google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday January 11, 2009 Josiah Breward

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Jan 11, 2009

Sunday January 11, 2009 Josiah Breward

Theme: EE - to - OO

23A: Weak force?: POOR PRESSURE (Peer Pressure)

40A: Pink tiles of a skylines?: CORAL ROOF (Coral Reef)

61A: Fell trees?: TUMBLE WOOD (Tumbleweed)

71A: Successful dive?: CLEAN SWOOP (Clean Sweep)

90A: Endearment for a cowgirl?: SUGAR BOOTS (Sugar Beets)

111A: Cancel filming?: SCRATCH SHOOT (Scratch Sheet)

16D: Chandler's nautical novel: THE BIG SLOOP (The Big Sleep)

67D: Yellow swimming holes?: BANANA POOLS (Banana Peels)

Do you know that Sugar Beets are actually white-rooted? I always had this image that they were all red-colored like our regular beets. Had never heard of Scratch Sheet before, but SCRATCH SHOOT was very easy to infer.

Great theme idea. The title is a bit too straightforward for my taste though. I think I prefer something more subtle, can you think of a better one?

The clue for PGA (119A: Org. of Couples and Love) made me laugh. Brilliant use of the names of Fred Couples and David Love III.

What's your answer for 57A: S Kubrick movie? Right now I have AMI. But it does not make any sense to me. My intersecting fill is STEAMERS for 39D: Miner's tamping bars, an answer I am not sure either. (Addendum: The answer for S. Kubrick movie is MMI (2001: A Space Odyssey). And the answer for 39D is STEMMERS.)

Across:

1A: Builds up: ACCRUES. My instinctive thought is ERECTS. An addition of "interest" would have made the answer easier for me.

19A: Controversy: POLEMIC. I am more familiar with its adjective polemical.

33A: Ambler and Lindros: ERICS. Have only faintly heard of ERIC Ambler the English author. The hockey player ERIC Lindros is foreign to me. Was he good?

45A: Frank of "Wagon Train": MCGRATH. I googled. Is that he the guy on the picture?

51A: Strikes with a club: BLUDGEONS. I tend to confuse this word with dungeon.

68A: French city known for textiles: LILLE. De Gaulle was born here (close to the Belgium border).

69A: Pertinent: APROPOS. The opposite is malapropos.

70A: Bric-a-brac holder: ETAGERE. I suppose you can call this plant stand ETAGERE too.

73A: Chair craftsmen: CANERS

74A: Tomlin and Pons: LILYS. Barely remember French soprano LILY Pons, who appeared in our puzzle not long ago.

81A: Cast rays of light upon: IRRADIATE

86A: Base cops: MPS (Military Police)

94A: Italian actress Eleonora: DUSE. Uh-uh, no idea. This actress has been dead for almost 85 years.

104A: Fox follower?: TROT. I thought of Fox NEWS first.

117A: High fashion: COUTURE. I think Vogue's Anna Wintour will get the British Ambassador job. Want a bet?

119A: Lohengrin's love: ELSA. I can never remember this girl's name.

Down:

1D: Computer brand: APPLE. Don't think I will ever get one, so used to PC.

3D: Blocking passage through: CLOSING UP. Football term? What does it mean?

6D: Leprechaun's land: EIRE. ERIN does not fit.

8D: Degree with teeth: DDS (Doctor of Dental Science).

9D: Carpenter tools: ROUTERS. Have never heard of ROUTERS as "Carpenter tools".

10D: Borealis and australis: AURORAE. Aurora is Roman goddess of dawn (Eos in Greek mythology).

11D: Fairy-tale girl: GRETEL. "Hansel and GRETEL". I learned from doing Xword. Have never read any Grimm story.

24D: Distinct mus. tones: STAC. How come LEG is not a legit abbreviation of legato then?

43D: Poet Metastasio: PIETRO. Another google. Have never heard of this Italian poet.

46D: Calculator key abbr.: CLR

47D: Newman movie: HOMBRE. Here is the poster. Is it worth seeing?

58D: Ribbed fibrics: TWILLS

59D: Ventilated, in a way: HOLEY. I suppose so, "in a way". Weird looking word.

