Friday, October 18, 2013, Jack McInturff

Theme: BEE-eautiful puns.

Ah, the air is crisp, the sun warm and the joy of a Friday from one of the masters Jack Mac. We have a straightforward add a letter ("B") to a known word or phrase and get a new and amusing two word phrase; really a textbook example of how to create a witty presentation. I think Rich has decided to give us our holiday presents early, as this along with yesterday's is not too easy but very doable, especially with a reveal which is uncommon on Friday. You see the broad spectrum cluing from the 50's to to Clayton Kershaw. Not much in the way of long fill, but what is there is very good. INTEGER, ISOTOPE, LADYBUG, LATERAL, ROSTERS, TRICKLE, LOST A BET and TRAP DOOR. Let's see where Jack's mind wandered this time.

18A. Hipsters who prefer old-school programming languages? : COBOL CATS (9). Hipster = CAT. I learned computer programming with FORTRAN not COBOL.

23A. Tiny Timex? : BABY WATCH (9). Ah Baywatch, the use of slow motion for women running in a bathing suit was groundbreaking. Something for everyone. WATCH. (2:02)

35A. Golf club used as a dance pole? : LIMBO DRIVER (11). I LOVE this clue, though my first dance pole thought was not the Limbo stick we used to slide under.

50A. Furrier's assessment? : SABLES TAX (9). Like this one as well, as sales tax on Sable is usually significant.

57A. R2D2's bar order? : ROBOT BEER (9). Another very clever visual, though I see C3PO order a nice ale and R2 more of a mojito bot.

and the unifier:

59D. Busy one that has made its mark in this puzzle's five longest answers : BEE.

Across:

1. Hardly hardy : FRAIL.

6. Wind instrument : VANE.

10. Minute Rice instruction : STIR. We also have a quick clecho (hey Dennis, enjoying the lower humidity?) 20A. Minute Rice instruction : BOIL.

14. Caused : LED TO.

15. Title lover in a 1920s Broadway hit : ABIE. The Irish Rose returns; this clue/fill has been in puzzles since I saw my first Sunday NY Times in the 50's.

16. Cartoonist Peter : ARNO. He was very much part of the charm of the New Yorker magazine. LINK.

17. Camp Granada chronicler Sherman : ALLAN. Hello Muddah. Last week Mickey Katz, this week another blast from my past.

21. "Knots Landing" actress __ Park Lincoln : LAR. Not familiar with this actress, all perps. LINK.

22. Mythical transport : CARPET. The old flying carpet.

26. Challenger, for one : DODGE. Not the Space Shuttle, the car.

27. NFL gains : YDS.

28. One was written to Billie Joe : ODE. McAllister.

29. Bolted, say : ATE.

31. Not 'neath : O'ER.

32. Shot : TRY. You can finish a Friday unaided, give it a shot.

33. It's inspired : AIR.

34. British bombshell Diana : DORS. Pretty girl in the Marilyn era, once married to Richard Dawson. Be careful with her real last name. Diana Dors was an English actress, born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon, Wiltshire. Considered the English equivalent of the blonde bombshells of Hollywood, Dors described herself as "the only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva." Wikipedia

38. Literary __ : LION. Not my first choice here, but an accepted term by Webster.  "a celebrity or idol who attracts much publicity and a large following." See also, beard the lion in his den to approach a feared or influential person, esp in order to ask a favor; the lion's share the largest portion.

40. Hikes : UPS. Like prices or skirts.

41. Scam : CON.

42. Pack animal : ASS.

43. Friday is one: Abbr. : SGT. Jack Webb, not Dan Aykroyd.

44. Boxers' org.? : AKC. Everyone loves mixing the dog with the fighters.

45. Memphis-to-Mobile dir. : SSE. Heading home. What musician, writer and entrepreneur spent his grade school years there?  JB?

48. Register button : TOTAL.

53. Latin catchall : ET ALIA. We do not see this spelled out often.

55. Garden tool : HOE.

56. __ bene : NOTA. More Latin. Note well, an old common notation (NB).

59. Kind of acid : BORIC.

60. Mime : APER.

61. Part of Q.E.D. : ERAT. And yet again, Latin.

62. "A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length" author : EBERT. Has anyone read this book?

63. "We should!" : LET'S.

64. Mates : LADS.

65. Two-part curves : ESSES. This way and then that way.

Down:

1. Carrying extra weight : FLABBY.  More Bs.

2. Another round, perhaps : RELOAD. Sorry Tinman, not a drink, a gun.

3. Goes off script : AD LIBS.

4. 2006 World Cup champion : ITALY. I will never forget watching the final and THIS. (0:54).

