Saturday July 18, 2009 Doug Peterson

Theme: None

Total blocks: 30

Total words: 70

Whoa! This puzzle is hard. It should not be, as I actually know most of the fills. But the clues are tricky, exemplified by F-STOP (24A: Fuji setting). Of course, I filled in JAPAN first, thinking of Mt. Fuji.

Dennis probably likes those triple-stacked 9-worders in upper left/lower right and the paralleled 10's in the upper right/lower left. He likes long words. Me? I like simple, short, explosive, just-do-it verb words.

Neat to see the two 15-letter fills cross each other in the very middle of the grid:

35A: Control tower concern: TRAFFIC PATTERNS

8D: Antarctic denizens: EMPEROR PENGUINS

Across:

1A: Blissful state, slangily: HOG HEAVEN. Wanted CLOUD NINE.

10A: Tack together: BASTE. By sewing loosely with long stitches.

15A: Russian Orthodox church feature: ONION DOME. Named after its onion-like structure.

16A: Habitually: OFTEN

17A: They're usually not on itineraries: SIDE TRIPS

18A: Bullock's "Miss Congeniality" costar: BRATT. Sigh. I forgot who else starred in the movie. I like Benjamin BRATT's Rey in "Law & Order".

19A: French hagiological abbr.: STE. Hagio is a prefix for "saint". Hagiology is the literature dealing with the lives of the saints. New word to me. STE is often clued as "Fr. holy woman".

20A: Events on a card: RACES. Does this refer to "playing the race card"?

21A: Jam highlights: SOLOS. Wrote down RIFFS.

22A: Doctor finder: PAGER

23A: Yacht site: BASIN. Tiger Woods' yacht is called Privacy. He missed the cut at the British Open yesterday.

27A: Master: Abbr.: ORIG (Original)

29A: FDR program: NRA (National Recovery Administration)

31A: Steadily fading sound: ECHO. And POOF (22D: Vanishing word).

32A: French police detective unit: SURETE. No idea. It's France's FBI/Scotland Yard. SURETE (surety), is French for "safety".

32A: Elongated fish: GAR

38A: Dig into: EAT

39A: Fictional Queen: ELLERY. The mystery author. Queen is capitalized.

40A: Vacación destination: LAGO. Spanish for lake. Portuguese/Italian too.

41A: MLB rally killers: DPS (Double Plays)

42A: Logician Turing: ALAN. No idea. Have never heard of this guy (1912-1954). Wikipedia says he is often considered to be the father of modern computer science. And he died from eating a cyanide-laced apple. How sad!

43A: Not recent: OLDEN

44A: Fencer's defense: PARRY

46A: Coconut's place: GROVE. I always associate GROVE with short trees. Coconut trees are pretty tall.

49A: Jazz pianist Ahmad: JAMAL. Stumped. He looks charming. Wikipedia says his music is featured in Clint Eastwood's "The Bridge of Madison County", a rather disappointing movie. The book is so good.

50A: Handbook, e.g.: GUIDE

51A: Ft. Worth campus: TCU (Texas Christian University). Strange mascot name: Horned Frogs. Fighting Okra is another strange mascot name.

54A: Winning, barely: UP ONE. Not ONE UP?

55A: A paddlewheel may propel one: RIVERBOAT. Wikipedia says modern RIVERBOATS are generally screw (propeller) driven.

57A: Drips: NERDS. Dictionary defines "drip" as "an unattractive, boring, or colorless person." That's different from NERD, isn't it?

58A: Like sound frequencies above 20 kHz or so, to humans: INAUDIBLE. Oh, good to know.

59A: Beaniks of '50s-'60s TV: KREBS. No idea. It's a character in "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis"

60A: Surfing equipment?: DSL MODEMS. The question mark should send you in the internet surfing direction.

Down:

1D: Eric Cartwright's nickname on "Bonanaza": HOSS. Completely unknown (the one in the middle) to me. Wikipedia explains that HOSS might come from "Haas", Swedish for "big in stature and big in spirit". Oh, I also saw Jay Haas last week at the 3M Championship.

2D: Handling the task: ON IT. Now I miss AT IT.

3D: French Nobelist André: GIDE. He won Nobel Literature in 1947. He inspired Camus and Sartre, both Nobel winners. Camus 1957. Sartre 1964, though he declined.

4D: Row starter: HOE. No idea. Use HOE to start a row in the garden?

5D: Rope in: ENTRAP

6D: "Kind of __": 1967 hit: A DRAG. Here is the clip. Have never heard of the song.

7D: Music school major: VOICE

9D: Headland: NESS

10D: First "America's Funniest Home Videos" host: BOB SAGET. He was also the dad in "Full House".

11D: Puffy styles: AFROS. I was imagining WM's soufflé.

12D: Critical 1942-1943 battle site: STALINGRAD. Now called Volgograd. Grad is a suffix meaning "city".

13D: It's part of the Rockies: TETON RANGE. The Grant Teton is the highest mountain of the range.

14D: Treebeard's kin: ENTS. Tolkien's talking trees. Treebeard is the eldest of the species of ENTS, according to Wikipedia.

23D: Wee: BITTY

23D: Honored with a party: FETED

25D: Jotting medium: SCRAP PAPER. I always carry a 6" X 9" notebook with me. You?

26D: Dean Martin classic: THAT'S AMORE. I did not really appreciate the EEL clue ("That's a moray") last time until Dennis brought up THAT'S AMORE.

28D: Bottom: REAR. Oh, the derrière "Bottom".

30D: Illicit ignition: ARSON

32D: Lacking gravity: SILLY. Wanted ZERO G.

3D: First to win 100 NCAA team championships: UCLA. Total 104. Who is next? Stanford?

36D: Unflinching: FEARLESS

37D: Magazine with the column "Ask E. Jean": ELLE. Four-letter magazine, what else could it be?

43D: Go too far: OVERDO

45D: Soul predecessor: R AND B. Had huge trouble with this answer. I was thinking something like BRAVE, you know, BRAVE soul.

47D: Romantic triangle figure: RIVAL

48D: Recital hall: ODEUM. Plural is ODEA.

49D: Kind of fax: JUNK. Stymied also.

50D: Sudoku feature: GRID. "Crossword feature" too.

51D: Soliloquy opener: TO BE. "TO BE or not to be." - Hamlet.

52D: 0 on the Beaufort scale: CALM. I don't what Beaufort scale is. It measures winds at sea. It has 12 degrees, 0 = CALM, 12 = Hurricane.

53D: Chief Ouray's people: UTES. Guessed.

56D: Opposite of ask: BID. Oh, E-bay auction. I knew it's not ANS, since there is no abbreviation hint.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday July 17, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: The Double(t) Is Double(d) TT → DD

17A: Evidence of a spilled dessert? PUDDING ON THE DOG

22A: Nervous ticks?: SHUDDER BUGS

35A: Linens for jockeys?: OFF-TRACK BEDDING

51A: Slope where sycophants hang out?: NODDING HILL

57A: What a yenta exam does?: TESTS ONE'S MEDDLE

Just learned the idiom "putting on the dog" a few months ago from a LAT puzzle. Notting Hill is an affluent area in West London. Also a very romantic movie starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant.

