google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday July 18, 2009 Doug Peterson

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Jul 18, 2009

Saturday July 18, 2009 Doug Peterson

Theme: None

Total blocks: 30

Total words: 70

Whoa! This puzzle is hard. It should not be, as I actually know most of the fills. But the clues are tricky, exemplified by F-STOP (24A: Fuji setting). Of course, I filled in JAPAN first, thinking of Mt. Fuji.

Dennis probably likes those triple-stacked 9-worders in upper left/lower right and the paralleled 10's in the upper right/lower left. He likes long words. Me? I like simple, short, explosive, just-do-it verb words.

Neat to see the two 15-letter fills cross each other in the very middle of the grid:

35A: Control tower concern: TRAFFIC PATTERNS

8D: Antarctic denizens: EMPEROR PENGUINS

Across:

1A: Blissful state, slangily: HOG HEAVEN. Wanted CLOUD NINE.

10A: Tack together: BASTE. By sewing loosely with long stitches.

15A: Russian Orthodox church feature: ONION DOME. Named after its onion-like structure.

16A: Habitually: OFTEN

17A: They're usually not on itineraries: SIDE TRIPS

18A: Bullock's "Miss Congeniality" costar: BRATT. Sigh. I forgot who else starred in the movie. I like Benjamin BRATT's Rey in "Law & Order".

19A: French hagiological abbr.: STE. Hagio is a prefix for "saint". Hagiology is the literature dealing with the lives of the saints. New word to me. STE is often clued as "Fr. holy woman".

20A: Events on a card: RACES. Does this refer to "playing the race card"?

21A: Jam highlights: SOLOS. Wrote down RIFFS.

22A: Doctor finder: PAGER

23A: Yacht site: BASIN. Tiger Woods' yacht is called Privacy. He missed the cut at the British Open yesterday.

27A: Master: Abbr.: ORIG (Original)

29A: FDR program: NRA (National Recovery Administration)

31A: Steadily fading sound: ECHO. And POOF (22D: Vanishing word).

32A: French police detective unit: SURETE. No idea. It's France's FBI/Scotland Yard. SURETE (surety), is French for "safety".

32A: Elongated fish: GAR

38A: Dig into: EAT

39A: Fictional Queen: ELLERY. The mystery author. Queen is capitalized.

40A: Vacación destination: LAGO. Spanish for lake. Portuguese/Italian too.

41A: MLB rally killers: DPS (Double Plays)

42A: Logician Turing: ALAN. No idea. Have never heard of this guy (1912-1954). Wikipedia says he is often considered to be the father of modern computer science. And he died from eating a cyanide-laced apple. How sad!

43A: Not recent: OLDEN

44A: Fencer's defense: PARRY

46A: Coconut's place: GROVE. I always associate GROVE with short trees. Coconut trees are pretty tall.

49A: Jazz pianist Ahmad: JAMAL. Stumped. He looks charming. Wikipedia says his music is featured in Clint Eastwood's "The Bridge of Madison County", a rather disappointing movie. The book is so good.

50A: Handbook, e.g.: GUIDE

51A: Ft. Worth campus: TCU (Texas Christian University). Strange mascot name: Horned Frogs. Fighting Okra is another strange mascot name.

54A: Winning, barely: UP ONE. Not ONE UP?

55A: A paddlewheel may propel one: RIVERBOAT. Wikipedia says modern RIVERBOATS are generally screw (propeller) driven.

57A: Drips: NERDS. Dictionary defines "drip" as "an unattractive, boring, or colorless person." That's different from NERD, isn't it?

58A: Like sound frequencies above 20 kHz or so, to humans: INAUDIBLE. Oh, good to know.

59A: Beaniks of '50s-'60s TV: KREBS. No idea. It's a character in "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis"

60A: Surfing equipment?: DSL MODEMS. The question mark should send you in the internet surfing direction.

Down:

1D: Eric Cartwright's nickname on "Bonanaza": HOSS. Completely unknown (the one in the middle) to me. Wikipedia explains that HOSS might come from "Haas", Swedish for "big in stature and big in spirit". Oh, I also saw Jay Haas last week at the 3M Championship.

2D: Handling the task: ON IT. Now I miss AT IT.

3D: French Nobelist André: GIDE. He won Nobel Literature in 1947. He inspired Camus and Sartre, both Nobel winners. Camus 1957. Sartre 1964, though he declined.

4D: Row starter: HOE. No idea. Use HOE to start a row in the garden?

5D: Rope in: ENTRAP

6D: "Kind of __": 1967 hit: A DRAG. Here is the clip. Have never heard of the song.

