google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, October 8, Brad Wilber

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Oct 8, 2011

Saturday, October 8, Brad Wilber

Theme: None

Words: 70

Blocks: 26

Phew ~! Mr. Wilber's offering this time was another brain twister, one I was not going to give up on - but needed a little red-letter help, I must admit. There's usually a movie I know referenced in Brad's Saturday puzzles that I have done - today it's "My Cousin Vinny";

61. Mona Lisa Vito in "My Cousin Vinny," for one : STAR WITNESS - because "hostile" didn't fit; clip - @1:17

A grid of stacked 11's pinwheeled with triple 9's - daunting, and it's a good thing I didn't notice at first.

Onward ~!

ACROSS:

1. Esther Williams number : WATER BALLET - I have heard of her, but this took a while to figure out

12. One who "must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES": Eliot : CAT

15. Stage manager's exhortation : IT'S SHOWTIME~!~

16. Opposite of hence : AGO - did not know this; adverb, meaning "from now"

17. 1870s period costume named for a Dickens lass : DOLLY VARDEN - complete unknown, all perps to get it - this dress

18. Grille cover : BRA - automobile grille, and the ugly black thing used to protect the car from being chipped by road debris

19. Composer of "The Lovely Bones" music : ENO -

20. 1986-to-2001 orbiter : MIR - MIR is peace in Russian, and its space station

21. In sequence : ORDERED

23. Mason's fee : RETAINER - Perry Mason, lawyer, and his payment - not his Invisalign orthodontics - we have some who collect retainers on the blog - the fees, that is

26. Ones waiting for bottle openers? : GENIES - very cute, liked it

27. Storm's dir. : NNE - WAG or Wait

28. Ulster, for one : OVERCOAT - new to me, and a WAG from OVER_ _ _ _ - image

30. Indicate indifference : SHRUG

33. Printers' primary colors : CYANS - CYMK printers use Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, and blacK

34. Debt-laden fin. deal : LBO - Leveraged Buy-Out

35. Derisive call : HOOT - I envision construction workers HOOTing at the hotties walking by - "heyyyy, babyyyy"

36. Pep rally climax, perhaps : CHANT

37. Transfer consequence, familiarly : RE-LO cation

38. Wood used in bows : ELM - YUP, I started with YEW - we all did, right?

39. Grinds : TOILS

40. Auto club recommendation : MOTEL - Had ROUTE to start

41. It's for the dogs : LEASH LAW

43. Trig. function : COSine - Again, WAG or Wait

44. Like some prescription lenses : TINTED

45. Took after : EMULATED

50. Establish firmly : ENGRAFT - new word for me; more of a horticulture-type meaning, and surgery, too

52. __ Zion Church : A.M.E. - here's the church website, for those curious

53. Soprano Marton : EVA

54. Milne tyke : ROO - A.A. Milne, and Winnie the Pooh - Roo was the young Kangaroo

55. Hippie era swinger? : BEAD CURTAIN - yeah, I get it, cute

58. Heel in a bakery : END - as a loaf of bread - image

59. Life-support system? : CEREAL AISLE - oh, so awesome - I had _AISLE, and the "?" told me Life meant something unusual - this cereal, and Mikey

60. Paris's Pont __ Arts : DES

DOWN:

1. Improved, perhaps, as a road : WIDER

2. Mark Yom Kippur : ATONE

3. Letter-shaped workbench groove : T-SLOT - image

4. School subj. for an au pair : ESL - English (as a) Second Language

5. Seuss hallmark : RHYMING - Dr. Seuss, and "Sam I am" for example

6. Big ox, say : BOVINE - Because "FAT HEAD" wouldn't fit

7. Au courant : AWARE - French for "in the current"

8. Copier tray size: Abbr. : LTR - letter

9. Adriatic vacation destination : LIDO

10. Coming into view : EMERGENT

11. Chicken option : TENDERS - McDonald's has the "McNuggets", had them last night; every one else has "tenders", Burger King, Wendy's, etc..

