Monday, Nov 26th 2012 C .C. Burnikel and D. Scott Nichols

(Note from C.C.: D. Scott Nichols is Argyle, who guides us through all Monday & Tuesday puzzles.)

Theme: There U go again! The letter "U" is repeated in the second word of each of the theme entries:

17A. Mischievous girl in classic comics : LITTLE LULU. Lulu Moppet's nickname. Of course I knew that.

31A. Jack LaLanne, for one : FITNESS GURU. The predecessor to such luminaries as Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda in legwarmers. I'm not at all sure that's a good thing!

47A. 1984 South African Peace Nobelist : DESMOND TUTU. I had to think for a while about Desmond - I'd always thought of this activist as Archbishop Tutu.

64A. "Star Trek" role for George Takei : HIKARU SULU. I needed all the crosses here - I'd only heard "Mr. Sulu" from Captain Kirk.

Steve here, Happy Monday everyone, and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. I'm just back from a week in the UK and happy to be home in sunny California after a week of typically British November weather.

I'm not sure if it's because I just got off the plane, or if C.C. and her new (?) collaborator D. Scott Nichols have served up a tougher than usual Monday. It certainly wasn't a speed run for me, I needed a lot of crosses and a couple of laps around the track before I completed this one. I enjoyed the theme and some nice long downs in the fill. Let's check out the highlights:

Across:

1. Ed of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" : ASNER

6. "Mystery solved!" : AHA! Usually followed by "Mr. Clancy! It was you all along!" and "Grrr - I'd have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you pesky kids".

9. Spear : STAB

13. Picked : CHOSE

14. Artist's studio site : LOFT

16. "Arsenic and Old __" : LACE. A wonderful old Cary Grant movie - check it out if you've never seen it. "Madness doesn't just run in my family, it practically gallops".

19. Fairy tale menace : OGRE

20. Display for the first time, as a product : UNVEIL

21. Rajah's spouse : RANI

23. Until this time : YET

24. Grilled fish in Japanese unadon : EELS Food! I like that if you have more than one eel you have eels, but if you describe two kinds of eel, they're eel. Yet another example of why English is such a tough language to learn.

26. "Exodus" actor Sal : MINEO. I always associate him with his role in "Rebel Without a Cause", but he also received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Dov Landau in Exodus.

28. Florida NBA team, on scoreboards : ORL. The Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association.

35. Tries to make it alone : GOES SOLO A risky move when playing the card game Euchre, and when I declare that I'm going alone, it usually causes my partner to leave the table in disgust and come back when I've lost the four points.

37. Funereal stacks : PYRES

38. Unaccompanied : LONE

39. Baggage handler, e.g. : TOTER

42. Actress Amanda : PEET I always wait for crosses here, as I have a mental block over PEET, PETE or PEAT

43. Put the kibosh on : ENDED

45. Idle : INACTIVE

50. Williams with a .344 lifetime batting average : TED

51. High-altitude nest : AERIE

52. Lavish bash : FETE

54. Slap-on-the-forehead cry : D'OH Did this word exist before Homer Simpson?

56. The "height" part of a height phobia : ACRO

58. Dress to the nines : DOLL UP

62. __ hygiene : ORAL

66. Late-night Jay : LENO

67. Genesis garden site : EDEN

68. Scrabble pieces : TILES

69. Bustle : TO DO

70. Big name in ice cream: EDY'S - Quibble alert: Edy's is the name that pops into my mind, as borne out by the packaging.
 
71. Monica of tennis : SELES. Victim of a bizarre spectator-stabbing assault that put her career into a tailspin.

Down:

1. Rights protection gp. : A.C.L.U. and a nice logo to boot:

2. Knee-to-ankle bone : SHIN in English, or the Latin "Tibia" which is more commonly found in crosswords, if not in conversation.

