google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday June 20, 2009 Michael Wiesenberg

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Jun 20, 2009

Saturday June 20, 2009 Michael Wiesenberg

Theme: None

Total blocks: 30

Total words: 70

For those who are not aware, our editor Rich Norris has eased up the puzzles to accommodate those who have difficulty adjusting to the late week LAT. In case you think you suddenly became cleverer and outsmarted him in the past several days.

Can you imagine this puzzle without the 4 "helper squares" on each corner? Probably a few obscure words.

Nice stacked-up long fills in Across:

1A: Much sought-after title object, in a 1930 mystery: MALTESE FALCON

14A: 1999 Winona Ryder movie: GIRL, INTERRUPTED

16A: Italian, e.g.: ROMANCE LANGUAGE

34A: Nose nipper in a Christmas song: JACK FROST

55A: Masthead listing: ASSOCIATE EDITOR

60A: Source of much hard wood?: PETRIFIED FOREST

61A: They have their ups and downs: TEETER TOTTERS

My first reaction for the Winona Ryder movie is "Autumn in New York", which also has 15 letters. I had trouble with 60A since I've never heard of petrified wood. I did get the FOREST part easily.

Favorite clue today is SOTS (50A: They're usually lit). So many slang for drunk: lit, stoned, bombed, loaded, etc.

Across:

17A: Desktop array: ICONS

18A: Word seen between surnames: NEE

19A: Partners may form one: Abbr.: LLC (Limited Liability Company). I penned in LTD first. How are those two different?

20A: Barcelona "but": PERO. No idea. It's MAIS in French.

21A: Scholarship-granting mil. program: ROTC

24A: "Got it": ROGER

26A: From Pitts. to Boston: ENE. This clue feels odd. "From ... to..." does not equal ENE grammatically. "Pitts to Boston direction" does.

27A: Catalog section: FOR HER. Had trouble obtaining this answer.

29A: Toons Pixie and Dixie, e.g.: MICE. Easy guess. I am not familiar with the "Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks" cartoon.

30A: Rare sign?: RED. Meat. Nice clue. Demi Moore eats only raw food.

31A: To be, to Brutus: ESSE

32A: Morphine, for one: OPIATE

36A: Altogether: IN TOTO. Learned this Latin phrase from doing Xword.

39A: P &G Pet Care brand: IAMS. Named after the founder Paul IAMS. I got the answer from Down fills. Alpo is all I know.

40A: Flesh-blood link: AND. Flesh AND blood. This refers to one's family, correct?

43A: Biceps toner: CURL. So you are a curler if you CURL?

44A: What you've got to do "if you want my love," in a Temptations song: EARN IT. I had ??RN IT sitting there forever. Thought of BURN IT.

47A: Prufrock's creator: ELIOT. Wiki says Prufrock comes from the German word "Prüfstein", meaning "touchstone". The book cover is so simple.

49A: French friend: AMIE. Female friend.

51A: Largest airport in OH: CLE. Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Unknown to me.

52A: Fuzzy TV E.T.: ALF

54A: Kind of butter: APPLE. I've yet to try APPLE butter. Looks just like jam.

Down:

1D: Epoch in which grazing mammals became widespread: MIOCENE. Mio is from Greek meíōn, meaning "less". Cene is a suffix for "recent".

2D: Well-protected, in a way: ARMORED

3D: Southwestern plain: LLANO

5D: Letter-bottom abbr.: ENC

6D: __-Thérèse, Quebec: STE

7D: Kabayaki fish: EEL. Yummy, yummy, kabayaki simply means "grilled EEL".

8D: Nice location?: FRANCE. The French city Nice.

9D: "Rule, Britannia" composer: ARNE

10D: German semiautomatic: LUGER. Named after its inventor Georg LUGER.

11D: Intel product, briefly: CPU

12D: Earache: OTALGIA. OT(o) is prefix for "ear", and algia is a suffix for "pain". New word to me. Quite close to "nostalgia".

