google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, Jan 27, 2011 Dan Naddor & Doug Peterson

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Jan 27, 2011

Thursday, Jan 27, 2011 Dan Naddor & Doug Peterson

Theme: An unhealthy obsession: 45D. Feeling of resentment associated with the last words of the starred answers: GRUDGE. Better to forgive and remember.

17A. *Yellowstone Park beast: GRIZZLY BEAR. To bear a grudge, as in carrying it as a burden.

28A. *Fort McHenry defended it in 1814: BALTIMORE HARBOR. Harbor from "herebeorg", a place of protection for an army or horde, (later ships). To shelter within and defend.

43A. *Medical professional: REGISTERED NURSE. To nurse is to nurture and make stronger. It comes from the sense to suckle an infant to make it grow.

55A. *Feature of many customer service calls: MUSIC ON HOLD. To hold a grudge is to tend it and keep it as property.

Hi all, Al here.

Interesting partnership today. When I read Doug's note (see the end of the write-up for how this happened), for some reason this tribute/collaboration came to mind.

ACROSS:

1. Checkbook no.: ACCT. Number is abbreviated "no." from Latin "numero", a form of numerus.

5. Mason of "The Goodbye Girl": MARSHA. Also a vampire in the "Dark Shadows" soap.

11. Cinephile's cable channel: AMC. American Movie Classics.

14. Par: NORM.

15. Delta competitor: UNITED.

16. "Turn on the heat!": BRR.

19. The Mustangs of the NCAA's Conference USA: SMU. Southern Methodist University. Good thing they didn't add "of Technology" to the title.

20. Work like a dog: MOIL. To labor in the muck and mire.

21. Flooring material: PLYWOOD. Ah, ok, the underlayment, not the finishing material.

23. The Grammys, e.g.: EVENT.

25. Egyptian Christian: COPT.

27. Prado hangings: ARTE. Museo del Prado in Spain.

31. Norwegian noble name: OLAV. Also spelled with an "f" instead of "v". Wait for perps.

32. "__ Yankee Doodle ...": I'M A. From the musical "Little Johnny Jones" written by George Cohan. Made into a movie: "Yankee Doodle Dandy" starring James Cagney. I don't think there were any dirty rats in it.

33. Swelter: FRY. Swelter originally meant to burn slowly, thus overcome with heat or fever.

34. 50-Across's st.: NEB.raska to go along with 50A. Home of Creighton University: OMAHA.

35. A director may ask for more of it: EMOTION.

37. Justice Dept. agency: FBI.

40. Curly smacker: MOE. Two of the three stooges, always slapping each other. My favorite clue today. This reminded me the most of Dan.

41. Lacto-__ vegetarian: OVO. One who will eat dairy and eggs, but not meat. Compare to pescetarian (will eat fish but not red meat), and vegan, no animal products at all.

42. Provoke: GOAD. From Old English "gad", spearhead or arrowhead.

48. Puts on the tube: AIRS.

49. Tampa Bay squad: RAYS. Until 2007, they were the Devil Rays, which are perfectly legitimate sea creatures. Then the PC police won again.

51. Seasonal pharmacy offering: FLU SHOT. Perhaps people might try vitamin D3 and probiotics so that your resistance will increase instead. People living in northern latitudes do not get enough sunshine for sufficient D3 production.

53. Red ink: LOSS. OK, maybe this only appeals to my sense of humor, but on the Wiki page for "in the red", the link color for "net loss" appears in red. (Meaning they lost the article it used to point to..)

54. Served dinner: FED. Wanted ATE, even though it seemed ungrammatical.

60. Race segment: LEG. Wanted LAP instead. These two in this area slowed my solving time down a bit.

61. Spoke out: OPINED.

62. Fit to be drafted: ONE-A. Again, a wait for at least one perp because a-one is sometimes clued instead.

63. GPS heading: ENE.

64. Martial arts instructor: SENSEI. A Japanese address for a person above your status, such as a teacher, lawyer, doctor, editor, etc. In Tae Kwon Do, the term for instructor is Sa Bum Nim.

65. "My word!": EGAD. Euphemism for "Oh, God".

DOWN:

1. "Hulk" director Lee: ANG. I wasn't all that fond of his Hulk, but I suppose it would be too cliche to use Crouching Tiger instead.

2. __ anglais: English horn: COR. A french term, it is neither English, nor a horn, more similar to an oboe and half again as long. It got the name from the German word engellisches horn, which meant angelic horn, as it resembled the depicted instruments in statues of angels, but engellisch also was vernacular for English, and the name stuck.

3. Forensic test site: CRIME LAB. I guess that's where they (pause, puts on sunglasses) "flesh out" the evidence... Yaaaaaaaaaa!

4. Celebrity gossip show: TMZ ON TV. A television show that came from a website. TMZ refers to the Thirty Mile Zone, the studio zone of downtown Hollywood.

5. Ponder: MULL. To grind or powderize (thoughts), related to mill, perhaps. Also to sweeten, spice and heat a drink, as mulled wine.

6. Unspecified amount: ANY.

7. Messy barbecue morsel: RIB.

8. Grassy plain: STEPPE.

9. Nutritionist's recommendation: HEALTH FOOD. Here's a clue: if it actually has a label on it claiming to be health food, it probably isn't. Stick with whole unprocessed foods.

10. Hit __ spell: A DRY.

11. Engross: ABSORB. From Latin "absorbere", to swallow up.

12. Sleuth played by Peter Lorre: MR MOTO. You might also see this as Marquand's (John P.) sleuth.

13. Less refined: CRUDER. Latin "crudus", rough, not cooked, raw, bloody.

18. Pasta often baked: ZITI. Like elbow noodles, only straight.

22. On one's guard: WARY.

23. Black, in stanzas: EBON.

24. Low area: VALE.

25. "We get letters" '50s-'60s TV singer/host: COMO. His second RCA LP release, of songs requested via viewer mail on his show, recorded just about the time I was born.

26. Rhetorical skill: ORATORY. Public speaking.

29. Group that goes through the motions?: MIME TROUPE. Apparently there are actually mime troupes, but more in the sense of mimicry, as in satiric presentation of public figures and "official" stories, not pantomime as the clue suggests.

