Saturday, Jan 26th, 2013, Brad Wilber

Theme: None

Words: 68

Blocks: 28

  Oh Wilber~!!  Another solid offering from one of our steady Saturday constructors, with little in the way of obscure proper names, places and foreign words (OK, one), and LOTS of hyphenated words/phrases.  Triple 10's in the across, and triple 8's in the down corners with a couple of climbers of note:

28D. "Act naturally" : BE YOURSELF - which reminds me of this song, with the lyric at 1:35

33D. Italian Baroque painter known for ceiling frescoes : GUIDO RENI - A proper name and foreign, too~!  Some history, here at the Wiki

And one spanner:

34A. Alloy used to make knives : MOLYBDENUM STEEL - Oddly, Tungsten Carbide fit, too; anyone who has bought a circular saw blade or drill bit is familiar with the latter; guess what I put in first....

o-N^w-A-r_D ~!~!

ACROSS:

1. Scrapped, at NASA : NO-GO - because "aborted" didn't fit

5. Way to get in : ACCESS CODE

15. Zipped through : ACED

16. Like the cap worn by Annette : MOUSE-EARED - nailed it; Annette Funicello

17. One piggy's portion : NONE

18. Reducing : CURTAILING

19. Big blast : N-TEST - paired with 44D

21. Come down hard : TEEM

22. Smidge : IOTA

23. Sound from your favorite toy? : YIP - small dogs, referred to as "toys" by the AKC

24. Beguile : AMUSE

26. Less clumsy : ABLER

27. Trounce : CLOBBER

29. Unoriginal : TIRED

30. Botanical balm : ALOE

31. It may make honeymooners a bit misty : NIAGARA - HAR-HAR, but I wasn't misled; one of the most famous honeymoon spots is Niagara Falls, here in NY (OK, and Canada, too) where the air is constantly misty; even the tour boats are in on the appeal

39. Throw money around, in a way : OVER-TIP - are you an over-tipper?  I am when we go to eat out as a family

40. Jane Austen's aspiring matchmaker : EMMA

41. Gives kudos : LAUDS

43. Hard to read : DEADPAN

45. Becomes disillusioned : SOURS

46. Jumper cable connection point : ANODE - nipple didn't fit

48. "Moreover ..." : AND

49. A passel : TONS - a passel is an indeterminate amount of something, sort of like a small "gazillion", as in  "I have (insert here) of paperwork to do~!"

50. Lead : STAR - that's l-EE-d, not LeD

51. Navigational aid : CANAL - so is part of your ear an "auditory navigational aid"?

53. Net : AFTER TAXES

56. "Ciao!" : TA-TA

57. Some 19th-century industrialists : RAIL BARONS - I watched "Ultimate Guide to the Presidents" this week; fascinating how the stuff I was taught in high school bored me then, and intrigues me now.

58. Picked out of a lineup : IDed

59. "They've rigged this whole thing!" : "THE FIX IS IN~!"

60. Cushy : EASY

DOWN:

1. Device hidden by a concerned parent : NANNY-CAM

2. Red-flowering desert shrub : OCOTILLO

3. Heredity source : GENE POOL

4. Tributes in verse : ODES

5. Old Gremlin maker : AMC - I had the Sportabout Wagon that my father gave me in 1988; it had huge potential that I couldn't see at 17yrs old; 258 straight six

6. High-end fashion designer : COUTURIER

7. Fixes : CURES

8. Name on many compacts : ESTEE

9. Baseball feature : SEAM

10. Twice tre : SEI

11. Fine-tuned : CALIBRATED - I did some searching on the origin; seems to be from the Arabic "qalib", the cast for a bullet

12. Bird that builds hanging nests : ORIOLE - and the bird in Baltimore, too

13. Subject to a trade-in reduction : DENTED - I think the 227,800 miles on my car will put a "dent" in my trade-in value

14. Guest in a library : EDGAR - Nice misdirection; this man, here, and not "user", "reader", "student" - I couldn't think of a 5-letter word

20. Q's neighbor : TAB - on the keyboard, not the phone pad

25. Brasil '66 leader : MENDES

26. What social climbers may put on? : AIRS

29. Patted down : TAMPED - tamped to me sounds "heavier" than patted; I usually tamp the ground before a concrete pour.  What would the cement guy say if I told him I "patted" it down???

32. Tiny colonist : ANT

35. Briefs not seen in court, hopefully : BVDs - tightie-whities~!

36. Mexican stuffed pastry : EMPANADA

37. Gives off : EMANATES

38. Mrs. Hudson, to Sherlock Holmes : LANDLADY

41. Bath scrubber : LOOFAH

42. Em's title : AUNTIE - Wizard of Oz

44. Erstwhile 19-Across overseer: Abbr. : AEC - Atomic Energy Commission; I know it as Architecture, Engineering, & Construction

45. "Boo!" reaction : START

46. Space Invaders platform : ATARI

47. Largest island in the Cyclades : NAXOS - map, in the middle

50. Pringles competitor : STAX - I have had this one on Saturday before; workable "X"

52. "__ is like kissing your sister": sports chestnut : A TIE

54. You usually don't get one when you ground into a DP : RBI - by grounding into a double play for the first two outs of the inning with a man on third who crosses home and scores does not get you a "run batted in" - uh, right, C.C.?? (From C.C.: Right! The worse thing a player can do is to ground into a double play when bases are loaded.)

