Theme: Hit the idioms. Spelled out in the clues for 22D HIT and 42D THE which reference each other: Words that can precede the answers to starred clues.
Notes from Don Gagliardo about today's puzzle:
"HIT THE __"
This is one of those puzzles where you are going along in conversation, you hear something that sounds interesting, and you go, “What was that that sounded so interesting?” You need to carry a notebook to catch these. I thought HIT THE ____ was an interesting idiom that should be explored. I was pleased to cram in as many theme words as I did, as usual giving myself fits trying to fill around them. One lucky insight that I had was to put HIT THE down the middle, divided by a black square. I don’t think that is something solvers see very often, and I thought it would be fun. I hope you all enjoyed it.
1. *Bag: SACK. Hit the sack: Go to bed.
5. *Pump output: GAS. Hit the gas: Step on it.
8. *Follow: TRAIL. Hit the trail: Take a hike.
16. *Road surface: PAVEMENT. Hit the pavement: Get lost.
18. *Holdup causes?: BRAKES. Hit the brakes: Cut it out.
28. *Rain protection: ROOF. Hit the roof: To the moon, Alice!
44. *Grilling site: DECK. Hit the deck: Duck!
59. *Cola holder: BOTTLE. Hit the bottle: Get drunk.
60. *Range target: BULLSEYE. Hit the bullseye: Right on.
64. *Warehouse aids: SKIDS. Hit the skids: Bottom out.
65. *Guinea pig food: HAY. Hit the hay: Get some sleep.
66. *Location: SPOT. Hit the spot: I'm stuffed.
Al here today. Wow, 14 theme entries in a weekday puzzle, (including the two tip off down clues). Pretty impressive effort to squeeze that many in. There are probably a few more answers that might work: books, bricks, road, lights, floor, wall...how many more can you come up with? I found solving this one pretty easy, more like a Tuesday perhaps. I didn't officially time myself, but I know it was well under 10 minutes, and I didn't even see several of the clues until I added them here.
ACROSS:
13. Longtime portrait studio __ Mills: OLAN. I wonder if they use 36A. Like many cameras: DIGITAL.
14. Strasbourg street: RUE. French city, french word for street.
15. For this reason: HENCE. Sounds like a word you would hear in ye olde shoppe.
19. More than frown on: SNEER AT. Billy Idol.
20. Morrie Turner comic strip about ethnically diverse kids: WEE PALS.
21. D-Day carrier: LST. Landing Ship, Tank.
22. "__ Tonic": 1945 Bugs Bunny title: HARE. I see the pun you made there...
23. Green source, briefly: ATM. Green = money from an automated teller machine. And 2D. Greenspan concerned with green: ALAN. once again, green = money. The chairman of the Federal Reserve until 2006.
26. Give as a task: ASSIGN. From Latin ad signare/signum (to make a mark or a sign).
32. Southern stretch?: DRAWL. To draw out (lengthen) or protract.
34. Yours, in Tours: ATOI. French city, french word.
35. On Vine St., say: IN LA. Los Angeles. Hollywood and Vine is the center of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
38. Retailer offering video streaming: NETFLIX. I have an internet-ready blue-ray player. I may use it for downloading movies some day if I ever catch up on the backlog on my DVR...
40. Legendary work, often: EPIC.
41. Miller __: LITE. Or Park, or Time.
43. Emit, as a sigh: HEAVE. That's a heavy sigh.
45. Musical satirist Tom: LEHRER. You don't hear much about National Brotherhood Week any more.
47. "Indubitably!": YES. Yogi Bear said this all the time. Comic books and cartoons were a big source of vocabulary when I was young.
48. D-Day month: JUNE.
49. Pep: VIM.
51. To some degree: OF A SORT.
55. Bridge supports: PILINGS.
61. __ ease: ILL AT.
62. Braves, on scoreboards: ATL. Atlanta
63. 1998 skating gold medalist Lipinski: TARA. Won at the age of 15, remains the youngest ever to win gold.
DOWN:
1. Cleans (up) using Bounty: SOPS. The quicker picker-upper.
3. Batman's hideout: CAVE.
4. Get down to earth?: KNEEL. Literally.
5. Immortals: GREATS.
6. Patty or Selma, to Lisa Simpson: AUNT.
7. Combo's group of numbers: SET. Musical numbers. And 8D. Number in a combo, maybe: THREE.
9. Collect: REAP. As in harvest.
10. "My Way" lyricist: ANKA. Paul.
11. Eyjafjallajökull's country: Abbr.: ICEL. Iceland, with the unpronounceable volcano name.
12. More, some say: LESS. Less is more. Minimalism.
17. Shaker on the kids' show "Blue's Clues": MR SALT. A talking salt shaker, married to Mrs Pepper, with a child named Paprika.
18. Convicted Ponzi schemer Madoff: BERNIE.
20. Western driver: WAGONER.
23. Said further: ADDED.
24. Rubbish: TRIPE. Tripe is "entrails used as food". Considered worthless to some, the meaning spread to anything deemed unworthy of having, and even what others may have said.
25. Orlando cagers: MAGIC. Basketball.
27. Conspicuous: SALIENT. Something that jumps out at you. "Leaping," a heraldic term, from Latin salientem/salire "to leap".
28. All over: RIFE. Old English for "abundant".
29. Dental restoration: ONLAY. Both inlays and onlays are fillings, but an onlay replaces part of a cusp. A crown covers the entire surfaces.
30. Martini garnish: OLIVE. Or onion.
31. Many business letters: FAXES.
33. Oil lamp feature: WICK. Keep your lamp trimmed and burning.
37. Siren quality: ALLURE. Oh Brother Where Art Thou.
39. It might be cheap: THRILL. Old English þyrlian, from þyrel "hole", originally meant to pierce, penetrate. To give a shivering, exciting feeling was a metaphoric notion of being pierced with emotion.
46. How villains laugh: EVILLY.
48. Throws for a loop: JOLTS.
50. Waters gently: MISTS.
51. Asian sashes: OBIS.
52. Acoustic guitar genre: FOLK.
53. Hun king, in Scandinavian legend: ATLI. Attila. He appears under the name Etzel in the Nibelungenlied and under the name Atli in Icelandic sagas
54. Dutch town: STAD. German stadt. The name for a place or a standing. Related words: steadfast, and once again our crosswordese friend STET (let it stand).
55. "__ lid on it!": PUT A.
56. Minimum-range tide: NEAP. A tide that occurs when the difference between high and low tide is least; the lowest level of high tide.
