google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, December 30, 2011, Marti Duguay-Carpenter

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Dec 30, 2011

Friday, December 30, 2011, Marti Duguay-Carpenter

THEME: The old reverse, a DOSE DOUBLE of our own Marti, blogging and constructing. Each of the theme answers are alliterative familiar phrases where the original first words are reversed with the second word clued to inspire much hilarity. It is always a special day to write up the work of one of our own, our New England nightingale, Marti. This was almost an easy Friday but it had pitfalls.

18A. Daily take in the Lumber department? : BOARD BREAD. A Bread Board is a cutting board for Pain (french for bread) rather than money derived from the sale of wood.

23A. Revenue in Lingerie?: SLIP SALES. Don't let your wife see the SALES SLIP from Victoria's Secret, unless you bought it for her.

40A. Outlay in Electronics?: POWER PURCHASING. You must have lots of Purchasing Power to keep up with all the electronic devices to buy.

51A. Merchandise capacity in Men's Wear?: SUIT SPACE. Do you own a SPACE SUIT? Halloween? I do not own many suits anymore, so my closet has lots of space.

60A. Display case in Wine & Spirits?: STILL STAND. The traffic was at a STAND STILL. STILL being the abbreviation for Distillery.

Nice long theme fill, now lets see the rest...

Across:

1. Constantly: EVER. I am constantly amazed at the talent in our group.

5. Numbers, e.g : DATA.

9. Longing words: I HOPE. I hope Marti and I puzzle and amuse you.

14. New Zealand fruit : KIWI.

15. Open-mouthed: AGOG. An A word.

16. Cinched, with "up: SEWED.

17. Univ. seniors' tests: GRES. Graduate Record Examinations.

20. Broods: SULKS.

22. Currency of Freetown: LEONE. The Capitol and Capital of Sierra Leone.

26. Guys' mates: GALS. What about DOLLS? (3:14) Surprised?

30. Rash protection: TALC. Next time I contemplate doing something rash I need to get some powder!

31. Over the top: TOO TOO. Tootsie goodbye.

33. "Third Rock From the Sun" family, e.g : ETS. Our old extraterrestrial friends. John Lithgow is a fine actor.

36. There's often a colon in one: RATIO. 35:7 as 5:?

39. India's first prime minister : NEHRU. Jawaharlal was more than a Jacket

43. Jejune: INANE. from the Latin Jejunus, empty of food.

44. Spider-Man Parker: PETER. Alliterative alter ego. Fits the theme.

45. "Don't think so": NAH.

46. First tea sold in individual packets: SALADA. But Lipton introduced the flow through tea bag.

48. Cupid counterpart: EROS. Roman and Greek.

50. Blondie drummer Burke: CLEM. Wow, this was obscure for me, and I liked Debbie Harry.


56. Pianist Gilels et al : EMILS. If you don't name two, why plural? Unknown to me LINK.(4:09)

58. Outcast: EXILE.

65. Shamu, for one: ORCA. What a nice way to say killer whale.

66. "Hill Street Blues" actress: HAMEL. VERONICA.

67. Life-of-the-party type: RIOT.

68. "JAG" spin-off: NCIS. My brother's favorite show, I have just started to watch.

69. Fail to hold up, as a bank: ERODE. Really witty clue, not a money bank, a river bank.

70. Contributes: ADDS. To the delinquency of a minor?

71. Band with the debut album "Diamond Life": SADE.



Okay, the rest.

Down:

1. ER lines: EKGS. How appropriate for me.

2. Bug: VIRUS.

3. Controversial Gettysburg general: EWELL. You AGREE?

4. Take a gamble: RISK IT. Along with 10D. Words before a stunt: HERE GOES. Nothing...

5. Blot away, as a tear: DAB. How many other than me thought of Brylcreem when the answer appeared?

6. Back in time: AGO.

7. "__ the Girls I've Loved Before": Nelson/Iglesias hit: TO ALL. LINK.(3:06)

8. Go along: AGREE. needed between husbands and wives, see below.

9. Dust jacket no.: ISBN. International Standard Book Number.

11. Be in debt: OWE.

12. Green shade: PEA. Better than pee red.

13. Byrnes of "77 Sunset Strip": EDD. Known as Kookie.

19. "__ thou love me?": Juliet: DOST. Did anyone watch Letters to Juliet?

21. Bickered: SPARRED. verbal sparring, see below.

24. __ shot : SLAP. Hockey term and a possible answer for the theme.

25. Go on the fritz: ACT UP. Do you think the phrase on the fritz is onomatopoetic?

27. "It's __ line between love and hate": 1971 song lyric: A THIN. Not only a song lyric, by the Persuaders, but as one who practiced divorce law for a very short time, it is all too true.

