google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday May 29, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

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May 29, 2008

Thursday May 29, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: QUIP (Evan Esar)

14A: Start of a quip: ONLY A

29A: Part 2 of quip: REMARKABLE MAN

41A: Part 3 of a quip: CAN

49A: Part 4 of a quip: LIVE DOWN A HOLE

70A: End of a quip: IN ONE

I've never had a hole in one before. I did hit a pin once. Jack Nicklaus has scored more than 20 aces in his career I think. The current record holder is a guy named Mancil DAVIS (40D: Ossie and Bette), who is credited with more than 50 hole in ones. He is also a very shrewd businessman. He has all the hole in ones INSURED (9D: Covered by a policy) for his "King of Aces"challenge events.

I don't think I've ever seen a TMS puzzle grid with so many 4-letter words. The QUIP is broken into so many pieces that I have difficulty cohering them. Saw AYESHA before, but it simply escaped my memory this morning. I had never heard of SABRAS. And I just spent way too long trying to figure out 26D: Sex grp (MASC). I could not get that M as I just did not remember the name of 25A: Actress Celeste (HOLM).

All in all, no BRAVO (32D: Cry at the opera) for Mr. Olschwang. I am simply HATING (52D: despising) this Thursday QUIP theme puzzle diet. Besides, my body was here this morning, but my mind had teed off. I simply could not enter my crossword TIGER zone today.

ACROSS:

10A: Nightstick: CLUB. No, not familiar with this kind of night stick. It sort of reminds me of the BOBBY clue we had awhile ago. Given today's theme, I would prefer it's clued as Wood/Iron/Putter related.

15A: Abreast: UPON. I've started to warm up to this Aword. Boy, these 2 clues really make me think of Mary Roach's BONK.

17A: Jazzman Davis: MILES. Hate the clue as DAVIS is the answer to 40D. Bad editing.

20A: "___ Fideles": ADESTE. What's your favorite Latin phrase? As you can see, "Audio, Video, Disco" (I hear, I see, I learn) is the motto of this blog. But I do love this "Veni, Vedi, Vici", our Dennisized version.

43A: Passover feast: SEDER

44A: Israeli natives: SABRAS. Dictionary says it derived from Hebrew ṣābār (prickly pear).

56A: NRC forerunner: AEC. I am just so tired of seeing this clue again and again.

57A: Player's bio entry: STAT. Tehee, I outwitted myself. I thought of golfer Gary PLAYER first.

59A: Zen enlightenment: SATORI. It's just a simple "Eureka" in Chinese.

67A: Taunted: GIBED. Wow, I did not know this. I only knew JIBE.

68A: Cod-like fish: HAKE. What the HAKE is that fish?

69A: Perfectly: TO A T. More prepositions & "the" please!

71A: Summit: APEX. ACME is Paul's Word of the Day today. The reason? Edmund Hillary conquered Mount Everest on this day in 1953. If you have not, please subscribe to his free daily email.

DOWN:

1D: Fellini film: ROMA. Ah, la Città Eterna (The Eternal City). Could not find the "Italia" on YouTube, but to remember Sydney Pollack and his The Talented Mr. Ripley, here is Arrivederci, Roma.

2D: Actress Markey: ENID. Unknown to me. She played Jane in the original Tarzan of the Apes.

3D: Miss: Fr.: MLLE (Mademoiselle).

4D: Mohammed's favorite wife: AYESHA. Could also be spelled as AISHA. It appeared on Feb 22 puzzle. I just forgot. Her father (Abu Bakr) became the first caliph after Muhammad died. But Shia Muslims disagreed as they thought Ali had been chosen, hence the endless Shia & Sunni fight I suppose. Do you know that there are currently between 50,000 to 100,000 muslims in the US living a live in polygamous families?

8D: Gymnast's horse: POMMEL. Here is Xiao Qin's POMMEL horse routine at the 2006 Worlds in Event Finals.

