L.A. Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging

Friday September 10, 2010   John McInturff

Theme:  EY DROPS.   The letters EY are dropped from the end of the first word of easily recognizable phrases, to yield a new phrase with a comical twist.

A 20. Faultfinding brother? : MONK ON ONE'S BACK. Monkey on one's back. This expression goes back to ancient Egypt, originally meaning a guiding spirit or source of inspiration. More recently, it's some sort of burden, affliction, or addiction. I wanted a sibling brother, but a MONK will do just fine.

A 29. Debris in the hayloft? : BARN RUBBLE. Barney Rubble, Fred Flintstone's pal.

A 38. Impervious to chutzpah? : GALLPROOF. This one's my favorite.  Galley proof: the final proof copy of a page being typeset for printing, before it is set as a page of a book or booklet. 

A 50. What Michelle Kwan might do in a financial emergency? : HOCK SKATES. Hockey skates: essential hardware for the Buffalo Sabres.  Somehow, I don't think Michelle will ever be in that position.

A 59. Haystack-hiding Ottoman? : TURK IN THE STRAW. Turkey In The Straw.  Musical Americana.

No unifier, but five brilliant theme entries, two of them almost grid-spanning, along with ten 7-letter answers.  Wow!

Hi gang, Jazzbumpa here, aka JzB, more formally, Mr. Bumpa, or just plain Bumpa to my 11 favorite youngsters. But you can call me Ron.

This is a hard puzzle, and I never got on John McInturff's wave length. Even after I sussed the theme, I couldn't get TURK IN THE STRAW, due to errors in the perps. So, I was reduced to technical assistance for many requested answers.



Across

1. Spread __ : EAGLE.  An unincorporated community in Wisconsin.  Or this pose.  You can search Google images for many interesting variations.

6. Rises to great heights : SOARS.  Like an EAGLE.

11. Short nightwear? : PJS.  "Short" indicating an abbreviation. Here is one of the more demurre images.

14. Series : ARRAY.   Each is a systematic arrangement of things.

15. Speedpass brand : EXXON.   I don't use a gas station Speedpass, so the scrabbly answer had to slowly reveal itself.

16. Space in time : LAG.   Clever, and it left me behind.   Here is my favorite example.

17. "Big Girl in the Middle" co-author Gabrielle : REECE.  American professional volleyball player, sports announcer, fashion model and actress.
 
18. Longtime DieHard rival : DELCO.  Car batteries.  Any reference to yesterday's reversals?

19. Fake it : ACT. and
54. Pretense : POSE.  Which do you think is pretending?

23. Spat end : ULA.  You all know how I love this kind of clue for an affix.  It's my affixiation.

24. Carmelite, e.g. : NUN.  Very easy for a simple Catholic boy from Toledo.  Clearly, a fun-loving bunch.

25. Daughter of Laban : LEAH.  Jacob loved Rachel, but on the wedding day, sneaky Laban substituted her older sister, LEAH.  Jacob coped as best he could, and LEAH bore him six sons.

27. Lighten up : FADE.  Nice misdirection here.  I was expecting frivolity, and instead got bleach.

34. Shivering causes : FEARS.  Aha - this is what made the Shakers shake!  But what were they afraid of?

36. Each : A POP.  I never care much for this equivalence.  But the free disctionary includes it waaaaayyy down the page..

37. WWII intelligence gp. : OSS.  Office of Strategic Services - precursor of the CIA.  Abrv in cl & ans.

42. Jordan was part of it: Abbr. : NBA.   Aha! Michael Jordan, former star in the National Basketball Association.

45. Dreamcast maker : SEGA.   Now, John is just playing with us.

46. Dona __ pacem: grant us peace : NOBIS.   (Lord) grant us peace, in Latin.  Very easy for a simple boomer Catholic boy from Toledo.  But, alas, this often-uttered prayer seldom yields the requested answers.


55. First daughter of the '60s : LUCI.  Lucy (later LUCI) Baines Johnson, one of several LBJ's in the late 60's first family.  Born after me with a LAG of about 28 weeks and raised Episcopalian, she converted to Catholicism at age 18.  Since I had not yet given it up, we had something in common for awhile.

56. Boomer's kid : XER.  For us, X = 4.

58. Basso Berberian : ARA.  An opera singer born in Detroit in 1930.   Way too early to be a boomer.

65. MGM motto word : ARS.  The MGM motto is "Ars Gratia Artis," meaning "Art for Art's sake."   They lifted it from France's 19th-century bohemians, who inexplicably spoke Latin.

66. D-Day beach : OMAHA.  From WWII, and a puzzle echo from earlier in the week.  "Pzzecho" anyone?

67. Wedding memento : VIDEO.  Like anyone is EVER going to watch it again.

68. Blow without distinction? : JOE.  This baffled me completely.  Has John McInturff ever heard me play?  But JOE Blow is just an ordinary guy.

69. Not fresh : BANAL.  Not much that's BANAL in this fresh puzzle.

70. Green shampoo : PRELL.  It's been around for a long time.  Anybody remember White Rain?

71. Balaam's beast : ASS.  Balaam and his ass didn't get along very well.  This was one of the rare (at the time) talking asses.

