google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, September 20, 2010 Samantha Wine

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Sep 20, 2010

Monday, September 20, 2010 Samantha Wine

Theme: Have you seen my... - Three common phrases start with a word that may indicate, say, our car keys when we are in a hurry.

20A. Daydreaming: LOST IN THOUGHT

36A. Failing to grasp a key element: MISSING THE POINT

52A. Not expected back at work until tomorrow: GONE FOR THE DAY

Argyle here.

A compact Monday puzzle from our editor. Samantha Wine is an anagram of "What's in a name?").

Simple theme. Lively theme answers, none of which have been used in any major newspaper puzzle before. The sparse theme entries allow Rich to place 20 six-letter or more non-theme fill, including a wonderful BAILOUTS.

A bit harder than usual, perhaps.

Across:

1. Persian Gulf emirate : DUBAI. A small nation with a big footprint.

6. Aptly named novelist : READE. Charles Reade (1814 - 1884) was an English novelist and dramatist, best known for The Cloister and the Hearth. I must have missed that one.

11. Check for drinks : TAB. Goes well with 38D "Drinks are on yours truly" : "I'M BUYING"

14. Rocket scientist Wernher von __ : BRAUN. We had Eva Braun yesterday.

15. Use for dinner, as dishes : EAT ON

16. Realm from 800-1806: Abbr. : HRE. The Holy Roman Empire (HRE). The first Holy Roman Emperor is generally considered to have been Otto I, King of Germany. Charlemagne, crowned Emperor of the Romans in 800, was the forerunner of the Holy Roman Empire, largely because he had inaugurated the tradition of imperial coronation by the Pope.

17. Jazzy O'Day : ANITA. Singing Ain't Misbehavin'.

18. On the __: broken : FRITZ. Origin unknown.

19. Approx. landing hr. : ETA

23. More intimate : CLOSER

25. __-mutuel: type of betting : PARI

26. Funny Costello : LOU. Partnered with Bud Abbott.

27. Abel's slayer : CAIN

30. Tsar or emperor : DESPOT. It doesn't mean tyrant, necessarily.

32. It follows the overture : ACT I

34. Pressed for time : IN A RUSH

41. Conceived of : IDEATED, Didn't need to see this word again.

42. IRS agent : T-MAN

43. What ballerinas dance on : TIPTOE

46. Slangy agreement : YEAH

48. HVAC measure : BTU. British Thermal Unit (BTU or Btu)

49. Utah city near Provo : OREM

50. Uproar : TUMULT. Taken straight from Latin

58. Econ. yardstick : GNP. Gross National Product

59. Nebraska city : OMAHA

60. Tee shot : DRIVE. Golf.

63. Mauna __ : LOA. Active volcano on the island of Hawaii.

64. Lees competitor : LEVIS

65. Ocean ship : LINER

66. Bigger picture: Abbr. : ENL.

67. Kosher deli offering : KNISH. Knish Nosh.

68. Sharp-eyed bird : EAGLE

Down:

1. Trade name abbr. : DBA. Doing Business As.

2. Caterer's vessel : URN

3. Controversial financial rescues : BAILOUTS

4. Cars : AUTOS

5. "Be right there!" : "IN A SEC!"

6. Get a better int. rate, probably : REFI. Refinancing.

7. Make on the job : EARN

8. Working busily : AT IT

9. "The lady __ protest too much": "Hamlet" : DOTH. We had DOST yesterday.

10. Automaker Ferrari : ENZO

11. Store to "fall into," in old ads : THE GAP. Can you buy both Levis and Lees there?

12. Prefix with -scopic : ARTHRO. And often followed by surgery.

13. "Scram!" : "BEAT IT!"

21. New employee : TRAINEE

22. End result : UPSHOT. 1531; originally, the final shot in an archery match, hence sense of "result, issue, conclusion" (1604).

23. Littleneck, e.g. : CLAM

24. Centers of activity : LOCI. Plural of locus, (in many legal phrases) a place or area, esp the place where something occurred.

28. Actress Swenson : INGA. She was on the TV show, "Benson". She is the one standing behind Benson(Robert Guillaume), on the left. Image.

29. Smartly dressed : NATTY

30. Obstetrician's calculation : DUE DATE

31. Psychic's asset, for short : ESP

33. "Surely I'm not the only one?!" : "IS IT ME?"

