google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday November 7, 2010 Verge

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Nov 7, 2010

Sunday November 7, 2010 Verge

Theme: Placing Changes -Changing Places. Familiar two-word phrases with A-ing B structure are changed into B-ing A.

23A. Discussion about which way to go? : HEADING TALK. The base phrase is Talking Head.

33A. Sunbeam, e.g.? : IRONING BRAND. Branding Iron.

39A. Defensive karate move? : BLOCKING CHOP. Chopping Block.

56A. Identical gift container? : MATCHING BOX. Boxing Match.

64A. Bird dog's rest? : POINTING BREAK. Breaking Point.

78A. Cause of a power tool failure? : BUSHING BURN. Burning Bush. The stuff in his hand is BUSHING?

90A. Ornithologists' bird-tagging outing? : BANDING MARCH. Marching Band.

97A. Stage players taking a nap? : COUCHING CAST. Casting Couch.

114A. Music to pitch hay by? : FORKING TUNE. Tuning Fork.

Who is Verge?

Funny, I actually read the puzzle title as "Changing Places". Grokked the theme after MATCHING BOX emerged.

Quite a struggle for me. The overall cluing is a bit challenging for a Sunday. Did nail all the lovely "It" clues though:

22A. It's a sign : OMEN

109A. It's out on a limb : HAND

4D. It may be muted : AUDIO

Also great to see the full name KIM JONG-IL ( 82D. Asian leader with a degree from a university named for his father") in the grid. The "Dear Leader". Kim = "Gold" in Korean. Same character as Chinese "Gold'.

Across:

1. Mercedes line : E-CLASS. Crossing CIERA (2D. Cutlass model). Tough start for me. We also have FURY (108A. Old Plymouth). Stumper.

7. Go 12-Down : SNAP. And 12D. Wild : BALLISTIC.

11. Turns seaward : EBBS

15. Traffic : CARS. The clue does not feel complete to me. Did like the consecutive clue for TIEUPS ( 19. Jams).

20. Wooden team, once : UCLA. Not familiar with John Wooden Center.

21. Skin : PARE. Tricky verb clue.

25. Part of a shutter : SLAT

26. Galway Bay site : EIRE. Galway Bay is on the west coast of Ireland.

27. Senator Hatch : ORRIN

28. City accessible by ferry from Marseilles : ORAN. Algerian port. Not an easy clue.

29. Many virtuoso performances : SOLI. Plural of solo.

30. Prophet : AUGUR

31. Asian parting : SAYONARA. Japanese. We also have 89D. Carp from Kyoto : KOI.

36. Microbrew, maybe : ALE

37. Turkish leader : AGHA

38. __' Pea : SWEE

44. Actress Bankhead : TALLULAH. Nope. Total stranger.

49. Movement in some Bach suites : GIGUE. New word to me. Dictionary says it derives from "jig".

50. Pickled : LIT. Drunk.

51. Family nickname : SIS

52. Supporting __ : ROLE

53. Judge's decision : OVERRULED. Or "Sustained".

60. Hair removal product : NEET. NAIR too.

61. "The World Factbook" publisher : CIA

62. Spewed magma : LAVA. Hot flow-er.

63. Afternoon rest : SIESTA

68. Pre-tied tie : CLIP-ON

72. Some Spanish medals : OROS. Gold medals.

73. Gardner on screen : AVA. And ERLE (83. Gardner of fiction). Nice Gardner clecho.

74. Japanese noodle : SOBA. Often eaten cold in summer time. Delicious!

81. Had between meals : SNACKED ON

84. Pulldown beneficiary, for short : LAT. Muscles.

85. Pull someone's leg : KID

86. "Victory was not mine" : I LOST

87. Rouse again : REAWAKEN. DF clue.

94. Hit on the head : CONK

95. Ebro and Guadalquivir, por ejemplo : RIOS

96. More or less, e.g.: Abbr. : ADJ (Adjective). Nailed it.

102. Most racers, after the race : ALSO-RANS

107. Bug : ANNOY

111. Bug : NAG AT

112. Installed, as brick : LAID

113. "Dies __" : IRAE

116. Dieter's catchword : LITE

117. Authenticated: Abbr. : CERT (Certified)

118. Skyward, in Hebrew : EL AL

119. Split equally : BISECT

120. Mars, to the Greeks : ARES

121. Stevenson villain : HYDE. Jekyll's alter ego.

122. Tony winner Neuwirth : BEBE

123. Flips the "Open" sign : CLOSES

Down:

1. Group cultural values : ETHOS. Always want ETHIC.

3. "Rescue Me" star Denis : LEARY. This guy looks familiar. Don't recall his name though.

