google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday November 16, 2008 Michael T. Wiliams

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Nov 16, 2008

Sunday November 16, 2008 Michael T. Wiliams

Theme: Watch the Finish

23A: Thrilla in Manila, e.g.: BOXING MATCH

34A: Fielding feat: DIVING CATCH

46A: Extra door security: SAFETY LATCH

67A: Magician's secret: ESCAPE HATCH

81A: Blooming plot: FLOWER PATCH

109A: How the best cakes are made: FROM SCRATCH

114A: Chocolate chip collective: COOKIE BATCH

FLOWER, COOKIE and "How the best cakes are made", so sweet!

The constructor used up every *ATCH phrase for his theme entries. *Watch does not rhyme, and he put it in his theme title. Very clever. It would be perfect if he squeezed in NATCH somewhere.

I think I mentioned this before: When there is an odd number of theme entries, the middle one must be structured in the very heart of the puzzle, and it must have an odd number of letters. See today's ESCAPE HATCH. The symmetry of the grid demands so.

I had a very smooth solving today. Caught the theme very early on and was able to fill in all the finishing letters of the theme answers.

I love the FISH clue (81D: Catch some rays?). I was thinking of BASK since TAN & SUN did not fit. It finally dawned on me that "rays" are fish, not sunshine.

Across:

1A: Melonlike tropical fruit: PAPAYA. Yes, PAPAYA does look like melon, the taste is totally different though.

11A: Rhythmic swing: LILT. And YODELS (47D: Alpine songs).

20A: Lomond or Ness, for example: LOCH. I would not have got CCCP (9D: Cyrillic USSR) without LOCH. Somehow I can never remember CCCP. Someone mentioned "Charlie's Cold Chicken Pie" as a mnemonic last time.

21A: Member of a stand: TREE. I don't understand this one, why?

26A: S. American nation: ECUA. Its capital is Quito.

27A: Work-shoe protection: TOECAP. New to me. So TOECAP protects the shoe, not your toe?

30A: Sally Field movie: NORMA RAE. Good to see its full name.

40A: Ophelia's brother: LAERTES. I googled his name. He killed Hamlet with a poisoned blade.

43A: Layer beneath membrane: ECTOPLASM. Opps: ENDOPLASM. New to me.

57A: U.K. ref. set: OED. It has 20 volumes. Amazing. But who reads it?

58A: Dundee of boxing: ANGELO. Unknown to me. Wikipedia says he worked with ALI (112A: The Greatest) for many years. What is "a bucket guy"?

63A: Japanese vegetables: UDOS. Have you had UDOS before? I might have had it in some miso soup before. Could not remember their flavor.

78A: Membrane of grasses: PALEA. Plural is PALEAE. See this diagram. New word to me.

79A: Hale-Bopp or Kohoutek: COMET. I guessed.

90A: Doofus: SCHMO

91A: Deejay's gimmick: AUTOCUE. I don't understand this one. Why does Deejay needs AUTOCUE?

103A: Guide to Valhalla: VALKYRIE. No idea. It's "any of the beautiful maidens attendant upon Odin who bring the souls of slain warriors chosen by Odin or Tyr to Valhalla and there wait upon them". Kind of like Muslim Houri, isn't it?

105A: Travel channel?: LANE

106A: Unaspirated, like B or D: LENIS. This is also a new word to me.

107A: "___ Howser, M. D.": DOOGIE. I googled, then I realized that I had searched for this TV series before.

109A: Indigo dye: ANIL. What exactly is ANIL?

117A: Jewish month: ADAR. I bet this has become a gimme for all the TMS puzzle solvers. It's always ADAR if the clue is "Jewish month" (4 letters).

119A: Dar es__ Tanzania: SALAAM. Ha, I forgot this city again. Searched this name before. Literally, "abode of Peace". The largest city in Tanzania.

123A: Govt. issued securities: T-BILLS

Down:

1D: Dangerous insulation mtl.: PCB. I obtained this word from across fills.

2D: Orinoco tributary: ARO. It's clued as "Venezuelan river" last time. If you find a map, please share with us. This Rio Orinoco is the only thing I got.

14D: Riot queller: TEAR GAS

15D: Roman autocrat: CEASAR. He said "Veni, vidi, vici" & "Et tu, Brute?".

18D: Moors: HEATHS

28D: Flintonstones' pet: DINO

44D: :S: in music: PRESA. No idea. I don't understand the clue neither, waiting for Kittyb's explanation.

