google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday March 21, 2009 Tom Pruce

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Mar 21, 2009

Saturday March 21, 2009 Tom Pruce

Theme: None

Total blocks: 32

Total words: 68

Had some trouble with lower right corner. But at least I filled in lots of blanks. I only got a few words in last week's LA Times puzzle, and some were just wrong guesses.

I expect lots of fun ahead, but also plenty of struggles. I will definitely need your help to understand the cluing and get the theme right.

The clue for TONERS (46D: Soothing skin creams) is simply wrong. Toner is liquid. Mr. Pruce needs to pay close attention to what his wife is using to s-Pruce up her skin.

Across:

1A: Last letter of words?: ESS. Can't fool me.

14A: Gods of Ancient Rome: DEI. So what is the singular form of DEI then? I often confuse DEI with DEO, as in DEO gratias (thanks be to God).

16A: Actress Piper: LAURIE. No idea. Strange name, Piper, sounds like a man. Wikipedia says this lady dated Reagan a couple of times before his marriage to Nancy. And she was in some TV series called "Twin Peaks".

17A: Brown-and-white cow: GUERNSEY. "Brown-and-white" indeed. They look happy. Happy cows were bred on the British Channel Island of GUERNSEY, hence the name. I've never heard of it before.

20A: Guevara and others: ERNESTOS. I don't know any "other" ERNESTO.

25A: Fearless daring: AUDACITY. Ah, "The AUDACITY of Hope". Our governor Tim Pawlenty said "Hope is not a plan".

28A: Academy frosh: PLEBE. Navy Academy I presume?

30A: Hawkins of Dogpatch: SADIE. "Li'l Abner" stuff again. Sadly, I forgot all about her and the SADIE Hawkins Day. Did she find a husband in the end?

35A: Edberg or Sorenstam: SWEDE. Lots of great golfers are from Sweden. So is Tiger Wood's wife. Some call rutabaga as SWEDE.

38A: Salad-service piece: CRUET. Not a common item in Asian kitchens.

42A: Rump: DERRIERE. I envy those who have DERRIERE. Most Asians don't have butts.

44A: Click beetle: ELATER. No idea. Huge eyes. Do they make clicking noises? If so, they certainly won't elate me. Dennis says only male turkeys gobble, and females "make a clicking noise". I thought they make "clucking" noise. What do you think?

50A: Amati's hometown: CREMONA. Unknown to me. See this map. Also the Strad namesake "Stradivari's hometown".

54A: Quick impression: APERCU. Or Synopsis.

56A: Fast-food customers: ORDERERS. I thought of TEENAGERS first.

60A: A. J. of auto racing: FOYT. Nope. I only know A. J. of baseball. Wikipedia mentions that A. J. FOYT is the only driver to win the Indianapolis 500 (which he won four times), the Daytona 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans".

Down:

2D: Premier pointillist: SEURAT (Georges). Here is his most famous work: "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte".

3D: Burnt shade: SIENNA. Like this. Don't understand why our editor has never clued SIENNA as the scorching hot/ready to burn "Actress Miller". Her name is fun to play with.

4D: Become rigid, in a way: TENSE UP. Ah, "TENSE UP".

5D: Profligates: WASTRELS. New word to me. I wanted WASTERS, but it's one letter short.

10D: Countrified: RUSTICAL. Only know Rustic.

11D: Raymond Burr TV series: IRONSIDE. Have zero familiarity with this TV series or the actor Raymond Burr.

12D: Arizona river: GILA. Or the name of this desert monster. Wikipedia says GILA monster is so sluggish in movement that it poses no threat to human.

18D: Mil. division: REGT (Regiment). I learned this morning that a regiment consists of at least two battalions and is commanded by a colonel.

25D: Poplar tree: ABELE. I need to chew an acorn. Forgot this white poplar ABELE again. Rooted in Latin albellus, meaning white.

34D: Wrongly self-willed: PERVERSE. Again, not a familiar definition to me. Sick, yes.

36D: Common: EVERYDAY

39D: Male hawk used in falconry: TIERCEL. Also spelled as TERCEL. New name to me.

