google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday December 22, 2008 Josiah Breward

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Dec 22, 2008

Monday December 22, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: Sleigh Ride

17A: New York prison: SING SING

28A: Drake's snack cake: RING DING

46A: Getting a one-base hit: SINGLING

62A: Circus owner Charles: RINGLING

11D: Crazy person: DING-A-LING

35D: Delaying departure: LINGERING

Did I catch the right theme? I was getting dizzy with those *ING words. For a moment, I thought DOING (29D: In the act of) might be the tie-in theme answer. It's located in the very center of the grid. But I could not make much sense of it.

I have never heard of RING DING snack cake before. Thought DING-A-LING refers to male organ when you guys brought "My DING-A-LING" A few days ago. Now it's "Crazy person"?

Was stumped by a few proper names. Had to google. I rather like today's clues: short, succinct and straightfoward. Only wish KENYA (40D: Mau Mau country) were clued as "Obama's ancestral home".

Across:

1A: Daiquiri need: RUM. "Tom and Jerry need" for us during this time of the year.

4A: Yves' evening: SOIR. No hesitation between SOIR (Bon) and NUIT (Bonne) this time due to the intersecting SES (4D: His: Fr.). Also EAU (66A: Agua, to Fifi) and ETRE (68A: French 101 verb).

6A: Painter Modigliani: AMEDEO. His name escaped me completely. I really like this "Girl in Pigtail" painting.

14A: Actress O'Connor: UNA. She is in "The Invisible Man". New to me. Our editor used to clue UNA as "Actress Merkel".

16A: Actress Mercouri: MELINA. I googled her name. Wikipedia says she was nominated for Oscar for the Greek film "Never on Sunday". She looks stunning.

20A: Loudness unit: SONE. 40 decibles. PHON is also "Loudness unit". I forgot the difference between the two.

21A: Willingly, old-style: LIEF. Another archaic "Willingly" is FAIN.

23A: Uneasy feeling: ANGST. A rare consonant-laden short word.

24A: Non-stop: ON AND ON. Did anyone fill in ON A ROLL first?

30A: Mormon ltrs: LDS. Do you think Mitt Romney will run for president again? I think our governor Tim Pawlenty will.

33A: Membrane of grasses: PALEA. See this diagram. I would not have got it without the neighboring fills. I was thinking of PALEO, you know, the paleolithic diet, hunter/gather style: no grain/legume, lots of meat, veggie and fruits.

37A: NYC subway line: IRT. Opened in 1904 already? That's amazing.

43A: Fall garden?: EDEN. This clue is getting stale.

44A: Specialized lingo: ARGOT. I've never used this word in daily conversation. Jargon, yes.

51A: Setting free: UNTYING. One more *ING word.

55A: Part of ROK: KOREA. The current UN Chief Ban Ki-moon is from ROK (South Korea).

57A: "__ Sanctorum": ACTA. Quotaton mark? It has to refer to these books then. ACTA is a plural form of Latin "actus", meaning "official records, as of acts, deeds, proceedings, transactions, or the like".

59A: Half of CXIV: LVII. Roman for 57. Do you know what CCLD is?

60A: Journalist Fallaci: ORIANA. Sigh, another google. I just can't remember this lady's name. She wrote "The Force of Reason".

64A: Presidential also-ran Alf: LANDON. He lost to FDR in 1936.

67A: Heavenly creatures: ANGELS. And MANNA (3D: Heavenly food).

Down:

5D: Lithographer Redon: ODILON. Here is "The Spider". Musée d'Orsay has a nice collecton of his drawings.

6D: Six-out segment: INNING

9D: Hodgepodge: MELANGE

12D: Tolkien's trees: ENTS

13D: Hops kiln: OAST

22D: Michigan city: FLINT. A little trivia for you: FLINT is "the largest city in the United States with a one-syllable name". I did not know that. Also, GM was founded in FLINT in 1908.

25D: Dist. across: DIA (Diameter)

27D: Andes autocrat: INCA. Why "autocrat"?

31D: Bond picture: DR. NO. The first Bond movie.

32D: Let it stand: STET. Oppositeof DELE.

39D: Mine entrance: ADIT

41D: Former Scottish county: ARGYLL. See this map. Why did Scotland abolish all its counties in 1975?

