google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner

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Feb 1, 2012

Wednesday, February 1 2012 Robin Stears

Theme: B+. B homophones PLUS another word to complete the phrase. For extra B credit, every single clue across and down starts with a B.

17A. Buzz-filled 2007 animated film : BEE MOVIE. A Dreamworks Animation vehicle for Jerry Seinfeld who co-wrote the screenplay and voiced the lead character.

30A. Betty White co-star in "The Golden Girls" : BEA ARTHUR. I wonder what her Shortz Factor is?

43A. Biotin, thiamine et al. : B VITAMINS. There seem to be many more vitamin B's than A, C or D's. Someone cleverer than what I is can explain.

57A. Behave candidly : BE HONEST. OK, I'll give this an A+

Steve at your service, pinch-hitting on this first day of February (where did January go?) Robin "Stears" us into the month with a blazingly brilliant alliteration exercise. I've never seen anything quite like this treatment of the cluing before, has anyone else?

Across:

1. Bank heist : JOB

4. Bedframe piece : SLAT

8. Beyond harmful : LETHAL

14. "... by __ other name ..." : ANY. Juliet's words to Romeo could well be described as a PAEAN

15. Bare bones : PITH. Not the orange peel or helmet pith, but the root of the "pithy phrase"

16. Billiard ball feature, about half the time : STRIPE. In the UK you play billiards with three balls, none of which have a stripe. Here in the US however, you have seven solids, seven stripes and the black 8-ball.

19. Brings together : UNITES

20. Burdensome additional levy : SURTAX. I think I've only ever seen this word used on a "Chance" card in Monopoly, I always seemed to be paying out taxes. A life lesson at an early age?

22. Boldly states : AVERS. No-one on this blog ever avers.

23. Birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen : ODENSE. Here he is in his hometown.

26. Baker's meas. : TSP. I can never remember if it's meant to be a level teaspoonful or a heaped one. I don't bake for that reason.

28. "Behold," to Brutus : ECCE

29. Ball-shaped frozen dessert : BOMBE. Food! Preferably chocolate, please.

32. "Ben-Hur," e.g. : EPIC

33. Bedrock resident : BARNEY Rubble, Fred's BUB

34. "But then again ..." : YET

35. Bug-bitten? : ILL

36. Brown who wrote "The Da Vinci Code" : DAN

37. Billion-year period : EON

40. Brother of Judah : SIMEON. Something I learned today!

42. Bump off : SLAY. Somehow, bumping off seems a nicer way of consigning someone to the hereafter than slaying them.

47. Blinked the sleep from one's eyes : AWOKE

48. Bothersome parasites : LICE. Ewwwww. I refrained from posting a link here, the pictures gave me the shudders.

49. By order of : PER

50. Bigheaded sort : EGOIST. I always thought the word was EGOTIST until I started doing crosswords and discovered they are synonyms.

51. Bing Crosby's "__ You Glad You're You?" : AREN'T

53. Baseball team's list of players : ROSTER Basketball would have worked here too, but most other sports wouldn't have alliterated (if that's a real word?)

55. Balanced state : STASIS

61. Black-tie wear : TUXEDO. I'm oddly proud that my tux still fits, and no, I didn't buy it last week.

62. Bardot's "the same" : EGAL. Brigitte's "equal". The national motto of France is "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" - Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood.

63. Breathtaking snake? : BOA

64. Began, as a lawn : SEEDED. We also have SOD later to cover all our grass-growing bases.

65. Beachfront property? : SAND

66. Buddy : BUB

Down:

1. Boxer's punch : JAB

2. Binary digit : ONE

3. "Bon voyage!" : BYE

4. Better half, so to speak : SPOUSE. I like how this is gender-neutral!

5. Burgundy book : LIVRE. I wanted WINE LIST first, but it's French-language February!

6. Bickering : AT IT. Knock it off, you bloggers back there.

7. Box office setting : THEATER

8. Baton Rouge sch. : L.S.U. We fondly know them from puzzles as the Tigers.

9. Blower of Sicilian smoke : ETNA

10. Buffer between a hot plate and a dinner table : TRIVET

11. Built for NASA, say : HI-TECH. As "built" is past tense, that's accurate. Your cellphone has about a billion times more computing power than the Space Shuttle. (From C.C.: "Built" here is a past particle and used as an adjective, no?)

12. Brief summary : APERCU. More French, but this word is adopted into English now, and usually written without the cute cedilla accent dangling from the C.

13. __ Bear: Ursa Minor : LESSER I wanted LITTLE first, then backtracked.

18. Broadcaster of "Morning Joe" : MSNBC

21. Blackboard symbols in the locker room : X'S AND O'S. Here is the winning play in Sunday's upcoming Superbowl (sorry, I can't remember which coach drew it up for me)




23. Bride's passé promise : OBEY. I over-thought this and had "I DID" first.

24. Birdbrain : DOPE. Me for a few of my first guesses today.

25. Belch, say : EMIT.

27. Blissful song : PAEAN

30. Better for enjoying the outdoors, as weather : BALMIER

31. "Belshazzar's Feast" painter Rembrandt van __ : RYN

33. "Black Sunday" airship : BLIMP. We'll see the blimp at the Superbowl, just hopefully not as closely as in the movie.

35. Biblical prophet: Abbr. : ISA

37. Blond sci-fi race : ELOI. Those "War of the Worlds" folk.

38. Barrel sources : OAKS. For aging your Chardonnay, whiskey or anything else that takes your fancy.

39. Bolshevik's denial : NYET

41. Bundles up (in) : ENROBES. A BOMBE is ENROBED in chocolate. I'm getting hungry.

42. Bound by oath : SWORN

43. Blaring siren sounds : BLASTS

44. Basis of morality : VIRTUE

45. Belaying tool for climbers : ICE AXE. Climber Pete Schoening saved six climbing companions who fell while roped together on K2 in an incredible feat known as simply "The Belay"; he was the seventh and last climber and arrested all of the fallers with a belay around his ice-axe.

46. Became edgy : TENSED

47. Belonging to an ancient time : AGE-OLD

50. "Blood Simple" co-screenwriter Coen : ETHAN. Joel's brother.

52. Bay of Fundy wonder : TIDE. The bay has a tidal range in excess of 50 feet.

54. Big name in video games : SEGA

56. Bald spot filler : SOD

58. Backward flow : EBB. The EBB TIDE in the Bay of Fundy is pretty dramatic!

59. Bronze coin of old France : SOU

60. Bar bill : TAB. I'm out of here, can I get mine please?


Steve

Note from C.C.:

I'm very happy to announce that from now on Steve will blog one (or two) Wednesday puzzle for us every month. Steve is a British and came to the US in 1995. A serious foodie. I look forward to many yummy offerings from him.