google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday November 5, 2010 David Poole

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Nov 5, 2010

Friday November 5, 2010 David Poole

Theme: Internet Destination, Before and After; each of the four theme answers takes an every day phrase, and by adding a new beginning, creates a humorous phrase which starts a famous internet site.

17A. Favorable time to place an online bid?: EBAY WINDOW. E added to BAY WINDOW, with the meaning a WINDOW of opportunity, and EBAY the auction site.

27A. Online networking site trainee? : MYSPACE CADET. MY added to SPACE CADET, yields MYSPACE and CADET as trainee.

44A. Detective's job concerning a personal online relationship? : FACEBOOK CASE. FACE is added to BOOK CASE, with CASE what detectives investigate.

58A. Spinner seen in an online video?: YOUTUBE TOP. YOU added to TUBE TOP, creates a TOP SPINNING ON YOU TUBE. When my brothers and I were growing up, we used our Dradles for the battles.

Happy Friday, and Happy Guy Fawkes Day, from Lemonade714, which being sentimental, I celebrate every year as the anniversary of the first time I fell in love. Mr. Poole is becoming a more regular contributor, and this puzzle has plenty of misdirection and humor and creative cluing, beyond the theme, which seems like a nice idea, but a bit tortured.

Some fun:

64A. Ones changing locks: DYERS. Dyeing the hair, nice misdirection.

30D. Fly catcher: TOAD. Not the San Francisco outfield.

42D. "Hey, ewe!": BAA. For some reason I like it when certain people get my attention with “hey you”.

46D. Serious depression: CRATER. I hope you all got that and did not get blue, except of course being blue is good here.

52. Cop stopping traffic?: NARC. My favorite, stopping drug traffic.

We continue:

ACROSS:

1. Tic __ :TACS. The first of the strong mints.

5. Travis of country: TRITT. Yes it is a GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE.

10. Arrange in a tournament: SEED. The use of this term comes from needing to separate seeds to let them grow, just as you separate the very good teams, to allow them to meet later in a tournament.

14. Eliza's greeting: ELLO. Ms. Doolittle has had a strong run this fall.

15. 2009 Man Booker International Prize winner Alice: MUNRO. This Canadian short story writer is a recipient of many fiction awards, including this biennial award for one’s life work, presented by a British investment firm.

16. Poi base: TARO. A tuber, associated with the plant we call Elephant Ears, here in Florida.

19. "__ Almighty": 2007 film: EVAN. Like 56.D. Movies with "II" in their titles: Abbr. : SEQS this movie was a sequel to BRUCE ALMIGHTY which Jim Carrey wisely chose not to star in, Bruce II became EVAN with Steve Carrell, both of which has Morgan Freeman as the Almighty, and no doubt the inspiration of 20A. Sacred scroll: TORAH.

21. Silent: SOUNDLESS.

23. Wellness gp.: HMO.

24. __ de toilette: EAU. Just a touch of French, toilet water sounds so much better in French.

26. Nobelist Bohr: NIELS. Thanks to Martha Grimes, this always reminds me of SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT, or is it dead?

31. What odes do: PRAISE. Before there were scrolls, or other writings, singers toured the land writing and performing songs of praise for the lords in power, and ODE is derived from the Greek word for song.

34. 1987 Costner role: NESS, prohibition policeman Elliot; do we like or dislike Kevin, or was ROBERT STACK the embodiment of the role? What guest stars! Does anyone watch Boardwalk Empire ?

35. Hope-Crosby destination: RIO. One of the many ROAD TO… movies they did with Dorothy Lamour.

36. Pay for periodic use: RENT.

37. Coll. of 12 signs: ZOD. Notice that collection is abbreviated, so the response must be an abbreviation as well. We are deep in Scorpio now.

38. Afghanistan's Tora __ region: BORA. This is the region where the US believed bin Laden was hiding in a cave, and where US troops were sent after 9-11, but despite killing and capturing many al Quaeda, no leader.

