google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday June 27, 2008 Michael T. Williams

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Jun 27, 2008

Friday June 27, 2008 Michael T. Williams

Theme: Three Doctors

17A: Three doctors: SEUSS CRANE QUINN

41A: Three doctors: ZHIVAGO X DETROIT

65A: Three doctors: DOLITTLE WHO KATZ

3D: Three doctors: HOUSE ZAIUS WELBY

10D: Three doctors: QUINCY NO KILDARE

One letter (J) away from a pangram puzzle.

A hard hammer! I only know SEUSS, ZHIVAGO, DOLITTLE & NO out of those 15 Doctors, so it's definitely an epic battle for me this morning. Lots of wild guesses.

The ARU fill is probably the toughest. I simply have never heard of this Indonesian island group, nor do I know the Muslim woman's gown IZAR or the intersecting Dr. ZAIUS. The CURTIZ & ZOEA crossing Z is another stubbornly unyielding letter to fall.

After filling in GAZES (58A: Fixed looks), I felt very intense and flirtatious, so I succumbed to Google quickly.

ACROSS:

1A: TV screening device: V-CHIP

6A: Luck of the Irish: CESS. "Leprechaun" popped into my mind immediately. I am not familiar with this CESS or the "Bad CESS to somebody" curse. How ironic, since CESS stands for "Success".

10A: Area meas.: SQMI (Square mile)

16A: Part of FAQ: QUES. FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions. The QUES I receive often via emails are: What are "DFs"? What are "Perps"? Both were concocted by Dennis.

20A: Expel: CAST OUT

21A: Goober: PEANUT. Mi Hyun Kim (LPGA's PEANUT) shot 72 at US Open (Edina, MN) yesterday. What a stunning quintuple-bogey WOE (52A: Misfortune) for Michelle Wie on hole #9 (par 4)! Lorena Ochoa definitely lived up to the HYPE (32A: Flamboyant promotion). And Natalie Gulbis, the sexy LPGA calendar girl, HELD (25D: Maintained) her sweet smile so well when facing the shouts and whistlings from those huge male following.

27A: Sharp turn: ZIG

30A: Crustacean's larval stage: ZOEA. It came from Greek zōē ( life).

35A: Routinized: IN A RUT

38A: Part of MLB post-season: ALCS (American League Championship Series). Another baseball reference is HOFer MIKE Schmidt (45A: Ditka or Schmidt).

44A: Indonesian island group: ARU. Wikipedia says ARU Islands are located in the Arafura Sea southwest of New Guinea and north of Australia. Look at this map of Indonesia island.

46A: Quenches: SLAKES

51A: Mil. infor grp.: ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence)

59A: Black Sea port: ODESSA

62A: Desert plant: EPHEDRA. I only knew the Chinese word (麻黃) for the EPHEDRA supplement. Had no idea that the plant grows on desert.

68A: River of Hamburg: ELBE. Our editor likes to clue EGER as "ELBE tributary".

70A: Ancient city on the Nile: MEROE. I simply forgot. This constructor used the same clue for his Feb 19 TMS puzzle. MEROE is "a ruined city in Sudan and the Capital of ancient Ethiopia".

72A: ___ Oreille Lake: PEND. I've never heard of this lake. Wikepedia says it's Lake PEND Oreille, located in the northern Idaho panhandle. The lake drains via the PEND Oreille River.

DOWN:

6D: "Casablanca" director: CURTIZ (Michael). He won Oscar for "Casablanca". Too bad, I've never paid attention to who directed this classic.

9D: Dog of song: SHEP. Which song?

10D: Press flat: SQUASH. This SQUASH soup looks delicious.

19D: Letters in a math proofs: QED

24D: Urgers: COAXERS. Urgers?

28D: Sportscaster Cross: IRV. I've never heard of him before. Is he very well-known?

33D: ___ - dieu: PRIE. Kneeler for praying. Literally"Pray to God" in French.

35D: Muslim woman's gown: IZAR. I thought their gown is called "Burka". Dictionary defines IZAR as "a long, usually white cotton dress that covers the body completely, worn by women of North Africa and the Middle East." OK, so IZAR does not cover the head then.

36D: Racing org. NHRA (National Hot Rod Association)

37D: Wage-slave's letters: TGIF

39D: Town near Caen: ST. LO

42D: Ma Joad, for one: OKIE. I really should read "The Grapes of Wrath".

