Sunday Jan 20, 2013 Jim Hyres

 (Note from C.C.: Due to a blog lock-down, we had to move to Ginger Roots blog to review the puzzle. Please click here to see our discussions on this crossword.)

Theme: Turning Heads - The first words (heads)  in each common phrase is spelled backwards, e.g., "turned". 

 23A. Nail salon supplies? : TIPS AND POLISH. Spit and polish.

 34A. Couch-jumping and yard-running? : PETS AEROBICS. Step aerobics.

 40A. Tongue twister? : TRAP OF SPEECH. Part of speech.

 64A. Good golf rounds? : PAR SESSIONS. Rap sessions.

 72A. Energetic ghosts? : LIVE SPIRITS. Evil spirits.

 92A. Torches in Dracula's crypt? : DOOM LIGHTING. Mood lighting.

 99A. Sharp dresser features? : DRAWER POINTS. Reward points.

 116A. Talk shows? : YAP TELEVISION. Pay television.

  

 I apologize for the short post. Been very distracted.

Across:

1. Over the top, design-wise : GARISH

7. Goes like the wind? : BLOWS. Nice clue. Very strong wind here last night.

12. Fairly shared : PRO RATA

19. Like much summery footwear : OPEN TOE

21. Mauve relative : LILAC

22. "Wild Thing" rapper : TONE LOC

25. Was humbled : ATE DIRT

26. Bud's promise : BLOOM

27. Midsection : GUT

28. Popular skiing destination : VAIL

30. Former NBA coach Brown : HUBIE.  I don't follow basketball.

31. However : YET

32. Exam for a jr. : PSAT

37. Customarily : AS A RULE

39. Getting the wrong order and such : MIX UPS

45. 68-Across neighbor : NEB. 68. Where Manhattan is: Abbr. : KANS. Manhattan, Kansas.

46. Abscam agcy. : FBI

49. Dawn-of-mammals epoch : EOCENE

50. Wedding acquisition : SPOUSE

52. Multitude : LEGION

55. Fan sounds : RAHS

56. Lincoln Logs, e.g. : TOY

59. One and only : SOLE

60. Former Buick sedan : LESABRE

61. Mean Amin : IDI

62. Funeral lighting? : PYRES

66. Actress Ward : SELA

70. Alluvium : SILT

71. Italian hot spot : ETNA

75. "Oliver Twist" criminal : FAGIN

77. Holder and Reno: Abbr. : AGs. Eric Holder.

79. Certain Ukrainian : ODESSAN

80. They're worth 1.0 : DEES

82. Soccer __ : MOM

83. Classic name in shoes : MCAN

84. Ones with many feet : VERSES

85. Snoopy, for one : BEAGLE

87. Mimosa family tree : ACACIA

89. Road course curve : ESS

90. Airport uniform initials : TSA

95. Ed of "Modern Family" : O'NEILL

98. Barbecue fare : WIENERS

104. __ Beach, Fla. : VERO

105. Raiders' gp. : AFC

108. When doubled, Northwest wine valley : WALLA. Walla Walla.

109. Follow : OBEY

110. Title for Jackson or King: Abbr. : REV

111. "West Side Story" song : MARIA

113. Short operatic solo : ARIETTA

119. Apartment dwellers, typically : RENTERS

120. One way to read : ALOUD

121. London-based news agency : REUTERS

122. Lighthouse lens inventor : FRESNEL. Nope.

123. Cozy spots : NESTS

124. Music producer Estefan : EMILIO. Husband of Gloria Estefan. The only Emilio I know is Estevez.

Down:

       

1. Sidestepped : GOT BY

2. Loads : A PILE

3. Do a gardener's chore : RE-POT

4. __ many words : IN SO

5. Tries to put out, as a small fire : STAMPS ON

6. Dear : HON

7. Reputation stain : BLOT

8. Wee, in a small way : LIL

9. One stuck in a bar? : OLIVE. Clever!

10. Attended : WAS AT

11. Long division? : SCHISM

12. School support gp. : PTA

13. Malarkey : ROT

14. Like some grounders : ONE HOP

15. Gives a new name to : RE-DUBS

16. Story : ALIBI

17. Doughnut-shaped : TORIC. We just saw TORI clued as "Bagels, shapewise" last Friday.

 18. Entr'__: play intervals : ACTES

20. Dick Francis has four of them : EDGARS. Mystery awards.

24. Provide, as money : PUT UP

29. "Mule Train" singer : LAINE (Frankie)

