: "Kinda, Sorta" - ISH is added to each common phrase.

23A. "Listen up, Madrid!"? : ATTENTION SPANISH! Attention span.

37A. "... and that's why I ate all of your favorite cookies," e.g.? : SELFISH DEFENSE. Self defense.

67A. Put Armor All on tires? : BURNISH RUBBER. Burn rubber.

93A. Hold a surprise party for Scorsese? : ASTONISH MARTIN. Aston Martin. James Bond's car.

112A. "My stocks are going down! My stocks are going down!"? : BEARISH REPEATING. Bear repeating. The clue sounds "Panic repeating" to me.

16D. Embarrassed flock managers? : SHEEPISH HERDERS. Sheep herders.

45D. Display that's both tasteful and ostentatious? : REFINED FLOURISH. Refined flour.

The title gives away the theme, yes?

Simple gimmick. Nicely executed. Only 7 theme entries, but they're all quite long, occupying a total of 103 squares, norm for 21*21.

Sunday puzzles often contain one or two or more "What?" words for me. Not this one. Super smooth.

Across:

1. Involuntary jerk : START. Not an easy clue to me.

6. Put into words : UTTER

11. Amazon.com ID : ISBN

15. Educational TV spots, perhaps : PSAS

19. Fail to recycle : WASTE

20. Unappealing music : NOISE. I'm in love with this song lately. So simple. So pure.

21. Politician's pursuit : SEAT. And 33. Washington figure : POL.

22. World-weary words : AH ME

26. You might draw one on a target : BEAD

27. Forest sticker : BUR. Learned from doing Xword.

28. Banjo parts : NECKS. "Deliverance" is probably the most terrifying movie I've seen.

29. Corner-office occupant : BOSS

30. Last Olds : ALERO

31. Capable of spontaneous movement, as cells : MOTILE

35. "Let yourself in!" : IT'S OPEN

42. "Give __ rest!" : IT A

43. Arranges logically : SORTS

46. Dirt clump : CLOD. Eager to work on my garden clod.

47. Dairy case choice : OLEO. I've never had Oleo.

48. Concordes, familiarly : SSTs

49. Bleachers level : TIER

50. Cinema name : ODEON

52. Give the boot to : OUST

53. NYC gallery district : SOHO

54. Certain alphabet opener : ALFA. NATO alphabet. Spitzboov knows them too well. BZ!

55. Whither Cain fled : NOD. Land of Nod. East of Eden.

56. A whole lot : OODLES

58. "I don't get it" : HUH. Dennis got a lot of "I don't get it" emails in my earlier days of blogging. Now he needs education. He does not know why tinted moisturizers are tinted. You?

59. Decide with money : FLIP A COIN. Nailed it.

62. Murmur : COO

63. At a minimum : NO LESS

66. Five-spot : FIN

71. Color TV pioneer : RCA

72. More-than-one-hit Wonder : STEVIE. Fun clue. Wonder is capitalized.

74. Maestro's gift : EAR

75. Fair-haired : TOWHEADED. New word to me. How is the color different from blond?

77. Cacophony : DIN

78. Put one's feet up : LOLLED

81. Carefree, in Calais : GAI. Like our "gay".

82. Rip asunder : REND

83. Dirty Harry's org. : SFPD

84. Mount rising above the Vale of Tempe : OSSA. Not familiar with Vale of Tempe, a gorge in Thessaly.

85. Sailing hailings : AHOYs

87. Native Canadian : CREE

88. Toon collectibles : CELs

89. Castaway's confines : ISLE

90. Vocal style that mimics an instrumental solo : SCAT

91. Had office hours : WAS IN

92. Metal in Montana's motto : ORO. Oro y Plata.

97. Topiarist's tools : PRUNERS. This green guy is a topiarist, pruned by another topiarist.

99. Grant-providing org. : NEA

100. Over-embellished : ORNATE

103. D.A.'s research aides : PARAs. Paralegals.

104. Take the show on the road : TOUR

107. Dork : DWEEB

109. Travelers' options: Abbr. : RRs

111. Elevator innovator : OTIS

116. "__ we forget ..." : LEST

117. "High Hopes" lyricist : CAHN (Sammy)

118. Lingering look : STARE

119. Make the grade : CUT IT

120. Pasty-faced : ASHY

121. Green-egg layers : EMUs. Chickens must be surprised to see emu eggs: OMG, I've always laid white eggs.

122. Autumn bloom : ASTER

123. Carpet layers work on them : KNEES. Another tricky clue for me.

Down:

1. Forensic evidence collector : SWAB

2. Ryan's daughter : TATUM

3. Former Colt .45 : ASTRO. Between 1962-1964. Look at this lovely bobblehead. Too bad he has a little chip on his right cheek. Would be worth thousands in its original box.

