google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday June 12, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

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Jun 12, 2008

Thursday June 12, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Kin Hubbard Quip (Ideal Breaker)

17A:Start of Kin Hubbard quip: BEING AN OPTIMIST

25A: Part 2 of the quip: AFTER YOU'VE GOT

42A: Part 3 of the quip: EVERYTHING YOU

56A: End of quip: WANT DOESN'T COUNT

I've never heard of Kin Hubbard before. Here is another quote from him: "There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose." It's so evocative of a great Churchill's line: "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts".

This puzzle reminds me of the "globe-trotting guinea pig" Rick Steves and his "Europe Through the Back Door". Look, it's all over the places:

5A: Type of potato: IDAHO

24A: Mongolian horde: TATAR

31A: Hawaiian goose: NENE And another Hawaiian reference: 2D: 4-string guitars: UKES

32A: German article: EIN

30A: Dutch South Africans: BOERS

38A: Icelandic literary work: EDDA

40A: Neighbor of Algeria: MALI. Called "French Sudan" before.

9D: Toronto's prov.: ONT

25D: Swedish pop group: ABBA

37D: English cathedral city: ELY

52D: Marianas island: GUAM

Besides, 6D: Moolah: DINERO and 58A: Procession of matadors: PASEO bring Spain to my mind, and ASP (39A: Cleo's downfall) tranports me to Egypt. Very interesting!

Quite a few Repeat Offenders, but overall, not a bad QUIP.

ACROSS:

1A: Bankrupt: RUIN. "Crying is the refuge of plain women but the RUIN of pretty ones", quip this line next time Mr. Olschwang!

10A: Carvey or Ivey: DANA. Or Scully in "The X-Files".

20A: Twisty letter: ESS. Dislike this one due to 51D: ESSE (Latin being)

22A: Mrs. DDE: MAMIE. 15A: President after Johnson: NIXON. IKE would be so happy that NIXON is not clued as his veep here.

35A: Synagogue platform: BEMA

36A: Routes around some cities: BELTS. Here are 3 BELTS for you.

49A: Egg-shaped: OVATE

50A: Nuclear physicist Enrico: FERMI. I forgot. Boy, I really have problem remembering his name. This is the 3rd time FERMI appears on a TMS puzzle since I started blogging.

61A: Rosebud, e.g.: SLED. Last time ROSEBUD was clued as "Citizen Kane's sled". It's the name of his childhood sled.

62A: Winged: pref.: PTERO. No idea, I only knew ALAR, ALAE or ALATE for "Winged" clue.

DOWN:

1D: After-bath wear: ROBE. Here is Seated Woman in Green ROBE for those Renoir adorers, and Matisse's Purple ROBE for Matisse fans. I love Manet, so I will go ROBELESS. My favorite piece at Musée d'Orsay is probably Ingres' "La Source", so silky and velvety the stroke, stunning!

4D: Bert Bobbsey's twin: NAN. Ennui! Please! Haven't "A Million Little Pieces" & Oprah made NAN Talese well-known?

7D: Impulse conductor: AXON. A new word for me. It's "the appendage of the neuron that transmits impulses away from the cell body".

10D: Whitewater investigator: D'AMATO (Alfonse). Unknown to me. He left the Senate before I came to the US.

11D: In a lively matter: ANIMATEDLY. I like this kind of long yet simple fill.

12D: Polite denial: NO SIR. Has anyone seen this Sir! NO SIR! document?

18D: Live wires: GOERS. Does this clue sound OK to you?

19D: Public persona: IMAGE. This puzzle does summon up an IMAGE of a busy traveler.

27D: Carry Nation's cause: TEMPERANCE. I pieced this fill together from across clues. I did not know who Carry Nation is. Wow, that's an intimidating look!

33D: Logical start?: IDEO. And 53D: Freeze front?: ANTI

34D: Half of Mork's sign-off: NANU. Nailed it this morning.

41D: Shenanigan: ANTIC. Dislike it. See 53D: ANTI

43D: Put in a large container: VATTED. Had no idea that VAT can be a verb.

44D: Nursery-rhyme Jack: HORNER. No, nope, no idea. I spent my childhood reciting Chairman Mao's thought. You probably also know James HORNER. He won 2 Oscars for the "Titanic" score and song compositions. He also composed the new theme music for Katie Couric's "CBS Evening News".

46D: Monks' hoods: COWLS

51D: Latin being: ESSE And another Latin word: 60A: Pro ___ (in proportion): RATA

56D: Antithesis: abbr.
: OPP

Finally, 41A: "Over the Rainbow" composer: ARLEN (Harold). I am not familiar with him. I only know Senator ARLEN Specter. I do love "The Wizard of Oz", now close your eyes and tap your heels together three times and enjoy this Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow"!

