Thursday September 17, 2015 Jerry Edelstein

Theme: Tribute Puzzle to Blondie - All eight symmetrically placed entries are Blondie related.

16A. Spouse of 66-Across : DAGWOOD

22A. Spouse of 20-Down : CORA

40A. Friend of 66-Across : TOOTSIE. Intersecting MR. DITHERS (20D. Employer of 16-Across). I can picture how excited Jerry was when he discovered that he could cross two themers in the middle. The grid design of this puzzle probably started in the middle.

 

54A. Friend of 16-Across : HERB

66A. Comic strip celebrating its 85th anniversary this month : BLONDIE. It's important that this key reveal entry is placed at the lower right corner, traditionally the last part where solvers finish their puzzle. 

11D. Son of 16- and 66-Across : ALEXANDER 

36D. Creator of 66-Across : CHIC YOUNG. I already had CHI? YOUNG and thought his name might be CHIP, but the crossing said "No". 

 

C.C. here. Marti will be back blogging on Oct 1. Gary will guide us next Thursday.

I always skip the comic pages in our Star Tribune. I glance at Family Circus & Dennis the Menace occasionally. They're placed together and I love the sweet and innocent nature of those two strips.

I had no problem obtaining those Blondie names. Easy crosses all around. We don't often see blocks at the corners. Jerry used four to facilitate smooth fill. Stacked 7's & 6's are not easy to fill cleanly.

Across:

1. Ways to the docks : INLETS

7. Military unit : BRIGADE

14. California colleague of Barbara : DIANNE. Babara Boxer is retiring next year. We also have 51. Hatch in the Senate : ORRIN.

15. Worked on a runway : MODELED
  

17. Winter clothes : WOOLENS. I did not know Woolen can be a noun.

18. 2008 Benicio del Toro title role : CHE. A hero when I grew up.

19. Fruit support : STEM

21. Fiber-yielding plant : FLAX. My first reaction: ALOE?
  

24. Messes up : ERRS. And 37. Mess up : MISHANDLE

26. Command to Fido : STAY

28. Pump output : GAS

30. Downturn : DIP. As the stock market.

32. "__ ideal world ... " : IN AN. There will be no personal attacks on this blog. Why do you want to hurt others?

34. Fancy neckwear : ASCOT

39. "A likely story!" : HAH
  

42. Ike's domain in WWII : ETO

43. Orwell's "1984" Inner Party is one : OLIGARCHY. Sparkling fill.

45. Aired as a marathon : RE-RAN. TV marathons.

47. Track setting : PACE

48. Ship, to a sailor : SHE. Hi there, Spitzboov & D-Otto. Any love stories in Guam, D-Otto?

49. Chips for the winner : POT. Did anyone else read it as "Chips for the winter"?

50. "__-mite!": "Good Times" catchword : DYNO. Easily guessed.

52. Patron of Alice's : ARLO 

58. What we have here : OURS. Got via crosses. Sometimes my brain just does not work as constructor/Rich wants.

60. River-bottom accumulation : SILT

62. Word with odds or bricks : LAY

63. Water pistol output : SQUIRTS. Another nice fill.

68. Brighter, in a way : SUNNIER. What Dave does to my day, except when he's in the  stunt airplane mood. Dave mentioned that the right section of the blog (including Interviews and Olio), is missing from his iPhone. Does this happen to other iPhone/Android users?

69. Colors again : RE-DYES

70. University officers : REGENTS

71. Last : ENDURE

Down:

 

1. Union member since 1890 : IDAHO

2. Niamey is its capital : NIGER. Via crosses.

3. Order companion : LAW

4. Slaughter in baseball : ENOS. Cardinals' #9. What jersey number would you like to have? I want #3.

5. U.S. IOUs : T-NOTES

6. The Four Questions ritual : SEDER. Filled in before I even read the clue.

7. Audi rival : BMW

8. Santa's target : ROOF

9. Graven images : IDOLS

10. Makeup of many capsules : GELATIN
  

12. Scouting unit : DEN

13. Paper staffers, briefly : EDS (Editors)
 

16. CCCL doubled : DCC. 700.

23. Back then : AGO

25. She won an Oscar for her 1980 portrayal of Loretta : SISSY

27. 1945 "Big Three" conference site : YALTA. No Y/M confusion this time. Easy Across.

29. "__ boy!" : ATTA

31. Chi preceder : PHI. Not TAI.

33. Light element : NEON

34. One bounce, in baseball : A HOP. Partial.

35. __ days : SALAD.  I bought a pack of Spaetzle at Aldi on Tuesday. Cooked in boiling water for 12 minutes according to the instruction, the noodles were so bland. No bite at all. How do I make it interesting?

