Saturday Januray 29, 2011 Gareth Bain

Theme: None

Total words: 70

Total blocks: 34

C.C. here. I think this is Gareth Bain's first LA Times themeless. Congrats!

Gareth anchors his puzzle with a stacked 15 & 14 on top and bottom of his grid:

17A. "West Side Story" duet : ONE HAND, ONE HEART. Tony & Maria's duet.

20A. Ecstatic cry : YES, THERE IS A GOD. This could be the seed entry.

45A. Go from 10 to 8, say : DROP A DRESS SIZE. Nice answer. Crazy SSS in the middle.

50A. Angel's concern : BROADWAY MUSICAL. Angel refers to Broadway financial backer.

How's your solving? Quite a workout for me. Sweated a lot over several geography references. Tough cluing overall.

Across:

1. Edmonton's prov. : ALTA (Alberta)

5. North __ Sea, Syr Darya River outlet : ARAL. Wikipedia says the North Aral Sea is part of the former former Aral Sea that's fed by the Syr Darya River, which is a complete unknown to me.

9. Russian city to host the 2014 Olympics : SOCHI. No idea. It's pronounced like SOH-chee. On the Black Sea. Right side, see it?

14. Sounds of triumph : HAHs

15. Move, in real estate : RELO

16. Some soli : ARIAS. Soli is plural of solo.

21. Loan guarantor : SURETY

22. Whiz : PRO

23. Stir vigorously : BEAT. Egg whites, I suppose.

24. Fish you don't want to be biting : PIRANHAS. Ozzie Guillén (White Sox manager, very funny guy) said Twins are like piranhas.

29. Attached, in a way : GLUED

31. One-footer, e.g. : TAP-IN. Tap-in putt. Golf.

32. Peke output : YIP. Pekingese dog. Yips are of course also golfer's nightmare. No tap-in gimme.

33. They fit in locks : OARS. Nope, no KEYS. Boat locks.

34. Deli suffix : WURST

35. __ Squalor, Count Olaf's girlfriend in "A Series of Unfortunate Events" : ESME. The name is a reference to Salinger's "For Esme – with Love and Squalor", which rings a bell. The clue as it is means nothing to me.

36. Overalls part : BIB

37. Billy Dee's "The Empire Strikes Back" role : LANDO. Lando Calrissian. I just have no desire to watch those "Star Wars" movies.

38. Glove material : LATEX

39. How much radio is broadcast : IN STEREO. Did you get the answer immediately?

41. Pharmacist's datum : DOSE

42. Had a life : WAS

43. Tab competitor : DIET RC. Had trouble parsing DIETRC.

51. Site of a sacred building called the Kaaba : MECCA. Here is Kaaba (literally, "the cube") during Hajj. The most sacred building in Islam. So crowded.

52. Resort NE of Los Alamos : TAOS

53. Swarthy : DARK

54. Far from swarthy : PASTY. Nice "swarthy' clecho (clue echo).

55. Dustin's "The Graduate" co-star : ANNE (Bancroft)

56. Word of consequence : ELSE

Down:

1. Bridge call? : AHOY. Oh, ship bridge. Not the bridge game.

2. Pins may be at the ends of them : LANES. Bowling pins.

3. End-of-day destination for many : THE SUBURBS

4. Hardwood sources : ASH TREES. Used to make baseball bats.

5. CNN Gulf War reporter : ARNETT (Peter)

6. Towel off again : REDRY

7. Shrub with tubular flowers : ALOE

8. Anderson of "WKRP in Cincinnati" : LONI

9. Arid : SAHARAN

10. Ducks' home : OREGON. Ducks: University of Oregon. Beavers: Oregon State.

11. "Bye!" : CIAO

12. Like some copies and courts : HARD

13. Social end : IST. End to the word socialist.

18. Winning : AHEAD

19. Lively wit : ESPRIT

24. 1960s-'70s "Jeopardy!" announcer : PARDO (Don). Have faintly heard of the name.

25. __ jure: by the law itself : IPSO

26. Riotous : HYSTERICAL

27. Parisian lover's word : AIME. Love. Je t'aime.

28. Eyewear, commercially : SPEX

29. Home to many Bactrian camels : GOBI. Do you know the name for these camels?

30. Rested : LAIN

31. Some find it hard to carry : TUNE. Tricky clue.

34. 1955 treaty city : WARSAW. Warsaw Pact.

