Saturday, Jul 26th, 2014, Kevin Christian

Theme: None

Words: 72 - Pangram~!

Blocks: 33

   Kevin Christian has had a steady run of mostly Monday and Tuesday level puzzles for the LAT, though he does have a Thursday and a Friday among the 11 grids that have been reviewed on this blog - and today's themeless has a gratuitous self shout-out at one across~! A true pinwheel design with all four corners consisting of triple-9 letter chunks, and a mini-pinwheel of eight-letter entries in the center, too - that made for tough going, but I did finish, but with a red-letter cheat to see what I had wrong - no Ta-DA~! for me   :7(    I had two squares wrong; see below.  Some of the longer fill;

15a. Poe title locale : RUE MORGUE - Oh, I am so disappointed with myself; this should have been a gimme, since Iron Maiden has a song by the same title - "Murders in the Rue Morgue"

12d. One in a bar lineup : VODKA SHOT - I don't do vodka; the night would get started with one bourbon, one scotch, one beer....and then I would do this song, by request, for karaoke

58a. Cyan relative : TURQUOISE

  

32d. Garden color : TOMATO RED

(must go) o-n-w-a-r-d- - - - - - - ~!

ACROSS:

1. Bounty mutineer : CHRISTIAN - Fletcher vs. Bligh - the Wiki

10. __ ordo seclorum: Great Seal words : NOVUS

16. Words of refusal : I DON'T

17. Versatile seasoning : ONION SALT

18. Singer's better half? : SIDE A - Har-har~!!!

19. Screwball : WACKY - not KOOKY

20. Mariner's direction : AFT

22. Game similar to pinochle : SKAT

23. Letters after Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's name : D NH - Democrat, New Hampshire; this was a bit of a stretch for me; more about this history-making woman here

24. Spend leisurely, with "away" : WHILE

26. Zap, in a way : TASE

27. __ Provinces : MARITIME

30. __ tight : SIT - Dah~!  Went with AIR first

31. Informer : STOOLIE - my "E-magazine" made this slow to appear

34. Chose, in a way : X'ED

35. "On __ Majesty's Secret Service" : HER - James Bond #6, 1969, George Lazenby's only stint as our favorite British Spy

36. Fighting : COMBAT

37. Nucleic acid sugar : RIBOSE

39. She played Mia in "Pulp Fiction" : UMA

40. '90s-'00s reliever Robb : NEN - Baseball; C.C. nailed it, I am sure

42. Kitchen set : DINETTE - my little table project has run into a slight snag; more below

43. Base : BAG - Baseball; did you get it, C.C.~?  Only when doing the write-up did I get brained by the V-8 can

44. Pretax figure : SUBTOTAL - I had "suM total", and that didn't help with trying to figure out what "Jordan" we were talking about

46. Rat-__ : ATAT - not just a sound effect, but a NYC musical duo, too

48. Kind of line : PARTY

49. 2000 Richard Gere role : DR. T

52. Nodding : DOZY

53. FICA benefit : SSI - Social Security Insurance

54. Madewell parent company : J.CREW

56. Like rock's U2 : IRISH

61. Cobra feature : VENOM

62. Credit card charge, perhaps : ANNUAL FEE

63. Utopias : EDENS

64. Rang true : RESONATED
       
DOWN:


1. Game attendees : CROWD - Dah~!  I threw in an "S", for the plural nature of the clue, and that screwed me

2. Province of southern China : HUNAN - A gimme for our blog host

3. Clinton Labor secretary Robert : REICH

4. "Nothing's broken!" : I'M OK - how you explained to mom that time when you built a ramp out of plywood and milk crates, then tried to jump over all the toys you could find in the yard - and didn't quite make it....

5. "Spider-Man" movie company : SONY - Somehow, I knew this

6. __-80: old computer : TRS

7. Grocery chain initials : IGA

8. Starbucks request : AU LAIT

9. Big name in streaming : NETFLIX - I tried it, but they had nothing I wanted to see; I just end up buying the Blu-rays or DVDs

10. "__ for Noose": Grafton novel : N IS

11. Horace, for one : ODIST

13. Most restless : UNEASIEST

14. Growing symbol : STATE TREE - Well, it is growing, and it is a symbol

21. Recklessness : TEMERITY

24. Reports : WRITE-UPS - Like those here at the blog

25. Get going : HIE

27. Soprano group : MOB - I think this would have been better clued as "THE Sopranos", but it is Saturday

28. Graphic novelist Moore et al. : ALANs - Perps and WAGs

29. Twin Cities suburb : EDINA - Boy, C.C., this one has you all over it~!

31. Explore with a tank : SCUBA DIVE

33. Women's issue, familiarly : O MAGAZINE - bit of misdirection, as the capital "W" made me think we were talking about the actual magazine, Women

