google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday August 11, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

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Aug 11, 2008

Monday August 11, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: "Rhyme with MUCK"

18A: Leaving Las Vegas lament: ROTTEN LUCK

62A: Word in Don Rickles' insults: HOCKEY PUCK

4D: Defenseless target: SITTING DUCK

25D: FX network series: NIP TUCK

27D: Shift blame: PASS THE BUCK

Good puzzle, but I was not really aweSTRUCK by the construction, no Z or Q. I guess I should not always expect such scrabbly letters from Allan E. Parrish. But I think his rhyming themed puzzles start to bore me now.

I do like those strikeout K's in the grid, and the J & X. The puzzle feels very smooth, no forced fill or strained clue. I did not know EISEN (16A), RAL (23A), SERGEI (33A), HIS'N (70A) and MYNA (38D), but all were inferable by the crossing fills.

Across:

1A: One meaning of X: KISS. Here is Rodin's "The KISS".

9A: Dutch cheese: GOUDA. Or sometimes EDAM.

14A: Race in "The Time Machine": ELOI

16A: Rich of the "NFL Network": EISEN. His mug looks familiar to me, but I would not have got his name without the crossing fills.

20A: Organic fuel source: PEAT BOG

23A: '60s singer Donner: RAL. Again, I pieced his name together from the perps. I like this album title.

24A: Dude from Dubuque: IOWAN. Ha, I thought "Dubuque" is a city in Scotland. Here is the map. Great clue. This is the fasinating "American Gothic" from the IOWAN Grant Wood.

26A: Undulation: RIPPLE. "Undulation" reminds me of yesterday's PGA Championship. 41 down, 1 more to go Sergio!

28A: Tip over: UPEND

31A: Inventor Tesla: NIKOLA. Good to see "Tesla" as part of the clue rather than as the answer to "unit of magnetic flux density".

33A: Composer Rachmaninoff: SERGEI. Wikipedia says that Vladimir Horowitz might have gotten his "rhythmic snap from Rachmaninoff". His hands look quite small. Does anyone know the difference between SERGEI and SERGEY in Russian?

35A: Smoke conduit: PIPE STEM. Hmm, very interesting names. Must be a very satisfying experience to insert the tenon of the PIPE STEM into the mortise of the PIPE BOWL.

40A: Like wise: DITTO. That's what Sam replied to to Molly when she said "I love you" to him in "Ghost". He really loved her though.

42A: Sharp rival: SONY

43A: 2006 Steve Martin role: CLOUSEAU. Remember this picture? That's Molly Sims. She is in the upcoming "Pink Panther 2".

45A: Customer: PATRON

50A: African wild dog: JACKAL. His tail looks rather bushy. Our ex-governor Jesse Ventura ("The Body") used to call the local media as "JACKALS". He is a hard man.

53A: Deceitful one: KNAVE

56A: Middle Eastern grp.: PLO. Vs. Hamas.

58A: Coffee bean variety: ARABICA. Beautiful berries.

70A: Boondocks possessive: HIS'N. I still don't understand this one. Why add letter N?

71A: Kentucky fort: KNOX. Also President Polk's middle name.

Down:

1D: Some seaweed: KELP. Very grainy and coarse. Only good for vegetarian dashi broth. I like miso soup.

5D: "One L" writer: TUROW (Scott). He also wrote "Presumed Innocent". "One L" is a good read, short too.

6D: Work shoe: BROGAN. It appeared in our puzzle before.

9D: Non-Jewish: GENTILE. Or Non-Mormon, according to the dictionary.

11D: Stage a coup: USURP

12D: Temporary tattoo: DECAL

13D: That's just over a foot: ANKLE. I like this clue.

19D: Continental sound: EUROPOP. Here is "Believe" from Dima Bilan (Eurovision 2008 winner), for Melissa. She likes Plushenko. That violinist is Edvin Marton, the very talented Hungarian composer. He is playing his Stradivarius.

28D: Parris Island org.: USMC (United States Marine Corps). I've never heard of Parris island before. Where is the Marines HQ?

29D: Orange coat: PEEL

30D: Cube-make Rubik: ERNO. I like this Rubik scene from Will Smith's "The Pursuit of Happyness". But why not "Happiness"?

34D: According to plan: IDEALLY

36D: One third of a WWII movie?: TORA. It's a good movie. "To" means "sudden" in Chinese too.

37D: Son of Seth: ENOS. Or "Slaughter in baseball".

38D: Talking starling: MYNA. What?

50D: Holy war: JIHAD. Those people who take part in JIHAD are called mujahideen (singular is mujahid). Wikepedia says "In Islamic scripture, the mujahid contrasts with the QAID, one who does not join the JIHAD". Dictionary explains QAID (also spelled as CAID) as "Muslim judge, tribal chief". Those constructors should probably consider this word for their next pangram.

