google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday, February 8, 2009 Linda and Charles Preston

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Feb 8, 2009

Sunday, February 8, 2009 Linda and Charles Preston

Note: This post is blogged by Argyle. It's a TMS Sunday syndication, different from our normal TMS Daily puzzle Sunday edition.

Theme: ANATOMY

28A: Seeming worth: FACE value

56A: Sensitive firearm part: HAIR trigger

87A: Revelation: EYE opener

91A: Hard work: ELBOW grease

29D: USNA grad.: KNUCKLEhead

35D: Trunk: FOOTlocker

42D: Football defenseman: NOSE tackle

Across:

6A: Harris' ___ Rabbit: BR'ER. Brother Rabbit.

13A: Stalks: STEMS. Good clue.

18A: Kate's TV partner: ALLIE. CBS sitcom '84 to '89, somewhat like a female version of 'The Odd Couple'.

19A: Self-assuredness: POISE. Weak clue.

20A: "___Gotta Be Me": I'VE. This clue is getting over-used.

22A: Sierra ___ - LEONE. There are quite a few 'Sierra __' out there. Sierra Leone and its neighbor down the coast, 80A Niger neighbor - Benin.

23A: Martini's partner: ROSSI. You can put this vermouth in your martini.

26A: Fool: KNUCKLEHEAD

28A: Seeming worth: FACE VALUE. I had 'fair value' for awhile, just close enough to mess me up.

31A: Writer Cleveland: AMORY. Cleveland Amory, 1917 - 1998, prominent humorist and humanitarian, founded The Fund for Animals in 1967 and served without pay as its president until his death. He wrote The Cat and the Curmudgeon.

32A: Hydrocarbon derived from resins: RETENE. I see no reason to know this word!

33A: Goodbye to some: ADIOS: Weak clue.

34A: Commotions: FURORS

35A: Notability: FAME

39A: Decorative glitter: SPANGLES. on the Red Carpet.

45A: Inquest official : CORONER

46A: Like a pine tree: CONED. Weak clue.

47A: Certain winner: SHOO-IN. Certain is used to indicate a 'sure thing' in this case.

49A: Desperados: THUGS

52A: "Deutschland űber ___" - ALLES. "Germany above All" originally meant the whole country is more important than the individual states.

54A: "Anna Christie" writer: O'NEILL. Eugene O'Neill, 1888 – 1953, was an American playwright, and Nobel laureate in Literature. Wrote "Anna Christie" in 1920.

56A: Sensitive firearm part: HAIR TRIGGER. Good clue.

62A: Without principles: AMORAL. No comment.

65A: Reporter's quest : SCOOP

66A: Shone like a lighthouse: BEACONED

70A: Hindu monks: FAKIRS. A Hindu ascetic or religious mendicant, especially one who performs feats of magic or endurance.

71A: Irritate: RANKLE. A good word; sounds like its meaning.

73A: Turn around: REVERSE. Weak clue, would prefer "change direction".

75A: ___ pig: GUINEA

77A: Goldenyears' folk : RETIREES

78A: Event take: GATE

79A: Italian poet and namesakes: DANTES

81A: Medicinal plants: SENNAS. Senna Alexandrina used for herbal laxative tea.

82A: Spellbinding group: COVEN. Group of witches and warlocks.

87A: Revelation: EYE OPENER

91A: Hard work: ELBOW GREASE. "Elbow grease has been a term of 'hard manual labor' since before 1639, 'B.E.'s Dictionary of Canting Crew' (ca. 1698) calling it 'A derisory term for Sweat.' The old joke that 'elbow grease' is the best brand of furniture polish was probably common centuries ago, too, in some form. The phrase was known in France from early times as well (buile de bras)." From the "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

93A: Hood, of "Our Gang": DARLA: Darla Hood.

94A: "___tu": Verdi aria: ERI. Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings a beautifully melancholy rendition of Renato's aria, Eri tu from Un Ballo.

95A: Rum cake: BABKA. Yum!

97A: Former Laker great Baylor: ELGIN. Elgin Baylor, basketball forward, led Minneapolis/LA Lakers to 8 NBA Finals; 10-time All-NBA 1st team (1959-65,67-69) Topps Card.

98A: First were black and white: TVS. And five are in Dick's basement.

99A: Staggering: AREEL

100A: Hopeless case: GONER. Cute clue.

More cute clues in the Down set:

Down:

1D: Mound miscues: BALKS

2D: Malkovich/Nelligan film: ELENI. Kate Nelligan and John Malkovich star in a 1985 film that stands as a monument to a loving mother and heroic woman, Eleni Gatzoyiannis.

4D: Chop: MINCE

6D: Blubbers: BOO-HOOS

9D: Nevada's politico Harry: REID. Harry Reid, Democrat, the senior United States Senator from Nevada, as well as the U.S. Senate Majority Leader.

