Samuel A. Donaldson

Title: Give them the finger!  Link.

Sam (not from TV) Donaldson is back for my third time to blog his work. A really creative grid with only 32 blocks and the likely controversial theme content 11-4-9-4-11. The unwritten rule about theme fill being the longest fill...well I bet some would object. For me, the central fill make that rule seem silly for this puzzle.

Mr. D. also worked a bunch of fun stuff into his grid like OX TEAM, SIN TAX,  OLD VIC, KAVNER, SAL SODA, TABULAR,  ACREAGE, DESK SET, OPEN TOE,  ALTIMAS,  PLATYPI, KEPT FIT,  ODDBALL, REISSUED, VAN DAMME...this puzzle is a keeper.

17A. Prioritizes self-interest : LOOKS OUT FOR (11). Looks out for number one is a very popular phrase, both by those in favor and opposed.

34A. Championship team cheer : WE'RE (4). We're number one! The puzzle blogging family!!!

35A. Words needed to complete four puzzle answers : NUMBER ONE (9). The oddly placed reveal that made this an awfully easy Friday.

38A. "Let's Make a Deal" choice : DOOR (4). Being home 24/7 I managed to see a few minutes of Wayne Brady as Monty Hall....I quickly closed doo number one.

58A. Object of a serious hunt : PUBLIC ENEMY (11). Is is me, or have they stopped publicizing the FBI 10 most wanted list (and the public enemy number one)?

Across: 

1. Smelling __ : SALTS.

6. Olympic racers : LUGES. This was made tricky by the author.

11. Paving goo : TAR.

14. Dispatch boat : AVISO.  Here is the HISTORY.

15. Unpleasant chores : SLOGS. Vague.

16. Missile from Venus? : ACE. Nice deception- Venus Williams, a tennis service.

19. Sports __ : BRA. More Venus?

20. Levy on liquor : SIN TAX.

21. Printed again : REISSUED.

23. Dedicated works : ODES.

24. Nicholas and Peter : TSARS.


26. Buck : CLAM. Old fashioned words for money.

27. Matched office accessories : DESK SET.

29. Alternative to throwing out : STORAGE.

31. Spots : ADS.

32. Treat roughly : MAUL.

40. Square placed on a square board : TILE. Scrabble anyone?

41. Scaled diagram : MAP.

44. Stayed in shape : KEPT FIT. Venus?

47. Eccentric : ODD BALL.

49. Not free, with "for" : A FEE.

50. Bygone "SNL" rival : MAD TV. Not a real rival.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwcfcEOdC7g

52. "At Last" singer James : ETTA. A classic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YryQTTQMXQ
+
53. "Timecop" star : VAN DAMME. He is still working. LINK.

55. Diamond mine? : I GOT IT. Great baseball misdirection. When I was 6 or 7, in a family game a pop-up was hit my way. I yelled, " I got it, I got it, I think I got it!" Family was in stitches.

57. Fanatic : NUT.

60. "Evil Woman" band : ELO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU314nyMKWE

61. __ Gay : ENOLA. Isn't time to put this trivia out to pasture?

62. "It's __!": "We've been tricked" : A TRAP.

63. Numbered rd. : RTE.

64. Aired anew : RERAN.

65. Vermouth bottle name : ROSSI. The bottle I remember.

Down:

1. Grill-cleaning solution : SAL SODA. Not to be confused with Baking soda.

2. Ducked : AVOIDED.

3. Nala, notably : LIONESS. Lion King.

4. "Shame!" : TSK TSK.