11D: Heard: LISTENED TO. And 12D: Say: UTTER Interesting parallel.

23D: Fun Partner?: GAME. I don't understand this one. Why?

26D: Sex grp: MASC (Masculine). I was not thinking of this group...

29D: Piped Piper's pack: RATS. Hmm, is this how we get "Pay the Piper"? Wikipedia says "To "pay the piper" means to face the inevitable consequences of one's actions, possibly alluding to the story where the villagers broke their promise to pay the Piper for his assistance in ridding the town of the rats. The phrase sometimes refers to a financial transaction but often does not."

31D: Dessert option: MARBLE CAKE

39D: Sevareid or Idle: ERIC. Know Idle, not Sevareid. Did you watch the LAYLA (ERIC Clapton classic) clip NYTanonimo linked yesterday? Did you hear the only one word Pattie Boyd said in Beatles' A Hard Day's Night movie? "Prisoners?" What a weird coincidence to yesterday's PRISON TERMS theme.

45D: Six-line stanzas: SESTETS

51D: Slowly, in music: ADAGIO

53D: Turkish title: PASHA. Or PACHA. Literally "Head Lord" or "Master Chief". Wikipedia says PASHA is ranked above BEY (lord) and AGA/AGHA (lord, master). PASHA is also the name of that idealistic Bolshevik in "Doctor Zhivago". I just love this movie so much.

60D: Shawm's descendant: OBOE. I've never heard of shawm, have you?

Try to spell GOLF backwards, what do you get?

C.C.

49 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, C.C. and gang -- Thought this was a great puzzle - tough enough to be a challenge, but gettable without having to resort to Google. Kept trying to force 'Semper' for 'Fideles' of course, but the perps straightened me out. Knew 'Satori' from my skateboard customers. I'm not sure I understand the meaning of the quip, however; why would one need to 'live down' a hole in one? I know it's a quip, but I don't get it.
Beautiful, sunny day here - hope it's a great one for everybody.

Katherine said...

Good morning everyone. I had a hard time again today. I don't seem to be doing to well lately on the puzzles. I never heard of a "hake" before. Mario Lanza was my late aunt's favorite singer. The pommel horse link was great. What talent! There is an expression, "fun and games", that is where 23d comes from.
Enjoyed your commentary today CC.
Have a great day everyone.

Katherine said...

Oops, another typo, meant to say not doing "too" well. I hate that when that happens!

Dennis said...

C.C., 'fun and games' is just a phrase used to describe something enjoyable, such as "we went to the carnival for fun and games".

Wow, Enid Markey was 'Jane'? If I'm Tarzan, I'm leaning towards the apes...

NYTAnonimo said...

Had to google for AYESHA and SARTORI to finish and had BEATS instead of BEANS for 13D. Oh well!

Found this link to yesterday's puzzle maker-you have to scroll all the way to the bottom. I did like the "Prisoners?"quote in the Layla segment. According to Wikipedia "Owen wrote the script (for Hard Day's Night) from the viewpoint that the Beatles had become prisoners of their own fame, their schedule of performances and studio work having become punishing."

Bill said...

O.K., I'll admit my geography isn't as good as it should be but what is LITH. or AZER. once?? The answer (SSR) makes no sense to me.
and 26d was quite dumb, I thought. But that's just me. Called Mr. Google a lot today. Didn't know
2d, 4d, 44a, 34a, and 26d.
The quips are getting a little out of hand, especially when they are not attributed to any one. It's like trying to get something out of the blue.
I did like 15a til I figured out that LOIS was not the answer!!!
CYA All later.

Dennis said...

Bill, they were both part of the former USSR.

Bill said...

Dennis, So the answer SSR, means Soviet Socialist Republic ? And , if so, shouldn't the answer be USSR ?
Sorry for being so dense...

Dennis said...

Bill, I'm not sure why, but it's always clued as SSR whenever they're looking for one of those 'kstan' spin-off nations. Haven't seen it referred to as 'USSR' since, well, since the USSR.

