google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday December 1, 2008 Stanley B. Whitten

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Dec 1, 2008

Monday December 1, 2008 Stanley B. Whitten

Theme: Tutti Frutti

17A: July 4 noisemaker: CHERRY BOMB

53A: Nonsense!: APPLESAUCE

11D: Neato!: PEACHY KEEN

28D: Bicyclist's perch: BANANA SEAT

I was wondering if this constructor thought of Christina APPLEGATE for 53A. It would be a lovely "Inedible fruit" puzzle. Pearl Buck has PEAR in her name.

My real given name consists of two Chinese dynastries whose capital city was in Xi'An. How did you get your name?

I don't like the clue for HOLMES (29D: Doyle's sleuth) because SLEUTH is the answer to 24A: Clue collector. I also hate the clue for SMEAR (5A: Smudge). So many ways to avoid the letter repetition.

Why "Witty quips" for SALLIES (24D)? Aren't all quips supposed to be witty? It should be "Witty remarks", right? By the way, this definition of of SALLY is new to me.

Nice puzzle, but not as sweet as John Underwood's "Fruity Places".

Across:

1A: A little night music?: TAPS. The military bugle night call I suppose. But why "A little"? TAPS is short for what?

14A: "Rhyme Pays": ICE T

19A: Rattan piece: CANE

20A: Stories in installments: SERIALS

21A: Dieter and Lou: BROCKS. Only know Lou BROCK. Have never heard of Dieter. What a strange name! David BROCK probably has more name recognition than either of them. Talk about a flip-flop.

23A: Handyman's letter: DIY. Handyman also needs KIT (34A: Set of parts)

26A: Jazz vocalist Mercer: MABEL. I was so ecstatic about this clue because I finally committed her to my memory. And I am so ready for "Normand of Silent movie".

29A: Beauty parlor do: HAIRSTYLE. Helen Mirren looks great in any HAIRSTYLE.

33A: Lassie's breed: COLLIE. I wonder what's the origin of COLLIE.

36A: Ziegfeld show: FOLLIES. Not familiar with this show. See also the 1946 film trailer.

41A: Forest fauna: PINE TREES. The clue should be "Forest flora".

43A: Perfect or past: TENSE

46A: Six-shooter: PISTOL

48A: Pirate ship: CORSAIR. I forgot. SHIVER ME TIMBERS was clued as "Cry on a CORSAIR" on a NYT puzzle several days ago. Have you used that phrase or "Well Blow Me Down" before?

59A: Der __ (Adenauer): ALTE. Man, this guy's nickname always gives me trouble. It's the same as IL DUCE (Mussolin's title), isn't it? "The leader"?

Down:

4D: "The Lord of the Rings" character: STRIDER. No idea. I guessed.

10D: "Jo's Boys" author: ALCOTT. Have you read this book? I read "Little Women" in Chinese long time ago.

22D: Subterfuges: RUSES. Every time I see "Subterfuge", I see mushroom cloud. Always confuse the word with centrifuge.

25D: "__ of the Field": LILIES. Great movie.

26D: Tidy any loose ends: MOP UP

27D: Treasured violin: AMATI. Strad is the other one.

33D: One of a pair: CORRELATE. I always thought CORRELATE is a verb.

40D: Leave port: SET SAIL

46D: 12-point type: PICA. What is "12-point"?

51D: Rip apart: REND. Its past tense is RENT.

55D: Mom-and-pop grp.: PTA. I was thinking of the Mom-and-Pop stores, so I wanted Small Business Association (SBA?).

C.C.

59 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, c.c. and gang - seriously, is it just me, or are we going through a run of pretty easy puzzles? Seems like eons since we had a real hammer.

I was amazed to see Mabel Mercer the third time within a week - I can't remember ever seeing a proper name clued three times that close together. Other than that, no real issues with the puzzle.

Have a bearable Monday - I hope everyone got to enjoy a nice, relaxing 4-day weekend.

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

Dennis,
Remember once you complained about the consecutive appearances of RALE/RALES? I also remember the ET AL binge. Why did your parents name you Dennis?

