google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday October 29, 2010 Jonathan Porat

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Oct 29, 2010

Friday October 29, 2010 Jonathan Porat

Theme: EXTRA MAYO. The letters M, A, Y, and O, respectively, are added (in sequential order) at the beginnings of common phrases to yield new, uncommon phrases, of variable wackiness.

19A. Designed for ancient sorcerers? : MAGE SPECIFIC. M plus age specific - for discriminating mature audiences, perhaps. Mages had exact size and weight specs for eye of newt.

27A. Pranks at the Bohr Institute?: ATOM FOOLERY. A plus Tom foolery. Why Tom and not, oh -- say, Ron, for instance? The Bohr Institute is a center for research in astronomy, geophysics, and nanotechnology at the University of Copenhagen, named for physicist Neils Bohr, a developer of quantum theory.

46A. Genesis baking ingredient? : YEAST OF EDEN. Y plus East of Eden, a 1955 movie I never saw, directed by Elia Kazan, and based on the second half of a John Steinbeck novel I never read. Am I missing anything? Also the only three-word theme answer, and my favorite, for it's general silliness. In those days, unleavened bread had not yet been invented.

54A. Banning CFC production, e.g.? : OZONE DEFENSE. O plus zone defense - defensive strategies in football and other sports, where the defenders are responsible for covering regions of the playing field, rather than specific offensive opponents, as in man-to-man defense. CFC's are chlorofluorocarbon compounds, such as Freon 12, that deplete the earth's protective ozone layer. This one is serious.

And, of course the unifier: 35A. Sandwich request, and a literal hint to how the answers at 19-, 27-, 46- and 54-Across are formed : EXTRA M-A-Y-O. I don't recall ever seeing a unifier like this one, getting parsed out and allotted to the theme answers - highly clever and original. I like Miracle Whip, BTW, but can't stand MAYO.

Hi gang, JazzBumpa here after a strange and rather busy day. This is a terrific puzzle that defeated me pretty badly. Let's survey the damages.

Across

1. Type of pigment used in artists' paints : AZO. AZO dies are brightly colored organic compounds with the grouping -N=N- in the molecule. AZO pigments are made by binding these dyes with an inorganic filler, such as clay.

4. Cul-__ : DE SAC. A blind ally dead end - the wrong way to go if you are being chased.

9. Panic button : EJECT. I push the EJECT button to change CD's. Don't Panic!

14. 1989 Peace Prize winner : DALAI LAMA. Back then, I had kids in high school and thought I was still young.

16. Blanket-toting toon : LINUS. Dented a V-8 can on this one.

17. Met notable : OPERA STAR. I was looking for someone specific.

18. One often working on Sun. : NFLER. A professional in the National (American) Football League, and crosswordese nouveau.

21. Digs : CRIB. Digs. Per the Urban Dictionary, "house, crib, home, joint, dive, blazin dinks, digger, punches, apartment . . . " Crib?!? News to me.

23. Sonoma prefix : OEN. This is the vintner's prefix, and crossword stalwart, used in any wine growing region, such as Sonoma.

24. Batman after Michael : VAL. Val Kilmer had the title role in the 1995 movie Batman Forever, which I never saw. Am I missing anything?

26. Western treaty gp. : OAS. The Organization of American States "is the world’s oldest regional organization, dating back to the First International Conference of American States, which was held in Washington, D.C. from October 1889 to April 1890." (from their web site)

32. Late party attire : PJS. Slumber party. Could be fun.

33. Dealing with : IN RE. Short for "in regard to." Or is it something in Latin?

34. "The Neverending Story" author : ENDE. Another book I never read. Is it as ironic as the author's name suggests?

39. USN officers : CDRS. Commanders? Commodores? Aye, aye, sir, either way.

42. "C'mon, man!" : DUDE. Who exhibits that aura of duditude at the "C'mon, man!" Ranch?

43. Do a little math : SUM. Or, do some math: ADD.

50. Soda bottle meas. : OZS. I never have understood why the abbrv. for OUNCE is OZ.

51. Former Vietnam area mostly S. of the 17th parallel : DMZ. The Demilitarized Zone. Today's college freshmen were born about 17 years after the Viet Nam war ended in 1975.

52. Co-producer of U2's "Achtung Baby" : ENO. From his Wikipedia page: "Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (born 15 May 1948), commonly shortened to Brian Eno and previously as simply Eno (pronounced /ˈiːnoʊ/), is an English musician, composer, record producer, music theorist, singer and visual artist, best known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music." He produced six more U2 albums.

53. Exile of 1979 : AMIN. The Butcher of Uganda. One bad DUDE!

60. Stadium entrance : STILE. As in Turnstile. This word is showing up rather often now.

61. Like some windows : DRIVE THRU. These are common at banks and fast food joints.

64. George of "Cheers" : WENDT. Norm!

65. Foresees : ENVISIONS.

66. Beats 1-0, say : EDGES

67. Film holders : REELS. Fishing line, too.

68. Mess of dough : WAD. My lovely wife made three kinds of cookies, so there were wads of DOUGH, but no mess. She is so neat. The pumpkin cookies, BTW, are AMAZING. But this clue is referring to small pieces of green paper.