47D: Old instrument plucker: LUTIST. "Old"? How so?

50D: Gettysburg victor: MEADE (George). I got his name after cheating on ORIANA. He looks very tall.

53D: Foch and Simone: NINAS. Here is NINA Simone's "My Baby Just Cares for Me". I was not familiar with actress NINA Foch.

54D: Lively dance: GIGUE. See this clip. I've never heard of this dance before. The GIGUE dance starts at 1:42 I suppose?

55D: Beverage nut: KOLA. Wow, lots of nuts in this pod. How many do you have to chew to get excited?

56D: Algerian port: ORAN. Camus was born here. So was designer Yves Saint-Laurent.

63D: Test for srs.: GRE. GMAT too, isn't it? For those who want to obtain MBA degree.

C.C.

73 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, c.c. and gang - didn't breeze through this one; had a number of stumbling blocks, especially with the proper names.

Once the theme became apparent , it helped fill in lots of space. It was nice seeing 'Akita', my favorite dog.

Really windy and cold here; hope it's a great one where you are.

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

Dennis,
Abogato in Alabama mentioned yesterday @6:10pm that "Larry the Cable guy uses the phrase "get it own" as spoken in true redneck slang". Does it carry the same DF meaning as "GETS IT ON"? What's the day today?

Argyle & Dougl,
Merl Reagle constructed a crossword 95th anniversary themed puzzle for "Philadelphia Inquirer" yesterday. Also, Will Shorts (NY Times crossword editor) mentioned the special date on his NPR program yesterday morning. So it was celebrated by some.

Dougl,
Are you based in Taiwan also? Are you sure that the year of those TMS puzzles in "Taipei Times" is 2003 rather than 2008?

Calef,
Thanks for clarifying the grammar structure of the sentence.

Dennis said...

C.C., I never heard the expression 'get it own'; it makes no sense. As far as I know, the only saying Larry the Cable Guy made famous was 'get 'er done'.

Today is National Date Nut Bread.

Merl Reagle's 95th anniversary puzzle was really good; if you have the ability to download it, you should definitely do so.

Dennis said...

Oh, and I don't think CCDL is a valid Roman Numeral.

Off to get bloodwork.

NYTAnonimo said...

So is CCLD 250 or is that CCL? I think CCL-see here. Stay warm-zero degrees here but feels like -24-baby it's cold outside!

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

Calef & Argyle,
I missed Argyle's 8:43pm comment yesterday. He is right. "STAND ON" is "Be particular about".

NYTanonimo & Dennis,
How about DLCC? Does it make sense?

Chris in LA said...

Good morning CC etal,

Lousy day today - waaaay too many googles for obscure names already mentioned. No fun - AMEDEO, MELINA, ORIANA, ODILON, etc. Frustrating to spend as much time looking stuff up as solving.

CC: Agree on INCA - why "autocrat"?

Think Mr. Breward could be messing with you? You grump around sometimes about too many "ing" endings ;) Maybe he'll hit us with a bunch of "-s", "-es" and "-ed" endings next time.

Re: "CCLD" - not a Roman numeral, but could be a text-message abbr. for "c-c-cold"? Like "IMHO". Just a thought.

Hope all stay warm-ish & have a good Monday!

kazie said...

I had the same frustrations of having to google half this puzzle--even RINGDING, which has never passed my lips before, either to eat or say.

On the history of undergrounds, I knew London was the first, so I checked, and it actually was begun in 1863, the Paris Métro in 1900.

kazie said...

Oops, I forgot to mention, the temperature here was -10F this morning, which was -24 Celsius, so NYTAnonimo, your "how it feels" would have been right in Celsius!

Martin said...

I didn't google but I did go to the Japanese department and said "I'm looking for a three letter word that means 'dog' in Japanese, possibly a kind of dog" and after hearing people talk back and forth in Japanese for a while they came back with "There's AKITA but that's three letters (a.ki.ta)" and I said "No, that's perfect: I meant five letters in _English_."

