google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday January 2, 2010 Bob Peoples

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Jan 2, 2010

Saturday January 2, 2010 Bob Peoples

Theme: None

Total blocks: 31

Total words: 66

Rather low in terms of word count. Lots of great multiple-word entries in this grid. I counted 13, among which eight have 10 or 11 letters. I also liked some of the long one-word entries, not the three ING-ending fill though.

Somehow I was very bothered by the "it" in the clue for VENUE (28A. Where it's at). Grammatically it's confusing. I do love the pronoun "they" for ETS (6D. They travel a great distance to get here).

Choppy solving. The lower right corner crumbled rather easily for me. Lower left was steely. The Down clues/fill today sure felt more accessible than the Across, didn't they?

Across:

1. Hedged reply: I BELIEVE SO. Great answer.

11. Gawain and Kay, e.g.: SIRS. Both knights at King Arthur's Round Table. Sir Gawain is Arthur's nephew. Kay is Arthur's foster brother.

15. Hustlers: CON ARTISTS

16. Slicing, dicing, etc.: PREP. I rather like the clue.

17. How preordained events are written?: IN THE STARS. Is this a idiom? I've never heard of it before.

18. Start to till?: ROTO. The start of the word rototill. I only know rototiller.

19. Fr. company: CIE. And another simpler French word MERES (45A. Metz mothers). Kazie explained to us CIE before.

20. Frazier rival: ALI. Joe Frazier.

21. Altercation: RUN-IN

22. Impart: LEND

24. Warning: OMEN

25. Zipping through: ACING. And ESTEEMING (26A. Looking up to). And IRONING (12D: Household drudgery). Any repining about the three ING's?

29. Saturate with: STEEP IN

30. Gulped with gusto: SWIGGED. Alliteration.

32. Cherished: PET. As project.

33. __-ha: stink: HOO. I was unaware that "stink" can mean "fuss/commotion".

34. Gathering with much rapping: GABFEST. Stumper.

38. __ Observatory, site of the larger Hale Telescope: PALOMAR. In San Diego County. Spanish for "pigeon house". Lots of pigeons can be seen during spring/autumn months atop Palomar Mountain, according to Wikipedia & JD.

42. Asteroids game company: ATARI

43. Alarming: WORRISOME

46. "Carmina Burana" composer: ORFF (Carl). German composer. Maybe Jazzbumpa/Crockett can tell us more about this guy. Complete stranger to me.

47. Part of Q.E.D.: ERAT

48. I.Q. test pioneer: BINET (Alfred). The inventor of the first widely accepted test for measuring intelligence. His name escaped me.

49. "__ Mir Bist Du Schoen": Andrews Sisters hit: BEI. Yiddish for "To Me You're Beautiful".

50. Taxonomic suffix: OTE. As in Capriot/Cypriot. I obtained the answer from crosses.

51. All-encompassing phrase: A TO Z. With the second T in place, I wrote down ET AL.

52. Locks out of a store?: HAIRPIECES. Locks = hair. Tricky clue.

56. Herbert sci-fi classic: DUNE. Nope. Have never hear of the book, nor the author.

57. Antique diamond shape: OLD MINE CUT. Educate me on what exactly is a old mine cut.

58. Phone abbr.: OPER

59. Sliders at home, perhaps: GLASS DOORS. The DOORS part emerged to me early on, so I was not misled into the miniature burgers or baseball sliders direction.

Down:

1. Cold fish, so to speak: ICICLES. Cold fish (aloof/reserved person) is a new expression to me.

2. Skinny to the max: BONIEST

3. Political agreement: ENTENTE

7. Daily supplement: VITAMIN

8. Big Sur retreat: ESALEN. The Esalen Institute is named after the Native American tribe Esalen. Another unknown to me.

9. Philharmonic section: STRINGS

10. WWII hush-hush gp.: OSS (Office of Strategic Services). CIA precursor.

11. Flying boat built by Hughes Aircraft: SPRUCE GOOSE. The one Dick (in black) and Carol (in red) visited last year.

13. Following: RETINUE. VIP's following.

14. Cleaned (off), as a counter: SPONGED

21. Ristorante fare: RAVIOLI. Does it always have cheese inside?

23. Long-term storage solution: DEEP FREEZER

24. Forgets about: OMITS

27. Modern pentathlon competitor, at times: EPEEIST (ey-PEY-ist). I had no idea that modern pentathlon include epee fencing.