C.C.

53 comments:

  1. Little Jack Horner sat in the corner
    Eating his Christmas pie,
    He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum
    And said "What a good boy am I!"

    Old nursery rhyme (1725) that mocks a tax collector sent to deliver a bribe who kept some of it for himself.

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  2. CC & gang,

    Well my 2 days of easy are in the not so distant past...I had a "horde" of trouble with this one! I got about 3/4, but just couldn't go any further. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

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  3. Good morning cc and Dfs. I suffered with this one almost every where in the grid. I question 25A "After..."? I thought 25D was spelled with an E and not an A. Cc what is you thought here?

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  4. Chris,
    Thanks for the Jack Horner rhyme. Did you count how many hidden "AT" in the grid?

    Kim,
    You did get the horde clue 24A: TATARS, didn't you?

    Dick,
    25D is ABBA.

    Argyle,
    What? Let me check... Wow, you are right. Did you get ANTI?

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  5. Good morning, C.C. and DF's
    The online version has, for 53D, freexe front? instead of freeze front?

    Check out Israel Kamakawiwo Ole's version of "Somewhere over the Rainbow"
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A2Jt4WOxN8

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  6. c.c., yes. Our local paper (PostStar) has the same puzzle but all they do is reproduce a picture of what is printed in the paper, so if you want to do their's, you have to print it out. But I did double check the clues.

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  7. cc: I count 13 (forward, backward and diagonal) - interesting notice, thanks for sharing.

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  8. Good morning, C.C. & gang - got through this one fairly quickly, although I thought 'goers' for 'live wires' was particularly poor.
    C.C., regarding 'ptero', check out pterodactyls sometime - first vertebrates to develop powered flight.
    Beautiful day here in Florida - hope it's a great one where you are.

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  9. CC,

    Didn't get that clue, only got from the downs. I don't even know what it means....am I missing a hidden clue?

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  10. Good morning Everyone. I had trouble with the SW corner, but got most of the rest of the puzzle. I am with you on 18D, didn't like that clue. Axon and "ptero" were new words for me too. Loved the Renoir "Green Robe". No CC, I never saw or heard of the "No Sir" document. And I sure wouldn't want to mess with Carry Nation. She looks mean.
    Have a good day everyone.

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  11. Cc thanks for ABBA. Now a this makes a lot of things look better. No wonder I was having trouble.

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  12. I was doing pretty good until I hit the lower left. Put temptation in instead of temperance. Then put in ovoid which didn't work with temperance. Then had need instead of want. Finally got out of that mess.
    Those were fine pictures of belts.
    Enrico Fermi achieved the first sustaining nuclear chain reaction in a nuclear reactor called Chicago Pile 1 in a squash court underneath the University of Chicago's Stagg Field on Dec. 2, 1942.
    Robeless is best after a bath.
    Carry Nation carried an axe/hatchet with her when she was destroying saloons around the midwest region. Many saloons of that time bore the sign - "All Nations Welcome Here - except Carry."
    Vatted is used in textile dyeing of cloth. When using what is called a vat dye, the cloth is "vatted" in the dye bath.
    June 12th: 1929-birth of Anne Frank (and thus today is National Diary Day); 1839-baseball was invented; 1939-National Baseball Hall of Fame opened; last but not least-it's "Open Your Window Day."
    Let the spring/early summer air in.

    Have a good one.

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  13. I meant that the actual ball used in baseball was invented, not the game of baseball.

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  14. Good morning CC et DFs: I zipped thru this one, why I don't know. I caught the quip and that probably did it. Thought they were getting personal w/5A,but figured why brag. I love Ukes & banjos, but don't play 'em in my 'robe'
    ...actually prefer playing around w/out that.

    CC: great links. Probably lost a few of the guys w/that last pic.

    Dick; I answered you on yesterday's blog.

    It's a fantastic,outstanding, super-wonderful day. Hope you enjoy it too.

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  15. Morning, folks!

    A little bit of slow going in spots today, but no false starts and I managed to finish it on my own. I had no idea with BEMA or ARLEN, didn't realize that Senator D'AMATO was involved with Whitewater (I only remember Kenneth Starr), and I never would have guessed VATTED in a million years. However, I did managed to get everything with the help of the cross-clues. And I was actually pretty pleased that I figured out PTERO for 62A (I've never seen it by itself, but I thought of the winged dinosaur "pterodactyl" as soon as I got the first two letters).

