google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, November 8, 2012 Robert Fisher

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Nov 8, 2012

Thursday, November 8, 2012 Robert Fisher

Theme: "Fly by night..."

This is a "definition" type puzzle, where the same clue typically has totally different meanings in each answer.  In this case, they are all the same meaning.  But each one gets the point across in a different way.

17S. Fly : OBSERVER ON A WALL. "I'd love to be a fly on the wall when he gets the axe..." Origin.

25A. Fly : SWATTER'S TARGET. Here's how President Obama did it during a BBC interview. 0:36

42A. Fly : SPIDER'S INVITEE. "Will you walk into my parlor?" from the poem by Mary Howett.

56A. Fly : OINTMENT SPOILER. "There's a fly in the ointment..."  Just a slight drawback.

Nice theme, and I smiled at each "definition" of this annoying pest. So let's see what else Mr. Fisher has for us this week.

Across:

1. Act the troubadour : STRUM. Not my first guess.  Left it blank and came back to it.

6. Gp. that includes Venezuela : OPEC. Not my first guess. Left it blank and came back to it.

10. Show disapproval : JEER. Not my first... (Are you sensing a pattern here?)

14. Despicable character : LOUSE. ...came back to it.

15. ___ stick : POGO. Chop? Drum? Glue? Yard? Slap? Sigh....

16. Drive train component : AXLE. Yay! I finally filled in an answer.

20. End of eternity? : WYE. The letter "y" at the end of the word "eternity." Clever clue.

21. Script snippet : LINE.

22. Like some excuses : FLIMSY.

23. Seafood order : SOLE. Like this.

24. Rural valley : GLEN.

31. Lo-cal : LITE. The commercial-ese clue suggests the commercial-ese spelling for the answer.

32. Longtime Mississippi senator : LOTT. Chester Trent Lott, who served from 1989 to 2007.

33. Two-minute warning giver : REF.eree

35. From scratch : ANEW.

36. Opted for : CHOSE.

38. Twofold : DUAL.

39. Uncle Sam poster word : YOU.



40. Give it up, so to speak : CLAP. Did you ever wonder where that phrase came from? Let's give it up for The Grammarphobia Blog!

41. Church alcove : APSE.

47. Stuff : CRAM.

48. Barrel-bottom stuff : LEES. Dregs are never singular, are they?

49. Go up against : TAKE ON.

52. Smelting waste : SLAG.

53. Sailor's assent : AYE.

59. Show whose cast holds the record for the most charted songs on the Billboard Hot 100 : GLEE. It's on my Netflix list...

60. Protein-rich bean : SOYA.

61. Soft palate projection : UVULA. Ewwww...word of advice: Do NOT search for "uvula images" on google!!!

62. Between ports : ASEA.

63. It usually loses in war : TREY. The card game "War" uses a standard French deck. The "trey" is the card with a value of 3.  The only card it would beat is the 2. Hence, unlikely. (Bill G., what are the exact odds of a trey beating a deuce?)

64. Holiday hires : TEMPS.

Down:

1. Brake : SLOW. My first entry in the NW.

2. Country singer Keith : TOBY. You remember him, don't you? 4:05

3. Bit of subterfuge : RUSE.

4. Manipulate : USE.

5. Red wine choice : MERLOT. Mine would be Carménère. And not in a red solo cup, either!

6. Warmup act : OPENER.

7. Epidermal opening : PORE. Does that make it a warmup act?

8. It can be bruised : EGO.

9. Fuse into a single entity : CONFLATE. Interesting that this word comes from the Latin root word "flatus," meaning "blasts." Gives a whole new erudite meaning to flatulence, don't you think?

10. Gabfest activity : JAWING.

11. Entrance requirement, often : EXAM.

12. Plumbing bends : ELLS. Not to be confused with the 2012 Open winner Ernie.

13. Bank (on) : RELY.

18. Beastly : VILE.

19. On the qui vive : ALERT. Another interesting clue. "Qui vive" is French for "Live [short 'i'] who?"  A sentry would shout this out to an approaching person, as a short form of the question "Long live...who?"  By answering, the approaching person would reveal their loyalties.  I guess a good answer would be "The king"?

23. Jambalaya, e.g. : STEW.

24. Mustang contemporaries : GTOS.

25. More than amuse : SLAY. "You just slay me!"

26. Skid row types : WINOS. How about us carménère types?

27. Really enjoyed : ATE UP.

28. Pours messily : SLOPS.

29. Blow : ERUPT. In Latin, "erumpant" (...is that why it is called a rump?)

30. Offer with no intention of giving, say : TEASE. Oooohh...so many photos I can't link here.

34. Beat a hasty retreat : FLEE.

36. Detergent ad superlative : CLEANEST.

37. Hippocratic oath no-no : HARM. "Primum non nocere" (or, "Primum nil nocere"). "First: do no harm." Is there a doctor in the house?

38. Spot for a lectern : DAIS.

40. Data storage medium : CD ROM.

43. Summer beverage : ICE TEA.

44. "No argument from me!' : I'LL SAY.

45. Spring-___ cycle: tidal phenomenon : NEAP.

46. Watch the boob tube, say : VEG OUT.

49. Frat party wear : TOGA.

50. Has a bug, or bugs : AILS.

51. Joint sometimes replaced : KNEE. "Hip" was too short.

52. Eyelid affliction : STYE.

53. Grad : ALUM.

54. Sharp cry : YELP.

55. Distinctive periods : ERAS.

57. Hide-hair connection : NOR. We saw neither hide nor hair of CrossEyedDave for a week!

58. "To All the Girls ___ Loved Before": 1984 #1 country hit : I'VE. Albert Hammond's original version was overshadowed by Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson. 3:06

It's been real.  See you next week!

