Saturday, Apr 6th, 2013, Brad Wilber and Doug Peterson

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing J,Q)

Blocks: 32

  Lots of white on the first across pass today, and with a fair number of names and "?" clues,  I was not feeling this one until my down pass, which gave me a smattering of letters to help with the long fill.  Only two letters gave me trouble in the end.  Brad & Doug are becoming regular Saturday contributors; today their field was dominated by 11-letter triples, and a pair of 10-letter downs:

1. Fashionable heelless footwear : BALLET FLATS - do you consider ballet flats fashionable?  I thought they were talking about these, which I think are ugly

15. Liqueur used to color a Bloody Smurf cocktail : BLUE CURACAO - never had one; here's the recipe

17. Pejorative nickname for one supporting a cause via unproductive feel-good measures : SLACKTIVIST - cute

58. Sitcom about the Buchmans : MAD ABOUT YOU - I loved this show until the baby came along

62. Stand firm in the face of defeat : BRAZEN IT OUT

64. "Prepare to be amazed!" : ABRACADABRA - musical link

12. Drive nuts : EXASPERATE - straight up; I thought it might be PUT IN A RAGE, since I had the RA-E to start

27. Road trip listening : AUDIO BOOKS - I keep meaning to try this out on my tablet, but I haven't even used the device for my Home Inspection business yet

and Onward~!

ACROSS:

12. "The Sixth Sense" sense : ESP - Meh, I don't like "Sense", "sense" and "-sensory" in this one

16. It's at the top of many a round face : XII - Twelve, on a clock 'face'; it's 5 o'clock somewhere~!

18. Place for a gondola : ALP - ARGH~!!! I could not find a three-letter word for the boat, or the railroad car....THIS gondola

19. Pub.'s client : AUTHor - and their publisher - anyone miss the "."?

20. Showed some hustle : MADE HASTE

22. Peerage member : EARL

24. Legal defendant: Abbr. : RESP.ondent - Right, Lemon?

25. Chain that makes a lot of dough : SBARRO - I was looking for the "S" at the end, thinking it's "let's eat at Sbarro's" - BZZT~!

28. Only British prime minister of Jewish birth : DISRAELI

32. "I'm with you!" : "COUNT ME IN~!"

34. Infamous 2001 shredders : ENRON - Popular this week

35. So-so connection? : AND - So-and-so

36. Conjure up : EVOKE - like 64A?

38. Teddy's Mount Rushmore neighbor : ABE - some humor

39. Voltaire's world-view : DEISM - more here

42. Glass, vis-à-vis electricity : INSULATOR - electricity cannot flow through glass; around here some of the insulators on the telephone poles are still glass, not ceramic

45. Like carry-ons : STOWABLE

47. Most unusual : RAREST

48. Adriatic port : BARI - map

49. Pasta suffix, commercially : RONI - Rice-a-Roni, Pasta-Roni

50. It was spawned by the Manhattan Project : ATOMIC AGE - I put in "ATOM BOMB"; only later did I see that I was short one letter

54. Precious ones : GEMS

57. Statesman in a Warhol series : MAO

61. Word of repulsion : ICK - I tried UGH first

63. Buns, e.g. : DOs - Hair-dos, although Princess Leia is the only person I know with two buns in one do

DOWN:

1. Small magazine articles? : BBs - HAR-HAR, that kind of magazine....but in my experience, I wouldn't really call it a magazine, more like a reservoir

2. __ parmigiana : ALLA - Had VEAL to start, then OLLA

3. Island blast : LUAU

4. Speaking point? : LECTERN

5. Aaron of "Love Happens" : ECKHART - Also in "The Dark Knight", and "Thank You For Smoking"

6. Syllable of disapproval : TUT

7. Czech composer Rudolf : FRIML - This guy

8. Hot rock : LAVA

9. Biting : ACID

10. Police weapons : TASERS

11. "What'd I tell you?" : "SO THERE~!"