Anyway they asked me why I wanted to know. "I'm doing a crossword puzzle" and I showed them. "See? I need to know the name of a country -five letters- that begins with K... and it can't be KOREA because that's 55 across." Somebody said "That would be KENYA" and I said "Thanks!" Then I said "Hey! Thay means 49 across is EMPTY! And that means 36 down is LINGERING! Hmm... so what's 47 down? Could it be LUTIST? If that's right then 46 across would be SINGLING and... my God... that actually makes sense." I had actually solved a crossword without googling or otherwise cheating (although, mind you, not without help). What a reLIEF! Of course, it helps that I had heard of the names AMEDEO (think Amadeus Mozart), MELINA (think Melanie), NINA and ORIANA before even if I hadn't heard of any of the people they were associated with here.

For a good hour I had ANGSTed over this puzzle: I had wanted ICE for RUM, ANON for ONCE and MRT for IRT and NORTH for MEADE and UNA, ODILON, OAST, ADIT, ARGOT, ORAN and GIGUE were all unknowns that I got from the perps. I would have to say that this puzzle was INANER than most... but doable, apparently.

C.C., I read that link that anal retentive engineer left. From what I could tell, a decibel is a measure of sound energy and PHON and SONE are measures of sound loudness but whereas PHONs measure the actual pressure on the ear, SONEs measure the intensity of sound as perceived by the human brain. For example, a low energy sound translates into a low pressure wave which translates into a soft sound being perceived whereas a high energy sound translates into a high pressure wave which results in a headache of intensity similar to the one you get by reading and/or typing this paragraph.

From yesterday, a lepton would be an electron or a neutrino and an antilepton would be a positron or an antineutrino. They are elementary particles. There are six quarks and six antiquarks and six leptons and six antileptons altogether.

Finally, C.C., according to my Chinese textbook, the Japanese "Aso" translates as "yuan2 lai2 ru2 ci3" (原來如此). I think we established previously that the writers of Charlie Chan movies probably got confused between Japanese and Chinese. Interesting: apparently Charlie Chan was based on the life of real life Chinese-American detective Chang Apana.

Martin

Martin said...

C.C., when did Dougl mention the Taipei Times? The TMS puzzles in Taiwan News are from 2003 but the ones in the Taipei Times are up to date.

Martin

NYTAnonimo said...

Maybe this link will help with the Roman numeral question. Kazie you have my deepest sympathies on your temperatures!!!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Sorry I'm late, but the snowplows deposited 3 feet of solid ice at the bottom of my driveway last night, and I've been digging out all morning.

This was another one of those puzzles that started out ridiculously easy and then suddenly became very, very hard. I was able to finish it unassisted, but it was really touch and go for awhile.

I did not know AMEDEO (I wanted PIET, but finally realized that was Mondrian and not Modigliani). I also didn't know PALEA, ACTA Sanctorum, MELINA Mercouri, UNA O'Connor, ORIANA Fallaci or ODILON Redon. And it was a bad day for anybody who doesn't know French -- I got SOIR, EAU and ETRE, but had to guess on SES.

I was proud of myself for knowing MEADE, SONE, LUTIST, IRT, LUIS, AKITA, ARGOT, LANDON, MANNA, MELANGE, ENTS, OAST, ELAND, ADIT, KENYA, LIEF, ARGYLL and ORAN, without which this puzzle would have been a complete disaster.

Oh -- I think I've heard of RING DINGs, but I really wanted DING DONG. I had that second "I" from FLINT, however, and wasn't willing to accept there was a city in Michigan called FLONT. And yes, LDS was a gimme for me... ^_^

Anonymous said...

Maybe the theme is DO-ING

Anonymous said...

12:26 for me today Currently here it's 4 degrees with a wind chill making feel -3

December 22, 2008 4:30 AM

I have never heard of RING DING snack cakes. But here is a snack cake from Hostess called Ding Dongs. They look like the same snack.

http://www.hostesscakes.com/dingdongs.asp

Crockett1947 said...

Good morning, everyone. No newspaper yet this morning, so I did this one on-line. Drake's is a brand I've never heard about, and their RING DING looks like a copy of Hostess' DING DONGS. I thought the proper names would be a bear, but I was able to get them all by hook or crook.

Our cold and snows pales by comparison to those in the East -- BRRR!!

Have a great Monday!

dougl said...

Hi Martin,
I mentioned it on the sidebar that says what papers carry the TMS. Now that you mention it, it was probably the Taiwan News (I was going from memory). Still strikes me as strange they'd syndicate old puzzles. C.C., I don't live there but travel there regularly for work. I have a niece who teaches there which is nice for me. I'm located in the Twin Cities like you. It'd be interesting to make a Google shared map with pins where all the fellow puzzlers live. It's quite a geographic range.

