google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday February 19. 2011 Bruce Venzke

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Feb 19, 2011

Saturday February 19. 2011 Bruce Venzke

Theme: None

Total words: 70

Total blocks: 32

Amazing symmetry in this puzzle: the normal 180-degree rotation; left to right; and top to bottom.

As usual, Bruce likes to have grid-spanning answers anchor his puzzle. Today, we have six:

15A. TV host's segue : BE BACK IN A MINUTE. Reminds me of Don's ABOUT TO GO LIVE answer.

17A. Sources of track reports : STARTER'S PISTOLS. Report = Gunshot sound. Had to ask Dennis for help.

34. Lonely guy in old 60-Down : MAYTAG REPAIRMAN. And ADS ( 60D. Some pitches). Sales pitches.

41A. Fighting words : LET'S STEP OUTSIDE

58A. Creed foe, with "The" : ITALIAN STALLION. Nickname for Rocky. Apollo Creed, an unfamiliar character to me.

63A. Maneuver through a tight opening : THREAD THE NEEDLE

Quite a few abbreviations in this puzzle, the by-product of a very demanding grid structure.

Across:

1. Set off, as an alarm : TRIPPED. Tripped an alarm.

8. Elko native : NEVADAN. We've seen ELKO clued as "Nevada city" a few times.

18. Certain border, to a philatelist : PERF. OK, perforated.

19. Menlo Park wizard, initially : TAE (Thomas Alva Edison)

20. Egyptian fertility deity : ISIS

21. It might be req. for some new furniture : ASSY (Assembly). This abbreviation stumped me also.

24. Eject : SPEW

27. Velvet's older sister in "National Velvet" : EDWINA. Hard for me, since I don't know the crossing 27D & 29D.

30. Sends, in a way : EMAILS. I wanted ELATES.

38. Author Levin : IRA

39. Kind of blouse : PEASANT. Looks pretty on this model.

40. Shade : HUE

44. Impressive property : ESTATE

45. Filled in : TEMPED. Don't know temp can be a verb.

46. Travel about : ROAM

48. Fed. inspection group : USDA. Food inspection.

49. Letter on a sweater : ZETA. Oh, the fraternity letter.

52. Defense gp. formed in Bogotá : OAS (Organization of American States). In 1948.

54. Shortfall : LACK

64. High-powered : INTENSE. I associate "intense" with feelings, not "high-powered" though.

65. Lower : DEGRADE. Verb "lower".

Down:

1. Medicinal amt. : TBSP

2. Anatomical network : RETE. Neural network. Learned from doing Xword.

3. Support beam : I-BAR

4. Layered dessert : PARFAIT. Not to my taste.

5. Election night fig. : PCT (Percent)

6. Just make, with "out" : EKE. This little three word is constructor's best friend, same as OREO.

7. Bad way to play : DIRTY. Play dirty.

8. Collars can hide them : NAPES. Neck backs.

9. Former Radiohead label : EMI. Guessed. English band, what label could it be?

10. As far as the eye can see: Abbr. : VIS. Vision? (Correction: It's visibility.)

11. Dovelike : ANTIWAR

12. Batman and Robin et al. : DUOS

13. King of the Huns, in Norse myth : ATLI. Same as Attila the Hun.

14. Loch seen from Urquhart Castle : NESS. Loch brought me the answer. Don't know the castle.

16. Secretive org. : NSA

22. Shapes up : SNAPS TO. New phrase to me.

23. Smart-sounding brew : SAGE TEA. Have never had this tea.

25. Very little money : PEANUTS. Work for peanuts.

26. Gave off : EMITTED

27. '60s boxing champ Griffith : EMILE. Sigh! I googled this guy before, then promptly forgot all about him.

28. Braves : DARES

29. Peter's "Easy Rider" role : WYATT. Had ??ATT there for some time.

31. "You dig?" response : I'M HIP

32. Cum __ : LAUDE

33. Ed __, runner-up in the first Masters sudden death playoff : SNEED. Not a familiar name to me. 1979 Masters. Lost to Fuzzy Zoeller, according to Wikipedia. Fuzzy is one noisy guy.

