google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday Nov 6, 2011 Peter Koetters

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Nov 6, 2011

Sunday Nov 6, 2011 Peter Koetters

Theme: "Do or Dye Situation" (Nice title.) - The first word in each theme entry can follow "Hair".

23A. *Dangerously close call : BRUSH WITH DEATH. Hair brush.

33A. *Attachment for a paint gun : SPRAY NOZZLE. Hair spray.

51A. *Interrogator's approach : LINE OF INQUIRY. Hairline.

67A. *"Nothing to it!" : PIECE OF CAKE. Hairpiece.

81A. *Be up to snuff : CUT THE MUSTARD. Haircut.

96A. *Running back, often : BALL CARRIER. Hairball.

17D. *Greenskeeper's concern : PIN PLACEMENT. Hairpin.

61D. *Where a star prepares to shine : DRESSING ROOM. Hair dressing.

110A. Weaves, or what the starts of the starred answers are, in a way : HAIR EXTENSIONS

Had no idea where I was going until I reached 101A and was pleasantly surprised. Great unifier. It hurts to have extensions braided & glued to your own hair. But it sure looks pretty.

I just adored this theme. I bet Melissa too. Secret to thick and shiny hair often lies in your genetic make-up. But good nutrition is certainly important. Sesame seeds help. And the right brand of shampoos & conditioners.

This puzzle is a pangram. As usual, names gave me pauses.

Across:

1. Makes a short putt : TAPS IN. I'd be happy with a bogey.

7. Dabs with a towel : PATS DRY

14. Macedonian birthplace of Mother Teresa : SKOPJE. No idea. Here. Scrabbly name.

20. Fired up : AFLAME

21. Collectibles from faraway lands : EXOTICA. Some could be erotica.

22. Covets : ENVIES

25. 2010 World Series champs : GIANTS. Boomer loved the Pujols' Jack-in-the-Box I got for him.

26. Bar lineup : SHOTS

27. Derby title? : EARL. Oh, title in Derby, England.

28. Like a drumhead : TAUT

30. Fund-raising gp. : PTA

31. Autobahn distances: Abbr. : KMs

36. Do in, as the Jabberwock : SLAY

37. Glosses over : OMITS

40. Recognizes, briefly : IDs

41. DDE's challenger : AES (Adlai E Stevenson)

42. Tax pro : CPA

43. The eleventh hour : HIGH TIME. Oh? I thought it refers to the time when you're feeling high.

46. Jutland resident : DANE

48. Loses one's poker face, say : REACTS

54. Like a rational number's denominator : NON ZERO. And 64. Type of geometry : EUCLIDEAN. I sucked at math.

55. "Rocky __ to Dublin": Irish jig : ROAD

56. Major or Minor constellation : URSA

57. Leave at the altar : JILT

58. Italian possessive pronoun : MIO. "Mine" as in "O Sole Mio".

59. Wrapped up : ENDED

62. United Nations Plaza array : FLAGS

66. Onetime Italian leader Aldo : MORO. Stumper. The Italian prime minister in '60s-'70s. Was kidnapped and then murdered by a terrorist organization. Brutal.

69. "Splendor in the Grass" writer : INGE (William). Quite a heavy topic.

70. Meaty tomato : BEEFSTEAK

72. Singer Rimes : LEANN

73. Add to a database : ENTER

74. George Strait's "All My __ Live in Texas" : EX'S. I wonder why.

75. Beatles album with "Act Naturally" : HELP

76. Wishes otherwise : RUES

77. Fit for duty : ABLE

79. Rummy action : DISCARD

86. Feeling no pain : STINKO. "Feeling no pain" = "Drunk".

87. Blue-ribbon : A-ONE. Jayce's Mandarin is really good.

88. Foggy state : SEDATION

89. Wedding page word : NEE

90. An NFL Manning : ELI

91. Oral health org. : ADA

93. Sealy competitor : SERTA

94. Certain NCO : SSGT

101. Double curve : ESS

102. Cousteau's sea : MER. Still have not grasped the French"R" sound.

103. Scuttlebutt : DIRT

104. Jekyll's alter ego : HYDE

105. "__ I ever!" : WOULD

108. Arctic garment : ANORAK. This one is stylish.

115. Clock radio button : SNOOZE

116. Actress Francis and others : ARLENES. The other I know is "Dahl".

117. Overwhelming amount : DELUGE

118. It hits the nail on the head : HAMMER. I'm picturing Splynter in action.

119. Bridge support : TRESTLE

120. Pericles, famously : ORATOR. So ancient.

Down:

1. Key beside Q : TAB. Computer keyboard.

2. Egypt's cont. : AFR

3. Grade school operator : PLUS SIGN. I like both the clue & answer.

4. Over-the-shoulder accessory : SASH

5. Texter's "Seems to me ..." : IMHO

6. Mudpuppies' kin : NEWTS. Did not know they're related.

7. Snoopy, to Charlie : PET

8. Neolithic dig find : AX HEAD

9. __ special: menu board heading : TODAY'S

10. Uncompromising : STERN

11. Old way to place a collect call : DIAL "O"

12. Sales slip: Abbr. : RCT (Receipt)

13. Jubilant game-player's cry : YAHTZEE. Never played Yahtzee.

14. Slick transition : SEGUE. More "smooth" than "slick". No?

15. Make a string of purls? : KNIT. Great clue.

16. Fertility clinic cells : OVA

18. Popular Volkswagen : JETTA

19. Swift's "A Modest Proposal," e.g. : ESSAY

24. AOL, e.g. : ISP

29. Roker and Gore : ALs

31. German statesman Helmut : KOHL

32. XIX Olympic Winter Games year : MMII. 2002.

34. It means nothing to Sarkozy : RIEN. Same to me.

35. Off-the-wall : ZANY

36. Jack Blum's "Meatballs" character : SPAZ. Another unknown to me.

38. Legal contract adverb : THEREOF

39. Prepared to sing the national anthem : STOOD. Here is China's national anthem.

42. Prefix with grade : CENTI

44. "__ body meet ..." : IF A

45. Area between goals : MIDFIELD

46. Immoral : DISSOLUTE. Crossing 3 theme answers.

47. Notre Dame's Parseghian : ARA

48. Esther of "Good Times" : ROLLE

49. Post-disaster sorting process : TRIAGE

50. Cornhusker rival : SOONER. Hi there Husker Gary & Avg Joe!

52. Snake oil salesman : QUACK

53. Strongly suggest : URGE

54. Beantown, e.g. : NICKNAME

57. Valdez with a burro : JUAN. Here he is.

59. Sticks in the mud : EMBEDS

60. Sartre play with the line "Hell is other people" : NO EXIT. Good to learn the source.

63. Spring : LEAP

64. PayPal funds, e.g. : E-CASH. For Marti.

65. Family meal setting : DINETTE

67. Wing: Prefix : PTERO

68. Podiatry matters : FEET

71. Tremble in fear : SHAKE

73. "__ Dream": Wagner aria : ELSA'S

76. Go on the lam : RUN

78. Future flower : BUD

80. Online tech news site : CNET

81. Electromagnet feature : COIL

82. Actor Morales : ESAI

83. Ventilated : AIRED OUT

84. Turns bad : ROTS

85. Strands of double helices : DNAS

87. Something with a bag of chips? : ALL THAT. Cool! All that and a bag of chips.

90. Tuner's talent : EAR

91. Full of gusto : ARDENT

92. Philadelphia university : DREXEL

94. Really pound : SMASH

95. Yellow-flowered plant often used medicinally : SENNA

96. Hog owner : BIKER. Harley-Davidson.

97. Pablo Neruda's homeland : CHILE

98. Lew of "All Quiet on the Western Front" : AYRES. Difficult name to remember.

99. Farmyard female : EWE

100. Repetitive musical piece : RONDO

103. Foggy state : DAZE

106. Cybercafé patron : USER

107. Oscar winner Kedrova : LILA. For "Zorba the Greek".

109. Data storage acronym : ROM

111. Flight board abbr. : ARR

112. "The Waste Land" monogram : TSE

113. Vietnam's __ Dinh Diem : NGO. OK, you all know Sandra Oh from "Grey's Anatomy", right? Ngo (Vietnamese)= Oh (Korean) = "Wu" (Chinese). Same surname.

