google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday October 14, 2010 Matt Matera

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Oct 14, 2010

Thursday October 14, 2010 Matt Matera

Theme: Aye-Aye, Sir - Various ways to answer in the affirmative appear at the starts of the answers to starred clues, with different language bracketed at the end of each clue as a hint. Tip off in the clue for 66A. Parliamentary votes : YEAS.

1A. *Hip-hopper who married Beyoncé (German): JAY-Z. Symmetrically placed with YEAS.

20A. *Old stories (English): YESTERDAY'S NEWS.

28A. *Inferred cosmic substance (Russian): DARK MATTER. Matter that cannot be detected directly, but "must" exist because "something" massive is interacting with the observed gravitational behavior of the matter that can be detected.

44A. *Séance device (French): OUIJA BOARD. Actually, the trademarked name comes from combining two "yes" words, OUI and JA. That makes this answer stand out a bit from the others.

51. *Fatal problem in Genesis (Spanish): SIBLING RIVALRY. Cain v. Abel.

Al here.

A fairly "agreeable" puzzle today, no? A pangram. Kind of slow starting, but once it got going, it filled in faster for me than yesterday's. More than a few obscure names and places make this a Thursday puzzle, though.

ACROSS:

5. Sturdy fabric: DENIM. From French serge de Nîmes, cloth from a town in southern France.

10. Delhi wrap: SARI. Women's wear in India. Also has an alternate of spelling saree. A seemingly infinite variety of styles.

14. Movie apiarist: ULEE. Peter Fonda's character in Ulee's Gold was a beekeeper.

15. Like sandalwood leaves: OVATE.

16. Green Zone site: IRAQ. A heavily fortified central portion of Baghdad that contained several palaces of Saddam Husein. The International Zone. Also a recent movie about the same starring Matt Damon.

17. Gets into: DONS. Puts on clothing.

18. Brewers' kilns: OASTS.

19. Things you saw while out?: LOGS. Sawing logs, slang for snoring.

23. "Paris, je t'__": 2006 film: AIME. (Paris, I love you) a film made up of 18 short stories, and had 22 directors.

24. Charged particle: ION.

25. Nashville awards gp.: CMA. Country Music Awards.

33. Mythological ride: CARPET. Close your eyes, girl, or if you prefer, don't you dare close your eyes.

35. Derisive cry: YAH. If you say so, I guess.

36. Pivotal part: CRUX. Latin for "cross".

38. Bug, perhaps: ERROR. Latin errare, wander, go astray.

39. Hottie: FOX. Obligatory pic. Just don't google images for her with the word "thumbs"...

40. Easternmost state: MAINE. Ayuh is another way to say yes.

41. "Don't touch that __!": DIAL.

42. Body art, in slang: TAT. Tattoo.

43. High-speed raptor: FALCON. Raptor (Latin) and rapid are related words. To call a raptor high-speed is sort of redundant.

47. Former World No. 1 tennis player Ivanovic: ANA. What is it that draws attractive women to tennis?

48. With 6-Down, one in fear of an audit: TAX. and 6. See 48-Across: EVADER.

49. "Dagnabit!": RATS. Charlie Brown's second-favorite interjection, especially at Halloween. "Rats, another rock."

58. Colombia neighbor: PERU.

59. Funnel-shaped: CONED.

60. Architect Mies van der __: ROHE. Father of "modern" architecture. i.e. big square buildings with lots of glass. Also tubular steel furniture.

61. Animal shelter: LAIR. Related to "lie", as in lie down.

62. Gather: AMASS.

63. Intuited: KNEW. Not quite the same? My sense of the word is to perceive or guess immediately without thinking, but without knowing beforehand. Maybe I'm wrong.

64. About: OR SO.

65. Greet respectfully: BOW TO.

DOWN:

1. Kids' author Blume: JUDY.

2. Succulent plant: ALOE.

3. Dieters may fight them: YENS.

4. Keebler cracker: ZESTA. Saltines competition.

5. Pushover: DOORMAT.

7. Org. with rovers: NASA. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Rover as a remote exploration vehicle, not a dog. SPCA for first thoughts anyone?

8. __-bitty: ITTY.

9. Handel bars?: MESSIAH. Cute musical pun, bars of music, Handle's Messiah. (famously, the Hallelujah chorus)

10. '20s White House nickname: SILENT CAL. Coolidge. 30th president. A possibly apocryphal story has it that Dorothy Parker, seated next to him at a dinner, said to him, "Mr. Coolidge, I've made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you." His famous reply: "You lose."

11. ... ducks in __: A ROW. Explanations from decorative plaster ducks on the mantle in the 70's, to shooting galleries, are everywhere, but the likely origin is much simpler, think of the image of a mother duck leading her ducklings across a pond, which could have been observed ever since there were ducks.

12. Poverty, in metaphor: RAGS. From rags to riches.

13. Brightness nos.: IQS. I wanted something to do with lumens, or other light sources.

21. Down source: EIDER. Harvested from nests after the ducklings mature and leave it.

22. "Kidding!": NOT! Popularized by Wayne's World skits and movies (from SNL).

25. Included in the e-mail chain: CCED. Carbon Copied, a holdover from business snail mail. You can still buy carbon paper, but why?

26. Video game plumber: MARIO. Nintendo's go-to guy has appeared in over 200 games since 1981 where he was "jumpman" in the Donkey Kong arcade game.

27. Pianist Claudio: ARRAU. From Chile, which also neighbors 58A. Peru. Moonlight Sonata.

29. Honshu city: KYOTO. The Koyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emission reduction (the US has refused to participate) was first adopted there. And 45D. Airline to 29-Down: JAL.

