Friday, November 19, 2010 Daniel A. Finan

The theme is CLUELESS: with 61A. Like five answers in this puzzle, literally and figuratively: CLUELESS. Very tricky puzzle, you see un-clued fill, but there is the dash. So the five answers were without clues, and the five answers were all synonyms for CLUELESS, meaning not very smart. I was an pea brain, airhead for a while, sorting this one out.

17A. -: PEA BRAIN. This is one of the more obvious expressions, coming from the idea of one who has brain the size of a pea does not know much.

28A. -: DINGBAT. None more famous than EDITH . Nobody seems to know where this term comes from.

46A. -: AIRHEAD. Also, pretty self explanatory, if all that is between your ears is AIR, you are not likely to be smart.

11D. -: NINCOMPOOP. A really evocative word, I have heard my entire life, but again, nobody knows why it means what it means.

27D. -: SPACE CADET. This comes from someone who has his head in the sky, with no touch with normal thought.

Well, hello all, it is Lemonade here with your Friday report, and this was a very complicated effort, with pitfalls everywhere. It is my second Daniel A. Finan puzzle to blog, the last being the incredible anagram pangram in August. Once again his approach to theme is new, leaving out clues as clues. So, let’s go…

Across:

1. "When I __ kid ...": WAS A. I put it in but wondered if there was more to it. Is this referring to the Bill Cosby comedy album?

5. Colorado NHLers: AVS. National Hockey League. The Avalanche; they began as the Quebec Nordiques, but were too close to Montreal, and finally moved to Colorado, where they won the Stanley Cup their first year, beating the Florida Panthers.

8. They may be surrounded at parties: PIANOS. Lovely clue, really nice imagery.

14. Set up: Abbr.: ESTD. Established.

15. Acqua Di __: Armani cologne: GIO. My cologne of choice; ladies?

16. Like a maelstrom: ASWIRL. Ah, an “A” word, what fun.

19. Cash in Nashville: JOHNNY. Did you hesitate and think about Money?

20. Rolls to the gate: TAXIES. What planes do after landing.

21. Colorful cats: CALICOS. So many different color COMBINATIONS .

22. Pitts of early cinema: ZASU. An old favorite from the Tribune puzzles, but we have not seen her lately; I remember her from OH SUSANNAH where she was Gale Storm’s sidekick.

24. Retired New York senator Al D'__: AMATO. As a Senator, he was more famous for controversy and long filibusters; now retired he is 73 and has 2 children, a 2 year old, and a 1 year old. Man must be crazy.

25. Hi-__: FIS. Stands for High Fidelity.

30. Second degree?: MBA. Fooled me completely first time through, but after you get your Bachelor’s , you do get a second degree.

33. In spades: AMPLY. Phrase in spades "in abundance" first recorded 1929 (Damon Runyon), probably from bridge, where spades are the highest-ranking suit.

35. It's usually four: PAR. Though generally there also par 5’s and par 3’s; no record of how 4 became the standard, or even why 18 HOLES . We also have, 34. Golfer's concern: LIE indicating where your ball lies.

36. Former 56-Across team: EXPOS. The Montreal EXPOS went bankrupt, and major league baseball moved the franchise to Washington, D.C., where they are now the Nationals. 56A. Baseball div.: NL EAST. Had to guess.

38. Cuisine that includes phanaeng: THAI. I enjpy THAI food, but most restaurants refer to it as PANANG CURRY.

39. "Entourage" agent Gold: ARI. Played ever so hatefully by Jeremy Piven.

40. English walled city: YORK. A fun tour of Europe is to see the WALLED CITIES .

41. Guard dog command: SIC EM. No doubt from ‘seek them’.

43. "__ be a pleasure!": ITD.

44. O3: OZONE. If I had not gotten this one, I would never have finished, it opened up the whole south for me.

45. Unlock'd: OPE. I ‘ope not again, soon.

49. Place for flock members: PEW. Very cute, I can picture all the sheep in church.

50. "I __ your long lost pal": Paul Simon lyric: CAN BE. This was part of his work with African music and musicians, with American LYRICS .