28. Doone in Exmoor: LORNA. By Richard Doddridge Blackmore, she was a sharp cookie.




29. Murmuring sound: SOUGH. Pronounced 'sou' my learning moment.

32. Like some soap: ON A ROPE. More American marketing genius, just don't drop it in the shower.

33. Certain Prot : EPISC.Opalians. Marti's Meh for the day.

34. Like Schubert's music: TONAL. As opposed to the work of Arnold Schoenberg, LISTEN.(4:11)

35. Wet lowland: SWALE. They all belong to the city in Ft. Lauderdale.

37. Anger: IRE. Grrrr.

38. Certain chamber music group: OCTET. Our word of the week, maybe if we see it eight times...


41. Like much Le Creuset cookware: ENAMELED.

42. Oft-embroidered word: HERS. Or His on the towels.

47. Yard sale proviso: AS IS. Most foreclosed homes are sold this way.

49. Battle of Hastings fighters: SAXONS. Fought in 1066 with the Normans.

52. Extreme: ULTRA. Remember ULTRAVIOLENCE? (2:07)

53. "Huh?" response opening: I SAID. Weren't you listening DEAR!

54. About: CIRCA. From the Latin meaning around, approximately.

55. 1961 Heston role: EL CID. A true classic MOVIE.(3:27)

57. M.'s counterpart: MLLE. M. is the French abbreviation for Monsieur (Mr.), MLLE for Mademoiselle (Miss).

59. Simplicity: EASE. We are on a roll now.

60. Petal-plucking pronoun: SHE. Loves, She loves me knot?

61. Main man?: TAR. The bounding Main, nice clue.

62. Chatspeak qualifier: IMO. In My Opinion.

63. Approval of a kind: NOD. Nod my first choice.

64. Some NFL linemen: DTS. Defensive Tackles. I was a bit defensive when I first tackled this fun Friday, but it is now done and time to get ready for a new year. Peace and good health to all. Well my work here for the year is done. By next year I may have my strength and wit back, until then enjoy.

Answer grid.

Lemonade 714

Note from C.C.:

Here are a few wonderful photos Husker Gary took of his local golf course. Click Next to view all of them. I've never seen a green so brown.

72 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Wow, I can't believe I completely and utterly missed what the theme was on this on. All I could figure was that it involved phrases with two words both starting with the same letter, but the resulting answers were all so odd... Great job, Marti!

The puzzle itself was slightly on the easy side for a Friday, but still presented enough of a challenge to be interesting. I had A FINE instead of A THIN at 27D and also wanted TOO FAR instead of TOO TOO for 31A. The fact that both these wrong answers fit well with each other kept me from seeing the light for awhile, as did the relative obscurity of SOUGH.

The SW corner was the last to fall, due to my inability to remember HAMEL right off the bat, the tricky (albeit wonderful) clue for TAR and my aforementioned problem with the theme answers.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Lemonade, Marti and firends. It took filling in three theme clues before I caught on to the theme. Then I was able to fill in the remaining two theme answers.

Marti, Just yesterday you were commenting on how you would react if anyone called you a GAL! You sly dog, you knew that word was coming up in your puzzle!

I learned that Bug does not mean Annoy, but is, instead, a VIRUS!

Back when we were dating, my husband and I went to a BLONDIE concert. This past summer, we went to another Blondie concert. I don't think CLEM is still with the band, though. The band, however, is just a good as it was 25+ years ago.

QOD: Those who lack the courage will always find a philosophy to justify it. ~ Albert Camus

thehondohurricane said...

Good day folks,

Marti, terrific puzzle. I enjoyed it from start to finish, although the finish was in doubt for a while. I figured out the theme with PURCHASING POWER and that helped free up some areas where I was at a "still stand".

SOUGH was a total unknown and relied on my across fills , of which I felt very confident.

Favorites were 61D TAR and 60A ERODE.

The last letter-E- for 71A and 59D was a WAG. Havinig no idea who SADE was, I felt a -Y- would have worked too. I flipped a coin, it came up Heads, so I went with the E.

Learning moments besides SOUGH,, did not know NCIS was a spin off from JAG and LEONE is the currency of Sierra Leone.

Last post for 2011.... soooo

HAPPY NEW YEARS everyone.

desper-otto said...

Got the theme right away, which is most unusual for me. My problem area was the west where I wasn't sure what jejune meant, didn't know CLEM and have never heard of SALADA tea. But I knew Schubert was TONAL and Le Creuset was ENAMELED so it all perped out properly. Great job, Marti.

Lemon, on 56A doesn't "et al" signify and others? ERGO the 'S'. Worked for me.

Favorite clue: Fail to hold up, as a bank.

Dennis said...

Good morning, C.C. and gang - haven't gotten to the puzzles much this week, but when I saw today's was from Marti, there was no way I was gonna skip it and I'm glad I didn't. Really a fun puzzle, as we've come to expect from our truly gifted constructor.

Like Hondo, 'purchasing power' tipped the theme for me, and as with desper-otto, my favorite clue was 'fail to hold up, as a bank.' 'As is' certainly rang a bell, as we've looked at several foreclosures this week; prices are really depressed down here, in some cases half or less of their original asking price. Annette, I may take you up on your offer of guidance when it comes to picking areas.

