Monday October 19, 2009 Mark Bickham

Theme: All Keyed Up - the last word of each theme answer is a computer key.

17A: "Keep out" sign: DO NOT ENTER

24A: Pay for everyone's dinner: PICK UP THE TAB

40A: "All exits are blocked" situation: NO MEANS OF ESCAPE

50A: Throng management: CROWD CONTROL

62A: Four-on-the-floor, e.g.: STICK SHIFT

65D: Computer feature that ends each of the five longest across answers: KEY

Argyle here.

It hasn't taken our editor long to ramp things up it seems. Certainly harder than past Mondays, what with a Ceasar assassin and Jungian principle. And a new (to us) constructor, too boot. A nice mix of letter count although a little heavy on the use of "S". OTOH, very limited use of "RE-" and "-ED"s.

There are some entries that a casual solver might find hard but have become "gimmes" to the rest of us, ODER for one. How to account for these words when judging the relative difficulty of a puzzle, I don't know.

Across:

1A: "Overhead" engine parts: CAMS.

10A: __ the lily: ornament to excess: GILD. "GILD the lily", to add unnecessary ornamentation, a special feature, etc., in an attempt to improve something that is already complete, satisfactory, or ideal. By itself, GILD is to add gold leaf to an object.

14A: Doing the job: ON IT. Force of habit; I put AT IT first.

15A: Between, quaintly: TWIXT. Tastier without the last "T". And OPE (33A: Not shut, in verse). And ANON (2D: Soon, to a bard). All poetic fill.

16A: There oughta be one, so it's said: A LAW.

19A: Turn on a pivot: SLUE.

20A: Jungian feminine principle: ANIMA. Animus for the musculian principle. I am hoping someone can explain why the inner man is feminine.

21A: Coll. major for a future concert artist: MUS. Clunky.

32A: Peter, Paul or Mary: SAINT. All those three are saints. Nice play on the folk group "Peter, Paul and Mary". Then we also have the abbreviated STE (5D: Sault __ Marie).

34A: German river: ODER. May not known to all. Should be known to anyone doing crosswords on a regular basis. Polish/German border river.

45A: WWII submachine gun: STEN. British 9 mm submachine gun. The US used the B.A.R.(Browning Automatic Rifle) The M1918 was chambered for the .30-06 Springfield rifle cartridge and was designed by John Browning

54A: Witchy woman: HAG.

60A: Norse war god: ODIN. The Norse chief god. Tyr is "Norse war god" too.

67A: Division of society: CASTE. In Indian, esp.

69A: __ helmet: safari wear: PITH.

70A: Ease, as fears: ALLAY. I confess, I had RELAX and BELAY before ALLAY.

71A: Home on a limb: NEST. Cute.

Down:

1D: Musical finale: CODA.

4D: Defeat decisively: STOMP. Wow, a rather strong word I don't remember seeing used before in a puzzle.

7D: On, as a lamp: LIT.

8D: Like churches, vis-à-vis most taxes: EXEMPT. Wonder why the sudden use of vis-à-vis and a little shaky on that use.

9D: Rooster's gait: STRUT. I've seen some that were most comical.

10D: Tank filler: GAS. Simple but I like it.

11D: Unable to read: ILLITERATE.

12D: First lady before Michelle: LAURA.

13D: Dork: DWEEB.

22D: Small stores: SHOPS.

25D: Traveling show worker: CARNY.

26D: Sedona and Sorento: KIAS. A pair of SUVs from the Korean manufacturer. Sedona is an echo from Saturday. KIA is an abbreviation too. KI = "Rising" in Korean. A = Asia.

27D: Not made of interlaced parts, as fabric: UNWOVEN. This feels awkward.

30D: "American __": IDOL. Is anything happening with IDOL right now?

31D: Precious stone expert: GEMOLOGIST. This and 11D were a couple of nice, legitimate ten-letter fills.

35D: Stitch over: RESEW.

37D: Man of La Mancha: SENOR. Another great wordplay on Cervantes's "Don Quixote - Man of La Mancha".

38D: Acted like: APED. Are you happy with this clue/answer; it seems it wasn't liked very much the last time we had it.

39D: Contact or zoom: LENS.

41D: "All kidding __ ...": ASIDE.

42D: No-food protest: FAST.

47D: Snazzy entrance: PORTAL.

50D: Bite vigorously: CHOMP. STOMP and CHOMP, a strong echo here.

51D: Pie slice edges, geometrically: RADII. Plural of radius.

52D: One of Caesar's assassins: CASCA. Publius Servilius Casca was the first to strike Caesar with a dagger. Only remembered this after looking up the answer. Brutus is another assassin.

53D: Actress Lindsay: LOHAN. Showing off her talents.

57D: Longest river: NILE.

58D: Roswell sightings, briefly: UFOS. Roswell, NM is the the site of Area 51 (which doesn't exist either...or does it?)

59D: Printer's "let it stand": STET.

61D: To the __ degree: NTH. Echo of yesterday!

63D: One of many in the Aegean Sea: Abbr.: ISL. Abbr. of island or isle.

64D: Windy City transportation org.: CTA. Chicago Transit Authority or the band.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Sunday October 18, 2009 Alan Arbesfeld

Theme: The Ultimate Sandwich - NTH is sandwiched in each theme answer, spanning two words.

24A. Course covering the Roman Empire, perhaps: ANCIENT HISTORY

34A. Pentathlon event: JAVELIN THROW. More familiar with the sole word javelin rather than javelin throw.

51A. Rehearse quickly: RUN THROUGH

59A. "Under Milk Wood" playwright: DYLAN THOMAS. A Welsh writer/poet. Stranger to me. I've never heard of the play "Under Milk Wood".

77A. Malfunctioned: WENT HAYWIRE

89A: Gardener's gift: GREEN THUMB. Our KittyB sure has a green thumb.

102A. One of the Seven Sisters colleges: MOUNT HOLYOKE. Have vaguely heard of this college. Wikipedia says Emily Dickinson spent sometime here.

121A. College accommodations: STUDENT HOUSING

And 123D. Ultimate degree hidden in eight puzzle answers: NTH

I thought "sandwich" implies that NTH is inserted in an existing base phrase, but it's not. Good play on our crossword stalwart NTH.

This puzzle is of perfect difficulty level to me. I was engaged throughout the solving (some Sundays I was not), with a few "D'oh" V-8 moments, a few peeks at the cheat sheet and a few erasings.

