google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, August 31 2011, Gareth Bain

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Aug 31, 2011

Wednesday, August 31 2011, Gareth Bain


Theme: BE MINE

aw. this would be a good valentine's day puzzle. each theme answer ends with a synonym for either kiss (x) or hug (o).

18A. Method of looking for keys? : HUNT AND PECK

28A. Finishing by the deadline, sometimes : TIGHT SQUEEZE

48A. Bad-mouthing someone : TALKING SMACK

64A. Call waiting diversion : MUSIC ON HOLD

the unifier:

63. Love letter closing, and in sequence, a hint to the ends of 18-, 28-, 48- and 64-Across : XOXO

and a few bonus entries:

24A. Love god : EROS

67A. Big name in kitchen gadgets : OXO

54D. X-rated : ADULT

55D. Hale : LUSTY

melissa here.

gonna make it a quick one, got a late start.

Across

1. "Les __" : MIZ. short for les miserables.

4. As a friend, in French : EN AMI

9. Actor Romero : CESAR

14. N.L. West team, on scoreboards : ARI. arizona diamondbacks.

15. Noble gas : XENON

16. Latin stars : ASTRA

17. MLK birthday month : JAN. holiday for most in the u.s.

20. Relay race closer : ANCHOR. several sports include relay races, including track and swimming. the anchor is usually the fastest competitor on the team.

22. Peace Prize winner Wiesel : ELIE

23. Wide shoe size : EEE

26. Working parts : INNARDS. evokes an image, but i'll leave it to your imagination. you're welcome.

32. Computer pioneer Lovelace : ADA. who knew?

33. Young newt : EFT

34. Many Semites : ARABS

38. Reveal : TELL

40. Knight's ride : STEED

43. Harald V's capital : OSLO. king of norway. made a touching speech after the recent attacks in norway. "I cling to the belief that freedom is stronger than fear. I cling to the belief of an open Norwegian democracy and society. I cling to the belief in our ability to live freely and safely in our own country."

44. Capital on the Willamette : SALEM. willamette river, oregon. according to the usgs, 100% of u.s. rivers and streams are contaminated with carcinogens.

46. Future fish : ROE

47. World games org. : IOC. international olympic committee.

53. Food packaging unit : CALORIE. technically, it is a unit of heat required to raise one gram of water, one degree celsius. amazing the things that stick in your head from school.

56. German river : SAAR. looks so still and peaceful.

57. Soccer star Freddy : ADU. born in ghana, at 14 years of age, became one of the youngest athletes to sign a professional contract in the u.s., just signed with philadelphia union.

58. In __: moody : A PET. not sure i've ever actually heard this phrase used.

60. Like Chris and Pat, genderwise : UNISEX. it's pat.

68. Violet lead-in : ULTRA. ultra-violet.

69. Steve of country : EARLE

70. Nth degree : MAX

71. Eyelid annoyances : STYES

72. In small pieces, as potatoes : RICED

73. Punk rock offshoot : EMO

Down

1. Whom Goya painted both nude and clothed : MAJA. should be a gimme by now.

2. OPEC co-founder : IRAN. organization of the petroleum exporting countries.

3. Penultimate element, alphabetically : ZINC. the last would be zirconium (zr).

4. Encourage : EXHORT

5. Couch disorders : NEUROSES. psychiatrist's couch.

6. Raggedy gal : ANN. raggedy ann. i can't stand the word 'gal.'

7. Speck of dust : MOTE. "... every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam." carl sagan's pale blue dot.

8. How perjurers may be caught : IN A LIE. how else would they be caught?

9. Concerto highlight : CADENZA

10. Sixth sense, briefly : ESP. extra-sensory perception.

11. Brisket source : STEER. beef.

12. Curved : ARCED

13. Works in the garden : RAKES.

19. Lofted iron : NINE. golf.

21. Villainous laugh syllable : HEH

25. Acre's 43,560: Abbr. : SQ. FT.

27. Prefix with space : AERO

28. Fashion statements in the 'hood : TATS. Tattoos. not so much just in the 'hood anymore.

29. "Eureka!" elicitor : IDEA

30. Sass : GALL. okay then.

31. Early development sites? : UTERI. didn't we just have this?

35. 2-Down's location : ASIA

36. Political group : BLOC

37. __ puppet : SOCK

39. Actor Jared : LETO. guess i should know him, but i don't.

41. Ages and ages : EONS

42. He succeeded Coty as French president : DE GAULLE

45. Latin percussion pair : MARACAS

49. Plastic surgeon's job, for short : LIPO. no thank you.

50. Sharper, as eyes : KEENER

51. Smoothed in a shop : SANDED

52. Hosp. picture : MRI

53. "The Stranger" author : CAMUS. novel by albert camus, published in 1942.

