google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, January 28, 2011 Don Gagliardo

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Jan 28, 2011

Friday, January 28, 2011 Don Gagliardo

Theme: Get the UGH out of here! The letters UGH are removed from the first word of a common phrase to reveal a different and rib-tickling, knee-slapping, new amusing phrase. As usual, constructor Don G's note is attached at the end of this write-up.

17A. Where to sleep off a bender?: SOT SHELTER. SOughT shelter. SOT being a very common crosswordese for a drunkard.

24A. Anxious campus society?: FRAT WITH TENSION. FRAughT with...FRAT being the accepted abbreviation of fraternity, lots of tension with those sorority girls around.

38A. Hair styling prodigy?: DO BOY. DOughBOY. Okay, I get it, a Hairdo creating young man; better than the poor fool who runs around for a girl, doing what she wants, while she dates his best friend.

46A. Talented jazzman?: CAT WITH THE GOODS. CAughT with...CAT being a cool jazz name forever. How about HERBIE HANCOCK . I did not think you were supposed to use a four word fill?

57A. "Airport music so early?": ENO ALREADY. ENOugh already. Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno is a pioneer in AMBIENT MUSIC . Airport, the same as elevator?

Lemonade here.

A very nice tight theme, two grid spanning theme answers, with no unifier, and a good Friday mix of unknowns, little knowns, with lots of long fill like BOILS DOWN TO, TREADS WATER and CAR FERRY. Let's dig into this G masterpiece.

Across:

1. Plain type?: JANE. Poor Jane, she gets to be both plain, and anonymous as JANE DOE. At least she did not end up as a nickname for a toilet.

5. Company whose name is quacked in ads: AFLAC. Along with the GEICO Gekko, the superstars of advertising; and you question our education system.

10. Finishing nail: BRAD. The little guys with the big heads: hey watch the comments.

14. Work: OPUS, classic Latin, or part of a mini-theme of funny ANIMALS .

15. Sporty Mazda: MIATA. I am afraid they are no longer considered anything.

16. Slick: OILY. We survived the BP oil spill, that was slick in so many ways.

19. Atl. republic since 1944: ICEL. We all love Don G., and this was easy, as ICELAND is one of the few republics in the Atlantic Ocean, and he told us it was an abbr., but I cannot find ICEL used this way anywhere.

20. Aurora's counterpart: EOS. Thanks Al for telling everybody an answer in this puzzle.

21. Smart guy?: ALEC. The expression comes from actual, though dubious PERSON.

22. Pivoting points: FULCRA. "Give me a lever and place to stand, and I can move the world." Archimedes' famous quote on the use of a fulcrum. Personally, it is the place to stand part I find a little silly.

27. La __ Tar Pits: BREA. We have lots of this one, which makes me wonder what you think of Uncle Remus and the Tar Baby ?

28. Yankee nickname: A ROD. The Steinbrenners are upset.

29. Worked with horses, in a way: SHOED. Yes they can be SHOD or SHOED, just do not let them run barehooved in the fields.

31. 2008 Libertarian presidential candidate: BARR. I liked the Newsweek tagline, "Time to Belly up to the Barr," for this CANDIDATE .

33. Like some rugs: OVAL, as are some offices, but rugs are also wool, or blue or...well, it slowed me down.

37. Pool shade: AQUA. Appropriate for a pool to be water colored.

39. Off the mark: WIDE.

40. Abbr. followed by a year: ESTD. The words put in the cornerstone of building for example.

41. Part of the dog days of Dijon: AOUT. Time for the Lemonade lesson on French, Août means simply August (my birth month) and as Kazie discussed, is one of the words where the accent becomes an "s" in Anglais. Dijon being a town as well as a mustard, not to be confused with Col. Mustard in the library with Miss Scarlett.

42. Fund: ENDOW. Lots of rich people endow their Colleges and Universities, and as someone who attended UConn for graduate and undergraduate school, I am not sure if I am embarrassed by the booster who wants his money back because the school hired a loser coach to replace the guy who brought the team to a BCS bowl. Thoughts?

43. Friend of Dalí: SERT. I was not familiar with this ARTIST . I wonder if any of his work hangs at 45. Atterbury Street gallery: TATE?

53. Dag Hammarskjöld's successor: U THANT. As a young person, I was impressed by this man, and recall his saying, "Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves." very timely in the early 60s and still true.

54. Cramming method: ROTE. Drat, I used up all my Kyle Rote material last time.

55. Disturb, as the balance: TIP. I would link O.Neill, but why get political.

56. Frost, say: POET, another easy one I tried to talk myself out of with RIME and HOAR. As a New Englander, I am ashamed. CA, you have one for us?

60. Regarding: IN RE, finally, a tiny law phrase.

61. Dino's love: AMORE, ah, a generic Dino, not the Flintstones' pet.

62. Lhasa __: APSO. Woof woof.

63. Headlights starer: DEER, there are those among us who have notches painted on the side of his or her vehicle marking the unfortunate end of wild life on the highway, but I will not name names.

64. Mearth's mother, in a '70s-'80s sitcom: MINDY. The baby, played by Jonathan Winters, I like the name so much, I called my mother Mearth for years. She perhaps did not enjoy it as much as I.

65. Flunky: PEON. Maybe we can introduce him to our do boy.

Okay, it is all down hill from here.

Down:

1. Pianist Hofmann: JOSEF. I loves me a good CHOPIN both music and vodka, but did not know this fella.

2. "I'm just __ wayfaring stranger": song lyric: A POOR. More JOHNNY CASH ?

3. More than just into: NUTS ABOUT. Now in trying to teach anyone English, imagine explaining the many uses of the word NUTS, which can be so good, so mean, so yummy and so confusing. And the accompanying, 42D. More than ready: EAGER.

4. Indirect route: ESS. Our old friend the ess curve, wound its way back.

5. Earhart of the air: AMELIA. Well, we blessed bloggers of CC's domain, seem to always have at least one clue that fits the writer, and if you examine my latest avatar, you will see my brand new grand niece, AMELIA, born on Tuesday. How does Rich do that? I thought Amy Adams was a cute one, btw.

