google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday February 13, 2010 Mark Diehl

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Feb 13, 2010

Saturday February 13, 2010 Mark Diehl

Theme: None

Total blocks: 25

Total words: 66

This grid looks so clean, with no cheater/helper square. Only 25 black squares, the fewest I've seen in a LAT puzzle. The word count is quite low too.

Some of entries are quite fresh, and I love the clever use of "er" in the below clues:

13D. Old rubber?: ALADDIN. Rubber, one who rubs. When Aladdin rubs his oil lamp and magic appears.

38D. Art that requires a folder: ORIGAMI. Folder, one who folds. Not the portfolio folder.

But too many ER suffixes in grid answers:

53A. New __: AGER

63A. Wooers, perhaps: SERENADERS

40. Flautist: TOOTLER

43D. Slumber party?: SNOOZER. Party here means "participant". Great clue.

44D. R&D employees: TESTERS. Clue is asking for an abbreviated answer.

Tough slog today. Totally out of sync with this constructor Mark Diehl. We definitely do not speak the same language. Troubles everywhere.

Across:

1. Blended condiment: GARLIC SALT. Awesome answer.

11. Tricked twin: ESAU. He was tricked into selling his birthright to his brother Jacob. For some lentil soup.

15. She received a Best Actress nomination for "A Man and a Woman": ANOUK AIMEE. Always nice to have a full name. We often see AIMEE clued as "French Actress".

16. Not sharp: DULL

17. 2005 award for Leigh Ann Hester, the first woman to win it since WWII: SILVER STAR. I've never heard of Leigh Ann Hester, who was awarded the star for her heroic actions in Iraq War. Dennis has a Purple Heart.

18. "My word!": I SAY

19. Corner piece: ELL

20. Blind dates, e.g.: SETUPS

21. Youngsters: TADS. Learned this "youngster" meaning last time it appeared in the grid.

22. Auvers-sur-__, where van Gogh spent his final days: OISE. A commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris. Stumper. I only knew he did not die in Arles.

24. Prompter's cue: TEN SECONDS. Cool answer.

26. Common front: UNITY

28. Royale or Flying Cloud: REO. Wikipedia says REO's two most memorable cars were its Reo Flying Cloud introduced in 1927 and the Reo Royale 8 of 1931.

29. Bushmiller who created the comic "Nancy": ERNIE. Nope. He's not in my memory bank.

30. Campus big shot, often: SENIOR. BMOC (Big Man On Campus) used to befuddle me.

32. Finns' neighbors: RUSSIANS. Too many space for my first reaction: SWEDES.

34. Take into custody, in a way: CUFF

36. "Toodles!": TATA. Wikipedia says "Toodles!" is a shortened, more casual version of the French expression à tout à l'heure (Anglicized as "toodle-oo"), meaning "goodbye". I am surprised I've never heard of it before.

37. Bikini feature in a 1960 hit: POLKA DOT. "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini".

41. NASDAQ neighborhood: WALL ST. So simple in retrospect.

45. Dizzy: AREEL. Or A-REEL like A-LOP, Argyle?

46. Napoléon or Yves, e.g.: NOM. Both French given names.

48. Despicable sort: SWINE

49. Parts of feet: LITTLE TOES. Came to me with difficulty.

52. Deal busters, at times: EGOS. True.

54. Magic 8 Ball maker: MATTEL. Have yet to see HASBRO in a LAT puzzle.

56. "Joking!": NOT

57. Author Hoag: TAMI. Saw her name mentioned in blog Comments section a few times.

58. Provide armed forces for: MILITARIZE

60. Enclosed in: AMID

61. Weather station gadget: ANEMOMETER. Wind-speed measuring instrument. Anemo is a prefix for "wind".

62. Related business products: LINE

Down:

1. Like neon: GASEOUS. Or INERT.

2. Polyurethane compound: ANILINE. Used in dyes. I only know ANIL, which is clued as "Indigo dye source" sometimes.

3. Arrives at last: ROLLS IN. Can you make a sentence for me?

4. Word on a candy heart: LUV. Timely. With the Valentine's Day tomorrow. I LUV U!

5. Turner and others: IKES

6. Proofreader's mark: CARET. ^

7. Moon Unit, to Dweezil: SISTER. Both Frank Zappa's kids. Very strange names.

8. Radio part: AM TUNER

9. Is dramatically revealed to, with "at": LEAPS OUT

10. To the point: TERSE

11. Opinion page perspective: EDITORIAL WE. Shouldn't it be "Opinion page pronoun"? "Perspective" is asking for a "view", no?

12. Foster title girl: SUSANNA. I am totally confused by the clue. Does it refer to this Susana Foster? Why "title girl" in the clue? (Updated later: The title girl refers to the song "Oh! Susanna" by Stephen Foster. Thanks, Al!)

14. Rutherford's predecessor: ULYSSES (Grant)

23. Disneyland's Matterhorn, once: E TICKET RIDE. I peeked at the cheat sheet.

25. Fronton gear: CESTAS. The jai alai on his right hand. Fronton is an arena for jai alai. New to me.

27. Southern address: YOU-ALL.

31. Rural mail letters: RFD (Rural Free Delivery)

33. Took in: SAW

35. "Suspicion" Oscar winner, 1941: FONTAINE (Joan). Sister of Olivia de Havilland. Both still alive.

37. Like some consonants, as the nasal "n": PALATAL

39. McCartney hit about his relatives: LET 'EM IN. Here is the clip. Doesn't ring a bell.

42. Soft coal: LIGNITE. Another new word. Lign(i) a prefix for "wood".

47. Period of self-indulgence: ME TIME

50. Samms and Lazarus: EMMAS

51. Not likely to be talked out of: SET ON. Obtained the answer from crosses. I don't like two SETs in one grid. See also 20A.

55. High holy man?: LAMA. Lamas live in Tibet, the highest region on earth, hence "High" in the clue?

59. Elmo's color: RED

58 comments:

Al said...

Morning, all, what a tough puzzle today, very difficult to get started with long words and phrases I have never seen or used. After finishing, I had to look up EDITORIAL WE (We are not amused) and E TICKET RIDE. With all the Disneyland hype, everyone knows about the place, but having never been there, I had never heard of an E-Ticket. I only got it because the cross could only be OISE, the river in quite a few crosswords. Never heard of Fronton or Cesta, either. I think the (Stephen) Foster title girl is the song: "Oh Susanna". Wanted antenna at first for AM TUNER, so that threw me off for awhile. And I barely remember Nancy and Sluggo, let alone the cartoonist's name. Some pretty common stuff is all I'm sayin'. NOT!

Anonymous said...

A simpleton, like myself, yearns for puzzles to be at least half solvable. I look foward to Sunday puzzles now, whereas I used to dread them.

John said...

I do puzzle for fun. This one did not deliver.

George said...

I too had a hard time mind melding with Mr. Diehl, although since I am 68, some of the harder ones for you younger people I knew. I am a jai alai fan and knew of the cesta and pelota. I have also had to present the e ticket to ride the Matterhorn. I was just one year out of highschool when the yellow polka dot bikini was popular. All in all, a tough puzzle but fun.

windhover said...

CC:

Windhover always rolls in(to) a meeting a few minutes late.

MJ said...

Good morning, C.C. and all,
I thought this puzzle was perfect for a Saturday, with much clever clueing. Loved "Slumber party?", "Art that requires a folder", and had to smile at "Moon Unit to Dweezil." I saw a televised interview with the Zappa family once, and they definitely are unique people. Had to resort to the g-spot at the end to finish CESTAS (never heard of Fronton) and LIGNITE which sealed the deal.

C.C., for 3D one might say, "The party had been going on for hours when they finally rolled in."

