google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday July 21, 2011 Claiborne Thompson

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Jul 21, 2011

Thursday July 21, 2011 Claiborne Thompson

Theme: Smell the Cork - A wine quip puzzle.

17A. Start of a quip : I LIKE TO COOK

25A. Quip, part 2 : WITH WINE,

32A. Quip, part 3 : SOMETIMES

46A. Quip, part 4 : I EVEN PUT

52A. End of quip : IT IN THE FOOD

Hello Everyone. Boomer here, sitting in for Al, who is taking the next few months off due to extra workload.

I understand the quip, my sisters live in the wine country of Northern California. I stayed in the Scandinavian heartland, and no matter how much wine you put on the lutefisk, or drink with the eelpout, you will never improve the taste.

Across:

1. Grafton's "A" : ALIBI - "A" Is for Alibi.

6. Mill fill : GRIST - You can use the grist with Coors Light to make batter for that lutefisk.

11. Witchy woman : HAG - "I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!"

14. Aristotle forte : LOGIC

15. Major outlet : AORTA - I think more of an artery. An outlet is a store that sells last year's stuff for half price, or the thing on the kitchen wall into which you plug your toaster.

16. Chemical ending : IDE - Aristotle says this clue is logical

19. Lot : TON -

20. First name in hair products : VIDAL - I first thought of ESTEE. Pass the White Out.

21. Spanish possessive : NUESTRO Never cared much for foreign words in puzzles

23. Like the 4-Down in a 1960 chart-topper : TEENIE - This took a while to get. "One, Two, Three, Four, tell the people what she wore."

26. Bear : BRUIN - Chicago NFLers may not compare to Boston's hockey team.

27. Champagne designation : SEC - Champagne is home to the Fighting Illini. They're in the Big Ten, not the SEC.

28. "them" author : OATES. Joyce Carol Oates.

29. Payoff : SOP - Sorry, I don't get this on at all.

30. Acquire : GET

31. Word in a current account? : AMPERE - Now we're talking electricity, just don't plug it in to your AORTA.

35. Take willingly : ACCEPT

38. Dreyer's partner in ice cream : EDY - They don't make sugar free.

39. River wriggler : EEL - Don't cook them in wine, it won't help

42. Don't just want : CRAVE

43. Top-secret org. : NSA

44. PETCO Park player : PADRE Who was Jack Murphy and what happened to him?

48. Hawks' homes : AERIES - I thought only eagles built aeries. The Hawks home is Atlanta.

49. Outclassed by a large margin, as competitors : DWARFED - "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to work we go"

50. You are, in Yucatán : ESTAS - Another foreign word - Yuc

51. Mid-seventh-century date : DCL - Anyone this old would not be much of a date.

56. Deborah's "The King and I" costar : YUL - Shaved his head before Michael Jordan made it stylish.

57. Thumbs-up person, perhaps : RATER - Or maybe sizes ripe olives.

58. "Amazing" magician : RANDI - Again I'm lost. David Copperfield nor Criss Angel would fit.

59. Ike's WWII domain : ETO

60. Alex's mom on "Family Ties" : ELYSE - I remember her in "Bridgette Loves Bernie"

61. Words of reassurance : IT'S OK - Thank you

Down:

1. Poetic pugilist : ALI - "The Greatest" self acclaimed

2. Online chuckle : LOL

3. "Tell me already" : I GIVE UP - or "Holler Uncle!!"

4. See 23-Across : BIKINI - I know it was a yellow polka dot one, but I never knew if the polka dots were yellow, or if it was yellow with a different color dots.

5. Stranded in winter, perhaps : ICED-IN - Oh Oh, you may have to get a filet of lutefisk out of the freezer.

6. Reading pen? : GAOL. Reading Gaol, prison in England.

7. Fabled flier : ROC

8. Like many "Twilight Zone" episodes : IRONIC - I thought it might be SciFis.

9. Pub choice : STOUT - Also a college in Menomonie WI.

10. Pay after taxes : TAKE HOME - It keeps getting smaller, and hopefully you still have a home.

11. Member of an ancient Asia Minor empire : HITTITE - I have heard of them, but whenever I see the word in print, I always think of a pitch, High and Tight.

12. Beautifier : ADORNER

13. Columbus, by birth : GENOESE

18. __ Bo : TAE - Could have asked for the initials of the guy who invented uses for 31 Across

22. Exchanges : SWAPS - Also a Kentucky Derby Winner in 1955 under Willie Shoemaker. Held off favorite Nashua at Churchill Downs.

23. "Conan" channel : TBS _ The commercials tell you - "TBS - very funny". Sorry that's an oxymoron. If Conan was funny, he's still be on NBC.

24. Handel cantata "__ e Leandro" : ERO

25. Least arid : WETTEST

27. Go out with : SEE - And have fun, as long as your date isn't 650 years old.

30. It's eight hours later than PST : GMT - Greenwich Mean Time. I always thought mean time was when your alarm clock goes off.

