google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday May 19, 2010 Don Gagliardo

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May 19, 2010

Wednesday May 19, 2010 Don Gagliardo

Theme: B-29 -There are total 29 letter B's in the grid.

17A. Trivial Pursuit edition: BABY BOOMER. Both words of the four 10-letter theme answers start with B. Constructor's note is attached at the end of my write-up.

27A. Luxurious soak: BUBBLE BATH. Four B's in this entry alone.

39A. Enola Gay, e.g. (and a hint to this puzzle's unusual feature): B-TWENTY-NINE. Strange to see B-29 spelled out, isn't it? Very creative tie-in! I had no idea that Enola Gay is a B-29 type bomber though.

53A. Party recyclable: BEER BOTTLE

64A. Place for low-priority issues: BACK BURNER

Besides the above five nominal theme entries, there are 38 other B-containing words/phrases in the grid. Total 43 (out of the 78 entries). With his "Hard G" and the previous K & W puzzles, now Don Gagliardo holds four records.

Again, quite a few music references (Don is a piano technician):

10A. Beatles nonsense syllables OB-LA. "... Ob-la-Di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah!..". New to me. I like how it intersects LET IT BE (12D. Beatles song with "Mother Mary"). Nice Beatles echo.

14A. "__ Mio": 'O SOLE. "My Sun".

67. Moreno with Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards: RITA. She's Anita is "West Side Story".

13. Franklin of soul: ARETHA

31D. Like bass notes: LOW

41D. Bach's "Mass __ Minor": IN B. Another B.

Don's puzzles are always marked by long Down entries. In today's grid, there are four 8-letter answers, five 7-letter entries and ten 6-letter answers.

Across:

1. To the third power: CUBED. Had difficulty understanding the exact part of speech of the clue.

6. Motorcyclist's hog: BIKE. Hog is a slang for motorcycle.

15. Prefix with mensch: UBER. Übermensch. Superman.

16. Uncle Remus title: BR'ER. Br'er Rabbit/Fox

19. Download source: SITE. Website.

20. Pugilists' gp.: WBC (World Boxing Council). Only know WBA (World Boxing Association)

21. Give it a shot: TRY

24. Smidgen BIT. Wanted TAD.

25. Flight to Eilat: EL AL. Literally "skyward". Eilat is Israel's southernmost city, according to Wikipedia.

30. Asian palm: BETEL. Ah, poor Dennis' Vietnam memory. Both the nut and leaves are chewable, correct, Dennis?

32. Très __: very little: PEU. Un petit peu = a little bit.

33. Word in a Flintstone yell: YABBA. "Yabba dabba doo!".

34. ISP with chat rooms: AOL

36. Gp. that has issued more than 420 million IDs: SSA. Doesn't really sound like a lot.

38. Braves' div.: NLE (National League East)

42. "Phooey!": BAH

43. Ball belle: DEB. Alliteration.

44. "Pick a number from __ ...": ONE. Crossing A NO (37D. "I'll take that as __" ).

45. "Idol" success Clay: AIKEN. The most famous "Idol" non-winner.

47. Ballot choices: X'ES

49. Fiber-rich cereals: BRANS

56. Tongue trouble: SLIP. Slip of the tongue. Alliteration.

57. Show with "Celebrity Jeopardy!" spoofs, briefly: SNL

58. Dadaist Jean ARP. The Dada pioneer.

59. Like many dicts.: ABR (Abridged)

61. Post-op area: ICU

62. Getting the job done: ON IT

68. '40s film critic James: AGEE. Had no idea that he's film critic.

69. Guadalajara "good": BUENO. Alliteration.

70. Max of '30s boxing: BAER. Learned from doing Xword.

71. Proof of ownership: DEED

72. "The Beverly Hillbillies" star: EBSEN (Buddy)

Down:

1. Spider's doing COBWEB

2. In working order USABLE. And BRIBABLE (11. Like one who can be bought). Two able ending words. Venal means bribable too. I tend to confuse venal with venial.

