google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday December 10, 2010 Don Gagliardo

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Dec 10, 2010

Friday December 10, 2010 Don Gagliardo

Theme: STOCK OPTIONS (56A. Some employee benefits, and this puzzle's title) - meaning if you take a common phrase from the world of finance with the word “stock” in the phrase and you mix it up a little, you can create a new and humorous phrase, while still preserving the sound. STOCK OPTIONS allow an employee to buy shares in a company at a future date at a reduced price. And of course OPTION means having a choice to replace the word STOCK, with a sound alike: man is that a convoluted explanation to a fun theme. Anyway, please read the note from Don G. at the end.

20A. Shrink for a noted Vulcan?: SPOCK ANALYST. When STOCK ANALYST, someone who puts out reports on companies, becomes a shrink (psychoanalyst) for the Vulcan in "Star Trek", we have…

29A. Reason for a laundry odor?: SOCK ISSUE. STOCK ISSUE, an offering of shares in a company, when faced with stinky feet. I was told, if you scrub between your toes, you will lessen foot odor dramatically, any volunteers?

37A. Neighborhood garage sales?: SCHLOCK MARKET. The STOCK MARKET itself, can become the home for cheap items, from the Yiddish .

45A. Collection for an artist's garment?: SMOCK FUND. STOCK FUND, a mutual fund, where people can get buy an interest in many companies, and we all know painters and sculptors wear smocks to protect their clothes.

Can you think of one for SHOCK?

I just love Don Hard G’s work, and this was a pleasure, though I cannot put my finger any one aspect, as the cluing was creative, but all over the place, with deception, history, some esoteric information and lots of work to finish.

A few related clues like, SCIENCE FICTION: 14A "Rendezvous With __": Hugo-winning Arthur C. Clarke novel: RAMA. A wonderful book by the 2001: A Space Odyssey author and contemporary of, 40D. Many an Asimov character: ROBOT. Now here is a conundrum, is a Robot a character, or merely a thing? Asimov was amazing, and everyone should read the Foundation series, and if you like mysteries his Black Widower stories. They both were influenced by H.G. Wells, and The Time Machine which gave us 16A. Morlock fare: ELOI. Finally, 30D. Orson, e.g., in a '70s-'80s sitcom: ORKAN. We are over our Mork and Mindy quota aren’t we?

Or, GAMBLING: 24A What serious players play for: KEEPS. I really like this clue, especially followed by, 28A. Act that gets you a hand: DEAL. And our 67A. Roulette bet: NOIR, just French for Black.

And a bunch of law related stuff, so I could be the blogger, like: 6D. Speaks one's mind: OPINES. Like eschews, a favorite of lawyers, who do not like to ever just say something, they want to aver, or opine. 8D. First-year law student: ONE L. Ick, but real, sounds pompous to me. Then, 13D. Artificial locks: WIG. Which is like, 34D. Hairdo: COIF. This is an accepted variant of COIFFURE. Also, a legal honor society, derived from the barristers in England who all wore WIGS.

On with the rest.

Across:

1. Smart: CHIC. Smart, stylish, not intelligent.

5. Use a user ID: LOG ON. Use a user, nice phrase.

10. Look at: VIEW. This is why you should not stay up all night drinking before you go on TV . You will be one of the 70A. Lushes: SOTS.

15. "Brusha, brusha, brusha" toothpaste: IPANA. Man, we see a lot of Bucky these days.

17. Gp. dissolved 12/26/1991: USSR. I never thought of them as a group, was trying to think of rock and roll groups, which reminded me of 64A. It precedes di or da, in a Beatles song: OBLA. Time to LISTEN .

18. Hybrid big cat: LIGER. Have you all seen HERCULES who weights 900 pounds? Not to be confused with 36A. TV production co. whose mascot was Mimsie the Cat: MTM. No idea, though I remember Mary Tyler Moore and her husband Grant Tinker’s production company and the play on the MGM lion, with MTM and a kitty cat.

19. Half an ice grabber: TONG. Well, I think of the secret society they like to write about in mysteries, any truth C.C.?

23. Feature of Incan farms: TERRACE. I never knew about TERRACE FARMING but I guess schools teach more about native society than in my day.

