Theme: Diner Sandwiches - Familiar phrases wrapped around with letters BLT.
23A. *Site of illegal jobs?: BANK VAULT. I immediately thought of those meat factories where illegal immigrants are hired.
25. *Hit the roof: BLOW A GASKET
41A. *Not sportsmanlike: BELOW THE BELT
64A. *Unfamiliar subject: BLIND SPOT. Lots of blink spots for me on LAT Friday/Saturday puzzles.
87A. *Childbirth: BLESSED EVENT
109A. *Arena for illegal trading: BLACK MARKET. Hmm, two "illegal" references in the theme clues.
112A. *Easy way to win a game: BY DEFAULT. The other side fails to show up. How unsatisfying!
37D. *Checkup component: BLOOD COUNT
47D. *19-Across brand: BLUE BONNET. The only starred theme entry with food allusion. The cross-reference is OLEO (19A. Spread selection).
112D. Diner order found "sandwiched" around the answers to starred clues: BLT.
Today's puzzle was constructed by Rich Norris, editor of LA Times Daily Crossword. Sabrina Walden is just another of his pseudonyms, anagram of "Brand New Alias".
To those who are looking for food references after seeing the theme title, Rich gives us:
61A. Osso buco meat: VEAL
93A. Lunchroom staple, for short: PB AND J. I like peanut butter and honey.
119A. General __ chicken: TSO'S
15D. Sushi bar order: SASHIMI. Yummy, yummy.
83D. Sprinkling on French fries?: SEL. French for "salt".
86D. Sliced in thin strips: FINE CUT
The reason why unifying answer like today's BLT is usually placed at the end of the grid is because the constructors want solvers to enjoy the final "Aha" moments. But I always jump around and often obtain the unifier earlier on.
Today I got BLT rather quickly, and initially thought BLT might be sandwiched inside each theme phrase like Dan Naddor's "Heros Welcome", in which SUB is inserted in each theme entry. Had to re-read the clue for BLT after several theme entries emerged.
A few gnarly spots, but I enjoyed the solving (I really dread Saturday puzzles now). Always nice to read Rich's clues and his thinking unfiltered.
Across:
1. CBer's acknowledgment: COPY
9. Severe, as criticism: ACERB. Wanted HARSH.
14. Tests not for srs.: PSATS. For juniors.
20. Tug, say: BOAT. Tugboat.
21. Public commotion: FUROR
22. "Peter and the Wolf" bird: SASHA. Got it from crosses.
27. Compact summary: SYNOPSIS. So is aperçu.
28. Netflix delivery: VIDEO
29. Plate with five sides: HOME. Baseball home plate has five sides.
30. Irish-themed Vegas casino: O'SHEAS. Have never been to Vegas.
32. Board meeting VIP: SECY (Secretary)
33. Dived neatly (into): KNIFED. I don't get the clue.
35. Copyright pg. item: ISBN. Books.
38. Stars of old Rome?: ASTRA. Literally "stars" in Latin.
40. Oz creator: BAUM (L. Frank). "The Wizard of Oz". We also have the comic strip 72D. "The Wizard __": OF ID. Did you first pen in OF OZ also?
46. Awful: HORRIBLE
50. Newsworthy '90s jurist: ITO (Lance). O. J. Simpson trial judge.
51. Alabama rival: AUBURN. Their athletic teams is called Auburn Tigers.
52. Cruise stops: PORTS
54. Place to find loafers: SHOE STORES. Was thinking of the idle "loafers".
56. __ Alps: Eiger locale: BERNESE. And AARE (102A. Rhein feeder), which rises in the Bernese Alps. Also EUR (45D. Alps site).
