google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, January 25, 2010 Susan Miskimins

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Jan 25, 2010

Monday, January 25, 2010 Susan Miskimins

Theme: Organic Problems - Descriptive idioms ending with the adjective of person's various organs.

18A: Dispirited: DOWNHEARTED.

38A: Loud and long-winded: LEATHER-LUNGED.

55A: Easily offended: THIN-SKINNED.

3D: Cowardly: LILY-LIVERED.

27D: Imbecilic: LAME-BRAINED.

Argyle here. Ambitious Monday puzzle. Five theme entries for a Monday, wow! Oh, and I checked; the skin is considered the largest organ of the body.

Suffix Ss abound: Total 13. Too many.

Across:

1A: MSN competitor: AOL.

4A: Infants "in the woods": BABES. "Babe in the woods", an innocent, unsuspecting person.

9A: Terror: FEAR.

13A: Reagan's "Star Wars" prog.: SDI. (Strategic Defense Initiative)

14A: High-level storage areas: ATTICS.

16A: "Othello" villain: IAGO. Crosswords favorite villain.

17A: Condiment in 51-Across: SEL. (French salt)

20A: Safe haven: ASYLUM. Where Buckeye lives.

22A: Drinks dog-style: LAPS.

23A: Land surrounded by agua: ISLA. (Spanish: water & isle)

24A: Globe: SPHERE.

27A. You may be told to button or zip it: LIP.

30A: Tigers' dens: LAIRs.

32A: "Alley __": OOP. The comic character with a girlfriend named Ooola.

33A: Apiece: EACH.

34A: Austrian city with a sausage named for it: VIENNA. The little sausages that come in a can.

36A: Watson's partner: HOLMES. (Sherlock)

40A: Like a serious sin: MORTAL.

41A: Outlying town, vis-à-vis the city: SUBURB.

42A: Rocks to refine: ORES.

43A: Groundhog Day mo.: FEB..

44A: Feudal peons: SERFS.

47A: Longtime Massachusetts senator Kennedy: TED. RIP

48A: Chicken, so to speak: SCARED.

51A: Normandy city: CAEN. French. The river Orne runs through it into the English Channel.

52A: Saturate: SOAK.

53A: 1966 musical about a marriage: "I DO, I DO".

60A: Presently: NOW.

61A: German automaker: AUDI.

62A: Misprints: ERRATA.

63A: Poet's "before": ERE.

64A: Cream of the crop: BEST.

65A: Back-talking: SASSY.

Down:

1D: Attack violently: ASSAIL.

2D: Black Sea port: ODESSA. The only Black Sea port I know of.

4D: Grammy winner Erykah: BADU. She wears her where many ways, so pictured her in a hat.

5D: Diminutive energy sources: ATOMS.

6D: Incidentally, in texting shorthand: BTW. (By The Way)

7D: "Ich bin __ Berliner": EIN.

8D: Carry laboriously: SCHLEP. Always nice to have some Yiddish.

9D: Fraser and Douglas trees: FIRS.

12D: Word after fishing or lightning: ROD.

19D: Chimp, for one: APE. By the way, look at this wonderful video about an orangutan and a dog Bill G. brought to us yesterday.

21D: Dogie catchers: LARIATS. Dogie is a motherless calf in a cattle herd. Also spelled, dogey, dogy.

25D: Fried corn bread: PONE.

26D: More rasping, as a voice: HOARSER.

28D: Like much tea in summer: ICED.

29D: Acidity nos.: PHS.

31D: __ good example: SET A.

33D: Crete-born artist with a Spanish nickname: EL GRECO.

35D: Org. with Bruins and Coyotes: NHL. Hockey's Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes.

36D: O'Hare, for United Airlines: HUB.

37D: Burden: ONUS.

38D: Traditional wisdom: LORE.

39D: Mechanic's grease job: LUBE.

40D: Bon __: witticism: MOT.

43D: Muslim wonder-workers: FAKIRS.

45D: Bogart's hat: FEDORA.

46D: Flurried, e.g.: SNOWED.

48D: Seaman's "911": SOS.

50D: Weight-loss regimens: DIETS.

52D: Grumpy mood: SNIT.

54D: June 6, 1944: D-DAY.

55D: Drinkers may run one up: TAB.

57D: Points out, as a perp: IDS.

58D: "Right to bear arms" org.: NRA.

59D: "If I Ruled the World" rapper: NAS.

Answer grid.

Argyle

87 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Argyle, C.C. and gang - turned into another speed run today; just about 3 1/2 minutes. Only unknown was Erykah Badu, but the perps got it before I even realized it.

A typically simple Monday puzzle, but I really got a kick out of the theme. Nothing to really comment on as all the clues and answers were pretty straightforward. I still maintain, though, it's gotta be as hard to create one of these simple ones as it is to create a real poser. I'll always have the utmost admiration for anyone that can consistently create these works .

Today is Opposite Day.