As the norm with our Sunday puzzle, quite a few clever clues and unfamilair words/names for me.

Across:

1. Place to surf: THE NET. Internet surfing.

7. Like the best straight, in poker: ACE-HIGH. And DEAL IN (93A. Include, at the poker table).

14. Creature that divides to multiply: AMOEBA. The single-celled creature.

20. One-named Tejano singer: SELENA. She was murdered by a fan. J-Lo played her in the movie.

22. Scams: BUNCOS. Or Bunkos. New word to me.

23. Like hawks, vis-à-vis doves: PRO-WAR

27. Pilot: FLIER. And AIR BASE (43A. Post with planes).

28. "You're not telling the truth!": THAT'S A LIE

29. White Rose __-Tea, first instant iced tea: REDI. It simply means "ready", yes?

31. Take pieces from?: DISARM. Pieces=firearm. Great clue.

33. Noodge: PEST. Forgot the meaning of "noodge", a variant of nudge.

42. Jazz singer Anderson: IVIE. No idea. Wikipedia says she was best-known for her performances with Duke Ellington's orchestra between 1931 and 1942.

44. __ Raton, Florida: BOCA. Literally "mouth" in Spanish.

48. Chaos: BEDLAMS

50. Slangy "OK": YEH. Thought it's "Yeah".

55. Gods' drink: NECTAR. Root word for nectarine, my favorite fruit of the summer. Gods' food is ambrosia.

57. Bambi's aunt: ENA. Bambi & ENA are the only two "Bambi" characters I know.

58. British county: SHIRE

62. Lunes y martes, e.g.: DIAS. Spanish for "days". Lunes y martes = Monday and Tuesday.

65. Small songbird: WREN

66. Mother of the Titans: GAEA (JEE-uh). The Greek earth goddess.

69. Attend: GO TO

71. Deity skilled at archery: AMOR. Roman love god. Eros for the Greeks.

83. Toon skunk Pepé : LE PEW. The constant "l'amour" seeker.

85. Vintage auto: REO

87. __ Sebastian Bach: JOHANN. The greatest composer of the Baroque period.

88. Lux. neighbor: GER

92. Org. with a longstanding journal: AMA (American Medical Association). "The Journal of the American Medical Association".

95. NC State's gp.: ACC (Altantic Coast Conference). Stumper for me.

97. Starts: ADVENTS

101. Turner on screen: LANA. She was married to Artie Shaw for a few months.

104. Bank-confiscated auto, briefly: REPO

107. Reach rudely for: GRAB AT

111. Hints at: ALLUDES TO. Quite a few verb + preposition fill in today's grid.

113. Poland Spring competitor: EVIAN. Ours is Aquafina.

117. Bandleader's cry: HIT IT

123. "Driver carries __": robbery deterrent: NO CASH

124. Like a stiff drink: POTENT

125. Operative, as a rule: IN FORCE

126. Psychologist's concern: TRAUMA. Psychological damage is hard to treat.

127. Horseplay sounds?: SNORTS. Why? I got the answer from crosses.

128. Vegas light source: NEON GAS

129. __-skelter: HELTER

Down:

1. Recipe amts.: TSPS (Teaspoons). TBSPS is tablespoons.

3. "The Time Machine" race: ELOI. Yummy meal for the Morlock.

4. Old movie house staple: NEWSREEL

5. Canine coat?: ENAMEL. D'oh, teeth.

8. Child's plea: CAN I

12. Classy fellows: GENTS. Harmon Killebrew is a true gent, so is the guy on his right, of course!

13. __ yoga: HATHA. The most popular form of yoga, isn't it, KQ/Moon?

14. Slightly more than one can tolerate: A BIT MUCH. Multi-word fill elude me often.

15. Dishevel: MUSS

16. Recorded with a VCR: ON TAPE

17. French school: ECOLE. The students are élèves.

18. Tennis great Becker: BORIS. No idea. According to Wikipedia, he is the youngest-ever winner of the men's singles title at Wimbledon at the age of 17.

19. So far: AS YET

25. "Portia is Brutus' __, not his wife": Shak.: HARLOT. From Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar". I was clueless. LOVER does not fit.

27. All done, in Verdun: FINI. French for "over". I've never head of Verdun, a city in NE France. It's picked to rhyme with "done".

30. Radius times two: DIAMETER

32. "If __ a Rich Man": I WERE. From "Fiddler on the Roof".

34. Were in accord: JIBED. And AGREE (60D. Go along).

35. Big name in labels: AVERY

36. Gore who wrote "Lincoln": VIDAL. His mother was once married to Jackie Kennedy's step-father.

37. "__ see it my way ...": Beatles lyric: TRY TO. No idea. Those are the opening words of the Beatles' "We Can Work It Out".

38. Letter-shaped girder: H-BEAM. Same as I-BEAM, correct? I forgot our discussion result last time.

39. Enthusiastic: RAH-RAH. Ardent is six-letter too.

41. It's bad to be behind them: BARS. Behind the bars. Excellent clue. I was in the deadline direction.

44. __ B'rith: B'NAI. Literally "Sons of". B'nai B'rith = Sons of the Covenant.

45. Naturalist John: MUIR. The founder of Sierra Club.

47. Invitation word: WHEN

49. "The King and I" teacher: ANNA. Anna and the King.

52. Berlin conjunction: UND. German for "and".

53. "I'm amazed!": OH WOW

56. Indian tea: CHAI. "Chinese tea" is just CHA.

63. Turkish general: AGHA. Or AGA.

64. %#&!#! ones: SO AND SO'S. I thought those symbols refer to the F word.

68. "This seems familiar" feeling: DEJA VU. All over again.

70. Actress Daly: TYNE. Learned her name from doing Xword.

71. Pond organism: ALGA. The plural form is ALGAE.

72. Hired soldier, briefly: MERC. Mercenary, not a familiar abbreviation. Neither is VIRG (114D Arlington's state: Abbr.).

73. Crude cartel: OPEC. Nice C.C. alliteration.

75. Cross, in Cádiz: CRUZ. Another C.C. alliteration. Now I have a better understanding of Penélope CRUZ.

78. Ladies' club policy: NO MEN

79. U __, '60s UN secretary general: THANT. U is just Mr. in Burmese. Thant is his only name.

80. White house?: IGLOO. In Arctic. White indeed. Very clever clue.

81. Freshen, as a stamp pad: REINK

82. Banks of baseball: ERNIE. Hall-of-Famer. Played his entire career with the Chicago Cubs. What Els? ERNIE!

84. Ladies' hoops gp.: WNBA. Our WNBA team is called Minnestoa Lynx, owned by the same guy who owns the Timberwolves.

86. "Dreams From My Father" memoirist: OBAMA. He'd probably be happier with a Nobel Literature rather than Nobel Peace.