31. Landing site: WHARF

34. Long legging attached to a saddle: GAMBADO. No idea. Rider's legging. Maybe "The Talented Mr. Argyle" can find us a picture link. Gamba is Italian for "leg", kind of like our "gam" I suppose.

35. Had the time of one's life: ATE IT UP

36. Without exception: BAR NONE

37. Blue pool target: TWO BALL. Billiard. It's blue.

38. Image adjusters: PR FIRMS. Nice clue.

39. Casablanca locale: MOROCCO

40. Pro's opposite: AMATEUR

44. Golden Crinkles maker: ORE-IDA. Portmanteau of Ore(gon) + Ida(ho).

52. Monopolize: HOG

53. Magnum et al.: Abbr.: PIS (Private Investigators).

54. Unaffiliated: Abbr.: IND (Independent)

55. Want-ad abbr.: EEO. Penned in EOE first. Three consecutive abbrs. Not SAPID at all.

Should you have time, read this SAPID defintion Annette linked yesterday. Do click on "How I Met My Wife", a big hit last time when Jazzbumpa brought to the blog.

Answer grid.

C.C.

67 comments:

  1. CC, nice commentary today. As to "Where it's at" at 28A (VENUE), that's just an idiom.
    This is from Answers.com:
    Also, where the action is. The key center of activity; where important things are happening. For example, He decided to set up his store here, convinced that this is where it's at, or I'm going into the brokerage business; that's where the action is these days. The action or activity in this phrase can relate to just about anything--financial, political, social, or commercial. [Slang; c. 1960]

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  2. Morning, all! And a happy 2010! Yeah, I'm a day late, but what ya gonna do, eh? ^_^

    I managed to finish this one unassisted, but I have to give a big WTF to both ESALEN and GAMBADO. Never, ever, EVER heard or seen either one of those before, and they don't even look like real words to me. I mean, I've also never heard of OLDMINECUT before, but at least that looks plausible.

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  3. I thought we were doing crossWORD puzzles, not some arbitrary abbreviations that the constructor thinks up!

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  4. The Talented Mr. Ripley is dangerous and cruel. Argyle is adorable.

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  5. Good morning C.C. and and all. I guess this is just a bad week for me as I had too many problems again today. Like Barry esalen and gambado were not in my vocabulary and were very difficult to obtain. Even my spell check doesn't like either word.

    Spruce goose was a given after our visit to the Evergreen Air Museum with Carol and Joe last Summer.

    As for "old mine cut" I found the following information:


    How Did These Gems Get Their Name?

    The name Old Mine Cut came about due to the fact that the diamonds used to be taken from the old mines located throughout India. This differs from many of the stones today which are taken from mines located within South Africa. This type of stone was very popular throughout the 19th century and it still seems to hold the intrigue of many diamond purchasers these days.

    What Are Old Mine Cut Diamonds?

    Old Mine Cut diamonds are stones which have a high crown to them as well as a small table. The culet on this type of stone is also unique compared to other gems as it is flattened on the bottom as opposed to being pointy in nature.

    Hope you all have a great Saturday and weekend.

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  6. PS clear ayes, I loved you 10:58 post last night. How appropriate! Thanks!

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  7. Welcome to the new decade and our first themeless; I hope you all had a safe and healthy beginning and the next ten are great.

    C.C., the use of -ote as a suffix meaning inhabitant, in forms such as Corfiote and Italiote necessitates the examples end in OTE. This is part of taxonomy, the science of classifying people and things.

    An easier puzzle for me, with some obscure fill; I was totally unfamiliar with OLD MINE CUT but I remember the popularity of the ESALEN INSTITUTE with the “free thinkers” of my youth from Huxley to Timothy Leary, and the use of confrontation as therapy.

    I also enjoyed being deceived by : Blue pool target: TWO BALL, which is so easy in hindsight. As my father used to tell me, “Hindsight is better than foreskin.” Dennis, sorry about the 48 degree weather, but it is clear and warming. Enjoy.