30. "Prince Valiant" character: ARN. A comic strip running since 1937, there were two characters with that name: Prince Arn of Orn, who gave Val the singing sword, and Arn, Val's son, who was named for the former.

35. Dawn goddess: EOS. A greek Titan, sister to Helios, the sun, and Selene, the moon. In Roman mythology they were Aurora, Sol, and Luna.

36. Currier's colleague: IVES. "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Prints", lithographs.

37. Inexpensively: FOR A SONG. More aptly, for the performance of a song.

38. Spirited party: BASH. From striking violently, to a violent drunken spree, to a wild party.

39. "What's the big __?": IDEA.

40. Pageant title: MISS. I didn't want to put that in at first, it seemed too easy.

42. Sam Spade, e.g., slangily: GUMSHOE. Literally from the gum rubber shoes they wore to sneak around.

43. School fund-raiser: RAFFLE.

44. Astronaut Collins: EILEEN. First woman to command the space shuttle.

46. Dirties the dishes: EATS IN.

47. Cinematic showdown hour: NOON. Latin "nona hora" the ninth hour of daylight, or canonical hour of nones was really 3 PM at first. The meaning shift from "3 p.m." to "12 p.m." began during 12c., when the time of Church prayers shifted from ninth hour to sixth hour, or perhaps because the customary time of the midday meal shifted, or both.

52. Wellness gps.: HMOS. Health Maintenance Organization. St. Peter told one of the directors who was present before him: "Well, you may enter the kingdom of Heaven, but you can only stay for three days."

53. City near Sacramento: LODI. CCR.

56. Aetna's bus.: INS. Business, insurance abbrevs.

57. So-so grade: CEE.

58. Rural expanse: LEA. No doubt wordplay on the similarity to the "Great expanse" sea clue we see so often.

59. Pops: DAD.

A note from Doug:

"The puzzle uses a theme that Dan sent to Rich for approval. Rich liked it, but unfortunately Dan didn't get a chance to make the puzzle. So a few months ago, Rich asked me if I'd like to try to construct a puzzle around this theme. What an honor! I met Dan a couple of times, and he was passionate and opinionated about his puzzles. I hope I got a little of his spirit into this one. I'm especially happy with the long downs, and I think this grid represents a nice mixture of our styles."

Al

PS: Rich said there are enough Dan Naddors in his pipeline to last us til April.

87 comments:

  1. Morning, all!

    Not much time to type, since we got another big storm and I have to shovel out to take everybody where they need to go. Let me just say that with unknowns like MOIL and awkward phrases like MIME TROUPE and MUSIC ON HOLD, I wasn't particularly impressed with this one. Sorry Doug (and Dan).

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  2. Morning, Everyone. Nice note from Mr. Peterson explaining how he got to collaborate with Mr. Naddor.

    I liked this theme, and got through the Thursday level without much difficulty. It reminded me of something my sister used to say to us when she was little: Don't Talk to Me! Me Mad!

    My last fill was the cross of MOIL and TMZ ON TV. Not familiar with the TV show and Moil is a new word.

    I also wanted DEBT in lieu of LOSS for In the Red, but didn't have too much trouble correcting that error.

    Nice ShoutOut to our Husker Gary! with Creighton and NEBraska.

    I hope those is the snow zone are safe.

    QOD: Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggie" until you can find a rock. ~ Will Rogers.

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  3. Hi There ~!

    I was done with this puzzle at 4:30 this morning, as I was up to dig out to go to work, only to find the the roads were not plowed at all...

    Waited til someone was the first to post; now that they have, I thought this puzzle was pretty good - I did like the two long down fills.

    I stared at the solution without a TA - DA for a bit, had TOIL for MOIL, and missed my "CRITE LAB" answer.

    Al - I always enjoyed the opening "Yaaa!" after the sunglasses one-liner from 'Horatio' - thanks for putting them all in one place!

    HuskerGary will probably have something to say about this, too - I couldn't get MICHAEL to fit into "astronaut Collins" - are we talking his daughter here?

    I had DEBT for LOSS, too, and it wasn't working...

    Funny, but this weekend I have to re-PLYWOOD a FLOOR to cover up some rough spots before putting the finish laminate down - the pics are on my blog...

    Another 10" (of snow, that is) on top of what we already had, so I think the whole of Long Island said a collective "screw it" this morning !

    Splynter

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  4. Hello Puzzlers - Hand up for CRITE LAB. Never seen MOIL in my life.

    Hand up also for joining in on the collective "screw it". Enough snow already!

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  5. Good Morning C.C.,Al and all,

    Al, super write-up.'Unforgettable'
    brought a tear to my eye; very
    creative of you to think of that.

    The rest was some great humor mixed with fact. Thanks.

    The puzzle took me about Thursday's amount of time;quite enjoyable and fresh.

    MUSIC ON HOLD was a fav for me- pet peeve of mine.

    46D- another fav; my sentiments exactly.

    I haven't seen MOIL since "The Cremation of Sam Magee", but up it jumped. Such fun.

    I really liked the theme- very original. In fact, I just enjoyed looking it over, after I had solved it. Congratulations to you, Doug. You accomplished what you set out to do. Thanks.

    Anxious to see other opinions.

    Have a nice day everyone.

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  6. Good morning Al and all, I got a good butt kicking with this puzzle today. I wore out my eraser taking out all of the mistakes I entered. Just a few of my miscues today: mime groups for mime troupe, wanting Michael for Eileen, alas for egad, Bucs for Rays, ate for fed etc. After going away for a while and then returning to the puzzle I seemed to get my brain awake and was able to finish the puzzle, but it did require a trip to Mr. G to get Eileen.

    My favorite clue/answer today was Curly smacker/Moe, I kept trying to fit in lips, but there were too many letters. My rating for today’s puzzle is difficult, doable with a little help.

    Al,as usual a nice informative write up today.

    More snow here last night! Bah!

    Hope you all have a great Thursday.

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  7. HeartRx, from last night,yes, Linda made an impression on me in more ways than one.

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  8. Good Morning Crosswordies. Thanks for the good puzzle Doug and Dan (RIP). Good write-Al. Thanks for Posting C.C.

