google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, August 23, 2010 David W. Cromer

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Aug 23, 2010

Monday, August 23, 2010 David W. Cromer

Theme: Body Parts, Coming Together - Two of the same part of the body, separated by "to".

18A. How rivals compete : HEAD TO HEAD

28A. How lovers dance : CHEEK TO CHEEK

49A. How close friends talk : HEART TO HEART

64A. How pistol duelers stand : BACK TO BACK

Argyle here.

One of the easiest Mondays yet. There are so many other body parts that could have been included: eye to eye, toe to toe, hand to hand,
belly to belly, liver to liver. (That last one is for today's birthday boy, Tinbeni, and myself.)

Across:

1. Poet Khayyám : OMAR.
The Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam.

5. Stroll : AMBLE

10. Retail mecca : MALL

14. Repetitious learning technique : ROTE

15. Eagle's weapon : TALON

16. Subject of a court bargain : PLEA

17. Rara __ : AVIS. A rare or unique person or thing. [Latin rāra avis : rāra, feminine of rārus, rare + avis, bird.]

20. Deadly : LETHAL

22. Icy North Atlantic hazard : BERG

23. Exploit : USE

24. Short race, for short : ONE K. Cute clue.

26. Upper crust groups : ELITES

33. Outer edge : RIM

34. Path between supermarket shelves : AISLE

35. Transportation station : DEPOT

39. "Carmen" highlight : ARIA

41. Car alarm acknowledgment : CHIRP. There are so many car beeps these days, I never look around any more when I hear one. I'll probably be run over some day.

43. Assistant : AIDE

44. What a lenient judge may show : MERCY

46. Año starter : ENERO. Spanish: year and January.

48. White or Red team : SOX

52. Arrive dressed up like : COME AS. When was your last costume party?

55. Exiled Roman poet : OVID. For unclear reasons, in AD 8 Emperor Augustus banished him to Tomis on the Black Sea; despite Ovid's many pleas, he was never allowed to return. He described his life in an autobiographical poem in Sorrows.

56. "Eureka!" : "A-HA!". The exclamation attributed to Archimedes, who is said to have cried out "Eureka! eureka!" (I have found it! I have found it!), upon suddenly discovering a method of finding out how much the gold of King Hiero's crown had been alloyed. Hence, an expression of triumph concerning a discovery.

57. Fraud : SHAM

60. Lots and lots : OODLES

67. Kappa preceder, alphabetically : IOTA. More Greek (seems to be oodles of Greek today).

68. Longtime Hydrox competitor : OREO

69. Show with varied acts : REVUE

70. Actor Morales : ESAI. Big role was "NYPD Blue" Lt. Tony Rodriguez (61 episodes, 2001-2004).

71. "Bill & __ Excellent Adventure" : TED'S. If you look close, there's a Greek dude in the
phone booth, man.

72. "It's somebody __ problem" : ELSE'S

73. eBay command : SELL

Down:

1. Like some graduate tests : ORAL. Lois?

2. Find new digs : MOVE

3. Working hard : AT IT

4. Do a blacksmith's job : RESHOE. If you are a farrier, too.

5. Good at sports : ATHLETIC

6. West in old movies : MAE

7. Spill the beans : BLAB

8. Miner's bonanza : LODE

9. Course between salad and dessert : ENTRÉE

10. Dashboard abbr. : MPH

11. Indigenous Alaskan : ALEUT

12. Landlord's contract : LEASE

13. Packs in a hold : LADES

19. More than glanced at : OGLED

21. "Diana" singer Paul : ANKA.
Song. Wikipedia says Paul is from Canada, I did not know that. Interesting article.

25. Okay to consume, as for Passover : KOSHER

27. Swedish furniture retailer : IKEA

28. Study feverishly : CRAM

29. Add to the staff : HIRE

30. Islamic ruler : EMIR

31. Black of country music : CLINT. Academy of Country Music's 1989 Single of the Year -
"A Better Man".

32. Annexed __: attached as part of this document : HERETO

36. Leaning tower city : PISA

37. Olfactory offense : ODOR. Alliteration that includes the answer.

38. Manuscript passage : TEXT

40. Tylenol target : ACHE

42. Tries to get a rise out of : PROVOKES

45. Bakers get a rise out of it : YEAST. So do bakers provoke their bread?

47. West Virginia neighbor : OHIO

50. "Michael, Row the Boat __" : ASHORE. Hallelujah.

