google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday November 2, 2009 Pancho Harrison

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Nov 2, 2009

Monday November 2, 2009 Pancho Harrison

Theme: Time and Time Again - "Time" can start both parts of a two-word common phrase.

17A: *Like secret military facilities, to civilians: OFF LIMITS

64A: *Furniture with folding legs, usually: CARD TABLE

10D: *One-armed bandit: SLOT MACHINE

24D: *Novel that evokes prior times: PERIOD PIECE

71A: Given moment, which can begin both parts of the answers to starred clues: TIME

Argyle here.

A lot of action for a Monday; a sort of two for one, hey?

17A: TIME OFF & TIME LIMITS

64A: TIME CARD & TIME TABLE

24D: TIME SLOT & TIME MACHINE

71A: TIME PERIOD & TIME PIECE

Outstanding theme. One noticeable flaw is the clue for ERASE (13D: Clear, as a tape), which intersects CLEAR (16: Not Cloudy).

Across:

1A: Shapely legs, slangily: GAMS. From an older time.

9A: Makeup maven Lauder: ESTEE.

14A: Actor McGregor: EWAN. Such a bad boy.

15A: Flightless South American bird: RHEA.

19A: "Lucy, you got a __ 'splainin' to do!": LOTTA. It seems what he really said was "...some 'splainin' to do." but this quote has been used quite often by others.

20A: High on the hwy.: DUI. Driving Under the Influence covers drugs, DWI - Driving While Intoxicated covers alcohol. [ Dick said BTW in western PA we now use DUI to cover both drugs and alcohol violations. Is that customary in other areas of the country? Come to the comments area and let us know.]

21A: Scatterbrained: DITSY. And 43A: Screwy: LOCO. Lucy, before she became DITSY, showing off her gams.

22A: Gillette razors: ATRAS. The usual suspects.

23A: Slip by: ELAPSE. Funny how time slips away. Willie wrote it.

25A: Give life to: ANIMATE.

34A: Not worth debating: MOOT.

36A: Chowder ingredient: CLAM.

40A: Actress Spelling: TORI.

42A: One who saves the day: HERO.

46A: Souse's affliction, for short: DTS (Delirium Tremens). Souse is slang for a drunk.

48A. Red-breasted bird: ROBIN. This should delight our own ROBIN. Hey, Robin!. Sort of a bird undertone. See BASTE (41A: Moisten the bird) and COO (32D: Dove sound)

50A: "The Avengers" heroine, to Steed: MRS PEEL. Emma's gams.

54A: Log-on need: USER ID.

58A: Old photo tint: SEPIA.

59A: Muscat resident: OMANI. Map.

62A: Suffix in enzyme names: ASE. and 11D: Prefix with -cycline: TETRA. Our daily chemicals. Tetra is prefix for "four".

67A: Cancel, as a newspaper story: KILL. Have you seen "A TIME to Kill" ? It's a pretty good thriller.

69A: Villainous look: SNEER.

Down:

1D: Crystalline stone: GEODE.

2D: Beyond bad: AWFUL.

3D: Cosa Nostra: MAFIA. Their code of silence is called omertà. Cosa Nostra is literally "our thing" in Italian.

4D: NBC show with Baba Wawa skits: SNL.

6D: IOU: CHIT. Obsolete chitty, from Hindi ciṭṭhī, note, letter, from Sanskrit *citrikā, *citritā, note. (I always wondered where CHIT came from.)

7D: Queens ball team: METS. Queens, NY. And another National League team STL (31D: Initials on a Cardinal's cap: STL). Baseball's St. Louis Cardinals. Yankees won again last night.

8D: Unchallenging college course: EASY A.

12D: Trouble greatly: EAT AT.

18D: "My guess is ...": I'D SAY.

26D: TV's Nick at __: NITE.

28D: 'Zine on the Net: E-MAG.

29D: Runner-up: LOSER.

32D: Dove sound: COO. And 39D: Cow sound: MOO. Now what does the ghost say?

33D: Golf ball path: ARC. Not necessarily, with some of my shots!

