Thursday, November 21, 2013 MaryEllen Uthlaut

Theme: "I Kid You Not!"

The unifier can be found in the middle of the grid today:

40-Across. Troubled youth literally hiding in each answer to a starred clue : CRAZY MIXED UP KID. Today is anagram day, with four of them hidden in common phrases.

18-Across. *Filet mignon dish named for a goddess : STEAK DIANE.

24-Across. *Emergency supplies : FIRST AID KIT. or FIRST AID KIT. It would be better to avoid this type of ambiguity, but there really are no other common 11-letter phrases that use that particular sequence. And you really want to have all the anagram possibilities.

52-Across. *Pipe-smoking royal : OLD KING COLE.

63-Across. *Fictional rank above Padawan : JEDI KNIGHT.

Just missing the "Q" for a pangram. Did it seem especially easy for a Thursday?  Some of the clues were a little tricky, but I found the fill to be very Monday-level, with nary an obscure name in the bunch!

Across:

1. "Are you serious?" : WHAT. (Usually pronounced as WHAAAA??)

5. Handicapper's concern : ODDS.

9. Class __ : CLOWN. I bet CrossEyedDave was the class clown in his school.

14. Doth possess : HATH.

15. Los Angeles, for one : PORT.

16. High nest : AERIE.

17. Opposed party : ANTI.

20. Jet sounds : ROARS.

22. Proactiv target : ACNE.

23. Was in the vanguard : LED.

27. Dog in Baum stories : TOTO.

28. Dangerous fly : TSE TSE.

33. Puffin kin : AUK. Seems they have a playful side, too.

36. Sizable music combo : NONET.

39. Planted : SOWN.

44. Fable : TALE.

45. Makes the scene : COMES.

46. I trouble? : EGO.

47. Slob's napkin : SLEEVE.

50. Spheres studied by Mendel : PEAS. From them, he eventually developed his "Laws of Inheritance."

58. Tailless primate : APE.

61. Explorer on Nick Jr. : DORA. The Explorer.

62. Art support : EASEL.

67. Pro __ : RATA.

68. Where the action is : ARENA.

69. Former Neet rival : NAIR.

70. Similar : AKIN.

71. Face-off locales : RINKS. Hockey face-offs. Hey, Splynter!

72. Low joint : KNEE.

73. Wings, for instance : BAND. Paul McCartney's band on the run...

Down:

1. Marina structure : WHARF.

2. Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum city : HANOI.

3. Rose essence : ATTAR.

4. Need of a 53-Down : THIRST. and 53-Down. Solution for 4-Down : DRINK.

... of 12-Down. Riesling product : WINE? ...or 48-Down. Stoli and SKYY : VODKAS??

5. Brief missions? : OPS. (Operations.)

6. Hi and Lois's daughter : DOT. Her twin brother's name is "Ditto."

7. Foreboding : DREAD.

8. Cupboard arrangement : STACK.

9. Officers-to-be : CADETS.

10. Floral wreath : LEI.

11. Word-of-mouth : ORAL.

13. Aid factor : NEED.

19. Grow together : KNIT...as, a broken bone.

21. Rock-filled : STONY.

25. It can be viewed with a scanning tunneling microscope : ATOM. Invented by Roher and Binnig. Read more about how it works here.

26. Column style : IONIC. I always want to put "doric" first. Hi Dudley!

29. Paranormal ability : ESP.

30. Tip for a croupier : TOKE. We have had this recently, I think.

31. Large gulp : SWIG.

32. Prefix with skeleton : ENDO. And a clecho with 37-Down. Prefix with skeleton : EXO.

33. Book after John : ACTS. (of the Apostles)

34. River through Orsk : URAL.

35. Broccoli relative : KALE.

38. Metronome settings : TEMPI. Plural variant of tempos.

41. Prize component? : ZEE.

42. "The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook" author Paula : DEEN. Her recipes always seem to begin with "Add two cups of sugar to three pounds of butter..."

43. Stylebook subject : USAGE.

49. Tar Heel State campus : ELON. Just outside Greensboro, N.C.

51. Egyptian amulet : SCARAB.

54. 2010 Supreme Court appointee : KAGAN.

55. Honshu port : OSAKA.

56. Admit to the club : LET IN.

57. Twisty-horned antelope : ELAND.

58. Admitting a breeze, perhaps : AJAR.

59. "Frasier" actress Gilpin : PERI. She played Roz, Frasier's radio producer.

60. Shangri-la : EDEN.

64. Press coverage : INK. OK, I had to think about this. Does the clue literally refer to the ink that covers the printing press roller? Or, does it mean column space in the newspaper ("J-Lo sure gets a lot of ink.") I'll leave it to you to decide.

65. Make haste : HIE.

66. Uno e due : TRE. One + two = three, in Italian.

And that's a wrap for me this week!

Marti

Note from C.C.:

 

Charlotte, Lemonade's beautiful granddaughter, turned one year old. Look how pretty she is. Click on the first picture, you'll see how incredible long her eyelashes are. It's in the genes. Lemonade said he used to have long eyelashes before his corneal transplants. Click here to see all the cute Charlotte pictures in my Ginger Roots archive.