31. Singer Grant : AMY - I first thought of Gogi and her one hit "The Wayward Wind".

32. Cut : SEVER

33. Forest safety concern : OPEN FIRE - Smokey the Bear (or Bruin) is on the lookout. There's a wonderful statue in International Falls, MN.

34. Actress Lupino : IDA - Famous in crosswords as well as movies and TV roles. I remember her mostly with her then husband Howard Duff in a TV show, Mr. Adams and Eve.

35. Wool-coloring agent : ACID DYE Not familiar with this, sounds dangerous. I think I'll keep my sweaters the color that they came in.

36. Close-cropped hair style : CREW CUT - Military hairstyles are making a comeback.

37. Italian horse : CAVALLO - Another one of those foreign words.

39. Inventing family : EDISONS - And here's another tie in to the outlet and ampere.

40. Prior to : ERE

41. French article : LES

43. Feature of one who is barely sleeping? : NUDITY - What can I say, clever clue, got me.

44. "Great" czar : PETER I

45. Former PLO leader : ARAFAT

47. Corolla part : PETAL - If this a Toyota Corolla, then the answer would be PEDAL.

48. Pompeii burier : ASH - This clue threw me. Ash is a common word, I could think of a more common clue. Oh well.

50. French 101 verb : ETRE

53. Nintendo's Super __ : NES - Mario did not fit. NES is an acronym for something

54. Meter lead-in : ODO

55. Hägar creator Browne : DIK - Unusual spelling makes him a favorite of crosswords. He also teamed with Mort Walker on Beetle Bailey - one of my favorites.

Answer grid.

Boomer

Note from C.C.:

Here are two more wonderful "Hard to Believe" photos from another blog regular. Both taken by his father. And the boy is ??? (Answer: Bill G.)

88 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Pretty straightforward puzzle. The theme quip was cute, but pretty easy to figure out once I got going.

I loathe self referential clues that don't provide much additional information other than the fact that they are related to each other, but I was eventually able to suss out 4D and 23A thanks to the perps.

I think the only unknown today was CAVALLO, but it took awhile to dredge up HITTITE and GENOESE (I wanted GENOAN for some reason).

I thought ACID DYE was awfully contrived, but I'm sure it's a real thing.

Favorite clues today were definitely "Feature of one who is sleeping?" for NUDITY and "Reading pen?" for GAOL.

Barry G. said...

Oh -- and in other news, it looks like the heat wave has officially hit the East Coast. It's supposed to top 98 degrees today, and the humidity is currently at 68% and climbing...

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Boomer and friends. How nice to see you again, Boomer. Great job.

I am not usually keen on quip puzzles, so groaned when I read 17-Across. I didn't GIVE UP, however, and eventually got the puzzle filled in. Don't quip puzzles usually also include the author of the quip?

There were some cute hidden clues. I especially liked Feature of One Barely Sleeping = NUDITY.

I also liked Reading Pen = GAOL. After getting the G_OL, the light bulb went on and I realized I needed to look across the pond.

I don't get the Payoff = SOP clue/answer, either.

We had GRIST recently, so that came to me immediately.

I learned that the CIA is not a Top Secret agency. Instead it's the National Softball Association. Oh wait, make that National Security Agency.

QOD: A healthy male bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people's patience. ~ John Updike

Argyle said...

You don't get Payoff/SOP but you got Reading/GOAL...I'm kerfuffled.

Forest safety concern : OPEN FIRE Thought of first day of big game season.

Tinbeni said...

Boomer: Enjoyed your write-up.

This "quip" puzzle, IT'S OK.
When my perps have to do all the work, my solving experience loses the FUN factor.

Tinbeni said...

SOP (per Dictionary.com)
Something given to pacify or quiet, or as a bribe: The political boss gave him some cash as a sop.

Lemonade714 said...

Hey Boomer,

Welcome back. Heigh Ho
Clairborne you brought us back to Thursdays in the TMS days, though this was a very easy one to fill in.
AMAZING RANDI is more famous a debunker than as a magician.
I agree on the fun clues and must get meself going. Great day all; Al we will miss you wit and wisdom.

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Boomer, C.C. et al.

Great job on the blog, Boomer. You had me chuckling all the way through it. My father was from Finland, so we also had to put up with lutefisk and other atrocities when I was growing up. You are so right – no amount of wine could help that stuff!

I agree that quip puzzles are not always my favorites, but this one did give me a chuckle. Unfortunately, I was familiar with the quip, so I just filled in the entire quip first, then went back and did the rest. Smart, huh? NO! Because I filled in “I love” instead of I LIKE…and shot myself in the foot big time, trying to make sense of 4D and 23A. siggggggghh…

As Barry G. said, the heat and humidity are here…but I’ll take that over being ICED IN any day!!