51. Whirlpools : EDDIES

52. Explorer Sebastian : CABOT

53. Chicago hub : O'HARE

54. Sprayed with tear gas : MACED

58. Cain's victim : ABEL

59. Dallas NBA team : MAVS

61. Be defeated : LOSE

62. Lat. list ender : ET AL.

63. Regatta flapper : SAIL

65. WBA stats : KOs. World Boxing Association.

66. Pool tool : CUE

Answer grid.

Here is a set of five magnificent Oregon Coast sand sculpture contest photos forwarded from our Faithful Lurker B. Please click on the photo to enlarge to a higher resolution.

Argyle

65 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Argyle, C.C. and gang - definitely the easiest, fastest solve I've had in quite a while -- under four minutes, and no write-overs; just as fast as I could write. Very straightforward clues with no deception whatsoever. 'Raree' quickly crossed my mind for 69A, but I already had 'AB..' for 'Cain's victim', so I knew it had to be 'revue'.
That said, I thought the theme was clever. Just no 'AHA' moments.

Today is Ride the Wind Day. Hopefully not wind of your own creation. Also, Argyle points out that today is Tinbeni's birthday - a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY, and many more.

Lurker B, great pictures - there's a couple guys based out of Ocean City Md. who do similarly outstanding sand sculptures, and it's amazing to watch these guys put together a sculpture so quickly.

Did you know?:

- Lemons contain more sugar than strawberries.

- The Hoover Dam was built to last two thousand years. The concrete in it will not even be fully cured for another five hundred years.

- A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.

Lemonade714 said...

I agree Dennis, this was a very simple puzzle and I would not comment, except everyone should know how sweet lemons (and lemonade) are and I understand the ferret.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Ayup, an easy solve today. I, too, would have finished in under 4 minutes if it weren't for the fact that totally blanked on 48A, even after getting SO_. How embarrassing! Blame it on Monday and lack of caffeine I guess, but it just took an age for the clue to make any sense to me. I think I initially put in ANT for some reason, and after the first letter revealed itself I tried SEA. And then, as I said, my mind just went blank after the O fell into place.

I did eventually get it via the perps, of course, but still...

Mainiac said...

Morning All,

This was a quickie......I think around ten minutes. That's pretty fast and I could even read my handwriting. I did have to erase Fake and put in Sham.

Happy Birthday Tinbeni!

Have a great Monday.

kazie said...

A quickie for me too--but not as fast as those mentioned, since I'm too bleary eyed at this time of day to focus properly on the small printed clues and it takes a while to find the numbers on the grid as well. But no pauses at all, and I even would have known SOX if perps hadn't got it first.

Dot and Andrea,
After seeing Dot's comment about the Brasserie, I went back and looked for the article in Thursday's Journal, and I agree: it certainly must have been nice to get that write-up. Congratulations, Andrea!

creature said...

Good morning all,

A very 'fill-in-the-blanks' puzzle.

Argyle- you're the bomb! Your Greek write-up made it fun.

'Eureka'..more,more....

Happy Birthday, Tinbeni..Here's a diet coke to you-{chardonnay comes later]
I know, you're a purist..anyway, another toast will be on its way this evening.

creature said...

Oh- I really do want to say how impressed I am by the sand sculptures; it would be amazing to watch the artists sculpt these and frustrating to see them dissolve into thin air; hopefully, not from any kind of wind [Dennis].

Dick said...

Good Morning Argyle and all, as others have commented a very easy solve today. There just isn’t anything to comment about. However, the theme was nice and some of the clues were creative.

A happy birthday to Argyle and Tinbeni.

It looks like a very nice day in western PA, so the grass will get cut early and then off to the golf course.

Hope you all have a great Monday.

Dennis said...

Dick, Argyle's birthday is in February - I think he was relating the 'liver' statement to the wear and tear he and Tinbeni put on their livers.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, CC, Argyle and all. I agree, this was one of the easiest puzzles in memory. Cute theme, though.

My favorite clue was Bakers Get A Rise Out of It = YEAST.

Also, for some of us KOSHER is more than just for Passover.

Happy Birthday Argyle and Tinbini! August 23 is, indeed a good day. It also happens to be my Anniversary. 24 years!

We're off to Bar Harbor today. Send out the red carpet, Mainaic!

QOD: Man does not live by words alone despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them! ~ Adlai Stevenson

Lemonade714 said...

Tinebeni:

Happy birthday to you
And enjoy a snort or two.
Measure a genreous inch
From your bottle of Pinch
The go and do what you do.

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Argyle et al.

Easy pees-y today. Watched the SOX game get rained out yesterday, and never got back to it. But they did win 5-0 vs Toronto in the end, so all's well.

