google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday December 26, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

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Dec 26, 2008

Friday December 26, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: Vowel Progression

17A: Kitchen items: FRYING PANS

26A: Spots for tots: PLAYPENS

37A: Certain hair clips: BOBBY PINS

52A: Legendary coloratura soprano: LILY PONS

61A: Some cartoons: VISUAL PUNS

This reminds of Sallie's "facetious"comment several days ago. It has all the vowels in it and all the vowels are in proper order.

OK, if LILY PONS made the Times' cover, she has to be a legend then. I wanted her name to be LILY POND. But it broke the P_NS theme pattern.

Nice to see VISUAL PUNS in a grid, after our discussion of "Pinkie" several weeks ago.

Was disappointed by the SASHA (54D: Skater Cohen ) clue. You would think "Obama's daughter" is now famous enough to appear in our puzzle. I bet our editor "can't handle the truth", otherwise, he would have clued MEN (8D) as "A Few Good __''. This "Game pieces" clue bores me to pieces now.

Across:

6A: Sgt. Preston's crew: RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). I did not know who Sgt. Preston is. That dog looks very loyal.

16A: Bonn mister: HERR. Frau's husband.

26A: 1996 British Open winner: LEHMAN (Tom). Gimme for me. Pride of Minnesota. He was unstoppable in 1996. Then Tiger burst into the scene and you know what happened after that.

29A: Flash flood: FRESHET. New word to me.

40A: Pear choice: BOSC. I love Hosui (Asian Pear) more. It's crisper and sweeter.

44A: Hops kilns: OASTS. Do you know why there is always a white cone atop those OASTS?

48A: Latin I word: AMO. "I love". How to say "I love you, honey" in Latin?

49A: Jolie movie: GIA. Know the movie, have never seen it.

50A: Irish lass: COLLEEN. Got it this time.

55A: Thin layer: LAMINA. Thought of veneer.

55A: Lake Titicaca location: ANDES. See this map. New lake to me.

65A: Ringlet: CURL

67A: Principal artery: AORTA

70A: Brittany port: BREST. The red dot on the left. I just learned this city name the other day when LAIT was clued as "Milk of BREST" in another puzzle. Kind of DF, isn't it?

Down:

1D: Spanky's pal: ALFALFA. No idea. Have never heard of Our Gang before. Strange name.

2D: Certain writing implements: MARKERS

3D: Subjects for analysts: PSYCHES

9D: On-base mil. stores: PXS (Post Exchange). New abbreviation to me.

13D: Karen of "Little House on the Prairie": GRASSLE. Would not have got her name without across fills.

22D: Dancer Charisse: CYD. Alien to me also. Wow, look at this picture. She looks stunning. She is in "Singin' in the Rain".

24D: "Morning Joe" airer: MSNBC. The only MSNBC program I watch every day is "Hardball". Joe Scarborough appears as a guest from time to time.

27D: City near Santa Barbara: LOMPOC. According to Wikipedia, the name of the city is derived from a Chumash word "Lum Poc" meaning "little lake" or "lagoon". Not a familiar name to me. Here is the map.

30D: Underground Railroad leader: TUBMAN (Harriet). Is there a movie made about her life?

35D: Pathetic start?: SYM. Sympathetic.

38D: Actor Scott: BAIO. He looks familiar. I must have seen him somewhere before. But his name meant nothing to me.

39D: Vincent Lopez theme song: NOLA. See this clip. I just keep forgetting this song title.

49D: Nav. by satellite: GPS (Global Positioning System). Or "Family MD".

58D: Crisp bread: RUSK. See here for more information. It's the same as zwieback (twice-baked bread).

C.C.

47 comments:

Martin said...

Ugh. 25 minutes 11 seconds. So many abreviations! PXS, RCMP, AKC, OTS, ASSNS, AMMO, GPS, USMA and ARG! The only gimme was SYM(pathetic). And then there are the unknowns: GRASSLE, LEHMAN, LOMPOC, FRESHET, LILY PONS, TUBMAN, LAMINA, BOSC, BREST and NOLA! I also wanted APPLIANCES for FRYING PANS.

I'm working at a university so, in addition to teaching, I have to publish papers. I'll probably have a paper ready by the middle of March on student motivation, specifically the motivation of English majors versus non-English majors and of first year students versus second and third year students. I'm also working on a paper that relates the notion of fuzzy logic to the concepts of sometimes-often-usually and possibly-likely-probably. I'm claiming that there's a lot of overlap between the meanings of often and usually or likely and probably.