Down.

1. Trouble : ADO. Without further of, things are often done.

2. Cook with waves : ZAP. In a microwave oven, aka "nuking." I really wanted Captain Cook, but couldn't get there in only three letters.

3. Oxford campus : OLE' MISS. I gather that the University is in Oxford, Miss. Tricky!

4. TV screen meas. : DIAG. For some reason, TV screens are measured corner to corner, diagonally.

5. Ultimatum end : ELSE. Such as: " Look at that stack of laundry. Iron or else!"

6. Concerns for jrs. and srs. : SATS. The SAT is the most widely used college entrance exam. It is also a huge scam, since it's ability to predict college success is poor. High School GPA and class rank are better predictors. They must have a fabulous marketing department.

7. "... draw you __?" : A MAP. I'm better at drawing flies.

8. Package directive : CARE OF. Please take CARE OF this CARE package.

9. Sea change with far-reaching effects : EL NINO. Read all about it.

10. Two shakes, with "a" : JIFF. I thought "DASH," but I'm not the one who makes the cookies. Don't care for this one, at all. Actually I prefer the JIF with one F, crunchy variety.

11. Pep up : ENLIVEN

12. It helps prevent stumbling : CUE CARD. Or, you can write on your hand.

13. Original Dungeons & Dragons co. : TSR. Tactical Studies Rules, purchased by Wizards of the Coast in 1997.

15. Kaffiyeh wearer : ARAB. Again, I wanted something more specific.

20. Corp. boss : CEO. The Chief Executive Officer, a denizen of board rooms and crosswords. Do they have cross words in boardrooms? Nah - too many yes-men.

21. One on a beat : COP. Lo, these many years past, my lovely wife's late father was a COP on the beat.

22. "The Big Bang Theory" character from India : RAJ. Just took a guess, as I have never seen this show. Am I . . . never mind.

25. Soap component : LYE. Not exactly. Animal fat (glycerol esters of long chain organic acids) is reacted with lye in a process called saponification. The reaction products are salts of these acids, aka soap, and glycerine. Then you have to separate them. And clean up. It's all quite tedious.

27. __-en-Provence : AIX. This is a city in Southern France. It's inhabitants are called Aixois or, less commonly, Aquisextains, from an old Roman name.

28. Rubble creator : TNT. Trinitrotoluene, a powerful explosive. I guess you have to believe in the power of creative destruction. I wanted a cartoonist.

29. First NHL defenseman to score 40 goals in a season : ORR. Three letters for a hockey player - enter ORR and move on. OTOH, my similar ALOU baseball theory got REFUTED by A-ROD. There are no certainties in life.

30. Maryland's Fort __ : MEADE. Named for General George Gordon Meade, a Union Army general in the American Civil War.

31. Sign of summer : LEO. Moderately tricky. LEO is a Zodiac sign including most of August. My lovely wife is a LEO and I'm not lion.

35. What can turn one into many? : ESS. Or, a straight road into a curvy one. The letter "S" is the most common English language pural, my children.

36. Campaign weaponry? : MUD. Let's just not even go there.

37. Product at a stand : ADE. Something to make from 714 lemons.

38. Nikkei 225 unit : YEN. the N225 is the broad-based Japanese stock index most comparable to our S&P 500, denominated in YEN. You'll need to know this if you ever have the YEN to buy Japanese stocks.

39. Actress Charisse : CYD. You don't meet a lot of ladies named CYD. This one could sing and dance.

40. Taken down a notch : DEMOTED. I guess. I got promoted in Feb. '08, then retired in Nov. '08. That's a whole bunch of notches.

41. Rookie's initiation : RAZZING. Or Hazing, I suppose.

43. By doing whatever it takes : SOMEHOW. I wanted ANYHOW, which SOMEHOW seeems to be a letter short.

44. Scary magazine holder : UZI. This one fooled me. UZI are a related family of Israeli-made, open bolt, blowback-operated (whatever that means) submachine guns. A magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device within or attached to a repeating firearm. Scary enough, I'd say.

45. Explorer initials : MSN. So, I'm thinking Columbus, Lewis and Clark, Franklin, etc. But it's Microsoft Network's Internet explorer. Got me.

47. Beliefs : TENETS. Is it my imagination, or do I get this word every time? My religion has nine TENETS.

48. Single : ONE. But I actually only believe ONE of them. This, however, refers to small green pieces of paper.

49. Raw material : FODDER. This doesn't seem quite right, does it?

53. Piedmont product : ASTI. ASTI is a city in the Piedmont region of Italy, and the eponym for Asti Spumante, the bubblicious product

55. Merrie __ England : OLDE.
In days of OLDE, when knights were bolde, the maidens hale and hardy,
They'd drink a flagon of ale, or two, and have a PJ party.

