Wednesday, January 25, 2017, Bruce Haight

TITLE: HAND JIVE

Bruce has supplied us with a clever puzzle with two switcheroos. First he supplied the names of all the fingers on a hand with cluing/fill that had nothing to do with actual fingers. Secondly he gave the reveal with a two-word phrase DIG IT that could be consolidated to make DIGIT which of course is an alternate name for fingers.

THEME REVEAL

55. "Pay attention, man!" ... and, in a different way, what the end of each answer to a starred clue refers to : DIG IT/DIGIT - Fun! Here are some DIGITS being used to DIG IT.

Here's the "handy" grid with the theme and reveal fill that as you can see is further enhanced by the appearance of the fingers being in order from LITTLE TO THUMB.

Now let's look at Bruce's well-executed theme fill:

18. *"C'mon, loosen up!" : LIVE A LITTLE - A PINKY swear gives us an alternate name for our tiniest DIGIT

23. *Place for lefts and rights : BOXING RING - Waddaya think? A little gaudy?

40. *Compromise : MEET IN THE MIDDLE - George was sure she was giving him the infamous MIDDLE finger. 

52. *Market measure : STOCK INDEX - Several Husker VB girls had their INDEX fingers raised after winning the 2015 National Championship.

62. *General principle : RULE OF THUMB - A good use of that DIGIT that separates us from most of the animal world and my assessment of C.C. and the rest of you word warriors here at our little conclave!

Now let's explore some more of the fine fill Bruce has, uh, fingered for us today:

ACROSS

1. Put a spell on : HEX

4. Organizes from best to worst, say : SORTS - One of my favorite Excel features

9. Arizona landforms : MESAS

14. Wrath : IRE

15. Longtime "At the Movies" co-host : EBERT - He listed Casablanca and Citizen Kane among his ten best

16. One bit : AT ALL

17. Shake up : JAR - Definitely a little JAR! Cell phone user?

20. Do penance : ATONE

22. Certain string musician's need : VIOLA BOW - Re-hairing a bow

26. "Star Wars" extras : ET'S

27. Word of passione : CARA - Ya gotta love Jay and the American's singing CARA Mia - My Beloved in Italian

28. Cheek : SASS

31. "Alas!" : AH ME

34. Elementary bit : ATOM

37. Water nymph : NAIAD

43. Orchard trees : PEARS

44. "Ready are you? What know you of ready?" speaker : YODA

45. Low in fat : LEAN

46. Supermodel Banks : TYRA

48. Gross : ICKY

50. PD alert : APB - Calling all cars!

58. French president Hollande : FRANCOIS - His progression of domestic partners in chronological order. He didn't always tell them that someone else was coming in from the bullpen.

61. Sees red : BOILS

65. Bygone muscle car : GTO

66. Holiday visitor : IN-LAW

67. "Science of Logic" author Georg : HEGEL

68. Shy person's note? : IOU - A day late and a few dollars shy

69. Branch quarters : NESTS - Nests are fine, but... 

70. Philadelphia pro : EAGLE

71. "Major Crimes" network : TNT

DOWN

1. Muslim veil : HIJAB

2. Sister of Calliope : ERATO

3. Maker of ColorQube printers : XEROX

4. One-named singer portrayed by Jennifer Lopez in a 1997 film : SELENA - SELENA on the left and JLO on the right playing Selena in Jennifer's breakout role.

5. Japanese sash : OBI

6. Gun, as a V8 : REV

7. Roman fountain : TREVI

8. Spot : STAIN

9. Pony Express concern : MAIL - Orphans preferred? Yikes! 

10. Vocalist James : ETTA

11. Plopped down next to : SAT BESIDE

12. Apportion : ALLOT

13. Boatloads : SLEWS

19. Stack under a tarp : LOGS

21. "Close, but no cigar" : NICE TRY 

24. Family nickname : GRAN(ny)

25. Threadbare : RATTY

29. Boy in "Star Wars" prequel films : ANI

30. "I wish I could" : SADLY NO

31. Bit of band gear : AMP

32. Small snicker : HEE

33. Sub filler : MEATBALLS

35. "So THAT's what's going on here!" : OHO - I'm shocked there is gambling going on in here!

