google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday January 29, 2012 John Lampkin

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Jan 29, 2012

Sunday January 29, 2012 John Lampkin

Theme: "Oh, You!" (O U) - OO is replaced by OU in each familiar phrase, all resulting in sound change.

23A. Parasite extermination overkill? : LOUSE CANNON. Loose cannon.

34A. Lead actor in a war movie, at times? : SHOUTING STAR. Shooting star.

56A. Bit of culinary class practice? : FLOUR EXERCISE. Floor exercise.

75A. Do-gooder's long-term goal? : ROUT OF ALL EVIL. Root of all evil.

96A. Cause for repeated whistle-blowing? : CHAIN OF FOULS. Chain of Fools. This refers to the Aretha Franklin song, no?

110A. Lily-livered takeover? : CHICKEN COUP. Chicken coop. Vowel sound is the same, P becomes silent.

42D. Stratosphere or euphoria? : HIGH NOUN. High Noon. Quite a suspenseful movie.

53D. Gloomy train station? : DOUR STOP. Door stop. Very seldom do we see non-theme entries have the same number of letters as the theme entries. But the ? marks in today's theme clues should prevent any theme & non-theme confusion.

Most of the sound changes involve long /oo/ to /ow/, right? Pronunciation remains the most difficult part in my English learning. My spoken English is so poor that I'm often quiet in gatherings. You'd think I have autism.

Quintessential John Lampkin puzzle. A pangram. Fun theme. Light and witty clues. No helper squares. The more I construct, the more I realize how much discipline it needs and how much extra work it involves not to use helper squares.

Across:

1. One may be shot on location : SCENE. "Shot"/"Shooting" often refers to movie/TV/photo in Xwords.

6. High seas cries : AHOYS

11. Its debut airing was "Gone With the Wind" : TCM. And 72. "Gone With the Wind" plantation : TARA.

14. Runs in place : IDLES

19. Ready followers? : OR NOT. Here I come.

20. Disney duck : DEWEY. Donald Duck's nephew. Huey, Dewey & Louie.

21. "I get it now!" : OHO

22. Quaffed : DRANK

25. Web : NET

26. Half an ice cream flavor : TUTTI. Tutti-frutti.

27. Front : FORE

28. Plus and minus: Abbr. : OPPS. Opposites? I was thinking of "Antonyms".

29. Striped cat : TIGER

31. "__ trifle!" : A MERE

32. Speaker's opening, often : ANECDOTE. Boomer has a lot.

36. Mouse catcher : OWL

37. Cavs, on scoreboards : CLE. Cavaliers/Cleveland.

39. Patriot Silas : DEANE. First US diplomat.

40. Word after a trip : OOPS. Not traveling trip.

41. Togo neighbor : GHANA

44. Easily startled : SKITTISH

46. Mart opening : WAL. Walmart pays lot of taxes, unlike the likes of Google, Apple & Microsoft, which seek tax haven offshore. Ireland, wherever they can get a tax holiday.

48. Not exaggerated : LITERAL. Billions of tax cheat for the above companies, no exaggeration.

50. '30s Army bomber : B-TEN

51. Shapes again : REMOLDS

55. Insurance fig. : AGT

60. Games org. : IOC (International Olympic Committee)

61. Kids often groan about them : CHORES

63. Borscht base : BEET. I like pickled beets.

64. Boot from office : OUST

65. Blue shade : AQUA

66. How Santa dresses, for the most part : IN RED. Hi Santa!

67. Building sites : LOTS

68. Say "yea," say : VOTE

69. Rashly reveal, with "out" : BLURT.

70. Ages and ages : EONS

71. Shed : MOLT

72. Slapstick actor Jacques : TATI. Of "Mon Oncle" fame. Learned from doing Xword.

73. Not apt to crow : MODEST

74. Bemoan : RUE

78. 4 x 4, for short : UTE. Only in Xword.

79. __ of Hanover: pretzel brand : SNYDER'S. I don't eat pretzels. Wiki said it's "the #1 pretzel company in the United State".

81. Detroit River outlet : ERIE

82. Off base : IN ERROR

84. Former rib? : EVE. Funny clue. Eve was made of Adam's rib.

85. Brutus, for one : ASSASSIN

88. Sounds of hoarse play? : RASPS. Great wordplay. Very Lampkin.

89. Email: Abbr. : MSGS

92. Searches thoroughly : SIFTS

94. Foreigners' subj. : ESL. English as a Second Language.

95. Dairy aisle amt. : DOZ (Dozen)

99. Exposes : LAYS OPEN

104. Three-time Oscar-winning composer Maurice : JARRE. Unknown to me. He composed "Lara's Theme". "Dr Zhivago" is so good. Some classic movies, like CrossEyedDave's "African Queen" & "To Kill a Mockingbird", just do not resonate with me.

