google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday July 13, 2009 James Sajdak

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Jul 13, 2009

Monday July 13, 2009 James Sajdak

Theme: Target of Identity Thieves

17A: One who goes from party to party: SOCIAL BUTTERFLY

37A: Comforting carry-along for kids: SECURITY BLANKET

58A: Test taker's writing implement, often: NUMBER TWO PENCIL

Argyle blogging.

Getting just one of the theme answers wouldn't help you to get the theme, but getting two leads easily to the third and our old friend, SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER, which we usually get as an abbreviation.

Speaking of abbreviations, there weren't that many today but one was a clinker. 57D: Wordplay in the Jumble: Abbr.: ANAG. Anagram (but there is no such abbreviation that I could find.)

Across:

1A: "The Fox and the Grapes" fable writer: AESOP.

6A: Autodom's Sable or Grand Marquis, for short: MERC. Mercury, fills the gap between Ford and Lincoln.

15A: Mine, in Montreal: A MOI. Montreal is in the French-speaking Province of Quebec, Canada. Alliterative clue.

20A: Water-carved gully: ARROYO. Origin: 1800's, Americanism; from Spanish; akin to Latin arrūgia, mine shaft. There seems to be a nice geographical mix in this puzzle.

23A: Marshy area: FEN. Chiefly British.

26A: Early September observance: LABOR DAY. It falls on the seventh this year.

32A: Hawaiian veranda: LANAI. This is much nicer than 54D: Ancient Greek meeting spot: STOA. Covered walkway or portico, commonly for public usage.

35A: Rod attachment: REEL. Fishing gear.

36A: Dinghy movers: OARS. I didn't really need to include this one; I just like the word, dinghy.

42A: Contests with pistols: DUELS. Pistol-packing pacers!

44A: Saviors: MESSIAHS.

46A: Confer knighthood on: DUB. "I dub thee Sir Knight." Guess who is the new Sir?

51A: In one's bare feet: SHOELESS. Interesting site about Shoeless Joe Jackson. He should be in the Hall of Fame, too.

56A: Delphic prophet: ORACLE.

61A: Shot into the net: GOAL. The word that says it all, in any language.

62A: Poke fun at: TAUNT. Tease is "poke fun at"; taunt is much meaner, IMHO.

Down:

1D: Syria's Bashar al-__: ASSAD. President of the Syrian Arab Republic and head of the Syrian Ba'ath Party.

2D: Atlanta university: EMORY. The real thing. Asa Candler, founder of The Coca-Cola Company, wrote the "million-dollar letter" to offer seed money, and sweetened the deal by donating land in Atlanta, to move Emory College from the small Georgia town of Oxford. Emory University (named after John EMORY, a Methodist bishop) received a DeKalb County charter to build at its present location in 1915.

3D: "__ bleu!": SACRE. Comment about the above entry.

5D: "No cheating!": PLAY FAIR.

6D: Shakespeare's fairy queen: MAB. Queen Mab is a fairy referred to in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.

8D: __-Rooter: ROTO.

9D: You can't fight it, in a saying: CITY HALL.

11D: Couch potato's spot: SOFA.

12D: Ceramist's oven: KILN.

13D: Stone and Stallone: SLYS.

18D: Leopold's co-defendant: LOEB. Partners in the slaying of the Bobby Franks boy in 1924, for the thrill of getting away with murder.

19D: Site for cyberbidders: EBAY.

24D: Diagram tops, in bridge columns: NORTH. Probably the most misleading of today's clues, it refers to newspaper columns written about the game of bridge. It is accompanied by a diagram of the hand being discussed.

26D: Sing the praises of: LAUD. Thank you TESS (38D: Mystery novelist Gerritsen, Saturday) for reading our blog.

27D: California's Point __ National Seashore: REYES. Map. Point Reyes was originally named Punto de los Reyes ("Kings' Point") by the Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaino as his ship, the Capitana anchored in Drake's Bay on the Day of the Three Kings (Epiphany, or the end of the 12 Days of Christmas) on January 6, 1603. From Wikipedia.

28D: Remains of a wreck: DEBRIS.