36. First responder : MEDIC - At Omaha Beach

38. It borders the Fla. panhandle : ALA

39. Hideout : DEN

41. Medit. country : ISR

42. Big name in big rigs : MACK - Inside the most expensive MACK truck 

47. Dating from : AS OF

49. Cat dish tidbit : KIBBLE

50. Nasal spray brand : AFRIN

51. Danish fruit : PRUNE

53. Parishioner's pledge : TITHE

54. Milo of "Barbarella" : O'SHEA - Sorry, Milo, yours is not the first name that leaps to mind when I think of Barbarella 

56. John of The Red Piano Tour : ELTON

57. Strikes through : X'S OUT

59. "Far out!" : NEAT

60. Stockholder's assets? : COWS

63. Trendy boot brand : UGG

64. Blanc heard but not seen : MEL - Not necessarily as in this classic routine (Si, Sy, Sue, Sew) with Jack Benny.

Now let's get your DIGITAL comments:

Tuesday, December 27, 2016 Bruce Haight

Theme: L&N - Ellen(el and en).

16A . Shellfish dish in a cream sauce: LOBSTER NEWBERG

24A . Drivers' ID figures: LICENSE NUMBERS

41A. Chemical used for quick freezing: LIQUID NITROGEN

54A. The Times in Los Angeles, e.g.: LOCAL NEWSPAPER

62A. Popular afternoon talk show, familiarly, and a homophonic hint to this puzzle's four longest answers: ELLEN

Argyle here but instead of Ellen, I'm here with Sarah, plain and tall. To tell the truth, I didn't notice the puzzle was 14 wide and 16 tall until I went to print it out. So all the grid spanners are only 14 letters. Still a fine puzzle despite starting with HAJJI.

Across:

1. Pilgrim to Mecca: HAJJI

6. Give and take: SWAP

10. Bay Area airport letters: SFO. San Francisco International Airport

13. Hang trimmings on: ADORN. When does your tree come down?

14. Folded Mexican fare: TACO

15. Head, slangily: NOB. 1690-1700; perhaps variant of knob.

19. WWII spy gp.: OSS. (Office of Strategic Services)

20. Feature of some sweatshirts: HOOD

21. Poetic tribute: ELEGY

22. Subtle facial signal: WINK

23. Ready for ice skating: FROZEN. The first ice shanties are appearing on the lakes. Some day I intend to take a trip eastward and find the line where an ice shanty becomes a bobhouse.

28. Convention clip-on: ID TAG

29. Genetic material: DNA

30. Fringe benefit: PERK

31. Swiss currency: FRANC

33. Clotheshorse: FOP

36. "My gal" of song: SAL. The nearest we'll get to Erie today.

37. Visibly nervous: QUAKY

38. Exhort: URGE

39. Prefix with cycle: UNI

40. Irritant "in your side": THORN

47. Stores, as ashes: INURNS. Yes, we've had it before.

48. Ark builder: NOAH

49. Rub off the board: ERASE

50. "Will you let me?": "MAY I?"

51. Texter's "Wow!": [OMG]

57. Acorn tree: OAK

58. Moon goddess: LUNA

59. Eastern guru: SWAMI

60. Part of wpm: Abbr.: WDS. (words)

61. Capp of comics: ANDY. You may find him in the snack aisle.

Down:

1. Saintly glow: HALO

2. Big fusses: ADOs

3. Steve who co-founded Apple: JOBS

4. Some sons: Abbr.: JRs

5. Latest fad: IN THING

6. Scoring unit, in golf: STROKE

7. Tool needed at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: WAND

8. Expert: ACE

9. Apple computer discontinued in 2006: POWER MAC

10. Hay fever symptom: SNEEZE

11. Painter of fakes: FORGER

12. MDs that bring out the kid in you?: OBGYNs. (Obstetrician/Gynecologist)

17. Ages: EONS

18. Oozy gunk: BLOB

22. Watered down: WEAK

23. __ bone (no laughing matter, really): FUNNY

24. ChapStick targets: LIPS. Not chop sticks, eh?

25. Creative process output: IDEA

26. PC key: CTRL

27. Minn. neighbor: N. DAK

31. "Slush" moneys: FUNDS

32. Word with drop or fall: RAIN

33. Kissable fairy tale figure: FROG

34. Less kissable fairy tale figure: OGRE. Cute pairing.

35. State founder William: PENN

37. Exacta relative: QUINELLA. A bet in which the first two places in a race must be predicted, but not necessarily in the correct order. The exacta must be predicted in the correct order.

38. "I was afraid of this": "UH OH!"

40. Walk aimlessly: TRAIPSE

41. Stay under the radar: LIE LOW

42. Bit of progress: INROAD

43. Duck calls: QUACKS

44. __ Major: Big Dipper constellation: URSA. The Big Bear.

45. More or less: IN A WAY

46. Mattel specialty: TOYS

50. Fix: MEND

51. October birthstone: OPAL

52. Viral internet phenomenon: MEME. Yes, we've had it before.

53. Put on a happy face: GRIN

55. Religious sister: NUN

56. Leatherwork tool: AWL

Argyle

Notes from C.C.:

1) Here is a great article about our constructor Bruce Haight. Bruce was rejected 38 times in a row and he never gave up. 38 puzzles are the result of hundreds of ideas (often only one puzzle is made after 10 or more idea brainstorming, Cruciverb checking, etc). Now Bruce is one of the top constructors in the business, constantly striving for originality and innovation.