55. Nine-digit fig. : SSN - Crossword standard, the Social Security Number

Splynter

Friday, January 25, 2013, Kurt Krauss

Theme: What the Yell?

Each of the theme answers concludes with a word which is synonymous with YELL, and is used to replace a sound alike second word of an in the language phrase in a punny fashion, creating a new and visually humorous phrase, all clued with the clecho CRY.  This is a more traditional four theme answer grid, though still using 46 spaces. This is Kurt's fifth effort at the corner, and the last two have been Friday features.I really enjoyed the combining of the pun and the synonym to create the theme. The rest of the fill was fine with some solid  6, 7, and 8 letter words like CLASS ACT, SOURPUSS, RAMPARTS, COCKER, and even one J, jest one.  I found it to be a reasonable Friday, so let's do this.

17A. Cry from a duped investor? : PONZI SCREAM.(SCHEME) (11). Sadly So.Fla. know all too much about the schemers, and the many who were ruined did scream.

24A. Cry just before dozing off? : SLEEPY HOLLER.(HOLLOW) (12). A LEGENDARY (0:32) clue.

46A. Cry from a superfan? : BOOSTER SHOUT, (SHOT) ((12) Appropriate for this flu season.

56A. Cry from a Jeddah native? : SAUDI SHRIEK.(SHEIKH) (11). The shriek was SILENT.(3:24).

Across:

1. Fair share, maybe : HALF. Split it down the middle, extremely fair.

5. Polite denial : NO MA'AM. You do not look fat in that dress.

11. Pro-___ : AMS. One of my thrills was playing with Champion Tour professional golfers and being on the practice tee with Palmer, Nicklaus and so many other greats.

14. Arch type : OGEE. Oh Gee not again.

15. Commensurate (with) : ON A PAR. More golf invading our lives.

16. Soaked : WET. Dennis, your thoughts? Maybe we need 50A. Hose : RINSE.

19. Brother : FRA.

20. "I" strain? : EGO. Freud's mental triumvirate with the super-ego.

21. Where to find Ducks and Penguins: Abbr. : NHL. National Hockey League. A moment of silence for Eddy B.

22. Eyes : OCULI. An eye reference on a Friday.

28. Eschewed the backup group : SOLOED. Many have failed when they left the nest.

31. Mrs. Gorbachev : RAISA. I will call your Michelle Obama and ...well you get the idea.

32. Influence : CLOUT.

33. Took in : ARRESTED. It is good to be back even with the anons who exposed themselves in their anxiety to irritate me; the last time I was blogging the Corner disappeared. Makes me nervous.

37. Lab medium : AGAR. This always reminds me of this CORPORAL.(2:53).

38. Thinking out loud, in a way : ASIDE. From Shakespearean theater days when the characters address the audience.

40. Farm father : SIRE. Not the Earl of Grantham, but the horse he rides on.

41. Anthem fortifications : RAMPARTS red glare, the bombs bursting in air....

43. Cupid's boss : SANTA. Deliciously tricky clue, not a horse, but the reindeer Cupid!!!

44. Free : UNTIE.

45. Dog named for the bird it hunted, familiarly : COCKER.  The were named for their hunting of the WOODCOCK, which makes the thought of splinters scary!

51. Dig in : EAT. How appetizing.

52. John, Paul and George, but not Ringo: Abbr. : STS. Saints, not Beatles you heretic!

55. Electees : INS. As opposed to the OUTS, not belly buttons but politicians.

61. Iron ___ : AGE. Which Iron(ically) was a time of

62. Troubled state : UNREST.

63. Vronsky's lover, in Tolstoy : ANNA. Karenina. CLIP. (1:28).

64. "Balderdash!" : ROT. We have had so many nice contributions from the Brits, like Steve.

65. Some aces : PILOTS. My cousin was a pilot; he worked in a warehouse unloading trucks. He would  pile it here and pile it there.

66. Kid : JEST. Can u text JJ? LMAO!

Down:

1. Clinton's birthplace : HOPE. I hope you all recalled this one.

2. Bug-eyed : AGOG.

3. Jay related to a peacock? : LENO. The NBC Peacock. We are clearly not going off half-cocked with this puzzle.

4. Casbah headgear : FEZ.

5. Had a little something : NOSHED. One of many Yiddish words which have become part of the language.

6. Frère de la mère : ONCLE. My mother's brother, en francais.

7. Dent, say : MAR.

8. Big lug : APE.

9. Travel org. since 1902 : AAA. American Automobile Association.

10. "Captain Kangaroo" character who told knock-knock jokes : MR. MOOSE. Never watched this Clara-belle the clown refugee.