48D: Fight, country-style: RASSLE. Slang for "wrestle". This kind of Dogpatch style word often stumps me.

50D: Gian __ Menotti: CARLO. Uh-uh, no. Williams often clue CARLO as "Sophia's husband" or "Director Ponti". MENOTTI was clued as "The Consul" composer in our puzzle before. He won Pulitzer for "The Consul". He also wrote the classic Christmas opera "Amahl and the Night Visitors".

52D: Opinion pg.: OP-ED. It's always placed opposite the editorials, hence the name.

53D: Rounded ottoman: POUF. Not the POUF I am familiar with. Here are some POUT ottomans.

Full answer grid.

C.C.

56 comments:

  1. Unknowns for today were SEURAT, SPRIGS, RUSTICAL, GILA, ABELE, CRUET, CARLO and TIERCEL. GUERNSEY just wouldn't come to me; nor did PANAMA or AUDACITY. I wanted LORD for EARL (at first), TUSSLE for RASSLE, SOFA for POUF, LED for LCD and ORDINARY for EVERYDAY.

    Forest RANGERS was a gimme for me because it was a TV show on Canadian TV when I was a kid. Every week the kids would rescue a camper or a bear or camper and a bear or two campers or two bears or whatever.

    You do know that ELEVE is French for student, right? I kept thinking ETUDIANT. Oh and Nichel is an ELEMENT in the Periodic Table of Elements. The OAS is the Organisation of American States. And Sylvester is from "Tweety and Sylvester": he used to say things like "Suckering Suckatash". I don't know what that was supposed to mean.

    I envy those who have DERRIERE. Most Asians don't have butts.

    I suspect you're being modest: not having a butt at all is a sign of being too thin and most Asian women are just right in my opinion, with an equal number being either too thin or too fat.

    From yesterday:
    I am so disappointed when somebody doesn't respect my decision.

    Well, technically, if you ask someone not to post so often and they don't post for a full week then they took your decision to heart, didn't they? Mind you, I din't know that you were going to have 137 posts in one day that same month.

    Martin

    ReplyDelete
  2. Martin,
    ETUDIANT seldom appears in any puzzle. It's always ELEVE due to its vowel friendliness. I am not thin, just need 2 more inches of hip & 2 less inches of waist.

    Kazie,
    Ach du Lieber! You are incredible!

    Anonymous with SF Chronicle,
    Tomorrow will be the last puzzle of TMS Daily.

    Wolfmom,
    After we solve some Rich Norris puzzles, then we can give an objective assessment to Williams' work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fred,
    I guess we will know for sure next week. I got my information from Mary Elson, the Managing Director for TMS.

    Clear Ayes & Linda,
    I interpreted "They also serve who only stand and wait" as "They also serve those who only stand and wait" instead of "They who only stand and wait also serve". So I was confused. Thanks for the explanations.

    Lemonade,
    So do you believe in life after death? Who are those "Sandenista"?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good morning, C.C. & gang - an enjoyable puzzle for an enjoyable Saturday. Bright sunshine here today.

    I'd never seen tercel spelled with an 'i' before, though, and I think 'orderers' is incredibly weak for 55A; any restaurant-goer is an orderer. I also don't think I've seen 'rustical' before; usually just 'rustic'. All in all, however, I thought this one was decent.

    Martin, Sylvester used to say "sufferin' succotash", not "suckering".

    Today is Fragrance Day.

    Today's Words of Wisdom: "Old age is like climbing a mountain. You climb from ledge to ledge. The higher you get, the more tired and breathless you become, but your views become more extensive." -- Actress Ingrid Bergman

    And a few more Fun Facts for the day:

    - The screwdriver was invented before the screw.

    - More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a phone call.

    - The first domain name ever registered was Symbolics.com (1985)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dennis,
    Fragrance Day. Hmm, I am wearing Opium, how about you? What was the purpose of inventing screwdriver if there was no screw?

    Democrat,
    You can find the puzzle on LA Times' website.

