google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday January 9, 2009 Barry Silk

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Jan 9, 2009

Friday January 9, 2009 Barry Silk

Theme: RIGHT FIELD (54A: Baseball position... or this puzzle's theme)

17A: Oscar winner in 37D: SALLY FIELD

22A: Second shortest serving U.S. president: JAMES A. GARFIELD

35A: "Catcher in the Rye" character: HOLDEN CAULFIELD

45A: "The Wayward Bus" co-star: JAYNE MANSFIELD

David Copperfield is another RIGHT FIELDer. But his name has 16 letters. Won't fit in this 15*15 grid.

I did not know that JAMES A. GARFIELD is the "Second shortest serving U.S. president" (199 days). Brian Williams of "NBC Nightly News" is working on a book about the assassination of GARFIELD I think.

Knew JAYNE MANSFIELD, but I had never heard of "The Wayward Bus". I was so proud that I got HOLDEN CAULFIELD. I remember his name not from "Catcher in the Rye" (too many curses in the book), but from Jennifer Aniston's "The Good Girl". Her love interest in the movie named himself Holden Worther because he thinks his life mirrors that of HOLDEN CAULFIELD.

Luckily 17A, 37D and 38D are not difficult to obtain today, cross-referencing clues can be frustrating sometimes.

Why is A-ROD (28A) clued as "2005 baseball MVP"? Something special about his 2005 season? He was the MVP in 2003 and 2007 too. I can never understand why Seattle Mariners did not try hard enough to keep players like A-ROD, Ken Griffey Jr, Randy Johnson, etc.

Across:

1A: Scale with no sharps or flats: C MAJOR. Is it really a key for happy music?

14A: Sumptuous: DELUXE. I always associate "Sumptuous" with a lavish meal.

15A: Fashion designer Kawakubo: REI. No idea. This photo looks very familiar though. Here are some her designs. So edgy.

19A: Norse VIP: ODIN. We got Friday from Frigg, wife of ODIN.

20A: Slip-on slipper: MULE. I wonder why they are called MULE slippers.

27A: Essen article: EIN. And LES (57D: French article)

32A: I. M., the architect: PEI. Someday I am going to visit the JFK Library. PEI was born in Guangzhou, where I lived for five years before moving to the US. I like the clue. It reminds me of the funny name Ima Hogg.

41A: Small silvery swimmer: DACE. New fish to me. Looks like a small carp.

43A: Airline to Madrid: IBERIA. Have never heard of IBERIA Airlines. It's the national airline for Spain. I am more used to "Spain's peninsula" for IBERIA. Nice, fresh clue though.

53A: Pianist Thelonious: MONK. Too obscure an MONK for me. Why would his parent name him Thelonious? Sounds like a Greek mythological figure with 12 heads living in the Hades.

Down:

3D: The works: ALL. Why?

5D: Water part: OXYGEN. H2O.

7D: Shorthand system: GREGG. Is it still in use today?

8D: Macedonian capital of old: PELLA. See this map. New name to me. It's the birthplace of Alexander the Great.

9D: Of stars: SIDEREAL. I was surprised that I had never seen this word before. It's rooted in sidus, Latin for star.

10D: Get a close-up: ZOOM IN

11D: Provide (with): ENDUE. Only know ENDOW.

22D: One of a court dozen: JUROR. "12 Angry Men" is a great movie.

23D: Soap plant: AMOLE. Learned from doing crossword. Don't know why it's called "Soap plant". Can you wash your clothes with AMOLE?

24D: Safety grp.: MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)

25D: Feudal estate: FIEF

32D: Wisdom unit?: PEARL. Plearls of wisdom.

33D: Heston title role: EL CID. Have you seen the movie? Is it romantic?

37D: Movie starring 17A: NORMA RAE

43D: Should that be the case: IF IT IS

44D: Nigerian Civil War side: BIAFRA. Here is the map. The Civil War in 1967. I know nothing about it.

45D: Economy-size: JUMBO. I often confuse JUMBO with jumble.

47D: "Fiddler on the Roof" role: YENTE. I just learned this morning that YENTA is a back-formation of YENTE, which is an alteration of YENTL.

C.C.

84 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, C.C. and gang - what a nice way to end the week -- after 3 easy days, we get a Silk puzzle, which means serious thought. Damn shame we don't see his puzzles more often.

Got through this one without G-spotting, but only with perp help - didn't know Rei Kawakubo, and wasn't sure about the Nigerian Civil War side until I had most of it filled in; same with Holden Caulfield. The theme certainly helped a lot.

Today's words of wisdom: "Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you are aboard, there is nothing you can do." -- Golda Meir

Anonymous said...

20:08 today.

I know that the catcher in the rye is a book but does the term Catcher in the Rye mean anything?

