google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 John Lampkin

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Apr 19, 2011

Tuesday, April 19, 2011 John Lampkin

Theme: Home Bodies - Five animals from across the land who have where they are found as part of their name. (Like Broadway Joe?)

(There is a constructor's note at the end.)

18. Grassland burrower : PRAIRIE DOG

23. Mojave lizard : DESERT IGUANA

37. Flippered ocean critter : SEA LION

51. Sure-footed Rockies denizen : MOUNTAIN GOAT

60. Playful swimmer : RIVER OTTER

Argyle here. Click on the name to get an image. Not much to say. Good continuation of the week.

Across:

1. Chase, as a fly : SHAG. As a fly ball, not the insect.

5. Comme ci, comme ça : SO-SO. French phrase meaning, literally, “like this, like that.”

9. Whaler's rear end : STERN. Har, that would be the back end of the boat.

14. "__ Fly With Me": Sinatra standard : COME. Clip(3:21)

15. Swan's "Swan Lake" wear : TUTU

16. Hawk's home : AERIE. No TUTU wearing hawks.

17. Boo-boo, in tot talk : OWIE. Crossword 2D. Canadian comic Mandel : HOWIE

20. "Hungarian Rhapsodies" composer Franz : LISZT

22. "My __!" : GOODNESS

26. Boulevard, e.g. : ROAD

27. Comical Coca : IMOGENE. Classic clip(1:11) with Sid Caesar.

31. "You betcha!" : "YES SIREE!"

35. Bad doings : EVIL

36. Soft drink suffix : ADE

41. Jack Horner's last words : "...AM I". Nursery rhyme.

42. Zoom or macro : LENS

44. Orange-and-black-winged butterflies : MONARCHS. See John's link at the bottom.

46. Dangles a carrot in front of : ENTICES. For such a common phrase, this is the only photo I could find of an actual occurrence.

50. Jay with jokes : LENO

56. Prayer set to music by Schubert and Gounod : AVE MARIA. Here is the search results from YouTube. Pick your own version to hear.

59. 1945 conference site : YALTA. Yalta is a city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and General Secretary Joseph Stalin discussed Europe's post-war reorganization. It had been preceded by the Tehran Conference in 1943. We had something about that recently.

63. Object of worship : IDOL

64. Some '80s Chryslers : K-CARS

65. Crescent's tip : CUSP

66. It flows through Egypt : NILE

67. Feel intuitively : SENSE

68. AMA concerns : HMOs

69. Slippery fish : EELs

Down:

1. Chew out : SCOLD

3. Not quite right : AMISS

4. Old coots : GEEZERS. Old coots following a miss?

5. "The Racer's Edge" : STP

6. "... __ daily bread" : OUR. From the Lord's Prayer.

7. College football immortal Amos Alonzo __ : STAGG. Stagg played football as an end at Yale University. 30D. "Boola Boola" singers : ELIs. 31. "Boola Boola" university : YALE

8. "Yes, yes, Fifi" : "OUI, OUI". French, French.

9. Verbally refused : SAID NO

10. Like most adolescents : TEENAGE

11. Earth, in Germany : ERDE

12. 60-Across habitats, to José : RIOs

13. Strips in a photo lab : NEGs

19. Wander : ROAM

21. Cinq moins deux : TROIS. French, French, French (5-2=3)

24. Container weight : TARE

25. Gray matter creation : IDEA

28. Flood emergency op : EVAC. the Emergency Volunteer Air Corps organizes general aviation pilots, amateur radio volunteers, and others to be of assistance during disaster.

29. Gp. that funds psychiatric drug testing : NIMH. National Institute of Mental Health.

32. Paradise : EDEN

33. Email status : SENT

34. "Slippery" tree : ELM. There are approximately 30 to 40 species of elm. Slippery elm is useful as a natural herb.

38. Kansas city : IOLA. As of the census of 2000, there were 6,302 people. As of the census of 2000, there were 32,170 people in Natick, MA.

39. R.E.M.'s "The __ Love" : ONE I

40. Au pair : NANNY

43. Almost boils : SIMMERS

45. Hair-raising product? : ROGAINE

47. Like some sandpaper : COARSE

48. Continental coin : EURO

49. Tattletale : SNITCH

52. "Paper Moon" Oscar winner O'Neal : TATUM

53. Nostalgic record : OLDIE

54. Ring-shaped reef : ATOLL

55. Fairy stories : TALES

56. Torah holders : ARKS

57. Smoking or drinking, some say : VICE

58. "__ Almighty": 2007 film : EVAN. Starring Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman, Lauren Graham.

