google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday April 25, 2010 Mark Bickham

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Apr 25, 2010

Sunday April 25, 2010 Mark Bickham

Theme: Missing (Miss ing) - ING in each familiar phrase is dropped and the resulting phrase is punnily clued.

23A. Admiral's tryst?: FLEET ROMANCE. Fleeting Romance. Admiral commands a fleet.

37A. Water cooler gossip?: BREAK NEWS. Breaking News.

40A. Knockoff of an Intel product?: BARGAIN CHIP. Bargaining Chip.

68A. Site of a surprise?: START POSITION. Starting Position.

99A. Issue for the media?: PRESS MATTER. Pressing Matter. Media = Press.

101A. Where insects learn to use their wings?: FLY SCHOOL. Flying School.

121A. Museum featuring bamboo art?: SHOOT GALLERY. Shooting Gallery. Bamboo Shoot.

3D. Golf tournament commentary?: OPEN REMARKS. Opening Remarks. British/US Open.

14D. Voice teacher?: PITCH COACH. Pitching Coach. Baseball.

28D. Creek footage?: STREAM VIDEO. Streaming Video.

52D. Units for timing a track event?: MEET MINUTES. Meeting Minutes.

72D. First-quarter shipments?: MARCH ORDERS. Marching Orders. March is in the first quarter.

75D. Angry lineman?: CROSS GUARD. Crossing Guard.

Very heavy themage. 13 relatively long entries. No isolated stand-out. Each theme answer crosses at least one other theme entry.

Fun clues too. I don't get START POSITION (68A. Site of a surprise?) though. What site? Racing?

ALL I want is for the ALLI (2D. Weight loss brand) entry clued as a partial also. Probably too many fill-in-the-blank partials in the grid already. But I've never heard of ALLI brand.

Across:

1. Confucian principle: TAO. Literally "way".

4. You don't get credit for one: EFF.

7. Do-say connection: AS I. Do as I say.

10. Entrance boundary, perhaps: GATEPOST

18. Mont Blanc site: ALPS

20. Graduate: ALUMNUS. Nice to see a full word rather than ALUM.

22. Seat of Potter County, Texas: AMARILLO. Literally "yellow" in Spanish.

25. Drink: POTATION

26. __ Alley: TIN PAN

27. Biz bigwig: EXEC

28. Atlanta-to-Miami dir.: SSE

29. Lea group: COWS.

30. "Mr. Mojo __": Doors lyric that anagrams into the lead singer's name: RISIN. "Mr. Mojo Risin" is an anagram of Jim Morrison.

32. Jump for joy: EXULT

34. Borrrring: BLAH

45. Sleep acronym: REM (Rapid Eye Movement).

46. Show co-anchored by Robin Roberts, for short: GMA. "Good Morning America".

47. "Yes __!": SIREE

48. Sussex scents: ODOURS. British spelling. Alliteration.

51. Squalid: SEAMY

53. "Paradise Lost" figure: SATAN

55. Woeful cry: ALAS

56. Raptor's roost: AERIE. Alliteration

58. Sharp-tongued: ACERB. Maureen Dowd.

60. Flavor enhancer: MSG

61. Defeatist's words: I CAN'T

62. Word with match or money: MAKING

64. Asian lead-in: EUR. Eurasian.

65. Slip away: VANISH

67. Some map lines: Abbr.: STS (Streets)

72. Colo. is on it: MST (Mountain Standard Time).

75. Usual practice: CUSTOM

76. "Spy vs. Spy" magazine: MAD. The Mad Magazine.

77. Put on the staff?: NOTATE. Musical staff.

79. Impolite look: STARE

82. __-Wan Kenobi: OBI. "Star Wars".

