09.25 Sun

S U N D A Y
September 25, 2011
Jeffrey Lease

[Note: This is the syndicated L.A. Times puzzle. It does not appear in the actual newspaper, but is available for free at cruciverb.com.]

Theme: "It's a Surprise" — IT is added to familiar phrases, yielding punny results.

Theme Entries:

• 23A: Stakeout? (SITTING OPERATION).
• 28A: "May I cut in?" speaker? (POLITE DANCER).
• 47A: Part of an excavated skeleton? (ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIGIT).
• 62A: Voracious vampire's mantra? (BITE ALL THAT YOU CAN BITE).
• 77A: Pot with limited seafood portions? (A FINITE KETTLE OF FISH).
• 100A: Unaffected horse movements? (NATURAL GAITS).
• 106A: One pirating Springsteen CDs? (THE E STREET BANDIT).

Hey, crossword fans. Doug here on Sunday. Straightforward theme concept today with a nice marquee entry smack-dab in the middle of the grid. Solid.

I'm a little surprised that POLE DANCER was (sort of) in the puzzle as the base phrase for POLITE DANCER. Are pole dancers usually polite? I don't know. The polite ones might get bigger tips. If you're one of our many pole-dancing LACC readers, feel free to chime in with a comment. (Or better yet, send me a private email.) I also got a chuckle out of A FINITE KETTLE OF FISH. An infinite kettle of fish would be frightening & very smelly.

Bullets:

• 21A: Morlock prey (ELOI). From H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine." I think the Morlocks ate the Eloi, and I think it's time to for crossword constructors to retire ELOI.

• 35A: NY subway line past Yankee Stadium (IRT). Interborough Rapid Transit.
• 38A: Letters on some tubes (A.D.A.). Toothpaste tubes.
• 47A: Part of an excavated skeleton? (ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIGIT). If you have a tough time spelling "archaeological," you can cheat by looking at the clue for 49-Down: Fictional archaeologist Croft (LARA). Who says answer words repeated in clues are a bad thing?
• 53A: Brand promoted by Michael Jordan (HANES).Charlie Sheen used to be a Hanes pitchman too. I have no idea why they dropped him.

• 54A: "Mission: Impossible" actress (BAIN). I loved this show when I was a little kid, even though I could never exactly figure out what they were doing. But I knew it was cool and dangerous. Good preparation for my life as a part-time crossword constructor and blogger.
  
• 7D: Cal Poly's city, initially (SLO). San Luis Obispo. Tough for non-Californians, but fair for the L.A. Times puzzle.
• 11D: Singer with the Blackhearts (JETT).

• 15D: Doll or vase material (PORCELAIN). I can't remember seeing this word in a crossword puzzle before. I like it! As an added bonus, we didn't get a "toilet" clue.

• 79D: Unhelpful response to "How did you do that?" (IT'S MAGIC). Unless you're a witch.
• 90D: Previously missing letter, e.g. (INSERT). I enjoyed this clue. I had no idea where it was going until I got the answer through crossings.
• 102D: Champagne Tony of '60s golf (LEMA). I always want this to be LAMA instead of LEMA. "Lema" doesn't look like a sensible name. And then there's the Tony Lama brand of cowboy boots. My new mnemonic for this golfer: LEMA is an anagram of LAME.

Hope you're all enjoying autumn so far. See you next Sunday.

02.28 Mon

M O N D A Y
February 28, 2011
Jeffrey Lease

Theme: Captain, My Captain — The first word of each theme answer is a well-known captain.

Theme answers:

• 17A: *1968 sci-fi classic remade in 2001 (PLANET OF THE APES).
• 23A: *Chili competitions (COOK-OFFS).
• 50A: *Reason for rhinoplasty (HOOK NOSE).
• 58A: *1980 Disney comedy about an all-night puzzle-solving race (MIDNIGHT MADNESS).
• 38A: Rank that goes with the first parts of the answers to starred clues (CAPTAIN).

Welcome to today's edition of "Excellent Theme Idea With Iffy Execution." I have to say I don't understand how these theme answers made it past Quality Control. CAPTAIN PLANET? Who the heck is that? CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT isn't any better and, to add insult to injury, it's clued with a movie nobody's heard of. I realize sometimes a constructor gets stuck for theme answers (believe me, I know!) but just off the top of my head, both KANGAROO COURT and AMERICA ONLINE are 13 letters and reference Captains most people have heard of, which makes them perfectly acceptable (dare I say better?) entries for this theme. I'm sincerely baffled by the choices made in this puzzle.

