google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, March 7, 2011 Scott Atkinson

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Mar 7, 2011

Monday, March 7, 2011 Scott Atkinson

Theme: Reduplication - Four 9-letter words or phrases  that only the rhyming part is the same; the initial part is different. The vowel is different in each entry.

17A. Small-time: RINKY DINK

53A. Fortunate one: LUCKY DUCK

10D. Wham-O footbag: HACKY SACK

29D. Cheap dance hall: HONKY TONK

Argyle here. I couldn't come up with an entry that could have used an "E". Other terms that are occasionally used for this linguistics feature include cloning, doubling, duplication, and repetition. These are fun words to speak and made for a fun Monday.

Across:

1A. Pet adoption ctr.: SPCA

5A. Like drive-thru orders: TO GO

9A. Cash alternative: CHECK

14A. Come __ end: conclude: TO AN. As all good things must. English Proverb.

15A. Most eligible for the draft: ONE A

16A. Popular branch of yoga: HATHA. Is there a name for practitioners of yoga?

19A. Have __ with: talk to: A CHAT

20A. Like strictly religious Jews: ORTHODOX

21A. Invite to enter: ASK IN

22A. Fawn's mother: DOE

23A. Family folk: KIN. Alliteration.

24A. Simple to apply, in adspeak: EASY ON

25A. Approx. leaving hour: ETD. Estimated Time of Departure. Close to the actual time, usually, unlike ETD, Estimated Time of Delivery.

26A. Some Ga. Tech grads: EEs. Electrical Engineers.

27A. Pass along softly, as a secret: WHISPER

29A. Coin flip call: Abbr.: HDs.. Unnecessary abbr.

30A. Yuletide spiced ales: WASSAILS. Santa knows wassail, and not that wassail lite stuff, either.

31A. Número after siete: OCHO. Spanish

34A. Fellows: MEN

35A. Stage group: CAST

36A. Occur together: COINCIDE

39A. '60s atty. general who served under his brother: RFK

41A. Elephants, e.g.: TUSKERS

42A. End of a giggle: HEE

43A. Angel dust, briefly: PCP. Don't hear much about PCP these days; bad stuff.

46A. Completely stump: STYMIE. Origin unknown but used by golfers when a competitors ball is between his ball and the hole. Nowadays, the obstructing ball must be moved, the wimps.

47A. "May __ excused?": I BE

48A. Significant period: ERA

49A. Handy bags: TOTEs

50A. Rodin or Michelangelo: SCULPTOR

52A. Evita's married name: PERON. Née Duarte.

54A. Put on a coat?: PAINT

55A. Color of suede shoes, in song: BLUE

56A. __-Seltzer: ALKA

57A. Hockey disks: PUCKS

58A. Dines: SUPS

59A. Mouth off to: SASS

Down:

1D. Walked decisively: STRODE

2D. Christie sleuth Hercule: POIROT. He was on the Orient Express when a murder occurred.

3D. On a slant: CANTED. The way wine is stored, to keep the cork from drying out.

4D. Pharaoh's cross: ANKH. This lucky duck has two.
Image.

5D. Hot alcoholic drinks: TODDIES. Santa knows hot toddies, too. (Lois is his special "hot toddy".)

6D. Burger toppers: ONIONS

7D. Group with thirtysomethings, briefly: GEN X. Generation X is the generation born after the Baby Boomers, circa 1970 to 1980.

8D. "Mighty" tree: OAK. "Mighty oaks from little acorns grow." English Proverb.

9D. Vehicle's framework: CHASSIS. Ford is still using in their full-size cars, the chassis introduced in 1979, the Panther platform.

11D. Addis Ababa's country: ETHIOPIA.
Map.

12D. Television watcher's choices: CHANNELS

13D. Kit __ bar: KAT

18D. Teamed, as oxen: YOKED

21D. Massage reactions: AAHs. shout out to melissa b.

24D. McGregor of "Moulin Rouge!": EWAN

28D. Q-U connection: RST

30D. Like small laddies: WEE

31D. Halloween mo.: OCT.