58. Arles article: UNE. One.
59. Spreadsheet entry: DATUM.
60. Troubled: AILED
62. Holy, to René: SACRE. Sacre Coeur in Paris can make a man cry.
68. Exxon merger partner: MOBIL
69. Cyclo- ending: TRON. Cyclotron.
70. Where to see "The Sopranos" nowadays: A AND E. No problem parsing it today.
71. Boxer Marciano's birth name: ROCCO. Only know him as Rocky.
73. Country on the Rio de la Plata: Abbr.: URU (Uruguay). I was stumped.
74. Castle with a stone: BLARNEY. Blarney Stone.
77. Wildly excited: IN A FRENZY. Terrific entry.
81. "Gee!": MAN
82. Spanish poet García __: LORCA. Maybe a gimme for Clear Ayes. I don't know this fellow.
83. Arenas: STADIA. Have only used the plural stadiums.
84. Family tree word: NEE
85. Present: PUT FORTH. Of course I was in the gift "present" direction.
90. 500-mile race, briefly: INDY
91. Modesto winery name: GALLO. Did not know they are based in Modesto.
92. Yours, in Ypres: A TOI. Alliteration again. Ypres is a town in W Belgium. Who knows?
96. Unbending: FIRM
97. Bubbly brand that rhymes with an entrance chime: KORBEL. No idea. Wikipedia says it's founded by two Czechoslovakian brothers named Korbel.
103. How the confident do crosswords: IN INK. Ha ha, I do write in ink, though I need Wite-Out.
105. Ruffian: HOOLIGAN. I often associate this word with those unruly soccer fans in Britain.
113. Advantage: LEG UP
114. "Hollywood Nights" rocker Bob: SEGER
115. Wanton look: LEER
116. Expos, since 2005: NATS. Washington Nationals.
117. "Golden Boy" dramatist: ODETS (Clifford)
118. Irony, e.g.: TROPE
120. Chicago daily, familiarly: TRIB
Down:
2. Big name in skin care: OLAY. I love the smell of the Olay Original cream.
3. Philly school: PENN. Penn State. (Correction: It's University of Pennsylvania, thanks June & D.D.).
4. "Starpeace" musician: YOKO ONO. Surprised myself by getting the whole answer with just a few letters in place
5. Embarrass: ABASH
6. One of Donald Duck's nephews: LOUIE. Cheated on this one.
7. Ballroom dance: SALSA
8. Giant slugger: OTT (Mel)
9. Mil. jet locale: AFB (Air Force Base)
10. Drain: CULVERT. New word to me.
11. Beethoven's Third: EROICA. Originally dedicated to Napoleon.
12. Boisterous: ROWDY
13. Loch Lomond hill: BRAE. Learned from doing Xword.
14. Free TV spot: PSA
16. Want from: ASK OF
17. Central idea: THEME. BLT for today's puzzle.
18. Glutted: SATED
24. CEO's underlings: VPS
26. Amusement park attraction: GO KARTS
31. Sussex sword: SABRE. British spelling of "saber". Sussex is chosen for alliteration purpose.
32. Mo. town: STL. Nice play on Motown.
34. Care for: NURSE
35. Bird sacred to Tut: IBIS. I wonder why Egyptians consider ibis sacred, Al/MJ?
36. Genesis brother: SETH
39. Rep.'s counterpart: SEN
40. Bring to tears?: BORE. Bore to tears.
42. Refuse: WASTE
43. "The Nutcracker" garb: TUTU
44. Oppenheimer opposed it: H-BOMB
46. 1953 John Wayne film: HONDO. Nope. Here is the poster.
48. Maui neighbor: LANAI. The Pineapple Island.
49. ''The Girl Can't Help It'' actor Tom: EWELL. He's also in "The Seven Year Itch".
52. Scrub up, e.g.: PREP. In operation room I suppose.
55. Net: EARN
56. Fussbudget: BIDDY. Fussbudget is new to me.
57. Additional: ELSE
60. Ill-fated Boleyn: ANNE
61. Sotto __: softly: VOCE. Literally "voice" in Italian. Sotto = Under.
62. Confound: STUMP
63. Pianist Claudio: ARRAU. No idea. He's a Chilean pianist.
65. Durable wood: LARCH
66. Collector's suffix: IANA. As in Americana.
67. Sports headline item: TRADE
68. Jazz singer Carmen: MCRAE. Her name escaped me.
74. Like Dennis the Menace: BLOND. Did not know Dennis is blond.
75. Conrad novel: LORD JIM. See the book cover. Not in my memory file.
76. Chichi: ARTY
77. "Everything is fine": IT'S OK
78. __ in November: N AS. Not the rapper for a change.
79. Greek philosopher known for a paradox: ZENO. Zeno of Elea.
80. Himalayan legend: YETI
87. Beer server: BAR KEEP
88. Advanced legal deg.: LLM. Latin for "Lēgum Magister" (Master of Laws). Why two LL in the abbreviation?
89. Foster's prince: VALIANT. I was clueless. Comic strip "Prince Valiant". We often see ARN clued as "Prince Valiant's son".