56. Atlantic flier : ERNE. A sea eagle. Old crosswordese.

57. What musicians take between sets? : FIVE. Can't pass this up.

58. Austin Powers' nemesis Dr. __ : EVIL. From a movie I never saw. Did I miss anything?

59. It's a loch : NESS. It's a lock! Really - other than this Scottish lake, what else could it be?

60. Northern Eur. land : SWE. Sweden.

62. Cellular messenger : RNA. Ribonuclaic acid. From the free dictionary: "The form of RNA that mediates the transfer of genetic information from the cell nucleus to ribosomes in the cytoplasm, where it serves as a template for protein synthesis. It is synthesized from a DNA template during the process of transcription." There will be a quiz.

63. Amer. capital : USD. U.S. Dollars. Small green pieces of paper. They must be rather important.

Answer grid.

A fine challenging puzzle. Now, for my PJS . . .

Cheers!

JzB

64 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Jazz, C.C. and gang - ok, this one kicked my ass right from the start. After trying both 'woe' and 'ail' for 1D to no avail, I was able to get 4D, 5D, 6D and 7D, but still couldn't get any traction. Even knowing 'el nino', 'Linus' and 'TSR' didn't help in the NE either. That kind of trouble followed me all the way around the puzzle; took me something like four passes to finally get everything filled in.

There were a lot of great clues in this one, but my favorites were the back-to-back 'Scary magazine holder' and 'Explorer initials'. Both had me off in the hinterlands.


Jazz, nice job on the blog; an enjoyable read. One correction: those 'small green pieces of paper' are, as I'm sure you know, linen & cloth. And boardrooms may be full of yes men now, but back in my day, they were the scene of some of the most vicious fighting, all couched in velvet gloves, of course. You never wanted to go in there ill-prepared.

Today is Hermit Day and National Frankenstein Day.

Did You Know?:

- It was Leonardo da Vinci who figured out that the rings of a tree reveal its age.

- X-rays of the Mona Lisa show that there are three different versions underneath.

- Odds that someone caught shoplifting is a teenager: 50 percent. (I can attest to that.)

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Definitely a challenge today, although at first I thought it was going to be a breeze. The place that really hung me up (almost to the point of giving up) was down in the SE where I had (at various times) SHAH instead of AMIN, ADD instead of SUM and LTR instead of OZS. The clues for UZI and MSN were ridiculously obscure and therefore no help whatsoever untangling that mess.

What finally saved me was when I got SOMEHOW for 43D (I was staring at ___EHOW for the longest time). That got me SUM at 43A and OZS at 50A, at which point the light bulb finally went off with regard to UZI and MSN. Tricky, tricky, tricky...

The SW corner was also a bit thorny, since I didn't know that Vietnam also had a demilitarized zone and I really wanted HAZING instead of RAZZING for a "Rookie's initiation" at 41D. That section wasn't nearly as thorny as the SE, but it wasn't helped by the fact that I had SWD instead of SWE for 60D.

Favorite clue (in addition to the ones for UZI and MSN) was "cook with waves" for ZAP. Thankfully, I have finally committed AZO to memory, so I had the initial Z.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - Now that WAS tricky. I had to get "reveal word" help for some of those answers, most particularly UZI. Clever clues! What a good challenge.

Gotta dash, early pick-up at the airport. Good day all!

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, JazzB and friends. Wow! Was this a great puzzle or what! Some wonderful misleading clues found here. I was fooled by some, but not by others.

After getting MAGE SPECIFIC and EXTRA MAYO, I figured out the theme, which helped me fill in the other theme clues.

I wasn't fooled by OLE MISS, since it's still college football season, and "my" state school plays the Mississippi college teams.

I liked how the two money references intersected ~ WAD and USD.

I misread George of "Cheers" as George of "Seinfeld", and tried to fit Jason (Alexander) into the space intended for WENDT.

Some of my favorite clues were : Scary Magazine Holder = UZI

One on a Beat = COP

Sign of Summer = LEO (Yup, this one fooled me).

CUL-DE-SAC must be the word of the month. We've seen that fill several times recently.

I like seeing AIX-en-Provence in puzzles. I lived there several years ago. It's a beautiful place.

JazzB. I never saw the movie "East of Eden", but if you haven't read Steinbeck's book, you are missing something. On the other hand, you are not missing anything by not having seen the "Batman" movies.

QOD: Whenever good and evil compromise, evil always wins ~ Ayn Rand.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone. Nice write-up, JzB.

Quite a slog today. Agree with earlier comments. Finally got the unifier EXTRA M A Y O which assisted with the theme fills. Loved YEAST OF EDEN. NE was last to fall but finally teased out ENLIVEN and CUE CARD.. Thought UZI and NFLER were quite clever. CDRS was a gimme since your humble fellow blogger is a retired one.

It was a fair challenge and I hope to see more puzzles from Mr. Porat.

Enjoy your Friday.

Lucina said...

Good morning, fellow solvers.

Brilliant blog, Jazzbumpa!

Another early morning for me; I've been waking at 4 (sigh) and luckily the newspaper has arrived.

