Wednesday September 2, 2009 Jerome Gunderson

Theme: O Brother - Two pairs of aptly described, first name swapped names.

18A: "Little" comedian's big brother? HULK HERMAN. "Little" comedian here refers PEE-WEE HERMAN, the only fictional character among the four base theme entries. Big = HULK.

26A: "Big" wrestler's little brother?: PEEWEE HOGAN. "Big" wrestler refers to pro wrestler HULK HOGAN. Little = PEEWEE.

44A: "Thin" character actor's big brother?: FATS PICKENS. "Thin" character actor refers to actor SLIM PICKENS. Big = FATS? FAT?

56A: "Heavy" R & B singer's little brother?: SLIM DOMINO. "Heavy" R & B singer refers to singer FATS DOMINO. Little = SLIM.

I've never heard of SLIM PICKENS. Wikipedia says his most famous role was a pilot in "Dr. Strangelove". I actually misinterpreted his surname as SPICKENS, as Big = FAT to me.

Why are "Little", "Big", "Thin" & "Heavy" in quotation marks? Shouldn't the question mark at the end of each clue be sufficient enough to indicate wordplay?

This puzzle reminded me of Arnold Schwarzenegger & Danny DeVito's "Twins", silly fun.

Across:

1A: PDQ relative: ASAP. Or STAT, to a doctor.

5A: Violin virtuoso Zimbalist: EFREM. Zimbalist Sr. He and soprano Alma Gluck had a son: actor Zimbalist Jr. I can never remember his name. Hebrew for "fruitful".

14A: "To Sir With Love" singer: LULU. Wow, I want to drink from the same Fountain of Youth as she does. Beautiful.

15A: Decorative sofa fabric: TOILE. French for "cloth". Often sheer and scenically patterned.

16A: Dagger handle: HILT. Sometimes it's HAFT.

20A: Blink later than, in a contest: OUTSTARE.

22A: Scooter favored by '60 British mods: VESPA. Must be the influence of "Roman Holiday".

23A: "That __ hay!": AIN'T. No idea. Dictionary says it means "That's a great deal". Can you make a sentence for me?

33A: Homeric epic: ILIAD. Odyssey too.

37A: Streaker with a tail: COMET. Cute.

42A: Tabloid creature: ALIEN

48A: Conscription category: ONE A

49A: Words of sympathy: I CARE. And MEH (9D: Slangy word of indifference).

52A: Trivial: PIDDLING

60A: Put in the hold: LADE. "Hold" here refers to the space in a ship below the lower deck, in which cargo is stowed.

61A: Piebald horse: PINTO. "Piebald" is a new word to me. It means patched, esp in black and white.

62A: River through Saint Petersburg: NEVA. Pronounced like NEE-vuh. I got the river from Down fills. It's the third largest river in Europe in terms of average discharge (after the Volga and the Danube). It flows to the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea.

64A: Libidinous deity: SATYR. The horse-tailed MOREL guy with perpetual erection.

65A: State, to Sarkozy: ETAT. Nice alliteration. Sarkozy is the current French president, with enormous vanity.

Down:

2D: "Star Trek" navigator: SULU. Ah, I confused him with Han SOLO of the "Star Wars".

4D: Saves: PUTS AWAY

5D: Odorless gas: ETHANE

6D: Stick shift gear: FOURTH. No idea. Have never driven a stick shift car.

8D: Yellowstone grazer: ELK

12D: Brouhaha: FLAP. The answer is often TO-DO.

13D: Europe's highest active volcano: ETNA. Good trivia. ETNA is Greek for "I burn".

19D: It's what's happening: EVENT

21D: Made, as a knot: TIED

24D: Decoratively curved molding: OGEE. Hi, buddy, nice to see you back.

26D: Pie serving: PIECE. Thought of SLICE.

28D: Sea duck with prized plumage: EIDER

29D: "American Me" actor/director Edward James __: OLMOS. Unknown to me. He is a Mexican-American. OLMOS sounds German. Have never heard of "American Me" either.

