google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Josiah Breward

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Apr 22, 2008

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: DINNER ORDER

20A: Part of a dinner order: SMALL HOUSE SALAD

36A: Part of a dinner order: MEDIUM RARE STEAK

49A: Part of a dinner oder: LARGE ONION RINGS

More orts:

6D: Greek sandwiches: GYROS

46D: Kind of sauce: TARTAR

28A: Herring's cousin: SHAD

Yes! Let's eat! Let's shut up on global warming talk and ignore those pesky scientists! Who cares if the EPA reports are altered/doctored? Who cares if any solver expects a Earth Day themed puzzle on April 22? Let's go with STALIN, nobody will ever notice that LENIN was born on April 22.

Other than that, a solid puzzle. I love the double meaning of ORDER here. Great theme and well executed!

Had a bit of a shaky start. Had problem getting SLAPS due to 1D & 4D clues. Only knew ASP and COBRA for serpents, SEPS was a complete stranger to me. Wanted AL PACINO for "Scarface" star, not familiar with PAUL MUNI. Wanted HAIFA for Israeli port (my Pavlov' Dog reflex). Wanted EDUARD (Shevardnadz) for 5D: Dictator born in Georgia, misled by his long presidency of Georgia.

ALDA and LIAM ware the only 2 words I penned in with authority in the upper left corner. I actually had no idea what was "...The Phantom Menace", not a fan of Star War or Star Treks. But I liked Neeson's "Schindler's List", so LIAM was an easy crumble. BB GUNS and MIAS eventually brought STALIN to me. Always thought STALIN was born in Russia.

Smooth sailing in other areas though.

ACROSS:

1A: High--fives: SLAPS. Naughty Naughty (40A)! Raise your hand if these two clues brought Borat to your mind!

9A: Allied: SIDED

14A: Israeli port: EILAT. Could also be spelled as ELATH.

15A: Nautical swerve: YAW. I pieced it together from down clues. I had no idea what "yaw" can mean "deviate from a straight course".

16A: Loan sharking: USURY

17A: "The Taming of the Shrew'' City: PADUA. No idea. I wish 16A were clued as "The Merchant of Venice" practice or something like that. It would have a bit of Shakespeare sub-theme.

18A: Greek letter: RHO. The intersection of GYROS (6D) with RHO is very nice, both Greek.

19A: Hold responsible: BLAME

23A: Sara and Farrow: MIAS. Know Farrow, not Sara.

25A: Toy shooters: BB GUNS

33A: Lena of "Chocolat": OLIN. Great movie. Juliette Binoche was impeccable in "Chocolat"! I love almost every one of her movie, esp Damage (with Jeremy Irons).

34A: The ones here: THESE. Too lazy a clue.

35A: Prohibitionist: DRY

40A: Naughty: BAD

44A: Milanese eight: OTTO. I've been quite pleased with our editor's various clues for OTTO lately. Great! Now please use Jim's "A Dandy in __" for ASPIC next time, no more "Meat stocky jelly".

45A: Accent: STRESS

48A: Jack of talk shows: PAAR

59A: Govt. security: T BILL. Treasury Bill. My favorite clue.

60A: Form: SHAPE. Hmm, 2 APES here, see 47D.

61A: Stooge name: MOE. Larry & Curly. Aw, those ugly Three Stooges' golf/football NODDER bobbleheads! Why do people want them?

62A: "A Delicate Balance" playwright: ALBEE. Did not know the play, but knew ALBEE due to "Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf?"

63A: Key-stroked: TYPED. Nice one.

DOWN:

1D: Numidian serpent: SEPS. Numidian is "an ancient country in N Africa, corresponding roughly to modern Algeria." Here is a picture of SEPS.

2D: Neeson of "... The Phantom Menace": LIAM. Why abbreviated the movie title?

4D: "Scarface" star: PAUL MUNI. No idea who he is.

5D: Dictator born in George: STALIN

6D: Greek sandwiches: GYROS. OK, I want to get rid of "Greek" in the clue because 18A: Greek letter. Got any good idea? Share with us.

9D: Falls to the bottom: SUBSIDES

10D: Muhammad's religion: ISLAM. Wish this one would be clued as "Abbas' religion" and the 14A as "Olmert's port". That would elevate this puzzle to a whole new level!

