google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, March 3, 2008 Micheal T. Williams

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Mar 3, 2008

Monday, March 3, 2008 Micheal T. Williams

Theme: Breakfast Items (Country & Food)

19A: B. C. Breakfast item?: Canadian Bacon

32A: European breakfast item?: French Toast

43A: Caribbean breakfast item?: Cuban Coffee

58A: European breakfast item?: English Muffin

French toast sounds very appealing to me this morning. Serve with sliced peaches with maple syrup drizzled all over.

I breezed through this one. Had only one hiccup with the letter G in 55D: "BUGSY MALONE" and 64A: "g FORCE". I dodged a few bullets this morning by getting a few tough ones from either the across clues or the down clues.

1A: "Ulalume" author: POE. Never read this poem. The only Poe poem I like is Annabel Lee.

4A: Check fig.: AMT (Amount)

10A: Ring decision letters: TKO (Technical Knockout)

13A: More firm: SOLIDER

17A: St __ of Avila: THERESA. Is it a Spanish spelling of Teresa?

18A: Impetuses: MOMENTA. Wow, I never knew the plural form of momentum is momenta. Besides medium/media, datum/data, I can not think of another word with a similar single/plural form, at this moment.

23A: D. C. VIP: SEN (Senator). Lots of lobbyists wield more power than those wobbly senators.

28A: Sch. in Fort Worth: TCU (Texas Christian University). Bush picks up SMU (Southern Methodist University) for his future library.

31A: Dundee dagger: SNEE. Sometimes it's dirk. Here is a picture. Is snee an obsolete word for dagger? Do those Scottish highlanders still use snee now?

37A: March madness org.: NCAA. Raw passion and enthusiasm.

40A: Poetic eyeball: ORB

48A: Medicinal fluids: SERA. Single form is serum.

50A: D-Day craft: LST (Landing Ship Tank)

51A: Pelts: SKINS. Pelt here means untanned hide of an animal or just human skin.

52A: Covers a room: CEILS. I never used ceil as a verb before. I guess I only knew ceiling.

54A: Seller's $ equivocation: OBO (Or Best Offer). I bought quite a few items with BO on Craig's List.

63A: Shakespearean tragedy: OTHELLO. The evil Iago appears on crosswords from time to time.

64A: Lift-off stresses: g FORCE. Never heard of this. Here is more information for you. Interesting, it says "the symbol g is properly written in lowercase and italic, to distinguish it from the symbol G, the gravitational constant, which is always written in uppercase; and from g, the symbol for gram, which is not italicised."

67A: Crude dwelling: LEAN-TOS. Kind of wooden shed. This is an image of a lean-to.

68A: Those on a quest: SEEKERS. Those who seek shall find. Indeed.

69A: Limb: ARM

70A: Hardened: SET

Down entries:

3D: One voted in: ELECTEE. Just don't expect them to do what they say they will do.

4D: Port of Yemen: ADEN. See this map if you don't want to forget next time.

5D: Tablelands: MESA

6D: One-for-one deal: TRADE

7D: Columnist Bombeck: ERMA. I tend to confuse her with Irma Rombauer (Joy of Cooking author)

8D: One of these days: SOON

9D: Pyramids and Mausoleums: TOMBS

10D: Metal containers: TIN CANS. Tin can is also a navy term for a Destroyer.

11D: Diabetic's concern: KETONES. I got it from across clues. Would not have known this. I only knew that diabetics are very concerned with their blood sugar (or sometimes blood pressure) numbers.

14D: Nest-egg $: IRA. They just keep shrinking and shrinking, since last Oct or even earlier.

21D: Clodhopper: OAF

22D: Group of wds.: PHR (Phrase)

26D: Jillian or Landers: ANN

27D: L times XVI: DCCC (50 *16 = 800)

29D: Normandy town: CAEN. Its neighbor is St. Lo, which sneaks into the crossword occasionally.

30D: Branch of the mil.: USMC (United States Marine Corps). The few, the proud.

33D: Drag forcibly: HAUL

34D: Slot fillers: TABS

35D: Spanish uncles: TIOS. Aunt is Tia.

39D: 6/6/68 assassination victim: RFK. Gutsy & aggressive.

40D: Seminole chief: OSCEOLA. Unknown to me. Got it from across clues.

41D: Come back in: REENTER

42D: Young of Utah: BRIGHAM

45D: Partner-to-be: FIANCEE. The first image that came to my mind is a young lawyer toiling hard in the wee hours to become a partner in a law firm.

46D: Minnesota's twins? ENS. Great. Now I am waiting for them to clue Twins' first baseman Justin Morneau into a puzzle. That'll give you lots of vowels.

49D: "Interiors" director: ALLEN. Never saw this movie from Woody Allen. Personal life aside, I like this guy. Enjoy a large majority of his works.

53D: Delta deposits: SILTS

55D: "___" Malone: BUGSY. Unknown to me. It's a musical film made in 1976. The best film about the exploits of Al Capone is probably The Untouchable, in my opinion.

