google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday April 24, 2010 Samuel A. Donaldson

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Apr 24, 2010

Saturday April 24, 2010 Samuel A. Donaldson

Theme: None

Total words: 68

Total blocks: 30

Very scrabbly puzzle, with 5 Zs, 2 Xs, 2 Js, 1Q and several Ks. Seven-letter entries abound, and triple stacks in each Down quadrant. Pack & Stack, in Clear Ayes' words.

A disaster for me, Krakatoa style. Couldn't even nail XIA (26A. First chronicled Chinese dynasty). Xia Dynasty existed between 2070 and 1600 BC. Xia literally means "summer" in Chinese.

Across:

1. Psychs (up): PUMPS

6. Frolicker in a Peter, Paul and Mary song: PUFF. "Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea/ And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee...". Love the tune, even though I don't truly understand the lyrics.

10. Sith rivals: JEDI. From the "Star Wars".

14. "Cut __!": IT OUT. And A NICE (58. "What __ surprise!"). Two fill-in-the-blank partials.

15. Evaporating sea: ARAL. I like how it crosses another crossword stalwart URAL (7D. Kazakhstan river).

16. Utah home of the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival: OREM. Pure guess. The crossword answer for Utah city is either OREM and PROVO.

17. Symphony section: CELLI. What? I thought the plural for cello is just cellos.

18. Go back and forth: PACE

19. It can be hard to get over: HUMP

20. Big name in publishing: KNOPF. Publisher for Bill Clinton's "My Life". Random House imprint.

21. Costanza portrayer: ALEXANDER (Jason). George Costanza, from "Seinfeld".

23. Requests: ASKS FOR

25. Even considering: DESPITE

27. Bind: JAM

29. Washington et al.: STATES

30. "Gentlemen's Agreement" Oscar winner: ELIA KAZAN. Nice to see his full name. (Sorry for the error earlier.)

34. Sorry lot?: RUERS. Lovely spin on a tired answer.

35. Curious: QUIZZICAL. Such a scrabbly answer.

37. About to bloom: IN BUD

40. Saw only good qualities in: IDEALIZED

44. "__ Boom-de-ay": vaudeville song: TA-RA-RA. Have never heard of this song.

46. Withdrawal aid, for short: ATM

47. I, to Claudius: ONE. Roman numeral. I was thinking of "I", me. Great play on "I, Claudius".

48. Lit conditions?: STUPORS. Lit = Intoxicated.

50. Fanatics: ZEALOTS

53. Aircraft accelerators: TAILWINDS

55. They precede finals: SEMIS

56. "Play it, Sam" speaker: ILSA. From "Casablanca".

57. Fed. anti-discrimination org.: EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)

59. Demeanor: MIEN. The "Pouty look" is MOUE.

60. Eye protector: LASH

61. Roadside sign: DINER. And UTENSIL (2D Part of a place setting).

62. Soothe: EASE

63. Half an arcade trademark: SKEE. Skee-Ball.

64. Inner turmoil: ANGST. The red sky in Munch's "The Scream" is said to be the global effect of the 1883 eruption of the Karakatoa, which appeared in Jerome's puzzle yesterday.

Down:

1. Groundbreaking invention: PICKAXE. Excellent clue.

3. Island where Father Damien cared for lepers: MOLOKAI. Where's our Hawaiian gang? They were quite active for a few days.

4. Dime novels: PULPS

5. Lucky one?: STIFF. Why? I don't get this clue.

6. Star chasers: PAPARAZZI. Another scrabbly answer.

8. Confronted: FACED

9. Shows off at the gym: FLEXED

10. 33-day pope, 1978: JOHN PAUL I. Got me. Such a short reign. I remember a pope was poisoned in "The Godfather". Was it our guy?

11. Learned: ERUDITE

12. Greek goddess of agriculture: DEMETER. I can only think of her Roman counterpart Ceres. That's how we got the word cereal.

13. Wow: IMPRESS

22. Stellar: ASTRAL

24. California city near Los Padres National Forest: OJAI. Clear Ayes' daughter graduated from a high school in Ojai.

28. Tribute maker: MAZDA. "Zoom-zoom". I was not thinking of car at all.

31. Water skis alternative: AQUAPLANE

32. "Friends" actress: KUDROW (Lisa)

33. Übermensch philosopher: NIETZSCHE. Übermensch = "Superman" in German. I am suffering from language Aphasia. Used to know how to spell his name properly.