3. Hare-hunting feline: BOBCAT. Oh, I was ignorant that bobcat eat hare. Hare with morels, that's what those people eat in Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party". I love "Amélie", Dudley.

4. Cambridgeshire cathedral town: ELY. Often it's just clued as "English cathedral town".

5. Plastic user's concern: DEBT

6. Keep afloat: BUOY UP

7. ThinkPad maker: IBM. We also had POD (22A. i follower). iPoD.

8. Stay active: KEEP BUSY

9. Flamboyant Flynn: ERROL

10. No longer used, as a word: Abbr.: OBS. OK, obsolete I suppose.

18. Celestial sight: ORB. Alliteration.

23. Actress Susan: DEY

26. Sofa material: LEATHER

28. Safest option: BEST BET. Both word start with B also.

29. Pennants: BANNERS

35. Headed up: LED

39. Collectible plastic jewelry: BAKELITE. Kitchenware too.

40. Words clicked to see more: NEXT PAGE. Nice entry.

42. Two-year periods: BIENNIA. Plural of biennium. I obtained the answer with crosses.

45. Take in: ABSORB

46. Hoops org.: NBA

48. Quenched: SLAKED

50. Dior skirts: A-LINES. First introduced by Christian Dior in 1955.

51. Christianity's __ Creed: NICENE

52. Press forward: SPUR ON

54. "... for there is nothing / either good __, but thinking makes it so": Hamlet: OR BAD. Easy guess.

55. Tidal action: EBB

60. Hick: RUBE. Parallels with RUB (66. Erase, with "out")

63. La Brea material: TAR

65. Average mark: CEE

Don's note:

The inspiration for this puzzle comes from Crossword Corner. I was asked about a puzzle that was memorable, and one that stood out was where I had 30 K’s in the grid. I had a lot of favorable response to that one. It got me thinking how I could do that again. My first thought was B-52. Would you believe I thought I could put 52 B’s in a puzzle? I was lucky to get 29. I also thought the puzzle should have two-word phrases where each word begins with B. It is a simple idea, but very difficult to pull off when it comes to filling a grid. I think it went back and forth to Rich at least three times. Many thanks to C.C.!

Answer grid.

C.C.

60 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, C.C. and gang - wow, what a great theme, and what a challenge this puzzle must've been to put together. Compliments to Don for an outstanding effort. And as it turns out, the inspiration came from our own C.C.!

The puzzle itself fell together fairly easily, especially once the theme became apparent. 'B twentynine' was a gimme (although I've never seen it spelled out that way), since planes are my forte. Knowing there were going to be Bs all over the place certainly helped when there were a couple options on any given answer.
Needed perps for 'Biennia' and 'in B'. 'Nicene' was either just in either a Merle Reagle puzzle or the NYT, otherwise I'd have needed perps for that too. All in all, a superb effort by Mr. Gagliardo. And as always, I love the trademark long down fills.

C.C., yes, both the nut and leaf of the betel tree are edible. You could always tell the users by the black teeth.



Today is Boy's Club Day.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, CC and all. I loved this puzzle. I thought of CUBED immediately so knew I was going in the right direction. After getting BABY BOOMER (I have this Trivial Pursuit edition, BTW), and BUBBLE BATH, I though we were looking for alliterative Bs. The Enola Gay "hint" threw me off momentarily after I filled in BTW..., but the light went on and I realized what was needed there.

Here's a Betel Palm and here's a Beatle song.

QOD: Sometimes in this world, you don't get the whole dog. Now and then, you have to settle for the tail. ~ Rick Bragg

Lemonade714 said...

What an odd puzzle; I seemed to be slogging and then poof, it congratulated me, and I was done. What was the record for the most “B”s in a puzzle, he obliterated the old one. I especially enjoyed seeing Buddy EBSEN and Max BAER together in the corners, as it was Max’s sonm Jr., who played Jethro on the BEVERLY HILLBILLIES . I was slowed by COBWEB trying to recall the difference between them and Spider Webs, but now, I know.

BABY BOOMER and BUBBLE BATH, made the path clear, though the central answer, certainly did not help me; I am much too lazy to count to 29, I just put a B in anywhere I had a blank space.

