google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday August 14, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Gary's Blog Map

Aug 14, 2008

Thursday August 14, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Money Matters

19A: Start of a quip: MONEY

25A: Part 2 of quip: IS WHAT THINGS

40A: Part 3 of quip: RUN INTO

51A: Part 4 of quip: AND PEOPLE RUN

61A: End of quip: OUT OF

I am AT A LOSS (44D: Perplexed) for words over this puzzle. There are some quality clues and lively answers. But I really don't grok this quip.

I know PEOPLE can "RUN OUT OF MONEY", but how can things "RUN INTO MONEY"? It does not make any sense to me.

Whatever, MONEY can indeed be a powerful aphrodisiac. I would buy a graded (PSA 7 or better) Topps 1952 Mickey Mantle if I were rich. How about you?

Across:

5A: Poker variation: STUD. STUD is such a virile word, so many ways to play around.

9A: Archipelago member: ISLET. Is "Keys" a kind of ISLET?

16A: Tall military hat: SHAKO. Now, what's the name of that showy red stuff atop the hat? Strange shape, strange position!

20A: Atlanta's transit system: MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority). No idea. I strung the answer together from down clues.

22A: Fleetwood Mac hit: SARA. Here is the song. I've never heard of it before.

28A: Sister/Wife of Zeus: HERA. And their mother is RHEA.

29A: Restaurant employee: MAITRE D'. I like the intersection of this word with RISTORANTE (30D).

33A: Iowa city: AMES. The Cyclones (Iowa State) are here.

38A: Turbulent: ROILY

42A: Haggard novel: SHE. I simply forgot. Saw this clue before. Here is the book cover.

43A: CoverGirl rival: ALMAY. I like CoverGirl's LashBlast.

47A: Tex-Mex menu choice: TOSTADA. This Avocado TOSTADA looks delicious.

59A: Classify: SORT. Does "pegged" in "Have someone pegged" mean "classified" also?

63A: Iron pumper's pride: LATS. I would not have got this one without the down fills. Not a familiar term to me.

67A: Cato's way: ITER

68A: Sundance Kid's girl: ETTA. Have not seen ETTA clued as "Kett of comics" for a long time.

70A: Carolina rail: SORA. Looks like she is ready to attack.

71A: Virginia dance: REEL. Pure guess. Not a familar dance to me.

Down:

1D: Likewise: AS AM I. I wanted ME TOO.

3D: Pushes beyond endurance: OVERWHELMS. Interesting way to define OVERWHELMS.

4D: Cuts canines: TEETHES

6D: L'chaim or prosit: TOAST. Hebrew & German respectively. "Gan Bei" in Chinese.

7D: Bathsheba's Hittite hubby: URIAH. Certainly not a gimme to me. I have such difficulty remembering this Dickens character.

8D: Disadvantage: DETRIMENT

9D: Ending of a belief: ISM. Hmmm, no guts to clue it as "The ending of sex"?

10D: Gives a look at: SHOWS TO. Ha, this answer did not crumble so easily to me at all.

26D: No-no: TABU. Needs a variation mark in the clue.

27D: __d'Italia (bicycle race): GIRO. Another guess. Dimly remember this race at Lance Armstrong's "It's Not About the Bike".

30D: Italian eatery: RISTORANTE. "Restaurant" in Italian. Unknown to me. I pieced it together from the perps.

31D: K-12, in education: ELHI (Elementary & High school). I could picture the frown from KittyB.

46D: Writer of "The Faerie Queene": SPENSER (Edmund). Foreign to me. Easily inferable though. Are you familiar with this poet and his poem?

48D: Toothy deg.: DDS (Doctor of Dental Science/Surgery). Not sure which one is the license to drill.

52D: Muse of lyric poetry: ERATO. "Lovely" name.

62D: Tina of "30 Rock": FEY. She certainly rocks!

C.C.

102 comments:

  1. Good morning, C.C. and fellow DFs - interesting puzzle today; got through it with some perp help. I knew MARTA from growing up in Atlanta, but didn't know the writer of "The Faerie Queene". Don't think I've ever heard anyone use 'roily', even though it is a word. Got 'Uriah' from the perps.

    Great picture of Tina Fey - I'm a big fan of hers; tremendous talent. And I'm sure your shako picture will be some good fodder for the sirens.

    And lest I forget, sirens -- today is National Creamsicle Day. Enjoy it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, God. That was INANE. It was REELY difficult. There were A LOT of words I didn't know. Those of you using pencil were probably doing a lot of ERASing and rewriting. I kept RUNning INTO problems that I couldn't get OUT OF and I found my head getting SORE so I would then WAIT and SAVE the puzzle for later when I could try to SORT out my problems. I was completely AT A LOSS until I went to google and got SHAKO, GIRO, AAR (I had it misspelled as YAR), ERATO and SORA.

    As before, I wanted LOTS for "scads" (previously "oodles") but I only penciled it in, knowing it could be A LOT. For MAITRE D' I had had MANAGER (so I had the right idea), for RESTORANTE I had had GASTRONOME (which would have made sense if the clue had been "Italian eater" and not "Italian eatery"), for OVERWHELMS I had had OVER DOES IT and for SNIP I had had STOP. I had never heard of ALMAY but I got the name from the perps MILO and RYAN (in exchange for leniency when their case goes to trial).

    Buckeye, you might want to go to wikipedia and write up the information you have about Mithras. Thing is, I think you might have some of the information convoluted: there were many mythological gods who died and came back to like and I hadn't heard of Mithras being one of them (until now). It's also possible that, seeing as how Mithraism and Christianity were competing religions back in the third century AD that perhaps both religions had borrowed ideas from each other in an effort to convert followers. Besides, don't forget that Christianity was a Greek religion before it became a Roman one so the life-death-rebirth deities Adonis and Dionysis and the hugely popular Apollo (son of Zeus, god of light, prophecy and healing) could all have inspired Christian mythology. Then there's Egyptian mythology: Isis was the mother of the popular Egyptian god Horus and she, of course, predated the virgin Mary.