Hugs,
Marti

Note from C.C.:

Here is an adorable Halloween picture Irish Miss sent to me.



She said:

"Dahlia, dressed as Eliza Doolittle after her transformation, is my 10 year-old great, great niece and Amelia, dressed as Cat-woman, is my 5 year-old great-niece."


99 comments:

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Swell puzzle, Robert! Cool expo, Marti!

Theme was doable and fun!

Bad fibro day Wednesday. I could not blog. Didn't get the theme of the puzzle as I had a natick at intersection of ...ILLINI and NOLI. I had to go to derm using walker to and from Harvey's Jeep. It was agony. Nice new derm. Found something to biopsy and many things to burn off. Oh joy! Tomorrow is holistic dentist. Two remaining molars hurting badly. Expect to have to have these extracted. (At least these people will get wheelchair out of Jeep and put it back. (Am looking for a gizmo that moves the chair in and out of my Silverado! Cannot be terribly expensive.)

Am glad puzzle was painless!

Cheers!

fermatprime said...

VirginiaS: Why don't you put your email on you profile?

I too have upuzzles. Cruciverb was working, however!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Slow going at first today. Didn't know TOBY Keith and had no idea what type of action a Troubadour might perform other than singing and dancing. Got OPEC right away, but that was it for awhile.

As I moved down the grid, however, things started to pick up. I grokked the theme pretty quickly, and I eventually got enough perps to let me go back and finish up the top.

Now, if you will excuse me, I've got to go shovel...

Al Cyone said...

A fun puzzle. [7:46]

thehondohurricane said...

Good morning all,

Just got in from shoveling and snow blowing 41/2" of a "mostly rain event." Some parts of Ct had 10"+ of snow.

A no sleep night so I tackled today's puzzle in the wee hours. Like Marti & Barry, it was a slow go. Knew the theme (for once), but it didn't help much with the fills.

Liked WYE for the end of eternity. for 41A, had NAVE 1st, then APSE arrived via perps.

Like yesterday, lots of perp help and filling the squares one letter at a time.

Have an issue with 50D. Has a bug/AILS...OK. But plain old bugs/AILS... don't get it. Irks would seem more appropriate. Maybe a couple hours of sack time will enlighten me.

Enjoy your day.





Lemonade714 said...

Fun puzzle, starring Musca Domestica. Very clever recognition of the buzz caused by this pest. Marti, with the storm burying your area in snow, your write up is really impressive. WYE and AYE and as Marti said a very tough beginning. Hope all in the NE are okay and get ready for some nice weather.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Marti and friends. Interesting puzzle. I liked the theme and caught on fairly early, but boy, did I have trouble coming up with STRUM and JEER. (OPEC I knew.)

I did like seeing RUSE next to USE in the NW corner.

I really wanted Gossip instead of JAWING for the Gabfest Activity.

My favorite clue was Give It Up, So to Speak = CLAP.

Jambalaya is NOT a STEW, as any southern Louisiana cook (or eater) will tell you.

According to Webster's DREG can be singular, and that was the answer I really wanted for Barrel-Bottom stuff.

Interestingly, this clue followed the clue for Stuff (a clecho?). I was thinking of Stuff as a noun, since I have a lot of Stuff in my spare room, instead of Stuff as a verb = CRAM.

I new GLEE. That is one of the few shows I watch. The first couple of seasons were much better than this season, however.

Nice photos of your grand-nieces, Irish Miss.

QOD: Life’s under no obligation to give us what we expect. ~ Margaret Mitchell (November 8, 1900 ~ August 16, 1949)

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

I had the same trouble as everybody else up in the NW, but with the theme worked out I was able to return & repair.

My biggest grumble is that "war" should have been capitalized. I avoided Trey for a long while because I thought it mustn't be the card game War.

Morning Marti! Love the Uncle Sam poster! How'd you have time to do that?

Very little snow in my part of Massachusetts. Evidently we were at the edge of the snow band. Handy!

desper-otto said...

Good morning, Marti, C.C., and all.

Marti, you provided a real learning moment with your explanation of "qui vive," and a real chuckle with your tongue-in-cheek question to Bill G. And I laughed out loud at your gaseous humor over CONFLATE and ERUPT.

When it comes to eternity, I think Woody Allen said it best, “Eternity is really long, especially near the end.”

Barry G. said...

Bill G., what are the exact odds of a trey beating a deuce?

Well, I'm not Bill G., but I'd have to say the odds of a trey beating a deuce are exactly 1:1, since a try will always beat a deuce...

TTP said...

Thank you Robert Fisher. I enjoyed your puzzle. Only one nit below. BTW, Checkmate. Do you get that much ?

Marti, thank you. I also had a number of clues that I had to get back to.

Got the theme with OINTMENT--OILER and SPIDERSI.

34D was FLEE, not FLED nor FLEW. Whaddya call those verbs that are the same in the three tenses ? Why couldn't it be beat, bate, beated ? I think street language is going that direction. It would make puzzles easier. 26D WINOS not HOBOS, whom resided there for just a short time. 24D couldn't be CAMAROS, and although VETS fit, they weren't really contemporaries. Oh yes, GTO. Wa wa wa waa, wa wa wa waaaa. 22A, Poor excuse = FLIMSY because I couldn't squeeze FANTASY in. Isn't "The dog ate my homework" fantasy ? 19D, On the qui vive, not the same as On the QT.

