google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, Feb 6, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

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Feb 6, 2008

Wednesday, Feb 6, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: Retail come-on

17A: Retail come-on: One-Stop Shopping
37A: Retail come-on: Two-Year Warranty
57A: Retail come-on: Three-Month Trial

I felt the strong wind from the very beginning. A hard struggle today. Did not even know how to cheat on 25A: Type of penguin (ADELIE) and 33A: Crevasse pinnacle (SERAC). Seriously, I spent more than 10 minutes just to google these 2 words.

Here are the interesting fills:

1A: Conductor Seiji: OZAWA. He was actually born in China, during the Japanese occupancy of China in the 1930s.

6A: In ___ Veritas: Vino. Literally, Truth in Wine. When you get drunk, you tend to tell truth, don't you? I don't. I only want to sleep.

10A: Glazier's piece: PANE. I googled my own blog and got this one.

16A: Fencer's stiletto: EPEE

20A: Legal thing: RES

22A: Large groups: MASSES

23A: Letters for Nob Hill cops: SFPD. Got this one. My sisters-in-law live in SF.

25A:Type of penguin: ADELIE. Look at here. Cute. Happy Feet.

33A: Crevasse pinnacle: SERAC. Hard clue, hard answer. This is why.

34A: Military trainee: CADET

35A: Clerical vestment: ALB

40A: Ref. set: OED (Oxford English Dictionary)

41A: Barely sufficient: SCANT

50A: Diet drastically: STARVE

54A: Arab Robe: ABA.

62A: Non-major studio film: INDIE

65A: Hindu grouping: CASTE

Down clues:

1D: Redolence: ODOR. I confused the word with Insolence. I tried to jam Idle in the blanks.

2D: Designated area: ZONE

4D: Director Craven: WES. Nightmare on Elm Street director.

5D: Ruses: ARTIFICES

6D: Insipid: VAPID. I thought of Sapid.

7D: __ dixit: IPSE. Literally, he himself said it. An assertion without proof. Peggy Noonnan sometimes sprinkles Latin in her columns.

8D: bk after Ezra: NEH

10D: Stomach enzyme: PEPSIN. I just found out that the commercial Pepsin is obtained from the stomach of hogs. Horrible.

11D: Sacred bull: APIS. I stole this explanation from dictionary.com "A sacred bull of the ancient Egyptians, acting as an intermediary between Ptah and humans."

12D: Oahu goose: NENE

13D: Mind readings: EEGS (Electroencephalograms)

18D: Greek flask: OLPE. Here is the definition.

19D: Dawber or Tillis: PAM

23D: Bowl over: SLAY. I put Stun first.

24D: Mubark's predecessor: SADAT. Gimme for me.

25D: "The Maltese Falcon" co-star: ASTOR (Mary).

26D: __ Decimal System: DEWEY. Never heard of it.

30D: Poem division: CANTO

32D: Deep chasam: ABYSS

34D: Stick one's neck out: CRANE

35D: Extremely stressful: TRAUMATIC

38D: Of schooling: ACADEMIC

39D: Pismires: ANTS

46D: Balderdash!: TOSH

50D: Caen's neighbor: ST LO. Caen & St. Lo are two cities in France, heavy fightings took place there during Battle of Normandy.

51D: Whale's location: THAR. But why???

52D: "Rule Britannia" composer: ARNE

53D: Scottish dagger: SNEE

54D: Helpful hints: AIDS. I put Cues first.

That's all friends. Now I need to find out what the heck happened in New Jersey last night. Here in MN, Obama 67%, Clinton 32%.

C. C.
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20 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2008 at 6:17 AM

    thank you. What a help you are. 10 min on google was turning into 30...wasn't going to finish. Now my day is good!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Zhouqin (C.C.) BurnikelFebruary 6, 2008 at 6:23 AM

    I am so happy that I helped someone.

    Thank you for leaving a comment.