Bill said...

OK. That clears it up somewhat.
Have not seen a clue or answer like that before , so I was very confused.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

*whew*

I finally managed to finish this one on my own, but it was a close one. The NW corner in particular caused me a lot of grief, which is never a good way to start a puzzle. I put PRIEST instead of PASTOR for 5D and MMLE instead of MLLE for 3D. I had no idea who 4D should be, so it wasn't until I solved all the other parts of the quip that I realized there was something terribly wrong with my answer for 14A (ONM_R).

The rest of the puzzle was fairly straightforward, but I'm really not fond of these random quips with no indication as to what it could possibly be about.

Oh, C.C. -- 69A is actually "TO A T" and not "TO AT". To say something suits somebody "to a t" (or "to a tee") means it suits them perfectly.

And Bill -- the U in USSR stands for "Union" (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"). So each individual country was a Soviet Socialist Republics or a SSR.

Argyle said...

hi all, was doing the online thing and they had 52D as Turkish title, as well as 53D. made a bad day worse.

Jeanne said...

Thanks for the geography lesson, Dennis. Had the same question as Bill on Lith. or Azer. That center spot gave me a headache. My cure is coming to this blog and healing myself. Thanks for all your help.

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

Dennis,
"Hole In One" is such a rare feat that any golfer who has shot one will "NEVER Live It Down". He will brag about it at every opportunity he/she gets lest others forget. At least, that's my understanding.

Dennis said...

By the way, for those who don't know, 'Lith & Azer' are Lithuania and Azerbaijan.

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

Argyle,
Wow, you are right! Unbelievable!

Dick said...

cc your comment about "A Hole in One" is correct. If I ever get one look out. This was a good puzzle today. I like Barry also had 3D as MMLE and I could not figure out what ONMYA could be for 14. Also, I did not know 59A SATORI and 60D OBOE so I ended up with a blank at the intersection of those two. You would think that I would have recognized the Shawm ' decedent as OBOE when you have three of the four letters. This reminds me of the time Jack Tatem of the Oakland Raiders said Terry Bradshaw would not be able to spell cat if you gave him the c and t. Guess I am Terry this am.

Dick said...

Lois where are you? I am trying to figure out how you are going to make todays puzzle seductive. Guess we will start with 15A a breast and go from there.

Anonymous said...

Good morning CC and company!

Yikes - not a hole in one for me today! Though years ago as a kid I did get a hole in one playing mini golf. I bragged about that for a LONG time!

Nevertheless, had to rely on the perpendiculars a lot today. Had no idea about "satori" - I was stuck on that one for quite some time as I wanted "dday" for 62D then "ides" occurred to me. Interesting placement for 27A and 35A - "erasers" and "delete".

Fun and "games" took me back to my teaching days - it's all fun and games until someone gets an eye poked out. Or something to that effect.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Kim said...

CC & gang,

I too had trouble with this one. I agree Katherine, they've been tough lately. For some reason Ossie Davis was in my head and I couldn't get him out! I got the east side, my problems were on the upper west side. Alas, maybe tomorrow I can get through one!
I hope everyone can get out and enjoy the sunshine today

Katherine said...

Kim, glad to hear I am not the only one having trouble with the puzzles. I just need more time to work on them.

Dick said...

mkat guess we got a reprieve in the hockey series last night. Go Pens!

Boomer said...

I tried and tried. This so called "quip" makes no sense. I thought maybe the man lived down a hole, like a gopher? Maybe a man remarked his scorecard and couldn't live it down? Maybe I don't get it because I've never had a hole in one. But I don't really need one since I've had 4 300 games. I'm never, ever, ever doing another crossword puzzle, ever ---- until tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

"It's all fun and games until somebody gets his eye poked out". Golf is an acronym for "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden"

Dick said...

Boomer congrats on the 300 games. I was really feeling sorry for you today as you were having so much trouble with the quip. Then I thought anyone with 4 300 games does not need any sympathy.