About the only thing that I can think of that would make one think that Jambalaya = Stew is that they are both typically cooked in one pot, or perhaps that one could argue that argue that the low heat, open flame, slow method of cooking the trinity, rice, andouille,tasso and other ingredients is "stewing", but Jambalaya is not stew. Oh yeah, and you stir a stew while cooking, but any cajun or creole cook will tell you that you never stir a jambalaya. If your stir it, we know you are a yankee, from some place way up north, like Shreveport.

Anonymous said...

Very good Thursday puzzle.

Hahtoolah said...

TTP - I love your Shreveport comment! you are absolutely right. Jambalaya is NOT a stew.

HeartRx said...

Barry G., you "got" my tongue-in-cheek math question for Bill G. And you are right - the odds are 100 % that a trey will beat a deuce!

We had a hectic morning clearing the driveway, because I am expecting my new office furniture to be delivered today. I have been waiting a month, so I sure hope this storm doesn't delay it any further.

Dudley, I had the same thought about "war" not being capitalized. And Hahtoolah, I also questioned "jambalaya" as a clue for stew. Mmmmmm...now that I think about it some more, I'm getting hungry!

HeartRx said...

TTP, I think I would probably end up stirring jambalaya, since I am a little further north than Shreveport...

Mari said...

Hi Team, great puzzle today.

No clues about FLYing in an airplane. Speaking of, has anybody seen the movie Flight?

I liked CONFLATE, but only after I tried COMINGLE. Other great words were FLIMSY and ERUPT.

20A got me: End of Eternity? WYE. I had STOP at 1D so that gave me PYE instead of WYE. I couldn't figure that one out without Marti's help. And I never played War, so I didn't know TREY. It was perped.

Great picture Irish Miss! I love seeing how creative kids can be in their costumes.

And now, "I owe! I owe! It's off to work I go!"

HeartRx said...

Irish Miss, I forgot to tell you how much I loved your pictures! They looked just great !! (^0^)

Husker Gary said...

Robert’s Thursday offering would definitely make my Hot 100! The theme answers and cluing were both top notch! As Marti said in her lovely write-up, I also had a lot of false starts. I don’t know how long I can hold out on that UVULA search!

Musings
- Very funny RUSE for an INVITEE scene – “Just a harmless squirrel not a plastic explosive”
-Old theater joke “To be or not to be….. LINE, LINE?”
-I used to issue a 2 minute warning when it was time to get my 3 girls in the car for church
-CRA_ for Stuff was not CRAP – couldn’t happen in this genteel locale!
-Aerosmith and Queen were opening acts for Mott the Hopple
-Gossip, you’re on the bench, JAWING you’re in, same for Visa and EXAM,
-I thought of the blog last night as I got tea bags out and the word iceD was right on them
-Lovely pix, Irish! If I had any candy left over, I’d send it out to those beautiful kids.
-QOD corollary, Life is what happens while you are making other plans
-What Peter, Paul and Mary song have you heard (and I have sung) at many weddings with the word Troubadour in it?
-I have never had “Jambalaya, crawfish pie or file gumbo” nor have I knowingly had a “ma cher amio”. What song has these lyrics?

carol said...

Hi all, I had a lot of fun with this puppy!! It was a lot easier for me than Wednesday's offering.

Marti, laughed at your take on CONFLATE and ERUPT... guess I won't have chili for lunch.
Also you KNOW that everyone (including me) WILL Google UVULA :)

I had no idea about 2D, do not care for country music.

Never watched GLEE either.

Thanks for the explanation on 63A..it did dawn on me after a few passes. I thought War was a board game.

I happily put CLOUD in for 40D, and thought how smart I was...wrong.

I really did not have any trouble with the long clues but all through them, I waited for some aviation in the answers...very clever in avoiding them with the FLY clues.

kazie said...

Like others, had to come back to the top left, after a brain rest with the sudoku. Enjoyed it overall with one other hangup that slowed me down: I started with SWATTER STAINER, and had to "give that up" before the rest would work.

Interesting link on that clapping expression. It seemed in the quotes that in the early days of its use, they always added a clarification in case the audience didn't know what they meant.

I also started with ITY for WYE, but once the perps opened up, they pointed in the right direction there too.

Irish Miss,
Cute kids!

Have a great day all of you!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning Marti and all.

Nice picture, Irish Miss. They're darling.

Liked the theme today but the rest of the puzzle was sort of a Mehday. But I did get LEES, POGO, AND OPEC - first choice. I probably should have had my 2 cups of coffee, first. The rest of it finally came together, and I congratulate Robert for using mostly ordinary words. No searches needed.

Carol, I wanted 'Cloud', too, before CD ROM.

Ferm re: derm. I get checked at least once a year and have had pathologies done; many things burnt (cryogenized?) off. Paying the price for youthful exuberance,

Off to play some bridge.

carol said...

Irish Miss....forgot to say how cute the kids are. It's such fun to be that age!

Irish Miss said...

Good morning:

For some reason, I found this a tad difficult, although I got the theme early on and finished w/o help. Nice job, Mr. Fisher, and nice, witty expo, Marti.

We didn't get any of the storm, not even any rain. But it is darn cold; winter is here, me thinks.

Every time I see the word " uvula" I think of Sheldon. I can't link it as I am using my ipad, but if you go to YouTube and type in TBBT Uvula episode, it will come up.

Have a great Thursday.

LaLaLinda said...

Hi All ~~

I had a lot of fun with this one - lots of great cluing/answers! My first fill was going to be 'Urban' for 2D - but when that didn't fit, I was stumped. After working elsewhere for a while, TOBY came to me. Really liked the clues for CLAP, SLAY, ILL SAY and TEASE.

