google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday January 18, 2009 Robert H. Wolfe

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Jan 18, 2009

Sunday January 18, 2009 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: Fishy Business

23A: Fishy multi-talented celebrity?: OPAH WINFREY (Oprah Winfrey)

25A: Fishy musician?: PIANO TUNA (Piano Tuner)

39A: Fishy age recognition?: BIRTHDAY COD (Birthday Card)

57A: Fishy Brinks vehicle?: ARMORED CARP (Armored Car)

81A: Fishy Florida ballot?: HANGING SHAD (Hanging Chad)

93A: Fishy weakness?: ACHILLES' EEL (Achilles' Heel)

114A: Fishy warship?: MINNOW WAR (Man O' War)

116A: Fishy amplifiers?: HERRING AIDS (Hearing Aids)

I did not know that Man O' War is a kind of warship. Always thought it's a racing horse and is connected to Seabiscuit somehow. I actually think "Fishy thoroughbred?" is a better clue than "Fishy warship?" because of the annoying War/WAR duplication.

I liked this puzzle a lot. Caught all of the fish very early on and sailed through most of the puzzle storm-free.

I don't quite understand the clue for NO-HIT (4D: Pitch near perfection). I am confused by the grammar structure. NO-HIT is an adjective, right? A NO-HIT game. "Pitch near perfection" is a noun phrase, isn't it? No-hitter is a noun. Nolan Ryan threw seven no-hitters in his career, a major league record. None of them is a perfect game though.

Across:

11A: Heckler's partner in firearms: KOCH. Have never held a gun in my life. Not familiar with Heckler & KOCH at all.

28A: Protected one's king, in a way: CASTLED

33A: Stimpy's pal: REN. Learned this dog name from doing Xword. Stimpy is a cat.

46A: Unbeatable opponents: NEMESES. Singular is NEMESIS.

53A: River of Hades: LETHE. River of forgetfulness. Styx is the River of Hate, forming "the boundary between the upper and lower worlds". Has anyone read "The Divine Comedy" or "Inferno"?

69A: German automaker: OPEL

61A: Pastry cement: MASTIC. No idea. I found some MASTIC sealant though. Is this cement somehow related to the MASTIC tree?

64A: Airhead: DITSY. New word to me. Can also be spelled as DITZY.

68A: Vulture's repast: CARRION. Does vulture eat live animal at all?

75A: Lighter fuel: BUTANE. How is it different from propane?

84A: Seed producers of certain trees: PINECONES

102A: Bob Dylan's "__ Lady of the Lowlands": SAD EYED. Here is the song. New to me. It's about his wife Sara Lownds.

105A: Shop talk: ARGOT. Lingo is another 5-letter word that might fit in another time for "Shop talk".

108A: English philosopher of Herbert: SPENCER. I googled his name. Wikipedia says he coined the phrase "Survival of the Fittest". I thought it's Darwin original quote.

110A: Siren: LORELEI. The Rhine Siren, to be exact. Chinese lore does not have similar siren who lures those restless sailors.

124A: Some chasers: POSSE

Down:

2D: Kal Kan rival: ALPO. Know ALPO. Have never heard of Kal Kan brand. Don't own any pet.

5D: Reacting to Sinatra: ASWOON. Very interesting clue. Why Sinatra instead of Clooney?

8D: Stupor: pref: NARCO. As in narcosis. New to me. I only know NARC as "DEA agent".

11D: Astronomer Johannes: KEPLER. Another google. He was a German astronomer. That's an excellent portrait.

24D: "Newsboy" painter: INMAN (Henry). I forgot all of him. Wikipedia says nearly a dozen of his 30 Native American portraits are in the collection of the White House. Here is "Newsboy" once again.

26D: Infamous cow owner: O'LEARY (Catherine)

29D: Speaker of diamonds: TRIS. Ah, baseball. TRIS Speaker is in HOF of course.

32D: Pre-Mayan civilization: OLMEC. OLMEC, Maya & Aztec. Just learned this word a few days ago.

35D: Indian state: ASSAM. The tea state. South of Himalaya Mountains.

36D: Sanskrit aphorism: SUTRA. Hmm, "Kama SUTRA". Kama is god of erotic desire/love in Sanskrit.

41D: Persuade: COOPT. "Persuade"? Not a familiar definition to me.

43D: Humdinger: DILLY. I often mix "Humdinger" with "harbinger".