Today's Words of Wisdom: "Everything that irritates about others can lead to an understanding of ourselves." -- Carl Jung

Here's a few good Rodney Dangerfield lines:

"I haven't spoken to my wife in years -- I didn't want to interrupt her."

"My wedding day, that was a beauty. I went to put the ring on, and she gave me the wrong finger."

"I got a dog, a cocker spaniel. He swallowed a Viagra pill. Now he's a pointer."

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, CC, Argyle and Friends. This was a good Monday puzzle and a good way to ease into the work week.

El Greco is one of my favorite artists.

I know there are a lot of you from MN, and my condolences to you, but here in Saints territory, things are pretty wild. We've got the Saints victory and Mardi Gras, so New Orleans is one jumpin' place. Who Dat!

QOD: I don't exercise. If G~d had wanted me to bend over, He would have put diamonds on the floor. ~ Joan Rivers.

Lemonade714 said...

Happy Monday
With five theme answers and an obscure musical I DO, I DO , and a singer I have not heard of, Erykah Badu , I thought it was a bit trickier than a normal Monday, but the perps made it all go fairly quickly. One of those days when you do not see many answers until you read the write up.

Do we have many musical theater devotees out there, especially among our newbies? I guess obscure is too harsh, as anything starring Mary Martin and Robert Preston directed by Gower Champion was hot stuff in its day. I just cannot imagine many youngsters have heard of it.

Dick said...

Good morning Argyle and All, a nice speed walk in the park today. Only unknown for me was Eryka Badu, but that was taken care of by the perps.

I got the theme early and that helped fill in a lot of spaces.

Bill G I liked your clip from yesterday.

Hope you all have a great Monday

Bob said...

Not much of a challenge today. No problems, errors, or help. Just under 9 minutes.

Gracie said...

Good morning everybody! Today's puzzle was very quick for me - 11 minutes. Dennis, I don't think my fingers can move fast enough to finish in 3 1/2 minutes!

I am not a musical theater devotee, though we travel to the Stratford (Ontario) theaters every summer. We always see a musical. This year it's Evita. Some in my family will see a Shakespeare play. And I'll take my granddaughters to see Peter Pan. I've never seen I Do, I Do - but I have heard of it.

The clues that do me in are the modern music ones, I don't know any rappers and Eryka Badu is a total unknown to me.

I liked the clue, Bogart's Hat. For some reason, it made me smile, thinking about the ultimate tough guy with a soft heart.

The theme clues were easy, but I've never heard the term Leather Lunged.

And I LOVE the Words of Wisdom every day! Enjoy the day!
Gracie

Dennis said...

Lemonade, you bring up another instance where age has its advantages with crosswords.

Gracie, 'leather-lunged' is used a lot in the military, usually describing drill instructors or grizzled old sergeants. And thanks for the kind words about the 'Words of Wisdom'; unfortunately, I'm a lot better about writing them than practicing them.

tfrank said...

Good morning, C.C., Argyle and all,

I ditto others remarks about the ease of the puzzle this morning. As with others, my only unknowns were Badu and Nas. Is there a directory of rapper names around? I guess Google has one.

My condolences to Vikings fans. It is tough to lose on a coin toss. One of the best games ever, I thought. I believed I was impartial, but wound up rooting for the Saints. Being a Mississippian, they were my home team when I lived in Jackson.

Welcome to all the newbies to the Blog. Your comments add spice and verve.

Have a great day and week.

Andrea said...

Good morning, all.

I was a bit worried starting out on this one. Didn't have many on the first passes of the acrosses (lots of possibles, but few filled in), and then things starting to fly when I hit the downs. I ended up filling in from the bottom up, so Lily Livered was the last theme to fall; I was on to the theme at that point, so figured it was something-livered, just hadn't heard of lily livered.

Or leather lunged. In fact, until I came here, I kept looking at it as lunged, thinking that's not an organ... Lung - d'oh. Especially after all my work with National Lung Cancer Partnership last year! Double d'oh!!

I knew Erykah Badu - only because of the headwear she wears to the award shows, etc. Couldn't hum a tune of hers if I had to...

Very happy about the outcome of both games yesterday. Although it was hard to watch Favre throw an interception on the last pass. I'm just thankful I'm not a regular fan of either team - probably would have been a nervous wreck if the Packers had been in that game. It was fun to watch. We had friends over to watch, and had a delicious football-junk food buffet with cheese and/or sour cream in just about every dish... heartburn was in overdrive.

Snow and cold is apparently on its way back. Glad we got to enjoy a few days in the 30s...

Enjoy the day!

Argyle said...

I'm with Dennis on LEATHER-LUNGED. Not so much long-winded but loud-winded, sot of like Ethel Merman.

Anonymous said...

I knew Eryka Badu from the movie, Blues Brothers 2000. I thought she was quite striking.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning all.

Pretty easy today. Quite a change after the Stürm u. Drang of last Fri. and Sat. No erasures and only unknowns were BADU and NAS which the perps provided. Agree with earlier comments.

