google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday November 15, 2009 Mike Torch

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Nov 15, 2009

Sunday November 15, 2009 Mike Torch

Theme: Ling-uistics - Ling is inserted into familiar phrases.

24A. Migration of gregarious birds?: STAR(LING) TREK. "Star Trek". Starlings are gregarious and noisy birds.

50A. Bovine argument at the lanes?: OX BOW(LING) INCIDENT. I've never heard of the movie "The Ox-Bow Incident". "The" is cut in the new phrase. Bowling lanes.

71A. Game for lazy kids?: ID(LING) TAG. ID Tag.

95A. Drinking too much?: PICK(LING) YOUR BRAIN. Pick Your Brain. Do you find the new phrase amusing?

122A. Courtroom intuition?: LEGAL FEE(LING). Legal Fee.

3D. Result of way too much praise?: EGO TRIP(LING). Ego Trip.

31D. McCarthy suspicion?: RED INK(LING). Red Ink.

58D. Affleck on the mound?: BEN HUR(LING). "Ben-Hur". Ben Affleck. My favorite theme phrase.

74D. Quartet of storytellers?: FAB(LING) FOUR. Fab Four. The Beatles. Did not know fable can be a verb.

Besides the "quartet" in the last theme clue, we also have several Latin "group" clues:

21A. Common sonnet line quintet: IAMBI. Stumped me. Plural of iambus.

42D. Deadly septet: SINS

111D. Salty septet: SEAS

Clever theme and dense theme answers. But the two affixes, real as they are, feel so forced to me:

128A. Prefix with -nomic: GASTRO. Gastronomic. Gastro means "stomach".

82D. Psychological suffix with para-: NOIA. Paranoia. Noia means "conditions of mind".

Across:

1. Full of: Suff.: OSE. As in verbose. Often clued as "Sugar suffix".

4. Played (around): HORSED

10. Helmsman's challenge: SHOAL. Sandbank.

15. PC programs: APPS (Applications)

19. Truck stop sight: RIG

20. Ring of color: AREOLE. Or AREOLA (AREa + OLA). Like these two rings. And of course, the beautiful Katrina Kaif.

22. Model T contemporaries: REOS

26. Eden-to-Nod direction: EAST. East of Eden.

27. Release to attack: LET AT. Release the dog?

29. President who attended Eureka College: REAGAN. Eureka College is in Illinois.

30. Responds to "Come again?": ITERATES. "Come again?" = "Excuse me?"

32. Go from pub to pub: BARHOP. My wasted precious youth in Guangzhou.

36. Yr.-end period: DEC

37. Gary's home: INDIANA. Gary is a city in Indiana. Nailed it.

41. Squirrel's partner, to Boris and Natasha: MOOSE. From "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show".

44. Mosque toppers: DOMES. What's the name of the prayer cap Muslims wear?

48. Very softly, in music: PPP. P, PP & PPP all indicate "soft" in varying degree.

53. Will Varner's daughter-in-law in "The Long, Hot Summer": EULA. Got the answer from crosses.

55. Beethoven dedicatee: ELISE. "Für Elise".

56. Krakatoa's country: INDONESIA. Easy guess. I've never heard of Krakatoa, an volcanic island in Indonesia.

57. Bounces on a court: DRIBBLES. Basketball.

59. Handful: FEW. Not many.

62. Home in bed, maybe: SICK

63. Radical campus gp.: SDS (Students for a Democratic Society)

65. Most passengers in "Titanic," e.g.: EXTRAS. The cast, not the real passengers.

68. Disney lioness: NALA. "The Lion King" lioness. I wrote down ELSA ("Born Free" lioness) first. And today ELSA is clued as 118D: Supermodel Benitez, an unknown Mexican model to me.

73. As a joke: IN FUN

80. Like many home movies: ON TAPE

84. West Point letters: USMA (United States Military Academy)

87. Like material goods: TANGIBLE. Tangible goods.

89. Amusement park rides: MONORAILS

92. Best of the best: ELITE. Crème de la crème.

94. Declined: SLID. As price.

99. Part of TGIF: IT'S

100. 1972 U.S./Soviet pact: SALT I. Well, I am sure it's not called SALT I at that time.

101. Denounces: DAMNS

102. Write: SET DOWN. And PENS (114D. Writes). I love this kind of clue echos.

104. Southernmost Canadian prov.: ONT (Ontario)

108. "__ at the Opera": A NIGHT. Nope, have never heard of this Marx Brothers film.

