google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday May 9, 2014 Jeffrey Wechsler

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May 9, 2014

Friday May 9, 2014 Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: Run on thoughts.


JW makes the move from Thursday to Friday this week with a complicated and ingenious (not igneous, see below) group of phrases clued with Canadian cities (EH!) mashed together with a word or phrase to create a new phrase that almost makes sense. Doing this all from Canadian cities is great, and gives you some idea how puzzles are born. I would guess at some point the sound of  HALI FAX MACHINE popped in his head and he was off to the creative races. The rest of the puzzle has some difficult clues, but with the longest non-theme answers 7 letters (many of which were fun- DIORITE, ECHELON, FANTAIL, IN LIMBO, ROAD TAX, TELECOM,  WEIRDOS and  WIMPISH) I found this to be a very doable puzzle. I would think Mr. Wechsler, who I have blogged before,  must have strong ties to Canada as I do not know many USA citizens who can name the Canadian provinces and major cities; I just learned he published his first NY Times in 1969, his second in 2009 - 40 years later. I would love to hear the story of the delay. So here we go...thanks for lending me JW, marti.

17A. TV fare in Quebec? : MONTREALITY SHOW. (15). Reality TV has taken over the world because they can pay so much less, even in Canada. I enjoy Montreal both from my family history and the people. They do however drive even worse than Floridians. This is the odd one as the REAL changes sound.

31A. Communication device in Nova Scotia? : HALIFAX MACHINE. (14).  My favorite and what I guess is the seed answer. Are fax machines going the way of beepers?

39A. Tool storage convenience in Manitoba? : WINNIPEG BOARDS..(14). All I really know is that the Blue Bombers play there in the CFL and the Jets in the NHL. Who doesn't hang tools on a pegboard in the garage?

60A. Throat ailment in Alberta? : EDMONTONSILITIS.(15). The most impressive run on. Wayne Gretzky taught me all I know about Edmonton.

Across:

1. Kate, to Petruchio : WIFE. The Taming of the Shrew. Loves me some Shakespeare.

5. Works on wallsART. Cute, hard to be too tricky with a three letter fill. CLECHO! 50D. Works on wallsOILS. Hanging on them, in museums etc. Tricky 2.

8. Apportioned, with "out" : METED. A favorite of judges meting out justice.

13. Prayer leader : IMAM.

14. Sandwich staple : RYE. I thought of ham first, go figure. And, 6D. Thick-pile rug : RYA. This traditional Scandinavian rug was an unknown.


15. Bring forth : ELICIT.

20. Contributes : PUTS IN. His two-cents worth.

21. Spacewalk initials : EVAExtra-vehicular activity.

22. See 2-Down : HERE. A backwards cross-reference. 2D. With 22-Across, "See ya!" : I'M OUTTA.

23. Marseilles : -euse :: Madrid : __ : ITA. Feminine endings in French and Spanish.

24. "Pensées" author : PASCAL.  This is a really interesting LINK.

26. "... if I tell thee __, spit in my face": Falstaff : A LIE. More Will.
FALSTAFF
Nay, that’s past praying for. I have peppered two of them. Two I am sure I have paid, 
two rogues in buckram suits. I tell thee what, Hal, if I tell thee a lie, spit in my face, 
call me horse. Thou knowest my old ward. Here I lay, and thus I bore my point. 
Four rogues in buckram let drive at me.

27. Move a bit : STIR.

29. Very long time : EON.

30. Teammate of Hubbell : OTT. A new clue for Hall of Famer Mel.

37. Friend of Huck : JIM. Not Tom....

38. One working at home : UMP. A baseball reference for C.C. Tricky 1.

47. Psychotic Chihuahua : REN. A mini-theme? 52A. Reprimand often given while pointing down : BAD DOG.

48. Theban queen of myth : INO. Goody, some MYTHOLOGY. Really, all perps.

49. Boss's command : DO IT.

55. Thin-rail bridge : AS A.

56. "Get a __!" : GRIP.