35. South Korea's first president : RHEE. Syngman Rhee (1875 – 1965) was President from 1948 to 1960.

37. Altar promise : "I DO"

39. MLB league : NATL.

40. Letter-shaped fastener : T-NUT. An image of one style of T-nut.

43. Flip back and forth, as an on-off switch : TOGGLE

44. Like some denim patches : IRON-ON. Hell, now days, they are ripped on purpose!

45. Letter-writing friend : PEN PAL

47. Circular gridiron gathering : HUDDLE

51. "West Side Story" heroine : MARIA

53. Music genre that experienced a '50s-'60s revival : FOLK

54. Sign of the future : OMEN

55. Sitarist Shankar : RAVI

56. That's partner : THIS. This and that.

57. Corned beef dish : HASH

61. Commercial prefix with -cro : VEL

62. Prior to : ERE. Ere there was Vel-Cro, there was Duct Tape.

Answer grid.

Argyle

52 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Argyle, C.C. and gang - I thought this was a nice, tight Monday puzzle that seemed a bit harder than most Mondays. Maybe I'm just not back up to speed yet from the weekend, and these are mostly answers that we've all seen before, but my first trip through the puzzle left a few gaps.
I loved the theme answers, and I'm not surprised that they've never been used before; very clever, and they had to be hard to incorporate into the puzzle. Nicely done by Rich.

Argyle, nice catch on the name Samantha Wine - I never saw the anagram.

Today is National Punch Day. No idea if it's the tool, the kind that comes from a bowl, or the punch of a fist.


Did You Know?:

- In the 1940s the Bich pen was changed to Bic. The company thought (rightfully so)Americans would call it Bitch.

- More than half of the 206 bones in your body are in your hands and feet.

- One self-help book in Japan claims clenching your butt 100 times a day fights depression. Let me know how that works out for you.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

I've just started to assume that whenever I see a constructor's name that I don't recognize, it must be Rich in disguise...

Nice enough puzzle today. A bit more challenging that your average Monday, but nothing really bad. I'm not familiar with the author named READE, but it was certainly a fine clue for him. And 12D surprised me a bit, since I always thought the word was ARTHOSCOPIC instead of ARTHROSCOPIC. Live and learn...

I'd like to nominate IDEATE as the "word found only in crossword puzzles that nobody ever uses in real life and that should therefore be retired" word of the day.

Spitzboov said...

Hi everyone. Good write-up, Argyle.

Close to a speed run, today. One pass got most of it. Had to go back to get READE and IDEATE. I'm with Barry G on that one. Liked the FRITZ fill. Gimmes included HRE and BTU. Tried 'Grant' before LEVIS. All in all, a fun puzzle and good start to the week.

Enjoy the day.

Dick said...

Good morning Argyle and all, a bit of a struggle for a Monday, but doable. It took me a couple of passes before things really fell into place. I agree with Barry and Argyle about the word “ideated”, throw it out. Even my spell check does not like this word even though it is a legitimate word.

I did like the theme and all of the answers came quickly which helped with the crosses.

Hope you all have a great Monday.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, CC, Argyle and all. Great write up, Argyle. This was a pretty quick puzzle, but there were a few clues that one doesn't generally see on a Monday. READE was a educated guess, but I didn't feel like looking him up. Thanks for filling us in on who Mr. Reade was, Argyle.

I agree with Barry and Dick about IDEATE. Ideate I won't be using the word in everyday conversation.

QOD: In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it. ~ Robert Heinlein.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - Hand up for IDEATE. I tripped over that one. The path from the clue to IS IT ME seemed a little non-linear.

All in all, a good Monday with a little pepper in it.

Butt clenching as a path to happiness? Not likely. I'd get more depressed on learning that I can't do 100 butt-reps.

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Argyle et al.

Thanks for the write-up ! This was an easy Monday puzzle and I finished most of it typewriter style on the corncob.

Interesting comment on "FRITZ", Argyle. The origin really is unknown, even though there is some speculation about it's link to the cartoon character ”Fritz” in the Katzenjammer Kids. He and his brother Hans were always getting into mischief and causing "havoc". But there is no definite proof of that origin. It's just one of those funny words that become part of our language. By the way - how many say "on the blink", instead?

Have a great day, all!

Lemonade714 said...

Good morning Argyle et al:

Our editor must use a different pseudonym for difficulty, because this was trickier than his Lila Cherry Monday, I remind you, C.C. published his name LIST . I have trouble remembering RHEE, even with the information that it is the Korean version of LI, and KNISH, NATTY and IDEATE are not typical Monday words. For all of our teachers, my cousin is an interventionist in a large school system, and they all seem to use the word IDEATION all the time. Any thoughts?

