Wednesday, Apr 10 2013, Peter A. Collins

(Note from C.C.: If you solve today's puzzle from Mensa or other ads-free websites that use the old format,  your unifier will be: "Has a meal, and based on certain outer letters, what 17-, 24-, 30-, 46- and 53-Across each does". Those websites don't support circles. LA Times/Chicago Tribune websites do now.)


theme:  staff of life

17A. One of Beethoven's 32 : PIANO SONATA.  PITA bread. wikipedia says "... as a set they comprise one of the most important collections of works in the history of music."  

24A. Rants and raves : RAISES CAIN. RAISIN bread. to 'raise cain' is to create an uproar.

30A. Social service item? : COFFEE URN. CORN bread. 

46A. Proverbial nonexistent meal : FREE LUNCH. FRENCH bread. 

53A. Place of central interest, man : WHERE IT'S AT. WHEAT bread.

65A. Has a meal, and as the circles show, what 17-, 24-, 30-, 46- and 53-Across each does : BREAKS BREAD

squeeze the circled letters together in each theme answer to form five kinds of bread. 

melissa here. LOTSA arty words today, will let the music and pictures do most of the talking.

across

1. Tons o' : LOTSA

6. Blows, as a script line : FLUBS. oops.

11. Has permission : MAY

14. One may be passed around at a reunion : ALBUM. so many lines.

15. Like the Vegas strip : LIT UP.  quite the view.

16. Honest prez : ABE

19. Moll's leg : GAM. moll = woman companion of a gunman or gangster. 

20. More pitiful : SORRIER

21. Channeling state : TRANCE

23. Gas from the past : ESSO

27. Charity's URL ending : ORG

29. Change to zeros : RESET. like your trip odometer.

34. Wing measurement : SPAN. more than impressed.

38. More than impress : AWE

39. Debit card ID : PIN

40. Where to get off: Abbr. : STAtion. stockholm central train station.

43. __ Deco : ART

44. Sweet root : BEET.

49. Davis who was married to Ruby Dee : OSSIE. They were married 57 years, and as civil rights activists received many honors, including the Kennedy Center Honors. Davis delivered the eulogy of Malcolm X. Ossie died in 2005, Ruby is 90 years old.

52. "Collages" author Anaïs : NIN

57. Dog in the FDR Memorial : FALA. according to wikipedia, "the only dog so honored."

61. Hang up the gloves : RETIRE

62. Hollered : SHOUTED

64. Slick-whistle connector : AS A. 

68. Chi follower : PSI

69. Farsi speaker : IRANI. baleh.

70. Edible little sphere : OLIVE

71. Oeuf seasoning : SEL. french for egg and salt.

72. He bested Alexander in 1804 : AARON. burr and hamilton.

73. Fragrant compound : ESTER

down

1. Brain freeze : LAPSE

2. Jumbles : OLIOS

3. Snowboarders' aids : T-BARS

4. Venting car option : SUNROOF

5. Parisian possessive : AMOI

6. Apt name for a woman with a green thumb? : FLORA

7. Jeremy in the 2012 NBA's Rising Stars Challenge : LIN

8. Acting teacher Hagen : UTA. german-born actress and drama teacher. and 22. Creates some drama? : ACTS.

9. Steep-sided hills : BUTTES. west mitten butte in arizona.

10. Spread out : SPARSE

11. __ Carta : MAGNA

12. Bead counters for bean counters : ABACI. 

13. Arabian republic formed in 1990 : YEMEN

18. Composer Prokofiev : SERGEI

25. Like the vb. "to be," in most languages : IRR. irregular.

26. Hunch : SENSE

28. Sales __ : REP

30. Oft-grabbed ride : CAB

31. Be in hock to : OWE

32. Admission price : FEE

33. Not up to snuff : UNFIT

35. Part-goat deity : PAN

36. __ de Triomphe : ARC.  paris.

37. Extreme degree : NTH

41. Some odometers show them : TENTHS

42. Clay, since 1964 : ALI

45. Songwriter Amos : TORI

47. Matter in court : RES

48. Displays, as a flag : UNFURLS

50. Montenegro neighbor : SERBIA

51. __ Club: conservation group : SIERRA

53. Completes a shoot : WRAPS

54. 1946 Literature Nobelist Hermann : HESSE

55. Cybersales : E-TAIL

56. Invite to enter : ASK IN

58. Took the hit, financially : ATE IT

59. Time off : LEAVE

60. Venomous snake : ADDER

63. Double-reed instrument : OBOE

66. Musical talent : EAR

67. "It's __-brainer!" : A NO
 
melissa

Tuesday, April 9, 2013 Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke

Theme: Ha ha! Ho! Hee hee! Snort! - Is everybody happy? You should be if you got the ends of today's themes.

