google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, December 8, 2011 Don Gagliardo

Gary's Blog Map

Dec 8, 2011

Thursday, December 8, 2011 Don Gagliardo

Theme: Oh, Really? - Five phrases starting with an 'O' homonym.

17A. Evian, in Evian : EAU MINERALE. French mineral water.

23A. Thankfully credit : OWE EVERY THING TO ...

35A. One way to serve beef : AU JUS. French for "with [its own] juice".

50A. Sweet treat with an exclamation point in its name : OH HENRY! CANDY BAR. There is no definitive explanation as to the exact origin of the name.

56A. Classic noel : "O TANNENBAUM". German for "O Christmas Tree", Classic clip.(1:57)

Argyle again. Don "Hard G" doing a solo today. Two grid spanners, a season song; a trifle easy for a Thursday but who's complaining. Well, maybe HeartRx because she missed out blogging it but that's what you get if you go traipsing off to Europe.

Across:

1. Bombed : STANK

6. Hindu title : SWAMI

11. Easy letters? : ABC

14. Board : HOP ON

15. Bar mixer : TONIC

16. Mme., across the Pyrenees : SRA.

19. One who can't pass the bar? : SOT

20. Marked for removal : DELED

21. House coat : PAINT

28. Org. concerned with the No Child Left Behind Act : NEA. This time it is the National Education Association (NEA) and not the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), I think.

29. Ambulance arrival sites, briefly : ERs

30. London taxi : HACKNEY. Boston police department has a Hackney Carriage Unit, analogous to taxicab regulators in other cities, that issues Hackney Carriage medallions to its taxi operators.

31. She played Julia in "Julie & Julia" : MERYL. Streep

33. Bohemian dance : POLKA. Not what I'm familiar with.

34. Novelist Ferber : EDNA

37. SASE enclosure, maybe : RSVP

41. Weaklings : WIMPS

43. Place for a large umbrella : PATIO

44. Mooches : SPONGES

47. She turned pro before her 16th birthday : WIE. Michelle (golfer)

49. Sch. with a Mesa campus : ASU. Arizona State University.

53. One of the deadly sins : PRIDE

54. Pianist Claudio : ARRAU. Short but powerful clip.(1:29)

55. __ Tomé : SÃO. Off the west coast of Africa. Map. In 1908, Sao Tome had become the world's largest producer of cacao which still is the country's most important crop.

62. __ Today : USA

63. Joint-forming bones : ULNAE. Forearm.

64. Surface with legs : TABLE

65. Author : PEN so 4D. __ plume : NOM DE. pen name.

66. Tell off : SCOLD

67. Slammin' Sammy of golf : SNEAD. Snead(1912 - 2002) won a record 82 PGA Tour events including seven majors but failed to win a U.S. Open.

Down:

1. Sailor's pronoun : SHE

2. Ode title words : TO A

3. Kwik-E-Mart guy on "The Simpsons" : APU. Nahasapeemapetilon.

5. 1999 Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductee : KNIEVEL. Evel

6. Takes the wheel : STEERS

7. Prolix : WORDY. Word Origin & History: PROLIX - 1412, from O.Fr. prolixe (14c.), from L. prolixus "extended," lit. "poured out," from pro- "forth" + base of liquere "to flow". Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

8. Santa __ winds : ANA

9. "Cool" amount : MIL. as "a cool million"

10. Chipping tool : ICE PICK

11. Make responsible for, as a case : ASSIGN

12. 19th-century literary family name : BRONTË

13. Stuffed mouse, e.g. : CAT TOY

18. Card or Met : NLer. Baseball.

22. Capital south of the Black Sea : ANKARA. The capital of Turkey.

23. "My treat!" : "ON ME!"

