Sunday January 15, 2012 Peter A. Collins

Theme: Stout and Thin - Parse the title as "ST out and TH in", i.e, ST is replaced with TH in each theme entry.

23A. "My priest has met Pulitzer-winning playwright Henley"? : FATHER KNOWS BETH. Father knows best. Beth Henley.

39A. Dinner served on a wooden strip? : THE LATH SUPPER. The Last Supper.

41A. Blast from Babe? : RUTH BELT. Rust belt. Babe Ruth.

71A. Compliment to a young genius? : WHY YOU LITTLE THINKER. Why you little stinker.

100A. Small compartment for lifting self-esteem? : EGO BOOTH. Ego boost.

102A. Nonsense talk from an inner city? : GHETTO BLATHER. Ghetto blaster.

122A. Reason for foggy coop windows? : BREATH OF CHICKEN. Breast of chicken.

This puzzle title reminds me of Peter Wentz's "Find out" puzzle, in which D is replaced by F in each common phrases. You need to parse the title as "F in/D out".

When constructors place all their theme entries in Across, they can then non-theme Downs which are longer than the shortest theme entries. Peter took full advantage of that and gave us quite a few nice long Downs.

Across:

1. See-through dessert : JELL-O

6. "It's just __ said ..." : AS I

9. Rite site : ALTAR

14. Shooter's setting : F-STOP. Not the gunman "shooter".

19. Oriole-related, e.g. : AVIAN

20. Pugsley, to Gomez : SON. Easy guess. I've never watched "The Addams Family".

21. Carried : BORNE

22. "That's __!": mom's admonition : A NO-NO

26. Hull parts, often : KEELS

27. Gator tail? : ADE. Gatorade. Fun clue.

28. Secant's reciprocal : COSINE

29. Princess from Alderaan : LEIA. "Star Wars".

30. Have a blast, with "up" : EAT IT

31. Outcome : RESULT

33. Greenish-yellow fruit : CITRON. Looks like lemon.

35. Gonzaga University city : SPOKANE

37. Goofballs : NUTS

45. New York Harbor's __ Island : ELLIS

46. Suffix with Carmel : ITE . Carmelites is a "Catholic religious order perhaps founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel, hence its name", according to Wiki. St Teresa was a Carmelite.

47. Green pod : OKRA

48. She walked Asta : NORA. "The Thin Man".

50. Graceful woman : SYLPH

52. Made a jumper, maybe : SEWED

56. Tide during the moon's first quarter : NEAP

57. Star in Virgo : SPICA. Gimme for Spitzboov & Bill G. I drew a blank.

59. Member of the fam : SIS

61. Polynesian drink : KAVA. Sedating.

62. Protect, as during a gym routine : SPOT. I don't get this clue, Dummy.

64. Relieved remark : AT LAST

68. Neat time : GAS. Neat clue.

70. Bill's "excellent adventure" partner : TED. From "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure".

75. Efron of "High School Musical" : ZAC. Here he is. Not the high school boy anymore.

76. What Nixon and Kennedy have in common? : ENS. Do you like this clue?

77. Insect with eyespots on its wings : IO MOTH. No idea. Cute. D-Otto's pig is cute too.

78. Black, to Balzac : NOIR

79. Pitching stats : ERAs

81. Sushi fish : EEL. Ah, food!

83. Risky meeting : TRYST. "Risky" makes it exciting.

85. Lobster meat source : CLAW

88. Bits of progress : DENTS. Make a dent.

90. Uses a Kindle : READS

94. Key with three sharps: Abbr. : A MAJ

95. Premium coffee variety : KONA. From Hawaii.

96. One-eighty : UEY

98. Turn __ ear : A DEAF

107. Son of Isaac : ESAU

108. Verbena family plant : LANTANA. See here.

109. Like magma : MOLTEN

111. Big house locale : ESTATE

115. Columbia et al. : IVIES

116. First light : DAWN

118. Workshop grippers : CLAMPS

120. Novelist Buntline : NED. What did he write?

121. Pola of the silents : NEGRI. Rudolph Valentino's lover.

125. Caused to submit : TAMED

126. Guadalajara-to-Puerto Vallarta dirección : OESTE. "West".

127. __ later date : AT A

128. Hollywood's Hayek : SALMA. Natural beauty.

129. Focused look : STARE. What you guys do to my link above.

130. Director of the last four Harry Potter films : YATES (David)

131. "Can't Help Lovin' __ Man" : DAT

132. Lock on top? : TRESS

Down:

1. "Aladdin" heavy : JAFAR. No idea, Santa!