3. Misbehaving child's punishment : NO TV. More likely to be No iPhone or No xBox today?

 

4. Makeup maven Lauder : ESTEE

5. Raised sculptures : RELIEFS

6. Musketeer motto word : ALL ".. for one, and one for all!"

7. Time of day : HOUR

8. On fire : AFLAME

9. __-mo replay : SLO. The slow-motion replay was captivating when it was first introduced in the 1950's with the advent of videotape rather than film.

10. Cry that starts a kid's game : TAG! YOU'RE IT!

11. Ranch division : ACRE

12. Borscht ingredient : BEET

15. North African capital for which its country is named : TUNIS, capital of Tunisia.

18. Mama Cass's surname : ELLIOT. She lived a short distance from me on Laurel Canyon where this was written.

22. Clouseau's title: Abbr. : INSP. I love Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies.

25. D-Day city : ST LÔ As 34D shows the correct diacriticals I thought I'd better follow suit with the official spelling of this French cité.

27. Nile Valley country : EGYPT

28. Eyed lewdly : OGLED

29. TV sports pioneer Arledge : ROONE. Ground-breaking luminary in the development of both news and sports coverage for ABC.

30. Pitches in : LENDS A HAND

32. Cry that conflicts with 10-Down : NOT IT

33. Christopher of "Superman" : REEVE

34. "¿Cómo está __?" : USTED

36. Boss's "We need to talk" : SEE ME

40. Sufficient, in slang : ENUF. I like this! I want to campaign for the replacement of "enough" with all it's supernumerary vowels and consonants.

41. Too violent for a PG-13 : RATED "R"

44. Nickelodeon explorer : DORA

46. Figures made with scissors : CUTOUTS

48. Ornamental wall recess : NICHE

49. Put down : DERIDE

53. Cow on a carton : ELSIE Borden's trademark mascot. It's a little morbid that her "husband" Elmer was the mascot for Elmer's glue.

54. Birdbrain : DOLT

55. After-school cookie : OREO

57. Gave the green light : OK'ED

59. Quiet spell : LULL

60. Beekeeper played by Peter Fonda : ULEE. From the 1997 movie "Ulee's Gold".

61. Kisser : PUSS This was new to me and I needed the crosses. Some Googling reveals that "puss" is a Swedish word for "kiss".

63. Lav of London : LOO I saw one of these this very morning!

65. "__ questions?" : ANY

That's about it from me. See you next time!

Steve

Notes from C.C. & Argyle (Scott):

This theme came to me while reading one of Argyle's emails. He commented "Bad juju" to a question I had asked him earlier. It's not a familiar slang to me, but I thought a simple ?U?U will make a nice Monday puzzle. Argyle & I tried both key words in front and in the back approaches. We finally settled down on the current set both of us were happy with.

Sunday Nov 25, 2012 John Lampkin

Theme: "East Enders" - E (For East) is added to the end of each well-known phrase.

23A. Quit sugar cold turkey? : KICK THE CANE. Kick the can. "Do you ever feel like a plastic bag..." I'm amused by Katy Perry's "Fireworks".

25A. Small hawk that delivers papers? : PRESS KITE. Press kit.

47A. Water cooler gossip? : BUSINESS TRIPE. Business trip.

91A. Canadian hockey player's tantrum? : MAPLE LEAF RAGE. Maple Leaf Rag.

113A. Tree for Scotland Yard? : BOBBY PINE. Bobby pin. Kids nowadays are so lucky. So many cute bobby pins.

118A. Midlife issue for a big cat? : THE THIN MANE. The Thin Man. Won't happen to the cute Maru. The part when he jumps into and out of the big box was very familiar. Maybe Spitzboov or Bill G linked that one directly from Maru's own channel before.

37D. Luxury lodgings at the zoo? : GORILLA SUITE. Gorilla suit.

42D. Terse Dear John? : FORGET-ME NOTE. Forget-me-not.

