google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 Peter A. Collins

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Oct 18, 2011

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 Peter A. Collins

Theme: Romeo and Juliet visit NYC - The 1961 film musical.


25A. Locations of some scenes in 61-/64-/66-Across : ALLEY WAYS

40A. Song from 61-/64-/66-Across : AMERICA. L.Bernstein - West Side Story - AMERICA - studio-takes.(5:00)

43A. With 54-Across, 61-/64-/66-Across composer : LEONARD

54A. See 43-Across : BERNSTEIN

3D. Song from 61-/64-/66-Across : I FEEL PRETTY. This song(3:24) was dubbed by Marni Nixon.

29D. Co-star of 61-/64-/66-Across : NATALIE WOOD

61A. With 64- and 66-Across, film that premiered in New York City 10/18/1961 : WEST. 64A. See 61-Across : SIDE. 66A. See 61-Across : STORY

Argyle here. Buon giorno. Are you a Shark or a Jet? This grid doesn't look like a Tuesday. Two long Downs that intersect two and three theme entries, respectively. First and last names, albeit the composer is in two spots. And then there's the fill. Some obscure sports that's sure to put some off. It is tough but well done, IMHO.

Across:

1. Leap of __ : FAITH

6. Anesthetize : NUMB

10. Cager O'Neal, to fans : SHAQ. Basketball.

14. Prefix with red : INFRA

15. Melville novel : OMOO. Sequel to Typee.

16. Ginormous : HUGE

17. Negro Leagues legend Buck : O'NEIL. Card.

18. Red planet : MARS

19. Mimicked : APED

20. "Go jump in the loch!" : "NAE!"

21. SFO posting : ETA. San Francisco International Airport.

23. The other guys : THEM

28. Creatures of habit? : NUNS

31. Le Carré character : SPY. During the 1950s and the 1960s, John Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré". His third novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) became an international best-seller and remains one of his best known works. Following the novel's success, he left MI6 to become a full-time author.

32. 1998 British Open champ Mark : O'MEARA. Golf.

34. E. Coast ocean : ATLantic

36. "Queen of Country" McEntire : REBA

38. On topic : THEMATIC

44. Get far ahead of : OUTSTRIP

46. Kazakhstan border sea : ARAL. Map

47. Hobbyist's buy : KIT

48. Big-time brat : TERROR

50. Alter unfairly : RIG

52. Baseball's Sandberg : RYNE. Card.

57. It's spoken in Karachi : URDU. Karachi map.

59. Equi- equivalent : ISO

60. Attempt to win over : WOO

68. Freeway off-ramp : EXIT

69. Lena or Ken of Hollywood : OLIN

70. In unison : AS ONE

71. Shaped like Hummers : BOXY. A long box. Hummer limo.

72. Editor's "leave it" : STET

73. Long-extinct birds : DODOs. I know where there is one left.

Down:

1. "Shrek" princess : FIONA

2. Chronological records : ANNALS

4. Bi- plus one : TRI

5. "Roots" writer Alex : HALEY

6. Polite refusal : "NO MA'AM"

7. Thurman of "Gattaca" : UMA. Not a film I'm familiar with.

8. Comedian known for political humor : MORT SAHL. Another complete name.

9. "Balderdash!" : "BOSH!"

10. SeaWorld orca : SHAMU

11. Drillmaster's bark : "HUP!"

12. Census statistic : AGE

13. Proof-ending letters : QED. Quod Erat Demonstrandum.

22. Small, as farms go : TWO ACRE. I guess; I've seen lawns bigger than that!

24. Win over : ENAMOR

26. Watchful ones : EYERs. Clunker of the day?

27. "Is it soup __?" : YET. No, but it's déjà vu. Very similar to Oct. 3 clue/answer.

