Monday, January 14, 2013 Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke

 Theme: Oh Oh, It's W's This Time - The duo's last puzzle was two words that started with "O". This time it is three words that start with "W".

20A. "Just lookee here" : "WELL, WELL, WELL"

33A. "But it was working when I left!" : "WHAT WENT WRONG?"

40A. 2000 Mel Gibson film : "WHAT WOMEN WANT"

55. Information superhighway whose abbreviation inspired this puzzle's theme : WORLD WIDE WEB

Argyle here. Maybe this is a start of a wonderfully wacky week. Fifty blocks for the theme on a Monday.

Across:

1. Indian spiced tea : CHAI

5. Certain PC laptops : IBM's

9. Attack baked-on grease, say : SCRUB

14. Posterior : HIND

15. Ding-a-ling : KOOK

16. On the __: no charge : HOUSE

17. Hence : ERGO

18. World's longest river : NILE

19. "Shucks!" : "AW, GEE!"

23. Plank in a playground : SEESAW

24. "Exodus" actor Mineo : SAL

25. "__ you listening to me?" : ARE

28. Genie's offering : WISH

31. Blubbered : SOBBED

36. German eight : ACHT

38. "As I see it," in email : IMO. (in my opinion)

39. Like a pretentious museumgoer : ARTY

45. Transparent : LIMPID. "Those cool and LIMPID green eyes".

46. Clutter-free : NEAT

47. __-cone: shaved ice dessert : SNO

48. Christmas cupful : NOG. Hmm, an eggnog sno-cone.

50. 1980 Olivia Newton-John/ELO hit : XANADU. Ever watch the movie? IMDb

58. Comic Smirnoff : YAKOV. "What a country" Where is he now? He has been in Branson, MO. Site.

61. Lake bordering Ohio : ERIE

62. "__Cop": 1987 film : ROBO. Two sequels and a TV series, none as good as the original, imo.

63. Trim whiskers : SHAVE

64. Gullible types : SAPS

65. Gumbo veggie : OKRA. Pickled or deep fried?

66. Down the road : LATER

67. Manuscript editor's "Leave it in" : STET

68. You may be ushered to one : SEAT

Down:

1. Works on a licorice stick : CHEWS

2. New staffer : HIREE

3. Protractor measure : ANGLE

4. Fan favorites : IDOLS

5. "Told you so!" : "I KNEW IT!"

6. Swelter : BOIL

7. Gangland gal : MOLL

8. Depicts unfairly, as data : SKEWS

9. Like kiddie pools : SHALLOW. [NO DIVING]

10. Monk's hood : COWL. Cowlies?

11. Piece on one's head : RUG. Good one.

12. Take advantage of : USE

13. Blossom buzzer : BEE. Alliteration extended to the answer.

21. Electric guitar effect : WA-WA. Guide to Guitar - The Wawa pedal.

22. Oregon-to-New York direction : EAST

25. End abruptly : ABORT

26. Lessor's charge : RENT. "Dollars for quarters" - that was a good one.

27. On pins and needles : EDGY

29. Enjoy a dip : SWIM

30. Studly dudes : HE-MEN

32. Stuff in a muffin : BRAN

33. Hula Hoop manufacturer : WHAMO. And so much more.

34. Start of a 55-Across address : HTTP. (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)

35. Sold-out amount : NONE. I got caught thinking how much was sold instead of how much was left.

36. Hole-making tools : AWLs. (Leather working)

37. Goatee's location : CHIN. A pointed tuftlike beard on the chin, so called from its resemblance to a male goat's chin hairs.

41. Persuade : WIN OVER

42. Sign of spoilage : ODOR

43. Most shiny, as a car : WAXIEST

44. Ever so slightly : A TAD

49. Sharon of "Cagney & Lacey" : GLESS. Let's see if I can get it right this time. Sharon Gless was Cagney and Tyne Daly was Lacey.

51. Pianist Peter and a fiddling emperor : NEROs. But they never played a duet.

52. Came to : AWOKE

53. Messing of "Will & Grace" : DEBRA. The show was just as much "Jack and Karen".

54. WWII attacker : U-BOAT. The U-boat was underwater and the E-boat was on the water. Both carried torpedos.

55. Used a loom : WOVE

56. "Phooey!" : "DRAT!"

57. Use a rag on : WIPE

58. Pricey handbag letters : YSL. (Yves Saint Laurent)

59. "Bingo!" : "A-HA!"

60. Kit __: candy bar : KAT. For breakfast?

Argyle

Notes from C.C.

