google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, April 22, 2011 Scott Atkinson

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Apr 22, 2011

Friday, April 22, 2011 Scott Atkinson

Theme: The old switcheroo. Each pair of answers trade ER for OO, or vice versa, which are the ending letters in SWITCHEROO. By switching the letters, you get a different and amusing answer. And, the ultimate switch is having all of the theme answers clued in DOWN. How many were deceived like I was by the long answer YOU ARE HERE, which looked like the start of the theme? But, no, here it comes.

5D. Convicts' level on a prison ship?: PERP DECK. This was POOP DECK, which comes from the French word--la poupe--meaning the stem. The French comes from the Latin term Pupiss--meaning the head or stem of something. The poopdeck is the raised portion at the rear "stem" or "head" of the ship that overhangs the rest of the deck. Do not get CONFUSED . PERP here means perpetrator, not our own perpendicular.

11D. Narrow passage where catcalls are heard?: BOOING STRAIT. BERING STRAIT is the passage between the easternmost pint of Asia and the westernmost point in North America. Baseball season brings out many of the Boo Birds.

(Notice the clues alternate OO to ER and ER to OO ).

24D. Creative user of worn-out clothes: TATTER ARTIST. TATOO ARTIST is a very popular career though Jews do not believe you should mark your body. I do like the imagery of someone making beauty out of rags.

41D. Evict a "Wizard of Oz" actor? : BOOT LAHR. Poor BERT LAHR, fired despite his wonderful portrayal of the Lion. I like this one too, as I can picture a swift kick in the pants of poor Mr. Lion.

And the oddly placed unifier, 7D. Deceptive swap that literally resulted in 5-, 11-, 24- and 41-Down: THE OLD SWITCHEROO.

Lemonade here. A really fun theme, from my new pal Scott Atkinson. I thought this was an easier Friday, but with wit and some tricks. Let's go to town and see where we are.

Across:

1. Victims of a storied loser: SHEEP. I really have no clue, but the perps filled easily.

6. Dough dispensers: ATMS. Becoming a common misdirection.

10. Björn Ulvaeus's group: ABBA. Mamma Mia, what do you think the B stands for?

14. Humiliate: ABASE.

15. Takeout choice: THAI. My favorites are Pad Thai and Pad Siew.

16. Procrastinator's word: SOON. I will have this blog done soon.

17. Mall map phrase: YOU ARE HERE. 10 letters, and 17 across, the theme, right?

19. "King __": KONG. Jack Black, what were they thinking?

20. Forcibly expel: UPROOT. How appropriate for this Passover season where the Egyptians chased away the Jews.

21. Like all kidding?: ASIDE. Why would I do that?


25. Ken, for one: DOLL. Barbie's Beau.

26. Key with all white notes: A MINOR. On a Piano I assume.

27. Unlike decaf, facetiously: LEADED. I drink unleaded often, now.

29. Making into cubes: DICING. Anyone else think of Ron Popiel?

31. Tempt: ENTICE. Oh yeah, baby, behave!

32. Jolly Roger sidekick: SMEE. Captain Hook's first mate.

33. Pampering place: SPA.

36. "The Chosen" author: POTOK. We often speak of Chaim Potok, and his book My Name is Asher Lev.

37. Not here: AWAY. Not a home game.

38. See 38-Down: CTRS, and 38D With 38-Across, large pol. arenas: CONV, convention centers. I like how they played off each other.

39. GWB, for one: PRES. More abbreviations hinted at by the clue.

40. Net addition?: FLIX. The Net Flix streaming to your TV is fabulous; my son has it and you can watch all the great movies.

41. Type of cleansing acid: BORIC. I am sure I have mentioned I used boric acid as an eyewash ingredient for years, and also to keep roaches out of my house. Odd combination.

42. Galley tool: OAR. Very tricky as this word means kitchen on a ship, a proof of a book as well as a ship manned by human oarsmen.

43. Trapper's quest: PELT. You ever wonder how little Minks and Chinchillas became so valuable?

44. Where the House of Grimaldi reigns: MONACO. You can understand why their prince wanted to marry this WOMAN .

45. Northwest Passage ocean: ARCTIC, I like how this is followed by 47A Old Russian council SOVIET, which conjures up the frozen tundra of the old Soviet Union, and the BERING STRAITS.