33. Firearm feature : SAFETY

34. Quick looks : PEEPS

35. Computer program suffix : EXE

36. Dollars : cents :: __ : kopecks : RUBLES

37. Copies : APES

38. "__ Miz" : LES

40. Actress Garr : TERI

41. Impromptu picnic locales : ROADSIDES

42. Go-getters : ACHIEVERS

43. Confine, with "up" : COOP

44. Luau dances : HULAS

46. Eponymous Italian mathematician : FIBONACCI. Don't know him.

47. Revitalized : BORN AGAIN. Christians.

48. Another name for Saint Agnes : INES. Agnes is our  Irish Miss' real name.

51. Finishing touch of a sort : SERIF

53. German industrial city : ESSEN

54. Amble, e.g. : GAIT

57. Pest control name in a red diamond : ORKIN

58. Oenophile's concern : YEAR

60. Fire : LET GO

62. No longer in : PASSE

63. Not nice at all : SNIDE

65. Pan or roast : SLAM

67. Minus : LESS

69. Lieu : STEAD

72. Affectionate valediction : LOVE

73. Kindergarten craftsman : PASTER

74. Lily that's Utah's state flower : SEGO

76. Diagnostic machine : IMAGER

78. Trouble spot : SNAG

81. Responds to a yellow : SLOWS

83. Dojo accessories : MATS

85. "The Jungle Book" bear : BALOO. No idea. I just learned that KAA is "The Jungle Book" python.

86. Brit. record label : EMI

88. Element in stainless steel : CHROMIUM. I just call it Chrome.

91. Taste : SIP

93. Tool box item : LEVEL

94. "The nerve!" : I NEVER

95. Small hooters : OWLETS

96. Tidy : NEATEN

97. Like some of the Sahara : LIBYAN

99. Sleepy, e.g. : DWARF.  The Seven Dwarfs. Tricky clue.

100. Less done : RARER

101. Dress style : A-LINE

102. Hall of Fame football coach Earle "Greasy" __ : NEALE. Unknown name to me.

103. Red-lined items, perhaps : TYPOS

105. The Little Mermaid : ARIEL

106. Flower-shaped pasta : FIORI. Italian for "flowers"

107. Childish comeback : CAN SO

110. Malbec and Merlot : REDS

112. __ Spumanti : ASTI

114. One past due? : TRE. Une, due, Tre

115. Manual transmissions?: Abbr. : ASL (American Sign Language)

117. King in a Steve Martin song : TUT. "King Tut".

118. Success sign : VEE

Saturday, Jan19th, 2013, Steven J. St. John

Theme: None

Words: 68

Blocks: 30

   I do believe this is my first time blogging a puzzle from our SJSJ constructor~!  As I look, I see that this may be his first Saturday LAT.  Thick triple stacks/10-letter corners - one I got, one took way too long.  I did have to check ONE thing on Google (see below), but the rest of the grid did fill in slowly and steadily.  A crossing of a spanner and a climber;

35A. "Hold your horses!" : "ONE SECOND PLEASE"~!

8D. One-on-one strategy : MAN-TO-MAN DEFENSE - I see it's predominantly used in basketball and football; I am just happy that hockey is back; dad is watching with EddyB tomorrow....

3 and 4 word answers, and two more -

53. Loving way to walk : HAND-IN-HAND - oh, if only there were a hand for me....

11. Erect : STAND ON END - ummm, yeah, that too....

Sorry if this one turns out to be a little rough, Cruciverb was not available until 4am, and I usually stay up Friday to do the write up. 

onward

ACROSS:

1. World Series components : POKER GAMES - locked into baseball; night games wouldn't work with OMEGA, which I knew was right

