L.A. Time CrossWord Puzzle Blogging

 Wednesday, February 22 2012  Gareth Bain

 Theme: Walt and Oscar make Beautiful music.   Five (!) theme answers are Best Song Oscar winners from Disney animated movies.  Two of them grid spanning, two are almost, and the middle one misses only by two.  Wow.  I had no idea.

A 17. Best Original Song Oscar winner from ... Disney's "Pocahontas" : COLORS OF THE WIND.    Who is the savage?

A 23. ... Disney's "Aladdin" : A WHOLE NEW WORLD.  Magic Carpet Ride.

A 39. ... Disney's "Song of the South" : ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH.  Mr. Bluebird's on my shoulder.


 A 53. ... Disney's "Mary Poppins" : CHIM CHIM CHER-EE.  Are you feeling lucky?


 A 61. ... Disney's "Monsters, Inc." : IF I DIDN'T HAVE YOU.  Those dreams do come true.

Hi. gang.  Jazzbumpa here.  It's my pleasure to take you on a wonderful musical adventure today.  There was a time when Gareth and I were joined at the virtual interface - just by chance, each of my blogging dates lined up with his puzzle publications.  I think we hit three in a row that way.  But this is our first meeting since then, and it's been far too long.  Let's segue right into the action.



1. '50s-'60s Bronx Bombers nickname, with "The" : MICK.  Mickey Mantle - not Mouse.  Takes me back to my youth.  Also a nice baseball entry for our lovely hostess.   His cards are collectable.

5. South Seas tuber : TARO.  This starchy tuber is a common food in Oceania.  The raw tuber is toxic. 

9. Oceans : RAFTS.  A secondary meaning for both words is a large quantity.  Extra credit for crossing the ocean on a RAFT.

14. Like the team before @, on schedules : AWAY.  The visiting team in a sporting event, like the Red Wings who went down 2-1 in Chicago. Dang!

15. Not much : A BIT.  Neither an ocean nor a raft.

16. Hotel courts : ATRIA.  Plural of ATRIUM - an open court, often several stories high.  ATRIA are also heart chambers.  There is a hotel chain called ATRIA in India.  I want to hear Tony Bennett sing "I Left My Heart in Banglore." 

20. Little one : TOT.

21. __-tzu : LAO.  One of many variant spellings for the name of the author of the Tao Te Ching.  He said, "A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving."  But I'll bet he always appreciates a nice ATRIUM.

22. On the calmer side : ALEE.  The side of the boat that is sheltered from the wind, no matter what color.

28. Headache : WOE.  A bit of an oblique meaning, I think.  But in my exprience, a headache truly is a WOEful thing.

29. WSJ headline : LBO.  Leveraged Buy Out.  The specialty of vulture capitalists.  Note Abbrv. in cl. & ans.

30. __ rock: music genre : ALT. Alternative.  What - no abbrv?!?  My daughter was an alternative music fan before she came out of the country closet. (sigh)

31. Faux pas : NO NO.  A mistake, or a taboo.  No, No, Nanette, thou shalt not faux upon thy pas.  Why not?   Je ne sais pas!

33. Bars with hidden prices? : UPC.  Not a tavern with a mystery tab.   Universal Price Code.  TRES clever. 

35. Evensong? : TAPS.  Back to my youth again.  This signaled the end of the day at Boy Scout Camp.

43. Wed. vis-à-vis Thu. : YEST.  YEST?  Do you jest?  Can't find this abbrv for YESTERDAY on The Google.

44. Reed of The Velvet Underground : LOU.  Doot-doot. Doot-doot-da-doot-doot-doot.

45. Expel, as lava : SPEW.

47. Western treaty gp. : OAS.. Organization of American States. 

50. Periods prec. soccer shootouts : OTS.  Over Times precede shootouts.  Sadly, this aberration has also infested hockey. 

52. Before, poetically : ERE.  Abel was I ERE I got Cained.

58. French city mostly destroyed in 1944 : CAEN.  The ravages of war.

59. Golf's Woosnam : IAN.  Not a golf fan, so this seems a bit obscure.  Is Gareth giving us a rough time, or is he treating us in a fair way?

60. Tyler of "Jersey Girl" : LIV.  I always think of her as Arwen Undomiel.

67. Athena's shield : AEGIS.  The handiwork of Hephaestus, blacksmith to the gods.  "...and among them went bright-eyed Athene, holding the precious AEGIS which is ageless and immortal: a hundred tassels of pure gold hang fluttering from it, tight-woven each of them, and each the worth of a hundred oxen."  I think Homer Simpson said that.