48. Oversee a museum: CURATE, the verb to describe what a CURATOR does, not to be confused with the noun, and its religious meaning.

50. Subtle taste: HINT. My son made a Porter with just a hint of chocolate.

52. Jerry Rice's 208 is an NFL record: TDS. Touchdowns, and unbelievable record. After dancing, Jerry is now not doing too well trying to be a professional golfer on the nationwide tour.

53. They beg to differ: ANTIS. I like the clue, but I had trouble getting the sound.

54. Shoe annoyance: PEBBLE. How do they get in there anyway?

56. Muckraker Jacob: RIIS. We have had this MAN  before.

57. Hirschfeld drawing: CARICATURE. He made pen and ink come alive is his DRAWINGS .

61. One may be assumed: POSE. Models anyone?
 
62. All-inclusive: A TO Z. Our friend Mr. A TOZ.
 
63. Very unpopular: HATED. Really unpopular, wow.
 
64. Tonsil drs: ENTS. A lemonade special repeat, Ear Nose & Throat.
 
65. Horse halter: WHOA. Okay, which sicko was picturing Dale Evans' Buttermilk in a halter top?
 
66. Like non-oyster months, traditionally: R LESS. June, July and August.
 
Okay, break time, and still no theme?
 
Down:
 
1. Enunciate: SAY.
 
2. "The Wire" network: HBO. If you have not seen it, you may want to watch this acclaimed series set in BALTIMORE  .
 
3. Rivière contents: EAU. Wake up Jeannie, it is French lesson time; rivière means river and eau is water.
 
4. Rebekah's firstborn: ESAU. Don't you love how he just adds an S and we have the next answer.
 
6. Playwright Fugard: ATHOL. This writer has appeared three times already this year, the last two in Sunday puzzles.
 
8. Shopping place: MART. Hence, WAL or K.
 
9. "Sprechen __ Deutsch?": SIE. YOU, literally Do you speak German?
 
10. Invites across the threshold: ASKS IN. A Dan Naddor like two word answer which gives odd letter progression until you realize it is two words.
 
12. Aptly named auto body adhesive: BONDO. Another great 3M product named by their crack staff which gave us POST-ITs.
 
13. Management target: ANGER. Nice deception here, and a bad movie with Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler.
 
18. Diminish slowly: ERODE. Is that what is happening to me, I am eroding.
 
21. Grenoble gal pal: AMIE. Okay, bonus French today. notice the E on the end, that lets you know this friend is a she.
 
22. Syria's most populous city: ALEPPO. There are many things abut this city to FEAR.
 
23. Title for Salma Hayek: SENORA. Spanish for married lady, but ever since I saw Desperado, an actress I would like to be NEAR.
 
26. __-deucy: ACEY. I played this and pretty much every card game I could find as a child; now not so much.
 
28. Creator in Caracas: DIOS. You need to know Caracas is the capital of Venezuela, and therefore a place where they speak Spanish, Mon Dieu, another language lesson!
 
30. Big-screen format: IMAX. AVATAR was so amazing in 3-D at IMAX.
 
34. Compared at the mall, say: PRICED. Mall (4 letters starting in MA) not to be confused with Mart
 
35. Fancy accessories: ASCOTS. Fancy, or pretentious? NC, any thoughts? These ties are named for the races where they were worn by the European elite.
 
37. "__ Ask of You": "Phantom" duet : ALL I. Is this a crowd FAVORITE ?
 
40. Big celebration: FETE.

43. Cuts for agts. PCTS. Percentages which is how agents are paid.

44. "Hardball" network: MSNBC.

46. Picks up: RAISES. Not my first choice, I found this one hard to parse.

48. __ diem: CARPE. Just for me, some good old Latin, meaning seize the day.

49. North, once: UNION. Versus the Confederates.

51. Balearic island: IBIZA. A really beautiful island near Spain, and where I may have to go to get some papers signed to transfer ownership of a hotel in the Dominican Republic. What tough duty. Also a hangout for Hollywood's A list.

