google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, Feb 28, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

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Feb 28, 2008

Thursday, Feb 28, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Quip

17A: Start of a quip: A Ring on the

33A: Part 2 of quip: Finger is

46A: Part 3 of quip: Worth two

66A: End of quip: On the phone

It's a popular song in the 1910s. Look at the sheet cover. So Daisy & Gatsby-ish.

OK, the productive Mr. Olschwang and his quip again. In my mind, I picture Mr. Olschwang to be an old, retired English professor, wearing a pair of thick glasses and carrying a well-worn dictionary of quotations whenever he goes. Seriously, all his puzzles seem to be quotes/quips.

I had problems right off the bat. I had no idea what is 4D: Line dance (CONGA). I forgot the word ERG for 5D: Unit of work. I did not know what is "fer", so I could not figure out what is Not "fer". I decided AGIR sounded as great as "fer", after filling in DARN (instead of DANG) for 20A: Mild expletive.

The rest was a smooth sailing though. I enjoyed the MISO soup and PITA bread. I liked how FINGERIS intersects with GEMSTONES.

Here are the across entries:

1A: Sugar-coated: GLACÉ

6A: Part of a traffic trio: STOP

10A: Algonquian language: CREE. Learned this from doing crossword.

14A: Severity: RIGOR

16A: Resistance units: OHMS. Named after the German physicist Georg Simon Ohm.

19A: Corn holders: COBS

20A: Exemplar: IDEAL

22A: Patella's place: KNEE

23A: City in GA: ATL (Atlanta)

25A: Lip curlers: SNEERERS. I am not fond of the clue or the answer.

27A: Doc's org.: AMA (American Medical Association)

30A: Cut with an ax: HEW

32A: Bond foe: DR. NO. Put Casino Royale on your Netflix queue if you have not seen it. You will love Daniel Craig.

36A: Clip alternative: STAPLE

40A: Grant of TV: ASNER (Ed). Lou Grant.

43A: More glacial: ICIER

44A: Nomad: ROAMER

48A: Andrews movie: STAR. Never seen this Julie Andrews movie.

50A: Snakelike fish: EEL. How many ways can you clue EEL?

51A: Commercial bits: ADS

52A: Finished putting on, as a blouse: BUTTONED

56A: NASA vehicle: LEM (Lunar Excursion Module)

58A: Miscellany: OLIO (Can also be clued as Stew)

59A: Shoot from hiding: SNIPE

61A: Becomes mellower: AGES

65A: Son of Judah: ONAN

69A: Deal (out): METE

70A: Libreville's country: GABON. Got from the down clues. Libreville's is the capital of GABON.

71A: Mmes. of Madrid: SRAS

72A: Load, as cargo: STOW

73A: Elite social category: A LIST. Add Diablo Cody (Juno) to this list. I like her.

Down entries:

1D: Alum: GRAD

2D: Former Italian bread: LIRA. Sometimes it's LIRE.

3D: Not "fer": AGIN. For and Against. Hillbilly slang. I never heard anyone speaks this way.

5D: Unit of work: ERG. From Greek Ergon (work). Here is the definition: "The centimeter-gram-second unit of energy or work equal to the work done by a force of one dyne acting over a distance of one centimeter.".

6D: Dune material: SAND. Oh, I love Dune perfume. Never tried Sand though.

7D: Lugs: TOTES

8D: Readily available: ON HAND

9D: Kitchen implements: PEELER

10D: Domestic pest: COCKROACH

11D: River to the Golf of Lion: RHONE

12D: Fire remnant: EMBER

13D: Back-and-forth curves: ESSES

18D: Edmonton hockey player: OILERS. Gimme. My husband used to own several Wayne Gretzky's rookie cards, but he traded them for some baseball cards long time ago. He is ruing every day now. (Update: My husband just corrected me. He said he sold, not traded, the Gretzky cards. He sold 10 of them to a guy for a total of $25. Now they are worth $400 each).

24D: To this, that or it: THERETO

26D: Give a right: ENTITLE

28D: Sushi bar soup: MISO. I like red miso.

29D: "The King and I" heroine: ANNA

34D: Ritzy rocks: GEMSTONES

35D: Stye dweller: SOW. My mind was fixed on Pig and Hog.

37D: Gyro bread: PITA

38D: Obscene: LEWD

39D: Love god: EROS. Greek God of love, the Roman love God is Cupid.

45D: Payments for release: RANSOMS

47D: CSA commander: R. E. LEE, General of the CSA (Confederate States of America).

49D: Milk curdler: RENNET. Did not know this word. Got it from across clue.

52D: Ill-mannered individuals: BOORS

53D: Of an arm bone: ULNAR

54D: Small crown: TIARA

55D: Same here: DITTO

57D: Taj ___: MAHAL. You've got to remember its locale AGRA.

60D: Comment after a close call: PHEW

62D: Mongolian desert: GOBI. Look at this map, Gobi Desert covers a very large region of North China. I really like it to be clued as Asian desert.

63D: Adam's grandson: ENOS. Also Slaughter of Cooperstown.

67D: Links org: PGA. I've never played in a real links golf course.

Oh, one more thing, on Tuesday Feb 26, mkatesq posted this comment regarding EWOK: "I was told just last week that they weren't even in the Star Wars books, but were created just for the movie (Return of the Jedi) to give the movie a hook. Does anyone know if there is truth to that?"

Can anyone answer this question please?

Thank you and have a great day.

