google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday July 21, 2010 Dan Naddor

Advertisements

Jul 21, 2010

Wednesday July 21, 2010 Dan Naddor

Theme: OFF TO A FAST START (59A. First out of the gate, and what 17-, 22-, 38- and 51-Across all get) - Each theme begins with a word meaning FAST.

17A. It may be drawn without thinking: HASTY CONCLUSION.

22A. Sylvester Pussycat nemesis: SPEEDY GONZALES. A little undercurrent of cartoons in today's effort, including a second appearance for 60D. Sylvester, to Tweety: TAT.

38A. Dubious diet ad promise: RAPID WEIGHT LOSS. Three grid-spanners, occupying a total of 73 theme squares. Heavy themage!

51A. Mentally agile: QUICK ON THE DRAW. One of my favorites QUICK DRAW .

Happy hump to you all; Lemonade here with my second Dan Naddor.

It has been more than 6 months since his passing, and it does not get easier. His theme answer are all unique and long, while not too difficult, they show his creativity. He also uses most of the tough letters in the alphabet, missing only J, V and X.

Across:

1. Turkish title: AGHA.

5. Kind of appetizer platter: PUPU. I believe this is an Hawaiian word that means appetizer; help me out here our Hawaiian contingent.

9. Refs throw them: FLAGS.

14. Nobleman's mistress: COURTESAN.

16. Artist Neiman: LEROY. The best sports artist ever, you can go and see his work at ORIGINALS .

19. In the know: HIP. With 8D. Not 19-Across: UNCOOL.

20. Buck's partner: DOE. Did you ever think that a Buck is a dollar, and Dough (DOE) is also money? No? Oh well, I did.

21. Emergency PC key: ESC.

27. A/C unit: BTU. British Thermal Units. I know they say Brits are cold, is that why they named the A/C measurer after them?

28. Paul's "Exodus" role: ARI. Paul Newman, and amazing book and MOVIE , which was produced by MGM. which coincidentally (?) is next. 29A. MGM co-founder: LOEW. His story was interesting, MARCUS LOEW . And then we have, 64D. Early MGM rival: RKO.

30. Fridge or freezer: Abbr.: APPL. It is amazing how clues are seen in bunches.

32. Pollution-policing org.: EPA.

34. Fountain orders: SODAS. The days of soda fountains are long gone....

42. Record needles: STYLI. Is your clue "Record players"? Read Rich Norris' note at the end of my write-up. Now we know the rest of the story on Monday 42A D.O.A. boo boo.

43. Response of feigned innocence: MOI. Of course you must think of HER .

44. Spill the beans: SING. Often done by criminals, who are also known as CONS....

45. Con: ANTI.

48. Powder parter: SKI. Alliteration and trickery all wrapped into one clue, wonderful. "Powder snow".

50. Asian occasion: TET. Followed by a wonderful rhyme, even if the reference is offensive to some (Dennis?).

56. Network absorbed by The CW: UPN.

57. Long-jawed fish: GAR.

58. ICU test: EEG.

66. Synagogue scroll: TORAH.

67. First felony conviction, in some states: ONE STRIKE. More alliteration.

68. Poet's Muse: ERATO. A real crosswordese, we all should have this one down.

69. Certain squad member: GEEK. Some say Best Buy has spent all the money on ads, and not training for their MEMBERS , I am prejudiced because my nephew is one.

70. "__ off?": ON OR. Dan really liked the word strings as answers.

Down:

1. German cry: ACH. This is for you Windhover, SING A LONG .

2. ___ few rounds: GO A.

3. Item in a fried side with catfish: HUSH PUPPY. Was the fried necessary?

4. "The Sopranos" chef Bucco: ARTIE. Did anyone remember his last name, which in hindsight sound like OSSO BUCO.

5. Delt neighbor: PEC. Muscles, shoulder and chest...

6. GI entertainers: USO. Gee, we can get Jayne Mansfield again with BOB HOPE .

7. Co. that has sponsored many soaps: P AND G. Proctor and Gamble; I wonder if I will ever do the "AND" words easily.

9. __ shot: FLU.

10. Guitarist Paul: LES. Just BEAUTIFUL .

11. The Little Mermaid: ARIEL. MB, Jeannie, ladies, is she a role model?

12. Ninny: GOOSE. Or just a silly...

13. Matches audio to video, say: SYNCS.

15. Aggressive sort: TYPE A.

18. He preceded and followed O'Brien: LENO.

22. March VIP: ST PAT.

23. Attracted: DREW. This ONE?.

24. "Holy Toledo!": YIPE.

25. Energy: ZEST.

26. Mil. truants: AWOLS.

27. Ivory units?: BARS. Loved this ones, could not figure out how to squeeze tusks in here.

31. The purple one is New Hampshire's state flower: LILAC.

33. Fire preceder?: AIM. Another Naddor left fielder. "Ready, AIM, fire!"

35. "Encore!": DO IT AGAIN.

36. Good __: repaired: AS NEW.

37. USMC rank: SSGT.

39. Drop shot, in tennis: DINK. Like this MEMORY .

40. "No kidding!": GOSH.

41. Increase: HIKE. Another one that took a while to see.

46. Frat party attire: TOGA.

47. Dazed: IN A FOG.

49. Latin clarifier: ID EST.

51. Bit of term paper color: QUOTE. Okay he fooled me again.

52. Enthusiastic about: UP FOR.

53. Prefix with structure: INFRA.

54. Big name in air conditioning: TRANE. They used my friends' SONG .

55. In once more: RETRO.

61. "So that's your game!": O HO.

62. "What'd I tell ya?": SEE.

63. "That wasn't nice!": TSK.

65. Three times, in Rx's: TER. I actually remember TID.

Answer grid.

All in all a fun Wednesday, that perhaps was softened by the editor. Keep the cards and letters coming, especially you newbies, tell us what you think.