54. It's taken on some hikes: PATH. But be sure to put it back so others can use it. Nice clue.

55. Bibliography abbr. ET AL. Latin abbreviation for Et Alia, and others

57. Corvine sound: CAW. Did we just travel to ancient Rome? This is from CORVINUS, which means crow in Latin. The INE ending, like BOVINE and PORCINE was also a clue we were talking animals.

58. Salt Lake athlete: UTE. Like many I prefer Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinnie.

59. Court matter: RES. A token legal term for me, and we are out with

60. Slate workers, for short: EDS. Just as I began, I end not sure why, other than teachers and a blackboard are educators and ED degrees. (Note: EDs are short for Editors. Slate magazine.)


Well, my second of Scott's this month and I hope you enjoyed the switch as much as I did, Limeaid 417 out.

Note from C.C.:

Tomorrow's puzzle includes a question which appears in the newspaper and in Across Lite notepad (Click View), but not in LA Times on line Java format. Please come to the blog around 9:10pm tonight. I'll post the question in the Comments section. The answer to the question appears with next Monday April 25 puzzle.

Updated later: Notepad says: ""Can you spot the unusual feature in this puzzle's clues and answers?"

54 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Is it Friday already? I hope it's a Good one for all who celebrate.

Today's puzzle was about 95% straightforward and 5% brutal. It took me a loooong time to get the theme, partially because when I got 7D I spelled it SWITCHAROO. I did finally get it, though, which let me make sense of all the strange theme answers.

One brutal area was the CONV/CTRS crossing. At least there was a clue associated with it in addition to simply "see...," but it was still rough.

The other was the crossing of IBIZA (which I didn't know) and CARICATURE (which I couldn't spell -- I thought it started with a CH).

Loved seeing King KONG in the grid. I wonder if we'll ever see GODZILLA or GAMERA?

Barry G. said...

Oh, and Lemonade...

SHEEP refers to Little Bo Peep, who lost them.

And EDS is short for Editors, those who run Slate Magazine.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. I thought the puzzle itself was easy for a Friday, but the theme was a bit tricky. I initially tried The Bait and Switch instead of THE OLD SWITCHEROO, but the perps quickly made me realize the error of my ways. Finally, when nearly all the squares were filled in, I saw the theme. The "hint" didn't really help me, though.

I knew I was in for a good ride, though with Little Bo Peep and her lost SHEEP.

My favorite clue was Horse Halter = WHOA!

QOD: Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless. ~ Bill Watterson

creature said...

Good Morning C.C., Lemonade and all,

Thanks, Lemonade, for your write-up. Scot is indeed a Friday kind of guy.-lots of trickery and fun.

The theme was a delight; I got THE OLD SWITCHEROO, STRAIT and ARTIST around the same time and thought that the switch was the anagram of STRAIT and ARTIST. BOOT LAHR let me know otherwise. A lot of mental rearranging going on this morning.- kinda’ like ‘leaded’ coffee.

The 38A and 38D cross was a mild irritant, but worked well in the scheme of things.
I, too, loved 1A; such a great way to start. Then , my fav, 65A:Horse halter: WHOA. 9D was my last fill, after the ‘I’ made sense.

Looking forward to seeing distant in-laws Sunday.

Have a nice day everyone.

Tinbeni said...

Lemon, Informative write-up.

OK, I got THE OLD SWITCHEROO rather quickly, which lead to the other themes.
Fave was that "BOOT LAHR."

But since I rarely do Sunday's, ATHOL was all perps.
As were that largest Syria city, ALEPPO, and POTOK. I guess I'm not "The Chosen."

But it was a Good Friday offering.
Though for me (at times) a slog and 'Ink-Blot' test.
(I think the 2-weeks not doing these has ERODEd my skills [if I ever had any] for x-word puzzles).

Going to go out and CARPE Diem.

Cheers to all at Sunset !!1

thehondohurricane said...

Good day folks,

A toughie today that was technically a DNF because I had to G 36A & 51D. But Mr G & a wag or two helped fill in the bottom half. The top half was a smooth ride, but admittedly, leaving me saying WTF with a few of the answers. 1A, 5D, & 11D were the main culprits. At that point I decided if the across word made sense it was staying and the heck with the down word. Surprisingly, it worked!

