google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, May 4, 2011 Don Gagliardo

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May 4, 2011

Wednesday, May 4, 2011 Don Gagliardo

Theme: CAT-ITUDE. each theme answer describes a characteristic of a cat.

17A. *Like some ovens : SELF-CLEANING. more things should come with this option. like cars. and kids. and where's the self-cleaning toilet?

17A. *Checking, as books : BALANCING

35A. *Field action : HIGH-JUMPING

53A. *Part of many a magic act : DISAPPEARING. my cat does this all the time. about which my son says, 'he's a man, he'll be fine.'

58A. New York resort area, and what the answers to starred clues are : CATSKILLS - or CAT SKILLS. cute pun. see note from don hard g at the bottom.

Across:

1. Work on, as a part : COMB. i suppose.

5. Donald, to his nephews : UNCA. easy guess.

9. Polite title : MADAM. ma'am is short for madam.

14. [Turn the page] : OVER.

15. Indian flatbread : NAAN

16. Monterrey girlfriend : AMIGA. monterrey is mexico's third largest city.

19. Plymouth's county : DEVON. plymouth is a city in england. in this map of devon county, you can see plymouth to the southwest.

22. Expand operations : UPSIZE

25. Expand one's belly : EAT. partial clecho.

26. Goose egg : NIL. zip, nada, zilch.

27. Hard work : MOIL. not to be confused with mohel.

28. Activist with Raiders : NADER. ralph nader recruited hundreds of idealistic college students and lawyers to work with his center for study of responsive law.

31. 1987 Masters champ Larry : MIZE. best known for this shot.

32. 61-Down resident : PIG, and 61D. 32-Across home : STY

33. Versatile, powerwise : AC/DC. "DC is the abbreviation for direct current, which is a type of electrical current that travels through a circuit in only one direction. Direct current is the type of electrical power that is produced by fuel cells, batteries, and generators equipped with commutators. While DC power was the first type of electricity to be commercially transmitted, it has been widely replaced by alternating current (AC) electricity, and is now used primarily in electrochemical and metal-plating applications."

34. Subdivided : ZONED. tricky.

39. Flat-topped formation : BUTTE. courthouse butte near sedona, arizona.

41. Boston or Baltimore : PORT

42. Blame, slangily : RAP. according to the book, 'the whole ball of wax,' by laurence urdang, the expresssion is taken facetiously, from a ‘rap on the knuckles.’ that shows what i know, i would have guessed it was related to rap sheet, which is an acronym for record of arrest and prosecution.

45. Blame : ONUS. from latin.

46. Flower girl's path : AISLE. timely - gotta love this shot.

48. Geologic procession : EONS

49. Bert Bobbsey's twin : NAN

50. Little devil : IMP

51. Lunch time : MIDDAY

57. Place to play : ARENA

62. Best Buy squad members : GEEKS. before i switched from pc to mac, i had a stool there with my name on it.

63. Busy as __ : A BEE

64. Toned-down "Awesome!" : NEAT. extra credit for anyone who knows where this comes from: "dear annie. thanks for your letter. you sound neat."

65. Ferber and a Dame : EDNAS

66. Mama __ : CASS

67. Plucky : GAMY. if you say so...

Down:

1. Cheap pipe material : COB. scroll down this page for instructions on making your own corn cob pipe.

2. Ooplasm containers : OVA. the ooplasm is cytoplasm of an oocyte. oo yeah, i knew that off the top of my head.

3. Blanc who voiced Bugs : MEL

4. Sergio Mendes & __ '66 : BRASIL. remember this?

5. Relax, as one's fist : UNCLENCH. made me think of this.

6. Greenhorn : NAIF. a naive or inexperienced person.

7. Call off an appt. : CANCel. often abbreviated cx.

8. "Hulk" director : ANG LEE. didn't know that, never saw hulk.

9. Ticked off by : MAD AT. wanted irked.

10. Word of agreement : AMEN

11. Water shower? : DIVINING ROD. show-er. get it?

12. Fret (over) : AGONIZE

13. Really botched up : MANGLED

18. Pince-__ : NEZ. the style of spectacles worn by teddy roosevelt.

21. Poor listener's in-and-out organ : EAR. in one ear, out the other.

22. One wearing black at home : UMP. umpire.

23. Island dish : POI

24. Trusting way to purchase : SIGHT UNSEEN

29. Descriptive wd. : ADJ. adjective.

30. Bra choices : D-CUPS.

31. Day for the fair-of-face child: Abbr. : MON. "Monday's child is fair of face." what day were you born?

33. Some do it gracefully : AGE. like her.

34. Teen omen : ZIT. acne.

36. "__ for me to know ..." : IT'S. '... and you to find out.'