83. Year in Augustus' reign: ONE BC. Was expecting Roman numeral.

86. "She __ Yellow Ribbon": 1949 John Wayne film: WORE A

87. Bananas: LOCO. I am a banana.

90. Factotum: DO-ALL. Handyman. Factotum is a new word to me. So close to factum.

92. Tapers?: VCRS. One that tapes. Fooled me.

93. Beginning: OUTSET

95. Like many a dirt road: RUTTY

98. Half a laugh: HEE. Tee hee. Reminds me of our old "Half a fly" for TSE.

104. "Holy cow!": GEEZ

105. Military camp: ETAPE. Forgot the word again.

107. Roundup critter: STEER

108. Isaac's eldest: ESAU. He sold his birthright to Jacob.

111. Nods, perhaps: OKS. I was picturing a dozing person.

113. Valued frames: CELS

115. Showy, in a way: GILDED

118. Botswana desert: KALAHARI. No idea.

123. More than accepts: EMBRACES

124. Sneaks on the court?: TENNIES. Tennis court. Sneakers. I was clueless.

125. Wholly __ part: OR IN

126. Way behind everyone: DEAD LAST. A rare last repetition with LAST GASP (91D. Desperate).

127. "I'm so glad!": YAY

128. Good name, for short: REP (Reputation)

129. Take in: SEE

Down:

1. 1920s chief justice: TAFT. The only president who also served as chief justice.

4. Profit: EARNINGS

5. Andy Capp's wife: FLO. Obtained the answer via crosses.

6. Become enraged: FUME

7. Building wing: ANNEX. Rhyme.

8. She-demons: SUCCUBI. No idea. Plural of succubus. Dictionary defines it as "demon in female form, said to have sexual intercourse with men in their sleep". Opposite of incubus.

9. Expert finish?: ISE. Expertise.

10. Memory problems: GAPS

11. One-celled protozoan: AMOEBA

12. Body art, briefly: TAT. Tattoo.

13. Baseball stat: ERA

15. Hodgepodge: OLIO

16. School zone sign: SLOW

17. Scads: TONS

19. Retro photo: SEPIA

21. __ out: uses up, as credit: MAXES

24. Job: TASK

31. Site of Hercules' first labor: NEMEA. And LION (35. Victim of Hercules' first labor).

33. Metallica drummer Ulrich: LARS. Sigh. His name escaped me again.

36. Additionally: AND

37. Deep-bodied fish: BREAMS. Don't know this fish. Quite big.

38. Do an usher's job: RESEAT

39. WWII noncombat unit: WAAC (Women's Army Auxiliary Corps). One of our fellow solvers Southern Belle served with WAAC.

41. Suggests: GETS AT

42. Sinuous dance: HULA

43. Pakistan neighbor: IRAN

44. Attention-getting sound: PSST

47. Ice cream soda ingredient: SYRUP

50. "Richard __": III. Rich III.

54. Latin lambs: AGNI. Plural of Agnus. Agnus Dei is "Lamb of God".

57. Happen next: ENSUE

59. Antacid, briefly: BROMO. As in Bromo-Seltzer. Stumper.

61. "__ a bad time?": IS NOW

63. Alfa Romeo sports cars: GTS

66. Carbonium, e.g.: ION

69. Bit of physics: ATOM

73. Dorm room setup: STEREO

74. Prickly plant: TEASEL. Another alliteration.

78. "Mazel __!": TOV

79. Unappetizing serving: SLOP

80. Hit the road: TOUR. Nice clue.

81. Entr'__: ACTE

84. It may be carried or dropped: BALL. Nailed it.

85. Becomes sickeningly sweet: CLOYS

88. "Don't look __!": AT ME. Wanted BACK.

89. Editor's mark: STET

94. Jargon ending: ESE. Jargonese? Dictionary only has jargonize, to talk in jargon.

96. Internal airway: TRACHEA. The windpipe.

100. Island group that includes São Miguel: AZORES. Here is a good map. Islands west of Lisbon.

101. Joint tenant?: FELON. Joint = Prison. My favorite clue today.

102. Plaster, as a room cover: CEIL

103. "Duh!" relative: HELLO?