12. Two-wheeled carriage with a folding hood : CABRIOLET




13. Easy : AGREEABLE

14. Forest dweller with a cap : TOADSTOOL - and ROBIN HOOD fit so well with the "-OO-"

22. Ref. work : ENCyclopaedia

24. "Everybody Loves __": Johnny Cash album : A NUT - Wiki

25. Sovereign euphemism : ROYAL WE

29. 37-Across rentals : VANS

30. Like a prime candidate for disillusionment : SHELTERED - He led a "sheltered life"

31. Duffer's dream : HOLE IN ONE - Duffer is slang for non-pro golfers; any one not too good at a sport - we have quite a few "duffers" on the blog

32. Mars and Mercury : ROMAN GODS - one of those clues that helped break open the SW

33. Mint family plant : CHIA

36. Eleventh-hour panic : COLD FEET

37. "The Horse Fair" artist Bonheur : ROSA - the painting

39. String in a preschool class? : THE ABCs - I like it

40. Subterranean rodent : MOLERAT

42. Narrow waterway: Abbr. : STRait

43. Fluffy clouds : CUMULI - cumulus plural

46. Colorful talker : MACAW - parrot

47. Style, as hair into a bouffant : TEASE - these guys

48. Crusader's targets : EVILS - I thought it was the "Holy Grail"

49. Kierkegaard et al. : DANES - This guy, who is frequently cited in the "Enneagram Personality Types" - I am a Type 5 w 4 wing - I love to study people, and I have some guesses at some of the folks who visit our blog

51. Butler's estate, for a time : TARA - Rhett Butler, and the estate in "Gone With the Wind" - so I guess Brad referenced TWO movies today....

56. __ Bund: Swiss newspaper : DER - Der, das, dag, go for a WAG

57. Pewter component : TIN - this was just about the only "gimme" today - a three-letter metal? Hmmm....

Answer grid.

Splynter

44 comments:

  1. Good morning! Great blog, Splynter.

    I woke up way too early and decided I might as well tackle this beast. It took me more than an hour, but I got it without resorting to help. this is one of the few times I've done it on the computer. I hate to think what a pen and paper version would look like... so many bad choices that had to be changed.

    CABRIOLET and HOLE IN ONE were my anchors and I gradually worked out from there. Last to fall was STAR WITNESS. I stared at Stan Wotness for a long time, before I finally realised those %$#^ clouds were plural. DOH!

    Good way to start the weekend. Have a great day, all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Morning, all!

    This one was definitely a real GRIND. In fact, I made it through the entire top half of the puzzle my first pass through without getting a single answer...

    Some of the answers were just completely unknown, such as DOLLY VARDEN, CABRIOLET, EVA, DES, DER, ANUT, ROSA and LIDO. Others were very common, but the clues were tortuously obscure (like "Transfer consequence" for RELO and every single one of the clues with a question mark).

    A lot of the clues with question marks were extremely nice, and I got a lot of satisfaction out of figuring them out. Others, like "Ones waiting for bottle openers" weren't quite worth the pain...

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  3. Wow, what a struggle! I feel so much smarter through the beginning part of the week.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good Morning,

    I found a interesting video on naked mole rats but if you are squeamish, wait untill after breakfast. They are being studied because they live ten times longer than other rodents. They might be the Holy Grail on aging. (But they're butt ugly.) Clip(2:03)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yew were correct! But after taking the 'elm, I managed to muddle through without help. Gotta admit that on cereal aisle I was trying to make something cerebral. When I finally made it through the bead curtain the SE corner finally fell into place.

    Whew! Great puzzle. Definitely worthy of a Saturday.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good morning Splynter and all.

    I was really lucky with WAGs today - HOLE IN ONE, ROMAN GODS, DOLLY VARDEN, and CABRIOLET; otherwise I would still be working on this. A tough one but delightful in the breadth of the fill. I liked the clueing for BEAD CURTAIN and GENIES. 27a - 3 letters; throw an 8 sided die. Could only be gotten from the perps. Lots of misdirection, which is to be expected on a Saturday. Somehow was trying to connect Ulster to N. Ireland until OVERCOAT became EMERGENT. Oh, I also liked the ROYAL WE.

    Have a great Columbus weekend although he wasn't the first over the pond. Right Jerome?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the links, Splynter. Tough, but doable.

    Of course, I had YEW, but then the L asked for ELM (new to me).
    We seem to have had a discussion of CABRIOLET a little while ago.
    I knew ULSTER as a kid from a children's rhyme. It was ULSTERETTES. I looked it up in the dictionary. I was a word junkie even then.
    I had ENGRAIN instead of ENGRAFT for quite a while, but it had to fit TARA.

    I held onto ROUTE instead of MOTEL for a while, but it had to be some type of MOLE rodent.