Have a wonderful day, everybody.

Hahtoolah said...

Could our mystery lad be Windhover?

In addition to being a college sports conference, SEC is also the designation of the bubbly drink, but you knew that.

Grumpy 1 said...

Good morning, Boomer and gang.

This was a rather RANDI puzzle, what with all that NUDITY, TEENIE BIKINI, a little WINE...

Maybe it's a good thing the author of the quote didn't show up in the puzzle. Images of Julia in that teenie bikini (or less) would not be a good start to the day.

It took me a while to get going, but when WITH WINE emerged, I knew the quote and everything else dropped into place.

Fave was 'Word in a current account'/AMPERE

Boomer, your write up was great. I look forward to the rare occasions that you fill in. There's usually no Champagne flowing in Champaign when the Fighting Illini play an SEC team.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning all. Great blogging, Boomer.

Nothing wrong with the Finns. They bathe a lot as a result of their NUDITY in the saunas. Great memories of Helsinki. They sure love their salmon and parsley potatoes, though. Thought 'nudity' was very cleverly clued. A SOP is a payoff; methinks Shakespeare used it. Not much evidence of the HITTITE language remains; probably because they lived long before DCL. Liked the AMPERE clue, too. Nice to see ÊTRE again. NUESTRO and CAVALLO, not so much.

Stay cool.

HeartRx said...

C.C., is our cute mystery boy Tinbeni?

The one on the chair is just priceless. And the second one looks just like someone just ruffled his hair, because he did something good...Anyway, he seems pretty happy with himself!

windhover said...

Not me

Jeannie said...

Just a quick note. Today is National Tug-o-War day. Come on ladies, we can take these guys!!

More importantly, it is DrDad's birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DrDad!!

kazie said...

This one took me forever. I felt that we were back in time, seeing a quip puzzle. Like Barry, I can't stand the self referential clues that make you feel you are missing a few. I had to WAG my way through a TON of this one, and put NUDITY, without seeing why and thinking I was just being DF and silly. You never know!

I had no idea about Grafton's A, and so never grokked the B for BIKINI, or TEENIE or SOP, with which I'm totally unfamiliar. Also misWAGGed randI and dIk--didn't know either of them, had an "O".

Otherwise my WAGs all worked.

Thanks Boomer, for stepping in. It'll be nice to see you on a weekly basis for a while.

Al,
I'm sorry to hear your workload hasn't abated yet. I remember you were hopeful when we met in April. I hope you can get caught up soon.

creature said...

Good Morning CC, Boomer and all,

Boomer, good to hear your voice. You’re quite talented with the write-ups. Just enough play to feel good to a ‘harried housewife’ who took too long on misleading wrong entries.

Again, I had to take a break to ‘see’ the puzzle. Grain for GRIST was the worst. Finally cleaned that up.
I had eri instead of ERO, which made ‘sip’ and ,following the wine theme, that was definitely a ‘payoff’ in my book.

Ah, well. Thanks, Claiborne. Nice puzzle.

Al, will miss you bunches. Please say ‘hi’ from time to time.

Marti, from your remark last night, are you back on chemo?

I’m a bad guesser on the mystery folks; yet, with the clue about ‘his father’s taking the pics’, I would guess Boomer again.

Have a nice day everyone.

Husker Gary said...

Finally a rainy respite here in the heartland and just in time to help the corn throw its pollen and not cook it!

Musings
-My uncle was a Triple A Des Moines Bruin in the 50’s and then threw his arm out. He came home and threw knuckleballs and junk in town team ball after that.
-Huskers will be Champagne bound soon
-Current account? It is not IMHERE, let me have the white out when you’re done Boomer!
-Jeremy Wade went after EELS in River Monsters. Search for “Eels devouring a deer carcass” at your own risk. Them boys is violent!
-Anna taught the King of Siam something about feminism. You go girl!
-I didn’t think pub dwellers drank STOLI even with ST _ _ _
-I don’t get Conan either. As you said, otherwise he’d still be on the big channel.
-Boomer, you can’t be old enough to remember Gogi Grant!
-BUZZcut? Not so much!
-Hahtool, re quotation, I avoided a former colleague at ACE yesterday because the last time I talked to him he consumed a half hour of my time talking about himself. Ye Gods!

sherry said...

Didn't enjoy the quip answers.
Foreign words floor me; 4D clues & 2A clues, one of which dissected a down clue, notably 50D & 50A. Left me in the cold. Am unaware of Randi the "Amazing," magician?

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - Had to chip away at this one, didn't know the quip well enough to fill it in without lots of perps. SOP was only very dimly remembered - I wanted TIP in there, and had it crossed with WBT. I can never remember all those newfangled broadcast companies, having never had an all-inclusive cable service.

Good to "see" you, Boomer - I gather you were blogging more often in the days before I was put in the Corner. I'm with you in thinking that Conan is just not very funny. Man, do I miss Johnny.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Nice write up, Boomer. Good to see you.

