Thursday, November 17, 2016 Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE.

The circles, if you got to see them, are located in quasi-symmetrically placed vertical words. In each case, they contain the letters P I N, in that order.  If we start with the unifier, all will become clear.  This is the first puzzle I know of with a split unifier since the first one that C. C. and I did together.  

7 D. With 36-Down, what you can't do regarding this puzzle's circled letters : HEAR A.

36 D. See 7-Down ... or, with "a," what you can see in this puzzle's circled letters : PIN DROP.

If it's really quiet, you can HEAR A PIN DROP.  But you can't in this puzzle, since it's the written, not the spoken word.  [Though reading aloud is allowed.] The theme entries each contain the word PIN, and in the vertical orientation, the PINS are DROPPING.

2 D. Flooring wood : PINE.  Pretty common.  I prefer oak.

5 D. Custody : KEEPING.  As in safe KEEPING.

49 D. One of a gripping tool pair : PINCER.  Half of this item.

Operates like scissors

59 D. Go around : SPIN.  Demonstrated here by our oldest granddaughter.

Another unusual aspect of this grid is the bilateral vertical symmetry.  [There is neither horizontal nor rotational symmetry.] This, along with the very careful placement of the theme entries allows for 5D and 49 D to have a characteristic I don't recall ever seeing before - similar right-left placement, with vertical displacement and different length. This is a very unusual and creative construction.

Across

1. Touch off : SPARK.  To begin something, but since the implication is something inflammatory, it's generally not pleasant.

6. Electrical unit : OHM.  Are you resistant to this entry?  Did you want AMP?  That's more along the lines of current events, for which there will be a charge.

9. What wind ensembles usually tune to : B FLAT.  This hung me up.  Not my most typical playing venue.  In orchestra we tune to A.  In jazz band we tune the reeds to A and the brass to B FLAT.  Of course, the trombone has the infinite capacity to play any note out of tune. Meanwhile, the whole NE corner gave me fits.

14. Actress Anouk whose last name means "beloved" : AIMEE.   [b 1932] Starting her career at age 14, she later appeared in La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, A Man and a Woman, and 67 other films, mostly in French, and won many awards.

Glamor shot

15. Place for grazing : LEA.  A meadow. This relates back to Old English, German, and ultimately Sanskrit words for an open space.

16. Appreciative cry : BRAVO.

17. Travelocity ad figure : GNOME.

18. "Hotel du __": Anita Brookner novel : LAC. A story of disappointment and self-discovery set in a hotel on the shore of Lake Geneva.

19. Still : QUIET.  Like a time when you can hear the sounds of silence.

20. Fabulous writer? : AESOP.  Author of many fables.  In this one we see the silence of the lambs.

21. Roth __ : IRA.  Subject to strict contribution limits, but not subject to mandatory withdrawal.

22. Washer function : RINSE. The soap removal cycle.

23. Production capacity review : LINE AUDIT.  For trouble shooting or improving the efficiency of a manufacturing production line.

26. Refused : SAID NO.

29. Very deep places : ABYSMS.  I had forgotten that this archaic word exists, and was perplexed that ABYSSES didn't fit.  It goes back to medieval Latin and came into English ca. 1150, somehow acquiring a Greek ending along the way.  It refers to hell, the bottomless pit, the great deep, the primal chaos.   Nietzsche advises us to not stare into it.

33. Shore soarer : ERN.   Sea eagle.  Paleo-crossword vocabulary.

34. Bellyachers : GRIPERS.  Complainers, not to be confused with grippers, which are PINCERS, nor Ronald Reagan, who played the Gipper.

38. Excessively : TOO.  As in TOO much of my siliness.

39. Work (on), as 9-Down : GNAW.  A fine old Anglo-Saxon word meaning to bite and chew on something.

The words

41. "__ Romance": Jerome Kern song : A FINE.  Some better music.

42. TV princess : XENA.

43. Radamès' love : AIDA.  From the opera.

44. Cover letter letters : ENClosure.

45. Far from bold : MEEK.  Opposites.

46. Pentax competitor : LEICA.  Cameras.

48. Cholesterol initials : LDL.  Low Density Lipoprotein.  You want your LDL to be low, and your HDL to be high.

49. Hides : PELTS.   Animal skins.

50. "U slay me!" : LOL.  Texters argot, abbrv. for Laughing Out Loud.

51. Chorus syllable : TRA- la-la.

52. Travelers' bus. : INSurance.  Company name.

53. Teddy's Mount Rushmore neighbor : ABE.   Faces on the mountain.

55. Kitchen appliance : GAS OVEN.

58. Inflation fig. : PSI.  I wanted CPI, but it's tire pressure, not economics.

61. Office fasteners : JUMBO PAPER CLIPS.

Is this what they mean?

64. Like battleships : ARMORED.

65. Get by the sentry : SNEAK IN.

66. Looked inside, in a way : X-RAYED.   Medical imaging.

67. Show the ropes : ORIENT.   Help someone get acclimated to a new position or circumstance.

Down

1. It's a long story : SAGA.  Or EPIC.  Needs perps.

3. "The Cookie Never Crumbles" co-author Wally : AMOS.  [b. 1936] Talent agent who started selling cookies in L.A. in 1975.

4. Alter the shape of : REMOLD.

6. Kukla cohort : OLLIE.  Along with Fran Allison.




8. Portuguese territory until 1999 : MACAU.  Autonomous region on the south coast of China, across the pearl River delta from Hong Cong.

9. Pitmaster's offering : BBQ RIBS.

10. Like dessert wines : FRUITY.

11. "... this skull has __ in the earth ... ": Hamlet : LAIN.  Not to be confused with Nunckle Tim's shin.

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow

of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath

borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how

abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at

it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know

not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your

gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment,

that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one

now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?

12. Urban rtes. : AVES.  AVEnues are routes, not rites.  I was off in the wrong direction.

13. Membership drive gift : TOTE.  carry-all bag.

24. "The Thin Man" role : NORA.  Nick and NORA Charles, from the indicated 1934 comedy-mystery movie that was based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett.  
25. Have what it takes : DARE.  Having the courage to do something.  If you have what it takes, you might succeed.  Otherwise  .  .  . ?

26. "The Goldbergs" actor George : SEGAL.  A program that not only have I never seen, but before now never knew existed.  Based on the childhood and 80's family life of the show's creator and producer Adam F. Goldberg.