There were, however, a couple entries in this grid that seemed particular colorful and made me smile:

• 43A: Jump (on) suddenly (POUNCE).
• 25D: Lacking strength (FEEBLE).
• 27D: Bug-hitting-windshield sound (SPLAT).

Bullets:

• 20A: Jewish (SEMITIC). When I hear the word SEMITIC, it's most often in the context of something that's "anti-SEMITIC" so even without the "anti" my instinctual response is to flinch.
• 22A: Conference including Duke and UNC (ACC). The Blue Devils and the Tar Heels are part of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
• 28A: Liver secretion (BILE). This is another one of those words that I'd rather not see in my puzzle. Hello? Breakfast test?
• 47A: Band-Aid and Barbie, e.g.: Abbr. (TM'S). Band-Aid and Barbie are both trademarks.

• 53A: Corn unit (EAR). I miss Iowa.
• 54A: Inexpensive brand (CHEAPIE). Personally, I would say "CHEAPO." You?
• 64A: Wrinkle remover (IRON). HAha! The visual I got here was an old woman taking an iron to her face. Yeah, okay, the old woman was me. It was still funny.
• 34D: Occurrence (HAP). Not a fan of this entry. See also 56D: "This __ silly!" (IS SO).
• 49D: Farm (GRANGE). Thank goodness we're going to end on a rockin' note.

Crosswordese 101 Round-up:

• 5A: Double reed instrument (OBOE).
• 68A: School attended by many princes and prime ministers (ETON).
• 8D: Tolkien's Treebeard, for one (ENT).

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Everything Else — 1A: One with a degree (GRAD); 9A: Bit of campaign nastiness (SMEAR); 14A: Assistant (AIDE); 15A: Course of action (PLAN); 16A: Croatian-born physicist Nikola (TESLA); 21A: Rotten (BAD); 30A: "What's up, __?" (DOC); 31A: Clean the floor (SWEEP); 32A: Was victorious (WON); 33A: Dissertations (THESES); 36A: It can be airtight or waterproof (SEAL); 37A: Fishing pole (ROD); 40A: Support garment (BRA); 41A: Slightly (A BIT); 44A: Tennis call (LET); 45A: Keg party attire (TOGAS); 48A: Like much wine and cheese (AGED); 52A: Rover's warning (GRR); 63A: Overindulge, as kids (SPOIL); 65A: Fight for air (GASP); 66A: Wedding dresses (GOWNS); 67A: Fey of "30 Rock" (TINA); 1D: Spaces (GAPS); 2D: Annoy (RILE); 3D: TV Batman West (ADAM); 4D: "I did not!" is one (DENIAL); 5D: __ nerve (OPTIC); 6D: Voting group (BLOC); 7D: Palooka (OAF); 9D: Texas Roadhouse fare (STEAKS); 10D: Grassy fields (MEADOWS); 11D: Sixth sense, briefly (ESP); 12D: Pub pick (ALE); 13D: Dorm supervisors: Abbr. (RA'S); 18D: "And so on and so forth," for short (ETC. ETC.); 19D: "True Blood" airer (HBO); 23D: Party disguise (COSTUME); 24D: Indian and Arctic (OCEANS); 26D: Dreaded (FEARED); 28D: Owie (BOO-BOO); 29D: Spectrum color between blue and violet (INDIGO); 30D: Train stations (DEPOTS); 32D: Ire (WRATH); 35D: Start of a guard dog command (SIC); 39D: Approached (NEARED); 42D: Deceived (TAKEN IN); 46D: Slow mollusks (SNAILS); 51D: Nonprofit's URL ending (ORG); 52D: The Gold Coast, since 1957 (GHANA); 54D: "Let's roll!" ("C'MON!"); 55D: __ moss (PEAT); 57D: "Monday Night Football" channel (ESPN); 58D: Chinese food additive (MSG); 59D: Wall St. debut (IPO); 60D: Wall Street index, with "the" (DOW); 61D: Smack (HIT); 62D: Prefix with athlete (TRI-).