google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday June 12, 2009 Robin Stears

Advertisements

Jun 12, 2009

Friday June 12, 2009 Robin Stears

Theme: Try It!

17A: Where Jerry Garcia kept food for the band?: DEAD PANTRY (Deadpan)

28A: Minimalist wall hanging?: BLANK TAPESTRY (Blank Tapes)

47A: Small clergy group?: MICRO MINISTRY (Micro Minis)

64A: Wedding cake mock-up?: FAUX PASTRY (Faux Pas)

About a month ago, Rich Norris clued CHERRY GARCIA as "Ice cream flavor honoring a Grateful Dead icon" in his "Shades of Red" puzzle.

I figured out the theme very quickly, and immediately gave BLANK TAPESTRY and every other theme entry a TRY. I think this girl's micro mini skirt would look better without the big belt. Yes? Thought of WM's love for a cake blog and her "Faux Finisher" daughter when I filled in FAUX PASTRY.

I liked this puzzle a lot. It's BEAUT (36A: Doozy). The theme is so simple yet creative. The original base phrases and the new made-up entries are quite livley.

Lots of black squares, 44, the limit on Rich Norris's 15*15. Most of the other newspaper puzzles cap the number at 38.

Have a look at the constructor Robin Stears's blog. She has written several books.

Across:

1A: Schooner features? JIBS. Nice to start a grid with a letter J.

5A: Kingdom called the Friendly Islands: TONGA. Ugh. I thought of Bhutan where Gross National Happiness index rather than GNP is measured. TONGA is literally "South" in many Polynesian language, according to Wiki.

10A: Biblical plague insect: GNAT. Easy guess. I am not aware of GNAT's Biblical reference. I thought it's locust.

16A: Wear the crown: RULE. Or REIGN.

20A: Fertilizer source: ALGAE

22A: Tar Heel State university: ELON. Often clued just as "North Carolina university".

23A: 1990s speed skating gold medalist: KOSS (Johann Olav). Absolutely no idea. Johanna Olav KOSS is from Norway.

26A: One with a habit: NUN. A rare repeat clue.

35A: Chichi: ARTY. It's the same as ARTSY, isn't it? The clue made me think of Golf Hall-of-Famer Chi Chi Rodriguez.

38A: North Carolina country: ASHE. Unknown to me. Here is the map. Was it named someone surnamed ASHE?

40A: Blue shades: TEALS. The answer might be AQUAS if this were a Barry Silk puzzle.

42A: __ race: ARMS

45A: "East of Eden" brother: ARON. His twin brother is Cal. I thought James Dean was so so in the movie.

46A: Expressive rock genre: EMO. What exactly is the EMO genre?

51A: __-de-vie: brandy: EAU. Literally water of life.

56A: Bygone carrier: TWA. Recklessly wrote down SST.

67A: Blacken: SEAR. I love seared tuna, crusted with sesame seeds, YUMMY! (33D: Scrumptious).

68A: Slacker: IDLER

71A: Bear named for a president: TEDDY. T.R. originated "Speak softly and carry a big stick".

72A: Strategic WWI river: YSER. This has become a gimme. YSER river flows to the North Sea.

Down:

1D: Actress Pinkett Smith: JADA. Another gimme. Will Smith's wife. Both are scientologists, I think.

2D: Country on the Denmark Str.: ICEL. Ah, its most well-known citizen is probably Björk. I thought that swan address is rather cute. Don't understand why it's ridiculed.

3D: Crow: BRAG

4D: "Bad Blood" singer: SEDAKA. This singer does not look like Neil SEDAKA. Maybe I am familiar with the aged SEDAKA.

5D: Luggage-screening gp.: TSA (Transportation Security Administration). Established after 9/11.

6D: Part of BYO: OWN. Bring Your OWN.

8D: "The Day the Earth Stood Still" robot: GORT. Stumper. Here is a picture. Is it related to the Jewish robot golem?

10D: Beverage brewed in a gaiwan: GREEN TEA. "Gaiwan" is literally "lidded bowl".

13D: Many a "One Tree Hill" character: TEEN. The answer revealed itself. Not familiar with this TEEN TV drama.

18D: Drudge: PEON. Noun. I thought of TOIL first.

24D: 32-card game: SKAT. For three players.

25D: Flow: STREAM

27D: Plug-and-play PC port: USB (Universal Serial Bus)

28D: Like a close buddy: BOSOM

29D: Actress Christine: LAHTI. Total stranger to me. Wiki says her name is Finnish for "gulf"/"bay"/"cove". And she won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her role in "Chicago Hope".

30D: __ 2600: early game console: ATARI

31D: Road cones: PYLONS. Holy cow. I had no idea that these cones have a special name.

37D: Eponymous Chinese general: TSO

39D: Substitute for dropped items: ET CETERA. Probably my favorite clue today.

44D: Palindromic altar: ARA. This has become a gimme also.

48D: Equip: OUTFIT

49D: Something to keep a teller busy?: SAGA. Nice play on tell-er.