30D: Pitcher Hershiser: OREL. Known for his slight frame and fierce competitive spirit, Hershiser was nicknamed "Bulldog" by team manager Tommy Lasorda.

31D: Concordes: Abbr.: SSTS.

32D: D-day ships: LSTS. Landing Ship-Tanks.

33D: Prefix with -nautics: AERO.

34D: Sgts. and cpls.: NCOS.

36D: Burden: ONUS.

38D: North Atlantic hazards: ICEBERGS. During WWII, there were more dangerous hazards; U-boats.

39D: Follow, as a principle: ADHERE TO.

44D: Backless slipper: MULE. There are so many types, I couldn't pick one for a picture!

46D: Borrower's burdens: DEBTS.

48D: Happen: OCCUR.

49D: Oscar winner Kevin: KLINE. He won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor 1989 for Otto in A Fish Called Wanda.

50D: Shoulder muscles, for short: DELTS. Cannon Ball Deltoids.

52D: Wahine's dance: HULA. They don't have grass skirts but they have the moves.

55D: Ugly duckling, in time: SWAN. Anybody have a good ugly duckling story?

59D: Worn-out: OLD. But old doesn't have to mean worn-out, right?

Answer grid.

Argyle

Note from C.C.: Now Argyle has cable connection, I can confidently say that he will blog all the Monday puzzles from now on.

53 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Argyle, C.C. and gang - normal Monday puzzle, no muss, no fuss, which means there's not much to comment on. Still have houseguests for another few hours, so I'll check in later. Off to the gym.

Today is Embrace Your Geekness Day, Fool's Paradise Day, and for Crockett, Barbershop Music Appreciation Day.

Today's Words of Wisdom: "Lifelong enemies are, I think, as hard to make and as important to one's well-being as friends." -- Writer Jessica Mitford

Today's Fun Facts:

- In 1998, more fast-food employees were murdered on the job than police officers.

- Queen Elizabeth I outlawed wife-beating after 10pm.

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

Dennis,
Yeah, a simple but elegant Monday puzzle. I like the natural flow of those 15-letter theme entries. Wow, so wife-beating was allowed before 10:00pm?

Arygle,
Great theme title. CHER seems to be Rich Norris' "It" girl now, doesn't she? I only know the Spanish goal is similar to ours in pronunciation. Maybe Kazie can tell us the French/German goal. Somehow I know you will link Shoeless Joe. Thanks for the additional information on EMORY.

Martin said...

I finished in less than twenty minutes but I was happy because I had a lot to do today. I found A MOI a bit confusing because it literally means "to me" and not "Mine" (which would be MIEN, IIRC) but then I thought of somebody playing baseball in the field and shouting "MINE!" I also hesitated when I got MERC from the perps: I was about to google it when I realized it was short for Mercedes. Utltimately then there was no need to google today, which is fine because my internet connection has been extremely slow lately.

Martin

Martin said...

Oh, by the way, I never did get the theme until I came here: in Canada we had a social INSURANCE number so SSN means nothing to me. I thought the theme was SB (Soft Black) because we had Social Butterfly, Soy Beans, Security Blanket and NUMBER TWO PENCIL. I was left wondering why there was no B in SHOELESS.

Martin

Argyle said...

Like my cousin, Doris, says whenever her husband calls her Grand Marquis a Ford, "It's a Mercury, Martin."

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

Martin,
He is mine = Il est A MOI.

Sallie,
A belated Happy Birthday. I hope you had a great time celebrating.

Linda,
No, my grandma passed away in 2002, in my arms. She was 88.

PJB-Chicago,
I like themed puzzles. Often feel helpless with the themeless ones. Thanks for the extra information on Pippi Longstocking and the Chinese link.

Argyle said...

Mercury Blues

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

Cindy M,
I've replied to you on Saturday's post. But I was referring to the Hanja 大宇 (Big Universe). I don't understand Hangul.

Clear Ayes & WM & Barb B,
Notice how the trolls only bring us closer?

Crockett et al,
Thanks for REPAD and other answers/comments.

Hahtoolah said...

Good morning, everyone. I missed you all over the weekend. I thought this was a bit more of a challenging puzzle for a Monday. I'm with Martin ~ I didn't get the Social Security Number theme. I thought it was somehow related to SB with all the SB answers.

