Monday, March 18, 2013 C.C. Burnikel

Theme: One Big Happy Family - because in the end, they're all ARKIN (our kin).

17A. 2012 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee : BARRY LARKIN

24A. Best Supporting Actor nominee for "Argo" : ALAN ARKIN

38A. Relatives, and an apt title for this puzzle : KINFOLK

45A. Iowa senator since 1985 : TOM HARKIN

57A. Al Pacino's "Sea of Love" co-star : ELLEN BARKIN

Argyle Markin here. C.C. has delivered a crunchy Monday. Full names, that's always nice. Nine-letter Down fill is nice but more than a few three-letter fill was needed. Foreign words and locations add little nuggets of crunch.

Across:

1. Discoverers' shouts : A-HAs

5. Dictation takers : STENOs. These days they can find work as a 'court stenographer'. Beyond that?

11. "Every kiss begins with __": jeweler's slogan : KAY. "Since 1916, Kay Jewelers has grown from one store to more than 900 from coast to coast ... the #1 specialty jewelry brand in the United States" from the company web site.

14. Red salad veggie : BEET

15. Clear the fustiness from : AIR OUT. Like using a leaf blower to clean your car?

16. Grand __ Opry : OLE

19. Not too bright : DIM

20. Volume of maps : ATLAS

21. Versailles ruler : ROI. Des résidences du Roi au château de Versailles.

22. Plucky movie pig : BABE. (1995) Seventeen years ago already.

23. Michelle, to Barack : WIFE

27. Patio furniture repairman : CANER. I'll bet they are hard to find and expensive.

28. Expressive music subgenre : EMO. (no link available)

29. Report card figs. : AVG's

30. Hopi home : PUEBLO. Not as grand as Versailles.

34. Kind : ILK. Kind is derived from the same root as KIN; ILK is not but they have come to mean the same thing.

37. Modern, in Munich : NEU

39. "__ do not!" : NO, I. and never did.

40. Hee-hawing critter : ASS

41. Watchdogs from Japan : AKITAs

42. Get snippy with : SASS

43. Unrefined find : ORE

44. Superhero duds : CAPES. like 48D. Superman, on Krypton : KAL-EL

51. Elevator innovator : OTIS

52. "Can I get a word in?" : [AHEM!]

53. D-backs, on scoreboards : ARI. Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks.

54. Formal decrees : DICTA. Singular, DICTUM (edict, decree, fiat, order, declaration)

56. Party coffeemaker : URN

60. Statistical data: Abbr. : NO's

61. City known for its Boys' Choir : VIENNA

62. Giggly Muppet : ELMO

63. "Schedule uncertain at press time" abbr. : TBA. (to be announced)

64. Passages between buildings : ALLEYS

65. Gets the point : SEES

Down:

1. "Fernando" band : ABBA. No need to link; you're probably hearing it in your head already.

2. Stretches in the high 90s, say : HEAT WAVES

3. Flier with a shamrock logo : AER LINGUS

4. Fires on from above : STRAFES

5. "My gal" of song : SAL. The mule on the Erie canal, ye haven't forgotten her already, have ye?

6. Sparkling topper : TIARA

7. Flamboyant Flynn : ERROL. The best swashbuckler ever.

8. Cellphone giant : NOKIA

9. "I'd love to, Yvette!" : "OUI!"

10. MTA stop : STN. Unless you're poor old Charlie. He couldn't get off of that train.

11. Camera name since 1888 : KODAK

12. Suspect's excuse : ALIBI

13. Aden's country : YEMEN

18. Belgian river : YSER. So much geography, so little time.

22. Dude : BRO

25. Actress Carter and "little" Dickens character Trent : NELLs. Nell Carter was on Gimme a Break! and was noted for her 42-Across. "Little Nell Trent" was a character in Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop.

26. Hog-wild : AMOK

27. Water-to-wine village : CANA

30. Penny pincher : PIKER. Etymology is in question.

31. Prefix with cycle : UNI

32. Wee newt : EFT

33. Showy wrap : BOA

34. Up the creek : IN A PICKLE. Funny, after having Vlasic yesterday.

35. Runs too slowly, as a watch : LOSES TIME

36. X, in valentines : KISS

38. Former "Idol" judge DioGuardi : KARA. She seems quite qualified to be a judge so she only lasted two seasons.

42. Ironic sketches : SATIRES

43. Resistance measure : OHM. Symbol: Ω

44. Musical wrap-up : CODA. Coda is the Italian word for “tail.” Makes sense now.

45. Talk trash to : TAUNT

46. "The Dick Van Dyke Show" catchphrase : "OH, ROB!". At 1:10.