59. Pad __: Asian noodle dish : THAI. popular cuisine in california.

61. A portion (of) : SOME

62. Checkup : EXAM

65. Wrath : IRE

66. Hobbit enemy : ORC

Answer grid.

melissa

65 comments:

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - Another technical DNF for me. Too many blanks on the upper west coast - everything north of Salem, Oregon to be exact.

Thanks for a nice write-up, MB!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Pretty straightforward today, except that I got hung up (again) on the large number of obscure proper nouns. ADA, SAAR, ADU, EARLE, OXO, LETO, ENOUGH!!!

Also, since when is GALL synonymous with sass? I'm just asking...

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, MelissaBee and friends. I loved this little Valentine from Gareth! The clues and "extras" were fun.

Any puzzle with INNARDS has got to be a fun puzzle. I just love that word, and as Melissa noted, its imagery.

I had a Raggedy Andy; my sister had a Raggedy ANN. I carried mine around until it really became very raggedy.

I liked seeing STEED and STEER in the same puzzle.

I think we saw UTERI recently.

When I work in my garden, I Weed; I don't RAKE in my garden. My yard, yesl Garden, no.

My favorite clue was Food Packing Unit = CALORIE.

QOD: Everything is funny as long as it is happening to someone else. ~ Will Rogers

Lemonade714 said...

Hey mb, good to see you. For me this was the easiest Gareth Bain I have solved, and while I did not know some of the proper names (Ada Lovelace, who knew? very interesting woman) it all filled quickly. There are no more speed runs for me, but agree the theme was clever and the bonus clues fun.

Hslfway, enjoy the rest

Anonymous said...

Hahtool I had a Raggedy Andy but I gave him to this girl in my class who asked if I would let her have him. My parents told me that her family couldn't afford to buy nice things for her. She passed away two years after that from Cystic Fibrosis. Her mother gave me a compliment saying it was nice that I gave her that toy. She told me how happy it made her daughter.

Fun Facts by Dave Letterman

A Rod earns close to $ 40,000 per at- bat, which he receives in cash while in the on deck circle.

Contrary to the popular slogan, 68 % of what happens in Vegas leads to divorce and bankruptcy.

Tinbeni said...

Melissa: Your write-up was way more FUN (for me) than this offering.
This Gareth Bain was not an enjoyable solve (even though I got it all correctly).
My 'perps' need a day off.

Barry G., I agree with your list of obscure proper names and comment about sass = GALL cluing.
Then add "In A-PET" (gets a moody WTF? and a 'meh') and I would NOT say this was "pretty straightforward."

UTERI, the "new" summer ASP that we haven't seen since ... yesterday, earned another 'meh'.
Hmmmm, thanks to crosswords, I now know some Simpson-speak.

ARI was my one fave. I'm partial to my real initials (and how they're clued).

Plus they lead me to my Exodus ...

Mikey said...

CALORIE is the only word I know of which (in English) has a different meaning when capitalized than when not. I'm sure there are more, but my brain hasn't fully waked up yet.

Yellowrocks said...

I thought this puzzle was cute. I enjoy needing perps. It adds to the challenge.

I have often heard "in a pet."

At32A, I wagged IDA. Then when I tried 28D I had an I instead of an A in TATS which couldn't be.

SASS is verbal GALL, impudent boldness or audacity

As a huge fan of Lewis and Clark, thinking of the Willamette River always brings up their exciting adventures which I read about in their original journals and in well researched historical novels.
I also am very interested in the Oregon Trail and someday would love to follow what is left of it.

Hahtoolah said...

Red State: that is such a sweet thing that you did for that little girl.

Barry G. said...

Mike: I wasn't aware that Calorie and calorie had different meanings! I know of two other words, however, that change both their meanings and their pronunciation when capitalized:

Polish/polish
Nice/nice.

kazie said...

DNF today. I didn't get/know ARI, JAN (thought FEB), ANCHor, TIGHT, ADA, TELL, TATS, IDEA, GALL, LETO, SALEM. I didn't know where the Willamette was, had OPEN and FROS for TELL and TATS, so that messed up all that area, and I thought the instrument was Caracas, not MARACAS. Thought first of bongos, but not enough letters.

