Friday, January 18, 2013 David Poole

Theme: "You dirty - !" (hmmmm...something seems to be missing here)

17. Bolshevik film festival fodder? : R-ratED MOVIES. Loved the alliteration in the clue. Too bad there isn't a well-known Russian city beginning with "F." Would "Dr. Zhivago" be considered a red movie?

21. With 51-Across, Puerto Rico pecan and Cuban coconut custard? : PIratES OF THE
51. See 21-Across : CARIBBEAN. Yummm...caribbean pies.  More alliteration. Coconut custard is one of my favorite pies - second only to pecan!

26. Auden's vineyard? : THE GRAPES OF WratH. A quick check tells me I have never read W.H. Auden's work.

46. Side dish made with russets and Tanqueray? : POTATOES AU GratIN. This one made me laugh out loud.  I'll have to try that recipe sometime!!

62. Legendary musician responsible for what's missing from 17-, 21-, 26- and 46-Across : PIED PIPER. Who, of course, led all the rats out of Hamelin and became a hero.

Marti here, on a Friday no less. And thank you Lemony for so eloquently pinch-hitting for me yesterday under cruel and unusual circumstances!

Across:

1. Socks for Clinton, e.g. : PET. Didn't fool me, but I couldn't remember if it was a cat or a dog. (Nope. Just a pet.)

4. Mums' relatives, in a way : GLADS. Ok this one got me.  I definitely was not thinking of chrysanthemums or gladiolas.

9. Weber State University city : OGDEN. Total unknown. Needed some perp help before I could make a WAG.

14. Trouble : ADO.

15. Petrol purchase : LITRE. British spelling hinted at by "petrol."

16. ___ Laredo, Mexico : NUEVO. It is across the river from Laredo, Texas. Map.

19. Key of the "Eroica" symphony : E FLAT. I always remember this because E is the first letter of "Eroica."

20. Grant : ENDOW. As in National Endowment for the Arts.

23. Ode preposition : O'ER.

25. Musician's deg. : MFA. Not to be confused with 45A. Doctor of music? : DRE. And also 24D. 45-Across genre : RAP.

33. Dawn deity : EOS. When I searched for images, I got more cameras and cars than dawn goddesses.

34. Last words : EPILOG.

35. "___ Peach": Allman Brothers album : EAT A. A musical Mountain Jam intermission. 13:38

38. Subdued : MUTED.

40. Montréal moniker : NOM. French for "name."

41. Jewel box item : CD ROM. Why is it called a jewel box? I just learned that it comes from the word for the two plastic bearings in the hinges on the CD case. Watchmakers call these types of bearings "jewels" because they were often made from gemstones, which had low friction properties. So there you have it.

42. Gym ball : PROM. Nice misdirection. Ball as in dance, not as in basket or volley...

43. Attic window : DORMER.

49. Sigma follower : TAU.

50. Hosp. readout : ECG. Electrocardiogram.

57. "The Kiss" painter : KLIMT. This was a gimme - I have a poster of it in my office.

61. Lot of baloney : CROCK. That's a crock, and you know it!

64. It's often stored upside-down : CANOE. I wanted kayak...but mine is stored right-side up suspended from chains in the garage.

65. City on the Penobscot : ORONO. Maine.  Where is Mainiac?

66. Have a life : ARE.

67. "Naturalis Historia" author : PLINY. Without looking it up: Elder or Younger?

68. Parlement français division : SENAT. More French.

69. "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" author Brown : DEE.

Down:

1. Cut down : PARE.

2. Adam's apple spot : EDEN. Cute clue.

3. Lincoln in-law : TODD.

4. Looked askance : GLOWERED. Not exactly synonymous, imho. Looking askance seems more sideways or dubious. Glower is the look I give DH when he forgets to take out the trash!

5. Actress Tyler : LIV. Daughter of Aerosmith's Steven Tyler.  I always remember her from her role as Arwin in "The Lord of the Rings." So hauntingly beautiful!

6. Left ___: rewarded : A TIP.

7. Cologne crowd? : DREI. German for "three."

8. Zaire's Mobutu ___ Seko : SESE. Pronounced seh'-say.

9. Unrepeated event, in Essex : ONE OFF. Everything you need to know about this saying here.

10. Roared : GUFFAWED. I do that a lot when reading some of your comments!

11. Upper-bod muscle : DELT.

12. Cole Porter's "Well, Did You ___?" : EVAH. Another musical interlude, from the movie "High Society."

13. A or E, but not I, O or U : NOTE. Musical notes.

18. Instrument heard on Simon & Garfunkel's "Bookends" : MOOG. And more music! Listen for the moog...

22. EPA concern : SMOG.

26. Sub : TEMP. Substitute / temporary worker.

27. Happy ___ : HOUR. It's five o'clock somewhere!

28. Legally prohibit : ESTOP.

29. Côte-d'Or crop : PINOT. Côte-d'Or is a town in the burgundy region of France, famous for both PINOT noir and Chardonnay wines.