7D: Music school major: VOICE

9D: Headland: NESS

10D: First "America's Funniest Home Videos" host: BOB SAGET. He was also the dad in "Full House".

11D: Puffy styles: AFROS. I was imagining WM's soufflé.

12D: Critical 1942-1943 battle site: STALINGRAD. Now called Volgograd. Grad is a suffix meaning "city".

13D: It's part of the Rockies: TETON RANGE. The Grant Teton is the highest mountain of the range.

14D: Treebeard's kin: ENTS. Tolkien's talking trees. Treebeard is the eldest of the species of ENTS, according to Wikipedia.

23D: Wee: BITTY

23D: Honored with a party: FETED

25D: Jotting medium: SCRAP PAPER. I always carry a 6" X 9" notebook with me. You?

26D: Dean Martin classic: THAT'S AMORE. I did not really appreciate the EEL clue ("That's a moray") last time until Dennis brought up THAT'S AMORE.

28D: Bottom: REAR. Oh, the derrière "Bottom".

30D: Illicit ignition: ARSON

32D: Lacking gravity: SILLY. Wanted ZERO G.

3D: First to win 100 NCAA team championships: UCLA. Total 104. Who is next? Stanford?

36D: Unflinching: FEARLESS

37D: Magazine with the column "Ask E. Jean": ELLE. Four-letter magazine, what else could it be?

43D: Go too far: OVERDO

45D: Soul predecessor: R AND B. Had huge trouble with this answer. I was thinking something like BRAVE, you know, BRAVE soul.

47D: Romantic triangle figure: RIVAL

48D: Recital hall: ODEUM. Plural is ODEA.

49D: Kind of fax: JUNK. Stymied also.

50D: Sudoku feature: GRID. "Crossword feature" too.

51D: Soliloquy opener: TO BE. "TO BE or not to be." - Hamlet.

52D: 0 on the Beaufort scale: CALM. I don't what Beaufort scale is. It measures winds at sea. It has 12 degrees, 0 = CALM, 12 = Hurricane.

53D: Chief Ouray's people: UTES. Guessed.

56D: Opposite of ask: BID. Oh, E-bay auction. I knew it's not ANS, since there is no abbreviation hint.

Answer grid.

C.C.

55 comments:

  1. Good Saturday Morning All,

    I thought a lot of entries were Monday answers with Friday clues, i.e., 30D: Ilicit ignition - ARSON.

    LOL, I had about 5 different ways to spell EMPEROR PENGUINS before I got it right.

    "Playing the race card" is a reference to one's heritage.

    ReplyDelete
  2. In honor of those rally killers(41A),"Tinker to Evers to Chance" a short poem by sportswriter Franklin Pierce Adams,

    "Baseball's Sad Lexicon",

    These are the saddest of possible words:
    "Tinker to Evers to Chance."
    Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
    Tinker and Evers and Chance.
    Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
    Making a Giant hit into a double –
    Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
    "Tinker to Evers to Chance."

    This work was first published in the New York Evening Mail on July 10, 1910, and is now in the public domain.

    Notes on the text:

    A gonfalon (Line 5) is a pennant or flag, referring in this context to the National League title.

    "Hitting a double" in baseball means a two-base hit, but "hitting into a double" refers to hitting into a double play (two outs on a single play), most commonly accomplished by a ground ball hit to the shortstop (Tinker) thrown to the second baseman (Evers) to force the runner out who had been on first base and then thrown to first base (Chance) to complete the play.

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  3. Good morning, C.C. and gang - knew it was gonna be a treat today when I saw Doug's name. I had lots of problems, but really enjoyed the challenge of getting through this one.

    I actually knew 'surete' from watching Pink Panther movies, and learned about the Beaufort scale from my time in the Marines on ships. Had no idea what Treebeards were, didn't know Alan Turing. Needed 49D, 'junk' to get Maynard Krebs from Dobie Gillis' show. Cleverest clues, for me, were 'Fuji setting', 'winning, barely', and 'lacking gravity'. That last one gave me fits. Loved all the long answers.

    Oh, and drip = nerd?? I don't think so. You think of a drip as being somewhat of a wallflower; a nerd as someone with a whole lot of esoteric knowledge.

    Today is National Caviar Day.

    Today's Words of Wisdom: "I am profoundly grateful to old age, which has increased my eagerness for conversation and taken away that for food and drink." -- Orator/Statesman Cicero (uh.....no)

    Mr. Fun Facts is nowhere to be found.

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  4. Dennis,
    Thanks for answering my question from Friday re deleting comments.