1) Happy one year blog anniversary to dear Irish Miss (Agnes), a mysterious lady with 12 rings. Argyle met with Irish Miss twice and said she's just as kind and charming as she is on the blog. In fact, they're going to meet again this morning for coffee.

2) Happy Birthday to our beautiful JD, who has been with the blog since 2008. It's so much fun watching her family grow.

Here is a photo of JD's family in April 2008 when her daughter Shelby got married. Truman was just a tiny baby.

Here is a photo taken in 2012 when their family went to San Diego to celebrate JD's birthday.

Also great news: Cameron will be a big brother in July. Congratulations again, JD!

Sunday Jan 13, 2013 Gail Grabowski

Theme: "Editorialization" - ED is added to the first word of each common phrase. 

23A. Snow-laden spruce? : COATED TREE. Coat tree.

25A. Noble in a he-man contest? : OILED BARON. Oil baron.

49A. Aghast runway figure? : FLOORED MODEL. Floor model. Model Brooklyn Decker, wife of Andy Roddick, in case you wonder.

 70. Posse? : ARMED BAND. Armband.

95A. Intimidated ballplayer? : COWED CATCHER. Cowcatcher. Who's the catcher who got punched here? (Don't click on the picture & cheat.)

 118A. Disgraced stage production? : FOULED PLAY. Foul play.

122A. Saloon wholly endorsed by its patrons? : BACKED DIVE. Back dive.

 36D. Hoodwinked management group? : SNOWED BOARD. Snowboard.

 48D. Philanthropic Mensa member? : GIFTED GIVER. Gift giver.

Notice that the second words are all clued in a different sense than what they are in the original phrase? It's the key to this type of letter(s) addition theme type.

I'm always amazed by how clean Gail's grids are. Every entry is solid. She knows her fans very well. She's not going to get you with hip entries like YOLO (You Only Live Once) or obscure fill like LEK (Albanian coin). Just clean & solid words.

Across:

1. Primary : MAIN

5. Lays an egg : FLOPS

10. Part of a pot : ANTE.  And 21. Agreement : DEAL.

14. On the level : LEGIT

19. Start of an afterthought : ALSO

20. Out of whack : ASKEW

22. Hot : IRATE

27. Throw with effort : HEAVE

28. Introductory course : SALAD. And 69. Take in a course : EAT. Food, Steve!

30. Sandbags may be used for them : LEVEES

31. 13½-inch-tall honors : OSCARS. "Lincoln" this year.

33. People often see patterns in them : STARS. I was thinking of STATS.

35. San Joaquin Valley city : FRESNO. "Raisin Capital of the World". San = Three in Chinese.

39. Curved shapes : LOOPS

42. Beethoven's Third : EROICA

45. Seven-Emmy actor : ASNER. That's a record Emmys by a male actor.

46. Biblical trio : MAGI
52. Reveal, in verse : OPE

53. Etcher's supply : ACID

54. Powder mineral : TALC

55. Wagner heroine : ISOLDE. "Tristan und Isolde".

56. Ill-gotten gains : SWAG

57. Justice Dept. bureau : ATF

58. "No arguing!" : BE NICE!

60. No longer in force : NULL

61. Dramatic start? : MELO. Melodramatic.

62. Wintertime lost-and-found item : MITTEN

64. Assert with confidence : AVER

67. Interfered with : MESSED IN. Non-theme ED word.

73. Tourist transport : CAB. I was surprised that the taxis in Brussels are all Mercedes Benz. I was also at a loss about bidets there.

74. Source of colorful autumn foliage : RED MAPLE

77. Botch : RUIN

78. Hardly around the corner : FAR OFF

81. "Picnic" playwright : INGE

82. Film feline : ELSA

84. Become involved : STEP IN

87. Styled after : A LA

88. Warts and all : AS IS

89. Frère's siblings : SOEURS. "Sisters".

92. Product created by a Kansas Dairy Queen owner : ICEE. New trivia to me.

93. Increase : GROW

94. Letters seen near an 8 : TUV. Phone button!

97. City SSE of Sana'a : ADEN

98. Battleground : ARENA

100. Informant : SNITCH

101. Ocean predators : ORCAs

103. Colorful cover-up : SERAPE

105. Milo of the movies : O'SHEA

107. Kicks out : EXPELS

111. Took care of a toy? : PET SAT. D'oh!

114. Socks away : SAVES

117. Uncanny : EERIE

124. Exudes, as confidence : OOZES

125. Pic Sans Nom, par exemple : ALPE. Pic Sans Nom is in the French Alps. Literally "Peak without a name". Marti might know it.

