THEME: Double ZZs top double DDs. Well known phrases which have the first word include the letters DD are changed to have the first word have ZZ in its place. A somewhat new fun way to do a "replace the letter" puddle, I mean puzzle. We do not need any pics of double ZZs, do we?
More specifically:17A. Moving like a dog in a narrow tube?: MUZZLING THROUGH. MUDDLING THROUGH, is where you plod along.
27A. Dud sparklers?: FIZZLE STICKS. FIDDLE STICKS probably originated from the violin playing in the street, which did not include high class music. It is why we have fiddling around.
41A. One solving several crosswords simultaneously?: PUZZLE JUMPER. PUDDLE JUMPER is an expression for a plane which goes on a short flight.
50A. Brilliant bees?: BUZZING GENIUSES. BUDDING GENIUSES, is used to descrine young people who show extreme potential early in life.
Hi everyone, lemonade back with another new constructor, who has given us a puzzle with a little bit of everything, puns, tricks, obscurities, music and more.
So let's see what Peter picked....
ACROSS:
1. Make sound: HEAL. Boom we start with trickery, sound noy being related to noise, but to hale and hearty. Nice.
5. Fictional elephant: BABAR. Aww, and I get my favorite elephant again this week; read the books to your grandkids.
10. Pine: ACHE. Deception number two, not a tree, but pining away, extra nice.
14. Capital at the foot of Mount Entoto: ADDIS ABABA. We have often discussed this Ethiopian CAPITAL at the base of Mount Entoto, which is not to be confused with the dog, or the BAND which did have a song about Africa.
16. Gambler's marker: CHIT. The sophisticated IOU.
19. Spots on cartes: ILES. Okay Jeannie, we get our French lesson today- cartes= maps and iles=islands.
20. Straight opening?: ORTHO. My favorite clue, because it is a double cross, unlike all of our other opening lcue, which means you are to create a word beginning with the clue, this is the literal definition of Ortho, which is a prefix meaning STRAIGHT, like ORTHODONIST, too straightener, or ORTHOPEDIST.
21. Kennel worker: GROOMER. Well, you hope they keep the big sweeties groomed.
25. Greek sphinx, from the neck down: LIONESS. This is as opposed to the Egyptian Spinx, which is masculine and nice, the Greek being feminine and nasty. If you want more information you can read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx#Egyptian_sphinxe>>LINK..
29. Good for growing, as soil: LOAMY. Nice balck dirt, unlike the san we have in Florida.
30. Traps: WEBS. Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.
31. Pick up: GET. When you are the store, I need some milk.
34. Razor brand: ATRA. There you go, last week's AFTA has morphed into the razor, everyone happy?
35. Contempt: ODIUM. A simple Latin word meaning hate.
37. Stadium level: LOGE. We have had this recently; just think sky boxes at the ball park.
38. Sigh relative: TSK. Oh goody, our word of the week, with yet a different slant.
39. Othello, for one: MOOR. Speaking of deceipt, poor moor.
40. Wonder Woman weapon: TIARA. She had her lasso, her wrist bands and her invisible plane.
44. Anniversary gala: JUBILEE.
47. Häagen-Dazs array: SORBETS. Of course this is accurate, but not my first thought; by now I assume everyone knows this compnay was from Brooklyn and used the fancy foreign name to justify their higher prices.
48. Words after take or save: A SEAT. back to the ball park, go marlins.
49. Z-zebra link: AS IN. Z as in Zebra.
57. Performer of many Dylan songs: BAEZ. I have seen her perform at Woodstock, in Lennox Mass., many times, and always loved her http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGMHSbcd_qI&feature=related>VOICE .
58. San Diego Zoo attraction: GIANT PANDA.
59. __ breve: ALLA, means all brief or quick in Italian (like our word brevity), and in musical notation I believe means a faster tempo, but I will defer to JzB to give you the full scoop on this one.
60. Folklore threats: OGRES. They get such a bad rep, but Shrek is a pussycat, sortof.
61. Not at all bleak: ROSY. Just like this puzzle, not at all bleak, but rather fun so far, no big holes.
Okay on to part two!