Mark,
What a surprise to hear from you yesterday! You don't get the TMS Sunday puzzle, do you? I spent over 10 minutes in the bathtub last night thinking of the "Dashing president", but I came up with nothing.

Anonymous @ 1:16pm,
No. I live in Brooklyn Park, MN.

Catholic guilt,
Thank you.

Dennis said...

c.c., no idea about the name. Just some cruel joke, I suppose, knowing the "Dennis the Menace" stuff I'd have to endure as a kid every time I got in trouble. Which was often.

The name, as you probably know, comes from Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, so maybe they were just prescient.

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

Dennis,
That's interesting. I did not know that the name Dennis comes from Dionysus. No wonder you love wine and are so DF.

Doreen,
Did you work for the UN in Brussels before?

Kazie,
Mark in BA said the other day that the Spanish slang for "ta ta" is lolas, what's the French slang then? I notice love is masculine, how about infatuation, sadness and other emotions, are they all masculine?

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

GVI,
Did you collect baseball cards when you were a kid? If so, do you still have your cards?

Martin,
I think vis-à-vis is structurally more similar to 面对面 rather than 看一看.

Crockett,
I love your nutria story. Your remark on my golf hooker/slicer comment also made me giggle. You are such an outstanding moral/morel guy.

J.D.
Yes, almost all the major newspaper puzzles follow New York Times' harder-as-the-week-go pattern. As far as I know, Tribune Media Service puzzle is the only one with random rating.

Argyle said...

Good Morning,
My first name I got from my father and my middle name, the one I go by, was my Great Grandfther's.

Club Cherry Bomb

Anonymous said...

41A: Forest fauna = pinetrees

Never saw a pinetree in a zoo...

Dr. Dad said...

Good morning. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.
Dennis - I had a 5 day weekend. After that trip to Kentucky, I took a couple of days off. Was pretty shocked to turn on the tube on Wednesday and see all the stuff going on in Mumbai. If that had happened in June I would have been in a little bit of trouble because I was in the area of the Taj Mahal Tower and Palace, the Oberai, and the rail station. Yikes!

Aragorn, son of Arathorn, who became King of Gondor with the defeat of Sauron was a "Ranger of the North" who was known as Strider in some places, particularly in the village of Bree, where Frodo, Samwise, Pippin, and Merry first met him.

This puzzle was pretty easy. I also was surprised at seeing Mabel Mercer again.

In addition to sleuth and Holmes, there was also DYI (do it yourself) and KIT.

I never used correlate as meaning one of a pair but it does mean that. One of the pair directly implies its correlate. One example is a wife is the correlate of a husband (and vice versa).

I'll bet all of you missed the Today is ---". Well, today is Eat a Red Apple Day (fitting because the Xword has Applesauce), Rosa Parks Day, and World Aids Day (aka Aids Awareness Day). Also, Playboy magazine was first published on this day in 1953.

Have a great Monday. Oh, BTW - my daughter called me Dr. Dad. My parents gave me my first and middle name, presumably because of radio and TV host Ralph Edwards.

Dennis said...

Puzzled puzzler - great catch!

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

Puzzled Puzzler,
Wow, I missed that one completely. The clue should be "Forest flora".

Dr. Dad,
Great to see you back. I thought of you when I watched the terrorist attack in Mumbai.

Barry G. said...

Morning, folks!

Not a difficult puzzle today, but a bit on the annoying side. As noted, the clue for 41A should have been "Forest flora" instead of "fauna," and I kept staring at it wondering where I had gone wrong since PINE TREE couldn't possibly be the correct answer.

I've never heard APPLESAUCE used to mean "nonsense" before, so that was another answer that I stared at in disbelief figuring I must have made a mistake somewhere after getting it via the perps. But no, it was correct. As an aside, all the other theme answers used fruits in the figurative sense, whereas APPLESAUCE really does contain apples.

I've only seen CORSAIR used to refer to pirates, not their ships, and my little desktop dictionary backs me up. Which probably just means I need a better desktop dictionary, but still...

