Sunday, February 8, 2015 Marti DuGuay-Carpenter

Theme:  "Movie Trailers". Our lovely Marti has appended a word to familiar movie titles and then hilarity ensued as the resulting phrase made sense but in a fun way. My favorite was 

56A. Movie about a morning mixer? : THE BREAKFAST CLUB SODA, which in this case seems to be Coca Cola and not CLUB SODA. Gotta love product placement fees!
 

22A. Movie about a second-place swordsman? : BLADE RUNNER UP - Probably had a bad epee

39A. Movie about a case of brilliance? : THE SHINING EXAMPLE

80A. Movie about remedial grammar? : BACK TO THE FUTURE TENSE - When we hit 88 mph, we will have returned to 1985

96A. Movie about a gabfest getting out of hand? : RAGING BULL SESSION (not much gabbing going on in this session)

119A. Movie about a Brownie coming of age? : GONE GIRL SCOUT - she sold me some Thin Mints and then split

I always have a good time with Marti's puzzles and this was no exception. I'll bet her fertile brain produced a big bone pile of rejected entries that didn't make the cut. 

After blogging for C.C. two weeks ago and Marti today, may I submit a humble entry - "Strength Of An Attractive Female"
 

                        Power"  

Get your popcorn, turn off your cell phones, sit back and enjoy the show! 

Across        

1. "Shucks!" : AW GEE

6. Alley roamers : TOM CATS - a venue our kitty will never see

13. Relatives of bolts : SCREWS - Betcha you've got a drawer at home full of both like we do

 

 

19. Contemporary of Burns : BENNY

20. Central __ : AMERICA - I only know Panama and Guatemala on a map for sure. You?

 

 

21. Red choice : CLARET - Yup, it's Marti's puzzle!

24. Went around : ROTATED - We ROTATED kids every 12 weeks for 34 years so I got everyone of the 400+ Eighth graders. No wonder I can't remember them!

26. Fifth-century invader : ATTILA - Romans called him "The Scourge of God"

27. As above, in footnotes : IDEM - Not IBID. Footnoting was "The Scourge of College" for me. 

28. Logan of "60 Minutes" : LARA

29. Con opening : NEO

30. It might include problems : TEST - Was that Central America test above a problem?

32. Syria's most populous city : ALEPPO - Millions have fled

35. Stupefyin' Jones creator : CAPP - Julie Newmar wowed 'em in that role on Broadway and reprised the character in the 1959 movie version of Lil' Abner.
 

36. Rocks, maybe : ICE - not allowed in some venues ;-)

44. "Finale Ultimo" chorus in "The Sound of Music" : NUNS - Reprise #2. The NUNS sang Climb Every Mountain against this fabulous backdrop.

 

 

46. Dire destiny : DOOM

47. Actress Vardalos : NIA - Tom Hanks' wife Rita Wilson, of Greek heritage, convinced him to see NIA's play and then Hanks' company, Playtone, got the movie off the ground.

 

 

48. Mudville dud : CASEY - He shouldna taken two strikes!

49. Per se : AS SUCH

52. Cocktail word for "strained" : COLADA - Learning for me. I've strained to get to the car after too many pina coladas.

54. "12 Angry Men" actor Cobb : LEE J - Did that kid really kill his dad or not?

61. Rembrandt van __ : RYN - He went by his first name like Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni 

62. One who gives a hoot : OWL

63. Some "MIB" characters : ET'S -  I liked 'em better in Close Encounters

64. Prefix with metric : ISO - As in ISOMETRIC exercise. Let's all pause for three reps!

 

 

65. Guns : REVS - Followed by "She's real fine my 409..."

67. 1977 Steely Dan album : AJA - Pronounced Asia, the name of a Korean bride taken by Donald Fagen's friend's brother's wife

68. Fisher daughter on "Six Feet Under" : CLAIRE

70. Eur. peak on the Decade Volcanoes list : MT ETNA - Lots of company.

 

 

73. Slammer : PEN

74. Milkweed features : PODS - Here is a piece of Milkweed Pod art by our constructor Marti that she calls Parakeets. Yeah, I know, she's pretty talented! 
 