Welcome to the new additions to this coterie.

'Logging in'- FWIW I almost always have to enter the password twice, but login is always successful. (There was some comment yesterday about this)

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

Gracie & Andrea,
I've never heard of LEATHER-LUNGED either. Learned LILY-LIVERED and mealy-mouthed from the same article a while back. Hmmm, MEALY-MOUTHED should be a good theme entry too.

Argyle,
Which worked: the Scotch or the Jeannie soup?

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

Bob,
I presume you don't solve LAT Sunday? JD asked you yesterday (6:44pm) if your Cocoa is house rabbit.

DR. John H, Dorothy,
Hi. Nice to have you join us. As Carol often says to the newcomers: Stay and Play.

Clear Ayes,
How did you cook during the outage then?

Kazie,
Hope you are OK. I miss your daily comments.

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

Bill G,
Is the orangutan and dog video real? Argyle says the dog looks like he is taking cues from a trainer.

Anonymous said...

Erykah Badu "On & On"

Erykah Badu

My Favourite song by her is Tyrone, but I didn't hyperlink that song due to some language that might offend some bloggers here.


Dennis,

My Favourite Rodney Dangerfield quote was "I told my dentist my teeth are going yellow. he told me to wear a brown tie."

Andrea said...

CC -

I keep forgetting to say Happy Blog Anniversary, and THANKS for all you do. I've been lurking/posting for about a year, but I would've guessed from the camraderie that many of the regulars have been friends for a very long time. A great testament to the power of online communities. So glad I stumbled upon this!

kazie said...

C.C.,
Sorry to be AWOL over the weekend, but I'm fine--thanks for your concern. Saturday I had a lot of trouble with the puzzle (partly not being alone to concentrate) and still haven't finished it. I want to give it a fair go, and will try some more today before checking the blog for it. Yesterday we were gone all day and so I haven't looked at Sunday's yet at all. I might leave it until our paper prints in Wednesday.

Today was not as easy as usual on Mondays. Quite a few "didn't know" items, but perps worked well and I got them all without other help.

Among my unknowns were: LEATHER LUNGED, I DO etc., BADU. On second thought, not so many, but a lot that stumped me. I got SET A but didn't see it that way, I was thinking SETA.

I thought it was a fun challenge to start the week.

Anonymous said...

TFrank,

Rappers List

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, I got the theme easily this morning. I liked all the organ tie-ins. Argyle's theme "Organic Problems" was much better than anything I could come up with..."Time for a Transplant"?

Yes, Entrophy, "BADU & NAS were both new to me"

Argyle, you beat me to Ethel Merman's LEATHER-LUNGED take on musical theater.

Lemonade714, I do follow musical theater. (I wish I could afford the price of tickets now :o) I tend to agree with you about I DO, I DO being rather obscure, although I did know of it and knew who the original stars were. OTOH, when I filled in 31D, "SET A good example", the very first thing that came to my mind was Why Can't The English? from My Fair Lady. The lyric line is, "Why can't the English set a good example to people whose English is painful to your ears?"

Hahtool, I remember rushing through the Louvre many years ago to see a few EL GRECO's. The reason for the rush was that my sister had the flu and wanted to go back to our hotel. I've been back since and was able to spend some time with them.

Gracie, Also many years for me since Ontario's Stratford. I saw several Shakespeare plays there when I was a teenager.

Sorry for your loss Viking fans.

C.C. Even though our oven is electric, our rangetop is gas/propane. All we needed was a match to get it to light. Ever had steamed meatloaf? Tasted OK, but looked rather gray. Some of our neighbors have all electric appliances and were cooking on their BBQ's in the rain. I'm glad we were spared that.

tfrank said...

RSD,

Thanks. I will try to memorize this by tomorrow!

melissa bee said...

good morning argyle, c.c. and all,

one of the fastest mondays ever. theme was fun, although i never heard 'liver lunged' before, thx dennis and argyle for clearing that up.

great to see all the newbies chiming in.

more rain on the left coast .. absolutely love it.

Anonymous said...

a record for letter S?

JD said...

Good morning Argyle, CC and all,

Ha! Ha! I didn't see the theme again, but all went well, a quickie! Didn't know leather lunged, but I can see that Ethel Merman would be a fine example.Also, not familiar with phs,sdi,nas,sel, Badu, and had forgotten Caen and fakirs.Perps were kind.

Attending Catholic school familiarized me with El Greco at a very young age.Lovely, but most of his elongated subjects look very sad..not uplifting, yet interesting to study.

Jung's wow, very true! We usually grumble about our own faults in other people.

Jerome said...

Top O' the Mornin' Puzzle Thugs!

I'm thinking this is Susan's debut puzzle. If so, congrats! It's a dandy.

Lots of themeage and some wonderful fill (Fill, friends, not fills). SCHLEP, FEDORA, FAKIRS, SUBURB, EL GRECO, and IDOIDO... or in the case of the reluctant bride, DOIDOI?