6. Sole order: FILET. Yes, please, no bones about it.

7. Door fastener: LATCH. I will always think of the controversy about the KIDS . We never locked the house, so it was not meaningful for us.

8. Scarfed up: ATE. makes it sound so yummy.

9. Frequent Martha's Vineyard arrival: CAR FERRY. If only Teddy had taken the ferry. There are bad jokes about the other ferries on cape cod, but they are only meant to amuse.

10. Is, when simplified: BOILS DOWN TO. Does the word convoluted come to mind? I really like this clue, but it took some serious unwinding to figure where he was headed.

11. "Sleepy Hollow" actress: RICCI. Little Wednesday from the Addams Family all GROWED UP .

12. Olds that replaced the Achieva: ALERO, if they sold as many as we see in puzzles, they might still be in business.

13. Singer/songwriter born Robert Zimmerman: DYLAN. A shout out from Hibbings, Minnesota to all our frozen friends.

18. Spoke uncertainly: HAWED. In case you forgot so quickly, it's back.

23. Card game with a pre-victory warning: UNO. I am sorry, but my family played SKIP-BO more.

25. Stays afloat, in a way: TREADS WATER. I really like this one.

26. Fateful card: TAROT. My youngest started reading them when he was 10, influenced by another boys mother, but that is another story.

29. MS. enclosure: SAE, I guess they ran out of stamps.

30. Operations ctrs.: HQS, headquarters, very military.

31. Diner option: BOOTH, would you like a table or a clean spoon?

32. __ Dhabi: ABU. The capital of the UAE, and one of the richest cities in the world, but the name means father of gazelles. If you have that much oil money, don't you think you could pick a better name?

34. Incriminating record, maybe: VIDEO TAPE. CSI has taught us to look out for all those cameras watching s everywhere.

35. Foofaraw: ADO. Wow, never heard of this really sweet word, I wish it were the fill, not the clue.

36. Kareem, at UCLA: LEW, Abdul-Jabbar back when he was an Alcindor.

38. Competitive missile hurlers: DART TEAM. In the Nero Wolfe series, the notoriously sedentary and fat, main character took up throwing darts as part of his exercise routine to prepare for world war two. That was the first time I heard darts called missiles; some funny scenes with Archie. And our near clecho, 46D. Missile-shooting god: CUPID.

44. German article: EIN. One.

45. Big name in tea: TETLEY. Were you LIPTON or TETLEY as a kid?

47. Make restitution: ATONE. A good clue for a nice Jewish boy like me.

48. "Ta-da!": THERE. I wish he had saved this for last and I could use to set up my exit line.

49. Town on the Firth of Clyde: TROON. Well, for GAH and the many golf addicts, this was a gimme, because this town is site of Royal Troon, one of the courses used to host the Open Championship, and where Arnold Palmer won his second Open title in 1962. revitalizing european golf, just as he had american golf.

50. Emulate Scrooge: HOARD. Why do I think of Scrooge McDuck, not the Dickens character?

51. Playground retort: DID SO. DID NOT!

52. Watch from the trees, say: SPY ON, a favorite of stalkers of all ages.

58. Feature of a two-ltr. monogram: NMI, no middle initial; just lazy parents.

59. "The Gold-Bug" monogram: EAP. Baltimore's own Edgar Allen Poe; I guess the flowers will be no more, like Marilyn, the vigil is over.


Well that was fun; sadly after getting half finished I sneezed and erased all of my work, so it was an Emily Litella time for me. Thanks Don and have a fine week end all.

Lemonade

Note from Don G:

"No Ugh

I could have called this DONUT HOLE, because at some point in history someone got lazy and left out the UGH in DOUGHNUT, thus the hole.  That thought started me on this theme, although DONUT HOLE as a theme answer got lost in the process.  I remember having difficulty at one point in the construction process and mistakenly used the word TOUGH or ROUGH going down.  That is a nono, because strictly speaking it breaks the rule of the theme.  After all, we don’t want to confuse the solver.  Lastly, since there is no UGH, I suppose the puzzle doesn’t stink!  I knew someone of you would have thought of that angle."

80 comments:

  1. Good morning, C.C. and gang - knew I was in for a challenge as soon as I saw Don G.'s name atop a Friday puzzle, and I was not wrong.

    My troubles started immediately when 1A had me thinking type fonts and 14A, 'toil'. Needed the top center to get traction and then I was able to back-fill. Didn't initially pick up the theme, but 'Frat with tension' gave it away. Loved all the long fills and misleading clues, and struggled with a lot of the less-than-familiar ones, such as the Sleepy Hollow actress, 'Josef' Hofmann, etc. I also had never heard the term 'do boy' before, but I haven't spent a lot of time hanging around beauty salons either. My favorite clue was 'Dino's love' because it had me off chasing Flintstone episodes trying to find the answer there.

    Great puzzle, and Lemonade, great job with the blog; a fun read.

    Today is Fun at Work Day, and National Kazoo Day. Combine 'em for a real party.

    Did You Know?:

    - The word "salary" comes from the Latin salarium, meaning "payment in salt." Roman soldiers were paid partially in salt, a highly valuable commodity at the time.

    - Warren Buffett, legendary investor and self-made multi-billionaire, filed his first income tax return at age 13, reporting revenue from a newspaper delivery job. He claimed a $35 deduction for his bicycle.

    - Leonardo da Vinci invented and used an alarm clock in which water flowed in a thin stream from one receptacle to another. When the second receptacle was full, a system of gears and levers raised Leonardo's feet into the air. Hmmmm.

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  2. Morning, all!

    Definitely a challenging puzzle, even for a Friday. It started off fairly easily, but it quickly turned bizarrely difficult. I actually was thinking "UGH!" numerous times until I finally figured out what the theme actually was, after which I was able to make some headway.

    Most of the theme answers ended up being quite nice (I do love a good pun), but ENO ALREADY really had me scratching my head. I kept thinking it was supposed to be EMO since, even though they don't play EMO music at airports, at least it's a genre I've heard of. It didn't occur to me that ENO was the name of a person. Having said that, I associate Brian ENO with "Oingo Boingo" and not airports...