Anonymous said...

Pokey is a slang cowboy term.
Nightstick is the weapon carried by police. It probably was a type of club years ago.

MJC

Crockett1947 said...

Good morning everyone! Aced this one today, but had a slow start on the NW corner. Quips are a bore. Knew SABRA, was surprised I knew SATORI, knew what a shawm (60D) was. 23D -- FUN and GAMES. Like the clue for 64D. Bill, Lithuania and Azerbaijan were Soviet Socialist Republics before the split up of USSR. Argyle, I'll bet it was difficult to get that 52D!! Lois probably misread the clue for 26D and went out looking for some group sex.

Der Katze said...

My 2 cents: 34A. Lithuania and Azerbaijan were once Soviet Socialists Republics (SSR). The Soviet Union (USSR) consisted of fifteen Soviet Republics. Lith. and Azer. were two of them. Since the demise of the Soviet Union, all 15 Republics are former SSRs.

Anonymous said...

Good morning CC and Df's: This wasn't such a bad puzzle, esp when it includes 'sex gp' as a clue! But in some areas it was hard!...like a remarkable man! Is that a 'club' in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me? What a pommel! Once again, I'm going to save my horse and ride a cowboy...eh, Tex? 'HopI' can ride for 'miles'. You'll make it 'holm' before you get tired, I promise!
You are so-da bomb!

Enjoy this gorgeous day! It's been quite an eventful one here already. That's why I'm late. Some kind of fun!

Anonymous said...

Worked the puzzle in the Customer Lounge while having my car serviced. Couldn't get a few clues and had no access to your site...rats! Thanks for the link to the clip on Rome. It was a nostalgic trip down memory lane...my husband and I spent our honeymoon there 44 years ago.

Anonymous said...

Crockett: that is sooo funny! I'll keep you 'abreast' of my findings....and pass the 'site' along. Such fun and 'games'.

jimhllrn said...

For 2D - all I could think of was an actress whose name I thought was MARKY POST. If I had known how to spell her first name I would have known it wouldn't fit. Its MARKIE and she was a doll.
I didn't know how to spell SATORI either, so today I flunked spelling
I have to agree with Dennis. Grate pussle.
Oh and I wanted to put ORGY for 26D, but the perps wouldn't let me...
TSK TSK.

melissa bee said...

good morning c.c. and all,

got close but couldn't quite finish this one alone .. masc gave me some trouble, as did sabras.

c.c. i loved your 'what the hake is this fish' remark. in answer to your question, my favorite latin phrase is 'carpe diem,' with 'in loco parentis' (in the place of a parent) a close second. as a mother of two teens, the loco seems appropriate.

nytanonimo, i liked your link to the puzzle constructors, and recognized the 8th one down, patrick jordan, from the word play documentary. he was one of the entrants in the crossword tournament.

a bit of a religious thing going on today. i liked seeing satori and then noted adeste fidelis, pastor, and deacon. i liked the crossing of remarkable man with pastor and listened to. (it is UTTERly[12d] remarkable when a man listens, isn't it?)

c.c. how is the ankle?

NYTAnonimo said...

Thanks for the link Melissa Bee-saw that movie about a year ago but I think it's time for a rerun. I'm still playing around with the NYT puzzle-time for more googling. Carpe diem is one of my favorite phrases too and it's a beautiful day to seize out there! Hope you are all enjoying it. How is your ankle doing c.c.?

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

Dennis,
I just realized that "Semper Fideles" is the Marine Corps Motto, no wonder you kept trying to force it in.

Melissa & NYTanonino,
My ankle has become a size DD. Hopefully it will return to normal in 2 weeks' time. Thanks for asking.

Regarding the Stan's constructor lists, Doug Peterson (#13) authored our May 9 Friday puzzle as well.

As for 26D: MASC, I would prefer it to be "Gender abbr". or "Not fem". "Sex grp" is just not to my liking.

