google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday March 9, 2014 Doug Peterson

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Mar 9, 2014

Sunday March 9, 2014 Doug Peterson

Theme:"Incidental Music" - Musical notes are orderly added to the start of each theme answer.

23A. Donut lover's discipline? : DOZEN MEDITATION. Zen meditation. My landlord (a Buddhist) in Shanghai chanted in front of burning incense every day. His meditation.

32A. Kicking back with the drones? : RESTING LIKE A BEE. Sting like a bee.

41A. Japanese soup, apparently? : MISO, IT SEEMS? So it seems. I love the simple  Wakame & Tofu miso.

67A. So-so joe? : FAIRISH COFFEE. Irish coffee. Ha ha, Avg Joe!
 
74A. Bangle, often? : SOLID BRACELET. ID bracelet.

99A. Snorkeling area patrol unit? : LAGOON SQUAD. Goon squad.

106A. Broadcaster who goes on and on and on? : TIRING ANNOUNCER. Ring announcer. I met Gophers' announcer Dick Jonckowski at Twin Cities Sports Collectors' Club banquet 2 weeks ago. He was an AWA Wrestling ring announcer sometime ago.  Look at his bobblehead collection.




122A. "Water that poor plant before all the leaves dry up!"? : DOUSE IT OR LOSE IT. Use it or lose it.

What a delightful theme from Doug Peterson! Nothing heavy metal related. Doug loves heavy metal noise :-)

Doug Peterson

The fill is incredibly clean, Doug's hallmark. He's one of the very limited few constructors who can make Monday/Tuesday puzzles, themeless puzzles & Sunday grids. Rich Norris, Patrick Berry, Jeff Chen & Liz Gorski are the other few that come to mind. Who else?

Doug is also a fast solver. Look at here. He's currently 14th. See Rich Norris & Patti Varol? LAT rocks!

Across:
 
1. Campfire residue : ASH

4. Volkswagen sedan : PASSAT. And 21. Four-ring-logo company : AUDI. Owned by
Volkswagen.

10. Speak for yourself? : BRAG. Got me!

14. Office __: Staples rival : DEPOT

19. Suffix with señor : ITA. Senorita. Like our -ette, feminizing.

20. Outfielder who had a single-season record 262 hits in 2004 : ICHIRO. With the Mariners then. Love this Ichiro stretching picture.




22. Hidden repository : CACHE

26. C.S. Lewis lion : ASLAN

27. Symbol of steadiness : EVEN KEEL

28. School-wk. start : MON. And 72. Honoree on the third 28-Across in Jan. : MLK

29. Shell lobbers : MORTARS

31. Copy editor's mark : DELE

36. Emulate Eminem : RAP

39. "CSI" actor George : EADS. I can never remember his name. Quite handsome.


40. Literature Nobelist Canetti : ELIAS

46. Gander, e.g. : MALE. Trick clue.

47. Player with earbuds : IPOD. So what's your favorite podcast? Mine is  Fresh Air.

51. Lyricist Gershwin : IRA

52. Dustin's "Midnight Cowboy" role : RATSO

53. One of a hotel room pair : TWIN

55. Medina native : SAUDI

56. Feeling sluggish : LOGY. I think I learned this word from another Doug P puzzle.

58. Defunct '80s gridiron gp. : USFL (United States Football League)

60. Recipe quantity : ONE CUP

63. Missile stabilizer : FIN. Learning moment to me.

64. Shinbone neighbor : KNEECAP

70. Forbidden : TABOO

73. Squiggly diacritic : TILDE. The stuff in Jalapeño.

79. Julius and Augustus, e.g. : CAESARs

83. Blubber : CRY

84. Haile Selassie followers : RASTAs

85. De Matteo of "The Sopranos" : DREA

87. Many a Royal Troon golfer : SCOT. Held a few British Opens. JD visited St Andrews last year.

88. Be on the same page : AGREE

90. State secrets? : BLAB. Nice clue. Verb "State".

92. Longhorn rival : AGGIE

95. Baton Rouge sch. : LSU

96. Romney's 2012 running mate : RYAN (Paul)

97. 1/640 of a square mile : ACRE

102. __ cotta : TERRA. Some of you saw these terra-cotta warriors in person. The biggest tourist draw in Xi'An.