Martin

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

Martin,
This comparison of English majors versus non-English majors sounds so narrow. Why not BA students versus BS students?

Razzberry,
Thanks for reminding us to remember those who served and those who are still serving during the holidays.

Kazie,
I liked your "Greensleeves" link. Did not know that the song is somehow related to Henry VIII.

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

Richshif,
You did not know Eartha Kitt died when you linked "Santa Baby" last night, did you?

Argyle,
Thanks for MARK. I kept wanting "Fall guy" to be ADAM. I am not good enough to handle "Yule Log". I bet Lois is.

KittyB,
It's so sweet of you to stop by last night. Hope you are enjoying the holidays with your family and friends.

Martin said...

C.C., the university where I work specializes in health sciences so there are far, far more BS students than BA students.

Martin

Chris in LA said...

Good morning CC etal,

Not bad today. Remembered Sgt. Preston & Lehman, no need to google anything else (other than to verify spelling) as all the rest presented on the perps, so all and all a pretty good puzzle - just the right degree of "toughness".

@ Martin - how about "Shoulda' coulda' woulda'"? Famous quote from Jim Mora when he was the coach of my beloved Saints.

@ CC - "Our Gang" was an old B&W TV show for kids - pre-cartoons. Brought back memories of Alfalfa's cowlicky hair & unrequited love for Darla. Haven't seen an episode in eons.

Happy Friday to all - hopefully you're taking the day-after off as well.

Martin said...

Chris, "should", "could" and "would" correspond to "shall", "can" and "will" as in "Should we have gone to KFC instead?", "I could swim when I was five" and "He said he would be there at six!" In American English, "shall" and "should" are both used for suggestions: "Shall we go to McDonalds?" or "You should go to KFC next time".

Martin

lois said...

Good morning CC et al, Good puzzle with only a little trouble in the central south...how 'ominous'! Still don't understand 'watery' = 'weak' 59A...like a cry baby? And didn't know 'rusk' -if that is correct. 3D wanted 'psychos' instead of 'psyches' probably b/c I relate better, but the perps bailed me out of all the unknowns. Loved the ref to Spanky. Some funny stuff.

A good puzzle for a very good day. Hope you enjoy it all. I'm off to play with the cowboys.

Chris in LA said...

@ Martin,

Tongue firmly planted in cheek - "we shoulda' thrown the ball because we coulda' got a first down and so woulda' won the game". I understand the etymology, but think the "color" of the remark deserves exploration as (IMHO) we can all look back on our lives & find a "shoulda', coulda', woulda'" moment or two. It's the relationship of all three words relative to a specific incident or decision that I think can be fascinating. Just a thought, for what it's worth.

Chris in LA said...

@ Lois,

Re: "rusk" - think "zweiback" - those nasty dried out crackers that people used to (or maybe still do) give their babies to chew on between feedings.

Re: "watery" - too much ice in the scotch or a bar that might "stretch" their liquor by adding water to it.

NYTAnonimo said...

Did not get the I in GIA and BAIO or the R in ARG and RUSK. FRESHET was a new word for me. Sad bio for GIA.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

I don't know if it's because I'm still sick as a dog or what, but today's puzzle was just a real slog for me. I didn't know FRESHET, GIA, GRASSLE, NOLA, LEHMAN or LILY PONS. I was able to get those via the perps, though. What really killed me was the crossing of ARG and RUSK. I was thinking that OAS stood for Organization of Arab States and the only think I could think of was ALG (for Algeria). Which gave me LUSK for the bread. Sure, why not? It's not like RUSK means anything to me.

Blah.

Anonymous said...

17:02 for me today (26 Dec 2008) More comments as they become available on most of these CBS stations..................

LILY PONS I could only think of Lilly Pads.

Sasha Obama is not a household name. Only to Obama's supporters.

49A: Jolie movie: GIA. Know the movie, have never seen it. I was thinking of Girl Interupted.

Oh well Good Morning to CC & Jeannie and all who blog here, Jeannie & CC what are your plans for New Years Eve?

kazie said...

Martin,
Do you want to deal with the "would" versus "should" usage as it relates to older style distinctions between first person and the others? I've never heard an American use "shall" versus "will" or "should" versus "would" in that sense. But I was taught to say "we shall, you will, he will", etc. in British English.

My (American) m-i-l used to always make a suggestion, or ask me to do something, by saying "Would you like to..." and that was the first time I'd encountered that so much, instead of straight out saying "Please get the butter".

