google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday May 8, 2011 Mel Rosen

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May 8, 2011

Sunday May 8, 2011 Mel Rosen

Theme: Market Woes - The last parts of each made-up theme answer is a common expression of a down day in the market.

23A. "How's your Ticonderoga stock?" answer? : PENCILS HAVE LOST POINTS

42A. "How's your Johnson & Johnson stock?" answer? : TALCUM HIT BOTTOM

65A. "How's your Ginsu stock?" answer? : KNIVES ARE SHARPLY LOWER

88A. "How's your Moët & Chandon stock?" answer? : CHAMPAGNE IS FLAT

109A. "How's your Aqua Lung stock?" answer? : SCUBA GEAR IS GOING UNDER

Company name in the clue, then product in the start of each answer. Very consistent.

Normally we see at least 7 theme entries in a Sunday puzzle. Today we only have 5, but 3 are grid-spanners. Mel Rosen, who coined the word cruciverbalist, seems to be fond of long theme entries. Look at his last LAT. Three spanners also. It's hard to maneuver with many squares already filled in when gridding & filling.
  
Across:

1. Do what Michelle Wie did before age 16 : GO PRO. Gimme start for me.

6. Lentil housings : PODS

10. For example : SAY

13. Muzzleloading aid : RAMROD. And 10. Gunpowder ingredient : SALTPETER.

19. Out-of-this-world type : ALIEN

20. Beige relative : ECRU. And 7D. Brownish hue : OCHER.

21. Beverage ending : ADE

22. Protected, in a way : IMMUNE

27. Rally attendance fig. : EST. And 106D. Ballpark figs. : MGRs

28. Join in the fun : TAKE PART. Do join us in the Comments section. It's fun.

29. Busy mo. for a CPA : APR

30. "... __ quit!" : OR I

31. Old Glory detail : STAR

33. Ancient Phoenician seaport : TYRE. JD might get this one. Not me.

34. Deliverer of text messages? : APOSTLE. Oh, Christian messages.

37. "__ in victor" : V AS

38. Melodic passages : ARIOSI. Plural of arioso?

40. Eroded : ATE AWAY

41. Faith-based group : SECT

46. Fondue needs : FORKS. Cheesy!

47. Old frosh topper : BEANIE

48. Sightings : ESPIALS. I've never used this word in life.

50. Words after shake or break : A LEG

54. One playing for time : STALLER

56. "¿Cómo __ usted?" : ESTA

57. Shtick : BIT. Funny bit.

60. Baseball commissioner Bud : SELIG. He's not that cold in person.

62. Stashes : HIDES

63. Villa d'Este city : TIVOLI. Not familiar to me.

71. Classic Ford : MODEL T

72. Janvier, across the Pyrenees : ENERO. Janvier is January in French.

73. Arrive home, in a way : SLIDE. Home plate.

74. Program file suffix : EXE. Has anyone updated to the latest Firefox? I went back to my old version.

75. Beaut : LULU

78. Boxer's attendant : GROOMER

80. Began a round, with "off" : TEED

81. Mallomars maker : NABISCO. Part of Kraft.

83. Draft, as a contract : DRAW UP

85. Stop legally : EMBAR

94. Slimy mud : MIRE

95. Be indisposed : FEEL ILL

96. Airport near Tokyo : NARITA. Can only remember its Chinese name. Ta means "field".

97. Ranch addition? : ERO. Ranchero.

98. Weather page datum : SUNRISE

99. H.H. Munro's pen name : SAKI

102. "... like __ of chocolates" : A BOX

103. Joplin work : RAG

104. Bowl highlights: Abbr. : TDs

105. Statistical group : SAMPLING

108. Like Gershwin's piano concerto : IN F. "Concerto in F".

114. Refrain from the song "Hot Hot Hot" : OLE OLE. Was ignorant of the song.

115. Success : WIN

116. Cartoonist Goldberg : RUBE

117. Sleep lab phenomenon : SNORE

118. Settled in : NESTED

119. Record : LOG

120. Affect strongly : STIR

121. "The Glass Bead Game" author : HESSE (Hermann)

Down:

1. Views wide-eyed : GAPES AT

2. Fake fat : OLESTRA. This word looks fake.

3. Migratory duck : PIN TAIL. Where to?

4. TiVo button : REC

5. Not procrastinating : ON IT

6. Bothersome : PESKY

8. Hang loosely : DRAPE

9. Fiji's capital : SUVA

11. Bother : ADO

12. "To be sure!" : YES

13. Like bodybuilders' muscles : RIPPLY. Did you want RIPPED?

14. Love abroad : AMORE

15. Kvbrick opvs? : MMI. Stanley Kubrick's opus "2001: A Space Odyssey". I needed Argyle to explain to me the answer. He said Romans used V's for U's.

16. Go longer than planned : RUN OVER

17. Just as planned : ON TRACK. Nice consecutive "planned" clecho.

18. Refrains : DESISTS

24. Calif. daily : LA TIMES. Too bad it doesn't carry this puzzle today.

25. Ode writer's Muse : ERATO

26. Traditional straw mats : TATAMIs. Literally "fold".

32. Elephant predator of myth : ROC

35. What mares eat, in song : OATS

36. "Putney __": 1969 film : SWOPE. No idea. I'm eager to read Clear Ayes' comment.

39. Deli choice : SUB

40. White poplars : ABELES

41. Emergency letters : SOS

43. __ yoga : HATHA. HeartRx's yoga.

44. "And seem to walk on wings, and tread __": Pope : IN AIR

45. Piña colada ingredient? : TILDE. The mark above Piña. Not the real ingredient of the drink.

46. Grain threshers : FLAILS

49. J.D. holder : ATTY. Now, here is another JD holder.

50. "Shoot!" : ASK ME

51. Fine china : LENOX

52. Say nothin', say? : ELIDE. Nice clue.

53. Cave : GIVE

55. Surrey town in which George Harrison lived in the '60s : ESHER. Who knows?

57. "The Man Who Fell to Earth" star : BOWIE

58. Paris's __ la Cité : ILE DE. Lovely French for Splynter.

59. Ready to hit the hay : TIRED

61. Actress Sarah Michelle __ : GELLAR. Buffy.

64. Battery unit : VOLT

66. Ticket souvenir : STUB

67. Battery terminal-related : ANODAL

68. Corp. shuffling : RE-ORG

69. Spin doc : PR MAN

70. "My Fair Lady" composer : LOEWE (Frederick). With Alan Lerner.

76. It may be poetic : LICENSE

77. Two seater, maybe? : USHER. I don't get this one.

78. Disappear : GO MISSING

79. Making a mess of : RUINING

81. "Sorry, lassie!" : NAE

82. City SW of Bogotá : CALI. Chickie lived there for a couple of years.

84. Pro bono TV ad : PSA

85. "The Sage of Concord" : EMERSON

86. Revival claim : MIRACLE

87. Wing-tipped shoes : BROGUES

89. Arraignment answers : PLEAS

90. Angelico's address : FRA

91. Freudian principles : LIBIDOS. Ah, Dennis!

92. Penitents : ATONERS

93. Like many muni bonds : TAX FREE

95. Exaggerated : FUDGED

98. Told too often : STALE

99. Teapot part : SPOUT

100. Perp's story : ALIBI

101. Hall of Fame slugger Ralph : KINER. Been with the Mets forever. Nice card.

107. Talk effusively : GUSH

110. Hi-tech worker : BOT

111. Sharp punch : AWL

112. Ipanema's locale : RIO

113. Vane dir. : NNE

Answer grid.

Happy Mother’s Day!

C.C.

35 comments:

  1. Morning, all!

    Happy Mother's Day to those who are mothers. I'll be packing up the family and heading over to my mum's place shortly.

    I made slow, yet steady, progress through most of the grid today, but got well and truly hung up in the center where I put in RYE instead of SUB for 39D and it just went downhill from there. I couldn't remember HATHA at 43D to save my life (I think I've seen it before at least). I'm not familiar with the Pope quote at 44D and finally guessed (wrongly) that it was ON AIR instead of IN AIR. ABELES at 40D was another one which I think I've seen before but just couldn't remember. Then, I had STOWS instead of HIDES at 62A and couldn't come up with BEANIE to save my life (freshmen used to wear them? When and where, exactly?).