5. Colleague of Boris : LON. Not Badenov, Karloff and Chaney.

6. Get out : VACATE. Same word as vacation but such different implications.

7. Options above "none of the above" : A, B OR C. I put in ABCDE first.

8. Pointed end : NIB. Anyone into calligraphy?

9. Org. created by the 1964 Civil Rights Act : EEOC. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

10. Iliac lead-in : SACRO. We are back to this old clue.

11. Magician's way out, maybe : TRAP DOOR. Not wanting to spoil magic tricks but they really do not disappear.

12. Whole number : INTEGER. A shout to all our math whizzes, Fermat, Bill G. etc.

13. Team lists : ROSTERS.

19. Fill the hold : LADE. Right next to the sound alike...

21. Aphid predator : LADYBUG. I loved the kitten with the ladybug on her nose. This is next to another bug...

24. Type of malware : WORM. They do not usually have...

25. Bristle : HAIR.

30. Slow flow : TRICKLE. Did you KNOW (3:47)?

32. Western star makeup : TIN. This was filled in before I saw the clue, is this for the badge or was Tinbeni a double for Hopalong Cassidy?

33. Pop-ups, e.g. : ADS.

34. Cozy retreat : DEN, Unless they are of iniquity.

35. Had to wear the winning team's jersey, say : LOST A BET.

36. Decides : OPTS.

37. Viva __ : VOCE. Really Latin intensive,  maybe all the years I studied Latin made this puzzle seem easier than it is. Anyway, literally alive voice, we use it to mean by word of mouth.

38. Like some files : LATERAL. Very popular in some law offices as they make accessing files much easier.

39. Carbon-14, e.g. : ISOTOPE. Since Carbon is normally 12, this is a elemental variant. I will ask the chemists and physicists to go further.

43. Narrow cut : SLIT.

44. Scrubs : ABORTS. Think of a space mission, right HG?

45. Puts away : STORES.

46. Ricky Gervais' forte : SATIRE. Humor in general I would say.

47. Demands, as payment : EXACTS. He exacted a steep toll from his students.

49. "Zut __!": French exclamation : ALORS. Ah, mais Oui! LINK. (0:13)

51. In front : AHEAD.

52. Hoity-toity types : SNOBS. Interesting HISTORY.

54. "Great Expectations" convict Magwitch : ABEL. Such depth to this character, and his relationship with Pip. I reread the book a few years ago with my youngest. Great SATIRE by Dickens.

58. Stat for Clayton Kershaw : ERA. Earned Run Average.  He led the league this year and his average is currently 0.00, though he lost a game 1 to 0. He is Dodgers' hope tonight.

Speaking of hope, I hope you enjoyed our time together. I am going to see Chicago at the Broward Center tonight with Mr. Peterman as Billy Flynn, so I am out of here. Thanks Jack and all of youse guys, Lemonade out.

Thursday, October 17, 2013 Julian Lim

Theme: "Master of None"

17A. *Victor at Little Bighorn : CHIEF CRAZY HORSE.

24A. *2006 "Survivor" setting : COOK ISLANDS.

"&"

36A. *Nursed, in a way : BOTTLE FED.

50A. *All-in-one appliance : WASHER DRYER.

And the unifier:

58. Handy person suggested by the starts of the answers to starred clues : JACK OF ALL TRADES.

Nice wide open grid, and a fun theme. In spite of my inauspicious start, I flew through in just over my typical Monday speed. Did you all find it easier than most Thursdays?  With 61 theme squares, you might expect to find some iffy fill. But Julian manages to more or less avoid that minefield.

Marti reporting in, to offer my experiences with the solve.

Across:

1. Fur tycoon : ASTOR. Uh-oh.  When 1-A doesn't fill automatically for me, I get a bad feeling.

6. "Due Date" co-star Galifianakis : ZACH. Uh-oh, when the second across clue doesn't fill automatically for me, I get a bad feeling.

10. Rock blasters : AMPS. Uh-oh, when the third across answer doesn't fill, I punt and go directly to the downs. Ahhh...10-D "Cookie shop enticement" - AROMA  (whew!) ...and, it's off to the races!

14. Conveyed : BORNE. As in "air-borne virus."

15. Bassoon cousin : OBOE.

16. Wreak havoc in the streets : RIOT.

20. Zilch : NADA.

21. Fantasy game brute : ORC. From "Lord of the Rings" video games.

22. Latin lesson word : AMAT. Amo, amas, amat.

"Latin is a language,

Dead as dead can be.

It killed off all the Romans,

And now it's killing me!"