The unifier took a while to sink in too. I was thinking of final letters at first, rather than last words in the phrases. Too early in the day I guess.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning Everyone. Thanks for the comments, MB.

Gareth had a lot of de gall putting GALL and DEGAULLE in the same grid. (just kidding). Good
Wednesday push. Had trouble in the SW with all the names; finally had to ggl LETO, the only lookup. ZINC seemed right at 3d. OSLO and SAAR were gimmes. I learned OXO here a few months ago. Never heard IN A PET before; a new one.

Have a nice day.

Unknown said...

Good Morning! Although not a fast finish for me, the puzzle proved to be a little easier than most of Mr. Bain's .
Favorite clue; Talking Smack. My kids used to do a lot of it on the playing fields. Soccer games were full of "smack"!
I love OXO gadgets. They are made well and are great kitchen tools.
Tats are disgusting, in my humble opinion. Art? I don't agree, but everyone has the right to do whatever they'd like to do to their own body and call it art if they so desire.
Please keep all the Irene victims in your thoughts and prayers. The lady really did a job on NC as well as the east coast.
Tata

Anony-Mouse said...

I completed the puzzle - I guess ( for me - ) that's all that matters. Naturally, I found it VERY ENJOYABLE. Thank you Mr. Gareth Bain - this makes my day. Certainly, one of your easier puzzles.

Thank you Melissa Bee for a very informative blog.

-maybe its my age, but I thought of Linda Lovelace first. I read about Ada, on the Wiki, very nice article- Thank you MB, for the link.... A 'priviledged' early education can work wonders - tho' she may have been a 'natural' math prodigy, as well.

I had to make some guesses, but I was lucky, that they were right.

Alt QOD:- Clothes make the man. Naked people wield little or no influence on society. ~ Mark Twain.

Hahtool, not to complain, but I think you had the same QOD yesterday.

Have a nice week, you all.

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Melissa, C.C. et al.

Nice write-up for this cute theme, Melissa. I could have SMACKed myself upside the head when I finally figured it out. I was looking for X’s and O’s at the end of the theme entries, not complete words ! D’oh…

I really liked this one, both for the zippy theme entries as well as the interesting fill. My favorite, though, was TALKING SMACK ! Other fun stuff like INNARDS made me smile too. Did not know ADA Lovelace, so that was a learning moment. Great job, Gareth!

Have a happy hump day, everyone.

Anony-Mouse said...

A little joke, I found funny ...


"Wow ", said my teenage daughter. She was reading the nutrition label on a bag of cheese curls.

" These must be loaded with cholestrol. The label lists it as Omg !! "


My teenage son took a closer look, " That's zero milligrams, not ' Oh My God.' "

Argyle said...

Oxo Good Grips Potato Ricer.

carol said...

Hi gang, after some minutes with this 'bad boy' puzzle, I thought it must be Friday or Saturday!!! I couldn't even get the top half done!
Did not finish it, waaaaayyy tooo hard for me.
I'm with Kazie on this one - except of course, the Willamette...which is the river that runs right through Portland. It also runs by Salem, which is our capital, so it was a gimmie.

Barry G: I agree that GALL for SASS is a stretch (IMO)

Anony-M: funny!!!!

Melissa: great write up, way more fun than this puzzle. :)

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Phew, I thought the crossing of CALORIES, ADU and CAMUS were going to cause a DNF for me. But I had VIOLET and STYES, so I stuck with it until CAMUS finally wormed its way out of my brain. It got done, but it was a close call.

32A)ADA was ENA for awhile. I had TEES for 28D. ADA Lovelace was a new one on me. She sounds more like an etiquette expert than a computer pioneer.

In my younger and very poor days, I made Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls and sold them from home at Christmas time. Too time consuming, but I sold a lot of them.

I guess the SQUEEZED cooked potato that comes out of a RICer" could be called "small pieces". What comes out of my ricer is a pile of dry-ish potato un-pieces. I mix it with milk and butter and get mashed potatoes.

Ashley Eidbo said...

fun puzzle and a great theme today! i thought "calorie" was a clever answer - not where my mind was headed at first.

Clear Ayes said...

Melissa, I don't care for the word GAL either, but what do you call your close friends when you are way past the girlfriend age stage? Both "lady" and "woman" friend sound way too formal. Anybody have any ideas?