    My first entries were IMA and COMO, which crossed. I always try to do that, cross a word before I write it down. I remember the Perry Como show very well. I believe he was initially a barber from eastern Pennsylvania, maybe Bethlehem? I am sure someone can help with that.

    I bounced around and got most everything easily. I had DEAL for 39D and corrected it with the perps to IDEA.

    I initially had OVA, but fixed that to OVO with the HEALTHYFOOD answer.

    I had never heard of 4D TMZONTV. I got it with the perps. Thank you, Al, for defining that. I had TOIL for MOIL, but CRIMELAB fixed that one. When I had finished the puzzle and was sure I had it right, I looked up MOIL in Webster and found: "To moisten or wet; daub; dirty. To work hard, often in the mire or wet; drudge. 1. Hard work; drudgery; toil. 2. Confusion; turmoil."

    See you all tomorrow.

    Abejo

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  9. Al, Excellent write-up for a wonderful puzzle!!!

    Doug P. great job finishing Dan's grid.
    FUN Thursday offering.

    OK, I got way-laid having put in toil without thinking ... until the CRIME LAB got me to change it to MOIL.

    MOE for "Curly smacker" actually got an "Out-Loud" laugh.

    I still slip sometimes and call the local team the Devil-RAYS.
    The "kids" are all-right. Adding Damon and Manny ... but it is the Yankee's I'll be cheering.
    (And Spring-Training is only 18 days away! Yeah!!!)

    Believe-It-Or-Not, I'm actually a HEALTH FOOD nut. The way I see it, at least the energy I consume should counter my "Bad-Habits" (which are many).

    Beautiful Day here in Tampa Bay.
    Everyone is getting ready for the Gasparilla Invasion on Saturday.
    AARRRRGG ... it will be "Talk-Like-A-Pirate" day, again.

    Cheer's to all at Sunset.

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  10. Perhaps the ultimate GRUDGE song, from that Boy Named Sue(3:50).

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  11. Easy Thursday, particularly for a Nador. Once I got the theme I finished the puzzle quickly (for me ;-)

    Great weather out here in NorCal. We're hoping it's not leading to a drought year.

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  12. Good Morning Al, C.C. et al.

    Thank you for the explanation of how this one was created. The theme was really nice, and the entries were absolutely "in the language".

    My problems can in the NW, where I did not know MOIL which crossed with TMZ ON TV, and I put MUse instead of MULL. Whoo boy, that left me a real mess to straighten out. I had to use that darn gg for the TMZ clue. Drat!

    Can anyone actually use "moil" in a sentence? It really is a funny word, but I kinda like it!

    Creature, I had to laugh when you mentioned "The Cremation of Sam Magee" by Robert Service. What a twisted sense of humor that man had! But he also did some very elegant and moving pieces, too.

    We got about a foot here. It's not so bad to snow-blow the driveway, but the problem is at the end of it, where the plows have come by and shoved it into a huge pile. Even worse, when you just finish clearing everything out, and the plow comes by again ! grrrrrrrr.

    But I won't complain too much - it gives me a chance to get in some x-country today. YAY!

    Have a great day everyone, and for you fellow northerners, be careful not to overdo with those shovels!

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  13. Good morning all.
    Great blog, Al. I enjoyed the music today. Especially emotional thoughts with the Nat/Natalie Cole link, and it really made sense, considering Doug and Dan's puzzle today.

    I MOILED my way through the lower two thirds of this without realizing I was MOILING, since MOIL was an unknown term. I also have never heard of TMZ or COR, which along with MARSHA and MR MOTO had to be g'ed.

    I got the theme after I found the unifier and looked back to see what was on the ends of the two long ones I had at that point. That helped, although for the longest time, until after g'spotting those top ones, I couldn't come up with GRIZZLY--brown and black weren't working.

    On the whole it was very enjoyable, though I had to work hard to get started. At first I was thinking faucets instead of airlines for DELTA, and had OAK for PLYwood. Other unknowns were SMU, BALTIMORE HARBOR and COMO--I know who he is, just didn't know the show in the clue. Those GPS headings are always a WAG, since my US geography is lacking on details. So there were quite a few WAGS today.

    Four inches and still coming here this morning.

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  14. Good morning all. Great write-up, Al

    Needed a few passes, but switching between across and vertical frequently moved it right along. GRIZZLY BEAR and FLU SHOT were WAGS. Favorite word was MULL. New word of the day was MOIL After getting the unifier, GRUDGE, the other theme words fell easily. BALTIMORE HARBOR always brings back memories of liberty and ship reunions. Here is a sea chanty - Up She Goes which honors Baltimore.

    Have a good day.

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  15. Good morning Al and solvers all.

    After royally screwing up the NW with 1a/DATE, 14a EVEN and 20a/TOIL I dropped down to the bottom and worked my way back up. The same DEBT/LOSS trap that others have mentioned caught me briefly, too.

    To me there wasn't any question as to ONE A or A ONE since the clue referred to draft status. All of the draft classifications that I'm familiar with are number followed by letter.

    'Curly smacker'/ MOE was the forehead smacker moment... Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!

    Learnng moment was MOIL. Never heard of it, but the perps put it there so it stayed.

    MIME TROUPE brought a chuckle. I liked that clue.

    After reading the write up, I see why I felt that this one wasn't quite as Naddoresque as I have come to expect. It's a great puzzle, about the toughness I expect for Thursday, but lacking something overall. After reading that Doug was working from a theme concept, it's understandable that more of Doug's style would show through. Hat's off to Dan for the theme concept and Doug for carrying it through.

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  16. Thanks Al.

    Not a classic, Mr. Perterson, but original enough and smooth Thursday fare. Only unknown was IVES. MOIL forced its way up through the muddy TURMOIL of my gray matter.

    In fact, MOIL and TURMOIL have the same root. MOIL and TOIL is an old phrase, where the 2 words seem to have almost merged into a single sense.

    MUSIC ON HOLD - was my "V2" moment of the day (if you'll forgive the WWII pun) - I will never forget calling Nature magazine in New York shortly after 9/11 (and as the anthrax-in-the-mail thing was in full swing). My MUSIC ON HOLD was.....

    "I'm leaving on a jet plane,
    Don't know when I'll be back again...."

    Bit of a conversation stopper that.