114. Sun. delivery : SER

Answer grid.

C.C.

44 comments:

  1. Morning, all!

    I hope everybody remembered the time change last night (well, those to whom it applies, at least).

    Not a heck of a lot to say about today's puzzle. I didn't pick up on the theme until I got to the reveal at 110, but it didn't matter since all the theme answers were clued normally.

    I did have problem with PIN PLACEMENT at 17D, just because I was thinking about landscapers and not golf. Fortunately, I managed to pull SKOPJE out of somewhere, or else I probably would have ended with BIN PLACEMENT.

    A few other names were unknown, such as LILA and AYRES, but the perps took care of them in short order, so no problems there.

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  2. Good Morning,

    Poor Annette didn't get a single link yesterday with "O __ Mio" : DIO. Now today we get MIO. So here is the clip; now make it stop.

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  3. Hi There ~!

    I got the theme no problem, but I actually had to switch to red-letter for this one - probably still tired from yesterday, and then the time change this morning.

    Sorry, C.C., I was not swinging the hammer yesterday, but I DID in fact use the SPRAY NOZZLE of my power painter to get a whole house stained - good money, too.
    The Anthem sounds like an anthem - are the words "We will stand strong for you, our land China ???"

    AS for the puzzle, the names got me, KOHL and MORO, plus I had QUAKE not SHAKE, and thought there was a re-release of Beatles' songs on _ _ LP (long playing, that is) - oh, duh, HE-lp....

    Oh well, I'm going back to bed.


    Splynter

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  4. Hello Puzzlers -

    Standard Sunday action, complete with a few bad guesses along the way that clogged the grid's arteries for a while. Had trouble with the names as usual, and would not have known that SOONERS and Huskers can't get along.

    CUT THE MUSTARD has always seemed to be a strange phrase. There must be some history there.

    Morning C.C.! Have all the Corner regulars from New England been heard from since the storm? I haven't spotted Hondo or Maniac yet.

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  5. Mornn' to all,

    Couldn't get the theme until I read C.C.'s comments.....had a lot of fun with this puzzle for a Sunday. Finished in a short time for this day of the week!

    However, I am still stumped with several: PLUS SIGN & ALL THAT. Neither made sense to me....but maybe I am still half asleep...or just dense today.

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  6. Straightforward solve today. No surprises. Remembered MORO and AYRES (he played Dr. Kildare in those old movies). Remember those days when they couldn't show a movie on TV unless it was at least 20 years old? Studios were afraid that TV was gonna ruin their business.

    Southern Belle, plus-sign, minus-sign, times-sign are all mathematical "operators" that you learn in grade school.

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  7. Good Morning, C.C., and friends. I'm with Barry G on this one. Not much to say about today's puzzle. I needed the unifier to help me with the theme answers, some clues were what I would consider a PIECE OF CAKE.

    SouthernBelle, I'm with you about the Grade School Operator. Somewhat obtuse, in my mind.

    Anyone watch the "Game of the Century" last night? GEAUX TIGERS!

    QOD: The only sense that is common in the long run, is the sense of change and we all instinctively avoid it. ~ E. B. White

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  8. Good morning C.C. et al.

    C.C., I’m getting used to seeing “E”-words, so E-CASH was not quite so jarring today. It would still bother me if I had to use it myself, though…

    Somehow, I prefer a puzzle that has punny entries/clues or whacky phrases that make me chuckle as I reveal each one. A theme like this, where there is only one “reveal” entry at the end to give me an “aha” moment, lets me down a little. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it. It was nicely challenging and enlightening, with some learning moments – always a treasure!

    SouthernBelle, “ALL THAT, and a bag of chips” is a slang phrase meaning “too much” – usually in a derogatory way, inferring that the person is stuck up. There is an article on the phrase here in the NY Times.

    Hahtool, exciting game last night, with the teams “IN OT” (as we see often in crosswords, LOL!!) I was glad to see Louisiana win, in the end.