50D: Inferior: TRASHY. Somehow I thought of ersatz.

53D: Fresh approach?: SASS. The answer revealed itself. I did not know "fresh" can mean "impudent" as well.

55D: Bold alternative: Abbr.: ITAL. Italic.

57D: 1973 defendant: WADE. Roe v. WADE

58D: "Should __ acquaintance ...": AULD. Again, the answer revealed itself. I only know the song title "AULD Lang Syne".

61D: Della's creator: ERLE. ERLE Stanley Gardner. Della Street is the secretary of Perry Mason.

62D: Batik worker: DYER

66D: Meddle: PRY. Rhymed with the theme TRY.

Answer grid.

C.C.

79 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, C.C. and fellow solvers - I somehow got through this one, but only with significant perp help.

Unknowns were numerous and included 'Koss', 'Aron', 'Gort'. Others I could infer once I got a few letters, such as 'Many a "One Tree Hill" character', as show I've never seen.

Cleverest clues for me were 'Substitute for dropped items' and 'Something to keep a teller busy'. Also a very clever theme. Overall, a most enjoyable puzzle.

From last night: JD, thanks, and great to have you back. ClearAyes, guilty as charged.

Today is Red Rose Day.

Today's Words of Wisdom: "I have learned to read the papers calmly and not to hate the fools I read about." -- Critic Edmund Wilson

Friday Fun Facts:

- A Brazilian vet is offering plastic surgery and botox injection for pampered pets. I wonder what a de-wrinkled sharpei looks like...

- If birds could sweat, they wouldn't be able to fly.

Dick said...

Good morning C.C. and all,….a rather easy one for a Friday. I had to do this on on line as my paper has not arrived and I have a very early tee time. A few unknowns like 38A “North Carolina County”, 44D “Palindromic Altar”, 23A “1990’s Speed Skating Gold Medalist” and 5A “Kingdom Called the Friendly Islands.” These were unknown to me, but the fills came from the perps. There were no G-spots today and for a Friday that is outstanding for me.

I did struggle with 26A “One with a habit” as I tried to force user and of course it would not fit and then the DUH moment. I did not remember that the Gnat was a “Biblical Plague Insect”, but it revealed itself from the crosses.

Hope you all have a great Friday.

Go Pens one more time!!!!

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

Dennis,
ARON and his brother CAL are named after the Biblical twins Abel and Cain. And ARON was played by James Dean in the movie. Maybe you can somehow associate this name with Elvis's middle name? My favorite flowers are red roses. I don't think I will try Botox. So painful. Thought of 雷道 yesterday when I practiced calligraphy. It means "Thunder's Path" and it's a transliteration of your surname. 道 is Dao (Tao), often clued as "Chinese way/path" in our puzzle. Do you like it?

Dick,
Eat a worm. We had identical NUN & ARA clues before.

Dick said...

You are correct C.C. and the worms taste awful!

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

Karen,
I've never seen anyone uses HTML code to underline a word in the Comments section. Or did you mean blue underlined link? If so, read here for more instruction. It takes some practices.

Buckeye,
Re: ETAT & Princess Caroline. Priceless!

Jimmy in S Carolina,
Great to hear from you again.

KittyB,
Ted Sorenson wrote many of JFK's speeches.

Dennis said...

C.C., yes, Elvis' middle name is a good way to remember the brothers.

My favorite flower is the ICW (Intercoastal Waterway).

'Thunder's Path', huh? You implying I have gas?

Martin said...

The only unknowns for me on the right were USB, HALE and EARL. I had a lot of trouble on the left though: I misread "realty" as "reality" so I wanted to write OUNCE for ACRE but of course it didn't fit. Oh and if "Feathery stole" had been clued as "Korean singer" then BOA would have been a gimme for me.

Got to go.

Martin

Dennis said...

C.C., I sent you a blog correction email earlier; did you not get it?

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

Dick,
Maybe you can water down with some acorn coffee, as Dennis suggested a while ago.

Dennis,
Yuck! I was thinking of THOR, the hammer-wielding, quick-tempered Norse thunder god.

JD,
What a sweet post! Missed you.

Hayrake,
Yeah, I was aware of Kahlil Gibran & his "The New Frontier". Scroll down and read my 4D ASK NOT comment. JFK quoted extensively from a wide range of articles/books he read. Thanks for abaya.

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

Martin,
I've never heard of the Korean singer BOA.

Dennis,
No. Nothing on my mail box. Gmail?

Martin said...

Martin,
I've never heard of the Korean singer BOA
.

You should be able to find her sandwiched between Beyonce and Britney at your local music store. Her CDs I mean: not the three of them live in person.

Martin

Martin said...

BOA

Martin

KittyB said...

Good morning, all!

Ah, yes, C.C....Ted Sorenson. How could I have forgotten!? I wonder if Obama will have one speech writer who is particularly memorable?