39. 2007 honor for Hugh Laurie: Abbr.: OBE. It is easy to forget how British Hugh Laurie is after watching him as House for so many years, so go rent the Bertie Wooster/Jeeves series, or Black Adder and see him in his original incarnation. Of course, Jeeves, loved the poem 40A. "__ Ben Adhem": ABOU, a simple poem which many were forced to memorize.

42. Warned, in a way: BEEPED. In Florida is is against the law to blow your horn except to warn of danger, though it is not enforced that way. We also have, 38.D. Buzzer: BEE.

47. Bottom bits: DREGS. When the grapes were crushed, the remaining skin etc was the dregs.

48. Word before or after pack: RAT. Frank and the boys as the RAT PACK, and my uncle, who kept every bill he ever paid, as a PACK RAT.

49. 27-Down, e.g.: SCH. This leads to 27.D. 49-Across from which Buzz Aldrin turned down a full scholarship: MIT. And, 31.D. 27-Down fig.: PROF.

52. Colorful fish: NEON TETRA. Another fishie clue.

55. Kirin beer rival: ASAHI. The two most popular beers; the brewery where my youngest works, just was signed by a much larger distributor, so the world of ORLANDO BREWING, the only organic brewery in Florida is picking up.

57. Starting stake: ANTE. In card games, for example.

60. Bakery buys: RYES. We go ERGOT, to the bread made from the grain.

61. Seaside flock: ERNES. These birds are our most popular feathery friends.

62. Bit of Marx's legacy: QUIP. Groucho, not Karl, and also 33.D. Toastmasters' stock: ANECDOTES.

63. It may number in the thousands: CAST. Cecil B. DeMille always advertised his movies had them.

65. Agile: SPRY.

DOWN:

1. Effectiveness: TEETH. The NFL needed to put some Teeth into the ban on helmet to helmet hits, by suspending players without pay.

2. "Tuesdays With Morrie" author: ALBOM. Mitch, who is a regular in the Detroit newspaper, as well as on ESPN’s SPORTS REPORTERS ; I read the book. Morrie was smart, but the book seemed just exploitive and without any real insight, but it was a big hit.

3. Light smoke: CLARO. I believe the term is used for certain light tobacco cigars, but I have never been much of a smoker, and only the perps got me there.

4. Milk source: SOYA. It is taking over, and clearly a misnomer, as how can a nut give milk. And in contrast, 18.D. Milk by-products: WHEYS. Little Miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet (and what a fine tuffet it was!) eating her CURDS and….

5. "I didn't need to know that!": TMI. TOO MUCH INFORMATION; hard to keep up with the short cut minds of the young; my latest embarrassment was not deciphering oic, to mean Oh, I see.

6. Accumulates: RUNS UP. Ah yes, Wimpy accumulated quite the tab for Hamburgers.

7. Chinese leader?: INDO. Indochinese, by now we all know leader often is used to mean the beginning of a word.

8. Defeated decisively: TROUNCED.

9. Student resenters, perhaps: TOWNIES. When I was young, I was sent to boarding school, and once a month or so, the school would load up a bus and take some students into the big city (Pittsfield, Massachusetts) and drop them off, to be picked up 5 hours later. Man the townies hated us, except the girls, who were much too nice…It was West Side Story, suburban version.

10. "__ By Starlight": jazz standard: STELLA. So many versions of this SONG .

11. Gather information secretly: EAVESDROP. The drop part comes from the purpose of the eave was to have the water drop (or drip) from the roof, and not into the house.

12. Some are named for music genres: ERAS. We certainly know the BIG BAND era.

13. Slips into: DONS. Clothing.

22. Winter mos.: DECS. Egads, we are almost there again!

25. Suffix with lip-: ASE. ASE is a suffix for enzymes, and LIPASE in humans is created in the pancreas and is is critical in neutralizing triglycerides and other non-soluble fats.

28. Actress Aimée: ANOUK. A very natural BEAUTY .

29. 53-Down's homeland: EIRE. More dual clues, but at least a new one for 53.D. Singer born Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin: ENYA.