76. 911 responder, for short : EMT

77. Game-winning line : O O O 

 

 

78. Austrian article : EIN - Ich bin EIN Berliner still gives me goosebumps 

79. Bard's preposition : ERE

86. River islets : AITS - sometimes, what gets learned here, stays here

87. Steps in for : ACTS AS - In the last Husker bowl game, another coach had to ACT AS the head coach for fired Bo Pelini

88. One might get a return : SENDER - Only Big Girls Don't Cry kept Elvis' Return To SENDER from the #1 spot in December 1962

89. Pre-Little League game : T-BALL

92. "Selena" star, to fans : J LO

93. Ton : SLEW

95. Paper or plastic alternative : TOTE
 

102. Agree silently : NOD 

103. Solo often in Italian : ARIA - I'll take Nessun Dorma

104. It had a big part in "The Ten Commandments" : RED SEA - Big "Part"? Good one Marti!

105. Tater : SPUD 

107. Denver winter hrs. : MST

108. Big do : FETE

109. Popular tablet : I PAD - Don't ask Joann to choose between her iPad and me!

113. Blows : ERUPTS - See map at 70A for examples

117. Naval attire : PEA COAT - I'd be willing to bet there's some of these hanging in closets among our sea-going (sea-went) sailors here at the Corner.

 

 

122. Laid-back : AT EASE - Now if the space is between the A and the T...

123. Like the Empire State Building : ART DECO

124. Helped by the jet stream, as a flight : EARLY - A BOAC flight from NY to London arrived an hour and a half early recently as a 200 mph jet stream pushed it up to near the speed of sound

125. ATM part : TELLER

126. "Ah, it's clear now!" : YES I SEE

127. Inscribed pillar : STELE

Down:

1. Group whose logo looks the same in a mirror : ABBA - Hey, this would work, but not as I just typed it.

 

 

2. Shoemaker's strip : WELT

3. Flying pest : GNAT

4. Call the whole thing off : END IT - "Just take one dip and END IT!"

 

 

5. Lace hole : EYELET

6. Start of ancient Troy? : TAU - τροία

7. Upscale hotel chain : OMNI

8. Heal : MEND 

9. First Nations tribe : CREE 

10. Aviator : AIRMAN - Sgt. Major Dickerson had trouble with this AIRMAN.

 

 

11. Horned Frogs' sch. : TCU

12. Flower in trees? : SAP - Aha, Marti, you didn't get me!

13. Pickle : SCRAPE

14. Laundry brand : CLOROX

15. Pro __ : RATA

16. The Gay '90s, e.g. : ERA

17. Messy-meal handouts : WET-NAPS - With a side of ribs

18. Church feature : STEEPLE - C'mon, you've made this STEEPLE, haven't you?

 

 

23. Impetuous : RASH

25. Grumpy companion : DOPEY

28. Evian Championship co-sanctioning org. : LPGA

31. CNN founder Turner : TED

33. Godiva competitor : LINDT
 

34. "Giant Brain" introduced in 1946 : ENIAC

35. Key of 20 Haydn symphonies : C MAJOR

36. Caught : IN A TRAP - Speaking of Elvis, which of his songs has "IN A TRAP" in the lyric? It's my favorite.

37. Plum position : CUSHY JOB - Thanks for the raise, Dad!

38. Baja city : ENSENADA - Inlet or cove in español

40. Put (away), as money : SOCK

41. Bojangles, e.g. : HOOFER 

42. "Sorry, can't stop to chat" : I'M LATE - I'M LATE, for a very important date...

43. Whizzes : ACES

45. Hero : SUB

50. Gator relative : CROC 

51. Computer company co-founder Bill : HEWLETT - Garage in Palo Alto, CA where Bill started. California named it "The Birthplace Of Silicon Valley".
 

53. Braying beast : ASS

54. Sheen : LUSTER

55. Piano keys not played in a 35-Down scale : EBONIES - Not a sharp or flat in sight.

 

 

57. Los __ : ALAMOS - A more destructive birthplace

58. A bad one can raise one's score : LIE

59. Trust : DEPEND ON

60. Put off by : AVERSE TO 

66. Showed disdain : SNEERED - What Elvis did when he sang Return To Sender

69. Hairy sitcom cousin : ITT

70. Airy dessert : MOUSSE - You can see some of that air here.
 

71. Bottom lines : TOTALS

72. Hold 'em opener : ANTE

75. Colleague of Thomas : SCALIA

77. O'er and o'er : OFT - Tis OFT we see ere and o'er 

81. Brickmaking tool : KILN

82. Lecture sites : HALLS

83. Paris' __ des Beaux-Arts : ECOLE

84. Doesn't allow to gather dust : USES -  Our theme song?

 

 

85. Otolaryngology doc : ENT - An ENT had my head scanned and it revealed nothing. Wait a minute... 

89. Lady's friend : TRAMP

90. Stool, often : BAR SEAT

91. Inflame : AGITATE

92. Patron saint of lost causes : JUDE

94. "America's Dairyland": Abbr. : WIS - Maybe not... 
 