37. Kind of biol. : MOL. the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity, commonly mol bio.

38. Bases for arguments : PREMISES

39. "Of Human __" : BONDAGE. novel by w. somerset maugham.

40. Like some TV pilots : UNAIRED

43. Nostalgist's suffix : ANA. as in, americana.

44. Future therapist's maj. : PSY. psychology.

46. Band booster : AMP. amplifier.

47. Medicinal syrup : IPECAC. ick.

48. Garden container? : EDGING. nice.

50. "None for me, thank you" : I PASS

52. Publicity : INK

54. Songwriter Paul : ANKA

55. Rhyme scheme in Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" : AABA. yes, but only the first stanza:

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

lines 1, 2, and 4 all have the same rhyme sound, while line 3 introduces a new sound. see this link for the rhyme scheme of the remaining stanzas.

56. Hwys. with nos. : RTES

59. Thompson of "Back to the Future" : LEA

60. Flee : LAM. didn't know this could be a verb, meaning escape. usually hear it as a noun, 'escaped convicts on the lam.'

Answer grid.

Melissa

Constructor note:

What an interesting word, Catskills. I wonder about its origin. For some reason one day, I just heard it as Cat Skills, two words. I grew up with cats, and was always amazed at what they can do. They do have extraordinary abilities. Why not do a puzzle about them? It helps that Rich is a cat person. Thanks to Rich, he helped me to round off my list of cat abilities. There may be some others that I have forgotten. Will the cat people out there write in to tell us about cat’s skills that others of us may have forgotten?

72 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Melissa Bee & C.C. - by no means an easy puzzle for me today; I had trouble right from the start, reading 1A as working on an acting part. 'Moil' still gives me pause, although we've seen it before. I keep thinking that that's the Jewish guy that works for tips.

The theme answers weren't terribly difficult, but I had no idea they were cat-related until the very end. Speaking of the end, I had 'game' for 'plucky' and couldn't figure out what kind of home an 'ste' was, except maybe a suite. Several great clues, including 'water shower', 'garden container' and of course, 'bra choices'. Overall, a very well done puzzle that gave me a lot of enjoyment.

Mustang Mel, this puzzle seems tailor-made for you on several, er, fronts. I liked your blog theme, but it looks like we have another blitch, 'cause it only published the first part.

Today is Bird Day. Celebrate accordingly. Lois, any special plans?

Did You Know?:

- The saying "in like Flynn" refers to actor Errol Flynn and his acquittal on statutory rape charges.

Dennis said...

Ok, now the rest of it is there. Mel, I was hoping you'd have a shot of the bridesmaid for the 'aisle' clue. And that line is from Sleepless in Seattle; what's "extra credits" get me?

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - Don G, let me be the first to say I just loved the theme! I filled the unifier last, and being a cat fan, got a good laugh.

Pretty much sailed through except that I forgot MOIL even existed as a word. Figured I'd let somebody else parse UTP for me, but the lack of a ta da made me rethink that strategy.

I imagine it's a coincidence that COMB is over OVER.

Later, puzzle dudes!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Yep, definitely a bit of a struggle today. I started out with PVC for 1D and IVS for 2D (I was thinking ooplasm had to do with blood) and desperately wanted BEEP for 14A. What a mess! The fact that I've never heard of "Sergio Mendes & BRASIL '66" didn't help matters, and the clue for COMB was almost too tricky for me to get. Fortunately, it all eventually fell into place at the end.

As for the rest of the puzzle, I agree that MOIL is not a word I like to see in puzzles (or elsewhere, for that matter), MIZE was a complete unknown, and I was surprised to see ONUS clued as "Blame" (I'm used to seeing it mean "burden of proof," but I see from the dictionary it has other meanings as well). I also did not know DEVON and wanted TWELVE instead of MIDDAY for 51A.

As for additional CAT SKILLS, there's always MOUSING (mine caught two the last week)....

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Melissa Bee and friends. Wow! This was quite a challenge for a Wednesday. I had the theme answers before I got the CATSKILLS, and didn't see the connection at first. How amusing! Like Dudley, I, too, am a cat fan and those are, indeed, cat skills. The DISAPPEARING act always occurs before a visit to the vet.

