google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday November 18, 2008 John Underwood

Advertisements

Nov 18, 2008

Tuesday November 18, 2008 John Underwood

Theme: America's Major Wars

20A: Conflict ended 11/11/18: WORLD WAR ONE

37A: Conflict ended 2/28/91: GULF WAR

51A: Conflict ended 9/2/45: WORLD WAR TWO

11D: Conflict ended 2/2/1848: MEXICAN WAR

28D: Conflict ended 4/30/75: VIETNAM WAR

I think this puzzle was intended for last Tuesday. I also think that the original clue for NOVEMBER (11D: Election month) is "Veterans Day month".

Revolutionary War has 16 letters, so it won't fit in a 15*15 grid. Civil War and Korean War have different number of letters, and there is no way they can be put in the grid symmetrically. I wonder if John Understood has considered IRAQ WAR for 37A to add some scrabbliness to his puzzle. It also has an odd number of letter, which is perfect for a center theme fill.

Because SEATS is the answer for 64A: Places at the tables, the clues for ROW (57A: Line of seat) and SADDLE (5D: Bike seat) definitely need to be changed.

I don't think I could finish this puzzle without the theme answer help today. Some of the fills were very obscure to me: LIVIA, IVOR, INO, AMON, JABBA, ALIDA, ADARE and YONNE. Oh, I've never heard of HI HO crackers either.

Across:

1A: Handmade weapons: SHIVS. Did you see "In Cold Blood"?

2A: Black-eyed or lazy girl?: SUSAN. Can you think of a clever way to clue Brooke Shields' "Suddenly SUSAN"?

14A: Durrell novel: LIVIA. I doubt this novel LIVIA is a gimme for anyone.

16A: "__ tu" (Verdi aria): ERI. Here is a clip. I got from the down fills. What's the meaning of "ERI tu"?

17A: Get __ of yourself: A HOLD. I wonder why ADARE (62A: Antarctic cape) is not clued as a partial fill as well, you know, "On A DARE". I am not familiar with Cape ADARE.

22A: Daughter of Cadmus: INO. Is it pronounced the same as "I know"? Have never heard of INO or Cadmus.

23A: Valli of "The Third Man": ALIDA. See this poster. Why is her name incomplete?

29A: Fat Hutt: JABBA. I obtained his name from the adjacent fills. Not a "Star Wars" fan. Eek, he is ugly.

40A: Former Dodges: INTREPIDS. Why "Former"?

44A: Makes a basket: SCORES. I was picturing a handmade basket rather than the basketball basket.

59A: Eye shade?: VISOR. I like this clue.

61A:Burgundy river: YONNE. See this map. I don't think even Carla Bruni knows this river, unless her husband desperately needs the votes in the YONNE Department.

Down:

2D: Brand of crackers: HI HO. Have never heard of HI HO crackers before. I can only think of Ritz, which is also 4-letter. By the way, we call crackers "biscuits" in China.

3D: Welsh actor Novello: IVOR. I googled his name. He appeared in our puzzle before.

4D: Bad guy: VILLAIN

8D: Pudding starch: SAGO. Want some?

9D: Egyptian fertility god: AMON. Also spelled as AMEN, AMUN. I would not have got this god without the across fills. Isn't BAAL "God of fertility" also? We just had ASTARTE (clued as "Ancient Fertility goddess") the other day. ASTARTE = Ishtar.

21D: Wag of the tongue: WIT. Mine was WET. I did not know that "wag" can mean "a humorous person".

33D: Old postal abbr.: RFD (Rural Free Delivery). Learned from doing Xword.

42D: Thrill trip: JOYRIDE. Is "joyrider" a word?

45D: Fancy tie: CRAVAT. From French cravate I suppose.

46D: Column style: DORIC. Ionic is also 5-letter.

C.C.

54 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, c.c. and gang - another enjoyable puzzle for me -- not a speed run, but several interesting clues. Got 'Livia' and 'Yonne' from the perps as well as 'Alida' Valli from "The Third Man" - the first movie I remember going to with my parents. The war clues were, of course, no brainers; over the years, I've studied the strategies involved in each of them.

