google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday November 30, 2008 Josiah Breward

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Nov 30, 2008

Sunday November 30, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: Canine Connections

23A: Marine canine?: SEA BASS (BASS)ET HOUND

42A: Central American canine?: GUATEMALA (MALA)MUTE

64A: Tennis player's canine?: NADAL (DAL)MATIAN

75A: Dancer's canine?: ASTAIRE (AIRE)DALE

99A: Sculptor's canine?: NOGUCHI (CHI)HUAHUA

117A: Sioux holy man's canine?: SITTING BULL (BULL)DOG

16D: Fancy-tailed canine?: PEACOCK (COCK)ER SPANIEL

40D: Island canine?: GRAND BAHAMAS (MAS)TIFF

Great theme, isn't it? My best Sunday ever. Still needed to google a few proper names though.

Some of the clues struck me as annoyingly and unnecessarily obscure, especially BLAIRS (83A: Brown and Underwood: BLAIRS). Aren't these BLAIRS a better clue?

I think the clue for RAM (88A: Farm butter) needs a question mark to warn the unsuspecting solvers about the word play on butt-er. I could not think of a better way to clue OTHO (110D: Holy Roman emperor). But it has to be reworded because of HRE (78A: Bygone Eur. realm) as an answer in the grid.

I still don't understand the clue for SOLO (109A: Arias for one). Why "Arias" instead of "Aria"? (Addendum: My mistake. The answer is SOLI).

Across:

8A: Sail-extending pole: SPRIT. See this diagram. It's "a small pole or spar crossing a fore-and-aft sail diagonally from the mast to the upper aftermost corner, serving to extend the sail". New nautical term to me.

28A: Seine tributary: OISE. Here is the map. I wonder why there is no le, or la in front of this river. Is it a neuter river?

31A: Height: pref.: ACRO. As in acrophobia. New to me. Somehow I wanted ELEV.

35A: Proud of being wealthy: PURSY. Have never heard of this word before.

45A: Saul's uncle: NER. Learned his name from doing Xword. NER is Abner's father. Saul's father is Kish.

46A: Partner of Porthos: ATHOS. The other Musketeer is Aramis. How come these names all end with letter S? I thought only Greek masculine nouns end with letter s.

51A: Pianist Cliburn: VAN. Is this Dan Rather's voice? I did not know this pianist.

55A: Vinegar produced from fermented ale: ALEGAR. Ale + (Vin)negar. It appeared in our puzzle a few days ago. Sometimes I make my own honegar in summer time: honey and apple cider vinegar.

70A: Slot fills: TABS. Mortise insert is TENON.

71A: Skiing mishap: SPILL. Falling from the skis?

77A: Asian goat: TAHR. I've never seen this Asian TAHR in China. He looks so lonely.

82A: Tropical black birds: ANIS. Normally clued as "Black cuckoos".

89A: Cold remedies?: ICE BAGS. Good clue.

93A: French wine region: RHONE. Its capital is Lyon.

102A: His: Fr. SES. Or her, its.

104A: Eat greedily: ENGORGE. New word to me. Only knew gorge.

111A: Permafrost region: TUNDRA

115A: Like an opera song: ARIOSE. Another new word to me. I've never heard of arioso neither.

122A: Pocatello's state: IDAHO. I guessed. I've never heard of Pocatello before. What is it famous for? Potatos?

Down:

4D: Import-export difference: TRADE GAP

5D: Remove with caution: EASE OUT

8D: Division into factions: SCHISM. Lots of consonants in this word.

10D: Black sheep: ROUE. The likes of Casanova & Don Juan. Have you heard of Lothario?

12D: Tiresome times: TEDIUMS. Strange that the plural form is not TEDIA.

13D: Hawker: HUCKSTER. Another new word to me.

15D: Greek peak: OSSA. It's the only Greek mountain I know.

17D: Spanked: LARRUPED. This word looks so wrong, with the spelling RRUP, yet it's a real word.

18D: Losers: ALSO-RANS. Like Senators McCain & Kerry.

34D: DDE's command: ETO (European theater of operations)

39D: 1930s programs: NEW DEAL. I just learned that Social Security program is part of the NEW DEAL too.

43D: Berman or Cariou: LEN. Have never heard of sportcaster LEN Berman. I like those bobblehead figurines on his shelf. I was not acquainted with actor LEN Cariou either.

50D: Eminent conductors: MAESTRI. I did not know that the plural form for maestro is MAESTRI.