24. Whacker's target : WEED

25. Merit : EARN

26. Grand : THOU. $1,000

27. Dutch Golden Age painter : HALS



32. Showed disinterest, maybe : YAWNED

33. Early a.m. wear : PJs. Might see them being worn anytime at Walmart.

35. AKC part: Abbr. : AMER.

36. Daisy lead-in : UPSY

38. Try : STAB

39. Plastic choice : VISA. I chose MasterCard.

40. Decant : POUR

42. Formed by the solidification of magma : IGNEOUS

43. Bookish types : PEDANTS

44. Absorbs, in a way : SOPS UP

45. More than words : PHRASE

46. Buckeye : OHIOAN

47. Put on alert : WARNED

48. Concerning, in memos : IN RE

51. Erie __ : CANAL

52. John Arbuckle's coffee : YUBAN. Decades ago there was a Yuban coffee ad campaign with the tag line: “as John Arbuckle would say, 'You get what you pay for'. Very interesting man. Info.

57. LPN skill : TLC

58. California's __ Nuevo State Park : AÑO. On the southern San Mateo County coast, Año Nuevo(New Year) is the site of the largest mainland breeding colony of the northern elephant seal. Fifty-five miles south of San Francisco, a low, rocky, windswept point juts out into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish maritime explorer Sebastian Vizcaino sailed by the point on January 3, 1603. His diarist and chaplain of the expedition, Father Antonio de la Ascension, named it Punta de Año Nuevo (New Year's Point) for the day on which they sighted it in 1603.

59. 16th prez : ABE. Honest!

60. Form ending : ULA. (formula)

61. Post-op dose : MED. Short version of medicine and for most of us, it's meds.


Argyle

Happy Birthday to Jazzbumpa (Ron). May you never lose the beat. Here is a recent photo of Ron and his beautiful wife Gloria. Here is their ad hoc trombone quartet (from left to right): Ron, Mike, Jeff and Dan. Very cool!

67 comments:

  1. Good morning, Argyle, C.C. and gang - wow, Argyle, you are indeed the blog ironman!

    I had fun with this puzzle, even though I screwed up the top. My ink blot started with me confidently putting in 'Sahib' for Hindu title; 'icepick' fixed that, then I needed lots of perps to see the majority of 'eau minerale'. I also blanked on 'prolix' and needed perps for that too. After that, everything flowed pretty smoothly.

    The only clue that clanged a bit to me was 'grand'/'thou'; it's not ID'd as an abbreviation and it's not even an abbreviation I've heard used very often.

    Overall, very much a fun puzzle, as we've come to expect from either part of our Dynamic Duo.

    Happy Birthday, Jazz, and many more!

    17 & a w/u!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Morning, all!

    Mostly an easy workout today with lots of "casual" fill (THOU, MIL, etc.) A few sticky spots, though. YUBAN was completely and utterly unknown to me and I thought John Arbuckle was the name of the owner in the Garfield comic strip. EAU MINERALE also took awhile to get, owing to my less than stellar proficiency with the Lingua Franca.

    Happy Birthday, Jazz!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good Morning, Argyle and Friends. This seemed extraordinary easy for a Thursday. Even though the theme answers came to me immediately, I didn't catch on to the theme, however, until after I had completed the puzzle. EAU! OWE! OH! O! then it hit me!

    My favorite clue was House Coat = PAINT.

    I vaguely remembered the TV ads for the YUBAN coffee: Have a cup of YUBAN ... for dessert.

    Clear Ayes: I am sending you good thoughts. You have a lot going on, but I know you are strong. All the best to you.

    Lemonade: I hope you are well and can get back to us here.

    A very Happy Birthday to you, JazzBumpa!

    QOD: Like religion, politics, and family planning, cereal is not a topic to be brought up in public. It's too controversial. ~ Erma Bombeck

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mornin' to all,

    Thanks Argyle for the link on John Arbuckle....at first glance I thought it was Jon, the cat owner.

    Guess I'm going to have to make some notes on Simpson characters - the constructors seem to really like the whole cast. Or, maybe they use them so frequently, because they know we wouldn't watch cartoons.

    Just did something wrong...tried to preview...and lost all my thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good day folks,

    OOOOOH, what t fun puzzle from Don G. I had a few sticking points and one or two fills where I had to rely entirely on perps, ie 42D IGNEOUS and 52D YUBAN. I too was thinking about Garfield's owner. Overall though, a doable challenge.