As usual, I've brought a bit of a cold front with me to Florida, although it's relative. Hard to complain about low 70s.

Anybody doing anything special for New Year's Eve?

fermatprime said...

Hi, All!

Just checking in to congratulate Marti on another great puzzle. Went rather swiftly. Fine write up, Lemon.

Thanks for references to LAT Sudoku. They have been made inferior, have they not. You can't go backward, either. What is this world coming to?

Just watched Runaway Jury. Frightening. Anyone else have thoughts?

Time for sleep!!

Cheers!

Andrea said...

Morning, all.

Thank goodness for this blog, or I would have a mostly empty cw puzzle today... Filling in the theme answers provided a helpful start, but still wasn't enough. In addition to the off-track answers Barry started with, cast iron fit in enameled's space, swamp for swale, and home (as in ... sweet home) for hers. Then there are all the answers I just plain didn't know: Clem, sough... Quite a mental workout!! Very well done Marti and Lemonade!

We're off to Iowa for another round of Christmas. My husband is taking his golf clubs. Pretty wild to golf on NYE... I need to finish up dishes from last night before we hit the road, including my enameled Le Creuset dutch oven. Perhaps I'll throw a Sade disk in the car for the trip. Haven't listened to it in years, probably decades.

First, though, off to pay property taxes... Ugh.

Happy New Year to all!

SouthernBelle said...

Mornin' to all,

What a fun puzzle for a Friday...and hats off to Lemonade!

Fail to hold up, as a bank......best yet!!

Anyone making big plans for tomorrow night??? My big plan is 'early to bed...early to rise'.... for the cw~

Tinbeni said...

Lemon: Nice write-up.
Marti: FUN Friday!

SUIT SPACE got me the theme.
The last to fall was that STILL STAND.

CLEM, the EMIL'S and the ENAMELED Le Creuset cookware were complete unknowns, learning moments.

I stared at the clue for 33-D, "Certain Prot." and couldn't come up with what word was being abbreviated 'Prot.'
And I'm an EPISCopalian. Thank God for the perps.

Hard V-8 can SLAP when I finally realized 57-D,"M's counterpart" wasn't referring to MI-6, or designation of the head of the KGB.

Liked the AGOG/AGO crossing.

Cheers to all at Sunset.

Anonymous said...

Line of the day (per CC): "I`ve never seen a green so brown." :)
Might make a good puzzle theme to develop...hmmmmmmm.

Yellowrocks said...

Marti, Great theme and fill. Like Tinbeni, SUITSPACE gave me the theme and STILLSTAND was the last theme to fall.

Lemonade, interesting blog. I enjoyed the EWELL notes.

I am EPISC but held to PRESB for a while.

JEJUNE was in my brain somewhere. I knew is was perjorative, but needed a few perps to remember the meaning.

Mom used SALADA TEA.

I wagged the A in HAMEL and stared at TAR. OOH, MAIN as in SEA.

As I wrote SHE loves me, I wondered, Do men pick daisy petals?

SOUGH is one of my favorite words. I love lying in a tent under huge forest trees and listening to the wind soughing in the topmost branches.

Mari said...

Nice job, Marti and Lemondade!

A couple of early errors really messed me up. I tried ALOE for 30A (Rash Protection), and NESTEA for 46A (First Tea Sold...) I was thinking of bank robbers for 69A. My brain was in all the wrong places today.

Some goodies: I still like Blondie, appreciate Sade's smooth voice, and never miss an episode of NCIS. (I prefer the original over NCIS Los Angeles.)

Fermatprime: I read Runaway Jury and enjoyed it. I like most of John Grisham's work.

Happy New Year to all. Please be safe out there.

Mari said...

Lalalinda and Crossword Girl: Happy belated Festivus!

Avg Joe said...

Brutal workout today, Marti. But with 45 minutes and lots of erasures, I got it done. Misdirects too numerous to cite. Liked the clue for erode a lot. Sough...I'm not so sure of.

Veronica HAMiL came to me with the h and m in place, but it took a while to correct the I to an E. Got SHE right off the bat. And yes, males do pluck daisy petals...or at least I remember doing it when I was c. 5 years old. NCIS was slower to arrive, but it was still the first fill in that area. It's a far superior show to JAG, and is probably my one "Must see TV" program. NCIS LA is pretty good, but a step down.

Well, it's the last work day of '11, so I'd better go about being gainfully unemployed.

KQ said...

Marti, that was a fun puzzle. Great job. Lots of unknowns for me today, SOUGH, CLEM, SADE, SALADA. Needed some usual Friday red letter help, but really liked the theme. Caught on but it only helped me fill in POWER PURCHASING, none of the others.

I love that I can follow a blog that includes the constructors of the puzzles at times. What a gift.