57. Sea urchin roe, in sushi bars : UNI.  Time to learn. LINK.

58. Without restraint : WILDLY.

63. Additionally : TO BOOT. Weird sounding phrase. Per wiktionary:

Etymology

From Middle English to bote (“something added to, addition”), from Old English tō bōte (“to boot, besides, moreover”). More at boot.

(idiomatic) moreover, on top of that, besides, also.

My boyfriend is funny, and a pretty good cook, to boot.

64. DDE, e.g. : GENeral. Eisenhower.

65. Speedy shark : MAKO. Want to know WHY?

66. Get to the bottom of : SOLVE.

67. Weaken : SAG.

68. Powerful team : OXEN.

Down:

 1. Like some chickens : WIMPISH. People not farm animals. Tricky 3.

3. Split and flattened, as shrimp : FANTAIL. Want to know HOW?

4. Personnel providing CPR : EMTS. Emergency medical technicians

5. Olympic venue : ARENA.

7. Vonage, for one : TELECOM. Better answer than Phone Co.

8. Osmium or rhodium : METAL.

9. English cathedral city : ELY. I am sure Steve can tell you all about this PLACE.

10. Actress Campbell of TV's "Martin" : TISHA. Need a pic?

11. Rank : ECHELON. Really fun word, but not my first or second thought.

12. Igneous rock on which the Code of Hammurabi is inscribed : DIORITE. Like Sheldon, I know no GEOLOGY.

16. Brief statement, by necessity : TWEET. I do not tweet and based on their stock performance I am not alone.

18. Grave statement, briefly? : RIP. Funny? Rest IPeace. Tricky 4.

19. The Donald's first ex : IVANA. How cool she is next to...need a pic?

25. Questionnaire datum : SEX. In taking the PSAT a classmate answered, "I wish!"

28. Rembrandt van __ : RIJN. Need a pic?

32. Fiver : FIN. Old timey slang like sawbuck.

33. "Who, me?" : AM I? Not sure I understand completely...

34. Furry youngster : CUB. Maybe.


35. Gp. for GPs : HMOHealth Maintenance Organization.

36. Apple product : iPAD.

39. Eccentric types : WEIRDOS. Who does not love a puzzle with wimps and weirdos.

40. Undetermined : IN LIMBO.

41. Liszt's instrument : PIANO. Want to LISZTEN? (9:46).

42. Some games have multiple ones : ENDINGS. Are we talking  marriage here?

43. Neptune, e.g. : GOD. Semi-clecho 62D. Neptune's realm : SEA.

44. Toll, basically : ROAD TAX. They put tolls on the Florida Turnpike to pay for the construction, now 50 years later they are just taxing drivers, especially all you lovely tourists.

45. Take a dim view of : DISLIKE.

46. Doesn't quit : STAYS ON. After the merger....

47. Synonym eponym : ROGET. Really cute clue.

51. Wire holder : SPOOL.

52. Monument Valley sight : BUTTE. Not a shout out to dear Montana, but to the formation on the Utah-Arizona border. LINK.

53. Short : OWING. I was short on my rent, not just vertically challenged.

54. Original boss of Sara and Nick on "CSI" : GIL Grissom. need a pic?

59. Long ride? : LIMO. Tricky 5.

61. Four-day weekend time, for many: Abbr. : NOV. Thanksgiving.

As with all of Mr. Wechsler's puzzles there were lots of fun clue/fill combinations and just enough spice to name it a Friday. I want to wish all a very Happy Mother's Day and off to golf in a charity tournament. Lemonade out.


54 comments:

OwenKL said...

Where You CAN ADApt

Fri. thru MON., TREAL is quite nice.
According to HAL, IFAX will suffice.
For a place that's a WIN,
NIPEG's worth a spin.
Fabled caEDMON, TON sang of anights!

OwenKL said...

Nice theme, and a lot of interesting clues.
A few WAGs, a lot of perps, and loads of red letters, but I finished it without needing look-ups. Besides the usual bugaboo of names, new words for me were FAN TAIL, RYA, UNI, and DIORITE. Sometimes it annoys me to see people say they've never seen a word before that I know has been in a puzzle just recently, or is common crosswordese; but I had to see MAKO 2 or 3 times before I recognized it, and we have sushi words often enough I've probably seen UNI before, though I don't remember it.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Got the theme early on today and really loved it. The only one I struggled with was WINNIPEGBOARDS because I had TOM instead of JIM at 32D and can never remember RIJN to save my life. Also in that section, I did not know INO, which kept me from seeing ENDINGS for awhile. Once I got WEIRDO and INLIMBO, however, it all became evident.

