Tuesday, July 21 2015, Daniel Nierenberg

Theme: Spread 'em. Words for edible spreads are s-p-r-e-a-d across the theme answers.

17. Betrayal : DOUBLE CROSS. Oleo.

23. Mailroom device : POSTAGE METER. Pate.

37. Sandstone, for one : SEDIMENTARY ROCK. Mayo. Impressive - can you think of any other phrase in which to hide MAYO? 

49. Old West reward seeker : BOUNTY HUNTER. Butter.

61. Enthusiastic smorgasbord words ... and hint to this puzzle's circled letters : WHAT A SPREAD

Mostly a quick solve with a few exceptions. If it weren't for the circles I would never have found the hidden "spreads." Very cleverly done. 

Melissa here. I am playing ketchup after being out of town for girls weekend (I relish the thought). I apologize to olive you, these are the wurst puns ever. Surely you can do butter than this. 

Across

1. Barroom fisticuffs : BRAWL

6. Triangular pelvic bones : SACRA. Tricky plural form unless you've seen it recently. 

11. Soldier under Stonewall Jackson : REB. "Johnny Reb" was the term for the rank-and-file confederate soldier.

14. YouTube upload : VIDEO. See above :).

15. Code of conduct : ETHIC

16. Hustle and bustle : ADO

19. Spiky plant part that sticks to your clothes : BUR. To dogs, too. Interesting story about the inspiration of Velcro.

20. Pilfers : STEALS

21. Pen filler : INK

22. Clock front : FACE

26. "Yay!" : YIPPEE

28. Beaver's structure : DAM

29. Old Opry network : TNN. Grand 'Ole Opry stage.

30. Minimum-range tide : NEAP

33. Uses lidocaine on : NUMBS

41. Damaged layer : OZONE

42. Dreamcast game console developer : SEGA

43. Questionnaire choice, in Bordeaux : OUI. Yes.

44. Swiss landscape feature : ALP. Next girls weekend?

46. B-flat equivalent : A SHARP

54. Frosty coating : RIME. Who knew there was a rime festival?

55. Back-row bowling pin : TEN

56. Nome home : ALASKA. I was thinking gnome at first. That's different.

60. Mass vestment : ALB

63. Neckline shape : VEE

64. Driver's invitation : HOP IN

65. Canada's official tree : MAPLE

66. Be human, so they say : ERR

67. Initial appearance : ONSET

68. Plural diminutive suffix : ETTES

Down

1. Brand of skivvies : BVD'S

2. Civil uprising : RIOT

3. Both players in unison, musically : ADUE. Needed perps. Italian word, pronounced ah doo-ey. Literally meaning "by two." In French, it is  à deux.

4. Program running in a browser, informally : WEB APP

5. Lounge about, in British dialect : LOLLOP. Umm ... what? Okay this is my new favorite word. Listen to the British vs. American pronunciation.

6. "Be with you in a __" : SEC. Later. As soon as I finish lolloping.

7. Sun-brightened lobbies : ATRIA

8. Cheech's buddy : CHONG

9. Took a chance on : RISKED

10. Bldg. coolers : AC'S. 

11. Capital of Morocco : RABAT. I never remember this.

12. Bring out : EDUCE. Or this.

13. Hole-making insect : BORER. One who bores. I know a few.

18. Reputed Dead Sea Scrolls writer : ESSENE. Such a fascinating discovery (scroll down page to see pictures of the ruins).

22. Longest human bone : FEMUR

24. Cold temperatures : TEENS

25. Loads of : MANY. 

26. Santa __ Valley: wine region in which "Sideways" was set : YNEZ. Only a few Santa _ _ _ _ possibilities.

27. Prefix with European : INDO

29. Chinese menu general : TSO

31. Had breakfast : ATE

32. Missionary's concern : PAGAN. Nice clue.

34. Keep from floating away : MOOR. Perps, please.

35. Bra size : B CUP

36. Glide on snow : SKI

38. Foolish : INANE

39. Soften, as sorbet : MELT

40. Dreadlocks wearers : RASTAS. No dreads, but if you close your eyes ...

45. "Monty __ and the Holy Grail" : PYTHON. Just a flesh wound.

47. "I need another pair of hands, please" : HELP ME. See above.

48. Where Noah landed : ARARAT. Turkey.

49. Gutsy : BRAVE. I read gusty. That's different.

50. Petroleum transporter : OILER

51. "Raw" pigment : UMBER

52. Jalopies : HEAPS

53. Set free : UNTIE. I guess. I will set free my shoes at the end of the day.

57. Pennant race mo. : SEPT. Baseball, I presume.

58. Leafy green : KALE

59. Fruity drinks : ADES

61. Investigator's pronoun : WHO

62. Tiny tunneler : ANT. Cute.

Melissa

Notes from C.C.:

1) Please click here for a few pictures from Melissa's Girls Weekend outing in Bodega Bay, the city where hitchcock's "the birds" was filmed. Melissa further said that "... our limo driver stopped on the way back from our winery tours to see the church and schoolhouse used in the movie. The gentleman on the steps of the church was on holiday from the UK, crossing off landmarks to see from his 'bucket list.'"