27. Links legend, familiarly : ARNIE. Palmer

28. Conflicted : IN A DILEMMA.  A choice between unpleasant alternatives.

30. Classic golf shoe feature : STEEL SPIKE.  For gripping the turf.

31. "Haystacks" series painter : MONET.  Claude [1840 - 1946].

32. Overcharges : SOAKS.  

35. "That really depressed me" : I FELT SAD.    Expression of woe.

37. Isolated communities : ENCLAVES.  A place different in character form the surrounding area.

40. City south of Fort Worth : WACO.  

42. Magneto's enemies : X-MEN.  A group of superheroes from the Marvel Comic universe.  Each is a mutant with a unique special ability.

47. Sharer of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize : AL GORE. [b 1948] Former U.S. vice-president.

53. Trojan War hero : AJAX.  Fought with Hector several times.

54. "Hamilton" role : BURR.   Aaron. [1756 - 1836]  He was sitting vice president at the time of their famous duel.

56. Mocked : APED.  Made fun of.  Not so much fun on the receiving end.

57. Puzzlemaker Rubik : ERNO.

60. Hall & Oates' "Say It __ So" : ISN'T.   Not a fan, so no link.

62. Son : BOY.

63. My __, Vietnam : LAI.  That village that had to be destroyed in order to be liberated.  Kind of a downer to end on.

Well, that wraps it up.  Hope the silence wasn't oppressive.

Cool regards!
JzB

Wednesday, November 16th, 2016 Bruce Haight

Theme: Naming Names. Five names-as-nouns entries identified by similarities in the cluing.

17A. Nerd's moniker : POINDEXTER. From "Felix the Cat", and later a character in "The Revenge of the Nerds".

25A. Detective's moniker : SHERLOCK.

"A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library where he can get it if he wants."

The Five Orange Pips

39A. Traitor's moniker : JUDAS. Thirty pieces of silver was his price, according to some.

47A. Genius' moniker : EINSTEIN. 

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits".

60A. Old-timer's moniker : METHUSELAH. Also a wine bottle containing 8 standard bottles, or six liters. The bottle on the floor, second from the right, is one.

Greetings! No, you haven't blinked and missed Wednesday, Jazzbumpa and I traded blogging days this week so you'll see him tomorrow. This puzzle certainly felt like a Thursday though - it took me quite some time to get going, not helped by being unfamiliar with POINDEXTER and unable to get off the WEED WACKER idea. Nice theme, some solid longer non-theme entries too, especially TATTLETALES and ARMED ESCORT in the downs.

Let's see what else we've got:

Across:

1. New England NFLers : PATS. The Patriots. And the only franchise not geographically aligned to a city or a state, but a region.

5. Workforce : STAFF

10. __ salad : TACO

14. Cornell who founded Cornell : EZRA. Who are Better than Ezra? These guys.

15. Actress Tierney : MAURA. Thank you, crosses.

16. Passionate god : AMOR. This one threw me for a loop, being neither Eros nor Cupid.

19. Unexciting : TAME

20. Actress Gabor : EVA. Along with sisters Magda and Zsa Zsa.

21. Blends : OLIOS

22. Destination for the last flight? : ATTIC. Enjoyed unraveling this one. Clever clue.

23. In the cellar : LAST. Bottom of a league table. From the attic to the cellar in one fell clue.

27. Speak to : ADDRESS

30. Michelle who was the youngest female to play in a PGA Tour event : WIE. She was the youngest person at 10 years old to play in the US Amateur, and she never wanted to stop testing herself against better and better competition. She won the US Women's Open in 2014, having graduated from Stanford while still finding time to play professional golf. Quite a role model.

31. Bubbles up : FOAMS

32. Didn't like leaving : HATED TO GO

38. Ending for marion : -ETTE

40. Gung-ho : AVID

41. Lawn-trimming tool : WEED EATER. The inventor's grandson, Mark Ballas, is a professional ballroom dancer on "Dancing with the Stars".

43. Anti-inflammatory brand : ALEVE

44. Sixth sense, initially : E.S.P.

45. Coming to a point : TAPERED

52. Bonny one : LASS

53. Captain Kirk's "final frontier" : SPACE

54. Young zebras : FOALS

56. "Gross!" : EWW

59. __ avail: fruitless :  TO NO

62. Skunk cabbage feature : ODOR. Even the latin name sounds unpleasant: Symplocarpus foetidus.

63. More flimsy, as an excuse : LAMER

64. Ballet move : PLIÉ.

65. Attention getter : PSST! Checho with 55D

66. Krispy __ : KREME

67. Man, but not woman : ISLE. Lies between England and Ireland in the Irish Sea. Nigel Mansell, who won both the Formula 1 world motor racing championship and the Indy Car World Series, was a volunteer policeman on the island while he was still a racing driver and reportedly enjoyed writing speeding tickets with the comment "Who do you think you are, Me?".

Down:

1. First name in skunks : PEPE

2. Sea of __: Black Sea arm : AZOV. Tried ARAL first which slowed me down.

3. Court calendar entry : TRIAL DATE

4. __ Diego : SAN

5. Silvery food fish : SMELTS. I thought "smelt" was the plural but Webster's has both.

6. Airport waiter : TAXI

7. Dealership lot array : AUTOS

8. At risk of being slapped : FRESH

9. A long way : FAR

10. Rats : TATTLETALES

11. Former New York senator Al D'__ : AMATO

12. Word with book or opera : COMIC

13. "Clean Made Easy" vacuum brand : ORECK

18. Pill amounts : DOSES

22. Like Death Valley : ARID

24. Bodyguard, typically : ARMED ESCORT. I had a bodyguard once on a business trip to Mexico City back in the '90s when kidnapping was becoming a serious problem. The guy was armed to the teeth.

26. Lambs' moms : EWES

27. Not many : A FEW

28. Indulge, with "on" : DOTE

29. Sealed tight : SHUT

33. Summer cooler : ADE

34. Bakery offering : TART

35. Presents too aggressively : OVERSELLS

36. Cave in : GIVE

37. Pigged out (on), briefly : O.D.'ED. I'm not a big fan of this word, I don't even know how to punctuate it.

39. Taunting remark : JAPE. Leaning moment. I know jape as a prank, I didn't know it as a taunt.

42. Italian noble family : ESTE. Thank you, crosses. Not familiar with this family, although they date back to 996 so they've been around for long enough.