11D: Binary: DUAL

12D: Columnist Bombeck: ERMA. I've been waiting for Mr. Williams to clue BOMBECK as Columnist ERMA.

21D: Embodies: HAS

22D: Clear, as a disk: ERASE

25D: Lead balloons: BOMBS

26D: Sound sheepish: BLEAT. Or BAA.

27D: Lightheaded: GIDDY. That's how I am feeling now. Could not contain my enthusiasm for today's primary. Show me your real color, Pennsylvania!

28D: Military hat: SHAKO. Can also be spelled as SHACKO. It's "a military cap in the form of a cylinder or truncated cone, with a visor and a plume or pompon". See this photo. Rooted from Hungarian word "csákó süveg" meaning "peaked cap." How come this word looks so familiar to me?

30D: Designer Simpson: ADELE. Nope, I've never heard of her. Strung together her name by across clues.

31D: Boorish: CRASS

34D: Jogging pace: TROT

37D: Intact: UNOPENED

38D: Words to remember: MOTTO

39D: Very poor: TERRIBLE

47D: Yawning: AGAPE

48D: Put forward: POSED

50D: In need a massage: ACHY. Hmm, Dennis might need one after hitting so many clubs in South Beach!

52D: "Finding __": NEMO. I love Ellen's Dory!

55D: Happiness: GLEE

56D: Passel: SLEW

C.C.

47 comments:

  1. I did not know SEPS, EILAT or SHAKO but was able to get them from the other clues. There were a SLEW of names in this puzzle by our infamous and unreachable editor!

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  2. Good morning, C.C. and gang - maybe it's because I got too much sun, but I could not get the top left without help. Didn't know 'Eilat', didn't know 'ceps'. No idea why I remembered 'Padua'. I thought this was a nice puzzle - decently challenging, at least for me.

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  3. Good morning Nytanonimo,
    Ditto your point on the excessive amount of names. Too movie/TV oriented. Feels like a TV guide puzzle.

    Dennis,
    Welcome back!

    I think this is the third time I blogged about EILAT. Could never remember it! Why is the clue for 2D is abbreviated?

    Regarding 20A: Aren't all the salad/soup standard size when you order it with your entree?

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  4. Clue for 2Down is probably abbreviated because it is so long.

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  5. Hi All, Pretty good day today. Almost aced it but needed "seps" so I gould justify 14A 'cause I couldn't remember Eilat either and "seps" just didn't compute. I wanted 4d tob Al Pacino but somehow I just couldn't make work, even by misspelling everything else! About a 92 today so not to bad for me.
    Off to the big metropolis today to get RV registration and oyher various chores. CYA

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  6. By the way, Did not like the clue for 9d. Subsides (I thought) Means decreases, as in the pain subsides:
    If the pain fell to the bottom it would be gone.....Make sense?

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  7. Bill, I thought the same thing regarding 'subside', but one of the definitions is 'sink or fall to the bottom', per Merriam-Webster. Technically, he's correct, but in everyday usage, it means to ease off, as you said.

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  8. Good morning everyone! I had a hard time with the upper left corner too. Never heard of SEPS, EILAT, or SHAKO. That is quite a hat!
    Superfrey, I hope your knee is doing ok today.
    CC, I tried to get my picture, and did everything I was supposed to do, but it won't show up. Bummer! It was a good one too! (not of me, haha)

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  9. Nice puzzle.... almost an Ace again... but like most got caught
    1D Seps and the Eilat connector.
    I acutally filled in Seps on a guess but did not know it...
    After my knee surgery yesterday it went so smoothly that I jumped out of bed today... Yikes !!!! Thank goodness for Vicodin. :):):) Til tomorrow

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  10. CC.......THERE HE IS,,,YEA, I DID IT. WOW

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  11. Superfrey, glad you are doing good. Have to get ready for work now. A good day to all......

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  12. nytanonimo,
    Re: 2D. Now I got it. Thanks.

    Re: Visual crossword. Have you?

    Bill,
    Here is another definition of "subside" in the dictionary:

    "to sink or fall to the bottom; settle; precipitate"

    Katherine,
    Wow!! Your man is HOT!

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  13. Seps threw me but did get it from the other clues. Here is another picture of
    SEPS.