35. Manhattan's FDR Drive is on it : EAST SIDE. Guessed.

37. Traditionally, when women were allowed to propose marriage : LEAP DAY. Was unaware of this tradition.

38. Windblown soil : LOESS. Learned from doing crossword.

40. With an intermission : TWO ACT

41. Neglect : DISUSE

43. Familiar, perhaps : DEMON. Why? Don't get the clue.

44. Industry overseers : CZARS. Like Drug Czar.

45. "The Sopranos" Emmy winner De Matteo : DREA. Her name escaped me.

46. Elephants' predators, in myth : ROCs

47. It may be described in gigs : DATA. So gigs refer to gigabytes?

48. 2006 N.L. MVP __ Howard : RYAN. First baseman for Dennis' Phillies.

49. Sommer of "The Prize" : ELKE

50. Image file letters : BMP. What does BMP stand for, Al? Bitmap?

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday, January 28, 2011 Don Gagliardo

Theme: Get the UGH out of here! The letters UGH are removed from the first word of a common phrase to reveal a different and rib-tickling, knee-slapping, new amusing phrase. As usual, constructor Don G's note is attached at the end of this write-up.

17A. Where to sleep off a bender?: SOT SHELTER. SOughT shelter. SOT being a very common crosswordese for a drunkard.

24A. Anxious campus society?: FRAT WITH TENSION. FRAughT with...FRAT being the accepted abbreviation of fraternity, lots of tension with those sorority girls around.

38A. Hair styling prodigy?: DO BOY. DOughBOY. Okay, I get it, a Hairdo creating young man; better than the poor fool who runs around for a girl, doing what she wants, while she dates his best friend.

46A. Talented jazzman?: CAT WITH THE GOODS. CAughT with...CAT being a cool jazz name forever. How about HERBIE HANCOCK . I did not think you were supposed to use a four word fill?

57A. "Airport music so early?": ENO ALREADY. ENOugh already. Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno is a pioneer in AMBIENT MUSIC . Airport, the same as elevator?

Lemonade here.

A very nice tight theme, two grid spanning theme answers, with no unifier, and a good Friday mix of unknowns, little knowns, with lots of long fill like BOILS DOWN TO, TREADS WATER and CAR FERRY. Let's dig into this G masterpiece.

Across:

1. Plain type?: JANE. Poor Jane, she gets to be both plain, and anonymous as JANE DOE. At least she did not end up as a nickname for a toilet.

5. Company whose name is quacked in ads: AFLAC. Along with the GEICO Gekko, the superstars of advertising; and you question our education system.

10. Finishing nail: BRAD. The little guys with the big heads: hey watch the comments.

14. Work: OPUS, classic Latin, or part of a mini-theme of funny ANIMALS .

15. Sporty Mazda: MIATA. I am afraid they are no longer considered anything.

16. Slick: OILY. We survived the BP oil spill, that was slick in so many ways.

19. Atl. republic since 1944: ICEL. We all love Don G., and this was easy, as ICELAND is one of the few republics in the Atlantic Ocean, and he told us it was an abbr., but I cannot find ICEL used this way anywhere.

20. Aurora's counterpart: EOS. Thanks Al for telling everybody an answer in this puzzle.

21. Smart guy?: ALEC. The expression comes from actual, though dubious PERSON.

22. Pivoting points: FULCRA. "Give me a lever and place to stand, and I can move the world." Archimedes' famous quote on the use of a fulcrum. Personally, it is the place to stand part I find a little silly.

27. La __ Tar Pits: BREA. We have lots of this one, which makes me wonder what you think of Uncle Remus and the Tar Baby ?

28. Yankee nickname: A ROD. The Steinbrenners are upset.

29. Worked with horses, in a way: SHOED. Yes they can be SHOD or SHOED, just do not let them run barehooved in the fields.

31. 2008 Libertarian presidential candidate: BARR. I liked the Newsweek tagline, "Time to Belly up to the Barr," for this CANDIDATE .