32D. "Undersea World" explorer Jacques: COUSTEAU

33D. Momentous: HISTORIC

34D. Warehouse gds.: MDSE.

37D. Joins, as stones in a wall: CEMENTS

38D. Colored part of the eye: IRIS

39D. Expresses stern disapproval of: REBUKES

40D. Touchy-__: FEELY

42D. Diaphragm spasm that may be cured by holding one's breath: HICCUP. One way to spell it.

43D. "Downtown" singer Clark: PETULA

44D. Onion soup holders: CROCKS

45D. Hooded coats: PARKAS

50D. "Star Trek" helmsman: SULU

51D. Palmtop computers: Abbr.: PDAs. Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).

52D. Very quietly, to Beethoven: PPP. The dynamic marking for a note played extremely quietly, pianissimo.

53D. Scale abbr.: LBS.

 

Argyle

67 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Argyle, C.C. and gang - well, the streak of great ones couldn't continue forever, but this was a nice, smooth Monday-level puzzle.

The NW immediately brought back two memories: the song 'Rinky Dink' by Dave 'Baby' Cortez in 1962, and the old TV show, Winky Dink where you put a transparent screen over your TV and drew on it along with the character on the TV. Hardly a pause in the rest of the puzzle, but I did need perps for 'Hatha'. Favorite clues/answers were the combination of 'Massage reactions'/'aahs'/'Touchy-feely', all of which would make someone a lucky duck.

Today is National Crown Roast of Pork Day. Also, my Much Better Half's birthday, and unfortunately, the car service just picked her up for an early morning flight to points south for meetings.

Did You Know?:

- A man's beard grows fastest when he anticipates sex. Argyle, something you want to tell us?

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Nice, enjoyable Monday outing for me. I got slowed down a bit by HATHA, which I've never seen before and had trouble accepting even though all the perps were rock solid. Also, for some reason, I got a bit bogged down in the SE corner. I initially had AGE for 48A and, when that didn't work, finally put in EON instead. Of course, that still wasn't right, and it took me a bit to come up with the correct ERA.

I blame it on Monday...

Lemonade714 said...

Sunnybrook farm chaste kiss: BECKY PECK? Nah.

Fun, fast- maybe as fast as I can go under current circumstances. hard to believe PETULA is almost 80, and thanks Dennis for reviving WINKY DINK in my mind. We got our first TV in 1955, and this show was abig hit in out house, along with Pinky Lee. Did you recall it was hosted by Jack Barry, who later hosted many game shows, and was host of 21 which had a tremendous scANdal for feeding answers to CHARLES VAN DOREN.

thehondohurricane said...

Good morning folks,

An enjoyable puzzle, albeit a little more difficult then a normal Monday offering . Hatha, hackysack, & canted not in my vocabulary. Interesting
clues...wassail,toddies & alka seltzer. What happened to ice bag or aspirin? Then it would have been two causes, two cures.

I did have to rely on perps a lot more today unlike most Mondays, especially in the NE. Never thought of calling an elephant a tusker, although I get it.

Going to be laying low for a day or two because of a successful, but tiring weekend.

Dennis, if today's Did You Know is factual, I'm surprised I can't grow a decent beard!

Like Barry, I blame it on Monday. Enjoy the day.

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Argyle, C.C. et al.

I thought this was a nice clean Monday puzzle, and liked the rhyming theme entries. Thanks for the nice write-up Argyle.

I needed perps for TUSKERS as I don't recall ever hearing elephants described that way. HATHA was a gimme, since I do it almost every day. Another great workout is bikram yoga, which is done in an overheated studio.

Not much else to say – a simple solve, and a great way to clear the weekend cobwebs away. Have a great day, everyone!


.

Mainiac said...

Morning All,

Pretty basic Monday grid. NW was the last to fill in because I'm not into yoga and wrote HockySock originally for 10D. Then I was scratching my head for some sort of Xmas oil that you drank. Finally the light came on for Wassails.

Pouring rain here. Phones are ringing off the hook!