48D: Nosegays: POSIES

57D: "Loot" dramatist: ORTON (Joe). Absolutely no idea. See here for more information about this satirical playwright.

60D: Toy person: DOLL. Beautiful 1950's hard plastic Ginny DOLL. She is probably worth several hundreds in that condition, with the original box.

C.C.

68 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, C.C. and fellow DFs - well, the hammer fell and so did I; broke my string of google-less days. Just a ton I never heard of. Even with google, I had to try a couple different letters to flush out the answer. Good one.
But did anyone notice the missing "o" in 'zhivagox'?
Also, "ONI" is Office of Naval Intelligence, an investigative branch; it's not an "info group".
Hope it's an outstanding Friday where you are; 90's and sunny here.

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

Dennis,
Wow, I did not notice that big O mistake.

Dennis said...

C.C., I just realized what it is; I assumed you knew of a Doctor Ox, but it's really Dr. X, from a movie in the 30s.

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

Dennis,
Sorry for misleading you with the "OX" earlier. I did not know Dr. OX. I fished him out of the google ocean.

Katherine said...

Morning gang. I bombed on this one today. Big time.
Gotta runnnnnnnnnnnnn
We are supposed to have rain every day this weekend. UGH

Chris in LA said...

Good morning all,
This one kicked my fanny this morning - lots of visits to google and one across - too many unknowns to list here.
CC - you mispelled "seuss" in the original post.
Hope all have a good day.

Dr. Dad said...

As Dennis said - the hammer fell. What an SOB this puzzle was this morning. I had to google (dammit).
Dennis and C.C. were really confusing me with Dr. Ox and the missing "O" in Zhivago because I knew it was Dr. X and just couldn't see where the "O" was missing. Glad you guys saw the error of your ways.
Dr. Zaius was the orangutang who was sort of the head of Ape City in the movie "Planet of the Apes" starring Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowell, Kim Hunter, and Linda Harrison. Zaius was played by Maurice Evans, who I remember as also having played Samantha Stevens' father on "Bewitched."
I remembered a song called "Old Shep" but don't know if this is what the clue refers to.
Jack Klugman (better know as Oscar Madison of "The Odd Couple") starred as Dr. Quincy (a coroner) on "Quincy, M.E.
Dr. Crane, I think, refers to Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer).
Dr. No - James Bond.
Dr. Kildare and Dr. Zhivago - pretty well known to alot of people.
Dr. Detroit starred Dan Aykroyd.
Dr. Katz was, in my opinion, some dumb show that ran on Comedy Central for awhile.
Dr. Marcus Welby, M.D. starred Robert Young of "Father Knows Best" fame. It also starred Elena Verdugo as the receptionist and her name is a frequent clue/answer in crosswords.
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman played by Jane Seymour.
Dr. Who is the British TV show about a time traveling "Time Lord", the Doctor, who does this in his TARDIS (Time And Relative Distance In Space) that looks like a police box.

The only thing I didn't like about the answers is "house doctor" as all the other doctors have names that follow "doctor". House doctor is the only one where the answer comes before "doctor."

Let's see. After all that babbling, today is HIV Testing Day (all I could find so far). It is also Captain Kangaroo's (Bob Keeshan), Helen Keller, and H. Ross Perot (remember his famous charts?) birthday.

Have a great Friday and weekend.

Chris in LA said...

Drdad,
"House" is the name of the doctor on a current tv drama called, ironically, "House" - it's actually one of the best shows on television (FOX, I think) and stars Hugh Laurie, who was also a regular on the hilarious British Comedy "Black Adder" w/Rowan Atkinson - a great show that's sometimes hard to find, but one of the funniest British TV shows I've ever seen.

Anonymous said...

Old Shep an Elvis Presley song

royalfleurs@wowway.com

Superfrey said...

Wow !!! I feel better now.... even Dennis googled.... I did not know half of these "doctors" Zaius, X, Detroit.. blah blah. Nice puzzle though... the hammer finally came down.
C.C. - Justin Morneau went 3 for 4 and the Twins have won 9 in a row !!!

flyingears said...

I think this one takes care of the earlier and easier ones. Boy!!! What a bomb... I don't know how CC does it but I know she's a bright cookie... She meant KILDARE and KATZ. I love my X/W puzzle dictionary and Google, especially today!!! Argh...