97. Washday challenge : GREASE

98. Outdo : BETTER - What musical featured, Anything You Can Do, I Can Do BETTER?

99. Superdome team : SAINTS - Their post-Katrina success culminating in the 07/08 Super Bowl win really help put NOLA back on its feet

100. GM subsidiary : OPEL

101. Drinks on a 90-Down : NURSES

106. Old Venetian coin : DUCAT

108. Mustang that just arrived : FOAL - cute

110. Mani go-with : PEDI - had one last year, haven't been back

111. A long time : AGES

112. Rollers for high rollers : DICE

114. Tiny sweater? : PORE - cute too

115. Eponymous 18th-century agriculturist Jethro __ : TULL - His invention of the horse drawn seed drill helped fuel the British Agricultural Revolution.

 

 

116. Eye sore : STYE

118. Animation still : CEL - This 1935 CEL, the first with Mickey Mouse in color, sold for $420,000. Most, if not all, animators are now laid off.
 

119. Lively : GAY

120. Vein contents : ORE

121. Anagram of 120-Down : ROE - nice coupling finish!

No puzzle to do, no blog to write and I sang and played in church last night. Hmmm... I wonder if that old sock drawer needs a look-see. 
 

Saturday, Feb 7th, 2015, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie~!

Words: 72 (missing K,Q,W,Y,Z)

Blocks: 27

  Ah, a Silkie, and since I unofficially call his puzzles a "theme", that's two in a row for me~!  Pretty blank on the first pass, with triple 11-letter stacks in the Across, and then triple 8's in the Down corners to work with.  Slowed down by the proper names again, but I seem to be getting more open-minded about how I go about the solve (*); guess I've done my share of Saturday crosswords, and a good number of Mr. Silk's at that....all in all, a fairly fun solve.  Some of the longer fill;

15a. Reversible chemical process : ION EXCHANGE - I had the "X" from 5d., and not that I've heard of this process, but it sounded pretty good; think water softeners

14d. Followers : APOSTLES - pondered BOOSTERS ( had the --OST--S), then GNOSTICS; I got there eventually

67a. Bank counter convenience : DEPOSIT SLIP - becoming obsolete in my world; I can now run my checks thru the ATM ( in a stack of up to 30, not that I would ever have that many ) and get a print-out of the check on my receipt - no deposit slip required

37. Loiters : HANGS OUT

ONvacationWARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Three-volume biography of Winston Churchill : THE LAST LION - no clue to start, but that rarely fazes me anymore

12*. Summer, at times : CPA - open-minded; a "sum-mer", like my friend Ed, who does my taxes

16. Material flaw : RIP - I went with "RUN", but you know where my mind usually is....

17. Collectible late-'50s auto : EDSEL RANGER - I took time to read over some of the reasons for this epic failure, and found some of it quite fascinating

18. Mattel game since 1992 : UNO - I am working on a board/card game of my own right now, with the hope of selling it through my buddy Mike's company, Kid Agains - he's really taking off with the brand; in fact, he's in China now working out the details of the next 3 games they're producing for him this year.  I have a lot of work to do at the restaurant, and with the threat of more snow, I decided to take a week of vacation from UPS.  Any free time next week will be spent working on the game.

19. Inventing initials : TAE - Thomas Alva Edison

20. Almost null? : EINS - cute.  Zero and one in German

21. Dodges : EVADES - I went with AVOIDS; that's 67% technically, but the key was having the "V" in the right place

23. Four-time All-Star Oriole outfielder Jones : ADAM - C.C. would know more

25*. Former prime minister who grew up in Milwaukee : MEIR - WAG

27. Raise : ERECT

28*. Certain red giant : C STAR - here's what I mean; in past puzzles, we've seen "-"STAR, so I filled that part in, and WAGed a "G" to start

30. One often looking down : SNOB

32. File, for one : TOOL - Tried MENU.   Was 100%.   Wrong.

33. 54-Across holder : TUB - ah, didn't get enough circumreferential yesterday~?