52. Salon sound: SNIP. Snip, snip go the scissors, a word many men associate with vasectomy.

54. Given, as custody: AWARDED. I hated divorce work, and quit after the old man pulled gun on me in the hall outside my office; criminals were much safer.

60. Mel Gibson persona: MAD MAX. This was Mel Gibson’s break out hit MOVIE .

63. Ring of color: AREOLE. Alas, C.C., I defer to you.

64. "Popeye" surname: OYL. The hot chick the men had to fight over, Olive.

65. Shell's shell, e.g.: LOGO. Like the clue, simple but effective.

66. Aquarium denizens: TETRAS. A fancy word for resident.

67. "Bottle Rocket" director Anderson: WES. This was his first movie, which he did with the Wilson brothers, with whom he forged a long relationship and did other movies such as The Royal Tenebaums he also directed the fable The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and to show our puzzles all make sense, and fit together, the recent Fantastic Mr. Fox .

68. Colony workers: ANTS. Ant colony, not Americans working for the Brits.

DOWN:

1. Showed relief, in a way: WEPT. Tears of?

2. Deported?: ASEA. Oh oh, another “A” word.

3. Vintage R&B record label: STAX. Despite 30+ years representing musicians, I did not remember this LABEL but then I do rock and roll, not R & B.

4. Madison Ave. symbolizes it: ADBIZ. The home of MADMEN and crazy America, my favorite about Madison avenue was the movie CRAZY PEOPLE with Dudley Moore and Daryl Hannah.

5. Court star with the autobiography "Open": AGASSI. Andre was perhaps a bit too Open in his book, discussing his drug usage, etc.

6. Sundial number: VII. A new way to slip in a Roman Numeral.

7. One learning about the birds and the bees?: SON. My father’s entire speech was, “If you like big breasts, go be a farmer because cows have the biggest; and quality over quantity.” Edited for publication.

8. Kind of party: PAJAMA. Ah, we are back with Dennis at the Slumber party in his PJ’s and once again there is a recurring theme.

9. Get away from the others: ISOLATE.

10. In the slightest: A WHIT. Many a wit has realized all the nice things A WHIT rhymes with, but most of us do not give a …..

12. "Yes __?": OR NO. Damn, that was too easy.

13. Stallone and Stone: SLYS. SLY and the Family Stone; was this their biggest HIT ?

18. Set: READY. How can this be synonymous, when you have to be READY< SET < GO!

21. Stand offerings: CAB RIDES. Taxi stand.

23. Odd, as a sock: UNPAIRED.There is some rich creature somewhere with a bazillion single socks.

25. 1980 DeLuise film: FATSO. A rather sad and poignant movie.

26. "Can you dig it?" response: IM HIP. Sadly, we actually talked like that.

29. "Wayne's World" co-host: GARTH. Dana Carvey to Mike Myers’ Wayne/

31. Shouldered: BORNE.

32. Out of line: ASKEW. An “A” word.

37. ___ Affair: 1798-1800 France/USA dispute: XYZ. Did anyone watch the HBO series about JOHN ADAMS , he was the president who had to deal with this problem.

42. Hindu meditation aid: MANDALA.Now we hit my weak part of the puzzle, as I did not know this DESIGN , nor

44. "Swan Lake" maiden: ODILE.I never was much on ballet, and only ODETTE came to mind.

47. Wild goats with recurved horns: IBEXES. They do have interesting HORNS .

48. Makes void: ANNULS. More divorce work, bleh.

51. Gladiator's defense: ARMOR. I liked the movie with Russell Crowe.

53. Window-making giant: PELLA. Never heard of them either, but the perps finally got me home.

54. Word in a basic Latin conjugation: AMAT. AMO, AMAS, AMAT; I love, you love, he/she/it loves; when I was in 6th grade, we studied Latin and I was conjugating and said the last one too fast…

55. Tupper ending: WARE. Burp?

57. Many millennia: AEON. Fancy spelling for EON (again a new recurring theme) and a movie showcasing a delightful CHARLIZE THERON .

