Saturday, Sep 21st, 2013, Brad Wilber & Doug Peterson

Theme BW&DP

Words: 72 (missing J,Q,Z)

Blocks: 30

  The "other" dynamic duo appears again, this time with the authors trading places in the title; DP&BW gave us Saturday's puzzle just 3 weeks ago.  Two meaty corners tied to two grid spanners, with a pair of 10-letter climbers to tie the top and bottom halves together:

17. It's hard to write with one : NON-DOMINANT HAND - I am left-handed, and the hand-held devices UPS drivers use for package deliveries are designed with right-handed people in mind. There are some other obviously "biased" items; guitars, scissors, etc., but did you ever consider that ALL vending machines and ATMs assume you are right-handed?  Tape measures annoy me, too....so I am polling the reading audience today to find out what your dominant hand is <--

53. Hunter's companion : GOLDEN RETRIEVER - I knew we were looking for a dog, but I had to wait for a few perps first

12. "Color me surprised!" : "I HAD NO IDEA~!"   I liked how this crossed 21D. "Hah!" : "TOLD YA~!"

Sorry for any goof-ups....I have spent the last 5 days in UPS driver training; the classes were easy, but the commute would kill me if I had to do it every week....about 90mins to get from Suffolk into NYC - and I'm talking Queens, not Manhattan - and then a minimum 2 hours on the way out.  One-way in miles?  55.  ARRGHH~!! and that's not pirate talk~!  Had this great view though

ONWARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Faux-antique décor : SHABBY CHIC - speaking of Faux, see 7D.

11. Nurses : SIPS - anyone really reaaaly want LPNS ? (can't be); this is the "takes too long with your beer" nurses

15. Words next to many 22-Down : YOU ARE HERE; 22D. Check alternatives : Xes - I found this image, too

16. Malaysian Chinese shoe designer Jimmy : CHOO - Marti NNNNNAILED this one

19. Cub games setting: Abbr. : CDT - Dah~! went with CHI(cago) - nope - Central Daylight Time

20. Hidden Valley competitor : KEN'S - Salad dressings and marinades

22. Small-screen princess : XENA - warrior princess

23. Sing ballads, say : CROON

24. Word in a Le Pew address : CHERI and a clecho of sorts; 49. Star of Looney Tunes' "for Scent-imental Reasons" : PEPE - he's Frawnch~!

26. Tab alternative : DIET COKE - Tab, the cola; movie clip

29. Foe of the fictional spy agency CONTROL : KAOS - "would you believe...?"

30. Pump parts : TOES - On those Jimmy Choo shoes

32. Authorizing : OKing

33. First-aid practitioner, briefly : EMT - Popular this week

34. In reality : DE FACTO

36. Cutting remark : DIG

37. Don't bother : LET BE

39. Jardín occupant : FLOR - Garden and flower in Spanish

40. They're built on benches : PECS - the muscles, and bench presses

41. Pretends : PLAY-ACTS

43. Yupik craft : UMIAK - cool  - or would that be frigid?

45. Thomas who co-created "Free to Be... You and Me" : MARLO - the Wiki

46. Spanish autonomy Castile and __ : LEON

47. Astronomy Muse : URANIA - the ruling planet of my astrological sign is Uranus - check out this link here - rather racy, I must say ( but I don't like my sex 'fast' )

49. Stick with a spring : POGO

50. Brief black-and-white flash? : APB - The 'flash' of a message received in a police car (black & white) is an All Points Bulletin

56. Singer of the children's album "Camp Lisa" : LOEB - I have had this clue/answer on a Saturday before, I believe

57. Prevented from getting unruly : KEPT IN LINE

58. Minute : ITSY - dah~! Went with TINY

59. Biological cooler : SWEAT GLAND

DOWN:

1. What collaborators should be in : SYNC

2. Garment feature that's sometimes detachable : HOOD

3. Family title : AUNT

4. Like some news : BAD

5. Stock character? : BROKER

6. Dweller on the Red Sea : YEMENITE

7. Hutch contents : CHINA - D-Otto's story on Sunday about "faux pas" finishes reminded me of a customer I had waaay back in the day at the home improvement store; a woman came in and asked for a "china closet".  I took her to the RTA furniture department and showed her what we had.  She got very snotty with me, stating that I "must not be very smart", because that's not what she meant.  Turned out that she wanted a porcelain (china) water closet - in other words, a toilet. 