51D: Like a bunch: ADORE. I initially misread "Like" as an prepostion.

52D: Powdered chocolate: COCOA

54D: "Catch-22" star: ARKIN (Alan). I've never seen "Catch-22". Like his role in "Little Miss Sunshine" thought.

60D: Mafia leader: CAPO. Haven't see CAPO clued as "Guita device" for a while.

61D: Writer Haley: ALEX. I truly felt the culture shock when I read his "The Autobiography of Malcolm X". Very educating though.

C.C.

83 comments:

  1. Good morning, C.C. and fellow DFs - pretty straightforward puzzle this morning, with only a couple pauses. Hadn't heard the term 'Euro Pop', didn't know Scott Turow had a book called "One L", and hadn't heard of Ral Donner.

    C.C., Parris Island is where Marine Corps boot camp is located, for all those east of the Mississippi. Those west of it go to San Diego.
    And between the suggestive pipe stem diagram and the picture of Molly Sims, you've managed to get the blood going already this morning.

    Hope it's a bearable Monday for everyone.

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  2. I ended up having to google a few words I didn't know: TUROW, (Alan) ARKIN, ARABICA and HISN. I didn't know Dubuque was in Iowa: I thought it might be in Greece so I wrote IONAN instead of IOWAN. Then I changed it to IOVAN thinking Turow was a Russian author named TUROV. Sometimes my guesses pay off and sometimes they don't.

    I got KISS from the "perps". (Perpetrators?) I would have preferred "Prince hit" as the clue. Similarly, I would never have gotten HIS'N from "Boondocks possessive". I was thinking WISE as in "What's going on Dad-wise today?" (ie "What's going on with Dad?"). I think a better clue would have been "____hers".

    I got a kick from seeing NIKOLA Tesla and Thomas ALVA Edison in the same puzzle. Tesla originally came to the US from Croatia (via Hungary). Edison hired him, having arranged for his visa. Thing is, Edison only paid him 18 dollars a week while getting rich from Tesla's patents so Tesla quit and went to work for George Westinghouse. Edison was so pissed that he publicly denounced Tesla's work and said that his inventions wouldn't work and were, in fact, "dangerous". Edison was, of course, a highly respected man so Tesla panicked and sold his patents to George Westinghouse. Tesla died penniless. Westinghouse went on to make a fortune. Westinghouse Electric is now known as Viacom and owns CBS and MTV. Edison's company, General Electric (GE) was a co-founder of NBC.

    It is believed that, late in life, Tesla had gone quite mad: one of the inventions he had claimed to have designed was for a teleportation device. No such patent was ever put forward. The movie The Prestige, however, toyed with the idea that Tesla's teleportation device not only worked but that he had built it and given it to a stage magician to use in his act. Tesla was played by David Bowie in the movie. (I got a lot of this info from Wikipedia so some of it could be BS.)

    Don Rickles played Mr. Potato Head in Toy Story. At one point in the movie, Mr. Potato Head said, "What are you looking at, Hockey Puck?" to an actual hockey puck.

    Martin

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  3. C.C., the picture with 58A, aren't they Arabica beans, not berries?

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  4. Martin, 'perps' is short for 'perpendiculars'.

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  5. Dennis & Martin,
    "One L" is Scott Turow's journal of his first year at Harvard. Aren't those coffee beans called berries before they are picked and dried? Why put an N after HIS (70A)?

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  6. C.C., I was a counselor at a YMCA camp in north Georgia during my summer breaks in school, and his'n was very much a part of the vocabulary of the locals, along with the ever-popular your'n. No idea how they came to be, but I'll bet the words also showed up in the great comic strip that clear ayes referred to, "Lil Abner".

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  7. at TEN shun,
    The United States Marine Corps headquarters are located in Arlington, Virginia, MA'AM. The Commandant's home is the Barracks at 8th and "I" in Washington, D.C..

    Parris Island is in South Carolina, near Beaufort.

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  8. bonne apres midi! this felt quick and easy and rhyming always helps. The problems of transliteration result in variant spelling...Rachmaninoff preferred the French variant to the Engl. ov. In Sweden it's always sergej btw. Then of course there's Peking and Beijing...what used to be known as Bombay...etc.

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  9. Good morning, all. A new record - sub 4 minutes - 3:47 to be exact. Not a one I didn't know. Just a matter of writing fast once I figured I could catch Dennis.
    I agree with Dennis on the pipe stem plus Molly Sims.
    Jesse "The Body" Ventura. What a wrestler. I'd give him my vote for President.
    Didn't ever refer to a myna bird as a starling. My wife had one as a child that could sound like a toilet flushing.
    Though Marconi is credited as the inventor of the radio/wireless, I believe Tesla made the first working prototype from which Marconi got some of his ideas. This was, I think, referred to in the Morgan Freeman/Jack Nicholson movie, "The Bucket List."