45D: Reference citation: FOOTNOTE

47D: Whatnot shelves: ETAGERES

55D: Structural beam: I-BAR. Have only heard of I-BEAM. It's the same, I suppose.

56D: Emphasizes: POINTS UP. New phrase to me.

58D: Letters for shock treatment: ECT (ElectroConvulsive Therapy). So hard to remember this abbreviation.

64D: Henning and McClure: DOUGS. DOUG Henning was a Canadian magician. DOUG McClure was an actor. I knew neither of them.

51D: Early computer: ENIAC

95D: Calyx parts: SEPALS

98D: Twilled fibrics: SERGES. Be prepared. Everytime SERGE appears in our puzzle, I will link SERGE Gainsbourg. I think Jane Birkin's moaning is sexier than Brigitte Bardot's.

107D: Growl: GNAR. Knar is a knot on the tree. Both exist only in crossword world in my opinion.

111D: City near Brussels: LIER. See this map. It's in Antwerp. Too obscure a clue.

115D: Assn. for boxers: WBA (World Boxing Association)

117D: "Kidnapped" author: RLS (Robert Louis Stevenson). Here is the bookcover. I doubt I will ever read it.

C.C.

33 comments:

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

Chris,
What kind of attitude is "Napoleonic attitude"? Can you also give me some examples?

Dennis,
So, are you for ditching New Year Resolutions then? So self-destructive. I want "Today is the day..." and another uplifting quote.

Argyle,
How do you know PETUNIAS belong to the nightshade family? Are you sensitive to potatoes/tomatoes? Wonderful links lately. You are a GAS. The Quark Cheese site you linked last night does say it's a Quark Torte.

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

Democrat,
I solve USA Today from time to time. Alan Olschwang seems to be a regular contributor there. I really like his non-quip puzzles.

PromiseMe,
What is a head shop? What's the difference between mango salad and mango chutney? Also, what's so funny about that Wiley's Dictionary link? I don't get it.

Gator Mom,
Thanks for finding the source for GAS.

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

Clear Ayes,
I might be wrong on BAR STATION, but the fill in the very middle of a grid is frequently a theme answer.

Wolfmom & Kazie,
Is Schichkase a German word for "low fat"?

Lois,
Please tell us everything about Barry's presentation yesterday.

Chris in LA said...

@ CC: Not sure where you picked up "Napoleonic attitude" - I was referrring to Napoleonic Code which is the basis for law in the great state of Louisiana. Basically it impacts property rights and legal discretion - and requires a seperate bar exam. A practicing lawyer anywhere else in the country cannot practice in Louisiana until he/she passes the Louisiana Bar Exam.

@ Buckeye - cute explanation of Parishes but the truth is they're based on ecclesiatical jurisdictions at the time Louisiana became a state - it's a very Catholic state.

Nothing to add on the puzzle today.

Love the Steelers and have to root for the Cardinals (no offense, Philly fans, but as anyone who's been here for a while knows I'm a fan of the underdog).

In any event, good Sunday to all!

Argyle said...

Good Morning, CC

I thought you were telling us that petunias were members of the nightshade family.

posted by C. C. at 5:30 AM on Jan 17, 2009

46A: Plants with funnel-shaped flowers: PETUNIAS. Nice picture. Do you know that PETUNIAS belong to the nightshade family?

Argyle said...@ 10:33 AM

Do you know that PETUNIAS belong to the nightshade family?
I do now.

So were you saying THAT they are or asking IF they are?

Dennis said...

Good morning, C.C. and gang - looks like you guys had a great puzzle from what I've read of the clues. Maybe someday the rest of us will get the online version.

C.C., I don't know where you got the idea I was ditching any New Year's Resolutions - I was just stating what day it was and asking if anybody'd slipped yet. My resolution to not make any resolutions is still firmly in place...

Today is both Thesaurus Day and Winnie the Pooh Day -- sorry, I don't have a synonym for 'Pooh'.

Today's Words of Wisdom: "I don't look to jump over seven-foot bars. I look around for one-foot bars that I can step over." -- Warren Buffett

Dick said...

Good morning CC and all. Got a late start today as we had 6 inches of snow last night and the snow plow beckoned.

Great puzzle today! I got the "Fishy Business" quickly which helped to complete the fills. I had a few rough spots especially the upper east side. It took me a long time to decide between OPEL or AUDI and COOPT just did not come to mind.

I had a few Googles for example 108A, 20A and 11D. The other unknowns were obtained by the perps.