32. Sitcom whose theme song was sung by its star: REBA. SURVIVOR .

37. Albee play, with "The": ZOO STORY. An international SUCCESS .

40. Put oneself at risk, in a way: ABET. Ading and abetting a Felon…

41. Messed up a hole, maybe: BOGEYED. No longer a bad score for me.

43. Cornerstone abbr.: ESTAB. Established.

45. He played Marty in "Marty": ERNEST. Ladies, for you Mr. Borgnine .

49. Prepared to take notice?: SAT UP.

50. Church area: CHOIR. Tricky, because of the choir being filled with the choir.

51. Wide-haunched: HIPPY. Not a phrase to be used as a compliment, “ my your wife looks really wide-haunched, “ even though it helps in delivering babies, and we know many men really like a broad beam in more than just their boat.

54. Odd character: RUNE. The old way TO WRITE .

59. Sub letters: USS. Can you imagine being underwater for months on THIS .

Answer grid.

Welcome to my new home as Friday’s child, which in fact I am both literally and figuratively. Keep the cards and letters coming and enjoy.

Lemonade

48 comments:

  1. Morning, all!

    Still no Dennis? I'm guessing he can't post early whether he's at currently...

    Today's puzzle was a typical challenging Friday, but I really felt it was trying too hard to be challenging. The theme was fantastic, but that's all the puzzle really had going for it. The NW corner in particular seemed awfully brutal, but fortunately I've been around the block enough times to not be phased by CLARO, ALBOM and SOYA. The clue for TEETH was rather nasty, however.

    As for the rest of the puzzle, what really wore me down were all the bizarre abbreviations. SCH, DECS, ESTAB, SEQS, PROF, etc. I know you have to put up with crap fill when you have such a well thought-out theme, but still...

    And is CHOIR really an "area" in a church? A CHOIR loft, certainly. But just a CHOIR? I dunno. It's probably a perfectly valid term, just not one I've ever encountered before.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. I was afraid I wouldn't have time for the puzzle this morning. I awoke to what I initially thought was rain, but was instead a busted pipe in the bathroom. Quite a flood! Quite a mess!

    I thought this was an easier than usual Friday puzzle, but it had lots of fun clues. I wasn't even by the clues that referenced each other. The theme popped out at me pretty quickly.

    This is the third day in a row we have had BEE in the puzzle! The constructors must like Melissa!

    Not much to add to your informative write-up, Lemonade.

    Glad to hear your mother is doing better, Bob.

    Have a great weekend.

    QOD: Everything should be as made as simple as possible, but not simpler. ~ Albert Einstein.

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  3. Oh -- and I forgot to mention... My dad is now out of the hospital and into a rehab center. He has a long road ahead of him, but at least he's still on the road and (hopefully) headed in the right direction...

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  4. Lemon, Wonderful write-up yet again.
    I'll check the links later.

    OH, now I see it ... the theme is computer sites I don't have/never use.
    1) EBAY
    2) & 3) MY SPACE & FACEBOOK (Don't indiscriminately give out my info).
    4) YOU TUBE (OK, I do listen to / watch the ones posted here ... but otherwise, Nope don't have time to peruse).

    Once again, this former HIPPY made the grid, thanks David.

    ASAHI, yummmm ... yeah I like Jap Beer, too.
    Avatar understands this quirk of mine.

    Always like seeing RIO. Did a consulting job once that had me there for Carnival ... damn, those people really party well, nice "almost" costumes.

    Learned about:
    An Int'l.Prize winner: Alice MUNRO
    Name of an Albee play, The ZOOSTUDY

    Fave today: BOGEYED.
    I went to Boca Ciega H.S., nickname Bogey ... of as I say on the Golf Course, there's one for the "old school."
    This weekend we are having our 40th Reunion ... can't wait to see the "Old Gang."

    Well, this SPRY Guy will 'toast' everyone at Sunset.

    oops, almost forgot, Happy Guy Fawkes Day ... have a blast.

    Barry G, Thanks for the good news and Dad update.

    Here, Gal-Pals brother was moved from Hospice to the Hospital. I think he is going to dodge the leukemia fate again ... he has for 12 years, and must have 9 lives.

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  5. Hi all,
    I agree with Barry about the abbrvs. I also had to g'spot all the names. I've never heard of TRITT, CLARO, ZOO STORY, ASAHI, or MUNRO.