35. "The Facts of Life" actress : RAE (Charlotte)

36. Debatable "ability" : ESP

37. Kung __ chicken : PAO

42. Illinois-based food giant : SARA LEE

43. Compressed : SMALLER. Tricky part of speech.

47. __ Cristo: fried sandwich : MONTE. First encounter with this sandwich. Does it taste good, Bill?

48. Peruvian pronoun : USTED. Just "you".

49. Rigatoni relative : ZITI

50. Race: Pref. : ETHN. ETHNO is more common. 

51. Sharp : TART

53. Butt end : ASH. Nice clue.

55. Musical with the song "Radames' Letter" : AIDA. Radames is her love.

56. Under 20, to most : COLD. Was thinking of age, not temperature.

57. Joint for guitarists? : KNEE. Don't get this clue, Al/Splynter!

59. Golfer Woosnam : IAN. Very hot-tempered guy. I used to follow European Tour fervently.

61. Chemical suffix : ANE

62. It may be pulled : LEG. I wanted TAB.


C.C.

51 comments:

  1. Hi.

    This wasn't as difficult as it first seemed. Ds filled in a lot of the 15s and the rest of it was an easy guess. Didn't know Wyatt
    and didn't understand knee - either.

    take care.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have no clue about why knee is important to a guitarist, and I asked my son who plays and he had no idea. I thought this was a very demanding puzzle which required work and patience. The trickery in the grid spanners was part of the dificulty, e.g. track reports, anmd some of the crosses were very discouraging. RETE and PERF. I did not like PERF being an abbreviation with no hint of same. It ended up filling with a few ahas, but not a smooth trip.

    VIS is another abbreviation that I do not believe is real, though I am sure it stands for VISIBILTY. Well it is done, my last space was SPEW ANTIWAR, with the W completing the grid. A V8 when I realized what kind of dove he meant.

    night all

    ReplyDelete
  3. If your guitar doesn't have a strap, you rest it on your knee.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Morning, all!

    This was about 85% a wonderful puzzle, and 15%, well, let's just say "less than wonderful" and leave it at that...

    Seriously, everything was fine except that one section in the west where EMILE (who?) and WYATT (who??) crossed EDWINA (WHO???). That was just bad construction, I'm afraid. I did managed to get through it, but only by guessing letters that made plausible-sounding names. The absolute worst part, though was ASSY. I mean, seriously, if you have to use that as an abbreviation then it's time to start over, especially when it's in an area already surrounded by iffy fill. Yes, VIS was also annoying, but at least all the fill surrounding it was solid.

    As I said, the rest of the puzzle was great and very enjoyable, but it really does leave a bad taste in my mouth when an otherwise quality puzzle is ruined this way.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good Morning C.C. et al.

    Thanks for the wonderful write-up, C.C. Do you think your link to EMILE Griffith will help me remember him? Nope – as soon as I finished the puzzle, I promptly forgot him, too. In fact, I had to go back to your write-up to look up his name again to write this, LOL!

    I rather liked this one. The long entries were very common phrases that popped out at me with only a sprinkling of the crosses filled.

    PERF, clued without indication of abbr. in the clue was OK to me, because he said “to a philatalist”. I mean, to a cruciverbalist, the crossing word would be “perp”, right? Which is almost what I wrote in there!

    ASSY for “assembly” is the common abbr. for that word, so that one didn’t give me fits, either.

    After yesterday’s Dan Naddor, it was a slight let-down, but still enjoyable. Have a great day, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good morning all. Thanks for the commentary, C.C.

    I'm with EddyB and HeartRx on this one. The long fills seemed daunting at first, but then, the perps were helpful. I liked the track report clue for STARTERS PISTOLS. Perps also assisted with any other unknowns, so no look-ups were needed.

