Monday, Jun 10, 2019 Bruce Venzke & Gail Grabowski

Theme: MOVIE TRAILERS (49. "Coming attractions" offerings, and a hint to the starts of the answers to starred clues)

20. *Opening night Hollywood event: PREMIERE PARTY. Movie premiere.

33. *Recognizable face associated with a cause: POSTER CHILD. Movie poster.

40. *Photographer's concern: CAMERA ANGLE. Movie camera.

Boomer here. 

Hi everyone. I am looking forward to the first day of summer coming soon. In our daily routines, C.C. eats mostly healthy food while I prefer junk food like pizza and brats. But there is one sign of summer that we both crave. The pallets of seedless watermelon invading the produce department of the grocery stores. They are not grown in Minnesota. The farmers thought about growing seedless watermelon, but they did not know what to plant.

Across:

1. Noisy blue birds: JAYS.  Toronto's baseball team.  Needs a little help this season.

5. What a wizard may cast: SPELL. I suppose you read about the spelling bee which became an eight way tie when they ran out of words.  Each of the contestants received $50,000.

10. Magic charm: MOJO.

14. Stand watch for, say: ABET.  Now that James is gone from Jeopardy. I suppose he is back home making a bet.

15. Shire of "Rocky": TALIA.

16. State firmly: AVOW.

17. Lugosi of "Dracula" fame: BELA.

18. MLB app for watching live baseball games: AT BAT. Sorry I watch them on TV.  I do not like the computer version.

19. Farmer's place, in a kids' song: DELL.  Hi-Ho the dairy O.

23. VIP vehicle: LIMO.  I remember going to the 1987 World Series at the Metrodome. I found a place to park about half a mile away.  When we approached the parking lot of the dome, there were at least 50 limos there.  Spoiled brat baseball players!!

24. Smash into: RAM.  Play football in L.A.

25. Current unit: AMPERE.  I am not sure about this.  I believe a current unit is a volt.  An ampere is the load.

28. Practice in the ring: SPAR.  Move that "S" to the rear of the word and give me some on the golf course.

30. Mil. bravery medal: DSC.  Distinguished Service Cross.  Must be pretty special because I have never seen one.  Closest I came was a Vietnam vet came into my unit with a Silver Star.

35. Brew ordered by its initials: IPA.

36. Periods often named for music genres: ERAS.  Also mentioned in pitchers stats.

37. __-Ida Tater Tots: ORE.  I suppose this references Oregon and Idaho, but I know most potatoes are grown in Idaho.  Not sure what happens in Oregon.

38. Colored eye part: IRIS. See also 61. Eye parts with 38-Acrosses: UVEAS.

39. Double-crosser: RAT.  Cannot help thinking of James Cagney when I see this.

44. Part of CBS: Abbr.: SYS.  Columbia Broadcasting is the other part.

45. Run __: go wild: AMOK.

46. Number of feet between baseball bases: NINETY.

47. Times two, a Gabor: ZSA. "She had twenty husbands, five of them hers.  What kind of life is that?"  I think Chad Mitchell Trio sang that about Liz Taylor.  Zsa Zsa lived to the ripe old age of 99.  Wow!!

48. Work with freight: LADE.

55. "Right away!" letters: ASAP. Maple trees have this. We still miss Argyle who would send us a bottle of homemade maple syrup.

56. Well in advance: EARLY.  MLB Hall of Fame Pitcher Mr. Wynn  Began his career with Washington and if he had stayed he may have become a Minnesota Twin.  But he left the Senators for Cleveland and finished his career with the White Sox. (then back to Cleveland for a cup of coffee and win #300.)

57. Life partner: MATE.

60. Bit of lingerie: SLIP.  Did you ever walk in Minnesota in the winter?

62. Most of the time: A LOT.

63. Fit for sainthood: HOLY.

64. Respond: REACT.  Think about those Broadway plays.  Those folks have to re act every performance

65. Verne sea captain: NEMO.  Played by Michael Caine and Omar Sharif.  I always thought he was a real person that lived before my time.

Down:

1. Elbow poke: JAB.

2. Mount Rushmore prez next to Teddy: ABE.  Shame on me.  I have driven through Rapid City, SD many times and even once stopped at the casino in Deadwood.  But I never drove the extra miles to see this fabulous carving in a mountain.  It should be one of the seven wonders of the world.  Let's at least give it number 8.

3. Shrill bark: YELP.

4. Hollywood hopefuls, back in the day: STARLETS.  The Sun is our biggest star.  I suppose we could call the little ones starlets.

5. Speak haltingly: STAMMER.  My uncle Howie had a terrible one.  Difficult to understand.

6. Outdoor party area: PATIO.  A lot of patios have now been replaced by decks on multi-story homes.

7. Hamburg's river: ELBE.  The Elbe flows through Northern Germany.  I was farther south, near Frankfurt.

8. False witness: LIAR.  Pants on fire.

9. Like sideways gridiron passes: LATERAL.  We don't see these in the NFL too much anymore.

10. "__ Secretary": TV drama: MADAM.