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  5. @CC
    "Hoss" is also westernish dialect for "horse" and Hoss was as big as a...hoss.

    Dobie Gillis was my favorite TV show way back then,so KREBS came to me immediately. I wish the shows were on DVD. The TV show was based on two books by Max Shulman, a brilliant humor writer. I read both books and may still have one somewhere.

    I found the puzzle VERY hard to break into with answers, but once I did, it fell fairly quickly. I had to look up one letter.

    Fred

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  6. Bonanaza Picture: Left to right, Eric 'Hoss' Cartwright(Dan Blocker), Ben 'Pa' Cartwright(Lorne Greene), Joseph 'Little Joe' Cartwright(Michael Landon), absent, Adam Cartwright(Pernell Roberts)

    Lorne Greene's recording of Ringo.


    Re: 'Tinker to Chance to Evers': A crossword puzzle, New York Times 4/21/09, used the names and positions as the theme answers to the puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good morning, all.

    I LOVED this puzzle! I printed it out and did the pencil and paper version, and then came to the computer to check my answers. I had to change two letters.

    C.C., I had the same response to 'Fuji setting' and 'Japan' just wouldn't work. I had to read the blog to make sense of RANDB. Once JUNK fell in place and I got UPONE and NERDS, I knew I had the right letters, but just couldn't make sense of it.

    C.C., in the link to the actors for 1D, HOSS is on the left, their father, Ben is in the center, and Little Joe is on the right. Two brothers are missing from the picture.

    DPS,ALAN, UCLA and AFRO all came from the crosses. I was thinking of sleeve styles for 'Puffy styles,' but nothing would fit.

    Argyle, thanks for the poem and the explanation.

    I have a quiet weekend to myself. Quilting and gardening and communing with my cat are in order. Have a great weekend!

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  8. Fred: Your comment on the puzzle is exactly my experience, Doug Peterson puzzles are hard to get started, with all those long corners, but once you fill a couple, it all makes sense. I really enjoyed the puzzle and finished in 20.34, which is a really good Saturday for me. I enjoyed all the tricky clues, but agree that NERDS and DRIPS are not synonyms. I grew up watching BOB DENVER, first as MAYNARD G. KREBS and then as GILLIGAN. We also have talked about BONANZA many times, but it was the first program broadcast regularly in color. It also was part of the macho era for television with so many all male casts. You can imagine how popular the show must have been that someone would pay for that recording of RINGO. The Miss Congeniality movies were highlighted by the work of WILLIAM SHATNER and CANDACE BERGEN.

    The battle for STALINGRAD was before my time, but I really enjoyed ENEMY AT THE GATES .

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  9. Good morning, all,

    I ditto Fred's comments - hard to break into, but then the rest came together pretty fast. Problems for me were Jamal, Krebs and Bratt. I also struggled with R and B, as I always seem to do.

    Like Dennis, I like long words. I guessed traffic patterns quickly, but penguins was slower to come. The NW corner came quickly with the three long clues falling easily. I was slow to get voice and adrag, confirming that my Achilles heel is pop stars, songs, etc.

    My favorite clues were for poof, Ellery, and Fstop which had me wanting Japan as did C.C.

    I have been glued to the Open and am rooting for Tom Watson now that Tiger is on his way home. He is not my favorite anyway, as his demeanor around the course is off-putting, for me at least. He ignores the fans and never smiles.

    Our drought and heat wave continues, although a little relief may be on the way. Our daughter and one son live in New York state and tell me they are starting to grow web toes.

    Have a great weekend!

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  10. KittyB, I had completely forgotten about the fourth brother.

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Jamie Hunter (later Jamie Cartwright) was the adopted son of Ben Cartwright in latter-day episodes of the television western series Bonanza. He was played by Mitch Vogel. Jamie Hunter was introduced in 1970, and remained on the show until its cancellation in 1973.

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  11. Good morning all. From last night's discussion about painting a child's room, I have to add my story. When my sons were eight and six we moved for the fifth time. So I asked each boy what color he wanted for his room. The younger said orange, and orange he got. The older said he wanted his room to be the color of our cocker spaniel. So we took the dog to the paint store, and the clerks fooled around until they had an exact match. Now that's customer service!

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  12. Good Morning All,

    Dennis-you hit the nail on the head with the Pink Panther films. (Surete). They were great.

    A tough puzzle today-had to hunt and peck just to get started, but in the end all was fine.

    Super Saturday to all....

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  13. Good morning, everyone.