Argyle said...

Good Morning, one and all

Why did Scotland abolish all its counties in 1975?

It appears that the country was divided into many local municipalities. The Local Government (Scotland) Act is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that reformed local government in Scotland, on May 16, 1975. It created changes which it thought desirable in the interests of effective and convenient local government.

Anonymous said...

This was a difficult one for me. I neer heard of "Gigue" or "lief". thanks goodness for this Star Tribune Crossword Corner!!!!

winfield said...

Drake's is a baking company in New Jersey and I believe is pretty much only on east coast while Hostess is national. Drakes make Yodels, Devil Dogs, Ring Dings, and Drake's coffee cake. In PA but mostly in Philly there is also popular Tastykake brand(my favorite).
It was actually Drakes that sued Hostess for copying the "Ring Ding" cake even naming it "Ding Dongs" which was very similar. Hostess ended up having to change the name of this cake to "Big Wheels" in areas in which Drake's cakes were sold.
Now I think they must be owned by the same company because we used to have a "Wonder Bread" outlet that sold both Hostess & Drakes products and the clerk said many of th e products are made in each other bakeries.
I guess eventually there will be one bank, one phone company, one department store etc...

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, I'm usually pretty good at people names, but ODILON and ORIANA were new ones.

I am familiar with AKITAs. We had a neighbor who had one. A gorgeous dog, that was kept tied up in the back yard. The dog was not socialized at all and became quite nasty tempered (wouldn't you?). G.A.H. had to have a couple of stitches when he was visiting and tried to pet the dog. Not the dog's fault, just a really lousy owner.

G.A.H. loves dogs and hasn't got any fear of them, so he has stuck his hand where it doesn't belong several times and has been bitten. (No, not me...I just slap his hand. LOL)

I felt like an idiot when I asked G.A.H. if he had ever heard the term SING-LING for a one-base hit. "I think they are talking about a SINGLE" Doh!!

Rain here last night, so it is damp and chilly this morning. We've been reading in the newspaper about what a severe winter it has been in so many parts of the country. Drive carefully, folks.

Crockett1947 said...

I don't know if I've done this correctly, but try this for a shared map. Add yourself.

I've shared a map with you called
Star Tribune Crossword Corner Blog
Click on "My Maps" and then select the map. Go to "Edit" and click and drag a placemark to where you are located. Have fun!

kazie said...

Crockett,
What did you mean by "select the map"? All I saw at that link was the regular google map of the USA. It doesn't seem to be a specially created map.

Dougl,
Martin is located in Taiwan

Lola said...

I had to dig through the snow to find the paper this morning. I was rather disappointed to find that Josiah Breward was the constructor, as he usually provides a lot of work with little sense of satisfaction for having completed the puzzle. Once I caught on to the theme it resolved itself pretty easily except for the crossing of Landon, Meade, and Oriana. I didn't google, but came here to complete that section. Crockett, don't underestimate our snow. We have a car in the driveway that looks like a snow hill. I've never known the snow to be this relentless in Beaverton. We're starting to get serious cabin fever. Everyone, please send your warm thoughts.

maria said...

Good morning C.C. and all

The only Drake I could think of was Sir Walter Drake and don't think he ever baked.
Oriana Fallaci also wrote " A Man " excellent read.

Oh, and sorry to tell u all temp. here 75o 24 celtius
ta, taa from Miami

carol said...

Good morning from snowy Portland! We just passed the worst snow storm since 1968-69 and now it's the worst since 1940! It's really beautiful but so confining. There is more to come on the 24th and 25th so we will have to postpone the planned family activities.

I echo what a lot of you said about all the proper names..I don't do too well with those. Had to Google until it wasn't fun anymore.

My cousin has an Akita, and he (the dog) is beautiful (handsome?). The bad thing is that they have a condo on the 5th floor and there is no room for the dog to just "be a dog". I think that is a crime.

Clear ayes, I am glad to know that you don't bite your G.A.H.'s hands. LOL

Chris in LA said...

Crockett,

I inadvertantly clicked when I shouldn't have - placemark 2 needs to be deleted, but I can't figure out how to do it. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Jeannie said...