90. Digressions: TANGENTS

91. West Coast castle builder: HEARST. The Hearst Castle.

94. Not ordinary: ATYPICAL. Cool entry.

98. Spoils, as a grandchild: DOTES ON. I can picture how Jazzbumpa spoils his grandchildren.

101. "Turn it up, please": LOUDER. I like the er-less clue.

103. Pakistan's second-largest city: LAHORE. Karachi is the largest city.

104. Woodworking files: RASPS

105. John with a colorful wardrobe: ELTON. Oh, he is a SIR too.

106. Demoted planet: PLUTO

108. Dylan's "Ballad of __ Man": A THIN. Unknown to me. I did get BAEZ (96A. "Diamonds & Rust" singer Joan) though. Both were at Woodstock, right?

109. Wilderness Road pioneer: BOONE (Daniel)

115. Andean of yore: INCA

116. Mighty long time: AGES. Wrote down AEON first.

120. Whaler's direction: THAR. "There", as in "THAR she blows!"

122. ET carrier: UFO. What if aliens do exist?

A warm welcome to all our Canadian solvers. I enjoyed your comments last week and hope to hear more of your solving experience on Sundays.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Saturday October 17, 2009 Barry Silk

Theme: None

Total blocks: 27

Total words: 68

Again, 34 Across fill, and 34 Down fill, just like Barry's last COLE HAMELS puzzle. He seems to like this kind of balance.

No surprise. A pangram. All the 26 letters are used, at least once: 2 J's, 1Z, 1 X and several K's. (Update: Sorry. Argyle noticed that letter H is missing).

Smooth solving for me. Only peeked at the cheat sheet once for the crossing of EVANS (19A. "Macbeth" (1962) Emmy winner Maurice) and AKINS (4D. 1935 Pulitzer-winning playwright Zoë). I should have guessed with an N.

Wikipedia says Maurice Evans was an English actor noted for his interpretations of Shakesperean characters, and Marilyn Monroe's "How to Marry a Millionair" was based on Zoë Akins's play "The Greeks Had a Word for It".

Across:

1. Spears on the table: ASPARAGUS. Easy & healthy start.

10. Joplin at Woodstock: JANIS. Intersecting JIMI (10D. Hendrix at Woodstock). Nice "Woodstock" echo.

15. Basin that can result from a seismic landslide: QUAKE LAKE. New term to me.

16. Uncooperative words: I WON'T

17. Without equal: UNRIVALED. Like the Yankees' wealth, and arrogance.

18. 1980s attorney general: MEESE (Ed)

20. European ruler for 72 years: LOUIS XIV. The Sun King. He started the Haute Couture. Seed entry, Barry?

22. "I claim that!": DIBS

25. It ebbs and flows: TIDE

26. GI show gp.: USO (United Service Organizations)

27. Cotton Bowl site: DALLAS. The annual Cotton Bowl is played at the Cotton Bowl Stadium.

29. Give way: COLLAPSE

31. Spartans' sch.: MSU (Michigan State University).

33. Apprentice: TRAINEE

34. Home Depot kitchen department array: FAUCETS

39. It creates an adjustable loop: SLIPKNOT

40. It may be cracked by a spy: CODE. Barry's original clue might just be "It may be cracked".

43. Essayist Francis et al.: BACONS. Kevin is another Bacon.

46. "Concord Sonata" composer: IVES (Charles). Again, the answer revealed itself. Not familiar with this composer or his piece "Concord Sonata".

47. In __: seething: A RAGE

48. Notes after fa: SO LA. Wrote down SOLS first.

49. Alter, perhaps by using unethical techniques: REJIGGER. New word to me. JIGGER seems to have the same meaning.

51. Tehran language: FARSI. Moderan Persian.

52. Nuts: CRAZY

53. When business is slow: OFF-SEASON

56. Iron-rich meat: LIVER. True, but the smell of liver is just so strong.

57. Everly Brothers hit that begins "I bless the day I found you": LET IT BE ME. Here is the clip.

58. Musical exercise: ETUDE

59. Spoke to: ADDRESSED. Typical bottom edge word, with letter D's and S's.

Down:

1. Water conduit: AQUEDUCT. Rooted in aqua (water).

2. Driver's glare blocker: SUN VISOR

3. Certain conic section, in math: PARABOLA (puh-RAB-uh-luh). Got the answer. Don't really know what a parabola is.

5. Speeds (up): REVS

8. Guitar relative: Var.: UKELELE. Oh, variant of Ukulele.

9. Spiritual Arizona resort: SEDONA. My god, snow on the ground?

11. Blown away: AWESTRUCK

12. 1944 Sartre play: NO EXIT. The famous line "Hell is other people" is from this play. Sartre's "Nausea" is 6-letter too, but it's a novel (1938).

13. Where most stay when it rains: INSIDE

14. Martin and Allen: STEVES

21. Ship in 1898 news: USS MAINE. Gimme, right? We just had MAINE clued as "Ship to remember" several days ago and Martin mentioned the phrase "Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain".

23. Lunchbox alternative: PAPER BAG

27. Comic Carvey: DANA

30. Like wax museum figures: LIFE-SIZED

32. Has dinner: SUPS. And SCARFED (39D. Gobbled (down)).

34. Beat with a stick: FLOG. Verb.

35. Signs on the back: ENDORSES

36. Arduous: TOILSOME

37. Tense, as relations: STRAINED

40. Oater wagon formation: CIRCLE. Hence the idiom "circle the wagon".

41. Past the pain of breaking up, say: OVER IT. Again, the answer jumped out itself.

42. "Been there, done that" feeling: DEJA VU. Literally "already seen".

44. Biological ring of color: AREOLA. AREa + OLA. Again, like this.

48. Swedish autos: SAABS

50. "Did __ and gimble in the wabe": "Jabberwocky": GYRE. Obtained the answer from crosses also. "Jabberwocky" is pure nonsense to me.

51. Fancy party: FETE

54. Florist letters: FTD (Florists' Transworld Delivery)

55. Churchill's title: SIR. Churchill's mother was American.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday October 16, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: V Formation - W + long vowel sounds are changed into V + same long vowel sounds in the first word of a familiar phrases/name.