37. Caffé order : MOCHA

38. Beginning of space? : AERO. Aerospace.

41. Surg. sites : ORs

44. Real : GENUINE. Oh, Oh, look at this Chloé Paddington!

46. E. African land : ETH (Ethiopia)

49. Springtime concern for many : POLLEN 

53. Cuba __: rum drink : LIBRE

55. Respected figure : ELDER

56. Bring up : RAISE

57. High seed's advantage : BYE

59. "Ignore that edit" : STET

61. Taylor's husband between Wilding and Fisher : TODD (Mike). Wiki says "... Although this marriage lasted only a little over one year, it was the only one of Taylor's marriages to end without divorce; Todd died in a plane crash while married to Taylor... Taylor later called him one of the three loves of her life, along with Burton and jewelry..."

63. Cold War letters : SSR

64. "__ Sera, Sera" : QUE

65. Grads to be : SRs

67. Manhattan coll. founded in 1831 : NYU

C.C.

Wednesday, September 16th, 2015 C.W. Stewart

Theme: Discombobulated Divisions - the circled letters are rearrangements of the names of the four seasons that are generally recognized in temperate and sub-polar regions of the world.

18A. Sweet sherry, e.g. : DESSERT WINE . [Winter] I never really think of sherry as a dessert wine, more an aperitif, even the sweet amontillado and oloroso versions.

23A. Unbeatable hand : ROYAL FLUSH. [Fall] The Aria hotel in Las Vegas was the subject of some discussion on the blog on Sunday. I hit my only video poker royal flush at the lobby bar in the Aria. I promptly cashed out, never to make another bet all week.

48A. Square-bodied family autos : HUMMER SUVS. [Summer] Horrible-looking things, IMHO.

55A. Pre-holiday mall indulgence : BUYING SPREE. [Spring]. I'd be more of a shopping or spending spree-er if I ever spreed.

38A. It happens four times a year ... and also in this puzzle's circles : CHANGE OF SEASONS. And a nice diagram courtesy of Wikipedia:

Hail fellows, well met! Steve here with C.W.'s cyclical-circle theme. I think those of you solving circle-less might have missed out a little with this one - once I saw the letter-scrambling going on, it helped me figure out HUMMER SUVS when I was looking at a lot of blank space in that area.

A neat theme, but I was marginally disappointed with the aforesaid HUMMER SUVS - you could use either of the "U"'s to make your season and the "scramble-factor" across the four themers was a little inconsistent - SPRING and SUMMER are just split in the middle and reversed, but you'd get FLAL and WINERT if you tried that with the other two. Not a big deal, but I love symmetry.

With the grid-spanning reveal entry, you're looking at 57 theme squares; it looks like C.W. worked pretty hard not to let the fill slump into a rag-bag of crossword-ese, there's nary a clunker to be seen. Hurrah!

Let's check out the rest:

Across:

1. Respectful title : SIR

4. Gnocchi sauce : PESTO. Food! Basil, olive oil, pine nuts, cheeses. Vibrantly green. I go light on the oil, it doesn't need much.

9. First occurrence : ONSET

14. Keats' "__ to a Nightingale" : ODE

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains

         My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk ...

15. Stay away from : AVOID. Good advice vis-a-vis hemlock ..

16. With 61-Across, Sri Lankan product : PEKOE and

61. See 16-Across : TEA. Not to be overly pedantic here (Why not? That's what crossword blogs are for!) but there's really no such thing as "pekoe tea". Pekoe is a grade of black tea primarily grown in India and Sri Lanka.

17. Pool user's unit : LAP. 20 laps = 1,000m where I swim. That's my warm-up, then some interval sprints and a 100m kick-social cool-down

20. "__ Road to Glory": Arthur Ashe history : A HARD. I boxed myself into a weird corner here - for no good reason, I filled in AHEAD, failed to notice that REPEY wasn't a word, and thought I'd discovered a new geological feature in AAVINE. Sanity finally prevailed, but only after I thought there were typos in the grid. It turned out it was just me being idiotic.

22. Lip : SASS

27. Hat worn with a kilt : TAM. Popular hat (in crosswords).

30. "Romeo and Juliet" city : VERONA. Shakespeare seemed to like this place - two plays were set here.

31. Laundry slide : CHUTE

33. __ Spumante : ASTI. Italian day today - PESTO, VERONA and now ASTI so far.