~~ CONFLATE was new to me and filled with perps.

~ ~ For 35A - 'Start from scratch' - I didn't think of ANEW at first because I was thinking of making a cake - from scratch doesn't mean starting over.

~~ Like TTP, I always think of 'on the QT' when I see 'qui vive.' Maybe I'll remember next time?

~~ Yep, Carol ~ I checked out UVULA - some interesting views! Piercings?? Ugh.

~~ HondoHurricane ~ 51D - KNEE, reminded me of your surgery. I hope your rehab/therapy went well and you're good as new!

~~ Irish Miss - what adorable girls!

We're dealing with early winter snow, but I guess it could have been worse.

Enjoy the day!

Anonymous said...

That was a fun one today! Didn't know LOTT, but filled it in rather easily with perps. It helped that we just saw GTO the other day. Did well with the down clues in the top of the puzzle and was able to sort of work straight down through the puzzle. No real stumpers. Thought it did take me awhile to suss CONFLATE and JAWING - wanted LEER instead of JEER and DELL instead of GLEN for a short spell. Got OPEC, LOUSE, FLIMSY, and ANEW on the first try, which helped.

Probably my best job on a Thursday puzzle in a long time!

MamasitaM said...

This was a fun, challenging puzzle. Never caught on to the first clue, so that made the northwest corner a toughee. But the rest came to me, so it wasn't total agony.

Montana said...

Good Morning Puzzlers!

This is the second time I have been able to solve a Thursday puzzle. Hanging out with you guys must be “improving” my skills. I use my iPad and red letter help from Thursday on, but didn’t need help. I got the first word in all the theme answers but needed to do a lot of mental across and down exercise to get the last parts. Feels great to finish a puzzle so late in a week.

Seemed like a puzzle to appeal to Westerners. My aunt and uncle were farmers who benefitted from the first Farm Aid fundraiser in 1985. They received enough money to make a payment that kept them from losing their farm. I am a radio person, and all the stations in my area are country music stations, so the song references were familiar.

Husker: Those songs at the end of your post are common in my part of the world, both at weddings and on the radio during the ‘oldies’ hour.

A MAJOR storm is bearing down on my part of Montana as I write. They say it should start snowing by 11 am and be blizzarding for a couple days. The rain and wind started yesterday afternoon. We are used to this type of weather. Except for being so early in the season, we are usually prepared. I did have to go put a snow scraper back into my vehicle—took it out while cleaning this summer. Had an earlier little storm while I was at work. Used a credit card to scrape the ice off the windshield. Have a garage at home.

Keep warm everyone,
Montana

Montana said...

Husker: There is Love in Montana and Hank Williams is still heard a couple times a week on the radio.

Montana

Anonymous said...

I thought todays puzzle was weak weak weak!!!! Jambalaya a stew???? Trey, conflate, uvula and soya very good thursday words. OBSERVER ON A WALL? COMEON! I hope Fisher is a temp.

Anonymous said...

Busker Gary: the song is titled "Jambalaya" and was performed by Andy Williams and others in the olden days and the Nitty Gritty Dirt band more recently.
Should be a good game in Lincoln this weekend.

Zcarguy said...

Morning all,

Wees on the west corner , looked up Toby , Lees and Slag ,

No Excuses for taking Eternity to get Flimsy , Exit instead of Exam didn't help. I associate Flimsy with materials.

War ...... I'll say

Drive train is one word not 2

Fore !

Lucina said...

Hello! So nice to see you, Marti, and your droll sense of humor.

Irish Miss:
Adorable girls!

I, too, stared blankly on first pass and got absolutely nothing then started with PORE, recalled OPEC and from some unknown place recalled TOBY Keith. I'm not a country music fan.

Then,,suddenly, I was on Mr. Fisher's wavelength and continued the sashay.

Wanted LEER before JEER and really wan unsure about CONFLATE but there it appeared.

Didn't understand TREY, thanks for splaining that one.

I have a good friend who is an emgre from Louisiana and she introduced our group to jambalaya. Yum! Yum!

Liked WYE, end of eternity.

Has a bug or bugs, AILS,the last part is not clear to me.

You all have a wonderful Thursday!

Sfingi said...

Loved, loved, loved this one. I did have to Google for LOTT. Just couldn't get the name, but remember why he resigned,

"Will you walk into my parlour?" said the spider to the fly.

@Alissa - love your icon. Did you take the picture?

Anoa Bob said...

This started out as a one-word-with-different-meanings theme. After compiling a list of potential theme entries, not much tickled my fancy (Angler's lure, jeans' opening, blah, blah, blah.), so I changed course and used just the winged insect version of fly with SWATTER"S TARGET as the seed entry for the new tack, and then played off of other phrases that included "fly".

I thought this might run earlier in the week, so I tried a number of grid designs and theme entry orders (over 20) to come up with some interesting fill with an emphasis on having a minimum number of abbreviations, partials and crosswordese. I'd like to think the heavy lifting paid off in that department.

Thanks for all the kind words. For the record, the original clue for STEW was "Crock pot offering".

Cheers, Robert/Anoa Bob

Lucina said...

AnoaBob! So you're Robert Fisher. Nice work, thank you.

desper-otto said...

When I hear the song Jambalaya I, like Montana, think of Hank Williams. After all, he wrote it and sang it. But Jo Stafford was just coming off a monster bayou hit with Shrimp Boats, so Jambalaya was a natural "cover." I think Jo's version was the bigger hit back in '52.

Cute trick-or-treaters, Irish Miss.

Misty said...