    Just took the dog for a walk down to our local lagoon. Fresh start at first light, but clear blue skies and more 70° weather forecast for today. The trails have dried out now (note to myself: need to restart irrigating yard this weekend), but there is plenty of water in the lagoon. A family of deer were feeding in the safety of one of the small islands. Rabbits everywhere, no rattlesnakes yet. Fortunately, the dog (male Shih Tzu - the wife picked him) is only interested in a/other dogs, and b/women. Atta boy.

    This is supposed to be a La Niña year, which according to my research promotes drier weather in Southern California and wetter weather in the north. We shall see whether this pattern holds.

    NC

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  17. Good Morning Al, et al (love that greeting!), What a lovely puzzle and write-up on many levels. The Omaha reference was great and Creighton is a wonderful institution that is consistently rated as the #1 Midwest Regional University by U.S. News and World Report. Plus there is no better place in the world to be with heart issues than the CU hospital in Omaha!

    I also loved the astronaut reference and the MISS answer for recently crowned Miss America from the Husker state!

    Musings
    -Struggled to get theme but didn’t get it until the reveal and loved it.
    I ain’t never MOILed that I know of but have TOILed.
    -ARTE and TROUPE are so continental!
    -BRR works for a lot us although it is going to be over 40 this week. Can golf and spring training be far behind?
    -I remember when SMU got the NCAA death penalty for questionable activities
    -Never seen or heard of TMZONTV and don’t know (or care) where to look. To each their own!
    -Perry Como’s pulse rate seemed to be around 40. Great memories of that show.
    -Read Prince Valiant every Sunday until the Omaha World Herald abandoned serial strips. Did Mary Worth ever marry anyone or keep her nose out of other people’s affairs?
    -Argyle, A Boy Named Sue became a theme song for Ndamukong Suh here in Nebraska as he came close to winning the Heisman last year and was an All Pro as a rookie for the lowly Lions. He also donated two million dollars back to the UNL athletic program.
    -Marti, your shared issue with MOIL/TMZ was reassuring to me. Another name for X-country skiing here – going out to get the mail!

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  18. I believe 47 down referred to the movie Shane w/ Alan Ladd. Showdown at High Noon

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  19. Hi all -

    This being a Thursday and seeing Dan Naddor's name, I quickly lined up all my V-8 cans. I ran into trouble right away with 1D...didn't know who he was, didn't know 2D either and when I got to 4D I was ready to give up! I didn't know what to thing when I saw TMZ as the beginning of that. I was sure there was a mistake somewhere but I just kept plugging away.

    25A COPT: I always forget that word, ARRGH.

    20A MOIL: Dudley, I'm with you on never having heard this word. ROIL, yes.

    Creature: re 55A (MUSIC ON HOLD). I agree, these companies always say how important our call is to them, then they put us on hold and leave us there like we want to listen to their canned music without interruption!

    25D COMO, my folks never missed his show so that came easily to me.

    40A was cute...had me going in Dick's direction wanting to put lips in but as he said, too many letters.

    Foggy here again. I LOVE fog. We don't get it that often either. We should have another clear, sunny day and temps in the mid 50's.

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  20. "Shane" came out a year after "High Noon".

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  21. Better late than never. I got up at 5:30, was out shoveling out cars/driveway until 9, finally ate something, showered and came up here to the store, only to find out the plows had done a very good job on the parking lot, but had neglected the sidewalk and had plowed in the entrance to our strip center. Just now finished that. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow morning and the adventure of getting out of bed.

    Pretty much everything I had has been said already about today's puzzle; loved seeing those two names atop it. Didn't have a clue as to the theme until the unifier.

    HeartRx said, Can anyone actually use "moil" in a sentence?

    Sure: The moil plies his trade working strictly on tips.

    Yeah, I know, spelling.

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  22. Kazie:
    That last line was a softball you could count the stitches on, but I think I'll let someone else take the swing.

    Yesterday's puzzle, for 1D I wanted "backstage at the opera" but it wouldn't fit.

    My only defense: tired of winter.
    64 days till April 1.

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  23. WH, yeah, same reaction here - was waiting to see who'd hammer it first.

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  24. Hi gang -

    Interesting challenge today. Made it through - eventually, had all the same difficulties as many of you in the NW, stumbling over TMZ and MOIL.

    Excellent long fill.

    Devious theme. Thanks Doug, for completing Dan's idea.

    Wonderful write up Al.

    Lots of EMOTION in the Cole and Cole link. Singing a duet in unison is much mire difficult than you might imagine, and Natalie pulled it off flawlessly.

    The world lost a great jazz pianist when Nat became a singer - but he probably made a much better living.

    We get OBOE a lot, and some part of English horn once in a while. (A bad oboe player sounds a lot like a duck.) I tried to find a vid with a side by side comparison, but fell short. So - here are two lovely young ladies playing oboe and english horn.

    Cheers!
    JzB who always does it FOR A SONG

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  25. Hello, C.C. Thanks for the great write up, Al.

    Not a speed run at 29 minutes, but pretty easy for a Thursday. No lookups and no red letters.

    I knew the word MOIL and knew that it had something to do with work. It just sounds like a work word! Hand up for debt instead of LOSS. I got CRIMELAB on first pass, so NEB was a natural. If it's NEB, it must be OMAHA. My only unknown was TMZONTV, but it worked out from perps. The rest fell into place easily until I got the ta-da!

    I shed blood at Ft. McHenry. In 1970, we were visiting FIL and step-MIL in D.C. We wandered over to Baltimore and toured the fort. On the way out, I fell head first down the steps. Skinned up my shin, ruining my pantyhose, and requiring first aid. The worst thing is, I was using my FIL's never-been-used wide-angle lens. The only damage was a little scrape. I offered to replace it, but he said no. I always felt bad about that.

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  26. Speaking of lovely young ladies - Let's duck out for a quick oboe adventure with Freddie's big sister.

    Cheers!
    JzB who stumbled across this vid, and has no idea who these people are.

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  27. OK boys, I thought of it too, but was waiting for what you would come up with - LOL

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  28. WH,
    I wondered if I should add "of snow" to that, but figured you'd all know what I meant. Silly me! It's sunny now, but still no plowing on our street.