38. Where Antwerp is: Abbr. : BELgium

41. Jordan, e.g. : NBA STAR - The river, the country~?  Then I got the "STAR" part, but still, I was not sure if this was the British model "--- star" Jordan; ah, the basketball star, Michael

42. Common Internet symbol : DOT - yup, pretty common

45. Three in one : TRIUNE

47. Holyfield rival : TYSON

49. Go with the flow : DRIFT

50. Take in again : RESEE

51. Coarse cloth : TWEED

54. California's San __ Capistrano : JUAN

55. Part of a fast-food meal, maybe : COLA

57. __ Pinafore : HMS

59. "ER" extras : RNs

60. Status chaser? : QUO

Splynter

  My idea of doing a "stone" finish on the rook table has been compromised by the fact that Home Depot does not carry a stone finish paint in a "Stone" color; really~???  Two stores carry brown, beige, and light beige ( light beige~?).  Michaels art store was no help; I will have to try A.C. Moore, or just go with plan B; a faux marble finish using a sponge.  I have done it before, and it does look pretty cool.

Saturday, Jul 19th, 2014, Mark Bickham

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing J,Q,V,Z)

Blocks: 26

    Who would we get today, I wondered; Brad, Doug, Mark...?  Ah, Mr. Bickham, with an enjoyable, but odd-looking puzzle today, having just a smattering of single blocks in the central part of the grid; low count, too.  It was not until I started on the Down clues that I noticed the FOUR climbers, and yet they were actually easier for me than some of the shorter fill.  Triple 10 corners, and two 8-letter answers on the inside.  I had to 'cheat' and turn on red letters to find one letter - the very first one.  First time for everything, I guess....the 4 climbers:

2d. ESPN talk show : OUTSIDE THE LINES - I don't watch ESPN, so this was a WAG based on sports more than the show itself

3d. Sport with end zones : ULTIMATE FRISBEE - I have played some Frisbee golf, but not this game, sort of like football meets basketball

12d. Best Picture of 1951, with "An" : AMERICAN IN PARIS - Never saw it, but with the few crossings I had, it came pretty easily

13d. Passive disapproval : SILENT TREATMENT - I'm not saying anything....get it?

O (may The Force be with me) nward~?

ACROSS:

1. Challenge for a comedian : TOUGH CROWD - First letter wrong?  Seemed OK having "Rough Crowd", but I missed "RHU" as the Holy 1d

11. Residencia : CASA - logical WAG; sounded Spanish for 'residence', so, Spanish for house

15. Uproar : HULLABALOO 

16. In : AMID

17. Lawlessness : UTTER CHAOS 

18. Solder : WELD - I can solder - wires and copper pipes.  I was asked a week or so ago if I knew how to braze brass; never did it

19. Fourier series function : SINE - Never heard the term fourier, but once I had --NE, I figured....more on the math from Wiki

20. D.C.'s __ Stadium : RFK - Renamed in 1969 after the assassination of Robert Kennedy; we had the Triborough Bridge renamed RFK Bridge here in NYC in 2008; not sure why it took 40 years....

21. 2015 destination of the Dawn space probe : CERES - One of two proto-planets in the asteroid belt; more from NASA

22. Edge : RIM

23. Bird that grew as tall as 12 feet : MOA - went with "ROC" - only 33.3% right, but this time, my "O" counts, D-otto~!

25. Stranded, perhaps : ICED IN

27. City NE of Amsterdam : EDAM - filled via perps

29. Cry of dismay : OH DEAR - Tried OH GEEZ, but couldn't think of a color with Z besides Azure...oh those eyes...

31. Place with a seat: Abbr. : CTY - CounTY

33. Charm : FETISH - The first definition refers to 'an object regarded...as being the embodiment...of magical powers'; I am more familiar with the psychological definition.... who me~?  a fetish~!?

35. Reflect : MEDITATE

37. "Dumb and Dumberer" actress : OTERI - The third installment is due in Nov this year

38. Profs' aides : TAs - Teaching Assistants

39. "Jazz in Silhouette" composer : SUN RA - Perps and a WAG; more here

40. Blood typing concern : Rh FACTOR

42. Former Canadian film awards : GENIES - another thing that went through a renaming process; once called the "Etrogs"

43. Debussy subject : MER

44. Vistula River city : KRAKOW

46. Biol. branch : ANATomy

47. Smooth cotton fabrics : LISLEs

49. __ crawl : PUB - ah, the days gone by....