33. Dry, as wine: SEC. There are also demi-sec (sweeter) and Brut (dryer) wines.

35. Untrained: RAW. I always think of raw recruits.

42. Point: AIM. My kind of pistol.

43. "This American Life" radio host Glass: IRA. Do not know this show. Anyone?

44. Fin. neighbor: NOR. Seems I always get a chance to shout out to our Norwegian friends.

49. "Tiny Toon Adventures" bunny: BABS. I never cared for the Tiny Toons, but with my kids I saw many episodes.

52. Mount also known as Horeb: SINAI. This is a very hot topic for biblical scholars but I will leave that to our own expert Hahtool and WIKIPEDIA .

53. Exterminate: ROOT OUT. More bible, as we root out all evil.

60. Slung food: HASH. My mental picture is MEL’S .

63. Initial strategy: PLAN A. How many of us ever have a plan B?

65. Sommer of "A Shot in the Dark": ELKE. Clouseau is back with a Pretty Woman.

66. Many a surfer: AOLER. Does that sound like a swear word to you too?

68. Diamond spoiler: FLAW.

69. 1954 event coded as "Castle Bravo": H TEST. This was 1,200 times more powerful than the bombs dropped in Japan, making many people who lived in the 50’s quite reasonably afraid of the impending end of the world, causing them to build underground shelters. My kids do not believe it.

Down:

1. Pie maker's pride: CRUST. Well, since we have so many wonderful cooks on our board directors, is it really the crust?

2. Locked, in a way: HASPED. It is a good thing I had the crosses because this would not have been in my head.

3. Marathoner's lament: I'M SORE. How about, I am an idiot for running 26 miles without being chased. I did however, teach Frank Shorter legal writing.

4. Traffic blocker: CAR CRASH. Been there too often.

5. Bath salt fragrance: LILAC. We had such pretty lilacs in pour yard when I was growing up.

7. Infatuated: GAGA. Is this SONG your cup of tea?

9. Not even one, with "a": NARY. A nice word from old western, “Nope nary an Injun around these parts.”

10. Chevy sportsters: VETTES. I always thought of Corvettes as a woman’s car, but maybe because my ex owned many of them.

11. UN workers' agcy.: ILO. International Labour Organization; notice the “u”, which tells you it is not an American group.

12. Two or more eras, in geologic time: EON. See, it is specific, sort of.

21. Infant who escaped Krypton: KAL EL. His father was JOR EL, but he became better known as Clark Kent and Superman.

22. Jet __: SKI.

25. Salinger title girl: ESME. With love and Squalor, another repeat performance.

26. Green stroke: PUTT.

27. Where to study for a Th.D.: SEM. Doctor of Theology, rather than Philosophy.

31. Word with nanny or web: CAM. Spying on your nanny? Which of course reminded of, 61D. __-American: ALL. So, who are we voting for the Heisman trophy, CAM Newton? He was at one time in Gainesville with Tebow.

32. Nine-time U.S. skating champ: KWAN. It seems almost every puzzle I blog contains a shout out to our figure skating females, who I am sure looked just like THIS .

37. Ventura County's __ Valley: SIMI. Most famous now I guess as the resting place of the corporeal remain of Ronald reagen.

38. "Let's go!": C'MON.

39. French wine term: CRU. This describes where a wine’s grapes were grown, without the specificity of a specific vineyard, though with Premier and Grand, it classifies the regions as to their reputations.

41. Three-course military supplies: K RATIONS. This was a hastily put together food package to feed a soldier, initially a paratrooper, three meals for a day. It replaced existing A B and C rations, and was not very nutritious, but did include some Chesterfields.

42. Symbol of stubbornness: ASS. No comment.

46. Some kind of nut: CASHEW. So simple, it was tricky.

47. Tool holder: KIT. I could not get LOIS to fit.

48. Goes on monotonously: DRONES. My real estate professor in law school, D.T. Smith, man could he talk and say nothing.

50. Playground mishap: BOOBOO. You sure about this career move JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE ?

51. Bright, as a porch: SUN LIT. Did you all have a sun porch growing up, like I did. Of course the sun only came out for a few weeks a year….