Like Steve last Sunday, you can be sure John has more funny theme candidates. For Sunday puzzles, constructors always have a few extras, just in case one or two of their submitted entries fail to amuse Rich.

Unlike most of John's puzzles, today's grid is not a pangram. Gridding can be challenging at times, so constructors shift their focus to get the cleanest fill possible rather than put scrambly letters in.

Still, only 68 black squares, that's 10 fewer than our norms.

Across:

1. Portrait subject, maybe : SELF

5. Skewered servings : KABOBS. Plump shrimp & fresh pineapple. My favorite.

11. "Aida" segments : ACTS

15. Cell signal strength indicators : BARS

19. "Aida" segment : ARIA

20. Men or women, e.g. : PLURAL. Great clue.

21. Draped garment : SARI

22. Hardly happy : BLUE. Lemonade & Marti are always happy & cheerful. I wish I could be like them.

27. Best way to sing : IN KEY

28. "Stop right there!" : HOLD IT. Nice entries do not have to be long. This is a good example.

30. Fuzzy fruit : KIWI

31. __ facto : IPSO

33. Past things : BYGONES

36. Gold brick : INGOT

40. Ply with praise, possibly : SOFTEN UP

 
44. Salon sweepings : HAIR

45. Sweater wool : ANGORA

46. Hoopla : ADO

51. Flew the coop : RAN

52. Earthen embankment : BERM

54. One with convictions : FELON. Oh, that convictions.

55. Dweeb : TWERP

56. Rural, as a town : HICK

57. Stop a banking session, say : LOG OFF. Boomer handles all our money. I've never banked.

59. Balt. Sea country : LITH (Lithuania)

61. Giant star : IDOL

62. "Winnie __ Pu": Latin version of a Milne work : ILLE. Who wants to read a Latin version?

63. Año beginner : ENERO

64. Sheriff who killed Billy the Kid : GARRETT (Pat). New to me also.

66. Irritated : NETTLED

68. Man of the cloth? : TAILOR. Not PRIEST.

70. Shucker's unit : EAR

71. "You fell for it!" : GOTCHA

72. Some 101-Downs : SIMILES. And 101. Language learner's challenge : IDIOM. So true. I've been here for over 11 years, still struggling with idioms.

74. Big-billed bird : PELICAN. Here are two great photos John took.

He said:

"This is a Brown Pelican fishing in Key West. A Laughing Gull is perched on top waiting to steal any fish the pelican catches. Such behavior is called kleptoparisitism and is quite common throughout the animal kingdom. Even humans do it, as when you swipe a french fry when your friend isn't looking.

76. Fundamental : BASAL

79. Mideast's Gulf of __ : ADEN

80. Spanish 101 word : ESTA

82. Improvise vocally : SCAT

83. Cloyingly sweet : SYRUPY

84. __-deaf : TONE

85. Ranch rope : RIATA

87. Irving Berlin's "__ a Piano" : I LOVE. I mentioned before, both John & Rich are pianists.

89. Fred and Wilma's pet : DINO

90. __-Aztecan languages : UTO

94. Half a score : TEN. I learned the meaning of "score" from President Lincoln.

95. Bad moonshine : ROTGUT

97. Turow book set at Harvard : ONE L

98. Pod vegetables : SNAP PEAS. I like sugar peas more.

100. They're in the air at yuletide : NOELS. I went to Kohl's last Wednesday to buy a beanie hat, they were playing "Call Me Maybe".

101. As a substitute : INSTEAD

104. Rick's flame : ILSA.  This is so good.

105. Signed off on : OK'ED

107. You might get it with a key card : ACCESS

109. Like days of yore : OLDEN

120. Lot measure : AREA

121. Like some excuses : POOR

122. Changed to yet another shade : RE-DYED

123. Parmenides' home : ELEA. Zeno's home also. Zeno of Elea.

124. Loaf or loafer part : HEEL. Fantastic clue.

125. Cocksure : SMUG

126. Do taxing work? : ASSESS. Works without ? also.

127. Topsoil : DIRT

   

Down:

1. "The Square Egg" author : SAKI. H.H. Munro.