If I'm a Catcher in the Rye what am I?

Late Show Fun Fact: Like the cat President Garfield liked lasagna and hated Mondays.

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

Dennis,
I sure hope we get more of Barry's puzzles. This Tribune bankruptcy is very disconcerting. I worry that it will influence our puzzles. What's the day today? Some people enjoy the high of flying through a storm, don't you?

Dr. Dad & Argyle
Thanks for the NORIA picture and clip yesterday.

Ewellikson,
Wow, "G" spot and "perp", you've been a long lurker then. Welcome!

Linda,
What's the difference between LENTO and largo? Congratulations on Gators' win last night!

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

Democrat,
I am sure someone else will answer your "Catcher in the Eye" question later. Thanks for the fun facts on GARFEILD.

Razzberry,
Do you pronounce "wear"and "where" the same in the south?

Embien,
Thanks for the Black Mamba/"Kill Bill" connection.

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

Kazie,
"Also the dawn/don dilemma is dependent on the open "o" used exclusively in North America. British English and Continental speakers use a more clipped "o" in Don, pot, cot, etc. than in dawn, brawn, fawn...". What is "clipped"?

Pattispa,
Saw Dennis' response to you at 7:25am yesterday? I suppose you can still order those Fan Tan gum on line.

Chris in LA said...

Good morning CC etal,

Lots of fun today - thought I was dead through the north half of the puzzle, but things started working themselves out in the south and so wound up working it backward (not an unusual occurence with Barry Silk puzzles - I wish the papaer would publish the constructor's name so I would know what I'm up against).

@ Red Demo, per Wiki: "Holden shares a fantasy he has been thinking about; he pictures himself as the sole guardian of several children playing a game of ball in a huge rye field on the edge of a cliff. His job is to catch the children if they wander close to the brink, to be a "catcher in the rye".

I always thought it was a wierd book - have read it several times since it was first assigned in high school a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (Cleveland St. Ignatius). Never got it.

TGIF to all!

Bill said...

Did pretty well considering this was the most difficult of the week. Only "G'd" to check myself on 9d, 43a, and 44d. The fills came together but I wasn't sure if they were right so I had to check them out.
Great "Silky" x word!
CY'All Later

Martin said...

17 minutes 44 seconds today. Unknowns were HOLDEN CAULFIELD, REI, PEI, GREGG, PELLA, YENTE, AMOLE, DACE and BIAFRA. Plus I didn't know how to spell the JAYNE in JAYNE MANSFIELD. I wanted ENE for ESE, DER for EIN, THOR for ODIN, IRIS for UVEA, OBS for GPS and IN ON for ONTO. Oh and SEVENS was am unknown yesterday but I got it from the perps so I never noticed the clue. I guess MULE would have to be considered an unknown too due to the clue.

The works: ALL. Why?

Think pizza toppings. "Give me the works" means "give me everything".

Pianist Thelonious: MONK. Too obscure an MONK for me. Why would his parent name him Thelonious?

His father's name was Thelonius too. I guess that makes him Thelonius Monk Junior.

Of stars: SIDEREAL. I was surprised that I had never seen this word before.

I have. My astronomy textbook said that nearby stars exibit "sidereal" motion which is actually due to the Earth going around the sun. I assumed "sidereal" meant "back and forth" though.

Razzberry,
Do you pronounce "wear"and "where" the same in the south?


Doesn't everybody? Now I'm confused!

Oh, by the way, Norwegian historian Thor Heyerdahl has a theory that ODIN was a historic figure dating back "31 generations [before] the first historic king".

Martin

Dennis said...

What's the day today?

Today is "Play God Day" - do so at your own risk.

Some people enjoy the high of flying through a storm, don't you?

Yeah, it is exhilerating; I like experiencing Mother Nature throwing her weight around.

Dr. Dad said...

Good morning! I hear we are getting another bit of snow in New England - 5 to 9 inches.

Mule Slippers - these slipper-like shoes take their name from the Old French mule, meaning "slipper" and the first recorded use in English was in 1564. There are related words in several languages: Italian mula, Spanish mulilla, Dutch muil, all of which mean "slipper". There is no connection with the animal mule, these words derive ultimately from the Latin mulleus, a soft shoe made of colored fabric worn by Roman magistrates.

William Henry Harrison died in office after only 31 days. Garfield is next, having been assassinated after 199 days. However, one can also say that the "SHORTEST" serving President was James Madison because he was the shortest at a height of 5 feet, 4 inches. Clue should have stated the "President with the shortest term.

Whoever came up with "Jumbo Shrimp?" Do you have a large shrimp or a small jumbo?

Today is Play God Day. On this day we are encouraged to try and solve someone's problem or make their day better and brighter.

