Sunday Feb 5, 2012 Mark Bickham

Theme: Undercover Copse - Different tree spans each theme entry.

26A. *Supercorporation's revenues : GLOBAL SALES. Balsa.

32A. *Lithium or sodium, e.g. : ALKALI METAL. Lime.

45A. *House arrestee's device : ANKLE MONITOR. Lemon.

55A. *One blowing off steam : TEA KETTLE. Teak. Great clue. Vivid image.

69A. Different ones are hidden in 12 starred answers : TREES. Dead center in the middle of the grid.

79A. *Having one Corkonian parent, maybe : HALF-IRISH. Fir. Any Irish blood in your vein, Steve?

90A. *Liable to spontaneously combust : SELF IGNITING. Fig. Trader Joe's Fig Butter is so good.

101A. *"Gypsy" star : ETHEL MERMAN. Elm.

108A. *Freud essay based on a mythical monster : MEDUSA'S HEAD. Ash.

3D. *Cereal pitched by a trio : COCOA KRISPIES. Oak.

16D. *Popular music magazine VIP : SPIN EDITOR. Pine. The Spin magazine. This answer, or Vogue/Elle/People editor for that matter, does not feel solid to me. Tough to come up with a PINE span though.

60D. *Place to go to launch in Florida : CAPE CANAVERAL. Pecan.

74D. *"Dallas" character who died in Pam's season-long dream : BOBBY EWING. Yew.

Love the title. Love the variety of trees. Much more interesting than the old style all ELM-hidden puzzle.

Of the 12 trees, quite a few are short 3-letter trees, some can actually be tougher to span than the longer trees.

Across:

1. Voice of Mr. Magoo : BACKUS (Jim). I drew a blank.

7. Eponymous German aeronaut : ZEPPELIN

15. "Baloney!" : PSHAW

20. Immediately : AT ONCE

21. __ Fagan, Billie Holiday's birth name : ELEANORA. Used this in one of our published puzzles.

22. Left on board : APORT

23. San __: holiday VIP, in Italy : NICOLA. Italian for St Nickolas.

24. Pudding starches : TAPIOCAS. Spell Check does not like the pluralized form.

25. Stuns at the altar : JILTS

28. Ladd and Freed : ALANs

30. Shot : STAB

31. Hi-__ monitor : RES

38. Singer Minogue : KYLIE. She dated the "Unfaithful" Olivier Martinez for a few years. Now, look at her legs, don't google, can you guess how tall she is?

40. Clever comeback : BON MOT

42. Villain's demise, usually : BAD END

43. Water filter brand : PUR

48. Pupil's place : IRIS. Not the classroom.

49. Final words : EPILOG

51. 1997 U.S. Open champ : ELS (Ernie)

52. Latin clarifier : ID EST. ie.

54. Music symbols : RESTS

59. Half of a rhyming incantation : HOCUS. Hocus-pocus.

63. Stadium souvenirs : CAPS. LaLaLinda, do you also stand in line for hours just get a stadium giveaway bobblehead?

64. Taipan's frypan : WOK. Taipan = "Big Boss" in Cantonese. Tai = Big. Pan = Boss. In Mandarin, it's Da Ban. Quite different.

65. ''Star Wars'' royalty : LEIA

66. "The Story of Civilization" co-author Ariel or Will : DURANT

67. Verdi's "__ tu" : ERI

68. Boomer's kid, probably : XER

71. Cacophony : DIN

72. Prefix with perfect : PLU. Pluperfect.

73. Military school freshmen : PLEBES

75. Hammer end : PEEN

76. Chicken __ : POX

77. Near-eternity : AEON. I finally got my Lady Gaga pink lipstick.

78. Chicken supplier to much of the fast-food industry : TYSON

82. Record holder? : EX-CON. Oh, criminal record.

83. Eddie of men's clothing : BAUER

85. Battleship letters : USS

86. Butterflies : UNEASE

87. Ruiner of a perfect report card : ONE B

95. Springfield's Flanders : NED. "The Simpsons".

96. Draft again : RE-TYPE

98. Some navels : OUTIES

99. Narrow groove : STRIA. So, what's its plural? Strias? Striae?

103. NBA position : CTR

104. "South Park" rating : TV-MA

107. Every seven days : A WEEK

112. Frenzy : MANIA

114. Alcohol, vis-à-vis driving ability : IMPAIRER. Not a welcome ER word.

118. Unpolished : COARSE

119. Clubs for pros : IRONS. Golf pros.

120. Little biters : NIBBLERS

121. Protect in glass, say : ENCASE

122. Hogwash : BILGE

123. It may be regular : GASOLINE

124. Vegas job : DEALER.

Down:

1. Beatles hair style : BANGS. I've been wearing blunt bangs forever.

2. Not straight up : ATILT

4. Like some knees : KNOBBY

5. Bruins' sch. : UCLA

6. Signet-bearing jewelry : SEAL RING

7. Zorba's snore? : ZETAS. "Zzzzz ..." in Greek. I don't think Zorba himself could get this answer.

8. Skyward, in Hebrew : EL AL

9. Toon Le Pew : PEPE

10. Buddy : PAISANO. Close to "peasant" in French.

11. Ambient music pioneer : ENO (Brian)

12. Opp. of express : LOC

13. "Deathtrap" dramatist Levin : IRA

14. Twangy : NASAL

15. __ bottoms : PAJAMA. Do you all wear pajamas to sleep? I can't stand them.

17. Piece keeper : HOLSTER. Nice clue.

18. "All __ is but imitation of nature": Seneca : ART

19. Mg. and kg. : WTs

27. Go after : SEEK

29. Free, in France : LIBRE

33. K-O connection : LMN

34. Japanese carp : KOI. Here is a quiet koi pond. Do you like Zen-feel, Creature?

35. Fifth-century scourge : ATTILA. The Hun.

36. Songwriter DiFranco : ANI

37. Mormons, initially : LDS

39. Landlocked Asian country : LAOS

40. Composer Bartók : BELA

41. Siberian city : OMSK. Over a million people there.

43. Mental impression : PERCEPT. More familiar with perception.

44. Catching the worm? : UP EARLY. I'm an early riser. Dennis also. Marti too. I think. Argyle is a saint. He does not sleep.

46. Onion relative : LEEK

47. Lyrical tribute : ODE

50. Sgt.'s superiors : LTs

53. Duck : SHUN

55. Craggy crest : TOR. Here is all you need to know about TOR. Click Archive, you'll find all the little words in alphabetical order. Don't forget the Clever Clue of the Month. Lots of gems in Paul's website.

56. 1985 Kate Nelligan title role : ELENI. The Nicholas Gage memoir. I don't know the actress.

57. Athletic supporter? : TEE. Why question mark?

58. It's in an old way : 'TIS

61. Set free : UNLOOSE

62. In awe : STUNNED

64. Guitar great Montgomery : WES. Splynter can tell you more about him.

66. Twice cinq : DIX. Ten in French.

68. TV princess : XENA

69. Business card no. : TEL

70. Foul caller : REF

71. "Stupid me!" : DOH

75. Bingo setting : PARLOR

76. Soft attention-getter : PSST

77. Can : AXE

79. Bit of a giggle : HEE

80. Mysterious character : RUNE. I was picturing a person.

81. Fertility goddess : ISIS

82. M.I.T. grad, often : ENGR

84. "I'm here to help" : USE ME

86. Like calls whose source isn't determined : UNTRACED

87. Rush find : ORE. Gold rush.

88. Pay in your pocket : NET

89. Still product : ETHANOL. Tricky "Still".

91. Giant sound : FUM. "Fee, fi, fo, fum".

92. Call-day link : IT A

93. Cheap saloon : GIN MILL

94. Adherents' suffix : ISTs

97. "The magic word" : PLEASE

100. Cornell University city : ITHACA. Bill G's alma mater. Argyle went there too.

102. Squeezing (out) : EKING

103. Hex : CURSE

105. Tricky billiards shot : MASSE. Also CAROM.

106. Run like __ : A DEER

109. "... kissed thee __ killed thee": Othello : ERE I

110. "Jurassic Park" co-star : DERN (Laura)

111. Acoustical unit : SONE. Learned from doing Xword.

112. Marble not used as a shooter : MIB. Shooting marble clues/answers always drive me bananas. TAW is another one.

113. Jackie's "O" : ARI

115. "Mamma __!" : MIA

116. "Nova" network : PBS

117. Blood system letters : ABO

Answer grid.

Sad news about our LAT constructor Gary Steinmehl, who passed away last Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. Gary had over 200 crosswords puzzles published by LA Times, NY Times, NY Sun, USA Today, etc. Read my interview with him here. Thanks for the puzzles and inspiration, Gary!

C.C.