56D: Proposal: OFFER

59D: __ gin fizz: SLOE. "Well, Portland Oregon and sloe gin fizz, if that ain't love then tell me what is".

Have a great Monday.

(Added later: I forgot to mention earlier that there are lots of 3-letter words in this puzzle (I counted 27). look at how the first line and the last line were broken.)

C. C.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy Monday!

Alright, C.C. No cheat sheet then (I say begrundgingly ;) ). I'll try what you suggested. For some reason, I just get stuck on stupid when I see the roman numerals. I can remember V and X and that's about it. Thanks for the tip, I'll see if I can't keep it in mind! But, as for L x XVI (27D) - I got it because of the answers to the other clues.

Today was definitely a breeze. And, I haven't seen it in a while, but doesnt SNEE tend to repeat itself?

Have a great day!

Katherine said...

40 down has to be OsceolA beacause 69 across is Arm........

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

Good eye Katherine, I've corrected the mistake.

Mkatesq,are you talking about snick and snee?

C. C.

Anonymous said...

If you have been to Florida you would have seen the Great Chiefs name often. Sarge

Anonymous said...

C.C.,

31A - Dundee dagger = SNEE. I think I have seen it often before, just not that recently.

MH said...

Well, I got this one except for

O
S
CEIL
E
O
L
A

I didn't know either word so I ended up with

O
S
VEIL
E
O
L
A

VEIL sounded right for covering a room ...

Crockett1947 said...

Wow, no comment about 38A? Here we are in Abu Dhabi again. That is a different topping for French Toast than I've ever heard. Of course, I like a melted slab of cheddar cheese on my apple pie, and I'll bet that that is unusual to a lot of people, LOL!!

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

Crockett1947,

I complained about Abu Dhabi in yesterday's puzzle. Today I decided to ignore it. But I am happy that you noticed it too.

Cheddar Cheese & Apple Pie = unknown to me.

C. C.

Razz said...

Glad to see you found that other example of um/a (singular/plural) that was used today.
48A SERUM/SERA

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

crockett1947,

Have you ever done a puzzle with lots of cheese & desserts in it?

Mix some cheddar, edam, feta, gouda, mozzarella, then throw in apple pie, peach crumble, chocolate brownies, strawberry cobbler... a delicious puzzle.

Maybe reader sallyjane should create such a puzzle.

C. C.

Razz said...

Fun place for more inane stuff than you ever wanted to know about the English language.
http://www.rinkworks.com/words/

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

razzberry,

Wow, oceans of information there, thank you.

Everyone, pls, if you have time, go to the website razzberry just suggested. You are going to like it.

C.C.

JRF said...

the only person who would ever use "SOLIDER" is someone who is scraping the bottom of the barrel for a crossword answer!!

JRF said...

THE ONLY PERSON WHO WOULD USE "SOLIDER" IS SOMEONE SCRAPING THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL FOR A CROSSWORD ANSWER!!!

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

JRF,

I had my doubt on "solider" too. I actually went to the dictionary.com to double-check, and found it to be a legitimate form. So I kept my mouth shut.

C. C.

Anonymous said...

I always get snee mixed up with Capt Hook's aide Smee another common clue

I also thought of another plural used in past crosswords I've done ileum & ilia

momma m said...

New to this "blog posting" but wanted to say we found your site and it is a big help. I really enjoy your anecdotes! You have my kind of sense of humor. Keep up the great site, CC.

sallyjane said...

C.C.

You are very sweet, but you see I cook, but I don't bake! LOL

The puzzle today was very easy. So take that, you difficulty increasing doubters! :) Juuuuuuust teasing, of course!

I had a problem, too, with SOLIDER. In Rex Parker's blog they would have a three-letter remark for an entry like that. I'll refrain from using it here.

Speaking of Rex, you are right, C.C., I did find you through a blog entry of Orange's but it was on Rex Parker's site.

Best to all,

SJ

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

Thanks for stopping by Sarge and Momma m.

Anonymous at 2:14pm, I also found out 1 more.

Ileum & ilea (portion of small intestine).

Ilium & ilia (portion of hipbone)

Sallyjane, what's the 3-letter word Rex Parker uses? Give me a hint.

C. C.

sallyjane said...

Good Morning!

It's not a word, it's an acronym that they use when something is really ridiculous, really a stretch, or so obscure that it can hardly be figured out.
It's "WTF?"

I'll be back after I get today's puzzle done.

Later,

SJ

Anonymous said...

Although the "V" sign now generally means vistory it meant something else in the past to the Brits. Supposedly the two-fingers salute and/or V sign derives from the gestures of longbowmen fighting in the English army at the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War. The story claims that, before the battle, the French boasted that they would cut two fingers off the right hand of captured archers and that the gesture was a sign of defiance after the greatly outnumbered English won the battle. Some say true some say it's a myth.

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

Anonymous at 9:29am,

I've copied and moved your comment to today (Friday's puzzle).

C.C.