Saturday, Nov 23rd, 2013, John Lieb & David Quarfoot

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing F,J,Q,Z)

Blocks: 29

     Started out really well, but this one crushed me and good - nothing really difficult word-wise, but the cluing was so vague that red-letters came up early, and even that wasn't good enough. John Lieb has appeared here before; C.C. mentioned David Quarfoot as one of the top themeless constructors. 

John Lieb

David Quarfoot

Pinwheel grid design of 9-letter and 8-letter corners, and nothing longer.  No spanners, and as discussed before, when you get a 15-letter answer, it usually opens the puzzle up a bit.  Some answers of note;

1. Holiday portmanteau : TURDUCKEN - The combination of a turkey, duck and chicken, one stuffed inside the other - have to say I have not tried this dish yet....

13. Kyoto-based entertainment company : NINTENDO - They make the Wii console, too - I tried the golf, and it just frustrated me; bowling was more enjoyable

35. Minor obstacle? : BABY GATE - Oh, so good~! Took a long time for anything in the south to take shape for me....now, if I can just work this thingy here, and then slide that over there....

63. Stud revelations : HOLE CARDS - Poker; oh, THAT kind of stud; it annoys me when I get into a mindset, then stay trapped inside - I was thinking 2x4 framing lumber and males the whole time.  Hole Cards are the two you're ( usually ) dealt face down to start a hand

$F%X&#ONWARD~!

ACROSS:

10. Turned up : ON END - ugh, that kind of turned "up"

15. Hoops situation involving a bonus free throw : ONE AND ONE - Basketball, when a player is fouled (?) - not my game

16. Odds, essentially : RATIO

17. Tennessee's state reptile : BOX TURTLE - Aww

18. Pointless : INANE

19. Mental health org. : APA - well, I figured it was an "A - A" group, the "P" is for Psychological, and here's a music link

20. Longest-serving Dodger coach Manny : MOTA - echo (echo)(echo) "...now batting - Manny (Manny)(Manny) Mota (Mota)(Mota)

21. Puts forth : POSITS

22. Bucks : GELT - Money slang

24. Like some sins : MORTAL - Yay~! I got one~!

26. Holiday serving : LEG - Oh so vague....I can think of a better clue for this;

27. Dental crown alternative : ONLAY

29. People magazine Sexiest Man Alive of 1999 : GERE - I started with gOre - Um, that's not right

30. Harmonia's daughter, in Greek myth : INO

31. Vituperate : CURSE AT

34. Menu option : UNDO - Just had this - SEND, EDIT, VIEW, FILE, etc

35. Program, perhaps : BOOKLET

38. Chaac, to Mayans : RAIN GOD -various spellings

40. Looking frightened : ASHY

41. Pretend, in a way : LIP SYNC

43. NCAA year-end games system : BCS - Bowl Championship Series - the Wiki; My buddy Mike is in Philly this weekend, I worked too late to go; next weekend he starts a whirlwind tour of the East Coast NFL and college games to promote his new "Quarterback Touchdown" game

44. Word with sugar or spice : MILL - Sugar Mill, Spice Mill - took forever to see this; again, I got stuck on Spice GIRL, and Sugar PILL

45. Put in : ELECT - Ugh, that kind of  "PUT"

49. Slangy agreement : YAH - Yea, Yep, just keep at it

50. Common hand span : OCTAVE - I am bruised on the forehead from the V-8 can; the hand can span the keys of a keyboard, which is an octave ( 13 keys )

53. Catch in pots : EELS - DAR~! Seen it before, couldn't remember

54. Receives : GREETS

56. Shakespearean "over there" : YONDer - Poetic

58. Go on : YAK

59. Doddering : ANILE - SEnile, yes, Anile, no.  Denile is not just a river in Egypt

60. Cut : EDITED OUT

62. Sign of emptiness : TO LET - as in apartments for rent; the one at mom's house has finally been filled, and the guy seems OK - let's see what happens Dec 1

64. Toponymic dairy items : EDAMS - toponymic meaning name derived from a place; in this case, the Dutch cheese

65. Summer TV offering with a "Jaws of Steel Collection" DVD : SHARK WEEK - I am pleased to say this one did actually come to me, sort of a logical educated WAG; I do not care for the show; not a big fan of sharks - they are cool, but I like

DOWN:

1. Lesser Antilles island : TOBAGO

2. Sealed : UNOPEN - meh

3. Old drugstore chain : REXALL - I tried READES, and it got me part-way there

4. "Can't Help Lovin' __ Man" : DAT

5. Word on a bill : UNUM - E Pluribus Unum - Latin; 'One from Many'

6. Storage medium : CD-ROM

7. Actor Yaphet __ of "Midnight Run" : KOTTO - also Parker in Alien (on the right in the image) - what was the cat's name?  Anyone?

