google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday Dec 4, 2011 Darin McDaniel

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Dec 4, 2011

Sunday Dec 4, 2011 Darin McDaniel

Theme: "Film Café" -Caffeinated punification of six films.

26A. Mideast eggplant-flavored coffee? : THE PURPLE ROAST OF CAIRO (1985). "The Purple Rose of Cairo". Comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen, starring Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello.

37A. Coffee that unleashes your inner prehistoric beast? : JURASSIC PERK (1993). "Jurassic Park". Science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum.

53A. With 65-Across, words describing coffee that's almost too smooth? : THE UNBEARABLE. And 65A. See 53-Across : LIGHTNESS OF BEAN. "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (1984). A philosophical drama directed by Philip Kaufman, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin. Best work of Milan Kundera.

80A. Coffee lover's paradise? : THE BREW LAGOON. "The Blue Lagoon". A romance and adventure film directed by Randal Kleiser, starring Brooke Shields, Christopher Atkins and Leo McKern. It was also a 1949 British film.

95A. Wild West coffee to go? : PONY ESPRESSO. "Pony Express". A western film directed by Jerry Hopper, starring Charlton Heston, Rhonda Fleming and Jan Sterling.

105A. Coffee with a spot in "Guinness World Records"? : THE GREATEST JOE ON EARTH
"The Greatest Show on Earth". A drama film set in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The film was produced, directed, and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille, starring James Stewart, Charlton Heston and Betty Hutton. (The first movie Argyle remembers seeing.)

C.C. & Argyle co-blogging today.

My computer is sick and slow. Badly needed Argyle's help. I like how the coffee puns are narrowed down to films only, making the theme much tighter.

From Argyle: This is our constructor's debut in LA Times. He had his first NY Times Sunday last December. Until I caught on to the theme, this was giving me fits. After sussing the theme, it gave me fits of laughter. I'm a sucker for a good pun. The themeage prevented any big stacking of words but it did produce a pangram.

Across:

1. Carpal tunnel site : WRIST

6. Break down : SOB

9. Former Kiss guitarist Frehley : ACE. The Lead guitarist. Image of Space Ace.

12. Convention label : ID TAG

17. Get on (it) : HOP TO

18. Express lane unit : ITEM. "14 Items or less".

20. Instapundit, e.g. : BLOG. Instapundit is a political blog produced by Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee.

21. Singer Bryson : PEABO. R&B singer.

22. And the following, in footnotes : ET SEQ. Latin: Et sequens (of sequential things).

23. Princess who battled Callisto : XENA

24. Singer k.d. : LANG. Her Hallelujah is so good.

25. Brilliance : ECLAT

Bold30. Hopeful lover's pickings : PETALS. "She loves me, she loves me not."

31. Reebok rival : NIKE

32. Push (through) : RAM

33. At this point : HERE

36. "Baudolino" novelist : ECO (Umberto)

42. Reminiscent of : ALA

43. Terse reproof : TSK

44. Año part : MES. Spanish for MONTH (121. Date opener)

45. Litigates : SUES

46. Scot's refusal : NAE

47. Transitional state : LIMBO

49. Pallid : WAN

50. "It's __!": speakeasy warning : A RAID. Wiki said Speakeasy is also called "Blind pig". New to me. I participated in a few raids. Exciting and scary.

52. 1998 Sarah McLachlan hit : ADIA

57. Swear : ATTEST

59. Belted out : SUNG

60. Et __ : ALII. Masculine formation.

61. Reynolds Wrap maker : ALCOA. Dow-30.

64. Augurs : BODES

69. Conservative : STAID

72. "All I gotta do __ naturally": Beatles lyric : IS ACT

73. Area 51 phenomena : UFOs

74. Tolkien tree creatures : ENTS

78. Is unable to : CAN NOT

83. Help on the way up : RUNG

84. Rival of Paris : ROMEO. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Count Paris is a suitor of Juliet Capulet.

87. Leb. neighbor : ISR

88. "We Got Us" Grammy winner, 1960 : GORME(Eydie)

89. Altar constellation : ARA. Southern constellation.

90. Red, perhaps : RIPE

91. Jack's predecessor : IKE. Eisenhower/Kennedy.

92. Madhouse : ZOO

94. W.'s degree : MBA. W is the only US president with MBA. Harvard Business School in 1975.

99. Etymologist's ref. : OED (Oxford English Dictionary)

100. 1985 Cher film : MASK. Biographical drama film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, starring Cher, Sam Elliott, and Eric Stoltz.

