google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, March 31, 2011, Steve Salitan

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Mar 31, 2011

Thursday, March 31, 2011, Steve Salitan

Theme: Take me out to the Ball Game, revealed in 62 Across: Its season starts today; its equipment starts the starred answers: BASEBALL.

1A. *One way to reach a superhero: BAT PHONE. I've been reliving my childhood lately, a newer cable channel called the HUB is re-running the old Batman TV series.

23A. *2008 Republican hopeful: MITT ROMNEY. I hope I don't catch (see what I did there) any flack for saying this; I'm uncomfortable now whenever a political clue comes along... It has been said that the biggest hurdle in his bid was that he is a Mormon: Both politics and religion controversy all rolled up in one single clue.

34A. *Roll-fed toy: CAP PISTOL. Speaking of childhood, anyone else remember hitting a whole roll of caps at a time with a hammer?

46A. *Musical about rock's 4 Seasons: JERSEY BOYS. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

Hi all, Al here. I kind of rushed through this one today, and didn't even need to read all the clues; sorry about the brevity. The perps filled a lot of the answers in for me and I found myself going back to the grid thinking "where was that?" quite a bit. There were a few nice tricky clues, but to me, the thing that seemed to stand out most was the number of two-word answers.

ACROSS:

9. Blind slat: LOUVER.

15. Concurred about: AGREED ON.

16. Lower, for now: ON SALE. There was gonna be one there. We was gonna buy one anyway, so aren't you glad I got it . . .

17. Ogled: LEERED AT.

18. Skinned: PEELED.

19. One of two O.T. books: SAML. Clue and ans. both abbrs. 1 and 2 Samuel are part of the Hebrew Bible. The Book(s) of Samuel originally was a single text.

20. When Donne is done for the day?: EEN. Poetic evening.

21. Genesis outcast: EVE. Because Peter Gabriel wouldn't fit.

22. Go by: PASS.

27. Focus of some trips: EGO. Last week's star wars clue.

28. Justice Sotomayor: SONIA. First Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court, serving since August 2009.

29. Unsatisfactory marks?: ACNE. Wanted to fill with DEES or EFFS.

30. Explain: CONSTRUE. I always construed construe to mean "understand". Guess I was always wrong...

32. Fiona, after Shrek's kiss: OGRESS. Before that, too, but only at night.

36. Fertilizer component: POTASH. Along with Nitrogen (first) and Phosphorus (second), potassium is the third number you see on a commercial bag.

39. "I can't explain it": NO REASON. Often the answer to: "Why'd you do that?

43. Imitated: APED.

44. Old 51-Across devices: ETNAS. Burners, along with 51A. Trial site, perhaps: LAB.

45. "The Simpsons" shopkeeper: APU.

49. Benjamin et al.: Abbr.: PVTS. Goldie Hawn movie, Private Benjamin.

50. Give pieces to: ARM. Gats, rods, heaters.

52. Jai __: ALAI. Basket = cesta. Ball = pelota, which travels at speeds up to 250 feet per second (170 MPH). Ouch. And I used to think it hurt to get hit with a racquetball.

53. "The Executioner's Song" Pulitzer winner: MAILER. Norman. The events surrounding the execution of Gary Gilmore by the state of Utah for murder.

55. Burlesque act: FAN DANCE.

59. Show up: ATTEND.

60. Some feelers: ANTENNAE.

61. Viewed to be: SEEN AS.

DOWN:

1. __ masqué: dance with costumes: BAL. A masquerade ball.

2. A good while back: AGES AGO.

3. Crime of betrayal: TREASON.

4. Stylish waves: PERMS.

5. Cad: HEEL. Cad is a shortening of cadet originally used of servants, then of town boys by students at British universities and public schools (though at Cambridge it meant "snob"). Meaning "person lacking in finer feelings". A heel is a "contemptible person," in U.S. underworld slang, originally "incompetent or worthless criminal," probably from a sense of "person in the lowest position."

6. "How peculiar": ODD.

7. Tishby of "The Island": NOA. Cute, but never heard of her...

8. Head M.D.?: ENT. Otolaryngology or ENT is the branch of medicine and surgery that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of ear, nose, throat, and head and neck disorders. Practitioners are called otolaryngologists–head and neck surgeons, or sometimes otorhinolaryngologists (ORL).