Marshy area = Fen. That's how Fenway Park, in Boston, got its name. It's in the area knowns as the Fens and was once a marshy area.

Music trivia for the day: Frank Sinatra made is recording debut on this date in 1939, when he sang "Melancholy Mood" with the Harry James Band. Don't forget the Live Aid Concerts , held and broadcast from London and Philadelphia on July 13, 1985, to raise money for African famine relief.

Martin said...

Like my cousin, Doris, says whenever her husband calls her Grand Marquis a Ford, "It's a Mercury, Martin."

Your cousin Doris' husband's name is Martin? Cool.

I finally got the google translate page to appear and I typed in "mine" and asked for a French translation and got this.

noun mine [Where people dig for gold, etc.]

verb extraire
miner
poser des mines
mouiller des mines
exploiter
exploiter un gisement

adjective mien

pronoun le mien
la mienne
à moi

Martin

Anonymous said...

A pretty straightforward puzzle today. Thanks Argyle, and welcome to Monday's. I wouldn't have gotten the theme without coming here, but didn't need it at all to complete the puzzle.

Thanks also for the Shoeless Joe article. Very interesting.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. Back to Monday. Looking forward to tours of both of our new stadiums this weeks, the Twins and the Gophers. Go Joe Mauer tonight in the Home Run Derby.

Dick said...

Good morning Argyle, C.C. and others - not much to comment on today. Fills were easy and straightforward with little or no hesitations and no outside help.

Belated Happy Birthday to Sally. Hope you have many many more.

More grass cutting to attend to so I will see you later.

kazie said...

Happy Monday to all!
Sallie,
Happy belated birthday--I didn't get here yesterday because I still haven't done the Sunday puzzle.

c.c.,
German goal = (das)Tor; French: (le) but

I had no problems today, and like Dennis, got the theme after the first two, so the third one was easy. Many of the down clues, I hadn't even looked at until Argyle pointed them out here.

Martin,
My first reaction to the French "mine" clue is never à moi, either, but mien(ne) too. But we've had it often enough now that I always know what they want.

I have to go work/volunteer at the local thrift shop this morning, so back later.

lois said...

Good morning Argyle, CC et al., Good puzzle,a 'snap', fast and fair. Never even saw some of the Across clues b/c the perps were doing the work. And didn't even realize the theme until coming here. Excellent job, Argyle. Thanks for the eye candy w/the'delts' link. hubba hubba, bubba! What dreams are made of!

I'm at a 'los' on this one. The mere mention of Labor Day (beginning of school) and #2 pencils sends my morale into a definate de'kline' thinking of
a-ssad story about teachers' raises not being 'okd' and being expected to practically 'reyes' a bunch of 'shoeless' 'ogres' who don't 'play fair'. 'Sacre Bleu' are hardly the words I use. Fortunately, there are enough small 'cher's who 'ask' and seek answers to offset those
'taunt'ing 'mules' and, ya know what? It's all good.

Argyle: I have seen so many ugly ducklings turn into beautiful swans during their 4 yr stint of H.S. that my faith in a higher power never waivers, b/c only a miracle could explain some of the transformations.

Ran into some friends at a Norfolk mall and ended up on a 35'? Baha Sat that got us flying @ 60.3 mph down the Intercoastal and Eliz. River to Norfolk's Waterside for dinner. We were airborn a few times crossing wakes. Soooo much fun! Better than saving horses... almost. Reminded me of Dennis' experience a few months ago? in FL. Such a fun time and shopping went well too. I see the light at the end of the HRBT...local tunnel under the Chesapeake Bay.

Enjoy this gorgeous day!

lois said...

Forgot: Happy belated birthday, Sallie. I wish you many many more. I'll toast to you tonight - double to make up for missing the real day.

CC: I'm so sorry for the loss of your grandmother in '02. Not knowing the circumstances, I still love that she was in your arms. My husband died in mine, right where he wanted to be. It's sad but so sweet and comforting to me. I hope it is the same for you. You are just so awesome!

PJB-Chicago said...