91. __ biloba: claimed memory-enhancing extract: GINKGO. Does it work?
93. Artist Picasso: PABLO
94. In bundles: BALED
95. Very angry, after "in": A RAGE. In a rage.
96. One with an ax?: FIRER. Nailed it. One who gives others the ax (fires others).
98. "For sure!": OH YES
99. Where the big bucks are?: RODEO. I was thinking of money "big bucks".
100. Afrikaans speakers: BOERS
101. One of Santa's team: ELF
104. Tammany Hall caricaturist: NAST (Thomas). He created the GOP elephant and Democratic donkey as well.
106. Gum-producing plant: GUAR. It looks like this. The gum is from the seeds in those pods. Legume family.
107. Height: Pref.: ALTI. As in altitude.
108. U.S. accident investigator: NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board)
110. G.I. mess crews: KPS. KP - Kitchen Police.
111. Amount past due?: TRE. "Due" here is Italian for "two". Uno, due, tre. Can't fool me any more.
Answer grid.
C.C.
23A. *Site of illegal jobs?: BANK VAULT. I immediately thought of those meat factories where illegal immigrants are hired.
25. *Hit the roof: BLOW A GASKET
41A. *Not sportsmanlike: BELOW THE BELT
64A. *Unfamiliar subject: BLIND SPOT. Lots of blink spots for me on LAT Friday/Saturday puzzles.
87A. *Childbirth: BLESSED EVENT
109A. *Arena for illegal trading: BLACK MARKET. Hmm, two "illegal" references in the theme clues.
112A. *Easy way to win a game: BY DEFAULT. The other side fails to show up. How unsatisfying!
37D. *Checkup component: BLOOD COUNT
47D. *19-Across brand: BLUE BONNET. The only starred theme entry with food allusion. The cross-reference is OLEO (19A. Spread selection).
112D. Diner order found "sandwiched" around the answers to starred clues: BLT.
Today's puzzle was constructed by Rich Norris, editor of LA Times Daily Crossword. Sabrina Walden is just another of his pseudonyms, anagram of "Brand New Alias".
To those who are looking for food references after seeing the theme title, Rich gives us:
61A. Osso buco meat: VEAL
93A. Lunchroom staple, for short: PB AND J. I like peanut butter and honey.
119A. General __ chicken: TSO'S
15D. Sushi bar order: SASHIMI. Yummy, yummy.
83D. Sprinkling on French fries?: SEL. French for "salt".
86D. Sliced in thin strips: FINE CUT
The reason why unifying answer like today's BLT is usually placed at the end of the grid is because the constructors want solvers to enjoy the final "Aha" moments. But I always jump around and often obtain the unifier earlier on.
Today I got BLT rather quickly, and initially thought BLT might be sandwiched inside each theme phrase like Dan Naddor's "Heros Welcome", in which SUB is inserted in each theme entry. Had to re-read the clue for BLT after several theme entries emerged.
A few gnarly spots, but I enjoyed the solving (I really dread Saturday puzzles now). Always nice to read Rich's clues and his thinking unfiltered.
Across:
1. CBer's acknowledgment: COPY
9. Severe, as criticism: ACERB. Wanted HARSH.
14. Tests not for srs.: PSATS. For juniors.
20. Tug, say: BOAT. Tugboat.
21. Public commotion: FUROR
22. "Peter and the Wolf" bird: SASHA. Got it from crosses.
27. Compact summary: SYNOPSIS. So is aperçu.
28. Netflix delivery: VIDEO
29. Plate with five sides: HOME. Baseball home plate has five sides.
30. Irish-themed Vegas casino: O'SHEAS. Have never been to Vegas.
32. Board meeting VIP: SECY (Secretary)
33. Dived neatly (into): KNIFED. I don't get the clue.
35. Copyright pg. item: ISBN. Books.
38. Stars of old Rome?: ASTRA. Literally "stars" in Latin.
40. Oz creator: BAUM (L. Frank). "The Wizard of Oz". We also have the comic strip 72D. "The Wizard __": OF ID. Did you first pen in OF OZ also?