104. Singer Tennille : TONI

105. The "t" in Crete? : TAU. Just their T.

112. Farm Belt state : IOWA

116. Swallowed one's pride : ATE CROW

117. MD workplaces : ORs

118. Item kept near brushes : PAINT CAN. Poor Marti must be tired to see those cans.

121. Name on many video games : MARIO

126. Fallback option : PLAN B

127. "And don't forget ..." : ALSO

128. Break : RECESS

129. "__ Maria" : AVE

130. "The Playboy of the Western World" dramatist : SYNGE (John). Not familiar with the play or the author.

131. Scrabble two-pointers : DEES

132. Enthusiastic : RAH-RAH

133. Folk hero Kelly : NED

Down:

1. Gave a ride, say : AIDED

2. Log cabin warmer : STOVE

3. Eye color : HAZEL

4. Best of health, figuratively : PINK.  Also Victoria Secret's lingerie line.

5. Climber's goal : ACME

6. Hosiery variety : SHEER

7. Move furtively : SIDLE

8. D-backs, on a sports ticker : ARI

9. Typical "Yo Gabba Gabba!" viewer : TOT

10. Relay sticks : BATONS

11. Feeling sorry about : RUING

12. Stir : ADO

13. Cheap saloon : GIN MILL

14. Beltway region, briefly : DC AREA

15. Taiwan's locale : EAST ASIA. This missing Malaysian Airlines is so mysterious. Could it be hijacked somewhere?

16. Programming class setting : PC LAB

17. Orchard Field, today : O'HARE

18. Keyed up : TENSE

24. Año opener : ENERO

25. In the thick of : AMIDST

30. Great Depression migrant : OKIE

33. Take to the airport, say : SEE OFF

34. Floppy topper : TAM

35. Most pleasing to Jack Sprat : LEANEST

37. Bubble filler : AIR

38. Sch. meeting group : PTA

41. Cereal go-with : MILK

42. Weights, when pumped : IRON

43. Judicious : SAGE

44. Zombielike states : STUPORS

45. Suffix with lion : ESS

46. Skimpy skirt : MINI. And 91. Skirt companion : BLOUSE. Try it, it's not easy to find a pretty Blouse & Mini picture, Dave!

48. Powder __ : PUFF

49. Patient of Dr. Liz : ODIE. I drew a blank of Dr. Liz.

50. Enjoy a meal : DINE

54. Got the job done : WORKED

55. Fine china name : SPODE. LENOX also has 5 letters.

57. High-elevation enigma : YETI

59. San Diego suburb whose name means "the table" : LA MESA. Very helpful clue.

61. Loop site : CHICAGO

62. Pac-12 school : UCLA

65. Core group : CADRE

66. "Take a Chance on Me" quartet : ABBA

68. Down with something : ILL

69. Come clean, with "up" : FESS

71. Muffin stuff : OAT BRAN. I don't eat any bran stuff. Or brown rice.

74. Dueling memento : SCAR

75. Unrestrained party : ORGY

76. Constellation named for an instrument : LYRA

77. NASCAR Hall of Famer Yarborough : CALE

78. Like some flaws : TRAGIC

80. Scopes Trial gp. : ACLU

81. Historic Parks : ROSA. Noticed P is capitalized.

82. Simple earring : STUD

86. Psych 101 topic : EGO

89. Hard to resist : ENTICING

93. Mtge. feature : INT

94. Panamanian pronoun : ESA

97. 2012 Best Picture : ARGO

98. Crustacean used in Cajun cuisine : CRAWDAD. I don't think I've had any authentic Cajun food.  (From Marti: I chuckled when I saw CRAWDAD in the grid today. Here is a picture of a Crawfish Boil we had down in Florida with friends from New Orleans.  It was the gen-u-ine thing!)