Nice puzzle this morning--well, untiI I spilled milk on it! New words for me: LSTS,& LANAI. I'd forgotten about the bridge diagrams, but still guessed NORTH. My parents played bridge together for years, tried to teach us kids, we said "nah." They played "penny a point" tournaments & often shared their "fortune" with us--a buck paid for a movie then!

Martin, if you ever have to babysit French-speaking twins, as I have (!), then you'll quickly learn the meaning of not only "c'est à moi!" (it's mine!) but also "Non, c'est à NOUS!"--"No, it's OURS!", because that's all they fight about.


Final note: "sacré bleu" is no longer used in France, supposedly extant in Quebec, though I never heard it there; linguists argue re: its origin, whether "bleu" was used to avoid taking God's name in vain,('bleu' instead of 'dieu') or to refer to the blue garments worn by Mary, mother of Jesus; I'd vote on the 1st theory!


"Holy cow," it's time to run-&-celebrate my "geekness" now!

Barb B said...

Nice puzzle today; the kind that encourages me to keep coming back. Yesterday was a bear.

Thank you, Argyle for blogging. I enjoyed the links and the comments too. I agree, old doesn’t have to mean worn out. I seem to be getting my second wind, ready to start something new.

Two appalling ff’s today. Thanks Dennis, I think.

JD, thanks for the link about twang the other day. I loved the story about “United breaks guitars.”

Sally, a belated happy birthday! I hope you're still celebrating.


CC, I hope you’re right about trolls.

Lois, I’m sorry teachers aren’t paid more. I think teaching should be a prestige career. I’ve known some exceptionally gifted teachers who had to move on to different jobs because they couldn’t support their families on teacher’s salary.

Thunderstorms in my neck of the woods. Wouldn’t you know, this is the week-end I decided to learn how to fix my own sprinkler system? Part of it is lying on the workbench.

treefrog said...

Morning all!
Easy one this morning. No real surprises.
Hope everyone had a great weekend.
I'm going to take advantage of the cool morning to paint our new window frames.
Later!

Warren said...

Hi C.C, & gang, an enjoyable easy one today.

for Argyle, I think you meant:
Mercury Blues

Jazzbumpa said...

I enjoyed today's puzzled. SOYBEANS crossing ACRES is classic!

Having been Identity Thoven (thefted?, theeved?) I also appreciated Argyle's take on the Theme. Surprised to see a theme with only three entries, but with this theme, what else could be done?

Wise council: Protect thy SSN!

Lots of nice long fills today. I didn't find 24D to be at all misleading. But, I'm a bridge player (sort of.) NORTH is a word not well suited to being pluralized, and I have to give Sajdak some credit for finding a way to do it.

With all the baseball references, how did you miss all-star Luis Arroyo? I remember him playing for the Yanquis when I was a quid, and was surprized to learn the meaning of his name in H.S. Spanish.

LABOR DAY falls on Amanda's birthday this year.

LOIS -
Another brilliant post, and no DF?!? I'm impressed!

Busy week in store. Rehearsal tonight, rehearsal tomorrow, performance Wed., performance Thus., (both outdoors - hope it doesn't rain) performance Sunday (indoors.) Having a rather low-key day.

Cheers!

carol said...

Hi Argyle, C.C. and all - easy, easy one as expected. I had to question 11D though, 'Couch potato's spot': SOFA. Wouldn't it be 'COUCH'? lol...I know there are regional words for this piece of furniture: davenport (from the original furniture factory in Davenport, Iowa), couch, sofa, divan, sectional and last but not least, chesterfield.

Happy belated birthday Sallie, I hope you got your wish and thoroughly enjoyed your special day!

Dennis, I don't really understand Jessica Mitford's WoW... why would it be important to make a life-long enemy?
Mitford wrote an interesting book in the 60's...The American Way of Death. It pointed up the unscrupulous way Funeral Homes dealt with the bereaved. It was quite an eye-opener in it's time, and on a topic that was rarely discussed openly. She also pointed out the euphemisms that are in common use today; 'casket' (instead of coffin) 'slumber room', cemetery (instead of grave-yard), 'passing away'(instead of dying). I worked in the office of a cemetery, and most of the 'plots' were referred to as 'garden areas'. Today we are a much more squeamish about death and dying than they were 50 or more years ago. In those days elderly family members often lived with their children or a near-relative and when they died, they were laid out in the parlor, where everyone passed by to pay their respects and people were just used to seeing and dealing with it.