23. New Year's ___: EVE. This is a Thursday clue? I would have gone with "Plumb in a famous bunch." (Eve Plumb, who played Jan in "The Brady Bunch.") (But then, I am devious that way!!)

28. Attacked : WENT AT.

30. November honoree : VET.eran. (Not the one in the gp. that houses strays.)

31. "I'm an idiot!" : D'OH.

32. Abs strengthener : SIT UP.

33. Leave port : SAIL.

35. Apportioning word : EACH.

39. Gp. that houses strays : SPCA. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

42. Bowlers and trilbies : HATS.

"Man in a Bowler Hat" by Rene Magritte

Olly Murs in a trilby

43. Millionaire's retreat : VILLA.

47. Strudel ___ mode : ALA.

48. Jon Hamm's "Mad Men" role __ Draper : DON.

49. Vocation : METIER. Not your common everyday word, and I love the sound of it. I'm going to make it my WOTD (word of the day.)  "CrossEyedDave, what is your METIER?  You seem to be an entertainer at heart..."

54. Dye holder : VAT. Almost wanted "wig."

55. Classy : CHIC.

56. Fish you can smoke : EEL. Do you ever smoke it, C.C.? (I should think more people would prefer to smoke Marlboros or Winstons, than eel...) (From C.C.: I never smoked eels. I did buy my Dad a carton of Marlboro after I got my first month's salary. He did not really like them better than his cheap Chinese cigarettes.)

57. Ricky portrayer : DESI. Arnez on "I Love Lucy." Has anyone seen the Broadway play?

62. Nebraska native : OTOE.

63. Like Iago, say : EVIL.

64. Rice/Lloyd Webber musical : EVITA.

65. Trees used to make longbows : YEWS.

66. Attends to one's whistle? : WETS. One WETS one's whistle, but whets one's appetite.

67. Unreactive gas : XENON.

Down:

1. Sawyer employer : ABC NEWS. "Huck Finn" wouldn't fit.

2. "Same here!" : SO HAVE I.

3. Poseidon's staff : TRIDENT.

4. __ Day vitamins : ONE A. We more often see this clued in relation to the military draft.  The partial of a vitamin brand seemed awkward.

5. Authority on a field : REF.eree.

6. Masked hero who debuted in the 1919 story "The Curse of Capistrano" : ZORRO.

7. Stunned way to be taken : ABACK.

8. Member of the fam : COZ. Short for "cousin."

9. Casual greeting : HEY. "Hey, coz!"

10. Cookie shop enticement : AROMA.

11. Ferdinand's love in "The Tempest" : MIRANDA.

12. Ph.D.'s further studies : POST DOC. Like Julian Lim.

13. Jeanne d'Arc, for one: Abbr. : STE. French abbr. for female "saint."

18. Old geezer : COOT.

19. "Come no closer!" : HALT.

24. Consiglieri's boss : CAPO. Literally, "head" in Italian.

25. Penn et al. : IVIES. Univ. of Penn. is one of the Ivy league schools.

26. Contained opening? : SELF. Self-contained, as an RV.

27. "Too noisy!" : SHH.

29. Big band instrument : TUBA. I thought of Abejo. Is your true METIER to be a musician? For our newcomers, here is a video of him playing last Christmas. I think he is just below and slightly to the left of the pink tuba. His is not as shiny, and has a front-facing bell (...his tuba, that is!!!)

33. Defensive effort : STAND.

34. Ctrl-__-Delete : ALT. It's a PC thing.

35. Correct : EDIT.

37. Superhero with a hammer : THOR.

38. Even once : EVER.

39. Chain __ : SAW.

40. Give a sop to : PLACATE.

41. Moneymaker : CASH COW.

44. Not vacant : LIVED IN. The house we bought next door has not been LIVED IN for over three years.

45. Charge for using, as an apartment : LEASE TO. We hope to fix it up quickly and LEASE TO a suitable tenant...

46. Potter or jeweler, e.g. : ARTISAN.

48. Style of a historic Miami Beach district : DECO. Art DECO is the signature architectural style of South Beach.

49. Get gooey : MELT.

51. Outdoor outings : HIKES.

52. Bright again : RELIT.

53. Argues ineffectively : YELLS. (LIKE THIS, IN AN EMAIL!!)

57. Comic Chappelle : DAVE. No clue. It was filled by perps.

58. Almond __ : JOY.

59. Select group? : FEW. "Many are called, but FEW are chosen..."

60. Roman salutation : AVE. More Latin.

61. T. __ : REX.  I'll leave you with this, since there weren't very many other musical opportunities...

Til next week, amigos!
Marti