Friday, September 25, 2015, Amy Johnson

Theme: That joke went over like a lead balloon.

Amy J. comes to Friday after many Sunday and Monday LAT appearances. A conventional Friday with humorous clue/fill combinations based on the nature of certain professions. All are witty, but not laugh out loud for me. The puzzle also had some unknowns, and some very difficult cluing in places as well lots of longish fill like HOFFMAN, KODIAKS, RETORTS,  UP TO PAR, PRISTINE, STEAMERS, FULLY GROWN, IN THE STARS. I will be interested to see what you all thought of this puzzle with no gimmicks, just challenges; so let's go.

20A. The joke at the audiologists' convention __ : FELL ON DEAF EARS (14). Is this insensitive?

26A. The joke at the chemists' convention __ : GOT NO REACTION (13). My favorite.

44A. The joke at the firefighters' convention __ : WENT UP IN SMOKE (13). This burned me up.

52A. The joke at the cashiers' convention __ : DID NOT REGISTER (14). Cash registers really do not exist in most stores.

Across :

1. Better protected : SAFER.

6. "Poppycock!" : PISH. I was surprised to learn this term came from the 1500s, with so many modern versions (pish posh, pish tosh, pish and tish etc.)

10. Badlands Natl. Park site : SDAK. Be careful of all the outlaws in South Dakota.

14. Coarse : CRUDE.

15. Suspicious of : ON TO. I think of suspicious as not knowing for sure, and onto as being sure.

16. Pup follower? : TENT.  The HISTORY. Apparently the Civil War soldiers who used them thought when set up they looked like a kennel.

17. Up for grabs, in a way : UNLET. Really tenuous tenant connection, very hard for short fill.

18. Lit. intro : PREFace.

19. "Willard" antagonists : RATS. I thought they were the stars?

23. Solo, say : FLY. All pilots look for their first solo flight.

24. Indian author Santha Rama __ : RAU. I have never been aware of this WRITER.

25. Century-starting year : MMCI. In her NYT debut, Amy commented she did not like using Roman numerals; random answers like this are the problem.

32. Not treat lightly : STRESS.

34. Normandy river : ORNE. Just one the many four letter European rivers you need to know to do puzzles.

35. "Defending Our Nation. Securing The Future" org. : NSA. They not only protect but they create puzzles for BILL G and others. LINK.

36. __ swings : MOOD.

37. "POV" airer : PBS. My TV watching is way down but THIS has promise.

38. Extreme degrees : NTHS.

39. "The Trumpet of the Swan" monogram : EBW.
Not as famous as Stuart Little perhaps but an E.B. White children's book which is also a movie.

40. Boxed dozen : JURY. Really nice Friday misdirection as no doughnuts or bagels here and juror do sit in the box.

42. Vail topper : SKI HAT. One of the many Colorado resorts. CSO our missing miss m.

47. Part of a friskiness metaphor : OATS. All you wanted to know about sowing WILD ones.

48. Jersey's chew : CUD. Very cute cow clue, not an old Soprano's reference

49. "The Simpsons" leisure suit wearer : STU.

56. Not even close : COLD. From the old, am I getting closer game.

57. Lightest meson : PION. Someone please explain to me as my knowledge is just from wiki.  In particle physics, a pion (or a pi meson, denoted with the Greek letter pi: π) is any of three subatomic particles: π0, π+, and π−. Each pion consists of a quark and an antiquark and is therefore a meson

58. Ex-TV host Stewart : ALANA. Married to Rod and George Hamilton

59. Kick back : LOLL.

60. Required bet : ANTE.

61. "R.U.R." writer Capek : KAREL. With JzB's write up Wednesday, everyone should know this author and his famous play which introduced the word ROBOT.

62. Language that gave us "bard" : ERSE. If you want the 'simple' answer, wiki says Erse can be: an alternative name for any Goidelic language, especially Irish, from Erische. a 16th-19th Century Scots name for Scottish Gaelic.

