Saturday, May 4th, 2013, Frederick J. Healy

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing B,F,J,Q)

Blocks: 29

  Cool looking grid with a couple of "arrows" shooting out from the center, but alas, I was not on the mark today - SE corner had a few unknowns for me, and so I had to resort to red-letter assistance.  This is the fourth LAT Saturday for Mr. Healy, and the first one for me.  Triple stacks of 10's in the corners, even pairs of triple stacked 7's down the sides.  Some that I thought worth mentioning;

15A. Without a firm grip on reality : IN LA-LA LAND - why, I do believe our Linda can be regularly found here ~!!!

14D. Picked up at a cocktail party? : SPEARED - those little hot dogs in a bun/pigs in a blanket, and a toothpick; for those who were curious, I can be picked up at cocktail party, too~!!! (I'm the one not drinking)

59. Pub diversion : TRIVIA GAME - I was thinking DARTS, BILLIARDS, etc.  Back in my drinking days, I would sit with a beer and a game console and play for hours

38. Gulf of Finland republic : ESTONIA - map


oNwArD~!~!

ACROSS:

1. No ordinary joe? : MOCHA LATTE

11. Fabergé egg decor : GEMS

16. Slightly off : ALOP - our "A" word for the day....

17. Mad about : REALLY INTO - got it right the first time

18. "Handwriting on the wall" word : MENE - new to me; more here

19. Pre-date stop-off, maybe : ATM - well, I did try FTD to start; the middle "T" stayed

20. Poet whose muse was Maud Gonne : YEATS

21. Rodeo catcher : RIATA - oops, not LASSO

22. Reneges, with "out" : COPS - oops, not OPTS or NODS

24. Bloemfontein's country: Abbr. : RSA

25. Coot : GEEZER - I like Terry "Geezer" Butler, bass player/song writer for Black Sabbath; here's a clip of him with Ozzy and Slash on guitar

26. Garden bulbs : LEEKS

28. Fits behind the wheel? : ROAD RAGE - the --ADR--- was there, and I tried HEAD ROOM; seemed to make sense to me; we're looking for the temper tantrum kind of "fit"

30. Terrier on "Frasier" : EDDIE - took me a minute to remember

31. Hardly a Brown cheer? : AAUGH - this refers to Charlie Brown, and Peanuts, which I don't read, watch or care for

32. Hot __ : ROD

33. Nearly extinct island language : MANX - Isle of Man; more here

35. New Mexico county or its seat : TAOS

37. Word in a manual size description : YEA - it was about "yea big"

40. River valley silt : LOESS

42. Register button : TOTAL - this just wouldn't come to me

46. "No kidding!" : "IS THAT SO?"

48. Avalanche : SPATE

49. Odorless gas : ETHANE - aren't they all?  That 'odor' is added to propane and natural gas for safety reasons

50. Oscar winner Lee : ANG - filmmaker; I was just thinking I have never actually seen "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"

53. Málaga title: Abbr. : SRTA

54. "Paint Your Wagon" composer : LOEWE

55. "Things fall __; the centre cannot hold": 20-Across : APART

57. Squat : ZIP - this gave me fits, too - SIT, no, NIL, no....

58. Genetic lab samples : DNAs - Dah~! I started with RNAs, and messed up my 37D.

61. Run out of steam : TIRE

62. Queen Mary, e.g. : OCEAN LINER

63. Stable diet : OATS

64. Top-notch : WORLD CLASS - great fill

DOWN:

1. Wonder : MIRACLE

2. Like some salamanders or sloths : ONE-TOED

3. Held in place, in a way : CLAMPED

4. Prince in both parts of "Henry IV" : HAL - Sure, OK.

5. One working with you : ALLY

6. Coat : LAYER - semi-clecho with; 7. Cover : ALIAS

8. Horn blast : TANTARA

9. Blast causes : TNTs

10. Shogun's capital : EDO

11. More like venison : GAMIER - I have had deer; it's good

12. Biblical priest whose name means "God has helped" : ELEAZAR

13. __ Bay: Jamaican resort : MONTEGO

21. Tongue-tingling candies : RED-HOTS - I love cinnamon

23. Take from the top : SKIM

25. Loopy : GAGA

27. Prevailing winds help determine one : SEA LANE

29. Alibis : OUTS

31. Good fellers? : AXES - HAR-HAR~!!!

34. Bill : NOTE - as in money

36. Conciliatory offers : SOPS

37. Lose the battle with : YIELD TO

39. Good way to be young? : AT HEART

41. More in need of rinsing : SOAPIER

43. Los Angeles neighborhood that's the former site of an Edgar Rice Burroughs ranch : TARZANA - Funny, as the only thing I know about Los Angeles is their LA TIMES crossword, and the next clue is....