Bitter & bidder should be interesting to work with. Latter & Ladder might not be fun. What else can you think of?

Quite a few tricky clues in today's puzzle:

54A: It may be added to impress: IVE. Impressive.

7D: Jet problem?: LAG. Jetlag.

I struggled with the multiple-word entries today.

Across:

1A: Per se: IN ITSELF. Per se is literally "by itself" in Latin.

9A: Research, perhaps: LOOK UP. Hmm, I often LOOK UP the word in my dictionary during solving. I am not cheating. Just doing my research.

15A: Statue, perhaps: MEMORIAL. I guess I understand the controversy over a Chinese designing MLK Memorial Statue. Maybe it should be sculpted by an African American. However, MLK transcended racial line.

16A: When some shifts start: AT NINE. Never know when to put AT NINE, when to put NINE AM.

19A: Symbol of love: EROS. Ha ha, I thought of ROSE. Red rose is my favorite flower.

20A: Any of the Beverly Hillbillies: YOKEL

21A: PC linkup: LAN (Local Area Network)

28A: Consider overnight: SLEEP ON. Don't think too much. Just do it.

30A: Sicily's capital?: ESS. Letter S is the first (capital) letter of Sicily.

32A: They're usually rolled outs: TARPS. D'oh, ballpark. I was thinking of dough.

34A: Hipbones: ILIA

41A: Miss equivalent?: MILE. I've never heard of the proverb "A miss is as good as a MILE". Thought of the French miss MLLE.

42A: W, once: YALIE. George W. Bush graduated from Yale. Harvard Business School as well.

43A: Sports drink suffix: ADE. Gatorade.

44A: Pinch, so to speak: NAB. I did not know pinch is a slang for arrest.

47A: Staples Center NBAer: LA LAKER. I am glad Kobe Bryant got his NBA Championship ring sans Shaq.

55A: Playground assertion: IS TOO

56A: 1961 space chimp: ENOS. I wonder why they named him ENOS.

63A: "The Joy Luck Club" author: AMY TAN. A rare author gimme for me. She is a Chinese American. "The Joy Luck Club" is the name of the mahjong club the four ladies formed. Great read.

64A: Fetch: RETRIEVE

65A: Artist's home, perhaps: COLONY. I am not familiar with this definition of COLONY. I thought of STUDIO.

66A: 2009 film based on a TV show that premiered in 1966A: STAR TREK

Down:

1D: Drives forward: IMPELS

2: __ network: NEURAL. Had problem piecing the answer together.

3D: "Finished!": I'M DONE. One blank too much for VOILA.

4D: "Dracula" (1931) director Browning et al?: TODS. I can never remember this guy. Last time the clue was "Pioneer filmmaker Browning".

5D: Hindu honorific: SRI. Sanskirt for "splendor/majesty". SRI Lanka means "Venerable Island".

6D: Cologne article: EIN. Or DER, DAS, all German articles.

8D: Rock's Pink __: FLOYD

9D: Fried fare often served with applesauce: LATKES. I don't know, I've never had LATKES or the Norwegian lefsa.

10D: Catchall column heading: OTHERS

11D: Produce amt.: ONE LB. Cherries are in season now. My favorite snack at the moment.

12D: Tease: KID

13D: Game with Draw Two Cards: UNO

14D: Takedown units?: PEG. Oh, "take down a PEG".

18D: Junction point: NODE

22D: Bandy words: SPAR. I think Chris Matthews (Hardball) has the best job in this world.

23D: Group dance done while holding hands: HORA. The Jewish wedding dance.

24D: Offensive to some, briefly: UN-PC (UN - Politically Correct). And ETTE (29D: Suffix which may be 24-Down). I don't understand why ETTE is UN-PC.

25D: Wrinkly fruit: UGLI. It's actually quite sweet.

26D: Cross the threshhold: GO IN

27D: Beast with a rack: STAG. Ha ha, I just typed in "Breast with a rack" a moment ago.

33D: Shade of blue: SKY. The clue is quite Monday-ish.

34D: Flash of sorts: IDEA

35D: Arabian Sea nation: OMAN. Capital Muscat.

36D: Generic pooch: FIDO. What's the name of your dog(s)?

37D: Hightailed it: FLED

38D: Site of the active volcano Mount Agung: BALI. Guessed MALI first.

39D: Airline to Eilat: EL AL. Eilat, pronounced as ey-laht, is the southernmost city of Israel.

40D: Pickle flavoring: DILL. The only herb I use are chives. The basil at the Farmer's Market makes me headache.

44D: Xterra maker: NISSAN. My knowledge on car makers is as weak as my understanding of Bible.

45D: "I come to bury Caesar" speaker: ANTONY (Mark). "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him...".

46D: Weed __: lawn care product: B-GON. Not familiar with this brand at all. No chemical spray in my garden. And HOERS (53D: Weed whackers).

49D: Exhibit Darwinism: EVOLVE. This clue feels so highbrow.

52D: "Same here!": DITTO. Interesting to see a lone TT here.

56D: Work for Money, maybe: EDIT. I did not pay attention to the capitalized Money (Money magazine).

57D: Part of a winning trio: TAC. Tic-TAC-Toe. Stumped also.

58D: Musical genre related to punk: EMO

59D: Dict. division: SYL (Syllable). I wanted SYN (synonym).

60D: An hour's worth of tunes, maybe: SET. OK, Dictionary says SET can refer to "a group of pieces played by a band, as in a night club, and followed by an intermission". Is this the correct rationale?

61D: NYC subway inits.: MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority). I wrote down IRT (Interborough Rapid Transit).

Answer grid.

C.C.

Thursday July 16, 2009 Jack McInturff

Theme: WHAT'S THE SPREAD?

16A: Old-fashioned remedy for chest colds: MUSTARD PLASTER

26A: Rochester medical center: MAYO CLINIC

36A: "Black Bottom Stomp" jazz pianist: JELLY ROLL MORTON

43A: Lima variety: BUTTER BEAN

I was not aware of the MUSTARD PLASTER for chest colds remedy. MAYO CLINIC was a gimme of course. It's as Minnesota as 3M, Target, Best Buy & Spam. MAYO CLINIC's business has suffered greatly since Sept 11. Those rich Saudi emirs, sheiks and royal families used to fly there and spent tons of money on checks up (yeah, jewelries too).

JELLY ROLL MORTAN(1890-1941) was a total stranger to me. Wikipedia says he was from New Orleans and he was a pivotal figure in early jazz.

We had some discussions about lima bean & BUTTER BEAN on the blog a while ago. Here in our local grocery store, you can get frozen green lima beans and frozen cream colored BUTTER BEANS. They do taste similar.

Struggled today. I just could not get on the constructor's wavelength.

Across:

1A: Resort off Venezuela: ARUBA. Been under Dutch control since 1636. Before that, Spain's colony. ARUBA means "red gold", from Ore Ruba, Ore= gold, ruba=red.

6A: Astro's cap insignia: STAR. Alright, see Roger Clemens' cap.

10A: Witty sort: WAG

13A: Rodeo competitor: ROPER. Lassoer too.

14A: Novelist Bagnold: ENID. Author for "National Velvet".