Well, this is a first for me, and maybe it's me, not the puzzle. But -- I noted the quip theme - a genre which I loath, and hoped to never see again, scanned a few of the foreign words and other nonsense, and decided - the hell with it. This is not worth my time and effort. I have never, ever, ever set a LAT puzzle aside like this before.

Sadly,
JzB

Tinbeni said...

HeartRx
Nope
My guess is the cute kid is Boomer.

JazzB
Well said.
I loath the "quote/quip" type of puzzles also.
If you "Know it" they are easy.
If not, then it becomes a 'perp-fest' ... with generally (like today) little payoff.

Hahtool's QOD are ALWAYS more interesting than ANY quote I've ever encountered in a crossword.

Thumbs down rater said...

Boomer, thank you for a very elucidating commentary. Deeply appreciated.

Sadly, I was disappointed with the puzzle - it was an unhappy experience - too many foreign words, and mis-cues and - why do I even bother. I got about 65% - but I didn't even care. Sorry.

Ampere - word in a current account - why 'account'? - to confuse bankers? - an 'electric account' would have Watts, KWH - kilo-watt-hours - but 'Amperes'? Amperage is strength, not quantity.

Randi - I knew . - he offered $1 mill. to anyone who could prove 'true ESP' (no takers ... ) . Lemonade's point is well taken.

GAOL - was really cute.

ACID DYE - all dyes are acidic - why limit it to wool ? Mordants are used to color all fabrics and materials.( BTW, Al, the chemist would have known.)

EDISONS - which I got . - Why ? Which other Edison is famous as an inventor ?

The problem with late week puzzles, is that they try so hard to confuse, that they end up being truly untrue.

HeartRx said...

Creature @9:00...no, and (knock on wood!) I hope I never go there again. I was just remembering how hard it was to get through the days on chemo. When I saw the clip of that little boy and his father, I thought that no matter what I have been through, there are many others worse off than I.

Anonymous said...

I would like to put my 2 bits in.

I think the cute kid is Dudley.

( I think the eyes have it.)

Grumpy 1 said...

Thumbs down rater, 'account' in that clue is used as in 'to tell about', so a story about electrical current would certainly include AMPERE at some point. I enjoy late week puzzles for exactly the reason others dislike them: lots of hidden meanings, puns, misdirections, etc. It's usually the foreign language words that trip me up, but they fell in place today.

Still in AWE said...

May I thank Bill. G. for the truly wonderful link he gave yesterday - for the Youtube video on Patrick Henry Hughes, the blind trumpeter and pianist, and fantastic band member, with his father, from the Univ. of Louisville. (Clip 6:33).

To hear the words of hope, determination, courage and inner strength - is like hearing a voice of God.

I pray that the young man, and his parents ( who are also very remarkable, in their own right ! ) may continue to display and bear their admirable qualities. After watching that video, I am ashamed at the relatively trivial travails, that I have whined for, at God, for my relative easy life.

A Big thank you, Bill G.

Spitzboov said...

Current account: In addition to Grumpy's take, I suppose that an electrician, when designing an electric service for a home or business, would diagram an 'account' of all the major circuits and their ampere ratings, in part to properly size the wiring, circuit breakers, and electrical entrance capacity. IMHO

Anonymous said...

23. "Conan" channel : TBS

Conan is hilarious and funnier than Jay "Big Jaw" Leno. I'm not a fan of Conan. I like Dave Letterman better as IMHO, is the closest person in comedy to Johnny Carson that you will find working today. Never have I heard of show host retiring then coming back at 10 PM (It didn't work) and then bringing him back at 11:30 and moving Conan to 12 midnight. Johnny Carson is still funnier than Jay will ever be.

23. Like the 4-Down in a 1960 chart-topper : TEENIE

Yoplait Yogurt: Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie yellow polka dot bikini

Bikini

Fun Facts by Dave Letterman

The Japanese tradition of serving fish that's not cooked was invented by a very lazy chef.

When a U.S. President dies, it is customary for his Secret Service agent to be executed and buried in an adjoining cemetery plot.

Splynter said...

Hi There ~!

I was able to guess the quote before the perps helped out. My only change was "I GET..." had to to be "I PUT..." - and I was expecting an author, too.

I think Conan is great - he has his 'off' moments, but for the most part, I watch him on DVR every morning after work - Letterman is good, too, both of them are better than Leno.

The foreign words did take the fun out of today - CAVALLO, ESTAS, NUESRTO, ETRE; I got 'em, but...

And Hittites always make me think of the scene in Ghostbusters when "Venkman" is trying to explain why Zuul is in the fridge - Zuul was worshiped by the Mesopotamians and the Hittites....

Splynter

Rick said...

I really appreciate this blog...Have lurked for quite a while.

