google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, May 20, 2011, Mark Feldman

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May 20, 2011

Friday, May 20, 2011, Mark Feldman

Theme: How to compose a movie pun. Each grid spanning theme answer began its life as a movie title, and by replacing a sound alike word (or words) with the name of a famous composer, a new movie title emerges to the guffaws of many. Having all the theme answers 15 letters obviously took lots of searching of movie titles, as well as undercurrents of more music, more movies and a sub-text of war. Let's see how it all turns out.

17A. Biopic about a time-traveling composer?: BACH TO THE FUTUREJS BACH transforms from the Michael J. Fox series which began with BACK TO THE FUTURE. This one cheated a bit as the sound is off.

27A. Biopic about a composer who is unrecognized in public?: HAYDN PLAIN SIGHT. Another tricky one as you have to know the pronunciation of JOSEPH'S name sounds like HIDE IN PLAIN SIGHT, a James Caan movie that may have started the genre of mysteriously disappearing wives.  The music was the perfect lead into....

48A. Biopic about a composer from a WWII hero's perspective?: SCHINDLER'S LISZT. Where Franz replaces a very moving true story, SCHINDLER'S LIST. To lighten the mood, I suggest this rendition of HUNGARIAN RHAPSODY II.

63A. Biopic about a composer fighting his inner demons?: BATTLE OF BRITTEN.  I was unfamiliar with the work of this British COMPOSER who wrote operas, but I enjoyed the movie BATTLE OF BRITAIN, which had a great CAST.

As you can see we already have direct and indirect references to World War II, and now to continue our tour of duty, corporal Lemonade here as your guide.

Across :

1. Pale: WAN.

4. Mozzetta wearer: ABBOT. This is the little cape worn by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.

9. Sat: POSED. As in, sat for the portrait.

14. "Exodus" hero: ARI. Played by the late Paul Newman, who many do not know was half Jewish. The war of independence for Israel.

15. Intimate: CLOSE. Well I guess you have to get close to be intimate.

16. Key scene for bursting bombs?: IN AIR. I love this misdirection, with Francis Scott Key and his famous lyric, music bonus #1. More war.

20. "... like __ buzzing in blind fury": Pyle: A BEE. The full quote is, " About every two minutes a wave of planes would be over. The motors seemed to grind rather than roar, and have an angry pulsation, like a bee buzzing in blind fury." Written by the Pulitzer prize winning World War II correspondent ERNIE PYLE who died on the battlefield in Okinawa. More war.

21. Go after: CHASE. Like when you play golf, you go after your ball.

22. Traveling, in a way: ASEA. Our favorite A word.

23. Builder's options: SITES. This actually may mean houses, or we can webify it into websites.

25. __ avis: RARA. Not rare around here, lately.

34. Heavy: SOLEMN. Like certain duty.

35. Rondeaux, e.g.: POEMS. I will let our resident expert CA explain more, but this is a formalized type of poetry. The most famous of which I have any knowledge is In Flanders Fields by John McCrae, which is about World War I.

36. Go astray: SIN. Hey, it was only an extra cookie.

39. Switch words: ON OFF. Simple, but I liked it.

41. Political pacifier: SOP. An old timey word, that I believe fits more than politics.

42. Ruled quarters?: ROOST. King of the hill, hence the name Rooster.

45. Devised, with "up": DREAMT. Like so many schemes in life.

53. Absorbed by: INTO. Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, what is the Corner into these days?

54. Legendary luster: SATYR. Love a good alliterative clue.

55. Tiny amount: IOTA. A Greek letter, which was like our little i, and to signify nothing would be changed, not a single IOTA would be altered.

57. Sting: SMART. This interesting synonym pair can mean both physical and mental pain.

62. Zilch: NADA. Zip, Zero, Nothing, Nil and on and on.

66. Grenoble's river: ISERE. Must for puzzle doing.

67. Put to the test: TRIED. Yes, the product was tried and true.

68. Former transp. regulator: ICC. Interstate Commerce Commission was charged with overseeing the railroads; created under President Grover Cleveland, it later regulated trucking, but it was discarded during the great deregulation wave of the 80's and 90's.

69. Itzhak Perlman choice: STRAD. The great violinist like his Stradivarius, a bonus music.

70. Takes to the cleaners: HOSES. Eh,

71. Canadian LPGA golfer Dawn __-Jones: COE. This was obscure, but very short, so it should not have been a problem.

On to the rest.

Down:

1. Indiana county or its seat: WABASH. Interestingly, the home of one of the rail companies regulated by the ICC, and the name of a famous train of song, the Wabash Cannonball.

2. Where Mecca is: ARABIA. Where the pilgrimage ends.

3. Civilized feature: NICETY. Yes, let us all play together and observe the niceties.

4. Put-on: ACT. The put-on, like Andy Kaufman, or Cliff Arquette as Charlie Weaver used to be more popular.

5. Alliance: BLOC. For example, the now defunct Soviet bloc.

6. This and that: BOTH. Another simple, but deceptive little clue.

7. Pub. of a "Distracted Driving" brochure: OSHA. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

8. Some shirts: TEES. Remember when they were just undershirts and not shirts?

9. More, in music: PIU. More bonus music, I wish I were JzB, but I think it just means more, like PIU Allegro, would mean faster.