TATS...GAH doesn't have any and I only have a couple. I had my eyebrows and eyeliner done about five years ago, but they have faded quite a bit. It was very uncomfortable and I'm not about to do it again.

Zcarguy said...

Morning all, MB

As usual the proper names gave me fits today , but somehow I was able to finish the puzzle unassisted, until I came here and realized I had IDA at 32A , I'm sure you can guess what that gave me at 28D...what can I say,,I'm a " fashion statements " kinda guy...!!

Y'all have a good day.

Lucina said...

Greetings Puzzle People. Melissa, good to see you and thank you for a lovely blog. I liked your take on it.

I agree, this was one of Gareth Bain's easiest for me. Though by that I don't mean a walk in the park.

It put my INNARDS in a TIGHTSQUEEZE but for the most part was quite doable.

ADA is an interesting person and daughter of Lord Byron no less. I didn't know her name, but TAT revealed it.

Another stumble was LIPO where I had LIFT first and in APET is completely new to me.

THAI-pad is delicious; there is a restaurant very close to me that serves it and this just made me hungry for it.

Two corrections, XENON, I had spelled XENIN and forgot to erase the D on KEENED as I originally had DICED potatoes.

I also liked the crossing of ROE and UTERI since that is their abode.

Have a wondrous Wednesday, everyone!

Lucina said...

CA and Melissa:
I also really dislike using the word "gal" but as you say, we are not "girls."

However, I still call my female friends girlfriends.

Nice Cuppa said...

Thanks MB

Calories on food packaging are actually kilocalories (1000 scientific calories). It always sounds better to divide by 1000 when you are eating something. I recall that the Italians liked to divide by 1000 whenever they needed to devalue their currency. They are stuck (for) now of course.

SASS=GALL=impudence=No problemo.

In my Lexicon, GAL is the feminine of GUY. I know of no better, and need to use them a lot.

I liked the natural sequence: TIGHT SQUEEZE, INNARDS, LIPO.....

Also SqFt and EEE - reminds me of WALTZING MATILDA and herring boxes. Kazie can fill in the rest. And I also put in Caracas, before remembering it was the capital of Venezuela.

I would have preferred Mrs. Peel to figure in the clue to 40A.

I actually put in D'Estaing for 42D, before realizing I had missed a decade or too.

Line limit reached, TBC...

NC

Nice Cuppa said...

.....contd.

Could someone explain "HUNT AND PECK" with regard keys, please (just a mental block, I'm sure).

Talking of sex, CAMUS was the straight guy. Now his compatriot, GIDE, would have fit the bill perfectly.

Barry G, we have had OXO a lot recently. It's a food product in the UK&C - makes fine stews and drinks.

Finally, I happen to share my birthday (not year) with MLK.

NC

eddyB said...

Hello.

I liked the puzzle. Pretty easy solve last night.

We had uteri yesterday. Remember
ARI's comment.

Knew ADA. Read her bio before when
she appeared.

Finished book #9 of the Rozzoli series. Great surprise ending.

eddy

HeartRx said...

N.C., "hunt and peck" is often used for people who are not proficient typists. "Keys" refers to those little thing-ys on the computer keyboard that you hit to make words. (like these)

LaLaLinda said...

Hi All ~~

When I saw the constructor's name I thought I'd be in for a rough time. Surprisingly, I finished with no look-ups but a few lucky guesses helped ... the 'R' in ORC crossing EARLE was one. Lots of erasures in the GALL-ADA-TATS section before finally straightening it out. I didn't catch the theme until the unifier ... cute!

Somehow I remembered IN A PET ... I'm sure it's from some novel I've read ... though I've never heard anyone use it and doubt that I ever will!

Favorite: 'couch disorders' - NEUROSES.

Thanks for a great write-up, Melissa. Loved 'Pat' on SNL!

Maybe tonight's Red Sox-Yankees game will have a better ending than last night's ...

Enjoy the day ~~

JD said...

Good morning Melissa and all,

Had a fun run with this one today, but had to G Camus to help with the SW corner. I could not make heads or tails out of the theme when finished, so thanks for the write up and info on Ms Lovelace, Melissa.Right, who knew?

"in a pet" must be localized ... never heard of it.Not big on gall= sass either.

Lots of names. Luckily,Steve Earle and Jared Leto had easy perps. Seemed to be lots of xwd words. Kudos for neuroses and innards!