I really wanted TOIL for Hard Work.

I liked how IMP and AMP intersected.

I also liked seeing NAAN and NAN in the same puzzle.

My favorite clue was Garden Container? = EDGING.

As Thursday's child, I guess I have far to go.

QOD: It's hard to tell the truth, for although there is one, it is alive and constantly changes its face. ~ Franz Kafka.

Hahtoolah said...

Here's another wedding balcony shot that you might have missed.

Tinbeni said...

Melissa Bee, Informative write-up.
You explained where I MANGLED this offering.

Never got off the braZil '66 and have no idea what "Zelf cleaning" was as a "Cat Trait."

DEVON as Plymouth's county a learning moment.

Too many other mistakes to mention.

Jeez, what a mess. Rorschact would be proud.

Oh well, there's another chance tomorrow.

Dr. Dad said...

Good morning.

Not too bad today but took awhile to get going. Never heard of Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66. And Moil threw me. Kept wanting toil.

I think we're going camping in the Catskills this summer.

Water shower through me because of the long "o" sound. Even after the rod points to where the water is you are still digging "sight unseen."

A big advantage for AC power is that transformers can be used to raise and lower voltage allowing for more efficient transmission of power. I don't think you can do that with DC current. The voltage at the beginning, along the wire, and the end has to be the same. Could be wrong though.

While Teddy wore them he also had regular glasses with the hooks around the ears. FDR was famous for his pince nez glasses. I believe he never wore any other type.

Have a great Wednesday.

Anonymous said...

Monterrey girlfriend made me go wrong. I put "novia". "Amiga" is a friend that is a girl.

Anonymous said...

Way too many icky short fills.

thehondohurricane said...

Good day folks,

A pretty easy solve today although Perps were almost mandatory. The only misdirection I encountered was "lunch time." I initially wrote in "twelve", but "wnk" & "ewging" lit my light.

Wife's away so I gotta ask...... Dcup, large size or small size? There were certain times in the past when the alphabet did not matter one bit to me!

Meiissa, thanks for the Larry Mize link. Chipping in from off the green was not as common in 1987 as it is today. Hard to believe it was 24 years ago.


I enjoyed Don G's challenge. A nice Wednesday offering and a good way to start the day.

Mainiac said...

Morning Melissa Bee, CC and All,

Thought of our lovely Bee when I wrote in 63A. Enjoyed the write up as usual.

Naan and Divining Rod were killing me. Finally the light went on with some perp help. Slapped my head when getting wet turned into discovering something. Nice puzzle Don. I liked the theme because I like cats.

Now that the weather is better our felines are hunting all night. I pick up a half dozen mouse corpses at the door step every morning. They come in and have their breakfast and crash, looking totally hungover from the night's events.

Happy Hump Day.

Husker Gary said...

What a fun, lovely puzzle done on a 2* day! The theme was fun on many levels for us cat peeps and cluing was clever as well – COMB, UMP, DIVINING ROD, EDGING, D CUPS.

Musings
-Movie Quote – They found out they were MFEO when they met in NY!
-We are taking family to Orlando at end of this month and it happens to be during Gay Days at Disney. We might see a lot of AC/DC. I’ve been there before during this time and they are fun people!
-Best Buy Geek fixed my Kaspersky yesterday! I hardly felt a thing!
-Gotta love Mama’s and Papa’s music and allow for their, uh, idiosyncrasies
-Is it me or do all current cartoon “voicers” vastly inferior to Mel? Sufferin’ Succotash!
-A friend of mine used to bent steel rods as “divining rods” that he claimed he crossed when he was over old burial sites in a downtown park that used to be a cemetery.
-Also knew baseballer Johnny MIZE
-Hahtool, ah yes, truth and beauty are both in the eye of the beholder!
-This Wed. child does not feel full of woe!

Abejo said...

Good Morning, folks. Thanks Don G for a great Wednesday puzzle. You too, Melissa Bee, for the swell write-up.

As others have said, I too could not start in the NW as I like to. I jumped around for a while then focused on the SW. The theme answers came easily, except I had HIGHJUMPERS first and then fixed that to ING.

NAAN came easily since I have eaten pounds of that stuff. Not bad with feta cheese and a cup of tea.

MOIL is a new word for me. Thank goodness for perps. As is NAIF. I think I will look them both up.