61. That, in Toledo : ESO. Spanish

62. Fast-spinning meas. : RPS. Revolutions Per Second, when it's too fast for RPM.


Argyle

Constructor's Note:

This puzzle is a direct response to Scott Atkinson's fun LAT offering of Monday, 6/28/2010 where he used a "double animal name" theme with TIGER SHARK, ELEPHANT SEAL, SPIDER MONKEY, and TURTLE DOVE. After saluting Scott and kicking myself for not thinking of it first, I realized I could raise the stakes a notch by getting three layers in there: a critter, it's habitat, and it's characteristic behavior. Some fun!

Oddly, I've never photographed any of these species, but I do have a nice image of a pair of mating MONARCHS. [pic attached]. For those of you contemplating trying this at home, do not, I repeat, do not attempt this in a hammock.

Best to you all,


67 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Argyle, C.C. and gang - a pretty easy Tuesday, but with John Lampkin's touch throughout. Very much a 'no muss, no fuss' effort, except......'RPS'?? Never heard that one before, but I guess it would be abbreviated that way. I went with the obvious, 'RPM', leaving 68A as Hmom, which I assumed was some sort of nuclear nurturing device.

I enjoyed the theme, and the pictures supplied by Argyle, and it was clever of John to work his monarch butterflies into the puzzle. As to the picture John supplied, yeah, a hammock would be tough. Certainly not a lot of intimacy there, huh?


Today is National Garlic Day.

Did You Know?:

- The single longest-running commercial in television history is the ad for Life cereal featuring Mikey (Let Mikey try it. He hates everything."), which aired nationally for 12 years.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Very smooth puzzle today. Not quite a speed run, but awfully close, despite the presence of a few total unknowns like STAGG, IOLA and NIMH. In fact, I think the only spot that hung me up at all was when I out RPM for 62D and stared at HMOM at 68A for a few seconds in utter bewilderment. No 4M for me today, fortunately, as I managed to figure it out pretty quickly.

I have to say also that there was a certain... precision to the clues today that I found refreshing. Some of the answers in today's puzzle have been in recent puzzles where I complained about the cluing, but this time the clues were all spot on.

kazie said...

Hi fellow bloggers!
Just a quick lookin at 12:40 pm here. I just did Monday and Tuesday's CWs online, and found Tuesday's easier than Monday.

Great theme John, and definitely the monarch photo was quite a feat!

JD,
I enjoyed the safari pics too. I'll have to have a better look later too.

Just grabbing a moment with my son's laptop, which normally stays at work with him, but he's home today. His wife had an appendectomy on Sunday, so her laptop is with her, and besides, the rest of the family has kept me busy every day since I arrived, so not much time to get online.

Miss "seeing" you all each day, but this is a great family experience too. It's a wonderful break from my routine.

I'm not sure how often I'll do this, so bye for now!

Anonymous said...

IOLA

NIMH

WTF!

Dennis said...

anon, both are repeat customers -- might as well get used to them.

Mainiac said...

Morning Argyle, CC and All,

Fun little workout this morning with my first screw up writing Shoo for 1A. RPM had me scratching my head for a Sec also. Fun puzzle.

John, Sounds like your hammock warning comes from experience!

Have a great day!

Abejo said...

Good Morning, folks. Thank you John Lampkin for a swell puzzle. Thanks, also, to Argyle for the excellent wtite-up. Enjoyed the butterfly photo John and Argyle.

This puzzle came together quite easily for the most part. Thank goodness for the perps that helped me with answers such as: HOWIE, TROIS, RPS, STAGG, NIMH, EVAN, NANNY, and ESO.

For NANNY, what does "au pair" mean? Help anybody?

The theme came easily and helped a lot with the puzzle in general.

Enjoyed the answer CUSP. You do not see that very often.

Not sure about all the foreign words. But, I guess that is the modern puzzle. Plus, the world is certainly shrinking.

See you all tomorrow.

Abejo

thehondohurricane said...