    Have a nice relaxing Sunday, all.

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  9. OPERATOR is a legitimate basic math term. An operator is a symbol or function representing a mathematical operation. The most basic math operations are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. This clue is not a stretch.

    "All my ex's live in Texas. That is why I hang my hat in Tennessee."
    Link All my ex's live in Texas

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  10. Man, I am smart! I knew Mother Teresa’s birthplace, a Sartre play, an Italian leader and a Wagner aria. All right, I didn’t know any of ‘em but found ‘em in Perpville. Fun puzzle that went quickly. I sang and played my 12 string at church last night, so I have a nice lazy Sunday morning after an extra hour of sleep. Rock on!

    Musings
    -If my friend at the golf course has just put the pin in a new green location, I always tell her to wait until I chip and put the hole next to my ball so I can TAPIN. She laughs and doesn’t do it.
    -125 mph on the autobahn in a Ford Escort. Wow!
    -Have you ever been in meetings where the real issues are glossed over? Me too.
    -Had a specific and generic DANE the last few days
    -A song for Ringo, the luckiest drummer ever
    -Other Manning’s absence has doomed the Colts
    -I thought of another over the shoulder item
    -I’ve used the mantra from Meatballs many times
    -Husker/Sooner games are all gone but were great football for decades. The 1971 game in Norman is considered by some to be the greatest ever
    -I forgot my tuner last night and had to tune by EAR

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  11. Son of Musings (I told you I had Sunday free)

    -The defenses last night were stellar but I prefer scoring. K-State lost to Okie State 52 – 45 and I watched a lot of that with the Bama/LSU game in the “picture in picture”. That is also why I loved the 6th game of the World Series this year and don’t particularly like the 1 – 0 games where the bases are empty most of the time. As Frankie Lane, The Platters, et al sang, To Each His Own.

    -We had an early mechanical calculator that used to go crazy when we asked it to divide by zero

    -If you have an iPhone and are an astronomer and don’t have the Star Walk app, you are missing something great and will never spend $2.99 better.

    -Is there another human condition that has more euphemisms than being drunk?

    -Splynter, how does it feel to have C.C. picturing you “in action”?

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  12. Good morning C.C. and everyone.

    I found today's puzzle relatively easy for a Sunday. But it was a good distraction for me during my pre-prep phase for tomorrow's (routine I hope) colonoscopy. I know, TMI. But the cw did have interesting fill. SKOPJE fell easily. I think M. Theresa was an ethnic Albanian (born in Macedonia). Liked the RIEN clue. Après moi le DÉLUGE. WAGs included INGE, ORATOR, SOONER, and ELSA. EUCLIDEAN was the first think that came to mind with 'geometry' so I guess that was a gimme. The theme has been amply commented on by others. Nice offering, Peter. Thank you.

    Have a great Sunday.

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  13. Good day, C.C. and all Sunday solvers.

    Thanks for listing the theme answers, C.C. as I didn't go back to connect the HAIR pieces. Clever theme. One of my nieces uses long hair pieces.

    Like Marti, I enjoy puns and chuckle to myself throughout the solve, but this was very straight forward; however, it was nostalgic to think about Aldo MORO, for example. Took me back to high school history class where we discussed that event.

    The east central area slowed me because I had EUCLIDIAN geometry until INGE appeared for -MENT and of course I had no idea the cornhuskers were rivals with the SOONERS!

    Mostly this was a PIECEOFCAKE and quite enjoyable for a Sunday.

    Thanks, Peter Koetters.

    Have a special Sunday, everyone! Autumn has finally made its appearance in the Southwest. Nice!

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  14. Good morning, C.C. and Sunday Solvers all.

    Here I am with an extra hour to do the puzzle and Mr. Koetters threw me an easy one. "What HG said" as far as unknowns and perpville. It wasn't hairy at all... except for the theme.

    I'm with you, HG, on the Star Walk app. I'm no astronomer, but do know a few of the constellations. It's nice to be able to hold up my iPhone, look at the star field beyond it and know exactly what stars or planets I'm seeing. I think that's the only iPhone app I've spent money to get. I'm a 'freebie' kind of guy. Sallie's husband has the Star Walk app on his iPad.