I'm with Carol on this one...too many names. Or maybe the cold has frozen some brain cells. Minus 16 degrees this morning in my corner of the world. It seems it is colder than normal in most states. Democrat, 4 degrees in Louisville, KY? Thats nuts.

Anonymous said...

So glad C.C has this blog...a lot of headscratching and huhs? on this one. It always makes me feel better to find that others of you have the same issues with a puzzle.
For Clear Ayes(who must live somewhere near in N.CA, since your weather is so similar): Melina Mercouri is a huge advocate of getting Greek artifacts returned to the country and getting a museum built to house everything. She is even getting parts of historical buildings returned, especially (I think) the Elgin Marbles from England. I could be mixed up on that, but my brother was in Greece this summer and they are very proud there of all she has done to get their plundered history back where it belongs.
I also found a nifty online puzzle site through AARP :www.aarpmagazine.org/games. Not only do you get a time clock, but soothing music while you work through the puzzle.
To all of you not in "sunny" (LOL) CA, stay warm and dry...it looks awful out there!

Kathleen in SF Bay Area

Anonymous said...

No newspaper delivery today because of the snow, so no crossword puzzle. Seattle has lots of hills and not too many snow plows. Many of the side streets are officially closed. I can't even get to the gym for my workout. What a bummer. When I lived in Maine it would have been business as usual.

Seattle John
Seattle John

Clear Ayes said...

Crockett, I had to type Star Tribune Crossword Corner Blog and use "User-Created Maps" under Search Options to find the map. Then I had to add the Star Tribune Crossword Corner Blog map to "My Maps". It was only then that I had an "Edit" line to click, so I could add my location. It was a little convoluted for me. Maybe somebody else can explain an easier (clearer?) way.

Katherine in SF, Yes, we live in the foothills about halfway between San Francisco and Yosemite.

I remember that Melina Mercouri was the Greek Minister of Culture and advocated the the return of the Elgin Marbles. I just "g'd" her and unfortunately she died in 1994. I think the British Museum still has the Marbles in their possession.

Seattle John, Don't forget you can do the puzzle online at Chicago Tribune Daily Crossword.

bethann said...

OMG ing. I have heard of ring ding's but I thought of ding dong first. This was one of the most rediculous puzzles ever. I hate it when they use "er" at the end of a word just to make it fit another word. Inaner? Really? Some one needs to get a life and I already have one so that must mean the author of this puzzle!!!!!!! The xword usually puts me in a good mood but this one seems to have done the opposite. All of the bad weather that has hit Seattle and Portland is hitting us in Boise only not quite as hard. We have been wishin for a little bit more snow but not the frigid temps. We sem to be up and down from the lows of 10 to highs of 40. We had some snow melt yesterday and then last night we added 2 more inches. Have a Happy Day :)

JD said...

Good morning C. C. and all,
Feels like winter to me. Does any one remember this from Winnie-the- Pooh?

(Tiddly Pom)
The more it goes
(Tiddly Pom)
The more it goes
(Tiddly Pom)
On snowing.

And nobody knows
(Tiddly Pom)
How cold my toes
(Tiddly Pom)
How cold my toes
(Tiddly Pom)
Are growing.

The more it snows
(Tiddly Pom)
The more it goes
(Tiddly Pom)
The more it goes
(Tiddly Pom)
On snowing.

And nobody knows
(Tiddly Pom)
How gold my toes
(Tiddly Pom)
How cold my toes
(Tiddly Pom)
Are growing.

I was full of angst on this c/w. My "Magic Rub" ( best eraser ever) got a real work out.I finally , with HELP, filled in all except the area of argot.Couldn't complete the perps around it, like Argyll, stet, irt, lds,and even Dr. No did not come to mind.

The clues for 27D and 64A were unclear to me, but the perps helped.
Have never heard of The Drake Bakery, but read the same info as Winfield and saw that Hostess was a big rival. I've never eaten their chemical cakes either.

"Up the river" and "the big house" were phrases coined about Sing Sing, on the Hudson R.

After seeing that spider lithograph,C.C., I will do more research on Redon.Looks interesting

Saw "Never on Sunday"with my older sister who loved anything French.Heard lots of Edith Piaf.Our last name was Loizeaux.