    Martin

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dennis & Martin,
    What is this quip talking about? Can you paraphrase it to me in plain English?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Okay, I had REELY instead of ROILY. Today's puzzle was a ROIL pain!

    Martin

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good morning Cc and others. Nice to be back home although I do enjoy my trips to Germany. Todays puzzle was not too bad but I needed a lot of perp help to complete. As to the quote Cc theonly thing I can say about your question is that when you go to purchase something it always runs into money (costs more than your thought it would)and then you run out of money before you can make the purchase. Other than that I have no explanation for the quote.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good morning CC and gang.
    I also had trouble with Marta, and the write of the Faerie Queene. I did know Uriah.
    Martin, I loved your comments, very clever.
    I would think that "keys" would be like an islet, but I am not sure.
    CC, did you like the song Sara by Fleetwood Mac? I like that song.
    That was my brand of mascara!!!!
    I am not familiar with Tina Fey. I don't watch TV, so I am not good with a lot of the actors.
    Have a good day everone.......

    ReplyDelete
  7. c.c., I've used the expression, "this could run into serious money" before - I figured a similar intent.

    ReplyDelete
  8. c.c., to answer your question, the Florida Keys, for example, are comprised of some 1700 islets, or small islands.

    ReplyDelete
  9. C.C.,

    The phrasal verbs "run into" and "run out of" have both literal and idiomatic meanings. To "run into" something could literally mean "quickly enter" or "crash into" and "run out of" literally means "quickly exit". The quip appears to be using the idiomatic meanings of "run into", namely "confront", and "run out of", namely "use up". So we have "Money is what things confront and people use up". I'm not sure if that helps. Think of it this way: if you want to buy a new car then you are confronted with one problem, namely money.

    Martin

    ReplyDelete
  10. C.C.
    "Things can run into money" means
    "things can become costly"-- usually unexpectedly.
    "People run out of money"
    = go broke. We probably all experienced this at one time or another.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dennis,

    To make matters worse, people can "come into serious money" when their rich relatives die. :)

    Martin

    ReplyDelete
  12. Good Morning, C.C. and all.

    STRIP poker didn't fit...so it had to be STUD....both pleasing to the DFs.

    I can never remember the muses, so I had to get ERATO from the fills, along with MARTA, ITER, SORA and GIA.

    C.C., you have a prodigious memory. I don't care for ELHI. I've never heard it used, and it seems like a cheap way to make a puzzle work.

    Is SHE the story of one of the monster insects created by the A-bomb testing?

    Does SNIP necessarily mean 'short'?

    C.C....That thing adorning the shako is an imitation of a plume. Years ago it would have been a collection of medium to long white feathers, until the extinction of the birds became an issue. If my choice was that red thing, or nothing, I'd take nothing!

    And...one of the schools I attended, ISU (Illinois State) had the Redbirds as their mascot. My brother attended ISU (IOWA state) and they had BIG CY! Cy made the Redbirds seem a bit wimpy.

    I'll be back in a bit, but have a good day, all!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Good morning fellow DF's.
    Lois probably sees his ante and raises him in stud poke her using her "bare" (35A) essentials.
    Depending on the piece of crap you drive, car repairs can "run into" the thousands of dollars. Just an example of things running into money.
    The funny red stuff at the top of a shako is referred to as a feather, plume, or pompon.
    C.C. is getting the supper sirens going with stud and aphrodisiac ant then along comes Dennis with Creamsicle Day.
    Robert Urich's Spenser for Hire would have been a nice clue for 46D.
    I respectfully disagree with martin's assessment that run into means confront in the quip. I think my usage of it for, e.g., car repairs and Dennis' quote of "run into" serious money better explain the meaning by actual usage of the term.

    Besides it being National Creamsicle Day, it is also Marshmallow Toasting Day. We can all sit around a campfire and toast marshmallows (another white thing that gets creamy and sticky when it is hot) and eat s'mores.
    Japan surrendered on this day in 1945, ending WWII.
    I also found that it is Assistance Dog Day (devotion and love of, e.g., guide dogs and other types of dogs who assist people) and National Navajo Code Talkers Day.

    Have a great Thursday.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Meh.

    I did not like this puzzle. Nonsensical theme, inane cluing, etc. I'm a native English speaker and have never heard of things running into money either, C.C., so don't feel bad.

    I almost failed to complete the puzzle because I refused to accept that TABU could be correct without a "var." in the clue. Bah!

    I also struggled for awhile with 1D. The best I could do at first was ASAME, which I knew wasn't a real word but seemed to match the general crappiness of the puzzle as a whole. As it is, I think the clue should either be in quotations marks or else be "Me, too!" to indicate it is a verbal phrase instead of an adverb. Feh!

    Was there any real need to clue ETTA in such an obscure way? And I really hate the word ROILY, despite that fact that it is actually in my dictionary. Oy veh!

    About the only good thing I can say about this puzzle is that I did eventually manage to finish it unassisted. It helped immensely that I knew who wrote "The Fairie Queen", remembered the capital of Maryland from High School geography and pulled SHAKO out of some deep crevice in the back of my cerebellum. I didn't really enjoy it much, though.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Some responses to yesterday's comments...

    Re: 'Cujo' I was an avid fan of Stephen King until I read 'Cujo.' 'Pet Sematary' did me in, and I haven't read anything further. But, 'The Stand' is one of my all time favorite books.

    Welcome to the group, doesit. Better practice your limericks.

    Dennis, Walt, Lois and Carol...I'll be sure to check into your favorite form of poetry! *G*

    Crockett....James Whitcomb Riley 'When Lide Married Him.' Thanksfor the advice. *G* I'm looking forward to your Christmas beard display.

    Buckeye, thanks for the Sting lyric. I can see I need to add him to my listening list. I Googled your phrase "I hath not the time to tip toe upon the periphery of hate," but didn't find an author. It's beautiful language. If you find out who wrote it, please let me know.