Wonderful Thursday puzzle. I expected FLY to have different meanings like "insect" and "soar." But it was even more fun having it refer to all these varied expressions involving the little critter. So, many thanks, Robert. And, Marti, like many folks I didn't understand TREY at all, even though I got it, so many thanks for the explanation. Also I loved your new Uncle Sam poster, and I bet C.C. did too!

Gorgeous costumes, Irish Miss.

And Tinbeni, I'll be toasting you with my traditional glass of Bogle MERLOT at sunset tonight!

Have a great Thursday, everybody!

Dennis said...

I need help resolving a discussion with a couple contemporaries: Without looking online, what would you think is the average bra size for American women?

I'm having a hard time buying what the 'experts' are saying.

desper-otto said...

Dennis, I thought you preferred 'em without the bra. And you wouldn't be "buying", either.

DW tells me that the local Wally World only stocks large sizes, so I'm guessing the "average" is probably 38".

Ron Worden said...

Good afternoon to all and happy eve of TGIF. Thanks for the puzzle Anoa Bob. Great write up and Uncle Sam poster Marti. No flimsy clues only one little nit with end of eternity.

To Dennis My DW is a 42 DD sometimes it is difficult for her to find ones that are comfortable.

Have a great day to all RJW.

kazie said...

Dennis,
I think averages would be hard to pick. It would depend on age range, since we mostly get bigger as we grow older and gain weight.

Tinbeni said...

Marti: Very informative write-up & links. I learned a lot. Thank you!

Irish Miss: Cute Great, Great Nieces.

Solved the puzzle from the bottom-up. The NW was the last to fall.
Anoa-Bob: Really enjoyed your themes.

Dennis: I can only guess based on Gal-Pal, 36-C.
But they aren't average ... they're SPECTACULAR !!!

A 'toast-to-all' at Sunset.
Cheers !!!

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Pretty tough puzzle. I have to say I love this theme - and Marti's write-up. Took the longest time to suss _______ INVITEE.

Overall high marks for this fine puzzle. But not WYE. Ugh!

Here in honor of the theme and 34d.

A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the fly, "let us flee!"
"Let us fly!" said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
--Ogden Nash

Remember to take good care of your UVULA.

Cool regards!
JzB

carol said...

Desper-otto....doesn't surprise me about WalMart (WallyWorld-LOL), look at the size of their customers!!! Also, you have to figure the cup size in there so it would be a 38 (A,B,C,D,DD etc)

Dennis, this is a strange first comment from you! I'd love to know what you are doing, and why you want the answer. I would guess a 38D...that is too large for me, but I'm betting a lot of women take an even larger size.

Anonymous said...

If you put "pig out" for 46 down, it makes it real difficult to fill in 42 across. Speaking of eating, I bought my wife a very unique present for her 79th birthday--a lamb chop. (Never gets one as I don't eat anything in nursery rhymes). She loved it!

downtonabbey said...

Hello everyone, Marti thanks for the writeup today and the links. Word and phrase origins are so interesting. This was a tough one. I put it down for a while. I got stuck on DREG also and wanted TEES for 12D.

I feel for the people hit by Sandy and now facing such cold temperatures. Blue Iris I hope your daughter is getting better.

Good day to evveryone.

downtonabbey said...

Jazz,
I had never seen that skit on SNL before, very funny!

thehondohurricane said...

Dennis,

My DH has grown to 38D .... would have never predicted that size 50+ years ago.

LaLa Linda,

Everything is fine, Only time I'm reminded of the Metallic knees is when I have to go through a security check, like an airport. Otherwise no issues at all.

Some of those "inspectors' occasionally make me feel uncomfortable, but I shut up. they have a job to do.

Anonymous said...

Husker Gary: the song is titled "Jambalaya" and was performed by Andy Williams and others in the olden days and the Nitty Gritty Dirt band more recently.
Should be a good game in Lincoln this weekend.

PK said...

Hi Y'all, Great puzzle ANOA Bob! Great exposition, Marti!

Got almost all of a Thursday! Woo hoo! What bugs me is I got hung up on GLEN. I grew up in a town with that word in the name for a little valley. After Marti gave us that word the rest of that little block flew into my brain. Kept thing Strom not LOTT.

Never heard of CONFLATE. Still don't quite get it.

I had LTDs not GTOS since I worked at a Ford dealership when Mustangs & LTDs were introduced.

Toby Keith won a CMA award for the video of "Red Solo Cup" the other night.

News reporters are told to act as "A Fly on the Wall". Pappazzi are too pesky, buzzing too close!

My AF son used to hold both hands above a sitting fly and bring them together to kill the fly. Fast eye & reflexes served him well as a pilot (aka Flyboy).

Loved the clip of Obama swatting the fly. Apt!

PK said...

Dennis: My LH always thought massage increased bust size and had some evidence to support his claim. He thought it was stupid to get implants with this easier method available. Of course, this had to be done regularly. Maybe you could add this to your advertising in your new job.

john28man said...

Re: What does a trey beat. If the intent of the question was if you had a full deck and draw a trey what are the odds of next drawn card that would beat the trey then the answwer would be 11 TO 1. There are all the cards from the four to the ace in each suit and there are four suits. It tie the other three treys and it would beat the four dueces.

Bill G. said...

Hi everybody -- I got through the puzzle with a nap in the middle someplace. I enjoyed the writeup too. Thanks Bob and Marti.

Marti, I thought of Barry's answer too but didn't figure that's what you meant. It's certainly the right answer though. Otherwise, if it's the beginning of the game and your card is a trey, there are four cards left out of 51 that would lose to your trey. Four out of 51 reduces to 0.098 or almost ten percent chance of your trey winning.