Today I had more trouble than the rest of this week. Didn't know FRESHET--I wanted PSYCHO, so had FROSHET, after the discussion about subways yesterday, I was thinking of the wrong kind of underground, so that screwed up TUBMAN for a while. I didn't know GIA and spelled BAYO and POND, so wasn't sure about DASHA and of course completely miffed USMA.

Other than that Mrs. Lincoln...? I guess the circumference went well. LOMPOC sounds Asian to me. I was looking for a LOS something.

kazie said...

Lois and Chrisinla,
I forgot, RUSK is a strange word, but I did know it. And it's good to see someone spell Zweiback correctly. It's German for "twice baked". Did you know the story about "biscuit" which means the same thing in French, and is the reason that cookies are called biscuits in British English?

Crockett1947 said...

Good morning, everyone. I was all over on this one today. Ended up solving mostly from the S to the N, finishing the NE (how's the snow, Barry?)last. Did not know GIA, but I'm not a movie fan, so that's no surprise. Had LOLA instead of NOLA for a while, but the cross helped me out. Lake Titicaca is the most famous South American lake, or so it seems to me.

@democrat You must have done the puzzle on-line last night, right? I don't know of any newspaper that delivers that early in the morning!

@lois If you have a weak drink, it is usually watery. I see chris in la chimed in on this as well.

Gotta go dig out the car and see if I can make it to the Red Cross and then to the store for some badly needed groceries -- it's been a week since I've made it out of the house except for walking.

Jeannie said...

Good Morning all, a pretty easy puzzle again today. I only had to google a couple of names. New words for me today were freshet for flash flood and Tubman for underground railroad leader. I've never heard that term before. Anyone know where that came from? I have to work today and feel like crap. I am battling a horrific cold and would rather be anywhere than here today. When I think of twice baked cookies I think of biscotti.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Martin already mentioned all the abbreviations. I had to skip around with the perps a little bit in order to get them all.

When all was said and done, I didn't have to Google anything. I remembered "Morning Joe" from a week or two ago.

I had never heard of Mello YELLO, but the crossing LILY PONS was an easy one for me. My mother studied opera and aspired to sing like Ms. Pons. (Mom was very good, but Lily Pons was amazing.) Here is Lily Pons in a scene from the 1935 movie I Dream Too Much. She is singing one of her signature arias, The Bell Song from the opera Lakme. Yes, that is Henry Fonda in the balcony.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas day. Like so many others I have a cold, although it is easing a little. With so much laughing and talking yesterday, I am left with a voice that sounds like gravel. It was worth it. We had a terrific visit with grandkids, daughter and S-I-L.

Clear Ayes said...

For Jeannie, Barry, Democrat and all who are suffering from a miserable winter cold. This pretty much describes how I have been feeling for the past week. Let's hope the New Year will find us clear-headed and feeling fine.

That Weary Feeling

Do you know that weary feeling
when your mind is strangely strangled
and your head is like a ball of wool
that's very, very tangled;
and the tempo of your thinking
must be lenient and mild,
as though you were explaining
to a very little child.

-Piet Hein

Bill said...

Well, it's done. I don't know if it's because of my miserable cold or just lethargy because of the season, but I couldn't gwet my head around this one or yesterdays' either. 1a, 17a 3d 30d and 48a just totally eluded me. It wasn't that they were difficult fills, I just didn't get them. I got a little help from NancyD when she got home and kicked myself a few times as everything started to make sense.
Oh, well, maybe next week will be better!
CY'all Later

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

Democrat,
Maybe SASHA Obama after Jan 20, 2009? A quiet night for New Year's eve.

Kazie,
If two is "zwei" in German, how come twice-baked is "zwieback"? Why not "zweiback"?

Jeannie said...

Clearayes, thanks for the poem. That is exactly how my head feels today, like it is floating above somewhere else. I am not that productive here at work today and come 2pm when the last of the reports that I need to run are done I am heading home to the warmth and comfort of my bed.

Lois, enjoy playing with those cowboys out there. Lasso one for me just for the fun of it.

kazie said...

That spelling is what I was commenting on--@Chris in la spelled it as it should be in correct German, but I think the product is spelled the other way because of some sort of dialectic distortion. I'm finding, as I talk more to our d-i-l's family, that many vowels can suffer incredibly in their Saxon dialect, for example. It's really like another language. So, many words that have been adopted in English suffer the same fate.