11. No longer hung up on: OVER.  I know they did not spell it this way, but I cannot help but think of Peter Graves in "Airplane."

12. Rude awakening: JOLT.  I don't know if it is still on the market, but I remember a high caffeine soft drink by this name.

13. Big-eyed: OWLY.  Stan -" I brought you some hard boiled eggs and nuts"

21. Celt's land: EIRE. Rory McIlroy's homeland.  Speaking of whom - What a great performance in the RBC Canadian Open this weekend.

22. Western chum: PARD.

25. Imitators: APERS.

26. Tropical eel: MORAY.

27. Exams for sophs and jrs.: PSATS.  I don't remember these as underclassmen.  I think I took SATs as a senior.

28. Filmdom ogre: SHREK.

29. Spot to fish from: PIER.  In Minnesota we fish from docks. Lot of lakes, not too many piers.

30. Somber song: DIRGE. I wonder why a Batman villain never got this name.

31. Like milk on the floor: SPILT.

32. "Mighty" Mudville dud: CASEY.  Absolutely my favorite classic poem of all time.  I rewrote it once and changed it to the "Twinville nine".  I also rewrote a bowling version where "Striking out" is a good thing.

34. Crooner Perry: COMO.  My sister Barbara's all time favorite.  Her son, my nephew visited from San Francisco just last week. 

38. Source of a masculine sense of self: INNER MAN.  Or a floatation device  Inner Tube.

40. 12 bottles of wine: CASE.  I wouldn't know.  I never liked wine much. Never enough to buy a case.

41. Nonprofessional: AMATEUR.  That's me. Amateur bowler, golfer, and speller.  C.C. is a pro blogger.

42. Investment firm figure: ANALYST.  I have never found an investment firm that fit me.

43. Classroom helper: AIDE.  Not a classroom, but there are many of these, mostly volunteers, at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis.

47. Lively: ZIPPY.  We don't have a Zippy's restaurant up North.  I hear they are in Hawaii.

48. Pastel purple: LILAC.  "Each lilac of green turns to one that is blue.  Love like the Lilacs can change colors too."  Chad Mitchell Trio.

49. Prepare, as potatoes: MASH.  "The game of life is hard to play" (M.A.S.H. theme song)

50. Capital on a fjord: OSLO.  I believe this was the home of Ole and Sven.

51. Rockies ski resort: VAIL.  Mile High, I think they have year round snow.

52. "Must-see" review: RAVE.

53. Polygon measure: AREA.  Polygons are fairly assorted and complex.  I think you would need a laser to calculate the area of some.

54. It may result in a commission: SALE.  Red Sox pitcher Chris is having a tough year.

58. Patriots' Brady: TOM.  Was not one of the "Brady Bunch", but now I think the Patriots are.

59. DDE's WWII command: ETO.  European Theater of Operations.  I was too young to remember, but of course Eisenhower was president in 1954 on the ten year remembrance of D-Day.  (June 6th).  He did not participate in the remembrance because it was too emotional for him. A number of the veterans who stormed the beach that day were on hand for the 75th remembrance last week.  Of course they are in their nineties now.  God bless them.

Boomer

Note from C.C.:

Boomer had one more Zometa infusion last Wednesday. Here he is looking cheerful, ready to deal with the drug and its awful side effects.

Boomer, June 5, 2019

Sunday June 9, 2019 Pam Amick Klawitter

Across: "Water Music" - SEA spans across each long theme entry.

22. It happens without warning: SURPRISE ATTACK.

43. Reason for an ankle monitor: HOUSE ARREST.

96. It's more than right: OBTUSE ANGLE.

118. Fringe benefit for some reps: EXPENSE ACCOUNT.

14D. Frontier transport: HORSE AND BUGGY.

54D. Item on the best man's checklist: PROPOSE A TOAST.

Reveal:

67. Keyboard centerpiece, and a phonetic hint to six long puzzle answers: MIDDLE C.

I like that the reveal entry is placed in the very middle of the grid. Would be extra nice if every entry is like OBTUSE ANGLE where SEA is in the very middle of each themer. But it's impossible in this case.

Always great to see Pam Amick Klawitter, one of the most creative constructors in this country.

Across:

1. Reading aid: LAMP. My aid prior to 1981.

5. __ Office: OVAL.