Really hated WIMPISH. Probably for no good reason, but it just looks wrong to me. Also had no idea what multple ENDINGS is referring to vis-a-vis games. All I could think of was the movie "Clue," but I don't think that's it...

DIORITE was another complete unknown today, but the perps took care of it in short order.

Oh -- and I really, really wanted SAP at 67A!

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. I had fun with today's puzzle. Oh, Canada, Eh? All but one of the Canadian cities is the capital of its provence. The HALIFAX MACHINE was my Rosetta Stone.

I do have to note, however, that the throat ailment, Tonsillitis, is actually spelled with two Ls.

Hand up for wanting Tom instead of JIM.

I also initially had Doled before METED, and Sap before SAG. I also wanted Get a LIFE in lieu of Get a GRIP.

My favorite clue was Grave Statement = RIP.

QOD: Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary? ~ James M. Barrie (May 9, 1860 ~ June 19, 1937)

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

There was a lot of familiar stuff in today's puzzle. I've been to Montreal, Halifax and Edmonton. Winnipeg? Nope. Vonage is my phone company. As a result it's really difficult to call Tech Support when my internet connection is down.

Started with DELVE before I SOLVEd it. EVOKE? Too short. EDUCE? Too short. Oh, ELICIT! And I had trouble trying to come up with a 3-letter astronomer from Hubbell's time.

Hahtoolah, good catch on TONSILLITIS. Wonder how that escaped Rich's red pen?

TTP said...

Good morning all !

A north of the border flair this morning. I loved it.

Once I quit trying to misspell facsimile with an X, and realized it was MACHINE, the theme popped like a morel mushroom this time of year. I already had ----REALITYSHOW by then.

How fitting that we would have a clue eccentric types on a Friday ? Let's see what the day brings. Usually not my day to read all of the posts.

Speaking of clue, my 56A was at first life, then clue, and finally GRIP. Beer would have been next, but SPOOL proved it.

Gotta run. IM OUTTA HERE for now, and will read ya later Lemonade !

Hope everyone has a great day.

HeartRx said...

Good morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.

Thanks for the enlightening write-up, Lemony! And I’m happy to lend Jeffrey to you, but you’d better give him back to me in good condition! I noticed in the link to ELY that you provided, the economy of that area used to involve the harvesting of OSIER, which is a word that you (almost) never hear outside the domain of crosswords!

I loved, loved, loved this theme. And the fill was challenging but ultimately doable without lookups. Hand up for entering “doled” instead of METED at 8A and “adds in” instead of PUTS IN for 20A. That resulted in a huge swath of white in the north. But it’s Canada, eh, so snow is always expected there!!

Hahtoolah, “tonsillitis” with one “L” is a variant spelling. I am sure Rich and Jeffrey weighed the option of tossing out a clever themer vs. using a variant, and just decided to go with it.

TGIF!

HeartRx said...

I forgot to say, lisztening to Lisitsa playing LISZT? Priceless!

buckeye bob said...

Thank you for the puzzle, Jeffrey. Thank you for the excellent review, Lemonade.

I, also, thought the theme was clever. First I got HALIFAX MACHINE. Then I went back and got MONTREAL ITY SHOW. I needed much more perp help to get WINNIPEG BOARDS and EDMONTON SILITIS. I wonder about the plural BOARDS because the clue doesn’t indicate plural. The online dictionaries show TONSILITIS as an acceptable variation to the more common tonsillitis. No nit there.

I fell for misdirection at 64A DDE, e.g. : GEN. First I had IKE. Then I re-read the e.g., so I changed it to REP. Later the perps saved me.

I messed up at 61D Four-day weekend time, for many: Abbr. : NOV. I had HOL until the perps fixed it.