Today, for the first time this season, the word 'snow' is in the forecast; hope it's better where you are.

Dennis said...

c.c., to answer your question, Dodge no longer makes the Intrepid.

Martin said...

Not much to say about this puzzle: five times the clue was "Conflict" and the answer was "war". It's hard to imagine anyone not saying it was an easy puzzle: I finished in just over seventeen minutes and I wasn't even rushing. I did hesitate a little bit when I guess IDENTICAL for "Twins" and it turned out to be FRATERNAL though.

Martin

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

Dennis,
I thought you would enjoy this puzzle. Were INO & AMON & ADARE gimmes to you? Still no "Today is the day..."? Have you read Sun Tzu's "The Art of War"?

Argyle & Ink,
There is always a "var" hint when it comes to TZAR clue, but not for TSAR or CZAR.

Dennis said...

c.c., yeah, they were gimmies, but only because of previous crosswords; otherwise, I'd have had no clue (sorry).

Also, I try to defer to drdad on "today is the day".

And yes, I've read "The Art of War" - there's many principles in it that apply to civilian life as well. I know it certainly helped in my career.

KittyB said...

Good Morning, C.C. and all.

C.C., you and I were on the same wavelength today. Of your list, LIVIA, IVOR, INO, AMON, ALIDA and YONNE were all new to me. They came through the fills, but I didn't know the answers.

I thought the clue "Former Dodges" was a typo for some reason. I was thinking along the lines of "former DODGERS," which would have made it a baseball related answer. Even after I got the answer, I didn't know what I had, until I read Dennis' comment. Could you hear the swishing sound as this went right over my head??

Like you, C.C., I was thinking about weaving, not SCORES.

Are HIHO crackers still being sold? I remember them from my childhood, but we tend to buy Ritz or Townhouse crackers, now.

I was working on-line today, letting the computer tell me if I typed in a wrong letter. Had I been working on paper, I might not have finished the puzzle. I wanted Mynah where MACAW fit, and there were half a dozen other small stumbles along the way.

I think we each have affinity for certain constructors, and when we hit a puzzle by someone who thinks differently about clues, the puzzle becomes more challenging. Sometimes I'm up for that challenge, and sometimes I'm not. Today was a NOT!

Dennis, I hope you get just a dusting of snow, as we did, just enough to be official.

Have a good day, everyone!

Dr. Dad said...

Good morning. An easy puzzle. Perps helped with ones I didn't know. No "G" spot.

The Intrepid was discontinued in 2004 so Dodge could make the Magnum Station Wagon and Charger Sedan.

Dennis, please keep doing the "Today is" because you often find things that I don't.

Today is Occult Day. Break out your Quija Boards or see an astrologer.

Mickey Mouse debuted in Steamboat Willie at the Colony Theater in New York on Nov. 18, 1928. Happy Birthday, Mickey.

It is also Push Button Phone Day and World Fellowship Day.

Have a great Tuesday. I must try to get my furnace fixed. I think the darn thing bought the farm.

Barry G. said...

*ugh*

Sorry, I mean "Morning, folks!"

The good news is that I finished today's puzzle unassisted, but for some reason it left a bitter taste in my mouth. Maybe it was the host of completely obscure words that others have mentioned (LIVIA, ALIDA, YONNE, ADARE, ORAN, INO). I suppose you have to put up with that sort of detritus when you have so many theme answers, but it really makes the puzzle suffer in my opinion. In fact, I imagine that, after getting all the theme answers in, the constructor looked at all the odd letter combinations that resulted and said, "Can I find definitions for any of these words somewhere?"

Another thing that got me was MEXICAN WAR. What the ^%#$@ is that? I've heard of the Mexican-American War and the Mexican War of Independence, but never just the MEXICAN WAR. Feh. I would have rather seen the theme changed to just "Wars" instead of "American Wars" and then have a real war there instead, like the Crimean War.

Let's see... Oh, yeah -- then there was LT GOV clued as "State's number-2 job." How hard would it have been to clue it as "State's no. 2 job" to indicate that an abbreviation was expected? And, as C. C. already mentioned, there was the repetition of "seats" all over the place.