    Have a good weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Perf = FOUL

    Assy = FOUL

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good Morning C.C. and Saturday puzzlers! I had the south filled and looked at a lot of idle acres north before getting to finis! Wonderful exercise with minor annoyances that must have been a bear to construct!

    Musings
    -Rocky’s sobriquet got me goin’. Don’t those first big fills feel good?
    -I knew some INTENSE sales peeps.
    -Never heard an IBEAM called an IBAR! Ever!
    -Are you sure EKE isn’t the most common cwd answer?
    -Don’t know any other Lochs
    -Working for peanuts? $5,800 first year teaching. Finished strong though!
    -My lovely bride Joann was a Christo and her cousin Monte was a backup Husker quarterback. His nickname on the Jumbotron? Count of Monte Christo, of course!
    -An opera is a musical?
    -Isn’t PERF an abbr.?
    -I rest my 12 string on my thigh not my knee. Protected by patella? Site for grandpa stories? Women lift this for protection? Birth name homophone? Cello holder? Where an ACL tears. Mini southern border?
    -ASSY begs better cluing. Ray met Debra assembling her futon.

    ReplyDelete
  9. C.C. Great write-up.
    I had questions regarding the VIS, ASSY and ETHN abbr's too.

    Also had CIA before the perps got me NSA.
    WYATT for Fonda's Easy Rider character was a total wag.
    Same with Velvet's sis EDWINA.

    The 15's were the easy part.
    MAYTAG REPAIRMAN was my fave.

    LEG being that thing pulled got an actual "out loud" laugh.

    Off to enjoy my rut ...

    ReplyDelete
  10. vis is short for visability

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi There ~!

    Moved through this well-constructed Saturday fairly well, considering the first pass was a blank for the most part. Not too meh about the clues, ETHN was a bit....

    I TRIPPED the house alarm at a client's this week - the other contractor did not know the secret word, so we got to meet the local police, first responders and firemen - ooops....

    To chime in on the guitarist's joint? Here's two variations, the 'standard' (yeah, the thigh, actually)and a more preferred visual.

    I got ASSY, have seen it in the instructions for many an item.

    WAG for WYATT, left me with the "W" for a WAG at EDWINA

    Did not get ASH for Butt End - shows that I haven't smoked for over three years ~!

    Loved STARTERS PISTOLS, and ITALIAN STALLION - I was stuck in INDIAN _ _ _ mode for some time, until I committed to ETHN - right; Apollo Creed, not Cree...

    Splynter

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  12. Maybe 57d would be better clued as "Joint for banjoist?", but it IS Saturday.

    Remember "Oh Susannah"? Or is that only in Alabammy?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Splynter,I first thought FRET for guitar joint. A little abstruse perhaps?

    We had an alarm system at school and someone set it without realizing I was still in my room at the other end of the building. As soon as I stepped out into the hall, I be trippin'. The Douglas County Deputy was very friendly!

    How many chords do you think your visual player knows? Yeah, I know, who cares?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Full of not just unknown abbr. but some that were just made up,i.e., tbsp: seen worse but usually abbr. Tbls., perf; never seen this one before, or assy either. Too many.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Good morning CC and Saturday solvers. Thank you, CC, for providing a place to vent our frustrations. LOL

    This was one of those "I like it... no, I hate it" puzzles. I liked the grid spanners but disliked the cluster of proper names in the middle west and the 'iffy' abbreviations scattered about. I thought Braves/DARES was rather weak. Under 20 got me. That was clever. Perps to the rescue, though.

    In the end, perseverance paid off and I was able to finish without lookups.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Good morning CC and all, today’s puzzle was not one of my favorites, but it was doable and for the most part fun. My favorite parts of the puzzle were the long clues/answers. Once I got the first long answer “be back in a minute” I was off and running. As others have said I also did not like all the abbreviations.