As usual drdad provides info that is of great help for future puzzles.

HOUSE can also be a house doctor as in the ER or MDs that are now called "hospitalists".

Dr. Dad said...

I found a better holiday. It's Paul Bunyan Day!!! Timber!!!!!
He had a big blue ox (not Dr. Ox) named "Babe."

Dennis said...

Just an aside - thanks for the emails (funny ones too) I got re the upcoming, uh, 'procedure' - this'll be the first time I've been put out -- should be an interesting experience. Oh, and one of my sick buddies made up a fake newspaper about an upcoming Uranus probe on Monday. He should be part of this group...

Superfrey said...

Dennis.... good luck with "The Procedure"... better that you should be under for this...you won't know what happened and it is quick... it's the prep that is a disruptive. We will all be thinking of you on Monday. Don't forget to to the puzzle before you go under :):):)

Barry G. said...

*ugh*

This puzzle started out incredibly easy. So easy, in fact, that I actually thought to myself, "Self, either these puzzles are getting easier or you're just getting smarter."

And then, of course, things started going horribly, horribly wrong. I'm pleased to say that I actually knew all of the various doctors (although I had Doctor "J" instead of "X" for the longest time), but come on! ZOEA? IZAR? NHRA? CESS? MEROE? ARU? I suppose I can only blame myself for not knowing who directed as famous a movie as Casablanca (CURTIZ), but I honestly never heard the name before. The intersection of IZAR and ARU was particularly annoying, since you've got two completely obscure words that share a vowel, for Pete's sake.

And why on earth would somebody clue PEND as "___ Oreille Lake"? Well, to make it more challenging, obviously, but I wonder if anybody who doesn't live within 5 miles of that lake has actually heard of it before. On a similar note, couldn't CESS have been clued as "___ pool" or something? Or am I the only one who is not fluent in Irish (Gaelic)?

I dunno. I like a challenge, I really do. But this puzzle was either intentionally sadistic or just poorly constructed. Or both. Or maybe I'm just not as bright as I thought I was... :(

Dr. Dad said...

By the way, it is a sad day indeed. One of the New York Aquarium's most popular attractions for over a decade has been Ayveq, a 2,700-pound walrus. The good-natured sea creature was "incredibly charismatic," according to Aquarium director Jon Forrest Dohlin. "A very social animal." He died of a massive bacterial infection on Sunday, many years earlier than expected. According to WNBC, the funeral was private, but a memorial service was held on Monday. He was known as (and I'm not kidding!) The Masturbating Walrus. Calm down, Lois!!!

lois said...

Good morning CC & DF's: Barry said it perfectly...where did those words come from? I got about 3/4 of the puzzle and then gave up. Thank God for CC.

drdad: I think I know that guy@!

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

OK, DFs
I finally caught up with Thursday's comments:

Dennis,
I like your remark: "look at us "3 D's" all responding to Lois like Pavlov's dogs - wonder what the trigger is....".

Berry,
"Oh Frabjous day! Callou! Callay!" Where does this line come from? How is it related to CALAIS? (I know CALAIS is pronounced as Callay). I agree with your view on the irritating IZAR & ARU intersection.

Razzberry,
Your Wednesday 11:33am comment: "By the way all of the Amish men smile when they get to go to "Dime Box" Texas!". What's so peculiar about "Dime Box"? Why will those Amish men smile?

Flyingears,
I've corrected my mistakes, thank you.

Royalfleurs,
Thank you for the SHEP.

Lois,
Where is your blow torch?

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

Dr. Dad et al,
More Famous Doctors.

Barry G. said...

"Oh Frabjous day! Callou! Callay!" Where does this line come from? How is it related to CALAIS? (I know CALAIS is pronounced as Callay).

It comes from the poem "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), he of "Alice in Wonderland" fame. And the only relation, as far as I am aware, is the similar pronunciation. Whenever I see the word Calais I just want to shout, "Oh Frabjous Day!" Silly, really.

Oh -- and it's Barry. ^_^

flyingears said...

CC,

I believe that Michelle Wie has her priorities mixed up. She played with the male Pros and flunked horribly. Now she has a problem with the LPGA. I used to like her a lot UNTIL she started her jumpin' jacks...