    I actually liked the quip today! It was witty, it made sense, and I was actually able to figure out large chunks of it without having to solve all the perps first.

    All in all, a good puzzle. Challenging, yet solvable, and fun.

    Oh, and Lois -- I'm planning on having myself a great, big, beautiful, wonderful, incredible, super-spectacular day... ^_^

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  16. Lois it looks like you and drdad share the same opinion on robes. Open or off!

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  17. Lois I received you answer from yesterday. I will send my people at once.

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  18. Dick - just to clarify. The tornado picture was taken by my old professor. I don't live in Nebraska anymore. Now I'm a Roe Dylandah. Still, in my youth I saw a couple just like that and they do scare the hell out of you.

    Lois - wouldn't you agree that robeless is best?

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  19. Drdad where did you get youPhD?

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  20. Dennis,
    So I was not alone in thinking 18D clue was weak. I checked pterodactyls, they have wings!

    Kim,
    "The Golden Horde"/Mongol.

    Dr.Dad,
    So the clue for 43D: VATTED is technically wrong?

    Dick,
    I deleted the other 2 comments because they were identical to your 6:50am one. Blogger glitch I think.

    Barry,
    I agree, the QUIP today does make sense.

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  21. Barry: between the 2 of us, the sun will have some serious competition! It is an astronomical, extrordinary super-nova kind of fine day. If I were any happier, I'd have to be twins.

    Dick: I hear you knockin'! As Bob Barker would naively say: Come on down!! No robes allowed. drdad: How many tornadoes do you have under your belt? I have too many un-named ones to count btw OK and TX. Thought I moved away from them. Suffolk is still recovering from the ones about a month ago when we had 9 in one afternoon. Now the tornadoes under my belt that are actually 'named' (like 'him'acanes)? Same stats. That's a great picture though.

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  22. Dick - University of Nebraska - Lincoln

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  23. C.C.- No, I don't think the clue for vatted is wrong. I was just citing an example where I had seen vat used as a verb.

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  24. No mention of the anagrams sear and sera at 23A/D?

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  25. Cc I agree that 18D was a very weak clue.

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  26. Drdad my wife attended the University of New Hampshire where she got her PhD in chemistry.

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  27. Lois, for shame!! Asking if I have a tornado under my belt. Maybe under my robe if I wore one.
    Seriously, I saw one F-4, two F-3's, and three real small ones (probably F-1's or F-2's) over the course of my existence on the plains of Nebraska. Did you hear about the one that ripped through the Boy Scout camp in Iowa that killed 4 and injured 40 yesterday?

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  28. Did some googling on today's constructor and found that he is an attorney in Huntington Beach, California and connected with Misubishi Electronics. You can check it out here. Some funny responses from others about his puzzles include the following.(Click on each word).
    And some stats on who has done the Trib puzzles prior to your blog cc are here.
    Got through today's puzzle in good time but felt there was a lot of crosswordese in it.

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  29. Ted,
    I did not mention it because I did NOT notice that. Thank you for pointing it out!

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  30. nytanonimo that was very interesting info you posted. Thanks!

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  31. Chin Chin,
    No mention of ANTES and ANTI? Isn't ANT a root word?

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  32. Thanks for the link argyle-that is a nice rendition of "Somewhere over the Rainbow".

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  33. Like others, I was more likely to think of ALAR and variations for 'winged'....but I guess Ptero comes from Pterodactyl..flying reptiles..and/or Pterosaurs..so- called "flying lizards".

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  34. Good morning, everyone! Not too bad for a quip day. I had the wrong Jack for a while (SPRATT instead of HORNER), but once I corrected that, everything else fell into place. C.C., you need to educate me about why you refer to Rick Steves as the "globe-trotting guinea pig." C.C., could you say that Ms. Nation has a "hatchet face?" Lois, you're 5A comment is a hoot! Ted, good catch on the anagram. Have a great day. We're even supposed to break the 70 mark once more today.

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  35. (to the tune of "Love that chicken at Pop Eye`s")
    "Love those puzzles at Tribune!"

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  36. Good Morning C.C.and all you D.F's: I started out fine, but went downhill from there. I had "beats" in for 36A (I was thinking of a "cop's beat") so I could not get 28D until I found help from C.C. Loved the clue for 39A. Agree with most of you on 62A.

    Lois, your comment about 5A "floored" me, I am still laughing! (I had to read it a few times before I got it)
    If you meet Dick without a robe be careful about your "image" what you "emit" during your "feats"!!

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  37. Anonymous @ 8:33am,
    Good point! Thank you. But who are you?