Wednesday November 20, 2013 Victor Barocas

Theme: BACK BUTTON (66A. Browser feature, or what the ends of 17-, 31-, 38- or 50-Across can have) - "Button" can follow the last word of each 2-word theme entry.

7A. Series of "Got milk?" spots, e.g. : AD CAMPAIGN. Campaign button. Some of the rusty looking old JFK buttons at the flea markets are repros.

31A. Snowballing financial crisis : BANK PANIC. Panic button.

38A. It's used to break a habit : WILLPOWER. The only one-word theme answer. Power button.

50A. American bacon source : PORK BELLY. Belly button.

C.C. here, pitch-hitting for Jazzbumpa, who still has no power due to the big storm last weekend. He said "no home phone, TV, or internet... It's taking me back to me early 'ute - the 40's."

Beautiful grid from Victor. Normal word count, but only 34 black squares. Solid 7's in all four corners.  This type of design is often the result of a 9-letter theme entry in the middle row 8 & an adventurous spirit from the constructor, as it's easier to break one edge into two 3's.

I met Victor a few times. He's extremely talented. Very unassuming.

Left to Right: George,  Victor,  Andrea, C.C. & DK

Across:

1. Food at a bar : SALAD

6. 54-Across vaccine developer : SALK (Jonas). And 54A. See 6-Across : POLIO. He chose not to patent his vaccine, while Oprah tried to patent her "Aha moment"!

10. "My stars!" : EGAD

14. Run off, in a way : ELOPE. 29. Ran off with : STOLE. Quite a few clue echos & cross references in this grid.

15. Help in solving : CLUE

16. Age-old stories : LORE

19. Suffragist Lucretia : MOTT. I must have googled her before. I recognize this face.

20. Emmy-winning Arthur : BEA

21. "__ Gang" : OUR

22. Tolstoy work subtitled "The Story of a Horse" : STRIDER. Never heard of it.

24. Queen's subjects : ANTS. Queen ants. I only know Queen bees.

26. Dismissive cry : BAH. My feeling when I clicked on that talk from Jayce's mean boss.

28. Kitchen attraction : AROMA

34. Mexican cover-up : SERAPE. SARAPE is a var.

36. JFK Library architect I.M. : PEI. He was born in Guangzhou.

37. Connecticut hrs. : EST

42. That girl : SHE

45. Garden pond fish : KOI

46. Weather map line : ISOBAR

55. Whirlpool subsidiary : AMANA

56. Sweet tuber : YAM. I just call it sweet potato.

58. MacDonald's home : FARM

59. Ristorante dish : RISOTTO. And 2D. Ristorante request : AL DENTE. 

 

62. Apprehend : NAB

64. Place for some me-time : SPA

65. Make a muffler, perhaps : KNIT

69. Clothing fluff : LINT

70. Actress Elisabeth : SHUE. I only notice now that her name is not Elizabeth.

71. French sweetie : CHERI. Mon chéri/ma chérie.

72. Tense : EDGY

73. Undiluted : PURE

74. Company with "counting sheep" ads : SERTA

Down:

1. Popular food fish : SEA BASS

3. The "L" in URL : LOCATOR. URL= Uniform Resource Locator.

4. Org. for shrinks : APA

5. Showroom model : DEMO

6. Sacred beetle : SCARAB

7. Sacha Baron Cohen's "Da __ G Show" : ALI.  Ali G, Borat & Brüno are 3 of Sacha Baron Cohen's characters.

8. Galoots : LUGS

9. Reporter known for ducking into phone booths : KENT (Clark)

10. New York city near the Pennsylvania border : ELMIRA. I can never remember this name. What's it famous for again?

11. "Well played!" : GOOD ONE!

12. Sister of Apollo : ARTEMIS. Twins.

13. Take away (from) : DETRACT

18. Watering hole : PUB

23. See 68-Down : RAP. And 68. With 23-Down, what an accused thug may beat : THE

25. Fries alternative : SLAW

27. Antepenultimate fairy tale word : HAPPILY.  Antepenultimate is quite a mouthful. Third to last

30. Prefix with center : EPI

32. Not paleo- : NEO

33. New Zealander : KIWI

35. Actress Sommer : ELKE. Learned her name from doing xwords. Very pretty.

39. Typed chuckle : LOL

40. Seer's claim : ESP

41. Sleigh's parking spot : ROOF. Hi there Santa!

42. Vivacity : SPARKLE. Marti! So full of life and love.

43. Neanderthal, for one : HOMINID

44. Frequent schoolroom activity : ERASING

47. Weapon for Han Solo : BLASTER

48. Touchdown site : AIRPORT. Nice clue.

49. Bucharest's country : ROMANIA

51. Difficult : KNOTTY

52. Club on the diamond : BAT. And YANKEE (53. Mariano Rivera, e.g.). He's not going to save the Yankees any more.

57. Fairy queen of English legend : MAB

60. 1/16 of a cup: Abbr. : TBSP

61. Site of the Ko'olau range : OAHU. Easy guess.

63. Tampa NFLers : BUCs

67. Lowlife : CUR

Informal survey: Do you have an Old Country Buffet in your area? Do you like the place?

C.C.