Saturday, Jun 22nd, 2013, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie

Words: 70 (missing Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 28

PHEW~!  This one was a workout, and my brain is 23D.  Alas, the crossing of two proper names got me, so I must admit to a DNF.  In fact, a lot of names, and quite a bit of baseball for our C.C.  One grid climber today:

8. Breakfast choice : WHOLE WHEAT BAGEL - I prefer an everything with cream cheese

And some of the 10-letter answers; 4 in the across, and 4 in the downs:

23. Record holder for most games played at shortstop for one team : DEREK JETER - This guy, from the NY Yankees; I always thought his name was great for crosswords; all "E"s

32. Double : TWO-BASE HIT

13. Singer covering "Purple Haze," probably : ACID ROCKER - Despite being a left-handed guitar player, I could never get in to Jimi Hendrix; I do however, like ACID jazz, like this; not for the faint-hearted

27. Aces : HOLES IN ONE - Cards?  Tennis? Ah - golf; Mike has tickets to see the LPGA US Open, played here on L.I. next week

onwARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Miller Park team nickname : BREW CREW - The Milwaukee Brewers of MLB

9. Manifesto fodder : DOGMAS

15. Prickly growth : ROSE BUSH

16. Flying star : AIR ACE - I got the chance to do this when I worked for the architect near MacArthur Airport

 

17. Certify : ATTEST TO

18. Van Morrison song whose title is spelled out in the chorus : GLORIA - I have linked some music; someone else can grab this one

19. Computer __ : GEEK - I had such a scare this week; Monday my laptop went haywire, and I was really bummed out for half the week; I managed to get in and ditched the corrupted software, ran an error check, and then did a system restore....blessings

20. Sets : GELS

22. Dusters, perhaps : MAIDS - ah - not the Dodge - actually, theirs was the Demon

25. More pallid : ASHIER

29. Capital of Österreich : WIEN - Vienna, Austria, if I am not mistaken; map

30. Modern address ending : COM - take your pick - GOV, EDU, NET....

34. She married during her father's presidency : LUCI - Lyndon Baines Johnson's daughter, who married in 1966

35. Like soft carpets : PILED - ah, not PLUSH

36. "Friends" actress, familiarly : JEN - Jennifer Aniston; I will refrain this week....

37. They may be warnings : BARKS

38. "Without __": Grateful Dead album : A NET - My friend Fred is a Dead Head; I prefer Van Halen's "Live Without A NET"

39. Lenten fare, say : MEAGER DIET

41. QB protectors : RGs - Right Guards in football

42. Alliance : PACT

43. Parfait features : LAYERS

44. Former Crayola color that's still one when its name is reversed : VIOLET BLUE - I am guessing the current crayon is "Blue Violet"....

47. Squeaky sound? : LONG E - eeeee....

48. Mideast's House of __ : SAUD

49. Feudal estate : FIEF - WAGed it

53. Clashing : AT ODDS - Nailed it

55. Vivaldi opera based on "The Decameron" : GRISELDA - one that did me in, crossing 46D

57. Rome's Via __ : VENETO

58. Time's Person of the Century, 1999 : EINSTEIN - Well, with the revelation of E=mc², and the theory of relativity, seemed like a good choice

59. Childish retort : ARE NOT

60. Barbershop chair features : LEG RESTS - I was thinking FOOT rests, and it wouldn't fit

DOWN:

1. Name-drop, say : BRAG - I was going to go with Wild Side from Mötley Crüe, but instead I will offer this one

2. Mechanical method : ROTE

3. Cádiz-to-Málaga dirección : ESTE

4. Quarter segment : WEEK - 13 weeks to a quarter in a fiscal year

5. "The Big Bang Theory" airer : CBS - TBS worked, too

6. "Jersey Roots, Global Reach" university : RUTGERS

7. Methyl bisulfate, e.g. : ESTER

9. The U.N.'s Hammarskjöld : DAG - Crossword experience got me this one

10. Crude guys? : OILMEN - HA~! I did have OILERS to start

11. Old fourpence coin : GROAT - The Wiki

12. First female professor at the University of Paris : MARIE CURIE

14. Vast expanses : SEAS

21. Squaw Valley sport : SKIING

23. Needing a charge : DEAD

24. Fly, in a way : JET

25. How some bonds are bought : AT PAR

26. Candidate's concern : SWING VOTER

28. Sarcastic retort : I BET

31. Visibility impediments : MISTS - HAZES, VEILS, SMOGS all worked

33. Throws out : EJECTS

34. Fictional cocker spaniel : LADY - I'm hoping MY lady is at Home Depot today

 

