Theme: Inverted phrases. The first and third words of common phrases are switched and wackily clued with a "?" indicator. The altered phrases all end with "THE" and a three letter word.
18A. Libertarian slogan?: FIRE THE FED. Libertarians hold that if it is not explicitly provided for in the constitution, that it should not be dealt with or (especially) paid for on a federal level, it is the domain of each individual state to deal with it (or not) instead (as explicitly provided in the Constitution's tenth amendment, State's Rights). /Fed the fire. (What talking about politics will do)
24A. Finish an ascent?: SCALE THE TIP. Climb to the top./Tip the scale.
35A. Tidy up in a wood shop?: DUST THE BIT. Keep your tools clean./Bit the dust. Died.
43A. Floor an oppressive boss?: DECK THE MAN. Punch a jerk./Man the deck. Get to your station on a ship
51A. Value one's vision?: PRIZE THE EYE. Eye the prize. Keep your eyes on the prize was a 50s/60s folk song during the civil rights movement.
62A. Send a star pitcher for an MRI?: TEST THE ACE. Magnetic Resonance Imaging/Ace the test. Score very highly.
Al here.
Heavy themage today, which didn't help in the least with solving, and no revealing clue was included in the puzzle. It was like solving a second puzzle to suss out what was going on, which was kind of fun, actually. Interesting to see a symmetry with six theme entries. Four or five are more common, with the occasional seven that Dan N. usually provided. A pangram, to boot. The (small) price to pay for XTRA features in the construction is accepting that a few more abbrevs are necessary here and there for fill.
ACROSS:
1. Fat job?: LIPO. Suction.
5. Interstate exit: RAMP.
9. See 12-Down: AFTER. And 12D. With 9-Across, fairy tale ender: EVER. Happily for some. Has anyone read the actual book Wicked (I know, I know, there's a musical), the story from the point of view of the Witch of the West? What if all fairy tales were actually like that?
14. Pararescue gp.: USAF. A division of the US Air Force that does search and rescue missions.
15. Organic compound: ENOL.
16. Hanker for: CRAVE. Probably from Flemish hankeren, related to Dutch hunkeren "to hanker," intensifier of Middle Dutch hangen "to hang." The notion is of "lingering about" with longing or craving.
17. Poet who wrote, about children, "And if they are popular / The phone they monopular": NASH. Ogden. Also the shortest poem ever (about fleas): Adam had 'em.
20. Rich sponge cake: GATEAU. I am now scarred for life from doing a google image search for this, even with safe image search set to moderate.
22. Pithy saying: SAW. An adage, an aphorism, an apothegm, usually terse, i.e., if something can go wrong, it will.
23. NFL game foursome: QTRS. Quarters. There are six referees, so refs didn't work.
27. Buying outing: SPREE. From French: "esprit", lively. This would not be me during shopping.
28. Cones and prisms: SOLIDS. 3-D geometrric figures.
33. Farm expanse: LEA. An open field or meadow.
38. Grads: ALUMS.
41. Sandwich request: RYE. My first thought was SUB.
42. Untrusting: LEERY.
46. __ scripta: written law: LEX. Explicity stated law, as opposed to lex non scripta, common law, set by precedent.
47. It's often served with lemon: ICE TEA. Some day a clever constructor will include the "D" and everyone will all be confused.
48. It can be rolled, pressed or stuffed: SUSHI.
56. Warrior trained by the centaur Chiron: AJAX. If I read it right, the great grandson of Zeus, also the cousin of Achilles.
60. It merged with AT&T in 2005: SBC. Southwestern Bell Corp.
61. Be amazed (at): MARVEL. Shazam!
65. Like pretzels: BENT. Baked in the shape of folded arms. Pretzel traces back to a word for branches.
66. D.C. underground: METRO. A Subway system that branches out to the suburbs above ground..
67. "Rigoletto" highlight: ARIA. Not a happily ever after fairy tale... In this opera a licentious Duke ravishes his jester's daughter; the jester's revenge goes tragically awry with his daughter's death.
68. Concerning: AS TO.
69. Dust crops, e.g.: SPRAY.
70. Certain NCO: MSGT. Master Sergeant.
71. A library book may be on it: LOAN.
DOWN:
1. Airway termini: LUNGS. I was fooled into thinking about airports, not where your bronchi attach.
2. Stern with a Strad: ISAAC. Fiddler behind the scenes...
3. Noodle topper: PASTA SAUCE.
4. Useful: OF HELP. Needed perp help for this.
5. Proved false: REFUTED. The "correct" original meaning of refute. The meaning has been shifting towards "to deny" since the 60's, as used with the word "allegations".
6. "Star Wars" saga nickname: ANI. Anikin Skywalker, Darth Vader, who says "Yippee" in the fourth movie released, which is chronologically the beginning.
7. Code creator: MORSE. Samuel. Co-created "American Morse Code", also called Railroad code, with Alfred Vail. Since 1865, International Morse code has been used instead, with "American" being limited to re-enactments only.
8. Fabric fold: PLEAT. Also a flounce, apparently.
9. Günter's gripe: ACH. German Oh! An interjection.
10. Radio abbr.: FREQ.uency.
11. 300-pound president: TAFT. William Howard. 27th president and later the10th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The only person to have served both offices.
13. Great American Ball Park team: REDS. Cincinnati.
19. Checker's dance: TWIST. Chubby Checker (Ernest Evans). It was a cover of the B-side song by R&B artist Hank Ballard. Popularized thanks to Dick Clark and American Bandstand.
21. Flying prefix: AER. Latin air.
25. One of 24 in un jour: HEURE. French, 24 hours in a day.
26. Sci-fi writer Frederik: POHL. Prolific author and editor.
29. Sheltered side: LEE. So odd to see it without the "A".
30. "That's my take": I BELIEVE SO.
31. Desperate: DIRE. As in circumstances.
32. Charon's river: STYX. Don't pay the ferryman until he gets you to the other side.
33. __-da: pretentious: LA-DI.