33. Like some rugs: OVAL, as are some offices, but rugs are also wool, or blue or...well, it slowed me down.

37. Pool shade: AQUA. Appropriate for a pool to be water colored.

39. Off the mark: WIDE.

40. Abbr. followed by a year: ESTD. The words put in the cornerstone of building for example.

41. Part of the dog days of Dijon: AOUT. Time for the Lemonade lesson on French, Août means simply August (my birth month) and as Kazie discussed, is one of the words where the accent becomes an "s" in Anglais. Dijon being a town as well as a mustard, not to be confused with Col. Mustard in the library with Miss Scarlett.

42. Fund: ENDOW. Lots of rich people endow their Colleges and Universities, and as someone who attended UConn for graduate and undergraduate school, I am not sure if I am embarrassed by the booster who wants his money back because the school hired a loser coach to replace the guy who brought the team to a BCS bowl. Thoughts?

43. Friend of Dalí: SERT. I was not familiar with this ARTIST . I wonder if any of his work hangs at 45. Atterbury Street gallery: TATE?

53. Dag Hammarskjöld's successor: U THANT. As a young person, I was impressed by this man, and recall his saying, "Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves." very timely in the early 60s and still true.

54. Cramming method: ROTE. Drat, I used up all my Kyle Rote material last time.

55. Disturb, as the balance: TIP. I would link O.Neill, but why get political.

56. Frost, say: POET, another easy one I tried to talk myself out of with RIME and HOAR. As a New Englander, I am ashamed. CA, you have one for us?

60. Regarding: IN RE, finally, a tiny law phrase.

61. Dino's love: AMORE, ah, a generic Dino, not the Flintstones' pet.

62. Lhasa __: APSO. Woof woof.

63. Headlights starer: DEER, there are those among us who have notches painted on the side of his or her vehicle marking the unfortunate end of wild life on the highway, but I will not name names.

64. Mearth's mother, in a '70s-'80s sitcom: MINDY. The baby, played by Jonathan Winters, I like the name so much, I called my mother Mearth for years. She perhaps did not enjoy it as much as I.

65. Flunky: PEON. Maybe we can introduce him to our do boy.

Okay, it is all down hill from here.

Down:

1. Pianist Hofmann: JOSEF. I loves me a good CHOPIN both music and vodka, but did not know this fella.

2. "I'm just __ wayfaring stranger": song lyric: A POOR. More JOHNNY CASH ?

3. More than just into: NUTS ABOUT. Now in trying to teach anyone English, imagine explaining the many uses of the word NUTS, which can be so good, so mean, so yummy and so confusing. And the accompanying, 42D. More than ready: EAGER.

4. Indirect route: ESS. Our old friend the ess curve, wound its way back.

5. Earhart of the air: AMELIA. Well, we blessed bloggers of CC's domain, seem to always have at least one clue that fits the writer, and if you examine my latest avatar, you will see my brand new grand niece, AMELIA, born on Tuesday. How does Rich do that? I thought Amy Adams was a cute one, btw.

6. Sole order: FILET. Yes, please, no bones about it.

7. Door fastener: LATCH. I will always think of the controversy about the KIDS . We never locked the house, so it was not meaningful for us.

8. Scarfed up: ATE. makes it sound so yummy.

9. Frequent Martha's Vineyard arrival: CAR FERRY. If only Teddy had taken the ferry. There are bad jokes about the other ferries on cape cod, but they are only meant to amuse.

10. Is, when simplified: BOILS DOWN TO. Does the word convoluted come to mind? I really like this clue, but it took some serious unwinding to figure where he was headed.

11. "Sleepy Hollow" actress: RICCI. Little Wednesday from the Addams Family all GROWED UP .

12. Olds that replaced the Achieva: ALERO, if they sold as many as we see in puzzles, they might still be in business.

13. Singer/songwriter born Robert Zimmerman: DYLAN. A shout out from Hibbings, Minnesota to all our frozen friends.

18. Spoke uncertainly: HAWED. In case you forgot so quickly, it's back.

23. Card game with a pre-victory warning: UNO. I am sorry, but my family played SKIP-BO more.

25. Stays afloat, in a way: TREADS WATER. I really like this one.

26. Fateful card: TAROT. My youngest started reading them when he was 10, influenced by another boys mother, but that is another story.

