Saturday, Dec 8th, 2012, Doug Peterson & Brad Wilber

Theme: None

Words: 68

Blocks: 23

Another DP&BW duet - we saw their last collaboration Oct 13th, and.... this one had me stumped to start, with WAY too many empty squares after the first pass across and down.  Lots of names and Dan Naddor-style* two-word fills, but I WAGed a few spots, and took a gamble on some others, and slowly the grid filled in, from the bottom up - which is appropriate, since we have an "ascending" staircase pattern today (as I see it), with some chunky corners and four double-stacked spanners;

15. Frankie Carle signature song that became a #1 hit : SUNRISE SERENADE - I defer to JazzB for the link

17. Cast off inhibitions : LET ONE'S HAIR DOWN - Wonderful fill

46. Popular household reference since the 1930s, as it's commonly known:  THE JOY OF COOKING - who here at the blog is a regular "subscriber"~?

49. Helter-skelter : ALL OVER THE PLACE - and "Santa" can find a suitable musical clip for this one - you know me, I'll put up the Mötley Crüe cover

oN wArd ~!!!

ACROSS:

1. Got out of a shelter : ADOPTED - Aww, I want one~! (Mike, who collaborated on the solving of the last DP-BW puzzle has one of these)

8. Slender watercourse : RIVULET

18. Peppy : ALIVE

19. Ken Jenkins's "Scrubs" role : KELSO - Never watched it; this guy

20. __ Bo : TAE - the martial arts exercise, and our first "Bo" for the day (41A.)

21. Captain in an 1870 sci-fi classic : NEMO - Ah, not AHAB

22. "The Colossus" poet : PLATH - Ah, not PLATO

23. Unyielding : FIRM

24. Cube root of ventisette : TRE - no clue; foreign language math - Italian ³√27

25. Visibly touched : TEARY

26. Cyclist's challenge : GRADE - well, I knew we were talking about a hill, so I thought maybe CREST

27. Prison periods : TERMS - not YEARS

28*. Take part : JOIN IN

29. Genre that influenced Paul Simon's "Graceland" album : AFRO-POP - this was my favorite song from that album, and it's not "You Can Call Me Al" (may have to skip ad.)

32*. Flees : BEATS IT

33*. Redirecting sign : NO EXIT

34*. Irk : GET TO

35. Grandiose, as rhetoric : TUMID

36. Blanc and Pelat : MONTS - I was thinking colors, not that I know what French color is "Pelat", and the "N" was my last fill

37. Bring up the rear : LAG

40. Press : IRON

41. First dog walker, maybe : SASHA - did NOT fool me~!  This isn't the first dog in Eden, it's Bo, the dog the Obamas received as a gift in 2009

42. Sidekick role for Bruce Lee : KATO - not the KATO of the Pink Panther

43. Itinerary fig. : ETD - to avoid confusion with the words used in 3D.

44. __ Agnew, singer with Celtic Woman : CHLOE - new to me

45. Lake named for a tribe : HURON - Healthy guess, since I remembered the puzzle from last week~!

50. Queen's genre : MYSTERY - Ellery, that is

51. Cared for : TREATED

DOWN:

1. Italicized : ASLANT - our "A" word for the week

2. One who needs a second helping? : DUELER - So, who was Darth Vader's "second"~? What about Inigo Montoya?

3*. Flight board status : ON TIME

4. City near Sundance : PROVO - Utarrrgggh~!!

5. Jabber at the table? : TINE - not FORK; from now on, I am only eating my steak with a "meat jabber"

6. Tip of one's tongue? : ESE - if I am not mistaken, this refers to one's language - as in Chinese.  Notice how the "tip" moves around the globe?  Japanese, Vietnamese, American, Canadian, Mexican...Irish, English, Swedish....Irani, Iraqi, Hindi, and, um, French?

7. Dorm room buy : DESK LAMP

8. Land and buildings : REALTY - ugh, not ESTATE

9. Notre Dame squad, familiarly, with "the" : IRISH - DAR~!! My first thought, and I didn't fill it in

10. Florida's __ Beach : VERO - where is this on Husker Gary's map?

11. Coblenz conjunction : UND - My first thought, filled it in, and I took it out....

12. Countrymen who kick off their rainy season with a Rocket Festival : LAOTIANS - I had ---TIANS, and I was pretty sure it does not rain on Mars....

13. Foe of Robert the Bruce : EDWARD II - Oh, I thought I had a shout-out, but RICHARD did not fit

14. Film noir setting : TENEMENT - not BASEment - hey, it could have been....

16. Wool-gathering aid : SHEARS - Weed-whacker wouldn't fit ?

22. "Waiting for __": Time magazine cover of 5/25/1992 : PEROT - LaLaLinda....HAR HAR, a play on the play "Waiting for Godot"

23. __-Lay : FRITO - chips and dips, baby

25. Warmish : TEPID

26. Fall guys : GOATS

27. Lionfish's weapon : TOXIN

28. Volkswagen compact : JETTA

29. First major Civil War battle on Union soil : ANTIETAM

30. When Santa calls "Vixen," in poetry : FOURTHLY - so timely~!  Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and fourthly, VIXEN, with one's hair let down?