Some really bad stuff-
Do you eat PONE? NOPE, you PEON.
The ONUS is ON US.
He's HOARSER because HE ROARS.
Just THINK DENNIS, you too can be THIN SKINNED.

"I bought a used car and found my wife's panties in the back seat"
Dangerfield.

Clear Ayes said...

Hi Jerome, I learned my "fill vs fills" lesson a couple of months ago. Doesn't help me solve any smarter or faster, but I sound like I know what I'm doing.

First the Super Bowl...gotta get on the Saints bandwagon, then the Olympics. I love the Winter Games.

Robin, From the other night...I didn't get to watch all the U.S. Ice Skating finals, but I watched the champions exhibition skate last night....after the football games, of course. I can't help it, I'm a big Johnny Weir fan. He definitely marches and skates to his own drummer! I'm glad he made the Olympic team, always a great show. Nathan Chen, the Novice Men's champion (wow, he's only ten years old!) was really impressive. Keep an eye on him until 2018.

Lemonade714 said...

Jerome:
Good to see you back in form, and getting Dennis in an anagram was great, Wouldn't it be Loverly to get Clear Ayes real a/c, yes?

lunch and I guess I am suffering..

eddyB said...

Hello all.

Just watching it rain again. Loved Garfield this morning.

Mainiac said...

Good Afternoon All,

I was cruising rather easily this morning until I hit the Elgreco and IdoIdo cross. Not remembering Fedora and mispelling Caen (Cain, Duh!) sent me for red letters. I haven't done that on a Monday for awhile. Nice puzzle.

Thanks for the write up Argyle.

LoLs on the Dangerfield lines.

Have a great Day!

Bill G. said...

I'm glad so many of you enjoyed the orangutan and dog video. CC, as far as I know it is real though I'm guessing the first scene where they were supposedly meeting for the first time was reenacted.

Al said...

21D LARIAT: La Reata. It's all in how you parse it... I get the WorldWideWords newsletter every Saturday, and it had this interesting snippit about how several Spanish words are the origin for a bunch of old west terminology (Lariat included).

This was from the "Weird Words" section, which singled out hoosegow this week:

The word is from Mexican Spanish juzgao, a jail, which came from juzgado for a tribunal or courtroom. It shifted to mean a jail because the two were often in the same building (and the path from the one to the other was often swift and certain). In sense and language origin it’s a relative of calaboose, which is also a prison (from calabozo, a dungeon, via the French of Louisiana).

Hoosegow is now the standard spelling, though in its early days it was written half a dozen different ways. We link it in our minds with cowboys largely because so much of their lingo was taken from Spanish and then mangled to fit English ideas of the way to say it. That included buckaroo (Spanish vaquero), bronco (from a word that meant rough or rude), lasso (lazo), lariat (la reata), chaps (chaparreras), hackamore bridles (jquima), mustang (mestea), cinch (cincha), as well as the direct borrowings of corral and rodeo.

Sorry I haven't been able to participate much recently, my job has kept me kind of overly busy of late... Still popping in from time to time, though. Appreciated all the nice comments from my last guest blog, and didn't mean to seem like I was ignoring anyone...

carol said...

Hi Argyle, C.C. and all -

Fun and fast. Learned something when seeing 9D. I knew it was FIRS, but Fraser had me running to Google as I had never heard of that name. Oregon is full of Douglas firs (and many other kinds) but the Fraser is found in the southern Appalachian mountains..it is the only fir endemic to that region. It looks a lot like the Douglas firs that are grown and trimmed to achieve their little pyramid shapes by Christmas tree farmers here, except that the Fraser is naturally compact and not too tall.

Dennis, thanks for the explanation of 'leather-lunged'. I had never heard that before. Ethel Merman was once quoted as saying she didn't have that good a voice, but covered for it by being loud.

Welcome to all the fresh 'faces' of late: we like to hear new thoughts.

Do any of you still see the comic strip Alley Oop in your papers? I haven't seen that strip in ages and ages - maybe over 40 years.

kazie said...

Al,
I had forgotten until your recent weather-related comment about being in WI that you were located here. Not too close to where I am, or Dot and Andrea in the Madison district either, but at least the same state. Good to see you back after your work "break" away from us.

Dixie Joy said...

Hi! Newbie here - I found you quite by accident Saturday googling some of those hard clues in Saturday's puzzle. I was thrilled and bookmarked you. I was able to do today's puzzle in about 10 minutes. I hope to get to know you better in the days to come!

tfrank said...

Welcome Dixie Joy. I loved the transparency of your bio, and think you will fit right in. We are a nice bunch of folks, trying to get better.

Chuck of the West said...

Hello all,
This was certainly tougher than last Monday. RE: 34A, also, using the german spelling of Vienna: Wien, we get wiener. I got a little hung up on 38A as I wanted 38D to be MORE, and had never heard of LEATHER LUNGED. Perps took care of SDI, MOT, and NAS. All in all a fun C/W even with a couple of lame clues like 47A: TED.
Dennis, I'd like to see you in action if you really did this one in 3 1/2 minutes. After I finished it, I went back and filled it in on line, and it took me 5m43s .