    My wife came home recently and managed to trip the security alarm. By the time she got up to the foyer to call the security people they had already sent the police. As the police pulled into our driveway my wife started to notice blood all over the foyer which now appears to have been from our cats catching a mouse. Anyway, it took a bit of time to explain to the police why the alarm went off and there was blood all over the foyer. All worked out OK.

    Hope you all have a great Saturday.

    ReplyDelete
  17. HeartRx, re: assy.
    You are really quite adept, for a girl. ;-}

    Of course, we've all seen "No assy. Required" on the packaging of toys and appliances.
    Or was that the title of that movie I downloaded last week?

    Lois: Three AAA's? Hope they're alkaline, for long life.

    ReplyDelete
  18. This was a tough one for me. Had to go to Google several times and then still couldn't get the bottom two long ones.

    Nice day today in NorCal after a week of rain. Maybe get outside today!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Good Morning, folks! I thought this puzzle was great! Congrats to Bruce Venzke. Nice write-up and posting, C.C. Thank You!

    I started slow. The long answers were daunting, at first. With a couple short answers I was able to get STARTERSPISTOLS first. From there BACKINAMINUTE came together. I got all the North.

    Next came the South. I had a few write-overs, but it came together.

    The center section was the bugger. I had PENNIES for 25D. That threw me off for quite a while. Finally figured out PEANUTS and then MAYTAGREPAIRMAN appeared. Then it all came together.

    I hate write-overs. I always use ink and try to get the answer the first time. However, this puzzle caused me quite a few write-overs. I had TEEN for COLD. DESCEND for DEGRADE. HELPED for TEMPED. BETA for ZETA. DOSE for TBSP. CIA for NSA. POL for PCT. I did not write it, but WEED entered my head for KNEE. Anyhow, fixed them all with perps.

    I believe VIS was for "Vista." That is how I read it.

    Agree with Argyle, a guitarist often uses his (or her) knee while sitting and playing.

    See you tomorrow. I am heading to Freeport, IL, in the morning, but hope to have the puzzle done tonight.

    Abejo

    ReplyDelete
  20. Of course, we've all seen "No assy. Required" on the packaging of toys and appliances.

    Actually, no. I've never seen it abbreviated that way.

    Oh -- and a word of advice: don't try doing a Google image search on "assy." Not right after eating, at least...

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hi Everyone ~~

    I really liked this puzzle. For some reason all the long answers came easily and perps took care of the rest. I did have TRIGGER before TRIPPED, CIA before NSA and thought 29D might be HYATT before EDWINA gave me WYATT. I guessed EDWINA because it was the only name I could think of starting with ED_ having six letters. KNEE came to me right away from memories of my father playing his guitar on his knee/thigh.

    I always enjoy your write-up, C.C. I love the way you respond to some of the answers.

    I had to print out the puzzle today since we didn't get a paper. Our carrier is very dependable so we're guessing it must have blown away. We have high wind warnings for today. That's better than snow ... but apparently that's on the way for tomorrow.

    Enjoy the day!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Good morning,
    We woke up this morning with snow covered hills all around us, a beautiful sight.

    This puzzle was like having a conversation with a genius. Once in awhile I could throw in a word or two, like isis, ibar, dirty, laude, but mostly I just listened and tried to figure out what he was talking about.I tripped putting trigger, and wondered who the *?## that hun was, if not Attila.Quietly I snuck away and delved into my dictionary to look up philatelist and segue.Hey! I collect stamps, but still no help.

    Can't wait to read the write up today and learn something!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Too much deliberate misdirection and obscurity in the cluing. I mean, did he have to pick some unknown golfer to clue Ian? What's wrong with McKellan or even Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull? TBSP is medicinal? It's far more commonly associated with cooking. PCT for election night? Okay, yeah, but, the word percent could've been clued a bit more clearly. Compressed is smaller? Okay, yeah, but...

    I mean, gimme a gimme here and there for the long ones! They're tough enough!

    Never saw Rocky, so there's one that didn't make sense at all to me until I came here.

    Managed to finish, but it took a lot of Google.

