google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday August 4, 2010 Daniel A. Finan

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Aug 4, 2010

Wednesday August 4, 2010 Daniel A. Finan

Theme: Gram Positive - Each of the 14-letter theme answer includes two 6-letter anagrams separated by IN, and the puzzle is a pangram, continuing a very scrabbly week of puzzles.

20A. Male goose during hunting season?: GANDER IN DANGER. GANDER becomes DANGER. Well, if you goose a male in hunting season, be careful.

25A. Sought-after former football announcer?: MADDEN IN DEMAND. Now retired hall of fame NFL coach and announcer John MADDEN becomes DEMAND.

46A. Fencing implement at the shop?: RAPIER IN REPAIR. RAPIER (along with EPEE and SABER, the fencing swords) becomes REPAIR.

51A. Biblical guy who refused to believe the writing on the wall?: DANIEL IN DENIAL. Our constructor gives himself a plug. I wonder if realizing his own name worked was the inspiration for this puzzle?

It has been a long time since we had one of Mr. Finan's efforts, and I really hit a home run for personal pleasure, as I love anagrams. This effort is fabulous, all 14-letter theme entries, with perfect symmetry, each anagrammed word being six letters long, and he employs subtle differences in the use of IN for each clue.

Lemonade here and let's get to work.

Across:

1. Outré: QUEER. Well, damn, what a place to start.

6. __ Mahal: TAJ. Do we all remember TAJ means crown?

9. Door parts: JAMBS.

14. Dictionary note subject: USAGE.

15. Brandy letters: VSO. This means Very Superior Old, 12-17 years old.

16. Drools over, in a way: OGLES. Did any of you guys ever ogle, 40A Bingham of "Baywatch": TRACI. Boys, did you watch BAYWATCH ? They knew how to select lifeguards. Or perhaps, 9D. Singer with the Blackhearts: JOAN JETT?

17. "Call it __": "No winner": A DRAW.

18. S or SE: DIR. Lots of abbreviations today, 24. Small, medium, or large: Abbr.: ADJ. (Adjective), 34. Like waitresses: Abbr.: FEM.

19. Netizen who might hear "You've got mail!": AOLER. Netizen, really?

23. Novelist Deighton: LEN. His first book was the IPCRESS FILE an amazingly successful thriller.

33. Le Pew of skunkdom: PEPE. He has shown up often lately.

35. Shocking buildup?: STATIC. My mind focused on this BUILD UP .

36. Shangri-las: EDENS. A reminder of our recent Utopia puzzle…

38. Purple minus blue: RED. Oh goody, mathematical colors, maybe we can combine them with Roman Numerals. 32D. Early seventh-century year: DCIX (609)

41. Get molars, say: TEETHE.

43. Shiatsu response: AAH. A special massage AAAAAAAAAH for our own Mellissa Bee.

45. "Night at the Museum" creature, for short: T REX. I had a little trouble picturing this one even though I love the MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY .

49. Free (of): RID.

50. __-El: Superman's birth name: KAL. Son of JOR-EL. We also have 63. Super __: game console: NES, which supplanted 30D. Video game trailblazer: ATARI.

59. Part of HDTV, briefly: HI DEF. Which is how we watch 60. "South Park" brother: IKE. You either love or hate SOUTH PARK . While we have our, 6D. Swanson product: TV DINNER.

61. Main life line?: AORTA.

62. "Good __!": Charlie Brownism: GRIEF. A true AMERICAN ICON.

64. Cinemax rival: STARZ.

65. Baby-sits, e.g.: TENDS.

66. Jetta fuel: GAS.

67. English class assignment: ESSAY.

Down:

1. Marsh, for short: QUAG. This is an abbreviation for QUAGMIRE .

2. Meat pkg. letters: USDA. United States Department of Agriculture.

3. Take home: EARN.

4. "Yikes!" : EGAD.

5. Fix by fusing, as metal: REWELD.

7. B-boy connection: AS IN. Tricky for me. B as in boy.

8. Hoops legend: JORDAN. Is there anyone who does not know MJ? Or 59D. NBA bio stat: HGT. Yes, they are tall.

10. With eager anticipation: AGOG.

11. Fr. miss: MLLE.

12. Cold one, so to speak: BEER. My youngest son's other career is at ORLANDO BREWING, makes a dad proud.

13. Ukr., once : SSR.

21. Snorkeling site: REEF.

22. Chimes in with: ADDS.

25. Jason's wife: MEDEA. I made the puzzle too, you keep assigning me the right days, C. C.! Glad I was not married to her though. (Note from C.C.: Lemonade's real name is Jason.)

26. "Not __ out of you!": A PEEP.

27. Driller's prefix?: DENTI. I had trouble getting the I.

28. "That is ..." : I MEAN. Like when you got caught coming home at 2:00 am, reeking of pot and booze, gee dad, it was, I mean....