5. McGwire's 1998 rival : SOSA. Mark and Sammy - baseball, number 3.

6. Team with a live tiger mascot : LSU. A gimme for Susan, Big Easy, Boo and others.

7. UHF component : ULTRA. Ultra High Frequency.

8. Fetching employees? : GOFERS. Those who fetch.

9. Altruist's opposite : EGOIST. Deducible.

10. Ukr. and Lith., formerly : SSRS. The U made them united.

11. Like spreadsheets : TABULAR. Reminded me of  these BELLS.

12. Plot : ACREAGE. Easy if you do real estate.

13. Name for a help file : READ ME.

18. Ones working together on a farm : OX TEAM. Sorry Sam, but my meh of this puzzle.

22. Slope of loose stones : SCREE. Similar to talus...yeah that helps. My unknown even after filling with perps.

25. Concert souvenir : STUB. I used to save my backstage passes.

28. Blue character : SMURF.

30. Possessed : OWNED. No exorcist needed.

33. Umpire's call : LET. Tennis.

35. Famous : NOTED.

36. Laugh-a-minute sort : RIOT.

37. It was originally established as the Royal Coburg Theatre : OLD VIC. The HISTORY.

38. Fallback provision : DEFAULT.

39. Showing off a pedi, perhaps : OPEN TOE.  You think SPLYNTER?

41. Shouldn't be ignored : MATTERS. It.

42. Nissan models : ALTIMAS.

43. Duck-billed mammals : PLATYPI.

44. Julie who voices Marge Simpson : KAVNER. Rhoda's little sister.

45. Not susceptible : IMMUNE.

46. Emmy winner Jeffrey of "Transparent" : TAMBOR. I loved him as Hank.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN9tCQsWkdY

48. Suspect : BE ONTO.

51. Street of mystery : DELLA. She worked for Perry.

54. Mimic : APER.

56. Reverse, e.g. : GEAR.

59. Creator of Q and M : IAN. Fleming and he also created Bond, James Bond.

Jeffrey Wechsler

Title: Over easy? No, I prefer them scrambled.

An ambitious Friday from JW that is the second step in my returning to my post as Friday sherpa. It took solving a couple of the theme fill that made the theme obvious, though hard to describe. The first word of a known expression becomes an anagram to provide a different and witty definition. All have a four letter word which is scrambled, and all are words both before and after.

17A. Aging hero Jones, in his latest film? : GRAY (GARY) INDIANA (11). Poor Harrison Ford, killed in Star Wars, dissed in Supergirl by his wife, Calista Flockhart and then he crashes a plane.

24A. Pitt portraying Shakespeare? : BRAD (BARD) OF AVON. (10). I can't picture this.

33A. Skill displayed at the gift counter? : WRAP (WARP) SPEED (9). The anagrams are easy.

45A. Times when hokey humor prevailed? : ERAS (EARS) OF CORN (10). Or when C. Moe appeared.

54A. Early stage of muffin production? : BRAN (BARN) RAISING (11). My favorite of the theme fill, but I grew up in New England farm country.

Jeffrey also provides a wonderful panoply of non-theme fill...BIG NEWS,  ACROBAT,  DIAMOND, STRASSE,  TEL AVIV,  IN A HOLE,  CABANAS, POINT AT,  WANGLES,  OVERALL,  SARA LEE,  PLANETS,  CRANIAL,  AIRINGS,  DAMAGED, AUSTRIA,  BONKERS,  LESSEES, RIDERS UP,  PEAR TREE

Let us see where else we went.

Across:

1. 1987 Michael Jackson album : BAD. his eventual follow up ALBUM to Thriller.

4. Road where Mozart was born : STRASSE. Street in German and probably Austrian. Research reveals Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart (1719–1787) and Anna Maria, née Pertl (1720–1778), at 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg. Clecho: 43A. Where Mozart was born : AUSTRIA.

11. Recurrent behavior : TIC. Really?

14. Henri's here : ICI.    Just French.  

15. Identify : POINT AT. Dramatic at a trial, but silly if the defendant is sitting at a table with his/her attorney.

16. "Bambi" doe : ENA. Auntie to Bambi.

19. Sci-fi setting : LAB.

20. "... let __ put asunder": Matthew : NO MAN.

21. Send out : EMIT.

22. Island band The __ Men : BAHA. The Baha Men are a Bahamian band playing a modernized style of Bahamian music called junkanoo. They are best remembered for their Grammy Award-winning hit song Who Let the Dogs Out? wiki.

23. Shakespeare's jet? : EBON. Fancy ways to say black.

26. Acquires through cunning : WANGLES. I love this word because it does not sound real.

28. Undefeated Ali : LAILA. Cute; his daughter was undefeated as a boxer.

29. Norm: Abbr. : STD. Standard.

30. His, to Henri : A LUI. More French.

32. "John Wick" star : REEVES. KEANU not GEORGE.