101. Commonly, to Coleridge : OFT

102. Nobelist Pavlov : IVAN. Famous Russian physiologist. 1904 award Physiology or Medicine.

103. Old manuscript copier : SCRIBE. Real old.

113. Palin's "Going __" : ROGUE

114. Prong : TINE

115. Regrettably : ALAS

116. Swelling : EDEMA

117. Asteroid group named for a love god : AMORs. Named after Amor obviously.

118. Change for a five : ONEs

119. It may drop down : MENU. Computer "Drop down menu". Like the File, Edit, View, History in your Firefox/IE browser.

120. Flying movie monster : RODAN

122. Ballclub VIP : MGR

123. Mil. decoration : DSM (Distinguished Service Medal)

124. Duke's era : SWING. "Duke" Ellington, pianist, and big band leader. I hope we get some nice links today.

Down:

1. Sharpen : WHET

2. Van Halen's David Lee __ : ROTH

3. __ dixit : IPSE. Literally"he himself said it", asserted but not proved.

4. Treeless plain : STEPPE. In Siberia.

5. Chef's hat : TOQUE

6. Abs paragon : SIX PACK

7. Verdi opera with Desdemona : OTELLO. Based on Shakespeare's play.

8. Elaine's last name on "Seinfeld" : BENES. Made billions in reruns.

9. It's east of the Bering Strait : ALASKA

10. Italian noblewoman : CONTESSA. Who doesn't like Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa?

11. Brand originally called Froffles : EGGO. "Let go of my Froffle!"

12. Medicinal syrups : IPECACs

13. Pull up stakes : DECAMP

14. Anklebones : TALI. Plural of talus.

15. "This guy walks into __ ..." : A BAR

16. Attend : GO TO

19. Deface : MAR

20. British prime minister before Brown : BLAIR (Tony)

27. GPS options: Abbr. : RTEs

28. Heavy load : ONUS

29. Peanuts character with "naturally curly hair" : FRIEDA



33. Stops : HALTS

34. Friend of Job : ELIHU. No idea. My knowledge on Bible is very shaky.

35. Nagano noodles : RAMEN

37. Malone of "Saved!" : JENA. The little girl in "Stepmom".

38. __ generis: unique : SUI. Literally meaning of its own kind/genus or unique in its characteristics.

39. Was over : ENDED

40. Bring up : RAISE

41. "A thing of beauty is a joy forever" poet : KEATS

43. Heavy load : TON

44. Steep before cooking : MARINATE

48. Moose mating activity : BUGLING. Ever marinate a moose?

49. Stays put : WAITS

50. Shakespeare title starter : ALLS. "All's Well That Ends Well".

51. Contingency plan : RECOURSE

52. Simultaneously : AT ONE GO

54. Strong suit, slangily : BAG

55. K-12 : EL-HI (Elementary-High School).

56. Tack together : BASTE. Ever baste a moose?

58. TV schedule abbr. : TBA

62. Part of OBO : OFFER. OBO= Or Best Offer

63. Words after take or tie : A BOW

66. Wedding promise : I DO. May our husbands and boyfriends never meet!

67. Repeat : ECHO

68. Immigrant's subj. : ESL (English as a Second Language)

69. Discard : SCRAP

70. Bull: Pref. : TAURO. We've had this entry before.

71. Boutros-Ghali's successor : ANNAN (Kofi). Served as the seventh Secretary-General. Succeeded by Ban Ki-moon.

75. Roe v. Wade plaintiff McCorvey : NORMA (Rae). She filed as Jane Roe; Henry Wade represented the State of Texas.

76. Resting places : TOMBS. Rather final, eh?

77. Play with no hand-off : SNEAK. By the quarterback in football.

79. Melancholy, in Metz : TRISTE. Sad. French.

81. 1960s-'70s anti-apartheid activist Steve : BIKO. Died in police custody, South Africa.

82. Earlier : AGO

85. Not in favor: Abbr. : OPP

86. Worthy of : MERITING

90. Update, as a web page : REFRESH

91. Exists no more : ISN'T

92. Like a game in which wins equal losses : ZERO SUM. Stumped me last time.

93. Anthony Hopkins's "Thor" role : ODIN

96. Probiotic snack : YOGURT. Good bacteria.

97. Leveling tool : EVENER. Weak clue regarding what a evener does. It is used in harnessing equipment to a horse or horses so it is pulled evenly, in a sense, on the same level.