63. Old Royale 8's : REOS. An impressive looking car.

64. Gambling aids: Abbr. : SYSTSems. I know many a poor man who designed a 'perfect' blackjack system.

Down

1. Shining target : SCUFF. My mind went to the movies, not my shoes.

2. Journey frontman Pineda : ARNEL. How do you replace Steve Perry? Apparently with a 5'4" Filipino singer. LINK.

3. Mature : FULLY GROWN. I like this fill even if Arnel and I never got very tall.

4. Henry James biographer : EDEL. This multi-volume work was Leon's career. LINK. Having this name and Arnel crossing made getting the first theme fill very tricky.

5. Backtalk : RETORTS.

6. The Carpenters, e.g. : POP DUO. Her life was so tragic.

7. Regarding : IN RE. Latin.

8. Mississippi travelers : STEAMERS. The river, not the state. Not sure I have heard the term used this way.

9. "Meet the Fockers" co-star : HOFFMAN. Dustin and Barbra were pretty entertaining.

10. Channel relative : STRAIT.

11. Word John doesn't want to see? : DEAR. The kiss off letter.

12. They're seen in columns : ANTS. This old trick did not fool me this time.

13. Lapidary's meas. : KTS. A lapidary is a person who cuts, polishes, or engraves gemstones and KT is the abbreviation for the purity of gold (karat) not the weight of gems (carat). Hmmm.

21. Some flatbreads : NANS.

22. Nero's "Behold!" : ECCE. Latin.

27. Ref. shelf filler : OED. Oxford English Dictionary.

28. Singer Rihanna's first name : ROBYN. No idea. This Barbados born GIRL has been awesomely successful.

29. Where a love story may be written : IN THE STARS. Star-crossed lovers, the Fault in Our Stars...all too sad.

30. Workers' rights org. : OSHA,  Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

31. Tweed lampooner : NAST. The political cartoonist. READ.

32. Drake, maybe : SMEW. We have had this duck before, though many might of thought about Serena Williams' boyfriend who started on Degrassi.

33. Start of a dramatic question : TO BE or not to be. A small does of WS.

37. Like new snow : PRISTINE. Such clean perfect fill.

38. End to peace? : NIK. Beat...Neat...This suffix comes from the Eastern European word meaning "one who" but some credit its popularity to the launch of the Sputnik.

40. Evita's man : JUAN. Peron...they liked poodles.

41. As expected : UP TO PAR. As opposed to over par, par value and other reasons why English is so hard to learn.

42. Complacent : SMUG. I like this word.

43. Grizzly Alaskans? : KODIAKS. Can you bear these clues?

45. Walk wearing Luvs : TODDLE.

46. Dramatic units : SCENES.

50. Principle : TENET.

51. Dividing range : URALS. They divide Europe and Asia, but my mind went to Australia first.

52. When one __ closes ... : DOOR. Another hits you in the....on your way out.

53. Hardly blessed events : ILLS. meh.

54. Till opener : ROTO. A motorized way to turn your soil.

55. Crack up : SLAY. The reactions when the jokes are funny.

56. NFL team with a home field bleachers section called the Dawg Pound : CLEveland Browns. The second generation, they often wear dog masks.

Welcome to Friday Amy, look forward to more. Thanks everyone and I hope you are enjoying fall.

Thursday, September 24, 2015 Timothy L. Meaker

Theme: How about a LIFT?

The only question on this fine puzzle was whether Timothy was going to group the first or second words of the starred clues below for the theme.