Have a nice week all

creature said...

Good Morning C.C.,Argyle and all,

As Dennis said, this was a bit harder than most Mondays; certainly more interesting.

It felt very current with 'Dubai' and 'bailout';'bailout' is answered in the SE corner with 'I'm buying'. Placement was prominent as 'in a rush' was centered; it could have been the seed entry, I suppose, and 'toggle' and 'huddle' were in line with each other. Like a good painter, the 'p's were in opposite corners to insure balance.

SO what's the beef?-33d 'is it me', clued as 'surely I'm not the only one'; my answer wanted to be ,"no you are not the only one, you are in the majority." I hope this is not going to replace "Is it I"; the c/w was the only place I could go to hear this said correctly.

Barry G- I'm of a mind to retain words that are more often read than spoken, in an effort to avoid extinction of threatened and rare words species; better known as Grammatical And Verbal Environmental Protection.

I would like to nominate Clear Eyes as the Honorary Head of this group,in recognition of her poetic quotations in this blog. Her quotes comprise the entire extent of my poetry reading in decades. Thank you, CA.

Not as a consequence of the above, I an now clenching.....

creature said...

Argyle- I didn't mean to omit you. I was afraid my blog was too long. I always enjoy and feel comforted by your commentary.

What tips you off to Rich Norris
secret names? I guess you have become very familiar with the constructors. Our paper only shows Sundays' constructor,so I am now getting excited each day to see who did them. Thanks.

Mainiac said...

Good Morning Argyle, CC and All,

I agree with Barry on Ideate. I liked the three and four word answers. Not much of a gambler so I got Pari-mutual due to Upshot. Definitely a kicked up Monday. Fun grid.

Thanks for the write up Argyle.

Have a great Monday.

Diane said...

I do two puzzles every morning --"Inga" was in both today; weird!

Al said...

@Lemonade714, the key concept there is large school system. Ideate is one of the corporate buzzwords that have spawned such games as buzzword Bingo.

Anonymous said...

I knew Samantha Wine was Rich, but couldn't remember what the anagram was for. A little trickier, but I was so proud of myself that I filled in the entire puzzle with no errors at all!!! Yeah. Monday is starting out good. Despite the many unknowns, my guesses were all good and the perps helped often. Fun way to start the week.

Gotta go. Lots to do.

Nice Cuppa said...

G'day Gang

@Creature

Re your proposal for the "GAVEP", I am all in favor.

However, we need some QUALITY CONTROL.

"IDEATE" and "IDEATION" are so downright (1) ugly, (2) clumsy, (3) unnecessary and (4) pretentious (were it not for (1) and (2)) that I suggest marking them for IMMEDIATE EXTINCTION.

Yours truly

ICECAP PUN

kazie said...

Good blogging, Argyle. Thank you!

I had most of this with not much effort, except for FOLK/KNISH. I had no clue what to put in the K spot. Folk never occurred to me, since I wasn't thinking of it as a return in the 50's, because we did folk dancing in primary school, I thought it must have been "in" then. I guess it was already retro. I thought the deli item must be something I'd never heard of, since Knish was totally unknown too, so I put an "O". I've never been anywhere that had Kosher delis.

Huddle would be a scrum in rugby. I took a WAG for CLAM, never having intimate knowledge of the types available.

I always thought it was ARTHERO- and PARA- , and I would say "My shout" instead of "I'm buying".

HeartRX,
I say "on the blink" too. Your explanation of FRITZ sounds reasonable. But it reminded me that the Katzenjammer Kids were based on Wilhelm Busch's Max und Moritz in Germany.

For IS IT ME I had WE, because of the implication of a needed plural. I assumed it was a continuation of our grammatical education. OREM is not in my travel history so OREW looked fine to me.

So although it was fun, I fouled up here and there.

Tinbeni said...

Argyle, excellent write-up. In my opinion, more interesting than the puzzle.

Theme was thin but the puzzle had some good stuff. DOTH and NATTY are words that need a resurgence.

Liked the OB's calculation, DUE DATE.
Also BAILOUTS, TOGGLE and HUDDLE.
READE had a clever clue.

TAB & I'M BUYING, things I am familiar with.

Didn't like both AT IT and BEAT IT in the grid.

creature said...