34. Juice: Abbr.: ELEC.tricity
36. Orch. work: SYM. Orchestra, symphony.
37. Flirt: TEASE. One who does, is.
39. NYSE, e.g.: MKT. New York Stock Exchange, Stock Market.
40. Stride: STEP.
44. Caustic: HARSH. I had BASIC in there briefly because lye is a very strong base. Caustic lye is the opposite of acid, but no less destructive. Sort of like the two-party system. If you try to mix the two extremes together, sparks really fly and everything in between gets hurt.
45. Edible part of a pecan: NUTMEAT. Pecan, a word from our crossword friends, the Cree: pakan, hard-shelled nut. So, how do you say it? PEEcahn, payKAHN, or PEE-CAN?
49. Doo-wop syllable: SHA. A blast from the past.
50. Like some supplements: HERBAL.
52. Building girder: I-BEAM. Guessed _beam right away, and 53D. Many Nissan autos: Z-CARS. Similarly got _cars, but had to wait for the leading letters for both. Which was tough because the theme perp wasn't helping.
54. Busybody: YENTA. From Yente Telebende, comic strip gossip in 1920s-30s writing of Yiddish newspaper humorist B. Kovner (pen-name of Jacob Adler).
55. John with Grammys: ELTON. Who else could it be?
56. Green dispensers: ATMS. Not fooled this time, filled immediately.
57. Wrangler, for one: JEEP. An SUV or UTE.
58. Copernicus's sci.: ASTR. Science, astronomy.
59. Bonus, in adspeak: XTRA.
63. Peke, e.g.: TOY. Pekingese dog, toy breed.
64. One might be bummed, briefly: CIG.arette
Answer grid.
Al
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
LA Times, Thu, Oct 21, 2010 Author: Ed Sessa
Theme: You've been pied. Several different objects or phrases, unrelated to food, have been hit in the face (the first word) with a pie and humorously ? clued with an associated description for the remainder.
18. Pie flop?: CHERRY BOMB. Illegal fireworks, a type of "salute", which is a pyrotechnic device designed to make a loud report. A show that bombs is a flop.
23. Pie taste-test site?: CHOCOLATE LAB. A dark Labrador Retriever. Tests are performed in a laboratory.
39. Pie to-do?: MUDFLAP. A splash guard for vehicles. A flap was originally Brit slang for a noisy tumult or to-do.
50. Pie charts?: APPLE RECORDS. Music recording label founded by the Beatles. Charts and records as in a doctor's office.
60. Pie patter?: MINCE WORDS. To try to politely tell someone something unpleasant in a manner such as to not hurt their feelings. Patter orig. from Latin "pater" to mumble prayers rapidly (pater from Paternoster, the Lord's Prayer).
Al here.
An OK puzzle today, sped through fairly quickly except the SW gave me some trouble getting a start, but I got it all without assistance, the perps filling in enough of the names and abbrevs for guessing, which is how it should be. I never saw a few of the clues, so this was more like a Wednesday level puzzle to me.
ACROSS:
1. A party to: IN ON.
5. Quite the fashion plate: CHIC. I find it interesting that it might come from two different sources: old German words for neat/orderly shikken/schicken, or from a French word for trickery (chicanery). Make your own fashion conclusions...
9. Spring bloomer: LILAC.
14. His epitaph reads "And the beat goes on": BONO. Sonny Bono (Sonny & Cher) was the only member of congress to have a #1 single on the Billboard top 100 chart.
15. Faulkner femme fatale Varner: EULA. A William Faulkner story, The Hamlet, was made into The Long Hot Summer in 1958, with Lee Remick as Eula. Also made into a 26 part TV series in 1965. Never heard of any of it before today...
16. BP merger partner: AMOCO. American Oil Co., British Petroleum.
17. TV role for Bamboo Harvester: MR. ED. The "real" name of the palomino horse in the TV show of the same name.
20. Italian deli sandwich: PANINI. Similar to a small Italian sub.
22. Travelers' burdens: VALISES. Suitcase, soldiers kit bag.
26. X, at times: TEN. Roman numeral. Also times at times. Cute.
27. www bookmark: URL. Uniform Resource Locator.
28. Film director's headaches: EGOS.
32. Luther's lang.: GER. Martin Luther, medieval priest. Basically stated that you can't buy your way into heaven, which got him in all sorts of trouble with the church.
34. First Amendment lobbying gp.: ACLU. American Civil Liberties Union.
36. Numbers game: SUDOKU.
38. Buckeyes' home: Abbr.: OSU. Ohio State Univ.
41. Post- opposite: PRE.
42. One in distress?: DAMSEL. Melodrama.
44. Slug or song ending: FEST. Shortening of festival.
45. Loft material: HAY.
46. Apartment manager, familiarly: SUPE.
47. Quaff for Andy Capp: ALE. British syndicated comic strip.
48. Curling setting: ICE. Probably the only Olympic sport you can participate in while preggers.
56. Like the auditory and optic nerves, e.g.: CRANIAL. They're all in your head.
59. Aspen topper: SKI HAT.
63. Prohibited thing: NO-NO.
64. Days of Hanukkah, e.g.: OCTET.
65. Flag: TIRE. To go limp or droop, as with a flag with no wind.
66. First name in Olympics gymnastics: OLGA. Korbut. The media whirl which surrounded her 1972 Olympic debut caused a surge of young girls to join their local gymnastic clubs, and a sport which had seldom been noticed previously made headlines.
67. Like beer halls, usually: NOISY.
68. Eyewear, in ads: SPEX. X-ray ones, no doubt.
69. Raid target: PEST. Not just for bugs.
DOWN:
1. High-tech debut of 1981: IBM PC.
2. Grammy winner Jones: NORAH. Best Album. Don't know why.
3. Bridge opening: ONE NO TRUMP.
4. "Fuggedaboutit!": NO DICE. Nothin' doin'. Gambling with dice was illegal in many states and so gamblers went to some pains to hide the dice when challenged by the police. Courts would sometimes throw out cases if the dice weren't offered in evidence. There are several court records where gamblers were alleged to have swallowed dice to avoid arrest. No dice, no conviction.
5. 1980s-'90s slugger Fielder: CECIL.