    BTW, what makes a world of cowards who like to attack people anonymously, and why do we collect so many; Lo-li-ta, they don’t know you!

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  8. F this puzzle across and down. Yes the 'venue' clue was bad, so was 'hoo-ha' I'm used to that referring to a body part, is 'ote' even used as a suffix?, what the F is an 'old mine cut'?, and isn't equal oppurtunity employer abbreviated as 'EOE' usually? that one always bothers me. Anyway I'm probably just salty that I didn't have more fill-ins. Oh yeah, 60 down is WTF.

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  9. I had the same hang-ups as C.C. today and used my CW dictionary before hitting Mr. G. here are pictures of the old diamond cuts, so you can see better.

    I have a family heirloom brooch that my aunts thought had diamonds, but they turned out to be only spinels. They seem to have the old mine cut too, and came from Ceylon, which makes sense with the history of this cut.

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  10. A little harder than usual. Just took longer. 36 minutes. No help.

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  11. Just when I thought I was getting the hang of these, this one comes along. I was completely lost, I'll just keep plugging away and leaard more. Esalen was easy as I've been in that area, beautiful part of the world.

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  12. Anon @ 9:08, there is no 60D in today's puzzle. What puzzle were you working?

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  13. Spanish for pigeon is PALOMA. Palomar is a place where pigeons live (dove-cote?)

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  14. Good Morning, all.

    Needed help for just about all of today's puzzle. A combination of the difficulty level, and my just beginning to function again after being knocked out New Year's Eve with a nasty stomach bug of some sort... The biggest bummer was that I missed the specials we served at our restaurant NYE: chateaubriand and whole roasted red snapper - was really looking forward to trying them! One of the benefits of owning the restaurant is that we can always ask the chef to do them again!

    I haven't had a chance to share a Dan Naddor story. I solved his 12/30 puzzle in Zoe's playroom, sitting inside her pop-up princess castle, with a mug of my favorite tea au lait. Zoe came over periodically to "help" with the puzzle, and "refill" my tea. Such a delightful morning. I was happy that I finished the puzzle unassisted (no google in the castle), and thought about how much I always enjoy Dan's puzzles, and how they are always such a great start to the day. I was shocked and saddened as the rest of the you when I came here to read the news. Dan, you will be missed but not forgotten; I look forward to solving each and every puzzle yet to come.

    Andrea

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  15. Morning all.

    I would hardly say Mt.Palomar is in or near San Diego.

    Driving the coast road South from Big Sur is one of the scarier ones
    that I have ever driven. In places
    there is no berm and a sheer drop
    into the ocean. I stradled the center line and hoped that no one
    was coming North.
    Gabfest stopped me for a minute or two. Rap doesn't mean singing(?)
    here.

    Back to the hospital. EddyB

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  16. Good morning CC and blogbuddies,

    Whew! After reading the very negative anon, I thought twice about writing in, because I could not finish this one today. It took all I had to do the top half. I knew I was not on the same wave length as Mr. Peoples when I guessed icicles and it was right, and I knew not why.Words that puzzled me were esteemING,retinue, entente, and CC thanks for clearing up why pet=cherished! You loved "I believe so." I believes u.

    Dick, I am impressed with your knowledge on diamonds. And Kazie, great follow up with pictures.

    CA, loved the poem last night, your words of wisdom to the punctuation gestapo AND that absolutely beautiful picture of your grandchildren!

    parting words-
    Where's it at? I dunno.

    Have a lovely weekend all.
    Jeannie, we have faith that you will bounce back and that all will be good again.

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  17. Mt Palomar is the northern section of S.D. County. As a Calif. girl, a half hour drive is nothing.I used to live in Carlsbad, and SD was a 1/2 hr south.Palomar is NE.

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  18. Good Morning All, With all those across stacks to begin with, I had to start on the Downs. No traction until LAH then pretty easy sailing (for a while).

    ESALEN always reminds me of that, risqué for its time, 1969 movie Bob @ Carol @ Ted @ Alice. Two couples spend a self-discovery weekend at an Esalen-style getaway and laughter ensues.