    Thou didn't bother me. It seems to have become a common expression. Sahib came to mind before Swami, but a quick look at the perps solved that dilemma.

    I originally wrote in UPSA for UPSY. Tinbeni, do you use tonic with your spirits or do you take it straight.? I am the latter.

    Jazz, happy birthday.

    CA, hope everything goes well for you and hubby. At last the house is in your rear view mirror.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I also thought it was easy for a Thursday. No over-writes on my newspaper this morning. I liked the clues for WEED and PAINT. And Sao Tomé was a learning moment. Thanks for the map link, Argyle.

    Off to the periodontist...

    ReplyDelete
  7. I completely missed the AU JUS theme tie-in. Nice catch, Santa!
    It looks like the buffoon in the painting might be playing "Stairway to Heaven."
    In honor of Don's writing partner, I really thought Post-op Dose was going to be CCs.
    Dennis - I see THOU as a slang word here, not as an abbreviation.

    -Frank
    hoping JzB gets a little more than TLC from Gloria today

    ReplyDelete
  8. Forgot to say HB to JzB so "HB, Jzb."

    Also, has anybody heard how Lemon is doing? A late post yesterday indicated he was in the hospital.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good morning, Argyle et al.

    A fun time from Don going solo and fairly easy for a Thursday.

    However, the first pass yielded only ANA, SRA and SOT but gradually it all filled especially once MERYL appeared that entire section fell.

    Missed WORDY and DELED as I had WORRY for some inexplicable reason.

    House coat, PAINT is brilliant.

    Yea, ASU!

    Happy, happy birthday, Jazzbumpa! I thought of you last night when I attended a jazz concert loaded with brass instruments and I could see you there.

    George Benson was honored guest and swooned the crowd, especially me!

    Prayers for Lemonade; be well.

    Have a fantastic Thursday, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy Birthday Jazz! And many more!

    I totally missed the theme today and didn't "see" THOU as grand until I came here. Lots of unknown names but I got through it with perps. One problem was misspelling ANKORA and then not seeing POLKA, which should have been obvious if I'd had the A instead of O at the end.

    I think of SAHIB as a form of address rather than a title, so SWAMI came to me when I got ANA. On the whole though, I agree that this seemed easier than most Thursdays.

    As for NEA, the National Endowment for the Arts should be concerned with "No child Left Behind". If they keep emphasizing test results, which are only ever in the core subjects, soon there won't be any arts left in curriculum anywhere--or anything else that is not practical training for jobs, for that matter.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hello Puzzlers -

    Hand up for thinking of John Arbuckle as the doofus that "owns" Garfield. I don't know what coffee he drinks...

    The real John Arbuckle sounds like a fascinating guy. Thanks for that link, Argyle!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I agree with Dennis on Grand/Thou.

    OH, how I screwed up the SW of my grid!

    My new words were: ARRAU, Prolix/WORDY. I can never keep my ALers and NLERs straight.

    Stuffed Mouse: CAT TOY was cute.

    Never had an OH HENRY CANDY BAR. I Prefer Nestle's Hundred GRAND!

    Best wishes to all, especially those celebrating and those ailing today.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Good Morning, folks. Thank you, Don G., for a great puzzle. Thank you, as well, Argyle, for the equally great write-up.

    Could not get started in the NW, so I headed a little south. Started with DELED, then STEERS, then ERS, then NLER. TONIC and ICE PICK came easily.

    O TANNENBAUM was my first theme answer.

    My overwrite area was in the NW. I entered DRUNK for Bombed at 1A. Believe it or not I actually remembered APU (since we get that a lot). Therefore, DRUNK became STANK. EAU MINERALE appeared. So, it all worked. I remembered EAU was water in french, from EAU CLAIRE, WI.

    I also thought THOU was odd because the clue gave no hint of a partial word.

    The BUCKEYE is the state tree of Ohio. The nuts look like the eye of a deer (buck). Therefore, BUCK EYE.