98. Wedding invite encls. : SASEs

99. Vast amounts : OCEANS

100. Lea : MEADOW. Hey, LEA is often the answer.

103. Did a cobbler's job : SOLED. Did not know SOLE can be a verb.

104. Stouts, e.g. : BEERS

105. Rail transport : TRAM. Or cable transport.

106. "Ecce __": Pilate : HOMO

107. Austrian expressionist Schiele : EGON (1890 - 1918). I googled his work, quite erotic.

108. Tiny power source : ATOM

109. __ session : JAM

110. Quick, in trade names : REDI

111. Agt. under Ness : T-MAN

112. Display, in a way : HANG

Answer grid.

C.C & Argyle

36 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Fun puzzle today. Loved the puns, and all the movies were well known to me for a change.

A few unknowns here and there (EGON Schiele, PEABO Bryson), but nothing the perps couldn't handle.

Definitely could have done without EVENER.

I know that elks are famous for BUGLING, but had no idea that moose did it as well. As an aside, I have neither BASTED nor MARINATED moose, but I have eaten an elk roast before. I've also had deerburger and caribou (a.k.a. reindeer). All were delicious.

Ihad one error that kept me from getting the "tada!" at the end -- SANG instead of SUNG at 59A. ELIHA looked off at 34D when I first entered it (I was confusing it with ELIJA), but then I forgot about it. After a few passes through the grid, however, I finally changed the A to a U, et voila!

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, CC and Argyle: Interesting puzzle. I started off with a bang, then got bogged down.

I caught onto the theme with Jurassic Perk.

I learned about the Toque from doing crossword puzzles.

Eating moose meat has never been high on my list.

QOD: So live that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip. ~ Will Roger

desper-otto said...

Mornin', CC, Argyle and intrepid Sunday Solvers.

Fun puzzle today. Got the theme easily enough, but had a real problem getting THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEAN. I was absolutely certain that 44D was MACERATE rather than MARINATE and I just refused to let it go. That screwed up both BEARABLE and LIGHTNESS. The LIGHTNESS finally switched on when I realized JENI was actually JENA. Put me 7 minutes over my self-imposed time limit. But, as Spooner would say, I have no pits to nick with the puzzle.

desper-otto said...

However, it did not solve as smoothly as a well-boiled icicle!

Grumpy 1 said...

Good morning, CC, Argyle and friends. I hope your computer problems are soon resolved, CC.

I thought this was going to be really tough as I saw several names that were not on my immediate recall list, but then I would check the perps and find some obvious fill.

Hand up for 'sang' before SUNG, but ELIHU was obvious when Elija wouldn't fit.

Trowel? Nope, this leveler ends in ER. Planer? Aha! Our old friend the EVENER.

Last to fall was the HO_O,EG_N crossing of A_ _ RS. I figured HOMO was much more likely than HObO, wanted EGaN, but an asteroid group named AMars would be named after a god of war, not love, so settled on the 'O' as the most likely.

Lots of fun stuff in this one. Like, Hahtool, I caught the theme with JURASSIC PERK, but it didn't help on the split entry. That film is a total unknown to me.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Lots of missteps today, and definitely some unknowns, EGON and PEABO especially. Can't believe how long it took me to recall Tony BLAIR.

Thanks for your teamwork today, Argyle and C.C. - I hope the computer soon remembers its manners.

Tinbeni said...

Hahtool:
Congrats on your LSU win.

FUN Sunday with my 3rd favorite drink as the theme.
BEERS are my 2nd.
I wonder what's my first ...

Fave was THE GREATEST JOE ON EARTH since I use that term for coffee a lot.

Hmmm, DECAMP for Pull up stakes.
Makes sense since I have DE-planed.
When finished with my grid can I say:
"I'm DE-puzzled?"

Cheers to all at Sunset.

Hahtoolah said...

Tinbini: Thanks! It seems that all my cheering paid off!! LOL!

Slurpee said...

Tin-
In keeping with your liquid theme, I would say you are DE-solved.

Mikey said...

I refused to stop believing that mooses BUTTED instead of BUGLED, so got all messed up in that area. Otherwise a fun Sunday exercise.

And as for SOLED, we all should know by now that any noun can be verbed, especially in crosswords.

Al Shumate said...

The Beatle stole the line "All I have to do is act naturally" from a Buck Owens song which proves my point that the Beatles never originated anything. They always copied everything from their beginning when they were copying Buddy Holley.

Avg Joe said...

Al, In that same light, Buck Owens "stole" it from Johnny Russell.

Act Naturally

You may very well have a point there, but if you wear a hat, no one will notice.

Argyle said...

Act Naturally w/ Ringo and Buck.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Got most of the punny theme fills ok. Very clever to tie it all to coffee; one of my favorite beverages and ice cream flavors. Not too difficult; just a bit of a stemwinder. Unknowns were eventually gotten with the perps. The center came in last. Never saw MARINATE used that way before. Knew Metz was French but could not remember TRISTE. We had MES yesterday. Napoleon defeated Prussia at JENA in 1806. Favorite clue was 119a, for MENU.