60D: Having domes: CUPOLAED. I only know the noun form cupola.

66D: And others: Lat: ET ALII (masculine plural). ET ALIAE is feminine plural. ET ALIA is neuter plural.

76D: Cleverly amusing: FACETIOUS. The only word with all the vowels in its proper order is FACETIOUSLY I think.

85D: Marilyn Monroe movie: BUS STOP. Here is a nice clip. Have never seen the movie either.

86D: Mr. Peanut's eyewear: MONOCLE. Do you collect any Mr. Peanut item?

92D: College treasurer: BURSAR. New word to me. Rooted in bursa, Latin for purse.

101D: "The Dresser" director Peter: YATES. One more google. Is he very well-known? This film does not look interesting to me.

103D: Nuncupative: ORAL. I guessed. My first encounter with "Nuncupative".

114D: Italian possessive noun: SUA. Italian for "his", SUO is "her". Both new to me.

C.C.

45 comments:

Chris in LA said...

Good morning CC:

57A is MMI (clever roman numeral for 2001 - A Space Odyssey). More later

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

Chris,
Thanks. I have never heard of STEMMERS before. Thought STEAMERS makes more sense. I tried to rationalize my AMI as "AM I", but could not find this movie. Wicked, wicked clue.

Dennis,
You mean lions never hunt themselves? What about those who are singles? Where do they get the food then? Don't forget to bring me "Today is the day...." and "Words of Wisdom".

NYTanonimo,
I've heard several of Leslie Chang's interviews regarding the book. I am not interested in her topics.

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

Jeanne,
I am sorry to hear the accident. Hope the lingering effect will fade away soon.

Calef,
Do you know what's the origin of hootch?

Dick,
Plowing others' driveways? You are such a moral/MOREL guy.

PromiseMe,
How was your concert? Thanks for the flute link yesterday. It's beautifully sad.

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

Bill,
Good point on LCS.

Dawn,
Thanks for the Colossi of Memnon. Nice to see you at the Comments box.

Linda,
Where is the picture? It's gone when I clicked your avatar. What is a Cracker?

JD,
Thanks for Cleopatra's Needle yesterday. I also think isisdawnra's name is pretty cool. Have you been to Egypt/Greece before?

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

Winfield,
Thanks for the wonderful Byrds information.

Argyle,
Have never heard of Argonath before. You shocked, shocked me by traveling back to February 2008.

Kazie,
I think the BAIL (out) explanations from Dennis & Jim on the West Coast make more sense to me.

Martin said...

Hi. I don't do Sunday puzzles: they are too hard in my opinion. Yesterday's was fine: I did it on line and finished in 18 minutes, 10seconds. There were a lot of unknowns (ALMERIA, RABI, PAULIST, BREN, BLOUSON, BACILLI, CELADON, PAYNE, ILSE, WAPITI, CAROBS, LURIDNESS, ABALONES, THORACIC, OBELISIC, HATARI, LARI, OMOO and LCS) and I didn't know how to spell ETRUSCAN (I thought it was with an I). Anyway, everything fell into place when I realised that a moray was an eel and then I was able to get everyuthing from the perps. (PTOLEMY was a gimme for me.)

The vowel sounds in "wear" and "where" are the same to me.

Don't get me started again. Seriously, there are apparently some words in English that are indistinguishable (to most people) unless said very, very slowly: dawn/don and where/wear for two examples. I don't need anymore: I prefer to sleep at night.

C.C., you asked for examples of Colossi. Here are some photo links: the Colossi of Memnon, the Colossus of
Ramses II, the Colossi of Constantine and Nero, the Statue of Liberty and many Buddha statues in Asian countries and provinces, including India, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sichuan, Honghe and Japan.

I'm sorry this post is a full day late!

Martin

Chris in LA said...

Good morning (again) CC etal,

"ee-to-oo" theme was fairly elusive this morning, so it took a little longer than usual, but overall, not bad. Googled pretty much in the same places as you, CC. LESE-majesty was odd - dictionaries indicate correct spelling as "majestE" with "majestY" listed as an "americanization" (not that it would have mattered).