Have a great day.

creature said...

Good Morning C.C., Argyle and all,
Thanks, Argyle for your fun write-up. Liked your “Wassail lite”.

Does anyone say TUSKERS? Thank you, Scott, for your Monday effort. Your theme is catchy and as Argyle said, ‘fun to speak’. I thought your fill was excellent and the main appeal for me. I enjoyed it.

CA, I’ve seen it a couple of times and the housekeeper was the humor of the show, IMO- sometimes the brother.{Two and a Half Men}

Have a nice day everyone.

kazie said...

Fairly easy Monday--at least compared with the end of last week. I liked the themes, but screwed up the bottom by putting EATS for SUPS, until LBS was revealed. SULU was unknown, as I'm no trekkie, and I didn't even read the clue for ASK IN before I saw it here. perps had got it.

I always forget the spelling of OCHO, so HISTORIC was not an immediate fill either.

A nice quick start to a busy Monday--bread making, laundry, taxes, phone calls. See you all later.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning Argyle and all. Nice write-up.

Easy peasy today; although perps were needed a bit more that most Mondays. No searches were needed. Fun (reduplication) theme.

OAK - my favorite tree. Preferred wood for naval warships in days of sail. Here is Heart of Oak the official march of the British Royal Navy and the Canadian Navy.

Dennis' 'Did you know?" Off into the tall grass:-)

Off to snowblow #@%! inches of snow from my driveway!

Enjoy the day

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Argyle and friends. This was pretty much of a speed-run Monday. I wasn't STYMIEd by any of the clues, but I did get a chuckle out of the theme. I knew what we were looking for with RINKY DINK.

My favorite clue was Put On A Coat? = PAINT.

In honor of 2-Down, here is today's QOD: Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that's no reason not to give it. ~ Agatha Christie

VTQUILTMOM said...

Good morning, Argyle and friends

Fun puzzle this morning. Most of it was an easy fill and perps either filled in or gave me enough to make a solid guess.

Cleared about 20 inches of new snow before breakfast. Guess I can't workout this morning since he gym is closed until 3. Might go tonight to limber up with some sivananda yoga.

@Barry G - In case it comes up again in a puzzle, you'll have heard of 3 different kinds of yoga now between today's puzzle and the blog.

Please send me some spring weather!!

carol said...

Hi all - Nothing like a Monday puzzle to make one feel smart!
I didn't know 16A, don't do Yoga and have never heard of HATHA.
41A was new too, TUSKERS??? Is that regional?? What about TRUNKERS??

No crown roast of pork for dinner today, but I am roasting a small tenderloin.

Santa (Argyle)apparently has been anticipating for quite a while - if he can only find Lois' chimney all will be well.

Husker Gary said...

Two days of 60+ yesterday and today it’s snowing! Welcome to the Great Plains! Got called at 6:30am to sub and am watching 17 year olds taking an AP Biology test. Puzzle was a 5 minute exercise today with some fun words.

Musings
-We were at the State Tournament Th., Fr., and Sa. and here is a picture of a 5 year old
who wants to go but isn’t really interested in what is going on.
-I remember ASPCA
-Got HATHA without knowing it and didn’t notice until Argyle’s fine write-up
-Remember this Stymie
-I love Peter Ustinov as Hercule!!
-Both of my daughters are GENX’ers
-Some songs just remind you of a time in your life, Downtown by Pet Clark is mine for college
-I did not know Yoga came in different flavors just like Yogurt! Marti, don’t get into any positions from which you cannot get out!

Zcarguy said...

Easy Breezy and a little teasy , tho I needed some perps here and there, didn't know Toddies or Wassails,, I'm a congnac or scotch drinker, HATHA , was new to me. I put Tuskers right away off Cousteau.
Didn't care much for all the 3 letters especially HDS.

By days end I get a 5 o'clock shadow,,,,, Honey I'm home !

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, I thought this was a pretty high standard for a Monday. The theme answers were really nice. Too bad there was no "E" answer. Probably "Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band song" HERKY JERK is pretty obscure for even a Saturday puzzle.