30. Top limit: MAX.

31. Actress Durance who plays Lois on "Smallville": ERICA. On the one hand it wasn't clued with (Erica) Jong. On the other, hand, if you're not into comic book heroes made into TV shows, you're unlikely to have heard of her. This year is the last season for Smallville, which has been somewhat more soapy than super. We don't know yet if Ms. Durance has a fear of flying yet, as the red and blue blur has not figured out how to do it yet in this alternate Superman story line.

32. Bad sentence: RUN ON.

34. Former Kremlin policymaker: POLITBURO.

37. TV princess: XENA. Lucy Lawless.

39. Terrif: FAB.

40. Former sketch comedy that used Don Martin cartoons: MAD TV.

42. Hailed ride: TAXICAB.

43. "I wish 'twere otherwise": 'FRAID SO.

46. Slap the cuffs on: ARREST.

50. Like a biting remark, in British slang: SARKY. Sarcastic.

51. Burn slightly: SEAR.

52. Novelist Murdoch: IRIS. Apparently one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Sorry to say her work is completely unknown to me.

53. Pitcher Hideo: NOMO. First Japanese major leaguer to relocate to US MLB (Dodgers).

54. Chew: GNAW. Sort of an onomatopoetic word.

55. Unaccompanied: LONE. Had SOLO at first.

56. Flightless bird: RHEA. Finally. Something other than EMU. Not new to crosswords, though.

57. Trees used to make longbows: YEWS. Foliage is poisonous, especially to horses. Rare to poison humans, unless you're like Euell Gibbons and eat everything in the forest. (Actually, that's not true. Euell died of a complications due to a genetic disorder, not from eating pine trees.)

58. Abbas's gp.: PLO. Palestine Liberation Organization. Mahmoud Abbas succeeded Yasser Arafat.

Answer Grid.

Al

76 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Al, C.C. and gang - I got off to a roaring start with today's offering, but had problems in the South. Started looking for a pangram after the 'z', 'q' and 'x' popped up, and sure enough, we have one. I thought this was a really well-done theme and overall a fun puzzle.

'Brightness nos.' and 'Handel bars' are just fantastic clues.
Great shout-out to our friend Mainiac, too. Had no idea 'sarky' was even a word, and I still don't see 'yah' as a 'derisive cry', nor 'knew' as synonymous with 'intuited. Perps got me Erica Durance and Claudio Arrau.

Today is Bald and Free Day, and National Dessert Day. How I love combo days...

A bit of trivia for your Thursday:

1. How many years did the "Hundred Years War" last?

2. Which animals do we get catgut from?

3. When do Russians celebrate the October revolution?

4. What is used for the bristles of a "camels hair brush"?

5. What animal is thought to be the source of the name "Canary Islands"?

Hahtoolah said...

This was a fun puzzle. It seemed a bit easier than the usual Thursday puzzle. I could didn't need any outside help today.

You got a shout-out Mainaic! MAINE ~ the first state to greet the sun each day! And with SILENT CAL, we had another New England reference. Coolidge was a Vermonter.

If you live in a house designed by Mies van der ROHE, you shouldn't throw stones.

How nice to have a Claudio ARRAU, Chilean composer, on the day the Chilean miners were rescued.

QOD: I don't want to be interesting. I want to be good. ~ Ludwig Mies van der ROHE.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

My dad has a massive heart attack Sunday night and I've been spending a lot of time at the hospital with him and other family members since then. He's been heavily sedated most of the time and, sadly, they don't expect him to pull through. There's always hope, though.

Today's puzzle was mostly enjoyable, with lots of fun clues and a great theme. I got hung up at the intersection of SARKY and ROHE, however. Also, I paused for a long time before entering the Y in YAH. Even though I knew that the Honshu city had to be KYOTO, I just couldn't believe that YAH would really be clued "Derisive Cry."

Dennis said...

Barry, I'm really sorry to hear about your dad. Positive thoughts are with you; we'll all hope for the best. You've got a great support group here.

Hahtoolah said...

BarryG: I am so sorry to hear the news about your dad. Please know that you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. I know this must be a very difficult time for you, but know that you have lots of friends here.

Dr. Dad said...

Good morning all. Just stopping by to say 'Hi.' Got killed in the NW. My brightness number went out. Like Dennis I didn't know 'Sarky'??!! The theme was neat.

1337-1453 = 116 years
Sheep or goats
I think November
Mr. Camel invented the brush using pony hair
The Dog - from Latin Canaria like in the constellation Canis Major, home of Sirius the Dog Star

Have a great Thursday!

Dr. Dad said...

Barry, sorry about your father.

Dick said...

Good morning Al and all, for me today this was a real butt kicker. I never got started and really labored over the solutions I did get. I guess my solving IQ was on vacation today. Sure hope others had a better solve.

Barry G, I am sorry to hear of your father’s health issues. Good thoughts going your way today.

Hope you all have a great Thursday.

Lemonade714 said...

Al,

Thanks for a nice ride, though you and Dennis, I am sure, have both said, after some supposedly startling news, “I just knew it.” Meaning you intuitively knew what was later confirmed to be true.

I thought this was a well constructed puzzle with lots of wit and misdirection, from simple like DEHLI WRAP: SARI, Handel bars?: MESSIAH and Brightness nos.: IQS. I too was searching my brain for a shorter version of Lumen. I also did not really get Derisive cry: YAH, or Bug, perhaps: ERROR, thought both were easily filled.

I also was thinking how arbitrary and inexplicable the division of land in South America is, when you look at a MAP you have huge Brazil, skinny Chile, little Ecuador and the “guay” countries do not touch.

Did Elmer Fudd say “Dagnabit Wabbit?”

Barry G., all our best for you, your dad and the rest of your family. I also got hung up at the intersection of SARKY and ROHE, with the R my last letter.