Enjoy the day!

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

Al,
I've added your SUSANNA correction to my original write-up. Thank you.

George,
Hey, you turned blue on your first post! Welcome!

Frenchie,
You mentioned in your profile that "Joy and laughter are my D.O.C.". What does D.O.C. mean?

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

Windhover & MJ,
Thanks for the examples. When I checked the Dictionary, it gives "Roll in the Hay" as a slang for " an instance of sexual intercourse". True?

Dick said...

Good morning C.C. and All, not a fun trip this morning. I struggled to get going, working my way through the grid twice before I had any blanks filled. My problems were the same ones as Al plus lots of others. I had "OISE" which gave me the "E" in 23D giving me "etick" as the first letters and I kept thinking WTH is that.


With help from the perps and a few trips to Mr. G. I was able to complete the c/w, but it was not a fun trip. I never really got in tune with the constructor.

The tragedy at the Olympics was very sad and must cast a pall over all of the events.


I wonder how our friends in the east are making out with the clean up of all the snow.

Hope you all have a great Saturday.

Dennis said...

Good morning, C.C. and gang - wow, what a fun, challenging puzzle! So much more enjoyable than say, a 'fill-in-the-blanks' Monday. I guess my mind's wired differently than most; I view puzzles like this one almost like a scavenger hunt, chasing down answers I don't know, but also learning in the process.

I love the long fills and this one certainly has plenty. E-ticket ride and editorial we were both gimmes once I had a couple letters, but I had more 'look-ups' than I can take room for here. Anouk Aimee must be such a favorite of constructors, due to the excellent vowel/consonant ratio. Fronton/cesta/pelota have all become gimmes from past crosswords. And my favorite clues: 'old rubber' and 'art that requires a folder.

George, welcome to the group; good of you to join us.

Dick, it's still a mess here. There's still a few pockets that've been without electricity since Saturday. I've got so much snow on the roof our ranch looks like a two-story. And another snow storm forecast for Monday night/Tuesday.

19 & a w/u. You guys in south Florida, when the hell is it gonna warm up down there??

Bob said...

A definite Saturday challenge today. One error, which in hindsight I should not have missed--OISA instead of OISE at 22A. It came down to an A or E at the end, but I was focused more on 23D than on 22A, which I had seen before. I didn't get any traction until I got down to the SE corner. 46 minutes.

Anonymous said...

In reference to your comment regarding 55 down - high holy man - I believe that the constructor was referring to the Dahli Lama not llamas!
I really disliked this puzzle!! Editorial We put me over the edge!
I hate to admit it, but I loved Nancy comic books when I was young, so Ernie was one of the answers that came easily.

kazie said...

Dead loss for me today. After my first pass, I checked all that would be needing the g'spot, and there were 17, I only had 15 filled, so I figured it was time to come here. But I put it down and when I came back to it, I got a couple more. Finally had only the SE corner except 61A, which I've never heard of--I tried HYDROMETER there. So this time I gave up and cam here. there just aren't enough hours in a day to spend so long looking everything up.

I actually had EDITORIAL WE, but couldn't see it. I'm more familiar with the "royal plural" referring to Queen Victoria. For the Van Gogh one, I was looking for a southern river, had Tarn. And NOM didn't even occur to me. I do remember Nancy and Sluggo, but at that age who of us looked at the authors' names?

I agree with Al's summary on how I feel too. Certainly no fun when it's this obscure.

Bill G. said...

I decided ahead of time to skip the Saturday puzzles because they are themeless. After reading the comments, I'm sure it was a good decision for me.

I might have gotten EDITORIAL WE because there was a PhD who used to e-mail me answers to my puzzle column who always referred to himself as WE. I thought maybe he was speaking of his wife too, but no. It seemed artificial and uppity to me.

I saw on MSNBC where 49 of the 50 states had snow, Hawaii being the exception. Wow! I hope all of you are doing OK.

Argyle said...