    HeartRx,
    I was really expecting a reaction to the fact that I actually was using MOIL in sentences probably as you were typing your question about the possibility of that. Neat avatar photo BTW.

    Carol,
    What I hate even more is when the muzac is interrupted by those repetitious announcements about the importance of our call, just when you think it's being answered at last.

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  29. Good day folks,

    Al, thanks for the write up and links, especially Unforgettable.

    I'm in agreement with Barry, this wasn't a puzzle to remember. Moil, TMXONTV, sure weren't in my vocabulary. Then I had my own screw ups; Lap instead of leg for 60A & Deal instead of idea for 39D. Eventually got everything corrected.

    Although I didn't like the puzzle, I finished it w/o a lot of difficulty and only a couple of erasures.

    Another foot of snow last night hasn't helped my attitude today. Shoveling has become a problem because the snow from the previous storms is already too high. This whole winter reeks.

    I'll be in a better frame of mind tomorrow, I hope.

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  30. Hi everybody. Good luck with the snow shoveling. I saw a view on the news this morning about the snow in Connecticut. It looked very pretty but I'm guessing it's gotten tiresome by now with more to come over the next couple of months.

    Al, I enjoyed your writeup as always. I think something to do with the draft is almost always clued ONEA whereas AONE is usually clued as something to do with being the best. But, maybe I'm wrong.

    I didn't know MOIL either. I have heard of MOHELs though. I loved Curly smacker MOE. I sussed it out too, without the crossing letters.

    I don't mind music on hold, depending on the music of course. It let's me know we're still connected. Of course, I don't like being on hold at all since my call is SO important to them.

    Speaking of oboes and English horns, I had a CD of somebody playing a Basset horn. Can't find it though.

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  31. Morning and a belated thanks & congrats to CC for the blog. Can't always get to it but enjoy it when I can.
    Hands up for debt, toil and muse. Moil completely new word to me. Like how "fry" crosses "healthfood."

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  32. Good Morning, MOIL certainly isn't an everyday word, but I have heard it before.

    Thanks creature for reminding me of Sam McGee. We read it in my Canadian high school, when we were studying the poems of Robert Service. Here's the first verse. You can read the rest of this longish poem here The Creamation of Sam Magee.

    There are strange things done in the midnight sun
    By the men who moil for gold;
    The Arctic trails have their secret tales
    That would make your blood run cold;
    The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
    But the queerest they ever did see
    Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
    I cremated Sam McGee.

    GAH and I have tried to watch all the various CSI versions over the years, but most indoor scenes are so dark, they really distract from the story. Who whould work in a lab or office where all the lights were so dim and shawdowy that you could barely walk across the room without tripping.

    I think Doug Peterson was singing of Dan Naddor's page with this puzzle. I enjoyed it a lot. The theme was fun and as with most of Dan's puzzles the longer answers filled in nicely with just a few correctly positioned perps.

    "Curly's smacker" was a good one!

    Oops, almost time to leave to get a haircut. I don't want to miss that. Anybody who is annoyed when then have to interrupt their day with a haircut, shouldn't try the alternative. I love haircuts now!

    See you all later.

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  33. Kazie, I can’t believe you read my mind as I was writing my first post! Thanks for using “moiled” in your post! Now that it makes sense, I’ll have to try to get it into my vocabulary.

    Jeannie, (from last night), when I am constructing, I always “favor” the scrabble-y words over the “blah” fill. But if it doesn’t give me a pangram, (sigh)….I will MOIL on. But I’ll keep trying, just for you!

    Husker, LOL about your x-country quip. I’m glad I don’t have to go outside to get the MOIL…the nice postal worker brings it inside to my desk.

    Dennis, will you e-MOIL me an explanation of your quip?

    (I think I’m getting the hang of it now…)

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  34. Good afternoon everyone.

    Great write up Al, as always. I needed it because I didn't grok much of this puzzle. The original CSI was the one I had to see. Didn't like the later ones in comparison.

    From late last night: Lucina, I'm glad you could relate to my story. Agree with Carol, Lucina, Heart Rx and Chickie about how great The Red Tent is. Enjoy CA. And Carol, I also totally agree with the worth of The Help. I gave it to my d-i-l for Christmas.

    Cheers

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  35. Hahtool, Will Rogers is tops!

    Forgive and Remember- is that your alternate title,Al? or a solution
    LOL

    Argyle, Lol - ultimate grudge.

    Bill,G, Looked up 'Mohels'- new one for me.

    Dennis,Was that your word in a sentence- very good!

    Sorry re:misspelling of Sam Mcgee.
    painful.
    Thanks, CA, for quoting and citing it.

    Thinking about all of you with the
    snow situation; please take care on the shoveling.

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  36. Sorry for being in a bit of a snit this morning. As with thehondohurricane, this never-ending snow is really starting to grate on my nerves.

    Actually, I must live near thehondohurricane, since I also had a foot of snow to shovel this morning and the snowdrifts from past storms have now combined to be taller than I am. In order to shovel the driveway I now have to walk each shovelful 30 feet or so in order to find a place to dump it...

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  37. Good morning all,

    I found this a delightful xwd for a Thursday-very doable for me with a few visits to Mr. G.The top 1/2 went well, even though I had never heard of moil; I always trust the "creators" who seem to have a bazillion words that are unfamiliar

    The bottom 1/2 was a bit harder.Sometimes my lack of wisdom cracks me up-throw me a few V8's, Carol! I COULD NOT fill in the 0 for flu shot. I was reading it FLUSH -T.The only letter that would work was an i, making it flush it(we've all had to buy that stuff for the big cleanse)BUT, the i did not make sense the other way;could not see troupe either.

    Copt reminded me of the 3 languages written on the Rosetta Stone, one of which was the demotic script. The Coptic language came from the Demotic Egyptian spoken in the Roman era.

    OK, whoever wrote, "letters, we get letters", that song is buzzing repeatedly through my brain. :(

    Kazie, guys will be guys.LOL

    WH, did love your comment @ 1D. another chuckle.

    Didn't join in on the "book fest" last night..too late, but when you mentioned The Boxcar Children, it reminded me of The Borrowers, another great series.Having just finished Patricia Cornwell's Port Mortuary, I am also reading/enjoying The Red Tent.
    CA, I thought our family was the only one who used orange crates for book shelves. Actually the 4 of us shared one room, and we each had one shelf for our comics.

