google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday September 17, 2008 Norma Steinberg

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Sep 17, 2008

Wednesday September 17, 2008 Norma Steinberg

Theme: Mined Over Matter

17A: Old-time typescript duplicate: CARBON COPY

61A: Determined: IRON- WILLED

10D: Inherited wealth: SILVER SPOON

24D: Trophy wives, perhaps: GOLD DIGGERS

I am not fond of 61A, it's an adjective, all the other 3 are nouns. I thought of IRON CURTAIN & IRON HORSE, but neither fits the blank need. Maybe you can come up with a 10-letter IRON* noun phrase.

I would be very pleased if there were 5 theme answers, with IRON CHEF AMERICA (15-letter) placed in Row #8 running through the whole grid.

Very smooth puzzle. Nice and easy. I had no problem obtaining OSCAR (37A: Lyricist Hammerstein) and LEVI (58D: Italian writer Primo), though I knew neither of them. I liked this new cluing approach. Felt refreshing.

Disliked the clue for OLIVIER (22A: "Hamlet" Oscar winner) because OSCAR is an answer. I think "Fabled city of treasure" should be OK for EL DORADO (26A: Fabled city of gold) as GOLD is part of the answer for 24D.

Across:

6A: Ltr. carriers: ENVS. And ENCS (6D: Ltr. extras)

10A: Ocean extract: SALT. Don't forget SALT is also an acronym for "Strategic arms limitation talks".

19A: "Sweater Girl" Turner: LANA. She is stunning. What's that background music? Sounds so familiar.

20A: 6-points: TDS. And KOS (21A: WBA stats)

41A: Southern cornbread: PONE. Does it look like this? I've never seen PONE in person. Dictionary says it's also called johnnycake.

45A: Killer whale: ORCA. The spelling of ORCA is so close to OCA, often clued as "Andean tuber". They are longer and thicker than Hawaiian TAROS.

46A: Yearn for: DESIRE. I DESIRE U2. ".... Burning, Burning..."

48A: Thought out: REASONED. And PONDERS (15D: Mulls over).

52A: Put on: DON. And CLAD (2D: Dressed in)

50A: Lytton Strachey's first name: GILES. No idea. I got his name from across fills. Are you familiar with "The Letters of Lyatton Strachey"?

64A: Cordelia's father: LEAR. The two bad daughters are Regan and Goneril.

68A: Vogue competitor: ELLE. Or "Model MacPherson".

Down:

5D: Dracula's creator: STOKER (Bram). See this book cover.

9D: Engraving tool: STYLUS. I am not familiar with STYLUS engraver.

13D: Symbol of sadness: TEAR. Very sad "TEARS in Heaven".

32D: John ___ Gardner: NANCE. No idea. Wikipedia says he was FDR's veep from 1933 to 1941, and he was the longest-living vice-president in US history (almost 99 years old). President Ford was the oldest former president, followed by Reagan, both over 93 years old.

47D: Plaza Hotel girl of comics: ELOISE. I vaguely recalled this name, but I could not remember what was the story behind this ELOISE.

49D: Some pool balls: SOLIDS. Lois probably will give us more explanation on SOLIDS. She is an expert on balls: bowling balls, pool balls, golf balls, etc, etc, etc.

55D: Enjoy some haikus, e.g. : READ. I thought it would be a good idea to clue READ as "Enjoyed some haikus, e.g." Past tense could be very cleverly misleading.

57D: Actress Nazimova: ALLA. No idea. This is a rather unique shot of her in the silent film "Camille". Wikipedia says Rudolph Valentino starred in the movie too.

59D: First place?: EDEN. Good clue. EDEN is Hebrew for "pleasure".

C.C.

62 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, c.c. and gang - what a nice easy Wednesday. I was expecting a hammer, which must be coming soon.

I drew a blank on Bram Stoker, but the perps filled it. I must not have seen the plural of 'haiku' written down before, 'cause I looked at 'haikus' and thought, what is that, some kind of fish? Just one of the many joys of getting old, I guess.

c.c., just an outstanding theme. Your picture with 41A is not pone; not sure what those are. But I do know what 'they' are in the picture of Elle; thanks for the wake-up.

Hope it's an great hump day for everyone

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

Dennis,
The online dictionary says the plural form of haiku could be either haiku or haikus. Have you had PONE before? How does it taste like? So what are "they" in ELLE's picture?

