Friday, April 12, 2013 Julian Lim

Theme: STNIOJ SDRAWKCAB

17A. Extra effort : WOBLE [ELBOW] GREASE.

21A. "That's rich!" evoker : EENK [KNEE] SLAPPER.

40A. Take on responsibility : REDLUOHS [SHOULDER] THE LOAD.

57A. It usually involves rapping : PIH [HIP] HOP MUSIC.

And the unifier:

64A. Filing option, or what can be found in four long answers? : JOINT RETURN. The first word of each phrase is a synonym for a body part (specifically: joint) that "returns," or goes backward. Nice theme, and appropriate as tax deadline day draws near!

Just missing a Z for a pangram. Thankfully, most of the fill was fairly easy, but I still had a huge blank swath going down the west side of this puzzle for the longest time.  Every time I checked the down answers, it gave me jibberish for the beginnings of the theme entries. I bet I'm not the only one who did that.

Marti here, filling in for our fearless Friday fellow. Thanks for pinch-hitting for me yesterday, Lemony!

Across:

1. Least ancient : LATEST.

7. Some TVs : RCAS.

11. This second, briefly : PDQ. Pretty Da*n Quick.

14. Forward, to Fiorello : AVANTI. Italian. I am going to Italy this summer, and have been brushing up on my rusty Italian, so this was a gimme.

15. City SW of Buffalo : ERIE.

16. Christian sch. since 1963 : ORU. Oral Roberts University. And 61-Down. Kind of exam : ORAL.

19. Shoofly ___ : PIE. Really sweet southern dish made with molasses, and topped with a sugary crumble.

20. Skittish NBC show? : SNL. Saturday Night Live. Full of "skits."

23. Jellied item in British cuisine : EEL. I have linked this dish before. It's not a pretty sight.

25. "Days of Grace" memoirist : ASHE. Arthur finished it just a week before he died.

26. Relaxed : EASY.

27. GRE components : ESSAYS.

30. Doubter's question : IS IT?

32. Note promising notes : CHIT. Hands up for those who wanted IOUs? I read it first as "note-promising" notes, instead of "A" note that promises notes (money.)

33. Letter-routing letters : ATTN.

36. Big-eared flier of film : DUMBO.

43. Finish : USE UP.

44. It may be spare : ROOM.

45. "Progress through Technology" automaker : AUDI.

46. "Awesome!" : NICE. and 50-Across. Awesome, in a way : EPIC.

48. Original Speed Stick maker : MENNEN.

53. Used to be : WERE.

56. Giant of note : OTT (Mel)

60. Rock's ___ Fighters : FOO. THESE ARE MY FAMOUS LAST WOOORRRDS... 4:52

63. Maker of SteeL kitchen products : OXO. I have a lot of the Good Grips items, but didn't realize they also have other lines, including SteeL.

66. Beret, e.g. : CAP.

67. ___ Accords: 1993 agreement : OSLO.

68. Having trouble : IN A JAM.

69. Charles V's domain: Abbr. : HRE. Holy Roman Empire.

70. Light submachine gun : STEN.

71. Forgetful, maybe : SENILE. "Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most..."

Down:

1. Murphy's and Godwin's, for two : LAWS. Murphy: "Whatever can go wrong, will." Godwin: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1."

2. Shakespeare's flower? : AVON. Here's where I started suspecting something goofy at 17-Across. Of course we have seen "flow-er" referring to rivers many times, and I was sure this had to be AVON. But what the heck is WO*** GREASE??

3. Carving area : TABLESIDE. I am a sucker for Bananas Foster prepared TABLESIDE.

4. It's bigger than the neg. : ENL.argement.

5. Unwavering : STEELY.

6. Buster Brown's dog : TIGE.

7. Causes a stink : REEKS.

8. Collide with : CRASH INTO.

9. Where the slain roll? : AISLES. Hahahahahahahaaaaa...you slay me, Julian!

10. "I ___ beautiful city...": Dickens : SEE A. You may be more familiar with the ending of this quote: "It is a far, far better thing that I do..."

11. Dad : POPPA.

12. Preserves, in a way : DRIES. Think "dried fruit."

13. Editor's request : QUERY. Rich only accepts theme queries for Sunday puzzles. For the rest of the the week, he requires a completed grid with clues.

18. Genetic letters : RNA. I really wanted to enter this, but EEN* SLAPPER just didn't seem plausible for 21-Across.

22. Prone to snits : PETULANT. I was getting into a snit by this time...

24. Grab a sandwich, perhaps : EAT LUNCH. This one beat me up and stole my lunch money, so I had nothing left to buy a sandwich with.