11. Really bad : AWFUL.

12. Haggard of country music : MERLE. A little TUNE?

13. Flight part : STAIR. Not up in the air, but up the down staircase.

18. Ocean-bay connector : INLET. Rhymes with 48D. Start : ONSET.

23. Someone to admire : CLASS ACT. Perfectly matched with

24. Grouch : SOURPUSS. For our crowd.

25. Sung approval? : PRAISES. For some reason, PSALMS came to mind but it did not fit.

26. Prison area : YARD.

27. Bring on board : HIRE.

28. Injury reminder : SCAR. To B or to R? That is today's question.

29. '70s Olympics name : OLGA. All you need to know. LINK.

30. Good earth : LOAM. We have no dirt here in So.Fla. which is why our tomatoes have so little taste. Yes, it is our dirty little secret.

34. Pixie dust leaver, to Peter : TINKerbell. to the young master Pan.

35. Deco designer : ERTE. R.T. and close by 38D. Uffizi hangings : ARTE. Uffizi is the art gallery in Florence (Firenza).

36. Beloved : DEAR. Really, I need to be more careful of my use of dear. Otherwise I might

39. Hubbub : STIR. up trouble.

42. Pays to play : ANTES UP.

43. Into a state of decline : SOUTH. This is not a condemnation of all below the Mason-Dixon line, but a common phrase.

45. Ocean borders : COASTS.

46. Patch plant : BRIAR. Uncle Remus, ou Oncle Remus.

47. Rock's ___ Boingo : OINGO. This CLASSIC. (3:33).

49. One may follow a casing : HEIST.  We all know from TV that criminals case the place they plan to rob.

52. Trig function : SINE.

53. XXX, at times : TENS. XXX is on whiskey and in porn.

54. Three-handed game : SKAT. I will let Kazie speak of this national card game of Germany.

57. Singer DiFranco : ANI. She say she is not a PRETTY GIRL (3:42).

58. Bookmarked item nowadays : URL. Uniform Resource Locator.

59. "Gloria in Excelsis ___" : DEO.

60. British rule in colonial India : RAJ. The HISTORY

Well we have made it through the entire write up without the site disappearing; great to see all the lurkers commenting here and with HG. Lemonade signing off wishing you all a great day and week end.

Notes from C.C.:

1) Please email me (crosswordc@gmail.com) if you encounter "Dangerous site" warning when accessing this blog.

2) Please bookmark my Ginger Roots blog. In case the Corner blog has trouble again, we'll discuss puzzles there.

Thursday, January 24, 2013 Michael Sharp

Theme: The Fonz

In each theme entry, AY is replaced with EY, to create new takes on familiar phrases.

17-A. Luminous Spanish king? : REY OF LIGHT. I was looking for a ray of light to shine down on me for finishing this puzzle unassisted. (Didn't happen.) (The light, I mean.) (I did finish.) (Unassisted.)

29-A. Chart containing only threes? : TREY TABLE. TREY usually refers to a card, die or domino with three pips, rather than the number itself.

49-A. Turkish sty leader? : BEY OF PIGS. BEY is the Turkish word for "lord." The failed Bay of Pigs invasion was a serious blot on JFK's record.

61-A. Rock in actress Susan's path, perhaps? : DEY TRIPPER. This one evoked a chuckle. Susan Dey was in "LA Law," and nothing seemed to trip her up.  "Day Tripper" was a 1966 Beatles song. 2:24

10-D. Casual greeting craze? : HEY FEVER. Another chuckle. All I could think of was Willie Mays, the "Say Hey Kid."

39-D. How owls know when mice are bluffing? : PREY TELL. Guffaw!  Can you picture owls and mice playing poker together? Who do you think would win, pray tell?

Six theme entries for a total of 54 squares is a nice chunk for a weekday puzzle, and they are all solid. Not too much dreck in the rest of the fill, either. Michael Sharp writes the blog "Rex Parker Does the N.Y.T. Crossword Puzzle." It's rare that we get one of his puzzles in the LAT. So, let's see what he has to offer. Marti here, back in the Thursday seat.

Across:

1. Polynesian tongue : MAORI. Ouch to start. I forgot that New Zealand, where the Maoris live, is part of Polynesia.

6. Early Democrat's foe : WHIG. I can never remember which is whig.

10. Diary closer : HASP.

14. Pump name : EXXON.

15. Premoistened cloth : WIPE. Ubiquitous freebies in stores next to the shopping carts around here, especially during flu season.

16. Still-life subject : EWER.

19. Practitioner of meditation : YOGI. Before or after he steals your pik-a-nik basket?

20. Lassie's "In a pig's eye!" : NAE. I was trying to figure out how Lassie would refuse to go get help for Timmy.

21. Monopolize : HOG.

22. Seed source of omega-3 : FLAX.

23. Back-of-the-book items : ADDENDA.

27. Bloodhound's 48-Across : NOSE. and 48-A. Plus : ASSET.

31. Salt's "Halt!" : AVAST. Nice rhyming clue.

35. Flat hat : TAM. Short for Tam o'Shanter, named after the Robert Burns character.

36. Like a comics pea? : SWEE. Poor thing was left on Popeye's doorstep.

37. Close tightly, as one's hand : CLENCH.

38. Groggy response : I'M UP.

40. "Welcome to Maui!" : ALOHA.

42. Seldom seen, to Seneca : RARA. Seneca the Roman philosopher, who was ordered by Nero to kill himself for supposedly being involved in an assassination attempt. Seneca took it stoically.