9. Horse warming up, say: LOPER. I misread this clue as house instead of horse.

10. Bridge opener, briefly: ONE NO. Trump.

11. Take for a chump: USE.

12. Chemical bonding number: VALENCE. The numeric portion of the charge of an ion whether it is positive or negative.

13. Winning numbers: ELEVENS. Craps. (Thanks, melissa)

14. Flights that often span two days: RED EYES. Late night plane trips. Another misread, I kept seeing "fights" instead of flights.

20. LAX posting: ETA.

22. Chest ripple: PEC.torals. Trying to be fair, for the ladies.

23. Transform eerily, in sci-fi: MORPH. A smooth transition from one shape or face to another, SFX trickery.

24. __ to one's neck: IN UP.

25. Link with: TIE INTO.

26. Donald's second ex: MARLA. Trump, Maples. Not bad for 46...

28. Coming and going spots: Abbr.: STAS. Stations. Always have to wait for perps to see if the third letter will be A or N.

31. Carloads: SCADS.

32. Others, in Oaxaca: OTRAS. Spanish.

33. Proceeds: GOES.

35. Sharp competitor: SONY.

36. Hefner garb: PAJAMAS.

37. Work: OPERATE.

38. Unhappy home inspection find: TERMITE.

40. African plain: SAVANNA.

41. Like some film effects: OPTICAL.

42. Sorority letters: NUS. 13th letter of the Greek alphabet. We are the knights who say "ni" (as in onion).

44. Flow back: EBB.

47. "The Vampire Diaries" heroine Gilbert: ELENA. On the CW network, which I apparently don't watch much of... Another unknown to me.

48. Play places: YARDS. Wanted to get "stage" to be plural with only five letters.

49. Secondary strategy: PLAN B.

52. Chick chaser?: ADEE. Suffix: Chickadee.

54. Quarterback Dawson: LEN.

55. "Super!": FAB.

56. Actress Gasteyer: ANA. From Saturday Night Live.

57. Some Windows systems: NTS. This should have an obsolete tag on it... But without it I can't do my favorite (geeky) Microsoft joke. There is Windows CE for compact devices (WINCE, what you do when you have to work with it), Windows ME (Millenium Edition, now also obsolete), and Windows NT (New Technology, but commonly called "Nice Try") Put those all together and you get CE ME NT, as hard as a rock and as dumb as a brick.

58. Epitome of slipperiness: EEL.


Al

72 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Al, C.C. and gang - quite a battle for me today, trying to shake the rust off, I guess. Once I couldn't get a foothold in the NW, I dropped down to the SW and immediately got 'pajamas' and 'potash', which opened things up for a while. Still took me fifteen minutes, and as with Al, I was struck with the number of two-word answers.

'Valence' is one of those words that lies buried on our hard drives for decades and pops out with the first 'V'. Had no idea I knew it. There were a lot of fresh clues in this puzzle, and a lot of memory-joggers. Cap pistols reminded me of my dual, pearl-handled Roy Rogers pistols/holsters/belt; I think I traded them to a buddy for two Playboy magazines. And the theme was just perfect, with baseball season about to crank up; I'm looking forward to watching the Four Aces do their thing for the Phillies. All in all, very much a fun puzzle.

Al, great job as always; loved the CE ME NT joke. So true.

Hope it's a great day for everyone; rain, snow on the way here.

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Al, C.C. et al.

I imagine that C.C. and Tinbeni really enjoyed today’s theme. But for me it was just “meh”. And when are “caps” and “jerseys” considered to be “equipment”???

But I liked:
EEN “When Donne is done…”
EGO “Focus of some trips”
FAN DANCE – that’s just a fun image. I was surprised to see it wasn’t included as a theme entry…

We had a mini science theme with VALENCE, ETNAS, and LAB. But I didn’t like the clue for the last one, “Trial site”??? I have spent a lot of time in them, but did “tests”, or “experiments”, or “research”, but never once conducted a trial ! I would like to have seen this clued as “Nuclear test site?”

Overall, I thought it was a fairly easy puzzle for a Thursday, but I’m curious to see how others felt about this one.

Have a great day, everyone!

Hahtoolah said...

Happy Thursday, everyone. PLAY BALL! I had fun with this BASEBALL-themed puzzle. I miss not being able to just hop over to see my Red Sox team play. I agree with HeartRx, however, that JERSEYS and CAPS don't really seem like equipment.

Did anyone else notice that John McCain also fit into the space reserved for MITT ROMNEY?

