Friday, August 30, Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: Definition puzzle, type 3.

Week 4 of the Friday definition theme. The first two were classic clecho clues, just one clue for all the theme answers; last week we had modified definition clues, and this week we have three answers to the same clue, but you need the reveal to unlock the clue. Through perps I was able to solve HIDDEN HAZARD, but I thought IT'S A WONDER was also part of the theme, luckily my special amusing muse steered me in right direction and then I 'got' the reveal which told us the three numbered clues were PHRASES meaning CATCH. Cool! This is my second time blogging Jeffrey, who provided 5 Thursdays this year for Marti, including before and after her vacation, some really fun work and 9 LAT in the past year. Let us go unravel this one.

20A. See 56-Across : HIDDEN HAZARD. (12). You will sell me a car for $1,000.00, what's the CATCH?

31A. See 56-Across : BALL TOSSING GAME. (15) Hey son, let's go play CATCH.

41A. See 56-Across : GOOD TYPE TO MARRY. (15). I can't believe she married the Prince, he was quite a CATCH.

56A. Some slogans, and what 20-, 31- and 41-Across are? : CATCH PHRASES.(12). A tight theme, but I know many of you do not like self-referential cluing. But it is Friday, so enjoy.

Across:

1. Use an updraft, say : SOAR.

5. Pacific veranda : LANAI.

10. Shoe site : HOOF. Already Jeffrey' s sense of humor shows as he horses around with the clues

14. "___ la Douce" : IRMA. Shirley MacLaine again.

15. Mission attacked by Santa Anna : ALAMO. Mission San Antonio de Valero.

16. "Betsy's Wedding" director : ALDA. Alan of M*A*S*H fame.

17. Alfred E. Neuman expression : GRIN. This had me thinking how to fit, "What, me worry?" in 4 spaces.

18. "I can't believe..." : IT'S A WONDER. Butter?

22. Winner of a record 82 PGA tournaments : SNEAD. Slamming Sammy, Tiger has won 80 and counting.

23. Cheer from Charo : OLE. Xavier Cugat' s second wife. CUCHI CUCHI.(0:39).

24. Bring down : ABASE.

28. Top : LID.

30. Book between Micah and Habakkuk : NAHUM. A minor prophet who is unknown to most. LINK.

38. Id checker : EGO. My favorite misdirection for a 3 letter clue; in Freud's world the ID and EGO and SUPER EGO worked to achieve balance.

39. Get up : ROUSE.

40. Comparative suffix : IER.

46. Mail at a castle : ARMOR. Another well done clue, chain mail.

47. SSA IDs, e.g. : NOS.

48. Discrimination : TASTE. Discrimination= bad. Discrimination= good.

49. Gay Nineties, e.g. : ERA.

52. Catherine of "A Mighty Wind" : O'HARA. One of the many who came from SCTV.

59. Response to an awkwardly timed call : I'M NOT ALONE. And I have no way to hold the phone...

62. Whiff : MISS. A baseball term, which reminds of the great announcer Marty Glickman, who coined many now common basketball phrases including SWISH for when the ball goes into the net without hitting anything else. While many my age will recall the name from his work with baseball and football announcing, he was a world class sprinter on the 1936 Olympic team with Jesse Owens.

63. Bed or bar attachment : ROOM. I was thinking about young ladies, but....

64. Discussion group : PANEL.

65. Actress McClurg : EDIE.

66. "___ these days..." : KIDS.

67. Signal to a runner : STEAL. The last baseball clue, well maybe.

68. Negative impression? : DENT. I am sure there was no more negative impression in New England than this ONE.(0:39).

Down:

1. Chorus from adoring fans : SIGHS. Anyone see Miley Cyrus 'perform' at the VMAs? As a parent, sigh.

2. Hatch of Utah : ORRIN. Non-political LINK.

3. Nitrogen compound : AMIDE. I get confused with AMINE but I am sure one of our chemically inclined posters will explain the concepts.

4. Unger player : RANDALL. Tony with Jack Klugman in

5. "This skull hath ___ in the earth...": Hamlet : LAIN. Act V, where the gravedigger tells Hamlet it is 'poor Yorick', the jester whose skull it is.