I thought eight letter fill like ORTHODOX, ETHIOPIA, COINCIDE and HISTORIC were unusual and fun for a Monday.

Awwh..come on...nobody has linked up...? OK, I will. I was going through a bad breakup at the time and Downtown always cheered me up. That was in the years when a few friends could still cruise the Sunset Strip, or Hollywood and Vine, without being in danger of being mugged or worse.

Creature, LOL, it is always the hired help who are the funniest and usually smartest characters. Hazel, Beulah, Alice and Mr. French are some who come to mind.

Husker Gary said...

ps I'm in planning and after rereading my first post, of course I meant 60+ twice last weeek not yesterday!

CA, you are right. After Father Knows Best kids, hired help and animals became the founts of knowledge and the man who provided the income and house were bumbling fools, or in the case of Charlie Sheen, far worse. Duh, losing! Your career and kids! I hope he works his way through it. Addiction gallops in my family tree and I know you can't kick it in one "session" with yourself!

Robert Redford’s Quiz Show showed the 21 cheating scandal very well! My God, the next thing you’ll tell me is Pro Wrestling is fixed!

Tag to yesterday, Dennis, "Confucious Say" jokes were a big part of the ribald part of my childhood!

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

It's almost noon, and I need to shave -- again.

Fun puzzle today, with some fresh fill. LUCKY DUCK is not an expression I recognize. Never heard of HACKY SACK. But with Gary's indulgence, I'll suggest that an elephant in Nebraska is a HUSKER TUSKER.

Are lenient Jews UNORTHODOX?

My massage reactions are more often OOFS than AAHS. Carmen is not EASY ON me.

PPP is a musical WHISPER. We trombonists often see PPP on our music, but pay it little heed. Truth is, almost everyone tends to play too loudly most of the time.

Why did I want to put an "L" in YOKED?

34D was obviously an abrv for MERCHANDISE, but I had no idea what letters would be in it.

Well, it's been nice having A CHAT with you, but now I have TO GO.

Cheers!
JzB

kazie said...

JZB,
LOL shaving.

The Charlie Sheen thing is sad. he's intelligent, but not practical, I guess. I actually liked "Two and a Half Men". The maid always gets the best last word lines though, and you have to make allowances for the sleazy character that Charlie is, on and off screen, I guess. But it's good for a lot of laughs.

Remember Shakespeare always made his fools the brightest characters too. I often wondered how true to life that was.

windhover said...

Remember my avatar pic with the beard? A few months later I got the best anniversary card ever: The caption read: It's our anniversary, honey! I'll shave if you will.
Haven't worn the beard since.

HeartRx said...

Husker Gary, LOL - I'm sure that DH would help me with some of the more "difficult" positions.

We just had some snow flurries roll through. Thank goodness they stopped, because DH was almost finished packing!

JazzB, if it was an extremely overweight elephant, would he have a husky tusk?

Tinbeni said...

Argyle, Wonderful write-up.

And now we know why your beard is so thick.

Liked the themes.
HONKY-TONKs are a fave place to visit.

HATHA was all via the perps.

OK, For 'Yuletide spiced ales' I tried to get 'Scotch' to fit.
Gave up and entered WASSAILS.

Checked outside.
None of that 'Snow stuff' showed up here.
Guess I'll wander over to Honeymoon Island and walk-on-the-beach ... again.

Cheers to all at Sunset.

Lucina said...

Good day, Cyber friends!

Nice writing, Argyle; you are in fine form. Now I undestand your having a beard.

What a nice sprint from Scott Atkinson today. Since I, too, am a yogi HATHA was easy. I practice Lyengar's method of yoga. And I've had many students from ETHIOPIA.

Put on a coat, PAINT was clever Also liked the long fill, HISTORIC, REBUKES, COINCIDE and ORTHODOX. It's not often we see those in a xwd especially on Monday.

Nothing RINKYDINK about this puzzle.

