Wednesday, Feb 15 2012, Kurt Krauss

theme:

17a. *classic little red wagon : radio flyer. anyone not have one?

30a. *memorable, as a day : red letter. a red-letter day is a day of special significance. would have been a good entry for yesterday, valentine's day.

48a. *one seeding clouds : rain maker. Wikipedia page.

61a. *knee-slapper : rib tickler. har har.

2d. *nuclear plant sight : reactor. device used to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction.

6d. *suitcase lugger's aid : roller

12d. *rosie's role : riveter. rosie the riveter - cultural icon representing women who worked in factories during world war II.

41d. *broke up late, as a meeting : ran over

46d. *short-antlered animal : roe deer. painting.

50d. *one paying a flat fee? : renter

and the unifier, beautifully placed right in the center:

36a. they're not in the in-crowd ... and read differently, what each starred answer has two of : outsiders, or outside r's

wow! eleven theme answers (including the unifier), all words or phrases that begin and end with the letter r. that can not be easy to do.

across:

1. superfluous thing : frill. i like frills.

6. copy room unit : ream. paper.

10. good-sized building site : acre

14. __, meenie ... : eenie. miney mo, catch a tiger by the toe. also a song by justin bieber - i only knew that because it popped up on google. not a fan. i'll spare you the link.

15. best way to make a mistake : once. measure twice, cut once.

16. like a fly ball that hits the foul pole, ironically : fair. baseball rules.

19. thomas __ edison : alva

20. old at&t rival : mci

21. dockworker's gp. : ila. international longshoreman's association.

22. sign of the ram : aries. zodiac sign. any aries' here?

23. tchotchke stand : etagere. open shelving unit to display small items.

26. o'er and o'er : oft. over and over - often.

28. vw forerunners? : stu. alphabet letters, s - t - u - v - w.

29. fifth canonical hour : nones. the ninth hour after sunrise, about 3 p.m., one of seven specified times for prayer in the roman catholic church.

33. part of dot: abbr. : trans. department of transportation.

34. marvin or majors : lee

35. bern's river : aare. came easily since we just saw this last wednesday.

40. humorist bombeck : erma. i never leaf through a copy of National Geographic without realizing how lucky we are to live in a society where it is traditional to wear clothes.

43. snitch : rat

44. video game pioneer : atari. steve jobs was a technician there for a time.

51. animal toxin : venom

52. berlin conjunction : und. german for and.

53. tarzan raiser : ape. tarzan the ape man. yeah baby.

54. comes out of hiding : emerges

56. wooden peg : dowel

58. yoko from tokyo : ono

59. tokyo, before 1868 : edo

60. currier's partner : ives

65. experiment : test

66. soothing additive : aloe

67. doting aunt, perhaps : cooer

68. art deco master : erte. a russian-born french artist and designer known by the pseudonym erté, the french pronunciation of his initials, r. t.

69. heckle : jeer

70. more than reasonable interest : usury. lending of money with large interest charge.

down:

1. turn to wine, as grape juice : ferment

3. home to purdue : indiana

4. full deck at caesar's palace? : lii. deck of cards, 52.

5. "seinfeld" uncle : leo

7. "shepherd moons" grammy winner : enya

8. unreturnable serve : ace

9. sea, in paris : mer

10. out yonder : afar

11. actress flockhart : calista

13. puzzle solver's smudge : erasure.

18. commonly decorated tree : fir

22. consumed : ate

24. columbus, by birth : genoan

25. "mi casa __ casa" : es su. spanish, my house is your house.

26. scarfed down too much, with "on" : od'ed

27. run for the hills : flee.

31. in-crowd : elite

32. busy employee of a paranoid king : taster

37. snare : trap

38. "oh, for pity's __!" : sake

39. "must-see" review : rave

40. scholarly : erudite

42. 3-down's region : midwest

45. "and still i rise" poet : angelou. maya.

47. "forgive me" : i'm sorry

49. practice opening? : mal. malpractice.

55. pierre, to pierre : moi. french for me.

57. tequila sunrise direction : este

58. bassoon kin : oboe. wind instruments.

61. indian rule from 1858 to 1947 : raj

62. __ de la cité : ile. one of two islands in the seine within the city of paris.

63. hosp. heart ward : ccu. critical care unit.

64. ring victories, briefly : ko's. boxing - knock outs.

Answer grid.

melissa

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to Skip (HondoHurricane on the blog)!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Marti DuGuay-Carpenter

Theme: Noahs - It is a repeating of four 'oo' sound, but no 'ahs'.