35. Fish-eating raptor : OSPREY. These BIRDS OF PREY are the logical descendant of the dinosaurs.

38. Sassy : PERT. And if you become too sassy, you will be a....

39. Boorish sort : CAD.

42. Sound : VALID.

49. Loosen (up) : WARM. Is this from muscles or people?

50. Storm : RANT.

51. Settled on a branch : A LIT.

52. Beatle ending : MANIA.

53. Cakes go-with : ALE. Oh how many recall this from a recent JW puzzle?

56. Decide not to stop : LET.

57. Off one's rocker : BONKERS.

58. Vital statistic : AGE.

59. Paul with guitars : LES. He built the first successful electric guitars and his name leads into....

60. Landlord's customers : LESSEES.

61. Ergotamine derivative popular in the '60s : LSD. More of LES. It is my excuse for being crazy. LINK.


Down:

1. Front page material : BIG NEWS.

2. One seen in a ring : ACROBAT. Pretty vague for me, but I understand the clecho.

3. One seen in a ring : DIAMOND. This made it easier.

4. Short drive : SPIN. Never understood this expression, spinning is not what I have in mind when I drive.

5. Lading measure : TON. We all remember our lesson on bills of lading.

6. Kentucky Derby call : RIDERS UP.  LINK.

7. Jungian concept : ANIMA. He had to have his own words, not Freud's  ego, super-ego and id.

8. Solemn : STAID.

9. Introduction to Domingo? : SANTO. Well done, geography.

10. Greek letter : ETA.

11. Mediterranean metropolis : TEL AVIV.

12. Saddled with debt : IN A HOLE.

13. Seaside resort array : CABANAS. VIEW.

18. Half a philosophical duality : YANG. Where is YIN?

22. Called from the field : BAAED. So cute, lamby pie.

24. Fasten, at sea : BELAY. Cute also because of the two definitions. verb
1.(a running rope) around a cleat, pin, rock, or other object, to secure it.
2. nautical slang: stop; enough! "“Belay that, mister. Man your post.”"

25. Groups at sea : FLEETS. More at sea.

27. City on the Rio Grande : LAREDO.

31. Net neutrality beneficiary: Abbr. : ISP.

32. Any "Twilight Zone" episode, now : RERUN.

33. Omega holder : WRIST. The watch.

34. Part of a traditional holiday gift : PEAR TREE.

35. From one extreme to the other : OVERALL.

36. Frozen dessert brand : SARA LEE. Nobody does not love Sara Lee.

37. Seven-movement Holst work that omits Earth, with "The" : PLANETS.

39. Like the olfactory nerve, e.g. : CRANIAL.

40. Television fare : AIRINGS.

41. Flawed : DAMAGED.

44. "__ brillig ... " : TWAS. `Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
                                               Did gyre and gimble in the wab
I had a roommate who was a C student, but could recite the entire poem as well as PI to the 50th place.

46. Denmark's __ Islands : FAROE. I had no idea. LINK.

47. Highland groups : CLANS.

48. Sounds from pens : OINKS. This little piggy...

52. Pine for : MISS.

54. OPEC unit : BBL. Barrel.

55. "... such stuff / As dreams __ made on": Prospero : ARE. JW squeezes his Friday Shakespeare in at the end.

Well I have stumbled to the finish line once again, having managed to unravel all of JW's tricks. Great fun...hope you had a good time, Lemonade out.

John Lampkin

Title: What hotel are you staying at?

Wow, John has made my first attempt to blog a puzzle a challenge. On the one hand it seems simple with a nice progression from ECONOMY-STANDARD-PREMIUM-LUXURY but there is no confirmation with a reveal. And then we have the words inserted by JL.



19A. Doppelgänger cast for a low-budget remake of "Ocean's 11"? : ECONOMY RAT PACK (14). The original from 1960 was a vehicle for the Sinatra PACK.

23A. Usual night in the old town? : STANDARD HOT TIME. (15).

42A. Quality marsh output? : PREMIUM SWAMP GAS (15).

48A. Gold dust lid cover? : LUXURY EYE LINER (14).

In addition to the 58 letters dedicated to the theme, JL includes SODA POP,  BUOYANT,  TEEN IDOL,  LEMMINGS,  ROADSIDES and  ART DEALER as sparkly fill. I had a great time, but I must have lost my touch. UMMV.

Across:

1. "L'Arlésienne" composer : BIZET. Wow, not a gimme start but lots of challenging letters. LINK.

