L.A. Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging

Wednesday December 28, 2011 Don Gagliardo & C.C. Burnikel

Cross posted - with some corrections - at The Corner

Theme:  Knock-knock.  Who's There?.  For good or for ill, the root of many jokes.  Share your favorites in comments.  Theme song No. 1.  Theme song No. 2.  Here, the theme answers end in a word that is synonymous with KNOCK.  Knock can be a forceful physical contact, or severe criticism - as used here.

17. Ice Cube genre : GANGSTA RAP.   Ice Cube is a rap artist.  I will not link.  But OTOH, I will not give him a bad RAP.

25. It's not as bad as the fire, metaphorically : FRYING PAN.  From the FRYING PAN to the fire is just making a bad situation worse.  A critic would PAN that action.

 37. Bases loaded opportunity : GRAND SLAM.  This occurs when you bid and make a contract to take all 13 tricks.  Wait.  Hold on - this is from C.C. so we must have baseball.  That GRAND SLAM is a home run hit with the bases loaded.  Would you SLAM me for referring to bridge?

52. All out : FULL BLAST.  Holding nothing back.  Amping it up to 11.  Blogging this puzzle is a BLAST, so I won't BLAST it.

And the unifier:  61. Start of a joke, eitrher part of which is synonymous with the ends of 17-, 25-, 37- and 52-across : KNOCK-KNOCK.   Who's there?  Jamaican.  Jamaican who?  Jamaican me stand out in the cold.  (I was Jamaican that up.)

Hi gang, it's JazzBumpa, and that's no joke.  Our dynamic - and prolific - duo has come up with another Wednesday challenge.  Are we up to it?

1. Actor Alan: LADD.  We could also include Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor, who married Alan LADD's son David, and kept her married name after their divorce, probably because it's easier to spell.  Actually I think Cheryl is more of a lass. 

5. Vegas draw, with "the" : STRIP.  The L.V. STRIP is a little over 4 miles of Las Vegas Blvd. extending outside the city limits, and home to many tourist attractions. 

10. Pumped ride : BIKE.  You pump up the tires, and peddle it all over town - until you get tired.

14. Cookie shaped like two of its letters : OREO.  I don't know of any cookies shaped like R's and E's

15. Hot and bothered : IRATE.  Angered.  That is one interpretation.  Vide infra.

16. Like some graffiti: Abbr. : ANON.  Anonymous.  Unsigned artwork.

19. Missile in a bar : DART.  This was not intuitively obvious.  But darts are sometimes played in bars.  "Pub" might have been a better clue.

20. Molding that sounds like two letters : OGEE,  Oh, gee, It looks like an "S."

21. "The Big Easy" golfer : ELS.  Ernie.  "Big Easy" is his nickname.  I did not know that.

22. Legal suffix : ESE.  I dont speak legalESE.

23. Faun-like deity : SATYR.  Perpetually hot and bothered mythical goat-man entity.   Knock-knock.  Who's there?  It's a SATYR.  It's a SATYR who?  It's a SATYRday night.  C'mon out and party, you old goat.

28. Size up : EYE-BALL.  This could mean study carefully, ogle, or make a rough visual estimate.  Knock . . . on second thought, we'll let this one go.

30. Prolonged pain : AGONY.  

31. City near Pheonix : MESA.  Also, third largest in the state, after Phoenix and Tucson.  Number 10 is a Surprise.

32. Dog bones destiny, perhaps : BURIAL.  Do dogs really do this, or is it only in cartoons?

36. Macavity creator's monogram: T.S.E.  T.S. Elliott takes us from dogs to CATS.  Macavity is one of the jellicles.  

40. U.S. Airways has one in Phoenix : HUB.  Back to Arizona.  An airline hub is an airport used as a transfer point among major destinations.

43. Sitcom planet people : ORKANS.  In the TV series Mork and Mindy, Mork was from Ork, and Orson was still there.  Knock knock  Who's there.  Mork.  Mork who?  Mork canned laughter - it's TV!  Nanu, nanu!

44. Big name in direct sales : AVON.  Ding-dong. Who's there?  Avon: Purveyor of makeup, skincare, hair care, fragrance, bath and body products, marketed right inside your home (if you let them in), and famous for their trade mark, "AVON calling" tag line. 

48. Pasta pkg. purchase : ONE LB. Oodles of noodles?  Nope, only ONE LB.

50. Fifi's "Wow!" : OOH-LA LA.  From About.com we learn: The French phrase oh là là isn't so much an expression as an interjection. It can indicate surprise, disappointment, commiseration, distress, annoyance... any moderately strong reaction to something that was just said or done. It can be strengthened with additional là's, always in pairs.  I guess WOW! works.  Maybe even in a SATYRical way.