    Oh -- and it didn't help that I was unfamiliar with TROON, so I wasn't even sure about the O in ENO.

    Other complete unknowns today included BARR and JOSEF, and I still have trouble accepting ICEL as a legitimate abbreviation. On the other hand, I was proud to get MINDY, UTHANT, DYLAN, SERT and RICCI. Man, that's a lot of proper names in one puzzle, doncha think? There was also AMELIA and AROD...

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  3. Good Morning, Lemonade and Friends. UGH. This theme left me cold. I didn't much care for the pronunciation change between the answer and the pun on the common phrase. I got SOT SHELTER, so knew what I was looking for, but DOUGH Boy vs. Hair DO? Not close enough for me.

    Great write-up, though.

    My favorite clue was Headlight Starer = DEER. I also liked the long fills like TREADS WATER and BOILS DOWN TO.

    Today is the 25th Anniversary of the Challenger disaster.

    Off to Houston today.

    QOD: Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals. ~ Samuel Ullman

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  4. Good Morning Lemonade, CC and All,

    This was to(ugh)! Stumbled and stammered through the top half and really got hung down on the lower part. Finally got Boils Down To which gave the hint to Cat With The Goods. But the SE slammed me with Eap, Troon and EnoAlready, requiring red letter help. Definitely a Friday and still a good run.

    Thanks for the stellar write-up Lemonade!

    Prepping for a meeting.

    TGIF

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  5. Lemonade, Informative write-up,
    Thanks! I needed explanations for all my errors.

    Never caught on to the theme ... UGH!!!

    So I guess it could be said I was not NUTS ABOUT this puzzle.

    Don-G, not your fault, I just never got on your "wave-length."

    Always like the Lhasa-APSO "shout-out" to Gal-Pal's doggies.
    OK, Rusty is a champ, but Eddie is a mix ... and the dumbest dog on this planet.
    Which makes me love him even more.
    (Hmmm, I think they need a beach walk later).

    Dennis, can I have "Fun-at-NOT-working-Day?"

    Prep for the Gasparilla in Tampa tomorrow.
    Should be perfect this year.

    Cheer's !!!

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  6. Ambient 1/Music for Airports (1978)

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  7. Good day folks,

    This puzzle slammed me on both sides of my noggin. I'd say I finished about half when I threw up my hands. There were simply too many unknowns..... Ricci, fulcra, Barr, Sert, ... as well as the theme clues and I was never able to establish a foot hold to work from. I think I ended up with three of the theme answers, but never figured out the ugh. Just an ugly way to end an ugly week.

    Dennis, did the Roman soldiers form of payment create the expression "worth his salt?" Sure seems likely.

    Lemonade, excellent write up.

    Well, time to finish off the driveway so I'll be ready for next weeks storm. The local meteorologists are having a laugh a minute with their not so funny wise ass remarks about all the storms. We are over 70" for the year. I suppose for some of you, we've only had a dusting.

    Be well everyone,

    Hondo

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  8. Lemonade et al, nice write-up on this toughie of a puzzle. Three cells in the middle kept me from 100% as I had no idea on Dali’s friend, summer in France or denizens of beauty parlors. I thought LUNCH might be a diner option. I started out blank in NW (Jane was my mom’s name and my dad was a sot) and then rocked in the middle top and rolled around Clockwise.

    Musings
    -Dino Martin sang “That’s Amore” and you will hear sung it in every Italian restaurant
    -You can scarf down as well as up. Old joke – Man nearly hits a pregnant woman crossing the street yells out, “Hey lady, you can get knocked down too!”
    - Teddy’s Martha’s Vineyard indiscretion occurred on the same weekend that we first walked on the Moon and had the reportorial cocoon that the Kennedy’s enjoyed then. Today? Not so much.
    -Little Wednesday looks like a good representative of Hump Day now!
    -I tried to TREADWATER for a semester and still couldn’t. I am dense physically and mentally
    -Wanted LIPTON
    -NMI is new to me
    -Thought TOIL today to make up for MOIL yesterday
    -Warren Buffet, the oracle of Omaha, is still the man!
    -If NASA had waited for warmer weather 25 January’s ago, the Challenger would have probably been fine, but certain SRB flaws had to be fixed sooner or later
    -CARE about and not NUTS for awhile
    -Has anyone here ever taken salt tablets in extreme heat (temperature wise not libido wise)? I understand that is verboten today.
    -Forgot about Olds after the Cutlass and never knew Achieva or ALERO
    -I taught levers and fulcrums for 42 years and never knew of another plural
    -ENO? We have EMO in middle school but not that other dude.

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  9. I enjoyed the write-up much more than the puzzle today. Not that the puzzle was bad--just that I couldn't relate to all the names (mostly unknowns) and the theme clue/answers except the top two. I finally got DOBOY, but didn't think it was a theme as it was so short, and ENO ALREADY fell into place without my being sure of who/what ENO is. But I had to come here for CAT WITH THE GOODS, since the phrase is not in my realm. With that last one in place I was able to finish guessing the downs that crossed it. The top was easier than the bottom today--complete reversal of the norm.

    It didn't help that I had AREA for OVAL and MISS for WIDE, had no idea about the Gold Bug, and was trying to fit something with javelins in for DART TEAM.

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  10. Hi All ~!!

    Phew, this one was RO-....

    After feeling good about AFLAC!! I couldn't get a foothold anywhere...

    WAGs that got me there were LEW (had LOU to start), then CAT W-, and FRAT W-, and I THOT I was on to the theme, but then DO BOY screwed me up - change in pronunciation, but I stayed with i. The last to fall was DART TEAM, and I was part of one, so I knew we referred to them as "missiles", but...

    I did like BOILS DOWN TO, but I had BOILED OWN TO, and messed myself up...

    Finish nails, such as brads, do not have big heads, so they are less obvious - or am I being "big-headed"?