30. Begin to move : STIR

33. Gains again, as trust : RE-EARNS

35. Watch readout abbr. : LCD

37. Like the taste of aspirin : BITTER

39. "Excellence is __ won by training and habituation": Aristotle : AN ART

40. Just ducky : A-OK

41. Conservationist on California's state quarter : MUIR. John.

42. Lacking a solid foundation : AIR-BUILT. As, an air-built castle.

45. Opposite of post- : PRE

49. Get situated : ORIENT

51. Day, in Roma : GIORNO

53. Off one's trolley : NUTTY

55. "What a pity" : "SO SAD"

56. British poet Alfred : NOYES. I call on Clear Ayes again.

58. RAF decorations : DSOs. Distinguished Service Orders.

61. Spider's lair : WEB

62. Prefix with morph : EXO

63. HBO's "__ Feet Under" : SIX

65. Vegas roller : DIE

67. Chinese menu general : TSO


Argyle

Question from C.C.:

Does anyone know how to stop my computer from scripting? It always freezes up the computer. I'm using Firefox as browser. Thanks.

72 comments:

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Argyle and friends. WOW! Today is only Tuesday??? My first pass had very few fills. I was initially put off by all the cross-references. On my second pass, AMERICA jumped out at me. From there, everything just fell into place ... Almost.

I miss read SFO as UFO, so initially tried ETs instead of ETA.

Germane was too short for the On Topic clue.

Creatures of Habit? = NUNS was a cute clue.

QOD: A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. ~ Charles Spurgeon

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

This one started out rough due to all the cross-references. Halfway through, however, I somehow managed to figure out what the theme was (without actually seeing the theme reveal) and that sped things up considerably.

Overall, a fun puzzle. RYNE, OMEARA, ONEIL and MORT SAHL were all a bit challenging, but eventually came either via the perps, WAGs, or both. I know I've seen RYNE and OMEARA before, but those names just never stick. MORT SAHL is familiar, but I had no idea he was into political humor. As for Buck ONEIL... Sorry. Out of my wheelhouse, I'm afraid.

AIR-BUILT? Really? I'm sure I'll get flack from our resident snarky anonymous as always for saying so, but that "word" really grated on me.

HeartRx said...

Good morning Argyle, C.C. et al.

Thanks for the interesting write-up and links, and a nice shout-out to our DODO!! Buck O’NEIL and RYNE Sandberg were total unknowns to me (sigh), so thanks for linking their baseball cards. But, I did know Mark O’MEARA…go figure.

I thought this was going to be a difficult Tuesday when I saw all the cross-references. But WEST SIDE STORY is one of my favorites, so I lucked out. I heard myself humming the songs as I was filling them in.

My one hiccup was trying to figure out if it is DSC or DSO at 58D. I usually let the perps decide for me. But wait! In this case, I didn’t know Lena or Ken OLIN, either. But the choice between CLIN or OLIN seemed pretty obvious, in retrospect.

Barry, I also did a "huh?" at AIR-BUILT. But I looked it up, and it means like a "castle in the air".

But overall, it seemed pretty smooth to me for a puzzle that was this theme-heavy. Have a nice Tuesday everyone!

Hahtoolah said...

Strip Scrabble, anyone?

thehondohurricane said...

Good day folks,

I had a difficult time today, especially the Central sector. Couldn't remember Leonard Bernstein for the life of me and thematic, outstrip, and orient were slow to appear. West Side Story has been a long time favorite, but I discovered much of it has sunk into the deep recesses of my mind.

As usual, the baseball clues and Mark Omeara were big helps.

Not crazy about "Air-Built" either. My WTF moment was "Is it soup YET?"

Overall, I'd say that the North & South were standard Tuesday fare, but the Central was more like
Wednesday/Thursday, although enjoyable.

Off to see the Orthopedic Surgeon today. Haven't decided if he's going to get the PG or Xrated answer when I'm asked 'how's the knee doing Skip?"

Lemonade714 said...

Really great write up Argyle, for a challenging, but fun puzzle. The spread out themeage took a while to catch, but lots of the obscure clues were in my world of trivia, so it was finished. I like seeing BUCK O'NEIL and SHAQ O'NEAL in the same puzzle. Peter Collins really does interesting puzzles and who did not love WSS.

kazie said...

Basically what HeartRx said, except I didn't know O'MEARA either, and did know DSO. Most of the obscurities perped easily enough, but it did seem like I would be lost until I got I FEEL PRETTY, which made the other theme clues easy.

I had one other hiccup with LOG for LCD, because I was thinking of a watch on a ship, not the time telling kind. But once the theme answer LEONARD appeared, I was home and hosed.