In my rant I left out 'Endangered Usage'.

HeartRx-Hand up for 'on the blink'.

Lemonade- what does an interventionist do in the school system?

NC- I'd like to run that by CA, before it is put on the agenda. Perhaps there could be a trade off; a bundling, if you will, of 'ideate' and 'is it me'.

carol said...

Well hello everyone, here we are at Monday again....the puzzle was more difficult than the usual offering.
I had to get to 11A before I was sure of the answer. Slow working, but enjoyable.

Argyle, thanks for explaining HRE...I had no idea.

I tried reading "The Cloister and the Hearth" not too long ago, but the wording was so formal and the sentences so long, by the time I got to the end of one, I'd forgotten what the subject was. This is more my shortcoming than anything. The use of words prior to about 1910 was prose-like. People had the ability to tell others to go 'to hell' in such a way, they enjoyed the trip.

Dennis, had to laugh at butt clenching, I agree with Heart Rx, that's a lot of 'reps'. Wonder how many of us will try it???

Hand up for IDEATED...WTH?? Can you hear someone saying "I ideated that"?

creature said...

A plea must be made for the case of saving the word or usage, and a vote taken by all parties , interested or not, in the Grammatical And Verbal Endangered Usage Protection Assc.

A case in point: 'Ideating' is what you do when you are alone,as 'conceiving'... or well 'pondering' or 'daydreaming'...there that's better. Most humbly submitted to the GAVEUP ASSC.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Nice puzzle, lot's of fun, great long down fill.

IDEATE looks like a clunker, but it really isn't. Not a word you'll likely use when IN A RUSH, though.

Tinbeni - think of them as A TIT and BEA TIT. That might help.

Crazy Tigers-Sox game last night. Neither team had an effective CLOSER. But Tigers swept, in Chicago. Twins fans - you're welcome!

Gotta move some dirt.

Cheers!
JzB

Tinbeni said...

Jazzbumpa
That TIT thing works, thanks.

Now what about INASEC and INARUSH both being in the grid.

I thinks this happens when the constructor is also the editor.

No biggie, all-in-all it was a FUN Monday offering.

Time to go get a KNISH and start a TAB somewhere.

Anonymous said...

Good morning everyone.

I've missed two weeks of this addicting blog as we've traveled to Alabama, Tennessee, and Illinois to visit DH's relatives. It's great to be back.

Argyle, great job, as always.

creature, I most heartily agree about seeing IT IS ME in a cw puzzle. An abomination. And the clue wasn't very helpful.

Barry, I agree with the idea to toss out ideated. (My spell check doesn't like it either.) Even though it's used in some ego-centric, er.. highbrow venues.

Cheers

Husker Gary said...

Hi Guys, any puzzle with OMAHA for this Nebraskan and Verner von BRAUN for a man who has taken thousands for kids to Kennedy Space Center can't be all bad!

I thought the grammar police would hit EATON as plates from which we eat.

I am subbing in Omaha today and so am posting late.


Ideate my A$$!

Nice Cuppa said...

O, woe is me,
To have seen what I have seen..... [HAMLET]

....or is it just I ??

Yours

AN EPIC CUP

Lucina said...

Good day, Argyle and cyber friends.

Good job, Rich; I belive we have seen Samantha Wine before but if not, it is such an unlikely name I assume it is one of Rich's aliases.

Not too much to say about this xwd, it was a fast run.

ENZO reminded me of the book, RACING IN THE RAIN. If you like animals and car racing, it's a charming combination.

Much as we may want IDEATED tossed out, it is vowel rich and therefore golden to constructors.

We had MARIA, ANITA, INGA which are familiar ladies' names and RHEE as well as HRE for our history lesson.

Good point, Argyle, about DUBAI'S footprint. For such a small country, it makes a loud noise. One of my sisters and a friend visited there last year and were deeply impressed.

Have a lovely Monday everyone!

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Thanks for reminder about Samantha Wine, Argyle. I knew we'd seen the name, but had LOST the Rich Norris connection.

I loved seeing DESPOT and TUMULT, not your usual Monday words.

I also enjoyed (11D) THE GAP. When my daughter was a teenager and I was several sizes smaller, we used to shop there a lot.

Thanks creature, but I would make a lousy GAVEP chairperson. I would have made the theme for today's puzzle, "What Is That Word I'm Trying To Think Of?"..LOST, MISSING and GONE. Commonly used words are constantly dropping off the end of my mental pier and I have to fish around (sometimes for hours) to retrieve them.