At the end, I had a Natick that stumped me. I had 37A HI* and 33D A*I. I knew 28D was Rembrandt van RIJN, but I could not remember how to spell it, so I had RIHN. I did mental alphabet runs in both directions and no luck. I finally turned on red letter help (for 1 letter, ACK!) and saw the misspelling of RIJN. As soon as I fixed that, JIM jumped out at me.

All in all, a good challenge and a fun puzzle.

Big Easy said...

This puzzle took way more than my usual solving time. The thin AS A rail just wouldn't click in my brain. The WAGs and perps were my only salvation this morning because there were so many 3-letter unknowns such as ITA REN INO RYA GIL ELY and I agree with Lemonade that I have no clue about 33D AM I. My first thought was MOI, as in Miss Piggy. I had TOM before JIM as Huck's friend. Mel OTT was the only 3-letter gimme since I regularly pass Mel Ott Park in Gretna, LA ( where he was from) on the way to Dimartino's Deli about a half mile past the park. Even though my degree is in chemistry and I aced 14 credit hours is geology, the Osmium and rhodium clue was a WAG and DIORITE came from perps. I figured out the unifier with HALIFAX MACHINE on the first pass through and that was my salvation because I am familiar with the Cannuckian major cities. Even though I have written it hundreds of times, I can never remember how to spell WEIRD or Rembrandt's last name. Mental block.

Did anybody else read about the 805 lb record size MAKO shark caught recently in Florida? It was caught surf casting from the beach; JAWS anybody?

Lucina said...

Greetings to all! A big thank you to Lemonade who METED out some savvy wit.

And many thanks to Jeffrey Wechsler. I really enjoyed this puzzle and sussed the theme at WINNIPEGBOARDS though at first it looked like a Canadian snow field. In the end it proved very doable though my hand is up for TOM not JIM and there it stayed as I didn't review.

OWENKL, you really picked up on the theme with your poem! Congratulations.

I still miss GIL Grissom on CSI.

My first Campbell actress was Naomi and I've never heard of TISHA but five perps can't be wrong.

I hope your Friday is superb, everyone!

Tinbeni said...

Lemon: Thanks for the write-up explaining my (many) write-OVERS.
BTW - The ART CLECHO clue is 50-A (not 50-d) OILS.

Had Alloy for 8-D, Osmium or rhodium, before METAL.
AMA for 35-D, Gp. for GP's, before HMO.
LIFE, for 56-A, Get a ___!, before GRIP.

But at least I had JIM, off the 'J' in RIJN.

EVA made me think of Husker and his NASA talks to students.

Big Easy: Yeah, I saw the MAKO article. I wish people would quit Shark-Fishing for sport. They're necessary for a healthy SEA.

Funny thing, I thought Barry G. would like WIMPISH. lol

Nothing to drink in the grid (Again!!!). tears ...

A "toast" to all at Sunset. And the Mom's on Sunday!
Cheers!

May 9, 2014

Argyle said...

So am I the only one that had "GET A ROOM!"?

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

What Hahtoolah said: Halifax machine made the rest of the solve possible. Got myself log jammed having Boldly instead of Wildly. Really admire the theme!

Argyle - that's a hoot, I didn't think of that possibity. I first put in Get a Life.

Avg Joe said...

This was one of the most enjoyable gimmick type themes I can recall. Very tough to get going, and it required a lot of wags, but it was worth it.

First them answer was HaliFaxMachine, based purely on knowing Halifax, which helped enormously. Moved up to Montreal, and took a guess there. Lower themes were quite a bit harder, but it came together eventually.

Tried life and clue before grip. Never thought of room:-) Wanted Tom but had Fin already, so I had to dust off the forgotten shelf that held Rijn, aided and abetted by Jim. Started out with Pup and AMA because of Ump, but getting the third theme squared that away to Cub and HMO. Lots of complete unknowns such as A Lie, Ino, Uni, Ita and Diorite, but the perps were solid enough to work it out.

Great puzzle!

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Pretty much WBS. Tough SOLVE. This took me about 45 minutes. Worth it though. Love the theme.

Some great 7's, as has been pointed out.

