google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday June 19, 2009 Stella Daily and Bruce Venzke

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Jun 19, 2009

Friday June 19, 2009 Stella Daily and Bruce Venzke

Theme: Diamonds Are Forever

17A: Start of a quote: I NEVER HATED A MAN

41A: Quote, part 2: ENOUGH TO GIVE HIM

64A: End of a quote: HIS DIAMONDS BACK

And ZSA ZSA (72A: Speaker of the quote, familiarly). Nice addition to the quote.

Zsa Zsa Gabor also said: I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house. I wonder how many diamonds/houses she has obtained through this strategy.

This is our first Quote/Quip themed puzzle since the LAT switch, correct? I polished it off rather quickly, with a few errors. The quote itself was very familiar, so I was able to fill in plenty of blanks without the normal Titanic Friday struggle.

My favorite clue today is OBI (61A: Band from the East?). I was picturing a music band not the kimono band. I also like the clue for DELETE (69A: Takeout order?). Thought it might have something to do with the takeout food order or gang's order to kill someone.

Across:

1A: Tolkien's Legolas: ELF. Legolas is portrayed by Orlando Bloom in the movie.

10A: Striker's bane: SCAB. Reminds me of the SNAFU (54A: Messy scenarios) during 1989 Tiananmen Square Incident. Many of the SCABS were actually conscientious workers.

16A: __ stick: POGO. I rather like "We have met the enemy and he is us" speaker clue for POGO.

20A: Shivering fit: AGUE. See, English is weird, words ending in AGUE (plague, vague, league, etc), have completely different pronunciations.

21A: State until 1991: Abbr.: SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic). Every time I see this clue, I see the birthmark on Gorbachev's bald head. Do you have birthmark also? Gorbachev's Nobel Peace is probably well-deserved.

22A: Part of a woodlands stash: ACORN. I still can't believe people once drank ACORN coffee.

23A: 1519 Yucatán arrival: CORTEZ. According to Wiki, Hernando CORTEZ's arrival caused the fall of the Aztec empire and started the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. I obtained the answer from Down fills.

26A: Remote function: PAUSE

28A: "Rubáiyát" poet: OMAR. Wow, I just found out the OMAR means "first born son" in Arabic. No wonder so many people are called OMAR.

30A: "Star Trek" weapon: PHASER. Like this. Saw this clue before.

34A: Apple pie go-with?: MOM. Why? I wanted baseball, hot dogs or Chevrolet. None fits.

37A: Alcohol-based solvent: ACETAL. ACET(o) +AL(cohol). Perfume ingredient.

40A: Palestinian city: GAZA. GAZA Strip. Controlled by Hamas.

45A: Arrival: ADVENT

47A: Plane site: HANGAR. I don't think they will find the blackbox of that Air France Airbus. Quite a few conspiracy stories have been swirling around.

51A: Rolls partner: ROYCE. Rolls -ROYCE.

58A: Go furtively: SNEAK

63A: Radius neighbor: ULNA

68A: Mont Blanc, par exemple: ALPE. Mont Blanc is the highest peak of the Alps.

71A: Make (one's way): WEND. New word to me.

73A: Scout units: Abbr.: TPS (Troops). Which one is the eagle scout pin? Awesome collection.

Down:

1D: Pioneering computer: ENIAC. Developed in 1946.

2D: Shop talk: LINGO. Sometimes the answer is ARGOT.

3D: Lilas or tulipe: FLEUR. French for flower. The real flower. Not Rich Norris' fake Seine flow-er.

4D: Miler Sebastian: COE. He headed the London bid for the 2012 Olympics.

5D: Boston Garden legend: ORR (Bobby). Easy guess. I've never heard of Boston Garden.

8D: Violet lead-in: ULTRA. Misread the clue as "Violent lead-in".

9D: Manhattan liquor: RYE. I like Long Island Iced Tea.

10D: Period that started with Sputnik: SPACE AGE. In 1957.

11D: How, in Jerez: COMO. The answer would be "COMMENT" in Paris.

12D: Bio lab gel: AGAR. Food thickener as well. Made from seaweed.

13D: Former European capital: BONN. Capital of West Germany (1949-1990).

18D: Put the kibosh on: VETO. Latin for “I forbid”. The Sicilian ETNA volcano is literally "I burn".

19D: Recipe bit: DASH

24D: Salon or Slate, briefly: E-MAG. Eliot Spitzer is now a columnist for Slate.com. Too bad, he only writes financial stuff.

25D: Millard's predecessor: ZACHARY (Taylor). I can never remember the exact order.

27D: Earth-to-satellite connections: UPLINKS. Data path from earth to satellite. Opposite DOWNLINKS, data path from satellite to earth. Both new words to me.

29D: Like many Ariz. residents: RETD (Retired). More in Florida, right?

31D: Satirical Mort: SAHL. He is still alive.

32D: He played Emile in "South Pacific": EZIO (Pinza). Oh, the Broadway "South Pacific". I kept picturing the Emile in the film "South Pacific". EZIO Pinza won Tony for the role.

35D: __ Day: dietary supplement brand: ONE A. Wish those multivitamin pills are smaller.

36D: Maker of ShowHouse faucets: MOEN

38D: "Mazel __!": TOV. Hebrew for "Congratulations". I should say this to our Elissa for her HOURGLASS FIGURE. Hell will freeze over before I get a 24" waist.

39D: "The African Queen" co-screenwriter: AGEE. Katherine Hepburn has some fun description of the shooting of "The African Queen" in her biography. Amazing amount of alcohol were drunk everyday. The excuse was that the water there was unsafe.

42D: Went for more memory, say: UPGRADED. Computer memory.

43D: Dodge Viper engine: V-TEN. Easy guess. I did not really know the engine for Dodge Viper.

48D: 2004 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Isao: AOKI. Just look at those highlighted green letters, you should be able to remember his name. One starts with I, one ends with I; One ends with AO, one starts with AO.

