Monday, February 11, 2013 Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke

 Theme: Did you get the memo? - No? Look for it in these three theme entries.

20A. Residential loan : HOME MORTGAGE

35A. "I'd like to hear the rest" : "TELLME MORE"

42A. 1974 Jimmy Buffett song : "COME MONDAY"

56A. Office communication, and what can literally be found in 20-, 35- and 42-Across : INTERNAL MEMO

Argyle here. A theme reveal that could hardly be clearer. Gail and Bruce seem to be on a two week schedule, though today's isn't as complex as the last one. Straightforward, easy-peasey. Four nice long vertical entries. A musical flair today, also. Feel free to link your favorites.

 

 

Across:

1. Tip, as one's hat : DOFF. Word Origin & History - A contraction of do off, preserving the original sense of do as "put." At the time of Johnson's Dictionary [1755] the word was "obsolete, and rarely used except by rustics," but it was saved from extinction (along with don) by Sir Walter Scott.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

5. Empty spaces : GAPS

9. Subsides : WANES

14. Suffix with switch : EROO

15. Wilson of "Wedding Crashers" : OWEN. Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn play a couple of rogues who mingle and tango at the receptions of weddings to which they weren't invited.

16. Texas shrine : ALAMO

17. Tall tale teller : LIAR

18. "Deck the Halls" syllables : FA LA la la, la la la.

19. Tear to shreds : RIP UP

23. About to happen : IN STORE. As in, "What's in store for us this week?" and 4D. Hint of the future : FORETASTE. As in, "Is this puzzle a foretaste of the coming week?"

24. Bronze from a day at the beach : TANNED. From one day? I doubt it.

28. René's friend : AMI

29. Appear to be : SEEM

31. __ Lingus: Irish carrier : AER

32. Russian fighter jets : MIGs. Strap yourself in a Mig. Link

38. Italian violin maker : AMATI. They say it's all in the varnish.

40. Squeak stopper : OIL. Is that what C.C. used to get rid of her mouse?

41. Rigs on the road : SEMIs. Tractor-trailers.

45. Reasons for extra innings : TIEs. Possible reason for the end of ties, 63A. Paths of pop-ups : ARCs. One more baseball reference: 29D. Base runner's option : SLIDE

46. "Tastes great!" : "YUM!". "Less filling!" : "Burp!"

47. Poet's inspiration : MUSE

48. Sow or cow : SHE

50. What social climbers seek : STATUS

52. Curtail : SHORTEN

59. Gangster John known as "The Teflon Don" : GOTTI. He died in a federal medical center, June, 2002, at the age of 61.

62. Twice-monthly tide : NEAP

64. Place on a pedestal : EXALT

65. Show some spunk : DARE

66. "That makes sense" : "I SEE"

67. Saunter : MOSEY

68. Vehicle on runners : SLED. NorthEast needed dog sleds.

69. Proof of ownership : DEED. 51D. Proof of ownership : TITLE

Down:

1. New __: India's capital : DELHI

2. Hunter constellation : ORION. Prominent in winter sky(Northern Hemisphere)

3. Heads on beers : FOAMS

5. "Take a shot!" : "GO FOR IT!". The result of too many 3D's?. 22D. "Lemme __!" : AT 'EM

6. Informed (of) : AWARE

7. Attack, as with snowballs : PELT

8. Stocking tear : SNAG

9. Military practice : WAR GAMES

10. Visitor from afar : ALIEN

11. Treat jet lag, perhaps : NAP

12. Earthbound Aussie bird : EMU

13. Dip, as bread in gravy : SOP. Shakshuka with a sop.

21. Dad's partner : MOM

25. Vocalist Judd : NAOMI

26. Really strange : EERIE

27. Bride's purchase : DRESS

30. Scat legend Fitzgerald : ELLA

32. Flagship store at New York City's Herald Square : MACY'S

33. Words from one with a bad hand : "I'M OUT". Think 'poker'.

34. Letter after beta : GAMMA

36. Long, long time : EONs

37. Parking ticket issuer : METER MAID

 

39. Resistance to disease : IMMUNITY

43. Expel : OUST

44. Like a slingshot handle : Y-SHAPED

49. Christmas, e.g.: Abbr. : HOL.. (Holiday)

52. Simple trap : SNARE

53. Far from talkative : TERSE

54. Intro giver : EMCEE. A lot of emcees on TV award shows this time of year.

55. Snooped (around) : NOSED

57. Pulls the plug on : ENDS

58. More than lifelike : REAL

59. Precious stone : GEM

60. Big name in kitchen gadgets : OXO. Reasonably priced.

61. Profs' helpers : TA's. (teaching assistant)

Argyle

Sunday Feb 10, 2013 John Lampkin

Theme: Floridation - FL is added to each familiar phrase.

24A. Jaw-dropping reaction to butterflies? : FLUTTER AMAZEMENT. Utter amazement. FL is added to the vowel-starting words in all the theme entries.