JD, thank you, and hugs back! Edward Scissorhands seemed to enjoy his hug, but he's not one for returning the favor.

I really enjoyed today's puzzle. I finished it in 20 minutes with red letter help, hunt and peck style. I'm not sure I would have finished it without those red warnings. There were many answers that I didn't know, but they were all completed by fills. KOSS, ARON, ELON and ARA were stumpers, and it took me a while to understand Dennis' favorite clue 'Something to keep a teller busy.'

I hope you all have a good start to your Friday. I'm off to exercise.

Mainiac said...

Good Morning,

I'm blaming this one on seven days in the woods and on the water.

I had trouble all over the place. I was starting to get the hang of Thursday and Friday puzzles and now it appears I am starting over.

We had a great fishing trip. The weather stunk as well as the fishing and we still had a great time. Probably the source of the cob webs.

My wife had quite a surprise when I got home. Two puppies, a Bernese Mountain dog and an English Golden Retriever. The kids named them Zivah and Hank. We had been talking about it but I thought I would be able to take part in the selection process. Oh well, another reason not to sleep. I'll get some pictures soon.

Totally buried at work now. I couldn't do the puzzle yesterday because I was bailing.

Have a great Friday!

Argyle said...

Today is Red Rose Day.

Do they mean this Red Rose.

Yo! Save some of them worms for me. I messed up TSA (had HSA) and Gort ( I used Bort) which gave me The Friendly Islands of HONGA. Now I don't mind missing TONGA but I should have gotten the perps.

The NW gave me fits, so I printed what I had and took with me for coffee. A friend couldn't remember "Bad Blood" singer but said he was like Manilow. I look at what I had and imediately saw SEDAKA. That meant I had to change my BASIC to BLANK and change __ and __, etc..

It's all good.

Anonymous said...

I found this one a lot easier than yesterday’s for some reason. I think it’s because once I penned in “dead pantry” and “blank tapestry” I figured out the theme right away. Filling in “green tea” was a mere guess as I had no idea what a gaiwan was. Even though I had “saga” filled in for something to keep a teller busy, I couldn’t see the relevance until reading C.C.’s comments. Very clever clue. I did have to look up what a batik was to get dyer.

Does anyone know where the phrase “busom buddy” came from?

JD thanks for your kind words. I try. Re: the soccer game last night. Little guyjo was a real trooper cheering on his teammates. They lost by one goal and on the way home he turned to me and said, “you know Mom had you let me play we would of won.” A little bit of arrogance there don’t you think?

@Dennis, why the ICW Intercoastal waterway as your favorite flower? Mine is a daisy. I wonder why birds couldn’t fly if they sweat?

kazie said...

I had a lot of unknowns on paper so went to red help online, and that went faster after filling in the few I had aready--just over 16 minutes. At first I didn't get that the theme was just TRY--I was trying to include the S until I got faux pas.

I agree about the gnats. I'd never heard of any of the people except TEDDY, WADE and ERLE, and I always forget how to spell his name. I did know Tonga right off--one of Cpn. James Cook's discoveries, I think. I was at first thinking of banking for SAGA. Not too bad for a Friday.

Have a great day all of you!

Andrea said...

Morning all -

Relatively easy for a Friday, although I kept putting it down and coming back to it, which helped. My initial impression was that there was no way I would be able to complete it. I did have to peek at CC's answers to get microministry - was stuck on miniministry, which didn't fit... Once micro filled in, the rest opened up for me. The only unknowns were (1) the intersection of Tonga/Gort - couldn't get the G - and (2) Speed skater Koss. Lots of US speed skaters are from this area, so I was trying to fit names I know from around here, so was thrown completely off track. Not that I knew Koss anyway...

Favorite clue - substitute for dropped items.

Off to the dr. for my daughter's three year checkup, and then to the zoo. It's finally a BEAUT today!

Enjoy the day.

Andrea

Crockett1947 said...

Good morning, everyone!

Like dennis, I need lots of helps from perps but did not have to g-spot anything. I also thought the plague insect was a locust.

Have a great Friday!

Karen said...

Hi gang,
My comments are pretty much the same as some of the preceding ones. Didn’t know Tonga, TSA, Icel, Gort, etc. Had a wee DUH moment when Realty unit became acre….I was thinking house, apartment or Condo but of course they didn’t fit. Immediately put Rap for Expressive rock genre which threw me way off over there. Never heard of EMO. Got all the last words in the theme clues & got Faux & Blank but couldn’t come up with micro & dead. Pretty good puzzle in all though. The teller thing really threw me though, as I was also on banking since that is what I did for a living for many years. Still didn’t connect it, even after I got it from the perps, until I read CC’s post.

CC…….thanks for the link to the html codes. I know the basics, bold, italics & underline & was trying to underline a word for emphasis. I think it was when I was talking about our buddy “Bubba”. Always wondered how you got those links in there.

Dr.G said...

Hi all,
Like Maniac i crashed and burned all over the place.

SandbridgeKaren said...