    I had no real problems here until the SW GABFEST. If "rapping" is used in the sense of "criticize", I don't get it. My gabfests are always good fun. I didn't know Metz was in France, couldn't remember BINET, and I have a mental block about ATOZ. I ALWAYS think of L. Frank Baum's books and wonder why being AT OZ would encompass/cover/include everything...D'oh!

    GAMBADO? Whaaat?

    I knew that the "Blue pool target" referred to one of the balls, but I had a tough time with the TWO because I didn't know ORFF either.

    Thank goodness, there were enough perps to keep me going backward from the SE and and after a few more D'ohs, I got 'er done.

    Andrea, sorry to hear that you missed out on the NYE fun. Hope you are feeling better. That goes for you too, Fermatprime.

    JD @ Dick, LOL, It is amazing how chatty I can get after a couple of glasses of wine and a slab of prime rib. Oh yes, there was Paula Deen's Gooey Butter Cake for dessert... a sugar rush just waiting to happen.

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  19. Nice write-up, C. C. Helpful in doing my "hot wash-up" in the wake of the solve. Couldn't get much traction in the NW & SW. Thought ESALEN and GAMBADO were utterly arcane. More than the usual gerunds. ESTEEMING seems like such a clumsy word. Did not know ORFF or BINET either. But some clever clues still made it fun: HAIRPIECES, WHARF, GLASSDOORS.

    At midnight tonight the Earth passes Perihelion in its annual orbit. BTW, hope you have been enjoying Jupiter's nightly appearance this Fall and Winter. In the latitude of NY at 6 pm it can be seen in the SW at ¼ the altitude from horizon to zenith.

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  20. Good morning, C.C. and all,

    This was a challenge today; took me 39 online with much perp and red letter help. Some great clues, though. My favorite was for galssdoors. It had me thinking baseball for quite a while.

    C.C., is not "Bei mir bist du schoen" German? On second thought. if it was German, it would be sie instead of du. Obviously, I have no Yiddish.

    I had no problem with the clue for gabfest. Rapping to me is talking a la one of the Dr.s, and therefore gabbing.

    One of my post New Year chores is taking down Christmas. Corpus Christi is big on outside decorations; lights on houses, trees, shrubs, etc. We usually leave them up through New Year's night. The next chore is putting everything away. How boring!

    Have a great weekend.

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  21. @TFrank re:if it was German, it would be sie instead of du.

    Du is the familiar nominative of "you". Sie is much more formal. It is better to be familiar with your sweetheart than formal:-) Hope this helps.

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  22. Good morning, everyone!

    This was a real slog. I put it away for a while and came back to it later. Must have been fomenting in my subconscious, because I eventually got it all without benefit of the G spot, but it wasn't pretty.

    ESALEN and GAMBADO were totally unknown. Lots of AhHa moments in this one.

    @dick Even after reading that last paragraph about Old Mine Cut diamonds, I don't know what it said!

    EEO=Equal Employment Opportunity

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  23. The puzzle was rough for me today, especially getting a good foothold, but I finally finished thanks to the perps and a few red letters.

    A lot of fills I didn't know at all that have already been mentioned. And some clever ones too, like TWO BALL and GLASS DOOR.

    C.C.: Ravioli is not always stuffed with cheese, although it's often a component of the filling. I've seen them stuffed with beef, chicken, spinach, mushrooms, lobster, etc.

    Well, I'm off to run a few errands, then get my fill of garlic crabs - yum!

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  24. In the Stars is kind of an idiomatic expression that you might hear from a fortune teller, seer or an astrologer. More completely it's usually that something is "written in the stars," and usually refers to something that may not be readily explainable: e.g., "You'll have many children and great wealth but ill health. It is written in the stars." Makes no logical sense but lends authority to the person making the prediction.

    Hope this helps, thanks for your crossword answers page.

    Hardy

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  25. I definitely did not share the same wavelength with Mr. Peoples. Usually taking a break helps, but not today. Had to Google ORFF, BINET, DUNE, and of course GAMBADO (sounds like an early stage of LUMBAGO). I think I'm ready for a Monday puzzle.