I have used the GEEKS a time or two for questions, etc.

I am not a cat person, but I believe cats always "land on their feet." They also "climb trees."

This puzzle has been a great start to the day. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

Anonymous said...

Kill means river in Dutch. Catskills, Peekskill, Fishkill, etc. were named by early Dutch settlers in the Hudson Valley.

HeartRx said...

Good morning Melissa, C.C. et al.

I thought this puzzle was the CATs pajamas!! I have two that never cease to amuse with their antics. One of their primary pastimes is sleeping in awkward positions. I bet they could even sleep in the miniscule seat on a crowded economy class flight. (I know I can’t!!)

MOIL again? I also wanted toil at first, but remembered our funny discussion a while back about the mohel. (Thanks, Dennis and Hahtool!)

I was born on Wednesday – full of woe. And on hump day, no less. Have a good one, everybody!

Dennis said...

A Sunday child here, and as my mother used to take great delight in telling people, delivered by a 'Dr. Nutt'.

Husker Gary said...

Cat Acts
-Outfielder chore – BALLCHASING
-Great engine sound – PURRING
-Frustrating activity – TAILCHASING
-Quickly getting in on a good deal – POUNCING
-Good to do on your feet – LANDING
-Plane delay – CIRCLING
-Elastic bread activity – STRETCHING
-Melodrama audience participation – HISSING
-Hard slog to the top – CLAWING
-Argyle’s Tyra Tuesday activity - LICKING

windhover said...

Friday's child - loving and giving

melissa bee said...

dennis:

what's "extra credits" get me?

teacher's pet.

Lemonade714 said...

Moi aussi, WH, as if we could not tell. Loved the puzzle, though I am more of a dog than a cat person. They can be entertaining in their own way and one of my young friends used to have nine, so I have seen all kinds in action.
Thanks MB and Don G.

always late these days

Lemonade714 said...

Moi aussi, WH, as if we could not tell. Loved the puzzle, though I am more of a dog than a cat person. They can be entertaining in their own way and one of my young friends used to have nine, so I have seen all kinds in action.
Thanks MB and Don G.

always late these days

Husker Gary said...

-St Louis activity – ARCHING
-Offensive baseball activity – BATTING
-Preparing husband-to-be – GROOMING
-Around twice to your once – LAPPING

All right, enough. Off to the Y!

fermatprime said...

Hi All!

Fun puzzle, Don; interesting write-up, mb.

I thought for a while that my mind was gone and/or this was really Thursday. Don't think that I shall fall into the MOIL trap again. DIVINING ROD was favorite fill.

Cat theme was great. One of my cats ate a squirrel the other day. Perhaps it was one of those ATT squirrels, for those who read Saturday's blog!

Those of you who fancy "Bones" will be happy to know that it has been renewed. No mention how Deshamel's pregnancy will be dealt with.

Happy hump day!

Scotty said...

I'm gradually learning that you have to think about at least three possible meanings for a clue word. Example: I first read "water shower" and thought of the bath mode; had it said "water dowser" I would have known. I'm also discovering that the great joy of reading your blogs is to go back to yesterday and pick up the one's I missed on first pass.

Grumpy - loved your hilarious explanations of unknown words, by which we are much better informed.

Bill G. - I have been audited by IRS three times and in each instance it was their error. The most recent was for 2008!! So timely. I fully expect another this year regarding charitable distributions from my IRA.

sherry said...

New word for me today: moil,had toil, therefore utp as 22 down's ans. didn't make sense. Ump's much better. Didn't get the theme as I mispelled Ipecac, I filled in Ipepac. Lam for flee was pretty cool but gamy for plucky? I don't think so.... Otherwise liked this grid very solvable for a Wed. Only one name,as a non-sports person,I didn't know;Mize.

Unknown said...

Good Morning All! Wednesday's puzzle was not easy but not really a tough one either.
A long time ago we had a much loved Miss Kitty who adored steamed broccoli. She would sit on the counter and purr while it cooked and then eat it with relish! Our very feral cat, Ziggy, would steal food right out of one's hands. We are cat-less these days, but have two dogs to keep us company. They, at least, alert us to visitors.
I was surprised by the people who were not familiar with Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66! Getting that one right off the bat must show my age.
Not getting the theme is nothing new to me. At first I thought that I had it, but then realized I was wrong. I saw balancing, self-cleaning, high jumping and disappearing reffering to our funds! Getting "Catskills" blew holes in my idea. I guess you can see where my brain was this morning!
Thanks, M-Bee, great job as usual.

creature said...