It is also Apricot Day and Static Electricity Day.

Have a great Friday.

BTW - Lois and other Boomer Sooner fans. What the hell happened to Oklahoma?

Dr. Dad said...

Typing error. Should have been "President with the 2nd shortest term.

That's two.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Nice puzzle today. Was it a pangram? I saw Z, X, K and J, but I don't think I saw a Q anywhere.

The puzzle was easy enough, with the striking exception of the rather nasty crossing of PELLA and REI. I guessed the E simply because I was hoping that PELLA Windows were named after something famous, but it could just as easily have been PALLA and RAI. Or POLLA and ROI, I suppose.

DACE was a near unknown for me. I had no clue at first, but once I got it via the perps it seemed familiar. I had DA_E and was trying to decide what role Charlton Heston played that started with EL___. I swear my first thought was, "Heston played ELVIS Presley? Does that mean there was a fish in "Finding Nemo" named DAVE or something?" Fortunately, I then remembered EL CID....

Oh -- and I actually learned the word SIDEREAL years ago from when I was actively collecting antique pocket watches. There's a rare watch made by the Waltham Watch Company called a SIDEREAL that has a special dial to keep track of stellar time instead of solar time. Talk about specialized timepieces!

Today is Play God Day. On this day we are encouraged to try and solve someone's problem or make their day better and brighter.

Hmmmm.... I suddenly have the urge to wreak some divine vengeance on certain acquaintances of mine.... ^_^

Dick said...

Good morning CC and all. A poser today but doable with a little thought and some good perp fills. Managed to complete without any outside help. I have never seen sidereal before and needed the perps to complete that one. The north east corner caused the most trouble until I got zest and then the rest fell into place.

It is TGIF day and I wish you all a great week end.

Bill said...

BTW, a gripe from me (again)! 28a (AROD) should be clued to indicate that it is an abbreviated form of Alex Rodriguez.
Tell me all you want about his popularity and how it should be a given as to who he is BUT it is still an ABBREVIATION.
Baseball fans the world over will know but I'm sure there are a lot of people who have no clue about BB and will forever think there is a player with the given name AROD.

Chris in LA said...

@ Bill,

For what it's worth, "MVP" clues abbreviation - I agree it's a little weak, but it is legit (IMHO)

Barry G. said...

Oh -- and to respond to something I missed from yesterday:

@Barry G: I stand guilty of not differentiating between ‘Barry’ and ‘berry’. Will work on that! But I am curious what distinction you make between ‘Mary’ and ‘marry’? I pronounce them the same but differently from ‘merry’.

To me, "Mary" has a long A sound as in "May." MAY-REE. There's definitely a diphthong in there.

I met a girl once from North Carolina who pronounced my name to rhyme with "Mary." BAY-REE. Except she really chewed the diphthong so my name actually had three syllables. BAY-YUH-REE. *shudder*

And I'm sorry, Martin, but I pronounce COT an CAUGHT exactly the same way, so that doesn't help me distinguish between DON and DAWN. I've actually looked up the phonetic pronunciation of each word and know that COT and DON have an ŏ sound, whereas CAUGHT and DAWN have an ô sound, but that doesn't help me either. As Wikipedia points out, "Some American speakers pronounce the vowels ŏ and ô the same way (for example, like IPA [ɒ] in the Boston dialect)." The Boston dialect? Please! We don't have a dialect -- we speak English the correct way. Everybody else has a dialect... ^_^

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

Dennis et al,
Here are some of Barry Silk's original clues:

15A: King, in Portugal: REI

21A: Symbol of stubbornness: MULE

45A: Playboy's playmate of the Month, February 1955: JAYNE MANSFIELD

53A: Lama, for example: MONK

22D: "12 Angry Men" role: JUROR

42D: Plumber's tools: SNAKES

56D: Swan song: END ??? I don't get this one.

Anonymous said...

Oxygen H20 NOT HO2
Great blog.

Anonymous said...

I am not as fast as you all, and I also don't do the crosswords online but old-school newspaper style, but I am pleased that I did not need any help with this one.

Off topic, but @ Barry- I'm originally from MA and moved to OR four years ago and yes, the Mary, merry, marry thing always cracks me up. I lived near Boston but far enough away to avoid the accent. Interestingly, to me, my friend from Fall River, MA (south eastern) pronounces all Mary/merry/marry the same (he used to speak often of the Virgin Merry).

Unknown said...

Correction to answer explanation of 5 down - Water is H2O, not HO2. But the answer of OXYGEN is correct.

Michael
New Jersey

kazie said...

