google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday, September 20, 2009 Bonnie L. Gentry and Victor Fleming

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Sep 20, 2009

Sunday, September 20, 2009 Bonnie L. Gentry and Victor Fleming

Theme: Signs of Burnout - ASH (80A: Sign of burnout hidden in eight puzzle answers)

23A: Dramatic device about which Hamlet says "The play's the thing...": SHOW WITHIN A SHOW. Hamlet exclaimed: "the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King." He tried to prove that his uncle the new King murdered his father by staging a play which mimiced the way he imagined his father was killed.

37A: Kindness simile: SWEET AS HONEY. Hmm, as SWEET AS HONEY, as powerful as love.

53A: Rare key in which a section of Chopin's "Polonaise Fantasie" is written: A-SHARP MINOR. Got the answer with Down fill help. Wikipedia says the scale for "Polonaise Fantasie" is A-flat major.

72A: World Series of Poker Main Event game: TEXAS HOLD'EM. The most popular card game in America.

87A: California's first lady: MARIA SHRIVER. She sure has the Kennedy look.

105A: Open one's law office, say: HANG OUT A SHINGLE. The constructor Vic Fleming is a judge in Little Rock, Arkansas. Bonnie L. Gentry is a Merril Lynch financial adviser based in Scottsdale, Arizona.

17D: Easily become angered: HAVE A SHORT FUSE. Like Donald Rumsfeld.

46D: 2000 Martin Lawrence/Nia Long comedy: BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE. Unknown to me. This poster does not catch my fancy.

Strange to see the ASH in embedded in the beginning of A-SHARP MINOR while all the others are hidden in the middle of the theme entries. The spreads are quite consistent though, all spanning two words.

A bit of golf undercurrent:

95A: Ready to be driven: TEED UP. The golf ball is TEED UP and ready to be driven either by a driver or a long iron.

24D: Green targets: HOLES. Or PINS when you are far away from the greens.

101D: Annual major golf tournaments played in August, familiarly: PGA. The PGA Championship. The last of the four majors: Masters (Augusta, Georgia, April), US Open (June), the British Open (July) and the PGA Championship (August).

Smooth solving today. MARIA SHRIVER tipped me off the theme and I was then able to fill in all the ASH'es.

Across:

1A: Deferred payment at the bar: RAN A TAB

8A: Flies over Africa?: TSETSES. I like the question mark, it makes the clue interesting.

15A: Alternative to Twinkies: HOHOS. From Hostess.

22A: Pocatello's state: IDAHO. And UTAH (68D: Bonneville Flats state).

26A: Type sizes: PICAS

29A: Star responsible for eclipsing Venus?: SERENA. The Williams sister. I was not surprised by her outburst at U.S. Open at all.

30A: North Carolina university: ELON. And UTEP (68A: Sch. near the Rio Grande) - University of Texas, El Paso.

40A:".... so long __ both shall live?": AS YE. Is this a Bible quote? I guessed AS WE.

43A: Regal initials: HRH. His/Her Royal Highness.

44A: Ed who wrote "87th Precinct" novels: MCBAIN. No idea. Alias name for Evan Hunter. Lemonade or someone else mentioned this on the blog when we had EVAN last time. NOVEL is the answer for 25A: Work of fiction.

47A: Loving: Prefix: PHILO. As in philosophy. PHILE is suffix for "lover", as in Francophile.

57A: Grammar school basics, briefly: RRR. Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.

58A: Kelly's co-host: REGIS (Philbin). He bores me.

59A: H-bomb trial, e.g.: N-TEST

62A: Broadway auntie: MAME. "Autie MAME".

63A: Concerning: ANENT

66A: Big name in nonstick cookware: T-FAL. Big indeed.

67A: It starts with enero: ANO. And DIAS (96A:"Buenos __").

71A: Suffix with real: ISM. Realism.

75A: Get licked: LOSES. Twins won again! Sorry, Fred/Jazzbumpa and all Detroit Tigers fans.

