09.02 Fri

F R I D A Y

September 2, 2011

Pancho Harrison

Theme answers:

• 17A: Sign some new sluggers? (HIRE POWER).
• 24A: Henna and such? (DYER NEEDS).
• 40A: Stand-up gig for Richard? (PRYOR ENGAGEMENT).
• 50A: Instrument in need of cleaning? (DIRTY LYRE).
• 64A: Augustine, for one? (DEEP FRIAR).

I had a lot of fun with this theme. I figured it out right away at HIRE POWER and was able to use that knowledge for the rest of the theme answers. I was thrown off a little when I got down to DIRTY LYRE and found the change in the second word instead of the first. Having the changed words consistently at the beginning or end would make this puzzle more elegant, but it didn't bother me too too much. After solving, I did a quick run through the alphabet to see if I could come up with any other phrases that would work as theme answers. There are plenty of words that can be changed in this way, but I didn't find any that fit into a well-known phrase. And some of the words I came up with were just hideous (like SIGHER). I also just noticed that the resulting spelling change in each of the theme answers is unique: IRE, YER, YOR, YRE, IAR. Nice.



Stuff I just flat-out didn't know today:

• 14A: Aquatic bird (COOT). I will be impressed if any of you say you've actually heard of this.
• 26D: Peak in an Eastwood film (EIGER). I've heard of the mountain, but not the movie. Apparently, it's a 1975 release called "The Eiger Sanction."
• 34D: Blake title feline (TYGER). Feels like maybe something I should know but … not so much.

Bullets:

• 21A: Like some nests (EMPTY). I had a taste of the EMPTY nest these last couple of weeks while the PuzzleKids were off on adventures with the PuzzleParents. I've always assumed I'd be more relieved than anything when the kids finally leave (parenting is hard!), but having them gone made me realize that sending them off to college is just around the corner and I have to admit I'm panicking a little.
• 44A: Original Speed Stick maker (MENNEN). I'm at just the right age where I can hear the end of the old Speed Stick ads in my head. ("Byyyyyyy MENnen.")

• 54A: Sci-fi character whose first name, Nyota, was first revealed in film in 2009 (UHURA). Nerd alert!
• 66A: Best Actress nominee for "Ordinary People" (MOORE). I know Demi Moore is a lot older than her husband, but I didn't think she was old enough to be in this movie. (For those of you who don't know me very well, this is a contest.)
• 12D: Ink spots, briefly? (TAT). "Ink spots in the 'hood, briefly?" There, I fixed it.
• 27D: Chin Ho co-worker, in a TV cop show (DANNO). Don't recall ever hearing of Chin Ho, but with a cross or two in place, the Hawaii Five-O reference became clear.

Everything — 1A: Some rentals, in ads (APTS.); 5A: "Gimme just __" (A SEC); 9A: Chew the scenery (EMOTE); 14A: Aquatic bird (COOT); 15A: Rowlands of "Gloria" (GENA); 16A: Deteriorate (DECAY); 17A: Sign some new sluggers? (HIRE POWER); 19A: Word with time and space (WASTE); 20A: __ nous (ENTRE'); 21A: Like some nests (EMPTY); 23A: Wartime submachine guns (STENS); 24A: Henna and such? (DYER NEEDS); 29A: Giant legend (OTT); 31A: Nagpur native (INDIAN); 32A: Granola grain (OAT); 35A: 1805 Vienna premiere (EROICA); 39A: Lambs: Lat. (AGNI); 40A: Stand-up gig for Richard? (PRYOR ENGAGEMENT); 43A: Old wrap (TOGA); 44A: Original Speed Stick maker (MENNEN); 45A: Children's author Asquith (ROS); 46A: Composer/violinist who taught Menuhin (ENESCO); 48A: U.S. Army E-5 (SGT.); 50A: Instrument in need of cleaning? (DIRTY LYRE); 54A: Sci-fi character whose first name, Nyota, was first revealed in film in 2009 (UHURA); 58A: Did a little courting (COOED); 59A: Like some denim jackets (LINED); 60A: Flop with fins (EDSEL); 64A: Augustine, for one? (DEEP FRIAR); 66A: Best Actress nominee for "Ordinary People" (MOORE); 67A: Miss Megley's charge, in a Salinger story (ESME); 68A: Lavish affection (DOTE); 69A: 1830s revolution site (TEXAS); 70A: Grand jeté, e.g. (LEAP); 71A: Go bananas (SNAP); 1D: More than twinges (ACHES); 2D: Salient feature (POINT); 3D: High-calorie cake (TORTE); 4D: Jellied fuel (STERNO); 5D: Past word (AGO); 6D: Hemmed but didn't haw (SEWED); 7D: Ones not with you (ENEMY); 8D: __ diem (CARPE); 9D: He voiced Disney's Mad Hatter (ED WYNN); 10D: Drop-line link (ME A); 11D: Mil. training site (OC'S); 12D: Ink spots, briefly? (TAT); 13D: Center (EYE); 18D: Bedevil (PESTER); 22D: "M*A*S*H" procedures (TRIAGES); 25D: Queso relleno cheese (EDAM); 26D: Peak in an Eastwood film (EIGER); 27D: Chin Ho co-worker, in a TV cop show (DANNO); 28D: Miffed states (SNITS); 30D: Vibrating effect (TREMOLO); 32D: Made a choice (OPTED); 33D: Product suffix created in San Francisco in 1958 (-ARONI); 34D: Blake title feline (TYGER); 36D: "A Chorus Line" song (ONE); 37D: Starter: Abbr. (IGN.); 38D: Axe (CAN); 41D: Hops drier (OAST); 42D: Swallow up (ENGULF); 47D: Economic series (CYCLES); 49D: Bs in the key of G, e.g. (THIRDS); 51D: Sing "The Lonely Goatherd," say (YODEL); 52D: Entrepreneur inspired by Hershey (REESE); 53D: Fluid buildup (EDEMA); 55D: U.S.S.R. part (UNION); 56D: Gaucho's rope (REATA); 57D: One concerned with the spot market? (AD REP); 60D: 911 respondent (EMT); 61D: Female rabbit (DOE); 62D: Chi-Town team (SOX); 63D: Historical span (ERA); 65D: __ rally (PEP).