51. Scoreboard fig. : PTs

52. Piano bar standard : MISTY - "Play Misty for me...."

53. Asian festival : TET

55. Good earth : LOAM

57. "Walk __": 1964 hit : ON BY

58. One of Sophocles' Theban plays : OEDIPUS REX

61. Stagger : REEL

62. Bond holding? : DRY MARTINI - excellent 'misdirection'; gratuitous Daniel pic for C.C. - are you shaken, or stirred, C.C.?

63. "Gotcha" : "I SEE" - Dr. Venkman's response to Dean Yager

64. Some finals : ESSAY TESTS
       
DOWN:

1. There's a holy one every yr. : THU - I just learned it's Maundy Thursday, tho I have heard this term before

4. Singer Campbell : GLEN - Here's the only song I know; I had the 45, and played it til it skipped; "like a...like a...like a...."

5. Sultan's group : HAREM - Got it....the answer, not the women

6. Ottawa-based media org. : CBC - Canadian Broadcasting Corproation

7. Spirited : RAH-RAH

8. Norwegian saint : OLAF

9. Wielders of weapons called bowcasters : WOOKIEES - I just noticed that the word is spelled W-O-O-K-I-E-E - being in the down position, I was thrown off by the "I" and two "E"s...

10. Cuts : DOs - Haircuts kind of Dos

11. Emulated a rook : CAWED - Rook, the bird, not the chess piece; I am building a "rook table", and ran into an interesting problem - so now I have a question for the math whizzes on the blog here - see below

14. Puts together : ADDS

21. Berry hue : CERISE - had to dredge this word up from the depths

22. Change for the better : REFORM

24. Excited cry : "OOH~!"

26. Heel : CAD

28. Sorvino of "Mighty Aphrodite" : MIRA

30. Old bread, briefly : DMARK - Deutsche Mark until the Euro in 2002 - that kind of bread

32. Bakers' buys : YEASTS - Dah!  Not doughs; but I guess they would MAKE those, wouldn't they....

34. Not well : SICKLY - Considered AILING

36. __ salad : TUNA

38. They're often busy at breakfast : TOASTERS

41. Square root of nove : TRE

42. D.C. school named for a president : GWU - A school?  In D.C.?  Named for a president?   Such a novel idea~!

45. Kia model : OPTIMA

48. Panache : STYLE -

50. Divulge, with "out" : BLURT

52. Memento __: reminder of mortality : MORI

54. Slow Churned ice cream : EDY's

56. Bone: Pref. : OSTE

58. Tribute of a sort : ODE

59. Yield a return : PAY

60. They follow the nus : XIs

 Splynter

 - The math problem - I designed the base of my Rook Table with a slope, and essentially, it's just crown moulding installed at the bottom, not the top.  I have a compound sliding mitre saw, but I was shocked to find that the two angles for the cuts ( bevel, mitre ) are NOT what I thought.  I had to go online to find them, because I couldn't do the math - so who here understands the math behind the numbers?

Saturday, Jul12th, 2014, Barry C.Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie~!

Words: 70 (missing F,J,X)

Blocks: 29

   Yep, I felt we were getting a Silkie today~!  I liked this one - just enough of a challenge without being jammed up with a lot of proper names and vague references.  Triple 7's in the Downs, triple 11's in the Across - missed the date ( 7-11 ) by one day....Two other long fills on the inside as well, and a stair pattern at the center, plus a low block clount.  Some of the longer fill:

15a. 1959 Fabian hit : TURN ME LOOSE - Link away, because I knew this one growing up

 65a. "Mission: Impossible" actor : PETER GRAVES - Also "Captain Clarence Oveur"

Onward....

ACROSS:

1. Strategy rarely involving a power hitter : SQUEEZE PLAY - Some baseball for C.C., right off the bat - pun intended

12. Class fig. : GPA - Not EST. - my graduating class was 791 students

16. Art of MGM? : ARS - Ars Gratia Artis - seems WAY too easy, especially for Mr. Silk

17. Oil field workers : ROUSTABOUTS - according to the dictionary, it's an Americanism, and isn't limited to oil fields - any unskilled laborer