The Wimbledon has seen some crashed seeded players so far. We may have a couple of "unknowns" as champions this year (except for Marat and Tipsaveric)). Tipsaveric whipped Andy badly by outplaying him. Federer is trying for his sixth Wimbledon (trying to break Borg's feat). I like Marat Safin in the Gentlemen's round and any lady in the Ladies round. The ladies are finding out that things are a bit tougher this year.

lois said...

Dennis: Good luck w/the 'anal'ysis on Mon. At least he won't find your head like he does on so many others!

drdad: I will miss Wally. Thank you for the clip. May he Rest In Piece.

CC: The best thing about the puzzle today was the Okie reference. My blow torch was fired up after about 30 mins. I'm keeping it handy for tomorrow too.

Enjoy this gorgeous day!

MH said...

Couldn't finish this without help from Google and, eventually CC. The doctors did me in. I never like these three things kinds of puzzles. The rest was OK. Once I cheated and got all the doctors I was home free. Have a great weekend everyone. Dennis, I've had that procedure more than once. It's pretty easy once you get over the prep.

Dr. Dad said...

I wonder what they did with Ayveq's oosik?

Crockett1947 said...

Good morning, everyone! A multiple Google puzzle for me today. Didn't know many of the good doctors. Also 6D and 57D were unknowns to me. All in all a tough puzzle. Have a great weekend!

Anonymous said...

I a stumped with 50 down - "Moped." I think I have everything right around it, but have come up with "etewed." What???

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

Anonymous @10:47am,
19A: FIRS
50D: STEWED

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

Barry,
Dui Bu Qi. My mind was SQUASHED by all those unknown doctors this morning. Made so many mistakes.

Flyingears,
I agree with you on Michelle Wie. She & her father got overly ambitious. I would run away from David Leadbetter immediately.

Argyle said...

c.c.
Any thought on why they are all fictional doctors, except for Dr. Seuss?

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

Argyle,
That's a very very interesting observation. I've got no idea. Need Michael T. Williams to explain it to us.

dons_mind said...

whew - real tuffy today. finally finished with help from google and you all... :)

hope everyone has a great weekend! i'm going fishin!

carol said...

Hello C.C. and everyone: I am with all the rest of you it seems (makes me feel better!!). This was one tough puzzle!! I only got a few of the Dr.'s and some of the rest were just impossible...thank you C.C.for your hard work, don't know how you do it, but I am grateful. Guess we all had this one coming though, we have been bitc---- about how easy the have been lately.

Lois, are you on your way home yet?

Dennis, good luck on Monday, we will be thinking of you and we will all be glad we are not in your "position" (except maybe Lois, she might just like it) :)

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

Chris in LA.
Don't you think Dr. J would be a better fill than Dr. X? It would make a great pangram puzzle. But of course 24D would be completely screwed up.

Dr.Dad,
Thank you for introducing to me this new word "oosik".

Bill said...

My Google subscription is now paid in full (and then some)!!! I'm not sure what Williams was taking when he put this together but I think I want some!!
Now, my real opinion......Terrible, bad, lousy, not good and very obscure! That's all I've got say as I am now taking the paper to the shredder!!!
CYA

Anonymous said...

This was a terrible puzzle.

I hate the "three things" puzzles to being with. I still say I should be able to complete an entire answer in one swell foop.

Some of the answers in here referred to obscure characters in obscure films or TV shows. It was just not fun.

Dr Katz was on Comedy Central. It was cancelled in 1999!!!

As soon as I saw the Z at 27A (zip), I figured the 'down' part must be Dr Zhivago. Dr Zaius??? What's a Dr Zaius????

On to the fun parts:
"Dr. X" shows up in the opening song to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show":
"Science Fiction double feature
Dr. X will build a creature"

Bryce Canyon (15A) contains some of the most interesting and beautiful rock formations in the country. I highly recommend it to anyone.

37D everyone! Have a good weekend.

Dick said...

Hello Cc and DFs. I struggled in the same areas as the rest of you but it seemed the center section from east to west was the worst. Overall I was squashed and could dolittle to slake my thirst for more answers so I went to see Google.

Glad we had the discussion the other day about peanuts/cashews and goobers.

Dennis on Monday may your race horse come from behind and give you good results.

Have a great weekend all!

lois said...