43. Take __: decline to participate : A PASS

46. Enticement : ALLURE

47. Prevent, in legalese : ESTOP. Yuk. Thumper and move on.

48. Apple players : IPODS

49. Compact 48-Down : NANOS. My first iPod was a Shuttle - even more compact, it didn't even have a display.

50. "My concern is ... " : I FEAR

51. "You've got the wrong person!" : NOT ME!

55. Attention getter : AHEM

57. Cry out loud : WAIL

58. "Look ma, no hands!" : WHEE. Followed by "Look ma, no teeth".

60. March on Washington monogram : M.L.K.

61. Prefix with gram : EPI-

"I don't believe in astrology. I'm a Sagittarius and we're very skeptical."—Arthur C. Clarke

I think that about does it for me today. See you back in my regular slot next week!

Steve 

Tuesday, November 15 2016, Alex Eaton-Salners

Theme: Deep In The Weeds

16. Source of post-toilet training anxiety : BED WETTING

22. Surfer's destination : WORLD WIDE WEB
 

36. Great Depression recovery program : NEW DEAL

58. Desert plant suggested by this puzzle's circles : TUMBLE WEED

Melissa here. Appears to be a debut from Alex Eaton-Salners, and a pangram at that! For those without benefit of circles the theme might be a bit trickier - although all the theme answers are pretty gettable.  The word TUMBLE hints that the circled letters are anagrams. I had a little trouble in the southwest.

Across

1. Wobbly dessert : JELLO. Cute clue.
 

6. Pal : BUB. Tried BUD first.
 

9. Vintner's tub : VAT
 

12. Birdlike : AVIAN
 

13. Drachma replacer : EURO
 

14. B&Bs : INNS

18. Use too much of, briefly : OD ON. (Overdose)
 

19. Many SAT takers : SR'S
 

20. Dashboard feature : DIAL
 

21. Reach through the air : FLY TO. This did not come easy.

25. Treat, as table salt : IODIZE
 

28. Major blood vessel : AORTA
 

29. Male in the hive : DRONE
 

30. Sharp-tasting : TART
 

32. Trailer park parkers : RV'S
 

35. Actor Cariou of "Blue Bloods" : LEN

39. Question of method : HOW
 

40. Letters on a law office door : ESQ
 

41. Purges (of) : RIDS
 

42. "The Hot Zone" virus : EBOLA
 

44. Quick-as-lightning Bolt : USAIN. Jamaican sprinter.

47. Apt to malfunction, as wiring : FAULTY
 

48. Youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II : PRINCE EDWARD
 

52. Illumination units : LUXES. Did not remember this one.
 

53. Have __: know someone : AN IN
 

54. "The Night Of" channel : HBO
 

57. Slender woodwind : OBOE

61. Dingbat : DITZ
 

62. Flat-package furniture chain : IKEA
 

63. River through western Germany : RHINE
 

64. Florida island : KEY
 

65. Video game initials : NES
 

66. Separates for the wash : SORTS

Down

1. Quick punches : JABS
 

2. "Did you __?!" : EVER
 

3. The eyes have them : LIDS
 

4. Murphy's __ : LAW
 

5. Standard eggs purchase : ONE DOZEN
 

6. Play with Lincoln Logs, say : BUILD
 

7. Coffee hour vessel : URN
 

8. Peat source : BOG
 

9. Purple shade : VIOLET
 

10. Artist nicknamed the "Pope of Pop" : ANDY WARHOL
 

11. Govt. bill : T-NOTE
 

13. And others, in bibliographies : ET. AL.
 

15. Stuck-up sort : SNOB
 

17. Goodyear product : TIRE
 

21. Pres. who developed the 36-Across : FDR
 

22. Finish in front : WIN  

23. Stuff to sell : WARES
 

24. Itty bit : IOTA
 

25. Not employed : IDLE
 

26. Rock groups? : ORES
 

27. Man of La Mancha : DON QUIXOTE
 

30. Packing rope : TWINE
 

31. Say further : ADD
 

33. Chevy's plug-in hybrid : VOLT
 

34. Rock to music : SWAY
 

37. Great Lake bordering four states : ERIE
 

38. Knowledge seekers : LEARNERS
 

43. Flower source : BUD
 

45. Companion of Bashful : SNEEZY
 

46. Bldg. coolers : AC'S
 

47. Get no credit for, in school : FAIL
 

48. Walk heavily : PLOD
 

49. Big name in puzzle cubes : RUBIK. Could not remember how to spell this, tried X and Q first for the last letter. D'oh.
 

50. British noblewomen : DAMES
 

51. Where to see the Sun, the Sky and the Stars: Abbr. : WNBA
 

54. Will beneficiary : HEIR
 

55. Like an arm in a sling : BENT
 

56. Lyrical lines : ODES
 

58. Altoids container : TIN

59. Island strings : UKE. Ukelele.
 

60. Question of identity : WHO

Monday, November 14, 2016 Craig Stowe

Theme: No Reveal Monday - Theme entries start with related items.

17. Celebration with personnel: STAFF PARTY

29. Hangman man, e.g.: STICK FIGURE

44. React in the slightest way: BAT AN EYELID

60. Hoarse-voiced "Maggie May" singer: ROD STEWART

Argyle here and Craig (back so soon) Stowe. After last week, we needed a nice easy puzzle to start the week. Starting in the NW corner though gave me some doubts but it worked out alright.

Across:

1. Joined, as a team of oxen: YOKED

6. Per person: A POP

10. Pockmark, e.g.: SCAR

14. Bacteria in rare meat, maybe: E COLI. Big maybe. Unless the meat is ground, e coli can only be on the surface of your cut of meat.

15. Hockey score: GOAL

16. Get through tough times: COPE

19. Like certain inappropriate remarks: UN-PC

20. __ Destiny: 19th-century U.S. doctrine: MANIFEST. 8th grade US history, remember? No quiz ... this time.