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  26. Good day, C.C. and all,
    The NW came together after much effort and guessing. NE filled in quickly, thanks to SPRUCEGOOSE. Knowing PALOMAR helped open up the SE. But just couldn't finish up the SW without help. Had "etal" for 51A which certainly didn't help in the mix. Also, my hazy geography memory put Metz in Germany. Finally went to my friend G to correctly locate Metz and get the spelling for GAMBADO which changed 51A to ATOZ, and the corner finally fell. Some fun words such as RETINUE and SWIGGED.

    Many great clues. For 1A my first thought was "we'll see" which was my mother's frequent "hedged reply" to my sister and me, to which we responded with a groan, because it basically meant "No, but I don't want to listen to you two REPINE right now!"

    C.C.-I'm guessing that 17A is a reference to astrology. As to your query yesterday, the LATimes is the only puzzle I do daily. I used to do the Newsday puzzle, but about a month ago the site started asking for registration and log-in. Time permitting, I do the USA Today and CrosSynergy puzzles.

    @JazzB-Terrific photos in your "Happy" link yesterday!

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  27. Good Afternoon,

    I've had no luck finding a picture of GAMBADOES. I even drove out to a tack shop. They never heard of a GAMBADO. Nap time; I'll do some more searching later.

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  28. Crockett1947: My beloved Ohio expatriate: Go Ducks - Go Bucks?
    Are we covering our ass here? Talk about a no lose situation....

    To those who asked, "What is a buckeye, anyway?" To you nubies, a "Buckeye is a worthless nut!!!"
    Haven't you been following my posts?

    I must be off

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  29. Dune is perhaps the greatest science fiction novel ever written and possible the first novel that dealt with an entire fictional ecology.

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  30. @CA 11:13 post I would never blame you for having a glass of wine at a good prime rib dinner.

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  31. Hi gang -

    Spent the day spring cleaning - only a few months early.

    I agree with most of the complaints others have raised. Isn't the want ad Abrv supposed to be EOE for "equal opportunity employer?"

    There was some good stuff in the puzzle, TWO BALL, CON ARTIST, AMATEUR - but the negatives won. The -INGs don't bother me. OTOH, Too much French. HOO-ha really does stink. And I hate "Start . . ." clues for prefixes, which are third class fill, anyway.

    I read DUNE 40 years age. Truly great book, but the sequels went downhill fast.

    I don't now anything about ORFF, alas. Carmina Burana is his setting of a group of poetic 11-13th century manuscripts - hymns, drinking songs, bawdy poetry - written in bad medieval Latin, sometimes in combination with the local French/German vernacular.

    The Detroit Symphony performed this a year or so ago - very exciting. The most famous and dramatic section is O Fortuna. If this doesn't make your blood run cold, and the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, check your pulse - to make sure you have one.

    "How I Met My Wife" is a hoot. It looks familiar, but I don't remember linking to it in the past. Must be getting senile. Oh, well.

    Cheers!
    JzB the AMATEUR trombonist

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  32. Missed posting the last few days as we were busy with the boys. Hope everyone had a nice New Year's Day. We certainly did. I did read about the passing of Dan Naddor and am very saddened by the news. I am guessing he is watching over CC's blog as we type away!!

    This was a tough one. I needed lots of red letter help, but there were also many really good clues. Some of which I still had trouble figuring out even after I filled them in. ESALEN and GAMBADO are two, PALOMAR was another, and shouldn't have been as I just returned from San Diego. It is on my list of things to do, but we haven't gotten there yet. Good thing we intend on going there often. SPRUCE GOOSE was a fun fill. Still tops on my list of things to see.

    JD you are so right about Palomar being in San Diego. If you aren't willing to drive, you shouldn't live there.

    We did a hike up the Cowles Mountain on New Year's Day. What a spectacular view, and great weather to boot. It was crowded though, but certainly a super way to celebrate the new year ringing in.

    I haven't yet figured out how to do a right click on my mac without the mouse. I have to do some tutorial stuff this week to get the hang of it. Still like it though. I am sure I will just keep liking it even more as the days roll on.

    Buckeye, that football team was outstanding yesterday. We were saddened as we were hoping to make it up to Pasadena to watch the Hawkeyes, but it wasn't to be. We are such Big Ten fans anyway though. Too bad Minnesota didn't do as well. Looking forward to that Iowa game coming up.