76A: Put down: DEMEAN

78A: Prefix meaning "spiral": HELIC. No idea. Helix is Greek for "spiral". Its adjective is helical.

79A: Fizzles (out): PETERS

81A: "__fired!": YOU'RE. Donald Trump's catchphrase.

83A: Vaughan of jazz: SARAH. Unknown to me. Here is a clip of her "The Sassy One".

85A: Siberian metropolis: OMSK. See this map. Quite close to Kazakhstan. I tend to confuse it with ORSK (on the Ural River), also bordering Kazakhstan.

90A: Letters before a trade name: DBA (Doing Business As)

94A: "The Mod Squad" role: LINC (Hayes). I forgot.

97A: Dangerous compound in Agent Orange: DIOXIN. New word to me. Sounds toxic.

99A: General Arnold of WWII: HAP

102A: PC key below shift: CTRL. Had to check my keyboard.

103A: Frenzied: MANIC. Our fellow solver Chip is from Maine, hence Mainaic. I saw some of you call him MANIC.

104A: Vertical: PLUMB. Perpendicular.

108A: Chorus platform: RISER

109A: Instrument shaker at the end of minstrel troupe: MR. TAMBO. No idea. Dictionary says it's "the end man in a minstrel troupe who plays the tambourine".

110A: Made of clay: EARTHEN

111A: Bridge bid, briefly: ONE NO. Does No. stand for north? I know nothing about bridge.

112A: Black Sea port dweller: ODESSAN. Ukrainians.

113A: Unemotional: DRY-EYED

Down:

1D: Spoke like Don Corleone: RASPED. I've read most of the books by Mario Puzo, "Godfather" is definitely the best.

2D: Not long, timewise: AWHILE

3D: Recent rightist: NEOCON. I actually like Bill Kristol (founder of "The Weekly Standard"). Can't stand Richard Perle.

4D: Nile dam site: ASWAN

8D: Hot-dish holder: TRIVET. Three-legged.

9D: Iroquois Confederacy member: SENECA

12D: Trendy London area: SOHO. I don't why it's a trendy area. London's main Gay Village is located there. SOHO is a NY area too.

15D: Jazzman known as "Fatha": HINES (Earl)

16D: Febreze target: ODOR. P&G brand.

18D: Short story writer known for irony: O HENRY

19D: Comforting words: SOLACE

31D: Ballet bird: SWAN. "SWAN Lake"

34D: 1862 Bull Run victor: LEE (Robert. E)

39D: Blue Moon of '60s-'70s baseball: ODOM. Holy moley. Have never heard of this pitcher. "Blue Moon" is a great nickname. I want to be called "Deep Throat".

40D: Subject of Indiana Jones's quest: ARK. Nice to see ARK and ARC (35A: Missile's path) in one grid.

41D: ""Gymnopédies" composer: SATIE (Erik). French composer.

44D: Disney's Ariel, e.g.: MERMAID

45D: Make pure: CLEANSE. Thought of the terrifying ethnic cleansing in some parts of Iraq.

48D: Dost possess: HAST. Archaic for "have". "Dost" = "do".

50D: One staying afloat in place: TREADER. Made-up word.

53D: Building addition: ANNEX

54D: First instruction: STEP A. I like fills like STEP A & EPISODE I. The I & One substitute does not bother me at all.

55D: Words before black or red: IN THE

56D: Book after Micah: NAHUM. Had to look at my Bible book list again.

63D: " .. two fives for __?": A TEN

64D: Island east of Java: BALI. TIMOR too.

65D: Elec. letters: AC/DC

66D: Marriage promise: TROTH. Oh, that's how we got betroth I presume.

69D: Harass: MOLEST

70D: Fair, in forecasts: CLEAR. Beautiful weather here in Minnesota. Summer's final fling.

73D: Feng __: SHUI. Literally "water". Feng is "wind".

74D: Wife of Zeus: HERA. Sister of Zeus as well.

77D: Alas. native: ESK (Eskimo). I forgot which one is un-PC, Inuit or Eskimo?

79D: Scrub up, say: PREP. In Operation Room.