50D: Slap on: DAUB

53D: Virus named for an African river: EBOLA. Nice trivia. The river is in Congo.

55D: Bluegrass great Lester: FLATT. What's the technical name for their hats?

56D: Open, in a way: UNCAP

58D: "Arms and the Man" playwright: SHAW. I guessed. Have never heard of this play. I only know SHAW's "Pygmalion".

59D: Shade of green: NILE. Is it somehow related to the river? You would think NILE is "Shade of blue". Thought of LIME.

60D: What many jocks watch: ESPN. I like this clue.

62D: Don Juan's mother: INEZ. Spanish for Agnes, "pure"/"chaste".

65D: Cooper's tool: ADZ. Ha ha, I thought of the handsome Anderson Cooper (CNN) immediately.

66D: Consequence of getting bombed too often?: DTS (Delirum Tremens). "Bombed" is slang for drunk.

67D: Wet expanse: SEA. MER in French and MAR in Spanish.

Answer grid.

C.C.

73 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, C.C. and gang - an outstanding puzzle today - I had snags all over the place, but really enjoyed this one. Some very clever clues, and knowing the quote helped a lot. Once I had 'I never hated a man enough....' I remembered Zsa Zsa's famous line.

It was nice seeing one of our old favorites, 'snafu'. I thought 'Millard's predecessor' was a great clue - there's only one Millard I ever heard of, and even though I can't remember the order of Presidents, once I had 'Cortez', it became pretty obvious. Cleverest clues for me were 'band from the east', and 'Consequence of getting bombed too often'.

Today is World Sauntering Day. Enjoy your stroll.

Today's Words of Wisdom: "Be an individualist -- and and individual. You'll be amazed at how much faster you get ahead." -- Businessman J. Paul Getty

Friday Fun Facts:

- If you add up the letters in all the names of the cards in one suit of the deck (ace, two, etc.), the total number of letters is fifty-two, the same as the number of cards in the deck.

- The founder of the FBI, Charles Joseph Bonaparte, was a grandnephew of Napoleon.

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

Dennis,
I had my best LAT Friday. Millard has a rather DF surname. I treasure individualism and originality. Interesting FF about FBI. Does ZSA ZSA strike you as beautiful?

Joyce,
'Dos Equis' would be a great theme title.

PJ in Chicago,
Hope to see you in the Blue Zone soon.

Argyle,
Excellent "X" words yesterday.

Dennis said...

C.C., even I didn't make a DF connection with 'Fillmore' until you said that. You've truly come over to the dark side.

No, Zsa Zsa never struck me as beautiful.

Off to the gym.

Gareth Bain said...

Easiest Friday I ever solved, despite the quote too. Quote was witty too, which makes it worthwhile. BTW, does anyone know why Stella Daily & Bruce Venzke always a share a byline?

Gareth B.

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

Gareth,
Often, not always. I've seen a few individual Stella Daily & Bruce Venzke byline. Maybe they've found the Peter A. Collins & Joe Krozel style chemistry. I don't know. You should probably ask Orange.

Dick said...

Good morning C.C. and all, ...a difficult puzzle today, but very doable with help from the perps. I recognized the theme quickly which allowed me to make lots of letter fills.

Have you ever noticed how much Dick Cheney looks like Gorbachev?

I liked the clues for "obi",, "vten", "delete" and "Zachary." I carelessly wrote in "acetic" for "acetal" which slowed me down a bit in that area.

Hope you all have a great Friday.

KittyB said...

Good morning, all!

Wow...an easy Friday puzzle! I'm sure that I didn't complete it in "Dennis time," but it filled in faster than yesterday's c/w. The familiar quote helped.

I wanted a "T" somewhere in EZIO, but couldn't make it fit. VTEN, GAZA and SSR came from the fills.

OBI and DELETE were cleverly clued.

It's overcast in the Chicago area this morning. I think we're in for more rain. I'm going to have to invest in swim fins or waders, soon.

Time to be off to exercise.

KittyB said...

Dennis, from 7:27 last night...Gawd, YES! Doesn't everybody have a dysfunctional family??? Humor, wit, disagreements, fun facts, DFishness (See Buckeye's buddy) it's all just like my family, with the exception of Clear Ayes poetry. We have musicians, but a lack of poets.

PJ from Chicago, welcome to the group! The Oregonians have us outnumbered, but our little band of Illinoisans is growing. No more lurking for you!

And now, I'm truly late and have to run.

kazie said...

I read Dennis' "today" as "word sauntering day" and thought, yes, that describes how I did this puzzle. I was wandering all over it before I got real traction, but despite a lot of unknowns, I got it mostly with just guessing and lots of perp help.

I had absolutely no idea that Millard was a president but ZACHARY became obvious from perps and I still didn't make the presidential connection. I forgot TAE Bo, didn't know FLATT, and started out with ECOLI for EBOLA, so couldn't "see" OBI until I was here.

On reflection, I have to say OBI was the cleverest today. Though I got it immediately, I think the FLEUR clue was a bit unfair for non franglophones. Also, I had heard the quote before, but it didn't all come together in a single flash for me, especially with e-coli running into the first Zsa at the bottom.

On the whole though, a much easier Friday than any previous LATs, and I did it on paper with no outside help!

Mainiac said...

Good Morning All,

A doable puzzle on a Friday!? I must be dreaming. There certainly were some challenges for me. DELETE and OBI were at the top of the list. Never have heard of FLATT and ROYCE was the popping sound everyone heard. Duh! I'm hungry and couldn't get rolls and butter out of my head.

Raining today and looks like it for the weekend too. My seedlings are going in even if I have to wear rain gear. A couple of my tomato plants have blossoms already.

Have a great day!

Argyle said...

Good Morning,

My big "d'oh" was when I realized that it was asking for a real Former European capital, and not money! I saw capital and said, "They're not fooling me this time." HAH!

Elissa said...