10D: Varied - DIFFERED. Weak clue.

11D: Barnstormer, maybe: AVIATOR. Or aviatrix, maybe.

12D: British textile dealers: MERCERS. Noun [F. mercier, fr. L. merx, mercis, wares, merchandise]. Originally, a dealer in any kind of goods or wares; now restricted to a dealer in textile fabrics, as silks or woolens. [Eng.]

13D: Tonsorial treatment: SHAVE

14D: Italian semi-hard cheese: TOMA. Toma is a type of cow's milk cheese whose taste is fairly salty becoming 'piccante' as the months pass.

15D: Immorality: EVIL

16D: Carte before the course: MENU. Cute clue.

27D: Served soup:- LADLED

32D: Artful dodges: RUSES

33D: Actress Moorehead: AGNES

34D: Seneca, Cayuga, et al.: FINGER LAKES. Lakes formed by glaciers on New York's Southern Tier.

35D: Trunk: FOOT LOCKER

36D: Baseball family name: ALOU

39D: Skiddoo!: SCRAM

40D: Ernest ___:1918 Pulitzer winner: POOLE. Ernest Poole, 1880 - 1950, was a U.S. novelist. His portrait of a New York family titled His Family made him the first recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1918. His novel The Harbor has remained the work for which he is best known. It presents a strong socialist message, set in the industrial Brooklyn waterfront. It is considered one of the first fictional works to offer a positive view of unions.

42D: Football defenseman: NOSE TACKLE

46D: Surly sort: CHURL

47D: Child's direction?: STIR: Cute clue, French chef Julia Child's direction.

50D: Guiding light: ANGEL

51D: Sediment: LEES. As in a bottle of wine.

54D: Shrek and family: OGRES

56D: Give an edge to?: HONE. Cute clue

57D: Ancient area of Asia Minor: IONIA

59D: Tours' river: LOIRE. France.

60D: Wasteland shrub: GORSE. Now that is rough.

63D: Hood's honey: MOLL. Cute clue, the female companion of an American gangster.

65D: Perfumery oil: SAVIN. Savin oil, used in perfumery, comes from the leaves and tops of a low, spreading Eurasian juniper (Juniperus sabina) of E North America and Europe.

66D: Crow : BRAG

67D: "Do I dare to ___ peach": EAT A. Discussed before.

68D: Structural sci.: ANAT. New clue to me.

69D: Post office purchase units: PANES

70D: Honoring, in a way: FETING. Fete can be noun or verb.

72D: Ravi Shankar, e.g.: SITARIST

73D: Resumption: RENEWAL

75D: Fish-eating birds: GANNETS. You won't see any geese do this.

76D: Frighten: UNNERVE

77D: Annuls: REVOKES

79D: Disc jockey starter: DEE. Disc jockey starts with a "D".

80D: Went for apples, in a way: BOBBED. Cute clue, anybody have a good 'bobbing for apples' story?

81D: Durations: SPANS.

82D: Diplomat ___ Boothe Luce: CLARE. Clare Boothe Luce, 1903 – 1987, was an American playwright, editor, journalist, ambassador, socialite and one of the first women ever in congress, representing the state of Connecticut.

84D: Singer Frankie: LAINE. Frankie Laine, 1913 - 2007, (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio), was a successful American musician, singer and songwriter whose career spanned 75 years. The Cry of the Wild Goose (not a gannet!)

88D: Bush school : YALE. Generations of the Bush family have been Yale alumni.

89D: Thus: ERGO

90D: Actors Ken and Lena: OLIN

91D: Israel's Abba: EBAN

92D: Storm: RAGE

Argyle

31 comments:

NYTAnonimo said...

Nice write up Argyle-thanks for the fine commentary.

Areas I had trouble with in this puzzle included the crossing of POOLE and ALLES, GANNETS and ERI and FAKIRS and FETING. Finally solved it all by guessing.

Have we had these puzzle constructors before?

NYTAnonimo said...

Now that I read more closely it would appear that they are the editors, not the constructors.

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

Argyle,
Great post. Laughed at your comment about AMORAL. I suppose the tube is gray? Loved the clues for COVEN (Spellbinding group), STIR (Child's direction?) and HONE ("Give an edge to?). Also, a better clue for GANNETS. I thought "Self-assuredness" for POISE is OK.

Did not know that "Barnstorm" is a stunt term. Did not know BEACON can be a verb. Lots of other unknowns also: Writer AMORY, or the chemical stuff RETENE (agree, no reason to know it), or the Hindu monk FAKIRS and a few other authors/actresses.

Interesting to see RISERS (Early __, Morning people) & ROUSED (Wakened) in one puzzle.