111. Temporary fixes: STOPGAP

116. Conqueror of Mexico: CORTES (Hernando). Also an unknown figure to me. Wikipedia says his expedition caused the fall of the Aztec empire.

121. Rank below marquis: EARL. The answer emerged itself.

126. __ breve: ALLA. An indication to play in cut-time. Alla is Italian for "according to the". Learned from doing Xword.

127. Mural opening?: INTRA. Intramural. Valid (and clever) prefix cluing.

129. Half of dos: UNO

130. Smirnoff alternative: SKYY. So blue. No wonder the name.

131. State in northeast India: ASSAM. The tea state.

132. Certain Nebraskan: OMAHAN. Warren Buffett is called "Oracle of Omaha".

Down:

1. Dental floss brand: ORAL-B

2. It's usually a hit: SIDE A. Cassette. I was thinking of baseball hit.

4. Concerns, with "with": HAS TO DO. Multiple words again.

5. Scrap: ORT. One of the very early crosswordese I've learned.

7. Angry: SORE

8. First name in scat: ELLA (Fitzgerald). The scat queen.

9. Condescend: DEIGN

10. Enlists: SIGNS ON. Penned in JOINS IN first.

11. Monopoly token: HAT

12. Ahab's father in the Bible: OMRI (OM-rahy). No idea.

13. Help the wrong way?: ABET

14. Enjoyed: LIKED

15. Three-digit ID: AREA CODE

16. Gardening moss: PEAT

17. Photographer's suggestion: POSE. Too short for SAY CHEESE.

18. Old Atl. crossers: SSTS. Atl. = Atlantic.

28. "Kung Fu" actor: AHN (Philip). I mentioned a few times before that the Korean name Ahg = Chinese Ang (as in Ang Lee). It can be either surname or given name.

33. Digital dots: PIXELS

35. "If the fans don't come out to the ballpark, you can't stop them" speaker: YOGI (Berra)

39. Made a racket: NOISED. I was picturing tennis racket rather than "noise' racket.

40. Nursery reactions: AWS

43. Credits follow it: ENDING. D'oh, film credits.

46. City WNW of Stillwater, Oklahoma: ENID. Easy guess.

47. RR stops: STAS

48. Pitcher Martinez: PEDRO. With the Phillies. Not really a bad World Series for him.

54. Didn't miss __: A BEAT

60. Beach birds: ERNES

61. Conestoga driver: WAGONER. Did not know wagon can be a verb. Also did not know the real name for this kind of wagon.

66. Good-sized sizes: XLS. Needs an abbr. hint in the clue.

67. Apt name for a cook?: STU. A good name indeed. Stew.

69. Opposing forces: ANTIS

71. Under consideration: IN MIND

72. Outfit: ATTIRE

75. Illuminated indirectly: UPLIT. Uplight is a verb?

76. Calls for: NEEDS

80. Flatware company, or the New York community where it began: ONEIDA. Literally "erected stone".

81. Calls the game: UMPS. Baseball.

83. Part of the pkg.: INCL. ENCL too.

85. Bit of plankton: ALGA

88. Rat-__: A-TAT

90. Ready for action after an injury, in sports: OK TO PLAY. I can't believe I was right.

91. Mozart's No. 1 through No. 41: SYMS. Symphonies? New abbreviation to remember then.

93. Scale divs.: LBS

96. A buck: ONE CLAM. Nailed it. Clam is slang for money.

97. "What's the __ Wond'rin'": "Carousel" song: USE OF. No idea. Here is a clip.

98. Nine-sided shape: NONAGON. Nona is a prefix for 9.

103. Mich. neighbor: WIS

105. Shire of "Rocky": TALIA. She also played the annoying Connie in "Godfather". Most of the actor/actress today were gimmes to me.

107. Ragú rival: PREGO. Ah, we just had plenty of discussion on tomato sauce.

109. Co-creator of Yogi and Boo Boo: HANNA. Hanna-Barbera cartoons. YOGI is an answer in the grid, albeit clued differently.

110. Town on the Firth of Clyde: TROON. Royal Troon Golf Club has held several British Opens.

112. Converse: TALK. Oh, I was thinking of "opposite' converse.

113. Paris hub: ORLY. Charles de Gaulle too.

115. Some NCOs: SGTS

117. Squad: TEAM. Sports squad.

119. Group that opposed the Jedi: SITH. "Star Wars".

123. Neighbor of Scorpius: ARA. Latin for "altar". Three letter star is always ARA.

124. Org. with a lot of heaters?: NRA. Heater is slang for "gun". It's an "Org. with a lot of haters" too, gun-haters.

Answer grid.