I agree that this puzzle was easier than I expected for a Friday. My only problem was the SE corner - didn't know FLATT, couldn't remember TAE bo, and wouldn't abbreviate troops as TPS. (Isn't that toilet paper.) I figured out the quote, although I don't remember hearing it before. I blithely guessed VTEN for a Viper engine, since I only knew about V-6 and V-8 and know that Viper is a powerful car.

My new picture shows the skyline of Istanbul with the Blue Mosque and Hagi Sophia.

When I looked at the figure stats on the hourglass site, it looked like a 12 inch difference from bust to waist, not my 10 inches, but I'm pretty happy with how I'm holding up as I approach 58.

C.C. "Mom and Apple Pie" is a common expression, such as "As American as Mom and Apple Pie".

Dick said...

Argyle, I feel your pain with capital.

Elissa said...

Meant to mention that it seems like we get AGUE in the puzzle alot and I, for one, am getting SICK of it.

I presume the blog has previously discussed the derivation of SNAFU - situation normal all f***ed up. There are other similar acronyms - FUBAR (f***ed up beyond all recognition)and BOHICA (bend over here it comes again). Any other favorites?

Fred said...

This was a pretty easy puzzle for a Friday,yet enjoyable. Maybe the new easier difficulty levels due in mid-June C.C. talked about are kicking in.
Fred

SandbridgeKaren said...

It's Friday and I got the puzzle without any help so something's clearly wrong. I don't like quote puzzles and this reminded me of a lot of the old Trib xwords, although with better cluing. The quote was interesting but I still feel I've time-warped back to the 'old days' - this one didn't get my juices flowing.

What Dick and Argyle said about 'capital'.

We were slammed by t-storms last nite; have to go fish furniture out of the pool and clear plant debris from the decks. Hot hot coming this weekend - summer's here.

Dennis said...

tarrajo, I didn't answer you last night, because I didn't want to step on any toes. Yes, the 'talk' can and should wait. Yes, what he's doing is perfectly normal, and the less of a big deal you make about it, the better; he's gonna do it regardless. Listen, it sounds like you're doing a wonderful job; just keep going with your instincts.

Argyle, I had the same reaction initially to the former capital clue; thought I wouldn't get outsmarted again.

Elissa, great picture.

Crockett1947 said...

Good morning, everyone!

I seem to remember this quote from one of our old Thursday quote/quip puzzles on TMS. Yes, No?

I had the same thoughts on OBI and didn't get the V8 moment until reading it here.

Don't know if it was the quote, but this was a very doable Friday puzzle.

I wanted BREAD for Rolls partner, but that didn't fly long. Did not know either of the EMAGs, but the perps helped there.

Yes, this is a goofy language. No consideration of consistency in pronunciation. Kudos to C.C. and other foreign language speakers who come to our shores and successfully struggle and master this weird language we call English.

C.C. said 18D: Put the kibosh on: VETO. Latin for “I forbid”. The Sicilian ETNA volcano is literally "I burn". It's interesting to see how you pull things together, C.C. I can't see anything connecting VETO and ETNA except that they are both four letters long.

Flatt and Scruggs' hats look like Stetsons to me.

@kazie Hooray for you!!

@argyle LOL!

@elissa Good to see you back and spicing up the conversation. BOHICA is new to me.

@tarrajo What dennis says about LGJ's behavior is the way of the world. Once discovered, it's a fact of life, but nothing to be concerned about. Sounds like you're doing a terrific job with him, so keep on keeping on.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, I finished the puzzle without any "G-ing" last night with Cruciverb. There were plenty of fills I needed perp help with, COMO, PHASER, ACETAL, V-TEN and ZACHARY (I can never keep the order straight either) were just some of them.

I thought it was true that I am more alert in the evening, but after reading everyone's comments, I guess the puzzle difficulty has leveled off.

EZIO Pinza was a marvelous baratone. Some Enchanted Evening was his show stopper from South Pacific. Rossano Brazzi, who starred in the movie was younger and better looking, but he couldn't sing. His songs were dubbed by opera star Giorgio Tozzi.

KQ, In case you didn't see it from later last night, I use Picasa for photo linking. I'm sure there are many other photo downloading/sharing sites"

Thanks to C.C. this morning for hearing the ladies complaint. Orlando Bloom is very handsome. I think Anderson Cooper is not only good looking, but is smart and very funny. I think I mentioned those are my top two attraction magnets.

C.C. I think the straw hat is a Panama. History of straw hats gives a pretty good description of the origin and types. Crockett may be right that the hat is a Stetson, but Stetson is a brand and makes many different styles. There are so many styles that vary by the brand, it would be almost impossible to say which one Flatt and Scruggs is wearing.

Anonymous said...

Good morning, everyone. I got several answers today, which was a surprise. Didn't even try the quote, which I wouldn't have known anyway. Liked, as did others, Band from the east, Period that started with Sputnik. Did not like seeing snafus, as we discussed long ago. I don't think such belong in an xword. (I know, I'm a prude about language.)

Tarrajo: Having raised two sons, I do have a bit of unsolicited advice.
I read and followed the idea of not having "the talk", but of answering all questions as they arose. Of course their father was on a trip when the first substantive question was asked by my older son. Then the typical response. "So you and Dad did it twice?" I went on to explain that people did it for pleasure also.
His younger brother never asked any questions. So I guess he got it all from his sibling. They are now in their 50s and have done fine, as best as I can tell.

g8rmomx2 said...

Hi c.c. and all:

Fun puzzle today. I did know the quote, but didn't see it right away, just kept hacking away until it became apparent. My favorites were Band from the East?; Rolls partner; Takeout order?; Millard's predessor and plane site! I did have a couple of googles, but was proud that I finished a Friday's puzzle.

Have a great day everyone!

Linda said...

Had early appts...haven`t done puzzle yet..

CC: Any problems your way with the bad weather yesterday?