6. "Whazzat?": HUH.
7. Seine sight: ILE. French river, island.
8. Longtime ice cream cake brand: CARVEL. Another unknown to me. Connecticut based.
9. Clapton title woman: LAYLA. Unplugged.
10. Wet one's whistle: IMBIBED. From Latin imbibere "absorb, drink in, inhale.
11. Johns, to Elton: LOOS. Probably from Fr. lieux d'aisances, "lavatory," lit. "place of ease," picked up by British servicemen in France during World War I. Or possibly a pun on Waterloo, based on water closet.
12. Top: ACME. Or apex. Need at least one other perp letter besides the A.
13. Male swans: COBS. Females are called PENS.
19. "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-__": Irish lullaby: RAL.
21. Hardly distinguished: NO NAME.
24. Nostalgic song title word: AULD. LANG SYNE
25. Godiva product: TRUFFLE.
29. Tunnel entrance of sorts: GOPHER HOLE.
30. Gumbo ingredient: OKRA.
31. Chop __: SUEY. From Chinese (Cantonese dialect) tsap sui "odds and ends."
32. Mars and Venus: GODS.
33. Name meaning "hairy" in Hebrew: ESAU. Perhaps a tad obscure...
35. __-de-sac: CUL.
36. Airline to Oslo: SAS. Scandinavian Airlines.
37. Slight market improvement: UPTICK. Stock market trend change.
40. Disconcerting glance: LEER. Or OGLE.
43. Hand-holding events: SEANCES. From French séance "a sitting,"
47. Parcels out: ALLOTS. To divide into lots. Related to the sense of "drawing lots" where in new settlements, sometimes the best properties were determined by lot. Also related, lottery.
49. Requiring change, briefly: COIN-OP. Like the government in both senses, needing to change, and being run by money...
51. Reverence: PIETY.
52. A pad helps protect it: PAW.
53. Elizabeth I's beloved: ESSEX. Robert Devereux, the second Earl of Essex. Eventually executed for treason after falling out of favor and trying to mount a coup.
54. Mild expletives: DANGS.
55. Brown ermine: STOAT.
56. "Get real!": C'MON.
57. Guy who "wore a diamond," in the song "Copacabana": RICO.
58. ABM component?: ANTI. Ballistic Missile
61. Scary current: RIP.
62. Grammy-winning Dr.: DRE.
Answer Grid.
Al
18. Pie flop?: CHERRY BOMB. Illegal fireworks, a type of "salute", which is a pyrotechnic device designed to make a loud report. A show that bombs is a flop.
23. Pie taste-test site?: CHOCOLATE LAB. A dark Labrador Retriever. Tests are performed in a laboratory.
39. Pie to-do?: MUDFLAP. A splash guard for vehicles. A flap was originally Brit slang for a noisy tumult or to-do.
50. Pie charts?: APPLE RECORDS. Music recording label founded by the Beatles. Charts and records as in a doctor's office.
60. Pie patter?: MINCE WORDS. To try to politely tell someone something unpleasant in a manner such as to not hurt their feelings. Patter orig. from Latin "pater" to mumble prayers rapidly (pater from Paternoster, the Lord's Prayer).
Al here.
An OK puzzle today, sped through fairly quickly except the SW gave me some trouble getting a start, but I got it all without assistance, the perps filling in enough of the names and abbrevs for guessing, which is how it should be. I never saw a few of the clues, so this was more like a Wednesday level puzzle to me.
ACROSS:
1. A party to: IN ON.
5. Quite the fashion plate: CHIC. I find it interesting that it might come from two different sources: old German words for neat/orderly shikken/schicken, or from a French word for trickery (chicanery). Make your own fashion conclusions...
9. Spring bloomer: LILAC.
14. His epitaph reads "And the beat goes on": BONO. Sonny Bono (Sonny & Cher) was the only member of congress to have a #1 single on the Billboard top 100 chart.
15. Faulkner femme fatale Varner: EULA. A William Faulkner story, The Hamlet, was made into The Long Hot Summer in 1958, with Lee Remick as Eula. Also made into a 26 part TV series in 1965. Never heard of any of it before today...
16. BP merger partner: AMOCO. American Oil Co., British Petroleum.
17. TV role for Bamboo Harvester: MR. ED. The "real" name of the palomino horse in the TV show of the same name.
20. Italian deli sandwich: PANINI. Similar to a small Italian sub.
22. Travelers' burdens: VALISES. Suitcase, soldiers kit bag.
26. X, at times: TEN. Roman numeral. Also times at times. Cute.
27. www bookmark: URL. Uniform Resource Locator.
28. Film director's headaches: EGOS.
32. Luther's lang.: GER. Martin Luther, medieval priest. Basically stated that you can't buy your way into heaven, which got him in all sorts of trouble with the church.
34. First Amendment lobbying gp.: ACLU. American Civil Liberties Union.
36. Numbers game: SUDOKU.
38. Buckeyes' home: Abbr.: OSU. Ohio State Univ.
41. Post- opposite: PRE.
42. One in distress?: DAMSEL. Melodrama.
44. Slug or song ending: FEST. Shortening of festival.
45. Loft material: HAY.
46. Apartment manager, familiarly: SUPE.
47. Quaff for Andy Capp: ALE. British syndicated comic strip.
48. Curling setting: ICE. Probably the only Olympic sport you can participate in while preggers.
56. Like the auditory and optic nerves, e.g.: CRANIAL. They're all in your head.
59. Aspen topper: SKI HAT.
63. Prohibited thing: NO-NO.
64. Days of Hanukkah, e.g.: OCTET.
65. Flag: TIRE. To go limp or droop, as with a flag with no wind.
66. First name in Olympics gymnastics: OLGA. Korbut. The media whirl which surrounded her 1972 Olympic debut caused a surge of young girls to join their local gymnastic clubs, and a sport which had seldom been noticed previously made headlines.