To Canadian solvers, your Mail and Globe Saturday 21*21 is by Wayne R. Williams (the previous TMS editor) and the puzzle is not on-line. Do feel free to post questions at the Comments section if you need help.

C.C.

34 comments:

  1. It took me 54 minutes. Sunday puzzles are just too hard.

    20 across ring of colour. wow that Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif is hot.


    Katrina Kaif

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  2. Mispelled my own name singing-in...(ew-w-w, bad image)...signing-in, must get coffee.

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  3. Good Morning, CC and Friends. I didn't care much for today's puzzle. I really struggled with the theme. I realized that "ING" had to fit in somewhere, but some of responses still didn't make sense to me.

    Favorite clue: Gary's Home: INDIANA.

    It's a beautiful day here and we are going on a picnic this afternoon.

    QOD: When someone hands you a flier, it's like they're saying, "Here, you throw this away." ~ Mitch Hedberg

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  4. Morning, all!

    Cute theme, which certainly helped to fill in some of the theme answers since it became obvious early on that each one had LING inserted somewhere.

    A few unknowns, including EULA, UPLIT and TROOON, but I muddled through. I almost got tripped up at the crossing of ORLY and SKYY, but I was pretty sure about ORLY and vaguely remembered seeing SKYY in the puzzle before. I'm just not a vodka drinker.

    The only really tough spot for me today was a small section right up at the top. In fact, I left that area blank and had to wait until the very end to go back and try to finish it. I wanted JOINS UP for SIGNS ON, wanted REEFS for SHOAL, couldn't think of HAT (I could only remember the flat iron token), didn't know who Ahab's father was, and had no idea that IAMBI was a word (IAMBIC and IAMB, yes. But IAMBI?)

    Anyway, I finally guessed OMRI because I knew it was at least a biblical name, and I eventually remembered that one of the tokens in Monopoly was a top HAT. That was enough to get me SHOAL and the rest fell quickly after that.

    Overall, I thought it was a fun, fine puzzle. I wasn't crazy about NOISED, but that's pretty much it for complaints.

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  5. Jeannie--Have you heard the expression that a clean house is the sign of a woman who doesn't have anything else to do? I'd rather work in the garden or make jewelry or read or do crossword puzzles any day than clean my house. Your cucumber dill sauce sounds a lot like the cucumber salad that I make, though without the milk and the cucumber in slices.

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  6. Good morning, C.C. and gang - a most enjoyable puzzle today, especially with such an easy but clever theme; it certainly simplified the solving process.

    My only issues: Never knew 'noise' was a verb, and I would've thought you reiterated something if you weren't understood the first time (come again?) And is 'sym' a standard abbreviation for symphony?

    Other than those, I thought this one was well-clued; hopefully, we'll see more of Mike Torch.

    Supposed to be 70 and sunny here today, and the gutters beckon. Have a great day.

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  7. C.C., I've heard a muslim prayer cap called a 'kufi'; there may be other words as well.

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  8. Good morning all.

    I still don't like the clue for
    30A and didn't know if the 3 LINGs
    that came at the end counted.

    Otherwise, a good Sunday puzzle.

    eddyB

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  9. Thought the puzzle theme was cute. Sometimes I don't get quickly, but this one was easy. Liked the McCarthy suspicion one. Most trouble with OralB and SideA.

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  10. OK, so coffee turned into breakfast but now I'm back.

    Two answers put me IN MIND of Dennis' week: BAR HOP and PICKLING YOUR BRAIN. Maybe SORE DOMES might apply?

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  11. Good morning everyone.

    I didn't go to church today; maybe that's why I missed so many clues.

    Dennis: iterate means to repeat. Reiterate is semi-redundant. And, "He noised it about." is a fairly frequently used expression.

    Cheers

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  12. P.S.: Dan Naddor, glad you're feeling better.

    tfrank, it's wonderful news that your wife's new med is working.

    Lorraine L: good luck on tomorrow's surgery.

    Hope you all have a great Sunday. It's 72 and sunny here – a perfect day. And I surely agree with MamaRuth1950 that that means a good day for reading. I have 5 unread books that I got from the library yesterday.

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  13. Clams as money comes from Native Americans, principally those from California, using them as money, similar to wampum. Happy as a clam? Why ever would clams be thought of as happy? The rest of the phrase "at high water" makes more sense, but is apparently too long for people to repeat and has been dropped in the common-use phrase.