15A: Basic language trio open: AMO. AMO, amas and AMAT. And I LOVE (30D: 15-Across, translated). I felt stupid struggling with the combo. I guess I need "Latin" hint for 15A.

19A: Ballpark souvenirs: YEARBOOKS. Yes indeed, though I am obsessed with bobbleheads now.

20A: Air: TUNE. Air is "a melody or tune, especially in the soprano or tenor range", says Dictionary.com.

21A: Comparative words: AS AN. Straight AS AN arrow, for example. I wanted THAN.

22A: Household nickname: SIS. My brother calls me Jie, Chinese for SIS.

23A: Marshlike: MIRY

32A: Golfer's traction aid: CLEAT. And NINE (49A: Course half). Many people golf with tennis shoes.

34A: Border on: ABUT. The answer seems to be always ABUT instead of EDGE.

35A: Pay closing: OLA. Payola. Nice clue.

40A: Gray's "The Bard", e.g.: ODE. Thomas Gray is the guy who wrote many elegies.

41A: __-mutuel: PARI. Type of betting. Learned from doing Xword. PARI is French for bet. Mutuel = mutual.

42A: Chutzpah: NERVE

48A: Not squander: USE

51A: __ proprietor: SOLE

53A: 1892 Leoncavallo opera: PAGLIACCI. No idea. PAGLIACCI is plural of Pagliacco, Italian for clown.

60A: Choreographer Reinking: ANN. Unknown figure to me.

61A: Heifetz's teacher: AUER. Stumped. I was unaware of the teacher/student relationship Leopold AUER and Jascha Heifetz. AUER is pronounced like "our".

62A: In concert: AS ONE

63A: Place for a ring: TOE. One of our relatives has a nose ring and a tongue ring. It's just not pretty.

64A: Gets faint: DIMS. Oh, light. I was thinking of swoon.

65A: Seed covering: TESTA. Or ARIL.

Down:

1D: College football's Black Knights: ARMY. I had no idea that the West Point sports team is called Black Knights.

2D: Lecherous sort: ROUE. Would you call Hugh Hefner a ROUE?

3D: "__-daisy!": UPS-A. Thought it's UPSY-daisy!

4D: Unwelcome exposure: BETRAYAL. Not the picture I had in mind. Excellent clue.

5D: Spirited horses: ARABS. Often see STEED clued as "Spirited horse".

6D: Arizona cultural resort: SEDONA. Wikipedia says it's named after SEDONA Miller Schnebly (1877–1950), the wife of the city's first postmaster, who was celebrated for her hospitality and industriousness. So pretty.

7D: Toll rd.: TNPK (Turnpike)

9D: Nutritional fig.: RDA

10D: '60s dance: WATUSI. I forgot. Clear Ayes mentioned this dance on the blog before I think.

11D: Call from the flock: AMEN

12D: He "used to be the next president": GORE. "Hi, I'm Al GORE, and I used to be the next president of the United States". He never really said he invented the internet.

17D: Knock around: ROAM. "Knock around" is a new phrase to me.

18D: English blue cheese: STILTON. Name after a village called STILTON where the cheese was first sold.

22D: Pond film: SCUM. D'oh, gunk. I thought it's a movie starred by a guy named Pond.

23D: Flipping burgers, e.g.: McJOB

24D: __ Diable: old penal colony site: ILE DU. Devil's Island. A "small part of the notorious French penal colony in French Guiana until 1952". Unknown to me. Diable is French for "devil".

25D: Subleased: RELET

27D: "Boola Boola" singer: YALIE. "Boola Boola" is Yale's football fighting song.

28D: On a slant: Abbr.: OBL. Oblique. Not a familiar abbr to me.

29D: Quasimodo's "our": NOTRE. French for "our". Quasimodo is from Victor Hugo's "The Hunchback of NOTRE Dame". My favorite clue today. French for "we" is NOUS.

31D: Worked with wicker: CANED

33D: Work on a galley: TYPESET. Here is an old galley proof press.

37D: Like inverted Jenny stamps: RARE

38D: Poetic peeper: ORB. Just "eye" in poem.

39D: Prepare for a show: REHEARSE

44D: New Orleans university: TULANE. The Green Wave. Historian Douglas Brinkley used to teach here.

45D: Tees off: ANGERS. Of course. I "STARTS", thinking of the real golf "Tees off". Who do you think will win British Open? I figure our Jimmy in S Carolina will root for Padraig Harrington. Me too.

46D: Guitarist Lofgren: NILS. A member of Springsteen's E Street Band.

50D: Try to bite, kitten style: NIP AT

51D: Police jacket acronym: SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics)

52D: Speed skater who won "Dancing with the Stars": OHNO (Apolo). Read somewhere that this guy had a very rough past. I don't like man with a goatie.

53D: Spittoon user's sound: PTUI. Public spitting used to be socially acceptable in China. Disgusting.

55D: Corp. leaders: CEOS. Do you think Steve Jobs got a special treatment for his liver transplant? Do you think he should have?

56D: Defeatist's word: CAN'T

57D: It may be half-baked: IDEA

59D: Down: SAD. Thought of EAT first.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Wednesday July 15, 2009 George Fitzgerald

Theme: LEVEL (64A: It can follow the last word of 20-, 27-, 47- and 53-Across)

20A: Not give an inch: STAND ONE'S GROUND

27A: Garage door gadget: ELECTRIC EYE

47A: Dairy Queen treat: BANANA SPLIT

53A: Solar or wind power, e.g.: RENEWABLE ENERGY

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY would be a great answer for 53A too. Needs a bigger grid though.

Great tie-in clues:

15A: Aborted, as NASA: NO-GO. Hopefully there is no more NO-GO for Endeavor.

51A: NASA moon craft: LEM (Lunar Excursion Module). The 40th anniversary of moon landing is days away.

26D: Industry bigwig: TITAN

31D: Industry bigwigs: EXECS. I like how these two "bigwig/s" mirror each other in the grid.

Thanks for the great IMPULSE suggestions yesterday. How would you clue RISE (59D: Stand) then? STAND is part of the answer for 20A, so "Stand" is not an ideal clue here.

Across:

1A: Hamas-controlled strip: GAZA. Fatah controls the West Bank.

5A: Supply-and-demand subj.: ECON

9A: Dog attractor: SMELL. Kept reading the clue as "Dog attacker".

14A: TV host Trek: ALEX. "Jeopardy!" host.

16A: Comedian Fields: TOTIE. No idea. What a strange name: TO TIE.

17A: Auburn color named for a painter: TITIAN RED. Titian often painted women with red hair.

19A: When many coffee breaks occur: AT TEN. "Coffee breaks hr." would be TEN AM.

22A: Tomcat: GIB. New word to me.

23A: Vegas job: Abbr.: DLR. Dealer I suppose.

34A: Clay, since 1964: ALI. He changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad ALI in 1964 after he joined the Nation of Islam.

35A: Four.: Pref.: TETRA. Sometimes it's clued as "Colorful fish".

36A: Like most income: TAXED. Citibank plans to use bailout money to raise their employees' salaries (and dodge the bonus restriction of course).

37A: Ship's post that secures cables: BITT. See this picture. Another new word to me.