9. Resort amenity: SPA.

12. Allergic reactions: ACHOOS.

18. DQ Blizzard flavor: OREO. Our neighborhood Dairy Queen is closed in winter.

19. Bridal gown decoration: LACE.

20. First one cast, usually: STAR.

21. Speaks in a boring way: DRONES.

25. Buzzard's snack, perhaps: VERMIN.

26. Avoid, as a puddle: STEP OVER.

27. Big piece: HUNK.

28. Truck propeller: DIESEL.

29. Finish off, as a cake: ICE.

30. __ Bridge, which connects Buffalo, NY, to Fort Erie, Ontario: PEACE.

31. Carnival destination: ISLE. Carnival Cruise Line.

32. Old car starter: CRANK.

35. "Tarzan" critter: APE.

37. Took off again: RE-ROSE.

39. Skeptical reply: AS IF.

46. Phishing target: USERNAME. And 122. Online break-in: HACK. And 17D. Identity theft target, briefly: SSN.

48. Payroll service co.: ADP.

49. Exam given intradermally, for short: TB TEST. Never had one.

50. "Chicago" actor: GERE.

52. "Do ___ to eat a peach?": Eliot: I DARE.

53. Cut the crop: REAP.

55. Salt on the Seine: SEL.

56. Word with bed or board: ROOM.

58. Bellyached: CRABBED.

60. "ABC World News Tonight" anchor David: MUIR. Also co-host for 20/20.

61. Rate of speed: CLIP.

63. Fond du __, Wisconsin: LAC. And 10. Member of the first Super Bowl-winning team: PACKER. If you go to Wisconsin Dells, stop by Ishnala Supper Club. Look hard, you might see D-Otto's footprints.

64. 90-Across garb: TUTU. And 90. See 64-Across: BALLET.

65. Hollywood tease: PROMO.

70. Loose, pants-wise: BAGGY. This just drives me nuts.

73. Blood donation unit: PINT.

75. Before, before: ERE.

76. "Piece of cake!": EASY.

78. Shapely school subj.?: GEOM.

80. Milk sources nowadays: ALMONDS. Not fond of the flavor.

83. One-in-a-million: RARE.

85. Young fellow: LAD.

86. Quotable "Star Wars" character: YODA.

87. "North Woods Law" critter: MOOSE. Wiki says "North Woods Law is an American reality television series that debuted on March 11, 2012, on the Animal Planet channel."

88. Head of the party?: HOST. Nice clue. And 51. Event host: EMCEE.

93. Short bylaw?: REG. Regulation.

94. "Wheel" coup: FREE SPIN.

98. Western skyline sight: MESA.

99. Skilled speaker: ORATOR.

102. Craft beer letters: IPA. After I graduated in college, I worked in Laiyan, Shandong Province for a short period. It's very close to Tsingtao. I liked the beer and the fresh seafood there. Some were too hot for me. Locals sure love hot red peppers.

103. Witherspoon of "Wild": REESE.

104. Pup __: TENT.

106. Directly: RIGHT.

108. Big name in luxury cars: BMW. And 121. Korean exports: KIAS. And 40. Swedish wheels: SAAB.

109. Nightly news segment: SPORTS. And 111. First name in '70s tennis: ILIE (Nastase)

112. Gets some air: BREATHES.

117. "I Love __": Irving Berlin song with the line "So you can keep your fiddle and your bow": A PIANO. Rare 6-letter partial.

120. "Othello" role: CASSIO.

123. Actress Campbell: NEVE. So innocent in "Party of Five".

124. New York's __ Island: STATEN.

125. Military VIP: GEN. Congrats on your 60-year-anniversary, Commander Spitzboov!

126. Products of 66-Down: ORES.  And 66. See 126-Across: MINES.

127. Part of GPS: Abbr.: SYST.

Down:

1. Leader leader?: LOSS. Loss leader.

2. Stuck in __: A RUT.

3. Trifling: MERE.

4. Magical Mary: POPPINS.

5. Garden of eating?: OLIVE. Olive Garden. Not this garden with this sandwich.

6. Spray holder: VASE.

7. HP rival: ACER.

8. Michele of "Glee": LEA.

9. Position: STANCE.

11. Boat for couples: ARK.

12. Client: ADVISEE.

13. Fishing basket: CREEL. Never saw one in person.

15. Generous words: ON ME.

16. Trompe l'__: OEIL.

20. Little created by E.B. White: STUART.

23. Zoom: ROCKET.

24. With 112-Down, classic Faulkner story: THE. 112. See 24-Down: BEAR.

28. Examine in detail: DISSECT.

30. Preppy trio?: PEES. Just the three letters in Preppy.

32. Bracelet ornament: CHARM.

33. Arrived on wheels: RODE UP.

34. Childcare aide: AU PAIR.

35. Russian workers' cooperative: ARTEL. China had cooperative also. It's called Gung Ho, literally "working together".

36. Opening bout, for short: PRELIM.

38. Word for us: OUR.

41. Nagy of Hungary: IMRE. Died in 1958.

42. Put coins into: FEED.

44. Sneak off and hide: ABSCOND. I confused this word with ABDICATE.

45. Bering, e.g.: Abbr.: STR. Strait.

47. Calf catcher: RIATA.

50. World Cup cry: GOAL.

57. More mature: OLDER.

59. Actress/activist married to Ossie Davis: RUBY DEE.

62. Waterside sights: PIERS.

68. "Curses!" cousin: DRAT.