Good day folks,

A breezy Tuesday offering from Mr Lampkin for an overcast day. My only hesitation was 56D & 64A. I was pretty confident about "Arks", but i wasn't sure about "Kcars."

I did not realize both paper $ and coins are called Euros, unlike our dollars and cents. A couple minor slow downs were Shoo for 1A and Malta for 59A,. Perps quickly took care of those errors. Wanted RPM for RPS too.

Was not crazy about 21D. Let's keep math calculations to Spanish or Latin. They are tough enough.

Argyle, thanks for the links to Our Show of Shows...Sid & Imogene were so great together.. and the many versions of Ave Maria. I'll sample them all in time, but Pavarotti will be first.

Tinbeni, welcome back. I toasted your safe return last evening.

Grumpy 1 said...

Good morning Argyle, C.C. et al. Thanks for a fun puzzle, John.

I followed ereyone else into the RPM trap, but wondered as I wrote it if the "fast spinning" in the clue might indicate that it needed to be kicked up a notch. Nah, John wouldn't do that to us on a Tuesday, would he? YES SIREE! he would!

It's a good thing Jack Horner wasn't a Redneck... his last words would have been "Hey! Watch this!" It's hard to fit that into three squares.

I don't care, Dennis, I will NOT put garlic on my Life cereal.

thehondohurricane said...

I forgot earlier, I can use some help. (My wife would say I need lots of help!) Riley, pictured in my avatar, is a digger. Does anyone know of a solution on how I can cure him of this lust to excavate my lawn?

Thanks,
Hondo

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

YES SIRREE a fun offering from John today. I like the HOWIE - OWIE cross, and the YALE - ELIS symmetry. Lots of thinking here.

Amanda did her first solo dance in a TUTU this weekend, and got a platinum rating in the competition. She and here sisters are spending the day with us.

I did the puzzle to wind down last night after the concert - thanks for the good wishes yesterday Jayce. Wow, was it a great time. Wayne Bergeron is not only an Amazing musician, he's a terrific human being, and great fun. What a treat and a thrill to perform with him.

Guonod's AVE MARIA (GOODNESS!) is set to the harmony of one of Bach's preludes (C MAj) from the WTC.

Girls are here. IMBO. See you soon.

Cheers!
JZB

Barry G. said...

Abejo: I think "au pair" is simply French for "nanny."

Unknown said...

Hello! I am early to the party today! Who knew? I did complete the puzzle. Who is amazed?
North Carolina is still recovering from the effects of this past weekend's storm. There is wide-spread devastation and many deaths. All very sad. Please remember NC in your prayers and thoughts.
Now on to lunch with the girls and some gardening. The latter is not on my fave list, but must be done. We had some limbs down and lots of blown away plants and such. Thank goodness sweet hubby thought to place the patio pots out of the way of the wind behind the wall. He does have a brain after all!

Mainiac said...

Hahtool,

Shag is to fetch or retrieve. Normally used in baseball terms, shagging fly balls....or grounders.

Argyle said...

"Au pair" comes from the French term, meaning "on a par" or "equal to", indicating that the relationship is intended to be one of equals: the au pair is intended to become a member of the family, albeit a temporary one, rather than a domestic servant. They are usually young women who exchange their work for living with a family in a different country. They are the modern equivalent of an indentured servant.

Back in 1997, there was a famous case in Newton, MA, of an au pair convicted of involuntary manslaughter for shaken-baby syndrome.

Anonymous said...

NIMH. Part of a book/film title. Guess yet?
AU PAIR Easily recognized from news
story in the past about one accused of a crime. Remember yet?
SHAG Yes,remember Austin Powers using it to mean ___. But how funny is it that it's "chasing a fly?" if you don't know the baseball connotation (which of course I didn't)! Laughing yet?

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone. Nice commentary, Argyle.

Easy one, but with John's typical fun fill. The French clues made it easier; BH helped with ESO - the only Spanish I know was learned in cw's. I, too, had rpm at first and wondered about HMOm, but since I was not up on "nuclear nurturing devices", I re-pondered the down clue and decided that 'fast-spinning meas.' could indicate RPS, a valid engineering unit - but not as common as 'rpm'. This gave HMOS, an obvious concern for the AMA. Clever theme. John; Thanks.

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Argyle, C.C. et al.