Good Morning C.C., MB, and all,

MB, thanks for helpful write-up. Good links ,as well as explanations, such as: EAR, in and out organ; GAMY, plucky [it doesn’t speak to me, either].

DonG, how creative of you, CAT SKILLS , indeed. Looks as if you could be busy for quite a while. My favorite is SELF CLEANING.

Thanks, Anon for the kill=river origin.

“men who MOIL for gold”; from Cremation of Sam Mcgee; cited last time we had MOIL. I know you remember, Jayce- accompanied by ‘sourdough’ discussion.

Which reminds me, I need to go to the grocery and pick up some bread.

Have a nice day everyone.

Anonymous said...

What? You don't bake your own?

Anonymous said...

Or better, get the bread man to stop by?

JD said...

Good morning Melissa, C.C. et al,

Don G's xwds are always a challenge for me-no exception today.It takes forever to get his clever cluing..my 1st 2 guesses are usually wrong.DNF rap and gamy..sigh, but...drum roll, I did get the theme, and loved it.

Melissa, great write up-loved the butte.The people of Sedona have named all of their rock formations.
Thx to you & Dr. Dad for explaining water shower.

HeartRx, my old guy would be "yoga cat 3".Did anybody else's cat get more vocal and very raspy sounding as they aged?It begins at 5:45 am.

Hahtool, you crack me up!

anon, how can u not love that short fill, zit?????

Spitzboov said...

Good morning all. Nice commentary, Melissa.

Fairly tough for a Wednesday but nicely clued, and a fun theme which clarified some of the perps. I thought COMB, EAT, and EDGING were especially clever. My favorite clueing was 'water show-er' ➔ ➔ DIVINING ROD. No look-ups needed. Great puzzle creation, Don. Thanks.

'Lunch time' ➔ ➔ MIDDAY - Reminds me of Middag Eten (Lunch in Low German)

IMP - Shoutout to a young Spitzboov:-)

Have a great day.

carol said...

Hi all - Here I sit with a pile of V-8 cans at my feet.
This was a real pit for me! I had more trouble than if I were trying to herd CATS. Funny thing though, I did get CATSKILLS right away but what ruined me were all the non-theme clues/answers: MOIL, ANGLEE, COMB, BRASIL, NAIF, NAAN....you get the idea.

How is DIVINING ROD a WATER SHOWER? I always thought one used a divining rod to FIND water.

I guess I was just not on Don's wave length today.

Thought of Lois when seeing 30D (D CUPS).

carol said...

Spitzboov- I just read your comment about WATER SHOW-ER...thanks, now I get it!!!

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Don G. this one is more than NEAT. It may be one of my all-time favorite puzzles. I totally loved the cat theme. I didn't get it until CATSKILLS made an appearance, so I must really like getting a V-8 can to the forehead....BOINNGGGG!!

Speaking of the V-8 can, the clue "water shower" for DIVINING ROD was wonderful misdirection. It took me a while to get the difference between shower and show-er.

I did do a little head scratching though. I thought GAMY was kind of smelly, rather than "plucky". It's a good thing 37A/MOL was filled by the perps. I didn't get it until Melissa'a blog. BTW, Nice blogging as usual, Melissa.

It's been a while since GAH and I have had a cat. Around here they disappear too often due to coyote predation. It would break my heart, so (for now) no cat.

Hondo, :0) are you really asking the women what their cup size is?

Bill G. said...

Melissa, before I read the other posts, I feel sure your mystery line is from "Sleepless in Seattle." It's probably been answered several times by now. Oh well. Great movie!

The cleverest clue that sent me off thinking in the wrong direction was the very first one, 1A.

Dr. Dad, you are correct that transformers can't be used with DC. We have to thank good old Tesla for AC power transmission. However, there are DC power converters that change DC voltage in many battery-powered electronic gadgets. I don't know whether they are practical for high voltage transmission lines though.

It's gonna be warm here today, almost hot. Too hot for me but Lucina would think it's balmy.

Clear Ayes said...

I am a Monday child. Unfortunately, "fair of face" only lasts for the first 50 years or so. After that we'd better have something else to fall back on.

If you don't know your day, here's a site to pin down the day of the week you were born.