31. Does over : REMODELS

32. Screenwriter called the "Shakespeare of Hollywood" : BEN HECHT - this guy

34*. Opposite of get tough : GO SOFT

36. Arthurian chronicler Sir Thomas __ : MALORY

37. Rustler's rope : LARIAT

38*. Opposite of whenever : AT ONCE

39. Kicked off the stage, in a game show : GONGED

41. Not as forward : SHYER

42. Friend of Oliver J. Dragon : KUKLA - before my time; more here

44. Pirate's recess : COVE

45. Optimism : HOPE

47. Scribble : JOT

48. "Now __ the one half-world / Nature seems dead": Macbeth : O'ER

Splynter

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to Jazzbumpa (Ron), the coolest economist (He blogs at the Angry Bear), trombonist, baseball nut (Tigers & Mud Hens) & grandpa. Below are two photos from his big family Thanksgiving gathering. Click here for more.)

Left to right, his son Eric, daughter Karen, Ron (with a nice IPA), granddaughter Rebekka, her dad Doug and aunt Beth.

Front: Rebekka, Emily, Lauren, Samantha, Josh, Nate, Abby. Alexa.

Behind are Ryan, Amanda and Danny.

Friday, December 07, 2012, Gary J. Whitehead

Theme: The reverse "A" word!

Each of the two across and two down two word phrases have an "A" added to the "end" of the second word (all have 3 letters), as well as revealed in a central unifier. This is our second 2012 offering from Gary, and my first time writing about his creation. In honor of yesterday's Roy Campanella reference, this puzzle reminded me of that other Hall of Fame backstop, Yogi Berra and his comment that "This feels like deja vu all over again."  It was a mere 14 days from marti's "append ix" and here we have Add an end A. (addenda) which is a nice word lawyers like to use with contracts. Overall, the puzzle was not easy,  a pangram (2 Js!) to whet your creative juices, some nice music references which I actually knew and some clues I was confused about, but I finished, so here goes our Friday frolic.

20A. Enjoying "O patria mia"? : HEARING AIDA. (11) When you get older you may need a hearing aid to listen to opera.

59A. Whomping actor Eric? : SMOKING BANA (11). Giving up cigarettes would not have helped.

I think the link gives a good idea of the definition of 'whomping.' It is Eric Bana getting whomped by Mr. Pitt.

11D. Supply electricity to a California city? : POWER NAPA.(9)  This sounds like a rest for our Italian friends. I am sure we all know the area because of the wine.

35D. Spot a flamboyant singer? : SIGHT GAGA (9)That would be a knee slapper. More MUSIC.(4:40) from the Lady.

and the reveal:

40A. Contract extras, and read differently, a hint to this puzzle's theme : ADDENDA. (7) ADD END A.

Across:

1. Family nickname : MAMA. I never used this for mine, but then again, we used real nicknames as my brother Barry liked creating them. To me this name is what dolls say when the girls pull their strings.

5. Wharton hero : FROME. I am not sure hero is the correct word for Ethan, as he wants to cheat on his wife, agrees to a suicide pact with the girlfriend and then chickens out only to leave them both partially paralyzed and dependent on the wife to care for both of them.

10. Crude letters : OPEC. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

14. One of five Norwegian kings : OLAV. I like it when they clue OLAV V, who was a fine King I am told (Spitz?, Jerome?), for the VV combination.

15. Trapper's tool? : RADAR. The policeman hiding behind a billboard,  or Trapper John from M*A*S*H abusing Mr. O'Reilly?

16. Roast, in Rhone : ROTI. They speak French in the Rhone valley but I have never heard the word with "au boeuf" added, but I assume literally it meas roast of beef. Funny, we had mention of the Indian bread Roti yesterday, and of course we have anagramatic 65A. Knee-slapper : RIOT.

17. Eye sore : STYE. Really fun clue for on who has sore eyes often.

18. Invierno month : ENERO. Today we have Spanish, Invierno is winter, Enero January. We also have a clecho 33D. Solstice month : JUNE. Did anyone else see Gareth using the term over on the Fiend?

19. Nicole's "Moulin Rouge!" co-star : EWAN. McGregor, did you like this SONG? (3:46)

23. Legal title: Abbr. : ESQuire.  I was called Colonel, when I started to practice in Gainesville.

24. Artificial : ERSATZ. A wonderful word and a nice way to get Z into the pangram. Both title, Esquire and Colonel are ersatz.

25. "Night Moves" singer : SEGER. Apparently it is Bob Seger WEEK (5:26) here. Gentleman, enjoy reading the lyrics. We also have 43A. Time to retire : NIGHT. Nit anyone?