2) Happy Birthday to Dudley, who's been with the blog for over six years. Dudley has his own plane and can fly anywhere on a whim. Dudley started the "Rabbit, Rabbit" tradition on our blog. It's said at the start of each month for good luck. This picture was taken during Montana's visit to Northeast in September, 2013.

Left to right: Marti, Dudley, Hondo & Montana

Thursday, December 15th, 2016 Bruce Haight

Theme: Oh Captain! My Captain! Four of them lurking in the grid:

17A. D-Day code name : OMAHA BEACH. Ahab. He of the pathological preoccupation with Moby Dick in Herman Melville's book.

24A. Again : ONE MORE TIME. Nemo, Jules Verne's skipper of the Nautilus. He also popped up in the movie "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" - a fun flick from 2003.

49A. Cleaner with a blade : SQUEEGEE MOP. Queeg. Ineffectual captain in The Caine Mutiny. SQUEEGEE is a great brand name.

58A. 1957 #1 song title that appears in the line after "I'm in love" : ALL SHOOK UP. Hook. Another monomaniac, this time in J.M.Barrie's Peter Pan. With pleasing symmetry for this puzzle, Melville provided Barrie with the inspiration for the character.

35A. Indication of cooperation with ones hidden in this puzzle's four other longest answers : AYE, AYE, CAPTAIN!

Very nice effort from Bruce, I wonder if QUEEG was the seed that germinated the idea for this puzzle? Enjoyable romp through a selection of Masters and Commanders. Let's see what else we've got.

Across:

1. Moves with effort : PLODS. Also a mildly derogatory term for British policemen, from Enid Blyton's character "P.C. Plod"

6. Golden Fleece ship : ARGO. Aye, aye, Jason!

10. Tach nos. : RPMS. Should be RsPM in Steve World. I find it funny that cars with a fully-automatic transmission have a tachometer in the dash. It serves no useful function whatsoever.

14. Any "30 Rock" episode, now : RERUN

15. Trial version : DEMO. Had "BETA" first. That didn't stay in too long.

16. Tahari of fashion : ELIE. Thank you, crosses. I discover he is an Israel-Iranian fashion designer.

19. Carroll specialties : PUNS. The Mock Turtle's teacher was nicknamed "tortoise, because he taught us". Most of Carroll's puns are homophones - he was writing for a ten-year-old and kept the humor simple.

20. Got elected : WON

21. Influence : PULL

22. Loaf : DOG IT

23. Official lang. of Trinidad and Tobago : ENG. The Queen's version, naturally.

27. Oktoberfest souvenirs : STEINS. Cheers!

29. Actor Stephen : REA

30. Clear : NET

31. Balkan native : SERB

32. "Key Largo" co-star : BACALL. Had the "B", but had to wait. Could be BOGART.

40. Red hair and green eyes : TRAITS

41. Some PX patrons : NCO'S

43. George Lucas' alma mater: Abbr. : USC. University of Southern California here in Los Angeles. His family foundation gave the film school $10m a couple of years ago. He graduated in 1967.

46. Having one sharp : IN G

47. It makes a lot of dough : BAKERY

53. Bishops and pawns : MEN. Chess people, not chess men. After all, there's a couple of queens in there.

54. "The Last Supper," for one : MURAL. Leonardo's masterwork at the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milano.

55. NBA part: Abbr. : NATL.

56. Keep __ distance : AT A

57. Pains : AILS

61. Hunted one : PREY

62. Security lapse : LEAK

63. Dr. Evil portrayer in Austin Powers films : MYERS. Funny guy.

64. Lab fluids : SERA. Que sera, sera - whatever lab fluids will be.

65. Garage sale caveat : AS IS

66. Capital on the Aar : BERNE

Down:

1. Masterful ability : PROWESS

2. Soothing brew : LEMON TEA

3. Citrus greenhouse : ORANGERY. Kensington Palace in London have converted theirs to a restaurant. Nice place for a cup of soothing lemon tea. Posh digs. The Peter Pan statue is close by. Our 58A captain would not approve.

4. "I can't believe I missed that!" : DUH!

5. Wisconsin-based tool manufacturer : SNAP-ON

6. Young adult fiction writer Griffin : ADELE. Fresh new clue. Gives Fred's sister, the singer and Jane Eyre's charge a break from crossword duty.

7. Sphere of influence : REALM

8. Sierra or Yukon : GMC.

9. "I'm impressed!" : OOH!