10. Where London is: ONTARIO. Very nice, as Canada has its own London near Toronto.

11. Some links: SAUSAGES. I wanted a golf course, especially since there are so many links courses in....

12. Limerick land: EIRE. Ireland.

13. "The Sopranos" actress __ de Matteo: DREA. The poor waitress who hooks up with Chris, becomes a government spy and pays the ultimate price- working on a sitcom with Matt LeBlanc.

18. Doesn't ignore: HEEDS.

19. Spore producer: FERN. Ah, spring and Allegra not allegro.

24. Cat lead-in: SNO. Geez, again?

26. Old Egyptian symbol: ASP. This snake is back.

28. Abbas's gp.: PLO. Mahmoud Abbas took over the Palestine Liberation Organisation upon the death of Yasser Arafat, and won't let go, causing another rift between Fatah and Hamas.

29. He appeared in eight consecutive U.S. Open finals: LENDL. Ivan, a Czech star who along with countryman Petr Korda has raised a daughter who is looking to play professional golf.

30. Love overseas: AMORE. Sounds more romantic doesn't it.

31. Figure: INFER. Another stretch here, but I figured it out from the clue.

32. Ins. plan: HMO. Health Maintenance Organisation

33. 1/48 cup: Abbr.: TSP. When you read the recipe and it says a cup of sugar, remember it is 48 teaspoons.

36. Yearbook sect.: SRS. Seniors.

37. Games org.: IOC. International Olympic Committee.

38. Historic game: NO HITTER. usually a shut out as the opposition has no hits, from baseball where we also get, 47D. Three-time A.L. shutout leader of the '60s-'70s: TIANT. Luis, who had the unnerving motion where he completely turned his back to the plate before delivering the ball, making the batter wonder where it might come from, and maybe they did not sit comfortably as he pitched for the Indians and the Red Sox when they almost won. 60D. Sluggers' stats: RBIS. Which nobody gets if there is a shut out.

40. Musical syllables: FAS. More music.

43. 1953 Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner: SINATRA. Wow, music and war and another movie, all in one clue. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY  is a very powerful war movie with another great cast.

44. Big bang producer: TNT. Not the CBS TV show after all, Penny and Raj! Shocking!

46. L.A. Galaxy's gp.: MLS. Major League Soccer; sort of like Charlie Sheen's Baseball movie.

49. Pharmacy concern: DOSE. and DESE, and DEM.

50. Trouble: STATIC. People used to say, "don't give me any static", I wonder if it was because they listened to the radio so much.

51. Louisiana folk music: ZYDECO. More music, Hahtool, you want to explain,as this was my learning moment as I did not know this STYLE.

52. Daze: TRANCE.

55. Wading bird: IBIS. Mascot for the Miami Hurricanes, why?

56. Brewery feature: OAST. Another recent regular clue.

58. Evening flier: MOTH. I do not believe Florida is a healthy climate for moths.

59. Full do: AFRO. Hairdo.

61. Corner: TREE. Hunting dogs often chase their prey up a tree; dogs are not great in trees.

64. Brought: LED. You got me supply your own explanation.

65. Some tags: IDS.


Well like I said this is Lemonade, back in the saddle, or the tank turret,  after a week off when I left poor Marti with the whole blogging world in tatters. I do not know if that was fate protecting me, or teasing her, but I expect to be back again, you all take care.

Notes from C.C.:

1) Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary to Linda.

2) Happy Birthday to the wicked fun guy Mainiac & a belated Happy Birthday to Grumpy & M.J.

3) Safe travels, Dennis. Don't stray from the blog too long.

77 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Lemonade, C.C. and gang - not a lot of time this morning, but damn, this one kicked my ass. I felt like I needed perps, dictionaries, g-spots, gazetteers, atlases, ouija boards, etc. Beat me like a rented mule.

Too many errors/stumbling blocks to enumerate, but two in particular nailed me. When I had 'sat__' for 54A, 'Legendary luster', I figured ok, I guess it has to be 'satin', even though there's nothing 'legendary' about it. Nope. GREAT clue, though. The other one was 'Where London is' -- yep, I confidently put 'England' in. Another great clue. In other words, Mark, it's not you, it's me. Nicely done.

Oh, and the puzzle had one of my favorite new-generation verbs, 'hoses'. So many uses....

Today is Pick Strawberries Day, National Bike to Work Day, and.....Be a Millionaire Day. More importantly, today is Mainiac's birthday! HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mainiac -- hope it's a great one for you, and your best year ever.

Did You Know?:

- Walt Disney was afraid of mice.

About time to see a man about a train; thanks for the well wishes from yesterday. Have a great weekend.

Lemonade714 said...

Travel safely and well Dennis; it 80 now and the sunrise is on its way, and I am off to swim. Happy Birthday Maniac, and many more; Happy Anniversary Linda, 50 is a wonderful milestone.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Pretty typical Friday fare for me today -- challenging, but ultimately doable. Fortunately, I know my classical composers very well, so I was able to get the theme answers in relatively short order.