Many unknowns

I had CLUE and LIFE before GRIP. ROOM was not on my radar screen.

I suspect multiple ENDINGS refers to some video games?

Tigers win streak ended at 8 last night. Lowly X-word fav STROS took the last game of 4, avoiding the sweep. How's that for an alternate ENDING?

Twins in for the weekend. Verlander against Hughes tonight. But we're going to be watching Amanda dance.

Cool regards!
JzB

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler, for a great puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for a fine review.

This puzzle took me about two hours, which is not bad for me.

Lots of unknowns, but thank goodness for the perps.

TELECOM was easy. My former life.

I tried LIFE for 56A. SPOOL fixed that for me to GRIP.

Liked ROGET. Took me a couple letters to figure it out. Had to remember what an eponym is.

Tried MESAS for 52D. EDMONTON gave me BUTTE.

First theme answer was MONTREALITY SHOW. The rest came after a while.

ROAD TAX is a good description of a Toll. A speeding ticket is also a tax, of sorts.

PIANO was a wag, but worked.

I also liked RIP for 18D. We think alike, Hahtoolah.

IVANA was easy. Wonder where she is?

Rained cats and dogs for a while this morning. Now peaceful, but wet.

Lots to do. See you tomorrow, sometime, probably late.

Abejo

(very fgdocre)

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

I have to agree with Hahtoolah about the spelling for tonsillitis. It is not described as a variant in any reference I've seen.
But Marti points out the editorial choice. I think the editor strove to make it up to the audience by using LIMO as a perp with a fairly easy clue. JMHO.

C6D6 Peg said...

Very nice theme. Got those answers before a lot of others.

This was a difficult solve, and a DNF due to DIORITE and OTT.

Thanks Jeffrey, for a great puzzle, and Lemonade a great write-up.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Kudos to Jeffrey for a very clever theme, well executed. I had many write overs before perps came to the rescue: life/grip, in doubt/in limbo, arts/oils, eel/uni, etc. Never heard of Tisha Campbell or, for that matter, the show, Martin. I have heard of Ren and Stimpy but didn't know Ren was a Chihuahua. Great expo, Lemony.

I'm sure this puzzle was a nice treat for Canada, Eh.

It's mild today but windy and overcast, with rain expected later. Monday and Tuesday, 80 degrees. We will probably roll right into Summer weather. Get the A/C ready!

Have a super Friday.

Misty said...

I can't believe I actually got this! I got the whole thing! My first scan of this puzzle yielded practically nothing, then started to play with the choices (e.g. TOM/JIM)and then slowly, slowly, following Marti's long ago advice, it got to the point where I got HALIFAX and then it began to come together. Thank you for a clever, charming, difficult but doable Friday puzzle, Jeff! And for a delightful write-up, as always, Lemonade.

It's Alex Trebek on "Jeopardy" who's made many of us much more conscious and knowledgeable about Canada over the years.

On many of the other options in this puzzle, WHS (what Hahtoolah said).

What a fun way to head to the weekend! Have a great day, everybody!

Dudley said...

JzB from a day or two ago - I forgot to mention I enjoyed your statistical analysis of batting averages. It's interesting that measurement of human performance can become statistically meaningful when confined by the framework of nationally recognized rules and so forth. The consequences of occasional rule changes are fun to see appearing.

JJM said...

A little bit of everything in here today. Good clues, bad clues, easy fill, tough fill. SW took me the longest. Made me think long and hard before putting in answers though.

Argyle: Indelibly etched in my mind was " GET A LIFE".

buckeye bob said...

Spitzboov at 10:07 --

Here are two, but there are others.

Tonsilitis Online Medical Dictionary

Webster's Online Dictionary

Lucina said...

56A Get a LIFE was my first guess, too, but ROGET introduced GRIP.

Funny, Argyle.

Anonymous said...

Thought Jim was boss.then when agent died in first episode he was replaced by Gil.

Yellowrocks said...