I'm pleased you read and enjoy the poems. Thanks to C.C. for politely pushing me to keep posting them.

Never have I used the word IDEATED. (Well, now I have.)

Hahtool, about that QOD...I'm glad I don't consider our puzzles to be trivia. Being enslaved would be much worse than just being addicted.

HeartRx, FRITZ, or "Blink"? The phrase for me is "It's gone flooey." (See, creature....I tole ya.)

HeartRx said...

OK, I have to put in my two cent's worth on the GAVEP Ass'n. I agree with Creature on this. The English language is always changing, with new words added every day ("Like "clecho"!!). But that doesn't mean that we have to ban all archaic words, does it? What would crossword puzzles be without gems like "IDEATE" or "LIMN"?

If we delete "ideate" from this puzzle, we'd be MISSING THE POINT, and never have any sort of challenge.

By the same token, words and phrases that aren't formally correct shouldn't be banned, either. I'm sure many of us has said "IS IT ME or does this clue make no sense (according to everyone else)?"

Granted, some bits of crosswordese just make us sigh and move on to the next clue. But please, no lynch mobs for the creator. I will forgive a lot when it comes to that sort of answer, if the puzzle is otherwise elegantly / cleverly constructed.

Gunghy said...

I was ideating this weekend that there would be a complaint about a word today...
Actually, ideate is definitely a buzzword in education. (Or was when I left last summer.) I'm not sure what an interventionist is, as I came from a small district, but we had 'curriculum consultants.' They loved asking us to ideate. They are the people that come in and give seminars on how to "integrate your curriculum into your lessons" (DUH) and "obviate the difficulty of the state test" (teach the test.) I'm not bitter, but after 51% of my students scored proficient or advanced on the test, they pulled me out of my class for 2 days of lessons on a "better way to teach." It promised a success rate of 35%. Time to clench...

Actually, if I'm clenching my buttocks 100 times a day, I'm going to reduce my fiber intake.

For 32A, I had ACTA. I thought the Utah city was OREL. What the hell kind of answer is AS I TLE? I had the AHA! (more of an 'OH, I guess that's it.') moment, but agree that that one needs to go, and quickly!

The power company decided to leave the lake full until the end of September. It turns out that the lady I met not only likes to sit on the couch and do crosswords, but likes to sail as well. I'm down for supplies and to visit the folks, and then I'm gone again. See you in a week.

Anonymous said...

To Creature via Lemonade:

What does an interventionist do in a LARGE school system ?

I work for a LARGE school system - and I know -

If the interventionist, knows what good for him - he serves to protect his job - because it is sooo dispensable.

Clear Ayes said...

33D IS IT ME? Surely I'm not the only one?!

Some Like Poetry

Some -
thus not all. Not even the majority of all but the minority.
Not counting schools, where one has to,
and the poets themselves,
there might be two people per thousand.
Like -
but one also likes chicken soup with noodles,
one likes compliments and the color blue,
one likes an old scarf,
one likes having the upper hand,
one likes stroking a dog.
Poetry -
but what is poetry.
Many shaky answers
have been given to this question.
But I don't know and don't know and hold on to it
like to a sustaining railing.

- Wislawa Szymborska

Wislawa Szymborska is a Polish poet. After WWII she belonged to the official Communist Party in Poland, but gradually became disillusioned and by 1964 she joined other dissidents in protesting for freedom of speech. In 1996 she won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

It's the start of a new art class this afternoon. I've dug out my box of pastels and am going to give it another try.

Dilbert said...

Hi all.
Agree that it was almost a speed run. I skipped the NE and then I finished there.
I HAD a photo that I really wanted to share. Alas, it is lost, missing and gone.
Did you know that the elephant is the only animal that can't jump?

Jerome said...

HeartRx- Your last paragraph. Well said.

Tinbeni- It's very common to have repeated short words in a puzzle: A, IT, AN, IN, etc. The editor in no way is allowing himself some latitude that he would not grant another constructor. I just think you're grumpy this morning. Which of your teams got their butt kicked this weekend? :)

creature- How about sending your local editor an email requesting the constructor's byline? They receive the puzzle knowing full well who wrote it.

Dennis- What butt?

Nice Cuppa said...

Clear Ayes

Don't GIVE UP on accepting the GAVEUP Chairwomanship. I think your CV-CV makes you the ideal candidate - the perfect arbiter - or is it just me?

