google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday November 25, 2008 Norma Steinberg

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Nov 25, 2008

Tuesday November 25, 2008 Norma Steinberg

Theme: Word of Mouth

17A: Stammering: TONGUE-TIED

60A: Performed like Milli Vanilli: LIP SYNCHED

10D: Ursine-shaped candies: GUMMY BEARS

30D: Five-year-old's money source: TOOTH FAIRY

A couple of things first:

1) Thank you for the nice words yesterday regarding the 1 million hit. What an interesting journey! Thank you for the company. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your generosity in sharing your knowledge and time with me and several thousands of solvers every day. I hope you continue to find this blog informative and worthy of your time. I also hope you find the comments from other solvers educating and entertaining.

2) I still can not access my Hotmail account from Firefox, and I don't like IE. So I decided to go back to my dormant Gmail account. If you have any question or comment on the blog, please email me at crosswordc@gmail.com from now on. What I don't understand is why Hotmail is suddenly blocked from Firefox. I've changed nothing for the setup.

Now back to the puzzle. I am not fond of GUM being embedded in GUMMY in 10D. Bubble gum, chewing gum are better GUM candidates.

I like how TOTO (37A: Dorothy's pet) crossing ASTA (29D: Cinema pooch). I also like how HIS (33D: That guy's) parallels HER (38D: That girl's), with HIS slightly above and on the right of HER, wonderful position.

The clue for COPRA (50D: Coconut meat) is incorrect. I cook with coconut meat and but I've never used COPRA, which is dried coconut meat and is used to extract coconut oil.

This is probably the easiest puzzle I've solved this month. Not much pause.

Across:

1A: Myers or Nesmith: MIKE. Only know MIKE Myers. Have never heard of Nesmith. What's he famous for?

5A: Elegant behavior: CLASS. I think the best CLASS clue I've seen is "Type of act". He has CLASS.

10A: Shoots the breezes: GABS. I thought of YAK first.

15A: Arthur Marx's stage name: HARPO. I did not know that his original name is Arthur.

19A: Gangster's girl: MOLL

39A: Verdi heroine: AIDA. Interesting, Wikipedia says AIDA is an "Arabic female name meaning "visitor" or "returning". And it means "reward" in Swahili.

45A: Little-hand indication: HOUR. $355 for this hand clock? Ridiculous!

52A: Norse God: THOR. God of Thunder. His hammer always returns to him magically after being thrown to a target. Most of the Norse myths come from the two Eddas I think: The Poetic Edda (the elder EDDA) or the The Prose Edda (the younger EDDA).

Down:

1D: First name in spies: MATA. Bond jumped into my my mind first. By the way, does anyone know who shot Dominic Greene in "Quantum of Solace"?

5D: Fidel's friend: CHE. If Guevara were still alive, he would have launched a revolutionary against our editor's stiff way to clue his name. I don't think he would be happy to be connected with Fidel Castro all the time.

12D: Chagall's "____ in Green": BELLA. I am not familiar with this painting. Looks like "BELLA in black" to me. BELLA is Chagall's first wife.

34D: __ Inch Nails: NINE. I guessed. This rock band is completely foreign to me. I don't like their Gothic look.

55D: Pasadena campus: UCLA. Doug Peterson, the constructor for yesterday's puzzle, is from Pasadena. Today's constructor Steinberg lives in San Francisco.

C.C.

54 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, c.c. and gang - as you said, c.c., hardly a pause on this one; not much to even comment about. Seems like we go a long time between hammers, or even posers, anymore.

Have a great day; rainy and cold here in the NE.

Anonymous said...

I believe mike nesmith was in the Monkeys, a music/tv group from the 70's

Dick said...

Good morning CC, DFs and DFettes...like Dennis said "not much to even comment about".

My one comment is that I had RATHER for 6D which gave CRASS for 5A. It looked OK to me.

Dennis it looks like you got your quarterback back into the game.