Favorite clue today was: Focus for Some Trips = EGO.

Sally Rand is probably one of the most well known FAN DANCERs. This clip is from the 1934 Chicago World's fair. (FAN almost fits into today's Baseball theme. Although clearly not equipment, FANS are an essential element of the game.)

QOD: The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it. ~ Patrick Young

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

I have to agree with HeartRx today -- solid "meh" effort. I threw down BATPHONE right away and thought I was off to the races, but then I kept running into stuff like SAML and BAL and NOA. ANd I always thought Mr. Hefner wore a bathrobe and/or a smoking jacket...

I was my own worst enemy in the middle section, though, when I put LOADS instead of SCADS and IN IT instead of IN UP. As a result, I stared at OAPTISTOL for waaaaay too long thinking, "OK, that can't be right..."

Without meaning to get political, but as somebody who actually knows MITT ROMNEY, I think I can say his problem is less the fact that he is a Mormon and more the fact that he keeps switching positions to appeal to his perceived base, which ends up alienating all sides equally.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - Thanks, Al, for explainin' all that stuff I didn't catch. For instance, are there people who know what O.T. stands for? Then there's that CONSTRUE thing. ONE NO made no sense until now.

FAN DANCE started out as LAP DANCE because, well, I've heard of the latter.

Hand up for hitting a whole roll of caps with a hammer. It was way more fun than actually playing with the pistols...I can still smell the smoke.

Dudley said...

Oh, I'd like to register my serious disapproval over this coming storm. They're threatening us with 3 to 6 inches. Enough already!

melissa bee said...

bat phone was a fun way to start this one, fan dance and pajamas are great, too. not sure i've seen samuel abbreviated saml, tried samS at first for I and II samuel. seen alot of ego lately.

potash came easily. true story: we have a woman that comes into the resort occasionally who works for a potash mining company. when she stays we have to remove anything printed that has the word 'organic' so as not to offend her.

splynter, a belated welcome to the guest-blogging crew, really great job.

dudley ... um ... that does sound sizeable.

thehondohurricane said...

Good day folks,

When I found this to be a baseball theme driven puzzle, I figured it would be a piece of cake, but I managed to make it a bit of a slog. Hahtool, I too saw John McCain, but there'd nothing baseball there so I moved on.

Some of my goofs were; 59A Appear. Attend actually opened the SW up for me. 9D Racer rather than Loper. 28A Sonya rather than Sonia. 10D One No took a while to register. I thought the correct expression was one no trump.

I didn't have an issue with Jersey or caps. My argument is a team equips a player with his uniform. At least Steve did not star Fan Dance.

Yankee game could be in jeopardy today depending on when the storm arrives. We are on the edge of rain or snow or both, but for sure the lawn first application of fertilizer goes down this AM.

Dennis, Giants will still kick Phillies butt! (I hope.)

Lemonade714 said...

Nice puzzle, nice write up; I too did think there toomany ON AT and TO clues, but overall it flowed.

VALENCE was mentioned in a clue recently.

For you CAP and JERSEY haters, go and speak to the team equipment manager, and see if he doubts they are part of baseball equipment.

FAN DANCE certainly fits, but there was no balancing fill, so symmetrically it had to not be part of the theme.

We do not see Mr. Salitan often, but I had good time, thanks and thank you AL, as ALways.

Chemist in a lab who never made a trial said...

Todays Google logo has an interactive doodle on laboratory equipment in honor of Robert Wilhelm Bunsen's, 200th Birthday, who improved the 'Etna' and is the father of the 'Bunsen burner'. He also discovered Caesium and Rubidium and many other heat spectroscopic effects.

Al said...

I missed adding any comments to 13D last night and looking back, I'm still puzzled this morning. Anyone got a V8 can? Why are "elevens" winning numbers? At first I thought maybe because Bo Derek was a "10" and so 11 is one better than that, but that doesn't really sound convincing enough to be the correct explanation...

Anonymous said...

Maybe the elevens have something to do with Blackjack ?

melissa bee said...

i assumed 13d referred to craps.

HeartRx said...

Melissa is right - if you throw either seven or eleven on the come-out roll, you win if you are betting on the Pass line. Hence sevens or elevens would be considered "winning numbers".

sherry said...

Morning all. Had a real dif. time with this one. 29 across - wanted it to be dees not acne. Also, the names of people blew me away. The Simpsons, Acress Gasteyer, heroine Gilbert, Mailer I knew, justice Sonia, etc. Made this a difficult solve. Didn't get the theme at all. Not a sports fan.