8. European trio in a Christmas song : HENS ...Four Calling Birds, three Frawnch HENS...

9. Soc. Sec. supplement : IRA

10. Rogers __: Toronto stadium : CENTRE - and then there's Rogers Arena, where the Vancouver Canucks play; Roger's got some sweet man-caves, I'd say

11. Cheesy stuff : SCHLOCK

13. Shot glass : PONY - In light of yesterday's wonderful "AA" grid spanner, I have not lifted a PONY in 8years, 8months, 13days

14. Bar supply available at the touch of a button : SODA -yeah, heavy on the Jack, light on the diet coke....

18. Pretentious : TOO-TOO

23. "Welcome to the human network" tech giant : CISCO

24. Desert mount : CAMEL - "Mike, Mike Mike, you know what day it is~!"

25. "GET FIRED UP!" candy : HOT TAMALES

26. Passes out : DEALS - anyone else on the "too drunk to stand" = passes out wavelength~?

27. Phil Jackson, for most of the '70s : KNICK - Basketball; the game just interferes with the hockey season

28. Early birds? : EGGS - HAR-HAR~!

29. It may wash up onshore : KELP

31. Leaving for : OFF TO

34. Toots : DEARIE - I had a buddy who called his wife "toots" all the time

35. 2010 Western remake that garnered 10 Oscar nominations : TRUE GRIT -never saw either the original or this one

38. Presently : BY AND BY

40. Success on a mat : PIN - wrestling - don't we have some people here with young'uns who rassle?

42. Haunted house sounds : CLANKS - I went with CREAKS first

44. Farm sound : MOO-ING

46. Ton o' : LOTTA

47. Jamaican hybrid fruit : UGLI

48. Act like a pig, in a way : ROOT

50. Fitness brand : AVIA - athletic footwear

51. Ivy League member : PENN - Dah - went with YALE

52. Cultivated : BRED

54. FF's opposite : REW - Ya know, on those, um, thingies with the tapes that play in them?  Fast Forward and REWind

55. Bent piece : ELL

Splynter

Note from C.C.:

I got an email from Elissa Grossman, who runs the annual Crosswords LA (this year slated for Saturday, October 26). Please click here for details.

Elissa said "This year's event will include crosswords and puzzle games constructed by Liz Gorski, Jeffrey Harris, Aimee Lucido, Todd McClary, Andrea Carla Michaels, Pete Muller, Trip Payne, John Doppler Schiff, Dave Shukan, Marc Spraragen, David Steinberg and Zoe Wheeler (with development managed by Tyler Hinman). It's likely that Merl Reagle will join us for the event finals. All money raised (over costs) is donated to a great non-profit (Reading to Kids)."

Those are all brilliant constructors. I hope you'll participate. You'll have fun! The great Doug Peterson made the puzzle for the event the past 2 years. Maybe he'll be there this year competing. I think Rich Norris (LA Times Crossword editor) was there last year also.

Friday, September 20, 2013, Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: "A" growing family. No A words, though.

For all of you who have noticed (or bemoaned) our recent run of Friday definition puzzles, this week one of our new regular constructors, Jeffrey Wechsler, gives us a progression of clues for grid spanning fill in another variation of the definition theme. I enjoyed this one immensely, as it featured lots of nice intermediate original fill, like,  ADAGIOS, ADMIRER, ALL HERE, BIG LOVE, GIGGLED, HIDEOUT, I BET YOU, I'M IN AWE, MANACLE, SMEAR ON, SUB-ARID, SWIVELS, USELESS, WE HAD TO. Of course when you have grid spanners, there will be some sacrifices, and JW chooses partials, abbreviations and inital-isms as his poison, so let's do our thing.

17A. A : HIGH LETTER GRADE.(15). My oldest went through college with nothing but A's.

27A. AA : TWELVE STEP GROUP.(15). Alcoholics Anonymous.

44A. AAA : US MOTORISTS CLUB.(15) American Automobile Association.

55A. AAAA : VERY THIN BATTERY.(15). I do not think there is any initial-ism here. Just a QUADRUPLE A.

Across:

1. Breadth of fresh hair? : WIG. It always disconcerts me when I do not get  1A.

4. 2000s HBO drama set in Utah : BIG LOVE. You want polygamy, you get polygamy.

11. "Figured it out!" : A HA. The best moment for a solver.

14. Longtime Parlophone record label owner : EMI. "Electric and Musical Industries Ltd was formed in March 1931 by the merger of the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company, with its "His Master's Voice" record label, firms that have a history extending back to the origins of recorded sound. " Per wiki, never heard of Parlophone, but how many three letter record labels were there?

15. Valentine sender : ADMIRER.

16. Submerge : DIP.

20. 2002 World Series champs : ANGELS. Anaheim? Los Angeles? California? They bought Pujols and Hamilton on the downturn.