35D: Other, in Mexico: OTRO.

37D: Had followers: LED. Nice clue.

41D: Military command center: BASE. Might be OFF LIMITS.

45D: Stop in on: VISIT.

47D: Ad to lure you in: TEASER. Like ads for LOSS LEADERS.

49D: __ of joy: new baby: BUNDLE. Ahh...

50D: Popular PC interface before Windows: MS-DOS.

55D: Synagogue leader: RABBI and 56D: Muslim's faith: ISLAM and they are right next to each other.

60D: Letters in a box: MAIL.

61D: Singer Guthrie: ARLO.

65D: Lawyer: Abbr.: ATT. Hahtool/Lemonade, do you use ATT or ATTY often?

Answer grid.

Argyle

63 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Argyle, C.C. and gang - hopefully through with whatever this bug was. Carol, a belated Happy Birthday.

A pretty easy Monday puzzle; just under 4 minutes, without a pause. However, I had no idea as to the theme until the very last fill. Argyle, great catch on the 2-for-1.

I also agree with Argyle that Desi typically said, "you got some 'splainin' to do". It's even been used on here from time to time. The rest of the puzzle was very straightforward - lots of the usual suspects for clues.

Today is All Souls Day, Deviled Egg Day, and Look for Circles Day. Yeah, I said 'huh?' too.

Today's Words of Wisdom: "Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect." -- Margaret Mitchell

A couple more Steven Wright quotes:

"You know when you put a stick in water and it looks bent? That's why I never take baths."

"Once I tried to kill myself with a bungee cord. I kept almost dying."

Argyle said...

Dennis, in interest of full disclosure, I didn't grasp the whole theme untill writing the blog and reread the clue. This was after C.C. had given me a 'Heads Up" earlier.

Dennis said...

Yeah, she's pretty good at picking up on things that most of us never see. Still, nice job on your part.

Off to the gym.

Dick said...

Good morning C.C. and all, another easy Monday puzzle today. I guess it makes up a bit for my problems yesterday. Not much to comment on today other than the interesting theme. I got the theme, but not until I had filled in 71A.

BTW in western PA we now use DUI to cover both drugs and alcohol violations. Is that customary in other areas of the country?

Hope you all have a great Monday

Lemonade714 said...

Good morning:

Well it is appropriate to come full cycle with a Pancho Harrison puzzle (our very first LAT constructor) after such a fun week. The them meant nothing, but there were some fun clues, but it is Monday, so everyone have a great weak, especially Carol - Happy Birthday, belated or not (I celebrate for 30 days, just in case...). Most attorney use ‘Esq.’ as the indication of profession, certainly not ATT.

Lemonade714 said...

I have not practiced criminal law in a while, but it is my understanding most states use the 'DUI' designation as Driving Under the Influence, of any substance. Or they use 'DWI' meaning Driving While Impaired, not the old Intoxicated. In either case, people should have enough concern for themselves or the rest of the world to not drink, or drug and drive. There are tons of designated drivers, and taxis and buses. Be careful out there.

Hahtoolah said...

Morning, CC, Argyle and Friends. I had fun with today's puzzle. I loved the double TIME theme. As soon as I saw the star, I jumped to the clue that identified the star. I knew quickly to look for a Time clue. Still, for a Monday, I found it a bit of a challenge. Just the thing to start what I anticipate will be a difficult week.

High on the Hwy was a great clue. In LA, DUI is the term used. I hear a lot of DUI cases. You'd be surprised by the excuses one could come up with for the DUI.

If the clues for RABBI and ISLAM, had been located a little higher in the puzzle, we might have had Peace in the Middle East!

We must not fear daylight just because it almost always illuminates a miserable world. ~ Reme Magritte.

Mainiac said...

Good Morning CC, Argyle and All,

Fairly easy run this AM. Stumbled a bit in the NW because I wrote Evan instead Ewan. Not familiar with him. I also enjoyed the theme.

The dogs are completely screwed up with the time change. It hasn't helped their master out any either.