69. Bring to the majors, in baseball: CALL UP.

71. Presidential name in three centuries: GEORGE. Oh, Washington. Bush Sr. and Jr.

72. Alpine songs: YODELS.

74. Wearable ads, maybe: T SHIRTS.

77. Spicy dip: SALSA. Hahtoolah loves salsa.

79. Kid-lit "Maniac": MAGEE. Unknown to me.

80. Car radio letters: AM FM.

81. It's handed down: LORE.

82. Chili's competitor: MOE'S. Google shows they don't have a store in MN.

84. Flow counterpart: EBB.

89. Off-tangent link: ON A.

91. Arguing: AT IT.

92. Airport surface: TARMAC.

95. Floatplane feature: PONTOON.

96. Wild revelries: ORGIES.

97. Units of force: NEWTONS.

100. "Call the Midwife" nurse: TRIXIE. Unfamiliar with the show.

101. Crankcase reservoir: OIL PAN.

105. Bert's pal: ERNIE.

107. Barnyard mama: HEN.

108. Stella Artois alternative: BECK'S.

109. Minor fight: SPAT.

110. Italian tower town: PISA. Odd. I put "site:crosswordcorner.blogspot.com Pisa Gary" in Google but could not find Gary and Joann.

113. Human __: RACE.

114. Toon nephew: HUEY.

115. USPS stack: ENVS. Envelopes.

116. Editorial "let it stand": STET.

117. They run often in summer, initially: ACS.

118. ER graph: EKG.

119. MAX rival: SHO.

C.C.

Saturday, June 8, 2019, Brian E. Paquin

Themeless Saturday by Brian E. Paquin

Today celebrates one of my favorite bakery items, Jelly-Filled Doughnuts. When I am vying for Husband Of The Week, I buy my lovely bride her fav, a cinnamon roll with maple icing. But while in the store, I buy myself a long john and have the girl go in the back and inject that long pastry (yeah, I know it's not in any way a doughnut) with a generous dosage of raspberry jelly. Yum! BTW, can it truly be called a doughnut with filling where a hole should be? 😏


Today I am blogging my fifth Saturday themeless by Brian Paquin in less than a year. 

I ripped through this in twenty-five minutes and enjoyed a lot of the fill (no jelly) and cluing along the way.

I hope you enjoyed Brian's puzzle and had a nice doughnut brimming with your favorite jam or jelly while completing the exercise.




Now let's see what has filled our grid today:

Across:

1. "Yikes!": OH NO and 53. Harassed "SNL" clay character: MR BILL - Having MR BILL and his signature cry of distress in the same puzzle can not be an accident (:05)

5. "Dance of the Seven Veils" play: SALOME - John The Baptist lost his head over this dance

11. Common commuter letters: MTA - But did he ever return?

14. __ red: BEET.

15. Got around: ELUDED - Dr Kimbell ELUDED Lt. Gerard for five years on TV

16. Slur in musical notation, e.g.: ARC - A slur ARC joins different notes not to be performed separately. It's called a tie when it connects two notes of the same pitch

17. Not at all slack: TAUT.

18. Shocking weapons: TASERS.

19. Spendable amount: NET - If you win a million in a Nebraska lottery, you will NET $406,700 after taxes. You will NET $700,000 if you take the 30 year annuity payout

20. Set of keyboard keys: ARROWS.

22. Season ticket holders, usually: HUGE FANS - Huskers have sold out every FB game since 1962

24. Personal ad "looking for": ISO - In Search Of... 

25. Boo-__: HOO.

27. Gates of philanthropy: MELINDA - She and her husband have formed the world's largest private charitable organization. 28. Impressive: NO SLOUCHes they, when it comes to sharing their wealth

31. Votes against: NAYS - When "independency" was first proposed to the Continental Congress on June 7, 1776, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and South Carolina voted NAY

32. Make a bad situation worse: FEED THE FIRE - Sometime said about a bad relief pitcher (Last Saturday we had "Treading Water - NO WORSE)

36. Magnificence: STATELINESS - I saw it while in the redwoods!

38. Many a "Twister" character: STORM CHASER - I enjoyed the Helen Hunt/Bill Paxton movie but this KC farm team on the prairie stirs things up 35 minutes from my house

40. "Not happening!": AS IF.