    Converse (TALK), could mean opposite (ANTI) as CC mentions, but is also a brand of sneaker, so the answer could as well have been SHOE. Had to wait for a perp.

    The ONEIDA Nation also has a Casino in WIS quite near to me.

    Didn't care for EGO TRIPLING until now, just as I was going to complain about it. I was thinking EGO TRIPPING should have been the answer, but I suppose you could could increase someone's ego three times over. Hard to imagine with some people I've encountered though.

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  14. Sallie, thanks for that - I always thought iterate meant 'to state'. I continually amaze myself with my stupidity.

    Lorraine L., what Sallie said. Best of luck for a fast recovery.

    TFrank, that's wonderful news. Must be like getting your wife back after an extended absence.

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  15. Good Morning All, I started this puzzle last night on Cruciverb.com and after a while (I have no idea how much of "a while") I decided sleeping was a more productive activity. When I came back this morning, things started to fall into place.

    It still wasn't easy, but I finally finished up in the middle with IDLING TAG. I have no idea what ID TAG is. Anybody have an explanation?

    I thought the rest of the theme answers were quite clever. I particularly liked OX BOWLING INCIDENT.

    It took me a while to SLA out of my brain and replace it with SDS for 63A. I had to look up NOISED post-puzzle to really believe it. I also wanted DROWND (variant of drown) for 65A.

    Four four letter names ended with A, ELLA, EULA, NALA and ELSA.

    Sallie's a smart lady. Semi-redundant indeed. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms says, "There is very little difference between iterate and re-iterate, except that iterate occasionally refers to a second saying or uttering or sometimes doing and reiterate carries an even more emphatic implication of manifold repetitions".

    MamaRuth1950, how's everything going?

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  16. What a great puzzle! The mental image I get from OX BOWLING INCIDENT cracks me up. Super job, Mike. One of the best Sunday's of the year.

    Halloween night I moonlighted as a doorman (bouncer) at a nightclub. One of the perks was drink tokens. Yesterday I used the tokens. PICKLING YOUR BRAIN is an apt theme entry for me. Bud and Old Crow. Don't tell me I'm not a high roller.

    Where's TER? I miss TER.

    Here's my contribution to today's puzzle-

    "Bluesman turned rap star?"
    BLING BLING KING

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  17. Sunday puzzles often look intimidating at first, mostly because of the volume of clues. Today's wasn't bad at all. A few unknowns, but the perps took care of them. I was disappointed to have system problems at the end rob me of hearing the Ta-da though! I really felt I'd earned it today.

    C.C.: 2D is probably referring to a 45 rpm record, rather than a cassette, since it reads "It's" usually a hit, and most of the time cassettes had multiple songs on each side, with a mix of hits and misses.

    Also C.C., there's a minor typo for your 54D answer. The letter "T" is missing from the end of A BEAT. Sorry, I'm not saying it to be picky, only letting you know so you can add it for the many people who rely on your explanations to help us understand the puzzles! Do we say "Thanks!", enough?

    My favorite fill was STU for 67D. Very timely with the wonderful changes in weather everyone's having. Stew's such a great fall and winter meal, as well as all of Jeannie's great soup recipes!

    My first thought for "Converse" were the athletic shoes too.

    Clear Ayes: I think of ID TAG as the security badge many of us have to wear at work and swipe in a machine for entrance to a building or room. I guess it could also be referring to the toe tags used in the morgue...

    Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

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  18. Loved, loved today's puzzle and theme! Fortunately I caught on early, which really helped with a number of the theme answers. My only problems were initially spelling AREOLE as AREOLa, and reading 71D as "Under construction" a number of times. Favorite theme clues were 58D: BEN HURLING and 50A: OX BOWLING INCIDENT. I have never heard anyone use the word "noised" in a sentence, but it is in the dictionary, and Sallie, I'll take your word for it.

    Lorraine L.-Wishing you the best for your surgery tomorrow.

    TFrank-Great news for your dear wife.

    JimmyB-Congrats to your son.

    Enjoy the day!

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  19. Annette, D'OH, of course! I was still thinking of it as a game. After I posted, I googled and there actually is an ID TAG game on You Tube. Since it is pretty obscure, I was sure that couldn't be the connection. I never even thought of a straightforward identification tag. I had one for for 20 years myself. Double D'OH!