Have a great Tuesday, all of you!

Argyle said...

Too bad Peter couldn't fit in Eugene O'Neill for a hat trick of different spellings.

Tuttle said...

Does anyone know how to stop my computer from scripting? It always freezes up the computer. I'm using Firefox as browser. Thanks.

Not sure exactly what you're asking for (you probably don't want to stop the nightly cleanup scripts for instance) but for Firefox there's an ad-on called Pref Bar (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/prefbar/?src=search) that allows you to disable javascript, flash, animations and the like on the fly and by page.

Husker Gary said...

What a beautiful puzzle Peter, full of cross references, some obscurity, blind alleys, clever cluing and on a Tuesday! I haven’t had this much fun since I taught my daughters to drive! QED, I loved it!

Musings
-The dancing Sharks and Jets don’t look so tough today where guns have replaced knives and fists
-IFEE_______________ gave me theme!
-Maria and They call the wind Mariah are two of my favorite songs from musicals
- Omoo, when I write my novel, remind me to name it something with lots of vowels so it will live on in cwds!
-Never know if I am coming or going at cwd airports
-I heard REBA sing the national anthem at an OU/NU football game and she can put 4 syllables in the word “see”
-My big time brat was DENNIS (not ours!)
-ISObars are close together on this windy Tuesday
-Yankee pitchers couldn’t even pitch WOO!
-RYNE not RYAN, caught again!
-Barry, anon’s are like stray animals. If you feed them, they will never go away.

Anony-Mouse said...

Thank you Mr. Peter Collins for a very nice puzzle ( finished it - ) and dear Argyle for an always spirited commentary. BTW, Peter Collins brings me back some happy memories of a mixed drink I once had.

Lots of names - I thought I would not finish, but the other clues fell easily, so here I am....

Some Nits- The main language spoken in Karachi ( capital of the Sindh province ) is 'Sindhi' - spoken by over 95% of the local popn. However I knew what Mr. Collins was looking for. Also a major, recognized language in India.

Thought of our dear,gentle, kind DODO.
Thought of Alfred (Lord) Tennyson - would not fit. 'Noyes' came from perps.
Thought of 'Dennis', the brat, instead of 'terror'.
Thought of LED before LCD prevailed.
Thank you Creature, for your kind words last night. Someday, I shall have enough courage to reveal myself.

Husker Gary said...

Hahtool, Oh, strip BEFORE the game. Also a comment on your QOD (which I always enjoy), the lie is on page 1 and the retraction is somewhere below the obits.

Kazie, you were hosed?

Marti, I started with OBE which I think we had Sunday

Grumpy 1 said...

Good morning, Argyle and happy Tuesday peeps.

The NW corner filled easily and gave me IFE_. I FEEL PRETTY just jumped up and begged to be entered and that gave me ALLEY WAYS. I usually don't like multiple cross reference puzzles, but this one was almost too obvious. My only headscratcher was the the same as Marti, DSC or DSO, and did make the right choice based on OLIN looking more plausible.

I've never heard AIR BUILT used, but I guess that's one of those things we have to put up with at times.

Hondo, I'm also off to see the Ortho this morning, but this is just an annual follow up on the hip replacement from a couple of years ago.

Have a great day, all.

kazie said...

Husker,
It's a horse racing expression--after the race the horse gets hosed down to cool off. The implication is that the champion would be home and hosed before the rest of the field finished the race. In human references, I take it simply to imply a fairly easy finish and relief at having succeeded.

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

Tuttle,
Thanks for the response. I think my problem started after I installed Greasemonkey to remove the flash ads from my Hotmail account. Not sure if that's the culprit though. This message often comes up: "A script on this page may be busy, or may have stopped responding. You can stop the script now, or you can continue to see if the script continues." It just freezes up the computer when I click "Stop the script now".

I'll try your Pre Bar when I come back home later today. Thanks again.

Anony-Mouse said...

Alt QOD ;- Just after we made love, he took a piece of chalk and drew an outline of my body. ~ Joan Rivers.

(whaaa ? )



Regarding the alleged cheating and requested 'strip-search', for the 'G' tile, in the international scrabble game, I am NOT surprised.
The strip search should have been conducted, 'rights' or no 'rights'.