Lurker B, amazing sand castle pics. I wish it were nice enough to go to the beach today so I could try to build one, but here in NE it is just rain, rain, rain.

@ Tinbeni:
Hope you live a hundred years,
Hope you drink a hundred beers,
Hope you get plaaaastered, you baaaaa(d boy)!
Happy Birthday to you!

Grumpy 1 said...

Good morning Argyle and solvers all. Ahhhhh, nice easy Monday! Once across, once down, fill a couple of missing letters and done. No "Eureka!" moments.

Happy, happy birthday, Tibini. Besides your usual toast to the sunset you cna pour a second shot or dram or whatever and toast another year completed. Then pour a third and toast many more to come.

I didn't complete the Sunday puzzle. I probably could have, but got a late start. The first three rows filled easily, figured I better look at the perps, saw that "slow churned ice cream brand" and immediately headed to the freezer to concoct a cone of Edy's Caramel Delight. Ummmmm, that stuff is just soooo good! It was definitely more satisfying than completing the puzzle.

Have a great Monday!

Spitzboov said...

Good Morning everyone. Happy Birthday, Tinbeni; a Pinch of good wishes heading your way. Nice write-up, Argyle.

Like others have said, a very easy puzzle today. Blew through in one pass, and so did not read some of the down clues, until coming here. Nothing additional to comment on.

Have a great day.

Husker Gary said...

Good Morning Friends, The theme of this 10 minute exercise reminded me of a fun Kingston Trio song Zombie Jamboree.

I am not sure I have seen the ONE K versus a 1 K race but then I ain't runnin' it anyway. Anyone for a 1 FOOT.

My baseball side was disappointed when I needed TEXT to finish SOX.

The only clue for which I had no clue was ESAI Morales but the perps filled that in in a New York minute

Of course I had to lose the Old West or a direction to get "come up and see me sometime" MAE West
Miner's bonanza started out as GOLD

MIchael Row the Boat ASHORE by the Highwaymen was another song I was listening to when I was listening to the Kingston Trio above. Kumbayah anyone?

The Leaning Tower In PISA was first on my bucket list to see and I was overwhelmed when I walked around the wall and saw it. It is the holy grail for science teachers. Hell, I also bought a T shirt, cap and a Leaning Tower of Coffee coffee mug.

What are some of the Bucket List sites for members of this learned group, both seen and not yet seen?

Vidwan827 said...

Good morning Argyle ... Erin go Brah ... or is it Scotland Forever! Very nice blog and the Diana linkup was memorable. I remember Paul Anka from ' having my baby' ... thats the time I rolled into the USA, and had my first alarm clock radio.

The puzzle, as others have said ... was easy. I had 'sea' before i realized it should be 'sox'.

Tinbeni ( I hope I spelled it right ...) , Happy Birthday and dont drink tonight ... give it a rest.

A radiologist who ultra-sounded my liver said I had a fatty liver ... and I dont normally drink. Apparently the body produces its own sugar and alcohol... ( from rice and other innocent starches ... ) .... just like it produces its own cholesterol.

As the good doctor told a mother ... 'So, Mrs. Smith, you say little Johnny drinks a glass of milk, before he goes to bed ? Thats, the problem. The milk turns into buttermilk, and that turns into butter, and then into sugars, and then into alcohol ... and naturally he wakes up with a hangover in the morning ...'

Have a Grrreat week, y'all.

Hahtoolah said...

Sorry, Tinbeni. I am not using my normal computer so it through me off. Happy birthday anyway.

Vidwan827 said...

Just a note on Birthdays ; Are a significant number of our bloggers, on this site, born under the Virgo sign ... or is it just my imagination ?

Anonymous said...

Barry, I too couldn't think of SOX for the life of me. How embarassing. I agree that mostly an easy puzzle with nothing too tricky involved.

Hoping this week looks up. We finally got our kid off to college yesterday, and didn't sleep all night has he forgot his phone charger at home:-( Unfortunately, his phone is his alarm for taking his meds, so I was quite worried. The phone remained charged until morning (thankfully) so of course today will be spent figuring out how to get him all those "missing" supplies. We are hoping this time alone will start teaching him to be more responsible, but the mom in me is truly frightened!!! We are very excited for him though.

Happy bday Tinbeni. Happy Monday to all.

Argyle said...

Michael(Row the Boat Ashore) by The Highwaymen.

carol said...

Hi all -

Easy Monday puzzle and a good way to start the week, sort of sneak up on it:)
No confusion for once so now I feel smart.