54. Dizzying genre: OP ART.? It can be disturbing, but it can also let your mind wander, what do YOU see in this PICTURE ? Hint, I was trying to keep a topic from the week going.

55. Nicholas I and II, e.g.: TSARS. Never the see the old CZAR any more, do we.

57. Hawaiian food fish: OPAH. Where have all of our Hawaiin posters gone? Anywya, I did not know this FISH .

58. Lump: CLOT. This was part of the most difficult section, as I think of clots only in terms of blood.

59. Broccoli relative: KALE. Broccoli is actually related to cabbage, kale, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. It gets its name from the Italian, BROCCO, which means arm or branch (the Latin stem being Bracchium). Some people love this edible flower, while some children have been know to sit for hours at the table refusing to take even a bite, even foregoing a yummy dessert. You know who you are Brent and Kimberly. Anyway, if you like broccoli, you may also like to try broccoflower, a cross between broccoli and cauliflower. Broccolini, also called baby broccoli, is another new trademarked cross between broccoli and kale. According to nutritionists, raw or steamed broccoli is a superfood with anti-oxidant and ant-cancer ingredients.

60. Mag mogul with a mansion: HEF. Nice alliterative clue for the old Playboy Hugh Hefner.

62. Reggae precursor: SKA. An easy one, as almost every puzzle I blog does overlap my life; Devin, my youngest is going into the studio to record a couple of songs, and SKA was one of his musical influences.

Answer grid.

Thanks for inviting me into your homes, and I hope you enjoyed the show, until next time

Lemonade

Note from Don:

'This theme came to me in an instant. I heard the phrase “Stock Options”, and realized that I could come up with phrases where “stock” is normally used, and substitute a similar word to create wacky phrases. That is about all I can remember, except the first draft had to be revised, and Rich suggested an alternative. I thought the theme was also a little unusual, so it might have appeal from that perspective".

Here are a few beautiful pictures JD took from her recent Oahu trip. She also provided great captions. Click each one for clearer definition.

65 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

This was the easiest Friday puzzle I remember doing in a long, long time. Usually, Don "Hard G" Gagliardo throws me a number of curve balls, but this time I was totally on his wavelength. No unknowns, and no overly tricky clues. Just smooth, smooth, smooth...

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. Great write-up, my friend. I didn't find this puzzle as easy as Barry G did, but I did catch on to the Stock Option theme immediately after getting the first theme clue.

Not familiar with BABS Bunny. Not enough cartoons in my early childhood, I guess.

Can a LIGER have a mane? or would this really be a Tion?

Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine, decided that the location we know today as Mt. SINAI, was the actual spot where Moses encountered the Burning Bush. The St. Catherine's monastery is located at the foot of the mountain, and the actual burning bush is said to be housed within the monastery. Worth a visit if you happen to be in the vicinity. I visited the monastery and climbed the mountain a few years ago.

QOD: But I don't give up; I forget why not. ~ Dorothy Parker

creature said...

Good Morning C.C.,Lemon and all,

Lemon, I'll try to get back to your show a little later today.My schedule is crowded this a.m., but was able to check my answers.

The theme was just fabulous and different. Love Don's humor; very creative."Schlock Market"- great!

Not familiar with "Rendevous With Rama", and kept wanting to put in Roma. Of course, I knew Hasped, so I avoided it, ultimately.
Perps are so much safer than Wags.

JD, your photos are fantastic. Thanks.

Mainiac said...

Good Morning Lemonade, CC and All,

Don had me fooled completely this morning. Absolutely no clue on the theme even after getting Spock Analyst early. PlanA was a head slapper and I had no idea Broccoli and Kale were related. I eat plenty of both.

Great write up Lemonade as usual. That Liger is one big kitty.

TGIF

Lemonade714 said...

H.
The quick answer, is they can have manes but if you more info on LIGERs and TIGONS you can read about BIG CATS .

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - For the 87th time, What Barry Said. Flew through this fun and clever puzzle, stumbling only at OPAH. Well done, Don G, and loved the write-up Lemonade.

I didn't get to comment yesterday, so to weigh in on Dissect: my hyper-intelligent dad told me years ago that it's dis-sect if you're cutting up a frog in Biology class. The separate word disect, pronounced die-sect, is exactly the same meaning and usage as bisect - dividing a thing into two exactly equal halves.

