google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday February 8, 2009 Alan P. Olschwang

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Feb 8, 2009

Sunday February 8, 2009 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Triple Letter Score

23A: Most probably: IN ALL LIKELIHOOD

35A: Particle that's not bonded: FREE ELECTRON

108A: Hilo's location: HAWAII ISLAND

128A: City near Kitchener: WATERLOO ONTARIO

16D: Rustproof metal: STAINLESS STEEL

34D: "Burden of Proof" author: SCOTT TUROW

51D: Worker's parties: STAFF FUNCTIONS

53D: Small rudimentary timers: EGG GLASSES

With a little bit Jazz creativity, ZZZ could be structured in a grid I suppose. Would be very hard if not impossible to put in the expensive QQQ, XXX or YYY though.

My favorite theme entry is SCOTT TUROW. I think this is the first time his full name appears in our TMS puzzle. Often see his book "One L"as an answer.

A bit jarring to see END (114A: Denouement) and ON END (98A: In an upright position) so close by. Love the clue for EXIST (37D: Take up space?). Was confused by 45A: Socal airport: LAX. Letter c should be capitalized, SoCal.

What's your answer for 29D: Digital display letters? Right now I have LED, which does not make sense. Should be LCD. But I am certain of the intersecting ASTERN (33A: To the rear). (Addendum: LED is a sold answer. It stands for Light Emitting Diodes.)

Please scroll down for Argyle's blog about TMS Sunday "Anatomy" puzzle.

Across:

1A: Splits: SCHISMS. I was thinking of a verb answer.

15A: Pretentious individual: PSEUD. Mine was PHONY.

22A: Declaration of truth: IT'S SO

32A: Carbohydrate ending: OSE. Often clued as "Sugar suffix". Carb is complex sugar I think.

41A: Marks under some C's: CEDILLAS. As in garçon, indicating a soft C.

49A: Victor at Gettysburg: MEADE (George). Forgot his name. Could only think of the crossword stalwart R. E. Lee, whose name also has 5 letters.

64A: Pasolini picture: SALO. Got the answer. Clueless about Pasolini or the film. Wikipedia mentions that the movie is based on Marquis de Sade's "The 120 Days of Sodom". Sounds sadistic.

71A: St. with keys: FLA. "Street" always jumps into my brain whenever I see the abbreviation St.

76A: Narcissus: DAFFODIL. My instinctive thought was a self-absorbed Blago style Nascissus rather than the flower.

86A: First Arabic letter: ALIF. The second Arabic letter is Ba. The first Hebrew letter is Aleph, followed by Beth.

92A: Japanese ship name: MARU. No idea. But I recognize the kanji , literally "ball". Testicles would be 睾丸 in Japanese. Wikpidia says MARU is a suffix, often "applied to words representing something that is beloved, and sailors applied this suffix to their ships."

97A: Latvian coins: LATI. Had zero familiarity with the coin. The singular form is strangely LATS.

116A: Leafstalk: PETIOLE. New word to me. I simply call the stalk stalk or stem.

127A: Blood of gods: ICHOR. Blood of "Greek gods" to be exact. And they drink nectar and eat ambroisa.

131A: Sch. in the Nutmeg State: UCONN. Did not know Connecticut is known as "the Nutmeg State". Their sports teams are called the Huskies.

132A: Act of avoiding capture: ELUSION. Thought of evasion.

134A: Children's doctor?: SEUSS. I like his "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch".

Down:

1D: Ado: STIR

12D: "Shrek" princess: FIONA. Unknown to me. She is ugly.

17D: First family of Ferrara: ESTE

40D: Never in Berlin: NIE. Interesting all the negative responses seem to start with letter N: NAE for the Scots, NYET for the Russians and NON for those who have "tete" above their shoulders.

42D: Oahu porch: LANAI. Oh, let me be in this LANAI with a man I love, I will ask for no other heaven.

44D: Certain lilies: SEGOS. Why do I always think of carla lilies? They are definitely prettier. SEGO lily is Utah's state flower.

48D: In medias __: RES. Latin for "Into the middle of things". "Ab ovo" is "From the beginning". Both derived from Horace's "Ars Poetic".

54D: 1982 Disney flick: TRON

62D: Hebrew month: ELUL. The 12th month in Jewish calendar. Have not seen ADAR for a long time.

