Wednesday, August 10, 2016 C. C. Burnikel

Theme:  TURN AROUND -- NOPE, JUST KIDDING.  The circled letters, when reversed, spell a synonym for teasing somebody.  I don't recall seeing a circle puzzle on a Wednesday before.  That more often occurs later in the week.  But other aspects of the construction lean more toward early week, and the difficulty felt about right for a Wednesday, so it all averages out.

Recognizing the theme requires locating the target letters, then reading them backwards to find the theme word.  This could be quite a problem if you didn't have the circles in your grid.  Let's have a look.

17 A. Spread some gossip : DISH THE DIRT.  Slangy expression.  I think RIDE goes a bit beyond good-natured teasing into domineering or harassing territory

24 A. Hybrid toaster oven snacks : PIZZA ROLLS.  A variation on the won ton - pierogi theme, this mini dough pillow is filled with PIZZA flavored food-like substances.  To RAZZ someone is to tease them playfully [though one may always wonder about motivation.]

38 A. He has a nest at 123½ Sesame Street : BIG BIRD.   This fowl is large, but not foul.  To RIB someone is pretty close in meaning to RAZZING them.

52 A. Stayed on : HUNG AROUND.   Loitered or lingered.  RAG, to me, seems closer to RIDE than to RAZZ or RIB, so we have a kind of symmetry.

And the reveal -- 63 A. Young player on the rebound ... or, in another way, what each set of circles in this puzzle represents : COMEBACK KID.  Indicates an athlete who showed promise, faded, then regained his former prowess.  COMEBACK is a coded hint that the theme entry is to be read retrograde, while KID is a synonym for the thus revealed words.   So our reveal takes the form of a cryptic clue.  I'll admit that it took me a few minutes to suss this one.  Fiendishly clever concept put forth by our fearless leader.

Hi, gang.   JazzBumpa on duty.  Lets see what else is in store.  Is there any more teasing hidden in today's entry?

Across

1. Divers' destinations : REEFS.   Coral formations that are habitat for many types of underwater life.

6. Japanese cartoon art : ANIME.  In Japan, the word refers to any animation.  Most other places, it refers to a more or less specific cartoon genre associated with a style that originated in Japan. Examples.

11. "Shoot!" : ASK.  Slangy way to encourage a question.

14. Send to cloud nine : ELATE.   Make someone happy.

15. Sir Arthur __ Doyle : CONAN.  Late night host or barbarian warrior?  Nope - the author of the Sherlock Holmes tales.

16. Traffic court letters : DWI.  Driving While Intoxicated.   A serious and dangerous traffic violation than can cost you a lot of strife and dollars.  Don't do it.  And I'm not KIDDING!

19. Chow fixer? : VET.  This chow is a dog, and fixing means neutering it to prevent the appearance of unwanted puppies.

20. Emphatic affirmation : OH, YES I DO.    Imagine someone jumping up and down while clapping.  Now imagine the last time you saw a four-word fill consisting of only 8 letters.

21. Paperless tax return option : E-FILE.   File electronically, and hope you don't get hacked.

23. Original "Veronica Mars" airer : UPN.  United Paramount Network.  A TV network that ran from 1995 through 2006, when it was replaced by the CW, a joint venture venture between CBS and Warner Brothers.

27. Surrealism pioneer Max : ERNST.  [1891 - 1976]  German painter, sculptor, graphic artist and poet.  Gallery here.

29. That being the case : IF SO.  Then some conclusion ensues.

.

30. "... Mr. Tambourine Man, __ song for me" : PLAY A.   Bob Dylan.

32. __ standstill : AT A.   Like rush hour traffic.  Your oxymoron for the day.

33. Birch or beech : TREE.    Deciduous trees of the families Betulacaea and Fagacaea, respectively.

37. Buns and flips : DOs.  Hair styles.   A bun is a gathered style, while the flip is loose and turned up at the ends.

42. Actress Gardner : AVA.

Not always happy

43. Racing legend A.J. : FOYT.  [b. 1935] Retired American driver with 159 wins in a variety of motor sport genres.

45. "Later!" : BYE.  See ya'!

46. Absolute : UTTER.  Complete and total, as in, for example, a lack of milk.

48. Sharif of "Doctor Zhivago" : OMAR.  Michel Dimitri Chalhoub [1932 - 2015] an Egyptian actor, fluent in Arabic, English, Greek, French, Spanish and Italian.  He was also an avid horse racing enthusiast and one of the world's top-ranked contract bridge players.

50. Prophets : SEERS.  Predictors of the future.

56. Dutch banking giant : I N G.    Internationale Nederlanden Groep, involved in all aspects of banking, plus insurance and asset management.