We got our lawns watered for free yesterday, and it is still cloudy today, but smells good, nice and fresh! Great weather for a bike ride. :)

Elissa said...

The new picture is from this past weekend's show. JD: Thanks for stopping by and for your kind words in the blog afterward. It was two long days (10 hours each day) and many of the vendors complained that sales were slower than in other years, but I saw lots of people I hadn't seen in a while and sold a bunch of books and scarves.

As for the puzzle, I completed it as fast as I could read clues and type answers, which for me is sub-10 minutes. Not sure how anyone does a puzzle in under 5 minutes.

Re the WoW - not sure why lifelong enemies are important to one's well-being. I think enemies just take too much energy.

Argyle said...

Thanks, Warren. I guess I didn't check my link. Same song but with a slide show of Mercurys

KittyB said...

Good morning, all!

This was an easy-peasy Monday puzzle. I was surprised at how many answers fell into place with the first run across, and the rest came from the downs. I suppose Dennis did it in about two minutes. It took me seven and some.

I have chores to do, so I'll be back later.

Argyle, you do a great job as our guest blogger!

Crockett1947 said...

Good morning, everyone. Nice and easy Monday puzzle.

@argyle Nice that you now have a reliable connection. Look forward to many Monday write-ups. That was a marvelous Shoeless Joe link.

Have a great Monday!

Anonymous said...

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for all the birthday wishes. It was a very nice one, and I still can't figure out how I got to be 79 so fast.
DH gave me an iPod – the kind you can use as a computer etc. not just music. My hearing is so bad I don't listen to music any more. Nor could I hear on an iPhone. My older son sent me a gift card to put a book on it. (Kindle.) Hmmm. I like to hold books that I can read whole pages on.

Lanai is used for outdoor rooms in Naples, not just Hawaii. So that was a gimme on a very easy puzzle. Nice for a change.
Cheers.

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed today’s puzzle, however like Lois got a lot of perp help for fen, a moi, mab, loeb, and lsts. Not much to more to comment on.

Argyle nice write up and I would love to feel those “delts.”

Sallie, happy belated birthday.

I don’t have a geeky bone in my body so I guess I will celebrate Fools Paradise day.

Chickie said...

Hello All--Thanks to Argyle the theme was revealed when I came to the Blog site. It was a breezy Monday puzzle, which helped my ego after struggling with the Sunday bear!

My one unknown was Diagram tops in bridge columns, but got it from the perps. Still didn't know what it meant, as my mind wandered toward bridges over water, not the game bridge.

Thank you Elissa for your new picture. Having spent many hours for our business in a tradeshow booth, the time is grueling and exhausting. The outcome of sales and talking with friends is the only reason to put yourself through the process. Hope you really did well.

I loved the sofa, couch, divan list, Carol. While growing up we had ALL of those items in our home at one time or another.

Have a great Monday everyone.

JD said...

Social Security Number ... aha!

Good morning CC and all,

Whew, a nice breather from the last few days. I gave up yesterday just seeing S-A-C, but it was a clever theme for the maker, but those letters were not enough of a clue for the doer.Looked up farinaceous, hope it sticks!

So today I got it all with no help EXCEPT for the EN in fen/norths/loeb section.

What a delightful piece on WY from Tess Gerritsen. Thanks

Reliving history;

Yesterday Babe Ruth made his baseball debut & pitched for the Red Sox ( Bob's team) in 1914. In 1917, he hit his 3oth (out of 60) HR.

TODAY in

1898- Guglielmo Marconi patented the radio

1917- a vision of the Virgin Mary appeared to children in Fatima, Portugal

1969- Russia sent Luna 15 (unmanned) to Moon

1977 NYC had a 25 hr blackout--- must have been having a heat wave

1978- Walter Poenisch swam from Cuba to Fla. (207 km)

1985- The Live Aid rock concert was held in London, Phila., Moscow and Sydney.

WM said...

Morning all...fun, easy and quick, but a very nice tight puzzle. Didn't actually catch the theme today, but I guess I just finished and headed off for bed. The only thing in this puzzle that never seems to stick in my brain is LSTS...but it filled itself in and having only minimal French, A MOI worked fine for me.