More serious transgressions of outright cheating have been made ( and proved - Q.E.D. -- ) in Intl. ( duplicate - ) Bridge games, Monopoly games and many other major competitions. Such is life. People at the 'top' cheat the most, because they have the most to lose. Very sad, but true - there you have it.

Husker Gary said...

Natalie Wood is a beautiful woman but her turn at playing Maria bespoke much about the times. Did anyone really think she was Puerto Rican? Rita Moreno? Now you’re talkin’!

You will not believe how many A-list white actors have played Indian roles when you watch this Great Video (1:33)

I have heard this called a RACELIFT! Thank God for Dances With Wolves!

Husker Gary said...

Kazie, getting "hosed" in my circle is getting cheated, especially on a financial deal (Man, you got hosed on that car!) or a referee's call (That ref totally hosed us!). Great to hear your take on it!

Misty said...

What a joy this morning's puzzle was! The NW corner filled in pretty quickly, and as a result I got "I Feel Pretty" right away. And from then on it was just magic. "West Side Story," the movie, is one of my favorite musicals of all time, and I was humming not only "America" and "Maria" but even "Officer Krupke" before I was finished. Thank you, thank you!

Abejo said...

Good Morning, folks. Great puzzle, Peter Collins! Enjoyed it more than most. Great write-up, Argyle.

Started in the NW, as usual, but my eyes caught the 61,64,66 combo. I looked at it and easily got WEST SIDE STORY. All the other theme answers came together quickly.

The rest of the puzzle was very doable.

I also scratched my head on AIR BUILT, but the perps don't lie.

We have not seen Ken and Lena OLIN for a while. They used to be in puzzle much more often.

Always enjoy QED. As I mentioned before, a long time ago, the only book I have ever read that had that proof in it was "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London.

ISO and EQUI equivalent? I will have to peruse the dictionary and see some examples.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

Ron Worden said...

Good day to all. thanks for the welcome and shout out yesterday,Tinbeni, and Lemonade714.Great write-up today Argyle. Very smooth puzzle thanks Peter Collins. No writeovers WSS is one of my favs. Never heard of exomorph my only meh. I have to go batten down the hatches here in Fla. Have a good one R.W.

Tinbeni said...

Argyle:
I remember my Dad told be when I graduated:
"Son, you're gonna have a great career and make some good money.
Spend it on, Fast cars, Fast times and loose women.
The rest ... just blow."
Sooooo, I guess I'm a Jet.

Well I scanned the clues. Said WTF at all the cross-references. Then got the WEST SIDE STORY reveal (first entries) and was off to the races.

NATALIE WOOD & I FEEL PRETTY was the perfect song for a beautiful lady.

Was thinking 'Tonight' before I got AMERICA.

Can't remember ever "tasting" aspirin.

TWO-ACRE would be the right size farm if I was growing Jamaican.

Cheers to ALL at Sunset !!!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning Argyle and all.

I'm usually not too good at movies/plays, so when I saw where this one was going I said uh-uh. But WEST SIDE STORY had easy perps, and the rest of the associated fill came easily from the perps. Fun to do. I thought ARAL was right but didn't want to look at a map. Had 'dull' before NUMB. Good to see our friend QED again. Interesting how Peter wove the long downs into the puzzle. Good job. 51d. Day in French is jour, but I didn't think Italian uses 'J' much. The perps easily confirmed the fill and that GIORNO started with a 'G'.

Enjoy the day.

JD said...

Good morning Argyle, C.C. et al,

What a delightful puzzle that got me humming along.Like Husker, I filled I Feel Pretty after filling I FE... a favorite

and Husker, there were no tanning sprays back then..lots of make up.

So, got the theme right away (what a shock!) and flew along with very few bumps.

Kits, DSO,ISO, an art were filled easily by perps. Wagged O'neil and asked DH for Ryne(strange spelling).

Last fill was the crossing of as one and giorno. Vorrei andare a Italia, so I better learn some words!

I remember Ken Olin from "Thirty Something", a sitcom my daughters loved.
Lena played Jennifer Garner's mother on "Alias" awhile back.

Again, my thanks to you Argyle for the time you spend on the Mon/Tues write-ups.

