Monday, August 23, 2010 David W. Cromer

Theme: Body Parts, Coming Together - Two of the same part of the body, separated by "to".

18A. How rivals compete : HEAD TO HEAD

28A. How lovers dance : CHEEK TO CHEEK

49A. How close friends talk : HEART TO HEART

64A. How pistol duelers stand : BACK TO BACK

Argyle here.

One of the easiest Mondays yet. There are so many other body parts that could have been included: eye to eye, toe to toe, hand to hand, belly to belly, liver to liver. (That last one is for today's birthday boy, Tinbeni, and myself.)

Across:

1. Poet Khayyám : OMAR. The Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam.

5. Stroll : AMBLE

10. Retail mecca : MALL

14. Repetitious learning technique : ROTE

15. Eagle's weapon : TALON

16. Subject of a court bargain : PLEA

17. Rara __ : AVIS. A rare or unique person or thing. [Latin rāra avis : rāra, feminine of rārus, rare + avis, bird.]

20. Deadly : LETHAL

22. Icy North Atlantic hazard : BERG

23. Exploit : USE

24. Short race, for short : ONE K. Cute clue.

26. Upper crust groups : ELITES

33. Outer edge : RIM

34. Path between supermarket shelves : AISLE

35. Transportation station : DEPOT

39. "Carmen" highlight : ARIA

41. Car alarm acknowledgment : CHIRP. There are so many car beeps these days, I never look around any more when I hear one. I'll probably be run over some day.

43. Assistant : AIDE

44. What a lenient judge may show : MERCY

46. Año starter : ENERO. Spanish: year and January.

48. White or Red team : SOX

52. Arrive dressed up like : COME AS. When was your last costume party?

55. Exiled Roman poet : OVID. For unclear reasons, in AD 8 Emperor Augustus banished him to Tomis on the Black Sea; despite Ovid's many pleas, he was never allowed to return. He described his life in an autobiographical poem in Sorrows.

56. "Eureka!" : "A-HA!". The exclamation attributed to Archimedes, who is said to have cried out "Eureka! eureka!" (I have found it! I have found it!), upon suddenly discovering a method of finding out how much the gold of King Hiero's crown had been alloyed. Hence, an expression of triumph concerning a discovery.

57. Fraud : SHAM

60. Lots and lots : OODLES

67. Kappa preceder, alphabetically : IOTA. More Greek (seems to be oodles of Greek today).

68. Longtime Hydrox competitor : OREO

69. Show with varied acts : REVUE

70. Actor Morales : ESAI. Big role was "NYPD Blue" Lt. Tony Rodriguez (61 episodes, 2001-2004).

71. "Bill & __ Excellent Adventure" : TED'S. If you look close, there's a Greek dude in the phone booth, man.

72. "It's somebody __ problem" : ELSE'S

73. eBay command : SELL

Down:

1. Like some graduate tests : ORAL. Lois?

2. Find new digs : MOVE

3. Working hard : AT IT

4. Do a blacksmith's job : RESHOE. If you are a farrier, too.

5. Good at sports : ATHLETIC

6. West in old movies : MAE

7. Spill the beans : BLAB

8. Miner's bonanza : LODE

9. Course between salad and dessert : ENTRÉE

10. Dashboard abbr. : MPH

11. Indigenous Alaskan : ALEUT

12. Landlord's contract : LEASE

13. Packs in a hold : LADES

19. More than glanced at : OGLED

21. "Diana" singer Paul : ANKA. Song. Wikipedia says Paul is from Canada, I did not know that. Interesting article.

25. Okay to consume, as for Passover : KOSHER

27. Swedish furniture retailer : IKEA

28. Study feverishly : CRAM

29. Add to the staff : HIRE

30. Islamic ruler : EMIR

31. Black of country music : CLINT. Academy of Country Music's 1989 Single of the Year - "A Better Man".

32. Annexed __: attached as part of this document : HERETO

36. Leaning tower city : PISA

37. Olfactory offense : ODOR. Alliteration that includes the answer.

38. Manuscript passage : TEXT

40. Tylenol target : ACHE

42. Tries to get a rise out of : PROVOKES

45. Bakers get a rise out of it : YEAST. So do bakers provoke their bread?

47. West Virginia neighbor : OHIO

50. "Michael, Row the Boat __" : ASHORE. Hallelujah.

51. Whirlpools : EDDIES

52. Explorer Sebastian : CABOT

53. Chicago hub : O'HARE

54. Sprayed with tear gas : MACED

58. Cain's victim : ABEL

59. Dallas NBA team : MAVS

61. Be defeated : LOSE

62. Lat. list ender : ET AL.

63. Regatta flapper : SAIL

65. WBA stats : KOs. World Boxing Association.

66. Pool tool : CUE

Answer grid.

Here is a set of five magnificent Oregon Coast sand sculpture contest photos forwarded from our Faithful Lurker B. Please click on the photo to enlarge to a higher resolution.

Argyle

Sunday August 22, 2010 Pamela Amick Klawitter

Theme: An Earlier Flight - The bygone SST is hidden and spans across two words in each familiar phrase.

23A. Military overstock seller : ARMY SURPLUS STORE. We had one close to our home. My dad served in the Chinese army.

33A. 21-Across are taken on it : WITNESS STAND. And OATHS (21. Formal promises).

38A. Nickname at the Derby : BLUE GRASS STATE. Kentucky Derby.

65A. "No verdict yet" : THE JURY IS STILL OUT. Just an awesome entry.

92A. Applying to all : ACROSS THE BOARD. The only one with SS & T pattern. All the others are S & ST.

101A. Exerts influence : PULLS STRINGS. The only 2-word theme answer.

116A. 1952 Jane Russell film : THE LAS VEGAS STORY. Unknown film to me. Jane Russell is famous for her big boobs, right?

118D. Earlier flight hidden in the seven longest puzzle answers : SST

Very clever spin on our crossword staple SST. Nice long theme phrases. Great effort from Pamela Amick Klawitter, who seems to relish constructing Sunday puzzles.

A pangram. All 26 letters are used at least once. The special theme resulted in a total of 51 Ss, outnumbering any vowel (E/A, 48 each) count. Several clue echos also. Very John Lampkin like. I've highlighted them in green.

Today's clues (esp those with question marks) are just "outstanding", Dummy Dennis would say. Look at these "it" in Down section alone:

13D. It's elegant when turned : PHRASE. Idiom: a turn of phrase.

61D. You might have a hand in it : MITT

67D. It's over for Hans : UBER. "Over" in German.

70D. A choir may sing in it : UNISON

113D. It often precedes technicalities : MERE. Mere technicalities.

Across:

1. Ed of "Lou Grant" : ASNER. And EDIE (6. Lou Grant's ex). On "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" . Unknown to me.