29. Rush Limbaugh ex __ Fitzgerald: MARTA. Shows who you can date if you have Money never heard of this one.

31. More agreeable: NICER.

33. '80s-'90s tennis star Korda: PETR. His daughter JESSICA is a leading amateur golfer. We also have a tennis echo with, 52D. Score after deuce, maybe: AD IN.

37. Oater lawmen: SHERIFFS.

39. What a full moon mitigates: DARKNESS.

42. Shallowest Great Lake: ERIE. We see this lake once a week at least.

44. Cattle unit: HEAD. Lois, be careful!

47. Waiting at a light, say: IDLING. Which reminds me of being 58D. Like a shirker: LAZY.

48. "The magic word": PLEASE.

51. Desperate, as straits: DIRE. I love Mark KNOPFLER.

53. Must have: NEED.

54. Swedish retail giant: IKEA. If you have not been, it is an adventure.

55. Have-__: the less fortunate: NOTS. The opposite of yesterday's NOBS.

56. S&L offerings: IRAS. Are there any S&Ls still in business?

57. Gillette razor: ATRA. Our crosswordese of the day; when will FUSION become popular in puzzledom; the shave is better.

Answer grid.

A nice tight theme, and lots of long words with all the letters, I hope you all enjoyed the ride. Happy Birthday Troy!

Today we also celebrate the birthday of a military mom, Gloria, Lovely Wife to our quick-witted Jazzbumpa. Here is a picture of Gloria with five of their beautiful granddaughters. From left to right: Abby (7+), Rebekka (10-), Gloria, Lauren (6), Amanda (13-) and Samantha (8).

Abby and Lauren live in Florida. Their dad Tom is in Afghanistan (second tour of duty, I think). The rest are in Michigan.

Lemonade

75 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Lemonade, C.C. and gang - I really enjoyed today's puzzle, and absolutely loved the theme; one of the more clever ones I can remember. Anagrams plus a pangram; outstanding! Maybe I was just happy to blow through a puzzle again.

The puzzle itself was basically trouble-free, with the exception of 'Marta' Fitzgerald, and the perps got her. Almost put 'presto' for 'The magic word', but then I saw 'Superman's birth name', which I remembered. Joan Jett was a gimme -- I always liked her hard-rocking music. Very much a fun solve today.
Lemonade, very nice blog job; interesting links.

Today is U.S. Coast Guard Day. A very under-appreciated branch of the armed forces.

Did You Know:

- Miss Piggy's measurements are 27-20-36.

- Mr. Mojo Risin is an anagram for Jim Morrison. (for Jerome)

- In high school, Robin Williams was voted the least likely to succeed.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, All. I loved this puzzle (and I am not generally a fan of Anagrams) and I loved your write-up, Lemonade.

DANIEL IN DENIAL was my first theme clue. After solving that, I was easily able to figure out the remaining theme clues. They all made me smile.

I really liked the Purple Minus Red clue (RED). It brought me back to my elementary school days with the color wheels.

Other favorite clues included Main Life Line = AORTA and Shocking Build Up = STATIC.

It was refreshing to see the fill to Small, Medium and Large be something other than a size. Although I must admit that initially entered Amt, instead of ADJ.

Not knowing anything about Rush Limbaugh's lovelive (thank goodness) I had no idea about MARTA and got that fill only through the perps.

Lemonade, we like the same music. You beat me to the Joan Jett link and Mark Knopfler with or without the Dire Straits is one of my favorite musicians. And I especially like the Sultans of Swing.

A very big Happy Birthday to Gloria!

QOD: Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. ~ James Baldwin

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Lemonade et al.

Wow! A Wednesday puzzle that I actually completed with no look-ups! I loved this one, as it was so clean, and no really obscure clues. The only stumble I had was putting "ID EST" for 28d.

Like Dennis and Hahtool, I loved all the musical links. But my favorite was Good GRIEF Charlie Brown! Did you know that he was based on one of Schultz's co-workers at the Art Instruction Schools? Has anyone ever actually tried to draw one of those "Draw ME !" things they used to have on matchbooks? Sad to say, I spent many an hour trying to draw this Clown, but he always ended up looking like our pet beagle. :-P

Mainiac said...

Morning Lemonade, CC and All,

I don't know whats gotten into me this week but I've been nailing the grids. Certainly not without erasing a bit. My only problem today was in the NW writing Abog for 1D. Reweld was a struggle. You weld to fix. Reweld means you didn't do it right the first time. Worked this one from the bottom up getting Daniel In Denial first, then the rest of the themes filled in. Very fun puzzle. Wednesdays are still my favorite.

Speaking of welding......I used to work with this crazy guy when I was in the private sector. He was a mechanic. My favorite saying of his: "I can fix anything but a broken heart (haht here), and I'd try to weld that son of a bitch!"

Great links Lemonade! Thanks.

Happy hump day!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning all. Great blog, Lemonade; almost enjoyed it more than the puzzle.

Good Wednesday level difficulty. Loved the theme which helped with some of the fill. RED was a WAG. Thought PLEASE and DARKNESS were cleverly clued. Perp solves were adequate, and no lookups were needed.