8. Swell : ENLARGE - I started with ENGORGE - say, where's my mind?

9. Formerly : NEE

10. Yankee foe : ORIOLE - baseball for C.C.

11. Some flatbreads : NANS

12. Selling using servers : ETAILING - "E" word; online shopping, and Cyber Monday happens to be "BLACK MONDAY" at UPS

14. Acts altruistically : DOES GOOD

21. Bash, affectedly : "PAR-TAY~!"

23. Tasteless : TACKY - like the preceeding answer?

25. Rushes : TEARS - tAres, not tEErs

28. Co-star of Steve in "The Magnificent Seven" : YUL

32. They may be dug up : RELICS - had it in, took it out, put it back in

33. Circus elevator : STILT - D-oh~!  Took W-A-A-A-A-Y too long to get

34. Godfather, sometimes : UNCLE

36. Academy affirmation : OSCAR NOD - great clue/answer

37. 1985 #1 hit for Ready for the World : OH SHEILA - I grew up with the song, but didn't recall the artist's name

39. Like Vivaldi's "Spring" : IN E - put in the "IN" and wait....

42. "Imagination Taking Shape" sloganeer : PLAY-DOH - Great slogan, too~!

44. Church compositions : MOTETS

46. Kiddie lit character with a detachable tail : EEYORE - Learning moment; I did not know this

47. Composer Debussy : CLAUDE

48. Reproachful warning : TSK TSK - my biggest "MEH" of the day

51. "There!" : VOILA - I definitely did not get my "Ta-DA~!!" on this puzzle

52. Join : ENTER

55. He or I, e.g. : ELEMent - way cool clue that did not fool me; Helium and Iodine

57. Sea level? : DECK - I had DOCK, which stumped me for the longest time; I was thinking dry land - sailors (tars, etc.,) might have been on the ship's deck wavelength

60. Half-hearted responses : EHs

61. Crow cousin : DAW

Splynter

Friday, November 22, 2013, Steve Blais

Theme: Where did I hide my computer?

Each of the four sets of words has the names of a computer manufacturing companies overlapping the adjacent fill, with a reveal.  The first row and the last row each result in two companies, the middle two rows use all three clues to create a single company.. You have to see a puzzle as row 1 through 15 to understand the reveal. This was one of the hardest themes in a long time for me to suss out even though I said earlier I love run-ons, as well as puns and anagrams. To use up 5 complete rows (1/3 of the grid) for a theme is awesome. I am always surprised when a theme starts with 1A, but Steve has made us work even on his Monday and Tuesday efforts. This is his 11th LAT published in less than 2 years, along with a NYT in April. I missed blogging his only other Friday when our Steve took over while I was out for the New Year holiday a couple of months ago. Lots of nice fill like EL PASO,  EVEN SO, LETHAL,  MINGUS, SESAME, SPOT ON, DAMAGES,  SEE TO IT, HIGHNESS, LEMONADE, DATE STAMP and GENE AUTRY.

1A. Brother of Raúl and Juanita : FIDEL along with 6A. Purple candle scent : LILAC. This gives us DELL computers. Living in So.Fla, Fidel was a gimme. 11A. Poetic time reference : ERE. ACER.

20A. Calendar entry : EVENT and 21A. Kyrgyzstan city : OSH and 22A. Construction beams : I-BARS. TOSHIBA. If you want to know more about OSH, this is a LINK.

58A. Source of much Indian tea : ASSAM. A very productive REGION. 60A. Sky light? : SUN. How cute is this for a three letter fill. 61A. Pumpkin, e.g. : GOURD. SAMSUNG.

69. Diddy ditty : RAP. Another cute three letter one. Has Sean Combs changed his name again, or only P. Diddy? 70A. Arraignment answers : PLEAS. APPLE. Arraignment is the first step of any criminal case where you say guilty or not guilty. 71A. "That's all __, dude": "Not my fault" : ON YOU. SONY.

and the unifier,  which shows you the name of the computer companies are chopped in pieces (hacked)

40A. Web concerns ... and based on six familiar names hidden in rows 1, 4, 12 and 15 of this puzzle grid, what the black squares in those rows symbolize : COMPUTER HACKERS. Interesting theme which certainly did not help solve any of the puzzle.