18A. Seat for eating scaloppine?: VEAL CHAIR. Wheelchair. Scaloppine refer to thinly sliced pieces of meat, especially veal, dredged in flour, sautéed, and served in a sauce. Unknown to me. I thought it's Italian for scallop. Scallop also means "thin boneless slice of meat" in cookery.

23A. Tool for a dueling snake?: VIPER BLADE. Wiper blade. I gather blade here means teeth?

36A. What Tarzan became after years of swinging?: VINE CONNOISSEUR. Wine connoisseur. Probably Dan's seed entry.

49A. Egotistical describer of laws of motion?: VAIN NEWTON. Wayne Newton. Newton's law of motion.

55A. Paleontologist's ski resort discoveries?: VAIL BONES. Whalebone. Vail is a Colorado skiing resort (Aspen is another one).

Five V theme answers. Roman numeral for five is V. Maybe just a coincidence.

Sometime last month I mentioned that I hoped to finish a Dan Naddor puzzle (sans cheating) before German pulls out of Afghanistan. Well, I did. Aced this puzzle today. Figured out the gimmick rather quickly and simply filled in blank after blank.

Today's Dan Naddor Index (total non-theme entries with 6 or more letters) is 10. Quite low in his standard.

Across:

1. Seawater component, to a chemist: NACL. Salt.

5. Egypt's Mubarak: HOSNI. Got the answer from crossings. I only know Mubarak as Mubarak. He's been the Egyptian president since Sadat's assassination in 1981.

10. Adriatic Sea country: Abbr.: ALB (Albania)

13. "In other words ...": I MEAN

15. Decide to participate: OPT IN

17. Oktoberfest dance: POLKA. Timely fill, esp for Dennis, who has been organizing the Oktoberfest in his area. Can you picture him dancing polka?

20. Speaker's stand: LECTERN

22. Blue Cross competitor: AETNA. And INS (29. 22-Acr. business). A simple cross-reference.

26. Home of the witch who melted: WEST. The Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz". And EAST (65A. Home of the witch buried under a fallen house). The Wicked Witch of the East. They are sisters. Glinda is the Good Witch of the North.

27. Earth tones: OCHRES

28. Newspaper ad meas.: SQ IN (Square Inch)

30. Sainted fifth-century pope: LEO I

31. Playfully: IN FUN

33. Org. once headed by Heston: NRA. Gimme, right? I've mentioned this fact a few times before.

40. Half and half: ONE. Simple fun clue.

41. Madison's neat roomie: UNGER. From "The Odd Couple".

42. Bottom-line negative: LOSS

43. Sykora of the NHL: PETR. Again, got his name from crosses. I don't follow hockey. He's the right winger for our Minnesota Wild. I presume Petr is Czechoslovakian for Peter?

44. "The Tempest" king: ALONSO

52. Month for fools?: APRIL. April Fools.

54. Uranium-238, e.g.: ISOTOPE. Easy guess. I know nothing about Uranium-238.

57. "Au contraire!": NOT SO. And NO SIR (51D. Boot camp negative).

60. Nest egg item, briefly: IRA. Hey, Dow is over 10,000 now.

61. Cheri of "SNL": OTERI

62. Firestone Country Club city: AKRON. The Bridgestone Invitational is played here.

63. Arch site: Abbr.: STL (St-Louis). The Gateway Arch was designed by our crossword pal Eero Saarinen.

64. Passover meal: SEDER. Funny "20 Things to Do with Matzah".

Down:

2. Latin 101 verb: AMO. AMO, amas, amat.

3. Texting device: CELL PHONE

4. View from Cleveland: LAKE ERIE

5. Shack: HOVEL

6. "The Barber of Seville," e.g.: OPERA. Rossini's most famous opera.

7. Represents: STANDS FOR

9. Peruvian ancestor: INCA. The Inca Empire was centered in Peru.

12. Sacha Baron Cohen title character: BORAT. Quite raunchy.

14. Mother-of-pearl: NACRE

21. Atlanta-based sta.: TBS. TNT, CNN, they are all based in Atlanta.

23. Saab competitor: VOLVO. Latin for "I roll".

24. Trap during a winter storm, maybe: ICE IN. This has become a gimme.

25. Prefix with distant: EQUI

31. Deep-rooted: INGRAINED. Like bad habits.

33. Aquarium fish with an iridescent stripe: NEON TETRA. How is it different from common tetra?

34. Rene of "Ransom": RUSSO. And Mel Gibson. Not a bad movie.

35. Burning desire?: ARSON. Nailed it immediately.

37. Stick in a parlor: CUE. The pool stick.

38. Airing in prime time, say: ON TV

39. Hardly a speed demon: SLOWPOKE. I am one.

45. Hotelier Helmsley: LEONA. "The Queen of Mean".

46. Lincoln's Confederate counterpart: DAVIS. Jefferson Davis, the CSA president.

47. Separately: APART

50. Grenoble's river: ISERE (ee-ZAIR). It flows to the Rhone.

53. Debt-laden corp. takeovers: LBOS (Leveraged Buyouts)

56. Suffix with Capri: OTE. Capriote, native of Capri. Cypriote is native of Cyprus. Learned from doing Xword.

58. Mariner's "Help!": SOS. Mayday too.

59. Que. neighbor: ONT (Ontario). Where Toronto is.

Answer grid.

C.C. the Victorious Mandarin Loon

Thursday October 15, 2009 Todd Gross

Theme: WRENCH (48D. A type of one begins the answers to starred clues)

20A. *Bakery fare named for their shape: CRESCENT ROLLS. Crescent wrench has a head shaped like a crescent. And it has a adjustable jaw to fit nuts/bolts of different sizes.

29A. *Quixotic reveries: PIPE DREAMS. Pipe wrench is also an adjustable wrench, used to grip and turn pipes. Did you hum "To dream the impossible dream ..." while filling in the answer?

45A. *Playground fixture: MONKEY BARS. Monkey wrench was named after the inventor Charles Moncky. Wikipedia says it's an old type of adjustable end wrench and was popular in the nineteenth century.

54A. *Beat poet who wrote "Howl": ALLEN GINSBERG. Allen wrench is a L-shaped bar with a hexagonal head at both ends. Used to turn screws/bolts with hexagonal sockets.