ERIE is indeed the shallowest Great Lake, the only one whose lowest point of the bottom is above Sea Level. The average depth is only ~60 ft. Here are some descriptive data on the Great Lakes.

Hump day today

ARBAON said...

Will do the puzzle later...

Spring has sprung,
Fall has fell,
Summer, this year,
Is hotter than it`s ever been!

Anonymous said...

Ad In: not having played tennis ... what is ad in, and how does it relate to deuce ?

kazie said...

anon@8:17,
Deuce is the score or 40 to 40 near the end of a game. The scoring goes 15, 30, 40, and if both players get to 40, it's called deuce. Then you have to score two points in a row to win the game, so if the server scores first, it's called ad(vantage) in, if the receiver scores it would be ad out. Then if the same player wins the next point it's game. If not, it returns to deuce and the process starts over again.

kazie said...

I meant the score of 40.

Now to the CW. I enjoyed the theme, despite not noticing the anagrams. I had HERD for HEAD which gave problems with KAL (KRL), and took a while getting I MEAN too--thought it wanted ID EST which screwed up the IN for RAPIER. All the names were unknowns except LEN, whose books I enjoy. Seemed about right for a Wednesday.

John Lampkin said...

Good morning happy solvers everywhere,

Lemonade, great write-up. The time and inspired effort you put it on this duly noted and appreciated.

Just read C.C.'s interview with Daniel A. Finan. Check it out. He is truly a bright and dedicated constructor.

Big tip of the hat to him for this gem. What made it for me was his writing himself into the puzzle as Lemonade noted. What fun! And the grid is clean and gorgeous with some lively fill. Hopefully, Daniel will drop by to say hello.

Forgive this one nitpick. Creating a pangram is a good thing since it insures a scrabbly mix. However when fill is compromised for the sake of the pangram, that's a bad thing. That's my guess as to why DCIX is in there. The X completes the pangram but at the expense of a totally lifeless and contrived Roman numeral for a date when evidently nothing memorable happened. There are worse things than being one letter short of a pangram. For MARTA, that was being married to Rush. :)

That nitpick aside, this is one cool puzzle.

Grumpy 1 said...

This was fun! I really liked the theme. Most of the proper names just would not come to me immediately, but there were enough perps to get all of them. DANIEL IN DENIAL fell first, I already had I_DANGER, so GANDER was pretty easy. Most of DEMAND was in place and was a pretty obvious choice for the clue, so MADDEN wasn't difficult. By that time I knew the pattern I was looking for and got the RAPIER/REPAIR pairing from the clue and a couple of perps.

Queer/Quag was the last to fall. I had no idea on Outre and _UAG just didn't look like any marsh that I knew until I finally started mentally going through the alphabet letter by letter. Finally got to Q and had my AHA moment.

Mainiac,I always said that I could weld anything but a broken heart, the crack of dawn or the break of day. If your co-worker could weld those last two, he was a better man that I.. (or crazier for even trying).

Mainiac said...

Grumpy 1,

I should have mentioned besides being nuts he carried a pretty good sized bag of kuhkah too.

Karin P. said...

Such a wonderful puzzle & a great write up by Lemonade. I am generally horrible with anagrams, but in this instance I succeeded! No, I will not post videos or photos of my "happy dance!" but I am sure downstairs neighbors heard me !

GOOD GRIEF: An expression I've never actually uttered but learned from Charlie Brown. When I taught ESL to children from all over the world, we used those comics and I believe they were very helpful.

Couple of stumbles: AOLER and QUAG, both solved through crosses. Never for the life of me can I remember off the bat how many R's and how many F's are in SHERIFF.

IKEA was a gimme. They are now owned by a Dutch corporation.

Still working on going blue. I haven't yet been able to set up a second gmail account, I'm persisting!

Tinbeni said...

Lemonade, Excellent write-up and clips.

I caught on to the anagram theme at
DANIEL IN DENILE.
(I hope he didn't get too wet).

LIked seeing Charlie Brown's "Good GRIEF!"

We see AGOG a lot in our grids. Has anybody ever heard anyone say:
"I'm AGOG over this or that?"

Had a problem in the Mid-Atlantic.
Who is this smart MARTA? Like I care who that Rush guy ever married or divorced.
TRACI Bingham was a wag. Never heard of her either.
T-REX confirmed the RN that could only be 609.

I thought the clue for RED, Purple minus blue was excellent.

For that Shiatsu response, AAH, I was stuck at first thinking shiatsu was one of those small dogs, hmmm, like a shih tzu. Arrrgg!

How could I not like a puzzle with cold BEER and some VSO (though I prefer the VSOP).

Husker said...

This went faster than yesterday as I backed into the theme by knowing GANDER was in 20 A but got DANGER first on the back end. NW took some time but all fell.

I also put in PRESTO for PLEASE and took some time to separate T REX from TREX.