DOWN:
1. It may be glazed: HAM. Or my eyes after doing the blog.
2. URL ending: EDU.
3. Woodworking tool: ADZ. This is the second puzzle which I blogged with lots of ZZZZZs.
4. Songwriter Phair: LIZ. One of many female singers who started about the same time, but I do not think she ever sang at the Lilith http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z36Z0Fo-7zQ>FAIR.
5. One holding property in trust: BAILEE. Out token legal term, used for the hat check girl, the parking attendent and the pawn shop.
6. Li'l __: old-themed restaurant: ABNERS. Never heard of this chain.
7. Traveling companions?: BAGS. Nice misdirection here as well, and those of you with mothers in law, be nice it is Mother's Day Sunday.
8. NYC dance co.: ABT. http://www.abt.org/> AMERICAN BALLET THEATER. Where they teach dancers to 28D. Pirouette: TWIRL.
9. Word of support: RAH. Rah rah siss boom bah. Rah Rah ree, kick em in the knee, Rah Rah rass, kick em in the other knee.
10. Cache crop?: ACORNS. Nice cash/cache sound alike.
11. Laundry conveyor: CHUTE. I have never had a laundry chute, only garbage ones.
12. Good times: HIGHS. Well, what a controversial clue, I mean admittedly lots of people smoke pot, but...oh he just means emotional highs. Nevermind.
13. Group values: ETHOS. A bit more greek today.
15. By a narrow margin: SLIMLY. A bit of a stretch as a word, but I guess better than nonely.
18. Rank and file movers: ROOKS. A nice chess clue, describing the movement of the piece.
21. Key of Schubert's Impromptu Op. 90, No. 3: G FLAT. If it has five letters it will be soemthing flat, then wait and see the perp.
22. Popular party people: RIOTS. Oh man get a couple of drinks in him, and he is a riot!
23. Arkansas's ___ National Forest: OZARK.
24. Baum princess: OZMA. Many of you may not know how many books Mr. Baum wrote about OZ, and all of the characters not in the movie, but they even have their own wiki sight where you can learn http://oz.wikia.com/wiki/Ozma>EVERYTHING OZ. PS welcome back KAZIE.
25. Stead: LIEU. These days in my world, this attached DEED IN....
26. Warhead vehicle, briefly: ICBM. InterContinentalBallisticMissile.
31. Blow one's top: GO APE. I seldom see this without a thrid word modifier.
32. Coastal wader: EGRET. They love Florida.
33. They may signify joy: TEARS. But not when you have to sign the DEED IN LIEU.
35. Exude: OOZE. Seems like it fits with this puzzle, which is oozing zzzz.
36. Nap: DOZE. Hopefully on one is sleeping through my efforts.
37. Branch: LIMB.
39. Media lead-in: MULTI. See, there is the standard cluing for an opening or lead-in.
40. Source of some greens: TURNIP. For Thelma and the other Southern Belles who cook with Turnip Greens.
41. Italian square: PIAZZA. Not to be confused with the ex-Met Mike, who was Italian, but failry hip, thuogh the bleach blond look was not a good move.
42. Ascetic of yore: ESSENE. A biblical reference, aapropriate for this season.
43. Articulations: JOINTS. More confusion, and the less common use of articulation, not words, but separations.
44. Sluglike alien strangled by Leia: JABBA. Yes, she was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ95CvQZFb4> ANGRY.
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45. Standard: USUAL.
46. Chisel's edge: BEZEL. Sounds so much like Bevel and they are related.
49. Bacteriologist's supply: AGAR. For their Petrie dishes.
51. IHOP '__: takeout food program: N'GO. Well I already told my IHOP wrestling story, so it is up to you to comment, though if only this had been worked into the ROO puzzle....
52. Short job: GIG. Devin's band played a GIG at Uncle Lou's; he did not want me to go, because the place was a little sketchy, Great to be a dad.
53. Syr. seceded from it in 1961: UAR. United Arab Republic; not much on being united.
54. __-cone: SNO. Don't eat the yellow ones.
55. Money VIPs: EDS. Cannot fool me twice, the magazines editors! Ha!
56. Mention: SAY. Say good night Gracie. Good night Gracie.