105. Metaphor, e.g. : TROPE

106. Drop shot : DINK

107. Enjoyed a Harley : RODE. And 109. Harley, e.g. : HOG. Look here. Marisa Miller is Harley's spokesmodel & Dennis' favorite Angel. I bet Splynter likes her too. He seems to like girls with long legs.

108. Juke box favorite : OLDIE

113. Smooth combination : BLEND

114. Dodge City-to-Topeka dir. : ENE

115. App for European train travelers : iRAIL. Gimme for Marti, who just traveled there. I'm in awe of Marti's talents. She speaks French, German, Finnish and some other languages.

116. Partly edible agave that sounds disgusting : YUCCA. Yuck.

117. Belts out : SINGS. 120. Belter Merman : ETHEL. She sure could belt.

118. Some Windows systems : NTS

119. Pasta al __ : DENTE

Down:

1. System of musical syllables : SOL-FA. New word to me.

2. Emulate Harry Connick Jr. : CROON. He's quite handsome.

3. Make used (to) : ENURE. And 6. Get used (to) : ADAPT

4. Payload container : NOSECONE. Rocket.

5. When a chanteuse gets hot? : ETE. Another fun clue. Very very hot song.

7. Nag : HENPECK.

8. Has title to : OWNS

9. USN clerk : YEO. No abbr. hint is needed, Spitzboov/eddyB/D-Otto? (Added later: My bad. USN is a hint. Thanks, Grumpy.)

10. Versatile instrument, briefly : SYNTH. Alright, synthesizer.

11. They wag at parties : TONGUES. Got me.

12. Fastest feline : CHEETAH

13. Aleve alternative : MOTRIN

14. Dog collar dangler : ID TAG

15. Jam session feature : DRUM SOLO. Dennis idolized Gene Krupa when he was a kid.

16. Not on time for : LATE TO

17. Snare : ENTRAP

18. Ones needing a lift : SKIERS. Ski lift for Marti.

24. Chilly : COOL. 34. Chilling spots : SETTEES. Another great clue.

30. Salt additive : IODINE

33. Towered over : DWARFED

35. Most fresh : NEWEST

38. Opera 45-Down : LIBRETTO. 45. Original words : TEXT. I don't get the "Original" part.

41. Harding Icefield sights : GLACIERS. Alaska.

43. Court figure : ATTORNEY. 62. Court matter : RES

44. __-mo : SLO

47. __ Zion Church : AME

49. Green and Gore : ALS

51. Get up : RISE

52. Cordials : LIQUEURS

54. Disperses : SCATTERS

57. Aptly named fastener : U-BOLT. U-shaped.

58. Like transients : ROOTLESS

59. __ pie : CUTIE

65. Munic. official : ALD

67. Reed and Rawls : LOUs

68. Carousel circlers : VALISES. Baggage carousel.

69. Lively Spanish dances : BOLEROS. Jackets too.

71. To a greater degree : MORE SO

73. Not maj. : MIN (Minor)

75. Give some gas : REV

76. Come clean : FESS UP

77. Sportscaster Scully : VIN. Been with the Dodgers forever.

80. Wanting : DESIRING.

83. Salon option : RAZOR CUT

85. Insult : AFFRONT

86. Slapstick trio : STOOGES

87. Like hanky-panky : ILLICIT

89. Taking orders at the drive-thru window, etc. : McJOBS

90. "Want me to?" : SHALL I

91. Herb __ : GARDEN. None here. I only like chives.

93. Like some logical propositions : IF THEN

95. '60s sitcom star Dick Van __ : DYKE

97. Essentials : NEEDS

98. Massenet opera about a legendary Spaniard : LE CID. No idea. About El Cid. Very helpful clue.

100. Joint just above ground : ANKLE. I felt stupid not nailing this one.

101. Dog : POOCH

102. Elicit : EDUCE

103. Sherpas' land : NEPAL

106. Zoologist Fossey : DIAN

111. Otto I's realm: Abbr. : HRE (Holy Roman Empire)

112. "The Eyes of __": 2005 PBS science show : NYE. Featuring Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Answer grid.

I'd like to share with you this wonderful clip Bill G brought to us last week.

C.C.

71 comments:

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

I had to chip away slowly at this big challenger. The theme popped out quickly, having been pretty well hinted at in the title, but even so there was a bit of head scratching. Plus, I had to take a Technical DNF because I never heard of a drop shot/DINK or DIAN Fossey. Had to red letter that.

I can't stand Harley Davidson motorcycles! Even if Marissa Miller herself personally delivered one as a gift, I wouldn't have it. Wretched machines.