I struggled with of the sports answers (TIANT, COE, LENDL) but managed to get them via the perps and some educated guesses.

I almost crashed and burned in the NW, before finally remembering ARI, which gave me WABASH, NICETY (I wanted NECKTIE, but it didn't fit) and ARABIA.

Oh -- and I have no idea why "Brought" is LED, either.

Happy birthday, Mainiac!

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. I really enjoyed the theme and the challenge this morning. BACH TO THE FUTURE was my first theme answer, although I didn't get it on the first pass.

My favorite clue was Key Scene for Bursting Bombs? = IN AIR. A nice pun and mis-lead on Francis Scott Key's name.

Hand up for thinking London was in England. I even have friends who live in London, ONTARIO, too!

Nice to see ZYDECO in this puzzle. Clifton Chenier is probably one of the best known Zydeco musicians. One of my favorites is
Zachary Richard

Happy Birthday, Mainaic!

Congratulations on 50 years of marriage, Linda!

QOD: Nature reserves the right to inflict upon her children the most terrifying jests. ~ Thornton Wilder

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - Despite a few unknowns, this puzzle just resonated, and got itself completed in record time for a Friday. The theme revealed early, though the placement of the composers' names in the fill cause a stumble.

Put ENGLAND in confidently, but RARA Avis showed that wouldn't work. Since I stink at sports clues, I allowed one trip to Goog for LENDL, since perps weren't enough to figure that out. However, Luis TIANT sprang from some long ago brain cell - he was big news around here, so even a complete baseball moron would (me) would have heard of him.

European rivers just kill me, I can't remember 'em.

Nice to have you back in place, Lemonade; I sure hope our soggy, depressing weather improves in time for your reunion. Dennis, come back soon with fun stories!

Dr. Dad said...

Guten Morgen!

Had trouble with this one almost every step of the way.

The Satyr as a "luster" got me. I wanted satin just like Dennis. Didn't know zydeco. Someone explain "brought" and "led" to me.

Happy Birthday, Maniac.

If your name is Mary it is a crime in Siena, Italy to be a prostitute.

In Reykjavik it is a crime to own a pet dog.

The longest known case of hiccups was Charles Osborne's. They lasted 69 years.

The only insect that can turn its head is the praying mantis.

In Arizona it is a crime to hunt camels.

Camels can go a long time without water but a rat can go longer.

Penguin urine makes up 3% of the ice in the Antarctic.

Barry G. said...

I suppose I could say that, after much thought on the matter, I was eventually brought to the conclusion that "brought" and LED can be synonymous, given the right circumstances...

Tinbeni said...

Lemonade: Wonderful write-up.

Really enjoyed these themes. BACH, HAYDN & LISZT fell quickly. BRITTEN all perps and a WTF.

At first I was struggling, probably thinking too much, soooo I then decided to just go with my "crossword instincts."
Well, there are 16 write-overs.
And it is a beautiful "Ink-Blot" test ...
but with the WAG's & Perps, it was doable.

England before ONTARIO.
None before NADA.
Err before SIN.
Image before INFER.

ZYDECO I learned from crosswords a while back.
Danw COE-Jones my (soon to be forgotten) learning moment.

Is LED for 'Brought' a tense thingy?

Cheers to all at Sunset.

Tinbeni said...

Happy Birthday, Mainiac.

Congrats on 50 Linda! I'm really impressed.

I made it to 1 (twice) which has me batting .500 from a certain perspective.

Dr. Dad, I really like and enjoy your factoids ...
But considering the size of Antartica and the fact that in some places the ice IS over a mile thick ... the 3% Penguin thingy seems to be a stretch.

Dr. Dad said...

Just picking up the trivia on line. True or not true? Who knows? It's like Ripley's Believe It or Not. When he wrote many of the things way back when, people took them as true even though many weren't. He only said to "believe it or not" and didn't make any claim as to the truthfulness.

Still, I didn't think of it until Tinbeni's comment but yeah, 3% of the Antartic ice would be a helluva lot of penguin pee.

creature said...

Good Morning C.C., Lemon and all,

Thanks, Lemon for your write-up. I got LED from the perps, so when I checked it, I thought Moses- 'LED the people' or 'brought the people'.

This puzzle took me a looong time, and in the end ZYDECO/COE got me.Yes, Tinbeni,another 'hope I remember it' learning moment.

I had don at 4D forever before ACT hit me in the face. 42A slowed me down for a while, also.

Since I work in pen, the puzzle appears to be dim, signifying my constant uncertainty throughout the puzzle. Yeah, lots of STATIC.

Mark, there was a lot to like about this puzzle. Thanks.

Happy Birthday,Mainiac! Many, many more.

Linda, congrats on your 50th.

Have a good trip, Dennis. Hope we hear from you soon.

Have a nice day everyone.

dulburm said...

First learned the word ZYDECO from the Dave Robicheaux novels of James Lee Burke, but doubt that I'd recognize this music genre if I heard it.