68. "__ chic!" : TRES.  "Very smart"  At the height of fashion

69. File's partner : RANK.  The individual members of an organization, irrespective of leadership.  The phrase comes from the RANKS and files of soldiers in formation.  Back in my youth, we had them in marching band, too.

70. Actor Milo : O'SHEA.  He was in The Dream Team.  But the only part I can remember clearly is the one played by Peter Boyle. 

71. Holiday tubers : YAMS.  Not at all poisonous, these tubers are common in Asia, Africa, South America, and - yes, Oceania. They are not the same thing as sweet potatoes.

72. __-Ball : SKEE.  An arcade game in which the player rolls balls up an incline and attempts to get them to fall into a hole.  Not a bad game, but I prefer Calvinball.

Down

1. Brolly user's garment : MAC.  Since a brolly is an English umbrella, I assume MAC refers to a Mackintosh raincoat, made from rubberized fabric to repel water.  First sold in 1824, the coat is named for its Scottish inventor, Charles Macintosh.  The careful reader will notice the two names are spelt differently.  This is mysterious, and we just have to live with it.

2. __ Jima : IWO.   A Volcanic island that was a critical WW II battle site.


3. '20s White House nickname : CAL.  Calvin Coolidge.  I think he might have invented calvinball.

4. 1997 ecological protocol city : KYOTO.  The KYOTO protocols set binding limits on 37 countries for greenhouse gas emissions.

5. Gustatory sensor : TASTE BUD.  Flavor receptors n the tongue.  They have their own map.  Note that kissing is sweet.

6. Blood typing abbr. : ABO.

7. Sight site : RIFLE.  Another clever clue.  A sight is a visual aiming aid on a gun.

8. Bilingual Canadian city : OTTAWA.   I went to Montreal once, and most everybody there spoke English.  Beautiful and lively place.   

9. John who explored the Canadian Arctic : RAE.  Learning moment.  He was a Scottish Dr. who explored Northern Canada.  The Inuit nicknamed him Aglooka, "he who takes long strides."  Not this guy.

10. Openly hostile : AT WAR.  I'm pretty sure we've never been AT WAR with Oceania.

11. Showy extra : FRILL.

12. Like tridents : TINED.

13. Marquis de __ : SADE.  The eponym for sadism.  Lovely man.  Just don't get too close to him.

18. Three-sixty in a canoe : ROLL.  Three sixty is a full circle.  Do it like this.

19. Coyote call : HOWL.

23. Grain beard : AWN.

24. Suffering from vertigo : WOOZY.  I put in DIZZY.

25. Legendary skater Sonja : HENIE.  Don't try this at home.  At least 360 360's.

26. "Ixnay!" : NOPE.  Negatory, good buddy.

27. Sgt. Snorkel's dog : OTTO.  From Beetle Bailey

32. Covert __: spy stuff : OPS.  Operations.  My step-son Tom is in Air Force Special Ops.  I have no idea what he does.

34. Disney frame : CEL.  A single cartoon frame, from the time when animation was all done by hand.
 
36. Some mag spreads : ADS. 

37. Flat hand, in a game : PAPER.  Not familair with this expression.  Is this a hand that is so bad the cards aren't worth the paper they're printed on?

38. __ Khan: "The Jungle Book" tiger : SHERE.  This Disney villain is no Tigger. 

40. Elemental bit : ATOM.  The building block of chemistry.

41. Judgment Day : DOOM.

42. Blow away in competition : OUT CLASS.

46. Pint-size : WEE.

48. Low-pH substance : ACID.  A molecule usually charaterized by an ionizable hydrogen atom

49. Crudely built home : SHANTY.

51. Switchblade : SHIV.

53. Tables-on-the-street restaurants : CAFES.

54. "__-Ho": Dwarfs song : HEIGH.  Another irresistible Disney tune.

55. Non-mainstream film : INDIE.  Independent.  Not associated with a major studio.

56. Prefix with mural : INTRA.  Within the walls of an institution, like sports competitions within a school.

57. Civil rights activist Medgar : EVERS.  He was a WW II veteran and field secretary for the NAACP who was murdered in 1963 by a member of the White Citizens Council.

58. "Farewell, cara mia" : CIAO.   Hasta la vista, baby.

62. Metaphor words : IS A.  The eye is a mirror of the soul.

63. Skirt line : HEM.

64. Asian plow puller : YAK.   That's a lot of bull.

65. Vague pronoun : ONE.  Or a specific pronoun, if you're THE ONE

66. Hawaiian strings : UKE.  ONE last musical Disney moment.

Fine.  A fine musical excursion without too many sour notes.  I always enjoy Gareth's puzzles, and this one seemed especially well done.  Hope you liked it as much as I did.

Cheers!
JzB

Cross-posted at The Corner