57. Lamb sandwich: GYRO. Modern Greek "gyros" (the word is singular) for a circle, the way the meat is cut from a rotating spit.
58. Usher's find: SEAT. From Latin ostiarius "door-keeper," from ostium "door, entrance," related to os "mouth." You can pick your friends, and your seat, but you can't pick your friend's seat.
60. Part of a legendary Christmas complaint: BAH. Humbug. Scrooge, from A Christmas Carol by Dickens.
Answer Grid
Al
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
LA Times, Thu, Aug 19, 2010 Author: Gene Newman
Theme: Idiom antonyms. Phrases which are usually only commonly used with one sense are reinterpreted to (humorously?) present the opposite meaning.
17. Dishonest?: BELOWBOARD. When you are honest, you are said to be aboveboard in your dealings.
26. Happy?: UP IN THE MOUTH. Sad = down in the mouth.
42. Sick?: OUT OF THE PINK. Healthy = in the pink.
56. Incompetent?: OFF THE BALL. Competent = on the ball.
This theme is similar to neagative (in-/im-/un-/dis-/non-/extra-) words that no longer have a corresponding positive in the language, as in this poem, A Very Descript Man, attributed to J. H. Parker, one day late for bad poetry day:
ACROSS:
1. Boot's meal: MESS. Boot camp, I suppose...
5. What houses may be built on: SPEC. Speculation that if you build it, it will sell.
9. Li'l Abner's creator: CAPP. Al Capp, born: Alfred Gerald Caplin.
13. Some finals: ORALS. Final tests for graduate college/university degrees.
15. Machu Picchu's land: PERU. Translates to "old mountain".
16. Jewish youth org.: YMHA. Young Men's Hebrew Association.
19. Baseball Triple Crown component: RBIS. Runs Batted In. Also Home Runs and batting average, three statistics required for batters. Pitchers must lead in wins, strikeouts and Earned Run Average (ERA).
20. Winter sailcraft: ICE BOATS.
21. Locks up: JAILS.
22. Sgts.' superiors: LTS. Sergeants, lieutenants.
23. Galeón booty: ORO. Spanish gold.
24. Specialty, informally: THING. It's your/my thing to solve crossword puzzles.
30. Coach in the air?: CLASS. Coach class is the cheapest way to travel by plane, train, etc.
33. Tries to sink, perhaps: RAMS. Battleship collisions, also the part of the ship specifically designed to do such damage.
34. "Now I get it!": OHO.
35. Journalist Clare Boothe __: LUCE. Busy lady for an illegitimate child: Playwright, editor, journalist, ambassador, socalite and US Congresswoman.
36. Teases maliciously: BAITS.
38. MLB All-Star Game day: TUES. Baseball season approximate mid-point, played usually on the second Tuesday of July.
39. ___-de-France: ILE. The most populous region of France, contains most of metropolitan Paris.
40. War ender: PACT. Latin pactum, covenant, contract.
41. Serious borders?: ESSES. The letter "S" is first and last in the word SeriouS. Was anyone fooled?
46. America's Cup entry: YACHT.
47. Bank book no.: INT. Interest
48. Asian title of respect: SRI. Sanskrit for "beauty", especially of divinities and kings.
51. Illegal pickoff moves, e.g.: BALKS. A few baseball terms in the puzzle... This is when a pitcher makes a move as if to throw, but instead interrupts his motion. If he can make a smooth throwing motion to the base instead, then it isn't a balk and a runner with too far of a lead-off can possibly be tagged out.
53. Out of the box: UNCRATED.
55. Russian city on the Oka: OREL. A geographical answer to confuse you along with the Ural Mountains and the Aral Sea.
58. First name in Old West fiction: ZANE. Grey. Roughly 90 books with 110 movies made from his work.
59. "Go away!": SHOO.
60. Like Serling stories: EERIE. Rod Serling, narrator of the Twilight Zone.
61. Be compliant: OBEY.
62. Get wise with: SASS.
63. U.S. Army decorations: DSCS. Distinguished Service Cross. One step below the Medal of Honor.
DOWN:
1. Gas brand with a red "o" in its logo: MOBIL.
2. Upright: ERECT.
3. Rep's work: SALES. I guess REP isn't considered an abbrev. in this context...
4. Schulz's Pig-Pen, e.g.: SLOB. Charles Schulz, Peanuts comic. Pig-Pen is the one constantly in a cloud of dust, even when it rains or snows.
5. Exact, to a Brit: SPOT ON.
6. Porridge morsels: PEAS.
7. Goof: ERR.
8. Ruminant's mouthful: CUD. To ruminate is to turn something over in your mind, or as a cow, chew cud.
9. Rostand's long-nosed lover: CYRANO. Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, who actually existed, however, the play's plotline involving Roxane and Christian is almost entirely fictional — the real Cyrano did not write the Baron's love letters for him
10. Equivocal: AMBIGUOUS.
11. Punxsutawney predictor: PHIL. Groundhog day.
12. Coquette's wink, say: PASS. The word pass has been associated with a fencing move definition, to lunge at, also to make an attempt or try, or to make a "play" for.
14. Eagles' attacks: SWOOPS.
18. Adriatic port: BARI. Italy. Only got it through perp fills...
21. Slim __: snack items: JIMS. So greasy. I suppose they help wash the beer down...
24. One of those things: THAT.
25. Bottom lines?: HEMS. Was not thinking sewing here, wanted NETS for the profit sense.
26. Take habitually: USE. Addiction.
27. Like overused crossword clues: TRITE.
28. Biblical pronoun: THEE.
29. Ponderosa heavyweight: HOSS. Dan Blocker was a large man.
30. Adman's award: CLIO. Named for the Greek muse of history, Clio is known as The Proclaimer; the name is from a root word that means "recount" (narrate) or "make famous".
31. Beaut: LULU. Bret Favre, for example.
32. Welder's need: ACETYLENE.
36. British spa town: BATH. Aptly named.
37. Sieben follower: ACHT. Seven, eight in German.
38. Sound made with a head shake: TSK. Made along with the shake, as opposed to an actual noise generated by having loose screws or missing marbles.
40. U.S. Army E-3s: PFCS. Privates, First Class. Technically the abbreviation is contained internally either singular or plural with the first word, so it shouldn't really have an "S" at the end, but this rule is broken a lot in everyday use.
41. Early bird special item: ENTREE. Extended early restaurant hours where the price can be cheaper to generate additional business off-peak.
43. "Little Sure Shot": OAKLEY. Annie.