    I remember "child bearing hips" being a somewhat tongue-in-cheek compliment.

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  6. Hahtool,
    I've heard the area where the choir sits referred to as the "choir". But I must admit it wasn't the first thing that came to mind. I did enjoy this puzzle, though I did have to look a few things up. as I said before.

    I'm a bit distracted at present because I have a skype going with my d-i-l and her grandmother at the same time in German.

    But Barry,
    I wanted to say I'm very glad to hear your Dad has progressed out of the hospital. That's always good news.

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  7. Good morning all. Great write-up and lots of good links, Lemonade.

    Good tough Friday puzzle, but doable with some patience. Tinbeni, except for You Tube, I don't go to the other sites either, but they are in the vocabulary now so I thought it was fair. Had to make extensive use of WAGs, today; ZOD,RAT,ABOU, ENYA, and MYSPACE CADET, to get a good start. That helped to get the other theme fills. NW was last to fall - did not know CLARO. Thought NARC, and CRATER were quite clever. I agree with Barry's comments about CHOIR. Also thought it was odd to clue Rune characters as 'odd'. JMO. And, oh yeah, USS - 'sub letters' was a gimme.

    Bee again - BEE and BEEped

    Barry, glad to hear your Dad is progressing.

    Enjoy the day.

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  8. Good morning, Lemonade, C.C. and gang - I enjoyed the challenge today, and certainly had some of the same problems already mentioned. I thought the theme was quite clever and once I had the first theme answer, the rest of them became pretty easy. My only real hang up was 41D - I was off in a completely different direction.

    Barry, it's the very late nights down here that are the reason for the later posts. And very good news about your dad. Tinbeni, certainly good news for you guys too.

    Lemonade, great blog job - always informative. By the way, I guess my timing was off a bit on running down here; first two days, rain, now a 'cold front', as the local forecasters are calling it. Although 'cold front' and low 70s don't exactly sync up in my mind.

    Off to South Beach - hope it's a great day for everyone.

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  9. Good Morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.

    Loved the links, lemonade ( a little alliteration for you today...).

    For some reason, I really loved this puzzle. Even though it did have several abbr.'s, I thought they were common enough that they didn't really present a big problem. And the theme was really well done.

    Fav's were "Odd character" for RUNE and "Ones changing locks" for DYERS. Clever clues. And the others were sufficiently misleading for a nice Friday challenge.

    Here is a bit of Marx's legacy:

    "I never forget a face, but in your case I will make an exception"

    "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members"

    "Go, and never darken my towels again."

    "I intend to live forever, or die trying."

    "I remember the first time I had sex. I kept the receipt"

    Barry G. - great to hear your dad is making progress. I hope his rehab experience goes much better than Fermatprimes!

    Have a great day, everyone. TGIF !

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  10. TGIF!
    Like some of you, this was a real chore for me today. Too many unknowns... Tritt, TMI, OBE, and several wags. I gave up on the NW corner, complete meltdown.

    I did manage to finish the central and southern sections,yet this puzzle left me saying to myself, "So what." I'd call it unpleasant challenge.

    Barry, I enjoy reading historical novels and often Choir was characterized as a discrete part of the church by the authors, especially in medieval times. Happy to hear the good news about your Dad's progress.

    Exciting weekend coming up. We have a new addition joining our household .... a nine week old collie pup. We lost two collies over the past 14 months to old age, so this guy will have big paws to fill.

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  11. Of course I mis-typed and meant to say I learned ZOO STORY.

    And before anyone questions my use of the term "Jap beer" ...
    Well when the guys around here are enjoying a few brews, maybe some Avatar, together (and many of my neighbors are over 80, WWII vets) for Japanese the term is often shortened to just "Jap."
    Like, yeah, I love my Scion Tc, it's a great "Jap car."

    Probably not politically correct.
    But that's the way it is.

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  12. Hi everyone -

    Well, I gave it the old college try but failed to graduate! Too many unknowns but I figure I can keep trying to do these Friday and Sat puzzles without help and someday I'll solve them :)

    Barry G and Tinbeni: very good news for both of you. Thanks for keeping us advised.