Wanted ILLUMINATE for IRRADIATE for the longest time, but finally gave up. A couple of mis-spellings on some others (bursur instead of BURSAR, for example). Also wanted "smell" for SCENT for a little longer than necessary. Overall, though, a nice, tidy puzzle this morning.

Hope all who have a rooting-interest in this afternoon's games have a fun-filled Sunday!

Chris in LA said...

@ CC:

Quick research indicates STEMMERS appear to be the tools used by miners to shove TNT into pre-drilled holes for blasting. Got it from the perps.

Dennis said...

Good morning, c.c. and gang - looks like I missed an interesting puzzle today. Hopefully someday the Sunday one will be online.

As you wish, c.c., today is "Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends" Day. Easy to do in a large part of the country today.

And today's words of wisdom: "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." -- Samuel Beckett

Jeanne said...

Morning all,
I liked today's puzzle especially once I got the theme. Bursar brought back bad memories of all those checks we wrote to pay for college tuition for our sons. It was worth it; just painful.

Thanks for all the good wishes yesterday on our car accident. Kazie, I took your advice and made my version of a hot toddy. Made a spice tea and spiked it with some Jim Beam. Made the evening more bearable. Barb, definitely am making an appointment for the massage. Husband helped with that last night. Dennis, I totally agree with seize the day. Promised myself to do better with that.

Go Eagles!!

Anonymous said...

Today, i decided to try something different. Instaed of tryikng to work the boxes starting with the top left, i started at the botom left and worked up. It made for a different view. Does anyone lese work the puzzle that way. Usually, i just start at the top and go across working down tocheck. But I thought that it would be something different. Excellant puzzle with the clue just suddenly popping up in my mind. I did miss 94 A the Italian actress and eric 33A, but i got stemmers because of alawsuit i was involved in one of the Drummond coal mines in Alabama.
Everyone have a good day amd remember to go to church

abogato in Alabama

Dennis said...

Abogato, I usually slide across the top until I find traction somewhere, then go from there. I'll have to try the 'bottom-up' approach, just for something different.

Anonymous said...

Josiah Breward is the name of the editor of the Tribune (Wayne Robert Williams). You can email him at the Tribune Media Services Inc. His bio says that he has been doing crossword for more that 20 years and lives in
Florida. He is also know as Willie A Wiseman. I send him a email to tell hime that i enjoyed the Sunday puzzle.

abogato

Unknown said...

57 Across (S. Kubrick movie?) is MMI. 2001 in Roman numerals. The question mark should have clued me that it was tricky.

Dick said...

Good morning CC and others, a very nice puzzle today. I managed to complete the c/x with only two trips to Mr G. I did not know 94A and 43D and could not get them with perps. Even though I was able to complete the puzzle it was by no means a time record. Maybe a record in the length of time. I had to walk away several times and then come back and put in a few more fills.

Go Steelers!! If they get by the Chargers today they will need to do a 3 peat next week against the Ravens.

Hope you all have a good Sunday.

Clear Ayes said...

45A Frank MCGRATH front row,right played the cook, Charlie Wooster on the TV series, Wagon Train. The photo you have is John McIntire, who played the role of the wagonmaster for four years.

Wagon Train was a terrific show that went on (and on) for eight years.

In the 1986 movie, Stand By Me, one of the kids says, "Wagon Train's a really cool show, but have you ever noticed they don't really get anywhere? They just keep on wagon training."

Anonymous said...

C.C.
The word "hootch" derived from a native Alaskan language called Tlinglit (spelling?) It refers generally to alcoholic liquor, especially inferior or bootleg (illegal) liquor, but it has begun to apply to marijuana also. I understand that it is used mostly in the northwestern United Sates and that its use spread during the time of the Great Depression. The time of Prohibition, when alchoholic liquor was outlawed, also promoted use of the word.

Male lions that do not have a mother or other lioness to hunt for them will naturally seek food for themselves.
Calef.

Dan S said...

Re 76D FACETIOUS:
ABSTEMIOUS is the other word in English that has the five vowels in the right order.

Linda said...