58. Homeric epic : ILIAD.  Set during the Trojan war, a 10-year siege of Troy [aka Ilium] in what is now the Anatolian region of Turkey.

59. Philips electric toothbrush brand : SONICARE.

62. "Teen Wolf" network : M T V.   Originally Music TV.  Now, I have no idea what the M is supposed to stand for.

66. Iron source : ORE.  Rust filled DIRT, that the miners must dish out.

67. Go off-script : AD LIB.  Speak or perform in an improvised manner.   Would I ever do that?

68. Mix : BLEND.  Co-mingle.

69. Baby goat sound : MAA.   What - no love for paa?

70. Like mosquitoes : PESTY.   I had pesky.  Made my grid like the next fill.

71. In disarray : MESSY.   Not neat and tidy.

Down

1. Second try : REDO.  A do over, and for some, a Mulligan.

2. Philanthropist Yale : ELIHU.  [1649 - 1721] A British merchant, president of the East India Company settlement at Madras, and benefactor of the university for which he is the Eponym.

3. "No sweat" : EASY PEASY.  A piece of cake.

4. 1862 Tenn. battle site : FT. HENRY.  Site of the first important victory on the western front of the American civil war for The Union forces and General U. S. Grant.

5. Match makers? : SETS.  In tennis and other sports, a match is divided into some number of sets.  The winner of a designated number of sets wins the match.

6. Nailed the test : ACED IT.  

7. Brand for serious last-minute preparation : NODOZ.  Caffeine supplement to forestall drowsiness.

8. Italian food ending : -INI.  As in tortellini, etc.

9. Tarnish : MAR.  Inflict damage on.

10. Comes in : ENTERS.

11. Pain reliever sold in Liqui-Gels : ADVIL.  Brand of ibuprofen.   Some people swear by it.  This is called ibuprofenity

12. "Peachy" : SWELL.  Groovy, man.

13. Windy weather fliers : KITES.

18. Arms-akimbo joints : HIPS.  I would have preferred elbows, but they don't fit.  "Akimbo," indicating a hands-on-hips posture, does not look and feel like a native English word, but it does trace back to Middle English "in kenebowe, " "kene" meaning [among other things] sharp, and "bowe" meaning bent.  So it's all good.

22. Arch site : FOOT.  The longitudinal and transverse arches of the FOOT are formed by the tarsal and metatarsal bones.   The arched construction is inherently stronger than a level arrangement, and aids in supporting body weight.

25. Oft-baked pasta : ZITI.  In the form of large tubes.

26. Miles away : AFAR.   Proper location for loving in a pure and chaste manner.

28. Arrest : NAB. To grab, therefore to catch someone in the act or aftermath of wrong doing.

30. Adobe file format : PDF.  Portable Document Format - an electronic file form that is compatible across a variety of platforms and operating systems.

31. Head of a pub? : LOO.  Compatible British words indicating a tavern and a comfort station.

32. Prez on a fiver : ABE.  Lincoln [1809-1865] the 16th President of the United States.

34. Rodent-eating reptiles : RAT SNAKES.  Common in North America, these snakes feed primarily on rodents and birds.  Though they can grow quite large, they are docile and make lovely pets.

35. Day before a big day : EVE.  The day before Adam's RIBBING was the EVE of Eve.

36. Shucker's unit : EAR.   Of corn.  Rather like my earie humor.

39. Letter-shaped beam : I-BAR.  Named for it's cross-section profile.

40. Pita sandwich : GYRO.  Pronounced yeeroh, not homophonic with the the first two syllables of a spinning disc-plus-axis device.   The meat is a dense lamb-based meat loaf cooked on a vertical spit.  It is served on a pita with diced tomatoes and tzatziki sauce [made from yogurt and cucumbers.]  IMHO, the Senate Coney Island in Livonia has the best GYROS in the Detroit metro area.

41. Deserving : DUE.   That which one has earned.   Frex.

44. Frat party wear : TOGA.   What could I possibly add?

47. Barely flow : TRICKLE.  But more than seep or ooze.

49. Wild : MADCAP.  Like a TOGA party.

50. Hoity-toity : SNOBBY.  Like a social climbing elite wannabe.

51. Flamboyant Dame : EDNA. Everage.  One of the on-stage alter egos of Australian comedian, author, actor, artist and satirist John Barry Humphries.