I don't think anyone has suggested giving up all rare/unusual words/constructions. I would just prefer compilers to have a sense of taste/style, and if they don't we should give them a collective slap on the wrist.

My feelings on "Is it me?" were given in my last post - good enough for Shakespeare is good enough for me. However, the appropriate answer to the clue is "Is it JUST me?"

My MacDictionary tells me "On the Fritz" comes from an allusion to cheap German imports into the U.S. before World War I, and of course Fritz later became a generic term for a German soldier - synonymous with Kraut, Gerry, etc.

The modern (ab)use of language/thinking is epitomized in John Betjamin's poem "Executive":

I am a young executive. No cuffs than mine are cleaner;
I have a Slimline brief-case and I use the firm's Cortina.
In every roadside hostelry from here to Burgess Hill
The maîtres d'hôtel all know me well, and let me sign the bill.

You ask me what it is I do. Well, actually, you know,
I'm partly a liaison man, and partly P.R.O.
Essentially, I integrate the current export drive
And basically I'm viable from ten o'clock till five.

For vital off-the-record work - that's talking transport-wise -
I've a scarlet Aston-Martin - and does she go? She flies!
Pedestrians and dogs and cats, we mark them down for slaughter.
I also own a speedboat which has never touched the water.

She's built of fibre-glass, of course. I call her 'Mandy Jane'
After a bird I used to know - No soda, please, just plain -
And how did I acquire her? Well, to tell you about that
And to put you in the picture, I must wear my other hat.

I do some mild developing. The sort of place I need
Is a quiet country market town that's rather run to seed
A luncheon and a drink or two, a little savoir faire -
I fix the Planning Officer, the Town Clerk and the Mayor.

And if some Preservationist attempts to interfere
A 'dangerous structure' notice from the Borough Engineer
Will settle any buildings that are standing in our way
The modern style, sir, with respect, has really come to stay.

Anonymous said...

Dilbert - Once , on one my safaris to Africa, I came across a Hippo and a Rhino who were in love - they were literally jumping over each other ...

Dennis said...

A belated Happy Birthday to Bill, whose bday I missed yesterday due to all the yard sale crap. Many, many more, Bill, and my apologies for being late.

Tinbeni said...

Bill, Happy Birthday, a day late and a dollar short.
Hope it was a Great ONE!

Jerome:
When I realized (right off the bat) that the constructor was Rich Norris I set the 'bar' a little higher.
Therefore the AT IT / BEAT IT, plus the IN A SEC / IN A RUSH seemed too similar, IMHO.

Please note @10.22 I DID say I thought this was a FUN Monday.

[This reminds me of the NYT on 8/17 constructed by Michael Sharp, aka: Rex Parker. He sometimes rails about too many un-necessary plurals ... then when he got a puzzle accepted I noticed he had a plethora (at least 12) in his grid. BTW, it too was a FUN puzzle to solve].

As to my teams: My beloved NY Yankees have a 4 game series against my local Rays starting tonight at The Stadium.
And the Tampa Bay Buc's are 2-0 (equalling 2/3's of last year win total).

Jerome said...

I hope you don't mind C.C., and I'm sure Rich won't, but I've got to give a shout-out to Bernice Gordon, today's New York Times Constructor. Her first NYT puzzle was published in 1952! She's now 96 and still creating great crosswords. Holy cow!

Bob said...

Maybe a little harder than the usual Monday puzzle, but not by much. Took 11 minutes to finish.

A favorite Lou Costello bit:

Susquehanna Hat Company

The JVN said...

I found this an enjoyable and easy puzzle for a Monday. My reference books were not needed. With KQ, I had no errors. As for later daze -- I rarely complete a Wednesday puzzle.

"Ideate" seems pretentious, IMHO.

On the fritz, or on the blink? I'd probably say it's gone kaflooey.

"Reade" as an author -- I have a friend whose last name is Reade, so with that and a perp or two, I wrote it in.

52A, "Gone for the day" had me going in the wrong direction. I had ----FORTH---- from perps. As more perps suggested that the initial part was GONE, I was stumped trying to ideate something to follow "gone forth". Eventually I saw it was "gone for t.. ...", and the correct letters leapt to mind.

Bich or Bic -- I grew up in Wisconsin, hearing lots of Dutch and German. So I would have said "bikhhh" with a little clear-the-throat sound. But most USAns would have said "bitch", I'm confident. Thanks for changing it!