SALLIES was completely out in left field. Never ever heard this usage before. I have, on the other hand, heard the expression "SALLIES forth" (i.e., heads out, takes off, leaves, etc.), which I think would be a much better sense to clue off of. If I ran the universe, that is.

Oh -- and I didn't know either of the two BROCKS mentioned.

I don't recall when I last solved a puzzle so quickly and was left staring at so many answers thinking, "that can't possibly be right." So, yeah, easy puzzle, but not particularly enjoyable to solve. At least, not for me. Your mileage may vary....

Barry G. said...

Oh -- and I was named after my mother's favorite cousin. My folks picked my middle name simply because they thought it sounded good with my first name.

Dick said...

Goood morning CC, DFs and DFettes..Another easy puzzle. Like the others I have been waiting for the hammer to fall. Maybe tomorrow?
Dr Dad great to see you back. I was wondring if you might be in India when the attacks occurred but I sort of remembered you saying something about a trip to Kentucky.

Argyle, I liked your link as it brought back memories.

I am not sure why my parents gave me the first named as they did but my middle name was from my mother's brother.

Hope you all have a great day.

Anonymous said...

1A: A little night music?: TAPS. The military bugle night call I suppose. But why "A little"? TAPS is short for what?

http://www.west-point.org/taps/Taps.html



As for my name I have no idea how I got it since both my parents are deceased I may never know.

Barry G. said...

1A: A little night music?: TAPS. The military bugle night call I suppose. But why "A little"? TAPS is short for what?

TAPS isn't short for anything. But it is a very short piece of music. And the clue is punning off the famous Mozart piece "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" ("A Little Night Music").

Anonymous said...

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taps


1A: A little night music?: TAPS. The military bugle night call I suppose. But why "A little"? TAPS is short for what?

Martin said...

C.C., what can I say? Your Chinese is better than mine. That being said, vis is not only the root of the French word visage meaning "face" but also the past participle of voir which means "to look" so vis-a-vis reminded me of 看一看. Is 面对面 a common expression? There's also the Spanish expression mano-a-mano which implies a confrontation or fight.

Today's puzzle was a lot like last week's: I had to google a couple of words and then said "Oooh!" Take ELCOTT for example: the name sounds familiar but I drew a blank on "Jo's Boys". Of course, ALCOTT crossed with BROCKS and I had heard of neither Dieter Brock nor Lou Brock: I had guessed BLACK which gave me ELCA?T and L?SES.

I also had trouble, as a result, with SLEUTH: I wanted BLEACH. Yes, BLEACH. I was thinking about how perps (perpetrators) would clean up crime scenes with bleach hoping to "collect" the "clues" so the detectives won't find them. Those devious perps! As a result I couldn't get the perp (perpendicular) SALLIES. It turns out BALLY is actually a word meaning "tight underwear". I remember thinking "That can't be right".

I also had trouble in the bottom left corner: I wanted DIVA instead of IDOL and KILT instead of COAT and I knew one was wrong but not both. The reason I had KILT instead of COAT was because I misread "Checked" as "Checkered". You know the tarton patterns on kilts? I only figured it out after googling for ALTE.

Laugh all you want but I got both MABEL and NAT today. No worms for me today. PICA was also a gimme for me: we've seen it before and not so long ago.

Let's see, what else? It took me a while to figure out the theme because I had REALLY KEEN intead of PEACHY KEEN. When I got the theme I wondered if ROBBERIES was part of the theme and I considered changing it to ROBERRIES. Really. I also wanted ELAN instead of AURA.

C.C., did it mind you at all that RUSES, ROBBERIES, COLLIE, LILIES, FOLLIES, SALLIES, ARMIES, HOLMES, PINE TREES and ASSESS were used to anchor the puzzle? That's a lot of Ies, Ees and Ses. I was also shocked to see FATSO as a fill. Isn't that term offensive to fat people?