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  20. Not bad for a Sunday puzzle, it did take me the better part of the AM. I had a hard time with the theme at first but then it ALL got better. She-could-go-all-the-way! My NFL fantasy team is getting killed today.

    Lovely 70 degrees here in Phoenix. My heart goes out to all of you in those areas hit by so much rain. Feel free to ship some this way.

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  21. Clear Ayes: Initially I wracked my brain trying to remember a game that would've fit too!

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  22. Krakatoa, everyone! It's an Indonesian word that could double as an exclamation if you were feeling enthusiastic AND creative at the very same time. It's fresher than good old Simpsonesque "Cowabunga!"

    Lots of hits and a couple misses today: that describes my solving process and the puzzle, too. I enjoyed the theme answers, once I figured out the "trick." I particularly liked BEN HURLING and RED INKLING, both clever and aptly clued. Didn't like NOISED, but I guess it's a real word. Slippery names for me were OMRI (channeling Mr. Anagram, a.k.a Jerome, I thought of Joan MIRO, Spanish painter) and EULA and NALA. The only ELSA I could think of was ELSA Klench, because Mom used to watch her style segments on TV.

    You could PICKLE YOUR BRAIN with SKYY vodka. I still cannot imagine C. C. barhopping, by the way! Speaking of C. C., I loved your joke re: SALT I. And I had the same mistaken identity as ClearAyes with 25. I was lost thinking about the Freudian ID. Whoopsie. Not a fan of PARA-NOIA, speaking of psych stuff.y

    Uh oh, this bus is an express line, so Ii must come back here later. Sorry.

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  23. Hi all,

    Although it took close to an hour, leaving an open square once more, I finished with very few G attacks!I usually give up on Sunday. Clever theme, but only saw the ing, not the ling...doh! The M in syms/damns was my waterloo.

    Didn't like iterates, noised and uplit. Loved Oneida; Troon, nonagon, and SALT I were new to me.

    Beautiful day here; have been taking care of grandsons since Mom and Dad are sheetrocking, painting,etc., a home they just bought.Truman is a good helper in my garden; he sings to the flowers and leaves as he knows his colors.

    Melissa, the SHARKS are doing great. Is your daughter enjoying working for them? Thanks for the link. Should we know this singer?

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  24. jd, my daughter LOVES her tank patrol job. she says she's never had so many people so happy to see her before, lol. greg kihn had a few hits, you'd probably recognize the breakup song, jeopardy, and lucky. my favorite tune of his though is remember. he's also the morning dj on 98.5.

    hope we get to see some pics of your recent travels.

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  25. Melissa, talk about pretty photos; that link had some great shots. I had never heard Remember, but I bet my girls have.

    I'm putting my 300+ pictures on Shutterfly and if anyone wants to view them let me know.I think all I could do otherwise is send one at a time to CC..not computer-wise.

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  26. Did the puzzle early but am posting late because we had company all day.
    Really liked the theme and got it early, but needed lots of perp and red letter help for the many unknowns and forgottens.

    Nothing fresh to comment on other than what has already been noted.

    Lorraine,
    Good luck tomorrow!

    Have a good night everyone.

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  27. With Thanksgiving just around the corner I thought I'd share a recipe.



    PUMPKIN PIE
    1 cup pumpkin
    2 eggs
    1 cup milk
    4 tablespoons bourbon
    1 teaspoon nutmeg
    1 cup sugar
    1 tablespoon flour
    1 tablespoon melted butter
    1 teaspoon cinnamon
    1 teaspoon ginger

    Mix all ingredients well and pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake 5 minutes at 425 degrees and then reduce heat to 325 degrees
    and cook until firm.

    BISCUITS & GRAVY

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  28. Got a different puzzle again in the Globe and Mail called "Opposite connections". I enjoyed it and caught on to the theme quite quickly which is always good. Do you like the answer "Arrive before Afternoon"
    for "Get there in time for lunch?"

    Well, then I printed out the LAT puzzle and was totally daunted at first. I find the numbers a bit difficult to read in the printed online version. I started to put in a few answers and then left to go out to a musical play for the afternoon.

    Upon my return, I cheated and came straight to C.C.s wonderful blog and entered a few clues. This got me going and I completed about 3/4 before I gave up.

    I looked at a BUCK many times before I remembered about CLAM and liked GARY's HOME clue the best too.

    We have Oneida natives near me also. They are called Oneida of the Thames.