2. Skirt : EVADE

3. Beers for dieters : LITES

4. __-di-dah : LAH

5. Bridge opening : ONE CLUB. Bridge terms always stump me.

6. More than wonders : ASKS

7. Drive-in chain with carhops : SONIC

8. Complicit : IN ON IT

9. Crunched muscles : ABS

10. Southeastern pine : LOBLOLLY. Oh, so this is called loblolly.

11. Shipbuilding dowel : TREENAIL. Again, not familiar with the term. Do you use them, Splynter/Jerome?

12. No voter : ANTI

13. Go over and over : RE-HASH

14. Deceptions : FAKE-OUTS

15. Preview : SNEAK PEEK. Nice upper right corner.

16. Dancer's technique : TOE TAP

17. Surfing, say : ONLINE

18. Word with board or boy : POSTER

24. Powdered rock used as an abrasive : ROTTEN STONE. Same as pumice stone?

25. "__ people ..." : WE THE. Constitution.

32. Bummed : UNHAPPY

34. Kinfolk: Abbr. : RELs

36. Omega preceder : PSI

38. Sty fare : SLOP

40. Rx amts. : TSPS

41. Friend of Harry and Hermione : RON. "Harry Potter" again.

42. Mandolin kin : UKE

43. Source of an alley racket : TRASH CAN

44. Court event : TRIAL

49. When the Sugar Plum Fairy appears in "The Nutcracker" : ACT II

51. Fan setting : HIGH

53. 1815 battle site : WATERLOO

54. Even once : EVER

55. Senior, to Junior : DAD

58. Guy who's high in a loft? : ALTO. Why "in a loft"?

60. Patron of workers : SAINT JOSEPH. I thought he's the patron of carpenters only.

63. Santana's "__ Como Va" : OYE. Here is a clip.

65. Buck passer, briefly? : ATM. And 66. 65-Down feature : SLOT.

67. Aquarium denizen : TETRA

69. __-cone : SNO

71. Share ending : WARE. Shareware.

72. Manual reader : USER

73. Culinary herb : THYME. I'm guessing this is a common herb in Jayce's or Barry G's family.

74. Oust : KICK OUT

75. Athens : omega :: London : __ : ZED. Last letter in alphabet.

80. Speech therapy candidate : STUTTERER

82. Sharon of "Boston Public" : LEAL

84. Wise : SAGE

86. Pantry annoyance : ANT. Always a welcome sight here at the corner.

87. Nursery cry : WAH

89. Save for later : SET ASIDE

91. '60s Batman portrayer : ADAM WEST

92. Set off : DETONATE

93. Satirist Mort : SAHL

97. Over there, old-style : YON. Hither and yon.

99. Retrieve : FETCH

101. McCartney, notably : BASSIST

102. Flashes : GLINTS

103. Attack, as one's work : HAVE AT

104. Puzzle : ENIGMA

105. Record label founded by Diddy : BAD BOY. Ha, gimme for me.

106. Insert more rounds : RE-LOAD. Ammo.

110. 1990s treaty acronym : NAFTA. U.S.-Mexico-Canada commerce treaty.

112. Electronic monitor site : ANKLE. Ankle monitor. House arrest.

113. Crawls (with) : TEEMS

114. Writer Ferber and others : EDNAs

117. Region : AREA

119. Aspiring GP's exam : MCAT (Medical College Admission Test)

123. Some NFL receivers : TEs (Tight Ends)

124. One in a jam, maybe : CAR. Nice clue too.

Answer grid.

Happy Birthday to KQ!

C.C.

Saturday, Jan 14, 2012, Alan Olschwang

Theme: None

Words: 70

Blocks: 32

5 grid-spanners today from our constructor, whose last Sat LAT puzzle was April 2011. This was another healthy mental workout for me, with just a couple of "ugh" spots of proper names crossing foreign words or abbrs. Our 15-letter entries:

17A. Without delay : AT THE DROP OF A HAT - Scroll down to read about it here

32A. They're hidden in negotiations : ULTERIOR MOTIVES - every single one of them

37A. One with a lot to offer : REAL ESTATE AGENT - a "lot" to offer - good one ~! I need to get in touch with local agents, so I can promote my new Inspection business; I saw this name for an Inspection company yesterday - "Sure Lock Homes"; thought it was a locksmith's truck at first....

38A. Cousins of flares : BELL BOTTOM PANTS - Image

52. Rail campaign, traditionally : WHISTLE STOP TOUR - a little history here, and a side note that the color of UPS trucks is called "Pullman Brown"

Yes, No, Maybe, Not ~??