43. Grinch portrayer : CARREY. His makeup scared even me.

45. Myrna's "Thin Man" role : NORA. Tough to find new clues for this crossword staple.

47. KoKo or Yum-Yum, in Lilian Jackson Braun mysteries : CAT. All her novels' titles start with "The Cat Who..."

51. Bulldogs' home : YALE. Gimme.

53. Seven-time MLB All-Star Soriano : ALFONSO. Here I should insert some well-known fact about him, to cement his name into my memory...(From C.C.: Yankees traded Soriano for A-Rod)

54. Fair : JUST.

57. Sighing sounds : AHS.

59. Consume : EAT.

60. Bee's charge : OPIE. Aunt Bee, on the old "Mayberry RFD" TV show. [Update: The show was "The Andy Griffith Show." "Mayberry RFD" was a spin-off, and did not have either Opie or Andy in it.]

66. Hon : DOLL.

67. Lang of Smallville : LANA.

68. "Monster" (2003) co-star : RICCI.  Christina.  Never saw the film. I was trying to think of John Goodman's co-star in this one.

69. Like many LAX flights : INT'L. International.

70. First place? : EDEN.

71. Trap : SETUP. or SET-UP. or SET UP. I wasn't exactly sure whether to make it one word, hyphenated or two, since both the clue and the answer could be the noun or the verb form.

Down:

1. Large body of eau : MER. French for water in the clue hints at the French word for "sea."

2. Dismiss : AXE. or 49-D. Execute, in old France : BEHEAD.

3. Acne treatment brand : OXY.

4. Longtime "60 Minutes" pundit : ROONEY. The inimitable Andy. I miss his humor.

5. Babies : INFANTS.

6. Teens conflict, briefly : WWI. Oh. Not a fight between the Sharks and the Jets, but a war that took place in the teens (1914-1918). I should have noticed the missing apostrophe...Bill G., I bet it didn't get you!!

7. Up in the air : HIGH. I bet Tinbeni will have a different take on this one.

8. Droid alternative : iPHONE.

9. Day one, informally : GET GO.

11. One who might get caught off base : AWOL. "Absent without leave."

12. Company with a hedgehog mascot : SEGA. Sonic the Hedgehog.

13. ___ fixe : PRIX. I had "idée" at first....and could not get it out of my head!

18. Took out in handcuffs, say : LED AWAY.

23. 1971 prison riot site : ATTICA.

24. Works on stage : DRAMAS. Nice misdirection. I wanted something like "acts" or "plays a role..."

25. Expresses doubts : DEMURS.

26. Biblical brother : ABEL.

28. ESPN reporter Paolantonio : SAL. Move over, Mineo.  There's a new sheriff in town.

30. Sierra ___ : LEONE.

32. Analgesic brand : ANACIN.

33. Skinny types : SCRAGS.

34. "Oh, really?" : THAT SO?

37. Itinerant Yuletide singer : CAROLER.

41. Georgetown player : HOYA. "What's a Hoya?"

44. LAX posting : ETA.

46. Business matters : AFFAIRS.

50. Deep-dish comfort food : POT PIE.

52. Soup dispenser : LADLE. Oh, not Nazi.

54. Author Picoult : JODI. I knew the name, but don't think I have read any of her books. Any recommendations?

55. Supported by : UPON.

56. Bank deposit : SILT. I don't think anyone is fooled by this clue any more.

58. Last word on New Year's Eve? : SYNE. "...for auld lang syne."

62. Brown in a bed : TAN. But only for us Northerners. Would anyone in Florida really need a tanning bed?

63. Loan no. : PCT. Percent.

64. Old French coin : ECU. Real old. Discontinued in the French revolution, and worth about $25 today.

65. Upholsterer's target : RIP. I will now let this post Rest in Peace.

That's all I have for now. See you on the other side!

Marti

Wednesday Jan 23, 2013 Mark Feldman

Theme: Fun with Fauna, or Fauna-cation

The eight theme answers dotted throughout today's puzzle pair an animal with a noun to come up with a well-known word or phrase.

18A. Animal's paw warmer? : FOXGLOVE. We used to put foxgloves on our fingers as kids and pretend we had purple and green talons.

29A. Animal's hiking gear? : RAT PACK. Was there a rat pack before Sinatra and his cronies? Is "pack" the collective noun for a number of rats? How many more questions can I ask about one clue?

30A. Animal's laundry? : HOGWASH. Hopefully not all of my blog today. Doubtless some of it.

44A. Animal's golf club? : PIG IRON. His partner Fido uses a DOG WOOD.

47A. Animal's undergarment? : COWSLIP. Immediate mental image of the hippos in tutus in Disney's "Fantasia"

54A. Animal's apartment? : MOUSE PAD. The feline who lives in the apartment underneath gets in a CAT FLAP when there's too much noise upstairs.

3D. Animal's timepiece? : DOG WATCH. If you stand the Dog Watch during summer's Dog Days, can you be double-dog dared?

36D. Animal's instrument? : BULLHORN. Bullhorns always seem to crackle, but maybe that's just when someone is quoting cliches through them.