Mainiac said...

Good Morning All,

Barry, positive thoughts heading your direction for you and your family.

How could I not enjoy this puzzle since Maine is included. I also liked Brightness nos. and Handel bars. Lots of unknowns, Rohe, Ana, Arrau, Erica and Kyoto sent me for red letter help. SilentCal is a new one for me. I can't believe a president could ever be considered quiet. Sarky is a new one also. Even though I liked the puzzle, I slogged my way through it.

From yesterday, the foliage is peaking on the Downeast Coast now. It is my favorite time of the year for many reasons. The bonus now is its really pretty outside. We had a touch of frost last night for the first time (I got my last round of tomatoes just in time). Temps get into the 50s as long as there is sun and today there will be plenty. A light SE breeze will keep me cool as I enjoy the Loop Road in the Park on my bike today. Been hit or miss on my exercise lately so there will be plenty of poisons to sweat out. Rain and wind tomorrow. Hopefully the leaves will hang on.

Enjoy your day!

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Al, C.C. et al.

Great write-up Al. Thanks so much for the musical interludes. I opted for the first "flying carpet" ride. Brought me back to the day...

I also thought we were in for a pangram when I saw the X on 35A, and wasn't disappointed. But oh, those proper names:
JAYZ
ULEE
ANA
ROHE
JUDY
SILENTCAL
ARRAU
ERICA
XENA
IRIS
NOMO
Eventually, I got them with perps, and one GG for JAYZ, but whew! What a slog. The unifier at 66A helped immensely to get the themed answers, and when it was done, I thought this was a very clever xword.

I didn't like "SARKY" (YAH!!), but loved "Things you saw while out" - great clue for LOGS.

@Dennis, Dr Dad has already answered, but I checked some answers just for more info, and found that "Mr Camel" did not invent the brush. It was a chinese person named Meng T'ien. Who knew?

Barry G., good vibes going out to you. So sorry to hear about your dad.

Have a great day, everyone!

Lrc said...

Barry, I will be thinking of you today.

Mostly good puzzle. Fun theme and a number of new words. The obscure really were. Hand up for saRky- Rohe and after I got ULEE I had to look it up to see what it was. Terrif as short for terrific is not on my radar.

I did not see this in Wednesday's posts so I will share it. Tuesday night on "Millionare" a question was "In China, what would you do with renminbi?". The contestant had no idea and had to jump the queation. The regulars on this blog would have known the answer was B. Spend it. Just to show that this blog could someday make you richer.

Al said...

Barry, sorry to hear about your dad. I still remember what it was like to wait for results with my own father after his stroke quite some time ago.

I thought I remember reading somewhere that camel hair brushes were actually made from squirrel tail hairs.

Tinbeni said...

Al, Wonderful write-up and links.
Especially the pic's of ANA and ERICA, totally unknown to me.

FUN theme, YAH? (Am I in Fargo?)

ARRAU and ROHE were learning moments, got them via perps.

Faves were that TAX EVADER.
I figure I've handled a few of these audits (for clients). Hmmmm, let's see MOI-v-IRS ... the record stands at 34-0. Wish those guys realized I can read their 10,000 page code also.

Triva:
1) 116 years
2) Sheep
3) October 15th (tomorrow)
4) pony hair, bear fur, sheep wool and even squirrel hair
5) Monk seals ... those 'dogs'

Vidwan827 said...

Barry G - I am sorry to hear about your dad - my I extend my prayers and sympathy to you and your family.

Al - Great blog - I had a most wonderful time with the puzzle - never thought I could do it - then little by little, I 'got' almost everything - thats good enough for me. Your vast erudite knowledge shows through, in your words. Had no clue about the theme despite getting all the long answers and the 'Yeas'... Takes a genius like you to put the 'pizazz' and charm into what , was for me, just a simple pleasure. Thank you.

Also my heartfelt gratitude, to the constructor, Mr. Matt Matera, for a most wonderful and charming puzzle. Thank you.

A small typo - 29 D Kyoto ... ( the US has 'refused' to participate).

Yews ( trees ) have the original alkaloid, used to make 'Tamoxifen', the normal drug-of-choice, for treatment of ( Stage 2 ) Breast ( and ovarian ) cancer.

Intuit - is a major accounting and tax software company - totally set me off. Intuited ??

Mies Vander Rohe was the 'guru' of William F Lamb, the chief architect of the Empire State Bldg. Rohe and Walter Gropius started the 'Bauhaus' school of design - wide open spaces, natural lighting, and extensive use of glass and steel. Arguably, the 'father' of the modern skyscraper.

Hahtool's picture house link up. has design elements, that indicate, that it could, just as well, have been (maybe ) designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Beautiful house. Thank you.

Sandalwood, gets my goat ... the oil is in the tree trunk wood, not in the leaves - so the 30 yr old tree has to cut down, ground up, and the 'mass' has to be steam distilled to get the oil. So precious, so expensive, so ecologically wasteful ... so unnecessary.

A general observation - Unfortunately, most tax evaders do not get audited - they never file a 'return', so there is nothing to audit. Its the ordinary tax filers, who file, and are in the IRS system, who are selected for the audits. However, if the IRS gets hold of tax evaders, they are handled through their C.I.D. dept.

Nice Cuppa said...

Thanks Al

"Don't be sarky with me, mate, or I'll 'ave yer guts for garters."

I dug up the word pretty quickly, but it's a dated abbr. of sarcastic. I'd say "chiefly childish, jocular, maybe TV cockney". I can imagine Dick Van Dyke using the word in Mary Poppins.