44. Mottled horses: PINTOS. Large patches of white plus any other color.
45. Move furtively: INCH. Little by little.
48. Oscar Night assembly: STARS.
49. Dig find: RELIC. Archaelogy.
50. What a slacker does: IDLES. Slack as in lax, limp, unmoving.
51. Oaf: BOZO. Oaf is related to elf, and comes from a changeling; a foolish child left by the fairies. Some dictionaries still give the plural as oaves. Bozo perhaps from Sp. bozal, used in the slave trade and also to mean "one who speaks Spanish poorly."
52. Certain Semite: ARAB. Semite from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah.
53. Area 51 sightings: UFOS. I have it on pretty good authority that this is really much ado about nothing. I'd tell you how I know, but then I'd have to have you taken care of...
54. Reading by a night light, perhaps: ABED. I will be doing this soon, I hope. I think words like these were made up by poets to stretch out the number of syllables.
56. WWII spy org.: OSS. Office of Strategic Services, forerunner of the CIA.
57. Govt. loan insurer: FHA. Federal Housing Administration.
Answer Grid
Al
17. Dishonest?: BELOWBOARD. When you are honest, you are said to be aboveboard in your dealings.
26. Happy?: UP IN THE MOUTH. Sad = down in the mouth.
42. Sick?: OUT OF THE PINK. Healthy = in the pink.
56. Incompetent?: OFF THE BALL. Competent = on the ball.
This theme is similar to neagative (in-/im-/un-/dis-/non-/extra-) words that no longer have a corresponding positive in the language, as in this poem, A Very Descript Man, attributed to J. H. Parker, one day late for bad poetry day:
I am such a dolent man, / I eptly work each day; / My acts are all becilic, / I've just ane things to say. / My nerves are strung, my hair is kempt, / I'm gusting and I'm span:/ I look with dain on everyone / And am a pudent man. / I travel cognito and make A delible impression: / I overcome a slight chalance, / With gruntled self-possesion. / My, dignation would be great / If I should digent be:/ I trust my vagance will bring / An astrous life for me.
Al here, with a fun Thursday. I think I might have gotten this without the theme, but figuring that out sure sped things up. I think this is a first for me, no links today...
ACROSS:
1. Boot's meal: MESS. Boot camp, I suppose...
5. What houses may be built on: SPEC. Speculation that if you build it, it will sell.
9. Li'l Abner's creator: CAPP. Al Capp, born: Alfred Gerald Caplin.
13. Some finals: ORALS. Final tests for graduate college/university degrees.
15. Machu Picchu's land: PERU. Translates to "old mountain".
16. Jewish youth org.: YMHA. Young Men's Hebrew Association.
19. Baseball Triple Crown component: RBIS. Runs Batted In. Also Home Runs and batting average, three statistics required for batters. Pitchers must lead in wins, strikeouts and Earned Run Average (ERA).
20. Winter sailcraft: ICE BOATS.
21. Locks up: JAILS.
22. Sgts.' superiors: LTS. Sergeants, lieutenants.
23. Galeón booty: ORO. Spanish gold.
24. Specialty, informally: THING. It's your/my thing to solve crossword puzzles.
30. Coach in the air?: CLASS. Coach class is the cheapest way to travel by plane, train, etc.
33. Tries to sink, perhaps: RAMS. Battleship collisions, also the part of the ship specifically designed to do such damage.
34. "Now I get it!": OHO.
35. Journalist Clare Boothe __: LUCE. Busy lady for an illegitimate child: Playwright, editor, journalist, ambassador, socalite and US Congresswoman.
36. Teases maliciously: BAITS.
38. MLB All-Star Game day: TUES. Baseball season approximate mid-point, played usually on the second Tuesday of July.
39. ___-de-France: ILE. The most populous region of France, contains most of metropolitan Paris.
40. War ender: PACT. Latin pactum, covenant, contract.
41. Serious borders?: ESSES. The letter "S" is first and last in the word SeriouS. Was anyone fooled?
46. America's Cup entry: YACHT.
47. Bank book no.: INT. Interest
48. Asian title of respect: SRI. Sanskrit for "beauty", especially of divinities and kings.
51. Illegal pickoff moves, e.g.: BALKS. A few baseball terms in the puzzle... This is when a pitcher makes a move as if to throw, but instead interrupts his motion. If he can make a smooth throwing motion to the base instead, then it isn't a balk and a runner with too far of a lead-off can possibly be tagged out.
53. Out of the box: UNCRATED.
55. Russian city on the Oka: OREL. A geographical answer to confuse you along with the Ural Mountains and the Aral Sea.
58. First name in Old West fiction: ZANE. Grey. Roughly 90 books with 110 movies made from his work.
59. "Go away!": SHOO.
60. Like Serling stories: EERIE. Rod Serling, narrator of the Twilight Zone.
61. Be compliant: OBEY.
62. Get wise with: SASS.
63. U.S. Army decorations: DSCS. Distinguished Service Cross. One step below the Medal of Honor.
DOWN:
1. Gas brand with a red "o" in its logo: MOBIL.
2. Upright: ERECT.
3. Rep's work: SALES. I guess REP isn't considered an abbrev. in this context...
4. Schulz's Pig-Pen, e.g.: SLOB. Charles Schulz, Peanuts comic. Pig-Pen is the one constantly in a cloud of dust, even when it rains or snows.
5. Exact, to a Brit: SPOT ON.
6. Porridge morsels: PEAS.
7. Goof: ERR.
8. Ruminant's mouthful: CUD. To ruminate is to turn something over in your mind, or as a cow, chew cud.
9. Rostand's long-nosed lover: CYRANO. Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, who actually existed, however, the play's plotline involving Roxane and Christian is almost entirely fictional — the real Cyrano did not write the Baron's love letters for him
10. Equivocal: AMBIGUOUS.
11. Punxsutawney predictor: PHIL. Groundhog day.
12. Coquette's wink, say: PASS. The word pass has been associated with a fencing move definition, to lunge at, also to make an attempt or try, or to make a "play" for.
14. Eagles' attacks: SWOOPS.
18. Adriatic port: BARI. Italy. Only got it through perp fills...
21. Slim __: snack items: JIMS. So greasy. I suppose they help wash the beer down...
24. One of those things: THAT.
25. Bottom lines?: HEMS. Was not thinking sewing here, wanted NETS for the profit sense.
26. Take habitually: USE. Addiction.
27. Like overused crossword clues: TRITE.
28. Biblical pronoun: THEE.
29. Ponderosa heavyweight: HOSS. Dan Blocker was a large man.
30. Adman's award: CLIO. Named for the Greek muse of history, Clio is known as The Proclaimer; the name is from a root word that means "recount" (narrate) or "make famous".