    I think Ms. RICCI is very HOT, thanks for that pic, and hers was about the only proper name I got -

    JOSEF, SERT, AOUT, BARR, TROON, U THANT, now that's what I call

    "UGH"

    Splynter

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  11. I'll bet I'm the only one that thought of, for 61A. Dino's love:, a song from Dino, Desi and Billy.

    Kitty Doyle(2:09)

    And five letters in either name, too.

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  12. OH, yeah, me too -

    I was trying to figure out if

    "javelinists" was a word, too !!!

    Splynter

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  13. Good morning all. Nice write-up, Lemonade.

    Dan's puzzles are fun to do. The theme fell late for me but did assist in getting SOT SHELTER. TATE and TROON were easy guesses. It was nice to see AOÛT. I liked the clue for POET, too. EIN had to wait for the perps since there are quite a few. Ein is the indefinite article equivalent to the English 'a' or 'an'. Also the word for 'one'. No searches needed.

    58d, NMI - This brought a chuckle. I have no middle initial. So when I served in the Navy, any form requiring one's name had a space for a middle initial. The yeoman always had to type: (NMI) in that space. Five keystrokes for something that didn't exist. My intro to government efficiency.

    I expect to be on hiatus from this Corner for the next month. Taking some vacation to the NAPLES, FL area to get away from the winter hassle for awhile. (I don't want to have to get into attitude readjustment rehab like Dennis and Barry may have to). I'm hoping to have a chance of the privilege of meeting fellow bloggers Sallie and/or Grumpy while down there.

    Everyone, take care. You are the best.

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

    Great write-up Lemonade. I always learn something from you, and today it was about Herbie Hancock . I know the melody to “Cantelope Island”, but knew neither the tile of the song or it’s [apostrophe inserted] author. So I guess that would be TWO things. Yay!

    I did enjoy this puzzle, even though I agree with Hahtool about the pronunciation changes. Still, it was clever to find phrases that still made sense on paper, with three letters removed. I didn’t recognize the “ugh” theme until coming here – I was looking for homophones after getting “SOT SHELTER” (which was my favorite one, BTW).

    Favorite clue was ”Is, when simplified” for BOILS DOWN TO. Wow, that sure wasn’t simple to figure out, but quite rewarding when I did!

    Gunghy, from last night. Hilarious list of “Senior Texting Code”! I suppose I’ll have to commit all those to memory, now.

    Spitboov, have a great time in FL. When you get back in the spring, just dig us out of the snowbanks on your way by.

    Have a great day everyone – TGIF!!

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  15. Good morning Lemonade and all, another morning, another snow storm and another long morning of snow plowing. I sure am tired of the snow!UGH!

    Nice puzzle Don and one of the few that I caught on to the theme at once. However, I made enough mistakes to make the puzzle difficult. I started working down and put “Jozef” instead of Josef so I had to look at 17A “zots shelter” for quite a while and almost convinced myself to leave it in, but the light finally came on. The other misstep that caused me some angst was 31A. I had entered Abu when I looked at 31A and all I could think of was Ron Paul and since the A fit I left it in and struggled in that area. I finally got car ferry and that cleared up the problems.

    Favorite clue/answer was “is”/ boils down to.

    Lemonade, it is always a fun blog when you do the write up.

    Hope you all have a great Friday.

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  16. UGH - I had a difficult time with this one. In reviewing it I don't see why I struggled so - must be the cluing. In the end it was a very enjoyable puzzle but I had to cheat a couple of times.

    Great job on the blog. Still nice out here on the left coast although a bit foggy this morning.

    Dennis, salt used to be a strategic commodity much as crude oil is today. Wars were fought (fot?) over regions with naturally occurring salt deposits. Why? Because salt was used as a meat preservative in the time before electricity and refrigeration. Read an interesting comparison of the value of salt in the 19th century vs crude oil today written by James Woolsey and Anne Korin here.

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  17. Thanks Lemonade

    Thanks Hard G/Silent UGH.

    Here's one to get started:

    Patent Lawyer? = DATER OF INVENTION

    NC

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  18. Link above doesn't seem to work. This one should. Turning Oil into Salt.

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  19. Tin, if you're not having a 'Fun at NOT working day', you're doing something wrong.

    hondo, right you are about 'worth his salt'.

    Husker Gary, yeah, I did the salt tablet thing for a year. When I first got to Viet Nam, our Platoon Sergeant would stand in front of each man to make sure he took his daily allotment. They were horrible and we became quite creative at faking it. Ironically, by the end of my year there, I was the guy doing the checking, and fortunately remembered those tricks.

    Splynter, your post made me la out loud.

    Spitzboov, have an outstanding time; congratulations on getting away from this nasty winter stuff. We'll miss your posts.

    MH, a most interesting read; thanks.

    Hey Dick, what's coming this way?

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  20. NC, great one – “Dater of invention”, HAH!

    “I could’a had a V8 instead of this Miller” = DRAT BEER …nah, that would never go over with this crowd, LOL!

    MH, interesting article. Has anything changed in the last four years since this article was written? Last July there was legislation introduced in the Senate requiring 50% of all new cars sold in the US to be “flex-fueled” by 2012, but I haven’t heard any more about it.

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  21. Young fellow opposed to Israel: PLO boy

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  22. The art of making lace: tat science.

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  23. Good Day C.C.,Lemonade,and all,

    Good write -up, Lemon. Thanks.

    This puzzle and its theme were delightful, except for the bottom nine middle squares. I had Already,but I was reading it as
    ---AL READY. I just couldn't TIP my brain over this blind spot. Oh, well it happens sometimes.

    Since 21A had a question mark,I was unclear about whether 38A was part of the theme. Never heard of SERT; in fact hard to imagine that Dali had a friend.

    Hand up for 10D as fav.

    Spitzboov, please stay in touch while you're there. Hope you get some much needed rest and fun. Envious over your possible hook ups with Sallie and Grumpy. Remember, a month's too long.

    Gunghy, did you create that list? Very impressive! I might copy, if I don't need a copyright. A couple looked serious to me. That was scary.LOL

    Almost forgot to thank Don G for the humility lesson..er..puzzle.

    Have a nice day everyone.