    Happy Birthday, Jazzbumpa, and many happy returns.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ReplyDelete
  14. Good morning to all and happy birthday to Jazzbunpa. Nice smooth puzzle for a thurs. Thanks Don G.,and a great write-up, thanks Argyle. I certainly thought aujus was good as well as a great adddition to a hot roast beef sandwich. Also made me think of a large outside Irish umbrella; Patty O'furniture. I hope Lemonade is ok and best wishes for a speedy recovery to you. Have a great day to all RJW.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Good Morning All, I enjoyed the "O's" theme. AU JUS kind of snuck up on me after the longer answers.

    20A)DELED was a new one for me. At least I don't remember hearing/seeing it before. It held me up for a while because I wasn't sure of KNIEVEL spelling or what "Prolix" meant.

    There were some enjoyable "Smile Out Loud" (almost LOL?) clues. I liked 19A)"One who can't pass the bar"/SOT and 21A)"House coat"/PAINT

    A shout out to our friend Buckeye at 46D.

    Thanks as always for your kind concerns.

    Happy Birthday Jazzbumpa. I hope it is a great one.

    eddyB, get back to us with your "more later". We are worried about Lemonade.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thank you, Don G. for a very nice puzzle. This really taxed my brain, but I was enchanted by the punny clues. I nearby tore my hair out on 6A. Hindu Title. I had 'lil' for a 'cool' amount, so that was not helpful. I finally got 'Swami' - so old fashioned, not common nowadays.

    BTW, 'Mil' clue did not indicate abbr. ? Is that appropriate ? There was a time when I did not even know about such 'nits', - not that I care too much anyway.

    Argyle, your blog was as sweet as sugared rose water. (I'm trying to get away from 'hackneyed' phrases ...)

    I hope dear Lemonade 714, is doing well. I do miss his James Thurber-like gentle humour. He has been through a lot, with his eye problems and all. I just read the short cryptic note from yesterday. Our blog seems to remind me of a newsletter from the WW II veterans.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Abejo:
    Thank you for explaining BUCKEYE. I have often wondered how that name originated.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Argyle: Nice write-up & links.

    Don G. Thank you for a FUN Thursday.

    With the workout MY perps went through I thought this was a tough (but doable) offering.
    EAU MINERALE
    ARRAU (should remember the guy with 3 vowels)
    HALS (Dutch painter I've never heard of)
    All perps. Each and every letter.

    Did like TONIC, ICE-PICK, POUR & SOT. Mini-theme?
    Nope, Hondo, I like my Pinch NEAT!
    So I don't need that ICE-PICK either.

    Jazz, HBD! You get the first Sunset toast!

    Cheers !!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. ALT QOD:` How many legs does a big dog have if you call the tail a leg ? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg. ~ Abe Lincoln.

    'Prolix' sounds like some medical term of an organ that has been displaced from its original position... or maybe its 'prolapse'.

    Have a good rest of the week, you all.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Good morning, all. Nice write up, Argyle.

    Eau me, au my, this was fun! Great puzzle, Don.

    Having just had 'stank up' recently, STANK was my first thought. A quick check of the perps confirmed. THOU came easily since MIL was already there. I thought maybe there would be another one, c-note perhaps. Tuesday or Wednesday, I'd expect MIL to be 'trash bag meas.' and THOU to be be 'How great ___art'. By Thursday, all bets are off and I look for the constructor to intentionally try to mislead.

    Jazz B, have a really great birthday.

    ReplyDelete
  21. How can I turn off that annoying crossword CLOCK?
    It's as much "fun" as a yapping dog trying to get my attention over and over and over and over.
    On your old system I could zoom in until it got hidden in the margin
    but this new system the clock nags and nags and nags
    and nags and nags and nags

    ReplyDelete
  22. A quick look-up of "cool mil" shows it is used in headlines frequently.

    I took my own advice and went back to the Arbuckle link and read the whole thing. Concur with Dudley, fascinating.