11. Unleashes : SICS - and a semi-clecho  23D. Cut free : RELEASE - which was unLEASh at first

15. Better : AMELIORATE

16. Hardware item : T-NUT

17. What good debaters pounce on : WEAK POINTS

18. No longer tied up : ASEA

19. FBI employees : AGTs - Like Sculder and Mully, I mean Mulder and Scully - do you think he was "stand on end"?

20. Fills : SATES

21. Too curious : NOSY

22. Some grad students : TAs - ah - not EEs, AAs, BAs, MAs, but the Teaching 56A's

23. __-Tahoe Open: annual PGA Tour event : RENO

24. USCG VIP : ADMiral

25. File manager menu option : RENAME

27. Ancient Aegean region west of Lydia : IONIA

30. Sweet-talk : CAJOLE

33. Decking : ADORNING - total WAG for me; I was trying to get TimberTech to fit (it's what I used on the church ramp)

37. Ran out of clothes? : STREAKED - HAR-HAR~!!  Running across the baseball diamond 'sans skivvies', 'bare-ass naked'

38. Colors : TINCTS

39. Memorable swimsuit model Cheryl : TIEGS - she's 66 now

40. Put a new cover on, as a book : REBIND

42. Space shuttle astronaut Jemison : MAE - and another semi-clecho, 47D. Curiosity org. : NASA

43. It may be lost or saved : FACE

44. Learning ctr. : SCHool and a TRUE clecho, 28D. Learning ctr. : INSTitution, not UNIV

47. "Sunset Boulevard" genre : NOIR

49. Better : AMEND

51. TV's "__-Team" : THE "A"

52. Not much : A TAD

55. Hypotenuse, e.g. : SIDE - of a triangle

56. Helping people : ASSISTANTS

57. Gp. with common goals : ASSN

58. Least helpful, as a description : SKETCHIEST

DOWN:

1. Investigate, as a toy mouse : PAW AT - had NUDGE to start

2. Greek horseshoe? : OMEGA - sure looks that way ~!

3. "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" poet : KEATS

4. Big bucks : ELKS - ah, not the money kind, like THOU, or GEES

5. Let-'er ender : RIP - "Let 'er RIP~!"

6. Manipulable lamp : GOOSE-NECK - ARGH~! I knew what the word meant, but I just couldn't get my mind off "touch" something; this is what we're looking for

7. Richards of "Jurassic Park" : ARIANA - My mind was stuck [again] on Richard Attenborough (John Hammond), so I finally went to find out who the "other" Richard was - little Lex is all grown up ~!

9. Kitchen add-on : ETTE - Kitchenette

10. Court period: Abbr. : SESSion

12. Hardly a dreamer? : INSOMNIAC - I keep a journal of all my dreams, and I try to recall every detail I can.  Then I go online to see what certain imagery pertains to; once had a dream about a fish hook stuck in my neck -you can find out what it meant here

13. Sticks around the pool hall : CUES - the sticks that one shoots with

14. Vacation period : STAY

24. Delta, but not gamma : AIRLINE

25. Metaphorical dream world : ROSE GARDEN - I didn't promise you one....

26. Onetime Leno announcer Hall : EDD

29. Forever, it seems : AGES - ugh, not EONS

30. Pain from a sticker? : COST - Sticker shock, like on new cars

31. Foe : ANTI - meh

32. Lamentations : JEREMIADS - new word to me; more here

34. Anatomical blind spot site : OPTIC DISC - see more here - unless it's in your, well....

36. Poetic location word : O'ER

41. Oater baddie : BANDIT and, his 50D. 41-Down's accessory : MASK

44. "A man has to be what he is, Joey" speaker : SHANE

45. Single divisions : CENTS

46. Possessed, biblically : HADST

48. __ B. Driftwood, Groucho's "A Night at the Opera" role : OTIS

49. Cries of clarity : A-HAs

51. Pad __: stir-fried noodles : THAI

54. Degree in algebra? : NTH - just about every Saturday, it seems

Splynter

Notes from C.C.:

1) Some of you might not be aware of this, Splynter lost his father to dementia and kidney failure last Saturday. He never let this on through his posts, but it was really tough the past few years for him, his  mom and his brother. 

Baby Splynter and His Parents

2) Here is the obit of dear Spitzboov's daughter Gretchen. She's a beautiful person with a great family and a great career. My heart aches for Al & Betty, Gretchen's 8-year-old son Max and their whole family. A big "Thank you" to Manac for finding this link.

3) I'm also sad to say that Jazzbumpa's mother-in-law Rita was put into hospice on Thursday. Our thoughts are with him, his loving wife Gloria and his whole family.

We probably will never meet one another in this life, but we're a family. Thank you so much being supportive of those who're in difficult time.