Dennis said...

c.c., growing up in Atlanta, I had corn pone many times.

What are 'they' in Elle's picture? Outstanding, that's what they are.

Katherine said...

Good morning everyone. I have missed everyone's comments. It's good to be back. I will be leaving again Friday to go see the grandkids in Florida.
Today's puzzle was easy for me. So that means everyone else must have breezed through it! haha
I did not know 57D or 58D. I have never heard of The Letters Of Lyatton Strachey.
That is not corn pone in that picture.
The music being played in the Lana Turner video is "Memories" from Funny Girl. Barbara Striesand sang it. Remember now CC?
Have a nice day everyone.....

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

Dennis,
So how does PONE taste like? Remember the "They are real, and they are spectacular" line in "Seinfeld"?

Katherine,
Good to see you back. The beginning of the clip sounds like "The Way We Were". How long will you be in FL?

Katherine said...

CC, you're right, it was from The Way We Were, DUH!
I will be gone from Friday till Monday evening. Not too long.

Katherine said...

CC, "pone" is just corn bread. It tastes like corn bread, at least that is what it tasted like when I had it.

Dennis said...

c.c., corn pone is crunchy and has a rather sweet taste.
Yes, I do remember Teri Hatcher's line in Seinfeld.

Katherine, have a great time in Florida; hopefully, all the bad weather's done now.

KittyB said...

Good Morning, C.C. and DFs.

Dennis, are you ready for another day of tap dancing? *G* Yesterday was quite entertaining.

Hi, Katherine! Nice to see you post.

Yes, the music was "The Way We Were," and then I think it segued into "Looking Through The Eyes of Love," (I'm not sure if that's the title, or part of the lyrics.)

"Draft Choice" held me up for a moment, but when I realized it wasn't the military draft, everything fell in place.

I've never heard of "The Letters of Lytton Strachey," or Alla Nazimova. Those came from the fills.

I agree with Dennis and Katherine, this puzzle was a cinch.

I'm off to get my day started. Have a good one, all!

Dr. Dad said...

Good morning.

Haven't timed it in a while but this one was 8 minutes. No G spots this morning.

Harry Chapin had a silver spoon in "Cats in the Cradle."

Anyone remember the old mimeograph machines for making multiple copies?

Two other famous cities of gold were Quivira and Cibola (actually Seven Cities of Cibola) that Coronado was searching for.

Some words in there to get the Sirens going - sown, desire, solid, embed, delve (probe) & into, silo & stylus (long things). And then C.C. mentions that oca is longer and thicker than taros and that Lois is an expert on balls. But I digress.

I have to go back to yesterday's comments and see what Dennis stirred up with his explanation.

This is what I remember for Corn Pone.
Nice photo of Elle, C.C. And yes "they" are Outstanding!!!

Today is Citizenship/Constitution Day. It's also National Apple Dumpling Day. M*A*S*H premiered on this day in 1972.

Have a good one.

Barry G. said...

Morning, folks!

Relatively easy puzzle today that I was able to finish unassisted despite the preponderance of obscure proper names (GILES, ALLA & LEVI). I know that you find this new cluing approach "refreshing," C. C., but to be honest it just baffles me a bit to see such obscure clues in an otherwise easy puzzle.

I dunno. If you want to go the obscure route, why not make the entire puzzle challenging instead of just selecting a few answers to give needlessly obscure clues to?

Bill said...

Applesauce and Johnnycake
Make the Dutchmans belly ache!
(Don't know where it came from. Just remember my Dad saying it anytime Mom made corn bread)

I liked this one. Got thru it fairly quickly. Some unknowns but the adjacents filled them all in.

DrDad: Funny you should mention mimeographs because that is what I was going to put in till I checked the down side and decided it
wouldn't work.

I, too, wondered what HAIKUS was. Now that I see Dennis' post I know where I went wrong.

ELLE: OH MY!!!

DoesItinInk said...

Today's puzzle was another easy one. No surprises, no problems.

cc: Another possible theme: ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR WATSON.

I remember the first 1950s tv production of ELOISE on Playhouse 90. My parents and I were on vacation, a car trip in the US southwest. We camped along the way in empty fields and state parks as often as possible, sleeping in a family sleeping bag that my father had made. One evening we stayed in a motel that had a pay tv. As a treat my parents put enough change in the tv to enable me to watch the ELOISE movie. I was entranced by a life that was so different from what I knew that I could not have imagined it!