67. Like beer halls, usually: NOISY.
68. Eyewear, in ads: SPEX. X-ray ones, no doubt.
69. Raid target: PEST. Not just for bugs.
DOWN:
1. High-tech debut of 1981: IBM PC.
2. Grammy winner Jones: NORAH. Best Album. Don't know why.
3. Bridge opening: ONE NO TRUMP.
4. "Fuggedaboutit!": NO DICE. Nothin' doin'. Gambling with dice was illegal in many states and so gamblers went to some pains to hide the dice when challenged by the police. Courts would sometimes throw out cases if the dice weren't offered in evidence. There are several court records where gamblers were alleged to have swallowed dice to avoid arrest. No dice, no conviction.
5. 1980s-'90s slugger Fielder: CECIL.
6. "Whazzat?": HUH.
7. Seine sight: ILE. French river, island.
8. Longtime ice cream cake brand: CARVEL. Another unknown to me. Connecticut based.
9. Clapton title woman: LAYLA. Unplugged.
10. Wet one's whistle: IMBIBED. From Latin imbibere "absorb, drink in, inhale.
11. Johns, to Elton: LOOS. Probably from Fr. lieux d'aisances, "lavatory," lit. "place of ease," picked up by British servicemen in France during World War I. Or possibly a pun on Waterloo, based on water closet.
12. Top: ACME. Or apex. Need at least one other perp letter besides the A.
13. Male swans: COBS. Females are called PENS.
19. "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-__": Irish lullaby: RAL.
21. Hardly distinguished: NO NAME.
24. Nostalgic song title word: AULD. LANG SYNE
25. Godiva product: TRUFFLE.
29. Tunnel entrance of sorts: GOPHER HOLE.
30. Gumbo ingredient: OKRA.
31. Chop __: SUEY. From Chinese (Cantonese dialect) tsap sui "odds and ends."
32. Mars and Venus: GODS.
33. Name meaning "hairy" in Hebrew: ESAU. Perhaps a tad obscure...
35. __-de-sac: CUL.
36. Airline to Oslo: SAS. Scandinavian Airlines.
37. Slight market improvement: UPTICK. Stock market trend change.
40. Disconcerting glance: LEER. Or OGLE.
43. Hand-holding events: SEANCES. From French séance "a sitting,"
47. Parcels out: ALLOTS. To divide into lots. Related to the sense of "drawing lots" where in new settlements, sometimes the best properties were determined by lot. Also related, lottery.
49. Requiring change, briefly: COIN-OP. Like the government in both senses, needing to change, and being run by money...
51. Reverence: PIETY.
52. A pad helps protect it: PAW.
53. Elizabeth I's beloved: ESSEX. Robert Devereux, the second Earl of Essex. Eventually executed for treason after falling out of favor and trying to mount a coup.
54. Mild expletives: DANGS.
55. Brown ermine: STOAT.
56. "Get real!": C'MON.
57. Guy who "wore a diamond," in the song "Copacabana": RICO.
58. ABM component?: ANTI. Ballistic Missile
61. Scary current: RIP.
62. Grammy-winning Dr.: DRE.
Answer Grid.
Al
Thursday, October 14, 2010
LA Times, Thu, Oct 14, 2010 Author: Matt Matera
Theme: Aye-aye sir. Various ways to answer in the affirmative appear at the starts of the answers to starred clues Tip off in the clue for 66A. Parliamentary votes : YEAS.
1. *Hip-hopper who married Beyoncé (German): JAY-Z.
20. *Old stories (English): YESTERDAY'S NEWS.
28. *Inferred cosmic substance (Russian): DARK MATTER. Matter that cannot be detected directly, but "must" exist because "something" massive is interacting with the observed gravitational behavior of the matter that can be detected.
44. *Séance device (French): OUIJA BOARD. Actually, the trademarked name comes from combining two "yes" words, OUI and JA. That makes this answer stand out a bit from the others.
51. *Fatal problem in Genesis (Spanish): SIBLING RIVALRY. Cain v. Abel.
Al here.
A fairly "agreeable" puzzle today, no? Kind of slow starting, but once it got going, it filled in faster for me than yesterday's. More than a few obscure names and places make this a Thursday puzzle, though.
ACROSS:
5. Sturdy fabric: DENIM. From French serge de Nîmes, cloth from a town in southern France.
10. Delhi wrap: SARI. Women's wear in India. Also has an alternate of spelling saree. A seemingly infinite variety of styles.
14. Movie apiarist: ULEE. Peter Fonda's character in Ulee's Gold was a beekeeper.
15. Like sandalwood leaves: OVATE.
16. Green Zone site: IRAQ. A heavily fortified central portion of Baghdad that contained several palaces of Saddam Husein. The International Zone. Also a recent movie about the same starring Matt Damon.
17. Gets into: DONS. Puts on clothing.
18. Brewers' kilns: OASTS.
19. Things you saw while out?: LOGS. Sawing logs, slang for snoring.
23. "Paris, je t'__": 2006 film: AIME. (Paris, I love you) a film made up of 18 short stories, and had 22 directors.
24. Charged particle: ION.
25. Nashville awards gp.: CMA. Country Music Awards.
33. Mythological ride: CARPET. Close your eyes, girl, or if you prefer, don't you dare close your eyes.
35. Derisive cry: YAH. If you say so, I guess.
36. Pivotal part: CRUX. Latin for "cross".
38. Bug, perhaps: ERROR. Latin errare, wander, go astray.
39. Hottie: FOX. Obligatory pic. Just don't google images for her with the word "thumbs"...
40. Easternmost state: MAINE. Ayuh is another way to say yes.
41. "Don't touch that __!": DIAL.
42. Body art, in slang: TAT.
43. High-speed raptor: FALCON. Raptor (Latin) and rapid are related words. To call a raptor high-speed is sort of redundant.
47. Former World No. 1 tennis player Ivanovic: ANA. What is it that draws attractive women to tennis?
48. With 6-Down, one in fear of an audit: TAX. and 6. See 48-Across: EVADER.
49. "Dagnabit!": RATS. Charlie Brown's second-favorite interjection, especially at Halloween. "Rats, another rock."
58. Colombia neighbor: PERU.
59. Funnel-shaped: CONED.
60. Architect Mies van der __: ROHE. Father of "modern" architecture. i.e. big square buildings with lots of glass. Also tubular steel furniture.