Who am I?

43A. Salutation to an out-of-shape friend? : DEAR FLABBY. Dear Abby. Our Star Tribune has "Dear Amy".

52A. Outrageous ice cream concoctions? : WILD FLOATS. Wild oats.

65A. Masters of the felt-tipped pen? : FLAIR ACES. Air aces. Flair pen.

82A. Bulletproof linen fiber? : BATTLE FLAX. Battle ax.

112A. Cuban tortilla king? : FLOUR MAN IN HAVANA. Our Man in Havana.

89A. Cowering caterpillar? : FLINCH WORM. Inch worm. I always thought Flinch is just a verb.

3D. Botany major's hurdles? : FLORAL EXAMS. Oral Exams.

68D. Turkeys no one knows about? : COVERT FLOPS. Covert ops.

C.C. here. John wrote me a note the other day. It sums up this puzzle perfectly:

"And ooh, look at that, a pair of cheaters. I think that's only the second time I've used them in a 21. And no pangram. The fact that it's nine theme entries and a 140 means that something had to give in order to get decent fill. 

I wonder how many solvers will notice that "Floridation" has nothing to do with adding flouride to water. The chemical symbol for flourine is F. FL = Florida of course, and "Floridation" is a made up word."

Not that there's anything wrong with cheater squares. But John has his own high standards and he likes to make every black square count. We have 70 black squares today. Often it's 78.

Also, notice the theme intersection in this grid? It takes luck and skills to make it work, esp if your theme entries are limited and you don't have much wiggle room.

Across:

1. Drift, as smoke : WAFT

5. Macbeth's hallucination : DAGGER. "Is this a DAGGER which I see before me.". And 115. Macbeth's burial isle : IONA

11. Pearly entrance? : GATES. Pearly gates.

16. Pedicure place : SPA. Husker Gary, don't bite Dudley's bait!

19. That girl, in Quebec : ELLE

20. Plaza Hotel girl : ELOISE

21. Performer with a whip : LION TAMER. I was picturing those kinky bondage/whipping.

23. Poker, e.g. : TOOL. Great clue.

26. Bellyacher : SORE HEAD

28. Auth. unknown : ANON. I'm very annoyed at some anonymous posts on the blog. Those who steal others' avatar identity disgust me. Not cool! Not funny!

29. Within reach : DOABLE

30. Birthday tiara, e.g. : PAPER HAT. This picture is from Truman's 5th birthday. Lovely.

32. Mike who married Liz Taylor : TODD

34. Gets out of shape? : MELTS. Another great clue.

36. Legal deg. : LLB. So is LLD. More 95. "The Good Wife" fig. : ATT. And 38D. 95-Across's org. : ABA. I talked with Lemonade twice on the phone. His voice is very young. I also talked with John Lampkin once. He's a real gentleman.

37. Backwash creators : OARS. I like "Creators" in the clue. Trick others think of people. "Legend creator" for ACURA is  another good example.

39. Bi- halved : UNI

42. Uncommon : RARE

47. Animals : FAUNA

49. Beat it : RAN

50. Like some beans : WAXY. No idea why Spitzboov hates wax beans. They're tasty.

51. Tripoli's country : LIBYA

54. Mobile phone site?: Abbr. : ALA. Oh, Mobile Alabama.

55. Neuter, as a horse : GELD

56. __ Na Na : SHA

57. Research foundation, often : GRANTEE

58. Barrel cleaner : RAMROD

60. Like pitfalls : UNSEEN

63. George who plays Stokes on "CSI" : EADS. Stranger! Call me maybe?

64. Dough hoarder : MISER
 

67. Hunter's trick : DECOY

71. Israel's Netanyahu, familiarly : BIBI. He often appears dismissive & derisive.

73. It helps dough rise : GLUTEN. No gluten in rice/corn.

74. Climbers' spikes : PIT-ONS

75. Officer's ornament : EPAULET
 

78. Future father's sch.? : SEM. Fun clue.

79. Flower bed wetter : RAIN

81. Ex halved : VEE. Alright, Roman numerals. V is half X.
  

84. Scrub the mission : ABORT

86. What's needed for the job : GEAR
 

87. Scrap for Rover : ORT

88. Going on, to Holmes : AFOOT

91. Unspecified degrees : NTHS

93. Boffo abbr. : SRO (Standing Room Only)

94. Happiness : GLEE
  

96. Some crash programs : DIETS. Oh, I have a question regarding tuna steak. Do you cook yours rare in the middle? I'm worried that I'll get sick if I do not cook it thorough. Our grocery store tuna is not Sushi grade.

98. 1957 war movie title river : KWAI.  "The Bridge on the River Kwai".

100. Hoi polloi : RIFFRAFF. Ellen's show has a Riff Raff Room.

105. "I Have __": 1963 speech : A DREAM. 6-letter partials are allowed in LAT.