I also loved the BETEL BEATLE connection, un petit peu (not the feminine petite) and DEBT for plastic users is always cute. All this and another puzzle influenced by our fearless leader. Awesome

Mainiac said...

Good Morning CC and All,

Really cool theme and interesting comment from Don on the puzzle's creation. CC is always inspirational to me!

B-29 and Bubble Bath got me rolling along. I didn't know who Clay Aiken was but Bakelite filled it in. I really like the Wednesday difficulty level. No red letter help on this one. I think I'm getting better at this gig.

Have a great Hump Day!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning C.C. and all. Easy Wednesday. BTWENTYNINE fell quickly and saw the plethora of B's, but didn't make the 29 connection until comming here. No searches needed, perps helped with the few unknowns. POD was clever.

ÜBER - means over, across, or above.

BRER - A gimme. I have Brer Rabbit blackstrap molasses on my oatmeal every morning.

Thanks Don for a clever, entertaining puzzle.

Dick said...

Good morning CC and All, I don’t have any time this morning, but I did want to say that this was a really great puzzle this morning. I admire the creativity and work that must have been required to construct this puzzle.

One other quick comment, when I had the first two letters of btwentynine I thought bt that can’t be possible. DUH! Great puzzle Don!!!!!!.

Hope you all have a great Wednesday.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Man, that's quite the swarm of bees! ^_^

Great puzzle overall, although I personally found it a bit more challenging than the last two days. unlike most, I didn't know what type of airplane Enola Gay was (other than a bomber), so that center section remained a bit of a mystery until I got the crosses. The SW section also slowed me down a bit since I initially tried AKENS for AIKEN and BIANNIA for BIENNIA.

The only clue I objected to was "Spider's doing" for COBWEB. In my mind, spiders create spider webs. A cob web is created when a spider web later gets covered in dust, so the spider doesn't actually create the cobweb itself. Whatever.

Oh -- and it was great to see OB-LA in the puzzle! I've always wondered whether that particular phrase was a way to sneak the British swear word "bloody" past the moral guardians of the day (OB-LA-Dee sounds just like "oh bloody"). If they were an American group, perhaps the lyrics would have been "O-fa-dee, o-fa-cue"...

Tinbeni said...

B-29, spelled out, was my first entry.
This helped me know that Bach's "Mass___Minor" was IN B.

Good Morning, But I digress ...

FUN little slog.

Laughed at the LET IT BE, subtle.
Where was the Beach Boys: Ba Ba Ba Ba Barbara Ann?
Liked the BRER, BAER.
Learned a 40's film critic, James AGEE, big deal.

So I guess this was BUENO, OR BAD.

Crockett1947 said...

Good morning, everyone!

What a fantastic puzzle. Don, you done good! Nice to have C.C. as the inspiration for this one. I can't imagine the work it took to put this one together!

Have a great Wednesday!

kazie said...

Great puzzle, great shout out to our C.C.! Most enjoyable today.

Like others, I had different levels of difficulty as I went through it. I started hard at the top, didn't know Uncle Remus, then it fell and I swept through to the bottom, then got stuck in the middle with most of the twenty nine, no knowing AIKEN, I had AIDEN there, but eventually realized that BAKE worked better than JADE (thinking of jewelry), and there it was, B29!

Lemonade,
Good catch on Jethro, I knew that but had forgotten. When I was teaching, I had a set of posters of famous Germans, and Max BAER was one of them, and that's when I first knew of him.

My first awareness of BETEL nuts was from the movie South Pacific, and I remember thinking the black teeth were gross, and why would anyone want to do that.

Anonymous said...

Wow CC, how awesome that you now have the constructors making puzzles just for you!! What does that tell you about the success of this blog you have created. This is the second time this has happened am I right?

I really liked all the b's. I too didn't know what type of plane Enola Gay was, and BAKELITE was a complete unknown to me, so I never totally got the theme. I was on to lots of B's though. How could you not be. They were all over the place.

