L.A. Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging

Cross-posted at The Corner.

Wed, Sept 14, 2011 Don Gagliardo & C.C. Burnikel 

Theme.  Lettering in Wheel.   Of.   Fortune.   Or: And sometimes Y -- but not this time.  The final letter of the final word of each asterisked theme answer is a vowel, the item bought on that TV Game Show that I never watched.  And, at no extra charge, they're presented in alphabetical order!

17. *"The Music Man" number : GARY INDIANA.   Gary -  Gimme an A!

21. *Sweet stocking stuffer : CANDY CANE.  All I want for Christmas is an E!

34. *Lead singer in No Doubt's hit "Don't Speak" : GWEN STEFANI.  Don't speak - just gimme an I!

42. *Instrument using rolls : PLAYER PIANO.  Roll me an O!

52. *Seven-time Grammy-winning jazz singer : AL JARREAU.  You, Al - gimme a U!

And the unifier -- 62. Words in a classic game show that can be followed by the ends of the answers to starred clues : I'D LIKE TO BUY . . .  all of the above.

Hi, gang - JazzBumpa here.  Quite a technical tour de force by our prolific and dynamic duo.  Six theme entries, with the unifier, all of 10 or 11 letters.   Lots of music to link, too.

Let's have AT IT!

1. Wasn't renewed : LAPSED. Like a magazine subscription.  Anybody remember them?

7. Fiend's tail? : ISH.  A feindISHly clever affix clue.

10. Biographical datum : AGE.  Or a closely guarded secret.  I'm 39 for the 25th time.

13. World Cup chant : OLE! OLE!  The old corrida cheer doubled.  Evidently, it is not derived from the Spanish verb OLER, meaning "to smell;" else it would mean, "You smell! You smell!"  Lucina?

14. They're "high" but not dry : SEAS.  Clever clue for the high SEAS.

16. Little shaver : LAD.  I didn't shave until I was in the 8th grade.

19. Ginormous : BIG.  The LW uses this word to describe really amazingly, hugely big things, like that spider she saw in the garage yesterday.

20. Early computer : ENIAC.  Developed in WW II to compute trajectories for ordnance.

23. Not quite a compulsion : ITCH.  I thought about going to Japan, but didn't have the Yen to travel.

25. W-2 info: Abbr. : SSN.  Social Security Number.  Keep it secure from identity thieves.

26. Perceptive : ASTUTE.

30. Predecessor of 33-Down : JOHNSON.  Robert JOHNSON, b 1911, was a blues singer before Marnie Nixon was even born (1930).

37. Bee fore? : API.  Clever word play in another devious affix clue.   API is found at the beginning of words like APIARY, which is home to bees, not apes.

38. Plate in a park : HOME.  Baseball, of course.  Hi-ya, C.C.   I'm watching the Tigers flatten the White Sox - again! 5-0 final, and another win for Verlander.