Dudley said...

Morning, C.C. -

I didn't get that original words connection either.

As for the sound change, unless I missed one, they all change from oo to ow except CHICKEN COUP, but of course coup is French and pronounced coo in either language.

I wonder whether any mainstream language has as many irregularities - spelling, pronunciation, and verb conjugation - as English. I wish it hadn't evolved that way.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

I got the theme pretty early on, which helped immensely as I slogged through the rest of the puzzle. Things started off a little rough, though, after putting MOUSE CANNON at 23A and wondering what the original phrase was supposed to be... Also, "Chain of Fools" meant nothing to me and I kept trying to fit in a variation of "Ship of Fools" instead. It was also a bit odd to see ROOTLESS in the middle of the grid, since all the theme answers had OO swapped to OU.

The puzzle was fine overall, although I thought the cluing was a bit off in spots. BOLERO, for example, is defined as "a genre of slow-tempo Latin music," so it was odd to see it clued as "lively" at 69D.

Learning moments for me today included IRAIL, JARRE and LECID.

Middletown Bomber said...

Nice puzzle offering slogged through the answers noticed the theme but did not process it must be I had a hard saturday night.

there are two companies in hannover, PA that make pretzles the other one is UTZ (they make better potato chips) come to think of it Snyders bought out UTZ about a year ago.

enjoy the rest of your sunday thanks for the write up.

HeartRx said...

Good morning C.C. et al.

When I saw this was one of John Lampkin’s creations, I rubbed my hands together in glee. I knew we’d be in for some Pun-ny stuff and clever misdirection, and I wasn’t disappointed!

I had “aha” instead of OHO at 21 a, so it was a bit of a slow start. Once I got that cleared up with MOTRIN and TONGUES, it was off to the races.

I just loved the clue for YUCCA, but my favorite entries had to be LOUSE CANNON and CHAIN OF FOULS.

Believe it or not C.C., I got stuck on the I-RAIL clue, because I kept thinking of the EURAIL pass !! Also had no idea of LE CID which crossed it. Duh, finally saw “app” in the clue, and the “I” was the last letter I needed to finish the puzzle. But I still wondered about “LECID” – it looks like the adjective form for lecher…thanks for clarifying!!

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, C.C., and friends. Although I caught on to the theme early on, I still found this puzzle difficult. There were some really clever clues, though. I especially liked:
Former Rib = EVE.
Word after a Trip = OOPS
Joint just aboveground = ANKLE.

DIAN Fossey was murdered by poachers.

I learned that a Cat is not a Mouse Catcher, but an OWL is.

I tried Dunk instead of DINK for a Drop Shot.

This is my favorite Striped Cat.

QOD: The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep. ~ W. C. Fields.

Barry G. said...

Speaking of striped cats, this is my favorite... ^_^

Hahtoolah said...

Barry G: Thanks for reminding me of Red Dwarf!

desper-otto said...

Good morning, Sunday Solvers!

This one ran over my self-imposed time limit, but I finally finished it. I had several initial OOPS moments: ONLEAVE/INERROR, SEGUE/BLEND, LAYSBARE/LAYSOPEN, EVOKE/EDUCE, but they all worked out OK.

CC, a naval clerk is a yeoman. I never heard it called simply yeo. And I believe in Christian churches they refer to the "text" when they cite the Bible verbatim. At least that's what popped into my mind from the clue.

The final letter to fall was the "N" in HIGHNOUN. I didn't recognize it as a theme entry and I'd never heard of SNYDERS, so I had to work my way through the alphabet...all the way to the V-8 can.

Have a great Sunday, everybody.

Splynter said...

Hi There ~!

I have to admit, I had to red-letter to finish this one, as well - I had MOUSE CANNON, as well, and musical syllables was not coming to me. I also had PROW for Front, which didn't help, either....

Got the theme at DOUR STOP, loved HIGH NOUN the most

hand up for AHA/OHO, SEGUE/BLEND

Thanks for all the compliments yesterday ~!

Splynter
- also a big fan of girls with long legs....

Lucina said...

Hello, C.C. and fellow puzzlers. It's always great to "see" you, C.C.

Like Marti, I silently whooped with glee when I saw John Lampkin's name.

I found a toehold in the NE and finished that corner which helped me spread out from there. Loved the theme which emerged with SHOUTING STAR.

Had to look for the correct spelling of LIQUEUERS as I don't believe I've ever written it before.

Re: TEXT I understood that to mean any written wordsas TEXT book, since it refers to the opera in a LIBRETTO.

Dudley:
As a teacher of ESL no one wishes more than I that English were simpler!

One DNF at FORE as I couldn't equate it with front. Anyone?