    Today is Sons and Daughters Day, not to be confused with Take Your Son/Daughter to Work Day which is in April.
    It's also Presidential Joke Day. I won't say anything more.

    Have a good one.

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  10. Argyle et al,
    Please click the refresh button when you come to my blog every morning. I tend to make last minute spelling/link corrections often. Yes, the deleted emails are automatically counted by blogger.

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  11. Good Monday morning CC etal,
    Not bad today, although some of the cluing was abstract ("deceitful one" = "knave"?, "hockey puck"?, "aroar"?) - thank goodness for the perps or I would have been lost.

    Isaac Hayes died - is sad. Here's one of my favorites from South Park:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcNWQ_VWMDk

    Hope all have a great start to the week!

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  12. Morning, all: Ya'all (probably spelled wrong) His'n and your'n was explained to me shortly after I moved south: his own and your own. Good puzzle to start off a new week!

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  13. Good morning, C.C. and all.

    EISEN, RAL, ONE L and EUROPOP all came through fills. I didn't know them.

    'Orange Coat" threw me for a bit. I was thinking along the lines of a chilly Buddhist monk, until I realized what it had to be.

    Argyle, I could hear the snap to attention in your comment. *S*

    It should be a beautiful day in Chicago. I hope y'all are as fortunate.

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  14. Parris Island is located in Beaufort, South Carolina. As a Headquarters, I don't believe there is such a base as they train in different bases, depending on their specialty. The Marines are a "branch" of the US Navy so their pilots train in Pensacola, FL, and the other training camps such as infantry, etc have their special places where they can fire live ammo. And so on. dennis may be better off into giving correct info about the Marines, service which I really appreciate as a retired US Navy guy. My first duty station was Cherry Point MCAS. From there I went to Pensacola, FL.

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  15. my friend in Naples,,Fl faxes this crossword every day and when i get stuck i get answers from the Star Trib Corner and enjoy reading the comments as well.
    I prefer this puzzle to the Miami Herald and my question is , how can I get it daily, can I subscribe and with whom.

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  16. Morning, folks!

    Not much to say about this one. Didn't know EISEN or RAL, but that was it and they came easily via the perps. My only problems with this puzzle were my own minor brain misfunctions as I initially put CLOUSTAU instead of CLOUSEAU and NIKOLI instead of NIKOLA.

    Martin already pointed out my single favorite line from the movie, "Toy Story." The hockey puck in question was a toy with arms and legs, and when Don Rickle's character said the line you didn't see who he was talking to at first. When the "camera" then panned to reveal he was actually talking to a hockey puck, I laughed. Out loud.

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  17. flyingears, the official Marine Corps Headquarters is in Arlington, Va., although a lot of Marines probably don't even realize it. In reality, HQMC is spread throughout the Washington/Virginia area, including Henderson Hall, Marine Barracks Washington, and MC Base Quantico.
    And yes, we are an organization within the Navy Department; I'm sure you've heard all the jokes, but I still appreciate having our 'cab drivers'-- whenever there was a war, they always took us there...

    Oh, and there are no finer human beings than Navy corpsmen.

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  18. Good morning, C.C., et al. I wandered through this one, filling here and there. Niptuck and Europop confused me as did Adore and Aroar. It wasn't in the sub four minute class for me.
    It's always fun to read how ya'all handled it.
    Martin Sheen, in "West Wing", referred to Tesla as beating Marconi in inventing radio.
    As electricity was just being developed, Edison felt Direct Current or DC, (think of car batteries) would be he standard, but Tesla developed Alternating Current or AC(think household outlets). AC proved to be much more practical for usage and transmission. One remnant(among a zillion others) of Edison's talent is the 600 volts DC that still powers streetcars or whatever your city calls "light rail" as we call it in Portland.

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  19. just challenging enough to be interesting. I liked it.

    Martin, good summary of Edison & Tesla. Let me just add that Tesla invented the concept of alternating current (AC) while Edison was a proponent of direct current (DC) for our electrical grid. AC won, of course, but Edison is still considered the inventor of electricity. "The Prestige" is one of the best movies ever - I've watched it 3 or 4 times in order to completely understand what was going on. Tesla had some sort of unusual mental conditions (obsessive-compulsive?) that caused him to do everything in threes, count lines on the sidewalk, etc. Sort of like Adrian Monk on the TV show "Monk". But Tesla was unquestionably brilliant - he invented and perfected the polyphase inductive motor completely in his head before he put anything on paper or built a prototype.