29. MS. enclosure: SAE, I guess they ran out of stamps.

30. Operations ctrs.: HQS, headquarters, very military.

31. Diner option: BOOTH, would you like a table or a clean spoon?

32. __ Dhabi: ABU. The capital of the UAE, and one of the richest cities in the world, but the name means father of gazelles. If you have that much oil money, don't you think you could pick a better name?

34. Incriminating record, maybe: VIDEO TAPE. CSI has taught us to look out for all those cameras watching s everywhere.

35. Foofaraw: ADO. Wow, never heard of this really sweet word, I wish it were the fill, not the clue.

36. Kareem, at UCLA: LEW, Abdul-Jabbar back when he was an Alcindor.

38. Competitive missile hurlers: DART TEAM. In the Nero Wolfe series, the notoriously sedentary and fat, main character took up throwing darts as part of his exercise routine to prepare for world war two. That was the first time I heard darts called missiles; some funny scenes with Archie. And our near clecho, 46D. Missile-shooting god: CUPID.

44. German article: EIN. One.

45. Big name in tea: TETLEY. Were you LIPTON or TETLEY as a kid?

47. Make restitution: ATONE. A good clue for a nice Jewish boy like me.

48. "Ta-da!": THERE. I wish he had saved this for last and I could use to set up my exit line.

49. Town on the Firth of Clyde: TROON. Well, for GAH and the many golf addicts, this was a gimme, because this town is site of Royal Troon, one of the courses used to host the Open Championship, and where Arnold Palmer won his second Open title in 1962. revitalizing european golf, just as he had american golf.

50. Emulate Scrooge: HOARD. Why do I think of Scrooge McDuck, not the Dickens character?

51. Playground retort: DID SO. DID NOT!

52. Watch from the trees, say: SPY ON, a favorite of stalkers of all ages.

58. Feature of a two-ltr. monogram: NMI, no middle initial; just lazy parents.

59. "The Gold-Bug" monogram: EAP. Baltimore's own Edgar Allen Poe; I guess the flowers will be no more, like Marilyn, the vigil is over.

Answer grid.

Well that was fun; sadly after getting half finished I sneezed and erased all of my work, so it was an Emily Litella time for me. Thanks Don and have a fine week end all.

Lemonade

Note from Don G:

"No Ugh

I could have called this DONUT HOLE, because at some point in history someone got lazy and left out the UGH in DOUGHNUT, thus the hole.  That thought started me on this theme, although DONUT HOLE as a theme answer got lost in the process.  I remember having difficulty at one point in the construction process and mistakenly used the word TOUGH or ROUGH going down.  That is a nono, because strictly speaking it breaks the rule of the theme.  After all, we don’t want to confuse the solver.  Lastly, since there is no UGH, I suppose the puzzle doesn’t stink!  I knew someone of you would have thought of that angle."

Thursday, Jan 27, 2011 Dan Naddor & Doug Peterson

Theme: An unhealthy obsession: 45D. Feeling of resentment associated with the last words of the starred answers: GRUDGE. Better to forgive and remember.

17A. *Yellowstone Park beast: GRIZZLY BEAR. To bear a grudge, as in carrying it as a burden.

28A. *Fort McHenry defended it in 1814: BALTIMORE HARBOR. Harbor from "herebeorg", a place of protection for an army or horde, (later ships). To shelter within and defend.

43A. *Medical professional: REGISTERED NURSE. To nurse is to nurture and make stronger. It comes from the sense to suckle an infant to make it grow.

55A. *Feature of many customer service calls: MUSIC ON HOLD. To hold a grudge is to tend it and keep it as property.

Hi all, Al here.

Interesting partnership today. When I read Doug's note (see the end of the write-up for how this happened), for some reason this tribute/collaboration came to mind.

ACROSS:

1. Checkbook no.: ACCT. Number is abbreviated "no." from Latin "numero", a form of numerus.

5. Mason of "The Goodbye Girl": MARSHA. Also a vampire in the "Dark Shadows" soap.

11. Cinephile's cable channel: AMC. American Movie Classics.

14. Par: NORM.

15. Delta competitor: UNITED.

16. "Turn on the heat!": BRR.

19. The Mustangs of the NCAA's Conference USA: SMU. Southern Methodist University. Good thing they didn't add "of Technology" to the title.