61. Animal shelter: LAIR. Related to "lie", as in lie down.
62. Gather: AMASS.
63. Intuited: KNEW. Not quite the same? My sense of the word is to perceive or guess immediately without thinking, but without knowing beforehand. Maybe I'm wrong.
64. About: OR SO.
65. Greet respectfully: BOW TO.
DOWN:
1. Kids' author Blume: JUDY.
2. Succulent plant: ALOE.
3. Dieters may fight them: YENS.
4. Keebler cracker: ZESTA. Saltines competition.
5. Pushover: DOORMAT.
7. Org. with rovers: NASA. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Rover as a remote exploration vehicle, not a dog. SPCA for first thoughts anyone?
8. __-bitty: ITTY.
9. Handel bars?: MESSIAH. Cute musical pun, bars of music, Handle's Messiah. (famously, the Hallelujah chorus)
10. '20s White House nickname: SILENT CAL. Coolidge. 30th president. A possibly apocryphal story has it that Dorothy Parker, seated next to him at a dinner, said to him, "Mr. Coolidge, I've made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you." His famous reply: "You lose."
11. ... ducks in __: A ROW. Explanations from decorative plaster ducks on the mantle in the 70's, to shooting galleries, are everywhere, but the likely origin is much simpler, think of the image of a mother duck leading her ducklings across a pond, which could have been observed ever since there were ducks.
12. Poverty, in metaphor: RAGS. From rags to riches.
13. Brightness nos.: IQS. I wanted something to do with lumens, or other light sources.
21. Down source: EIDER. Harvested from nests after the ducklings mature and leave it.
22. "Kidding!": NOT! Popularized by Wayne's World skits and movies (from SNL).
25. Included in the e-mail chain: CCED. Carbon Copied, a holdover from business snail mail. You can still buy carbon paper, but why?
26. Video game plumber: MARIO. Nintendo's go-to guy has appeared in over 200 games since 1981 where he was "jumpman" in the Donkey Kong arcade game.
27. Pianist Claudio: ARRAU. From Chile, which also neighbors 58A.Peru. Moonlight Sonata.
29. Honshu city: KYOTO. The Koyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emission reduction (the US has reused to participate) was first adopted there. And 45D. Airline to 29-Down: JAL.
30. Top limit: MAX.
31. Actress Durance who plays Lois on "Smallville": ERICA. On the one hand it wasn't clued with (Erica) Jong. On the other, hand, if you're not into comic book heroes made into TV shows, you're unlikely to have heard of her. This year is the last season for Smallville, which has been somewhat more soapy than super. We don't know yet if Ms. Durance has a fear of flying yet, as the red and blue blur has not figured out how to do it yet in this alternate Superman story line.
32. Bad sentence: RUN ON.
34. Former Kremlin policymaker: POLITBURO.
37. TV princess: XENA. Lucy Lawless.
39. Terrif: FAB.
40. Former sketch comedy that used Don Martin cartoons: MAD TV.
42. Hailed ride: TAXICAB.
43. "I wish 'twere otherwise": 'FRAID SO.
46. Slap the cuffs on: ARREST.
50. Like a biting remark, in British slang: SARKY. Sarcastic.
51. Burn slightly: SEAR.
52. Novelist Murdoch: IRIS. Apparently one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Sorry to say her work is completely unknown to me.
53. Pitcher Hideo: NOMO. First Japanese major leaguer to relocate to US MLB (Dodgers).
54. Chew: GNAW. Sort of an onomatopoetic word.
55. Unaccompanied: LONE. Had SOLO at first.
56. Flightless bird: RHEA. Finally. Something other than EMU. Not new to crosswords, though.
57. Trees used to make longbows: YEWS. Foliage is poisonous, especially to horses. Rare to poison humans, unless you're like Ewell Gibbons and eat everything in the forest. (Actually, that's not true. Ewell died of a complications due to a genetic disorder, not from eating pine trees.)
58. Abbas's gp.: PLO. Palestine Liberation Organization. Mahmoud Abbas succeeded Yasser Arafat.
Answer Grid
Al
1. *Hip-hopper who married Beyoncé (German): JAY-Z.
20. *Old stories (English): YESTERDAY'S NEWS.
28. *Inferred cosmic substance (Russian): DARK MATTER. Matter that cannot be detected directly, but "must" exist because "something" massive is interacting with the observed gravitational behavior of the matter that can be detected.
44. *Séance device (French): OUIJA BOARD. Actually, the trademarked name comes from combining two "yes" words, OUI and JA. That makes this answer stand out a bit from the others.
51. *Fatal problem in Genesis (Spanish): SIBLING RIVALRY. Cain v. Abel.
Al here.
A fairly "agreeable" puzzle today, no? Kind of slow starting, but once it got going, it filled in faster for me than yesterday's. More than a few obscure names and places make this a Thursday puzzle, though.
ACROSS:
5. Sturdy fabric: DENIM. From French serge de Nîmes, cloth from a town in southern France.
10. Delhi wrap: SARI. Women's wear in India. Also has an alternate of spelling saree. A seemingly infinite variety of styles.
14. Movie apiarist: ULEE. Peter Fonda's character in Ulee's Gold was a beekeeper.
15. Like sandalwood leaves: OVATE.
16. Green Zone site: IRAQ. A heavily fortified central portion of Baghdad that contained several palaces of Saddam Husein. The International Zone. Also a recent movie about the same starring Matt Damon.
17. Gets into: DONS. Puts on clothing.
18. Brewers' kilns: OASTS.
19. Things you saw while out?: LOGS. Sawing logs, slang for snoring.
23. "Paris, je t'__": 2006 film: AIME. (Paris, I love you) a film made up of 18 short stories, and had 22 directors.
24. Charged particle: ION.
25. Nashville awards gp.: CMA. Country Music Awards.
33. Mythological ride: CARPET. Close your eyes, girl, or if you prefer, don't you dare close your eyes.
35. Derisive cry: YAH. If you say so, I guess.
36. Pivotal part: CRUX. Latin for "cross".
38. Bug, perhaps: ERROR. Latin errare, wander, go astray.
39. Hottie: FOX. Obligatory pic. Just don't google images for her with the word "thumbs"...
40. Easternmost state: MAINE. Ayuh is another way to say yes.
41. "Don't touch that __!": DIAL.