5. Sail for a downwind course : SPINNAKER. Can never remember this name.

6. IRS ID : SSN

7. Hindu spiritual manual : SUTRA. Only know "Kama Sutra". Where are you, Vidwan?

8. Frozen Four org. : NCAA. And UCONN (54. The Huskies of the 8-Down's Big East). College sports never interest me.

9. Like most cramming : ALL NIGHT

10. Bangladesh was once part of it: Abbr. : PAK (Pakistan)

11. Printer maker : EPSON

13. Indoctrinate : BRAINWASH

14. Place : SET. Can you give me a sentence where the two are interchangeable?

15. Affaire de __ : COEUR. Literally "heart" in French. Affaire de coeur = Love affair. So common in France.

16. Pablo's gal pal : AMIGA

17. Syndication staple : RERUN

18. Bergen dummy : SNERD

24. "Contract Bridge Complete" author : GOREN (Charles)

29. Afternoon "opera" : SOAP

30. Cain's victim : ABEL. And 58. Son of Sarah : ISAAC. Two Biblical references.

32. "The Louisville Lip" : ALI

34. Pi-sigma link : RHO

35. Toothpaste option : GEL

37. What lawn liming reduces : ACID. And B GON (39. Weed __: lawn-care product). Lawn clecho.

40. Unexploded : LIVE. I don't get this clue.

41. Graceful molding : OGEE

42. Short : CURT

43. Gather little by little : GLEAN

45. Hankering : URGE. Want some pickled herring.

46. High court returns : LOBS. Tennis court.

47. Very much : A LOT

48. Quadri- plus bi- : HEXA. 4 + 2 = 6.

51. Desperation guess : STAB

55. XIII x IV : LII. 13 x 4 = 52.

56. Massenet opera : MANON. Peeked at the answer sheet.

57. Hits-per-AB stats : AVGs

59. Neat ending? : NIK. Neatnik.

62. Commuter line with a Montauk Branch: Abbr. : LIRR (Long Island Rail Road). Montauk Branch means nothing to me.

64. Taro dish : POI

65. Promote in a big way : TOUT

66. "Amazing" magician : RANDI (James)

67. Actress __ Longoria Parker : EVA. Very pretty.

68. Handle holder : CBER

69. Imitation fish food : LURE. Oh, for fish. I was in the line of limitation crab/fish for people.

70. Land surrounded by agua : ISLA

71. "That was close!" : PHEW

74. Ward of "CSI: NY" : SELA

75. Sensible emanation : ODOR

76. Type of pear : BOSC

77. "Oxford Book of Eng. Verse," e.g. : ANTH (Anthology). Not a familiar reference to me.

79. Co-writer of many Eagles hits : GLENN FREY. Nope. This dude looks cool.

80. Financial security of a kind : BANK GUARD. Security guard.

81. Caesar and others : SIDS

85. Board vacancy? : KNOTHOLE. Was thinking of board of directors. Not lumber.

88. Sore : ACHY

90. Act like an ass : BRAY. Funny clue.

91. "__ for Alibi": Grafton novel : A IS

92. Nita of silents : NALDI. Classic crossword name.

93. Mdse. : GDS. Goods.

97. Lily variety : CALLA

98. Broadcasting : ON AIR

99. Confederate : UNITE

100. Programmers' output : CODES

101. Island WSW of Rhodes : CRETE. In the Aegean Sea.

102. Leg-foot link : ANKLE

103. Dustin's '69 Oscar-nominated role : RATSO. Finally saw the movie. Disturbing.
104. Flu-like symptoms : AGUES

105. 1980s-'90s NBA forward Larry : NANCE. Have never heard of this Larry. Maybe Windhover knows.

106. "The dele is off" notations : STETS

110. Many a Saudi : ARAB

113. German "I" : ICH

114. Time period that isn't always the same: Abbr. : FEB. Different days in Feb.

115. Peacock network : NBC

Answer grid.

C.C.

32 comments:

Annette said...

Good morning, everyone!

Wow, C. C., you're early today.

This puzzle seemed more difficult for me than the usual Sunday, but I thought the theme was very clever once I fully caught on to it! Alas, it wasn't until I'd solved all but the last 2 theme entries. Seeing the -ING- pattern had helped earlier though.

PLACE the glass on the counter.
SET the glass on the counter. The latter often also includes the word 'down', as in: SET the glass down on the counter.

A LIVE grenade or bomb is one that's been activated, but hasn't exploded yet.

I liked seeing EVA and AVA together.