    Three days HENCE= three days after today. Three days AGO=three days before today. Fairly common.

    Enjoyed GENIE, CEREAL AISLE, THE ABCS.

    I felt a little discouraged at first,but after getting a toe hold in the SW, my speed picked up with each new section. Success seems to breed more success.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Grumpy 1
    Rorschach would say my Ink-Blot looks like Plate VI.
    (Personally, I think it looks like Plate IV).

    DNF ... not even close.

    Though I did like the TIN "shout-out."

    Highlight was Splynter's write-up & links.

    Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Splynter,
    I took the ennegram test. I liked this one, because in addition to yes or no, it had "partly", which many of my answers were. The world is seldom black or white. I was a 3with a 2 wing. It seems reasonable. Is that what you expected of me? Thanks for the experience.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I had a great object lesson in failure to challenge old assumptions. I had all but a few letters in the NE and was tenaciously clinging to MOVE for transfer consequence (One and Done to paraphrase Dr. Suess). I went online and as soon as I put in RELO, I was done! Others were DEADLINE for COLDFEET, YOR for AGO, ORDERLY for ORDERED, ROBINHOOD (me too) for TOADSTOOL and MILES for MOTEL. Loved the puzzle!

    Musings
    -GENIES, CEREALAISLE and RETAINER were my favs
    -Grandchildren’s cat was missing last night but showed up at 3 am ready to come home. Many tears of anguish and then joy!
    -We men fought over the HEEL on our fishing trip
    -Hey, Splynter, are you calling me a duffer? Yeah, I know, the truth hurts!
    -I thought the pre-school string might secure mittens at first
    -Go Big Red!

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  11. Phew

    Tough but fair. I had PROVINCE for ULSTER for a long time. That slowed me down.

    We had DOLLY VARDEN a few weeks ago - I pointed out at the time it was based on a Dickens character.

    We can only assume that no-one reads our posts.

    I don't see that the "Royal We" is a euphemism, except in one doubtful etymology where "we" was said refer to "God and I", when kings were assumed to be divine.


    NC

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  12. I actually got about two thirds of this before coming here. Had trouble seeing the opposing relationship to hence as AGO. But I guess it has a time sense as well as geographic (get thee hence), meaning "from here".

    So better for me by far than yesterday, but still definitely no cigar.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Barry G.
    Four clues with "Question marks"
    is a lot ????

    ReplyDelete
  14. A serious workout and not quite an unassisted completion for me. Had to google to get the last few answers. Fell for YEW, tried ordinal then orderly for Ordered. Route then hotel for Motel, but at least going to the inn gave me enough to wag Cabriolet. Then having LeaseLaw kept me from seeing The ABC's. Wanting Mynah for Macaw kept that area in jeopardy (Go Joon). But...all's well that ends well.

    Welcome to Lincoln OSU fans. And Go Big Red!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hello Puzzlers -

    Hand up for YEW, what with its recent appearance.

    Wrong assumptions all over the map forced me into red letter territory. PAVED instead of WIDER bollixed that part for ages.

    As NC put it, tough but fair.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Loved this puzzle. Hard but doable. Used some 'brain refreshers' such as: playing with the dogs, chatting with DH, fixing a sandwich for breakfast.

    Wowee! finished with lots of fun discoveries and feeling like a wizard!

    Thanks, Brad; as always.

    You too Splynter! Yew, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hello.

    Love him or hate him, RIP Mr Davis.

    Pulling for Tony's guys. Go StL.

    What do you know! IE decided to work all by itself. Staying with
    Firefox tho.

    Hand up for yew. Quickly corrected.

    I always assume no one reads my posts.

    No longer a duffer since I can no
    longer play. Was one once ago.

    eddy

    ReplyDelete
  18. Good Morning Splynter, C.C. et al.

    I’m really late today because we went into Boston yesterday and stayed the night. It turned out to be a lovely mini-vacation, as we strolled around the Freedom Trail, reading plaques and removing cobwebs from the history section of my grey matter.

    The two triple stacks of elevens and nines were really impressive in today’s puzzle. Usually, I feel disappointed if I know those long answers immediately, because it takes away from solving the entire puzzle. That was definitely NOT the case today.

    I really enjoyed seeing the reference to T.S. Eliot’s “The naming of CATs”. For 38A, I would have filled in the bow wood as yew, too, except that I had already filled in HOLE IN ONE (the only long answer that came immediately to mind). So ELM, it was.