Chain reactions
I got these from a friend of mine who works on puzzles for game shows. Here, the idea is to make a list of linking pairs of words where each new word forms another pair with the word after it. For example, if I gave you Elton J W Newton, the expected answer would be Elton John Wayne Newton. (Elton John), (John Wayne), (Wayne Newton). How about this one? World P P Dream? Here are three more plus a seven-word chain. Oval O S Cadet, Swiss M P Bank, George B W Job and Gene P P T Z D Drink.

Dennis said...

PK, yeah, I've used that 'massage' line for most of my life (with mixed results...)

So far, the answers seem to be supporting (sorry) the experts and going against what I thought. Certainly won't cause my spirits to sag, though.

HeartRx said...

Anoa Bob @ 10:29. Thanks for stopping by! I had a lot of fun with this puzzle, and it is always nice to learn what the "seed" entry was. As I said in my write-up, it was interesting to see this type of "definition" theme, so all your hard work definitely paid off!

Re: my "trey" question. Thanks John28man and Bill G. for working out the odds of a trey in a full deck. Math puzzles make my head ache. I'll have to work on you word chains later, because they are more up my alley.

Avg Joe said...

I pains me to have to do this, but being the sole member of the Leo Sayer Fan Club is a lonely job:

When I Knead You.

Spitzboov said...

Swiss Miss Piggy Bank

desper-otto said...

AJ, you crack me up! I think perhaps Leo got kneed at an early age.

Carol, you're right about the size of the Wal-Mart customers. I thought perhaps it was because everything's bigger in Texas. Well, not *everything*.

LaLaLinda said...

World Peace Pipe Dream

Oval Office Space Cadet

Still working on the seven-word chain!

Lucina said...

Jazzbumpa:
WYE not? I thought it was clever.

Dennis:
Average? Who's average? But I suppose if one had to pick a number, 38 would be good. DD? That seems small.

Dennis said...

Uh......WHAT??

Anony-Mouse said...

Marti, many, many thanks, for your crossword blog.

In the photo, at the bottom, about the two lovely kids, in Halloween costumes, Dahlia and Amelia, - their relationship to Irish Miss has been described as :-

great, great niece and great-niece respectively.

I am just trying to understand -

niece is 2nd generation.
grand-niece is 3rd generation.

great niece is 4th generation

and
great, great niece is 5th generation.

Unless Irish Miss is as old as Mathuselah, you probably meant grand-nieces for both of them. Maybe I'm wrong, but could you please clarify. Sorry for the irrelevant nit.

Bill G. said...

Right you are Spitz and LL Linda.

Funny -- I've never been in a Wal-Mart store. Am I missing something significant?

Regarding bra size, I've been unable to collect recent first-hand data (willing but unable). So I checked Google. There is some disagreement but the average size these days seems to be in the ballpark of 36D.

Thanks to all of you who recommended books yesterday. I ordered three of your suggestions from Barnes and Noble for my Nook.

Since Marti was so kind to include a math question about cards in her expo, here is one for her :>) and everybody else about a deck of cards.

A standard deck of 52 cards has been divided into two unequal stacks. The first stack has twice as many black cards as red cards. If a red card is removed from the second stack, the remaining red cards outnumber the black cards two to one. How many red and black cards are in the first stack?

CrossEyedDave said...

Hmm,,

Normally, i have an aversion to people to post before reading the Blog. But today, i dislike myself.

Yellowrocks, re: yest.

Telemann, Wow!
Thank you for that link.
It immediately brought back memories of being 6 years old. I think i had Chickenpox, & my Dad put me in his bed, with his portable radio that had a flip down cover over the Dials that reminded me of Gort from The Day The Earth Stood Still. I swear, that radio must have been playing that exact Telemann piece to evoke such a memory!

Marti, 23A, Potato Flakes instead of breadcrumbs!!! I must try this immediately! Unfortunately my local Supermarket still has no eggs, meat, chicken, or vegetables...

Oh, almost forgot, i am posting without reading because of FermatPrime... FP, yr post made me read yr Bio again (for the 9th+ time) & i finally went & looked up the 1st Female Mathematician.

Hypatia! Dang it!
It's a very good read, & i am stuck reading it!
(I did manage to take time out to vent. but the story is so interesting, i must go back before finishing the Blog!)

Sfingi said...

@PK - my grandfather would shoot his hand out and grab flies. He said he positioned his hand behind them, but he did it so fast, you couldn't see it.

LaLaLinda said...

Bill G. ~ Trying the last one - ?

Gene Pool Party Time Zone Diet Drink

Anonymous said...

Sfingi. catching a live fly is not that difficult, just a matter of practice.

Just position your open right palm (if you're right handed - )- about 1 inch above the table, and just 'behind' the fly. Cup your palm, somewhat, only in the vertical plane.

Then, swiftly, bring your palm over the fly, ( - from the back of the fly - ) - and then reflexively close your palm (fist). The fly, will start to 'take-off', when your palm is about 2 or 3 inches away from it - and the path-of-flight will be straight 'away' - into the center of your palm, which when reflexively closed will trap and hold the fly.

If your palm is too low, or too high, the fly will either hit your palm at the upper or lower edge, and will escape. As above, it is just a matter of practice.

It also takes some courage, and a curious feeling, to 'bear' a live, buzzing thing in your fist. If you do it right, and not squeeze the palm too tight, you should be able to 'release' the live fly, outside your house, - pretty much unharmed.

Yellowrocks said...