42. Body art, in slang: TAT.
43. High-speed raptor: FALCON. Raptor (Latin) and rapid are related words. To call a raptor high-speed is sort of redundant.
47. Former World No. 1 tennis player Ivanovic: ANA. What is it that draws attractive women to tennis?
48. With 6-Down, one in fear of an audit: TAX. and 6. See 48-Across: EVADER.
49. "Dagnabit!": RATS. Charlie Brown's second-favorite interjection, especially at Halloween. "Rats, another rock."
58. Colombia neighbor: PERU.
59. Funnel-shaped: CONED.
60. Architect Mies van der __: ROHE. Father of "modern" architecture. i.e. big square buildings with lots of glass. Also tubular steel furniture.
61. Animal shelter: LAIR. Related to "lie", as in lie down.
62. Gather: AMASS.
63. Intuited: KNEW. Not quite the same? My sense of the word is to perceive or guess immediately without thinking, but without knowing beforehand. Maybe I'm wrong.
64. About: OR SO.
65. Greet respectfully: BOW TO.
DOWN:
1. Kids' author Blume: JUDY.
2. Succulent plant: ALOE.
3. Dieters may fight them: YENS.
4. Keebler cracker: ZESTA. Saltines competition.
5. Pushover: DOORMAT.
7. Org. with rovers: NASA. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Rover as a remote exploration vehicle, not a dog. SPCA for first thoughts anyone?
8. __-bitty: ITTY.
9. Handel bars?: MESSIAH. Cute musical pun, bars of music, Handle's Messiah. (famously, the Hallelujah chorus)
10. '20s White House nickname: SILENT CAL. Coolidge. 30th president. A possibly apocryphal story has it that Dorothy Parker, seated next to him at a dinner, said to him, "Mr. Coolidge, I've made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you." His famous reply: "You lose."
11. ... ducks in __: A ROW. Explanations from decorative plaster ducks on the mantle in the 70's, to shooting galleries, are everywhere, but the likely origin is much simpler, think of the image of a mother duck leading her ducklings across a pond, which could have been observed ever since there were ducks.
12. Poverty, in metaphor: RAGS. From rags to riches.
13. Brightness nos.: IQS. I wanted something to do with lumens, or other light sources.
21. Down source: EIDER. Harvested from nests after the ducklings mature and leave it.
22. "Kidding!": NOT! Popularized by Wayne's World skits and movies (from SNL).
25. Included in the e-mail chain: CCED. Carbon Copied, a holdover from business snail mail. You can still buy carbon paper, but why?
26. Video game plumber: MARIO. Nintendo's go-to guy has appeared in over 200 games since 1981 where he was "jumpman" in the Donkey Kong arcade game.
27. Pianist Claudio: ARRAU. From Chile, which also neighbors 58A.Peru. Moonlight Sonata.
29. Honshu city: KYOTO. The Koyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emission reduction (the US has reused to participate) was first adopted there. And 45D. Airline to 29-Down: JAL.
30. Top limit: MAX.
31. Actress Durance who plays Lois on "Smallville": ERICA. On the one hand it wasn't clued with (Erica) Jong. On the other, hand, if you're not into comic book heroes made into TV shows, you're unlikely to have heard of her. This year is the last season for Smallville, which has been somewhat more soapy than super. We don't know yet if Ms. Durance has a fear of flying yet, as the red and blue blur has not figured out how to do it yet in this alternate Superman story line.
32. Bad sentence: RUN ON.
34. Former Kremlin policymaker: POLITBURO.
37. TV princess: XENA. Lucy Lawless.
39. Terrif: FAB.
40. Former sketch comedy that used Don Martin cartoons: MAD TV.
42. Hailed ride: TAXICAB.
43. "I wish 'twere otherwise": 'FRAID SO.
46. Slap the cuffs on: ARREST.
50. Like a biting remark, in British slang: SARKY. Sarcastic.
51. Burn slightly: SEAR.
52. Novelist Murdoch: IRIS. Apparently one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Sorry to say her work is completely unknown to me.
53. Pitcher Hideo: NOMO. First Japanese major leaguer to relocate to US MLB (Dodgers).
54. Chew: GNAW. Sort of an onomatopoetic word.
55. Unaccompanied: LONE. Had SOLO at first.
56. Flightless bird: RHEA. Finally. Something other than EMU. Not new to crosswords, though.
57. Trees used to make longbows: YEWS. Foliage is poisonous, especially to horses. Rare to poison humans, unless you're like Ewell Gibbons and eat everything in the forest. (Actually, that's not true. Ewell died of a complications due to a genetic disorder, not from eating pine trees.)
58. Abbas's gp.: PLO. Palestine Liberation Organization. Mahmoud Abbas succeeded Yasser Arafat.
Answer Grid
Al
Thursday, October 7, 2010
LA Times, Thu, Oct 7, 2010 Author: Donna S. Levin
Theme: "I'm puzzled and have some cross words for you." revealed in 64A. Where this grid's starred answers' ends have particular relevance: ON THE PUZZLE PAGE.
17. *Stand firm: PUT ONES FOOT DOWN.
29. *Find by chance: COME ACROSS.
37. *Utility company network: POWER GRID.
49. *1990s-2000s kids' show starring a pooch named for its color: BLUE'S CLUES. A blue spotted (female) puppy assists Steve, a minimalist artist, solve mysteries with the help of other animated friends.
Hi all, Al here.
Pretty straight forward theme answers, lots of 7 and 8 letter answers, and more than a few abbrevs to balance that out. Just about right for a Thursday, I'd say.
