google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday May 10, 2009 John Lampkin

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May 10, 2009

Sunday May 10, 2009 John Lampkin

Theme: Mothers of Invention

23A: When Harriet Farnam invented her "Non-Swarmer" beehive, she __: GOT A HONEY OF A DEAL

44A: When Mary Walton invented sound dampers for elevated railways, she __: TOOK THE HIGH ROAD

64A: When Amanda Jones invented the automatic safety oil burner, she __: WASN'T JUST BLOWING SMOKE

87A: When Ruth Wakefield invented the chocolate-chip cookie, she __: SWEETENED THE POT

112A: When Ida Hyde invented the intracellular microelectrode, she __: CAUSED A SENSATION

16D: When Hedy Lamarr co-invented a radio-frequency encryption system, she __: MADE WAVES

78D: When Josephine Cochrane invented dishwasher, she __: CLEANED UP

All of above theme entries are in simple past tense except 64A. I guess the constructor needs an odd number verb phrases for the very central row #11. Very clever how he added a "JUST" to the entry. It sounds natural and it adds some scrabbliness to the grid, which is only one letter X away from being a pangram. And 9 K's. Incredible.

I thought the theme is very clever and obviously the constructor did a thorough research. Unfortunately I am scientifically challenged. And constructor's creativity and humor are lost on me. Are those "Mothers of Invention" all American? Hedy Lamarr is the only one I've heard of. And I thought she was only an actress. Had no idea that she ever invented anything.

Quite a few cross-referencing clues in the puzzle. And several clues made me laugh. I like how the below answers are clued, from A to AAA:

12D: A, in Arles: UNE

14D: AA co-founder: BILL W. He can continue to remain anonymous. I've never heard of him and don't feel the need to know him.

86A: AAA Option: RTE

I wonder if John Lampkin considered Bette Nesmith Graham (Michael Nesmith's mother) who invented Liquid Paper. I used tons of Liquid Paper this morning. Lots of OOPS instead of OH NO (6D: Klutz's cry) mistakes are made. And too many musical/musician related entries for my simple mind.

I hope you struggled as well. Everyone seems to be doing so well lately. I really don't want to be the only child left behind.

Across:

1A: "West Side Story" dance: MAMBO. Stumped immediately. Have never seen "West Side Story".

2A: Doling out mil. rations: ON K.P. K.P. is Kitchen Police.

10A: Jacket materials? BLURB. Book jacket. Nice misleading clue.

15A: Pianist Gilels: EMIL. No idea. Wikipedia says this pianist was born in Odessa.

19A: Nirvana #1 album "In __": UTERO. See the album cover.

20A: Consider in court: HEAR

21A: "Amazing" magician: RANDI (James). I forgot all about him. Googled him before.

22A: Chance it: DARE. Thought of RISK.

26A: Wedding pair: I DO'S. Good clue.

27A: Work on ribs: GNAW. I need a "with at" for the answer to come readily.

28A: Small Welsh river boats: CORACLES. Unknown to me. Strange boat. So tiny.

29A: Under the surface: LATENT

33A: '50s Reds slugger, familiarly: KLU. Ted Kluszewski. Nicknamed "Big Klu". I've never heard of him. Of course I was thinking of the guy on the right, Ted Williams.

34A: Kin of kitties and fishies?: BOWWOW

36A: About one in three Bosnians: SERBS. Oh, I did not know that fact. I do not have a clear understanding of the Balkans at all.

39A: Saint called the founder of Scholasticism: ANSELM. Have never heard of this saint (ANSELM of Canterbury). Wikipedia says he is famous as the originator of the ontological argument for the existence of God, whatever that is.

42A: Lyre-playing Muse: ERATO. Muse of love poetry. She does carry a lyre.

49A: TV control: VOL

50A: Leak results: DRIPS

51A: Female gamete: OVUM

52A: A joker might pull yours: LEG

53A: Go to: ATTEND

56A: Go on and on: RANT

57A: Drop: OMIT

58A: Parisian passes: NONS. French "No". Alliteration in the clue again.

59A: Popular cups: REESE'S. Good clue too.

61A: French cleric: ABBE

62A: Latin lover's word: AMO. AMO, amas, amat.

43A: __ Reader: UTNE. Named after its founder Eric UTNE. I leafed through a few pages of a recent UTNE Reader at Barnes & Noble the other day. It does not interest me.

73A: 130-lb. -plus ref.: OED (Oxford English Dictionary). 20-volume.

74A: Verified: TRUE

75A: No. beginning with a "-": NEG

76A: Certs competitor: TIC TAC. Have never tried this brand.