I wanted WALL for RAIL ("Horizontal barrier") and ZINGERS for SALLIES. I also thought of "Mom and Pop" stores and originally wrote IGA (Independent Grocers Association) for PTA.

The clue "Nonsense!" reminded me of a story about former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. He was asked in an interview about what he said one time in Parliament during another speaker's speech. He claimed he had said "fuddle duddle" meaning "nonsense" but the reporter seemed to think he had said something else, something not very nice.

Martin

kazie said...

Hi all!
I was also blown away by the fauna/flora error, and didn't know the Brocks, but it all came together very fast this morning.

Should SALLIES perhaps be RALLIES?

I heard "Well blow me down" quite a lot as I was growing up. Related remark: "You could have knocked me down with a feather!"

c.c.,
CORRELATE as a noun has the stress only on the first syllable, the verb on both the first and last, if that helps.

I think 12 point is the size of the font, isn't it?

Infatuation in French=l'engouement (m), sadness = la tristesse, hatred = la haine (aspirate "h", so no apostrophe), l'amitié = friendship. So some of each gender, I guess. Often gender depends more on the word ending than its meaning. Those ending with a consonant are more likely to be masculine.

Tits are Titten in German. In French I'm not sure of the correct up-to-date slang, but teton is teat or breast. Hence the Grand Tetons--named by French fur traders looking for beavers!

Der Alte = the old man. He was born in 1876, so when he finally became chancellor in 1949, he was already in his seventies, so thought of as old. He's the oldest ever to serve, leaving the post at 87. Here are the details of his whole career Adenauer

Collie is a breed probably originating with the Romans in Northern England around 500BC.

My first name is for an aunt, and middle name after a film star.

kazie said...

Martin,
The past participle of voir is VU. Vis is a form of the preterite tense.
The French equivalent of the Spanish mano a mano is "tête à tête", in German it's "unter vier Augen" = under four eyes, which I find cute. Neither of these inmplies more than a discussiion though.

Dennis said...

A secondary definition of 'sallies' is "witty statements".

Martin said...

Martin,
The past participle of voir is VU. Vis is a form of the preterite tense.


Okaaay. So it's J'ai vu then. I get so confused. The present tense is Je vois Tu vois Il voit Elle voit right? I don't remember learning about the preterite tense when I studied French: usually the books had J'ai vu translated as "I saw". Is Je vis an archaic form? Now I remember why I hated studying French.

Martin

kazie said...

Martin,
Yes, the preterite is really only used in literature, but it is the stem for the subjunctive in a lot of verbs too.

The preterite goes: je vis, tu vis, il vit, nous vîmes, vous vîtes, ils/elles virent, --as far as I can remember anyway!

Present: je vois, tu vois, il/elle voit, nous voyons, vous voyez, ils/elles voient.

Crockett1947 said...

Good morning, everyone!

MABEL three times in a week. I'd call that unusual. I also didn't care for SLEUTH being a clue and an answer. Had STRAD instead of AMATI, and wanted SBA for PTA. I think Dieter is pronounced DEE TER, so it's not that strange a sounding name. DIE E TER would be strange. I like your theme better than my "Fruit Salad" one. There's quite an article about TAPS here. I see a few of us found that link.

I was supposed to be a girl, so when I was born my folks had to find a name quickly. My first name, Robert, came from may dad (Robert William) and my grandfather (William Robert). My middle name, which is the one I use (Richard), came from a popular song of the day, "Open the Door, Richard!" (At least that's the story I've always been told.)

@martin Thanks for sharing your travels through today's puzzle. Interesting saga.

@kazie Your language knowledge is encyclopedic!

Have a great day!

Dick said...

Kazie your language abilities are very impressive!!!

Anonymous said...

mark - Buenos Aires

You are right C.c. I dont do your crossword on Sunday but I checked your blog for the crack.

"dashing president first to finish. It makes the papers"

= sprinting pres

first to last ie first letter "s" to the end gives

"printing press" - "It makes the papers"

chau for now.

kazie said...