58. Certain NCO: SSGT. Staff Sergeant.

59. General __ chicken: TSOS.

61. Tipping target, so it's said: COW. Yep, the old sport of COW TIPPING .

62. Drano component: LYE. I would not lie to you about this either.

Well another challenge, conquered, almost a pangram (Q short) with so many new words and clues; thanks Mr. F., and to rest of you , have a great week end, and a better Monday.

et tu brute

Theme: You (U) fit in. Each fill is a common two word expression, with the letter “U” inserted into the second word, to create a humorous new expression, with the question mark at the end of the clue telling you a play on words is coming.

16. Opening with a thud?: BAD DEBUT. BAD DEBT. Something becoming all too familiar after the recent mortgage debacle.

19. Staple in a Hollywood first-aid kit?: STAR GAUZE. STAR GAZE. We love staring at our stars, making so many tabloids and tabloid tv shows popular. Do we really care that Disney child stars Lindsay Lohan and Demi Lovato are coke heads?

26. Compulsion to set up camp?: TENT DURESS. TENT DRESS. An interesting internal deception because the meaning of Tent is very different when you are talking about this DRESS STYLE .

34. Hoss and Little Joe's off-color jokes?: PONDEROSA RAUNCH. PONEROSA RANCH, the home of the Cartwright family on BONANZA which was the first television show to be shown in color. My favorite phrase of the theme. Do you all remember the name of Ben’s (the father, played by Lorne Greene) horse?

43. Civil unrest in Brest?: FRENCH FURY. FRENCH FRY. A nice rhyming clue, to obscure the French city.

50. Restrain a legendary soul seller?: HOLD FAUST. HOLD FAST; FAUST is the Devil in German legend, made famous by Goethe’s tragic play.

58. Classy accommodations at the Spider Ritz?: WEB SUITE. WEB SITE. Don’t you just love the mind that created the image of an exclusive hotel for spiders?

47. "Have a nice day" response, and a literal hint to this puzzle's theme: YOU TOO. YOU (U) too, meaning an added U.

Et tu Brute! Hallelujah, Lemonade here, week two already. Happy Friday, C.C. and all. Wow, another Naddor for me, and one so typical and so witty. I really enjoyed this effort, with 75 letters and 8 theme related answers. Lots of fun fill, a few things I should have recalled but had to work to get, and generally a good time for all.

Across

1. Bucolic: PASTORAL. We begin with a pleasant straight forward image.

9. Sushi choices: EELS. I like some sushi, but am not fond of eels, probably something psychological from my childhood.

13. Wood preservative: CREOSOTE. COAL TAR CREOSOTE is an EPA registered wood preservative, distilled from crude coke oven tar, and is mainly composed of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), but also contains phenols and cresols. Like I knew that.

14. Plays the class clown: CUTS UP. Remember, Dan likes two word answers that create deceptive letter strings. 21A. Clueless: AT SEA. 65A. As terrific as they say: THAT GOOD. 7D. "Do you bite your thumb __, sir?": "Romeo and Juliet": AT US. I love that he includes some Shakespeare, as well as the very old insult of biting one’s thumb, which has resurfaced in our culture as seen in the URBAN DICTIONARY . 33D. Corner the market on: BUY UP. Speaking of which, do you remember when the Hunt brothers tried to corner the silver market? They were the inspiration for these BROTHERS .

17. Showy: ORNATE.

18. Overseas fem. title: SRA. As Kazie pointed out, the abbreviation for Senora, like most of our dear ladies.

25. Source of Ulee's gold: BEES.Hi Melissa, and yes, the gold was in the honey, honey.

29. She played Emma in "The Avengers": UMA. We all know this is true in the movie, but this will always be the real MRS.PEEL .

32. Mideast language: IRANI. Oh, in Iran, I guess.

33. Support group?: BRAS. Nice deception, but then again, it may all be DECEPTION .

40. Lake near Niagara Falls: ERIE. Where my oldest is currently freezing his little behind in grad school, though his birthday is in nine days, he will be home in 11!