Husker Gary said...

Al, et al, I’m old enough to remember when baseball was a much bigger deal. If they could shorten the game by making batters and pitchers pick up the pace and umpires actually enforce the strike zone. A generation that hates waiting 3 seconds for a site to load gets impatient. I still love it!

Musings
-I hammered a lot of caps on a roll!
-Jersey Boys is coming to Omaha and I’m buying the first ticket!
-I thought LOUVER might be LOUVRE
-I never heard the word ETNA in a science lab
-Hey, if you gotta be on an ISLAND…
-Me too Marti, for FAN
-I taught VALENCE last week
-Seven Come Eleven
-I'm already what the theme for April Fool's Day will be!

Denny said...

I agree, CONSTRUE means understand or interpret, not explain. SAML is an awkward abbreviation for Samuel. I also still don't understand why the name Donne or phrase "is done for the day" should have tipped me off that we were looking for a poetic abbreviation, EEN (e'en, for evening).

Could someone construe that to me?

Grumpy 1 said...

Good morning Thursday peeps.

This one went pretty easy for a Thursday. Agree with Lemonade's comment on what constitutes baseball equipment.

VALENCE isn't sometyhing I've thought about for many years, although I did quite well in chemistry. It came up from the depths when needed, though. ONE NO and ELEVENS also popped right up, although I don't play bridge or shoot craps. Remember Buck Owens and his "Charlie Brown" song? "yelling seven come eleven down in the boy's gym"

No 'elevens' in the grid, but there were eleven 'sevens', if I counted correctly. Most were pretty easy to get which made the solving pretty smoth.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone. Nice intro, Al.

I couldn't get a foothold in the NW, at first, either. But the NE fell quickly, so I just continued (went on) clockwise. Finally took the plunge with BAL and LEERED AT, and the NW came home. Only error was putting a K in MAILER. Other than OTRAS and BAL, there were no foreign words. The clueing for ARM and ENT were quite clever. Also liked CAP PISTOL - seed word, maybe? I agree with Al's comment about the number of 2-word answers. Thanks, Steve, for a good midweek puzzle.

Anonymous said...

I thought O.T. meant Occupational Therapy/Therapist ( as P.T. means Physical Therapy )or 'overtime'. I kept thinking, are there two books on overtime ??

kazie said...

Denny,
John Donne was a poet, so I assumed we were looking for a poetic term.

My solve paralleled Sherry's, except I guessed Sonia correctly. I also screwed up the SE by having XP for 57D, never heard of the others, but loved the joke, Al. Hadn't grokked the theme connection when I did that either, and don't know ANA. I gave up on SNL years ago.

Also confused by ELEVENS, since I am no card player, and wanted to put something with SEVENS there. Seven is a lucky number, hence winning, I thought.

My LAB experience was only ever with Bunsen burners, so only know ETNAS from doing CWs.

The plumber was here in the middle of my doing this, and now we have a new plug fixture and I can bathe the dog again now that the bathtub will hold water.

Al said...

@Denny, John Donne was the English poet who most famously gave us this:

No man is an Iland,
intire of it selfe;
every man is a peece of the Continent,
a part of the maine;
if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea,
Europe is the lesse,
as well as if a Promontorie were,
as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were;
any mans death diminishes me,
because I am involved in Mankinde;
And therefore never send to know
for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

Mainiac said...

Morning All,

Batphone, Agreed On and Leered At fell 1,2,3. I'm thinking this can't be a Thursday. I also confidently put Lap Dance after first attempting to fit Pole Dance (Gutter brain today I guess). Not being able to keep track of Trump's women I wrote Ivana first (she was the first, wasn't she?). Had Trots for 9D which made the NE painful sending me for red letter help. Valence is a new one for me.

Even though I got the theme answers (eventually), the fills were killer but fun. Lot of head slapping.

Nice write up Al!

Snow prep delayed me getting here today. We're expecting 3-6 inches of heavy wet stuff.

Have a great day.

Anonymous said...

Gary: How much attention do you need to post the same thing on two blogs?

Lemonade714 said...

I saw JERSEY BOYS when it played at the Broward Center, and enjoyed it immensely. The Joe Pesci connection is also interesting.

John Donne and John Milton were very provocative poets who overlapped and who influenced me when I was minoring in English in college. CA?

creature said...