79A: Sartre's "Huh?": QUOI. I like the Sartre reference.

80A: Opera conductor Daniel: OREN. Foreign to me. He is an Israeli opera conductor. He looks angry. Wikipedia says he is a protégé of Leonard Bernstein.

81D: Note: MEMO

82A: Volunteer: ENLIST. Oh, volunteer for the military service.

83A: Certain brewer: URN

84A: Santa nickname: KRIS. I really like "Miracle on 34th Street".

85A: Oil burners: LAMPS

91A: Cycle part: PHASE

94A: Pulitzer-winning writer Welty: EUDORA. Nope, not a familiar name to me. Such a weathered face. EUDORA means "generous" in Greek, according to Dictionary.com.

96A: __ cordiale: friendly understanding: ENTENTE

98A: Tach readout: RPM

100A: "Whatever you want": NAME IT. "I wanna, I wanna..."

105A: Defraud: FLEECE

106A: Foreshadowed: PRESAGED

110A: K-12: ELHI. EL(ementary) + HI (gh-school).

111A: Teased: RODE. I did not know ride can mean "tease".

116A: Elton's "__ Song": YOUR. Beautiful song.

117A: 1999 Academy Honorary Award recipient: KAZAN (Elia). Not aware of this fact.

118A: Bop: CONK. On the head?

119A: Inched: CREPT

121A: Holst's "The Planets," for one: SUITE. Neither the composer Gustav Holst nor his work "The Planets' is familiar to me. Here is a clip.

122A: "Trick" joint: KNEE

123A: They're often bored: HOLES. Drill a hole. Love this clue too.

Down:

1D: Humid: MUGGY

2D: Compensate (for): ATONE

3D: Sodium, for one: METAL. Oh, I was thinking of my salt.

4D: Free-for-all: BRAWL

5D: "Impressive": OOH. And AWE (30D: Elicit a 5-Down)

6D: Klutz's cry: OH NO. Penned in OOPS of course.

7D: When hell freezes over, in verse: NE'ER. Another great clue. Hot!

8D: Inuit boat: KAYAK. Literally, "man's boat". Umiak means "woman's boat".

9D: Declare: PROCLAIM

10D: Hebrides hillside: BRAE. Another alliteration.

11D: Boys: LADS

13D: Inits. in nutrition: RDA

15D: Revisionist?: EDITOR. Can't fool me. Saw similar clue somewhere before.

17D: Heavy china material: IRONSTONE. New material to me. Looks heavy.

24D: Chamber work: OCTET. Sounds like a lot. What is the most popular Chamber Music ensemble? OCTET?

25D: Hurled: FLUNG. Slung too.

32D: Poses: ASKS. Thought of SITS.

34D: Modern journals: BLOGS

35D: Medical suffix: OMA. As in melanoma.

37D: Equilateral quadrilateral: RHOMBUS. I am having difficulty pronouncing the clue. Can't event tell sax from sex, for heaven's sake.

38D: Beauty groups: BEVIES. Bevy of beauties.

40D: Violinist Mintz: SHLOMO. Nope. He is an Israeli violinist. Wikipedia says Isaac Stern was his mentor.

41D: Heretofore: ERENOW

43D: Bygone GM line: OLDS. Gone in 2004.

44D: Refrain syllables: TRA LA

45D: Pen pal chatter?: OINKS. This clue is making all the pigs in the world happy. Hilarious.

46D: Decide: OPT. Not with a for?

47D: Primitive home: HUT

48D: Tranquilizing weapon: DART GUN. I was thinking of Taser.

50D: Attracted: DREW

54D: Linguist's subject: TENSE

55D: Swarm: TEAM

57D: Doesn't go along: OBJECTS. Like the verb here.

58D: Silent star Nita: NALDI. I tend to confuse this lady with the "Cleopatra" girl Theda Bara.

61D: Book with legends: ATLAS. And MAP (81D: 61Down component)

63D: Social rumblings: UNRESTS

65D: "The Little Red Hen" denial: NOT I. Ha ha, this is the first time I heard of "The Little Red Hen" story.

66D: Got the show on the road: TOURED

67D: Suspect: BE ONTO. Had difficulty obtaining this answer.

68D: "Let __!": high roller's cry: IT RIDE

69D: "__ Time": 70s musical: ONE MO'. Nope. Not even sure if this is the correct link.

70D: Tidy: KEMPT. I actually only know unkempt.

71D: Some are inflated: EGOS

76D: Md. athlete: TERP

77D: Trusted: IN THE LOOP. Can you give me an example?