I've lost my llama; anybody seen any llamas around here?

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, I started this puzzle last night and I almost gave up after just a few clues. But I did get GASEOUS, LUVS, IKES, CARET and SISTER, so I had some traction to work with to get GARLIC SALT and ANOUK AIMEE.

The rest of the puzzle was like the song from "The Music Man", "Pick A Little, Talk A Little", but I was just picking and not doing any talking.

I had to come here to finish off EDITORIAL--. I'm with Kazie, I have always thought of it as a "royal we", as in Queen Victoria's reputed comment, "We are not amused."

I bet the Florida people had better luck with "Fronton gear", but I had no idea how to end CESTA-. That messed up 48A ---NE because I didn't know LIGNITE either, leaving 52A "Deal busters at times" as --OS.

Good perps help in the SW corner, even though I wasn't sure of PALATAL and ORIGAMI was a definite "Aha!" moment. I still have a Disneyland ticket booklet around somewhere. I don't think it has any E-TICKETs in it though. I probably used them to ride the Matterhorn.

I really like the challenge of the Saturday puzzles. After coming here for so long, I get a smile out of completing words that I wouldn't have just last year. ANILINE and ANOMOMETER were not words I would have finished (OK, I needed the perps), but thanks to Dr.Dad and others, I have gotten better with science fill.

Yes, C.C. "ROLL IN the hay" definitely has a sexual connotation. The lead up to Roll In The Hay from "Young Frankenstein".

Anonymous said...

Lamas do live in Tibet, but the chief leader Dalai Lama lives in India.

Mary said...

Hi CC and gang,
Another Saturday and time on my hands to do the puzzle and comment too. I'm with Dennis, I love the challenge of Saturdays!
First pass was pretty skimpy, but it was that much more fun when things started appearing. GAR gave me garlic salt. IAL gave me editorial, WE came much later. Like the royal we.
I still had 12 missing when I decided I was ready to visit Mr. G. I looked up 5 and had enough to fill in the rest. TAMI Hoag, ERNIE Bushmiller, fronton gear, OISE and PALATAL were the lookups.
My favorites were Bikini feature, old rubber, art that requires a folder and high holy man. Period of self-indulgence too, needed for Saturday puzzles.
Sun's shining in Chicago. I thought of CA's poem while Joe and I shoveled snow this week.

JD said...

Good morning all,

For some reason I have not been able to get the puzzle on line for the last few days. Has anyone else encountered this? Has it become a monthly subscription? In the SJ Mercury it is teeny tiny and it is in the sports section.Cutting it out or "borrowing" that page would be a catastrophe in our house.
Luckily this morning there were only ads on the back. The puzzle was way too hard for me but little toes was one of the few that came right away. Hated tootler. Blaah! Wrote Anouk Aimee's name backwards..should have G'd. Would have done better.
Loved garlic salt and origami.

Finally on the mend...

carol said...

Ouch, Ouch!!! I echo C.C.'s thoughts on being out of sync with Mr. Diehl. My prat hurts, my head is bald and I did NOT finish this.

I confidently put EDITORIAL in for 11D only to have 2 empty squares staring at me...I was NOT amused!

As you can see, the above is all about the top half of said puzzle. I will make a brave effort to continue but my ego is bruised. sigh.

Anonymous said...

This one was an extremely tough slog for me. Even after seeing the answers there were still big ???? all over the place. I had to look up Al's link to figure out E ticket ride - before the advent of one price to enter and ride all you want. There were some really clever clues, but unfortunately not enough of them to give me traction to get the rest of the puzzle.

CC, as Windhover says, ROLLS IN almost always refers to someone arriving at the last minute or late.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Lucina said...

Good morning C. C. and fellow puzzlers, Yes this was a slog, but I feel like Dennis, it is a scavenger hunt and finding just the right word brings excitement to me.
Fronton, though Spanish, was new to me but then I am not a sports fan; the accent is on the last syllable and I know that cesta is a basket but since I had mistakenly worked out "tenee" to start 24A, it took much more than ten seconds to decipher that one.