06.03 Fri

F R I D A Y
June 3, 2011
Pancho Harrison

Theme: T sound changed to D sound — Yep, that's it.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Family member whose age is showing? (GRAYED UNCLE).
• 27A: Horse-cavalry soldier who's hardly capricious? (STAID TROOPER).
• 46A: Aggressive drug enforcement strategy? (RAID INCREASE).
• 61A: Bride's unraveling problem? (FRAYED TRAIN).

I don't have a lot of time this morning, so let's get right to it. What's with all the suffixes? ‑WURST, ‑ESE, ‑IAL, ‑ERY (2D: Knack attachment? / 5D: Ethnic ending / 9D: Editor's add-on? / 26D: Hatch back?). Honestly, that's the first thing that really jumped out at me about this grid, and that can't be good. The theme is fine. Nothing to write home about. The base phrases are GREAT UNCLE, STATE TROOPER, RATE INCREASE, and FREIGHT TRAIN. So, yeah, a little blah for a Friday.

As for the sparkle, that's provided by HEP CAT and DIRTY POOL (50A: One who digs your jive / 11D: Unsportsmanlike conduct), both of which are fantastic answers. But with the disaster that is the ESTE, STEROL, OTHO, DR. LAO area … I'm not sure it's a fair trade.

Bullets:

• 6A: Massenet opera (THAIS). Whatever you say.
• 11A: JFK, but not LGA (DEM). I understand this clue/answer to mean that John F. Kennedy was a DEMocrat, but Fiorello LaGuardia was not. Was LaGuardia actually known as LGA? If not, I'd say this clue is flawed, even though it's fabulous at first glance.
• 16A: Chill (ICE). Verbs, people.
• 45A: Golfer Westwood who replaced Tiger Woods as World #1 in October 2010 (LEE). Hey, I have an idea! Let's have a puzzle without Tiger Woods anywhere near it. kthxby
• 67A: Junio, por ejemplo (MES). Spanish! Junio = June; MES = "month."

• 43D: __ Park: Pirates' field (PNC). Have I mentioned how much I hate the trend of corporate names on baseball fields/sports arenas? About a hundred times? Okay, never mind.
• 47D: Skinny or small, probably (ILL-FED). Pretty sure that "probably" should be a "maybe." There are plenty of skinny and/or small things that aren't ILL-FED. PuzzleDaughter has a classmate who is way smaller than the rest of the 4th grade girls. Why? I don't really know. But I'm pretty sure she's fed appropriately. I'm thinking … I don't know, genetics?

Crosswordese 101 Round-up:

• 19A: Co. led by David Sarnoff until 1970 (RCA).
• 20A: Tivoli's Villa d'__ (ESTE).
• 64A: Homer's donut supplier (APU).
• 12D: Behold, to Livy (ECCE).
• 25D: First century Roman emperor (OTHO).
• 34D: "Lohengrin" soprano (ELSA).
• 41D: "As I Lay Dying" father (ANSE).