Elissa: Some made up short cut words from our family:
"P-jammie samie" for peanut butter and Jelly sandwich.
And (we have a saying in the south when someone always gets way more than they can eat and it`s "Their eyes are bigger than their bellies." So we shortened it to)
"EEbie TEEbies" which my daughter had and still has!

lois said...

Good morning CC et al., fun puzzle but what a mess I made. I got the quote but blew the syntax by putting 'give him back' w/out waiting for the perps to verify letters. I never do that... just blame it on the 'DTs' from too much celebrating end of school and another daughter's birthday yesterday. Fun times! Loved also the ref. to Flatt and MOM, who I will see in 2 days and a wake up. Can't wait.

I still don't get 59D 'nile' being a shade of green...red maybe, even brown, but green?

Argyle and Dennis: funny about capital...I thought the same thing.

Tarrajo: sorry for the missed SOS last night. What wise Dennis said is absolutely spot on perfect and well put. You are doing a wonderful job.

Jimbo & Elissa: great pictures!

CC: LMAO w/your comment about Millard's last name. You rock!

Today may be World Sauntering Day, but it's my first day of freedom and can't wait to do all that is out there to do. Besides
'sauntering' is not the way I roll anyway. I'm on the fast track.

Enjoy this glorious, gorgeous day!

Elissa said...

I wonder why Italians (Pinzo, Brazzi) played a Frenchman in "South Pacific") and in "Camelot" (Franco Nero as Lancelot)?

As for favorite eye candy actors - Johnny Depp and Hugh Jackman are tops on my list. In addition to their looks, both seem to be nice guys and good fathers, and very talented performers. Orlando Bloom is just too pretty for my taste.

Elissa said...

For Nile Green, check out this True Color Earth picture where the Nile sure looks green.

carol said...

Good morning C.C. and all - I was surprised to see a QUOTE today! I don't remember seeing one in the LAT puzzles before. I thought, oh boy, now we will hear groans from the gang..but it was a fun quote.

I really had a tough time in the SE corner. I did not know FLATT, ULNA, TAE and TPS (strange abbr for troups, I would have thought TRPS, if anything). I also had trouble with 29D (Ariz residents), I put REPS (for Republicans).

Kitty B, I always want to spell Ezio as Enzio for some unknown reason.

Elissa, love your new pic.

Do you all think Lois is glad about her 'freedom'??? LOL and beware! she could be coming to a theater near you!!

Favorite clues were Apple pie go-with and Takeout order.

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to read the posts.
Not anywhere near finishing the puzzle. Guess my brain is AWOL this morning.
Won't get back to it till later.
Later

Treefrog

Clear Ayes said...

How times change. My father told my mother and me that it was, "Situation Normal, All Fouled Up". I didn't know any different until many years later.

Linda, LOL..Careful! We now know that you probably live somewhere east of the Rockies and south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Elissa, Because the French can't sing? Just kidding, but I can't think of a famous male singer from France that sings/sang in a classical style.

You're right about Orlando Bloom. He is almost too pretty. The subjective 30 Most Handsome Movie Stars of All Time list, strangely shows 20 stars. Some I agree with, others not so much. But Johnny Depp always seems to make all the lists.

WM said...

Morning everyone...
Unbelievable...a reasonable Friday although I wasn't too sure at first glance as I can never remember any of the Tolkien stuff.

Knew the quote and ZsaZsa so that helped...pretty much liked the same clues as everyone else. It took a bit and I went around a bit but realized that there wasn't really anything that I didn't know. Remembered Flatt and Scruggs from old Hee Haw shows. Liked the ALPE clue...all in French! I'm with Elissa and Carol on TPS...TRPS would be more accurate. I use TP abbr on my grocery list...:oP

Did Pick up FLEUR and COMO and AGAR quickly. Agar is often used as a gelatin replacement in vegetarian cooking since gelatin is animal based. I remember when we couldn't get sheet gelatin from Europe during the mad cow disease scare back in the early 2000's.

All in all a much easier puzzle than I had geared myself for.

Had a great time yesterday and our lunch was wonderful...stopped at a few interesting places along the way.

PJ...great to have you join us.

C.C. thanks for the links...esp the Anderson Cooper. My favorite newsperson is Brian Williams...Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman for political critiscms and info.

Elissa...can't wait to see the pictures. Didn't you give me an acronym that was something like FIIGMO( F*** it, I've got my orders)???? How close was I on that?

Warm here today...lots to do. Hubs is waiting to see if he made it through the week on jury duty.

Anonymous said...

At first I was disappointed to see that it was a quote puzzle, then when it started coming together I really enjoyed it. My favorite clues were the same as Dennis’ today. I got Omar, Coe, and Sahl from the perps. I liked seeing pogo stick even though I never could manage to stay on one longer than a couple hops. I had penned in lime for the green shade, I thought for sure nile would be wrong when I typed it in. I have never heard of nile being a shade of green. I have tried drinking a couple of manhattans and find interestingly enough that my legs won’t work anymore.

Bill, I thought of you when I saw bluegrass great Lester Flatt. I bet that was a gimmee for you.

I didn’t know there was such a thing as a V-10 engine. Dennis have you ever test driven a Viper?

Tashajo and I share a birthmark, but hers is on the opposite “cheek” :)

lois said...

Carol: LMAO funny lady! Actually, my family is out of the theater business now and is into real estate. I could be coming to a house near you these days. You might want to alert the
'beavers'.

Elissa: thank you. The Nile does look green... from a satelite... how practical is that? but interesting.

Linda said...

CA: Here is another clue...where I live used to be "Indian territory"...which is pretty much the 48 contiguous states!

Bad enough that I admitted being from the south! I know the mis and preconceptions people have of us. I had a cousin visit from "New Yawwk" and she had the nerve to make this comment; "Well, I`m amazed. You have indoor plumbing! I figured youse guys would be running around with chicken manure between your toes!"

Just remember that I was born and reared in FL...and while it is the southern-most state, it "ain`t' southern (but we did/do eat grits and regularly say/said "ya`ll" and "all ya`ll" !)