Yowza! Yowza! What a kick in the pants; this took all my years of accumulated skill at solving to guess, suss and WAG.

It took several passes to complete after filling the easy ones like ELSE, SATS, LINUS, VAL, etc.

ADO finally settled in since WOE and ILL didn't fit. That yielded DALAILAMA and finished off the top.

I had THOMFOOLERY at first but recalled AIX-en-Provence since we have seen it before, but like JZB, I was looking for a cartoonist for Rubble creator. Google gave me TNT. I hate to look up anything for a xwd, but sometimes do.

Also wanted Hazing instead of RAZZING.

The theme clue meant nothing to me until reading your blog, JZB.

Hands up for East of Eden, a wonderful book and nixing the Batman movies. My daughter would persuade me to go with her, then I was always sorry.

I hope you all have a fantastic Friday! I'm going back to bed.

creature said...

Good Morning C.C.,Jazz and all,

Thanks for the write-up, Jazz. You wrote"Mages had exact size and weight specs for eye of newt". I understand that 'mage' is a sorcerer. How are they connected?

Loved this puzzle. The fresh cluing was ingenious and I really liked the theme. So much was clever and new. I felt in touch with Jonathan's twists and turns; so much so, that I went on a jag of my own.
"do a little math' meant 'sub',short for subtract;"Explorer initials" meant 'BSA',Boy scouts; and somehow,'Amia' never registered with me. OK, forget it. Jazz got me straightened out.

The long and the short of it is, I would rather miss one or so, to feel that 'brain crunch', than ace them all. Jonathan played by the rules and got me.Thanks.

Bob, sorry to hear about your mother. Is she undergoing surgery?

Have a nice day everyone.

Unknown said...

I do the crossword daily during my lunch hour. I loved doing it at Penn State in our student newspaper (the daily collegian). it might have been a different crossword. either way now that im back in tampa i love that we get the TBT at work and I can chip away at it. I guess ill post something about the puzzle after I do it in about 3 hours.

i must ask who does the write up and how do they know all the answers?

grayvlad said...

care of refers to envelope direction
care of dr. so and so
or care of sales dept.
etc.

Dennis said...

Marvin, the following day's LAT puzzle (and answer grid) is usually made available at 10pm on cruciverb.com. The blog write-up is done by our blog leader and creator, C.C., or a short list of rotating guest-bloggers.

grayvlad said...

care of is an envelope direction as to who it's going to

care of Dr. so and so
or care of shipping dept.

Etc

thehondohurricane said...

Wow, was this a doozy, but a doable doozy. After the first pass, 95% of the squares were blank. But,working from the bottom up, it started to come together. I knew Ole Miss was right, buy without it, I would never figured out Mages. Lots of other unknowns that perps solved.

Favorite clues were Scary magazine holder, Pranks at the Bohr ...., digs, and blanket toting toon. Still read Peanuts everyday.

Jazz, nice blog with lots of light hearted humor.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Grandaughter Amanda had a choir concert last evening, while Grandsons Danny and Ryan had their band concert. So the LW and I split up to cover all the bases. Just as we were about to leave, the power went out. Fortunately, it was back on when I got home again.

Marvin - The puzzle at cruciverb is viewed and worked using Across Light software. This gives the opportunity to check entries and reveal letters or entire words as needed. To get done in a reasonable amount of time, I needed it lot.

When blogging, I give myself no more than about 25 minutes for the puzzle. Working the puzzle, writing the blog and proofreading and correcting takes me about 4 hours.

Cheers!
JzB who didn't sleep very well.

Tinbeni said...

Jazz, loved your write-up.

Been working on a project (not too hard but it had to be done) finished it and sent it, ZAP, back to Moscow at 4:00 am EDT this morning.
So I got my St.Pete Times and ...
Holy crap, they have todays puzzle.

I liked the theme and having been up for over 24 hours (the mind gets giddy) I'm even thinking 'O'PERA STAR and 'D'RIVE THRU fit into my theme world today ... SOOOOO, I guess the reveal s/h/b EXTRA 'O'MAYO'D' ...

Yeah, Tinbeni needs some sleep ... or more Avatar.

NNNOOOORRRMMM! My drinkin' buddy is in the house. This is shaping up as a spooky weekend. Cheers!!!

Oh well, that sleep can come later.
Kris and I are off to Hospice (We're on a mission from god!) to get her brother laughing for a third day in-a-row.
We're taking some tricks-and-treats to him and everyone else there.
Hospice is such a class organization they even put up with the likes of me.
(Thank God they exist!)

Husker Gary said...

Jazzbumpa, et al, What a fun puzzle and informative write-up! I kept HAZZING and wondered how in the world in needed two Z's. I'll take one bad cell today and move on. SE fell last and I needed all my mental faculties. I also told my fellow teachers there is only one letter difference between FACULTY and FAULTY. Hmmm....

Bumps in the road -

Digs as a noun takes a little time. I wanted CPO for navy officers. I love how DUDE can be used as every part of speech depending on your inflection. I put LIT for soda measure (part of teaching metrics for decades), THRU for THROUGH? Dang!