CC:Sorry I don`t get Sunday Puzzle...
picture is back...
"Cracker" is thought to be an early, derogatory, corrupted Spanish word for "non-Catholics" among other, worse meanings. It can also mean blow-hard, and mouthy...all terms we true "Crackers" wear with pride!
Jeanne; having had three consecutive accidents on three consecutive trips...plus a heart attack and a gall stone operation on the "sandwich" trips... I have empathy for you. "Life comes at you fast"...so stay safe and READY!

Clear Ayes said...

I tried to find a poem by 43D Metastasio. I had never heard of him and it was difficult to find a translation. His poetry is very melodramatic and old-fashioned. I think it is pretty tedious, but this was actually one of the easiest to understand...Guy and girlfriend are on opposite sides of a raging river. He can't get across and is ticked off at the river for not easing up after all the nice things he's done for the river....It goes on for about 30 more lines, but you get the idea. (The guy never does get across.)

THE OBSTACLE

Tell me, proud stream, the hidden source
From which thy rising waters flow :
I haste to Chloris, slay thy course.
O ! hear me, I to Chloris go.
She waits me on the further shore;
Ah ! let me now my fair one join;
Then through my fields a deluge pour,
At thee no longer I'll repine.
But while I speak, behold thy flood increased;
The day is near, light streaks the glimmering east.
My Chloris waits, but waits in vain,
While yet compell'd I here remain.
Ah ! cruel thou, what crime unknown
Has drawn on me thy vengeance down?
Oft have I turn'd the herds aside
To keep unstain'd thy limpid tide:
From Phyllis and Lycoris I alone
Preserv'd the flowers along thy margin grown.
To spare thy stream I oft refus'd to take
A few cool drops my thirst to slake.

lois said...

Good morning/aternoon, CC et al: no time for puzzle. Gotta pay the piper. Just wanted to see what I've been missing here lately. Always interesting...like the parallels btw the nature of lions and the stereotypical nature of men.

Dennis 8:59: LOL why do I really not believe that the 'bottom up' approach would be a different thing for you?

Jeanne: glad you're ok

Dick: you're such a noble and morel fellow. A toast to you this evening!

Buckeye: Always good to see you.

Enjoy your day.

dougl said...

I misspelled 68A as Lisle, and so got "Hosey" for ventilated -- tho I agree the right answer "Holey" is still a bit odd.

Also, I had never heard "scent" used as a verb (7D - to catch a whiff of) but I'll take their word for it.

Otherwise, not bad, though more changes than usual for me (a side effect of working in pen is you can tell how rough it was at the end).

I agree with you, CC, that the theme was a bit too overt. Can't think of an alternative though. I like "Boos to Bees" but it's going the wrong way.

dougl said...

Hi CC,
A note on "scratch sheet" (111D) -- I don't think I've ever used that term, but the similar words scratch paper and scratch pad are commonly used for paper used for rough drafts (presumably "scratch" because many things will get scratched out as you work).

Clear Ayes said...

Hi Dougl, You must be a wise man, not a gambler. A Scratch Sheet is a publication listing the horses withdrawn from a day's races and giving information and betting odds on the horses scheduled to race. KeyPony is an example of an online Scratch Sheet.

Charles Barkley recently got wise and is giving up gambling (he says) after losing $10 million dollars.

kazie said...

c.c.,
No puzzle for me until later in the week. I noticed in your comment for suo/sua, you are a bit off on the genders--they work like French possessive adjectives, so suo and sua can both be his, her or its, taking the gender from the noun owned. Plurals would be suoi and sue respectively.

I try to remember hints to help when the puzzle comes on Wednesday (now rather than Thursday like earlier on), so read all the posts.

Hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxed Sunday. We have sun finally today but are rugging up for the cold coming this week.

Dennis said...

Eagles win. Eagles win. EAGLES WIN!!!!

Auntie Naomi said...