21. Television host: EMCEE

22. Cloister members: NUNS

23. Title for Elton John: SIR

25. Young fellow: LAD

26. Sound from a flock: [BAA!]. Sound from a Scrooge: [BAH!]

32. More than enough: AMPLE + 46-Down. More than enough: LOTS OF

34. Alludes (to): REFERS

35. Exaggerated publicity: HYPE

36. Garish: SHOWY

38. Hospital helper: AIDE

41. Enter sneakily: EDGE IN

43. Not exactly: ABOUT

48. Born, on society pages: NÉE

49. Israeli weapon: UZI. Both machine guns. 58-Down. WWII weapon: STEN

50. Thurman of "Gattaca": UMA

51. Bygone automaker: OLDS

53. Knocks down completely: RAZES

55. Says over: ITERATES

59. Ticks off: IREs. Ha, it IRKed me.

62. Puts on TV: AIRS. Soon they will be airing Christmas airs. (I know that's un-pc.)

63. Norway's capital: OSLO

64. Sudden power increase: SURGE

65. Cut with a beam: LASE

66. Complaint: BEEF

67. Soup-eating utensil: SPOON

Down:

1. Polite rural reply: "YES'M"

2. Hexa- plus two: OCTA

3. Zen paradox: KOAN. A problem or riddle that admits no logical solution. Trekies know about this.

4. Spritelike: ELFIN

5. Scatter widely: DIFFUSE

6. Court great Andre: AGASSI

7. Word with "of entry" or "of call": PORT

8. Muesli morsel: OAT. Cool alliteration.

9. Two-__ tissue: PLY

10. Problem in a neglected pool: SCUM

11. Ending: CONCLUSION

12. Perform (in): APPEAR

13. Draw back, as one's hairline: RECEDE

18. Repressed, with "up": PENT, 52-Down. Escorted to the penthouse, say: SAW UP

21. Buffalo's lake: ERIE

23. Distort, as data: SKEW

24. Questionable: IFFY

26. "Phooey!": "BAH!" "Humbug!"

27. Comic/writer Schumer: AMY

28. Starters on a menu: APPETIZERS

30. Witch: CRONE

31. Snatch: GRAB

33. Woman seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan: LEDA

36. Look to be: SEEM

37. Casual greeting: "HI, YA"

39. Expected at the station: DUE

40. Nice summer?: ÉTÉ

42. Bearded beasts: GNUs

43. 221B Baker Street, e.g.: ADDRESS. The address of Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

44. Part of a time capsule ceremony: BURIAL

45. Hank who voices some "Simpsons" characters: AZARIA. Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, Carl Carlson and numerous others.

47. "__ it get to me": I LET

54. Latin being: ESSE. (to be)

55. Eric of "Monty Python": IDLE

56. Hawaiian root: TARO

57. "And thus ... ": "ERGO ... "

60. Steal from: ROB

61. Suffix with rib- or lact-: OSE. Ribose is a pentose sugar. Lactose is sugar from milk.

Argyle

Sunday, November 13, 2016 Alan Arbesfeld

Theme: "Jam Session" - Each theme entry is a pile up of items hinted by the first word in each clue.

22A. Traffic jam? : TOYOTA JEEP AUDI KIA FORD. Veteran solvers probably recall Merl Reagle's traffic jam puzzle. He had two lanes of cars all jammed up in a 21*21.

35A. Raspberry jam? : YOU STINK BOO HISS GO HOME. This one made me laugh.

52A. Log jam? : ELM FIR OAK PINE ASH CEDAR

76A. Pearl jam? : BAILEY HARBOR BUCK ONION

93A Space jam? : VENUS NEPTUNE PLUTO MARS

111A. Paper jam? : GLOBE POST TIMES SUN NEWS. Newspapers.

So we have 6 spanners (total 126 theme squares) in a 134-word grid. Astonishing. We often see 142 or 144 worder with less than 100 theme squares.

Alan Arbesfeld is a veteran constructor. He has many many puzzles published by the New York Times and L.A. Times. He's also one of the constructors for the CrosSynergy puzzles. Look at those names, best in the business.

Across:   

1. Best Supporting Actor nominee for "Forrest Gump" : SINISE. Lieutenant Dan.

7. Terra __ : FIRMA. Not COTTA.


12. Glass raiser's opening : A TOAST. We also have 77. Glass raiser's opening : HERE'S TO

18. Warren Buffett, for one : OMAHAN. Gary lives in Fremont.

19. Get off : DETRAIN. Do you actually use this word, or DEPLANE? 

21. Entertain at bedtime : READ TO

25. Giraffe cousin : OKAPI. Hello there!

26. Sitcom planet : ORK

27. Less concerned with your privacy : NOSIER. I don't get it. You get nosy when you're less concerned other's privacy, right?

28. Was second to none : LED

29. Like many Richard Matheson stories : EERIE

31. Holy : SACRED

33. Remains at the butcher : OFFAL

40. Ticks off : ANNOYS

41. Nashville venue : OPRY

42. Traditional tomato paste fruit : ROMA

43. Moldova currency : LEU. Romania's too. Albanian is LEK.

44. Just make : EKE OUT

47. Oversupply : GLUT

49. Pub order, briefly : IPA

58. Belgian expressionist James : ENSOR. Gimme for veteran solvers.

59. Fed lines : CUED

60. __ Mae : SALLIE. Same letter count as FANNIE & GINNIE.

61. Kim's last name, in Kipling's novel : O'HARA. No idea. Never read the novel.

64. U.S. Army specialists' underlings: Abbr. : PFCs

67. __ Mawr: Pennsylvania college town : BRYN

69. Braves, but not Indians, briefly : NLERS. Gluey entry.

70. Stinging crawler : RED ANT

72. Of the flock : LAIC

74. Moistening liquid : BASTE

83. Penn in NYC, e.g. : STN

84. 9, at times: Abbr. : SEPT (September). Tiny answer/clue dupe with 93. Many September births : VIRGOS

85. Modern research aid : GOOGLE. Let's see how long it takes Google engineers to solve this "Bad Request" issue. The blank/double dupe glitch has been on forever.

86. Praise that's usually not prose : ODE

87. New Look designer : DIOR

89. Rope fiber : HEMP

90. Follow-up to a finish : EPILOG

100. "Let's give __" : IT A GO. Three-part partial. 

101. Reach, as great heights : SOAR TO

102. Sock material : LISLE

103. Urgent knock : RAP

104. Morning prayers : MATINS. Have not seen this entry for a while, Lucina!

106. Pinky __ : TOE

107. Snap course : EASY A

116. Gretzky's first NHL team : OILERS. Boomer bought a fake Gretzky rookie card on Craigslist two years ago. Be careful about sports cards there.