Kazie, I so enjoyed you map last night.

I tried so hard to post a picture I'd taken of a kudu while we were on safari. I do not have that knack yet. At one point I had my whole Shutterfly world in there.

off to yoga

Nice Cuppa said...

Kazie

Dreadful sorry. Got my songs mixed up. Herring boxes is from "Clementine" - the Californian mining song.

Time to retreat to my private billabong.

NC

Anonymous said...

Funny jokes Anony Mous. At Clear Ayes I still call women "girls" today IDK why do that. But I say ladies when I say U of L Lady Cards basketball.

Nice Cuppa said...

Thanks for that clarification, HeartRx

I was starting to imagine Marsha and Gregory eloping to southern Florida.

NC

Spitzboov said...

Nice Cuppa : re: Hunt and peck. The alternate way to type if one doesn't learn formal typing, touch typing, memorizing the keys and using specific fingers on specific keyboard keys. See typing lesson. and additional lessons, as well. Hunt and peckers typically use just one or both index fingers on all the keys, like the old newspaper reporters in the movies.

Hope this helps.

Nice Cuppa said...

..and thanks again, Spitzboov.

NC

Anonymous said...

I didn't get the theme for a fair few moments; I got hung up on how PECK and SMACK sort of ended with an X sound and couldn't for the life of me figure out how SQUEEZE and HOLD could be made to sound like an O.

My only other major misstep was entering DOVER for [Capital on the Willamette]. Confusing Willamette and Wilmington, that's a mistake anyone could make, right? (And for the record, Dover is on the St. Jones River.

creature said...

Good Day CC, MB and all,

Thanks MB , a pleasant (as always) trip through the puzzle, with neat highlights.

Gareth, you know how to make it interesting. Thanks

MSO and Chickie, from yesterday, Thanks for the tomato names.

Zcarguy, Me too. IDA!

It takes GALL to ‘sass’. It takes ‘sass’ to gall . ?? Ok

Lucina@ 11:28, Me too.

Loved the info on ADA Lovelace. Only legitimate daughter of Lord Byron. Poor thing only lived to be 36. What got done in discoveries had to be done fast! I wonder if our discoveries happen at lower ages. I guess I could find that info somewhere. Probably; before we start blocking up our minds with preconceived notions and prejudices.

CC, I love that pic on your citizenship day and the flag. Who sent you that ? I forgot. Neat avatar.

Peace.

Clear Ayes said...

My guess is "In A PET" is a shortcut for "in a PETulant mood". Sounds very Brit-speak to me. Are you familiar with it NC?

Kazie@8:26, I wish it had been CARACAS rather than MARACAS. That reminds me of the most charming coming-of-age movies I've seen, 1981's "Gregory's Girl". One of the final scenes depicts two of Gregory's friends who are trying to hitchhike from near-Glasgow to Caracas. (They've been told the ratio of women to men in Venezuela is greatly in their favor.) When they realize their sign is misspelled "Caracus", they know their time has been wasted, as if that were their only hitchhiking obstacle. 6:00 to 7:43.

C.C, I love the "real you" avatar! What a wonderful day that was for you.

TinoTechie said...

I quibble with the clue for 53. Pounds, ounces, kilos, pints and quarts are packaging units, but Calories are a unit of energy. I doubt that food is packaged by Calorie. And yes, capital "C" calories are 1000 little "c" calories.

Ada Lovelace had a computer language named after her, ADA. At one point the Federal Government decided that all programs it used should be written in ADA. What a mess that was.

The other Marge said...

Still no Mainiac, no Dennis? Isn't that unusual? Is anyone else unaccounted for?

Anonymous said...

My favorite reason not to have a tat comes from this true story: A former girlfriend had a palm tree on a little island tattooed several inches to the right of her navel. You should have seen what it looked like several years later at nine months, then the deflated balloon it resembled after Sam was born.

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, I had one error. I left out the P in Lipo, as In a
_et didn't compute today. Lucina, I'm glad to know someone else hadn't heard of In a Pet.

I got some of the other unknowns with perps, like Leto, Ada, and Nine iron. Never having played golf the iron with a loft did not come to mind without help.

We had Uteri just yesterday, I think.

Thanks for the writeup, MB. Loved the pictures.

Red State, Sometimes you never know until later what a Good Deed has done. The girl's mother was also touched by your kindness.

Husker Gary said...