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

Dennis,
I think we stand on different ground. Last Saturday's Barry Silk and Sunday's quip were pretty hard. Still no "Today is the day..."?

Calef:
Your Jean/Gene yesterday reminds me of Jean Reno. I never thought how his name might be mispronounced by some.

Gator Mom,
Thanks for "What Do You Love About America Day" last night. I love America for its total freedom, quality of living, baseball, golf courses, etc. I love how America is ready to help others when help is needed. I love the friendliness, tolerance and confidence of American people. How about you?

Dennis said...

Dick, not my quarterback - this season's done, time to see what we've got with the kid.

It's funny, people don't seem as upset this year; I think it's because the Phillies won the World Series.

Dick said...

CC let me add my congrats for your 1 millionth site hit. "You have come a long way baby!!" Keep up the good work. As I stated before your site is so helpful in reinforcing words by the use of links and all the comments from you and others.

Dennis said...

c.c., I don't get your Sunday puzzle, and Barry's puzzle was a good one, but my point is that it seems like we get fewer and fewer of those. I need to challenge my few remaining brain cells in the morning to get everything kick-started.

And it's National Parfait Day.

Martin said...

13 minutes 4 seconds. I solved it online. I thought yesterday's was difficult but then my brain was NOT FUNCTIONING like I said.

The unknowns today were BELLA, UVEA, MOLL, MILL and OUTRE. Is the thing you hold in your hands and use to grind pepper a pepper mill? I didn't know that. It took me a while to get GUMMY because I was having trouble with that corner. If not for that corner, wow, I gues I could have finished in under ten minutes! I got OUTRE from the perps.

Martin

Jeanne said...

Morning all,
I just read yesterday's blog entries and let me extend my congratulations C.C. on your milestone. I need to thank you for helping me grow as a x/word solver. Your links, perceptions, and analysis have improved my solving abilities. I am now trying the NYT puzzle online through the Seattle Times website. Some days go well, other days, not so much. Thanks again for all you do.

Dennis, I'm having a hard time even watching the Eagles. Looking forward to new quarterback, new coach, and new season.

Have a great day everyone. A busy one here getting ready for Thanksgiving.

Bill said...

The clue for 38d is technically wrong. Should be "That girl".
The clue calls for "HERS" to be the answer, not "HER". Great xword. Only thing I didn't know was "UVEA". And, with all my problems the past few weeks, I should have.

Barry G. said...

Morning, folks!

Ayup, another easy puzzle today. I did get momentarily hung up in the NE region after putting GUMMI BEAR (the correct spelling) instead of GUMMY BEAR in 10D, which then led me to put FRIDAY instead of PAYDAY for 25A. I realized something was a bit hinky when I ended up with SODAFOP for 9D...

Other than that, I was on solid ground the entire way (I was a little worried when I noticed that 60A was starting out as LIPSY, but that passed quickly). The only unknown for me today was Marc Chagall's "BELLA in Green." I don't know much about Mr. Chagall's works, although I did see some stained glass windows he created in a church in Geneva, Switzerland, years ago. They were very lovely, but also very different from the type of stained glass windows I had seen before.

Have a good one!

Dennis said...

Bill, I initially thought the same thing, but I think it's ok. For example:

It's that girl's pocketbook.
It's her pocketbook.

Bill said...

BTW,
1,000,000!
Awesome. Who could have predicted? Great job, CC. Keep it up.

Chris in LA said...

CC:

From Firefox website:

Firefox 3 currently doesn't work with Hotmail's full version. If you try to access it, you will receive the message "You are temporarily on the classic version of Windows Live Hotmail due to an error encountered during login. Before trying again, please clear your cache and cookies."

The Hotmail team is aware of this problem and is working on a solution. In the meantime, you can access Hotmail via its classic version

Anonymous said...

Only a constructor from San Francisco would clue UCLA as Pasadena campus. Try Westwood, a section of LA.

kazie said...