Your humble servant Lemonade

Rich Norris' email to C.C. yesterday:

"... and I'm pretty sure I figured out what happened. Tomorrow's 42A clue is supposed to be changed to [Record needles]. I suspect it will show up in the paper as [Record players], which isn't totally wrong, maybe just a bit ambitious, since the answer items need help to play records. Evidently, whoever made clue changes at Tribune changed the 42A clue on the wrong day, resulting in yesterday's error. The online puzzle is handled separately; the error doesn't appear there. My apologies to the confused newspaper solvers. "

93 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Lemonade, C.C. and gang - I always look forward to one of Dan's puzzles, but this is the third in a row that doesn't seem up to his normal cleverness. Maybe it's just 'dumbed down' a bit to fit Wednesday-level, as Lemonade suggested. Still a fun solve, but I'm really looking forward to one of Dan's end-of-week puzzles, where we get to see the full extent of his creativity.

The theme came quickly, and this might be the first Naddor puzzle I got through without a pause. Lots of great clues; I especially liked 'Powder parter' and 'Asian occasion'. Growing up in Atlanta, 'Hushpuppy' was a given for me as was 'Artie' Bucco; I never missed an episode of 'Sopranos'.

There's our 42A clue, 'Record needles', just a couple days late. Thanks to Rich for the explanation. Nice job with the write-up, Lemonade - lots of good links. And I've heard the same thing about the 'Geek Squad' - very clever concept, very little substance; I've never used them, so I can't speak first-hand.


Today is National Junk Food Day, and....our old friend (and charter member) DR. DAD'S BIRTHDAY! Hopefully he'll check in here today. Ralph, many, many more; hope it's a great one for you.

Did you know:

- Apropos of the day, four-hundred quarter pounders can be made out of one cow.

- Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his hat to keep his head cool. He changed it every two innings.

- Lorne Green had one of his nipples bitten off by an alligator, while hosting an episode of Lorne Green's Wild Kingdom.

- Some dinosaurs were as small as hens.

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

Dennis,
There is no "dumping down". Synonym theme does not lend itself to punny wordplay, Dan's hallmark. Today's puzzle boasts a superb set of fresh & long theme phrases. Very clever tie-in. I still don't get the QUOTE clue. Why?

Dennis said...

C.C., regarding 51D, I took it to mean 'dressing up', or 'adding color' to a term paper by adding quotes.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Lemonade, CC and all. My insomnia had me working this puzzle on line at 3:00 a.m. I got OFF TO A FAST START, however, and finished it in record time. A wonderful Dan Naddor puzzle.

At last, the mystery of "Record Needles" has been solved! Wonder if anyone's paper clued 42A in such a way that DOA is the correct response.

I misread Powder Parter as Powder PartNer. I scratched my head over that one for a while until the perps gave me S_I. Aha! SKI!

This is the DREW that came to my mind.

For those of you who enjoy historical fiction, may I recommend "In the Company of the COURTESAN". I thought of that book when completing the Nobleman's Mistress.

My niece, who is an engineering graduate student, is headed for India today for her research project.

QOD: Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too. ~ Voltaire

Hahtoolah said...

CC. Sometimes the word "color" can mean adding interest to, or adding variety to. Thus, adding a QUOTE to a term paper would be adding "color" or adding something extra. It was a great misleading clue. I initially wrote White, thinking a hue or tone of the paper.

Mainiac said...

Good Morning Lemonade, CC and All,

I'm still partial to a Naddor Wednesday grid. Clever clues such as Dazed, Asian Occasion, Con and Powder Partner along with the Wednesday skill level. Getting the theme solved it for me. All the clever clued perps filled right in after that. Hushpuppy and Leroy Neiman were new ones for me.

Great write up and links Lemonade. I met Bob Hope working at Mrs. Astor's one summer. One of the guys I worked with (a buddy of my brother's) ended up being Hope's butler for a number of years. Thanks to you and all of the guest bloggers for your efforts.

Have a great hump day!

fermatprime said...

Just a quick visit. Must get some sleep!

JzB

In re yesterday's comments: Forgive me for shouting but I would like people to read this:

ONE IS NOT A PRIME. Never has been, never will be. It is called a UNIT.

Off pedestal now.

Lemonade714 said...

If your name is FERMATPRIME you know your NUMBER3 .

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Mostly smooth solving experience for me today. I got a bit bogged down in the extreme south after putting OFF TO A GOOD START at 59A and not having a clue about TRANE at 54D. Once I took the extra few seconds to work out what the theme was, though, I was able to "quickly" fix my mistake at 59A.

I have to agree with Dennis that the last couple of Dan Naddor puzzles have lacked the "tricky" (or, as I would say, "annoying") clues that seemed to be his hallmark previously. In my mind, that's a good thing, but obviously I'm in the minority. Having said that, though, we'll never know for sure how much of the cluing (both past and present) was Dan's doing and how much of it was done by Rich the editor.

Happy birthday, Dr. Dad'

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Lemonade et al...
Had a couple hiccups today, starting with 1a where I misspelled Agha as Agah. Then at 14a where I confidently entered "Concubine". Just finished reading "The Russian Concubine" by Kate Furnivall and thought what a boon that this clue was included on a Wednesday. Oh well, so much for luck. Lots of eraser crumbs in the NW corner today.

Hahtool, I also misread 48a as "Powder Part N er". But now I realize they meant one of the things on his feet.

And I loved the link for 1d - I am pretty sure that they are playing in the famous Lowenbrau Beer Hall in Munich, Germany, where I have raised many a stein and cried "ACH" while dancing on the tables !!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning all. Lemonade - nice write-up.
Re: Happy Hump - Danke gleichfalls.