106. Indiana state flower: PEONY. Very popular flower in Chinese painting.

112. Commercial suffix with Star: KIST. StarKist.

114. Cookbook direction: STIR

116. Buffalo's county: ERIE

117. Fraction of a newton: DYNE

119. Golfer Sutton: HAL. Ryder Cup captain once.

120. Here, in Juárez: ACA. Again, got the answer via crosses.

121. Chester White's home: STY. Have never heard of pig breed Chester White. Originated in Chester Country, PA.

122. Turn to the right: GEE. "Turn to the left" is HAW.

Answer grid.

C.C.

34 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, C.C. and gang - only have a minute, as we have house guests this weekend.

I really enjoy these Sunday puzzles, and got through this one without g-spotting. Liked the the theme a lot, some very clever clues; the only negative is that with a puzzle the size of a Sunday one, we're going to have more than a few 'crosswordese' answers. Still, very much a fun solve.

C.C., I took 'jargon' to mean language, hence the 'ese' suffix.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, CC and all. I clearly didn't have my thinking cap on this morning, and this puzzle took me a long time to slog through, even though I realized early on the Missing referred to ING. (Hmm ... that is a financial services company and would have been a good clue in today's puzzle). Once I finished, I couldn't pinpoint what made it so difficult for me.

I liked Sussex Scents = ODOURS. We get lots of foreign words, but the foreign language isn't usually English!

I also liked a Bit of Physics = ATOM.

I wasn't familiar with the TEASEL. It does look prickly.

Some very violent weather tore through Louisiana and Mississippi yesterday causing a lot of damage. Humidity came with the storm, so the "summer" temperatures are now here to stay.

QOD: There is no love sincerer than the love of food. ~ George Bernard Shaw

Al said...

@C.C. when you scare someone a little bit, you give them a start, that is, you have startled or surprised them, so the entire answer "start position" is a "site".

ALLI prevents fat absorption and it warns you right on the container to keep a change of clothes with you in case a certain kind of intestinal reaction catches you short. It is not a good way to go to lose weight, because you still need to absorb the right (essential) fats. The only real way to permanent weight loss is to permanently change your diet to fresh veg, berries, only small amounts of grass-fed meat, no processed foods, very little sugar, no artificial anything, omega-3 and 9 fats, and eliminate most commercial cooking oils using only coconut and real butter for cooking, and about 2 tbsb of olive, avocado, or almond oils for salads or coating steamed vegetables. Small amounts of dark chocolate are OK.

Lemonade714 said...

Good day all,

Did the puzzle last night and obviously my mind is elsewhere. It felt unbalanced to me, but I know that is just a feeling, as it mirrors perfectly. Just losing my concentration.

Also, never heard of :TEASEL, and do not like words like POTATION or NOTATE but I understand they are fair clues. I did enjoy Joint tenant?: FELON.

If Dennis was saying ESE is used in jargon at the end of words, to make up words, as we do with CROSSWORDESE, I agree, but it was presented with distinct subtlety.

People used to drive from all over to see my father's gardens, especially his roses and his DOUBLE PEONIES , bittersweet memories.

Very scattered, be well all

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - Really tried for a ta-dah without any help today, would be my first for a Sunday. I came close, but not quite! Thought drink was a verb and filled POTATE ON, even though OLEO made no sense. Since I never heard of BREAMS, I fouled up a letter in there also. SUCCUBI filled itself in, but it still looked wrong. Had to turn on the red letters. Next Sunday!

Sudden recollection: Monty Python used "breams" in a sketch in which Britain's top goalies wrote poems about the Yangtze River. Any Python fans around?

Anonymous said...

Jargon = language. 'ese' is defined as "language suffix". Good clue, good answer.

Anonymous said...

Lucina: What type of Yoga do you practice?

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Phew! This one was a toughie for me. I still have the remnants of a cold, so I will use that as my excuse.