Good morning all,
I went to wiki to see if I could find this, but still had to add the last part myself--I saw the story first in a text I was teaching from:

The Gummi Bear originates from Germany where it is popular under the name Gummibär (rubber bear) or Gummibärchen (little rubber bear). Hans Riegel of Bonn invented bear-shaped sweets and started the Haribo company in 1922, which produced and introduced its Gold-Bear product in the 1960s. He got the trade name from the beginning of his names Ha-Ri and the beginning of the city where he was: Bonn, hence Haribo.

As noted earlier, not much else to comment on in this easy puzzle.

Barry,
Chagall also did the windows in the Stefanskirche in Mainz, Germany. They're all in blue, rather than so many colors like most others. He completed them shortly before he died at 97.

KittyB said...

Good Morning, all!

C.C., I can remember when you were just a toddler of 400,000 hits. Was that only a couple of months ago??! All kidding aside, you do an exceptional job with your blog. You've really opened my eyes to crossword construction, and you and your friends expand my knowledge daily. Thanks, C.C.!

As my Scottish friend might say, "Easy Peasy." I didn't know OUTRÉ was defined as "off the wall." I didn't even know OUTRÉ was in the puzzle until Martin mentioned it, and I went back to look. The only other word I didn't know was UVEA, and both these words were completed by the fills.

I hope to have the time to do the puzzle tomorrow and Thursday, but should I be absent, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! C.C., you've given us a great deal for which we are thankful.

Anonymous said...

Mark - Buenos Aires

Many people think "Che" is his christian or nick name but its really the Argentina equivalent of "bud" or "mac".

When a group of friends meet, you will hear (in Spanish) "che, pass the coca" or "che, what did you do to day"

100 degrees today, hopefully rain tomorrow.

Best wishes to all.

JD said...

Good morning...
Haven't quite finished, but shouldn't 39D be hers? and why is there an h in lipsynched? Have to run.Will check in later.

Jeannie said...

Good morning all...what a breeze today. I finished easily with a big tada.

Anyone care to follow the aura of this bella to be hustled and consent to see my swatches? I'm sure they'll leave you tonguetied.

Anonymous said...

Mark - Buenos Aires

Can anyone help why Astronaut Ride is "sally" (Assuming I have it right)

There was a story of a lady astronaut who was passionate of another astronaut and travelled a considerable distance in order to do his wife (or girl friend) harm. Her name wasnt Sally, was it?

Chris in LA said...

@ Mark:

Sally Ride was the first female astronaut.

Crockett1947 said...

Good morning, everyone.

C.C., I'll join the crowd with my congratulations. I don't see the counter, but I'm sure that the numbers are understated because of that period when everything went wacko because of the meter.

Did you notice that HIS and HER are joined at the HIP? Yes, an easy puzzle, with no real unknowns. That hand clock link is also ugly.

@bill I had problems with 28D, but then realized that HER can also be possessive: That is HER purse.
I see Dennis chimed in on this as well.

Have a great Tuesday!

kazie said...

To be precise, "her" in this context would be a personal pronoun, possessive case, replacing the name of the owner. "hers" is a possessive pronoun, which replaces the thing owned and gives reference to the person owning it. This is one thing that is simpler in French and German, where the personal pronouns in the possessive simply change and become adjectives agreeing with the thing owned.

Anonymous said...

C.C.:May I add my compliments to your success with this blog. Outstanding.

I have trouble with stammering being tongue-tied. I think of stammering more like stuttering. Here is a definition of tongue-tied from some online dictionary or other: tongue-tied
adjective
unable to express yourself clearly or fluently; "felt tongue-tied with embarrassment"; "incoherent with grief" Am I loco?

kazie said...

sallie,
I agree, I forgot to say something about that before, but you are right on tongue-tied.

Anonymous said...

1. Lipsynced is nine letter word. the puzzle calls for a ten letter word 60c
2. 55D UCLA is not located in Pasandena. However, the Rose Bowl allows them to play football there. Try Westwood.