6. E'en if : ALTHO. Eh, it was easy but not an abbreviation I enjoy.

7. ___ passage : NASAL. So many passages, but Nasal fit the bill.

8. Knock the socks off : AMAZE.

9. Eastern segment of the Louisiana Purchase : IOWA.

10. Purse : HANDBAG.

11. Unoriginal : OLD. Which if you are ill, sounds like

12. Tribute in verse : ODE. Which was a theme. Marti, do you remember the puzzles, with COLD/CODE etc.?

13. Word with flung or reaching : FAR.

19. Sumatran ape : ORANG. I like the coffee.

21. Put in a word or two? : EDIT. I really like the simplicity of this clue

25. Win by ___ : A HAIR. I guess years of hanging with gamblers made A NOSE seem so right, but since we already had NASAL.....

26. Ancient Mesopotamian kingdom : SUMER. Credited with being the home of the written WORD, without which there would be no crossword puzzles, no puns and no Corner.

27. Buffing board : EMERY.

29. Flat-bottomed boat : DORY. Didn't we just have this word?

31. Brought forth : BEGAT. Another Biblical word.

32. Ancient gathering place : AGORA. With SUMER, NAHUM, we have some history going on.

33. Towers (over) : LOOMS.

34. Conciliatory offering : SOP.

35. Advice after an injury, perhaps : SUE. The bastards is the complete legal term.

36. Real end? : IST. Realist.

37. Commercial sign : NEON.

42. Targets of many searches : DOT COMS. This was hard for me to parse but once the perps were in, it made sense.

43. Unexpected pleasure : TREAT.

44. Marshy wasteland : MOOR.

45. Red in the face : ASHAMED.

49. Fanfare : ECLAT.

50. Van Gogh's "Starry Night Over the ___" : RHONE.

51. Nighttime disorder : APNEA. Sleep apnea is another more common ailment in modern times, maybe because it gets diagnosed more.

53. Dramatic device : ASIDE. Back to Shakespeare, and all his lovely characters speaking conspiratorially with the audience.

54. Frankincense or myrrh : RESIN. I did not know this and confuse rosin/resin.

55. Black-ink entry : ASSET. Nice clue; we have disagreements with clients who do not want to sign in blue ink.

57. Lights-out signal : TAPS.

58. Inferno : HELL. Dante's was ice.

59. Rub the wrong way : IRK.

60. Word of feigned innocence : MOI?  Feigned? The ORIGINAL.(4:48).

61. Subtle assent : NOD. Hopefully the room is filled with subtle assents, that our day is done and the fine effort from JW pleased your puzzling palates. Labor day ahead on the near horizon, so enjoy the long week end, and thanks for tuning in.

Lemonade out.

Thursday, August 29, 2013 David Poole

Theme: "Two-Timers"

Men whose names end in double letters, that is. And all of them are real animals...

17. "Django Unchained" co-star : JAMIE FOXX. Directed by Quentin Tarantino.

24. "Malice N Wonderland" rapper : SNOOP DOGG.

35. "This Boy's Life" memoirist : TOBIAS WOLFF.

50. Sal Romano portrayer on "Mad Men" : BRYAN BATT.

59. Super Bowl X MVP : LYNN SWANN. Also Chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

A nice mixture of movie actor, music, literature, TV, and sports figures! A theme consisting of all proper names is sometimes daunting.  But all of them emerged after a few perps. What did you think?

Marti here, to give meaning to life...or, at least, come up with some plausible excuses!

Across:

1. Window sill coolers : PIES. I wanted "fans." But I can also picture PIES cooling on a window sill.

5. Waffles no more : OPTS.

9. In an offbeat way : ODDLY.

14. Spots teens don't like : ACNE.

15. Unoccupied : FREE.

16. Civic, perhaps : COUPE. Honda Civic.

19. Different take : TWIST. I'll take a TWIST of lemon instead of lime in my Gimlet...

20. Rings of activity : ARENAS.

21. Area near a hangar : APRON.

23. Thoughtful type : MUSER. Like Husker Gary!

28. Cinders : ASH.

29. Cross word : BAH, humbug!

31. Pirouetted : TWIRLED.

32. Salk vaccine target : POLIO.

34. Group with a self-titled monthly magazine : AARP.

39. Beyond bad : EVIL. An oldie but goodie. 3:38

41. Bedding item : SHEET.

42. It involves checks and balances : BANKING. Nice misdirection.

46. Cenozoic ___ : ERA.

47. Parisian possessive : SES. Here are the rest, with singular / feminine / plural forms.

MY: mon / ma / mes
YOUR: ton / ta / tes
HIS / HER / ITS: son / sa / ses
OUR: notre / notre / nos
YOUR: votre / votre / vos
THEIR: leur / leur / leurs