EL DORADO is a poem by Edgar Allen Poe:

Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old,
This knight so bold,
And o'er his heart a shadow,
Fell as he found,
No spot of ground,
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength,
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow;
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be,
This land of Eldorado?"

"Over the mountains
Of the moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied,
"If you seek for Eldorado!"

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

Dr. Dad,
OCA & Balls: Now you've got more MOREL sense than Dennis does.

Dennis,
Is the shape of the PONE in Dr. Dad's link the one you are familiar with?

Barry,
Different mindset I suppose. I would have complained about the obscurity of those clues if the fills are tormentingly unobtainable. This morning I did not feel frustrated and I was happy to learn something new.

Ken,
D'oh. I did not even think of A-Rod and J-Lo. Your answer reminded me of golfer Nancy Lopez. Great Desi Arnaz. I did not know Judith Krantz.

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

Doesitinink,
Very nice theme title. Next time I will use yours. I am sure this kind of theme will pop up again soon.

Barb B,
Does "My My Ding-A-Ling" in Chuck Berry's poem refer to MOREL? About IRENE Castle's pantaloons yesterday, did you mean what she wore under her skirt? What exactly are pantaloons? I thought only men wear them.

Gatormom,
I don't know about opals, but I am very superstitious about accepting a jade gift from others. If not pure, jade will bring bad luck.

kazie said...

Hi all,
I also had an easy time with this, despite having Nance fall in with the crosses. It was one of those you forget to even look at the clue again because it gets nicely filled with no effort.
Can't think of any ten letter iron combinations, but there are a lot of eight letter ones--that's all I keep coming up with: lung, mask, clad, fist (maybe fisted?),ware, wood, work. Hey what about ironmonger and ironworker?

Ken said...

Good morning, C.C. and clan. Like others, I found this pretty easy this morning. What is all this about easier clues by the editor?
@Doesitinink: Thanks for the reference to Poe's poem "El Dorado." I've seen John Wayne's movie by that name, and always enjoyed James Caan's recital of the poem, but had never tracked down the author.
Ahhh "Cactus Jack", AKA John Nance Garner is back. We've seen him before. A Texas, "good ol' boy", he was FDR's Veep from '32 - '40, but was dumped for Harry Truman. He supposedly said that the Vice Presidency "wasn't worth a bucket of warm spit", but the press cleaned up his language. The real quote is a bit more graphic. I wonder what he'd think of Cheney and the current VP campaign candidates.

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

Csw,
Great to hear from you again. Thank you for Charles Schulz & Cameron Diaz. Boy, was I slow yesterday, all I could think of was Mark Spitz.

Carl,
Yeah, you can come out of the woodshed now.

JD,
Thank you for Walter Lanz, a name I should have been familiar with. Your Coq du Vin sounds delicious, so you've never tried morel before?

Xchefwalt,
I am glad it's a feigned anger. I was worried that I might have hurt your pride.

Kazie,
IRONWORKER is great. I've never heard of IRONMONGER before. What is it?

kazie said...

In the interests of sharing more information, have any of you heard of New Zealand Greenstone ? It is really a very pure jade, with fewer striations than the Chinese variety. There is also a lot of jade in Alaska. It's the official sate gemstone.
c.c., An ironmonger was a dealer in iron goods in olden times.

Jeanne said...

Morning all,
A nice easy puzzle to do after a 10-day vacation out West.

We saw Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell, Zion National Park, Hoover Dam, and the beautiful Sedona, AZ. Everything was just breathtaking. We have an amazingly beautiful country.

As a former teacher, I certainly remember carbon copies, mimeographs, and ditto masters. Certainly is alot easier now.

Off to do the laundry, food shopping and hopefully catching up on my sleep tonight.

kazie said...

Sorry--Alaska's state gemstone--I don't think it is satiating!

Ken said...

C.C. Your comment to JD about Walter Lanz reminded me of Walter Lantz, the creator of "Woody Woodpecker", a wonderful cartoon character that made all the "two westerns, 3 cartoons and a serial" generation howl with glee. His cartoons always ended with a "ha ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha, hahahahahahahaha" imitating the sound of a woodpecker.
Children from the fifties were regulars at the Saturday matinee.