Jim

Crockett1947 said...

@jim Try LIPSYNCHED -- that's the ticket.

carol said...

Good morning C.C.and all,
Nice and easy this morning!

Dennis, thanks for the explanation on 38D, I had a problem with that until you cleared it up.

I didn't realize that 60A was spelled with an 'h'. See? We all learn things each day on here, and in my case, several things.

Bill, you is your eye doing?

Where are drdad, xchefwalt and richshiff??? Anyone know?

JD said...

Good Morning C.C. and all,
It's an ugly looking gray day here in the Bay area,with a promise of some rain.I love rain!
This was a very easy puzzle. Thank you Bill for the her/ hers explanation. Yes, they are joined at the hip. Very clever. I had a problem with gummybears, as I had put beans down and assumed it would be jelly;jaws worked, but I had my 2 m's, so as soon as payday came, the light went on. I guessed the e in Bella, and have decided after looking at 196 paintings of Chagall, that he isn't a favorite, although his stained glass pieces are lovely.
No words of wisdom do I have, but baseball star, Joe DiMaggio was born on this day in 1914.

NYTAnonimo said...

A million thank yous cc and congrats on your millionth hit yesterday-I truly appreciate all the work you put into this blog.

Didn't see the theme until I came here but did most of the puzzle earlier then got sidetracked by the arrival of my young charge.

If I don't get back to this blog before the holiday I hope you all have a good Thanksgiving.

JD said...

On the way to work this morning it was mentioned that 25 yrs ago everyone was out looking for Cabbage Patch dolls for Christmas. Boy, that brought back the memories. I was one of those moms, and we didn't have Craig's list then.Somehow, I ended up with two of them. We still have them, but they were loved too much to be of any value today.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Seems like there were several construction or editorial liberties taken this morning. COPRA is dried coconut meat not this
luscious treat.

GUMMYBEARS (Gummibears) clue should have included Var.

I also agree with Sallie and Kazie about TONGUE-TIED. It means "at a loss for words" to me, not necessarily stammering.

Thank you to Anon@8:10 and Jim. Pasadena is a lovely city, with many beautiful residences including Frank Lloyd Wright's La Miniatura. It hosts the Rose Parade and is the location of the Rose Bowl. It is the home of the Norton Simon Art Museum, Caltech and JPL. But, one thing it is not, is the location of Westwood California's UCLA.

Buckeye, Got the poem. Here's one for you. Don't stay away too long.

Keeping Things Whole

In a field
I am the absence
of field.
This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.

When I walk
I part the air
and always
the air moves in
to fill the spaces
where my body's been.

We all have reasons
for moving.
I move
to keep things whole.

- Mark Strand

C.C. Congratulations, where you find the time, energy and inclination is beyond me. You're a wonder.

steve said...

CC;
I had no idea you were at, or even close to a million hits. Congratulations! When I first started coming here to your blog somewhere there was a list of the number of hits, but I don't see it anymore. I must be blind.

Like everone else I found the puzzle very easy. I too wondered about UCLA and Pasadena? never heard of uvea or copra. and I didn't understand staid or outre but the perps seemed right so I went with them.

Again thanks for the time you put into this blog. I have learned so much and I like the fact I have a ton of new friends that regulary input to it and I read. Thanks.

Dennis said...

Carol, you're welcome re: 38D, her/hers. Sometimes simpler's better, huh?

JD said...

Warren, hello, welcome AND thanks for the history of the toque.. never thought about those pleats. If you ever go on a Holland America cruise, on the last night we celebrate all the chefs, and we are given white pleated toques. It looks silly, but it is a nice tribute .

I agree with Kazie, Sallie, and Clear Ayes about being tongue-tied.

Buckeye, I always enjoy your comments; you make me smile, a god feeling. The only song I learned on the piano was "Beautiful Dreamer", not as hard or beautiful as "Laura."

