Monday, July 25, 2016 Shannon Summer

Theme: No Reveal Monday - Homonyms.

20A. Brought in for repair, as a disabled car : TOWED TO THE SHOP

35A. Obeyed strictly : TOED THE LINE

52A. Milne play about an amphibian : "TOAD OF TOAD HALL"

Argyle here. It would appear this is a debut puzzle. Simple and clean. OK.

Across:

1. Monster party : BASH

5. Cooled with cubes, as tea : ICED

9. Hood's bank job : HEIST

14. Author __ Stanley Gardner : ERLE. Perry Mason was created by Erle Stanley Gardner.

15. Dress that reaches the ankles : MAXI

16. According to : AS PER

17. Roman love god : AMOR

18. Bird sacred to Tut : IBIS

19. Animal shelter arrival : STRAY

23. Dublin's land: Abbr. : IRE

24. __ bran : OAT

25. Either "T" in "AT&T," when abbreviated : TEL. (American Telephone & Telegraph, founded in 1885)

26. Jul. and Aug. : MOs. (months)

28. Oppressive ruler : TYRANT

30. Cause of much yawning : BORE

31. Really bug : IRK

32. Playground plank for two : SEESAW

34. __ Spumante : ASTI

38. Coll. staff member : PROFessor

40. "Finally!" : "AT LAST!"

41. Joint that may need replacing : HIP

42. Bugs for payment : DUNs

44. Put a worm on : BAITED

48. Electrical particle : ION

49. & : AND

50. Hindu term of respect : SRI

51. Lead-in with car or tourism : ECO

56. Beat at chess : MATED

57. "If __ $1000000": Barenaked Ladies song : I HAD

58. List-ending abbr. : ETAL

59. Doctor on the starship Enterprise : McCOY. Dr. Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy.

60. San __, Italy : REMO

61. Shortest Great Lake name : ERIE

62. Culture: Pref. : ETHNO

63. Golda of Israel : MEIR. Prime Minister of Israel, 1969 to 1974.

64. Title for Byron : LORD

Down:

1. "Scram!" : "BEAT IT!"

2. Weapons facility : ARMORY

3. Adagio, as compared to allegro : SLOWER

4. "You can have it" : "HERE!"

5. Mimicked : IMITATED

6. Explorer Sebastian : CABOT. c. 1474 – c. 1557 Wiki LINK.

7. Interstate highway sign word : [EXIT]

8. One hanging near the kitchen sink : DISH TOWEL

9. Red tape, e.g. : HASSLE

10. O.T. book named for a woman : ESTHer.

11. "Scout's honor!" : "I PROMISE"

12. City on a harbor : SEAPORT. (Sanremo, per esempio)

13. Attempt : TRY

21. Transplant recipient : DONEE

22. "Lo, How a Rose __ Blooming": carol : E'ER

27. Speed down snowy slopes : SKI

29. Starting with : AS OF

30. Thai money : BAHTs

33. Not give an inch : STAND FIRM

34. Pro's opposite : ANTI

35. First-class : TOP NOTCH

36. Dog believed to have originated in Newfoundland : LABRADOR

37. Start of a "Come again?" response : "I SAID ... "

38. __ Beta Kappa : PHI

39. It's "read" during a reprimand : RIOT ACT

42. Beatnik's bro : 'DADDY-O'

43. Game with Draw Two cards : UNO

45. Italian playhouse : TEATRO. Learning moment.

46. Cream-filled pastry : ECLAIR

47. Dressed to kill, with "up" : DOLLED

50. "Ditto" : "SO AM I"

53. Thousands of years : AEON

54. "With this ring, I __ wed" : THEE

55. Cad : HEEL

56. Sra., in France : MME. (madame)

Argyle

Sunday, July 24, 2016, C.C. Burnikel

Title: Getting Connected 

Our lovely leader has made a fun puzzle whose gimmick was finding two-word phrases where the first word ended in US and the second word started with a B. This yielded the now ubiquitous computer connection acronym of USB (Universal Serial Bus).  Our crafty constructor C.C. also hid the reveal in the very last clue in the puzzle:

120. PC connection found in this puzzle's eight longest answers : USB

Husker Gary here and I am, as Lemon put it once, sherping for C.C. and revealing that I needed the reveal because

128. "I'm an idiot!" : DOH!