Ode to being a Southern Woman

To be from the south
Means many a thing.
You`re pleasant and gracious,
Your man is the King!

You wear your hair big
And know how to fry
Up critters you shoot
And some that you buy.

You`re soft-faced and soft-voiced.
You always dress up.
And you know how to "season"
Your "tea" in a cup.

If I had to chose
Among women from where,
I`d choose from the south.
There are few to compare.

Faithful and loyal,
A sweetness, to boot.
But hand them a shotgun,
And just watch them shoot!

Al said...

Here's a cartoon that's useful for remembering presidential succession order. It stops with Clinton because that's when it was made, but still good, especially the ending. Kazie, you might enjoy this one.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hey gang -

We lucked out on the weather here. Rainy, gloomy Wed. on into Thus a.m. Stormy overnight into Friday a.m. But Thus afternoon/evening was sunny, clear, and perfect for the first park concert of the season.

I do have a Gorby-style birth mark, much fainter than his, and now faded into near-invisibility. Currently am working on dupicating his hair line.

I struggled with the puzzle today, but muddled through. Had to g-spot INEZ (drat!) then the bottom middle came together. Didn't understand OBI till I came here. Had most of the quote, and enough perps to make DIAMONDS look likely. But not knowing the quote, nor the source, had trouble believing it. Truly non-sense, if not from her. I recognize the house-keeper quip, though. Ah my blessed Hungarian heritage: we're famous for ZsaZsa and that guy who took a sledge hammer to the Pieta
. Lovely.

It took me - the erstwhile chemiker - forever to get 37A, "Alcohol based solvent." A genuinely poor clue, BTW. An acetal is the reaction product of an alcohol and an aldehyde or ketone. So it's "alcohol based" in more or less the same sense that concrete is sand-based. Also, I had tunnel vision, thinking of acetals as plastics, not solvents - though they can be either.

ENIAC and I were born in the same year.

If anyone is still puzzling over the Adriana-Alessandra controversy, let me further complicate the issue with this bewidering array of alternatives.

Cheers!

melissa bee said...

good morning c.c. and all,

enoyable puzzle today. i agree with crockett, i'm sure we had this same quote before, which made it very doable for me. never heard of NILE green.

in sixth grade i had to memorize all the presidents in order. a family friend helped me make up stories using the last names, in groups of five to ten. the little story for 'tyler, polk, taylor, fillmore pierce, buchanan, lincoln' has stuck with me.

my sunday school teacher (hi mom) had me memorize all the books of the bible in order. never thought i'd be using those things for xword puzzles.

tarrajo: i don't think there's a 'one size fits all' answer for when to have the talk - but i did it very early on. i figured i'd rather them hear it correctly from me before they heard it incorrectly elsewhere.

absolutely gorgeous weather in the west .. perfect for sauntering.

KittyB said...

In addition to the gorgeous Hugh Jackman, and Johnny Depp, I think we may want to keep our eye on
Gerard Butler.

These four men surely deserve either runner-up status or winners of the "mature" division:

Gabriel Byrne, Robert Redford, Sean Connery, and Peter Jennings.

You may question my choice of Robert Redford. Perhaps I am swayed by my memory of him as a younger actor, but I'd like to think that the quality of his personality was the deciding factor. For the same reason, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt shouldn't have made the list.

Anonymous said...

Delighted to see an honest-to-goodness quote puzzle today! I'd missed our old Thursday friends.

Also pleased to see the return of the LAT crosswords in my paper this week, after their sudden hiatus this past month (along with me from this blog). IMHO, the themeless, unsigned replacements had been much too dull and easy.

No g-spotting or other help needed for me so far this week, but I'm happy that at least I'm having to dust off the old thinking cap again.

anon-hp

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

Elissa,
I love your new picture. What exercise do you do to have a smaller waist? Did you visit the Blue Mosque? Does BOHICA have a gay connotation? Thanks for "MOM and Apple Pie" and the NILE color link.

Crockett & Melissa,
My goodness. You are right. I found the May 1, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang puzzle. It's broken into different parts and "HIS" was omitted. Hence a quip instead of a quote I suppose. Crockett, just random thinking of "I forbid" and "I burn". No real connection.

Clear Ayes,
Wow, I had no idea that Rossano Brazzi voice was dubbed. Thanks. Thanks also for the Panama hat.

JD said...

Good morning CC and all,

Having a quote today was surprising.At 1st I thought the theme was "something's up" with uplinks and upgrades. Because I knew the quote I thought it wouls be easy, but I chugged along at a snail's pace and filled in all but the G (ague & lingo) and the U (ulna & daud[DOH!}) I G'd phraser. So many weapons in that movie-never a fan. Had a heck of a time with ending letters, like the al in acetal.

Getting a pogo stick was my dream every Christmas; never got it. How silly was that. I didn't even ask for a bike???? Never had one of those either.

Al, loved the preident song!

Elissa, great picture.

Linda, cute short cuts, and a darling poem.

CA, nice eye candy, although I also disagree with some, would add others.

another gorgeous day! FINALLY get to sign off our refi @ 4.75 this afternoon.Took forever!

Dennis, great FF

A deck of cards is built like the purest of hierarchies, with every card a master to those below it, a lackey to those above it.
Ely Culbertson

KittyB said...

Argyle, I think they double-team us with the clues. Will it be straightforward, or will it be the trick clue today? Keeps us on our toes, eh?

Elissa....what lovely taste in men you have! I think Hugh Jackman is my present fav. If you have not seen him in the all "English" cast of "Oklahoma," it's well worth the cost of renting, even buying, the DVD.

Lois, happy birthday to your daughter, and congrats on making it through another school year.