36. Attended: CAME

37. "Let's go now": IT'S TIME

38. Russian supermodel Vodianova: NATALIA. Faintly remember this girl. Prosopagnosia is an awesome word, Gunghy.

39. Bumps' partners: BRUISES

41. Moving quickly: ZOOMING

42. Lures: ENTICES

43. Finishing course: DESSERT

45. __ Grotto: ocean-themed Disney World play area: ARIEL'S. Not familiar with this place at all.

49. Quarterback's play: SNEAK

51. Carne __: Mexican beef dish: ASADA. Literally "roasted meat". Not a Mexican food fan. I do love avocado though.

52. October Revolution leader: LENIN

54. Shot amount: DOSE

Answer grid.

C.C.

59 comments:

Lemonade714 said...

Hey weekend warriors,

Well a Saturday with 8 Z words, 4 X words, lots of K ones, but I did not see a “V.” Amazingly I blew through this one like a Wednesday at most, of course it really hit my generation where the only song I ever played in a band (they gave me the triangle, I am not musical) was TARARABOOMDEAY, which along with Waltzing Matilda (special shout out to our own KZ, who I am sure knows much more than I do about this stuff, but the information here is interesting) and of course, Laugh, Kookaburra, Laugh , and the other classic Reuben and Rachel were the songs of my earliest school days. Then my next faze of music, with classics like Puff The Magic Dragon .

We also have the bold movie GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT which was made not long after the war, and as the state of Israel was becoming a modern reality. As the sole Jewish boy in an Episcopalian prep school, this movie, like many other movies, speaks to the hidden agenda we Jews learned about from life.

I really like STAR CHASERS: PAPARAZZI , being near STELLAR: ASTRAL, just to mess with our minds a little, though I had them both in the first three minutes. We also go from classic knowledge like DEMETER and always hard to spell, NIETZSCHE, to pop culture, JEDI and LISA KUDROW from Friends and JASON ALEXANDER from Seinfeld .

I was not at all familiar with Natalia Vodianova , but how many Russian names do I know? She makes a lovely canvas for the artists who design the clothes and her look.


Well, enjoy the week end all

Dudley said...

Mornin', CC - Had I only remembered which space sci-fi group had Sith,
I could have had a clean fill. That J at 10 stumped me - didn't see the Roman numeral coming at John Paul I.
I'm about as Catholic as a lamp post. Nice puzzle, though!

Lemonade714 said...

In slang a Stiff is a regular, average person, e.g. a WORKING STIFF. One who has something good happen, like the Missouri man who won the $258 million dollar Powerball Jackpot, is a LUCKY STIFF.

Anonymous said...

Noted that you said Eliza Kazan not Elia Kazan???? Also but "Play it Sam" was Ilsa not Elsa. I'm a teacher and I can't help making corrections.

tfrank said...

Good morning all,

Stiff puzzle this morning. C.C., 56A should be Ilsa, I think.

Perseverance won the day for me; my first run through produced few answers, but I stuck with it, and they finally began to fall. 38 minutes online. Favorite clue was withdrawal aid, for short. Hardest was symphony section - celli. So many z's made things a little easier.

After all that brain exercise, I am ready for breakfast. Have a good day.

Anonymous said...

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning all you ERUDITE solvers. L 714, nice précis. I agree as to the difficulty. Fun, though, with all the z's; 3 together at the center. WAGS included NIETZSCHE, KNOPF, and ANGST. 'Lit conditions', STUPORS, was favorite clue, liked TAILWINDS, too. DEMETER somehow fell out of my brain recesses, although I did not know her specialty, but it fit.

KNOPF, pl. 'Knöpfe' - German for 'button'. Same root as English 'knob'. In German the K is pronounced. Similar to 'knabe' and 'knave'.

Better stop before I get too far into the tall grass.

Tschüß

Bob said...

Supereasy puzzle for a Saturday. Took me only 17 minutes to complete successfully. The only one I had to think about for a minute was 47A (I, to Claudius). I was thinking about the pronoun "ego" meaning "I," at first, and not about "I" as the Roman numeral for "one."

koufaxmaravich said...

Hi guys.

Thoroughly enjoyed this Saturday morning specialty with Z's and X's galore.

Knopf, Paparazzi, Nietzsche, Elia Kazan, Xia - loved it.