SEC is yet another foreign word and I believe what the clue is referring to...the Sec designation indicates that the champagne is Dry and not Sweet.

Hayrake said...

BOOMER - your comments are more entertaining than the puzzle. Please don't go away.

Bill G. said...

I wasn't crazy about this puzzle either. I'd heard the quip several times before and the self-referential clues are always painful for me. The NUDITY clue was clever though. Boomer, thanks for the enjoyable writeup.

I'm not crazy about Conan either. He always seems to think he's funnier than I do. Randi is the guy who exposed Uri Geller for being a magician instead of a person with extrodinary mental powers.

Still in Awe from today and from yesterday, Lucina, Creature and Marti; I'm glad you enjoyed that link. It always makes me feel good when something I enjoyed connects with others too.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, So nice to see Boomer again. I loved your "who cares anyway?" comment for 53D) "NES is an acronym for something".

I didn't mind the theme quip, since it comes close to what I would have for personal motto. Like Marti, I've heard it before, so it made some of the difficult perps easier.

Hard To Believe boy looks like Red State Democrat to me. Can't quite tell, since RSD has changed his avatar (hmmm...suspicious) and we can't tell if the HTB has red hair.

We had our house appraised yesterday. You don't want to know!

Time to get ready for our ladies day out. See you all later.

eddyB said...

Hi there.

Funny, funny write-up. Thanks.

Remember the old TMS puzzles and all of the quips.

From my circuit analysis days, current in equals current out.

Back to bed until it cools down.

eddy

Yellowrocks said...

Like Grumpy, I enjoy the late week puzzles with their hidden meanings, puns,misdirections and foreign words. Most of the foreign words we get are fairly common. I like it when perps are needed. It adds to the challenge. When I can just fill in each word immediately it is no fun. Most of the time getting one or two perps is all that is needed.
I did know this quip. When I got WINE and COO (as part of COOK),I was able to fill in the entire quip. Cooking with wine is great fun. Hic!
I loved this puzzle and Boomer's write-up which was very entertaining.

Anonymous said...

Long time lurker says...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Drdad. I wish you would post more often.

GarlicGal said...

Good morning all. Boomer - I laughed! I thought of "Gogi" Grant, too. In fact I have "The Wayward Wind" on my Ipod. I also have Rags to Riches. The best, all time Tony Bennett song, ever!

A little tricky this morning, but I thought it was fun. Never did get "nudity". I had CIA, then OSA...oudity?...cudity? DUH! All the foreign words fell into place. My husband's family are Genovese (which is how I was trying to spell it). Maybe var. after the clue would have been helpful. I also filled in "sop" and then checked the dictionary. Sure enough, a bribe - my new word for the day. I think I'll have better luck using it 10 times than I did with pasquinade!

The countdown begins...8 days to Garlic Festival!! It's Chic to Reek...

Anonymous said...

PETCO Park is the new Padre's ballpark. They previously played at Jack Murphy Stadium (which was subsequently renamed Qualcomm Stadium).
Jack Murphy was a San Diego newspaper sports writer who was instrumental in bring major league baseball to San Diego.

Regards, Glenn G.

kazie said...

Believe it or not, I didn't think Johnny was all that funny when I was first living here. Later when I was more used to the culture here, I did. But humor is always related to your background, and let's face it, Conan relates better to a younger set than most of us. I've never liked Leno either, other than his appearance, I don't think there's be anything to laugh at if it weren't for his writers. Letterman is OK, but none of them are half as funny as they think they are.

I remember my earliest experiences cooking with wine, when I needed a cup of it for something, and said: "Now where is my biggest cup?"

If you don't like the foreign words, have sympathy for those of us who don't "speak" sports, music, geography, history, TV, poetry or literature either. We all have our own weak spots.

Grumpy 1 said...

Der Spitzboov, yes, I've put together a few load charts or load tables to size a breaker panel, but no load accounts although I certainly had to account for the loads.

RSD, I guess that video answered the question of whether it was the dots or the background that was yellow. Some of the other funny commercials that were available from that youtube link were pretty good too.

Happy Birthday DrDad.

Lucina said...

Hello, Boomer, C.C. and all.

Great job, Boomer. You had me chuckling throughout the blog.

No pasquinades to toss at this puzzle today. While I dislike the quip kind, this was surrounded by some clever fill such as:

AORTA, major outlet
AMPERE, current account
GAOL, reading pen? Loved it!
NUDITY, feature of one who is BARELY sleeping, LOL

Those and the foreign words are like oxygen to me and as Kazie said, I,too, abhor sports clues.

Sadly I DNF the TEENIE BIKINI and BRUIN .

Happy birthday, Dr. Dad!

You all have a thrilling Thursday!

Explains-the-way said...

NES - (no surprise - ) Nintendo Entertainment System.

eventually, to be followed by - what else - Super NES.

Sec, refers to the sweetness of the wine, because of unattached, unfermented sugars, including Pentose etc.