30. Ecuadoran province named for its gold production : EL ORO. "Gold" in Spanish.

31. Its capital is Amiens : SOMME. Back to northern France. The cathedral there is breathtaking.

32. Gauge opening? : HARD G. Hey Don!

36. Bagels, shapewise : TORI. We have had this before. Plural of "torus." Some people might recognize it as the shape of a hemorrhoid pillow:

37. Closing word : AMEN.

39. Cyberface : EMOTICON. (^0^)

41. Nutty : CRACKPOT. It can be a noun or an adjective, like a "crackpot idea."

43. Smear : DAUB.

44. Denver-to-Wichita dir. : ESE. I guess.

47. Q neighbor : TAB KEY. On the keyboard, not in a James Bond movie.

48. Citrus hybrid : UGLI.

51. Soviet letters : CCCP. Союз советских социалистических республик, where they show RED MOVIES?

52. Kazakhstan border sea : ARAL.

53. Pasta ___: food brand : RONI. From the makers of Rice a Roni, the Golden Grain Company.

54. Long poem : EPOS.

55. Yorkshire river : AIRE.

56. Gas on Broadway : NEON. There are a lot of NEON signs there.

58. Tech debut of 2010 : IPAD. That recently? It's already time for me to upgrade!

59. Just : MERE. Simple clue/answer that had me going for a while.

60. Genealogy chart : TREE.

63. Trial evidence, at times : DNA. I have done additional reading about the "co-discoverers" of DNA since they last came up in December. Very controversial, but fascinating when you understand some of the back-stabbing that goes on in scientific research.

That's it for now.  I'll be back in my regularly scheduled spot next week!
Marti

Notes from C.C.:

1) Happy Birthday to dear Blue Irish (Susan)! She told me "My Birthday falls on January 18th.  Usually everyone is tired from the holidays and bad weather and cold has set in. Not my favorite time of the year." In Chinese, 18 is very lucky number, The office floors in 18th floor tend to be more expensive than other floors. 

2) I was very pleased that our blog was restored yesterday afternoon. I want to thank Lemonade for alerting me as soon as he discovered the problem. And Husker Gary for his invaluable mailing list and hard work to inform everyone about our glitch & the Ginger Roots change. I also want to thank those who reported to Blogger forum about the removal of our blog. It's incredibly comforting for me to see familiar names there and "Where's our blog" reports (I read all your posts). I'm so grateful that you cared & took actions. Thank you also to those who wrote to me privately & regulars who stoically stuck with us at Ginger Roots!

3) After much discussion with Dennis and Argyle, I've decided to use Captcha between midnight & 5:30 am (Central Time) in the Blog Comments section to prevent spam. You'll need to type in those hard-to-recognize letters when you want to comment in those early  hours. I've long resisted Captcha because I want a friendly & easy-to-interact Corner, but we've been hit hard by spam lately. Thanks for your understanding.

Thursday, January 17, 2013, Marti DuGuay-Carpenter

(Note from C.C.: Due to a blog lock-down, we had to move to Ginger Roots blog to review the puzzle. Please click here to see our discussions on this crossword.)


THEME: Neurotic double reverse.

Lemonade on a rare Thursday appearance so you did not end up with the constructor telling you how great her own puzzle is.

Wow! I think what happened is marti saw a combination of words, like SPIDER MAN (maybe from the release of the movie) and thought 'I wonder if people who afraid of spiders (arachnophobes) would be afraid of Spiderman?' Then  she created this puzzle, where the poor neurotic was given a second problem, like the MAN  in Spiderman would give you a HERMIT as someone who would neurotically avoid people. I think the fill came before the clues, which is where I see the reverse. To sum up each two word phrase, which represent a single stand alone concept, are broken in two and clued by a psychology term and an informal term for a behavior. Overall, not a terribly tough Thursday, but the intricate theme left lots of threes and fours, as well as couple of very hard clue/fill combos. let us see where miss m takes us.

18A. Double trouble...for a hydrophobic teetotaler? : WATER BOTTLE.(11) Hydro meaning water, and the bottle representing the receptacle for the  alcohol.

29A. ...for an arachnophobic hermit? : SPIDER MAN.(9) Spiders are arachnids, from the Greek.

36A.. ...for a acrophobic wallflower? : SUMMIT MEETING.(13). I am acrophobic, because when I am up high I want to jump, parachute or not. Wallflowers do not like meeting people.

42A. ...for a xenphobic couch potato? : ALIEN RACE.(9) This is one lazy hater, who does not like foreigners, and will not go exercise.

53A. ...for an agoraphobic soldier? : PUBLIC ENEMY.(11). I have a friend who after staying home to raise her four children, actually got to the point she could not leave the house.

A different theme for sure, now to the rest.

Across:

1. Vintner's vessel : TUN. These large casks are also used in brewing beer. The liquid measure is equivalent to 252 gallons. Nice alliteration.

4. Avis rival : HERTZ. For all you sentimental people this AD.

9. Amazon.com nos. : ISBNS.  International Standard Book Number, is becoming a common fill. The first initialism of the day.