10. Cuts the crop : REAPS

15. Even start? : EQUI. Prefix meaning "even", as in equilateral.

19. Dutch big wheel? : GOUDA. Say "Cheese".

20. Falana of "Golden Boy" : LOLA. No idea. I like her dress. Very figure hugging.

22. Arrivals at home, perhaps : RUNS. "Home" refers to the home plate in baseball. We also have NINTHS (44. Often critical innings).

26. "Sorry, can't" : NOPE

27. Stonewall Jackson et al. : REBS. Did not know who Stonewall Jackson was a Confederate commander during Civil War.

28. Sales chart metaphors : PIES

29. R&B singer __ Marie : TEENA. What's her most famous song?

30. Sean of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy : ASTIN

31. Jun. grads : SRS

32. Corp. moneymen : CFOS. Or the obscure TRS.

35. Yoo-__: beverage : HOO. What kind of beverage?

36. 50-Across wrong? : AIN'T. And ISN'T (50. 36-Across right?). I don't like cross-referenced clues when in fact nothing is given.

37. Deli array : MEAT

49. Turner on the screen : LANA

51. Pro foe : ANTI

53. New Balance competitor : AVIA. Latin for "fly".

54. All worked up : IN A LATHER. Solid phrase.

56. List of rounds : BAR TAB. And ALES (86. Draft choices). Of course I was thinking of sports draft.

58. Stock holder? : BARN. Farm stock. Windhover might nail this one.

59. Skins : PELTS

60. Chair designer Charles : EAMES. Can never remember his name, despite Hahtool's link(s).

62. Reason for a court replay : LET. Tennis court.

64. Born : NEE

71. "Ginger __": 1952 Newbery Medal-winning book : PYE. Nope. Not familiar with the book.

73. Big rig compartment : CAB

74. Pitch-related : TONAL

75. "A Paper Life" autobiographer : O'NEAL (Tatum). I suppose the paper refers to her movie "Paper Moon".

78. Spanish bread : EURO. "Bread" = Currency.

80. Places under siege : BESETS

83. San Bernardino suburb : LOMA LINDA. I peeked at the answer sheet.

87. A TV Maverick : BRET. Another unknown.

88. Notice : ESPY

89. Go off the deep end : SNAP

90. Play the siren : SEDUCE

97. Ray Stevens's "Ahab the __" : ARAB. Have never heard of the song.

99. Skin soother : ALOE

100. River to the Rhone : AIN. Too obscure for me.

106. Bribes, with "off" : PAYS

108. Pepper, e.g.: Abbr. : SGT. Beatle's Sgt Pepper. Could not jam in SPICE.

111. Novelist Nin : ANAIS

112. Engineer Nikola : TESLA. Eternal fame in Xword.

113. Ball role : MAME. Lucille Ball.

114. Restaurateur Toots : SHOR. His name escaped me also.

115. Devils' playground? : RINK. NHL's New Jersey Devils. Got me also.

119. Old Venetian elder : DOGE

120. Brings down the house? : RAZES. Nice play on the idiom "bring the house down".

121. Start of an Andy Capp toast : 'ERE'S. Here's. H is dropped in Cockney accent.

122. Backs up : SAVES

123. Tens neighbor : ONES. In Dennis' cash box.

124. Controversial explosion : A-TEST

125. Unschooled signers : X'ERS. Didn't come to me readily.

126. Lott of Mississippi : TRENT. Just mentioned his name yesterday on the STROM clue.

Down:

1. Ice cream thickeners : AGARS And EDY'S (4. Slow Churned ice cream brand).

2. More put out : SORER

3. Uses an icepack on : NUMBS

5. Dorm bosses, briefly : RAS. RA = Residential Adviser.

6. Ventura County town who name means "the river" : EL RIO. Makes sense.

7. Chowderheads : DOPES

8. Afflictions : ILLS

9. Mer filler : EAU

10. Nile home of an historic stone : ROSETTA. Hence Rosetta Stone.

11. Moth tail? : EATEN. Tail to the word "moth-eaten".

12. Satisfaction of a sort : ATONEMENT. Was thinking of vengeance, Sweeney Todd style.

14. Opposite of NNW : SSE

15. Arp contemporary : ERNST (Max)

16. Limit of a kind : QUOTA

17. Let down, as hair : UNPIN

18. "Children, Go Where __ Thee": spiritual : I SEND. No idea.

24. Raring to go : UP FOR IT. Had trouble parsing the answer.

25. Hitch : STINT. Two-year hitch/stint in the Army, e.g.

30. Italian wine city : ASTI

32. ___ railway : COG. Not familiar with the term.

33. Badger's st. : WIS. We had quite a few solvers from Wisconsin.

34. Florida resort island : SANIBEL. Have you been there?

35. A "4-H" H : HEALTH

36. Bad way to be led : ASTRAY. Led astray.

38. Radar signal : BLIP

39. Spot for a strike : LANE. Bowling lane, thanks, June!

40. The same as always : UNALTERED. The clue/answer does not click for me.

41. Reminder of an old flame? : ASH. I am just in awe of the clue, Pamela. Are you reading our blog?

42. Disdainful glance : SNEER

43. Road topper : TAR

45. Collar : NAB

46. Dish alternative : TV ANTENNA. Always have trouble spelling antenna.

47. Bring aboard : HIRE

48. Having no screws loose? : SANE. I'd have had all screws loose if I were Lois. What a brave gal! And so sweet.

52. Like a hard-to-fill order : TALL. Tall order.

55. "Hang on __" : A SEC

56. Córdoba kisses : BESOS. Spanish for "kisses'.

57. AAA part: Abbr. : ASSN

63. Shop item : TOOL

66. Goes on and on : JABBERS

68. "Unto the Sons" novelist : TALESE (Gay). More famous for his "Honor Thy Father".

69. Postgame recap? : I LOST. Great clue.

71. Pod fillers : PEAS

72. Time for carols : YULE. Bet it brought a smile to Carol.

76. Purim's month : ADAR

77. "Dragnet" gp. : LAPD

79. The Beavers of the Pac-10 : OSU (Oregon State University)

81. Boardwalk cooler : SEA BREEZE. Cool fill for Bill G.

82. More of the same, briefly : ETC. Etc, etc, etc.

84. NASCAR stat : MPH

85. Madagascan lemurs : AYEAYES. Stumped. Oh, dear, kind of scary looking.

91. Mama of pop : CASS

93. Didn't outrace anyone : RAN LAST

94. Gymnast Korbut et al. : OLGAS

95. "Mamma Mia" number : S.O.S.

96. Grafton's "__ for Burglar" : B IS

98. In addition : AT THAT

101. "SNL" announcer : PARDO (Don). Can you believe that I've never watched "SNL"?

102. Group for people in labor? : UNION. Labor Union.

103. "Tootsie" role winner : LANGE (Jessica)

104. eHarmony category : LIKES. Have never visited eHarmony. For eLove I suppose.