10. Move, roots and all : RE-POT

11. Connect to a power source : PLUG IN. The mobile worker's perennial problem. It's getting easier to find laptop power at airports nowadays though.

12. Dr. Evil's cohort : MINI-ME

13. Italian sonnet closing : SESTET. Italian referring to the word, not the sonnet itself. The second part of the sonnet being the closing six lines. The first eight are called the octave. Here's Bill the Bard with the closing of Sonnet 18:

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,

Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,

When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.

     So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

     So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

18. Subject that may come up in a frank discussion? : BUNS. Nice clue. I like Hebrew National franks.

22. Provided the hands : DEALT

25. Ocean predators : ORCAS

26. Garner : REAP

28. "Su-r-r-r-re" : I BET

32. Pantyhose shade : BEIGE

33. Vegas routine : ACT

34. Tall and thin : LANK

36. Disney daughter of King Triton : ARIEL. The Little Mermaid.

37. Masculine principle : YANG

38. Fridge convenience : ICE MAKER. My fridge doesn't have one. There's no water line to the fridge location, so there's not much point.

39. Point at which commitment occurs : NO RETURN. I'm flying to Honolulu on Sunday. 1,260 miles out from LAX is just about PNR for that trip.

42. Neural junction : SYNAPSE

43. Some road atlas pgs. : U.S. MAPS

44. Knight's attendant : SQUIRE

45. Stone-pushing Winter Olympian : CURLER. I love watching curling in the Olympics. You only get to see the sport once every four years, unless there's an ESPN 24-hour curling channel that I'm missing.

47. Those two : BOTH

48. Self-possession : APLOMB

50. Cushy class : EASY A. This was a struggle - I was trying to think of a luxurious cabin class.

51. Zhou __ : EN LAI

52. Mardi Gras purchases : MASKS

58. Harper Lee's home st. : ALA.

59. Avignon article : LES. Avignon's got a 12th century bridge that only spans a small part of the Rhone. It kept getting washed away in floods and eventually the good burghers of Avignon got sick and tired of rebuilding it so it was abandoned in the mid 1600's.

60. Santana's "__ Como Va" : OYE. Came a little too late for a music link so I'll save it for next week.

And with that, here's the grid!

Steve

Thursday, December 1st, 2016 Bruce Haight

Theme: Siteswap Eight - or Juggling Jive. The word JUGGLING is spelled out by the circles, starting with the J at the bottom and progressing clockwise in a circle, cascade-style.

17A. Elaborate costume parties : MASKED BALLS

53A. Places for seeing stars? : BOXING RINGS

11D. What can help you avoid getting stuck changing diapers? : SAFETY PINS

28D. Groups with a piece-keeping strategy? : CHESS CLUBS

and the reveal:

48D. Nonsense talk, whose circled letter is the start of what might be done with items in the four longest puzzle answers : JIVE. Cue those falsetto-singing Australians. Get your disco on.

Wow, what a nice puzzle! This one presented three challenges for me - the puzzle itself, trying to figure out what the reveal meant, and finally seeing the juggling theme in the circles. The way I see it, the word JIVE is the juggler (as I've colored in the grid at the bottom). Fine work from Bruce today.

The first known juggling image comes from a wall painting in the tomb of an ancient Egyptian prince c. 1750 BC. The lady on the right doesn't seem to have much to juggle, but the one next to her is doing a cross-handed bedazzle. Neat!

I learned to juggle at a trade show in Maastricht back in the 80's. I was on booth duty and the show was very poorly attended, so customers were few and far between. One of the vendors had hacky sack giveaways, so we all took three or four and learned to juggle. By the end of the week the only activity to be seen across the floor was about 100 people doing three and four siteswaps. Fun times.

Across:

1. Asset for Sherlock : LOGIC

6. Fast : RAPID

11. Additional information? : SUM. Fine example of clue trickery. 1+2 = 3.

14. Important period : EPOCH

15. Eat into : ERODE

16. What makes a deal ideal? : AN "I". Love it.

Coach: There's no "I" in "Team"!

19. Pickle : FIX

20. "Zip it!" : SHH!

21. Prosperity : WEAL. This was new to me - I thought at first I'd made a mistake in the crosses. It seems to be a pretty obscure usage, dictionary searches don't bring it up at first pass, and it's buried pretty deeply in the thesaurus. Nice learning moment.

22. "Blah, blah, blah," for short : ETC, ETC

24. Golden __ : AGER

25. "I used to be Snow White, but I __": Mae West : DRIFTED. She was pretty racy for the times. Still would be, judging by this picture:

26. Part of the pelvis : SACRUM

29. In essence : MAINLY

30. "Bor-r-ring" : HO-HUM

31. LPGA great Lopez : NANCY. During her "farewell" season on tour, one rather famous player could be heard one Thursday: "I'm so sick of this. Every week it's the same thing. Nancy shows up, Nancy gets a plaque, Nancy cries, Nancy misses the cut. Call it a career already". Made me laugh.