13D: Allow to worsen: NEGLECT

14D: Malcontent: GRIPER. A malcontent person. I was thinking of the adjective.

15D: Fiat: DECREE. A 5-letter answer would be EDICT.

21D: Tanner of '70s-'80s tennis: ROSCOE. No idea. He is left-handed. Dictionary says ROSCOE is from Germanic words meaning “swift” and “horse.”

22D: City on the Ural: ORSK. This has become a gimme.

23D: 1991 Grisham novel: THE FIRM. I've yet to see the movie.

28D: Rent splitter: ROOMIE. Rent is also the past tense of the splitting word "rend".

34D: Island in the Sulu Archipelago: JOLO. See this map. I wanted JAVA.

36D: Polar feature: ICECAP

37D: Group with no members, in math: NULL SET. No idea. This diagram looks very interestingly complicated. Where is love?

38D: Port of NE Italy: TRIESTE. Here is a map. It's on the Adriatic Sea. Only one letter (E) more than the sorrowful word "triste".

41D: Red figure: NET LOSS

42D: Joshua tree habitat: DESERT. The answer revealed itself. Joshua tree sounds biblical.

45D: Erle Stanley Gardner pseudonym: A. A. FAIR. Unknown to me.

48D: Understood: TACIT. Adjective, both mean "implied". I was in the past tense verb direction.

50D: Cathedral topper: SPIRE

53D: Magazine that first published "The Old Man and the Sea": LIFE. This one is in pretty decent condition. Hope it's not musty.

54D: "A line is __ that went for a walk": Klee: A DOT. Easy guess.

56D: Mt. Hood's state: ORE. Ha ha, I could not recall where Mt. Hood is.

57D: Vietnamese festival: TET. Yeah, limit TET to Vietnam. I dislike when it's clued as "Asian holiday". Ours is called Spring Festival. And it has different name in Korea & Japan.

58D: Pre-1868 Tokyo: EDO. 江戸, literally "bay door".

59D: New newt: EFT

Answer grid.

C.C.

46 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd rather see ORE as a complete word. Abbreviation is inferior.

Chris

Dennis said...

Good morning, C.C. and gang - a really fun puzzle today - I love the long answers, probably because they fill in the puzzle in large chunks all at once. Great cluing.

I had a different answer for 'what you've got to do if you want my love', but it wouldn't fit. In the same vein, I also had a different answer for 'source of much hard wood', but again, no luck. C.C., like you, it took a while for 'forher' to separate into two words for me; thought I must've made a mistake somewhere. Favorite clues were 'rare sign' (for some reason, C.C., your comment about Demi Moore made me happy), and 'they're usually lit'.

C.C., the chart you posted for 'null set' was very cool - never saw it presented that way.

Today is Ice Cream Soda Day, and National Hollerin' Contest Day.

Today's Words of Wisdom: "To get it right, be born with luck or else make it. Never give up. Get the knack of getting people to help you, and also pitch in yourself. A little money helps, but what really gets it right is never -- I repeat -- never under any conditions face the facts." -- Actress/Writer Ruth Gordon

Fun Facts for today:

- There are more recreational golfers per capita in Canada than in any other country in the world.

- In the thirteenth century, Europeans baptized children with beer.

Dennis said...

From last night - MelissaBee, as with you, Tim Russert's death hit me hard too; totally out of the blue. And as much as I've always liked Cronkite, his passing won't be the shock that Tim's was. Whatcha drinking?

Tarrajo, the Viper never appealed to me; it's extremely limited in its capabilities. I like cars (and women) to be multi-talented. And as for the birthmarks (a comment I missed), it would certainly require further exploration.

Jeannie, sorry, but I don't think we had either a written or oral agreement, did we?

KittyB said...

Good morning, all.
I thought at first that this was going to be a killer, but all but the NW corner resolved itself fairly quickly. GIRL, of GIRL, INTERRUPTED was the last of the long answers to fall.