Have a great day.

Al said...

Gams: One source thinks this word comes from Parlyaree (theatrical argot), which supposedly got it from Italian gamba "leg", from Late Latin gamba "hoof". Another source doesn't mention the Parlyaree derivation, but takes it from gamb "leg of an animal on a coat of arms", which came directly from Old French gambe, the northern form of jambe "leg". Then the Latin gamba comes into the picture again. Some say that Latin got its form from Celtic camba "crooked", referring to the crook in most animals' hind legs (also evidenced in the term dogleg used to mean a S-type curve in a road). Gam has been around since at least 1781.

The confusion over the meaning of moot point is modern. It is a misunderstanding of another sense of moot for a discussion forum in which hypothetical cases are argued by law students for practice. Since there is no practical outcome of these sessions, and the cases are invented anyway, people seem to have assumed that a moot point means one of no importance. So we’ve seen a curious shift in which the sense of “open to debate” has become “not worth debating”.

Dennis said...

Dick, DUI is used for both offenses here in NJ as well.

Al, thanks for the explanation re 'moot'; I've always wondered how the definition somehow changed.

kazie said...

Good morning all!

Thanks Argyle, C.C. and Al for lots of good info today.

I liked getting the lowdown on GAMS--I suspected a connection to the French jambe, but the Italian and Latin references tie them together.

Now all I need is an explanation of where the expression LOCO for crazy originated. It's presumably Spanish, but I see no connection to the Latin or French words with that stem.

Dennis,
Keep those Steven Wright quotes coming--I love them!

I've heard both DUI and DWI in WI, but am not sure which is official. Maybe we should add DWT or DOP ("While Texting" or "On the Phone").

I really liked the double theme, but didn't look for it until I got the connecting clue near the end.

Al said...

@Kazie, I found this on dictionary.reference.com about loco:

"Possibly from Arabic lawqā', foolish, feminine sing. of 'alwaq, from lāqa, to soften."

Soften? Like "soft in the head" maybe?

kazie said...

Al,
Isn't it neat the way foreign words can often explain our slang expressions? Thanks for LOCO! I wonder if the Spanish picked up on it from the influence of the Moors in Spain--I assume they spoke something like Arabic.

Anonymous said...

Can someone explain to me 37-D LED?

Dennis said...

Sure - if you're leading, that usually means someone's following.

Anonymous said...

D'uh. Thanks, Dennis.

carol said...

Hi Argyle, C.C. and all -

Well this truly was a Monday puzzle...I didn't even put the pen down, although could not beat 'Dennis time'. I couldn't remember Tori Spelling but the fills fixed that.

Lemonade - I forgot why attorneys use Esq after their names...also what is the difference between Atty at Law and Atty in fact. I feel stupid as I used to know that one. Thanks.

Loved the picture of Betty Grable..she was before my time, but notice her figure..sure different from the movie stars and run-way models that are in vogue today! In her day as size 12 was very respectable.

Had a very nice birthday dinner last evening, our son made grilled salmon with lemons. Delicious! It was also our 39th wedding anniversary so it was a doubly nice day (and the sun was out for most of it) ::

mamunipsaq said...

In Maine, the abbreviation OUI is used, for operating under the influence. And I believe it covers driving a snowmobile as well as a car.

And they Royal Spanish Academy lists the origin of LOCO as "Quizá del ár. hisp. *láwqa, y este del ár. clás. lawqā', f. de alwaq, estúpido; cf. port. louco" (perhaps from hispanic arabic *láwqa, and this from classical arabic lawqā', feminine form on alwaq, stupid; cf. port. louco), which would seem to agree with what dictionary.com gave as loco's etymology.

melissa bee said...

good morning c.c., argyle and all,

thoroughly enjoyed all the puzzles last week, just great. today's was fun, very clever double-time theme. agree about the ricky ricardo quote, don't recall hearing it with 'lotta' before.

happy birthday and anniversary carol!

good to see so many newbies joining in, welcome robin and whoever else i'm forgetting.

off to find some circles ...

