Monday, October 31, 2011 Don Gagliardo and C.C. Burnikel

Theme: Before Dawn - that's when it's blackest, and this Monday, BLACK can be in front of both words in the themes.

17A. *Shows like “Cheers” and “Friends” : LIGHT COMEDY. . A "black light" has a dark blue optical filtering material in the glass of the bulb which blocks most of the visible light, so the lamp emits mostly ultraviolet. A black comedy is a comic work that employs gallows humor.

25A. *Precious metal trading venue : GOLD MARKET. Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea. You can find just about anything on the black market...for a price.

38A. *Soft, lumpy chair : BEAN BAG. Easy Black Bean Soup. Black bag operations are covert or clandestine surreptitious entries into structures to obtain information for human intelligence operations. Does Watergate bother you?

42A. *Winter fisherman’s access : ICE HOLE. Video of a fire truck trying to turn on black ice, watch the front wheels. Clip.(0:55). A spot in space where things go in but don't come out is a black hole.

56A. *Attractive facial mole : BEAUTY MARK. Attractive equine, Black Beauty. Horse theft is definitely a black mark on yor record.

64A. 1987 market crash, and this puzzle’s title, whose first word can precede each word in the starred answers : BLACK MONDAY

Argyle here. It is obvious from the title, this was meant to be a Monday puzzle but some fill is from later in the week. But, hey, we put on our big kids pants and soldier on. Happy Halloween! (Did you check out the Google banner?)

Across:

1. About, date-wise : CIRCA

6. Togo neighbor : GHANA. West coast of Africa. Map.

11. Band booster : AMP

14. Ancient Greek theater : ODEAN. (Correction: ODEON.) I always picture this.

15. Hershey’s caramel candies : ROLOs. Skors yesterday and Rolos today; all gone tonight.

16. Card game with a belligerent name : WAR

19. Author Umberto : ECO. Best known for his novel The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa, 1980), an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory. That's what Wiki says.

20. “Garfield” dog : ODIE

21. Be shy, poker pot-wise : OWE

22. Onion kin : LEEK. Add some to the black bean soup.

24. Wheel edges : RIMS

29. Pub mug : STEIN

31. Simba’s mate, in “The Lion King” : NALA

32. Like a mint Mickey Mantle rookie card : RARE

33. Drilled commodity : OIL. Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.

35. Drill parts : BITS

37. Understand : GET

44. Klutz : OAF

45. Riverbank deposit : SILT. I never cared for this description; the river bottom or delta. yes.

47. “__ Haw” : HEE

48. Another, in Andalusia : OTRO. Andalusia, a region in Southern Spain, bordering on the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

50. Like sour cherries : TART

52. Bust makers : NARCs

59. Hindu scripture : VEDA

60. Beatles meter maid : RITA. From the Sgt. Pepper's album. Clip.(2:43)

61. Zip : NIL

62. Bring home : EARN

63. Certain eBay click : BID. But there aren't many auctions anymore.

68. “__ Misérables” : LES

69. Flood barrier : LEVEE

70. Demoted planet : PLUTO. So sad.

71. Chinese menu general : TSO

72. “Yikes!” : "EGADS!"

73. Keys in : TYPES

Down:

1. Red, white and blue : COLORS

2. “Yay, me!” : "I DID IT!"

3. Ruling period : REGIME

4. Ability to stick together : COHESION

5. Picnic bug : ANT

6. Gradually appeal to : GROW ON

7. Amateur photographer’s workshop : HOME LAB

8. Bar pint contents : ALE

9. Green light : NOD. Bit of a stretch, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more.

10. Safe havens : ASYLA.  This definition is from the 1913 Webster's Dictionary and may be outdated. (I'd say.)

11. Seven days before now : A WEEK AGO

12. Holy fish? : MACKEREL

13. Poker tour player : PRO

18. Minor player : COG. "I feel like a micro cog in a macrocosm" · - Mary Guyette.(Whoever she was.)

23. Goof up : ERR

26. 552, to Caesar : DLII

27. Fire starter : MATCH

28. Head, in France : TÊTE

30. Penpoints : NIBs

34. Flock at church : LAITY

36. Spotted : SEEN

38. Half-wit : BOOB

39. Diners and such : EATERIES

40. “Yes, unfortunately” : "AFRAID SO"

41. Glittery rock genre : GLAM

43. Angelic : HEAVENLY

46. Hypnotized : TRANCED

49. Ump’s call : OUT

51. Tots’ rides : TRIKEs. Check out this beaut!

53. Do research (on) : READ UP

54. Percentage quoted by a bank : CD RATE

55. Some plasma TVs : SANYOs. Good to see something besides RCA.

57. Dining room piece : TABLE. 65D. 57-Down support : LEG

58. Merged Dutch airline : KLM

63. Short lunch order? : BLT

66. Gardner on screen : AVA

67. Pick, with “for” : OPT

Answer grid.