    Clear Ayes, I love those lines from Robert Browning: "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be." I was surprised to learn that they come from the poem "Rabbi Ben Ezra," which has almost 200 lines!

    Ken, as I recall, the emphasis is on GAUL...ALL GAUL. As to the position in the sentence, remember what I said about needing to brush up? I'm no expert.

    Walt, thanks for the link to "Dave's Not Here." I had assumed it was something from 'South Park' and I see it goes further back.

    And last but not least (from today's mailbag)...welcome back, Dick.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ooops....I just realized that I typed GIA, when I should have typed GIRO. I went back to look at the puzzle, and couldn't find GIA. I'm on the same puzzle with the rest of you, just a bit spacy (as usual.

    ReplyDelete
  17. When I left for the day, I didn't mean for everyone to think I had emptied my gun. Lois just nicked me and I had to get first aid. Seems like I missed the drugs that were going around. Not to mention the limericks, rhymes, etc. Must get in the habit of checking back later in the afternoon and evening.

    ReplyDelete
  18. C.C. The Hittite named Uriah who was married to Bathsheba is found in the Hebrew bible. He is a different person from the Uriah Heep in the Dickens novel.
    Calef

    ReplyDelete
  19. drdad,

    CC asked me or Dennis to paraphrase the quip "in plain English" and "confront" was the closest paraphrase I could come up with for this usage of "run into". I'd never heard the expression "run into money" before so I couldn't provide an example of its usage. I was thinking along the lines of "I ran into Bob today at the mall" which would mean "I met/talked to Bob..." if Bob is a friend and "I confronted Bob..." otherwise. The meaning of "the repairs ran into serious money" is a similar meaning IMO because the repairs won't go ahead until the money problem is solved. That's how I interpretted the phrase. Of course, "repairs" isn't a concrete "thing". You could say "the project ran into a lot of money" and you'd have the same problem: the "things" refered to by implication in the quip are all apparently abstract and there's no literal physical collisions going on. I can understand why C.C. was confused.

    Oh, by the way, I had NUDE first and then changed it to BARE after I got RIO. That's when I got ANNAPOLIS. Unfortunately, that's when I realised that by answer for 63 across was wrong: I had PECS instead of LATS (latissimus dorsi, muscles on the lower back).

    Martin

    ReplyDelete
  20. good morning c.c. and all,

    a few challenges this morning but eventually got it all. roily? tabu? didn't know sora, and only got elhi because we've seen it before but still think it's weak.

    the shako pic brought back lots of band trip memories .. and that's all i'm saying about THAT.

    7d uriah refers to the colorful old testament story of david and bathsheba. king david spied bathseba bathing from his rooftop, 'knew' her (in the biblical sense), and subsequently had uriah killed.

    @dick: welcome back .. how appropriate that you return on national creamsicle day.

    ReplyDelete
  21. martin, a minor correction - the lats are not lower back muscles; they start at the armpits. Good lats are what give a person's back that classic V-shape.

    ReplyDelete
  22. dick, welcome back - you were missed.

    melissa bee, you were in the band? Lemme guess -- flute? And just what kind of memories would that hat recall?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Good morning, C.C. et al. The NW corner drove me a bit nuts until I thought of "To a T" or toat(2D yesterday. When I got 4D and 14A, the 1D popped up(speaking of TOAST).
    I had some other niggling problems that resolved as I got the fills.

    I don't think I've mentioned that I'm a cribbage player(card game) and participate in and run tournaments. I frequently have a side bet on the game, usually $5. A friend with whom I normally bet, when losing says "Like the monkey said when peeing into the cash register, this is running into money."
    C.C. I've heard and used the expression "run into money" to indicate that some anticipated cost, e.g. car repair is a good one, weddings would be another, is going to be a lot more than expected. For many of us, something more than a couple of hundred dollars is serious money.
    Hope this helps.
    Good day to all; it is lovely now in Oregon, but going towards 100 later today.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Good Morning C.C. and all. This puzzle was a stumper. I was stuck in a gulag and it went downhill from there. Cuts canines had me trying to fit groomer and finally that head slapping moment, teethes. Just not too sharp today. The quip itself was weak and didn't help. I look forward to tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Lats or Latissimus dorsi run along the sides of the ribcage at the back of the torso. When an iron-pumper flexes, they appear as triangular muscles under the armpit and taper down to almost the waist. Push ups and pull ups are a great way to feel yours.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Tina Fey - hubba, hubba! Smart, beautiful, funny. She has it all. Love 30 Rock - when does it come back on?

    When something "runs into money" it gets expensive. Like "Restoring this 1921 Dusenberg could run into money".

    I didn't get REPO/SPENSER nor ALMAY/MILO.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Yes, dick - welcome back. Also, welcome to doesitinink. Hope you survive our group.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Good morning everyone! Had to change 47A from TAMALES to TOSTADA, but got everything eventually. Quip days bum me out.

    Ken, liked your monkey example.

    @melissa bee, I was the flute/piccolo player. And tuba during marching band season. Band was a great high school experience. It's too bad that music and art are the first cuts made when budgets get tight.

    Have a fantaboulous day!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Good Morning Everyone,
    I'm not going to swim against the current and praise this puzzle. I thought the quip was not particularly witty or amusing. Aren't quips supposed to be witty or funny?

    I've never used AS AM I to mean likewise. It sounds so stilted. Across A LOT helped because we recently groused about that one.

    There were so many 4 letter "S" words here. I wasn't familiar with SARA, although I have several Fleetwood Mac classic CD's. I only got SORA because of the perps. I still didn't know what it was until I saw c.c.'s picture of a bird.

    Unless you live in Atlanta, how would you know about MARTA?

    "The Faerie Queene" was a very long allegorical epic poem praising Queen Elizabeth I. I've never read it all, but I had to memorize about 20 lines when I was in high school. Yes, I'm old enough to remember when we had to memorize lots of poetry in literature classes.