46. Awful: HORRIBLE
50. Newsworthy '90s jurist: ITO (Lance). O. J. Simpson trial judge.
51. Alabama rival: AUBURN. Their athletic teams is called Auburn Tigers.
52. Cruise stops: PORTS
54. Place to find loafers: SHOE STORES. Was thinking of the idle "loafers".
56. __ Alps: Eiger locale: BERNESE. And AARE (102A. Rhein feeder), which rises in the Bernese Alps. Also EUR (45D. Alps site).
58. Arles article: UNE. One.
59. Spreadsheet entry: DATUM.
60. Troubled: AILED
62. Holy, to René: SACRE. Sacre Coeur in Paris can make a man cry.
68. Exxon merger partner: MOBIL
69. Cyclo- ending: TRON. Cyclotron.
70. Where to see "The Sopranos" nowadays: A AND E. No problem parsing it today.
71. Boxer Marciano's birth name: ROCCO. Only know him as Rocky.
73. Country on the Rio de la Plata: Abbr.: URU (Uruguay). I was stumped.
74. Castle with a stone: BLARNEY. Blarney Stone.
77. Wildly excited: IN A FRENZY. Terrific entry.
81. "Gee!": MAN
82. Spanish poet García __: LORCA. Maybe a gimme for Clear Ayes. I don't know this fellow.
83. Arenas: STADIA. Have only used the plural stadiums.
84. Family tree word: NEE
85. Present: PUT FORTH. Of course I was in the gift "present" direction.
90. 500-mile race, briefly: INDY
91. Modesto winery name: GALLO. Did not know they are based in Modesto.
92. Yours, in Ypres: A TOI. Alliteration again. Ypres is a town in W Belgium. Who knows?
96. Unbending: FIRM
97. Bubbly brand that rhymes with an entrance chime: KORBEL. No idea. Wikipedia says it's founded by two Czechoslovakian brothers named Korbel.
103. How the confident do crosswords: IN INK. Ha ha, I do write in ink, though I need Wite-Out.
105. Ruffian: HOOLIGAN. I often associate this word with those unruly soccer fans in Britain.
113. Advantage: LEG UP
114. "Hollywood Nights" rocker Bob: SEGER
115. Wanton look: LEER
116. Expos, since 2005: NATS. Washington Nationals.
117. "Golden Boy" dramatist: ODETS (Clifford)
118. Irony, e.g.: TROPE
120. Chicago daily, familiarly: TRIB
Down:
2. Big name in skin care: OLAY. I love the smell of the Olay Original cream.
3. Philly school: PENN. Penn State. (Correction: It's University of Pennsylvania, thanks June & D.D.).
4. "Starpeace" musician: YOKO ONO. Surprised myself by getting the whole answer with just a few letters in place
5. Embarrass: ABASH
6. One of Donald Duck's nephews: LOUIE. Cheated on this one.
7. Ballroom dance: SALSA
8. Giant slugger: OTT (Mel)
9. Mil. jet locale: AFB (Air Force Base)
10. Drain: CULVERT. New word to me.
11. Beethoven's Third: EROICA. Originally dedicated to Napoleon.
12. Boisterous: ROWDY
13. Loch Lomond hill: BRAE. Learned from doing Xword.
14. Free TV spot: PSA
16. Want from: ASK OF
17. Central idea: THEME. BLT for today's puzzle.
18. Glutted: SATED
24. CEO's underlings: VPS
26. Amusement park attraction: GO KARTS
31. Sussex sword: SABRE. British spelling of "saber". Sussex is chosen for alliteration purpose.
32. Mo. town: STL. Nice play on Motown.
34. Care for: NURSE
35. Bird sacred to Tut: IBIS. I wonder why Egyptians consider ibis sacred, Al/MJ?
36. Genesis brother: SETH
39. Rep.'s counterpart: SEN
40. Bring to tears?: BORE. Bore to tears.
42. Refuse: WASTE
43. "The Nutcracker" garb: TUTU
44. Oppenheimer opposed it: H-BOMB
46. 1953 John Wayne film: HONDO. Nope. Here is the poster.
48. Maui neighbor: LANAI. The Pineapple Island.
49. ''The Girl Can't Help It'' actor Tom: EWELL. He's also in "The Seven Year Itch".