32. Green shade : PEA

35. Rare blood type, briefly : A-NEG

36. Shakespearean barmaid : WENCH. 

"Oh, ill-starred wench! Pale as your smock!"

Othello

37. Picky details : NITS. We never see any of those around here, right?

38. "But __ got high hopes ... ": song lyric : HE'S

39. Neutral tone : BEIGE

40. Prefix with -gram : PENTA

41. Like angel food cake : SPONGY. I had SPONGE first until MANGY corrected me. MANGE didn't work as an adjective.

43. Curry favor with, with "to" : KISS UP

44. Ill-mannered : UNCOUTH

46. Veers suddenly : ZIGS. Z_GS and wait for the cross.

47. Distance runners : MILERS. I was a pretty OK distance runner, the longer the better - I was too stubborn to admit defeat. The sprint finishers always did for me though - I had no fast gear. Not too sure I've got much of a slow one any more, come to think of it.

48. First name in folk : JONI. Mitchell.

49. How it's always done, initially : SOP. Standard Operating Procedure. The crosses filled this one in for me - I had to think quite hard as to what the acronym stood for. In fact, I had to think so hard that I had Google do the thinking.

52. Heat meas. : B.T.U. British Thermal Unit. The British are very understated with their "thermal units" of weather. Icicles hanging from your ears means "it's a bit chilly out". Hurricane-force winds are "breezy". The opposite applies with heat, as there is rarely any of it. Any day above 70F is "a scorcher". Two consecutive scorchers constitute "a heatwave" and attracts comparisons to the weather in Spain. Three in a row and the Town Hall issues a three-week hosepipe ban.

56. CSA soldier : REB.

57. Green shade : OLIVE. Two shades of green today.

58. Fragrances : ODORS

59. Pack animal : ASS

60. Snooped (around) : NOSED

61. "Check" : NO BET. Poker term. When you decline to open the betting in a particular round and pass to the next player.

Down:

1. NASA vehicles : LEMS. Lunar Exploration Modules.

2. Fish with vermilion fins : OPAH. Reminds me of the toasts in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". Ώπα! 

3. "Jeepers!" : GOSH

4. "Ugh!" : ICK

5. Enjoy Orbit : CHEW GUM. 

6. Masonry-reinforcing rod : REBAR. From "reinforcing bar", which is too much of a mouthful.

7. Inland Asian sea : ARAL

8. D.C. player : POL. Got me with "NAT" first.

9. Set-for-life set : IDLE RICH

10. Lot : DESTINY

12. Form a coalition : UNITE

13. Personalized collection of love songs, say : MIX CD. Mix tapes in my day. The main character in Nick Hornby's book "High Fidelity" makes mix tapes for any girl he's trying to date. John Cusack starred in the movie. Jack Black has an outstanding performance, one of his early successes.

18. Consider : DEEM

23. Toronto Argonauts' org. : C.F.L. Canadian Football League. Nine teams, currently.

24. "... bug in __" : A RUG. As snug as a ..

25. Hustle or shuffle : DANCE

26. Former Mideast ruler : SHAH

27. Tops : A-ONE

29. Like many a stray dog : MANGY

31. Bay sound : NEIGH

33. Incredulous dying words : ET TU?

34. "Hurry!" letters : ASAP! Not STAT. Wait for the crosses if you've just got the A.

36. Tried to make it on one's own : WENT SOLO

37. Storied loch : NESS. More than 22 miles long. Spectacular views too.

39. New Orleans' __ Street : BOURBON, I went for an early-morning run down Bourbon Street one Sunday morning. Let's just say it wasn't one of my better ideas.

40. Crude smelting product : PIG IRON

42. "Once upon a midnight dreary" poet : POE.

43. Two-checker piece : KING. I think this fella can jump backwards, but I haven't played checkers since I was five.

44. Eclipse shadow : UMBRA

45. Times in ads : NITES

46. Daydreamed, with "out" : ZONED. Sorry, what was that?

49. Stuffed shirt : SNOB

50. Brutish one : OGRE. I read "British one" first, and wondered why OGRE? We're not all meanies.

51. "You there!" : PSST

54. Ones following the nus? : XIS. It's all Greek to me.

55. Court promise : I DO. As in promising to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but. We geeks learn the meaning of third normal form in a relational database by memorizing: "The key, the whole key and nothing but the key, so help me Codd".

And with that, I think I'm done. Time for some caffeine.