    I really couldn't place the ALL THAT phrase, but it had a vaguely familiar sound when the perps filled part of it.

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  15. Good morning C.C. et al.

    Easy enough to not be frustrating, hard enough to be enjoyable. Just right, said Goldilocks. I got the unifier, but didn't even realize til I came here that I'd not read the title theme. Oh well, it probably wouldn't have helped.

    As Gary said, the Sooners are no longer on the NU schedule with the move to the Big 10. But the rivalry is long, storied and respected by both sides. NU got their hat's handed to them yesterday, but it was still a good game even though the outcome was undesirable. Anytime you can't be sure who will win until the clock runs out is a good game in my book.

    I fell asleep and missed the last half of the LSU/Bama game last night. Sounds like it was a great one!

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  16. Oops! No I was not in high school when Aldo MORO was killed. We discussed it in a class I was teaching.

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  17. Good Morning All, Yay! I had a extra hour to pick at a big Sunday puzzle.

    This one went fairly well. What I didn't pick up the first time across and then down furnished enough to WAG at a lot of perps. 54A)NON ZERO was all perped, but I have heard of 64A)EUCLIDEAN geometry.

    PLUS SIGN (add) me to the people who have never heard the phrase 87D)ALL THAT and a bag of chips. Thanks to Marti for the explanation. And thanks to the math folks for PLUS SIGN Operator. I don't think teachers used that term in the 1940's.

    I was pleased to see several poet references. Robert Burns wrote "Gin a body meet a body" in a Scottish English dialect for "Comin' Thro' the Rye". It has been Americanized to 44D)IF A body meet... I liked seeing 112A)T.S. Elliot and 97D)Neruda's CHILE.

    I enjoyed today's theme. During the past couple of years, I've had curly hair, no hair and thin hair and short hair. I still keep my wigs at the ready when I don't feel like going through the rigamarole to DRESS it.

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  18. For both 95D and 97D

    Ode to Some Yellow Flowers

    Against the blue moving its own blue,
    the sea, and against the sky,
    some yellow flowers.
    October arrives.
    And though it may be
    so important for the sea to unroll
    its myth, its mission, its yeast-like inspiration,
    there explodes
    over the sand the gold
    of a single yellow plant
    and your eyes
    are fixed on the ground,
    they flee from the great sea and its rhythms.
    We are and will be dust.
    Not air, not fire, nor water
    but earth, only earth
    we will be
    and maybe also
    some yellow flowers.

    - Pablo Neruda

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  19. I always like seeing ARA in a puzzle, so naturally I was watching the ND-Wake Forest game rather than the SEC defense-fest.

    Nice theme, lovely write-up, pleasant to see an insult-free comment thread today.

    Off bicycle-shopping this morning, I need to get my sedentary nether regions moving a little more.

    All y'all have a great day!

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  20. Hi Everyone ~~

    I enjoyed this puzzle and your informative write-up, C.C. As others have said, I didn't get the theme until the unifier at 110A. When I got BRUSH WITH DEATH early on, I thought it would be some kind of 'dying/dyeing' thing, but nope.

    ~~ Had 'Etude' before RONDO.

    ~~ Didn't know EXOTICA but I like the word.

    ~~ Having three cats, HAIRBALL was very familiar. >^:^<

    ~~ After ELI Manning, I thought of Peyton ... I guess one man CAN make a team.

    Still over 100,000 without power ... that's down from over 830,000 at the worst ... but it's been eight days! Dudley ... Hondo checked in the other day.

    Off to watch the BILLS-JETS game!

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  21. I read the NYT explanation of ALL THAT and a bag of chips, and I still don't understand it, unlike zoot suit and reet pleat, which are perfectly clear.

    In spite of that, I wound up filling all the squares correctly in under 4 hours, with a few breaks to wash some outdoor furniture, overhaul the carburetor on the pressure washer, and have lunch.