The two words dissect and disect are as different as dessert and desert.

I once read a lexicographer's opinion that a dictionary's job is not to shape language, but to report our use of language as observed at the time of its printing. If true, then dictionaries will tend to gather up widely-made mistakes, publish them, and make them acceptable. I suspect that's why Die-sect can be found as an alternate pronounciation, even though it defies all logic.

thehondohurricane said...

Good day folks,

Once I picked up on the theme, today's puzzle came together a little easier for me than a normal Friday. My only goof was Liger, a new breed to me, and I stuck with Tiger although the clue made me suspicious. Never considered Lilac, simply because I didn't check all my downs.

Another new phrase was Cam Nanny? The cam was solved via perps. Oh well, today my solution is readable unlike yesterday's grind. I should probably consider pencil instead of ink in the future.

Not sure if I'll have time to post tomorrow due to Xmas doings. Like keeping my temper in check. Anyways, everyone enjoy your weekend.

Lucina said...

Good morning, Lemonade, C.C. and all puzzlers.

Yowza! Does Don G. know how to create a fun puzzle? Yes! Yes!

Easy is not the first word that comes to mind since I found the curve balls Barry missed, but fun to suss out, yes.

Except for HASPED, the NW fell quickly and SPOCKANYLYST (my error) gave me the theme. it took a long while to recall LIGER which we've seen before. OPAH was etched in my mind because there is one swimming around at the Sea World Acquarium.

I hadn't realized my error on ANALYST until seeing the blog. And though HASPED made sense, I had to check RAMA to confirm it.

I really liked:
Act that hets you a hand, DEAL

And all the theme answers are funny and creative, but what else to ezpect from Don G.

Lemonade, we here on the Corner are so fortunate to have you as one of our instructors and the valuable lessons you teach. Well done. I had no idea kale and broccoli were related. Thank you.

My computer is slow at the moment so the rest of the show will wait until later.

The sunshine continues here in Arizona with unseasonably warm temps. Are any of you planning to attend the Fiesta or Insight bowl?

There is also the BCS though I haven't bothered to find out what that is.

Have a fantastic Friday, everyone!

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.

What a great write-up Lemonade. I really don't know how all you guys do it, but you never cease to entertain me every day!

You asked for a phrase using "Shock"- How about SHOCK EXCHANGE: I hate it when my DH shuffles across the carpet to give me a big smooch, and I end up getting zapped by the static - a real shock exchange, LOL!

Wonderful Friday offering from Don G. It had me scratching my head and chuckling all the way through it. Favorite was SCHLOCK MARKET - what a hoot!

TGIF - have a great weekend, everyone!

Tinbeni said...

WOW, I loved these themes.
Right in my wheel-house swing.
The STOCK MARKET ...

Fave, of course, was STOCK OPTIONS.
These have kept me "out-of-work" as I became a "gym-rat" and self-employed.

ASS I think was a shout-out to 'Rex' ...
SOT, my pseudo-persona, to me.

BABS (the learning moment) and that WIG, both via perps.

As for the GAGA song, hmmm, NOT my mug-of-java.

JD, nice pic's. Sunset was my favorite.

Toast to all at 5:34 pm.

C.C.& Jeannie:
I saw where the temp. was only going to get up to 4 degrees on Saturday.
If that is true, does the Weather-Person report it as "the high for the day?"

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Lemonade,
We call Chinese mafia as Triad. TONG is a term applied to Chinese American secret society only. Novels tend to romanticize & mystify everything. Its members are pretty boring. Mostly family-oriented though.

Also, not all papers carry LAT all week long. Some, esp those in campus, only have Tue-Thur. Hence reduced comments. Just my guess.

carol said...

Hi everyone...I started out in good form, got the NW corner and felt very smug. I should have known! The rest was downhill, sigh.

Loved clue/answer for 28A :)

Nanny cam had me wondering for a minute then I remember seeing a report on that technology. Pretty clever way to check on someone caring for your little one.

Ol' Bucky Beaver is really getting his "15 + minutes" of fame isn't he?
Terrible tasting toothpaste! It's a wonder to me it's still on the market.