    Kitty B: I also had to memorize the first stanza of "Rabbi Ben Ezra" in high school. I used it as a TOAST for my sister's wedding. She and her new husband married when they were in their mid-forties. BTW, try Browning's "My Last Duchess"; so different from his lovely romantic themes.

    I have 1000 page volume of teeny-tiny print Robert Browning poems. Reading all of them is on my "Bucket List".

    ReplyDelete
  30. I am not a big fan of quip/quote puzzles and today's is no exception. I had to google The Faerie Queen author and the Haggard novel "She". C.C. that is kind of a scary looking book cover don't you think?

    I always thought tabu was spelled taboo. Also thought gives a look at clue/answer was weak.

    I believe that Doctors of Dental Science and Doctors of Dental surgery can both "drill".

    In Elhi I saw a lot of shakos while tooting on the horn.

    Ummm, just finished the creamsicle!

    ReplyDelete
  31. cokato - now you can move on to the hot and sticky marshmallow.

    ReplyDelete
  32. From a dentist friend, the only difference from a DDS or a DMD is the school of origin that confers the degrees. The university decides which of the two to give the graduate. Periodontia, Orthodontia and facial repair surgery requires added post graduate work.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Hi to all:

    c.c.: Congrats on 500,000 hits to your site. I agree with you on the quip, and actually thought maybe I had something wrong. Martin's and Drdad's analogy seems appropriate. I need to try that mascara you use. I use Maybeline Lash Discovery with mini-brush, nothing special but it doesn't glob.
    Melissa Bee: what instrument did you play? And, yes the Shako immediately made me think of marching band and the hats we used to wear with the plumes attached.

    Crockett: I played flute/piccolo in both the marching band and concert band. Interesting that you would play both a wind and brass instrument.

    Ken: Love cribbage and have played the game most of my life from the age of 7 when my grandfather taught me. My husband and I play all of the time.

    I agree with everyone about the quip, strange one.

    Only googled Spenser, others that I didn't know I got from the perps.

    Have a great day everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  34. Dick,
    Finally you are back. Hell almost broke out the minute you left. Now we can officially return to our normal dysfunctional status. I am glad you enjoyed your trip. I missed you.

    Katherine,
    You meant the CoverGirl brand? Yes, I did like "Sara" when I heard it earlier.

    Dennis,
    What's so funny about Cujo? Why did you suddenly mention "There once was a girl from Nantucket" poem yesterday? What's so special about the poem? Also your 3:55pm comment: "walt, all the versions are funny - man, girl, sheep, etc. uh....forget I said sheep, ok?". Why not sheep? Why would the sirens enjoy the creamsicle? What's the difference between Keys & Atolls?

    Der Katz & MH & Dr. Dad,
    Thanks for the RUN INTO/RUN OUT OF information. I know RUN INTO trouble, have never heard of RUN INTO money. Does "RUN INTO" mean "Add up" here?

    KittyB,
    A-bomb testing: Might be "Them", not "SHE". I am not sure. I only did some half-minded googling. I thought plumes are fluffy feathers. That long stuff does not strike me as an imitation of soft plume, esp its cone-shape.

    Carol,
    4:46pm: " There once was a fellow from Kent...(don't know if I should finish THAT limerick)". What's behind this Kent story?

    Embien,
    Thank you for the Dormer/Garble link yesterday. I've had the wrong idea for over half an year.

    ReplyDelete
  35. I just picked up c.c.'s SARA link. I do know it; it just wasn't a big Fleetwood Mac favorite.

    Melissa B. I have heard Eva Cassidy's "Fields of Gold". I like Sting's version better. There is the possibility I just think Sting is hotter. I'm also partial to this one Desert Rose

    Ken: Cribbage is a fantastic game. Just the right amount of skill and luck. Can't get the points if you don't have the cards. Reading your opponent's mind, or that of your partner, helps too.

    Tina Fey is great. Loved her on SNL and now on 30 Rock.

    RE: LATS, the clue might as well have been "Michael Phelps' muscles". The lats on any of the Olympic swimmers are so well developed. Good luck (not that he needs it) to M.P. with winning his well deserved medals.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Clear Ayes, you had to go and do it, mention the lats on Michael Phelps....need the smelling salts...okay, I'll settle on the gooey marshmallow.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Barry,
    Wow, you are right, 1D clue does need a quotation mark.

    Buckeye @3:47pm yesterday,
    "Remember? "Mississippi ask Missouri - What did Delaware? Idaho. Alaska." "I always hunt elephants in Alabama. There the Tuscaloosa." I don't understand it. Also, did you purposely word-play "Deeper World" with "Deeper Wave"? If so, why?

    Melissa @ 7:28pm yesterday,
    Who is taz?

    Argyle,
    As I mentioned at yesterday's main blog entry, the theme answers are homophonic puns. I am sorry you were confused. The clues did seem to be very stretched when I read them again earlier. But with those question marks, the theme does seem to have a bit of horse sense.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Lois,
    1:59pm yesterday: "Let the Games Begin!!!! 10 paces (and I plan on putting you through each one of them)." What are 10 paces? Is it a special gun term?

    7:10pm: "Bogart that joint". What did you try to say?

    ReplyDelete
  39. Lois,
    OK, I am at AT A LOSS over some of your ROILY comments yesterday. 11:19pm: "I also like to get my fingernails ripped off one by one too". Why??? Also, what is the real white stuff you wanted to slide up the pole? Why would Caju "almost ate me out of my house and home"?

    ReplyDelete
  40. @g8rmomx2: drill team .. rifle. i still like to watch the DCI championships.

    @c.c.: taz, short for the tazmanian devil, drdad's new pic.