    Sorry for complaining. I guess this is supposed to be for fun...

    Just feels he was trying a little too hard to be cute.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hey, I stumbled into today's blog late last night and could have been the second poster. That would have been a first for me. But since I hadn't done the puzzle, I fell back this morning to my usual place in the queue. :>)

    I'm not crazy about Saturday themeless puzzles but this one doesn't seem as bad to me as it did to a few folks. If you don't know the words, names and abbreviations, that makes the puzzle hard for you, not necessarily a poorly-constructed puzzle. I happened to know of EMILE Griffith and got the rest of that area with crossing letters. And why the fuss about ASSY? I agree with HeartRx. It's the only abbreviation for assembly I know of and you can find it mentioned all over the Internet.

    Re: KNEE. Most classically-trained guitarists prop the guitar across their left thigh (knee) and elevate that leg with a small footstool. I did.

    C.C., if the question about a Monte Cristo was meant for me, I'm not sure I've ever had one. But since it is fried, it sounds good to me.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Aida - musical on Broadway by Elton john starring Toni braxton...saw it in 2003

    ReplyDelete
  26. Good Morning All, I didn't like abbreviations PERF, VIS and ETHN. I didn't like the KNEE fill either, but Saturday IS supposed to be a more difficult and tricky puzzle.

    The grid spanners came pretty easily with just a few perp letters for help, although I had to get over ROCKY BALBOA (too short) for 58A.

    I remembered EMILE Griffith quite well. In a 1962 televised match Griffith beat Benny Paret into unconsciousness. Paret died soon after. There was quite a scandal at the time.

    I only remembered 29D as "Captain America" but it didn't fit. The perps finally got me WYATT.

    A MONTE Cristo is a ham and cheese sandwich that has been batter dipped and deep fried. Sprinkled with powdered sugar and a dollop of strawberry jam on the side, what's not to like?

    Husker G @8:34, I think 55D/AIDA referred to the Elton John/Tim Rice show, rather than Verdi's opera.

    ReplyDelete
  27. CC, I shall dub you Saraswati, goddess of knowledge.Thank you.

    This was a bear for me, and Mr. Venzke is to be commended.

    Barry, I don't think I will soon forget "assy", but why the guns?

    ReplyDelete
  28. I didn't recognize the picture of the Monte Cristo sandwich and when I went to Wikipedia, I found out why.

    In the North Country of New York State, Monte Cristo sandwiches are savory rather than sweet and served with Thousand Island dressing. This variation is often referred to as "Cumberland Head" style. Cumberland Head is a peninsula projecting into Lake Champlain, near Plattsburgh, NY.

    Cumberland Head Light.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Does anybody think under 20 is pleasant??
    Hands up for TRIGGER,, PENNIES.
    Monte Cristo is also a Cuban cigar.
    K- Mart pulled it's sponsorship with Fuzzy after his racial remarks when Tiger won his first Masters,,,, something about Watermelons , Chicken and Green Beans.. Yes Fuzzy can be a loud mouth but funny at times.

    Have an over 20 wkend everybody !

    ReplyDelete
  30. Oops, TRIPPED across erieruth's 11:44 response, that was posted just a few minutes before mine. Sorry for the echo comment. I hate it when that happens.

    The rain has stopped for a while, so I'm going to visit a friend who had rotator cuff surgery a few days ago. She sounded very cheery when I called a little while ago...must be those pain pills at work. Just wait until she starts PT...she won't be so cheerful then.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Hi again.

    Would have preferred banjo. Think that people sitting and playing a guitar would rest it on their thigh. But hey.

    Very interesting Nationwide race
    at Daytona today. Danica now driving for Dale Jr and starting
    P4.

    10 yrs since Dale Sr's death.

    See you all at 10:09 again.

    take care.

    ReplyDelete
  32. EddyB said:"Think that people sitting and playing a guitar would rest it on their thigh."

    Thigh, knee? Close enough for jazz. Don't fret or pick nits. Strum along in acchord on this puzzle. Just git-har done.