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, A hugh "Aha!" moment was definitely 71A TIME. This may have been an easily filled in Monday puzzle, but those theme entries were some of the most clever I've seen. It must have taken constructor Pancho Harrison a lot of his own TIME to come up with four two word phrases in which each word could form another phrase when started with TIME. Then, he figured out a way to fit them into a Monday level puzzle. I'm impressed.

On DUI, I can't add anything. IF (no admissions here) I have ever been under the influence of anything, I haven't been behind the controls of any moving vehicle...OK, there was the time with the beer and the bike, but the bike had a flat tire, so I didn't even get out of the driveway.

Today's WOW reminded me of this short and to-the-point poem
by Stephen Maria Crane.

A man said to the universe

A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."

- Stephen Maria Crane

IRISH JIM said...

Good morning CC Argyle and all

Nae golf today so thought I would chime in.

Today is one of those days I enjoy most reading this blog. All the "splanin" about moot/loco/gams dui/dwi and Esq.
Thanks to all.

Definitely need to add DWT and DOP

Must say have been enjoying the toning down of the crosswords later in the week. At least for me they are now doable without help.

Good day to all

Jimmy, S Carolina

Robin said...

Good morning, Argyle, CC and everyone.
I did not "get" the theme until I came here either. All in all, it was a very easy puzzle. The only stumper for me was "High on the hwy" Go figure!
Does anyone remember the episode of Friends, when Joey misused the meaning of "Moot" he said the term is "moo"..." It is a Moo point" Lol moment for me.
Have a great day everyone!

Hahtool said...

Clear Ayes story of the beer and the bike reminded me of a case I studied in law school. The defendant had been charged with OWI (operating while intoxicated) while riding a horse. The statute made is a crime to be driving various motor vehicles, including "other means of conveyances.". The court found the a horse on thehighway was not an "other means of conveyance" for purposes of a conviction.

I have also heard too many people misuse the word "moot" and make reference to a "mute" point.

Jerome said...

If envy is a deadly sin I'm a goner. I envy Pancho's puzzles. They're always clever and clean as a whistle. I also envy his name. There's something about the sound of Pancho Harrison that's alluring, magical, kind of playful.

Favorite fill- USER ID, DITSY, I'D SAY, MRS PEEL, and EASY A.

Bigger sins-

Being LOCO is COOL!
Chubby kids eat a LOTTA TOTAL.
I AM NO OMANI, NAOMI, I MOAN.

eddyB said...

Hello all.

Now, there is an E. Coli out break
on top of the flu. It is mainly in the NE but MN is also affected. Throw out your ground beef or make sure it is well cooked.

I thought Dennis would do this one in under 4 min. Way to go. I did it last night while watching Cold Case. Don't know how long it took.

I almost feel sorry for Dan. It must be very difficult to find a
balance between "too easy" and
"too hard". I thought this one was
way TOO easy even for a Monday.

Ordered my new PC yesterday. It was shipped this morning and is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. Not to bad.

I'm off to do the Universal Crossword.

eddyB

carol said...

eddy b - you mentioned Universal Crossword. I do those every day too but today's is not available that I can see.
That happened once before too, guess they overslept :0

CA - glad you were not able to get to the sidewalk with your bike under the circumstances you were describing, LOL.
It must have been one of those "hold my beer, and watch this" moments.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

I make no mute points.

Argyle - great visuals today. The Grable pic is exactly the one I was thinking of.

Without looking it up, does anyone remember who played Steed's partner, before the appealing and delightful Diana Rigg.? Answer at the end of the post. Don't peek!

AWFUL is another word whose meaning has changed over TIME - here to it's opposite. AWEFUL originally meant "awe inspiring" - or awesome, as we now might say. No idea when or how the shift took place.

Absolutely brilliant theme execution today. I'D SAY this is in the top 2% of all the puzzles I've worked. The rest of it - not so much. Some fresh words: CHIT MS-DOS, ECLAIR, SEPIA. But many RERUN, tired fills: T-BAR, OMANI, SLOE, ACME, ERASE.