Hi C.C. and All,

I don't get the Sunday puzzle, but I thought I would check- in with you guys anyway. When I got up this morning, my new PC that I built less than two months ago was severely borked. The problems just kept getting worse the more I tried to fix it. Finally, the darn thing would neither boot my OS from the HD or ... even from the Vista installation disc. I was pulling my hair out. I thought maybe my C:\ drive went bad. After having rebooted about a dozen times trying to fix it, I finally decided to physically power off the whole machine to let the HD spin down completely. When I fired her back up I was able to boot in Safe Mode and then in Normal Mode. It seems fine now, but it had me freaking out for about 6 or 7 hours. I haven't even started the NYT puzzle.

The concert was terrific, C.C. At 21 years old, Eldar is truly a phenomenon. The other guys in his trio were no slouches either.
You are welcome for the Rampal clip. It is a gem. I simply went looking for a video of a good flutist playing it and found that one with Rampal and the composer, Poulenc. I favorited that one. The whole piece is really nice. I think it is my favorite flute sonata.

Ciao

Argyle said...

Theme:
Formalize It!

London landmark, formally: 11 letters

Cartoon cutie, formally: 13 letters

"Howdy Doody" host, formally: 13letters

Western gunslinger, formally: 13 letters

A real doll, formally: 13 letters

Johnny Weissmuller role, formally: 11 letters

Answers in about an hour.

Unknown said...

Two more words with all the vowels in order: Arsenious and Abstemious
Les in British Columbia

Jeannie said...

Dennis, I highly recommend the bottoms up approach. It seems to stimulate the mind and other parts so it is easy to complete the "fill".

g8rmomx2 said...

Hi c.c. and all:

Dennis: Thanks for the welcome back. Was very busy with family and friends during the holidays...so didn't even get on to lurk most days.

Linda: Did you get to see the GATOR's celebration on TV today at 1pm. It was great. And, Tebow is coming back next year!!!

Promiseme: I too play/played flute. Played all through high school and then at the church we belonged to when the girls were growing up. Haven't picked it up in quite a few years sorry to say.

Wikipedia says this of the modern day version of "Florida Cracker" The term is used as a proud or jocular self-description. Since the huge influx of new residents into Florida from the northern parts of the United States, and Latin America, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, "Florida Cracker" is used informally by some Floridians to indicate that their family has lived there for many generations; and/or that they were born and raised in the state of Florida. It is considered a source of pride to be descended from "frontier people who did not just live but flourished in a time before air conditioning, mosquito repellent, and screens."[2]

My account was from my upbringing exactly that "Born and raised in Florida"

Jeanne: I hope you have a quick recovery. My daughter was just in an accident, but only had a sore neck for one day.

Have a wonderful evening everyone!

Anonymous said...

I had a bit of a laugh from HOLEY.

It's interesting how the same words trigger different ideas from different people because our backgrounds are different. For example, AURORAE for me refers to the northern and southern lights. But for you, it was gods and mythology.

JD said...

Hi C.C. and all other Sunday lurkers& lurkettes,

Have you been to Egypt/Greece before?
No C.C., I haven't. Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia, Rome and China are all part of the curriculum for CA's sixth graders.My knowledge is somewhat limited as students are only 11 or 12, but I really love ancient history. I did see that statue of the Buddha (linked by Martin) while on a business trip with husband in Tokyo a few years ago.

The word etager brought back good memories. My grandparents had one that they had purchased while traveling in Asia. It was black and very ornate. As a child I loved all the treasures it held, many were wood carvings from Africa.It is now in my sister's home. I got the old French clock with gargoyles.

Hope your Sunday evening is mellow; family should be here soon.

Auntie Naomi said...

jeannie said: "I highly recommend the bottoms up approach."

As do I. I sometimes do the XW that way, too.

g8rmomx2,
you should take up the flute again. If I can start at my age, you can surely restart. I am sure you remember having a lot of fun with it.

Interesting the special Florida interpretation of 'Cracker'. When asked if I was a Cracker a few days back, I was confused by the question. Whoever asked said something to the effect of, "Are you a Cracker or are you a transplant". I thought they just misspoke. My understanding of a 'Cracker' was that it was an old reference to someone from the North who came down to the South after the Civil War to rebuild what the North had destroyed. The term stuck and it eventually came to simply mean a non-native. After Katrina, I found myself wondering what kind of reception the newest Crackers in New Orleans might receive. That whole thing was a damned shame. They all have my best wishes. I also applaud Brad Pitt's efforts there. What a stud! Has anyone been to Commander's Place? If I ever get back there, I am going for sure. The best restaurant I went to when I was there was in the Faubourg Marigny. I think it was called Sterling.