Dennis said...

RSD, that list of rappers was great; thanks for the laughs.

Melissa Bee, great new avatar - I'm guessing your work schedule is very, very full.

Jerome, Lemonade, you've definitely got too much free time.

Al, good to see you back; your comments and knowledge have been missed.

Dixie Joy, welcome to our eclectic group. Great bio, by the way.

Chuck of the West said, ...if you really did this one in 3 1/2 minutes. Well, yes I did, Chuck, but in the world of cruciverbalists, that's not exactly considered lightning-fast; there's apparently lots of people who can blow through the easy ones with sub-three-minute times. Also, I can write a lot faster than doing it online. I can read it when I'm done, but it's not pretty. I'm hoping to go to the Crossword Tournament next month in NYC and watch the big boys (and girls) compete.

Bob said...

@C.C.: No, I don't do the Sunday puzzle because it doesn't appear in my local newspaper. I only get the Monday through Saturday puzzles. So, I don't usually check the Sunday blog either.

@JD: Sorry I missed your post on Sunday. Yes, Cocoa is a house rabbit. All five are house rabbits and very pampered by my live-in bunny wrangler. Only two are bonded, so I live in a wilderness of child-barricades, with (thankfully) a few bunny-free zones. They let me live in the house too.

eddyB said...

Carol in Oregon.

I read Ally Oop every morning on line. The wedding was interupted
when Moo was invaded.

Hahtoolah said...

Mainiac: Your new avatar adds new meaning to the phrase, You drink like a fish. But of course, that's the whole point.

Andrea said...

Welcome Dixie Joy.

Finally remembered to update my avatar with our golden retriever Quincy. Fabulous family dog. I've had him as long as I've had my husband, 7 1/2 years... We'd only been dating a few months (me and now hubby, not me and dog...), when he asked me if it was alright with me if he got a dog. Wasn't exactly sure why my opinion on the topic mattered, until I figured out he might have been thinking we were in for the long haul... Sure enough! :)

ipo said...

Aloha all---
I had no idea about leather lunged. I pulled lily livered from deep inside the recesses of my brain.
Regarding BADU--the lyrics to the song Didn't Cha Know are thoughtful
Weather report

Depending where you are in FL the weather feels like it could snow. In Jacksonville we are expecting the lows in the 30's.

Chickie said...

Hello All--There isn't much new to comment on that hasn't already been said. I did enjoy the puzzle, and finished it without help as did many others here today.

Dennis the WOW is so true. We find fault with what we feel are our shortcomings. (So no one will find those faults in us!!!?)

Bill G. I liked the Dog and Chimp clip yesterday. A dog led on leash by a chimp is priceless.

We didn't favor either the Saints or the Vikings (49'ers fans)so we just enjoyed the good football. It was a great game. Getting ready for Super Bowl Sunday.

Welcome to the Newbies. We always enjoy new views and comments.

More rain today and more to come this week.

Chickie said...

Andrea,
Your Golden is gorgeous. We had two lovely Goldens--13 and 14 years old when we had to put them down. They make wonderful family dogs.

We also raised two more for Guide Dogs for the Blind as well as Two yellow labs.

Big, loveable, smart, and loyal. 'Nuff said. We miss ours even after all this time--6 years since the last one.

The yellow lab in my avatar is one from my daughter's kennel. Her
4-H Guide Dog days led to a life long love of animals, especially dogs.

Clear Ayes said...

Lemonade, "real a/c, yes?" ...I'm afraid Dennis is right.

Hi Dixie Joy. There are a lot of "smart-mouthed and quick-witted" folks around here. Everything should be just fine. Don't take anything too seriously and the old-timers will return the favor.

Yes, WH, I'm talking about you. :o)

Bob, love the bunny. Our grand daughter had a Dutch rabbit that went to Rabbit Heaven a few months ago. They make wonderful pets.

Goldens and Yellow Labs are wonderful dogs. Lisa is our neighbor's dog. She is a perfect part-timer. GAH takes her and Charley for a walk every morning, but we don't have to feed her or pay vet bills.

KeaauRich said...

Aloha all... So I've been lurking for months now, happily solving the puzzles first thing in the morning Hawaii time, which means by the time I'm done or stumped, you've all hashed out the answers and moved on :). But when you call "I Do, I Do" an obscure musical, I need to join the fray and weigh in! It's a great musical about marriage, best known for the song "My Cup Runneth Over" Mary Martin and Robert Preston starred on B'way, Carol Burnett and Rock Hudson in the national tour (probably should have been called "I Don't, I Don't... but I digress).

Look forward to getting to know you all better! Aloha

Bill G. said...

Chickie said "I liked the Dog and Chimp clip yesterday. A dog led on leash by a chimp is priceless."

Yes, I thought so too. And then when the orangutan shared its food. They looked like they really enjoyed each others' company. (I think I put that apostrophe in the right place...)

