Friday, April 11, 2014, David Poole

Theme: Initial here please! Y-not?

By adding a vowel to the beginning of a word or phrase, also in progression like Bernice Gordon's wonderful Wednesday, we have five very different phrases, clued appropriately. I am not sure if they all create hyphenated words, but it looks cleaner to me that way. David has been on our radar many times and my last time blogging his work being a rather controversial effort, VIEW. This is a much tamer theme with two old favorites, the 'add a letter' and the 'vowel progression' in play. This is like a casserole of Bernice's vowels and marti's letter words. The fill had some fun like BARRELS, CURACAO, LEONIDS, MINARET, BETHESDA, PRORATED and TAXI DRIVERS. There seemed to be quite a few initialisms, but maybe that was deliberate in light of adding the letter. Okay, let's do it.

 17A. Cost to join the elite? : A-LIST PRICE. (10) Does the concept of an "A" list bother anyone?

25A. Kindle download that's too good to delete? : E-BOOK KEEPER. (11). I think this is cute and it is consistent with 58A by breaking the word in two when the letter is added.

35A. Origami tablet? : I-PAD OF PAPER. (11). Cute but confusing clue.

49A. Expert on circular gaskets? : O-RING MASTER. (11). The circus meets mechanics, as the torus shaped ring appears.

58A. List of reversals? : U-TURN TABLE. (10). A table is like a list, but that only confuses me.

Across:

1. Hitching aid : THUMB. This answer stuck right out for me.

6. Journalist Paula : ZAHN. One time rising news star at most network news shows, she now hosts a show on Investigative Discovery channel. She left CNN after major scandal about her affair and marriage breaking up. In looking for her link, I ran across a site called wikifeet; most disturbing.

10. Silo occupant, briefly : ICBM. InterContinental Ballistic Missile. To qualify, the missile must have a minimum range of 3,400 miles.

14. Place to practice pliés : BARRE. Is a practice bar a place?

15. Arab League member : OMAN. Oh man, I learned CHAD is not a member, nor is IRAN (Persian, not Arabic); the choices were Oman or Iraq and that Q is pesky.

16. __ Tea Latte: Starbucks offering : CHAI. I like a Chai tea now and then, but no lattes for me.

19. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" composer : KERN. Jerome. Time for a musical interlude.

20. Pay for, in a way : CHARGE. no extra credit for getting this one correct.

21. Wonder Woman accessory : TIARA.

22. Stroke gently : PET. Most women resent being petted.

27. Like some felonies : CLASS A.

29. Seuss pond-ruling reptile : YERTLE. Interestingly, this turtle is now available in an E-Book. (7:49). Yertle does appear to be unrelated to 63A. Feigned : MOCK, and the  Mock Turtle.

30. Ready for FedEx, perhaps : BOXED.

31. Yahoo : BOOR. Calling someone a Yahoo seems outdated but I guess Boor is also.

34. Only 20th-century president whose three distinct initials are in alphabetical order : HST. This is interesting because Truman's  middle name was "S."

39. Common HDTV feature : LCD. Liquid Crystal Display.

41. Basic water transport : RAFT. Ask Tom Sawyer.

42. French royal : REINE. Queen, en Française.

45. California city on Humboldt Bay : EUREKA. from Archimedes, right Bill G. and Fermatprime?

48. Certain allergy sufferer's bane : POLLEN. That is why they are seasonal allergies.

53. Induced : LED. At least it is not another initialism.

54. Places for pews : NAVES.

55. Places for sweaters? : SAUNAS. Really cute reversal clue, because you start out with cold places where you need to put on a sweater, then...

57. Makes certain of : ICES. And there was the cold place.

62. Jeanne __ : D'ARC. French for Joan of Arc.

64. Inventor Howe : ELIAS. The sad story of the man and the Sewing Machine.

65. Fair : SO SO.

66. Bellicose god : ARES. Bellicose is such a nice word.

67. They may be hammered out : DENTS. So can plans.

Down:

1. TV Guide abbr. : TBA. To Be Announced.

2. McRae of the '70s-'80s Royals : HAL. He became a manager and his sone played in the majors as well. LINK.

3. Ocean State sch. : URI. University of Rhode Island.   Not far from where I grew up; main campus is in Kingston, I believe.

4. Richie's mom, to Fonzie : MRS.C. Cunningham.

5. National Institutes of HealthHealth home : BETHESDA. Maryland.

6. Don Diego de la Vega's alter ego : ZORRO. I liked this ONE (1:47) better than the movies.

7. Pal of 6-Down : AMIGO.

8. Czech diacritical : HACEK. No clue, the perps filled the spaces, but I looked it up. Way more than you wanted to KNOW.