81D: PBS chef Martin: YAN. "YAN Can Cook".

83D: Libya's Gulf of __: SIDRA (SID-rah). No idea. Here is the map. The Mediterranean gulf.

84D: Torn off forcibly: AVULSED. New word to me. I only know convulse.

85D: Veteran: OLD PRO. Newbie would be TYRO.

88D: Queen of Troy: HECUBA (HEK-yoo-buh). Hard to remember her name. She's the mother of Paris/Hector/Cassandra. Wife of Priam (PRAHY-uhm).

89D: Gymnast Mary Lou of Olympics fame: RETTON. No idea, though she looks very familiar.

90D: Lake fisherman's boat: DINGHY

91D: Receiver of property, in law: BAILEE. Wow, it's a real word.

92D: Climb: ASCEND

94D: Book, in Bologna: LIBRO. Unknown to me. It's Spanish for "book" also.

96D: Beatrice's admirer: DANTE. Got the answer from Across fills. Was his love unrequited?

98D: Mutant superhero group of comics: X-MEN. Marvel Comics.

106D: Mantric sounds: OMS. Om is also spelled as aum. Dictionary defines it as "The supreme and most sacred syllable, consisting in Sanskrit of the three sounds (a), (u), and (m), representing various fundamental triads and believed to be the spoken essence of the universe. It is uttered as a mantra and in affirmations and blessings."

107D: Guffaw syllable: HAR. Sarcastic guffaw, isn't it?

Answer grid.

C.C.

32 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, C.C. and gang - only a couple minutes this morning, but I really enjoyed today's puzzle.

A clever theme, which I didn't catch until the giveaway clue.
The intersection of 'Machu' and 'Nahum' had me perplexed once again. Still don't like 'miry'. And I thought 'Star responsible for eclipsing Venus' was just an outstanding clue.

Ok, I'll ask -- C.C., exactly why do you want to be known as 'deep throat'??

Today is National Women's Friendship Day, and National Punch Day.

kazie said...

I have only a short time today too. So no details I'm afraid. There were lots of unknowns, mostly resolved with guesses and perps. Only two places where i used red letter help: ANENT and UTEP. I did the A's first and got several D's that way without even seeing those clues.

C.C.,
Your map of Libya reminded me of my father--he was in both Tobruk and Tripoli during WWII.

Have a great day everyone!

MJ said...

Good morning, C.C. and all.
This was quite a challenge for me today as there were at least a dozen complete unknowns, mostly names. It helped that many of the theme answers came easily. I, too, liked the clue for 29A SERENA. I finally turned to the crossword dictionary for help in the south to finish.

C.C.-ANENT your question about 40A "...so long AS YE both shall live?"--I believe it is the end of one version of a traditional wedding vow just before the person being married responds "I do".

Enjoy the day!

Moon said...

Good Morning!
Did the puzzle online and used red letter help to complete.
Didnot get the theme till I got ASH halfway through. That helped to get HANG OUT A SHINGLE (never heard of it before).
Few Unknowns: ANENT, AVULSED, TROTH.
Forgot ELON and UTEP though we have seen them before.
Loved the flies and SERENA clue.

Off to yoga class now and then looking forward to football throughout the day. No Indy Colts game today (they play Miami tomorrow night) and so have to watch the NE Patriots (DH is a big fan) game.

Have a great Sunday, everyone.

Anonymous said...

Avulsion in medical terms is when the skin is literally ripped away from the body or limb. In one of my ethics classes its also when property is suddenly taken away from someone.

melissa bee said...

good morning c.c. and all,

perfect sunday puzzle today. fun long theme answers, and i agree the SERENA clue was as good as it gets. had to WAG a few but no g-spotting. nice placement of ELITE and REGIS (which means king), and crossing of ARTLESS/CRUDE, SPANS/BETWEEN, and ELOPING/SWEET AS HONEY.

driving back home today, have been in pasadena to see beloved monk thich nhat hanh on his US tour. remarkable man. he's written 100 books, speaks 7 languages, turns 83 in two weeks. highlight of my year.