A fine crossword, except for the Northwest, as remarked already, where I had 4 complete unknowns crossing (JAYZ, ULEE, ZESTA, JUDY), only the last of which is a real word. I enjoy the obscure (I know that's Jude, not Judy), but my interest in Hip-hoppers, movie beekeepers and trade-name crackers is limited.

BarryG. I'm with you too, mate. It's a long and painful journey. No ways around it - just keep moving.

NC

Dennis said...

vidwan, as mentioned before, if you would please break up the long posts, you won't have the triplicate problems.

Anonymous said...

Dennis, this is vidwan, could you please 'dele' my second copy - I cant seem to do it - no trash can. Thanks.

Tinbeni said...

Barry G.
Positive thoughts and prayers for your Father's recovery.

Mainiac
(what a great name for a guy from MAINE!)
Our foliage is peaking also ... it's still green.

Hahtool
Thanks for the ROHE link.

Spitzboov said...

God morning everyone. Very informative write-up, Al.

I thought this had about the right difficulty for a Thursday. The theme words were a bit of a bear until I finally did 66a, YEAS and had gotten 28a, DARK MATTER, and realized how the language hint on the starred clues was to be used. Was this sentence RUN ON? That helped to fill in the elusive NW with 'JA'YZ. It helped to have good WAGS of TAX, ALOE, MARIO, YEAS, and KYOTO. A good, fun workout. No searches needed.

RHEA - Another ratite clue after kiwi and emu etal.

SARKY - Maybe our resident Brit wordologist can tell us more and how to use it with the proper nuance.

Quest #3 - Nov 7th?
Quest #5 - From the word for dog in a Latin based language?

BarryG, So sorry to heard of your Dad's health difficulties. My thoughts are with you and I hope for a good recovery.

Enjoy the day.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - Loved the clever cluing today. Managed to pull off a solid no-peeky.

SILENT CAL came easily enough. Coolidge had gone to nearby Amherst College and then moved to Northampton to get started in Law. There are lots of reminders of him in Northampton now, such as the Coolidge Bridge over the Connecticut River (Route 9 into Hadley) and the section in Forbes Library which preserves his documents and memorabilia.

There is an old movie theater in town named "CALVIN". It had fallen into serious disrepair, and eventually the C fell off the marquee, so we SARKY locals called it the ALVIN. It's been restored now.

Barry - Sorry to hear about the medical drama. Best wishes for your dad & clan.

Cheers!

Scotty said...

Barry - I'm new to this group, but I believe in group support and the prayers they offer - mine among them.

kazie said...

Finally back after getting here first when there were only 7 comments, a phone call kept me from commenting until now.

BarryG,
I'm very sorry to hear about your father. Keep a positive outlook though, they can work wonders these days, so you never know. But I know it's horrible to be worrying about it and not knowing the outcome.

A most enjoyable solve today, despite the many names. Themes took a while to suss out, since even when I got the unifier and realized only the first part of each involved the indicated language, the rest depended on a lot of perps and WAGS to fill in more hints.

My major downfalls were the center: YAH, MAX, and FOX, none of which made sense since I had MPH for MAX. The other was the NE, (not NW!) where for some reason I couldn't come up with RAGS, LOGS or IQS.

Vidwan,
It should be noted that Frank Lloyd Wright was heavily influenced by the Bauhaus movement, and even went to Germany to study it.

Vidwan827 said...

Must keep this short...
For all you 'voyeur's out there ( including me ! ), see the 'link up' to 'sari', in Al's blog ... Page '8',second row, center panel ...

... is a picture of a man and woman 'kissing', sitting at a table , with food dishes, spread out on a plantain ( banana ) leaf...

Speaking from experience, the couple - most probably, a bride and groom, at their wedding feast luncheon, are not actually 'kissing', but 'sharing',... the opposite ends of ... a small sweetmeat like a ladoo, or a burfi, ... with their mouth. This is a 'part' of the post wedding celebration.

This is the closest they will come to kissing, in public, in their married life.

Kissing, on the lips, in public, between a man and woman, (either one, older than 15 yrs old ) - is still a crime, under the Indian Penal Code. That is why, NONE of the 2400 odd Bollywood shows, euphemistically called movies, show any kissing scenes....I will refrain from any other comments re gays &/or other anatomical parts...

Who said blogs can't have a sense of humor...

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Barry - you know we are all pulling for your dad, you and your family. Best of luck.

Al - excellent - but I would expect no less.

Tough puzzle - more slog than joy for me, despite the clever theme and cluing. Even one French word casts a gray cloud over it. Without getting too SARKY, I'll say YAH and let it go at that.

I actually knew ARRAU and ROHE, but not JAY-Z nor ERICA nor ANA - both FOXes, fer sure.

Ludwig Mies van der ROHE gave us the aphorisms, "Less is more," and
"God is in the details."

My fav SILENT CAL story is about his visit to a farm with a number of dignitaries. Mrs Coolidge was in a group that saw a prized rooster that was able to service some remarkable no. of chickens in a day (possible reincarnation?) She said, "Please inform the President."

When he was so informed, he asked, "Same chicken or different chickens?" To the answer "Different" he responded, "Please inform the First Lady."

Sometimes more is more. 'FRAID SO.

Cheers!
JzB

creature said...

Good Morning C.C.,Al and all,

My 'bugs' were many. Misspelled 'ulie'; 'gets into'-'does';'never filled in K and W- Sarky and knew[knew?]- sloppy on my part;'Arrau' and 'bug' for error- that's a stretch. I do not buy 'yah' for derisive cry.

Theme was quite clever. I don't remember seeing Matt before. I thought it might be Rich.

My favs were:'Brightness nos' and 'Handel bars'.

Barry, you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.

Have a nice day everyone.

JD said...