Why GATE for "Even take"? Don't understand your 67D comment either.

All in all, a great puzzle. All the theme entries are beautifully structured. A bonus point for putting in ANAT (68D" Structural sci.") in the grid.

Argyle said...

Good Morning, NYTAnonimo, any that might follow.

Thank you for that link, very interesting reading. Since they don't show the individual constructors, we may or may not have seen any of them before.

They do provide a mix of different styles so you never know what will show up in a given week.

I see this week's is a timely verse, Valentine Dream. Should prove interesting.

DoesItinInk said...

Well done, Argyle!

I loved this puzzle I think because it had enough challenges to keep me engaged, but it was not so difficult as for me not to be able to complete it…and without Googling!

I have never heard the term FAKIR in reference to Hindu monks, only Muslim monks, but when I checked the on-line dictionary, it gives “Muslim or Hindu mendicant monk” as the definition. I loved the clue “Child’s direction?” 47D. It took a few crosses for me to realize the Child in question was Julia Child! I was totally unfamiliar with 95A BABKA, only its cousin Baba au Rum.

I first became acquainted with Cleveland ARMORY when I was in high school and I subscribed to “The Saturday Review of Literature” for which he was a columnist. He referred to himself as a curmudgeon and was a lover of animals, writing many books about his cat Polar Bear.

67A is in reference to T.S. Eliot’s poem The Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock:
I grow old…I grow old…
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.

This brings to mind Jenny Joseph’s delightful poem about growing old. It is called Warning.

IMBO…I have to prepare for my 9 am piano class, then a workout, then my weekly grocery shopping. TTFN.

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

NYTanonimo,
TMS doesn't give the constructors byline in their Daily Commuter Puzzle either.

Argyle,
I saw the Valentine Dream puzzle. Looks interesting.

Ink,
What kind of workout? Gym? Yoga?

DoesItinInk said...

@cc: I work out three days a week at Curves and do yoga five mornings a week at home.

Argyle said...

78A: Event take: GATE

It is a term for how much money an event made "coming through the GATE", i.e., the box office.

67D: "Do I dare to ___ peach": EAT A. Discussed before.

We have had this clue/answer before on your blog and I don't think we ever came up with a definite meaning. As I remember it, some of the discussion took a DF turn!

DoesItinInk said...

@Argyle...see my 6:50 post for the reference from which "do I dare TO EAT a peach" comes.

Argyle said...

Yes, DoesItinInk, I saw your comment. It was in the previous discussion, too. But what was meant by "eat a peach"?

The movie, Eat the Peach(1986) was also mentioned.

NYTAnonimo said...

Where are you seeing the Valentine Dream puzzle? I must be overlooking it.

Dennis said...

Argyle, just an outstanding job on the puzzle - thanks to both you and NYT for putting in what I'm sure was a decent amount of time and research.

NYTAnonimo said...

Thanks Dennis-I think you should give it a try-you'd be good at it with your knowledge, experience, stories and ripostes. Weren't you one of the first to find C.C.'s blog and start posting comments?

Argyle said...

NYTAnonimo said where are you seeing the Valentine Dream puzzle?

It is this week's puzzle from the Prestons. I get it at my local paper Post-Star but I've just discovered this site, The Paper Boy which has a list of online newspapers. Might warrant further study.

JD said...

Argyle, WOO-HOO! You be VERY good at this. Thanks for doing it.The c/w was enjoyable, yet very challenging, but not frustrating.There were lots of new words that kept me from finishing when the perps were also unknown. Could have "Gd" all the names that I didn't know but I wanted to move on. Didn't know alles or "eri ti", or fakirs, sennas, savin, and did not understand panes and shave as the answers for those clues. I was sure Robin Hood's Maid Marion had another name.
Oh, we loved the link to Frankie Laine's songs; haven't heard them for years and I knew all the words to most. We grew up with those great cowboy movies.

Doesit, Thanks for putting in TS Eliot's poem and Warning. Enjoyable.

I ran off the Valentine Dream c/w and will start today.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, It is fun to be able to get in on some Sunday morning puzzle discussion. Thanks to both C.C. and especially to Argyle for making it possible.

I worked on this puzzle in the car on the way and back again on our Friday shopping trip. Despite the bumps in the road, I got it completed. The only place I got hung up was at the cross of 12D and 32A. I had MERCORS and RETONE. Oh well, not bad for a big puzzle. Otherwise, I agree with Goldilocks and Doesitinink, "Not too hard, not too soft....just right".

Argyle "But what was meant by "eat a peach"?" Eliot is talking about growing old. I think he is wondering if he will be able to eat a peach daintily without dribbling juice down his chin.

Clear Ayes said...