    Jon Arbuckle(Garfield) was named for John Arbuckle(coffee). YUBAN stood for his special YUletime BANquet coffee, served at his annual Christmas dinner.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hi gang -

    Thanks for all the BD wishes. Busy BD week here at the corner. I'm on Medicare now.

    This puzzle got harder in the bottom half. Took a while - a long while - to suss the theme. Finally got her done.

    I wanted O Come Emmanuel, but it doesn't fit.

    SOPS UP crossing SPONGES - nice!

    Just realized I messed RSVP/STAB/VISA. For plastic choice, wanted polysulfone, but that doesn't fit, either.

    Gloria's off to T-town to take her mom to the Dr. We're going to grandson Danny's band concert tonight.

    Here's a different take on YO Tannenbaum. We'll be playing this on Sunday - though not quite at the same tempo in the fast section.

    If that isn't enough to get you into the holiday spirit, here's one more ON ME, from The Ad Hoc Trombone Quartet.

    Not quite a POLKA. Oh, well . . .

    Cheers!
    JzB the displaced OHIOAN

    ReplyDelete
  24. I've been accessing the LAT puzzle by clicking on its link on the cruciverb.com page but today it didn't work. Just got a message that the "resource" is unavailable. Went directly to the "source", latimes.com, and saw the new-to-me format. It still isn't as user friendly as the NYT or the CS puzzle formats.

    The clue for 55A read ___ Tom, so was surprised when SAO filled in 'til I came here and saw the missing "e".

    An even wordier clue than "Prolix" for 7D WORDY would be "Propensity for prolixity". Fun to say too.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Happy Birthday @JzB, get well soon @Lemonade

    Well now. Hand up for "mole" as the whacking target first.

    @Barry G - "Lingua Franca" doesn't mean "French"; as a language it was mostly Italian.

    Now - HACKNEY is my gripe today. It's flat-out NOT a synonym for a London taxi. Yes, a licensed London taxicab is a Hackney Carriage, but Hackney is never used on its own. Ask anyone of 11 million people in London to call you a Hackney, and every one of them would say either "What?" or "OK, you're a Hackney, happy now?"

    Amusingly, it's still required that a London cab carries a bale of hay in the trunk, a hangover from the days when cabs were horse-drawn and the authorities wanted to make sure that good care was being taken of the horse. If you've ever taken a cab in London, you'll know that your luggage travels inside with you, mainly because the trunk is very small, and ostensibly it's full of hay. Actually, if you can get a cab driver to open his trunk, you probably won't find a hay bale, but you will find his golf clubs.

    ReplyDelete
  26. More of the John Arbuckle story but with a Wyoming twist. Coffee, Cowboys and a Ranch.

    ReplyDelete
  27. @Steve: I was actually just trying to be funny. But, since you brought it up, it does literally mean "The French Tongue" and at the time the phrase was coined it was, indeed, referring to French (which was the language used by most educated people at the time to discuss things scientific and political). Other languages have become the "lingua franca" over time, and many would say that English is now the lingua franca. But the original lingua franca was, in fact, French.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Oh, Christmas songs! One of My Favorite Things (2:18) isn't really even a Christmas song.

    However, the second one my list is: Dominick the Donkey (2:28) by Lou Monte. If possible, spread this one around. I say it every year, but I'm really surprised this one isn't a Christmas staple!

    And, of course, O Come, Emmanuel (3:39) is just beautiful.

    Cheerz, Jazz!
    And well wishes, Lemon. I'll be thinking about you...

    ReplyDelete
  29. Hello.

    No new word on Lemon (Jason) yet.
    Just got up and haven't contacted anyone or checked the email and gmail accounts.

    Priscilla is a relative and someone with whom I stay in touch.

    Maybe latter we will have a diagnosis and prognosis.

    My glucose reading was 32 last night. Classic hypoglycemic symptoms. Almost went to the ER myself.

    Keep Lemon in your thoughts and prayers.