13. Dredger's target : SILT - not GOLD; I got caught up in those shows on History Channel

14. Hanger in a rack : PIPE

21. Likeness words : AS AN

23. Punic Wars victor : ROME - wasn't TROY - I was thinking of  the Iliad, not this conflict

25. A heap : SCADS

26. "High Fidelity" actress Lisa : BONET

28. Saturn satellite : DIONE

29. Signs : INKS

30. University of New Mexico team : LOBOS  - seemed like a sensible W.A.G. to me

31. Slower than 43-Down : INERT

33. Like many a movie genius : EVIL - My personal favorite

37. Note from abroad : EURO - paper money, that is

40. Crawled, say : SWAM - nailed it

41. Xylophone relative : MARIMBA

43. Listless : LANGUID

44. Short operatic piece : ARIETTA

46. Post-bender dose : BICARB - Hair of the Dog?  Me, I used to just tough it out with the pounding headache and body pains

49. Pear-shaped fiddle : REBEC

50. Surrounded by : AMID

51. Fiesta fare : TACO

52. Hebrew winter month : ADAR

53. City captured in the Six-Day War : GAZA

55. Brief "Don't ask so many questions!" : MYOB - Mind Your Own Business

56. Turn in the fridge : SOUR

59. __ whim : ON A

60. Hagen of the stage : UTA

--- On a personal note, my HR guy came around yesterday to offer me a driving position at UPS - my road test is Monday, 10am. - Splynter

Friday, April 5, 2013, Ned White

Theme: A Spoonful of wacky words makes the Friday go down.

We are back in the wild world of spoonerisms, where mixing up word phrases leads to hilarity. There is an additional undercurrent of the sound "ICK" but I am not sure how that can be incorporated into the theme but the sound is all over the fill. I found this to be a comparative speed run for a Friday with lots of short fill, but also humor and some inventive cluing. This is our second LAT puzzle from Mr. White who has had 5 Saturday and 1 Friday published in the NY Times, which makes the solving of this surprising, or maybe I was just lucky. Let's get to work.

　

17A. Falk and Fonda after mud wrestling? : ICKY PETERS. (10). Picky Eaters transformed into two Hollywood types writhing in the muck. I suppose a clue "diseased organs" would not pass the breakfast test.

24A. Overzealous peach eaters? : PIT NICKERS.(10). Nit pickers, like our own divine miss m., get confused and steal their fruit treats.

39A. Oils a deck of cards? : SLICKS UP THE PACK. (15) Picks up the slack.

51A. Security images of an armed robbery? : STICK UP PIX. (10) 5, 6 pick up sticks. Are two pick ups in a row okay? I know they are if you are visiting Honey Boo Boo.

63A. Gal idolizing actor Matthew? : PERRY CHICK. (10). We all know it is Joey who gets to Cherry Pick the girls not Chandler. Anyone watch GO ON? (3:00).

Across:

1. Org. where weight matters : WBA. World Boxing Association, one of the many association which oversee professional boxing, a sport on the way out.

4. Ancient Ephraimite's home : ISRAEL. We are not talking about Mr. Zimbalist and his FBI show, but one of the lost TRIBES.

10. Pasture calls : BAAS. Baas, maas, eh.

14. "Ben-___" : HUR. More ancient Israel, but moved up to Roman times.

15. Caterer's supply : STERNO.

16. Succotash bean : LIMA. Mixed with corn.

19. Since : AS OF.

20. Overhead views : SKIES. Very literal.

21. "You got me" : NOT A CLUE. Well actually, you have the clues even if you cannot solve them.

23. Hawaiian coffee : KONA. Named after an area on the big island, an interesting history. LINK>At the base of 68A. Mauna ___ : LOA.

26. Treated, as a patient : SEEN. These days, you are lucky to even get looked at, let alone actually treated by a doctor. Shout to one of our own.

28. Midwinter Asian holiday : TET. I hope no one finds this reminder offensive.

29. Tin ___ : EAR. When I was in high school, I was admonished to only lip sync because of my tin ear.

32. Packs in a hold : LADES. We have had this word and the related bills of lading often.

35. End notes? : OBIT. Cute clue for a sad subject.

43. Office specialist : TECH.

44. Lost, as a tail : SHOOK. Having read too many detective stories, this was very easy.

45. Storm maker of yore : GEO. The automobile.

46. CIA predecessor : OSS.

49. Falls back : LAGS.

56. Salon choice : UPDO.

60. Nine to three, say : MULTIPLE. 3X3 = 9

61. Heart conditions? : ACHES. Also, misdirection, especially those of us who have more conventional diagnoses. I read a study today which says a broken heart might actually lead to a heart attack!

62. Inter ___ : ALIA.

66. Scratch : CLAW.

67. Pathetic to the max : LAMEST.

69. Wolverine sneaker brand : KEDS.

70. '50s tankers? : EDSELS. More good use of clue deception, as this model tanked from day 1, with horse collar grill I guess everyone said neigh.