36. Here, to Henri : ICI. "You are here" on French mall maps:

37. Album array : PHOTOS

41. Comes to the point? : TAPERS

42. Have title to : OWN

43. Long basket, in hoops lingo : TREY. A three-pointer from outside the line. My pet peeve: Brent Musberger and his "from DOWNTOWN!!!!" call when a three-pointer is made. "Downtown" would be underneath the basket where all the traffic and banging around happens. "FROM THE SUBURBS!!!!" would be more accurate. OK, pedantic rant over (hey, it's a crossword blog, right?)

44. Clear the board : ERASE

45. Daze : TRANCE

47. Only article in a U.S. state capital name : DES. Moines. French for "The Moines". Or something.

52. Burlesque wraps : BOAS. G-rated example:

e

54. Dot on a map : ISLET

62. Parenthetical remark : ASIDE. Hamlet: (A little more than kin, a little less than kind). Bill the Bard pretty much invented the theatrical aside.

63. Piece of cake : LAYER.

64. Tach reading : R.P.M. Why do automatic transmission cars have a tachometer? There's nothing much you can do about the revs ..

65. Package sealers : TAPES

66. Decorative pitchers : EWERS

67. Critter in Egyptian art : ASP. Critter is a nice term for a hooded, extremely poisonous and aggressive cobra.

Down

1. Like some eclipses : SOLAR

2. One of three Hells Canyon states : IDAHO. I trotted off to the interwebs to find out why there's no apostrophe anywhere in "Hells" and drew a blank. I did discover that the mountain that forms the canyon is named "He Devil" which leads me to believe that the Idahoans must have rationed apostrophe usage on geographical features. I still think it should be "Hell's Canyon" though. Pedantic, moi? Oh wait - that's what crossword blogs are for!

3. Square things : REPAY Chlecho with 28D

4. Kayak mover : PADDLE. Not really, it's me wielding the paddle. Especially when I'm in a twin kayak and I look around to see that my paddle-partner is laying flat out with her paddle across her knees sunbathing.

5. Night before : EVE

6. Distress signal : S.O.S.

7. "Whether __ nobler ...": Hamlet : 'TIS. Asides in 62A, a soliloquy here, Verona earlier. Elizabethan Hall of Fame Playwright day today.

8. Ukrainian port : ODESSA

9. Stops wavering : OPTS

10. Dinnertime TV fare : NEWS. Usually in LA featuring any one of a) high-speed freeway car chase b) weather extremes or c) totally unsurprising "celebrity" "scandal". Or all three.

11. Snow runner : SKI

12. Ages and ages : EON

13. Place to start a hole : TEE. Fore! The first tee at my local course, DeBell in Burbank. I usually boom my first drive over the tall tree you see to the right and onto the street. Others hook theirs into the barranca on the left or squiff one into the rubbish in front. Then we all agree to forget that it ever happened and take mulligans.

19. Cheer from the crowd : RAH!

21. Steep-sided valleys : RAVINES. Not AAVINES which had me wondering ....

24. Wendy's side : FRIES. You want fries with that? What a strange question! Here's the current Wendy's TV commercial pitch-person. Note the complete lack of red hair. I do like the fact that her husband is the manager at the Grammercy Tavern in New York. Food!

25. Maniacal : LOCO. El Pollo Loco! Food! I love this puzzle.

26. Military outfit : UNIFORM

27. Private instructor : TUTOR

28. Square things : ATONE Clecho with 3D

29. Like many a dorm room : MESSY

31. Half a dance : CHA

32. Party organizer : HOSTESS

33. Did one's part? : ACTED

34. Admonishing response to "Mine!" : SHARE!

35. Spanish finger food : TAPAS. I can't keep up with the Food! Tapas were originally "covers" or "tops" to put on the top of your glass of sherry (18A!) to keep the flies out.

37. Tubular pasta : PENNE. I linked "Penne all' arrabbiata" at the Star Wars Canteen last time out. This week, why not combine this with 4A and try some pesto on top?

39. MBA hopeful's test : G.R.E. Seems awfully complicated. I'm not sure I even understood the rubric of the Wiki entry.

40. Took a dip : SWAM. Head back up to 17A and do 20 laps.

45. Struggle : TUSSLE

46. Old-time broadcasters : CRIERS

48. Crone : HAG

49. Extreme : ULTRA. "A Clockwork Orange" placed the word "ultraviolence" into the lexicon.

50. Some execs : VEEPS

51. Passport image : STAMP. My old passport had over 100 of these. The new one is already up to 20 or so.

52. __ one's time: wait : BIDE

53. Soda machine inserts : ONES. Sign of the times. Time was when a quarter was plenty.

55. Nocturnal flier : BAT

56. NATO founding member : USA. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization gets the "no longer an abbreviation" nod, along with our homeland.