21. Pawn : STOOGE. Nice word, but tricky clue.

22. Author Carnegie : DALE. The Power of Positive Thinking man.

23. CPR provider : EMT. CardioPulmonary Resuccitation from an Emergency Medical Technician.

25. Library sect. : BIOGraphy.

32. Venerable ref. : OED.

33. Moving line on the ground, maybe : ANTS. Nice visual ...................................................

34. Places to perch : ROOSTS.

35. Rosebud, notably : SLED. A Citizen Kane reference.

36. Lean and sinewy : WIRY.

37. Good thing to pass : MUSTER. From the military inspections.

40. When Bloomsday, which celebrates Joyce's "Ulysses," is observed : JUNE. This coincides with the date in the book. LINK.

41. "Just __ figured!" : AS I.

47. Profound : DEEP.

48. 32-Across cousin of arch. : OBS. Obsolete which is a cousin of archaic.

49. River through the Czech Republic : ELBE.

50. Canadian brewery : LABATT. Very popular beer in Buffalo.

53. Doughboy's helmet : TIN HAT. Tinman makes another appearance.

58. Prefix with tonic : ISO.

59. Restraining device : MANACLE. Nice old fashioned word.

60. Carnival setting : RIO.

61. Messenger developer : MSN.

62. Office chair mechanisms : SWIVELS. Also not a word you see often in the crossword world.

63. Email suffix : EDU.

Down:

1. "There was no choice for us" : WE HAD TO. A nice series of words.

2. "That's mind-blowing!" : I'M IN AWE.

3. Laughed nervously, maybe : GIGGLED.

4. Scene of a lost glass slipper : BALL. Ladies, were you Cinderella?

5. Time to beware : IDES. Be careful Julie...

6. Clock-setting std. : GMT. Greenwich Mean Time.

7. Stewed : LIT. There are so many ways to express being drunk.

8. Handel opera written in Italian : ORESTE. A now time for our musical INTERLUDE.(4:56).

9. Not hor. : VERTical.

10. Consequently : ERGO. Latin.

11. Slow movements : ADAGIOS. JzB want to take this one?

12. Place to lie low : HIDEOUT.

13. Make like : APE.

18. Command to Fido : HEEL.

19. Manhattan variety : ROB ROY. A manhattan (a rye drink) made with Scotch. Can't waste pinch with all that sweet vermouth.

23. Abbr. for dating enthusiasts? : ESTD. Established, seen on many buildings.

24. Hood et al.: Abbr. : MTS. Another recurring theme for the week?

26. Common cellphone feature, briefly : GPS. Global Positioning System.

28. Manservant : VALET. Jeeves anyone?

29. Italian : gennaio :: Spanish : __ : ENERO. January.

30. Patterned cloth : PRINT.

31. Sticks with a horn : GORES. Short but very BRUTAL (0:36)  example, use your discretion in watching.

35. Visit : STOP BY.

36. Milquetoast : WUSS.

37. Pie material? : MUD. Yum, oh you meant literally.

38. Of no help : USELESS.

39. Apply liberally : SMEAR ON. Did any of  you all think of

40. Foresail : JIB.

41. Present and accounted for : ALL HERE.

42. Moderately dry, climatewise : SUB-ARID.

43. Challenging opening : I BET YOU.

45. Twisty pasta : ROTINI. There are many, many kinds. MORE than I knew.

46. It's mostly made of zinc : CENT.

51. Some NCR devices : ATMS. Automated Teller Machines

52. Spring occurrence : THAW.

53. Starbucks order : TALL. Which is small.

54. Followers: Suff. : ITES.

55. Pep : VIM.

56. Service abbr. : NAV.  To keep the Village HAPPY.(4:01).

57. Pre-A.D. : BCE. A real mixed metaphor, as Before Common Era, is used by those who do not accept Anno Domini.

A quick shout out to Mangesh  who in a collaboration with Doug Peterson created the NYT today. He was our first regular from India.

Well,, like I said I really enjoyed this challenge. I missed Happy Mid-Autumn, but for those who are in their sukkahs, enjoy. LINK.  Have a great week, thanks JW, lemonade out.

Notes from C.C.:

1) Further to what Lemonade said earlier, congratulations to Mangesh on his NYT debut. Please check his interview with Wordplay here. He has a LAT coming up next week also.

2) For those who enjoyed George Barany's Turing tribute puzzle, he co-constructed today's The Chronicle of Higher Education puzzle. Please click here. The first one: "Great Dane". Unfortunately, only puz file is available.