20. Work like a dog: MOIL. To labor in the muck and mire.

21. Flooring material: PLYWOOD. Ah, ok, the underlayment, not the finishing material.

23. The Grammys, e.g.: EVENT.

25. Egyptian Christian: COPT.

27. Prado hangings: ARTE. Museo del Prado in Spain.

31. Norwegian noble name: OLAV. Also spelled with an "f" instead of "v". Wait for perps.

32. "__ Yankee Doodle ...": I'M A. From the musical "Little Johnny Jones" written by George Cohan. Made into a movie: "Yankee Doodle Dandy" starring James Cagney. I don't think there were any dirty rats in it.

33. Swelter: FRY. Swelter originally meant to burn slowly, thus overcome with heat or fever.

34. 50-Across's st.: NEB.raska to go along with 50A. Home of Creighton University: OMAHA.

35. A director may ask for more of it: EMOTION.

37. Justice Dept. agency: FBI.

40. Curly smacker: MOE. Two of the three stooges, always slapping each other. My favorite clue today. This reminded me the most of Dan.

41. Lacto-__ vegetarian: OVO. One who will eat dairy and eggs, but not meat. Compare to pescetarian (will eat fish but not red meat), and vegan, no animal products at all.

42. Provoke: GOAD. From Old English "gad", spearhead or arrowhead.

48. Puts on the tube: AIRS.

49. Tampa Bay squad: RAYS. Until 2007, they were the Devil Rays, which are perfectly legitimate sea creatures. Then the PC police won again.

51. Seasonal pharmacy offering: FLU SHOT. Perhaps people might try vitamin D3 and probiotics so that your resistance will increase instead. People living in northern latitudes do not get enough sunshine for sufficient D3 production.

53. Red ink: LOSS. OK, maybe this only appeals to my sense of humor, but on the Wiki page for "in the red", the link color for "net loss" appears in red. (Meaning they lost the article it used to point to..)

54. Served dinner: FED. Wanted ATE, even though it seemed ungrammatical.

60. Race segment: LEG. Wanted LAP instead. These two in this area slowed my solving time down a bit.

61. Spoke out: OPINED.

62. Fit to be drafted: ONE-A. Again, a wait for at least one perp because a-one is sometimes clued instead.

63. GPS heading: ENE.

64. Martial arts instructor: SENSEI. A Japanese address for a person above your status, such as a teacher, lawyer, doctor, editor, etc. In Tae Kwon Do, the term for instructor is Sa Bum Nim.

65. "My word!": EGAD. Euphemism for "Oh, God".

DOWN:

1. "Hulk" director Lee: ANG. I wasn't all that fond of his Hulk, but I suppose it would be too cliche to use Crouching Tiger instead.

2. __ anglais: English horn: COR. A french term, it is neither English, nor a horn, more similar to an oboe and half again as long. It got the name from the German word engellisches horn, which meant angelic horn, as it resembled the depicted instruments in statues of angels, but engellisch also was vernacular for English, and the name stuck.

3. Forensic test site: CRIME LAB. I guess that's where they (pause, puts on sunglasses) "flesh out" the evidence... Yaaaaaaaaaa!

4. Celebrity gossip show: TMZ ON TV. A television show that came from a website. TMZ refers to the Thirty Mile Zone, the studio zone of downtown Hollywood.

5. Ponder: MULL. To grind or powderize (thoughts), related to mill, perhaps. Also to sweeten, spice and heat a drink, as mulled wine.

6. Unspecified amount: ANY.

7. Messy barbecue morsel: RIB.

8. Grassy plain: STEPPE.

9. Nutritionist's recommendation: HEALTH FOOD. Here's a clue: if it actually has a label on it claiming to be health food, it probably isn't. Stick with whole unprocessed foods.

10. Hit __ spell: A DRY.

11. Engross: ABSORB. From Latin "absorbere", to swallow up.

12. Sleuth played by Peter Lorre: MR MOTO. You might also see this as Marquand's (John P.) sleuth.

13. Less refined: CRUDER. Latin "crudus", rough, not cooked, raw, bloody.

18. Pasta often baked: ZITI. Like elbow noodles, only straight.

22. On one's guard: WARY.

23. Black, in stanzas: EBON.

24. Low area: VALE.

25. "We get letters" '50s-'60s TV singer/host: COMO. His second RCA LP release, of songs requested via viewer mail on his show, recorded just about the time I was born.