My only lookups were the Oscar winners because I am set on continuing until I either guess or a light turns on. At my age, the bulbs are dimmer and dimmer.

C. C. and Cookie, re yesterdsy's discussion of sounds, this came out of the deep recesses of my mind from teaching phonics, "when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking." So, the first vowel in a pair is usually pronounced and it's a long sound, boat, meat, etc.

I had the same problems as you all did though I was amused with "tootler" and I recall the "e ticket ride" from having taken my daughter to DLND, decades ago.

To me, all puzzles are fun, even these challenging ones, so you who are new to the game, please hang in there; it grows over time and I've had lots of it.

Here in Arizona, the snow is confined to the north where it's mountainous. Every winter brings snow the Flagstaff and Grand Canyon areas.
Hast luego. Take care and happy Valentine's Day.

Lemonade714 said...

I enjoyed this really straight forward Saturday effort.


You Minnesotans should be proud of TAMI HOAG and you probably have lots of ANEMOMETERS while you drive.

I enjoyed reading NANCY when I was very little. I always love a reference to Emma Samma .

I enjoyed A Man and A Woman with Anouk Aimee .

They opened Disneyworld down the road the year I started law school, so I used my share of E TICKETs but never on the Matterhorn.

We all should do a shout out to all our military and for Leigh Ann Hester .

Annette said...

I went through today's puzzle very slowly, yet it flowed pretty smoothly, with some heavy thinking! I had to constantly work the across and downs together. The last to fall was LIGNITE, which I just finally played red letter roulette to find the G and get my Ta-da! Other unknowns were revealed with perps and guesses.

I've heard of Jai Alai, and have driven past where it's played a few times, but have never gone in, and didn't know the name of the gear used. After a few letters filled in, I finally did figure it out.

32A Finn's neighbors - I was thinking along the lines of Huck Finn. I even put in RUFFIANS at one point.

I have no idea where ANEMOMETER came from! It was as though my fingers were typing it of their own accord... I probably haven't heard that word since I took an Astronomy/Weather elective back in high school.

Dennis: We're wondering the same thing! Last night, I went out to dinner and the weather was beautiful. About 15 minutes after being seated, we noticed it was POURING rain, but still warm. This morning, I woke up to a pretty, sunny day - until I walked down the driveway to pick up the paper - and it felt COLD!!!

Warren said...

Hi C.C. & gang, For the Saturday puzzle I go online in red and my wife does it in pencil with me checking the answers... It seems that that's the only way we can finish a Saturday in a reasonable amount of time.

I couldn't resist, here's a link to a cute version of 'itsy bitxy teeie weenie yellow polka-dot bikini.

Clear Ayes said...

Lemonade, thanks for the heads up on TAMI Hoag. I don't read romance novels, but for some reason I remembered her name. I didn't have any idea there were so many kinds on ANEMOMETERs either.

Doesn't look like a famous Canadian puzzle today, but if you saw the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Olympics, they were coming out of the woodwork. I really enjoyed the emphasis on the First Nations participation.

Mary, glad you remembered the Billy Collins poem about shoveling snow with Buddha. I bet the Dalai Lama would like it too.

Dennis said...

CA, is it just me or have we not seen 'anemometer' at least twice before in the past 6 months?

Lucinda, I never heard the "when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking" line before; a good lesson. Also, your "at my age, the bulbs are dimmer and dimmer" really struck a nerve -- very well put.

Annette, yeah, I've been following the weather down there and it's certainly not 'Florida-ish' yet. Hopefully that'll change in the next few weeks, although frankly anything's better than Alaska East here in south Jersey. My buddy, who lives in Anchorage, called to laugh at me; we've gotten more snow here in the past three weeks than he's had in a couple months total.

Argyle said...