    Dennis, hope you are having a good time in Fla. Is the weather any good?

    Lemonade: great job as usual...more fun than the puzzle.

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  13. Meh on fill. Theme is refreshing.

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  14. Good morning Lemonade and solvers all.

    Barry G and Tinbeni, good to hear the good news.

    This puzzle had lots of fun clues and misdirections in it. It took me a bit to get some traction, but I got the general theme when FACEBOOKCASE fell into place and was able to go back and fill in the other themes.

    I did parse the YOUTUBETOP a bit differently than Lemonade. To be consistant with the others, "Tube top" is the stand-alone phrase, so I started thinking in terms of "spinner in a tube top". If you aren't familiar with that definition of "spinner", look it up in the urban dictionary. But be warned, it may be TMI!

    Have a GREAT weekend, everyone.

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  15. Tinbeni- Your excuse for using an offensive, racist word is almost as bad as using it in the first place. That you blithely spew out such garbage is disgusting.

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  16. Good morning C.C., Lemonade, and all.
    Glad you are Friday's child, Lemonade. You always do a good job on the write up.

    I got only about 8 correctly today, so I totally agree with Tinbeni's thoughts about this puzzle.
    And your GalPal's brother's saga is astonishing and good to hear.

    Glad to read the good news from Barry G. about his dad and from Bob about his mom.

    Cheers

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  17. Jerome: I think you went overboard this morning in your attack on Tinbeni. Jap is no more racist and insulting than say Brit, or Yankee, or Canuck.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hello Puzzlers -

    Interesting write-up, Lemonade. I imagine you know that Cranwell was re-purposed into a conference/resort center. I stayed there for two nights in December 1999, in the old main building; the place was still lovely, but it had fallen to a level of shabbiness it didn't deserve.

    The submarine link was fascinating. Companies like Arma who made products for submarines were clustered around the Brooklyn Navy Yards from WW1 onward. Sometime in the 50's, the Navy convinced all those firms to move elsewhere, so they would be harder to bomb all at once. Once such firm, the periscope maker Kollmorgen Corp., moved here to Northampton, Mass. Periscopes are still made here but in much smaller numbers nowadays.

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  19. This one was hard for me but in the end it was doable - it just took longer than usual. I got the theme right away and filled in all the theme answers quickly. Like Barry I got tired of all the abbreviations. I don't like the extensive use of proper names either. All in all, a good puzzle for a Friday.

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  20. 'ALLO Puzzlers. Wonderful, richly explained blog, Lemonade. Thank you.

    I have an appointment for a hair cut, so this will be short.

    The upper part filled in slowly, but smoothly with many knowns as cited by Barry G. The bottom was a slog, slowly filling in bits and pieces. Once I sussed the theme, however, FACEBOOK and YOUTUBE jumped out. I could not recall ZOOSTORY, though and left the Z out.

    Clever cluing, so much misdirection and abbreviations, yowza!

    You all have a fabuloso Friday!

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  21. Hey you! Nice write up today. For some reason, this one didn’t give me fits, which is odd as I am usually on the same wavelength as Carol. I did have to hit the g-spot for Alice Munroe though. I also got lots of perp and red letter help with abou, asahi, Albom , claro, and Anouk. I thought the theme was cute, and some of the clues very clever. Funny, we’ve had Bee three days in a row. Hi Melissabee!

    Hahtool, sorry to hear about your inside flood. What a mess indeed.

    Good news Tinbeni , Barry and Bob!

    Everyone enjoy your weekend. It’s supposed to be a nice one here with temps in the upper 50’s low 60’s which is very uncommon in Minnesota.

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  22. Tinbeni: I like both of those beers but I prefer Sapporo. I'm not so sure about this one.

    Re Jap beer:

    cover for a wrangler? jeep bra

    place to drink ASAHI? jeep bar

    uppercut equal? jab peer

    place to put money after cussing? "beep" jar

    Btw, dilbert, you are correct. It is the Roebling Bridge over the Ohio. It is Brooklyn Bridge's older yet smaller brother.