4. Directions detail: Abbr. : RTE

5. Court shoes, casually : TENNIES

6. Org. with "Trick-or-Treat" donation boxes : UNICEF

7. Appropriated : TOOK

8. Altoids containers : TINS

9. Versatile Scrabble tile : ESS

10. Agent : REP

11. "There __ 'I' in 'team'" : IS NO

12. Tres y tres : SEIS. Six.

13. Baby baskets : BASSINETS. Very pretty.

14. Unknown power : NTH

15. Poet Neruda with a Nobel Prize : PABLO

17. Almond-flavored liqueur : AMARETTO

18. Kia minivans : SEDONAs

24. Don't hold in : TELL. Have never met an investigator who's not good at holding secrets.

25. Good at one's job : ABLE

30. Enzyme suffix : ASE

32. Feature of some Mary Janes : T-STRAP

33. LP player : PHONO

34. Like an extra sock : ODD. Mine are normally hidden in Boomer's large T-shirts.

36. Qing Dynasty general of culinary fame : TSO. Qing was China's last dynasty (1644-1912). Qin (no g) was the first imperial dynasty, when we had our first emperor, who built the first version of the Great Wall of China and the Terra Cotta soldiers.

38. Stranded at O'Hare, perhaps : ICED IN

39. __-mo replay : SLO

40. Exceed an infraction limit, in basketball : FOUL OUT

41. Ultimatum ending : ELSE

43. Provides personnel for : STAFFS

44. Like some retro lamps : OIL-LIT. Used candles for lighting until I was about 10.

48. R&B-influenced genre : SOUL. I used to confuse James Brown with Bobby Brown, husband of Whitney Houston. What a tragedy.

50. How actors should appear : ON CUE.

51. It's opened and shut : DOOR. So is CASE.

52. Dumpster emanation : ODOR

53. Sandcastle spot : SHORE. Castles & long legs are all Splynter wants.

57. Fall colour : OCHRE. The English spelling of "colour" hints an English answer.

60. In __: up the creek : A BIND

61. Ratings giver : NIELSEN

63. Classic pops : NEHIs

64. When, in Act II, Macbeth soliloquizes, "Is this a dagger ..." : SCENE I. Guessing game.

65. Turn blue? : SADDEN

68. Room at the hacienda : SALA

69. Colombian capital : BOGOTA. Chickie lived in Columbia a few years.

70. Bronx-Manhattan st. : B'WAY

73. Limo riders, often : VIPs

76. Mysterious matters : ARCANA

78. Faded in the stretch : LOST STEAM. Nice answer.

79. Peace Prize city : OSLO

80. Vladimir's villa : DACHA. Alliteration.

83. Notches : SERRATES. Always thought serrate is an adjective.

86. Not-so-subtle performer : HAM

88. "Lost in Translation" director Sofia : COPPOLA. Loved the movie.

89. Syr. neighbor : ISR

90. San Diego-to-Tijuana dir. : SSE

91. Recoup at the casino : WIN BACK. No, you won't.

93. DDE rival : AES

94. Calvary letters : INRI

95. Ebert's cohort : ROEPER (Richard)

96. Charlie Brown's kite eater : TREE

98. Far from friendly : NASTY

101. Said too often : TRITE. OK, It's "said too often". It's trite. I was thinking of a verb answer.

102. "Rubber Duckie" Muppet : ERNIE

105. Hanauma Bay site : OAHU

106. Caterer's carriers : URNS

107. "Curses!" : DRAT

108. "If wishes __ horses ..." : WERE

110. Capt. saluters : SGTS

112. Abbr. in old dates : BCE. I actually still use BC. Religion was forbidden when I grew up, yet BC was in common use. Very strange.

113. Issuer of nine-digit nos. : SSA

114. Cleveland __, O. : HTS

115. Winery vessel : TUN

Answer grid.

Here is a close-up view of Yellowrocks' avatar, the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto.

C.C.