The sand castle contest at Cannon Beach is a big event every year. We went to one of the first ones...I think it was 1969. Google has differing starting dates one site said 1964, the other said '65. Anyway, since that time the thing has grown so big that we wouldn't get near it.

Tinbeni: a very happy birthday to you. It's your liver, do what you want ;)

Ride the Wind Day - oh Dennis, you do make me laugh. I know you'll be standing at attention for this one.

Tinbeni said...

You guys keep misspelling my name. Maybe I should go back to "Entropy".

Anonymous said...

Good morning everyone.
Good write up, Argyle, for a nice easy Monday puzzle.

Happy birthday, Tinbeni. Hope you do something that is fun.

I took the longest time staring at 52A. Even after I had _o_eas. Filled in the blanks, and still didn't get comeas for quite a few moments. I don't think the clue is a good one for it. Or is that just sour grapes?

It was fun racing through the theme answers (for a change!).

Cheers

Jeannie said...

This was a walk in the park for me this morning. I got the theme right off the bat with head to head and then cheek to cheek. Do the younger generation even dance “cheek to cheek” anymore? I was recently at a wedding reception and couldn’t believe how the young kids dance. Favorites were “find new digs” – move and “short race, for short” – one k. I am not a runner so a one-k race for me would be anything but short. I dress up every year for a friend’s annual Halloween party, which reminds me that I should probably start thinking of a costume.

Tinbeni, enjoy your birthday to the fullest and I shall toast to you after work tonight.

KQ, which college did your son decide to attend?

Lemonade, no wonder you are so sweet.

daffy dill said...

Mornin' C.C, and all.

Drat! It took me 11 min. It would have taken <10, but I got stuck in SW because I spelled CABOT with an "...et" at the end. D'oh! I think my COGs are slipping this morning. Then the only Hydrox I could think of is the acne medicine called Hydroxy Cut. OREO finally popped up and corrected the "Cabet" error.

Happy birthday, Tinbeni - and many more!

The sand sculptures are remarkable. I don't think I would want to put that much effort into something that would be wiped out in a short time.

I heard that if you have a female ferret that you don't plan to breed, you should have her spayed.

Grumpy 1 said...

Sorry about the misspell of your name, Tinbeni. Anyway, hoist a few for yourself and a few more those other guys, Tinbini and Tinebeni. Hey, they deserve some fun too.

Don't go back to Entropy... unless you want to share your space with Intropy, Entrophy, Untrophy and a slew of other bad spells.

Tinbeni said...

Argyle, Excellent write-up.

Easiest Monday solve ever.
Though a speed run, this was a tight grid, the themes smoooooth.

Was hoping for "Skin to skin" but there will be time for that later.
(BTW, the NYT today was even easier with a ton of crap fill).

Hahtool, 24 years ago I was in Jamaica.
Nice to know someone else was having a great time on that day also.
Happy 24th Anniversary!

Many thanks for all the Birthday wishes.
One day you finally become an 'air breather' you blink and BAM! the next thing you know 21,185 days have past.

So much Avatar, so little time.
Cheers, y'all!

Tinbeni said...

Grumpy 1
That brought on an actual
"laugh out loud" ...

I'll just stay the only person I've ever been ...
the "BLUE" Tinbeni.
Don't really care, one way or the other, if it gets mis-spelled, or becomes an Abbr, whatever.

Anonymous said...

Jeannie,

St. John's University in Collegeville. We are incredibly impressed with their attention to our son's issues. He is absolutely at the right place, and only about an hour away. I cannot say enough about how great the institution is already. Thanks for asking.

The sand castles were spectacular. We have a contest in the Twin Cities every year that I have gone to see. It is fun. We also get ice sculptures in the winter, and at the State Fair someone carves all the "Princess Kay of the Milky Way" heads in butter at the Minnesota State Fair. Where does someone develop that talent?

Vidwan827 said...

A 'few' asides, on a 'slow' day ...

Dennis: In honor of 'Ride the wind day'... Why is it that the wind acts up, just when you are trying to light up a charcoal grill... ?

Reminds me of a story ... During a posh dinner party, the dowager, matron, hostess was shocked to discover that she had, innocently, but loudly .... 'broken wind'. She was shocked and very embarrassed, and to hide her consternation, she sternly turned to her faithful butler, and said ...'Jeeves, I want you to stop that, at once'.

And her ever faithful butler replied ...'Certainly madam ... and which way was it headed ?'.