37. Scottish countryside sight : BRAE

39. Sally __ : MAE

40. Getting around : ELUDING

42. Admitted guilt for : PLED TO

45. Utah city : OGDEN

46. Pulitzer author Alison : LURIE - total unknown; here's her website bio

47. Soap containing ground pumice : LAVA

49. Bash : FETE

50. Dots on cartes : ILES - Islands on French maps

51. Work on a proof : EDIT

52. Ballpark figures : FANS - not EST(imate)S

54. Inebriate : SOT

56. Uzbekistan, once: Abbr. : SSR

Splynter

P.S. - Does anyone have a "Sleep Number" bed~??

Friday, June 21, 2013, Ed Sessa

THEME: The long "S."

the LINK.

When I was in college and we read Shakespeare, our professor would drag out an old volume which was printed in old English where the "s" in the beginning and middle of the words looked like the letter "f." So in this wonderfully witty offering from Dr. Ed Sessa, the "s" sound in words are replaced with F where the they sound like S. The 'sounds like' aspect is really well done, but the added bonus of the long S versus the minuscule S made it great for me. Also, working "Lilliputian" and "Brobdingnagian" into the clues in same puzzle is awesome (with a hidden bonus); only 9 three letter words and nice non-theme fill like FLURRIED, GUFFAWED, SCOUT OUT, SCREW TOP make this a really nice Friday. I believe this is our 17th from Ed, and the last one I blogged was a double ZZ puzzle back in February. Let's start our day with a song from a Z who died too young.

20A. Dog aficionados?: GREYHOUND BUFFS.(BUS). (14). Buffs being a slang for someone interested in something big time, and a Greyhound bus is, well a bus. I had hound from the perps, but this fell after I got

34A. Lilliputian ocean formations?: PEE WEE REEFS. (REESE). (11). The old Dodger shortstop becomes a little reef, excellent.

40A. Fodder for the British tabloids?: NOBLE GAFFES. (GASES).(11). They love their royalty, and they love skewering them in the press. I still do not know why a GAS would want to be Noble, maybe Barnes knows.

54A. Reason for many December returns?: CHRISTMAS GOOFS.(GOOSE).(14). Back in GB where the goose rather than the turkey is the fowl of choice.

on with the show.

Across:

1 "Apostrophe (')" rocker: ZAPPA. My friend Edgar Riley played keyboards for him; Frank died of prostate cancer.

6 Decide not to run: KILL. I had the hardest time convincing myself to put the K in but KAPUT was solid, and I guess if you do not go forward with a project you kill it.

10 Artist van __: GOGH. Earie clue.

14 Works about the country: IDYLS. Damn variant spelling slowed me down wanting two Ls.

15 It may involve pi: AREA..

16 Bone used in pronation: ULNA.. This is our bone of the month apparently.

17 Multiple Grammy winner Jones: NORAH.  A fabulous VOICE (2:34) for the daughter of sitar master Ravi Shankar.

18 Party animal?: PONY. rent a pony or a clown.

19 Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a __”: FAUN. Very soothing MUSIC(.5:12), very tough clue.

23 Word seen annually on a November People magazine cover: SEXIEST.

24 Grisham’s gp.: ABA. America Bar Association. In the real world, not an important organization to lawyers.

25 Bit of needlework: TAT. Funny, I read articles by young people who seem to think tattoos and piercings are new.

26 Common soft drink feature: SCREW TOP. I had the top, but it took a while to get to SCREW. I am getting old.

31 Current type: EBB. Maybe my enthusiasm ebbed.

36 “__ the opinion ...”: I'M OF. Initially, did not see the 'the' so I had IN MY, that was bad.

38 Conan Doyle title: SIR. Not one of his books, but himself.

39 Artist who wrote “Diary of a Genius”: DALI. He makes sense of the term twisted genius; I love how he was portrayed in Midnight in Paris.

45 May honorees: MAS. Moms would not fit, I almost gave up in Spanish like Roberto Duran.

46 Search for: SCOUT OUT. This took work and perps, but I like it.

47 Bygone flier: TWA. Not a bird, and airline.

49 McClanahan of “The Golden Girls”: RUE. Only Betty White lives, they almost switched. LINK.(2:55).

50 Classic Stutz: BEARCAT. I heard so much about this car as a child.

58 Kapalua Airport site: MAUI.

59 Father of Phobos: ARES. here we go again with more war.

60 Rhymes of rap: BUSTA. I cannot censor, so WATCH (3:21) at your own risk.

61 Hunger: URGE. This Corner was tough for me.

62 Buzz cut’s lack: PART. So simple, in retrospect.

63 Starlike flower: ASTER. The names comes from the Latin, ASTRUM,  and should remind you of asteroids or astral projection.