Even if the quote were right, LOTTA is hard to justify.

In Lord of the Rings novels, I remember the Ent MOOT, which went on for days.

Steed's partner Cathy Gale was played by Honor Blackman, who became more famous in another role.

Cheers!
JzB the HONORable trombonist

embien said...

5:17 today. If this isn't a near-perfect Monday puzzle, I don't know what is. Look at all that themeage! Granted, the "words you can use with this one (TIME)" kind of theme maybe isn't the most interesting, but this one made up for it.

Too bad COO couldn't have been 31d instead of 32d. That way you'd have had COO and MOO on opposite sides of the grid, with MOOT running across in the middle.

I agree with others on what Desi said, I'm pretty sure it was "some splainin'" and not "lotta".

embien said...

Several people mentioned problems printing out the Sunday puzzle (seems it clips off the corners for some users). For those with this problem, do yourself a favor and go get the free Across Lite software, then go to cruciverb.com to grab the puzzle instead of the LA Times website. The grid (and clues) will print perfectly in Across Lite--even the larger Sunday puzzle.

Argyle said...

Time Has Come Today by The Chambers Brothers -long version. (9:32)

Robin said...

How do I add a youtube video link to comments? Thank you for any help.

Dennis said...

Robin, look on C.C.'s first page for 'How to do comment links' - it'll spell it out for you.

Clear Ayes said...

Had to come back and wish Carol a happy belated birthday and anniversary. It sounds like you had a wonderful day. "Hold my beer"...you got the idea (I was much younger.)

With all those years of Lucy-Desi confrontations, he might have said LOTTA at least once or twice. Maybe he said it in Spanish when he lapsed into one of his exasperated Spanish rants.

Plenty of ladies' GAMS photos today, how about Gerard Butler for the ladies?

Robin, On C.C.'s main blog page "How to Create Comment Links" is under the Olio heading on the right side of the page.

On Pancho Harrison's behalf, I'm with Jazzbumpa and Embien. It is true that the majority of clues and answers were straightforward. Anything we didn't get right away was taken care of with the perps. That is pretty much a given on a Monday. But we seldom get such a wonderfully engineered theme on any day, much less "Easy Monday". Maybe most of you didn't have an "Aha!" moment like I did, but I bet that after groking the 2-for-1 insertion of TIME, you must have said, "Ahhh". For me today's puzzle was more about how long it took to catch the theme than about solving the crossword.

Bill G. said...

Carol said: "you mentioned Universal Crossword. I do those every day too but today's is not available that I can see.
That happened once before too, guess they overslept :0"

You can find them on MSNBC.com. Look down the left side until you come to Crosswords. Oops, I just checked and they still have Sunday's too. NEVER MIND!

Robin said...

I have a Mac so I will practice late tonight and discard if it doesn't work :) Thanks!

eddyB said...

Hi.

Carol, I down load the Universal
from SF Chronicle.com. Go to entertainment and scroll down to puzzles. Many other papers also carry it.

eddyB

Dennis said...

Robin, was that a biplane in your previous avatar?

eddyB said...

Carol & Bill G, look at the Boston Globe.com, Dallas news.com, Minn star tribune.com or DenverPost.Com
It is also there

EddyB

Martin said...

I had DEBT for CHIT. I had a slight pause when I came across the clue for ROBIN thinking "RAVENs aren't red breasted!"

Martin

Robin said...

Yes Dennis, how observant of you! I have done two things in my life. I was a flight attendant for United and then went to nursing school. I became a critical care/ER nurse, then a Flight For Life nurse in Colorado.
I am in Phoenix caring for a very ill family member.
I adore flying of any kind. The biplane was in Maui and I believe it was a Waco. I flew with a dentist friend, who said this aircraft is a remake of a 1935 biplane. Good fun. Do you recognize this plane? Do you fly?

lois said...

Good evening Argyle, CC et al., Missed a 'lotta' clues b/c the perps were flyin' so fast.