117. Hot stuff : EROTICA

118. Pain in the side : STITCH

119. Stated with authority : SAID SO

120. Hamlet and others : DANES

121. Hong Kong airline __ Pacific : CATHAY. Used to take Cathay Pacific to Paris via Hong Kong.

Down: 

1. Explorer Hernando de __ : SOTO
 
2. "Don't worry about me" : I'M OK

3. Poland Spring competitor : NAYA. What's your preferred water brand? Some of the caps are just so hard to open.  

4. "With any luck!" : I HOPE SO

5. Fullness : SATIETY

6. "Bambi" doe : ENA

7. Data-uploading initials : FTP (File Transfer Protocol). TTP just solved a thorny issue for my Ginger Roots blog last week. Man, a bad DKNY link can put a post in jail for three years.

8. Author Levin : IRA

9. Off-color, as a joke : RAUNCHY

10. Olympic skater Ito : MIDORI

11. Liqueur-flavoring plants : ANISES. I never grow anise, you?

12. Two-time Indy 500 champ Luyendyk : ARIE. We had him before.

13. Spot for a spot : TEAROOM. Hmm, dim sum. 

14. Clumsy sort : OAF

15. Big name in menswear : ADOLFO. Are you a fan of this brand?

16. Transfer for immediate viewing : STREAM

17. Take baby steps : TODDLE. Is this a common verb form?


19. "Criminal Minds" agent Morgan : DEREK. Unknown to me.

20. Fearful sound : EEK

23. Participate : JOIN

24. Former apparel store with a backwards letter in its name : KIDS R US

30. Staircase components : RISERS

31. Absorb : SOP UP

32. __ valve: heart part : AORTIC

34. Govt. mortgage agency : FHA. Federal Housing Administration,

35. Beinecke Library site : YALE, Not familiar with the library.

36. Scott Turow memoir : ONE L

37. Coin word : UNUM

38. Hire : BOOK

39. Black-clad subculturists : GOTHS. There's a Lady Goth in our flea market. She wears the same black outfit every Sunday, for over 10 years. 

45. Surgeon general under Reagan : KOOP.  I'm thinking the next one will be Ben Carson.

46. Winter hat feature : EARFLAP

47. "The Waltons" actor Will : GEER

48. Insect making spotty appearances? : LADYBUG. Cute clue.

49. Just sitting, say : IDLE

50. Scissors need : PAIR

51. Son of Zeus : ARES

53. Wild : FERAL

54. Cockamamie : INANE

55. Central point : NUB

56. "The Divine Comedy" division : CANTO

57. Pompeo of "Grey's Anatomy" : ELLEN. She plays Dr. Grey.

61. Eyes, poetically : ORBS

62. Pressure : HEAT

63. Server's edge : AD IN. Tennis.


65. Amazon icon : CART

66. Bro or sis : SIB

68. Shaker contents, chemically : NACL

71. Boxing's "Iron Mike" : TYSON

73. Convincing : COGENT

75. '50s-'60s country singer McDonald : SKEETS. No idea. Was he popular then, D-Otto/Argyle?

78. "Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs" speaker : ROMEO. Deep thought from a 13-year-old.

79. 1995 comet observer : BOPP (Thomas Bopp). I drew a blank.

80. Kansas city: IOLA. I forgot. But our PK must knows. By the way, she can read all the posts/comments. She just can't comment. Her iMac is still sick.

81. Olfactory stimulus : ODOR

82. Requirements for prints, for short : NEGs

87. Was really into : DUG

88. Related compounds : ISOMERS

89. Author Zora Neale __ : HURSTON. We see NEALE often.

91. Cornmeal dish : POLENTA. You can't tempt me with Polenta!

92. "My mind is made up!" : I MEAN IT

94. List closing : ET ALIA

95. City near Monte Vesuvio : NAPOLI

96. Composed : POISED

97. Indian spiritual tradition : TANTRA

98. 2010 Literature Nobelist Mario Vargas __ : LLOSA. Peruvian novelist.

99. Road reversals, for short : UIEs

105. Lhasa __ : APSO

106. Gumshoe : TEC

108. First family brother : SETH

109. Female leadership org. : YWCA

110. Pale : ASHY

112. Bunk, e.g. : BED

113. Meteor tail? : ITE. Meteorite.

114. Start to represent? : MIS. Misrepresent. Jazzbumpa is averse to this type of clue, esp if the entries are wobbly.

115. Trojans' sch. : USC

Happy Birthday to the real Big Easy (George Simpson), who's an excellent golfer and volunteers at the Zurich Classic where he meets with Ernie Els every year. George and I made two puzzles for the L.A. Times, he was just amazing. A natural.

Big Easy and his wife Diane

Saturday, Nov 12th, 2016, Roland Huget

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing J,Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 26

Today's puzzle proved to be as difficult as it looked - whenever the symmetry separates the corners (as in this grid) and makes each of the corners independent, for me, that means either getting a foothold, or falling short.  I was able to fill in all the cells, but alas, no ta-DA~!  So I went back and found four red-letter mistakes.  Still, a solid effort on my part, and under my personal allotted time, as well.  7x7 chunky corners, two 9-letter crossings in the center, and four 8-letter "tie-ins";

35a. "Got a minute?" : "CAN WE TALK~?" - a certain catch-phrase for someone, too

21d. Prime example : POSTER BOY

 

  

HanWARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Where member golfers gather, familiarly : THE CLUB

8. Tybalt's house : CAPULET - Montague did not fit, and I was guessing he was a part of one of the main characters houses - either Romeo's or Juliet's

15. French roll : ROULEAU - I tried BAGUETE, which I figured needs another "T"

16. Cognizant of : ALIVE TO

17. Like some wake-up hours : UNGODLY - I like watching people's reactions when I tell them I am usually up for work at UPS about 2:30AM - they get that "It's unGODly~!" look on their faces - and in two weeks, it'll be 11PM for peak season

18. Wine product : VINEGAR

19. Biases : SKEWS - my initial Downs led me to try EDGES here

20. Corp. fundraiser : IPO - ah, a financial ploy, not a person

22. Greeted at the door : SAW IN - oops, not LED IN

23. Dollywood locale: Abbr. : TENNessee

24. __ door : STORM - I tried ENTRY first

26. Broadway seductress : LOLA

27. "__ tu": Verdi aria : ERI - learned from Crosswords

28. Oater accessory : TIN STAR - STETSON would fit, but clashed with CAVORT

30. Like half a deck : RED - I have been playing poker on Saturday nights for two months now, so this type of "deck" was foremost in my mind.  I am up $6 for the eight weeks, with a $20 buy in, and my best night was a $61 take

31. French appetizer : ESCARGOT

33. Hall of Fame knuckleballer Phil : NIEKRO - a Yankee, and I dredged him up from the depths of my mental past

37. Ponderosa order : RIB  EYE - I vaguely recalled that there was a restaurant chain known as Ponderosa, and it must have been from back in my Upstate NY or Cincinnati OH days; none around here

40. Performer who must be from 5'6" to 5'10½" tall : ROCKETTE - pretty good guess on my part; not that I knew of the height restrictions.  I think they must have "minimum leg requirements", too

44. No power can change it : ONE - ah, mathematics.  I was thinking in terms of "power outage", and having no electrical power.  Duh.