Having said all that, it wasn't a particularly difficult puzzle (almost all the obscure and objectionable words and phrases were easily gettable via the perps) -- just unpleasant. It helped that I remembered ERI TU, SAGO, IVOR, ERIN, IDA, DORIC and AMON from previous puzzles, or else I would have been dead in the water.

As for ERI TU, I believe it is Italian for "You Are" and is simply the first two words of the aria in question.

And to finish off this horrendously long post, let me just add that (a) yes, I've eaten HIHO crackers and knew what they were as a result (they're basically just like Ritz Crackers), (b) I was also thinking basket weaving and not basketball for 44A, (c) I also was initially thinking of former DODGERS instead of DODGES.

Dick said...

Good morning CC, Dfs And Dfettes..sort of a difficult one for me today. I entered too many fills that I thought were correct and they were not. For example I had HOHO for 2D MINAH for 24A and for some reason I had COLDWAR for 37A. Once I got all of this straightened out it wasn't too bad. I had to see Mr G for 14A LIVIA and 62A ADARE.

Hope you all have a great day. It is snowing here today and will accumulate about an inch. UGH!!!

kazie said...

c.c.,
"LIVIA, IVOR, INO, AMON, JABBA, ALIDA, ADARE and YONNE. Oh, I've never heard of HI HO crackers either."--I agree on all counts except JABBA, I knew him because my kids were avid Star Wars fans at the time.
In Oz we also call crackers (savory) biscuits, cookies are sweet biscuits, and what are biscuits here are called scones, (pronounced sconns). The nearest thing to Ritz are Jatz biscuits there. Great with vegemite!

And no, I didn't know Yonne either, though it fell in--Burgundy is not an area I've really been to.
I also didn't get Mexican war. MAW is not in my vocabulary, I thought it might be YAW, so I tried YUCATAN, but that didn't work either. I also couldn't think of SHIVS. Always get SNEE and SMEE confused and was trying to work that in.
Otherwise everything else was OK, or appeard through perps.

I always thought RFD stood for "Route for Delivery". Anyone know which it is?

Dennis said...

kazie, it's Rural Free Delivery.

kazie said...

Thanks Dennis. I had never bothered looking it up--just went by what I was told, I guess.

Anonymous said...

Kazie
When I was a youngster, born in 1925, farmers in the rural areas had to go into town to get their mail at a post office. RFD grew gradually across the country. I remember how glad some of my farming relatives were.
Calef.

g8rmomx2 said...

Hi c.c. and all,

Well, it has been awhile since I posted. I did get all the conflicts which helped a lot! Alida, Yonne, Adare, Oran, Ino, Livia, Ivor, Eri and Amon all came from the perps. Whew!!!
Kittyb and I must be in sync, I also had in mine "Dodgers" and thought it was a misprint, was thinking of "weaves" instead of scores, and ditto on the crackers which I ate as a child but now also buy Ritz or Town House. As Barry said too many obscure words!

It is chilly today in Southwest Florida, 67 degrees right now, but much colder earlier. Tonight a low of 39 degrees. Bundle up Dennis, Kittyb and all of you expecting snow!

Have a great day everyone!

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Kittyb said it all for me again. The only difference was that I misread Dodges as "Doges", not "Dodgers". I was trying to think of a family name (Mocenido?) of some Venetian ruler. Oh yes, and the comment about the snow. Our temperatures have been in the low 80's for the past few days.

There weren't many proper names today, so a lot of folks from yesterday's puzzle should like this one.

C.C. I think "Valli" was considered an exotic European-sounding kind of name when she was a star. Now we have Bono, Madonna, Sting and lots more.

RFD has changed to rural routes. Many of the rural routes have regular street names and numbers. Most city post offices have some rural routes to service their outlying customers. We live in an area where mail is totally delivered by rural mail carriers.

Crockett1947 said...

Good morning, everyone!

Lots of unknowns for me today: LIVIA, ERI, INO, IVOR, ALIDA, YONNE, ADARE. With help from the G spot, got everything filled in.

John Understood?

@barry It amazes me how we have the same experiences/gripes about the puzzles. Strange indeed.

Have a great Tuesday!!

Auntie Naomi said...