57. Chihuahua complaint : YIP. Sorry, did I step on your paw? I didn't see you there ...

58. Handle without care? : PAW. Stop complaining, serves your paw right!

59. Reuben bread : RYE. Too much Food! I ate this version at Katz's on Houston Street in New York's Lower East Side. The pickles are awesome!

60. Slogan ending? : EER

I have to go and lie down after all those calories. Here's the grid.

Steve

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to our witty and caring D-Otto (Tom), who has never failed to welcome a newbie, or answer any blog question, or give comfort to those in need. Off the blog, he's my trusted friend and adviser, always so patient with me and so supportive. Thanks for always being here for us, Tom!

 

Tuesday, September 15, 2015 Jerome Gunderson

Theme: The 'T' is Silent

41A. Valentine symbol ... or, when read as two words, what you can't do when the answers to starred clues are spoken : HEART or "hear T".

17A. *"The Color Purple," for Oprah Winfrey : MOVIE DEBUT

66A. *Special Forces soldier : GREEN BERET

10D. *1990s Reform Party candidate : H. ROSS PEROT

30D. *Boneless seafood option : FISH FILLET

Argyle here. I doubt anyone would be surprised that all four entries are derived from French. Welcome to our old friend Jerome. You've been silent too long. Interview Another pinwheel grid with the unifier in the middle. C.C. pointed out to me the other day this design is prohibitive of longer fill. OK, OK say I, I still like it.

Across:

1. High-ranking Indian : RAJA

5. Jack rabbits, e.g. : HARES

10. Mr. Ed's foot : HOOF

14. Like Bond foes : EVIL

15. RLX automaker : ACURA

16. Bring down with a big ball : RAZE

19. Great Plains tribe : OTOE. Another old friend.

20. Soccer game tie, often : ONE ALL

21. Infiltrator : SPY

22. Email command : SEND

23. Hitch, as a ride : BUM

25. Long locks : TRESSES

27. Retailer known for little blue boxes : TIFFANY'S. Not on my income.

32. Maple output : SAP. Done for this year.

33. Singer Amos : TORI

34. Bottom corner of a square sail : CLEW. I didn't have a clue. It's part of a triangular sail, also.

36. Pass along : RELAY

40. Is obliged to pay : OWEs

43. Dallas quarterback Tony : ROMO. Signed as a free agent with the Cowboys in 2003.

44. Hiking trails : PATHS

46. Word before cook or burn : SLOW

47. "Yeah, yeah, I get it" : "OK, OK"

48. Monk's title : FRA

50. Winter traction aid : SNOWTIRE

52. Game divisions : PERIODS

56. Car in a '60s song : GTO

57. Stagger : REEL

58. Off-road transp. : ATV. (all-terrain vehicle)

60. Horseshoe-shaped letters : OMEGAs. Greek.

65. Inland Asian sea : ARAL. Sad.

68. Dry with a towel : WIPE

69. Words on a Wonderland cake : [EAT ME]

70. Turkish currency : LIRA

71. Egg container : NEST

72. Got off one's duff : STOOD

73. Mexico City problem : SMOG

Down:

1. Riviera resort San __ : REMO. Wonder if Romo ever visited Remo.

2. CoverGirl competitor : AVON

3. Jazzy jargon : JIVE

4. Et __: and others : ALIA

5. Went for a burger, say : HAD LUNCH

6. Unhittable serve : ACE

7. Pre-grilling spice mixtures : RUBS

8. Blow one's stack : ERUPT

9. Lascivious deities : SATYRS. Great for Halloween.

11. Hall's pop music partner : OATES. Still performing. 2014 Clip(7:52)

12. Holey layer : OZONE

13. Nourishes : FEEDS

18. Site of Napoleon's exile : ELBA

24. Pilgrim Standish : MYLES. I thought it was spelt with an "I".

26. Corn serving : EAR

27. Sporty car roof : T-TOP. But not on a GTO, I believe.

28. State whose straw poll was discontinued in 2015 : IOWA

29. Banjo ridge : FRET

31. Tapes up tightly : SEALS

35. Like a test answer with an "x" next to it : WRONG

37. Norse mischief-maker : LOKI

38. Love, to Ovid : AMOR. (Roman poet)

39. Oxen harness : YOKE

42. Black-and-white, e.g. : TWO-TONED

45. "No seats" letters : SRO. No tickets at all, SOL.