52. Scrub up, e.g.: PREP. In operation room I suppose.
55. Net: EARN
56. Fussbudget: BIDDY. Fussbudget is new to me.
57. Additional: ELSE
60. Ill-fated Boleyn: ANNE
61. Sotto __: softly: VOCE. Literally "voice" in Italian. Sotto = Under.
62. Confound: STUMP
63. Pianist Claudio: ARRAU. No idea. He's a Chilean pianist.
65. Durable wood: LARCH
66. Collector's suffix: IANA. As in Americana.
67. Sports headline item: TRADE
68. Jazz singer Carmen: MCRAE. Her name escaped me.
74. Like Dennis the Menace: BLOND. Did not know Dennis is blond.
75. Conrad novel: LORD JIM. See the book cover. Not in my memory file.
76. Chichi: ARTY
77. "Everything is fine": IT'S OK
78. __ in November: N AS. Not the rapper for a change.
79. Greek philosopher known for a paradox: ZENO. Zeno of Elea.
80. Himalayan legend: YETI
87. Beer server: BAR KEEP
88. Advanced legal deg.: LLM. Latin for "Lēgum Magister" (Master of Laws). Why two LL in the abbreviation?
89. Foster's prince: VALIANT. I was clueless. Comic strip "Prince Valiant". We often see ARN clued as "Prince Valiant's son".
91. __ biloba: claimed memory-enhancing extract: GINKGO. Does it work?
93. Artist Picasso: PABLO
94. In bundles: BALED
95. Very angry, after "in": A RAGE. In a rage.
96. One with an ax?: FIRER. Nailed it. One who gives others the ax (fires others).
98. "For sure!": OH YES
99. Where the big bucks are?: RODEO. I was thinking of money "big bucks".
100. Afrikaans speakers: BOERS
101. One of Santa's team: ELF
104. Tammany Hall caricaturist: NAST (Thomas). He created the GOP elephant and Democratic donkey as well.
106. Gum-producing plant: GUAR. It looks like this. The gum is from the seeds in those pods. Legume family.
107. Height: Pref.: ALTI. As in altitude.
108. U.S. accident investigator: NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board)
110. G.I. mess crews: KPS. KP - Kitchen Police.
111. Amount past due?: TRE. "Due" here is Italian for "two". Uno, due, tre. Can't fool me any more.
Answer grid.
C.C.
36 comments:
3 Down - Philly School - is the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) located right in Philadelphia. Penn State is in College Park, PA. I visit your blog everyday. Thanks for doing it.
Good Morning, CC. Well, I Confidently wrote IN INK several wrong answers! I had fun with this puzzle. I wasn't expecting to find the same BLT sandwich in all the theme clues, but it didn't take me long to realize that was what I was looking for.
Still, it wasn't and easy puzzle for me. I fell for the Wizard of Oz. The last time we had a similar clue, I went straight for ID.
I don't think I have ever said I KNIFED something in half. Sounds violent.
I'm not familiar with YOKO ONO's work, maybe today's QOD will explain ...
All my concerts had no sounds in them; they were completely silent. People had to make up their own music in their minds! ~ Yoko Ono
I am sure KQ will explain it better, but KNIFED refers to the precision in which a diver enters the water, cutting as cleanly as a knife.
Do I feel like an idiot! I read the clue wrong - I read Divided instead of Dived! Still, not being a swimmer, I wouldn't have understood the response.
@C.C. Knifing is a term used about diving into a pool, as from the high dive platform. A good dive entrance creates little or no splash, just as if you dropped a knife perfectly vertically into the water.
Had terrible instead of horrible for awhile. The Emmy-winning Dr. Horrible is one of my favorite musicals.
The Egyptian god Thoth (Djehuty) was said to be a son of RA, and was the deification of the moon. The Ibis is sacred because its beak resembles the crescent moon, and Thoth was pictured with the head of an Ibis. Alternatively also an orangutan. It's kind of confusing.
LL.M. is an abbreviation of the Latin Legum Magister, which means Master of Laws. In Latin, the plural form of a word is abbreviated by repeating the letter. Hence, "LL." is short for "laws."
Ginkgo Biloba has had a lot of research done. It is supposed to help glaucoma, autism, ADHD, diabetes, and many others. Greenmedinfo, is an entry point for the pubmed.gov site, indexed by substances and pathologies, and is an extermely valuable place to start if you want to start to gain control over your own health.