Across:

14. Tequila source : AGAVE.

15. Month in Madrid : ENERO. Spanish January.

16. Sprinkling on French fries? : SEL. French salt.

17. Uses as a reference : CITES.

18. Many pets : MUTTS. Mongrels, apparently shortened from muttonheads.

19. For example : SAY.

24. Julia's "Ocean's Twelve" role : TESS. 

25. Legend of the links : SNEAD. Slammin' Sammy, still three victories ahead of Tiger.

27. Old __, Connecticut : LYME. Near where I grew up.

28. "They went __ in a Sieve, they did": Lear : TO SEA. A shout out for our own OwenKL, as Mr. Lear was a renowned limercist and poet. UPDATE: It appears Mr. Lear may have started all this Limerick stuff. LINK.

30. Logan of "60 Minutes" : LARA. A South African raised journalist involved in controversy.

32. Words in a dish : À LA. Mode anyone?

34. Relinquish : CEDE.

36. Jazz double bassist Charlie : MINGUS. Fun fill.  I defer to JzB to discuss this ARTIST. (5:03)

43. West Texas city : EL PASO.

44. Approaching : NIGH. Basically near. Did you all watch the Professor Proton, Bill Nye the science guy episode of TBBT?

45. Tiny complaint : NIT. marti?

46. Uno y dos y tres : SEIS. One plus two plus three equals 6, but more Spanish.

48. Migratory birds : GEESE.

50. Oaf : LOUT.

53. Some Staples employees : TECHS.

55. Bear whose bed was too hard :  PAPA. Goldilocks, where are you?

62. Moo __ pork : SHU.

63. Graduated series : SCALE. On a scale of 1 to 10 what did you think?

65. 10th-century Holy Roman emperor : OTTO I. Constructors like his vowels.

66. Mountain end : EER. Mountaineer.

67. Increases, with "up" : RAMPS.

68. "It Wasn't All Velvet" memoirist : TORME. The Velvet Fog. JAZZ.

Down:

1. Aspect : FACET.

2. "Just tell me" : I GIVE. Guess who gave me all the answers to the test? I do not know, just tell me. I give.

3. Librarian's device : DATE STAMP. Nice long fresh fill. Not to be confused with the mark you get put on your hand when you are out at the club getting hammered.

4. Nevertheless : EVEN SO.

5. Out of concern that : LEST.

6. Summer quaff : LEMONADE. Thanks Steve for the major shout out on a Friday. Steve B. comments at puzzle blogs often.

7. Taken : IN USE.

8. More than harmful : LETHAL.

9. Works on walls : ART. Not re-wallpapering.

10. Mozart's "__ fan tutte" : COSI. A tribute (?) to Women? LINK.

11. David Sedaris work : ESSAY.  This GUY.

12. Lack faith in a truce, maybe : RE-ARM.

13. "Family Ties" mother : ELYSE. The lovely Meredith BAXTER.

23. Space on a form : BLANK.

25. "I want results!" : SEE TO IT. My mental PICTURE. (0:15).

26. Lawsuit goal : DAMAGES.

29. "__ Me While I Kiss This Guy": book of misheard lyrics : SCUSE. My unknown of the day; the lyric is from Jimi Hendrix; he was kissing the sky.

31. Loaded, in Limoges : RICHE. French, like our friend the Nouveau riche.

32. Big club : ACE. Or big spade, or big heart or big diamond. I guess this does not conflict with the hidden ACER above.

33. Cyberchuckle : LOL. So many old people thought this meant 'lots of love'.

35. Predatory bird : ERN.

37. Singer and longtime owner of baseball's Angels : GENE AUTRY. My favorite singing COWBOY.

38. Sch. 30 miles south of Providence : URI. University of Rhode Island.

39. Bygone boomer : SST. The Concorde.

41. Elbows to nibble : PASTA.

42. Royal title : HIGHNESS. You think because they sat on thrones?

47. Bagel choice : SESAME. Sez who?

49. Perfect : SPOT ON.

50. __ tag : LASER.  The reigning CHAMPS? (0:35).

51. "Ulysses" actor Milo : O'SHEA. He died this year. LINK.

52. Take by force : USURP.

54. Apology ending : CULPA. Latin: Mea Culpa.

56. Teaser : PROMO.

57. Parting mot : ADIEU. More French.

59. Dealership amt. : MSRP. Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price.

61. Attend : GO TO. Where did you go to college? Was it in....

64. Western st. : CALifornia?

Nope I am a UConn Husky. And a tired one at that, having conducted 8 real estate closings yesterday. Well we are sneaking up on Thanksgiving and my time to thank C.C., each and everyone of you, and each person who has contributed over the years. It is great fun to do this for those who read and discuss the puzzles and the perspectives. I also want to thank Argyle who is amazing, melissa, Ron and Steve, who are fun and funny,  marti who is divine and Splynter who is incomparable. Also Mr. Blais, thank you also for the puzzle. Finally, 50 years ago, I was coming back to my dorm room after an intramural football game, when I saw the events in Dallas. I remember it like yesterday.

Lemonade