    For Clear Ayes, some yellow flowers in my avatar today (I think). Some consider this Sunflower Tree invasive, but it's showy, and easy for even me to grow, so it holds a place of honor in my front yard.

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  22. why are some lines and/ or letters highlighted in the answer grid? Mauggie

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  23. i've only heard 'all that and a bag of chips' used as a compliment, rather than a slam.

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  24. Hi everyone!

    Took a lot of scanning to find my spelling error, but puzzle finished without cheating. Thanks Peter, CC!

    Jabberwock is the only poem that I can recite readily, so was fond of this clue.

    Do you know that the universe is actually non-Euclidean?

    Note that we have both SEDATION and STINKO. Got a kick out of that.

    Puzzle rather short on amusement. I had to perp the two phrases mentioned above.

    Another gully-washer all night. Dog suffering but refusing to go out for 12 hours. (Some dogs really hate rain.) Oh, wait, part of that time it was not raining but neighbors in front were having a huge rock-noisy party. Dog hates noise, too.

    Have a great day!

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  25. Mauggie: I would guess that was where the cursor was when the screenshot was taken by the puzzle answer grid poster.

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  26. Hello everybody. Just a brief note to say what you all have already said. Gotta run. See y'all tomorrow.

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  27. Good afternoon C.C. and all,

    Sundays, what can I say, they are long. I knew I was in for a longer sit when I came across too many places where I had to really think hard to fill the last letter of a word, like stinkO.

    Learned that parseghian was not a synonym to mascot. Pretty much laughed at my own shortcomings as there were no other smiley answers, clever though.

    Learned a bit about mudpuppies. Have we ever had olm , the little blind amphibians who dwell in subterranean water caves?

    Learned the REAL meaning of dissolute- thought it had to do with dissolving something.

    C.C., thanks for the write up.Interesting about Ngo, Oh, and Wu.

    Family night-I need a bigger dining room table..a dinette? That actually did make me smile. Who says that?

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  28. Good afternoon everyone.

    It was nice to see you C.C. Great write up as always. I never figured out the theme clue. But I did get 72 right answers. Yippee!

    Thank you Scot for backing up my not-so-humble opinion on slams on this blog; that was yesterday. None so far today, thank heavens.

    And thank you ClearAyes for your poems and for keeping them coming. (And give Charley a pat from me.) I too like to see TS Eliot; he's my favorite. And the clue is surely better than half a fly.

    Cheers

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  29. JD, I use the term dinette daily. To me, it's the distinction between a formal and an informal eating area. Dining room = a separate area isolated from the food prep area. Dinette = an area in or near the kitchen with no clear delineation between the two other than where the cabinetry ends.

    As added trivia, there are 3 different table heights for the level of formality. 29" is least formal and found only in a dinette. 30" can go either way and is also the most common. 31" is purely formal and typically of high quality. The theory is that the higher the table, the straighter the participants have to sit up. (Damn, there's that preposition:-)

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  30. My paper had a typo in the clue for 25 Across: 2011 World Series champs. So I had a little trouble getting that one.

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  31. Hello all. I'm the constructor of today's puzzle. Glad to see many enjoyed it!

    Rich asked me to submit straight clues for all the theme entries, mostly due to PIN PLACEMENT being a little unfamiliar to many solvers. I thought anyone invested enough to read this far might like to see the less straightforward clues I proposed, just for fun:

    BRUSHWITHDEATH = Practice oral hygiene with the grim reaper?
    SPRAYNOZZLE = Pam has one
    LINEOFINQUIRY = Queue at an information desk?
    PIECEOFCAKE = Dessert at a turkey shoot?
    CUTTHEMUSTARD: "The deli worker was fired because he couldn't ___" (quip)
    BALLCARRIER = Lucy's limo?
    PINPLACEMENT = Voodoo doll holder's quandary?
    DRESSINGROOM = French, Italian and Russian quarters?

    Would have made the puzzle more difficult, probably too much so. Anyway, thanks for the kind words!

    Peter Koetters

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  32. Oof! that's a first rate typo, Cardinal. What paper is that? I wonder if it's just yours.

    It would be funny if you lived in the bay area -- perhaps it wasn't a "typo" then...

