Friday, June 14, 2013, Marti Duguay-Carpenter

Theme: B all you can be, but silently.

Well while marti is off in Italy I sit with the pleasure of presenting another Friday Frolic. This a combination of add a letter and a sound alike punny theme. with a B added the end of the first word of the first and fourth theme answer, and to the end of the last word of the middle two. Each B is added after an M and is silent in the new phrase, so it sounds exactly like the old one but with a twisted and amusing meaning. Lots of proper names, some hard clues and lots of new stuff to go along with some standard 4 letter fill. Let's see what our traveler has left us.

18A. Like a door with three people squeezing through it together? : JAMB PACKED.(10). I think the phrase jam packed comes from the roaring 20's when people would cram into phone booths. CED, I wasted 15 minutes looking for a good clown car video, but I gave up.

33A. Where to find wool? : ON THE LAMB.(9).Once again an Old Norse word, LEMJA, which mean to beat, is credited as being the origin of 'on the lam' to mean to "beat it."

45A. Out-of-control carpenter's tool? : WILD PLUMB. (9).If you watch the US Open golf this weekend you will see many plumb bob the line of the their putts. Splynter can explain the real use of the tool.

63A. Title for Shakespeare? : IAMB LEGEND.(10). The funniest and the one that is different because it takes two words and crunches them together with the B to make the new word. Will loved his Iambic Pentameter, so this is a very witty way to change the Will Smith movie.

Across:

1. Go like heck : ZOOM. An onomatopoeic word.

5. Code name : MORSE. The man who created one, Samuel. (1)

10. Lose on purpose : DIET. Misdirection, but this should not have fooled anyone.

14. Upper hand : EDGE.

15. Hodgepodges : OLIOS. A favorite word of the Corner.

16. Lincoln who was the first screen Tarzan : ELMO. In the silent movie days; the full hour is available LINK. (2)

17. D.C. dealers : POLS. miss m. should know better, NO Politics!

20. Maker of Dex-Cool antifreeze/coolant : PRESTONE.(3)

22. End of a conductor's shout : ABOARD. All aboarddddddddddddddddddddddd.

23. "Cotton Comes to Harlem" director Davis : OSSIE.(4)

24. Alice's restaurant : DINER. The Beer and Pizza joint my youngest works at in Denver was on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.

26. Biol. branch : ANATomy to go with ogy.

29. Temperaments : NATURES. Do many of you have bad tempers? Or is life good and you...

37. Great way to have it : MADE.

38. Milne joey : ROO. Kanga's little one from Winnie the Pooh's world. (5)

39. Helpers of the ill-suited? : TAILORS. Love the phrasing of this clue. My grandfather was a tailor.

42. Long-nosed fish : GAR. Arg, not another Gar!

43. Expressionist Nolde : EMIL. Never heard of this PAINTER. (6)

47. Rauch who plays Bernadette on "The Big Bang Theory" : MELISSA. TBBT, and the little Mrs. (7) Howard, with the big...bangs.

50. Depression : DALE. Not mental but in the field.

51. Name that means "cool breeze" in Hawaiian : KEANU. Another learning moment for me; where is Mr. Reeves these days, anyone NEO? (8)

53. Like the columns in the Jefferson Memorial : IONIC.I will never forget, Ionic, Doric or Corinthian. (9)

57. Lava rock : BASALT. Do we have any geologists in our midst to explain this ROCK.

60. Nickname for Mendelssohn's Third Symphony : SCOTTISH. Not in my wheelhouse. A SAMPLE.(8:09) (10)

65. Troubling spots : ACNE.

66. Chanteur Jacques : BREL. A male singer and crossword favorite.(11).

67. Dropped the ball : ERRED.

68. Fraternity letters : RHOS.

69. WWI German vice admiral : SPEE. He was actually born in Denmark. READ. (12)

70. Hornet homes : NESTS.

71. P.D. ranks : DETS. Police Department has detectives.

Down:

1. Marx Brothers straight man : ZEPPO. The youngest of the brothers and the handsome ONE.(2:56).(13) He married Frank Sinatra's ex.