Had to laugh at so many clues/answers reminding me of Sat 'nite'...'scary'. Had a couple of 'period piece's - a beautiful Victorian gown and an authentic pirate outfit..looked like Black Beard himself. 'Gams' were everywhere as were 'ounce's of booze shot thru an ice luge. No 'DTs' or DUIs but some got 'ditsy' as 'chit'. We just 'moo'ved over and 'led' them to a bed. It was still a great 'time' and we're all looking forward to a full 'rerun' next year...after everybody 'dries' out and our heads 'clear'. 'Lotta' laughs.

Hahtool: LOL w/your 'peace in the Middle East'. Very cute!

Happy, Happy belated birthday, dear Carol. I wish you many, many more.

Enjoy your night.

carol said...

eddy b, thanks - I do have the MSNBC link for the Un.c/w on my desk-top but I was just referring to the fact that they still show Sunday's puzzle. (I just checked again). sigh.

Jazzbumpa said...

Mac Users -

How can I get Across Lite to stay ot the dock (or lauhcning pad, or whatever that plank on the bottom is called?)

I had to download it again today. Now there is an icon on the desktop, and A-Lite on the dock, but when I shut the computer down, I lose them.

Any ideas?

I'm off to listen to some of my jazzy compatriots.

Thanx, and Cheers!
JzB the minimalist Mac-imalist trombonist

carol said...

Does anybody know what this (~) little wavy line is called on the key to the left of the No.1 key? Help!

Dennis said...

Lois, just brilliant, as always.

Robin, yes, I know the Waco well - great plane. I've been up in a Pitts before, and there's nothing like the biplane experience.

Which helicopter do you guys use?

Al said...

@Carol, that's a tilde

Bill G. said...

Jazz, drag the Across Lite icon from the desktop into the dock where you want it. It should stay there until you drag it out.

Al and Carol, yes that's a tilde but you can't put it over an 'n' so I just put it in front of my name to decorate my signature like this.

~ Bill

However, on my Mac, you can put a tilde over an 'n' by typing 'Option n' and then 'n'. Let's see if it will work here. Jalapeño. Cool! Similarly, you can put an accent over an 'e' as in résumé. ¿Did you know questions in Spanish are proceeded with an upside-down question mark?

Hahtoolah said...

Carol: Happy Belated Birthday and Anniversary. Getting married on your birthday was a nice gift!

Robin said...

JzB when you have the A lite on the lower dock hold the mouse down over the A lite icon, a little bubble will appear over it asking you if you want to keep it on the dock, click on that and it will remain there.
Dennis, we fly an AS 350 for high altitude and we have a Bell 407. We use a pilot, paramedic and RN configuration.

Anonymous said...

Great puzzle today

Time to go watch my team win again. Go Yankees! :-)

NY YANKEES

Frank SInatra

Lemonade714 said...

Hi

An attorney at law is an individual who has been admitted to a bar association. These can represent others before the court, on the other side of the "bar."

An attorney in fact, is one who is given specific authority to represent someone, by Power of Attorney, and can only do what is authorized in the POA, and cannot go before a court.

HONOR BLACKMAN played a Dr., an anthropologist, on the Avengers; it was in actuality Blackman’s decision to leave the series for the featured role of pilot Pussy Galore in the second Bond film, 'Goldfinger', which would act as the catalyst that eventually led to dear Mrs. Peel, a longtime favorite.

I am confused by the attempts to clarify, moot is moot and mute is quiet, or silent but debatable. A point cannot be mute, though I probably should be.

Other than Yankee and Phillies fans, does anybody care about the World Series in November?

Hahtoolah said...

Lemonade: Of course a point can't be mute. However, I hear too many people (attorneys-at-law and attorneys-in-fact) come before me and state something is a "mute" point. It drives me nuts! Some of these same individuals also "axe questions.

Jeannie said...

A fun-filled do-able puzzle for me today. You had to like the time themed answers and I agree it must have taken Pancho some "time" to construct this puzzle.