Just as for the composer Bach, which I've heard spoken "Batch". He also loved the music BEET-hoven and CHOP-in. I very gently corrected him, as there's no shame in having read many more words than he had ever heard pronounced.

Clenching one's butt -- I wonder if it would strengthen the anal sphincter. Must try it.

kazie said...

JVN,
Since Bic is a French company, their pronunciation with the original spelling would have been closer to "beesh". They were right to change it because Americans would never have caught on to that.

creature said...

CA- words fail me on what I think of you and your contribution to this blog. I merely want to convey on you the honorary title of Chairwoman of the GAVEUP Assn.. It does not impose any duties , merely respect and enjoyment for your time and effort for this xwd blog. Somehow,not through my inveighling,you are the tops. The GAVEUP ASSN. merely would like your input on matters of language usage.

And, I might add ,only when you deem it worthy of your opinion.

On matters of missing words, welcome to my world! The doctor's giving me huge doses of vitamin D, which I've decided , help me with this, although that's not what I
take it for. Check it out.

Seriously, I enjoy my poetry lessons from you. Thanks.

And there will be no talk of lynchings!

Chickie said...

I agree with Dennis, in that I thought this was a bit harder than most Monday puzzles. However, I didn't have to look up anything and after one pass I began to fill in the gaps left the first time through.

I thought the theme answers were all clever. I was able to fill in those before I had some of the shorter easier words penned in.

I don't think I've ever used the word ideate in a sentence. Anyone else ever use it on a daily basis?
Evidently not, as most had the same feelings as I did when seeing this word today.

Rhee was dredged up from the back of beyond. I remember him during my college years.

An interventionist in a large school district could be someone who would tutor children who are not at grade level. In our district we had reading intervention for those children below grade level.

I'm a bit peeved as my refrigerator repair was great in that I now have a cold box and a colder freezer, but the ice maker doesn't work! This means another day of waiting for the repairman to come back. Sigh!

September 20, 2010 6:54 PM

erieruth said...

Today's puzzle was clever, a nice way to start Monday. I always enjoy 'Did You Know?' from Dennis.

Dilbert said...

Hello Anon 1:15. I'll take your word for it. I'll have my source
check their source.

BTW. I liked the safari pictures you took last Nov.

I have this Disney toon in my head
of dancing hippos and rhinos frol-
icking in the meadow. HELP!

Dick said...

Creature at 9:40am it is hard to conceive alone.

Anonymous said...

Jerome: (This will probably be the most tasteless post of the day...you are forewarned.)

Jeff Foxworthy says older men`s butts keep getting smaller and smaller because they scratch it away.

carol said...

Hey Anon at 7:29 - would butt scratching work for women??? :)

Chickie: did you speak of any vacation plans, dinner out, new furnishings in front of your refrigerator??? You know how sensitive they are...they just break down when they hear about those plans.

MJ said...

Jerome,
Thanks for sharing the awesome shout-out to Bernice Gordon for her currently published puzzle in the NY Times. 96 years old-YIKES! I wish I could access her creation without paying a fee.

I had the pleasure of having my (89-year old) mother here for the past few days. Besides spending great time with family, she and I did crosswords together, and had such fun! She does them in ink, I in pencil, with my "Magic Rub" close at hand.

Goodnight, all!

Annette said...

A belated Happy Birthday, Bill! I hope you had a good one!

While doing the puzzle last night, I was thinking it didn't seem like a Monday level. Later in bed, I was thinking "I'm surprised Rich accepted it for a Monday. Hey, maybe it WAS Rich..." I checked first thing in the morning, and sure enough!

Doesn't IDEATED sound like someone belched in the middle of quoting Shakespeare?

Speaking of business buzzwords: I was working on my performance evaluation today. There was a particular paragraph I wasn't happy with, so I asked a friend for her input. She suggested I insert "business acumen" in it. I tried, but I just couldn't bring myself to use that term. It felt so forced to me! I will admit to using "utilized" once though...even though I recall someone here recently wishing it were banished. It just FIT! Sorry, but "used" just wasn't going to sell the point I was making...

Lucina said...

Bill, belated birthday wishes! I hope you celebrated in style.

Hahtool:
Thanks for catching The Art of Racing in The Rain. Sometimes my mind takes a vacation and it has been a year since I read it. Loved it.

Is your review available on your blog? I would enjoy reading it.

creature said...

Dick- Love it!