My granddaughter and I watched The Mighty Ducks Saturday night. What a really good movie that is with ironically, Charlie Sheen's brother, Emilio Estevez.

Have a lovely Monday, everyone!

Nice Cuppa said...

Thanks Argyle

Clear Ayes beat me to HERKY JERK. The only other one I could find was PEAKY BEAK, which is even more obscure.

WASSAIL for me is a verb, associated with going from house to house at Yuletide as an impromptu "choir" singing carols and being plied with mince pies and sherry (at least). WASSAIL comes from Old English and means "Good Health". The first verse may spark some memories:


Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a-wand'ring
So fair to be seen.

[CHORUS] Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

Etc.


NC

VTQUILTMOM said...

@Husker Gary - LOL!! I seem to be pretty good about getting out of difficult positions! Thanks for the warning though!

LaLaLinda said...

Hi All ~~

A quick, easy, fun puzzle today ... didn't see several of the clues because the perps had filled them in.

HATHA was my only unknown ~~ I liked the rhyming of the theme answers ~~ I don't remember STYMIE as an answer before now ~~


Dennis ~~ thanks for mentioning 'Winky Dink' and Lemonade, for the links to that and 'Petula.' I remember 'Downtown' from high school and 'Winky Dink' ~~ WOW! I remember putting my plastic sheet on the TV screen and having so much fun! (not in high school ;-) )

Lots of flooding in our area today ~~



Enjoy the day ~~

Anonymous said...

Fun Puzzle - I looked at the constructor's name - and somehow I thought maybe, just maybe, Argyle had made this one. I was so excited. Then I came and saw that Argyle was the blogger, and I was disappointed - although you could have constructed the puzzle and blogged it too - might have made an authentic combination. Very nice blog.

Mr. Scott Atkinson - very nice puzzle - really enjoyed it. Thank you.

What is a yoga practitioner called ? - In Hindi, it would be a yogi ( or a yogin ( jogin ) , female - long o- ) - but yogis tend to be ascetic and very religious - which is how the 'movement' originally got started. Except stateside, we tend to get Yogi-Bear and Yogi-Berra , one slightly befuddled marsupial and the other quixotically (sp ?) charming and causes double takes ( Its deja vu, all over again, I found a fork on the road and took it....)

I have to mention, I just took a long trip down south, and was transported into the most enchanted, uplifting, elating,mesmerising feeling in my life... no, no PCP, LSD, THC, BERC or DDT.

Grumpy 1 said...

Hello all. This was a nice easy Monday puzzle. All of thetheme entries were familiar. I like the symetrical arrangement of the theme entries.

Hackysack was a favorite lunchtime activity for some of the guys on my tower construction crew back in the 90's. Honkytonk was their favorite evening activity. Sometimes there was a lucky duck I guess, but that wasn't my concern when they were off the clock. No, we didn't run a rinkydink construction outfit. That was our competitors.

It seemed like there were quite a few words we don't often see in the puzzles. It was quite refreshing, I thought.

Jeannie said...

This was just the right puzzle for me today after being in a fog for most of the weekend. It was nice of Scott to be EASY ON me. Having never practiced yoga, I didn’t’ know what hatha was but it came via the perps as well as Peron, Ankh, and Petula. Of course I knew the song “Downtown” but never knew who sang it I guess. For 3-D I wanted tilted instead of canted, but once again perps to the rescue! In my warehouse at work our goods are called, “groc” (groceries). I am good and ready to get rid of my “parka” for a while, but it seems we are in for more snow this week at least. Speaking of parkas, my favorite clue today was “put on a coat” – paint. I didn’t particularly like the crossing of “wee” and “men”….don’t know why.

Nice write up today Argyle, but then again you always seem to please.

Dennis, I knew there was a reason I am attracted to men with beards…

Anonymous said...

Alternate QOD - Men aren't really driven to meet 'Miss Right'. What they're looking for is 'Miss Right Now'. - Robin Williams.

Abejo said...

Good Afternoon, folks. Nice puzzle, Scott, Thank you for the write-up Argyle. Always the best. Thanks for posting, C.C.