 

2) Victor Barocas, the talented NYT/LAT constructor and the self-effacing editor behind our annual Minnesota Crossword Tournament, has launched a Kickstarter to "write a series of mysteries in which the detective gets help from solving a series of crosswords, and the solver does the crosswords along with the detective". Please click here for details on Victor's Ada Cross, Crossword Detective. I hope you can back his project.

Monday, July 20, 2015 Andy Kravis

Theme: not ready for prime time - Words starting with J & V.

38A. School's underclass team ... or, initially, what the four longest answers in this puzzle comprise : JV SQUAD

17A. Decision of a courtroom dozen : JURY VERDICT

22A. Business partnership : JOINT VENTURE

48A. Words on Monopoly's Jail square : JUST VISITING

57A. Vital blood vessel : JUGULAR VEIN

Argyle here, in a bit of a quandary. This is Andy's first solo effort with us and it's a doozy. The theme is an easy reveal but an impressive construction. The problem lies in the level of the fill, ranging from crosswordese to Thursday level. Nearly a pangram(no H) and a trio of six letter stacks on the sides gives us a good start to the week...or a warning?

Across:

1. Cager Shaquille : O'NEAL

6. Port in southeastern Iraq : BASRA. Anagram of Arabs.

11. Butcher's trimmings : FAT

14. Actor Gabriel or singer David : BYRNE. David is lead for The Talking Heads while Gabriel may become more well know with an upcoming film.

15. "Family Matters" misfit : URKEL. The annoying "Did I do that?" kid.

16. Sci-fi aircraft : UFO

19. Half an evasive route : ZAG

20. Noisy pig : OINKER

21. Poet Pound : EZRA. Yes, that's his real name.

27. "Snowy" birds : EGRETS

28. Fuse with an alloy : SOLDER

32. Greek Cupid : EROS

33. Letter between rho and tau : SIGMA

36. Chicken __ king : À LA. The sauce is the thing in Chicken à la King but the creator of the sauce is in dispute.

37. Fled the scene : RAN

40. Tennis division : SET. Match, set, game.

41. Tokyo, once : EDO. crosswordese.

42. Itty-bitty : EENSY

43. Donated : GAVE

44. Hereditary ruler : DYNAST

46. Made amends : ATONED

52. Head over heels (over) : GAGA

55. Bronx baseballer : YANKEE. Hey, stop that booing!

56. Mimic : APE

62. Buddhist sect : ZEN

63. Supreme Court justice Kagan : ELENA

64. Pass on, as a message : RELAY

65. Lumberjack's tool : AXE

66. Like toads : WARTY

67. Japanese cartoon art : ANIME

Down:

1. Noun after a vb., generally : OBJect

2. Big Apple sch. : NYU. (New York University)

3. Make a mistake : ERR

4. "It's still __ game" : ANYONE'S. Common sports comentary.

5. "Inception" actor Joseph Gordon-__ : LEVITT

6. Actress Delta : BURKE

7. Shakespearean forest : ARDEN

8. Blouse go-with : SKIRT

9. Camcorder button : RECord

10. PC key : ALT. Who peeked? Wait! Don't ask, don't tell.

11. Peach __ : FUZZ

12. Miles off : AFAR

13. "Julius Caesar" costume : TOGA. Gaius Julius Caesar we now know.

18. Holders of ltrs. or bills : ENVS. (envelopes)

21. Long-bodied swimmer : EEL

22. Razzed : JEERED

23. Sweet Rosie of song : O'GRADY. The Uncle Miltie Show, take a look.



24. Applied with heat, as patches : IRON ON

25. West Point letters : USMA. (United States Military Academy)

26. Willie Nelson's "On the __ Again" : ROAD

29. Aquafina rival : DASANI. Pepsi vs Coke.

30. Late news hour : ELEVEN

31. Kid-friendly, TV-wise : RATED G

33. Govt.-issued ID : SSN

34. Mensa stats : IQs

35. Fella : GUY

38. Bach's "__, Joy of Man's Desiring" : JESU



39. November honorees : VETs. The 11 hour of the 11 day of the 11 month.

43. Settled a score : GOT EVEN

45. 1977 Steely Dan album : AJA. crosswordese.

46. "__ silly question ... " : ASK A

47. __ del Fuego : TIERRA. Southernmost tip of the South American mainland.