Greetings all!

C.C., Yes Baal was a fertility god. He was not, however, Egyptian. He was a Levantine god of the seafaring Phoenicians and their descendants: the Caananites and the Carthaginians.

I had to guess on Ivor/Livia. Got it right. I missed on Eri and Xed, though, because I went for Mohican, rather than Mexican. Argh.

Ciao :)

Argyle said...

interesting take on the theme from The Third man, The Harry Lime Theme

carol said...

Good morning C.C. and all,
I had the same unknowns as most of you and got all but a few through the other answers.
C.C. I cannot find 26A or 27D in your answers, and I don't know what they are. What is a bygone union???

Snow does not sound appealing and I am glad we are in the 50's here. We have had beautiful weather in the past few days..today is changing things but it's still dry (for awhile). I think our nice weather has been from Clear ayes' area..warm summer-like temps wafting upwards to us. We love it!

I think they still make HiHo crackers, but we have always opted for Ritz.

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

Crockett,
John Understood? I think he did. He reads our comments.

Promise,
Thanks for BAAL. Do you know the Norse goddess Freya?

Carol,
26A: SOVIET
27D: ORAN

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

Barry,
I like your LT GOV clue. John Underwood said that "I had some doubts about Mexican War too, but it is listed that way both in the Columbia Encyclopedia and the RH Unabridged Dict. so I figured it was legit." FYI, those all over the place "seats" are not his originals.

Melissa,
Have you read "Don Quixote"?

Clear Ayes,
RE: Valli. No wonder her full name is not shown on the poster. Thanks.

Clear Ayes said...

Barry, "And to finish off this horrendously long post". Dennis also mentioned the other day that long posts were a pain in the ass to read. I don't get it. I thought your post was interesting, as was Kittyb's. (I know...I'm "guilty" of longish posts too.)

A couple of months ago, when C.C. asked to keep the posts under 100, she suggested longer posts, rather than multiple short zippy ones.

I like to see other posters finish their thoughts. Sometimes, we get off on detailed tangents about a specific subject that might not be of particular interest to more than one or two other posters. But C.C. has pointed that out.

Barb B said...

Wow! I loved this puzzle. Easier than yesterday, and lots of interesting clues. I particularly liked black-eyed or lazy girl, Fat Hutt and diner stiffing, makes a basket, thrill trip and twiddles thumbs. It was fun to find some unexpected clues for ordinary words, and the theme gave the crosses for words I would never have figured out on my own.

Joyriding was a pastime for teen’s when I was young. The idea was to take someone ELSE’S car, drive it around as long as you dared, then park it on a side street near the home of the owner. You basically just 'moved' the car. Theft, but considered a bit like tipping outhouses - mischief rather than villainy. My brother went joyriding once, but got into much more trouble than it was worth. He became a very upstanding citizen.

Auntie Naomi said...

C.C.,
I do not personally know Freya ;)
I have heard of her, though. If I recall correctly, she was Odin's wife.

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

Barb,
What's the theme of your quilt? The design intrigues me.

Promise,
Freya is the Norse goddess of fertility. Odin's wife is Frigg. They are different.

Auntie Naomi said...

C.C.,
I just Wikied Freya. I see no mention of her being Odin's wife. From what is says about her it sounds more like she equates to the Greek goddess Aphrodite, as she is supposed to be the goddess of love, beauty and fertility. Whereas, since Odin equates to Zeus, Freya would have had to equate to Hera.

The article goes on to explain something that I knew but had not recalled when you asked about her: Our day Friday is named for her:
---------------------------------
The name Friday comes from the Old English frigedæg, meaning the day of Frige the Anglo-Saxon form of Frigg, a West Germanic translation of Latin dies Veneris, "day (of the planet) Venus."
---------------------------------

The last part about Friday being the 'Day of Venus' reinforces the association with Aphrodite, since Venus is the Romanized version of her.

Ciao

Barry G. said...