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  38. JD: It was from Perry Como...and the rest was, "Dear Perry, Would you be so kind as to fill a request and sing the song I like best?"

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  39. My response to music on hold is to put the phone on speaker mode and set it down next to my computer playing my tunes. That way when the representatives finally get around to answering my call they can listen to my music for awhile.

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  40. HeartRx: a mohel is one who performs circumcisions, hence working for tips. Same pronunciation as moil.

    A mohel has a shop on a busy street. In his shop window, he has many clocks. A man walks into the shop with a broken clock and asks if the mohel can fix it.

    The mohel explains that he only does circumcisions.

    "but in your window, you have clocks!"

    The mohel replies, "nu, so what you want I should put in my window?"

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  41. HeartRx, regarding my little joke: your friendly local Jewish circumcisor is called a 'mohel', pronounced 'moil'.

    I know, I know, but it's the best I could come up with.

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  42. Hahtool, that Mohel with the clocks is probably the same one who's favorite phrase is "it won't be long now".

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  43. Good day, puzzlers! Al, entertaining blog today; I remembered how much I love CCR and enjoyed your jokes.

    Late today because my car is sick; not only did it need an oil change but the freon leaked out and the hose was in imminent danger of breaking so it's an expensive day.

    However, I finsihed the puzzle while waiting and no MOIL was required. Thanks, creature and CA, as I had heard that word before just didn't recall where.

    What a nice collaboration between Doug Peterson and the late, lamented Dan Naddor.

    I liked this very doable one, a bit easy for a Thursday, but like others I stumbled on TMZONTV, had OLAF before OLAV, LAP then LEG.

    Hand up, I thought of High Noon for cinematic showdown hour.

    I love Peter Lorre!

    Carol, it's interesting that you like fog and I suppose its appearance can be lovely, but driving in it is treacherous.

    Yes, The Help is also a wonderful book. I just loaned it to our Dean at school.

    Must go now. Back later.
    I hope your Thursday is great! Be careful in the snow.

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  44. This was a toughie for me today. I never did figure out the theme until coming to the blog. I had many missteps along the way…I had toil for moil, ate for fed, lap for leg. I think you get the picture. I do it on line and let’s just say that when I turned on the “red letter” help, there were more red letters than black! Oh well, can’t win ‘em all.
    I did like the shout out to Husker Gary today, and Al, I always learn something from your write ups.

    Dennis, I loved your “moil” sentence. When I read “moil” I immediately thought of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry is assisting the Mohel in the brisque. Hilarious!

    No snow here today and temps are in the high twenties for a change. Still no dripping off the roof yet.

    Take care you East Coasters…

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  45. thanks anonymous. I did know where it was from and who sang it and the words. The problem is that it is still playing in my head.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Speaking about Carol's love for fog...

    I remember early on when I had moved to Los Angeles from Virginia to work at Hughes Aircraft Company, I went to visit a college friend in Pasadena. By the time I got around to driving home, a pea-soup fog had set it. It was so thick, I had a hard time seeing the traffic lights and I opened the door so I could see the line down the middle of the road. I totally missed a big intersection and didn't know where I was until I ran into a dead end at the Pacific Ocean. I knew how to get home from there. That was the thickest fog I ever saw.

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  47. JD, I was ROTFLMAO at your little tussle with the FLU SHOT clue. Too funny!

    Hahtool, thanks for the explanation! I went back and read Dennis’s quip, and spurted coffee all over the desk !

    So wow, did I ever learn some things today:

    -How to use MOIL (“Double, double MOIL and trouble”?)

    -Mohel’s get a cut of the action

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  48. Abejo,
    Just FYI, Al & other weekday bloggers have been posting under their own name since early this year. See the "Posted by.." line at the end of each write-up? I can't take credit for that.

    ReplyDelete
  49. WH:
    Okay, I had to reread yesterday's
    1D clue then laughed very loudly! Yes, boys will be boys.

    Haltool:
    Thanks for explaining MOIL/Mohel and loved your joke!

    HeartRx:
    Loved your joke, too!

    xtulmkr:
    That's what I do! Put the on hold music on speaker phone.

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  50. Hi all.

    Will be thinking of some of you
    while cutting grass today.

    Abejo. Perry Como was born and raised in Canonsburg, PA
    (near Pittsburgh).
    BTW. Canonsburg is also home to Harold Betters. My friend and
    trombone player. Hope to see him
    this Sept.

    take care

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  51. Hola Everyone, Hands up for Moil being a new word for me. I had moil in but thought it must be wrong. I had looked up the word moil in Google, and it didn't like it, nothing but mail came up! sigh!

    I did manage to finish, but had to erase here and there. I had put in oration for oratory, and misspelled troupe/troop. Also, I could only think of Michael Collins, but it was one letter too long. The perps had to fill in Eileen.

    Shout outs for Registered Nurses. Our university just announced today that they will be offering a Doctorate in Nursing to help with the shortage of nurses and the educators to teach them. A big deal for a State University.

    I have my Antique Collecting class this noon, so will have to come back to read all the entries today.

    More later.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Industry joke:

    How did Burger King get Dairy Queen pregnant?




















    Why, he forgot to wrap his whopper!!

    ReplyDelete
  53. Sorry I put an apostrophe in “mohels” in my 1:33 post. I know thats incorrect, so I hope I didnt offend all you educator’s out there!

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  54. HeartRx, loved that one-liner!

    Hahtool, Wonderful joke! I must be sure to forward that to some joke-loving friends! I had heard the word 'mohel' but had never seen it in print. Not having 'moil' in my vocabulary, I assumed 'mohel' was probably spelt that way.So when 'toil' messed up my 'crime lab', I was sure 'moil' was a mistake. Why do we need the two words, so similar and meaning the same thing?

    Be that as it may, I enjoyed this puzzle a lot and thought pretty easy for Thursday, after some of the past few weeks.

    As usual I am impressed with your write-up, Al.

    Lucina, I finished 'The Help' a couple of weeks ago. Great book and almost unbelievable to this norther midwesterner. I quit the book club a while ago. I like reading what I happen to feel like and wasn't too crazy about their selections. Miss the discussions, though.