49D: Aussie rockers: AC/DC. OK, here is their "You Shook Me All Night Long".

52D: Well-plumed bird: EGRET

60D: "__ Cane": MONDO. I saw it before, very strange film.

65D: School for Sartre: ECOLE. "School for Simone" too of course. What a beautiful relationship between Simone de Beauvoir and Sartre! True love does not mean that you have to own each other physically.

68D: Hammerin' Hank: AARON. He has 755 home runs, the true home run king!

80D: Battery brand: EVEREADY. I've never heard of EVEREADY before. It does not exist any more, right?

84D: God of thunder: THOR. He always carries a hammer. Thursday is named after him.

85D: 951: CMLI

88D: Part of NRC: NUCLEAR. NRC is Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

89D: Fictional sleuths: TECS. Our editor likes to clue it as "Gumshoes".

92D: Muse of astrology: URANIA. Here is a picture. She usually holds a globe on her left hand.

93D: Pick-me-ups: TONICS

94D: Denver concoction: OMELET. Denver OMELET, looks delicious!

101D: Handlelike parts: ANSAE. Singular form is ANSA, often clued as "Latin handle".

115D: "__ Pinafore": H.M.S. Not familiar with this comic opera.

C.C.

26 comments:

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

Ken W. Jasper & Abogato in AL,
I noticed that you only solve Tribune Media Service Sunday crossword. What puzzles do you solve on weekdays?

Buckeye,
Don't go back to lurking. Your posts are enjoyed by many.

Doesitinink,
Xillus Xavier left a comment @ 12:47pm yesterday at "Crossword Poem" entry (Sept 26).

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

Martin,
Nice list, and symmetrical! But don't try William Felt again. Vanity Fair is being vanity. Deep Throat is only known as Mark Felt here.

Kazie,
I don't understand your "nothing grows in the shade" comment yesterday. I don't know your experience. But every time I put on extra weight and gain 1" in boob size, I will gain 2" in my waist size. Very frustrating.

RichShif said...

Good Morning C.C. and all,

Since I don't get Sunday's c/w, I just stuck my head in the door to say Hi.

@JD Thanks for the compliment on my dog. His name is Riddick and he is a 3yr mixed Shepherd and Lab. He was a replacement dog for a mixed Chihuahua (yeah right, Don't trust animal shelter descriptions) that grew to be 50 lbs and had the markings of a shepherd. The vet always wanted to know how come he was listed as a Chihuahua until we showed him the adoption paper work. Everybody alsways got a good laugh about that. Anyway Rambo got hit by a car on a camping trip in WV and had to be put down. My boss felt bad about the incident and told me that if I found another dog at an animal shelter that he would buy it for me and pay for the first round of shots. That is how I ended up with Riddick. He is 95 lbs and protects the house. He can be very intimidating when he greets people at the door. The neighbors love him because he watches their property also.

C. C. Hope you don't mind this story. I know it isn't c/w related.

Martin said...

I didn't do the puzzle today. There are separate movies coming out named Valkyrie and Thor. Oh and Astarte (from yesterday's puzzle) is definitely another name for Ishtar.

RICHARD NIXON
(Bob) WOODWARD
(Carl) BERNSTEIN
WATERGATE (Clue: "WashingtonHotel")
(William) MARK FELT
"I AM NOT A CROOK"

Martin

SailGirl said...

Dear CC,

I love your blog & read it most days. I like that there are other folks who do the cw too.

A stand of trees is a group of trees that are similar, i.e. the same species, age and size

Today was mostly easy, but i did end up googling several clues & used my eraser more than I like!

Anonymous said...

On the weekdays, I do the USA puzzle at lunch. I think that each day, the puzzles get harder.

What about 29 across "pigeon hole" It came out SOOT. Can that be right???? I missed a few, but it got better when i realized the clue. There were several that i had never hear of like the denver omelet ????
(Most of the time in Denver you eat Buffalo at Turner's

What about 106 across "Lenis"?? Again it does not make much sense help???

Lemon law in most state gives the seller three chances to make it work. After thre tries, you can ask a ourt to give you back your money

What about that Alabama. The Tide started about 26 on the polls in the beginning. But we need to get pass Auburn.

abogato in Alabama

Argyle said...

This took awhile.

Rio Aro, Venezuela (It's in the SW quadrant.)

Argyle said...