President Obama sets records for "Uh's" when he does not have CUECARDS or a teleprompter. W just forged ahead and we all know how some of that turned out. JFK's come along just so often. I had to expand my horizons to get the right magazine but that is the wonder of these exercises.

I like It's a Loch and promptly put Lake and thought about Erie before the obvious answer came up.

I went to a meeting yesterday about Medicare and am convinced that if I am bewildered that there are a lot of seniors out there making bad decisions. I do have some degree of intelligence and math skills. OMG! How did some of you make your decisions? A magic 8 ball and a divining rod?

Not quite anonymous said...

I'm hoping someone posts an explorer with the initials MSN, because Microsoft Network is a bad answer. MSN is a Microsoft's internet site, and nothing to do with their browser. I can see how this might seem like a small distinction, but they are worlds apart, and it's irking me. UZI, on the other hand, I'm totally on board with. That was rad.

Jazzbumpa said...

Not quite anon -
Internet Explorer is the official browser of MSN. What's the problem?

Creature -
Not sure I understand your question. Once you equate MAGE with sorcerer, then they can both work in spells, curses, and potions. I was just being silly with eye of newt. Obviously s/b Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting.

Dennis -
Paper is a mat of randomly oriented fibers of a wide variety of material types. U.S. paper money is basically a cotton paper, with linen and other textile fibers mixed in. It is infused with gelatin or polyvinyl alcohol for added strength. Useful life is abut 2 years. (from Wikipedia)

Off to a Holloween event at Emily's pre-school.

No rest for Bumpas.

Cheers!
JzB who will ask the LW to drive

Grumpy 1 said...

OK, this one stumped me. I finished it with Google help, but I usually make it through (thru?) Friday without help. I got the unifier and the theme without much trouble. I choose OZS for 50a and that gave me UZI. They are only scary if you're looking at the business end of one, IMO.

Great writeup, JzB. Agree, there is no problem with MSN Explorer. Microsoft refers to it that way. I didn't make the connection for a while, though, but that'[s the constructor's intention on a Friday.

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Jazz, C.C. et al.

Stellar write-up, JazzB, with lovely musical interludes. I especially enjoyed Barbara Padilla. I was not familiar with her, but will keep my eye out for future performances. She is an amazing OPERA STAR. And BTW, yes, you are missing something if you have not watched "The Big Bang Theory". It has a wry tech-y brainy sort of humor to it that I find awfully funny. Others may just think it's just awful - depends on your point of view.

I loved this puzzle, especially ATOM FOOLERY and YEAST OF EDEN. ! Clever themes and silly answers are right up my alley. On the first "pass", I had about 90% blank. But letter by letter, I finally got a toehold, and was able to finish it all without any lookups.

I had a WAG at 53 A and put AMIN, which gave me 45D to finish. I admit, I stared at it for a loooooooong time trying to figure out what famous explorer had the initials MSN?? Had to come here finally, to get that cleared up;-D

Since I don't know any Hermits (they don't just come up to you and introduce themselves, do they?), and Frankenstein creeps me out, I'll have to celebrate the day some other way. Maybe I'll just go out and count tree rings.

Have a great day, everyone - TGIF!!

Argyle said...

HeartRX, here is a dandy hermit you might know: Hermits.

Nice Cuppa said...

Thanks Jazz.

Phew. This was the best we have had in some time. Great, tricky clues, with very few obscure words. I think a scientific background helped. Luckily, AIX, ATOM and OZONE led me straight to the theme, although like others it still took a while to figure out where to spread the MAYO. UZI and TNT were AHA--BANG-BOOM! moments.

Do not substitute LYE for SOAP when washing. You will be in for a nasty surprise.

I studied at the Oxford that doesn't have a campus, but I remembered the other Oxford Town was in Ole Miss from the great Bob Dylan protest song of that name. This is the last verse:

"Oxford Town in the afternoon
Everybody singin' a sorrowful tune
Two men died neath the Mississippi moon
Somebody better investigate soon."

I thought "DIGS" was chiefly British, and CRIB was a passable synonym - just - though it has a different meaning in British: to cheat at an exam. I only got stuck at the very end, where I had ADMS instead of CDRS; and RAZZING and a girl named CYD (sort of like a boy named SUE) finally foxed me.

"IN RE" is Latin, where RE is the ablative singular of RES (thing, matter). RES is a Latin noun of the "Fifth Declension" - sounds like a great title for a novel/movie. The ablative plural is REBUS, a rare (unique?) example where we use that case in a proper English word, well known to puzzlers.

NC

Seldom Seen said...

Are 32 3-letter words a high count?

Don't forget Miami University is located in Oxford, OH. This clue/answer combo could really trick you.

It is too bad the constructor couldn't work BLT into the grid. One of my favorites and ALWAYS has extra mayo on it.

Hand up for Big Bang Theory; one of the few well-written sitcoms left on T.V.

Unknown said...

Ok im waving my flag of surrender. I can never get Fridays crosswords. I suck.

Dilbert said...

Hi all.