Andrea, where in Iowa you going? MY DH is from Cedar Rapids and we travel there and to Iowa City often. We headed down for Thanksgiving this year, but not for the holidays. DH is way to busy at year end.

Happy New Year to all if I don't return tomorrow.

Steven J. St. John said...

Two days in a row missing the theme even after finishing the puzzle. Like Barry, I thought it had something to do with the repeated first letter. As a construction, that makes the them more elegant, but ironically also made it harder to spot.

I thought the fill was really nice! Not many abbreviations or much in the way of crosswordese.

Anonymous said...

Bank robber is epic.

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.

Thanks for the fun write-up, Lemon. I really laughed at your SLIP SALES comment.

And thanks for all the nice comments. I thought it would be easier for most of you, since I originally intended for this to be a Wednesday puzzle. With the tricky theme, I guess Rich decided it was Friday level.

I'm glad he changed a few of my clues to make it tougher. “Main man?” for TAR was mine, but “Fail to hold-up, as a bank” for ERODE was Rich’s. (I had “Take down a bank”).

It was fun to come up with alliterative reversed phrases that made sense when clueing. As Lemon pointed out, SLAP SHOT might have qualified. But the first word in all my phrases are clued as "merchandise", while I don't think that a "slap" is something you would want to buy!

Anonymous said...

I'm just getting back into doing Crosswords, after an inexplicable and extended break from them, and am LOVING it, and LOVING this blog!! "Sough" ... my learning moment, too, and thanks for the clue explanations on "Main man?" and "Fail to hold up, as a bank", as I drew a blank on the meaning even after getting the right words!

This seems like a congenial brunch of commenters. Hope you don't mind if I jump in once in awhile.

Happy New Year, all!

len said...

@Avg Joe 7:38 am (Yesterday)

You were right. "Panache" is a wonderful word. But it isn't just an ornamental plume on a battlefield helmet.

I was curious so I put "panache" into Google Images and you'll never guess what popped up!

TA DAH!!!


panache

HeartRx said...

Steven J. St. John, thanks so much for stopping by today. I guess this theme really was a Friday if you didn't "get it"!

ant said...

This first video is so sweet, it's going to make your teeth hurt:

Sailing, sailing (0:46)
Over the bounding main
For many a stormy wind shall blow
Ere Jack comes home again

Let's balance that out with some bloody violence and foul language (yes, that was your Corner warning):

SLAP Shot (3:46)

(Btw, for those who care about such things, Melinda Dillon - Ralphie's mom in A Christmas Story - is topless in this movie.)

Spitzboov said...

Good morning all. Thanks for the writeup. Lemon.

IMO this was another great puzzle from Marti with suitable difficulty for a Friday. Hands up for missing the theme, although the theme fills were solvable. Otherwise I found myself mostly on the same wavelength with Marti. I thought ERODE and MLLE were real clever. Did not know SOUGH or 'jejune' so the perps helped. BH loves her LeCreuset cookware and uses it frequently. No searches needed.

Breadboard - we regularly use smaller breadboards to serve sandwiches, pastries or other noshes. Guess we get it from the Germans who tend to use a Frühstücks Brett (or breakfast plank (board)).

Grumpy 1 said...

Good morning, all. Marti, ya done good! I thought it was closer to Wednesday in difficulty, but that might be because I saw the theme with BOARD BREAD and knew to look for the repeated letter and the word swap.

The NW didn't want to fall, even with the obvious KIWI. I was hung up on the idea that the bug was going to be a synonym for harass or a spy activity and I didn't want EVER for some reason. Meade was my choice for the controversial Gettysburg general, but then KIWI wouldn't fit. Hmmm, is there another New Zealand fruit? SLIP SALES kicked out Meade and I finally dredged up the guy that has the same last name as one of my uncle's first name. The rest fell into place.

POWER PURCHASING filled easily enough, but the clue seemed awkward.

Happy New Year's Eve eve to all.

Andrea said...

@KQ - my DH is from Ottumwa. We usually visit there a couple times a year. I'm hoping that the slippery roads here this morning melt off soon... shouldn't have any issues once we get to IA, as it's supposed to be in the 50s there tomorrow. Hence the clubs being lugged along with us.

Husker Gary said...

Thanks for the buggy ride Marti, I DOST enjoy your work! SWALE (not swamp), CLEM and SALADA cost me 2 wrong cells but it was fun and clever. I can’t imagine you drinking the output of a rural still, Marti!

Musings
-BOARDBREAD gave theme right away
-I have an Orange Space Suit, all right it’s a NASA jumpsuit that I use for my space presentations
-The muddy Mo ERODED a lot of banks this summer
-Interesting EWELL info but of course I thought of Pickett and his charge
-Here WE go first
-Do you think Julio and Willie had loved the same girls before?
-SPATTED came to mind for some reason but I knew erudite Marti wouldn’t do that
-If your device simply won’t work, that is probably an easy fix. If it just ACTS UP you probably have an real issue.
-My bride took me ASIS

Lucina said...