42A STYLI - nailed it. Got through RAPID WEIGHT LOSS and SPEEDY GONZALES and still couldn't 'apply' the theme. They fell easily enough though as they usually do in Dan's puzzles. As usual with Dan, lots of fresh fill. WAGs included PUPU and TER. Thought SKI and GEEK were clever. I had trouble appreciating the clue for QUOTE, but agree with the previous comments. No searches needed.

Enjoy the day.

Anonymous said...

@spitz, pls attach English translation to your German or French for us who don't understand those languages. Thank you.

kazie said...

Good morning to all, and a HBTY for Dr. Dad, if he stops in.

Dan got me today. I did OK in the south, but misspelled AGAR in the north, have never heard of PUPU (doesn't sound edible to me!) so came here with a few blanks up there.

Lemonade,
Enjoyed the links.

HeartRx,
The link is labeled as Newport KY. I think there are lots of copycat Hofbräuhäuser in the States. I try to avoid the one in München now as it seems to be more for the tourists and you don't really meet the locals there any more.

kazie said...

iAnonymous said...
@spitz, pls attach English translation to your German or French for us who don't understand those languages. Thank you./i

'Danke' you can guess, and 'gleichfalls' just means 'the same to you'.

kazie said...

OOps, too smart for my own skin--the italics didn't show up because I must have missed hitting the < > keys hard enough.

Anonymous said...

Fun blog, Lemonade714. I enjoyed your personal touch.

Mary

John Lampkin said...

Good morning all, with thanks to Lemonade and an RIP to Dan.

I have to agree with Lemonade and C.C. about the freshness of the theme entries. This marks the first instance that HASTY CONCLUSION and RAPID WEIGHT LOSS have been used in a major venue crossword. Unless you are a constructor, you may not realize that this is an accomplishment in itself and one to be proud of. It's an indicator of the depth of Dan's talent and more importantly, his work ethic. He kept digging till he found them.

And wow, 73 theme squares on a Wednesday? Wow again! The standard minimum number is 38 or so.

Happy solving!

Bob said...

Moderate difficulty, appropriate for Wednesday. Only one I had to work out was DINK at 39D. 22 minutes.

This will be my last post for a while. Best to everyone in the meantime.

Anonymous said...

Good morning xworders,

Lemonade - thanks for the great write-up, and for the thought provoking comment about the buck/dough connection. Things that make you go hmmm. I am glad you explained the delt/PEC connection because I just did not see it.

Hahtool - Being from near New Orleans, I also thought of DREW Brees. He does attract a bit of attention! Also, I love your QOD.

I too saw powder partNer at first, then was quite confused as to what a powder parter might be. In once more - I had RE?r? and was thinking re-something until it finally clicked.

All in all I did well today and did not have to look up any of the answers. Yay me! I did have a few that I only got through the perps, but hopefully some of those will stick in my mind and I will remember them when they show up again.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Dad. Have a great Hump Day everyone.

Tinbeni said...

Lemonade, Excellent write-up.
Your MOI clip was perfect.
Every time I SEE the word, that is who I think of.

Saw that it was a Dan Naddor and searched out the theme reveal, OFF TO A FAST START, which took a while to sush-out. But the others fell easily.
Was hoping for his usual puns.

Buck's partner was SOOOOO obvious, that DOE became my last fill.
I wonder why someimes I read more into the clue than what is just there?

Hahtool, I also read 48a as "Powder partNer."
Circled the clue when I wrote in SKI and said to myself "Huh?"

On the OHO thingy. How does this answer the question "So that's your game!" ???

First felony, ONE STRIKE was my fave.
Also liked the HIP & UNCOOL connection.

I think that Rich Norris changed the cluing for 18d, LENO, "Preceding and following O'Brien." Dan left us 12/28 and this was only then being discussed/determined.

Boots said...

Good Morning all. Made a hasty assumption and messed up the top and compunded the error by misspelling it as assumpSion. The rest of the puzzle flowed smoothly with a few head scratches. Like others I read 48a as partner and comtemplated ,for a minute, if puff could be spelled with one f. Glad to have the mystery of record needles solved. Waiting to hear if the tropical wave is going to become a depression or hurricane. They seem to think that no matter what it will hit us by Sunday. It's that time of year here in S. FL.

Vidwan said...

Lemonade, great blog ... I feel so much smarter now ... and my neurons and dendrites thank you.

At first, when I saw Dan Naddor ... my heart sank ... but (RIP) he gave us a break today.

I also saw 'n' in parter ... so its not just my failing eyesight ... other people saw it too ... must be some sort of word association. My choice was 'dry' ... Keep your powder dry.

I also had 'hype' for increase, but 'gosh' seemed a better fit ... so out came my eraser.
'Styli' ... a word I had never heard of, was a gimme, because of all the brouhaha for last 2 days. 53 down 'Infra' ... could be clued in as a prefix for 'dig' ... but that would be a friday puzzle clue.

Agha, I think, is also spelled 'Aga' .. as in the Aga Khan ( 1877-1957)... spiritual leader of the Ismaili Shia muslim community ... reputedly one of the world's richest men, champion racehorse owner, playboy to the stars, 4 marriages ( not at the same time ... )etc.( Details: Throne of Gold by Anne Edwards.)

Dennis: 400 Qtr pounders is only 100 lbs, raw uncooked weight. A cow weighs atleast 800 to 1600 lbs. depending on pedigree etc. Even accounting for skin, skull and bones and hoofs and digestive system ... thats an awfully meager amount of left over meat. Quick, before we charge you with petty larceny, what did you do with the rest of the meat ??

Lorne Greene tried to suckle an alligator ? What did he think he was ? Paul Bunyan's Babe ?... well, maybe Babe was an Ox...