I was disappointed in the disparaging remarks about Rush Limbaugh that presumes he is universally depised and very unattractive. In these very highly charged partisan times I listen to all sides of arguments and am well aware that there are ample people of all political stripes with money who attract mates they would not otherwise get.

Vidwan said...

Great Blog, Lemonade , I really enjoyed reading it .... and the puzzle itself was very good. I was able to complete it ... a miracle in itself ... but I was lucky.

I didn't know 'Taj' meant a conical hat, similar to crown,(Arabic). In common usage, it has been used as a synonym for radiance, illumination ( as JC is shown in some icons ....) and more at honor and dignity.

Rush Limbaugh was/is married ?... I have a couple of friends, who swear by Rush ... but I doubt they give 2 hoots about his marital status or orientation.

My errors... Joan Baez for Jett, solder for reweld. Not to nitpick, but reweld seems to be a contrived word .... I know 2 Metallurgical engineers, and I have never heard them use the word, 'reweld'.

Lemonade, thanks for the links ... learnt a lot ... and g'day everyone.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Kazie, for responding so fast, ... for the 'ad in' explanation ... makes sense ...( if tennis makes sense ) ...

Grumpy 1 said...

For the few on this blog that care, and the others that do not, yes, Rush remarried just a couple of weeks ago. Elton John was the performer at the reception, which seems to have upset some that do not like Rush but do like Elton John.

lois said...

Good morning Lemonade, CC, et al., Excellent job, Lemonade. I loved the links, esp Dire Straits. You made me LOL w/your comment on 44A 'head'. Funny guy! I thought of Jerome as soon as I figured out the theme and what was going on. I bet he loved this clever puzzle.

John Lampkin: I appreciate you dropping in and value your opinion, but it seems to me more justifiable for a constructor to use an insignificant Roman numeral date to get his pangram than it is for a constructor to pick some obscure suburb of a city (like Radnor? from yesterday) to fill a tough spot. That might be splitting hairs, but at least w/a pangram there's a higher purpose. Radnor irked me. Thanks for stopping by - always good to see you.

Almost grabbed a percoset when 9A showed up. 'Jambs' was hitting a little too painfully close to home. And then I wanted to grab at least one 'beer' when 67A 'essay'
came thru. The 'grief' will start in about 3 wks, but w/a new administration. Yeah, that bad situation last year came down to 'a draw' and, well, hopefully
it will be 'nicer' this year. There
are new 'sheriffs' in town and they won't hear 'a peep' out of me this year, I am so hoping. My pen needs new ink and my 'rapier (is) in repair'. I won't be causing anyone any 'gas' or 'static' this year or 'len'ding anyone my strategy book on how to make 'head's spin and 'lazy' administrator's 'usage' of profanity escalate. Hopefully we've gotten 'rid' of the 'idling' nobs and s'nots' and the 'T Rex' from last year and can look forward to 'aah' happier times this year. Wishing for 'Edens' may be a bit greedy, but that e'erie'
'queer' 'darkness' is offically gone. Now we can focuson 'earn'ing ur pay for all the right reasons and I can help make 'starz' out of these brilliant eager young minds.

Enjoy your day. I will. Still eating watermelon.

kazie said...

I'm amazed that Rush would want a gay performer at his wedding, also that someone would still want to marry him for anything other than money. Husker is right about the attraction of wealth.

Lemonade,
I forgot earlier to agree with the others on your excellent blog today. Well done!

I have never heard of shiatsu either and had to google it just now to see it wasn't a dog and get the rationale for the AAH. Maybe I should look into it. I just discovered from an xray that the back pain I've had no explanation for in over a year is a mild arthritic condition.

Warren said...

Hi Lemonade, C.C. & gang, my wife and I managed to finish most of the bottom section only before she left for work. But she got 'Daniel in Denial' first.

RE: TV dinners?

Here's an old hit by ZZ Top with a cute video

;-)

Zcarguy said...

Good morning all,

I didn't have a good start on this one, especially when a
" queer " 1 across as a starting point.

It should be illegal to have " queer " and " Traci " in the same puzzle!!! So " please " don't do it again ,

I did have sesame instead of please ,, so that gave a little trouble ,
not knowing the " desperate houswives" of Rush and Jason didn't help matter either,
personaly I'd rather be watching a movie on " Starz " in the " darkness " on my " hidef " tv than to listen to Rush , or just " idling " and be " lazy " .

Have a good day all,, gotta be in Irvine SoCal today plannig on moving there, so wish me luck.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - Back from the Wilds of Wisconsin.

A straightforward solve, relying as usual on the perps to unravel such mysteries as MARTA and TRACI. I'm a little stunned it took me so long to remember GANDER even though I live in farm country, but once that was clear, the anagrams flowed well. Superman had a different name? Who knew?

I recall hearing a radio report about Elton John's performance at the most recent Limbaugh wedding. It seems there was a peformer's fee about equal to a king's ransom.