Thanks for explaining FEB. I didn't get it at first, then the perps filled it in, and I never revisited it.

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

Argyle said...

Good Morning All,

Remember while luxuriating in your extra hour of sleep the poor souls of the night shift who have to work that extra hour. Also, the insomnia suffers to whom it is one more hour of isolation.

Mary said...

Ouch, Argyle. I thought I was happy up doing the crossword with time for the blog too. Now I know that I'm suffering.

Anyway, I liked the theme alot. MATCHING BOX was the first one I got.

KNOTHOLE for board vacancy made me laugh. Act like an ass was also funny.

I got stuck in the north central since I put in RANT instead of SNAP. Once I worked all that out I still didn't get the gong, found I had one red letter. I had misspelled KIMJONGIL with S instead of J. It took forever to understand that more or less are just adjectives. Fallen for that misdirection before.

Have a good day everyone. Use the sunshine while you've got it, it sets early tonight!

Splynter said...

Hello All ~!!

Great puzzle - love it when the theme clues make me laugh. My favorite is BUSHING BURN, as I have had some experience with power tool failure, and FORKING TUNE (sounds DF)

I live on Long Island, but have never taken the LIRR to the end of the "Babylon" line, which is Montauk - I 'live' in the middle in the pic; I take the train from Ronkonkoma. Got burned for two MTA taxes by registering two cars this year...Rrrrr - I only take the train for visits to NYC, maybe twice a year, for Ranger games.

I believe this is the most infamous FURY of all...great book, OK movie.

Don't forget overnight crews cut out one hour early in the Spring, too - I worked for a trucking company on that shift.

Take care, all !!!

Splynter

Splynter said...

OH - I also wanted to mention it was good to see DENIS (one N) LEARY in the puzzle - RESCUE ME is a great show, sad to say he has planned only one more season, to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of WTC 9/11.

I was disappointed with the last season; we will see what's to come....

Splynter

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, CC and friends. I found this to be a rather difficult puzzle, even though I quickly got HEADING TALK. That made it somewhat easer to parse out the other theme clues. At least I knew that ING had to be placed somewhere in the theme responses.

A nice fresh clue for EL AL.

TALLULAH.

BEBE Neuwirth played Lilith on Cheers.

I am not familiar with Larry NANCE, either. I only knew of Larry Bird, but he was not a forward and his name is not enough letters.

We used to go see Dennis LEARY back when starting out as a stand-up comedian in Boston.

Use your extra hour wisely!

QOD: No one party can fool all of the people all of the time. That's why we have two parties. ~ Bob Hope.

thehondohurricane said...

Good morning all

No time for puzzle today, but deep in my recesses I remember Larry Nance and I'm 80 to 90% sure he came out of Syracuse.

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone,

Hondo

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Yep, definitely a challenger today with plenty of tricky clues and obscure answers. I did finally manage to finish unassisted, but only after staring at the wrongly completed grid for 5 minutes looking for my mistake(s). I thought that TOUR seemed very reasonable for 65D ("Promote in a big way") and, since I was completely unable to parse the clue for 84A ("Pulldown beneficiary, for short"), LAR seemed as reasonable as anything else. The light did finally come on with regard to 84A, however, and putting in LAT did the job.

MANON was completely unknown to me (I thought Massenet only wrote one opera called "Thais" since that's all that ever shows up in crossword puzzles). NCAA threw me for a loop, since that was my initial guess but I dismissed it because (a) it was too obvious and (b) what the heck is "Frozen Four"? I've only ever heard of the "Final Four."

Favorite Clue of the Day award goes to "Financial security of a kind" for BANK GUARD.

Hahtoolah said...

Oops! Larry Bird was a forward! We used to watch him play when we still lived in Boston.

Dick said...

Good morning CC and all, a super easy puzzle this morning. I managed to complete the puzzle in 31 minutes, but it did require two trips to the G spot. Some of the clues were misdirected and funny, for example, knot hole, act like an ass and bank guard. The theme came quickly and was a big help in completing the puzzle. Overall I thought the puzzle was entertaining and fun.

Hope you all have a great Sunday.

Splynter said...

Hello again,

Frozen Four is the college hockey finals - I don't get to see any of the games -

Splynter

Anonymous said...

A bushing is a 'sleeve' that a shaft turns in. It performs the same function as a bearing but without rollers or balls.

fermatprime said...

Hello All,
Nice write-up as usual, CC.
Yes, who the heck is Verge? Another Rich?