Got stuck in SW corner - wanted MOOD, created the well known "AQUABLADE", and rued my foolishness when I came to the blog.

Peter, Paul & Mary's frolicker PUFF brought back fond memories. But George Carlin's version of Ta-ra-ra Boom De-Ay trumped all - thx for the clip, CC.

Have a great Saturday.

Argyle said...

Good Morning All.

My take? Few "aha's", lots of "whatever's" and several "WTF's".

Gorgeous day...must be outside....

Annette said...

I lot of good memories evoked from this puzzle: PUFF, TA-RA-RA, DINER, SKEE-ball, ASADA.

C.C.: I don't think there's much to understand about PUFF. It's mostly nonsensical fun!

After my first pass across, I didn't have much filled in...but the downs gave me great traction to finish!

XIA wasn't my first guess, but you should have seen my face when I started guessing letters and got it after just a few, never having heard of it before!

Got caught up by all the usual tricks today: ATM, the Roman numeral.

I guessed NIETZSCHE, but the spelling came one painful letter at a time. :-)

Anonymous said...

CC: I have two Fuerte avocado trees that produce avocadoes like you've never tasted before. Creamy texture and mucho flavor. The best. E-mail me your snail mail address and I can send you some with the next crop.

Doreen
doreenlorand@earthlink.net

Annette said...

One of my favorite meals right now is the Lechon ASADO (pork, rather than beef) at a nearby restaurant. They list it as under the Cuban section, rather than Mexican though (tacos, burritos, taquitos, enchilada, etc.). No yellow rice, refried beans, or tortilla, all smothered in cheese or sauce, typical of Mexican fare. It's just shredded marinated meat, white rice, black beans, and sweet plantains (although most people could do without them...)

Sorry, but discovering the difference was a big, recent AHA moment for me, so I had to share it.

Okay, the P.R.'s over! :-)

Anonymous said...

What Argyle said.

carol said...

Hi all

Can't believe I'm done with a Sat puzzle!
(can't believe I even tried one) :)

It took me a while, I needed help but my biggest problem was in spelling the answers I knew: PAPARAZZI & NIETZSCHE.

Lemonade is right, this would be easier for us older solvers, lots of clues from pleasant days of wild youth.

Love George Carlin (thanks C.C.) I really didn't know the song was from vaudeville but remember it as 'background music' from TV shows where someone was performing tricks, etc.

Never having seen Star Wars anything, I did not get 10A, and didn't know 10D either. What happened to John Paul I??
I should know that, but it has left my memory banks.

I know next to nothing about football but have heard most of the terms...but I have never heard SNEAK.

Mary said...

Happy Saturday all,

Like tfrank said, the first pass didn't produce many answers, though PAPARAZZI and PUFF were a fun start. I put in throttles for aircraft accelerators, wondering how obscure that was. Then in 7 painful steps I changed each of the interior letters to get TAILWINDS. I was staring at 'ZSC' in the middle of 23D assuming I had another mistake, when I thought maybe I don't and NIETZSCHE popped up without the others' spelling quandries.

Time to get out for a while between rain showers. Have a good weekend.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Should I just say "I loved it" and sign off? As you know that isn't my style, so I'll stick around for a while.

As C.C. mentioned, I really like the Pack & Stack puzzles. It amazes me that Samuel A. Donaldson could come up with fill like QUIZZICAL and IDEALIZED and figure out crossing words that fit right in. What an inventive guy...and he made it look easy. WOW!

It certainly helped that I knew most of the proper names. ALEXANDER, KUDROW, ELIA KAZAN were gimmes.

"Gentleman's Agreement" was quite controversial and is worth seeing now, at least to see how far (or not enough) we have come.

An interesting side note is that actress Anne Revere, who was a descendant of Paul Revere, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for this movie. A few years later she was called before the HUAC, refused to testify and was blacklisted for 20 years. ELIA KAZAN did testify and continued to work in the motion picture industry.

Although I'm not a Catholic, I remember being at work and hearing the news that JOHN PAUL I had died. Some of my co-workers were very distressed.

I knew was 33D was NIETZSCHE, but I had to get the correct spelling from the perps.

LOL, After reading C.C.'s comment, I entered OJAI in "Search This Blog". Sure enough, there was my story about my daughter's high-schooling. STB certainly is a great new tool for us. Thanks again, C.C.