79D: Line at the Old Vic: QUEUE. Perfect, perfect clue! British call their line QUEUE. Old Vic is the famous theatre in London. And its current artistic director is Kevin Spacey.

84D: Camper's aid: KNAPSACK

85D: Darth's daughter: LEIA

88D: Wrong, with "all": WET. All WET.

89D: Stumbled: ERRED

90D: Possession: HANDS. Why? I don't get it.

92D: Navigates: STEERS

93D: Common Market inits.: EEC (European Economic Community). Can never remember this abbreviation.

97D: Kisses and more: NECKS. Sweet clue!

99D: Bricklayer: MASON

101D: Prefix with __plex: METRO. Metroplex is new to me.

102D: Architect Sarrinen: ELIEL. Father of Eero, who appears in crossword often.

103D: Optimist's phrase: I HOPE. "WE CAN" jumped into my mind. It has 5 letters also.

105D: Popular boot brand: FRYE. Wikipedia says the FRYE Company claims to be the oldest continuously operated shoe company in the United States (since 1863).

106D: Exam for pre-srs.: PSAT. Why not just "Exam for jrs."?

108D: Code carrier: GENE. Wanted DNAS.

109D: 1980s speed skating gold medalist Karin: ENKE. No idea. Her Wikipedia entry shows that Karin ENKE is quite accomplished in the 1980s.

113D: Jr. Olympic Games sponsor: AAU (Amateur Athletic Union). Stymied again today.

114D: Commando's weapon: UZI. Often clued as "Israeli gun".

115D: 6-Down: in Essen: ACH

Answer grid.

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms!

C.C.

47 comments:

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

Hayrake,
KittyB had a great KNOT link in her earlier post yesterday.

Dennis,
I am eager to hear your experience today. How is John Lampkin's theme entry cluing similar to (or different from) Merl Reagle's?

Kazie,
Thanks for the Düsseldorf donkey link again. The Wikipedia entry seems to have been heavily edited.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Well, I wouldn't exactly call this one easy. I finished in just under 30 minutes, which is the longest one of these Sunday puzzles has taken me so far.

Overall a fine puzzle, but the theme really didn't gel for me. I mean, I understood the general concept, but none of the theme answers exactly leaped out at me, and in each case I needed most of the perps to get the answer.

The NW corner was the last to fall, especially since I initially had MELEE instead of BRAWL for 4D and WOW (and later OHO) instead of OOH for 5D. I'm not a Nirvana fan, so 19A wasn't obvious to me. I actually wanted to put ATONE and METAL right away for 2D and 3D, but I was so sure that MELEE was right that I didn't. GNAW (27A) was the word that finally broke that corner open and made me correct all my mistakes.

Another tricky spot was the crossing of NEG with ONEMO. I was thinking the musical was O _EMO and not O_E MO, and it took me a long time to get the N.

Oh -- and I wasn't crazy about BOWWOWS. I was expecting DOGGIES, perhaps. To me, BOW WOW is the sound a dog makes, but I'm guessing here it means a child's word for a dog? Not my child, sorry.

And that's about it for me. C. C., I think you have a typo in your write-up for 78D -- it should be CLEANED UP instead of CLEANSED UP.

Happy Mother's Day, all!

xchefwalt said...

@anon 3:21 yesterday- what a jerk you are. Lo-li-ta ( as well as c.c., and dennis and everyone else here) are my friends, and I would gladly take the lowest form of insult from them before i accept a 'compliment' like that from an idiot such as you. I second c.c.'s motion.

hayrake said...

C.C. re: KittyB KNOT link - I missed that. Sorry. I'll try very hard to knot waste any more of your time and space.

KQ said...

I won't even begin to start with what I didn't know today. This puzzle didn't work well for me at all. I liked the Mother's Day theme, but I had lots of troubles with the clues. Even when I got the answers (or many times had the online puzzle answer for me) it wasn't an aha moment for many of them. Interesting interview CC. Thanks for doing these.

How about those M & M boys yesterday. Good to see Mauer performing so well after his lengthened time off. Can't wait to have the time to go to some games.

Happy Mother's Day to all those mothers out there. My lovely husband is taking me for a massage this afternoon. Have to spend some time today planning that graduation party as I am leaving town the rest of the week.

Dennis said...

Good morning, C.C. and fellow masochists - tough puzzle for me today, something over 20 minutes, but I really enjoyed it. The only thing that I really dislike is the crossing of two really obscure answers (at least for me), i.e. 'Anselm' & 'Schlomo', although once you have '_chlomo', there's not much else it can be.