Across starred clues

1. *Subject of a San Francisco museum : CABLE CAR - A mobile National Landmark

37. *Unpretentious : OLD SHOE - The billionaire "Oracle of Omaha" fits this description

Down starred clues

12. *Torque-providing component : DRIVE SHAFT - Gets the RPM's from the engine to the wheels

28. *Big band genre : SWING MUSIC - Miller, Kaye, Goodman, et al

It turns out he was going for the second words using this reveal:

66. Office building feature, which can precede the ends of the answers to starred clues: ELEVATOR - (LIFT to our resident Brits)

ELEVATOR CAR - Here's one for your, uh, car

ELEVATOR SHAFT - Bruce Willis in just such a place in Die Hard

ELEVATOR MUSIC - Upscale version

ELEVATOR SHOE - Vive la différence

Across         

9. Speculate : WONDER - "I WONDER, WONDER who, be-do-do who, Who wrote the book of love"

15. Intimate meeting : ONE-ON-ONE - Kobe in an intimate ONE-ON-ONE

16. Reluctant : AVERSE

17. Five-pointed, say : STARLIKE

18. Coordinated health program : REGIME - I prefer the word REGIMEN here. Harvard comma redux, anyone?

19. Ticked-off state : IRE

20. Honorary law deg. : LLD - Doctor of Laws (Canon and Civil), hence the two L's. Can also be honorary

21. Debussy contemporary : RAVEL - Most of all remember what happened in this scene with RAVEL's Bolero in the background

22. December purchase for many : TREE - It's been artificial TREES for us our entire marriage

24. Singer Lenya married to Kurt Weill : LOTTE - Kurt's wife LOTTE LENYA is immortalized in his most famous song Mack The Knife

26. Stood the test of time : LASTED

29. Damage : MAR

30. "¿Cómo __?" : ESTA - My Hispanic friend always answers "Muy Bien". She's aware I probably wouldn't understand any other response.

33. Egyptian city on the Nile : ASWAN - Its dam as seen from space 

34. Clever : CUTE

35. Laugh syllable : HAR - End of a Ralph Kramden line

36. Deflategate letters : PSI - Per Sq. In. As it turned out, much NFL ado about nothing this off season

40. 1970 Jackson 5 chart topper : ABC - "Simple as ABC, 1, 2, 3, Do Re Mi, Baby You and Me"

41. __ Andreas Fault : SAN - The plate on the ocean side is carrying LA north @ 1.3 "/yr. It could  be a suburb of San Francisco in a few million years!

42. Works in un museo : ARTE - Art in a Spanish Museum

43. M16, for one : RIFLE 

45. Sharpen : EDGE - At the nursery, we used honing stones to put an EDGE on our knives

47. Half a Western couple : ROY - Roy and Trigger?

48. Less than broadcast : HINTED - Literal me prefers not to have something HINTED at

49. Polite title : MADAM - Dolly played a MADAM named Miss Mona in this film

51. Fermented beverage usually served warm : SAKE

52. Take five : PAUSE 

54. N.L. East team : ATL - BOS Braves, MIL Braves and now ATL Braves

55. Nutritional stat : RDA

58. Steal, Western-style : RUSTLE - Even today in Iowa

60. Random way to decide : COIN TOSS

63. Bay windows : ORIELS - Not a stranger here

64. Arrived at, Western-style : RODE INTO - Silly riddle - "A cowboy RODE INTO town on Friday, stayed three days and rode out on Friday" How? Answer below.

65. Rite-related : SACRAL

Down

1. Right triangle ratio: Abbr. : COS - COSINE = Adjacent side/Hypotenuse ratio

2. Naysayer : ANTI - The word that drives our partisan Congress

3. Really hard test : BEAR

4. Lynn with the album "I Remember Patsy" : LORETTA -  Before she played Mrs. Clark Griswold, Beverly d'Angelo was Patsy Cline in Coal Miners Daughter

5. Phot. lab request : ENL - Enlarge

6. Ready to strike : COILED

7. Bracelet site : ANKLE - Yeah, I put WRIST first too

8. Sax, e.g. : REED 

9. Simple card game : WAR - High card wins

10. Out in the open : OVERT - As opposed to HINTED

11. Prove false : NEGATE 

13. Salinger title 13-year-old : ESME - For ESME - With Love And Squalor

14. Rod attachment : REEL

23. Clinton's attorney general : RENO - Janet got the high profile Elian Gonzalez and Waco Compound cases

24. Shop class fixture : LATHE - C.C.'s favorite use of a LATHE

25. Longtime Hydrox competitor : OREO

26. Run out : LAPSE 

27. Syrian leader : ASSAD - He seems unable to stop the horrors going on in his country

29. Dank : MUSTY - Crank up that dehumidifier

31. Set aside : TABLE - Where legislation goes to die

32. Moved like a pendulum : ARCED

34. Data storage medium : CD ROM - The more likely modern choice below

38. "Good Morning America" co-anchor Spencer : LARA - I don't do morning TV "news shows"