To those of you who are fans of Charlie Brown, I recommend the biography titled Schulz and Peanuts by David Michaelis.

thehondohurricane said...

I lied yesterday about taking off the rest of the week!
And glad I did because today's puzzle was fun, Worked from bottom up after initial pass and it came together with a few WAGs.

I've been doing the puzzles for many years, but I'm knew to the blog. Will someone please explain what PERP means.
Thanks

Anonymous said...

on wednesday 8/4 puzzle:
what about 24 accross and what about 63 across???

Dr.G said...

Anon - ad (advantage) in (to the server) Today's puzzle, in a word, impossible. Great write up.

Anonymous said...

TO thehondohurricane:

PERPs means perpendiculars .... 'other' vertical or horizontal answers which ( partially ) fill in, or give some letter fills on the particular answer thats actually stumping you.

Like you, I had to also 'learn' the terminology ... :-)

To ANON @ 11.06
I think Lemonade dealt with this ...

24 A. ... Small, Medium or Large ABBR ...is ADJ - Adjective

63 A. Super ----; game console ... is NES. Probably Nintendo Entertainment System.

Heather said...

"Daniel in Denial" threw me and makes me wonder if the author ever read the story of Daniel himself, since Daniel believed the writing on the wall. I refused to do the rest of the puzzle.

Lemonade714 said...

24A was added to the answer to 18A (as was 34A), while 63A was in the continuation of 50A.
Don't woryy, I will never cheat anyone out of a comment.

Anonymous said...

I learned the definitions of this blog's unique terminology by reading 'To Solvers' on the front page of the blog. If 'Dennis' is the same Dennis who is the designated first poster each morning, it looks like he originated several of them.

Very entertaining blog, btw. Good day to you all.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

C.C. - Thanks for the call out on Gloria's birthday. We went to breakfast this morning, and she had her fav - strawberry waffles. Then Tom called from Afghanistan, so she's a pretty happy camper today.

I had quite a bit of trouble with this puzzle - all part of a tough week. How QUEER to see QUEER in its original meaning! I do like the anagram theme, though I'm not good at it. Makes me want to NAG A RAM!

There is lots of good fill here, but I don't like the arbitrary CDIX, nor REWELD, which is not validly clued. It would have to mean fix AGAIN. And AOLERS is lame.

When I was a kid, I thought the TAJ MAHAL was the TAJMA HALL.

EGAD, the have-NOTS don't EARN enough to feed their IRAS!

Cheers!
JzB

Jayce said...

Hello everybody.

Well dang, as fun and smile-producing as the long anagrammatical theme entries were, I have to say I didn't like the rest of this puzzle much at all, finding many of the entries to be contrived. Personally I dislike so many abbreviations and short forms and three-letter fills. I also dislike the Roman numeral fills.

As an example of what I feel is contrived is QUAG. Is quag really short for quagmire? I have never seen it written as such or heard it said.

FEM as the solve for "Like waitresses, Abbr."? OGLES is an activity of the eyes and in my opinion is utterly unrelated to whether the ogler is drooling or not.

Maybe it's just me, but I've never heard of a Super NES game console, and my son owns just about every game console there is so I thought I had seen them all.

Anyway, that's just how I feel about today's puzzle. Not much satisfaction or pleasure or even aha moments. More WTF moments than AHA moments.

I did like STATIC, SHERIFFS, IDLING, and PLEASE. And I also pencilled in IDEST and had to erase it. Like most of you, I didn't know TRACI or MARTA.

Excellent write-up, oh husband of Medea! Thanks!

Best wishes to you all.

dodo said...

Mmorning, everyone, I really loved both this puzzle and your blog, Lemonade! The anagrams were fun and filled smoothly, except I got the 'den' in Madden and took forever before I got the rest.
Gander was a gimme after I got in danger and got me the theme right away! I had entered 'solder' for 'reweld' so the NW was messed up until 'gander' appeared. Had no idea about 'Shiatsu', never heard of Joan Jett, Superman's beginnings, or 'nes', whatever that is! The perps weren't as much help as usual, either.
Still, I didn't feel this was a slog. Many of my goofs could have been picked up if I'd read it over after finishing.

Cristal Bernard dated Limbaugh? Gee, I used to really like her!

Husker, I think 'unattractive' is a mild description of Rush; and I wish he really were univerally disliked! Just MHO!!

Anonymous said...

Who is Troy?

Lucina said...

Good day, Lemonade, C.C. and fellow puzzlers.

What a great puzzle today! I agree with you Lemon, on all you mentioned. It was just fun to fill and even though there were many unknowns, the crosses helped with them.

MARTA, TRACI, PETR were easily filled by the crosses. I have heard of JOANJETT but knew nothing about the Blackhearts.

It's great entertainment when everything falls in place with many learning moments and ahas.

The NW was the last to fall because if I don't get it right away, I slide on to another section. However, USAGE and ADRAW were easy.

This was great fun and I thank Daniel A. Finan for today's amusement. Which is what a puzzle is and I can't understand refusing to finish it because of a joke.