Lemonade714 said...

RW:

I agree that EXOMORPH is not a regular word and exists only in the Star Trek Universe .

EXOSKELETON is fine, or if you are doing BODY TYPES you have the real prefixes with -morphs, but this was nit I was not going to pick, since it was filled before I ever saw the clue.

desper-otto said...

Forgot to do the puzzle this am. Shame on me.

Argyle, here's the first stanza of "The Highwayman" You may not recognize Noye's name, but I'll bet you've read/heard this poem.

The wind was a torrent of darkness upon the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight looping the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding--
Riding--riding--
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn door.

Abejo, it's iso as in isoceles -- a triangle with two equal sides.

Fun puzzle today, but needed the perps for most of the sports stuff.

john28man said...

This one was easy for me because our newspaper, the Colorado Springs Gazette, has a column of THIS DAY IN HISTORY and guess what was one of the items including the stars. The sports refences also helped.

desper-otto said...

Oops! Meant to say "Noyes'" And I had to pick the day when we had the Boss's or Boss' discussion...

Splynter said...

Hi there ~!

Just thought I'd say that the level today might have been off, but that's because the theme release coincides with today's date - 10/18.

Splynter

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

I FEEL this was a PRETTY impressive puzzle today, a couple of clunkers not withstanding. It's the price of rich themeage, I guess.

Does anybody remember Baseball's Duren: RYNE?

Stan Kenton's West Side Story album was also released in 1961. Fabulous arrangements by Johny Richards featuring the extended big band set-up with a mellephonium section. Here's MARIA. And here's more Johnny Richards, with a MARIA reprise. Mellophoniums are behind the piano and bass. If not for today's puzzle, I wouldn't have discovered this great video. Thanks, and Wow!

Cheers!
JzB loves me some Stan Kenton

Steve said...

For no good reason, looked at the 61/64/66 clue early and just said "WEST SIDE STORY" without even thinking about it, and didn't even know when it was released. The rest fell nicely into place.

Very nice Tuesday, some obscure stuff dropped in through the nice crosses. Remembered "soup .. YET" from a couple or three weeks ago when I'd never heard the line and had to ask what it meant.

Still don't understand ISO though.

I got AIR-BUILT without too much angst, I recently read "Walden" and thought it was a nice twist on the original lines from Thoreau.

Avg Joe said...

The clue for ISO has appeared any number of times. In the most common everyday usage, it would be heard in the weather report, citing isobars. Or the lines on the weather map depicting equal pressure. The closer they are, the stronger the wind.

Evidently their pretty close here in the plains today. A guy could lose his hat.

eddyB said...

Hello.

Didn't like the self referencing
clues at firt, but they filled themselves in after a while.

Abejo/Steve. Iso as in isobars.
Lines of pressure on a weather map.

Shark fan eventho they lost again.

People starting to point fingers.
Coroner said Dan died from blunt force trauma. Duh!

Take care. eddy

Ron Worden said...

Thanks Lemonade714 for the agreement and explanation on exo. Also thanks to desper-otto for the Highwayman reference. Brought back a great memory of 8th grade speech class when I got an A+ for reciting that poem from memory for a class assignment. R.W.

Misty said...

I'm just enchanted by the bonuses we've gotten in the last few days: Clear Ayes's lovely and sad Sara Teasdale poem, and today, Desper-otto's "The Highwayman," which I haven't thought about in years. What a gift to be able to enjoy poetry along with my morning crossword puzzle and coffee! Many thanks!

Bill G. said...

I enjoyed the puzzle. I know I'm going to be in the minority but I'm not a huge fan of West Side Story. I admire it and have enjoyed it OK, but if I were to get the opportunity to see it again or instead, to see The Music Man or Oklahoma, I would prefer one of the latter two. The West Side Story music is more modern-sounding. I like the old-fashioned stuff more. Just me...

There photos are taken from old slides preserved in the Library of Congress from about 1940 or so. They are remarkably well-preserved and show the US they way it was then.

Archived photos

TinoTechie said...

I enjoyed the puzzle and the Blog. Thanks.

Since NPR Talk of the Nation did a segment on WSS yesterday, it popped right into my mind.

I agree that 26D EYERS was a clunker.