As I've said before, I like the longer answers and once you got a handful of letters, the phrases became pretty apparent. 'Line at the old Vic'/'queue' was great; 'bowwow' not so. I could see 'doggies' or 'puppies'. KP duty for most of us never involved doling out chow - when you were assigned KP duty, you worked under the regular kitchen staff and did the most menial of tasks, peeling potatoes, washing trays, pots, etc.

Might be the only time I've ever seen 'kempt'.

Hope it's a great Mother's Day for everyone.

windhover said...

Good Sunday morning, CC,
Since it seems to be another light comment day, may I take the time and space (note to Hayrake: lighten up, man, it's all a game) to make a few random comments?

CC: your mind is simple only in the context of clarity; clarity brings power to the mind.

Xchefwalt: right on, friend, but as much fun as troll-bashing can be, my own experience tells me not to feed too freely on the anger. Feel it, let it go quickly. Hard to pass up those big softballs, though.

Jeannie: I think your sentence is mostly self-imposed, pardon yourself and try again.

Notes on clues:
33A: Bet Buckeye got this one. He and I were Redlegs fans when Big Klu was on first base. Like to see the full name though, three letters isn't enough credit for being this old.
29A: there seems to be a lot of "latent" hostility around. Can't we all just get along?
39A: St. Anselm's ontological proof: the others are the cosmological and teleological arguments. I once wrote a paper arguing that Anselm and others' " proofs" were actually subtle arguments for the nonexistence of God, which if made openly would have gotten them burned at the stake. I.E., if only weak or fallacious arguments "for" can be made, they strengthen the "against". It is true that many theologians, ancient and modern (see: Bart Ehrman) have lost their faith through the study of it. Most do not publicly reveal that fact. My professor did not buy my argument, though.
56A: I often go on and on. See above.
43A: I subscribed to Utne Reader for a while. In a word: tedious.
40D: Israeli violinist. Hope we aren't going there again.

Finally: Any puzzle that takes Dennis 20+ minutes would surely kick my ass clear to my shoulder blades and then I'd have to take my shirt off to ?

Long post, no 5 for me today.

See you tomorrow, brilliant simple mind.

Jazzbumpa said...

Happy day, all you moms!

We're off to Toledo to see my mother and mother-in-law.

Our paper, the Freep, has the Boston Globe puzzle on Sundays. Not sure I'll get a chance for any puzzling today.

Cheers!

Brendan Emmett Quigley said...

Not too shabby... a 15 minute sprint for me. Nice elements of trivia, which I like for puzzles like this. Only complaint is that I can't remember anything I just learned in the way of trivia. :(

KittyB said...

Happy Mother's day, ladies!

I finished the puzzle, but I needed a little red letter help in the NE/E. I agree that once you have some of the perps, the theme answers fell into place. I thought "jacket material?" was a clever clue.

I still dislike ELHI as an answer, and I didn't care for BOWWOWs. REESES had me stumped, SHLOMO came from the fills, and I had trouble with the spelling of CORACLES.

Hayrake, I was the one who posted the link to the explanation of KNOT, but I was glad to read what you added. As usual, I was at a loss for a brief explanation of the mechanics, so I opted to say less. There's room for both of us, don't you think?

Dear Husband took me to a movie and dinner yesterday. Today, we'll go to visit with my mother and my siblings. It's a beautiful day. We couldn't have asked for anything better. Have a good day, everyone.

Lemonade714 said...

An interesting workmanlike puzzle, I was not aware of many of these female inventors; a few fun clues, like BLURB and I DOS, but BOWWOWS is ridiculous, had to be puppies and HANDS? If somebody understands that clue, I want to know.

Enkoy your Sunday and again, a Happy Mother's Day to all of you.

Lola said...

Double ouch!!

This was a total stumper for me today. The answers that I did fill in looked very lonely amidst all the white squares. None of the theme answers would fill in. I had hoped for a more enjoyable Mother's Day offering.

Oh well, Monday will help ease the pain.

Have a great rest of the day all. TTFN

cabrini said...

Happy Mother's Day to all.
Had a really hard time with this one today. Though after I finished I appreciated the puzzle and the cluing and looking back on it realized that I enjoyed it. I look forward to more from John Lampkin.

Hope everyone enjoys their day. Told my 87 y/o mother that I would take her to the casino today for Mother's Day. That seems to be the most popular past time for Seniors these days-replacing Bingo!
Stay safe.

Crockett1947 said...

Good morning, all.