Carol, because I've heard Ezio pronounced 'ATE-Z-O' I wanted that 'T' in there, but it's like 'Mozart,' the 'Z' sounds like 'TS.' Perhaps when you were first introduced to his name, someone pronounced it wrong, and it's stuck with you. Or maybe a word that sounds similar, like 'Anzio' has tried to take over your memory. Whatever the reason, I'm in good company. ;-)

Clear Ayes, Orlando is so earnest...what's not to like?!

tarrajo, I have not raised children. My stepchildren were well on the way to being grown when I met them so I didn't have to address this issue. But, one of the things I have read over, and over, is that you give your children what they need at the moment. Rather than giving them an encyclopedic answer, sometimes what they really need is a short story. And, when to provide this information varies from child to child. You've done a great job so far, don't second guess yourself on this. You'll know when he needs more information from you.

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

Linda,
Cloudy. Supposed to be perfect on weekend. Did you write "Ode to being a Southern Woman" yourself? So Steel Magnolia like!

Jazzbumpa,
Holy Toledo! Nice link. Heidi Klum is missing though.

Al,
Thanks for the presidential succession order clip. By the way, I've started cooking with light olive oil. Ready to give up canola.

Anon-hp,
Nice to see you back. I was wondering why you suddenly left.

KittyB,
How about Clive Owen?

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

WM et al,
Why Blocks A & B have the same shade of gray? They look so different to me.

JD said...

reliving history

1910- Father's Day was 1st celebrated in Spokane, WA

1914- Lester Flatt's birthday-what a coincidence!( I just learned that he was Earl Scrugg's partner)

1940- Brenda Star was introduced in Chicago paper, 1st cartoon strip by a woman Ta Da!


1955-Mickey Mantle hit his 100th HR

1973- Pete Rose & Willie Davis both got career hit #2000!!!
( Pete Rose REALLY should be in the H of F...morons)

1987- Ben & Jerry ice cream and Jerry Garcia announced their new flavor Cherry Garcia Yuk! My fav is Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, although Imagine Whirled Peace is pretty spectacular. What's your favorite?

Linda said...

Kittybea: I wholeheartedly agree about Peter Jennings...he went Cary Grant one better! It took me a long time to forgive him for dying.

CC; I wrote it but that doesn`t mean I believe all of it...just the good parts!...as I said to CA, I know the mis- and pre-conceptions people have about the south and I`m a tad touchy about it. We also have Rhodes Scholars, deep-thinking philosophers and crossword solvers, right along with the baton twirling beauty queens!

Clear Ayes said...

Melissabee to tarrajo, very good advice.

Linda, Cute poem.

KittyB, You have excellent taste in men.

Jazzbumpa, No fair. The ladies are supposed to have their turn today. But too late, so enjoy, guys!

BTW, don't forget Béla Lugosi, Peter Lorre, Béla Bartók, Franz Liszt and ZsaZsa's more talented sister Eva, famous Hungarians, all.

BTW, How about a few links for beautiful women (other than Sophia Loren :o) over 50 years old? Oh yes, ones who haven't had obvious surgical help. I vote for Helen Mirren, Tina Turner and Susan Sarandon. They are aging beautifully without spending money on a losing cosmetic surgery battle.

C.C. I don't think Clive Owen is particularly handsome. But he is very talented. Now then, is he smart and funny???

Checker shadow proof We don't always see what we think we see. A good example of why eye witnesses are so often wrong.

Mainiac said...

The talk.........I gave it to my oldest at age 11. According to the wife who was listening in I didn't do it right. WTF, have at was my reply. Just recently my youngest, age 10, started asking some questions. I asked where are you hearing this which he replied from his brother. Soooooooo I think I did all right the first go round and now we are in ask a question mode with number 2. Whatever works.

Thank you Jazzbumpa! Sports Illustrated has nothing on a Victoria Secrets Catalog.

Linda, nice poem. My mother took in strays when I was a kid and this woman from Atlanta GA lived with us off and on for a number of years. She is back in Atlanta now and we all remain close. I learned a lot from her which came in helpful when I was in Texas. Even though I married a northerner, I've many fond memories of a southern gal........or two.

KQ said...

Struggled today. I will leave it at that. Too much stress at our home right now with the husband studying 24/7 for the bar exam and two teenage sons. Hard to remain focused.

Tarrajo, I agree with Dennis on what is normal, but there are certainly behaviors that you can address in very simple manners. While it seems innocent enough with his girlfriend, in this day and age he needs to be reminded that there are some villainous people out there. Times are different than when we were growing up (or maybe not).

Elissa, Hugh Jackman is one of my favorite. It is worth seeing Australia just to sit and watch him the entire film even though I am not a huge Nicole Kidman fan.

ClearAyes, thanks for the picasa link. I have used many picture programs, but not for this purpose. I will have to give it a try soon.

Luxor, it is my daughter, U of Iowa. Texting helped me locate her amid 1,500 graduates. The girl next to her was so hungover she couldn't sit up, thereby giving me a clear view of her with the zoom lens. Fun day for us all.

Jerome said...

Gareth- My info is that Stella usually comes up with the theme and clues and Bruce does the fill. Why and how they hooked up I don't know. But they made lots of puzzles together before they ever met in person! They're also part of the CrosSynergy group that can be accessed at Cruciverb's homepage.

WM said...

C.C. ...Square A looks darker because it is surrounded by light squares and B by dark squares plus the added illusion of the shadow cast by the green cylinder which also "changes" the shades of gray visually. When I am painting, I can dramatically change a color by changing the color or colors I place next to it, something KittyB is also probably aware of with her fabric when quilting and CA with her pastels...there is also the added illusion of the back of base with the squares looking wider than the front...again, shadow, color and illusion. I hope that helps a bit.

Actually, even with the gray bars there appeared to be a difference until I blocked out the rest of the image with my hands...

It is also fun to consider the fact that you can take a 2-dimensional surface and give it 3 dimensions by how you use color, light and shadow.

embien said...

15:10 today. No particular problems, but it took a while for the quote to come together (was unfamiliar to me). At least the quote was humorous--I don't really care for the "serious" quotes in puzzles.