C. C.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

RELEE is Robert E. Lee as in General for the Confederacy. Richmond has a cool Confederacy museum that has a lot of on him, of course. He was a great man, in spite of his being on the losing side.

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

Thank you Anonymous,

I've updated the blog.

I hope this is the last time R. E. Lee trips me.

C. C.

Katherine said...

Agin, would be "redneck" for again! LOL

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

Katherine,

Nice to see you here.

AGIN is not "against"? I am confused. Doesn't "fer" means "for"?

C. C.

Anonymous said...

Weird one for me today. I either knew the answer straight out or I didn't. And the R.E. Lee clues tend to stump me almost every time. With the biblical clues, you'd think at this point I'd at least recognize "ENOS" as an answer.

Here's a laugh for all - 10D. I read it as "domestic pest". Imagine my surprise when I saw the answer forming. Upon re-reading the clue . . . I think more coffee is in order.

C.C. - thanks for the shout out re: my Ewok comment.

Dennis said...

C.C., you're right - "fer" and "agin" are hillbilly-speak for "for" and "against".

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

mkatesq,

I think I need to put R. E. Lee in the repeat offender list also.

I feel that little lj does not read any follow-up comment. He is too busy with his study. I've added the question to today's blog. Maybe someone knows.

Dennis,

Thank you.

C. C.

Anonymous said...

Wait - I mis-typed. I read 10D as "domestic pets". That makes more sense. Wow - definitely need more coffee.

Razz said...

Is everyone on this blog too young to remember the Li'l Abner comic strip? I've seen lots of clues come from those strips, including:
not fer or not agin.

Razz said...

Quote from
//starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ewok


"George Lucas intended that a primitive race should overthrow the Empire in the final episode, and had originally planned to use Wookiees, but decided against it after it had been established that Chewbacca was proficient with technology. His answer was to create a new race called Ewoks, which is "Wookiee" with the syllables reversed. A little-known fact is that the Ewoks are never referred to by name in Return of the Jedi's dialogue; the name only appeared in the script directions, the novelization, the movie's credits, and other spin-off and promotional materials. "

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

Razzberry,

Some of us were not born and grew up here in the US. So certain simple American slangs can stump us.

C. C.

Crockett1947 said...

mkatesq, I mis-read 28D as "Sushi bar soap" and couldn't figure it for the longest time. Then, "soup" appeared and it was easy, LOL!

MH said...

didn't know 48A: STAR or 49D: RENNET so I ended up with a single box (R) unfilled at the end of the puzzle. Argh!

MH said...

btw, I found this blog a couple of weeks ago when I was googling for a crossword answer. For me the puzzles appear in the San Jose Mercury News. I enjoy the blog very much - thanks for taking the time to do it every day.

Anonymous said...

Razzberry,

Thanks for the answer to the Ewok question. Interesting that the name itself was not mentioned in the movie, yet just about anyone knows what an Ewok is!

mkatesq

Anonymous said...

Being older than dirt I knew the rennet answer from sitting in a root cellar while the family made ice cream on a hot Sunday afternoon

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

crockett1947,

You know what, there are sushi bar soaps available. See this ads:

"Need an extra kick in that morning shower? Try BK Sushi Bar soap. If wasabi can't get you going in the morning, what can?" It has ginger ingredient in it.

Mh,

Thanks for the comment.

Razzberry,

Thanks for the Ewok information.

C. C.

sallyjane said...

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Wow! Another easy puzzle this week. Usually by Thursday, they are a little tougher.

Went right through this one, too. Didn't even see some of the clues as they were solved by the crosses.

2D. LIRA - also be on the lookout for currency clued as "capital" of a certain country.

27A. AMA - have also seen this same clue for HMO.

71A. SRAS - good one to put in the old memory bank. Also SRTA(S) for unmarrieds in Spain.

29D. ANNA - Love, love, love that movie. Also the remake with Jodie Foster.

All in all, a nice weekday puzzle. I'll be traveling tomorrow to Baltimore for 3 weeks, so will be doing the TMS puzzle in the Baltimore Sun. Yay for not missing a beat!!

SJ

Anonymous said...

On Monday, April 14, 2003, TMS printed a Mr Olschwang puzzle that had nairy a quote; although it did contain the words yellowbelly, dillydally, hurryscurry and fuddyduddy.

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

Anonymous at 2:45pm,

Wow, that's a very interesting piece of information. Thanks for sharing with us.

C. C.

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

sj,

I've yet to see HMO makes an appearance. I don't believe I've met him since I started the blog.

C. C.

Anonymous said...

I've recently become a puzzler and have found this blog quite helpful when I stuck at the end.

Anonymous said...

Finally finished one correctly. It came down to what to put in 48, last box: an R or B or G. "Star" seemed more like a movie title for Julie. I've been doing these off-and-on for a few years now, but never really challenged myself to complete one perfectly (always allowed a cheat or two).

Thanks for the challenge! Your comments are fun to read.

Windswept Nebraska - Omaha World Held.

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

Thanks for stopping by, both of you.

Omaha World Herald is already on the list.

Anonymous at 10:01pm, I still have a long way to go to reach your level.

C. C.

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

This is a message to Michael in Viet Nam. I left a response to your comment on the Feb 27 puzzle, but I was worried that you might not see it.

I know you will return for this puzzle, so here is a copy of what I wrote earlier.

"Hello Michael,

Thanks for leaving a comment here.

You are not alone, many of us are struggling with the puzzle.

Just keep plugging."