14. Bearer of bear cubs, in Madrid : OSA. Spanish for a female bear, nicely crafted clue.

15. Cheri who impersonated Judge Judy on "Saturday Night Live" : OTERI. I found no links, you CD?

16. Gardener's transplant : GRAFT. Not Erle Stanley but the soil one.

17. Sales pro : REP. Well since pro is abbreviated, but are all reps pros?

20. Pueblo brick : ADOBE.

22. Stone unit : CARAT.

23. Dance that tells a story : HULA. They do tell a story LINK.(7:45).

24. Skyline haze : SMOG.

26. Id controller : EGO.Freud returns.

32. Chest-maker's wood : CEDAR.Not referring to an over-active plastic surgeon, but the old fashioned

34. Pharmaceutical oil : OLEUM. I had a very hard time with this one, even though I believe we have had it before, it was a fuming sulfuric acid?

35. Arduous : TAXING. Whew, that clue was taxing.

39. Make a meal of : DINE ON. An despite the fact the word comes from the Latin name for olives, I do not think you put any oleum on your toast.

40. Apportion : ALLOT.

41. Clubs: Abbr. : ASSNS. Associations.

46. Shtick : BIT. Do you appreciate this ONE.(8:03)

47. Long to be with : MISS. I often miss my miss.

48. This time only : ONCE. Like my blogging on a Thursday.

49. Smithy's tool : ANVIL. All I ever learned about anvils comes from TV westerns and roadrunner cartoons.

52. Harp (on) : DWELL. We do not need to beat this clue to death.

58. AAA freebie : MAP. Does anybody use paper maps anymore?

59. Rockers Van ___ : HALEN. The old DAYS. (4:02).

60. Not just odd : EERIE.

61. Online qualifier : IMO. In My Opinion.

62. Steel plow pioneer : DEERE. WH, as our farm expert, what do you think of John Deere products?

63. Creeps up on : NEARS. We are almost at the halfway point.

64. Fitting : APT. Time for a quick break.

Down:

1. Some ark contents : TORAHS.

2. Depleted : USED UP.

3. "Port near Vesuvio : NAPOLI.  If you are interest in history, read this LINK, this is part of my eldest's area of study and the statistic that the 79 CE eruption was " hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima bombing" is amazing.

4. "Battle Hymn of the Republic" lyricist : HOWE.

5. SFO posting : ETA.

6. On Soc. Sec. : RET.

7. 3-Down trio : TRE.

8. December stone : ZIRCON. If you think that month was gypped because they got a fae gemstone, there is a big difference between cubic zirconia and this STONE.

9. Yaroslavna's spouse, in a Borodin opera : IGOR.

10. Span. title : SRTA.

11. Driven home : BATTED IN. the BI in RBI.

12. Grp. for Jets, but not Sharks : NFL. National Football League. Tebowmania gone?

13. ___-Foy, Quebec : STE. Wow, is this obscure or what? First we have to use the French abbreviation for Sainte, while recalling a city which no longer exists.  C'est tres difficile.

19. Purse : BAG.

21. It's not a good sign : BAD OMEN. Are we referring to the movie?

24. Tom Lehrer song : SMUT. Already linked in Argyle's write up.

25. Mice and men : MAMMALS

27. Sharks or Jets : GANG. West Side Story. (2:48)

28. Non-profit's URL ending : ORG.

30. "___ World": "Sesame Street" feature : ELMO'S.

31. Hold back : REIN. from horseback riding, or the other way around?

32. Williams title starter : CAT ON.

33. Seating offering more space : EXIT ROW.

35. Graph heading? : TELE. Not the column, the word.

36. Assent to a capitán : SI SI. More Spanish.

37. Shaky : UNSTABLE

38. Yale bowl cheerers : ELIs

39. Dollop : DAB

42. Quinn of "Annie" : AILEEN

43. Weak state : ANEMIA.

44. Workshop device : C CLAMP.

45. Sniggler's tool : EEL POT.

47. Stereo jack label : MICrophone.

50. Buc or Met : NLER.

51. Kudzo, for one : VINE.

52. Sources of some highlights : DYES.

53. Advanced deg. : PHD.

54. OPEC member : UAE.

55. Family tree word : NEE. From the French stem naître to be born, used for the birth name of females.

56. Chunk of history : ERA.

57. Fallen space station : MIR.  Interesting PROJECT.

Lemonade

Notes from C.C.:

1) Sorry for the inconvenience earlier. You can click here to see our earlier discussions on the puzzle.

2) Happy 22nd wedding anniversary to Jazzbumpa (Ron) and his beautiful wife Gloria! Click here for more pictures. Gloria's mom had another setback on Tuesday, but Ron still wrote us a brilliant post with his usual wit and humor for Wednesday's blog, despite all the stress. Thanks, Ron!

3) Say Hello to Kazie's beautiful granddaughter Lea Isabel. Click here for more. She was born at 2:37am this morning, German time.