Onward ~!

ACROSS:

1. "Vexations" composer : SATIE - Don't like to start on a Proper Name; sparse piano piece

6. Offers : BID PRICES - not a fan of eBay, but it's OK in crosswords

15. Collision sound : CLACK - Makes me think of Terry Pratchett's "communications" system

16. Annoy the director : OVER-EMOTE

19. Backstabber : RAT

20. __ Arann: Dublin-based carrier : AER - WAG, of Aer Lingus type

21. Communicates, in a way : SIGNS - using your hands, for the deaf, e.g.

22. __ rich : FILTHY

25. Nice noodle? : TETE - French, the city of Nice (neece)

26. "The Prague Cemetery" author : ECO (Umberto)- Crossed with "biblical mount" ??? - Eh

27. Dope : POOP

29. First mate? : EVE - Adam's mate

39. GPS heading : SSE

40. Apparently are : SEEM

41. Egg head? : OVI

42. Office stamp : REC'D - I like to "over-pronounce" when I fill in crosswords; hence, this is "Wrecked"

44. Common soccer result : ONE-NIL - my dad is a monster soccer fan, so I hear on the TV all the time a "gripping one nil victory for Manchester ~!!!" ( 1-0 )

47. Express a view : OPINE

49. Classified letters after a number : RMS - I actually do not get this at all - my first thought was Rms, for hotel rooms, then I thought it was speaker output rating; and now I wonder if it's the reference to a British ship

51. Horned grazer : GNU

56. They may be competing : INTERESTS

57. Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Anne __ von Otter : SOFIE - a half WAG; I had the --FIE part

58. Chucks : TOSSES OUT - Do we all use the word 'chuck' in this sense? I know it's common here on Long Island

59. Examines closely : SIFTS

DOWN:

1. Secret Santa gift : SCARF - Never been in a Secret Santa; my mom, as a teacher, was often involved - but never got or gave a scarf

2. Asia's __ Mountains : ALTAI - take a gander

3. Revealing : TATTLE-TALE - adjective, in this moment

4. Hessian pronoun : ICH

5. Obtain the hard way, with "out" : EKE

6. Drill : BORE

7. Composer Novello of British theatre : IVOR

8. Passbook abbr. : DEPosit - that kind of passbook

9. Many a Rilke work : PROSE POEM - Rainer Maria Rilke

10. Overhaul, as in dry dock : REFIT

11. Celeb's concern : IMAGE

12. Rosenberg trial attorney Roy : COHN

13. They may change during flights: Abbr. : ETAs

14. Ready : SET

18. Word with trip or light : DAY

23. Immune response component : T-CELL

24. Biblical mount : HOREB - Not up on my Bible - more here

25. Oater omen : TOM-TOM - the "injuns" are mounting an attack DUM - dum - doo-doo

27. Blotto : POTTED - Sunday marked 7 years since I was "potted, blotto, wasted", etc.

28. Be bombastic, perhaps : ORATE

29. Barkeep's respite : EVENING OFF - does he go to the bar anyway? I used to on my night off....

30. Blow off steam : VENT

31. Ballpark figs. : ESTimatesS

32. Metro regions : URBS - metropolitan/urban

33. Bottom of the barrel : LEES

34. Symmetrical, in a way : ISOSCELES - the Triangle; how many can you find?


35. Hit lightly : TAP ON

36. "__ my love ..." : I GAVE

42. Gets promotions : RISES - possible I might be getting one

43. __ nous : ENTRE - 'Frawnsh', again

44. Spanish bear : OSO

45. Arctic language : INUIT

46. Attractive aspects of fishing? : LURES

47. "Aaugh!" : OH NO

48. Worst : PITS

49. Alphabet string : RSTU - I'm OK with this

50. __ Helens, Wash. : MT. ST. - the volcano

52. 1999 Pulitzer-winning play by Margaret Edson : WIT

53. "__ Beso": Anka hit : ESO

54. Some email enders : PSs - Have you ever added a P.S. to an email, or just wrote another one?

55. French pronoun : TOI - Eh, you know how I feel; seems like French is more frequent at the beginning of the year~?

Answer grid.

For those who are wondering, my paperwork is in for the promotion at UPS, but no word yet - and I got a real cell phone at last ~! Yea~! It works as a phone, everywhere, and all the features work - joy~!

Splynter

Note from C.C.:

1) Congratulations to Splynter on the impending promotion and new cell phone. You deserve both!

2) Happy Birthday to dear JD. Hope it's a day full of wonders and love. Look at her adorable grandsons.