MH said...

So my first thought on the theme was elements (as in table of elements). My theme (not my blog, of course ;-) would have been Elemental Logic. Pretty easy puzzle except for SE corner where I struggled with ALLA, DELVE, and LEVI. It didn't help that I had penciled in RECKONED instead of REASONED. But it all worked out in the end. Have a great day everyone.

Ken said...

C.C. Back to the z names. Better add Trini Lopez to the list. He is known for many latin songs, but mostly for "If I had a hammer", but Peter, Paul and Mary sang a better version, IMHO.

Anonymous said...

How about Iron Maiden?
English heavy metal band or nasty torture device.

Dr. Dad said...

Elaborating a little on the Oca and Balls - here are some interesting looking Peppers!

Woody Woodpecker has a name that can get the Sirens going.

Dr. Dad said...

BTW - Woody was created by storyboard artist Ben "Bugs" Hardaway. Walter Lantz (and Walter Lantz Productions) produced the first animated cartoon containing the character.

Anonymous said...

I agree that this was easy except for the 57 & 58. It was, in MHO too easy. It was like filling in an application until one got to the end. I agree that throwing in some unknowns at the end doesn't make it an interesting puzzle. Grump.

Pone and cornbread and Johnny cake are basically the same. You can make wonderful turkey stuffing with cornbread, Pepperidge Farm stuffing, and canned chopped green chili.

Anonymous said...

C.C. I always thought of "corn pone" to be the same as "corn bread" except that it is baked in the shape of an ear of corn.

I would'nt contest a different version though.

Ken said...

@Annie: Iron Maiden was also Margaret Thatcher's nickname which, if I recall, she got during the Falkland Islands war.
@Drdad. Thanks for the extra info on "Bugs" Hardaway. I didn't know that, but will always recall how Walter Lantz scripted his name after Woody's laugh.

flyingears said...

"A baby is an alimentary canal with a loud voice at one end and no responsibility at the other."
=Ronald Reagan

Crockett1947 said...

Guten moregen, alle. This one flowed easily, but not as easy as yesterday. New name: GILES, ELOISE, ALLA, LEVI. Liked the 6A clue. Also liked the crossing of 6A and 6D and 24D and 26A. So, is the theme: "Elemental, my dear Watson."?

That link to ELLE upped my heartbeat a bit.

I see doesitinink had the same idea about the theme as I did.

@jeanne Sounds like you had a marvelous trip. That area of the country is quite awesome!

Have a good Wednesday, everyone!

Tschuß

JD said...

Good morning C.C. and all

I really enjoyed this puzzle,but like Katherine, couldn't fill in 57,58D.The abbrevs. still do me in,but everything seemed to mesh together for a change.

Jeanne- welcome back. What a fantastic trip.We saw Sedona for the 1st time in April; it's a photographer's dream. Like you, I remember always having purple fingers after using those old copy machines.And, do you still call them dittos?It's kind of like hanging onto that old word, nifty.

KittyB and Clear Ayes- thank you for the information on the Red Hats. It sounds like fun.
The tesselation quilts were gorgeous. I don't quilt or sew, but can darn socks. What talent.LOL

Bill- I'm so glad you pointed out that no meant number, yesterday.I had apes. Well, Yewl sounded pretty good at the time.

Kazie- beautiful opals. I am amazed at all of the colors.

Did anyone else think that "Ketch" sounded like a character from L'il Abner?

carol said...

Good morning C.C.and everyone, fun and easy puzzle..like Dennis said, we probably will get a toughie soon.
I had the same trouble with 57A that Kittyb did but finally the "bulb" went on and I got it.

41A looks a little like croissants but not quite.

drdad, Ah yes, the old mimeographs. We used to call ours the "glopida, glopida" machine because that's the sound it made. I also ran a telex, twx and an old cord switchboard. Woe unto any typist who made a mistake and was using one or more pieces of carbon paper! What a mess! Usually I just started over. Glad those days are gone!!

Ken, nice new picture! Who is the sweet bundle you're holding?

Barb B said...

Well, that was weird. fastest time ever, with very little hesitation. Slight pause at actress Nazimova, but when I figured out ale, it fell into place. Norma Steinberg, I love you.