Struggled? How about slogged? Sunday is usually a journey for me. I'm at it so long I didn't even notice we almost had a pangram. Lots of clever clues. I was surprised to see KLU. That was a gimme for me. He was probably the first Red that I put up on a hero's pedestal as a kid. The man was huge and could really wallop the ball.

Too many obscure names for me. EMIL, RANDI, ANSELM, OREN, BILLW, NALDI, but some that were standard crossword names as well. I don't understand HANDS for Possession. Anyone? Anyone?

CORACLES? Wow, you'd never get me in something like that on the water!

Oops on your 50A clue. It should be "Leak," not "Leap."

I had PEDAL for PHASE to begin with (as in biCYCLE). I did nail EUDORA. I've seen it in puzzles enough to make the Welty association. CONK is usually on the head -- A V8 moment delivered to someone else. Holst's The Planets is a favorite piece of mine -- such color, emotion, and passion. I think that chamber music trios and quartets are more frequently seen than other size ensembles. Knew SHLOMO, but not how to spell it! All those silent film era leading ladies have such a smoky countenance. ONE MO' Time? Nope.

@barryg So nice to see you again, and two days in a row. I've missed your posts.

@jazzbumpa The Freep?

No apologies for the length of the post -- look at the size of the puzzle.

Have a great Sunday, all.

Al said...

Had to go online with red letters to resolve Randi/BillW. Honestly, every magician calls themselves amazing; that's no distinction. And whoever heard of Bill W? That's just a bad crossing IMHO.

Another bad cross: Anselm and Shlomo, just not solvable without looking it up. All the other proper names made this not fun for me as well: Emil, Klu, Eudora (who I had heard of and was one of my first fills, but still...), Esai, Rene, Eliel, and Epps (got them only because they come up so often) Kazan, (Elia or Lainie?) Naldi, Frye, Oren, and Enke. Guess I'm just not good with names and rote memorization, and abbrevs. like EEC and AAU, which you can only get from the perps.

I did like BLURB, OINKS, EDITOR, URN, IDOS, a new way to clue OED, and the play of volunteer and verified. Couldn't get it all on my own, though. Didn't understand HANDS either, but the perps filled it in for me.

Off to do the other two LAT on-line puzzles.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, OOH and ACH! This one was pretty difficult for me.

I don't think I had ever heard of any of the theme women, with the exception of Hedy Lamarr. I had read at some time that she invented something very technical. I remember being surprised that a lady so beautiful would have been interested in an encryption system. Shame on me!

So many things I didn't know. Fortunately, after four or "five back and forth" and "up and down", I had enough pickets in my fence to fill in all the holes. Quite a few like KLU, ANSELM, SHLOMO, UTNE and OREN were guesses, but the perps called for all those letters.

My favorite clue was "line at the Old Vic" for QUEUE, although I think you may have had to visit England for this one to come easily.

Did anybody else want JAZZ for BOP? (I thought I was being clever, but alas, not.)

C.C., and all , Here's what Merriam Webster has to say about HAND(S) noun 2 a: personal possession —usually used in plural "the documents fell into the hands of the enemy" b: control, supervision —usually used in plural, "left the matter in her hands"

Anonymous said...

Why am I confused? The Star Trib crossword is a Newsday today in print. What is happening??

WM said...

Hi gang...I will make one long post today and that will have to be it. So...unlike our Governator, I "won't be back..."

Really a fun puzzle but with all the names, a real struggle...loved OINK and QUEUE, got ANSELM and just whipped in those themes with a very few perps. I really liked that you didn't need to know names to get the answers, and that it was about clever women...go Moms! Got hung up on a lot of the same crosses as did others and I throw in my vote for puppies...otherwise it is like one those Sesame Street songs about "which of these is unlike the others"...no symmetry in BOWWOW.

I'm with Crockett on Holst's The Planets. Here is the description of each planet(as Holst wrote them):
Mars: the bringer of war
Venus: the bringer of peace
Mercury: winged messenger
Jupiter: bringer of jollity
Saturn: bringer of old age
Uranus: the magician
Neptune: the mystic
An awesome piece of music...I am a big classical fan and listen all day while I paint.

C.C. Ironstone is often used in serving pieces like soup tureens and serving pieces that are expected to get a lot of use...very sturdy and heavy-weight stuff. And...you are not the only child left behind...this was a very tough puzzle(at least for me).

I just spent the last day putting together a set of photos of 20 paintings that are being juried for a two month public venue show...will find out if I made it on Monday and then have to hang the show Tuesday...spending most of the day preparing stuff to hang...just in case. Get to go out to dinner with girls, husbands and granddaughter tonight...newly discovered Chinese restaurant that one our daughters has eaten at several times, and so we are all going to try out. Love good, reasonably authentic Chinese food! Yum!