49. Traditional sayings : ADAGEs

51. Gestation location : WOMB. We've all been there, eh?

52. Shrimp relative : PRAWN

53. Spooky : EERIE. Halloween is coming soon.

54. Brings in : REAPS

55. Fender guitar model, briefly : STRAT. Stratocaster®

59. White House no : VETO

61. Slim swimmers : EELs

62. Bleak : GRIM

63. Prefix with dynamic : AERO

64. Guys-only : STAG

67. Punk rock offshoot : EMO

Argyle

Monday, September 14, 2015 Janice Luttrell

Theme: More than upset - Star answers begin with synonyms of irate

20A. *Publication featuring Alfred E. Neuman : MAD MAGAZINE

57A. *Chinese food staple : STEAMED RICE

11D. *Cold symptom : SORE THROAT

29D. *Lines that help you 9-Down : CROSSHAIRS

41D. Personal source of annoyance ... which might make one feel the first word of the answers to starred clues : PET PEEVE

Argyle here. The reveal isn't in the middle this time but still a nice pin wheel grid. Fill is on the easy side, as it should be, but still lively.

Across:

1. Cabbage side dish : SLAW

5. Costume shop supply : WIGS

9. Croatian-born physicist Nikola : TESLA

14. Spanish appetizer : TAPA

15. In couch-potato mode : IDLE

16. Like a cheering capacity crowd : AROAR

17. Happily __ after : EVER

18. Tidy : NEAT

19. Destiny : KARMA

23. Tidal retreat : EBB

24. The ones right in front of us : THESE

25. Lt.'s superior : CAPT. lieutenant / captain

27. Engraved with acid : ETCHED

30. "The Firm" author John : GRISHAM

33. Sea, to Cousteau : MER. Both French.

34. Worker in a shaft : MINER

37. __ Gras : MARDI

38. Coll. hot shot : BMOC. (Big Man on Campus)

40. Garden bulb : TULIP

42. Tugboat sound : TOOT

43. WF-3640 printer maker : EPSON. Model # was of no help.(to me)

45. Traveler's stop : MOTEL

47. "__ you happy now?" : ARE

48. "Do not" follower, on a closed-door sign : DISTURB

50. Ride a seesaw : TEETER

52. Roll call reply : HERE

53. Channel covering Capitol Hill : C-SPAN. acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network.

55. Cute __ button : AS A

62. Light brown : BEIGE

64. Beech or birch : TREE

65. Many Keats poems : ODEs

66. Flub by a fielder : ERROR

67. Balkan native : SLAV

68. Cowpoke's footwear : BOOT

69. "Yum!" : "TASTY!"

70. Knight times : YORE

71. "Born Free" lioness : ELSA

Down:

1. Wineglass part : STEM

2. Volcanic output : LAVA

3. Did an impression of : APED

4. Fireside feeling : WARMTH

5. Didn't follow a script, say : WINGED IT. Ad libs. Improv.

6. Brainstorms : IDEAs

7. Classic Krispy Kreme coating : GLAZE

8. "The X-Files" org. : SETI. (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence )

9. Get ready to shoot : TAKE AIM

10. Open __: tennis period since 1968 : ERA. When the professional players first competed with amateurs.

12. Rack of __ : LAMB

13. Many an Iraqi : ARAB

21. "Excuse me ... " : "AHEM ... "

22. Big name in ATMs : NCR. The NCR Corporation was formerly National Cash Register.

26. Exam for H.S. jrs. : PSAT. Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test, formerly.

27. Nestle snugly : EMBED

28. Allegro, scherzo, andante, etc. : TEMPI. Plural of tempo.

30. Sandpaper feature : GRIT

31. Worship : ADORE

32. Bishop's headdress : MITER. Make your own. Origami.

35. Unfeeling : NUMB

36. Symphonic rock gp. : ELO. (Electric Light Orchestra)

39. Sheep shelter : COTE

44. Room with a crib : NURSERY

46. Starring role : LEAD. Often 59D. Big screen star : IDOL

49. On a pension: Abbr. : RET. (retired)

51. Dress for the choir : ENROBE

53. Monte __: gambling mecca : CARLO

54. Ink mishap : SMEAR

55. Aid in wrongdoing : ABET

56. Doris Day song word : SERA

58. Online handicraft market : ETSY. Have we learned it yet?

60. Corp. heads : CEOs. (Chief Executive Officer)

61. "¿Cómo __ usted?" : ESTÁ. "How are you?"

63. Understood, as a joke : GOT

Argyle