27A:So TOECAP protects the shoe, not your toe?
It does both. If it is inside the shoe, it's usually called steel toed shoes.

40A: Ophelia's brother: LAERTES. I googled his name. He killed Hamlet with a poised blade. (Typo? A poisoned blade, it had been dipped in poison.)

58A: What is "a bucket guy"?
The corner man with the bucket and sponge to cool off the fighter and has the towel to dry him. The manager does the talking and strategizing.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Stopping by to check on the comments.

Richif, We have Lisa, a neighbor's Lab as our home protector. G.A.H. takes both our dog and Lisa on morning walks, so she is usually around to bark at incoming cars.

Buckeye, from Friday's blog..Oh....that Cliff! Always one of my favorites.

Cliff-ism: "If you were to go back in history and take every president, you'll find that the numerical value of each letter in their name was equally divisible into the year in which they were elected. By my calculations, our next president has to be named Yellnick McWawa."

Hmmm, not too far off the mark!

Clear Ayes said...

From yesterday's blog - Buckeye, thanks to Nurse Ratchet for thinking of me. Just one question, was she referring to the bottle or the lobotomy?

Speaking of Dorothy Parker:

Unfortunate Coincidence

By the time you swear you're his,
Shivering and sighing,
And he vows his passion is
Infinite, undying -
Lady, make a note of this:
One of you is lying.

- Dorothy Parker

Since that one was short, here's another one that, although not Dorothy Parker is very Parker-ish and plays on the same theme.

Caught in the Undertow

Colin, worshipping some frail,
By self-deception sways her:
Calls himself unworthy male,
Hardly even fit to praise her.

But this tactic insincere
In the upshot greatly grieves him
When he finds the lovely dear
Quite implicitly believes him.

- Christopher Morley

Mandy said...

Thanks Martin,
Stumbled onto your site today. Got stuck at the start with CASABA rather than PAPAYA and as the three A s were correct for my D words,refused to change it. Here I was with open boxes at the start and had finished the rest of the puzzle. Never left an incomplete Tribune in ten years.Added you to my favorites.Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

In the Vncouver Province today a DR Robert Dickson of Calgary wrote that Nov 19th is World Toilet Day and almost half the world does not have the most basic of sanitation services.It goes on and on. Anyhow , wash, wash you hands.
Todays c/w that is in my paper was yours yesterday.
Back to finishing the c/w.
Have a nice Sunday everyone!
Geri

Anonymous said...

:S: In Music = Presa


"a mark, as :S:, +, or §, used in a canon, round, etc., to indicate where the successive voice parts are to take up the theme."

Dictionary.com

Dick said...

Good morning CC,DFs and DFettes..a nice easy one today and much more enjoyable than yesterday. The NW corner was the last to fall today. It took me a long time to see 1D PCB and I got 1A PAPAYA immediately at the start. For some reason I have trouble remembering 110A SOLAAM Tanzania. It is always a struggle to recall this name. The theme exposed itself early on and that made the puzzle easier to complete.

DoesItinInk said...

Except for a few unknown words, this was an easy puzzle. The cross of LENIS and ANSAE were difficult as I knew neither of the terms. Likewise PRESA and RAW tripped me up. I did not know PRESA and had not heard of the Eddie Murphy movie. So in the end I had two incorrect squares.

“Thrilla in Manila”. Was there really such a BOXING MATCH? I only remember the Rumble in the Jungle.

A mention of VALKYRIES always reminds me of Apocalypse Now .

CAESAR is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator. The change from being a familial name to an imperial title can be loosely dated to 68/69, the so-called “Year of the Four Emperors”.

I have heard of MONDO Cane but never saw the movie. After reading the synopsis, I do not think I would be interested in seeing it. And yet it was nominated for an Academy Award?

EVEREADY batteries are still manufactured and sold.

Abrogate @9:05 am 29A is SORT.

cc: Thank you for information about how to find Xillus Xavier's comments.

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

Richshif,
Several solvers are curious about your dog. I am glad you came today and addressed JD's question.

Salegirl,
Thank you for "a stand of tree". It's a new phrase to me.

Mandy & Peter,
Welcome!

kazie said...

c.c.,
The joke was relating to your comment about wondering why the famous women with big boobs could have such small waists. It was an old joke about Jane Mansfield, because she was like that--her waist didn't get bigger, according to the joke, because it was shaded by her boobs, and things don't grow well in the shade.