31. Beaut: LULU. Bret Favre, for example.
32. Welder's need: ACETYLENE.
36. British spa town: BATH. Aptly named.
37. Sieben follower: ACHT. Seven, eight in German.
38. Sound made with a head shake: TSK. Made along with the shake, as opposed to an actual noise generated by having loose screws or missing marbles.
40. U.S. Army E-3s: PFCS. Privates, First Class. Technically the abbreviation is contained internally either singular or plural with the first word, so it shouldn't really have an "S" at the end, but this rule is broken a lot in everyday use.
41. Early bird special item: ENTREE. Extended early restaurant hours where the price can be cheaper to generate additional business off-peak.
43. "Little Sure Shot": OAKLEY. Annie.
44. Mottled horses: PINTOS. Large patches of white plus any other color.
45. Move furtively: INCH. Little by little.
48. Oscar Night assembly: STARS.
49. Dig find: RELIC. Archaelogy.
50. What a slacker does: IDLES. Slack as in lax, limp, unmoving.
51. Oaf: BOZO. Oaf is related to elf, and comes from a changeling; a foolish child left by the fairies. Some dictionaries still give the plural as oaves. Bozo perhaps from Sp. bozal, used in the slave trade and also to mean "one who speaks Spanish poorly."
52. Certain Semite: ARAB. Semite from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah.
53. Area 51 sightings: UFOS. I have it on pretty good authority that this is really much ado about nothing. I'd tell you how I know, but then I'd have to have you taken care of...
54. Reading by a night light, perhaps: ABED. I will be doing this soon, I hope. I think words like these were made up by poets to stretch out the number of syllables.
56. WWII spy org.: OSS. Office of Strategic Services, forerunner of the CIA.
57. Govt. loan insurer: FHA. Federal Housing Administration.
Answer Grid
Al
Thursday, August 12, 2010
LA Times, Thu, Aug 12, 2010 Author: Bruce Venzke
Theme: Self-centerdness or: 65A. A synonym for it is hidden in 17-, 24-, 40- and 52-Across: INNER SELF. The word EGO is found somewhere in the middle of all the theme answers and is consistently broken between the E and the G. A minor inconsistency is that one answer has three words instead of two, but since "THE" doesn't really count in book titles, we'll just overlook that, right?
17. "Good job!": NICE GOING.
24. Hughes Aircraft prototype: SPRUCE GOOSE.
40. Sermonize: PREACH THE GOSPEL.
52. Game with discs and baskets: FRISBEE GOLF. Also called FOLF.
Al here. Definitely a Thursday step-up in difficulty for me, I had to keep going back and forth chipping away at words a letter at a time in places, but it finally fell with no help other than the perps.
ACROSS:
1. Eponymous salad creator: COBB. Named for the owner of the restaurant it was created, Robert Howard Cobb, first cousin of baseball legend Ty Cobb.
5. "Man Plus" author Frederik: POHL. A Sci Fi novel about remotely inhabiting specially created bodies to exist on a planet which is not capable of sustaining human life. Sounds suspiciously like part of the plot of Avatar...
9. Moral fiber: SPINE. Grow a backbone!
14. Its juice is sometimes used to treat heartburn: ALOE. Interesting thing to know...
15. Award for "Rent": OBIE. Off Broadway theatre awards, the "ie" was probably added to make them sound like Emmy, Grammy, I'm guessing. Or perhaps just O. B.with the "b" spelled out differently than a crossword answer.
16. John of Middlesex: ELTON. Middlesex, England, origin from "middle Saxtons". Sir Elton Hercules John, (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight).
19. Colorful stable residents: ROANS.
20. Major malfunction: SNAFU. Situation Normal, All Fouled Up. JANFU is Joint Army-Navy Foul Up. FUBAR is Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition. The process of substituting foul for a different four-letter word is called bowdlerization or expurgation, named after Thomas Bowlder, who "cleaned up" Shakespeare to be more "fit" for women and children.
21. Certain analyst's input: DATA. A data analyst sorts, organizes, sifts through numbers looking for correlations or interesting anomalies on which to base business decisions. For example, did a coupon significantly increase sales?
23. Gymnast Mary __ Retton: LOU. First female gymnast outside of Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title.
28. Moscow ballet theater: BOLSHOI.
32. Cheerleader's offering: YELL.
33. Psych finish: OTIC. Added suffix: psychotic. From Gk. psykhe "the soul, mind, spirit, breath, life, the invisible animating principle or entity which occupies and directs the physical body" (personified as Psykhe, the lover of Eros)
34. Kin of a 911 call: SOS. It later became a "bacronym" associated with "save our ship" or "save our souls". It initially (pun?) didn't actually have any meaning other then to simply be three easy recognizable letters in Morse Code, consisting of three dots, three dashes and then three dots.
36. Objects of look-ups?: IDOLS. Lots of google searches for famous people. And 44A. Judge of many 36-Across: PAULA. Abdul. Left the show last season, and this season it looks like Randy will be the only original judge returning. Did anyone see the shark jumping?
45. Bauxite, e.g.: ORE. For Aluminum (or Aluminium outside of the US).
46. BMW competitor: AUDI. Now owned by Volkswagon, the company name is based on the surname of the founder August Horch, meaning listen — which, when translated back into Latin, becomes Audi.
47. "At Wit's End" author Bombeck: ERMA.
50. Persistently chews on: GNAWS AT.
56. Roulette choice: RED. Roulette is French for "little wheel". Red is one type of bet.
57. Legal letter phrase: IN RE. In the matter of.
58. Travel guide: ATLAS.
63. Veggie bin staple: ONION. And 72A. Kin of 63-Across: LEEK.
68. Wrap: STOLE. From Latin stola "robe, vestment," such as might have been worn by the clergy.
69. Inland Asian sea: ARAL.
70. Response to a shock: GASP.
71. Abominations: HATES. I probably wouldn't title a list of my dislikes as "hates", but for puzzles later in the week, they do try to make the clues more obscure.
73. Walked heavily: TROD.
DOWN:
1. Preserves, in a way: CANS.
2. "Chocolat" actress: OLIN. Lena.