100. "Barbara __": 1960s hit : ANN

101. Bails : QUITS

103. Dress like a justice : ENROBE

104. Statue subjects : TORSOS

106. Packs down : TAMPS

107. Land of the Apennines : ITALY

108. Showed again : RE-RAN

109. Futile : NO USE

110. Period in history : EPOCH

111. More valuable, possibly : RARER. Like the Mickey Mantle rookie card.

113. Giant squid's home : OCEAN

 114. Give up : WAIVE

115. Paid to play : ANTED

119. Rick's flame : ILSA. "Casablanca".

120. Light bite : NOSH

123. Ringside cheer : OLE

124. Clearance rack abbr. : IRR

125. Genteel gathering : TEA

C.C.


42 comments:

Argyle said...

Nice puzzle. Dr. Liz isn't very common. She is the vet in the Garfield comic strip.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Smooth, enjoyable Sunday romp. Figured out the theme early on and had a lot of fun figuring out the individual theme answers.

Wanted GIN JOINT instead of GIN MILL (which I've never heard before), but that was about it for bumps.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out why I ended up getting up extra early on the day we lose an hour of sleep...

Lemonade714 said...

What a well conceived and executed puzzle. To find the phrases that would work and maintain symmetry is very impressive.

Still trying to figure out if JamIca does daylight savings.

buckeye bob said...

And here is Dr. Liz in Garfield today, with a timely observation.

Garfield Dr. Liz

Yellowrocks said...

Good morning. I couldn't sleep so I arose and watched the clock turn from 2:00 to 3:00 AM. I thought I may as well do the LAT. Then I slept for 2 or 3 hours more.
My name for this puzzle is "Do(e), a deer" from Sound of Music.
DO - A DEER A FEMALE DEER
RE-- A DROP OF GOLDEN SUN
MI-- A NAME I CALL MYSELF
FA-- A LONG LONG WAY TO RUN
SOL-- A NEEDLE PULLING THREAD
LA-- A NOTE TO FOLLOW SO
TI-- A DRINK WITH JAM AND BREAD
THAT WILL BRING US BACK TO DO

I started at the bottom and got the added DO and LA. With the title that gave me the theme which helped tremendously.
Great theme and execution. Well done, Doug and great write up. CC.
SYNGE was new to me, but easily perped. I thought of CARL Yaborough. but it didn't fit, so CALE.
My dad often used the word LOGY. I learned it at my father's KNEE(CAP).
I believe my only acquaintance with GIN MILL is in novels.

HeartRx said...

Good morning C.C. et al.

Fun puzzle that had me swapping entries all over the place today. At 7-Down I started off with SNEAK then SKULK, before SIDLE finally appeared. And so it went. But I figured out the theme at MISO IT SEEMS, so that helped immensely with the other 5 theme entries. My favorite was FAIRISH COFFEE . Favorite fill was CRAWDAD, of course!

But I groaned when I saw PAINT CAN appear. (Yes, C.C. I really am tired of them.) Even though I am almost done with those brushes inside, within a month or so we have to start all over again, painting the outside. Ugh!!

Have a lovely day, everyone.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I slept in an extra half-hour (well, actually got up a half-hour early) this morning. Didn't find anything too daunting in the puzzle, but I also didn't get the theme. (On my tablet you have to go to "Info" to see the puzzle title, and I hadn't done that.) I didn't notice the musical notes--I just thought for each theme answer you'd throw out the first two letters. I was anxiously awaiting C.C.'s explanation of a LID BRACELET. D'oh!

LA MESA was a gimme. I lived there for a while back in the '70's. TAVOLA (also "the table") is being built right next door to our town. Ugh!

OHARE was a nice CSO to our Chicago contingent, Abejo, Mari and TTP.

Here's my take on an attractive MINIskirt and BLOUSE

buckeye bob said...

Thank you for the puzzle, Doug. Thank you for the fine review, C.C.

I thought this was easier than the usual Doug Peterson puzzle. I finished it in about Friday time, but no ta-da. I reviewed my answers and changed LOFY (huh?) / SAFE to LOGY (huh?) / SAGE, but still no ta-da. LOGY meant nothing to me, but I liked SAGE. I reviewed my Acrosses again, but found nothing. I reviewed my Downs, changed NEUSE (huh?) / ERS to NO USE / ORS and ta-da!

I got the theme early with RESTING LIKE A BEE and looking back at DOZEN MEDITATION. That helped with the others. I thought the theme was clever. It’s interesting how Doug reworked so many common phrases into other phrases by adding the musical notes.