I didn't know that Erle Stanley Gardner had used a pseudonym.

I suppose that I have begun to pick up some simple French over the years as I've done crosswords, but it still bugs me to have to be multilingual to complete the puzzles. PERO intersecting LLANO required a guess for the "O."

I tried at first to spell NULL with just one L, but that resolved itself right away. I don't know anything about JOSHUA trees, but like several other words, it was filled in by the perps.

Dear Husband surprised me with an unplanned invitation to dinner and a movie last night. We went to Maggiano's (Italian food, of course), and saw "Star Trek." I was confused by the alternate time line, but DH and my stepson explained that it would give them license to play with the stories in the future. The actor who plays Spock, played Sylor in "Heroes," and I wasn't sure I could warm to him, but it's an indication of the quality of his acting that I can accept him in either role. This was not a bad first run for the new cast.

I need to visit with Mother, so I'd better get a move on. The day's wasting away! Have a good one.

kazie said...

Good morning everyone!
Dennis, first you give us a good WOW, saying never to face facts, and then two FF's! I guess it's good we don't live in the 13th century or Canada!

Once again, I'm delighted about the new puzzle standard. This was very do-able for me, and also enjoyable, though I did have two errors: I too had wanted JAVA and when I realized I needed Os instead of As, I didn't look it up, and thinking a circular movement might work for the biceps, I ended up with CIRC/JOCO/NILL SET, never having heard of NULL SET. Still can't quite grok its significance in the diagram.

I had to ask DH for PERO too, since my Spanish is limited to crosswordese and basics. But otherwise it all fell in with guessing and perp inspiration. Like Dennis, FOR HER took a while.

c.c.,
I know ROSS is German for pony, but I'm not sure about the COE part. It would have been spelled with a "K" originally, and the only words in modern German with a lone "C" are foreign borrowings.

It's going to be good I.C. soda weather here today!

Linda said...

Melissabee: Excuse the ring...

Killer puzzle...saw all the across- the- grid fills and my brain shut down. Will come back to it later.

KQ said...

I had some trouble with the NW and SE corners, but the rest of the puzzle was fun to do. I knew the Ryder answer was GIRL INTERRUPTED, but it took a while for the name to come back. When THE FIRM first came out, my husband was a new attorney. Our neighbors quickly penned him as Mitch McDeere as his job required such intense hours. Favorite clues were SOT and ROGER.

I too had to look for a while to get FOR HER. I didn't know INTEL made CPU's, I thought only chips. Maybe that is what the CPU is and I am just confused.

CC, Flesh and blood does refer to ones family. I don't think one who does curls for biceps would be a curler. Curling is a different sport altogether. I too wanted LTD, but I believe that is a British term for INC - abbreviation for Limited. LLC is a company that is backed only by company resources and not personal funds.

KQ said...

Tarrajo,

I just read your post from yesterday. I will say that his level of confidence does make him less likely to be a victim. And I trust that you have taught him much about the ways of this scary world. You sound like a pretty involved parent. Have a great weekend.

Elissa said...

Good morning all.

Dennis: Great WOW. I just love Ruth Gordon. I want to grow up to be just like her.

Amazingly I got all of the long answers with no problem, except for Girl Interrupted, which I got after four or five perps. Still I had some struggles, like FOR HER. After a while I changed from Master to Regular level and that was all the help I needed. But my silliest problem was that I saw "fiat" clue as "flat".

LLANO is a new word for me, which surprised me. Never took Spanish, but having lived in California for almost 35 years I've encountered a lot of Spanish terms, especially related to land formations and nature.

My favorite clue Red Figure. As the perps revealed the answer it was an AH HA moment.

Funny to see Prufrock in the puzzle after it came up in the blog discussion this week in a way that way really very tangential. Amazing how often that happens. It is like learning a new word and then hearing it or seeing it elsewhere soon thereafter.

melissa bee said...

good morning c.c. and all,

was a little concerned when i first saw the grid, but plunged right in. top half was a bit stubborn, so went to the bottom. after a few downs filled in i got the three long fills and then everything fell into place.

my grandparents lived in joshua tree for a time so that was a gimme. beautiful spot.