Hi all - Steve here with a fortuitous outing on the day the blog came back from Google's Slough of Despond where it was banished for reasons still unclear. C.C. has been dealing with the bureaucracy that is the Blogger Police Department and deserves a medal and a huge round of applause from everyone for doggedly pursuing justice, freedom and liberty for her blog.

I liked the theme today with eight clues both across and down. Some of the fill was a little scrappy but I'm getting the feeling that's the trade-off you make when you have so many theme answers in a 15x15, but I'm totally out of my depth analyzing puzzle construction and I'll leave that to the experts.

Let's check out the rest:

Across:

1. Exemplar of cruelty : SADIST. The Marquis De Sade's castle is now owned by Pierre Cardin (along with many of the other properties in the village).

7. Approach furtively, with "to" : SIDLE UP

14. Split and united? : ELOPED. Great clue, loved this.

15. 2001 Disney film subtitled "The Lost Empire" : ATLANTIS.

17. Pioneer transports : WAGONS.

19. Boston-to-Providence dir. : SSW I need to brush up on my geography. I pretty well always have to wait for crosses to get these right.

20. Strauss's "__ Rosenkavalier" : DER

21. Neighbor of Ger. : POL. I had "HOL" first and was going to pick nits about Holland not being a country, but then I found out I was wrong. The nits remain unpicked for now.

22. Subject of a China/India/Pakistan territorial dispute : KASHMIR.

26. Tokyo airport : NARITA. My only visits to Japan have been to Narita to change planes. Some day I'll get to stop for longer.

31. Put in a zoo, say : ENCAGE

32. Tippy transport : CANOE. Nice play on Tippecanoe.

33. Suffix like "like" : ISH

34. Sets the pace : LEADS

36. Marcel Marceau character : BIP. M. Marceau is responsible for us all being subjected to watching our friends attempt "man walking against wind" or "man in glass box", always badly.

39. Indian spice : CURRY. Nit Pick alert: "Curry" is a blend of spices.

41. Assistant professor's goal : TENURE.

48. Like some bagels : ONION-Y. My bagels are "everything-y".

49. Undoes, as laws : REPEALS

50. Heart lines: Abbr. : ECG. Electrocardiogram. I thought the "electro" bit was because the monitoring device is electrically-powered, but in fact it measures the electrical activity of the heart muscles.

51. Brief life story? : BIO

52. HEW successor : HHS. I had NO idea about this one. I was trying to think of presidents and eventually the crosses filled it in for me. I went to look it up here.

58. Melodic : ARIOSE. The "R" here was my last letter to complete. I was torn between "RNA" and "DNA" for the down clue, and decided that "ADIOSE" just didn't smell right. WAG'd the R and - Yay!

61. Wet ink concern : SMEARING. When we had to write in pen and ink at school this was truly traumatic. One smear and you start all over again. No UNDO in 1865.

62. Night noises : SNORES. Guilty as charged.

63. One on the lam : ESCAPEE

64. Hot spots : SAUNAS

Down

1. Stitches : SEWS

2. The Palins, e.g. : ALASKANS. My British brain knee-jerked Michael Palin (ex Monty Python) and wondered what his family had done for crossword-recognition.

4. Wall St. debut : I.P.O. Initial Public Offering of part of a company's equity. It used to be done to raise capital for investment, in recent years it's become more of a "cash in your chips" event for the early investors.

5. Obama, before he was pres. : SEN. I was trying to fit "not stressed out".

6. NFL stats : TD'S. Plenty of these in the Conference Championship games on Sunday; let's hope the Superbowl delivers more of the same.

7. More secure : SAFER

8. "Do __ else!" : IT OR. "Please" would be nice.

9. CCLXXX x II : DLX

10. Trail : LAG

11. Lab blowup: Abbr. : ENL. Not the chemistry lab, but a photo enlargement. "Doc" Rees, High School chemistry teacher, bored with tossing little chips of sodium in a beaker of water and watching them catch fire and zip around, went one step beyond on the last day of term and tossed a sizable lump of caesium into the school swimming pool and was lucky not to set fire to us all. Happy Days.

12. Paradise : UTOPIA

13. Turns on one foot : PIVOTS

16. Psalm instruction : SELAH. I'd only ever come across this in the letters of Hunter S. Thompson, it was one of his favorite sign-off lines.

20. Cartoonist Browne : DIK. I had DAN first, it sounded familiar, then it was ohhhh -  no, wait.

23. Health resort : SPA

24. Crone : HAG. "When shall we three meet again?"

25. Neil __, Defense secretary under Eisenhower : MCELROY. Toss-up between this and MCILROY. I guess I've been watching a lot of golf and Rory M. over the last few months.

26. Continuous : NONSTOP. I love nonstop flights, but I'm glad that the pilot decides to break the rules and make one stop.

27. Past : AGO

28. "The American Scholar" essayist's monogram : RWE. One of Emerson's most famous essays. Apparently. (I plead ignorance, I tried to  read "Walden" a number of times and eventually realized that it was going to join "Finnegans Wake"on my shelf of the "will never get past page 20" books.