27. Some of its ads feature a pig named Maxwell : GEICO.(0:31) My middle name, also featured in Beatles' song, and classic American TV. I do not think he would like 53A. "Pork and Beans" band : WEEZER. My oldest son's favorite band back a few years. SONG.

30. Prima ___ : DONNAS. Italian for first lady, the connotation from the opera.

33. Cuban patriot Marti : JOSE. Living in South Florida a familiar name, but perhaps a toughie for most. He is revered both there and in Castro CUBA.

36. Ages : EONS.

38. Fight back, say : REACT.

39. Aussie's school : UNIversity.

42. Layer : PLY.

45. Copycat : APER.

46. Vichy waters : EAUX. The plural form of the the French EAU meaning water. Vichy is a City. Say that three times fast.

47. Kennedy and Waters : ETHELS. Two famous women, not related to my favorite, alcohol.

49. Like old apples : MEALY.

51. Character piece? : TRAIT. A nice literal clue.

57. Binge : JAG.

62. Literary collections : ANAS. A nice stand alone word used often in Scrabble when you have no good letters.

64. Amity : PEACE. The irony of the Amityville Horror, which is a true story made into a movie in 1979 and 2005.

66. Star in Lyra : VEGA. No, not a Nevada stripper wearing lycra, but another form of heavenly body.

67. Top of a form, perhaps : LINE A. A tricky one to parse.

68. Heraldry border : ORLE.  Like this

69. Furthest from the hole, in golf : AWAY. In golf, after the tee shot, you take turns in reverse order.

70. Big key : ENTER. Along with shift and backspace on a keyboard.

71. Fade, maybe : WEAR. I hope I am not wearing out my welcome on Fridays.

Down:

1. Israel's Dayan : MOSHE.  The debonair Israeli hero.

2. Let out, say : ALTER. After Thanksgiving and Christmas, what often happens to the waist in pants.

3. Builders of stepped pyramids : MAYAS. Do you all have your CALENDAR set?

4. Nothing special : AVERAGE. Just your normal end of the world predication, nothing to get

5. Frantic : FRENZIED. about.

6. Signaled one's arrival : RANG. Like the door bell.

7. Ancient theaters : ODEA. The plural of the Latin ODEUM, one built in Rome in 161 is still in use. They were meeting halls as well as places for entertainment. Interestingly we have the Greek  22D. Ancient assembly area : AGORA.

8. 1961 record breaker : MARIS. Roger who hit 61 in '61.

9. Ate at : ERODED. The attention and pressure ate at Maris and he starting losing his hair. He ended up in Gainesville as a Budweiser distributor. He seemed to be a very nice man.

10. Tram load : ORE. Not a pram, where the load is less lucrative.

12. Weather may delay them: Abbr. : ETAS. Estimated Time of Arrivals.

13. Half of dix : CINQ. The French 10/5.

21. Samson's end? : ITE. No not getting killed while pulling down the Philistine temple, but simply SAMSONITE, luggage. There is no mention of whatever happened to Delilah.

26. Compass hdg. : ENE.

28. Bars at the end : CODA. I leave all musical explanations to the experts.

29. Latish lunch hr. : ONE PM. We eat 1 or later here.

31. "Because freedom can't protect itself" org. : ACLU. American Civil Liberties Union.

32. "Come Sail Away" band : STYX. Love this TUNE.(5:51)

34. Doing the job : ON IT.

37. Bygone blade : SNEE. We just had this Sunday.

40. Rockefeller Center statue : ATLAS.  Impressive in person.

41. Approach : DRAW NEAR.

44. Every other hurricane : HER. Since 1979 we have men and women alternating names. All you need to KNOW.

46. One may be penciled in : EYEBROW. I love this clue/fill.

48. Like a piece of cake : SIMPLE.

50. Boost, with "up" : LEG.

52. Front-end alignment : TOE IN. Do we have any car mechanics to explain this?

54. "New" currency replaced by the Congolese franc : ZAIRE.

55. Gay leader? : ENOLA. The atom bomb dropping plane; you had to know there was no other PC answer.

56. Triple-A, at times : RATER. They rate hotels etc.

57. Software product with a cup-and-saucer logo : JAVA.

58. All over again : ANEW. Ah, the other kind of "A" word.

60. "Categorical Imperative" philosopher : KANT.  Immanuel actually could.

61. Slurpee alternative : ICEE. I am not linking TBBT again, we just had this last week.

63. Come out with : SAY.

I would have to say my time is up. As always, I hope the tour has been pleasant, and we have hit all the highlights, but if not I am sure you will tell us. It is the anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day, a day we should never forget.

Peace out Lemonade.

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to our philosopher/farmer Windhover (Larry),  who is an excellent runner and no doubt a good biographer! Want to see how he looked when he was 10? Click here.

Windhover, 1973