    Audrey in Ingersoll, Ontario

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  29. I don't think 'noise' is ever used as a verb. However, the v.t. form, 'noised' or 'noising' used to be used. I really think its archaic. Noised about appears several times in the King James Version of the Bible, the most familiar being the verse in Acts 2:6 in the account of the Day of Pentecost beginning of the Church, where it says, "Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together...."

    Lorraine, I hope all goes smoothly tomorrow.

    Dot

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  30. Argyle, In your 10:56 posting last night, I think you have a typo. You have capitol with an 'o' in both sentences. I think you meant
    to use an 'a' in the second sentence.

    Dot

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  31. Good evening: Am back from my bus trip to the 'burbs, from grocery shopping and dinner (just some peanut noodles and a mixed lettuce &spinach salad with some grapefruit honey dressing. Yawn) Made a big batch of some pan fried potatoes* (see below) that are great hot, but travel well in my supercool keep-it-cool bag and are good mixed with whatever spices ya like during the week.).

    Two puzzle pieces:
    Jerome, the Bling Bling King idea is laugh out loud funny. Poor Ling Ling the panda could stand in for rapper LL Cool Jay only in a puzzle-- I doubt the critters are that musical. Then again, most rappers except Queen Latifah (a.k.a Dana Owens) don't sound too musical either.

    New words for me: TROON (Firth, too) and WAGONER. I forgot ARA and didn't remember the Eden/Nod connection. Maybe next time.

    Hahtool: thanks for the QOD. Comedian Mitch Hedberg had excellent one-liners. His videos are still on YouTube; his passing was a loss to the world of humor. He really brought one-liner comedy back, and that's an art that had faded along with a couple generations of greats. An exceptionally rare talent.
    What people may not know about him is his encyclopedic knowlege of his
    Lorraine; We're rooting for you throught surgery and recovery.

    Shoutout to Robin--you're only the third person I "know" with a coloboma. Yes, I do have "magical"
    powers: I always get a great parking spot. Problem is I don't drive very much---zero depth perception and total night blindness, unrelated to my freaky eye. I also have extra taste buds! Not a blessing always because I am prone to tasting things in food that other people may miss.

    BTW, I get along great with nurses. Last time I had to visit the hospital for a tune up (sclerosing cholangitis) I taught the RNs and NPs how to sudoku and do accents. Every shift change someone would come in a request I sing one of my stupidly funny songs. Can't quote them here is all I will say, becausr like the 7 (?) seas, they are salty!

    Amazing what you can do for fun at three a.m. I also bring lots of peanut brittle with me--99 cents a box at the mega chain drugstore beginning with a W--slap it in some plastic or on a plate and do not fess up that you didn't make it yourself!

    I hope we see another Torch puzzle soon.
    G'night!

    (*secret is to nuke the spuds briefly after jabbing them repeatedly with a fork and then cubing them before putting them in just a drizzle and a half of olive oil & a pitter pat of unsalty butter along with maybe a little garlic, etc. Keep 'em moving on lowish (oh, hi Lois!) heat for a few minutes, remove garlic before it gets bitter, cover and check every couple minutes and when they're slightly or modestly browned, drain and throw a little salt & pepper at them. Eat to your heart's content while no one' s looking, let the rest cool, toss those into baggies and into the frigorator for a healthy-esque snack or side. Should not be greasy at all if done right. I like mine a little crispier than most people. Go well with hot sauce, or a sprinkle of spices or I supposed you could do Ketchup or a borrowed/stolen half tsp of your co-worker or spouse's salad dressing. Have it your way. You deserve it.)

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  32. @Audrey in Ingersoll,
    I also have difficulty reading the numbers in the on-line printed out version on Sunday. I use a magnifying glass from time to time. Glad you enjoyed today's puzzle.

    G'nite, all.

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  33. Editing error in my last post--sorry. Re: comic Mitch Hedberg: I've heard several times that he knew inside and out the material of those comics who came before him. As in any creative endeavor, many people settle just knowing what's hip and hot NOW, and don't necessarily
    care much about those who came before them.

    Forgot to say that the STU clue was so obvious, I needed perps to believe it was the real answer. Similar to a puzzle
    a few months ago where the clue was along the lines of "favorite thing to do on a cruise." I was tired and wanting to just go do anything but the puzzle so I wrote in "eat a lot" or something similar. Same thing happened as with Stu. I was being flippant maybe snarky, but ... I was also right. Cool stuff does happen in puzzleland.
    And I close with:
    "We had a good week with the puzzles, didn't we?"
    and
    Thank you, C. C., for forming this forum, and for making it better and better.

    ReplyDelete

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