Barry, interesting note on OB-LA. I hadn't ever thought of that, but I would guess you are correct. They loved to push the limit whenever possible, and they like to do it in subtle ways (i.e., Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - I think they still deny it has anything to do with LSD). There used to be a show called Life Goes On with Patty LaPone and a Down Syndrome boy. It was a really great show but got cancelled early on:-( The good family programs often don't make it. Sex and violence sell much better.

Lots of tricky little answers all over the place. Loved Plastic Users concern (was thinking of the plastic in drinking - those PCB's or whatever they are), wanted WILMA vs YABBA at first - thinking of the theme song. Rita Moreno just died last week did she not? And I know Max Baer from watching Cinderella Man, great movie.

Off to do some last minute scrapbooking for grad party. Dog sitting today also. Hope everyone has a great day.

Lucina said...

Good morning C.C. and all.

Not much time this morning as I will attend a tech boot camp.

Great puzzle today from Don and as it turns out, C.C. as well. Loved the bbbbbbbbbbbbbs and sailed smoothly buoyed up with them.

Have a beautiful Wednesday! Hopefully I shall be much smarter by the end of the day.

lois said...

Good morning CC, et al., What a Beeeeautiful puzzle! And what a compliment to you, CC, to beeee the inspiration beeeeehind it! Congratulations, CC. You are awesome!

I was pleased to get Betel and Elal easily- from doing c/ws. Loved that 'leather', 'bike' and 'spur on' were in the same puzzle. A lot of 'Baby Boomer's that I know own hogs. Always wondered if they get 'rub'bed raw from a long ride. They don't complain, however. Maybe it's because these manly men don't want to admit that a 'bubble bath' would be 'one' fun way of easing the pain. They might admit however that the 'best bet' would be a 'rub' down with a 'nice-ne'apolitan body cream that I'm sure would make the aches all 'bueno'. Or they could just 'let it be' and the pain will
'ebb' in a 'bit'..a 'dey' or two. Enough 'beer bottle's and the 'aiken' stops sooner than that. They're 'on it'. No prob.

BarryG: LOL funny guy! Could be true. Makes sense. Never would've caught that. Good job.

Barry G. said...

Rita Moreno just died last week did she not?

Not according to her entry on IMDB.

Maybe you're thinking of Lena Horne?

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Don Gagliardo keeps coming up with new ideas and entertaining execution for his puzzles. This one was enjoyable from start to finish.

The next time we see MUSE in a puzzle, we will almost automatically envision C.C. in the background.

Although I knew the 39A Enola Gay history, I didn't know it was a B-TWENTY-NINE. It was picket-fence-y for a while, but the perps helped me out. It wasn't an "Aha" moment when I got it done and then counted the "Bs", but it was definitely a "Wow!".

The only reason I knew Clay AIKEN is that he was a long time staple of Kathy Griffin's comedy act.

Lemonade, thanks for the COBWEB information. I always thought there was a difference with spiderwebs. I'd better go get the duster and do a quick once over in the ceiling corners.

eddyB said...

Morning all.

Just time to say hello. Everyone is here at once. (Wall people, window people and police to block off the intersection).

Bock's Car was the other B-29.

Thanks Jeannie for your wishes.

eddyB

DCannon said...

Interesting puzzle. Didn't get the theme, though. I knew the Enola Gay was a B-29, but I didn't get the clue until I had nearly all the letters filled. I kept thinking I had something wrong with the "bt" at the beginning.

Little known history note: The Enola Gay was based near here at Rattlesnake Base at Pyote, Texas for a while after the war. Parts of the base are still there, but it was called Rattlesnake for a reason and one should walk with caution when visiting!

Had "ride" at 6A. I've often heard motorcycles referred to a "my ride."

Jerome said...

Don is one of the most innovative puzzle makers. Every puzzle he creates is superb. It's one thing to make good, enjoyable puzzles, it's quite a different thing to make outstanding puzzles with every try. And that's exactly what Don accomplishes.

Now, inspired by today's puzzle, I'm off to start on one of my own. Not being as creative as Don, my theme will simply be the Three R's.