Guessed right on London being the one in ONTARIO and remembered it from ages ago as one of the larger towns on the shortest driving route from Detroit to Niagara Falls.

windhover said...

Dr. Dad & Tinbeni,
One way to think of this is that the little guys with the built-in tux have been peeing on the ice for quite a while now, and it ain't exactly going down the drain, so the 3% is at least feasible.

Re:Zydeco
This music has been around a long time, but probably just got it's own name and genre fairly recently. One thing's for certain; if you can listen to this music and sit still, you'd better see one of those mobile testing units we discussed recently. You may have expired and don't know it yet.

In other news in the Bluegrass, the lovely Lucina and her friend Dee came to Lexington yesterday. We spent the afternoon at Keeneland talking and watching simulcast racing. I can tell you what the California Coven already knows; she is a beautiful, delightful and charming woman.

Avg Joe said...

Probably one of the best known examples of Zydeco that made it mainstream is Paul Simon's That Was Your Mother from Graceland.

As the Wiki piece says, it always includes a button accordion and a washboard. Just ain't right without them.

Argyle said...

Took me awhile to finish this one...but I was watching "The Mentalist" at the same time so you might say I was mentally impaired. A lot of put it in, pull it out, shake it all about, then put it back in!

London made me think of Julie and this song made me think of Lemonade working on the blog. Black Coffee.(2:46)

Avg Joe said...

The puzzle was somewhat of a slog for me. The first 3 theme answers were pretty easy, but I had no clue about Britten. Since I had all but the final T the pun was easy enough to infer, but I didn't know Tiant so had to leave it blank.

I really enjoyed the Victor Borge rendition of Hungarian Rhapsody. For all the shenanigans, it was surprisingly accurate. Also enjoyed the trailer for Battle of Britain. That'll go on the netflix list.

HeartRx said...

Good morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.

Wonderful write-up, Lemonade! I loved how you tied all those battling musicians together, with great links. My fav was the one of Victor Borge. What a funny guy he was, but an extremely talented musician as well. That clip has to be an all-time classic.

Happy, Happy Birthday to Mainiac! And happy Semicentennial anniversary to Linda. (You picked the right guy, evidently.)

My burning question about this puzzle was, how is LED ever “brought”? Glad to know I wasn’t the only one who stumbled at that. And I guess Barry G. is right about the usage.

Hand up for this baseball moron knowing TIANT, Dudley. I love ZYDECO music, so that helped me suss SCHINDLER’S LISZT. In most of the puzzle I did the Hokey Pokey, like Argyle, but enjoyed the dance.

TGIF - Make it a good one, everybody!

Factoid Skeptic said...

It is a well known scientific fact that any 'addition' to pure water-ice - such as pee, salt or even sand (which is obviously insoluble - ) - will lower its melting point. What this means is that pee-infused ice is more likely to melt and 'dissolve' into the (mainstream) ocean, Thus the 'remaining' (frozen) ice, on the mainland continent is more likely to be less -pee-concentrated. On a 'steady state' basis, this will result in a diluted pee-ice statis. I would therefore venture to opine that - UNLESS we define penguin urine as pee-contaminated ice ( with even a miniscule contamination - in parts per billion - ) .... 3% seems like an awfully large number. The methodology for this estimation appears to be suspect.

carol said...

Hi all - didn't have much time to try the puzzle yesterday...but it wouldn't have done me any good as it was WAY OVER my head..I just read the comments and want to wish Grumpy and MJ a Happy Birthday (sorry to be a day late).

Today's puzzle was easier for me although there were some questions.

69A I got STRAD but wondered why no 'abbr' was in the clue...is STRAD now a complete word?

28D had my face turning red...I read the clue as ABBA'S group and when I saw the answer, I thought WTH???

51D I absolutely LOVE Zydeco!!!
64D LED....WHAT????? What does that mean???

Mainiac: a very, very happy birthday to you....I hope you get what you wish for ;)

Dennis: safe travels, sure hope the weather is kind to you. Wear sunscreen and a hat!!! (that should make all the ladies happy)

Lemonade714 said...

Marti, Thank you, I always loved Vicotr Borge, especially his live performances. When my oldest brother was working for a news paper, he interviewed Borge and found him to be as entertaining and accmlished as his act.

Argyle, what a great link; I had forgotten her but will not again. I am impressed you could watch the show down with Red John and do any of the puzzle, I just recorded for later viewing.

Oops, back to work.

Anonymous said...

If adding pee (or anything) to pure water-ice lowers the melting point, wouldn't that make pee-infused ice less likely to melt?

Antarctic Penguin said...

Reminds me of a joke , waay back when Bill Clinton was first elected President, he invited ( who else ) the very Rev. Jesse Jackson, to spend a night with the First Couple in their new White House quarters.

The next morning, Bill found somebody had peed on the fresh snow which had collected on one of the WH balconies and, in the act of voiding, had written out a sentence - 'Bill is impotent'.