Promisemethis:

Try looking up Frigg on Wikipedia. I think you are conflating Freya and Frigg:

Frigg (or Frigga) is a major goddess in Norse paganism, a subset of Germanic paganism. She is said to be the wife of Odin, and is the "foremost among the goddesses". Frigg appears primarily in Norse mythological stories as a wife and a mother. She is also described as having the power of prophecy yet she does not reveal what she knows. Frigg is described as the only one other than Odin who is permitted to sit on his high seat Hlidskjalf and look out over the universe. The English term Friday derives from the Anglo-Saxon name for Frigg, Frigga.

DoesItinInk said...

I am amazed I could work this puzzle after everything that happened last night and this morning! My middle daughter who is away at school landed in the emergency ward last night, and I kept track of her by phone until she was allowed to return to campus. Though I was exhausted, I still got up at 5 am this morning to drive to work. I was traveling at a pretty good speed when I finally “got it” that the reason my car was performing strangely was because I had a flat tire. Fortunately IDOT came by within 15 or 20 minutes and changed the tire. It was while waiting for assistance that I started the puzzle. And now tonight as if I have nothing else to do, I must buy two new tires for the car. Uugh! I hope tomorrow is better.

So…comments on today’s puzzle. It was easier than it looked to be initially, though I still had two incorrect squares: where IVOR and LIVIA crossed, and where WIT and ALIDA crossed.

I am familiar with Lawrence Durrell for his Alexandria Quartet, though I had not heard of LIVIA or the scores of other books he has written. I am much more familiar with his brother Gerald Durrell who was a naturalist and zookeeper and author of many wonderful books about his experiences with animals.

Wouldn’t the answer to “Conflict ended 11/11/18” have been more interesting as “The Great War” instead of WORLD WAR ONE. Really, it was just all so boring. And a week late for Veterans Day.

Finally…can anyone explain WIT as the answer to “wag of the tongue”? I think of a wag as a malicious gossip, so this made no sense to me.

@cc: I have never seen In Cold Blood but did read the book. I did however see Capote that covers the period of time that Truman Capote wrote the book.

Another SUSAN movie is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap3vV2TwxAg>Desperately Seeking Susan with Madonna giving what was actually an excellent performance!

@Dennis: The first film I actually remember seeing was also Orson Welles’ The Third Man, famous also for its zither music.

@kazie: Are you planning to see Australia when it comes out?

DoesItinInk said...

I seem to have totally bollixed the link to Desperately Seeking Susan. Sorry.

Barry G. said...

@DoesItinInk: My dictionary defines "wag" as "a person given to droll, roguish, or mischievous humor; wit." I've never heard it used to describe a malicious gossip before, so maybe it's a regional thing.

DoesItinInk said...

Anton Karas was the musician who played the theme music for The Third Man.

steve said...

carol;

26A is SOVIET, and 27d is ORAN. I googled 27 D then 26n A fell into place.

kazie said...

Calef,
Some of the people around here still go to town for their mail. I think it's often so they can meet friends for morning coffee too. When we first moved here in 1974, our address was Rte 4, Box 185 or some such. Then it became 31302 County Highway O shortly before we moved to town in the 1990's. So everything changes with time.

doesitinink,
Yes, we are anxiously awaiting "Australia". I've never been to the Northern Territory, and would like to go, so am hoping it gives my husband the urge to see it too.
Boy, what a night and morning you have had. May the rest of your week be better. No lasting problems for your daughter, I hope?

carol said...

C.C. Thanks! Talk about a V-8 moment. I could not get past thinking of a labor union of some sort. I certainly could have looked up Algerian port, but I was in a hurry so went to you instead.

Clear Ayes said...

Doeitinink, I hope your daughter wasn't seriously ill/injured.

When I first saw The Third Man in 1949, the only things I liked were the song and the ferris wheel. I recently saw it on TV and this time around, I finally understood the story.

The original 1967 In Cold Blood was an excellent movie. It followed the book very well, which is pretty rare.

Kazie, we're looking forward to Australia too. Hugh Jackman.....mmmmm!

Barb b, I laughed at your description of "joyriding". I bet the automobile owners didn't think of it as mere mischief. Glad to hear that your brother "saw the error of his ways". LOL

BTW, I didn't like MEXICAN WAR either.

Crockett1947 said...