Table and Quality wines, have a lower permissible limit, than champagnes and sparkling wines. Thus the latter tend to be 'sweeter'.

Thus (French) - sec ( dry, < 6 grms/litre ), demi-sec (med. dry) , moelleux (Med.) , doux (sweet, > 50 grms/l ).



Aside:- I saw a 'speck', on the page, in my xword clue - and read - Mill fill - as Mill. fill -

thus Military 'fill' - so I filled in 'Grunt'.

Lucina said...

My vote is for Dudley as the mystery boy.

I also miss Johnny. He was classy and truly funny. I believe Ellen comes close to that.

Jeannie said...

“I like to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.” Well, contrary to a lot of people today I liked this puzzle. Maybe it’s because of the theme. As many of you know, when we had the TMS puzzles Thursday was always a “quote” puzzle, and I hated them. Not so today. I agree with you wholeheartedly Boomer re: foreign words in puzzles. I wish they would just stick to English words. Today, we had a Spanish lesson. Favorite today was “feature of one who is barely sleeping” – nudity. It’s been so hot here lately.

Today is also National Junk Food Day. What’s your favorite? Mine is “loaded” nachos.

It finally cooled down here a little bit, and that makes me happy.

Anonymous said...

Good afternoon everyone.

Thanks for the good write up Boomer. It is always nice to have you here.

For Boomer, if still necessary, and Husker: Champagne is the bubbly; Champaign is the town (Actually Champaign-Urbana) where U. of Illinois is located. Having graduated from there and having made the same mistake, it is engraved on my brain.

Jazz, I totally agree with your assessment of today's puzzle. I managed to get 17 correct answers, and had no clue about the hated quip.

Happy birthday Dr. Dad. Hope to see you one of these days.

Cheers

carol said...

Hi gang, thought I'd do something daring today so I attempted the puzzle. &%#@ - I'm with Jazz on this stinker!

I also thought of Gogi Grant (and I AM old enough to remember that great song).


Boomer, great job with the write up, I enjoyed it much more than the puzzle. You have a great sense of humor and I'll be looking forward to more of your work.
Still chuckling over the lutefisk remarks...my grandmother was from Sweden and she did fix that once (only once - LOL) Whew, I wouldn't come near it.

Hey DrDad....a very happy birthday to you! Hope you get what you wish for ;)

Avg Joe said...

I had a lot more trouble with this than most of you, but did enjoy it overall. Wasn't familiar with the quote, but finally got enough perps that it emerged for me. The final piece of that was swapping out the b for a V in Cavallo. (Does a double L sound like Y in Italian?)

Could not finish the NE. Had Hag and Ton, but Ide and Nuestro wouldn't come to me. Thought adorner was a little weak.

Bouy! There sure isn't much love for lutefisk around these parts. I had it once and thought it OK. I dated a Swedish girl in a former life. I've not had it since, but still eat potato sausage often.

Dr. Dad said...

Thumbs down rater - I am a dye and pigment chemist. Not all dyes are acidic. There are direct dyes, basic dyes, fiber reactive dyes, vat dyes, sulfur dyes, leuco dyes, etc. While many of them have sulfonic acid groups, most are not applied in an acidic medium like the acid dyes. Fiber reactive dyes are applied in a basic medium so as to aid in the formation of a chemical bond. Acid dyes are applied in an acidic medium so as to increase their affinity for amphoteric groups such as the amino and carboxylic acid groups found in wool/nylon. Direct dyes have a natural affinity for fibers and can be applied in a neutral medium.

Dr. Dad said...

To everyone who posted - Thank you very much for the birthday wishes. Nice to know I am remembered. I need to get here more often but that can be difficult.

creature said...

Dr.Dad,

I see you've changed to a position that has a lot of travel out of the US. Thanks for posting. I want to add Birthday Wishes to you also.

Anonymous said...

Really laughed at Boomer's comments - a lot better than the puzzle IMHO.

Think "nudity" is a silly answer and "gaol" is ridiculous.

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

Dr. Dad,
Happy Birthday! Come here on weekend then.

Creature et al,
No correct guess on the mystery boy so far, which makes me very happy.

dodo said...

Good Day friends,

This was a feel-good puzzle for me. I knew the phrase as soon as I got 'with wine' so it all fell easily,after that.
There weren't any real unknowns....well, Randi was a new one for me, but perps did that one. They also got me 'cavallo' giving me --v--lo, I don't know Italian but that was enough to remind me of 'cavalier' and French 'cheval' . I love the ones that make me feel so smart!

windhover said...

Based mostly on the chair, which I think is very old, I'm guessing the mb is one of our older members, and I'm guessing Spitzboov.

Yellowrocks said...