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  20. Anonymous @ 7:51am,
    Wow, what a wonderful friend you have! These papers in FL carry the same puzzle: Palm Beach Post; Naples Daily News; Sun-Sentinel; St. Petersburg Times. Port Saint Lucie News (Port Saint Lucie); Tampa Tribune (Tampa); Florida Times Union- Jacksonville; The Ledger (Lakeland); Orlando Sentinel. Or you can just go to Chicago Tribune Website for the online puzzle.

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  21. was rather a fun puzzle this morning...had trouble with sony (42a) mostly because i read sharp instead of Sharp; and the smoke conduit (35a) got me for the longest time also...had to spend some time on aroar (66a) also..not a word i'm familiar with...30 minutes of fun tho!

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  22. Buckeye,
    Where has Sergio Garcia's putting gone? Can you tell me what's wrong with his 6"?

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  23. C.C., Putting has always been a tremendous problem not only to Sergio but to Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson as well... Their struggles with putting have kept 'em away from the winner's circle more often than they care...

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  24. Good morning CC & DF's: This was a "gouda'n" but not a fast'un for me. Had some hard 'knox' on this one, but the 'clous-eau(pened)'
    the puzzle once I got the theme. My inability to 'cope' with CC's pipe stem link and explanation rippled my ovaries and lift'(ed) my eyebrows! Then comes kiss, chance, serge(i) chased by 'upend' which really sent me lookin for 'brogan'(s), b/c where you find brogans, you find hard working Trojans...true 'so-fa'(r)in my experience.

    'i-owan' to you CC for the great links and analysis. 'I do' appreciate all your hard work.
    As for the Ben Wa Balls? Follow Clear Ayes' links yesterday...it explains how to use them in a rocking chair too. Great idea!

    Big storms last night...bad outdoors, great indoors, and gorgeous today. Hope you all enjoy it. When does Dick return? Does anyone know?

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  25. "When does dick return?" Jeez, Lois, how many times have you used THAT line??

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  26. good morning c.c. and all,

    'rhymes suck,' nicely done c.c. didn't remember brogan, and never heard of europop.

    liked the visual of the pipestem, which is indeed very symbolic. made my own pipe at tracker school and learned that in native tradition, the stem represents the masculine and the bowl the feminine. when the two are joined, all of creation is represented, and only truth can be spoken. put that in your pipe and smoke it.

    interesting information about nikola tesla. the band tesla is named after him.

    @martin: i've gotten kissed by a few perpetrators myself.

    @dennis: what was your camp name?

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  27. To the "Siren Sisters" - had a great time camping this weekend. Pitched the tent without any problems. Occasionally had another tent pitched inside of it, albeit with a smaller pole.

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  28. Hi C.C. and all ya'll,

    Had trouble with the NE corner until I filled in usurp and decal for 11d and 12d.
    Also wanted "omen" for 21d
    which messed up "peatbog".
    Finally got "Bode" from the crosses.
    So many words in every puzzle that I"m not familiar with; But if I have a few letters to work with, I can usually fill in the rest. Proper names excepted.
    I was raised in "Show Business", (Circus and Tent Shows) so I am fairly well versed on colloquial terms used by "Show Folks".
    Hence, "hisn" was no problem for me.
    My 83 year old brain does'nt work so fast anymore, so an hour on a puzzle is about as good as I can do. (But ain't it fun)?

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  29. Dennis: you are hilarious! I am missing Dick - but not by much since my aim is very good. Always hang w/the straight shooters. However, to answer your question, haven't used that line very often. They have to go away before they can be missed.

    Welcome back, drdad. Sounds like the tent pitching went like a well oiled machine...easy up and down.

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  30. melissa bee, my camp name? Can't remember specifically, but it was whatever "don't let this kid near a coed camp again" is in Indian.

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  31. Lois, 'they have to go away before they can be missed'?? You save them?

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  32. Remember the line from the theme song of High Noon (with Gary Cooper)?

    'He made a vow while in state prison
    That it would be my life or his'n.'

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  33. Dennis: I prefer the term 'collect' as in 'hoard', which lends itself to some wide open interpretations.

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  34. Good Morning Y'All, Thanks to Southern Belle for the explanation for HISN. I wonder why "Her'n" or Our'n" isn't included in the mix. Or maybe they are? Perhaps we should write and ask Paula Deen, the Food Network cook/personality. Ms. Deen positively "drips" southern colloquialisms.

    I had never heard of RAL Donner, so I googled him. The poor guy was something of an Elvis sound-like and his career never really went anywhere because of the similarity of their styles. Why settle for anything less than "the King". (Am I right, Lois?)