Dick and Crockett,
Thanks for the compliment, but it's a very narrow field, and I don't know much else!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad to see fauna vs. flora and correlate addressed. There are several words in English that indicate a change from noun to verb: produce and produce being one.
Have to reply to Sallies. My mother named me Sally; the clerk at the registry told her she couldn't name a child a nickname, so she crossed out Sally and changed it to Sarah. That's how it is on my birth certificate! When I was in 6th grade I changed the spelling to Sallie just to be different. So when someone on the phone calls me Sarah, I know it's someone that I don't know. I never answer to it. Never was called it. But it is my legal name.

DoesItinInk said...

We received our first snow overnight. Roads were slippery, and traffic was slow this morning. Coming on the heels of a four day weekend, I was very glad that today’s puzzle was so easy. I could not have stood up to too much of a challenge!

I am curious though about the clue “one of a pair”. How does that CORRELATE to the answer? And “forest fauna”? PINETREE????

@cc: Before reading the blog, I too thought of Tutti-Frutti for the puzzle theme. Great minds think alike?

@Clear Ayes: A final thought about Hugh Jackman in Australia. All the hype about his being the “sexiest man in the world” is a gross understatement! Watch for the scene where he takes a bucket shower!

@mark in Buenos Aires: Thank you for the answer to “dashing president”! I was thinking “handsome” and was making no progress whatsoever.

carol said...

Good morning C.C. and all, I spent some time on this one..especially the NE corner. I got APSE but could not think of a rattan piece for the longest time; not enough coffee! I put PRETTY KEEN in for 12D at first, so that threw that off for awhile. Still, no googling :)

I was also surprised by ol' Mabel showing up again.

Drdad, welcome back, we really missed you! Glad you are ok. You mentioned Playboy's first publication in 1953... guess who posed nude for the center fold? Marilyn Monroe.

Sallies was a new one to me but got it from filling in all the others.

I noticed a lot of "ies": FOLLIES, LILIES, ROBBERIES, SALLIES, ARMIES.

No idea why I was named Carol.

To all of you who have snow on the ground, I am sure it is pretty. Do you always have a white Christmas? We used to get a lot more snow in this area about 30+ years ago, but not much in the last 10. Just as well, no one knows how to drive in it anymore and they become more of a danger on the roads than the weather ever was!

Razz said...

Just a note from weekend reading.

Rod in a car - axle / shaft controversy. Apparently either is correct. AXLE Synonyms

Named after father and grandfather, however, nickname "Buz" was attached by my dad because he didn't want his brothers & sisters giving me one! (Uncles - Skeet, Coon, Rosie; Aunts - Bookie, Puss) Buz came from the old comic strip Buz Sawyer.

Argyle said...

Print clue 61A) Come down to earth
online clue 61A) touch down

the online clue, after all the football of late, had me thinking touchdown so I tried goal first.


LMAO you won't belive this one.
Applesauce

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, I had to struggle a bit this morning. I didn't know ICE T and I would have clued TICS as "a muscle twitch", or "involuntary muscle movement", not a "muscle twinge". A twinge is "a sudden brief darting or stabbing pain". TICS aren't necessarily painful.

I was surprised at SALLIES. I only knew it from The Prirates of Penzance. Gilbert and Sullivan's CORSAIR Pirate King sings "When I sally forth to seek my prey, I help myself in a royal way." I discovered "a quick quip" post-puzzle as the secondary meaning.

I filled in PINETREES and then looked at it for a few seconds, knowing something was wrong, but not quite zeroing in on the misuse of fauna instead of flora.

SALLIE@10:36 I had no idea that Sally or Sallie is the nickname for Sarah. I bet that registry clerk would faint if he/she heard some of the names that kids are being stuck with now. Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz named their new son Bronx Mowgli. YIKES!!

Here's an interesting site that is intended for Russians learning English as a second language Useful English. There are lists of both male and female names with corresponding nicknames. The articles are written in both English and Russian with the Cyrillic alphabet.

My first name is a feminine version of my father's name. My middle name is the same as my mother's first name. My childhood nickname was Ootz. Apparently it was my third word, after Dada and Mama. I don't think they ever knew what I meant by it.