    @clear ayes: so many great sting songs. one of my favorite lines from the hounds of winter:

    can't make up the fire
    the way that she could
    i spend all my days
    in a search for dry wood

    after reading his autobiography i realized that lyric was likely a nod to his mother. he wrote that she taught him the art of making a fire:

    'my mother taught me this magic and it is still with me. she also taught me how to iron a shirt, fry an egg, vacuum the floor, all in the spirit of ritual and good order, but it was music and fires that retained an air of secret and arcane knowledge, which bound me to her like a sorcerer's apprentice. my mother was the first mistress of my imagination.'

    ReplyDelete
  41. G8RMOMX2 & CLEAR AYES: Cribbage is truly a game of skill and luck. Without the cards, you can't win.
    One example of luck is the game played by a woman from Bend, OR who played the top player in the nation. She played with all her cards exposed, including what she put in the crib. She won the game! Go figure.
    The American Cribbage Congress is over 25 years old and has clubs all over the US, including many in California. www.cribbage.org
    Keep pegging, friends.

    ReplyDelete
  42. cokato, Sorry if my Michael Phelps post got you going all hot and bothered so early in the day (California time). He does have a fantastic physique. Just because I'm old enough to be his mother (grandma?...YIKES!!), doesn't mean I can't look and appreciate. BTW, he has size 14 feet.

    ReplyDelete
  43. mark - Buenos Aires

    Any comment I had has already been covered but I have a question to all you wordsmiths.

    I read an American article in the paper and the writer referred to the "exurbs" (as in people moving to the exurbs). Is this a printer´s error or is it a new word, and if so what does it mean?

    chau

    ReplyDelete
  44. Ken & Clear Ayes, I too have played cribbage from the age of seven. My dad says it's all in the pegging. Cards do help too.

    C.C. in the olden days when there was a duel, you stood back to back and took ten paces and turned around shooting.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Clear Ayes, MP is truly a fine male speciman. When he wears that one piece and folds the top down....whew. And size 14 feet?! Here I go again....maybe another creamsicle??

    ReplyDelete
  46. O.K., I am hating Barry today - all those complaints (which I agree with) and he still didn't use Mr G - no fair!! I thought this was a tough one, but had some fun words - I always loved the word INANE.

    The TOSTADA was always my favorite Mexican dish, though it's more Tex than Mex. The one c.c. posted looks especially yummy, with all that avocado.

    I'm surprised no one said anything about Meg RYAN, America's Sweetheart. Such a lovely woman, and very talented actress. Did you know that she started out on a soap opera? Check her out in Flesh and Bone. if you want to see her in a different role.

    I always remember The Faerie Queen because it's what Colonel Brandon is reading to Marianne in one of the last scenes in Emma Thompson's version of Sense and Sensibility:

    For whatsoever from one place doth fall,
    Is with the tide unto an other brought:
    For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought.

    [sigh]

    ReplyDelete
  47. cokato - how was the marshmallow?

    Dennis - I can't wait for your response to C.C. about the girl (or whatever) from Nantucket.

    ReplyDelete
  48. C.C. - I would guess that in the context it is being used in our definitions and the quip, run into could be taken as "add up."

    ReplyDelete
  49. Drdad, not as good as the creamsicle. Had to have another one of those.

    ReplyDelete
  50. In keeping with limericks from yesterday, here's one of my favorites:
    Here lies the body of Mary Lee; died at the age of a hundred and three. For fifteen years she kept her virginity; not a bad record for this vicinity.

    Spoken by who/whom?

    ReplyDelete
  51. cokato - forgot to ask. How was the Corn Carnival?

    ReplyDelete
  52. C.C.
    Miss a sippy (Mississippi) ask misery (Missouri)
    What did Della wear? (Delaware) I don't know (Idaho) I'll ask her (Alaska)
    I always hunt elephants in Alabama. There the tusks are looser. (Tuscaloosa)

    ReplyDelete
  53. The farmers all came to town and I had a lot of corn and a couple of footlongs. All in all a good experience.

    ReplyDelete
  54. @g8rmomx2. My older brother was the tuba section leader, and he "volunteered" me my freshman year of HS because there was a shortage of bodies to go under the horns. I continued on into the first year of college and actually played Berlioz's Requiem in the orcehstra on tuba.

    C.C., it looks like we have really gotten you confused with all of our references, etc. I'll let the others answer the questions you posed to them.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Mostly the same comments as my fellow d.fs. Didn't help that I started out with spelling errors.
    R"E"storante and detr"e"ment. Once I got that problem solved, not too bad. Didn't like 1(d) without "!" and hated elhi 31(d).

    Need to check. Is it Spenser or Spencer For Hire? I'll check.

    Trumpet player in H.S. school band and we had a dance band, too.

    Martin; Found the Mithra info on www.near-death.comexperiences/origen048.html.Religion and Politics are a "Tabu", so I wasn't trying to start anything.

    cc; Groucho Marx loved to play with words. Mississippi (Miss Issippi) asked Missouri ( Miss Ouri) what did Delaware (Della wear?) Idaho (I don't know) Alaska (I'll ask her.) and he hunted elephants in Alabama because the Tuscaloosa (Tusks are looser).

    I leave "Deeper" to the Sirens for an explanation.

    I'll be baaack,
    For now, I must be off.

    ReplyDelete
  56. c.c., to answer the one question I can without getting in trouble, an atoll is usually a half-circle or more of either coral islets or solid coral reef, surrounding a lagoon. Keys are just small islands or islets.

    ReplyDelete
  57. 17:54 today. Obviously a struggle from start to finish and a rather lame reward (the quip) when it was all done.

    My last fill was the "K" in SHAKO/EKED. That's a different definition for EKED than any I've seen previously. I've never seen EKE used in the sense of "supplemented".

    MARTA is an acronym for Metropolitan Atlanta Regional Transit Authority or something similar (I live all the way across the country and have only rarely seen the term, so don't take my word for it).

    Despite having been a geography major in a previous lifetime, I put BALTIMORE down for the capital of Maryland. Quickly fixed when I saw ____ Bene (NOTA), but a real D'oh moment for me.