    EUROPOP was was last word I filled in. I had heard of it, but that was probably 30 years ago in reference to ABBA. Americans don't hear much about European singers unless they sing in English. Too bad, maybe we are missing out on some good(?) music.

    Today was another learning experience. Sciences were never my strong subjects in school. Now, when the name NIKOLA Tesla comes up in conversation, I can, at least, nod my head knowingly.

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  35. Good day c.c., DF’s and all. Well, way to stoke the fires, what with a lesson on pipe fitting and imagery of Jesse “The Hard Body(?)” Ventura, I am up (!) and ready to go!

    This was a nice Monday puzzle, nothing too outrageous, nothing too obscure save for 70a HIS’N (does anybody speak like that anymore) and 19d EUROPOP (never heard if it, I have heard of eurotrash, though).

    People would be best servrd going to the site that c.c. provided for the online puzzle. I don’t know about the other papers, but the Naples Daily News doesn’t carry the Trib x/w online.

    I highly recommend Rock’s piano concerto #2; also his music was featured in the Geoffrey Rush movie “Shine”.

    I’ll close with a Big Kiss for y'all!

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  36. Hi C.C. and D.F.'s: This one got me thinking and is probably why I have a headache. Foggy brain this morning.
    I did not know 5D but now that I do, I will order his books from my library.
    Wanted to put "a sock" in for 13D.
    Did not know 19D or 23A..Clear Ayes is right, I looked him up on Google, and he did try to sound like Elvis, his mistake!
    51D really fooled me, I had the same thought as C.C., I was thinking of something similar to clump.

    Lois, You hoard dicks, you glutton you! :)

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  37. Good morning CC and all,

    At first I thought this was going to be another puzzle I couldn't finish, but once the whiskey cobwebs began to deminish I got on with it with little trouble. I did not like the the clue for jackal. Wikipedia lists names for the Aferican wild dog like Cape hunting dog, and painted hunting dog amoung others but not Jackal. Should of clued it as; Day Of The __. or something along those lines

    Anyway great blog I love the banter in the comments and I alway learn something. Another nice day in NORCAL.

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  38. Anon @7:51
    Google tempo daily crossword -- chicagotribune.com

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  39. Carol, it's a personality flaw. No cure either....well, there is one - 'marriage', but I don't want to get institutionalized. So, I undergo treatments with a king size (like Clear ayes said)con'cock'tion every day (no specific time)....either by mouth or injection. Hasn't helped any yet. Those little buggers still pop up and I still want 'em. I understand that Father Time will take care of this problem eventually....but I doubt it. Even Father Time comes so fast he deserves a speeding ticket. He ought to be reported to the FAA! Now how is he gonna help? Just gives me more search and seizure opportunity. It's a problem!

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  40. RE:70A His'n. S.Belle's explanation was perfect, but, C.C., you should watch some of the old black and white "Andy Griffith Show" episodes with Andy and Barney. Then, you'll be able to speak "Southern" as well as anyone.

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  41. Good morning everyone. New words today were EISEN, RAL, and ERNO, all obscure names to me.

    I also liked the clue for 13D -- made me think!

    Southern belle, thank you for the his'n explanation.

    Have a great Monday!

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  42. Hi all,
    Not as easy for me, took a while, but got all the rhymes right away and that helped out a bunch. Had to google Sergei. Others that I didn't know, but finally got, were from the perps. Martin, thanks for the info on Tesla and Edison, very interesting!

    Have a great day everyone!

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  43. Hi C.C and all,
    Have you noticed the Google logo since the Olympics started?
    Good crossword today.
    Geri

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  44. "Politicians never accuse you of 'greed' for wanting other people's money --- only for wanting to keep your own money."

    Joseph Sobran

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  45. jimbo, an 83 year-old brain that still works with X/W puzzle is still a GREAT BRAIN. Nothing to feel "slow" about. My 68 year-old brain works as slow as yours... He, he.

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  46. Tougher than I expected for a Monday. I had trouble, but by just going around and around I eventually filled in the puzzle without resorting to Mr. G. Surprised to hear that several solvers found this one easy.

    I much prefer Martin's suggested clue for HISN - though clearly many here recognize it, it seemed like a bit of a cheat to me.

    Loved ARABICA - great word that I've never seen in a puzzle.

    I had a hard time with IDEALLY, even after I got most of the letters. Somehow that just wasn't what I expected, though it seems like a perfectly fair answer from the clue.

    Was surprised that I didn't get CLOUSEAU right away, since we just talked about Peter Sellers last week. I blame it on Monday brain.

