Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Tuesday May 31, Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke

Theme: Dick and Harry's friend - Four famous Toms start the theme entries. No fooling...'til you get to the unifier.

17A. Port of call : CRUISE STOP. TOM CRUISE, Here as Maverick in "Top Gun".

24A. Readily interchangeable, fashionwise : MIX AND MATCH. TOM MIX, here in the white hat, of course.

35A. Office fund for minor expenses : PETTY CASH. TOM PETTY, here, with whitish hair, singing "I Won't Back Down".(2:56)

49A. Head locks : HANKS OF HAIR. TOM HANKS, here as Captain John Miller in "Saving Private Ryan".

58A. Horseplay, and a hint to the starts of 17-, 24-, 35- and 49-Across : TOMFOOLERY

C.C. here. Argyle's computer was down before he could finish the write-up. I'll get his draft published. Then I'll do the formatting and fill in some comments. (Updated at 6:10am: Write-up is complete now).

Across:

1. McCartney bandmate : STARR (Ringo)

6. Minimal effort : EASE

10. "It seems to me," online : IMHO (In My Humble Opinion)

14. Fax predecessor : TELEX. Four X'es in this grid.

15. Makes collars, say : SEWS

16. Armstrong on the moon : NEIL

19. Hindu royal : RAJA

20. Rip to shreds : REND

21. City near Lake Tahoe : RENO. Janet's favorite city.

22. Inner Hebrides isle : IONA

23. Switch settings : ONs

27. Bygone deliverer : ICEMAN

29. "Rabbit, Run" author : UPDIKE (John)

30. Office copy : XEROX

31. Aid for a ref's review : SLO-MO

34. Original Dungeons & Dragons co. : TSR. Was this a gimme for you?

38. Held a hearing, say : MET

41. Give a rude awakening to : ROUST

42. African capital contained in its country's name : TUNIS. Tunisia. Ben Ali started this whole Arab Spring.

46. Easily bent : PLIANT

48. Ochoa of the LPGA : LORENA. Retired now.

53. Upsilon follower : PHI

54. Bozo, in Bath : TWIT. Bath, England.

55. Take it easy : LOLL

56. Place for a snow blower : SHED

57. Barrel of laughs : RIOT

60. Pacific island half? : BORA. Bora Bora.

61. Masterful server : ACER

62. "Fame" singer David, 1975 : BOWIE

63. Attends to, as a dry stamp pad : INKS

64. Terrier type : SKYE

65. Jokes around : JESTS

Down:

1. Largest of the Virgin Islands : ST. CROIX. Good entry.

2. "Separate Tables" dramatist Rattigan : TERENCE. Not a familiar name to me.

3. Four-time Indy 500 winner : AL UNSER. Comment away, eddyB.

4. Senate majority leader Harry : REID

5. Prescriptions, for short : RXs

6. County northeast of London : ESSEX

7. Insurance giant : AETNA

8. Beatles concert reaction, often : SWOON. More of a Justin Bieber concert reaction now.

9. Uncanny gift, for short : ESP

10. Encroachment : INROAD

11. Wasn't kidding : MEANT IT

12. Takes by force : HIJACKS

13. Ending for pay : OLA. Payola.

18. Ireland, in poetry : ERIN

22. Identity thief, e.g. : IMPOSTOR

24. Dada pioneer : MAX ERNST. Nice full name.

25. Russian assembly : DUMA. The term comes from the Russian word (dumat�), "to think" or "to consider".

26. "I've Grown Accustomed to __ Face" : HER

28. Swabbing tool : MOP

31. R-V connectors : S T U. Alphabetically.

32. Lille lily : LYS. As in Fleur de Lys. The flower.

33. Mo. to see Dracula at your door? : OCT. Halloween.

36. Pooch in Oz : TOTO

37. "Ben-__" : HUR

38. Dashboard abbr. : MPH

39. Walking-on-air feeling : ELATION

40. Craft using the element Sn : TIN WORK. Sn = Tin

43. Reunion attendees : NEPHEWS. Family reunion, not class.

44. Come into some money, maybe : INHERIT

45. Answered affirmatively : SAID YES

47. Tough watchdogs : AKITAs. Dennis' previous dog. Welcome back, Dummy!

48. Disney girl who adopted Stitch : LILO

50. Shepherd's charge : FLOCK

51. Comfy-cozy : HOMEY

52. Actress Woodard : ALFRE. Always have trouble remembering her name.

56. Plumlike fruit : SLOE

57. Baseball stat : RBI

58. Coll. helpers : TAs

59. Word after a transitive vb. : OBJ.

Answer grid.

Argyle

0 comments:

Post a Comment