SPLYNTER: RESCUE ME is indeed cutting edge with fantastic acting. I too, was not crazy about this season. Also, Leary is a bit long in the tooth for sex symbol. (You probably do not agree.) As a recovering alkie (15 yrs.) I cannot believe his character's flip-flopping. He should die of cirrhosis. Soon! (I love the supernatural element on this show, though.)

To all of you have asked about me, I am still here, after a fashion. Thank you for being concerned. It certainly cheers me up!

After antibiotics over, INSOMNIA kicked in as bad as ever.

EVIDENCE OF SUBSTANDARD THINKING: I had a doggy door installed in the slider to the room adjacent to mine. (Previously, ropes and pulleys were jury-rigged again to let dog in and out of bedroom. Slider had to be left open! An open invitation to burglars and cold/hot air.) It has taken 10 days for her to learn to use doggy door, one way (in) only. (Lots of coaching from friends.) Unfortunately, there is not sufficient space for any of my wheelchairs to pass through remaining doorway! It will be a real struggle to get to orthopod for appointment next Friday! (Still cannot put weight on broken leg. Cannot hop on previously broken leg. Egad!)

Puzzle was doable, but had to use some red letters. Had not heard of Glenn Fury, Frozen Four, Soba. Loved the theme. Caught it early!

VERGE: (Whoever you are!) Overall, an amusing effort!

Take care, everyone!

Lemonade714 said...

Good morning C.C., and all you early risers (of course it is already 10:00 here in the east if we still on edt). Anyway, I must be in a zone, because this was the second day in a row, I finished very quickly, perhaps my best Sunday time. For me, the title gave away the theme, which made the rest much easier. I did not know MANON, GIGUE or ORAN, which fit with ALS ORAN.

I thought FEB was clued very nicely, as was KNOT HOLE. The side by side of BALLISTIC and BRAIN WASH reminded me of this MOVIE . I guess I am just the right age to remember all the names from TALLULAH, AVA to GLENN FREY and KIM JONG-IL.

I was most curious about the "Verge." Sounds mysterious.

Am I the only one who did not get the movie The Hangover which I keep hearing is considered hilarious, and they are filming H.II, but I watched it and found very little to laugh at.

Enjoy the day all.

Hahtoolah said...

Lemonade: The Hangover was one of those movies that just sort of came out of nowhere and was hysterically funny. Mindless fluff, but needed sometimes. Sort of like There's Something About Mary. A naughty movie, but funny.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning C.C. and everyone.

Fun puzzle with moderate difficulty today. Lots of good clueing and an interesting theme. Many answers weren't readily apparent at first, but there were ample perps to assist. Got halfway through before I realized how the theme worked, but that made the rest of the theme fills much easier to solve. WAGS included BRAY, A IS and SIDS. Thought CBER, KNOT HOLE, and FEB were particularly clever. SNAP helped get BALLISTIC. Loved FORKING TUNE.

Believe ORAN was an assault goal and then a major debarkation port for the Allies in the North Africa campaign in WWII.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Lemonade714 said...

I guess my question was more specific, what about the movie was hysterically funny? What scenes made you laugh? Is a naked Asian man with a tire iron funny? Is Mike Tyson funny? Tell me what to look for, please.

windhover said...

Anonymous @7:54:
So you're saying that a bushing is essentially the same as a typical Congressman?

Spitzboov said...

Anon 7:54 said: It performs the same function as a bearing.... A bushing is in fact a plain bearing. Not all bearings need to have rollers or balls. A Kingsbury thrust bearing has shoes, for example.

Husker Gary said...

Good Morning C.C., et al, Huskerville is worn out after a very lucky interception in overtime that sent Nebraska home with a victory from Ames, IA despite using a 3rd string quarterback. Ain’t it amazin’ how the fate of these multi-million dollar athletic programs can be dependent on some 19 year old kid?

The puzzle was a fun solve and I finished unencumbered by outside help but had to put in some time – an hour or so. The theme only came after COUCHINGCAST. I was searching for it diligently and thought of the irony of perhaps getting the puzzle and not the theme although I also used the ING component.

In high school we had a boy whose urine tested high in sugar and so to this day his nickname remains SWEETPEA.

Some temporary missteps and minutiae:

SLIT of a shutter for SLAT, SOLO for SOLI (who knew the plural?), thought Spewed was a verb not an adjective for a magma, put MORES for ETHOS, wanted WAG for desperation guess, AVE for AVG, loved CBER good buddy, OVERRATED for OVERRULED, had REBEL for confederate, loved Board Vacancy.

Stacking Hay reminds me of what I was doing on that historic space day of July 20, 1969. Where were you?

70 in the Heartland today and so I am going to hunting pars and birdies but will find a lot of bogeys too!