45. Calder sculpture : STABILE - learning moment for me.  Alexander Calder "invented" the art form of mobiles, and the ones that don't 'move' are called stabiles.  More from Wiki

There's an example right down the road from me that can be seen from NY 27, Sunrise Highway - referred to as the "big deer head", its title is actually "Stargazer"

47. Burgundy on screen : RON - good guess on my part - from the Will Ferrell movie "Anchorman"

48. Cookware portmanteau : T-FAL - "portmanteau" is one of those things I learned doing crosswords, as well - essentially, it's blending two words, like "SMOG" - smoke and fog.  In this case, as I just learned, it's short for TEFlon and ALuminum

50. Took : STOLE - I hesitated, but was on the "burglary" form of "took" wavelength

51. Paris green? : PARC - I tried EURO, for the money kind of green; then it was BANC, and that seemed acceptable; but BOINT was not - it was my 42d that I guessed wrong

52. Wyandot people : HURON - OK, I cheated - I Googled

54. Tournament pass : BYE

55. Axle in a wooden toy : DOWEL - a complicated definition of a simple item - followed by this clue;

56. One of two nuclides with the same neutron number but different proton numbers : ISOTONE - uh, OK, so I decided isotoPe was good enough, but I was 1/7th wrong

58. Contest name coined by its eventual winner : THRILLA - in Manila, a boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier

60. London-based news agency : REUTERS - took half perps for this to come to me

61. Goes underground : TUNNELS

62. Elaine's home, in Arthurian legend : ASTOLAT - my second "A" was an "E" at first

63. Me time? : EGO TRIP

DOWN:
       
1. Board member : TRUSTEE

2. Geese : HONKERS - I tried "GANDERS", which was 100% 3/7ths correct

3. Concerned with good breeding : EUGENIC - I had HYGENIC, which in the Down looked right, but it's Hyg-I-enic; I've never actually looked at the eugenics definition until today

4. One who's not serious : CLOWN

5. Some arena displays, briefly : LEDs - Light Emitting Diode displays

6. O'Hare initials : UAL - why did I think this was ORD at first~? Because that's the Airport Code.  When I looked up UAL, I was in Luau, Angola - the answer is the abbr. for United Airlines.  Tricky.

7. eBay option : BUY IT NOW - the only way I will buy anything off eBay - I can't be bothered to watch how my bids are doing

8. Frolic : CAVORT

9. "Aladdin" prince : ALI - could have been tied into 58A. if you ask me

10. Strike victims? : PINS

The revenge of the pins

11. __ layer: eye part : UVEAL

12. Old-fashioned investigation : LEGWORK - these legs work for me

13. Noncash business : eTAILER

14. Phenomenon measured by the Enhanced Fujita Scale : TORNADO - I mentioned the EF scale in a puzzle last month or so

24. Small seals : SIGNETS - I was thinking seals, the 'animal' - but mixed up my CYGNETS

25. Handcuff : MANACLE

28. Printer inserts : TRAYS - I was thinking "please don't be REAMS" - I cannot get that much paper in my home printer, though I guess one could do so with a commercial unit

29. "The Book of Hours" poet : RILKE - perps

32. Top performer : ACE

34. Squeeze (out) : EKE

36. Grooming process : TOILETTE

37. Estate planner's advice : ROTH IRA - being in the DOWN, I stared at this for way too long before the V-8 can flew

38. Imbues : INFUSES

39. Back up : BEAR OUT - I was 'meh' about this, but then I figured out that you better "back up" your argument, or the facts won't "bear out"

41. Net user : TRAWLER

42. Baroque composer Giuseppe __ : TORELLI - perps and one goof

43. Embrace : ENCLASP - OK, but for me, meh. Clecho with 59d. Embrace : HUG

46. Ideally : AT BEST

49. Numbers game : LOTTO

51. Essential thing : POINT

53. Winter air : NOEL - air as in "tune" or "song" - but "COLD" did pass thru my thoughts

55. 1962 title villain played by Joseph Wiseman : Dr. NO - bang~! Nailed it, but I am a big James Bond fan

57. FDR program : NRA - yeah, uh, this makes more sense than "P.R.E."

Splynter

Note from C.C.:

Happy birthday to Rich Norris, editor of LA Times Daily Crossword. Often half or more clues of each puzzle are Rich's creation. Like many other constructors, I've benefited so much from Rich's patient & expert guidance. Rich has not made any puzzle for NYT since 2008, yet he's still the fourth most published constructor in Shortz era.

Rich and his wife Kim

Friday, November 11, 2016, Patti Varol

Title: Time to clean the kitchen

Patti V., who doubles as Rich Norris' assistant at the LAT, has turned on the creative juices again in 2016 with 5 puzzles in the last 10 weeks. Today we have a variation of the definition puzzle, where words that are associated with each other - here items in a kitchen - are used as clues for completely different things. My only nit was including both DISH and PLATE and leaving out KNIFE, but then I realized there really are no other meanings for knife that do not relate to cutting. This is a very friendly puzzle with some new material as well as bringing back some memories from the 50s and 60s. We have as additional long fill ARTESIAN,  READ UP ON, PLEASE HOLD and  DEAN MARTIN. Cool, let's do it!

17A. Spoon : HUG TENDERLY (11). Do you want to be an EXPERT?

24A. Dish : SPREAD GOSSIP (12). Garbage Of Stupid Silly Ignorant People. I think it implies dishing dirt.