    Don't forget the Holiday Pottery Sale.

    eddy

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hey, Mr. Lonely, long time, no see.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Actually Barry, Steve's right. The term lingua franca predates modern France, originating in a period when all of Western/Catholic Europe was considered the "land of the Franks" (Arabic Faranjistan). Heck, in Hindi all Europeans are still called farangs.

    ReplyDelete
  32. @Barry G - sorry if my comment sounded snarky, not my intention. However - you're still wrong :) "Franca" are the Franks, and the Franks, for the most part, ain't French. Lingua Franca was actually a very limited language used for trading negotiations amongst the Mediterranean countries. It was mostly Italian, with some Spanish and other dialects thrown in for good measure.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Am so sorry to hear about Lemonade and send my best vibes for a rapid recovery.

    Great Thursday puzzle, Don, and great write-up, Argyle. Would not have figured out the homophone theme without it.

    Thank goodness for the cross of Meryl and Edna, which got me started. Then everything fell into place pretty quickly.

    JazzB, you and my husband share the same birthday: he's 78 today. Have a wonderful birthday, both of you. Am taking DH to the Ritz Carlton to celebrate tonight.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Argyle, how about sharing the wealth? All those "cookies" may cause Dennis harm. Send a couple this way. I'll risk it to keep Dennis safe and well!

    Of course not sure what I'll do when they inspect the good and break out into hilarious laughter.

    ReplyDelete
  35. When I used my FAVORITES to go the puzzle, which was the in the LA Times website, I got a new look to the puzzle. That one apparantly has no red letter option. I googled and found the old version here:

    http://www.merriam-webster.com/game/uclick/latimesdaily.htm

    ReplyDelete
  36. Good morning Argyle and all,

    Another great write up, Argyle.

    Loved Don's puzzle..very Wed.-like. Enjoyed the placement of sponges and sops up.Many laughable fills which is a plus in any puzzle.Fun theme.

    Had to use perps for wordy, as prolix is a new one.I wanted pumice or obsidian for igneous, but only needed the i to see it.I do not know Claudio A__au. DNF those letters. Wagged San, but ended up with Sao.

    Happy Birthday to you, Bumpa. Have fun!

    CA, you know we are all rooting for you and Fred. Good news about the house.Fingers crossed.


    For some reason I had to go thru the Chicago Tribune to get the puzzle. Penning up DH's sports section is taboo.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Hi All ~~

    I really liked this puzzle and it did seem a bit easy for a Thursday ... fine with me! I caught the theme after EAU and OWE and started thinking of other ways to spell the sound. That started me off on the others ... liked having AUJUS in the middle. My last fill was the cross of SWAMI and WORDY.

    ~~ 'Prolix' made me think of 'prolific.'

    ~~ One of my three cats has a favorite CATTOY but it's not a mouse ... it's " 'possum!" There are also various "mousies" scattered around the house. I'm SUCH a crazy cat lady. >^:^<

    ~~ I, too, remembered YUBAN from long-ago coffee commercials.

    ~~ Favorites were 'Mooches' -- SPONGES and 'House coat -- PAINT.

    Happy Birthday to you, Jazz!

    I hope all will be OK with Lemonade.

    Great work this week, Argyle!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Good afternoon everyone.

    Another DNF for me. But I did get quite a few. Had CATnip, which made other perps wrong. Thanks for the interesting write up, Argyle.

    Clear Ayes, My best wishes and thought for you and GAH. I've never had chemo, but it sounds awful. Maybe the discomfort is what makes it work.

    And happy birthday to Misty's DH.

    Cheers

    Happy birthday, Jazz. The pictures of you and Gloria and of the Ad Hoc group are wonderful. And I truly enjoyed Jingle Bells. Thank you.

    Sad to hear fragments of Lemon's hospitalization. Hope we find out more and that it is good news.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Hi all!

    OH,such a fun puzzle! Enjoyable write up, Argyle. Couldn't think of SWAMI and thought PROLIX was some type of MEDicine so didn't fill the north center. But did the rest.