In MN, the drinking while driving offense is usually called DWI, and it does cover alcohol and drugs. here is an article from a recent DWI arrest in none other than a "souped up" lazy boy recliner. It has actually made national news and the police in Proctor, MN are auctioning the "vehicle" on E-bay and I believe they were getting about $40,000 for it. Only in Minnesota...

BTW, Big Brother has hit the house at my work and non-work related websites are now taboo. My posts from now on will be done from home.

Anonymous said...

@Jeannie, do not disappear like Dr. Dad. Your comments are interesting to read.

Lurker #1

Chickie said...

Hello All--Great puzzle today. The Time and Time Again theme was very clever but I didn't get the theme until the very last clue of "Time". Good take Argyle and some great links today.

My favorite clues were High on the Hwy. and Had Followers. I read Log-on need as Long on need and couldn't even begin to think of a word that would fit. The perps soon straightened that out. Duh.

I haven't looked for circles since I was teaching first grade. We used to have a day for each of the shapes and I would have a campus walk to find everything we could with the shape of the day. So you see, looking for circles day isn't too far out--for first graders!

Maniac, not just the dogs are having a hard time with the turn back of the clocks. The change in time has me waking up way too early-- before daylight now. I'm a slug-a-bed since I retired so this is not something I like.

Betty Grable and her gams were pinned up in many a troop area during WWII. She was the epitomy of the pinup girl during that time.

Clear Ayes said...

What has happened at Jeannie's job seems to be very common. I think that is why many posters lose enthusiasm for the blog. By the time they can check in, most of comments they would have liked to make about the puzzle has already been said.

That shouldn't stop anyone though. There are plenty of other comments to go around and many to be made about previous comments. Sometimes that is the most fun of the day. (Will somebody please say something outrageous, so Windhover will give us a good rant, or Buckeye will give us a good story about "the home".)

Speaking of disappearing, I'm wondering if PJB has recovered from his illness. I hope he is better and will be joining us again very soon.

Jeannie said...

Clearayes...what really got me nailed was an e-mail sweep and I guess I shouldn't pass along all those tidbits (links) some of you send my way. In this day and age, it's better to be safe than sorry if you want to hold onto your job. I do hate the Big Brother thing though, because who the hell cares if you do the crossword puzzle on your lunch hour? It's not like I am surfing the net for porn. I do that at home :)

#1 Lurker that was for you. Or you Windhover...go into a rant about how Big Brother is ruining our society.

Bill G. said...

Clear Ayes said: "I think that is why many posters lose enthusiasm for the blog. By the time they can check in, most of comments they would have liked to make about the puzzle has already been said."

Right. That's true for me too as a left-coaster. It's seldom I can find something worthwhile to add by the time I've solved the puzzle. So I resort to responding to stories about families, recipies, how to put a tilde over an 'n' and other good stuff like that. Still, conversations about that stuff are good too.

carol said...

Hey group, this is my 5th post but had to thank the response to my question about the 'tilde'. Joe asked me because he had apparently been all over the internet trying to find the name of that and I remembered we had a discussion about that some months back. I no sooner posted the question, got your good replies, when I heard him yell up from his 'man-cave/office that he had the answer. Sorry Bill G - I know that was not an earth shaking event, but still, I only wanted to know the name of the little bugger, not what to do with it.. I suppose we could go 'waltzing the tilde'. :)

Dennis said...

And the Phillies stay alive with a win - great game tonight. Two to go.

windhover said...

Jeannie,
it's too late, it's already ruined. But it wasn't Big Brother, it was Jeb's "little" brother and his "Uncle" Dick. Come on out right wingnuts, it's open season on predatory birds.

Lemonade714 said...

Windhover, you are a peach. Jeannie, another Lo-li-ta conquest, sorry about work; now you need a Blackberry.

Anonymous said...

"Waiting for the cement truck...."
Which will actually be delivering a load of concrete, (often called ready mixed concrete)which is composed primarily of cement,sand, stone or gravel,and water.
But a lot of people always call it a "cement truck" instead of a "ready mix concrete truck".
Old Sage in Virginia Beach