3. City near West Palm: BOCA. I'm guessing at West Palm Beach and Boca Raton, Florida..
4. Gripe: BEEF. Origin unclear, possibly US Soldiers complaints about quality or quantity of meat rations..
5. Nanki-__, son of the Mikado: POO. and 6D. "The Mikado" accessory: OBI. The Mikado is the Emperor of Japan. Nanki-Poo desires Yum Yum, who is engaged to Ko Ko, the Lord High Executioner (but created in a comic sense). Hilarity and song ensues.
7. Veda devotee: HINDU. The vedas are Hindu texts composed in Vedic Sanskrit.
8. Bequest: LEGACY.
9. Title setting for a Mozart abduction: SERAGLIO. The sequestered living quarters used by wives and concubines in a Turkish household. The Mozart Opera.
10. West Bank initials: PLO. Palestine Liberation Organization.
11. "Mr. Palomar" writer Calvino: ITALO. Total blank to me, Got it all from perps. Apparently the last novel he wrote.
12. Things to avoid: NO-NOS. Unless you're five. Then those are the things you head straight for.
13. Occur next: ENSUE. From L. insequi "to pursue". Related word: sequel.
18. Flow copiously: GUSH.
22. Place to start a round: TEE. Round of golf. The tee is the grassy area where the tee is placed.
25. Ritzy: POSH.
26. Very funny person: RIOT.'
27. "Too many cooks ...," e.g.: OLD SAW. ...spoil the broth. But "Many hands make the work light."
28. 1995 comet spotter Thomas: BOPP. As Comet Hale-Bopp reached its brightest point, after Thomas photographed the comet, his brother and sister-in-law were killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. "This has been the best week of my life. And the worst," he said.
29. Other, in Madrid: OTRA.
30. Substitution word: LIEU. In lieu of. Old French for "place", so in place of.
31. Fish features: SCALES.
35. Movie station letters: SHO. Showtime.
37. "Mr. Holland's __": OPUS. Richard Dreyfus as a musician, winds up as a teacher for 30 years and wonders what he has actually accomplished. His Opus, of course, turns out to be all the pupils he has positively affected all those years, not the music he had been trying to finish.
38. Castor's mother: LEDA. Lots of variation in the mythology for this family, but this is the only consistent relationship. Sometimes Zeus is the father, sometimes Tyndareus. Pollux is sometimes Castor's twin, and sometimes his half-brother.
39. Letter opening?: SLIT.
41. Musket relatives: CARBINES. Shorter barrels...
42. "This being the case ...": ERGO. Latin "therefore," possibly from *ex rogo "from the direction," from ex "out of" + root of regere "to guide". Related words: regal and right.
43. DDE, for one: GENL. Eisenhower, general
48. Chess pieces: MEN.
49. Passé reception aid: AERIAL. A shortening of "aerial antenna".
51. Not at hand, to say the least: AFAR.
52. College newbie: FROSH. Freshman
53. __-Wreck: RENT-A. Used cars re-purposed for economy rentals.
54. Fool: IDIOT. Baka in Japanese. Depending on inflection and suffix, baka can range in meaning anywhere from a mild and friendly "you big dummy" to bastard or a**hole or even worse. I'm told there are no actual curse-words in Japanese per se, it's all done in the emphasis or impolite manner that it is presented.
55. Category: GENRE. Old French for "sort" or "type". Related word: gender
59. USAF noncom: T-SGT. Technical Sergeant or E-6 rank in the Air Force. Falls between Staff and Master Sergeants.
60. A jet or a king: LEAR.
61. "Wait, there's more ...": ALSO.
62. Calif. group with a seven-point badge: SFPD. San Fransisco Police Department.
64. Flamenco cheer: OLE.
66. "In your dreams!" in Dundee: NAE. No in Scotland.
67. Big game animal: ELK. I was expecting something from Africa...
Answer Grid
Al
17. "Good job!": NICE GOING.
24. Hughes Aircraft prototype: SPRUCE GOOSE.
40. Sermonize: PREACH THE GOSPEL.
52. Game with discs and baskets: FRISBEE GOLF. Also called FOLF.
Al here. Definitely a Thursday step-up in difficulty for me, I had to keep going back and forth chipping away at words a letter at a time in places, but it finally fell with no help other than the perps.
ACROSS:
1. Eponymous salad creator: COBB. Named for the owner of the restaurant it was created, Robert Howard Cobb, first cousin of baseball legend Ty Cobb.
5. "Man Plus" author Frederik: POHL. A Sci Fi novel about remotely inhabiting specially created bodies to exist on a planet which is not capable of sustaining human life. Sounds suspiciously like part of the plot of Avatar...
9. Moral fiber: SPINE. Grow a backbone!
14. Its juice is sometimes used to treat heartburn: ALOE. Interesting thing to know...
15. Award for "Rent": OBIE. Off Broadway theatre awards, the "ie" was probably added to make them sound like Emmy, Grammy, I'm guessing. Or perhaps just O. B.with the "b" spelled out differently than a crossword answer.
16. John of Middlesex: ELTON. Middlesex, England, origin from "middle Saxtons". Sir Elton Hercules John, (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight).
19. Colorful stable residents: ROANS.
20. Major malfunction: SNAFU. Situation Normal, All Fouled Up. JANFU is Joint Army-Navy Foul Up. FUBAR is Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition. The process of substituting foul for a different four-letter word is called bowdlerization or expurgation, named after Thomas Bowlder, who "cleaned up" Shakespeare to be more "fit" for women and children.
21. Certain analyst's input: DATA. A data analyst sorts, organizes, sifts through numbers looking for correlations or interesting anomalies on which to base business decisions. For example, did a coupon significantly increase sales?
23. Gymnast Mary __ Retton: LOU. First female gymnast outside of Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title.
28. Moscow ballet theater: BOLSHOI.
32. Cheerleader's offering: YELL.
33. Psych finish: OTIC. Added suffix: psychotic. From Gk. psykhe "the soul, mind, spirit, breath, life, the invisible animating principle or entity which occupies and directs the physical body" (personified as Psykhe, the lover of Eros)
34. Kin of a 911 call: SOS. It later became a "bacronym" associated with "save our ship" or "save our souls". It initially (pun?) didn't actually have any meaning other then to simply be three easy recognizable letters in Morse Code, consisting of three dots, three dashes and then three dots.
36. Objects of look-ups?: IDOLS. Lots of google searches for famous people. And 44A. Judge of many 36-Across: PAULA. Abdul. Left the show last season, and this season it looks like Randy will be the only original judge returning. Did anyone see the shark jumping?