Have a great day.

Steve said...

Sweet puzzle, nice write-up, CC and Argyle.

Hand up for macerate and sang. Personal Natick at PEABO and IPECACS, but a SWAG took care of that. Wanted TORME as I'd never heard of GORME, but sanity prevailed.

Not a fan of EVENER, not entirely convinced by the clue for RECOURSE,

@Al Shumate - Beatles - I shouldn't even legitimize your comment with a response. Complete tosh. And it's "Holly", not "Holley".

@Hahtool - have a chat with Mr. Mathieu and suggest that next time he's heading for a TD he doesn't flip the ball to the official before he actually crosses the goal line :)

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I loves me good puns so I loved me this fine puzzle today. Excellent construction, lots of fun to solve. So much going on that I didn't even see a couple of the clues until after I finished the puzzle and came here to read the writeup. Thanks to you both for co-blogging today.

I rather liked the SUNG and RUNG.

desper-otto, funny :)

Avg-Joe, also funny about wearing a hat to cover the point :)

Best wishes to you all.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Sunday morning puzzles are usually a bit too time consuming for me, but I caught the theme early and those answers filled in pretty quickly with just a little perp help.

The only movie I don't remember seeing is 1953's PONY EXPRESS. It eased into the only sensible choice PONY ESPRESSO, although perps SASES (self addressed stamped envelopes) was forgotten and EVENER was a complete unknown.

There were lots of songs that could be linked to singers, David Lee ROTH, PEABO Bryson, k.d. LANG, Sarah McLachlin, the Beatles and Edie GORME

C.C. (or was it Argyle?) mentioned k.d. lang's version of "Hallelujah". Even though I think Ms. Lang is a wonderful singer, I'm not a big fan of Leonard Cohen's song. Even he has said there are enough cover versions and it should be given a rest.

Lucina said...

Greetings Weekend Warriors. Thanks, C.C and Argyle. Laughed at your Lea / MEADOW comment as I had the same thought. Also smiled at your froffles jest.

Loved the puns! Very doable puzzle by Darin and is it happens I am currently reading "THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF Scones" by Alexander McCall Smith so the title related quite well to BEAN instead.

Though I finished this I noticed several errors I had not seen until the blog. TORME not GORME, SANG instead of SUNG and ROSE not RIPE. Just careless as I failed to review my work.

Still I laughed through it.

I owe so much of my expanded vocabulary to cwd puzzles, TOQUE is only one and a host of recent popular culture figures.

I hope your Sunday continues to be joyful, everyone!

Clear Ayes said...

Al Shumate, any relation to Dr. Al Shumate who was the author of books about San Francisco history? The reason I ask is that Dr. Shumate was a member of E Clampus Vitus where he was "Sublime Noble Grand Humbug" (1963-1964). I saw a possible relationship to your comments at 10:37.

For those reader who are unfamiliar with the organization, here's Dr. Shumate's article The Mysterious History of E Clampus Vitus

Husker Gary said...

After chopping and scooping blocks of ice the size of bowling balls at the end of my driveway (thanks to the city) this served as a wonderful respite for this coffee addict Darin! I too loved the puns that kept the movie theme.

Musings
-IDTAG not BADGE, ISR not SYR, GORME not EDYIE, DSM not DSC, IPSE not IPSO
-ECLAT is big in the USA Today puzzles
-Who were you raiding??
-Hoover dam is rife (full of, teeming…) with ALCOA aluminum
-was the first one out in “the bet” (1:47)
-Elaine was the second one out in “The Contest” (4:44)
-ELHI rears its ugly head again
-ATONEGO/ENTS last to fall
-I’m off to google EGON
-The first 45 minutes of Jurassic Park are fabulous to use in a geology/paleontology class
-Never any original music from the Beatles? Really?

Splynter said...

Hi There ~!

It was too small for me to read, so all I could get from the title of the puzzle was "cafe"....and it wasn't til I came here that I got the movie theme tie-in.

Had Pony EXpresso, messed me up.

Had ElihA, too, messed me up.

PLANER before EVENER

HELLO and HI, I AM - before I.D.TAG

My East Hampton UPS truck delivers to the Barefoot Contessa's house.

Work is at 12:30am tonight - yikes ~!!!

Bed Time ~!!!

Splynter

Bill G. said...

As usual, I agree with CA. I didn't care much for Halleluja when I first heard it and it grates on me even more whenever it shows up again.