    I just love Alan ARKIN. Check him out in The In-Laws (for comedy) or as a bad guy in the superb Wait Until Dark. Both have been remade - the former with Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks (far inferior to original) and the latter as a stage production shown on TV with Katherine Ross (remember that we were talking about her a couple weeks ago!)

    c.c. - Parris Island is often used synonymously for the Marines. Now that you know, you'll probably hear it and think "oh yeah!"

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  47. Oh, my! Just when I thought I had made a clean break, I'm compelled to add my lousy two cents worth. No real problems today. Knew Rick Eisen when he was with ESPN. Knew Nicola (Tesla) but got new and better info from Martin, Thanks, guy. Didn't know Donner(Ral), but perps filled it in.

    Previously, I mentioned all the languages I spoke and said Hillbillyese was one, so HIS'N was a GIVEN. Think, "He'll drink his'n but he won't drink your'n." A new c/w song?

    Rachmaninoff's 2nd is one of my favorites, too, xchefwalt. The concerto is rather short, as far as concerto's go, so they usually added something else to the old 33 1/3's and cassette tapes. It was usually "Rhapsody On A Theme From Paganini, op.43," a beautiful melody that was demeaned in the '70's when it was used as background on a "Taster's Choice" coffee ad on T.V.

    cc, Poor Sergio's putting stroke hasn't "gone" anywhere. It was never here. His driving is much like his mentor's was (Seve Ballesteros) in that he's long but often in another area code. But, like Seve and Tiger, he has the ability to make great recovery shots. Unfortunately, his putter has cost him millions and numerous "Major" titles and other tournaments. Flyingears is correct about Vijay Singh's putting - he's tried every putter the book, including the belly putter, and he still has a problem. As for Phil Mickelson, he was once considered a "whiz" with the "Texas Wedge" a few years ago, but in the past few years he's gotten very "yippie" on his short putts. Too bad, because it ol' straight blade has cost him a bunch, too.

    lois,You're right. Father Time is a rather rapid fellow, but don't EVER let him slow down your sex life. Only Mother Nature can do that and if you keep the right frame of mind and keep healthy (to stay with my golf analogy) everything will be "up and in." You may have to remember the old song "If You Can't Be With The One You Love, Then Love The One You're With."

    With that - I must be off.

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  48. flyingears, I'm with you - an 83-year-old brain that can do ANYTHING is something we should all aspire to have. jimbo, my compliments. Must've been a life of wine, women & song.

    danielle, I don't know if you ever saw my question, but wasn't there a specialist first class back in the 60s or 70s? I'd swear I had a friend back then who had that rank.

    Lois, you "don't want to get institutionalized" -- again?

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  49. 9:47 today I'm finding it difficult to navigate the online puzzle with the keyboard since I'm more used to the AcrosLite navigation, which virtually every other online xword uses (Tempo uses a Flash player which navigates differently). I may go back to solving with pen in the paper, but then I don't get an automatic time.

    In today's puzzle, I didn't know RAL, and don't we usually see MYNA spelled MYNAH? Other than that, no problems, other than the above-mentioned navigational errors.

    c.c.: I am not certain why the title of "Pursuit of Happyness" is spelled with a "Y", I only know that that is the way it is spelled in the title of the book (and movie). This goes back to a similar discussion on "All My Ex's Live In Texas". It may not be strictly correct grammatically, but it is the title. Therefore it's correct (you'd never think to change the title of a book or song just because you consider it "wrong").
    Pursuit of Happyness book cover

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  50. Buckeye, Welcome back after a short vacation.

    Danielle, I agree with you about "The Inlaws" remake. I love Albert Brooks and will watch just about any of his movies over and over....except "The Inlaws". I guess that was one of his "gotta make some money" movies. BTW, can you think of any remakes that were better than the originals?

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  51. clear ayes, how 'bout 'Cape Fear'? I always loved Robert Mitchum's movies, but nobody does a maniacal nutcase better than DeNiro.

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  52. Buckeye: good to see you here. Thanks for the uplifting and inspiring comment. That song title is my own personal philosophy as well as "so many men, so little time".

    Dennis: yeah, no more institutions for me. I've developed an aversion to men in little white coats, unless they call themselves 'The Butler' or can only say "Room Service" and "Thank you, Ma'am". Usually my men wear ties (i.e., hand cuffs) or nothing at all.

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  53. Buckeye, it's good to know that you're so addicted to the D.F.s that you can't leave!

    Welcome back.

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  54. @buckeye 2:14- welcome back, bro! That’s the exact Rock combo I have on CD, but I thought the bastardization took place in the 70’s when Eric Carmen Lifted the second movement into “All By Myself” and didn’t give credit.

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  55. in the movie 'the pursuit of happyness,' there is a scene where the father is bothered when he notices the misspelling at his son's daycare (painted on the wall or door or something, forget exactly).