41A: Mailroom stamp: REC'D. Ah, see this monkey belly button tattoo J.D. found.

42A: __ Mountains: central U.S. range: OZARK. Interesting, Wikipedia says OZARK might be derived as a linguistic corruption of the French abbreviation "aux Arks" (short for Aux Arkansas, or "toward Arkansas" in English). Makes sense. The pronunciation is the same.

46A: Third-century date: CCI. Roman 201.

49A: Bear lead-in: SHE. Ha ha, I was thinking of FOR, forbear.

50A: Tenn. athlete: VOL (Volunteer). University of Tennessee. The Volunteers. I simply forgot.

62A: "The Hot Zone" virus: EBOLA. Named after a river in Congo.

63A: Antique work: RESTORING. Used to love "The Antiques Roadshow".

65A: Japan is in it, with "the": EAST. And Japanese golfer ISAO (66A: Golfer Aoki). Followed Nick Price a few holes at the 3M Championship last week. He just could not putt.

67A: Hair woe: SNARL. Thought of SPLIT (ends).

68A: Smack ending: EROO. "Switch ending too". AROO is "Buck ending".

69A: Okla. or La., once: TERR

Down:

1D: Hoods' guns: GATS. "Hoods' gals" is MOLLS.

3D: Epsilon follower: ZETA

5D: Elevates in rank: ENNOBLES

7D: S-shaped molding: OGEE. Have not seen OGEE for a long time.

9D: Twinkly at night: STARLIT. "Starry, starry night".

10D: British wheels: MOTORCAR. Rolls Royce leaped into my brain.

11D: Brute question?: ET TU. Caesar's last words: "ET TU, Brute?". Great clue.

12D: Security interest: LIEN. I was in the safety/security direction.

13D: Advance: LEND

21D: East Berlin's land, initially: GDR (German Democratic Republic). Mindlessly penned in GER.

24D: Fat cat: NABOB. "Nattering NABOBS of negativism" - Spiro Agnew.

25D: "Wouldn't It Be Lovely?" singer: ELIZA (Doolittle). I was stumped. The song is from "My Fair Lady".

28D: Cultural spirit: ETHOS

29D: Writer's woe: CRAMP. Have never heard of Writer's CRAMP. Wanted BLOCK.

30D: Sri Lankan language: TAMIL. I don't like curry, do you? It's rooted in TAMIL.

32D: "Ick factor 10": YECCH. Or Yech. I only knew YUCKY.

33D: Rocker Van Halen: EDDIE. He was born in Amsterdam.

38D: One with itinerary: TRAVELER

40D: Type of heel: STILETTO. Ah, the famous STILETTO Race in Amsterdam.

43D: One claiming to have answers: KNOW-ALL. Had trouble obtaining the answer.

45D: Court worker: STENO

54D: Irving Bacheller's "__ Holden": EBEN. Absolutely no idea. I've never heard of Irving Bacheller either. Wikipedia says he founded first modern newspaper syndicate in the US. I wonder what paper it was.

55D: PBS science show: NOVA

56D: Marcia's "Desperate Housewives" role: BREE. Unknown to me also. Marcia Cross is in the middle. Eva Longoria plays Gabrielle.

57D: Jet-setter's jet: LEAR. Got the answer from Across fills.

60D: Growl: GNAR. This word just looks so wrong.

61D: Demented blacksmith in "Son of Frankenstein": YGOR. Oh, YGOR and IGOR are the same person, correct?

Answer grid.

C.C.

Tuesday July 14, 2009 Chuck Deodene

Theme: Vowel Progression

20A: Christmas service: MIDNIGHT MASS

23A: With "A", 1986 Ted Danson film: FINE MESS

38A: The Rebels of the Southeastern Conference, familiarly: OLE MISS

52A: Waifish supermodel from Britain: KATE MOSS

54A: Easy to use, in adspeak: NO FUSS, NO MUSS

I am not familiar with the Ted Danson/Howie Mandel film "A FINE MESS". The poster looks quite intense.

Great to see OLE MISS in the puzzle. We often have OLE alone, sometimes clued as " __ Miss". I did not know their sports teams are The Rebels.

NO FUSS, NO MUSS is the only theme entry with two USS, maybe the constructor could not find another *MUSS ending phrase. Dennis often describes his Monday/Tuesday solving experiences as "No muss, no fuss".

I often wonder how the constructors position their theme entries. Is overlapping more desirable? Is it hard to carry out? The first two and the last two theme answers overlap in this grid.

Not fond of the clue for IMPULSE (42D: Sudden urge) as URGE is the answer for 64A: Craving. Come to the Comments section if you have a better clue for IMPULSE.

Across:

1A: "Now we're in for it": UH OH

5A: Whopper of a meal: FEAST. Maybe we can all "eat less and live longer". But animals display testy/irritable behaviors when they are on calorie restriction. They are just not happy.

10A: Tattooist's surface: SKIN. And ANKLE (63A: Popular tattoo site). "Tramp stamps" sound so harsh for lower back tattoos.

14A: Fan mag: ZINE

15A: Developing egg: OVULE. How is it different from ovum?

17A: Worshiped carving: IDOL

18A: Gave false hope to: LED ON

26A: At ease with: USED TO. I am USED TO the Minnesota winter, but I am not really "at ease with" it.

27A: Web forum user's self-image: AVATAR. I love Sallie's AVATAR (Sally Lightfoot Crab).

28A: Red giant or white dwarf: STARS. Nice "colorful" clue.

30A: Down Under gem: OPAL. More than 90% of the world's OPAL is supplied by Australia. It's their national gemstone.

37A: California Santa __ River: ANA. Easy guess. Have never heard of Santa ANA River. Santa ANA Winds, yes.

41A: Tongue of Tiberius: LATIN. Alliteration again. And ID EST (12D: "That is,", in 41-Across), often seen as i.e.

44A: Soft cheese: BRIE

47A: Brought a smile to: AMUSED

49A: More's perfect place: UTOPIA. Thomas More. He coined UTOPIA.

57A: Claim as one's own: CO-OPT

58A: Carry out: OBEY. OK, "Carry out" an order, OBEY an order.

62A: Harbor pushers: TUGS. Lots of S'es in the puzzle. Total 22.

66A: Spanish sovereigns: REYES. REY is Spanish for "king". REYES is the plural.

67A: Cornet note: TOOT. Woodwind instruments all TOOT, right?

Down:

1D: Six-Day War weapon: UZI

4D: Batters' protection: HELMETS. No S for protection?

5D: Poppycock: FOLDEROL. Or falderal. New "nonsense" to me.

6D: Two, four, six, etc.: EVENS

7D: German wheels: AUDIS. Oh well, can't really see the four-ring logo of her AUDI.

8D: Trudge, as through mud: SLOG

9D: Opposite of "At ease": TEN-HUT. I still feel attention is easier to pronounce.

10D: Vacation times: SUMMERS

11D: Work on sore muscles: KNEAD. I don't enjoy massage, do you?

21D: "__ bad boy!" Lou Costello: I'M A. "Who's On First?" is all I know about Abbott and Costello.

23D: Like some mistakes: FATAL. Do you confuse venal and venial also?