105. Archipelago units : ISLES

106. Sales rep's gadget : PAGER

107. Get a load of : AMASS. Read the clue as "Get a load off".

108. Sail, with "off" : SHOVE.

109. Bridge immortal : GOREN (Charles). No idea. He wrote "Winning Bridge Made Easy".

110. Risky rendezvous : TRYST

114. Bronze __ : STAR.

116. Part of a chorus line? : TRA. Tra la la.

117. Bug : VEX

Answer grid.

C.C.

Saturday August 21, 2010 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: None

Total word: 72 / Total block: 34

Average word length: 5.31

Ha ha, a typical Robert H. Wolfe themeless Saturday. If you read my interview with him, you'd know that three colloquial grid-spanners are the hallmark of his Saturday puzzles:

17A. "I'll do it" : LET ME HANDLE THIS. Just awesome. I bet Bob is constantly counting on the number of letters in colloquial phrases.

38A. Words of disbelief : YOU'RE NOT SERIOUS. Nice one also.

58A. Words after thanks : I APPRECIATE THAT. My favorite.

Remarkable grid. Besides the three spanners, Bob also gives us ten 9s. As the norm with Saturday puzzles, some of the clues are very unambiguous but correct. Remember, clues are just clues, they don't need to be exact. They are not dictionary definitions.

Normally I dread the names in puzzles, but today I am very pleased to see:

19A. Joan of "The Last Emperor" : CHEN. Very beautiful. Hugely popular when I grew up. She was born and grew up in Shanghai. Chen (Mandarin) = Chan (Cantonese), as in Jackie/Charlie Chan.

40A. Hall of Fame Vikings lineman Carl : ELLER. Drug/alcohol plagues him. Our local newspaper reports on his every mishap. Their obsession with Brett Favre drive me nuts.

Across:

1. "Banded" arid-area reptile : SAND SNAKE. Well, I bet it's a gimme for Gunghy and Husker Gary. I've never heard of this reptile before.

10. Hitting sound : SPLAT

15. Body fat compound : OLEIC ACID. We often see OLEIC clued as partial, clued as "__ acid".

16. Bait : TEASE

20. WWII soldier in Africa : DESERT RAT. Not a familiar term to me.

21. Application datum : SEX. Well, I am not as DF as Dennis. I wanted AGE.

23. At least one : ANY

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

27. Gave (out) : METED

31. Half a laugh : HEH

34. Film with a lot of reports : SHOOT 'EM UP. The Western movies. I just learned a few months ago that "reports" can mean "gun shots".

36. Coast : SHORE

41. Acted : TOOK STEPS. Didn't jump to me quickly.

42. Former British Poet Laureate Hughes : TED. Sylvia Plath's husband. Cold and aloof.

43. Fogg's creator : VERNE (Jules). No idea. Fogg is a character in his "Around the World in Eighty Day".

44. Computer unit : BYTE

45. Telepathy term : PSI. Stumped. Dictionary defines it as "any purported psychic phenomenon, as psychokinesis, telepathy, clairvoyance, or the like".

47. Cone lead-in : SNO. Sno cone.

49. Healthful desserts : FRUIT CUPS. With sprinkled toasted coconut flakes, yummy!

55. "Let's call __ evening" : IT AN

61. Early MTV staple : VIDEO

62. Fashionable partygoer? : LATE COMER. Nice clue.

63. Poet's superlative : ENORM. Enormous.

64. 1986 Blake Edwards comedy flop (aptly named, as it turned out) : A FINE MESS. No idea, though the poster looks familiar. I must have linked it before.

Down:

1. Longest note? : SOL. Oh, I get it. It's longest because all the other musical notes only have 2 letters: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti.

2. Smart one? : ALEC. Smart alec.

3. 2010 FIFA World Cup finalist : NETH (Netherlands). And UCLA (52. 2010 College World Series runner-up). Too obscure clues for me, since I don't follow either.

4. See 49-Down : DIME STORE. And FIVE (49. With "and" and 59-Down, 4-Down) and TEN ( 59. See 49-Down). Five - and - Ten = Dime Store. I normally like cross-references, but got headache over this one.

5. View : SCENE

6. "Forget it" : NAH

7. USMA part: Abbr. : ACAD. USMA = United States Military Academy.

8. Biblical grazers : KINE. Cows. Maybe Windhover knows. He has profound knowledge on Bible.

9. Actor Byrnes and baseball Hall of Famer Roush : EDDS

10. Hard : STERN

11. Narrow : PETTY. Can you give an example on how they equate?

12. Actor who was born a Leo, as it happens : LAHR (Bert). The Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz". Interesting trivia.

13. Large land mass : ASIA

14. Check : TEST

18. Chair, say : LEAD. Verb, to chair a committee. I was thinking of furniture.

22. Cyclops and Beast, e.g. : X-MEN. Blind spots for me. Cyclops is just ugly.

24. So far : AS YET

25. Oar fulcrum : THOLE. Learned from doing Xword.

26. If only : WOULD

28. Hardly be stoical : EMOTE. "Be hardly stoical" is better, isn't it?

29. Oxford employee : TUTOR. Dictionary says tutor (esp in Oxford and Cambridge), means "a university officer, usually a fellow, responsible for teaching and supervising a number of undergraduates". Well, I hope Vidwan nailed it. He has British style education. I was baffled.

30. Printing pioneer : EPSON. Oh, really?

31. Rot : HOOEY

32. Blow : ERUPT

33. "Demian" author : HESSE (Hermann). I bet Kazie knows the book.

35. Dutch painter Gerard __ Borch : TER. No idea. Is "ter" like "van"/"de"?

36. H.S. VIPs : SRS. And SAT I (54. H.S. reasoning exam, formerly). Unknown to me also. Wish I had come to the US earlier. I presume Math and writing are SAT II and SAT III?

37. Crash and burn : HIT BOTTOM. Great clue/answer.

39. Gets by, with "out" : EKES. Ennui!

43. Annual resolution target : VICE. Oh, New Year resolutions.

45. Pepper picker : PIPER. Peter Piper, the pickled pepper picker.

46. Lindsey's predecessor in the Senate : STROM (Thurmond). I remember the Trent Lott incident during Thurmond's 100th birthday party.

48. Caroline, to Bobby : NIECE. Caroline/Bob Kennedy.

50. Noah's concern : RAIN

51. Style with pins : UPDO

53. "La Vie en Rose" singer : PIAF (Edith)

56. "Alas!" : AH ME

57. Nairn negatives : NAES. Nairn is a county in N. Scotland.

60. Some corp. officers : TRS. Boomer is the treasurer for our Townhouse Association. But he's not familiar with the abbr.

Answer grid.

Here is a set of five cute animal pictures forwarded to me from a faithful lurker code-named "B".

C.C.

Friday August 20, 2010 Donna S. Levin

Theme: House Pun - The first word of each common phrase is replaced by a sound-alike type of house. The resulting phrase is then humorously clued.