@doesitinink I trust that your daughter is OK. Gerald Durrell was fun reading. What a life he had with his wild animal adventures!

Barb B said...

C.C.
I used the pattern of a local designer (Eugene) called “How does your garden grow?” I can see garden beds, but I was attracted by the crosses. I half-hope no one buys it, because I like it in my house. ☺

Clear Ayes
You got it! Pranks like that seem like one big joke until you’re in the police station. Never mind what mom and dad have to say about it. Or so I hear.

KittyB said...

As frequently happens, clear ayes spoke for me, too in a recent post:

Doesitinink, I hope your daughter is not seriously ill. It has to be horrible to have a child too far away to oversee their care.
I hope the tire issue resolves itself easily. I'm glad you avoided an accident, especially during rush hour traffic.

Kazie, I had the same DF response to seeing "Australia" as clear ayes...MMMMMMM, HUGH JACKMAN! Okay, for the story as well *G*

I didn't care for MEXICAN WAR either, despite the references cited.

Barb b, I loved the description of joy riding. I didn't do it, but I wouldn't have put it past my older siblings. Tell me about the quilt in your picture. Both C.C. and I would like to know the name of the pattern.

g8rmomx2, we frequently read these puzzles the same way. It seems we had company on this one. We're just in the chilly stage so far. It was 20 this morning. Wait until the REALLY cold weathe comes along! My niece is marching in the band at Ball State and she has a performance tomorrow night. She said she left practice and couldn't feel her feet. I told her to go buy electric socks!

About the long posts.... C.C. if my posts are too long, please let me know. It just seemed preferable to put my thoughts in one or two long ones, rather than breaking them up into more posts. Just let me know what you prefer.

DoesItinInk said...

@kazie, Clear Ayes, crockett1947 and kittyb: Thank you for you good wishes for my daughter. I think she is okay for now. She went to E/R with abdominal pains after throwing up. There was some concern that she might have had internal bleeding, but once that possibility was eliminated, the doctor concentrated on the pains that were located in the appendix quadrant of her abdomen. A CATscan “eliminated” appendicitis, and the doctor concluded an cyst ovarian had ruptured. This was a condition that does not require to treatment, so he sent her back to school with pain pills for the next couple of days. The iffy part of all this is that, according to my sister, doctors give that diagnosis when they can’t really determine what the problem is, and most doctors do not consider chronic appendicitis a possibility. So there is still a chance that she will have more episodes before it is identified as appendicitis. Or this initial diagnosis may be correct, and we will not have to worry about it again. The scary part of all this is that she is so far from home, and I can only monitor via telephone. I only hope that if she has more episodes, they will be while she is here at home.

lois said...

Good evening CC & DF's: Enjoyed this puzzle a lot. It took me my lunch period to do it (20 mins), but it was fun, for the same reasons barb b said. Love the twisted thinking.

barb b: that is a beautiful quilt. I don't blame you for wanting to keep it.

Dennis: same here for forecast. Our first snow is here as flurries, with the sun shining no less. Bet there's a saying that goes along with that occurrence, like the devil's getting beat or drunk or something. I don't know one, do you?

Martin said...

I too had Freya confused with Frigg. If Freya was the Norse "goddess of love, beauty and fertility" then she definitely corresponds to Venus, Aphrodite, Isis, Astarte and Ishtar.

Martin

Clear Ayes said...

Doesitinink, I don't blame you for being concerned when your daughter is away at school. Cell phones are a wonderful invention in this case and you can keep in close contact with her to see how she is feeling. We'll hope that the cyst diagnosis is the right one and nothing else will happen.

Kittb, HUGH JACKMAN deserves to be in capital letters!

Barry, Frigga "is also described as having the power of prophecy, yet she does not reveal what she knows." If she didn't reveal anything, I wonder how they knew she was prophetic? Those old Norse gods must have been pretty gullible. ^_^

Dennis said...

lois, the saying about snowing while the sun's out? It's "this really sucks".
Unless you're skiing, of course, in which case it's heaven.

carol said...

Doesisinink, I'm so glad your daughter is doing better and I too hope the diagnosis was correct. Is she with other people who can help if need be?

barb b, that is a beautiful quilt! I am in awe of those of you that do quilting.

kitty b, your quilt is also breath-taking. I would buy them both!

carol said...