On one of our driving trips in the UK, we got upgraded to a silver Mercedes and when we asked some Taxi drivers if it was ok to leave the car in a carpark overnight their answer was..."no, love, I'd park your Merc on the main where the bobbies are all night"...so even though not correct for this puzzle, Martin was also correct in calling a Mercedes a Merc.

Best ugly duckling story was a brilliant Asian girl I went to high school with, she was tall and gangly, wore glasses and was quiet and shy. The next time I saw her was at a 20th reunion and she had become a noted scientist, the glasses were gone and she was poised and elegant and easily the most beautiful woman in the room. So, some people just come in to their own a bit later...I think for those, it carries through the rest of their lives...a lot of the cutesy people had rather gone to seed...

C.C. I agree, but too bad we have to put up with it. Sour notes in an otherwise beautiful symphony.

Well, busy day...take care, and Argyle, you are seriously good at this puzzle blogging!

whereswebb said...

Hi all, took me a bit longer to finish this puzzle, but I think that's because my mind is still in Traverse City and the Leelanau Peninsula.

jeannie (from Thursday), It was wonderful! The lake was cold, but that's to be expected. I grew up in Metro Detroit and now live in the Lansing area, but the Lake Michigan shoreline is easily one of my favorite places. Next time I'm up there, I think I might take the boat to the Manitou Islands and camp overnight there.

Mainiac said...

Good afternoon Argyle, CC and all,

Wrote these in as I read the clues. Scratched my head a little for ARROYO and had TEASE instead of TAUNT which was the only erasure. Typical Monday and fun to have the answers flow onto the page.

We had a great weekend. The weather cooperated which was a nice change. My youngest's baseball game was a blow out. He pitched two innings very well which made the old man proud. We hustled back to the lake for "Dadio's revenge" aka tubing. My oldest is getting taller. I didn't remember so much legs and arms skimming across the water after being dumped last year. Ended the weekend perfectly with Black Belt Club. Wicked workout.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Buckeye said...

O.K. Everybody say it together.
ARGYLE'S TEACHER'S PE-ET. ARGYLE'S TEACHER'S PE-ET. Heck, anybody could blog a Monday puzzle! Well, not anybody. Some of us could. Well, maybe not some of us, but I'll bet Dennis could. Maybe. If Argyle would help him he could. Maybe. OK! I'll say it! GREAT JOB. ARGYLE!

You should see my '82 Merc. Cougar. The front end looks like a Rolls Royce.

I,too, was an "ugly duckling" in my youth - but look at me now.(avatar). Ain't I purdy?

Today's puzzle was the toughest so far. For 17a. "One who goes from party to party" I had "Gatecrasher lush". For 37a "Comforting carry-along for kids" I had "Handheld Game Boy" and for 58a. "Test takers writing implement" I had "Macintosh keypad". I never recovered.

Interesting fact from GBRV.
Superman buys all of his clothes in South Africa. The reason? That's where Capetown is located.

I must be off

Crockett1947 said...

@buckeye It's so refreshing when you come to the surface for another breath of fresh air. Your posts are always a joy. Good to see you, brother loon.

IRISH JIM said...

Good afternoon Argyle CC and all.

Answer to knighthood question is Nick Faldo one of my favorite golfers and now announcer. The Brit press used to give him a terrible time. A fan one time took a swing at him while walking between holes. The Brit press noted it may have the first time for a fan hiting the S#@%.

Have we seen enough of SSTS recently. Liked 9 D you cant fight it.

Agree with JD nice respite from recent difficulties. Wish there was a happymedium between Mon and Sat.

Finally got around to reading about WM in the Palo Alto paper.
We have at least one talented celebrity in our midst. Who knew.
Hope your paintings sell out like bread and milk during a storm.

Jimmy S. Carolina.

Crockett1947 said...

@wm How was the reception? Like irish jim, I hope it was outrageously successful and you had good sales. Inquiring minds want to know. Me too.

Buckeye said...

Thankee, Crockett. You, Dennis, Argyle and I go back a while in this "loony ben". Wish Drdad would pop in more often.