I see you're in San Jose. My brother-in-law lives in Sunnyvale.

Looks like some more rain is on the way. The snowpack is a bit above average now. I think Mother Nature has made a small dent in our drought.

dodo said...

I read your how to post a comment today and I hope now I'll be able to do it. I've written things in this space for three days and they've vanished. Maybe now I have the combination. Don't know what the line just under this square means. Also, what is Gspot?

I gather most of you solve the daily LAT puzzle online. I've been doing it in the daily paper and like one of you mentioned, I don't get the Sunday one. However, I just discovered that the SF Chronicle, which I get on Sunday only, carries it. I haven't finished that one yet, but I got the one today easily, as most of you did. Started to time it but the doorbell rang and spoiled that. I couldn't possibly write it in 3 1/2 minutes, even though I knew most of the answers.

I haven't put in a profile yet but I'll get to it one of these days. I've been lurking for a couple of months building up confidence.

dodo said...

Hooray, it worked! OHOH, just noticed a booboo, like instead of as. Sorry, I know better.

Clear Ayes, are you anywhere near Stockton?

Anonymous said...

Welcome Dixie Joy and KeaauRich. Great job Dixie Joy jumping on the bandwagon right away. I lurked for a while before I got going on commenting.

Didn't know BADU or MOT and wasn't familiar with LEATHER LUNGED. But it all filled in quite well.

Great Wow and Rodney Dangerfield quotes everyone.

As for I DO, I DO (which took me a little while to see) it ran here at a local theater for some 30 years or so, the same couple starring the whole time I think. I never did go see it, but it must have been good to run that long.

tFrank, as for the Vikings losing to the coin toss, I would have to say it was far more than that. With the amount of turnovers, they really didn't deserve the win.

Dennis said...

KeaauRich, dodo, welcome. Hope you guys will contribute often.

dodo, visiting the g-spot is just our term for going to google. C.C. has more terms explained in the sidebar on the main blog.

JimmyB said...

Lemonade714 - Funny that you ask about musical theater devotees today. I was hooked on that genre when my mother took the family to see a regional theater production of Camelot when I was about 7 or 8 years old. It was starring Pernell Roberts in one of his first roles after leaving Bonanza. My mom knew to hang around the stage door afterwards for autographs from the stars. Mr. Roberts was kind enough to linger and chat and sign. I still have that signed program somewhere. Until you brought it up, I hadn't thought about that day for decades. I just heard Pernell Roberts passed away today at the age of 81. Is that a strange coincidence or what?

windhover said...

Welcome Dixie Joy,
I know it is really bad form to hit on new bloggers, or for for that matter, old bloggers. So let me me qualify this statement by saying that IF I wasn't a happily
married man, and IF the Liver of Dixie, where I live, wasn't so damn far from the Heart of Dixie, where You live, I'd be headed right down there vying to be #4.
As for a little mind profanity now and then, most people here know I'm somewhat sceptical in some matters of religion, but one thing I'm quite sure of: when Jesus finally gets around to coming back to check on this little experiment of his Dad's, which caused him so much trouble the last time around, I'm pretty sure the profanity he uses is going to be anything but mild. It's goin' to be some full-blown cussin'. So I don't really think he's going to mind if we do a little cussin', too. And since I'm also pretty sure that he's gonna need a couple of stiff drinks before he sets out, I doubt he's going to mind if we imbibe a little between now and then, as long as it don't lead to dancing. I used to be a Southern Baptist, now I'm just Southern
Anyway, welcome in. We could use a little hot flash every now and then.

In other news,
The new avatar (I know, the "old" one was only
up 2 days) is in honor of the Fedora in the puzzle today. I only wear my one suit to funerals (this one was my Aunts about two years ago), and I think you can detect that I am not very comfortable in it. Love the hat, though, and have several. Irish says they don't go well with jeans, but what does she know? And by the way, real
men wear a hat, and although I wear them, a baseball cap is NOT a hat, especially sideways or backwards.

ClearAyes:
I got that "old" dig. Unfortunately, it's all too true.

Jeannie said...

Just now getting to the puzzle tonight....foodshow time again. Anyway, I thought it was pretty easy and the one's I didn't know I got from the perps. Nes, SDI, Iago and Badu. I am assuming Erykah is pronounced like "Erica".

Mainiac, I see you finally made it out on the ice....looks vaguely familiar to what goes on up here when ice fishing.

I am still in a bit of a "snit" today about the Viking's loss. You probably wouldn't have enjoyed my company today.

Welcome all you "newbies" and Argyle you never answered C.C.'s inquiry about what helped you the most....the scotch or Jeannie soup.

Windhover, my handsome farmer...I LOVE your hat. Like Joe Cocker said, "you can leave your hat on". I would link it but can't quite figure it out.

Clear Ayes said...