I got the theme!!!!!! Not finished yet, but it was a grand moment when the light went on..geez, what is Russian for yes..it will come. I'll be back

October 14, 2010 9:39 AM

big oops.....

Just the facts, Maam, (tax) said...

This just in - fits right into our tax system, audits and tax evaders.

From Harvard Business Review, Economic compendium, monograph 3 - Raw data from IRS Statistics Year-book. 2007, Compiled by Burke A. Christensen, Eastern Kentucky University.

Windhover, any friends or relatives there ?

Based on results on percentage of collected federal Income Tax, based on IRS figures, of 2007 Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) - the 'total', bottom line, on Page I of the Form 1040.

A. One (1 %) of Taxpayers pay 22% of the total tax.

B. Upper 5%(AGI >$160K)pay 67% of the tax.

C. Next 20%($66K<AGI<$160K)pay 27%.

So 25% of taxpayers pay 94% of the total taxes.

D. Middle 25% pay 11% of the taxes.

To add that all up, thats 105%.

E. The bottom 50 % ( AGI <$33K) pay a MINUS 5%

The govt. 'subsidizes' these taxpayers.

The final extension for the 2009 tax returns, ends on Oct. 15. (tomorrow). In France, they invented a novel device to carry this out effortlessly and painlessly - it is called the guillotine.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Except for a couple of names, (27D) ARRAU, (31D) ERICA, this one went fairly easily.

I have heard of and read some (52D)IRIS Murdoch. She was a wonderful novelist,playwright and poet, who was born in Ireland, but lived most of her life in England. There is an excellent 2001 movie "Iris",starring Judy Dench and Kate Winslet that details her life, from her early successes to her sad death from Alheimzer's.

I've always thought the "biting remark" in 50D was SNARKY.

Barry G. Very sorry to hear about your father. I hope you and your family bear up well under the strain.

Not much time today. I have to prepare waffles at our Red Hat Ladies annual pajama party brunch. (Silly yes, but alway a fun visit with friends...good cooks too!) Then it is chorus practice this evening.

See you all later.

Lemonade714 said...

If you see a sign CAVE CANES, be careful, it mean beware of the dog.

ULEE is such a frequent word in puzzles, I am really surprised it is not a gimmer for all.

I am more familiar with SNARKY than SARKY

Also, baseball would not have Ichiro but for HIDEO NOMO

carol said...

Barry G....I am so sorry about your father! You have many friends here and we all wish the very best outcome for you and your family.

I haven't been able to get very far with the puzzle - cannot even guess at some of the answers. Will keep at it, sometimes it must takes longer.

JD said...

Good morning Al, C.C. and all,

I was so excited I accidentally posted on yesterday's blog.Just returned from chiropractor to catch mistake.

I really thought this was going to be impossible to finish.Knowing 1A,5A,10A sure helped.Judy Blume was a gimme;JD=Judy. My students loved those books awhile back,not so popular now.
The top 2/3 resembled very lacy Swiss cheese, but as soon as I filled in "sibling rivalry" everything started falling into place.


Thank you Matt Matera making this so perpable in the unknown areas, like ovate, silent ca, politburo, and dark matter(never figured out the da to help me). The last unknown was the R in Rohe/sarky.I came here instead of going to Mr. G.
Hahtool, with your quote and link, I SHOULD(?) remember this man.

Al, on days like this, I love the write up..always a big thank you.

Barry, so sorry about your dad.

Jeannie, lobster bisque would be my 1st choice of soups, but I also like tomato with grilled cheese on the side.

JD said...

Lemonade, Ulee wasn't the problem, but knowing what an apiarist was gave me pause.Thanks for the link to Hideo Nomo-never saw the clue as it was filled with acrosses. Iwould not have known the answer.

Anonymous said...

"You can still buy carbon paper, but why?

For hand-tracing photo reference onto art paper.

Raymond C

thehondohurricane said...

Good day all,

No time for the puzzle yet today. I'm making the initial assault on the leaves.

Barry G. I'm so sorry to hear about your Dad. Be positive. You and your family are in my thoughts.

Skip (aka T.. H... H..)

Jazzbumpa said...

I thought CAVE CANES were hook-shaped red and white striped candies grown underground.

I've also made a lot of mistakes this week.

Cheers!
JzB the fallible tromBONER

Jazzbumpa said...

At rehearsal last night, I had a strange awareness of the bone in my left upper arm, but not the right, that occurred on the 2nd and 4th counts of a measure, but not the 1st and 3rd.

This is my askew, off-beat sense of humerus.

Cheers!
JzB

Jerome said...

Al- Charles Kennard, co-inventor of the Ouija Board, claimed "Ouija" was an ancient Egyptian word meaning "Good luck"

This is Matt's puzzle debut. And a wonderful one it is. Congrats!

Al said...

@Jerome, I work for a company that does Market research, and so I don't believe much in the way of people's claims without documented proof. That's just a good line to make it sound mystical and sell more product...

HeartRx said...

@ Vidwan,
Some of your comments hit close to home for me:
My mother took 'Tamoxifen' after breast cancer, but I learned of some dangerous side effects (blood clots, for one), and opted for Arimidex when it was my turn...

Intuit is the software I use for my export company -great program, and very "INTUIT-ive"

One of Gropius' gems is in Lincoln, MA. I have been to visit, and was amazed to learn about this forward-thinking designer. But I never connected him to Mies until now. Hopefully, I can retain this bit of grey cell matter until the next time it comes up in a puzzle...

lois said...

Good afternoon Al, CC, et al., This puzzle gets a 'yah' from me. It was a slog from beginning to end with enough knowns to keep me trying. The 'crux' of the problem was being short on time, really. Finally had 'no mo' time and had to 'run on'. Really had to laugh to see Lois in the clues and my brother Max in the answers and both parallel and above 'sibling
rivalry' no less. I wanted "cloud" for funnel-shaped coming from tornado alley and wishing for a magic 'carpet' ride to get me out of here. Thanks for the links, Al. Great job!