I slogged through it, even with red letters and I still needed Google a few times. "Not Potable" is a common sign at hotel sinks in many countries, but I've never heard the word POTATION before. NEMEA, BREAMS, TEASEL were all new to me. I must have missed that Python skit, Dudley. I was/am a fan though.

I'm not fond of partial phrases like (61D) IS NOW a bad time?, (88A) Don't look AT ME!, and (125A) Wholly OR IN part. But that is just me.

The theme was fine. Those answers were probably the easiest for me and what kept me going to the end. I particularly liked (68A) "Site of a surprise?" START POSITION.

VCRS for (92A) "Tapers?" was a stopper for me until I got here. D'oh!...or should I say, "HELLO".

Spitzboov said...

Hello all,

Difficult slog as expected. Agree with earlier comments. many clever clues; some goofy ones. Liked the theme clues. Clever clueing included BREAKNEWS, STREAMVIDEO, BALL, and FELON. Did not know NEMEA; BH knew TEASEL. (Thanks for the picture, Hahtool.) ETAPE - Meriam-Webster doesn't have it, Free online dict. says it is a storehouse, and Wiki implies it's a biking term. Never asked to drink a POTATION, but read about potable water regularly. I did not like GETS AT, but if you consider "what are you 'getting at'" as "suggesting", I would give Mark some slack.

Like the 8 letter stacks with fills like AMARILLO and KALAHARI.

Illegitimis non carborundum!

MR ED said...

Calling a VCR a taper is a 'made up' definition. The word taper refers to a change in the thickness of an object along it's length.
It is often used to refer to a candle.

Hahtoolah said...

The other day, Double Dutch / ROPE was a clue/fill. Just this morning, I hear on NPR's Sunday Morning about a this Street Game becoming a competitive sport.

Bill G. said...

Well, I finished and enjoyed it OK but it certainly didn't flow for me.

Some of the Monty Python routines were just classic. I remember loving the 100 yard dash for the deaf, the dead parrot routine...

Dudley said...

Thinking back a loooong way, I seem to recall that the Yangtze sketch was on a Python album, and thus may have been audio-only from the outset. HMMMM, wonder if I still have that LP...probably not, I got rid of nearly all vinyl when CD's came out.

Jerome said...

Clear Ayes- "I'm not fond of partial phrases... But that is just me."

You have a lot of company with that statement. Most constructors and editors don't like them much either. They are inherently flawed.
WORE A, for example, doesn't stand on its own as a phrase and definetly lacks elegance. But, like crosswordese, sometimes the constructor is simply stuck with it.

It is, by the way, a crossword 'rule' that partials are not to be longer than five letters.
You might see the clue "SHE__ Yellow Ribbon", but you'll never see "She Wore A__"

PatDan said...

goog day

Clear Ayes said...

:o) I save my attacks on American Rock & Roll icons for Sundays. I'll probably annoy some hardcore Doors fans, but I never much cared for Jim Morrison. Although his stage presence was magnetic (who didn't like those tight leather pants) "The Lizard King" wrote a lot of drug-addled, often sexual lyrics with simplistic rhyming phrases. The band itself was recognizable with the keyboard and drums pounding in the background, but The Doors was Morrison. Once he was dead, what was the point?

I've tried reading Morrison's poetry and it is "poetic", but it is just too hard to figure out. LSD, heroin or mushrooms were totally beyond my experience, so that may be the problem.

If you aren't familiar with it, L.A. Woman is the "Mr. Mojo RISIN" song.

Clear Ayes said...

Good day to you too, PatDan.

Jerome, I left "She WORE A Yellow Ribbon" off my complaint list because it is both a movie and song title and couldn't have been anything else. In another puzzle "IS NOW a bad time?" could be "NOW IS a bad time", or "Yes SIREE!" could be "Yes WE CAN!" So many of the partial phrases change the fill according to the demands of the puzzle. Thanks for the interesting information about how many letters the partials can contain. Now I know why my first guess "IS THIS a bad time?" could never be, even with an extra square.

koufaxmaravich said...