And..If you don't know the nursery rhyme poem...

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

- Anonymous

Dennis said...

Oh wonderful.

Anonymous said...

Just a casual note - Re: the day of the Sabbath - no religo-political implications intended - poem originator was obviously a gentile, not Jewish or a 7th day adventist or Jehovah's witness.

J Hill said...

A bit tricky in places. One was the "one wearing black at home" - short but different - Umps wear blue.

Jeannie said...

When I got Catskills I immediately thought of Sam Gibley and My Side of the Mountain. A book I must have read 100 times. Even though I am not a cat person (highly allergic), I thought the theme and theme answers were clever. I must admit I hit the g-spot for Devon and Brasil. My hand is also up for typing in toil instead of moil. My owlery is a D-cup (no pic for the guys MB)? Another clue/answer I still don’t understand is “Donald to his nephews” - Unca. Was Don referring to Donald Duck? I have a friend that swears by using a divining rod to find a water source. Very clever misdirected clue!!

Nice to see busy as a Bee…..nice shout out to our wonderful blogger, Melissabee. I also knew that quote was from Sleepless in Seattle. I always liked that movie.

I was born on a Sunday; matter of fact on Mother’s Day. Dennis, I never would have guessed.

Hahtool, LMAO, you know what they say, Practice, practice, practice!!

Kurisu said...

Good puzzle overall; I like cats so this was fun. BALANCING was a little confusing -- I've heard of balancing checkbooks but I don't see how that leads to "Checking, as books." I agree that MOIL was mean -- I had TOIL and just figured UTP was some abbreviation I wasn't familiar with.

On the plus side, I liked the EAR clue. DIVINING ROD was fun because I could see it almost certainly had to be that from crosses, but I had no idea how that was a "water shower" until I figured out I was thinking of the wrong "shower". Tricky tricky.

The COMB OVER was amusing.

A lot of good longer answers -- UPSIZE, AGONIZE, MANGLED, UNAIRED, and BONDAGE.

eddyB said...

Hello.

Tuesday child. They had a big parade to celebrate my arrival.
Giving everyone a day off this year.

Sedona. The red rock area is one of my favorite places.

Take care.

LaLaLinda said...

Hi Everyone ~~

What a great puzzle! Being a "crazy cat lady" I can't believe that I didn't pick on the theme until I was almost finished! I thought I remembered 4D right away, but filled in BraZil instead of BRASIL and that messed things up for a while. I had 'bungled' before MANGLED and'eras' before EONS, but it all settled in after a while.

My three cats have all the CAT SKILLS mentioned here and a number of others. (I really like your list, HuskerGary!) They are lovable creatures of routine and each has something unique to offer.

My favorites were SELF CLEANING, EDGING, and DIVINING RODS. Unknowns were MIZE, DEVON and NAIF but perps took care of them.

Thanks for a great write-up, Melissa. Lots of good explanations and links!

Enjoy the day ~~

Anonymous said...

Good afternoon everyone.

Melissa B.: a great write up. And does everyone know that the bridesmaid is holding her ears because of the sound of the people on the ground?
Hahtool, what do you suppose is going on in your link? I can't imagine. Maybe she lost an earring.

I too am allergic to cats, and therefore am not fond of them. I
am definitely a dog person. But it was a clever puzzle. Did get CATSKILLS but missed some of their antics in the puzzle. Hard for a Wednesday IMHO.

I'm a Saturday child. Thanks for the whole ditty, Clear Ayes. I couldn't bring it all to mind.

Cheers

Lucina said...

Greetings, C.C. and Melissa Bee; as soon as I filled 3D and 63A I thought of you and wondered if you would blog today and there you were!

All of you early risers have iterated my thoughts on this lovely puzzle by Don G.

I, too, loved COMB OVER stacked on one another, also started with BRAZIL then quickly changed to BRASIL as I love my SELFCLEANING oven! Amazing how many are unfamiliar with Brazil 66.

Sadly, I didn't recall MOIL and left TOIL; as did Dudley, I failed to understand UTP??????

CA:
You are so wise and so right! As Monday's child, I agree it lasts only a few years.

Bill G:
Thank you for your always kind consideration of our weather; it has been a delightfully mild spring but starting today the temps jump to 99 and upwards so, yes, yours would be balmy.

Don G., you inserted so many clever clues in this one, thank you. I love the AHA moment on realizing DIVININGROD, water show-er.