26. Rhetorical skill: ORATORY. Public speaking.

29. Group that goes through the motions?: MIME TROUPE. Apparently there are actually mime troupes, but more in the sense of mimicry, as in satiric presentation of public figures and "official" stories, not pantomime as the clue suggests.

30. "Prince Valiant" character: ARN. A comic strip running since 1937, there were two characters with that name: Prince Arn of Orn, who gave Val the singing sword, and Arn, Val's son, who was named for the former.

35. Dawn goddess: EOS. A greek Titan, sister to Helios, the sun, and Selene, the moon. In Roman mythology they were Aurora, Sol, and Luna.

36. Currier's colleague: IVES. "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Prints", lithographs.

37. Inexpensively: FOR A SONG. More aptly, for the performance of a song.

38. Spirited party: BASH. From striking violently, to a violent drunken spree, to a wild party.

39. "What's the big __?": IDEA.

40. Pageant title: MISS. I didn't want to put that in at first, it seemed too easy.

42. Sam Spade, e.g., slangily: GUMSHOE. Literally from the gum rubber shoes they wore to sneak around.

43. School fund-raiser: RAFFLE.

44. Astronaut Collins: EILEEN. First woman to command the space shuttle.

46. Dirties the dishes: EATS IN.

47. Cinematic showdown hour: NOON. Latin "nona hora" the ninth hour of daylight, or canonical hour of nones was really 3 PM at first. The meaning shift from "3 p.m." to "12 p.m." began during 12c., when the time of Church prayers shifted from ninth hour to sixth hour, or perhaps because the customary time of the midday meal shifted, or both.

52. Wellness gps.: HMOS. Health Maintenance Organization. St. Peter told one of the directors who was present before him: "Well, you may enter the kingdom of Heaven, but you can only stay for three days."

53. City near Sacramento: LODI. CCR.

56. Aetna's bus.: INS. Business, insurance abbrevs.

57. So-so grade: CEE.

58. Rural expanse: LEA. No doubt wordplay on the similarity to the "Great expanse" sea clue we see so often.

59. Pops: DAD.

Answer Grid.

A note from Doug:

"The puzzle uses a theme that Dan sent to Rich for approval. Rich liked it, but unfortunately Dan didn't get a chance to make the puzzle. So a few months ago, Rich asked me if I'd like to try to construct a puzzle around this theme. What an honor! I met Dan a couple of times, and he was passionate and opinionated about his puzzles. I hope I got a little of his spirit into this one. I'm especially happy with the long downs, and I think this grid represents a nice mixture of our styles."

Al

PS: Rich said there are enough Dan Naddors in his pipeline to last us til April.

Wednesday, Jan 26, 2011, Robert A. Doll

Theme: HOLY COW, BATMAN! Each is the name of a comic superhero, clued as the name of his or her 'civilian' name.

17A. Diana Prince's alter ego : WONDER WOMAN. Very interesting, the creator of Wonder Woman was William Moulton Marston, a psychologist and the inventor of the polygraph. He wanted to create a new kind of superhero that thrived off of intelligence and love. But it was actually his wife, Elizabeth, who had the idea to make the new character a woman. Another woman, who was in a relationship with the both of them, Olive Byrne, also served as a model for the character that would be Wonder Woman.

24A. Peter Parker's alter ego : SPIDERMAN. Spidey gets his girl.

31A. Britt Reid's alter ego : THE GREEN HORNET. Anyone seen the new movie?

37A. Steve Rogers's alter ego : CAPTAIN AMERICA

48A. Linda Lee Danvers's alter ego : SUPERGIRL

56A. Reed Richards's alter ego : MR FANTASTIC. One of the Fantastic Four (with the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and Thing).

And a bonus:

53D. Lee who co-created 24-Across : STAN. Lee also co-created 56-Across (The Fantastic Four), Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, The X-Men, and ... serious ... Stripperella.

SUPER-fun puzzle, I love heavy themeage - count 'em, SIX theme answers. Not a big comic reader, but all these characters were familiar enough to be gettable. Peter Parker was the only alter-ego name I knew.