Lemonade, thanks for the explanation of the oo,er factors. I thought my fills were right, but never did figure out why and likely never would have. The links were terrific, but Grace was extra special. She was in a class by herself.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - I marched through most of the grid unopposed, but skirmished at the same tough spots such as CONV/CTRS. Managed to finish without catching on to the theme, so thanks Lemonade for sorting that out!

Lovely to see Grace Kelly this morning, or any time for that matter. She may have to be our next Netflix study, now that we've pretty well researched Judy Garland, and gotten well-grounded in my personal favorite, Audrey Hepburn.

Speaking of Audrey: last night we did the present day equivalent of leaving the theatre in the early stages of "Two for the Road". Complete rubbish as far as I'm concerned.

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.

What a fun theme! And I loved the alternating er-oo swaps. Great stuff!

I am leaving today for Germany, and then down to the Austrian Alps for a little skiing holiday. I know, I know - didn't I get enough snow this winter? And now I have to go looking for more? But I can't wait to see my friends again, and I know we are going to have a great time.

So if I don't check in for a while, you can just picture me schussing down some glacier or other ;-D

Husker Gary said...

Lemon, et al, cool clues, a wonderful theme, laugh out loud fills and a little mental elbow grease required – Wow! This had it all! Not knowing another Syrian city than Damascus nor the The Chosen author cost me 100% but I’ll take an all but one cell! Clever, fun write-up too Lemon!

Musings
-PERPDECK was my fav! Had STEERAGE first.
-Original KINGKONG remains a marvel for the time!
-CONV/CNTR – very cool!
-Grace Kelly looked like royalty, even in Jimmy Stewart’s tacky apartment in Rear Window
-I guess a curator would curate
-MART not MALL. ASCOTS not ADDONS.
-Our Auto shop teacher had nickname Bondo Bob!
-Sometimes Jack Nicholson just needs a payday too! Yech!
-Yes, Salma, miracles do happen!
-Hardball’s Chris Matthews gets shivers up his leg just thinking about Barak Obama!
-Happy Schussing Marty. Don’t wind up like Sigourney Weaver in Working Girl!

VirginiaSycamore said...

Thanks Lemonade and all for explaining this exasperating puzzle. I actually got the theme fairly early but still had several areas of no idea and no idea on the perps.

I did realize that Slate is an online magazine and got eds. ok. Now if only I had know Potok and Aleppo!

Husker Gary said...

p.s. Before anybody jumps on my Chris Matthews reference as being political, it is just quoting a silly thing he said last year on MSNBC.

Lemonade714 said...

Among the really fascinating aspects of blogging and sharing information is recognizing the things I do not know. While I am a font of arcane information, the idea of Little Bo Peep's sheep being 'victims' never entered my consciouness; and Slate an emag was beyond me as well. I guess I must pay more attention.

Marti, be careful, there are abominable snowmen loose this time of year. Enjoy Goomany.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning all. Great commentary, Lemonade. Oh, and SHEEP are ovine.

Great clueing and a great theme. Took me awhile but I savored every minute of the solve. Thanks Scott. I liked pushing the vocabulary with words like 'corvine' and CARICATURE, and pushing geography with sites like IBIZA and ALEPPO. Ibiza was a gimme because only one Balearic isle has 5 letters. When I got BOOING STRAIT, I saw how the SWITCHEROO was supposed to work. The E central was slow to solve, but when I finally got CONV/CTRS with the help of SOVIET, I was impressed. I know nothing about ABBA except they're Swedish, so with 'Bjorn' (means 'bear') ABBA was a WAG. Also liked BOOT LAHR lol. Other unknowns like ATHOL and POTOK were easily gotten from the perps. BZ to Scott.

Splynter said...

Hi There ~!

Hey~! - Two off-sized puzzles in one week ~!

This one being the 15 X 16, as opposed to C.C.'s offering earlier in the week.

Got this one, pretty smooth, slowed a bit by CONV/CTRS, and then I knew EST couldn't be right for Nova Scotia, either.

My only other goof was that I again missed Mr. A. Toz - oh well ~!

Splynter

Hahtoolah said...

Husker: what happened to your pointless golf?

Lucina said...

Good day, Lemonade et al. Thank you for your A TO Z explanations! He got me again!

Fun puzzle from Scott Atkinson though it seemed much easier than most Fridays.