I really enjoyed rolling through this puzzle. Kind of got my confidence up after the Saturday and Sunday puzzles. Saturday was the toughest.

I also did not know HATHA or HACKYSACK, but perps fixed those.

POIROT was neat. I used to read a lot of Agatha Christie books and M. Hercule Poirot was the detective. "Murder on the Orient Express" for example. I think it was originally called "Murder on the Calais Coach." Someone can back me up on that.

I have tried some Wassail drinks and I prefer beer.

See you all tomorrow.

Abejo

Argyle said...

I'm surpised at the number of people that don't know hacky-sack but may be a visual aid could help.

Video.(0:19)

Abejo said...

To Argyle:

OK. Now I know what a HackySack is. I just never knew what it was called. Thank You.

Abejo

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Fun puzzle today. Enjoyed the theme answers and the longer fills. Did not enjoy many of the 3-letter fills, especially ones that are abbreviations.

Chuckle-producing favorite is PAINT.

Like many of you, I got HATHA only from the perps. Would their philosphy be called the Hathaway? (Sorry.)

I've heard of elephants being called tuskers, such as on some television nature shows where the guy says things like, "Now that big tusker over there is the herd matriarch."

More later.

Clear Ayes said...

Shortly after we met, GAH and I first saw HACKY SACK in Santa Barbara around 1980 at an Over-The-Line tournament. Hacky Sack was a big fad at UCSB and both of us had to try it. I was actually better at it than GAH. To give him his due, GAH was MUCH better at Over-The-Line (both the beach ball game and personally).

Jayce said...

So apparently you don't have to be from Hackensack to play hacky-sack. Ha ha.

As for goin' wassailing, I thought the objective was to be invited in for some. My sister used to make an awesome wassail, and pretty good mulled wine, too.

Jeannie, I'm glad you have enoyed bass fillets. How do you pronounce "groc"?

More later.

Bill G. said...

I enjoyed the fun puzzle and write up. Thanks to Scott and Argyle.

Tonight and tomorrow night, depending on your location, may be an opportunity to see the International Space Station and Discovery in a twin flyover. Go to Spaceweather.com and enter your zipcode to see if and when it's visible in your area. You may find other transit times for the ISS but it's only tonight and tomorrow night that it'll be paired with Discovery for the last time.

I've seen the two of them fly over twice before and it's a thrilling sight.

Husker Gary said...

Jazz, the only Husker Tuskers live at the Henry Doorly Zoo!

Marti and VT, I am sure you both have plenty of flexibility to escape from those delicate positions!

BTW, when I saw VTQUILTMOM, I thought you might be a mother who did ventriloquism on the side! I loved Vermont when we were there. We stayed in a lovely B and B and I remember driving north/south in VT is much easier than east/west.

Ben and Jerry's was nirvana for Joann. She had ample samples!

Anon, a line from Frasier, "Women need a reason, men just need a place!"

Lucina said...

Oh, that's hackysack! Thanks, Argyle. I guess I hadn't heard the name.

I guess I am a yogin, not a yogi, which sounds strange to me.

Dennis, happy birthday to your Linda. I'm sure you will make it special for her when she returns.

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, A nice solve for me today with no lookups. I used some rather inventive spelling for Poirot and Costeau but got that straighted out pretty quickly with the perps. I loved the theme words today. I have used all of these sayings at one time or another.

My grandchildren loved playing with a hacky sack so that was a gimme.

There were several fills that I didn't even see until I came here to read the blog. Thanks, Argyle, for a fun writeup. I did think of you when I saw Wassails under Yuletide spiced ales.

Hatha was my learning moment for the day. It filled in with the perps, also.

Chickie said...

My Monday started off rather slow. I was to follow my husband to the car repair shop and when I got into my car, the battery was dead!

AAA to the rescue and a new battery later, I finally was able to pick up my husband from the shop about 2 hours late!

All is well, now, and hopefully we'll both have good running cars by this afternoon.

Chickie said...

Nice Cuppa, I didn't realize that Wassailing was the same as our Caroling here in the US. Thanks for the quick lesson.