39. Composer Satie : ERIK - French composer and pianist unknown to me

44. Sluggishness : INERTIA - Newton's first law of motion - Objects at rest want to stay at rest

46. Parade time : EASTER

48. Silver __, compound used in film : HALIDE

50. Perry's secretary : DELLA - Was his relationship with Miss Street strictly platonic?

51. Bar patron's option : STOOL

52. J.B. Holmes and Bubba Watson, e.g. : PROS - Pro golfers. Bubba has made over $6,000,000 so far this year

53. Atmosphere : AURA

54. Part of a plot : ACRE

56. "Stop it!" : DON'T 

57. About : AS TO

59. Immigrant's subj. : ESL - English as a Second Language is a big deal here with our influx of Hispanic workers

61. Ariz. neighbor : NEV - That's how they share the Hoover Dam

62. Campus org. : SOR - My daughters were in the same ∏ßØ Sorority

Riddle Answer - His horse was named Friday. Note to self - "Keep day job!" 

I'm sure your comments on the next page will give us all a LIFT!

Husker Gary

Notes from C.C.:

Crosswords LA Tournaments will be held on Oct 24, 2015 (Saturday) at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. You don't need to be a wizard solver to participate. As you can see, they have four brackets for different skill levels. Or you can just be a spectator, solving at the same time with other competitors but your grids won't be scored.

It's an annual charity event Elissa Grossman started in 2009 to raise money for Reading to Kids.  I'm honored to be one of the constructors this year. The editor (Puzzle Wrangler) is the amazing Todd McClary, a regular contributor to the CrosSynergy puzzles.

I hope our readers in LA area will attend the event and mingle with your favorite constructors, bloggers & fellow solvers. Will you be there, Steve?

Wednesday, September 23, 2015, Jerry Wildenberg

Theme: Vowel progression.  The theme words have A, E, I, O, U, and even Y as their respective second letters, in each case surrounded by the letters L and N.

18. Aggressive property seizure : LAND GRAB.  Usually on a large scale, by a government, rich developer or trans-national corporation.

23. Red Square shrine : LENIN'S TOMB.  His embalmed body has been on display there since shortly after his death in 1924.

32. Pet hair picker-upper : LINT ROLLER.  A spindle-mounted roll of one-side adhesive paper used to pick up fibrous materials.

42. Green Hornet's great-uncle, with "The" : LONE RANGER.  Britt Reid, aka the Green Hornet, is the son of the LONE RANGER's orphaned nephew Dan Reid.  He's a newspaper publisher by day, and an incognito crime fighter by night.  Both characters originated at Detroit radio station WXYZ during the 30's.

52. Stretch between new moons : LUNAR MONTH.   Equal to 29.53059 days.

61. Sharp-sighted : LYNX EYED.  Similar to eagle-eyed or hawk eyed.  I was not at all familiar with this phrase, but it is legit.

Hi gang, It's Jazzbumpa, your progressive host for today's linguistic excursion.  This simple theme is elegantly executed.  Let's see what else we can find.

Across

1. Radiated joy : BEAMED.  With a smile that brightens your whole day.

7. "Hi and Lois" pooch : DAWG.

11. Fair grade : CEE.   Assuming the teacher grades fairly.

14. Smithy fixtures : ANVILS.  An ANVIL is a flat topped iron or steel block upon which metal objects can be hammered and formed.

15. Literary pen name : ELIA.   Charles Lamb first used this pseudonym for an essay on the South Sea House, where he had once worked.  He borrowed the name from an Italian coworker.