45. Bauxite, e.g.: ORE. For Aluminum (or Aluminium outside of the US).
46. BMW competitor: AUDI. Now owned by Volkswagon, the company name is based on the surname of the founder August Horch, meaning listen — which, when translated back into Latin, becomes Audi.
47. "At Wit's End" author Bombeck: ERMA.
50. Persistently chews on: GNAWS AT.
56. Roulette choice: RED. Roulette is French for "little wheel". Red is one type of bet.
57. Legal letter phrase: IN RE. In the matter of.
58. Travel guide: ATLAS.
63. Veggie bin staple: ONION. And 72A. Kin of 63-Across: LEEK.
68. Wrap: STOLE. From Latin stola "robe, vestment," such as might have been worn by the clergy.
69. Inland Asian sea: ARAL.
70. Response to a shock: GASP.
71. Abominations: HATES. I probably wouldn't title a list of my dislikes as "hates", but for puzzles later in the week, they do try to make the clues more obscure.
73. Walked heavily: TROD.
DOWN:
1. Preserves, in a way: CANS.
2. "Chocolat" actress: OLIN. Lena.
3. City near West Palm: BOCA. I'm guessing at West Palm Beach and Boca Raton, Florida..
4. Gripe: BEEF. Origin unclear, possibly US Soldiers complaints about quality or quantity of meat rations..
5. Nanki-__, son of the Mikado: POO. and 6D. "The Mikado" accessory: OBI. The Mikado is the Emperor of Japan. Nanki-Poo desires Yum Yum, who is engaged to Ko Ko, the Lord High Executioner (but created in a comic sense). Hilarity and song ensues.
7. Veda devotee: HINDU. The vedas are Hindu texts composed in Vedic Sanskrit.
8. Bequest: LEGACY.
9. Title setting for a Mozart abduction: SERAGLIO. The sequestered living quarters used by wives and concubines in a Turkish household. The Mozart Opera.
10. West Bank initials: PLO. Palestine Liberation Organization.
11. "Mr. Palomar" writer Calvino: ITALO. Total blank to me, Got it all from perps. Apparently the last novel he wrote.
12. Things to avoid: NO-NOS. Unless you're five. Then those are the things you head straight for.
13. Occur next: ENSUE. From L. insequi "to pursue". Related word: sequel.
18. Flow copiously: GUSH.
22. Place to start a round: TEE. Round of golf. The tee is the grassy area where the tee is placed.
25. Ritzy: POSH.
26. Very funny person: RIOT.'
27. "Too many cooks ...," e.g.: OLD SAW. ...spoil the broth. But "Many hands make the work light."
28. 1995 comet spotter Thomas: BOPP. As Comet Hale-Bopp reached its brightest point, after Thomas photographed the comet, his brother and sister-in-law were killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. "This has been the best week of my life. And the worst," he said.
29. Other, in Madrid: OTRA.
30. Substitution word: LIEU. In lieu of. Old French for "place", so in place of.
31. Fish features: SCALES.
35. Movie station letters: SHO. Showtime.
37. "Mr. Holland's __": OPUS. Richard Dreyfus as a musician, winds up as a teacher for 30 years and wonders what he has actually accomplished. His Opus, of course, turns out to be all the pupils he has positively affected all those years, not the music he had been trying to finish.
38. Castor's mother: LEDA. Lots of variation in the mythology for this family, but this is the only consistent relationship. Sometimes Zeus is the father, sometimes Tyndareus. Pollux is sometimes Castor's twin, and sometimes his half-brother.
39. Letter opening?: SLIT.
41. Musket relatives: CARBINES. Shorter barrels...
42. "This being the case ...": ERGO. Latin "therefore," possibly from *ex rogo "from the direction," from ex "out of" + root of regere "to guide". Related words: regal and right.
43. DDE, for one: GENL. Eisenhower, general
48. Chess pieces: MEN.
49. Passé reception aid: AERIAL. A shortening of "aerial antenna".
51. Not at hand, to say the least: AFAR.
52. College newbie: FROSH. Freshman
53. __-Wreck: RENT-A. Used cars re-purposed for economy rentals.
54. Fool: IDIOT. Baka in Japanese. Depending on inflection and suffix, baka can range in meaning anywhere from a mild and friendly "you big dummy" to bastard or a**hole or even worse. I'm told there are no actual curse-words in Japanese per se, it's all done in the emphasis or impolite manner that it is presented.
55. Category: GENRE. Old French for "sort" or "type". Related word: gender
59. USAF noncom: T-SGT. Technical Sergeant or E-6 rank in the Air Force. Falls between Staff and Master Sergeants.
60. A jet or a king: LEAR.
61. "Wait, there's more ...": ALSO.
62. Calif. group with a seven-point badge: SFPD. San Fransisco Police Department.
64. Flamenco cheer: OLE.
66. "In your dreams!" in Dundee: NAE. No in Scotland.
67. Big game animal: ELK. I was expecting something from Africa...
Answer Grid
Al
Thursday, August 5, 2010
LA Times, Thu, Aug 5, 2010 Author: Dan Naddor
Today's theme: ARREST. 48A. Run in, and a hint to the ends of the answers to starred clues. To "run someone in" is to bring them to the police station.
The last word of each of the theme entries means to nab an alleged lawbreaker. Nab is related to kidnap. Arrest is from Latin: ad+re+stare (to-back-stand). Stare comes from the base *sta- "to stand", and also gives us the lovely crosswordese word "STET", an editor's directive to let the text stand (without correction).
18. *If absolutely necessary: IN A PINCH. If you pinch (steal) something, you get pinched (grabbed as though with pincers).
20. *Ranger, for one: FORD PICKUP.
37. *"Am I missing something here?": WHAT'S THE CATCH.
55. *Like manual laborers: BLUE COLLAR. Arrest sense is to grab someone by the collar.
59. *Boisterous frat party: BEER BUST. I wanted BASH here instead of BUST before I figured out the theme. Both mean to smash, like on a drunken spree, which has the "wild party" meaning. Prohibitionists used to bust in to speakeasys and arrest everyone they could catch.
Somewhat related: 3D. Capture: CORRAL. and 7D. Capture: TRAP.
Al here, with a Dan Nador puzzle no less. Maybe it's just me being on Dan's wavelength most of the time, but I kind of blew through this one. Very doable puzzle, perhaps not as punny or fun as Dan's past puzzles have been though, nearly half the words were three or four letters. No J,Q,X,Z so not very scrabbly.
ACROSS:
1. Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida __": LOCA. The crazy life.