PERO came only with perps. muy poquito spanish here. my puerto rican girlfriend teaches me fun things, like:

her: carajo!
me: contigo abajo! (see, it rhymes)

@dennis: toasted to WM last night with a big beefy red zin. i knew you couldn't let 'source of much hard wood' slip by. btw, how's the mushroom situation?

@linda: i think you'll be surprised once you get a few answers.

@kq: i meant to thank you the other day for that ryan reynolds link. i can't seem to get that window closed.

WM said...

Good morning to everyone...Another WOOT for today...I had written another letter to the editor of the San Jose Mercury News thanking them for returning to the LATimes puzzles and recommending that they do a short bit about the puzzles and I gave this blogspot as a resource with a bit C.C.'s background from the blog page and mentioned all the great links and interviews...lo and and behold, this was printed on the puzzle page...

"We are now running the L.A.Times crossword puzzle, which is easier at the beginning of the week and grows harder toward the end. For help solving it, readers can turn to blogs such as https://crosswordcorner.blogspot.
com.

So...it does pay to send words of praise and to let your paper know that you appreciate something instead of just complaining! Yea!

So...with that said I will make another post on the puzzle.

Crockett1947 said...

Good morning, everyone.

Very doable puzzle, but needed some perp help to get the pesky ones to fall.

Thanks to Jeanette's vast book collection, AAFAIR was a gimmee. As was NULLSET, since I was a math teacher. Of course ORE was a gimmee. C.C., you need to see Mt. Hood to see one of Oregon's stellar sights. It's quite an impressive mountain.

I liked the alliteration in New newt.

Have a great Saturday.

Linda said...

Melissabea: When "glock" didn`t fit...I was really stymied...then spire, icecap Jack Frost Iams curl alf otalgia ( if it`s swimmers ear, a combo of peroxide and white venegar does wonders) and The Firm (big Grissom fan...a southern author BTW) all fell and it was doable. You are a prophet! Now, what`s the DOW going to do through the end of the month?

For you gun afficionados out there: In my "antiquing" I came across a sub-nosed, pearl-handled hand gun...with about a 5 inch barrel which hold 4 22`s at the time. What`s unusual about it is that the barrel rotates...not the chamber. Any info/thought to share?

WM said...

#2

Now, for the puzzle itself. First fill...MALTESE FALCON second fill DESERT and third fill LUGER(my father-in-law used to keep a loaded one by the bedside table and we had to teach the girls that it was hands off). I got stuck a bit on the top half aand kept working down fills...then moved to the bottom half which filled in more easily then back to the top. I totally guessed at ROTC and put in CENE until I gave in and added the IO in MIOCENE...did the same as C.C. and others with **RNIT, had RIGHT for ROGER and had the HER in 27A for a long time before I did a V8 moment with the FOR.

First glance gave an oh oh feeling and I was surprised that, overall, it was very solvable with some work. I want to thank Rich Norris for giving us a bit of a break without losing the integrity of the cluing. I would like to see the papers continue to carry such a high quality and interesting puzzle.

Again...thank you to everyone last night and I did manage 3 glasses(finally) of Champagne in celebration. Everyone here has become such a great and supportive friend, you all rock!...and Jeannie(from last night) thank you for your kind words...YEA!

Gorgeous and slightly cooler...so a good day to get things done.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, I was pretty intimidated at first. Then I got MALTESE FALCON easily and after a few perps, GIRL INTERRUPTED and ROMANCE LANGUAGE. I thought I was really on a roll. Let that be a lesson to me in the future.

LLANO, ARNE, OTALGIA, PERO, LLC, ROGER, ROSCOE, JOLO, NULL SET, TRIESTE, A A FAIR were either unknown, or had a tough time settling in with uncooperative perp help.