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  24. HeartRX,

    There is a lot going on in terms of development of alternative fuel vehicles such as plug-in hybrids (eg: Chevy Volt) and electric cars (eg: Nissan LEAF). Obama restated his goal of having 1 million EVs on our roads by 2015 in the state of the union. The desired result is the reduction of our dependence on foreign oil by converting our transportation fleet to use domestically produced energy such as electricity and natural gas. This is not an environmental play so much as a foreign policy and trade deficit play although it clearly has environmental benefits as well. It's interesting that this idea has captured both liberals and conservatives - a rare agreement in these polarized political times.

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  25. Lemonade asked about Uncle Remus and the tar baby. My father used to read to me from Tales of Uncle Remus when I was little. I loved the cartoons in Walt Disney's Song of the South with Brer Rabbit, Brer Bear and Brer Fox. Brer Fox was my favorite. Funny stuff.

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  26. Woof woof back at ya, Lemonade. Loved your blog more than Mr. G's challenge. Too to--- for me!Lots of WAGS and trips to the G spot.I agree the bottom was to-er, but the oily icel was not easy either

    Liked treads water and boils down too, and best of all, the clue foofaraw! Such a fun word.

    WHO drank tea as a kid? Celestial Seasonings is my tea of choice.

    BTW, Amelia is precious in her going home outfit.

    Have a nice day

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  27. MH: Yes, the development of new hybrids is certainly encouraging. But what I was wondering, has anything been done to push the proposed legislation through? For once, as you mentioned, it has bi-partisan support. So there is hope?

    Argyle, Dennis - good ones!!

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  28. What the corner bar is: so(ugh)t refuge.

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  29. Hello Cruciverbalists!

    Thanks to Don G. for interesting puzzle!

    Great, detailed write-up, Lemonade!

    Thursday's puzzle was to. But Fridays was toer.
    Had to resort to red letters today. Perhaps because I got no sleep in anticipation of early (for me) dentist appointment.

    I did think of High Noon immediately yesterday.

    Today had no knowledge of SERT and JOSEF (if he is classical I am ashamed of myself). Is he?

    The weather here is still pretty balmy. The wind is soing in the trees!

    Happy Friday!

    fermatprime@gmail.com

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  30. HeartRX: I'm not up to speed on federal legislation. However on the state side, the California Air Resources Board has a reputation for providing leadership in climate initiatives. Other states and the federal government often follow their lead. Too much to discuss here, but you can click on the link above to see what CARB is up to. I think there's a lot of resistance to government mandated solutions. The idea of a national movement (sans legislation) to reduce our dependence on foreign energy could be more effective.

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  31. Alt QOD:

    Man occasionally stumbles over the truth, but usually manages to pick himself up, walk around it and carry on.

    Benjamin Franklin

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  32. Good afternoon everyone.

    Greetings to C.C. and thanks to Lemonade for the informative write up.

    DH and I are eager to meet Spitzboov and Betty and we hope Grumpy1 and his BH. It will be 80° by Friday, so that should be good.

    Thank you Gunghy for the senior code. It is a rib-tickler.

    As usual, I did not grok the theme or any of the theme answers. And, of course, had toil instead of opus.
    Pretty pathetic looking puzzle when I came here.

    Cheers

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  33. Hi all.

    Loved this puzzle. Did it late last night.
    Troon no problem. Just got my VIP Pass and access to the corporate tent for Feb 11.
    Ran over the daffodils with the lawn mower and then ran over a piece of angle iron. Lawn mower is now going CLANK, CLANK. Maybe I
    should change my name to Eddie. UGH.
    Little fog? Couldn't see the house across the street.
    Take care.

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  34. This was quite the FOOFARAW! That’s my new favorite word. I didn’t even come close to completing the puzzle and never did catch on to the theme. This seemed more like a Saturday puzzle to me. I have never heard of a “brad” nail, nor fulcra. Troon, Aout, and sert fall into that category as well. I did like headlight starer – deer and smart guy - alec. Being a MN native I knew that Robert Zimmerman was Bob Dylan and yes, he is from Hibbing, MN. I would link “Tangled up in Blue” but can’t access youtube from my office computer.

    MFcounselor, I enjoyed your write up much more than the puzzle today, but then I am biased.
    Spitzboov, I envy you for your month long vacation down south. I am so ready for a change of seasons.

    Well, back to having fun at work with my kazoo.

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  35. feline thievery: ca(ugh)t stealing

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  36. I meant to write another thank you to MH for the good read about oil and salt. My late first husband, a geologist, had salt as one of his specialties. That study is how we got to live in Vienna for a year.

    An excellent book is "Salt a world history" by Mark Kurlansky. DH & I heard about it at a cooking class by Elderhostel at Johnson and Wales in Miami.

    And we still love and get terrific mileage from our Ford Fusion Hybrid.

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  37. TGIF, gang.

    Great write up Lemonade. Don certainly gave you good material to work with. This one sure bounced me around all over the place! I started out with PICA crossing CARE ABOUT so that corner was going nowhere. Had TAROT, changed to DEUCE to work with PAUL. Felt good about nailing TREADS WATER with nothing but the first R, but that turned out to be what I was doing through most of the puzzle.

    Even after getting the grid spanners filled I didn't catch onto the theme. ENO(ugh) ALREADY finally produced the V8 moment and I figured out the DO(ugh)BOY clue. Lots of other clues that needed perp help to decipher, but chipping away finally produced a recognizable entry.

    I knew Don was cluing Kareem's original name, but for some reason I wanted LEN. END ON? Nope, can't make sense of that. LES/ENDOS... well, is that short for endowment? No, there's no hint of abbreviation... wait a minute dummy, it's ENDOW!

    I never did figure out why NMI was a feature of a two liter monogram till I came here. It was one of those "it has to be right" entries that I get once in a while.

    Great puzzle Don.

    Spitzboov, we're looking forward to seeing you when you get down here. The LA Crossword is in our local paper so you won't have to quit cold turkey for a month.

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  38. Good Morning All, Thanks, Don G. for making the first row Across an easy one. It gave me a good start and kept me from the temptation to fill 14A with MOIL.

