Friday, October, 4, 2013 David Poole

Theme: The Mother of all cross referential Puzzles. Eh!

Another original  highly entertaining theme from out Canadian Constructor, who was first published in the LAT in 2009. INTERVIEW.  In this Friday frolic, he has words that are implied by the literal position of cross referenced clues, with the set being BEFORE., OVER,  BETWEEN, UNDER, and AFTER. Recognize the extraordinary balance of BEFORE/AFTER  and OVER/UNDER with BETWEEN in the middle making a perfect symmetrical, logical grid. Finally, each of the 4 ten-letter theme fill have the second word encompass the missing word, while the BETWEEN remains in the middle. My first quick pass through, before I started filling in the cross-reference clues with perps, was to notice how many words ended in "O" which had nothing to do with theme but was interesting. Once I sussed the theme from DOG DAY AFTERNOON, the grid filled quickly with many nice 7 letter fill, ASSERTS , CALORIE,  DECODER,  GRIFTER,  HONORED,  LET ME GO,  MOANERS,  MONSTRO,  PERDIDO, TREMOLO (three "O" words!) and some longer ones like MOUNT ARARAT, NOSE FOR NEWS. No "J" but I did get an ADE, so it is all good. Let us get to it.

14A. With 15-Across, verifies in advance, literally : CHECKS (6). 5A. See 14-Across : HAND (4).
Together we get CHECKS BEFOREHAND, as the fill Checks is before the fill Hand.

26A. With 32-Across, warm apparel, literally : WINTER (6). 32A. See 26-Across : COAT (4).
Together we get WINTER OVERCOAT.

37A. See 39-Across : MEAL (4). 39A. With 37- and 40-Across, nosh, literally : EAT (3). 40A. See 39-Across : MEAL (4).
Together we get EAT BETWEEN MEALS. My favorite visual, like the picture puzzles in the Sunday magazine, or the old TV show Concentration.

47A. See 51-Across : WOOD (4). 51. With 47-Across, former "American Idol" winner, literally : CARRIE(6).
Together we get CARRIE UNDERWOOD.

66A. See 67-Across : NOON (4).  67A. With 66-Across, 1975 Best Picture nominee, literally : DOG DAY.(6)
Together we get DOG DAY AFTERNOON, a great movie.

And the 10, 10, 11, 10, 10 fill preserves the symmetry.

Across:

1. Place for una familia : LA CASA. The home in Spanish. Or Italian?

7. Xerox insert: Abbr. : ORIGinal.

11. Advanced math deg., in Canada : MSC. No idea, but Mr. Poole is from the Toronto area, I guess it is Masters of SCience.

16. Suffix with Capri : OTE. A real Friday word, CAPRIOTE has history as well as inspiring our Dunce's cap.

17. Clubs with balls : DISCOS.

18. Yellow butterflies, to Brits : SULPHURS. Another all perp fill, for this BEAUTY. (1:01). I wonder what John Lampkin could teach us about them, or Gareth B.?

20. Two-note keyboard effect : TREMOLO. Take it away JzB.

22. Most fit to serve : ONE-A. Old draft status.

23. "Pinocchio" whale : MONSTRO.

28. Barcelona gold : ORO. More Spanish.

29. Kiosk : STALL

33. Fam. tree member : DESCendant.

35. Old cutter : SNEE. This old time knife, along with SMEE, is classic crosswordese

36. Sign of cold feet? : BRR.

42. Progressive Insurance spokeswoman : FLO. I think people either love or hate her.

43. B.C. law group : RCMP. Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

45. Starr-struck one? : DRUM. A great pun, from Ringo Starr beating the skins. 62D. Stand buy : ADE. Another great pun. By/buy. Simple and my suffix.

48. __ music : SHEET.

50. Fire : AXE. My old friends. LIVE. (5:53).

53. Con artist : GRIFTER.

55. Years in Claudius' reign : ANNI. Latin for Year.

56. Certain cracker : DECODER. No one from Georgia.

59. Guides in the direction of : STEERS TO.

61. Jason of "Harry Potter" films : ISAACS.

65. Fancy marble : TAW. Rules and words of the GAME.

68. People people: Abbr. : EDs. People magazine and its editors.

69. Celebrity chef Burrell : ANNE. Well since we do not have Jeannie anymore, here are some of Anne's RECIPES.

70. Initial stages : ONSETS.

Down:

1. Common HDTV feature : LCD. Liquid Crystal Display.

2. Sushi-grade tuna : AHI.

3. These, in Toulouse : CES. We switch from Spanish to French for the Downs.

4. Bank listing: Abbr. : ACCTS.

5. Culottes kin : SKORTS. Back again.

6. Declares : ASSERTS.

7. Overmuch : OH SO.

8. Fidel's successor : RAUL.

9. Just starting to roll, perhaps : IN LOW.

10. Econ. yardstick : GDP. Gross Domestic Product.

11. Image on the Armenian coat of arms : MOUNT ARARAT. One of a series of Mounts which are in Turkey, Armenia and the Iran border, and the biblical landing point of Noah's Ark.