Fermatprime and Lemonade ... I aways had a gut feeling that the number one (... is the loneliest number ) was not a prime ... but gut feelings are not proofs. Thanks to your wonderful linkup, I am just as ignorant ... and to top it off, now have developed an inferiority complex. Thanks a huge lot... :-)

I guess there are some mysteries we were never meant to unravel.

I tried to read Fermat's Last theorem , the solution ...( by Simon Singh ?) ... can you factor in 'migraine' ?

Srinivasan Ramanujan,( 1887-1920 ) an indian mathematician, who led a short, tragic life ... in one of his unproved theorems ... postulated an upper limit to the number of prime numbers in the universe ... something like 4 or 5 million ... all the way to infinity.( Ref: The man who knew infinity , by Robert Kanigel ).The rigorous proof was developed only about 10 years ago.

Apparently large prime numbers are used extensively in cryptography. About 15 years ago, a bunch of FBI agents went and met a couple of profs at Ariz St. Univ. and 'prevailed' upon them not to publish a paper on some large primes, that they had discovered, because the govt. felt that doing so, would reveal a state classified secret.

My prof neighbor says that the only numbers indispensable for mathematics are 0, 1, -1, i ( imaginary number, square root of minus one), pi, the exponent e ... transcendental number = 2.7182 ... and one other, I seem to have forgotten...

BTW, I still have the inferiority complex ...

kazie said...

I have to admit too I saw partNer at first, and after yesterday's discussion (see my avatar) I at first thought of SAW for buck's partner. So, as usual with Dan, there were many possible pitfalls.

I think the misreading of clues comes from not only our age, but the bleary-eyed nature of doing these early in the morning.

melissa bee said...

good morning c.c., lemonade, and all,

stellar job lemonade, fun write-up. always bittersweet to see a dan naddor creation. biggest aha moment was seeing the 'record needles' mystery solved. ariel? a role model??

i also saw partNer .. parter is not a word i see very often.

happy birthday dr. dad, wherever you are.

lorne greene .... ouch.

i was on a first name basis with several geeks at my nearest best buy, until i switched to mac a few months ago. no complaints about the geeks themselves, but the service is pretty pricey if you don't have a service plan, and if they have to send your computer out, it could be a month before you get it back. not good.

Anonymous said...

Kazie - I do not, nor will not ever, admit to being old. (Maybe because I am only in my early 40's?) I think that it is like proof-reading your own work. You see what you think or expect to be there. Have you ever seen the email that makes the rounds that says that as long as the first and last letter are in the correct positions, it does not matter what order the rest are in, most people can read it anyway?

JimmyB said...

Regarding Vidwan at 9:59 and the quarter-pounders: I think he's got you there, Dennis. So, "Where's the beef?" Or are you trying to "steer" us astray?

I must say I just find Dan Naddor puzzles really special, no matter what day of the week they're on. I always start out befuddled, thinking the puzzle is going to be impossible. But persistent perseverance usually pays off, one little square at a time, and I end up feeling like I should be proud of myself. Always an upper!

Argyle said...

Another partner of buck is WING, as in the tap dance move, buck and wing.

carol said...

Hi everyone:
Lemonade, great job! Loved all the explanations and links.

5D (Delt neighbor)...geez, my V-8 can has another large dent now. I thought Delt was a newly named African country...DOH!

Ivory units got me going in the wrong direction for a while...tricky!
(bad soap for the skin)

I can't say I finished this without help, but for a Naddor puzzle, I did quite well.

Dr Dad, happy birthday!!! I hope you can find time to comment today. Enjoy yourself - do something FUN!

Hahtool, thanks so much for the link & names of the books. I am a lover of historical novels. I will order those 2 from my library today.

Grumpy 1 said...

A couple of major false starts this morning... mostly a result of being so absolutely sure of an answer that I didn't check the perps. 17A was a WRONG CONCLUSION and 27D was KEYS (as in piano). I finally straightened out everything, but had lots of eraser crumbs to contend with.

For me, the theme should have been HASTE MAKES WASTE, but after the actual theme revealed itself I was able to correct my hasty 17A conclusion. Things fell into place fairly rapidly after that.

Being a crossword newbie, I have not yet learned the styles of the various constructors so I have no preconceived ideas of what to expect, other than each day of the week should be a little more difficult than the day before.

All in all, it was a fun puzzle.

Zcarguy said...

I don't know what my 3 year old son would say if I told him we are having "PUPU" for dinner...I can just imagine the look on his face..
he might surprise me and ask.." can I have "peepee" instead of milk..???"

all and all it was an easy puzzle today,,only major hickup was 51 down ,, I had beige instead

Dennis said...

vidwan, JimmyB, I went through the same mental exercise with the weight, and I can only surmise that McDonalds must just use specific cuts. Either that, or it's just bull.

vidwan, do try to cut down on your post length a bit; maybe something commensurate with the other posts. Thanks in advance.

Bob, good luck with whatever is taking you away from the blog.

Tinbeni, excellent catch on 18D.

MelissaBee, never a doubt that the geeks were on a first-name basis with you; they probably had fights over who was gonna make the house call.

John Lampkin said...

For Grumpy 1:

Welcome to the world of crosswords. Even though the rules are the same for all constructors, Each constructor brings to the table his/her own world view and personality and that comes through in the finished product.

If you keep track of solver's names as you solve the puzzles you will notice that certain patterns emerge. Many solvers recognized Dan's handiwork today because of the attributes I mentioned earlier, and because this is the LAT. The LAT was Dan's home, and he passed away with 50 finished puzzles in Rich's queue. If we had seen this identical puzzle in USA Today, we would have said, "What, Dan has a twin?!"

C.C. has done a great job of interviewing constructors and others in the world of cruciverbalism. The links are on the side of page one of the blog. Read and enjoy, it's a treasure trove of insight into behind the scenes.

Lucina said...

Good day, puzzle people!

My entire post just disappeared!