43. Colors in the family: SHADES OF - Click on any color to see SHADES OF that family

45. Rascals, old-style: VARLETS.

49. Bard's preposition: ERE.

50. __-pitch: SLO - SLO in/fast out

51. High seas greeting: AHOY MATE - And on the telephone if Alexander Graham Bell had gotten his way

55. Salon acquisition: TAN.

56. 1887 Verdi debut: OTELLO - Original poster for when it was performed at the Theater At The Stairway (Teatro Alla Scala)

58. __ rage: ROID - One side effect of taking a steROID is the rage it can generate

59. "__ too!": ARE - Am not, ARE too, ad infinitum 

60. Kind of calendar: JULIAN - Pope Gregory XIII's calendar replaced it in 1582 as the 1,500 year old JULIAN calendar was 11 days (correction) off


61. Girl of Avonlea: ANNE.

62. "Gnarly!": RAD.

63. "Either way": I'M EASY - An academy award winning song for a one-hit-wonder

64. Roman Catholic prelate: Abbr.: MSGR- The MonSiGnoR at my grandson's first communion lost the kids after 15 seconds but went on for 15 minutes anyway


Down:

1. Come into: OBTAIN.

2. Learns about: HEARS OF.

3. Obsessions, often: NEUROSES - Road Rage is listed an example of a NEUROSIS

4. German aviation pioneer Lilienthal: OTTO - In 1912, Wilbur Wright said of this glider pioneer, "He presented the cause of human flight to his readers so earnestly, so attractively, and so convincingly that it was difficult for anyone to resist the temptation to make an attempt at it himself"

5. Has every intention that one will: SETS OUT TO - Wilbur and Orville SET OUT TO take OTTO's curved surface gliders/flyers and put a motor on them

6. In the manner of: ALA.

7. Well-kept, as a lawn: LUSH - Ours has to be mowed every third day

8. Concert hall: ODEUM - A small theater of Greece or Rome

9. Emulate Time and Warner: MERGE - Our Time/Warner  cable company is now Spectrum

10. Ford who championed the Model A: EDSEL - Henry and son EDSEL unveiling the 1928 Model A

11. Procrastinator's word: MANANA - Sung here by the surprising cowriter 

12. Fashionable: TRENDY.

13. Plays the role of: ACTS AS.

21. New Orleans Saints chant: WHO DAT.

23. Tactful handling: FINESSE.

26. Earth pigment: OCHER.

29. Unleashes: LET'S FLY

30. Big wheels: HELMS - Here's one on the RMS Titanic 

33. Sheet of microfilm: FICHE -  from French fiche "card, index card, slip, form". Here is a microfiche reader that magnifies the fiche card where the information has been shrunk and stored

34. Singing like Pentatonix, e.g.: IN HARMONY - Acapella was one letter short

35. Keeper of many books: READER - Books fill his shelves or his eREADER

37. Meetings: SESSIONS.

39. On the road: ROLLING.

40. Gamer's icon: AVATAR.

41. About 30% of Africa: SAHARA - From space

42. Did a laundry job: IRONED.

44. Office item: FOLDER.

46. Tiny birthday cake, perhaps: EMOJI - Yeah, I've used one before too

47. Art of jazz: TATUM - Here ya go (alt. Goose of the Globetrotters) 

48. Stone marker: STELE - The seven foot tall basaltic STELE, Law Of Hammurabi, is now housed in the Louvre 

52. Director Kazan: ELIA - He named names to the HUAC and was a Hollywood pariah from then on

54. Name on the cover of "Dracula": BRAM - A $10,000 first edition 

57. Syllables in some madrigals: LAS - Can you count the TRA'S and LA'S

Go ahead and comment. I have a raspberry filled long john waiting for me!

Friday, Jun 7, 2019 Bruce Haight

Process S

18. Paul Bunyan resting his eyes?: SLUMBER JACK.   Lumberjack

28. What a boring sermon might precipitate?: SLEEP OF FAITH.  Leap of faith.

48. Like lectures after a big meal?: SNOOZE WORTHY.  Newsworthy.

62. Unexpectedly mild storm?: SNORE EASTER.   Nor'easter.

Bruce's punny play today should subconsciously induce you to get some more rest as he leads common words and phrases with an S,  and changes spelling as needed.  Click on Process S above if you wonder about the theme title.

Across:

1. Leading trio: ABC.  "It's easy as 1,2,3 or simple as do-re-mi, a,b,c,1,2,3, baby you and me, girl."  Name the group.

4. Cheese made from cow's milk: GOUDA.  One of hundreds.

9. Space Invaders platform: ATARI.  Gaming has come along way from the original arcade style single player games like Space Invaders.  I read about colleges and universities offering programs and scholarships in eSports after Husker Gary commented about the college in his city.    Apparently UC Irvine has one of the most noted programs.