Not much else to say - the previous comments say it for me. Not a toughie for a Friday - has this week overall seemed easier than last? Liked 'something to keep a teller busy' - very clever.

CC - surprised there are no comments on your micromini belt picture but then again I doubt the guys even noticed she's wearing a belt.

I prefer yellow roses to red but have a ton on reds and pinks in my garden. Roses are tough to grow at the beach and when they introduced the 'knockouts' we all grabbed them - grow like weeds here. Biggest challenge is keeping them pruned and not taking over the yard.

Dennis - I had a SharPei who lived over 16 years. Amazing dog; she was run over by a car, attacked by a wild animal and encountered various other challenges but keep going. Their wrinkles decrease as they grow up; suspect if you filled in all the looseness with botox they'd look like puff balls.

Dennis said...

The more I think about it, there's not anything very menacing about a plague of gnats. Anybody know how they're referenced in the bible?

Mainiac, glad you had a great time, even with the sour weather. And good luck with the two puppies - you've got your hands full.

tarrajo, that's not arrogance, that's confidence. Just what you want to see in a boy that age; you've obviously done a great job. And if you think back to all the bodies of water that have been referred to in these puzzles as 'flow-ers', you'll understand my reference to the ICW.

Anonymous said...

@Dennis, maybe I am have missed something here regarding flow-ers…is that some sort of DF reference? As you know I really am not that much of a DFette no matter what Crockett thinks.

Dennis said...

tarrajo, some bodies of water flow, hence the misleading clue 'flowers' in the puzzles. Very tricky and very good.

And no, you're not a DFette. And I'm the Pope.

Karen said...

Dennis/tarrajo...what is a DFette??

Warren said...

Hi C.C. & gang, another tough Friday puzzle... I think we only finished 25% of it before my wife left for work.

Don't you hate it when you can see (in your mind) a movie character like the robot in "The Day the Earth Stood still" and can't remember its name? I guess that's the real reason I keep doing puzzles.

RE: Gort


"The character was based loosely on Gnut, a large green robot from outer space in "Farewell to the Master", a 1940 short story by Harry Bates which was used as the basis for Edmund H. North's screenplay. In the story, Gnut is believed to be the servant of his humanoid companion, but reveals himself, at the end, to have been the master."

Al said...

@Karen, re underlining for emphasis, I also asked that very same question. The blog software simply doesn't allow you do it. And, as it turns out, it isn't truly necessary to use underlining. Scroll down to see the answer that Barry G. gave me in this prior Blog discussion (At April 4th, 11:28 AM). In fact, even when you use the <em></em> tags, browsers will usually italicize the text.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I didn't know. Thanks for the clarification Your Holiness.

Dennis said...

Karen, a DF is just a term I made up meaning, loosely, dysfunctional, and a DFette is the female version. Usually has to do with making a sexual connotation out of an innocent remark.

Warren, I went through exactly that. I could see the robot, but couldn't pull the name.

Al, great info, as always.

tarrajo, most people kneel before the Pope...

Off to play - have a great day.

Al said...

@Dennis, of course they do. He's really old, so he's statistically not as spry and quick as most other people, who would therefore have an easier time bending their knees.

Crockett1947 said...

@dennis And then there's something that gets kissed, right?

Oh yeah, the ring.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Today was a red-letter day for me. The time hasn't yet come where I will try a Thursday through Sunday puzzle without the red letter help.

After DEAD PANTRY, I got all the TRY endings for the theme answers. But I didn't get the connection to the pre-TRY fills until I came here....DUH!

I filled in TIDE for 55D. I was thinking of BOLD detergent. GNAT, KOSS, ASHE, EMO and SAGA had to have perp help.

JD, Welcome back and thank you.

Mainiac, A Bernese Mountain dog AND an English Golden Retriever? That's a lot of future dog food! Are they boys or girls and how old? GAH says that his favorite smells are "new car" and "puppy breath". I don't know about new car, but puppy breath is in my top 10.

tarrajo, Dennis is obviously a fan of women in general. One of his charms is that he brings out a touch of DF-ette, or DF, in all of us...Oh, Hi Crockett....nothing wrong with a little fun and games. Just go with the flow-er. :o)

Today's WOW - Easier said than done. Political fools come and go, so it is not so difficult to dismiss them. I have more trouble with the evil fools. I'm thinking of the wacko who shot up the Holocaust museum the other day.

Crockett1947 said...

C.C., here's a link to Emo.

kazie said...

Crockett,
Thanks for the Emo link. I discovered why I have such a hard time with musical clues here--I know nothing about any artists after the "oldie" 60's period I grew up in. I've never heard of any of those bands they mentioned.

JD's post last night was indeed sweet and heartfelt.

Mainiac,
Good luck with all those dogs! It does sound like a lot of dog food for them, and good exercise for you! My one golden retriever is enough for me.

lois said...