    Tough puzzle today. Really had to struggle with it to get it finished. "Hagiological"? WTF? Never heard of BRATT, loved the Fuji mis-direction (and I HAVE a Fuji camera), took me a while to get that "Master" was a noun, too many FDR three letter programs, nailed GAR, was looking for a fictional Queen character, not an author, Turing?, for some reason knew Ahmad JAMAL, GIDE?, still don't know why HOE is a "roe starter," loved EMPEROR PENGUINS, had no idea of this NESS meaning, liked the "illicit ignition" alliteration, don't have the foggiest idea who "E. Jean" is, etc., etc,. etc.

    @mamaruth Rest assured that your late posts are being read. We left-coasters are up later and read late -- I also check out the prior day's entries before the current day's. (Which is why I sometimes post on the previous day, LOL)

    C.C., thank you for the hagiological education. There's a twenty-five cent word for you. I think the RACES is a horse racing reference. When one goes to watch the ponies run, there is a "card" of races. HOSS is the one one the left. The other two are Ben (father) and Little Joe (brother). I see we have a complete listing of the cast now (except for the Chinese cook -- Hop Sing).

    Have a great Saturday!

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  14. Good morning C.C. and all,...a nice difficult puzzle today and very enjoyable. I struggled to get a toe hold today and didn't have much success until I got to the SE area. Then everything just seemed to fill from there. I had a few unknowns IE 3D Andre Gide, 32A Surete, 42A Alan Turing and 49A Ahmad Jamal. Several of the unknowns filled from the perps and I recognized Jamal after I Googled.

    One of my favs today was "fstop" along with "lacking gravity".

    Hope you all have a great Saturday.

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  15. A hoe is a ROW starter, not a ROE starter.

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  16. Here's one of my very favorite tunes by Ahmad Jamal. It is so beautiful and peaceful.
    Fred

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  17. Hi c.c. and all:

    Hard puzzle for me too! I googled Oniondome, Gide, Bob Saget, Alan (Turing), (Ahmad) Jamal. Just never heard of many of the names although I should have gottet Bob Saget, but I had paste instead of baste. I had teeny, then bitsy, then finally bitty. I also had entice instead of entrap at first. Anyways, finally muddled thru.

    Favorite clues/answers: doctor finder/pager; Lacking gravity/silly; Drips/nerds

    Have a great day everyone! Off to the gym.

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  18. Good Morning All, Amazingly, I got both EMPEROR PENGUINS and TRAFFIC PATTERNS right away. Most of the rest of the puzzle was left to the perps.

    I did have one of those "Dennis moments", when I knew what "hagiological" meant. I don't know where that came from.

    Some of the odd ones like SURETE, FSTOP and DSL MODEM came pretty easily and others like RANDB had me scratching my head. I finally figured out that it was R AND B....D'oh!

    I confused ODEUM with ODIUM and didn't see the connection between 'ask' and BID.

    We've probably seen them before, but I had no idea who GIDE or ALAN were. I did know Benjamin BRATT...a very nice looking guy!

    It took a long time, but I finished it up with no g-ing. I was still glad to come here and could find out what some of my correct fills really meant!

    I always carry a 5 X 7 pad of lined paper in my car to jot reminders and shopping notes. I sometimes forget to keep a pencil or pen with it, so it kind of defeats the purpose.

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  19. I thought of NASCAR with the races/card clue. I do not believe it refers to the "playing the race card."

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  20. Morning all,

    Looks like people are starting to get up and log on.

    Re: 20A; In this sense "card" means "schedule". ie. In boxing there is a main event and an under card of lower wt. classes. The same for auto races and horses.

    Went to the Ponderosa Ranch set as
    a side trip during a sales meeting
    in Tahoe.

    Our home was built by a company called Ponderosa Homes which features the redwood from the ponderosa pine.

    eddyB

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  21. Cooler morning...Loved this puzzle! I was watching an Inspector Morse Mystery on PBS while doing the puzzle so can't account for time. ONIONDOME went in first then A DRAG(and the stupid song is still rattling around in my head)SURETÉ was a gimme from all the Simenon books. I wanted cloud nine for 1A but realized it had to be HOSS so HOG HEAVEN just came to mind and, like CA, the understanding of hagiological just popped into my head for STE. I had absolutely everything on the top, right side and center, except that I had Landing for Traffic initially and poor little Bob Denver's Maynard G. KREBS sitting all by its lonesome as the OR/Calif area refused to fill in...so I gave up and googled(which i really hate to do) Ahmad JAMAL and everything filled in from that one clue!