Argyle, APPLESAUCE rap is so funny. Now I'll have to spend more You Tube time looking at their other Labuda Production videos.

Doesitinink....Now I'm REALLY eager to see Australia!

carol said...

Argyle and Clear ayes, Please forgive me, but what is funny about 'Applesauce Rap'? I don't get it at all.

kazie said...

Carol,
I agree--it was cute, but I wouldn't LOL over it.

Argyle said...

I don't know about others but I was laughing at the sheer idiocy of it, although it may be a spoof of a real rapper's song.

Meanwhile, I've found Peach, Plum, Pear with lyrics. I had to look up the lyrics because I couldn't make out what she was singing. Now I'm not sure what she is saying, either.

Mr. Ed said...

Good morning C.C. & all

Another somewhat humdrum xw today until I went brain-dead on the west coast. I had to go back for a coffee refill. 41A - bad clue as you all have noted. 46D - Bad clue. I'm sure someone will jump up and say I'm WRONG but I was taught that Pica is a style and 12 point is the size. Pica can actually be any point size as can any other typeface.

Mabel Mercer again! Uta Hagen very familiar. My first thought for 28 down was man on a seat but perps killed that quickly. Overall, a fairly easy start to a new week.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

ttfn

Clear Ayes said...

Carol and Kazie, Applesauce is just one of those things that either strike a person as funny, or not so much. Sitting in his mother's (maybe grandmother's) rocking chair, with the sailboat picture hanging over the white sofa, this tongue-in-cheek gangsta wanna-be got me laughing I thought the two nerdy suburban kids spoof-rapping, with all the accompanying rap dance moves, hand signals, jewelry and outfits, about something as ridiculous as applesauce was funny.

Chris in LA said...

@ Cleareyes:

For what it's worth, I'll bet "ootz" was "baby-ese" for "juice".

Argyle said...

And to finish up, the classic, "Yes, We Have No BananasToday".
Everybody SING!

Dennis said...

Argyle, you're getting a little Mitch Miller-ish on us, lol.

embien said...

6:35 today. An easy puzzle, even with the mis-cluing as others have noted.

The online version of the puzzle has 22d: Subterfufes which threw me for a while (an obvious typo for "subterfuges").

I was literally LOLing at the flora/fauna mixup in 41a. As in the dupe for SLEUTH, I think the editor just wasn't being careful, and that lack of care really detracts from the puzzle for me. Mistakes will happen, even in the NY Times puzzle which many consider the gold standard, but two errors in one puzzle is a bit much.

I was told my real first name means "gift from God" but I'm not sure if that is right or not. My middle name comes from my uncle (my mom's younger brother).

Clear Ayes said...

Chris In LA...Re: Ootz..It sounds as good as any other explanation. So, why not? That's the story I'll tell from now on. Thanks.

Argyle's got me thinking about fruit. It's not so easy finding a non-kiddy poem about fruit. This one appealed to me. It was written by blog writer/foodie Jonnygo when he was in Thailand.

A poem about exotic fruit

To reveal the flesh of mangosteen, first crack the violet casing
Exotic treats on Thailand's streets, they send my heart-rate racing.

Longans winey-syrup notes, dark, sticky moscatel
Clustered clumps, beige camels humps with deep perfumey smell

The screw thread, patterned, pineapples deserve a grand applause
Carved by hand, there's much demand for pop sticks in your jaws.

Fluorescent, coloured, lashes on...translucent oval eyes
Are rambutans deserving fans? Or lychees in disguise?

Banned on every airline flight, green-spiked reeking durians
Some say bizzare, and maybe are....designed for Epicureans.

The biggest, baddest fruit of all has scaly reptile hide
Brown when ripe, this mulberry-type contains a feast inside........

For within the jackfruit lies cream pods of bi-valve shape
Every form, a tropical storm of nature's mixed fruit shake.