51D: The 4 Seasons singer Frankie: VALLI. Another google. I did not know that it's VALLI who sang "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". Lovely song.

55D: Latin handle: ANSA

61D: "Guitar Town" singer Steve: EARLE. Here is the clip.

66D: Turndown, from Putin: NYET. A "No" from Putin obviously still carries enormous authority in Russia.

69D: Famous meteor shower member: PERSEID. New word to me also. Perseus is the guy who killed Gorgon Medusa in Greek mythology.

76D: Martini's partner: ROSSI. Nice poster.

79D: Moran and Gray: ERINS. Have heard of Moran, not Gray.

83D: Armband: BRASSARD. I was surprised when the dictionary says it's a word. It also looks so wrong. -ARD is suffix denoting "persons who regularly engage in an activity, who are characterized in a certain way, as indicated by the stem; now usually pejorative: coward; dullard; drunkard; wizard. "

84D: Niagara's source: LAKE ERIE. New trivia to me.

85D: Faultfinders: SCOLDERS

93D: Altercation: RUN-IN

96D: Cultivate: NURTURE

100D: Sun god: HELIOS. He is the brother of Selene (goddess of the moon) and Eos (goddess of the dawn). Sol in Roman.

114D: Turkish officer: AGHA. Also spelled as AGA.

C.C.

52 comments:

Martin said...

C.C., I didn't do the puzzle today but it seems to me that an altercation should be a run IN not a run ON. Also don't forget ACRObat has the same prefix as ACROphobe.

Martin

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

Martin,
Thanks. Now the clue "Arias for one" for SOLI makes sense. Previously I had SOLO. You've got to have Sunday paper. I am interested in your take. Also, I've said this several times before: The replies to Xword related questions do not count. So stop worrying about the limit. I like your cartoon rodents observation. Interesting.

Ink, Chris et al,
I'd like to know how long you spent on today's puzzle.

Anonymous @ 3:31pm,
So how is Catholic guilt different from Jewish guilt then?

Doreen,
Thanks for getting back to me.

Argyle said...

Good Morning, C.C.,

Re: 99A: Sculptor's canine?: NAGUCHI (CHI)HUAHUA

Isamu Noguchi, 1904-1988, was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect.

Is your answer a typo, variant spelling or an "oops"?

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

Arygle,
Oops. It's NOGUCHI. No wonder the intersecting 85D: SCALDERS did not make any sense to me. Should be SCOLDERS. However, SCALD is defined as "To criticize harshly; excoriate" on Dictionary.com.

Richshif,
I am surprised that neither Dennis nor Dick pointed out the AXLE mistake. Both of them are car guys.

Diney,
I am glad you found us. I hope to hear more from you.

Dennis,
Did you have a large crowd? Was your wife there? I was so happy to hear that your team lost.

Chris in LA said...

Good morning CC etal,

Had some trouble with SPRIT/ROUE/OISE cross as well as OSSA/ACRO/LARRUPED cross.

Looked up PURSY after-the-fact. It took me 4 on-line dictionaries before I found "proud of being wealthy" - most all others agreed that it's defined as "short of breath as a result of being overweight". Stikes me as a little too obscure.

CC: 55D is ANSA and 85D is SCOLDERS

Took me about 2 hours on and off (needed to let the dogs out, feed them, etc.). Overall, though, a pretty typical Sunday time for me.

Geaux Saints!

Argyle said...

I have heard the term scalding criticism before.

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

Chris,
Oops, another mistake. Where was my mind this morning? I definitely need to get into my own Tiger Zone. How can I be as concentrated as Tiger Woods? By the way, I always confuse ANSA with ANSU (Japanese apricot).

Argyle,
What's your take on Richshif's AXLE comment yesterday? Also, is PURSY a familiar word to you? What is SPILL (71A) in skiing? Is the voice on 51A Dan Rather's?

Chris in LA said...

CC:

I suppose if we could concentrate as well as Tiger we wouldn't be doing crosswords - we'd be on the PGA Tour making millions, "HUCKSTERING" for American Express & Nike (but not-so-much for Buick anymore), married to super-models, living in fancy-schmanzty mansions, etc., etc.

Oh well...

;)

kazie said...

Good morning all.
No xw for me until Thursday, but having read this will help!

c.c.,
Remember, the -o words in Italian got to -i in the plural: soli, maestri.