Don't know if we have mentioned the pronunciation of BUTTE (byut) with long u.

NAIF has been absent for a while and anon is correct, AMIGA is friend, NOVIA is romantic girlfriend.

Have a wonderful Wednesday without woe, everyone!

Lucina said...

C.C., I apologize for exceeding 20 lines; lost track, I fear, and didn't think about it.

Bill G. said...

Strange. I looked at this blog page after a mid-morning snack (having left it open) and it had the message that comments had been disabled by a blog administrator. Reloading that page didn't help. I started all over again and everything was OK. Was there a problem or was this just a blitch?

Bill G. said...

Carmello Anthony got a 65-million-dollar contract to play basketball for the NY Knicks. His wife, who goes by LaLa, has a reality show. They have a four-year-old son. She just said in an interview how busy she is. "Sometimes, I don't even have time to get a manicure." Geez, I didn't realize how tough things could be. Good luck to them.

Windhover, I saw news footage of the flooding in Kentucky. I hope that's far enough away that it's not causing you problems. Best wishes to the folks dealing with the flooding. I hope the charitable contributions are actually getting to the people in need and doing some good.

Jerome said...

Loved it! What's great about Don's puzzle is that it's hilarious without absolutely anything in it that's whacky, punny, or on the surface, funny. Yet it made me laugh like hell!

Perfecto Mr. Gagliardo!

Warren said...

Hi gang, great blogging Melissa Bee!

Moil was an unknown word for me. I think that my wife and I finished ~50% of today's puzzle before she left for work.

Is 'cats have 9 lives' a skill?

RE: DC to AC discussion? We have a SunPower solar electric system on our garage roof that has a inverter that converts the DC power coming from the photovoltaic panels to AC volts and feeds into the power grid.

Spitzboov said...

Re DC electric transmission. High voltage DC electric transmission is used in NY and New England to import some power from Quebec, Canada. DC is used in these instances because the US eastern grid and Quebec grid cannot be operated in a synchronous AC mode.

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

Bill G,
I suspended comments for a few minutes to deal with a glitch.

Husker Gary,
To answer your question the other day, I meant nostaliga for old Chinese songs.

Warren said...

Here's
some more cat skills... Interesting, if you type in cat skills into Google the first link comes up a link to the Catskill Mountains...

from the above link: "One female cat and her offspring, left to breed at will, can produce 420,000 kittens in just seven years."

Anonymous said...

The pictures of the Royal Wedding provided by Melissa and Hahtool remind me of a very famous poem:

Willy and Katie
Sitting in a tree
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
First comes love
Then comes marriage
Then comes Willy...

Warren said...

Here's more on the Catskill Mountains from wiki e.g. 'Originally, the mountains' name was spelled "Kaatskil" by the 17th Century Dutch settlers - a spelling still attested in Washington Irving's "Rip van Winkle"...'

LaLaLinda said...

Thanks for the CATS link, Warren. Lots of good stuff! >^:^<

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, I stumbled on all the tricky parts today. Zoned, Comb, and Eons being just three. I also didn't know Mize, Brasil, and put in Unck for Unca. So with some of those squares blank that left me with some "holes" today.

I did enjoy the puzzle, however, even if I didn't finish.

I had High Jacking instead of High Jumping for Field Action--Thinking Air field. So D cups became D,C,A, and B,s. Cel biology looked ok, but for the life of me I couldn't fit a B into anything for Boston or Baltimore. Oh, well, there is always tomorrow.

Thanks for a great writeup MBee and to Don with a hard G for a challenging puzzle.

lois said...

Good afternoon Melissa Bee, CC, et al., This was a great Weds puzzle and only now I 'can-c' the theme. How clever! Good job, Melissa. Thoroughly enjoyed your write up and the links. Well done.

Dennis: Love this Day! Bird day? Oh yeah! As long as this rooster isn't as rough as a 'cob' or has a 'comb' 'over' I will run a-fowl tonight-mesmerizing and electrifying one 'plucky' mother clucker but not with AC/DC - only with DC. I believe in being direct and up front. We just might take 'divining rod' as well as 'disappearing' to a whole new level. Won't need an 'ump' tonight. I think my Double 'D cups' will be enough to hold the 'gamy' one in 'bondage' until he yells 'unca'. At this 'age' there just aren't any 'naif's left who would say "uh no, 'I pass'" then go on the 'lam'. If so, the 'butte' of the joke would be 'on us' for sure. Gotta love this Day! Do I hear an 'AMEN!' Thanks Dennis!

