Monday, March 26, 2012 Ki Lee

Theme: Executive Privilege, By The Numbers - Four long entries that inelegant I will never encounter.

17A. Elegant business garb : THREE-PIECE SUITS

27A. Elegant business dinner : FOUR-COURSE MEAL

46A. Elegant business accommodations : FIVE-STAR HOTELS. Two plural. Two singulars in the theme set.

61A. Elegant business reward : SIX-FIGURE INCOME

Bonus: 44D. Wealthy group : THE RICH 53D. One in business who is no stranger to the elegant things in this puzzle : EXEC

Argyle here. Neat point is that the numbers are all hyphenated. Our constructor graced us with a Friday puzzle in January. Maybe we will get one for each day of the week. That would be nice(not french).

Across:

1. Filled tortilla : TACO

5. "__ to the Chief" : HAIL

9. Lincoln's legendary log home : CABIN

14. "Pronto!" initials : "ASAP!". (as soon as possible)

15. Killer whale : ORCA

16. Barely ahead in the game : UP ONE

20. Spirited meeting? : SEANCE. I'm not sure whom to thank but there are several mildly tricky clues today.

21. Cell phone message : TEXT

22. Building site : LOT

23. Seemingly forever : EONs

25. Office seeker, briefly : POL

34. Tolkien tree creature : ENT

35. Concerning a heart chamber : ATRIAL. Bad if they fibrillate.

36. New York NFL team, familiarly : G-MEN. (Giants)

38. "__ is human ..." : TO ERR

40. Down with the mouth : EAT. Cute.

41. "__, girl!": words of encouragement : YOU GO

42. __-American : AFRO

43. Quick on the uptake : ASTUTE

45. Down in the mouth : SAD

49. Diplomat's HQ : EMB. (embassy)

50. Captain of the Nautilus : NEMO. The Nautilus(Greek for sailor) is the fictional submarine featured in Jules Verne's novels "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" (1870)

51. Imitate : APE

54. Pub order : PINT

57. Increase, as production : RAMP UP

64. Smudge : SMEAR

65. Catchall abbr. : MISC.

66. Heidi's mountains : ALPS

67. Mother-of-pearl : NACRE. and who is the father -of-pearl?

68. Not just one : BOTH

69. Quiz, e.g. : TEST

Down:

1. Body art, for short : TATS. (tattoo's) Remember when TATS meant to make 8-Down : LACE. (Tie, as shoes)

2. Tennis great Arthur : ASHE

3. Dear, in Bologna : CARA. Cara Mia(1:47) A Cappella and definitely not by Jay and the Americans.

4. Warm-up act : OPENER

5. "Heaven forbid" : "HOPE NOT"

6. Magnate Onassis : ARI. Jackie Kennedy's husband.

7. Rapper whose name sounds like a refreshing beverage : ICE T. He has been on the long-running(2000 to present) TV series, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", as Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola.

9. Usual procedure : CUSTOM

10. "The Simpsons" storekeeper : APU

11. Heat, as water : BOIL

12. Captivated by : INTO

13. Egg holder : NEST. 'Tis the season for nesting.

18. Chevy Volt or Nissan Leaf : ECOCAR

19. Kick out : EXPEL

24. Most certain : SUREST

26. Danish toy block maker : LEGO

27. Greek cheese : FETA. 'Tis the season for fresh FETA. It is made with goat's and/or sheep's milk.

28. Wall switch words : ON/OFF

29. Wombs : UTERI. (plural of uterus)

30. Cowboy's rope : RIATA

31. Galileo was the first to observe its rings : SATURN



32. Cause to chuckle : AMUSE

33. Okay, in law : LEGAL

37. Okays with a head bob : NODS

39. Wander : ROVE

41. Naval petty officer : YEOMAN

43. Comparable in size : AS BIG

47. __ State Building : EMPIRE. (in NYC)

48. Alley prowler : TOM CAT

51. Part of NBA: Abbr. : ASSN. (basketball)

52. Soft cotton : PIMA. Did you get it this time?

55. Feeling no pain : NUMB

56. The Musketeers, e.g. : TRIO

58. Global extremity : POLE

59. Strike callers : UMPs

60. Annoying one : PEST

62. At a distance : FAR

63. Superlative suffix : EST. This is the farthEST I go.

Argyle

Sunday March 25, 2011 Sam Ezersky

Theme: Greg's List (Craigslist) - Hard C sound is changed into Hard G sound, resulting in significant spelling change in each key word.