I had FOR MEN for a long time. That would have worked well with Dennis' hoped for sub-theme.

I had both EDITOR and FOREST for quite a while before ASSOCIATE and PETRIFIED slowly crept into place.

The difficulty level (Thanks, Rich Norris) was perfect for me. I almost gave up a couple of times, but I kept coming back and chipping away, one or two letters at a time. It was very satisfying when I finally finished up.

I agree with Chris@5:53. Three letter state abbreviations haven't been in use for the Postal Service since 1963 and for the government since 1987. "Mother lode material" would have been a better clue.

Today's WOW are so typical of the wonderful actress and writer, Ruth Gordon. 1971's Harold and Maude is one of my favorite movies, touching, romantic and funny. When she won the 1969 Supporting Actress Academy Award for Rosemary's Baby at the age of 72, and after a 50 year acting career, she said "I can't tell you how encouraging a thing like this is."

WM, You are really connecting all the way around. Good for you. I bet we will see a lot of new posters around here.

Doreen, from yesterday @ 4:09 PM, Way to go!!

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

Chris,
I see your point, though I don't mind seeing ORE clued as an abbreviation.

Dennis & Elissa & Clear Ayes,
Can you paraphrase Ruth Gordon's words of wisdom? Somehow it does not make sense to me. Why not face the facts? Dennis, why did my Demi Moore comment make you happy? You need a special chef to prepare raw food.

Kazie,
Thanks for Ross/pony connection. I am very interested in baby name origins lately.

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

KQ,
Thanks for LLC & CURL. I have forgotten that LTD is a British thing.

Linda,
The poem is sweet, so are you. Dow will continue its wobbling upward path. No idea on your gun. Try your luck on old baseball cards or toys, then ask Dennis.

WM,
Thanks for lifting the gray illusion for me. Brilliant explanation. My congratulations on winning the best of show as well. You are amazing.

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

JD,
Please continue your "Reliving History". Very enjoyable read.

Clear Ayes & Jazzbumpa,
Don't forget Rubik's Cube guy. He is also a Hungarian. Helen Miren is really beautiful. Tina Turner, hmm, I don't think so. I have different taste in men as well. Johnny Depp does not attract me. Clive Owen does.

Lemonade,
Hope the wedding goes well. Congratulations!

WM said...

C.C. Thank you and are congratulations in order from your blog family? If so...may I be the first...how exciting!

#3

Anonymous said...

Try apple butter mixed with your cottage cheese. Dee..Lish !!

carol said...

Hi all and happy Saturday!

C.C. speaking of 'musty' magazines, I wanted to buy an old issue of a magazine for a birthday gift several years ago. The shop that carried a huge selection was so smelly, I left. Whew!!

I had some troubles with the upper half of this puzzle since I didn't know 14A (Girl Interrupted) and had a slow start to 1A (Maltese Falcon) I have never seen either movie.

27A (Catalog section) really threw me...I even had some of the letters and it still would not come clear. I kept thinking of things: Tools, Curtains, Bath etc.

Interesting about the Sulu Archipelago. I put Java in at first too. We didn't seem to have covered this area in geography class way back in the Miocene Epoch. (or is it like Africa, where they change the name of the countries on a regular basis?)

Crockett, Very nice picture of our Mt.Hood!! It make such a gorgeous backdrop to our fair city!

Kitty B, I'm with you on the Gardner pseudonym...who knew?? Wonder what it means? Anyone???

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

WM,
Oh, no, no baby. No such planning. Every since Dennis mentioned his name came from the Greek god of fertility/wine/ecstasy Dionysus, I started to get interested in baby name origin. Let's see if your letter can bring us some fresh blood. Thanks for the effort.

Carol,
Even if you put the magazine under the hot summer sunshine for a few days, the smell is still there. Very stubborn.

Dr.G said...

Hi all, another turtle-paced puzzle for me; pero girl interrupted me on the llano.