The back of this PC shows many common "Getting Connected" options including  6 USB ports

Theme  Fills:

21. Omaha Steaks Private Reserve product : ANGUS BEEF - I'm sure you've got a great steak outlet 20 min from your house  like I do!

27. 2009 recession response : STIMULUS BILL - Staying apolitical, I'll let you decide if it works for you

14. Sacred conviction : RELIGIOUS BELIEF - Staying areligious, I'll let you decide if it works for you

43. Gillette razor for women : VENUS BREEZE -  Gel Bars obviate the need for shaving cream, I read.

92. Eponymous explorer of the Aleutians : VITUS BERING - A 1981 Russian stamp honoring the 300 birthday of Bering  in Denmark. He joined the Russian Navy  in 1704

111. Department of Commerce division : CENSUS BUREAU - Very interesting projection from the Bureau

119. Apple Store support station : GENIUS  BAR- Sheldon, in Big Bang Theory, said this job devalues the word GENIUS and is as mundane as a toll booth operator or waitress 

Now let's get down to the somewhat 42. Not something to kid about : SERIOUS BUSINESS and other connections our brilliant Minnepolis friend has for us today:

Across

1. Abbr. for an unfilled slot : TBA

4. Limber : AGILE

9. Literally meaning "stick," it's the first word in a California city named for a 1,000-year-old redwood : PALO - PALO (Stick) Alto (Tall). Learning for me.

13. Bowler's edge : BRIM -  My favorite bowler donner and doffer covering his "little grey cells"

17. Hotfooted it : RAN

18. Merged oil giant : MOBIL

19. Contentious encounter : RUN IN

20. Soft leather : SUEDE - Why were Carl and Elvis so sensitive about these?

23. "Love it!" : I LIKE

24. Dealt __: devastated : A BLOW

25. One doing a bank job? : PERP

26. Protest topics: Abbr. : RTS and 35. Folk legend Joan : BAEZ - She famously sang We Shall Overcome in support of Civil RTS

29. #1 thriller on AFI's "100 Years...100 Thrills" : PSYCHO - As we learned here recently, Bosco was used for blood

31. Stepped to the plate : BATTED

32. Thick carpet : SHAG

33. Bloomingdale's rival : SAKS

36. Mom in the woods : DOE

37. Boiling state : IRE - Different from 49 Across's temp scale but same as 3. Ticked off : ANGRY

40. Start to sing? : ESS

47. Hustle : SCOOT

49. Celsius, e.g. : SWEDE - Not a SCALE. It's recently been around 37˚C here. Ugh!

51. Blond shade : ASH

52. Try to quiet, as a persistent squeak : REOIL

54. Jamaican spirits : RUMS

55. Caesar's land : TERRA - 200 years after Caesar, Ptolemy made this map of the world and TERRA Incognita

56. Poorly paid workers : PEONS

59. Parks on a bus : ROSA - "The only tired I was, was tired of giving in"

60. Best Play, e.g. : ESPY - This year's winner was the Packer's Hail Mary pass to beat the Lions

61. Morphine is one : OPIATE

63. Sailor's guardian : ST ELMO

65. Easygoing sort : TYPE-B

67. Dockside activity : STOWING

69. Shower with flowers, say : WOO by a 94. Steady : BEAU?

70. Incline to a higher level : SLOPE UP - This is a modern day picture of what is called the Music Box Stairs in LA. I'll bet you remember the famous comedy team that used them in a 1932 movie and what they were moving up these stairs.