    ReplyDelete
  33. 5D Election night fig. : PCT (Percent) - This can also stand for a voting Precinct.

    Monte Cristo sandwiches are very good, but rich and decadent.

    Some odd alternate spellings and abbreviations were frustrating, but perps and some SWAGs made it doable. My favorite fill was MAYTAG REPAIRMAN.

    I didn't have a problem with KNEE, since you have to bend your knee in order to rest your guitar on your thigh. I do have "Oh, Susannah!" stuck in my head now though.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I thought my old friend Julia Child would help us out, but she abbreviates
    Tablespoon as “Tb.”. In other cookbooks on my shelves, it is either capital “T.” or “Tbsp.”.

    But don’t blame Bruce too much. As someone once reminded me (and now I know first-hand, LOL), the editor does sometimes change clues from the constructor’s original one. So in an ideal world, we might have had IAN McClellan playing a banjo on his KNEE, “Election night ratios / districts (abbr.)” cluing PCTS, and “Kitchen meas.” for the knotty TBSP.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Good Day C.C. and all,

    Thanks for your concise answers and definitions, C.C.. I,ve been back to your page and the other posters a bunch, today. Not for fills, but for explanations and opinions.

    I really enjoy the Saturday puzzles and always take them in a different spirit than the week days

    Yet, today,even though I survived my wag 'w' in EDWINA and WYATT and
    was grateful for all the perp assist, I felt there was something bogus about the puzzle.

    Two somethings as a matter of fact,ASSY and PERF.
    Since everything I own has either been preassd or has had the notation: "some assembly req'd",I have never seen ASSY before; also, I think I've never seen req w/o the 'd'. Is this abbreviation,
    ASSY, a cost effective measure? I
    would think not completing assembly
    would enable the maker to spell the whole word and still come out ahead.Maybe the phrase with a blank could have been the clue.

    PERF's clue should have been abbreviated, as in:
    Cert. border,to a philatelist
    I do not believe that perf automatically means perforated.
    The word 'perp' was coined by Dennis on this blog and has no connection to perf.

    If I've gone on too long,please
    forgive.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Evenin' All. Thanks CC and Mr. Venzke

    Just returned to crucitopia after getting held up in real-world meeting deadlines, etc.

    Nice one Bruce - c'était parfaît. Even my cousin, SAGE TEA, got a mention. I was hoping that the answer to "LOWER" might be of the bovine variety. I always like to see EDWINA - reminds me of AB FAB and being under 20.

    Very cute that EMI crosses with PISTOLS. EMI will always be associated in my mind with the song of that name by the SEX PISTOLS - from their only studio album, with the charming yet poignant title: NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS:

    "There's unlimited supply
    And there is no reason why
    I tell you it was all a frame
    They only did it 'cos of fame
    Who? E.M.I. E.M.I. E.M.I.

    etc." Now where's my pogo-stick?

    Nice to be back, but blimey, what a bunch of whingers (=whiners) today!

    PERF is perfectly fine, as philatelists use the word without a period with a special meaning - number of perforations per 2 cm - e.g., PERF 14. And the clue was very specific: "CERTAIN BORDER..."

    We have had ETHN, EMILE and ATLI all in recent memory (last 6 months).

    ASSY. is very common in the sense of a political assembly = e.g. CA STATE ASSY.

    TBSP. = tablespoon, er yes...

    etc.

    Ça plane pour vous?

    NC

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  37. NC:
    My thoughts exactly. It's Saturday.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Oh, and I forgot. In the "perfect world",
    ASSY would have been clued as "Booty-licious"

    ReplyDelete
  39. "Nice to be back, but blimey, what a bunch of whingers (=whiners) today!"

    The pot calling the kettle black.

    ReplyDelete
  40. For all you old punk-rockers out there, this video of the Pistols doing EMI even includes Sid telling us what he did before he was 20.....