41. Atlanta campus: EMORY. This is a very well respected private college that emphasizes research; it ended up in Atlanta through the generosity of the people from Coca Cola. If you go to Atlanta, go and tour the Coke factory (except Lindsay Lohan and Demi Lovato, who know better).

42. Jets coach Ryan: REX. He plays against Cleveland this week end, whose defense is coached by his older (by 5 minutes) identical twin brother ROB RYAN .

48. Fizzled out: DIED. Like so many romances…

49. Gulf of Finland city: ESPOO. The second largest city in Finland, and it took me way to long to drag from my brain. We just had the clue in August, in a Barry Silk themeless.

55. Word with a head slap: DUH. DOH, whatever you like; here we use the V-8 can against the head.

57. Six-Day War country: ISRAEL. Remember it well.

62. Insurer of Tina Turner's legs: LLOYDS. LLOYD’s of LONDON has been in the insurance business since 1688, and has always insured the odd things of value like insuring, silent film comedian Ben Turpin's eyes against uncrossing, Jimmy Durante’s nose, Troy Polamalu's hair for $1 million, and these R rated pre-silicone marvels of TEMPEST STORM .

63. One transferring property rights, in law: ASSIGNOR. Must have obscure law clues so Lemonade can feel smart. We love our ORs and EEs.

64. Plenty: TONS.


Across:

1. Banned pollutants: PCBS. They belong to a group of man made “organic” chemicals called PolyChlorinated Biphenyls.

2. Biblical resting place: ARARAT. A nice deception, for it was Noah’s Ark, not a person that ended up resting atop Mount Ararat.

3. Composed: SEDATE.

4. "The Fox and the Hound" fox: TOD. The hound was Copper, but I really do not remember the MOVIE.

5. Suffix with fruct-: OSE.Also with SUCR-, LACT- and others, it means SUGAR.

6. Hold up: ROB. Yes, to rob is to hold up, to burgle is to break in.

8. Riga resident: LETT. We see this one very often, and I actually have some clients from Latvia, but they moved to Venezuela.

9. Old lab heaters: ETNAS. Dan used this in a Sunday puzzle in August 2009, I did not know the term then, and do not now. I am strictly a BUNSEN BURNER guy.

10. Isaac's eldest: ESAU. Poor guy, hairy and he lost his birthright.

11. Eponymous skater Alois __: LUTZ. For our dear CA back from vacation, and our prodigal Robin, just back, we have the TRIPLE LUTZ in pictures and words. Eponymous, is when you give your name to something, like Joe Robbie stadium.

12. WWI German vice-admiral: SPEE. One I knew nothing about, but apparently quite a bold man, of whom Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty at London, wrote: "He was a cut flower in a vase, fair to see yet bound to die.”

14. Centers: CORES. Oh, okay, I get like the center of the earth.

15. Prods: URGES.

20. Justice Fortas: ABE. Another law tidbit for me; Justice Fortas was a very successful student of the law, and lawyer, arguing and winning the famous right to counsel case, GIDEON vs. WAINWRIGHT, in which the Supreme Court for the first time granted all who are accused of a crime the right to be represented by counsel, creating the Public Defender system. Mr. Fortas, who came from an Orthodox Jewish family became very good friends with Lyndon Johnson, who when he became president, convinced sitting Justice Arthur Goldberg (the then Jewish member of the court) to resign to become ambassador to the UN, so Fortas could be appointed to the court. Sadly, Fortas ended up resigning under a cloud for taking fees while on the bench.

22. Derisive: SNIDE. My favorite was this CHARACTER .

23. Raison d'__: ETRE. Meaning literally “ reason to be” in French.

24. Month before Nisan: ADAR. And then a little Hebrew calendar to make me feel at home; that calendar has leap months, where there is a 13th month added to catch up with the earths rotation from a moon based calendar.