Thanks for the wonderful puzzle, John! And thanks for a great dissection, Argyle. Loved the MONARCH butterfly picture. But even better was the RIVER OTTER – I think he was waving at me!

I blithely wrote in Swat for 1A. Uh-oh, bad move. Perps quickly fixed that error, but it stopped me from finishing in record time. Drat!

Loved, loved, loved the proximity of SO-SO, TUTU and OUI OUI. And then there was the fun fill like YESIREE, GEEZERS, SNITCH and OLDIE.

Simple theme, sparkling fill: what else could I ask for on a Tuesday in spring? Well, maybe a hammock…

Anonymous said...

I happened to know the parent doctors (Anesthetists ) in Mass. whose child was killed by the au pair. The nanny's lawyer took a gamble, during the trial, in insisting on reinstating the charges of 'First degree murder' and NOTHING ELSE ... (in hopes of a complete acquittal - ) ... and lost.

Yet, after the au pair was found guilty and duly sentenced ... she was then, eventually shock- paroled (!!!) , because she was British ?? ... and the media took the child's mother to task because she 'should have stayed at home' to take care of the child, herself ? Only in America.

Husker Gary said...

A soggy good morning to all from the Hinterlands! Farmers say, “It is raining money!”

Musings
-Whale Tail is a now a phrase used to describe thong underwear protruding above rear belt line
-Debate continues about FDR’s health and decision making at Yalta as he died just a few months later
-DENIAL ain’t just a river in Egypt!
-When I get in a hurry, Joann’s favorite phrase is, “Just Simmer!”
-Eso Beso, Ooo that kiss!

Anonymous said...

Thank you Mr. Lampkin for a very nice puzzle and dear Argyle for a sizzling and witty commentary.

I guess 'shag' has not made it, here, as to the common euphemism in the UK, hence not banned (yet) from the morning xwords.

Thanks to the Anon, yesterday, (last post), about John Pugh's artwork - I think his talent is greater than Michelangelo and Da Vinci combined. What a genius !

Alternate QOD: Death is caused by swallowing small amounts of saliva over a long period of time. - George Carlin.

Anonymous said...

To those who think solving crosswords prevents/alleviates Alzheimers ...

...Dr. Alan Learner, Dir. of Memory and Cognition Center ... 'People who do crossword puzzles get better at doing crossword puzzles, they don't necessarily get better about knowing where their keys are.'

...'Puzzles are fine, but research shows that you have to challenge your brain....Stop multitasking, ... to people over 30, my advice would be - do everything in your power not to lose your ability to focus and pay attention. If you can't focus and pay attention, you're not going to remember. It's about being in the present moment.'

Husker Gary said...

Amen to the amazing John Pugh murals (and John Lampkin's incredible photography as well!)! Art is so subjective that it is hard to compare but I find them far superior to Klee’s Viaducts we saw last week. Greater than Michelangelo and DaVinci? Don’t know and don’t care! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The same goes for some amazing “lounge bands” I have heard who never got the right song to get them into the big room. It ain’t rocket science, so enjoy whatever moves you!

Tinbeni said...

Argyle, What a nice write-up and links. Since you do this each Monday and Tuesday, the easiest puzzles of the week, I just wanted to "Thank-You" for always keeping it interesting.

Fermat: Thanks for the Dan Naddor. I did get a Sunday paper and had a FUN time solving.

John, Thanks for a FUN Tuesday.
Though I disagree re: THAT hammock thingy.
With the right Gal-Pal ... it's a hoot.

I'm Proud to be an old GEEZER ... at least that's what my T-Shirt says.
(Never thought I'd make it past 30).

Anon: I'm always in the "Present Moment" ... damn,
Now I'm past it!

Cheers to all at Sunset !!!

Anonymous said...

A very cordial and sincere best wishes for those of us celebrating Passover, last night.

To those of us (whose ancestors - ) didn't get 'passed over' .... what ? God plays favorites ?

... Meant in a spirit of lite jest, no offense intended.

JD said...

Good morning Argyle, C.C. and all,

Thanks John, for a super Tues xwd. Loved the animal theme and spectacular photo of our favorite butterfly. We saw smaller Monarchs in So. Africa.

I did leave an opening today, the K..not knowing k cars or arks.

anonymous,great advice. I have become that joke we all laughed at about staying on task. I agree that we need to multi task less and work on focusing on one task.. so we don't burn down the house!!!