24D: The first Mrs. Trump: IVANA. The second is Marla. The current one is Melanie. I like that baby doll shirt.

25D: Pester persistently: NAG AT

31D: Home to many llamas: PERU. "Home to lima beans" as well.

34D: Left-hand page: VERSO. "Right-hand page" is recto.

38D: "__ the loneliest number": '60s song lyric: ONE IS. No idea. I've never heard of Three Dog Night either.

39D: Law book contents: STATUTES. Three T's in this word.

44D: Saddens, slangily: BUMS OUT. I felt so bad that Cristie Kerr faltered during the final round of U.S. Open. She is very pretty.

46D: Daytona 500 org.: NASCAR

48D: Enero or mayo: MES. Spanish for month. So what's the plural for MES then?

50D: Figure, as a sum: TOT UP. Figure is a verb here.

51D: No longer a minor: OF AGE

52D: Wild and crazy: KOOKY. I thought KOOKY means strange/weird, not wild.

59D: 'Hood buddy: BRO

60D: Word before booster or tripper: EGO. EGO-tripper is new to me. Only familiar with ego trip the noun.

61D: "Is it soup __?": YET. Nope. Totally unaware of this phrase. I've never had Lipton/Campbell's soup. I make my own.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Monday July 13, 2009 James Sajdak

Theme: Target of Identity Thieves

17A: One who goes from party to party: SOCIAL BUTTERFLY

37A: Comforting carry-along for kids: SECURITY BLANKET

58A: Test taker's writing implement, often: NUMBER TWO PENCIL

Argyle blogging.

Getting just one of the theme answers wouldn't help you to get the theme, but getting two leads easily to the third and our old friend, SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER, which we usually get as an abbreviation.

Speaking of abbreviations, there weren't that many today but one was a clinker. 57D: Wordplay in the Jumble: Abbr.: ANAG. Anagram (but there is no such abbreviation that I could find.)

Across:

1A: "The Fox and the Grapes" fable writer: AESOP.

6A: Autodom's Sable or Grand Marquis, for short: MERC. Mercury, fills the gap between Ford and Lincoln.

15A: Mine, in Montreal: A MOI. Montreal is in the French-speaking Province of Quebec, Canada. Alliterative clue.

20A: Water-carved gully: ARROYO. Origin: 1800's, Americanism; from Spanish; akin to Latin arrūgia, mine shaft. There seems to be a nice geographical mix in this puzzle.

23A: Marshy area: FEN. Chiefly British.

26A: Early September observance: LABOR DAY. It falls on the seventh this year.

32A: Hawaiian veranda: LANAI. This is much nicer than 54D: Ancient Greek meeting spot: STOA. Covered walkway or portico, commonly for public usage.

35A: Rod attachment: REEL. Fishing gear.

36A: Dinghy movers: OARS. I didn't really need to include this one; I just like the word, dinghy.

42A: Contests with pistols: DUELS. Pistol-packing pacers!

44A: Saviors: MESSIAHS.

46A: Confer knighthood on: DUB. "I dub thee Sir Knight." Guess who is the new Sir?

51A: In one's bare feet: SHOELESS. Interesting site about Shoeless Joe Jackson. He should be in the Hall of Fame, too.

56A: Delphic prophet: ORACLE.

61A: Shot into the net: GOAL. The word that says it all, in any language.

62A: Poke fun at: TAUNT. Tease is "poke fun at"; taunt is much meaner, IMHO.

Down:

1D: Syria's Bashar al-__: ASSAD. President of the Syrian Arab Republic and head of the Syrian Ba'ath Party.

2D: Atlanta university: EMORY. The real thing. Asa Candler, founder of The Coca-Cola Company, wrote the "million-dollar letter" to offer seed money, and sweetened the deal by donating land in Atlanta, to move Emory College from the small Georgia town of Oxford. Emory University (named after John EMORY, a Methodist bishop) received a DeKalb County charter to build at its present location in 1915.

3D: "__ bleu!": SACRE. Comment about the above entry.

5D: "No cheating!": PLAY FAIR.

6D: Shakespeare's fairy queen: MAB. Queen Mab is a fairy referred to in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.

8D: __-Rooter: ROTO.

9D: You can't fight it, in a saying: CITY HALL.

11D: Couch potato's spot: SOFA.

12D: Ceramist's oven: KILN.

13D: Stone and Stallone: SLYS.

18D: Leopold's co-defendant: LOEB. Partners in the slaying of the Bobby Franks boy in 1924, for the thrill of getting away with murder.

19D: Site for cyberbidders: EBAY.

24D: Diagram tops, in bridge columns: NORTH. Probably the most misleading of today's clues, it refers to newspaper columns written about the game of bridge. It is accompanied by a diagram of the hand being discussed.

26D: Sing the praises of: LAUD. Thank you TESS (38D: Mystery novelist Gerritsen, Saturday) for reading our blog.

27D: California's Point __ National Seashore: REYES. Map. Point Reyes was originally named Punto de los Reyes ("Kings' Point") by the Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaino as his ship, the Capitana anchored in Drake's Bay on the Day of the Three Kings (Epiphany, or the end of the 12 Days of Christmas) on January 6, 1603. From Wikipedia.

28D: Remains of a wreck: DEBRIS.

30D: Pitcher Hershiser: OREL. Known for his slight frame and fierce competitive spirit, Hershiser was nicknamed "Bulldog" by team manager Tommy Lasorda.

31D: Concordes: Abbr.: SSTS.

32D: D-day ships: LSTS. Landing Ship-Tanks.

33D: Prefix with -nautics: AERO.

34D: Sgts. and cpls.: NCOS.

36D: Burden: ONUS.

38D: North Atlantic hazards: ICEBERGS. During WWII, there were more dangerous hazards; U-boats.

39D: Follow, as a principle: ADHERE TO.

44D: Backless slipper: MULE. There are so many types, I couldn't pick one for a picture!

46D: Borrower's burdens: DEBTS.

48D: Happen: OCCUR.

49D: Oscar winner Kevin: KLINE. He won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor 1989 for Otto in A Fish Called Wanda.

50D: Shoulder muscles, for short: DELTS. Cannon Ball Deltoids.

52D: Wahine's dance: HULA. They don't have grass skirts but they have the moves.

55D: Ugly duckling, in time: SWAN. Anybody have a good ugly duckling story?

59D: Worn-out: OLD. But old doesn't have to mean worn-out, right?

Answer grid.

Argyle

Note from C.C.: Now Argyle has cable connection, I can confidently say that he will blog all the Monday puzzles from now on.

Sunday July 12, 2009 David Levinson Wilk

Theme: Take a Letter - Theme answers are literal descriptions of the clue letter positions.

23A: S: HEAD OF STATE - Letter S is the first letter (head) of the word STATE.

29A: A: END OF AN ERA - A is at the end of ERA.

34A: C: MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE - C is in the middle of MALCOLM.

56A: P: LEADER OF THE PACK - P leads PACK.

66A: V: CENTER OF GRAVITY - V is at the center of GRAVITY.

85A: E: FOREGONE CONCLUSION - E concludes FOREGONE.

94A: F: FALSE START. F starts FALSE

104A: D: GRAND FINALE. D ends GRAND.