    I totally agree on the lack of connection between drips and NERD...I know a lot a nerdy and geeky people(my daughter being one, and proud of it) and none of them could be considered a drip...they are all incredibly fascinating and smart people.

    Used to watch Ellery Queen Mysteries(Jim Hutton, 1975-77)so that was an easy clue, and watched the terrific PBS show about cracking the Enigma Code with Derek Jacobi as Alan Turing.

    Once I saw it was a Doug Peterson puzzle, I knew it was solvable...LOL, so kept plugging away at it...and C.C...still didn't go with the souffle...put AFROs in right away...must be working with a souffle block for some reason.

    I sat there staring at RANDB and couldn't get it...when I tried explaining how I didn't get it to my husband, the light dawned and a V-8 moment occured...still don't get NESS for headland as the only ness(es) I know are Elliot and Loch(in Scotland)anyone care to enlighten?

    20A I wanted DANCE, but there was no plural so I assumed that it meant betting cards that we used to get at the horse races...and since it says events...it definitely has nothing to do with "playing the race card"...that is absurd...

    Dennis...Old age has increased my desire for food and drink(read wine) and decreased my desire for conversation...even though I am a rabid conversationalist(can you tell? :o))

    Sorry for the long post, but will gone most of the day. It is finally cooling down here and we have to go further inland to a birthday party where it won't cool down for another day or so...YECCH! :o(

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  22. WM- Ness is a noun meaning promontory, cape, or headland. These days it's generally only used in the names of places, such as Inverness. It is likely akin to the word nose which is a promontory of the human body. Hope this helps.

    I agree that this puzzle was, indeed, challenging. But, hey, it's Saturday! :)

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  23. Baseball is in the air, so here is another poem about America's game.

    The New Kid

    Our baseball team never did very much,
    we had me and PeeWee and Earl and Dutch.
    And the Oak Street Tigers always got beat
    until the new kid moved in on our street.
    The kid moved in with a mitt and a bat
    and an official New York Yankee hat.
    The new kid plays shortstop or second base
    and can outrun us all in any place.
    The kid never muffs a grounder or fly
    no matter how hard it's hit or how high.
    And the new kid always acts quite polite,
    never yelling or spitting or starting a fight.
    We were playing the league champs just last week;
    they were trying to break our winning streak.
    In the last inning the score was one-one,
    when the new kid swung and hit a home run.
    A few of the kids and their parents say
    they don't believe that the new kid should play.
    But she's good as me, Dutch, PeeWee or Earl,
    so we don't care that the new kid's a girl.

    - Mike Makley

    Cute, and a nod to all the girls who will never be called a shortstopette. :o)

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  24. Hello All--C.C. Coconut Place refers to the Coconut Grove, a night club of somewhat prominent renown. Therefore the word Place. I actually got this clue right away and thought it was quite clever. Other clever clues for me today were Fuji (as others have mentioned), Without Gravity, and Surfing Equipment.

    My new words for the day were surete, and Hagiological. I'll know them next time. Beauforts scale came from the perps and I guessed the last letter C and had it correct.

    I did the puzzle last night on-line as I couldn't sleep. So with the red-letter help (not many) I was able to finish the puzzle and get my "hurray". I actually knew Alan turing, and Treebeard's Kin. Don't know why. I was reading the answer for Soul Predecessor RAND-B I couldn't make sense of it, though I knew it was correct--DUH!

    CA, Last evening:The Ranch House in Ojai is a wonderful place to eat, so I'm told. My kids have celebrated several of their anniversary dinners there, also.

    Have a great weekend, everyone.

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  25. Anon@12:58...Thank you...that makes a lot of sense. :o)

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  26. 30:26 today. I had the grid nearly filled in at the 13-minute mark. The entire rest of the time was finally getting the NW corner. I had STOP OVERS instead of SIDE TRIPS and that caused considerable consternation. Only got erased because finally EMPEROR PENGUINS became inevitable.

    Other noteworthy gaffes were EEL instead of GAR, SCRATCH PAD instead of SCRAP PAPER, STEAM BOAT instead of RIVER BOAT, BOUTS instead of RACES, and it goes on. It's like Doug Peterson knows how my mind works and intentionally leads me astray! If I had an eraser, it would be worn to a nub by now (thankfully, I solve online).

    I love it.

    @c.c.: BID and Ask are not eBay terms, but rather how stock prices are established on the NYSE and elsewhere. BID is what someone is willing to pay for a stock; ask is what the stock owner is willing to sell for.

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  27. @clear ayes: Nice poem and LOL at "shortstopette". If you are of a certain age, you'll remember that the original "What's My Line" (starring John Daly) was sponsored by Stopette deodorant.

