Friday May 13, 2011 Gary Lowe

Theme: Quasi-Spoonerisms. This puzzle was a blushing crow for me (Marti), as my burst flog on The Corner. Top that off with a major glog blitch, and I am a wervous neck. Sorry, but there are no links today because of the blog problems…just insert your own, where desired.

In this puzzle, common phrases are sort of “Spoonerized” ( swapping of consonant sounds. Wanted a link here…) with nackey whew meanings.

20A. Red-hot entrée? : HELLS CHICKEN. Hell’s Kitchen. The location of “West Side Story”. Once a depressed area, it is now the home of many actors because of its proximity to the Broadway theaters and the Actor’s Studio school.

33A. Bather using magnesium sulfate? : SALTED TUBBER. Salted Butter. Many recipes call for “Unsalted Butter”. Why, when the recipe then calls for the addition of salt? Maybe Jeannie Knows…

42A. Avoidance of chewy candy? :NON-TAFFY DIET. Non-fatty diet. Like Jack Sprat’s fare…

58A. Best man's moment of uncertainty? :TOAST STAMMER. Toast Master. Is this the guy who can cook the breakfast bread perfectly?

Across:

1. Newspaper section :DESK. Hands up for those who penned in “Op-Ed”?

5. Deafening : AROAR. Aaah..the “A” list.

10. Drop hints, say :: FISH. As in, fish for compliments.

14. Required payment : ANTE. “Ya gotta pay to play.”

15. Regional woodland : SILVA. I know the term “sylvan”, but this one totally escaped me. Anyone?

16. Strength : AREA. Forte.

17. Shipmate of Starkey : SMEE. From “Peter Pan”, Starkey was the first mate on the Jolly Roger.

18. Donny and Marie's hometown : OGDEN. Utah. Donny and Marie Osmond. Who didn’t know?

19. "In my opinion ..." : I SAY…a little prayer for youuuuu! (Insert link here.)

23. Night class subj. : ESL. English as a Second Language.

24. Observance : RITE

25. Book before Job : ESTHER

29. Siskiyou County peak : SHASTA. Fifth-highest peak in California. (Insert google map link here).

31. "Life __ a Highway": 1992 Tom Cochrane hit: IS A. I thought it was a bowl of cherries?

32. Charlottesville sch. :UVA. University of Virginia, home of the Cavaliers. Their cornerback, Ras-I Dowling was just taken in the second round draft by the N.E. Patriots. Welcome to Massachusetts!

37. It's heard around the water cooler: GLUG. Or at the bar…

40. Schiller's "An die Freude," e.g. : ODE. An die Freude means "to joy", in German (Kazie, confirm?). “Ode to Joy” is best known for its musical setting in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Sorry, no link…(it was a really good one!!) (You would have been happy all day...)

41. Roman existence : ESSE. Sum, es, est, sumus, estis, sunt…Latin 101.

47. "Aladdin" monkey : ABU. Voiced by Frank Welker, who has appeared in 93 films, with a combined gross income of $5.7 billion!

48. Actor Gulager: CLU. Kind of obscure actor…his most notable role was as “Billy the Kid” in a 1960-62 series called “The Tall man”. Never heard of it....or him.

49. Nats division: NL EAST. National League East. Baseball division, and the Washington Nationals. C.C. could write an essay, I’m sure…

53. Beefsteak, for one: TOMATO. Yummm…I can’t wait for my recently planted beefsteaks to produce fruit!

55. Sign of disrespect: SASS.

57. Sweater letter: RHO. Rho, rho, rho your boat…

61. Altar neighbor: APSE. This one really got me for a while. Different clue from the usual “church recess”.

64. Associate with: TIE TO. Hmmmm…I don’t usually tie to questionable characters…

65. Phone button letters: OPER. PQRS? WXYZ? Nope!

66. Bantu language: ZULU.

67. Matrimony, for one: UNION. “All marriages are happy. It’s the living together afterwards that causes all the problems…”

68. Tannin source: WINE.. Also the source of resveratrol. In some experiments, resveratrol has been shown to be a source of anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, blood-sugar-lowering, and other beneficial cardiovascular effects. So, “Cheers!” at sunset, Tinbeni (with a glass of wine).

69. "Smokey and the Bandit" vehicle feature: T-TOP. Sorry, I was going to link Sally Field in sexy jeans and a t-top.