2. Stinks : ODORS.

3. Looks lustfully at : OGLES. Like looking at long legs in sheer nylons, hmm.

4. Delivery man? : MESSIAH. Really difficult cluing; and another taboo topic.

5. "Got My ___ Working": 1957 Muddy Waters song : MOJO. This SONG. (14)

6. Buck heroine : OLAN. From her Pulitzer Prize winning The Good Earth. (15).

7. Covered with frost : RIMED. I wish I had a quip that rhymed.

8. __ sister : SOB. From the old days when women journalists could only write puff. HISTORY.

9. Andorra neighbor, locally : ESPANA. Spanish for Spain. (16).

10. Propriety : DECORUM. We had to write an essay in 7th grade about how to maintain decorum and Peter Wylie said, you need to water it, and use good dirt.

11. "Now, Voyager" actress Chase : ILKA. She was the daughter of the editor of Vogue. (17)

12. Hosp. area : EMERgency.

13. Broadway barber : TODD. Sweeny, the play about the butcher barber.(18)

19. Support in a swindle : ABET. Aiding and...

21. Belief : TENET.

25. Shown so you can't miss it : IN BOLD. Just like every answer in the write ups.

27. In the manner of : A LA. From the French.

28. LPGA golfer Yani Tseng's homeland : TAIWAN. She was number 1 in the world of ladies golf last year, but has slipped.(19)

30. Prego rival : RAGU. (20).

31. Netherlands export : EDAM. One of marti's cheesy fill.( I will let this one slide).

32. Certain Slav : SERB. They have their own version of religion, Serbian Orthodox, similar to Greek and Russian.(21).

33. Utah Valley University city : OREM. A repeat performance for this little city.(22).

34. Iditarod terminus : NOME. It means clear waters and begin in Anchorage and takes a couple of weeks with 16 dogs as the average team.(various sources). (23).

35. Exhausting effort : TOIL. Boil and Bubble.

36. 11th-century date : MLI. 1051, so?

40. Nutritionist's no. : RDA. Recommended Daily Allowance.

41. Take a hike : SPLIT. Like go on the lam?

44. Charming : LIKABLE.

46. Suit in a circus : LEOTARD.Suit?

48. Peddle : SELL. Not your bicycle, but your wares.

49. Bed sheet material : SATEEN. Not to be confused with Satin.

52. Manipulators : USERS.

54. Specialized market segment : NICHE. I keep looking for mine.

55. Isn't expanded? : IS NOT. I love this simple deception.

56. Mating game : CHESS. Wonderful misdirection clue,.

57. Strained-carrot holders : BIBS. I should be seeing Charlotte in a few weeks.

58. Group with many boomers : AARP. They gave up as an acronym and this is the official name now. (24).

59. Fictional pirate : SMEE .He's back and number 25.

61. Tech news website : CNET. (26).

62. Track figures : ODDS. I bet you all got this right, even if you did not have any of the triple crown winners.

64. MBA hopeful's test : GRE. Graduate Records Examination. Whew.

Did this feel like taking a test in college? Really proper name intensive, lots of misdirection and marti mayhem. I hope she is enjoying herself, and it was nice of her to leave us a present. Speaking of presents, I am presently tired, so see you all next time.

Lemonade

Note from C.C.:

Happy 44th wedding anniversary to dear JD and Bob!

Thursday, Jun 13 2013, Julian Lim

Theme: STAGE DIRECTIONS : Each theme clue has two parts - the first part clues the "stage" upon which a particular athlete plays a sport, the second part is a straight definition and the two-word answer forms a new noun.

17A Tennis player’s meal request? : COURT ORDER

20A Ping-Pong player’s etiquette? : TABLE MANNERS

36A Runner’s music choice? : TRACK RECORD. I thought at first that this was a little too close to the sport in the clue, but then realized that if you use the "body of work" definition of the phrase it fits perfectly well with the rest of the theme.