5. Start of many addresses: HTTP. Internet Addresses, otherwise known as URLs: Universal Resource Locators. Hyper Text Transfer Protocol makes it possible for browsers like Firefox and Internet Explorer to traverse the World Wide Web. URLs can start with HTTP:// but that is only one example. Many other types of internet transfer protocols are too numerous to list here, but some examples are FTP (file transfer), NNTP (network news), and SMTP (simple mail)
9. Lawyers' org.: ABA. American Bar Association.
12. Schools for Jules: ECOLES. French. And 39D. Lycée attendee: ELEVE. French for student. Lycée is the last three years of education before University.
15. Prefix with sol: AERO. Aerosol
16. Heater: GAT. Slang for a gun, taken from Gatling
17. On the line: AT RISK. Could easily tip one way or another.
22. "It's the real thing" soft drink: COKE. Coca Cola marketing campaign. Good Grief!
23. Govt. watchdog: EPA. Environmental Protection Agency.
24. Not just my: OUR. Plural possessive.
25. Current pioneer: TESLA. Nicola. Has the unit of magnetic force named after him.
26. Quandary: DILEMMA. Latin: DI (two) lemma (premise).
30. One who raised Cain: EVE. Cain and Abel were Adam and Eve's sons.
32. Sea salt?: TAR. A sailor. Could be from the job of applying tar to the bottoms of ships, or from the tarpaulin that they sometimes used in clothing. Also Gob.
33. Spare tire site?: WAIST. Not so easy to deflate.
35. Refuse to budge: INSIST. Latin: In (upon) sistere (take a stand). Related: assist (stand by), and once again STET (let stand).
40. Blacks out: FAINTS.
41. Coeur d'__: ALENE. City in Idaho.
42. Many a CBer's workplace: RIG. Citizen's Band radios. Do they still use those? Seems kind of dated. Big rig = Semi-trailer.
43. Brit. recording giant: EMI. Electric & Musical Industries Ltd.
45. "CHiPs" star: ESTRADA. Erik. California Highway Patrol motorcyle cop. His character name was Ponch. (Poncherello)
49. Kind of alcohol: ETHYL. Ethanol, the kind we drink.
51. Little john?: LAV. Abbreviation (little) for lavatory. A British crossword style of clue.
53. Lady's man: SIR. English Lords are addressed as: Sir.
54. Language that gave us "plaid": ERSE. Scottish Gaelic. The word means: Irish.
61. Lisa's "Friends" role: PHOEBE. Lisa Kudrow/Phoebe Buffay.
62. "Happiness __ Warm Puppy": "Peanuts" book: IS A.
63. Manipulative type: USER.
64. Drives: IMPELS.
65. Relative of -trix: ESS. Feminine suffixes: dominatrix, baroness
66. Place with a pool, informally: THEY. Another misplaced clue? I can't make any sense of this one.
67. Apt name for a Dalmatian: SPOT.
DOWN:
1. Flipped (through): LEAFED. Book pages
2. Eight-footers?: OCTOPI. Tentacles count as feet? Or are octopi 8 feet long?
4. "Put __ on it!": A LID.
5. Three-line verse: HAIKU. 5-7-5 syllable meter. Does not need to rhyme: Yesterday it worked. / Today it is not working. / Windows is like that.
6. Professor's goal: TENURE. A guarantee they get to keep the position, usually requires research and publishing credentials, which means that rather than spending their time on students, they might be concentrating their time elsewhere. I had at least one prof like that. Schools need a different reward system IMHO.
8. Appear unexpectedly, with "up": POP. Maybe that's why dads are called pops? No, darn it, from an old French word similar to pappa.
9. Religious doubter: AGNOSTIC. Someone that asserts that it cannot be known whether God exists, compare Atheist, who asserts that there is no God, and Gnostic, who asserts that it is knowable.
10. Political repercussions: BACKLASH. Machinery too. I can see how they're related...
11. Deep down: AT HEART.
13. Sixth sense, for short: ESP. Extra (beyond) Sensory Perception.
14. Schuss, e.g.: SKI. From old Norse: skið "stick of wood".
19. Diamonds, to hoods: ICE.
21. Oregon highlight: COAST. Michigan's freshwater shoreline, at 3,288 miles is the longest in the world. Alaska has the most total coastline of the 50 states though, at 6,640 miles. Oregon only has 296, just sayin'.
25. Letter?: TENANT. One who lets (rents or leases) a room, apartment, or house.
27. McGregor of "The Men Who Stare at Goats": EWAN. Also the young version of Obi Wan Kenobe in Star Wars.
28. Hot Wheels maker: MATTEL. Mattel toys have not been made in the USA since 2002.
29. Midler's "Divine" nickname: MISS M.
31. Bad habits: VICES. If you have any, you should try to clamp down on them...
34. "J to __ L-O!": Lopez remix album: THA. Words fail me.
36. Trick ending?: STER. Suffix: trickster
37. Many a server, in the old days: WAITRESS. Not sure why it was necessary to specify "the old days", but then again, I don't go to restaurants very often. Did I miss something?
38. Boat rocker, to say the least: HIGH SEAS. Nicely done.
40. It's thrown in: FREEBIE. Also a Frisbee.
44. "Gotta think about it": I'LL SEE.
46. Napping: ASLEEP.
47. Don Quixote's devil: DIABLO. Spanish.
50. "__ out!": ump's call: YER. Baseball terseness.
52. "Back in the Saddle Again" autobiographer: AUTRY. Gene. Birth name: Orvon Eugene Autry.
55. Outback: BUSH. See Kazie's pic.
56. Cost-of-living stat: CPI. Consumer Price Index.
57. Electrical unit: OHM. Resistance measurement. Color code mnemonic for reading the values: Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly = Black Brown Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet Gray White
58. Cuts off: LOPS.
60. On the other hand: BUT.
Answer Grid
Al
The last word of each of the theme entries means to nab an alleged lawbreaker. Nab is related to kidnap. Arrest is from Latin: ad+re+stare (to-back-stand). Stare comes from the base *sta- "to stand", and also gives us the lovely crosswordese word "STET", an editor's directive to let the text stand (without correction).
18. *If absolutely necessary: IN A PINCH. If you pinch (steal) something, you get pinched (grabbed as though with pincers).
20. *Ranger, for one: FORD PICKUP.
37. *"Am I missing something here?": WHAT'S THE CATCH.
55. *Like manual laborers: BLUE COLLAR. Arrest sense is to grab someone by the collar.