Thank you, John Lampkin, for so many clever clues!

Have a fantastic Sunday, everyone!

Lucina said...

I have loved Maurice JARRE's music since the first time I saw Dr. Zhivago and learned he was the composer of the sound track.

He died about two years ago.

Husker Gary said...

I agree C.C., John’s puzzle was fun, light and just enough spice to make it interesting. Even “can’t gets” were sufficiently perped (LECID, TATI, TROPE & SOLPA)

Musings
-Bedbug problem at UNL may need a LOUSE CANNON
-Ends of basketball games can be a CHAIN OF FOULS
-Did Truman beat Donald’s nephew in ‘48?
-If you stand still at Wal Mart, everyone in town will pass by eventually
-The IOC often falls short of Olympic ideals
-80% of the peeps I know drive 4 x 4’s but I have never heard the word UTE pass their lips. SLC athlete?
-I’m glad they didn’t have those shorts in Marisa’s size
-Many of those NOSECONE payloads have improved life on Earth
-Some Chicago ALD’s would be at home on the IOC
-Not Herb ALPERT

Lucina said...

Oops. Still didn't get LIQUEURS right

Maurice JARRE died in 2009.

Dudley said...

Hand up for Herb ALPERT!

I didn't know we had Red Dwarf fans on the blog. Danny John-Jules was an awesome Cat, and my favorite character was the second version of Kryten, performed by that hilarious Canadian Robert Llewellyn.

Red Dwarf turned a dwarf budget into great entertainment!

Oh, THAT Dian Fossey, the one whose life was ended by worthless thieves of black market gorilla meat. Grrr.

Avg Joe said...

Good morning C.C. et al.

Agreed, a John Lampkin byline is a good sign. And the punnishment in this one didn't disappoint. Technical DNF for me since I didn't know LeCid or IRail. I started with El Cid, so I had the I, but then after the EL got reversed by perps I figured that the _Rail had to be E not I to signify Euro...Oh well. It was a fun solve.

I'd wager that there isn't one straight male in the US over 40 that doesn't think of Bo Derek when they hear or even read the word Bolero

Grumpy 1 said...

Good morning C.C. and friends. This was a really fun puzzle from JL.

The theme was obvious for me with LOUSE CANNON and I rolled through the puzzle easily until I hit CHAINO???? The problem was that I had completed the SE and was absolutely sure that anything involving a legendary Spaniard would be EL CID. STOOGES and HOG were obvious, but I went with SorTS instead of SIFTS. That kept me from seeing IF THEN and AFFRONT for the longest time. It finally resolved when I remembered that I had worked another puzzle that had LE CID (El Cid across the Pyrennes?).

C.C., USN is an abbreviation, so YEO as an abbreviation for Yeoman didn't need any additional indication.

Lots of fun stuff in this one. Thanks, John.

CrossEyedDave said...

(continuation from yesterday)
i don't know how i did it, but i just discovered that Google+ thinks i never entered a profile, (although, clearly, it's there.) whenever i try to edit, it brings up the "introductory" screen. while tinkering, i got a msg that my profile was not on file???

Had a huge V8 moment Friday with Marti's (HeartRx) puzzle. it had never occurred to me that you guys were constructors, i just thought you were really smart. (i guess you are) Please forgive my ignorance...

Speaking of ignorance, i had requested the need for an FAQ, then a comment in yesterdays blog made me look again at the right side of the Blog. Olio,,, Doh,,, another V8 moment!

Love the pics, cant wait to add some of my own if i can figure out this edit profile dilemma.

Oh, Lemonade, i think i got heckled by an Anon yesterday, does this mean i am no longer a Newbie?

Dudley said...

Avg. Joe - I think you have a point there about Bo Derek. Ravel's Bolero is, for a certain swath of the population, irretrievably tied to her. Lovely to look at, too bad she had an IQ somewhere on the scale between Giraffe and Geranium.

As Bolero is usually orchestrated, it gives us a rarity: an extended bassoon solo.

Virginia said...

This was my first Sunday puzzle and I'm very glad it was a John Lampkin puzzle! It was fun, I liked - and got - the theme fairly early. It kept my interest long enough (1 hr. 17 min.) that with very little help from the red letters(6 or7) I actually finished it. Hopefully I'll never spend that much time on a crossword again. Technically a DNF but major fun and feeling of accomplishment anyway!

Grumpy 1 said...

Long before anyone had heard of or seen Bo Derek, BOLERO was voted, in some campus poll, as the best song for making love. I had a 33-1/3 album by the Cincinnati Philharmonic Orchestra that ran about 17-1/2 minutes. It started very soft and slow and built through multiple repetitions of the theme to a faster paced, thundering crescendo. Oh yeah, baby! Much better than the "Ten" soundtrack version.

desper-otto said...