    Hayrake,
    "Shock and awe"? You meant "Shock and Oh", right? Yeah, I missed "u" in Morneau. Overworked. Overtalked. From now on, will limit my own comments to 5 posts per day also.

    ReplyDelete
  6. shame that the last puzzle had to be a sledge hammer! either that or I'm just not fully awake yet.

    I struggled with thing and according to the timer I took almost thirty minutes.

    I got ELEVE confused with ALEVE. I wanted renter for tenant.


    CC,

    Does this mean that the puzzle wont be online anymore either or it just wont be in the papers.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi C.C.

    "Shock and Awe" is what President Bush did to Iraq at the offset. Actually, I'm afraid that's what he INTENDED to do.

    None of your bloggers want to see you limit your own comments to any number per day. Please continue making all the comments you want. OK?

    Hayrake

    ReplyDelete
  8. CC,

    I was referring to the Chicago puzzle. I will try the LA Times but I would also like to continue doing the Tribune puzzle also unless the online version will be eliminated also.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Redsmitty,
    In addition to the online source, the new LA Times puzzle will be carried by most of the papers that currently have TMS Daily.

    Hayrake,
    I know "Shock and Awe". Just kidded you with "Shock and Oh". I make all kinds of mistakes every day. A couple of days ago I called Dick "Dicked". The decision on my own 5 posts/day is made and I won't reverse it.

    Democrats,
    Tomorrow will be our last Wayne R Williams' Tribune Daily puzzle. Chicago Tribune will carry LA Times puzzle on its website also, but only from Monday to Saturday.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Barry G,
    Theme answers:
    Lovers of Greek mythology: HERO AND LEANDER
    Assist with a crisis: JUMP INTO THE FIRE
    From Media Advertisers: SPONSOR RELATED

    Theme title: Hold Your Horses. Why?

    PromiseMe,
    I don't get your "Exegesis" definition: "You can't see the kid 'cause I didn't get the check, haole!"

    ReplyDelete
  11. C.C., Mr. Fun Facts will occasionally throw in a 'Fun Falsehood' just to see who's paying attention. Not saying that that was one of them.

    Gotta go play; back later today.

    ReplyDelete
  12. As for the Chicago Tribune puzzle,

    I like it better I've tried the LA Times I don't like hard puzzles. If the Tribune puzzle dies then I will switch to USA TODAY.

    A friend says puzzles are relaxing, well there's nothing relaxing about a puzzle you can't work.

    I have enough frustrations in my life I don't need the added aggravation of a Xword puzzle.

    ALL GRAVY NO GRIEF

    ReplyDelete
  13. What is 33 down my answer came out sureneas ??? anonymous

    ReplyDelete
  14. You are right a "toner" is an astringent never a cream. My stumpers were Pouf & cruet. I used cress. Some words are easier if you are older (like me) brcause they are not
    used much anymore. the movie stars are from my era. The 40's and 50's.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Today's LAT is a bear - I think we're all going to need to learn new clueing habits (MRSOLEARY as a "19th century scapegoat"?). This is going to be very interesting IMHO.

    ReplyDelete
  16. @ anon 7:37,

    33D is SURENESS
    56A is LESSEE

    ReplyDelete
  17. Morning, all!

    Only have a few seconds before I have to leave. Totally blew through this one in record time (even ELATER and APERCU were no problem) until I hit the SE corner. I still haven't solved that part yet, but I have to go. I'll try it later and then report in then...

    ReplyDelete
  18. CC: A skin "toner" is one which tightens pores and "firms" the skin and is usually astringent. (Usually used after a cream cleansing.) Haven`t used soap to clean my face in 30 years and I`m told my skin looks years younger than my age.

    BTW, if possible, some of us would probably give you some derriere inches!