18. 1909 ballet "__ Sylphides" : LES - sensible WAG, but I waited on perps

19. Portuguese is its official lang. : ANG - ANGOLA, Africa

20. Scotland's __ Awe : LOCH - DAH~!  I had PESTERS in at 8d., so I did not see this at first

21. Static, e.g. : NOISE - my first thought, and I hesitated

23. Not surprising : USUAL - my first thought, and I hesitated again

26. Personal question? : WHO

27. Gulf sight : OILER - Seen in Edmonton, too

28. '60s Navy project : SEALAB - there were three; more from Wiki

30. Sharp turn : ELL - Dah~!  I tried ZIG

32. Riga native : LETT - Got it, but spelled it LATT first

33. Touch screen accessory : STYLUS

34. Liability-limiting order : STOP-LOSS - investment market security measure - sounds like I know something, but I just looked it up

36. Cheater's tool : CRIB - Cliff's Notes didn't fit

38. "J'accuse" writer : ZOLA - Perps and WAGs

39. Ios and Naxos are in them : CYCLADES - I have heard of this place, but I was thinking along the lines of asteroids in the belt - it's all Greek to me....

43. Fast ballroom dances : MAMBOS - I have this Perry Como song in my MP3 player - from "Ocean's Eleven" - but we would change the lyrics to "Pablo Loves Mangos"

47. Second : AIDE

48. American __ : ELM - OK, who else went with "PIE"~!?

49. Home of the 3M Company : ST. PAUL - More for our Minnesotan (doesn't sound right)

50. "SportsCenter" brief : RECAP

52. USSR successor : CIS - Commonwealth of Independent States - perps

54. Extend an invitation for : ASK TO

55. Santa __ : CLARA - first thought, but I waited, again...tsk-tsk

56. 7, for N : AT. No. - Atomic Number - nailed it

58. Latin is often heard in it : LAW

59. Pitches : ADS

60. Vision : MENTAL IMAGE

64. Holy mlle. : STE

66. Desperate letters : S.O.S.

67. "It's about time they all left!" : "ALONE AT LAST~!"

DOWN:       

1. "Salome" composer : STRAUSS

2. __ hut : QUONSET - It's great to get the 11-letter fill at 1a. - makes all the downs that much easier~!

3. First FIFA World Cup winner : URUGUAY - sure, when you have the U-----Y in place

4. Inning trio? : ENs - iNNiNgs

5. CPR provider : EMT

6. Fire : ZEAL - again, with the "Z" there....

7. Pasta shape : ELBOW

8. Hounds : POOCHES - PESTERS was a good fit, too

9. Longtime college football coach who is now an ESPN analyst : LOU HOLTZ - Last to fill, and a WAG

10. Bermuda hrs. : AST - Atlantic Standard Time

11. Offering only two choices : YES/NO

12. First spacecraft to orbit Jupiter : GALILEO - VOYAGER fit, but that just flew past

13. Radio buttons : PRESETS

14. Claims : ASSERTS

22. Light sources : OIL LAMPS

24. Safety announcement : ALL CLEAR

25. Preminger noir classic : LAURA

29. Surprise hit, maybe : B-SIDE

31. They have shuttles and treadles : LOOMS

35. Montana motto word : PLATA - Oro Y Plata - Gold & Silver

37. Singing style in Rossini operas : BEL CANTO - Beautiful Singing in Italian

39. Lifeless form : CARCASS - Nice way to define this

40. Accept : YIELD TO

41. Jewel boxes : CD CASES

42. In love : SMITTEN - Like this....I found this funny, too

44. Filo pastry dessert : BAKLAVA - really good; used to get some after having a gyro

45. Storm consequences : OUTAGES - Tis the season, at least around here

46. Last to finish : SLOWEST - makes sense when it's filled in....

51. Argentine grassland : PAMPA

53. Bag : SNARE

57. First name in Russian gymnastics : OLGA

61. Sushi choice : EEL - DAH~! not AHI

62. Lexington Ave. line : IRT -

63. Practice leader? : MAL - Malpractice

Splynter

Saturday, Jul 5th, 2014, Melanie Miller

Theme: None

Words: 68 (missing B,F,J,Q,X,Y,Z)

Blocks: 25

   We have us a new Saturday constructor~!  Melanie has had 5 LAT puzzles, with the last one coming in Feb on a Monday.  Today's offering had some similar clues/answers to that grid, I noticed.  Chunky corners of 9's and 8's, with two 11-letter fills on the inside.  Fairly difficult for a Saturday, IMHO, but I was able to solve without any look-ups or cheating, and only the SW corner requiring some WAGs to complete.  The two longer answers:

20a. Ranks achieved by Armstrong and Lovell : EAGLE SCOUTS - Two astronauts who reached the highest 'rank' in the Boy Scouts - Wiki

53a. Events after shootings : WRAP PARTIES - Melanie's last puzzle was a "party" theme; this in not the violent kind of shooting, but the movie set type - I worked on a made-for-TV film way back in '97, and we had us a Wrap Party the following summer with a preview of the finished show.