17A. Faithful caretaker of a religious residence? : MANSE BEST FRIEND. The base phrase is Man's Best Friend. Manse is parson's residence.

26A. Stately home for debate team practice? : MANOR OF SPEECH. Manner of Speech. I'm more familiar with "manner of speaking".

45A. Former European princess's elaborate dwelling? : ESTATE OF GRACE. State of Grace. Princess Grace. The only theme entries with an extra syllable added.

58A. French castle built with misgivings? : CHATEAU OF A DOUBT. Shadow of a Doubt. Sound change is quite pronounced in this one, with different stress. But a great clue.

This puzzle is very close in theme style and grid design to Donna's last "Hat Pun": four theme entries (the first and last are grid-spanners in both puzzles) punning on the first word of each familiar phrase. The clues are more consistent in this one. Consistency is important in cluing this punny type. You either adhere to the old meaning or the transformed meaning. Can't do both. The hat, no hat, no hat, hat in the "Hat Pun" theme clues bothered me.

Donna has gradually filled in the Friday LAT pun void left by Dan Naddor and she is now our Friday Ms. Pun.

I am very fond of the two Down 10s which crossed three theme answers each:

11D. Operating room number? : ANESTHESIA. Number = Stuff that numb you.

28D. Home of the flightless kakapo : NEW ZEALAND. Kakapo looks like an owl. Why are they flightless?

The clue for ANTONYM (20A. Choose to reject, say? ) is just brilliant. The word "choose" is an antonym of "reject".

Across:

1. Dirty : LEWD. "Indecent" Dirty.

5. Fictional Fort Baxter noncom : BILKO. Sergeant Bilko.

10. Bar assistant? : PARA. Paralegal. Attorney's assistant.

14. Like the northern Antilles Islands vis-à-vis the southern ones : ALEE. I don't get this, Spitzboov.

15. Enjoyed home cooking : ATE IN

16. City named for a Tennyson heroine : ENID. In Oklahoma. Named for the character Enid in "Idylls of the King". Unknown trivia to me.

21. Draw : TIE

22. Vancouver-to-Seattle dir. : SSE. Always need crossing help for dir.

23. Defunct Frontier Airlines competitor : TED. Belonged to United.

24. Not quite NC-17 : R-RATED. Rated G, Rated PG, Rated PG -13, Rated R, then Rated NC-17. Got me.

32. Mars, to the Greeks : ARES. The ending S in Greek always suggests of a male. Ares, Zeus, etc.

33. Aglet's locale : LACE. Aglet is the metal tag at the end of a shoe lace. Like the red cirled part.

34. Per person : A HEAD. A new clue spin on common one word AHEAD.

37. Stitch : SEW

38. Spilled, with "out" : BLURTED

40. Dept. in a "Law & Order" spin-off : SVU. I only like the original "Law & Order".

41. Vocaphone : KAZOO. What is "Vocaphone"?

43. Feudal peasant : SERF

44. Like a pinto : PIED. Mottled "pinto" horse, with multicolored patches.

48. Pokes fun at, in a way : ROASTS

50. Anger : IRE

51. It's used at Gallaudet U. : ASL (American Sign Language). I've never heard of Gallaudet University, "a federally chartered university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing", based in D.C, according to Wikipedia.

52. Umpire's call : LET. The referee in Tennis is called umpire also?

54. Winter spikes : ICICLES

61. Popular bar game : KENO. Originated in China.

62. Hard to move : STOIC. To move emotionally.

63. The duck in "Peter and the Wolf" : OBOE. I am always confused by those characters.

64. "Soldier of Love" singer, 2009 : SADE. Gimme for me, but then I love Sade.

65. Delish : YUMMY

66. White underling : KENT (Clark). Perry White's underling in the "Superman".

Down:

1. Eastern priest : LAMA. Only in Tibet.

2. Pizazz : ELAN

3. Hit the road : WENT

4. FireDome and Fireflite : DESOTOS. Cars. Waiting for Argyle for the links. He knows everything about cars.

5. Short nightie : BABY DOLL. Lovely color.

6. Canoodling couple, maybe : ITEM

7. Liszt's "__ Preludes" : LES. I guessed.

8. "Santa Baby" singer : KITT (Eartha). Hmm, happy fill for Lois and her "Santa Baby"!

9. Lit : ON FIRE

10. Louvre Pyramid architect : PEI (I.M.)

12. Washer cycle : RINSE

13. Put two and two together : ADDED. Somehow I was thinking of the lumber term 2X2.

18. U.S. dept. with a sun on its seal : ENER. See this seal. There's indeed a sun.

19. Go over again : REREAD

25. Bavarian beef? : ACH. Alas, not real beef for the meat lovers. Alliteration.

26. Conceal : MASK

27. Field : AREA

29. Legendary soul seller : FAUST. He sold his soul to the devil.

30. Cliffside litter : SCREE. Like this, the rocky debris.

31. Chemical prefix? : PETRO. Petrochemical. Why question mark?

35. "__ plaisir!" : AVEC. Literally "with pleasure".

36. Buddy : DUDE

38. Hold in, with "up" : BOTTLE

39. Productiveness : EFFICACY. Great entry.

42. CIA's ancestor : OSS. Ennui!

44. Parboil : PRECOOK

46. Equally simple : AS EASY

47. Power network : GRID. Electric power.

48. Sets up the balls : RACKS. Pool. Lois knows how to "set up the balls".

49. Actor Milo : O'SHEA

53. 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner : TUTU. 1984? That's long time ago.

54. "Correct me __ wrong ..." : IF I'M

55. Auto mechanic's job : LUBE

56. Black, poetically : EBON

57. Re-edit, in a way : STET. "Let it stand", Let the canceled material remain.

59. Ring site : TOE. Quite pretty.

60. Half a tuba sound : OOM. Oom-pah.

Answer grid.

Our Friday blog team photo continues. Here is a recent photo of Al, a database administrator based in Green Bay, WI. Al loves words and etymologies, as you've probably learned from his always knowledgeable comments and Thursday puzzle write-ups. Al is also very well versed in nutrition due to his personal experiences and background in chemistry. He also loves guitar and takes lessons every week.

C.C.

Thursday August 19, 2010 Gene Newman

Theme: Idiom Antonyms - The starting positional prepositions in familiar phrases are flip-flopped and the resulting phrases are humorously reinterpreted and clued with question marked one-word adjectives.

17A. Dishonest?: BELOWBOARD. When you are honest, you are said to be aboveboard in your dealings.

26A. Happy?: UP IN THE MOUTH. Sad = down in the mouth.

42A. Sick?: OUT OF THE PINK. Healthy = in the pink.

56A. Incompetent?: OFF THE BALL. Competent = on the ball.