Al said...

Good puzzle today, I, too had a bit of a struggle with the SE corner (I like to be challenged like that), and like Dennis, once I got the ASH tie-in, that took me through most of the rest of the puzzle without having to look anything up. Without the theme, I would have at least had to have spent much more time solving it, if not even resorting to checking for bad letters. Count me as one of the people that wishes the daily puzzles would return to more of their former trickiness. There's not much for me to comment on when they're so easy during the week.

@C.C., one of the appealing things about your blog (to me at least) is the naivete you sometimes display when commenting on the answers to the clues: a Stranger in a Strange Land sort of vibe, where the rest of us learn to look at seemingly ordinary things, which we usually take for granted, in a new and different way, because we get to glimpse them through different eyes. Other times, you say things that show you have a better understanding of the language and idioms than some people that have lived here their entire lives. I'm going to guess it's the former here, that drove your wanted nickname comment similar to the person that exposed Watergate, due to your former association with the Pinkertons, rather than the latter, where the connotation is not so...innocent.

melissa bee said...

al, c.c. (a.k.a. deep throat) has made that comment before and knows full-well the connotation. i think she likes to tease us.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Arrggh...I know Talk Like A Pirate Day was yesterday, but I get so annoyed at myself because I just can't remember UTEP. I ALWAYS fill in UTEX. Maybe by writing it down, I'll be able to remember it next time...and I know there will be a next time!

That is just a little quibble though. The rest of the puzzle, went pretty easily until the bottom quarter. I filled in (Incredible) HULK for 98D, even though that obviously wasn't the right choice. DIOXIN, ONE NO, SIDRA, AVULSED, MR TAMBO and BAILEE were all stickers. They started out as "perpetrators", but surrendered, one letter at a time.

Both TREADER and MIRY were pretty iffy fills, but we can usually expect a couple of those in a bigger Sunday puzzle.

"Star responsible for eclipsing Venus?" is also my pick for cleverest clue.

Kazie, your 10:39 comments last night were very thoughtful.

Welcome back Dreamundreamt. It's been a long time.

I will be celebrating National Women's Friendship Day at a BBQ with a few great women friends. I guess GAH and the other husbands will be celebrating "I'm With Her" Day.

Lemonade714 said...

I thought this was an excellent Sunday puzzle; many theme answers to help get the puzzle going, and many new clue/answer pairs.

It always amazes me how soon after a comment (such as my discussion of Evan Hunter writing the 87th Precinct books under the pseudonym, Ed McBain) there is a clue in the puzzle. Since puzzles are determined weeks in advance, it is all too mysterio for me.

Mr. Tambo????

JD said...

Good morning CC and all,

Well, I gave it my best shot, but the SE corner really had me stumped. Couldn't complete the phrase "hang out a shingle", not knowing bailee, dante, avulsed(a yukky word). Should have filled ante and oms-doh!We do the oms at the end of each yoga workout; I knew it was a mantra, but it didn't click with mantric sounds.


I used my atlas for Omsk, sidra, and Odessa, and only "g'd" Mc Bain and dioxin. Have never heard of helic, anent,DBA, or Mr Tambo.

Had a very hard time with the sh in a sharp minor, and the c's in
helic and picas.

Loved ballet bird, and seeing Maria Shriver, whom I really admire... not for her choice in a husband though, but maybe for standing by him.

I also laughed when filling in hedge. When we moved to our home 30 years ago we planted a boxwood hedge on both sides of our walkway. Today it is like one of those mazes..taller than Truman. Recently, a gardner for our neighbors, suggested to Bob that he should sell it on E-Bay. He loves his hedge and he keeps it perfectly trimmed.

Have a lovely day.It's heating up. We are celebrating our girls birthdays tonight.

embien said...

17:59 today I'd say a little quick for a Sunday, but I don't keep track. The theme helped with A SHARP MINOR, but otherwise hiding ASH in all the theme entries isn't too exciting. It's only three letters, after all.

@c.c.: ONE NO is short for One No Trump, a common bridge bid.