Hi group,

I echo some of the previous comments; this was a hard one for me.

I liked the theme, enjoyed some clever clues and unusual fills, but was frustrated by too many "stretches" which seemed "too clever by a half."

The most painful was STARTPOSITION as site for a surprise. It may be because "gives me a start" uses the noun as an object and "start position" uses it as a subject. In any event, it was beyond me.

I thought 124A TENNIES was a big stretch. I was looking for ASICS, CONVERSE sneakers, PRO-KEDS even; but I've never heard of tennies.

51A squalid gave me fits. I had dirty, grimy, and slimy before coming to the blog and seeing SEAMY.

Joint Tenant = Felon was excellent. I was on the right track thinking of joint as a noun, but I was looking for something related to arthritis of the joints -- am I showing my age?

D'uh relative = HELLO also brought a smile. In those situations, my Israeli friends use the phrase "BOKER TOV" (literally Good Morning) as in "Did you just wake up?"

All in all, a Sunday puzzle. Make it a great day.

Lemonade714 said...

J. Man, where did you learn the rule of partials? Is this something handed down from on high, or did you read a book on constructing that said, 5 letters or out? Did Rich call you up and say, 5 okay, 6 is a nix? What are the rules of symmetry? Really love your recent effort.

ciao chow

Anonymous said...

you know that day destroys the night...night divides the day...tried to run, tried to hide...break on through to the other side.

if you have nothing nice to say...

Anonymous said...

So, since Jim Morrison songs seldom had anything nice to say, should he have kept his mouth shut?

Jerome said...

Lemonade- The rules, guidelines and standards of crossword construction can be found in many sources: Books, websites, publishers specs, etc. One great source in particular is the website Cruciverb. A great source for me when I was a beginner was a book named The Crossword Obsession by Coral Amende. It's also a great book for solvers. I believe Amazon has many used copies available for just a few bucks. I think you'd love it.

Symmetry- If I place a black square in the top row, four spaces in from the left, I then have to put one in the bottom row, four spaces in from the right. In the end, all black squares will have a counterpart in the grid. If you turn the finished grid 180 degrees, or upside down, it looks exactly the same as it was right side up.

Lemonade714 said...

Thank you Jerome

Lucina said...

Hello, C.C. and all.

Again today I had to split my solving time because of a baby shower (that generation is mighty fertile). I wish I could have finished it this morning as I was clipping along just fine with the top half, but had to stop for a few hours. Now that I returned I barely had the energy to finish and required Ggling the Labors Of Hercules. It's been too long since last I perused that.

Some great clues,though:
joint tenant?: felon
lea group: cows
and I enjoyed the theme answers, adding the "ing", clever.

some "ese" words
legalese
journalese
These are usually deprecatory which I understood was meant by the use of the clue "jargon".

Anon@10:36
thank you for asking about the type of yoga I practice. It is a westernized combination of several types used at the community college where I go and does not include meditation.

Our summer weather has started too, 95, today and no where to go but up. But that is the price we pay for our mild winters.

I hope you are having a lovely Sunday.

Lucina said...

As children we always called our sneakers, "tennies".

koufaxmaravich said...

Thanks Lucina. I've learned a new word.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Good puzzle today. Very clever theme. Took me a long time, but I almost got it all. Not knowing anything about Chester White slipped me up.

TENNIES is so obvious in retrospect. (Sigh)

Misread "Latin lambs" as "Latin iambs." Damned tiny print and bifocals. When AGNI filled it, it was, "What the Hell?!?" Every Catholic boy my age knows what AGNI means, but I was flummoxed.

Speaking of AGNI, saw a performance of of Mozart's Requiem last night. Thought it might be a lot of TE DEUM, but it was magnificent. Paired with R. Strauss's Serenade for winds, and his DEATH and TRANSFIGURATION (sounds great, but I don't get it) made for an impressive evening.