ACROSS:
1. The Bob Hope Classic component and others: PRO-AMS. Professional-Amateur sporting events, in this instance, golf.
7. Privately, to a lawyer: IN CAMERA. Latin for "in chamber", as a judge would have.
15. Like some Egyptian churches: COPTIC. Early followers of Christianity.
16. Robin's band: MERRY MEN. My favorite take on the story was Robin and the Seven Hoods starring the Rat Pack.
19. Writer de Beauvoir: SIMONE. I have no idea why I knew this name, but I just typed it in without thinking. Maybe it came up in an episode of Home Improvement or something...
20. Amiable: SWEET. Amiable music.
21. PIN requester: ATM. A new twisty clue, too bad it had to be all in caps.
22. European capital: RIGA. Capital of Latvia. I put in EURO right away and thought I was being clever to see through the clue.
24. 1871 Cairo premiere: AIDA. An opera by Giuseppe Verdi (Joe Green), who did not attend the premiere and was not happy that none of the attendees there were members of the general public.
27. Latin god: DEUS. Literally.
33. Own up to: ADMIT. Confess.
35. Pierre's peeper: OEIL. French for eye.
36. Eastern theater genre: NOH. Nōgaku is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles.
41. Fig leaf's outer edges?: EFS. Fig leaF
44. iPod model: NANO. I'm sure these are designed for children with small fingers.
45. Surprise at the door: POP IN. This is seriously bent.
53. Rowlands of "Gloria": GENA. Virgina Cathryn Rowlands. Born in Madison, Wi. The only movie I've seen her in was Paulie, a picaresque (didn't we just have this word?) tale about a parrot, which also starred Tony Shaloub, who coincidentally was born and raised in Green Bay. Yes, it was a green and yellow parrot.
54. Gets free, as a smoke: BUMS. As Nice Cuppa might say, "bums a fag".
55. Flub: SLIP. Related word: slime, which also in turn gives us potter's clay, which is also called slip.
57. Highest power?: NTH.
58. One in a cast: ACTOR. Wrist? Thumb? What other 5-letter part can be broken?
62. Conceive: IDEATE.
68. Woo, in a way: SERENADE. From Italian serenata "an evening song," literally "calm sky," from sereno "the open air," noun use of sereno "clear, calm," from Latin serenus "peaceful, calm, serene." Sense influenced by Italian sera "evening".
69. Tied: EVENED. Verb form. I had EVEN UP at first.
70. Snuck up on, perhaps: STARTLED. Not completely the same thing, but the clue does only say "perhaps".
71. Ritual repasts: SEDERS. Passover meals. (I hope I got that right).
DOWN:
1. Angel dust, briefly: PCP. 1-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)piperidine, shortened to phencyclidine. Related to dextromethorphan, which is what you get in some cough syrups. Now you know why they tell you not to operate heavy equipment...
2. Caused to get up: ROUSTED. Rouse, a hawking term of obscure origin was originally used of hawks shaking their body feathers.
3. Best: OPTIMUM. From a form of Latin "optimus". Related: optimism, to think the best of.
4. Unit quantified in a subscript: ATOM. As in chemical formulas: H2O (water) or C5H12 found in 46D. Compound used as a lab solvent: PENTANE. A five carbon chain. Organic chemistry, not organic farming...
5. Secondary: MINOR. Latin for smaller. Smallest (minimus), gives us minimum.
6. Having lovely panoramas: SCENIC. Equal rights pics, one for each.
7. "This tape will self-destruct in five seconds" fictional spy org.: IMF. Impossible Missions Force, Mission Impossible.
8. Modernists: NEOS. Greek prefix for new.
9. Gloat: CROW. Old English: crawian "make a loud noise" the sense of "exult in triumph" is perhaps in part because the English crow is a carrion-eater, that is, feeding on the "dead" opponent.
10. Johnson of "Laugh-In": ARTE.
11. "Frankly, __ ...": MY DEAR.
12. Poker face's lack: EMOTION. From Latin ex- movere: "to move".
13. VCR's "Go back": REW.
14. Abby's twin: ANN. Ann Landers, Abigail Van Buren.
18. Bell-shaped lily: SEGO.
21. Oklahoma city: ADA. Birthplace of Oral Roberts...
23. Lovey-dovey: AMOROUS.
25. British mil. honor: DSO. Distinguished Service Order.
26. Resilient wood: ASH.
28. Nurse: SIP.
30. Data for a neurologist, briefly: EEG. Electroencephalography
31. Broadcast: AIR.
32. Hair holder: CLIP.
34. Loads: TONS.
38. WWII female: WAC. Women's Army Corps.
39. It usually shows more detail: Abbr.: ENL. Enlargement. Just fill it in and move on.
40. Follow closely: DOG.
41. Wane: EBB.
42. Swine __: FLU. Don't get me started...
43. Indonesian island: SUMATRA.
47. Two, for one: INTEGER. Directly from Latin in- tangere, meaning not touched, whole. Related word: intact.
48. "Never mind": NAH. Something along the lines of "slangy" would have helped.
50. Artist known for spatial impossibilities: ESCHER. Maurits Cornelis (M. C.)
51. Part of QE2: Abbr.: ELIZ. Queen Elizabeth II ocean liner. Now, just sitting in Dubai.
52. Walks like a crab: SIDLES. Sideways motion.
56. Irk: PEEVE. I kept reading this clue as ink.
59. Big top, for one: TENT.
60. Official gem of South Australia: OPAL. Really an abundance of a straight-forward clue...
61. Brusque: RUDE. From French brusque: "lively, fierce".
63. Mimicked: APED. To mimic is "of or related to mimes". Can't say I ever saw an ape try to get out of an invisible box.
64. CIA predecessor: OSS. Office of Strategic Services, wartime intelligence.
65. Safety device: NET.
66. The London Zoo has one: ZED. British for ZEE.
67. Ms. evaluators: EDS. Manuscripts, editors.
Puzzle Grid
Al
17. *Stand firm: PUT ONES FOOT DOWN.
29. *Find by chance: COME ACROSS.
37. *Utility company network: POWER GRID.
49. *1990s-2000s kids' show starring a pooch named for its color: BLUE'S CLUES. A blue spotted (female) puppy assists Steve, a minimalist artist, solve mysteries with the help of other animated friends.
Hi all, Al here.