Good morning CC et al., got hammered again...and the hangover from last night's hammering hasn't helped either...am just typing quietly...whispering.

re: yesterday's posts

JD: Welcome back and hugs back 'at ya'. That post was the sweetest! Thank you.

And 'Thank you all' for the compliments. CA, thank you esp for the 'standing' "O"....LOVE THAT ONE!!! Hilarious! Yeah, 'awesome' is a great description, Dennis.

Dennis: LOL for your 'flower'. I got it right away, but prefer Tarrajo's DFette concept, needless to say.

Tarrajo: I like your little guy's confidence. What a good mom you are! My #2 toddler fell again &
re-openned her chin w/stitches. They said they could not resew a wound b/c of the increased likelihood of infection. They just butterflied it. She has a scar but it's so positioned that it thankfully doesn't show at all. You made the right decision in my book. BTW, if you're not a DFette, then neither am I.

Dennis: being Catholic, my knees are probably one of the strongest parts of my anatomy...I call it "Doin' the Vatican" -
"genuflect, genuflect, genuflect".

Crockett 11:07: LMAO! Yeah, the ring around the rosey!

JD said...

Good morning CC and all,

Always good to be back home with my latte and c/w.

Had mucho difficulty with the bottom third, a real beaut! I put PSA instead of TWA, and had a difficult (impossible) time filling in faux pastry. Had vapid in lieu of gaped, and tars for sear.Yser?No sir, did not know.

Also thought clue "substitute for dropped items" was clever. Rarely do we see that written out completely, unless we are teaching kids how to correctly spell etc.

"Each day comes with its own gift. Untie the ribbons." R.A. Schabacker

kazie said...

Strictly speaking, "et cetera" does not mean "dropped" items, they are simply not added separately to a list, but rather lumped together as if included anonymously. It means "and others".

WM said...

Morning all...did this w/o any help but I fess up that I was watching TV last night while I did it,so I would have to say it took about an hour all told. Got JADA/JIBS and DEAD PANTRY then, like C.C. filled in TRY at the end of each clue that needed it and it was a huge help. Loved the theme and thought it was very clever to come up with words that worked double...with and without the TRY.

Oddly, I remembered GORT right off because my dad loved the old science fiction movies and space travel...I think the robot said something like Gort...veradu nichti(phonetically and guessing here) that is part of my really geeky side.

Like for Dennis and others,the perps made it finally happen and I definitely had V-8 moments with Della's creator, SAGA and ACRE...

Dennis, I like CA don't sit still with some of the stuff on the news...the stupidityof things is what gets to me and you don't want me on my soap box. I can't understand sometimes why people can't think outside the box...

C.C. Thanks for the FAUXPASTRY...I really liked that clue...Faux finish daughter was here the other day to help with another mural panel sample...we hope we are nearly there with the design...still at least a month- 2 months away yet.I also like the Bhutan info...wouldn't that be so much more fun than GNP!

Another cloudy and cool day...cheers to all.

Random question...does anyone know what causes the computer to suddenly start eating your words as you go back to make correction? It is a random occurence but drives me nuts! :oP

KittyB said...

WM, you've probably brushed against the "insert" button on the keys to the right of the backspace. Just click it again to stop the disappearing letters.

melissa bee said...

good morning c.c. and all,

like tarrajo, i found today's a little easier than yesterday's. theme came quickly, so 'gave a try' in all the right places and everything came together. favorite clue/answer was FRESH APPROACH for SASS.

noticed ARTY and ATARI crossing in the center, so close to TRY.

agreed, she should lose the belt.

gnats were 3rd of the 9 plagues in egypt. 'all the dust of the earth became gnats through all the land of egypt.' in order, the 9 plagues were: blood, frogs, gnats, dog flies, murrain (death of livestock), boils, hail, locusts and darkness. i'm pleased i missed all that.

welcome back mainiac and jd. jd, loved your hugfest yesterday and your quote today. how was your trip?

27 and a wake up til gwo 2009. (i'm not excited or anything.)

off to untie the ribbons ..

melissa bee said...

p.s. @tarrajo: LOVE your son's attitude, and i'm sure he's right. it will make his next goal that much sweeter.

Lola said...

plague of gnats

I found this link re: gnats in the Bible. Gnats were one of the unannounced plagues.

Over all I found the puzzle doable, with the exception of the Ashe, Lahti, micro crossings. The theme was cute, and I actually got it fairly early.

I don't really like the pay(up)/ante clue/ans. I thought an ante was a bet, not a payment. Oh well, just a small quibble. Looking forward to Saturday's offering. TTFN

Crockett1947 said...

@dennis, dick, mainiac, martin, argyle, dr.g, warren, al, et. al BELT? What belt?

windhover said...

Tarra Jo:
Ditto what Pope Dennis said about arrogance and confidence. Here's a football analogy:
The quarterback has just thrown three stinker passes, all his fault, and it's fourth and 29 with the game on the line. Does he (a) come to the huddle and say "looks like the games' over" or (b) I can hit this one. You have to believe you can, and that's a quality no coach can teach. Looks like your guy was born with it.
Also, as Muhammad Ali once said, "It ain't
Braggin' if you really can do it."
As for the part that that can be taught, seems like you've done a damn good job.