When I was growing up, we ate cornbread a LOT. So good with red (pinto) beans. We used very little sugar, only enough to make it brown easily in the iron skillet. I think of corn pone as the same,only cooked like pancakes rather than baked. Of course a really special treat is corn dodgers – deep fried, with catfish.

Sallie,
I like the sound of your turkey stuffing. I always used cornbread and biscuits in my stuffing, but have never tried green chili. Care to share your recipe?

C.C.
Pantaloons --I never thought of men wearing pantaloons. Maybe that is the more correct definition. I’ve always used the word as interchangeable with bloomers or knickers. Women wore them under their long dresses in order to be modest. My mom had a story about her mom and lady friends going on a picnic and being mortified when they walked over a quails nest, causing the quails to burst into flight, lifting the women’s skirts, and exposing their ankles. Mom was born in 1909, so this would have been just before the ‘flapper’ age, when skirts were much shorter.

Ding-A-Ling – in Chuck Berry’s song, it referred to a toy, but it was a deliberate double entendré, and the audience often sang along with him. I went to a play a few years ago where they modified it a bit, and the ding-a-ling referred to a little dinghy (boat), and the audience picked up on it immediately and sang along.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, I only had one problem at the beginning of today's crossword. Abreviations can stump me and I couldn't get ENVS until I got NEO and VAPOR as the perps. The "Ltr. Extras" clue didn't make sense, but finally ENC(losure)S clicked in and it all fell into place at last. The clues for the CARBON, SILVER, GOLD and IRON answers made solving those quite easy. All the theater names were gimmes. I didn't know GILE Lytton Strachey or LEVI Primo, but the surrounds saved me.

I was a little too old for the ELOISE books when they first came out, but I read them to my daughter and she loved them all. I wonder why it was clued as "of comics"? There are lots of illustrations, but that seems very different to me.

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry. There are a lot of rules to follow. Basically in English, it is three lines, with a five, seven, five syllable count. The following is by Basho, probably the most famous 17th century Japanese poet.

Wet with morning dew
and splotched with mud, the melon
looks especially cool.

BTW, for Norma Steinberg, "haiku" is both singular and plural, not "haikus".

KittyB said...

jd, darning socks is one talent I don't possess. I know that my Mother had a beautiful wood darning egg, but I haven't seen it in years. I hope it's still around somewhere.

Jimbo, through-out the corn pone discussion I was thinking "ear shaped," but I'm not from the south so I didn't speak up. I'm so glad you mentioned that you associate ear shaped corn bread with the word 'pone.' Thanks.

KittyB said...

Barb B, is a corn dodger the same thing as a 'hush puppy"

I remember that Rooster Cogburn had a saddle bag filled with corn dodgers, and I wondered what the heck he was carrying around that would last for days as a meal. Either he had strong teeth, or he dunked them in his coffee.

Anonymous said...

mark - Buenos Aires

An Ok puzzle, easily gettable. I didnt believe the spelling of draught ale as draft ale but have since found it is an acceptable alternative. Interestingly there is another English/American English spelling difference of vapour. I think it has been some time since we had such language differences. I wonder how they came about and are other English speaking colonies like Australia, Canada, India and South Africa simarly bestowed with different spellings?

Barb B said...

Kittyb
Yes, they're the same thing. For some reason, I could only think of corn dodgers this morning. My brain is not firing on all cylinders; need more coffee.

Whatever you choose to call them, they're a treat, and leftovers don't last long. I always cook extra fried corn tortillas for the same reason, hoping I'll at least have one or two for breakfast the next day. Better than toast.

Mr. Ed said...

Good morning C.C. & all

It was a relatively easy one for me this morning but as usual, I ran into a problematic section. Today it was the 44A, 40D, 52D, 56A 61A combination that took far longer than it should have. I ended up with a barely legible overwritten blob. But, I know what it says so...

I'm still pondering 41A... I know it is technically correct but there is a BIG diffence pone and cornbread. True, they're both made of corn but the texture, taste, presentation and everything is different. One is fried and the other baked... okay! I yield! They're both breads!(of a different type) Here in the west, we call the fried type Indian Pone.

Did anybody else find 24D objectionable as a clue/answer. I think it would have been better as 'early miners' to tie in with El Dorado on the 26 cross. In this P.C. world we live in, I think golddiggers would be very objectionable to 'trophy' wives or BOYTOYS. Although, Dean Martin's dancers were called 'The Golddiggers' on his variety show. On the plus side, I liked the intersect of envs/encs... nice and neat.