IMBO

embien said...

6:01 today. Never saw the theme. I hated OKD and ANAG--pretty non-standard abbrvs. where I come from.

No time to blog today. With all these new regulations, I have to get my wife-beating done early.

Dennis said...

In-laws are outta here - life is good.

Didn't have time before, but Argyle, your blogging skills are seriously good. Very, very nice job.

hahtool, as much of a baseball fan as I am, I didn't know that about Fenway. Thanks for the info.

KQ, I'll be rooting for Ryan Howard in the contest. Should be a great one this year.

BarB, congratulations on the second wind; the best years are ahead.

Jazzbumpa, I always think of Luis whenever 'arroyo' is clued, and also like you, I was surprised at Lois' DF-less post.

Elissa, doing shows can really be grueling - I did them for a few years when I first opened this store, and I vowed 'never again'.

KittyB, I'll never approach two minutes - those guys that can do that are amazing.

tarrajo, you really like those muscle-bound guys? I always thought they looked like caricatures.

WM, you're right - there's a British guy at our gym who's always talking about wanting to drive my Merc.

mainiac, which discipline of martial arts are you practicing? How long?

Buckeye, I doubt I could blog even with Argyle's help. Looks like several hours' work easily.

JimmyB said...

I really don't have anything to add about the puzzle, but Carol's remarks brought back memories of my summer job during college which was working in a cemetery. People used to ask if was depressing and I would respond that, no, I felt quite popular since everyone was dying to get in. Plus we were considered quite trustworthy since everyone knew we would be the last to let them down. Things got a little slow when the government lowered the national speed limit to 55 (this was back in the early 1970's), since the safer driving really took away a lot of our bumper crop. Occasionally I would have to fill in in the office; that's where I learned about the layaway plan.

I probably should stop now.

Vern said...

To Sally: How's it feel to be 79? I've two years to go. You mentioned your hearing. My wife of 54 years has only one operational vocal cord and speaks very low; my hearing's not too good. Actually, this combines for a perfect marriage. Upon insistence of my wife to have my hearing checked, I went to an audiologist who said, "Good news & bad news." Good news is that your have very little hearing in only one limited range. The bad news is that it's not your wife's speaking range. There went my excuse!

windhover said...

Irish Jim @2:59 re: sell like bread and milk in a storm.

I once heard an interview where Jim Reeves said to Patsy Cline (to name-drop a couple of icons) , "Patsy, I hope your new record sells like hotcakes."
To which Patsy replied, deadpan, "Thanks, Jim, I just hope it sells like records."
Me too, WM.

KittyB said...

OMG! Somebody quarantine JimmyB lest he be contagious!

Just kidding....I'll have to share the puns with my husband.

Have you all heard about the cemetery in the Chicago suburbs where employees were digging up some of the clientèle and reselling the lots? They think that as many as 300 graves have been desecrated. I bet there's been a major increase in visits to cemeteries just recently.

I'm a certified geek, so I celebrated today. There are times when all you can do is embrace it and get on with your life.

Argyle, I stand corrected. You are no longer a "guest" blogger, you have joined C.C.'s team and are now management. Thanks to both of you for the gift of this blog. Argyle, you'll LOVE the cable connection!

Heck, Dennis, I wouldn't even be able to read the clues in two minutes, let alone write the answers down. You're certainly faster than most of us here. I have no plans to challenge your speed records, whatever they may be. I'm just happy when I manage to finish the puzzle unaided.

Thank you, all, for the A MOI information. I was sure that 'moi' was part of the answer, but uncertain whether it would pop up at the beginning or at the end of those four spaces.

Crockett, I'll have to go read yesterday's comments. I was glad to see that I had guessed "Repad" correctly. (I'm a clarinet player....part of my geekiness, so re-pading was an easy guess.)

Chickie, that trade show work is really hard! How long did you man a booth?

Buckeye, it's nice to see your name pop up on the blog, but I think you've rubbed off on JimmyB.

Time to pull dinner together. Broiled marinated shrimp, rice, carrots and salad.

kazie said...

Jimmy B,
Sounds like that job was so slow, you had plenty of time to pick up a lot of "in" jokes.

Buckeye,
Nice to see you here again. I always enjoy your posts.