9. Terre Haute-to-South Bend dir. : NNE.

10. More repulsive : ICKIER.

11. Event offering superficial pleasure : CHEAP THRILL. Awful, who would want a superficial pleasure? Dennis, Lois where are you when I need you.

12. Crude containers : BARRELS. Not badly made, but crude oil.

13. Muezzin's tower : MINARET. I am unfamiliar with the clue, but I know the tower, so...

18. Early sunscreen ingredient : PABA. Para-AminoBenzoic Acid.

21. Tapered support item : TEE.

22. Chem. pollutant : PCB. PolyChlorinated Biphenyl. This Bad Boy.

23. "Evil Woman" rock gp. : ELO. Electric Light Orchestra.

24. Hacks : TAXI DRIVERS.

26. "The Closer" star Sedgwick : KYRA.

28. Libra's mo., perhaps : SEPtember. My youngest is one.

31. Glitzy wrap : BOA. The feathery kind, not the crush and eat you kind.

32. On vacation : OFF. Cute how on leads to off.

33. Stop wavering : OPT.

36. Wee bit o' Glenlivet, say : DRAM.

37. Apportioned : PRORATED. What needs to be done with real estate taxes at closing.

38. Unagi, at a sushi bar : EEL. A C.C. favorite.

39. November meteor shower, with "the" : LEONIDS. 2013. I just watched a PBS show, I think.

40. Liqueur named for an island : CURACAO. One of the ABC islands in the Netherland's Antilles.

The blue one.

43. Once known as : NEE. Referencing the female birth name, before marriage. From the French.

44. "The World's __": 2013 sci-fi comedy : END.

46. "Romanian Rhapsodies" composer : ENESCO. A very accomplished violinist as well.

47. Metric wts. : KGS. Kilo grams, 1000 grams, or 2.2 pounds.

48. One of the Ivies : PENNsylvania.

50. Fur tycoon : ASTOR. John Jacob

51. Ristorante potful : SAUCE. Well, it depends because many Italians call it 'gravy' even if it I a red sauce.

52. Iraqis' neighbors : TURKS.

56. Word with white or fire : SALE.

58. Thurman of film : UMA.

59. Recycling vessel : BIN.

60. Delt neighbor : LAT. Muscles, deltoid (shoulder)and latissimus  dorsi (back).

61. Superhero symbol : ESS. The big S for Superman.

I guess it is time for me to head off into a phone booth and fly out of here for another week. Hope you had a good time.  Lemonade out.

Friday, April 4, 2014, Kurt Krauss

Theme: REBUS, let your mind see the picture.

By now everyone should be used to the concept that Friday will give you something challenging, and often something new to deal with as you solve. We have had conversation (YR?) as to rebus puzzles being pictures like this classic FRAME GAME from USA Weekend magazine.  This will be my third of Kurt's Kreations to blog, and by far the most complex. All of the theme answers require two fill, which intersect, and the intersection is what reveals the single final fill. In effect the second word is inserted "in to" the first word to create a phrase that then stands alone. Tricky, but once you see the idea the rest really fell into place quickly. The symmetry of the top two sets have the intersecting word come from the top down, and the bottom two going down to the bottom from the intersection, along with some very nice 8 letter fill, like ACADEMIA, ONTARIAN, REFRAINS, SERPENTS, SNEAKERS and  VAN BUREN makes this a very fun looking puzzle.

20A. See 4-Down : SADKDLE. 4D. With 20-Across, working again, aptly : BACK.  (11). The common K tells you the fill is "Back in the saddle." Picture the perpendicular message here.

22A. See 8-Down : FAMSILY. 8D. With 22-Across, what red hair often does, aptly : RUNS. (11), The common S  reveals, "Runs in the family."

35A. See 30-Down : BANNK. 30D. With 35-Across, a financially sure thing, aptly : MONEY. (10).this central combination gives us, "Money in the bank."

50A. See 51-Down : MIRLROR. 51D. With 50-Across, do some self-examination, aptly : LOOK. (11). The intersection yields, "Look in the Mirror."

52A. See 53-Down : BUCDKET.  53D. With 52-Across, trivial amount, aptly : DROP. And we finish with my favorite, "Drop in the Bucket."


Across:

1. Biblical kingdom near the Dead Sea : MOAB. I knew I was going to have when I confidently put this in and then confirmed with the perps.

5. Blue : LOW. Feeling kinda punk, down.

8. Chew (out) : REAM. He reamed him a new a******

12. Old empire builder : INCA. Love this near 16A. Donald's address, in comics : UNCA. By his sweet NEPHEWS. (7:33), I called my father's brother "Unc."