73. Let loose : UNTIE

74. "Knock that off!" : STOP IT - Rare is the parent who hasn't uttered these words!

77. Artemis' twin brother : APOLLO

78. Private place? : BASE

80. Subj. for a future vet : ANAT

82. Enclose, as livestock : PEN IN  Now wait a minute...

84. Work outfits for many : SUITS - It started that way in teaching but has devolved into Goodwill chic

85. Pop foursome formed in Stockholm : ABBA

86. E! Online subject : CELEB

88. "Get it?" : SEE - Edward G. Robinson said "SEE" but not "Yeah, SEE"

89. Development areas : UTERI

90. Unfocused images : BLURS - Does  this 48. Give you the willies : CREEP OUT?

96. Oft-chewed item : FAT

97. "You got it!" : YES - The rain in Spain does stay mainly in the plain!

98. Children's advocate LeShan : EDA

100. Will of "The Waltons" : GEER - Grandpa Walton

101. Indian bread : NAAN

103. Shakespearean deceiver : IAGO - Edwin Booth as IAGO in 1871. Yup, he was that guy's  brother

105. Bewhiskered test subject : LAB RAT 

107. Cue : PROMPT - A furry paw on my nose at 5 am is a PROMPT for me

114. Look good on : FIT

116. Taverna sandwich : GYRO - Here ya go...

117. Type of daisy : OXEYE

118. Readily available : ON TAP

121. Basilica recesses : APSES

122. Can't stop loving : ADORE

123. Itty-bitty bits : ATOMS

124. Periodontist's org. : ADA

125. Like many a cause : LOST

126. Madre's hermanos : TIOS - Mi madre tenía tres hermanos (Mom had 3 brothers). Por lo tanto yo tenía tres tíos (Therefore, I had 3 uncles)

127. Brightest star in Cygnus : DENEB - Beautiful part of tonight's sky

Down

1. "The Sound of Music" family name : TRAPP

2. Ruinations : BANES

4. Morning hrs. : AMS

5. Lose it all : GO BROKE

6. "Yeah, right!" : I BET

7. Polygraph blips, perhaps : LIES - "Yes, I'll still respect you in the morning!"

8. Tolkien race member : ELF

9. Prize administered by Columbia University : PULITZER

10. Cartoon style : ANIME

11. Party headed by Netanyahu : LIKUD - Hebrew for consolidation

12. First-year J.D. student : ONE-L

13. Two-time Masters champ Watson : BUBBA - After winning $1.6M at the 2012 Master's, "plain eating" BUBBA celebrated that night at a Waffle House leaving a $148 tip

15. Much-loved star : IDOL

16. Kitten cry : MEWL

19. Cowboy singer Tex : RITTER

20. Military bands : SASHES

22. Lines at Walmart? : UPC'S - I miss prices on items a little

27. 9-5 automaker : SAAB

28. Troop entertainment gp. : USO - In season 10, they made it to M*A*S*H 4077

30. Dig in : HAVE AT IT

31. Air rifle ammo : BB SHOT

34. Easy A, say : SNAP

36. Paine and Hugo, philosophically : DEISTS - Reading Paine's Age Of Reason might challenge your RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

38. Lopsided win : ROMP - The Husker's undefeated 1995 National Champions  41. Won every game : SWEPT in 12 ROMPS

39. Crafts website : ETSY - For a long time, I wanted this to be E-[something] that made sense

40. These, to Luis : ESTOS

44. Puts to work : USES

45. Architect Saarinen : EERO - I'll bet you recognize this wonderful EERO design

46. Madhouse : ZOO

50. Close in : DRAW NEAR 

53. Clapton classic : LAYLA

57. Eye of __: "Macbeth" witches' ingredient : NEWT - Let me be the first...

58. Regatta racer : SLOOP

62. Pioneering computer : ENIAC - Only one Scrabble letter above 1 point

64. Wear a long face : MOPE - Advice to Washington Senators from the Broadway stage - You gotta have hope, Mustn't sit around and MOPE!