Clear Ayes said...

C.C. I think you have to take Ruth Gordon's quote in the context of her life. She was a tiny (5'1"), rather plain girl 1920 who aspired to be an actress. In the early 1900's, she undoubtedly got lots of rejections as she auditioned for parts.

She did become a regularly employed stage actress, but it was usually in a supporting role, rather than as a star.

When she couldn't get work acting, she wrote plays and screenplays with her husband Garson Kanin.

Ruth Gordon refused to give up. She believed in her own talent and ability. She refused to face the fact that, according to the standards of the times, she was too short and too plain to realize her ambitions.

It worked for her. She found real acting acclaim when she was in her 50's and beyond. Rosemary's Baby and a lovely clip from Harold and Maude

eddyB said...

Hello all. I wonder if the Mercury News solvers are now complaining that the Fri and Sat puzzles are too easy.

eddyB.

Linda said...

CC: Thanks for your kind words...but as my husband is wont to say, "You don`t have to live with her!" to which I say, "Foul knave, do thine own scullery and bed-warming , forsooth!"

kazie said...

Crockett,
That is indeed a striking pic of Mt. Hood.

c.c.,
I'm sure it was the link rather than the comment on Demi Moore that Dennis liked.

Anonymous said...

Clear Ayes:

Thanks for the link to "Harold and Maude." It's been years since I've seen the film. Time to order it on Netflicks and revisit it.

Doreen

embien said...

10:17 today. "Wednesday" difficulty for me, and the easiest Saturday I can remember.

I solve "downs" first, but AcrossLite always sets up with 1a highlighted, so I glanced at the clue, said "OMG" to myself and immediately filled in MALTESE FALCON without a second's thought. It was off to the races from there. The top half of the puzzle was almost completely filled in before I looked at my second "across" clue (which turned out to be the unknown, to me, GIRL, INTERRUPTED).

I had the misfortune to fill in OMSK for the "Ural city" even though it didn't seem quite right, and that made FOR HER difficult to come by, but otherwise, this was an easy puzzle.

@c.c. I assume you put up that link to NULL SET as a joke? I guess that Venn diagram is supposed to mean that there are zero members of the set of people with high mental as well as physical attractiveness, but that seems like a pretty bleak outlook on life.

kittyb: I haven't seen the latest Star Trek, but I, too, wondered how it would be with Zachary Quinto, who plays Sylar on Heroes would fit in as Spock on Star Trek (for those who don't know, Sylar is a killer and villain on the TV program). Sylar

I love the Heroes TV program (it is the only fictional TV program I watch).

embien said...

Forgot to mention:
ROSCOE Tanner was noted back in the day as the guy with the blazing fast serve. Waaay more velocity than any other player of the era.

I think he was also noted for always losing to Jimmy Connors and/or John McEnroe, but I could be conflating my tennis eras there.

Anonymous said...

I haven't done today's C/W yet but I wanted to post while it is still early enough to be read.

Congratulations, WM! From someone who has no artistic talent at all. I find your abilities amazing.

Linda, I liked your southern poem.

There have been quite a few comments lately about the weather. I went to the basement yesterday and stepped into a pool of water! This did not make me a Happy Camper since we spent thousands last fall to correct the problems caused by the flooding in June, 2008. We can't find the source of this leak. The contractor who did the restoration is to come out Monday.

At least Thurs. night's storms did not damage our Square Foot Garden. Everything is looking very healthy.

Speaking of weather. The forecast for most of next week is temps in the 90's. That is not typical June weather in WI.
Dot

Clear Ayes said...

Another comment about not facing facts. I think WM, Elissa and others will attest that nobody would ever become an artist, actor, musician, singer, or dancer if they accepted the astronomical probability of failure in their art. There are countless talented people, but it is only those who can face numerous rejections and keep on trying who finally succeed.

Nothing is Impossible

The dreams that come to you
within the still of the night
Carry the promise of hope
into the light of day.
If only you believe
that everything you've ever dared to dream
is well within your reach.