20A. Patient's therapeutic shriek : PRIMAL SCREAM

32A. Tiny data storage device : MEMORY CARD

43A. Uprising at Leavenworth, e.g. : PRISON RIOT

55A. Comical sort, like the last word of 20-, 32- or 43-Across : LAUGH-A-MINUTE

Argyle here. We get a unifier today. Some interesting clueing, also. Gail and Bruce are on a run of Tuesday puzzles.

Across:

1. Send payment : REMIT

6. Utter angrily, as insults : HURL

10. Cameron of "Knight and Day" : DIAZ

14. Compensate (for) : ATONE

15. On the briny : ASEA

16. Dope from a booth? : INFO. (information booth)

17. Grocery bag option : PAPER. It seems rare these days; everything is plastic, or reusable.

18. Narrow inlets : RIAs

19. 1944 invasion city : ST-LÔ

23. For free : GRATIS. (except for shipping and handling)

26. Groundbreaking old Fords : MODEL T's

27. Multivolume ref. : OED. Acronym of Oxford English Dictionary, attested from 1898 according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Who would know better?

28. It's right on a map : EAST. Cute clue.

31. Mentalist's alleged ability, briefly : ESP. (extrasensory perception)

35. Old-timey word of woe : "ALAS!". 21D. Words to an old chap : "I SAY"

39. Cowgirl Dale : EVANS. Wife of singing cowboy, Roy Rogers.

40. Forest feller : AXE

41. Garlicky spread : AIOLI. Basically, a garlic mayonnaise.

42. Thinker Descartes : RENE. I think; therefore I am. - Rene Descartes

45. Old name for Tokyo : EDO. 1603 to 1868

47. Sports pg. number : STAT. (statistic)

48. St. Louis-to-Chicago dir. : NNE

49. Open courtyards : ATRIUMS. Or atria.

53. Warnings from a ticked-off tabby : HISSES

58. New Age pianist John : TESH. Old crossword staple.

59. Tavern flier : DART

60. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," for one : ADAGE

64. Aid in a caper : ABET

65. Trees with split-resistant wood : ELMS. I can attest to that. Good firewood though.

66. Himalayan land : NEPAL. Click on the picture for a larger view.

67. Optimistic : ROSY

68. Bacon buy : SLAB

69. '50s-'60s TV beatnik Maynard G. __ : KREBS. From The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis and was played by Bob Denver.

Down:

1. Jay-Z's genre : RAP

2. LAX listing : ETA

3. Swiffer product : MOP. Any product endorsements out there?

4. All thumbs : INEPT

5. Scotty and Jack Russell : TERRIERS. I hope you didn't fall for this misdirection.

6. Do damage to : HARM

7. Old Voice of America org. : USIA. (United States Information Agency)1953 to 1999

8. Kingdom : REALM

9. Caught at a rodeo : LASSOED

10. Tumbledown condition : DISREPAIR

11. What spies gather, for short : INTEL. (intelligence)

12. G sharp equivalent : A FLAT

13. Close-up lenses : ZOOMS

22. Music store buys : CD's

23. Mayberry's Pyle : GOMER. He joined the Marines and got his own show.

24. Christopher who played Superman : REEVE

25. Slogan writer : AD MAN

29. Melee memento : SCAR

30. Urban cruisers : TAXIs

33. U-turn : ONE-EIGHTY. None of that Ueys/Uies today.

34. Sit for a spell : REST

36. Pork cuts : LOINS

37. How most writers work : ALONE

38. Webmaster's creations : SITES

41. Designed to defeat a Panzer, say : ANTI-TANK

43. Scented hair ointments : POMADES

44. Waikiki's island : OAHU

46. "Like, no-brainer!" : "DUH!"

49. Hitching post? : ALTAR

50. Martial arts-based workout : TAE BO

51. Slick tricks : RUSES

52. Sweater size : SMALL. Too small?

54. Passover feast : SEDER

56. "__ la Douce" : IRMA. A 1963 romantic comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine.

57. Govt. crash investigator : NTSB. (National Transportation Safety Board)

61. "Great" simian : APE

62. Chatter : GAB

63. Golfer Ernie : ELS. He will be vying for the Green Jacket at the the Master's this week.

Argyle

Note from C.C.

Here's a beautiful picture from JD's trip to Grenada. You can click here for more. JD said it was an emotional visit for her as her sister and her sister's husband built these villas.

She also said: "We went to St. Thomas, but spent most of that day on nearby St John, St. Bart's (French), St. Lucia, Barbados, and 2 islands in the Antilles- Bonaire, and my favorite, Curacao (Dutch)."