35. Lucrative venture : GOLD MINE

37. They don't sound as welcoming as they are : HOSTELS - One would hope the environment is not "Hostile"

41. Bolivian president Evo : MORALES - mostly perps

42. Net : AFTER TAX

44*. Blues musician Mahal : TAJ - sensible WAG, but then I wondered if it might be "Raj", or something like that

45. NASCAR Hall of Fame locale: Abbr. : N. CARolina

46. Go (through) : SIFT - I tried PASS

48. Goes for : COSTS - picking up my new phone tomorrow.  There was nothing wrong with my old one, but I am really excited to start using the new Ryobi Phone Works tools - I have the scope, the moisture meter, and will probably buy the stud finder ( yes, it might just be a metal detector, HeartRx~! ) as well.  My new plan COSTS more than the last one because I added a 'hot-spot' device so I can print Home Inspection reports in the field - that is, from the trunk of my car.

52. Capturer's triumphant words : GOT 'EM

54. 33-Across filler : LARD - uh, see 33a?

56. Cheer : ROOT - not RAVE, not RANT

57. Tannery output : SUEDES

59. Smoke, perhaps : CURE - ah, like meat; think Beef Jerky

61. Fr. title : MME

62. "... and the __ below / As hush as death": "Hamlet" : ORB

63. Asset disposal option : AUCTION SALE

66. Original "Burn Notice" airer : USA - I tried the show; I liked it, but couldn't stay with it.  I am happy to see "Sirens" is back - more Denis Leary

68. Rx notation : TER - Dah.  Went with TID

69. Runoff facilitators : STORM DRAINS - went with GRATES to start

DOWN:      

1. Haberdashery item : TIE-TAC

2. Beginners with boards : HO-DADS - Dictionary.com calls this person a "non-surfer who spends time at the beach masquerading as a surfer"

3. Put on a throne : ENSEAT

4. Author Harper : LEE

5*. Wheelbarrow feature : AXLE - did my share of assembling these last summer ( not sum-mer ); how many 4-letter parts does one of these have, anyway~?

6. Open-weave fabric : SCRIM - new word for me; frequently used as a lighting filter and stage backdrop

7. Old Scottish officials : THANES - half perps, half WAG

8. Capital on the Grand River : LANSING - JazzB nailed it, right?

9*. Like Dvorák's Symphony No. 8 : IN G - more of that crossword intuition; it's going to be "IN" A,B,C,D,E,F, or G....

10. Fancy molding : OGEE - messed up my AVOIDS, but I am working on a new project at the restaurant - they're looking for some "wow" when they re-open for Valentine's Day, so the owner opted for a true 'fish house' look; chalkboards and subway tile - I like the contrast, and I love doing the work - the split between the two is the height of the chairs.  Hence, I am installing chair rail.  When I primed the wall, you could really see the dings from the backs of the seats

11. Audacity : NERVE

12. Well target : CRUDE OIL

13. Organ with scales : PINE CONE - well, uh, that's one way to describe it

22. Would-be designer, perhaps : ART MAJOR - the "J" from 44a. helped immensely

24. Had an impact : MATTERED

26. Basic rental : ROOM - Ah.  Not AUTO

29. Who's sorry now : RUER

31. Smudge : BLOT - not SPOT, so I took it all out - but was half right in the first place

34. Alphabetical orders? : BLTs - Odd, but I went with RSVP

36. Literary count, familiarly : DRAC - or VLAD~?  All I had was the "A"

38. "For certain" : "OF COURSE~!"

39. Regulatory legal association : STATE BAR

40. Breeze (through) : SAIL

43. Hard-to-define influence : X FACTOR

47. Platitude : TRUISM

49. Shilling spender : SOMALI

50. 2003 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor recipient : TOMLIN

51. Marinates : STEEPS

53. Honey beverages : MEADS

55. Sci-fi figure : DROID - my "GRATES" led me to try ZERO G - hey, that's sort of a "figure"

58. Haggis ingredient : SUET

60*. Start of an intermission? : ENT'R - ACTE; seen this in enough crosswords, so I was not fooled

64. USCG rank : CPO

65. Federal benefits org. : SSA

Splynter