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Everything Else — 1A: Pilfer (SWIPE); 14A: Distinctive characters (AURAS); 15A: Wrap-up (RECAP); 21A: Staff entry? (REST); 22A: Worn down (EATEN); 24A: Solid alcohol (STEROL); 26A: Vortex (EDDY); 33A: Line of clothing? (HEM); 36A: Jubilant cry (HOORAY); 37A: Pool game, perhaps (POLO); 38A: "Unlimited free mileage" rental pioneer (ALAMO); 40A: Washington Sq. campus (NYU); 41A: Bikini, e.g. (ATOLL); 42A: Vacation site (ISLE); 43A: Baker's container (PIE PAN); 49A: H.S. math course (CALC.); 54A: Swindle decoy (SHILL); 56A: Feint on the ice (DEKE); 59A: 39-Down recipient (HERO); 60A: John of England (LOO); 65A: Dog-__ (EARED); 66A: Western party (POSSE); 68A: Titles (DEEDS); 69A: Unsettling expression (SNEER); 1D: Wise guys (SAGES); 3D: Hot (IRATE); 4D: Sugar daddies, e.g. (PAYERS); 6D: "__ Lies": Schwarzenegger film (TRUE); 7D: Brooding group (HENS); 8D: Invoice abbr. (ACCT.); 10D: Muscle beach brand (SPEEDO); 13D: Ornery (MEAN); 18D: Traveling circus organizer in a 1964 film (DR. LAO); 23D: Take in (ADOPT); 28D: Greek column style (IONIC); 29D: Where some pairs are separated (DRYER); 30D: Brownish gray (TAUPE); 31D: Glamour rival (ELLE); 32D: Part (ROLE); 33D: Narrow margin (HAIR); 35D: Motivated by spite (MALICIOUS); 39D: Award for a 59-Across (MEDAL); 44D: Sounded satisfied (AAHED); 48D: "You've Got Mail" writer/director (EPHRON); 51D: Belay (CEASE); 52D: Surface (ARISE); 53D: Office supply (TONER); 54D: Grand __ (SLAM); 55D: Optimism (HOPE); 56D: Show gumption (DARE); 57D: Got a load of (EYED); 58D: Converse competitor (KEDS); 62D: Actress __ Dawn Chong (RAE); 63D: Decorates in a prankish way (TP'S).

T H U R S D A Y December 12, 2010 Pancho Harrison

Theme: Job Descriptions — Familiar idioms are clued literally as job descriptions.

Theme answers:

• 17A: "So I hear your job as exercise class instructor is __" (WORKING OUT).
• 29A: "So I hear your job as a burlesque dancer is __" (TAKING OFF).
• 46A: "So I hear your trash removal business is __" (PICKING UP).
• 62A: "So I hear your scuba diving business is __" (GOING UNDER).

Thanks for all your good thoughts yesterday. PuzzleDaughter is feeling much better today after a couple shots of antibiotics and a good night's sleep. She can't go to school today, of course, so it's another "Mom and Me" day at the PuzzleHouse.


Oh, and before we get started on the puzzle, I want to remind you all about Patrick Blindauer's Puzzlefest contest. Patrick has put together a suite of 10 puzzles that in some way point you to one final contest answer. The deadline for the contest isn't until February 1, so there's still plenty of time to participate. Even if you're not interested in the contest, $9.99 is an unbelievable price for 10 original puzzles by one of the most innovative puzzle constructors working today. Please check out Patrick's website and consider being a part of this fun puzzle event. (Oh, and Patrick's free monthly puzzle for December is now available on his website too!) (I couldn't find a good picture to include for this paragraph, so I randomly chose a picture of Chuck Norris.

Okay, today's puzzle. For some reason this theme really tickled me. The humor felt Reagle-esque to me, and that's (almost always) a good thing. Some of the longer down entries seem pretty flashy: CYBORGS, SKEPTIC, and OAK TREE (not necessarily flashy on its own, but cleverly clued as 4D: Yellow ribbon site of song).




(I've always thought it was kinda funny how this song has come to represent the military coming home from war. I mean, the song is about a guy coming home from prison, right?)


Other than that, I can never remember how to spell Téa LEONI's last name and I'm so not a fan of hers that it's hard for me to care. Although, to be fair, I did enjoy her in "Spanglish," which is in today's clue. I think when she's in a serious role I can't take her seriously, but her "Spanglish" role was so over-the-top that she made it work. The very last letter I put in the grid with the S at the cross of FRANS and NERDS. I had actually entered a Z, thinking the guy's name was probably FRANZ. When I got to the across entry I thought the movie title might actually have been spelled with a Z too. So that was tricky. In the end I chose the S and was correct. Whew!

Bullets:

• 22A: Davenport shopper, probably (IOWAN). Having lived about an hour away from Davenport, Iowa, recently, I was not fooled by this misdirection! Davenport is one of the Quad Cities. The others are Bettendorff (also in Iowa) and Moline and Rock Island (in Illinois).
• 26A: Pops (out) (FLIES). I was thinking more along the lines of pop-goes-the-weasel.
• 37A: Big, outmoded piece of equipment (DINOSAUR). Great clue.