Slowly but surely I'm learning some French and German thanks to xwds.

I liked Bo Peep's cluing as victims of a storied loser, SHEEP.

POTOK and ALEPPO popped out seeming familiar and I checked on ALEPPO just to ensure it was correct, found that Berea had been its ancient name; remember Berea, a college in Kentucky, WH's alma mater?

THEOLDSWITCHEROO was very clever as both ER and OO are in there though I parsed only BERT and PERP, oh yes, and BERING from BOOING.

Fav clues were net addition, FLIX
horse halter, WHOA.

Nicely done.

Very funny clip with Salma Hayek.

Have a super Friday, everyone!

Husker Gary said...

Hahtool, I counted my lines and got too close to 30 and so deleted my comment and posted an edited version out of respect to C.C.. I also posted a p.s. to prevent any political sniping from beginning. I just thought what Matthews (Hard Ball clue today) said was funny.

My day of golf has now turned into some shopping, the new Reese Witherspoon movie and lobster at Red Lobster on this last Friday of Lent.

This is what this "give and take" thing of marriage is all about and maybe why ours has lasted 44 years. There has to be some reason why Joann has tolerated me that long. Fore tomorrow!

Abejo said...

Good Morning, folks. Wow! Two great puzzles in a row. Yesterday's and today's. Thank you, Scott for a swell puzzle. Enjoyed working through it. Thank you Lemonade for a great write-up, as usual. C.C., for all your posting. BTW, how do I print Saturday's puzzle on Friday night? Can anyone help?

I started in the middle of this puzzle. Got DOLL, DICING, SMEE, AWAY, FLIX, and PELT quickly. This gave me THEOLDSWITCHEROO. The other themes came fairly easy. BOOINGSTRAIT was the last due to CONV CTRS being my last answer. I forgot I was looking for an abbreviation. Wanted NAME and then POST for 61A, but POSE appeared via perps.

I never did figure out the ER OO gimmick until I read the write-up. Thank you Lemonade.

Thought RLESS was clever 66A, "Like non-oyster months, traditionally." I have always heard that for horse radish, you can harvest it in only months with an R in it. Kind of the opposite of oysters. I do grow horse radish by my house. (but not oysters)

Everything else came easily, some with perps.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

creature said...

HG,

The problem is that Chris Matthews and his crowd have a lot
quotes, commonly known as political spin and usually regarded as silly.

Anonymous said...

Unlike Olbermann 'and his crowd', of course. Why is this blog so left-wing??

Jerome said...

In honor of today's theme-

COOTS- Breath mint for old men

Anonymous said...

CERTS = COOTS ..... Jerome, you are simply vooy brilliant ! What a brain you must have ! Milton Boole coudav used them.( On one April 15th, he said, - I just filled out my income tax forms. Who said you cant get killed by a blank. )

Lemon, Thanks for your dry and charmingly witty commentary, and ofcourse, Mr. Atkinson, for your very ingenious puzzle. I don't normally touch 'Fridays', ( its an allergy thing ... I break into hives ... ), but Hirschfield seemed too irresistible. I'm glad I did, and I completed most of it. I saw the movie (documentary) on H's life, and have actually TOUCHED one of his original 'line' drawings !(sigh).

I had no idea of the sophisticated theme, but when one is fighting small brush fires, who worries about the forest conflagration.To Lemon, shabbat shalom, post-Passover.

Anonymous said...

If anybody's interested, Google has an 'Earth' day interactive doodle, with 9 critters, activated by your mouse.

Alternate QOD: I'm very loyal in relationships. Even when I go out with my mom, I avoid looking at other moms. - Garry Shandling.

Jeannie said...

Ah, the old switcheroo! Fun puzzle with a fantastic theme I thought. I didn’t catch onto the “eroo” in the word until reading MFCounselor’s witty, entertaining write up. I thought I was in trouble right away with 1A sheep. I have a foreboding feeling if I can’t get 1A right off the bat, so worked the downs in that corner and out came sheep? What? I didn’t know Potok or Riis but perps and a little red letter help came to the rescue! Oh, and add a new French word to my list…I knew eau was water but didn’t know riviere was river. I did have to hit the g-spot for Grenoble as I had no idea where it was.