My neighbor bought a case of 'Meyers' lemons for an exotic price. She was dissappointed to find out that though it looks like an Orange, it is just as sour as a lemon. Maybe I should have told her, that it contains more sugar than strawberries, and got smacked upside my head.

Cyclamate ( Sweet 'n Low) is 30 - 50 times sweeter than 'sugar', Aspartame ( 'Equal') is 100 - 150 times as sweet, Sucralose ( 'Splenda' ) is 600 times so, and Saccharin is 50,000 times sweeter.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Not much to say about the puzzle, other than nice body parts, including ATIT, ET AL.

Worked it mostly using the Downs. Just noticed Rara AVIS - olde tyme crosswordese.

Tinbeni -

Sooner or later, we all go back to entropy. Lets make it later. And here for your BD:

The bartender needed a winch
To raise it up more than an inch.
He never could throttle the enormous Scotch bottle,
But used a straw, when in a Pinch.


My neighbor keeps a KOSHER kitchen, so I can never give her any food. Made the mistake of taking her a pie for desert once - only once. She was very polite, and gave me a paper plate and plastic fork to use, whilst she had a cookie. She has friends who won't eat at her house, because it not KOSHER enough.

Much to do today - IMBO

Cheers!
JzB the evidently not too KOSHER OHIO trombonist

Anonymous said...

Hi, It's a good thing that today's cw was a speed run. I'm still tired
from my little drive on Sunday.
Happy 58th Andy.
I appreciate the time and trouble
CC put into sharing the photos. The
whole file was over 5MB. They were just too good not to share. Must learn how to do it myself.

Now on to Merl's.

lurker B

MJ said...

Good day, Argyle, C.C., and all.
Yes, I agree today's puzzle was easy to complete, yet a clever theme, as well as some great fill (OODLES, PROVOKES, LETHAL).

Tinbeni-Happy Birthday. Skoal!

Hahtool-Happy Anniversary, and many more.

Husker Gary- Among the top ten on my, as yet, unmet "Bucket List" is to AMBLE along the Great Wall of China. And I would love to repeat one which I checked off a couple of years ago, which was riding a series of zip lines over the rain forest canopy in Costa Rica.

Enjoy the day!

Lemonade714 said...

TB, sorry I misspelled (misspelt?) your name; Hahtool; Happy Anniversary; do not know many who have married in August.
Dennis is the keeper of the bdays? Are there many Virgos? Or should I ask if there are many virgins....

Yes Lo-li-ta, it is my secret ingredient, but you still have stir a little or it all sinks to the bottom.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, No doubt about it, today's puzzle was definitely an easy Monday. I can't imagine that a new solver would have had too many problems.

Ah yes, (1A) OMAR Khayyám. When I went to high school in Canada, our sophomore literature class had to memorize the first 24 verses of Fitzgerald's translation of The Rubaiyat. Tough school...I'm surprised the teacher didn't make us learn all 100 plus verses that were in our books.

Husker Gary, (64A) BACK TO BACK. Several years ago I transferred all our vinyl LPs to CDs and gave the originals to a grandnephew record collector. "From the Hungry i", which contained the original "Zombie Jamboree" (great song!), was a favorite of my "folk years". We still pull out the five or six Kingston Trio CDs and play them on road trips, me singing at the top of my lungs.

The last costume party GAH and I attended, we went as hobbits...complete with hairy feet. Hmmm, why is it that so many people will accept an invitation to a costume party and then not dress up?

Happy birthday to Tinbeni. Happy anniversary, Hahtool. Toast yourselves this evening!

Dennis said...

Vidwan, the number of Virgos is about average. Of the 50+ birthdays I have, 4 are Virgos.

Tinbeni said...

Lemonade
When I put 8/23 in the profile it shows my sign as a Leo.
Most newspapers show the astrological sign for this date as Virgo.
I don't care either way. Leo or Virgo.

I'm not going to get the 'pseudo-science police' after me.

lurker B
Great photo's!
Thanks for the complete set you sent me.
Knew I should have used 1,830,384,000 seconds as the 58 yo reference.

Chickie said...

Hello All--A fast, easy puzzle as most have already said. I did have a couple of unknown names--Clint, and Teds, but both were easily filled with the perps.

My one slip-up was Chime instead or Chirp, but Provoke fixed that in a hurry.

Arglye, Bakers punch their bread, so I'm sure that will produce a rise!

Happy Birthday, Tinbeni, and many more.

Hahtool, A Happy Anniversary to you and your hubby. Enjoy your trip today.