    I almost gave up when I could not find the penguin.

    C. C.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2008 at 7:40 AM

    I believe 51D refers to the whaling ship cry, "Thar she blows!" to point out a whale's location

    ReplyDelete
  4. Zhouqin (C.C.) BurnikelFebruary 6, 2008 at 8:04 AM

    Thar she blows! You are right Anonymous. Thanks for the help.

    C.C.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2008 at 12:16 PM

    Thanks for answers to
    Type of penguin: adelie
    Greek Flask: olpe
    Crevasse pinnacle: serac

    They had me stumped so I had to turn to the internet.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Zhouqin (C.C.) BurnikelFebruary 6, 2008 at 2:19 PM

    You are welcome, Ochlocracy. Lots of people hit this blog today for "Crevasse Pinnacle".

    C. C.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2008 at 2:54 PM

    Thanks for the help on several that I am now slapping my forhead over! Now to use self-control in the future and not cheat too much!

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2008 at 3:34 PM

    I am pretty sure the Dewey Decimal System is what the libraries use to organize their books.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Zhouqin (C.C.) BurnikelFebruary 6, 2008 at 4:29 PM

    Thanks for the comment Runesiren & and the explanation on the Dewey System, Anonymous.

    Lots to learn.

    C. C.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mike FishFebruary 6, 2008 at 4:30 PM

    I was able to cheat to get the penguin clue and the serac clue extremely easily by using oneacross.com. It's usually my one stop shop for answers. It has problems on some of the creative ones, but for descriptive clues like that it's almost always right on top of it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Zhouqin (C.C.) BurnikelFebruary 6, 2008 at 5:22 PM

    Mike,

    I went there, and it worked. Tomorrow I am going to cheat from there.

    You cannot believe how much trouble I went through this morning to find this penguin and the crevasse pinnacle.

    C. C.

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2008 at 6:45 PM

    I've found your blog while googling puzzle clues for three puzzles in the last week - now I just type in the most abstruse clue to find your assist. Thanks (especially with serac).

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2008 at 7:20 PM

    Crevasse Pinnacle got me here as well. Your Star Tribune puzzle is the same as the Odessa American so I will check back here often. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2008 at 7:56 PM

    Just realized that the Colorado Springs Gazette has the same puzzle, too. Thanks for the help!

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2008 at 7:56 PM

    i find it funny... i also found this googling crevasse pinnacle

    ReplyDelete
  16. OrangeFebruary 6, 2008 at 11:10 PM

    Oh, C.C.! Parts of this crossword are terrible! The New York Times crossword seldom includes those obscure words like SERAC and ALB. Maybe one of them at a time, but two of them and it feels like you're doing an old-fashioned crossword packed with obscurities.

    And ABA is clued as [Arab robe]? Good gravy! It could also relate to the American Bar Association or the defunct basketball league from the '70s, the American basketball Association, which are both much better known to American crossword solvers than any three-letter names for Arab robes!

    ReplyDelete
  17. UnknownFebruary 7, 2008 at 1:51 AM

    you sir are a gentleman & scholar.
    You have saved me countless hours of gooogling.
    Thank you so much

    ReplyDelete
  18. Zhouqin (C.C.) BurnikelFebruary 7, 2008 at 3:14 AM

    Thank you for all the comments. I am a happy girl!

    This little blog got over 1200 hits yesterday, mainly due to 33A Grevasse pinnacle. That's how obscure "Serac" is.

    By the way, please have a look at Orange's comment on Feb 5 posts. I find it to be very informative.

    C.C.

    ReplyDelete
  19. AnonymousFebruary 8, 2008 at 3:09 PM

    Found you while Googling "crevasse pinnacle." Great help. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  20. Zhouqin (C.C.) BurnikelFebruary 8, 2008 at 5:07 PM

    You are welcome Artyb. "Serac" is indeed tough to get.

    C. C.

    ReplyDelete

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