    "What's My Line" episodes from the 1950's were being rebroadcast on GSN network at like 3:00 AM Eastern, but I don't see it on their schedule now, which is a shame. I think you can view some episodes at tv.com What's My Line Stopette description

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  28. @CA, I am not really into poetry, but I really enjoyed your poem today. As a former manager of my daughters softball team I seem to have a soft spot for girl ball players. Thanks :0).

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  29. CA...a story to go with your poem. In my very late 30's to early 40's I was a goalie on a men's roller ball hockey team...with all of the gear on it was difficult to discern gender(I was a bit taller and slim in those days)and it was very gratifying after seriously whupping a team of younger men, that as we came off the floor and I removed my helmet, one of the players behind me said..."damn...we were beat by a woman..." needless to say, it made my day. So to all the young girls who play sports...you go girl!!! :o)

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  30. Along with Embian's stock explanation of ask and bid, there is also the sense of "request" vs. "order". To do one's bidding is to obey orders which cannot be refused.

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  31. Argyle, thanks for carrying through on the link to "Jamie Cartwright."

    Sallie, one of my nieces asked her mother for a "Stary, Stary Night" bedroom. They painted it darkest blue at the ceiling and upper walls and worked down to lighter blues toward the floor. My sister attached Christmas lights to the ceiling and then covered them with "clouds" of tulle. It was quite an experience to visit.

    Fred, thanks for the link to Ahmad Jamal! My brother was a college man at the time I started high school, and was "joe cool" personified (still is in a lot of ways). I always enjoyed listening to his choices in music, which included Jamal and Dave Bruebeck. I swiped hi copy of "Take Five" when he went into the Navy, and I think I still have it. I'll have to add Jamal to my CD wish list.

    Anonymous@12:58, thanks for the explanation of NESS...and the example.

    Clear Ayes...great poem, as usual!

    For 'Treebeard's kin', I kept thinking some kind of moss, until I had the NT in place, and it became obvious, it was ENT. LOTR is a frequent source of answers, especially ENT.

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  32. Dick, I'm always glad when a non-poetry person enjoys one of my posts. I try to mix them up, alternating amusing, serious, romantic and a little spicy, once in a while.

    Thanks Al for your alternate explanation of BID. It makes sense to me.

    WM, you have mentioned your hockey days before, but my brain had misplaced the information. You are really amazing!

    Crockett, from yesterday. Nobody said my aunt had all her marbles, but she an entertaining lady for a child to be around. It was my aunt's weird intention that the chinchillas would fend for themselves and happily multiply. She did not think far enough ahead to see what was bound to happen. Predictably Griffith Park did not notice a sudden increase in its chinchilla population, but I'm sure the coyotes put on a few pounds. BTW, it was over 50 years ago and the lady, who really was an animal lover and treated her five cocker spaniels like her children, is long gone...much too late to turn her in.

    Does anyone else out there have, or has had, an unusual relative?

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  33. Fred: Thank you for the link to Ahmad Jamal's Poinciana. It was one of my favorites growing up.

    Great poem today CA with a nice catch ending. All four of my girls played softball, my husband coached, and now we have granddaughter's playing. I echo WM's statement,"You go girl".

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  34. Good afternoon CC and all.

    Had all kids of problems with N W corner.
    Like KittyB and others only got R and B when I came here. I think we may see that one again like A to Z.

    Agree on the Drip/nerd discussion. To me a drip is a boring person.

    Ca( PFEO, poem for every occasion) great one as usual.

    TFrank. In golf I root for ABT any body but Tiger simply because the media over does their coverage. Now we get to see some other golfers. What a story if Tom Watson wins.

    Did you hear the story about the female artist who plays goalie on a Mens roller ball team ?.
    WM, Is there no end to your talents.

    Jimmy, S. Carolina

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  35. @KittyB
    Dave Brubeck's TAKE FIVE is my #1 favorite jazz album!I've had it as an LP, and now I've got it on CD. It doesn't get any better. Great minds think alike (ours)!

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  36. I have led an interesting life...just because I am slightly crazy and throw myself 100% into anything I do...what better way to teach hockey to little kids than to play yourself...Viola! Hockey mom...literally

    Ca...I had this great crazy person person in my life that my mother was named after...she was a flapper in the 20's(I saved a pair of her rhinestone shoes for years) and she was my mom's godmother and did all kinds of special things for her during the Great Depression. I loved going to her 1920's house that still had all the original furnishings, including a water nymph painted on the bathroom wall, and where she taught me to make ebelskievers! As she got older, she had a hearing aid and I she was always digging around inside her dress to turn the darn thing up. She was the epitome of an eccentric character and I loved her dearly...her experiences were amazing and I am glad I had her in my life.