KQ, I'm thinking positive thoughts for your son, and for you, also. You'll both be fine.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - EZ.

Husker - Thanks for the Kingston Trio link. It happens that I first met "Zombie Jamboree" in an a capella version by Rockapella - it's a lot of fun that way!

HeartRx - Just read your bio, we're practically neighbors! Remember: we needed the rain.

Bucket List: Have seen a good percentage of Australia (love it), many European cities, Turkey, Pakistan, Costa Rica. Would love to prowl Alaska, Iceland, New Zealand...

G'Day All!

Argyle said...

Clear Ayes, my first link in my write-up(belly to belly) was for the Kingston Trio at the Hungry I doing Zombie Jamboree. Gee, what were you thinking I had linked?

Chickie, you punch your bread dough to keep it from getting to uppity, burst the bubbles. I hate the artisan bread makers that leave big air pockets in the loaf. It doesn't make it taste better, just more inconvenient.

Vidwan827 said...

Argyle: I 'clicked' on the 'belly to belly'... but we were apparently on a different wavelength ... what I got was a youtube song of a west Indian calypso....

Anyway, the reason I am fulfilling my 'daily quota', is that Bill Millin, a Scottish bagpiper who energized D-Day troops, died in Devon, England, yesterday. His courageous actions were immortalized in 'The Longest Day'. He was 21 ( died at 88 ... ) , when he waded ashore off Sword beach, 6/6/19444. he was in 1st Spec. srvice Brig. led by Simon Fraser, better known by his Scottish clan title, Lord Lovat. He played rousing renditions of 'Highland Laddie' and 'Road to the Isles' all day, that day.

When the German snipers, later captured, were asked why they did not shoot him, they said because the man making all that noise, seemed to be on a suicide mission and was clearly mad.

He was the only bagpiper to take part in Operation Overlord.

Bill G. said...

A fun Monday puzzle. I do OK through about Wednesday and then I turn on the red letters as a little crutch. I had SCAM instead of SHAM at first.

Thanks to CC for yesterday's shout out for my love of the Manhattan Beach weather with the nice sea breeze. We still have a sea breeze today but it's a warm one, temperatures up to about 81. That's too hot for me but I know others have it much worse. I'd be happy to trade weather with some of you where it has been raining. We probably won't get any rain until November.

I remember Zombie Jamboree. Not one of my favorites though. Two of them would be Sloop John B. and Scotch and Soda. Later on, we went to a Limelighters concert at Cornell. The funniest folk song I can remember was Have Some Madeira M'dear. The absolutely best concert was my introduction to folk music, a concert by the Weavers. Later on, another favorite concert of a different sort was by the Manhattan Transfer. They are super singers and put on a great show too.

It's tough to be a Dodgers fan lately.

Jeannie said...

KQ, I had a niece that just graduated last May from St. Benedict’s nursing program. Both campuses are really pretty and as far as I can tell not that far from St. Cloud and civilization.

Hahtool, I forgot to give you a shout out for your 24th anniversary. That’s wonderful!!

Lemonade, does shaking work too?
Lo-li-ta.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody, and Monday greetings. Yep yep, easy, but nice, puzzle today. My only slip-up was to put in SCAM instead of SHAM, but I fixed it really quickly because I knew that Michael didn't row the boat ASCORE.

Because I had already put in TEXT, I had no trouble with SOX. Perhaps otherwise I would have.

Hardest one for me was 32D: Annexed ... Sounded legalesey, made me think of Lemonade. Did you fill that one in with one hand tied behind your back, L714?

Wow, it seems a lot of us have fond memories of the Kingston Trio at the Hungry i. I loved that album. It wasn't until we moved out here to San Jose that I learnind the Hungry i is/was a club right up the road from us in San Francisco.

Very happy birthday wishes to you, Tinbeni. May you heartily enjoy at least 21,185 more days!

Lurker B, thanks so much for the photos. Those sand sculptures are amazing! Thank goodness for photography, which can preserve the sight of such short-lived art.

Had a sort of frightening experience last night. I got a very bad headache and went to bed extra early to try to sleep. Head hurt like heck all night, and of course all kinds of worrisome thoughts (stroke? salmonella?) were coursing through my mind. It turns out that my wife had been making decaffienated coffee for the last 2 days and fully caffienated coffee for the week before that, and I think I was suffering caffiene withdrawal. Yes, it really does happen. I'm really relieved.

Best wishes to you all.

lois said...

Good afternoon Argyle, CC, et al., A speed fun speed run with no complaints. Argyle, great job. You made me LOL twice - once with the Bill & Teds link...the greek guy in the phone booth? B & T called him So-crates not sock-ra-teeze..I use that link in class too. Funny stuff.