"OM" ward~! (working my 60a.)

ACROSS:

1. Harassed, in a way : HEN-PECKED

10. Lenox brand : DANSK - their enameled steel cookware looks familar

15. Busy state to go into : OVERDRIVE

16. Boiling : IRATE

17. Made for the tube : TELEGENIC

18. Decalogue delivery site : SINAI

19. They may hook you up, briefly : RNs - Hook you up to IVs, tho I have seen certain movies....

22. Los __, city near San Luis Obispo : OSOS

24. Greenland capital : KRONE - this being the money kind of capital, not the city

25. Flanged bit of hardware : T-NUT

26. Powder holder : DONUT - Cute

28. Added a little to the pot : ANTED

30. Took in takeout : ATE - Nice clue alliteration

31. First lady after Bess : MAMIE - Truman and Eisenhower

33. Kind : MANNER

35. Kind of support : SPOUSAL

38. "Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka" composer : STRAUSS

39. "The Fox and the Hound" hound : COPPER - What does the fox say?

40. Stops running? : CLOTS - Ah, like wounds

41. Beluga output : ROE

42. Arabian capital : SANA'A - Yemen

44. "__ luego" : HASTA

48. Bald eagle cousins : ERNS

50. Settles : CALMS

52. Start of many a prayer : LORD

56. Crib cry : WAH - Two cries, and it's a guitar effects pedal....

57. Gugino of "Night at the Museum" : CARLA - a WAG with the --RL- in place

58. Exterminator's target : CENTIPEDE - among other creepy-crawlies; 'round here, it's ants, crickets and lately, wasps

60. Hindu principle of life : ĀTMAN - this was a WAG for me, too

61. "The Raven" feature : OCTAMETER

62. Pains : PESTS

63. Pump house? : SHOE STORE - Nailed it; I love women in platform pumps - so sexy - and if they zip up at the back....ha-muna ha-muna

DOWN:

1. Zoom : HOT-ROD - the verb, not the noun

2. Yet : EVEN SO

3. Hold on a mat : NELSON - Educated WAG

4. Start to date? : PRE - predate, as in 'comes before'

5. It's uncomfortable to be on it : EDGE

6. Sign of age : CREAK - I had CRACK to start, pretty close; that's 80% right

7. Large, long-billed marsh bird : KING RAIL

8. Satan : EVIL ONE - because MIROSLAV was too long; shoulda played for the NJ Devils....

9. Respectable : DECENT - Are you dressed?

10. Round snow toy : DISC - I had a wood and metal sled as a kid

11. "That's __!": "Funny!" : A RIOT

12. Otherworldly greeting? : NANU-NANU - Mork from Ork's greeting

13. Former bills : STATUTES

14. Bums' American counterparts : KEISTERS - anyone else see this as "B-u-r-n-s" first?  Once I had the K----STER, I figured out my eyes were getting a bit wacky

21. Look that way : SEEM TO

23. Recap : SUM UP

27. Stuns in an arrest : TASEs

29. Sith title : DARTH - Star Wars reference, which I won't miss~! Vader, Maul, and others

32. Rumba shaker : MARACA - shaking like your keister

34. Cavity opening? : NASAL

35. Cork alternative : SCREW-CAP - DAH~! I wanted TWIST-CAP, but I knew ROE was correct

36. Elizabethan property tax to benefit the disadvantaged : POOR RATE - the "T" was my last fill

37. Title words before "Nothing to hide," in a Journey hit : OPEN ARMS - Link away~!

38. Collide with : SLAM INTO

40. MIT rival, despite the distance : CALTECH

43. Some agents : NARCOs

45. Site of a 1976 anti-apartheid uprising : SOWETO - Part of Johannesburg, South Africa

46. Broker's customer : TRADER

47. Hold tight : ADHERE

49. Fall sound : "SPLAT~!"

51. Spiders' sensors, e.g. : SETAE - Latin for bristle, it's the hairs on a spider's legs, e.g.

54. Sweeps the set : PANS - another movie-making term

55. Virtual people, in a popular game series : SIMs - I love Sim City, but couldn't get into the virtual reality of the individual people version of the game (but I do have it).  Here's the crop circles that UFOs left on my farm in my last Sim City game

59. Ferret, for one : PET - My roomie in Cincinnati, OH had one - they bite...literally

Splynter