Lois, thanks for the "s'. I know we have had that before, but again, those abbrev. get me. When Bon worked for IBM, he was always talking business , which involved an overamount of abbrev. I guess each job has them.

Jeannie @10:20, Nov.24. I loved your comments...so true, we have learned so much from C.C. and each other.

Clear Ayes, as usuaal, a beautiful poem.

Was it you Barb who mentioned drenching a sheet with oil to put over the turkey? I am going to try that. My mom did something like that. She had a mixture of butter and water ( I think) and she kept refreshing the sheet, every hour or so.

Anonymous said...

Well thank heavens that at least someone besides me was bothered by UCLA. As someone whe attended there and is familiar with LA, Pasadena is nowhere near Westwood; the location of UCLA. Bad clue.

carol said...

Dennis, yes,and if 'mammary serves, a 38D would draw some attention away from a girl's pocketbook wouldn't it?

Anonymous said...

C.C. -- Mike Nesmith, from Wikipedia:
"[Robert] Michael Nesmith...is an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman, and philanthropist, perhaps best known for his time in the musical group The Monkees and on the TV series of the same name. [1960's, not 1970's -- O.] Michael Nesmith is also notable as a hit songwriter, including "Different Drum" sung by Linda Ronstadt with the Stone Poneys. Nesmith also won the first Grammy Award (1981) given for Video of the Year for his hour-long Elephant Parts."

Mark -- Sally Ride, ditto: "Sally Kristen Ride (born May 26, 1951) is an American physicist and a former NASA astronaut who, in 1983, became the first American woman and youngest American (at the time) to enter outer space.[1][2] She was preceded by two Soviet women, Valentina Tereshkova (1963) and Svetlana Savitskaya (1982)."

DoesItinInk said...

I worked the puzzle on the way to work, but when I got to work I was confronted with a terrible mess which only now has been straightened out. SO now that I have a few minutes….

This was a very easy puzzle, and I finished it quickly. I agree with cc that GUMMY BEARS does not quite fit the theme as “gum” is part of another word.

Marc Chagall also created this lovely outdoor mosaic in downtown Chicago.

@cc: Congratulations from me too on reaching the 1,000,000 hit level! That is quite an accomplishment. Just shows how many word-nerds there are. LOL

@Buckeye: I grew up in Evansville, IN, and I definitely remember bell peppers being called ‘mangoes’. I think that usage has largely gone away, though in some smaller grocery stores, I am sure it still is used. It is interesting that you think of this as a German/Dutch aberration. My mother’s side of the family is German, and much of the surrounding area has German place-names such as Darmstadt and Haubstadt.

@Barry: Thank you for the explanation of the term ‘mangoes’ for bell peppers. I have wondered why that terminology came about. Now I can explain it to my mother too.

@Mark – Buenos Aires: You perhaps missed my post several days in which I expressed the hope that you would recommence your cryptic puzzle clues/answers feature. ;-) I enjoyed them a lot! And thank you for the explanation of “Che”.

Jeannie said...

Carol, I would hedge a bet and say that 38D's would put you at the head of the class and on the dean's list!

embien said...

7:10 today. I initially put in ODIN instead of THOR, but the problem was quickly resolved.

I agree about the mis-cluing of UCLA. The only saving grace is that UCLA football team plays its home games in the Rose Bowl, which is in Pasadena. Even that doesn't pass full muster because basketball (for example) is played on the campus in Westwood.

Grats on one million, c.c.. I don't see the counter on your page, but I must have something disabled in my browser (for security).

Anonymous said...

mark - Buenos Aires

Yes, I missed your earlier post, but:

"Tell story about honey potion - its a soft drink"
(7 letters)

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

Anon @5:38am,
Thanks. Would you mind giving your name next time?

Dick,
"You have come a long way baby!!" Is this the song from Fatboy Slim? I remember hearing this song again and again on a very hot night in Bangkok.

Bill,
How are your eyes now?

Chris,
Thanks for the information, though I am not sure I have the same problem. I receive no message at all when I type in hotmail.com. And everything was fine 3 days ago.