    38A DO BOY was rather strange. I was thinking of somebody like Jose Eber. I can't say that I've ever heard a young talented hair stylist called a DO BOY.

    I thought perhaps Roseanne BARR was mixed up in 31A I've seen that she is thinking of a political career in the future and I thoUGHt I had missed something a few years back.

    1D JOSEF and 43A SERT were also unknown. But I got 53A U THANT and 49D TROON, so I evened out.

    TROON was a gimme, as Lemonade pointed out. GAH keeps track of who is where and when. He's never played there and I don't think it is on his bucket list. The Scottish courses are usually very intimidating. He doesn't mind a roUGH course, but it is the wind chill factor that can get to him.

    We had quite a discussion/FOOFARAW a while back about "Song of the South" and the Uncle Remus character. As I recall some folks (RSD?) came down pretty hard with racist criticism. I bought a copy of the DVD, watched it and thought it was sweetly entertaining. It definitely was a movie "of its time". It is another time now and it isn't a movie that would be (seriously) made now.

    Lemonade, Amelia is a beauty!

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  39. JD,
    I grew up drinking tea, and never had coffee until I was dating. The teapot was always on the table at mealtimes and we all had a cup and saucer--not mugs. It was served the English way with milk and sugar. When I first went to Germany, and found that tea was only served straight or with lemon, I had to get used to thinking of it as a totally different beverage before I could enjoy it.

    Gunghy,
    I loved the senior list too. Pity my memory is so poor, or I might be able to use it!

    ReplyDelete
  40. A clean one this time:

    Hard-working roofer? = Slater on Tenth Avenue

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  41. Promiscuous courtesan?

    Dater of the Regiment (by Gaetano Donizetti)

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  42. Sallie: Salt is on my "to-read" list. He also wrote Cod, which was very interesting about the cod fishing industry. I also read his book entitled The Big Oyster.

    I am reading the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks now. It is the history behind the HeLa cells we all use in the biology lab. My DL gave me a Nook recently and this book was my first e-purchase.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Hello Puzzlers -

    So much to say, sooo slow at typing. First up - I did the math before the puzzle: Don G. + Friday slot = Hard Puzzle. Nailed that one. This puzzle, like so many before it, caused me to ask: "How the hell does he KNOW that?" Lots of unknowns, had to Goog 3 proper nouns just to get a grip. Still, I likes me a challenge, and got one. Good crafting, Hard G!

    I had no idea little Wednesday turned into Ricci. Well done.

    Tea? My mom made Salada from teabags, what else? It was a good warm-up in winter, with milk and sugar - we were kids, after all.

    Hand up for the book Salt - A World History. I never expected the topic to be so riveting. I both read and listened to it.

    Spitz - Not fair, man, not fair!

    Husker - The Challenger event brought a lot of employment my way. I was involved in the NDT aspects of SRB redesign, propellant packing, and suchlike. I also did part of the on-pad OMS pod repair on Discovery. I had the privilege of watching the return to flight launch from the press area - WOW!

    ReplyDelete
  44. Dudley, How interesting. Did you work in Utah or at KSC or both? My only in-person launch was STS 69, four miles south on the Banana River. It took off just before sunrise and then burst into the Sun a few miles up. It was the best of a night and day launch. Spectacular! People all around us were crying over an event that was four miles away and took the sound 20 seconds to reach us!

    She romances dads

    FatherdaUGHter

    Christian’s home

    SlaUGHterhouse

    Police pains

    CoUGHpills

    ReplyDelete
  45. Robert Frost is not always an easy poet to read, despite the fact that so many of his poems are well known. His epitaph quotes a line from one of his poems: "I had a lover's quarrel with the world."

    Maybe this one is for fermatprime and for any others who have watched the clock tick along from three to four o'clock in the morning.

    Acquainted with the Night

    I have been one acquainted with the night.
    I have walked out in rain -- and back in rain.
    I have outwalked the furthest city light.

    I have looked down the saddest city lane.
    I have passed by the watchman on his beat
    And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

    I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
    When far away an interrupted cry
    Came over houses from another street,

    But not to call me back or say good-bye;
    And further still at an unearthly height,
    O luminary clock against the sky

    Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
    I have been one acquainted with the night.

    - Robert Frost

    ReplyDelete
  46. Happy Friday everyone and kudos again to Lemonade for a terrific blog and to Al yesterday for the answer to 20A!

    What a fun puzzle! Both yesterday and today's looked iffy in the solving but with a lot of dancing around I completed it. Did the same as Dennis with the "Dino's love" clue and then realized after filling it in that he meant Dean Martin. Didn't understand the ENO answer until I came here.DUH :oP

    Once I ca(ugh)t the theme I was off and running, or at least dancing. :o)

    Still spending most of my time painting as fast as I can...grateful for the wonderful weather and all the sunshine.

    Hope you all have a terrific weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Last one:

    IS THIS WHY NO-ONE ARRIVES ON TIME?

    = LATER IS CONTAGIOUS

    NC

    ReplyDelete
  48. Husker - Both KSC and Thiokol, as well as Rohr in Chula Vista (where the SRB steel sections were made). I can tell you it's eerie being inside a packed SRB motor, where the smallest spark could light the candle...

    ReplyDelete
  49. Dennis

    Did you just censor one of my posts? I guess it was a bit beyond the pale.

    NC

    ReplyDelete
  50. bra(ugh): undies forever!

    ReplyDelete
  51. I definitely want to read Salt and Cod. Thanks Sallie and HeartRX for the suggestion. Will add to my Kindle list.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Good day, persistent puzzlers! Thank you, Lemonade, for your insightful and very funny observations. Good entertainment!

    Yowza! I believe the G in Don G could also mean Google as I had to find RICCI never having seen Sleepy Hollow, also MINDY as I only recall Mork and don't remember BARR. At first, Ron PAUL came to mind but TAROT dispelled that notion.

    I was sure that the dog days are in August but didn't know the French. I seriously have to learn those meses.