L'oise would be the river's name with its article. I don't know its gender, but there is no neuter in French--everything is either masculine or feminine.

I've never heard of pursy either.

Dennis said...

Good morning, c.c. and gang - just thought I'd check in this morning.

I learned two new words from reading your recap - pursy and larruped; never heard of either one before.

c.c., I didn't have a problem with the 'axle' clue yesterday - it is, after all, a rod, so it's technically correct.

And yes, an enormous crowd - maybe even as high as 15, lol. Why were you happy we lost?

Speaking of happy, both my stores had better than expected days Friday and yesterday, so maybe things will be better this holiday than everyone's anticipating. Both stores have nothing but 'disposable income' products, so I take this as a good sign.

Hope it's a great day for everyone.

Anonymous said...

Josiah Breward you get an "A" for an enterning puzzle this morning. I especially like to learn some new words "Larruped" and "Brassard". I wonder if he reads this blog?? Maybe if he does, he will join in on the comment. Does anyone know if there is payment for the Sunday puzzle?? Maybe we should start a hall or fame(or frame) or may even get someone to start a computer rating system like the current football rating.
Anyway, next for Alabama will be the real test in Atlanta agsinst Florida. Alabama is number one, but is a 7 point underdog agsinst Florida.

abogato in Alabama

Dick said...

Good morning CC, DFs and DFettes...nice puzzle today and very solvable once I got the theme of the puzzle. There were a few new words for me today i.e. LARRUPED 17D and soli although as a plural it makes sense. ING for 38A makes no sense to me.

I liked the puzzle and it is so nice to be back to the c/w. We have had 15 people staying here including seven children ranging in age from two to fourteen (all my in-laws) with two others coming for dinner on Thanksgiving. Chris I feel your pain!

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving and in spite of the above I do have much to be thankful for.

Dick said...

CC Pocatello, Idaho did a lot of nuclear research and testing there. I think that the work is still continuing there today.

Also, it took a little over one hour and fifteen minutes to complete the puzzle today. Not too bad for one with no Googles.

Dick said...

CC try this address for more info on what went on at Pocatello.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E4DB1E30F93AA25751C0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Anonymous said...

in 45a Saul's uncle you have Ner.I was on the impression that Ner was is grandfather!that's if we are talking about King Saul of course.Are we?

Anonymous said...

clue 110 DOWN and clue 122 ACROSS looks like an error to me...never heard of Holy Roman Emperor called OTHO??? yet, that is what goes in if you use IDAHO. anybody see this besides me??

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

Calef & Jimbo,
Maybe you guys can answer Anonymous 8:30am' question on NER?

Anonymous @ 10:36am,
OTHO is indeed a "Holy Roman Emperor" . A very short 3-month reign in 69 AD. Very obscure, I must say.

Chris,
I forgot to ask you earlier. Was PURSY a completely new word to you or were you familiar with "Short of breath" definition? I don't want Tiger's PURSY living style. I only want to have his incredible ability to focus and compartmentalize. My mind drifts too easily.

Kazie,
Wow, I had no idea that there are no neuter words in French. Latin, Greek, German and Spanish do have "neuter" form, right? Also, are those names of "The Three Musketeers" Greek? You would think they should be French.

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

Dick,
Thanks for Pocatello and the link. Great to see you back. Dr. Dad has been missing for almost 10 days.

Abogato in Alabama,
You do know Josiah Breward is our editor Wayne R. Williams' alias name, don't you?

Martin,
"I just thought I'd respond to your confusion vis-a-vis "family" versus "families".

Is "vis-a-vis" an adverb here? I am confused about your sentence structure.

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

Dennis,
How about the BLAIRS clue (83A: Brown and Underwood)? Would that be gimme for you?

It would not be fun for the other team if you guys kept winning. I am really happy that you did well on your stores in the past 2 days. I hope you have more business in the next several weeks.

I meant to ask you, but I always forget. Do you deal with graded cards only? Do you have any of those cool '60s bobbleheads in your stores?

JD said...

C.C., thanks for moving my comments.and Yes, that is definitely Dan Rather...good clip.Today's puzzle looked like fun, but alas, it does not come in my paper.I will sporatically work the NYT puzzle in bits and pieces, but it is a lovely day to be in the garden.
With such 2 different definitions of pursey, I can see why people do not use it. Do you think that Mr. Breward's letters just fell that way, so he looked it up, saw that it was a real word and used it? I loved his theme.
I agree with Martin that an altercation is a run in, not a run on. We use that term, run-on, in writing, when the students don't use periods, and have 2 sentences in one.
There are more jokes about Jewish guilt because they usually involve the mother. Catholic guilt is all about "It's a sin....and you'll go to Hell if...." Because I was raised that way, I found it scary, not funny.