Lucina, on a ship you have fore (front) and aft (rear).

Never saw "Ten", so I don't equate Ravel's Bolero with Bo Derek. Did I really miss anything?

Spitzboov said...

Good morning C.C. and all.

C.C. re: 9d, YEO. While the answer was clear from the context and the perps, the standard DOD abbreviation is YN. To satisfy the min. 3 ltr. fill req't, the constructor would have had to pluralize it (YNS). Here is a picture of the YN E-6 (NCO) rating badge. I've always like the representation of Yeoman by the crossed quills.

The overall solve went fairly well ending up at the W Center. ÉTÉ was a gimme and I WAGged at JARRE and MCJOBS. Liked the OOPS clue and the FESS UP fill. Got the O ➜ U theme early on. No look-ups needed.

Have a great day.

Dudley said...

D-Otto - the movie Ten has an older Dudley Moore lusting over the younger Bo Derek. As the story goes on, we get to that improbable place where she is willing to sex it up with him, even though she is a newlywed. To his surprise, she has an awareness of classical music, and chooses Bolero as the soundtrack for their assignations.

I don't think I'd run out and rent it.

LaLaLinda said...

Hi Everyone ~~

I remember John Lampkin stopping by last week and hinting about an upcoming "Oh, you" puzzle ... I was happy to see it today. Really fun theme answers!

Sunday puzzles always take me a while to finish and this one took even longer than usual. I had a lot of false starts: 'Mouse' before LOUSECANNON, 'Scale'/SOLFA, 'Cat'/OWL, 'Atwork'/MCJOBS, and for 78A '4x4for short' - SQU/UTE.

Like others, I also had 'El Cid' at 98D and felt really good about it so it took some undoing to finally change it to LECID and get CHAINOFFOULS. I really liked this answer! Other favorites: 'Off base,' (I was thinking baseball) 'They wag at parties,' and "Former rib.'

I always enjoy your write-ups, C.C. You cleared up my confusion in a few places. One I'm still in the dark about is 34D 'Chilling spots' - SETTEES. I'm sure you would have explained it if there was some obscurity involved so I'll probably need a V-8!

Spitzboov said...

LaLa - A SETTEE is a medium sized sofa with arms and a back. If you are sitting on or 'chilling out' on one, then that would be the spot you are chilling at.

eddyB said...

Hello.

Didn't hesitate to fill in YEO
for 9D but, never heard it called that. The abbr for Yeoman is YN.

Brian stopped by yesterday to show us his XF Jaguar. Sweet! I wanted
to take a shower before getting in it.

Have been having hockey withdrawl.
TG the all-star game is on NBC-4ET.

Only 55 days to St. Pete and the start of a new season. Hope they have Runway 7 miced so we can hear the cars spooling up to 10k rpm.

Finally out of bed after spending
18 hrs/day there.

Take care. eddy

desper-otto said...

LaLaLinda, I just took it to be a place where you could chill out (ie relax).

eddyB said...

Oh, Hats off to those who do this on their iPads. Drove me nuts.

eddy

LaLaLinda said...

{Hand to forehead} Thanks, Spitzboov and desper-otto. I knew of settees, but wasn't thinking of that meaning for 'chilling.'

xyz said...

Smooth sailing? Not this one, to use the sailing metaphor, I tacked my way across and down this one. well-doe, a few shaky clues but overall very well done.

Solving the theme helped me a lout, errr a lot. kept at it and scored 100%. Had to ... :-)

Also had MOUSE for louse for a while

Could have gone golf on FORE and TIGER on same line ... Robert Rock beat him and Rory McIlroy in AbuDhabi today.

another :-)

Irish Miss said...

Good afternoon, everyone:

Like so many others, I got the theme right away, but in certain places, it was all downhill from there! I can't believe the mistake I made in one area and, even worse, not being able to figure it out. Shame on me.

It was a great puzzle with clever cluing and a typically enjoyable write-up by CC-thanks.

Have a nice, relaxing Sunday all.

Lucina said...

desper-otto:
Thank you! It's such a disadvantage to be so sports challenged, even with boats and ships.

Anything I do know about them I have learned through crosswords.

Of to a birthday party for my sis (69) and her great-grandson (4).

Gorgeous weather today!

Anonymous said...

Aka: Anosmia

What a “fun” puzzle this was! Took just 15 seconds less than an hour before the “tada” screen roll-up with no look-ups or red letter help.

Actually got the theme today which I usually forget to look for. Favorite answers were “louse cannon” and “chicken coup”.