For some reason I had NAWS instead of NAHS and AWL instead of ADZ, which made the first and last lines of the quote hard to see.

Clear Ayes said...

WM, Great checkerboard explanation!

KittyB, I take it back, Orlando Bloom was "pretty" as Legolas in LOTR (what the heck, he was an elf), but in his new movie Sympathy For Delicious, he is much edgier!

WM said...

Everyone...Woo Hoo!!! I just got off the phone with the Alameda County Fair and my Sunflowers won best of show and another won best of class!!! The third was also accepted. That is 2 years in a row for best of show!!!! I am so freakin' excited...this is a huge show!

WOOT...I will try to go and calm down now.

BTW...I like Clive Owen...used to watch him in a British Mystery called Second Sight about a detectective who was losing his eyesight...and I pretty much agree with all the people everyone has mentioned. Apparently everyone on this blog has excellent taste.

CA...you're welcome...I'm glad that made sense.

Jazzbumpa said...

C.C. and maniac -
Your humble trombonist always strives to please.

C.A. -
I was actually thinking about Bartok as I wrote that, having just heard his "Concerto for Orchestra" recently. Didn't realize Lorre
(aka Larry Lionstone) was a member of the clan, though he certainly looks like one.

Sometimes I just can't help emphasizing the negative. Lugosi was a Shakespearean actor back home. I think those Dracula movies killed him.

And thanks for the links to the more mature ladies.

Cheers!

Elissa said...

WM: YOU GO GIRL! What a great success!! Congratulations. And you got FIGMO exactly right.

CA: Can’t be the lack of signing skill of the French. The ‘singing’ of many actors were dubbed.

JD: Phish Food is my favorite B&J ice cream – chocolate, marshmallow, carmel, with fudge fish – YUM. No pogo stick for Christmas – you’ll poke your eye out.

Jazzbumpa: Hungary also has many Nobel Prize winners among its native sons, although many prizes were received when the winner had relocated to the US.

KittyB: I'm with you on the young Robert Redford but he hasn’t aged well. I don’t know how I left George Clooney off my original list. To your Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise exclusion I would add Sean Connery and Mel Gibson – “handsome is as handsome does”.

KQ: Good luck to your husband on the bar exam. When I took the bar exam in California (one of the worst experiences of my life) 17 years after being admitted in PA, while I studied my darling husband took care of all the cooking and learned a dozen new chicken recipes. That’s why I love the guy so much. Fortunately I passed the first time, because there was no way I was doing that again.

C.C. BOHICA does not have a gay connotation – the government being asexual and as likely to do it to women as to men. As for my waistline – I do crunches on a slant board and a ball and pull-down crunches, Captain’s chair leg raises, twists on a ball and a machine and with a pole placed behind the neck resting on the back of the shoulders. You can find instructions for all of these through Google. I usually exercise 5 days a week – rotating through abs, arms, legs, abs, arms after biking 5 miles each way to the gym.

That's 5 posts for me. Ta-ta.

Anonymous said...

Anderson Cooper has all of the above stated plus the potential of being a multi-millionaire or more. His mother is Gloria VanDerbuilt. (Not sure about the spelling of her last name. It looks funny, but I don't know why."

I memorized the Presidents in the 5the grade and still remember them. The teacher reduced their last names to one syllable only, dived them into workable units, and we recited them while snapping our fingers to a beat:

Wash
Ad
Jeff
Mad
Monroe
Ad
Jack
____

VanBuren
Harrison
Ty
Po
Tay
Fill
_____

Pier
Bu
Linc
John
_____
Grant
Hayes
Gar
Art
____
etc.

This system only works for me up to Truman. He was President at that time. The rest of them I remember, having developed my own system by grouping them in clusters.

I worked as a barmaid while going to college. I remember the talk at the bar was the lack of intelligence of some people in certain occupations. I was singled out as an example of how little barmaids know. That's why they are only barmaids. One of the men bet another that I couldn't name three Presidents of the U.S. If he lost he said he would buy the bar a drink. He bought a round of drinks for the bar.

We did a lot of memorizing then:
Gettysburg Address
Preamble to the Constitution
States and Capitals

It helps when watching Jeopardy.

Doreen

KittyB said...

WHOOT! WM! Congratulations on sweeping the board with your art! I don't think I'd be trying to calm down; I'd be celebrating!

Thanks for the explanation of the checkerboard. I've had some color theory, but not enough to explain this optical illusion. I wasn't convinced that there were only two colors! lol You're right about how a color can change depending on the colors around it. I have a stash of what I call 'chameleon' fabrics, that I use to blend fabrics together.

C.C., I've never seen Clive Owen act. I'd need to see him move and hear him speak before I could make a decision.

Clear Ayes, clearly Orlando Bloom is not locked into one look! I can see him taking a place on our list! :-) Thanks for the links to the lovely ladies. I still think Sophia Loren is the queen of beautiful aging, but these three women could be her court.

Linda, I felt the same about loosing Peter Jennings. We talked about the word 'soigné' recently. Peter definitely qualifies!

KQ, I bought the DVD of 'Australia' so that I could watch it more than once. I was very surprised when my husband, on one of our very rare movie dates, took me to see 'Wolverine.' I agree that it's worth watching despite Kidman co-starring.

embien said...

Well, for you Taylor Swift fans out there, here's another use of a phaser. It's in the opening of the CMT Music Awards (from last Tuesday night). She does a fantasy bit where she's in the latest Star Trek movie. And don't miss the rap video that comes after! The Star Trek bit is at the beginning of the show: CMT Music Awards Program

I imagine all Taylor's tour shows are sold out by now, but if you get a chance to go to one, don't miss it. It was the best concert I've ever been to (even better than Brad Paisley). I'm pretty sure I was the oldest person there (excepting possibly some grandparents with kids in tow).

Clear Ayes said...

WM, WOW, Congratulations. You deserve it all!