    I will try to see if I still have any hockey photos of me in gear...It does occasionally sound a bit weird when I start listing all the crazy things I have done...

    Now, off to the heat of Livermore...:o(

    #3

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  37. See, I do try to post during daylight hours, when I
    can!

    I'm my own worst enemy at times. Does anyone else do this(?): When I see the Saturday puzzle I completely psych myself out--so even when I know the answer I hesitate to write it in, convincing myself that the constructor is throwing us a curve ball. Result is
    that I get a little paralyzed, and finally just pencil stuff in until the perps convince me that I'm in safe waters: PIease tell me that I'm not alone in going through this--[seeing Doug Peterson's name as constructor just adds to the angst!]

    As noted by others, pretty easy fill today with clever (too clever?) cluing. I somehow knew hagiological, Beaufort's scale, surete, & guessed right
    on"Surfing Equipment."
    Still had to visit"Google Bar & Grill" a few times, (Coconut Place,
    Jamal & ness.)

    Company's coming, so time to
    scour,cleanse,polish,disinfect,neaten & cook! Enjoy your day, everyone, & thanks for the helpful comments & explanations!

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  38. Coconut Grove was a popular Night Club.

    I think it was in L.A but it might be N.Y

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  39. Hoopsie-daisey, my post above is what happens when "copy and paste" go awry: hardest answers for me were: 'up one','ents', TCU, and 'odeum'; 'Fuji setting'' threw me, 'grarines' baffled me, 'Jamal' was a musical mystery,and Alan Turing a complete unknown. Maybe I'm a 'drip' after all!!--(PJB-Chicago)

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  40. Good afternoon CC and all,

    Started out strong with hog heaven, baste and Hoss, but had to take some side trips to the G spot for some traction to keep-a- goin'. Lots of unknowns (hagiological, surete, parry, odeum, Beaufort scale, and Treebeard). Fun Saturday puzzle.

    pjb-chicago, I sgree that many of us are our own worst enemies and doubt the right answer til the perp verifies it. I am a perpaholic.

    There are probably many Coconut Groves around, but during the big band era, there was a night club that was part of the Santa Cruz Board Walk,CA that drew big name bands. They hold wedding receptions there now,a lovely old well kept building.

    Way back when, before we started putting houses, etc everywhere, before Disneyland, So. CA was covered with groves of all kinds, mostly oranges, but Palm Springs
    had acres of Date Palms... not many still exist.

    Argyle, I so enjoyed that poem, and appreciated your explanation; reminded me of college when they had to explain what it really meant.

    Another cute one, CA!

    CC, I ALWAYS carry pens (and a tablet of paper) wherever I go. Most say Marriott :) I have to write down everything even though I may not need to look at it later.

    Sallie, loved your story @ 10:31!

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  41. I am surprised with all of my fellow Floridian puzzle solvers no one has mentioned COCONUT GROVE .

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  42. tarrajo, if you're around this evening, I want you to know that, although I don't speak up about the anon situation, I've got your back, too. I just subscribe to the idea that ignoring him is the better choice. I hope you have lots of fun while LGJ is away, and I second the suggestion that you be sure to do things especially for you.

    Fred, it's an honor to share a fondness for Brubeck with you!

    WM, it just blows me away that you were GOALIE on a men's roller ball hockey team. You are quite the Renaissance woman!

    PJB-Chicago, the size of the Sunday puzzle is intimidating to me. More than any other day, on Sunday I need to walk away now and then, until I finally either throw my hands in the air and say "I give!" or complete the puzzle. Occasionally I'll be intimidated by a composer's name. At first, Barry Silk puzzles were tough for me. I bet you're in good company here.

    MamaRuth, many of us go back to read the evening posts before we come to read the current blog. We'll see your posts, I'm sure.

    (Note to self....go back to see what was said about 'kissing')

    JD, I'm a note maker, too. There's a junior size legal pad in my purse right now!

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  43. Tough one today. Liked the Fuji clue best, and I got it right away.

    Anyone ever see Johnny Depps Yacht? He takes it to his private island. That's living.

    My son had a single handed double play in his game today. Caught the ball and then stepped on first base for the second out. Unfortunately, they still lost.

    TTFN

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  44. First, let me second all that was said to encourage Tarrajo last night and since.

    Second, welcome to all the new posters!