56. Draw a bead on : AIM AT.  EYE BALL the thing in your sights.

57. Hefty sandwich : SUB.  SUBmarine, hoagy, grinder, Dagwood . . .

58. Philosophy : ISM.  Suffix for any belief system, not necessarily philosophical.

59. Ttherefore : ERGO.  We just has this one yesterday, ERGO, the word for the week.

60. Gambit : RUSE.  I wanted PLOY.  Either way, a cunning or devious action used to gain an advantage.

65. Insincere "Very funny!" : HA-HA.  Likely response to a KNOCK-KNOCK joke.

66. Goosebump-inducing : EERIE.  Weird, outre, spooky . . .

67. Morales in movies : ESAI.  One of those movie lads.

68. Lenaof "Chocolat" : OLIN.  Definitely a lass.

69. More than fear : DREAD.  Of something EERIER, perhaps.


70. Actor Bruce  : DERN.  We could include Laura and have a father-daughter acting pair.  Just to bring it full circle, Laura's mother is actress Diane LADD, who is related to Tennessee Williams, but not to Alan LADD.  Can't keep them straight without a program.

Down

1. Regular record : LOG.  A ship's captain, frex., would make daily entries in the ship's LOG

2. Palindromic Altar : ARA is Latin for Altar, it is one of the 48 constellations described in the 2nd Century by Ptolemy, and one of the 88 recognized by the International Astronomy Union.   

3. Indicates : DENOTES.  Frex: the fourth line on the treble clef DENOTES D notes.

4. Takeout request : DOGGY BAG.  For taking left overs. out of the restaurant  I just ask for a box.

5. Online destination : SITE.  Like this blog.  I like this blog.

6. Singing syllable : TRA.  Nonsense non-word, sometimes found in songs.

7. Harder to find : RARER.

8. Apennines locate : ITALY.   The mountainous backbone of the Italian peninsula.

9. Soft drink choice: PEPSI. Some chose Coke. 

10. Good for noting : BAD EGG.  Probbl not as bad as an evil doer, villain,or  black hat.

11. Up the creek : IN A SPOT.  Or in a fix. 

12. Seoul mates? : KOREANS.  Seoul is the capital of Korea.    So, is the Korean National Anthem Seoul Music?

13. Tonsillitis M.D. : E.N.T.  Ears, Nose and Throat specialist.  M.D. is a hint that the answer will be an abbreviation.

18. Fluids in shots : SERA.  Plural of serum

23. Divinity sch. : SEM.  Semenary.  'Nother Abbrv.

24. Seamans' agreement : AYE.  Nautical talk for "Yes."

25. Fail : FLUNK. 

26. Disney lioness : NALA.  From The Lion King.

27. "Science Guy" Bill : NYE.  He explained everything.

29. Angle iron : L-BAR.  Is this better than I-Bar?

33. Old vitamin no. : R.D.A. Recommended Daily Allowance Now it's D.V. - Daily Value.

34. Playground retort : IS NOT.  Is too.  Is not . . .

35. To boot : ALSO.

38. Lynda Bird's married name : ROBB.  President Johnson's elder daughter Linda married Marine Captain Charles Robb after being engaged to Bernard Rosenbach, whom she dropped to date actor George Hamilton.  Robb went on to be Lieutenant Governor and then Governor of Virginia, and later two-term senator from Virginia.

39. Bad-mouthed : MALIGNED.  A bonus synonym for KNOCKED.

40. Pro football's is in Canton, Oh. : H.O.F.   Hall Of Fame.

41. Strange : UNUSUAL.  Less than EERIE.

42. "The Blues Brothers" co-star : BELUSHI.  Famous Chicago Blues Men.

45. "Scram!" : VAMOOSE.  Get outta here! A corruption of Spanish vamanos.

46. Pay extension? : OLA.  A suffix.  PayOLA was an illegal scheme to bribe radio stations to plug certain pop music songs, back in the 50's.

47. Old "King" Cole : NAT.  Yes, he was called "King" back in the day.  Can't pass up the chance to show him a little LOVE.  (From his last recording session.)

49. J.Crew rival : L.L. BEAN.  Mail order clothing and accessories.

51. "Listen!" : HARK.  Pay attention!

53. Went for : LIKED.

54. Actor with seven Emmys : ASNER.  Ed.  He was great as Lou Grant.

55. Gooey treat : S'MORE.  Toasted marshmallow and a chocolate square tucked between graham crackers.  One good way to get sticky fingers.

59. Squeezed (out) : EKED.   This frequently gets squeezed into crossword puzzles.

60. P, to Plato : RHO.  The Greek letter RHO looks like a "P", but is really an "R."  Confused?  This should be easy as PI.

62. "The Company," briefly : CIA.  A TV miniseries from 2007 about the Central Intelligence Agency's operations over the decades following WW II.

63. Golf, for one. : CAR.  Automobile - a Volkswagen, to be specific.

64. Mom and pop : KIN.  In our family, it's all relative.

Well, that about RAPs it up.  Hope you had a BLAST like I did.

Cheers!

JzB

Here is a note from C. C. 

"Our original unifier for this puzzle is SMEAR CAMPAIGN (to be placed in the very middle of the grid). Rich felt SMEAR has an indication of falseness in it, while our other criticism words do not. He suggested "knock". Don and I went with KNOCK KNOCK and revised our other theme entries."