JD said...

Big oops! Melina is Greek..thought she was French.I don't remember the movie, just the song.

Crockett1947 said...

@clear ayes Thanks for the info on the map. I didn't know if it made a difference if one was the actual owner or someone else. I'll go have a look at it now to see how it's doing.

@chrisinla I'll see if I can delete the inadvertent placemark. I didn't see one to delete. Did you get it yourself?

@kazie Sorry, I thought you'd have a link to the map after clicking on "My maps." Maybe you need to search for it like clear ayes did, because her placemark is there.

Linda said...

We don`t get the tribune puzzle on Sundays...only the new York Times one...can get most of it most of the time...
CC: Here`s one way to stay positive...(and i think the best way...)renew your mind daily in the Word. A good place to start are the Proverbs...one for each of the 31 days in most months. We are spiritual beings residing in a flesh body. Your pictures indicate that you nourish the body quite well...if you aren`t already doing it...the spirit needs feeding each day, too...beautiful flowers feed the soul (mind, will and emotions) but the spirit dies without food. Then, it`s next to impossible to be positive and joyful. When you read, Isaiah says "He bore our sorrows and griefs." If He`s already borne
them, there`s really not much point in you bearing them, too. I`ve literally gone through the motions of pulling hurts out of my heart and handing them up to Him...He`s NEVER disappointed me by handing them back.

Anonymous said...

Clear Ayes, I knew you would clear up the Melina Mecouri thing...tour guide info from my brother. You always seem to have the right answers.
JD, love the Pooh poem...have a really old set of the books and now have a granddaughter to share them with.
Maria: I think you are confusing Sir FRANCIS Drake with Sir WALTER Raleigh.
I will try to follow the the "instructions" to the map, but am such a Luddite on the computer...just do basics, but give me a pencil and I can draw you just about anything!

Kathleen, SF Bay Area

hunibunch said...

My thoughts are you you Seattle John... I clearly remember the Christmas night storm 12 years ago...

I have never heard of Drake Bakery, but describe someone formerly in my life as an indiscriminate "dinging dipper"

hunibunch said...

Opps . I meant to type "dingdong dipper"

Clear Ayes said...

Crockett, Chris in LA, et al, Once you have added your place mark to the map, don't forget to "Save". Otherwise it won't show up on the map after you leave the site. I also had two placemarks after fiddling around for a while, but I did get the 2nd one deleted. It might be a little challenge to get your placemark on the map, but it is a fun idea and if I can do it (not a computer whiz!) you all can do it to. Thanks, Crockett.

JD, I've always loved Pooh and all the Milne poems. Both my daughter and granddaughter have been treated to many Pooh bed-time stories.

C.C. Old instrument plucker: LUTIST. "Old"? How so? I think the reference is to the lute being an instument that was played by in the Middle Ages by strolling minstrels. Lutes are still made, but they aren't the popular instrument they were five or six hundred years ago. For example..

Singing for His Supper

Strolling minstrel, lute of string,
Sing the stories that you bring.
Changing slightly every time
Making way for words to rhyme.

Minstrel tales of knights in battle,
Castles where the ghosts now rattle,
Damsels locked in towers tall,
Give him supper, for now that’s all.

David Threadgold

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

Chris,
I don't mind too many ING's if they are part of the theme answers. The problem is that I still don't feel I caught the theme today. What do you think? C-C-Cold sounds so fitting, chilly here.

Kazie,
Wow, 1863 for London subway, very surprising.

Martin,
A headachy read, but very informative.

NYTanonimo,
Thanks for the Roman Numeral links.

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

Argyle,
Thanks for the Act link. What's your planning for Christmas? Will you deliver to me/Lois what we've been wanting, Santa?

Dougl et al,
New York City ranks No. 1 in terms of daily visitors to this blog, then followed by Minneapolis, Portland, Vancouver, Madison, West Hollywood, Chicago, Brooklyn, Seattle & Norfolk.

Winfield,
Thanks for the information on Drake's.

kazie said...

Crockett,
I'll try again.

clear ayes,
Thanks for the extra details.

On the Greek stolen treasures: I saw the Elgin marbles in the British Museum in 2006, and the Pergamon Altar in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin last year, so I doubt either has been returned since. I actually think the Pergamon is displayed much more impressively than the Elgins, and wonder if that isn't what they would need a special building for--it's huge! Take a look also at the Ishtar Gate photo there too.