Elissa, Robert Redford is the poster boy to keep red-heads from frying themselves in the sun...not a good look now that he is older. I'm with you about Mel Gibson, his anti-Semitic tirade was not that long ago. Oh yeah, he's homophobic too. I will no longer see one of his movies. In case anybody wasn't aware of Sean Connery's misogynistic views, here's the clip. The interview was 20 years ago, but he hasn't said he has changed his mind. 78 year old Mr. Connery is now retired, so I don't have to boycott his films.

That's 5 for me. Have a nice evening everyone.

Sandra said...

I'm new to your blog...
What's a "perp"?
Thanks.

Jerome said...

How many remember when Zsa Zsa slapped a cop in El Segundo, California and had to spend 72 hours in jail. S'pose she got treated like any other thug? Her defense was she had the right to slap anyone who she felt was insulting. Ah, the whims of the knuckleheaded, idle rich.

People either enjoy quote puzzles or feel pretty blah about them. Doesn't seem to be a middle ground. If you tend to think of puzzles as little mysteries to figure out and solve (what is the theme?) quote puzzles don't give much bang for the buck. This was a well crafted puzzle and it's hard to find a lively quote that fits the strict letter count of theme entries. It must have been cool for Stella/Bruce to hit on a quote that broke down to 3 fifteen letter entries.

Dennis said...

Sandra, a 'perp' is short for a perpendicular clue that crosses one you're working on.

Thanks for joining us, and stick around; it's a great group.

JD said...

WM,WOO HOO!!! So happy for you, but I'm sure you will have to part with your lovely sunflowers.

Elissa, I'm sure my parents thought I'd break my knee caps or just look plain stupid.LOL! Can't imagine why I wanted one, FOR YEARS. I lived on my roller skates.

WM said...

thanks everyone!

Re: pogo sticks...LOVED it! We used to have contests to see who could stay on it the longest and how fast you could hop it down the driveway or how high you could bounce...Nowadays you couldn't use one without a helmet and knee and elbow pads at a minimum...that and my wonderful clamp on metal wheeled skates with the skate key hanging around your neck by the lanyard you made in either after school crafts or Brownies, or learned how to do from your friends. I only wore saddle shoes because the skate clamps held better on the sole.

How did we ever make it to adulthood back then...we were so underprotected? ;o)

carol said...

Linda, great lil' ol poem!! :)

WM, Huge Congrats!!! To hell with calming down, celebrate like crazy!

JD, Coffee ice cream (or better yet, fat free yogurt) for me. Also love toffee/chocolate.
As to your pogo stick, I never had one either but did borrow a pair of stilts from a neighbor and had lots of fun on those. Also loved my roller skates..all steel with my own skate key! Ahhh, the toys we of a certain age enjoyed!!! To hear the 'powers that be' today, we should all be blind or missing one eye, deaf, maimed, missing digits, bald, or have our faces frozen in one of those wonderfully expressive looks we were all so good at!

JIMBO said...

WM,

Never mind. I celebrated for you. Swash a wunnifurel feelin.

WM said...

Jimbo...thanks oodles...working on my second glass of Champagne...this is a big deal for me. 'Youse' guys are terrific.

BTW...Linda...loved the poem. You are very talented. I thought you captured the image perfectly. One of my favorite shows was Designing Women...4 Southern Ladies with a lot of Chutzpah.

#5 so g'nite

Dennis said...

WM, congratulations, and I agree with KittyB - you should definitely celebrate LOUDLY. Nice going.

kazie said...

Crockett,
Thanks for the congrats. I'm hoping tomorrow is as good!

WM,
Looks like you deserve them more than I do--wonderful news for you!

Al,
I'm not sure why I would like the presidents song more than others, but it was amusing! Thanks!

CA,
I dabbled with Picasa this morning before leaving for the day, and on returning found my pic here was gone. I have restored it, so I hope it's back. But when I looked at my picasa "album", I found I already had multiples of all the profile photos I've used here, so I eliminated the duplicates, and must have taken away the current one.

melissa bee said...

@jimbo: that was LOL funny.

@WM: spectacular! what jimbo said. i'm pouring right now ...

btw, where would a local see your work?

Linda said...

Wolfmom: Many congratulations on your achievements! There is so much talent in our little group!

MelissaB: I`ve never cried over a newscaster until Jennings died. He was in my home every evening for years and it was like losing a dear friend. Did you know he was the first anchor to create a segment just for news of interest to the "religious community?" It was researched and reported by Peggy Wehmyer. BTW, "religion" is mentioned only one time in a positive light, in Scripture. The rest of the time..."religion" doesn`t get good press at all, in The Word.
The only positive reference is: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." James 1:27

melissa bee said...

@linda: i did like jennings, but you may have meant that for kittyb (one of the other b's here).

although i watch little to no tv, it was tim russert's passing that hit me hard. today i read that cronkite is seriously ill.

Anonymous said...

Melissabee, Dennis, Mainiac, et al...I think I will take some time to share the "talk" with Littleguyjo for right now. KQ, be assured that this MOMMA has taught him to be careful. Sh*t, I think if anyone tried anything inappropriate with LGJ he might do some damage.

WM, wonderful news and accomplishments for you! I am not artistic in the least. I have artistic things in my head but somehow they can't make it onto paper.

Dennis, you never answered me on whether you have ever taken the viper for a trial run. I am also disappointed you left the birthmark thing alone. So unlike you.

Jeannie said...

WolfMom....kudos to you...I would buy your art any day of the week. You should be very proud of yourself. Sunflowers? Have you painted a picture of daisies?

Tarrajo, I have never had any children but find your "journey" fascinating; and being a single mom with such an active and obviously "boy-man" in the making is fun to watch unfold. Maybe not for you though, but you can get all kinds of advice here. Sounds like you are doing okay by Dennis' book and that is a good "book" to go buy.

Sh&t Dennis, I just made you an author. Can I be your publisher/marketing agent? I think I just sold at least one book. What's my commission?