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  56. xchefwalt, Right. Carmen did it to the 2nd, Folger's to the Paganini Theme. Somebody did it to Tchaikovsky with "Full Moon and Empty Arms." I think Beethoven got "Rocked", too.

    You people are like nicotine. Once you're hooked, it's tough to break away. With the Sirens I think you may be just as deadly - but what a way to go!!!!

    BTW, I never "yip" my 6 incher. It always goes in the "cup."

    IMBO

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  57. Wow, Dennis, you picked a difficult movie to argue with. Robert DeNiro in “Cape Fear” is right up there on the top creepiest villains list. I can’t think of another actor who could have surpassed Robert Mitchum in that role, but it came as close as last night’s 400M relay swim at the Olympics. (Wasn’t that a barn-burner!!)

    But nobody could ever surpass Robert Mitchum in “Night Of The Hunter”. If you haven’t seen it, you should Netflix it; you won’t be sorry. Shelly Winters also starred as a love-starved widow and silent movie star Lillian Gish was Mitchum’s nemesis. There have been a lot of creepy villains in movies, but this one is a real classic….and he could sing too.

    Night Of The Hunter Clip

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  58. buckeye, welcome back. Gonna stay with us a while this time? You're right about the lure of the sirens. Remember Silvio Dante in "The Sopranos"? "Just when you think you're out.....they pull you back in again".

    clear ayes, Mitchum's role in Night of the Hunter might have been his best ever. Just perfect; my favorite movie of his.

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  59. Dennis, Of course we pull you "back in"! Is there a better place to be?

    Buckeye, welcome back - we are glad you have become "addicted" to us. May you always be able to find your balls and your driver!

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  60. Argyle @6:34am,
    What is "I"?

    Danielle @ 2:03pm,
    "Now that you know, you'll probably hear it and think "oh yeah!"" Why??

    Buckeye,
    I've asked you this question before, but I've got no reply. Were you a radio talk show host before?

    KittyB,
    Thank you so much for the concerto lesson.

    Xchefwalt,
    Besides Calvin, what else are tattooed on that ___ (Jesse Ventura's nickname, with "the")?

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  61. Embien,
    I don't understand why people want to create grammatically incorrect song/movie titles. They do not sound awe-inspiring or entertaining to me at all. What other puzzles do you solve on daily basis?

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  62. C.C., I'll jump in and answer for argyle. The streets in Washington, D.C. are named after letters of the alphabet. To distinguish that one is referring to the street name. it is placed in quotes. Thus, "I" means "I Street."

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  63. carol, not gonna get an argument from here - there is no better place to be....

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  64. Lois,
    What is the connection between "BROGAN" and "Trojans"? I know Ben Wa Ball, but you said "Ben Wa TING balls". What is "TING"? What are "men in little white coat"?

    Carol,
    Who/What is Xaveria?

    Melissa,
    "made my own pipe at tracker school". What is "tracker school"? Thank you for pointing out the reason why "Happyness" is spelled as "Happyness"!

    Jimbo,
    When I grow up, I want to be just like EWE.

    Barb B,
    I've seen "High Noon", but I don't remember the line.

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  65. cc; I'll try to be brief. Years ago, when I lived in Montana, I would visit my family here in Ohio (where I grew up) and listen to a radio personality named Gary Burbank on WLW radio. He did a number of "characters" and was GREAT. (Earl Pitts is one of his creations and Pitts is syndicated so some of you may have heard him.) He occasionally ended a skit with "I must be off." A friend of mine had a radio program in Montana and would, from time to time, ask me to "fill" some time on his show. I would come on using different voices, talking about sports, music, politics - just about anything and stole Burbank's IMBO. He's retired now so I don't feel too badly stealing his line. Besides, it's true - I AM a little "off."

    IMBO

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  66. Flyingears @ 1:59pm,
    What prompted you to quote Sobran today?

    Steve @ 12:26pm,
    I like your JACKAL clue.

    Dennis @ 11:02am,
    "don't let this kid near a coed camp again" is in Indian." I don't understand this. What on earth is your camp's name?

    Clear Ayes,
    Maybe you should contact with Paula. She is indeed dripping with "southern colloquialisms" while cooking/talking.

    Xchefwalt,
    So you were up (!), did you finally go? Why did you call the SERGEI Piano Concerto #2 as Rock's combo? Who is Rock?

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  67. c.c., melissa bee was asking what my 'camp name' was. I think I misunderstood the question; all the counselors were given native American names, and I was speculating what mine probably was. The camp name was Camp Hiawassee.

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  68. I got interested, so I looked up the lyrics to "Do Not Forsake Me", the theme song for "High Noon".
    The song was sung over the opening credits by western singer Tex Ritter, father of TV sitcom star, John Ritter.