    Imagine that! Our leader abiding by her own rules! Congress and all institutions financial, are you taking note?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Nice puzzle... TIERCEL... I thought it was TERCEL... .whatever.
    While Pawlenty's "Hope is not a plan" comment tries to critique Obama's " Audacity of Hope" I will go with the Hope after having to live through W. His book should be called "The Audacity of the Dope" Just frustrated with right wingers these days...
    C. C. BTW... went to the Twins game... Yankees 4 Twins 2. Yanks hit three homers. Twins had the bags loaded in the bottom of the 9th but hit into a double play.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Rustical? Toner for cream? Pouf? I can't say I'll miss Tom Pruce or Josiah Breward. I may live to eat these words, but the winds of change are blowing and all we can do is batten down the hatches and hunker down. Give those brain cells a rest and get ready for a fresh outlook on Monday.

    ¡Buena suerte a todos!

    ReplyDelete
  21. CC & all,
    Good morning. I had a little trouble in the SW corner but finally figured it out w/o visiting Mr. Magoo.

    I believe Piper Laurie is best known for her role as the lame alcoholic opposite Paul Newman in "The Hustler", one of my favorite movies. Jackie Gleason was splendid in this. If you haven't seen this, CC, it is a great flick.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Concerning the demise of so many print newspapers...There`s a good, and articulate article (good xw juncture!) by Nicholas D. Kristof in the NYT today.

    As Dennis says, "Gotta go play, now.."

    ReplyDelete
  23. ... and, I'm back! Did you miss me? ^_^

    I took another look at the SE corner and finally found my mistake. Mistakes, actually. It all started when I misremembered OAS as "Organization of ARAB States" and put ARAB instead of AMER for 45D. That led me to but VERONA instead of CREMONA for 50D, except I misspelled it VRERONA. That also led me to misspell PAYMENTS as PAYMANTS, which seemed perfectly all right at the time.

    I didn't know POUF or CARLO, and as a result of all the aforementioned mistakes I was looking at __DEBERS for 55A for the longest time. What finally got me back on track was realizing that PAYMENTS supposed to have an E in it, which made me realize that ARAB had to be AMER, which meant that VRERONA was CREMONA and the mysterious 55A was, in fact, ORDERERS. POUF and CARLO therefore ended up being gotten entirely via the perps, so it didn't matter that they were unknown.

    As I said earlier, the rest of the puzzle was a breeze. The only minor sticking point was TIERCEL which was just familiar enough that I was able to get it with enough help from the perps. And, as I mentioned, potential sticking points such a ELATER, ABELE and ELEVE (classic old crossword words) and APERCU just popped into my brain easily today.

    But that SE corner....

    ReplyDelete
  24. Good morning:

    Mostly a fun puzzle, but the TONER, ELATER, and REL corner was bad.

    The AMATI family were the pioneers in modern violin design, which I learned when my youngest was playing violin in his middle school orchestra. Amati. Since I never could get anything more than a screech out of a violin, I realized he actually had music in him. For some reason, it reminds me of one of my favorite story songs. Lyrics.

    Which is a perfect segue into answering your question, C.C.; I believe the soul is immortal; I have an open mind about what that means, but I do not believe in the Devil or hell, as I perceive them as mere excuses for our basic human frailties. I believe we have to learn and overcome our weaknesses, and accept that we make the choices, not controlled by some outside force.

    “Twin Peaks” was marvelous television; imagine one character was a log! Twin Peaks. PIPER LAURIE has been around for years, and is still active. She has played such diverse roles as Lady Macbeth and Mae West.

    Sienna Miller is hot, even if she is a bit of a home wrecker. Many millihelens.

    A J Foyt was the most impressive race car driver, as the record shows, and he has a grand child still racing, AJ IV. I remember a race where AJ was in a terrible accident, and they thought he was dead, but they brought him back, and he raced again.


    RUSTICAL is soooooo bpgus; on to LAT.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I'm late this morning, due to having to help check math on our taxes. As a result, being stuck on the SE corner, I just came here instead of devoting more time to it.

    I agree about TONER and RUSTICAL and ORDERERS too.

    c.c.,
    That link for the ABELE looks like there's a small kangaroo in the background, or is it just a long tailed dog?

    Guernsey and Jersey, Channel Islands both have cows named after them. Around here the farmers with Jersey herds have to keep them in the barn during hunting season.