Chickie said...

Hello All--For some reason for me today's puzzle was the easiest this week. All the B's became evident early on and like Lemonade, I began filling in B's when I had an empty space. However, when I got to the writeup, I found that I had left one letter out of the grid. The O for Obla.

Also, Lemonade, thanks for the realationship between "Jethro" and Max Baer. I didn't know that.

Clay Aiken was a given as he has appeared on the Oprah Show and she has made a big deal out of the fact that he was a "loser" on American idol.

Bakelite is an Antique's Roadshow collectable. My mother had a bakelite necklace which I coveted as a teenager.

This is the second puzzle in about as many weeks for which C.C. has been the inspiration. A shout out to our inspirational leader.

Chickie said...

Jerome, I'm looking forward to your puzzle with the Three R's!!

I thought the 29 B's today was so much fun. I was lazy, though, and didn't go back and count. I took Don's word for it. How anyone can come up with such innovative ideas is beyond me. Kudos to Mr. Gagliardo.

Bill G. said...

C.C., you said "To the third power: CUBED. Had difficulty understanding the exact part of speech of the clue."

They mean exactly the same thing. 5 to the third power means 5x5x5 = 125. As a shortcut, it's also called 5 cubed.

Anonymous said...

I don't think Boomer's wife speaks much English.

Gunghy said...

When I saw 1A, I knew I was in for a good time. Never paused to pick up my coffee cup. I started in the NW, went East, then south and on around. BABYBOOMER, BRIBABLE, BUBBLEBATH and BANNER all had a BA; then came BACKBURNER. Could not see haw a wandering BA would help solve a cross-word. Although I can think of other times that an active BA is a lot of fun.

I had _TWENTYNINE and had to stop and think about what went there. DUH!!

I have had one square wrong every day this week. I prefer beetles and betels to Beatles, and Aretha is a name (shudder) so they crossed with an E, not an A. Hey, looked good to me.

Tried SOAKED for SLAKED. Had the entire BOTTOE before I read the clue. Tried BIENIAL even though I knew it needed 2 N's. BAER solver that for me. A name I know.

My one cavil: SPUR ON doesn't mean to press forward, it meant to encourage others to press forward.

Kazie, Max Schmeling was the German boxer. Baer beat him in '33 wearing a Star of David on his trunks. Baer was half Jewish. Hitler wasn't happy. I'm not Jewish, and don't like the fights, but my dad boxed about that time, so I got the lessons.

Lois, last summer I did 13 hrs. on my bike in one day. Yes, I will admit to being rubbed raw and a rub down would have been very painful. 2 days later, I had a 5 hr. run that wasn't too bad. 3 days after that, it took me 5 hours to go 90 miles. I just couldn't sit on the bike for more than 20 miles. Did it cure me? I'll be in San Antonio for the 4th of July. 1600 miles one way.

Long enough, I'm gone.

kazie said...

anon @11:48,
On the contrary, her English may not be perfect, but for someone living here only since 2001, and having no formal education in this country, I think she uses English very well. How's your Chinese? To say someone doesn't speak much English implies a much less sophisticated vocabulary than C.C.'s, and we don't mind at all the rare occasions on which she needs a little clarification.

kazie said...

Gunghy,
Thanks--as I've said before, I'm not so good with names, and obviously got the Maxes mixed up. Good thing you were on top of it.

Jeannie said...

Breathtaking, bodacious, bountiful, boundless, beautiful! Those are just some of my thoughts on today’s puzzle. I liked it about as much as the other puzzle that was inspired by our C.C. and those of us on the corner. I got a little perp help with Betel, Arp, Abr, Baer, biennia and the new word for me Nicene. A couple favorite clues were “tongue trouble”- slip and “plastic users concern” – debt. I had no idea what Bakelite jewelry was either. One of my favorite skits on SNL is their spoof on Jeopardy. Too bad Ely wasn’t clued as a Northern MN mining town. I think part of the movie North Country was filmed up there.