29. Portuguese king : REI.

30. Swindled : HAD. This is an odd word - I've only heard it in the past tense, and passive at that - "I've been had!"

32. Low islet : CAY

35. Coastal flier : ERN

37. It surrounds the Isle of Man : IRISH SEA. The Isle of Man has no speed limits and hosts a week of motorcycle racing each year on a twisting street circuit around the island. When the racing is finished, the circuit is opened to anyone with a motorcycle and a death wish on a day known as "Suicide Sunday". And yes, people die. Every year.

38. Vigor : PEP

39. Gp. in a 1955 labor merger : C.I.O. Now the AFL/CIO

40. Coffee holder : URN

42. Ram's mate : EWE

43. Ultra-secretive org. : N.S.A. The National Security Agency.

44. Burns bread and butter? : POEMS. Favorite clue of the day. Robert Burns wrote the words to "Auld Lang Syne", mangled by all who sing it today.

45. Tips may be part of it : INCOME. And you must declare these in box something on your tax returns. You promise you will, right?

46. Lively Baroque dances : GIGUES

47. Corp. head honcho : C.E.O.

49. Fingerprint feature : RIDGE. The ridges make up whorls and loops. I don't know anywhere else you find a whorl.

51. Ruination : BANE

53. Cong. meeting : SESS. Congo? Conga? Conger? Ohhhh - Congress - in Session! Gotcha.

55. Anatomical bag : SAC

56. Victorian, for one : ERA

57. Die dot : PIP

58. Donkey : ASS

59. Biological messenger : RNA. Always torn between this and DNA as I mentioned earlier.

60. Debtor's marker : IOU. They don't take these in Vegas, at least not from me. Cash only.

That's it! Have a great day everyone, and Welcome Back Blog! Huzzah!

Steve

Notes from C.C.:

1) So Google (owner of Blogger) wrongly thought we're a spam blog and locked us from Saturday night until early Tuesday night. Here is their answer this morning:

"I wish that it was possible to identify specific characteristics of a given blog, that make it more or less susceptible to spurious spam classification.  Unfortunately, that will never be possible.  Fuzzy spam classification cannot be described, with any certainty, in words. Sorry."

2) In case you missed our puzzle discussions on my Ginger Roots blog, please click here for Sunday post, here for Monday post and here for Tuesday.

3) Captcha will be used in blog Comments section from now on. I know it's hard to recognize those damn letters, but it's a safe measure we need to take. Here are a few tips:

• Please always save your comments in a Word document or in an email draft. In case you lose your comments to the blog black hole, you can always copy and paste.

• Argyle discovered that you don't need Captcha to Preview. Captca is involved only when you try to hit the "Publish Your Comment" button.

• It might take a few tries to get an easy-to-read Captcha. So please be patient. Other bloggers/posters have been using Captcha for a long time. We sure can take up the challenge and overcome this obstacle. This will be a learning experience for all of us.

Thanks again to Husker Gary for taking the time to inform all the regulars in his mailing list about our glitch & move of the blog. Contact him gschlapfer@gmail.com if you want to be included in his list.

Thanks also to TTP for giving me & Argyle detailed explanations about some technical issue. We learned a lot from him.

And to our long-time readers, Thank you so much for your loyalty and support.

Tuesday Jan 22, 2013 Jeff Stillman

(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: - The first part of each theme entry phonetically spells out Hamlet's  "To be, or not to be"

18A. *Coffee drinker's complaint : TOO STRONG - Different "To" spelling in 51A.

26. *Direct path : BEELINE - Different "Be" spelling in 57A.

30. *Rowboat attachments : OAR LOCKS -

49A. *Flaw in a fence : KNOTHOLE -

51A. *Quarter : TWO BITS -

57A. *"The Golden Girls" co-star : BEA ARTHUR -

50D. Speaker of the first syllables of the answers to starred clues : HAMLET

Boomer here!  Pinch hitting for Argyle who is under the weather.  It's minus 4 here in the frozen tundra, and January is the month we shed those pounds that were added at Christmas time.  I am here to help.

Across:

1. Manila envelope feature : CLASP - you need to tape these down now so they don't get caught in the postal postmark machine. 

6. Baseball SS's stats : DPs - Dirty plays? - spikes don't fly much any more

9. Web money : E-CASH - Paypal was my first choice.  Too many letters though

14. Old Turkish bigwig : PASHA - The only old Turkey I know about was 3 days after Thanksgiving.

15. Dwarf with glasses : DOC - If you didn't know that, have a salad for lunch.

16. 2009 Panasonic acquisition : SANYO - Electronics from Japan.  Pretty good stuff.

17. "Something to Talk About" singer Bonnie : RAITT - Trouble with this clue?  Skip dessert.

20. Poet's before : ERE

22. Contest for lumberjacks : ROLEO - Call it that if you want.  Paul Bunyan never heard of it.

23. Nova __ : SCOTIA  -  Oh Canada

33. Key of Mozart's Requiem Mass : D MINOR

34. Juneau-to-Ketchikan dir. : SSE - I wonder if it's minus 4 up there tonight.

35. Some sorority women : THETAs. 

37. D.C. baseball team : NATS - The old DC team called themselves the Nationals in the mid 50s, but changed back to the Senators.  Those Senators became the Twins in 1961.  The new Senators expansion team was owned by Bob Short and became the Texas Rangers.  Great that DC has a team again.