Happiest of Mother's Days to all of you.

Clear Ayes said...

There are so many poems about mothers, it was difficult to pick one for today. I thought this one was particularly interesting because it was written by mystery and horror writer Edgar Allan Poe. His mother died when he was only two years old and he must have felt the lack for the rest of his life.

He wrote this poem not only to his own mother, but to his mother-in-law, who was also his aunt. (He had married his first cousin Virginia when she was 13 years old and who died of tuberculosis at 27.)

To My Mother

Because I feel that in the heavens above
The angels, whispering one to another,
Can find among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of "Mother,"
Therefore by that dear name I have long called you,
You who are more than mother unto me,
And filled my heart of hearts, where death installed you,
In setting my Virginia's spirit free.
My mother -- my own mother, who died early,
Was but the mother of myself; but you
Are the mother to the one I loved so dearly,
And thus are dearer than the mother I knew
But that infinity with which my wife
Was dearer to my soul that its soul-life.

- Edgar Allan Poe

Warren said...

Hi C.C. & ...

A hard tricky puzzle today. My method for this one is to print out the online blank puzzle and the answers -- when we get stuck on something it's easier to find (but it's also the cheaters way I guess).

Here's a link to in the loop
1. (idiomatic) Informed; up to date; current; part of the discussion.

But I'm still confused on why this means "trusted"?

Barb B said...

Yesterday the puzzle overwhelmed me. Today promised to be a repeat, until I switched to red letters. I found that my intuitive answers were correct, and the ones I looked up were wrong. For example, the website One Across has only one suggestion for HUMID , and I tried to work with ‘moist’ for the longest time. Wikipedia says Nirvana 1 album has a song ‘In BLOOM” which wouldn’t work at all. I guess that proves the point that John Lampkin has very original clues. I googled almost all the proper names (I knew EUDORA), but figured out the theme answers, which made a lot of the other words guess-able.

I never heard of FRYE boots; I was thinking about western boots. Tony Lama and Justin’s were the boots of choice in my time.

Ontological is one of my pet-peeve words. MDIV (Master of Divinity) students love to use it because they think it makes them look intelligent. Maybe they are, but most of their papers are completely unintelligible without a theological dictionary. OK, OK, I know they were advanced courses, but a lot of students used theological jargon to obscure the fact that they didn’t have a clue.

Windhover; I agree with all of comments. As to your ‘Notes on Clues” re ontological proof, I have a similar theory about the resurrection. --Many of the arguments against it serve to strengthen the probability of it, because they are even more unlikely. Case in point – Professor Anthony Flew’s journey from atheism to theism.

Speaking of KP duty, I had an uncle who was an Army Sgt. For most of my childhood I thought his real name was Spud, because that’s the only thing anyone ever called him. When I was older, I learned that he spent a LOT of time peeling spuds. ☺

Tomorrow I’m off to see MelissaBee.

xchefwalt said...

BTW- how can you have a 'mothers of invention' puzzle theme and NOT have Frank Zappa either as a clue or answer???

Anonymous said...

Hi C.C and gang,
Hope all of you are having a pleasant day.
We have 5 c/w including the LAT today.
If I get just one done I'll be lucky.

Embien,
So sorry to hear about your cat.

Crochett,
I'm sad for you today as well.

Some of you may remember that my Mom had her breast removed last Oct.
I'm happy to report she celebrated her 94th this weekend and is doing very well!
She said she wants to see her 100th, anything after that is a bonus.
This is a happy mothers day!

Best to all you other Moms out there and Hugs to those of you who have lost yours.
Geri

Crockett1947 said...

@geri Thanks a lot. More power to your Mom!

hayrake said...

KittyB @ 10A

Thank you for the very kind note KittyB. The answer to your question is "yes, of course."

windhover said...

Barb B,
I enjoyed reading the Wiki account of Prof. Flew's odyssey. He may (let's hope) at the age of 81 get the answer before you and I, although it is my belief we will never know we are dead. I'm not much of a prosylitizer, and don't much care for misters Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, et al.

I firmly believe that if God exists, he/she/it will understand perfectly why, after 40 centuries of religious teaching and fighting, a person might reach a state of unbelief.

BTW, you make me think of a certain Mrs. Brown of '60's song.

Lemonade714 said...

Thanks CA, that clears up the HANDS, but talk about an obscure use of the word.

I will always be grateful to Ted Klusewski for helping the 1959 White Sox to make it to the wold series, on the 40th anniversary of the scandal. He was impressivem, with his cut off shirts and bulging biceps.