Bill, now of course, hopping mad, ordered the FBI to find out the culprit. Within an hour, the FBI sent him a confidential memo - 'Good news - Bad news - Good news, the DNA matches the Reverend's ... Bad news, the handwriting is Hillary's ...'

Splynter said...

Hi There ~!

Well, this one got me - I did NOT know TIANT, so I am just a moron, I guess (F%^&*ing baseball); I was not aware of a composer named BRITTEN, and even tho I knew FCC was wrong, I couldn't get past it, and COE was obscure, too. So the SE was a DNF - and I was crushing this puzzle, too -

Got ONTARIO, SATYR, ZYDECO, DREAMT, ISERE , ah well....

And in reference to "BACH to the Future" there's George McFly's

"My density has brought (LED) me to you ~!"

Splynter

Skeptic , again said...

Lowering the melting point ( say, by adding salt - ) makes ice MORE likely to melt - which is why we spray salt on the snow covered roads in the wintertime,

- IF the ambient temperature is above Minus 10oF, the salt infused snow is more likely to melt. Please lookup Wiki for a more detailed explanation.

Dr. Dad said...

If you lower the melting point that means the pee-infused ice melts at a lower temperature than pure ice. Pure ice would melt at 0 degrees Celsius while pee-ice would melt at (I'm not sure but let's just say for example) -5 degrees Celsius. So at -1 degree Celsius pee-ice would be liquid and pure ice would still be a solid.

Lemonade714 said...

Where else in the world wide web can you find an erudite discussion of penguin pee. The corner really rocks.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone. Good commentary, Lemonade.

Started right out getting WAN and WABASH and most of the north, but then couldn't get anything going in the center. After realizing that the London in ONTARIO was meant, and sussing out HAYDN PLAIN SIGHT, and SCHINDLER'S LISZT, the center slowly came together. Liked the clueing for ROOST and IN AIR. Got SATYR from the perps. No lookups needed.

Happy Birthday, Maniac.

Dennis, enjoy your trip to FL on the Auto-Train. Someone posted a video summary of it on You Tube; it looks like fun.

windhover said...

Last Chem class I took was in 1963, but I believe that water can only absorb enough salt to lower its freezing point, which I believe in this case is what's being called here its melting point, to about 24 degrees. Highway salting is therefore useless in subzero (F) temps.
But in the coastal areas of Antarctica summer temps can reach the 40's (F, again), so it appears the p.p. would in fact run off with the snowmelt.
That's what I like about this blog; we don't shy away from solving the really big issues.

And Clinton jokes are funny as hell (if a little passé), but say what you want about the big guy, love him or hate him, this much is certainly true: if he wasn't term-limited, he could come out and wax all the current crop, from the wacky what the hell have you been smoking? R's to the guy with the cure kids and the funny name D.
The blue dress affair only made him more popular; guys envy him, gals would do him.

Funny place we live. ;-}

Larry said...

I meant "cute" kids, of course.

Zcarguy said...

You can lead a horse to a fountain ....
Bring = lead
Brought = led
I personally didn't see anything wrong with the clue.

Mecca is in Saudi Arabia,,..
Is capital of Ethiopia Ababa...??

dobgold said...

Sebastian the Ibis, mascot at The U... the ibis is the last bird to leave before and the first to return after a hurricane.

treefrog said...

Happy Bday Maniac
Congrats on the big 50 anniversary Linda.

Puzzle kicked my butt big time. Worked forever on it last night (through 2 Law and Orders) finally gave up and went to bed. Didn't have any better luck this AM. I finally said screw it and came here.

Beautiful sunny day here. I either have to mow the back yard or bale it, not sure which.

Great day to everyone

Spitzboov said...

See water-NaCl phase diagram , 3rd graph down in the link.

Anonymous said...

Good afternoon everyone.

Great write up, Lemonade, with good sites to go to.What is the news about your eyes?
C.C., good additions for us to be able to congratulate and send good wishes.

Belated happy birthday to MJ and timely happy birthday to Maniac.
Congratulations to Linda and best wishes on your 50th wedding anniversary.

I missed all the theme ones. But I did get 30 correct answers; that's one better than yesterday. I knew Ontario immediately because of relatives there that we used to visit. And Wabash because I traveled to DePauw U. on the Wabash railroad.

Cheers

Mainiac said...

Afternoon Lemonade, CC and All,

Believe it or not I have been getting up and doing the puzzle in the mornings but that four letter word "work" keeps interrupting my blogging.

This was a definite slog for me. England was the first blunder among the many, and composers, well they ain't been at the forefront of my brain since high school band days. Still enjoyed the struggle because I thought the puzzle was well constructed.

Thanks all for the birthday wishes. No big plans. The boys and I are making some Chinese food for dinner tonight. Dumplings, egg rolls and a small stir fry and a few adult beverages for me........and the wife!

Have a great trip Dennis. Stay out of the hot sun! Oh yeah, that's the idea.

Happy Anniversary Linda. Quite a milestone.

Lemonade, great write up as always. I had to swim today because its still raining and cool so biking is out of the picture. I'll bet you didn't have to rinse off chlorine.

TGIF

Lemonade714 said...