Thank you, Lemonade, for an excellent blog.

I'll have to cut this short. I love Dan Naddor puzzles, as I believe does everyone. This did not disppoint. Except for a few HASTYCONCLUSIONs on my part and having to use my corrective tool (eraser) it all filled in smoothly.

Fav clues:
in once more: RETRO
ivory units: BARS

HUSHPUPPY, one of my favorite southern delights and they are good only in the South! Here, when they're available sometimes, there is a similarity but not the taste!


Happy birthday, Dr. Dad!

Have a wondrous Wednesday all!

Anonymous said...

Good afternoon everyone.

I never did get the theme answers, therefore many holes in this puzzle. And misspelled Agha (Agah).

Age has nothing to do with misreading parter. Little kids would do the same thing. As I mentioned earlier, we read what we think should be there. But even after having lived in CO for 8 years, I didn't think snow.

Happy birthday, Dr. Dad. We miss you.

Great write up,Lemonade.

Cheers

Anonymous said...

@Lucina: Blogger is impatient for long comment.

dodo said...

Morning, all, Nice work, Lemonade, and enjoyed the links.

I forget to look at the title so I didn't realize I had done a Dan Naddor. LIke Grunpy 1, I'm note too familiar with the constructors, but I am beginning to see patterns. Our paper doesn't print the author's name so I'm in the dark while solving, anyway. Everybody here probably knows by now that I seldom get the theme and even if I do, it doesn't always help me. This time, though I got all the theme fills easily and figured out the connection.

Carol, I'm laughing about your 'Delt' definition. I guess because people seem so 'into' fitness and workouts, etc. these days, that it surprised me that 'delt' wouldn't be easily recognized. But I didn't get 'pec' until the perps helped! Go figure.

In fact, it was pretty much the perp help that did the solving for me today; a lot of it just solved itself. At least I didn't look anything up. However, for 55D, 'in once more' I looked at 'retr' for ages and then finally put in a 'y' then had no idea what 70 could be! 'Ynor?' And I can't remember how many times I've put in 'retro' when needed!

So much for the puzzle. It's now time for my lunch and I really have nothing further on which to comment so tata, folka, have lovely remains of the day.

carol said...

Lucina, why are hush puppies best in the South??? Since I didn't even know what they were exactly, I Googled them(?) and found a recipe which stated buttermilk, corn meal and bacon grease were the important ingredients. Would you agree?

I have a question - since I was 'city raised', I don't know much about cows, steers etc, but I always thought cows were just for the milk they produced and that we butchered steers for their meat. Do they really make steaks and hamburger out of 'Elsie' ???

Jayce said...

Hello everybody,

Excellent puzzle today, full of fun and games. Loved it.

Like some of you, I pencilled in CONCUBINE for 14A and read partner instead of parter, thus sprinkling eraser dust in many of the same areas you did.

Good point about the Leno-O'Brien scheduling issue. I wonder how LENO would have been clued otherwise.

Thank you for the explanation about the "record needles."

Some favorites were GEEK, INFRA, and RETRO. Also liked HUSHPUPPY. There's a restaurant here that specializes in hush puppies, but my wife and I found them to be mediocre at best, dry and tasteless at worst.

I chuckled at your comments about PUPU, camille. Kids do indeed say the darndest things.

Best wishes to you all.

Jerome said...

Hey guys- This relates to a puzzle I'm clueing. Are any of you familiar with the initialism TIA, meaning 'thanks in advance'.

Duck, great puzzle! G-Man

Buckeye said...

Guday, all. Fitting that Jimmy Durante was highlighted by Lemonade on the "Ink-a-dink-ado" song. Those who remembered how Jimmy signed off on his T.V. show will know what I'm referring to when I say, "Happy Birthday and goodnight, Dr. Dad - where-ever you are!"

I must be off!!

Spitzboov said...

Carol: Yes, they make meat products out of Elsie when she is done with her 'milk' career. At auction I think the older cows are termed cutters and canners, or boners and breakers depending on their grade..

Dennis said...

Jerome, not I. FIrst time I've seen that.

Mainiac said...

Happy Birthday Dr. Dad!! Cheers!

Good to see you Buckeye. Stop in more often.

Jerome, new one to me. CYA is the mode I'm in most of the time.

gGerry said...

Good Day All.
Liked 'ivory unit' & 'record players', was burnt by 'hashbrown', 'oho' was so-so, & was frustrated by 'typeA'!

Compelled to modify Vidwan's math comment about the Indian genius Srinivas Ramanujan. "... postulated an upper limit to the number of prime numbers in the universe ... The rigorous proof was developed only about 10 years ago." Euclid (ca. 300BCE) proved that there are infinitely many primes. A proof is easy:

If instead N were thought to be the biggest prime of all, then N!+1 (e.g. 4!=4*3*2*1, called 'factorial's) would surely leave a remainder of 1 when divided by any # up to N. But (N!+1) --indeed every counting number bigger than 1-- must have some prime that divides perfectly into it, so there must be some prime bigger than N. Q.E.D.

Vidwan said...

gGerry, I can't understand your math, (but that is understandable ...because I am not a pure math major... ) I guess you are probably right, a priori, because you had the guts to post your entire proof. :-)

All I know is, on a gut feeling ... since prime numbers decrease drastically, and become very rare, as we get into the very large numbers ... it appears that there is a finite limit to them. I was merely parroting what somebody else wrote ... and I don't know enough to either understand ( or to disprove ... )your proof. ( I always thought Ramanujam concept was correct tho' )...Thank you for your comment.

Lemonade714 said...

Jerome, I am more familiar with TIA .

Lemonade714 said...

BTW Happy Birthday Dr. Dad; Buckeye, thank you for posting on my day; and hello to all of our reluctant past performers, come and play with us, we miss you. You and C.C., Argyle, MB, JzB, Al etc. all shaped my blogging style with your comments.