Happy birthday to your Gloria, Jazzbumpa!

I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday.

Anonymous said...

What a fun Wednesday puzzle. Loved the anagrams and panagram.

Lemonade Dire Straights is one of my favorite oldie bands.

Charles Schultz is a Minnesotan, and quite renown here. Twice they did a tribute by making first Snoopy statues and then Lucy ones, which they posted in various places in St. Paul. Each was painted to resemble something Minnesotan. They eventually sold them, and once in a while you drive around and see a large Snoopy or Lucy adorning a home. They are fun. Here are some pictures of my sons visiting the statues. Click on each pictures to make it larger. The goggles on my youngest crack me up. Wonder what was going on in his head that day?

Dennis, when my son was younger and a real handful, I read a book about "spirited" children to get some advice. She began the book with a note on what it must have been like to be Robin William's mother and trying to focus on our child's gifts rather than challenges - as Robin became such a success himself but in a non-traditional way. I still think of that often.

Off to San Diego this afternoon to beat the heat for a few days. Last hurrah b4 our son heads off to college, and for another summer baseball park tour. This year it will be the Dodgers in LA.

Argyle said...

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit video game console that was released in 1985. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super NES)(63 Across) is a 16-bit video game console that was released between 1990 and 1993. (per Wikipedia)

Jeannie said...

Wow, what a fun puzzle. I thought of Jerome right away and can’t wait to see what he has to say. I caught onto the theme right away and my favorite theme clue was “rapier in repair”. I also liked “shocking build up” – static. Clever!! I got Marta and Medea via the perps so no need to visit Mr. G today so as Lois would say, “it’s all good”. Lois, good to hear that your administration is changing for next school year. I remember you saying it wasn’t so good last year. Will you be all healed before you have to go back to school?

KQ, it really says something when a Minnesotan has to go to California to escape the heat. Most people wouldn’t believe how stinking hot it can get up here!

I didn’t forget my favorite counselor. Great job on the blogging today. It was witty, educational and entertaining just like yourself.

Jeannie said...

C.C. here is a recipe for you. I had it at a friend’s dinner party a couple of weekends ago and immediately thought of you.

Summer Melons in Coconut Sauce

Watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe – balled or cut in cubes
Toasted coconut

Sauce:
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla

Combine the coconut milk and condensed milk in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer to thicken. Let cool and stir in the vanilla. Serve sauce over the melons and top with toasted coconut.

It is a very refreshing dessert on a hot Minnesota day. Enjoy!!

Jayce said...

Argyle, thanks for the information about the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

lois said...

KQ: darling pictures of your little fellas. Precious! Love the goggles too! Hilarious!

Jeannie: First of all, thank you very much for all your recipes, and esp for this melon one. I'm playing w/smoothies lately and this one will 'blend' in perfectly. Secondly, it's sweet of you to ask and yes, I think I'll be mended in time for the beginning of school. It's ok tho' b/c they can always out run me but they can never hide long enough. And lastly, that one administrator was as bad, if not worse, than her reputation. She's gone and the principal went down w/her. That the pen is mightier than the sword is still true.

Sorry for all the duplications. My computer is too weird lately. It's definately a glogger blitch and I'm trying to resolve it. Thank you, CC, for all you do.

Glen in Redwood City said...

Umm, Lemonade, Pepe Le Pew was a lady skunk... I'm old enough to remember seeing "Bambi" as a first run movie. Otherwise, a Great write-up! And I thought it was a great puzzle as well. I didn't know Joan Jett, couldn't figure out adjective, and put "Staci' in for "Traci", so never did get that section finished. Now back to lurking... Glen

Bill G. said...

I enjoyed the puzzle and the clever theme. I guessed STATIC all right but it doesn't seem correctly clued to me. Did any of you find it a little off? I'm sure static electricity was intended but that's never called just STATIC as far as I know. Just STATIC would be OK for radio interference.

On a dry winter day when I was a kid, I decided to try a little Mr. Wizard static electricity experiment. I stood on short inverted glasses for insulation. I got my younger brother to hit me 10 times or so on my back with a fur cap of my mother's. Then I reached over and put my finger next to a cold water pipe. I got a blue spark about an inch long jumped out of my finger. Scared the s%&@ out of me. Fun though.

Lemonade714 said...

Glenn, like the constructors, I do my homework, and I also have a pretty good memory. Pepe is a male and he loved PENELOPE PUSSYCAT , a line I will not touch. Thanks Lo-li-ta for the heads up, and all of you for the encouraging words (JL, I am honored).

Lemonade714 said...

BTW, Bambi was first run in 1942, which was before I was born, so you have me on that one Glenn. I do recall Flower was a girl skunk.

Anonymous said...