Although this is my first post here, I’ve been following the blog since October when I found the LAT daily puzzles were available to do online at the Puzzle Society site where I’ve been doing crosswords for around 10 years. My thanks to CC and all the blog writers and posters for the entertainment and information.

AND my apologies for being “anonymous” but I don’t like to sign up for web connections I don’t quite understand.

Anonymous said...

Aka: Anosmia
Sorry for the double post. Can't find the "garbage can" mentioned on the help page to delete the first one.

HeartRx said...

Anonymous, we don't bite here. But I respect your hesitancy at signing up for anything on the internet these days.

Perhaps you would consider signing your posts with some distinguishing name or initials, like -PK- (another anonymous) does. Then at least we would all know who is "talking" to us. Thanks for joining in the fun today.

Argyle said...

My favorite mistake today was MOUSE CANNON. Maybe in another puzzle some day.

not-Anosmia said...

Anosmia, just put your handle where it says "Name/URL". I wish PK would. There is no sign-up or anything; it's just that anyone else could still use it. Only those that are 'blue' can't be duped.

I took care of your first post.

Argyle

John Lampkin said...

Greetings all, and thank you so much for the kind words. It's so nice to be appreciated. C.C., you have a great eye and ear. Blogging has made you a sharp constructor, and vice versa! "Oh, you!"

For those of you who wondered about the pronunciation shifts, they don't concern me in this type of letter shift. For me, this is primarily a visual/spelling gimmick, not an aural one.

I'm glad LOUSE CANNON landed well. That was the seed entry from two years ago when I started this theme list. I remember laughing out loud when I thought of it. But then again, as one of my students put it, "Mr. Lampkin, you are so easily amused."

My next Sunday puzzle will be Presidents Week. It might give you a ruff time...

Annette said...

Nice work, John! Getting the theme helped fill in a couple spots for me.

My favorites were:
84. Former rib?: EVE.
88. Sounds of hoarse play?: RASPS.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Before I read your comments today, I want to thank Lemonade for linking to that clip last night at 9:29PM. What a blast from the past! That place used to be a great Wanamaker's department store, and was a common meeting place. "Let's all meet under the eagle at Wanamaker's in an hour." We used to love listening to the organ concerts there. They used to have water fountain shows too; don't know if they still do or not. Wow, such fond memories.

Now to read your comments.

Yellowrocks said...

Fun puzzle and write up, CC. I am still laughing at the amazing and awesome clip from Bill G. and CC.

The last to fall today for me was LE CID and IRAIL. It had to be, but it looked weird.

"Sports Ute" is commonly heard here. I guess I just have accepted UTE as a short cut. I hear UTE alone is acceptable in OZ.

TMC=Turner Classic Movies.

I have been enjoying this blog the last few days, even though I haven't posted. Marti, Splynter, and Lemonade always amuse and enlighten me. No matter how rushed I am, I MUST read their write ups. Thanks to all my new friend here for your fun contributions.

Anosmia said...

Arygle,
Thanks for the help. Will try that for this post.

HeartRx,
Thanks for your friendly words. My choice to be "anonymous" was based on avoiding unwanted ads and offers, not a concern about unfriendly responses. This is a really enjoyable group and I've learned quite a bit here.

Yellowrocks said...

My all consuming project: I am facilities manager for our church. In the spring of 2010 a major mobile communications company leased space on our church roof for a cell tower, disguised under a steeple they would supply. The company had to reinforce the front of our building with steel beams placed inside, requiring the tearing apart and reconstructing of several rooms. After many snafus they were finished by March 2011.

But the steeple caused major leaks from the day it was installed. The mobile company had the roofer repair the outside interface of the steeple with the roof repeatedly to no avail. Tropical storm Irene last Aug. and the storm the next week caused considerable water damage. After 18 months I finally forced the mobile company to consider that the steeple was not waterproof and they waterproofed it. I am not an engineer so why should they listen to me? Now I am fighting for the payment of damages.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Man oh man, I darn near exhausted myself doing 3 puzzles today: yesterday's and today's LAT and today's NYT. For a change, the NYT puzzle was not sadistically punishing, but the LAT puzzles are, IMO, always more pleasurable.

A Silk and a Lampkin one right after the other. Wow. Life is good. I may be plumb worn out, but it's a happy tiredness.

Yellowrocks, I trust all those steeple issues are now solved? Sometimes it pays to be tenacious.

Well, I'm gonna go take a nap. Best wishes to you all.

HeartRx said...

John L., can’t wait for President’s week. I can never get enuff of your wit!!

Ted D. Behr said...