14. Swing adviser: PRO.  A golf pro, aka a PGA professional.

15. Come clean: OWN UP.  Fess up, or cop to,  as was in Michael Wiesenberg's Saturday puzzle that Husker Gary blogged.

16. More cold and wet: RAWER.  Weather.

17. Play critic?: REF.   A referee on the field of play, such as in football or soccer.   A nice misdirection.  I wonder if there are eRefs in eSports gaming ?

20. They might be cracked: SAFES.   Safecracker is often yegg in crossword puzzles.

22. Pool tactic: MASSE. 

23. Sushi garnish: ROE.  Fish eggs.

24. Highly season, as eggs: DEVIL.   Is roe ever deviled ?    History.com gives us The Ancient History of Deviled Eggs

26. Head for the hills?: ASCEND.  Climb.

32. Opposite of stiff: TIP.  Loved this one, too.   Even with bad service, I'd leave something on the table.

33. Belgian city in 1917 headlines: YPRES.  Famous WWI battle site.

34. Region bordering Mex.: SO CAL.   Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes.  So Cal is the land of 10,000 quakes.

38. Project Mercury chimp: ENOS.   The USSR had sent Yuri Gagarin into orbit earlier.  The US took a more conservative approach, not wanting to risk a human life.   Enos died less than a year later of unrelated causes.

40. Helpless numbers?: SOLOS.   You are on your own.

42. Ask: POSE.   Query, inquire, question...

43. "Same here": ME TOO.

45. '70s TV talk show: DINAH.   Dinah Shore, of course.

47. Suzuki's Quadracer, for short: ATV.   Didn't know this, but it was easy to figure out.   I read that prior to the introduction of the Quadracer, the sport all terrain vehicle market was dominated by three wheel ATV's.

 Milestone Suzuki models that changed the sport

51. NFLer who was a 2017 Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year honoree: JJ WATT.  This guy is a phenomenal athlete on the field for the Houston Texans.   He's also a class act away from the game, using his celebrity for charitable work that has raised millions to help those in need.

54. Cuffed, old-style: SMOTE.  A learning moment.   I did not know that the second definition of cuff was to strike someone with an open hand.

55. Attention: EAR.  Give me your attention for a moment.

56. Drifters: HOBOS.  Sometimes you can find drifters under the boardwalk, down by the sea. Having some fun, people walking above.  Falling in love.

60. Celebrations with nos.: B-DAYS.  Numbers / birthdays

65. Prefix with -bar: ISO.  You'll hear isobar on The Weather Channel frequently as storms roll in.

66. Pronged: TINED.  As in a fork or a rake.

67. "Fingers crossed": I HOPE.  Wish for luck.

68. Case study?: LAW.   A case study is a detailed examination, but if you study cases, you are probably in law school or in the profession.   Sue me for malfeasance if you disagree.

69. "Love Story" author: SEGAL.   Perps.  Saw the movie with Ali McGraw and Ryan O'Neal, but didn't read the book.

70. __ bar: TAPAS.   Have never been.  Will go one day.

71. Part of GPS: Abbr.: SYS.   Global Positioning System.   Owned by the United States.  Operated by the US Air Force.

Down:

1. Financing figs.: APRs.  Annual Percentage Rates.   Truth in lending.

2. Depression Era sight: BREADLINE.   And soup kitchens.  

3. Morning aroma source: COFFEE POT.

4. Spewing dirt?: GOSSIPY.   Like a yenta.

5. Night __: OWL.   Shout out to a number of our regulars !  As they say, if the shoe fits, wear it.  While we're at it, let's have a shout out to the early birds here.    What is your chronotype ?

6. One for the money?: UNUM. E. pluribus unum.   It means "Out of many, one."

7. Russian legislative body: DUMA.  Russian studies are not my bailiwick.  But I gather it is sort of like a combination of the US Congress and the departments of the executive branch.

8. LAPD messages: APBS.    Los Angeles Police Department / All Point Bulletins.

9. Stops: ARRESTS.  Clever wordplay.   For instance, a spark arrestor stops (arrests) potentially flammable exhaust particles (sparks) in outdoor equipment and machines that have combustion engines.  Like on that Suzuki Quadrunner, or on a chainsaw.

10. __ Boston: luxury hotel: TAJ.

11. Clued in: AWARE.

12. Drone job: RECON.  Plenty of drones in the air over the flooded rivers, fields and towns after the record rainfalls in May.  

13. Miffed: IRKED.  Some of the golfers in my league have been miffed that the carts have been limited to cart paths only.  The fairways, especially the low lying areas, have been waterlogged. One nearby private course hasn't opened for play yet.

19. Morales of "Ozark": ESAI.  A fine actor that has gained additional fame in crosswords due to his vowel friendly first name. 

21. "The serpent deceived me" speaker: EVE.  The story can be read in Genesis.