Good Morning C.C., Al and all,

FAB work, Al. Thanks!

The opening of baseball season is as good a theme as any. Certainly, we know our ‘baseball people’ are jumping up and down; just like I do when the baseball names are perped.

Nicely perped for me today were: APU; NOA; ANA; NTS; VALENCE {which is a window treatment to me} and ELENA.

I find SEEM AS to be the wrong tense for ‘viewed, to be‘. And I have some discomfort in equating CONSTRUE with ‘explain’. SAML sounds like a code name; hardly a Biblical fellow. It might be someone’s avatar.

All that griping, Steve, and I still enjoyed it. Thanks.

Have a nice day everyone.

Anonymous said...

Alternate QOD: Did you hear what the Zen Master said to the hot dog vendor ?

"Make me One with everything" - Jay Leno.

Dennis said...

Gary: How much attention do you need to post the same thing on two blogs?



anon@10:07, and this affects you how? He's not exactly unique in that, either, but why should that concern you?

LaLaLinda said...

Hi Everyone ~~

I really enjoyed this puzzle and its theme. I still have UCONN basketball to watch this weekend but my Red Sox start tomorrow. It's nice to have a fellow fan, Hahtool!

Thanks for a great write-up, Al ~~ A fun baseball-Harpo clip!

I knew 54D was LEN but I had SEEM AS for 61A 'viewed to be.' Then I could see that SEEN AS is better, having the past tense.

Hoping for rain instead of snow ~~

Enjoy the day ~~

Anonymous said...

Where to find Jeannies marinara sauce recipe?

HIC

Gunghy said...

HIC - from april 6 2010:

Coat the bottom of a deep sauce pan with olive oil, mince a couple of cloves of garlic fine and saute...don't burn the garlic. 1 large can of tomato puree and 1 can of crushed tomatoes. 2 tbspn of Italian seasonings (thyme, rosemary, basil, and oregano) I think I mentioned that I grow mine and dry them but you can find a nice Italian blend in most grocery stores. 2 Tblsn of honey, salt and pepper to taste. I always have my sauce cans open and ready to pour as my garlic sautee's. I will repeat...don't burn the garlic. If you can smell it, it's ready to proceed.

creature said...

LaLaLinda, Thanks for your post. I did a double take on my puzzle and I had {work in pen} overwritten the 'M' with an'N', but when I was reviewing for my comments, I saw it as 'seem'. Real messy of me.
Thanks.

I'll be rooting for Kentucky.
Ah, sports.

creature said...

Wow! what a mess, I am.

I now see that valence and valance
are two different words. Maybe I need to go back to bed.

I'll just hang my head and carry on, as if it's a regular day; 'cause it kinda' is...

Anonymous said...

HIC thanks.

Nice Cuppa said...

Thanks Al

Nice to hear your solid opinion about Microsoft.

Enjoyable crossword, Mr. Salitan - a Baseball theme without needing to know baseball trivia - trif.

"equipment" = the necessary items for a particular purpose. A jersey is necessary I believe - in a formal game at least. Is a CAP required?

And yes, I can smell that wonderful sulfurous smell now and hear that loud report from a hammer blow - kids of today, at least in CA, miss these things - in the name of 'safety' I suppose.

We had VALENCE, MORPH and ETNA within the past week or so - so I am surprised people had problems there. ACNE was clued the same way recently.

LOUVER spelt in standard U.S. with the ER ending looks quite strange to my eyes; maybe more so because the French pronounce it "Loo-vru".

APE as a verb seems almost pure crosswordese - can't remember hearing or using it.

AGES AGO is a common but odd construction, since both words have the same root.

I initially had PANAMAS instead of PAJAMAS - much more stylish I thought.

70s at the beaches, 90s inland today. Take your pick or find your optimal spot on the temperature gradient.


NC

Splynter said...

Hi There ~!

I smoked through this one, must have been on the right wavelength, and being Thursday, didn't mind the lot of two-word answers....

...and I don't care for baseball at all - it just interferes with the playoffs of hockey.

Thanks for the welcome, melissabee.

I mis-read a clue today, too -

I thought it was Play PIECES, not places, and YARDS made no sense to me at all.

RED ROBE works for Hef, too ~!

Rain, rain, happy days for me ~!

Splynter

Grumpy 1 said...

LOL, Creature. We all have those kinds of days... sometimes more than one in a row. Somehow, we manage to carry on, though, don't we.

kazie said...