One more thing: if that ring ain't diamond, don't kiss it.

Hayrake said...

C.C. 6:14A

I was just filling in KittyB on JFK not being the first to use the now famous "Ask not .." words. No biggie. Your July 08 comment spelled it out quite precisely but I didn't know you then and probably neither did KittyB.

Let's talk about the weather. I played tennis this morning in terribly humid 94 Fahrenheits and had to come home and jump in the pool to dry off.

WM said...

KittyB...thanks. I'm blaming the kitten. They have discoverd that they get undivided attention in the office if one of us is on the computer. I am trying to teach them that walking all over the keys is not done.

WH..did you get to do an actual puzzle yesterday?

MelissaB...thanks on the gnat info...that was the only thing I could think of that would fit, but like C.C. and others I think I had only ever heard of locust. I can't really think of gnats as a plague but just hugely annoying in large numbers...so a plague of annoyance?

BTW...just an odd bit of info. I watched a really interesting PBS special called the Celluloid Closet on images of gays in the movies...really fascinating, but in relation to the Doris Day/Rock Hudson style movies where they had to get married before any sex was allowed...the movie industry called it DF...Delayed F'ing...LOL. Do we want to change that abbreviation? LOL

tfrank said...

Good afternoon, all,

I found this puzzle a little difficult, as I was working it in Jean's therapist's waiting room, with no help available. I missed the connection between Jerry Garcia and deadpantry, because I am not of his generation; finally remembered the name of his band. I generally don't do well with the names of show business folks, their bands, their songs, their movies, their cars, etc.

Lola, the ante is what you pay for participating in the dealing of a hand. The bets come after the cards are dealt.

Have a good weekend everybody.

windhover said...

WM:
Every day is a puzzle to me, but no xword unless Irish prints it and brings it home. She does that on occasion, but she only works two days a week, and anyway I find I'm not often in a xword mood at night; it's a morning thing

So I have become a sort of hybrid: a lurking poster, or a posting lurker. At least my name's not Bubba.

WM said...

Just thought I remembered you saying that Irish was bringing you a puzzle yesterday. We love you in whatever form you take. You, like Buckeye and C.C., are the mortar for our bricks...is bubba a generic term?

#3

Jeannie said...

I am a sometime poster but most time lurker and my name is definitely not “Bubba.” So, Dennis has become Pope? I guess I missed that transformation and what a transformation that must have been. I bow to Your Holiness, LOVE that hat.

melissa bee said...

@jeannie: i'll be laughing about that hat comment all day. beautiful.

Mainiac said...

Crockett, All I saw was high heels and stockings! Did she have hair? Thanks CC!

Tarrajo, I didn't go back to see what caused the game suspension but its the same at my house. If bad behavior is the cause, you will go to cheer your team mates. My oldest is a musician and my youngest an athlete. Doesn't matter what the extracurricular, if they screw up the prioritization (family and school first) there will be no participation but they will spectate and practice. The youngest got a three game home suspension during baseball season. Absolutely no problems (well, minimal) since then. Kids call me Dadio, wife calls me Dadio Hardassio.

Weather.........we had a huge rain storm this morning and everyone's basement flooded. I almost started recommending to callers to build a boat. Came on wicked quick, poured for two hours then left.

Pope Dennis....will the Vatican ever be the same!!

Outta here!

Have a great weekend!

Anonymous said...

My favorite clue was 55D--Bold alternative. Must be the language teacher in me. I've taught punctuation for too many years.

I miss the Thursday quotes or quips.

Doreen

Dick said...

@Mainiac, my daughter got a Bernese Mountain dog about a year ago and it is now about 145 pounds and growing daily. It is a wonderful dog, but it is really big for the house. They are truly beautiful dogs.

maria said...

Goodday c.c. and gang - Only took me under 2 hrs. today , online too, had to google a lot, and a lot fell in easily enough, especially the long ones.

DeadPantry was funny, nice to see TWA in there.
A Saga would keep anybody busy, but why a teller ? Oh darn, i think i just got it ! Doh !
I was thinking of a bank teller, go figure.

Very fun puzzle, not bad for a friday !
See you later
Imbo

carol said...

Wow, what a Friday!! You folks have said it all and then some! LMAO on picturing Dennis as Pope. I'm sure he'll have his 'pinkie' out there waiting for kisses. LOL

23A - I am hoping it's a guy..somehow Johanna got listed as the name. Ewe.

JD - Thanks for the hug yesterday, so glad you are back.

Lois - you are really toooo much - LOL

What is EMO??? Anyone??

WM-(2:06) you may as well try nailing Jello to your wall as to teach a kitty to stay off your computer. When mine did things we wanted stopped we squirted them with a water pistol, but you can't do that around a computer. So as they say.."good luck". :)

Worst thing that could happen with a 'hoard of gnats' is getting them caught in your throat... ACK, ACK.