In local tongue, the, "Nam Dok Mai", a tear-shaped mango dream
Its fibre-less, with light, lime zest, which makes superb ice cream.

- Jonnygo

Crockett1947 said...

@argyle Yipes! Even with the lyrics that sounds/looks like a very bad trip!

carol said...

Argyle, I share Crockett's YIKES! Why would anyone that sings(?)that badly ever record their voice? Hope no one paid to listen to that!!

lois said...

Good evening CC et al: Such an easy puzzle...again, but I'm not complaining. Jazzes me up for the rest of the morning. 'Peer' surprised me as a nobleman. Cherry bomb cracked me up remembering them in mailboxes. Drdad, Dennis & Dick were even more mischievous, as I recall. No surprise! What was the name of that homemade bomb?

Carl, I, could be wrong, but I think in the days of typewriters, there were 2 choices of typeface and Pica was the larger of the two sizes being 10 characters/in and Elite was 12 characters/in, which makes the clue wrong. That was before font was even a common term...of course that was also when we still communicated by smoke signals out on the range and the Pony Express was fairly new.

Argyle: that applesauce clip was cute...and would've fit perfectly w/my children. Should've bought stock in Motts. But that harpist? I'd rather hear fingernails on a blackboard...oh wait,that's what she reminded me of. Sure makes me appreciate the singing I hear around here.

CC: "Well, blow me down" is a term I think Popeye used, at least it reminds me of him. Of course, nowadays it has an even more interesting meaning.

Welcome back, Drdad. You were missed very much.

RichShif said...

Good Evening C.C. and all,

Another easy puzzle. Still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
As for "sallies", I seem to remember an episode of M*A*S*H where Frank Burns used a phrase with it. It may have been "Stuff your silly sallies in a hat." Does this ring a bell to anybody?

A little night music may have to do with the length of the bugle call. Once Taps has been played, it's lights out and all activity ends except guard detail. Sound feasible?

Mr. Ed said...

I had all the faith that someone would come up with an answer to Pica. Thank you Lois. Maybe the constructor should have listed the clue as obsolete or archaic?

ttfn

Anonymous said...

C.C.

I was named after a race horse (Miss Doreen). My grandfather would bet on her whenever she ran and she won, mostly. My grandmother was a bookie, and my father owned race horses--all nags. My mother liked the name.

I read Little Women many times when I was in elementary school. I identified with Joe. As it happens, I became a writer after many years of teaching.

As far as pica type: In the old days when there were no computers, typewriters had two kinds of type: pica or elite. The size was determinted by the number of key strokes per inch.

Dennis

No, I've always worked in the U.S.: however I travel much and speak French.

Don't know of a French slang for "ta ta." I've only always heard "au revoir."

All "-tion" endings are feminine. That's one of the few absolutes in the language. As for other words, the ending is frequently determined by the last letter. Usually words which end in "-e" are feminine, hence "sadness" is "tristesse" and feminine. Don't count on the word endings as a clue though.

Martin

One more French lesson. "Je vis" is the passe sample. This past tense is not ordinarily used in conversational French or in informal writing. It is a literary tense. It is used in formal writing, such as history and literature. When learning French, it's only necessary to recognise it when reading. It is used less and less these days. The Passe Compose is taking its place in literature, except for "avoir" and "etre."

That is probably more than you wanted to know

Once a teacher, always a teacher.

Doreen

kazie said...

Doreen,
Read my 10:05 and the middle of my 9:01 posts from this morning.

You're right--once a teacher always a teacher, never miss a teaching moment.

JD said...

Good evening to all,
Perfect smooth sailing until I met the pirate ship, and not groking the theme, I did not fill in applesauce.I had handlebars instead of banana seat for a bit.I had no aura, nor could I setsail without a sail. I had tear for rend; pica and alte did not come to mind.I couldn't wait to get home to see if sallies,fatso and pinetrees were correct.Peer was an odd answer too.The end.

Nothing unusual about my name. After 3 girls they wanted a boy, not to happen. My oldest sisters have lovely names: Noel and Mayo. Mine is plain.
Argyle, the clip on bananas brought back memories. Haven't heard that song for awhile. My dad used to sing that.Who knows why! Later on he whistled everything.