Man, I just call a wrench a wrench. Had no idea they have so many different names. But the answers were all easily obtainable due to the straightforward clues.

Very smooth puzzle. High Dan Naddor Index (total non-theme entries with 6 or more letters). I counted 21. The side by side placement of LOON (36D. Minnesota's state bird) and MANDARIN (37D: Official spoken language of China) just elated me. Mao Ze-dong is Mandarin Chinese. Mao Tse-tung is Cantonese spelling. Maddening differences, aren't they?

Those who solve NY Times regularly is probably familiar with today's constructor Todd Gross. He just made his NY Times debut with a Sunday "Let's Play Bingo" last month. Today's WRENCH is his first LA Times. Congratulations, Todd!

Todd also said Mike Peluso (one of our regular LAT constructors) helped him get this puzzle in "Rich-ready" format. And the puzzle was accepted before our TMS Daily /LAT switch. It's initially intended as a Wednesday puzzle, but moved to Thursday obviously due to this ease-up phase.

Across:

1. Premium movie station: SHO. Also HBO.

4. Hammer-wielding Norse god: THOR. The Norse god of thunder.

8. First voice of Mickey Mouse: DISNEY. Oh, I did not know Walt Disney was the original voice.

15. Will Rogers prop: ROPE. Will Rogers had Cherokee roots.

16. Rallying cry: ONWARD. No idea. Have never heard this word at the ball games.

19. Scrubs, as pots: SCOURED

23. Actress Holmes: KATIE. She is married to Tom Cruise, taller than he is, obviously.

32. 1953 Western hero to whom Joey cried "Come back!": SHANE. "Come back, SHANE".

34. Vacation home, maybe: RENTAL

41. Sunday dinners: ROASTS

43. Certain Sri Lankan: TAMIL. Tamils mostly live in north-eastern Sri Lanka. They speak Tamil of course.

47. Immortal racehorse Man __: O'WAR. The most famous racing horse in history, right?

51. Opie's dad: ANDY. From "The Andy Griffith Show".

52. Coffee dispenser: URN

53. Eagle's nest: AERIE

58. Ohio city north of Columbus: MARION. Got the answer from crosses. Interesting, Wikipedia says both John Dean (Nixon/Watergate fame) and President Warren Harding grew up here. Hmmm...

62. Really digs: IS INTO

64. MMX ÷ X: CCI. 2010 ÷ 10 = 201.

65. Basic doctrines: TENETS

66. One-armed bandit: SLOT. One-armed bandit is a slot machine.

67. "__ Haw": HEE

Down:

2. "Way to go!": HOORAY

3. Little barn fliers: OWLETS. Owls are far-sighted. They have difficulty seeing things up close.

4. Cease-fire: TRUCE

5. L'eggs product: HOSE

6. Good thing to keep when hearing opposing views: OPEN MIND. Keep an open mind. I like the clue. Also like the clue ASSET (53D. It's a good thing). It's all good, as Lois often says.

7. Bureaucratic waste: RED TAPE. I wonder why red tape and red herring are both red.

8. "Take care of it": DO SO. Do you use this phrase in your conversation?

9. "Batt. not __": INCL. Included? I never pay attention to the abbreviations in those packages.

10. Puffed up, as a sprain: SWOLLEN

11. Make queasy: NAUSEATE

12. Throw wide of the mark, say: ERR. Nicely placed beside YDS (13D. NFL gains).

22. Ham holder: RYE. And BUN (46D. Hot dog holder). "Holder" clue echo.

26. Detroit-based financial org.: GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation). Owned by US government now.

27. Capital on a fjord: OSLO. Why the heck is Norway rather than Sweden awarding Nobel Peace?

29. Variously colored flower: PANSY

30. Small weight units: DRAMS. 1/16 of an ounce.

31. One way to lower an APR: REFI. APR = Annual Percentage Rate. I did not even see this clue. The answer emerged all by itself.

39. Traveling show: CARNIVAL

42. Toronto's includes the CN Tower: SKYLINE. The Dubai Tower has surpassed CN Tower as the tallest building in the world.

43. Quotas: TARGETS

44. Leopold's co-defendant: LOEB

49. Snoopy's flying persona, e.g.: AIR ACE. Snoopy the Flying Ace.

50. Baseball's Jackson, a.k.a. "Mr. October": REGGIE. Because he always delivered during World Series games. Despite his performance against the Twins, A-Rod is no Mr. October, nope!

55. Ex-senator Trent: LOTT. Yep, he has his own lobbying business now.

56. Genesis grandson: ENOS. Grandson of Adam/Eve. Son of Seth.

57. Pixar clownfish: NEMO. From "Finding Nemo".

58. Sch. near Harvard: MIT

59. Enzyme suffix: ASE. Pineapple contains some enzyme which breaks own protein, hence pineapple juice is sometimes used to marinade and tenderize meat.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Wednesday October 14, 2009 Charles Barasch

Theme: Them Bones - Two-word familiar phrases are playfully reinterpreted as related to the musical instrument trombones.

20A: Big Southwestern trombones?: TEXAS LONGHORNS. Cattle, and that's no bull. Or some football team. Or these guys.

37A: Refined trombones?: POLISHED BRASS. Decorative and utilitarian metal hardware. Or those who sound like Kai Winding - my idol as a kid.

54A: Continuously playing trombones?: SUSTAINED WINDS. The wind speed obtained by averaging the observed values over a one minute period. I'll bet you didn't know that. Opinions vary on proper trombone technique.

Hi, gang. Jazzbumpa here. Some things are so good, you just can't plan for them: like learning that honey is rich in B vitamins. Or that, on this, of all nights, the guest blogger would be your humble trombonist. Do I need to add how much I love this puzzle? Weird, no? Like, wow!

A fine pangram, all of the 26 letters are used at least once. Two Z's, one X/Q/J and several K's.

I worked this in Across Lite in 12:33, which is about my average for this time of the week. But I seldom have such a silly grin plastered on my embouchure (that's brass musician talk for chops.) while doing so. And once again, talk about it one day, it shows up the next. Buckeye just asked me about trombone playing. This is an omen Buck. Go for it!

Across:

1A Made a disapproving sound: TSKED

6A Witticism: JEST

10A Highlander: SCOT

14A Cop _______ : bargain in court: A PLEA

15A Healing plant: ALOE. SENNA is the healing medicinal shrub.

16A Oregon Treaty President: POLK. His middle name is KNOX, which appears in our puzzle from time to time.