Grumpy 1 said...

Good morning CC and all.

This was a fun one. I caught the theme fairly early and knew there would be an "ing" in the entry with two words that could be switched. That messed me up a little when I put in IRONING BOARD and couldn't figure out what a BOARDING IRON could be. I finally corrected that and my last perps in that corner, COEUR and RERUN dropped into place and gave me AUGUR which was an unknown as clued.

Like others, I thought the BANK GUARD, BRAY, and several other clues were quite clever. Several of them had me wandering off in the wrong direction for a while, but I kept picking away at the perps and suddenly the light would come on.

NANCE was a gimme. I lived in Cleveland when he played for the CAVS. No he didn't play for Syracuse. He played for Clemson. While he was playing for Cleveland he got into NHRA drag racing. My oldest son was doing some side work at a shop that constructed dragsters and he did a lot of the work on Larry's dragster. My son said it was really fun trying to design a seat space that a guy that big could get into. Although retired from basketball, I think Nance is still active in NHRA racing.

Great Sunday puzzle.

thehondohurricane said...

Thanks Grumpy,

I remembered Nance as a player, but as I said, wasn't sure of school. Had the school color right though!

Hondo

daffy dill said...

Good AM to all.

Not a bad one for Sunday - doable with googles on some of the names. After getting some of the crosses, I guessed at NANCE, so I didn't have to look for that one. I thought the "CSI:NY" clue was asking for a "ward" or section of the city. Didn't know SELA Ward was on that show; I don't watch it. Very few givens, but after determining the theme, the rest fell nicely. I did have some trouble in the NW because I didn't know the Mercedes car or the actor's name. I did know ORRIN Hatch. I finally gave up and looked up LEARY and it was smooth sailing from there. No red-letter help today!

We drove a Plymouth FURY for a few years. 1959 model, I think.

HuskerGary, on July 20, 1969, I was visiting MIL. Stacking Hay/visiting MIL - same thing!

Have a nice day.

Dilbert said...

Hi all.

Real nice theme and some easy fill.

SSN means something else to me. Like the 571 and 688.

Think that I have a copy of every Eagles recording.

It's cool and rainy, so it's time to do Merl's.

Congrats to Papa Joe on NO. 400.

Take care.

MR ED said...

A pretty simple exercise today except for a few. 'The world fact book publisher= CIA, still don't get it. Burned bushing- if the bushing in a tool burns, throw the tool away, it's ruined. Spanish medals=oros(gold), pretty lame. It was fun though.
CC, don't feel bad not knowing Tallulah, a lot of your age group don't know who she is. Re the Asian leader, what is the name of the University and where is it?

Grumpy 1 said...

CIA Factbook

Husker Gary said...

Scratch the golf, Joann thought a 70 degree Sunday would be the perfect day to put up Christmas lights on the house and so up I go!

Moses and the Burning Bush were mentioned in the homily in church today and Kim Jung Il once claimed he shot an 18 on a golf course - that means 18 holes in one. I firmly believe no one in that country challenged that and most have no idea what golf even is.

It is hard for me to imagine a leader who is content to let his people starve and live in abject poverty while he lives in the lap of luxury with all the food, porn, Scotch and Daffy Duck cartoons he wants. He even gets to hand it down to his dopey Son without so much as a whimper from the people of North Korea. It would be interesting to get C.C.'s always interesting insights on that megalomaniac.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I also enjoyed today's puzzle. Lots of fun. I like to take my time doing a puzzle, but this one was finished almost before I even realized. Oh my goodness, whatever am I going to do with the rest of this extra-long day? Maybe agitate for keeping Daylight Saving Time all year 'round. I'd rather have more light in the late afternoon than in the very early morning. Setting digital clocks back an hour, which is like setting them ahead by 23 hours (at least most of the clocks we have in our house), is too much work! LOL

Best wishes to you all.

Splynter said...

fermatprime,

Six years recovery, myself, and yeah, it's a bit of a stretch to see someone try to act like they're recovering, but not really, and there were moments when "Gavin" should have been dead. As a sex symbol, Leary is meh, but as a TV writer and comedian, I think Denis sparkles -

If you weren't 3000miles away, I'd come fix your door problems!

Splynter

Argyle said...

Hello?

Spitzboov said...

Argyle, I think they all secured early. Adapting to Standard Time.

Mary said...

Husker Gary,
On July 20, 1969 I was camping at the Grand Canyon. About 50 campers gathered around one 9" black and white TV watching the moon landing and looking up at the full moon above. Last year I saw one of the guys in our group and he brought up the same exact memory. Something you don't forget.