    EMI

    NC

    ReplyDelete
  41. @Anonymous

    Touché, monsieur/madame-sans-nom.

    NC

    ReplyDelete
  42. Does being a self-proclaimed non-whinger allow the poster to rudely ignore the blog owner's request posted directly above the comment block? 30 plus lines is a quite a bit more by half than about 20 lines for each post.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Hello everybody. Catching up after being too busy and tired to do any puzzles all week. So much to catch up on! Actually went back and read all your blogs for the week, believe it or not, and enjoyed every one of them. Did today's puzzle and had pretty much the same reaction to it that Barry G had. Well said, sir. Gotta go, best wishes to you all.

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  44. Hola Everyone,
    Since I don't want to be a whiner, I'll just say copy that statement by all those who didn't like this or that today.

    I did get the puzzle almost done, but thanks again to C.C. for clarifying some of the more obscure clues/answers.

    I thought I was being so clever and put in fret for Joint for guitarist? and Keen for Tart, so you all know what happens when you start off on the wrong foot.

    My learning moment for today was Rete. I'm afraid I'm medically challenged so that didn't come at all.

    MH, Our "nice" weather lasted all of about a half hour and we've had steady rain all day since. How did you manage nice weather since you are only about 15 or 20 miles from our area in Almaden?

    Have a wonderful evening and Sunday everyone.

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  45. Hmmm... very surprising to me that so many have never seen ASSY used as an abbreviation. I have seen it so many times I would have thought everyone would have.

    And doesn't every hobby have its own unique vocabulary? I just assumed that PERF was one such word ("a rare Swiss 5-mark perf--you ought to see its condition!") and never blinked.

    Other than those, I had my own issues; thought it was the hardest one I've done in months, but I did finish it. Come on Monday!

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  46. KQ, if you're checking in: Happy 50th Birthday to your husband tomorrow, and best wishes to him at the A1A marathon in the morning!

    A nice coincidence: This is also the 50th post of the day...if nobody sneaks in before me!

    On AOL, tomorrow's weather forecast is "81F/64F - Abundant sunshine". No joke!

    Today's said "Plentiful sunshine". I wonder how they distinquish between plentiful and abundant with respect to sunshine...

    ReplyDelete
  47. I agree with most of the comments! today's puzzle was, well, puzzling!
    Since I don't care for opera, nor classical music, I almost never get those right away. I rely on my limited memory of music class in junior high. Food and fashion clues are easier. I'm not sure what that says about me.
    A Monte Cristo sandwich is indeed yummy. What's not to like? Sliced turkey, ham and Swiis cheese sandwiched between two slices of buttery bread and then washed with an egg and fried. The crowning touch is the dip in jam, be it currant or berry.
    Peasant and Parfait were gimmes! As I said, food and fashion are my thing, I guess.
    Thank-you for the blog C.C.
    On to bed now!
    Good night all!

    ReplyDelete
  48. Happy birthday to Argyle and belated congratulations & best wishes to all those I've missed.

    I usually don't have time to even look at a puzzle or blog on sunday but a winter storm warning cuased church services to be cancelled so I've had a slow day today. Although we had ice and snow, the severe weather did not materialize.

    Going back to Friday's blog, Lemonade asked Wisconsinites opinion on the affairs at the Capitol. I guess my answer is politically safe since I disapprove of everyone's actions. I'll state my opinions in another comment.

    Dot

    ReplyDelete
  49. Wisconsin govt.- union conflict

    I was appalled when Gov. Walker said he was suspending the bargaining rights of the public sectors. When I took civics eons ago, I was taught that the Governor was supposed to administer laws, not make them.
    I've felt for a long time that Unions have used their power too extensively to the detriment of the economy, businesses and the people but even though they need to be reined in, the people still should have the right to bargain.

    Now that the Union leaders said they are willing to negotiate some of these issues, the Gov. should agree to talk. And the teachers and Democrat Senators are all setting terrible examples for children and young people.

    Dot

    ReplyDelete

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