    After skipping around for a while and filling AFLAC, BRAD, OILY, OPUS and EOS, JOSEF popped out so SOTSHELTER emerged. However it took FRATTENSION and much pondering to hit Don's wave length and realize UGH was missing.

    After that the fill was fairly easy but hand up for LOU before LEW and big question mark about DOBOY, especially since I started with BROTH at 31D and DRBOY made no sense.

    SERT and TROON have been stalwart xwd fill off and on for some time; ditto on going the Flintstones route for AMORE until the light turned on for Italian Dino.

    Thank you, Don, for the challenge today tho(UGH) I required a few breaks in between. Loved it.

    Spitzboov:
    Have a wonderful, warm time in FL.

    Hahtool:
    I read Cod and found it fascinating, now I'll have to find the Salt book. Thanks.

    Currently I'm reading An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Sandage about the development of food. It, too is amazingly interesting.

    Good jokes, everyone. I come here to learn and be entertained.

    I hope your Friday is fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  53. NC, yes, it was I. And you're right, it was a bit too raunchy for this blog (although I got a kick out of it). I did run it by C.C. first, and once she understood the reference, concurred with its removal.

    ReplyDelete
  54. OK, I trust you folks....a book titled "Salt: A World History". It isn't available on Kindle, but I'll check with my good friend, a librarian.

    eddyB, Troon AZ, or Troon Scotland? I hope you are spending some time in Arizona, rather than heading for the Firth of Clyde Troon in Scotland in February....BRRRR!

    ReplyDelete
  55. Hello C.C., Argyle and esteemed lemonade716!

    Beautiful baby! How lucky you are to have an addition to the family! How is she related?

    Wonderful! The theme with it's clues and answers is well thought out. I was lost from the start. How could I puzzle for so many years and not recall, 'sot?'

    10. Finishing nail: BRAD. The little guys with the big heads: hey watch the comments. 'Little guy with a big head.' Sounds penile...the Brad's I'm familiar with are little guys with little heads. I counter-sunk them and fill 'em in. I guess it's not the size of the nail, as long as you get bradded??? OK, that's pushing the envelope, I'm sure.

    I'm out.

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  56. Hello everybody. I enjoyed this puzzle a lot, even though I didn't get the "take out the ugh" theme. I did see how the answers seemed to be wacky variations of a standard phrase (except for Do Boy, which I didn't get at all), and enjoyed them at that level.

    Had an easier time with the top than with the bottom, most likely because most of the gimmes for me were at the top, such as AFLAC and MIATA. (Not JOSEF Hoffman, though, I'm sorry to say.)

    Creature, thank you so much for your kind remarks last night.

    Marge, I read your post too, and agree with you about Rex Morgan. Those people never age. Same thing with Family Circus, too!

    Jeannie, a very interesting story about your adventure on and in the Snake River.

    I was going to make an idiotic joke about bris and briskette, but decided it was too stupid.

    Lemonade, I really like your writeups and getting glimpses into the way you think and what your points of view are. Well, I enjoy seeing that with all of you, actually. Laughed out loud at your observation that "I guess they ran out of stamps" in re SAE. I never did like Lipton tea much; I found it too bitter for my taste. So I guess I would have been more of a Tetley guy were it not for the fabulous Red Rose brand.

    And yes, I agree Amy Adams is cute. I rather think Hilary Swank is too.

    Barry G, I just read about the new 2011 model Chrysler 300 and thought of you. Looks like they've made some nice improvements.

    More later maybe. (Much more spare time today.) Best wishes to you all.

    (I bet as soon as I post this I'll think of something I wanted to say but forgot to).

    ReplyDelete
  57. ClearAyes:

    I found "Salt: A World History" on Amazon for the Kindle. Here's a link. Cod is also available on Kindle.

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  58. Fermatprime: good one! "The wind is soing in the trees!" I chuckled when I read that.

    Ya learn sumpin new every day. I always thought a brad was a short sort of tack-like nail, with a very broad head, like the ones the fabric is fastened to the sofa with. I always called them skinny little-headed things finishing nails. Live'n'learn. Splynter, you are definitely worth your salt.

    How's that kazoo playing coming along, Jeannie? Good of you to celebrate the day. And you work at home too! Ready-made combination! I am almost seeing the "glow" on your face now, haha.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Thank you all for all the nice words; the Fridays can be a challenge because just doing the puzzle is a challenge, which can take away any energy from the write up, but so far so good.

    The tea question was more what you had in your house, for me as a child, living in Connecticut, we had either Lipton or Tetley. Like Hood's milk, or Cott soda.

    Taking the UGH out is the easy part, making it sound good is the trick, and so far Don G. is still ahead, though, some nice work out there.

    WM, thank you as always. Lolita and other of the snow drifter persuasion, Florida is right here waiting for you all to come on down. 68 and sunny as the day slows into night. Dennis or Spitzboov can draw you a map, or just follow your nose to the Tinman's sunset ritual.

    I thought of DINO, Desi and Billy also, but did not reacall any of their songs. My Italian "family" members all talk about how hard it was for Dean when his boy died.

    No Opus fans in the crowd? It is interesting to see the blog on a day where all the salty comments are about salt. I thought it was ODD that DOUGHNUT?DONUT inspired the puzzle but could not make the grade.

    UGH said out loud almost sounds like a HARD G.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Speaking of brand names for tea, in Oz, we always drank Lanchoo. There were others too, Billy Tea comes to mind, and later, Lipton and Tetley made an appearance, but I'm not sure about any others. My sorties to supermarkets last June do not bring any to mind.

    Lucina,
    If you want to learn the French months (mois) here they are (no capital letters unless starting sentences):
    janvier, février, mars, avril, mai, juin, juillet, août, septembre, novembre, décembre.

    Lemonade,
    That sure is a cute baby Amelia!

    ReplyDelete
  61. Kazie:
    Thank you! That is exactly what I plan to do: learn them. Some are remarkable close to Spanish.

    Lemonade:
    I agree. Adorable baby.

    We are going to dinner with my S-I-L's grandparents who are visiting from SD.

    "See" you later.

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  62. Clear Ayes. The VIP Pass is for the Pro-Am at Pebble Beach.