71. Bungle : ERR. Bungle is just a fun word.

　

Down:

1. Roux-making tool : WHISK. Or maybe use a SPATULA? (4:59)

2. Chichester chap : BUCKO.

3. "Catch-22" actor : ARKIN. Wonderful book and MOVIE (4:32). He became Yossarian. The link is to the final scene so do not watch if you want to see the movie from the beginning.

4. Net profit makers, briefly : ISPS. Not NET profit, but INTERNET (net). Creative.

5. Sault ___ Marie : STE.

6. Like many a mil. officer : RETired.

7. Ain't right? : AREN'T.we special.

8. Subject of the 2005 book "Conspiracy of Fools" : ENRON. One of our many corporate disasters.

9. Snapped : LOST IT. Some of the Saturday Silkie's get me close, luckily we have Splynter to pick up the pieces.

10. Driveway improvement : BLACK TOP.

11. Flier's request : AISLE. Makes gong to the bathroom easier, but you do get beat up by all the carry on luggage.

12. Illicit affair : AMOUR. I confess

13. Hotel amenities : SAFES..you believe you have the only key?

18. They're all for it : YEAS. (Pronounced yays) which makes the English language so much fun as we also have, 24D. Casserole veggies : PEAS.

22. Nail : ACE. Nailed it! C.C.'s favorite.

25. River near Karachi : INDUS.. One of the seven sacred RIVERS.

27. Buckskin source : ELK. I did not know this.

29. 1970s-'80s self-improvement course : EST. This controversial SEMINAR.

30. Bar supply : ALE. And the clecho 37D. Bar supply : ICE.

31. "Coney Island" documentarian Burns : RIC.. Has he become as famous as his brother Ken? IMDB.

33. Bk. before Philippians : EPHesians. This BOOK.

34. Gimlet spec : STOLI. I guess it means specification and Stoli is a premium Vodka.

36. Snare : BAG. From the old days, where hunters literally bagged the little creatures.

38. Ring decision : TKO. Technical Knock Out.

40. Southeast natives : CHOCTAWS. Yes she really was part Choctaw.

41. Barnum's Fiji mermaid, for one : HOAX. Piltdown Man anyone? Howard Hughes autobiography?

42. Hosp. readout : EKG.

47. Cross-country need, perhaps : SKI. marti, you have a spare pair?

48. Lithe : SUPPLE

50. Similar things : SUCH.  And such

51. Act of love, or hostility : SMACK. Cute clue, and accurate in so many ways.

52. Veil material : TULLE. pronounced tool, named for a city in France, it is really fine netting, which sounds a lot less classy than a veil.

53. Epic with more than 15,000 lines : ILIAD. Arma virumque cano.

54. Respond to a charge : PLEAD.

55. Salon choices : PERMS.

57. Franco finale? : PHILE. Francophile. Not as familiar as the Anglophile, but I am sure there are some out there who want to be considered French. Mais oui! Not a reference to the dead Spanish leader, who probably still gets an occasional reference on SNL.

58. Designer's concern : DECOR.

59. Schindler of "Schindler's List" : OSKAR. It took me years to watch the movie.

61. Treads the boards : ACTS.

64. R&B artist Des'___ : REE. My learning moment, but already in by way of perps. I knew the SONG (4:00) but not the artist. I did have a silver Siamese named Desiree, but she did not sing.

Well another journey together complete, and we are ending a week in April, which I find amazing. I thank Mr. White for his effort and hope you are all prepared for the long stretch with no holidays until Memorial Day. Here we wait for our snow birds, who begin leaving now.

Peace out

L.

 

Notes from C.C.: Happy Birthday to dear Irish Miss!

Happy Birthday to Abejo also!

Thursday, April 4, 2013 Jeff Chen

Theme: "PLAY BALL!"

7 Down. Diamond deception found in this grid nine times: eight in square four-letter clusters, the ninth formed by the clusters' outline : HIDDEN BALL TRICK. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's a couple examples of the play...done to the same player!

BA sits atop

LL  in each cluster, and I have highlighted them in fuchsia below. My grid did not have circles, did yours?  If you connect all of the clusters, they resemble a ball sitting in the grid. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but the diagonal blocks sort of resemble the stitching on the baseball, don't they?