Hot steamy in the hinterlands today. Played last few holes with three gentlemen who were behind three very slow ladies. I’m glad I didn’t say anything because it turns out the women were their wives and all three couples had been married for over 54 years! Wow! They asked about my NASA hat and so now I am presenting to an Omaha Kiwanis club next month.

Musings
-Barricade scenery got applause too when Le Miz played Omaha! Bring Him Home stopped the show!
-We have been in Florida during MLK birthday for last 10 years. This year it rained 3” on that day.
-It ain’t fun to get the baton as an anchor who is over a lap behind. What’s the point?
-APET made no sense but waddaya gonna do?
-Pat on SNL was hilarious!
-After 44 years of marriage we must have some sort of ESP as we come to the same ideas simultaneously
-My nine iron is good for 120 yards
-I had kids burn peanuts (SMOKEY) under 100 ml of water until there was only carbon left. The temp went up about 20 degrees which meant the nut had about 2,000 calories of heat energy in it. The girls freaked until I told them that this equaled only 2 Calories we measure in food.

Seldom Seen said...

The Cincinnati Reds' manager is Dusty Baker. Take away the capitals and he is just a dusty baker.

Bill G. said...

A perfectly fine Wednesday puzzle for me. No red letters but I had to Google Jared Leto.

Calories certainly are an energy unit but they appear on all food packages; therefore, a packaging unit.

As others have said, the cluing for LUSTY, RICED and GALL all seemed a bit off to me.

We went to a retired teachers brunch this morning. Many of the retired teachers get together for brunch on the first day of school. It's good to see old friends. I really enjoyed teaching but I wouldn't care to go back to the daily grind again.

~ Bill

Grumpy 1 said...

I know I've seen "in A PET" before in Crossword land, but it is rather obscure. The only Google reference I saw confirms that it is short for petulant and was more commonly used in the Victorian era. There was also a mention of it being in a NYT crossword in Nov, 2010.

Gareth Bain quite frequently goes pretty far down the list of word meanings to clue his entries, but then clues others with the obvious. I think that's what makes his puzzles challenging: do you go for the obvious or dig for the obscure? I found enough "hooks" to solve this one without help, but I had to jump around a lot and finally settle on something that looked reasonable in a few cases.

The theme came easily and did help in a few places.

TinoTechie said...

Thanks Bill_G. Now I get it. A unit on the packaging. I was thinking of a unit for sale. Duh!

Yellowrocks said...

My Mom had a cone shaped ricer with a wooden pestle which she used to press cooked apples into SMALL PIECES, RICE size,to make applesauce. She sometimes covered the ricer with a cloth bag to collect unwanted sediment when she pressed grapes into grape juice. It could be used for riced potatoes, very similar to mashed.
Link Similar to My Mom's ricer

Yellowrocks said...

The day wouldn't be complete without an OXO ricer.
Link OXO ricer

Yellowrocks said...

Sorry to repeat the OXO ricer.

Clear Ayes, I am sure your take on "In a pet" is right. I read so much that I can't remember what I have heard in daily discourse and what I have read.

Sadly daily discourse has a sparse vocabulary. The word "discourse" itself is not part of it. There are levels of vocabulary:
1. Popular discourse
2. Educated or self taught discourse
3. Respected newspapers and magazines
4. Good novels and non fiction books written by respected authors.
5. Erudite textbooks and other writings.
So much of the vocabulary we all know would seem ostentatious in normal discourse. How sad! Bloggers like you help to expand the common vocabulary. Words that are obscure to us today become part of our vocabulary data base tomorrow.
Hooray for the elevation of vocabulary in this blog!

Anonymous said...

Barry G @ 8:20, I didn't know about Nice/nice. Add to the list: August/august, Job/job, Lima/lima, Natal/natal and Reading/reading. Fun!

Abejo said...

Good Afternoon, folks. Thank you, Gareth, for a tough puzzle today. Nice to see your wit, Melissa, B. Still holding that "Midas Touch" for you.

The NW corner was not too bad. The only wag I had was MAJA. But I got it. Fun seeing UTERI again. My Latin is much better than my French.

The rest came pretty easily, except for the Mid-West. I stewed for a couple hours on that. I had BAGERIE instead of Calorie. A real stretch, but related BAGERIE to a place that bagged (packaged) food. I did not know LETO. And did not know CAMUS. Also missed RICED in the South. Had DICED.

Other than that, perfect!