27. 65-Down shade : ECRU. And 65-Down. Darken in a salon : TAN.

28. Women : SHES. meh.

29. ___ Miguel: Azores island : SAO. In the North Atlantic. Map.

31. Suffix with ox- : IDE.

34. Like many a brisk 45-minute walk : THREE MILE. I usually do two miles on the treadmill in 1/2 hour. So this is just about right.

35. General on a menu : TSO. Hello, ol' friend!

37. View from Tokyo : MOUNT FUJI. Nice view, with a hat made of lenticular clouds..

38. Wished : BADE. Past tense of "bid."

39. Valhalla chief : ODIN.

41. Reuters competitor : UPI. United Press International.

42. "I wonder..." : HMM.

47. Breakfast cereal magnate : C.W. POST.

49. With 50-Down, when modern mammals emerged : EOCENE. And 50-Down. See 49-Down : EPOCH.

51. "Brave" studio : PIXAR. I vaguely remembered seeing commercials for this movie, so knew it was an animated film.

52. "Fingers crossed" : I HOPE. By this time, I was hoping I would be able to finish the puzzle!

54. Bad sentence : RUN ON. Because "life" is too short.

55. Round no. : EST.imate.

58. Parts of la cara : OJOS. La cara = "face" in Spanish. Ojos = "eyes." Al Martino got it right.

59. 1978 Booker Prize recipient Murdoch : IRIS. Dame Iris Murdoch, for her book "The Sea, the Sea."

62. "I got it" : ON ME. (Sorry, not today. Someone stole my lunch money...)

See you next week in my usual Thursday seat!

Hugs,

Marti

Thursday, April 11, 2013, Marti Duguay-Carpenter

Theme: Don't tense up, and pass the participle

Each of the 4 theme answers takes the first word of a two- word phrase and by adding D or ED creates past participles used adjectivally (fun for all our teachers!) in a new and whimsical phrase, the resulted first words all synonyms of "tired". Hey, marti did it not me. Each time the meaning of both words in the original phrase are changed completely. A simple, but fun theme, that was harder to describe than to suss. Lemonade sitting in for miss m, as she is too shy to review and praise her own work, So as Flip Wilson said, We are here to seize her berry.  not praise it. (Bill G, they were much kinder to you than to me when I posted some of mine). On we go.

20A. Post-marathon sounds? : FATIGUED PANTS. (13). Military style morphs into the breathing challenge after 26 miles.

37A. Golfer's outdated set of clubs? : TIRED IRONS. (10). See how the addition of the little "D" changes everything.

43A. Casualty of an all-night poker game? : POOPED DECK. (10). Now we see the added "ED." No Viagra jokes here, and no bathroom humor, provide your own..

55A. Problem for Sherlock when he's run out of tobacco? : EXHAUSTED PIPE.(13). Interesting two theme clues are car related.

Across:

1. Gives pieces to : ARMS. We begin with the subtle use of "piece" meaning a gun.

5. Space-saving abbr. : ET AL.

9. Academy teacher : PLATO. Not just any one, but THE ACADEMY.

14. Leak slowly : SEEP. These days, ideas seldom seep into my brain.

15. Prep, as apples for applesauce : PARE. Generally using a paring knife. Why not say Peel? Paring is more precise? Nothing like TARE.

16. Didn't despair : HOPED.

17. Support girder : I-BAR.

18. Teatro alla Scala highlight : ARIA. The famous Opera house.

19. From days gone by : OF OLD. Did anyone else see this as O Fold for minute? (This is one).

23. Salon supply : GEL.

24. Scottie's relative : WESTIE. The West Highland White Terrier, marti resolved the Scottie issue.

27. ID theft target : SSN. Social Security Number.

30. Wined and dined : REGALED. Treated like a king.

34. Messenger ___ : RNA.

35. Bygone depilatory : NEET. Nair wins, nair wins!

39. Egyptian leader between Gamal and Hosni : ANWAR.  This Nobel Prize winner. LINK, Killed in 1981.

41. MIV ÷ II : DII. One way to divide the Romans.

42. Pester, puppy style : NIP AT. Marti is using the Dan Naddor like short word combos to make the puzzle harder.

46. "___ be young again!" : OH TO. See. I told you she was.

47. SFO posting : ARR.ivals.

48. Welcome sight for early explorers : DRY LAND. Land Ho!

50. Poetic dusk : EEN.

51. "Thy Neighbor's Wife" author : TALESE. A nice GUY.