    Never heard of ALMAY before, but I can't say I'm much of a mascara user (as in never), being a guy.

    I must be off. They are threshing the wheat field on my property today and I like to watch the big combines run (even though it is horribly dusty and noisy).

    ReplyDelete
  58. Barry & Ken & Sallie,
    I've having such trouble with English propositions, esp "INTO": RUN INTO (money), COME INTO (money) & GO INTO. Totally different meanings. Also, "Move it" was HASTEN yesterday. Today, "Move about" becomes "STIR".

    ReplyDelete
  59. c.c. "Why did you suddenly mention "There once was a girl from Nantucket" poem yesterday? What's so special about the poem? Also your 3:55pm comment: "walt, all the versions are funny - man, girl, sheep, etc. uh....forget I said sheep, ok?". Why not sheep? Why would the sirens enjoy the creamsicle?"

    I think I can help Dennis get out of this fairly gracefully.
    "There once was a man (or girl) from Nantucket", is a common first line for what is generally a "naughty" limerick. A limerick is a five line poem with an AABBA rhyming scheme. 2nd and 5th line rhyming words would usually be "suck it", or "f#@k it". The insert of "sheep" in the first line would indicate a limerick about bestiality. The 2nd and 5th line rhymes would probably still be the same.

    "Creamsicle" is a euphemism (another one??) for male genitalia.

    Is that fairly accurate, Gertie? :o)

    ReplyDelete
  60. CC, I don't know if you read the blog this late, but yes I meant the Cover Girl brand in the orange tube.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Clear Ayes,
    Thank you so much. You have such a clear, concise & daring way of interpreting those dysfunctional comments. I've never had problem understanding what you've been saying, naughty or not. I sure vodka you!

    Katherine,
    That's what I thought. Hey, we have one more thing in common!

    ReplyDelete
  62. clear ayes, thank you dear, I had my panties in a bunch over that one.

    ReplyDelete
  63. cc; To follow clear ayes comments about AABBA rhyming.

    Limerick: There once was a young man from orange, er, ah. O.K. Let's try again.

    There once was a man from Barbass,
    Who had two 'nads made of brass,
    When they clanged together,
    They played "Stormy Weather",
    And lightning shot out of his a**.

    IMBO

    ReplyDelete
  64. Dennis, I am having a heck of a visual picturing you in panties. Cotton or silky?

    ReplyDelete
  65. c.c. It seems like I speak pretty fluent "Dennis". You're welcome, Gert. (I'm not quite so sure of my Lois-English dictionary skills :o), although I generally get the gist.) Vodka to you too.

    Buckeye: Orange? Very clever as usual. Isn't "silver" the only other English word without a rhyme? The example of a toned-down limerick should give c.c. the general idea.

    ReplyDelete
  66. mark - Buenos Aires
    A suburb is a town or city that is on the peripheral edge of a large city. An exurb is the same, but is further out from the large city, beyond the suburbs.
    Calef

    ReplyDelete
  67. cokato, gertie only wears silk. Makes even walking around the block an erotic experience. Had to give up the thongs; didn't like the feeling of a constant proctology exam...

    ReplyDelete
  68. clear ayes, I was about to ask YOU about rhyming English words. I once had a list of 5 but can't remember 2 of them right now. Orange, silver and purple are three, altho I did rhyme purple once in a love poem to a junior high school girlfriend.

    Roses are red,
    Violets are purple'
    You are as sweet'
    As maple surple.
    Some body said, "That won't work."
    I replied, "Just because I left out the "y"?"

    IMBO (Yes, Sirens, I was in junior high at the time. Jeeze, what these girls think!!!)

    ReplyDelete
  69. drdad, re your 'here lies the body of mary lee' question, how 'bout Robert Shaw (Quint) in 'Jaws'?

    ReplyDelete
  70. @buckeye: your song titles always crack me up .. a fun walk down memory lane.

    roger miller's maple surple line @ 1:03. always loved him.

    ReplyDelete
  71. melissa bee, was just getting ready to type the same thing. I KNEW I'd heard those lyrics before. Buckeye, you should sue Roger Miller ('Dang Me') for plagiarism...

    ReplyDelete
  72. What's the story with this Roger Miller guy stealing my "Stuff?" I wrote a song two weeks ago that the Beatles stole and recorded in 1968. How the hell can they get away with that. I'm OUTRAGED!!!!

    I guess somebody else will take credit for my new "MY Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend And I sure Do Miss Him."

    Truly, there is no justice!!

    IMBO and IAMPOed

    ReplyDelete
  73. Buckeye, It isn't your fault if Roger Miller was receiving radio signals from your brain through the fillings in his teeth! Yeah, that's the ticket! Besides, a little bit of "poetic license" is allowed when genius is at work.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Good evening CC & DF's: Not an easy puzzle for me today, but enjoyed being sore by the stud w/the sassy toys. That was reel exciting, but the only thing that was. Just shows to go ya, that 'almay' seem lost but ya can still have a plume on your shako!

    Dick: Welcome back. Sure missed ya!

    Drdad: I nicked you? Where? Hmmm-
    There once was a man who was nicked....
    When you're healed, we can have a rematch whenever you want to. I'm staying loaded here.

    CC: Cokato explained the paces nicely. Thank you,Cokato.
    When you hog something and don't share it, then that's "Bogarting" it...just happened to be a joint or appendage I was referring to.
    Probably underwear up a pole?
    The surface meaning is that the dog is huge and eats a lot which costs a lot. The deeper meaning is erotic behavior outside the house. And the fingernail thing was just saying that I enjoy pain, which is what that puzzle was yesterday in some ways.

    Dennis: love the mental image of you in a thong...

    ReplyDelete
  75. I can almost visualize Lois saying, "is that a plume on your shako or are you just happy to see me?"

    ReplyDelete
  76. Morning for me here.