Sorry, that should have been a Thoth alternate as a baboon holding up the moon (instead of orangutan). Baboons are nocturnal animals (thus the moon?) which were regarded as intelligent.
Good morning, everyone!
Hi, June. Welcome to the blog! Glad you decided to join in.
Ahhh! Today's puzzle felt GOOD after the trouble I had with yesterday's. Not that it was easy, but it was doable for me with red letter help. Thanks, Sabrina (LOL - aka Rich)!
Donald Duck's nephews are Huey, Dewey and Louie.
I also put in OF OZ, then did a double-take when I glanced up and saw the red letters! But immediately knew to change OZ to ID. I wanted HARSH for 9A too.
I finally parsed A AND E correctly too! But didn't parse 78D as N AS 'in November' until seeing C.C.'s write-up! Also, didn't understand the usage of FIRER until coming here. I was thinking it was poor usage for 'fireman'.
I liked the clue for 99D RODEO too! 111D TRE totally fooled me!
C.C.
Your blogs are great, babe. About as much fun as the puzzle itself. But serious error. The University of Pennsylvania, aka Penn, is as the clue says, in Philadelphia, but Penn State, aka Pennsylvania State University, is located in the north central part of the state in a town named State College.
Please excuse the "babe". Since I am almost eighty I feel entitled to a few liberties.
D.D.
C.C.,
Thank you very much for your blog. When I get "62 D. Confound: STUMP-ed"on Sundays, it's a blessing to turn to a fellow cryptogram fan for advise. I also appreciate the tidbits you provide on the constuctors and their clues. Knowing how their minds work is an advantage on future puzzles. Another point of reference I use is Dictionary(dot)com's crossword section.
You had a few comments I would like to comment upon.
33 A. Dived neatly (into): KNIFED. I don't get the clue. I think the author was referring to the sport of diving.
71 A. Boxer Marciano's birth name: ROCCO. Only know him as Rocky. You were on the right track. He is of Italian decent, and "Rocky" is a pet name for "Rocco"
82 A. Spanish poet García __: LORCA. Maybe a gimme for Clear Ayes. I don't know this fellow. A famous bi-sexual, he was a lover of Salvador Dali during their youth. Only remember him from the movie "Little Ashes" (love foreign flicks. Only way I knew 56 A. __ Alps: Eiger locale: BERNESE. is from the German flick "North Face")
97 A. Bubbly brand that rhymes with an entrance chime: KORBEL. No idea. Wikipedia says it's founded by two Czechoslovakian brothers named Korbel. "Korbel" rhymes with "doorbell", the reference to "entrance chime".
88 D. Advanced legal deg.: LLM. Latin for "Lēgum Magister" (Master of Laws). Why two LL in the abbreviation? The two L's is because the word "legum" is a plural form of the word "lex", and so you put two L's when abbreviated. Some silly Latin rule.
Thank you very much for the correct answer to 57 D Additional: ELSE. Thought he was being redundant and put in "also". Made my trouble area clear afterwards. I was also thoroughly impressed that a non-American got the the "lunchroom staple" clue. My hat's off to you!
Please keep up the good work.
Hello all.
Official addres of PSU is University, Park, PA. Almost went there because they had a NROTC program.
eddyB
I don't like Saturday's themeless puzzles either as you know. I have a greatest respect for Rich but I didn't like this puzzle much. The theme was OK. It's hard to put my finger on what I didn't care for. Usually, I will read a clue, look at the length of the word with maybe a few letters filled in from crossing words and then my brain goes AHA! For whatever reason, that didn't happen very often today. But I did manage to finish it so that was satisfying. I'm guessing I would have given up had not red letters steered me away from some wrong answers.
Good Morning All, An excellent Sunday puzzle, even if I did work on it at 8PM on Saturday.
Over time, I've caught on to the *'d clues, so I zipped to the bottom to find the unifier. I had to get the perps LEER and TSO'S for BLT to knock me over the head. After that I knew all the theme answers started with B and ended with T. That helped. I just had to work on the position of the L.
Rich Norris/Sabrina Walden has the same consideration for solvers that Dan Naddor had. The unknown fill usually have enough doable perps so we can figure them out. I wasn't familiar with YOKO ONO's "Starpiece", LLM, ARRAU, or GUAR (and some other too), but friendly perps got me through it.