I was not on Jeffrey's wave length at first and had sparse answers widely scattered. Suddenly the theme dawned and I breezed through the top half. After more sparse answers I came up with WINNEPEGBOARDS and breezed through the bottom half. So overall I had a respectable 30 minutes or a little less, half fast and half slow. The old man next door when I was a kid always joked about someone who did a "half fast" job of it.
Fun puzzle. Very informative blogging,Lemonade.
Peg boards ARE a storage convenience, no plural needed.
AM I? Example: You are responsible for the mistake.
Who me? Am I (responsible)?
DIORITE was the only one that was all perps.
I had Get a life before GRIP, too.
When we were kids and an rattletrap car chugged by the boys would yell, "Get a horse!" Anyone, else?

Yellowrocks said...

I was late to the party today. It is Alan's birthday so I allowed him to take the day off from work. It is a day when he may create the entire agenda based on his own whims and his own pace. Early this morning we went our for coffee and then went shopping at two malls. Everyone always gives him folding money for his birthday so he can shop. Then we had lunch at Pizza Hut, my treat, and went to another mall.
Now we are relaxing at home and expecting birthday cards in the mail. Later I will take him out for dinner. I have baked a cherry pie in place of a cake.
In two weeks he will be featured at our extended family's May birthdays and Mother's Day celebration.

Maverick said...

Tricky Puzzle. I got that it was a Canadian Club, but I decided to try and let the perps fill it in. I got the FAX and interpreted the theme as a word completely "IN" another word having something to do with Canada. That gave me REALITY and PEG, but I couldn't figure out how to fit STREP in the last one. I'm not sure whether WINNIPEG or HALIFAX hit me first, when I realized it was a "BEFORE and AFTER". The rest fell in place.

Spitzboov said...

B-Bob @ 1146 - Thanks.

Ol' Man Keith said...

A real beaut! I got a kick out of JW's creation - and enjoyed knocking it off with only one desperate look-up (REN). The rest took some dogged perseverance with much fun in the break-through moments.
I wish only that for 39A the clue had been plural like the answer.
Glad to see Falstaff quoted. He's among my very favorite Shxper characters. Ol' Will perfected a terrific type in that old braggart "warrior." I am sorry he was out of my range but I enjoyed playing with and directing some fine Falstaffs over the years.

Steve said...

Nice one! Ingenious theme. Thanks for expo, Lemonade.

I'm in the "Get a LIFE" camp at first.

Yup Lemon - ELY has a very odd feel - it's got a beautiful cathedral but it's in the middle of a huge area of what is basically flat swampland and is frequently shrouded in fog. Great setting for crime thrillers.

I'm going to call a nit at TELECOM - this is my business bailiwick and no-one in the industry would use the term in this context - Vonage is a TELCO. "Telecom" is an abbreviated form of "Telecommunications" - "Telco" is an contraction of "Telecommunications Company".

Nerdy nit over :)

PK said...

Hi Y'all! This was a toughy! As many of you, HALIFAX MACHINE was my "Rosetta Stone". I got very few fills on the first pass through with everything coming up red. Finally got enough to realize Canada cities were being used. Had to get out my atlas to see MONTREAL and EDMONTON, then figure out the endings. I thought I'd never heard of a throat condition called "SILITIS" until a lightbulb moment let me realize the gimmick. Lots of unknowns. Enough fun in this to override the frustration. Thanks, Jeffrey! Thanks, Lemony!

IN LIMBO is my permanent state of being. Hand up for "Get a room".

My optometrist and his wife were good friends. Once when I went in for an eye check, I was filling out the form and put "not recently" in the SEX blank. I could hear loud guffaws echoing among the staff (all of whom I knew well) as my paper was passed around. I made their day, but they didn't give me a discount on new glasses.

OwenKL said...

Thatababy cartoon

For "get a _" my first answer was ROOM.

Lemonade714 said...

It is so nice to have medical personnel and Brits reading the blog

The problem with your telecom nit Steve, is that you are basing it on your business knowledge which none of us has, so telecom seemed fine

Tin man, I should have called the Puzzle: Canadian Club
drat



SwampCat said...

Thanks JW, and thanks for the fun write up, Lemonade.

And thanks, Owen, for a laugh out loud tribute to the puzzle theme! How do you do it?