As I said last night, I enjoyed the STILTON cheese. It is a blue cheese and very good. Someone suggested GORGONZOLA cheese, so I guess I will have to try that. You folks are turning me into a connoisseur.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

dodo said...

Hi, fellow puzzlers,

An easy Wednesday offering. I was afraid I was going to be stuck on Jared Leto but calorie took care of that thank goodness. Never heard of him. Good looking, tho. What movies has he done? Everything else went well with a little thinking.

After last week I was beginning to think these were getting beyond me, but the three so far this week have been reassuring. Hope it continues for the rest of the week.

dodo said...

nice work, Melissa B. Did I mention I enjoyed your pix? I loved that picture of the Saar, a place I always think of as wasted and forlorn: coal country! I sure was wrong about that. Is the Ruhr as beautiful?

Lucina said...

Grumpy1:
I agree with you on Gareth Bain's technique of using the lowest tier of meaning for a word. And that leads to Yellowrocks comment on expanding our vocabulary for who of us except constructors like Marti, Jerome, et al, would dig that deeply into the diverse meaning of a word.

As a lover of words I appreciate learning the deeper meaning in that way. It also enriches the reading experience.

Bill G. said...

Abejo, it was I (perhaps among others) who suggested Gorgonzola. Let me know what you think when you try it. One of the brands I can get here comes in creamier and crumblier versions. I like the crumblier version better.

While on my bike ride to get a macchiato today, I came upon something chalked on the Strand by a child. It said, "PLAY NICE." Words to live by.

Anonymous said...

Further to TinoTechie 's comment at 1:28 pm. - on the ADA computer language.


"The coordination system Linda was named after Linda Lovelace as a play on words because of the programming language Ada, which was named after the computer pioneer Ada Lovelace."



- Wiki, @ Linda Lovelace, Legacy section-paragraphs.

Clear Ayes said...

I won't forget her in the future. To make up for not knowing who ADA Lovelace was, here's a lovely and sad poem written by her father. Both he and she were only 36 years old when they died.

So We'll Go No More a Roving

So, we'll go no more a roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.

For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a roving
By the light of the moon.

- Lord Byron (George Gordon)

Anony-Mouse said...

Clear Ayes, I deeply respect you and your appreciation for poetry - but in all fairness, would it be reasonable to mention that Lord Byron, led a totally dissolute and immoral life with numerous affaires', with married women, and men, together with much violence etc.

He never really cared for his daughter, and left his wife after the birth of his daughter, and the daughter, Ada Lovelace, never saw him at all.

All this was gleaned from Wikipedia, this afternoon @ Lord Byron.

dodo said...

I can see the X representing the "ck" sound but I don't see any connection between the O and either "squeeze" or "hold". Will some one set me straight on this, please. I'm ALL IN A PET! about it.

I knew "in a pet" probably from reading but may have heard it from my grandparents long, long ago.
I rally wanted 'mariaches' for 'maracas' but no soap.

I read "The Stranger" years ago but I really didn't "get it". I did like "The Plague". i guess I mean "I got it". I can't say it was enjoyable, being full of pretty grim passages.

sass=gall/no prob.

dodo said...

A-Mouse, you're right but if we scrapped all the works of many other writers (Oscar Wilde, for one), artists, musicians, composers, think of the loss!

Yellowrocks said...

Dodo. we used to sign our love letters XOXO meaning kisses and hugs. I even do so to my grandson. Peck, squeeze, smack, and hold are in order kisses and hugs.

dodo said...

Duh! Thanks, YR. It's been a long, long time!

Clear Ayes said...

Anony-mouse, all true and point well taken. I think we've discussed the dissolute Lord Byron before and today's Wikipedia article about his daughter reminded us that he wasn't a particularly kind or unselfish man.

But, I only had 20 lines and in the case of my 6:51 post, the poetry was the thing. This particular poem expresses his fatigue and awareness that he has worn out his body at the age of 29. Whether or not he was sorry is anybody's guess.

As Dodo pointed out, we often give our great artists something of a moral pass. The more talented they are, the nuttier and sometimes depraved they may be. I'm thinking Ezra Pound for one.

Oscar Wilde was probably one of the nicer guys. He just wasn't very sensible in his choice of friends.

Anonymous said...

Chickie
Sometimes we don't realize the ways we on which impact anothers life. From what I can remember of her she liked me I think. She did like to play tag alot when she wasn't playing with Raggedy Andy.