I really liked "Where the big bucks are?" for RODEO.
I didn't understand FIRER for "One with an ax?" for quite a while. Then I remembered that the George Clooney character in "Up In The Air" was a company Ax man. He traveled all over the country firing people.
I'm sure I've mentioned before that GALLO and Modesto go hand in hand. The GALLO Center for the Performing Arts is a big deal around these parts. Dodo, have you been there?
I was pleased to see Federico García LORCA's name. I’ll post one of his poems today. It may take a while. There are so many beautiful poems to pick from. (I just can’t bring myself to say “from which to pick”)
BTW Dodo & Bill G, Argyle mentioned it last night. Did you find the LAT puzzle under the cruciverb.com Archive heading on the right side of the page?
I am tired of General Tso’s chicken!
CLearAyes, what is rustling at 5 AM @ your house fer crying out loud and what is your GAH?? Is it any fun? Yes? send some my way!!!!!
Federico García Lorca wrote extensively about love, the Spanish Civil War, gypsies, death, bullfighting and his love for Spain. I don't think anyone can match his imagery.
Madrigal for the City of Santiago
It rains on Santiago
my sweet love.
White camellia of air,
sunlight in a veil.
It rains on Santiago,
in the dark night.
Grass of silver and dream
covers the empty moon.
See the rain in the streets,
the lament of stone and glass.
See on the fading wind
your sea’s shadow and ash.
Your sea’s shadow and ash,
Santiago, far from the sun:
shivering in my heart,
water of ancient dawn.
This poem is a tribute to Santiago de Compostela, which is in the northwest corner of Spain. The Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, according to tradition, is the burial place of the apostle Saint James. Santiago became a pilgrimage destination in the middle ages and thousands of pilgrims still make the journey today.
Robin LOL, GAH is my abbreviation for Golf Addicted Husband. At 5 AM he is rustling around on his own. I try to keep my head buried under the pillows until 7 AM. When he gets too noisy too early, I'd be glad to send him to Arizona! BTW, don't stay away so long.
CA asked about finding the LAT puzzle on Cruciverb. I do see it there but I get to it from the LAT website. I have that as my FireFox home page.
Had trouble with a lot of answers I should have known. Some days my mind doesn't seem to click into the right mode, I guess. Didn't understand 'tre' until C.C.'s write-up, but once I knew I had to admire the clue.
CA I missed the tour we had before the Gallo Center opened and haven't had a chance to go since. Sounds wonderful and I'm impressed by the presentations I see advertised.
I finally got TWO puzzles on Cruciverb around 10.I wonder why the time is not the same as where you are. I finally sent an email but I don't know if that had an effect or it was just coincidence that it appeared after that. Of course, I did the wrong one. They both said March 7 and I picked the one in the usual spot, which was really easy. By then I was ready for bed.I don't seem to be able to save the finished puzzles. Is it possible? I finally just finished the BLT one.
A foreign word without a hint that we are looking for a foreign word...BAH!
Might as well had "Sprinkling on fries?".
C.C. and fellow solvers:
Good afternoon one and all,
If activating my brain is my goal, the Saturday and Sunday puzzles are surely the right media.
Since I jump around first to gain traction, I found the "blt" theme quickly and that really helped. My goal is to use ggle only as a last resort and finally I had to look up the spelling of "gingko".
I'm familiar with the product but read that it elevates the blood pressure, so that's a no,no for me. There's trouble there already.
Jeanne:
Thank you for the meatloaf recipe. It was a smash hit with my family yesterday. I fear they are spoiled for life. I managed to find the shiitake mushrooms and was surprised to see how delicate they are. I can see that portabellas would not be a good substitute.
Clearayes:
Thank you for the Lorca poem. Federico Garcia Lorca and Pablo Neruda are my favorite Spanish language poets. Their imagery and lyrics are unsurpassed, I believe. I'd like to post my own fav but they are all in Spanish. I shall have to look for a translation.
Have a good afternoon, my blogger friends. I'm going to listen to Beethoven's "Eroica" now. I love to see the classical composers in the xwds.