    Anyway, as I said, that whole area was a total disaster. What finally saved me was the theme, since I eventually managed to work out TALCUM HIT BOTTOM and that was enough to get HATHA and IN AIR, which in turn gave me BEANIE and HIDES, which in turn got me ABELES.

    ARIOSI and ANODAL are not my favorite words and I certainly wouldn't mind never seeing them again in a puzzle...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, and yes - I definitely wanted RIPPED instead of the nonsensical RIPPLY at 13D. For that matter, I also wanted APNEA instead of SNORE at 117A and OOZE instead of MIRE at 94A, so what do I know...

    Favorite clue, btw, was "Kvbrick opvs" for MMI (although, to be fair, the clue probably should have been in all caps since I don't know if Romans even had lower case letters).

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's a beautiful Mother's Day here in Argyle and I hope it's more beautiful wherever you are.

    Ushers are often two-seaters because they escort couples to their seats.

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  4. Good Morning, CC and friends, and Happy Mother's Day.

    This was a fun Sunday puzzle. My first theme clue was TALCUM HIT BOTTOM, which I thought was pretty funny.

    I got TILDE immediately for the Pina Colada ingredient.

    Oh, Mairzy Doats!

    I'm a little TeaPot with a SPOUT.

    Argyle beat me to the explanation of Two Seater and USHER.

    In honor of Hermann HESSE, this is from the Glass Bead Game ~ QOD: To study history means submitting to chaos and nevertheless retaining faith in order and meaning. It is a very serious task, young man, and possibly a tragic one.

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  5. An observation from last night: You can certainly tell who's a lawyer.

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  6. Hi There~!

    I immediately thought of TILDE, but my STOWS wouldn't let me fill it in.

    Thanks for the French, C.C., I LMAO as I stared at Ilede for a while - and with it crossing TIVOLI and BOWIE, I had no choice but to switch to Red-letter, and my grid lit up.

    UGH.

    RIPPLY? ESPIALS? argh ~!!

    I am ashamed I fell for JAB, and not AWL (it's a sharp punch, really) BUG for LOG, (as in re-CORD a conversation) and C-CEL for VOLT. Must be TIRED.

    Anyway, the themes were cute, would like to have gotten TALCUM HIT BOTTOM without help, because that's just witty.

    Funny, but yesterday, for "big name in China" I wanted LENOX.

    Happy Mom's Day to all moms and step-moms (I was once a step-dad, and reaped the benefits in June~!)

    Splynter

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  7. Hello Puzzlers - Yup, what Barry said, again. RYE, ON AIR, and similar missteps kept some acreage out of production. TATAMI looks familiar but darned if I could recall it. ABELES is flat-out unknown to me. Needed red letter help to get the K at SAKI / KINER, just didn't know. RIPPED looked too solid to budge - red letters there claimed otherwise.

    Hahtool - Thank you, thank you, thank you for Mairzy Doats! Not only does it clarify a clue, it opens the door to a long forgotten nugget of childhood.

    Hand up for Kvbrik Opvs as the cleverest clue in the county.

    ReplyDelete
  8. While we're at it, "I'm a Little Teapot" never made much sense to me - it's not the teapot that gets all steamed up and shouts, it's the kettle that does that. The teapot just sits there quietly, brewing...Nice Cuppa, haven't seen you lately, back me up on this!

    Another childhood fragment has to do with my Mom toweling me dry after a bath, singing "Shimmy, Shimmy, Cocoa Puff". Any idea where that's from?

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  9. Good morning and a very happy Mother's Day to all of our mums and mommies out there. May you get the love and pampering you so richly deserve today.

    Mel, you got me today! I managed to git everything except for two across entries which messed up four downs. 'Talcum's on bottom' looked fine; so did 'slacker' and 'on air'. I was pretty sure something was wrong, though, with 'Halha', 'Nicde' and 'abekes'. WTF?? I never did get it straightened out.