66. Lifestyle website targeting female millennials : POPSUGAR 

68. Palais des Nations locale : GENEVA

71. Extreme : ULTRA

72. Assume as fact : POSIT

74. "Ignore this change" : STET - "Forget 87 and put Fourscore and Seven back in"

75. Many a Sunday magazine : INSERT 

76. Coliseum section : TIER

78. Crib sheet user : BABY

79. __-bodied : ABLE

81. Baba or a boxer : ALI

83. "Fat chance, Friedrich!" : NEIN

87. Sources of irritation : BUGBEARS - Nowadays, Dungeons and Dragons heavies 

91. Seamless changes : SEGUES

93. Colorful wrap : SERAPE - Not a Muumuu as it turns out

95. Part of a preschool schedule : NAP TIME

99. Peruvian pair : DOS

102. Yuletide drinks : NOGS - For years mom made this for me at Yuletide because she thought I loved it. Uh, not so much.

104. Until now : AS YET

105. Day after dimanche : LUNDI - "Subway, Work, Sleep" "Like a typical Monday" 

106. Mischievous droid, familiarly : ARTOO - The surname is DETOO

108. "Sorry about that" : MY BAD

109. Home of Velázquez' "Las Meninas" : PRADO - Madrid Museum

110. Holy scroll : TORAH

111. Its burning is a major source of Beijing smog : COAL

112. Fair : EXPO

113. Place for a row : BOAT

114. Big bash : FETE

115. Aware of : IN ON

119. Roam (about) : GAD

Now for some CHIVALROUS BANTER from the GRACIOUS BUNCH that frequent this little Kool-Aid word stand of ours:

GRID:

(Ed Note: I fixed that littler mistake Owen, Thanks! Gary)

Saturday, Jul 23rd, 2016, Ed Sessa

Theme: None

Words: 68 (missing F,J,Q,X,Y)

Blocks: 28

     A little over a month since we had a puzzle from Mr. Sessa, and I reviewed that construction after I completed this one.  Similar solving experience, again, with getting a few of the long fills quick, but struggling with the proper names, again.  I did find some of the "definition" clues to be somewhat off-base, but I let them slide, and finished under my personal time.  Grids were very similar, too - triple 9's in the across, and paired 11- and 10-letter fills on the 'inside' downs.  The 11-letter answers;

11. Informal talk : BULL SESSION

22. Plane lane : AIR CORRIDOR - I learned there were "lanes" when I went flying with the architect I used to work for; we flew out of ISP (MacArthur airport, Islip, LI, NY) and being so close to JFK and LGA, you really had to stay in "your" lane....

Winona, MN -> Wales, AK -> Rincón de los Sauces, Argentina~!

ACROSS:

1. One not to upset? : APPLE CART - my first pass I read this as "too"; with some crossings filled in, I realized the difference

10. Title from the Aramaic for "father" : ABBOT - seen this before in crosswords, but it didn't come to me without some crossings first

15. Subject of the 2015 Erik Larson nonfiction bestseller "Dead Wake" : LUSITANIA

16. Hurricane peril : SURGE - thought there might be a slight deception with singular/plural, and pondered WINDS

17. Perilous situation : PRECIPICE

18. Water park attraction : SLIDE - Splish Splash is right around the corner from my place, and I have been, but only once

19. Saruman soldier in "The Lord of the Rings" : ORC - this or ENT, so I left it blank

20. Guttural utterance : CROAK - not GROAN; that shows up later at 40a.

21. Bygone : OLDEN - made me change my "ASSIGNS" to ASSORTS

22. Similar : AKIN

23. Goes downhill : WORSENS - I had LESSENS at first

25. Flat-bottomed boats : DORIES - this came to mind, but I hesitated to fill it in

28. 19th-century dancer Lola : MONTEZ - no clue; this middle right section had me baffled for too long