@C.C. Thanks for letting me out of the woodshed! I was afraid you were going to make me go fetch a switch!

@ mark Being a traveler, I have observed that we do not actually speak true English here in the U.S. Our language has evolved differently due to many localized influences. And, there are many other derivations of english depending upon which country you visit. Each country(or region) has evolved differently due to local variables. Spanish has the same evolutionary symptoms from country to country. The basic language is the same but if you speak Mexican Spanish in Spain, very few will understand what you are saying. I imagine it's the same throughout S.A. although I've not actually spent enough time in your country to be able to make a comparison.

Y'all (or yawl) have a good day. I'm in 'n out all day again so.... it's so tough being retired!

ciao

Clear Ayes said...

C.C. Your photo looks like fried pies. They used to be a southern States favorite, but maybe not so much anymore, because of the skyhigh calories. They are usually fruit filled, deep fried and sprinkled with sugar. So good and soooo fattening. They are similar to turnovers, which I think are most often baked and empanadas which are the latin version.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Clear Ayes, for your comment about Eloise. I was about to leave a note protesting it's being classified as a comic. Eloise is the naughty heroine of a funny, wry series of picture books by Kay Thompson, illustrated by Hilary Knight. The first of the series was "Eloise at the Plaza."

embien said...

6:43 today No unknowns.

c.c. How about IRON MAIDEN for ten-letter IRON answers (could be clued to the rock group to keep it family-friendly)? (Oops, I see that someone else has already mentioned this.)

I think your picture of PONE is more like a beignet, but could be someone's take on PONE. To me, PONE is just another name for what we call corn bread here in the north. Johnnycakes are fried (as are beignets) while corn bread and corn pone is baked in the oven, I think.

c.c. Jade plays a big role in the fun book The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun. The second of a looong (but fun) series of mystery novels. A jade robbery plays a key role in the book.

Dennis said...

jd, whenever I see 'ketch', I always think of Hank Ketcham, who penned the comic strip "Dennis the Menace", a strip that caused me untold grief growing up.

Ketcham, by the way, at one time worked for Lanz studios, home of Woody Woodpecker.

jeanne, welcome back - what a great trip. Someday I want to drive the country; there's so much I haven't seen yet.

Mr. Ed said...

@clear ayes & anon 1:12

This is a corrected repost because I obviously don't know my A's from my D's. Sorry about the wasted count. I'll stay away later to make up for it. But, I think you're correct about the 47D clue. Eloise was comedic in her antics but that makes the clue incorrect as presented. Could it be we have yet some more 'editorial' tampering?

Crockett1947 said...

@embien The Cat Who.. books were a favorite series until the last couple came out. It appears painfully obvious that the books are being ghosted now. If Lilian Jackson Braun is still alive she'd be 95 this year. The Cat Who Dropped A Bombshell (2006) was a bit odd and The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers (2007) was so bad that it was almost unreadable. That was the first one I didn't buy -- got it from the library and could hardly force myself to read it. The first 27 books were nice reads, though.

Clear Ayes said...

Thanks Embien for the beignet reminder, so delicious and powdered sugar from nose to chin.

"Coffee as strong as Café du Monde,
Donuts are too hot to touch.
Just like a fool, when those sweet goodies cool,
I eat till I eat way too much."
- Jimmy Buffett

Is there a country in the world that doesn't have its own take on deep fried goodies? Here's a place Fried Doughs Around The World that will explain more than you might ever want to know.

Ken said...

Hi Carol! Thank you. That pix is about 2 yours old; he is my latest grandson, Casey Nickolas, named for Casey Stengal and his cousin, my other grandson.

My son and I are running a cribbage tournament in PDX in 10 days. We expect about 500 folks.

melissa bee said...

good day c.c. and all,

fun puzzle today, sped right through. brilliant theme title, c.c.

lots of food references today: meal, sodas, pone, salt, acorn and prune. also seems appropriate to see salt crossing tear.

there are two eloise's .. one is from the books that have been mentioned, and the other is from a comic strip. it seems norma steinberg tried to morph the two by cluing 'plaza hotel girl from comics.'

i know an older italian couple who refer to pancakes as 'johnny cakes.' i always wondered why, and assumed it was a colloquial thing .. they lived in both west virginia and new york. they also called anyone who went barefoot a 'ridge runner.'