    Élèves is reserved for school students. Étudiants are always at the tertiary level. German makes the same distinction, as does British English--students and pupils.

    When I started teaching here, I used to tell my high school "students" they needed to earn that title before I'd use it for them, since they were lazier than what I was used to. Later I accepted reality, though they got progressively worse, and I realized those earlier ones were the best I was going to get, other than very few exceptions.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Good morning, c.c. and all
    This puzzle made me happy, because it ran along easily , Wastrels gave me a problem and Apercu , or APERWHO ? New to me .
    Carlo and Cremona was a gimme!
    BarryG, how did you survive that SE corner ! i was getting angst just reading about it. Lol

    Dennis, that Screwdriver thing, too deep, now i' m completely screwed up .

    Oh and Linda, i' m still trying to digest "flammoxed" from the other day and now Apostasy ?!
    Is that word coming up on the next C/W ? I was to tired to go and look it up , as i' ve been dealing with a runny nose for the past two days.

    Funny enough, last nite i heard Chris Botti utter
    the word " flammoxed " in ref. to Katherine Mcaffee
    immediately i thought , he must be doing the same puzzle, yeah, right ?!

    Ok, i am off now to nurse my cold and the LAT
    maybe, gave up on yesterday after the Zits.

    Ta, taa everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Oh, i forget, Rustical, another made up word !

    ReplyDelete
  28. Good morning, everyone. Not a bad solve today. I had to guess the E in the DEI/SEURANT cross, but that was the only letter that made sense. Got LAURIE, CREMONA, APERCU, ULAN, WASTRELS, RUSTICAL, TIERCEL and POUF from the perps.

    C.C., I think those large round spots on the elater are false eyes to scare off predators. His real eyes are the little beady ones. It has been a while since we've seen ABELE. I think it's really nice that you've begun to place the full answer grid at the bottom of your write-up.

    We in Oregon will get the Newsday puzzle next week. The following week is another syndicated offering, but I don't have the notes in front of me to tell you which one.

    Have a great Saturday! Two more second round games today, then it's back in front of the tube for the duration. I LOVE march madness.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Just did the LAT, regular skill level. Quite a few unknowns, resolved by using the red and going thru the keyboard. Many meant nothing even after finishing. I'm still lacking American culture after all these years. I wonder how the Colonel got his name in there? (LOL)

    ReplyDelete
  30. Good Morning All, Not too bad for the last puzzle of this series for me. The only place I got stuck was on the left coast. I first wanted TONGS for CRUET, BUTTOCKS for DERRIERE and CORPSE for GONERS. TIERCEL was a completely new one for me. I chipped away at the perps until I finished, but wasn't 100% sure until I came here.

    I first thought of Sylvester Stallone's SLUR for 31A, although it is more of a mumble. I smiled when I realized it was Sylvester the Cat, one of G.A.H.'s favorite Looney Toons characters. I'm partial to Daffy Duck myself. One of G.A.H.'s favorite oaths....reserved for when there are grandchildren present... is "THUFFERIN' THUCCCOTASH!!"

    Lucky Piper LAURIE got to star with a young and gorgeous Paul Newman in 1961's The Hustler. (Any day I can link Paul Newman is a good day.) She also played the crazy mother in Carrie. She got Academy Award nominations for both of them.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I did the LA Times as well. According to the clock, I did it in a bit over 15 minutes, which seemed about right. It had its challenging bits, but I think overall I was on the same wavelength as the creator.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Barry G,
    I didn't time today's but just did Friday's and took over 26 minutes. There are slang clues and highborw clues all mixed together. I still have to work on getting used to that. Maybe I've just become too comfortable with those we are used to.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Morning everyone...Well, the whole top half was a breeze and then it started slowing down a bit and I had to go back and forth to get it filled...The I in tiercel threw me and I didn't think I had that correct.(BTW, I think the photo is a Peregrine which lives around water, fishes, and they mate for life).Also got hung up on ELATER as a beetle. Did some erasing and changing to get where I needed to be...started with DUOS and quickly changed it to TWOS and had TUSSLE instead of RASSLE for a long time.