    And once again we had T-I-N, Tinbeni – but not even one H-E-A-R-T-R-X. I am feeling so ignored...

    College football today – I have to go see who I am rooting for!

    ReplyDelete
  19. eddyB, Nice Cuppa, et al.
    We do read and enjoy all your posts. Blame it on brain freeze if we sometimes forget what we read.

    ReplyDelete
  20. What Yellowrocks said at 11:51. I think most of us read most of the posts. Just can't always remember what we have read. When I saw DOLLY VARDEN loom out this morning, it seemed like a correct fill, but I have no idea where I had seen it before. Maybe here.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I really liked this puzzle. I found it deliciously difficult yet definitely doable. I pencilled in HOLEINONE right away, but wanted YEW, so erased HOLEINONE. Eventually pancilled it in again. And so it went throughout: putting in an answer, then erasing it because I thought it was wrong, pencilling in a wrong answer, and finally erasing it to re-enter what I had correctly entered in the first place. Made for an enjoyable couple of hours this fine morning.

    I used to assume my posts were read, but changed to assuming they are not. Still read each and every one of your posts, though, and enjoy them all. Often learn something cool, too.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi again,

    I consider myself a 'duffer', but haven't swiped at a ball in over a year - time and money.

    Oops, missed the T-I-N shout-out - but I haven't seen any S-P-L...for that matter (Rich has popped up, tho)

    YR, as for the "Types", a lot of "partly" answers makes me think of a "6", which is the integration of a Type 3; I have a quite a few people in my life who are 3's, and we seem to clash - my type 5 phobia, I think....did you ever read thru the whole book?

    Any one else curious about personalities, I recommend the book.

    Splynter

    ReplyDelete
  23. Splynter, like a few of us, I need repetition;What is name of 'type' book?

    Welcome, DESPER-OTTO; I sing that name. Pls tell us where, M or F, and anything else, if you're comfortable. Otherwise, welcome anyway.

    Argyle, I haven't decided whether to open that clip or just let it go. I'm curious, but don't know if it will be in my mind at dinnertime. Curiosity probably will win out.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I had my usual frustration with a themeless Saturday puzzle. I thought the clue for ELM was a bad choice. These days, professionally-made bows seldom include any kind of wood. In the old days, I'll bet elm was seldom used compared to yew.

    There was a fellow who used to respond to my newspaper column. He referred to himself as Dr. somebody. He always wrote about how "we" got this answer though "we" didn't agree with something else. I thought he and his wife were responding. Turns out he just was using the royal "We." It seemed pretentious we thought.

    EddyB, Jayce, etal., I always read your posts as well as all the rest. I seldom respond if it's late here.

    Blind mole rats don't look so unpleasant to me; not nearly as unpleasant as a Komodo Dragon I think.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Splynter, you put together a terrific writeup today. Thank you. I can second what fermatprime said :)

    And Grumpy1, I have to laugh because I stared at Stan Wotness for a long time too, and had the same %$#^ DOH reaction you did. Loved that clip of that star witness; Marissa Tomei's performance was outstanding.

    isn't there also a test that purportedly measures or rates a person's personality and outlook, granting a 4-letter categorization to the testee? I took it a few years ago, and I not only forget the name of the test I also forgot what kind of personality it said I had. Whatever it was, my employer felt it was complimentary to that of my colleagues and therefore I conveniently "filled the gap."

    Yes, Argyle, naked mole rats are ugly as heck, but I understand they are also basically blind, so I suppose, to them, looks don't matter so much. Smell, though? Touch? "Me want good smells-like-clean-dirt girl mole rat!"

    ReplyDelete
  26. Bill G, we agree with what you said about elm. We also think your "royal we" story is funny. We are amused :)

    "We want springy wood from yew for our bows, doggone it! No steenking elm for us!"

    ReplyDelete
  27. Someone on the "other" blog made the comment that the bows in question were violin bows. Damned if I (we) know, but it seems plausible.

    Guess I'd better break down and see what a mole rat looks like. Haven't had my fill of BU for the day I guess.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Well I'll be darned, from Wikipedia:

    "Elm is also prized by bowyers; of the ancient bows found in Europe, a large portion of them are elm. During the Middle Ages elm was also used to make longbows if yew was unavailable."