2. Emerald Isle : ERIN
 

3. Canine kiss : LICK

4. Put on an act : FAKE IT

5. Alberta speed meas. : KPH. Kilometers per Hour.

6. Drafty establishment? : ALE HOUSE

7. Osso __ : BUCO

8. Reach rival : ORAL B

9. Toss about, as ideas : BANDY

10. Rides on runners : SLEIGHS

11. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" killer : ASP

12. Volt, for one : CAR

13. Safaris, e.g. : TREKS

14. Pedro's "Positively!" : SI, SI. In Chinese, it's "Shi, Shi".  Cantonese is "Hai, Hai", same as Japanese.

15. "The Thrill Is Gone" singer : B B KING. Hello, Splynter, "The Thrill Is Gone!"

16. Model/actress Landry : ALI. The Doritos girl.

17. Boring routine : RUT

18. Date : SEE

24. Easygoing : TYPE B. I'm certainly not. You?

26. Mud wallowers : SWINE

29. "Here's mud in your eye!" is one : TOAST. New "toast" line to me. How strange. Mud.

32. Tobacco in a pinch : SNUFF

34. Dim bulb, so to speak : NITWIT

35. Bobbled the ball : ERRED

38. Delphic seer : ORACLE

39. Went belly up : TANKED

40. Fancy fur : SABLE. I scored a leopard make-up bag yesterday.

41. Classical theater : ODEON

43. Building support : PILLAR

45. Short program : APPLET

48. "The Maltese Falcon" film genre : NOIR

 49. Jambalaya, e.g. : ENTREE. Never had Jambalaya.
 

50. Heat-sensitive patch : IRON ON

53. Glacial deposit : MORAINE. I bet Spitzboo filled it in without any hesitation.

 

56. Really have an impact : HIT HARD

58. Fencing weapon : FOIL. I'm so used to EPEE now.

60. Recovers : HEALS

64. Contents of some columns : GOSSIP. Like Bill G, MSNBC is my go-to page for news. I like their Entertainment section.

65. Nixon's older daughter : TRICIA

67. Beriyo smoothie maker : TCBY

69. Eye lasciviously : LEER AT

71. Everglades denizens : GATORS. We used to have a regular with a handle Gator Mom.

72. Second-largest planet : SATURN

73. "Same here" : I DO TOO

74. Communion plates : PATENS. I'm stealing Dave's picture.

75. Baby hippo : CALF

77. Sleep clinic concern : APNEA

78. Interpol headquarters : LYONS. Gimme.
 

81. Prey grabber : TALON

83. "Just Shoot Me" co-star : SEGAL (George)
 

86. Prince Arn's mom : ALETA. Her husband is Prince Valiant.

88. Disappears : VANISHES

91. Like some perfume : MUSKY

 92. Euripides heroine : ELECTRA. Sister of Orestes, who was pursued by the Three Furies after he killed his mother Clytemnestra in this picture.

93. Maker of Stylus Pro printers : EPSON

96. Word with economy or warming : GLOBAL

99. Concealed, in a way : PALMED

102. Postgame assortment, maybe : ACHES

 
103. Owners' documents : DEEDS

106. "The Mod Squad" actor : EPPS (Omar). Only knew the TV. Not the movie.

108. Lid irritation : STYE

110. Painter of limp watches : DALI

111. Power dept. : ENER. Headed by Steve Chu. Spelled as Zhu in Chinese. Kind of like Chou/Zhou En-Lai.

112. Peachy-keen : NEAT

113. "Pshaw!" : BAH

114. Get a lode of this : ORE

115. Buzzer : BEE

116. __-turn : NO-U

117. Not much work? : ERG.  Work unit. 0.0000001 joules.

119. Some card nos. : IDs

C.C.