    Actually got all the names today. I would say that Mr. Williams left us with a halfway decent puzzle...he really could have slammed us.

    I was doing all the LAT puzzles until yesterday when my Flashplayer disappeared...it took quite a number of tries to finally load it again so I will have to backtrack and get yesterday's and then today's.

    Dennis: isn't it actually thufferin' thuccotash with a lot of slobbering included? Also really liked your WoW today...Cart before the horse? Screwdriver before the screw? I just know what Lois will do with that one. ;0)

    C.C. Haven't seen Pawlenty from my house lately...I don't think he is one of the governors turning down stimlus $$$. I used to wear Opium and when I started working around food, I switched to Vanilla-scented perfumes from Provençe.(Woo Hoo, Kazie...it worked!!!)
    Also forgot to how cool the filled in grid is...great idea!

    Have to go check in on mom and take her shopping today...might check back in later if I get to the LAT xword.

    TTFN

    ReplyDelete
  34. Thanks CC for all your clever comments and help on clues. I have been a crossword person for 30 years but never profess to be totally "in the know" like you guys. At long last I am finally sending you a note as I see the Chcgo Trib puzzle will be changing on Monday. Thanks for the heads up and I'll see if I can work it. I have worked the Tribune puzzles for so long I hope the new format doesn't throw me. Thanks for all your postings- loved reading them! Joan

    ReplyDelete
  35. C.C. I know that you know more about American history than I do so should have realized you were messing around with me. Shock and Oh! Geesh! I'm always too slow to catch on. Like saying Dick is Dicked. Maybe he is?

    I'm glad you are sticking to your own rules about posting. I think I am anyway. Like Linda said - too bad Congress can't do as much.

    Hayrake

    ReplyDelete
  36. I get the Tribune puzzle in the Long Beach "Press-Telegram". I also subscribe to the "Los Angeles Times". Since the Tribune is the easier puzzle, I usually don't do the Times. Starting Monday, I'll do both.

    C.C. I love your comments. Please don't limit yourself.

    Doreen

    ReplyDelete
  37. If the Amati violin was the earliest in 1558, then Nero didn't fiddle when Rome burned.

    Doreen

    ReplyDelete
  38. Doreen: Nero most likely "lyred" while Rome burned(if the rumors are true) or "fiddled" with his lyre...a harp-like instrument that has been around for a very long time.

    Off to mom's now...

    ReplyDelete
  39. Hi C.C. and all,

    Elater for click beetle??!! We need to party with this guy. Actually the family name for click beetle is ELATERIDAE, hence, elater.

    Had LED first instead of LCD. Did not care for sureness, rtustical, and orderers.

    When dealing with leases, lessee is the tenant and lessor is the landlord. Always looks strange to me. I couldn't come up with a song link for today's puzzle, but since I think that lessor and lessee look strange, how about Strange Brew

    ReplyDelete
  40. Linda, try this,

    Symbols

    I hope this works.

    IMBO

    ReplyDelete
  41. Linda, now all you have to do is start copying. (Or bookmark it).

    Leave it to c.c., on the last day of the Star Trib. puzzle, to show us a picture of Guernsey cows, with the second from the right taking a leak.

    I don't need to wait to see if the LAT puzzle is better. I just know that ours was getting stale. Too many repeats. I'll have to wait until Monday to see which one I get.

    I must be off

    I know how you feel about pets. One year, after Thanksgiving, I told my kids that nothing tasted better than a FRESH turkey. To prove it, I bought a live turkey and we reared it in our backyard. After a year, the kids had gotten so close to "Tom" that they wouldn't let me kill it. Alas, we had to eat the dog.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Didn't do badly for a themeless puzzle. I didn't like ORDERERS, RUSTICAL, SURENESS. Didn't know TIERCEL, ELATER, APERCU. Disagreed with TONERS clue. GONERS and RASSLE bothered me for some reason. I had RENTER for LESSEE, LED for LCD and MODELT for EDSELS, but figured out my errors. And I was very proud of myself for remembering ABELE.