I never read The Playboy of the Western World but knew it was written by J.M. Synge, so I nailed that.

I kept looking at 119D. Rick’s flame. Rick who? I was mentally stuck on Rick Nelson, but Mary Lou was too long. After a couple of perps, the V-8 can came flying. And it’s one of my 2 favorite movies! Doh!

Big Easy said...

Fairly straight forward solve this morning. A couple of words I never heard of were 56A LOGY and 55D SPODE. Perps solved DREA EADS SYNGE and ICHIRO, as I had no clue of any of the first three and didn't know the spelling of Susuki's first name. 92&93A- My dad went to UT and I went to LSU- easy answers and Mr. Peterson put the answer to 10D-BATON as a clue in 95A-Baton Rouge School.

95D-CRAWDAD. They may be called that somewhere but not in Cajun country. They are called crawfish, which are insanely priced this year due to the cold weather. At $5.00/lb it is cheaper to get shrimp. We usually boil 150-200 pound for Easter, but not at these prices. We might go with shrimp at $3-3.50/lb and shrimp has double the meat as crawfish.

Favorite clue was 'State secrets'- BLAB.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Impressive project from Doug Peterson today! Just enough challenge to keep it interesting, and a crafty theme. I say well done.

Morning, C.C., always nice to see your style. I don't know if I'll ever get to see the terra cotta warriors, but they are fascinating.

kjinkc from last night - ah, Carlos makes it look easy!

Al Cyone said...

I got the theme at the bottom which helped at the top but I got hung up in the NW. I had APEX and PEAK (before ACME) which slowed me down considerably. And I had no idea what "Yo Gabba Gabba!" was so I put down MAN (instead of TOT). SHEER was an early guess but I kept taking it out. And, though I had DOZEN and ITATION, APEX and PEAK kept stumping me. At some point the logjam broke.

But I still couldn't figure out what a LID BRACELET was until I read the review. I forgot that SOL was the sole three-letter note. So . . . D'oh!

[21:47]

Husker Gary said...

RECLINE LIKE A BEE? Huh? Wait, _ _ STING LIKE A BEE – RESTING LIKE A BEE – RUINE – RUING. Oh man, what a great theme. I ENROBED to do it and loved every minute.

Musings
-I had my first MISO Friday here in Lincoln. All in all, I’ll take beef!
-Plants I buy count on Joann to DOUSE IT OR LOSE IT
-17-year-old granddaughter Emma and mom’s PASSAT in front of our house
-Wanna see a overpaid superstar past his prime like ICHIRO? Board the USS Yankees
-Some have taken ROSA’s and MLK’s message of equality through non-violence to anger and hostility
-Fav podcast is The Tony Kornheiser Show. It’s funny and smart and just right for guys my age!
-A baby’s PATELLA is cartilage that ossifies into bone at about 3 years old
-Longhorns have a new coach because they couldn’t beat AGGIES or OKIES often enough
-Joann always has an “ALSO” when she sends me shopping. Is that MY iPhone?
-I’ve seen relay teams disqualified when they threw the BATON after the finish line
-When you’re monitoring a PC LAB and some kid quickly blanks his screen…
-Is that a MINI skirt or a belt?
-11-year-old grandson BAILS on his “favorite” teams when they start losing
-Don’t do it Rick, she’s married and she’ll get on that plane with Victor! Mon dieu, it’s Paris and too late!

LaLaLinda said...

Hi All ~~

I really enjoyed solving this. I caught the theme right away after getting DO ZENMEDITATION and connecting it to the title "Incidental Music." I'm sure it would not have been that obvious without the title.

I had fun as I tried to anticipate how the notes of the scale would be worked into the theme answers ~ so clever, Doug Peterson!

~ My one unknown was SYNGE but perps took care of it. This was the first time in a while I had no write-overs.

~ For some reason at 118A I was thinking of toothbrushes, so PAINT CAN didn't fill quickly.

~ I'm more familiar with the phrase 'Fatal flaw' than TRAGIC FLAW.

~ 90A - State secrets / BLAB was my favorite.

Thanks for write-up, C.C. I enjoyed your observations and the info on today's constructor!