Dodo, We're about an hour's drive from anywhere...Modesto, Sonora, Turlock, Merced AND Stockton. It's all good....except when we have a three day electrical outage. We spent a lot of time looking out on the valley and all the lucky cities who still had their power.

Hi KeaauRich, Nice to hear from another musical theater lover.

Windhover, Now that's a proper "Howdy"! Love the fedora too, but let's not talk about "old", Junior.

Jeannie, For you and WH. Great song by Joe Cocker You Can Leave Your Hat On.

Robin said...

Yummmmy the estrogen and testosterone are flying tonight!!!!

Welcome newbies!

lois said...

H'audi', Argyle, CC, et al., Loved this puzzle. It took me straight to my Texas cowboys in the Midland-'Odessa' area - the 'hub' of some of the 'best' lookin' dogie catchers I've ever seen..and I don't mean their 'lariats' either. These guys were the legends that cowboy 'lore' was made of - the 'leather lunged' ones who were 'hoarser' than Andy Devine and could be heard a mile away. They'd eat nails for breakfast and never knew 'fear'. Nothin' 'lily livered' or thin skinned' about them at all. But a hot meal w/some corn 'pone' and 'cake' softened
'each' of them like a 'lube'd
'babe's' butt. 'Oop's, they're 'mortal' afterall...and so predictable! I do love me some cowboys!

CA: glad you're ok. You were missed.

Welcome to all the newbies. The more the merrier!

Enjoy your night.

Bill G. said...

Hey Lois, where in VA are you from or did I ask you that before? I grew up in Falls Church. I loved the seasons, except maybe for late summer. Still, I enjoyed the thunderstorms and lightning bugs too. But growing up there, I didn't know anything else. It was only after I went away to college, and eventually moved to Manhattan Beach, that my parents got A/C. I miss the beautiful springs and falls. It was fun to wake up in the middle of a very quiet night in winter, shine a flashlight out the window, see the snow quietly falling and hope that school would be canceled the next day. Sledding down the almost deserted roads the next day was great fun. I love the weather in Manhattan Beach but I miss the weather in Virginia too. Plus, a short drive into NW Washington DC with my buddies was always fun.

MJ said...

Hi dodo-Are you the same as Dorothy from yesterday? In any case welcome.

Jerome pointed out all the fun fill I enjoyed today, other than ASYLUM. Nice to see you, Jerome. Love your word play! I always enjoy when you chime in!

JD said...

Andrea, Quincey is darling!

Bob, with 5 bunnies I bet you are fixing electrical cords often!

Here's something I came across today that should bring some laughs to the older crowd.

MR ED said...

hello everyone. not much else to say except.... Hello!

lois said...

Hey, BillG, Your memory of VA is what I am still livin' here, except down here in the SE corner, on the Bay, we don't get so much snow. Falls Church, Alexandria, etc get a whole lot more than we do, but trips to DC are still very doable and fun. I love the change of seasons here too...all 4 vivid and exciting. We have the ocean on one side w/in a stone's throw and the mtns w/skiing 2 hrs the other way - the best of both worlds for a day full of fun, then home again. Plus all the history - the historic triangle of Jamestown, Yorktown, and Wmsbug right up the street. I've always said that if I have to live away from OK, this is where I'd love to be. It is beautiful. Missed the horizons and the openness at first but got over it with sunrises or sunsets on the water. Glorious! The lightning bugs still need their own stop lights and traffic signs in the summer. Great fun. My #2 daughter is getting moved to San Diego. Where are you?

Jeannie said...

Lois, I thought of you immediately once I had the chance to attempt the puzzle. I just knew you were gonna come up with a "cowboy theme" and you didn't dissapoint. Never had a "cow-poke" much to my chagrin.

Melisabee, miss you. Sometimes it takes more than me to keep Dennis on his toes, albeit Jerome did it today.

Windhover, sleeping or birthing, or the other?

windhover said...

All the above, in good time

lois said...

Jeannie: ya really ought to try a cowpoke at least once in your life. It'll sure put a a nice giddyup in your saddle!

WH: great picture! You are an asset to the state of KY, and the inspiration for a lot of women's dreams, I'm sure.

Bill G. said...

Lois asked: "My #2 daughter is getting moved to San Diego. Where are you?"

Ooh, I almost forgot my memories of sailing on the Chesapeake Bay and crabcakes. We are about two hours north of San Diego, a suburb of Los Angeles. We're about four miles south of LAX in Manhattan Beach, a community of about 40,000 bordering on the Pacific. Good schools, good weather (much like San Diego). We always enjoyed going to math conferences for teachers when they were in San Diego, a very pleasant place to visit.

Lemonade714 said...

Little Lo li ta you reverted to your avatar; come on you are more adventurous than that...I hear you have some great bunny stories to tell, probably have Bill G all excited.

Robin, you are a dirty old man trapped in a young woman's body; I applaud you.

The truth dennis is I have no free time these days, and bad puns, and bad anagrams along with puzzles and blogging, keep me going.

You know what twins are while they are still inside their mommy> Womb mates.