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

Maria & Lola,
Good to see you again.

Linda,
Thanks for the advice. It will be my New Year resolution this year to stay sunny and strong.

Bethann,
INANER: In case you don't know, today's author is actually our crossword editor Wayne Robert Williams.

Clear Ayes,
RE: LUTIST & Poem. You have an unbelievably resourceful & imginative mind.

kazie said...

I must be terribly dumb, because now I have my marker in, even figured out how to name it Kazie, but it's the only one showing up on the map until I click on the other listed names, and mine isn't on the list.

Crockett1947 said...

@kazie Looks like you re-named the map, not your placemark. I restored the name. but I didn't seem your placemark.

Crockett1947 said...

OOPS. Looks like Linda S. changed the name of the map as well.

Clear Ayes said...

Kazie,and anybody else, once you get to Our Map after the Search directions, just click on the blue underlined Star Tribune Crossword Corner Blog under anybody's name and you will see "Save To My Maps". Click it. Then click on "Edit". Once you do that, the blue "Add A Placemark" icon will show up in the left top corner of the map itself. Click on that, position the marker and follow the directions. Put your own name in Placemark # line. Don't forget to Save.

A little frustrating, but fun!. Kathleen in SF (Luddite, LOL), would you like me to add you to the map? Even if you have a problem with adding to My Maps, you could still check it out, with the "Search" instructions.

Crockett, You dickens, you!!

kazie said...

Crockett and Clear ayes,
I think it's right now. Thanks so much. Boy, I didn't think I was going to cause so many problems.

carol said...

Clear ayes, Crockett and Kazie, you are all to be congratulated! I have no idea how to do whatever you did with regard to that map thingy. I even copied down all that Clear ayes wrote, but nothing that she referred to came up. There were similar names, but not anything that said "user created maps" or Edit..that I could see. Guess you all know where Portland is anyway! I am just not good on a computer, wrong brain wiring!

Dennis said...

I think I somehow located myself in Kuala Lumpur. You have to look around at the back of the map.

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

Crockett & Clear Ayes,
I can't believe how stupid I am. I could not even create a placemark for my friend Linda S. I will be trying one more time.

Anonymous said...

C.C.
I thought you might not like today's puzzle because of all the French references. "Argot" is also French. It means "slang." "Argot de metier" means "trade slang" or "jargon."

I appologize for all the quotation marks. As Anonymous, I don't have the luxury of italics or accent marks.

Doreen

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

Crockett,
Holy hotwick! I did it. Linda S is there now. This is fun. I vodka you!

Doreen,
All of those French words today have been Tribune puzzle stalwarts. I had no problems with them at all. Did not know that ARGOT is of French origin. Thanks.

Clear Ayes said...

C.C. I hope this isn't too lengthy.

For Carol, Kathleen and Others,

For the Blog Google Map:

1. Go to Google Maps. You should see a map of the United States.

2. To the right of the multi-colored Google logo, type Star Tribune Crossword Corner Blog.

3. Farther to the right side of the page, there is a blue underlined "Show Search Options". Click on that. A drop down menu will appear directly to the left of "Search Maps".
Arrow down on the drop down menu and click on "User-created content"

4. Now, click on Search Maps.

THE MAP with all the blue icons should be on the right side of the page. The list of people's names should be on the left.

5. Click on the blue underlined Star Tribune Crossword Corner Blog under anybody's name.

6. On the left side of the page, directly above everyone's name, there should be in blue underlined Save To My Maps. Click on that. (The map is now added to your maps.)

7. Again, on the left side of the page, above the list of names, there is a gray Edit button. Click on that.

8. On the left top corner of the map itself, there will be 4 little icons. Click on the blue one that looks like a lightbulb. Click on it and drag the icon to the place on the map where you live and click again. If you make a mistake, just delete it and try again.

9. An information square will pop up. Erase the "Placemark # ." and type in your blog name. You can also type additional information in the description. Click on OK.

10. Go over to the left side of the page to make sure your name is there. Above the list of names, click Save, then Done.