38A. Fork : BRANCH IN THE ROAD (15).  Who can forget Yogi Berra's saying "When you come to a fork in the road, take it"

49A. Plate : COAT WITH GOLD (12). I have nothing here except the old joke about the man (in the old un-pc days it was a Polish man) who won an Olympic gold medal and was so proud he had it bronzed.

60A. Bowl : PLAY TEN PINS (11). Boomer, is this acceptable or only used with duck pins?
In Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, the game is commonly referred to as just "Bowling". In New England, "bowling" is usually referred to as "ten-pin bowling" or "big-ball bowling", because of the smaller diameter, lighter weight ball used in the Worcester, Massachusetts-conceived sport of candlepin bowling from 1880, and the similarly "small-ball" sport of duckpin bowling (conceived in 1895), popular in the Northeast United States

Across:

1. Assuming it's true : AS FACT.

7. "Bloom County" penguin : OPUS. I gratuitously linked him recently.

11. Jams : PJS. Jammies-yes. Jams?

14. After-dinner gathering : SOIREE. The forties and fifties were filled with soirees.

15. Go in different directions : PART. Part company.

16. Service to redo : LET. Tennis. 46D. Org. for netmen : ATP. The Association of Tennis Professionals  HISTORY.

19. Flight status info : ETA.

20. In addition : ELSE. Put it in, took it out, put it back.

21. "The Fault in __ Stars": John Green novel : OUR. if you like crying...

22. Leader's domain : REALM.

28. Chatter boxes? : RADIOS. I like the clue and remember the nights before we had TV and listening to all those great voices.

31. Light weight : OUNCE.

32. It may precede bad news : I FEAR. I fear we have run out of caviar, deah.

33. Beavers, e.g. : HATS. I bet you did not know all of THIS.

35. "Girls" channel : HBO.

42. Icarus, to Daedalus : SON.

43. Bar employee: Abbr. : ATTY. Please let us never have att as fill for lawyers.

44. String quartet member : CELLO. A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – two violin players, a viola player and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group. ... The string quartet was developed into its current form by the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, with his works in the 1750s establishing the genre. Wiki.

45. Prefix with arch : MATRI. Patri anyone?

48. Bulldozer companion : LOADER. LINK. Can you name them all?

53. Marx with a horn : HARPO. Or many horns.

54. Vienna's land: Abbr. : AUStria.

55. The munchies, e.g. : URGE.

59. Hairy TV cousin : ITT. Great theme song to the Addams Family.

LINK.

64. Flowery welcome : LEI.

65. It's retold often : LORE.

66. Greet on the street : TOOT AT. A rhymsical clue.

67. Roadside shelter : INN.

68. "Oh, ew" : YUCK.

69. Fancy, and then some : ORNATE.

Down:

1. New York stadium named for a sports great : ASHE.

2. __-searching : SOUL.

3. Tree fruit : FIGS.

4. Like some wells : ARTESIAN. This CONCEPT fascinated me as a chikd.

5. One of a Chicago duo : CEE.

6. Group of like voices : TENORS. We all the most famous group of three tenors but how about this GROUP which sings...

7. Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas," e.g. : OPERA.

8. Four score, often? : PAR. Really fun deception as more than half of all gold holes are played a par of 4.

9. Address bar address : URL.

10. "Lie Down in Darkness" author : STYRON. A truly influential writer who along with others started the Paris Review as well as authoring The Confessions of Nat Turner and Sophie's Choice.

11. Request before the music starts : PLEASE HOLD. 33D. Order before the music starts : HIT IT.

12. Beijing-born action hero : JET LI. Was he a STAR in your world C.C.?

13. Passport mark : STAMP.

18. Payable : DUE.

23. "I didn't mean that" key : ESC.

25. Bordeaux butcher's offering : PORC. French word for pork.

26. Eccentric : DOTTY. I think of Aunt Clara from Bewitched.

27. Write effusively : GUSH.

28. Smokehouse order : RIBS.

29. Coiffure style : AFRO.

30. '60s-'70s variety show host : DEAN MARTIN. After leaving Jerry Lewis, Dean has his own show.

34. Colony occupant : ANT.

36. Agricultural bundle : BALE.

37. Reminder to take out the trash? : ODOR.

39. Big name in WWI espionage : HARI. She is back. The 100 year anniversary of her execution will be in October 2017.

40. Green sci. : ECOLogy.

41. Research : READ UP ON.

47. Like some paper towels : TWO PLY.

48. Underscore? : LOSE TO. Very tricky; we use the other meaning of underscore often in legal writing.

49. Some like it hot : CHILI.

50. Like Cheerios : OATEN. To me they are more often eaten.

51. "Frida" star Salma : HAYEK. Seeing her with Antonio Banderas in Desperado was eye opening!

52. Prepare to remodel, maybe : GUT. Of the 16 definitions for this word, 4 are verbs.
13. (Cookery) to remove the entrails from (fish, etc)
14. (esp of fire) to destroy the inside of (a building)
15. to plunder; despoil: the raiders gutted the city.
16. to take out the central points of (an article), esp in summary form

56. Poet Dove : RITA. I like poetry but I am not up on my POETS.

57. Pest in a swarm : GNAT. Not a midge.

58. Where el sol rises : ESTE. Sun rises in the east even in Spanish speaking places.

61. Murderers' Row teammate of Babe : LOU. Ruth and Gehrig.

62. Part of a hinged-door floor plan symbol : ARC.

63. Fish-fowl link : NOR.

Wow, we are done already. Well I hope you enjoyed our kitchen duty and don't forget to turn out the lights when you are done. Thanks PV, it was fun. And thank you my bride Oo who will have a birthday tomorrow.  Lemonade out.
                                                  Celebrate all veterans now and before!!!

Thursday, November 10th, 2016 Matt Skoczen

Theme: Sponsored by Betty Crocker. Four "cake" mixes are presented in four theme entries arranged pinwheel fashion .

17A. Very close : NECK AND NECK. I'm glad I wasn't the one who had to sort this lot out at the 2004 Athens Olympics TRACK EVENT:

11D. Dash, but not dot : TRACK EVENT. A friend dog-sits for a family of pit bulls named Dot, Dash and Bracket.

60A. Holiday to-do list task : BAKE COOKIES. I tried "MAKE" first which meant figuring out the auction site was a little trickier than it could have been. I think this might be a little too close to the "cake" theme, but that's probably just me being grumpy today.