This theme is similar to neagative (in-/im-/un-/dis-/non-/extra-) words that no longer have a corresponding positive in the language, as in this poem, A Very Descript Man, attributed to J. H. Parker, one day late for bad poetry day:

I am such a dolent man, / I eptly work each day; / My acts are all becilic, / I've just ane things to say. / My nerves are strung, my hair is kempt, / I'm gusting and I'm span:/ I look with dain on everyone / And am a pudent man. / I travel cognito and make A delible impression: / I overcome a slight chalance, / With gruntled self-possesion. / My, dignation would be great / If I should digent be:/ I trust my vagance will bring / An astrous life for me.

Al here, with a fun Thursday. I think I might have gotten this without the theme, but figuring that out sure sped things up. I think this is a first for me, no links today...

Cross:

1. Boot's meal: MESS. Boot camp, I suppose...

5. What houses may be built on: SPEC. Speculation that if you build it, it will sell.

9. Li'l Abner's creator: CAPP. Al Capp, born: Alfred Gerald Caplin.

13. Some finals: ORALS. Final tests for graduate college/university degrees.

15. Machu Picchu's land: PERU. Translates to "old mountain".

16. Jewish youth org.: YMHA. Young Men's Hebrew Association.

19. Baseball Triple Crown component: RBIS. Runs Batted In. Also Home Runs and batting average, three statistics required for batters. Pitchers must lead in wins, strikeouts and Earned Run Average (ERA).

20. Winter sailcraft: ICE BOATS.

21. Locks up: JAILS.

22. Sgts.' superiors: LTS. Sergeants, lieutenants.

23. Galeón booty: ORO. Spanish gold. Galeón is Spanish for galleon.

24. Specialty, informally: THING. It's your/my thing to solve crossword puzzles.

30. Coach in the air?: CLASS. Coach class is the cheapest way to travel by plane, train, etc.

33. Tries to sink, perhaps: RAMS. Battleship collisions, also the part of the ship specifically designed to do such damage.

34. "Now I get it!": OHO.

35. Journalist Clare Boothe __: LUCE. Busy lady for an illegitimate child: Playwright, editor, journalist, ambassador, socialite and US Congresswoman.

36. Teases maliciously: BAITS.

38. MLB All-Star Game day: TUES. Baseball season approximate mid-point, played usually on the second Tuesday of July.

39. ___-de-France: ILE. The most populous region of France, contains most of metropolitan Paris.

40. War ender: PACT. Latin pactum, covenant, contract.

41. Serious borders?: ESSES. The letter "S" is first and last in the word SeriouS. Was anyone fooled?

46. America's Cup entry: YACHT.

47. Bank book no.: INT. Interest.

48. Asian title of respect: SRI. Sanskrit for "beauty", especially of divinities and kings.

51. Illegal pickoff moves, e.g.: BALKS. A few baseball terms in the puzzle... This is when a pitcher makes a move as if to throw, but instead interrupts his motion. If he can make a smooth throwing motion to the base instead, then it isn't a balk and a runner with too far of a lead-off can possibly be tagged out.

53. Out of the box: UNCRATED.

55. Russian city on the Oka: OREL. A geographical answer to confuse you along with the Ural Mountains and the Aral Sea.

58. First name in Old West fiction: ZANE. Grey. Roughly 90 books with 110 movies made from his work.

59. "Go away!": SHOO.

60. Like Serling stories: EERIE. Rod Serling, narrator of the Twilight Zone.

61. Be compliant: OBEY.

62. Get wise with: SASS.

63. U.S. Army decorations: DSCS. Distinguished Service Cross. One step below the Medal of Honor.

Down:

1. Gas brand with a red "o" in its logo: MOBIL.

2. Upright: ERECT.

3. Rep's work: SALES. I guess REP isn't considered an abbrev. in this context...

4. Schulz's Pig-Pen, e.g.: SLOB. Charles Schulz, Peanuts comic. Pig-Pen is the one constantly in a cloud of dust, even when it rains or snows.

5. Exact, to a Brit: SPOT ON.

6. Porridge morsels: PEAS.

7. Goof: ERR.

8. Ruminant's mouthful: CUD. To ruminate is to turn something over in your mind, or as a cow, chew cud.

9. Rostand's long-nosed lover: CYRANO. Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, who actually existed, however, the play's plotline involving Roxane and Christian is almost entirely fictional — the real Cyrano did not write the Baron's love letters for him

10. Equivocal: AMBIGUOUS.

11. Punxsutawney predictor: PHIL. Groundhog day.

12. Coquette's wink, say: PASS. The word pass has been associated with a fencing move definition, to lunge at, also to make an attempt or try, or to make a "play" for.

14. Eagles' attacks: SWOOPS.

18. Adriatic port: BARI. Italy. Only got it through perp fills...

21. Slim __: snack items: JIMS. So greasy. I suppose they help wash the beer down...

24. One of those things: THAT

25. Bottom lines?: HEMS. Was not thinking sewing here, wanted NETS for the profit sense.

26. Take habitually: USE. Addiction.

27. Like overused crossword clues: TRITE.

28. Biblical pronoun: THEE.

29. Ponderosa heavyweight: HOSS. Dan Blocker was a large man.

30. Adman's award: CLIO. Named for the Greek muse of history, Clio is known as The Proclaimer; the name is from a root word that means "recount" (narrate) or "make famous".

31. Beaut: LULU. Bret Favre, for example.

32. Welder's need: ACETYLENE.

36. British spa town: BATH. Aptly named.

37. Sieben follower: ACHT. Seven, eight in German.

38. Sound made with a head shake: TSK. Made along with the shake, as opposed to an actual noise generated by having loose screws or missing marbles.

40. U.S. Army E-3s: PFCS. Privates, First Class. Technically the abbreviation is contained internally either singular or plural with the first word, so it shouldn't really have an "S" at the end, but this rule is broken a lot in everyday use.

41. Early bird special item: ENTREE. Extended early restaurant hours where the price can be cheaper to generate additional business off-peak.

43. "Little Sure Shot": OAKLEY. Annie.

44. Mottled horses: PINTOS. Large patches of white plus any other color.

45. Move furtively: INCH. Little by little.

48. Oscar Night assembly: STARS.

49. Dig find: RELIC. Archaeology.

50. What a slacker does: IDLES. Slack as in lax, limp, unmoving.

51. Oaf: BOZO. Oaf is related to elf, and comes from a changeling; a foolish child left by the fairies. Some dictionaries still give the plural as oaves. Bozo perhaps from Sp. bozal, used in the slave trade and also to mean "one who speaks Spanish poorly."

52. Certain Semite: ARAB. Semite from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah.

53. Area 51 sightings: UFOS. I have it on pretty good authority that this is really much ado about nothing. I'd tell you how I know, but then I'd have to have you taken care of...

54. Reading by a night light, perhaps: ABED. I will be doing this soon, I hope. I think words like these were made up by poets to stretch out the number of syllables.