All in all a fun entertaining puzzle.

HeartX, no more snow for me…..PLEASE. Enjoy your trip and visit with friends.

I hope everyone has a gerd weekend!!

Lemonade714 said...

Jooome: You are the best, no ferl are you.

Seldom Seen said...

The attitude in the ghetto?

Hood mentality

or

Embellishment on the front of an Chevy Impala?

herd ornament

Seldom Seen said...

Movie about horny deer?

Boyz In the Herd

dodo said...

Guten Tag, all,

Wll, I thought I had the whole thing done with no outside help but I was wrong! stupid mistake: I put 'pack' instead of 'path'and then didn't examine it to see if it worked! 'caw', 'AtoZ', and 'whoa' should have just been gimmies,but no! didn't even notice. Oh, well, pretty good for a Friday, anyway! New word for me: 'corvine'. I ended up with 'coo', at least a bird sound!

dodo said...

P.S. I really did think this puzzle was fun. Thank you, Scott. Lemonade, your blooging was great! Blerging? Nope. You know what I mean!

Hahtoolah said...

Husker: Had your wife read the book, Water for Elephants? And if so, how did she think the movie compared? I really liked the book, so am a bit reluctant to see the movie.

WM said...

Loved today's puzzle even though I had some struggles to finish a couple of words...got the SWITCHEROO pretty quickly which helped quite a bit. Thought it a hugely clever puzzle and actually doable for me for a Friday. Hope to see more from this cruciverbalist(I love that word) and big thanks to Lemonade for the great blog.

JD said...

Good afternoon Lemonade, C.C. et al,

How confusing was that? Obviously too tricky (a good thing) for me. I DID know "You are here!" comforting

So, even though I DNF, due to not being able to navigate the booring strait or recognizing Boot Lahr, which led to an incomplete caricature (GREAT WORD!!),and rless, I enjoyed the effort.Whoa!

to all...carpe diem

Chickie, my onion skin eggs are lovely ...thanks for recipe

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, I had a DNF puzzle today. I made several missteps in the bottom fourth of the puzzle that never really cleared up. Thank goodness for Lemonade's writeup.

Also, thanks for the links, especially the one of Grace Kelly. She was an exceptional woman.

I had many of the same problems as Barry, with addition of 61A, One may be assumed. I put in Past, also Rein for Whoa, and I read Slate as State! No wonder I had a problem!

I did get all the theme answers, though, so felt pretty cocky until the end of the puzzle loomed up and caught me.

Sunday puzzles aren't on my agenda so Athol was one that I got with the perps, but had to look up Bjorn Ulvaeus' group. I knew Abba, but not all the musicians associated with the group. I'm learning, though.

Seldom Seen said...

"my boyfriend is an athol" she lisped.

Chickie said...

JD, I'm glad the Easter eggs turned out well. I took mine to my Antique Collectables class and shared with the group. We had to take an Easter treat to eat as well as an Easter antique to share.

Creature, So glad that you enjoyed the puzzle. It was very doable and lots of fun.

Have a wonderful Holiday weekend everyone.

Husker Gary said...

Hahtool, Joann did not read the book and the treatment of the elephant in a couple of scenes was very disturbing to her. The movie was a great period piece and had Hal Holbrook in the first and last part of the movie as he was recalling his circus days. There was certainly an elephant in the movie but I did not really get the significance of the title Water For Elephants. Rosie the elephant does steal the show (more than one dimensional Pattinson!) and guzzles a lot of whiskey and lemonade. All in all, a nice day at the cinema and a look at life before there were any safety nets and welfare.

The Sun came out and we also bought $100 of plants in west Omaha to install tonight!

Lucina said...

Gary, thanks for that review of Water for Elephants and Hahtool, thank you for asking about it. Our newspaper gave it a bad review so I'm not sure if I shall see it. The book was so delightful, I want that memory.

Jayce said...

Our newspaper gave Water for Elephants an excellent review. So I think we will go see it. LOL

Husker Gary said...

Cows on next farm - NEIGHBORHERD

Kids on the raised lawn – BABYBERMERS

Study of tales of disaster – DOOMATOLOGY

Jayce said...