44. On occasion : AT TIMES

45. Ballerinas, often : LEAPERS - yeah, they do this, but I thought it was the "10 Lords-a..."

47. Anchor-chain openings : HAWSES - Learned this from a crossword here, about a year ago I would say, in a discussion with Spitzboov, who nailed the next one, too, I'll bet -

51. Like some blockades : NAVAL

52. Coffee selection : GRIND

55. Chevron rival : ARCO - came via perps; I knew it wasn't "ESSO"

56. Gentle application : TALC

59. Pull : TOW - Literally; nothing to do with influence

60. Jazz pianist Evans : GIL - Played with Miles Davis; more here


"MAY the Fourth be with you~!"

Splynter

Friday. May 3, 2013, Norm Gugenbiller

Theme: Gold-diggers unite! Anna Nicole Smith and the Life of Riley.

Each of the three similarly clued answers describe someone who is wealthy who takes care of another, usually a person taking advantage of the rich one. This is one of our infrequent puzzles from Mr. Guggenbiller, who also has 3 solos at the NYT, but none in years. A more conventional Friday than we have have seen in a while, with many fun fills like COASTERS, DRIP DRY, LIP READER,  MACEDONIA, MR. CLEAN, ROUGHAGE, and SCARFED. A workout but another different doable effort. I wonder if Cheers made his life miserable.

18A. Supporter # 1 : RICH UNCLE. (9) Mine used to buy us toys, and then kept them in his attic so they would not get broken. Only our little hearts were broken.

24A. Supporter # 2 : SUGAR DADDY. (10).  Like Anna Nicole's 90+ husband. Are they so named because they are suckers?

53A. Supporter # 3 : MEAL TICKET.(10). Ironically, Anna Nicole was the other Howard Stern's meal ticket.

Sort of a reveal,

59A. Supporters 1, 2 and 3 : FREE RIDES.(9).

Bonus themeage:

47D. Where you might be with this puzzle's 59-Across? : FAT CITY.(7). This is a type of slang that adds city to a word to indicate a "location" of some condition. The idea being only rich people could afford getting fat.

On to the rest,

Across:

1. Tricky stroke : MASSE. Do not know why, but this popped right into my head. I used to play lots of pool, but I was never good at this shot. Without getting this, the corner would have been a bear.

6. Don't deny : ADMIT. In pleadings, the answer can be as simple as admitted or denied.

11. Fr. address : MME. Mademoiselle. Not an address, but an address. "Bon Jour, MME." This is the cleanest version

14. Belief of more than a billion : ISLAM.

15. It's tossed : TRASH. I was happy with SALAD until I wasn't.

16. Jets coach Ryan : REX. One of the twin sons of coaching legend Buddy Ryan. They finally released Tebow this week. Rex is a foot fetishist. Don't you want to be famous?

17. Watts of "The Impossible" : NAOMI.

20. Hip-hop Dr. : DRE. He is so popular he is back for an encore this week.

21. Carp : GRIPE. Not to be confused with CRIPES.

23. Word with power or panel : SOLAR. This was easy because they were talking on the radio this morning about this awesome CAR. Dennis, there is a used one for sale in Palm Beach for $69,000.00 if you are interested.

27. In transit : SENT. This should be easy but was not.

28. Chosen groups : ELITES.

29. Fiber source : ROUGHAGE. I never really knew this word, but I was always told to eat my salad (back again!) for the roughage. As a child it did not sound appealing at all.

31. Portable digs : TENT. Nice simple clue.

32. Traveling Wilburys co-founder Jeff : LYNNE. More famous from his days with ELO.

33. Nancy Drew's guy : NED. Back again.

34. Sherpa's sighting : YETI. The abominable snowman. I finally got to watch the Castle episode with Ioan Gruffudd, who played Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic in the Fantastic Four Movies, as well as Horatio Hornblower in the PBS movies. He has been in lots of movies, ladies, and was 'married' to Jessica Alba in the FF movies.