Dennis and WM,
I also would call a Mercedes a Merc.

On wife beating: I heard once about a woman whose husband would come home drunk every night and beat her, until one night she got sick of it and waited for him to fall asleep in a drunken stupor. She tied him down on the bed and beat him badly enough to put him in hospital with the laundry "pot stick"--a long stick used for poking clothes down in the copper boiler. I don't know if it was before or after 10 pm.

Anonymous said...

Sallie, a Happy Belated birthday to you.

Lois and Buckeye, your skills are amazing. It is always so much fun to read your posts.

Argyle, thanks for the link to the Shoeless Joe article. That was really interesting. I am impressed by his attitude. These days, someone would be getting sued.

Elissa, after looking at your web site with your scarves, I can see why you sold so much at your show. They are stunning.

The ugly duckling issue reminds me of typical high school. Those who were the unpopular ones are frequently the most socially adept and successful ones at the reunions. The "in" group often seems to have not moved beyond high school.

Argyle said...

Re: Mercury vs Mercedes

I know the shortened version of Mercury is pronounced, 'Merk', is that the way the shotened version of Mercedes is pronounced?

Dennis said...

Argyle, yes, that's how he pronounced it.

carol said...

Argyle, you beat me to the Merc/Mercedes question..LOL

Elissa, so glad your show was a success!

Speaking of protecting your SS#: When I changed health insurance a few years ago, they were going to put my SS# in as my ID# and I said absolutely not! They listened and were very nice about giving me another #. Sometimes all you have to do is ask. The habit of putting a SS# on an insurance card that you really have to carry in your purse or wallet is ridiculous! I think most companies got the 'hint' and have changed that practice.

Jimmy B, clever! I was asked the same question, about whether I found the work in the cemetery office depressing. I didn't, though sometimes it was a bit sad. I do have a cute story about when the cremains (another nice euphemism for someone's ashes) of a lady were to be mailed to her son in Calif. I had the package waiting on the counter for the postal carrier and told him that Mrs. so-in-so was going to visit her son....you should have seen his eyes pop out! Geez, what did he think would happen? People are funny, huh?

Chickie said...

Buckeye yur picture is real purdy. I enjoyed your comments today. Keep 'em commin.

Kitty we do several shows a year. Some are 2 days others 2 1/2 days and usually 5-6 hours long. It's the standing and talking that gets to you.

Our last show was at Mosconi Center in San Francisco this past
February. We do visit some great cities in the name of business.
"Our" being my husband and I.

Elissa said...

KQ and Carol: Thanks.

Anonymous said...

@Dennis...hey any muscle I can "feel" in a man is just a bonus, chiseled or not. It's been a while.

Made fresh green beans LGJ and I picked for dinner tonight and LGJ "ate them up." I guess a little fried lean crumbled up bacon tossed with a little butter sealed the deal. He ate them like french fries. Baked some chicken legs with some rosemary stuffed under the skins. Best compliment ever..."Mom this was great."
It doesn't hurt to let your kid play hard outside before dinner.

He is only allowed about one hour of TV a night/day.

Mainiac, it sounds like your weekend away was great!

Melissabee, still waiting to hear about yours.

WM, I hope your showing and reception was fantastic.

Treat...a piece of Chickie's zucchini bread. Me too of course...putting off that chocolate cake concoction. I am known for my sweet tooth, I must keep up my "boyish" figure.

Jeannie said...

@whereswebb...glad to hear you had a great time in Traverse City and Leelanau. It truly is a beautiful place that not too many people who aren't from MI can appreciate as they don't know it exists. I highly recommend you camping ANYWHERE up in that neck of the woods.

Wolfmom, I am so proud of you. What a coupe! I hope you sold lots of paintings and am working on a daisy one just for me (when you have time.}

Argyle, great write up today and I will add my thanks along with Lois and Tarrajo for the link to the delts guy.

Dennis, you like your "delts" and we like ours. Fair is fair.

Melissabee, can't wait to hear about your fun long weekend away with the girls.

Mainiac, are you a black belt?

Jeannie said...

Buckeye darling...how did I miss you? SMOOCH. It's always good to see one of your posts. I've said it once before....you know.