NOTE: For more fun, you can zoom in on the map on the right side, then click on your name on the left side and move your blue icon around until it is directly on the street where you live. You can even drag the little gold-colored man on top of the zoom bar to your icon and get a photo of your street and maybe even your house.

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

Doreen,
I should add that five French words are a bit too much though. On the other hand, I noticed that our editor refrained from cluing UNA (14A: Actress O'Connor) as "Spanish article" or DIA (25D: Dist. across) as "Spanish day". I suppose he realized that there are already a surfeit of foreign words in his grid.

Clear Ayes,
Thank you so much for taking time writing down the detailed instruction. I finally added Linda's name on the map earlier.

Crockett1947 said...

So Lois, who is placemark #13 up in the wilds of BC?

Crockett1947 said...

Clear Ayes and Razz, how did you customize the placemark? Kazie, thanks for the detailed instructions. Looks like I've created another monster (remember the BOLD and italics flurry a few months ago?

kazie said...

Crockett,
Those were clear ayes' instructions, and I fear I was the one who needed them!

carol said...

Clear ayes, thanks - why do you say you are not good with computers?? Seems to me you are great.

Crockett1947 said...

Oops! Sorry to mis-place my thanks.

Anonymous said...

Clear Ayes...Yea! I did it! What terrific directions.
So now, I guess I am only semi-Luddite!
Off to bake...cheers,

Kathleen, SF Bay Area

Clear Ayes said...

Over 5 for the day, but to answer Crockett's question. If you click on your map name and then on Edit, your information balloon will pop up. The blue lightbulb is the generic icon. Click on that and a whole selection of icons will pop up. Choose one to suit your personality.

I think I may have spoken too soon when I said you can zoom in and place your icon on your street and even get a photo. It is probably better to just place your icon in a general 10-20 mile radius. The map is open to anybody who wants to look and we don't want 100M people knowing exactly where we live and what our houses looks like.

Thanks for the high-five, Carol. I'm not really that good at computer stuff. But I am determined (stubborn?) and before I retired a good portion of my job was writing how-to instructions for other employees.

Yea, Kathleen!

kazie said...

clear ayes,
I too was wondering about that danger, but then in a town the size of mine, there'd be few places to hide. Access to a phone list (book or online) would be easy if anyone tries hard enough. I'm going to check out the icon thingy now. Thanks again for everything!

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

Hunibunch,
I forgot to welcome you earlier.
Why do you call "someone formerly in my life as an indiscriminate "dingdong dipper"?

Dennis,
I saw you on the map. In the US, not in Kuala Lumpur.

Crockett,
Indeed, you've started another revolution.

Argyle said...

Drake's cakes

Anonymous said...

This bit of info came from Philistine Philosopher in Bulletin Board of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. I thought all of us xworders would find it interesting.
"facetious: facetious is a word that has all of the vowels in it, in order, including 'sometimes y': facetiously)

The map sounds like fun. I've copied Clear Ayes directions and may try it tomorrow if there is time. Since we in SW FL are having 70∘weather and therefore can continue Christmas prep, I still have things to do and am not housebound.
Have a great holiday everyone.

dougl said...

I love the map! Thanks for the detailed instructions, especially for the special icons (I was getting pretty jealous of those).

Anonymous said...

Jeannie

I live about 70 miles to the east of Louisville. In Georgetown KY but yeah it has been cold the high today was 14 degrees. But the wind made it feel like 4

lois said...

Clear Ayes: great instructions. Thank you. That was fun.

Argyle: thanks for the Drake Cakes. Now, if I could only get Santa baby to stuff my ...uh,
stocking... w/a Devil Dog I bet we could take 'ringding' to a new level. Wha' d'ya think?

Crockett: I didn't see that mark on the map. I have no idea who #13 is, but if it's a HE and he's man enough to hang out in the wilds of BC, I want to meet him.

Anonymous said...

Clear Ayes...you are awesome!!! I went to the map and since there were about 3 icons in the same area, I decided on a color change...not terribly exciting, but the point is that it worked. I also remebered that I already have a gmail account that I never use so thought that I might try to get away from the Anonymous thing.
Next, I want to figure out how to insert an image...

Argyle said...

a little "something" for Lois.
Devil Dog

lois said...

Argyle! That's what I'M talkin' about!!!! You are hilarious! LMAO!
You really are Santa Baby!