Also, TREADER isn't a made-up word, as it refers to one treading water. When I took my lifeguard test (when I was a teen) we had to tread water with our hands above water for an extended period of time--I forget now just how long. It was tough, I can tell you.

@Clear Ayes: One way to remember it is that it is never UTEX, but rather Texas University in common parlance. Four-letter Texas university == UTEP, each and every time.

Off to my usual Sunday breakfast of Dungeness crab & shrimp louis salad, as soon as my wife comes back from saying OM (she's meditating right now).

Clear Ayes said...

Signs of Burnout - This wouldn't have been a good theme fill, because too few people would have read it. OTOH, it is a good poem to post today because it is about personal burnout. I think that anybody who has ever had a broken heart can relate. Fortunately, most of us get over it, learn from it and find a "new and improved" love.

Ashes of Life

Love has gone and left me and the days are all alike;
Eat I must, and sleep I will, -- and would that night were here!
But ah! -- to lie awake and hear the slow hours strike!
Would that it were day again! -- with twilight near!

Love has gone and left me and I don't know what to do;
This or that or what you will is all the same to me;
But all the things that I begin I leave before I'm through, --
There's little use in anything as far as I can see.

Love has gone and left me, -- and the neighbors knock and borrow,
And life goes on forever like the gnawing of a mouse, --
And to-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow
There's this little street and this little house.

- Edna St. Vincent Millay

WM said...

Morning everyone, Great write up C.C. for a puzzle that used up a lot of my pencil's eraser...put it in, erase it, put it back in, erase it...you get the picture. After jumping all over the puzzle and hopping back and forth I finally gave up on the SW corner with a few squares left open...I did get all the theme answers with no problem but never really saw the ASH, nor was I looking for it in my struggle to complete this puzzle. BAILEE? ANNENT? AVULSED????Never, no way, no how. I'll take TREADER any day.

Started out great on the top and thought, erroneously that this would be a fairly easy puzzle...hahaha. Thanks to Lemonade the other day, no worms on McBain... ah well...Monday awaits. Maybe I need to start getting more sleep.

Not as hot so far today as I thought it would be...it would certainly be nice if, after a whole summer of seriously bad weather forecasting, that the tempertures were, this time, cooler than predicited...really not in the mood for more hot weather...BLEH.

Oscarand said...

Type is not measured in picas. It is measured in points. Picas define spaces ( line, column width etc).

MJ said...

Can anyone give an explanation for 53A "Rare key in which a section of Chopin's 'Polonaise Fantaisie' is written"? I'm guessing that the key word is "section". Everything I can find cites Op. 61 as being in A flat major.

@Oscarand--On old manual typewriters, there were two type sizes, pica and elite. Pica was 10 characters per inch, elite 12 characters per inch.

Anonymous said...

Good heavens! It's very late, and I am just getting here. My turn to make coffee and set out cookies at church, so I had to do the puzzle after lunch.
And, as with others, it started out easily enough, but I bogged down – oops – mired down at the bottom.

Clever theme, but I, as usual, didn't get it until C.C. told me. My only caveat is with molest for harass. I don't think of them as being the same. To harass someone is to bug him, annoy him. But to molest is to do harm. Am I wrong again?

Hope the rest of this day of rest is restful for you. I am for a nap.

Cheers

Clear Ayes said...

Thanks Embien for the additional UTEP information. Maybe that will help me to remember it. Whenever I see UTEP, I think it should be the name of an Egyptian god.

It is interesting that we were discussing packratting and hoarding yesterday. This morning I watched an interview with E.L. Doctorow about his new book Homer & Langley Collyer, who were wealthy brothers and infamous hoarders in the 1940's.

Only 98 degrees outside right now. Time to get ready for the BBQ. Phew!

eddyB said...

Good Afternoon all,

I've been tracking the NFL games
online at Game Channel. CIN just went ahead 28 to 21 over GB. MIN
by 7 vs DET. The PIT vs CHI starts in less than an hour.

