01.25 Tue

T U E S D A Y

January 25, 2011
Marti DuGuay-Carpenter

Theme: Only Ifs and Buts — Theme answers are familiar three-word phrases where the middle word (AND) is removed. Then … wackiness.

Theme answers:

• 17A: *Worm change? (BAIT SWITCH).
• 37A: *Relocation company's cocktail mixers? (MOVERS' SHAKERS).
• 60A: *Court mistake? (TRIAL ERROR).
• 68A: Word usually found in the answers to starred clues (AND).

Happy Tuesday, everybody. What a fun little theme for us today. I kinda wish there was more of it! And I really mean that. I mean, three theme answers is plenty, but this one is really cute and there must be more phrases that would work. No, as a matter of fact, I can't think of any right now, but I'm sure there are some!

Highlights of this puzzle for me include:

• 26A: Hardly a tough decision (NO-BRAINER).
• 2D: "C'mon sport, help me out" ("BE A PAL!").
• 18D: Coordinated fan effort at a stadium (THE WAVE).

I once wrote an English paper about THE WAVE. Yep, got away with it too.

Unfortunately, PuzzleDaughter is BarfyDaughter tonight, so I'm gonna try to finish this up and get to bed since I doubt I'll have the opportunity to sleep all the way through the night. Ugh.

Bullets:

• 4A: Slopeside structure (CHALET). This answer can only remind me of one thing today: Girl Scout cookies. Yes, that's right, I'm the Cookie Mom this year. Pretty sure I had some sort of brain damage the day I signed up for that. One of the types of cookies we have here in the DC area (not all Girl Scout troops across the country have all the same cookies — weird, right?) is Lemon Swiss Chalet Cremes. I actually need to get the troop's cookie order in tomorrow so I've been "WGSC: All Girl Scout Cookies All The Time" the last couple days. God help me.
• 15A: Dugouts, e.g. (CANOES). I could not not think about baseball here.

• 24A: Lender's product (BAGEL). I'm not sure I've ever eaten a Lender's bagel, but I've heard of the brand. For some reason, I have in my mind that they're not very good. Of course, once you have an H&H bagel, you're ruined for life.
• 29A: Decelerate (SLOW UP). Who else went "SLOW DO…Hey! It won't fit!" I'm more likely to say "slow down" or "hold up," but SLOW UP strikes me as legit.
• 33A: Words before "Here's to," perhaps (A TOAST). We sure do have a lot of toasting going on around here these days. Skoal! Salud! Here's to, I don't know … SAM (23D: One of the Warner Brothers). (Who knew?)

• 55A: "How Do I Live" singer LeAnn (RIMES). We've talked about this song here before, haven't we? It has my vote for Sappiest Co-Dependent Song of All Time. She's not even singing about having lost her man. She's singing about how bad she would feel if he did leave. Which he hasn't. Drama Queen much?
• 5D: Hesitating sounds (HAWS). Couldn't get past ER and UM in my head, so this one came through crosses. I guess this is like "hemming and HAWing"?
• 9D: Top at the beach (T-SHIRT). I'm fairly confident that I'm not the only one who tried BIKINI here first.

• 10D: St. __ Girl beer (PAULI). You never forget your first girl.
• 39D: Biblical mount (ASS). I literally laughed out loud at this one. My brain was so focused on trying to think of a mountain's name that even with the first two letters in place this didn't come to me immediately. My D'oh moment of the day.
• 40D: Foreign Legion cap (KEPI). Here's the weird thing. I was fairly certain it started with a K, but even now that I see the whole word it doesn't look familiar to me at all. I'm tucking this one away in my brain though. Looks like it might come in handy.

Crosswordese 101 Round-up:

• 14A: DDE opponent (AES).
• 20A: Shimmery sushi fish (OPAH).
• 43A: Nice vacation time? (ÉTÉ).
• 58A: Architect Saarinen (EERO).
• 65A: Canapé topper, perhaps (ROE).
• 52D: Wickerwork willow (OSIER).
• 57D: On the sheltered side (ALEE).

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Everything Else — 1A: Utah Jazz's gp. (NBA); 10A: Sodas (POPS); 16A: Frizzy do (AFRO); 19A: Sci-fi saucers (UFO'S); 21A: Lush (SOT); 22A: Speck in the sea (ISLET); 31A: Dough dispenser, briefly (ATM); 32A: Craps cube (DIE); 36A: Remain unsettled (PEND); 41A: Without accomplices (LONE); 42A: Didn't run the ball (PASSED); 44A: Old word of annoyance (FIE); 46A: Twitches (SPASMS); 50A: Kentucky's state flower (GOLDENROD); 54A: Sacro- ending (ILIAC); 56A: One of a salty seven (SEA); 59A: Start of a coconut cocktail name (PIÑA); 63A: Former Israeli president Weizman (EZER); 64A: Shoelace holder (EYELET); 66A: Corporate freebie (PERK); 67A: Breaks down in English class? (PARSES); 1D: Pooh-bahs (NABOBS); 3D: Cheese from Italy's Veneto region (ASIAGO); 4D: IV amounts (CC'S); 6D: Negatively charged atom (ANION); 7D: Game with scratching (LOTTO); 8D: Treaty of Rome org. (EEC); 11D: Lawbreaker (OFFENDER); 12D: Dietary needs found in beef (PROTEINS); 13D: Titanic signal (SOS); 25D: Bard's instrument (LUTE); 27D: Bubbly soothers (BATHS); 28D: Wine choice (RED); 30D: __ favor: señor's "please" (POR); 34D: According to (AS PER); 35D: Retirement org. (SSA); 36D: One on a bike (PEDALER); 37D: Add an engine to (MOTORIZE); 38D: Quick joke (ONE-LINER); 41D: Hose filler? (LEG); 44D: Giant's first word (FEE); 45D: Arched foot part (INSTEP); 47D: __ Nevada mountain range (SIERRA); 48D: Strand on a 22-Across (MAROON); 49D: Made a basket, say (SCORED); 51D: Old German money, for short (D-MARK); 53D: Antes precede them (DEALS); 59D: Vim (PEP); 61D: Shaggy Scandinavian rug (RYA); 62D: Sci-fi invaders, for short (ET'S).