In re Walmart: The Walmart shoppers here are no larger or smaller than those seen everywhere. You see tiny women in skin tight jeans at Walmart, just as elsewhere. You see large ladies at Walmart, as well as at many other places. I seem to detect a prejudice here against Walmart shoppers. In this economy, "all sorts and conditions of men" and women shop where they can get the best deals.

The well loved and respected Barbara Bush is no Twiggy and has a lot of class. Golda Meir is not svelte. Here I am venting my feminism and anti-classism, I suppose. Our Walmart is not known for bubbas in the negative sense.

I read in the newspaper just this morning that the average bra size is 36C.

Irish Miss said...

Anony- mouse @ 3:17 - While I'm no spring chicken, I'm no Methusalah either. I may have used the wrong terminology of great vs grand; I'm not sure which is correct so I'll explain my relationship to the girls.

My sister's daughter (my niece) had a daughter at a very young age (my great niece) and she had a daughter, Dahlia (my great, great niece.). My sister's other daughter (my niece) had Amelia, my great niece. Hope this clears up any confusion. BTW, Dahlia loves playing the role of Mother Hen to Amelia.

Dennis said...

Yellowrocks, no one here was showing prejudice against Walmart shoppers; I think we've all seen many of the 'Walmartians' videos that make the rounds periodically, and I'm sure most of us know that that 'style' of attire is not unique to Walmart. If you don't find those videos humorous, then I don't know what to tell you.

I would, however, caution you to be very careful about accusing others of prejudice.

As always, just my opinion.

downtonabbey said...

I forgot to thank the constructor, Robert Fisher for working out most parts of the brain today. Also wanted to tell fermeatprime I am sorry about the fibro. It is a very painful illness and wouldn't wish it on an enemy.

Bill, I would have said 36C was the most popular size. I could never find them in any store!

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, Well Conflate could have been comingle but coalesce wouldn't work either. Not a word that I probably would use in my everyday conversation.

Hands up for putting in gossip instead of jawing and for Wye being a very clever clue.

The card game War didn't even cross my mind. I had to wait for Cleanest to fill in before trey emerged.

Thanks Marti for a superb writeup today.

Cute costumes and cute girls, Irish Miss. Thanks for sharing.

I've been baking today. Savory cheescakes for the freezer to share at a couple of Christmas potlucks.

Have a great evening everyone.

PK said...

AvgJoe: I'm now in the Leo Sayer fan club. One of the side links on his page is "You Kneaded Me" by Anne Murray, also a beautiful sentiment.

I only know that when I go to Walmart here, I feel dainty. Anywhere else I feel large. If there are any skinny women in there, they are hiding behind...

I'm not telling my bra size. Drooling men are pathetic.

Dennis said...

Michele, you're closer to right than I was, evidently.

Pookie said...

Hi Everyone, Nice puzzle, and thanks Marti, for your diligence and all you who wake at the crack of dawn to review.
Got called for jury duty today.
Had to be there by 7:45!
I can't remember getting up for anything THAT early. Jazz music doesn't usually happen at that hour. DEAD tired because of 3 hours of sleep.
Hope you are all safe once again, nothing more than sprinkles out here.
Stay SAFE!

PK said...

Fermatprime: I used to have fibro so bad the muscles knotted up in my hips to feel like displaced bones. I had an MRI which left me tingling all over in 1995. My fibro hasn't been debilitating anytime since. I've had some success with magnets easing pain elsewhere (toothache/jaw ache, foot injury) so I felt like the Magnetic Resonance Imaging may have distracted the pain signals which were misfiring through the synapses.

downtonabbey said...

Ok, maybe this time I will remember to post that I wanted CONJOIN for 9D.

PK, glad your fibro eased up for you.

C.C. has Boomer made any chili of late?

Chickie said...

Thanks for checking in Anoa Bob. I enjoyed the puzzle and hope to see more from you.

Fematprime, Good luck with the Dentist. Hopefully the misery from your teeth will be much less after your visit.

Dennis, I couldn't begin to guess the answer to your question! Too many variables. But, don't forget to give us your answer--if you have one! I think everyone has had a great time speculating.

Anonymous said...

PK said: "Loved the clip of Obama swatting the fly. Apt!"

Sadly, I believe that I am that fly.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I really liked this puzzle a lot. Thank you, Robert Fisher, for giving us that terrific fly theme. Thank you, Marti, for putting in the effort to write such a delightfully funny writeup.

Had the same experience with the NW corner: ended up solving it last.

Best wishes to you all.

Tinbeni said...

ennis ... just curious ...

But ... during the "discussion with a couple contemporaries" what size did you guys think was average?


Irish Miss:
So does that make the little one, Amelia, the older one, Dahlia's aunt?
(ohhh, my head hurts.)

Either way, they look wonderful in their Halloween costumes.


BTW ... I love "standard-time" ...
The "toasts" are earlier.

Cheers !!!

Avg Joe said...

Tin, that's DWT, daylight wasting time.

PK, I'll notify the media. The fan club now numbers two. It's tough being I such a distinct minority, but it has it's benefits. Kinda like having the perfect costume for Halloween. Nobody else would even think about it.

And Anoa Bob, thanks for stopping by and clearing up the identity issue. One of the neatest aspects of being part of this community is the interface with the constructors. While it's no doubt narcissistic, it's purty kewl to "talk" to the author. Especially when you've been "hiding" amongst us all along.

Irish Miss said...

Tinbeni @ 6:01 - They are cousins. Sorry I made your head hurt; Bill G's math puzzles have that same effect on me. -:)

Lemonade714 said...

Bob, Anoa you are proud of this offering; and for those of you new, Bob is one of our serial commenters from the world of construction.