Had trouble with 49D Get Situated/ORIENT as I kept looking for a past tense.

Put in Tonight before America.

Had LED before LCD.

And I can never remember OMOO.

But still a lot of fun.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Husker Gary, I also got IFEE quickly, which got me the theme easily, which of course gave me lots and lots of instant fill. My only hestitation, and it was a brief hesitation, was which song fit into the 7 letters of 40A. John MUIR and the aforementioned IFEELPRETTY (great song! "Which, what, where, whom, whom, whom...") supplied the answer to that quickly. Also a wonderful song (Smoke on your pipe and put that in!) "Or maybe it's fleas."

Frownies: The clue "Ginormous." Horrible word. The fill BOSH.

Smiley: The shoutout to our not-extinct Dodo.

Later.

Jayce said...

One of my favorite poems is "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes. I love it's riding, riding, riding rhythm. It's great for reciting aloud.

dodo said...

Hello friends. Peter, this was a good one. I couldn't think what that film was, even though the 60s were a period of movie-going foe me. When I got 'Leonard' it did the trick. From then on things fell into place easily. My last entry was the completion of "I Feel Pretty".

My problem last night with the keyboard was settled once I thought to check the batteries. Sure enough, that did it. I've never had to change them before and I got this p.c. in 2005. I had no idea batteries could last that long. I go through them in the mouse in really short order. Wish I were in the battery bus.

Oh, thanks for the shout-out, Argyle. And the great interpretation, nice work!

Mainiac said...

Afternoon All,

In the middle of replacing a bridge so I'm just getting a chance to post.

Shook my fist at this one this morning. Lots of blank spaces on the first pass and my initial thought was way to many theme related clues. West Side Story finally filled and some how I pulled Leonard Berstein together and in popped America from my pit orchestra days in HS. Urdu is new to me.

Have a good one.

Steve said...

@Hahtool QOD:

One of my favorites:

"Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws." - Douglas Adams

Sfingi said...

Very nice puzzle.

At the first theme hint (ALLEYWAYS), thought it might be Lady and the Tramp.

I remember when this musical came out and bought the record. That one, and My Fair Lady, I memorized. This was also the time I found out there were some really bad musicals - Carousel (This was a real nice clambake), at least in my opinion.

There were too many sports names, but somehow I got them.

@Husker G - Rita did not like being cast in typical Spanish roles and fought it for years. Natalie Wood was Russian, for what that's worth.

@Jayce - do you recall The Highwayman in Angela's Ashes? The kid (Irish) liked the poem because it was Anti-Brit.

Husker Gary said...

Dodo, We have batteries everywhere don't we? The one in my new iPhone doesn't last very long. Does anyone have some tricks on how to make it last longer? BTW, I'm glad you're not extinct!

Mainiac, Is the bridge under repair in your mouth or on your road?

OMG, WSS was 50 years ago?!

Bill G, Pix were fabulous and some hit too close to the poverty of my childhood. Thanks so much!

Jazz, I remember Ryne Duren and how he scared the bejabbers out of hitters as a reliever because he threw 100 mph and wild as could be!

5 and out as we head to Arlington to watch two rated high school VB teams play. Beats pros every time and is almost as good as watching 9 yr old grandchildren play soccer.

Lucina said...

Good afternoon, Argyle, C.C. et al.

Very late to this party because today was my yearly physical. All is well, TTG.

Lovely puzzle today which I finished in the waiting room. Even the sports clues emerged quickly and of course I know SHAQ. He was with the Phoenix Suns for a while.

Once I saw WEST SIDE STORY at the bottom it was easy to work out the other related fill and who didn't love NATALIEWOOD? She was gone too soon.

I also love Lena OLIN from "Chocolat."

Creatures of habit, NUNS was surely clever as was Vegas roller, DIE.

I do hope you are all enjoying a fabulous Tuesday!

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, Wow! Is this really Tuesday? I have the same sentiments as many of you on the difficulty of today's puzzle. However, with plugging away, even the unknowns, such as Noyes, Ryne, and LeCarre's Spy began to emerge.