The second time was with Orals! LMAO with that one! Yeah, Santa Baby! You do know I am a master at Orals! From Ok/Tex to SE Va, I have met Orals head on, never choked, always left feeling good and knowing that everyone was satisfied w/my efforts. They are one of those things that brings me to my knees (praying) but I've always been able to handle whatever came from them...a high level of success (thankfully). You do make me laugh!

Dennis: Ride the wind day? You're going to be spelling Soar a different way tonight then, Buckaroo, after your wild ride today! Happy tails...I mean trails...to you! Gid-y-UP!

Happy Anniversary, Hahtool! Wish you many many more and a great time in B.H. Close to Maniac?

Tinbeni: Happy Birthday to you! I will toast to you and my friend Air Force Tom who turns 50 today. Two very fine people to salute and celebrate. I hope you have a wonderful day, evening, & night. Cheers...again & again & again!

Like our Sweet Lemonade, I too understand the ferret...life can be so frustrating when batteries are not included!

Bucket List? Mine is to meet more of you Blog friends. I feel a road trip comin' on.

Enjoy your day.

Clear Ayes said...

Most of my bucket list items have to do with travel. I'm not a mountain climber or a skydiver, so those things don't appeal. Some of the bucket list items I have checked off are more of the literary and romantic ilk, like strolling the Champs-Élysées from the Arc de Triomphe and then on to the Louvre, walking the Great Wall of China and having Sacher Torte at the Sacher Hotel in Vienna. Next is New Zealand in late October. I'm hoping for a glimpse of the Southern Cross.

Argyle, LOL, I think of many things when I see "belly to belly". Husker Gary's version @ 8:37 featured an older, restaffed, and probably less flexible Kingston Trio.

Bill G. GAH and I went to a Manhattan Transfer concert in Modesto about a year and a half ago. They are still sensational.

Marge said...

Hi all!
I loved this puzzle because it was easy and fun. Getting head to head made it easy to get the rest of the theme words,

Argyle, thanks for playing Michael row the boat ashore. I was hoping someone would, now it will remain in my head the rest of the day.

When I read 52A I thought of the kind of a party where the hosts call on your phone and invite all the guests to "come as you are." So the people have to come as they are even if they are in their P.J.s.

Paul Anka was just up at Wisconsin Dells Saturday at the Crystal Grande Theater. We didn't go. Sometimes we go when the Oak Ridge Boys are there, they always do a Christmas show.

I noticed Clint Black didn't fasten his seat belt.

Have a good evening everyone.
Marge

bestbird said...

Hi everyone,

As with everyone else, I found this puzzle an easy go.

Happy Birthday, Tinbeni! Here's an echeer for you! And a couple of "gifts":

For Scotch aficionados

There once was a man who loved scotch.
Crosswords he sometimes would botch.
But then he'd come here
Where the answers are clear
And he cheers us, just watch!

ARBAON said...

Once the "body part to body part" theme was revealed, this one was easy. They were all common ones...haven`t seen some of the others mentioned.

BTW, "rote" learning has the least amount of retention...so "they" say, but I learned my time tables playing jacks and still know them quite well.

Had lots of trouble figuring out how "onek" was a kind of race until I finally saw "one k"

My favorite type of walk is to "amble" but can`t even do that it`s so hot.

Monday puzzles are confidence builders for some and speed runs for others...I fall somewhere in between.

Happy birthday, Elevenbeni :)

Bucket list:
Have a crossword puzzle published,
be a size two again, see the Canadian Rockies, visit the Holy Land, finish "War and Peace", eat anything I want without gaining weight, and have everything lifted and I don`t mean stolen!

Spitzboov said...

Clear Ayes: You don't have to go to the Southern Hemisphere to see the Southern Cross. It can be seen from the latitude of Hawaii near the times of meridian transit (ie. depending on time of day or time of year.)

Bob said...

First day back to school, so I'm late getting around to today's puzzle, which was very easy. Only took 9 minutes to finish. Oodles of fun.

Bob said...

Tinbeni: Hope you are having a great birthday, with many more to come.

Tinbeni said...

bestbird
I added "for Scotch Afivionados" to my favorites list.
Looks like lots of great reading.

echeer? My favorite kind of answer.
(soon to find it's way to our grid).

ARBAON
'Elevenbeni' ??? Good one.
This blog always has some great hoots.

ONEK unparsed does look goofy.