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

Dick,
38A: Gerund maker: ING.
Come: Coming
Go: Going

J.D,
Thanks for checking in. Mr. Breward (Mr. Williams) has published a few crossword dictionaries, so I am sure he knows loads of obscure words.

Chris in LA said...

CC:

Nope, never heard of PURSY until today - got it on the perps and looked it up afterwards to see if is was a real word.

Argyle said...

C. C. said@ 7:20 AM
Argyle,
What's your take on Richshif's AXLE comment yesterday? Also, is PURSY a familiar word to you? What is SPILL (71A) in skiing? Is the voice on 51A Dan Rather's?

Heck, axlerod is a old nickname.

Now I know what to say when I'm winded, "I'm a little pursy today."
(It's not fair, I'd say, when the word is obscure to begin with, to use the more obscure use.) On second thought, I better not use "pursy" around the boys at the garage, they'll drop that "R" for sure.

A spill, in my book, is a little worse than just falling down while skiing. Some tumbling is involved, or a face-plant.

Dan Rather is listed as the narrator; you're not watching the clips all the way through again, C.C.. ;-)>

Anonymous said...

CC, do you live in Minneapolis?

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, What a lovely three days. It was a great time with family at my sister's place in Sebastopol, CA. We avoided the Black Friday mall crowds and spent a few hours at the shops in downtown Sebastopol. Although the big stores are important, I think we should patronize local stores whenever possible. (Good luck to yours, Dennis.)

We sipped some wine, bought a couple of books, browsed through a retro music store, discovered Hayes Caryll and bought a box of Jujubes at at old fashioned candy store.

We took a walk down Florence Avenue to look at some of the fantastic urban art of resident sculptor Patrick Amiot. Here's Firetruck, Mermaid and Waitress.

Musician/actor Tom Waits lives in Sebastopol but, according to my sister, doesn't like to be recognized. I guess he isn't PURSY.

kazie said...

c.c.,
There are also no neuters in Spanish or Italian either--it must be a thing with romance languages. In French some nouns use l' as the definite article but only when the next word begins with a vowel or silent h.

The three musketeer names definitely look Greek to me too. It may have some symbolic reason, like the principles they were defending, "all for one and one for all", were those perhaps linked to Greek philosophy? I'm no student of philosophy, so that's just a wild stab in the dark. It could also be that it was an attempt to seem more intellectual using such names.
After just googling I found this--they were assumed names! But it doesn't say why those names were chosen. My theory may be as good as any.

DoesItinInk said...

I loved the theme of today’s puzzle and was tripped up only by NADALMATIAN and NOGUCHIHUAHUA, though in both instances I had the dog breed filled in. I also like the clue “cold remedies?”…though at first I tried to use “tea bags” instead of ICEBAGS!

@cc: My life seldom allows me to work the Sunday puzzle in one fell swoop. My guess is that today’s puzzle took me about 1 ½ hour.

@Clear Ayes: I have never heard of Hayes Carll before but really enjoyed the Crystal Beach Memories link.

@kazie…and Clear Ayes: I went with my two older daughters yesterday evening to see Australia. WOW! Have you seen it yet? It was very interesting in so many ways. There was an aspect of the film, particularly at the beginning, that seemed almost “camp”. It was also a story about love and greed and war and race. Oh, yes, and there was Hugh Jackman too! I was fascinated by the presentation of concepts unfamiliar to many people of songlines and dream time. When I returned home after the film, I once again got out Bruce Chatwin’s Songlines and reread his sections on these topics. I really recommend the parts of his book that deals with aboriginal beliefs. They are so different fom how we view things such as land tenue. Another related movie that my children and I saw a few years ago was Rabbitproof Fence. Have you seen that movie? And are you familiar with the music of Geoffery Gurrumul Yunupingu? BTB-my new photo was taken in the outback near Ayers Rock.

Dennis said...

c.c., yes, I knew Blair Underwood - I think I first saw him in L.A. Law.

As to the winning streak, three games is rather modest; not exactly a dynasty here...