76D: Friend of Pythias: DAMON. I was totally unaware of this Greek myth. And I mixed Pythias with Porthos, so I was thinking of Athos/Aramis, The Three Musketeers.

79D: Tiriac of tennis: ION. Haver never heard of this guy before. He looks like a mafia don. I wonder why ION is not clued as "Charged particle" to match ANIONS (109D: Negative particles".

90D: Lapland native: SAMI. Also known as Lapps. Got it from the across fills. Totally forgot about these nomad natives.

99D: Disarms, as a bull: DEHORNS. Mine was UNHORN.

106D: Bubkes: NIL. "Bubkes" means nothing to me. I've never heard of this Yiddish word before.

107D: Embroidery yarn: CREWEL. Another new word for me. Interesting, it has the same pronunciation as "cruel".

110D: Logical beginning?: IDEO. Ideological.

111D: "Gil Blas" writer: LESAGE. I googled this French writer. Wonderful name, LE SAGE. Wikipedia had 2 quotes from him: "Pride and conceit were the original sins of man" and "Facts are stubborn things".

113D: Book before Philemon: TITUS. Would not have obtained this answer without crossing fills.

116D: Name of 12 popes: PIUS. That's a lot. How many LEO's then?

120D: Base meal?: MESS. Military base.

130D: Where the Phillies play, briefly: NLE. National League East. Of course I was thinking of the ballpark Phillies are playing (Citizens Bank Park). Was misguided many times during today's solving.

C.C.

34 comments:

  1. Good evening from India,
    LED is correct as they are Light Emitting Diodes and are used to form letters in Digital displays, whereas LCD is Liquid Crystal Display the screens we have on Flat TVs

    ReplyDelete
  2. See Leo XIII (1878-1903) @ #257.

    Don't get this puzzle C.C. but thought I'd check in here after reading Argyle's fine commentary on the Anatomy puzzle. Noticed your question and googled it.

    Have a great Sunday!

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  3. 92A: Japanese ship name: MARU. No idea. But I recognize the kanji 丸, literally "ball". Testicles would be 睾丸 in Japanese. Wikpidia says MARU is a suffix, often "applied to words representing something that is beloved, and sailors applied this suffix to their ships."

    On the Sopranos Tony's boat was named The Stugots which means testicles in Italian.

    Here's a youtube of the boat from the HBO original series, The Sopranos.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3LerLGezZ0

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  4. Col G,
    I've revised my post. Thanks. What puzzle do you get on Sundays?

    Democrat,
    GE stock has been on free fall since Jeff Immelt took the helm. Holy cow! You are incredible connecting MARU to Stugots. So apt!

    NYTanonimo,
    Thanks for the 13 LEO's. Do you always get up so early on weekend?

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  5. Dennis,
    Not even a word on yesterday's puzzle? You need to bring me two "Words of Wisdom" quotes today then.

    Anonymous @8:52am,
    Are you the same person who mentioned Porter Goss the day before? I'd like to know your name.

    Wolfmom et al,
    Does your Sunday NY Times (or other syndication) puzzle have answers printed in the same paper like Linda's? Or do you have to wait until next Sunday for the solution?

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  6. PromiseMe,
    When I took my evening bath last night, I asked myself why I wrote down Bath Ruth instead of Babe Ruth yesterday. Maybe I need a real Sport Kings Gum Ruth card instead of those fake reprint.

    Clear Ayes,
    Embien & Dennis sometimes solve with only Down/Across clues. Can you interpret for me "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"?

    Maria et al,
    I'd like to know what puzzle is on your Sunday paper? Does anyone have LA Times?

    Dave,
    Re: MEN. You are funny. You don't need to be blue-dotted to comment. Jump in anytime you feel inclined.

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  7. Sallie,
    Before you click the Publish button, you should hit Preview first. On the left, you will see the most updated comment.

    Doreen, Linda & Kazie,
    Thanks for Denote and Connote.

    JD & Wolfmom,
    What Los Gatos Museum show? I lost the thread.

    Dot,
    Wonderful information about the three parts of ancient Palestine. Thank you. I am all for moderation. I won't shun away from any white food. Milled rice certainly tastes better than brown rice.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Generally I'm an early riser C.C.. But feeling like I could go back to bed now-LOL! How about you? I've almost got the NYT puzzle done-just need a few more-maybe that's what made me sleepy-or maybe I need stronger coffee!