28D. 1954 Best Actress Oscar winner : GRACE KELLY. She went on to marry Prince Rainier III and became Princess Grace of Monaco.

and the reveal:

38A. Birthday party staple, and a hint to this puzzle's circles : CAKE MIX. Is the cake mix the party staple, or the cake? Methinks the latter.

You can make 24 varieties of CAKE with your figurative mixing bowl and whisk; Matt's picked four of them and slotted them across word boundaries in the four theme entries. There are some nice expanses of white space, especially in the northwest and southeast.

Let's see what else we've got:

Across:

1. Powerful watchdogs : AKITAS. My mind was well down the "consumer rights" type of watchdog before I managed to reel myself back in. Even seen the movie "Hachi - a Dog's Tale"? Two packs of Kleenex, minimum.

7. Silk Road desert : GOBI

11. Pulls a Halloween prank on, for short : TP'S. Do you really TP a house on Hallowe'en? I'd have thought there were too many people around to get away with it.

14. Put a new handle on : RENAME

15. "... wish __ a star" : UPON

16. Part of the fam. : REL. ative. We call them "relations" in England, it looks odd to my eyes now.

19. Police blotter letters : AKA

20. Daughter of Polonius : OPHELIA. No better excuse to link the song from The Lumineers.

21. Dependable source of income : CASH COW

23. Tearful queen : NIOBE. Quite why I knee-jerked SHEBA in here when I had the B I can't really tell you. Fixed it eventually.

25. Short strings? : UKES

26. More skittish : EDGIER

29. Dark mark : SMUDGE. Nice word.

33. Admonish : WARN

34. Artisan pizzeria feature : STONE OVEN. Food! Yum! I don't eat a lot of pizza, but thin crust like this - yes please!

37. Seventh in a Greek series : ETA

40. Big Band __ : ERA

41. Pastoral residences : RECTORIES. For some reason, I knew what Matt/Rich were getting at right away here. Technically, a rector lives in a rectory and a pastor in a pastorium, but we won't let that get in the way.

43. Huff : SNIT

44. Self-involvement : EGOISM

45. Williams of talk TV : MONTEL

47. "The Square Egg" author : SAKI. Hector Hugh Monroe to his formal friends. Ronald Searle also wrote a book with this title - I remember enjoying it some years ago. If you're not familiar with Mr. Searle's artistic talents, here's a taste:

49. Square, e.g. : SHAPE. See shape above.

51. Former Jesuit school official : PREFECT. We had prefects at my grammar school, but it certainly wasn't Jesuit.

55. Stretch : EXPANSE

59. Sushi selection : EEL

62. "The Miracle Worker" comm. method : ASL. How to fingerspell:

63. 2016 MLB retiree : A-ROD

64. Online newsgroup system : USENET. Is this still a thing? I thought Blogger, Facebook, LinkedIn and all the others would have consigned this to the technology scrap-heap of history.

65. Pop artist Lichtenstein : ROY. All I need to say is "WHAAM" and you can see the diptych.

66. Sun., on Mon. : YEST. Hmmm. Make a sad face and move on.

67. Mother in Calcutta : TERESA. Now promoted to Saint.

Down:

1. Ponte Vecchio's river : ARNO. Florence's river. Back in the day when we weren't such seasoned travelers, I remember a colleague returning from an Italian vacation raving about an unknown city he'd discovered called "Firenze".

2. Conserve : KEEP

3. Foot part : INCH. Tried ARCH. Was eventually proven wrong.

4. Hornswoggled : TAKEN IN

5. Charlotte __ : AMALIE. I thought this was either a movie character or an actress. Now I discover it is the capital of the US Virgin Islands. Learning moment.

6. Frequent discount recipient : SENIOR. I get a 5% discount at my local hardware store. Apparently 55+ is the new magic number - I get a discount at the swimming pool too.

7. Word with water or air : GUN

8. Energy org. since 1960 : OPEC. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

9. Florida city, familiarly : BOCA. Raton.

10. They're kept in pens : INKS. Didn't hesitate when K was already there.

12. Orange __ : PEKOE. Fill-in-the-blank avoids the awkward "type of tea" discussion/argument.

13. Picnic dishes : SLAWS Food! Can't beat a nice, crisp, freshly-made coleslaw. My coleslaw recipe has shredded carrots, cabbage and a dressing with a couple or ten ingredients, something like that.

18. Smidge : DAB

22. Sci-fi award : HUGO. Great-looking things.

24. Values highly : ESTEEMS

26. Spouted vessel : EWER. I hesitated over this for a while until the crosses made it obvious - I think of a spouted vessel more like a teapot, and a ewer to have a pouring lip, not a spout.

27. Palm fruit : DATE

30. Some den leaders : MOMS

31. Cycle starter? : UNI

32. Showtime title forensic technician, familiarly : DEX. From the show "Dexter", as you would assume.

34. Aspen gear : SKIS

35. Scary-sounding lake : ERIE

36. NASA part: Abbr. : NATL.

38. Soft sound : COO

39. Meyers of "Kate & Allie" : ARI. Thanks, crosses.

42. Certain happy hour exclamation : TGIF!

43. Bit of 11-Down gear : SNEAKER. Bit of retro 11-Down gear. I'm not sure those hi-tech Nikes, Reeboks and what-nots are called sneakers any more.

45. Borrow the limit on : MAX OUT

46. Combat : OPPOSE

47. Sharp weapon : SPEAR

48. "You __ grounded!" : ARE SO

50. '70s TV lawman Ramsey : HEC. Thank you, crosses. Before my (US) time. Hec Ramsey.

52. Auction venue : EBAY. Not EMAY as my MAKE COOKIES insisted that it was.

53. Bit of TLC? : CARE

54. WBA decisions : TKO'S

56. Muse count : NINE. I'm going to learn them one day. Calliope, Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia and Urania.

57. Goes with : SEES

58. Spanish pronoun : ESTÁ.  Comó?

61. D.C. summer hrs. : EDT. Most of us waved goodbye to EDT just last weekend for another six months. It's about time we stopped messing around with the clocks, although it's less onerous than it used to be. The only manual adjustments I need to made are the analog kitchen clock and the microwave. Obviously I have a technologically-challenged zapper. It doesn't even have it's own IP address.

The sun came up again today - woo hoo!

Here's the grid!

Steve