    Everything else fell into place and I was surprised at some of the things that I recalled easily, like TYRE, SAKI, and NARITA.

    I thought 'Deliverer of text messages'/APOSTLES was really clever. Written text... the epistles of the apostles.

    Great puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Going to do xwd on airplane..see you in a week.Happy Mothers' Day !
    Aloha

    ReplyDelete
  11. Good morning, C.C. and puzzlers all!

    Happy Mothers Day, mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers, et alia!

    A fun theme today; talcumhitbottom really made me laugh as I can still recall my daughter (now 33) lying on her tummy while her dad sprinkled her bottom with talcum powder after her bath.

    As often happens I slide to the bottom or center where I find traction and off I go. ESTAS and ERATO kept me ONTRACK and as I fill one across then one down, the themes slowly emerge. Very clever all of them!


    Finally, at the end I had to look for BOWIE and SWOPE as they were completely unknown to me; also ended with KINYR as I misspelled RUBE, RUBY.

    I thought AWL and LOG were very clever as was MMI.

    Have a wonderful Mothers Day everyone!

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  12. Good Morning C.C. et al.

    Thanks for the additional background on Mel Rosen, C.C. I did notice that there were only five theme entries today instead of the typical seven. But with the grid-spanners, it seemed OK. Like others, TALCUM HIT BOTTOM was my favorite!

    In hindsight (which is always 20-20), I also loved the clue for the roman numerals, "Kvbrick opvs". At first I just went "huh?", but finally caught on via perps.

    "Two-seater" was also a great clue, and I didn't fall for the TILDE misdirection with "Pina colada ingredient". Nailed it.

    Didn't like the icky ESPIALS entry at all. But since I finished without any lookups, I am a happy camper.

    Have a wonderful Mother's Day everyone! Everyone is one, or has one, so I can say that without compunction.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dudley:
    Little Anthony and the Imperials
    "Shimmy Shimmy Coco Bop"
    But probably older.

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  14. @Dudley, Windhover beat me to the answer, but here's a link: Little Anthony. The lyrics have probably been mondegreened from "bop" to "puff".

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  15. C.C., Happy Mother’s Day to all of our happy band! Both those who are or had one!

    I’ll take a 99% on this windy Sunday as I eagerly await my kids and their kids trekking over the river (Platte) and through the woods to grandma’s house today.

    Musings
    -The top fell so fast I got a little too confident. ARIOSI, SAKI, NARITA, CALI, SWOPE, ESPIALS et al tempered that!
    -Has everyone seen the movie/play 1776 where John Adams is begging for SALTPETER to his wife and she is requesting pins? It is wonderful and while taking a lot of poetic LICENSE has much good history!
    -Melting Pot fondue restaurant in Omaha charged big money for small pieces of food. Buh bye!
    -A former colleague showed MMI to his science kids. He knew is it was pointless and they didn’t get anything out of it, but hey, it filled 3 days! Yup, there are teachers out there like that!
    -We are off to Pella, IA tomorrow to see the fabulous tulips

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  16. Husker G., yes I have seen that movie. One of my favorite lines is about the LIBIDO of Thomas Jefferson and his wife. When one of the other members of the Continental Congress frets over how their "carrying-ons" will appear to the public, John Adams says, "Don't worry - the history books will clean it up." Great stuff.

    C.C. I forgot to thank you for the shout out! And yes, all I had to do was check the letter count to see if it would be HATHA or Bikram...

    I laughed out loud at your question at 3D. My answer to you would be, "On donkey?"

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  17. Good Morning All, this was pretty rough to put all of us sweet mothers through. ABELES, ARIOSI, ESPIALS, TIVOLI left me flailing for perps. I got them all except ARI-SI where it crossed with R-C. I had to Google "Elephant predator of myth" to fill in the O and get 32D/ROC

    I thought the cross of brownish OCHER and beige ECRU was nicely shaded.

    I always knew that two years of high school Latin would pay off eventually. Yay for 15D/"Kvbrik Opvs"..clever clue!

    Didn't like...these are RIPPLY muscles, these are RIPPED bodybuilder muscles

    The theme phrases were fun. The only big problem I had was 109A/"How's your Aqua Lung stock?" answer? I keep looking for a tie-in to Jethro Tull.