 

47. Brainy bunch : MENSA

49. Dancer Castle : IRENE

50. Simpleton : NINNY

55. Years in España : ANOs

57. One of the Gabors : EVA

58. Small, in Dogpatch : LI'L

59. History majors' degs. : BA's

Argyle

Notes from C.C.:

1) This is my original submitted grid with no unifier, just 5 *KIN people:

Rich said: "This is potentially a cute theme, but it needs a unifying element. The one that jumps out at me is KINFOLK. If you can figure a way to include that with 5 entries, that'd be great--but if not, I'd suggest cutting to 4 entries..."

  

I could not come up with clean fill with my 5 entries plus the unifier, so I chickened out and used 4. K's gave me trouble.

 

2) Happy Birthday to dear Warren, who has not made a comment since we started the Captcha. Hope all is well with you and Ruth!

Left to right:  Warren, JD, EddyB, Chickie

Sunday March 17, 2013 Alan Arbesfeld

Theme: Disorderly Conduct - The initial consonant sounds of the "A THE B" phrases are switched. All conversions experienced spelling changes.

23A. Avoid caviar? : SHUN THE ROE. Run the show.

28A. Rouse a duck? : WAKE THE TEAL. Take the wheel.

34A. Back beachgoers? : STAKE THE TANNED. Take the stand. Was surprised by the two "Takes".

51A. Strongly desire daredevils? : CRAVE THE BOLD. Brave the cold.

61A. Respond to a face-licking? : KISS THE MUTT. Miss the putt. (Correction: Miss the cut. Thanks, Barry!)

77A. Work for nothing? : WAIVE THE PAY. Pave the way.

88A. Forgo long stories? : SKIP THE TALES. Tip the scales.

102A. Select one's jousting weapon? : CHOOSE THE LANCE. Lose the chance.

111A. Apportion a side dish? : DOLE THE RICE. Roll the dice.

  

121A. Bench a cab company softball team player? : SIT THE HACK. Hit the sack.

Quite a sophisticated theme for a non-English speaker. Spelling changes always make the gimmick harder for me. When did you grok the theme?

Bold grid arrangement today, esp considering there are 10 theme entries. Four 10-letter non-theme entries placed in Across. Sometimes they confuse solvers as to whether those are theme entries. But today's theme clues all have question marks, so there shouldn't be any confusion. 

I'd be a coward and black out squares 20, 25 & their symmetrical partners. Alan Arbesfeld (on the right) is a real pro.

 

Across:

 1. 1994 Nobel Peace Prize sharer : RABIN. Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin.

6. Campfire rod : SPIT. 26. Camp sight : TENT

10. Biblical king of Israel and a captain : AHABs. Not familiar with the king.

15. Small matter? : ATOM. Can't fool me.

19. Coral reefs, e.g. : ECOSYSTEMS

21. Amazon tributary : NEGRO. Never heard of it.

22. Roof pointer : VANE

24. Sheets for jotting : SCRAP PAPER. I have my pretty little notebooks.

27. Sign : OMEN

29. Stella __: cookie brand meaning "star of gold" : D'ORO. Very helpful clue.

31. "__ tree falls ..." : IF A

33. Cigarette ad phrase : LESS TAR

39. 2000 title role for Renée : IRENE. In "Me, Myself & Irene". Not an easy clue.

42. HMS component : HER

43. Marx observation : QUIP. The Marx Brothers.

44. Tiny : WEE

45. Düsseldorf direction : OST. East.

47. See 82-Down : CAN. 82. With 47-Across, 2008 campaign slogan : YES WE.

48. Saharan : ARID

50. NBA scoreboard item : PTs

55. Weirdo : CREEP

57. What an applauding audience may want : MORE

59. Academy founder : PLATO. I was thinking of Oscar.

 

60. Word on a dollar : ORDO. Novus Ordo seclorum. Latin for "New Order of the Ages".

64. Over : ATOP

65. Thor's father : ODIN

66. Python in "The Jungle Book" : KAA

67. Guesses : STABS

69. Routine : ACT

71. For fear that : LEST

74. Golfer Jay : HAAS. Saw him in 3M Championship. His son Bill Haas plays in the PGA Tour. 

83. Iams competitor : ALPO

84. Title role for Michael and Jude : ALFIE

86. Whole bunch : SCAD. Often in plural.

87. V-formation fliers : GEESE

91. __ Fáil: Irish coronation stone : LIA. We used to have fun with this entry.

93. Mmes., across the Pyrenees : SRAs

94. Polite title : SIR

95. Put a coat on? : WAX. Nice clue.

96. Inside look, briefly? : MRI

97. LAX postings : ETDs

99. "Charlotte's Web" monogram : EBW. E. B. White.

100. In reserve : ON ICE

106. "Can you imagine?!" : THE IDEA. Can you imagine TTP goes 0/7 this week?