Steve

Wednesday, November 16th, 2016 Bruce Haight

Theme: Naming Names. Five names-as-nouns entries identified by similarities in the cluing.

17A. Nerd's moniker : POINDEXTER. From "Felix the Cat", and later a character in "The Revenge of the Nerds".

25A. Detective's moniker : SHERLOCK.

"A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library where he can get it if he wants."

The Five Orange Pips

39A. Traitor's moniker : JUDAS. Thirty pieces of silver was his price, according to some.

47A. Genius' moniker : EINSTEIN. 

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits".

60A. Old-timer's moniker : METHUSELAH. Also a wine bottle containing 8 standard bottles, or six liters. The bottle on the floor, second from the right, is one.

Greetings! No, you haven't blinked and missed Wednesday, Jazzbumpa and I traded blogging days this week so you'll see him tomorrow. This puzzle certainly felt like a Thursday though - it took me quite some time to get going, not helped by being unfamiliar with POINDEXTER and unable to get off the WEED WACKER idea. Nice theme, some solid longer non-theme entries too, especially TATTLETALES and ARMED ESCORT in the downs.

Let's see what else we've got:

Across:

1. New England NFLers : PATS. The Patriots. And the only franchise not geographically aligned to a city or a state, but a region.

5. Workforce : STAFF

10. __ salad : TACO

14. Cornell who founded Cornell : EZRA. Who are Better than Ezra? These guys.

15. Actress Tierney : MAURA. Thank you, crosses.

16. Passionate god : AMOR. This one threw me for a loop, being neither Eros nor Cupid.

19. Unexciting : TAME

20. Actress Gabor : EVA. Along with sisters Magda and Zsa Zsa.

21. Blends : OLIOS

22. Destination for the last flight? : ATTIC. Enjoyed unraveling this one. Clever clue.

23. In the cellar : LAST. Bottom of a league table. From the attic to the cellar in one fell clue.

27. Speak to : ADDRESS

30. Michelle who was the youngest female to play in a PGA Tour event : WIE. She was the youngest person at 10 years old to play in the US Amateur, and she never wanted to stop testing herself against better and better competition. She won the US Women's Open in 2014, having graduated from Stanford while still finding time to play professional golf. Quite a role model.

31. Bubbles up : FOAMS

32. Didn't like leaving : HATED TO GO

38. Ending for marion : -ETTE

40. Gung-ho : AVID

41. Lawn-trimming tool : WEED EATER. The inventor's grandson, Mark Ballas, is a professional ballroom dancer on "Dancing with the Stars".

43. Anti-inflammatory brand : ALEVE

44. Sixth sense, initially : E.S.P.

45. Coming to a point : TAPERED

52. Bonny one : LASS

53. Captain Kirk's "final frontier" : SPACE

54. Young zebras : FOALS

56. "Gross!" : EWW

59. __ avail: fruitless :  TO NO

62. Skunk cabbage feature : ODOR. Even the latin name sounds unpleasant: Symplocarpus foetidus.

63. More flimsy, as an excuse : LAMER

64. Ballet move : PLIÉ.

65. Attention getter : PSST! Checho with 55D

66. Krispy __ : KREME

67. Man, but not woman : ISLE. Lies between England and Ireland in the Irish Sea. Nigel Mansell, who won both the Formula 1 world motor racing championship and the Indy Car World Series, was a volunteer policeman on the island while he was still a racing driver and reportedly enjoyed writing speeding tickets with the comment "Who do you think you are, Me?".

Down:

1. First name in skunks : PEPE

2. Sea of __: Black Sea arm : AZOV. Tried ARAL first which slowed me down.

3. Court calendar entry : TRIAL DATE

4. __ Diego : SAN

5. Silvery food fish : SMELTS. I thought "smelt" was the plural but Webster's has both.

6. Airport waiter : TAXI

7. Dealership lot array : AUTOS

8. At risk of being slapped : FRESH

9. A long way : FAR

10. Rats : TATTLETALES

11. Former New York senator Al D'__ : AMATO

12. Word with book or opera : COMIC

13. "Clean Made Easy" vacuum brand : ORECK

18. Pill amounts : DOSES

22. Like Death Valley : ARID

24. Bodyguard, typically : ARMED ESCORT. I had a bodyguard once on a business trip to Mexico City back in the '90s when kidnapping was becoming a serious problem. The guy was armed to the teeth.

26. Lambs' moms : EWES

27. Not many : A FEW

28. Indulge, with "on" : DOTE

29. Sealed tight : SHUT

33. Summer cooler : ADE

34. Bakery offering : TART

35. Presents too aggressively : OVERSELLS

36. Cave in : GIVE

37. Pigged out (on), briefly : O.D.'ED. I'm not a big fan of this word, I don't even know how to punctuate it.

39. Taunting remark : JAPE. Leaning moment. I know jape as a prank, I didn't know it as a taunt.

42. Italian noble family : ESTE. Thank you, crosses. Not familiar with this family, although they date back to 996 so they've been around for long enough.