70. Rigatoni alternative: PENNE.

71. Hang: STAY. Stay in there!

And now for the “physically lower” ones:

Down:

1. Bolts: DASHES. Or dits…

2. Get tangled: ENMESH, Oh, what an enmeshed web we weave…

3. Designer McCartney: STELLA. “STELLL-AAH!!!” (insert link to “A Streetcar Named Desire”).

4. Nautical beam: KEEL. Not “lighthouse”?

5. Not prone to making small talk: ASOCIAL. Laconic, like my dad. But when he did speak, we listened!

6. Entitlement: RIGHT

7. Classic number: OLDIE. But “goodie”. (Insert link to your favorite oldie but goodie here...)

8. "Voulez-vous coucher __ moi?": "Lady Marmalade" lyric: AVEC. Believe it or not, this song was considered “risqué” in its day! The phrase also appeared in the play “Streetcar Named Desire”. (“STELLL-AAH!!! – voulez vous coucher avec moi, ce soi?”)

9. Most objectionable: RANKEST.

10. Timid: FAINT. I almost timid-ed when I heard that I had finally had a crossword published!

11. Sched. producer: IRS. Sched. 1040.

12. Vast quantity: SEA.

13. Horse power?: HAY. Loved this clue!

21. Sp. title: SRTA.

22. Biblical pottage recipient: ESAU. OK, I had to look this one up. Pottage is a stew: “Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.” Huh? All over a bowl of stew???

26. Nerve centers: HUBS. . Or, airline centers.

27. New Years' highlights: EVES. Yes, the eves are much better than the next day’s hangovers…

28. Like white rhinos and black swans: RARE. I saw a white rhino and her new-born baby at the zoo in Basel, Switzerland. A rare sight, indeed!

30. Certain NCO: SSGT. . Whew! No debate about army vs. marines today.

31. Challenged, in a way: ID'ED. . Hmmm…not sure about “challenged”. Fingered, nailed, labeled…maybe.

34. Meatless protein source: TOFU.

35. Eponymous ice cream maker: EDY.

36. Nice beast: BETE. Literally, “beast”, in French (Nice, France). As in “bête noir” (black beast), or “bugaboo". My “bête noir” is names in x-word puzzles. What’s yours?

37. Punkie, e.g.: GNAT. Punkie, gnat, no-see-ums. Regional nicknames for flying pests.

38. Timber wolf: LOBO. Spanish for “wolf”.

39. Word in a coined phrase?: UNUM. “E Pluribus Unum” on U.S. coins. This was probably my favorite clue in this puzzle!

43. X-__: tool brand: ACTO.

44. Rise, as a balloon: FLOAT UP. Like Ed Asner in the Pixar movie.

45. Not debatable: IN STONE.

46. "The Sound of Music" baroness: ELSA. Elsa Schräder, Maria’s rival for Captain Von Trapp’s affection.

50. Secret spot?: ARMPIT. HaHa. Loved this one too! Secret deoderant, used in the pits.

51. Jungle queen: SHEENA. Queen of the Jungle and comic book heroine. Wanted another link here…

52. Early 20th-century presidential portraitist: TORREY. George Burroughs Torrey, portraitist of Teddy Roosevelt, William Taft, Herbert Hoover, et al.

54. Absorbed eagerly: ATE UP.

55. Hofbrau vessel; STEIN. . When I was in Germany two weeks ago, we went to a hofbrau and lifted a few steins…

56. __ Martin: ASTON. British luxury sports car. I really wanted to link here, as I used to own a Morgan, which looks suspiciously like the 1939 Aston-Martin...

59. Math ratio: SINE.

60. Cuts: MOWS. Reminds me, I have to mow the lawn this weekend…

61. HIV-treating drug: AZT. (Azidothymidine)

62. Bear's option, on Wall Street: PUT.. Put and call options have long been among the most baffling to investors. And crossword solvers...

63. __-pitch: SLO. Slo Long, for now!

Answer grid.

Marti

Notes from C.C.:

1) I'm pleased to announce that HeartRx (Marti) has agreed to blog 1-2 times a month for us from now on.

2) Blogger has been down due to its maintenance glitch. Or maybe it's overwhelmed by Marti's power.

3) Lemonade will back next Friday.

4) Blogger is working hard restoring Thursday post/comments. They're not permanently gone.

5) Happy Birthday, Jeannie!

Thursday, May 12, 2011, Mangesh Sakharam Ghogre

Theme: Machine Language. All the clues are powers of 2: binary numbers, the way computers (or phone texters) communicate.

17A. 8?: HAD DINNER. Ate. (2³ or 0000 1000 in binary)

26A. 2?: EXCESSIVELY. Too. (2¹ or 0000 0010)

50A. 1?: TOOK THE GOLD. Won. (2⁰ or 0000 0001)

62A. 4?: IN FAVOR OF. For. (2² or 0000 0100)

39A. They're not literal, and this puzzle's title: FIGURES OF SPEECH. In math terms, numbers are "figures".

Hi all, Al here on Thursday, Thursday, gotta get down on Thursday... Any Rebecca Black fans? Oh, Friday, you say. Well, I guess that's as close as I'll ever get to being infamous.