64 Horse show: MR ED. I am embarrassed to say, I had an M RED moment, before I remembered he was a horse of course. We have had one of our own at the corner. I should have recalled Dr. Sessa' s wonderful Mr. Ed puzzle.

65 Sport with a wired weapon: EPEE.

66 Park and drive: GEARS. My first thought was lots, but my brain awoke, and came out of neutral.

Down:

1 Sharp put-downs: ZINGS.  Of course for us it is THIS.(1:28).

2 Esteem to the max: ADORE.

3 Lab glass: PYREX. All you want to know about borosilicate GLASS.

4 Start of an oft misquoted 1942 film line: PLAY IT. Again Sam, is the misquote; oddly the words said start the same, but go on "Sam, you played it for her..."

5 Valueless pile: ASH HEAP. Diabolical to have two Hs next to each other in a word.

6 Down the tubes: KAPUT.

7 Element abundant in liver: IRON.

8 __ a hand: LEND. 

9 Expose: LAY BARE. More nice non-theme words requiring thought. Almost enough of an excuse to link Ygritte naked.

10 Didn’t just chuckle: GUFFAWED. At first, I was thinking with the FF, this might be part of the theme, but it is just a nice word.

11 Norway’s patron saint: OLAF. I think our Norwegian readers get more shout outs than anyone else.

12 African bovines: GNUS. I am sure this was not new to you and you knew the GNU.

13 Dynasty after the Qin: HAN. No relation to Solo or ukkah.

21 Bone: Pref.: OSTE.oporosis for example.

22 Over, to Ulrich: UBER.

26 Fleet: SWIFT. This for me is the subtle highlight of the work, as the clue was tricky, not dealing with lots of cars or trucks, but also is the surname of Jonathan Swift who wrote about the Lilliputians and the Brobdingnagians.

27 Co-panelist with Francis and Kilgallen: CERF.

28 Group with lineups: TEAM. And no I.

29 “Man __Mancha”: OF LA. (OLAF anagram?)  My inspiration, Don Quixote.

30 Three-pronged letters: PSIS. Ψ, ψ, he sighed.

31 A tenth of zehn: EINS. German Ten and One.

32 UCLA VIP, e.g.: BMOC. Big Man On Campus.

33 Former wrestling star __ Brazil: BOBO. I used to sit and watch the wrestling, Killer Kowalski, Bruno Sammartino with my grandfather; great bonding moments. WATCH. (2:00).

35 Genesis twin: ESAU.

37 Came down without sticking, usually: FLURRIED. I was snowed by this clue for the longest time.

41 Case for some small, sharp items: ETUI. Sewing stuff.

42 Blows one’s stack: GOES APE.

43 Hot times in the cité: ETES. Summer which starts this year at 1:00 AM EDT. Apparently now we must see this fill everyday until fall.

44 Party parting gift: SWAG BAG. Nice rhyme and to me more related to events than parties.

48 Motivate: AROUSE. Yes, I do recall trying to motivate a young lady recently, when... oh, never mind.

50 Tend to a duck: BASTE. Don't feed it, cook it.

51 __ del Sol: COSTA.

52 Hunting: AFTER. Not my first choice, but the perps led the way and it does work.

53 Alexander et al.: TSARS. Making a clue comeback this week. 

54 “The Alienist” author: CARR. Caleb, a wonderful book.

55 Brobdingnagian: HUGE. We had the little, now the big.

56 Crab pot, e.g.: TRAP.

57 Not much more than: MERE. Just one clue away from the end, it should take a mere minute.

58 Fall bloom: MUM. is the word.

So it is time to pack my needles and and my barbs into my etui and go off into the night. Thanks Ed for a really challenging Friday, and thank you all for being here and checking in. Lemonade out.

Note from C.C.:

1) Below are a few beautiful photos from Marti's Italy trip. Please click here for more. Notice the name of that store (#4)?

  The view from our balcony in Rapallo, Italy (on the "Italian Riviera")

Wine and pizza for lunch - how cliched!!

  Joe cool! (Marti's husband Allen)

2) Lucina is visiting CA at the moment. The California coven gathered at Dodo's place yesterday. 

Left to right: Lucina, Chickie, Dodo, Garlic Gal & JD

3) Belated Happy Anniversary to Chickie and her husband Bill!