13. Construction materials : I-BARS.

17. Like a dotted note, in mus. : STAC. I knew this had to be STACCATO. See LINK.

18. Bob preceder : SIREE. leaving out the "YES" to confuse you. (Yessiree bob!).

19. Tiny fraction of a min. : NSEC. We get this nanosecond frequently.

24. Dander : IRE.

25. Some tech sch. grads : EES. Electrical Engineers.

26. Soweto's home: Abbr. : RSA. Republic of South Africa. Home to our now veteran veterinarian constructor, Gareth Bain, who has used NSEC in his works.

27. Great time, in slang : GAS. From nitrous oxide?

28. Rain cloud : NIMBUS. Our friend the cumulonimbus.

30. Fair ones : MAIDENS.

32. Julius Caesar's first name : GAIUS. A very common name, shared by an UNCOMMON man. 46D. Gallic girlfriends : AMIES. Gallic being French, amies are French girlfriends; in homage to Gaius Julius Caesar we can recall "Omnia Gallia in tres partes divisa est...." The beginning of his history of the invasion of Gaul. More on our Latin/Roman mini-theme, 21D. Roman god : DEUS. Just the Latin word, but because it looks like the name of the Greek god, ZEUS, this could be hard. Also, 44D. Dawn goddess : AURORA.

33. Said : VOICED. Often times opinions....

34. Tandoori bread : NAN. Or NAAN.

36. Grilling sound : SSS. The steak or shrimp on the Barbie. Welcome back Kazie.

39. Macduff and Macbeth : THANES. This was a Scottish term the equivalent of Counts.

41. Charity, e.g. : DONEE. One who receives from a donor is a donee.

43. Slipped past : EASED BY.

45. Sunday best : FINERY.

46. Soccer star Freddy : ADU. The son of Ghanian woman who won a green card lottery, Adu was considered an up-and-comer for United States football; much speculation surrounded his potential for future success, and he was even referred to as "the next Pele." With our mini-theme, 31D. Pelé's first name : EDSON. More specifically, Edson Arantes do Nascimento.

47. __ Simbel, site of Ramses II temples : ABU. You can read about it HERE. Do you agree the next fill should our old friend the Simpson's shopkeeper, APU?

48. Michaels et al. : ALS. So may Michaels in the world, we get the Miracle on Ice announcer.

49. Galoot : APE.

54. "Was __ loud?" : I TOO.

55. Having no room for hedging : YES/NO.

57. '20s tennis great Lacoste : RENE. Nice shirts? Chemise?

58. Designer Saarinen : EERO. Old time crosswordese. An architectural family, not like Ted Mosby.

59. Cynical response : SNEER.

60. Leftover bits : ORTS.

61. 40th st. : SDAK. No clue where the Dakotas came in.

62. Whiz : PRO.

63. "Over here!" : PSST.

Down:

1. Not where it's expected to be : MISSING. So simple, yet I can see it hiding for a while.

2. Windsor resident : ONTARIAN. Eh, another Canadian reference.

3. Scholarly milieu : ACADEMIA.

5. Fine cotton threads : LISLES. made from long staple cotton. Yeah, I really know what that means.

6. Awards named for a location : OBIES. Off Broadway.

7. Kids' card game : WAR. This is now a money game in the casinos here.

9. Banner : ENSIGN. Apparently when you use your national flag at sea it becomes an Ensign. If you watched Sheldon I am sure you would know all about vexillology, or on the Game of Thrones, the bannerman. Sunday night!!!

10. Amtrak speedsters : ACELAS.  The high speed trains incorporated into our rail system. The name comes from Acceleration and Excellence, they say.

11. Store with a star : MACYS.

14. Choruses : REFRAINS.

15. Queasy near the quay : SEASICK. This made me queasy.

23. Earned : MADE. Oh that life were fair and people actually made what they earned and earned what they made.

29. Squeeze plays involve them : BUNTS. Aren't you glad we has all the discussion of this last week.

33. Jackson follower : VAN BUREN. Martin, president number 8 following Andrew Jackson. Martin was from Buffalo and the first president born after the US was born.

35. 1995 Will Smith/Martin Lawrence film : BAD BOYS. Twenty years ago they made this MOVIE. (2:46).

37. Running pair : SNEAKERS.

38. Malicious types : SERPENTS. If the answer were snakes it would have come easier.

40. Try, as a case : HEAR. The Judge and/or jury "hear" the case.

41. Record : DISC. Hard to get away from the verb.

42. Seer's challenge : EYE TEST. The one examination I have never been able to do well on.

43. Corrected, in a way : EDITED.

45. Prefix with carbon : FLUORO. The ENEMY of our world?

48. Running back Haynes, first AFL player of the year : ABNER. On Friday, you do not get Lil, you get this He is perhaps most famous for winning the toss and choosing to kick off in overtime in the championship game against Houston. LINK.

56. Equinox mo. : SEPtember.  Autumnal equinox.