Promiseme,
I applaud your candor. Congratulations!

c.c.,
re "clipped", I referred to the open "o" as pronounced in British English--it's more pure, whereas here, people use something more wide open like a diphthong, making it a slightly longer sound. Compare the speech of the actor playing David Frost in the new film of his interviews with that of Nixon.

Also, El Cid was exciting but gory and violent--like so many attempts at ancient history in movies.

Swan song--It is said they only make a noise as they are dying--hence END.

Dr.Dad,
In Oz, jumbo shrimp are king prawns--is that any better?

And do you think the Romans named their soft shoes with thoughts in mind of women being soft? (muler = woman in Latin)

BarryG,
I hear ya! Everyone speaks English as she is spoke. It's always everyone else who has an accent. When I first came here, people would say: "Do you have an accent?" To which I always replied, "Yes, don't you?"

Jeannie,
Yes, we have weather--expecting 6-8 inches of the white stuff today, but clear and cold tomorrow.

Now to the puzzle. I always tryo to answer comments first now, since other wise I find I'm repeating everyone else. I didn't have AROD (ARON was a guess), so I missed MADD because it just didn't occur to me I was thinking of osha which obviously didn't work. I had to g-spot rei to be sure after guessing PELLA, reasoning like Barry, and GREGG which I dug up from the attic of my mind.

Lola said...

Chris in LA

My paper prints the name of the constructor, but I try not to look at it until I finish the puzzle. I think it's fun to guess the name by how things are clued. I do pretty well with the men, but have a little trouble differentiating the women.

Linda said...

CC: "Lento" means "slow", "largo" means "slow and stately"...(as in a funeral dirge for example)

Thanks for the congrats on the Gators! Tebow is the kind of role model sports figures SHOULD be..

On "mules"...my first encounter with them was in old (circa `30`s) movies when the likes of Jean Harlow (et al) would wear wonderful dressing gowns and high-heeled mules trimmed with ostrich feathers.
It really gave a starry-eyed little girl something to aspire to! (to the grammar police: I know I`ve ended lots of sentences with prepositions...I`ll try to straighten up :)

Dennis said...

Linda, ignore the grammar police - speak comfortably. Much more effective, as you've shown.

kazie said...

Linda,
The preposition at end of sentence rule is now outdated anyway--it stemmed from a Latin formation which really never worked in English. So relax!

Anonymous said...

C.C. To answer your question about where and wear, most people don't differentiate. But I used to teach children to hold their hands in front of their mouths and feel a puff of air when saying where. Not so with wear.
Linda: Grammar police don't worry about ending a sentence with a preposition. Winston Churchill's remark, "That is the nonsense up with which I will not put," is worth remembering.

Linda said...

Just wanted ya`ll all (I`m from the South..."cain`t hep it") to know I knew...

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, A Silk day is always a good day. The perps helped with unknowns like DACE and AMOLE. The E crossing 15A REI and 8D PELLA could have been any vowel, but with today's god-like omniscience I picked the correct one.

J.D. Salinger is one of my favorite authors, so HOLDEN CAULFIELD was a gimme. It's easy to brag that I've read all his books; there were only four. He also wrote a couple dozen short stories. If anyone is interested, a lot of his work is now in public domain and is available to read at J.D. Salinger Writings.

For Barry G. (Hmmmm.... I suddenly have the urge to wreak some divine vengeance on certain acquaintances of mine....)

An Ethical Grook

I see
and I hear
and I speak no evil;
I carry
no malice
within my breast;
yet quite without
wishing
a man to the Devil
one may be
permitted
to hope for the best.

- Piet Hein

Superfrey said...

Today is Barry Silk Day.... a very nice puzzle.... kicking myself for forgetting DACE and I had not heard of SIDEREAL but other than that.. I sailed along nicely.
Now is only the Florida Gators could play a USC vs Utah winner. Great game last night though.

Linda said...

Superfry: I`m for a system of play-offs, too
CC: My husband comes from a part of the country where they are prone to add letters, omit letters and even invent new words! ie: Chicargo, Illinoiz,
Huwaheeyuh, tarco,"whirp" for "whip" and "tushiz" for "tusks". He says I even correct talking TV heads!
On the "slow and stately" def. for "largo". My son has a black lab named "Largo"...an oxymoron if ever there was one!
Please forgive my frequent posts...I can`t sit and do nothing, so when I "rest my back" it`s usually at my pc...

carol said...

Good morning C.C. and all, I do agree a Barry Silk puzzle day is a good one, even if some of his squeeze my brain cells too hard. I did very well on this one and the only words I did not know were: REI, DACE and SIDEREAL. I think it was the best I have ever done with a Silk puzzle.

If it is Static Electricity Day, does that mean I can "stick it to someone?"

Auntie Naomi said...