53. Ill-fated fruit picker : EVE. Cute clue, and more apple reference.

62. Eastern adders? : ABACI. Back again so soon?

64. Smart : CHIC. pronounced Sheak. (Avoiding 1940s condom humor).

65. Corp. money mgrs. : CFOS. Chief Financial Officers.

66. Sax range : TENOR.  I knew marti would get us to the SAX talk.

67. Rolling rock : LAVA.

68. Berlusconi's bone : OSSO. Italian

69. Is without : HASN'T. There are the haves and the have nots, I was explaining to one of my Y-chromosome deficient friends, there are the Ys and the Ynots.

70. One bounce, in baseball : A HOP. Not an A word, but more commonly a one hopper.

71. Kids : TOTS. Would they taste the same if they were called Tater Kids?

Down:

1. "A likely story!" : AS IF. Another one.

2. Country's McEntire : REBA. Have they canceled this SHOW? (2:39)

3. Crux : MEAT. The heart, the gist, you get the idea.

4. Bit of mistletoe : SPRIG. If athletes get athlete's foot, do astronauts get missile toe?

5. Dress uniform decoration : EPAULET. From the French for shoulder, which comes from the Latin Spatula. Do you ladies want to go back to the 80's when your shoulders were so padded?

6. Empty-truck weight: TARE. Per wiki: The word tare originates from the Middle French word tare "wastage in goods, deficiency, imperfection" (15, from Italian tara, from Arabic tarah, lit. "thing deducted or rejected," from taraha "to reject" usually TARE WEIGHT.

7. Desertlike : ARID. You need an extra R for your underarm.

8. Route to an illogical conclusion : LEAP.

9. Expressed an opinion on "The Dan Patrick Show," say : PHONED IN. I debated this as a theme answer for a while.

10. Many converted apartments : LOFTS. Especially in big cities.

11. Sign of omission : APOSTROPHE. Sin of commission. Cool clue.

12. ___ Aviv : TEL. No way, I am not saying a word.

13. Like some socks after laundry day : ODD. I am on a 7 month win streak.

21. Whence BMWs : GERmany. marti just wanted to be back on the autobahn heading to the Alps.

22. Floored : AWED. As opposed to awwed.

25. Hard-wired : INNATE.

26. Crayola Factory's Pennsylvania home : EASTON. Also the birthplace of heavyweight champ, Larry Holmes.

27. Get testy with : SNAP AT. An another.

28. Madrid madam : SENORA. Be careful.

29. City whose average elevation is below sea level : NEW ORLEANS. Hence not a good place to be in a hurricane.

31. Dizzy with delight : GIDDY. This comes from the same German root word which we got our word G-d, as dizzy people were thought to be possessed.

32. Prospero's spirit servant : ARIEL. From Will Shakespeare's The Tempest. Study THIS.

33. High-end camera : LEICA. I wonder if JL likes this kind or the Nikon.

36. Borrow money from : TAP.

38. ___ Grande : RIO. River great.

40. Prophetic attire worn by most doomed characters on the original "Star Trek" TV show : RED SHIRT. The guest role was usually very short if they had on red.

44. De Matteo of "The Sopranos" : DREA. Also, of the short lived JOEY. Finally moved to Wisteria Lane. WATCH (0:54) if you dare.

45. Patella : KNEECAP. I am getting HYALGAN shots in my knees.

49. Netflix rental : DVD.

52. Sentence finisher? : EX-CON. They let you out when you finish, nice clue.

54. Florida attraction : EPCOT. Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.

56. Kareem's coll. team : UCLA. Actually, he was still Lew Alcindor in his UCLA days when he helped John Wooden become king of the hardwood.

57. Deposed ruler : SHAH.

58. Modern recorder : TiVO.

59. "Given that..." : IF SO. And the last.

60. Chime in at a blog : POST. A shout out to all of you!

61. Those, in Tijuana : ESOS.

62. Olympics entrant: Abbr. : ATHlete.

63. Actress Arthur : BEA. Maude or Golden Girl take your pick.

Well it's an extreme pleasure to get back to marti's work; there was a while I was blogging her at least once a month, but now that she is famous, and jetting all over we have to be grateful for what we get. Curious what you all thought, so I will shut up and read. I hope we have an exciting Masters. Congratulations Lady Huskies for your 8th NCAA basketball title. So amazing to me that these kids want to live in Storrs, CT. I did not not even when I was in school there.

L. out.

Note from C.C.:

Hope some of you could attend Marbles' 5th Annual Crossword Tournament. Click here for details.