For some reason I wanted 39D "Bumps partner" to be GRINDS. Too bad it didn't fit.

One definition of Lucky STIFF would be "Doreen", with her two avocado trees. Our favorite dinner sandwich is a modified BLT with mashed avocado in place of mayonnaise. GAH and I love our BLATs!

JimmyB said...

C.C. - There's an urban legend about the lyrics to "Puff the Magic Dragon" relating to veiled references to smoking marijuana. Roundly denied by the originators, it's been persistent enough to have shown up in the movie "Meet the Parents".

Socks said...

Thought of Dennis for 9D.

Annette said...

CA: That comment about your daughter must've been hinding in some dark recess of my mind, because OJAI wasn't at all familiar to me, but somehow my fingers had a mind of their own typing it in! Similar to my XIA fill - a freaky feeling!

Annette said...

I hope Lois has time for the puzzle today. She should have a lot of fun with all the DF words at her disposable today!

Dennis said...

Socks, I'm 66 - trust me, I've got nothing to 'show off'. At the gym, anyway...

Gunghy said...

Names!! Oh, those cursed names!!! Ilsa was the only one that jumped out at me.

It didn't help that wakeboard and aquaplane have the same number of letters. Or that I popped in Ohai and never caught the error. Or that I learned it as Tra la la Boom de ay.

Never would have finished without Google and mostly for words others were claiming were easy.

CC, glad you like the word. Now may I recommend the book? The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sacks

Off to near Ojai, then further south. My son deploys to Afghanistan on Tuesday and I need to say, I love you."

Tinbeni said...

C.C. Thanks for the Carlin clip. What a hoot.

ANGST due to write-overs;
jeti = JEDI
rick = ILSA
idealist = IDEALIZED
Then my favorite moment, had _AZDA, Tribute maker, realized it was a car, and had a total 57 yo brain-fart for about a half-a-cup of coffee before the 'M' in MADZA appeared, poof!

Throw in the Russian babe, Natalia I've never heard of. And a Greek God I just couldn't recall, Demeter, and it became a slog.

In other words, just what Saturday ASKS FOR ... a FUN puZZle.

Annette said...

Gunghy: Our best wishes (and Thanks!) to your son, and hopes for a safe, speedy, and sucessful tour of duty!

Chickie said...

Hello All--I'm with Carol. I didn't think I could do the puzzle today, but started in anyway. The first pass didn't result in very many answers, but Puff and Paparazzi gave me the incentive to soldier on.

Hooray, I finished with some help from Mr. G. and enjoyed the puzzle immensely.

Ojai was a given for me, as my daughter and her family have lived there for 20 years. CA and I have discussed this before.

One of my hangups today was I to Claudius. I put in ego, and had to really struggle with the SE corner. I thought that the clues for Lucky one, Stiff and Withdrawal Aid for ATM were the best today.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.

Socks said...

Dennis, are you a politician?
I only ever heard politicians use the term 'trust me'.

Chickie said...

Gunghy,My best for your son's deployment and safe return. Enjoy your time with him.

Dennis said...

Lol, jeez, I'm not sure which insult's worse.

Gunghy, you son will certainly be in my thoughts. What's his job?

carol said...

Gunghy - No hard feelings about last night and your ref to blondes...LOL. Being of Swedish decent as well as blonde, I was the butt of many jokes but I laughed along with them. Give your son a big thumbs and a thank you for his service.

Socks, used car dealers have said "Trust me" as well as salespeople of other things. I wouldn't trust anyone who said that..:)
Dennis would make a better politician than some we have now.

Dennis said...

carol, I hope you meant 'thumbs UP'...

john28man said...

I got much of today's puzzle than I usually do on Saturday. Surprised me.

I heard of John Pauls I's death when I woke up in a small city in central Brazil, Naringa, about 500 KM West of Sao Paulo,. There was a cathedral accross the square from my hotel and was tolling about 6 AM. I asked the waitress if la papa morte not thinking it was so but she said si, si. My first thought was: I guess God didn't agree with the College of Cardinals.

dodo said...

Ooh, I made lots of booboos with this one!Put in dram for shot (whiskey?)and messed up the center bottom .Didn't even get Elia Kazan and shame on me for not looking at the clue, just trusting the perps which weren't right either. Well, it went from bad to worse and though I did get it filled and some of it right, I'll have to go for the V-8 can! Enough, already!

seen, not heard said...

did not like aral and ural crossing. i dont know why, but it did not sit well. i then came here looking for comments and saw none. guess it was just my morning attitude.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Shouldn't that be SHARON'S grotto? I'm so confused.