And yes, we have some graded cards, but the majority are not; also, some 60's bobbleheads, but more of the current ones. That store is only about 30% sports cards, etc. anyway -- the rest is all hobby stuff.

JD said...

C.C.,I did not mean to say that Mr. Williams does not know of these words, but do you think the writers of these puzzles remember all the words that they have listed in their dictionaries?( I forget the ones I've put in my notebook). I'm looking at the 3rd edition of Tom Pulliam and Clare Grundman's Crossword Puzzle Dictionary. It's 1457 pages long.I know there is preplanning for these puzzles, but are you saying ALL of the words are preplanned? I am in awe of these puzzle makers. This dictionary gives pursy these synomyms: fat, obese,puffy, and asthmatic.

kazie said...

doesitinink,
Thanks for the great movie review. I will probably see it next weekend. Out here in the "sticks" of SW WI, movies don't arrive too quickly, and we'll be spending time "in the big smoke" then, so are planning to see it when there.
I wasn't familiar with Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, but am curious about the name, because I have a CD called Begegnungen, by a German performer that I like, Peter Maffay, in which he travels all over and performs with people he meets where he goes. The first track is with some Aboriginals with that same name, Yunupingu. The only thing is, it's very rock music-like and nothing like the one you linked--in fact it's the one CD of his that I don't like. I'm wondering if it's a tribal name that is common to many.

I have seen Rabbitproof Fence, and found it fascinating. The life of David Gulpilil one of the actors in that, exemplifies the Aboriginal philosophy too: he still lives in almost the equivalency of a bark hut, despite years of successful film making.

Anonymous said...

C.C.
According to an online web site there are two men in the bible named Ner, I think that the realtionships among the family may be questionable as to the interpretations of the text.

NER
Father of Abner
1 Samuel 14:50
Father of Kish
1 Chronicles 8:33; 9:39

Calef

Clear Ayes said...

Doesitinink, Thank you for the link to Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, such haunting music.

The Hugh Jackman link was also much appreciated. I'm hoping that Australia has at least one or two shirtless scenes! We're planning on seeing it on Tuesday afternoon.

I saw Rabbit-Proof Fence when it first came out. It was a beautifully touching and memorable movie. Thinking of Down Under, have you seen Once Were Warriors? It's a movie from New Zealand and portrays an urban Maori family. It isn't a happy portrait, but it is very well done.

Kazie, Interesting information about the Musketeers. Wikepedia also has additional information about Athos, Porthos and Aramis.

JD, My crossword list is getting pretty long too. I can't imagine memorizing an almost 1500 page dictionary! Maybe Barry Silk will answer your question and give us all an idea of how puzzle words are planned/retrieved/remembered...etc.

DoesItinInk said...

@kazie…Did you notice that David Gulpili also plays the part of King George in Australia? As for the name Yunupingu, it is a Gumatj word meaning “rock that stands against time” and is common name among people of the Yolngu people along with Marika, Mununggurr and Gurruwiwi.

@Clear Ayes…No, I have never seen Once Were Warriors?, but I did take my girls to see Whale Rider which is about the urban Maori, also not a happy portrait. As for Australia, you will see enough Hugh Jackman shirtless, kissing and having sex to satisfy your fantasies for a while.

kazie said...

doesit and clear ayes,
I did see Gulpilil's name in the credits. Thanks for the info on that name too.

I also saw Whale Rider and agree with doesit's evaluation of it. But haven't seen Once Were Warriors.

I've seen David Gulpilil in several movies and it was in the extras on a DVD from Netflix we had once that it showed where he lives and the old truck he drives, and how he came back on foot and crossed a river (swimming both ways) to get his passport once when he had to go overseas unexpectedly. Amazing!

gvi>>> said...

C.C., et al:

RE: Larruped >>> figured this out from my baseball fan background since one of Lou Gehrig's many nicknames was "Larrupin' Lou" for the way he "spanked" the ball all over the park >>>

Anonymous said...

Crockett's misplaced post:

@JD Believe it or not, I had a pet nutria many moons ago. He was the cutest little guy who grew into a very large beaver-like fellow with a rat tail. He was very loving, but liked to express that love (especially for females) with a marking spray, so the vet and I neutered him and he lived a long and happy life (at least I think he was happy, LOL!).

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

Argyle,
"I better not use "pursy" around the boys at the garage, they'll drop that "R" for sure". You meant "I'm a little pussy today"? Sorry about not watching thru the video. I promise you: It will happen again.