23A. Uses Knorr packets instead of poker chips? : GAMBLES SOUP. Campbell's soup.

29A. Lard display site? : FAT GALLERY. Fat calorie.

31A. Apparition with a proboscis? : MOSQUITO GHOST. Mosquito Coast.

57A. One putting up framed stone carvings? : GLYPH HANGER. Cliff hanger.

69A. Stories told by rapt storytellers? : TALES FROM THE GRIPPED. "Tales from the Crypt."

85A. Superior vis-à-vis Huron? : GREATER LAKE. Crater Lake.

112A. Trade war group? : GUILD IN BATTLE. Killed in battle.

115A. 24 undeveloped photos of Old Faithful? : GEYSER ROLL. Kaiser roll.

122A. Baby's wake-up gadget? : GOO GOO CLOCK. Cuckoo clock. Two part change.

18D. "Don't come any closer, Zombie!"? : STAY, GHOUL. Stay cool.

80D. Prison workers' respite? : GUARD GAME. Card game.

Heavy themage.

Normally we don't see non-theme entries have the same number of letters as the theme entries. Constructors and editors do not want to confuse solvers which are theme entries. Today we have quite a few long Downs. Since the theme entries all have clear question marks, so no confusion here. Plus, those long Downs are all quite sparkling.

This is Sam Ezersky's first published puzzle. And a Sunday. Amazing feat. Congrats!

Across:

1. Scavenged, as the fridge : RAIDED

7. Lines at the register? : UPCS. The scannable lines.

11. Nabokov novel : ADA

14. Throat clearers : AHEMs. I think Argyle's first comment on the blog is "Ahem", right, Santa?

19. Verdi title bandit : ERNANI. Hard to remember.

20. X-Men enemy who can control fire : PYRO. "Fire" prefix.

21. Sniggler's catch : EEL

22. Didn't participate, with "out" : SAT IT

25. Stat for 30-Down : RBI. And 30 Down. MLBer with the most career seasons of 100-plus 25-Across : A-ROD. 14, to be exact.

26. New Mexico's state flower : YUCCA

27. ''Here __ again!'' : I GO

28. Jazzman Al and sportscaster Linda : COHNS. Linda Cohn is with ESPN's SportsCenter.

35. Piece activist's gp.? : NRA. Nice clue.

36. Dress (up) : TOG

37. Pencil maze word : ENTER

38. Teen's room, to many a mom : STY

39. Sailor's patron, briefly : ST. ELMO

41. Gym shorts material : MESH

42. Calendario entry : DIA. Day.

44. "Peek-__!" : A BOO

46. Brit. lexicon : OED

47. Sock end? : EROO. Sockeroo.

48. Penn of "Harold & Kumar" films : KAL

51. Entrée feature : ACCENT.

54. One of a game's 16 : PAWN. Know nothing about Chess. It has 16 pawns?

56. Real mess : SNAFU

60. Do not disturb : LET BE

62. Cards' home: Abbr. : STL. Cardinals. Pujols-less.

63. Windbag : BORE

64. Taina of "Les Girls" : ELG. Another difficult to remember name. Same with her given TAINA. Finnish.

65. Race of Norse gods : AESIR

67. War on Poverty org. : OEO (Office of Economic Opportunity)

75. Upbeat Progressive Insurance spokeswoman : FLO. No idea.

76. Looped handles, in archaeology : ANSAE. Plural of "Ansa".

77. Wasser in Winter : EIS. Ice. Wasser = Water.

78. Type of poll : EXIT. Exit poll.

80. Understand : GET. For Splynter.

83. Noted tart stealer : KNAVE. "The Queen of Hearts" poem.

88. "I'm at your disposal" : USE ME

90. Aqueduct Racetrack nickname : BIG A. Who knows? OK, maybe eddyB.

92. Sequel title words : PART II

93. See 79-Down : MEX. 79. With 93-Across, spicy cuisine : TEX. So what kind of salsa do you prefer? Mild, medium or hot? Medium is the highest I can stomach.

94. Done to __ : A TEE

95. Arabic "son of" : IBN

96. One of the orig. Southern Colonies : N CAR

98. Material studied by Watson and Crick : DNA

100. Durban dollar : RAND. Durban is third largest city in South Africa, says Wiki.

101. Meat shunners : VEGANS. I want to be a vegan, but I'm not that morally high.

103. __ pop: Weezer genre : EMO. Emo pop is also called called "emo pop punk". Whatever. Kids stuff.