Hello, my friends. Lemonade, thank you for your amusing blog and explanations. I really needed them today.

Marti, what a POWERful puzzle you created! I got the theme but with so much obscure fill it was DNF for me.

I can't say "what Barry said" because I did not find this easy.

I had no idea about SLOUGH and even after it emerged, I hesitated.

CLEM, HAMEL,SALADA and EMILS were beyond my ken and I made a list of words meaning "wet lowland" but SWALE wasn't one of them. It finally gave me POWER when the light turned on.

I love NCIS, both of them.

And I AGREE, main man, TAR is brilliant as is fail to hold up a bank, ERODE.

You all have a fantastic Friday!

Husker Gary said...

Andrea, I'm glad to see someone else is taking advantage of our warm winter here in the hinterlands! I hope all your husband's approach shots land "on the brown".

I wonder if you can buy a NEHI in Ottumwa, IA which is Radar O'Rielly's hometown?

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Enough unknowns that I had to skip around to get a whole block filled. Didn't know SOUGH was a word, never met EWELL or HAMEL, figured Heston's big role had to be MOSES. Wanted CAST IRON instead of the pretty enamel on Le Creuset. Caught on at SUIT SPACE and was able to right the ship.

Nice work, Marti! Favorite tricky clue was Main man. Keep them coming, please!

Avg Joe said...

I have to agree with Gary on the output of a rural still. My brother brought back some genuine "shine" while he was stationed in Ft. Rucker during the Nam era. It was in a C.C. bottle and I didn't know it was a repurposed vessel. Yowza! It's no wonder it works so well as a gasoline substitute.

Seldom Seen said...

Ant: I thought you might be linking this clip.

My nephews love to quote this movie while sailing on Lake Erie. "The secret is to let the boat do all the work." Little TARS, they are!

Argyle said...

I remember the old farmers talking about bad drought years when they had to go cut swale grass to use for winter feed.

Swarf is another great word we've had infrequently in the past. It means metal shavings or filings. Or maybe not at all. We have had sough a few times.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Brilliant puzzle, Marti. Love the theme, and clues for ERODE and TAR.

I'm in the "this was really hard" camp. Had A FINE for A THIN, didn't know SOUGH, puzzled over RATIO, wanted BANAL for NANE . . .

I was about to give up and start G-spotting when I suddenly sussed EL CID. NCIS is another show I've never watched, and SADE was a distant, faded memory, so no perp help.

Here is a favorite Debby Harry moment. Alas, no CLEM.

A propos of nothing, here are some amazing shots.

Cheers!
JzB

Misty said...

Until I joined this blog I never looked at the weekday puzzle constructor's name. Now I do and as soon as I saw "Marti" I was excited. And rewarded by a great puzzle, though the SW pretty much did me in.

Could not let go of the notion that the bank was a money place rather than a water place, so put "elude"--as though a bank robber didn't quite manage a hold-up. Duh! Since my cheap cell phone doesn't let me text I'm also going to have ongoing problems with those chatspeak abbreviations.

But I love learning new things. I could have sworn "sough" was pronounced "sow" rather than the defunct coin "sou"--so thanks, Lemonade!

We're going to an early New Year's eve party tonight--grateful to be able to avoid all the drunks on tomorrow's road. The puzzle was a great way to start this day.

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Marti, for a really good puzzle. A few tough spots, but it is Friday, after all. Thank you, Lemonade, for the nice write-up.

Could not get started confidently in the NW, so I headed east. That section got me going.

The SE was tough until I got El CID. The rest came easily. SADE fell with perps. Never heard of them.

Went back to the NW. It all came together after EVER, KIWI, EKGS, and VIRUS. EWELL was a perp/wag.

The SW was my last. It was a bugger. Getting SALADA tea and ENAMELED helped.

I got the theme answers, but never got the theme.

It is in the 40's in Pennsylvania right now. Heading back to Chicago tonight. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

Yellowrocks said...

Misty, my dictionary agrees with you. It says SOUGH rhymes with COW. An alternate pronunciation is sƏf. The soughing of the tall trees is such a sweet sound, I wish it would be pronounced with the sweeter SOO sound (rhymes with MOO), but no.

On New Year's Eve we always go to a late dinner party at the home of a dear friend who arranges many of our trips. As traveling companions we have all become good friends. There are many teachers and several square dancers in the group. After hors d'oeuvres, we eat a fancy dinner at 9:30. Then after dessert we toast the New Year. Great fun. She lives 45 min from here so we are invited to sleep over.

One memorable year, the hostess assembled a part upside down in her chocalate fountain. The centrifugal force spun chocolate everywhere. We all had a good laugh and helped mop up.

eddyB said...

Hello.

One Kindle Touch w Wi-Fi is on its way to Northridge. Had the elves throw in a power adapter.

Happy New Year all. See you next year.

eddy

len said...

Hi again,

Finally finished the CW and made it this far down in the blog after clicking on all the links. Whew!