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  23. Hello everybody. I pretty much agree with most of you about today's puzzle: neat-o theme, leaving ugly detritus for much of the rest. There were some nice, real words, such as TROUNCED, EAVESDROP, SOUNDLESS, and ANECDOTES. I do like long words such as those. But jeeez, the abbreviations, aarggh.

    I confidently pencilled in (I always use pencil) RANDY for Travis, which obviously messed me up along the top for quite a while until I finally realized it was the other Travis.

    Did a similar thing by pencilling in POKE for "Starting stake," thinking of Yukon explorers and the like. Felt a little let down when it turned out to be merely ANTE.

    Have never ever seen "ZOD" as an abbreviation of Zodiac. It seems more like the name of a science fiction alien character or something.

    The clue for DYERS was cute, but a stretch. I personally have never heard of a CLARO, but got it by means of the perps. I thought NARC was cleverly clued, as were QUIP and CAST. Didn't like DECS at all, sorta like the SEPS (or was it OCTS?) we had recently.

    Loved Ernest Borgnine as and in Marty.

    Looks like ENYA is becoming our new friend, like TESLA used to be.

    I, too, have not and do not use eBay, Facebook, and MySpace. I will sometimes watch a YouTube video, and I am a member of LinkedIn, but that's about it. These all eat up too much time.

    That's all for now. Best wishes to you all.

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  24. @Jerome

    No matter how strongly you feel about an issue, this is certainly not the place to be disrespectful to your fellow bloggers.

    In fact, the tone of your comments suggest that you possess a degree of intolerance/disrespect of a magnitude similar to that which you are claiming for Tinbeni.

    A more appropriate response might be to explain why this particular abbreviation has become such a derogatory/offensive term (which it undeniably has), while many other abbreviations of other nationalities - Brits, Yanks, etc., have not.

    NC

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  25. Hi all.

    seen, thanks for the answer. I have been over it a few times.

    tinbeni, wife's initials were JAP.
    Just saying. Born in '42 also.

    Lemonade, thanks for the link. Have photos of the 571 saying bye-
    bye. If I go 'blue' again, will post them.

    Frat brother married a 'townie'. We envied his home cooked meals.
    Her mother and Jill taught at the same HS.

    Take care and enjoy.

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  26. Hahtool,
    I had overlooked your "flood" post. I hope the problem is quickly resolved.

    Tinbeni,
    Very glad Kris's brother is improving again. It bodes well for him in his third life, if there are still six more to go. Also for my ex-student, if he is as fortunate in his continuing recovery, as I hope.

    I walked our dog this morning in 32 degree weather. Maybe I should have waited, but if I put it off till afternoon, I lose interest in the idea. I feel silly out in full winter regalia at this time of the year, but I needed it. Next time I think I'll break out the down coat!

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  27. Jeannie, Kazie: Thanks for your concern about my flooding problem. We have a temporary fix and the plumber is coming on Monday. At least we were home when it happened. Can you imagine the mess I would have walked into if it had happened soon after we left for work!

    Barry G: Glad to hear your father is out of the hospital and doing better.

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  28. Me too!

    I filled the NW strictly on acrosses, then had to google 2D and 3D to see if I was right.

    Then came the center top. There is only one Travis in country music and boy did he make that section hard. FEBS and ADDSUP didn't help.

    As an aside,, I saw Tritt do an acoustic set 2 years ago, and, boy, can he pick that guitar.

    The first to fall in 27A was the ADE near the end. So, I put in ARCADES at the end. Trainee, computer: made sense to me. (At least it fixed the FEB I had.) TOAD and ASE gave me the correct answer and the theme. So the rest slowly fell in from there. I still had to google for ANOUK.

    like Jayce, I thought ZOD really sucked.

    I was all set to rant about a flock of eagles, then I found this. I would love to see someone clue for White-tailed Eagle some time. Anyone?

    And ERNES crossed RUNE. Shouldn't that have been OLD, not ODD?

    Barry, Bob, Ten, etc hope things stay good. Hahtool, I had a friend that returned from 6 weeks in Japan to find that sometime in the middle she had broken a pipe. She had to deal with the flood and jet-lag.