IRISH JIM said...

Hi CC and all.

Could kick myself for not getting 4d Sedaka. Had all but the K
Thanks for the "bad blood" video.
That was Neil Sadaka alright. Never heard that song before.
Grew up listening to him and only "got" some of the meaning from his songs when i moved here.
Calender girl had "July, like a firecracker your aglow. Nov I give thanks that you belong to me.".

CC, did you see Michelle Wie on Golf channel last night with Rich Lerner. Its the first time I have seen here act like a giggly teenager. She became very much a real person and not a robot.

SandbridgeKaren. Gal in office was a redhead.

Jimmy S Carolina.

embien said...

10:14 today. A much easier puzzle than Thursday's train wreck (where ACTH crossed STN, as you'll recall). I'm not overly fond of the "theme" where you just add a word onto the end of the theme entry (thereby making a new word), but it's better than some themes.

@jazzbumpa (from yesterday): Batman is what most from my generation will relate to (right, embien?) -probably because of the old TV show from the 60's.

I have many fond memories of going to The Paddock (tavern) on Thursday nights, drinking beer and watching Batman. That was in the mid-sixties, and a rollicking good time was had by all (nearly as I remember, anyway).

c.c. What belt?
Oh. I see Crockett (and others) beat me to it, but I'm too lazy to go back and erase)

treefrog said...

I too thought the teller clue had something to do with a bank:{
Had Christine Lahti pegged for the wrong show.

I did as much as I could while sitting in my chair. Came in here to hit the g spot. Hmm, as soon as I sat down I saw several just jump out at me. Has happened before, don't know why.
Not bad for a Fri.

My kitties always walked over the keys as kittens. Also played with whatever was moving on the monitor. Now Georgie sits on the counter next to me and paws me. When I'm tired of it I put him on the floor. Over and over again.

Karen said...

I don't know about the gnats where you guys are, but the gnats here EAT ME UP. They are tiny little things, no bigger than a flake of fine ground pepper, but they leave bites on me that itch like the devil & last about 2 weeks. They get in your hair, your ears...usually only bad arround dusk.....thank god. Actually form little blisters on me. I seem to draw bugs like mosquitoes & gnats. So a plague of gnats would be really a bad for me.....but like most of you the only thing I remember from the Bible is the locust.
Like melissa bee....i'm glad I wasn't there!!!

Anonymous said...

tarrajo.
The phrase is bosom buddy, not busom buddy. I do not know the source, but it was in use when I was a youngster in the 1940's.
Your bosom is you chest. In a woman it refers to the breasts. The idea as I understand it is that when two people are very close it is not unusual for one to lay his/her head against the other one's bosom. Only real buddies would do this, supposedly.
Calef

Al said...

OK, so you have two close friends, they do everything together, side by side, a matched pair, going through life lined up, going through all the same motions, the ups and downs, even have the same harmonic wavelength. You might separate them briefly, but they always come bouncing back and meet in the middle as soon as they can. They might get taken down together, but they face everything head on and both come back to life when they get back to their equilibrium.

Hmmm, I guess I don't really understand why you would call them bosom buddies...

melissa bee said...

@al: perky imagery. is there such thing as an eye worm?

Al said...

@Melissa bee, there just might be. Whenever I get an earworm, I try to replace it with a different song...

JD said...

Dennis, always enjoy your FF's, but I'm not so sure I can learn to be calm when reading/listening to many of the fools who twist the truth to their advantage.Good for Wilson; maybe he does Yoga.

Mainiac, I am so jealous of your new additions. Looked, but couldn't really see a big difference in English Goldens and those from U.S. One seems to be heavier with a boxier face??? Great names too :)

Tarrajo, I agree with Dennis, the pope (LOL). Your little guy has lots of confidence, which is a great gift, Mom.

Calef, great explanation of "bosom buddies". I'm just glad we don't use that phrase very often today. Too many fake bosoms out there to really know who your real buddy is.

Melissa bee, our stay up at L. Tahoe was beautiful, but much cooler than usual.Had a glorious 1 hr rain/hail storm. Went hiking at Fallen Leaf Lake, an out of the way awesome spot. Gambled a little, if you can say that quarter Poker slots is really gambling. Family was with us for the weekend, and Truman sang the alphabet song constantly, melting my heart.

Clear Ayes said...

I don't know if it is accurate or not, but I found this online explanation for the term "bosom buddy".

"It's an updated American-English version of "bosom friend" which goes back to the 16th century (first usage cited 1590). At that time one of the meanings of "bosom" was "the breast considered as the seat of thoughts and feelings: hence 'inward thoughts'". Thus, a "bosom friend" was someone so dear and trusted that you would frankly "unbosom" yourself to him/her - i.e. reveal all your most private thoughts."

