Sun., 1/4 Marilyn Lieb

[magus]

THEME:   dropping a consonant from a double changes the meaning of a phrase
   
GOOD ONES:    
Grand Canal?   POLING PLACE [single L in "poling" makes it about boat movement rather than the more familiar "polling place"]   
Providing extra digital support?   TOE TAPING   
Finding a home for an Anaheim team?   SITING DUCKS      
Flowers in pens?   INKS [long O]   
Hole starters   TEE SHOTS   
Skye writing   ERSE [not sure Skye existed when Erse died out]   
   
BTW:   
UTES and OTOE, famous tribes only in Xword, finally crossed paths in a puzzle.   
   
Spares in boots   TYRES [a good one for us Anglophiles: boots are car trunks, and tyres is the way they're spelt there]   
   
Potato often used for fries   RUSSET [but try Yukon gold]   
   
   
RATING:   
Three grins = Loved it; Two grins = Enjoyed it; One grin = A bit bland for my taste; One teardrop = Not much fun   

[rbe]

Sun.,1/4 

[Thomps2525]

Some people are still writing "2014" on their checks but I've never heard of anyone writing "Saturday" for "Sunday." (Just joshing with you, Mister magus.)

Merl Reagle is "Dreaming of Hawaii" in today's Los Angeles Times crossword. The theme answers are Hawaii-related puns...and not necessarily good puns: POISCOUT, YIPPEEOAHU, EVERYWHEREAMUUMUU, FRITOLEI ("Hawaiian souvenir made with corn chips?")...but one of the bad puns had a very clever clue. In fact, the clue was the best part of the puzzle: "Hot coal at a Hawaiian cookout? (with apologies to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?)" The answer is LUAUCINDER. Prior to adopting a Muslim name in 1971, the UCLA/Bucks/Lakers basketball star was  known as Lew Alcindor. (He was born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr.) Luau cinder. Lew Alcindor. Is it too early to nominate that clue for best clue of the year?

[magus]

Don't know what you guys'r talking about: Sat., Sun.  Everything looks right to me.