17A Trembling: SHAKY

18A Having all one's marble: SANE

19A Word processing reversal: UNDO

23A Ending for ranch: ERO. I'm not in love with the either the clue or the fill, but having it snugger up against Texas helps. Tfrank - are you out there amigo?

24A Neither Rep nor Dem: IND (Independent). I'll stop now. No politics!

25A Thing: ENTITY

27A Madame in Madrid: SENORA. Or, more properly, señora, if you want to be persnickety. I never noticed the custom of alliteration in clues for foreign words until C.C. pointed it out.

30A Wide shoe size: EEE.

31A Geese flight pattern: VEE. It's time to start thinking about migration.

32A Actress Greer who received five consecutive Oscar nominations: GARSON. She won the Best Actress Oscar in 1942 for Mrs. Minver. A bit before my time. Bette Davis is another actress who received five consecutive Oscar nominations.

35A At the ready: ALERT. Bad JEST ALERT: Be A LERT - America needs more LERTS!

40A Made on a loom: WOVEN. Like Navajo rugs. If there is a flaw in this fill, I can't find it.

41A Imitation: ERSATZ. The word is imported from Germany. Here it usually means an inferior imitation.

42A Med or law lead in: PRE. The eponym for all prefixes.

43A Command ctrs.: HQS. Headquarters. Or hind quarters, depending on the quality of the commands. All things considered, I prefer DQS.

45A Musical Beat: RHYTHM. Or family planning for Catholic trombonists. Or a reporter's job covering Birdland in the 40's.

49A Well's "The Island of Dr. _______________": MOREAU. Never saw the movie. I read the book when I was about 12, and it scared the hell out of me. The good Dr. was a vivisectionist whose experiments transformed wild animals into sentient manimals. For a while. I still remember, "That is the law. Are we not men?" (Shudder.) And so close to bed time. (It is now 11:40 p.m.) Here is a better (and apparently not doctored) Moreau image.

51A Fill with wonder: AWE. Hold the shock.

53A Jr.'s son: III, Eye-yi-yi. Pretty lame.

58A Clenched weapon: FIST. A velvet fist in an iron glove. Or is it the other way around?

59A Mechanical memorization: ROTE. Or a quarterback from by-gone days for the Lions, Packers, and Chargers.

60A Remark to the audience: ASIDE. Or the song people wanted to hear. Perhaps that is B side the point.

61A To ________: perfectly: A TEE. Don't ask me. I gave up golf years ago, and experienced an immediate improvement in my quality of life. (I wouldn't TEES about something so serious.)

62A Sporty sunroof: T-TOP. For a car. Or on foot.

63A Baseball card brand: FLEER. Gone in 2007. Only Topps and Upper Deck are "Baseball card brands", Topps being the official MLB one. To double your pleasure, chewing gum.

64A Wall St's Big Board: NYSE. New York Stock Exchange.

65A Clownish: ZANY. Like a trombonist.

66A Shore birds: TERNS. Bad JEST ALERT. A very determined boy went to the shore to throw rocks at the birds. He was so thorough, he left no TERN unstoned.

Down:

1D Samples a bit of: TASTES.

2D Ball: SPHERE. A perfectly symmetric round object. Also, Thelonious Monk's middle name.

3D Loud auto honker of yore: KLAXON. The poor (pronounced pewer) man's trombone. Also, this nice march by Henry Fillmore. A favorite a Summer park concerts.

4D "______ mouse": EEK A. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get Mickey to fit. But it's a reggae guy. Who knew?

5D Weekly septet: DAYS. Or nights, depending on how you shift it. If I don't cut back on the link, I'll never get to bed.

6D Argonaut's leader: JASON. From Greek Mythology. Their ship is called Argo. Also a song that contains the words "manimals" and "buying knives."

7D Large antelope: ELAND. This guy, a savannah and plains antelope found in East and Southern Africa.

8D Tune: SONG. A melody, with words. They can be about the most unlikely subjects.

9D Dainty laugh: TEEHEE. Or a mini Minnie laugh.

10D Sudden gushing: SPURT. A drip under pressure.

11D Conspires with: CONNIVES. From the Latin for closing ones eyes. I'm getting sleepy.

12D Octogenarians, for example. OLDSTERS. My mom and M-I-L are octogenarians.

13D Boxing Ref's decision: TKO. Technical knock out. The referee stops the fight, judging that the bout is a mis-match or somebody is about to get hurt.

21D Whopper creators: LIARS. I wanted Burger King.

22D Lord's Prayer words following "Thy will be done.": ON EARTH, as it is in heaven. I'll stop now. No religion!

26D Thus far: YET. There was a story on the news about a woman who got shot last week and the bullet is in her YET. I skipped anatomy class the day we were supposed to learn where that is. Also forgot the bad JEST ALERT. Lo siento.

28D Eye unsubtly: OGLE. A crossword stalwart.

29D Drizzly day chapeau: RAIN HAT. An article of practical apparel.

30D Above in poems: O'ER. Contraction of over. Never in my poems. (It's Wednesday.)

33D Women: SHES. Sure. It's getting to late to argue.

36D Slow moving, as a river: LAZY From the song "Up a Lazy River."

37D Penetrable quality of skin: POROSITY. The fraction of a surface that is filled with holes. The unbearable lightness of not-being.

38D Makes a cliche of, say: OVERUSES. Pretty straight-forward.

39D Exposed: BARED. I'm done linking. Use your imagination.

40D Typist's stat.: WPM. Words per minute. Mine is in single digits (from typing with just one finger.)

44D Crystalline material: QUARTZ. Pretty much pure silica. Higher melting than glass.

46D More petite: TINIER. Like my little Em.

47D Like eggs in an Easter hunt: HIDDEN. Outa' sight, man!

48D Skinflints: MISERS. Penny pinching, greedy hoarders, like Ebenezer Scrooge.

50D Big name in Perfumery: ESTEE. Lauder, I presume.

51D Dramatist Chekhov: ANTON. Some Russian guy. Chekhov's "Three Sisters" (Olga, Masha, and Irina) pop into LA Times occasionally.

52D Tearful: WEEPY. Rhymes with sleepy.

55D Letter after Theta. IOTA. About how much I care, at this point. Knew it wasn't Alpha.

56D Drift, as an aroma. WAFT. What you can experience when walking past a bakery.

57D Shipwreck Site: ISLE. The Isle of Capri sounds romantic. Somehow, though, Goat Island doesn't.