52. Handmade bleachers sign : HI MOM.   This year's Hall of Fame Football Classic got cancelled because of field conditions, but 3 years ago it occurred on my Lovely Wife's birthday, and her son Doug, who was in attendance, did this, taking it up a level --

I captured this fuzzy image from the TV screen

53. Hyper : ULTRA.  Taken to the highest level.

54. Skin "Creme" in blue tins : NIVEA.    The blues.

55. Workout buff's motto opener : USE IT.   Or lose it!

57. Impish looks : GRINS.   Do any of these qualify?

No granddaughters were harmed in the making of this photo

60. SALT weapon : ICBM.   The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks/Treaty started with a meeting between LBJ and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin 1967. Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles and defensive weapons [ABMs] to counter them were items of concern.  President Nixon and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev signed the ABM Treaty and interim SALT agreement on May 26, 1972, in Moscow.

61. Whirlpool : EDDY.  If my name were EDDY, I wouldn't travel in those circles.

64. Metered praise : ODE.  Laudatory poem.

65. Portland Timbers' org. : MLS.  Major League Soccer.

Well, that wraps up another Wednesday.  Hope you were able to tease out all the answers, between my lame attempts at humor.

Cool regards!
JzB

Tuesday, August 9 2016, Nancy Salomon

Theme: Chill Out

20. "Rest those weary feet" : TAKE A LOAD OFF

36. "Why not try the recliner?" : SIT BACK AND RELAX

53. "Don't just stand there" : PULL UP A CHAIR

Melissa here. Perfect theme for a summer day, with the grid-spanner right in the center. Smooth ride except for the southwest, where I hit a few snags. Favorite answer was PICKY EATERS.

Across
 

1. Cuts (off) : LOPS. Started off wrong right away by entering ENDS.

5. Unwelcome stocking stuffer : COAL

 
9. Express gratitude to : THANK

 
14. Monogram ltr. : INIT

 
15. Starting poker pot contribution : ANTE

 
16. Pocahontas' husband John : ROLFE. Anyone else try SMITH first? D'oh. Here's the real story.

 
17. Corp. assistant : SECY. Secretary. I need one.

 
18. "Lovely" meter maid in a Beatles song : RITA

19. Volunteer's offer : I WILL

23. Tarzan actor Ron : ELY

 
24. Whole bunch : TON

 
25. Spanish beaches : PLAYAS

 
29. Div. the Phillies play in : NL EAST

 
31. Most of a mortgage payment, usually : INTEREST

 
33. Big oaf : APE. Not ASS.

 
34. Sheriff Taylor's TV son : OPIE

 
35. __ Fáil: Irish coronation stone : LIA. Thanks, perps, never remember.