Barry G: you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. I understand what you're experiencing all too well. I am so sorry for you all. Life can be so hard sometimes. That's when we put one foot in front of the other and just keep going.

Lemonade: meant to say what a great job you did on the blog yesterday. Just got distracted and forgot. I always enjoy your humor and creative efforts.

Jazz: funny, 'humerus' man. made me LOL.

Jayce said...

Barry G, best wishes for your dad and all your family.

Al, thank you for a wonderful writeup.

Answers:
1. Not 100.
2. Not cats.
3. Not in October.
4. Not camel hair.
5. Not the canary.

Man oh man, Mr. Matera sure likes 3-letter words ending in X!

Okay, I just HAD to Google it, and sure enough, Megan Fox's thumb does look a bit, um, different.

Knew ARRAU right away, but had to guess the R in ROHE and SARKY.

Like yawl, fave clues include "Handel bars?" and "Things you saw while out?" "Delhi wrap" is pretty nifty, too.

Latah!

Lucina said...

Good day, Al, C.C. and blogmates.

Al, you always enlight me. Thanks.

BarryG.:
I'm so sorry to hear of your Dad's illness. Please take heart that I and the rest of us are thinking of you and hoping for the best.

Computer problems this morning have slowed my logging on; the security check had to be twice repeated. It's a lengthy process.

But what a lovely puzzle from Matt Matera. Many aha moments. I knew JAYZ because it was a big splash in the news when he and Beyonce married and of course as JD said, JUDY Blume is well known in elementary school.

I saw the movies, ULEE and IRIS; both were sad and I almost slept through ULEE.

Nice misdirection on gets into, DONS and dieters may fight them, YENS.

Loved brightness nos, IQ and things you saw while out, LOGS.

Even with all the names, it wasn't too hard to WAG my way through this.

Once I saw the theme at 66A, I groked the long theme answers; very clever inclusion of all the affirmatives.
Top limit, MAX and terrif, FAB were also great clues.

Hand up, R was the last to fall in ROHE and that was pure guesswork.

I'll check in later to appreciate all the links.

I hope you are having a fabulous Fall Thursday! Still hot here.

Lucina said...

One thing more. On our campus we have many moslem students and they wear a version of the sari; I love to see them with their colorful, flowing fabrics.

Jerome said...

Al- I agree with your stance on documentation. Kennard's explanation on the origin of "Ouija" might have been whimsy, I agree. However,there is no definitive proof or documentation that "Ouija" derives from "Oui" and "JA". I wish there was. I once had to trash a theme because I couldn't prove that that was the case.

Anonymous said...

Technically, Hawaii is the eastern most state. A globe comes in handy for that. I guess that did not fit.

Barry G. said...

Thanks for the kind words and wishes, all!

I just heard that my dad has fully regained consciousness and is alert and able to communicate. They will probably try removing the breathing tube today or tomorrow. His heart is still extremely weak, but I'm going to head back to the hospital tomorrow (it's a 1 1/2 hour drive) and hope to have the chance to talk to him.

Marge said...

Hi all,
I haven't done todays puzzle yet but want to comment about puzzles fron earlier in the week. I never get the puzzle done until later in the P.M. First- about Monday. I knew Wicca at once as there is a coven in SW Wis. They were in the news in the early 1990s. There were some people who didn't like their beliefs, even some kind of a court case. I've been a Christian all of my life but I felt sorry for them, they had a right their beliefs. Now, when I look at the church directory in the Madison paper on Fridays, I see they have info there too. Times do change!

I loved the Wile E Coyote cartoon, Lemonade, also the article about Martin Luther.

As for the Readers Digest, when my husband graduated from college in 1953, his parents gave him a lifetime subscription, cost $200. He still gets it, of course. I don't think they do that anymore, it can't be very profitable.

When we lived in NE Kansas we lived near a town that had the first college west of the Missouri river. It is a Jr college now. Their claim to fame was that George Washington Carver once applied for admission and was denied because of his race. It was actually a good small college but they have always been sorry about their denial.

Well, have a good day and evening-time for me to start supper and today's crossword puzzle.

Marge

Bill G. said...

Barry G, good thoughts going out to both you and your father.

Technically, I think Alaska qualifies for westernmost, northernmost and easternmost. For the contiguous 48, I think they are Washington, Minnesota, Maine and Florida.

Wouldn't you know, the one time I forgot to copy my comments first, they got lost in cyberspace during Preview. Aargh!

kazie said...

Anon@ 2:30,
Hawaii is still east of the date line, therefore is to our west. Whether it or Alaska is the furthermost west is a matter of which part of Alaska you're talking about.

Annette said...

Congratulations on your debut, Matt! A lot of great clues and fun theme. Perfect for a Thursday.

63A - "I just KNEW you were going to say that! I am so intuitive."

SARKY sounds like a form of the US's Snarky. The 'n' seems to make the word so much more fitting!

LOGS was filled in by the perps, so thanks for the explanation. I just couldn't see it...

Barry G, wonderful news about your father! Best wishes on his recovery! Good thing I checked the blog one more time for updates before posting... We just went through the opposite scenario with a family member about 2 weeks ago, so my initial comments were quite different.

Marge, my father had one of those lifetime RD subscriptions too. I'd have a hard time paying $200 for a magazine today - it must've been a fortune in in '53! It hurt so much to notify them of his passing, then have to start my own subscription. The memory of the magazine by his chair is so strong.

Hahtoolah said...