Argyle

1) Constructors' Note:

This is Don's idea. We originally started color blue and changed to black after seeing blue has been done before. Then Don further enhanced our theme by suggesting going with phrases where both words can follow black. We had fun with this puzzle. Everything went smoothly, from theme entry selection to filling and cluing.

2) Here is a wonderful photo from our regular commenter Yellowrocks, who visited Japan some time ago.

Sunday Oct 30, 2011 Jonathan L O'Rourke

Theme: "My Ex Was a Monster!" - Each spooky answer and its spooky clue narrate a scary "Ex" story & a current date for 115A.

23A. My first crush was on a mummy, but . . . : HE'S WRAPPED UP IN HIMSELF. Mummies were wrapped in cloth.

47A. Everyone liked my ghost boyfriend, but . . . : I SAW RIGHT THROUGH HIM. Ghosts are transparent.

67A. I had a relationship with Frankenstein's monster, but . . . : IT CAME APART AT THE SEAMS. Frankenstein's monster had lots of stitches on.

89A. When I moved to Sleepy Hollow, I started dating a soldier, but . . . : HE KEPT LOSING HIS HEAD. The Headless Horseman.

115A. Now I'm dating Count Dracula. Things are going well, but . . . : HE CAN BE A PAIN IN THE NECK. Dracula sucks! The title "Ex" is not inclusive, isn't it?

Then HORRORS (99A. "Little Shop of __) and a few other ghostly bonus entries.

Only 5 theme entries, but they're all very long, occupying a total 101 theme squares. Quite a few outstanding long Downs today:

3D. Two-part David Bowie song from "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" : IT'S NO GAME. Gimmie, Avg Joe? Creepy clue. Nice.

7D. Fresh out of the oven : PIPING HOT

8D. Number retired by the Orioles for Jim Palmer : TWENTY TWO. Hall-of-Famer. Cal Ripken's number is 8. Retired by the Orioles also. I admire guys who spent their entire career with one team.

14D. Vampire-romance series : TWILIGHT. Another bonus entry.

16D. Taking issue? : KLEPTOMANIA. Great clue.

58D. Critter in old Qantas ads, popularly : KOALA BEAR

69D. Feline who said "We're all mad here" : CHESHIRE CAT

78D. Fine porcelain : BONE CHINA

81D. Munch museum masterpiece : THE SCREAM. You can almost hear it.

This is the debut puzzle for Jonathan L O'Rourke. Congratulations!

Across:

1. "Evil Under the Sun" detective : POIROT ( Hercule). And 25D. Ustinov who played 1-Across : PETER.

7. Class-conscious orgs.? : PTAs. Saw this clue before.

11. Like Granny Smiths : TART

15. Hershey bar : SKOR. Toffee bar. Wiki said Skor is Swedish for "shoes".

19. Traveling, like Blues Traveler : ON TOUR. Rock band.

20. "Yay! Go me!" : I WIN

21. From square one : ANEW

22. Bjorn rival : ILIE (Nastase)

27. Chaney of film : LON. More horror.

28. Minting process : COINAGE

29. Slippery : EELY

30. Home to four-and-twenty blackbirds : PIE. "... Four-and-twenty blackbirds/Baked in a pie...".

31. Wide of the mark : OFF

34. Demolition supply : TNT

35. Part of SOP: Abbr. : STD. SOP = Standard Operating Procedure. Then we have 96A. Morsel for dipping : SOP. Different meaning.

37. York __: British cathedral : MINSTER. Gothic Cathedral.

39. Folded corner : DOG EAR. Annoying.

42. Training room : GYM. Been ages since I heard from Dennis.

44. Hosp. units : ERs

46. Florida's team : GATORS. Hi there Gator Mom!

51. PIN requester : ATM. 119D. Big 51-Across manufacturer : NCR.

52. "Prove it!" : SHOW ME

53. Prefix for fall : PRAT. Pratfall.

54. Dear one, in Italy : CARO

57. Veggie that looks like an overgrown scallion : LEEK. We just call scallion "green onion".

59. Green Hornet sidekick : KATO. Played by Bruce Lee.

60. 87-Down fruit : SLOES. And 87D. Bar staple : GIN.

62. "It's __": "Problem solved" : OK NOW. You won't see any partial longer than 5 letters in LA Times.