JD - Glad you are back! Beautiful pictures...I'd love to walk on that beach and that SUNSET, Wow!
ps you and Bob look so cute in that bumper car :)

Nice Cuppa said...

Clue: How to rate a horror movie?

Ans: SHOCK VALUE

NC

Nice Cuppa said...

Clue: Telling Ghost Stories?

Ans: SHOCK EXCHANGE

NC

Nice Cuppa said...

OK, last one:

Clue: Hammer, for example.

Ans: SHOCK COMPANY


NC

Seldom Seen said...

Clue: 12 year old who likes to shuffle his feet and touch you

Answer: Shock Boy

and...

Clue: Old jalopy with an electrical problem

Answer: Shock Car

Grumpy 1 said...

Good morning Lemonade, CC, Hard G, etal.

This was really fun. It wasn't a speed run by any means. I got "Spock Analyst" fairly early but didn't get the unifier for a while. When I did get that one, my mess of guesses started to make sense.

Fave clue has to be SCHLOCK MARKET. Is that the place where the junk bonds are sold?

I was a little late getting started this morning so scanned through the writeup fairly quickly. Now I have to go back and look at all of the links.

TGIF! (It's probably a good thing that the abbreviation for 'sure happy it's Thursday' never became the work week battle cry... or did it?

boomermama said...

Love this puzzle and Lemonade- nice write up.. btw where is CC? I am not on much of the time so sorry if I ask a dumb question.
Really liked schlockmarket myself!
Just enough challenges to make it fun and wake me up! Take care Joan

Seldom Seen said...

Clue: Video of Abe Vigoda and Betty White having sex

Answer: Shock Footage

G'night Gracie...

Unknown said...

Thumbs up for This American Life and Car Talk, an answer from last week. No need to know about or care about cars to enjoy Car Talk. This American Life is one of my favorites. Each week, they have a theme and usual 3 real-life stories to illustrate that theme. I listen to both via podcast.

Seldom Seen said...

And for those people who came to enjoy that video and even became attached to it. Well, they were diagnosed with having Shockholm Syndrome.

Zcarguy said...

Awake on an empty shelf ??

Shock me up .!

Nice Cuppa said...

@Seen


Those are funnier than mine, but I had restricted myself to the constructor's usage of "stock" as in "stocks and shares".

NC

Splynter said...

Hi All~!

Pretty quick Friday, and an OK theme, as I only dabble in the STOCK MARKET - just as I had gotten started in an investment club, I was let go in the fiasco Oct '08, and so I had no money to put in, and no one to discuss "OPTIONS" with.

This turn of events led me to starting my self-employment. Much to my dismay, I had one client cancel a big job on me this morning, but the truth is, I wasn't going to start it until the spring of '11 anyway....

As for the puzzle, I did OK; had EVEN for NOIR, KILL OFF for ROOT OUT, and SMOCK FOOD instead of FUND (trapped in a "snack food" mentality, and didn't go back and change it).

Just realized the question yesterday was for "dissect", which to me is specific to biology, and thus pronounced dis-SECT...

Po-TAY-to, Po-TAHH-to...hey, my parents were born and raised in the UK, and my mother still asks for a HOFF pound of sliced ham...

BTW, Nice Cuppa, where to get that avatar tea pot for real? My mother collects them, and that would really tickle her fancy, especially this holiday season.

Lemonade, what were you carrying on with the OPART? The discussion of CHAOS THEORY? I see a C and a D...

What do the rest of you see?

Have you ever seen one of these?

Splynter

mtnest995 said...

A tad easier than yesterday, but still gave me fits. I confidently entered "set" instead of "ski" and when I couldn't decipher a five letter word beginning with three e's, I found my mistake. Also, had "alien" for "Orkan" which slowed me down until I finally got the theme. Several more passes and a couple head slaps with the V-8 can and I finally got there.

Thanks, Lemonade, for another terrific writeup with fun links to boot!

BTW - when I was in college, we used another phrase for Friday - POETS day (***on everything, tomorrow's Saturday).

Enjoy your weekend - all.

Seldom Seen said...

@NC Oh, my bad...