Saturday, Feb 4th, 2012, James Sajdak

Theme: None

Words: 68

Blocks: 32

I'm DEAF ~!!! Just came back from a live show, great bands, including my buddy's original tunes group, "Evil Eye", which I think played out for the first time tonight. Came home, jumped right into this puzzle, and it was a "BEHEMOTH"....Lots of really obscure names and concepts, some I had to drag up from the depths of my brain. Looked bleak, but in the end, I finished under my personal time, but not without red-letter help in the SE corner - I just did not know three foreign words and a fictional (?) city. Oh well, every now and then I need to be 'sacked' by a Saturday constructor.

Two spanners, one climber;

17A. Blue chip, e.g. : SOUND INVESTMENT - A list of some; and speaking of --- BLUE --- Sorry, BarryG....Brady needs to get sacked, too ~!

55A. Fitness ideal : PICTURE OF HEALTH - Here's my guys playing tonight - such a picture of health, right???

8D. "You look familiar ..." : HAVE WE MET BEFORE? Didn't try this line with any of the "metal chicks" that were there tonight - they all seemed to be "taken"

Onward ~!

ACROSS:

1. Monster : BEHEMOTH - I like MONSTER, the drink; it's what I have when I go out instead of anything alcoholic

9. "Doesn't anyone else see this?" : IS IT ME ?

15. Ivory tower milieu : ACADEMIA

16. Ottoman officials : PASHAs

19. It's south of Vesuvius : ETNA

20. Vermont ski resort : OKEMO - trail map....how's the skiing, HeartRx ?

21. Bar choice : SODA - these days, it's my choice if I don't smuggle in a Monster

22. URL part : DOT - Had "COM" first

23. Lamb kin : EWE

24. Flushed : RED

25. Small change, maybe : ONES - Had "CENT" first

27. Réunion attendee : FRERE - Had "ONCLE" first; the é implies French, so I went with Uncle, turned out to be Brother

29. Job transfer consequence, for short : RELOcation

30. Winner of the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Music : NED ROREM - One of those "seen it in crosswords before" answers

32. Incan herd members : LLAMAS - I think they look cool, but I like their camel cousins better

34. Artisan : TRADESMAN - I consider myself a tradesman; actually have some work to post to my other blog

36. Horn of Africa native : SOMALI

39. Disney character voiced by Robby Benson : THE BEAST - Er, this guy

43. Spacewalks, for short : EVAs - Extra Vehicular Activities

44. Bargaining side : LABOR - Right now, I am on "THIS" side of the bargaining table; I am still waiting to hear about the "DARK SIDE" (management) position....

46. Uruguay's Punta del __ : ESTE

47. Pump choice: Abbr. : REGular - Gasoline, octane

48. Augsburger's article : DER - Not "EIN"

49. Neapolitan crowd? : TRE - Italian 'three'

50. Spring bloomer : IRIS - Not "LILY"

52. Soft bunches : TUFTS - tough clue to understand until you get it; 'soft bunches' of what?

54. Foot massage expert? : POET - Anyone else think of Pulp Fiction here ?  Poetry is usually written in "feet", a basic metrical unit in Western verse

58. 17th/18th-century division of New France : ACADIA

59. Motel posting : ROOM RATE

60. Grammer with Emmys : KELSEY - This guy, who won for Frasier, the show and the character; he's not a Grammy with an Emmer....

61. Intern, often : E.R. DOCTOR

DOWN:

1. Adaptation words : BASED ON - like the film was a adapted from the book; "Bladerunner" was BASED ON Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

2. Transition zone between plant communities : ECOTONE - Straight up definition

3. Obsessed : HAUNTED

4. Poet __ St. Vincent Millay : EDNA - another name from the depths of my crossword knowledge

5. NSAID, e.g. : MED - Non-Steroid Anti-Inflammatory Drug

6. "__ babbino caro": "Oh my beloved father" (Puccini) : O MIO - Tough to parse in the vertical

7. Monkeyed (with) : TINKERED

9. __ fatso: bit of Archie Bunker language-mangling : IPSO

10. Didn't play : SAT

11. Creeds : -ISMs

12. Euclidean proposal : THEOREM

13. Honoree of a six-meter-high Johannesburg statue : MANDELA

14. Oaxaca y Veracruz : ESTADOS

18. Part of FEMA: Abbr. : EMER

26. Guayaquil girls: Abbr. : SRTAs

27. Delicate : FRAIL

28. Iconic bull : ELMER - El Tor? El Cid? Oh, DUH....



29. Indian princess : RANEE

31. Team that plays in Fla.'s Amway Center : ORLando

33. Chocolate companion? : LABrador - the dogs, my friends

35. An abbreviation of : SHORT FOR

36. LPGA star who is the youngest living World Golf Hall of Fame inductee : SE RI PAK - total unknown, but a great CW fill; more HERE