39. Took by the hand : LED.  Astray, for example.

40. Aptly named movie channel : FLIX.   A cable channel brought to you by Showtime.

41. Ernst contemporary : ARP.   Someday, I will remember him.

46. Grab ahold of, as an idea : SEIZE ON.  Carpe brainstorm.

48. Cross to bear : BURDEN.  That's a load.

49. Trivial amount : SOU.  An old French coin.  Must not have been worth much.

50. Sandbox sight : PAIL.

56. Tibetan capital : LHASA 

61. Showy wrap : BOA.  A long skinny scarf.

64. Lumber tree : ELM.  In days of yore.

65. Geological time division : AEON.  Rocks are very patient.

66. Fare-minded one? : CABBIE.  The charge for riding in a cab is a fare.   More cleverness

67. Family pooch : LAB.  One possibility among many.

68. Command to a 67-Across : SIT.  Stay.  Shake. Roll over.

69. WWII fleet : U-BOATS.  German submarines - Untersee Boots. 

Down

1. Prime seating : LOGE.  A theater box, and a learning moment for me

2. Rickman of Harry Potter films : ALAN.  Professor Severus Snape.  Complex character.

3. Prefix with meter : PERI.  A straight-forward affix clue.  No beating around the PERIMETER here.

4. Miso bean : SOYA.  Simply soy beans to us 'Muricuns

5. Extracts : ELICITS.  Draws out a comment or response.

6. Place to relax : DEN.  As long as there are no lions - and that's the truth!

7. Hoops legend Thomas : ISIAH.  Of the Detroit Pistons

8. Penn of "Milk" : SEAN.  Movie about a murdered politician

9. Like computer lab learning : HANDS ON.  As opposed to book larnin'

10. Goya's "Duchess of __" : ALBA.  Sorry.  Can't resist.

11. Put on a spare tire? : GAIN.  Very clever.  Not those round Dunlops on your car, but that other round thing that done lops over your belt. 

12. Upper hand : EDGE 

15. Greets someone with more than a nod : SAYS "HI"

18. LXX x X : DCC.  The old Roman 700 club.  Or, initially speaking, our dynamic duo, in an Alfred Hitchcock moment.

22. MSNBC rival : CNN.  Cable TV news channels.

24. Vietnamese holiday marking the arrival of spring : TET.

26. Ottoman big shots : AGHAS.  The H threw me. 

27. Talked a blue streak? : SWORE.  A fast string of blue words, no doubt.  More cleverness.

28. Musical speeds : TEMPI.  Presto, larghetto, etc.

29. French article : UNE.

30. Shade of green : JADE.

1. Leaves for lunch? : SALAD.  I love this clue.  Lettuce have more cleverness!

32. Speak one's mind : OPINE.  Which I do occasionally all the time.

33. Successor to 30-Across : NIXON.  Marnie Nixon was a singer who's voice was dubbed in for actresses of lesser vocal ability, like Marilyn Monroe, Debra Kerr, and Audrey Hepburn.  Actually, though they were both singers, it's kind of hard to understand in what sense Robert Johnson was Marnie Nixon's predecessor.  Maybe it's supposed to be these happy fellows.

35. Pizazz : ELAN.  Lots of ELAN in this puzzle.

36. Tina of "30 Rock" : FEY.  Funny Lady.

40. Tree often brought into the house : FIR.  At Christmas time.

42. Illinois River port : PEORIA.  A city 161 Mi (260km) from GARY, INDIANA

43. French pilgrimage site : LOURDES.  The site of miraculous cures.

44. DH's stat : RBI.  Run's Batted In.  Victor Martinez is close to 100.

45. Can opener : PULL TAB.  Pop, pop - fizz, fizz.

47. When doubled, sister of Eva : ZSA.  Not my favorite Hungarian girl, by half.

50. A stripper takes it off : PAINT.  I love this clue, but hate using the nasty stuff.

51. Arctic diver : AUK.  If a penguin could fly, it would be an AUK.  Actually, they are not closely related.

52. Genesis shepherd : ABEL. He annoyed his older brother, a farmer, and was then fatally Cained.  

53. 1970 Kinks classic : LOLA.  Things got a bit crossed up.

54. It's perpendicular to a threshold : JAMB.  The side of a door frame.

55. "The Time Machine" race : ELOI. Always a favorite here at The Corner.

57. Vagabond : HOBO.   From the other great depression.

58. "Take a Chance on Me" quartet : ABBA. Take a chance on a link.

59. Dressy duds : SUIT.  Except on your birthday.

60. Thumbs-up votes : AYES.  Any thumbs-up for this puzzle?

63. Former French coin : ECU.  Of more value than a SOU, I suppose.

Fun romp, IMHO, worth a thumbs up and an ECU or two.

Constructor's notes from C.C. and Don:

Don came up with this theme. Our original unifier is PURCHASE, partnering up with a 9-letter TOP BANANA. Rich did not feel PURCHASE is a strong closer and suggested a more proper 11-letter I'D LIKE TO BUY. Then we made a wholesale change of all our theme entries. We tried but failed to find a short and common ANI ending phrase, so we settled down on GWEN STEFANI. It was a fun challenge to see if we could arrange six theme entries with four 11-letters long. We hope you enjoy our work.