Other gratuitous baseball references at 37-Down. Two-bagger: Abbr. : DBL. Double. and 40-Down. Giant slugger : OTT. Mel Ott, who played his entire career for the NY Giants, and now is retired to his home in crosswords.

Marti here, getting more baseball savvy with each puzzle I blog.

Across

1. Vicious with a bass : SID. Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols.

4. "That's gotta hurt" : OUCH. (...said the bass.)

8. It's close to 90 : B PLUS. Fun clue!

13. XL piece: Abbr. : LGE. Xtra Large.

14. Visitor-friendly Indonesian island : BALI. Travel + Leisure voted it "Best Island" in 2010.

15. ___ Mama: rum drink : BAHAMA. An adult Icee!

16. Voided : ANNULLED.

18. Woolly beasts : LLAMAS.

19. Kelly who voiced Nala in "The Lion King" : MOIRA. And 35 Down. Prideful place? : LIONS DEN.

20. "Ooky" family name : ADDAMS. They're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky, they're all together ooky...

22. Financial degs. : MBAs. Master of Business Administration (s)

23. Prayer supports? : KNEES.

24. Its four-color logo no longer has overlapping letters : EBAY.

Before:                                                                        

                  After:

28. First name in jazz : ELLA.

29. Spotty coverage? : ACNE.

30. Canvasses : POLLS.

31. In medias ___ : RES. "In the middle of things." A device found in movies and literature where the story starts in the middle or even end of the action, and then goes back to fill in from the beginning using flashbacks.

32. Re-entry request : STUB.

33. Spot for many a curio : MANTEL.

34. Solo : GO IT ALONE.

36. Hold fast : ADHERE.

39. Twist in a gimlet : LIME.

43. Ebb : ABATE.

44. Latch (onto) : GLOM. Love that word!

45. Letter-shaped brace : L-BAR.

46. "___ vostra salute!": Italian toast : ALLA. "To your health!"

47. Cigna rival : AETNA. Insurance rivals.

48. Fashion monthly : ELLE.

49. Takes the spread, e.g. : WAGERS.

51. Ethiopia's Selassie : HAILE. His family traditionally traces its origins back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Today, he is revered as the messiah by Rastafarians.

52. Winter melon : CASABA.

55. Items that can open doors : ID BADGES. Cute clue!

57. "___ never know what hit 'em!" : THEY'LL.

58. 1-Down unit : CELL. And 1-Down. Clink : SLAMMER.

59. That, in Tijuana : ESA.

60. Fresh : SASSY.

61. Boy Scout's handiwork : KNOT.

62. Additive sold at Autozone : STP. "Scientifically Treated Petroleum." The racer's edge.™

Down:

2. Not virtuous : IGNOBLE.

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,

Their sober wishes never learned to stray;

Along the cool sequestered vale of life

They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

Thomas Gray

"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard."

3. Some kneejerk responses : DENIALS.

4. Beatles song syllables : OB-LA.-Di, Ob-La-Da.

5. Delta rival: Abbr. : UAL. United Airlines. and 12-Across. Stockholm flier : SAS. Now Scandinavian Airlines, it was previously Scandinavian Airlines System.

6. Freshly groomed : CLEAN-CUT. I think of "clean-cut" as someone who is neat in appearance all the time, not just fresh from the barber's.

8. Burt's Bees product : BALM.

9. Startup segment : PHASE ONE.

10. Skedaddle : LAM.

11. Actress Thurman : UMA. "Kill Bill:Volume 2" is a good example of In Medias Res.

15. Hugo's "Ruy ___" : BLAS. The title character is an indentured commoner who is in love with the queen, and becomes the pawn in a cruel hoax by a suitor she had scorned.

17. Nocturnal bear : URSA. One of the dippers in the sky at night. Major or Minor.

21. Wallace of "E.T." : DEE. She played the mother. Did not remember her.

23. In an arranged swap, she guest-hosted "The Tonight Show" in 2003 on the same day Jay guest hosted "The Today Show" : KATIE. Couric and Leno. This clue was so long that when I first glanced at it, I thought it was the reveal for the theme!

25. Tripart sandwich : BLT. I stared at the clue and wondered what kind of drugs would be in a TRIP ART sandwich?

26. Newcastle specialty : ALE.

27. French designer's inits. : YSL. Yves St. Laurent.

30. French door part : PANE. I was looking for a french word, like "jambage" ou "seuil." But nope, just the pane of glass in a French door.  I'm sitting here looking at two of them. Duh!