37. Clichéd film assistant : IGOR. Was there any better than Marty Feldman? (1:37).

39. Volume control? : SHH. For three letter fill, I liked this one.

42. Old-style shade : SEPIA. The color of old photographs.

44. Minnesota's St. ___ College : OLAF. Is it real or merely part of the GOLDEN GIRLS?

48. Wood protectors : COASTERS. My mind was all about varnish, etc. for too long.

50. Prison in 1971 news : ATTICA. Generally we do not hear about prisons unless there are escapes or riots.

52. "I ___ stupid!" : AM SO. I often feel that way when blogging.

55. Like wall phones : RETRO. Yes but only if they have rotary dial.

57. Come to ___ : A HALT. This is how to avoid the dreaded A words.

58. Abbr. used for brevity : ETC. Justice Holmes who agreed that brevity is the soul of wit, wrote all of his opinions standing on the theory that weak knees inspire concise writing. Sadly for you all, I am sitting.

61. Asian capital : HANOI. Vietnam.

63. Shakespearean adverb : E'EN. Love my Shakespeare.

64. Aces : GREAT.

65. It may be historical : EVENT.

66. Deg. for Tim Whatley on "Seinfeld" : DDS. Doctor of Dental Science. LINK. (1:06) played by Bryan Cranston who is now a big hit on Breaking Bad, after a stint in Malcolm in the Middle.

67. Things found around the house : YARDS. Nicely literal but deceptive clue.

68. Nephew of Donald : DEWEY. No not Huey, nor Louie. Donald was not the rich one.

Down:

1. Outlook : MINDSET. These next few are all good and Friday worth.

2. In most instances : AS A RULE. This took all the perps.

3. Red liqueur : SLOE GIN. I always think of it as Pink Gin. Anyone like Singapore Slings? Have some stories....

4. "The Lord of the Rings" hobbit : SAM. Samwise Gamgee, played brilliantly by SEAN ASTIN, (3:21) Gomez Addams' son.

5. Political fugitive : EMIGRE. This is great fill, but the clue was misleading me.

6. Chest chambers : ATRIA. Of the heart.

7. Hang on a line : DRIP DRY. Alliteration is always welcome.

8. Landlocked European country : MACEDONIA. My American geography lack made this a struggle. Alexander the Great and his father Philip II were from there.

9. Qualifying suffix : ISH. This was hardish?

10. Consequently : THUS. I had to work harder to finISH?

11. Magic Eraser spokesman : MR. CLEAN. He was the cool bald guy like Yul Brynner and Kojak.

12. Mishmash : MELANGE. Great word.

13. Put to vigorous use : EXERTED. I hope none of us over-exerted our brains for this one.

19. Bite : NOSH. American Yiddish.

22. Hwys. : RDS.

25. One who may object: Abbr. : ATTY. I wish they would do courtroom objections on TV with some degree of reality.

26. Egg foo ___ : YUNG. Is this real Chinese C.C.? (From C.C.: I never heard of Egg foo young/yung until I came to the US.)

30. Former Prizm maker : GEO.

32. One who can see what you mean : LIP READER. I love this clue, takes thought to get there.

35. Appraisal no. : ESTimate.

36. Overflow : TEEM.

38. Scholarship-offering federal gp. : ROTC. Reserve Officers' Training Corps.

39. Inhaled, with "down" : SCARFED. Just picture a big man at an all you can eat buffet, or Michelle at lunch.

40. Had a big hit : HOMERED. A nice baseball reference.

41. Moves quickly : HASTENS. Do you all remember my hasten Jason poem?

43. Leads : IS AHEAD. Lots of tricky two word fill to parse.

45. As good as ever : LIKE NEW. See, what did I tell you?

46. Salon solvent : ACETONE. Oh the smell! There is a nail place on my walk and I have to circle wide to avoid the fumes; I do not know how the workers do it day after day. All the more reason to do your own grooming.

49. Embittered : SORE.

50. N.L. city : ATLanta.

51. Pledged, in a way : TITHED. One tenth your earnings.

54. Continues : LASTS. This is a trait which is very important if you plan to go to an

56. Unrestrained indulgence : ORGY. Now that we have a theme for our summer solstice party....

60. Portfolio letters : IRA. Individual Retirement Account.

62. Lettered Bklyn. thoroughfare : AVE. A rather esoteric bit of trivia as Brooklyn, N.Y. has all 26, A to Z, and since Z is the end, It is time for me to end my Friday tour having guided us through the pitfalls and joys of another word journey. Half way to summer, and it snowed again. be safe and be warm, but not too warm.

Lemonade out.

Note from C.C.:

Here are 3 more pretty pictures of Lemonade's granddaughter Charlotte. So much much love, hope & pride in the first one. 

Sweet Charlotte & her loving parents