A Marlon Brando I've never seen, El Cid, The Clockwork Orange, Slapshot, tonal music, National Geographic (I think that UFO cloud above the zebra was photo-shopped) golf courses--I'm worn out!

What a perfect CW for a Friday! Made it through in under 20 mins. with help from a couple of red squares. As usu., didn't figure out the theme before reading the blog and getting the aha moment.

Didn't notice SOUGH until I was reading the blog either. Great word. But I'm wondering about the pronunciation. I checked a couple of online sources and got SUFF and SOW, no SUE.

Had no idea my Panache link would tie in w. Revenue in Lingerie? Honest!

Have a great day, everyone! Marti, you made mine w. your CW!

desper-otto said...

I'm glad to see your sough (rhymes with enough)listing, YR. I just figured I'd been pronouncing it wrong all these years. And from Lemon I learned that the adjective form can be onomatopoetic. I only learned onomatopoeic. And from Argyle I learned swarf. Wow, what a day!

crossword girl said...

Hi, great puzzle Marti, glad you're back Lemon

I did "get" the clue for tar....the clue for M. not so much.

Thanks for the laugh Mari and happy festivus for the rest of us!! love it!!

I hope everyone has a great New Year

Why don't we raise a RED SOLO CUP and have a party?!!

Anonymous said...

33 down is not technically correct since Episcopalians are not Protestant. We are catholic but not Roman Catholic. We were not part of the Protestant Reformation. This is really just nit-picking. It was an obvious clue.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I enjoyed the puzzle today. Thank you, Marti (and Rich). When I filled in SOUGH I said "Woo!" aloud because I was so impressed. Jotted down an "Argh" next to the bank hold-up clue. Loved it! Putting in ALOE instead of TALC messed me up in that area for a while, as did pencilling in SATS instead of GRES in the northwest. Loved the clue for RATIO. Gimmes included LORNA, PETER, EMILS, and NEHRU. (So many proper names!) I know SADE as a singer but didn't know it is also the name of a band.

I had to Googoolala SALADA and CLEM, as well as a few others. Spelled HAMEL as HAMIL at first, which impeded me from getting ENAMELED, which, by the way, I think is another awesome fill.

Like Tinbeni, I couldn't figure out what "Prot" was an abbreviation for. I only got EPISC from the perps, two of which I had to look up anyway.

Didn't realize NCIS was a spinoff from JAG. LW and I like to watch it.

Best wishes to you all.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Fun! I liked the ERODE clue too. Its cleverness caused it to be the last to fall. It also took me a while to figure that the theme answers were reversed, but that fell in time to give me the final themes (SUITSPACE, STILLSTAND and POWERPURCHASING).

LaLaLinda said...

Hi All ~~

A wonderful puzzle, Marti! It forced me into a couple of look-ups, which I hate, but I just couldn't come up with INANE and SWALE. And that was partly because I refused to let go of ORDER PURCHASING instead of POWER. Sigh. Eventually that section filled in but it was tough!

So even though I got the theme ... with SLIPSALES ... I struggled to finish on my own. I had a SnapSHOT-ZinC thing going on for a while, but it finally led to SlapSHOT and TALC. It was fun see the light on a number of answers after a false start or two!

Thanks for a great write-up, Lemonade. It shed light on some of the fine points that I missed ... ie. TAR and ERODE ~~ so clever!

Too many favorites to mention ~~ I really enjoyed this!

Mari ~~ Happy Festivus ~ There will be no airing of grievances. :-)

Argyle said...

For those of you that haven't heard this paean to Red Solo Cup, here's your chance. Clip.(3:44)

Yellowrocks said...

desper-otto,I am rather like Anna in the musical when she sings:

Your servant! Your servant!
Indeed I'm not you servant --
Although you give me less than servant's pay --
I'm a free and independent employé [pronounced "employay"]...(sigh) employee.

In my heart I hear the wind "sooing," then I correct myself, "suffing." At least "suf" is better than "sow," because it reminds my of surf, the lovely sound of the ocean. Nature Girl, here.

ANON @1:10. We do belong to the PROTestant Episcopal Church. This is from ecusa.org, their web page:

The Episcopal Church in the United States of America is often called ECUSA. Perhaps it is more properly called PECUSA (The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America).

Hahtoolah said...

My refrigerator was on the Fritz and was ACTing UP. The repairman came out a few days ago to fix it. Unfortunately, when he left, he failed to turn the freezer back on. I discovered that today. Hmmm... quite a mess.

I hope you all have a very Happy and Safe New Year's celebration.

Ron Worden said...

Good afternoon to all and happy Friday. Great write-up lemon and thanks for the puzzle Marti. I must agree I love when one of the contributors is the constuctor. Took a little longer than usual, but I am just getting caught up with this weeks puzzles. DW and I took 4 of the daughters and 5 grands to snowmountain for a few days on the day after Christmas. Stone Mtn. is so beautiful with lights this time of year. Happy New Year to all and stay warm. RJW.