Clear Ayes,
Good to see you back.

Kazie,
So besides German and Latin, what other languages have 3 genders? What is "in the big smoke"?

kazie said...

In the big smoke = in the big city.
I would have to research that question about genders. I've only mentioned the ones I know for sure that only have two.

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

Kazie,
Thanks. Boy, you are quick in replies.

Calef,
See here, not sure NER is the brother or father of Kish.

GVI,
Thanks for the "Larrupin' Lou". I've never heard of this Lou Gehrig nickname. You always surprise me with interesting information.

Dennis,
Are you aware of "Larrupin' Lou"?

Martin said...

"I just thought I'd respond to your confusion vis-a-vis "family" versus "families".

Is "vis-a-vis" an adverb here? I am confused about your sentence structure.


It can be an adverb but here it's a preposition meaning "in relation to".

vis-à-vis (vz-v)
prep.
1. Face to face with; opposite to.
2. Compared with.
3. In relation to.
adv.
Face to face.
n. pl. vis-à-vis (-vz, -v)
1. One that is face to face with or opposite to another.
2. A date or an escort, as at a party.
3. One that has the same functions and characteristics as another; a counterpart.
[French : vis, face + à, to.]


Ah! It's French!

Structurally it's very similar to the Chinese 看一看 though, isn't it?

Martin

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

J.D.,
I don't think the crossword constructors need to remember all the words they've used. In fact, they don't need to know many words (esp obscure words) at all. Many of them use computer software for their grids, so computers help them pick words from their huge database with a built-in rating system. PURSY & OREO have have different scores in their rating.

Dennis said...

c.c., no, never heard Gehrig called that.

Anonymous said...

mark - Buenos Aires

I think Argyle meant that his staff would say:

"There goes the big pussy"

or something similar,
and pussy has many meanings depending on the context.

Crockett1947 said...

C.C., thanks for moving my mis-directed post/ I didn't even realize I'd messed up!

Anonymous said...

Catholic guilt is different from Jewish guilt because in addition to getting it at home, we are sent to (Catholic) school to get a double dose from the nuns.

Anonymous said...

There is no consistency in gender for rivers (La Seine, Le Rhone) or countries. France is feminine (La France); the United States is masculine (Les Etats Unis) and plural as well, so the plural article doesn't gender recognition at all.

Doreen

kazie said...

c.c.,
Doreen is right about gender consistency in countries and rivers, also provinces and départements. Even cities--most have no real gender assignation--at least no article is used with them, but for a few exceptions like Le Havre.

I only mentioned the trees the other day because it makes them easy to remember. Most of the fruits are feminine--la poire, but le poirier, la pomme--le pommier, l'orange (f), l'oranger (m), la pêche--le pêcher, la banane--le bananier.

JD said...

C.C....ah, very interesting about puzzle construction. So do puzzles themselves have a rating system too? For example, the NYTimes gets harder every day,and then there is PEOPLE mag.LOL

Crockett..do nutrias live in Oregon too? I haven't seen one close up, but there are many of them around Town Lake in Austin, TX. We actually went to the bridge to see the Mexican Free-tailed bats come flying out at dusk to eat insects all night. What a site that is!

anon @6:57 I agree. In high school, the principal(who never smiled) made me feel like I was a hooker because I lightened my hair with "Summer Blonde"!! Have you read the articles in the paper about the priests who told their parishoners that if they voted for Obama, they have to go to confession!!!! Holy Moly!( I probably spelled that wrong,C.C.)

We're off to see the C'mas lights!My daughter's mother-in-law flies back to Wales in the morning.. that's why so early.

Crockett1947 said...

@JD Yes, nutria are in Oregon. Actually, the animal is the coypu, and the fur is called nutria. When the nutria market failed, the farmers just released their stock, assuming that they would die off. Wrong assumption! There's a wiki article here.

Unknown said...

Hi, could someone please let me know if 47A "Apartment residents" is LEASEES and then explain to me what 35D "Mas' men" PAA means?

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

Smartiepants,
35D: Mas' men: PAS
47A: Apartment residents: LESSEES

Unknown said...

C.C.,

ahhh thank you! Now I get the clue "Mas' men" (i.e. Mas' = possessive plural of Ma as in Mama, and Pas = plural of Pa as in Papa).

I still think it's funny that a leSsee holds a leAse, but since leAsee isn't a word in the dictionary and leSsee is, I guess I just have to accept it! :D