41. She raised Cain : EVE. Great clue.

 
42. "The Scarlet Letter" letter : RED A

 
43. Colorful Mattel card game : UNO

 
44. Wedded couples : MARRIEDS

 
47. Had heard about : KNEW OF

 
50. Deep down : INSIDE

 
51. Yellowfin tuna : AHI.

 
52. Boston skyscraper, with "the" : PRU. The Prudential Tower.

 
57. Johnny with the catchphrase "Come on down!" : OLSON. Needed almost every perp to fill this.

 
60. "Out of Africa" author Dinesen : ISAK

 
61. Toaster waffle choice : EGGO

 
62. Air rifle : BB GUN. Always makes me think of this.

 
63. Prefix with meter : PERI

 
64. 1969-'74 Israeli prime minister : MEIR

 
65. Word-guessing game : JOTTO. Total unknown to me. Looks fun. There's an app for that.

66. Table scraps : ORTS

 
67. Taxpayer IDs : SSNS

Down

 
1. "__, my children, and you shall hear ... ": Longfellow : LISTEN

 
2. Common soccer score : ONE ALL

 
3. They're fussy about food : PICKY EATERS

 
4. Eyelid sore : STYE

 
5. Used auto area : CAR LOT

 
6. Veggie that may cause tears : ONION

 
7. "__ girl!": "Way to go!" : ATTA

 
8. Starring role : LEAD

 
9. Wee bit : TRIFLE

 
10. To what length : HOW FAR

 
11. Late, great boxer : ALI

 
12. Org. with Jaguars and Panthers : NFL

 
13. Kenan's Nickelodeon pal : KEL

 
21. On the briny : AT SEA

 
22. Made a choice : OPTED

 
26. Book for finding local businesses : YELLOW PAGES. Does anyone still use them?

 
27. Where billions live : ASIA

 
28. Lay's chips-in-a-can brand : STAX

 
30. Police dept. alert : APB

 
31. Apple tablets : IPADS

 
32. 1492 ship : NINA

 
34. Gave the green light : OKED

 
36. Tractor-trailer : SEMI

 
37. Lendl of tennis : IVAN

38. Fish basket : CREEL

 
39. Hard to decipher, as some ancient inscriptions : RUNIC

 
40. L.A.-to-N.Y. dir. : ENE

 
45. Remove roughly, as a magazine page : RIP OUT

 
46. "Couldn't tell ya" : I DUNNO

 
47. Casual pants : KHAKIS

 
48. Starting point : ORIGIN

 
49. Uproars : FURORS

 
51. Not together : APART

 
54. Slimming surgery, for short : LIPO

 
55. Techie's client : USER

 
56. Skirt bottoms : HEMS

 
57. Transitive vb. follower : OBJ

 
58. Wall St. takeover : LBO. Leveraged buyout.

 
59. Mil. three-striper : SGT

Monday, August 8, 2016 Kevin C. Christian

Theme: Beyond Medium - Well, well, well done.

20A. Position of football lineman J.J. Watt : DEFENSIVE END. End well.

28A. Average, in math : ARITHMETIC MEAN. Mean well.

42A. Fountain treat with Bosco, maybe : CHOCOLATE SHAKE. Shake well.

47A. Echoic remark before "What do we have here?" whose words can follow the ends of 20-, 28- and 42-Across : "WELL WELL WELL"

Argyle here. Argyle here (with a sense of déjà vu).

Author:

1. 24 minutes, in the NBA : HALF

5. Giant among wholesale clubs : SAM'S

9. Heat unit : THERM

14. Rideshare app : UBER

15. __-deucey : ACEY

16. Great Lakes mnemonic : HOMES. Test yourself.

17. Author Wiesel : ELIE

18. Improbable tale : YARN

19. Candy heart message : I LUV U

23. Sound heard by a shepherd : [BAA!]

24. Intense, as a competitor : FIERCE

33. Unsteady on one's feet : AREEL

34. Country rocker Steve : EARLE

35. "__ & the Women": 2000 Gere film : DR. T

36. Divisions of tennis matches : SETs

37. Actress Holmes : KATIE

38. Ticked off : SORE

39. "How was __ know?" : I TO

40. Diamond weight : CARAT

41. Word before Master or case : STAIR

45. Biblical dancer : SALOME

46. For each : PER

54. Many Mideast residents : ARABS

57. Verdi opera set in Egypt : "AIDA"

58. Color similar to turquoise : AQUA

59. '90s candidate Ross : PEROT

60. Hosp. scans : MRIs. (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)

61. Road grooves : RUTS

62. Japanese capital : TOKYO

63. Literary sister of Amy, Meg and Jo : BETH. (Little Women)

64. Magnitude : SIZE

Down:

1. Tinged : HUED

2. Having the skills : ABLE

3. Actor/singer Garrett : LEIF. He became famous in the 1970's as a child actor, pop star and teen idol.

4. They're on the house : FREEBIES

5. Prepares to have one's tongue depressed : SAYS "AH"

6. Healthy berry : ACAI

7. Griffin of game show fame : MERV

8. "Auld Lang __" : SYNE

9. Skating danger : THIN ICE

10. Texas __: poker game : HOLD 'EM

11. Big Australian bird : EMU

12. Gun, as an engine : REV

13. The Spartans of the NCAA : MSU. (Michigan State University)

21. Part of NFL: Abbr. : NATL. (National)

22. TurboTax option : E-FILE

25. Hardwood tree that drops acorns : RED OAK

26. Fisher who plays Princess Leia : CARRIE. Daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher.

27. Come in : ENTER

28. "Queen of Soul" Franklin : ARETHA

29. Equip anew, as a machine shop : RETOOL

30. Ben Stiller's mom : MEARA. Anne.

31. Really bother : EAT AT

32. Clichéd : TRITE

33. Nike competitor : ASICS

37. Superman's birth name : KAL-EL

38. Sci-fi classic that introduced Princess Leia : "STAR WARS"

40. Regains consciousness : COMES TO

41. Poet Silverstein : SHEL

43. Frequent John Wayne persona : COWBOY

44. A cannonball makes a big one : SPLASH

48. Shepherd's charge : LAMB

49. Lamp-to-plug line : WIRE

50. Improve text : EDIT

51. Same: Pref. : EQUI

52. Skating jump : LUTZ

53. Cut with light : LASE

54. Fitting : APT

55. Rock's __ Speedwagon : REO

56. Genesis boat : ARK

Argyle

Sunday, August 7, 2016 Donna S. Levin & Bruce Venzke

Theme: "A Fee for Victory" - V is changed into F, all key words go through spelling changes. 

23A. Municipal tennis court? : COMMUNITY SURFACE. Community service.