109. N.L. Central team : STL

110. Massachusetts Bay city : LYNN. Unknown to me also.

114. Jeté, say : LEAP

117. Familia members : TIAS

120. With "The," Frederick Forsyth thriller : ODESSA FILE. Lemonade might have read this book. He's into thrillers.

123. Menu : LIST

124. Doctor's orders : DOSES

125. Pasta that doesn't sound very appetizing : VERMICELLI. "Little worms". Have you ever had Chinese bean thread noodles? They're often translated as Vermicelli.

126. Hardy heroine : TESS

127. New followers? : AGERS. New Agers.

128. Roles : USES

129. Bear, to Brutus : URSUS

Down:

1. Leftovers : REST

2. Feel pain : ACHE

3. Parental settings : BOUNDARIES. Oh, set the boundaries.

4. Falls short of being acceptable : ISN'T OK

5. News initials since 1851 : NYT. Let me check LA Times... 1881.

6. Part of a goblet : STEM

7. Parent to Philippe : PERE

8. "Leave that to me" : I'M ON IT

9. "The Waste Land" monogram : TSE

10. Looped handle : ANSA. Classic Xword word.

11. Give a hard time at the comedy club : HECKLE
 
12. "Deal!" : AGREED!

13. Nightmares for nana : BRATS

14. Campus group : SOPHS

15. 2009 James Cameron epic : AVATAR

16. Save for later playing : TAPE-RECORD. Wish I had tape-recorded some family stories my grandma & dad told me.

17. Most fit to serve : ONE-A

18. Jazz keyboardist Saunders : MERL. The guy on the left. I must have googled him before.

20. Grow dramatically : SHOOT UP

25. Dress designation : PETITE

28. Baseball Hall of Famer Paul or Lloyd : WANER. Husker Gary mentioned last time that Paul is the "Big Poison". Lloyd "Little Poison".

30. Like basic courses: Abbr. : REQ

32. "The Burning Bed" star : FAWCETT (Farrah). Never saw the movie.
 

34. Hovel : SHACK

35. Country singer Clark : TERRI

36. Casino request : HIT ME. Boomer will be bowling at Treasure Island today. Fantastic buffet at the casino.

37. __ Downs : EPSOM

38. Tide table term : NEAP

40. Nita of silents : NALDI

41. __ a sour note : END ON

45. "Beetle Bailey" dog : OTTO. And 112. "Garfield" pooch : ODIE

46. Patronize : SHOP AT

49. Big Apple locale? : DESKTOP. Not New York.

52. Big name in pickles : VLASIC. Love this word. Love pickles.

53. Put away : EAT

54. Coverings for tiny toes : BOOTEES. Do you spell it as BOOTIES as well?

56. Educ. fundraiser : PTA

58. Georgia neighbor : RUSSIA. Georgia is always the country in Xwords, unless it's Ty Cobb related.

62. Comedy club sounds : HA HA HA

63. Fancy marble : TAW. Learned from doing Xwords.

68. Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh, e.g. : BASSIST

70. Use MC or Amex : CHG. OK, MasterCard. Charge.

71. Roy Rogers prop : LASSO

72. "The Magic Kingdom" novelist Stanley : ELKIN. No idea.

73. Lethargic : SPIRITLESS

75. "Potent Potables for $200, __" : ALEX. Misty loves him. Not me.

76. Back on board : AFT. Back of the ship.

78. Parking lot runner, perhaps : VALET
 
79. Head of Hollywood : EDITH. Edith Head the costume designer.

80. Tulips and dahlias : PERENNIALS. We had an awful experience dealing with Michigan Bulb last year.

81. Easy __ : AS ABC

85. Sesame Street giggler : ELMO

89. Brief online updates : TWEETS

90. Uneven : EROSE

92. Long Island university : ADELPHI. Well, I'm sure the Saturday Stud nailed it. Splynter has beautiful handwriting, by the way.

98. Shifty : SLY

101. Storage units : CHESTS

102. Red shade : CERISE

103. Arm raiser on the street, often : HAILER. Hail a taxi.

104. Magazine awards : ELLIEs. From Wiki: They are generally considered the highest award in the magazine industry; in the magazine world, they are roughly equivalent to the Pulitzer Prizes.

105. Stamen part : ANTHER

107. "If __ Hammer" : I HAD A

108. Get the mist off : DEFOG

111. Knucklehead : DOLT

113. British tax : CESS

115. To be, to Brigitte : ETRE

116. 20 holders, briefly : ATMs

118. Rights gp. : ACLU

119. They're worn on moguls : SKIs. Slope moguls.

121. "Law & Order: __" : SVU. I don't like this spinoff at all.

122. Bygone French coin : ECU

C.C.