Nothing is impossible
if you are courageous enough
to go through life
playing everyday by heart.
Using your past as a guide
Daring to look beyond today
Believing in tomorrow
Following your dreams,
Where you've never been before.

The future belongs to those
who not only dare to dream
but dare to make their dreams come true.

C Kedor

maria said...

Afternoon, c.c. and everybody - i wholeheartedly agree with Chris, abbreviation is inferior, for Oregon is a grand state, God's Country, isn't it ? I went to Crater Lake years ago, beautiful country.

c.c. why did my Demi Moore comment make you happy? I don't think Dennis was thinking about food, lol

I did the puzzle online, it was very duable, as soon as i got the Luger then i got Maltese Falcon and like Embien said , it was off to the races after that.

What made me happy, was Trieste, my second home town, wow. Lots of good memories, i spent the better part of my teens there.

Trieste, used to be a Duty Free Port, and the Allied were stationed there for 10 years after the war, that's when i learned my first two words in english,
" chicklets and chocolate ".
I learned to call the American Radio station and request songs from the Hit Parade, that was fun .
And I was there when they left in '56, we were waving goodbye to truckload after truckload of G.I.s leaving town, all 5000 of them.

After that, it was waiving goodbye to the big ships , every sunday, a ship would sail for Australia , chock-a-block full of immigrants.
What a time !
Well, those are my memories, hope i didn't bore anyone. lol

WM, i missed your celebration apparently last nite, so, i raise a petite glass of Limoncello
and a cin-cin to you !

Anonymous said...

Good Afternoon All--I loved this puzzle with the long fills at the top and bottom. I had most of thetop half finished but had a problem with Orsk--I too, put in Omsk so 27 across came out FOMHER. For the life of me I couldn't get it until I came to the Blog. Thanks again to C.C. and her incredible command of English to pull us all through.

I thought that JOLO was the largest city on the island and not the island name itself, so I put in Java and, of course, that would not work.

I liked the puzzle and thought that the difficulty level was just enough to keep us interested but not so difficult that it made us give up. I also wrote to the editor at the Mercury News and told her that I liked having this puzzle as is. She wrote back and thanked me for my input!

WM--Congratulations on your win. Such a wonderful feeling to accomplish something you know is good, but to have other people validate that feeling is even better.

Chickie

Anonymous said...

C.C.
re names: The name Calef is a variant spelling of a very old family name in England, meaning CALF. When non-Royals in England were using crests
many Calf/Calfe/Calef families used a crest of three calves. Women of that maiden name sometimes give the name to a son after marriage.
Calef.

treefrog said...

Hmmm, was able to do today's puzzle with very little help. But yesterday's was a pain in the prat.

Weather here just plain sucks. Only 70 and cloudy all day. Won't be much better tomorrow. I see a nasty july 4th in our future!

Enjoyed reading the posts today.

Have company and lots going on next week. Will check in when I can.

Elissa said...

C.C. Facing facts can be very limiting in achieving things. Luck helps, but often you have to make your own luck, by working hard. And you can't let anyone tell you that you can't succeed. When I graduated with a degree in Art Education and there were no Art Ed jobs, I wrangled a job as an electrical draftsman even though I didn't know anything about the technical side. But I was very familiar with the use of the drafting tools and knew I was smart enough to figure the rest out by asking lots of questions of my co-workers, who were willing to answer me because I helped them learn how to best use the drafting tools. Does that make sense?

Elissa said...

CA: Great poem.

WM said...

#4 Elissa...that totally makes sense and it's a great way to learn, by having to explain things to others.

CA...awesome poem and I am going to cut and paste it so that I can keep it...it says it all...perfectly!

Chickie...so glad you heard back from the Merc. I have to say I have been really impressed with their overall response to us. Speaks well of them.