Kazie: Shiatsu is a Japanese massage. Unlike Swedish massages where there is rubbing of muscle tissue, shiatsu uses acupressure on all energy points of the body. I live less than a mile from a Japan Shiatsu Center where shiatsu is taught. Needles to say I go there often--once a month, if not once a week. Unlide a Sweedish massage, the euphoric feeling of shiatsu lasts much longer.

Doreen

Seldom Seen said...

do you think our constructor was thinking that Elton John the singer of Daniel (was) in denial about being Queer and the fact that he performed at Marta's ex-husband's wedding?

me neither!

please don't be offended with my usage of queer. i use it in the most sincere way.

Seldom Seen said...

p.s. i forgot to mention that Daniel is considered a love song and most likely was song at Rush's wedding. but, read the first comment below the video for it's true meaning.

p.p.s. CA, if your out there, i thought of you immediately when i read dennis' comment today about Mr. Mojo Risin! hope all is well

Jerome said...

Ale Demon- Nice, concise summary of a fun puzzle.

RUSH LIMBAUGH- MR. BUSH? I LAUGH!

HUMBUG! SH! LIAR!

Lemonade714 said...

Also BTW, for all of you recent members, the suggestion to read the interviews of constructors which C. C. has conducted, which are posted on the blog, is one you should all consider. These people are interesting and fun; I know we are particularly fond of Jerome and John L., but the group who work to provide our entertainment are worth knowing and knowing about.

Lucina said...

KQ:
Thank you for sharing the photos of your sons. They are darling! And I love the statues. It would be fun to visit sometime and see the sights of Minnesota.

kazie said...

KQ,
Cute pix!

Doreen,
Thanks for the explanation. I did google it earlier, but you gave it more detail than I took the time to read before.

Bill G.
Sounds like you were an adventurous lad!

Frenchie said...

C.C, Argyle, Lemonade714 and folk,

IMHO, Daniel A. Finan is both skilled and creative. C.C.'S INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL FINAN"

14a. Dictionary note subject: USAGE.
24a Small, medium, or large: Abbr.: ADJ. (Adjective)
67. English class assignment: ESSAY.

hmmm...

19. Netizen who might hear "You've got mail!": AOLER-love the new word Netizen! AOLER, too.

35. Shocking buildup?: STATIC. "My mind focused on this BUILD UP- good one," Lemonade! and very good write up today! I always look forward to your informative, creative and well thought out takes.

63. Super __: game console: NES, which supplanted
30D. Video game trailblazer: ATARI.
My son had a NES and years prior, I'd heard guys at work talking about the Atari. Other than crossword fill, these things mean absolutely nothing to me.

61. Main life line?: AORTA-of course I wanted 'phone a friend,' I'd consider this to me my main life line!

37. Oater lawmen: SHERIFFS. "This town isn't big enough fer that gunman and Sheriff Earp...yep, just not big enough. It's jes too quiet for a man to feel settled. How's that for oater speak, BillG?

(BTW, BillG, I have a terrible woodpecker problem!) Sorry to hear about your crows. I hope they are truly gone!

Happy Birthday to Troy!
Happy Birthday military mom!

I'm out.

Glen in Redwood City said...

Thank you for your correction to my memory, Lemonade -- I've been seeing Pepe Le Pew in crosswords for more years than I can remember, and always thought of "Bambi". You're never too old to learn new things!

Glen

dodo said...

Hey, Lois, did you mean "blogger glitch" or "glogger blitch"? They both seem to work, don't they! Try saying one or the other ten times reeeeelly fast!

Lemonade, I first saw Pepe and Penelope in a movie, not "Bambi". Do you happen to remember? I just have a vague feeling it was much later than "Bambi".

Dennis said...

Frenchie, we had a real woodpecker problem too; didn't realize it until I discovered 5 holes in the side of the house. Little guy was smart enough to wait until the house was empty before he did his hammering. Problem was solved immediately with a plastic owl. Might be worth a try.

Bill G. said...

Frenchie, the crows aren't gone but I think they view my house as a place to be avoided 'cause it sounds like their friends are getting tortured inside. Good luck with your woodpecker problems!

Kazie, I got into about the same amount of mischief as most young males do. My paternal grandmother used to say that when she saw a grown man, she thought it was a bit of a miracle that he survived childhood considering what young boys get into.

Bill G. said...

I've been enjoying some old Sherlock Holmes movies on TCM. One thing has always puzzled me though. (Actually, a lot of things puzzle me...) Nigel Bruce plays Doctor Watson as such a bumbler. He really is of no use to Holmes at all except for running an occasional errand. Wouldn't it be more probable for a clever character like Rathbone's Holmes to have a brighter friend instead of such a bumbler?

Chickie said...

Hello All--A very enjoyable puzzle today. I loved the theme fills with anagrams for the second words.

I had to look up Traci Bingham and Joan Jett. I should know Jett by now, as we've had it before. Marta was unknown, but easily gotten with the perps. How was I to know who Rush Limbaugh married?