Hi C.C. and all,

It took me quite a while - 22:46. I knew all the FIELDS and SIDEREAL. I did no know DACE, AMOLE or MULE. The top center fouled me up. I went for OBS instead of GPS. So, I wound up with BELLA instead of PELLA. I also did not know GREGG or REI and wound up with OLEGG and LEI. Thelonius MONK was a gimme for me since I have been a life long jazz buff. Tomorrow night I am going to see a young pianist, by the name of Eldar, who was a child prodigy.

Ciao

DoesItinInk said...

Today's was an overly easy puzzle.

@Clear Ayes: I called my mother last night about Roger Pfingston. She said that there is a Pfingston family that attends her church. Though she could not recall all their children's names, she thought that Roger sounded correct for the older son. She will check old church directories to verify it. Evansville is a town of around 300,000 people, so it is large enough that not everyone knows everyone else. This gives new meaning to 'six degrees of separation'.

Dr. Dad said...

Tim Tebow is great. But I still hate the Florida Gators, no matter who they have at quarterback or any other position.

Linda said...

Dr. Dad...at least you capitalized their name..(chomp chomp!)

Buckeye said...

Good TGIF c.c., and to all my friends, Typical "Silk"; smooth. I once read that if you are having problems with a X/W, walk away and return later. I wore out three pair of "mules" on this puppy. Top center was the "final solution" for me. Once I remembered "sidereal" I was home free. A new record for me on a Berry Silk puzzle. Just under six hours. I nervously ate the erasers off of four pencils. Yeah, paper and pencils. I'm a Renaissance Man.

Speaking of regional dialects and ending sentences with prepositions, reminds me of a story. (Imagine that!!) All misspelling is intentional - for a change.

A bright young high school student from Kentucky won a full academic scholarship to Harvard. Upon arriving, he was crossing the "Green" when he met a fellow student heading in the opposite direction. Stopping his fellow academition, he said, "Would ya'all please tell me where the libary's at?"
The upperclassman replied. "We at Haaarvaard never end our sentences with a preposition".
"I'm sorry," replied the Kentuckyian. "Would ya'all please tell me where the libary's at, asshole!!!"

I strongly suggest to all readers of this blog, that before you start on the current day's intercourse, go back and read the late night input from the previous day. Things get posted there that are never "picked up" by many of you contributors. Some of it is very interesting. IMHO

Speaking of intercourse, have you noticed that, "No matter how much cats fight, there always seems to be plenty of kittens."? My "ponderancement" (Check Fred) for the day.

Chris in LA. I knew you had Buckeye roots but didn't know you were an Iggy. I'm a Middie from Middletown. Found that special someone yet?

I must be off

Clear Ayes said...

Buckeye, You Dickens, you, this one's for you..... Bob Marley's Stir It Up.

Buckeye said...

For those of you who are new to this blog, you'll notice I sometimes say to (Check Fred). This is my Bible. It's "Fred Webster's International Community College Dictionary and Cook Book". It has words not normally used in daily conversation. Pick one up at Amazon, today. And, if you order right now, we'll throw in Harden Young's (my rock-n-roll stage name in the sixties) new book "How To Remove Those Pesky Stripes From Your Zebra", absolutely FREE!!!

IMBO

Buckeye said...

P.S. Thanks Clear Ayes. You're my sister but you're still a BABE!!!.

IMBO

Anonymous said...

Buckeye:
You'r priceless.
Geri

carol said...

Buckeye, you crazy dude!! Thanks (once again) for a good ol' belly laugh!

Clear ayes, thanks for the Marley clip.

"Between two evils, I always choose the one I've never tried before."
Mae West

Buckeye said...

@Geri. Don't leave home without me.

Clear Ayes. I remind you to "Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenter", because it is a "Perfect Day For Bananafish"!!!!

IMBO

Chris in LA said...

@ Buckeye,

Actually, ex #2 is a Neu who used to live on Old St. in Monroe. Small world, huh?

Razz said...

@ Carol...

Me, me, me, oh oh oh oh oh me me me please please please pleeaassee.

Stick it to me...hehe ;~p

g8rmomx2 said...

Hi c.c. and all,

No googling for me the last 5 puzzles, but I don't bother timing myself as I don't think I can compete with Dennis or DrDad. I would guess 15 to 20 minutes on each day.

c.c.: Wonderful interviews on both Mr. Barry Silk and Mr. Olschwang. As Dennis said you are becoming quite the "celebrity". Thanks to both of them for sharing themselves with us.

As all of you know by now The GATORS won the National Championship, sorry Dr. Dad!