38A. Crowded dorm symptom? : A ROOM WITH A FEW. A Room with a View.

66A. Embellishment on Arabic calligraphy? : ALIF GARNISH. Olive garnish. Holy smoke, I pronounced ALIF wrong all these years. I thought A has the schwa sound.

75A. Last log entry? : FINAL RECORD. Vinyl record.

118A Request at the poultry farm? : I'D LIKE TO BUY A FOWL. I'd like to buy a vowel.

99A. Animal always without a home? : PERMANENT WAIF. Permanent wave.

16D. Cause of playtime sadness? : LOSING ONE'S NERF. Lose one's nerve.

51D. Brother-and-sister biathlon training regimen? : SIBLING RIFLERY. Sibling rivalry.

I bet many of you figured out the gimmick by looking at the title alone. I did also. The more I solve/make this type of sound change puzzle, the more I realize how hard it is to find a non-self-evident title that captures the gimmick.

Judging by the byline order, Donna came up with the theme idea, then she and Bruce brainstormed the theme entries together. Then Bruce designed the grid (Intersecting long theme entries is his hallmark). Then maybe Bruce filled the grid and Donna clued the whole grid. Or they each filled half and clued half. 

Loved the theme. Donna and Bruce are total pros. Unless you brainstorm this type of sound change theme yourself, you won't realize how much imagination and skills are involved in coming up with a consistant set.

Across:  

1. "Ring Around the Rosie" word : ASHES. Sigh. Never heard of this nursery rhyme.

6. Belts : SWIGS. Both verb/noun works.

11. Drop : OMIT.

15. Firefly emanation : GLOW

19. Regatta racer : SCULL. Not ROWER.

20. Bacon in a parlor game : KEVIN. Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. I was picturing real bacon.

21. Rare state bird : NENE

22. Apple's apple, e.g. : LOGO

 

26. Nobel Peace Center home : OSLO

27. Jackson ejector : ATM

28. Goes bad : ROTS

29. Father __ Sarducci: "SNL" character : GUIDO

30. "Good __!" : GRIEF. Not GRAVY.

31. Artist Mondrian : PIET

33. Rudely awaken : ROUST

36. Throat trouble? : FROG. Nice clue.

37. __ Tin Tin : RIN

  

 41. Bayer that might cause a headache? : BEAGLE. I don't get this clue. Why "headache"? Also 86. 41-Across, e.g. : BREED

44. Après-ski option : SPA. Not RUM.

45. "Jurassic Park" threat : TREX

46. Cause of a municipal alert : SMOG. Quite serious in my hometown Xi'an last winter.

48. Online ref. since 2000 : OED

49. Radiographer's tests : CT SCANS. We also have 40. The "A" often seen in 49-Across : AXIAL. The latter is unknown to me.

 

53. Guadalajara gal pal : AMIGA

56. WWI French battle site : ARGONNE. Stumped me last time.

58. "La donna è mobile," for one : ARIA. Hey, we have Donna!

59. In a proper manner : DULY

61. Francis of "What's My Line?" : ARLENE

63. Conk : BEAN

64. Massage : RUB

65. Feature of ths clue : TYPO

 

68. Contradict : BELIE

70. Israeli statesman Abba : EBAN

72. Buster? : NARC. Another great clue.

73. Like __: probably : AS NOT

 

78. Otherwise : ELSE

80. Show one's humanity : ERR

81. "Aw, fudge!" : DANG. I had DARN. By the way, Rich does not allow DAMN any more.

82. Potential benefit : UPSIDE

83. Editor's "Let it be" : STET.  And 113. Opposite of 83-Across : DELE

 84. Spy-fi villain in a Nehru jacket : DR NO

85. Quadratic formula course : ALGEBRA. Googled afterward. Knew that formula in Chinese, which gave me headache in high school.

87. "I'm not afraid of __; I just don't want to be there when it happens": Woody Allen : 

DEATH

89. Mucinex relative : SUDAFED. Where did the drug company pick up this name?

91. Neighbor of Leb. : ISR

92. Biryani base : RICE. Never heard of Biryani. You?

94. Senator Bail Organa's adopted daughter : LEIA.  I thought he's a real US Senator.  "Star Wars".

96. Written guffaw : LOL

97. Taken over : SEIZED

 

105. Adversary : FOE

106. Eldest Bennet daughter in "Pride and Prejudice" : JANE

107. __ Soleil: 17th-/18th-century royal : LE ROI. The Sun King.