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  9. what about nascence. I have four kids and never heard the word. Every other pre and post natal words but not this one.

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  10. did anybody get 4 down. Ihad inlu?e, but couldnot figuureout 30 across. Or what about ____.Dieu. I got the pr but not the rest.

    We should introduce Mr. Olschwang to supper scrabble. It has word and letter with four times the point and you get nine tiles. perhaps he could do a quadruple letter score.

    abogato from alabama

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  11. Good morning:

    We get the NY Times and LA Times, but with the answers, which is still too distracting to be fun, though since I found this blog, I am determined to not even Google for answers. It makes the process much more fun. As far as Connecticut, I grew up there and went to undergraduate and graduate school at UConn (go Huskies, #1 in both men's and women's basketball again! final four, March Madness revisted). The offical state name is the Constitution state, adopted in 1959, when I was a mere lad, but it is also known as the "Nutmeg State"
    According to the book State Names, Flags, Seals, Songs, Birds, Flowers, and Other Symbols by George Earlie Shankle (New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1941):

    "The sobriquet, the Nutmeg State, is applied to Connecticut because its early inhabitants had the reputation of being so ingenious and shrewd that they were able to make and sell wooden nutmegs. Sam Slick (Judge Halliburton) seems to be the originator of this story. Some claim that wooden nutmegs were actually sold, but they do not give either the time or the place."

    Yankee peddlers from Connecticut sold nutmegs, and an alternative story is that:

    "Unknowing buyers may have failed to grate nutmegs, thinking they had to be cracked like a walnut. Nutmegs are wood, and bounce when struck. If southern customers did not grate them, they may very well have accused the Yankees of selling useless "wooden" nutmegs, unaware that they wear down to a pungent powder to season pies and breads." Elizabeth Abbe, Librarian, the Connecticut Historical Society; Connecticut Magazine, April 1980.

    So we were a bunch a tricksters, and nutmeg is good on a pumpkin pie, or in egg nog. have a good week.

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  12. LOL After yesterday's posts about oatmeal and cinnamon, I had some this morning...but inadvertently sprinkled nutmeg instead of cinnamon on it; wasn't bad, though.

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  13. Hi C.C.,

    Wolfmom's art pieces have been accepted in a mini art show at our art museum here in Los Gatos.I believe she e-mailed me about it, and hoping to be accepted. It is a fundraiser for the museum; entance fee is $120.

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  14. abogato from alabama

    4d moonstruck - IN LOVE

    30a itinery word - VIA

    121d __ - dieu - PRIE

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  15. C.C. We get the NYTimes xword in the San Jose Mercury News. Fortunately the answers are printed on a separate page so they are available but don't get in the way. Today's was a football theme, so I was able to get all the theme answers, but I stll have trouble totally completing the puzzle. Someday, maybe.

    Also...didn't mean to be rude on the museum show. JD lives nearby and so I emailed her to let her know about the show. Thank you JD for the explanation. By mini she means that all the paintings had to 6" x 6" or 5" x 7" with a minimum of 3 submissions, maximum of 6. Out of 200 people submitting work, they took 72 people's work which included the 6 pieces I submitted. They have a reception for the artists on Fri. 13th where they announce 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and those 3 people get to come back to the paid admission party on the 14th where the price of the ticket allows one to take home a painting. Win-win situation.

    Crockett...thank you for yesteday's congrats.

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  16. Good morning CC and all, today's puzzle was difficult but doable with only one trip to Google. There were several unknowns but those were obtained by the crosses. CC I, also, was thinking of Athos and Aramis for the same reason you did.

    Hope you all have a great Sunday. Mid to high 50"s here today. Come on spring!!

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  17. C.C., In the Oregonian we get the Premier puzzle done by Frank Longo, and the answers are in the paper somewhere, but not on the same page. We also get the NYT and the answers are in the same section of the paper, usually upside down.

    Fiona may be green and have funny ears, but I don't think she's ugly, at least not in an ogrish way.

    @wolfmom You're welcome.

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  18. Wolfmom,
    Congrats on having all six submissions chosen! You must feel very good about that!

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  19. Kazie...Thanks, it is very gratifying. Now I would like to see all 6 go out the door with ticket holders! Great fundraising idea for the Los Gatos Museums.