Just to finish up, in Melville's Moby Dick, Ishmael talks about Queequeg, "when our smoke was over, he pressed his forehead against mine, clasped me round the waist, and said that henceforth we were married; meaning, in his country's phrase, that we were bosom friends; he would gladly die for me, if need should be."

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the bosom buddy clarification Clearayes...I knew the wise one would come to the rescue. My bosom buddy is Tashajo. (That's for you Windhover) It's really weird how we have the same thoughts and feelings most of the time. Almost like premonitions.

@Kazie regarding the mirror twin thing. I did some research and asked Tashajo about her fillings in her teeth. Two out of three of our fillings in our molars are on opposite sides. Interesting. It's also weird she had a daughter and I had a son two weeks seperate from one another.

@Dennis, seeing how I am not Catholic I am not inclined to kneel before you. I would just be confused about what to kiss. I, like Jeannie, do however LOVE your hat.

@Mainiac, Littleguyjo wasn't suspended because of behavioral problems. His face met the pavement last Sunday afternoon and ended up with his lower teeth going through his lower lip causing 22 stitches inside and out.
I didn't think it was a great idea for him to play. Stitches come out on Monday and I'll see what the Doc has to say.

Anonymous said...

It's rather late to be posting so perhaps no one will read this. But the King James Version of the Bible says,"lice" rather than gnats which would be more than annoying, I think. Also,the first plagues were over all of Egypt but when God sent the flies and the following plagues they did not touch Goshen, the area where the Israelites lived. I always have felt a little sorry for the Egyptians because they had to suffer because their leader was hard hearted and refused to consider their pleas for him to let the Israelites leave. Apparently, a lot of the Egyptians went with them according to Exodus 13:38.

Today's puzzle was easier than yesterday's but I still had to Google several names.
Dot

Jazzbumpa said...

Hey, gang -

I am very late to the party today - anyone still awake.

Liked this puzzle a lot. Finished it, but, as is often the case, discovered after I came here that I had a couple of errors. Should have recognize SEDAKA, but I've bever heard of that song. Also spelled LAHTI wrong, which radically changed Tar Hell geography.

Tarrajo -
It occurred to me today, while having dinner with my mom, that your little guy and I have something in common. My mom is a twin.

Pens fans - congratulations. Your team has the cup.

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Jazzbumpa, are your Mom and sister identital twins or fraternal? Our dad (Joe) had twin sisters that are not identical. They say that twins have a better chance of occurring every other generation. I am more curious now about the "mirror" twins Kazie quetioned. Tashajo is left handed and I am right handed. My Mom always said that was because we held hands in her womb. (That's for you Windhover, too)

kazie said...

Tarrajo,
It's the way, and when, the cells separate, I think. Check out this Wiki entry on all the different types.

Interesting about what you found on the teeth. Also it might be enlightening to check where you each have moles and other unique things. Everyone's face is non-symetrical too, so do your mirror images more closely resemble the real image of the other twin than your photographic image of yourself?

I'll be curious to hear what you discover!

It's the fraternal twins that run in families and go in alternate generations because they involve the release of two eggs in the same menstrual cycle. Apparently the monozygotic (identical) twins are simply accidental because of the separation of a single cell.

Anonymous said...

@Kazie...after a trying week, I admit I've had a couple of "adult beverages" and didn't digest what you suggested. so do your mirror images more closely resemble the real image of the other twin than your photographic image of yourself? I will ponder it tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

Wow...just learned to do something new so I can't be that bad off. I just learned to "cut and paste" a previous posters comment, and HIGHLIGHT it. Dennis maybe you should kiss my ring.

kazie said...

Good idea. Here's another site that might give more insight into the mirror image thing.

What I was trying to say was this: If you look at yourself in the mirror, what you see is the back-to-front (reverse) of what we see when we look at you. But when you look at Tashajo, you see what you see looking at yourself in the mirror. When she looks in the mirror, she sees the same image as she sees when looking at the real you. Does that make sense? If you both stood side by side in front of a mirror, these minute differences would perhaps show up.

Good luck with this, it's fascinating.

jacktwin said...

I am a mirror twin (probably not as good looking as Tarrajo and her twin) with my brother Nick...I am Jack. We are 70 yrs old and he is left handed and I am right handed. I concur with you Kazie that when we are side by side we look just a little bit different. When we look at each other we look the same. We also have that "sixth" sense tarrajo is talking about. It's a very eerie feeling. I have been a lurker here since the papers changed puzzles, but felt I could finally contribute here to something.

Crockett1947 said...

@jacktwin Welcome -- now that you're out of the lurking stage, continue to post.

jacktwin said...

Thanks for the welcome Crockett. I have been a lurker for a couple of months. Wouldn't you know it, it would take a couple of young identical young twins (no offense Tarrajo) to get me out of the woodwork?

jacktwin said...

@Tarrajo, I just read that you are a Gemini also. Nick and my birthdays are June 8th. What's yours? We just turned 70 and I see you are 35. I have you beat twice wise. Not sure what that means.