108. On Vine St., say : IN LA

110. Spaniard's "L'chaim!" : SALUD

112. Chased from the closet : OUTED

114. Ices : OFFs

116. Business card abbr. : TEL

117. Not odd at all : EVEN

 

122. Geeky sort : NERD

123. Wedding cake layer : TIER

124. Detroit's Joe __ Arena : LOUIS

125. Holmes of "The Kennedys" : KATIE. She does look like Jackie Kennedy.

126. Temperance advocates : DRYs

127. Head of France? : TETE

128. DeMille specialties : EPICs

129. Wood that sinks in water : EBONY. Got via crosses.

Down:

 

1. Music rights gp. : ASCAP

2. Old Roman name for Ireland : SCOTIA. Oh, I did not know this. 

3. Large '90s-'00s SUV : HUMMER

4. Boston's Liberty Tree was one : ELM

5. Disparage : SLUR

6. Bunny slope conveyance : SKI TOW

7. Scuba gear : WET SUIT

8. Brown, for one : IVY. Gimme for our regulars.

9. Vets-to-be : GIs

10. Cozy : SNUG

11. Having a heck of a winning streak : ON FIRE

12. Pastures : MEADOWS

13. Disguised, briefly : INCOG. A common topic in old Chinese novels. High officials, including emperors, often go incognito to villages.

14. Driver's aid : TEE. Golf. Does Champions Tour stop in your area, TTP? It's free here. 3M also gives each spectator a bag of goodies: Scotch tape, Post-It notes, etc.  Here is Boomer on Friday.

15. Meathead's wife in '70s TV : GLORIA. No idea. All in the Family,

17. Act like a wolf : OGLE

18. Pound sound : WOOF

24. Rouen's region : NORMANDY

25. Elizabethan neckwear : RUFF. Also a learning moment.

30. One of the Allman Brothers : GREGG. Cher's ex.

32. Scarpia's killer, in a Puccini opera : TOSCA

34. Errant : STRAY

35. Him and her : THEM

39. WWII cost-stabilizing agcy. : OPA. No idea. Office of Price Administration

41. Wood-damaging insect : BORER. Gluey word.

42. "Stormy Weather" singer : LENA HORNE. We don't see her full name often.

43. Place with a serpent problem : EDEN

47. Handcuffs : MANACLES

49. Atkins no-no : CARB

50. Kind of test : TRUE-FALSE. Sparkly.

52. Powerful campaign force : SUPER PAC. Sparkly.

54. Humdrum routine : GRIND

55. Bravo preceder : ALFA

57. Geishas' sashes : OBIs

60. Sections of the brain : LOBES

62. "Snowy" wader : EGRET

65. It may be taken in the afternoon : TEA. Suddenly none of the local grocery stores carries Bigelow Jasmine tea right now. Strange.

66. Battery terminal : ANODE

67. "Sorry, lad" : NAE

69. Kansas-born playwright : INGE

71. H2SO4, e.g. : ACID

74. Stepped : TROD

76. Gruesome : LURID

77. Kingdom : REALM

79. Make a fool of : STULTIFY. New word to me.

81. Place of honor : DAIS

83. Really impress the critics : SHINE

84. __ Lama : DALAI. So much wisdom in Tibetan Buddhism. 

 

88. Color like aqua : TEAL

90. Information company co-founder Charles : DOW. Did not know his given name.

93. Shoulder decoration : EPAULET

95. Good for the heart and lungs : AEROBIC

98. "Gadzooks!" : ZOUNDS

100. Complete : ENTIRE And 103. Completely : IN TOTO

101. Stink : REEK

102. Easy to use, in adspeak : NO FUSS

104. Arrived from above : FLEW IN

106. Best Actress between Cher and Jessica : JODIE (Foster). Got via crosses. Googled and found out that she won Oscar in 1989 for "The Accused". I thought it's for "The Silence of the Lambs".

109. Strike zone? : ALLEY. Nailed it.

110. Transmit : SEND

111. Maintain : AVER

115. Benefit : SAKE. For the sake of.

118. Hairy Addams cousin : ITT

119. Outdo : TOP

120. Avignon agreement : OUI

121. '60s quartet adjective : FAB. Four.

C.C.

Interview with David Liben-Nowell

David Liben-Nowell has appeared in our blog a few times. He kindly invited me and our local constructors to Carleton College when Matt Ginsberg, creator of Dr. Fill, visited Minnesota in 2013. 

Left to Right: George Barany, David Liben-Nowell, Matt Ginsberg, C.C. & Tom Pepper

Today is David's LA Times debut, but his puzzles have appeared in The New York Times, New York Sun & Games magazine. He was also a contributing constructor to the past four Minnesota Crossword Tournament and created this fantastic puzzle in 2015.