38. Frittata base : EGGS - I have no idea what a frittata is.

40. Convent dweller : NUN - And devoted teachers for my sisters and me.

41. Painted Desert formation : MESA

42. Controversial apple spray : ALAR

43. Mexican state bordering Arizona : SONORA - Sounds like something you might hear during a siesta.

45. "Reading Rainbow" network : PBS - If you missed this, take two laps around the nearest mall.  (One lap if Mall of America).

47. Country with six time zones : CANADA - US has 5 or 6.  Not sure about Alaska.

53. Kitchen gadget : BEATER - Birdie with a yellow bill, Hopped upon my window sill, cocked a shining eye and said, "Hey, what did you do when your wife dropped the egg ... beater?"

54. Volleyball venue : BEACH - Or court

56. Street shader : ELM - If you missed this one, go downstairs and pedal four miles on that stationary bike. (Dust off the seat first).

61. Crème de la crème : ELITE - if internet $$$ is ECASH, then why isn't ELITE internet beer?  Just askin'

65. Big name in bars : CLARK - Superman's first name too.

66. "Do __ favor ..." : ME A

67. Lucky roll, usually : SEVEN - If you've ever played at the craps table, the seven is only good on the come out (first roll).  After that, it is not very lucky.

68. Teacher's group : CLASS _ trouble with this?  Do you have a treadmill?

69. Like a single shoe : ODD - I think I might have clued "Roulette bet".

70. Flair : STYLE

Down:

1. EMT's skill : CPR - have shredded wheat for breakfast and you may never need CPR.

2. Anaheim team, on scoreboards : LAA - Now known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, how will they ever lose with Pujols, Trout, Weaver, and all.

3. "Take me __ am" : AS I

4. "Fiddler on the Roof" village : SHTETL - I saw that play, sure don't remember this anagram.

5. Hale and Revere, notably : PATRIOTS - Not Tom Brady?

6. EPA-banned pesticide : DDT

7. Not up to snuff : POOR

8. Shaggy's dog, to Shaggy : SCOOB - Scooby Doo - the animated Great Dane of Saturday AM TV.

9. Regard : ESTEEM - Not ESTEAM, which is internet water vapor.

10. "Sweet" woman in a Neil Diamond title : CAROLINE  

11. Yucatán year : ANO

12. Thesaurus entry: Abbr. : SYN

13. Sty dweller : HOG - Could have been PIG.  Hope you got the across clues first.

19. Winter transports : SLEDS - I Spent many hours sledding.  Now they just seem to have plastic saucers.

21. Individually : EACH - Trouble here?  Back to the Mall for a lap.  You may stop to buy running shoes, but stay out of the food court.

23. Urgent call at sea : SOS - Save Our Ship

24. Source of legal precedents : CASE LAW - Kind of makes you wonder how the first case was decided.

25. Tomato sauce herb : OREGANO - If this makes you think of Pizza or Spaghetti, get back on the bike until the thought goes away.

27. Up the creek : IN A SPOT

28. Distinguished : NOTABLE - It's notable that this also spells NOT ABLE which describes me trying to do crossword puzzles.

29. Stalling-for-time syllables : ERs - Uh, Like, you know, I mean, ER

31. Numbers game with 80 balls : KENO - You can win big bucks with a small bet.  But the odds are similar to Powerball.

32. Was so not worth seeing, as a movie : STUNK - Also describes me trying to do crossword puzzles.

36. Like many quotes: Abbr. : ANON

39. Safety rods in shower stalls : GRAB BARS

41. Without a partner : MATELESS - That was the card that ended up being the Old Maid.

42. Comic's routine : ACT - I suppose, but it could be a GIG.

43. Occupied, as a desk : SAT AT

44. Harry Potter costume : ROBE - I am too old for Harry, but the kids sure loved him.

46. Sun. delivery : SER - I guess this is short for SERMON.  Sometimes I wish the Sermons were shorter.

48. Country music star __ Bentley : DIERKS

52. Chowderhead : SCHMO - Shep and Moe were two of the Three Stooges.  Schmo must be their hybrid.

55. Shaded : HUED

57. Secretly keep in the email loop, briefly : BCC

58. Pipe bend : ELL - Slam dunk - ten jumping jacks

59. Battery type : AAA - Another EZ answer.  ten pushups

60. "Far out!" : RAD - Wow, no one has talked like that since the 60s.

62. Columbia, for one : IVY - Ivy league.  I might have clued Wrigley Wall covering.

63. Bus. card letters : TEL

64. Acetyl ending : ENE

Thanks for visiting.  Hope those jeans fit.

Boomer

Notes from C.C.:

1) Happy 67th Birthday to our talented constructor John Lampkin, who elevates every of his grids into an art. When I first started constructing in 2010, I asked John various questions on the blog. He was always very generous and patient with his explanations. Thank you, John. You don't know how much you helped me!

Lemonade & John Lampkin, March 21, 2012

2) Happy 81st Birthday to dear Marge! Hope you've recovered from the fall.