Bill G. said...

What Yellowrocks said. Fun puzzle. I didn't know sough though. When I figured out the theme, it helped.

Yes, I've watched Runaway Jury several times and enjoyed it.

HeartRx said...

Jazzbumpa @10:43, wonderful photographs you linked. I looked at each one in awe of the talent of that man.

Argyle, DH always has stacks of red solo cups in the pantry - you never know when a BBQ might spring up.

Hahtool, what a time to have your freezer conk out! I've had that happen, but fortunately it was in January. So I just took everything and tossed it out into the snow until I could get the repairman out to fix it.

Re: EPISC, my original clue for that one was "Protestant, Yet Catholic grp."

Hahtoolah said...

HeartRx: It is 75F here today, so putting my freezer food outside wasn't an option! Fun puzzle, by the way. We hadn't seen one of yours in a while.

Mari said...

Anonymous @ 1:10 pm and YellowRocks: Very interestng about Episcopalians. I've been both Episcopalian and Roman Catholic.

75F? Looks like the New Year's party will be at Hahtool's place this year!

For my fellow Festivus celebrators: Onto the Feats of Strength!

Qli said...

Great puzzle, Marti. It was a dnf for me, but once I got to the blog and filled in SLIPSALES, it got more fun all the way down. Except for SOUGH, which was a new one for me.
Fun reference to 3rd Rock From the Sun; a wonderfully goofy show!
thanks, Argyle, for the Red Solo Cup clip! made my day. But then, after the day I had, a few Red Solo Cups of good keg beer would have been welcome.....sometimes Toby Keith knows just the right thing to say. In a slightly profane way.

Avg Joe said...

The sun is setting on another beautiful day in the Heartland. (Relatively, of course. It's 45). Here's a toast at sunset to Tin and everyone else in this Oasis known as the corner.

Alt QOD: Never let your schooling get in the way of your education. Mark Twain.

Tinbeni said...

Jazz:
I really enjoyed the Nat.Geo. 2011 Year in Pictures.
(Plus the other 2011 links at the end).

HeartRx:
The photos weren't all taken by the same man.
In fact quite a few were taken by ladies.

Ron Worden:
When you were at Stone Mountain, you didn't happen to find that pair of sunglasses I left (lost) there back in 1992, did ya?

Mari:
My glass at Sunset was filled with Scotch.
IT's a Festivus Miracle!!!

Avg.Joe:
THAT was a beautiful Sunset.

Cheers!

Yellowrocks said...

The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States is very B-R-O-A-D in belief and practice. It includes the nearer to Evangelical pietistic "low church" branch and the "high church," big on ceremony and closer to Roman Catholic branch.

I became an Episcopalian as a compromise with my "low church" new husband, who became an agnostic upon the birth of our disabled son.

Even though a straying PK, I stayed with the Episc. church because I enjoyed the intellectual freedom. I am somewhat of a rebel and found that the Episc. church accepted that.

I am sort of middle of the road liturgically and belief wise, but quite progressive with societal issues.

We have a saying "Where there are three or four Episcopalians gathered together, there is always a fifth." We are very social.

To those of my dear new friends who will be offline this weekend, Happy New Year.

HeartRx said...

Mari, I'm with you about going to Hahtool's for our NYE party!

Tin, thanks for setting me straight on the photos - I read all the captions, but missed the attributions. My hat is still off to all those artists!

Avg Joe, you mean to tell me, there is a HEART-land?
(B.T.W., love, love, love your avatar!)

lois said...

Good evening Lemonade, CC,et al. Excellent job, Lemonade. I loved your links and comments. LOL'd at the sales slip too. Cute. Fun puzzle with great appreciation for the cleverness and creativity of it all. Great Job, Marti. I first thought it was a little easier for a Fri but that quickly changed. It was perfect. I had the same ahahs as others. Basically what Spitz said. Enjoyed it all.

Love the links y'all put in. Learned 'Panache' -thanks LEN; Paul Newman was in Slap Shot-even his blood is handsome -thanks ANT;
JAZZ: thank you for those photos. Amazing to say the least! My most fav was #24 the male jawfish mouthbrooding. If only men could share our 9 mos somehow. Never mind. With some men I know, our species would never survive. Unbelievable photos. Thank you.

Argyle: LMAO at the Red Solo Cup song. Wondered if they were going to get beer pong in there and they almost did. Funniest thing ever!

Am going to the Professional Bachelor's Party w/flaming drinks, ice luges for drinks, pool table, and a mini Las Vegas. What happens there, stays there too. In addition to other absurd 'fun'-
tastic essentials, I'm also bringing my friend, Red Solo Cups! Santa darlin', you Rock!

Happy New Year everyone.

Bill G. said...

JzB, great photos!