For those of you who still have your mothers, enjoy this day, each year without mine is not easy.

Walt, I agree, and you could just use his children's names as the answers, like MOON UNIT, or DWEEZIL, thereby reinforcing the theme of children and "MOTHERS."

Anonymous said...

@anon @11:59, Star Tribune switched to Newsday instead of LAT.

Barb B said...

Windhover,
Anthony Flew had a noteworthy debate with Gary Habermas re the resurrection. The major weakness of his arguments was that they sounded lofty, but couldn’t stand up to a closer inspection. He does have a good point – if you accept the reasonableness of a creator god, is it necessary to accept someone else’s of perception him/her/it?

I also don't believe we'll ever know we're dead. Because we won't be.

Yes, I do have a lovely daughter. She takes after me. ☺

Clear Ayes said...

:o) Windhover, Ah yes, Herman's Hermits and Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter. I loved them and all the British Invasion bands, and loved lead singer Peter Noone's heavily accented lyrics.

This being Mommy's Day, it also reminds me that one of the first songs my daughter learned all the way through was Henry The Eighth, I Am. She was three years old and couldn't pronounce "R's", "H's", or "L's". Her version of the song came out like a pint-size Cockney Elmer Fudd. Thank goodness that my mom's reel-to-reel recorded it all and we have since transferred it to CD. A real family treasure.

Argyle said...

Good Afternoon all,

I went to my sister's today and took my uncompleted puzzle with me. I figured the diverse group there would provide the help I needed to finish.

Well...thank goodness for Google because everybody struck out.

Good Mother's Day.

kazie said...

Boy am I glad so many others had trouble today. I don't feel like an unintellectual dummy now. I tried red letter help and got totally bummed out when even after an hour it wasn't getting much better. I came here with the middle east blank and didn't have any fun getting even that far.

I hope you all enjoyed Mom's Day as much as I did. I had both sons and a daughter-in-law home. My own mother died when I was 28, and I've always regretted that my parents didn't live to see their grandsons. Mother-daughter banquets at church have always been unbearable for me: the nostalgia brings me so many regrets and sorrow, not the joy intended, so I stopped going years ago.

But today was lots of fun, at least until I tried the puzzle after they left!

c.c.,
That link looks like they went in and changed all my editing back to the lousy English they had to begin with. I guess I won't bother again.

maria said...

Very tough,
don't know how much i will retain from today's lesson maybe in the subliminal stratus of my brain something will stick, who knows.

I liked the coracle, c.c. thanks for the image, it looks to me that would not tip over as easy as a canoe.

I also enjoyed the Spice Girls.

Anon @1:29 very sensitive and kind remark of you and, I second Crockett
"more power to your mom" !

TTFN

Dick said...

Good evening C.C. and all,..a very humbling experience today. C.C. I can assure you that you are not the only one to struggle today. I think I am the child left further behind.

Too many tough spots to even elaborate on them. Suffice to say it was the most difficult puzzle I have done in a long time and I loved my mother.

The very best to all the Mothers out there.

KittyB said...

WM, best of luck on the outcome of the jury. I hope you have good news for us tomorrow.

How did you feel about 104D 'Hues" for TINTS? do you feel the words are interchangeable?

Clear Ayes, I just tried to say 'Henry the Eighth, I Am" without any H's or R's. What a tongue twister! *G*

kazie said...

WM,
Good luck with your artwork!

I forgot to mention that the clue for QUOI, (Sartre's "huh") at first elicited "HEIN?" from me. HUH? implies something slangier, which is not quite what quoi is. A very formal inquiry would be "Comment?", which would be close to "I beg your pardon?", Quoi translates "What?", "Hein?" is the closest to "Huh?" IMO.

Clear Ayes said...

KittyB, Yes she certainly had a way with words. "Enowy Ta (or Da, depending on her mood) Ate I Am". I tried, but I couldn't pronounce them the way she did.

Her next song was Wed Woses Foe A Bwoo Wady (Red Roses For A Blue Lady). We have that on CD too.

We spent hours trying to get her to say her name "KELLY". She always countered back with "KE-WEE". One day, when she was about four and a half, she spontaneously started saying "Kelly", "Red Roses" and all the rest. She never went back. Funny how I tried to get her to misarticulate again, because it was so cute, but she looked at me like I was totally crazy and told me she didn't know how to do it.

Good Mother's Day memories.

Jazzbumpa said...

Worked on the puzzle a bit at my mother-in-law's, but did not do well.