I found the puzzle today strangely slow going at first, but it wasn't really all that hard, I just wasn't tuned in. The theme today was fairly modern and enjoyably geeky, even though I refuse to abbreviate my own text like that. I would have liked to see the clues appear in numeric or reverse numeric order though, to give it a third level of complexity, but still pretty tricky.

ACROSS:

1. Not quite dry: DAMP. Originally meant "a noxious vapor", the phrase "come in out of the damp" was from the notion of the night air being bad and miasmatic gasses arising from the soil.

5. "Battle Cry" author: URIS. Leon. A tale of a mixed-ethnic group of Marine enlistees coming together as a close-knit fighting unit.

9. Yippie name: ABBIE. Hoffman. Youth International Party, anti-Vietnam protests, the Chicago eight at first, then down to seven when Bobby Seale (Black Panthers founder) was singled out and tried separately.

14. French darling: AMIE.

15. Reduce bit by bit: PARE.

16. Virginia political family: BYRDS. Harry Flood Byrd and son (Jr.).  I prefer the musical group.

19. "Back Stabbers" group, with "The": OJAYS.

20. Ones with dark-spotted faces: DICE. Possibly my favorite clue for the puzzle today. You can always tell, without looking or touching, what the bottom number on a six-sided die is by subtracting the top from seven.

21. Annual draft org.: NBA. National Basketball Association.

23. 46th U.S. state: OKLA.homa.  Wolverine sings!

24. Nuevo __: Peruvian currency: SOL. A lesson in run-away economics, the original currency, the inti became so hyperinflated that new money had to be issued in 1991 at the rate of 1 sol = 1 million inti.

29. Dig up: UNEARTH.

31. "Ain't __ Sweet": SHE.  Some Beatles accompanied with 57A. Its full name means "jumping flea" in Hawaiian: UKE.

32. Pastures: LEAS.

33. Protein building block, for short: AMINO. Amino Acids. Haven't ever seen or heard it used in this shortened form.

36. Animal's stomach: MAW. Learn something new every day.  I used to think this word just meant a gaping mouth.

43. Happy hour order: ALE.  Ale, ale, the gang's all here!

44. Varnish resin: ELEMI.

45. When doubled, a fish: MAHI. I already think I know what JZB will say, half-baked, probably.

46. "Wheel of Fortune" purchase: AN I.

47. Contrary retort: DOES NOT. Playground rhetoric. The height of forensic capabilities.

55. Female rabbit: DOE. Whale? Cow.  Elephant? Cow.  You'd think there would be more original names for those.  At least a female swan is called something different, a PEN.

56. Business head?: AGRI. A prefix clue.  Agribusiness is a portmanteau of agriculture and business, referring to the range of activities and disciplines encompassed by modern food production.

58. Raison d'__: ETRE. French, "reason or justification for existance". Kiss.

60. Insipid: BLAND.  Orig. from Latin blandus "mild, smooth, flattering, alluring".  Current meaning probably influenced by blasé.

66. It's slower than adagio: LENTO. Musical terms, Italian.

67. Somber genre: NOIR. French for black.

68. "Up in the Air" Oscar nominee Farmiga: VERA. With George Clooney, a movie about downsizing, apparently. Why anyone would go to see that is beyond me.

69. First noble gas discovered: ARGON. The third most common gas in the Earth's atmosphere, more common than carbon dioxide.

70. Lake Michigan city: GARY. Indiana.

71. Noted sin scene: EDEN. As in original sin.

DOWN:

1. Morse character: DAH. Or DIT, or even DOT.

2. Org. featuring seasonal flu information: AMA. American Medical Association. Vitamin D3, and probiotics for prevention.

3. Fifties, say: MIDDLE AGE.

4. Start to cure?: PEDI. Another prefix. A Pedicure is foot care.

5. After the current act: UP NEXT.

6. Operated: RAN.

7. Goddess of peace: IRENE. Greek mythology.  Roman equivalent: PAX.

8. Some Bosnians: SERBS.

9. Donor classification letters: ABO. Blood types, A, B, AB, and O, along with Rh+ and - are the most-known, but actually Rh by itself has 50 types, where D, C, c, E, and e are the main 5.  The + or minus only refers to the D form.  And ABO/Rh are only two out of 30 blood group systems. It is much more complicated than you can imagine and has its own discipline called immunohaematology.

10. Exclamation from Colonel Pickering: BY JOVE. Jovis Pater (Jupiter), also linked to a euphemistic shortening of Jehova.

11. Start to stop: BRAKE. As in "apply the". Caught me trying to think of a prefix at first.

12. Pastoral poem: IDYLL.  Latin idyllium, from Gk. eidyllion "a little picture".

13. Common college admissions requirement: ESSAY. Latin exigere "test"

18. Cake finisher: ICER. Didn't get caught thinking about suffixes. There's a video game called Portal that tells you: "the cake is a lie", which basically is a metaphor for unkept promises made to you in an effort to get you to finish some task.