Thanks dobgold; being a Florida Gator, I was unfamiliar with the Miami logic.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Great puzzle and write-up.
-Top came easily and all but SE fell. My LA. Dance, luster and LPGA knowledge is minimal. 4 blank cells.
-Loved the theme and can’t imagine the work it took to get 4 grid spanners! Amazing!
-Anyone else remember the baseball announcer who would sing the Wabash Cannonball during every broadcast?
-HOSES to me means to cheat not necessarily lose as in "Hey, we got hosed on that call!"
-Not golf or internet links! Oh that kind of Luster!
-Sinatra as a singer and actor was first rate! As tough guy? Not so much without his posse!
-Victor Borge is an absolute favorite of mine!
-The penguin display at Sea World and the Doorly Zoo in Omaha both will impress you with these flightless birds’ ability to make snow yellow! Hello ammonia!
-Reagan v Clinton, I’d pay to see that fight!
-Congrats to Maniac and Linda!

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, how could I not love 10D/London ONTARIO? Didn't skip a beat, I lived there for five years. It's much larger than when I lived there, but there are still many beautiful Victorian homes and gorgeous parks.

I cottoned on to the theme with HAYDN PLAIN SIGHT. That made getting the others much easier.

Lemonade, I enjoyed all your links.

Paul Simon's "That Was Your Mother" is from the Graceland album, still one of my favorites. Buckwheat ZYDECO another well-know Louisiana musician...with the Neville Brothers.

I had a tough time with PIU, ROOST, TIANT and COE.

Lots more O's than yesterday. I liked three letter SNO, PLO, HMO.

According to some sites, there are from 20 to 30 million penguins in the world. That's a lot of peeing penguins!

thehondohurricane said...

Good day folks,

A pretty easy solve today, except for the SE. Knowing the composers helped a lot. Britten the only one I wasn't sure about. All my comments or complaints have already been covered. so moving on.........

As to the frozen tundras being some % of pee, if I ever get there, I'll make sure my spirits are taken neat.

Lemonade the write up was great and the Battle of Britain link was special.

Clinton vs Reagan...... w/o getting political, my only thought is the winner would be the USA.

Mainiac, Happy Birthday and enjoy.

Clear Ayes said...

A rondeau is a form of French poetry that began in the 1400's.
It is 15 lines of three stanzas. The rhyme scheme is: 1) A A B B A, 2) A A B and refrain C, 3) A A B B A and refrain C. "Rotten Row" is in London (the other one).

In Rotten Row

In Rotten Row a cigarette
I sat and smoked, with no regret
For all the tumult that had been.
The distances were still and green,
And streaked with shadows cool and wet.

Two sweethearts on a bench were set,
Two birds among the boughs were met;
So love and song were heard and seen
In Rotten Row.

A horse or two there was to fret
The soundless sand; but work and debt,
Fair flowers and falling leaves between,
While clocks are chiming clear and keen,
A man may very well forget
In Rotten Row.

- W.E. Henley

thehondohurricane said...

Damn, forgot to mention From Here To Eternity. I've always thought Frank & Ernie were the only actors who could have played Maggio and Fatso Judson. Great supporting actors in an all-time favorite movie of mine.

Jerome said...

Nice goin', Counselor. Penguin Pee is a pretty perky subject. Kinda gives me Genuine Pep. Which I need, because I'm Bizet as a bee.

INAIR- Part of the IRANI anthem

"AH, SO you're with OSHA?"

AMORE: "...__ perfect union."

"Was it a peaceful demonstration in ONTARIO?" "NO, A RIOT!"

NICETY- "Good one, Cobb!"

Bill G. said...

What a hard and clever puzzle. I had filled in SATYR from the crosses but didn't pay attention to why. Now that it's been mentioned here, it makes sense. Very clever and tricky.

Great Victor Borge link. Do you remember the one where he is conducting and is throwing away the music sheets as he goes. Then he gets to the very end and...?

Happy birthday to Mainiac and MJ. Happy 50 to Linda.

How many of us are still going to be here tomorrow?

Here's a photo and short story about a great multi-tasking mommy!

Jeannie said...

This was a toughie for me today. First of all I had never heard of the movie “Hide in plain sight” nor the conductor Haydn. I had to hit the g-spot for Grenoble’s river – Isere and needed red letter help for Rara, ICC, COE, Piu, and Ioc. On the other hand I like seeing “nada” and “iota”. Drea de Matteo was probably one of my favorite characters as Adriana on The Soprano’s.

I knew Zydeco as there is a Cajun festival that runs up in northern Minnesota at one of the casinos where several bands and interesting food is served.
Windhover’s right, if you aren’t moving at least part of your body, you must be dead.

My favorite clue/answer today was “ruled quarters” – roost.

Lucina, how fun it must have been to sit down and “chat” with Windhover. Did you get to meet the Irish as well?

Happy Birthday Mainiac! Sounds like a yummy birthday menu tonight. I think I still have a couple of years on you though.