    Dale,
    Someone told me earlier that PTERO comes from Greek Pteron, it means Wing.

    Crockett1947,
    "Hi, I'm Rick Steves, your globe-trotting guinea pig!". Yes, yes, "Hatchet face", I wish I thought of it earlier!

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  38. This puzzle came very slow to me...
    I didn't know whether to give up or
    throw my cup of tea at the wall...
    But I learned something when I had
    finished....There are several creators of puzzles that I like: which ones do you like. Mr Olsch-
    wang tends to frighten me always. I
    think he fumbles with my spirit!!
    Edward

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  39. for 47 down, I have never heard of avaal. I know I have the rest right. I'm down to just that one second a in "avaal" and wondering if i have it right. any help would be greatly appreciated!

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  40. Anon 11:56: 47D is Avail w/ 58A being L I C E...w/nits being the eggs of the pest....as anyone in public schools can tell you.

    Carol: I'm glad you and Crockett got it (5A). Gives a whole new meaning to Ho Down, doesn't it. As far as Dick goes? (hee hee) I don't think 'emitting' is going to be the verb that describes the action of our meeting. Not to worry. I'll be gentle.

    drdad: i agree. Robeless is the only way. That's how I do my best work!

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  41. Edward,
    Have some coffee then! I don't have a favorite constructor, but I have my favorite puzzle. Ironically it's also authored by Alan P. Olschwang. It's a themeless Sunday Play Ball puzzle. Masterfully done!

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  42. Lois, I used "emiting" as in making or emitting loud noises when you two robeless people meet. Ain't we "ho'able?? :)

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  43. Again, I go away for a week and now there's freakin' orgies!!

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  44. Dennis: Oh well! You snooze, you lose! I'm sure there'll be plenty of hot dysfunctional stuff waiting for you when you get back. If not, you'll instigate it, I have no doubt!

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  45. I'd rather have orgies that all the ogres we've seemed to become attatched to lately. Maybe the sounds emitting for the orgies will scare off the ogres!

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  46. hello all! pretty easy one today....once i got the quip at least

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  47. hi all,

    this one was not a breeze for me today. and personally, i liked 18D 'live wires' until i saw that 'lois' didn't fit. hmph.

    another HOT one in CA today ...

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  48. Well, I finally made it! It's been a busy day so far.Didn't do bad today except for spelling errors.
    Especially when I know better. The only real snag was 40a and 37d crossing. I had MAUI but KNEW that wasn't right, 'cause it's on the wrong side of the world and since I had NO idea what the CATHEDRAL City was I gave up and got my anwsers from C.C.. I know it's a cheat but I was really pressed for time this AM and couldn't leave til the crossword was DONE!!~
    CYA. Dennis, Take advantage while you can 'cause in a couple of weeks you'll not care if you missed it or not....at least for a few days.

    (and I thought i da ho was a potato....Just shows the sheltered life I've led?????!!!!)

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  49. Melissa: that's so funny! Yeah, 'doer' fits!

    Carol: You are hilarious! Ho'able is exactly what we are! And w/3 daughters it works real well at Cmas time w/Santa and my 3 fine ho's. We just go Ho Ho Ho the whole month.

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  50. Hi, C.C. and gang, I missed checking in Wednesday night, and there my name is (Kit, baby fox). Thanks for the mention, C.C. You made my night. I flew through Wednesday's puzzle, finished Thursday's without benefit of help, but it took a little longer. Loved all the works of art today. Beautiful.

    Dennis, what's a person to do? From what I've read, Lois has thought of many things you can do, none of which will maintain your "puritanical" nature! Being naughty is much more fun, and you sure sound like a fun guy to me. Everyone seems to have a great sense of humor, and laughter is the best medicine.

    Lois, you make me laugh out loud every night, and by one or two in the morning, I really need a laugh or three. Thanks.

    C.C., I was flipping channels and caught David Cook on The Tonight Show tonight. He was on the outdoor stage singing "Time of My Life." He was soooo good. I've decided to become a "Cougar for Cook." The man is hot. Wish I'd have known earlier; I would have let you know. Probably on line by now.

    Just saw on the weather that Minnesota is having severe weather again. Hope all is well. It's supposed to hit Ohio Friday night. So sad for all those people in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Terrible flooding. We can't stop Mother Nature.

    Two in the morning here. Happy Friday, all.

    Kit

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  51. Nini,
    Thank you for leaving a comment on the blog. Hope to hear from you again soon.

    Kit,
    I've copied and moved your comment to Friday so others can share.

    ReplyDelete

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