59. *Boisterous frat party: BEER BUST. I wanted BASH here instead of BUST before I figured out the theme. Both mean to smash, like on a drunken spree, which has the "wild party" meaning. Prohibitionists used to bust in to speakeasys and arrest everyone they could catch.
Somewhat related: 3D. Capture: CORRAL. and 7D. Capture: TRAP.
Al here, with a Dan Nador puzzle no less. Maybe it's just me being on Dan's wavelength most of the time, but I kind of blew through this one. Very doable puzzle, perhaps not as punny or fun as Dan's past puzzles have been though, nearly half the words were three or four letters. No J,Q,X,Z so not very scrabbly.
ACROSS:
1. Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida __": LOCA. The crazy life.
5. Start of many addresses: HTTP. Internet Addresses, otherwise known as URLs: Universal Resource Locators. Hyper Text Transfer Protocol makes it possible for browsers like Firefox and Internet Explorer to traverse the World Wide Web. URLs can start with HTTP:// but that is only one example. Many other types of internet transfer protocols are too numerous to list here, but some examples are FTP (file transfer), NNTP (network news), and SMTP (simple mail)
9. Lawyers' org.: ABA. American Bar Association.
12. Schools for Jules: ECOLES. French. And 39D. Lycée attendee: ELEVE. French for student. Lycée is the last three years of education before University.
15. Prefix with sol: AERO. Aerosol
16. Heater: GAT. Slang for a gun, taken from Gatling
17. On the line: AT RISK. Could easily tip one way or another.
22. "It's the real thing" soft drink: COKE. Coca Cola marketing campaign. Good Grief!
23. Govt. watchdog: EPA. Environmental Protection Agency.
24. Not just my: OUR. Plural possessive.
25. Current pioneer: TESLA. Nicola. Has the unit of magnetic force named after him.
26. Quandary: DILEMMA. Latin: DI (two) lemma (premise).
30. One who raised Cain: EVE. Cain and Abel were Adam and Eve's sons.
32. Sea salt?: TAR. A sailor. Could be from the job of applying tar to the bottoms of ships, or from the tarpaulin that they sometimes used in clothing. Also Gob.
33. Spare tire site?: WAIST. Not so easy to deflate.
35. Refuse to budge: INSIST. Latin: In (upon) sistere (take a stand). Related: assist (stand by), and once again STET (let stand).
40. Blacks out: FAINTS.
41. Coeur d'__: ALENE. City in Idaho.
42. Many a CBer's workplace: RIG. Citizen's Band radios. Do they still use those? Seems kind of dated. Big rig = Semi-trailer.
43. Brit. recording giant: EMI. Electric & Musical Industries Ltd.
45. "CHiPs" star: ESTRADA. Erik. California Highway Patrol motorcyle cop. His character name was Ponch. (Poncherello)
49. Kind of alcohol: ETHYL. Ethanol, the kind we drink.
51. Little john?: LAV. Abbreviation (little) for lavatory. A British crossword style of clue.
53. Lady's man: SIR. English Lords are addressed as: Sir.
54. Language that gave us "plaid": ERSE. Scottish Gaelic. The word means: Irish.
61. Lisa's "Friends" role: PHOEBE. Lisa Kudrow/Phoebe Buffay.
62. "Happiness __ Warm Puppy": "Peanuts" book: IS A.
63. Manipulative type: USER.
64. Drives: IMPELS.
65. Relative of -trix: ESS. Feminine suffixes: dominatrix, baroness
66. Place with a pool, informally: THEY. Another misplaced clue? I can't make any sense of this one.
67. Apt name for a Dalmatian: SPOT.
DOWN:
1. Flipped (through): LEAFED. Book pages
2. Eight-footers?: OCTOPI. Tentacles count as feet? Or are octopi 8 feet long?
4. "Put __ on it!": A LID.
5. Three-line verse: HAIKU. 5-7-5 syllable meter. Does not need to rhyme: Yesterday it worked. / Today it is not working. / Windows is like that.
6. Professor's goal: TENURE. A guarantee they get to keep the position, usually requires research and publishing credentials, which means that rather than spending their time on students, they might be concentrating their time elsewhere. I had at least one prof like that. Schools need a different reward system IMHO.
8. Appear unexpectedly, with "up": POP. Maybe that's why dads are called pops? No, darn it, from an old French word similar to pappa.
9. Religious doubter: AGNOSTIC. Someone that asserts that it cannot be known whether God exists, compare Atheist, who asserts that there is no God, and Gnostic, who asserts that it is knowable.
10. Political repercussions: BACKLASH. Machinery too. I can see how they're related...
11. Deep down: AT HEART.
13. Sixth sense, for short: ESP. Extra (beyond) Sensory Perception.
14. Schuss, e.g.: SKI. From old Norse: skið "stick of wood".
19. Diamonds, to hoods: ICE.
21. Oregon highlight: COAST. Michigan's freshwater shoreline, at 3,288 miles is the longest in the world. Alaska has the most total coastline of the 50 states though, at 6,640 miles. Oregon only has 296, just sayin'.
25. Letter?: TENANT. One who lets (rents or leases) a room, apartment, or house.
27. McGregor of "The Men Who Stare at Goats": EWAN. Also the young version of Obi Wan Kenobe in Star Wars.
28. Hot Wheels maker: MATTEL. Mattel toys have not been made in the USA since 2002.
29. Midler's "Divine" nickname: MISS M.
31. Bad habits: VICES. If you have any, you should try to clamp down on them...
34. "J to __ L-O!": Lopez remix album: THA. Words fail me.
36. Trick ending?: STER. Suffix: trickster
37. Many a server, in the old days: WAITRESS. Not sure why it was necessary to specify "the old days", but then again, I don't go to restaurants very often. Did I miss something?
38. Boat rocker, to say the least: HIGH SEAS. Nicely done.
40. It's thrown in: FREEBIE. Also a Frisbee.
44. "Gotta think about it": I'LL SEE.
46. Napping: ASLEEP.
47. Don Quixote's devil: DIABLO. Spanish.
50. "__ out!": ump's call: YER. Baseball terseness.
52. "Back in the Saddle Again" autobiographer: AUTRY. Gene. Birth name: Orvon Eugene Autry.
55. Outback: BUSH. See Kazie's pic.
56. Cost-of-living stat: CPI. Consumer Price Index.
57. Electrical unit: OHM. Resistance measurement. Color code mnemonic for reading the values: Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly = Black Brown Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet Gray White
58. Cuts off: LOPS.
60. On the other hand: BUT.
Answer Grid
Al
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