    And finally, thank you HeartRx for those wonderful Groucho quotes.

    I'm out.

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  29. I forgot to mention: Facebook is the easiest way to talk to my son in Afghanistan. He's supposed to start home on the 16th, by the way.

    And, while I've been taken a couple of times on Ebay, it has been the source of many bargains. Well worth the time. Besides, it's sort of responsible for $160 mill being pumped into the state economy this last election.

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  30. Ebb and flow, like so much of life, things ebb and they flow. I must say there is a difference between politically incorrect and mean spirited. Perhaps, as the only Jewish student in a very "proper" prep school, I learned the difference, the hard way, being called many, many things. I can tell you most of it is a hurt that does not go away.

    Personally, I would prefer if people have prejudices they air them and place them out in the open, rather than expressing them subtly or cutely.

    Well my primarily quiet crew, those are my two cents.

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  31. Finished this puzzle in 44 minutes with no errors, although the NW corner gave me some difficulty, as I didn't know ALBOM or CLARO, and TEETH seemed a bit of a stretch for "Effectiveness."

    Tinbeni's remarks seemed in context, so I didn't find them offensive. I agree that we should refrain from negative personal comments about each other. We all have our sensitivities, but it doesn't seem very charitable to be hurtful or cause offense in return when someone's comment strikes us the wrong way. There are other and better ways to get one's point across. This is a pretty self-supportive group, and I for one would like to see it stay that way.

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  32. Congrats Lemonade on a terrific blog...Fridays puzzles are hit and miss but I actually finished this one all by myself! WOOT! Really disliked ZOD as an abbr. And for so long kept trying to think of a COLLege...*sigh* :oP

    No real hangups and the theme was fun and oddly, one of my favorite places, FB, was the last to fall. I have never seen the word CLARO but left it alone as everything else fit. Also never heard of the Japananese beer. But all the little blank squares filled themselves in so it is a good day.

    Celebrating hubs B-day with kids tonight at a Vietnamese Restaurant and am sincerely hoping they make rice paper spring rolls...a good evening and fun weekend to you all.

    Barry and others...congrats on the good news.

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  33. Greetings, solvers,

    I'm pretty much with Hahtool in feeling this was an easier than usual Friday challenge. I didn't mind the abbreviations except for Decs. SCH, ESTAB, PROF are all pretty commonly used and I guess if I ran out of writing space I would abbreviate zodiac that way, is there any other?

    I too have seen CHOIR used in books for designating a section of a church or cathedral.
    I did blow a couple of squares because of working this out online instead of pencil and paper. I know how to spell eavesdrop, but ended up with eevesdrop; simply a typo. I did spell Albom wrong; used an n instead of m. I pondered over Abou, sort of wanted Abhu. Maybe I've seen that somewhere. But the red letters caught it. I agree about soya=a source for milk, but I guess it's no worse than rice milk. I like Elsie's myself.

    Favorite clue was64A, ones changing locks. Very cute.

    I'm glad so many folks are improving. Tinbeni, I think it's great about Kris's brother. Miracles do happen, after all. I like to think some of our positive vibes helped. And Bob, I can understand about the meds problem. The way we oldies have pills thrown at us is amazing. My next door neighbor, in her 90s, we all thought was really losing it (certainly not surprising), but she was taken off one of her meds and came right back to normal. She's at least 10 years older than I am and she runs rings around me!

    Fermatprime, I hope your silence doesn't mean you're having more problems.

    Lemonade, a really good writeup! Thanks, and CC, whereever you are, I love you for creating this place!

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  34. Hi gang -

    Lemonade - nice job, of course.

    Barry - good news about your dad.

    Mixed feelings about this puzzle. I liked the theme a lot, and appreciate the long down fill.

    But 19 or so proper names, including 12 of real or imagined people is really a bit much. And ZOD?!?

    Ah, well.

    It's the weekend.