56. WWII spy org.: OSS. Office of Strategic Services, forerunner of the CIA.

57. Govt. loan insurer: FHA. Federal Housing Administration.

Answer Grid,

Al

Wednesday August 18, 2010 Dan Naddor

Theme: ALTERATIONS - The second word of each two word theme answer indicates someone or something that causes some sort of transformation, in plural form.

16A. Some den boxes : CABLE CONVERTERS. "Den box" gave me pause. This is the box that allows your old non-cable-ready TV to hook up to cable. CONVERTERS can also change their religions, or transform things.

22A. Hookups to many electronic devices : POWER ADAPTORS. They change the voltage from line current to whatever your device requires.

35A. Jacob Riis et al. : SOCIAL REFORMERS. They try to make things better. Riis' cause was the impoverished of New York City, 100 years ago.

44A. Currency pros : MONEY CHANGERS. They'll convert your Shekels to Denarii - for a price. But the pros have their cons, and might get chased out of an inappropriate venue by an activist SOCIAL REFORMER, who might even try to CONVERT them.

55A. Insurance investigators : CLAIMS ADJUSTERS. Per Wikipedia, they "investigate insurance claims by interviewing the claimant and witnesses, consulting police and hospital records, and inspecting property damage to determine the extent of the company’s liability." Otherwise, an adjustment is often a small scale fine-tuning, as to your radio dial or 6th cervical vertebra.

Hi gang, it's JazzBumpa, the Toledo Trombonist, blessed to have a Dan Naddor puzzle to share with you.

Today, Dan gave us three grid-spanning theme answers, plus two more at 13 letters each, making for an extremely dense and rich blend. Very seldom do we see a total of 71 theme squares on a weekday puzzle. With 36 blocks (4 cheaters/helpers), 74 words, and an averages length of 5.11, this is technically very close to a Thursday puzzle.

Difficulty seems about right for a Wednesday, though. I chunked through in 14:43. I had a feeling we were due for one of Dan's, but didn't recognize this as his style. The cluing seems a bit straightforward, not the normal Devious Dan Delights. But this is a superb puzzle: the theme is tight and coherent, and the long down fill is exquisite.

Across :

1. "The Facts of Life" actress Charlotte : RAE. By me. I never watched. I think she's the one in the middle.

4. Swiftly : APACE. Fast enough to walk abreast - so to keep pace.

9. Just __: minimal amount : A DAB. This was a slow fill for me. Could be A TAD, or A BIT, without the perps.

13. Dual-purpose room shape : ELL. Kitchen and dining room, perhaps. But for kitchen and bathroom, I'd say, "ELL no!"

14. Raptor's gripper : TALON. Frex, an eagle's claw, or this.

15. Academy freshman : PLEBE. Probably derived from PLEBIAN, the class of Roman common citizens of lower status than Patricians.

19. Mimi's "mine" : AMOI. Oh, my. Alliteration for a foreign word seems pretty standard, the French name clues the language.

20. Clown for the camera : MUG. Occasionally a kid will do this.

21. Pounce on : LEAP AT. Maybe you should look first.

25. Solar wind particle : ION.

26. "Alley __" : OOP. Ally OOP was a cartoon cave man. He gives me an eary feeling. Or it can be something quite uplifting.

27. Yale or Harvard : IVY. The Ivy League Schools, offering lots of tradition, and very expensive educations.

30. Form 1040 IDs : SSNS. Social Security Numbers. Somewhere out there is an identity thief who wants yours.

32. Hammer-wielding god : THOR. It seems to me I've blogged this god before. Then again, what the Valhalla do I know.

34. Gave the boot : AXED. In Valhalla, you get hammered.

38. Fruity pastry : TART. They can be interesting and quite appetizing. The first two pictures here give some hint as to the variety.

39. Community word : OURS

40. "Powerful you have become, the dark side I sense in you" speaker : YODA. From Star Wars the saga, a character sagacious he is; speak this way he does. More attention he should have in ESL class paid.

41. Go downhill fast? : SKI. Our cabin last week was on SKI View Drive at an elevation of 2900 feet, and the way up was SKI Mountain Road. I was concerned about going downhill fast, without SKIs.

42. Course taught bilingually: Abbr. : ESL. English as a second language. Part of the cosswordese nouveau.

43. Dorothy Gale's state: Abbr. : KAN. Dorothy from Kansas, the reference from the Wizard of Oz: "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." The mean elevation of Kansas is 2000 feet. Toledo is 615.

51. Card carrier : MEMBER. Some organizations have membership cards so you can prove you belong. I am a card carrying MEMBER of the flat-landers.

53. Sound from a wowed crowd : OOH. Or from the view on Ski View Drive. The parking lot of Ober Gatlinburg was 400 feet below us.

54. Do in : SLAY

58. Shrewd : CAGEY

59. Helmsley dubbed "Queen of Mean" : LEONA. She is the hotel owner who opined that, "taxes are for little people." Riis would have had a thing or two to say to her.

60. "__ lost!" : GET. My response to Leona.

61. Specks in la mer : ILES. Islands in French. Or in the stream, perhaps.

62. Op-ed piece, e.g. : ESSAY.

63. Timeline divs. : YRS. Years. Abbrv in cl & ans.

Down:

1. Postgame summary : RECAP.

2. Crockett's last stand : ALAMO. Not our Crockett. Davey from Tennessee. The Alamo was the site of a 13 day siege and final assault that left all but two of the defenders dead. You can learn more about it here.

3. Be rude in a crowd : ELBOW. I needed perp help for this one. A rude person can use his elbows as weapons or pry bars to get ahead of the little people.

4. Enjoyed a blue plate special : ATE. I enjoyed some ice cream with a couple granddaughters this evening.

5. Pellet gobbler of old games : PACMAN. You can play here.

6. For all to hear : ALOUD. Are we allowed to say ALOUD ALOUD?

7. Line dance : CONGA. Let Gloria show you how.

8. Ltr. holder : ENV. Envelope. Anoth. Abrv.

9. Rite site : ALTAR. A rite is an established, ceremonious, usually religious act or process. The altar is a designated place or structure for such religious activities. It also echoes "ALTER," a much too subtle hint at the theme.

10. Threw overboard : DEEP SIXED. Maybe one of our sailors can fill us in on this colorful phrase.

11. __ Kadabra: foe of the Flash : ABRA. No idea, but it was an easy guess.

12. Blue ribbon-worthy : BEST. First prize at the county fair is often a blue ribbon.

15. Before surgery, briefly : PRE-OP. People get so nervous here, they take drugs to calm down.

17. What to do after making your metaphorical bed : LIE IN IT. No sympathy here. Deal with the consequences of your actions. Nice combination, though.