CA, interesting review. Source? I'll have to reread Holy Blood, Holy Grail to see if it is the same
one I remember.

I put everything aside to start The Lost Symbol. This one will probably be reviewed as anti some
thing. Foucault's Pendulum has been
added to the list

Wife just left for Paso Robles. Party time!

eddyB

JimmyB said...

C.C. - I've been an Oakland A's fan since they moved from Kansas City in the 60's. John Odom was called "Moon" by a childhood friend who thought his face had a moon shape. Charlie Finley (owner of the A's then) paid him to have his name legally changed to "Blue Moon" because Finley liked colorful nicknames. (Finley also thought Jim Hunter was too bland for a name, so he came up with "Catfish".) Odom was a pretty good hitter and once went 3-for-3 with 6 RBI's (before the DH, of course).

Mary said...

Good evening all,
Here's an interesting explanation of
Mr. Tambo. I kept thinking of the song Hey Mr. Tambourine Man.

I did well today except for the SE. HECUBA (also Hecabe), RETTON, SIDRA, and BAILEE/DBA were unknowns.

Dreamundreamt,
Thanks for the explanations of AVULSED. Unpleasant word for an unpleasant act. Hopefully I won't need it in my daily vocabulary.

MJ,
"Can anyone give an explanation for 53A "Rare key in which a section of Chopin's 'Polonaise Fantaisie' is written"? I'm guessing that the key word is "section". Everything I can find cites Op. 61 as being in A flat major."

Many classical works have movements or parts of movements in a minor key, usually related to the major key they start in. A# minor would be rare because it has 7 sharps, F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, and B#. What a nightmare that would be to read.

Mary said...

Chopin's Polonaise Fantasie
Notice that his hands are almost exclusively on the black notes. And he's not reading...

Fred said...

@CC
Even when The Twins were in third place I knew they had the capability of fighting back and taking first place because they are an excellent team. But the Tigers won today so there is still hope we may hang on to first place.

kazie said...

CA,
Thanks for your comment on my heavenly thoughts. I always seem to come back and say something worthwhile when not too many are up to read it. I would have liked to see that discussion go further. What is your reaction?

We had a wonderful day today with family--yes, more visitors from Germany. When they leave in a couple of weeks, this will be the last for this year at least, since now they have all been here.

Following on from my 7:47 am today, how times have changed. These days, soldiers at the front email and skype their families all the time. When my dad was in Tobruk, he wasn't supposed to even let my mother know where he was. The way he managed it was to write in microscopic letters on the ruled margin, the letters:
T
o
b
r
u
k
so she would know.

Linda said...

Kazie: Your remarks about heaven were honest and thoughtful...but the God Who created all there is...in all it`s infinite complexity...including your amazing intellectual and creative capacity, would never create a place where you could ever be bored.

And you`re correct, the writers had only the words they knew to try to describe something that no finite mind or tongue could ever describe. I just know that with all the beautiful and marvelous things man is capable of creating, the One Who created man will surpass him on a scale "eye hath not seen nor ear hath heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." IICorinthians 2:9

That God is so complex and awesome that there are angels who cry "Holy Holy" every time they look at Him because they see yet another facet of His limitless creativity and majesty. And we are made in His image! No, my dear, you`ll never be bored in heaven.

Luxor said...

C.C.,
why in the world do you want to be known as 'deep throat'? (ref. your comment at 39D.)

Linda & kazie.
why does God allow all the sorrow, hunger, war, disease, deformity, and all the other negativeness in life. I struggle with that question constantly. I went to catholic school and when I would ask the Sister that question, she would just say 'He has a reason for everything'.

windhover said...