    Had heard of Paul Muni but didn't know he was in Scarface.
    I didn't like subsides for "falls to the bottom either.
    Abbreviation for 2D is because the clue would be Neeson of Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace. Editor wouldn't have enough ink.
    This one was easy except for seps.
    Happy Earth Day!

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  14. Like your picture Katherine-aren't you handsome!? Glad to hear your surgery went well superfrey.

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  15. Also liked the small, medium, and large.
    Welcome back Dennis. We missed you.
    A long time ago in college I saw a puzzle where the upper left answer was "Club" house with a picture of the club from a deck of cards for the club. Upper right was Sam "Spade", lower left was "Diamond" mine, and lower right was broken "Heart."

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  16. Drdad,
    Wouldn't "Neeson of Star Wars Episode I" be better?

    Regarding Sunday's AFTER TAX theme, I've got Johnboy and crockett1947 agree with me, ha ha ha!

    Nytanonimo,
    Got my email? What's your take?

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  17. C.C. - Neeson of Star Wars would work for me.
    Okay - I give! After tax should be before tax.

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  18. Good morning, CC et al

    Mia Sara was in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" - Sloane Peterson (Ferris' girlfriend).

    Eeek, more to come. Forgot I'm supposed to be in a meeting.

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  19. Good morning cc etal. I really liked this puzzle but did not like all the names. I started out poorly as I put had for 6A and Al Pacino for 4D. This really screwed me up for awhile. Finally I realized 1A was slaps and then the rest of that corner was not too bad. I knew Eilat 14A from previous puzzles. For some reason this is one I remember.I did not know Paul Muni but it worked in form other clues. I really liked the clues for 59A and 11D. Welcome back Dennis. Superfrey the second day after your surgery is a surprise because you feel so good right after the procedure that you cannot imagine how much it is going to hurtlater. Good luck with your recovery.

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  20. Good morning C.C.

    Putting "Al Pacino" for scarface did it. Got stuck in the top left corner.
    Didn't know Seps and Eilat either.

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  21. Good morning to all (again),

    (Meeting postponed, yay!!)

    Ok, so, overall, today's puzzle went quite smoothly for me. Though, I wanted "stops" for 41A (recesses). I guess I think of recess as breaks from my teaching days. I also wanted Al Pacino for "Scarface" star. Who is Paul Muni? As the rest of you, I thought "subsides" was a horrible answer for 9D - but, I suppose according to one of its definitions, it works.

    Superfrey - glad to hear surgery went well and that you were able to be so mobile this morning. I admit, I chuckled when I saw your comment re: Vicodin because I think I said "ow" when I read you jumped out of bed.

    Have a great day everyone! It's lookin to be a warm one here in Philly.

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  22. Drdad,
    That makes me happy!

    Dennis,
    A non-crossword related question, are you planning to hit the correct clubs this year, like Dick?

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  23. How is everyone today? Superfrey, glad to hear the surgery went well-- I hope you're not in too much pain today.

    Today was pretty smooth. I only got one letter off. I guessed at the intersection of 28D and 41A. I went with NOONS for recesses. I was thinking about school lunch and recess. I've never heard of a SHAKO before.

    I thought SMALL HOUSE SALAD was a little odd. I usually think of a house salad as the appetizer salad, so it feels redundant.

    The kids are back in school (hooray!) so I don't have an excuse to not get things done. Off I go.

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  24. Nytanonimo, if you think I am handsome, you should hear me sing! LOL

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  25. Mkatesq - it wasn't in this puzzle but a recess can also be a break from a meeting that you forgot!! LOL. Ditto on the comments for a quick recovery from surgery, Superfrey. Don't forget to use crutches if you have them.

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  26. drdad,

    True, true. But at least it was postponed because it is one I need to attend. I guess people didn't remember today is the primary here in PA. :o)

    ReplyDelete
  27. Quick question, C.C.


    In your printing of this crossword, is the theme/name of the puzzle printed in some place on the page/around the puzzle?

    Mine doesn't have it, and I assumed no one else's did, either.

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  28. C.C., I'm not sure what you mean about 'correct clubs' - the ones in South Beach?
    And thanks for the welcome back, guys - always good to be home.

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  29. Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my blog, it is about the OLED, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://oled-brasil.blogspot.com. A hug.

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  30. 9d. If you live in an area of abandoned coal mines, you would be familiar with "subsidance". The ground above abandoned coal mines, can subside, damaging buildings, roads, and other structures.