    Happy birthday, Jazz! Thank you for your many gifts of music through this medium. Especially enjoyed watching you personally play (and hearing)!

    Hope the only thing wrong with Lemon is that he's just too sweet! Prayers for him.

    CA, know what a relief it is to finally sell a country property. Hope the packing goes well.

    - PK

    ReplyDelete
  40. Hello everybody. I very much enjoyed the puzzle today and had much the same reactions to it as you all did. Thank you, Don G. And thank you, Argyle, for your interesting comments and links to "further learning."

    Maybe calling it a hackney doesn't make it a hackney :)

    Happy Birthday, JazzB. I admire you a lot.

    Best wishes to you all, and special good wishes to Lemonade.

    ReplyDelete
  41. First things first. Happy birthday JzB! Nice writeup Argyle. You've been a busy blogger.

    Next, unlike many of you, I didn't find this puzzle so easy. The whole bottom part gave my troubles. But I did get it done. I had trouble even with HOPON for board. I had never heard of a hopon used as a flat piece of wood and even looked it up to no avail. Finally the V-8 I had for breakfast kicked in.

    I do have a nit though it seems odd that no one else has mentioned it. Disinterested and uninterested mean two different things. Disinterested means neutral and unbiased like a judge. Uninterested means just what it sounds like, somebody who just doesn't give a darn one way or the other. I would hope that a disinterested observer like a judge wouldn't YAWN though an uninterested person might. I'm curious what Don G. might have to say about this.

    Happy Thursday and good health wishes for all of us.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Misty, holy wow, the Ritz Carlton! That is a very, um, ritzy place! I trust you both will have a fantastic meal and relaxing time.

    ReplyDelete
  43. @Sallie, thanks for the BD wishes for DH!

    @Jayce--yep, we're putting on the Ritz tonight. Because of DH's 2008 stroke we can no longer travel, but we learned last year that we can use those kazillion unused frequent flyer miles at hotels. So we stayed at the Ritz Carlton for free for a few days! I doubt they'll let us use miles for dinner tonight, but it'll be a happy moment of deja vu.

    ReplyDelete
  44. What does "perp" mean/stand for?

    ReplyDelete
  45. 'Perp' is a word coined, I think, by Dennis. It's short for perpendiculars; the letters we get from crossing words filling in some of the letters in the desired unknown word.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Misty:
    Happy birthday to your DH! It sounds like you'll have a great time. Enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Steve, I wondered about HACKNEY, thanks for your humorous edification.

    Anoa Bob, I like the 'propensity for prolixity', but wouldn't that require the entry to be 'wordiness'?

    And I'm having a really, really tough time trying to keep from saying whose butt those cookies remind me of.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Misty -

    A great big HBD to your hubby!

    There's a great dessert there you should try. They place fluffy mousse on top of a round wafer cracker.

    It's called Puddin' on the Ritz.

    Cheers!
    JzB who will not appologize

    ReplyDelete
  49. Well then. If no apologies is the order of the day, then I'll go ahead with these since I was reminded of them while working the puzzle.

    #1 (From my daughter): A pedant walks into a bar. Well, it's a restaurant with a bar. Technically it's a brewpub since it has an onsite microbrewery.

    #2 (True story): I pulled through an Arby's drive through with a friend a number of years back to get a quick meal for his daughter. She wanted a French Dip. The young lady at the window handed me a bag with the sandwich. She then handed me a small covered container. I asked: "What's this?" She replied: "Au Jus." My response: "Gesundheit!"

    ReplyDelete
  50. HOla Everyone, Just wanted to wish JazzBumpa a very happy birthday. I loved the pictures of you and Gloria and of the AdHoc Trombone group. Enjoy your day, week!

    Also, from last evening. CA, I'm so glad to hear about the eminent sale of your house. It has been a long time in coming.

    Also, I'm thinking about you and GAH battling your health problems, and hoping that you can be closer to your daughter and her family vey soon. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

    The puzzle was a DNF for me today, partly because it was difficult for me and partly because I have so much to do and really didn't concentrate. I'll work on it again this evening and see if I can complete more of it before I read Argyle's writeup.