    Cheers!
    JzB

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  35. Re: "Jap"
    My Dad, a WWII Navy vet (LSD3, Carter Hall) was not very happy when I bought a Honda Superhawk in 1965. "You ain't parkin' that damn Jap motorcycle in my driveway".
    On the other hand, he didn't understand at all why some of his customers at the Farmall dealership were offended when he bought a Volkswagen pick up truck. His war was in the Pacific, theirs was in Europe.
    I think Lemonade made the right call on this one.

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  36. WM, how nice to hear from you. Is everybody cold and hungry? This is by far the quietest you all have been on a Friday in a very long time. It is in the 60's in Ft. Lauderdale, and I guess I have to blame Dennis. Isn't odd our troublemakers are leaving us alone. C.C., thanks again.

    ciao, happy GUY FAWKES

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  37. Hello, again, if any of you night owls are still logged on.

    First, to add to the Spanish lesson, CLARO means clear or light in color.

    Second, Bob, Tinbeni, BarryG, I am so happy for you that your loved ones are doing well. I'll continue praying for them.

    Hahtool, I'm so sorry to hear of your flooding problems. I hope it all goes well and you soon have dry surroundings with no mold or other nasty consequences.

    I have been in the throes of preparations for making tamales this weekend. Our family picks one day before Christmas for this and we meet at my niece's home, form an assembly line and everyone who can goes to help, from youngest to oldest.

    It's a daylong process, family reunion, bonding time for us started by our grandmothers at least 100 years ago and probably their mothers, as well.

    It's one of those enduring family traditions which we continue because we love to eat them!

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  38. "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity... And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?" W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming.

    That I misjudged the convictions of so many here is my fault, not yours.

    Jerome

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  39. Jerome (brother),
    We're OK, you're OK.

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  40. Friday nite update:
    Irish and I (me?) dancing to a hard-working classic rock band in Nicholasville, Ky. Life is very, very good.

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  41. Jerome: If you interpreted my comment as anything but support for your shock and outrage, I am sorry. My point was name calling is not a pleasant game, and while sticks and stones may break my bones, pejorative terms hurt. The idea that a term is less hurtful than others does not recognize the sensibilities and sensitivities of those who are hurt. In my life I would much rather have someone tell me that he hated Jews, than listen to someone talk about jewing down the price, and then look at me and say, "No offense." Of course there is offense. I think we all have the right to our individual prejudices, but man up and deal with it, not as some joke, and eliminate gratuitous meanness.

    As far as our group, we are a mixed lot, and as such we get mixed signals. But we all need to remember, the written word has tone or rhythm, it just cuts.

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  42. What band WH, southern rock used to be part of my living...

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  43. Lemon:
    A local band, Sling Blade. A bar thats a biker bar in the daytime, a music venue at night. A little overlap at the pool tables and on the dance floor. Lead guitarist is a college classmate of Irish. All covers, cutting a wide swath in styles, a hell of a lot of fun to dance and listen to. You're only done when you decide to quit. I ain't quittin' any time soon.

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  44. Gunghy, I was fishing on a lake in northern MN when an unfortunate small northern was injured due to me not paying attention when it was caught. Needless to say, when I did get it off the hook it was floundering in the water. An eagle sitting on a tree limb, came swooping down and nabbed it. It kind of scared the crap out of me. It flew back to the tree and climbed up into it's nest and fed her three little babies with it. I didn't feel too bad after that.

    Jerome, we all state things once in a while that we should think about before posting. You are still a class act in my book. I enjoy your puzzles and your humor...Please don't let this make you a "lurker".

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  45. Hey you....no comment? At least I didn't say "Hey ewe" or the other word that rhymes. Affectionaely, Lo-li-ta.

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  46. I need to mention: Sparky Anderson was an icon.

    I have linked this reporter before for good reason.

    This is a lesson for all.

    Windhover, hope your honky tonk night is enjoyable.

    I know there is a 5 post max, but is ther a link max?

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  47. Jerome, thanks for your statement. There's no room for any kind of subtle racism, no matter how well disguised or explained away. It wasn't the first time from that particular source, either.

    Windhover, that certainly sounds like a great way to spend a night, especially for someone who works as hard as you do.

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  48. LTL:
    Work hard, play hard, never give up. And thanks.
    That's V.

    ReplyDelete

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