I'm not sure if Lemonade714 meant this when he wrote, You Minnesotans... probably have lots of ANEMOMETERS while you drive. but most cars have Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensors that are hot wire anemometers using a very fine wire or wires, electrically heated, and the air flowing past the wire has a cooling effect on the wire. It is placed in the air intake of the engine to measure the speed of the air being inducted into the cylinders. This is used to compute the amount of fuel to be supplied to the engine. The air flow itself is still controlled by a throttle.

Anonymous said...

"If Buckeye doesn't roll in soon, the cake will be all gone!"

And yes, C.C., a "roll in the hay" is slang for having sex.

This one started out to be pretty awful, but I finally got almost all of it with perps. A few were words I knew, "lignite (it's mined somewhere in N. Dak. I think)", "Tami", "Oise", "Susanna"
but even those didn't come until a letter or two showed up. That's the way I love cw's, though, The fun to me is working them out.

Al, I think "We are not amused" was from Queen Victoria and therefore, the royal we, essentially the same thing as the editorial we except for the speaker's ID.

I don't really like garlic salt as a condiment, more of a seasoning. But that's probably all in the way it's used. I don't put it on the table, but use it in cooking when real garlic doesn't havppen to be in my cupboard.

No G-spot, at least! And it took some time.

I've been wondering if any one has broached the subject of Buckeye's offness. He keeps saying he must be, and sometimes he does seem way off. I would say maybe a little off, but not too bad. What do YOU ALL think?

Later: I'm having trouble posting this. For some reason my ID has been wiped out and I can't decipher the security scramble. Help! 'Tis I, Dodo.

Sorry about repeating so many of the already printed comments. I decided this time not too read the whole list before I commented. You know what happens to short-term memory in the ag-ed.

I do hope I'm not to be banned forever!

dodo said...

Testing

MR ED said...

C.C.,
Could you, or anyone else for that matter, please explain 13D old rubber=aladdin to me

papajim said...

i always thought that the song "let them in" was a Beatles song about trying to play in the USSR.
jim

Anonymous said...

@Mr. Ed,

C.C. wrote

"13D. Old rubber?: ALADDIN. Rubber, one who rubs. When Aladdin rubs his oil lamp and magic appears."

Clear Ayes said...

Dennis, I'm pretty sure it's "Yes" to the ANEMOMETER, although it might have been just "Meter prefix" with ANEMO for the fill. At any rate, it came to me rather easily today and I would have been totally stuck a year ago.

Dodo, don't worry about being banned for a longish post. You are proving to be a welcome and interesting contributor. C.C. has mentioned before that our first posts can be long if they relate to the puzzle. Our other four posts should be shorter, particularly if they are off the puzzle topic I have to admit, I'm often an offender when it comes to the longish later posts.

BTW, Buckeye is an original. I fell for him early on when I laughed at a very dark joke he made. (He'll remember the one.) His double meaning sign-off is exactly as he wants it. Pay attention and you will be able to tell when he is kidding around and when he is serious....or maybe not. I think that is also exactly the way he wants it.

dodo said...

"If Buckeye doesn't roll in soon, the cake will be all gone!"

And yes, C.C., a "roll in the hay" is slang for having sex.

This one started out to be pretty awful, but I finally got almost all of it with perps. A few were words I knew, "lignite (it's mined somewhere in N. Dak. I think)", "Tami", "Oise", "Susanna"
but even those didn't come until a letter or two showed up. That's the way I love cw's, though, The fun to me is working them out.

Al, I think "We are not amused" was from Queen Victoria and therefore, the royal we, essentially the same thing as the editorial we except for the speaker's ID.

I don't really like garlic salt as a condiment, more of a seasoning. But that's probably all in the way it's used. I don't put it on the table, but use it in cooking when real garlic doesn't havppen to be in my cupboard.

No G-spot, at least! And it took some time.