43. Take __: decline to participate : A PASS

46. Enticement : ALLURE

47. Prevent, in legalese : ESTOP. Yuk. Thumper and move on.

48. Apple players : IPODS

49. Compact 48-Down : NANOS. My first iPod was a Shuttle - even more compact, it didn't even have a display.

50. "My concern is ... " : I FEAR

51. "You've got the wrong person!" : NOT ME!

55. Attention getter : AHEM

57. Cry out loud : WAIL

58. "Look ma, no hands!" : WHEE. Followed by "Look ma, no teeth".

60. March on Washington monogram : M.L.K.

61. Prefix with gram : EPI-

"I don't believe in astrology. I'm a Sagittarius and we're very skeptical."—Arthur C. Clarke

I think that about does it for me today. See you back in my regular slot next week!

Steve 

Wednesday, October 19, 2016 Bruce Haight

Theme: NUMBERS GAME.  The theme answers can be parsed by splitting off the last few letters, which in each case then constitute the spelt out name of a number.  These also appear in numerical order, which is a nice, elegant touch.  For some of them the pronunciation changes.  Fun theme for me, since I get a kick out of alternate parsings.

17 A. Does well at the casino? : BREAKS EVEN.   Since the house has a persistent advantage, one who BREAKS EVEN actually is doing well.  SEVEN is considered by some to be a lucky number.  So parsing this letter grouping to split off the number SEVEN might actually be a lucky BREAK.

25 A. Cereal box factoid : NET WEIGHT.   This is the WEIGHT of the contents of the box.  The weight of the container is called the tare, and added together they give you the total WEIGHT.  Maybe you'll get EIGHT servings, and eating them might affect your WEIGHT.

50 A. Opera house level : MEZZANINE.  This traces back to the Latin word for median, and refers to a building level between two floors, in this case the main auditorium and the balcony.  NINE is the number of either ladies dancing on the stage, or the Nazgul, though I'm not sure how that is relevant.

60 A. Bullied : BROW-BEATEN.  Influenced by verbal or psychological intimidation and abuse, rather than physical harm, though that might be threatened.   This can happen because the TEN Commandments did not include "Thou Salt Not BROW BEAT."

And the unifier -- 37 A. Concert finale ... and what 17-, 25-, 50- and 60-Across have in common: CLOSING NUMBER.  That's the last song of the performance, and points us to the tail end of each theme answer.  Having the unifier in the middle makes for nice symmetry, but can give away too much too soon, if you're filling in with top down sequence.

Good closing number - but we're just getting started!

Hi gang, JazzBumba on the job, though I'm not much of a numerologist.  Let's go check out the words and letters.  That's more my speed.

Across

1. Unlike this clue, obviously : LAST.  So, the LAST really will be first - at least in the context of this grid.

5. Driving force? : MOTOR.  Usually this phrase is figurative, but here, it is literal, since a MOTOR provides the driving force for a vehicle or some other kind of machine.  So why the question mark?

10. Bar regulars, and then some : SOTS.  Habitual drunkards.  The word originates in medieval Latin, coming to us via late Old English, where it referred to a foolish person.  The current meaning dates from the late 16th century.

14. Bible book before Romans : ACTS. Of The Apostles.

15. One-named singer with 10 Grammys : ADELE.

16. William of "Broadcast News" : HURT. [b 1950]

19. On : ATOP.  Sitting upon.

20. URL ending : COM.  For a commercial enterprise. Others are EDU for schools and ORG for organizations.

21. Bridge call : AHOY.   The bridge of a ship, not something uttered in a card game.

22. Hang loosely : DRAPE.  

23. Star's statuette : OSCAR.  For Academy Award winners.

28. Mushroom cloud makers : A-TESTS.    Of explosive nuclear devices.

30. Pale : WAN.  Strangely, this traces back to an Old English word meaning dark black.  Go figure.

31. __ shadow : EYE.   Cosmetic type.

32. Tip to one side : TILT.  Lean over.

33. Etiquette expert Baldrige who was Jackie Kennedy's social secretary : LETITIA. [1926-2012]  Author of 20 books and a newspaper column who also ran her own PR firm.

41. Comes back with : REPLIES.  Not RETORTS, I discovered.

42. Hardly scads : A DAB.  Some undefined small quantity

44. Beer choice, briefly : IPA.  India Pale Ale - a hoppy brew originally formulated to be stable on the long sea voyage from Mother England.