Linda: Yes, Tebow and the GATORs rock for sure. No, in answer to your question if I went to the game in person. However, My husband and youngest daughter went, and my oldest daughter went with her boyfriend, his brother and father. When my youngest bought the tickets it was on a lottery system and at the time we didn't even know who was going to be in the championship game so she bought two tickets which included the Orange Bowl game, fan fest, tailgating party and of course the National Championship game and parking. I stayed home and watched it on my big screen and babysat the dog. My husband got home at 4am this morning as it is a 2 1/2 hour ride home from the other coast. What an incredible win!

BTW: I just realized that I posted this comment on yesterday's blog, so copied it to today's blog, duh!

Have a wonderful day everyone

g8rmomx2 said...

DrDad:

Since you said you hate the Gators because of Steve Spurrier, maybe you should transfer your hate over to the University of South Carolina's Gamecocks. That would be fine with me, I have, lol!

embien said...

13:46 today. Another solid Barry Silk puzzle (much easier than the NY Times syndicated puzzle I did by him the other day).

A nice, solid theme, with the FIELD appearing at the end of all the theme answers, and no annoyances like STRAWBERRY FIELDS, which would have been a plural and not a person's name, at that (16 letters too).

I'm with @kazie as I filled in OSHA for 24d: Safety grp. with no crosses. That messed me up bigtime in that section of the puzzle.

I'm also with @barry in that PELLA windows saved the day for me (I have no idea if the window manufacturer got it's name from the Macedonian capital, but guessing the 'E' turned out to be right in any case.

ODIN was put in for the 19a: Norse VIP, then taken out when things weren't working for me in the NE, then put back in (with a bunch of other answers erased). Always tough for me because THOR is another Norse VIP and is also four letters.

@Chris in LA: I wish the paper would publish the constructor's name so I would know what I'm up against

Call your newspaper's editor and ask why they don't publish the constructor's name. My paper The Oregonian (and many others) puts it in there, so I assume TMS supplies the name when they syndicate the puzzle.

g8rmomx2 said...

Buckeye:

Just read your comments, hysterical. You always give me a good laugh!!!

Anonymous said...

The economy has already changed the crossword puzzle situation here. It looks like the Seattle Tribune is going belly-up (no newspaper - no puzzle) and the Seattle Times has cut back to one printed puzzle each edition (but they still provide the NY Times puzzle on-line).

By the way Thelonious Monk's middle name is Sphere. He was one of the most influential jazz greats of the 50's and 60's.

Seattle John

Anonymous said...

Buckeye yur a riot!
I just read your commment from last night on more and more and less and less SHEEEEESH !
My head did the Linda Blair spin from the exorcist!
I might have to ask nurse Rachet for help fixin my neck. I heard when she walks by it makes your head spin, but, will it spin in the right direction?
At least she gives out some good drugs (judging by your comments at least)

HI C.C. and every one.
Smooch to the girls
Hi five to the guys
and I think I will just wave to Buckeye from a distance.

Have a great weekend everyone

WHOO !

Auntie Naomi said...

Clear Eyes said:
"Is it just me, or does Loominus Dragoon resemble Hugo Weaving as Elrond in the Lord of the Rings movies."
He may. I have those on DVD so I could go check. I was not thinking of him, though. A few major differences would be 1) Elves in LoTR are tall, in DnD they are short. 2) Loominus is what is called a 'Drow' which is a Dark Elf. They are generally presumed to be somewhat sinister, and 3) Drow have grey skin, whereas Elrond was very white, I think.

Also, what is a 'grook'? I enjoyed the poem in any case.

Jeannie said:
"Promiseme, wow I think you are the first to officially "come out" on the blog."
I am pretty sure there was someone a few days back who posted under the name GayDoc. That's just throwing it right out there.

Buckeye said:
"I STILL LIKE YA."
Thanks, I like you, too. You are funny. Don't worry ... looks aren't everything. j/k :)
You were quick to pick up on the preposition thing. My mom sent me that same joke just a week or two back but I hadn't thought to post it in response. My mom's version involved an un-wordly Montana girl on a plane for the first time who meets a very worldly girl about her age. The ending noun was adjusted for gender.

carol said...

Razz, in your case, I would think you would be the ""stickOR and I "might" be the "stickEE". Just remember, "beauty is in the eye of the beer holder".

Vern said...

I took my first Gregg shorthand class at Northern Illinois University in 1952. There were seven of us in the class taught by the Gregg shorthand book author & writer, John Rowe. I loved shorthand and eventually became a shorthand & typing teacher (odd for a male). Shorthand is gone now, but I still do all my writing in shorthand (at age 76) and can still take shorthand at about 100 - 120 wpm. It helped me in a variety of careers.

Dr.G said...

This error (HTTP 403 Forbidden) means that Internet Explorer was able to connect to the website, but it does not have permission to view the webpage.

C.C. et al
Can anyone tell me why I get this message when I click on C.C.'s note about Jayne Mansfield?