Every tree on her block had a yellow ribbon, and every yard had a small American flag on a stick about 2 1/2 feet tall. Somebody in a family down the block was just back from a tour in the Middle East.

Bit of an ironic contrast to our situation. My older step son kissed his wife and three kids goodbye today and left for 6 months in Afghanistan. As you can imagine, the lovely wife is not delighted.

From there went to my mum's and had a nice dinner together.

And, to end on a positive note, the Red Wings won!

Crocket: Detroit Free Press. www.freep.com

windhover said...

Barb B:
It's true, I can see that in your picture. And as I said, I hope Professor Flew learns the truth long before you or I. I for one am content with the mystery. I admire your faith.

Lemonade,
I had forgotten about Big Klu's role in '59. If you were a Sox fan, you must have been a Yankee hater as well, and remember Bill Mazeroski's Series-ending homer in 1960. I don't keep up with MLB anymore, but I can still recite the starting lineup of the 1956 Redlegs. Big Klu, Temple, McMillan, Thomas or Groat, Bell, Robinson, Post, Bailey or Burgess behind the plate and Purkey or Newcombe on the mound. They finished third on the last day of the season by one game, and set a record for team home runs, I believe 220. In the Series, Don Larson pitched a perfect game against the Dodgers. I'd like to be a kid at Crosley Field again, for just one day.
ClearAyes, how old is your daughter Kelly? My son Kelly will be 44 on July 4.

Dennis said...

Windhover, the first name that comes to mind when I think of the '56 Reds' pitching staff is Joe Nuxhall. His was one of my favorite BB cards back then.

WM said...

KittyB and Kazie...thanks. Everything is finished and they are talking with people and showing the art at 3:30 PDT...so I should find out by 5 whether or I not I have to go hang a show Tues.

Kazie...thanks for the QUOI info. I have only an eensy bit of French but I always thought that Quoi meant What? Now I feel better.

Jazzbumpa...hopefully it will only be 6 mos and he comes back safely...we will think very positive thoughts.

CA...I especially wanted to thank you for the "'enery the eighth" song...Like you, I was a big fan of almost all of the British Invasion bands...except I found myself humming, then singing it in the car on the way home from dinner...then I had to explain it to my husband...now it is in my head rumbling around...

Dennis...have seen kempt...but that is bringing to mind a discussion from a bit ago...didn't someone say that "dreampt" was the only word in english that ended "mpt" or have I only dreampt that? Or was it another word ending entirely?

Lovely warm evening and I hope everyone had a lovely day whether celebrating or remembering.

WM said...

KittyB...sorry, forgot...I always have issues when crosswords try to exchange HUE, TINT and SHADE. Hue is really color( red, blue, yellow, etc.), tint is the lightness of the color(traditionally described as adding white) and shade is the darkness(adding black) they are not really interchangeable except for color and hue.

I was doing a puzzle the other day that had a clue that said KNIT: The answer they wanted was CROCHET...couldn't believe it...absolutely not the same thing...not interchangeable...lazy, inaccurate cluing.


I also said I wouldn't be back today...guess I was prevaricating.

#3

KQ said...

Barb B - I don't know how long FRYE boots have been around, but they were the rage in the late 70's when I was in high school. I remember having a pair, and thinking I was hot stuff.

CC - My son was in The Little Red Hen for his kindergarten operetta. The Hen - who was our red headed next door neighbor sang "I can do it by myself, I am not King Kong but my body is strong". My son was the "Lean, mean steel eyed fox". He was the hit of the show. We were reminiscing about it last weekend with friends and we completely embarrassed him. He doesn't want to be reminded of those things at 16. It was an adorable production.

Good to know that so many of you looked at some of the answers and didn't quite agree with the clue. I felt the same way about this puzzle. Lots of stretch clues today.

kazie said...

Jazzbumpa,
I notice you refer to your "mum". Does this indicate a British English background? I too add my wishes for your step son's safe return. It's got to be scary sending anyone's kid off to war.

Crockett1947 said...

@windhover Do you know that the outfield fence and scoreboard from Crosley Field are out in Brecon? Do you remember the old guys who sold the bags of hot peanuts? Sitting on the Sun/Moon Deck. Watching Nuxhall pitch? Those were the days.

@WM EXEMPT DREAMT (no P)

WM said...

Crockett...Thanks. Knew I had something wrong with that.

#4

copper said...

Kazan was the recipient of the 1998 honorary Academy Award not the 1999 award.http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp;jsessionid=3E45F0736CEDF1EA3D70E61E133C25B3.cabbage?curTime=1242024644727