58D Air move: FAN. Also, I'm a fan of this puzzle.

Over and out, kids. This took me three hours.

Cheers!

Answer grid.

Jazzbumpa

Tuesday October 13, 2009 Fred Jackson III

Theme: Gone Fishing - theme answers all end with names of fishing gear.

16A: Window treatment support: CURTAIN ROD. Fishing rod is the long and flexible tool used to extend the fishing line.

22A: Proceed cautiously: WALK A FINE LINE. Line is the sturdy string with the hook, sinker, float, etc.

46A: Sports show staple: HIGHLIGHT REEL. Reel is used to retrieve the fishing line.

56A: No longer in trouble: OFF THE HOOK. Hook is the curved and sharp device to snag the fish.

Martin here. Surprised? Me too. I think C.C. is letting me blog today provided that I don't make (or link to) any off colour jokes or add fuel to any fires. In other words, it's just like any day posting to this blog: we all have to second guess ourselves before we post.

Anyway, I didn't need perp help to get HIGHLIGHT REEL because I already had CURTAIN ROD and WALK A FINE LINE: the expression "ROD and REEL" came to mind and I expected to find REEL after getting ROD and LINE. If you solve a puzzle from starting at the bottom and working up then you probably had a different experience: HOOK and REEL would have made WALK A FINE LINE a gimme because you would be expecting HOOK to be followed by LINE and perhaps sinker.

A lot of straightforward clues today. Personally I think this is a good thing, a very good thing in fact, because not only did it mean I got to finish this in about twenty minutes without googling but, as I've said before, cryptic clues often tend to be a cheat designed to make the puzzle harder than it really needs be. I'll talk about this more as we go over the clues and fills.

Across:

1A: Magic amulet: MOJO. I originally wrote MORO which is a word that refers to the people of Mindinao. There's an old terrorist group in the Philippines that called themselves the Moro Islamic Liberation Front or MILF. They are now called the Abu Sayaf. Can't imagine why they'd want to change their name.

5A: With 13-Across "Lonely Boy" singer: PAUL. And ANKA (13A: See 5-Across). PAUL ANKA was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. There's a Paul Anka Drive in the south-eastern part of the city, obviously named after him.

9A: UPS deliveries requiring payment: C.O.D.S. Cash on Delivery. UPS is United Postal Service (Correction. It's United Parcel Service). I'm surprised that it wasn't clued as a kind of fish.

14A: Ship to remember: MAINE. The USS MAINE exploded and sank on February 15, 1898 in an event that precipitated the Spanish–American War and also popularized the phrase "Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain!". Again, the obvious clue "Fish producing state" was apparently deliberately avoided so as to not hint at the theme too early.

15A: Related: AKIN. Straightforward clue.

18A: Christmas trio: MAGI. The three wise men. As in the O Henry Christmas story "The Gift of the MAGI".

19A: "__ Beso (That Kiss!)": 5- & 13- Across hit: ESO. Spanish for "that". Sorry, no video.

20A: Prefix with China: INDO. Indochina. Straightforward clue.

21A: Lukewarm: TEPID. Straightforward clue.

26A: The flu, for one: ILLNESS. Straightforward clue. C.C. can correct me if I am wrong but my students tell me that the word for cold/flu in Chinese is 感冒 (gan3mao4) but there's also the word 流感 (liu3gan3) that means simply flu (as opposed to cold, I presume). This would seem to imply that Chinese people consider the flu to be a type of cold as opposed to a separate disease. Several years ago, the big scare here was SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) which was caused by a mutated coronavirus. Corona viruses along with rhinoviruses pretty much account for the common cold. Nowadays, people are worried about H1N1 or swine flu which is a form of influenza. The good news is that if you've been exposed to a specific virus in the past then you are less likely to get sick again: you'd be considered "immune". The bad news is that colds and flus can kill you. Good luck this winter, everybody. :)

28A: Dynamic start?: AERO. Aerodynamic. Also a delicious chocolate bar.

29A: God: DEITY. And HOLY (40D: Sanctified). Very straightforward clues.

34A: Looooong time: EON. Fairly straightforward clue. "Long time" could have been ERA.

35A: Blocker of offensive TV material: V-CHIP. Aren't people more concerned about internet porn than what appears on TV? Back in the late seventies people used to complain about Charlie's Angels.

37A: Penn & Teller, e.g.: DUO. Why not Batman & Robin?

38A: Put your John Hancock on this line: SIGN HERE. John Hancock was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence, hence his signature is the largest (most stylish too). Now his name has become synonym for signature.

41A: Desert rest stops: OASES. Plural of OASIS.

43A: Chaplin's fourth wife: OONA. Eugene O'Neill's daughter.

44A: Weepy people: SOBBERS.

50A: Orderly display: ARRAY. Straightforward clue.

51A: Has a meal: EATS. Wonder what Fred's original clue for DIG IN (11D: "Let's eat!") is.

52A: Repair: FIX

55A: Reddish horse: ROAN. I knew ROAN was a horse colour but I didn't know it was also a breed of horse.

59A: Oklahoma city: ENID.

60A: Numerical relationship: RATIO. Fairly straightforward. My first thought was SERIES but it was too many letters.

61A: One-named Deco artist: ERTE. We've had this clue before.

62A: Personal dept. IDs: SSNS. Social Security NumberS. In Canada, we have SINS, Social Insurance NumberS.

63A: Greenish-yellow pear: BOSC. If you don't remember this fill from previous puzzles then you might have been stumped, but I imagine most of us here got this one.

64A: Treos and iPhones, briefly: PDA. Easy guess. In Taiwan, the most popular feature on one of these things is the ability to translate English to Chinese. That and games.

Down:

1D: Riot squad spray: MACE. I was surprised to learn that mace and pepper spray are not the same thing: the confusion arises because the Mace Security International company that used to supply tear gas to the police now manufactures pepper spray for personal protection.

2D: Weighty obligation: ONUS

3D: Harry Potter's creator: J. K. ROWLING. Great symmetry with its partner EDSEL FORD (31D: His name wound up on a lemon). Nice full names.

4D: Bit of granola: OAT. And 48D: Smidgen of sand: GRAIN.

5D: Bamboo-eating critters: PANDAS.

6D: ___ superiority: obvious confidence: AIR OF. When you go overseas to teach English it is very easy to assume an AIR OF superiority because you speak English and they don't. You have to keep in mind that you can't speak their language. Of course, once you do manage to learn their language that AIR OF superiority returns. :)

7D: Juan's one: UNO. Spanish for "one".