Pretty straight forward theme answers, lots of 7 and 8 letter answers, and more than a few abbrevs to balance that out. Just about right for a Thursday, I'd say.
ACROSS:
1. The Bob Hope Classic component and others: PRO-AMS. Professional-Amateur sporting events, in this instance, golf.
7. Privately, to a lawyer: IN CAMERA. Latin for "in chamber", as a judge would have.
15. Like some Egyptian churches: COPTIC. Early followers of Christianity.
16. Robin's band: MERRY MEN. My favorite take on the story was Robin and the Seven Hoods starring the Rat Pack.
19. Writer de Beauvoir: SIMONE. I have no idea why I knew this name, but I just typed it in without thinking. Maybe it came up in an episode of Home Improvement or something...
20. Amiable: SWEET. Amiable music.
21. PIN requester: ATM. A new twisty clue, too bad it had to be all in caps.
22. European capital: RIGA. Capital of Latvia. I put in EURO right away and thought I was being clever to see through the clue.
24. 1871 Cairo premiere: AIDA. An opera by Giuseppe Verdi (Joe Green), who did not attend the premiere and was not happy that none of the attendees there were members of the general public.
27. Latin god: DEUS. Literally.
33. Own up to: ADMIT. Confess.
35. Pierre's peeper: OEIL. French for eye.
36. Eastern theater genre: NOH. Nōgaku is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles.
41. Fig leaf's outer edges?: EFS. Fig leaF
44. iPod model: NANO. I'm sure these are designed for children with small fingers.
45. Surprise at the door: POP IN. This is seriously bent.
53. Rowlands of "Gloria": GENA. Virgina Cathryn Rowlands. Born in Madison, Wi. The only movie I've seen her in was Paulie, a picaresque (didn't we just have this word?) tale about a parrot, which also starred Tony Shaloub, who coincidentally was born and raised in Green Bay. Yes, it was a green and yellow parrot.
54. Gets free, as a smoke: BUMS. As Nice Cuppa might say, "bums a fag".
55. Flub: SLIP. Related word: slime, which also in turn gives us potter's clay, which is also called slip.
57. Highest power?: NTH.
58. One in a cast: ACTOR. Wrist? Thumb? What other 5-letter part can be broken?
62. Conceive: IDEATE.
68. Woo, in a way: SERENADE. From Italian serenata "an evening song," literally "calm sky," from sereno "the open air," noun use of sereno "clear, calm," from Latin serenus "peaceful, calm, serene." Sense influenced by Italian sera "evening".
69. Tied: EVENED. Verb form. I had EVEN UP at first.
70. Snuck up on, perhaps: STARTLED. Not completely the same thing, but the clue does only say "perhaps".
71. Ritual repasts: SEDERS. Passover meals. (I hope I got that right).
DOWN:
1. Angel dust, briefly: PCP. 1-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)piperidine, shortened to phencyclidine. Related to dextromethorphan, which is what you get in some cough syrups. Now you know why they tell you not to operate heavy equipment...
2. Caused to get up: ROUSTED. Rouse, a hawking term of obscure origin was originally used of hawks shaking their body feathers.
3. Best: OPTIMUM. From a form of Latin "optimus". Related: optimism, to think the best of.
4. Unit quantified in a subscript: ATOM. As in chemical formulas: H2O (water) or C5H12 found in 46D. Compound used as a lab solvent: PENTANE. A five carbon chain. Organic chemistry, not organic farming...
5. Secondary: MINOR. Latin for smaller. Smallest (minimus), gives us minimum.
6. Having lovely panoramas: SCENIC. Equal rights pics, one for each.
7. "This tape will self-destruct in five seconds" fictional spy org.: IMF. Impossible Missions Force, Mission Impossible.
8. Modernists: NEOS. Greek prefix for new.
9. Gloat: CROW. Old English: crawian "make a loud noise" the sense of "exult in triumph" is perhaps in part because the English crow is a carrion-eater, that is, feeding on the "dead" opponent.
10. Johnson of "Laugh-In": ARTE.
11. "Frankly, __ ...": MY DEAR.
12. Poker face's lack: EMOTION. From Latin ex- movere: "to move".
13. VCR's "Go back": REW.
14. Abby's twin: ANN. Ann Landers, Abigail Van Buren.
18. Bell-shaped lily: SEGO.
21. Oklahoma city: ADA. Birthplace of Oral Roberts...
23. Lovey-dovey: AMOROUS.
25. British mil. honor: DSO. Distinguished Service Order.
26. Resilient wood: ASH.
28. Nurse: SIP.
30. Data for a neurologist, briefly: EEG. Electroencephalography
31. Broadcast: AIR.
32. Hair holder: CLIP.
34. Loads: TONS.
38. WWII female: WAC. Women's Army Corps.
39. It usually shows more detail: Abbr.: ENL. Enlargement. Just fill it in and move on.
40. Follow closely: DOG.
41. Wane: EBB.
42. Swine __: FLU. Don't get me started...
43. Indonesian island: SUMATRA.
47. Two, for one: INTEGER. Directly from Latin in- tangere, meaning not touched, whole. Related word: intact.
48. "Never mind": NAH. Something along the lines of "slangy" would have helped.
50. Artist known for spatial impossibilities: ESCHER. Maurits Cornelis (M. C.)
51. Part of QE2: Abbr.: ELIZ. Queen Elizabeth II ocean liner. Now, just sitting in Dubai.
52. Walks like a crab: SIDLES. Sideways motion.
56. Irk: PEEVE. I kept reading this clue as ink.
59. Big top, for one: TENT.
60. Official gem of South Australia: OPAL. Really an abundance of a straight-forward clue...
61. Brusque: RUDE. From French brusque: "lively, fierce".
63. Mimicked: APED. To mimic is "of or related to mimes". Can't say I ever saw an ape try to get out of an invisible box.
64. CIA predecessor: OSS. Office of Strategic Services, wartime intelligence.
65. Safety device: NET.
66. The London Zoo has one: ZED. British for ZEE.
67. Ms. evaluators: EDS. Manuscripts, editors.
Puzzle Grid
Al
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