108. Costly : HIGH

110. Aquamarine : NILE BLUE
  

116. Nuclear family? : ATOM BOMBS. I'm in constant in awe of John's creative brain.

117. Faddish : TRENDY

118. Some state-spanning rds. : TPKS (Turnpikes)

119. Postal motto word : NOR

120. Big name in vacuums : ORECK

121. Accent : STRESS

122. In __: actually : ESSE

Down:

1. Prepares for shampooing : WETS. I've been loving Pantene Overnight Miracle. It smells great. But I haven't noticed any result yet. I wish I could pull off Marti's hairstyle.

2. Throw for __ : A LOOP

4. Work for the small screen : TELEPLAY
 

5. Table : DEFER. Verb "Table".

6. God of Islam : ALLAH

7. Big wheel in delis : GOUDA

8. "Beat it, ya varmint!" : GIT

9. This, to Juanita : ESTA

10. Pre-splashdown stage : RE-ENTRY. Solid Re-word.

11. Pancreas, for one : GLAND

12. End : AIM

13. Horned __ : TOAD

14. Carmaker Ferrari : ENZO. I finally remembered him.

15. Power plant output : STEAM

16. Harbor suspicion : SMELL A RAT. Our mouse is gone. Not caught. He just disappeared.

17. Get behind, as enemy lines : PENETRATE. OK, "as enemy lines"...

18. Met acquisition : ART. The Met.

22. Insect preserver : AMBER

25. Aussie hoppers : ROOS

27. Lang. of Israel : HEBR. Hahtoola speaks Hebrew.

31. Belch in "Twelfth Night" : TOBY. Sir Toby Belch.

33. __ citizenship : DUAL

35. Common quality? : SENSE.
  

40. Pokes : NUDGES

41. Structural opening? : INFRA. Infrastructual.

43. __ Lama : DALAI

44. Beat it : FLED

45. Like Abner—but not really : LIL

46. Season 1 judge on "The X Factor" : ABDUL (Paula). Simon Cowell let her go after only one season.

47. Betrothed : FIANCE

48. Folk tale rubber? : ALADDIN
 

50. Affectionate : WARM. Chinese, and other East Asians, as a whole, are not very affectionate. Friendly, yes, but reserved.

52. Thresher grain : WHEAT

53. Dawn : ONSET

55. Animal named from a Greek word meaning "tribe of hairy women" : GORILLA. New trivia to me.

56. Shot contents : SERUM. Not the shot I had in mind.

59. Prove otherwise : REBUT

61. Pesters persistently : NAGS AT

62. Big name in coffeemakers : SILEX

65. Made to suit : FIT FOR

66. Bankrupt energy giant : ENRON

69. Late retirement time : ONE AM. Not for Argyle. He's still wide awake then.

70. River of Flanders : YSER

72. Bellyaches : BEEFS

74. Central part : PITH

75. WWII Treasury offering : E BOND

76. Especially fond of : PARTIAL TO. Does anyone have good wild rice soup recipe for Avg Joe?

77. Where you might experience hard knocks? : AT THE DOOR

80. Arrow's path : ARC

83. Take a gander : LOOK

84. Canterbury quaff : ALE. And  85. Cologne quaff : BIER. Beer.

86. Raided the fridge : GOT A BITE. Lots of goodies in our fridge right now.

89. Parts of darts : FLIGHTS

90. Hard or soft ending : WARE. Learned a lot about my PC from TTP last week.

92. Doodle on the guitar : STRUM

94. Advance : GAIN

97. __-Croatian : SERBO

99. Beat in the kitchen : WHISK

101. Birdbrained : INANE

102. Comes across : FINDS

103. Criticizes harshly : FLAYS

104. Depressions : FUNKS. Funk looks like a word that can't be pluralized.

106. Love, to Luis : AMOR
 

107. "We Need a Little Christmas" musical : MAME

109. Partner of Rodgers : HART (Lorenz). Rodgers and Hart.

111. Mollify : EASE
 

112. Source of support : FAN

113. "Football Night in America" network : NBC

114. Part of KJV: Abbr. : VER (Version). I had to google  KJV. King James Version.

Happy Year of the Snake! I bet Barry G (Maybe Jacye too) is having freshly made Chinese dumplings for lunch/dinner, traditional Chinese New Year food.

When I was a child, meat/sugar/oil were all rationed. I so looked forward to every New Year when I could help my grandma prepare dumplings. Pork was so delicious!

Our living standard improved a lot in the 1980s & 1990s, esp after I graduated from college in 1994 and found a well-paid job in Guangzhou. But I could not stomach pork any more. Whenever I visited Xi'An, my dad would make Tofu & Chinese chives filled dumplings for me. Cheap, simple & tasty. I tried to duplicate my Dad's recipe, the dumplings were never good. I think it's the memory of him that I miss, rather than the dumplings themselves.

C.C.