30D: Courage, in Slang: MOXIE

31D: Senator Specter: ARLEN. Now a Democrat (PA). Just flip-flopped a few months ago.

39D: Like some batteries: ALKALINE. Baseball HOFer AL KALINE is probably a bit tough for non-baseball fans.

41D: Rubbed out, gangster style: OFFED. Both slang for "murdered".

45D: Like a spitz's ears: POINTY. Wanted POINTED. Spitz is German for "pointed".

46D: Not alfresco: INDOOR

47D: Packing heat: ARMED. Heat is a slang for gun.

49D: Key: ISLE. Like Florida Keys. I thought the clue was asking for an adjective.

50D: Modeling medium: CLAY. For potters. Another alliteration.

52D: Pub order: PINT

53D: Hip-hopper born Tracy Marrow: ICE-T. Gimme, right? We've seen identical clue before.

57D: Special __: military force: OPS. Special Operations.

Two announcements:

1) Argyle will blog Monday and Tuesday puzzles from now on.

2) Please email me at crosswordc@gmail.com if you have family photos to share. Thanks.

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is a great photo of our fellow LAT solver Chickie and her husband. It was taken in Germany at a Scientific Library in Berlin two summers' ago. Chickie is a retired primary teacher who taught Primary Grades for over 30 years. She loves sewing & knitting & reading.

C.C.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009 Sharon E. Petersen

Theme: WILD (68A: Untamed, and word that can precede the starts of 17- and 61-Across and 11-and 28-Down)

17A: Stealthy felon: (WILD) CAT BURGLAR

61A: Apartment building emergency exit: (WILD) FIRE ESCAPE

11D: Wedding party tyke: (WILD) FLOWER GIRL

28D: Boating safety feature: (WILD) LIFE JACKET

Argyle here.

I hope everybody escapes those wild fires out west. The French girl in Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief" is probably the most famous CAT BURGLAR.

Quite a few long non-theme entries in this grid, four of them are nice double words.

Across:

1A: Wordsworth work: POEM. William Wordsworth,1770 – 1850, was a major English Romantic poet who England's Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death. Perhaps Clear Ayes can pick a selection of his poems for us.

5A: Pipe organ knobs: STOPS. Without getting too technical, the use of stops enables the organist to produce different sounds.

10A: Calif. cop org.: SFPD. San Francisco Police Department, where Dirty Harry worked.

14A: __ snuff: UP TO.

15A: Birdie beater: EAGLE. Golf terms: birdie, one under par; EAGLE, two under par.

16A: Ballerina's bend: PLIE. Oh. From this clip, it appears the bend they speak of, is the knees and not the waist.

19A: Very small amount: IOTA.

20A: Friend of Jerry and George: ELAINE. Characters from the Seinfeld TV show; they left out Cosmo.

21A: Tonsillitis MD: ENT. Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist.

22A: McGregor of "Angels & Demons": EWAN. He looks intense.

23A: Anderson of "WKRP in Cincinnati": LONI. She portrayed the receptionist.

25A: Cannes cup: TASSE. French.

27A: Flamenco yell: OLE. Spanish

29A: Elementary school basics: ABC'S. English

31A: Left ventricle outlet: AORTA.

34A: "__ Old Man": kids song: THIS. Dylan!?!

35A: "Gloria in Excelsis __'': DEO. "Glory to God in the highest"

36A: The Greeks' Helios, e.g.: SUN GOD. The Romans called him Sol.

37A: Battle of Britain defense gp.: RAF. Royal Air Force.

38A: "Oh, be serious!": GET REAL.

40A: Call __ day: IT A.

41A: Sports spots: ARENAS.

43A: Like Paree, in song: GAY. It turns out, finding GAY Paree, in song, is difficult!

44A: Jam-pack: CRAM.

45A: Captain's superior: MAJOR. But not so if it's a naval Captain, then it would be Admiral.

46A: Grab bag category: Abbr.: MISC.

47A: Heart and soul: ALL.

48A: Pie fruit: APPLE.

50A: So: THUS.