27. Card game warning: UNO. A favorite of children of all ages, though my grandmother preferred Skip-Bo.

28. Out of bed: RISEN. Which of course reminds me of this SONG .

29. Still-life subject: URN. Really, I only remember the poem.

30. Bud: MAC. Talk about misleading, and yet easy. In our culture, BUD means beer, not buddy, so hey BUD and hey MAC was very hard.

31. Tip for a smoker?: ASH. Literal but hidden again; I still liked Camel Droppings best.

34. In accordance with: PER.

35. It may be found in a deposit: ORE. No not a bank deposit, silly.

36. Outlaw: NIX. Hmm, my in-laws are named NIX, so they are in-laws and outlaws!

37. Onetime Jeep mfr.: AMC. American Motors Company and one of the big four when the US controlled worldwide auto manufacture. Sadly the Rambler and the NASH American did not keep the company afloat, when the Pacer, their final effort to convince the country to drive smaller fuel efficient cars failed, they gave up. Not long after they folded, we had the first gas crisis and their small car ideas took hold.

38. Architect Mies van der __: ROHE. Did not know him, but he designed lots of BUILDINGS .

39. Pound sounds: ARFS. Another cute rhyme.

43. Fluted, in a way: FIFED. Not the champagne glass, but the guy playing the flute; hmm, a verb?

44. Old Spanish coins: REALS. Spanish Reals are often found at historic sites in the US , as during colonial days in the U.S., the silver Ocho Reales coin, referred to as the Spanish milled dollar, piece of eight, or eight bits, was the principal coin in circulation. Hence, the saying, 2 bits, 4 bits, 6 bits, a dollar; all for the home team stand up and holler. Some still refer to a quarter as two bits.

45. Web address ender: EDU.

46. House Judiciary Committee chair during the Nixon impeachment hearings: RODINO. This piece of trivia was buried deep in the brain, and crossing it with ESPOO really slowed me down. In the ironies of the world, and karma, Nixon was determined to impeach Abe Fortas, who eventually stepped down.

48. Critical moments to gear up for: D DAYS. JUNE 6, 1944 .

50. Maximum degree: HILT. This sweet phrase comes from the violent turn of stabbing a dagger or a sword into the victim all the way to the hilt (the protective handle).

51. European capital: OSLO. To our Norwegian brethren, we shout out.

52. Hubbard of Scientology: L RON. Yes, I like my religion from an unsuccessful science fiction author.

53. Team acronym: SWAT. Special Weapons and Tactics.

54. John with Emmys and a journalism award: TESH. A singer, a talk show host, a piano player and a journalist.

56. Rancher's concern: HERD. Not this ONE .

59. Jamboree gp.: BSA. We had Boy Scouts of America in the very first puzzle I blogged, back in the day.

60. Be in session: SIT.Congress, or the courts, like the Supreme Court!

61. Trendy boot brand: UGG. Worn by our temperature challenged crew, including dear Lo-li-ta. Do they come in red Fishie? I guess they do not sell too well in Arizona.

Well, a long day ahead, so I am out of here, hope you enjoyed the show; see you same bat channel, same bat time.

The Theme: Internet Destination, Before and After; each of the four theme answers takes an every day phrase, and by adding a new beginning, creates both a famous internet site, and a humorous phrase, with a different meaning.

17. Favorable time to place an online bid?: EBAY WINDOW. E added to BAY WINDOW, with the meaning a WINDOW of opportunity, and EBAY the auction site.

27. Online networking site trainee? : MY SPACE CADET. MY added to SPACE CADET, yields MY SPACE and CADET as trainee.

44. Detective's job concerning a personal online relationship? : FACEBOOK CASE. FACE is added to BOOK CASE, with CASE what detectives investigate.

58. Spinner seen in an online video?: YOU TUBE TOP. YOU added to TUBE TOP, creates a TOP SPINNING ON YOU TUBE. When my brothers and I were growing up, we used our Dradles for the battles.