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

Anoymous @ 8:10am, Jim & Mike,
Thanks for pointing out the UCLA cluing mistake. I was not aware of that.

Kittyb,
It's on July 14 that we had the 400,000 mark. I am thankful that you found us. You are a very gracious lady.

Ree,
Did you lose your blue sign-in status?

JD,
I think Sallie mentioned that way of cooking turkey the other day.

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

Crockett,
You are amazing! I don't believe anyone else remembers the counter glitch. Very DF HER/HIS comment. I like it.

Steve,
You are not blind. The counter is hidden.

Dennis,
I've said this several times before: The reply to any crossword related question does not count. So please always feel free to jump in for any future HER/HIS question. I am awfully sorry that can only play a very shortened baseball game now. I know how much you enjoy extra-innings with Lois/Carol/Jeanne.

Buckeye said...

To All My New Friends!!

HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE THANKSGIVING!!!

I must be off.

Clear Ayes said...

The Motorcycle Diaries from 2004 was a biographical movie based on the written memoir of Ernesto Guevara, who would later become known as "Che". The movie recounts the 1952 journey, across South America by Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado. It is in Spanish, so if that puts you off, don't rent it. Otherwise, it is a very interesting account of where he came from, and how he began his journey toward revolution.

Now for something completely different, "The Monkees" was a favorite TV show from the late '60's. It's style was based on The Beatles movies Hard Day's Night and Help. The band was manufactured for the TV show. In the beginning, only Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork actually played instruments. Nevertheless, the show was fun, different and peppy.

G.A.H. will be eternally grateful to Mike Nesmith for writing Different Drum, just so that Linda Ronstadt could sing it. G.A.H. was at an early concert in Redondo Beach CA, where Stone Poney performed. The sight of barefooted Linda in tank top and short cut-off Levis will forever be imprinted in his brain's happy place.

Here's some interesting trivia; Mike Nesmith's mother invented Mistake-Out correction fluid. The name was later changed to Liquid Paper and was eventually sold to Gillette Corp. for $47.5M.

kazie said...

clear ayes,
When does g.a.h. (or Fred?) have the colonoscopy? I do hope all goes well.

Clear Ayes said...

Kazie, Not until December 5th. He'll be having his own personal Thanksgiving when that is over. Until then he will eat, drink and be merry!

kazie said...

a well deserved celebration I'm sure. Is he getting the alternate prep, or the golitely? Did you see my posting on that the other day? I did the alternate, and it was much easier.

Anonymous said...

C.C. Congratulations !!!!

I believe I predicted that you would reach that goal by the end of the year. Was'nt it around the 400,000 mark?

Amazable (Made-up word)?

Vaya con Dios

RichShif said...

Hi C.C. and all,

Been AWOL for a while will address that tonight in the woodshed.

C/Ws have been easy as of late. When will the bomb drop.

Mike Nesmith is shown in I'm a Believer. He is the guitarist and was the silent Monkee (the more serious one). He generally always wore the green knit hat with the pom-pom. I use to watch their show regularly as a kid. He does not tour with Mickey Dolenez (voice of cartoon characters i.e. Funky Phantom), Davey Jones and Peter Tork when they go out and perform as the Monkee's. The group was not considered a real group until they released the album Head. They had problems with the network controling the musical imput. They also had Jimi Hendrix as an openning act in their hey day.

Clear Ayes said...

Jeannie, from last night, "Yes", I do remember. Once in a while, I see you have been visiting the woodshed. Hope you are enjoying yourself....it's getting cold where you are! Still waiting to see that gorgeous brunette photo, LOL.

Kazie, G.A.H. is going with the easier prep...not so much goop to drink.

J.D. Beautiful Dreamer is a lovely Stephen Foster song. I wish I could play it on the piano.

Buckeye, I should have known you were a Gene Tierney kind of guy. Sophia?..of course, always the crème de la crème.