52A: Table salt, to a chemist: NACL. Sodium Chloride, NaCl

54A: Lupino of film: IDA. "Lupino was born in Camberwell, London, allegedly under a table during a World War I zeppelin raid." Betcha' didn't know that.

56A: "Sleepless in Seattle" director Nora: EPHRON. She is a triple nominee for the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay; for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in Seattle. Update: She wrote and directed Julie & Julia.

60A: __-Seltzer: ALKA.

63A: Blueprint detail, briefly: SPEC.

64A: White-tie accompanier: TAILS.

65A: Finished: OVER.

66A: Handy bag: TOTE.

67A: Sidewinder, e.g.: SNAKE. Called a sidewinder for their mode of transportation; they don't slither.

Down:

1D: Dark purple: PUCE. How is it different from plum?

2D: October gemstone: OPAL. And its symmetrical partner is OPEL (58D: European auto).

3D: James of jazz: ETTA.

4D: Art pieces that hang from the ceiling: MOBILES.

5D: Woos with song: SERENADES. Preferably, from below the balcony.

6D: Game with an "it": TAG.

7D: Stare at obviously: OGLE.

8D: Herbs and shrubs: PLANTS.

9D: Big name in mattresses: SERTA. Nation wide?

10D: Watches secretly: SPIES ON.

12D: Bread with tabbouleh: PITA. Tabbouleh is a salad dish (primary ingredients are finely chopped parsley, bulgur, mint, tomato, scallion (spring onion), and other herbs with lemon juice, olive oil and various seasonings, generally including black pepper and sometimes cinnamon and allspice) often served with PITA bread.

13D: Martin of the Rat Pack: DEAN. Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., DEAN Martin, Joey Bishop & Peter Lawford were known as The Rat Pack. They ruled Las Vegas and Hollywood during the 1950's-1960's.

18D: Family card game: UNO.

24D: "Not likely!": I BET.

26D: Nobelist Bellow: SAUL. SAUL Bellow, 1915 – 2005. In the words of the Swedish Nobel Committee, his writing exhibited "exuberant ideas, flashing irony, hilarious comedy and burning compassion...." For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only writer to have won the National Book Award three times, and the only writer to have been nominated for it six times. (I feel terrible, I haven't read any of his works.)

27D: Butler's love: O'HARA. Rhett Butler and Scarlet O'HARA, from Gone with the Wind.

30D: Short-legged Welsh pooch: CORGI.

32D: Do sum work: TOTAL.

33D: First mate?: ADAM. First man? First Dad? First grandpa? Etc.

34D: Streetcar cousin : TRAM.

36D: Photographer's request: SAY CHEESE.

38D: "The World According to __": John Irving novel: GARP. It was made into a movie starring Robin Williams.

39D: Cheyenne-to-Omaha direction: EAST. Nice change from the three letter directions we often get.

42D: "There's __ like home": NO PLACE. That would be Kansas, for Dorothy Gale.

44D: Consistent moneymaker: CASH COW. A dairy cow that produces milk over the course of its life and requires little maintenance is a cash cow. So a business, product or asset that, once acquired and paid off will produce consistent cash flow over its lifespan is known as a CASH COW.

46D: Middle of the road: MEDIAN. The center of a divided highway is known as the MEDIAN strip.

49D: Picks up: LIFTS.

51D: Favorable times: UPS.

52D: Democrat's donkey designer: NAST. Also the designer for the GOP elephant.

53D: Chop House dog food maker: ALPO.

55D: Diva's solo: ARIA.

57D: Sitarist Shankar: RAVI. Father of Norah Jones.

59D: Uncool sort: NERD.

62D: Moose, to a European: ELK.

Ever since I got high speed internet service, I think I try to do too much and then get burned out. Sometimes it is hard to know when to make a FULL STOP. ( ;-)>

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is great photo of our fellow LAT solver Warren and his lovely wife Ruth at a Lake Tahoe sail boat ride a few years ago. They solve puzzle together every day. Warren is an excellent researcher and he likes to use question mark in his comments.

Argyle