Odd weather in southern California. It's cold and very dry with humidity down around 25 percent. For whatever reason, cold and dry is a bad combination for me and makes me feel chilled all the time. I don't usually go for a bike ride on the weekends because it's more crowded but I need to do something to get my blood circulating. Watching football isn't doing the job.

Avg Joe said...

Breaking news: The Beatles never did ANYTHING original. You heard it here first folks!! :-~>

CA, I'd not heard that comment from Leonard Cohen regarding Hallelujah, but it rings true. The strangest part of the paradox is that all the covers are so....well....optimistic! They render the original barely recognizable while still doing enormous justice to it all.

I'm not familiar with his entire body of work, but have yet to hear anything that wasn't extremely dark. Very interesting guy, but not somebody you'd want to spend a fun weekend with, IMO. Here's one of his better known tunes as evidence. Famous Blue Raincoat.

ARBAON: said...

Clearayes: Any damage during the ferocious wind? The news said there will be more tomorrow (of lesser velocity) but the most danger then will be from flying debris.

Stay safe!

Abejo said...

Good Evening, folks. Thank you, Darin, Rich, and Joyce, for a swell, but tough in spots, puzzle. Thank you, C.C. and Argyle, for the review.

Got started normally, bouncing around. My first theme answer was JURASSIC PERK. That kind of told me what to look for.

For 60A I put ALIA. I guessed on MARANATE, and spelled it wrong. The last time we had ET ALIA, I put ET ALII, and got it wrong. I am having a tough time with that Latin gender thing. But, that's OK.

Many unknowns that I was able to get with perps. Too many to list, but with patience I got through it. Better than yesterday. I bombed on that.

Had SHOED, then fixed it to SOLED.

See you all tomorrow.

Abejo

Anonymous said...

Spacecraft here. Had a little bit of trouble with this one, but nothing that threw up any big blocks. A fun do; as a coffee lover I appreciated all the puns.
One entry jogged my memory and prompted this blog: if you've never seen 1985's MASK, with Cher and the memorable Eric Stoltz, you owe it to yourself to do so. It is a remarkable, amazing film. It will likely stay with you long after the final reel.

Clear Ayes said...

ARBAON, we've been fortunate wind-wise. We are far enough north-east that the Santa Anas haven't bothered us.

Avg Joe, you're right. Leonard Cohen is an interesting guy and difficult to understand. (At least for me :o)

Lucina, I'm a fan of Alexander McCall Smith. I really enjoyed the 44 Scotland Street series, as well as The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.

Bill G. said...

CA, I'm looking for some new books to read. I enjoyed the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Are there any new additions to that series? I don't know anything about the 44 Scotland Street series. Details?

Lucina said...

BillG:
The 44th Street series is a delightful account of the quirky inhabitants of an apartment building on that street.

Have you read all the Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency series? There are at least six.

CA:
Aren't they fun read? I'm glad to hear you are also a fan. The Unbearable Lightness of Scones is an Isabel Dalhousie series.

Lucina said...

Here's the list:
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
Tears of the Giraffe
Morality for Beautiful Girls
The Kalahari Typing School for Men
The Full Cupboard of Life
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
Blue Shoes and Happiness
The Good Husband of Zebra Street
The Miracle at Speedy Motors
Tea Time for the Traditionally Built

Bill G. said...

I made it a point to read The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series in order. I think I've read them all. Would you recommend reading the 44 Scotland Street series in order also?

Lucina said...

Bill, reading them in order helps to follow the characters in sequence so yes, I would recommend that.

Clear Ayes said...

The Wikipedia article about Alexander McCall Smith lists all his books separated into their series. Many of the books have their own Wikipedia links, so you can read as much or as little as you like about each of them.

Lucina, McCall Smith (or is it just Smith?) is very prolific. He has written more "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" books since "Tea Time for the Traditionally Built". I've read through "Blue Shoes and Happiness". You've reminded me how much I like Precious Ramotswe. She is a wonderful character. I'll have to get back to the rest of the series.

Bill G. definitely read the 44 Scotland Street books in order. Like McCall Smith's other series, each book follows the previous one chronologically.

Lucina said...

Oh, my, I believe my brain is in full addle mode! The Unbearable Lightness of Scones is a 44 Scotland Street novel.

CA:
Thanks. I'll have to check on that as I enjoy Precious Remotswe, too.

Bill G. said...

HBO had a short-lived series of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Usually, I like the book better than a movie or TV show but in this case, I liked the TV series just as well, better in some ways. The actors they chose were excellent.

Mary Bennett said...

hated "red, perhaps."