16. Half of a steep price? : ARM.   The other half is a leg.

17. Refused : SAID NO.

20. Video game pioneer : ATARI.

21. Unit to plow : ACRE.  Down on the farm.

22. Church section near the altar : APSE.   Oh-oh: religion. 

25. Suffix with church : GOER.   I thought it was two words, but the clue is correct.

26. Disdainful chorus : BOOS.  Sometimes accompanied by hisses.

27. Golden Fleece ship : ARGO.   Mythical ship named for it's builder, Argus.  In it, Jason and his crew, known as the Argonauts, sailed from Iolcos in search of the golden fleece. 

29. Campaign funding org. : PAC.  Political Action Committee.  Of which we may not speak.

37. Cope with change : ADAPT.  Don't get left behind.

40. Long-jawed fish : GAR.   Several species inhabit the waters of eastern North America, Central America and the Caribbean Islands.

Wikipedia

41. Farm machinery giant : DEERE.  Nothing runs like a Deere.

45. Hit hard : RAM.

Like this

46. First-year law student : ONE L.   Also a novel about one at the Harvard Law School.

47. Word on some doors : PUSH.

50. Ship leader: Abbr. : CAPT.   I wanted CAP'N!

He's an Imposter

58. Away from port : ASEA.   Sailing, like Jason and the Argonauts.

59. Lots : A TON.   After the LAND GRAB, the developer was able to sell A TON of lots.

60. "Gone With the Wind" family name : O'HARA.  Gerald and Ellen and their daughters Katie Scarlett, Susan Elinor [Suellen,] Caroline Irene [Carreen] and three younger brothers who died as infants.

63. '80s-'90s Mets pitcher nicknamed "Dr. K" : GOODEN.   Dwight Eugene Gooden also played for the Yankees, then Cleveland, Houston and Tampa. The nickname comes from analogy to basketball's Dr. J. - Julius Irving, and the letter K, the standard baseball symbol for a strike out.   He led the National League in K's in as a rookie in 1984 and again in 1985. His later career was marred by drug and legal problems. He retired before the 2001 season with a record of 194-112.

64. Stan of Marvel Comics : LEE.   Stanley Martin Lieber [b Dec. 28, 1922] is an American writer and publisher of comic books, actor and television host.  He co-created Spiderman, The Hulk, and many other characters. 

65. Only : MERE.

66. Ancient Chinese divination text : I CHING.   Read all about it.

67. Violinists' sect. : STR.   Strings.

68. Binding vows : I DO's.    Marriage.

69. Summer wear : SHORTS.  Short pants.

See more here

Down

1. __ reader: grade school text : BASAL.   Highly organized texts containing short stories, excerpts and original material, designed to improve reading skills.   The metabolism series only uses a minimal amount of energy.  [Full disclosure: I just made that up.]

2. Related maternally : ENATE.  A Latin-derived word.  Paternally related is AGNATE.

3. Birdlike : AVIAN.   Also from the Latin.  Any bird-brained relative is AVIATE.

4. Central vein of a leaf : MID RIB.  AKA primary venation.

Mid rib

5. Weather-affecting phenomenon : EL NINO.   This year's looks to be pretty large.  Expect warmer and drier winter conditions in the northern U.S. as far east as the Great Lakes basin; and cooler, wetter conditions for most of the South and up the East Coast almost to New England.

6. Brit. military decoration : DSO.   Distinguished Service Order, awarded for meritorious service, especially during combat.

7. Big name in auto parts : DELCO.  Originally Dayton Electrical Engineering Laboratories Co., founded by Charles Kettering and Edward Deeds in 1909.

8. Apprehension : ALARM.   The dreads.

9. Place to get a Cab : WINE BAR.   Cabernet Sauvignon. And after an evening there, take a taxi home.

10. Wander (about) : GAD.  Traveling in search of pleasure rather than a destination.

11. One sharing a ride : CAR POOLER.  Usually to and from school or work.

12. Rub off : ERASE.

13. Dying fire bit : EMBER.  Only you can prevent forest fires.

19. Honkers on the ground : GAGGLE.   A flock of five or more geese, not in flight.  In the air, they are a skein.

21. Punctuation in email addresses : AT SIGN.  This thing: @.  Technically, it is called "the commercial at."  It also has several nicknames, including snail and whirlpool.