    Has anybody read 'House Rules', by Jodi Picoult? Gotta get "The Red
    Tent', I guess.

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  55. OK,
    If it's joke time (and what else to do when you're up to your --- in snow?), here's one I passed up from yesterdays puzzle, and should be a gimme for us oldsters:

    What do you do when you're no longer "able" (the actual fill yesterday) to "cut the mustard"?

    ReplyDelete
  56. I came across this memorable dance routine. I thought you might enjoy seeing it again. Donald O'Connor was not as famous for his dancing as Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly but he was a very talented fellow.

    Time to go out for a little bike ride along the Pacific. I wish some of you snowed-in folks could join me.

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  57. Lucina: I know what you mean about driving in fog...it's very scary and I am thankful that I no longer have to do it. I do love to walk in it though.
    Most of ours (the little we get) burns off or is blown away by mid morning.

    Bill G: I have been in that 'pea soup' fog too. Once when I was about 9 or maybe less, we were driving back home from the southern Oregon coast to Portland. Hwy 101 was very curvy then (more so than now) and one could not see more than a few feet. My Dad did what you did, he opened his door a bit so he could see the yellow line. It was very scary, especially to a child. Our old car was a '41 DeSoto and it had that long hood - we could not see much of the road past that point! We made it home safely but it sure took a loooonnng time.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Dennis, Hahtool and JD: I have now cleaned up the mess I made spewing water all over myself laughing at your comments/jokes. Thanks for the chuckles. I am sure more will be forthcoming, knowing this group. :)

    ReplyDelete
  59. eddyB
    Well I can't say I have to go and cut the grass ... Down here we like to smoke it.

    Now I have to fight my way through the 56 degree/58% humidity and head over to Honeymoon Island for (what should be) a Fantastic Sunset.

    St. Pete Times had an article about it this morning.
    Turns out it is the MOST visited State Park in Florida.
    Over 1,043,000 visitors each year.
    (#2 was Sebastian Inlet at 749,000 visitors).

    Sorry I don't have a "Snow" story.

    Cheer's !!!

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  60. @ windhover... you lick the jar!

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  61. All this talk about the mohel....and I'm reading The Red Tent. That Jacob ...what a guy.. wielding the knife and practicing the newfangled belief on his first-born Reuben. The brave one was Reuben's mother Leah, to hand the baby over to Jacob in the first place. Apparently, Jacob had a steady hand and managed to circumcise eleven more sons without any mishaps.

    I forgot to give real credit to Doug Peterson. Trying to Naddorize his creation must have been tough. He did a terrific job and combined their two styles very well. I enjoyed it very much, and was impressed by those long Downs!

    Another forget is kuddos to Al for his usual excellent blogging.

    Bill G. I can't forget that "Singin' In The Rain" was rated the #1 American Movie Musical by the American Film Institute in 2006. I've never seen a better one. I may have mentioned at one time, that I ran into (more of a ran over to) Debbie Reynolds at a hotel in So Cal a few years ago and told her what a fan I was and how much I loved that movie. She was very gracious.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Hello everybody. A quick in and out to say hi to you all and to tell you how much I enjoy reading your comments, jokes, musings, advice, experiences, and recommendations. Back to work now; been putting in 9-hour days several days during the past coupla weeks. Always take time to work the puzzle and read this blog, though. Best wishes to you all.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Clear Ayes, thanks for posting the first verse of The Cremation of Sam McGee. I have loved that piece of doggerel ever since my sister used to recite it to us from memory when we were kids. I read it aloud (with lots of over-dramatization in my voice and facial features) to my grandkids a few months ago and they were enraptured. I don't recall having seen them sit so still for such a period of time before.

    Mohel jokers, so THAT'S the correct spelling of moyle. LOL

    My wife and I watched TMZ once on TV. Once.

    Jeannie, maybe that's why he's the KING.

    Best regards.

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  64. HeartRx, re. apostrophe's. I think there must be something called "Conservation of Apostrophe's." As long as the total number come's out close, it doesnt matter where you put em. Use lot's. Better to be safe with too many than discover youve missed an opportunity to use some.

    ReplyDelete
  65. #5 OK Tinbeni, you have me convinced. When can I move into your guest room? I think I’m ready to get outta town, especially when I look at the news and they say “And here’s the JACKPOT area, with over 16” of snow last night…(right in my neighborhood)” Hnnnh…don’t feel like no jackpot to me!

    Bill G., I agree total’y that y’all can’t ev’r have too many of thos’ ‘postraphe’s !!

    Good night all!

    ReplyDelete
  66. Barry,

    Always thought you were in the Boston area. My oldest son is in Newburyport. I'm predicting his youngest will be a future first round draft pick in the NFL. We all need a big time wish, right?

    To make matters worse today, my plow service let me down. I ended up snow blowing a 184 driveway. I'm as sore tonight as I have been in quite some time.

    As I said earlier, tomorrow has to be better, provided I can get out of the sack.

    Hondo

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  67. Barry,

    My brain is mush. I'm in central CT so we are not too far apart.

    Hondo

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  68. Jayce, I loved hearing about your sister and the Sam McGee piece. I,too, memorized it and played a ham with it for a while, when I was in high school. I see I have forgotten some of the stanzas, after such a long time. That was 'cool' for CA to quote and cite it.

    I was going to remark today or tomorrow, that you have sorely been missed. You are on my fav list
    and I hope this is just an unusually busy time for you. Thnks for dropping in.

    ReplyDelete
  69. CA, I am always impressed by those "long downs" as well :)

    Please forgive my ignorance my Jewish friends...the ritual is called a "Bris"...not a "Brisque". Thank you Splynter for linking it. I can't access Youtube at work.

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  70. I read a wonderful small (208 pg.) book called The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey. Lots of snail lore.

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  71. A bloke on a sidewalk in New York city noticed his watch had stopped. Looking around he saw a shop with a clock displayed in the window, walked in and asked the merchant to repair his watch.The merchant said "I can't fix a watch. I'm a moil". The goy said "how come you got a watch in your window? The merchant says "So what do you want I should put in my window!"