Kazie, et al,
sometimes later is the best time to write something as thoughtful as your post last night. Even when I turn in early, I look at the late comments first thing in the morning.
The " infinite complexity" is all around us right here, right now. I have no quarrel with those who hold a hope of life beyond where and when we are now, with one exception. Too often, the hope of a second existence has been used socially, economically, and theologically to discount the value of life in the here and now for people who live and work in poverty and otherwise degraded circumstances.
It has been said that the timber barons, the coal operators, and the preacher rode into Eastern Kentucky in
the same wagon, the former two to exploit both the land and the people and the latter to tell those people their reward was in the "next" life. Meanwhile, all the wagons occupants were doing quite well. As always, workers got illusory promises of gold and mansions; the bosses were living in quite real ones.
As far as boredom is concerned, for any one who can manage to be bored in this beautiful, and yes, complex world, I can only feel some combination of pity and disgust. They should go outside and look around. And live the life they have. The next one, if there there is to be a next, will come all too soon.

windhover said...

Anonymous, probably Luxor, but just in case you're not,

with all due respect, if you want to control the content of a blog, you should start your own. The owner/mistress of this blog, one CC, aka Deep Throat, has been very tolerant of wide-ranging topics for posting. But she asks for something to stop or change, it does. That courtesy not not extend to any of the rest of us, nor to you.

PJB-Chicago said...

Good evening, all!
Busy weekend, here: lots of long walks, the farmers' market, a little doing & viewing of comedy, and some outdoor concerts. It's getting on the cool side, so the last tastes of summer are to be savored. Raining lightly at the moment. I feel for people still caught in a heat wave.

Finely pitched puzzle today: lots of fresh fill and quirky cluing; many unknowns for me, but almost all "gettable" thanks to more guessable perps. Loved the fun--and topical--clue for racket-weilding Serena, as well as the poetic answer for 113A (dry-eyed). 37A (sweet as honey) made me think of Rosh Hashannah and the delicious honey cake my colleague makes for me every year....
The theme, however, was a bit of a bust. no real aha moment, but no big deal.

Trivia: O.Henry's first wife's first name was really and truly ATHOL. Say it out loud and try not to giggle. Great monicker for a pet..... "Heel, Athol!

Thanks for your all your kind words, concern, prayers and positive thoughts. It all helps. In no way did I want to take attention away from the many happenings in others' lives: a birth, a passing, birthdays, anniversaries, new school year, illness of family and friends. And the rash of plumbing woes, etc. We've got the spectrum right here.

My right hand is gaining strength and no longer cramps. I was able to open a jar today by self for the first time in awhile. Can type better, too. Doctors are watching out for me, for which I'm grateful.

C.C.: I have noticed your wonderfully sly and sharp sense of humor appearing more and more lately in your commentary. Yet another talent of yours to admire!

Good night!

kazie said...

Thank you Linda and Windhover, for your thoughts. I'm still mulling them over.

PJB,
Very glad the improvement is continuing.

Clear Ayes said...

We just got home from our BBQ..such good food. "An evening in Ravena" was our hostess' theme. Both she and her husband are of Italian ancestry and have visited Italy many times. Appetizers were plates of salamis, prosciutto with melon , Italian cheeses, olives, grilled eggplant, grilled mushrooms, grilled baby artichokes, roasted garlic and fresh bread. Oh yeah, bottles of Italian chianti flowed like.....bottles of Italian chianti. You'd think that would have been enough But wait.....After we rested for a while there was grilled steak that had been marinated in some amazing Italian sauce, pasta with Andy's (the host) homemade pesto, then tomato and mozzarella salad....more chianti. Enough? Not a chance! We finished off with some fantastic strawberry tiramisu and espresso. I am totally stuffed and may not eat for two days! Lucky me to have such a terrific group of people (including an amazing cook) to celebrate National Women's Friendship Day with.

Windhover, your comments were reminiscent of Karl Marx, but I'm sure you already knew that :o)

PJB, I'm glad to hear that the strength is returning to your hand.

Dick said...

Good evening C.C. and all, a very late post for me, but I have been extremely busy lately. It is hard to believe that we have had a week of easier than usual puzzles. Today the top half was so easy I expected to fly through the entire in 30 minutes or so. However, the lower half created some angst and a trip to the G-spot.

There were a few unknowns for me such as ANENT, AVULSED, MR. TAMBO and McBain. I thought MIRY was a bit of a stretch.

Hope you all had a great Sunday.