The weather continues to be picture perfect here in MN. I hope your weather is too!

dodo said...

Congratulations again, C.C. you've inspired an artist for the second time. Maybe it's more and there are some we don't know about. Nice work. Shows what an influence on the CW world you're becoming!

I really enjoyed this one. Thanks, Don. I got the 'b' idea but at first I thought it would be alliterated phrases. I would never think to count any of the letters; too lazy! Enough that I get them in.

I guess I must work puzzles differently than most of you: I had 'we' and 'nine' first and then decided it could only be 'twenty' nine. I'd put in enough b's that I figured the first letter for 'b', since I remembered my brother flying them in WWII. Still didn't think of the number of 'bs' until I came here. Duh!

Eddy B, I think the 'flying boxcar' was the C119, a much bigger aircraft than the B29.

This seemed much easier than most Wednesday puzzles and very creative. My only unknown was Aiken. It's always the names. Igot this one from the perps, so at least I had no lookups.

It's a gorgeous day here today. I was supposed to have gone on a winery tour but it was cancelled because rain was forecast! You just can't believe 'em!

I never knew bakelite was collectible. Is it only the jewelery? Think of all the old bakelite objects that were thrown out as plastics came in! Ya never know!

Jerome, I'm looking forward to your next puzzle, whatever it is. ABC might be a very creative theme. It'll be interesting for sure.

Spitzboov said...

Dodo, I believe EddyB was referring to Bockscar the B29 that flew the Nagasaki mission.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers! - What a fun puzzle this was, loved the theme even though I was slow to catch on. Back in Noho Mass. today, good coffee.

Congratulations C.C. for having influenced another puzzle! Glad to hear from another Amelie fan as well (but I forgot how to get the accented e, must go read that again).

Susan Dey again! :-)


I heard lectures from two of the Enola Gay crewmen at various times. Interesting stuff, and you get the idea the B-29 was not very comfortable for those long, cold, high altitude transits. Got the job done, though.

Didn't know that Bakelite was jewelry. To me it's the material for electrical enclosures, such as old clock motors or tabletop radios.

Good Day all!

Dennis said...

Spitzboov, yes he was, and Dodo, you're correct that the C-119 was indeed called 'the flying boxcar'. Not sure it was all that much bigger than a B-29 though.

Entropy said...

C.C. since this puzzle was inspired by your blog, I'll try this again.

OK, you got your 29 B's and 29 three letter fills. Also, black squares that look like little Stealth Fighter's on each side.

Throw in those Hillbillies, Ebsen and Baer, and Don you made a great puzzle, cubed!

Jerome said...

Hardly worth mentioning, but...

BUBBLE BATH, et al, are simply phrases holding the 'real' theme: 29 B's. In other words, the theme isn't any word or phrase. It's a letter.

ARBAON said...

B`s made a honey of a puzzle for a honey of a blog Mistress! You tell `em Kazie!

Isn`t it "flying BOX-car" as in the railroad car?

Cob webs or spider webs...I`m always impressed when I don`t see any up around the ceiling and corners of someone`s house. (Yes, I do look ever since someone saw one after I had just cleaned...) Some types of heat leave what I call "soot tags", too.

Jeannie:
Before the one I drive for got the second eye shot yesterday...we enjoyed a char-broiled burger and then some funnel cake sticks, both quite tasty. Suppose they`ll ever do a smaller version of the "bloomin` onion?"
Dr. said there was improvement in the eye!

Dennis said...

ARBAON, the name of the B-29 that dropped the second atomic bomb (on Nagasaki) was named 'BocksCar', named after the pilot, Captain Frederick Bock.

Bob said...

Pretty easy puzzle. 15 minutes.

Incidentally, Captain Frederick Bock was the usual pilot of the B-29 called Bockscar but not on the bombing run over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. A different crew piloted the plane that day, members of the 509th who usually piloted The Great Artiste--Major Charles W. Sweeney (pilot) and Captain Charles Albury (co-pilot). The Great Artiste had flown the photo recon mission over Hiroshima on August 6, as Bockscar was being readied for Nagasaki. Bock flew The Great Artiste in a support role over Nagasaki on August 9.