I figured out what those clue letters stand for after I got FALSE START. Such an innovative theme.

MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE is an odd choice, all the other theme answers are familiar phrases.

I had trouble all over the place, despite my perfect start with BRATZ (1A: Popular fashion doll series). Very seldom is 1A a gimme to me. All those BRATZ dolls have Angelina Jolie style lips.

My favorite clue today is SEN (81D: Boxer, e.g.: Abbr.). The "Abbr." clue did not prevent me from thinking of dog. Senator Barbara Boxer (CA) can sure bark and bite. Very acid tongue sometimes. Her daughter was married to Hillary Clinton's brother.

Across:

6A: Helps (out): BAIL. Paul Krugman wants more stimulus package.

11A: Immunity agent: T CELL

16A: Use a wet napkin on, perhaps: DAB

20A: "Aunt __ Cope Book": ERMA'S. Here is the book cover. Unknown to me. It's written by Erma Bombeck.

21A: Braga of "Moon Over Parador": SONIA. She looks familiar. I must have googled her before.

22A: Have a balance: OWE

25A: Opposite of full: UNFED. Wrote down EMPTY.

26A: Turn abruptly: ZAG

28A: "I'll do whatever you need": USE ME. Not a familiar utterance to me.

31A: Eponymous 1902 physics Nobelist Pieter: ZEEMAN. Stranger to me. I've never heard of ZEEMAN Effect either.

32A: Heavy hammer: MAUL. Wow, I really have no idea that MAUL is a heavy hammer. It's used to drive stakes or wedges.

33A: Third-day creation: EDEN. Got D quickly, then I decided it's ADAM.

41A: Lures, Pied Piper style: TWEEDLES

42A: Not out of running: IN IT. I am used to INIT clue, you know, initial.

43A: Large sea ducks: EIDERS

47A: More farinaceous: MEALIER. Knew farina, not farinaceous. Insane amount of vowels.

48A: Time, metaphorically: SANDS. The SANDS of time.

50A: Delta follower: EPSILON. Before zeta.

52A: Empire State, e.g.: Abbr.: BLDG

53A: Like LAX: INTL (International). Lots of abbreviations in this grid.

54A: "Characters welcome" network: USA. Have never heard of this tagline. Don't watch USA.

55A: Crazed: MANIC

62A: "The Information" author Martin: AMIS. Son of Kingsley AMIS.

63A: New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival city: KEENE. Our fellow LAT solver Hatoolah mentioned this trivia last time when we had KEENE (clued as New Hampshire city). But I forgot.

65A: Nebraska City's county: OTOE. Did not know OTOE is a county name as well.

69A: Belief system: CREED. Mine was TENET.

70A: Terrific service: ACE. Tennis.

73A: Work on antimacassar, perhaps: TAT. I did not know the meaning of antimacassar.

74A: Last line of some riddles: WHAT AM I

78A: Organ parts with cones: RETINAS. Cones are cone-shaped cells in the retina of the eye, sensitive to color and intensity of light, according to dictionary. New to me also.

82A: Israeli, e.g.: SEMITE. "Arab, e.g." as well.

83A: Gross income source?: PORN. Intersects PG RATED (83D: Like many family film). Huge stumper for me. CORN yes. PORN, too much for me. Is PORN really gross?

84A: Dash indicator: OIL GAUGE

92A: They may be graphic: ARTS. Nice clue.

93A: Orioles' gp.: AL EAST (American League East)

97A: Golden, in Guanajuato: DE ORO. I only know ORO means gold.

98A: Turkey toucher: IRAQ. D'oh, IRAQ touches (borders) Turkey.

102A: The Wildcats of the Big 12 Conf.: KSU (Kansas State University). I got the answer from Down fills.

103A: Try: TASTE. Do any of you have persimmon tree in your yard?

106A: Uncle to Jeanna and Barbara: JEB. JEB Bush.

107A: Energetic risk-taking type, so it's said: ARIES. Oh, I was unaware of this fact.

108A: Altercation: SET-TO

109A: Conductor whose name is spelled with two musical syllables: SOLTI (Georg). Interesting observation. He was a long time music director for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1969-1991).

111A: Godiva rival: LINDT. The Swiss chocolate maker.

113A: Zhou__: EN LAI. Our first premier.

Down:

1D: __ Men: "Who let the Dogs Out" band: BAHA. Here is the clip. They are from Bahamas.

2D: Sorry type: RUER

3D: Economist Smith: ADAM. The laissez-faire economics guy.

6D: Man of steel?: BESSEMER. Wanted Superman. I've never heard of Henry BESSEMER.

7D: Apollo's sister: ARTEMIS. Apollo's twin sister. Goddess of moon.

8D: "Today __": bar mitzvah boy's announcement: I'M A MAN. I thought he would say "Today I'am thirteen".

9D: Hidden: LATENT

10D: Milwaukee-to-Gary di.: SSE

11D: Scary waves: TSUNAMIS. Japanese origin. TSU = Harbor. NAMI = "wave".

12D: Passage: CONDUIT

13D: Hug: ENFOLD. I could only think of embrace.

14D: Willingly: LIEF. Learned from doing Xword.

15D: Russian auto: LADA. Absolutely no idea. LADA sounds like a lady's name.

16D: Dropped off: DOZED

18D: Got the ball rolling: BEGAN

17D: Hip: AWARE. I was thinking of the "cool" hip.

24D: Gassed up the Jaguar, say: FUELLED

29D: Make change to, as copy: EMEND

30D: "___ go on?": NEED I

31D: Collection of signs: ZODIAC. I was picturing these signs. I can never tell whether they are original or remake.

34D: "Lou Grant" production co.: MTM. Oh, I did not know MTM stands for Mary Tyler Moore.

36D: Broadway actress Salonga: LEA. Unknown to me. LEA Salonga is from the Philippines, best known for originating the role of Kim in Miss Saigon, according to Wikipedia.

37D: Orchestra member whose instrument rests on the floor: CELLIST. Yo-Yo Ma. He was born in Paris.

38D: Depend (on): HINGE

39D: Low points: DEPTHS. They are not synonymous to me. I wanted NADIRS.

40D: Hosiery thread: LISLE. Named after LISLE (now Lille), France.

44D: Solution created by dissolving: ELUATE. The verb is elute. Both new to me.

45D: "Black Like Me" actor __ Lee Browne: ROSCOE. Nope. He looks like a church minister. Dictionary says ROSCOE is an old slang a revolver or pistol.

46D: Twisted and turned: SNAKED

48D: Bonk or conk, e.g.: SLANG. I like the rhyming clue.

48D: Dangerous snake: ADDER. Wrote down COBRA.

50D: Diary bit: ENTRY

52D: Gripes: BEEFS

55D: Showy parrots: MACAWS

56D: Don of "Cocoon": AMECHE. Not familiar with the movie "Cocoon". It's directed by Ron Howard.

57D: When many a "Closed" sign is flipped: NINE AM

58D: Actress Téa: LEONI. David Duchovyn's wife. I wonder why her parents named her Téa,

59D: Cut loose: REVEL. New definition of "cut loose" to me.

61D: "The quality of mercy" is not strain'ed" speaker: PORTIAS. From Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice".