Never go out drinking to pick up a partner for the night, for if you get to bed at 2, with a 10, you will wake up at 10 with a 2 next to you in bed.

Annette said...

What cute and fun new avatars today!

Windhover: Fedora's are classy, but the "Clint Eastwood" avatar is still my favorite!

Today's Garfield was funny, EddyB! My 2 favorite parts of the day - the LAT puzzle/blog and the comics!

Welcome Dixie Joy, dodo and KeaauRich! KeaauRich, when my niece was getting married last year, my sister asked everyone in the family what our favorite love songs were, "My Cup Runneth Over" was my choice! There's nothing filled with more emotion than Ed Ames (or Ken Delo) singing that song!

Wow, IPO! Once our weather clears up, I tend to forget it's still winter everywhere else. It's a nice, breezy 64 here in Fort Lauderdale at about 11 pm. It's been cloudy and overcast the past 3-4 days. I hope it clears up before the Super Bowl, or we'll have a lot of disappointed tourists in town...

Jeannie said...

Robin, got that hot tub heated up? we have 40mph winds and the temp has dropped, reminding us again that we do in fact, live in MN. The drive tomorrow will suck as I live in "corn country" USA which means open fields and heavy drifting on my commute tomorrow. Did I mention falling temps?

The way I look at it is you do what you have to do when you "do it". Work is flexable enough after 10 yrs to know when you get there you get there. It's obviously what you "do there" once you "get there" that counts.

windhover said...

Lemonade714,
As per your norm, an astute observation, and one more reason one should never leave a bar until
they turn the lights on.

windhover said...

#4
What is this fascination with cowboys? Here in the Bluegrass the women overwhelmingly prefer horsemen, in several senses of the term.

65

Jeannie said...

It's funny you say that Windhover, us MN women prefer "hunters" and "fishermen". It must be something ingrained in us to like the "equipment" they put on or to know that they can "provide". I personally like the color orange. I do own a pair of camouflaged multi pocketed pants that I wear once in awhile in the fall to hide out.

Dennis said...

I'm confused. So it's the 'equipment' they strap on that shows they can 'provide'?

lois said...

WH, Lemonade: Amen! That works both ways!

Bill G: I'm looking forward to visiting S.D. whenever she gets there. I was there as a child and surfed the ocean and had a great time. I'm anxious to do it as an adult...well, not surfing the ocean this time but the night life. It'll be fun, I'm sure.

Jeannie: Good luck in your commute. I have no doubt that you know how to 'work it'. You're my idol!

lois said...

It seems to me that whether its horsemen, cowboys, hunters or fishermen, it's the 'rod' (12D) that they carry that is of interest. I could be wrong, but i don't think so.

Jeannie said...

No Dennis, it's the equipment I put on that makes them WANT to provide. Just sayin' I like the he-man type and sometimes you have to adapt. Oh, and I know you to cook too...

Robin said...

Amen Sister!

Robin said...

Lois!

Dennis said...

Jeannie, you're right - there's nothing like the LBD to weaken the knees.

Lois, as always, you have a way with words; your oral skills are beyond reproach.

lois said...

Dennis: "oral skills"??? LMAO! Talk about a way with words! I bow at your feet! I don't mean to diminish the importance of aim and finesse in exalting the equipment, but it is a big part of success.

Annette said...

I knew there was something lacking in South Florida...no farmers, no cowboys, no hunters, and the only fishermen I see are dipping their poles into disgusting, polluted canals...

Jeannie: I don't know how you do that commute! And you take it all in stride. You make it sound like a fun challenge. I've visited up north in winter, but haven't had to get to work on a snowy, icy winter morning in at least 25 years...

Annette said...

Today's USA Today puzzle was titled "Anatomy Lesson". I got all excited about a fun puzzle loaded with DF fill! It turned out to be very mundane... What a disappointment!

carol said...

Walk softly and carry that big stick boys! Just be sure you know your 'sport' and are accomplished.

Lois - Dennis - LMAO! Terrific play.
I heard cowboys can put a hitch in your 'gittalong' if you encourage them. Is it true?

PJB-Chicago said...

Good late evening, all!
Where did the day go?

Best Monday puzzle in recent memory: I hope Ms. Miskimins has more in the LAT pipeline. Fresh fill, cleverly clued, and a theme that ran sideways PLUS up and down.

I DO I DO, I didn't know, but BADU I did.
She has a great voice, and works a phrase a little like Sarah Vaughan.

Welcome all newcomers. We're glad to have you here!

kazie said...

Late for me to stop in again, but I wanted to welcome all the new newbies! You'll like it here!

I also wanted to share my fedora picture, after all the hat talk tonight. It was taken 5 years ago at a 60th anniversary where everyone dressed as they would have for a dressy thing in their youth.

Annette said...

Kazie, look at you! Very Ingrid Bergman. Are you and Windhover working on a remake of Casablanca?

windhover said...

Kazie:
Wow! Pearl necklace and all.
5 and done.