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  33. Dr. Peter:

    Thank you for stopping by, and for sharing your imagination with us; nice to see you again. I think Rich was being a bit over-protective, as many of our solvers love the challenge of a punny clue and yours were great. Of course it is a Sunday, and since there are so many words; it is just funny, because last time you said Rich made the clues harder.

    Your DRESSINGROOM = French, Italian and Russian quarters without a BLUE CHEESE was tricky, and the reference to PAM, the spray oil would have been difficult.

    How about, Accupuncture 101: PIN PLACEMENT.

    Thank you and keep the PUDDLES, I mean puzzles coming

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  34. Peter, you have a great sense of humor and a knack for puns. LOL
    Some of those would be obscure.

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  35. I'd vote for the original clues. Yes, it would have been tougher, but it would also have been funnier. Thanks for stopping by and sharing those with us Peter.

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  36. Peter, I love your punny clues and wish they could have been included. They don't seem that daunting. Still it was an interesting puzzle.

    Sallie, I agree with your opinion about the vicious, personal attack blogger(s). I came home from an all day trip yesterday to read this blog at7:30PM (blog time.) I was utterly dismayed at the viciousnes, which was later censored.

    Have you ever been at a friendly social gathering where a spouse spent the entire envening sniping at and verbally abusing the partner? It destroys the evening. That's how I felt last night.

    To take another tack, we teachers ask our writing students to keep their intended audience in mind, Here our audience is interested in words, humor, bonhomie, interaction in a friendly, positive environment. These viscious comments are not geared to this audience or this venue. They fall on deaf ears, irritating the many commenters and many more silent readers who are uninvolved in these issues.

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  37. Peter, I enjoyed the puzzle as published after two days of puzzles that defeated me. It was nice to be on the right wave length again. Still challenging in places. Never got the hair extensions on my own (thank you, C.C.) Since we had dissolute and stinko, I thought weaves would be about walking a line.

    We got our giggles as a post script with your posting here. I'll maybe have a better insight into your puzzles next time.

    -PK

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  38. Hello.

    Stewart wins in Texas and takes Cup lead. Announces Danica's first Cup race will be Daytona.

    Balt at Pit in 1:45.

    take care. eddy

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  39. Good puzzle and writeup. It was interesting to see three math-related clues; one EUCLIDEAN, and a rational number's denominator/NON-ZERO and grade school operator/PLUS SIGN. Prefix with grade/CENTI was unusual too.

    Peter, I loved your list of less straight-forward clues. I might have needed more red-letters but I would have enjoyed them. Well done!

    We wandered down to Hermosa Beach to one of the plays in our subscription series; "Private Lives" by Noel Coward. Three acts of seeing two couples fight and yell at each other is not my idea of a fun afternoon at the theater.

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  40. Hand up for not getting it till the last entry: what an aha! moment! Nice, clever, lively puzzle with a mimimum of dreck fill (EXS needs to be EXES, and how do you get from "future flower" to an African stringed instrument with OUD?).
    I did like the golf subtheme with TAPIN and PINPLACEMENT.
    Spacecraft

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  41. Good evening, folks. Thank you, Peter, for a swell Sunday puzzle. I liked it.

    Thank you, C.C., for the swell write-up.

    As usual, bounced around on this puzzle. Filled in here and there. Eventually it all came together. The theme came slowly because I had ROUND instead of RONDO for 100D for a while.

    PIN PLACEMENT came after a long stretch. Eventually got it.

    Liked TRESTLE. Have not seen that word for a while.

    My biggest problem with this puzzle was that it did not
    Print all the clues. I had everything through 67D. Then it skipped to 78D. I was missing 68D, 71D, 73D, and 76D. I print my crossword from the Chicago Tribune site. There must have been a problem today.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

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  42. Spacecraft, Future flower is BUD, perped with aBle.

    We've had discussion about about EX'S before. It is the way it is spelled in the title of the song. You have to speak to the composer about it, I guess.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Holly: Jean-Paul Sartre said 'Hell is other people'.

    Lister: Yea? Well all his mates were French.

    ReplyDelete

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