32. Nursing a grudge : SORE.

33. Family nickname : MOMMA. I remember...

34. Vacation spots : GETAWAYS.

36. Org. with towers : AAA. Tow-trucks, that is. American Automobile Association.

38. Laurel & Hardy producer Roach : HAL. He also produced "Of Mice and Men."

40. Accommodates : OBLIGES.

41. Guinness superlative : TALLEST. Book of records, not the tallest beer!

42. Syrup source : TREE SAP. We just had this entry in Patti Varol's Monday April Fool puzzle, Strange to see it again so soon!

44. "Golly!" : GEE.

45. Pb is its symbol : LEAD.

47. "(I've Got ___ in) Kalamazoo" : A GAL. The inimitable Glen Miller. 3:20

50. With proficiency : ABLY.

51. "Red light!" : HALT.

52. Nos. not on some restaurant menus : CTS. Cents. Some restaurants don't even put the dollars on their menus.

53. "Got it!" : AHA.

54. His, in Honfleur : SES. "Son" also fits. Just sayin'...

56. Rain-___: bubble gum brand : BLO. And so we come full circle, ending with a bunch of balls.

Hugs,

Marti

Interview with Erik Agard

If you have not seen this video crossword Erik Agard put together, please make sure you do. Click on the numbers, the clues will show up. 

Erik is a student at the University of Maryland. He finished 14th in this year's ACPT. Erik has been published by the LA Times & NY Times. He also publishes a new puzzle in his blog (Glutton for Pun) every Wednesday.

Left to Right: John Beck, John Wilson, Erik Agard, 2012 ACPT

How did the POWER COUPLE idea come to you and what were the other theme entries you considered but discarded?  It's always challenging to come up with natural "in the language" entries for this type of both words precede/follow theme type.

I have absolutely no idea. I rarely know where these things come from. I know I really wanted to put BLACK in one of the theme entries but I couldn't find a match for it. 

I just love this grid. 6 theme entries (60 squares!) & PHOTOSHOP & PAPARAZZI. What's your philosophy in grid designing & filling? What kind of entries do you love and what kind do try to avoid in your grids?

Thank you! Me too! My approach is: design the hardest possible grid to fill. Fill it. If you can't fill it, cry a little, maybe have a bath, and then try the next hardest grid, and so on. Being a narcissist, I think the puzzle is a canvas for self-expression, so I love entries that relate to my life (for example, I like 22-down music, and the 20-across is one of my favorite snacks). I try to avoid stuff I never would have heard of if I didn't do crosswords, though it doesn't always work out (53-down, 56-down).

What's your background and how did you get into crossword construction?

For high school I got sent to a math, science, and computer science program, which was suboptimal, being that I suck at all of those. But I got something out of it. Mr. Stein - calculus teacher, ACPT-goer, Puzzlepalooza co-founder - shared his love of crosswords with the class, and it stuck. My constructing career, then, evolved as a series of attempts to stump him (or at least take him at least ten minutes to solve).

Can you tell us a bit behind-the-scenes story about the making of that video crossword puzzle you helped produced? It's so fun to watch.

In a nutshell: I constructed a 42 word grid, found 42 brilliant volunteers, and nagged them for a few months until they each sent me a video clue. Crossword people are seriously the best.

You've been publishing a fresh puzzle every week in your blog since last September. Where do you usually find theme inspirations? 

Again, your guess is as good as mine. Sometimes there's a phrase I want to use (like BRACKET BUSTER or MILA KUNIS), so I build a theme around it. 

You're a fast solver. How long does it take you to solve a typical LAT Wednesday puzzle? Do you always grok the theme while solving or speed is your only concern? 

Usually two to two and a half minutes. The fastest puzzles are the ones where I don't pay any attention to the theme, but I do try to take a look when I've finished.

How many puzzles do you solve every day and who are your favorite constructors?

At least seven. Double digits on a good day. I have far too many of those to not leave some out, but here's a few (they all have something important in common): Matt Gaffney. Brendan Emmett Quigley. Ben Tausig. Neville Fogarty. Andy Kravis. Peter Broda. Matt Jones. Pete Muller. Patrick Blindauer. 

Besides crossword, what are your other hobbies?

People keep asking me this and it's making me think I need to find another hobby. Yikes.

Added later:

Please click here to see a wonderful Washington Post interview with Erik.