I've been wondering if any one has broached the subject of Buckeye's offness. He keeps saying he must be, and sometimes he does seem way off. I would say maybe a little off, but not too bad. What do YOU ALL think?

MR ED said...

Anon @ 2:58PM,
Thanks for the explanation on the Aladdin clue.

I just saw yesterday's puzzle....
'no means of support'!!!

Entropy said...

Well this was more like it.
Disorder all over the place.
Could not get a toe hold on the clues. OK, maybe a 'little toes' hold but not much.

I gave up after about an hour with my grid looking to be an ink blot testers delight.

I guess Saturday is beyond my range so I'll wait for the Monday snoozer.

Bill G. said...

Did any of you do the CrosSynergy puzzle today? I figured out the four theme answers but didn't see the connection to the puzzle's title. The theme answers were a common phrase changed by adding the letter O, as in taking Teachers Pet and changing it to TEACHERSPOET. The title of the puzzle was Bear Hugs.

Anonymous said...

entropy, or you could let tinbeni have a shot at it. LOL!!

dodo said...

ClearAyes, Thanks, neighbor! My comment got a bit long what with my worry about lack of ID. At least no one stole it, but who would want it, anyway? However, here I am anonymous again. Should I never log out? What am I doing wrong?
Yup, Buckeye is A-okay, isn't he?
BTW, what happened to Dot?

Al said...

@Bill G. re: CrosSynergy: Adding XXX to the bottom of a handwritten letter (does anyone ever do that anymore?) always meant kisses and adding OOO meant hugs... Not sure where the bear comes in, perhaps a regional difference. I couldn't come up with anything that was a better explanation.

Bill G. said...

@Al: Thanks. Makes sense. Better than anything I could come up with.

Re: Llamas

The one-L lama,
He's a priest.
The two-L llama,
He's a beast.
And I would bet
A silk pajama
There isn't any
Three-L lllama.

Ogden Nash

Clear Ayes said...

GAH and I are heading to the annual local volunteer fireman fundraiser dinner dance. There are lots of fund raisers around here, but this is one we try not to miss. Those men and women work really hard to keep our area safe and free from harm. Oh yeah, they cook up some really good prime rib too!

Have a good evening everyone.

Robin said...

I Love the llama Bill G.....Thanks and way fun! I am nearly suicidal over Brad and Angela. I think Jenn will be on the loosing end of this BU** SH*T......Clear Ayes are we twins? Tami Hoag was a brilliant dressage rider. She was sweet as a dressage rider! Kiss a fireman for me, OK? Or at least a lingering hug!.....

Dixie Joy said...

I'm so late to the party. We had a little snow here, so everything came to a grinding halt. My paper did not come until late afternoon. I came here and tried to do it online, but I'm a crotchy thing and want my pen and newprint when I puzzle.

I liked this puzzle - much better than Friday's. The Moon Unit clue got me started and off I went even if I did not know some of the answers I got. Same boat as you, C. C.

But for the record - we Southerners really do not use "You all". We say "Y'all" (prounounced 'yawl'). Tennessee Williams and fake Southern tv shows say "You all". We don't.

Y'all have a nice evening now.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the help! I could never have done it by myself!
Snow is totally under control in my part of NY.
Looking forward to Sunday's puzzle. I usually do better on Sun than on Sat.

Bill G. said...

Dixie Joy: What I heard most often from waitresses was "Y'all come back now, y'hea!"

Anonymous said...

What fun are puzzles whenthe clues are so oblique and remote. Also grammar of clue and answer often are not appropriate. Suggestion - pay the same and have the puzzle makers make two puzzles. And please do not use the "made-up" words that you do unless you indicate they are made up. Also include in the clue how many words are in the answer. Puzzles are supposed to leave doers feeling good. Often your of late create more stress than success.

Dennis said...

anon@8:54, there are no "made-up words" in these crosswords. None. Not any.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Red Wings are closing out a win, after losing the last 4. Playoffs are only possible. They'll have to do well after the Olympic break to get in.