12. Haight or Ashbury : STREET. The famous San Francisco hippie area which is at the intersection of these two streets.

13. "Dog Whisperer" Millan : CESAR. Never watched an EPISODE.(45:31).

19. Accepted, as a gift card : HONORED. The store, not the donee.

21. Bellyachers : MOANERS. Not my first thought....

23. Like platform shoes in the '60s : MOD. From the British MODS & 9ROCKERS.

24. Utah city on I-15 : OREM.

25. Journalist's asset : NOSE FOR NEWS. Nice long fill.

27. SALT topic : ICBM. Inter-Continental Ballistics Missile.

30. Percolate : LEACH. According to my living encyclopedia, think of a sewer field and leaching it so it percolates.

31. Prisoner's demand : LET ME GO.

34. Pepsi One's one : CALORIE.

38. California wine town near Stockton : LODI. West Coaster, a favorite place?

41. Posh : LUXE. not Deluxe?

44. Ellington standard whose title is Spanish for "lost" : PERDIDO.  The Duke  LIVE. (7:54).

46. Nice view : MER. More French, with the Nice/nice deception.

47. Opening lines? : WANT AD. Job openings.

49. Attaches, in a way : TIES ON.

51. Class : CASTE. Vidwan, you want to educate us on this time-honored tradition?

52. Pelé's first name : EDSON.

54. Some grenades, briefly : FRAGS. Fragments.

57. Bertie Wooster's alma mater : ETON. P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves novels. The FICTIONAL list.

58. Road crew item : CONE. Reminds me of this SONG.


60. Genetic stuff : RNA.

63. Jazz lover : CAT. Hep cat back in the day.

64. GPS part: Abbr. : SYS. Global Positioning System.

Well my GPS tells me I have reached the end of the line and I must percolate out of here.
Have a great weekend, Lemon out. Thank you David Poole, sorry your Blue Jays ended up with all the old Marlins. They already had sent all the good ones to the Tigers or Dodgers. I hope Canadian Eh! stops by.

Notes from C.C.:

1)  I hope solvers in Southern California will attend this year's Crosswords LA, slated for Saturday, October 26. Please click here for details. The host Elissa Grossman said "this year's event will include crosswords and puzzle games constructed by Liz Gorski, Jeffrey Harris, Aimee Lucido, Todd McClary, Andrea Carla Michaels, Pete Muller, Trip Payne, John Doppler Schiff, Dave Shukan, Marc Spraragen, David Steinberg and Zoe Wheeler (with development managed by Tyler Hinman). It's likely that Merl Reagle will join us for the event finals. All money raised (over costs) is donated to a great non-profit (Reading to Kids)." I think our own Steve will be there. 

2) Kazie and her husband Barry visited their bilingual granddaughter Lea in August. Below are a couple photos. Click here for more. Love seeing her smile.

  With Grandpa.

 With her parents in their garden

Thursday, October 3, 2013 Pancho Harrison

Theme: "Twist of Fate."

17. See 49-Down : O'HENRY SPECIALTY.

27. See 49-Down : DRINK GARNISH.

43. See 49-Down : SIXTIES DANCE.

56. See 49-Down : OLIVER OF FICTION.

And the unifier:
49-Down. Diving rotation, and the clue for four puzzle answers : TWIST.

So we have another "definition" type theme, but with a twist. Typically we would see all four theme answers clued as "Twist." But Pancho hid the clue in the grid, making it that much more difficult to make headway. I must confess, I was stumbling around blind on the first couple theme entries, until perps finally gave me an inkling of what the answers might be.

Across:

1. Like bars in noir films : SMOKY. Like this bar. And the dancin' is smokin', too! 3:20 Very apropos to the theme today...

6. Brouhaha : FLAP.

10. Workout woe : ACHE.

14. Salsa singer Cruz : CELIA. Did not remember her. 4:27 (Did it seem like there were a lot of names in the grid? I counted upwards of 15...)