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  31. Most of the puzzle was great. I liked the theme and it helped me tremendously once I figured out the small, medium, and large parts. Like CC I had a terrible time in the upper left corner with only stalin, alda and small coming easily. I had to look up Eilat and finally got Liam (doh), had to look up Padua and finally got seps and Paul Muni. I thought the clue for 9D was a bit strange. I think of subsides as something that diminishes. Liked the juxtaposition of otto and motto. Good puzzle!

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  32. rho rho rho your boat gently down the stream...oh rho again we meet, you're obviously one of the favored few...(better calm down before my ship begins to yaw!) Wanted to write in Pacino and missed seps but remembered my fellow Swede Lena Olin!

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  33. Wow! 9D "subside"...who knew! Like Bill said, ease, wane, decrease...Thank you der katz. Never heard that and it makes sense now. Scary really. "Seps" was new to me as well, and they can stay new. Don't want to get used to that creature! Thanks for the links.

    Welcome back, Dennis. Things have been pretty tame. Other than the explanation for a "cosh" being a sac of lead held by a "thong", you haven't missed anything. And thongs do that...some more than others, but that's what the English bobby's have...so, now I'm really wondering what the Scots wear under their kilts.

    Have a good day.

    Speedy recovery to you, Superfrey.

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  34. I think a sac held by a thong is waaay more information than I needed. So glad I missed it.

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  35. I'm going to join the club in the Northwest cornet. I put SLAPS and ended up with one square empty. ('E' in ELIAT) Otherwise is was an easy puzzle.
    I think a lot of you must get up about 0400. I live in EDT and do the Xword immediately following the newspaper. Its on the last page. By the time I get up in the AM there are about15 to 25 postings. What time must you start to do all the things you have to do to start a day and still post a blog by 0700??

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  36. CC et al:!D &1A question; couldn't they be claps & ceps Poisonous skink)?

    Dr.G

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  37. As usual, I got about half of it. Guessed wrong on the soduko also. I'm sticking with bowling. But I did clinch High average in my bowling league last night and won $13.00 in the brackets. Next week is the banquet. I think I'll have a large onion and a house salad. Burp.

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  38. I guess I didn't work through that "cosh" thing very well yesterday. Never saw it till you pointed it out!!!
    Shame, Shame, Shame!!!!!
    Superfrey..I can feel your discomfort..Several years ago I had a knee repaired. Felt so good that when we left the hospital I walked around Wally World with my wife for an hour or so. The next day I thought I'd run SEVERAL marathons. WOW! But, yeah, thank goodness for drugs.

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  39. Alex,
    This blog is the only place where you can find the puzzle theme from Monday to Friday. Saturday's puzzle is themeless, and Sunday's puzzle is tittled in your paper.

    Dennis,
    I mean the Sergio Garcia style "Hit the Club". Driver, Irons, Wedges, etc.

    Dr.g,
    That's even better!!

    Jim,
    What time do you get up then?

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  40. Good morning everyone! So I put HAD for 6A and couldn't make it fit with the down cousins. Quickly revised. Also did not know 1D and 4D -- had to get help on those. C.C., did you know PAAR? He was definitely before your time in the U.S. Also had to get help on 17A. SHAKO came from fills, but did look vaguely familiar. On some menus you can order a small house salad a la carte. I think nytanonimo is correct about the 1D clue. Lois, NEVER ask that question of a Scot -- he'll probably show you, LOL!

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  41. C.C., I suck at golf; I've only played a few times. I'll stick with the other kind of clubs.
    Crockett, I think you've just ensured that Lois WILL ask that question.

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  42. We're starting to fall into the depths of sin here again.

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  43. I just checked old postings and on March 19th it was Lois and Katherine who noticed that the Lia Fail (Irish Crowning Stone) looked like a phallic symbol. And now Lois is wondering about Scotsmen and their kilts???!!!! I think that is great!!! Lois, please LOL.

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  44. By gosh, it's not a cosh! It's a club! But is it the "right" club? In South Beach, since I also stink at golf, I'd prefer the "night" clubs along with my favorite Canadian and Country clubs. Scotch too for that matter. And as far as the Scotsmen go? You're right, Dennis. I'm on a mission now! The real question is, do I tell?

    Have a good night.

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