John Lampkin-
Thanks for stopping by! Changing an O to a U made for some great phrases.
Just curious - over the 2 years it took to put this puzzle together, were there any phrases that didn't make the cut? Were all of your theme clues retained, or did Rich change any?
And we get you two Sundays in a row! Can't wait for the presidential puzzle next week. In the meantime, take a gender at this ruff footage.

Ted D. Behr said...

Take a gender, take a gander - whichever gets the tongues wagging...

Jayce said...

HeartRx, I'm with you on looking forward to President’s week.

Dudley, Harley Davidson motorcycles are wretched machines? How do you mean? Poor quality?

Lucina, not surprising you have cataracts, I guess. I understand they are completely treatable, fortunately, unlike macro degeneration or worse. One ophthalmologist (now there's a crossword entry for ya) told me I had them; that same guy also messed up my lens prescription so I had to go back for a "do over." I got a different doctor that time, who not only got my refraction correct but also told me I have no trace of any cataracts. I have chosen to believe the 2nd guy. LOL

Jayce said...

macro --> macular

Dudley said...

Jayce - I'm not qualified to say whether present-day Harleys are poorly made. I have ridden one or two modern examples and find them to be uncomfortable and not at all smooth, not to mention that they are crazy heavy. That said, my main beef has to do with the mindset that seems to go along with them.

You see, there is a large and apparently prosperous HD dealership near my house, and therefore we have a lot of Hawg traffic. I judge that it's a majority of owners that choose to disregard state law and modify the quiet-ish factory exhaust systems, in order to make more noise; we hear a lot of straight pipes going by. I guess these are rebellious Dennis Hopper wannabes.

Grumpy 1 said...

JL, a ruff time? methinks I'd better bone up on presidential pooches...

John Lampkin said...

Ted @ 4:48
Excellent question!
There are always entries that don't make the cut. The themes that editors seem to prefer are ones that have eight to fifteen possible ones of which the eight or so best ones are chosen. If there are 50 possibilities say, the editor will likely ask you to narrow the focus. In this case, there really aren't that many OO words that can become legit OU words. A couple of rejects:
BULL MOUSE PARTY Social event for rodents full of hot air?
ROUSTER COGBURN Longshoreman's oater?

Neat Roosevelt clip!

Heart Rx, blush, blush...

Bill G. said...

Another very enjoyable puzzle. It sure took me a while though. I got stuck on parts of the bottom-left corner and it was the last part for me to finish.

C.C., I'm glad you enjoyed that clip. It's amazing to think how the Internet and things like YouTube have enriched our lives.

I am part of the way finished watching Sunday Morning that I recorded. I was dismayed to learn about claimed worker abuses at the plant in China where many of Apple's products are made. I wonder how much more I'd be willing to pay if their stuff was all produced in the U.S.?

We went out to lunch with Tim, Bonnie and Jordan. We tried a new, upscale Mexican restaurant. Very nice. Now I'm napping, digesting and finishing the CW puzzle.

PK said...

Hi Y'all,

Great puzzle, John! Always enjoy C.C.! Autistic? They probably think you are just a good listener which everybody likes.

I bogged down in the SW corner because I couldn't come up with MSGS, CHAIN or JARRE. Watched golf but couldn't get the "F" at 27A. Did the puzzle mostly during commercials during the US Figure Skating championships.

My husband bought a Harley in 1949. We stopped riding it in 1974--too poor to license and insure it. It was covered in the back of our dirt floored barn. The lower third of the tires became covered with dirt. Had to dig it out with shovels.

My older son's diesel mechanics instructor at vo-tech school took it all apart, cleaned it, put it all back together. Only needed a new battery. Runs great! My son rides it in parades--on the original tires! Would you believe that after all those years the tires were still good? Scares me!

- PK -

PK said...

Hey, I did it! Didn't understand what they wanted to sign in before. Thanks!

Also thanks to you all for those great video links that start with a click in the middle, I finally got the videos to work that my military son has been sending me. Since I'm now "on line", he sent two this week. What a joy to hear my grandsons giggle and see my GS on his on-line skate purchased with my cash gift.

Small steps. Maybe SKYPE next?

Husker Gary said...

Inclined boxing arena – BOUT HILL
Milk carton – POUR BOX
Poultry bust – CHICKEN ROUST
Bad evidence – FOUL PROOF

Anything?

Bill G. said...

Gary, I'm with you about Marissa's shorts. Maybe the poor girl is upset 'cause they shrunk. I hope she doesn't get calluses...

Another good thing from Sunday Morning was a feature about a British singer named Rumer. Beautiful voice, crystal clear like Eva Cassidy. If she will choose to sings old classic songs I like, I will rush out to buy her CD.

BTW, for those of you with misgivings about identifying yourself and going blue, so far as I can tell, there's absolutely no downside. I certainly haven't had any bad experiences and I haven't heard about anyone else having one either.