    ReplyDelete
  72. Hi all,

    I was going to post this AM about yesterdays puzzle but never got to it. The Tetons- beautiful. We took a tour to that area and had our 12 year old grandson along, it was an intergenerational group so there were a number of kids. We went on a big raft down the Snake river. It was fun and we enjoyed it, but the kids (including our grandson) thought it was awfully slow.They were used to white water rafting and it goes much faster.

    Today's puzzle WAS fun but there were a few I looked up. However, I did get alot from the perps. Currier and Ives was easy, they always had beautiful pictures. I did get TMZ on my own eventually, but I never knew what it was. It is on localy in Madison, it is a CW channel, whatever that is. It claims to have News/Business but according to this puzzle it is a gossip column.

    Our funnies still have Rex Morgan every day and Prince Valiant on Sundays. I don't read Val but do Rex. He is now married to his nurse June and they have a daughter. I remember reading it when I was in Jr. and Sr. high school. They don't look any older.

    I got the long answers today but it took a while. As everyone said, the nw corner was the hardest.Moil came way late and I had muse instead of mull.I also had deal instead of idea at first and goad came way late.

    Have a good evening all, I know this is late but hope a few people will read it.

    Marge

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  73. Marge, no worries - almost everyone reads the later posts.

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  74. Very late today, but I'm visiting friends and this is the first chance I've had to get online.

    I warmed up this AM with the NY times puzzle that is in the local paper. By the time I found a copy of this, that one made this seem really easy for a Thurs. And except for TMZONTV, I enjoyed it immensely.

    Argyle, I want to challenge your Grudge song.

    Carol, traveling through Bakersfield yesterday at 3:30 PM, visibility was less than a mile. I had planned to leave in the morning, but all the foggy day schedules convinced me to wait. I remember once when I was passenger, I had my door open, too, to look for the edge of the pavement as he looked for the white line.

    I always found it ironic that the school district would call a foggy day schedule to protect the students, but demand that we arrive on time to babysit the ones that came anyway. I never did feel that the administration respected the teachers they had.

    Hope all have a great night.

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  75. Jeannie,

    Alternate answer to your riddle:

    The King didn't put a condiment on his Whopper!

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  76. Marge, I meant to comment the other day on my excursion to the Grand Tetons and Snake River. I was dating a guy at the time that was a real outdoors type. I am too, so I was excited when we decided to take a trip out west together. I am not a prude in the least, but when it came to putting on 50lb back packs and walking down a mountain quite a ways so that we could "make camp" and fish the trout in the Snake River, I wondered about the hike back UP the mountain. Funny story, I out fished him and that day a wind came up and I saw our tent floating down the river. He tried to retrieve it to no avail. That water is colder than Lake Superior! I remember telling him that we should at least put our provisions in the tent to "anchor" it. Since we didn't do that all we lost was our sleeping shelter. We had all our other supplies so it turned out we had a good laugh until the morning when I had to trudge up that damned mountain. One thing that sticks in my mind was the sheer beauty of that area and how clear that river was. Oh, and the rainbow and brown trout were fabulous. I still can't figure out how I didn't "land" that guy as I did my best to feed him and keep him warm. It must have been the bitching up the mountain. Hmmm....

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  77. Jeannie, if YOU had gone in the water and rescued the tent, it mght have gotten you the extra points needed...

    ReplyDelete
  78. Jeannie, great story; loved the joke too.

    dodo, I've read several of Jodi Picoult's novels, but not that new one.I am amazed at her knowledge on every subject she chooses to write about, and her books are hard to put down.

    Anyone who has lived in the San Joaquin Valley has inched along with an open door at one time or another.Most people remember "prom night" for other things.I just remember how scary it was in that fog. Didn't actually get home to Three Rivers( gateway to Sequoia) that night, so stayed with boyfriend's family in Visalia.

    Fun grudge song, Gunghy

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  79. Since Seniors are texting and tweeting, there appears to be a need for a STC (Senior Texting Code).
    ATD: At The Doctor's
    BFF: Best Friend Fainted
    BTW: Bring The Wheelchair
    BYOT: Bring Your Own Teeth
    CBM: Covered By Medicare
    CUATSC: See You At The Senior Center
    DWI: Driving While Incontinent
    FWB: Friend With Beta Blockers
    FWIW: Forgot Where I Was
    FYI: Found Your Insulin
    GGPBL: Gotta Go, Pacemaker Battery Low!
    GHA: Got Heartburn Again
    HGBM: Had Good Bowel Movement
    IMHO: Is My Hearing-Aid On?
    LMDO: Laughing My Dentures Out
    LOL: Living On Lipitor
    LWO: Lawrence Welk's On
    OMMR: On My Massage Recliner
    OMSG: Oh My! Sorry, Gas.
    ROFL... CGU: Rolling On The Floor Laughing... And Can't Get Up
    SGGP: Sorry, Gotta Go Poop
    TTYL: Talk To You Later
    WAITT: Who Am I Talking To?
    WTFA: Wet The Furniture Again
    WTP: Where's The Prunes?
    WWNO: Walker Wheels Need Oil

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  80. Grumpy1, as far as my southern Mama taught me, chivalry should not be not dead. Did I not mention that the temps in the Snake River rivaled the temps in Lake Superior? Afterall I did feed him (I consider myself a good cook) and kept him warm. I think the deal breaker was me bitching as we ascended that mountain. I also think he was bummed out that I caught more fish seeing how I had never wielded a fly rod. I'm not kidding though, the fish were so prevalent and the water so clear that you could have just waded in to snab one. If I remember correctly, I took the reel off and just used the pole with a line and hook as I couldn't get down the release part of the fly reel. He was using flies (made of course by him) and I just put a worm on a bare hook on basic disassembled bamboo pole.

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  81. Gunghy:
    Funny list! Realy LOL.

    Good jokes, everyone, Jeannie and all others.

    Have a great night!

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  82. Jeannie@7:20, right you are. You got me on the long Downs :o) About your misspelling, you weren't too far off. I bet every mohel tries to be brisk (or as the French might say..."brisque") when performing the bris ceremony. No reason not get it over with quickly...particularly from the baby and baby's parents view.

    JD, loved the Nudemen Clock!

    See Marge, we do check later in the evening to see what fun and games have been going on.

    ReplyDelete

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