WEDNESDAY, July 14, 2010Bruce Venzke

---

Theme: And how would you like that done? — Theme answers are familiar phrases that begin with words that can describe how well meat is cooked.


Theme answers:

• 20A: Iron ore, to a steel mill (RAW MATERIAL).
• 34A: Seller of an Inverted Jenny, perhaps (RARE STAMP DEALER).
• 43A: Guns with a caliber between 105 and 155 millimeters (MEDIUM ARTILLERY).
• 58A: Buxom, facetiously (WELL-ENDOWED).

I didn't have much trouble with this puzzle today. I wanted adversaries to come to blows instead of TERMS (4D: What adversaries may come to). Not sure what that says about me. And I couldn't figure out what 44D: Loosen, as a cap was going for. All I could think was that "cap" meant "hat" and I couldn't figure out how you would loosen one. I mean, you can adjust the little thing in the back if it's an adjustable baseball cap, but that's a little more than seven letters. UNTWIST. Ohhhh, that kind of cap.

I actually thought for a while that the theme was going to something about facial expressions, what with EYER, LEER, SNEER, and SMIRK all showing up for the party (15A: 7-Down user / 7D: Rake's look / 13D: Villain's look / 32D: Self-satisfied smile). Speaking of EYER, it also makes quite a threesome with -AIRE and EYRE (67A: Suffix for the well-to-do / 6D: Rochester's love). None of that bothered me while I was solving (and doesn't really bother me now), but it kept me distracted enough that I didn't get the theme until I was pretty much done with the puzzle. Oh, the one that did bother me a little was 72A: Dowsing tools. I thought, well it can't be RODS because A-ROD is already in the grid (22D: Youngest to reach 500 HRs). But … yes. Yes, it could be.

There were two clues that made me go "huh?" 25A: Certain park visitor for TRAILER. I don't get that. Is it referring to a "trailer park"? But, the trailers aren't visiting at a trailer park, are they? Maybe I just don't know enough about trailer parks. The other was 56D: It gets burnt a lot for TOAST. Yes, I know toast gets burnt, but "a lot"? That seems like a random qualifier. It only gets burnt at my house every once in a while. Is there some kind of toast-burning venue that I'm not thinking of here?

Stuff I liked:

• 51A: '70s Robert Blake cop show (BARETTA). Weren't we just talking about him?? Oh wait, that was over at Rex's place last weekend.
• 2D: Lola's club (COPA). I know Amy is enjoying this. She luurrvs this song!
• 9D: Flintstone's boss (MR. SLATE). Seems to me we've seen him in the grid recently but he's always welcome as far as I'm concerned.

• 27D: Like Miss Manners (PRIM). Love. Her. I don't actually think of her as prim, though. I mean, she acts like she's prim, but that's totally fake, right? I think of her more as laugh-out-loud-hilarious than prim. (One of my favorite quotes is hers: "If you can't be kind, at least be vague." Words to live by.)
• 47D: Like many rock bands (LOUD). I got a chuckle out of this one. So true. I distinctly remember many years ago being at work the morning after a Cheap Trick concert and hearing someone put ice cubes in a glass. I thought my teeth were going to explode.
• 59D: New Mexico athlete (LOBO). Yay, New Mexico! I was actually an Aggie for the little bit of time I spent in college in New Mexico, but the LOBO is a pretty cool mascot.

Crosswordese 101: There are only a couple INEZes you need to know for puzzles. One is INEZ Foxx, a singer who had a hit in 1963 with "Mockingbird" (later covered by James Taylor and Carly Simon — that's the version I'm familiar with). Then there's the 1966 Hurricane INEZ. And, finally, it would have helped you today to know that 40A: Don Juan's mother was named INEZ.



Other crosswordese in the puzzle that we've already covered:

• 17A: One executing a takeoff? (APER).
• 38D: Cornell who founded Cornell (EZRA).

[Follow PuzzleGirl on Twitter.]

Everything Else — 1A: Fitzgerald forte (SCAT); 5A: Karate award (BELT); 9A: Sail supports (MASTS); 14A: Word after dial or earth (TONE); 16A: Just kept yakking (RAN ON); 18A: Nevada's __ 51 (AREA); 19A: Go Dutch (SHARE); 23A: 66, famously: Abbr. (RTE.); 24A: Lisa, to Bart (SIS); 27A: Pollutant banned in the U.S. in 1979 (PCB); 30A: Cold War craft (MIGS); 33A: Available without an Rx (OTC); 41A: Little white thing (LIE); 42A: Co-star of Joel in the film "Cabaret" (LIZA); 48A: Jackson-to-Tupelo dir. (NNE); 49A: Corn syrup brand (KARO); 50A: Glasgow negative (NAE); 55A: Odd man's place? (OUT); 57A: Schooner contents (ALE); 64A: Six-Day War site (SINAI); 66A: Like many deli orders (TO-GO); 68A: Is after (SEEKS); 69A: Israel's first UN ambassador (EBAN); 70A: Concrete piece (SLAB); 71A: __ a time (ONE AT); 73A: Tracy's Trueheart (TESS); 1D: Dallas Cowboys emblem (STAR); 3D: From square one (ANEW); 5D: Scrams (BEATS IT); 8D: Pattern baldness, e.g. (TRAIT); 10D: Hot tub sound (AAH); 11D: Dog's warning (SNARL); 12D: Rich cake (TORTE); 21D: Gets in one's sights, with "at" (AIMS); 26D: Stud declaration (I CALL); 28D: Prop for Astaire (CANE); 29D: Raised (BRED); 31D: Inaugural ball, e.g. (GALA); 35D: Salon or Slate (E-ZINE); 36D: Anti-fur farming gp. (PETA); 37D: A house may have one on it (LIEN); 39D: "Hellzapoppin'" (1941) actress Martha (RAYE); 45D: __ out: dispense (METE); 46D: T-shirt transfers (IRON-ONS); 51D: __ profundo: low voice (BASSO); 52D: Xenophobe's fear (ALIEN); 53D: Zellweger of "Chicago" (RENEE); 54D: Let out, perhaps (ALTER); 60D: Word of mock horror (EGAD); 61D: Sneaky trick (WILE); 62D: Paleozoic et al. (ERAS); 63D: Belles at balls (DEBS); 65D: Wanted poster abbr. (AKA).