Grumpy 1 said...

Jerome,

Although TIA is most often associated with Transien Ischemic Attack (mini stroke), it is commonly used in text messaging/instant messaging for "thanks in advance". I don't think there is any other common usage where "thanks in advance" would be initialized.

Grumpy 1 said...

John Lampkin,

Thank you for the welcome and the comments. I have been reading some of the interviews with the constructors and find them quite interesting. It will take me a lot of puzzles, though, before I start associating constructors with a particular style. I'll keep working on it.

Jerome said...

Lemonade- Really? TIA is short for Not Found
Error 404

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Lemonade - Well played, sir!

I was working along and thought the cluing was clever and original. Then I noticed ti was on of Dan's - a real AHA moment. There were one or two of his that I thought were not quite what we expect, but this one seems like pure Dan to me; challenging for a Wed, and lots of fun.

Vidwan - I'll guess the other imprtant numver is the golden mean, AKA psi = .618 . . . or its reciprocal 1.618 . . . the trailing digits are identical, and psi is ENDOWED with many other weird properties.

Opps - IMBO. dinner is served.

Cheers!
JzB the hungry trombonist

Argyle said...

The TIA I know is called Maria.

Dennis said...

And I thought of them, uh, rather, her.

Vidwan said...

JzB ...Re: Universal numbers and ratios .... thank you for your comment ... I'll try to remember that. 0.618 - golden mean ...huh ?I know US postage stamps also follow that and the curve gradient of the nautilus shell etc.

gGerry...RE:Ramanujam limit on total number of primes... not to belabor the point ... but I think we are not talking about the same thing.

You are pointing out that there is ALWAYS a LARGER prime than the one you just discovered, no matter how large. I readily agree to that...

Ramanujam's concept is that the TOTAL number-count ( not sigma summation ... ) of ALL the prime numbers in the universe has a finite range limit ... and what I had stated was that, that limit was estimated recently...

Since prime numbers become so rare when dealing with numbers in the 90,000 to 100,000 billion digit range ... ( although ) there is bound to be some larger prime than the one you just found ( as you have proved and stated ... )

... but they are so increasingly rare ... it is like the law of diminishing marginal utility returns theory ... so the total number of primes in the universe, rather, the range of the total number of primes in the universe, can be finitely estimated. Does that make sense ?

Chickie said...

Hello All--At first run through I didn't have too many fills, but I kept plugging away and got another answer, then another, until I had most of the CW done. I didn't realize it was a Dan Naddor until I was almost finished. I felt quite proud of myself for getting the whole thing done with only a few lookups.

I used my CW dictionary for RX's three times. We had this discussion before but I didn't remember. Aslo Dink is a new word for me. But it was in my CW dictionary. I have not watched the "Sopranos" so the chef Artie was unknown. My new CW dictionary has a wealth of trivia that isn't found elsewhere.

I fell into the Powder PartNer trap also and when ski fell I didn't get the clue until I came here. Doh!

I also could not figure out what the PAND G company was that sponsered soaps. A real V-8 can moment when I read the answer on the Blog!

Loved the Bit of Term paper color/Quote, Certain squad/Geek and Ivory units?/Bars today. All were very Naddorish!

My neighbors use the Geek Squad every so often and they arrive at the door in a VW Beetle. Had to laugh the first time I saw their Squad Car.

Great blog today Lemonade.

Chickie said...

OOPS! Sponsored not sponsered!

Also Camille, A three year old can be soooo literal!

Jerome, I'm not at all familiar with the TIA term. My only experience with Tia in CW's is Spanish for Aunt. Capitaliztion would make it have a different meaning?

Frenchie said...

Good Morning C.C., Argyle and our host of the day, Lemonade714!!!

I'd love a liter of Lemonade lickety-split! It's another depressing 110 degree day in this dusty, dry (17% humidity) desert.
Enough.
Dan had me at the first clue! I reached a hasty conclusion that this would not be a 22 minute day. Can I get away with blaming the heat?
1A-I don't recall this title agha-it reminds me of an old camera brand!? lol Or the newborn's test both of my children aced!

OK, so I did know some of them.
14A-When I was young, I got a hold of a few riské novels and decided I'd like to be a courtesan. It didn't happen...yet!

16A-LeRoy Neiman; he's a good solid draftsman and I love the pastel quality. The sport's depictions got really old. They remind me of job interviews. They seemed to be hung in every office back then. Lemonade, I think I recognized you in one of the golf scenes!

27A-BTU; I laughed all by myself at this ribaldery! Funny with just the right touch of sarcasm! Never enough BTU's in the desert!

50A-Dennis, you don't strike me as someone who would be offended by tets...

9A.____shot; Every angle occurred to me except flu. Good one!

15A-type A; maybe mosquitoes feast on this!

54A-train; ha! My Trane is very cool as is Train Train! How many BTU's, that's my question.

Great job, Lemonade...anything but humble, I dare say!

I'm out.

Jazzbumpa said...

OK - I'm back.

fermatprime -

I read the info on 1 not a prime and am deeply underwhelmed. Unless I'm missing something big, the reason that 1 is not a prime is that mathematicians have conspired, in a completely arbitrary and discriminatory fashion, to deprive 1 of primehood, by including in the prime definition "greater than 1." If you take a prime to be a number divisible only by 1 and itself, 1 clearly qualifies. Granted it's the degenerate case (chemists will understand what this means) but that really makes no difference.

If I'm all wet, feel free to email me: jazzbumpa@gmail.com, so as to not use up more of C.C.'s bandwidth.

This is week 4 (and final) of Amamda's American Ballet Theater summer program. We went to the opera House today to observe a couple of classes in technique and pointe. I was very impressed with the teacher and the students - a group of very dedicated and focused young ladies. There will be a performance on stage Friday. We're pretty excited.