This might have been on the easy side for a SAT, but I still got flummoxed in the SW corner. Wanted Rick for "play it, Sam," but couldn't come up with his name. Never heard of NATALIA . TAIL WIND should be from the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles.

I'm pretty sure NIETZSCHE had a hard time spelling his own name.

CHELLI is the Italian plural, I think.

ASADA DINER ENTICES DESSERT ANGST?

TAILWINDS EASE BRUISES?

OREM JEDI IMPRESS RUERS?

There's a similar, albeit DF, opportunity in the NW corner that I will leave for you to find. Hint: it does not involve CHELLI or a PICKAXE.

Wings can wrap up round 1 tomorrow. Certainly don't want to go back to the dessert.

Cheers!
JzB A NICE trombonist

Oberhasli said...

Wow, I actually did the puzzle in 30 minutes without googling any answers. I had trouble in the northwest corner, but it finally came together. A rare Saturday occurrence for me!

We have had over two feet of snow in the past two days! Big, heavy, wet stuff that snaps off trees. My poor daffodils were just trying to come up too!

Have a nice weekend!

lois said...

Good afternoon CC, et al., Is this Saturday 'or-em' I still confused? Sailed w/'ease' thru this 'despite'
misspelling several names and still suffering from the 'stupors'
of altered 'states' of mind - too much 'jam'ming, and too many
'dose's of 'a nice' fruit drink that tends to 'sneak' up on ya. I was okay until some 'impress'ive, good lookin' guy 'asks for' a dance and the next thing I know,I'm
'zooming' around with 'tailwinds',
'hump'in' and bumpin',keeping
'pace'with the rhythm, and then he 'entices' me w/a 'stiff' 'one'.
That's 'a-ral'ly call for me! 'Ta ra ra' boom boom -I call it
'Dessert'!& it'came'like 'zealots'!
The next time, I'm 'faced' with this, I'm going to drink just beer. There's nothin' 'in bud'light that would make me be one of the 'ruers' the next day. But what a fun night! What a fun puzzle!

Gunghy: thanks to your son for his service. Enjoy your time.

Dennis & Carol: So, we're back to measuring thumbs?

MJ said...

Happy Saturday, All,

I absolutely loved today's creation! ERUDITE, ZEALOTS, STUPORS; and IDEALIZED supporting QUIZZICAL, ASTRAL, and PAPARAZZI. Quite IMPRESSive.

Spitzboov-Thank you for the link to the volcano photos. So sad that such beautiful pictures are evidence of such terrible destruction.

To all who have loved ones who are ailing/searching for answers/healing/soon to be deployed, my thoughts and prayers are with you and them.

Finally, as usual I enjoyed many a chuckle this week reading through the posts. My vote for the "LOL Award of the Week" is a tie: JD's "stupid snails" and Jazzbumba's "Boogers" link. Thanks to all you clever comics who share your creativity!

Enjoy the weekend!

Lucina said...

Hello, C.C. and all.

Wow. I'm late for this party! This morning I was over halfway finished with this baby and had to tear myself away to attend a three hour meeting.

Came home and polished it off; good job, Samuel A. Donaldson! It almost made me dizzy seeing all those zz's, and q's. Such a nice touch having Orem and Ojai as well as Nietzsche (had to consult Webster for that spelling) Knopf, and all of Elia Kazan spread out.

I'm feeling proud to be learning those sports plays so took a guess at "sneak" and had to laugh at "lash", eye protector when just yesterday we saw "winkblot".

I'll have to look at the links tonight because there's a memorial for a dear friend who died of cancer.

Gunghy, I send my gratitude, too, for your son's service.

I hope you are all having a spectacular Saturday!

Dudley said...

Carol 11:57 - I know nothing at all about football, but I got SNEAK by remembering George Plimpton's single play as a quarterback in a real pro football game. The play, its book, and its film were all called "The Great Quarterback Sneak" as I recall. George was an interesting guy - and he sure tried a lot of new things. Still, he looked nervous with all those huge guys waiting to tackle him...

Jazzbumpa said...

We long-suffering Lions fans well remember George Plimton's classic 1968 book Paper Lion, as well as it's movie version.