Splynter, tha job interview you had a couple of weeks ago -- how did it go? Do you know if you got the job?

Husker Gary said...

Oops, direct link did not work. Go to

Rotten Tomatoes

and scroll down to any movie for which you want MANY reviews!

See you tomorrow!

Frenchie said...

Hi C.C., Argyle and folk,

Beautiful job, L714! I am now considering myself enlightened!

5d. POOPDECK, 11d. STRAIT...do you think there is a nautical sub theme?

I hope so! We put an offer on this boat and hope to get word soon. Sedan Cruiser

dodo said...

HG - Did you read WforE? in the beginning the old man confronted a dinner partner who said he had carried 'water for elephants' in his youth. This really upset the Holbrook character who called his companion a liar. He asked, "Do you know how much water an elephant needs?" Surely that was in the movie since it was the point of the title!

I haven't seen it but I loved the book!

Spitzboov said...

Ernie's German roomie: Das Bert

JD said...

Husker, I just read an article about how Water for Elephants was filmed.

"Although the animal abuse scenes in "Water for Elephants" appear intense, no animals were harmed in filming them. The perception of abuse was created using makeup, fake blood, computer-generated images and post-production sound effects. "Tai was never hit in any way at all," Johnson said. The elephant did witness the actors swinging sticks and yelling loudly, as they acted out the beating scenes; however, even that aspect of the scene was carefully planned and rehearsed so Tai would not feel anxious or afraid. Tai's trainer gave her constant positive reinforcement, such as a food treat or play time, to motivate her. So what was one of this enormous animal's favorite motivational treats? A marshmallow!

JD said...

dodo, that is where I am in the book. BTW, I really enjoyed House Rules by Jodi Piccoult.

creature said...

Yes, Dodo. If I haven't told you. I enjoyed that as well. Thanks.

I cherished Water for Elephants. It sounds as if it loses something in the translation in the movie.

Courier Journal headlines:
'Water' pours on the romance

3 1/2 stars;PG-13

JD, I am heartened by your post on the treatment of the elephant
during filming.

Husker Gary said...

Dodo, I hope C.C. will not mind that I am going to offend the 5 max rule since it is so late at night. I have no memory of a dinner party or any mention of the drinking habits of elephants at any time. Maybe they omitted that as the movie was 2 hours long as it was or Hal Holbrook said something I missed. They obviously wanted to keep the title anyway.

JD, great to hear no animals were harmed. The scenes intimated lots of violence!

There was a big house for 1 pm and we got in for $4 when the price clearly said $6.50 for seniors at a matinee! Full price in Omaha for the general public is $9.00! Yikes!

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Here is what Notepad says:

"Can you spot the unusual feature in this puzzle's clues and answers?"

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Abejo,
Go to the Archives section of Cruciverb, you should find tomorrow's puzzle.

JD said...

Lemonade, thanks so much for your fun write up today.I really enjoyed the Al Hirschfeld bio, and although Phantom is not my favorite, that song is lovely. Did you listen to 4 yr old Sophia sing a song from Phantom? Cute.

Thanks C.C.

Unknown said...

Late to the party, am I! Great write up by Lemonade today, thanks.
Was the NC directed at me? If so, the answer is no. Ascots are silly-looking and I've only known one man who sported one. He was an over-bearing oaf, so my opinion of ascots was cemented. Ugh.
As usual, I did't really "get" the theme but enjoyed the ride anyway. I especially love reading the blog and pondering the very different personalities who contribute to it.
Many thanks for the Grace Kelly link. She was a favorite of mine. She and Audrey Hepburn were the most graceful as well as beautiful actresses of our time.
Good night all!

Jalmar said...

you guys are the nices best corner in the world. what a fun day

Annette said...

After seeing WTF so often on the blog, I was thrown for a loop yesterday when I co-worker sent out an email that started with WTG! It took me a few minutes and several re-reads of the whole emails to finally see by the context that WTG = Way To Go!

I loved the 'e gyp shun humor! A friend of mine has attempted to go there twice. The first time, his partner had a heart attack so they had to cancel. The second time, was when the fighting broke out this past February (?)...Third time's a charm - I hope!

C.C., thanks for pointing out the question in Saturday's puzzle. I probably never would have noticed the reference to Notepad.