We headed up to West LA for a lunch with Barbara's brother and his extended family. They chose a Jewish deli/restaurant called Juniors. We went there several years ago with them. I didn't care for it much then when I ordered a Bud with lunch. It didn't taste so good. I checked its Born On date and it was over a year old. Today's lunch was very satisfactory. Clam chowder, cabbage rolls, creamed spinach and potato latkes.

No blue skies and gentle sea breezes on my late bike ride today. The fog rolled in and it was cold and damp. Hahtool's weather sounds much warmer. I have it on good authority that the Chamber of Commerce has ordered up a beautiful morning for the Rose Parade to make the rest of the country envious.

Loved Red Solo Cup!

eddyB, you seem like a very thoughtful fellow.

Steve said...

Great, tough puzzle. Awesome write-up. Life is good!

One quib (a little quibble) - I'd describe Sade as the artist, not the band.

Happy New Year's Eve Eve! Now if only I knew someone called Eve!

@Anony-mouse - NEHRU was easy for me given the book I've just finished reading!

windhover said...

Yellowrocks,
As a back-sliding (all the way back) Baptist, yours sounds like a church I could get into. Like your husband's better, though.
I may not be around tomorrow (we're getting a head start on the celebration tonight), so to all my blog friends, high, low, and unchurched, I hope you had a good year and next year is even better.
CA & Creature, a special shout out to you both.

Ron Worden said...

To Tinbeni, no sunglasses and none were needed on our 2nd day it was cold,overcast, and windy. It was perfect for the snow tubing and the snow fort area. My kids and grandkids born here in Fla had a blast. I did meet one of the V.P.'s and general mgrs of the park,and he gave me his E-mail if you would like me to ask him for you. RJW.

Yellowrocks said...

Tinbeni.
Maybe you would like to join our three or four Episcopalians , at least socially, to enjoy a fifth with us. It could be Scotch, even Pinch, if we BYOB.

Annette said...

Nice job, Marti!

Dennis, I'll be happy to help out. Sadly, like most cities these days, especially with so many foreclosures, neighborhoods can be so mixed. The good news, is that buying at this time, you're very unlikely to be joining the Underwater Club. When you have some time, send me a summary of what you're looking for - condo on the beach, suburban gated-community, close to an active social scene, etc.

No special New Year's plan here. What're your plans?

Yes Dennis, if your ears were burning this morning, it was me trying not to blame you for bringing the 'cold front' that had me diving back under the blanket this morning after an early phone call!

Lemonade, how're you feeling?

Annette said...

BTW, that early phone call was announcing my sister that my great-nephew finally arrived this morning - 5 days late! James Quentin, 7 lbs, 20.5 inches.

His photo is my new avatar.

Bill G. said...

James is a very cute little feller. Congratulations to all concerned.

Lemonade714 said...

Annette, I am feeling ok, a little weak and unsteady but none of the bad symptoms; thanks for asking. A nice Friday for me, though all my keepers have returned to their own lives. No dogs here, so it is quiet.

Thanks all for the kind words

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, A DNF puzzle for me today, as I had the same hangups as almost everyone else, but had to come here to fill in the blanks.

I did get the theme, but those ETS and Clem were my downfall today. Thanks Lemonade for a fine writeup and Marti a Very fine puzzle.

I've done the puzzles all week and this was the first one all week that I failed to finish. I've read the blog each evening after finishing up the puzzle, but most nights it is so late that I didn't feel my comments would be read, much less different or erudite.

I wanted to wish happy birthday, though belated, to those who had theirs this week.

Our company is all gone, and our house is too quiet again.

Chickie said...

My daughter and I braved the Mall crowd the day after Christmas so my granddaughter could spend some of her gift money. I'd forgotten what it was like to shop with a 12 year old. She wanted to go into EVERY store in the mall. It took me a whole day to recuperate!!!

A Very Happy New Year to each and every one of you here on the Blog. May 2012 be a year of health and happiness.

Misty said...

Lemonade, sorry to hear you're still a little weak and shaky. Makes it all the more impressive that you're doing our write-ups again. Take good care of yourself!

Bill G. said...

Chickie, I'm a west-coaster too and I always read your comments, no matter how late. I have the same concerns as you; that is, that by the time I'm ready to share my puzzling experience, it's all been said at least twice before. So I try to find something else to talk about.

You were very brave going shopping with your granddaughter. I'm impressed with your stamina. I'm glad my grandson isn't into shopping.

Our neighbor invited us out for breakfast tomorrow. I may bring along a small container of real maple syrup.

lois said...

Bill G: Absotutely posilively take REAL maple syrup. There's nothing better for breakfast or anytime. Vermont's knocked my socks off! I still order it from there. There's no comparison. What do you have? I like how you think.

Annette: Congratulations on the new arrival. Hope mom is ok too. Is JQ a possible nickname? Time will tell. One of my son's best friends is James, a soldier -no, a warrior. Absolutely nothing wrong w/that name.

Lemonade: hope you feel better soon. Thank you for doing the write up for us on top of it all, and then to do such an outstanding job is really impressive.