Cheers!
JzB who can't dance

Jerome said...

Chickie- I always spell crossword fill with capital letters. That's the way they actually appear in a puzzle. But, yes, TIA could be Tia. I'm just tired of seeing the clue for it always be ___ Maria, or Spanish aunt.

lois said...

Good evening Lemonade, CC, et al., A fun Naddor puzzle altho' the theme...well you know. I'm used to it...one clue at a time with perps and WAGs and Voila! It's done. I expected a tougher go of it seeing Naddor's tag and was thrilled that I missed some clues b/c of the perps. Then again, got hung up on a couple too, like 58A ICU test... EEG? I've been seeing nothing but ER's and ICU's for the past 1.5 wks and EKG is the test always given not EEGs. EEG was not even in my realm of thinking. That little area about ate my lunch. And 51D Quote got me for a while. I like the perspective on that one.

Interrupted again.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DRDAD. Hope your day was every color of the rainbow!

Enjoy your night.

vidwan said...

Dennis: I read your message free and clear. I was not going to post any more, but ... I got this post by gGerry and , in my excitement, to defend? myself, I lost all sense of reason and propriety !!! Most bloggers probably think this subject matter to be as obscene as child pornography. Please stay assured that I will not post anything on this blog anymore. If you knew me as well as I do myself... you would understand. My sincere apologies to all.

Spitzboov said...

Jerome: Not too many of us fly into Albania, but TIA is Tirana's airport code. Right up there with LAX.

Dennis said...

vidwan, I think you misunderstood. Your posts are informative, and every bit as welcome as anyone else's; my request was just that you keep an eye on post length. C.C. has asked that posts not be overly long, and that posts are kept to a maximum of five per day per person.

Hope this helps.

Bill G. said...

I enjoyed the puzzle, the write-up and all the comments.

I always explained to my students that one wasn't defined (allowed) to be prime because then a number wouldn't have a unique prime factorization, i.e., 12 = 2x2x3. But if one is OK, then 12 could also equal 2x2x3x1 or 2x2x3x1x1, etc.

Regarding the golden ratio, it's also related to Fibonacci numbers which can be found in the number of spirals in the bracts of a pine cone and the spirals of seeds in a sunflower.

Jerome said...

Spitzboov- Maybe there's a Tirana Times and it publishes a puzzle!

Tinbeni said...

Vidwan: I found your posts both insightful and interesting.
In fact I'm including you in my sunset Toast tonight.

OK, time for a noticed DF in the puzzle.
RETRO, In once more, was next to DO IT AGAIN.
Yup, started the toasts a bit early.

Spitzboov, Your info on TIA being the Tirana, Albania 3 letter code hit an old memory.
I once flew into it and saw the TIA ref. and thought of my home area and Tampa Int'l. Airport.
It is what the locals call it sometimes, but the 3 ltr. symbol is TPA.

Jerome, I don't think they have a Tirana Times ... at least not in a language I speak. I was actually receiving a NY Post each morning at only Five bucks a pop.

Lucina said...

Carol:
Hushpuppies are small rolls of absolutely delicious taste! My mouth waters at the thought. If made correctly they are moist and spongy. Dry and brittle is not a good hushpuppy.

The recipe you found sounds right. I have never made them, but they are served in Southern states much like chips are served here; it's part of the meal.

No one has mentioned that Hush Puppies are also a brand of very comfortable shoes. I have a few.

Anon @1:08:
If that were true, many posters would lose their messages. I believe what is happening on my computer, and not only when I'm on this blog, Yahoo has a program that interrupts with an ostensible security check; whey I click on it, the Yahoo website takes over. It's very annoying and I wish I knew what to do about it.

Jerome:
The only Tias I know are the ones already mentioned: my aunties.

BTW, thanks for the advance notice!

Spitzboov said...

Jerome: Here you go; TIRANA TIMES. The on line version doesn't seem to have a puzzle.

dodo said...

Dr. D., I'm newish so you won't know me, but Happy Birthday, whoever you are!

Buckeye, great to hear from you!

Having lived for 85 (almost) years with a math phobia, I'm beginning to feel pretty inadequate with all the math, physics, etc. vocabulary. You eggheads might consider providing a glossary.

Maybe dodo isn't just the two first letters of my first and surname!

Anonymous said...

Dennis,

let the guy alone. Just who in the heck do you think you are, the blog Nazi.

Anonymous said...

Furthermore, let CC speak for herself. or is she too bashful.

gGerry said...

Dodo, don't stress (this coming from one with some acrophobia & aquaphobia). You asked for vocabulary, so quickly here are the essential two terms:
Prime: a counting number (like 1, 2, 3, ...) that has exactly 2 counting numbers that perfectly it, those two being 1 and the number itself (e.g. 31=1*31 is prime, but 33=3*11 is not)

Factorial: Starting with any counting number, its factorial is obtained by multiplying the original by all the other counting numbers down to 1 (e.g. 3!=3*2*1=6; the notation 3! is sometimes a bit different in Britain or old texts).

Last detail, via example. When we divide (e.g.) 17 by 5 we get 3 with a remainder of 2 --so 5 does not perfectly divide 17. Perfect division only happens when there is no remainder. In the proof, again by example, we consider dividing (e.g.) 5!+1 by 2, 3, 4, or 5. But there's always a remainder of 1 left, e.g. (5*4*3*2*1 +1)/3 = 5*4*2*1 with remainder 1.

Challenging like a Saturday xw? As with any challenge, if You get it, it's a thrill.

carol said...

Hey Dodo, your 'name' as shown is much better than PUPU !! :) I have a math phobia too so we stick together on that note :)

Hahtool, thanks for the hush puppy answer...I did know that name also applied to shoes and have had a pair or two.