18. Corrida combatant : EL TORO. The bull in the bullfighting ring. Alas, poor bull - you never win.

23. Parks in '50s news : ROSA. ROSA Parks refused to give her seat on the bus to a white man, and this caused a national ruckus. In my life time. Wow.

24. Vanishing sounds : POOFS. Does a disappearing magic dragon go POOF or PUFF?

28. Designer Wang : VERA. Here is her style.

29. Gridiron gains: Abbr. : YDS. Yards. There are 100 between the opposite goal lines.

30. Overcharge, slangily : SOAK. Another colorful phrase. Anybody know where it came from?

31. Practice grid game : SCRIMMAGE. The NFL pre-season practice games are shown on TV. Better as fill, IMHO.

32. With sincerity : TRULY

33. Part of H.R.H. : HER. HER ROYAL HIGHNESS - the Queen. We aren't supposed to have any here. Except for LEONA, I guess.

34. Surrounded by : AMONGST. AMONGST and AMIDST sound so archaic.

35. Oft-numbered rtes. : STS. Streets, I guess. But STS are usually named, not numbered.

36. They aren't champs : LOSERS. And their RECAPS aren't much fun, either.

37. "You've Got Mail" co-star : RYAN. Meg RYAN. I wanted to fit in a first name, and that just wasn't working. Looks like her plastic surgery was no great success, either.

42. Bad guy : ENEMY. But I'm his ENEMY, too. Does that make me a bad guy?

43. Islands VIP : KAHUNA. Again, from Wikipedia: Kahuna is a Hawaiian word, defined in the Pukui & Elbert (1986) as a "Priest, sorcerer, magician, wizard, minister, expert in any profession."

45. Big Apple awards : OBIES. Annual Off Broadway awards bestowed by The Village Voice, and another part of crosswordese nouveau.

46. Cryptographers' creations : CODES. Software developers, too.

47. Orange-roofed eateries, for short : HOJOS. Howard Johnson's. Here is one of Howard's finest moments.

48. Poem of lament : ELEGY. Now is when we need Clear Ayes.

49. Not as easy to come by : RARER. Dan's puzzles are getting RARER.

50. Handicappers' methods: Abbr. : SYSTS. Systems. This relates to wagering on sports, I'll bet.

51. 13th-century date : MCCI. Roman 1201. My memories of that year are quite vague.

52. Airline to Tel Aviv : EL AL. And a frequent flyer in crosswords.

56. Pub pint : ALE

57. "Come to think of it ..." : SAY. And I say this was a fine solving and blogging experience.

Answer grid.

Here is a picture of the much vaunted Varsity Chili Dogs Dennis drove hundreds of miles for last week. Strange to have mustard over chili over hot dogs, isn't it? Here's another look.

Cheers!

JzB

Tuesday, August 17, 2010 Steve Salitan

Theme: Presidential Vocalists - The last names of the four singers, their famous song part of the clues, are also the names of US Presidents. Two-part unifier.

17A. "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" singer : BRYAN ADAMS. The song. The President or President. Our second President was John Adams and served from 1797 to 1801. Our sixth President was John Quincy Adams and served from 1825 to 1829.

29A. "How Glad I Am" Grammy winner, 1964 : NANCY WILSON. The song. The President. Our twenty-eighth President was Woodrow Wilson and served from 1913 to 1921.

45A. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" singer : BONNIE TYLER. The song. The President. Our tenth President was John Tyler and served from 1841 to 1845.

61A. 1971 Oscar winner for "Theme from 'Shaft'" : ISAAC HAYES. The song. The President. Our nineteenth President was Rutherford B. Hayes and served from 1877 to 1881.

12D. With 36-Down, patriotic song that's a hint to this puzzle's theme : "HAIL TO..." and 36D. See 12-Down : "...THE CHIEF". The song. Can't be placed symmetrically due to 6/8 letter combination. Also impossible to put HAIL TO THE CHIEF together in the middle as it has a total of 14 letters. The middle theme answer has to have an odd number of letters.

Argyle here.

Too bad the Presidents weren't in chronological order. I didn't find much about our constructor; the first time we have seen him. He did attend the 33rd Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. I hope he drops by and that we may see more of his work.

Across:

1. Jib supports : MASTS

6. Apparel : GARB

10. Waikiki's island : OAHU

14. Preminger and Klemperer : OTTOs. A film director and a music conductor.

15. Skinned knee, to a tot : OWIE

16. Pained sound : MOAN

19. Where the pupil is : IRIS

20. School cheer : YELL

21. Tofu source : SOY

22. Be a snitch : TATTLE

24. Shower wall growth : MILDEW

26. Fireplace fuel : LOG

27. Broke fast : ATE

28. TV network with an eye logo : CBS

32. Prefix with violet : ULTRA

34. Gladiators' venue : ARENA

35. Mexican money : PESO

36. Tuckered out : TIRED

38. Gym iterations : REPS

42. Dislike big-time : ABHOR

44. Fess up : ADMIT

50. Tissue layer : PLY

51. Beatle bride Yoko : ONO

52. Tuber also known as a New Zealand yam : OCA . To whom is it known as a New Zealand yam? Kazie?

53. Does spectacularly : EXCELS

55. From the beginning : AFRESH

57. 12/24 or 12/31 : EVE

58. Ice cream holder : CONE

60. In apple-pie order : TIDY

64. One of the HOMES lakes : ERIE . HOMES is a mnemonic device for remembering the Great Lakes.

65. Be deserving of : EARN

66. Techie's clients : USERs

67. In-basket stamp: Abbr. : REC'D.

68. Pool table cloth : FELT

69. "One of __ days, Alice...": Ralph Kramden : THESE

Down:

1. Melville's "__-Dick" : MOBY

2. Quaking : ATREMBLE

3. Hair salon staffers : STYLISTS

4. "... and __ a good-night" : TO ALL . I knew this one! Santa.

5. Fig. in an identity theft case : SSN

6. Decrease in value : GO DOWN

7. On vacation, say : AWAY

8. Backboard attachment : RIM . The basket in basketball.

9. Presented, as an honor, with "upon" : BESTOWED

10. Forget to include : OMIT

11. Main arteries : AORTAs

13. Not visible : UNSEEN

18. On the bounding main : ASEA

23. Opposed to, in dialect : AGIN

25. Evidence in paternity suits : DNA

26. Orpheus' instrument : LYRE

28. Sugar borrower's amount : CUP

30. Haul in one's arms : CARRY

31. Fat in the pantry : LARD

33. Horse coloring : ROAN

37. Greek "i" : IOTA

39. One on the payroll : EMPLOYEE

40. Pale lagers : PILSNERS . Beer.

41. Porker's pad : STY

43. Life stories, for short : BIOs

44. Rainbow shape : ARC

45. Yachtsman, e.g. : BOATER

46. In flames : ON FIRE

47. From Scandinavia : NORDIC

48. Pianist/actor Oscar : LEVANT . Oscar Levant's celebrity was based upon his reputation as a pianist. Here he plays the Chopin Etude in c# minor,op.10,no.4., recorded on August 26, 1946.