    St Andrews IS on the bucket list.
    In fact, I can see more than one
    reason to tour Scotland.

    take care.

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  63. Hi gang -

    Came back to the puzzle many times today, but still got a DNF. I recognize ENO's name, and figured 57A was rooted in ENOUGH ALREADY, but couldn't believe that was the answer. Having it cross the unfortunate NMI was no help.

    Harry Truman had the middle initial S, but it didn't stand for anything.

    I once heard a story about a guy named B N Jones who's initials didn't stand for anything, either. When drafted, he filled out his papers as B(only) N(only) and was forever known as Bonly Nonly Jones. Is that better or worse than Sue?

    Don't know SERT, but finally sussed BOOTH. DART TEAM was very slow to arrive. Just lots of trouble everywhere.

    Never sussed the -UGH theme; thought it was some sort of vowel mutation.

    Ah, well. Don got me today.

    Clever comments, folks.

    Cheers!
    JzB

    ReplyDelete
  64. Kazie:
    mais n'oubliez pas de octobre!

    ReplyDelete
  65. I couldn't finish this one, and never got the theme, although I figured out some of the long clues anyway. Ones I missed: (across) BARR, DOBOY, AOUT, SERT, ENOALREADY (got ALREADY part), AMORE, MINDY....and the related (down) ones: DARTTEAM, BOOTH, NMI, TROON.
    Tough puzzle to end the work week.

    ReplyDelete
  66. JazzB, I remember reading about that draftee in Readers' Digest more years ago than I care to remember. I remember the name as being R(only) B(only) Jones, though and his draft card was printed as Ronly Bonly Jones. Either way, it probably wouldn't be a fun time in the military.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Don't know if being in the RD makes it true. My family subscribed to it for at least 50 years. What I remember most is articles like, "I am Joe's kidney".
    This one I know is true, because I saw it. I worked with a guy at IBM in the '60's named R C Sanders. His Ky. drivers license listed him as R(only)C(only) Sanders. Yes, that's what we called him. When it stopped p-----g him off, we quit doing it. Naturally.

    ReplyDelete
  68. To all lovers of good non-fiction - may I suggest 2 books - History of the world in 6 glasses - by Tom Standage

    and also - Edible history of humanity - by the same author.

    ReplyDelete
  69. hello, gang,

    Lemonade, wonderful write-up~ Oh, and she is a pretty one, our Amelia! Didn't you have another new arrival a few months ago? I seem to remember a picture with your good-looking nephew and a baby, also a beauty. There are certainly some agreeable genes in you bloodline!

    Today's puzzle was an DNF for me. That is, I had to look up all kinds of stuff and I didn't catch on to the theme, even after the blog; stuck on 'doboy'. I finally figured it out,,,,,I think.

    I loved 'the wind is soing...'

    NC when are you coming up with one?
    You always are able to carry the themes further.

    Spitzboov, enjoy your escape. I worry about you getting into your house when you return. Will someone be shoveling for you in your absence?

    CA - what is RSD? Is that from Gunghy's list? I received a copy of that list a week or so ago but didn't try to remember them. I would be a complete failure at texting: acronyms are a mystery to me. I'm still confused by 'OWI', 'SSSomething,' and are they what the CIA is now? And texting seems to be sort of a combination of acronyms and phonetics. I think it should be outlawed!

    ReplyDelete
  70. DoDo:
    RSD is the handle of a former frequent and now infrequent blogger/poster from here in Kentucky. It's an acronym for Red State Democrat.

    ReplyDelete
  71. WH,
    Merci beaucoup!

    Lucina,
    As WH said earlier, I forgot octobre. It's interesting how those last four are practically the same in English and German too.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Thanks, Windhover. I remember him. He was posting when I first came here, and didn't he check in on the November reunion? I guess if I had pondered long enough I would have got it myself.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Sorry I haven't read the blog yet, but I did a search and didn't see this addressed:

    In the write-up for 22A, Lemonade says: Pivoting points: FULCRA. "Give me a lever and place to stand, and I can move the world." Archimedes' famous quote on the use of a fulcrum. Personally, it is the place to stand part I find a little silly.

    Lemonade, I don't think he means a place for HIM to stand, but a fulcrum on which to stand the lever. Or maybe, a place to stand the fulcrum for use by the lever.

    Or am I still not getting what you thought was a little silly about it?

    Learning about levers was one of my favorite AHA-moments in science.

    It's been a long, long day...!

    ReplyDelete
  74. If I remember correctly, RSD is a retired Marine that takes time to work with charities. I think he also dabbles in plays. I believe he has a picture in C.C.'s blog photos depicting himself as a conductor in a play he was acting in. He was also a Jeannie fan as if I remember he "kinda sorta" asked her out if she ever made it to Kentucky via a blog session.

    Let's see if this works...Jeannie, will you let me "wine and dine" you? I live closer to you.

    ReplyDelete
  75. MH:
    Thank you for the link to "Turning Oil into Salt" a most provocative and interesting article.

    Good night, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  76. In Friday's crossword, regarding 2 down. The song "A Poor Wayfaring Stranger" wasn't a Johnny Cash song. It was written by Dusty Rogers, son of Roy Rogers, for his Mom, Dale Evans. He sings it in his show in Branson, MO.

    Anita in Springfield, Mo

    ReplyDelete
  77. Hola Everyone,
    I had a roUGH time with this puzzle today. Many lookups with lots of unknowns. The odd thing was I had Sot Shelter and Frat With Tension so caUGHt on to the UGH theme. This kinda' helped with the rest of the long theme answers but it was the shorter unknowns that threw me today. Had the same problems as many others did.

    I needed a Dart Team from Troon to hit the bullseye today.

    Very late tonight as this is our Mystery night on TV and after an afternoon retirement party for a friend I didn't get to read the blog until now.

    Lots of fun recommendations for book reads, information on salary, and great blogging from Lemonade.
    Good Night.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Nero Wolfe called the darts "javelines" not "missiles", btw.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Nero Wolfe didn't call the darts "missiles" he called them "javelines", btw.

    ReplyDelete

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