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  20. To add to Anonymous' answers, prie dieu is an prayer leaner. It is one on which one kneels on the floor and puts ones elbows on the prie dieu. I have an antique one which my mother found and needle-pointed the top. It is beautiful and treasured.
    And I would like to add my congratulations to Wolfmom and hope all six go out the door with sold tags!
    C.C.: thanks for the tip so I don't have to go off and on again to avoid duplicating an answer already given.

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  21. good after noon all

    A very nice favor Please.

    would someone please copy todays puzzle grid and email it to me? Please?
    I would be so grateful.....and happy.
    Dawn
    isisdawnra@comcast.net

    Thank you!

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  22. Wolfmom, Congratulations and keep us posted on how it goes.

    C.C. Can you interpret for me "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"? The quote comes from William Congreave's 1697 play, The Mourning Bride. I tried to find a synopsis of the play to get the context for the lines. I couldn't find much, except that it was a tragedy about jealousy and one of the leading men is decapitated in revenge by a woman.

    Supposedly no one, in heaven or hell, is angrier than a woman who has been rejected in love. Nothing can stop her from wreaking her vengeance on the man responsible. Hollywood has made a bundle out of plots utilizing that line. Think of Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. Cell Block Tango from Chicago let's us all know, "He had it comin'". Then there are movies where women have been scorned, like Carrie or abused, like Thelma and Louise. These women not only get mad, they get even.

    Personally, I don't think women are any more jealous or vengeful than men. It may be that it is just a little surprising (and good box office) when a previously docile woman gets pi**ed off and starts to sharpen the kitchen knives.

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  23. ClearAyes: Superb info. I was one of those people who always attributed that quote to Shakespeare...live and learn. I even went to Google to learn more about Congreave, a name I vaguely remembered, but couldn't place. Restoration Period plays.

    So...the Mourning Bride was a comedy...right? ;-)

    Thank you also for congrats.Will let you know after next weekend.

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  24. Wolfmom, "So...the Mourning Bride was a comedy...right? ;-)" LOL

    Opps, typo.. should be "lets us all know", not "let's us all know".

    Unfortunately, jealousy is an enduring human emotion. It still feels the same as poet Sappho wrote about in Poem of Jealousy sometime around 600BC. Whether it was autobiographical and written about one of her female lovers or not, nobody knows. There have been at least 25 translations, but this is one of the later ones.

    He seems to be a god, that man
    Facing you, who leans to be close,
    Smiles, and, alert and glad, listens
    To your mellow voice

    And quickens in love at your laughter
    That stings my breast, jolts my heart
    If I dare the shock of a glance.
    I cannot speak,

    My tongue sticks to my dry mouth,
    Thin fire spreads beneath my skin,
    My eyes cannot see and my aching ears
    Roar in their labyrinths.

    Chill sweat slides down my body,
    I shake, I turn greener than grass.
    I am neither living nor dead and cry
    From the narrow between.

    But endure, even this grief of love.

    - Translated by Guy Davenport (1980)

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  25. My puzzling today has been interrupted many times by workmen replacing the burst water pipe under my porch. Yesterday’s thaw meant the ice in the line finally thawed, and water was spewing onto my basement wall where it seeped in around where the gas pipe enters the house. Water was collecting in my basement. Well, you get the picture. Fortunately I have a good contractor who gives me priority service, so he and one of this workers came over yesterday to stem the flood, so to speak, and returned today to repair the pipe and redo the portion of the porch deck that had to be ripped up. They are almost done for the day.

    So…as for he puzzle. I had three incorrects, alas. The cross of KROE and OSE for one. The other had to do with LAIAI. I was not certain how to spell CEDILLAS. From the pronunciation it seemed it could be either CEDILLAS or “cedilias”, or so I reckoned. Well, I chose the incorrect one. That left me with IAN?I for an “Oahu porch”. I guess an O so that the “Pasolini picture” became “solo” instead of SALO??? So those are my other two errors.

    @cc: “St.” does not always trigger the thought of “street” for me. In this case I though “saint”. It is St. Peter who holds the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and for the life of me I could not get “Peter” to fit into the 3 characters available. And what did FLA have to do with St. Peter? DUH!

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  26. Crossword rerun on Simpson right now.