    We'll see how far I get into next week . . .

    A friend sent me this Quote of the day:
    "Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit."

    ReplyDelete
  43. Hi all,

    Yes Barry, we always miss you. Didn't even finish yesterdays puzzle as I didn't start it until 10:30pm or so. Too late to think that hard. Today's was a bit easier. As I am short on time, I came here for the final answers. Never would have gotten APERCU but would have guessed that. The SE corner was a bear for me too. CREMONA and TONERS were stickers for me, as was PLEBE.

    Busy watching the Big Ten Gymnastics on the Big Ten Network. My daughters first roommate in college is competing, and she is there watching. We are madly texting back and forth. I am sure if she called she couldn't hear a thing as it is so loud. That will be my afternoon. Should be working on broken computers, but that may have to wait until tomorrow.

    Hope everyone has a good day.

    ReplyDelete
  44. C.C. PLEBE is used to describe freshman at both West Point and the Naval Academy

    ReplyDelete
  45. Buckeye: You actually trying to teach us incompetents HTML?

    E/ love your quote, off to send to all the FF's/

    ReplyDelete
  46. Good Afternoon C.C. and Co.,

    C.C.,
    The key to my definition lies in the EX part. Since the proper definition of Exegesis is 'critical explanation', my definition evokes a divorcee with children being critical of her ex-husband and explaining to him that he cannot see the kid 'cause he violated the terms of the custody agreement by not sending her the child support payment.
    Do you recall the memory aid for remembering HAOLE?

    The singular for DEI is 'deus'.
    Twin Peaks was the bizzarrest show ever to grace television.
    ERNESTO Maserati was one of the world's prominent car makers.
    I think Pawlenty's comment is worth noting. However, that begs the question: Does Pawlenty have a good plan?
    While the term PLEBE is indelibly associated with the Naval academy, I believe that a plebe can actually be someone from any academic or political body.
    The Guinness Irish Stew that I prepared on St. Patrick's Day called for 'one small rutabaga'. When I got to the register at the supermarket, the cashier did not know what it was. I told him it was a rutabaga and he, politely, disputed the matter. He finally decided that it was a turnip. I didn't argue with him, but I decided to look it up when I got home. It was then that I learned, that it is sometimes called a Swede, as you said. My favorite Swede is ClearAyes.
    I will defer to Dennis' knowledge regarding the mating sounds of turkeys.
    "Fast-food customers: ORDERERS. I thought of TEENAGERS first." I thought of 'Fat Americans' at first, but that was too many letters.
    GILA monsters may pose no threats to humans, but in SW Florida there is great concern over the proliferation of Nile Monitors. They are a potential danger to people's pets and their children.
    A dear friend of mine was Samuel Barber's lover. He was quite bitter toward Gian CARLO Menotti. He claimed that Barber had intended to bequeath him a generous portion of his estate. According to my friend, Menotti talked Barber out of doing so while Barber was not in complete control of his faculties. I believe my friend. Barber, having written a well-known piece for flute in his honor, was obviously quite fond of him.

    C.C.: I used to smoke opium.














    j/k

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  47. Dennis: Nice quote from Ingrid Bergman. "Fun Falsehood"? That's not fair. :(

    Chris in LA: "(MRSOLEARY as a "19th century scapegoat"?). This is going to be very interesting IMHO."
    I am really looking forward to it. I believe the one I tried was quite a stumper. What's the point of doing one that is easy? Just to make yourself feel smart?

    Linda: "Congress and all institutions financial, are you taking note?" Do they do that?

    Kazie: It pained me to read your sad remarks regarding our school students.
    "I wonder how the Colonel got his name in there? (LOL)" I'd love to get a glimpse of your grid at that point.

    Boomermomma: I, for one, never feel like I am 'totally in the know". I just figure, "What the hell, I got sumthin' ta say too."

    Buckeye: You would notice that one of those cows was taking a leak. Which recipe did you use for the dog?

    Elissa: That's a great quote. I wonder to whom the original attribution belongs.