Happy Friday, and Happy Guy Fawkes Day, from L714, which being sentimental, I celebrate every year as the anniversary of the first time I fell in love. Mr. Poole is becoming a more regular contributor, and this puzzle has plenty of misdirection and humor and creative cluing, beyond the theme, which seems like a nice idea, but a bit tortured.

Some fun:

64A. Ones changing locks: DYERS. Dyeing the hair, nice misdirection.

30D. Fly catcher: TOAD. Not the San Francisco outfield.

42D. "Hey, ewe!": BAA. For some reason I like it when certain people get my attention with “hey you”.

46D. Serious depression: CRATER. I hope you all got that and did not get blue, except of course being blue is good here.

52. Cop stopping traffic?: NARC. My favorite, stopping drug traffic.


We continue:

Across:

1. Tic __ :TACS. The first of the strong mints.

5. Travis of country: TRITT. Yes it is a GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE .

10. Arrange in a tournament: SEED. The use of this term comes from needing to separate seeds to let them grow, just as you separate the very good teams, to allow them to meet later in a tournament.

14. Eliza's greeting: ELLO. Ms. Doolittle has had a strong run this fall.

15. 2009 Man Booker International Prize winner Alice: MUNRO. This Canadian short story writer is a recipient of many fiction awards, including this biennial award for one’s life work, presented by a British investment firm.

16. Poi base: TARO. A tuber, associated with the plant we call Elephant Ears, here in Florida.

19. "__ Almighty": 2007 film: EVAN. Like 56.D. Movies with "II" in their titles: Abbr. : SEQS this movie was a sequel to BRUCE ALMIGHTY which Jim Carrey wisely chose not to star in, Bruce II became EVAN with Steve Carrell, both of which has Morgan Freeman as the Almighty, and no doubt the inspiration of 20A. Sacred scroll: TORAH.

21. Silent: SOUNDLESS.

23. Wellness gp.: HMO.

24. __ de toilette: EAU. Just a touch of French, toilet water sounds so much better in French.

26. Nobelist Bohr: NIELS. Thanks to Martha Grimes, this always reminds me of SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT , or is it dead?

31. What odes do: PRAISE. Before there were scrolls, or other writings, singers toured the land writing and performing songs of praise for the lords in power, and ODE is derived from the Greek word for song.

34. 1987 Costner role: NESS, prohibition policeman Elliot; do we like or dislike Kevin, or was ROBERT STACK the embodiment of the role? What guest stars! Does anyone watch Boardwalk Empire ?

35. Hope-Crosby destination: RIO. One of the many ROAD TO… movies they did with Dorothy Lamour.

36. Pay for periodic use: RENT.

37. Coll. of 12 signs: ZOD. Notice that collection is abbreviated, so the response must be an abbreviation as well. We are deep in Scorpio now.

38. Afghanistan's Tora __ region: BORA. This is the region where the US believed bin Laden was hiding in a cave, and where US troops were sent after 9-11, but despite killing and capturing many al Quaeda, no leader.

39. 2007 honor for Hugh Laurie: Abbr.: OBE. It is easy to forget how British Hugh Laurie is after watching him as House for so many years, so go rent the Bertie Wooster/Jeeves series, or Black Adder and see him in his original incarnation. Of course, Jeeves, loved the poem 40A. "__ Ben Adhem": ABOU, a simple poem which many were forced to memorize.

42. Warned, in a way: BEEPED. In Florida is is against the law to blow your horn except to warn of danger, though it is not enforced that way. We also have, 38.D. Buzzer: BEE.

47. Bottom bits: DREGS. When the grapes were crushed, the remaining skin etc was the dregs.

48. Word before or after pack: RAT. Frank and the boys as the RAT PACK, and my uncle, who kept every bill he ever paid, as a PACK RAT.

49. 27-Down, e.g.: SCH. This leads to 27.D. 49-Across from which Buzz Aldrin turned down a full scholarship: MIT. And, 31.D. 27-Down fig.: PROF.

52. Colorful fish: NEON TETRA. Another fishie clue.

55. Kirin beer rival: ASAHI. The two most popular beers; the brewery where my youngest works, just was signed by a much larger distributor, so the world of ORLANDO BREWING, the only organic brewery in Florida is picking up.