Anon @3:35
You are picking on my two favorite clues. I loved GAOL at 6D. Reading Gaol is a famous jail in Reading (a municipality) in England. And PEN is slang for jail. In old English JAIL is GAOL. So the clue was "a jail in Reading, England." While Oscar Wilde was imprisoned in Reading Gaol he wrote "Ballad of Reading Gaol." Later, Gavin Friday used the words from Oscar Wilde in his debut album. This album was my first association with Reading Gaol, and this morning it leapt immediately to mind.

"Feature of one who is barely sleeping" is a deft pun, meaning one who is sleeping bare, or sleeping in the nude.

I find that either I am on the wave length of the constructor and sense what is in his mind, or I am not, which makes for a difficult solve. Today the constructor and I were simpatico. You probably were not entirely so. We all get days like that. When I find in this blog what was intended it leads me to appreciate the puzzle more.

Spitzboov said...

WH: Not me. I'm gonna guess Bill G. for H to B.

I'd like to join in wishing HBDY to Dr. Dad.

kazie said...

I at first thought MB photo was an older member too, but now I think the chair pose is staged to look older. My mistake one other day this week was ignoring the clothes, but when I noticed what the other photo subject had on, I think it could be someone younger. But I'm a hopeless guesser so I'll wait and see who.

Dr. Dad,
I don't usually keep up with birthdays here, but Happy Birthday to you, rather late, but well meant.

Anonymous said...

For 20A Thought Goody

Lucina said...

Well, my next guess is Husker Gary. Looking at his Avatar the mouth seems similar.

Lucina said...

Oh, no! I meant to say Grumpy 1. Sorry.

fermatprime said...

Hello fellow solvers!

I was somewhat in Jazz's camp, but persevered with some red letters. When I see a quip puzzle, my brain goes on automatic freeze.

Great write-up, Boomer! Most amusing of the week, if not month.

A very late happy birthday to Dr. Dad!

Aussie fellows came yesterday to fix security system. Some fix. It is beeping its friggin' heart out and driving me nuts!

I gets down to 65-69 degrees at night and pops up to 90-100 during the day. Weird summer.

Am reading The Real Macaw, Donna Andrews's latest. Love her books, in which animals always are prominently featured. Never can figure out the killer early. Anyone else?

Cheers!

Hahtoolah said...

I just started reading Fall of Giants, by Ken Follett and came a cross a mention of HITTITES.

Clear Ayes said...

I hope I'm not too late to wish DrDad a very happy birthday.

I think maybe Lucina was correct at 5:50 and Husker Gary is the HTB boy.

Jeannie, favorite junk food? Not exactly junk, but for lunch today, I had a lovely cheesy quesadilla with rice and beans on the side....hmmmm, and nice big blobs of guacamole and sour cream for good measure.

Funny avatar, fermatprime. Looks like they had to strap you in to convince you that being potty trained was really a useful skill and a valuable social asset.

Yellowrocks said...

The info I pick up here greatly enhances the puzzle itself. DrDad, thanks for the great and educational explanation of acid dyes and others. Happy birthday. To all the electrical cognoscenti, thank you for expanding on ampere and other electrical info.

Husker Gary said...

It is not me (I) as I have not gotten over to my sister's house to get some pix to C.C. but I will. Look for b/w pix with perhaps my uncle's outdoor plumbing in the background.

The old Husker Johnny Carson was the best but I love Dave's offbeat, sardonic wit even though his politics are on another planet (who cares?). He worshipped Carson.

Leno and Conan are awkward interviewers but I have loved some of the set pieces Conan has done.

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, I got the first three across and down answers and just stalled from then on. I finally started around clockwise with Hag and filled in the NE and the bottom.

However, I shot myself in the foot several times with Alias for Alabi, (Did I say I got the first three answers--Not) Iconic for Ironic, Skunked for Dwarfed. A DNF for me today.

I had a hard, hard, time with the Bikini, Teenie clues. I don't much like clues that are referenced by other clues. My feelings exactly, Barry.

The English spelling of Jail?Gaol was a complete bust for me, and I have seen that word many times.

Thanks Boomer for taking over for AL and for a great writeup today. I can't help with the word Sop. However, it is in my very large CW dictionary, but with no explanation.

Chickie said...

I see that Sop was explained. Thanks for the info Tinbini.

I'd have to go with Grumpy for the boy in the pictures today.

Welcome Rick. Stick around and join the banter. We have a lot of fun.

Happy BD, Dr. Dad, and many, many more.

Avg Joe said...

I can't say that I've watched Conan more than a couple of times, so I don't have much of an opinion on him. But I have caught a few pieces by one of his roving correspondents that I consider hilarious. Raw! but nonetheless very funny. Here's just one from Triumph.

(Disclosure: I like Rotts. I have a Step-Rott. He's my buddy. I'm, a little biased about Rotts.)

dodo said...

O.K. Based on scientific research, my guess is Argyle!

Just spent an afternoon with my younger daughter, Carole, who lives in San Rafael and seldom has time to visit. Kids and husband are all away for the weekend so we had a lot of fun going through old pictures. I thought I might find an oldie of dodo but not in this batch! I'll keep looking though.