    Have a great day everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Liz Gorski's version:
    AUCOURANT
    EAUDECOLOGNE
    OWEBACKTAXES
    OPIONEERS

    ReplyDelete
  52. You forgot "OH TO BE IN ENGLAND".

    Did you have a point?

    ReplyDelete
  53. On more serious matters.

    CA, I'm happy to hear of your accepted cash offer. That may not be the end-all, but it takes a lot more to derail a cash transaction than a sale contingent on financing. And on the health front I am both saddened by your situation and inspired by your strength. Hang in there! You're amazing.

    Good thoughts in Lemons direction. I hope everything is alright.

    JazzB, Happy Birthday. Blow the night away in celebration.

    ReplyDelete
  54. All right, I stand corrected. I guess you can't always believe everything your college philosophy professors teach you...

    ReplyDelete
  55. For Tinbeni, I mentioned buying a bottle of Old Pulteney 12 for a finicky BIL a while back. I bought a bottle to have in "stock" this past weekend (the BIL liked it and drank the 1st one up in 2 settings). It's sunset here, and the sipping is fine. Salut!

    And for anyone in warmer climes that care, NE has been overcast and snowy most of the day, with around an inch of accumulation. It's not genuinely nasty, but it is most decidedly December.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Went to the link that John28man provided for the CW and it works, albeit with a commercial. Anybody know how to get to LA Times Sudoku? I keep getting a message that the link is broken. What a pain, this is getting so frustrating. Somebody please help!

    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  57. Hi There!

    JzzB,I'm here mainly to wish you a Happy Birthday and welcome to Medicare. You'll love it if it doesnt't get messed up the way some would like it to be!

    I really, really enjoyed the puzzle today, Don Har G. Lots of fun and surprisingly doable for a Thursday. The only one that gave me a bit of trouble was 'prolix'; I thought it was a word in physics, I guess I was thinking of 'helix'. But I refrained from writing anything in until the perps came in to help and the whole thing was a success! Argyle, thank you too. Good of you to fill in. What a sport! (more)

    ReplyDelete
  58. Clearayes, I'm happy your house sale looks completed and you're well on your way to your daughter's area! You are just marvelous handling things the way you do. Praying for you and hoping you'll have some good results froom the new treatment.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Arm wrestling

    A single-elimination arm wrestling tournament was planned. The sponsor was willing to pay the referees $10 a match. He wanted to have a handle on what his cost for referees would be so he asked me. There were 247 people who had signed up. What would be his expenses at $10 a match?

    You might have heard this before or you might find it very easy. I found it counter-intuitive.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Thank you for the sweet wishes, Lucina. And JazzB, how nice that on your own birthday you sent my DH the zaniest rendition of "Putting on the Ritz" I've ever heard. Found the Ad Hoc Trombone Quartet totally charming! Many thanks and hope you have a fabulous celebration tonight!

    ReplyDelete
  61. it was a red letter day for me.
    (oh sorry, the LATimes has now changed it to black!)

    ReplyDelete
  62. Bill G, in a single elimination tournament, everyone but the champion will lose one (and only one) match. With 247 entrants and a cost of $10 per match for a referee, the total cost for referees is $2,460.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Hello.

    Lemon still in ICU but doing a little better. Waiting for a cardiologist to discuss options.

    eddy

    ReplyDelete
  64. EddyB, did Lemonade714 have a heart attack or some kind of blockage? I don't think you ever said what happened to put him in the hospital in the first place.

    ReplyDelete
  65. eddy:
    Thanks for the update. Do keep us posted, please.

    ReplyDelete

For custom-made birthday, anniversary or special occasion puzzles from C.C., please email crosswordc@gmail.com

Her book "Sip & Solve Easy Mini Crosswords" is available on Amazon.

Please click on Comments Section Abbrs for some blog-specific terms.

Please limit your posts to 5 per day and cap each post length at about 20 lines in Preview mode.

No politics, no religion and no personal attacks.