49. Blake's "burning bright" big cat : TYGER

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,

In the forests of the night;

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

50. Brag : VAUNT. Often used as VAUNTED.

51. Decorative woodwork : INLAY

52. Disputed Mideast strip : GAZA

53. Peak : APEX

54. Heredity unit : GENE

57. Yom Kippur observer : JEW

58. Suffix with form : ULA. (formula)

59. Quarterback Manning : ELI

60. "__ the Walrus" : I AM

61. "Science Guy" Bill : NYE

Argyle

Note from C.C.:

Misty's husband Rowland passed away on Saturday afternoon. Misty said "He had still been able to answer questions and even respond to crossword puzzle clues on Wednesday, but became unresponsive that night. Thankfully he appeared to have very little pain and I held his hand when he stopped breathing."

Our condolences to Misty, who's been contributing to our blog almost daily since 2011. Rowland introduced crosswords to Misty after his stroke in 2008 and they often solved LAT Daily together.

 

Misty & Rowland 2009 (15th Anniversary Party)

Sunday July 19, 2015 Frank Virzi

Theme:  "Oh, I Get It!" - "Oh" sound is added to each theme entry, adjusting spellings as needed.

22A. Glass insulation consideration? : WINDOW CHILL FACTOR. Wind chill factor.

43A. Dessert served to waiting commuters? : DEPOT DISH APPLE PIE. Deep-dish apple pie.

98A. Skits at teatime? : PEKOE PERFORMANCES. Peak performances.

122A. Where clay letters are mailed? : PLAY-DOH POST OFFICE. Played post office. This changes a past tense verb into two words. Very unexpected.

3D. Alaskan butcher's tool? : JUNEAU CLEAVER. June Cleaver.

59D. Fruit used in a numbers game? : BINGO CHERRIES. Bing cherries. Seasonal right now.

So, six long theme entries, 6 different spellings of "Oh" sounds. This is another addition theme that needs creativity and imagination.

The grid is skillfully designed. Frank intersects two sets of the themers. This happens when you have quite a few theme entries, but Frank's choices are rather limited.

 

Across:

       

1. '80s IBM flop nicknamed "Peanut" : PCjr. PC Junior. Unknown to me.

5. "Do I need to draw you __?" : A MAP

9. Give some slack : LOOSEN

15. "Lord, is __?": Matthew : IT I

18. Shivering fit : AGUE

19. Fish-filled fare, frequently : TACO. What kind of fish do you use for fish tacos?

20. High-speed contest : AIR RACE

21. AOL rival : MSN

25. Shanty : HUT

26. Ground : EARTH

27. It may be covered by a wig : NAPE. Not HEAD or DOME.

28. Interval between mi and fa : HALF TONE. And 127. Scale note : SOL

30. Just-in-case strategy : PLAN B

32. Destroyer attacked in Aden in Oct., 2000 : USS COLE. Where were you in Oct 2000? I was in Shanghai for a project.

35. One known for high living? : TIBETAN. Nice clue. Tibetans drink Yak Butter tea every day. Their daily bread is Tsampa, made of barley flour.

36. Beats on streets : ROUTES

38. Buttonless top : TEE

39. This, in Tijuana : ESTO

41. Polite interruptions : AHEMs

42. Firm finish? : INC. Company. I was expecting a suffix.

47. Flo's workplace : MEL'S

49. Go limp : WILT

50. Minuscule time fraction: Abbr. : NSEC

51. Martinique, par exemple : ILE

52. Where Lux. is : EUR. Luxembourg.

54. __ Caesar, slain heir of Emperor Augustus : GAIUS. Drew a blank. Gaius is also Julius Caesar's first name.

56. Like some property : REAL. Only familiar with "Real estate".

58. Ground rule hits: Abbr. : DBLS (Doubles)

62. Gomer Pyle's "Well, I'll be!" : SHAZAM

65. Classic orange soda : FANTA

67. Kit Carson House site : TAOS. New trivia to me.

69. Slip in a pot : IOU.  I kept thinking of my soup pot.

70. Spread quickly online : GO VIRAL

72. Rapscallion : SCAMP

74. Musical section : STRINGS

76. With 125-Down, fictional tall-hat wearer : THE. 125. See 76-Across : CAT. The Cat in the Hat.

77. In a muddle : ASEA

79. Spanish souls : ALMAS. Learning moment to me. We've seen AME clued as "French soul".

81. Puts on : STAGES

82. Kind : SORT

84. Prefix with pad : HELI

86. Short-straw drawer : LOSER

88. Latin 101 verb : AMO

89. Kwik-E-Mart owner on "The Simpsons" : APU

91. Feminine suffix : ENNE. Or ETTE.

93. Overflow (with) : TEEM

95. Old Canadian skit show : SCTV. Second City TV.

104. Step on it, old-style : HIE

105. Start of a fitness buff's motto : USE IT. Or lose it.

106. Entre __ : NOUS

107. Steve Martin won its 2015 Life Achievement Award: Abbr. : AFI (American Film Institute)

108. Porcupine, e.g. : RODENT

110. Salon workers, at times : RINSERS

112. Recent delivery : NEONATE. Tried NEWBORN first.

115. "Phooey!" : NERTS

116. Storage closets : PANTRIES

118. Actress Penélope : CRUZ

119. Cacophonous : AROAR

121. Sugar suffix : OSE. Also 134. Prefix with -itis : OSTE

128. "Hands off!" : ALL MINE!