Also, re: Charlie Sheen, I've often wondered if Art is imitating life or Life is imitating art when it comes to his "Two and 1/2 Men Series". Just supposing.

Deacon Blues said...

"they call Alabama the Crimson Tide..." Please pay attention.

elsie said...

A nice puzzle for a Monday. As always, enjoyed the write up Argyle.

@Bill G. Thanks for the information about the twin flyovers. Tonight I will be looking skyward!!

Jayce said...

I really really like this blog! And, of course, a blog is made of people, so what I'm really saying is I like all of you very much.

Lucina said...

Chickie:
I'm so glad you were able to resolve that battery problem with only some loss of time. It can be frustrating!

Thanks, Bill G., I'll check on that.

Jayce: I like you, too.

Bill G. said...

Chickie, that AAA battery truck is really a good idea. It resolves battery problems quickly and easily. The last time, he just jumped the battery, said it was OK and replaced the terminals. It's been fine ever since.

AAA provides really good service and probably has one of the least expensive car insurance rates available.

Let me know if any of you see the ISS and Discovery. It's not visible in this area tonight but I hope to catch it tomorrow night.

Gunghy said...

Quick and easy, which was fortunate as I managed to really wear myself out this weekend. I usually need a rest to recover from a vacation.

The 'Do You know" was proven by a scientist (British, I think) that was doing research on a remote Indian ocean island. He thought he noticed beard and nails growing faster when he neared his returns to civilization. So he dry-shaved to collect his beard and saved his nail clippings and carefully weighed them all. I think he's better known for this than his actual research, whatever that was about. But it's any anticipation, not just sex; although that's what we men are usually anticipating.

lois said...

Good evening Argyle, CC, et al., What a fun puzzle. Got almost all of it by just the acrosses - which was a first - not many of those left these days.

Had to laugh at the whole NE corner. It led me straight to Santa Baby, who would first CHECK his CHASSIS on the roof (mine would come later) after he and his CAST of WEE MEN EASY'd ON into my chimney for some WASSAILS and his very special hot TODDIES. There would be nothing BLUE about him when it's time TO GO, I promise. His beard may have doubled in length and HEE may be ASKIN' for a razor and an ALKA seltzer but HEEd HATHA grin on his face that'd be the envy of any touchy FEELY LUCKY DUCK this side of the Mighty Mississippi. As for his Ho's? They'd all would be AAHS...he'd have to WHISPER...'and to all a Good Night!

Great write up, Santa darlin. I've got your hot Toddy right here!

HUTCH said...

ash here. One story I heard about Pres. JFK when asked by a heckler why rfk was appointed Attorney General with no previous experience, the Irishman replied with a grin "It will do Bobby good when he goes into private practice"

Dennis said...

LaLaLinda, yeah, I was wondering if anyone would remember Winky Dink.

thehondohurricane, I'm with you - no chance of ever growing a beard.

Lucina, thanks very much for the birthday wish - very kind of you.

Argyle said...

I think House jumped the shark tonight. Any comments?

lois said...

Bill G: thanks for that link. The view was yesterday here and it was rainy anyway, but if anyone sees anything, please tell. I envy you.

Dennis: Happy Birthday to your
'better half' as you say. I hope you celebrated early and celebrate again when she returns. Double the pleasure w/out doubling the age. My kind of deal. How's your car BTW?

Jayce: I like you too.

Chickie: so sorry about your car trouble. Nothing is worse than a machine that won't work.

LaLaLinda: I hope you are safe from the flooding.

Anonymous said...

nope

lois said...

Forgot again!!!1
WM: your artwork is OUTSTANDING!!!
What an amazing talent you have. Just amazing! I wish you well with your show.

Which reminds me: Where is Chuck of the West? There's another fabulous artist!

Carol: you make me LMAO! sooo funny!

lois said...

Argyle: It's about time! let the good times roll!

ARBAON said...