Not all of Judy Blume's books are suitable for children. Wifey is a bit racy.

Did anyone else think of Sky for Top Limit?

Barry G: Glad to hear the news about your Dad. Sounds very positive.

Anonymous said...

Good afternoon or evening everyone.

Barry G. Glad to read that your dad's prognosis is a bit better. Best wishes for you and your family.

I missed all the long ones because I am so literal I thought the answers would be in Russian, French, or Spanish. So I gave up. But I did very much like IQs and Things you saw while out.

Cheers

lois said...

Hahtool: that's not the only book Blume wrote that isn't suitable for kids. She wrote a book for kids called Forever that was pretty explicit when my kids were reading her freely. I was shocked and never bought another one for my girls - not w/out reading it first. The dirt hit the fan too. A lot of parents felt betrayed by that book.

dodo said...

Hellor, everyone,

Barry, I'm so sorry about your dad. I'm joining the others in wishing you a positive outcome and will remember your father and all your family,in my prayers.

Hand up for 'snarky', not 'sarky'.
Also for disliking 'yah' for 'derisive cry'. Mekes no sense to me!

I had Iran for Iraq which left 'brightness nos' hanging. I never did catch on until Al set me straight. BTW, great writeup as usual, Al. Misspelled Arrau as Arrou and should have known better!Never hear of Erica Durance or even Smallville; or JayZ, or Mario the plumber. Oh, well, can't win-em all!

Bob said...

Not too difficult a puzzle today, but I needed a patient 20 minutes to complete it.

On an unrelated note....if you are a fan of Norman Rockwell's art, here's a website of note:

NORMAN ROCKWELL

The podcast available on this website is wonderful and highly recommended. Check out the Slide Show with Commentary also.

Bob said...

Best wishes, Barry. I hope the news of your Dad's condition will continue to be good.

The Russian Revolution was celebrated on November 7. The Soviet takeover occurred on October 25, 1917, when Russia was still on the unreformed Julian Calendar system, which much of Europe left in 1582 (England didn't update to the new Gregorian Calendar system until 1752, seeing the change as more or less a Catholic plot). Russia adopted the Gregorian Calendar in 1918, ironically forcing celebration of the October Revolution into November. (Thirteen days had to be dropped from the calendar in 1918 to make the change.)

Husker Gary said...

Al, et al, very informative write-up, Ja! I am in my 3rd of 4 consecutive days of subbing and so my blogging has suffered. I am going to get out my Funk and Wagnalls and look up the word "retired again." My replacement asked me to talk on orbital mechanics and Newton's 3 Laws and so I had to jump on that!

I had no freakin' idea what the theme was until I got to the reveal and that was so cool! It helped me with SIblingrivalry.

Sarky? Really? The SA__ __ Y two cells kept me from a 100% on a pleasant puzzle. I also thought KNEW is not a synonym for Intuit. Intuit is what my wife can do when I tell a little white lie!

Chickie said...

Hola everyone, I caught onto the theme after Ja and Yes because I went to the bottom and found the unifier, yeas. But that didn't mean that I didn't have trouble with some of the names that were unknown. I had to look up Pianist Claudio, Actress Durance, and 20's Whitehouse nickname among others.

Even so I did finish the puzzle. But I Saw (hogs) while I was out. What did you see? Dogs? bogs? I didn't even equate this clue to sleep. I certainly have a lump on my forehead from that V-8 can!

The Crux of the matter was that I didn't think out of the box quite enough.

I, too, had solo at first for lone and Sarky? I've never heard that term and couldn't find it in Google.

Barry G. I'm so sorry to hear about your Dad. As you said there is always hope and I'll be sending thoughts your way for your Dad, you and your family.

Lemonade714 said...

I believe today is Matt's first solo puzzle; I recall a NYT with Joon Pahk from last year. I am always surprised we do not hear more from Joon.

Chickie said...

Jazz, I loved your humerous today! I'ts always great when we have an out loud laugh while reading the Blog.

Jaycee, Great answers to Dennis' questions today. I knew those same answers!!

Al, thanks for the great links today. I especially liked all of the pictures that went along with Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

My grandson is getting his certification after training in the Peace Corp. Tomorrow is the big day and he was "chosen" to give his thank you speech in Sereer. He was told that there may be a National Senegal TV crew at the ceremony filming the event. He has had major language immersion, but as he said "No stress"! He just hopes that he doesn't say something that is incorrect or anti-social, or embarrasing in his new language. Send good thoughts his way if you can.

Dudley said...

JazzB - Loved the offbeat sense of humerus!

I'm glad so many have weighed in in favor of SNARKY, the sound of which is just...better.

kazie said...

Chickie,
Congrats to your grandson in learning a language so well in adulthood. No easy feat!

Barry,
I'm delighted at your news and certainly hope the improvement means an eventual complete recovery.

I'm finally back to feeling almost human after a day you wouldn't believe. Neck-deep in the next newsletter I have to get out, I found today my PDF writer won't work for the whole thing--I was testing to see if the photos were coming out clearly. It'll do one page, but if I try the whole document it gives an error message.

Anyway, I've given that up for now. The rest of the day was spent trying to figure out the post office form I have to submit before publishing this issue. It needs doing once a year. Finally I got help and that is done, but the printer got stuck on making copies of it. Now that's three frustrating things, so I'm hoping for a smooth evening and day tomorrow.

Lucina said...

BarryG:
Good news about your Dad! I'll continue my prayers for him and all your family.

Modern medicine is so wonderful. My brother's brother-in-law suffered a massive heart attack last winter, you may recall I mentioned it, was in a coma for several weeks and is now on the road to recovery.

I hope the same good fortune for your father.

Kazie:
You sound like you need some comfort from your frustrating experiences; I'm sending you some via cyberspace. Take care, my friend.