I mentioned the seed entries when I blogged Kevin Christian's puzzle last Saturday, you can read from David's interviews that the seed entries are not always the longest & removing one or two black squares can cause a wholesale change in the grid fill.

I often find myself ditching the second or third seed entries in themeless grids as I just can not find clean fill. Did you have to discard any of your original seeds in today's grid?

Yes ... though actually the grid pattern changed at the same time that I ditched one seed entry.  The original version of this puzzle had four vertical 10s as seeds (5-, 10-, 25-, and 26-Down), but what's now the 20-Down square was black (so what's now the horizontal 15 was a 9+5).  I ended up feeling like the grid was a little too closed in, so I tried removing that black square and refilling from scratch, and, luckily, it worked out when I ditched the fourth 10.  (Aside from three of the four seeds [5-, 25-, and 26-Down], literally only three other entries in the entire grid survived when I refilled -- OLD, LOUTS, and S AND P.)

What were the trouble spots in the filling process? Top middle seems to be thorny enough that you had to add a cheater square there. 

The top middle *was* rough, with multiple entries that I'd rather have avoided.  Actually both the NW and SE corners weren't so easy to fill either:  I worked pretty hard to try to get rid of partials and abbreviations, but what you see was the best fill that I found after a lot of searching.

Even with two cheaters, you still only had five 3-letter entries. Is limiting 3-letter answers an important part of your themeless filling philosophy?

Not explicitly.  If I have 3s, I have 3s.  It's probably a bad habit of mine, but I tend to be willing to accept some cruddier shorter entries if it lets me get livelier longer entries -- I'd almost always take a trade of a couple less-than-ideal 3s and 4s in exchange for an interesting multiword phrase as a 7 or 8.  You can probably see that in the N/NW section:  4-D, 5-D, 16-A, and 19-A were enough for me to accept several lesser short entries.

You've made both themed and themeless grids. What are the major differences in your approach to fill?
 
Honestly, not that much.  Themed or themeless, I still start with the longest fill entries, and try to plug in the most interesting entries (preferably multiword phrases) I can find for those entries -- and then hope I can make everything around it work.

What kind of reference tools do you use for crossword construction & cluing?
 
Lots and lots of websites.  I'll typically look at an online dictionary and thesaurus to try to brainstorm punny clues -- I try to avoid looking at databases of existing clues until after I've come up with something myself -- but otherwise I end up doing a lot of nonauthoritative reading (e.g., Wikipedia) to try to get a grasp on the entry.  I think I clue pretty slowly, but for me it's one of the most interesting parts of construction.  I might spend 30+ minutes of online research into something totally unusable as a clue, but at least I learned something.  Just as an example, the clue that I submitted for 13-Across ["King Harald Bluetooth (namesake of the communications protocol), for one"] was related to a fact that I'd heard at pub trivia once ... Rich was totally right to change it, but that was a fun 20 minutes I spent digging into that fact.  [If you're interested:  http://factually.gizmodo.com/bluetooth-is-named-after-a-medieval-king-who-may-have-h-1671450657]

Can you tell us a bit about background? How did you get into crossword solving and later on construction?

Grad school!  Crossword puzzles turned out to be just the distraction that I needed from research when it wasn't exactly going gangbusters.  I started constructing with a grad school apartmentmate, Ryan O'Donnell, while we were sitting around our apartment's living room; it seemed like a natural extension of solving, and we eventually started to get the hang of it and got a couple of co-constructed puzzles published in the NYT.

Besides crosswords, what else do you do for fun?

A little of this and a little of that.  Reading, relaxing and bantering with friends, playing in random sports leagues.  After I moved to Minnesota for a job a few years back, I started curling -- it's a hoot as long as you don't take yourself too seriously while you're playing.

Saturday, Aug 6th, 2016, David Liben-Nowell

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 34

Hi there~!  Splynter back with less work and more blog this week.  Today's puzzle from David (see C.C.'s interview) had clues that were either gimmes or complete misses for me.  I either knew it, or didn't, and nothing was going to help me "45A."  Just a few too many 'half-word' clues for me, too.  The SW was utterly wrong on my first pass, and combined with the proper names/places, just wouldn't open up.  Add in one more red-letter cheat, and that's my story, an' I'm sticking to it.  A non-intimidating grid with only the two spanners and four 10-letter fills;

5. Intuition : GUT FEELING 

10. Line diagram : FAMILY TREE

25. Computer screen? : SPAM FILTER

26. Act too hastily : JUMP THE GUN - a line from Van Halen's "Secrets", too

Cathedral / Secrets (lyric at 3:14)

INKY~!