Again, Monday through Wednesday are the only days I can do all three of my paper`s puzzles and still have time to do what I have to do each morning. The longer words in a Monday puzzle were all familiar to me or came with perp help. Love "The Little Rascals". Favorites were Stymie, Darla and Buckwheat.

Deacon Blues: Alabama is "the Crimson Tide" and it`s "roll, Tide, roll" but the mascot is a gray elephant. Sounds like an identity crisis to me! You sound like a teacher! ("pay attention!")

Dennis; Happy Birthday to your, as you said, "Much better half." What is her occupation, if that`s not too personal. Being picked up and flown south for meetings sounds pretty impressive/important.

Anon@12:25 PM: Where in the south did you go? One of our("suthunuhs") favorite things to hear is, "I may not have been born in the south, but I got here as fast as I could!"

Seldom Seen said...

Good Times Roll

Dennis said...

ARBAON, always liked that saying.

As to my MBH, she runs the Accounting division for a large conglomerate; one of her perks is a 'black car service' that takes care of transportation needs. She deserves it -- she's the hardest worker I know.

Chickie said...

All cars up and running this evening. AAA was great. Their customer service is excellent and we have nothing but good things to say about the company,.

I'm afraid we're going to miss the fly over this evening. It is cloudy and rainy here. Maybe tomorrow. Thanks, Bill G. for the info and link.

fermatprime said...

Hi all!

Bill G.--Apple recommends that you maintain a separate backup from Time Machine. Evidently it is difficult to retrieve your data in entiretly from TM. Also, it is great to have a bootable backup!!!

Cute puzzle--may have been my fastest. Thanks Argyle, Scott, C. C.

Spent 5 hours on line and on phone trying to resolve issue with Pay Pal (longstanding). I really loathe them! I discovered that I did not like being hung up on FOUR TIMES! (Big surprise.) Worse, their posted number is not toll free. It turns out that the way to talk to them is by calling eBay and pushing lots of appropriate buttons. Talking to live body on eBay is problematic also. Fellow from eBay eventually solved my problem. (Do not use Safari anymore to use credits from eBay.)

WikWak said...

Jazzbumpa: you probably wanted the L in "yoked" because somebody was egging you on...

So many folks didn't know HATHA... and I never even saw the clue! Perps filled it in before I got to it. Am I a lucky duck, or what?

The only animal I've ever called a tusker is a javelina, encountered while camping in the Big Bend in Brewster County, TX. Anybody else ever encounter these less-than-friendly porkers in the wild?

Jeannie said...

I am really happy to hear that you acknowledge your wife as "The hardest working woman" you know. I guess that might be true as you really don't know all the rest of us "hands on". I too find myself in that category as well, as I dragged my sorry ass in today to make sure everything was/is going well for the foodshow coming up, and had to make sure everyone has their burgers and fries. Sorry, Jeannie is surly and not feeling well.

From what I can tell there are a lot of hard working women here on this blog.

Jayce, groc...is smalltalk for "groche...as in groceries. Since I work in a food distribution atmosphere we deliver what is essentially groceries.

Anon here is my favorite song off the album.

Gunghy, good to hear from you.

Jeannie said...

Dennis, I just re-read my last post and would erase it but can't. Garbage can gone. I am glad that you think so highly of your wife and hopefully gave her razor burn before she left this morning. Happy Birthday to your lovely hardworking beautiful wife! I believe you said she was heading down south. If you have to be apart on your big day at least it's somewhere warmer.

Dennis said...

Jeannie, complimenting someone doesn't automatically imply something negative about everybody else. I have no doubt there's a lot of very hard-working people on here, myself included lately, but she remains the hardest-working person I know.

Unknown said...

This was a fun one! Having just gotten back from a trip back home, I was a bit rusty, but since home has a lot of rinky-dink honky tonks, I sailed through.
Rock on.

Jeannie said...

Dennis, hence my apology. You should be proud of her.

Jeannie said...

Dennis, it seems we posted over each other at 10:11pm. I hope you understand my surliness. Good night all.

Jeannie, #69 over and out. Might be time for another shot of nyquil.