Great job blogging Corp Lemonade. Interesting, no French lesson or
answer today.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

What a clever and creative theme! Tough puzzle but I got almost all of it. Couldn't suss STATIC, so pass the V-8 can. Dawn COE? If you say so.

I'll check the comments later. For now --

Composer's Sylvania - BACH'S WOODS

I wish I were JzB Wow. First time I've ever seen that. Occasionally we see PIU MOSSO, which mean "more motion," or just quicker. This stuff NEVER appears in jazz.

Here's DREA POSED. Have you ever DREAMT about her. PIU, say I!

Cheers!
JzB

JIMBO said...

Jimbo checking in. I'm on the downhill side to 87 years now, but still mobil and still printing out the puzzle every day and rarely miss a day of reading the comments.

The main reason for my chiming in today is to wish my buddy,Linda, a Happy Anniversary. When Linda speaks, my antenna goes up. I miss her.

May God bless all of you-----
Vaya con Dios

Lemonade714 said...

How fun, thanks for chiming Jimbo. We are well represented in the 80-100 group, here at the corner.

JzB, tell me you would not have enjoyed blogging this puzzle, where you could relate all of your musical wisdom and opinion.

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, This was a DNF for me. Too many obscure clues and I fell into the traps others did. England will always be where London is located.

When I read Lemonade's writeup to see where I had erred, I felt like a real ditz because many of the answers were really straightforward.

I wanted to wish Lois a Happy Anniversary, and A Very Happy Birthday to Maniac. I hope both of you have a wonderful day.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Jazzbumpa said...

Penguins do not pee, kids. Got this from Answers.com:


Like other birds, penguins have a cloaca at the end of their intestinal tract where waste collects until it is convenient for them to expel it. Also birds do not expel solid waste and liquid waste separately; it is all collected and mixed in the cloaca.

In the winter when Antarctic Penguins gather on land to produce and raise their chicks, they do not produce waste since they are not eating or drinking; they live by metabolizing their body fat.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_penguins_produce_waste#ixzz1MvFlfqvZ


Cheers!
JzB who should probably b metabolizing body fat . . .

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Benjamin Britten is the guy who wrote what I called "snarling trombones" in his "Four Seas Interlude" from his opera Peter Grimes.

Fun puzzle today. I had to look up a few items in order to finish, but finish I did. Very satisfying.

After getting BACH... and HAYDN... I was looking for a composer's name at the beginning of 48A and 63A, which gave me lots of trouble for a while. But I was not brought/led to the brink of disaster.

Congratulations and many happy happies to you folks who are celebrating (or at least reaching) significant milestones in your lives. And best wishes to you all.

Avg joe said...

Well it's obvious that at least male penguins don't pee......they eat with their peckers.


(I know, I know. Old and very tired, but who wasn't thinking it)

Seldom Seen said...

JazzBumpa: I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the video of your latest performance. You have some great dancing moves around 2:00!

I'm glad you cleared up that urine thing. I was thinking that I have never seen a bird hike up its leg and pee on a tree...

Jeannie said...

Drdad, this is why you were missed so much. You sure have a knack at opening up a discussion here. Keep it up!

Clear Ayes said...

Almost forgot to mention my favorite clue/fill, 54A)Legendary luster/SATYR. I love those lightbulb moments.

Bill G. GAH and I are going to a local fundraiser/Mexican dinner tomorrow night and I have another chorus concert on Sunday. My bet is for possible heartburn on Sunday morning and happy tra-laa-ing on Sunday afternoon. :o)

Last night's concert went well and I didn't embarrass myself by chiming in when I wasn't needed. Couldn't ask for much more.

Congratulations on 50 years, Linda, and Happy Birthday to Maniac.

Jazz, Wow! Great information. I should have known that. I worked on a chicken ranch when I was a teenager and there were only mountains of chicken manure. Birds is birds.

Jazzbumpa said...

Lemonade -

Of course I would have enjoyed blogging this puzzle.

You just did it better.

Seen - that is why I protect my secret identity.

Loved the Borge and Julie London Links. I'm sure you all noticed that fine trombone work backing up Julie . . .

{crickets . . . .}

Or maybe it's just me.

Cheers!
JzB

Dudley said...

What's this? Tomorrow's Judgement Day? Aw, man, I don't have a thing to wear!

Jerome said...

Of course birds pee. Just the other day one whizzed right over my head.

crazyhorse said...

Hi all

This puzzle was tough! I did know all the composers, just didn't get all the clues. Took a long time.

I love zydeco! I once took a trip from Phoenix to Chicago in my red Mazda Miata. My zydeco tapes played loud! WH is right, you can't sit still listening to it. My right foot was very busy, and my trip a little faster!

Jerome said...

And on a more serious note-

"Birds do not have a urinary bladder or external urethral opening and (with the exception of the Ostrich) uric acid is excreted along with feces as semisolid waste." Wikipedia

Shoots down my theory of the origin of the "Yellow Submarine"

Avg Joe said...

Here's a song pertinent to the topic du jour by one of my favorites. Enjoy

Spitzboov said...