37. Not neat : OVER ICE - Hell, NO, right Tin???

38. Mysteriously enchanting : MAGICAL

40. Elaine's home, in Arthurian legend : ASTOLAT - CAMELOT fit, which didn't help; here's the WIKI

41. Close overlap of fugue voices : STRETTO - New musical term for me; again, the WIKI

42. Ring around a crib? : TEETHER - cute, the baby's mouthpiece

45. Score words for a pair : ADUE

51. Criteria: Abbr. : STDs

52. Caterer's delivery : TRAY

53. Like many horses : SHOD - not "SHOW"

54. Seurat's Seine scene : PARC - DAH ~!! F'n French got me again; I tried BANC, thought I was all clever....

56. Road reversal, familiarly : UIE - seen it as "UEY", too, but essentially, a U-TURN

57. Punk rock offshoot : EMO

Also wanted to add that the other bands that played tonight were an Iron Maiden cover band, "Live After Death", and a Zeppelin cover band, "Black Dog" - check them out, too ~!!

Answer grid.

Splynter

Friday, February 3, 2012, David Steinberg

Theme: IN RE FRIDAY. The letters RE are placed In front of the second word of phrases in the language, creating a new and scintillating expression. This puzzle appears to be the LAT debut of the NYT wunderkid DAVID STEIN-BERG who while in middle school at 14, had his first NYT puzzle published. I am so impressed by this and his other work, considering his age and varied knowledge. The theme is simple, but he packed lots of letter 2 11's, 2 13's and the grid-spanning middle. Two of the theme fill are very witty and the puzzle is not filled with teenage trivia, like rappers or JWOW. Let's get to work.

17A. Communications problem?: PHONE RECALL. Like some iPhones.

20A. Summary of a shrinking mass? POLAR ICE RECAP. The Polar Ice Cap revisited.

36A. Title for the longest bridge?: EXTENSION RECORD. I hope you all plugged into the theme by this point.

50A. Construction site order?: RAISE THE REBAR. We all remember the use of rebar to reinforce.

57A. Hardly the award for Chernobyl?: BEST REACTOR. Sick nuclear disaster humor; I like this kid.

So now we examine the rest of his effort.

Across:

1. Pre-Columbian Indians: INCAS. Were all up and down the west coast of South America, if you want to know more, read this LINK.

6. Went headfirst, maybe: SLID. Pete Rose comes to mind.

10. Persian, for one: CAT. Pretty but they shed and destroy those with dander allergies.

13. Wild weather: STORM. My favorite LINK.(2:14)

14. Heavy reading: TOMES. The other half of pithy from earlier this week.

16. Suffix with Seattle: ITE. Our constructor is from Washington State.

19. Sleep acronym: REM. Rapid Eye Movement. What happens when you dream.

22. Capital of Colorado?: CEE. The letter which is capitalized. Not capital.

24. T designation: LGE. T shirt size.

25. Marlin's son, in a 2003 film: NEMO. Marlin, voiced by Albert Brooks, is Nemo's father and Coral is Nemo's mother. Both are clownfish.

26. Caused an insurrection: UPROSE. Hence uprising.

28. Court maneuver: PIVOT. Basketball court.

32. Jungle noise: ROAR. She is woman.

33. Characterize : DESCRIBE. A literal clue and fill.

40. Two-part answer: YES AND NO. Do you love this puzzle?

41. Vet: EX-GI. Great letter combo with fair clue.

42. Bangkok natives: THAIS. You heard of the ones who liked using string. The Thais that bind.

43. Pennsylvania home of Lafayette College: EASTON. More famous to me for the ASSASSIN.

45. Control: TAME. You can slow him down, but you cannot keep him down.

48. Well-chosen: APT. The In Re theme was well chosen for me.

49. Colorado native: UTE.

56. Signs of press conference uncertainty: UMS. Gee, ahh, you know...

60. Type of screen, briefly: LCD. Liquid Crystal Display. Not to be confused with LSD.(see 37D).

61. Put down: WRITE. C'mon put down your thoughts on paper and give them to me. But don't put me down when you do. Put me down for two tickets.

62. Prey catcher: TALON. Eagles Falcons, and not from the NFL.

63. "__-hoo! : YOO. The drink?