Monday, January 21, 2013 C.C. Burnikel

(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: CC - in more ways than one. One more way is that it is actually CH* CH *, but I'm ignoring that.

8A. Affectedly trendy : CHI-CHI

17A. Chinese dog with a blue-black tongue : CHOW CHOW

31A. Tot's toy on a track : CHOO-CHOO

46A. "Make it snappy!" : "CHOP CHOP!"

64A. "Bottoms up!" : "CHIN CHIN!"

69A. Mambo cousin : CHACHA

Argyle here. We've had "OO" and "WWW" and now we have "CC", with the twist that the second word is a Carbon Copy of the first. And our fearless leader, C.C., is today's constructor. The two longest words are necessarily relegated to the Down columns. I want to be here when we get the Double "D" puzzle.

Across:

1. Furry foot : PAW

4. Sign of healing : SCAB

14. Earth Day prefix : ECO

15. Corn Belt state : IOWA

16. Muzzleloading aid : RAMROD. We had this last Tuesday.

19. Pierce with a point : IMPALE

20. Ward on TV : SELA. Her Fan Club.

21. New York's __ Island : ELLIS

23. 26th of 26 : ZEE

24. NBA position : CTR. (center)

26. Doctor whom Captain Kirk calls "Bones" : McCOY. "I'm a doctor, Jim, not a [moon shuttle conductor / bricklayer / psychiatrist / mechanic / engineer / scientist / physicist / escalator / magician / miracle worker / flesh peddler / veterinarian]."

29. Love, Italian-style : AMORE

34. Doo-wop syllable : SHA na na

35. College football's Famous __ Potato Bowl : IDAHO. With sour cream, at half time.

37. Molecule parts : ATOMS

38. Adds color to : TINTS. Or tincts, last Thursday.

40. Cup edge : RIM

41. Sensitive spots : SORES

42. Texas A&M athlete : AGGIE. The letters "A&M", originally short for "Agricultural and Mechanical", are retained only as a link to the university's past.

43. Port west of Paris : BREST

45. __-Caps: candy : SNO

48. Walks without going anywhere : PACES

50. Red giant in the night sky : S STAR

51. "Sting like a bee" boxer : ALI, Muhammad

52. Chicken __ king : À LA

54. Winner's gesture : V SIGN

57. A dime a dozen, e.g. : RATE. Pretty cheap!

61. One-named Tejano singer : SELENA. Sadly, she was murdered in 1995.

66. Pennsylvania home of Lafayette College : EASTON. Just across the river from NJ.

67. Steaks and burgers : BEEF

68. Off-road ride, briefly : ATV. (all-terrain vehicle)

70. Pell-__: hastily : MELL

71. Dim sum sauce : SOY

Down:

1. Bench-presser's pride : PECs

2. Aleve target : ACHE

3. What daydreamers gather, metaphorically : WOOL. This is a good explanation.

4. [Not a typo] : [SIC]

5. Made logical sense : COHERED

6. Troop truant : AWOL

7. Cry like a baby : BAWL

8. Big name in cooking oil : CRISCO

9. It's often smoked : HAM

10. Little troublemaker : IMP

11. Victor at Little Bighorn : CRAZY HORSE

12. Swiss cheese feature : HOLE

13. Nantes notion : IDÉE. Here's an idea; take a canal boat from Nantes to Brest.

18. City SSW of Dallas : WACO

22. Announcement while coming through the door : "I'M HOME"

25. Divide in threes : TRI-SECT

27. By the seashore : COASTAL

28. Septi- plus one : OCTO

29. End on __ note : A HIGH

30. Fruit-based chip dip : MANGO SALSA (C.C. This is Argyle's clue. Remember Geico Caveman's Roast duck with Mango Salsa?)

31. Tweet : CHIRP

32. Broken mirrors, to some : OMENS

33. __ buco: veal dish : OSSO

34. Opp. of legato, in music : STAC. (staccato)

36. Shady spots : ARBORs

39. Helpful hints : TIPS

44. Brittany or cocker : SPANIEL

47. Largest city of the West Indies : HAVANA

49. Cosmo concern: Abbr. : CIRC. The magazine worried about circulation.

52. "Hang on __!" : A SEC

53. Rachel's sister : LEAH

55. SALT subject : ICBM. Missiles/Strategic Arms Limitation Talks

56. Indian butter : GHEE

58. "Got it!" cries : AHAs

59. Longtime Yugoslav president : TITO. No, not one of the Jackson Five.

60. Green emotion? : ENVY

62. And so on: Abbr. : ETC

63. Japanese drama : NOH

65. Org. with Giants and Titans : NFL. Their season is almost over.

That's it, so "CHIN CHIN" everybody and let's CHA CHA outta here and hope we get back to the Corner soon.

Argyle

Notes from C.C.:

1) I'm sad to say that Jazzbumpa (Ron) lost his mother-in-law Rita on Sunday morning. Ron and his wife Gloria traveled to Toledo often in the past few years to take care of Rita, who is now in a peaceful place and pain-free.

2) Happy 5-year anniversary to our Crossword Corner blog! I'm sorry things have been out of whack lately. Thank you so much for sticking with us.