Jerome said...

Do you think a guy who wears antlers and uses his nose as a butterfly roost likes to have fun? OUI OUI running alongside SAID NO. SO SO riding atop TUTU. And as Jazz pointed out, OWIE crossing HOWIE. GEEZERS and its symmetrical partner ROGAINE. Jeez, how odd that a photographer/musician/composer would use words like MONARCHS,LENS,NEGS,LISZT,and AVE MARIA. I'm sure John takes his crafts serious, but being serious didn't prevent Mozart from creating a Magic Flute. Or John from creating a puzzle with a magic touch.

Nice one, Mr. Lampkin!

carol said...

Hi all -

1A got me right away because I thought INSECT. I wanted to put in SWAT, but that is not technically 'chasing'. Finally the V-8 moment hit me and I got the correct word. Had to laugh at ANON at 9:32 - yes, I DO know what 'SHAG' means in the UK, I think most of us do but it's not on the 7 dirty word list here.

Great puzzle and amazingly I did not have to look anything up.

So true about staying focused on one thing at a time, I rarely do it, so I use timers (I have 4 of them) so I don't put a pan of something on the stove, leave the room to do something else, and promptly forget I was ever in the kitchen. Along with my sticky notes, I can manage fairly well :)

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, This was smooth sailing all the way through. Well, except for sneaky little 1A....yeah, I had SHOO at the start.

I had no problems with NIHM, IOLA or RPS because they were pre-perp filled with the Acrosses.

I had to look up 7D STAGG post-puzzle. Can't say Alonzo was immortal to me.

As usual John Lampkin gave us a crisp puzzle with a great group of theme answers. Argyle's links were syrup on the pancakes.

HG, forget about the appearance of the ladies in the thong photos. They are both at risk of some not so sexy stuff

JD, I love the photos.

Happy Garlic Day to Gilroy and Garlic Gal. Have fun!

eddyB said...

Hello.

Puzzle was a fast and fun one.

Radio guys were happy to be in
Glendale. Temp was 90+ outside. DET now 3-0.

Video was great. But, if you want to take your time and really see
the murals ....

Take care. Have to get my print icon back.

Jeannie said...

Great puzzle and great theme, John! A couple I wouldn’t have known like Yalta, erde, and Stagg were perped out or just WAG’s. Favorite today was “hair raising product” – Rogaine and I also noticed the crossing of Rogaine and geezers. LOL! I also like the parallel of said no and teenage. It seems that was said a lot to me when I was that age. We had a Kcar when I was a teenage(r) and that was the car I learned to drive a stick shift in.

I checked the eagles nest earlier and the camera was covered with snow. I caught a glimpse and it seems they both were sitting in the snow covered nest. Poor things. It’s supposed to snow here later today. I sure hope not, I am sick of it!!

Tinbeni, good to see you back!

Lucina said...

Good day, puzzlers! Thank you, Argyle, for your constancy every M & T, wonderful links and witty writing.

I chose Bobby McFerrin because I've heard most of the others and was pleasantly surprised.

John Lampkin, you are a fountain that keeps gushing. Thank you for this lovely effort. Crisp is I believe the right word for it and so clever.

With SCOLD, HOWIE and AMISS I deduced SHAG and just kept on going, sashaying at almost a speed run. I had HMOS first so RPS was not a problem. it simply emerged.

My daughter belongs to the NIMH because she works in the field of mental health.

As for the foreign words, TROIS, ERDE, they just appeared once the horizontals were filled. However we've seen cinq and deux often enough that five plus two made sense.

Have a blessed Passover all who observe.

Enjoy your Tuesday, everyone!

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, What a great puzzle and writeup today. Along with the animals and habitats in the theme today, I started writing down the other related answers today. With aerie, eels, atoll and monarchs we had a veritable science lesson within this crossword.

Thanks John Lampkin for the lesson and Argyle for the writeup.

Any unknowns such as Erde, Kcars, Iola and NIMH were filled in with the perps. But hands up for Shoo. I was into fly, as in insect, and thought that it should fit with our animal theme today.

I'm still in the dark about Kansas City and Iola. I know that I've seen this clue before and must have just skipped over the writeup definition when it was given.

Chickie said...

We see Ami clued as French for friend, but I thought John Lampkin gave that often used clue a nice new take. With Jack Horner's last words I had to go through the Nursery Rhyme to remember what they were--Am I.