    Third, my worst painting-child's room experience was with our younger son, who insisted on having it totally black, ceiling and all walls. I balked at blacking over the window, closet and door though. We still needed several coats to repaint it when we wanted to sell the house. It's amazing how dim the oveerhead light was with nothing to reflect off.

    Fourth, I'm late posting today because, although I started the puzzle this morning, we were gone all day, and only when I got back I started again. After some I surprised myself at getting, some g'spotting and guessing, I finally came here and after I saw c.c.'s note on F-STOP, I was able to finish the rest which had remained a mystery. Not worth going into the details at this late stage though.

    Hope the troll stays in his hole tonight.

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  45. Hey all of you that have my "back" I appreciate it. TJ's day started out normally, sans a paddle partner; Caught two bass and six crappies. and kind of a buzz. The kind neighbor (Sierra's dad) across the way always helps on the filet process. He's teaching LGJ slowly. I am not sure I want him handling a sharp knife just yet.

    (Here's your time to chime in anon)

    I took the advice of a few here and made shrimp/pesto/linguine of course using my own basil..and made Blackberry/Peach cobbler. To top it off I HAND CHURNED my own vanilla ice cream.

    Now explain to me why I can't find a man?

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  46. Hey gang -
    Couldn't make it through this one. Got all the long fills - eventually. But BENJAMIN BRATT; BOB SAGET; SURETE. Non! Was looking for a character queen so missed ELLERY. Couldn't come up with PARRY. All of that cost me SILLY.

    Can you believe it?!? I missed SILLY! (Head hung in shame) Don't tell my granddaughters.

    Spent the day at Greenfield Village. They have baseball games on the weekends played by 1867 rules. No sliding, spitting, or ungentlemanly behavior. The hurler is required to provide the striker with a hittable pitch. Nobody wears gloves. Today, the Nationals beat the Lah-Di-Dahs.

    This is ragtime streetfair weekend, so there was some hot piano playing in addition to great dixieland music by the Tartarsauce Traditional Jazz Band. I'll see those same tatarsauce guys (and gal) tomorrow in the Masters of Music Big Band at the Michigan Jazz Fest. We kick it off at noon, and will play my original tune, BLUES FOR NATE.

    A busy week is finally coming to a close.

    CHEERS!

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  47. Tarrajo, glad to see you are getting a sense of humor about the troll(s). It is long past the troubling stage, has even passed the pathetic stage and is now just laughable.

    It sounds like you had a great relaxing day. Keep it up. For a gal who can make cobbler AND ice cream, a nice guy can't be too far in the future.

    Jazzbumpa, How about a YouTube video of "Blues For Nate"?

    Come to think of it, why haven't we seen a video clip of Crockett and his barbershop quartet?

    It is cooling off a little around here, so it is time to head over to the neighbors for a BBQ. Have a good evening all.

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  48. Dinner was a big success...Clearayes, have any sons you might want to point NE...Extremely NE? I can make some, fry it up in a pan, and can serve it. Just looking for someone else other than LGJ to serve it up to.

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  49. @tarrajo: until mr. right arrives, enjoy the here and now. being single has its advantages.

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  50. Probably the most infamous Cocoanut Grove was the nightclub in Boston. On November 28, 1942, the club burned in what remains the deadliest nightclub fire in United States history, killing 492 people and injuring hundreds more. The former speakeasy was filled with more than twice its official capacity of 460. Very tragic.

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  51. @clearayes There are no videos that I'm aware of that I can post. We're a small group and have ample sound technology, but I don't know of anyone who has adequate equipment to make a video of good enough quality to post. We DO have a public performance coming up a week from tomorrow, so maybe we can get something then. No promises, though!

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  52. Clear Ayes, My husband had an aunt who fit the 'unusual character' category. When she was in her eighties, she lived in a Detroit suburb & when a nearby stream flooded one year, she had to be rescued from her house in a rowboat. However, she kept her rescuers waiting while she put on a dressy hat & located her matching purse & gloves. This got written up in the newspaper & the writer referred to her as a 'character'. Aunt May was highly insulted. When she told us about it we laughed and said, "But Aunt May you are a character." Then she was really insulted!

    Dot

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  53. @ CA, for some reason I seem to have a fairly normal family background, although I am sure there are a lot of people that would disagree with that. However, your question got me to wondering about some of Buckeyes relatives and wonder if they might possibly refer to him as somewhat eccentric :o).

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  54. I must be the dumbest person on the planet or the LA Times crossword puzzle is a hoax. I tried searching the internet for help and found these posts. I guess I'm not alone.

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  55. Boogiewoogie,
    You are not alone. Welcome!

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