Clue: Bare wire or static electricity

Answer: Shock Options

and

Clue: Document given to torture school graduate

Answer: Shock Certificate

Lucina said...

JD:
Sorry, I forgot to mention your wonderful photos earlier. They stir some beautiful memories for me.

That looks like fun in the bumper car!

Nice Cuppa said...

@Splynter

Well, best bet is a British Food Store. I could not find any on Long Island. I found pretty much the same teapot from a mail-order company:

http://www.bouf.com/buy/product/31159/union-jack-teapot--hand-painted-effect

NC

Zcarguy said...

Stir Jame's Martini ??

Shock Bonds ,!

Argyle said...

The words of Don Imus: Shock quotes

Shock Certificate was great, seen; just one letter too long.

Razz said...

Mornin' CC & Gang

Great job Lemonade714.

How 'bout

Zap trades : Shock exchange

TGIF

HeartRx said...

Razz, I already posted that one at 8:20

Argyle said...

Shock exchange, Simpson style.

Bill G. said...

I was doing very well with this puzzle in the 'Master' mode until about halfway through when I had to switch to red letters to find my mistakes. I enjoyed the clever effort from Don and write up from Lemonade. Thanks. Happy Friday!

Also thanks to Dudley who explained my POV about the pronunciation of dissect better than I could.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Boomermama (Joan),
I only blog Sat & Sun puzzles now. Great to see you back. Hope all is well.

Nice Cuppa et al,
Great SHOCK entries. Most interesting comments I've read in a while.

Splynter said...

Thanks, NC - found it!


Splynter

JD said...

Good morning C.C., Lemonade, et al,

Don G's puzzles are always challenging for me, but soooo enjoyable. I could not have finished without red letter help. I put jet set, rather than jet ski, and wipe out rather than root out.
Hasped, cru and aoler are not in my vocabulary.Dictionary said aoler was an "extremely ignorant person who lacks the ability to pour urine from a boot with the instructions on the heel." LOL

Lemonade, I was entertained with all the extras you added in today, and I did not know about kale either.
hmmm, I'm sure Lois tried;something must have been defective!
Opah is one of the answers I did know, a delicious Hawaiian fish.It is also called Moonfish.Ono is Wahoo on some menus.

DH ALWAYS has a plan B.

DO NOT rent one of those electric cars...very bumpy and somewhat scary to drive in traffic.We had enough after 15 minutes!

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, No puzzle for me today. I have a little bit of a cold and my head is definitely foggy, so I'm just taking it easy.

I did read Lemonade's blogging ....don't want to miss that. Fun stuff on SHOCK clues/fill. What a sharp group this is.

Now for a nice cuppa tea with honey and lemon. I'll be back when the edges of my brain sharpen up a little.

Robin said...

Oh Lemony, such a nice write up, I love when you blog it up for us!
Thank you for the lovely poem, I am busy baking you some gingerbread women.

Don, great puzzle and lots o' fun.

Hahtool, happy day late birthday!

Lovely pictures of Hawaii, don't they say Mele Kalikimaka?

Have a great weekend all!

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I had to look up two things to finish this puzzle today: Castle Bravo and the name of the Salinger girl. Without those I would have not been able to finish. Like Lemonade, I found the south center area to be the hardest. Took me for-freaking-ever to figure out what many a surfer was, then when I got it I laughed heartily at how long it took me to get it. And yes, it does look like some sort of swear word. Unfortunately, my wife and I bought STOCK in it years ago.

Loved the stock, spock, etc play. Can't think of anything for shock, except maybe "index."

Terraced agriculture is practiced in Taiwan, too. Many a rice paddy can be seen terraced up the hillsides. It is really quite beautiful! Even the island's name means "Terraced Bay." There are even 3 major cities whose names begin with "Tai (terrace)": Taipei (the northern "Tai"), Tainan (the southern "Tai"), and Taijung (the middle or central "Tai"). So many terraces!

Best wishes to you all, and may you live long and prosper.

Gunghy said...

Hi all,
Got some birthdays to catch up on. Congrats WH, L714 and Hahtool.

CA, get well.