47. Part of un mes : DIA.   Spanish month and day.

48. Ready for the piano recital : IN TUNE.  I could go on and on about this, but the comma of Pythagorus is too difficult to explain.

54. "Ugh!" : YECCH.  An expression of disgust, and my reaction to this fill.

55. Climbed aboard : GOT ON.   Could also be GOT IN.

56. Some Neruda poems : ODES.  Pablo Neruda was the pen name and later legal name of Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto [1904 - 1973.]

58. Hawaiian tuna : AHI.  Yellowfin tuna.

59. Snack since 1912 : OREO.   Creme filling between two chocolate cookie layers.

63. Musée Marc Chagall city : NICE.  In France.

64. Ancient Greek region : IONIA.  In present day Turkey.

65. Conversation piece? : WORD.  Sentence fragment.  Make sure you parse it properly.

66. __ chair : EASY.  A place to relax.

67. Minute : TEENY. Tiny.

68. Archer of myth : EROS. Bringer of love.  This is why it's called arrowticism.

Down

1. Researcher's garb : LAB COAT.  For chemists, doctors, and lab workers.

Protects your clothes from blood and chemicals

2. Puzzle with a quote : ACROSTIC.  Explained here.

3. Recent medical research subject : STEM CELL.  An undifferentiated cell that is capable of developing into any of a variety of specific cell types.

4. Org. operating full-body scanners : TSA.  The Transportation Security Administration.

5. Prepare, as avocados for guacamole : MASH.  Guac a al Bumpa:  Two avocados, mashed; one 10 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies; two tomatillas, finely diced; chopped cilantro, onion and garlic to taste.  Magnifico!

6. Ancient theater : ODEON.   Greek.

7. "Tradition" singer : TEVYE.  From Fiddler On The Roof.

He does have quite a bit of help

8. "Bravo!" : OLE. Cheers heard in sports arenas where Spanish is spoken.

9. "You eediot!" speaker of cartoons : REN.  Stimpy's costar.

10. Ventriloquist Lewis : SHARI.  

11. Delighted state? : OUTAGE.  Now this is clever.  When the electricity is out, you are left in the dark, powerless.

12. Prize in a case : TROPHY.   An OSCAR, frex.

13. Fla. city : ST. PETErsburg.

18. Go-__ : KART.  A small racing car with a lightweight or skeleton body.

22. Overalls material : DENIM.  Also blue jeans.

24. Financier aboard the Titanic : ASTOR.  John Jacob. [1864-1912]  He went down with the ship.

26. Strong string : TWINE.  From the same root as two and twin, a strong string made from two or more strands twisted together.

27. 1960s dance : WATUSI.

29. Add sneakily : SLIP IN.  As when late for a meeting, hoping to not be noticed.

34. China's Zhou __ : EN LAI. [1898 - 1976]   First Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from 1949 until his death.

35. "In Here, It's Always Friday" letters : TGI.  From the Restaurant chain TGI Friday's.

36. Diminish : ABATE.  Reduce in magnitude or intensity.

38. Enterprise choice : SEDAN.   Rental car, having nothing to do with Star Trek.

39. Academic figure : EDUCATOR.  Teacher.

40. Southwestern farm owner : RANCHERO.  Spanish for rancher.  

43. Rear ends : BEHINDS.

Everybody has one

44. "See ya!" : I'M GONE.  Not quite - gotta finish the downs.

45. Everycity, USA : PEORIA.   This idea originated in one of Horatio Alger's plays.

46. Tenochtitlán natives : AZTECS.   They dominated meso-America in the 14th through 16th centuries and are noted for the practice of human sacrifice.

49. Where to see IBM and JNJ : NYSE.   Stock symbols on the New York Stock Exchange.

51. Deschanel of the musical duo She & Him : ZOOEY.

52. Whom to trust, in "The X-Files" : NO ONE.  Closing tag line used in certain episodes.

53. Astronomer Hubble : EDWIN. [1889 - 1953]  American astronomer who showed that the universe is expanding, and provided evidence that far off objects considered to be nebulae were actually galaxies. 

57. PayPal's former parent : EBAY.  

60. Morsel : BIT.  Or bite, perhaps an ort.

61. Salmon eggs : ROE.  Fish eggs, in general are referred to as ROE.

62. More than impress : AWE.  A reaction of wonder to something grand, sublime or powerful.

And thus ends this little number.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Mind your traditions and go in peace, my friends.

Cool regards!
JzB

 
Note from C.C.:

Anon T (Tony) and I made today's WSJ. You can click here to print out pdf. Read Jim's review after you're done. Congrats on your WSJ debut, Tony!
 
 

Anon T, Giza, Feb 2014