Another advantage to living on the left coast, xwd available at 7PM
on Curciverb.com (sometimes).
It took the whole bottom of the 8th
to finish it.
When are the real Rangers going to show up?

Take care.

Mainiac said...

Afternoon All,

I had written a nice post about getting a ass whooping this AM then promptly hit reload instead of publish. Quite a feat considering those buttons are at opposite ends of the screen. Red letters were the only way I got going on this one at all. Magespecific was a killer. The theme completely elusive until I read Jazz's write up. Touch but good. Favorite clues were for Uzi and Zap like others.

Getting more seasonable temps around here. Might drop into the twenties tonight.

TGIF

erieruth said...

Dennis - Regarding your comment about the Xword answers being posted on cruciverb.com, does this mean that CC & the others who write the answers and explanations actually don't work the puzzle on their own??? I always thought they did and that it was so incredible that they could figure everything out so well and so quickly. This is a revelation to me!!

Barry G. said...

I'm sure that what Dennis meant was that they have the answers available if and when they get stuck so as to provide a complete sense of answers in the blog. But they do the puzzles as best they can without "peeking."

Jazzbumpa said...

Nice Cuppa -
Oh, man, I wish I had thought of "spread the MAYO!" Well played, sir! OTOH, I now have a new container for head banging . . .

Marvin -
Never give up. some days you get the puzzle, some days the puzzle gets you. I think there is some sort of cosmic parity being maintained. Keep plugging away.

Seen -
I think the constrained geometry of a 15 by 15 grid, combined with the need for a symmetric array of blocks, leads to more 3 letter fill, in order to to accommodate longer cross-fill. Given all that, though, this puzzle with 40 blocks, 78 words, average length of 4.74, and a relatively low freshness factor is technically in the Monday range. As we've seen, though, these stats are far from the whole story. Tired fill can be ENLIVENED with clever clues. Plus, besides the theme answers, ENVISIONS, RAZZING, and FODDER are all unique. The longer fill in this puzzle is pretty fresh, the short stuff, not so much.

For my money, the theme is the biggest enjoyment factor, and this one ranks very high on that scale. Tradeoffs are everywhere.

Cheers!
JzB who needs a nap.

Jazzbumpa said...

erieruth -

I gave away most of my secrets in my first comment @ 9:39. I work as much of the puzzle as I can without reaching for technical assistance. A Friday is just too difficult for me to work unaided, and still finish the blog before dawn.

All -
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement - you make it worth while.

Cheers!
JzB

Anonymous said...

Puzzle not so enjoyable. Jazz's comments were priceless.

Jerome said...

Nice to see a tribute puzzle to Virginia.
Not so nice-

DESAC- What you hit when sleepy.

TENETS- Part of a question from a court moralist. "Tenets, anyone?"

LINUS- He's appalling.

ENVISIONS- She whom envisions can sniff out the news like Molly IVINS' NOSE.

DR. RUTH, I'VE had sex in a DRIVE THRU.

ARAB- An Egyptian character in Hamlet's soliloquy. "Ay, there's the Arab"

Lemonade was the attorney in the famous OZONE DEFENSE. It generated ONE DOZEN FEES.

Seldom Seen said...

JzB: Thanks for the reply. I also thought todays theme was very good. I usually go to the short answers when I get stuck and today it seemed there were plenty to choose from. The fresh clues(especially for UZI) still made the solve a tough one(friday level).

grayvlad said...

I have two degrees in painting and have never heard of an artist pigment AZO?????

Nice Cuppa said...

@SEEN

BLT was in the OTHER PLACE (NYTXW). 44A, clued as "Club cousin".

NC

Tinbeni said...

Well that was a FUN trip, the Hospice facility is wonderful.
Lack of sleep had me in rare form as I handed out candy treats, cracked a bunch of jokes etc.
(Note: All with the permission of the Nursing staff) ... and YES !!! we got him laughing again.

Jazz & Dennis, don't know what Board meetings y'all attended but I always found them very contentious. Lots of FU's etc. And it has gotten more serious since the passing of Sarbanes-Oxley (after the Enron, World Comm meltdowns).

(I LOVE Sarbanes-Oxley, aka SOX, sure helped my Consulting business!)

Only area I ever noticed "Yes Men" was in the area of "Executive Compensation." Many times they serve on each-others Boards.
In this area they are the worst whores you would ever want to meet.

Jazz: Thanks for the "Take-Five" ... a fave of mine for a long time.

Off to 40th High School "Pre-Party" for those of us who still live in the area. That way we can catch up before the "others" drive/fly in for the bash next weekend.

I will "Toast" you all at sunset.
Cheers !!!

Anonymous said...

Finished all but three letters after 25 minutes or so, then had to cheat and reveal answers.

Probably my favorite LA Times crossword I've done and the first Friday I've ever been to (almost) fully solve.

Bob said...

This was a tough one for me. I spent about 20 minutes on it this morning and another 30 minutes this afternoon, but in the end, I got them all correct. A good workout.