He was probably not much worse than the average Lions QB over the last 40 years.

Cheers!
JzB who remembers Tobin Rote

carol said...

Thanks Dudley: I guess the quarterbacks have to be a little sneaky because they are well, 'little' compared to the behemoths on all sides of them. I do know the get 'sacked' and I'd hate to be the one with my teeth in the mud or astro-turf.

Lois, you are a scream!! And yes, I guess with my blooper, the guys are now busy measuring their thumbs again. Funny how typo's and omissions can lead us down these paths, but ya gotta love it. I'll raise by Budlight to you in a little while!

Argyle said...

Whoa! I just looked up Aquablade.
(31Down) How is swimwear an alternative to water skis?

seen, not heard said...

i mentioned good will hunting a few days ago because danny elfman from oingo boingo(a clue in the puzzle) composed the soundtrack. now george plimpton comes up today. he has a cameo in the movie in a very funny scene. it is one of my favorite movies. i just cant believe ben affleck and matt damon wrote it at such a young age.

Anonymous said...

Argyle, "Whoa! I just looked up Aquablade.
(31Down) How is swimwear an alternative to water skis?"


It isn't. The answer is "aquaplane". Kofaxmaravich mentioned his wrong entry of aquablade at 9:35

Anonymous said...

Greetings. I have not been able to find or figure out how to get past comments.
I would like the pix of the volcano, if anyone can so oblige.
Thank you most kindly.

Jeannie said...

Hi all, you guessed right I didn't do the puzzle but have to chime in.

Dennis, if you are a politician, can I be your "press" secretary? I have good credentials.

Gunghy, I am sure you are a little scared to see your son go. Just let it be known to yourself that you raised him well.

Argyle said...

Thank you, Anon. I had the right word right in front of me and still typed in Aquablade. It all started when I put in wakeboard originally.

Clear Ayes said...

Sallie, I typed "volcano photos" in C.C.'s new STB feature. Up popped the April 21st comment "Some awesome photographs of the volcano eruption in Iceland". I clicked on the heading and arrowed down until I found Spitzboov's comments @ 9:17, along with this link for the Volcano Photos. I hope this is what you wanted.

Gunghy, best wishes to your son and thanks for his dedication.

Lemonade714 said...

I loved Goerfe Plimpton when he payed Nero Wolfe's attorney, Nathaniel Parker, on the A&E version which starred Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin and Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe. Sadly, they only gave it two seasons.

I remember Tobin Rote, Kyls Rote and Bobby Lane, as well as Otto Graham and Milt Plum, Zeke Bratkowski and George Blanda and oh so many more

Socks said...

Carol,I agree with you. Dennis would probably make a better politician than the ones in D.C. now.

Socks said...

Clear Ayes, thank you for the exciting fotos of the volcano.

Socks said...

CC, you are an instigator.

Dennis said...

Sorry, that was me before:

Socks, I believe that's called 'damning with faint praise'.

Lemonade, Kyle Rote was my favorite football player when I was growing up, and I became a receiver all through school because of him. Even wore 44.

Clear Ayes said...

Credit where it is due...Spitzboov was the one who originally linked the volcano photos. I just relocated them and posted the original link. They are spectacular photos, that's for sure!

Bill G. said...

I just came across two relatively new movies on cable. One was "Julie and Julia" and the other was "Religulous." If you're not religous or a skeptic, you will find it very insightful I'm guessing. If you are religous, you'll probably dislike it. The Julia Child movie is very enjoyable so far.

For you who don't follow football, a quarterback sneak is when the quarterback takes the ball from the center and dives forward himself rather than handing it or passing it to someone else.

Spitzboov said...

Clear Ayes, MJ, and to others who commented on the volcano photos link. I'm glad you found them as interesting as I did. As an engineer, I probably don't have the best feel for art, but I was blown away by some of the subjects, such as the Icelandic ponies' (mock?) fighting, oblivious to the volcano, and the urgency of the farmers to protect their livestock from the ash.

I don't normally troll that site. I received the link in a forwarded e-mail from my son. As prescience would have it, Krakatoa appeared in Jerome's c/w a couple days later.

Lemonade714 said...

Dennis

Were you disappointed when his son became a soccer star?

HUTCH said...

A wonderful puzzle which I could only complete 2/3 of without Google. Now I'm going to turn to Rich who will tell me how stupid I am.