6. Nutrients in nuts : FATS.

10. Silent signal : NOD.

13. Surface : ARISE. An unexpected definition.

14. Facetious agreement : AH SO.

15. Litter pickup spot? : NAPE. Not only humans do this.

16. Parson's home : MANSE. I earned this word reading British mysteries or watching them on PBS like THIS.

17. Some shoulders : ROADSIDES. Lovely misdirection.

21. Speck in la mer : ILE. French,

22. Sweet climber : PEA. Very important in science RESEARCH. Next to....

32. Entomological case study? : COCOON. JL loves his moths and their stages of life.

33. Repeated number of curls, say : REPititions. Bicep curls.

34. Bust gp. : DEA.  Drug Enforcement Administration. President Nixon consolidated the anti-drug efforts. This is not the group in charge of inspecting bras.

35. Whatever : AT ALL. Used to be one of my favorite catch phrases.

36. Fanny pack spot : HIP. I see them more in front or back, not on me.

37. Backing strips : LATHS. Not to confused with LATHE. Lath 1. a thin flat strip of wood, especially one of a series forming a foundation for the plaster of a wall or the tiles of a roof, or made into a trellis or fence.

39. Liszt's "__ Préludes" : LES. Pretty easy French to fill. This COMPOSER was very popular.

40. Fish house freebie : BIB. Usually with a drawing of a lobster.

41. Sympathize : RELATE.

46. Mayo is in it : ANO. Spanish trick Mayo = May- ANO = Year

47. Fan noise : HUM.

56. Theo van Gogh, notably : ART DEALER. A fun STORY.

57. Orange variety : NAVEL. Seedless and very haughty.

59. Couth he is not : OGRE.

60. Khartoum's waters : NILE.

61. Birds do it between thermals : GLIDE. JL also watches and films birds.

62. Place to take a dip : SEA. And the clecho, 64A. Place to take a dip? : SALSA.

63. Hits up (for) : TAPS. In beer halls you tap your friend next to the taps.

Down:

1. "Whap!" : BAM. Comic book talk.

2. "Dies __" : IRAE.

3. #30 on a table : ZINC. I keep forgetting to not put my glass on the periodic lead.

4. Canadian pump name : ESSO. Esso - Exxon.

5. "People" person, perhaps : TEEN IDOL.

6. Cain was one : FARMER. Sad, as he must have been driven mad by the methane gases.

7. Cry to a mate : AHOY.

8. Ruler that doesn't work anymore : TSAR. They all retired?

9. Gender-specific beverage? : SODA POP. Cute, you can have soda pop or ice tea mom.

10. Zilch : NADA.

11. Group with many barrels : OPEC.

12. Office staple : DESK. I found this tricky.

15. Bite playfully : NIP AT. Puppies!

18. Editorial override : STET.

20. Buck heroine : O-LAN. A well decorated book about the mysterious East. LINK.

23. It may be under a rug : SCALP. Rug here being a toupee- nice.

24. Bag carrier : TOTER. Yes it is!  29D. Travel bag attachment : ID TAG. More travel.

25. "__ in point" : A CASE.

26. Cambodia's Lon __ : NOL. LON NOL, a handy palindrome.

27. Bits : DRIBS. Or drabs?

28. In like an old cat? : HEP. Just ask Maynard G. Krebs.

30. Maestro Zubin : MEHTA. John is a most prolific pianist, explaining all the music this week.

31. Lightens up : EASES.

36. Gender-specific pronoun : HIM. All perps.

37. Non-suicidal migrants, contrary to myth : LEMMINGS. The MYTH?

38. Heidi got high on one : ALP. My friend, Heidi lived near the Devil's Millhopper  no mountains..

40. Cheerful : BUOYANT. Maybe if you are sponge....

41. Julia of film : RAUL. He died much too young. LINK.
http://ak-cache.legacy.net/globalcontent/contenthub/contentitems/0b79e781-7616-4fa6-95a4-05b6d7b19120.jpg

43. "All in the Family" spin-off : MAUDE. Bea Arthur as a feminist.

44. About : IN RE.

45. Waldo forerunner? : WHERE'S? I think he is lost forever. Just words that come before Waldo.

48. Cambodia neighbor : LAOS. Both near Thailand.

49. Itch : URGE.

50. Bonus, in ads : XTRA.

51. Lamb's alias : ELIA. And a JL clecho 58D. Lamb's place : LEA. Not the writer but the baby that Mary had.

52. Sharp bark : YELP. Doggies.

53. Simba's love : NALA.

54. Far from harmless : EVIL.

55. Cabs, say : REDS. Not yellow taxis, but Cabernet wines.

Well it was fun to blog but still not 100%. 7 hospitals and 10 doctors so far this year. Glad to be back and to have a JL special was great. Lemonade out.