9D: King Arthur's realm: CAMELOT. A lot of the King Arthur legend may have been myth. The 2004 movie portrayed him as a Roman.

10D: Giraffe relative: OKAPI, with striped legs.

12D: Like a catty remark: SNIDE

14D: Expensive furs: MINKS. Straightforward clue.

17D: Dance company founder Alvin: AILEY. Founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

21D: La. on old U.S. maps: TERR. Territory.

23D: Bug in a colony: ANT. "Bug in a hive" would be BEE.

24D: "__ Said": Neil Diamond hit: I AM...I.: See this clip.

25D: Minimum-range tide: NEAP.

26D: March 15th, e.g.: IDES. In the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar, Caesar was told to "beware the ides of March". This foreshadowed his assassination by the senate.

27D: First of 13 Popes: LEO I. "Last of 13 Popes" would be LEO XIII.

30D: "___ Believes in Me": Kenny Rogers hit: SHE.

32D: Plaintiff: SUER. Fairly straightforward. In criminal law the plaintiff is the level government whose law you broke but in civil law the plaintiff is filing a lawsuit.

33D: Partner of turn: TOSS. You TOSS and turn when you can't sleep. I found the clues and fills starting to get a bit trickier at this point, which is fine.

35D: ___, vidi, vici: Caesar's boast: VENI. Another Julius Caesar reference. "I came, I saw, I conquered".

36D: Mountain goat's perch: CRAG.

39D: Words after Look, Ma: NO HANDS. Also, words before "Ow ow! My arm!"

41D: Way beyond pleasantly plump: OBESE. No comment.

42D: Prez on a penny: ABE. President Abraham Lincoln.

44D: Kind of electricity: STATIC. As opposed to electricity that flows in a current.

45D: Big name in garden care: ORTHO. Manufactured by the Scott's Miracle Gro Company. From the Greek word meaning "straight" or "correct".

46D: Rabbit look alikes: HARES. Rabbit. HARE. Frog. Toad. Turtle. Tortoise. Alligator. Crocodile.

47D: Smooths, as hair: IRONS. Also for getting wrinkles out of clothes.

49D: Tests by lifting: HEFTS. We've had that clue before.

53D: Greek "i": IOTA.

54D: Vintage jaguars: XKES.

56D: Planet: ORB. Poetically.

57D: Toy magnate ___ Schwarz: FAO. It's been a continuous tough struggle for this upscale toy store. Toys "R" Us just bought it a few months ago.

58D: Like cool cats: HEP.

Okay, so a lot of clues were fairly to very straightforward but, as far as I am concerned, that's a good thing. As a teacher, especially a teacher of English as a foreign language, I can't help but feel sympathetic to people non-native speakers of English, for example, who might find these clues hard enough to endure. I can pretty much guarantee that none of my students here would find this as easy as I did. Besides, there were words and names like ENID, OKAPI, AILEY, ORTHO and FAO that definitely needed perp help as well as words and names like ERTE, BOSC, NEAP and CRAG that are easy to us because we've seen them before in crossword puzzles. All in all then, I would consider this a fair test of one's Tuesday crossword puzzle solving ability.

Answer grid.

Martin

Monday, October 12, 2009 David W. Cromer

Theme: "With "in", where our summer weather is!" - theme answers all end with synonyms of exiting.

20A: Corporate-sponsored vacation: COMPANY RETREAT.

40A: Retirement account transaction that may incur a penalty: EARLY WITHDRAWAL.

59A: Local airline trip: COMMUTER FLIGHT.

Argyle blogging.

Shivering Santa here. We get our first freeze this morning. That should stop any zucchini that maybe left.

Straightforward puzzle today. Only wish TORO (39A: Matador's foe) were clued as a "Big name in lawn mowers" to pair up with DEERE (45A: Big name in tractors). TORO is based in Minnesota.

Across:

1A: A little batty: DAFT.

10A: Skips, as ads on a taped show: ZAPS. I'm not good with this clue.

14A: "Garfield" dog: ODIE.

15A: What an ump's protector protects: CHEST. To protect them from the jabbing fingers of managers.

16A: Approximately: OR SO.

23A: Ruhr valley city: ESSEN. 28A: Mediterranean island republic: CYPRUS. 31D: River through southern Russia: URAL. 53D: "Boot" country prefix: ITALO. All part of our European vacation.

33A: Place to retire to?: BED. Yes, it is (as soon as I get this blog done.)

36A: Tournament matches before finals, briefly: SEMIS.

44A: "Iliad" setting: TROY.

47A: Challenge a verdict in a higher court: APPEAL.

50A: Money you owe: DEBT.

55A: Love poetry Muse: ERATO.

64A: "A guy walks into a bar ..." may start one: JOKE.

65A: Christener: NAMER.

66A: Go-__: small racer: KART.

70A: Herbal brews: TEAS. What's your favorite herbal tea?

Down"

1D: "La __ Vita": DOLCE. Italian for "sweet".

2D: "Later, amigo": ADIOS.

3D: Law corporations, e.g.: FIRMS

4D: Conical abode: TEEPEE.

5D: CAT procedure: SCAN.

6D: Greeting at sea: AHOY.

7D: __ cotta: TERRA. Ah, Xi'An.

8D: Colorado's __ Park: ESTES.

9D: Unwanted radio noise: STATIC.

10D: No-fly __: ZONE.

13D: Brillo rival: SOS.

21D: Unable to sit still: ANTSY.

22D: Jamie Foxx biopic about singer Charles: RAY. Great movie. Foxx got a Oscar for his performance.

35D: Bit of medicine for the eye or ear: DROP.

37D: Suffix with meteor: ITE. Meteorite.

42D: Dr. of rap: DRE.

43D: Insurrectionist: REBEL.

51D: Tots' rides: TRIKES.

56D: Wide open: AGAPE.

57D: Crowd quota?: THREE. As in "Three's a crowd".

59D: Planetary center: CORE.

60D: Cajun vegetable: OKRA. Have you tried cooking with fresh OKRA? Quite tasty.

61D: Army meal: MESS.

62D: Actress Russo: RENE. She is in "Tin Cup", one of the best golf movies.

63D: Barney's Bedrock pal: FRED. Flintstone.

64D: "Jumbo" flier: JET.

Answer grid.

Argyle