25. Cuts: LOPS.

27. Cut of meat: CHOP.

28. Curtail: STEM.

I love those three in row.  Cuts, Cut and Curtail. Lops, Chop and Stem.  How slick was that ?

29. Tolkien hero: FRODO.  From J.R.R. Tolkein's trilogy.   I read the books.   Never saw the movies.

30. Start of a seasonal Spanish greeting: FELIZ.   Feliz navidad.  Prospero año y felicidad.  Merry Christmas and a prosperous year filled with happiness.  The words from the very popular and enduring Christmas song by José Feliciano.

31. Together: AS ONE.   United.   How about a little Rhapsody in Blue ?



35. Metaphorical influence: COATTAILS.  Early in my career a first line manager told me he was riding the second line's coattails to the top.   It was the first time I'd heard the word used in that sense.

36. According to the proverb: AS THEY SAY.  The answer wasn't apparent by the clue alone, and the perps did the lion's share of the work for me.  As they say, good things come to those who wait.

37. Duty: LEVY.  Tax.

39. Cub slugger: SOSA.  Sammy.   For certain,  a polarizing figure,  but ...

"...Many believe he and Mark McGwire helped put baseball on the map again in a resurgent 1998 season that helped make the strike of 1994/95 an afterthought.  Count me among that group, as well.

He deserves all the credit in the world.  People would show up to Wrigley just to see Sosa run out to the right field bleachers and camera bulbs flashed by the thousands every single time he came up to the plate for the better part of a decade.  Waveland was sometimes so packed with ballhawks that there wouldn't be room to walk."  -  Tony Andracki  nbcsports.com.

41. Cuts: SAWS. Clecho back to 25D.

44. Officially injured, in previous baseball lingo: ON THE DL.  Disabled List.

46. Men of La Mancha: HOMBRES.   Today's Spanish lesson.   La Mancha is a region of Spain. Cervantes wrote his classic novel Don Quixote de La Mancha about a man from La Mancha that lost his sanity, aspired to live the life of a chivalrous knight, and among other things, tilted at windmills.

49. Siouan people: OTOE.  The Otoe-Missouria Tribe history.  Until reading that article, I did not know that the state of Nebraska gets its name from two Otoe-Missouria words which means “water flat.”

50. Hot __: ROD.


51. Kids: JESTS.  Hey you jests !  Get off of my lawn !

52. __ and Jack, 2019 Gap acquisition: JANIE.  Not familiar, but I gather from a few quick reads that they are purveyors of fashionable clothing for children 0 to 6 years of age.

53. "Guess again": WRONG. 

57. Tempt: BAIT.

58. Org. concerned with plants: OSHA. Actually, any private workplace, and most public workplaces as well, but I liked the misdirection.

59. "Hold it right there!": STOP.  Halt ! Avast ! Freeze !

61. Scatters in a field: SOWS.

63. Blues-rocker Chris: REA.   We sometimes get actor Stephen. 

64. Radon-regulating org.: EPA.

Thursday June 6th 2019 Stu Ockman

Theme Unoften Opposites - all the theme entries are unusual antonyms:

22A. Rarely used antonym of harmless: NOCUOUS. Innocuous. These fine gentlemen make up the metal band Nocuous. I'll check 'em out on YouTube and report back.

33A. Rarely used antonym of disheveled: KEMPT. Unkempt.

39A. Rarely used antonym of unidentified: ONYMOUS. Anonymous.

46A. Rarely used antonym of crude: COUTH. Uncouth.

57A. Rarely used antonym of cruel: RUTHFUL. Ruthless.

5D. Rarely used antonym of bumbling: GAINLY. Ungainly.

50D. Rarely used antonym of friendliness: COOLTH. Warmth.

What a great idea this puzzle is. I had a lot of fun figuring out the unknowns in the theme entries, new to me were NOCUOUS, ONYMOUS, RUTHFUL, GAINLY and COOLTH. Oddly enough, as I'm typing this, Google has highlighted all the theme entries as "unknown" to its spell-checker. They might like to have a chat to Webster's and the OED and see if they can use their word lists.

With the theme entries not being the longest in the grid, and no asterisks or reveal, then it's the common cluing that sets you on the rights track of what to look for.

Having enjoyed the antonyms, let's see what else we've got to talk about:

Across:

1. Fourth of eight: MARS. The Planets. Let's have some background music courtesy of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and "Mars" from "The Planet Suite" by Gustav Holst.

5. Classic Pontiacs: GTO'S

9. "Shrek" ogress: FIONA. I've never figured out why Shrek has a Scottish accent.

14. Colorado-based sports org.: U.S.O.C. The United States Olympic Committee.

15. Boomers' lobbying group: AARP

16. Equally hot: AS MAD

17. Ousted Iranian: SHAH. The last incumbent of "The Peacock Throne".

18. Flat-package furniture retailer: IKEA. Put it together, realize you've got one piece upside-down or back-to-front and take it all apart and start over.