Carol: I leave here on Thurs. Maybe Jeanne should forewarn her bro in Wmsbg and Flyingears is safe in PR. I know some of the cowboys will be sad and the sheep will be nervous when I leave. It's not the position so much as the situation that Dennis will be in Monday that makes me want to ram a knife in my eye, repeatedly beat my head against a brick wall, and set myself on fire. Other than that, I think it would be fun. Good luck, Dennis.

Dennis said...

Well, don't I feel better. Lois, I think you're just jealous...

Dr. Dad said...

Dennis - let Lois try ramming an oosik in her eye. That would be a sight.

Dennis said...

Oh, I think she'd have better aim than that.

Bill said...

Re: oosik

I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist putting in this URL.

http://www.geocities.com/abaccola/oosik.html

lois said...

drdad: an oosik for me would be a wishbone first of all and as a measuring device secondly. The only shooting I would do w/an oosik would be as a spear in the back a poor cowboy or muskie trying to get away.

Argyle said...

FYI-different clues

51A-on line - Sailors' grp

in the paper - Mil.info grp.


33D-on line - Pray in Notre Dame

in the paper - _____ -dieu

Dick said...

OMG Dennis and Drdad they have written a poem about the 3 D's.

lois said...

Bill: that is hilarious and so all about you guys here..in poetry no less. Dick, you're right!!!! If I saw something that big I would be moved too..on many levels!

Bill said...

Dick, (or should I use Richard)....

DREAM ON!!!!!!!

lois said...

Bill: Aren't we all...dreaming on that is.

Chris in LA said...

CC:
Sorry so late - hope you see this.
I agree - and it would have been so simple! Change clue on 24D to "Summons" (ans: conjurs) and change clue on 45A to "Minimalist Haiku" (ans., of course is "miku"). Changes the answer on 38A to NLCS, of course, but it would still be right with the original "Part of MLB postseason" still accurate and in keeping with the other obscure words in today's puzzle.

Chris in LA said...

Meant for "summons" clue to be "summons: var."

Anonymous said...

I'm confused why I cannot find answers to 18D and 23A.

Chris in LA said...

Anonymous at 4:40,
18D is "cur"
23A is "rich"

Dick said...

Anamymous 18D is CUR and 23A is Rich

Chris in LA said...

Dick,
"Missed it by THAT much"
;)

Anonymous said...

This was the worst crossword ever.

Razz said...

CC - Responded to Q by e-mail.

DFs - Don't bellyache. We've been waiting for this monstrosity for weeks. Yes it was hard (yes Lois - Hard) but we learned new words and a poem that I won't soon forget!

Chris in LA said...

Anonymous @ 5:21,
Not really, we've just been spoiled (and unchallenged) of late - it was actually nice to have to work for it for a change. I think it's much more rewarding, even when we need to cheat!

Razz said...

Dennis - Is your doctor's name; Dr. Ben Dover???

Anonymous said...

9d shep is song entittled "old shep" from the50's or earlier.

Razz said...

Here's a version of the song --> Old Shep - Elvis

Chris in LA said...

Re: "Old Shep" - I think originally by Walter Brennan (anyone who's seen "Full Metal Jacket" knows about Mr. Brennan) - anyway, here's a link to Elvis' version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7_s2o4hG2A&feature=related

As you might discern, it's a slow Friday night for me...

Razz said...

Lois - Here is a old Aggie joke - You know you are getting close to Texas A&M when you stop on the side of the road to relieve yourself and all the sheep back up to the fence. ;~p

Chris in LA said...

Ahhh - Razzberry - you beat me. Slow night for you as well I presume?

Razz said...

Chris,

Busy day at work, just now getting to catch up on the fun and frivolity.

Chris in LA said...

Razzberry,
I hear ya'.

Dennis said...

razzberry, it's actually a "she". And when we had a boat in a local marina, the boat next to us (a dark brown sailboat) was owned by a proctologist, and it was called "Bend Over".

Razz said...

Dennis,

I feel for you, because I have my virgin trip scheduled for the middle of August. You will be able to regale us with all you stories and really have me squirming before I go in...Oops I mean before the Dr. goes in!

lois said...

Razzberry: That is funny! What a cute joke. Those Aggies have a reputation all right...undeserved tho' it may be, it's still the word on the street.

Touch and go. Have a great night.

Dennis: a 'she dr'? What a man! I'm impressed! I'm sure you feel safer w/her behind you for a number of reasons.

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