49. Corp. bigwig : EXEC.

54. Online shopping outlay : E-CASH .

56. Watched warily : EYED

57. __ of Sandwich : EARL

59. Latin "to be" : ESSE

62. MS. enclosure : SAE . Stamped Addressed Envelope.

63. Crude abode : HUT

Answer grid.

Here is a great photo of JD, Dick and Carol (in purple) seated in front of lily pond at Sunset Botanical Gardens. JD is based in California, Dick lives in Pennsylvania, and Carol has spent all her life in Oregon I think. They met via our blog and spent a few days vacationing together in Bandon, OR.

Argyle

Monday, August 16, 2010 John Lampkin

Theme: Get Moving - The actions indicated by the first word of the four theme entries might describe the start of a person's day, in an orderly fashion.

17A. Be inactive, like a volcano : LIE DORMANT.

26A. Be in a favorable position : SIT PRETTY. John has a few photos demonstrating theme answers 26A and 55A, please scroll down to the end of my write-up.

42A. Don't give in : STAND FIRM.

55A. Proceed very cautiously : WALK ON EGGS.

Argyle again.

A bit of a stiff breeze for a Monday but diligence allows headway and safe passage into port.

Quite low black square (34) and word (74) count, which bring us plenty of non-theme long fill, including nine 7-letter and fourteen 6-letter entries.

Across:

1. Trig or algebra, e.g. : MATH. We also CIRCLE (21D. Geometry shape) and TRIANGLE (36. Pool rack shape).

5. Range dividing Europe and Asia : URALS. Geography 101

10. "Java" trumpeter Al : HIRT. I always picture the Muppet version.

14. Professor 'iggins : 'ENRY. From "My Fair Lady". Both Hs are dropped in Cockney accent.

15. Brown-toned old photo : SEPIA. So called because of a brown pigment used was obtained from the ink-like secretion of the cuttlefish.

16. Basie's "__'Clock Jump" : ONE O. Some more jazz.

19. Johnson Space Center org. : NASA. Originally known as the Manned Spacecraft Center, the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is located in Houston, Texas.

20. Showing profound knowledge : ERUDITE. From Latin ērudītus, from ērudīre to polish, from ex-(not) + rudis (unpolished, rough). Sort of a backhanded compliment.

21. Red bullring props : CAPES.

22. To the extent that : AS FAR AS.

24. Like many old movies : SILENT. Very old!

25. Highlands family : CLAN.

29. Tony of "Some Like It Hot" : CURTIS. Here with Jack Lemmon (Tony on left) from the 1959 film.

32. Brother's daughter : NIECE.

33. Pro __: for now : TEM.

34. TV surfer's selection : CHANNEL. Not a block in the middle of the grid, John?

36. __ chi: martial art : TAI. Tai chi chuan (literal translation "Supreme Ultimate Fist"). That is what Wikipedia said.

39. Bobby of the Black Panthers : SEALE. Founder, chairman and national organizer of the Black Panther Party.

40. Remains of a wreck : DEBRIS.

46. Dublin's land : EIRE.

47. Go berserk : LOSE IT.

48. Satisfy by offering concessions : APPEASE.

51. '50s "The Tonight Show" host Steve : ALLEN. Classic clip of Steve Allen cracking up at himself during a sportscaster sketch on live TV. Every time he looked at a monitor, he'd go off again.

52. From abroad : FOREIGN.

54. Make a sharp turn : VEER.

58. Crossword constructor's germ : IDEA. How did you get the IDEA for today's theme, John?

59. Spruce oneself up : PREEN.

60. St. __'s fire : ELMO. I've never seen it. Any of you sailors witnessed it?

61. Egyptian Christian : COPT. The word "Coptic" was originally used to refer to Egyptians in general, but it has undergone a semantic shift over the centuries to mean more specifically Egyptian Christian. Per Wikipedia.

62. Given to pouting : MOODY.

63. Splinter group : SECT.

Down:

1. Singer Tormé : MEL. The Velvet Fog.

2. Singer DiFranco : ANI. The Righteous Babe.

3. Supplier of firs : TREE FARM

4. Firefighter's water source : HYDRANT.

5. Vitamin intake std.: US RDA. std = standard. RDA Recommended Daily Allowance.

6. Neglectful : REMISS.

7. Give __ on the back : A PAT.

8. "Come here often?" is one : LINE. This could be clued as geography related too.

9. H.S. senior's exam: SAT

10. Puff the Magic Dragon's land : HONA LEE.

11. Acting peevishly : IN A PET. Being petulant.

12. Take offense at : RESENT.

13. Warm and cozy : TOASTY.

18. Lord's Prayer starter : OUR.

22. Bank statement no. : ACCT..

23. Revolve on an axis : SLUE.

24. Radar gun reading : SPEED.

27. Word before self or sanctum : INNER. An echo to the INNER SELF (ego) puzzle last week.

28. Oz Woodman's makeup : TIN. And no heart. From "The Wizards of Oz".

30. Stranded in winter, perhaps : ICED IN.

31. Mine passage : SHAFT.

35. Self-proclaimed "Greatest" boxer : ALI.

37. Runs on TV : AIRS.

38. "Understood" : "I SEE".

39. Show disdain for : SNEER AT.

41. "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack singers : BEE GEES.

42. Like Serbs and Croats : SLAVIC.

43. Holy Ohio city? : TOLEDO. There are many theories of where "Holy Toledo" came from.

44. Catching z's : ASLEEP.

45. Like cards in a crooked deck : MARKED.

49. Showy perennial : PEONY.

50. Wrestler's victory : PIN.

52. Casino card game : FARO.

53. Nondairy spread : OLEO.

55. Typing test fig. : WPM. Words Per Minute.

56. Maker of Terrain and Acadia SUVs : GMC. Terrain and Acadia The Acadia is bigger and much more expensive.

57. Boozehound : SOT.

Answer grid.

Constructor John Lampkin is also an avid Nature photographer. He writes:

"Last month I shared some of my butterfly pics as a tie-in to one of my theme entries, PAINTED LADY. Today, two entries, SIT PRETTY and WALK ON EGGS, reminded me of a photo journal I self-published six years ago. “Into a Nest of Tree Swallows” chronicles the hatching and development of a family of young birds from egg to fledgling. The book is a hand-crafted set of 16 pages of the best of the hundreds of images I created by photographing the inside of a nest at a local park over a three week period. Coincidentally, the shots were all taken with a Coolpix, the same camera C.C. received as a gift in June! Here are seven pics from the book, guaranteed to melt even the hardest of heart."

If you are interested in John's photographs, music or other artistic work, please visit his website.

Argyle

PS: Blogger continues to spam comments with embedded links. Please have patience. Our blog team will un-spam the posts as quickly as possible.