Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Wednesday, April 26, 2017, Bill Zagozweski

Title: COMPLETE THE PHRASE



Husker Gary here to fill in the blanks on Bill's very clever puzzle. If you knew going in that every themer had the word BLANK in it and that the actual single clue word had to be mentally placed in/over that BLANK, it would have made for a faster solve. It worked that way for me after I got the gimmick. What a hoot!

As you can see in the grid at the right, I have put the Clue word over (rather than in) the BLANK and that generates a familiar phrase.


I thought INCUS and BALATA were mighty meaty words for a Wednesday and I had to research PET and SHIN used in unfamiliar contexts, but learning is an great adjunct to these daily exercises. Opposed to popular opinion, I am trainable.


Now before I BLANK out, lets examine what the theme fills, one layer at a time.


20. NOTHING : BLANK BUT NET - NOTHING fills in for BLANK and we get NOTHING BUT NET which is a baseball phrase shown here in a fun way



56. NAUGHT : ALL FOR BLANK - NAUGHT fills in for BLANK to give us ALL FOR NAUGHT. Like when Andy Hawkins threw a no-hitter for the Yankees but got beat because of errors

11. SPACE : OPEN BLANK -Drop SPACE in the BLANK and you get OPEN SPACE. Tom Lehman took the OPEN SPACE of Nebraska's Sand Hills and built the 35th best public golf course in America.



31. EMPTY : BLANK NEST - EMPTY fills in the BLANK to give us EMPTY NEST. We at least waited two days before we moved the computer desk into her room and to make it an office.


38. Provide missing info ... and what four clues do to their answers : FILL IN THE BLANKS - A round of Mad Libs:


FILL IN THE BLANKS: This was a(n) ADJECTIVE puzzle that gave me ADJECTIVE NOUN. I thought it was ADVERB ADJECTIVE for a Wednesday because the fill was ADVERB ADJECTIVE than usual. 


My answers - Wonderful, Great Joy, Particularly Difficult, More Challenging


Now you get to read my ADJECTIVE review/exposition 


Across


1. Reduce drastically : SLASH


6. Skyscraper girder : I-BEAM - They just pulled up an I-BEAM for lunch 



11. Bobby on the ice : ORR


14. Willowy : LITHE


15. Impudent : NERVY


16. Baltimore Ravens mascot named for an author : POE - Baltimore? Ravens? Makes perfect sense!


17. Attendant who invites Hamlet to duel Laertes : OSRIC - Peter Cushing playing OSRIC to Olivier's Hamlet

18. Blubbers : CRIES

19. Potato part : EYE


22. "Stillmatic" rapper : NAS - His lyrics ain't exactly Gershwin


23. Equinox mo. : SEP - On or about the 21st





24. Secure at the pier : LASH - Bill Murray had to be LASHED to the mast to overcome his fear of sailing in this hilarious film



25. Small bite : NIBBLE


27. Sulky state : PET - There it was, it had to be, but wha...? My research showed it as a shortened form of in a PETulant mood. Sample: Bill is really in a PET today.


28. L.A.'s region : SOCAL - SOuthern CALifornia 


29. Jessica of "Fantastic Four" films : ALBA - Let me get this straight. You give her this special power? Really? 

32. Waimea Bay island : OAHU

35. First sound of the day, for many : ALARM - Mine is a hungry kitty


41. Author Asimov : ISAAC


42. Ratio phrase : IS TO


43. Boxing stats : TKO'S


44. Explosive experiment : N-TEST - Here's one on Bikini Atoll with some VIP observers miles away


46. Vote for : YEA - An important prop in the play 1776

48. "I wanna go too!" : TAKE ME

50. "Psst!" kin : AHEM


52. These, in Nantes : CES - CES croissants sont délicieux 


55. Roadside respite spot : INN


59. Word with Iron or Bronze : AGE


60. Enter on a laptop : KEY IN


61. Tropical porch : LANAI - Where I first heard the word

62. Hi-__ image : RES


63. Año Nuevo month : ENERO - El desfile de las rosas es el 1 de ENERO. (Desfile = Parade)


64. Ham it up : EMOTE


65. Cockpit abbr. : ALT


66. Building leveler, to a Brit : RASER - Wait a minute, we're going to RASE that barn that grandpa helped RAISE?


67. Like horses : MANED - Farrah's coiffure was described as a feathered MANE in this picture





Down


1. Neatniks' opposites : SLOBS


2. Stocking thread : LISLE - How many times did I have to see this before I wrote it in right away today?


3. "It's __!": "They tricked us!" : A TRAP - Admiral Ackbar's warning



4. Climb, in a way : SHIN - This ranks right up there with the obscure (to me) usage of PET above. From dictionary.com 




5. Badger from the bleachers : HECKLE - I saw an umpire take off all his equipment and throw it down in front of a HECKLER in the bleachers and say, "You do it!" He declined and shut up.


6. Anvil-shaped ear bone : INCUS - Thar she blows in the canal!



7. Ocean bed? : BERTH - It costs extra if you have a porthole or a balcony


8. Burnett of CNN : ERIN


9. ACTIVE NATURALS skin care brand : AVEENO


10. Otherworldly : MYSTICAL


12. Fit for a queen : ROYAL


13. Piece maker? : REESE - Mars Candy rued the day they turned down the tie-in with M&M's because they thought, "Who'd want to see a movie about an alien adopted by a lonely kid." Turns out, millions did. Hershey gladly cashed in with this blockbuster movie.



21. It may be passed : BATON



26. Golf ball material : BALATA - The sap harvested as you see here from these Central/South American trees was formerly widely used for a golf ball covers. Pros could control these balls better but amateurs just kept cutting them.

27. Sense of taste : PALATE

28. Bird feeder food : SUET - Part of our bird buffet


29. John Williams won its 2016 Life Achievement Award: Abbr. : AFI - American Film Institute


30. Fleur-de-__ : LIS


33. Busy, busy, busy : AT IT - After giving an assignment, I usually said, "Now, get AT IT!"


34. Dept. that oversees the FDA : HHS


36. "Citizen Kane" studio : RKO - William Randolph Hearst was so incensed at this movie that used him as a model, he leaned on Hollywood to make sure this "greatest American movie ever made" lost the Oscar to How Green Was My Valley in 1942



37. Ed.'s backlog : MSS - An Acquisition Editor with a backlog of unsolicited ManuScriptS

39. Fridge feature that needs water : ICE MAKER - Didn't you just hate wrestling with ice trays?


40. Bergman's "Gaslight" co-star : BOYER


45. Title Tejano singer in a 1997 biopic : SELENA


47. Starbucks' mermaid, e.g. : EMBLEM


48. Sparkly crown : TIARA



49. Broadway backer : ANGEL - The premise for making money in The Producers was Max Bialystock bilking money out of his stable of elderly ANGELS

50. Blazing : AFIRE


51. Roll out the red carpet for : HONOR


52. Pachelbel work : CANON - His CANON (a repeating melody) has graced many a wedding - I paid for two of them 


53. Related on mom's side : ENATE


54. Hit the slopes : SKIED - I would hit the slopes hard if I SKIED! 


57. Caustic cleaners : LYES


58. Tibetan spiritual adviser : LAMA - Carl (Bill Murray) was a looper (caddy) for the LAMA and admired his golf game in Caddyshack



Now it's time for your ADVERB  ADJECTIVE comments:

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