I don't care for sport on TV at all--any sport. It preempts what little else is normally offered and it means for me there's nothing to watch but news channels. Reality TV is a crock, and it seems good writers have given up the ghost except for a couple of shows such as The Big Bang Theory. Not much else in drama or comedy these days, and they don't even show movies worth watching too often. Remember when Sunday night always meant a good movie?

windhover said...

Grumpy1,
Buck probably did cover Charlie Brown, but the classic version was, I think, The Coasters.

That said, you can't go wrong with Buck and the Buckaroos, the main of which was Don Rich, who gave Buck his signature guitar lick and backing vocals.

Grumpy 1 said...

WH, right, as usual. I thought there was a better known version, but couldn't remember 'The Coasters'. Google 'Charlie Brown song' and you still have to wade through a million references to the Peanuts character. Buck was the first one that popped up on YouTube.

Lucina said...

Good day, puzzlers.

Thank you, Al, for some wonderful information and a funny joke!

AT first glance this looked like a Saturday grid and I struggled to find a toehold, but finally did by filling the threes, then the light went on and i sashayed through it.

VALENCE and EGO were recent entries and MIKEHUCKABEE wouldn't fit so MITT and MORPH fell in place.

Ditto for LAPDANCE before FANDANCE and tried BATHROBE first then POTASH and PAJAMAS and JERSEYBOYS clicked.

I'm happy for all you who love baseball. No joy here.

Thanks, again, Al for John Donne who also gave us "When you wish upon a star."

Have a super Thursday, everyone!

Lucina said...

Kazie:
I agree with you on the current state of TV. It's difficult to find real entertainment.

eddyB said...

Hello.

Thought it was a nice, easy Thursday puzzle. Good theme for opening day. Tho not really a baseball FAN.

Blame Jill for the nasty weather back East. It happens every time she goes back in April.

Sharks play tonight.

Take care. 80s today?

Husker Gary said...

Kazie, I remember Sunday Night At The Movies but now I seem to find what I want on TCM. They can be great movies or at least a wonderful period piece that gives you a sense of the time and place.

Bill G. said...

Hi everybody from sunny and warm southern California. Actually, a little too warm for me but I sure can't complain.

Hands up for hitting a roll of caps with a hammer. I didn't do it often because it used up the caps really fast. Until it was brought up today, I hadn't realized I hadn't heard of a cap pistol for years. Are they officially banned?

Buck Owens was mentioned. He wrote that great song, "Together Again." When Emmylou Harris sung it, I just melted.

Tinbeni said...

Al, What a wonderful write-up.

Yup, I really liked the Opening Day BASEBALL theme.
Like Barry G, I had BAT PHONE in so fast I thought this would be a speed run.
NOT !!!

Had to put it down three times before I finally figured out some of the answers. (Thanks, PERPS!)

Now I'm noshing on Nathan's Hot Dogs, Peanuts and Cracker Jacks and a few beers have met their rental spot.
After 4 innings, it is 3-2 Yankees.
I'm in heaven ...

Raining like hell here. Must be over 5 inches.

Cheers at Rainset !!!

Anonymous said...

Just makes me want to watch a baseball game, and the weather is anything but cooperating. Still snow on the ground, and my son's first game is scheduled next week. Ugh. Lucky for him he is in Florida for spring break with his team and playing well. Fun to have all those references in a puzzle though to remind me how bundled up I will have to be to watch him next week!!!

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I'm of two minds about today's puzzle: some of it I found to be clever, fresh, fun, and challenging, and some of it not. As somebody (I think it was JazzB) once said, you get some chaff with the wheat.

Excellent CE ME NT joke, Al. Thank you.

Gonna be very warm and sunny here today. A good day to be outside "while the gettin's good" as my pappy used to say.

Best wishes to you all, whether moving or staying put.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

I put LONG AGO in for 2D and it was AGES before I could make any headway in the corner. My daughter Karen eventually came up AGES, and things finally came together. Had to get LOUVER from the lovely wife. Some days, you need a lot of help.

Sports uniforms are most assuredly part of the equipment.

I always want to spell SONIA as SONYA.

I LEERED AT the FAN DANCE video.

A ONE NO (trump) opening gives your partner SCADS of information. You then let her make all the decisions.

Tigers - Yankees had a good game going for a while. Verlander and Sabathia both pitched well and were retired after 100 pitches, with a 3-3 tie. Coke came in and Granderson cranked one into the upper deck. Yanks now up 6-3 after 8.