JD said...

On this day in
1887, Sherlock Holmes 1st appeared in print: "A Study in Scarlet"

1903, the 1st western film was released, "The Great Train Robbery"

1917, Father Flanagan's Boys Town was founded

1929, game of BINGO was invented byEdwin Lowe

1955, Rosa Parks was arrested

1982, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was released.

Retread38 said...

I notice you seem to have the most trouble with words that were in vouge when I was a teen; about 6 decades ago. Yes! Applesauce was used rather widely--at least out West.
Of course, at my age I didn't get hung up on the 'forest fauna,' which is incorrect for the answer needed.
FYI! Lou Brock was a pro baseballer.
Thanks to Dr. Dad, I now know what I've been doing for the last 60 years; DIY.
Everyone take care thru the next 24 days and have a very Merry Christmas.

Retread38 said...

Just one more comment on the '12-point type.' The American Heritage dictionary states, 1. "A printer's unit of type size, equal to 12 points or about 1/6 of an inch." As opposed to, 2. "A type size for typewriters, providing 10 characters per inch, [1/10" per each]." Apparently, the type setters and typists never quite got together. And, yes, from typing class, Elite font is 12 characters per inch. We used to have to change the typing-head ball on the electric typewriter to change the size of type.

Ken said...

Good evening, C.C. and gang. Again, no puzzle time today. However, I didn't read a clear discussion of font size, so here it is as I taught it. A printed letter, ie a b c, etc. has three atributes: a) Style, as in bold, italic or underlined, b)font face, as in times new roman, arial, courier(a la IBM selectric, etc. anf finally font size. One point is equal to 1/72nd of an inch or 72 points make one inch. Thus 12 point(pica) gives us six lines per inch.
We in the computer world get the terms from the newpaper industry. Headlines as Yanks win World Series might be 144 point or two inches in NYC, but 4 point(barely readable) in Boston.
Regarding font face, it seems every printer since Gutenberg has developed his or her own "look" to letters. If you open MS Word and click on the font face, just left of the font size, you'll see a list of many different font faces.
In typewriter days, the machines came with either pica or elite keys. Elite, being 10 point, produces more lines per inch, ie 7.2. There would also be more characters per line.

Nice to find a moment to read the blog. Btw, C.C., a belated but muchly deserved congrats on your millionth. Yikes...

Argyle said...

I apologize, I meant to put a warning label on the Peach, Plum, Pear clip.

Ralph Dieter Brock (born 1951, in Birmingham, Alabama), is a former Canadian Football League quarterback who spent most of his career with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and led the league in passing for four years. Nicknamed "The Birmingham Rifle"

(It looks like Crockett called it right.)

His father, Billy William Brock, had named the family's first son Billy Joe, and so his wife Maria, who is German, got to name the next boy. When she chose the name Dieter, Billy William blanched. So Maria suggested making Dieter the boy's middle name, which Billy William allowed was a fine idea. Then he named the boy Ralph. It wasn't until Ralph Brock had been playing in Canada for four years that he spoke up and revealed to the public his lifelong preference for the name Dieter.

Martin said...

Oh I completely forgot to write about my name!

When I was born I was named Mark. Then I was put up for adoption. My parents already had a son named Mark (my older brother) so my birth certificate was reissued with Martin being my legal name.

When I lived in Quebec, I only needed to know enough French to a) read the newspaper and b) listen to the better Celine Dion albums. Most people would switch to English as soon as they heard my bad accent so learning to speak French wasn't really necessary.

Martin

RichShif said...

@ J.D.--Also on this date in 1929, "Damn" was deemed the proper response when Bingo is called.

Anonymous said...

Dieter Brock - great quarterback. Too bad for the Rams that they only picked him up at the end of his career.

There are some "better" Celine Dion albums?

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

Anonymous,
What's the name of your paper? You are lagging way behind. Thanks for leaving a comment.