My husband made a very DF comment on seeing your link to the udos: "That looks like the penis of someone with a very serious STD."

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

Argyle,
Why do you love VALKYRIES? Thanks for the Rio ARO link. You are amazing. I read "Roamin' in the gloaming on the bonny banks of Clyde" again earlier, so evocative of Bonnie & CLYDE.

Doesitinink,
Thanks for the "Apocalypse Now" link. It enabled me to find Argyle's Wagner, which did not work for me earlier.

Kazie,
Your husband's STD comment reminds me of the "Breakfast Test" crossword constructors always discuss. It's regarded as one of the delicate words, the same as AIDS, CANCER, ASS, BLOW, TITS and EATOUT, even though they are often clued innocently.

Clear Ayes said...

Doesitinink, The 1975 "Thriller in Manilla" was the third bout between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Ali won in the 14th round and said "the fight was the closest thing to dying". ESPN news has ranked it the fifth best boxing match of all time. No, I am not a boxing fan, but G.A.H. is. Over the years, I must have seen parts of this fight's reruns five or six times.

Appocalypse Now is one of the great movies of all time. Robert Duvall's Kilgore was fascinating. The clip napalm in the morning is one of the most memorable scenes.

Mondo Cane was shocking for its time. Nowadays, it would just be a rather tame episode on Discovery, Nat'l Geo or the Travel channel. It's tough to shock anyone anymore.

Kazie, your husband is a keeper!

Carol, Dennis, et al, Quik was preferable to Ovaltine, but Quik didn't offer decoder rings. (When my mother wasn't looking I would scoop teaspoons of Quik directly from box to mouth.

Postum was just plain weird, but since it didn't have caffeine my mother let me drink it. For some reason, I did.

DoesItinInk said...

Clear Ayes: I totally agree with your assessment of Apocalypse Now. A funny story…when my middle daughter was still in high school, she had an English teacher who would often add an extra credit question to their tests that had nothing to do with the class work. After one test my daughter came home excited that she was the only person in her class who knew the answer to the extra credit question. The question was “from what movie did the quote ‘I love the smell of napalm in the morning’ come?” She had never seen the film but had remembered what I had told her about it! LOL. I was so proud!

czenko said...

Regarding 57A: I recently checked out a book from my local library entitled "Reading the OED...One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages". So in answer to your question: Ammon Shea reads the OED.
Cheers

DoesItinInk said...

czenko: I am not familiar with that book, but it reminded me of The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs who read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in one year. Somehow I think reading the EB would be much more interesting that reading the entire OED!

Another totally delightful book along the same line was Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. Julie spent a year cooking every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, volume 1. I recall that a movie was being made of this book. Oh...I just checked. It will be coming out in 2009 and stars Amy Adams, Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci. I can't imagine it will be as wonderfully inspiring as the book, but it will be a must-see for me!

KittyB said...

Good evening, all!

Thanks, Peter. I have never seen :S: and didn't have an answer for C.C. I know the other symbol you used, and understand how it's used.

I can see I need to read yesterday's comments to see what Buckeye had to say.

I did the crossword yesterday, late in the day. I agree with everyone else's comments and opinions, and have nothing to add.

I did most of today's crossword before life intruded. There were six or so words that were incomplete when I set it aside. LILT, LAERTES, LENIS, PALEA, PRESA, ANSAE. (Okay, SEVEN words and those that crossed them.) It's irritating not to finish.

I had odd chores like making new curtains for the garage, today. Finishing the crossword would have been more fun...

Great poems, clear ayes!

I hope you all had a great weekend.

Argyle said...

Love those Valkyries!

The Ride of the Valkyries
from Die Walkure by Richard Wagner performed by the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland conducted by Edo De Waart
November 16, 2008 8:44 AM

Argyle said...

Anil -
Indigofera suffruticosa

and here

Dye was obtained from soaking the plant's leaves in water and allowing them to ferment. The solids from the fermented leaf solution was mixed with a strong base such as lye, pressed into cakes, dried, and powdered. The powder was then mixed with various other substances to produce different shades of blue and purple.

Argyle said...

C. C. said...Argyle, Why do you love VALKYRIES?

I have always been drawn to strong, war-like women.

The Valkyrie carried souls to Valhalla- Odin's banquet hall in the heavenly realm of Asgard. Thet were the nine daughters of Odin so I doubt they waited on anybody.