53A Golfer’s bank advance? : COURSE CREDIT

58A Football player’s map? : FIELD GUIDE

Hi Gang - Steve here, pinch-hitting for Marti who is saying "Buon giorno, Italia!" today. There wasn't much of a musical nature in the puzzle today, so I'll use Marti's Italian trip as an excuse to post today's ear worm!

Nice work here from Julian, five snappy theme entries with the top and bottom pair partially stacked - I always find that impressive! Some nice long downs too, so plenty to like. Let's get started!

Across:

1 Desktop offering an AppleCare warranty : iMAC

5 Man of la casa : SEÑOR. I know that in French you don't use diacriticals on capital letters, but I'm not sure if the same rule applies in Spanish. Throwing the tilde in here just in case.

10 Chew : GNAW

14 Wine lover’s destination : NAPA.  If you've not seen the movie "Bottle Shock", it's definitely worth checking out - it's based on the true story of the "Judgment of Paris" competition that put Napa wines on the international map. Very entertaining.

15 Micronesian nation once called Pleasant Island : NAURU. I confuse my Micronesian islands and my Indian Prime Ministers, so I wait for the perps.

16 San __, Italy : REMO

19 Announce assuredly : AVER

22 Worshipers of Quetzalcoatl : AZTECS. Of course they are. And OLMECS doesn't fit.

25 Fry’s former BBC comedy partner : LAURIE. Hugh appeared with Stephen both in their own show, and with Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson in one of the funniest comedy series - "Blackadder". It was odd at first to see him playing a straight role in "House".

26 Renaissance painter Uccello : PAOLO. Crosses and more crosses.

27 Genuine article? : THE. Great clue!

30 Close of “Albert Nobbs” : GLENN

31 Coin first minted in 13th-century France : ECU

32 Movie trainer of Daniel-san : MIYAGI. The "G" here was the last letter to fall - the cross with EGEST didn't help at all - I'd never seen that word before. Something of a WAG between G and K.

35 Clause joiners : ANDS

39 Grammy winner Erykah : BADU. Crosses again!

41 Corners : HEMS IN

42 Producer of wall flowers : IVY. Nice cluing again, and it made me revisit my assumption that all ivy is green and non-flowering.

45 Area of activity : ARENA

47 Old speedster : SST. Sadly, I never got to fly on Concorde, the Supersonic Transport jointly developed by the British and the French. I heard it plenty of times though - I used to live under the flight path into London's Heathrow Airport and Concorde was LOUD!

 

48 Bath-loving Muppet : ERNIE

50 Make even smoother : RE-SAND

52 Span that can’t be shrunk : AGE GAP. This caused me some confusion - I had 44D as YES and was scratching my head wondering what the heck an AGEGAS was.

57 Ovid’s others : ALII Needed to fish in my Latin memory banks. We studied Ovid back in High School - his poems were pretty racy; there's nothing like a bit of sex and sizzle to get schoolboys concentrating on their translations! Caesar's "Conquest of Gaul" was another one to get the adolescent attention - that seemed to be all battlefields and sex.

62 “Oh, criminy!” : RATS

63 Totally enjoy something, with “up” : EAT IT

64 Muddy up : ROIL. I didn't know that this specifically meant "muddying the waters" - I always thought roiling waters were simply turbulent. Nice learning moment for me.

65 Quest after : SEEK

66 Event with buckjumpers : RODEO. Another new term for me. Is this the same as a bucking bronco?

67 “__ said!” : 'NUFF

Down:

1 IRS concern : INC. I wish they weren't so concerned about my income and let me keep more of it.

2 Familiar face in Tiananmen Square : MAO. The square itself is enormous and Mao's portrait looks down from the northern side at the entrance to the Forbidden City. When I visited in 2008 I was intrigued by the presence of a green Astroturf basketball court located through the arch below Mao. I think it must be the only turf court in the world and the location is certainly incongruous!