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  33. @buckeye Sorry to be a fence-sitter, but I was just looking for a good game. Got that. Ohio brother is ecstatic. Haven't talked to any of my OR cohorts yet, but I can bet they're down in the mouth. Following your posts? That's a task.

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  34. EEO also stands for Equal Employment Opportunity and they mean the same IMHO

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  35. Baaaad. Eppeeist, gabfest,

    Many good ones also.

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  36. Good afternoon now.

    I am sorry but Mt. Palomar is in
    San Diego County which extends all
    the way to Arizona. I would like to see you make it in 30 minutes
    to San Diego City. Or maybe not.

    I'll buy the 30 minutes from Carlsbad to San Diego. It is just
    a short 20 miles plus down I5.

    eddyB

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  37. Hi C.C. and bloggers:

    My mind is gone...it left this morning after I tried doing the puzzle.

    JD...I agree with you! I almost didn't want to post a comment after reading the nasties issued by Anon. I could not get the Mr. Peoples wave length on this one.
    Too many words that I had never heard of or had never used the way he did. It was more or less one big 'HUH'???

    CA - good for you on last nights comment to Anon. I am probably the one person on this blog that makes the most mistakes when it comes to punctuation marks. I will never completely understand them, even though I read 'the rules'.

    Dick - cute change of your picture! We all had such a good time that day.
    I still don't know how the ol' Spruce Goose made it into the air!

    Crockett and Buckeye: I actually watched the Rose Bowl yesterday..I don't know too much about football, but will say that Ohio proved the better team and it was exciting to watch if a bit of a letdown for us. I was the one who asked what a Buckeye was. Buckeye, didn't you mention something a day or so ago about them being poisonous???

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  38. Jazzbumpa said: ""How I Met My Wife" is a hoot. It looks familiar, but I don't remember linking to it in the past. Must be getting senile. Oh, well."

    No, no CRS for you. When C.C. wrote that, I thought I remembered pasting it into a post a couple of months back so it was probably my doing. It has been a favorite of mine since it first came out in the New Yorker.

    This puzzle was a little too hard for me. I would have given up if I had been doing it with pencil and paper. I got enough help online that I could finish it. Didn't like it much (no theme) but there were a couple of fun clues. I did know ESALEN having driven the coast of California many times. It takes longer than an Interstate but the scenery and ambience is worth it. You should all plan a slow trip driving from Malibu to northern California, through Santa Barbara, Harmony, Cambria, San Simeon, Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey, San Francisco, Mendocino and on up through the old-growth redwoods with lots of stops along the way.

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  39. Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

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  40. Bill G. Yes indeedy, that is a fine drive up Hwy 1. We've made it many times. But you did forget about passing through Oxnard, Ventura and Carpinteria on the way to Santa Barbara. Since Hwy 1 doesn't hug the coast there, it will make you appreciate the beauty to come.

    Carol, I hope last night's Anon took my post as constructive criticism, since I did sign my name and I hope I wasn't rude. His (or her) concern that the English language was being sacrificed because the noun, or adjective "set-up" was used somewhere, instead of the verb "set up", seemed to be rather extreme. Most of know the difference, and if we don't, it isn't the end of civilization as we know it. This is a crossword blog, where people exchange crossword comments with friends and grouse and grumble once in a while. With typos and all, it's all good fun.

    Anon@4:31, yes, C.C.'s blog is a fabulous work in progress and is getting better all the time.

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  41. No picture yet!

    (d) G.AMB.ADOES These were massive leather boots, reinforced with iron bands; attached to the saddle and used instead of stirrups.
    They were open on the outer side for easy access but sufficiently covered the rider's leg to protect from dirt. 'I make shift to ride about ten miles a day by virtue of certain implemetits called gambadoes where my feet stand firm as on a floor.' 1732.j. Swift, Correspondence. Materials Shoes: leather generally black, Morocco or Spanish leather. Heels Of leather, wood or cork. ]3oots: leather. www.theweebsite.com/18cgarb/1700.html

    Gambadoes - Leathern cases of stiff leather, used in Devonshire instead of boots; they are fastened to the saddle, and admit the leg, shoe ahd all: the .name was at first jocularly given.
    1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

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  42. @KQ Re: "I haven't yet figured out how to do a right click on my mac without the mouse"

    One way is to just do a regular "(left) click" while holding down the 'control" key

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  43. Spizboov, you rascal - great Mac tip.