64. Marine: Abbr.: NAUT.ical.

65. City south of Florence: SIENA. Part of TUSCANY. Also San Gimigiano from Martha Grimes and Melrose Plant. With 4D. Florence's river ARNO. LINK

Down:

1. Co. for surfers: ISP. Internet Service Provider. web not water surfers.

2. Degree in math?: NTH. Soundth right to me.

3. Work together: COOPERATE. We Corner denizens try.

5. Is suspicious: SMELLS. Something smells rotten in Denmark. Our Will reference of the day.

6. Firewood measure: STERE. The old metric name for a cubic meter. In the US we do our cut wood in cords.

7. Activity centers : LOCI. Just Latin for Place..

8. Apple's G5, e.g.: iMAC. Any of you own one?

9. Take out: DELE. Before you get all nit and picky, this is a WORD, not an abbreviation.

10. Enchantress who lived on the island Aeaea: CIRCE. Which relates to 21D. Draws in: ENTICES. Do you all remember the SIRENS link with ELLE?

11. Starters: A-TEAM. When I had the ATE, I was confused trying to recall a two letter appetizer.

12. Presto, for one: TEMPO. JzB, can you teach all our choices?

15. 35mm camera initials: SLR.. single-lens reflex. The name derives from the reflection of the image.

18. Continue violently: RAGE. A dangerous thing.

22. Medicine, one would hope: CURE. Seldom the case, more likely to find something for you to take for the rest of your days.

23. Modeling aid: EPOXY. A strong glue, but Dennis and his hobby store can tell you more.

27. Agamemnon's avenger: ORESTES. My sons FIL and a great piece of MYTHOLOGY.

28. Lowly workers: PEONS. It is not true this word comes from describing the poor serfs who were outside the wall when the Lords and Ladies had to relieve themselves.

29. "This __ joke!": IS NO. I know nut I am trying hard to get there.

30. Taper?: VCR. You, the machine which tapes.

31. Its processing produces slag: ORE. Isn't slag a great word, and a new way to clue a cw staple.

33. Actress Conn: DIDI. A semi call out to our own FRENCHIE, Conn's character in GREASE.

34. Critter in a domed shell: BOX TURTLE.A North American species which like man, eats pretty much everything it can catch.

35. Cereal killer: ERGOT. Really fun clue to describe this disease that attacks plants, especially grains like Rye. It is the root of LSD, and may have created the Salem witch hysteria. If you want to know more you can go to this LINK, or maybe you want to try some LSD? 37D. "Forget it!": NAH.

38. "'Twas white then as the new-fa'en __": Alexander Anderson: SNA. Snow in the highlands. I miss CA and her poems, anyway AA wrote the classic CUDDLE DOON.

39. Thing to do in style: DINE. Bill G. has recounted many a fine meal here.

43. Foil alternative: EPEE. With the saber, the three fencing swords.

44. Diamond turns: AT BATS. Baseball diamond.

45. For real: TRULY.

46. Transmission repair franchise: AAMCO. Luckily for you all I could not find the double A M C O jingle.

47. Screw up: MIS DO. In Game of Thrones, people mislike, not dislike.

48. Stop on the Métro?: ARRET. Our French lesson of the day, the word just mean stop, but the accent aigu tells you it is French.

51. "Charlotte's Web" monogram: EBW. Elwyn Brooks White, who also wrote of Stuart Little and Elements of Style.

52. Beach flier: TERN. Relatives of the Gulls, but not this SONG (4:02).

53. Yu the Great's dynasty: HSIA. I defer to you C.C., as I thought his was the XIA dynasty. (From C.C.: Xia (Mandarin) and Hsia (Cantonese) are the same. Xia means "summer". Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Tang... order of Chinese dynasties. Hence my Mandarin name Zhou Qin, two of the consecutive dynasties whose capital was in Xi'An, where I grew up.)

54. Famous last words: ET TU. Brutus.

55. Berry used as a dietary supplement: ACAI. The miracle drug of the internet; if I were paid for every unwanted ad I received on this very blue berry...

58. Bass ending: OON. Our musical clue; not to be confused with the OBOE.

59. Protein-building polymer: RNA. Polymer is from the Greek POLY meaning many, MER parts; it is now associated with large molecules with repeating structure. Beyond that, ask our scientists.

Answer grid.

Well another Lemonade special in the books, it was fun, but a 15 year old? Why was I not doing this then? More winter in PA and early spring in WI? Have a great week all and welcome David; I know it must be past your bedtime, but we will talk in the morning.