What Barry said, almost. Finished with OPAA and A-TEST. Double A's are big in the Hawaiian language, so it seemed good to me. I had Chic, Crust and Hasped immediately. Yes, it is all about the crust.

Plan A gave me pause. I tend to just react. Maybe I ought to try planning sometime.

Tions and Ligers depend on which is male and which is female.

Lemonade, One of my parents best friends owned the local Chevy dealership. Once he showed up in a 'vette and asked my teen-aged sister what she thought of it. Her reply: "It's a car for men with tiny dicks." He never drove one out to our house again.

Get to spend the weekend with my daughter and her fiancee, so I'm off to get wupplies.

thehondohurricane said...

Lucina,

BCS stands for Bowl Championship Series. The Fiesta Bowl will be a BCS game with my state school, UConn, taking on Oklahoma. I hope UConn keeps it respectable, but the oddsmakers are forecasting they will be badly beaten. If you google BCS, it will explain its inner workings better then I can. I am not a fan of BCS and my attempting to discuss it would likely turn into a stream of vulgarities.

Husker Gary said...

Lemonade and TGIFer's, I am on my 4th day of subbing this week and am still stymied on links by overly sensitive filter. Anyone else have to fight DEEP 9? There is horrible weather coming tomorrow after two 54 degree days where I could have been golfing. What horrible planning!

Musings
-USSR a group?
-Remember Grease when they raced for “Pinks” as well as keeps. Grease 2 should NEVER have been made!
-Did not know about Castle Bravo but remember the worries about nuclear war and bomb shelters!
-Elke Sommer? 10+
-Had ORATES for OPINES
-Had SET for SKI
-Drove my brother’s VETTE 140 mph and never have been over 80 since. YIKES!
-Had NAPA for SIMI! Reagan’s library is spectacular!
-Had Alien for Robot
-My avatar shows me in my sunlit sunroom. Coffee, the LA Times Puzzle and my sunroom. Priceless!
-Great effort on blog Lemon!

Gotta go!

Lemonade714 said...

What a group, NC and Splynter et al., so many many wonderful puns, and you played my game. Me like. Fishy, wow, wow, two posts in a day; I look forward to the cookies, you can get my address when they are ready.
I know Dennis was going to be busy until Christmas, but it is still creepy not hearing his take; hmm, no jeannie today either; you off helping with Dennis' hobby?

Don, you can tell what a great job you did with how much the peanut gallery is having; thanks. More later

Husker Gary said...

Cooling Electric Drink
SHOCKADE
Chevy where you heard bad news
SHOCKCAR
Man toting live wire
SHOCKHOLDER
Man who delivered bad news
SHOCKBROKER
Heap of car stabilizers
SHOCKPILE
Old Sparky's cubicle
SHOCKROOM
Tesla's lawn
SHOCKYARD

Anything?

Annette said...

Nice, fun puzzle today, Don!

I think most of my sentiments have already been expressed by others. However, SOCKISSUES sound like something you'd give a person who'd just "sneezed their socks off"!

As usual, I'm enjoying the SHOCKing repartee of all our clever bloggers!

ARBAON said...

Scary child`s toy: shock monkey

What you do with a Telsa IRA: Shock it away

Electrified first course: shock turtle soup

Hit me with your best watt: Shock it to me

kazie said...

I don't have anything half as clever to say as those STOCK puns already given.

I didn't get here until after midnight last night, so didn't comment at all. But after two very busy days, I'm just going to say now I did solve both puzzles fully unassisted, but very slowly--teasing out the answers in several sittings both days. Loved both themes, each of which I grokked early. Fave clue/answer yesterday was ETHER, a real Doh reaction.

Today it was the names, mostly unknowns, which slowed me down, but eventually perps and WAGS helped me get through it all.

We have serious snow arriving some time tonight. I hope everyone is safe wherever you are!

Tinbeni said...

WOW ... again ...
Now the repartee here today is making me actually "laugh-out-loud" !!!

Nice Cuppa, YOU got it rolling. Thank you.

Seen, That "Abe+Betty" visual ...
Well, I may now be blind ... I hope.

Argyle, Simpson's link. I may have seen the show 4 times (more of a 60 Minutes viewer) but that clip got many re-plays.