Buckeye, nice of you to show up..how have you been? Has nurse Ratchett been a bit easier on you lately - well, you know what I mean :)

Dennis said...

Lucina, you're right about hushpuppies - as with grits, they're a southern staple and are served with all kinds of dishes, not just fish. They just don't have good ones up here -- at least not that I've found.

gGerry, that's a great explanation; even I understood it.

Lemonade714 said...

Sorry Jerome, I just cannot post while I am working, it is too ditracting, but they knew I meant TIA

Nice TIA Carerre, Dennis.

Jerome, hmm, how about: WONG IN WAYNE'S WORLD TIA .

Crockett1947 said...

TIA is a familiar abbreviation for Thanks In Advance that I sometimes see where people are requesting photos of cemetery headstones.

windhover said...

Jerome:
Got room for another 'a'?
Check
this out:
TIAA-CREF

Gunghy said...

Hey ALL,
Thank you so much for all the kind comments about the photos. I'll try to find time to get some actual sights to C.C. for inclusion. The irony of your comments was that I was trying to be funny. Way back when, (June 28) Carol said take some pictures to share. I knew that I was going through some really desolate areas, so her comment seemed really funny to me. I tried to take photos that showed the monotony of that ride. Especially since I had no time for sight-seeing. I-10 is not high on my list of fun places, although I would love to take about a month (a cooler one, for sure!!) and sight-see along it. Daffy Dill mentioned Big Bend, that is only one of many places I wish I could have pulled off to see.

Kazie, I didn't get to the puzzle until 3:00 pm and I still read partner. However, since I live to ski, that didn't bother me a bit. I subscribe to SKI and POWDER mags and spent 33 days chasing powder around the west this last winter.

Lemonade, The BTU is a heat/energy unit (Thermal means heat related). The Brits developed it to relate to the amount of heat produced or used. In an A/C, it refers to the amount of heat moved out. I used to thoroughly confuse my students by insisting there is no such thing as cold. Cold is the absence of heat. Heat is energy and can be measured. Cold can not be measured; you are still measuring heat, or lack of it.

Sailing didn't go well. We finished 7th out of 10. Would have been 5th, except that in race 2, we fouled a boat in another fleet. He could have warned us, but chose not to, to induce the foul. The penalty for a foul is called a 720. It's 2 complete circles. (2 360 degree turns) I had to do this 200 yards from the finish. At the time I was fighting for 4th in that race. I lost 3 positions. I'm proud of myself though; the other skipper laughed about what he had done,and he's still alive.

Got about 4 more hours of errands to do tonight. See you all tomorrow.

Jerome said...

Spitzboov- I'll be damned!

Lemonade- Hey, looks great! Have any intitialisms for heart attacks? Cancer? Senility? :)

Dennis said...

Jerome, I'm afraid to ask what an 'intitialism' is, but I think I'd like it.

Lemonade714 said...

As a matter of fact...

There is DO, RE, MI . And NSCLC.

You think this is too morbid?

Lemonade714 said...

Jerome:

I forgot the one for senility; you did not like my WONG answer.

carol said...

Dennis - sounds like a ticklish situation :) but I'm sure it's something you can straighten out in a pinch.

Anonymous said...

Gary D'Indian...er ... I mean Vidwan...how many times will you promise to never post again? You, sir, are an arrogant ass.

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

Anonymous @7:44pm,
Dennis is our blog Comments administrator and he acts on my behalf. If you don't like our rules here, go to other blogs.

Jerome said...

You're quick on the draw, Lemonade.

Dennis- Isn't it fun running interference. Most of the time you can't win for losin'. I'd feel your pain but it's tough to do standing on the sidelines all fat and sassy.

Seldom Seen said...

re TIA:

when i see TIA i think of this. the TIA is like the traffic cop of my industry. without them this blog would not be possible.

re Babe Ruth's cabbage leaf:

the Reds have an "old school" clubhouse manager(Bernie Stowe) that always provides cabbage leaves soaked in a cold vinegar/water solution for hot days. btw, the owner of the Reds, the Castellinni family, is the largest provider of produce in the CVG area!

Anonymous said...

Jerome - I have seen TIA before as Thanks in Advance.

Lucina and others interested in hush puppies - they are quite tasty when cooked right and best if they are still warm out of the grease.

Dennis - if I post too long or too much and you call me on it, I promise not to get snarky with you.

Dennis said...

Seen, good catch; I'd forgotten all about that TIA, even though I was intimately familiar with it in my corporate days.

Jerome, no worries - I get a kick out of the anons.

Annette said...

Happy Birthday, Dr. Dad!

Our team provides services to a number of other agencies in the organization. We'll often receive requests ending with TIA - Thanks In Advance.

It always seemed odd to me, since I hadn't even done or agreed to do anything for them yet. It seemed like they should just wait until I'd done what they'd asked, then thank me. They usually wound up saying it afterwards too, anyway.

What if I turn down the request, which sometimes happens? Are they sorry they Thanked me In Advance?

If you're not careful, TIA may be followed by a case of TMI - Too Much Information!

gGerry said...

Vidwan,
Re your 4:24 p.m. post, there's a nearly infinite amount of math that I don't understand (& that I have no hope of ever understanding), including probably all of Ramanajan's work. So, I just 'pass' on your revised remarks. In a perfect world, I'd go read the book You referenced. Namaste.

dodo said...

Thanx, gGerry, I did know how to divide and have a remainder,but now I know it's got a name. You got me all straightened out and then you had to throw in 'namaste'! Forgetit, I don't want to know~!

Thank you, Carol. At least I'm not alone.

Frenchie said...

C/E, I miss you and worry if you are OK.

Lemonade...I really enjoyed your analysis today. It was clever and Interesting.

Crocket Nice to hear from you!

I'm out.