Hope everyone enjoys a bird of some kind!

lois said...

Bill G: yes, charitable things are getting to those in need - here anyway. I delivered a car stuffed w/ things directly to the people in need again last Sat. The Red Cross and Salvation Army routinely take things directly to those in need who can't come get them. Clean up is progressing in VA altho' slowly. It will take a very long time

WH: I too sincerely hope you are out of harm's way.

Chickie said...

CA, thanks for the link to find the day you were born. I found I am a Monday child.

I also had a Shower in mind instead of a Show-er for the water shower clue. Great misdirection. My uncle was a diviner. He was called on quite often when people wanted to dig a new well.

Naif is my new word for the day.

But my favorite clue today was work on, as a part/comb. Very clever.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Great puzzles these past couple of days, especially today. Really liked it a lot. Thank you, MelissaBee, for an interesting writeup.

Thank you, creature, for remembering.

Loved "Work on, as a part." Big smile. Didn't know MIZE; didn't like how GAMY was clued. I clearly remember Huey, Dewey, and Louis refer to Donald Duck as "Unca Donald." I read a lot of comic books back then.

More later.

carol said...

MelissaBee, I forgot to mention how much I loved your write-up!! I adore cats and your pictures were 'right-on'.
They are fascinating animals, each with its own personality. I think people who say they don't like cats, have never really gotten to know one...all you who are allergic, you are excused. I have never owned a dog but I know from my sister, who has had several (and cats too) that they are wonderful friends but just in a different way.
A cat is so much more independent....and as the old saw goes, (paraphrasing here) "you have to have a strong sense of yourself because you haven't been ignored until you have been ignored by your cat."

Anonymous said...

Is a blitch - a blog itch ? I have been having a terrible itch, - in a place where the sun dont shine - while sitting here, waiting for the blog comments 'to open up'. Would that be a blitch ?

Bill G. said...

TMI about your itch. A blitch is defined to be a blog glitch.

Got change?

A customer came into a little music store, bought some guitar strings, guitar picks and a few other things. The bill came to $13.59 including tax. The customer apologized saying all he had was a fifty-dollar bill. The owner checked to be sure the bill was genuine and gave him his change. Then they both noticed something that they thought was kind of cool. What did they notice?

thehondohurricane said...

CA,

I had no intention of offending you or anyone else on this blog. If my comment was inappropriate, I do apologize.

My wife is away and I was merely trying to find out if a cup size was larger as the Alpha designation increased or smaller. There was a time when I knew the answer, but there was also a time when I could tell you what I had for dinner last night.

As the young people like to sat today....."my bad."

Hondo

Dudley said...

Bill - One of every coin, and one of every note starting at $20.

Clear Ayes said...

Hondo, not at all. I was kidding around. I don't think anyone was offended. I know I wasn't. Please feel free to say just about anything that comes to mind. ("Just about" is the key phrase.") We're all grownups here.

FYI, I think AA is the smallest bra cup size, but maybe A comes first. Any smaller that that and why bother? Then comes A, B, C, D, DD, DDD, E, F, G and so on.

Personally, I don't know anyone larger than a G, but I would never say never, due to some women's preference and some surgeons' willingness to enlarge to any degree.

Here's a chart with photos! to help inquiring minds.

Seldom Seen said...

Just got home after a trying yet productive day.

Our skies are clear for once!

I noticed a very beautiful sliver of a moon and I remembered it was Stars Wars Day.

May the fourth be with you!

I apologize...

Frenchie said...

Hi C.C., Argyle and folk,

MB, wonderful, wonderful write-up!

@Dennis, how would that make him 'in'?

@Dudley, this moil doesn't deal with tips. Good point on the comb/over!

@Husker Gary, my contractor swears by his Kaspersky.

@Jayce, I didn't think in terms of 'unca' as written word...I wasn't certain it was intelligible on TV audio. Thanks!

Hope it's been a happy day for everyone! I enjoyed all the entries. Thanks!

I'm out!

Lucina said...

I recently found out one of my friends wears a J size bra which she has to special order.

Good night, everyone!

Frenchie said...

@Lucina, rocket or minimizer? Ha! Ha! I was surprised to find recently, my niece takes a GG! Seriously, an F? Oh my aching back! <BACK PAIN AND BREAST SIZE