    Sorry C.C., I remember seeing Putney SWOPE, but I don't remember a lot about it, other than it was a satire about racial inequity. I'll have to Netflix it and get back to you.

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  18. Marti, I sang the role of ultra conservative John Dickensin (subliminal casting?) in that wonderful play and any recounts of the history of that revolutionary time always remind me of a scene or song from the play.

    Momma Look Sharp is perhaps my favorite (audio is best I could find) as it tells of Momma having to find her Billy on the Concord battlefield. It is a haunting song, especially on this day.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Not a typical Mother's Day poem, but about a mother who hangs on with tooth and nail to make sure her son has a better life. Beautiful Langston Hughes work.

    Mother To Son

    Well, son, I'll tell you:
    Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
    It's had tacks in it,
    And splinters,
    And boards torn up,
    And places with no carpet on the floor—
    Bare.
    But all the time
    I'se been a-climbin' on,
    And reachin' landin's,
    And turnin' corners,
    And sometimes goin' in the dark
    Where there ain't been no light.
    So, boy, don't you turn back.
    Don't you set down on the steps.
    'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
    Don't you fall now—
    For I'se still goin', honey,
    I'se still climbin',
    And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

    - Langston Hughes

    ReplyDelete
  20. Gary - yes, especially poignant on Mother's Day.

    C.A., great distinction between RIPPLY and ripped! I also wanted something from Jethro Tull for the "Aqua Lung" clue...

    ...and the Langston Hughes poem was a lovely tribute to all the hard-working mothers out there!

    ReplyDelete
  21. LOL, I had a feeling we'd seen that poem before (August 29, 2009). Here's one for the more traditional.

    M-O-T-H-E-R

    "M" is for the million things she gave me,
    "O" means only that she's growing old,
    "T" is for the tears she shed to save me,
    "H" is for her heart of purest gold;
    "E" is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
    "R" means right, and right she'll always be,
    Put them all together, they spell "MOTHER,"
    A word that means the world to me.

    ..And the musical version.

    One more funny, but R-rated "Adults Only" Happy Mother's Day Song.

    Have a happy day ladies. I'm on my way to a good one myself.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hello.

    Al, thanks for the link. Dug out and am playing all my Frankie Lymon
    and Clyde McPhatter 45's.

    Ah, memories.

    Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Good Afternoon, folks. Thanks, Mel, for a great puzzle. really enjoyed it. Thank you, C.C. for the swell write-up.

    This puzzle caused me to jump around quite a bit. Once I got the theme, and that took a while, I was able to make better progress.

    For 64D had CELL instead of VOLT for a while.

    For 69D had DEJAY instead of PRMAN for a while.

    Like others, had APNEA instead of SNORE. I should have known better. 113D NNE made that obvious.

    Had JAB instead of AWL. Fixed that with perps.

    Thought ESPIALS was very clever. Off-shoot of Espies.

    Fun Sunday, so far. Will work outside for a while. Happy Mothers Day to all you wonderful mothers.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

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  24. CC: Ralph Kiner spent his playing career with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
    A hero of the town as he slugged home runs, while the team sadly lagged at the bottom of the league during his years of glory. That was before there WAS a Mets team.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hi Everyone ~~

    This was a fun puzzle, especially when I figured out the theme. I knew the answers were words about stocks but for a while the wording was just beyond my grasp. I think it was TALCUM HITS BOTTOM that got me on track.

    I had many of the same stumbles that others have mentioned ... JAB before AWL, wanted Jethro Tull somewhere in 109A. I even had the 'J' in Jab starting me on Jethro.
    ~~ Thought of poetic justice before LICENSE
    ~~ In filling in NABISCO I thought of a skit from George Carlin from many years ago about Mallomars
    ~~ For 18D 'refrains' I was thinking of musical refrains so that messed things up
    ~~ I managed to get Ralph KINER because I seem to remember something about 'Kiner's Korner.'

    ~~ The only thing I didn't like was ESPIALS. I know I've never come across it and wonder if I ever will.