More snow coming today. Hope you all have a great Sunday. GO STEELERS!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi CC,

Thanks again for your solutions.

75 across Butane fuel is a gas which boils at -5 degrees C & has 4 carbon atoms. Propane , also a fuel gas, only differs from butane's chemical structure in having 1 less carbon atom. It is therefore more volatile and has a boiling point of -42 degrees C.

Don

lois said...

Good morning CC et al,
Barry Silk was wonderful! As you would expect, a real down to earth gentleman, quite entertaining and extremely interesting.'Delightful' was a good term used by several of the people there to describe our time with him.

He talked for 2 full hours nonstop about the history of c/ws,(the 1st c/w was in 1913, became daily in the NYWorld? in 1924, but the NYT didn't start daily ones until 1950), the types of puzzles, levels of difficulty, limitations, rules, & procedures for constructing, theme & themeless puzzles,editors and editing (esp Will Shortz), and the tournaments. He even made a special puzzle for the event yesterday. I don't know where or when it will show up, but he said to watch for it. He had an outstanding Power Point with examples of types of puzzles and copies of the first c/ws (weird looking) and other cool documents. Very well done. He has a cute sense of humor and is real easy going. Answered questions and graciously allowed me to take pictures w/him. I'll get one up asap.

CC, when he gave out websites for c/w answers and help he gave a list and added nice comments on you, Amy Reynaldo and Rex Parker. He was so highly complimentary of you. He praised your awesome self, your abilities and your blog. He thinks you would be a good editor. His praise of you is so well deserved. I'm proud of you. I'm sure we all are.

The next tournament will be in Brooklyn, 2/27 - 3/1. You can visit www.crosswordtournament.com for more information. I'd like to go observe, which is allowed (for a fee). He told of some 'speed solvers' who had puzzles done while he was still reading the clues. Maybe Dennis will enter.

Anyhow, that was some kind of day!

Enjoy your Sunday.

Anonymous said...

Hi C.C.

Looks like you guys had a real good puzzle today. For me, I'm home alone with nothing to do and it's too cold to go out and play. Is it possible for you to give me a list of the papers that publish the Sunday puzzle?

I hope you will be rooting for the underdogs today.

Hayraker

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Lucky Lois to have been able to see and hear Barry Silk's presentation. It sounds like it was a terrific day. I'm sure we're all looking forward to the photo.

C.C. It sounds like PromiseMeThis has adventurous tastes in food. I was going to ask him the same thing about salsas and chutneys, but I looked it up last night. It seems that chutneys are usually cooked and have Indian spices in them. I think they have sweet-hot flavors. Most salsas (homemade, at least) are uncooked. Other than the fruit, I don't add sweet to salsas and always add cilantro, onion and jalapeno peppers (carefully). Additional mild peppers and chopped tomato are also options. Hot? Possibly, but not very sweet.

There are several Quark recipes online. It looks easy and inexpensive. I'm going to try it. It sounds like a good low calorie substitute for cream cheese.

Dennis said...

Lois, more importantly -- can he still walk?

WM said...

C.C. Schichkase is a type of cheese("kase" is cheese, I believe)that resembles a combination of cream cheese and "cottage" cheese. Kazie will have to run with that actual German word. I am better with French and British English.

ClearAyes: I think that either Straus Dairy or Cowgirl Creamery is making Quark locally. Try a Whole Foods if you have one nearby. When I was a cheesemonger, we used to sell out the Quark as fast as I could bring it in. A lot of people use it as a yogurt substitute in the mornings.

Lois...it sounds like you had a fabulous time. Looking forward to photos of you and Mr. Silk

Anonymous said...

H & K MP5 is the weapon of choice for U.S. NAVY SEAL TEAMS.

They are German weapons manufacturers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler_&_Koch_MP5

How are doing CC?

I would like to see PITT & PHILLY in the Super Bowl.

Clear Ayes said...

Wolfmom, No special brands or Whole Foods around here, so I guess it is going to be a homemade quark recipe.

Re: Winnie the Pooh Day. I had a set of A.A. Milne books when I was a child, so did my daughter and then my grandchildren. The sweet Pooh stories are about imagination, friendship, trust and honesty, wonderful values for a child to develop. Moreover, I think my affection for poetry started with, among others, Milne's "The King's Breakfast" and "Vespers". We still read "King John's Christmas" aloud at Christmas dinners and I still get a lump in my throat.