    MJ - thanx. We aim to please.

    Bill G. - I'm sure you're right - or, at least, that's my story, now.

    Crocket - a preening duck is always Down in the mouth (rim shot.)

    Cheers!
    JzB the worked hard today trombonist

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  44. Oops, "Most of know the difference", should have been "Most of us know the difference". Nope, I'm not wasting a post, I wanted to cheer Argyle on. If anybody can find a picture, photo, or diagram of the dreaded GAMBADO (sounds like a poisonous snake), it is he.

    Jazzbumpa, I agree about the Dune series. It was a terrific premise. New ideas for sci-fi worlds are not easy to come by. Like so many, it hit the bricks running and (for me) fizzled with the follow-ups. My own favorite "sci-fi worlds" series are by Julian May, "The Saga of Pliocene Exile" and its sequel (and prequel) "Galactic Milieu Series". The nine novels that keep on folding back on themselves and their characters are fun and confusing to keep track of.

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  45. The mention of the Palomar Observatory took me back to my childhood. My father was an astrophysicist and frequently spent time at Mt. Palomar. Every once in a while, we would go as a family and spend the weekend there while he did his research. We would stay in a small cabin on the premises, which by my recollection was rather rustic. And what made this clue a total gimme for me today was that as I grew up, over our mantle at home, where most people had family photos or a nice piece of art work, hang a very large picture of "The 200-inch Hale Telescope, Looking East" . I often wondered why it mattered which way the telescope was facing. :)

    Re: The discussion of punctuation, etc. When I post on this blog, or send an e-mail to a friend, I don't necessarily follow grammar "rules." Like when I use an incomplete sentence. 'Nuff said.

    @eddyB-You are correct that Mt. Palomar is in San Diego County. However, the eastern border of the county is about halfway across the state, with Imperial County lying between SD Co. and Arizona.

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  46. Sorry, but 'cherished' and 'pet' do not go together.

    There are no numbered balls in billiards, only two red ones and a white one. No pockets on a billiard table either.

    Crockett, you're a stand-up guy.

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  47. @ClearAyes
    Your comments to the @Anons of the blog were polite and 'Right-On' ... if they are so lazy as to not identify themselves, well they should just keep it quiet.

    @John re:DUNE
    Herbert jumped out to me. Probably the only Sci-Fi book I ever read. I was one of the few who really likes the movie.

    Mary cherished being the teachers PET. It fell in place by the crosses, then I moved on.

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  48. Right. I was thinking about Riverside County. My point was
    that the city and county of San Diego are different unlike Philadelphia or San Francisco.
    Out here distance is measured in time. Ten miles on the freeway can take 10 min or an hour depending
    on the day or time of day.

    One might make the trip if flying a Dakota in 30 min, but not by
    auto.

    eddyB

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  49. Riddle:

    What does Anon have in common with Sauron (or Tom Riddle, come to think of it.)

    Each is "He who must not be named."

    Lo siento. Best I could do on the spur of the moment.

    Cheers!
    Jzb the occasionally humerous trombonist

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  50. EddyB, JD never said Palomar was 1/2 hour from San Diego. She was stating that Carlsbad was, and given the size of California that is considered a minor distance.

    Per google maps, the observatory is about 1 3/4 hours away. However, San Diego is the closest major city. When I told friends that I was going to be spending time in San Diego, I was frequently told to visit this site as it was a good "day trip".

    San Diego was simply CC's reference point and it seems reasonable. Hope that is the end of this.

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  51. Sorry Eddy, I must have missed an earlier post. All I was saying is that it was in SD County. Looking at that map I posted I believe it would take longer than 30 min. The 30 min was giving more of a distance type of thing since no one in CA ever talks about miles...it's just how long does it take to get there?

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  52. Argyle:
    gambado?