57. Starting stake: ANTE. In card games, for example.

60. Bakery buys: RYES. We go ERGOT, to the bread made from the grain.

61. Seaside flock: ERNES. These birds are our most popular feathery friends.

62. Bit of Marx's legacy: QUIP. Groucho, not Karl, and also 33.D. Toastmasters' stock: ANECDOTES.

63. It may number in the thousands: CAST. Cecil B. DeMille always advertised his movies had them.

65. Agile: SPRY.

DOWN:

1. Effectiveness: TEETH. The NFL needed to put some Teeth into the ban on helmet to helmet hits, by suspending players without pay.

2. "Tuesdays With Morrie" author: ALBOM. Mitch, who is a regular in the Detroit newspaper, as well as on ESPN’s SPORTS REPORTERS ; I read the book. Morrie was smart, but the book seemed just exploitive and without any real insight, but it was a big hit.

3. Light smoke: CLARO. I believe the term is used for certain light tobacco cigars, but I have never been much of a smoker, and only the perps got me there.

4. Milk source: SOYA. It is taking over, and clearly a misnomer, as how can a nut give milk. And in contrast, 18.D. Milk by-products: WHEYS. Little Miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet (and what a fine tuffet it was!) eating her CURDS and….

5. "I didn't need to know that!": TMI. TOO MUCH INFORMATION; hard to keep up with the short cut minds of the young; my latest embarrassment was not deciphering oic, to mean Oh, I see.

6. Accumulates: RUNS UP. Ah yes, Wimpy accumulated quite the tab for Hamburgers.

7. Chinese leader?: INDO. Indochinese, by now we all know leader often is used to mean the beginning of a word.

8. Defeated decisively: TROUNCED.

9. Student resenters, perhaps: TOWNIES. When I was young, I was sent to boarding school, and once a month or so, the school would load up a bus and take some students into the big city (Pittsfield, Massachusetts) and drop them off, to be picked up 5 hours later. Man the townies hated us, except the girls, who were much too nice…It was West Side Story, suburban version.

10. "__ By Starlight": jazz standard: STELLA. So many versions of this SONG .

11. Gather information secretly: EAVESDROP. The drop part comes from the purpose of the eave was to have the water drop (or drip) from the roof, and not into the house.

12. Some are named for music genres: ERAS. We certainly know the BIG BAND era.

13. Slips into: DONS. Clothing.

22. Winter mos.: DECS. Egads, we are almost there again!

25. Suffix with lip-: ASE. ASE is a suffix for enzymes, and LIPASE in humans is created in the pancreas and is is critical in neutralizing triglycerides and other non-soluble fats.

28. Actress Aimée: ANOUK. A very natural BEAUTY .

29. 53-Down's homeland: EIRE. More dual clues, but at least a new one for 53.D. Singer born Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin: ENYA.

32. Sitcom whose theme song was sung by its star: REBA. SURVIVOR .

37. Albee play, with "The": ZOO STORY. An international SUCCESS .

40. Put oneself at risk, in a way: ABET. Ading and abetting a Felon…

41. Messed up a hole, maybe: BOGEYED. No longer a bad score for me.

43. Cornerstone abbr.: ESTAB. Established.

45. He played Marty in "Marty": ERNEST. Ladies, for you Mr. Borgnine .

49. Prepared to take notice?: SAT UP.

50. Church area: CHOIR. Tricky, because of the choir being filled with the choir.

51. Wide-haunched: HIPPY. Not a phrase to be used as a compliment, “ my your wife looks really wide-haunched, “ even though it helps in delivering babies, and we know many men really like a broad beam in more than just their boat.

54. Odd character: RUNE. The old way TO WRITE .

59. Sub letters: USS. Can you imagine being underwater for months on THIS .


Welcome to my new home as Friday’s child, which in fact I am both literally and figuratively. Keep the cards and letters coming and enjoy

Lemonade.