It is Game Day in the home of my FSU graduate son and DIL. So....

LaLaLinda said...

Lemonade ~~ A beautiful granddaughter ~ congrats to you!

Java Mama said...

Good evening everyone! Really enjoyed the write-up, as always, Marti. Got quite a chuckle out of your customized Uncle Sam poster. And thanks Robert Fisher for a just-right Thursday puzzle. Caught the theme early on, unlike yesterday when the vowel progression completely went over my head. Pretty much WEES about a slow start in the NW.

Great picture of the two little girls, Irish Miss. Their costumes are very well-done!

Gotta get busy packing – early flight tomorrow. DH and I are heading to Florida to fulfill his late father’s wishes to have his ashes scattered at sea. Now that his estate is all settled, it’s time to send the old gentlemen off on his final adventure. Going to make sure my better half gets a lot of extra TLC this weekend.

Anony-Mouse said...

Irish Miss - Thank you for responding to my query - despite the fact that it is none of my business. (!). Their dresses look so lovely and lovingly hand made - I'm sure their parents spent a considerable amount of time and care and money to get them... hopefully, they can wear them next Halloween, as well.

I would have called Dahlia, your great-grand niece --- and Amelia your grand niece. Because of the fecundity rules, great grand nieces / nephews and older generations generally occur if you have daughters, grand daughters, and great-grand daughters ... and each has children at a relatively younger age.

I once saw on an old show called 'That's Incredible' circa 1986 (?) where a lady had a great-great-great-great grand daughter. She had her d. at 15, and her d. had a d. at 15, and so on, so at age 90 she had 7 generations living .... ages 90, 75, 60, 45, 30, 15, and a newborn.



Bill G. - I wasn't going to try your math problem but I tried it anyway - I have forgotten my simultaenous equations, but I think I finally figured it out.

FIRST Stack total cards ---- 27
Number of Red Cards ........ 18
Number of Black Cards ....... 9
(Hence Red = Black x 2 )

Second Stack total cards ----- 25
Number of red Cards ...... 8
Number of Black Cards .... 17
(Hence Black minus one = red times 2 )

This is the easiest problem you've given so far, but I kept making silly math errors that took me more than 6 minutes to figure out.
Good night all, and best wishes.
Please excuse the inordinate length of this post, since it is quite late ....

Bill G. said...

Regarding bra size (about which I am no authority), I am guessing the smaller sizes (34C) are probably the average among younger women while larger sizes (36D) would be more typical among older women.

Regarding the math puzzle about the cards, I solved it with algebra because I enjoy the beauty of being able to translate some complicated-sounding words into equations that I can solve. But you don't need anything more than being able to do simple addition, subtraction, multiplication as well as some logical thinking to solve it with guess-and-check. I would love it if some of you who feel intimidated would give it a try. The puzzle said that the first stack had twice as many black cards as red cards, so guess maybe 10 black cards and five red cards. Since there are 26 cards of each color in a deck, that leaves 16 black cards and 21 red cards for the second stack. If you remove one red card, that leaves 20 red cards and 16 black. At that point, the puzzle said that there should be twice as many red cards as black. Our first try at an answer doesn't check. So go back and try a different number of each color of cards in the first stack like 12 black and six red (always with twice as many black cards as red cards). You should be able to home in on the answer with a few more tries. Marti and others, I know you can do this! Come on Marti, after all, I am willing to try your challenging Friday CW puzzles...

Bill G. said...

Anony-Mouse, aha! You posted your answer while I was busy typing my post. You and Desper-otto did great! Maybe Marti will give it a try before reading your answer.

Good work on the Chain Reaction puzzles by Desper-otto, Gary, Spitz, LL Linda and I hope I didn't forget anybody else. LL Linda got the seven-word chain.

Gary, I enjoy Jambalaya and everything else that Hank Williams wrote. I'm a big fan of "Lovesick Blues."

Anony-Mouse said...

Bill G. - since you are still here - here's a word-relationship problem.

A family gathering consists of a father, mother, ...
son, daughter, brother, sister, ....
cousin, nephew, niece, ....
uncle and aunt.

But, there are only only two men and two women present.

They have a common ancestor, and there has been no consanguine marriage. Explain how this is possible.

( Answer tomorrow.)

Irish Miss said...

Between Bill G's math puzzles/explanations, bra sizes, and my great/grand nieces fiasco, it's time to say goodnight, Gracie. So, Goodnight Gracie! -:)

Dennis said...

Tin, et al, the consensus among the 'fashion experts' is that the average is about a 36C. I would've guessed 34B.

Just means more reseearch...

Anonymous said...

Anomy-mouse
The father and mother are brother and sister.One's daughter and one's son are nephew and niece and they are cousins

Anonymous said...

oops
Hence the Aunt and Uncle.
But y'all knew that

Anonymous said...

As I was always told..

More than a mouthful (or handful) is a
waste.

PK said...

Anonymous @ 5:39: My condolences, Mr. Romney. Or are you the ghost of Bin Laden?

PK said...

Ferm: Maybe if you get your teeth fixed, some of your fibro will get better. We had a friend with bad teeth who was bald from an early age. He had all his teeth pulled and his hair grew back in. It wasn't very thick but it was definitely better.

HeartRx said...

Bill G. @ 8:33, (I really did try...)

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Michele,
Boomer makes chili when it's very cold, mostly in January.

Mr Ed,
Boomer's chili recipe is similiar to the one on McCormick's Original Chili Seasoning Mix. He does use hot diced tomatoes with green chiles. He also browns one onion.