Lois and Dennis, we here in the 'wilds of Oregon' have a lot of days of rain while the sun is shining...we just all squint and ask ourselves "what in hell is that bright light in the sky"

kazie said...

doesitinink,
I too add my prayers for your daughter. Appendicitis is serious and if the doctor missed it, it could certainly recur. Hopefully his diagnosis was right.

embien said...

11:41 today. The "V" at the cross of LIVIA and IVOR was the big time consumer, and I also spent time poring over the cross of WIT and ALIDA before I saw the light.

@clear ayes: There weren't many proper names today, so a lot of folks from yesterday's puzzle should like this one.


Not many proper names? LIVIA, IVOR, SUSAN, ALIDA, MAE, ORAN, YONNE--do I need to go on? And so many of them obscure. And some of the obsurities crossed each other making this a guess-fest. As much as I hated yesterday's puzzle, I'm thinking this one is about as bad, if not worse.

While I'm on my rant, let me point out that not every state has a LT GOV (Oregon being among them). I'd prefer the clue to be 18a: Some state's number-2 job (the "2" indicating an abbrev.).

Hope everyone saw The Simpsons episode on TV Sunday which featured Lisa doing the NY Times crossword (guest appearances by Will Shortz and constructor Merl Reagle). The puzzle on the program turned out to be the exact puzzle (including Homer's hidden message) in the NY Times itself.

Retread38 said...

I don't know which coast you live on but Hi-Ho Crackers, not biscuits, are a 'main stay' on the West coast and made by Nabisco. Much better taste than Ritz; to our family.
Yes! A Wag is a funny or witty person; almost archaic.

Clear Ayes said...

Embien, Sorry about that. You're right, a proper name is a proper name. I meant "People Magazine puzzle" proper names like RHODA and RONA.

Missed The Simpsons. I"ll have to be on the lookout for a rerun.

Lois et al, I hope your snow doesn't develop into shovel depth.

That's it for me tonight. We have some visitors on their way. See you tomorrow.

lois said...

Embien, that is sooo cool about the Simpsons. I missed it too, but will also be on the look out for a rerun. Thanks for the heads up.

Clear Ayes: if we ever get much more than a dusting we're paralyzed. Of course, all my cohorts are always wishing for at least an inch, which happens ever so rarely here. These flurries are very early for us, but it gives us hope for bigger and better things to come (my perpetual desire anyway).

Anonymous said...

Also my best wishes for your daughter, doesitinink. It's scary, and I empathize the feeling when you can't be there to make sure "they" are doing it right.
One of the great things about this blog is that one finds others who have or enjoy the same things. This time it is two others who enjoy Gerald Durrell. I have almost all of his books. Another is that clear ayes has a schipperke, as did I for 11 wonderful years.
We're having a cold spell in SW Florida – down to 50 last night.
Had to put the furnace on!

Argyle said...

22A: Daughter of Cadmus: INO. Is it pronounced the same as "I know"?

Ino, pronunciation ahy-noh, primary; ee-noh, alternative

kazie said...

I think we got over 20 feet of snow altogether last winter in WI. We've already had a couple of dustings this year, and last night the temperature was down to 15, with a high today of only 30. I love it--of course I don't have to go anywhere in it now, and as a teacher we got snow days when it got bad. Ice is always much nastier.

And to think I'd never even seen snow until I was a senior in college, on a trip to New Zealand. Now I couldn't survive without seasonal changes.

embien said...

Re: Simpsons crossword episode. If anyone is still here you can read more about this situation (crosswords featured on the Nov 16 episode of The Simpsons TV program and the puzzle in the program being the Sunday NY Times puzzle for that day.) (This puzzle will be in the Nov 23 paper for those of us who get the Sunday NY Times puzzle in syndication).

Unprecedented in my experience:
http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2008/11/al-jean-puzzles.html

I don't know if this works because I don't have enough bandwidth, but the Fox network site has that episode http://www.fox.com/fod/play.php?sh=simpsons

(My apologies for being off topic for the puzzle we talk about here.)