63. Get __ years: age : ON IN

65. God-fearing : PIOUS

66. Like some obedience : FILIAL

73. Composer Gustav : MAHLER. Born in Bohemia.

74. Crosswise, shipwise : ABEAM

75. L.A. Angel, e.g. : ALer. American Leaguer.

76. Tool for a mountaineer : ICE AX

77. "Hungarian Fantasy" composer : LISZT. Nice consonant cluster.

78. Ernie's roommate : BERT

80. PDQ, to an RN : STAT

84. Org. that investigates crashes : NTSB.

85. Carvey who played the Church Lady : DANA

86. Self-interested one : EGOIST

88. Gp. with a co-pay : HMO

94. __ Afghan Airlines : ARIANA. Got any desire to visit that place?

97. Old Testament bk. : NEH

98. "Shazam!" : PRESTO

101. Ryan of "You've Got Mail" : MEG

103. Letters on Windy City trains : CTA (Chicago Transit Authority)

105. Co. designation : INC

106. String after B : CDE. Alphabet.

107. Light bulb unit : WATT

109. Uses FedEx again : RE-SHIPS. We should support UPS. Can you figure out what his favicon is?

112. Actress Charlotte : RAE

120. __ upswing : ON AN

121. Pizzazz : BRIO

122. Obama, as of Jan. 2009 : CINC (Commander-in-Chief) 65D. 122-Across, informally : PREZ.

123. Obscure : ARCANE

124. Camp Swampy dog : OTTO

125. Cry of pain : YELP

126. Aquarium fish : OPAH

127. Messenger god : HERMES. Oh my God. Hermes! Hermes Birkin bag lives in my dream, Santa!

Down:

1. Novelist Frederik : POHL. He has four Hugos.

2. __ cat: baseball variation : ONE O'

4. Obey the coxswain : ROW

5. Lord's Prayer opening : OUR

6. Gillette's __ II : TRAC

9. Opera that premiered in Cairo : AIDA. Nubia.

10. Nestles : SNUGS

11. Mai __: fruity cocktail : TAI. Now I've got to make that ambrosia you guys talked about yesterday. Sounds delicious. No whipped cream though.

12. "Breathing Lessons" novelist Tyler : ANNE

13. Take up, as a homemade costume : RE-HEM

15. Relative's nickname : SIS

17. More smarmy : OILIER

18. Alludes (to) : REFERS

24. __ roast : POT

26. Chatty bird : MYNAH

32. Not many : FEW. It's a great feeling, Jayce, to know that some of my nonsense could be understood by you. You're a awesome Gweilo (Cantonese for "foreigners", literally "ghost man").

33. Not close : FAR

36. GED taker : DROP-OUT

38. Purists : STICKLERS

39. Give a ring : DIAL

40. Bone: Pref. : OSTE

41. More dangerous : RISKIER

43. Old TV production co. : MTM. "Lou Grant".

45. Like the best bet : SUREST

48. Ivory Coast neighbor : GHANA

49. Doesn't act just yet : HESITATES. No hesitation & no inconsistency in front of Roberto.

50. Krypton, for one : GAS

55. Go nowhere in particular : ROAM

56. Nocturnal hunters : OWLS

61. Planter's choice : LOAM

62. River to the Seine : OISE. Just how many many four-letter rivers go to the Seine?

64. Four Corners st. : N MEX

66. Marker feature : FELT TIP

67. "Sounds good to me!" : I'M IN

68. Ambassador's asset : TACT

70. Puts on a coat : PAINTS

71. Son of David : ABSALOM. Third son of King David. I drew a blank.

72. Quite rough : HARSH

77. One can stand to lose it : LAP. Oh, you make a lap when you sit down. Lose it when you stand up. I'm feeling stupid.

79. Early floppy disk size : EIGHT INCH. History.

82. Part of a Latin trio : AMAT. Amo, amas, amat.

83. Brouhaha : TO DO

85. Column begun in 1956 by Pauline Phillips : DEAR ABBY

90. Famous : KNOWN

91. Musical drama : OPERA

92. Title for a guru : SRI

93. Layer : HEN. Hens lay eggs.

94. Blessing elicitor : AH-CHOO

95. Guinea pig, e.g. : RODENT

100. Firewood measure : STERE. I've never baked a potato in a fireplace.

102. Auto insurance giant : GEICO

104. Spot-on : APT

108. Kite attachment : TAIL

110. Barber's stroke : SNIP

111. Ruler deposed in 1979 : SHAH. He had quite a car collection.

113. Teen's affliction : ACNE

114. Scratches (out) : EKES

116. "I'll take that as __" : A NO

117. __ psychology : POP

118. Poet's before : ERE

Answer grid.

C.C.