Husker Gary, I agree, using "group" for the USSR may be a stretch ... I'll let you know when I get back how they feel about that "term."
I'm heading to Moscow, Sunday, then to Muscat late Wednesday.

To all, I still will "toast" you all at Sunset.

On a VERY positive note, those Sunsets are 8 hours earlier.

P.S. My old Zagreb buddy in Oman, an Avatar lover also, tells me:
"Scotch will not be a problem, though it will be consumed at home" ... just like here at Villa Incognito.

P.S.S. Don G. This was probably my favorite LAT EVER !!!

Husker Gary said...

Tinbeni, Why are you going to Mother Russia?

Имейте замечательную поездку!

Bob said...

Quite doable Friday puzzle (21 minutes).

Nice to see Isaac Asimov referenced....one of my all-time favorite authors, more for his science than for his science fiction, but I like both. He began writing around 1936 and kept up an amazing output until his death in 1992, something over 300 original books and many more edited by him, not to mention several thousand magazine articles. I have about 150 of his books and am gradually plowing through them (70 at last count). His essays and his several autobiographies are entertaining and informative reads.

Grumpy 1 said...

Tinman, I just looked at the weather forecast in Moscow for the next week. What the heck are you thinkin? 20F or lower. Zagreb will be a little better but you'd better have your longjohns if your going to sit on your balcony enjoying the sunset.

Have a great trip.

Lucina said...

thehondohurricane:
Thank you! I knew someone on this blog would know about BCS. If I didn't toss the sports section after opening the newspaper, I might have known. Anyway, thanks.

Thanks, everyone, for the lively and "shocking" puns today! What great wits people this blog.

Another birthday dinner for me tonight! I love it.

Anonymous said...

Great puzzle, great clues, great blog, great comments. I would say it's GREEAAAT!. Also, it's good to see CC again.

Anonymous said...

Is it Chanuka yet? If so, happy Hannuka.

Lemonade714 said...

Well, boys and girls, in the oddity of the Jewish calendar, which is moon based and has a 19 year cycle to catch up with the Gregorian calendar, Chanukah has come and gone already.

This was quite the lively puzzle and group, and I hope those of you in the frozen north who have not checked in today, were busy and snowbound.

It also is nice to see some of those who came back to visit for our Thanksgiving tribute to C.C. and the constructors, who have added their comments.

Finally, while we had a cold spell, it was 70's today and gorgeous here, and we will leave a light on for you.

Jayce said...

Lemonade714, thank you.

Lemonade714 said...

BTW, I was waiting for someone to comment on KALE and KALEL, or on the EL ending which is reminiscent of the biblical name endings, Dani-el, Micha-el Gabri-el. I also thought the OP-ART picture was obscene and I for one am surprised at the latest attempt to make Yogi Bear a big screen star

Lemonade714 said...

Also, a shout out to Jacel Morgan, who appeared at 315 in the morning; com eon back, the water is fine. Frenchie, how are you and hwere are you?

JD said...

a fun read today. I hope no one gets any shocking stuffers for Christmas.

Lucina said...

Jeannie:
I hope you see and read this. I have been trying to catch up on some late night posts and noticed that you wanted to know about the dinner with the Arab (and one Japenese) students.

All I can say is that it was underwhelming. The young men are university/college students trying to learn English and doing the best they can with cooking as apparently they have maids at home.

Rice and chicken (as well as lamb, not served that night) is their staple food and it was good, very carb laden with macaroni as well and sweetened vermicelli with egg for dessert.

If I don't see your comment I'll assume you haven't seen this. Sorry to be so late. Life has been busy lately.

Annette said...

Good one, JD!

Does anyone know why I'd suddenly start being asked to enter a scrambled word when I log in? It only happens on my smartphone, not when I log in from my pc... I did it successfully at least once earlier this week. No matter how carefully I enter it, it's rejected. Thanks!

Jeannie said...

Jeannie here. Bill G and Fermaprime, I heard this and thought of you. Enjoy. I am not in a so good spot right now. I wish for this.

Bill G. said...

Jeannie, I hope that things get better for you. Good luck.

Bill G. said...

Splynter: Yes, I could see the bulls eye. It takes practice.