Luke Skyywalker said...

Whenever I here 'miso', I think of the hip hop group 2 Live Crew's song Me So Horny.

I would link it but, if you remember, the big stink back in the early 90's had Broward County of Florida labeling the record as obscene and illegal to sell. The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned the ruling.

"Oh, MISO horny. Oh, Me so horny. Oh, MISO horny. Me Love you long time."

Luke said...

Damn iPhone. I tried to type 'get an earful', but my phone auto-corrected it to 'here'.

Irish Miss said...

Hi Everyone:

Didn't catch the musical connection until read CC's excellent review. (Maybe I'm sleep-deprived or maybe I just wasn't looking in the right place; I thought there was a type of music hidden within the theme answer. DOH!)

Clever theme and well executed, Doug P., even if I missed the point. I finished w/o help but needed lots of perps and it took longer than usual. Great expo, CC.

Have a great day.

Bill G. said...

Happy Sunday morning! I worked on this late last night and just now finished it. I haven't read any of the comments yet but my opinion was, brilliant! I thought this theme and this whole puzzle was one of cleverest and one of the most enjoyable puzzles that I can remember. Good job Doug!

Is Saturday Night Live a cool show? If so, it just goes to further indicate that I am not a cool person. Barbara was recording it late last night and I watched about ten minutes of it. Didn't smile once. Much less sophisticated and less funny than Modern Family and TBBT in my opinion.

Where is our pal Lucina?

Now off to read the blog and the other comments.

Dudley said...

Bill G - we've come to the conclusion that SNL is pretty much worn out. To be fair, we haven't watched it at all in the last year or two, but that's because it stopped being interesting.

Yellowrocks said...

HG,I am curious about your restaurant menu. Miso paste is an ingredient that adds flavoring. It is not a meat substitute. Were you perhaps thinking of tofu, which can be a meat substitute? I don't like tofu as a meat substitute, but I do like a few tiny cubes of it in my miso soup.
I like many dishes made with miso, but not all. It is impossible to tell from sampling just one dish whether or not you like any other kind of miso. Miso varies a great deal by type of grain used, region, fermentation time and recipe.
In particular I do not like Nattō, which may be an acquired taste because of its powerful smell, strong flavor, and slimy texture. It is popular in Japan, especially as a breakfast food, the only part of a Japanese hotel breakfast buffet that I cannot eat.
However, I love miso soup. It is made with shiromiso (white miso) which has a mild sweet taste due to its short fermentation time. I also use shiromiso mixed with rice vinegar, water, sugar and fresh ginger as a glaze for broiled salmon. Yum. Akamiso is stronger than shiromiso, but i do not find it objectionable like Nattō,

I believed miso was introduced to Japan from China. CC, any thoughts on this?

C6D6 Peg said...

Very nice outing today. Clever theme and nice, smooth fill. Only glitch was SYNGE. Should have guessed it from ITALY, but thought it was ITALO - not ITALIA. DUH!

Thanks, Doug & C.C. for your great efforts.

River Doc said...

Happy Sunday everybody!

One square short of a Ta-Da today. No idea on LOGY....

Otherwise, got the theme at LAGOON SQUAD, and enjoyed the rest of the Sound of Music fill....

Very few write-overs: CANNONS for MORTARS and BORING for TIRING....

53A CSO to C.C.s favorite team...?

UCLA and ACLU....

The ELIAS Sports Bureau is the leading source of sports statistics - watching Spring Training baseball games this A.M....

Sara SIDLE, played by Jorja Fox, is one of the original Las Vegas CSI team, along with George EADS' character Nick Stokes....

And now to change the clocks.... Doc out.

CrossEyedDave said...

Re 46D: "Try it, it's not easy to find a pretty Blouse & Mini picture, Dave!"

CC, I don't get it. The Internet is lousy with them. Ok maybe not all of them are pretty, but here are a few that caught my eye:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

Hey, wait a sec,,, was this a set up to make me go shopping for you?

Avg Joe said...