129. 67, for Beethoven's Fifth : OPUS. I bet Jayce nailed it.

130. Zoom : TEAR. Oh, the "move quickly" Zoom.

131. USCG rank : ENS (Ensigns)

132. Highlands legend nickname : NESSIE

133. Overtakes, in a way : LAPS. New meaning to me.

Down:

1. Dog offering : PAW

2. "Frozen" FX : CGI. FX= Effects. CGI= Computer-generated imagery

4. Household pest : RED ANT

5. Chem class abbr. : AT WT (Atomic Weight)

6. __ Picchu : MACHU

7. "Jiminy!" in Germany : ACH

8. Plants with their own national day every December 12 : POINSETTIAS. Easily guessable.

9. Lacking zip : LIFELESS

10. "... boy __ girl?" : OR A

11. Theater ticket abbr. : ORCH. Orchestra.

12. Perched on : SAT ATOP

13. Beef recall cause : ECOLI

14. "Throw it indoors" toy : NERF BALL

15. Architect of Egypt's Step Pyramid of Djoser : IMHOTEP. Can never remember this guy's name.

16. Quake consequence : TSUNAMI

17. Strong : INTENSE

20. It's for the dogs : ALPO. And 75. Brand at Petco : IAMS

23. "The full-__ moon with unchanged ray": Thoreau : ORBED

24. Like some punch : LACED

29. Tittered : TEHEED

 

30. Proper companion? : PRIM. Prim and proper.

31. Only : LONE

33. Minn. college : ST OLAF. Yay, gimme for me.

34. Surrey town where demo versions of many "White Album" songs were recorded : ESHER. Unfamiliar to me.

37. Put in stitches : SEW

40. "Be quiet," in scores : TACET

44. __ Latin : PIG. Fill in the blank clues can be tricky when you have several other choices.

45. Cable guy, e.g. : INSTALLER

46. Test episodes : PILOTS

48. "If You Knew __...": Quatro album : SUZI. I thought it's SUSIE.

53. __ avis : RARA

55. Donald, to Huey : UNCA

57. Small cells : AAs

60. Theater section : LOGE

61. Work (out) : SUSS. Suss out. Figure out.

62. Certain NCOs : SGTS

63. Twinkie relative : HO HO

64. "Glee" specialty : MASH-UP

 

66. Bullets : AMMO

68. Miss, in much of S.A. : SRTA

71. "Go Set a Watchman" author Harper : LEE. Timely.

73. Soup in "That's Amore" : PASTA FAZOOL. Unknown to me also. Pasta and beans.

78. Last Olds model : ALERO

80. "Already been to that movie" : SEEN IT

83. Lao-tzu follower : TAOIST

85. Just for kicks : IN FUN

87. __ room : REC

90. Book that begins, "All children, except one, grow up" : PETER PAN

92. Heat shield site : NOSE CONE

94. Nice view : MER. Nice the French city.

96. Sunglasses feature : TINT

97. Lab attendants : VETS. Dogs.

98. Aim : PURPOSE

99. Football's "Boomer" : ESIASON. Hi, Boomer, smile!

100. Watchers of boxers : KENNELS

101. Formally approves, formerly : ENSEALS. Not a word I use.

102. Show some spine : MAN UP. And 114. Enjoy thoroughly : EAT UP. Tiny UP dupe.

103. Ben, in Hebrew names : SON OF.  Ibn in Arab names.

109. Ignoring : DEAF TO

111. Lunar valley : RILLE. I only know RILL.

113. "What's Hecuba to him, __ to Hecuba": Hamlet : OR HE

117. Sylvia of jazz : SYMS. Another stranger to me. Update: Thank you, HowardW. (Argyle)

120. Eponymous sea discoverer : ROSS. Ross Sea.

123. 20% of MMDX : DII. 5/1 of 2,510= 502. (Correction: 1/5. Thanks, D-Otto.)

124. Place for sweaters : SPA. Or GYM. Sweat-ers.

126. Afore : ERE

I'd like to introduce you to Hayley Gold's Across and Down, a weekly webcomic about the New York Times crosswords. Hayley's intelligent comments & fun visuals are often more  entertaining than the puzzles themselves. I hope you all subscribe to her site. Enter your email address under "Subscribe".  You'll get a notification when she has a new post out.

C.C.