Erde was new to me today. However, when it emerged I realized that it was the last name of one of my students from many years back. We learn something everyday in our crosswords!

I'm dying Easter Eggs with onion skins today. So best get busy.

Don G. said...

This is one of those themes where one wonders, "Why has this not been done before?". It makes so much beautiful sense that it had to be done by someone. And John is quite capably up to the task. This puzzle was enjoyable on many levels, and John should be congratulated for putting together such an exquisite puzzle. Way to go, John!

Warren said...

Hi Argyle, C.C. & gang, A good puzzle from Mr. Lampkin. I just had to add 'lampkin' to my PC's dictionary ;-)

My wife understood 'RPS" as rev's per second, I had RPM in there at first but it didn't fit.

I had totally forgotten the 'little Jack Horner' nursery rhyme, Here's a link to the poem and a Note: "One interpretation of this nursery rhyme relates it to Jack Horner, steward to the last Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey..."

Grumpy 1 said...

Chickie, think 'City in Kansas' instead of 'Kansas City'. Iola is a little known city in Kansas that just happens to have the kind of letter combination that is needed to stack other words in a crossword puzzle.

eddyB said...

Hello.

Life lesson from an older geezer:

No matter how good you think you are at something, there is always
someone better. eb

Finally reading The Land of Painted Caves. Critics don't like it.

Happy days. Wheel chair has shipped.

eddy

Seldom Seen said...

I really enjoy John Lampkin's puzzles. Thanks.

Learning moment for today was STAGG. I remember Dayton playing in the Stagg Bowl(Div. III championship game) many years ago but never knew the origin of the name.

Dayton has moved divisions but wiki shows that the game is now dominated by Mount Union(OH) and Wisconsin-Whitewater. The game is played in
Salem, VA.

Clear Ayes said...

Mong-Lan, prize winning poet, writer, painter, and Argentine tango dancer/teacher, left her native Vietnam at the age of five, on the last day of the evacuation of Saigon. The following is the first 14 lines of her

Love Poem to Garlic

stinking rose
the heady scent of you
tangy spicy
most underrated year-round orb
bulbous root incandescent moon
invoked as deities by the Egyptians garlic
each day with you is another day tripled
stripped of your delicate covers your
fire-spitting fresh rawness
i love you unadulterated
a shiver once i bite you
medicinally you are a miracle
fighting colds blood thinner
anti-bacterial extraordinaire

John Lampkin said...

Hey there all,

Constructor is VERY happy to see such positive feedback about those crossings. When I create those cross-references I sometimes wonder if anyone will notice and it's nice to know that you do!

Thanks, Argyle for taking the time to find and link the critter pics. The Mountain Goat image is particularly well composed. And thanks C.C. for running my MONARCHS bit. Amazingly, they can fly around like that. Talk about multitasking!

For those of you new to the LAT world here, Don Gagliardo and Jerome Gunderson are two of the best constructors around. Thanks guys, and thanks again to you all for your kind words and constructive comments.

Seldom Seen said...

I was trying to think of other possible theme answers and can only think of sweater puppies.

Some people call them sweater kittens.

Gunghy said...

Well, John, thanks for a fun one, after Gila monster and Chuckwalla were discarded, anyway.

RPS never entered the picture. HMOS went in too fast. Actually, there was a lot of that today. It's been a long time since one of John's flowed so easily.

Hondo, you can bury a dog's feces in the hole and they won't dig there again. Can't help you on stopping digging, per se.

Have a good evening, all.

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed today's puzzle.

Chickie said...

Thanks, Grumpy, for the Kansas City explanation. I was still in the box and couldn't get out!!

Eggs are done. Why should it take most of the day to do just a simple should have been hour task?

Argyle said...

Does anyone here know what a swamp wampus is?

fermatprime said...

As usual, a fantastic puzzle, John. Informative write-up, Argyle. Favorite answers EVIL, ROGAINE and AVE MARIA. (Which Ave Maria, irrespective of who is singing, if any, is your favorite? I prefer Schubert)

JD--very interesting about baboons. Were you attacked? One would be tempted to tase one breaking into car.

I could not finish Richard's rant either. Mrs. Brown thing very funny and very embarrassing. Not my idea of a necessity!