For comparison purposes:
Length:
B-29 99 feet
C-119 86 feet
Wingspan
B-29 141 feet
C-119 109 feet
Loaded weight
B-29 60 tons
C-119 32 tons

The atomic bombs used on Japan weighed about 5 tons each.

Chickie said...

Dudley, Bakelite was used for many things, but I think you are right that it was mostly used for electrical fixture enclosures. We did have a Bakelite radio and I still have a beautiful art deco dress belt buckle that belonged to my mom. I'm not sure when they stopped using this and started using Plastic. sometime in the late 30's, early 40's? Plastic was a BIG thing when I was growing up.

Our weather here started out bright and sunny and now it is raining again. It poured while we were in our meeting this morning and again while I was driving home. I think we're skipping Spring this year. My string bean sprouts are struggling and our berries haven't even begun to ripen. Usually by this time we've had a couple of berry desserts.

Gunghy said...

Chickie,
Bakelite was still used extensively in the 50's, but was gradually phased out as new and easier to use or cheaper alternatives were invented. However, it still has some uses today. It is incredibly durable and solid, so it is used for high quality billiard balls and dice amongst other uses. It is still used some for electrical purposes, if you aren't buying the typical consumer crap they pawn off on us these days. I recently saw a $200 toaster with real coils and bakelite insulators. Beautiful thing, but I don't eat that much toast.

Seldom Seen said...

i expect everyone might be tired of dayton trivia but....the bockscar b-29 is here, along with most of the most famous planes in the world! the united states air force museum is probably the most visited site in this area(along with kings island and cedar point). our next big aquisition should be the space shuttle Atlantis(after it safely returns). the usaf is in a bidding competition with cape canavrel, houston, birmingham and a couple others for the retiring fleet. the air and space museum in d.c. is getting one for sure. the usaf claims that since the atlantis ferried several military satellites to orbit, our museum deserves one. according to the media, wpafb is the leading canidate for one due to infrastructure, visitors and money.

dodo said...

Oops! Sorry Eddie, just thought it was misspelled! My bad!

Seldom Seen said...

test

dodo said...

Thanks, Bob. I guess I'm thinking of another one that was a troop carrier. C something. I remember my bro talking about it.

Chickie, I got married in 1948 and I don't remember much plastic at that time. There were plastic pants for babies in the mid 50s. I may have missed some other stuff. Thinking back things seemed much more 'primitive' in the late 40s/early 50s. Amazing, isn't it? Remember the first automatic washers? I think they came out in the early 40s or late 30s. Bendix was the first I heard of, and I think they must have sold to some other co. because you didn't hear much about them.

Dennis said...

Dodo said:
Thanks, Bob. I guess I'm thinking of another one that was a troop carrier. C something. I remember my bro talking about it.

Dodo, check my 1:48 post; you're correct about the C-119.

Seldom Seen said...

i hope there is a glitch in the system. the post shows 43 comments yet the link only has 38. and both of my comments are missing.

Clear Ayes said...

After I saw 16A "Uncle Remus title" BR'ER, I meant to mention that I had pulled out the movie "Song Of The South" a few days ago, watched it and tried to rate it on the Offensive Meter.

A couple of times, I thought, "Thank goodness, that isn't true anymore." and even "That wasn't the way it was." I wasn't offended. True, I'm not an African-American, but I think the common humanity and decency of the major characters far outweighed the cons.

The only sort-of villains were two white boys, but they weren't villains because they were white. They were just mean kids. The majority of the characters seemed to base their opinions of others on their affections and not on their color.

Uncle Remus himself was definitely the hero of the movie. Next in line was the kindly old lady plantation owner. She and Uncle Remus obviously respected and admired each other.

I'd have absolutely no problem with my granddaughter seeing this movie.

Bill G. said...

CA, I'm glad you liked Song of the South. I was pretty sure I wouldn't think it was offensive though it's been a while since I've seen it. I don't remember much about the live characters but Br'er Fox's voice and antics sure made me smile.