3 Homer’s doughnut supplier : APU. Proud owner of Springfield's Kwik-E-Mart and purveyor of the finest victuals to the Simpson family.

4 Trustbuster’s target : CARTEL

5 High-horse sorts : SNOBS

6 Rank above viscount : EARL

7 Feature of Manet’s “The Luncheon on the Grass” : NUDE. I wasn't sure why the title of the painting was translated, but realized that French in the clue would imply a French answer, and that's not what's needed here. I found this version which made me laugh:

Translations: "Hey boys! Come and see all these magic mushrooms!" - "Cool! Here, take the weed, it's kick-ass" - "Sheesh, this is it - I'm stoned" and finally "I think I forgot something - but what?"

(Note from C.C.: I don't get the joke. What made Steve laugh?)

8 Provo neighbor : OREM

9 Bucolic : RURAL. Nice tie-in with 7D

10 Like table salt : GRANULAR

11 Interminable : NEVER-ENDING

12 Language family spanning two continents : AMERIND. This came together on its own - it's not a term with which I'm familiar. It appears to be something of a discredited theory that the individual languages can actually be grouped together in a formal way.

13 Declines : WORSENS

18 Washington city : TACOMA. I first came to know of Tacoma by way of a physics lesson and the Tacoma Narrows bridge breaking up due to resonance at a certain wind speed.

21 Badger : NAG

22 Copycat : APE

23 Tween heartthrob Efron : ZAC. More crosses! I excuse my ignorance of Mr. Efron's first name, I'm a little older than his fans.

24 Immediately : TOUT DE SUITE. This foxed me for a little while - for some reason I had TOUTE SUITE stuck in my brain and couldn't figure out why it wasn't going to work when I had TOUT already filled in from crosses.

27 Little ones : TYKES

28 Damages : HARMS

29 Spew out : EGEST. New word for me, and as previously noted the G was my last letter fill due to the MIYAGI perp at 32A

33 Freud’s I : ICH. It's a good job I already had the "I", otherwise I'd have confidently filled in EGO and left myself with a mess to fix. German, Latin, Spanish, French and English today.

34 Fifi’s here : ICI. More French on our pentalingual Thursday.

37 Gamble : RUN A RISK

38 Small flash drive capacity : ONE GIG. I guess "gigabyte" doesn't need an abbreviation indication in the clue as the contraction is so common now.

39 Where some commuters unwind : BAR CARS. I used to commute on a train with a bar car and it was full of regulars. Sometimes I'd purposely miss my station because I was enjoying the company and get the next train back.

40 Biological rings : AREOLAE. Yay! I get to post the blog's famous (and quite delightful) link. In the meantime here's a teaser ..

43 Flight connection word : VIA

44 “Sure thing!” : YEP

46 A or B on a test, maybe: Abbr. : ANS is the answer you're looking for.

[A style question for the constructors amongst us - do you prefer to clue without using the "Abbr." clarification? Something along the lines of  "A or B on the CSAT, maybe:"? The same question for 55D - maybe "Like so many Fla. snowbirds:"?]

49 E-filed document : RETURN. Sent to my good friends at 1D.

51 Shelve : DEFER

52 Increase : ADD TO.

54 “Later!” : CIAO

55 Like many snowbirds: Abbr. : RETD. I guess you can't use AARP in the clue as "Retired" is part of the acronym?

56 Wiesel who wrote “The Night Trilogy” : ELIE

59 Promising paper : IOU I enjoyed this one!

60 Brief dissimilarity : DIF, as in difference. As an ex-computer coder, this one came naturally - we used to 'DIF' two versions of a program to find the changes made in the newer version. It sounds about as exciting as it was.

61 Brownie, for one : ELF

I think that's a wrap - thanks to Marti for traveling today and giving me a bonus Thursday to write up!

Steve