Carole is the artist who painted my last avatar. She brought me a new one of a water lily from picture I had sent her of one from our lily pond! Some of you might want to look at her work on her website: CaroleDodsonBigot.com.

dodo said...

Great write up, Boomer, with some good humor!

HBD, Dr. Doc!

Bill G. said...

92 degrees in Portland, Maine, 98 in the midwest, 70 degrees in Manhattan Beach. Go figure.

Anonymous said...

BillG, maybe you could stop rubbing it in for a day or two?

Grumpy 1 said...

Well the kid in the H to B pics is a good looking lad... Almost as good looking as the Grumpy one at that age, but 'tis not Moi.

Jeannie said...

My guess is BillG. That lad is a cutie that must have blossomed into our guy.

No one has a favorite junk food? I find that hard to believe. I don't indulge in mine all the time or I would be as big as a house. Clearayes, when I say my nachos are "loaded" they definitely have guacamole and sour cream and salsa in the picture. Oh, I won't leave out the spicy ground beef and TONS of dripping cheese. You almost need a spoon to eat my version as well as many napkins.

C.C. what is yours?

Bill G. said...

Jeannie, your loaded nachos sound great. Sometimes I get quesadillas at the local Mexican eatery. Hot pastrami sandwich? Fries? Onion rings? Popcorn?

I'm a fan of almost every kind of cheese there is though I wouldn't call that junk food.

Lucina said...

Sorry, Jeannie, I was lost in my intensive and exhaustive investigation of our mystery pic. Turned out wrong anyway!

My favorite junk food is also anything with cheese on it and nachos are on that list. I dare not indulge too often.

Anonymous said...

My goodness! I can't believe you people ignored Jeannie.

Jeannie said...

Anon, Bite me. All I am trying to do here is....

No comments from all of you that say don't feed the trolls. I for one am tired of Anons "peeking in" and picking on the regulars. If you want to be a part of this family note yourself. I am sorry, if you don't have the balls to sign your name, don't make a sarcastic or mean comment.

Lo-li-ta.

Bill G. said...

I was hoping we had acquired a better quality of anons lately, but alas, it is not so. Some of the same *ss*oles as always.

Argyle said...

Not my pics but agree about my age.

Favorite snack is like favorite ice cream...IT'S ALL GOOD!

Abejo said...

Thank you, C. T. for a tough puzzle. I got through it, but it took a while. An especially big thanks to Boomer for the great write-up. Welcome back.

I bounced around this puzzle for quite a while. Finally got through it.

I really enjoy puzzles with english answers. The foreign words are to make it easier for the constructor, I believe.

I enjoyed the theme. The quip was a good one, and helped with the puzzle.

I got AMPERE, eventually. I worked with electricity for 36 years and never recall AMPS being in some ACCOUNT. Oh well.

Enjoyed 9D STOUT. I had STOOL first, but fixed it.

Happy birthday, Dr. Dad! Wish you many more.

See you all tomorrow. Hope Friday is a great puzzle.

Abejo

Abejo said...

I had Chili Rellenos for lunch today in Lewisville, TX. Still hot down here. I head back to Chicago next week.

One of my favorite snacks is nachos. I learned that while living in California.

Abejo

Bill G. said...

Chili rellenos and nachos. That's good eating!

dodo said...

Junk food? So many good ones. I just can't think of a fave! I can go crazy on peanut clusters; otherwise chocolates leave me cold. I like those little red
cinnamon red hots, too. Once upon a time it was popcorn but I hardly ever have it these days. Nuts are good, too, especially smoked almonds. Tacos? nachos?

Jeannie, this is just a decision I can't make.

Anonymous said...

Not me Clear Ayes sorry. The oldest picture of me that I have is when I was 14 yrs old.

Anonymous said...

I agree Jeannie @ 10:20 PM the anons who peek and make snide comments are not welcome here.

I like Cheez-It Crackers as my favourite junk food.

Clear Ayes said...

RSD, I think I'm batting around .100 at HTB. I understand enough about baseball to know that is when it is time to send me down from the Major Leagues and back to the Modesto Nuts (yup, that's the name friends) I'm giving up on our mysterious friend for tonight.

Thanks to several folks who gave me advice on a new printer. I got a Canon Pixma MG5120. It's not a wireless, but I didn't care about that. It was on sale at the Canon webstore and I paid less than $80 including tax and shipping. Works great.

OK Jeannie, I'll say it..... Cheetos. Now that is real junk! Anything licorice is good, Twizzlers? I love 'em.

Chickie said...

Junk Food? Cookies, especially ones with chocolate chips, or chocolate icing, or chocolate filling. Maybe it's chocolate that is really my junk food choice.

Dodo, I loved your daughter's web site. What a great artist. She is very talented.