22. Like-minded gps.: ASSNS. Groups, associations.

Wednesday, May 11 2011, Mike Peluso

Theme:

couleurs du drapeau français

3D. Stuffed chicken dish : CORDON BLEU. blue ribbon. chicken stuffed with ham and swiss cheese. in french culinary tradition, the cordon bleu is awarded to food or chefs of particularly high quality.

5D. Loire Valley grape : CHENIN BLANC.. a white wine grape variety grown in california and the loire valley of france.

25D. Paris nightspot : MOULIN ROUGE. red mill. cabaret in the red-light district of paris.

31. Its colors appear in proper sequence at the ends of 3-, 5- and 25-Down : FRENCH FLAG

melissa here. The theme entries are arranged vertically for visual effect.

i expect a few groans from solvers who dislike foreign words.

Across:

1. Letters on some pre-1992 Olympic uniforms :CCCP. soyuz sovyetskikh sotsialisticheskikh respublik, i.e. union of soviet socialist republics. In the russian alphabet, the equivalent of "s" looks like the Roman "c", and the equivalent of "r" looks like our "p."

5. Suze Orman's network : CNBC

9. Bygone Mideast leaders : SHAHS

14. Landlocked Asian country : LAOS

15. Take on : HIRE

16. Best Supporting Actress before Paquin : TOMEI. marisa. needed perps. would anyone besides marisa or anna know the answer from that clue?

17. Other, in Oaxaca : OTRA

18. Verve : ELAN

19. To the left, at sea : APORT

20. Divinity : GODLINESS. next to cleanliness.

22. "Gadzooks!" : YIKES

23. '70s-'90s Atlanta Hawks home : OMNI. coliseum.

24. __ day: Wednesday : HUMP. timely.

26. Intuiting : SENSING

29. Puffed-up fare : SOUFFLE

34. Stand waiter : CAB

35. Obsolescent slope conveyance : T-BAR. mostly found at beginner slopes or in locales where high winds may prevent chairlifts from running.

37. Embryo's home : UTERUS

38. Woody's boy : ARLO. welcome back.

40. Germ-killing brand : LYSOL

42. Left : WENT

43. Medit. spouter : MT ETNA. holy hotwick lava bomb.

45. eBay caveat : AS IS

47. Never, to Heinrich : NIE. german.

48. Convalescents, maybe : SHUT-INS

50. Empties upon arrival : UNPACKS

52. Some VCRs : RCA'S

54. Like some orders : RUSH

55. Fox series with Alfred E. Neuman in the opening credits : MAD TV

59. Title of respect : HONORIFIC. great word, don't remember seeing this in a puzzle before.

63. Coming or going word : ALOHA. and then the japanese say going for coming - so no one knows if they're coming or going.

64. Baseball family name : ALOU. felipe, matty, jesús, and moisés (felipe's son). the first all brother outfield.

65. Food for Fido : ALPO

66. Sure to end badly : NO WIN. a no win situation.

67. Criminal group : RING

68. Astonished reaction : GASP

69. Medicinal plant : SENNA

70. Chick follower? : ADEE. chickadee.

71. Ornate molding : OGEE

Down:

1. Stop up : CLOG

2. Opponent of Caesar : CATO

4. Longest Bible book : PSALMS

6. River through Sudan : NILE

7. Foolhardy : BRASH

8. Population profile : CENSUS. did everyone complete your form last year?

9. Remain in place : STAY PUT

10. Early Grand Canyon settlers : HOPI. moonrise from hopi point.

11. Out of control : AMOK. great word.

12. The Beatles' "__, There and Everywhere" : HERE

13. Is in session : SITS. clue feels a bit awkward.

21. Not out of contention : IN IT. so does this one.

26. Puts one over on : SCAMS

27. One of eight, now : EARTH. planets - pluto was demoted.

28. Merry : GAY. anyone see the jason jones bit on the daily show yesterday?

30. Not a whole lot : FEW

32. Soviet moon program : LUNIK. also a band from switzerland.

33. __ Park, Colorado : ESTES

36. Pretoria's land: Abbr. : RSA. republic of south africa.

39. Polo Grounds legend : OTT. mel.

41. Corvallis sch. : OSU. Oregon State University.

44. Kurt Cobain's group : NIRVANA

46. Boot attachment : SPUR

49. Much of Libya : SAHARA

51. Italian cheese : ASIAGO

53. Well-built : SOLID

55. Provides with personnel : MANS

56. Burn balm : ALOE

57. Consume : DOWN. like it.

58. Slender : THIN

60. Zero : NONE

61. __ dixit: assertion without proof : IPSE

62. Manage : COPE 

Answer grid.

melissa