I just realized that we have a jeannie and a Jeanne. I hope I don't confuse you two, if I haven't already.

Dennis said...

Having grown up in Atlanta, I can tell you that 'cracker' is a pejorative term used by non-whites towards whites. Usually an implication of racism as well. The term originally was used by southerners to describe other poorer southerners, but evolved into what it is today.

There was a great skit w/Chevy Chase & Richard Pryor, where Chase was interviewing Pryor for a job, and gave him a series of words to respond to, words that got progressively racist -- toward the end of the skit, Chase said "spearchucker", and Pryor responded "Cracker!"

Argyle said...

Theme:
Formalize It!

London landmark, formally: Big Benjamin

Cartoon cutie, formally: Elizabeth Boop

"Howdy Doody" host, formally: Buffalo Robert

Western gunslinger, formally: William the Kid

A real doll, formally: Raggedy Andrew

Johnny Weissmuller role, formally: Jungle James

Auntie Naomi said...

AHHHH ...

After a bit of research I discovered that I was confusing Cracker with 'Carpet Bagger'. Well, what can I say? I am from Montana. It just goes to show that a long time in a place is no substitute for growing up there.

Good work on the theme, Argylle. It sounds like it was a hammer. Shouldn't that be Raggedy Anabelle or something?

Clear Ayes said...

I've never lived in the southern States, but the way Dennis described the word, "cracker" is how I always thought it was used. I've heard the term, "Florida Cracker", but I never knew it was a proud self-description. Live and learn.

PromiseMeThis, I definitely think Brad Pitt is a stud too. I recently saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and I'm pretty sure I thought it was a good movie. I'm not positive because I got distracted watching Brad get younger and prettier as the movie went along....difficult to concentrate on the plot!

My husband and I stayed at a B&B on Royal St.in Faubourg Marigny in 2004. We missed both Commander's Palace and Sterling, but considering how many wonderful restaurants were there, we ate very well indeed. I hope the neighborhood fared well post-Katrina; the people were so gracious and friendly.

Jeannie said...

Promiseme, I can see how you might confuse Jeanne with Jeannie. I, being Jeannie, am a little more DF and hail from MN and am the buyer for a food distributor for BK. Jeanne is a retired teacher from PA. I can see how you can confuse us though, as we're both good looking blondes.

Linda said...

g8rmomx2: My last post simply disappeared...I
didn`t watch any PM TV because we were baby-sitting a 2 1/2 year old, as yet, un-potty-trained.
We are still suffering from severe cases of "nauseous stinkeruptous."
My questions were; Was Tebow considering any pro teams? If so, which ones.
I`m a proud "Cracker"...born in Suwannee County (right on the river) and reared in Pinellas County. My husband likes to tell people that he ..."rescued me from that alligator and mosquito-infested swamp."

Argyle said...

PromiseMeThis said @ 6:52 PM
Shouldn't that be Raggedy Anabelle or something?

No, they are a set. Raggedy Ann and Andy

Auntie Naomi said...

Those have gotta be the fugliest g0Dd@mn3d dolls ever created. I mean really... Some Scrooge must have invented them to give to little kids on Christmas just to give them nightmares. Horrifying!

Anonymous said...

Hi All --

Stumbled on this Blog. I am addicted to Crosswords and do three every day. I love the interaction among all the posters here. So different from other blogs where many try to reach heights of nastiness by out poison penning each other.

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

Swapna,
You misplaced your comment. I've copied and pasted it to today (Jan 12)'s blog entry.

isisdawnra said...

that is "Akhenaten" heretic pharaoh who is always depicted by the sun's rays streaming over him. He denounced all the deities except Ra...the sun
Also father to tutankhamun .

It was my life's dream to go to Egypt. It came true TWICE in 06..........

I'm still in awe.
Dawn