    "Run into" really does mean "confront" in this context and I can prove it: a project can also "hit a wall" and not "go through". Most people in business are men and men tend to think in military terms. Money is one of many problems a project might "run into".

    Martin

    ReplyDelete
  77. @buckeye:

    I guess somebody else will take credit for my new "MY Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend And I sure Do Miss Him."

    i hate to say it but now you gotta sue wayne carter, too, he thinks he wrote that!! hope you have a good lawyer.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Dennis: what do you mean 'almost'? I can see you saying: Wanna see the plume on my shako?

    ReplyDelete
  79. C.C.,

    Don't think of the "into" in "run into", "come into" or "go into" as a preposition: the correct linguistic term here would appear to be "resultative ending". For example, the expression "think up" in English is "想起來" (for example). Here "think up" and "想起來" work as both translations of meaning and literal translations. If it makes you feel any better, I sometimes get confused by phrasal verbs in Chinese.

    Martin

    ReplyDelete
  80. C.C.,

    Somebody asked once about Chinese crossword puzzles. I found out through google that there's a book by that name BUT it appears to be a book of simple puzzles with clues in English. I've been thinking that it would be possible to construct a crossword puzzle entirely in Chinese: a clue could be 李安電影 (Ang Lee movie) and the solution (with four characters) could be either 臥虎藏龍 (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) or 飲食男女 (Eat Drink Man Woman). Have you ever seen a Chinese crossword puzzle?

    Martin

    ReplyDelete
  81. KittyB @ 8:21am,
    Why did you mention "James Whitcomb Riley 'When Lide Married Him" to Crockett?

    Calef @ 7:56am,
    Thank you for pointing out my misunderstanding on Uriah.

    Melissa B @ 8:26am,
    What was "'knew' her (in the biblical sense)"?

    Ken,
    What's so funny about "Like the monkey said when peeing into the cash register, this is running into money."?

    Hawkeye,
    No siren response so far on your Deep World/Wave wordplay. Please explain it to me! Why did change Wave to World? I could not understand your 3:34pm rhyming. Why not orange? What are 'nads? Where is Barbass? What is surple @ 4:12pm? Where would the "Y" be then?

    Clear Ayes @3:50pm,
    "Orange? Very clever as usual. Isn't "silver" the only other English word without a rhyme? The example of a toned-down limerick should give c.c. the general idea.". I cannot grok it. Why is Hawkeye' Orange omission clever? What is poetic license?

    Martin,
    No, I've never seen a Chinese language crossword. I like your 李安電影 clue. I've seen both 臥虎藏龍 & 飲食男女, so good!

    ReplyDelete
  82. Wow, you D.F.'s are at it again, yes!
    Stinker of a puzzle today...I did not like it at all. I tossed it aside for awhile, but like a drug addict, I had to pick it up again. Blah! I would have had more fun with the exam Dennis went through recently than have to do another lame thing like that again.

    Dick, I am so glad you are back, now the 3D's are together again. You missed all the commotion!

    Melissa bee, thanks for the Roger Miller link, I loved him too....dang me :)

    Dennis at 4:38, good catch. How's that silk underwear treating you? Does Fruit of the Loom so anything in silk??? Silly question! Just shako your tail feathers baby!!

    ReplyDelete
  83. Clear Ayes, I too applaud your ability to get to the "nuts"and bolts of an explanation while staying within a certain "decorum". I seem to lack that sometimes. I really enjoy all your commentary!

    ReplyDelete
  84. I work the daily puzzle at lunch, and today I was so busy at work that I did not get to eat until almost 3 pm. This was a difficult puzzle. I had a lot of difficulty with the upper, right corner but managed to finish the puzzle correctly and unaided! And in ink.

    But Shako (16A)? 22A was also a mystery as I have never watched SNL. I was a great fan of TW3, though. Roily (38A) was unfamiliar to me. And I do not know who Tina Fey (62D) or "30 Rock" are.

    Erato (52D) I knew. But then I wondered...did the ancient Greeks find poetry to be erotic? An interesting thought.

    ReplyDelete
  85. C.C., I guess the humor in my monkey story is the combination of the pee "running" into the cash register where the money is and the corresponding thought that the loser in our card games is going to give up money, that is, the game result will "run into money" for him to pay. Hope this helps. American idiomatic speech, like all languages, can be a problem for non-natives.

    ReplyDelete
  86. I had no trouble with the homophonic puns but can someone PLEASE explain how stable stall and mane/main office make sense?

    Wednesday's puzzle, I said,
    Gave me a pain in my head.
    so I'm asking you
    to explain me the clue
    or should I have just stayed in bed.

    ReplyDelete
  87. c.c. ""Orange? Very clever as usual. Isn't "silver" the only other English word without a rhyme? The example of a toned-down limerick should give c.c. the general idea.". I cannot grok it. Why is Hawkeye' Orange omission clever? What is poetic license?"

    I think you meant Buckeye.

    Buckeye began his post with the line "Limerick: There once was a young man from orange." He meant that as a joke because in English there is no word that rhymes with "orange" and he wouldn't be able to follow up with a "B" limerick line. I thought it was a clever line.

    "Silver" is another English word for which there is no true rhyme.

    Buckeye followed up with a not-too-naughty limerick that would give you the AABBA rhyme scheme. It is kind of a nonsensical limerick, but "'nads" is just a contraction for "gonads". It is contracted to make the rhythm work. I think Barbass is just a made up place word, combining "barb" and "ass". It's used as a pun and to make the AABBA rhyme scheme work out.

    "Poetic license" or "artistic license" is a term to describe an artist, writer or poet ignoring established fact in order to make his work more artistically interesting or accessible to his audience. It is intended to be tolerated by the audience. For instance, a lot of Shakespeare's plays were not historically accurate, but the poetic license is tolerated because of their literary importance.

    Buckeye might not be Shakespeare (sorry, Buckeye), but his stretching of accuracy is meant for our enjoyment and in that context can be considered poetic license.