    All in all an enjoyable puzzle ... just challenging enough. Thanks C.C. for your informative write-up ... I always enjoy your comments! (Twins and Sox are tied at the moment.)

    Happy Mother's Day!

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  26. Good afternoon C.C. and all. Did the cw this am but haven't had time to post yet. Just got back from a super delicious Mother's Day brunch at Turning Stone Casino run by the Oneida's.

    Found the puzzle not too difficult and was able to work it from top down. First theme solve was 23a PENCILS HAVE LOST POINTS, which set the tone for the others. No real mind benders that the perps couldn't help with. New words learned include EMBAR and ESPIALS. Somehow dredged up KINER from the fog of years ago. Luckily was able to recall NARITA; probably from news articles.

    Enjoy what is left of Mother's day.

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  27. Warm Mothers' Day wishes to you all.

    ReplyDelete
  28. CA:
    Thank you for your always lovely choice of poetry. One thing about poetry is they always bear repeating.

    I, too, am off for Mothers Day dining.

    ReplyDelete
  29. More memories. Watching Ralph Kinner at Forbes Field and Harvey
    Haddix perfect game for 12 innings.
    Lost in the 13th on an error.(1959)

    ReplyDelete
  30. I interrupted this fun puzzle about halfway through to fulfill my omelette-cooking duties. Delicious!

    When I saw Bud SELIG in this puzzle, I began thinking how much I hope he had MLB take over the Dodgers. The owner, Frank McCourt, has short-changed the team while lining his pockets. He now owns seven luxury houses. He also pays his two sons huge salaries though they have no responsibilities or duties. He also has avoided paying income taxes for seven years or more. Geez.

    I enjoyed seeing a reference to Joplin rags in the puzzle. Very enjoyable music.

    I used to be disappointed that this blog didn't cover the LA Times Calendar puzzle by Merl Reagle. No more. I think his puzzles have gotten stale while these are very creative. A recent theme of Reagle's had words with EGGS in it where he removed the two Gs. Not much fun.

    In honor of Mother's Day, here's an enjoyable slide show from MSNBC about animal mothers. I hope you like it.

    Happy Mother's Day!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Good afternoon all!

    I managed to walk all of the way to the dining room last evening (2 sets of 2 steps each way). Am pooped today (more than usual). Had nice dinner with son and family.

    They were a bit upset that I won't have microwaved food anymore. See microwave cooking (The Luddites were right.)

    Today's puzzle was great fun! Loved the theme. Favorite answers included MMI and BOT. Thanks to C.C. and Mel.

    Notice that we had SLIDE and ELIDE (also a kind of SLIDE)?

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  32. C.C., I have been getting messages to upgrade to FireFox 4.0 but so far, I haven't. What problems did you run across?

    The Lakers were embarrassed by Mavericks and then added to it by embarrassing themselves with two flagrant fouls. It's a sad end to Phil Jackson's coaching career.

    ReplyDelete
  33. fermatprime, Microwave ovens are just as safe as testing and regulations can make them. Canada and Sweden sell them, for gosh sakes. :o] A pseudoscientific test by eight guys in Switzerland in the 1980's is not proof of anything. The article you linked is also wrong in saying microwave ovens are banned in Russia. There are many sites on the internet offering information debunking the myth of microwave dangers cited in your link.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Good night all.

    Thanks for the Animal Mothers slide show, Bill G. I enjoyed it.

    Hope you all had a pleasant Mother's Day. I surely did.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Husker and Al - Late back to the party after a full day, but Thanks for the Little Anthony links. That clears up another mystery from 45 years ago.

    I didn't know the word Mondegreened, but what a great backstory! Among the many examples, I'm surprised they didn't have Neil Diamond's "Reverend Blue Jeans" (Forever in Blue Jeans).

    Mairzy Doats has been in my head all day!

    I'm reminded of the old Neil Hefti piece "Cherry Point" in which the Basie band players sing the phrases " oh-wa, tah-goo, siam" individually, sounding all sophisticated, and then sing them together as " oh whatta goose I am". Fun.

    Nobody coming to my side about the little teapot?

    Night, John Boy.

    ReplyDelete

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