Here's a lovely and quiet Milne poem, from his book of poems, "When We Were Very Young"

The Mirror

Between the woods the afternoon
Its fallen in a golden swoon,
The sun looks down from quiet skies
To where a quiet water lies,
And silent trees stoop down to the trees.
And there I saw a white swan make
Another white swan in the lake;
And, breast to breast, both motionless,
They waited for the wind's caress. . .
And all the water was at ease.

lois said...

Dennis: LOL, you do make me laugh! yes, Mr. Silk can still walk...a little more slowly perhaps but erect just the same...not at all like the usual slow moving question mark on wobbly 'get-away-sticks' that I'm more used to.

Honestly, he is a gentleman, and not afraid to say, "I don't know". However, I'm not ready to nominate him for sainthood yet though. There's still one burning question: Does he ask for directions?

JD said...

Good morning C.C. ,all lurkers, DFers, and DFnots,

I just finished(?)the Sat. c/w.,not enjoyable as there were too many unknowns; the bottom 1/2 went easier, but that is not saying much.Did anyone else feed their baby too many carrots or sweet potatoes, and then were concerned when their skin turned orange from the carotene? LOL

C.C.-I enjoyed the Bob Dylan video, but had never heard that song.He was my favorite in college until the Beatles arrived. I was not a swooner, like the Sinatra crowd. They actually fainted. I don't see that happening with Clooney, although I think he is better eye-candy than Sinatra.

doesit- You have such a great memory. I also took Latin and French in H.S. and it is amazing how Latin teaches us about grammar, but sed fell thru the holes in my memory bucket. Genitive came only when I had 1 or 2 letters left to fill.

wolfmom, where will you be painting your mural, and on what building? What is the theme? I love your candy apple painting.

embien, great salmon recipes..yum!Ahi is my 2nd fav fish... no one does it better than Roy's.

Glad I wasn't here for Thurs c/w, because the quotes slow me down, but the cracker one was funny. I also liked Barb B's, and Argyle's Confucius quote.

After all that talk of change, Martin, do you really think men have to change to please their spouse? I do think we give up some of ourselves, but we also gain other things in return, and that makes us grow as a human being.

kazie said...

Hi Everyone!
Well, c.c., you had me stumped with Schichkäse, so I googled it. It seems that there's a slight typo--a "t" is omitted, and that makes sense. I found a German blog site which explains it as a type of quark, drier, and able to be packaged in segments that have been cut. The word "Schicht" which I did recognize, means "layer", and this cheese is packaged in separate layers of varying fat content, with the fatter layer in the middle.

Quark is readily available in Germany, used as a substitute for yogurt, or cream cheese in Käsekuchen (cheesecake) because of its lower fat content. But I've never seen it available here. I've always thought that it perhaps was close to the Neufchâtel we find sold as "low fat cream cheese". Germans are horrified when they find it's not available here in Wisconsin, where most people have at least some German heritage (over 65% of us at one census).

Sorry I took so long to get to this, but today we were in Madison seeing our son off on a business trip to Shanghai.

JD said...

on to gas ...
I have a Dictionary of American Slang that tells the year when words or phrases came into being.
1.1847:empty and idle talk; exaggerated claims (bullshit)

2.1852: talk of any sort
by 1888 they called people gasbags, those who were energetic talkers ( windbags)

4.1905: gasoline

1940's: "a gas" the phrase- cool talk; something very impressive, pleasurable,effective

7.1970's: to impress an audience very favorably

8. 1980's: baseball- a fastball

9. 1957: gasser: What a gas!

10. 1980's: anabolic steroids, used to increase body bulk..also known as "juice"

Anonymous said...

Milne's "When We Were Very Young" was quoted in the St. Paul Pioneer Press Bulletin Board. It had a moving submission about a funeral for a six-year-old boy that included a recital of the poem that included something about now that I am six, I shall stay six for ever and ever. (I don't have a copy to include the exact words because I gave the book to my grandson.) It was a tear-jerker to read.

WM said...

Kazie...sorry about that...there is indeed a "T". I was typing the info from one of my cheese books. Quark is actually easy to make at home. ClearAyes provided a good link. A good place to go for supplies and starters for home cheesemaking is www.cheesemaking.com, Ricki Carrol's New England Cheesemaking Supply Co. in Massachusetts.

JD...the mural is your neck of the woods, in Saratoga, but in a private residence. It will be part of a multi-use building in the part that will house a collection of antique cars. I am hoping that if I ever get the new website up that there will be a blogspot option where I can post photos once a week on the progress. I'm glad that you liked the Candy Apples. I love painting food.