Across:

1. Place to chill out : SPA. Batcave wouldn't fit. I spend my share of time at the spa, and then some.

4. "In all likelihood ..." : ODDS ARE

11. Hollywood hrs. : PST. Hollywood, California is on Pacific Standard Time.

14. Many, many moons : EON

15. Land purveyor : REALTOR. Just spoke with one yesterday.

16. Mr. __!: old whodunit game : REE. Detective board game that pre-dates Clue - never heard of it.

19. Have some grub : EAT

20. Wore : HAD ON

21. Thus : LIKE SO

23. Cutting the mustard : ABLE

27. Arctic explorer John : RAE. 1813-1893. Scottish doctor who surveyed parts of the Northwest Passage (a sea route through the Arctic Ocean).

28. Quetzalcoatl worshiper : AZTEC. Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered-serpent"

30. Aromatherapist's supply : OILS. I use these a lot in my practice - they are fun to blend.

35. Bite for Mister Ed : OAT

36. Bray beginning : HEE. The sound a donkey makes, "hee-haw."

45. "Kubla Khan" river : ALPH. Had to google to learn that "Journey on the River Alph" is a collection of Poetry by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His poem "Kubla Khan" was the inspiration behind the Realm of Xanadu cyber-novel. I'll leave the rest to to Clear Ayes.

46. Meted (out) : DOLED

47. XV years before the Battle of Hastings : MLI. I always have to guess with these.

51. Trade punches : SPAR

52. Sound acquisition? : STEREO

53. More artful : SLIER. Looks odd spelled that way.

55. Flight board abbr. : ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival.

61. Bis plus one, to a pharmacist : TER. Latin. “bis in die” twice a day; "ter in die" three times a day.

62. Lizards with dewlaps : IGUANAS

63. "__ Hunters": History Channel show with the tagline "Hoax or History?" : UFO. Have only heard of House Hunters.

64. Many SAT takers : SRS. Seniors.

65. Abundant flow : TORRENT. Wet and relentless.

66. Pink Floyd guitarist Barrett : SYD

Down

1. Use a Singer : SEW

2. High-muck-a-muck : POOHBAH

3. "General Hospital" actress : ANNA LEE. Lila Quartermane. Died in 2004 at 91. Didn't know this, don't watch soaps.

4. Cookie that might flavor a McFlurry : OREO

5. "Jurassic Park" actress : DERN. Loved her in Rambling Rose.

6. Margery of kids' rhyme : DAW. See saw Margery Daw.

7. Road warning : SLO

8. Source of 20s, for short : ATM. Automatic Teller Machine.

9. Author Dahl : ROALD. Author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and my favorite, James and the Giant Peach, among others.

10. "Sesame Street" regular : ERNIE

11. Early arrival : PREEMIE. Premature, uh ... delivery.

12. Natural seasoning : SEA SALT

13. Jackson Hole backdrop : TETONS. Ansel Adams picture, The Tetons and The Snake River.

18. HST's successor : DDE. Dwight D. Eisenhower; Harry S. Truman.

22. Danish coins : KRONER

23. Museum fare : ART

24. Canonized mlle. : STE. STE = Saint. Mlle = Mademoiselle (French equivalent of "miss.") The process by which someone becomes a saint is called canonization.

25. Write : PEN. Verb.

26. Cologne pronoun : ICH. German for me.

28. "How now? __?": Hamlet, before mistakenly slaying Polonius : A RAT. In Act 3, Scene 4, Hamlet mistakes Polonius for the King. "Oh shame, where is thy blush?" Favorite all time play, bar none.

29. Letter after epsilon : ZETA. Greek.

32. Burrowing rodent : GOPHER

33. "Alas" : OH ME

34. Swamp growth : REED

37. Disorder : CLUTTER. Bothers me.

38. Shows up : APPEARS

39. Infamous Amin : IDI. Seeing this pretty regularly lately.

40. Postal motto word : NOR. The original saying was actually "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" and was said about 2500 years ago by the Greek historian, Herodotus. He said this adage during the war between the Greeks and Persians about 500 B.C. in reference to the Persian mounted postal couriers whom he observed and held in high esteem.

41. Every last one : ALL

42. Driving force : IMPETUS. A moving force; impulse; stimulus.

43. Elucidate : CLARIFY

44. Make public : AIR

45. Balance sheet heading : ASSETS

49. Send in the check : REMIT

50. 1961 British movie monster : GORGO. A British, underwater Godzilla.