Hahtoolah said...

Seen, not heard: I don't know what happened to your posts. You had provided some interesting info about the bockscar B-29.

Dennis said...

Very weird - I twice posted an answer to Dodo regarding the C-119, the 'Flying Boxcar', and both have disappeared.

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

Similar blogger software glitch as we encountered last time. All the comments are in my mail box.

Seldom Seen said...

thank you hahtool...i thought i was losing my mind! as of now, four posts are missing.... will tune in tomorrow...

Bob said...

Looks like my comments on Bockscar disappeared into cyberspace for some reason, although it seems some of you read them before they disappeared. I'll try to recreate the gist of my remarks: (a) Frederick Bock flew a B-29 called The Great Artiste over Nagasaki and turned his own B-29 (Bockscar) over to the crew of The Great Artiste for the bombing mission that day (August 9, 1945). Bock had previously piloted The Great Artiste over Hiroshima to do photo recon of the event. The film made of the explosion was taken from the plane Bock piloted on August 6. (b) The Fairchild C-119 "Flying Boxcar" was actually smaller than the B-29, with a length of 86 feet compared to the B-29's 99 feet, a wingspan of 109 feet as opposed to 141 feet for the B-29, and a loaded weight of 32 tons compared to 60 tons for the B-29. (c) The two atomic bombs dropped on Japan (Little Boy and Fat Man, in that order) each weighed about 5 tons, so both B-29's were traveling very light on August 6 and 9.

Bob said...

I should have added that the B-29's bomb capacity was 10 tons, so a single A-bomb only represented a 50% normal ordnance load. The full B-17 load was only 4 tons for targets under 400 miles away and 2.25 tons for targets up to 800 miles away. The B-24 carried less than 2 tons of bombs. The B-29 was designed for long range and heavy lifting capacity, and was the only airplane in existence at the time with the capability of delivering an atomic bomb to such a distant target (about 1500 miles one way from Tinian in the Marianas to Japan).

MJ said...

C.C., Congratulations on once again being honored by a crossword constructor!

What an absolutely fantabulous crossword puzzle! Thank you Dan! Your puzzles are always wonderful.

Jerome, I look forward to your "Three R's" puzzle, and as I recall, you have another somewhere in the pipeline.

Night, all.

Dennis said...

As you may have noticed, several comments have disappeared in the past couple hours, but now they're starting to show up again. Looks like another blog glitch, so if you post something and it goes away, don't repost -- it'll come back up in time.

Bob said...

This is the first time I've seen comments disappear and then reappear again later. Next time I'll know to wait for them to reappear.

Anonymous said...

@Seen, not heard: All your posts have resurfaced.

MJ said...

Thank you, Hahtool! (Since posts are disappearing, I think you posted at 9:41pm.)

Yes, my age did ratchet up by one this week. And it was a most enjoyable day, ending with an absolutely gourmet meal prepared by my DIL (with son on the BBQ). She is such an awesome cook, and I had the pleasure of loving on Drake while she did all the kitchen prep and cooking. Other sons checked in with bouquets of flowers and well wishes, which warmed my heart. I am so blessed.

Dudley said...

Chickie and Gunghy (sorry about misspelling the latter yesterday) - Thanks for educating me about Bakelite. What with that and Micarta, another useful old-fashioned material of similar nature, a lot of consumer goods got made.

I'd about be willing to spend $200 for a toaster that works, and real coils and Bakelite insulators would just add to the toasting experience! Our top-of-the-line Oster toaster is a disappointment, damn thing.

Dudley said...

Hi Gang - Um, I know it's late, but you're the experts. A friend asked today whether the NYT daily puzzle could be had online at no cost. Izzit possible? I haven't tried.

dodo said...

Thanks Bob forthe info about the Bockscar. I did look it up on the net and skimmed the material. I have heard and read lots about the Enola Gay but not about the Bockscar. I wonder why. Of course Enola is a good crossword because of the alternating vowels/consonants, I suppose.

Anonymous said...

lets run bockscar into the groundgreat link