Creature: My mother's doctor is probably to blame for her hospital stay. Too much of a new medicine, which she reacted badly to anyway. No surgery. I hope they let her go home today. I'll find out this evening, as I live a state away. Thanks for asking.

HeartRx said...

Argyle,
Thanks for the Dandy hermit clip. What a flashback - I used to be in love with Peter. Just so cute! And amazingly, still active today doing tours and appearances. So thanks - I will definitely give him a big hug if I see him today.

Lucina said...

Bob, I also remembered your mother in prayer. I do hope she rallies.

Hands up for The Big Bang Theory! It's lively and well written which is more than I can say for most of today's sitcoms.

Tinbeni, Kris's brother continues to be in my prayers, also. What a great thing to do for the patients! I totally agree about Hospice; they are pricelsss.

creature said...

Bob,hope you get good news on your mother this evening.

Lucina, I hate it when insomnia happens; usually, there's no warning. Hope you can get back to sleep tonight.

Jazz, Thanks for what I should have been able to pick up on. By the way, I am a mayo freak, and can't stand Miracle Whip... just sayin'..Great write-up ..Dave Brubeck,Thanks.

JD,LOL several times.

Jerome said...

Sonoma prefix: OEN (wine)

I live pretty much in the dead center of Sonoma County. A little town named Healdsburg. Only 12,000 people. But check this out. Our funky old farm town has 26 tasting rooms! The county, 326 wineries! Hard to imagine, and way, way over the top.

Shameless blurb. A chum of mine, Chris Bilbro, owns Marietta winery. He's one of the very, very few owners that's truly a farmer. He actually rolls his sleeves up and works the fields. Every day.
For those of you that are oenophiles looking for a great, blended varietal give Marietta "Old Vine Red" a shot. 12 bucks a bottle, and Wine Spectator magazine dubbed it "The best table wine in the world"

daffy dill said...

When are the real Rangers going to show up? Dilbert, 1:01 pm

I'm wondering where the team we followed all season is. Not in S.F.!

I can't say I worked the puzzle today - I think it worked me. I finally got it down to a few strokes of the pen, so to speak and turned on red-letter help. I knew WENDT, DESAC, and OAS, but had to work hard for most. Rough puzzle. I entered ARAB and DIAG on the first pass, but somewhere along the line, I took them out, only to find out they were correct, after all.

Hahtool, love the Ayn Rand quote. So true!

Jazzbumpa said...

Having spent essentially 0 time in board rooms, I was only taking a guess. Always happy to be wrong and learn new things.

There are three kinds of people: MAYO people (who, IMHO, need to visit a clinic) Miracle Whip people, and people who can't tell the difference. They must not have functioning taste buds. It's kind of like the Cola world: Coke people, Pepsi people, and "just pour in another shot of rum" people. Though I must add that rum and Royal Crown is hideous.

Jerome -
MI has some funny laws about importing (!?!) wine from out o state. If I can find Marietta "Old Vine Red" I'll surely give it a try.

Cheers!
JzB who still regrets not coming up with "spread the MAYO"

Jerome said...

Jazz- It looks as if your state allows imported wine and beer to be sold only through a state run wholesaler. I guess your local beer and wine industry has some powerful political friends. But that's par for the course any place.

Dennis said...

Busy, busy day, and just had time to skim the blog.

Tinbeni, I don't know what you were reading, but I described board room meetings as 'vicious'.

MH, congratulations on the Giants' showing so far - makes me feel a little better about them beating the Phillies.

Jerome, I'll look for that wine over the weekend.

Scout said...

Dennis,
THANKS FOR THE WELCOME, but I like to sit at the table where it is cool not to apply rules selectively. Enjoyed my time here, but just can't tolerate the politics. Continue to rock on!

windhover said...

HuskerGary,
Amen to your Medicare comment. I'm bring inundated with advertising about choosing a supplemental policy. I too am a pretty good hand at reading comprehension, but the more I read the more confused I am.
You can order (or download) a 140 page handbook titled "Medicare and You". It is pretty well written and succinct, but it still doesn't prepare you to sift through the advertising BS and make an informed decision. We'll just have to keep studying, I guess.
Jerome:
Is Sonoma the town located in Sonoma the county? I came out to the Promised Land in '97, when I still had an interest in dairying (I milked cows for 16 years), and met Ignatio Vella, who gave a friend and I a personal
Tour of Vella Cheese. His 2 year old dry Jack cheese is still one of the best I've ever tried.

Jerome said...

Dennis- My team is the A's, but the Giants are a local team and I'll root for them too. But the fact is they're playing way over their heads. No way they should be in the Series, and no way they should be up on Texas by two games.
All the luck and timing in the universe has lined up on their side. It's a fluke. No less amazing and fun though.

Jerome said...

windover- Yes, Sonoma is a small town in the county of Sonoma. Indeed, Ig Vella's cheese is 'bout good as it gets. Damn man, come on out again and we'll chug a few of those brew pub ales you like and talk some radical politics and toast Sonoma County's finest, Jack London.

Annette said...