• 41A: Airport safety org. (TSA). With all the recent fuss about the TSA's new groping standards, there are several "fake TSA" accounts on Twitter that are pretty funny. The one I'm following is TSAgov, whose recent tweets include: "Some people have wondered what the TSA considers itself to be politically. We're 'quasifreedomtarians,'" and "In response to the Christmas Tree bomber, we're now banning Christmas sweaters and festive attitudes."
• 13D: "Coming Home" actor (DERN). I always get Bruce DERN and Jon Voight confused and I've never bothered to find out why until just now. They're both in "Coming Home"! Every time I see this clue I can't remember if the answer should be DERN or Voigt. Yay for justified confusion! I'm also never sure which one of the two is Angelina Jolie's father (it's Voight) and which one supposedly owned the car George bought in an episode of "Seinfeld" (also Voight).
• 62D: Cry while showing one's cards (GIN). Three letters? Card game? Easy, that's Uno. Crap.

Crosswordese 101: There are a couple of RENÉs you should have in your back pocket when you solve crossword puzzles. The most popular are:

• Actress RENE Russo appeared is sometimes clued with reference to her movies "Tin Cup," "Get Shorty," "Outbreak," "Ransom," and "The Thomas Crown Affair." The latter film, coincidentally, is a great caper movie featuring a painting by …
• RENÉ Magritte is a Belgian surrealist painter who, like today, is typically clued straightforwardly as 23A: Artist Magritte.
• RENÉ Descartes, known as "The Father of Modern Philosophy," is best known for his statement "I think, therefore I am."
• RENÉ Lalique is a glassmaker and jeweler.
• Finally, RENÉ Auberjonois is an actor who appeared in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."

I'm not going to lie to you, there are a few other RENÉs, but none of them show up often enough for me to feel like I need to cover them here.

Other crosswordese in the puzzle that we've already covered:

• 15A: Fabled craft (ARGO).
• 5D: Island welcome (LEI).
• 11D: MGM co-founder (LOEW).
• 18D: "Delta of Venus" author (NIN).
• 52D: Algerian port (ORAN).

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Everything Else — 1A: Thread bearer (SPOOL); 6A: Classic name in shoes (MCAN); 10A: Dressed (CLAD); 14A: Aquarium concern (ALGAE); 16A: Old (YORE); 19A: Word with belly or blast (BEER); 20A: "Forget it, comrade!" (NYET); 21A: Ancient Andean (INCA); 25A: Branch honcho: Abbr. (MGR.); 35A: Choice (SELECT); 38A: Paris pronoun (TOI); 39A: Accountant, at times (AUDITOR); 42A: Carousing (ON A SPREE); 44A: Shiny fabric (SATEEN); 48A: Revenge seekers in a 1984 film (NERDS); 49A: Dollar sign shape (ESS); 50A: Baltic resident (LETT); 52A: Early afternoon hr. (ONE P.M.); 55A: Disease attacker (DRUG); 57A: Helps out (AIDS); 61A: Demagogue's delivery (RANT); 64A: Wine region south of the Matterhorn (ASTI); 65A: "Got it, Daddy-o!" ("I DIG!"); 66A: Party person (GUEST); 67A: DEA agent (NARC); 68A: Frosty's button (NOSE); 69A: Honshu city (OSAKA); 1D: Felled, in a way (SAWN); 2D: Queen sacrifice in chess, e.g. (PLOY); 3D: Shrek or Fiona (OGRE); 6D: Lodestone (MAGNET); 7D: Hook nemesis, for short (CROC); 8D: Monterrey water (AGUA); 9D: "__ a chance!" (NOT); 10D: Bionic beings (CYBORGS); 12D: Field of expertise (AREA); 22D: "Everybody is __, only on different subjects": Will Rogers (IGNORANT); 24D: Watching "Avatar," say (ESCAPISM); 25D: Cretan king of myth (MINOS); 26D: SLR setting (F STOP); 28D: Of a pelvic bone (ILIAC); 30D: Gascony good-bye (ADIEU); 31D: Caboodle partner (KIT); 32D: Lash LaRue film, e.g. (OATER); 33D: Joined by melting (FUSED); 34D: Artist __ Hals (FRANS); 36D: Parts of directions (TURNS); 40D: MBA, for one (DEG.); 43D: One looking askance (SKEPTIC); 45D: Lockjaw (TETANUS); 47D: Drop dramatically (PLUNGE); 51D: Breakfast fare (EGG); 53D: Apollo 13 gp. (NASA); 54D: __'acte (ENTR); 55D: Bygone bird (DODO); 56D: Teddy Roosevelt biographer (RIIS); 58D: "I have an __!" (IDEA); 59D: Student's spot (DESK); 60D: Arg. miss (SRTA.); 63D: Actor Tognazzi (UGO).