With Doug following Brad I've enjoyed this weekend a lot. Tho this one was much easier than yesterdays mind-bender.. Pretty much filled as I went, but not a true speed run. Looked at the first theme fill and wondered what it had to do with music, but figured that out by the 3rd. That helped a lot, as things got a little trickier to the south. Final fill was that G shared by Logy and Sage. We've seen (and argued over) logy before. Still don't like it, but do accept it.

I also thought the 67A clue was a CSO, C.C. I'm even Irish.

CanadianEh! said...

"Strike up the Band". We have music today from Gershwin to Sound of Music (Do re mi), ABBA to Toni Tennille (Muskrat Love anyone), Beach Boys with Barbara Ann, to Ave Maria. ILSA conjures up As Time Goes By, and OKIE Red River Valley. Even Mohammed Ali's "Float like a butterfly, STING LIKE A BEE" has influenced many songs including Katie Perry's Roar.

I got the theme fairly early and smiled at DOUSE IT OR LOSE IT and FAIRISH COFFEE.

Hand up for ERS before ORS and light bulb moment for NEUSE/NO USE like Buckeye Bob.

Maybe I'm just LOGY today with the time change!

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2
-The 30+mph gusts finally got me off the golf course on this 60°F day. My 100 yard shots were curling back to 50!
-YR, I knew when I posted the MISO comment that it was stupid but I was on my way to the course. My comment was on the rest of the menu of assorted sea food cooked and uncooked which did not appeal to us but we thought “What the heck?”. That is what I meant when I wrote that I prefer beef even though I know the MISO only referred to the interesting soup we had first. Hiro 88 was SRO so… Thanks for calling me on that, I deserved it and enjoyed your info.
-SNL is very unfunny these days. They have B List hosts who recite off cue cards and skits that substitute crudity for wit. It’s like watching Jeter thinking he’ll be his former self soon. Not gonna do it!
-Dave, there’s a guy in Hannibal, MO who would like to talk to you about painting a fence ;-)
-Letterman used to say “LOGY” a lot.
-Avg., have you been down to the Pinnacle Arena area yet? It’s amazing.

Yellowrocks said...

HG, I didn't mean to "diss" you. I really thought you objected to tofu burgers or tofu steak. Yucky!
I always used to order seafood whenever we ate out, but since my live-at-home son doesn't eat any beef except ground beef, I miss REAL beef and always order it, the exception being in a Japanese restaurant. Their seafood is soooo good. I was skeptical of raw fish at first. My DIL and son took me to an outstanding, authentic Japanese restaurant for raw sushi. She ordered only the best and it was of exceptional quality. I loved it and have become kind of a sushi snob. It's got to be outstandingly good and fresh. Of course, DIL's make-at-home sushi is to die for.
You all really MUST try real miso soup, not the stiff touted on Internet recipes.

Husker Gary said...

Musings 3
-Not the least offense taken, YR. The syntax of my MISO comment hit me right away as being dicey but it’s been a long, cold winter and out the door I went. I used MISO to make a comment but should have expanded my remarks to indicate the exotic raw fish passing our table to others did not appeal to us. “Where’s the beef?” ;-)
-SNL used to be funny!
-I agree in Bill’s assessment of this incredible puzzle.
-BTW, does anyone remember who had the degrading job of TAMPing down road materials in a popular TV series this year.

Spitzboov said...

Good afternoon everyone.

Still adjusting to Quebec time as Romeo time recedes into the past. Seemes to take me 3-4 days to adjust.
But I much prefer DST.

Puzzle seemed easy today. No lookups needed. Theme was fun. It is fascinating to see what themes constructors can come up with.

I am not a fan of starlings; they are an invasive species, but here is a fascinating video depicting an evening murmuration of starlings.

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

Dave & D-Otto,
Wow. Something went awry this morning with Google. I swear. I could not find any pretty combo. Also, Dave, picture #2, the short top is a blouse?

Yellowrocks,
I think China might have exported soy fermentation technique to Japan, which then developed its unique Miso soup. I can't stand Natto either.

Bill G,
Lucina is visiting Middle East. She'll be back in a week.

Avg Joe said...

HG, no I haven't been to the Haymarket since Dec of 09. I don't think they had even broken ground at that time, so I've not seen the PBA from any nearer than 9th St. It'd be fun to be there tonight. "Badgers? We don't need no stinking Badgers!" :-)

Al Cyone said...