The first pass only netted a few answers, so I went to the very bottom of the puzzle and with working the downs, "West Side Story" emerged. From then on things began to fall into place. I have never watched "West Side Story", but the songs, and the plot have been in the writeups so often, that I knew something about it. I really felt good about finishing this one with only a lookup of Ryne. Sport's figures are my downfall.

When Nuns emerged, I had to use the V-can to knock myself on the head. Creatures of Habit was a great clue.

I always feel just a little bit smug when I can finish a puzzle like the one today, but tomorrow is another day in the Crossword world.

Anony-Mouse said...

Apropos to Steve's comment, as above, - 'Nothing travels faster than light ...' - I am sure you all have heard by the very public announcement, just last week, by some so-called smart scientists at the CERN ( the European Atomic Research agency - )

that they have just PROVED the existence of a Neutrino, and (experimentally - !! ) deduced that it travels faster than the speed of light !!!!!


.... Aside from the fact that this is a direct contradiction of Einstein's Genl theory of Relativity - the CERN scientists had the gall and the chutzpah to announce their results to the world wide media BEFORE they even subjected their technical paper to one or several mandatory peer reviews - as would have been required in the US.

The word on the street, among the most eminent professors, in the U.S. Universities is that the CERN people are definitely wrong.....

Anonymous said...

Yeah, there are batteries everywhere. Just ask my ex-wife!

Chickie said...

Thank you Bill G. for the link to those wonderful photos. The way it was for many people.

I see my parents in some of those photos. They came to CA in the mid-thirties with hopes and dreams for a better future for their family. They found it in their hard work ethic and their love of family which carried them through many hard times.

eddyB said...

Hi.

Leno's garage (NBC.com) features the 2012 Camaro ZL1. Very impressive for a production car if you are into that sort of thing.
Did a lap at The Nurburgring in 7:41:27. Even F1 cars have trouble getting in under 8:00.

eddy

KeaauRich said...

Aloha all,

I accidentally saw the theme of today's puzzle on CC before i picked up my pencil. Since I'm a theater geek, it would have been mega-cheating to fill in all the theme answers, so I forced myself to leave them blank until perps revealed enough letters to suggest answers. What a pain in the "okole"! (look it up, never know when those Hawaiian words will pop up in puzzles...)

Next time I stumble across a theme, I'm going to consider it an Act of God and fill in answers with reckless abandon...

Don G. said...

I thought this was a real tour de force puzzle. To arrange all that theme in a 15 x 15 with such good fill is awesome. I also really appreciate the subject matter, which made it all the more enjoyable. Congrats to Peter Collins.

dodo said...

Bill G., those pix were fantastic! Thanks much!

What a long way we have come in my lifetime! I used to think that about my grandparents, who went from horses to cars, to planes. That's nothing compared to the speed with which we're experiencing one amazing new thing after another! There was a picture of Richard Branson's Spaceport in the morning paper! Imagine!

The one that really gets me is that 'string'thing! Not that I know much about it, but it sounds like time travel or something. I'm not sure I want to know more!

jmarsh said...

Here's a very pretty rendition of The Highwayman put to music by Loreena McKennitt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teq2m0BN-Wo

Tidbit: Natalie Wood's singing in West Side Story was dubbed in by Marni Nixon.

Lucina said...

Bill G:
Those are amazing photos! Even St. Johns AZ made it. I should scan it for relatives.

We have come a very long distance in 70 years.

Thanks for posting.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Afternoon All, All appointments for the day have been taken care of.

I'm glad I had time to do this puzzle. Most of you know, I love the theatah!.

I had quite a picket fence before I got WEST SIDE STORY and then I backed up to fill in the blanks.

Favorite non-themes were NUNS and DIE.

I'm with Bill G. about WSS....at least the movie version. It seemed to me that the leads were woefully miscast. Did Richard Beymer ever have another starring role after Tony? Natalie Wood may have been lovely, but her accent was awful. I do love the original Broadway soundtrack and pop it in the car CD player and sing along a couple of times a year.

Clear Ayes said...

There is the famous and familiar "The Highwayman". Noyes also wrote this one. Just about anybody can relate.

Daddy Fell Into The Pond

Everyone grumbled. The sky was grey.
We had nothing to do and nothing to say.
We were nearing the end of a dismal day,
And there seemed to be nothing beyond,
Then Daddy fell into the pond!