Melissa, I should point out that "What the hake is this fish?" is not my line, so I can not take credit for it. I like your religious sub-theme analysis.

Carpe Diem & Seize the Night as well!

Dennis said...

C.C., could I possibly fondle your ankle? That's the closest I'll ever come to DDs...

waphle said...

I believe Satori is Japanese, not Chinese. :)

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

Dennis,
I thought you said that Every Good B Deserves a F, now Ankle?

Waphle,
You are right, Satori is Japanese. But Japanese Zen came from Chinese word Chán (禅). Japanese Satori 悟 is the same as Chinese 悟.

NYTAnonimo said...

Sorry to hear about your DD c.c.! Hope you're not in too much pain.

How did you do the Chinese writing online-do you have a special keyboard?

Finally finished the NYT puzzle which was extremely tricky today but very clever. Had to google more than I care for but I was pleased to just figure it out. Sometimes just walking away from a puzzle and coming back later makes a difference. Have any of you noticed that too?

Superfrey said...

I was not a remarkable man on this one.... could not get Sabras and Gibed... WHAAAA
I do find the quote somewhat obscure but then again... Its Evan Esar

carol said...

Hi C.C.and Gang,
I am a late today - had a 3 hour dental appt. still numb.
Not to terrible today although some just escaped me especially the quip. Dennis you are right, the quip did not make much sense.
I had never heard of 45D and tried to put sonnets in. Had trouble with 59A, but got it with the hors(!)ooops.
I did not know Hake either and tried to make Pike work - no luck!
Kim, I put Ossie in 17A too..
C.C. sorry about your double "d'S" just be glad that it's your ankle! I don't know how one would stand straight if they were the "real thing".I hope you feel better soon. Are you on crutches?
Your link to the pommel horse was great!! I agree with Lois, keep the horse, we'll take the "cowboy" and his "handle"

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

NYNanonimo,
I don't have a special keyboard. Just some Chinese software. Thanks for the beautiful pictures (非常漂亮的花朵)!!

Hi Carol,
I am not on crutches, though I do have difficulty in walking.

Dennis said...

nytanonimo, you're right - with the really difficult ones, walking away and coming back with fresh eyes works like a charm. I think your mind must recycle itself when you walk away.

northberger said...

CC

Thanks for the plug. I got a lot of visitors from your blog today.

Paul

carol said...

A questions for the gang...are any of you a crossword constructor?? What steps are necessary for a beginner?

Dr. Dad said...

Greetings from Mumbai!! Got here about 11:00 p.m. India time on Thursday night (lose a day). Jet lag today (Friday already in Mumbai). Haven't seen much yet - getting ready to go visit a couple of factories and meet this afternoon. Man, is it HOT!!! About 85 degrees at 8:00 a.m.

Read all the comments about SSR's and USSR and those are the correct explanations.

C.C. Sorry about your ankle.

Here's another twist. As squirrels are know to say - "It's all fun and games until someone loses a nut."

The game is called golf because the other four letter word was taken.

Dr. Dad

Mr. Corcoran said...

c.c. still don't see any of your kanji...wonder why...people see my swedish bokstaever...have not yet reached satori but knew the wor...hated the quip...but did once play a shawm and crumhorn...friday soon!

Dr. Dad said...

It's me again. I looked at Thursday's crossword in the India Times and it is not the same as what is shown here. Actually, it was the solution shown in Friday's paper so I can't get an author. The Friday author is Josiah Breward. It will be interesting to see how they match up. Friday's is structured like our Saturday puzzles.

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

Paul,
You are welcome. And thank you for the daily email.

Drdad,
So good to hear from you. Do you like the chickens there? Are those Tandooris too hot for you? I think Indian Times puzzles have a long lag behind us. And they might not mirror our Monday-Friday themed puzzle pattern. Can you give me a few long words of your Friday Breward puzzle? I might be able to detect the exact lag time. I think it's about 2 months.