72. Radiate : EXUDE.  Only sort of.  More of an oozing kind of radiation.

73. Finishing stroke : SERIF.  A short line at the end of a main stroke of a character.

DOWN

1. Canal protector : EARMUFF.  I see.  Ear canal.  If anyone tries to put a bug in your ear, use protection.  Or ear drops.

2. Colorful rings : AREOLAE.  A Crossword Corner Classic.

3. Caribbean island nation : GRENADA.   In the Caribbean - wow.  I had not idea atoll.

4. Dearth : LACK.  No lack of EY drops today.

5. "__ America Tour": 2006 CBS News event : EYE ON.   EYE ON America.  I've never eyed it.  But in keeping with the theme, it should be aired for an EON.

6. Arizona's "Red Rocks Country" : SEDONA.  I'll let one of our travelers fill us in.

7. Team members : OXEN.  Not the smart team.

8. Wheelset component : AXLE. 

9. Mythical birds : ROCS.  Big and powerful.

10. Arty type, maybe : SNOB.   We have art SNOBs, wine SNOBs, and just plain SNOBs.

11. Controversial testing component : PLACEBO.   A fake pill POSing as medication, either to fool the patient into feeling better or to ACT as a control in an experimental trial.  I guess the controversy comes from not giving the control group anything that will actually help them.

12. Nocturnal scavengers : JACKALS.  Wild African canines. Not to be confused with these.

13. Friday was one: Abbr. : SGT.  Police Sgt. Friday from the old Dragnet TV show, or the 1987 movie.

21. Heart : NUB.  Besides heart, NUB can also mean a protuberance, small lump, or remnant.  My favorite William Gass Story is "In the Nub of the Nub of the Country."


22. Tirana is its cap. : ALB.  Tirana, ALBANIA.  N.B. use of Abbrv. And --
39. Coin in Tirana : LEK. The other Albanian Capital,  Legal tender for all debts public and private, I assume, and a clecho.


26. Stars of "Two and a Half Men," e.g. : HES.   Just a couple of Joe Blows, I guess.


28. Work unit : ERG.  This is the work done by a force of one dyne acting over a distance of one centimeter, roughly equivalent to one fly doing one push-up.. 

30. Knock on : RAP AT.  Knock knock.  Who's there?  Friend of Pooh.   Friend of Pooh who?  Hey - don't poo-hoo me!

31. "Fresh Air" airer : NPR.  National Public Radio.

32. Friend of Pooh : ROO.  ROO, that's who!  (And Tigger, too.)

33. Knowledgeable about : UP ON. 

35. Reason for grounding, perhaps : SASS.  But, maybe children who are well grounded are less likely to SASS.   Or as Shreck said, "SASS, my ASS!"


40. Airport near Citi Field, briefly : LGA.  Laguardia, airport near the home of the N.Y. Mets.  I can't keep track of the commercial names for stadia.  "Briefly" again indicates an Abbrv.

41. Dandy : FOP.  Overdressed, not an ordinary guy.  Also not like the ones in the previous link.

42. Sabres' org. : NHL.  Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League.  'Nother Abrv.

43. Former U.N. secretary-general __-Ghali : BOUTROS.  Golly - I knew his name, but had to guess at how it was spelt.

44. Charges : ACCUSES.  In a legal sense.  Otherwise, I'd run up too many ACCUSES on my credit card.

47. One taken in : BOARDER.  I was not taken in by this tricky clue.  Were you?

48. Sharon, notably : ISRAELI.  Ariel Sharon was in the Israeli army from 1948 on, served in various government positions in the 70's and 90's and served as Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006.  Not a BANAL life, by any means.

49. London classic, with "The" : SEAWOLF.  A Jack London story, about which I know notihng.

51. Cassis apéritif : KIR.  Creme de Cassis is a  blackcurrant liqueur.  For a KIR, take a measure of C de C, and top it off with white wine.

52. Yoga command : EXHALE.  Don't forget to breath!

53. Date : SEE.  This evidently does not apply to blind dates.

57. Requested answers : RSVPS.  Répondez s'il vous plaît, French for "Please respond."   We should add this to "Dona NOBIS Pacem!"

60. Eastern beef city : KOBE.  Far East.  KOBE is a city in Japan, noted for its beef.

61. It gives you the big picture : IMAX.  A motion picture and projection format using a big, big screen, from the Canadian Company IMAX Corp..

62. Half a sitcom signoff : NANU.  From the TV show Mork and Mindy, featuring Robin Williams and the ever-cute Pam Dawber.  Shazbots!  My love for "Half a" clues is right up there with affixes.  The perfect one would be "Half a' affix."

63. Ohio State basketball coach Matta : THAD.  Ohio State plays basketball?  Who knew?  Not me.  I tried CHAD.

64. Flag : TIRE.  This is one of the less common meanings of flag.  It is now 1:20 a.m. EST, and I am flagging.  Do you think TIRE football will ever catch on?

65. Grammy-winning Steely Dan album : AJA.  Aha!  It's pronounced "Asia!"   Sophisticated pop from Becker and Fagan.  I'd play it for you, but Ricky lost that number.

Cheers!
JzB

Crossposted at the Crossword Corner.