And everyone's face grew merry and bright,
And Timothy danced for sheer delight.
"Give me the camera, quick, oh quick!
He's crawling out of the duckweed!" Click!

Then the gardener suddenly slapped his knee,
And doubled up, shaking silently,
And the ducks all quacked as if they were daft,
And it sounded as if the old drake laughed.
Oh, there wasn't a thing that didn't respond
When Daddy fell into the pond!

Anonymous said...

Loved this puzzle and write-up. Came easy since I had recently watched a rerun of WSS.

Bill G.- The pictures hit a chord with me. My father was 12 in 1915 when his parents and grandparents tried to homestead in New Mexico. They almost starved to death. The house was so drafty, he caught pneumonia every winter and missed a lot of school. Didn't get his high school diploma until he was 20, although he was a smart man. Affected his entire life. By the 40's, they'd left New Mexico and farming. He went to work for the US Postal Service and retired with a pension larger than his income most years. He thought this made up for the bad early years. I used to tease him, saying the old pensioners would eventually break the system. Never dreamed this might actually happen!

-PK

dodo said...

Clearayes, hand up for adding my opinion of WSS to yours and Bill's. Only the music was good.
I really did love Natalie, but not in that role. She was so beautiful! What a loss.

Who played those parts in the Broadway WSS? I don't think I ever heard that it toured. Too bad. Or not.

Was New Mexico part of the Gadsden PUrchase? I knew a contemporary(well more or less) who was born
on the Gadsden Purchase.I think it is Arizona now.It must have been about the last homesteading

I'm quite fond of Ivan Doig, who writes about homesteading in Montana. His books are great. The other homesteading book I've found was "Giants in the Earth" . Darn! now I cant remember the Norwegian who wrote it: Rolvaag? Maybe.

I guess I read kind of esoteric books!

'night.

Warren said...

Hi C.C. I finally logged on and saw your question. Take a look at:Unresponsive Script

"Install the NoScript extension and selectively allow JavaScript to run."

I call it the power of Google but everyone else thinks I'm the best at finding web solutions?

;-)

Steve said...

@Anony-Mouse - to be fair to the CERN scientists who announced the apparent "faster than light" discovery, this is what was reported in the LA Times:

"We wanted to find all possible explanations for this. We wanted to find a mistake, but we didn't," said physicist Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the so-called OPERA experiment, in an interview with the BBC on Thursday.

Because it was such "a crazy result," the team was releasing its data, based on three years of measurements, so that others in the scientific community could confirm or refute the findings, he added.


Not quite the same as jumping the gun before the results could be verified.

Dennis said...

Whatever the facts turn out to be, it's created one of my new favorite jokes:

"We don't allow faster-than-light neutrinos in here," says the bartender.

A neutrino walks into a bar.

TinoTechie said...

Anony-Mouse @3:26pm

At least one explanation is that the researchers forgot to correct for the different frames of reference between the earth, and the GPS satellites they used for their clock reference. Once that is corrected, the Neutrinos act as expected by the Theory of Relativity. Here is the web site that explains it.

http://dvice.com/archives/2011/10/speedy-neutrino.php

Greg

melissa bee said...

dennis:

then the bartender says, 'weren't you in here before?'

melissa bee said...

that is so five minutes ago.

Spitzboov said...

TinoTechie @ 7:42:

Do you think they accounted for the chord length the neutrino would have had to travel vs the distance along the surface? It would be s shorter distance. Just wondering.

Seldom Seen said...

Have you guys heard the new nutrinos joke?

suuuz said...

nah, too fast for me

a neutrino will have said...

.

JD said...

Grazie for The Highwayman, and CA,Daddy Fell..was hilarious...so different.

Jayce, don't be so stuffy.JK! Ginormous gave me a grin. Bosh not so much.

Lucina, glad you are fit. It's the yoga :-) I love Kaiser. My doc just sent a message saying she was proud of me for lowering my cholesterol. Woot! I was never worried.

JD said...

This helped me understand the conversation about neutrinos tonight.

Lucina said...

Thanks, JD. I'm sure you are in fine fettle yourself as a result of doing yoga. Congratulations on your good cholesterol.

Dennis:
LOL So funny.