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  27. Doesltinick:
    St.Peter has a condo in Boca Raton,
    FL (closest place he could get to heaven in the off season.)

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hi C.C. and Co.,

    Late post, but I just had to chime in regarding your (C.C.) comment regarding 'white food'.

    I think that dietary moderation needs to be viewed with respect to natural qualities. Processed foods fall outside of this realm.

    ClearEyes said: "I've found the best diet that works for me is the "Stay Away From Anything White" regimen. I avoid white sugar and things made with white flour."

    wolfmom said; "There is, in general, too much processed food in this country. Fresh, natural, and organic when possible is a good way to go. ... The best way is to shop the perimeter of the store. That is where the Produce Dept, Dairy Dept and Cheese Depts are...the center food aisles are all the high margin processed stuff is."

    These women know what they are talking about. They have figured it out. All of the stuff that comes in a bag, box, can or jar is suspect. Anything that needs to be stabilized via the use of such things as "modified food starch" or "partially hydrogenated oil" is not fit for human consumption. These things are put into processed foods in order to prolong their shelf-life. While that may be good for the bottom line of the company selling them, it is bad for you. These ingredients are, frankly, poison.

    The book I recommended previously touches upon the significance of 'polished' rice. Specifically, the author points out that white rice did not exist in the Orient until it was introduced by the US during the Vietnam war. If you think that white rice 'tastes better', I strongly suspect that it is due to you (as well as millions of others) having been acclimated to it. Why would it taste better after it has been stripped of all of its substantive qualities, such as Thiamine (vitamin B1), which is contained in the outer husk and coating of the rice kernel. Beware, if a so-called 'food' product contains any grain that is stated to be enriched, that is due to the fact that it was originally robbed of the vitally that it naturally possessed. It is due to this that US law requires the enrichment of white rice in order to prevent widespread malnutrition.

    As for Dot's comment: "My husband's theory is,"If it tastes good its not good for you." so just avoid anything you really like!"
    That reminds me of an enchanting British iridologist I once met. She said, "If it is sweet to the tongue, it is bitter to the stomach." I think this is a better way of looking at it. It encourages one to appreciate how various flavors can be enjoyed based on how they make our whole body feel; rather than simply our mouths. It also does not smack so much of self-denial. Furthermore, it is in sync with the fundamental approach of certain prominent cuisines. One of which is the southeast Asian cuisine found along the route of the Mekong River. A beautiful cookbook I recently acquired features this type of cooking and its emphasis on Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Wolfmom, First, congratulations on being chosen for the art show. Best wishes for a good outcome in the judging!

    I'm sorry I did not answer you yesterday regarding the cinnamon. The cinnamon rekindles the ability of fat cells to responds to insulin. It also increases the glucose removal. It contains something called MHCP (I have no idea what that is.) which is the factor that is responsible for the action of the cinnamon. doctors recommend one tsp. per day.
    Dot

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  30. On the question of rice, I never use anything but long grain brown rice. It cooks very easily in a metal bowl with water under it and in the bowl, inside a pressure cooker, 5 minutes pressurized at medium high, then let it depressurize at its own pace. That way I don't have to worry about it sticking on the bottom of a pan, and it's always perfect. You can add curry powder or any other flavoring to the cooking water in the bowl too.

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  31. Late post...an advantage of living on the west coast.
    First, thank you dot for the congrats and the info on the cinnamon.

    PromiseMeThis...Lots of sound info there. Michael Pollen's 2 books, The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food help track where your food really comes from, what things are actually made of, and both are very insightful in helping to make good decisions.
    All of my grandparents lived into their 90's and they always ate fresh...not packaged/processed food(which, by the way is mostly corn and soy based) and I always figured, if it was good enough for them, it would be good for me, my family and our grandchild.
    I have some beautiful books on Asian cooking that I referance all the time. The HOT, SOUR, SALTY, SWEET was also an award winner...stunning book, on all levels.

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  32. Back from a very successful night at the poker tables in Atlantic City (for a change).

    C.C., I didn't comment yesterday because it just would've been more of the same - nothing noteworthy to comment on.

    Regarding diets, I've pretty much eaten anything I wanted to in my adult life, and I go by "if it's white, it's alright", so I guess I'm the exception that proves the rule...

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  33. it's nice to be here...just finished reading your post..

    ReplyDelete

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