24. Costa del __ : SOL.  The sun coast, comprising the towns and communities along the southern Spanish coast in the province of Malaga.

28. "The Twilight Zone" creator Serling : ROD.

29. Buddy : PAL.

30. Brouhaha : ADO.  It can be about nothing.

31. Kitchen gadget with a magnet : CAN OPENER.

33. Pester : NAG.

34. Rock-boring drill : TREPAN.  Used for sinking a shaft into the ground.  The term also refers to drilling holes in the cranium for medical purposes - a practice that goes back to neolithic times.

35. Historical period : ERA.  The ERA of TREPANATION continues.

36. Dream letters : REM.   Rapid Eye Movement.

38. Binoculars brand : PENTAX.

39. Otto minus cinque : TRE.   Italian numbers.  Also, 8, 5 and 3 are Fibonacci numbers.  Fibonacci was Italian.  Coincidence?  I think not!

43. Ameliorated : ALLAYED.  Improved something that is bad, as compared to relieved suspicion, fear or worry.  Near miss on the correspondence. 

44. Play about robots : RUR.   By the Czech writer Karel Čapek. R.U.R. stands for Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti (Rossum’s Universal Robots).  The play premiered in 1921, and introduced the word robot to the world.   Rossum's robots were artificial people made from synthetic organic material, capable of independent thought.  In the end, they revolt and destroy humanity.  I doubt that the phrase "I'll be back" was spoken.

48. Kiss : SMOOCH.

49. Sounds of seasonal joy : HO-HO-HO.   Santa calling.

50. Phones : CALLS.   Santa doesn't usually do it this way.

51. Up to this moment : AS YET.

53. Unborn, after "in" : UTERO.   Within the uterus.

54. Points of connection : NODES.

55. Apex antonym : NADIR.   High and low points, respectively.

56. Lott from Mississippi : TRENT.  Career politician from 1968 through 2007; since then a professional lobbyist, and a near-clecho with 59A.   This month, I am plagued by politics.

57. Puts on a hook : HANGS.

62. Brit. recording giant : EMI.

63. Enlistees, briefly : GI's.   Initialism for Government Issue, referring to army soldiers and air force airmen, and occasionally marines and sailors when the yare not ASEA.  Originally, the reference was to Galvanized Iron in the military inventory and supply records for such metal equipment as trash cans.

Well, that wraps it up.  We were able to progress all the way to the end. Hope you enjoyed the journey.

Cool Regards!

JzB

Addendum:

Gerry sent me a note to include with the write up, which I forgot to add. Here it is.

I began composing about three years ago.  I'm not especially creative and finding themes is still tough for me.  I like vowel shift themes -- they're kind of standard and unexciting but still I like them -- there's no accounting for tastes.  An earlier one I submitted used the themers: SAMSCHOICE, SEMINUDE, SIMOLEON, SOMERSET, SUMTOTAL, and SYMPATHIZE.  The rejection note -- richly deserved since there are several duds in that list -- mentioned that Rich doesn't much like one word themers.  I listened and learned.  The next time I tried a vowel shift I looked for two word or compound word entries.  As I wanted an AEIOUY vowel shift, this puzzle began when I found  LYNXEYED.  An early attempt used LUNCHMONEY instead of LUNARMONTH but somehow the fill was easier with the latter.

In my past I've played Chess, Backgammon, and Bridge competitively.  Composing crosswords is far more gratifying.  When a puzzle is published, I feel that I've brought some fun into the lives of millions.  Hope you enjoyed this one.

Gerry Wildenberg

Note from C.C.:
 
Let's send positive thoughts and prayers to dear Irish Miss (Agnes) for a smooth & successful hand surgery today. Still remember her beautiful rings? I think she wears more than 12 rings now.

Agnes (right)  and her sister Eileen