63D: "Seinfeld" klutz: KRAMER. Not fun to watch him after the racist rants.

67D: Versifier's Muse: ERATO. The Muse of Poetry.

69D: It can make a racket: CATGUT. Strange name considering the racket is not really made of cat's intestines.

73D: Describes: TELLS OF

75D: Spats: TIFFS

76D: Where sleeping dog lie?: FOOTREST. Dogs is slang for feet. I was misled again. Fool me twice, shame on you me.

77D: Young's accounting partner: ERNST

78D: Mertz neighbors of '50 TV: RICARDOS. "I Love Lucy".

79D: Rapa __: NUI. The Easter Island. Literally "Big Rapa".

80D: Word after long: AGO. Long AGO.

84D: SUNY college town: ONEONTA. How can I remember this name? Strange spelling.

86D: Has leftovers, say: EATS IN

87D: Military training groups: CADRES

88D: Soap ester: OLEATE. Last time it's clued as "Olive oil component".

89D: '60 White House resident, familiarly: JFK JR. John-John. Nice scrabbly fill.

91D: Errors: FLUBS

95D: "too many to list" abbr.: ET AL

96D: It's a wrap: SARI. It's a good clue. I don't mind seeing the repetition again.

96D: A party to: IN ON

99D: Political cartoonist Ted: RALL. Alien to me also. Our Star Tribune has its own editorial cartoonist.

100D: Utah ski resort: ALTA

101D: Cunard flagship for 35 yrs.: QEII (Queen Elizabeth II). Strange to see QE 2 as QEII.

104D: Atlanta sch.: GSU (Georgia State University)

105D: British verb ending: ISE. I like our ize.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Saturday July 11, 2009 John Farmer

Theme: None

Total blocks: 29

Total words: 72

A pangram, all 26 letters are used. Awesome.

Of all the long quality fills (lots of 10's, 9's & 8's), I love these three the most:

17A: "Night" writer: ELIE WIESEL

14D: 1922 physics Nobelist: NIELS BOHR

30D: Former dominion that included India, Pakistan and Bangladesh: BRITISH RAJ

We often see ELIE, NIELS or BOHR & RAJ alone, so it's good to see the full names. I was also happy to see TEA (42A: 49-Across product) and ASSAM (49A: State in northeast India) together.

Vigorous slog this morning. Quite a few unknowns to me.

Across:

1A: Tightens the screws: CLAMPS DOWN. Only 2 vowels. The first entry always has plenty of consonants.

11A: One of the Karamazovs: IVAN. From "The Brothers Karamazov". I guessed. Have never heard of the book. IVAN is Russian for John.

15A: Comic strip guy with an eye patch: BAZOOKA JOE. I wonder if today's BAZOOKA baseball card brand evolved from BAZOOKA Bubble Gum.

16A: Indonesian Island: BALI. Sometimes the answer is JAVA.

18A: Fashion issue: ELLE

19A: Awesome: RAD. Read this article about our fellow LAT solver Kathleen Wolf (WM). She is so talented.

20A: Uncle of Prince Wm.: EDW. Prince Edward.

21A: Kind of identity: SEXUAL. Should have got SEXUAL immediately after I filled in X from the intersecting "horny" IBEX (11D: Alpine goat).

23A: Curse: SWEAR

25A: Acrylic from DuPont: ORLON. ON is a suffix suggesting textile fiber. Same as NYLON, also coined by DuPont.

28A: Visitors from afar?: ETS. Nailed it immediately.

29A: Breathing heavily, perhaps: LABORING. I was picturing football players breathing heavily in the football field.

31A: __ rule: MOB. Mine was AS A.

32A: Marked by obscenities, say: RATED R

35A: Mariner's dir.: SSE. Had difficulty obtaining this dir.

36A: Cellar prefix: OENO. Prefix for wine. Oenophile refers to one who loves wine.

37A: "Don't change a thing!": I LOVE IT. I felt stupid struggling with this answer.

39A: "Composer" of "Fanfare for the Common Cold": P.D.Q. BACH. Sigh. He stumped me again, even with the Composer in quotation mark.

41A: Slalom feature: GATE

44A: Pistol-packing pacer: DUELER. Nice alliterative p p p clue.

45A: U.K. honor: OBE (Order of the British Empire)

46A: Suspicious looks: FISHEYES. New word to me.

48A: Skip: LAM. Verb?

50A: Fix, as a reed instrument: REPAD. No idea. Need KittyB/Jazzbumpa to explain.

54A: Sci-fi psychic: EMPATH. I only know empathy.

56A: "Anna and the King" actress Ling: BAI. Do you like her hair? BAI is "White" in Chinese.

58A: Workers' rights gp. since 1919: ILO (International Labor Organization)

59A: Mexican kin: TIOS

60A: Battle fatigue: RUN ON EMPTY. Had difficulty obtaining this answer also.

64A: Rumors: TALK. I was looking for a S ending word of course.

65A: Sign of possession: APOSTROPHE. What a simple yet tricky clue!

66A: Singles: ONES

67A: Cats' get-together: JAM SESSION. Oh, Jazz "Cats".

Down:

1D: Some radio users: CB'ERS

2D: TV drama whose title appeared on a California license plate: LA LAW. New to me. Susan Dey is all I know about LA LAW.

3D: Sodium __: salt used in airbag systems: AZIDE. Also new to me.

4D: Stooge with bangs: MOE. Larry, MOE and Curly.

5D: Coca-Cola quencher: POWERADE

7D: Korea automaker bought by GM: DAEWOO. Ha ha, I had no idea that GM owns DAEWOO. DAE is big, WOO is universe. I can tell the literal meaning by its Hanja characters.

8D: IHOP orders: OJS

9D: Trouble: WOE. Wrote down ADO first.

10D: "Naughty Marietta" costar (1935): NELSON EDDY. Stranger to me. Greta Garbo came to my mind when I read the movie title and the year of production. Jeanette MacDonald is the other costar.

12D: Fast-food combo order: VALUE MEAL

13D: Just like that: ALL AT ONCE. So simple in retrospect.

22D: College dept.: ENG

24D: Naproxen brand: ALEVE. Did not know the meaning of naproxen, though I often see ALEVE, Advil & Tylenol commercials on TV.

26D: Santa Fe et al.: Abbr.: RRS. Was this a gimme to you? I've never heard of Santa Fe Railroad.

27D: Have a problem ordering sirloin steak?: LISP. Clever clue.

32D: Verdi classic: RIGOLETTO. No, nope. AIDA is the only Verdi I know.

33D: Hank Aaron, by birth: ALABAMIAN. Stumper for me. Hank Aaron was born in Mobile, Alabama. He is Dennis' favorite player.

34D: Family tree?: TOTEM POLE

36D: Large and then some: OBESE

38D: Mystery novelist Gerritsen: TESS. Holy moley, a Chinese American novelist. Sorry, I don't know you.

40D: They want to know: QUERIERS. I like the clue, though querier sounds like a made-up word. I suppose you can ER every verb.

43D: Solution reaction: AHA. Nice one.

46D: Budgetary excess: FAT. New definition of FAT to me.