29. Still : INERT

30. Takeout order? : MINUS SIGN

33. Poolroom powder : TALC

34. Capital of South Africa : RANDS - OK, I cheated - I have a 'money' chart in my dictionary

35. Fizz flavoring : SLOE

36. Used in an undignified way : STOOPED TO - eh.  Around here, it's more like "behaved" than "used"

38. Test on the air : PILOT - always reminds me of the post-titles scene from Pulp Fiction

39. Hags : CRONES

40. Pained reactions : GROANS

41. Four-time Depp role : SPARROW - Captain Jack, of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films

43. Either 2010 "True Grit" director : COEN - didn't see the movie, but this was a good WAG

44. Musical instruction : "HIT IT~!"

45. Even slightly : AT ALL

47. Justice Fortas : ABE - filled via perps

50. Indicator of a private thought : ASIDE

51. Riddick portrayer : VIN DIESEL - Pitch Black was a great movie; the Chronicles not so much; did not see "Riddick" from 2013

53. __ house : MANOR - oops, not OPERA

54. They often precede garage sales : ESTIMATES - I threw in "CLEAN OUTS"; but this is the 'other' reason for emptying the garage - the future man-cave

55. Some RPI grads : ENGRs - a Spitz and Splynter shout-out

56. Fitting place for sneaks : SHOE STORE - there's a "friend of Bill W." I know who calls the last row of chairs at a 12-step meeting the "Shoe Store" - sneakers, loafers and slippers; I went on to add flip-flops

DOWN:

1. Maker of TBONZ treats : ALPO - oops, not IAMS

2. Run well : PURR

3. Minute part of a minute, for short : PSEC - I tried NSEC; a picosecond falls between a nanosecond and a femtosecond; billionth, trillionth and quadrillionth of a second

4. ID with a photo : LICense

5. iPhone movie purchase : eTICKET

6. Garb named for an island : CAPRIS - somewhere between short and pants, and now like this~!

Wolford Bella Capri

7. Cation's opposite : ANION - way too easy, so I filled it in and expected it to be wrong

8. Costa __ : RICA

9. Art form offering plenty of kicks? : TAEKWONDO - the Wiki

10. Puts into groups : ASSORTS

12. Wedding planner's nightmare : BRIDEZILLA

13. City near the Great Salt Lake : OGDEN

14. Many Beliebers : TEENS - Justin Bieber fans

24. Sisyphus' stone, e.g. : ONUS - a "pointless task" just came up in a conversation recently, and I was curious to know where the story originated - this is why I do crosswords~!  The Wiki

25. Morse "H" quartet : DITS

26. Go __ great length : ON AT

27. Changing places : RELOCATING

28. They may be thin : MINTS - red lines didn't fit

30. Stirred things up : MADE WAVES

31. "And?" : GO ON....

32. Realizes : NETS - another "eh" - I prefer GETS or SEES; 'realizes' was a s-t-r-e-t-c-h in another recent puzzle

34. First female attorney general : RENO - WAG, had the "O"

37. Pub orders : PORTERS - semi-referential to; 48d. 37-Down, e.g. : BEER

38. Minor matches : PRELIMS - funny - I switched "CLEAN OUTS" to "ESTATE---", which left the "T" at the end of this answer - and I thought a prelit match was sort of dangerous....

oh, that kind of match....

40. Best Supporting Actress two years before Cloris : GOLDIE - clues phrased like this, which are great if you know the answers, are useless if you don't - like I was.  The movie was Cactus Flower from 1969 - I'm from 1971.  IMDb

41. Disgrace : SHAME

42. Fibonacci or Galileo : PISAN - from this city....

43. Poem division : CANTO

46. Mrs. Addams, to Gomez : 'TISH - Morticia

Tish, that's Frawnche~!

47. Concerning : AS TO

49. Besides that : ELSE

52. Parental encouragement : "EAT~!!!"

Splynter