106. Plot : GRAPH

110. 24-Down malady : DTS. Delirium tremens. And 24D. Plastered ones : SOTS

111. Lad : BOY

118. More peculiar : ODDER

119. Non-PC? : MAC. I'm a PC.

120. Taking some cuts, say : AT BAT. Baseball.

121. Corrida cheer : OLE

125. Setting for many King novels : MAINE

126. Palindromic pooh-bah : AGA. Turkish pooh-bah.

127. Seedy joint : DIVE

128. __ the bud : NIPS IN

129. Glorify : EXTOL

130. Hoover, e.g. : DAM. Not vacuum cleaner or the president.

131. Amanda of "The Whole Ten Yards" : PEET. Very pretty. Look at her eyes! I think she can launch 900 ships, Lemonade!

132. Lacks the skills for : CAN'T DO

Down:

1. Ruling group : REGIME

2. Catherine of __ : ARAGON

3. Secret to the max : IN MOST. This answer looks odd to me.

4. A little one will "do ya," in old ads : DAB

5. Blowup: Abbr. : ENL

6. Perfect score, to Paolo : DIECI. "Ten" in Italian.

7. Consequence : UPSHOT

8. Taedong River capital : PYONGYANG. North Korea. Pyongyang literally means "flat land". Pyong has the same character as Chinese "Ping", meaning "flat".

9. Valentine recipient, perhaps : CRUSH. Remember your first Valentine's gift?

10. Bribe : SOP

11. Infuse with oxygen : AERATE

12. It's tough to be in a lot of it : DEBT

13. Garage job : ALIGNMENT

14. Places of refuge : ASYLA. Plural of "asylum".

15. U-__ : HAUL. Probably what Dennis used to move his stuff.

16. Odds and ends : ET CETERAS

17. Word coiner? : MICROSOFT. Great clue.

29. Photog's setting : F STOP

32. End-of-proof letters : QED

33. Bathsheba's husband : URIAH. Or Heep from "David Copperfield".

34. Bolivian bear : OSO

40. It'll help you slow down : LOWER GEAR

41. Game pieces : MEN

43. Truman's secretary of state : ACHESON (Dean). Stranger to me.

45. Second-string squads : B TEAMS

48. Old 123-Down foe : KGB. 123D. Cold War foe of 48-Down : CIA

49. Immensely : A LOT

50. Vega's constellation : LYRA

52. Farm newborn : CALF

53. Dürer work : ENGRAVING

55. "I cannot tell __" : A LIE

56. Trickle : SEEP

58. Ill-gotten gains : PELF. LOOT, SWAG too.

59. Mark up or down, maybe : RETAG

61. NW city nicknamed "The City of Trees" : BOISE, ID. NW indicates a shortened name.

66. Everest aide : SHERPA

68. Autobahn auto : OPEL

70. Sommer of "A Shot in the Dark" : ELKE

71. Universal donor's type, for short : O NEG

72. Director Martin : RITT. "Norma Rae", "Hud", etc.

73. Student stressor : EXAM

74. Bank manager? : DIKE. River bank.

81. Heir's burden : ESTATE TAX. Nice answer.

82. Skosh : TEENSY BIT. Good one too.

84. 1960s album with a cover photo of its band crossing the street : ABBEY ROAD. Another good one.

86. Pigeonlike South American bird : EARED DOVE. I can't see her ears.

87. "Does this __ bell?" : RING A

89. __ school : MED

91. Quash : ANNUL

95. Actor/composer Novello : IVOR. I simply forgot his name. My brain remembers what I want to remember.

97. "__: Miami" : CSI

99. Creative output : ART

102. Sparkly : AGLEAM

104. Like some small racecars : MIDGET

105. __-cat: sandlot game : ONE O

107. Maximally : AT MOST

108. Adirondacks lake : PLACID

109. Emphatic refusal : HECK, NO!

111. Medicinal Asian leaf : BETEL. Stimulant.

113. Sarge's superior : LOOIE

114. Tough mount to mount : BRONC

116. Not loco : SANO. Spanish for "sane". Loco is Spanish for "nuts".

117. Gymnast Korbut : OLGA

122. Econ. yardstick : GDP

124. Hosp. employee : LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse)

Answer grid.

C.C.