51. Sasha, to Malia : SIS. The first daughters.

54. In the cellar, so to speak : LAST

57. Jet set garb : FUR

58. Rhine feeder : AAR. In the Swiss Alps, flows through Bern, see?

59. Tuscaloosa-to-Huntsville dir. : NNE

60. New England catch : COD

This theme reminded me the game Superheroes, from "Whose Line is it Anyway," still makes me laugh.

Answer grid.

Melissa

Interview with Marti DuGuay-Carpenter

Some of us were impressed by the ICON ARTISTS alternative theme answer HeartRx came up with for the IRATE MOVIES puzzle in early January. Well, it's no accident. She's today's constructor Marti DuGuay-Carpenter.

Marti joined our blog last year, and she has been consistently entertaining us with her astute observations on puzzles and various topics on the blog. Her bubbling personality, sense of humor and caring nature shine through her various posts.

Congratulations on the debut, Marti. We're very proud of and pleased for you!

How does this "Missing Link" theme idea come to you? What are the other theme entries you also considered?

I was reading the news online and came across the headline "Bait and Switch: Online Electronics Store Caught in Fraud". As I was falling asleep that night, I thought it would be really funny if a fishing tackle store got caught changing fishing lures, because that would be a "Bait switch". I played around with other "conjunction" phrases like "fair square", "bits pieces", "short sweet" etc. But it was difficult to come up with ones that would make sense when clued. I finally settled on "Movers Shakers" and "Trial Error". I would have liked to have had more theme entries, but after reading Nancy Salomon's advice on Cruciverb, I decided it was better to have only three solid fills, than to have four or five with a couple "iffy" ones.

Was this puzzle accepted on the first try? Which part of the grid gave you the most trouble while constructing?

When I first submitted the puzzle, Mr Norris had a few minor changes in the mid-west. After I re-did those, he accepted it without any further adjustments. The hardest part of the grid was the SE. I wanted to put a theme unifier "and" in the last spot, but that left me with an awkward " - - - R - A" to fill. I really didn't like ILIAC for the crossing of SIERRA, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and move on (sigh).

Tell us a bit about your background. What do you do for a living and what prompted you to make your first crossword?

My background is in the medical field, and I worked in research for many years. Now I am in biotech, and export medical diagnostic products to Germany and Austria. I guess I am a very analytical person because I love tackling problems, whether its a research hypothesis or a marketing issue. I like setting challenging goals for myself, just to see if I can meet them. So in July of 2010 I decided to try my hand at constructing crosswords. I found out that it is a very different experience to construct than it is to solve. The left side of the brain is dominant for me when solving or actually filling the grid. But the right side definitely comes into the forefront when thinking of themes and cluing the puzzle.

How long have you been solving crosswords? Which constructors often inspire you?

I have been solving puzzles for over 45 years, and can't get enough. I always enjoyed ones by the late Dan Naddor, but Gail Grabowski, Barry Silk and Don (Hard G) Gagliardo are at the top of the list, too. For some reason, I can always relate to their sense of humor. But it's their tight themes, cleverness and sparkling fill that always makes me want more.

How does participating in our blog influence the way you develop clues/design a grid?

This blog has had a great impact on the way I look at crosswords. I will re-work entire sections of a grid just to get rid of the dreaded "e-" word (like e-tail, e-zine, e-date, e-tc). But it is the regulars who do the daily write-ups that really make me think about how I create a theme or fill the grid. You guys are quite brilliant when it comes to "de-structing" a puzzle, and making sense of it. So I always have to run my puzzles by you "in my head", to try to figure out how you would look at a particular entry or theme. If it passes that test with a positive answer, then I'm pretty sure it will be a good one.

Besides crossword, what else do you do for fun?

The best fun in life is just being able to enjoy it. I am a breast cancer survivor, so every new day is a gift, and I try to remember to say "Thank you" for each one. Most of my hobbies involve the outdoors: Skiing, golfing, kayaking, hiking, biking and gardening. But I also love to read, and have belonged to the same book club for more than five years. It's always interesting to hear other people's views on the current book, and that makes it a much more absorbing experience than if I just read for my own pleasure. And I never know when a word or idea might lead to a new puzzle!