I did have a few blips along the way before I finished the puzzle. I had Sesame for the magic word. I should know better as I have said, "What is the Magic Word?" a thousand, thousand times! I also had, Not A WORD out of you instead of Not A PEEP, and I didn't know how to spell Petr. All of these were fixed with crosses and downs that I knew were correct.

How many of you wanted Sze for Small, medium and large? A V-8 can knock fixed that one for me. I wasn't very fond of that abbreviation anyway.

Lemonade, great writeup today.

What a beautiful group of girls in Jazz's family and a very happy birthday to Gloria.

I worked at our Thrift shop today, so am just getting around to finishing the puzzle and writing my comment. Have a great evening, everyone.

Annette said...

Daniel, I thought the puzzle was fun. The theme entries weren't that difficult, but the anagram portion was diabolical!

KQ, I loved the Snoopy pictures! Your boys looked like they had so much fun with them.

I had a little trouble with B-boy connection because I know of B-boy as a dance style that's based on breakdancing, from what I can tell.

I wasn't able to parse T-REX either... It didn't help that I'd first guessed at it being a creature named TREV, since I hadn't seen the movie.

Chickie, raising my hand for SZS initially. Once the perps gave me ADJ, I thought it stood for adjustments until I came here.

Lemonade714 said...

The firs appearance of Pepe LePew was in 1945 in ODOR-ABLE KITTY .

Flower was a star by then.

windhover said...

Hello Bloggers,
Especially left coasters. I need a little help. A few minutes ago I received an email in the spam section of my gmail account, purporting to be from our very own Elissa, and claiming to have been the victim
of a mugging in London. It included a phone #, the area code of which was in the correct Ca. Location, and the last name was also correct.
My first thought was that the Elissa we know is more than capable of dealing with this situation. My second was that not only my Email account but hers has been compromised. If any of you have contact info for her, could you let her know of this situation? I'm quite sure this is a scam in the making, but I am uncertain about how
to approach it. TIA.

Dennis said...

Windhover, I got pretty much the same one; it was too vague to be legitimate.

Hahtoolah said...

Windhover: Does Kentucky have an internet fraud division within its Department of Justice/Attorney General's Office? Louisiana does, and the division encourages citizens to report such events.

This is the latest version of the Nigerian prince who can give you millions of dollars if only you can send him a few thousand so he can access his money.

Dennis said...

windhover, I just emailed you; let's keep it off-blog.

Seldom Seen said...

robin...to the batcave

it is an emergency!

Lucina said...

Windhover, one of my friends had that problem and it caused all kinds of mischief, not only for her but for her e-mail friends as well. The message went through her entire contacts box.

Lemonade714 said...

Well, what a rotten note to end my blogging day; WH be careful and Elissa, wehrever you are.

Jerome Gunderson better known as

Demon Nurse Jorge?

Thank you all for your kind words; thank you Daniel for the puzzle, C.C. for the blog, and tomorrow may be that perfect puzzle, with no crooswordese, no Roman Numerals, no RE and A added to words, and clues just obscure enough , we all feel smart answering them.

Ciao

P.S. Troy is the birthday boy. B AS IN BOY

Seldom Seen said...

thank YOU Lemonade

xtulmkr said...

Had grandchildren at the house all day, so was unable to look at the crossword until this evening. However, by then, my ever efficient wife had tossed the paper. Resorted to online, though I prefer pen(PaperMate Profile) and paper.

I agree with Heather@11:34 concerning 51A though I didn't let it keep me from finishing the puzzle. The words written on the wall (Mene, mene,tekel, parsin) were directed towards Belshazzar, who refused to acknowledge God as Sovereign. The words prophesied his death and the division of his kingdom. Daniel interpreted the writings after none of Belshazzar's wisemen or enchanters could do so.

Dot said...

I'm just getting to the blog. I thought Daniel in Denial had to be the answer but I had difficulty with it because, as Heather pointed out, Daniel believed the message which was fulfilled that very night. I had a whole list of people I had to look up so it was not an easy puzzle for me.

Dot

Unknown said...

Little frustrated with Mr. Finan today. 1 down: who ever uses quag as a shortened form of quagmire? Certainly not me. 24 Across: ADJ for small, medium or large. Huh? Didn't understand that. 49 Across: normal way of writing the clue would be "without (with of)". 5 Down: Clue should have been "fix again by fusing".
I know, picky, picky. But you gotta be fair with the clue wording. Vague I can deal with, poor wording is something else. Enjoyed the anagrams though.

Anonymous said...

Windhover: what you described is a hoax that is going around the country. It also means your address book has been taken, as has Elissa's. Read about it in our local newspaper, which said to notify the police and some net place that deals with these scams, but I don't have that info.

Dennis said...

Sallie, I thought our address books would only be hijacked if we responded, which we did not. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but that was my understanding.

The phone number given is Elissa's, but yeah, it's definitely a hoax.

Jerome said...

Lemonade- DEMON NURSE JORGE. How did you know I'm a serial killer from Nogales? No wonder Arizona citizens are terrified ( probably of their own friggin shadow)

Good one!