47D: Adorn in relief: EMBOSS

51D: Longstocking of kids' books: PIPPI. Faintly remember this character. I was brought up by my grandma who did not read or write. So my exposure to any kind of kids' books (even Chinese ones) was almost zero.

52D: Notwithstanding that, informally: ALTHO

53D: Elder statesman: DOYEN. I kept thinking Cato the Elder. Anyway, I was more familiar with doyenne. Helen Thomas is often called doyenne of the White House press corps.

55D: Names, as a price: ASKS. Wish I were brave enough to haggle for a better price at baseball card show or flea market.

57D: Chamber opening?: ANTE. Antechamber is new word to me.

61D: Put __ fight: UP A

62D: Pierre, e.g.: NOM. Pierre is just a French name.

63D: Perps' patterns: MOS. I know MO is modus operandi, but the plural of modus operandi is modi operandi.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday July 10, 2009 Ken Bessette

Theme: STOUT (64A: Heavy brew, and a clue to this puzzle's theme) - ST OUT (ST is cut out from the theme phrases)

17A: Ennis and Jack in "Brokeback Mountain"?: (ST)RANGE BEDFELLOWS

25A: Etchings?: (ST)ART FROM SCRATCH

42A: Gerontologists?: (ST)AGE TECHNICIANS

56A: Tried to get into Guinness by gobbling hot dogs?: (ST)ATE FOR THE RECORD

This puzzle is very similar in concept to Gareth Bain's NIXON puzzle, where ON is nixed in each theme entry.

I liked ART FROM SCRACH the most, very evocative. Watching the 4th of July hotdog gobbling contest made me sick. Horrifying scene. I always associate TECHNICIANS with mechanical stuff, so AGE TECHNICIANS for "Gerontologists?" came as a surprise to me. My husband does not allow me to netflix "The Brokeback Mountain".

Nice puzzle. Very creative tie-in STOUT. I actually got STOUT earlier on, unfortunately I could not parse it correctly. So it did not really help my solving at all.

Across:

1A: Helps a certain hacker, say: ABETS. North Korea just hacked into many US government websites.

6A: Map showing easements: PLAT. Easement is "A right, such as a right of way, afforded a person to make limited use of another's real property." Unfamiliar definition to me.

10A: "__ Baby": "Hair" song: ABIE. No idea. ABIE is often clued as "Irish Rose's lover".

14A: Raven's sound: CROAK. Ha ha, I thought only frogs CROAK.

15A: Doth own: HATH. Does own = HAS.

16A: Item in a belt: TOOL. I was picturing a buckle. OK, hopefully you can find AWLS (25D: Punching gadgets) in a TOOL belt.

20A: Inning trio?: ENS. Three N's in innings.

21A: Magic prop? WAND. Glinda the Good Witch of the North has one.

22A: Sheepish response?: BAA BAA. Cute clue.

23A: Plane starter?: AERO. Aeroplane. I did not know British call airplane aeroplane.

24A: "Sometimes __ a pleasure": Byron: SIN'S. Have never heard this line. Makes sense though.

31A: Baba __: Gilda Radner persona: WAWA. A spoof of Barbara Walters.

32A: NE New Jersey city: LODI. See this map. I only knew the LODI in California.

33A: Big ref.: OED (Oxford English Dictionary)

35A: Prevaricator: LIAR

36A: Puts away: STOWS. And SALT (49D: Store (away)). Is it correct to put two brackets at the right end?

38A: Magazine content: AMMO

40A: "Let it be": STET. To an editor.

41A: Pirate of fiction: SMEE. "Peter Pan".

47A: Landscaping shrubs: YEWS. Why are they used as shrubs when they are poisonous?

48A: Minnesota's St. __ College: OLAF. Marvelous. All Minnesota clues make me happy.

49A: Sister of Venus: SERENA. She just won Wimbledon.

52A: "The Witches of Eastwick" actress: CHER. Easy guess. Have never heard of the movie. Looks scary.

53A: Musician's degree: MFA

59A: Outdoor feast: LUAU. Literally "young taro tops", which were served at outdoor feasts. Taro cakes are very tasty.

60A: Old timepiece: DIAL

61A: Peninsula bordering Israel: SINAI. Belongs to Egypt.

62A: Ones place: TILL

63A: Short cut: SNIP. I sprinkle freshly snipped chives in everything I cook now. My green beans look very weak this year. Might have bought the wrong kind of seeds.

Down:

1D: Lot, sometimes: ACRE. I was not thinking of farmland "lot".

3D: Big times: EONS. Wrote down ERAS. To me, EONS are long long times.

4D: Phone __: TAG

5D: Barbecuing aid: SKEWER. Shrimps + pineapple + green onion. Delicious.

6D: Prodigy: PHENOM

7D: Fawcett's "Charlie's Angels" successor: LADD (Cheryl). No idea. She looks pretty.

8D: DOJ bureau: ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms). ATF belonged to Treasury Department before 2003.

9D: 1963 thriller set in Bodega Bay: THE BIRDS. I only saw the end of this movie. Terrifying.

10D: Words after a holdup: AT LAST. Struggled with the answer.

11D: Knucklehead: BOOB. I wonder if BOOBS has ever been directly clued as breasts in any major puzzle before.

12D: Major caucus site: IOWA. Ah, Tim Pawlenty 2012.

13D: Lanchester of "Bride of Frankenstein": ELSA. First encounter with this actress.

18D: Prefix with meter: BARO. Barometer.

19D: It's part of Maui county: LANAI. Dan Naddor just clued it as "Island where Bill and Melinda Gates were wed" 2 weeks ago.

23D: Yonder: AFAR. Could not jam in THERE.

24D: Tub: SCOW. Did not know the "old, slow, clumsy vessel" meaning of tub.

26D: Mrs. Gorbachev: RAISA. My goodness. I did not know RAISA is dead. Obama just met with Gorbachev a few days ago.

27D: Country sound: TWANG. D'oh, country music.

28D: Animal that sleeps upside down: SLOTH. No idea. I only knew BATS sleep upside down.

29D: One might appear many times in a long list: COMMA. I love Mickey Mantle, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Kirby Puckett, Johan Santana and Justin Morneau. OK, that's plenty of commas.

30D: Studs: HE-MEN

34D: Stag mates: DOES

36D: Wine openers: STEWARDS. My favorite clue.

37D: Private eyes: TECS. Detectives. Like the Pinkerton guys.

38D: "That's not happening!": AS IF

40D: Pool worker: STENO. I was imagining a swimming pool.

43D: As much as one cares to see: EYEFUL. I just can't believe how lucky these girls are. Look at their waists. So tiny.

44D: Of little use: NO HELP

45D: Robert of "The Soprano": ILER. Gimme. Learned this name from Dennis's mistake. He tried to re-clue ILLER as ILER last time.

46D: Gentle touch: CARESS

50D: Sewing case: ETUI

51D: Unlike a figment: REAL

52D: Trendy tea: CHAI. Why "Trendy"? CHAI is rooted in "Cha", Chinese for tea.

53D: Like 45s: MONO. Monophonic?

54D: Lady of the Haus: FRAU. Haus is German for "house".

55D: Ore seeker's entrance: ADIT. This has become a gimme.

58D: Loc. __: CIT. The other footnote is IBID.

Answer grid.

C.C.