All this erudite bird excrementing discussion has reminded me of this non-rondeau poem we learnt in a rural1st grade:

Birdie, birdie in the sky
Birdie sh%&ty in my eye'
Me not sad, me not cry,
Me just glad that cows don't fly.

Glen said...

I wanted "Schwarzenegger" for "Legendary Luster", but I couldn't fit him into 5 letters....

Jazzbumpa said...

The ostrich is the only bird
(or at least that's what I've heard)
To whom is never has occured
To mix uric acid with it's feces.

Lo siento,
JzB

windhover said...

Give it up, people.

MJ said...

Good day to all,

Happy Birthday to Mainiac and Grumpy, and congratulations, Linda, on 50 years of marriage. Wow!

Thanks to all who've given shout-outs to me as I celebrated the big Six-Oh this year. I enjoyed a wonderful day, spending time with family. Great fellowship, great food, and sharing of funny stories of "Mom memories".

Although I don't post much these days, I do read the blog most days (Thank you, devoted bloggers!), and often the posts, especially those before 7AM left coast time, when I leave for work.

Enjoy the evening!

JD said...

Good laughs today. Hi to all you peeing penguin psychos!
CLOACA? yech

What can I say..I cheated to get thru this one today. I had only 19 answers on my 1st "chase." Then I calmly, deliberately came here and copied the theme answers. Took the blasted thing to school and really tried to complete it.That SE corner was brutal.Nada helped nada.

Lemonade, I always love your write-ups.Thanks.

Happy 50th Linda. What a special celebration that is!

Hi Jimbo. Glad you popped in.

fermatprime said...

Hi all,

I hope that your day has been pleasant!

Woke up with worse-than-usual back pains. Haven't worked puzzle yet.

Wanted to comment on the mind-blowing season finale of The Mentalist. It was a real treat. Eh, Argyle? Unbelievable that they withheld B. W.'s name from the opening credits! What a surprise!

Lemonade714 said...

like I said, I recorded the Mentalist , and have not seen it yet.

MJ glad to hear all is good; it is always special when we hear from one of our own on our blog day, thanks.

JzB, you are too kind.

Factoid Skeptic said...

Hi ! this is the Factoid Skeptic again.- on the Penguin Pee on the Antarctic .....

I have given my previous posts a lot of thought, and I confess, I may be wrong. Now that we all know Penguin's don't pee, they excrete semi-solid urea ... it is entirely possible that there may be mountains of this stuff down under. ( Really, REALLY down under....).

A comparison would be the sea bird droppings - Guano - on the shores of Chile - where it has been mined for gunpowder , for phosphates and for fertilizer - for atleast 400 years !!! ... and between 1780 and 1910 (until they learnt to synthesize Ammonia from the air - ) ... Guano was the leading source for Potassium Nitrate for all the major colonial powers - UK, Germ., France and the US.

Pot. Nit. is the main ingredient for gunpowder. If you see Wiki on 'Guano', you will see a picture of a 4500 feet high mountain of Guano ! No kidding..... So, the 3 percent factor may be right after all.

windhover said...

FS:
You've given this a lot of thought? Really? You must not have much going on. But hell, I don't either, so I'll play. Back in the day, when Kentucky made most of its living on sin (whiskey, tobacco, and horses -gambling), we used to use a fertilizer that the trade called nitrous soda, the chemical analysis of which was/is 15-0-14 (15% N and 14% K). Many people these days use ammonium nitrate (34-0-0), but the chemical reaction in the soil when used in heavy concentrations (300#N/acre) lowers the Ph drastically, which the tobacco plant does not like. So the Nitrous Soda, which is a much more expensive product, is superior for growing good quality tobacco, which no one gives a damn about these days anyway.
So, (and I'm probably over the line limit) is this product derived from bat guano?

windhover said...

Happy Anniversary, Linda.

eddyB said...

Hello.

Well folks, it must be offical. The
DMV says that my hair color is grey.

Plan to be here tomorrow. Today was fast Friday, tomorrow is qual day and Sunday is bump day at Indy.

AJ will drive the pace car this year. Couldn't be more fitting.

Keeping an eye out for the rather large lady to appear.

Watched the season final of Bones last night. Wondered how they would deal with her real life preg-
nancy.

Take care. eddy

Lemonade714 said...

Good night all, thank you for showing up and writing and the nice words.

Jeannie said...

Windhover, Drdad, what fun...all this pee talk kind of makes me think urine the same group.

fermatprime said...

WOW! How cool--a classical music puzzle. Good work, Mark! Interesting write-up, Lemonade!

Abejo said...

Good evening, folks. Thank you Mark and Lemonade for the puzzle and write-up, successively.

This puzzle went fine except for the SE corner. ZYDECO and a couple crosswords got me. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Enjoyed the theme. Very clever.

For a while I had MARATHON instead of NO HITTER. Eventually straightened that out.

Thought 16A IN AIR was very good.

Well,I have to hit the hay. Vidalia Onions to sell tomorrow and off to Pittsburgh tomorrow night.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

Bill G. said...

Jeannie, heh heh! Good one about pee talk and 'urine the same group.' People in this blog are such pisstols!