20A. Dismiss an occult doll-making practice? : POOH-POOH VOO-DOO

32A. "What's that chocolate beverage you're drinking, Yogi?" answer : "YOO-HOO, BOO-BOO"

42A. Model train expert? : CHOO-CHOO GURU

56A. Frilly Hawaiian dress? : FROU-FROU MUU-MUU

Argyle here with our own HeartRX, and on Valentine's Day, too. A fun puzzle today.

Across:

1. Place for family game night : DEN

4. Book of poems partly by King David : PSALMS

10. Farm grazer : COW

13. Egg cells : OVA

14. Communicating regularly : IN TOUCH

16. Fat Tire product : ALE

17. Ballplayer's hat : CAP

18. Woos, minstrel-style : SINGS TO

19. N.J. neighbor : DELaware.

23. Hanukkah money : GELT

24. Govt.-issued ID : SSN

25. Donahue and Collins : PHILs. Talk show host/Singer

26. Double Stuf cookies : OREOs

28. With 57-Down, wealthy people : THE 57D. See 28-Across : RICH

31. Hair removal brand : NEET

36. Raggedy doll : ANN

37. Debate side : PRO

38. PC component : CRT. (cathode ray tube) A former component these days.

39. Studio whose films get off to a roaring start : MGM

45. Speed-of-sound name : MACH

48. Wee, like bairns : SMA. In Scotland, bairns means children.

49. Sarandon of "Bull Durham" : SUSAN. Here in a "Got Milk?" ad.

50. Snow-block home : IGLOO

52. Hippie's home : PAD. Now a hippie Eskimo is hard to imagine. But they'd be cool.

55. When Romeo meets Juliet : ACT I and 43D. Juliet's family name : CAPULET

60. Small amount : FEW

61. Temps : FILL INs

62. Fib, e.g. : LIE

64. Dark time for a poet : EEN

65. Kind of fiction : SCIENCE

66. Recreational transport, briefly : ATV. An all-terrain vehicle (ATV), also known as a quad, quad bike, three-wheeler, or four-wheeler. Three-wheelers were found to be unsafe and I don't think they are being made any more.

67. Driller's deg. : DDS. Doctor of Dental Surgery. (dentist)

68. More sexy : HOTTER and 39D. Powerfully built : MUSCULAR

69. Manhattan liquor : RYE

Down:

1. Bespectacled dwarf : DOC

2. Role for Patti LuPone or Madonna : EVA PERON. Patti LuPone is known for her Tony Award-winning performances as Eva Perón in the 1979 stage musical "Evita". Madonna portrayed her in the movie, "Evita"

3. Layered pastry : NAPOLEON. Yum!

4. "Hogwash!" : "PISH!"

5. Scissors cuts : SNIPS

6. Periodic table figs. : AT NOs. Atomic Numbers

7. Access with a password : LOG ON TO

8. "Faster, huskies!" : "MUSH!". Very versatile word. MUSH can be a verb, with or without an object, an interjection(as clued), or a noun; all relating to dog sleds and dog sledding.

9. John Candy skit show : SCTV. Second City Television (SCTV) is a Canadian television sketch comedy show offshoot from Toronto's The Second City troupe that ran between 1976 and 1984.

10. Golf bag carrier : CADDIE

11D. World Cup chant : OLE! OLE! and 12D. Runner-up's news : "WE LOST". Another interesting pairing.

15. Earring style : HOOP

21. Texter's "From a different aspect ..." : OTOH. "On The Other Hand ..."

22. "Say it isn't so!" : "OH NO!"

23. "La maja desnuda" painter : GOYA

27. Second-year student : SOPHomore.

29. High, in Hamburg : HOCH. German.

30. Spanish river : EBRO. In the north of Spain.

33. Top Olympic medals, in Madrid : OROs. In the center of Spain.

34. Rapid economic expansion : BOOM

35. Plains tribesmen : OTO

40. Tip on a table : GRATUITY

41. City bond, informally : MUNI. (Municipal bond)

42. Dynasty during Confucius' time : CHOU. Confucius' time was the Spring and Autumn Period, a period in Chinese history that roughly corresponds to the first half of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty(Chou) between 722 and 479 BC.

44. American territory in the Pacific : GUAM. The commemorative quarter.

45. Offended : MIFFED

46. Signed a pact, say : AGREED

47. Circus performers : CLOWNS

51. Slays, mob-style : OFFs

53. "Care for __?": after-dinner offer : A MINT

54. Numbskull : DUNCE

58. Hodgepodge : OLIO

59. Mouse manipulator : USER

63. Night of anticipation : EVE

Answer grid.

Argyle

Note from C.C.:

1 Happy Birthday to dear Marti! Thanks for the fun puzzles & everyday wit and warmth. Hugs!

2 Happy 4-year blog anniversary to Dennis, the secret engine behind this blog. Thank you for being there, Dummy!