In the NYT there was an answer today 'I'm on' ... since I wanted to be in Jamaica, I commented that had I been there I could has said the answer properly 'I Mon' ...
Went past them completely.

(They like to comment on changing the puzzle's answers ... "Hey that 'Yield Curve' could have been 'Yield Ahead' ... geez).
An adroit crowd without a sense of humor.

creature said...

Dodo- Thanks for taking the time and effort to give me such in-depth information. I copied it verbatim.and going to try it.

Something told me to check yesterdays comments and there you were. Thanks again.

Bill G. said...

CA, New Zealand sounds like fun but there's nothing much special about the southern cross. The northern cross and big dipper are much brighter and nicer to look at.

ARBAON said...

Please dance the Anniversary Waltz with my good wishes!

Clear Ayes said...

Bill G. and Spitzboov, I guess it is the romance of the Southern Cross that appeals to me....AND we really want to go to New Zealand...

Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was really swept away by imagery of the Southern Cross.

O Southern Cross

O Southern Cross, O clover of scented phosphorus,
with four kisses this day penetrated your beauty
and traversed my hat and the shadows:
the moon went turning round a coldness.

Then, with my love, and my beloved, oh diamonds
of blue frost, serenity of Heaven,
mirror, you appeared, and night filled itself
with your four vaults of trembling wine.

O palpitating silver of fish, pure and polished,
emerald cross, parsley of the radiant shadows,
glow-worm nailed to the unity of Heaven,

rest in me, let us close our eyes, yours and mine.
Sleep with Man’s darkness for an instant.
Light, inside me, your four constellated numbers.

- Pablo Neruda

HeartRx said...

@ Clear Ayes,

Your reference to Pablo Narudo reminded me of one of my bucket list to dos: visit "The Heights of Macchu Picchu". I envy MJ's trip to the zip lines of Costa Rica, too!!

@ Dudley,
Yes, indeed we are neighbors! I wondered if your avatar referred to the town, but now I think I am certain of it. If I ever see you at the "Big Bunny", I'll be sure to give you a "crossword-ese" greeting ;-D

kazie said...

I'm sorry I haven't been participating today, but we spent the better part of the day farewelling our son, who is finally on his way to his German position with their home sold. His wife will follow in two weeks when she finishes out her job here. Meantime she'll stay with friends in Madison and be with us next weekend. Very mixed emotions today.

My bucket list is vague at best, but I've already covered Alaska and Uluru (Ayers Rock). I'd like to cruise around South America some day, and also visit parts of Asia.

Tinbeni,
Happy Birthday!

ARBAON said...

Hahtool: The "Anniversary" dance was for you.

Annette said...

I liked today's theme idea.

Happy Birthday, Tinbeni - Raising my wine glass to you, as I type.

And Happy Anniversary to Hahtool!

MJ, I love your new avatar! It's so adorable. On vacation several years ago, I found an intersection in Jasper, Alberta Canada where one street was my sister's first name, and the crossing was her last name.

Hahtoolah said...

Thanks, everyone for the kind anniversary words. I can hardly believe that it has been 24 years already since we married. The time has just flown, but we are still as happy today as we were back in 1986.

Bar Harbor is beautiful, but far more commercial than it was 20 years ago when we were here last.

ARBAON said...

Here`s a joke from a favorite 10 year old: Where do you put a barking dog? In a barking lot!

Otis said...

Howdy,

Straight forward Monday puzzle, but perps were needed for the sports clues. I wonder how many years it will take me to remember ESAI Morales? Never heard of annexed HERETO - I tried HEREIN first.

One item on my bucket list is to hike the full Appalachian Trail and/or the Pacific Crest Trail.

Clear Ayes - so glad to see you back. You were sorely missed.

I got to the blog too late last week to contribute to 'Bad Poetry Day'. In honor of Aluminiumbeni's birthday, here's a belated offering:

Tinbeni turns fifty and eight.
His thirst is a challenge to sate.
Forget the beer brewers,
Go straight for the Dewers,
Raise many a glass to celebrate.

Otis

Otis said...

Hello again,

Hmm. I've mostly felt like a Xword Corner conversation killer, and perhaps I am. At 9:20, no less! Well, seein' as all is quiet on the Western (and Eastern, and Central/Mountain) Front, here's the original "Bad Poetry Day" offering that I would have made, had I been on the computer earlier:

There once was a gent who was frisky
After he'd had a few shots of whisky
Until he pinched a girl's rear
And couldn't walk for a year.
After that, he said Scotch was too risky.

Until some other time,
OTB