HG @3:00: Might the tamper be Mr. Molesely?

Al Cyone said...

Of course it would have been better had I spelled "Molesley" correctly.

Bill G. said...

CED, I appreciate your willingness to do research for this blog. I think #2 used to be in my algebra class... I'd be happy to tutor the others also. I wonder if they'd think $50 is OK? It's all I can afford...

Spitz, great starling video!

CC, thanks for the Lucina update.

Al, ah, now I remember too. I'll bet you are right.

Yoshi said...

Yellowrocks, have you tried any Taiji dolphin? You may need to drive to get some. You also may need to hide behind a tarpaulin to seal the deal however.

I think it is criminal what the Japanese appetite for seafood has done to the demand, pricing and resulting overfishing of important fisheries around the world. After depleting their own waters they have moved on to international water. Their indiscriminate factory ships are now off the New England coast, threatening the livelihood of American fisherman. To think this practice is subsidized by the Japanese Government shows how deep this problem goes.

It is not all bad news. Sobering numbers of fish populations, supplied by respected sources, have proven to the world of impending doom and have caused many nations, who depend on the ocean's resources, to levy new laws and penalties on the Japanese.

CrossEyedDave said...

If you ever get the chance, (or can afford,) you must try the Miso Cod at Nabu. (or make a version yourself.)

CC, I have found the you get one set of pictures if you type in Miniskirt, & a completely different set if you type in Mini Skirt.

The puzzle theme reminded me of Homer Simpsons Beer Song.

Which reminds me it's time to enjoy some Barm...

inanehiker said...

The theme came so early, that it made this a quicker run than Sunday usually is.

Crawdad - is one of those regional things that came up on that quiz circulating last year. I grew up in MO/KS catching crawdads in the creek, but have lived enough other places that they are all familiar enough. Fourth map down shows the geographic distribution in the research.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/06/pecan-caramel-crawfish-food-dialect-maps/276603/

PK said...

Hi Y'all! I think I finished this puzzle last night, but there may have been some blank squares in the NE. My SAFARI shut down six times. I reworked it in sections but never had all squares filled at the same time before it blanked again. Very frustrating. I caught on to the DO RE MI theme early and filled that in first on the trip down which was very helpful. The last time time I lost the puzzle I gave up and went to bed.

LA MESA was a gimmee. Brought back some lovely memories of visiting there twice in '98 & '99.

I would really have enjoyed this one, Doug, if not for electronics problems. Thanks, C.C. and all you other contributors.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I liked this puzzle a lot, although it took me far too long to figure out the theme, resulting in the same "what is a LID BRACELET?" wonderment some of you had. I love the high quality and standards of LAT puzzles. Best wishes to you all.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Very, very tired. Worked the puzzle and miraculously got the ta-da without having to check for stupid errors. Thanks Doug! You, too, CC! Fantastic job!

Had same difficulty as Marti with SIDLE.

SNL was hysterical long ago. Then got really boring. I remember the guy with the lip gloss and the alien. Have not watched for many years.

Cheers!

Bill G. said...

HG, it always makes me feel good when I discover your sharing my opinion about something, this puzzle for example.

Warmer than usual here today, about 83 with a bright blue sky.

Abejo said...

Good evening, folks. Thank you, Doug Peterson, for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.

Was busy all day and never got to start this puzzle until this evening. Went through it easier than I had hoped.

Theme appeared after a while. It was very good. Enjoyed the musical prefixes.

17D, OHARE was easy. ORD are the call letters for OHARE Field, from the original name Orchard Field. Caught your reference to us in the area, D-O. Thank you.

Finally, a puzzle with no French. Did have some Spanish, but that is easier.

When my oldest daughter was living in Shreveport, I had a bunch of Cajun meals loaded with CRAWDADs. Good food. Different.

Yes, GIN MILL was easy. I have been in more of those than Carter has Liver Pills in years past. Since coming to Illinois 30 years ago, I was off the road and living a much different life. Anyhow, it is fun to reminisce.

Well, getting close to my bed time. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

(94983385 9481)

Bill G. said...

Another earthquake an hour or so ago. It was a pretty big one but in northern California this time.