01.25.12 — Tree Rings

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Puzzle by Gareth Bain / Will Shortz

TREE RINGS (38A. Indicators of age … and a hint to this puzzle’s theme), along with four three-letter tree names, ELM, ASH, YEW and FIR, crammed into four squares and within circles akin to tree rings, constitutes the interrelated group of this Wednesday crossword.

• GOSP[EL M]USIC (17A. What the annual Dove Awards are awarded for) with [ELM]ER (18D. Name for a bull
• COLD [AS H]ELL (21A. Like winter in Siberia) with WAB[ASH] (10D. Indiana river)
• E[YE W]ITNESS (56A. One at a crime scene) with KAN[YE W]EST (40D. “Gold Digger” rapper)
• [FIR]ST AID KIT (62A. Place for iodine) with MIS[FIR]ES (48D. Rifle problems)

Other — AMENABLE (33A. Open to suggestion), AMOEBAE (11D. Sights on slides), BECOME (8D. Look good on), BEEGEE (35D. Any of the “Stayin’ Alive” singers), IN STORE (3D. Yet to come), I RECKON (43D. “Suppose so”), LUPINE (22D. Wolfish), MILLARD (12D. President Fillmore), NOSHING (4D. Having chips, say), RUN INTO (41D. Chance upon), SNEEZING (42A. Inviting a blessing?), WOOSNAM (2D. Ian who won the 1991 Masters).

Five-letter — ANTED, BLURB, DALIS, EBOLA, ESTER, GENRE, HAMID (15A. Afghanistan‘s Karzai), I LIED, KREME, LIEGE, LISZT, POACH, SHEDS SNERT, SPADE, SNERT,TERSE (31D. Like telegrams, typically).

Short stuff — ADIA, ANGE, ARM, BAI Ling, BLOB, EGAD, ESS, GAPE, GMEN, GUS, HOI polloi, INN, IN NO uncertain terms, IONA and IONS, ISLE, LAS and LARS, LATE, LAUD, LGE, MUS, OSH, OTIC, RBI, SARA, SEI, SIG, SSGT, STEP, STYE, SWAM, SWIG, TAY, TOOT, TREO, Drop TROU, Mao TSE-tung, UNO, Team USA.

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Click on image to enlarge.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.

Remaining clues — ACROSS: 1. Gulp from a flask; 5. Classic sci-fi terror, with “the”; 9. Began a triathlon; 13. College in New Rochelle, N.Y.; 14. Running behind; 19. “The Hot Zone” virus; 20. Source of T-bones; 23. Game with Skip and Reverse cards; 24. Baseball card fig.; 26. Followers of lambdas; 27. “The Crow” actress ___ Ling; 28. Song title for both Fleetwood Mac and Starship; 30. Kind of aerobics; 32. Phyllis’s never-seen TV husband; 36. Coming-clean words; 40. Sweet filling, in commercial names; 46. Sing a paean to; 47. Pursuers of the Sopranos, for short; 49. Drop ___ (start to disrobe); 50. “Newhart” setting; 51. Tre + tre; 52. City of Kyrgyzstan; 55. Tricky turn; 59. Take illegally; 61. Noir or comedy; 65. Perfumer’s compound; 66. “Horrors!”; 67. Accelerator particles; 68. Drunken spree; 69. Staph-caused irritation; 70. Cherub at Notre Dame. — DOWN: 1. Autograph: Abbr.; 4. Act starstruck, say; ; 5. Words on a jacket; 6. Chorus syllables; 7. Ear-related; 9. Gets rid of; 10. Indiana river; 16. “The Persistence of Memory” and others; 25. Trinidad or Tobago; 29. Chipped in; 32. “Hungarian Rhapsodies” composer; 34. Part of a slot machine; 37. Apparel abbr.; 45. NASA’s Grissom; 46. Feudal subject; 51. Dog in the funnies; 53. Classic Bogart role; 57. Palm smartphone; 58. Army NCO; 60. 1998 Sarah McLachlan hit; 63. Scotland’s Firth of ___.