ACROSS:

1. Jet : INKY - I figured we were looking for 'black', and ONYX worked, but 4d. would have started with "X"

5. Govt. property overseer : GSA - the crossing of 7d. stymied me, so the "A" was red-lettered

8. Artists' pads : LOFTS - a gimme

13. Great __ : DANE - I wanted "SCOTT~!"

14. Gets onstage : CUES

15. Detached : APART - oops, not ALOOF

16. Slid across the pond, maybe : ICE SKATED

18. Start of a noncommittal RSVP : WE MAY

19. Last-minute number? : ELEVEN FIFTY-NINE - 11:59.  Here's another way to say Eleven Fifty-Eight

The video

21. Awards for "Rent" and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" : OBIES - I put it in, but then I thought 4d. might be "EULOGIES", and took it out

22. Cads : HEELS

23. San Francisco, to most Californians : UPSTATE - We have "upstate" in NY, too - hello Argyle~!  When I talked to the admissions woman at Delaware Tech last year, she suggested taking classes at the campus "upstate" - Delaware is too short to have an "upstate"

26. Rice on a field : JERRY - WR, mostly for the SF 49ers of the NFL

27. Laid-back : TYPE B - I'm Type C - clueless....

28. Big lugs : LOUTS

30. PC-checking org., at times : TSA

33. Word of regret : ALAS

34. Pebbles bearer : WILMA - the Flintstones "10d."

35. Drop : DRAM - I was looking for the verb, not the noun

36. Bringing it up can lead to a fit : HEM - ah, my kind of clue~!  Thanks for covering lat week, CED~!

I found this one, too - my that's short~!

37. It first passed 2014 in 2014, briefly : S AND P - S&P 500 - the Wiki

38. Choice word : MEENY - eeny is my first choice....

39. "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" author : FLAGG - WAG

41. Raiding group, familiarly : THE FEDS

43. Fool : LIE TO

44. Sand bar : SHOAL

45. Figure it out : FILL IN THE BLANKS - there were a few "Wheel of Fortune" images I would like to have posted, but....

50. Hitching post? : ALTAR - a gimme

51. Group of football players, perhaps : RUGBY TEAM

52. "Mr. Belvedere" actress Graff : ILENE - a WAG

53. Weight : ONUS

54. French bread : EURO - almost got me

55. Square figures : NERDS - I had AREA, then ACRES, and never thought it was something else

56. Gp. using sub titles? : USN - submarines in the U.S. Navy

57. Unattached : STAG - dah~! Not LONE

DOWN:

1. "Thus with a kiss __": Romeo : "I DIE"

2. Table salt, in chem class : NaCL

3. Pants part : KNEE

4. Words said in passing? : YES VOTES

6. Part of WYSIWYG : SEE IS - I am usually pretty good with acronym-type challenges - I nailed this as "what you see is what you get"

7. Home position, for some : ASDF - and then I hit a brick wall with this reference - A S D F on a Q W E R T Y keyboard is called the home row, which I did not know

8. Bar staff : LAWYERS - Dah~! I was in the wrong bar here....

9. Bar tool : OPENER - but the right one here

11. Former leader? : TRANS - transformer

12. Sebaceous gland issue : STYE - nice Saturday cluing

14. "Enough already!" : "CAN IT~!" - I had CUT IT to start

17. Fare on a stick : KEBAB

20. Round Greek letter : THETA - DAH~!! - I had OMEGA, since the E - A was in place....

23. Monument Valley locale : UTAH - half perps, half WAG

24. Sitcom marine : PYLE

29. Overdone : OLD - oh, I get it now

31. Measure of passing time : SAND - like through the hourglass....

32. Organic frozen-food brand : AMY'S - I guessed the "M"

34. One traveling in Old West circles? : WAGON - circle the wagons~!

35. Lowers the volume of, in a way : DEFLATES - no NE Patriots joke~?

37. "SNL" sketches, e.g. : SATIRES

38. Like a bad apple : MEALY - argh~! not WORMY

40. University founder Stanford : LELAND - no clue

42. Film hero Roy who wielded a bat called "Wonderboy" : HOBBS - from "The Natural" - IMDb

43. De Gaulle's birthplace : LILLE - OK, sure - that's too Frawnche for me

44. Keeps away from : SHUNS

45. Willing : FAIN - never heard of this before

46. Briefs covering, in brief : TROUsers

47. Unaligned: Abbr. : NEUTral - two half-words in a row

48. Supergirl's Krypton name : KARA - another "no clue" on my part

49. Irritating blanket : SMOG - I pondered SNOW at first, but snow doesn't irritate me, personally

Splynter