ClearAyes...Thank you for the Milne poem. I still have my original set of the 4 Milne books and we just bought a new set for our granddaughter, whose mother is a Winnie the Pooh fan. Let me know how the Quark turns out.

kazie said...

Wolfmom,
I didn't mean to imply it was your error--I found numerous references to it with that spelling on the German site I referred to. It could derive from a dialectual usage too.

Dick said...

One last comment on today's puzzle. Recently we had River of Hades and the answer was Lethe (Forgetfulness). Today we again had River of Hades and I did forget again. Will I never learn?

Clear Ayes said...

J.D. Welcome back. How was Bette Midler's show? She is a longtime favorite of mine.

Ditto your 2:25 comments on Dylan, Beatles, Sinatra and gorgeous George.

Wolfmom, Kazie, We're heading to Costco tomorrow, so I'll pick up a container of buttermilk for my attempt at quark. I'll let you know how it turns out.

We will definitely be home on Tuesday. We don't want to miss any of the inauguration ceremonies on TV. There was a great pre-inauguration concert from the Lincoln Memorial today on HBO. I got an extra long walk on the treadmill while I watched it.

C.C. Here is marine artist Salvatore Colacicco's "British Man-of-War at Anchor in Venice". I also thought of the stinging Portuguese Man O'War.

WM said...

Kazie...no problem, I'm glad you caught the error because then I went back and rechecked it. I find it interesting that Quark isn't available in an area with such a large, historically German, population. With all the large Commercial and Artisan Dairies in your state, I would think someone is making it.

We are awaiting ClearAyes Quark- making results.

kazie said...

clear ayes,
I'll be interested to see if the quark making succeeds too. Those links were interesting too--the ship would demonstrate the "aloft" idea in the rigging.

The Portugese man o' war reminds me of the stingers we used to see at certain times on the beaches in Sydney. We called them blue bottles, and they could sting badly even if you stepped on them after they were dead on the beach. The Portugese is bigger though, I think.

Wolfmom,
I checked th esite recommended for finding German products anywhere and two in Madison came up: Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. I've been in both places, though not recently, so I'll have to check again for Quark.

Argyle said...

I finally finished one of my weekly puzzles and I still don't really get it. It is semi-cryptic, I guess.

United Features Syndicate 1/11/09

Theme: All Shook Up

Semipros? - broken promises

Burn me? - wrong number

Shore? - crazy horse

Unset? - loony tunes

Mad chant? - mix and match

Choose sage? - wild goose chase

Home trap? - mixed metaphor

Finger? - lunatic fringe

WM said...

Argyle...re: your crossword is definitely cryptic...

SEMI PROS is PROMISES scrambled meaning it is semi( or partly promises)

BURN ME is NUMBER(Wrongly)

SHORE is HORSE(Put together crazily)

All the words are scrambles of the answers...I think you are incredibly amazing that you got all of those in a crossword. I have seen CRYPTIC CROSSWORDS in Games Magazine but never attempted one...like I said, you are one smart guy!

Clear Ayes said...

Argyle, All of the clues are anagrams for the second word(s) in the answers. The first word of the answers refers to All Shook Up

Semipros? - broken PROMISES
Burn me? - wrong NUMBER
Shore? - crazy HORSE
Unset? - loony TUNES
Mad chant? - mix AND MATCH
Choose sage? - wild GOOSE CHASE
Home trap? - mixed METAPHOR
Finger? - lunatic FRINGE

WM said...

Ok..this is my last post today. My bad(as C.C. says) on PROMISES...ClearAyes stated it much more clearly, hence her name.
Intersting puzzle though...

Argyle said...

This particular puzzle never did anything like this before. I got everything from the perps and didn't see the anagrams until I typed out my post.

My Sunday puzzle was/is alot easier. Hell, I got most without any perps.

Tribune Media Services 1/18/09

Theme: Double T

Parade confetti, at times - ticker tape

Hit song for The Platters, 1958 - Twilight Time

Minor explosion - temper tantrum

Bath accessory - Turkish towel

Singer born Anna Mae Bullock - Tina Turner

Country star - Travis Tritt

Seaver's sobriquet - Tom Teriffic

Now I have to finish the rest of it.

Argyle said...

oops! Tom Terrific

melissa bee said...

39A: Fishy age recognition?: BIRTHDAY COD (Birthday Record)

i think that should be (Birthday Card)