C.C. sorry for jumping the gun, but that was a very "leading" statement...zinged me ;o)

Also a fan of Ruth Gordon's and CA thanks for the link to that lovely early photo of her, I think she was just charming looking. Sometimes it takes us a journey to arrive back to where we need to be...the excitement and hopes for success keep me moving forward. You have to learn to be teflon about the rejections, something which I am much better at now. At this age it is easier to keep things in perspective.

Maria...I might just join you in that Limoncello this evening. Thank you, and again, to all who cheered me on...the support goes a very long way!

JD said...

Hi CC and all,

Have been out all day so have not done the c/w as of yet.

Today in history...

1867-Pres. Andrew Johnson announced the puchase of Alaska. IF I recall correctly (that's a laugh) it was for .02 an acre.

1907-1st Portland Rose Festival
Carol, Crockett,Lola,and Barb, do any of you attend? Did I miss anyone?

1910-Krazy Kat comic strip by George Herriman debuted in the NY Journal.

1950-Joe Dimaggio hit his 2000th! He had a 1/2 doz. roses sent to Marilyn Monroe's crypt 3X a week for 20 years!What a guy!

1977-oil entered the Trans-Alaska pipeline and exited 38 days later in Valdez.

Thought for the day :
" Take a lesson from the weather: It pays no attention to criticism. "

kazie said...

Maria,
Thanks for sharing your memories, they sparked some of my own.

As I was growing up in Bondi, an eastern suburb of Sydney, I remember our greengrocer, Vinci Mangioni and his family, just up the street from where I lived. I didn't ever find out exactly where he was from, but they were definitely new arrivals from Italy, but maybe a little earlier than that, since I remember them from my earliest memories. The area was heavy with immigrants from all over Europe: Hungarians, Greeks (who ran the "milk bar" or soda fountain), English, Dutch, Poles, Lebanese and Czechs.

We played with all their kids at school too. It must have been quite a challenge for our elementary teachers in those days--no ESL classes then. I think hearing all the foreign languages constantly was why I became so interested in that area of study.

Anonymous said...

Completed a successful puzzle today, cause I mistakenly believed I was getting smarter on Saturdays. Oh well. Like others, forher was my sticking point. Still don't like it. Angelina Jolie won a slug of awards for her role in "Girl, Interrupted." Gee, wonder what ever happened to her?
Embien, the new "Star Trek" is a lot of fun, and the young cast is terrific. Zachary Quinto has nailed Spock, right down to the eyebrow arch, and Chris Pine is a believable hell-raising young Kirk. If you're a long-time fan you'll recognize old story lines, but if not, you'll still enjoy the film. Plus they threw in a couple things out of left field. And of course a sequel is obvious. Question: What do you call a sequel to a prequel?
Liz

Anonymous said...

C.C. Apple butter is not as thick as jam. It is called butter because it has such a smooth texture. It's a little thicker than applesauce and is rather heavily spiced. No pectin is added, jut the pectin of the apples is used to thicken it.

My hometown in So. Ill. has a Fall festival each year where they make and sell many gallons of apple butter. Dot

JD said...

Liz,

"Angelina Jolie won a slug of awards for her role in "Girl, Interrupted." Gee, wonder what ever happened to her?"

Are you kidding? She is a highly respected UN Goodwill Ambassador, and is asking the world to help celebrate World Refugee Day. She and Brad are constantly donating millions to help others. I don't understand your question.Being an award winning actress would be better?

Jazzbumpa said...

Very late to the party today (it's almost tomorrow) so let me be among the very last to congratulate WM.

Three granddaughters were in a dance recital tonight - all did fabulously well. A great time.

Oh - that Puzzle thang -- . . .

Not being on top of the obscu_e geog_aphical _efe_ences, I neve_ got the R in O_SK, so never got the R in FO_HER, eithe_.

One gla_ing empty squa_e a night's move away f_om dead cente_. D_at!

Off to beddie-bye.

Chee_s!

Dennis said...

JD, when I read it, I just assumed Liz was being facetious.