JD said...

After happily completing the puzzle without g spotting, I felt like I wAs in left field. Many of the words were unknown to me: Rei, A Rod(sorry C.C.),Dace, Monk,Gregg, sidereal, endue,and amole. "Where have I been?" I ask myself."Not with grown-ups," I answer.

Jeannie, I was sooo proud of your 9:53 comments last night.BRAVO!!

Buckeye, I always love your comments ; they brighten my day. Smiling cures anything that is ailin' ya.A good belly laugh is even better. Funny story.

And I am so glad that we can now end our sentences with a preposition.There are so many to choose from.

Dr.G said...

Is the word sidereal two or three sylables?

Has anyone ever seen one wearing Rei's designs? Ugh!

Clear Ayes said...

Doesitinink, Six degrees? Maybe even less! That would be quite a coincidence if your mother's church members were the poet's family.

Jeannie, We're going to have to start calling you Annie Oakley, for sticking to your guns.

Buckeye, The Roofbeam is Raised. I've always been a fan of the dysfunctional Glass family. They must be cousins of the Glasseye, aka Glassaye family.

PromiseMeThis, Piet Hein was a Danish scientist, mathematician, inventor, author, and poet...another Renaissance man. He wrote thousands of short, clever poems he called Grooks.

Here's another one that I like to keep in mind.

MEETING THE EYE

You'll probably find
that it suits your book
to be a bit cleverer
than you look.
Observe that the easiest
method by far
is to look a bit stupider
than you are.

Anonymous said...

how come the maps referenced in you answers never show rhe compass? hard to get oriented.

Argyle said...

Dr. G,

Four syllables: sidereal at Dictionary.com. It has audible pronunciations.

Anonymous said...

as in 44D

Argyle said...

48D Fake handle, I felt it should have had a "?" after it. Sour grapes because I had ahh for 60A instead of aah giving me alihs for fake handle. Oh, well.

Argyle said...

luxor said... how come the maps referenced in you answers, as in 44D, never show the compass? hard to get oriented.


44D is a standard map, so North is the top of the map, East is right, West is left, and South is the bottom.

Martin said...

There's a joke I heard when I was growing up:

"Your book is under there."
"Under where?"
"Ha! I made you say 'underwear'!"

Of course, if Sallie had been our teacher she would have said "No, he didn't: he said 'Under where?' with a 'wh'. Hear the puff?"

Of course, people can't hear the puff. Still, it got me thinking: "Mary Christmas" would sound funny so "Mary" is different from "merry" so if the ea in "wear" is pronounced like the a in "Mary" and the first e in "where" is pronounced like the e in "merry" then they should sound different too.

This morning in bed I kept saying "wear/where" listening for a slightly different vowel sound. My wife asked me what I was doing. I turned over and went back to sleep.

Anyway, "wear" is pronounced like "air" but with a w and "where" is pronounced like "err" or "ere" but with a "wh" and "air" and "ere" sound different, don't they? So "wear" and "where" should sound different too... but they don't. Not really.

I remember when I was in Korea and I had two adult students, one named Miss Choi and the other named Miss Chae and when they said their names I said "Oh you have the same name" (because Choi and Chae sound very similar in Korea: in the West [and in Hong Kong] "Choi" is pronounced like "Choy" but in Korea the pronunciations of Choi and Chae are almost identical). Anyway, they taught me how to pronounce their names and they were happy but I had to admit, with frustration, that their names still sounded the same to me.

Anyway, "the Virgin Merry" wouldn't bother me because we tend to hear what we think we hear. I would ask students in Korea what a "flying pen" was and they would say it was "something used to cook with", not a "pen that flies": they would hear the similar sounds and assume the measning that made more sense to them.

"Robin Hood and his Mary Men" would make me laugh though. What's a "Mary Man"? A man with the name Mary? We have now come full circle.

Martin

Argyle said...

Dr.G said @ 7:07 PM
C.C. et al
Can anyone tell me why I get this message when I click on C.C.'s note about Jayne Mansfield?

I got here late today so I just tried that link. I, also, received the error message but I hit REFRESH and Jayne showed up(Boy, did she "show" up!)

Razz said...

CC & Martin - From west Texas the words wear & where both come out as WHAR Yep that's my story and I'm stickin' to it I'll swarn...

By the way here is a few more words that I understand and use frequently...Jeff's Texas Talk

Auntie Naomi said...

Dr.G said:
'Can anyone tell me why I get this message when I click on C.C.'s note about Jayne Mansfield?"
I get the same message. I am sure it has nothing to do with either of us.


Martin said:
"This morning in bed I kept saying "wear/where" listening for a slightly different vowel sound."
I am concerned about you.