15. BMW competitor : AUDI.

16. Invalidate : VOID.

20. Platte River settler : OTO.

21. Spoil, with "on" : DOTE.

22. "Cagney & Lacey" Emmy winner : GLESS. Sharon.

23. Scripture section : PASSAGE.

25. "I am just __ boy, though my story's seldom told": "The Boxer" : A POOR. Oldie but goodie. 5:17

31. '60s-'70s "Fearsome Foursome" NFL team : L.A. RAMS. Moved to St. Louis in 1994.

34. Reported for the first time : NEW.

35. Payable now : DUE.

36. Is after : SEEKS.

37. Oyster's spot : BED.

38. Peak in a Trevanian title : EIGER. Trevanian is the pen name of Rodney William Whitaker, who wrote "The Eiger Sanction." It was made into a film in 1975, directed by Clint Eastwood.

40. Capri crowd? : TRE. "Due's company, tre's a crowd..." in Italy.

41. "The Birdcage" wrap : BOA. Hilarious movie. Too many great scenes to link.

42. Emerges from the wings : ENTERS. Comes on stage.

47. Cosmetician Elizabeth : ARDEN. Nee Florence Nightingale Graham.

48. Governor who opened the Erie Canal : CLINTON. DeWitt, not Bill.

52. Jazz pianist Ahmad __ : JAMAL. Could not remember him, either. 2:07

54. Moscow news acronym : ITAR. Information Telegraph Agency of Russia.  Usually seen as ITAR-TASS.

55. Court : WOO.

60. 1-Down holder : CONE. And 1-Down. Ice cream serving : SCOOP.

61. Exxon forerunner : ESSO.

62. Hosiery thread : LISLE. Don't ask me how I knew this.

63. Bottom of the sea? : KEEL. This one threw me off, but I recovered enough to continue...

64. Hardly a sophisticate : BOOR.

65. Really worry : EAT AT.

Down:

2. Conductor Zubin : MEHTA. Fortunately, I did know him! 3:31

3. Spreads on the table : OLEOS.

4. Flesh and blood : KIN.

5. Sail supports : YARDARMS.

6. Get together : FASTEN.

7. Rapper __ Fiasco : LUPE. Another total unknown. 3:54

8. Gator chaser? : ADE.

9. Paparazzo's prize, briefly : PIC.

10. Land of Arthurian legend : AVALON.

11. "Kubla Khan" poet : COLERIDGE.

12. Pop radio fodder : HITS.

13. "Grand" ice cream brand : EDYS. But only in the eastern US. In the west, it is Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream.

18. Hindu mystics : YOGIS.

19. Operatic prince : IGOR. Aria from the opera "Prince Igor" by Borodin. 8:02

24. Mont. neighbor : S. DAK. South Dakota.  But Montana was just in New England last week!

25. Elderly : AGED.

26. Claw holder : PAW.

28. Massage : KNEAD.

29. Plaintiff : SUER. I never want to be the suee (pig...pig...pig.)

30. Bierce defines it as "His" : HERS. From "The Devil's Dictionary."

31. WWII carriers : LSTs. Landing Ship, Tank (s).

32. Gaseous: Pref. : AERI.

33. Go over more carefully : REEXAMINE.

37. Deck department supervisor, briefly : BOS'N. Short for "boatswain."

38. Surround : ENCIRCLE.

39. Santa Monica-to-Jacksonville hwy. : I-TEN. The main interstate in the southern US.

41. Scripps competition : BEE. The winning word in 2013 was "knaidel." It is a dumpling, and comes from the Yiddish "kneydl."

42. Zhou __ : ENLAI. C.C. explained to me the derivation of this name a while ago. "Chow" in Cantonese is the same as "Zhou" in Mandarin Chinese. So Zhou Enlai = Chow Enlai.

44. Retirees often do it : TRAVEL.

45. Between jobs : IDLE.

46. Represent officially : ACT FOR.

50. Alley Oop's girl : OOOLA. I just kept adding "O"s until the answer was full...

51. Large jazz combo : NONET.

52. Prom king, often : JOCK.

53. Sunburn soother : ALOE.

54. In that case : IF SO.

57. Lee follower : REB. Civil war rebels.

58. Granada bear : OSO. Spanish.

59. __ Maria: liqueur : TIA. Could also have been clued as "Granada aunt."

That's all I have for this week. See you next time!

Marti