A real gripe I have with this problem though is the word Wiener, from Wien (Vienna), when they misspell it Weiner, which implies wine is in it.

WM said...

Good morning to everyone...had many of the same problems, FRESHET seems to be an issue with most everyone. Once I redid a few of the letters, things started to come together. Tough, but eventually I finished.
For C.C. I had a hard time initially with BIAO because I kept thinking of Scott as a last name as in George C. Scott Biao showed up towards the end of the run of the TV Happy Days as Fonzi's cousin, Chachi Arcola, who ended up having a crush on Richie Cunningham's sister Joanie(Erin Moran),which led to the spin-off show Joanie Loves Chachi(Scott Biao)which first aired in 1983. I think it was set in Chicago.

Anonymous said...

Jeannie.
Harriet Tubman was a leader in getting runaway slaves to the north, where they could escape their slave status. The secret arrangements which let them move through the slave states to the free states was called the underground railway.
Calef.

JD said...

Good morning C.C. and all,
I am enjoying a quiet house at the moment...ahhhhh

C.C., that was Yukon King, the malemut in the picture with Sgt. Preston, a very early sitcom. I wanted to put NWMP (north west).

Asian pears are my favorite fruit. Wish I had planted a tree here 20 yrs back. We received Bosc pears in a goodie box from relative..
very juicy.
@ flax, I do grind a bit each morning as I have a small coffee grinder.

Lompoc is close to Vandenberg AFB and that town grew at a time when building new airplanes was going on.Before that, and even now, it is a place where many flowers are grown.I'd have to do more research on Vandenburg; I just remember my oldest sister's family moved there because of the base.

Lots of unknowns for me today:Brest, Lily Pons (thought of Beverly Sills), rusk,Nola, Lehman, and freshet. I had froshet because psychos sounded better. Forgot the word oasts, and guessed lamina, because I was a laminating expert.LOL ( all teachers are).

Oops was going to go on about H. Tubman and how they called her Moses for freeing so many slaves.

Gotta run...family is back...

Anonymous said...

Get well soon Jeannie,

I found some mucinex DM and I'm going to try that. 1 pill lasts 12 hours so I won't another until 7 PM tonight.

Anonymous said...

This puzzle was not too difficult but caused me to do a lot of thinking. I am wondering why all the answers are not given out.

Chris in LA said...

@ anon 3:26,

It would take too long for CC to post all the answers. If you find one or two that are stumping you that haven't been answered on the main page, ask here and one or the other of us will normally respond pretty quickly.

Crockett1947 said...

@anonymous at 3:26 You can also go to the on-line version of the puzzle and check your answers there. Here .

Jim on the left coast said...

What is that 22a word (calls out)? "ceies"?

Chris in LA said...

Jim - 22A is CRIES. 10D is CHIRP

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

Wolfmom,
Thanks for the additional information on Scott BAIO. I was not aware that he was in "Happy Days".

JD,
Just remember the DF clue "Milk of Brest" for LAIT I mentioned in the blog entry earlier. Then you will remember BREST.

Chris,
I forgot to thank you for ALFALFA's "unrequited love" & Jim Mora's "Shoulda' coulda' woulda' post earlier. Wonderful ORTS.

Crockett1947 said...

@jim on the left coast And 19A is ILSA, not ELSA.

JD said...

Well, it's a good thing I did more research on Vandenberg AFB. It's actually in Lompoc.It's the headquarters for the 30th Space Wing. The 30th manages Dept. of Defense Space and missile testing and places satellites into polar orbit using expendable boosters. Next satellite launch is on Feb 4; it was developed by the NASA/Goddard Spaceflight Center for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. So airplanes was really wrong. When my brother-in-law worked there, I was 12 and the work at that time was hush hush.

I hope all of you( Jeannie, Clear ayes,Democrat, Barry) who have colds feel better soon. Have you heard of ZICAM? Supposedly this little tablet helps you get over your cold faster.They are a melt in your mouth thing, which is not all bad.I prefer thes over cold tablets that make me feel buzzy and dry.

Another great poem, Clear ayes.

Martin, someone should do a study on eye exams.The question, "Which is better?" , promotes some fuzzy logic for the seeing impaired. It is a wonder that any of us get the right prescription.Your motivation papers sound interesting, esp about English majors.


I'm going back to enjoy yesterday's links.

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

Kazie,
See zwieback. Is it true that zwie means "twi". Sounds so weird.