126. Refers to : CITES

127. Sailed through : ACED

128. Steal passwords, e.g. : PHISH. Those people, any on-line thief, virus creator are the worst of human kind. They're no different than terrorists. Jerks!

129. Saloon supply : RYES. Liquor.

130. Plods : SLOGS

131. Young kilt wearer : LASS. I guess they do. But often LADs wear kilts.

Down:

1. Like Eastwood characters : MACHO. Seems like Qli loves "Dirty Harry". What's your favorite Eastwood movie? 

2. Succulents that soothe : ALOES

3. Son of Sarah : ISAAC

4. Full of holes, in a way : NOT VALID

5. It runs its course quickly : FAD

6. WWII carriers : LSTs

7. Pickled or deep-fried veggie : OKRA. I love pickled food, esp herring. Never had pickled or deep fried okra though.

8. Sheds some skin : PEELS

9. Skiwear item : SWEATER

10. Hoo-ha : ADO

11. Bronx-born playwright : NEIL SIMON. Nice full name.

12. Grimm account : TALE

13. High-sign letters? : ELEV. Great clue too.

14. Ample : LIBERAL. Liberal amount of .... vinegar. Good to remove kitchen stains.

15. Wipes clean : ERASES

16. Long-snouted fish : GAR

17. Jurist in 1995 news : ITO (Lance)

18. Decimal base : TEN

24. Designer Saarinen : EERO. To live forever in Xwords, your name has to be short, and vowel heavy. ERLE, ESAI, e.g.

26. Dict. entry : DEF. I had a few interesting email exchanges with Kazie, JD and Lucina last week on Long U sound. Do you also call the oo sound in MOON long U? To me, only the "yoo" sound in MULE, or USE are Long U's.

29. "Is it too risky?" : DARE I

32. Give in somewhat : SOFTEN

34. Casting needs : RODS

37. Katmandu native : NEPALI. Mysterious country.

38. Crater Lake locale : OREGON

40. Get ready for the wedding, say : PLAN. Traditionally, Chinese brides wear red in weddings.

41. Diva highlights : SOLI

43. Newspaper part : COLUMN

44. In a fog : ADDLED

46. Hat-tipper's word : MA'AM

47. Play period? : ACT I

50. William of __, for whom a logical "razor" was named : OCCAM

51. Ocean burrowers : EELS

56. Bit of ugly politics : SMEAR

58. Key letter : BETA. Always a stumper for me. Fraternity/Sorority key.

59. "Did you __?" : EVER

63. Brings under control : TAMES

65. Part of an academic address : EDU

66. MLB stats : RBIs.

68. Reading at the checkout counter : SCAN

70. Tolerates : ALLOWS

71. Watched again : RE-SEEN

72. Marx trademark : ANTIC

74. Vaqueros' gear : RIATAS

75. Make certain : ENSURE

76. Tampico tender : PESO. Easy guess. No idea where Tampico is.

78. Intense : FIERCE

79. Arctic sight : FLOE

80. Young Faline, in "Bambi" : FAWN. Faline's mother is ENA.

83. Recording of a sort : AUDIOTAPE

85. Return call? : ECHO. Great clue.

86. Look closely : PEER

90. They're needed for returns: Abbr. : RCTs. Or RCPTs.

91. Goldman __ : SACHS

93. Step on it : GAS PEDAL. This clue used to bother me, as grammatically the clue ≠ answer. Same as "What's up" for SKY.

95. Facetious "Get it?" : CAPEESH. What's the non-facetious "Get it"? Capisce or Capisci?

96. Preschool subject : THE ABCS

99. Caruso's birth city : NAPLES

102. Gave the boot : AXED

104. LAX datum : ETD

106. Help : AVAIL. Thanks for the Java disabling instruction, JJM.

108. Soap vamp __ Kane : ERICA. "All My Children".

109. What seatbelts save : LIVES

110. Origins : SEEDS

112. Yard or boom, e.g. : SPAR. Did not know "Yard" has a spar meaning.

113. One on your side : ALLY

115. Prefix with plasm : ECTO

116. Surfboard fin : SKEG. I'm borrowing a picture Splynter used before. Looks like some surfboards have 2 skegs, some one. Wiki said "A surf board fin improves the board's directional stability..."

118. Dandy : FOP

119. "I'm impressed!" : OOH. Rarely do I read a "tepid" comment from Yellowrocks on a puzzle. But technical errors like last Friday might happen again. Crossword software Across Lite just does not allow empty clues or unnumbered entries. So, the editor/constructor has to put a "-" to indicate that there's no clue for that fill.

120. Action film firearm : UZI

121. Okay : YES

123. Tricky curve : ESS

C.C.