Today's puzzle was like the Wings - very uneven: some brilliance, some dreck, and one of the worst mistakes I've ever seen in a puzzle.

2D Polyurethane compound: ANILINE.

No. Irredeemably wrong. Not even close. In fact, the only valid answer for that clue would be the tautological POLYURETHANE (COMPOUND.)

ANILINE is a chemical which can be, via a series of chemical reactions, converted to methylene diphenyl diisocanate, (or lots of other things) from which a polyurethane can then be made by yet another chemical reaction. Aniline is several steps away from polyurethane formation. It is a decent Saturday fill, but the clue is abysmal.

I liked ORIGAMI and SNOOZER, which are clever, but not ALADDIN, which is too clever by half.

E TICKET RIDE? WTF?!? Wikipedia says the phrase "long-since passed into the lexicon of popular culture." As far as I know, it long since passed out again. Or maybe they never used it a Cedar Point.

The WALL ST, SWINE, EGOS stack is amusing, but it CUFFed me.
LITTLE TOES and TEN SECONDS are certainly fresh. Got stubbed by MIDDLE TOES for a long time. CESTAS is too obscure.

ANOUK AIMEE is always welcome, but OISE and NOM can go back to France.

Not a terrible puzzle, but not the way I want to spend my ME TIME.

Cheers!
JzB

Entropy said...

Dennis maybe you could have been easier on Anon 8:54.

After all, REO is a made-up word.

It's made up of the initials for Ransom Eli Olds, for whom the Oldsmobile and REO brands of autos were named.

Dennis said...

I'm pretty sure our anon friend meant a word made up by the constructor. Certainly he can't mean acronyms that are common knowledge.

Lemonade714 said...

Am I the only one wh thought the SIMS bikini thing really creepy?


Mary, what do you think? Marjorie Morningstar


It is good to honor honoring those who risk their lives, though I am not sure how kissing one will help, but being ecumenical Fire .

CA, thanks for remembering my Canadian hidden theme but this puzzle had only British references, so I guess my run is done.

Entropy said...

Dennis, of course that is what he meant.

I filled in the multiple blanks I had in the grid when I came here and went through the C.C. write up.

Then saw the earlier comment I looked at the words and the puzzle as a whole.

Only REO, LUV and TADS were anywhere close to the meaning he implied.
Tads for youngster was in a puzzle about 10 days ago. Then I said "Huh?" googled it and learned it was an old term, but an acceptable word nonetheless.

Jazzbumpa said...

I didn't think Dennis was being hard on anon, at all.

I thought the SIM was extremely creepy.

I'm pretty sure I'm tired.

Cheers & G'night YOUALL!
JzB

Dot said...

To all who found this puzzle, difficult, I found it impossible.

Dodo, I haven't commented for awhile because its so late at night or the next day before I've had time to read the blog. Some of the discussions I would really have liked to comment but even the West coasters were probably abed.

Our granddaughter and grandson live pretty close to Sycamore, IL and she was awakened by the earth quake. The things on her dresser were rattling & banging around. I don't think the grandson woke up until Keira woke him. He sleeps as soundly as My brother. When he was a teenager an air force plane crashed in our neighbor's yard & my brother did not wake up.

Lucina quoted the "When two vowels go walking the first one does the talking, and he always says his name. The other vowel remains silent" rule. I had just taught that to my two ESL students Wednesday, when the word create appeared in the reading. That required more teaching. The rule applies to one syllable words or words where the root word is one syllable. Every rule in the English language has its exceptions.

Dot

Argyle said...

Dot, the comment board is open 24/7. Some East Coasters are doing the puzzle on line in the middle of the night ;-) and the rest will check it in the morning. (But there are some that seemingly don't even read C.C.'s original post!)

Dick said...

JazzB @ 9:08, are you a chemist? My PhD chemist wife agrees with you completely on your polyurethane/aniline comment.