Jeannie said...

I thought this puzzle was a bit easier for me to solve than yesterday's. I must admit that I didn't suss out the theme even with the unifier. My favorite theme answer after looking it over was Ouija board...good catch Al!
I needed perp help for ovate, Rohe, Nomo, and Rhea. Politburo was purely a WAG, and "sarky", not snarky? I also didn't like Yah for a derisive cry or bugs perhaps: error. I made one little visit to the g-spot for Claudio Arrau. Favorites today were "gets into"- dons and "things you saw when out"-logs. Always nice to have shout outs to those that visit here. Both Lois with her sibs and our own Mainiac.

Barry, good news on your Dad. I hope that there is something they can do for his heart. At least your are putting on some miles on that new car with that 1 1/2 hour drive!

Kazie, it sounds like you have found a "bug" (error)...hated that clue.

Drdad, it's always good to see you back.

Dennis, I bet I can guess what you had for dessert ;)

This took too long to type so I am going to be "black" Jeannie just in case I run into the same problem as I did last night.

Dennis said...

Barry, great news about your dad; please keep us posted.

Ok, here's the answers to this morning's questions:

1. The Hundred Years War lasted 116 years, from 1337 to 1453.

2. Catgut comes from horses, sheep, goats, mules, pigs and donkeys. Never from cats.

3. The Russians celebrate the October Revolution in November. The actual anniversary is November 7th.

4. Camels hair brushes are made from squirrels, goats, ponies, bears and sheep, alone or in combination. Hair from camels is considered too woolly for brushes and is never used.

5. Dog - Insula Canaria, a Latin name meaning Island of the Dogs, was applied originally to the island of Gran Canaria, because of the wild dogs that populated the islands when they were first visited by ancient Romans.

Jayce said...

Dennis, thanks for the answers. Good to know.

Just got back from a day at the office that did not go very well. Ah well, they can't all be good. Looks like you had a less than stellar day too, kazie.

Tonight I'm making butternut squash soup, just as mentioned in your poem yesterday, Clear Ayes. From our garden. Then ground turkey and penne with marinara sauce.

C.C., do you have a recipe for how to make shui jiao (aka jiao dz)? I keep trying, but they just don't taste right. (Sorry for the terrible pinyin spelling.)

JazzB, I say again, I like your sense of humerous.

G'night!

Chickie said...

Kazie, A hug for you over the internet. You need to sit down with your feet up and have a nice drink to begin your evening. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Barry, good news about your Dad.

Dennis, Thanks for the answers. I knew that one or two had to be tricky answers.

fermatprime said...

Dear fellow solvers:

Barry G.--Am so very glad that your father pulled through. I sincerely hope that he fully recovers. (If I may make a suggestion, with good heart, from my own experience, have him tell you in great detail about his life and relatives. In our family, there was much to learn. I wish that I had had even just one more such conversation with my dad before his final heart attack. Of course, my case was different than most as my family was rather secretive and Victorian and I was almost 40 years younger than they.)

Thanks to CC, Al and MATT!

Also, thanks to late birds who responded to my late post! CHICKIE--I am also a Suchet fan. So much so that Locate TV sends me notices every week about his future appearances. He can play such varied roles. Have you seen "The In Laws?" I ran across this one by accident some time ago. I spotted him but could hardly believe it!

I did not invent the term "daffynitions", it popped out of my memory banks from long ago. Do not recall if it had anything to do with Daffy Duck.

I spent about 46 years programming this and that computer. Needless to say, I made plenty of errors creating BUGS in my programs!

I found today's puzzle to be much fun, especially since I spotted the unifier on my first quick go through. Two incorrect letters though. I have this blind spot when it comes to current popular "singers." On the distaff side, ARRAU was a gimme.

Have a good evening and pleasant Friday all!

Jayce said...

fermatprime, you are awesome.

Clear Ayes said...

About Canary Island dogs: I think most of us remember the horrific story of Diane Whipple, who was killed in the corridor outside her San Francisco apartment in 2001 by two Presa Canario dogs, Bane and Hera.

Just googled to find out what the owners of Bane and Hera (I believe both dogs were euthanized) are up to. Marjorie Knoller is serving a 2nd degree murder conviction from 15 years to life. Her husband Robert Noel, after serving some time for involuntary manslaughter and being disbarred, is now a baker. Ah well....

Fermatprime, either a written or videoed memoir is a wonderful gift. I think I've mentioned before that my mother wrote a series of "letters" to my daughter with wonderful stories about her growing up years in Canada and Chicago. I've done the same thing for my grandchildren. All the stories are on CD and all the kids have a copy.

Great party today with my friends. Now on to chorus practice....tra laa.

HUTCH said...

BOB. I did the puzzle in 10 minutes. Who cares.

Bill G. said...

My wife just turned me onto this very worthwhile and emotional video about a city councilman coming out against bullying.

Frenchie said...

Lemonade714, I'm around! I liked the Wed. puzzle and your commentary really brought the puzzle content to a new level!
I swear Dan Naddor and you are two peas in a pod!

5. Furtive message: MEET ME. HALF WAY...I know I'm getting old when I say that song "Black Eyed Peas- Meet me Halfway,"
is roucous...I couldn't listen to It :(

My favorite clue/answer was IT'S ATTRACTIVE/MAGNET. Love Mies Vander Rohe...In a perfect world, I would be living in one!

10. Delhi wrap: SARI...
9. Handel bars?: MESSIAH. ..several really inventive clue/answers!

I'm out.

Frenchie said...

that's raucous.

Bill G. said...

I think much of today's music is raucous; full of rhythm but not much melody and harmony. But that's probably because I'm an old fogy.