    BTW Buckeye, Thanks to Google, I found out there are dozens of words that don't have true rhymes beside orange (although somebody suggested "lozenge" or "door-hinge") and silver. For example: anything, January, stubborn, apricot, dictionary, xylophone, chaos, angry, hostage, pint, rhythm, shadow, circus, crayon, glimpsed, angst,empty,depth, width, month, else, diamond, chocolate, penguin, galaxy, elbow, engine, anxious and monster.

    Argyle: Nice limerick. Poets abound on this blog!

    ReplyDelete
  88. I'll try to answer some of you questions, c.c.

    poetic license you see ever day in these puzzles. It is bending grammar, spelling, whatever to make the words or meter fit. O'er for over, ebon for black, although that might be a real word. Or dropping the preposition "to" out of to explain to me the clue because to explain me the clue fit better.

    The monkey peered into the register and saw the money in the till was dwindling.

    "To know someone" in the biblical sense is to have carnal knowledge of them (sex).

    ReplyDelete
  89. cc. A Hawkeye is from Iowa. I am a Buckeye from Ohio.

    I pretended I was going to make up a limerick to show you the AABBA rhyme scheme and started "There once was a young man from orange," The attempted humor here is that there is no word in the English language that rhymes with orange. Hence the "er, "ah." I had to start over. As clear ayes pointed out, nothing rhymes with silver either, and I mentioned the word "purple" which has no rhyme. By using "surple" instead of "syrup", since syrup doesn't rhyme, I was pointing out (as did Roger Miller years ago) that nothing rhymes with purple.
    The "y" comment was to joke about the spelling of surple and not using the "y" (that is in syrup) rather than the fact that there is no word "surple."

    "nads is short for gonads, or a man's testicles.

    Barbass doesn't exist. It is a made up word to complete the rhyming scheme. This is somewhat common in limericks because they are generally inane and bawdy and are never intended to mirror poetry. The limerick I sent is quite mild compared to others.

    "Poetic license" is allowing someone to stretch the truth or exaggerate something to fulfill a message or point.

    "Know in the Biblical sense" is to have sexual intercourse usually resulting in a child. "And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived,...."

    I was bragging about your blog to my younger daughter earlier today and was telling her what a tremendous grasp you have on the English language. I mentioned that some regional phrases and idioms hang you up now and then and she said "Tell cc that I'm a 37 year old college graduate and I still get hung up on regional phrases and idioms."

    Don't we all!!!

    Sirens, have another creamsickle on me.

    I must be off.

    ReplyDelete
  90. HI Everyone!

    Let's see if I can help a little c.c. "nads" is a shortened version of gonads which refers to male equiptment and generaly means that you have the ego to think you can handle any situation with maximum confidence.
    In a situation of confrontation it would come out as following; of sort


    "do you really have the NADS to talk to me after what you said yesterday? "

    The nantucket limericks are varied and many. Almost all of them involve the "eff" word so, the exact wording cannot be used here

    How ever, I am sure there are several d/f's here that could supply you with the exact wording in private chat !

    "knew her in the biblical sense" Refers to the christian bible's way of saying that a man had an intimate relationship with a woeman

    I hope this has helped, I love reading your blog everyday

    And congrat's on 500,000


    Keep having fun everyone I love you all

    AS always WHOO

    ReplyDelete
  91. AND OOPS lol
    buckeye beat me too the answers
    sokay later
    Whoo

    ReplyDelete
  92. From the Department of Redundancy Department, I think we've got the limericks pretty well explained now...

    carol, 'fruit of the loom'?? Only Vicky secrets for me.

    ReplyDelete
  93. Dennis; please tell me you are not wearing Vickie's secrets...unless you are doing so as Gertie..somehow I have trouble with the image of someone named Gertie in any of those "secrets"...maybe "she's a'thong friends"!!!:)

    ReplyDelete
  94. No carol, gertie wears V.S. edible granny bloomers; designed to be gummed, not chewed.

    ReplyDelete
  95. As far as "Gertie" and her Vickie's Secret undies goes, those 7 kids had to be inspired some place and by something.

    I agree with Dennis; no more comments about limericks.

    But about non-rhyming words....Does anybody remember "Oranges, Poranges, who cares? There ain't no rhyme for oranges."? That was the first line of a song from "H.R.Pufnstuf", a early 1970's TV children's series. Very funny, campy, a little hippy, sometimes hidden-pot-referencing show starring Jack Wild, who was the original Artful Dodger in the musical "Oliver".

    ReplyDelete
  96. clear ayes, you indeed have an incredible memory. HR Pufnstuf was a sneakily funny show, and you're right, very campy.

    ReplyDelete
  97. Clear eyes, your cultural background/knowledge is astounding. I learn something new from you every day.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  98. @argyle: "can someone PLEASE explain how stable stall and mane/main office make sense?"

    A mare's main office would be her stall (in the stable). Admittedly a bit of a stretch since you could conceivably use the same terminology for her primary pasture, but the pasture wouldn't be inside (like an office).

    ReplyDelete
  99. Yes, a horse's stall might be considered their office but the hair on their neck has an office?

    ReplyDelete
  100. Is this Blog open to new comments?
    I would like to exchange my spaces for your spaces. A P Olschwang always drives me to meditation and deep breathing. I love Dr.dad's comments. CC I admire your grasp of the language and your sense of the puzzle. The Blog has become more addictive than the x/word if that's possible. Looking forward to your response.

    ReplyDelete
  101. Lola,
    Yes, feel free to drop a line anytime you swing by.

    ReplyDelete

For custom-made birthday, anniversary or special occasion puzzles from C.C., please email crosswordc@gmail.com

Her book "Sip & Solve Easy Mini Crosswords" is available on Amazon.

Please click on Comments Section Abbrs for some blog-specific terms.

Please limit your posts to 5 per day and cap each post length at about 20 lines in Preview mode.

No politics, no religion and no personal attacks.