52. Stem cell research advocate Christopher : REEVE. He was a great inspiration to thousands of spinal injury patients.

54. Kitchen gadget : DICER.

55. First name of two U.S. presidents : ANDREW. Jackson and Johnson, the seventh and seventeenth presidents.

56. Lost a lap : STOOD. Fun clue!

61. Streisand title role : YENTL. I enjoyed the movie. 3:36

62. The Gaels of college sports : IONA.

63. ___ facto : IPSO. Latin, "by the fact itself." She had to write the blog and was, ipso facto, unable to go to bed early.

64. Candy man : REESE.

65. Tech news dot-com : CNET. DH reads it every day.

66. Broadway shiner : NEON. Not a black eye, but the lights above your head.

Down:

1. ___ party : PAJAMA. Pillow fight!

2. Boy who had a legendary meltdown : ICARUS. Moral of the story: "Boys with wax wings should stay away from the sun."

3. Tangle up : ENMESH.

4. The Pont Neuf spans it : SEINE.

5. Wastes, mob-style : OFFS.

6. For : PRO.

7. Perot, e.g. : TEXAN.

8. One who's really hot : SEXPOT. I am sure we will be seeing links by our regulars...

9. Cuttlefish cousins : OCTOPI. Anyone else want "squids?"

10. Vertical air movement : DOWNDRAFT.

11. It makes SADD mad : DUI. Driving Under the Influence. We just had SADD as an answer yesterday.

12. Groovy music collection? : LPs. Long Play(s) 33 1/3 RPM microgroove vinyl records.

13. However : YET.

18. Bit of dangly jewelry : EARBOB. Does anyone really call them that?

22. Fracas : ROW.

24. Islamic branch : SHIA.

25. Norwegian royal name : OLAF. Ah, the old "F or V?" dilemma.

26. An official lang. of Switzerland : GER.man.

27. National econ. stat : GDP. Gross Domestic Product.

30. Clay, today : ALI.

32. Spotty pattern : POLKA DOTS.

33. CIA forerunner : OSS. Office of Strategic Services.

35. Minute : TINY.

36. Use a strop on : WHET.

37. "___ the fields we go" : O'ER.

38. Hears : LEARNS.

39. Drop in the ocean? : EBB. A fun clue for a common xword word.

40. Alt. spelling : VAR.iant.

43. Sitting at a red light, say : IN IDLE.

44. "Days of Our Lives" network : NBC.

45. Language that gave us "galore" : GAELIC. I did not know that she was Gaelic?

47. Señorita's shawl : SERAPE.

48. "All the same..." : EVEN SO.

49. Like some patches : SEWN ON. Wanted "iron on" at first.

51. Check for fit : TRY ON.

53. Dickens' Drood : EDWIN. "The Mystery of Edwin Drood." His final novel, it was unfinished at his death. We'll probably never know "whodunnit."

55. Future MD's class : ANAT.omy.

56. Leb. neighbor : SYR.ia.

57. Beginning of time? : TEE.

58. Half and half : ONE. Two tricky clues in a row.

60. Oak Lawn-to-Chicago dir. : NNE. Not the Texas city of Oak Lawn, but the suburb of Chicago. Map. (Zoom out.)

Now I'm zooming off to bed!
Marti

Note from C.C.:

Happy 6th Birthday to the handsome Truman, JD's oldest grandson.

JD & Truman

 This is one of my all-time favorite Blog photos:

Taken on July 5, 2010

From left to right: Grady (11 months, Truman's little brother), Truman 3 & Cameron (2 weeks then, and he's starting preschool next month.)