    Another crease in my brain :)

    ReplyDelete
  29. Jayce, Joe, et al,
    Around here we have a tree called the hedgeapple, proper name Osage Orange, which the French settlers called Bois d'arc. That translates to 'wood of the bow'. I have been asked by several bowmakers to saw 'hedge', as we call it into thin strips for laminating. It's a very tough and durable wood, great for fence posts, although it's surprisingly easy to saw.
    On the matter of reading posts, I have read every word that has been posted here since the first day I found this blog 2 1/2 years ago. That tells you how exciting my life is. :)
    I've never given much thought to whether (or who) reads mine, although it's evident that a certain Anon sits at his/her computer 24/7 waiting for me to post. I guess their life is no more exciting than mine.
    Cue Anon.

    ReplyDelete
  30. windhover, interesting about the Osage Orange, aka hedgeapple. So is it orange or apple? LOL

    ReplyDelete
  31. Jayce,
    Neither, actually, and the "fruit" is inedible. I've emailed you a couple of pics.
    Larry

    ReplyDelete
  32. Windy,
    We always assumed the Anonymous responses to your posts were actually written by you, to call attention to yourself.
    Apparently, we were wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Greetings, Weekend Warriors. Thank you, Splynter for a fine blog. I thought of you with TSLOT.

    Late to this party because after my allotted hour I was only partially finished and had much work to do.

    The NE was the first to fall with CAT which led to CABRIOLET and I laughed with ones waiting for bottle openers, GENIES.

    The eraser had a good workout today with all the very clever misdirection.

    MARISATOMEI and OSCARWINNER both fit until STAR WITNESS became apparent after TIN and TARA.

    With patience and one block at a time it all came together and the NW was last. I had the same experience as many of you, filling correctly, doubting it, then returning to re-enter it.

    It was a lovely romp from Brad Wilber, thank you.

    I read every post but don't always recall everything. Aging brain, I suppose. Any nuggets of useful info I write in my cwd dictionary.

    I hope your Saturday has been wonderful, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  34. Hi Again ~!

    The book I am talking about with the Nine Types is called -

    Personality Types - using the Enneagram for self-discovery

    Riso/Hudson

    It's a thick tome, and a psychological read, but fascinating - at least for this investigating, analyzing Type 5

    I wondered, too, if the BOW might be referring to a violin bow, myself - and still not sure if that's YEW or ELM....

    Splynter

    ReplyDelete
  35. Lucina. Is your area code 480 or 602? Our's used be be 602 when we lived in Tempe. Just heard from someone who had their's changed to 480.

    eddy

    ReplyDelete
  36. Jayce quoted: "Elm was also used to make longbows if yew was unavailable."

    Yew was unavailable? I am almost always available since I retired.

    ReplyDelete
  37. It`s half time...and every reservoir just went down two feet...

    ReplyDelete
  38. Violin bows are not made of yew or elm. The preferred wood is pernambuco from Brazil. Ironwood seems to be second choice. Fibreglass, graphite or composite is used for student bows, but serious players will eventually acquire a pernambuco @ $300 to $12,000 or more.

    ReplyDelete
  39. eddy:
    Yes, my area code is 480. The 480- area code has been in effect for a few years now. All numbers east of Phoenix have it so that would include Tempe, Mesa, Apache Junction, Chandler, Gilbert, Fountain Hills and Scottsdale.

    ReplyDelete
  40. According to Wikipedia (I didn't know this), pernambuco is now an endangered species.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Hi All ~~

    Wow ... I thought my puzzling solving ability was improving. This one makes me doubtful! I had a much tougher time than many of you, it seems. I really hate to look things up but I had no choice ... I wanted to finish it before coming here.

    I thought I was so clever starting out with 1A confidently filling in 'Bathing suit' for 'Esther Williams number.' Well that sure messed up that corner!

    I had to look up too many things to mention. I did enjoy the challenge ... really liked CEREAL AISLE and GENIE.

    A fun clip from "My Cousin Vinny," one of my favorite movies.

    Argyle ~~ a most interesting clip of the naked mole rats. A little bit cute and a whole lotta creepy!

    Another wonderful write-up, Splynter ... you do a great job on these Saturday toughies!

    ReplyDelete
  42. I worked hours on this. So many words I didn't know. Just plotted along. Cereal Aisle was confusing as I needed B and C and it just did not click until I had The ABC's. I used the online encylcopesdia to help with some on the words or at least what the story was behind some words. I finally finsihed it with LEASELAW. Another brainy puzzel on a quiet evening.

    ReplyDelete

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