Evidently the Red Wings left their goalies and defense in the locker room last night, and gave up 10.

Ouch!
JzB the abused Detroit sports fan

Jeannie said...

I still haven’t had time to attempt a puzzle. The food show went over really well and I’m glad it’s behind me. I am now playing catch up with all of my other duties. I just wanted to touch base with you fine folks and let you know I’ve missed blogging the last couple of weeks.

Tinbeni said...

OK, the Game is over ...

Ho-Hum for the 11th time in-a-row the Yankee's win (6-3) on Opening Day at The Stadium.

Now, it's time for me to get back to work on that Ark ... it's raining 'Cats & Dogs' here.

No hope for seeing a Sunset today.
Tears ...

Lucina said...

Hi, Jeannie:
It's good to see you back and congratulations on another successful food show!

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, I skipped around this grid today and finally got a toe hold in the bottom half. I had a picket fence fill in the top half but gradually filled in to finally finsh,but it wasn't pretty.

I did have to look up Tish and Valance. Never having played craps or bridge elevens and one no (trump) were mysteries to me even after I had them filled in. Thanks for the answer to those questions Al and Melissa.

I thought Chick chaser/Adee was a great clue. I had a v-moment when I finally decided I needed a suffix and not a teen-aged boy.

Since I alternate with the across and down clues, I didn't fall into the Mitt Romney, John McCain trap. The M was already there and Mitt came easily because I had the Baseball unifier in.

Unknown said...

Baseball! I should have seen that one coming. We are a baseball family, for heavens sakes.
Great blog today. thanks to all.
I am still learning and reading this everyday is so useful!
Our grandson thinks that he is Batman!

Chickie said...

I'm sorry to hear about the poor weather in Florida and the East. Our rain has finally stopped and today it is 76 degrees! I'm enjoying it while it lasts or as Jaycee said,"while the gettin's good".

Dudley, OT (Old Testament) and NT are both terms that I've finally learned doing Crosswords. They appear several times a year.

Great joke, Al.

I actually dusted all the louvers in the house today. I have 5 windows full of wood slat blinds. It is one of those spring cleaning jobs that I try to put off.

Have a great Thursday everyone.

eddyB said...

Hi.

NOTHING interfers with hockey in this house. Missed the Wings game.
Was watching ANH at CAL. Running 50ft of cable across the living room
floor untill Jill gets home.

86 in back yard shade @2:30. Using an achy leg as an excuse to not doing any weeding.

See that Part 1 of Atlas Shrugged
will be released on Apr 15th. About time. Only took 54 yrs.

Take care. eddy

dodo said...

Evenin' all.

Thought I'd better get on with this comment while my eyes are still open! Not that it's late; I guess I've been bitten by a tsetse fly: so sleepy. And falling asleep now would make it hard to sleep through the night! Usually I get this way just before lunch!

For Pete's sake, dodo, who cares about all that.

I thought I was in for a slog starting this one, but for some unknown reason it took shape for me and I made it without googling or using references. The perps helped and I had to make some changes along the way, but overall, I consider it a winner!

I'm aleady up to 20 and haven't said a thing! Bye!

dodo said...

But no more about me!

Al, your writeup as usual was great!

I'm sorry about all you easterners facing more snow! It got up to 80 today and yesterday but I guess it's dropping a bit tomorrow, which is okay with me. I don't take heat too well.

Welcome back, Jeannie! As you can see, Gunghy filled in for you when someone asked for a recipe.

I thought valence and valance were 'spelt' the same way (Thank you NC) Is the a in valence long?

Nice to have you back, Dennis. Will you move your shop, too?

Nice to hear from you, too, Mel B. Did you move? I thought you had said you would.

Ta.

Hahtoolah said...

Dodo: Good to catch you! You usually come here after I have gone off for the evening. I care about how you are doing. Sorry to hear about the tsetse (our old crossword friend).

windhover said...

Well, Seen,
The Reds are in first place for at least one day.

Dudley said...

Kazie at noon - I'm with you, TV is a vast wasteland for the most part. It's about as good for you as a Twinkie. I miss the regular scheduling of good movies, the Disney program, and especially the holiday specials such as A Charlie Brown Christmas. I miss Johnny Carson and the less well known Henry Mancini program. *sigh*

Chickie at 5 - Hmmm, I just can't remember seeing OT. Oh well, I'll remember it now, along with ARN, ERSE, and all the rest.