Lemonade714 said...

JL you do not need to blush, you are not only one of the best and one of our favorites, but you are here often enough to be part of the Corner family. Like the rest, looking forward to you PDay puzzle which I assume is not next Sunday.

PK Anomia, see how easy it is.
Does ANYONE actuall watch the Pro Bowl?

PK said...

Nothing's safe anymore. Today in the paper is a warning that mail boxes are being robbed locally with the thieves stealing money and checks and duplicating them for their use as well as using information in letters to steal personal info.

We had a Mexican exchange student years ago who was astonished that our rural mail boxes weren't locked or robbed. He kept mentioning it.

Jayce said...

Dudley, thanks for your reply and your opinion.

Lucina said...

Jayce:
The reason I said not surprisingly about having cataracts is that I nearly failed the vision exam when renewing my driver's license. I made it by the narrowest of margins and the trip to the optometrist confirmed it.

However, anyone I know who has had them removed, has only positive comments about it.

JohnL:
I can't wait for your next puzzle!

Lemonade714 said...

According to my ophthalmologist and the world wide web, everyone will develop cataracts if they live long enough. I can tell you my post cataract operation experience has not been good, but I started in a strange place.

Also, Bill G., while I have nothing to hide in my life, my choice to not only go blue but reveal myself here has unleashed a rather long boring never ending series of personal attacks. It did teach me how true my cyber friends are, and how we must all learn not to believe everything we read on internet. However, you can go blue and keep yourself unreachable. We do like to distinguish amongst our anons

Middletown Bomber said...

to john lampkin: BULL MOUSE PARTY Social event for rodents full of hot air? to bad that didn't make the cut it would have cracked me up.


Lemonade: I actually do watch the Pro Bowl but it has changed over the years now it is like watching a pick up game as the players are there more so for entertainment and fan recognition than to play a hard football game.

JD said...

Good evening C.C. and all,

I don't usually do Sunday's because they take a long time and it's family day.Everyone is sick with colds, so I had plenty of time after finishing the 3rd book of The Hunger Games.

Loved having so many obvious answers to enable me to perp my way thru. Still not a fan of TCM,UTE,NTS,ALD, but it was totally enjoyable. Former rib? and sounds of hoarse play were fav clues. Laughed at henpeck and yucca.

CC, had to laugh when I saw nosecone in your write up. My vertically challenged brain read no secone. I always say to myself...the bloggers will explain it to me.

eddy, what happened; are you OK? BTW, I would never attempt a Sun. xwd on my ipad. I'd go nuts.

JD said...

I had forgotten that I could open your music without interfering with reading the blog. What a treat!

In tennis, there is always the fear of playing against the dink..before retiring, my DH had it down to an art form...even the crazy serve that came softly and bounced far left or far right( the American twist).

PK said...

Lemonade: for every detractor there are several who admire and appreciate you very much!

Hand up for enjoying the Hallelujah! mob song in the mall. My singing family used to sing it every year at Christmas at my farm home. I sat here and sang along with the mob--very badly, I'm afraid, but no one heard me. Made me happy!

Spacecraft said...

I usually blog the NYT puzzles, but this one presented a tough yet gettable solve--and that's worth acknowledging.
Hand up for AHA, ELCID and LAYSBARE. Had DUNK for just a moment before I realized that a "dropshot" in table tennis, volleyball and badminton is known as a DINK. I have heard it used in tennis as well, though rarely.
The west gave me the most trouble,when for the longest time I failed to realize that 42d belonged to the theme set; usually they're just the major acrosses. Then came another theme opportunity, right in the middle--rejected by the constructor, possibly because he couldn't scrape up a qualifying entry at the symmetry point. ROOTLESS just begs to become ROUTLESS, as "devoid of lopsided victories?" for example. Oh well.
Can't believe someone's out there who never heard of the Aretha Franklin classic "Chain of Fools." Do yourself a huge favor, my friend, and check out "Michael" starring John Travolta.

Argyle said...

You mean this,
Spacecraft

Clip(2:06)

Thanks for the tip.

Spacecraft said...

Right on, Argyle! And it sure doesn't hurt to have Andie MacDowell along--for whom I'd live about 100,000 Groundhog Days!

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, John, for a swell sunday puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for the write-up.

I did this puzzle on Monday and finished the last couple entries Tuesday morning. I was too busy on Sunday to tackle it.

Enjoyed it. Got the theme right away.

I had ROOMLESS instead of ROOTLESS for 58D. Did not know TATI for 72A.

Do not understand UTE, 78A. I am sure no one will be reading this to help me, since I am two days late.

See you all on Wednesday.

Abejo