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  48. PromiseMeThis, Thanks for the compliment. Of course, I may be the ONLY Swede you know. At any rate, I'm glad you like me better than a rutabaga.

    I'll be back tomorrow when the Rug Rats have gone home. The oldest one is almost 19, is 6'3", and scarcely qualifies as a Rug Rat. When he offers to sit on my lap, I take it as a threat.

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  49. 19, 6'3", of Swedish decent .... ?
    Tell me more ;)

    ReplyDelete
  50. Barry G,
    Theme answers:
    Lovers of Greek mythology: HERO AND LEANDER
    Assist with a crisis: JUMP INTO THE FIRE
    From Media Advertisers: SPONSOR RELATED

    Theme title: Hold Your Horses. Why?


    Sorry I didn't see your question earlier, C. C. As I've tried to illustrate above, each theme answer holds the name of a type of horse within it.

    Have a great Sunday, all! And I guess we'll find out on Monday whether I'll be continuing on this long, strange journey with the rest of you...

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  51. Whew! Fun is almost too tiring sometimes!

    Buckeye: Thank you so much for the link...Kazie did them for me ("and anyone else who needs them") last evening. I`m getting to be a regular techno-phile (can I say that here?)

    Elissa: Great quote at 2:58 and, another Dadism ,"Truer words were never spoken through falser teeth."
    I know nothing about your dental work :)...that`s just how he agreed with a statement.

    PMT: Bizzarest? Better watch it...Pruce et al are influencing you!
    Do they do that? Only when they have no legal right to!

    Anybody read the best seller about the Isle of Guernsey during WWII? Something about the "Potato Peel Pie Literary Club" Wonderful read!

    Don`t get the "puzzle of the day" on Sundays...see all yuse guys Monday.

    Kazie: You are dead on about American students. Unless and until there are consequences at home for not doing your best...why should students care? Too many of the parents don`t. Those who do are getting disgusted in greater and greater numbers and are forming charter schools, private academies or home-shcooling...because the "blow it off" attitude does influence even the best of students. I also found that in some cultures, it`s not "cool" to do too well in school. How did we get to that place?

    Enough with the soap box.

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  52. Linda,
    I must have sounded really cheesed off about the students earlier. Mostly it was sad to see so many potentially bright kids just too lazy to make an effort. But as I said, there were the exceptions.

    Those who went on our three week trip to Europe often had their eyes opened when we visited our sister school and they saw what was expected of real students in Germany.

    Wolfmom,
    Congrats on getting the ç to work in Provence. However, you don't need it before an e or i--they automatically cause the c to sound like an s. It works before a,o, or u. Like in garçon.

    Our internet was down for several hours tonight, otherwise I'd have posted this sooner.

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  53. All I do is hit the ' key before hitting the 'c' key to get the ç.

    As I said before, I just have my keyboard set to US International. There are certain characters that I cannot easily type with that setup, but I can always resort to other measures. US International provides for most Western language characters.

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  54. KZ:

    good catch, but it is understandable because people think of Provençal and think "ok, there's a ç in Provençal, so there should be one in Provence too."

    my screen at home never lets me see the chinese letters, though at work I can see them.

    past my bedtime....

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  55. Lemonade...thanks for that on the Chinese characters...all I see are little boxes and this is essentially my "at work" computer...I thought maybe that's what it was representing.

    Kazie...also thanks. I guess I was actually thinking of Provençal...I was mainly showing my husband that it would work.

    Lost my Flashdrive yesterday so I couldn't print out or even look at the LAT puzzles...after 5 attempts I finally got it to load...so will try to do Friday and Sat and see what happens.

    Chris in LA@ 8:02 am...Spoiler Alert! I hadn't done the puzzle but now I have at least one answer...easy...Chicago fire...cow kicked over the lantern, MRS O'LEARY got blamed...her cow...We will have to really think outside the box.

    I do like difficult puzzles and like clever clues that cause me to really think rather than obscure clues that are just Google fodder...

    Sorry to post so late...been a busy day. Cheers.

    ReplyDelete

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