Dennis said...

You're not alone...

KittyB said...

YEA!! Barry Silk! It's nice to make it back on a day when it's one of his puzzles.

Nice quote, Dennis. Old age ain't fer sissies!

C.C., Largo is "slow and solemn" and roughly 40-60 beats per minute. Lento is about that same speed. I tend to think of Lento as being not only a speed, but a legato style, very smooth and connected, but that's my personal take on it.

Chris in LA, Thanks for the info on "catcher in the rye." I had forgotten the explanation of the phrase.

Barry, I had the same response to the cross of REI and PELLA. Made the same guess.

C.C., as usual, I like Barry Silk's clues better. I would have gotten REI without such a struggle.

Clear Ayes, I like today's poem.

And I've run out of time for today. It's nice to get back now and then and visit. Happy New Year, all!

Buckeye said...

Martin. Read your thing about "wear" and "where". I thought I had it until I saw the word "two" and realized there's no "WOO" in two. It's pronounced like "to" and "too". Yet, I looked and "one" and found a "WOO" sound when there's no "W" in one. There is a "W" in "won" and it's pronounced the same as "one". I went on to discover that ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
ZZZZZZZZZZ. Oops, I dropped off there.

Here comes Nurse Ratchet, and she's not happy I'm posting so often. I guess it's back to lurking for a while - at least until the meds wear off. I hate controlling women, unless they have handcuffs and silk underwear.

IMBO

Anonymous said...

thanks for your answer Chris in LA. I like learning the meaning of things.

Democrat In Red State

Martin said...

Et tu, Buckeye?

Martin

Anonymous said...

Argyle,

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /images/jayne-mansfield-with-an-open-robe1.jpg on this server.

I hit refresh but I still can't see the jpeg :-(

Anonymous said...

For those of you not aware did you know that Mariska Hargitay of L & O SVU is the daughter of Jayne Mansfield.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariska_Hargitay

Argyle said...

Jayne

I don't know...try it again?

Jeannie said...

Jeannie Annie Oakley here...

Whoo, where the hell have you been? I hope it's been somewhere warmer than here.

Promiseme, I sure hope I didn't show any disrespect last night.

JD Thanks for the kudos...I speak my mind and sometimes it brings me trouble, especially after a few bacardis...

Martin, I understand where you are coming from my friend, when something sticks in your head. I have spent the last 4 days trying to reconcile our fall foodshow and working with numbers all day, they run through my head. To tell you the truth I am sick of it. I would just like to shut my mind off. I have too many memorized vendor numbers and item numbers memorized. I am not sure that is a good thing.

Buckeye, you know how I feel about you...your comments are simply BRAVO. Mapping out your way to Montana?

Democrat in a Red State, why are you now posting under ANON?

Anonymous said...

Hello all,

Long time lurker, first time poster here.

Could someone explain 29d for me? ACU as puncture starter?

Jeannie said...

Charles, as in ACUpuncture the Chinese fix-er-upper. Where are you from?

Anonymous said...

Oh geez, how could I miss that. My train of thought was on identifying the source of a puncture. Thanks for the help. I'm from Madison, WI. Off to bed, got to get fit for tomorrow's puzzle.

JD said...

Jeannie, just keep repeating wear/where and you'll fall asleep.. no worries

Buckeye, can you describe Nurse Ratchett?

Jeannie said...

JD, you are missing my point...when I try to fall asleep I think numbers. Most people count sheep, but I do times tables in my head. I guess it's a gift, 'caus if someone tells me their phone number it sticks. And just as bizarre, I can't remember names to save my life. Usually if I meet a new person that I would like to talk to again my inevidantly the answer is, "what's your number?" With my gift I should probably be working with the FBI instead of buying french fries and burgers for Burger King.

Jeannie said...

I think I just made up a new word...inevidantly. Especially putting a "my" in front of it. Kazie would be really, really disappointed in me. As far as my error, I know someone might use it at a later date and thyme. I thynk it might be thyme for bed.

JD said...

Sorry Jeannie,

I was still giggling over Martin's story about how he was repeating wear/where in bed when I wrote.Maybe that wasn't fun for him either.It's like having a bad dream and when you go back to sleep, it continues.

Anonymous said...

Jeannie,
My computer was acting stupid and wouldn't accept my password last night for some strange reason the only way I could get it to post was by using anon.

Buckeye said...

Had to come out of the trees for this one. Jeannie - "inevidantly" is perfectly correct. (See Fred).

From Fred: "In-EV-i-dant-ly. pronoun, exaggerating a verb of some sort, and meaning 'it's gonna happen whether you like it or not, bitch!'". (His quote, not mine. Forgive me c.c.)

Back to lurking for a while.

I must be off