Dennis said...

clear ayes et.al., growing up in the south, there was no better snack than a fried pie and an RC Cola. Still have to do that every time I drive down to Atlanta.

kazie said...

On the question of different versions of English, in Australia and New Zealand, British spellings are used. some of the differences are using -our instead of the -or endings in words like flavor, color, harbor, etc.and switching z and s in some words ending in -ize, but examples escape me at present. One that always looks odd is practise--always used for the verb forms in British English, practice is only for nouns.

The only reason I can think of for most of these was revolutionary thinking here when you broke away from England and wanted to simplify everything.

What is interesting about the
-or/-our difference is that where English "-our" is derived from the French influence there, the American "-or" is actually more truly related to the original Latin spellings.

It took me forever to get used to what was correct here after growing up with the other spellings, and even now I have to think twice sometimes. Especially when my French and German get into the mix as well.

kazie said...

Maybe that -ize thing is more a difference between English and French--I can't find any that are different in my Oxford Dictionary. The French are also confusing with -ance and -ence words--often the opposite to ours.

Barb B said...

Emblen, Crockett,
I have most of the Cat Who books. I agree, the later ones are not as good, and I stopped reading them. I also have the cookbook - recipes from all the books through 2003. It wasn't written by Lilian Jackson Braun, but she did write a short forward.

Any more Cat Who readers out there?

KittyB said...

Crockett I've read most, if not all, of "The Cat Who..." books. I was surprised at the ham-handed way that Polly was separated from Quilleran in the more recent books, and wondered if there was another hand at work.

I always thought Polly was a stiff character (meooowww), and that Quill might have been just a bit more fun without her, but I didn't care for the abrupt way she disappeared from the scene.

Barb B said...

Lilian Jackson Braun said she wrote this poem when she was 2 years old, in a snow storm.

"Mother Goose is up in the sky/And these are her feathers coming down in my eye."

KittyB
I didn't think Polly was that great either. She represented a very outdated image of a librarian. I haven't read any of the books lately, so I didn't know she had been ousted. Do you remember which book tells that story?

Dennis said...

Two years old? Isn't that a little young for hallucinegenics?

DoesItinInk said...

"The Cat Who..." I read 17 of the series, then lost interest. I assumed it was because I had changed, but perhaps it was because the books themselves had changed. These were the only books I read that I could get my mother interested in reading too. She loved Qwilleran...even if she was not so fond of cats.

KittyB said...

Barb b, I haven't a clue. Polly had been visiting with some friends, and arranged to have her things sent to her, and sold her condo. It seems to me the friends were in the east, or in France, or somewhere far enough away that she wouldn't be on the scene. The implication was that their relationship had never been as important to Polly as it may have been to Qwill, and that she chose to pursue her own interests. The author had Qwill dining with more modern ladies, but not settling on one as a constant companion. Surely Crockett will know which of the books I'm describing.

Clear Ayes said...

My goodness, I guess I've missed something by not even being aware of Lilian Jackson Braun and "The Cat Who" books. The only serial type mysteries I've read are some of Diane Mott Davidson's food themed books. There are always a few good recipes included with each murder solved.

Melissa bee,thanks for the information on the two Eloises. I guess Norma Steinberg (or the editor) thought they were one and the same.

Dennis, I always thought the combo was a MoonPie and a RC. I'm not a big graham cracker person, so I know I'd prefer a fried pie too, particularly if it were filled with some yummy Georgia peaches. Also, funny comment at 3:53.

Where is xchefwalt when we have been talking about food so much?

Buckeye, you've been among the missing too.

KittyB said...

melissa bee popped up just as I was going to comment that in addition to chris in la and buckeye, melissa, cokato and lois had been among the missing. I know that life intrudes on our fun here, but we miss you.

Cat Who... lovers I think the book I was describing is "The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers," published in 2007. Polly went off to France!

lois said...

CC: You make me LOL. I do love solid balls and playing pool with them....also love a big stick and a gentle stroke, but it's all in the "lie, lay or leave" that makes it fun and worthwhile.

Thanks for the links. Great picture of oca! Would have nightmares having to take a knife to those or drdad's red peppers. Would probably eat them whole.

Great theme too! Very cute.