I just printed out the Valentine Dream puzzle. I hope it is as enjoyable as Anatomy was.

Am I the only one who was reminded of Seinfeld's Babka episode? There aren't many sitcoms today that can compare to "Seinfeld".

kazie said...

Like Clear Ayes said, it's very nice to actually have a Sunday puzzle to discuss. And what a nice job you did Argyle! Very commendable.

One question though--47A is ALEU, isn't it? To fit with SHOE IN? I had STIR for 47D, but had no idea why--didn't think about Julia until I saw it here. I also had RALE instead of RAGE for 92D, giving me LONER for GONER.

Otherwise it all came together very nicely. I had marked several clues to be looked up, but I think they were guessable from the intersections. (Can't quite remember since I did it a few days ago.)

NYTAnonimo said...

Thanks for the Valentine Dream puzzle and the link Argyle-does look like it's worth further investigation.

JD said...

Clear ayes, ah .. the peach! Remember, in our parents' time, many people had false teeth and could not eat an apple, or peach, etc without cutting it up into pieces.Eating a peach gives me a rash below my bottom lip, so I also cut it up so the juice does not bother my skin. Very odd!

Loved the Babka episode. What a great show that was, and they are still enjoyable.I liked the Soup Nazi episode.

Crockett1947 said...

@kazie 36D is ALOU and 47A is SHOOIN.

Argyle, nice write-up. Your hard work and time are appreciated.

I think of the current group of bloggers, I can probably lay claim to being on the blog the longest. I also lurked for a while, but my first post was Feb, 9, so tomorrow is my first anniversary on the blog! C.C., thanks for having this vehicle for us!!

WM said...

Argyle...what a terrific job on this. I am so impressed with the "guest" blogs...No way I could ever do this.
This was an interesting puzzle and I have to confess that I put it down and when I came back, my husband had started filling things in. It became a joint effort and so was more fun than struggle.

Crockett...Happy Anniversary!

I think I must have every Julia Child cookbook and biography available and even a postcard signed by her in response to a thank you letter I once sent her...but did I make the connection with CHILD'S DIRECTION??? Duh!

kazie said...

Thanks Crockett,
I guess I didn't know how to spell "shoo in".

And thanks too, Argyle, for the Paper Boy link--I found some links to the news of the devastating fires in Oz. It'a always been bad at this time of year, but I can't remember so many deaths before.

WM said...

kazie Re: Oz fires...the BBC news online has a lot of good coverage. I hope you don't have friends in the areas affected. It is like this past summer in CA when it felt like the whole state was on fire and the air was filled with ash for weeks on end. The greater sadness for Australia is the horrific temperatures, around 120 degrees and the unprecendented number of deaths so far.

Dennis said...

Thanks Dennis-I think you should give it a try-you'd be good at it with your knowledge, experience, stories and ripostes.

I appreciate the kind words, but Argyle and you have done such a good job, I couldn't hold a candle to that.

Weren't you one of the first to find C.C.'s blog and start posting comments?


I saw Crockett chimed in about having the most longevity (Feb. 9th), so I'm guessing I was somewhere around the middle of that month. It's sure been a fast year.

kazie said...

Wolfmom,
I think BBC was one I looked at. I have a cousin living in Melbourne, and friends near the south coast of NSW, but I'm not sure how close they would be to it. The worst sounds like it's in northern Victoria.

Clear Ayes said...

Happy Anniversary to Crockett and other February celebrators of C.C.'s blog!

Kazie, Here in the U.S. we mostly hear about our fires. I have just recently heard about Australia's fires. What a tragedy.

WM said...

Kazie, I hope they are safe. There was actually some info on the local news radio and they mentioned Victoria. The death toll has risen to 100. Just terrible.

The flip side of the coin is the UK right now. I have a friend who lives in Ayr, Scotland on the west coast. It rarely snows as the Gulf stream runs near the coast there...it has been below freezing and snowing there for a week...something is DEFINITELY not right!

DoesItinInk said...

@kazei...the horrible thing is that some of the fires are suspected to have been started intentionally. That to me in unfathomable!

maria said...

good evening, to all

nice reading all comments and poetry, etc. Anatomy was a struggle for me, but a learning experience which i always enjoy.
Argyle, i was laughing my head of watching the links u gave for " Roe to perdition " i thought i' d seen all of Frasier, but i probably missed a whole season and i loved Eddie because i used to have a Jack Russell .
I'm looking forward to the Valentine puzzle
many thanks

kazie said...

Thanks for the thoughts on the fires. I agree that arson of that --or any kind--is unfathomable. But it takes all kinds of people I guess. I haven't heard from anyone there yet, but they're probably OK.

Also, the snow in Britain is another sign that weather has changed--not necessarily just global warming, but definitely change.