I have one small nit...or maybe just a misunderstanding at 3 d. The clue sounds as though it is asking for a procedure on the shrimp...to split, and to flatten. That would be to "butterfly" the shrimp. The answer is a type of shrimp... Fantail. Any type of shrimp can be butterflied. Am I missing something here?

Lemonade714 said...

Read the link Swamp Cat

Yellowrocks said...

I believe TELECOM is another of those words which appear quite often having a technical meaning and a slightly different common, informal meaning . The technical experts are often surprised at the common meaning.
From Merriam Webster:
: a telecommunications company***
: the telecommunications industry
There are companies called Telecom New Zealand and Telecom Italia.

My auto dealer provides loaner cars as a "convenience" for those who are getting extensive repairs. This sounds perfectly okay, even better than "conveniences."

Time for another birthday excursion.

Lemonade714 said...

Here it is again:

Fantail Link .

Bumppo said...

64A "DDE, e.g." = GEN is a FAIL, just like FANTAIL. DDE are initials; "Gen." is an abbreviation. "Type of ofcr." would have been a proper clue; CIC would have been a proper answer (for "DDE, e.g.").

I liked the Canadian clues and combo answers. Most dictionaries spell TONSILITIS with two L's; but a number allow the one L spelling, and it makes more sense, by the roots (c.f. "telephonitis" – that's a real word, according to some dictionaries). My dad, an EENT, put me through college doing tonsillectomies or tonsilectomies (a one-L tonsilectomy is not nearly as accepted as a one-L tonsilitis; but Dad accepted the money, no matter how the operation was spelled on the check).

HeartRx said...

I had to share this ART form with all of you. It ain't just about oil paintings any more! (Click the arrows to see more examples.)

HeartRx said...

Lemony, I have to admit, that I also wanted "butterflied" at 3-D. Even with your link, I still wanted it to be FANTAILed, not just FANTAIL. But FANTAIL shrimp is exactly what the clue suggests: it is a "split and flattened shrimp."

SwampCat said...

Thanks, Lemonade, I did read the link, and it explains how to Butterfly a Fantail shrimp. Just saying...

Jayce said...

The Fantail Shrimp link says, "Fantail shrimp are large shrimp that are peeled, deveined and butterflied to create a flat appearance."

Jayce said...

Ah, I get it now.

Unknown said...

This was a tough but doable puzzle. DIORITE and TISHA were all perps. I had AMA before HMO, TOM before JIM, SAP before SAG, PUP before CUB, and ADDS before PUTS.

I got a late start on this puzzle because I spent a couple of hours earlier at the dentist having a back molar extracted. Not fun. I think it's about time for another pain pill.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Now you've all got me yearning for FANTAIL shrimp - but I'm too %#@! lazy to go get them.
Oh, man.
Life is so hard in SoCal.

Anonymous T said...

Hi all:

At 55a I had Get a Job. Yep, that's how the puzzle and day went for me. I woke with a head-cold and not much makes sense to me today.

Oh well, there's always tomorrow (oh, crud, it's a Sat Pzl - maybe I'll just re-try this one :-).

Cheers, -T

Manac said...

Tough but enjoyable today. Took quite a few write overs tho.

Weirdos

Wimpish

Bad Dog
And
Road Tax

OwenKL said...

A two-L tonsill brings no grief,
A one-L tonsil, that's a beef,
Cease this splitting of hairs, can we,
And agree there's no zero-L tonsi?

*The author's attention is brought to the fact that, indeed, tonsures are split hairs. Drat!

Anonymous said...

Yellowrocks, I think the expression is "half-assed", not "half fast". At least, that's what my Dad said when we scrimped on a chore!

Yellowrocks said...

Anonymous, you missed the point. It was a joke, kinda wanting to be naughty, but not really. Half-assed would not be memorable 65 years later.
He also said bass-ackwards.

Yellowrocks said...

That neighbor who spoke of "half fast" workmanship also spoke of the congressman who advocated birth control. Kefauver. That sally sailed right past my strict mom.
Ironically, after I was grown I discovered Kefauver never lived up to his name. He was a notorious womanizer.

Lemonade714 said...

MANAC thanks