Toward the end of the RECORDARE (AGNUS DEI comes later) section of the Requiem are these lines.

Inter oves locum praesta,
Et ab hoedis me sequestra.

Translated as:
Let me graze among Your sheep,
But keep me from Your goats.

WTH?!?

Speaking of Requiems, this morning, my Ex's husband died after a long illness. Some sort of inoperable cancer. Rest in peace, Gary.

Times like this always make me pause and think - life is a mystery; cherish every moment with those you love.

Cheers! (really)
JzB

Lucina said...

Webster's lists potation 1: (n) a usu. alcoholic drink or brew. 2)a the act of drinking, b) draft

koufaxmaravich, I'm always happy to aid in someone's enlightenment.

Anon@10:36
I failed to mention that at home I use Suzanne Deason's DVD, "Yoga Conditioning for Women."

ARBAON said...

"Sussex scent" got me again...I flashed "odor" but it didn`t fit with the extra letter. Tried to fit cacti where teasel went...new word for me. Bream are quite tasty...but I want them smaller than the pic.


JzB:
Sheep are His people,
Goats are the ones He will separate from His people...
not coincidentally, the goat head figures prominently in things occult...

Predictions are for the bad weather tonight, here...under a severe storm warning as we "speak"

Dennis said...

Arbaon, here too; heavy thunderstorms are really rocking us at the moment; great show.

Lemonade714 said...

Yes, I believe the goat is associated with SATAN who made a rare appearance today, but if you thought it was to protect the goats from assault, I get that too

Jazzbumpa said...

Aha. Good points.

Lemonade - You're saying, never salt the goat?

Cheers!
JzB

Frenchie said...

Good afternoon fellow human beings:

I enjoyed the c/w, today. The theme was clear and with perps. all went along nicely. I used google to check 1 or 2 answers.

Joint tenant was a careless clue/answer.

Potation reminds me of the Jeopardy category, "potent potables."

My favorite clue/answer was 92A-VCRs for tapers!

I also liked 'Bit of Physics/ATOM.' in college, I had to take 3 quarters of Physics. Being an artist, I lack a certain propensity toward the sciences. Therefore, I'll say, "I DON'T KNOW PHYSICS FROM ATOM!"

I don't know how OLEO can be used in reference to hodge podge? oleo
Anyone?

@Lemonade 714, what a wonderful memory! Your father sounds like he was a very special man.

@Dudley, I seem to recall that ipo, has a Ball Python, BDQMOT.

@Dudley,"Any Python fans around?" I thought you meant the snake as opposed to the sit. com.

mariposa, Thank you for the kind words concerning my uncle's death. It hit me pretty hard.
Crockett1947,Thanks to you,too. It's pretty amazing how comforting it is to know I have such sincere and thoughtful people in my life.

JD, Thank you for taking time to send positive thoughts my way...
Lucina, thank you for the support in your words. I'm also curious how it's going for your great niece being chosen for BIGGEST LOSER. I hope she stays safe, when I have watched episodes, I fear they are pushing such strenuous exercise regimes that the contestants could experience dangerous physical consequences.

ARBAON, I thank you, too!

LOIS, thank you and how is it going for your young friend and the location of a heart?, Still 3rd on the List?

kazie, thank you so much for thinking about me.

Jeannie,thanks to you,too and I'm happy to read your mom is on the mend!
My daughter, Annie, loves to cook. She has been trying to duplicate the salad from Olive Garden and hasn't come close. Do you have any suggestions for her? Any info will be well appreciated!
I'm out!

Lucina said...

Frenchie:
I am so sorry about your uncle. I must have missed the news of his passing. It is so difficult and wrenching to lose loved ones.

Thanks for inquiring about my niece. Infortunately she was not accepted, but she is determined to lose weight on her own.

Did you mean "olio" for hodge podge? It is a staple in xwds and is a Spanish word meaning mixture.