"This, however, refers to small green pieces of paper."

Not necessarily... As it's clued, there's no indication that it has to do with money. It could be ONE of anything - a single person, a single slice of pizza, a single blade of grass, etc.

Dennis, our front page announced that by public vote, Brewzzi's was rated as the Number One place for beer in South Florida.

windhover said...

Jerome:
Probably not soon, but this will happen. Count on it.

kazie said...

Just two comments:
This puzzle was for the most part in some language still foreign to me. And perhaps had I been home I'd have done better, but no computer and distractions did me in. Glad some of you enjoyed it.

If you don't watch the big Bang Theory, try it. I never fail to get a belly laugh at least once during it. 7pm central time Thursdays on CBS.

Barry G,
I hope your dad is still doing well.

Dennis said...

Ojai, thanks for stopping by. Had you followed this blog for any length of time, you'd see that the rules are applied equally to all.

Annette, I don't drink beer, but love Brewzzi's, and I'm really missing warm weather. I think we'll run down next week for a few days.

Dilbert said...

Hi.

Just saying. Don't know if Giants
belong in the Series or not. These Rangers aren't the same ones who
whopped TB and NY.

I'm a hockey fan and Navy plays Duke tomorrow.

Nite all.

Seldom Seen said...

Jerome: It's not a fluke...It is Destiny!

Jeannie said...

No time for the puzzle today, but as always, read the write up. Good one today Jazz...oh, and what a great Grandpa you are to try to make all your grandchildren's various "gigs".

I bet that I am the only one on this blog that has no technology to "zap" food as I don't own a microwave and have managed without one for 9 years now. Okay, Windhover might not have one either.

Sadly enough, I have caught a couple of shows on MTV called "Cribs" which the younger rapper youth that have had tons of money thrown their way, show off ridiculously lavicous homes. You have to remember that I have friends with teanagers that watch that crappy channel.

Barry, I hope your dad is coming through surgery okay. Tinbeni if anyone can make someone laugh, it's you. Bob, sorry to hear about your Mom. It's tough when you have to wait for news, as I live a couple of states away from mine.

Jerome, sex in a drive-thru? Didn't you mean drive-in?

Dennis, when you mentioned the statistic of 50% of shoplifters being teens, and said you should know, where you talking about your store now, or your past experience as a kid?

It's supposed to be a nice weekend here with the highs back in the 50's, so tomorrow I will most likely be spending time in the yard getting rid of the leaves that blew up into my "cul-de-sac" as I am the center house on that curve.

Dennis said...

Jerome, sex in a drive-thru? Didn't you mean drive-in?

Something wrong with sex in a drive-thru? Hey, those lines can be long.

Dennis, when you mentioned the statistic of 50% of shoplifters being teens, and said you should know, where you talking about your store now, or your past experience as a kid?

Yes.

creature said...

This is highly irregular, I suppose, but a quote from DH{after hearing all the imbibing stories]: If you enjoy gin at all- on the rocks w/a twist of lemon, pls try Tanqueray #10 [2 ozs].

Kazie, Thanks for 'Big Bang' info.
Everyone is touting it, including you. I'll have to take it in.

Bob said...

My Mom's back home but still pretty weak. Luckily, I have a brother nearby. Thanks for all your comments of support.

windhover said...

Jeannie,
You are correct; no microwave at Windhover. For one thing, I've never seen a propane or wood-fired model.

Creature:
I rarely touch gin, but the Irish is partial to Bombay Sapphire. When I'm not drinking ales (and sometimes when I am), I like to sip a little Patron.

Re: the World Series,
The Irish and I just returned a few hours ago from a little road trip. We don't own a TV, and when we're in a hotel we rarely turn on the TV. But we enjoyed watching both Series games. Like Seen, and for the same reason, I'm
usually a NL fan, but I actually felt sorry for the Rangers last night.

Dennis:
Drive-in, drive-thru, it's all good.

Jerome said...

Dennis, Jeannie- Drive-in sex. Ah, now I get the picture.

Dennis said...

Actually, Jerome, with drive-in sex, you don't get the picture...

creature said...

Bob, Thanks for keeping us up on your Mom's condition. I'm glad she's home- I bet she is too!I know its comforting to have your brother there. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Jeannie, You blow my mind! No microwave?!? You are fascinating and at the same time to be admired. I've never caught MTV, but I may try to catch 'cribs'- just to see what you're talking about. Do you disapprove of microwaves or think they add nothing to the cooking landsape? I know you are involved in food, business -wise;I also know you cook from scratch most of your food.I'm so far from this,but admire it and am in awe of it.

NC, 'crib' also can mean 'cheating on an exam' in U.S.-miss you.

Violet said...

Friday's puzzle: You people are my heroes! I'm nearly 70, and struggle with the end of the week challenges. I'm probably the only person who read the clue for 10 down: Two shakes with an "a" and came up with Jiff ... you know, two shakes of a lamb's tail? Jiff, short for jiffy? Quick? Fast? I'll have that puzzle solved in a jiff or two shakes of a lamb's tail.