Jeannie--what did you do without sauce? Send the chicken stuff back?

Sure eddy, send away! The post after yours by anon was fascinating!

Were those monarch butterflies on Bones?

Cheers!

Warren said...

swampwompus
Genre: Experimental / Funk / Psychedelic???

fermatprime said...

Chickie--everything that should take less than an hour to do around here takes a whole day! An all day task takes at least a week.

Anon (re au pair) has a rather familiar voice! Why not ditch the Anon label?

fermatprime said...

Warren--thanks for Jack Horner info!

JD said...

Fermatprime, NO, I was not attacked.The baboon ignored me as I took pictures of him eating potato chips. They were more interested in the food people were eating, and did not touch anyone while stealing.

Anonymous said...

Any good recipe for pesto?

eddyB said...

Hello.

ferm. Photos on their way. Have another one about improbable home sites if interested.

Listening to WSCR-AM/Chicago tonight. If Van goes 4-0, they will have a long wait untill everyone catches-up.

Scott Adams taking heat for using an alias on the web is laughable
since critics are A Nons and people using phoony names themselves.

The Last Supper now claimed to have been had on Wednesday. Enjoy.

eddy

Dennis said...

Any idea what he's talking about now???

windhover said...

I think you have to have seen the movie or read the book.

JD said...

ha,ha,ha,me neither

carol said...

eddyB: Wow, new drugs must be good!

JD said...

For those of you who are wondering about our accomodations on our safari. This is where we stayed, a beautiful place.There are a few other great videos in this collection.

Seldom Seen said...

I think it's simple to translate:

Greeting

Sending Fermatprime requested pictures(of some muralist) and offering more on unique home sites.

Listening to online radio coverage of a hockey game between Vancouver and Chicago. If Van wins they have to wait a while to see who they play next.

Dilbert creator Scott Adams is catching grief for defending himself on a blog using an alias. Other people using aliases are spouting off about him using an alias.

On my Yahoo homepage is a story that the last supper occured on wed and not thur.

I've seen Tuesday puzzles more cryptic.

Eddyb posts are usually harmless and make me smile.

Dennis said...

Seen, thanks -- you'd make a great cryptographer.

Annette said...

John, what a fun puzzle you gave us today, as always! Even the French math came easily.

Interesting crossing of NANNY and MOUNTAIN GOAT.

22A "My ______!" reminds me of Shirley Temple saying "Oh, my goodness!"

41A Jack Horner's last words: AM I - the clue sounds awfully morbid, doesn't it?

68A AMA concerns - without looking at the perps yet, my first entry for it was HARM, thinking of "Do no harm"...

13D Strips in a photo lab - You can definitely tell Lois is MIA when a great DF straight line like that goes totally unmentioned! If only 47D COARSE could have been clued as rude or rough language...

I liked the word CUSP in the puzzle. And a friend of mine lovingly (?) refers to her mother as The Geez!

WikWak said...

Argyle: I used to play a computer game written in Basic (waaay before Visual Basic) called "Hunt the Wumpus", and Wikipedia has an article about the "Wampus Cat". Both names are probably variations of the same name, as is the band referenced earlier who spells it "Wompus." Either way it's a mythical creature said to inhabit the swamps and forests, mainly in the SE USA.

Annette said...

:) I thought maybe it was an alternate form of "Whoomp a**!"

Chickie said...

Fermatprime, Too many interruption and distractions to do my daily chore today all in one fell swoop.

That is usually the way of things.

dodo said...

Hello, those of you who are still here,

"Stagg" was a gimmie for me because there is a highschool here named after Alonzo Stagg! Amaxing that I would know a sports person!

Thanks, John, for another wonderful, witty, wordplay! You are so talented!

As are you, Argyle! It must be a lot of work finding appropriate clips to accompany your always special blogs.

And Seen, thanks for the translation. I'm glad I'm not the only one in the dark re: Eddie's remarks! (No offense, Eddie)

Argyle said...

What I remember about the creature was it always left a tracks that showed one bloodied paw print. I can't remember the significance of it though. Also heard there was a side-hill wampus with the same trait but the side-hill wampus had shorter legs on one side, so it could only go around hills one-way.

Anyhow...wouldn't today's theme work great with mythical animals, like the Jersey Devil. Others?

WikWak said...

My old assistant principal? ;)