    "He made a vow while in State Prison,
    Vow'd it would be my life or his and
    I'm not afraid of death, but O,
    What will I do if you leave me?"

    All these years, I've been thinking that it was "my life or his'n", just like BarbB thought.

    I keep saying, this blog is leading me to learn new things all the time.

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  69. C.C. Xaviera Hollander was and is the "Happy Hooker". You might want to "Google" her name.. you will get the full picture.

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  70. High Noon This link probably has more information about the song and the movie than you care to read but it is interesting that there were three sets of lyrics.

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  71. This puzzle was difficult for me - I wrote in "nori" for 1D having recently discovered sushi -- the Race in the "Time Machine" was unknown to me, never saw the movie -- I've read all Scott Turow's books except "One L"! My boss looked over my shoulder and helped me finish the puzzle on my lunch half-hour.

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  72. The Dark Knight is essentially a remake of 1989's Batman. 1989's Batman even had Harvey Dent: he was played by Billy Dee Williams. It was a small role though.

    I also considered OMEN for BODE except that "portent" is a verb and I've never seen omen used as a verb.

    Martin

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  73. @c.c.: tracker school is author tom brown jr.'s tracking, nature awareness, and wilderness survival school. in the philosophy 1 class the pipe ceremony is taught, and each student makes his own personal pipe from a hunk of soapstone and some wood.

    @dennis: you were correct, i was asking about your personal camp name. i thought perhaps 'he who eats brownies.'

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  74. @c.c.- I call Rachmaninoff “Rock” because the “Rach” is pronounced the same.

    I have 3 tattoos, Calvin, a large sun on my right bicep and this album cover

    on my back (just the top half with the rainbow, hand and sky). All three represent my children and each was done after they were born.

    Good night all. Its time for football and beer!

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  75. ELOI? EISEN? RAL? PEAT BOG??? I am getting so sick of these stupid puzzles with these horrible clues and even worse answers. Even NYT puzzles are this ridiculous!

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  76. Sorry that should have read:

    Even NYT puzzles AREN'T this ridiculous!

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  77. Anonymous @ 11:45pm,
    That's why I've kept saying we need a new crossword editor.

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  78. CC: 'the men in little white coats' is a classic inference to having a mental illness, being in a mental institution, or being deranged b/c all the workers dealing w/the mentally distrubed wear little white coats.

    Ben Wa Ting...I don't know how 'Wa' is pronounced Wah? or Way? If it is Way (which is what I was playing with) then Wa Ting sounds like Waiting, which then becomes 'Been Waiting' which to me is funny if you're waiting for some balls. I personally can never get too many of them. I'm resorting to 'bone collecting' lately, as I pointed out to Dennis. He might prefer to think of me as a banker and in the savings dept. I'm really in repo and collections.

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  79. Lois,
    Where can I get a Lois-English dictionary?

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  80. Hi Dennis,

    I did see your question and thought that I responded, but maybe it didn't post.

    I poked around the "Internets" a bit, and found that such a rank did exist - it was created in 1955 and was the equivalent of Sergeant First Class, but this site doesn't say when it was eliminated:

    Army Regulation 615-15, dated 2 Jul 54, announced a new grade structure effective 1 March 1955. The new titles were:

    E-7 Master Sergeant and Master Specialist

    E-6 Sergeant lst Class; Specialist lst Class

    E-5 Sergeant; Specialist 2d Class

    E-4 Corporal; Specialist 3d Class

    E-3 Private First Class

    E-2 Private E2

    E-1 Private El

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  81. @c.c.: "What other puzzles do you solve on daily basis?"

    I'm posting to the Monday thread since that's where you asked the question. Would you prefer I post to the current day's thread? (It's now Tuesday)

    I solve this TMS puzzle (syndicated in The Oregonian, my local paper, though I more frequently do it online these days) every day.

    I solve the NY Times puzzle most days (in syndication, so it's 6 weeks behind the one in the NY Times itself), though I can't often finish Friday and Saturday.

    I solve the NY Sun puzzle online most days, though some of them are too tough for me, and the NY Sun puzzle often contains a lot of local New York stuff which is unknown to me. NY Sun puzzles. Pete Mitchell's NY Sun blog

    When I have extra time I sometimes do The Onion weekly puzzle (it comes on Wednesday), the Jonesin' puzzle, and rarely the LA Times puzzle. There are links to lots of puzzles at http://www.crosswordtournament.com/links/index.htm

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  82. Embien,
    Thanks for getting back to me. I am familiar with all of those puzzles, though I rarely do them, too difficult for me. I prefer the answers to my questions stay with the original thread.

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  83. CC: You are very funny! Made me LOL. Cute.

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