    Can't quite make the connection to gambado, but I think this is what is meant

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  53. JD, LOL, Ain't that the truth. I can't remember the last time I said that thus-and-such was so many miles away. It is always a ballpark estimate of how long it takes to get there. Is that really a Californian quirk, or do residents of other states do that too?

    BTW, how long will it take everyone else to stop writing 2009 on their checks, memos, etc. and start writing 2010? It is usually two weeks + for me.

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  54. Spitzboov, it seems to be clear that gambadoes are attached to the saddle. Gaiters and chaps are worn on the leg.

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  55. @JD. When you said,"I used to live in Carlsbad, and SD was 1/2 hour
    south. Palomar is NE". I took that as your saying Palomar was 1/2 hour
    from SD.

    We live 40 min from our son's place in Burlingame.

    Misunderstanding over.

    I didn't open your link. I was looking at my map.

    eddyB

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  56. Are any of you watching the Florida Gators/Cinn. bowl game? What's going on? They're showing the plays and cutting out all the in between stuff. That's OK with me but I've never seen it done before.

    ~ Bill G

    ReplyDelete
  57. @Bill G.
    The Gators won, 51-24 ... last night.

    @Anon
    Google "Riddles" ... your large blank space is annoying

    ReplyDelete
  58. "@Bill G.
    The Gators won, 51-24 ... last night."

    Oops. Well, don't I feel silly!

    Spitzboov said: "BTW, hope you have been enjoying Jupiter's nightly appearance this Fall and Winter. In the latitude of NY at 6 pm it can be seen in the SW at ¼ the altitude from horizon to zenith."

    Do you have a telescope or a good pair of binoculars to enjoy the Galilean moons? It was the first thing I can remember marveling at when my parents got me a 3-inch reflecting telescope for a Christmas present.

    ~ Bill G.

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  59. Thanks for pointing out "How I Met My Wife". I'd provided the link to the definition, but hadn't read the story. I love that sort of thing, and the reading was so easy, even in the negative.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Annette, you are welcome. I first saw that in the New Yorker about 30 years ago. I liked it so much, I typed it into a word processing program to preserve it before I had access to it via the Internet. It is a classic.

    ~ Bill G.

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  61. Hello All--When I looked at the puzzle early this morning, I put it away and didn't even try to do it until this afternoon when I had more time to ponder the long fills. After doing the perps in the top half I suddendly had the whole upper half finished. Too bad my brain went walking after that, because I had a lot of blank areas when I came to find the answers from C.C.

    I have the same comments as almost everyone else Gambado? Epeeist? and Orff? Since I have never played pool the Blue pool target went right over my head.

    C.C. I've had ravioli stuffed with a Butternut Squash filling which was superb. I think that the filling can be anything a clever chef can think of putting in that little pasta pillow.

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  62. Chickie said: "I've had ravioli stuffed with a Butternut Squash filling which was superb. I think that the filling can be anything a clever chef can think of putting in that little pasta pillow."

    Me too, at a restaurant here in town. Great stuff! We order it as an appetizer every time we go there.

    ~ Bill G.

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  63. Yes, Carol. The buckeye nut or seed is toxic to some animals. In fact, the whole tree contains toxins. The seeds (nuts) are eat-en by some animals like the California ground squirrel, wood rat, deer mice and black tail deer. They are very bitter and humans can get ill if they're dumb enough to eat something so unpalatable. Of course the California squirrel will eat almost ANY nut.

    I must be off

    ReplyDelete
  64. Happy New Year Buckeye I enjoy reading your posts. I always a Buckeye was an Ohio State fan.

    Hoo-ha: means something else maybe one of the d'fettes would like to explain.

    O Fortuna composer Carl Orff

    That song was in the John Travolta movie The Generals Daughter. When Col. Moore (James Woods) shot himself.

    Carl Orff

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  65. I just started doing crossword puzzles again 40 years after college. Fun! I love your blog, CC. "in the stars" was mentioned in Julius Caesar (Shakespeare's) "Dune" was a good movie, but a very long and pretty boring novel. Rapping was an old word I remember from the 70's which meant any cool conversation among cool people. I never heard of "gambados" even though I've always been a total horse freak.

    ReplyDelete

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