A question for Cruciverb users - have you had trouble accessing the CrosSynergy puzzle lately? All week I've been getting a generic "404" error message, no puzzle.

Abejo said...

Good Evening, folks. Liked this puzzle, Steve. Thank you. Thanks Al and C.C. for the commentaries and posting.

I could not get a start in the NW. So, I moved to the NE and got that. The SE stumped me for a while. Did the SW and then the SE. In the NW I put LONGAGO for 2D and finally could get nothing to fit, so I changed it to AGESAGO. That worked. Also had RIB for 22D. Finally figured out PEC. OK the puzzle was done.

Used perps for a few, but that is normal for me, ie: ADEE, ENT, and BAL.

Enjoyed the Fan Dance link, Hahtool.

I've got to get working on my Medicare. I soon qualify.

Looking forward to Friday.

Abejo

Lemonade714 said...

I honestly did not get the trade of Granderson to the Yankees and today emphasied which team benefitted.

HeartRx said...

Dudley, I have been doing the CrosSynergy puz all week with no problems. Did you see the NYT today? Brian Wilson (baseball player) finally got his name in an answer...unfortunately, it wasn't 38D.

Dudley said...

HeartRx - I'm interested in the NYT, but not enough to pay for it. Is there a way around it?

Seldom Seen said...

Baseball!?! Baseball?!? I freakin' LOVE baseball!

WH: How about that? Just got home from GABP and life is good.

Pulling for those Wildcats...honestly.

HeartRx said...

Dudley, this is weird. I just tried to go to the chat section of the CrosSynergy puzzle, and got the error message. Now I can't access the puzzle anymore.

HeartRx said...

Dudley, I have crossword compiler, and access it on cruciverb. This is my last post, so good nite all!

JD said...

Hi all...late to the party again,

Thanks Al for nice write up..got the theme when I filled in baseball. Guess I should start at the bottom.Didn't happen easily.

I am amazed at how many of you thought of bat phone without any letters...fan dance too.Everything was perpable, even odd words,like ogress, saml, valence and etnas.

Loved unsatisfactory marks?

Dodo,it will take 2 red eyes to get us to Johannasburg, but we have a lovely all day layover in Paris, where we will meet up with Dick and Irene. Be back on the 14th.

Tinbeni said...

Seen: We must have been cut from the same cloth ...

I Love BASEBALL !!!

Hmmmm, Must BE that relevant 'numbers stats' thingy.

Then I check my email ... and I'm off to Zagreb next Monday (4/4) for a few weeks.

Jeez, just when you think it can't any better I get a 2 week, working (lol) trip to one of my favorite places.

Now the N.Y.Yankees are 1-0.
SOOOO. 162 and 0 is still in play.

Ahhh, the beauty of BASEBALL.
Your team loses 60 times (or two months of hating the Sports Section) and you would be in First.

It's just wonderful ...

Jeannie said...

Lucina and Dodo thanks for the welcome back. I am looking forward to taking my lunch hour to attempt the puzzles once again. Gunghy thanks for "having my back" with the marinara recipe. I am looking forward to attempting my own version of "chilies relleno". I think I will add some chirizo sausage to mine. I'll let you know how they turn out. I will probably "tweak" the batter as well. If it is worthy I will pass it on.

Early HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to Windhover and his beloved Irish. May you have many more happy years together ahead.

Bummer, I am number 70 :( As my Mom used to say, I'm a day late and a dollar short. Story of my life.

Al, the one thing I did do was read your write up. You do so well at this.

Splynter, I read yours as well and I ditto what Melissa said.

Dennis, I hope you are okay. I must have missed something.

windhover said...

Thank you, Jeannie, especially for the "many happy years". Right now I'd settle for one more. Of course next year (and every year) I'll want the same thing.

Seen:
Thanks for the Wildcat wishes. Who'd a thought it, even a couple weeks ago? I was really POed when they ran Tubby off to Minnesota (a damn good coach and a class guy, too), but it looks like Cal has earned his millions.

Tin & Seen:
Me, too. Like a lot of American life the game has been corrupted by money, but sandlot or MLB it's still the American game. Speeding it up would (will) ruin it. Glad you made it to the ballpark. Are you old enough to remember Crosley Field?

Lights out @ Windhover, pre-anniversary celebration complete (x2).