Hi everybody,
It's interesting to see how each of us has areas in which we have good knowledge and areas we know little or nothing about. For example, I love classical music, so ARRAU and EROICA were easy gimmes for me. On the other hand, I know nothing about sports and teams and players, so you can stump me every time in that category. Everybody I ever played Trivia with learned this very quickly, and would always choose Sports as the category in which to ask me a question, knowing I would inevitably be unable to answer it.
Like many of you, I enjoy learning new things from reading this wonderful blog.
C.C., how are you able to give the answers if some of the entries stumped you? Do you look them up? In any case, it's always a pleasure to read your revelations and the comments you occasionally attach to them.
Best regards.
Lucina, It was really tough to pick a Garcia Lorca poem to post. This one happened to be 16 lines which is just about right for the blog. Pablo Neruda is a favorite of mine too. I've posted several of his poems. I wish I could read them both in Spanish. Although I think the translations are great, they probably don't get the little nuances.
Argyle, about 83D, I think the capitalization of French indicates the language rather than the food.
Dodo, I had to get a cruciverb.com log-in name and password before it all worked for me. Have you done that?
We're heading to an Oscar party soon. I haven't seen all the movies, but I do have favorites so far. I'd like to see "The Hurt Locker" win for best picture. I'll let you know tomorrow if I won any money in the pool.
My Oscar Picks:
Best Picture: Hurt Locker
Best Actor; Jeff Bridges (my favorite is still Starman)
Best Actress: Sandra Buttocks...er Bullock.
Director; The woman (it`s time)
Supporting female: Mo`Nique (spelling?)
Supporting male: Christopher Plummer
Clear Ayes, it was 'Amount past due?: TRE' that drew my ire. Even without French, I probably would have got SEL. What other fries to sprinkle something on besides FF?
Another quiet Sunday, funny how well we learn each about each other, as we oldies knew the term GAH, and could have answered for CA. Where you been fishy, practicing you triple toe loop?
Well Dennis, I hope today was nice enough for you, I loved the weather.
Argyle, I got confused (why should today be any different than any other day?) with "Might as well had "Sprinkling on fries?"". I do agree with you about TRE.
My Oscar Picks:
Best Picture: Hurt Locker
Best Actor; Jeff Bridges
Best Actress: Meryl Streep
Director:Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker
Supporting female: Mo`Nique
Supporting male: Christoph Walz
GAH and I have seen all the nominated (best) movies, except for "An Education". Little British movies don't show up in our area very often.
Lemonade, GAH says, "Hi".
Now it is time to party! Have a good evening all.
Hi gang.
My computer blew up as I was posting, and I lost my not particularly brilliant comments.
No matter, they were at the baboon level, or less.
I agree with Argyl on the HORRIBLE French.
I'm out of energy. See ya' tomorrow.
Cheers!
JzB
At what point did I become old, Lemonade ?
Windhover: where are you? How are the kids (lambs)?
H.
There are the newbies and the oldies, nothing to do with age....
relax and enjoy.
I enjoy each group, and hope you do too.
Good night all, we start the cycle again in the am
Where's Dennis?
Fla.
My regards back to GAH; does he agree we may have seen the future of golf today with Camilo Villegas, Anthony Kim, Justin Rose and Paul Casey, and a dash of nostalgia with Sam Saunders first top 25
Hello Friends. I am taking a dvr break from the Academy awards. No far, no surpriZes. Actually I am enjoying Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.
I enjoyed Sabrinas puzzle very much with fresh cluing. My favorites were 34 Nurse, 52, Scrub up-Prep. My favorite island, Lanai. Cute, Biddy and chichi.
You will never ever imagine what I thought GAH could have been!
I am also enjoying Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Have you ever seen Martin's magic routine as The Great Flydini? It is a classic. I'm sure you can search for it and find it on YouTube. I also really liked his movie, Parenthood, though being a parent, some of the parts were painful because they hit so close to home.
BTW, I accidentally posted something twice today. When I removed it with the trash can, I got into a totally different green screen, not the usual white, tan, orange and blue interface. That's happened both times I deleted a post. What am I doing wrong?
@Jayce, I believe CC prints out the puzzle solution from LA Times website when she downloads the puzzle.
Doesn't STL stand for St. Louis, not Motown, which I think is Detroit?
Anonymous @9:47am,
Yes, STL does stand for St. Louis. But Mo. town is a clever wordplay on Motown.
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