19. Me.-to-Fla. highway: US ONE

20. Greek: HELLENE. From whence "hellenic".

24. Serve as a foundation for: UNDERLIE

26. Text titter: HEE

27. Grab the tab: PAY. 

28. Quick, speculative stock transaction: DAY  TRADE

36. Jorge's hand: MANO

37. Nae sayer: SCOT. We've seen this clue before, but it still makes me smile.

38. Mets' div.: NLE. MLB's National League East.

42. Inc. cousin: LLC. Incorporated, and Limited Liability Company.

43. Bullring bravos: OLÉS

45. Time line units: ERAS

48. Entrée topped with pineapple rings: BAKED HAM. Yeek! That's a throwback.

50. Tuna holder: CAN

51. Fizzy prefix: AER-ated.

52. Sticker on organic produce: ECO-LABEL. Voluntary labeling. Green Stickers, for example on appliances, are compulsory.

61. American Girl product: TOY DOLL

62. Very, in music: ASSAI. "Allegro Assai" - "Get your skates on, we've got to finish this song before we get booed off the stage".

63. British peer: EARL

65. Rossini's "Largo al factotum," e.g.: ARIA. I can see the Aria hotel from my window, I'm in Las Vegas. C.C. has a couple of pictures of her in front of the hotel. There are some fantastic restaurants inside.

66. Blown away: IN AWE

67. Pinch at the table: SALT

68. Space: ROOM

69. Small songbirds: LARKS

70. Dash gadget: TACH. I've got one on my dashboard, but I don't pay any attention to it. I did when I drove a stick-shift, but now it's just there for fun, my car makes all the decisions on when to change gear.

71. "¿Cómo __ usted?": ESTÁ. The formal or respectful way to ask "Yo, wassup?"

Down:

1. __ pork: Asian dish: MU SHU. Food!

2. Pale with fright: ASHEN

3. Wonka creator Dahl: ROALD

4. Drag: SCHLEPP

6. "Star Trek" actor: TAKEI

7. Vein glory?: ORE. Nice clue.

8. Life time: SPAN. Another nice clue, some fun ones today.

9. Tap: FAUCET. Ah, a nice reminder of me British roots, fank you, Guv'ner.

10. Publishers, e.g.: ISSUERS

11. Melville novel: OMOO

12. Half an Orkan farewell: NANU. Robin Williams' great entrance onto the grand stage. "I am Mork, from Ork; I come in peace - Nanu Nanu". I think it's like "aloha" - it's both hello and goodbye.

13. Fruity drinks: ADES

21. Poet's muse: ERATO. I know this, but I went with ERATA for no good reason. The perp eventually corrected my mistake.

23. "Such a tease!": OH YOU! This always reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when he forgets his new date's name. He resorts to "Oh, you!".

25. Sushi bar finger food: EDAMAME. Food! My local sushi bar serves them with sea salt and togarashi. Yum.

29. Years in España: AÑOS

30. Gp. with a "Know Your Rights" web page: ACLU

31. Simpleton: DOLT

32. Sharply outline: ETCH

33. Gearshift topper: KNOB

34. Scat legend Fitzgerald: ELLA

35. Submissive: MEEK

36. Vidal's Breckinridge: MYRA

40. India's first prime minister: NEHRU

41. Like the skin of most fish: SCALY. I looked up the list of scale-less fish, out of interest. There's some pretty scary ones in that community.

44. Seattle NFLer: SEAHAWK

47. How some risks are taken: ON A DARE. Usually very stupid ones, uploaded to YouTube.

49. Goes against: DEFIES

53. PC key combo for "copy": CTRL-C

54. New York City divisions, informally: BOROS. I surprised myself that I didn't hesitate over this one.

55. "The Waste Land" poet: ELIOT

56. Peruvian grazer: LLAMA

57. Amtrak track: RAIL

58. Annapolis inst.: U.S.N.A. United States Naval Academy, natch.

59. Ruler until 1917: TSAR

60. "__ we forget": LEST. Lest us not forget on this "Day of Days" - the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landings on June 6th, 1944.

64. Battery size: AAA

Update on Nocuous, the band. I listened to one of their tracks on YouTube, and discovered that their musical genre is "black metal". Per the good folks at Wikipedia:

"Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw recording, unconventional song structures, and an emphasis on atmosphere. Artists often appear in corpse paint and adopt pseudonyms."

Probably not the most melodious track I've ever heard, but I kinda-sorta liked it. I was the 86th hit on the post, a little short of the best-to-date 6.2 billion views of "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi. I'm sure they'll catch up eventually.

Here's the grid, and I'll get my coat.

Steve

Notes from C.C..:

Here are three pictures of Melissa's granddaughters Harper and Jaelyn and their parents. So beautiful!