Crockett,
Like my Obama pin?

kazie said...

c.c.,
When I look up the prefix "twi-" in Websters, it says it's akin to old high German "zwi-" and means two, double, doubly or twice. At some point in the development of English from the old Saxon tongues, there were many words that suffered either vowel or consonantal shifts, which is why so many German words are recognizable to English speakers, if you just use a bit of imagination and guess what those changes might be.

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

Kazie,
Holy hotwick. I just checked twist. Guess what, it's rooted in German Zwist.

Clear Ayes said...

Most of G.A.H.'s family still live around the LOMPOC area. He has a brother and two nieces' families who live in town. Another brother lives down the highway in Nipomo and a third brother lives in Buellton. G.A.H.'s sister's husband worked at Vanderberg AFB for many years before he retired. It was and still is a very secure facility. They live in neighboring Santa Maria now. We usually spend a lot of time in Lompoc when we are visiting family members.

Wolfmom, I visited your website and was very impressed, particularly with your food paintings. I loved "Cream Puffs", it made me smile.

J.D., I have tried various Zimcam products and they do seem to lessen the severity of colds. Hey, anything that helps even a little is OK in my book.

Anonymous said...

c.c.

Not all oasts have white cones on top but it is quite common on the smaller older structures. Larger oasts were barn like structures. The cone is a louvered vent to channel humid air away from the drying hops and to provide a good regulated draft for the drying fire. Many of these cowls had vanes which allowed them to swing in the wind to provide a properly controlled amount of ventilation.

That is the traditional way still used today for small batches and specialty beers and ales. Large breweries dry hops in bulk with large dehydrators that precisely control humidity and temperature.

Seattle John

Dennis said...

Good evening, c.c. and gang, from wonderfully warm Boca Raton. Had a great trip down, the train got in 90 minutes early, and the drive down here with the top down was just outstanding. Weather looks good for the next 6 days so far.

Just got done the online version of the puzzle; no real problems, had a bit of perp help.

I guess I'm the only one that picked up on the confluence of Lake Titicaca, Brest and (bra) clasp. Speaks volumes about what's happened to our blog...

Anon from yesterday, yes, I certainly know that the CMH is awarded, not won - I was privileged to know, and count as a friend, Joey Paul, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Vietnam.

I hope everyone had an outstanding Christmas - anybody get anything special?

Jeannie said...

Dennis, Titticaca, brest and bra did not escape my attention. Just too bogged down with cold medicine to be my old DF self. I left work today at 2pm and took Nyquil with a shot of brandy and just roused myself. Still a little fuzzy so to speak. I'm sorry I let you down. Hope you are enjoying the warm, balmy weather with your top down. I know I would.

Martin said...

Chris,

Let's not live in the past. "We shall throw the ball because we can make a first down and then we will win the game." :)

Martin

RichShif said...

Good Evening C.C. and all,

Had some of the same issues. Freshnet is new. Still don't know OAS and I guess ARG is Argentina.

@ C.C. I did not know Eartha Kitt had died when i posted the link. Argyle's follow up gave me that bit of info.

Did Bill Haley shake, rattle , or roll any frying pans in the kitchen?

kazie said...

c.c.,
"Zwist" actually means discordance, but "z" often becomes "t" or "th" in English equivalences. The German "z" sounds like an English "ts".

Anonymous said...

JD,

ZICAM stops you from getting sick it's useless after you already have one. I used mucinex DM.

Thank the recommends though Have nice day.

Jeannie said...

democrat, I came home early from work today and took nyquil with my hot toddy recipe and slept like a baby for about six hours. I almost feel like myself again. More than one person in the course of a couple of days has suggested Zicam. It is supposed to wipe out a cold quicker once it has hit you. I will stick by my own remedies passed down the pipe by my Mom as it has always worked in the past. The one thing I was missing in the remedie was Vicks Vapor Rub on my chest covered with a t-shirt.

WM said...

Seattle John...I love information like that. I was the kid that always asked WHY?

Clear Ayes, so happy you liked the paintings. I spent a lot of time in the food business and several years as a Cheesemonger for Oakville Grocery, so food was one of the first things I chose to paint, mixed in with places I had been. Compliments always keep me motivated. Thanks.

Late 2nd post as we went to a terrific Comedy Show called THE GREAT BIG YEAR END KISS OFF with political humorist Will Durst and Company. Hysterical! So now I am having a hot Brandy to soothe my throat from all the laughing...

All of you with Holiday colds...take care and try to get lots of rest...always the best remedy.