google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 Don Gagliardo & C.C. Burnikel

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Jan 11, 2012

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 Don Gagliardo & C.C. Burnikel

Theme: Strong Current. Adding "Flow" to the last word in each of the theme entries creates a new word or phrase.

17A. Online data movement : INTERNET TRAFFIC. Traffic flow. This blog generates plenty of that.

22A. "Man in Black" singer : JOHNNY CASH. Cash flow. As I write this, "Folsom Prison Blues" is playing on my iPod, now that's weird.

36A. Symphony or sonata : MUSICAL WORK. Work flow. Does anyone write sonatas anymore?

46A. Pending : UP IN THE AIR. Just like all my deadlines. Air flow.

And the unifier:

56A. Conforms, or what each last word of 17-, 22-, 36- and 46-Across literally does : GOES WITH THE FLOW

Steve here.

Sweet puzzle from Don & C.C. The theme took quite some time to come kicking and screaming into the light, I had all kinds of hare-brained ideas before it all became clear with the unifier.

Across:

1. Seller's caveat : AS IS

5. Whistle blower : REF

8. Fight : OPPOSE

14. Congeniality : BONHOMIE. What a great word! I resolve to use it at least once a week.

16. Edit : REDACT

19. Extinguish : DOUSE

20. Clinch a deal, in slang : ICE IT

21. Thing to do on the cautious side? : ERR. Great fresh clue for this old stalwart.

27. Tempt with, as a carrot : DANGLE

30. "Typee" sequel : OMOO. Herman Melville made very little money from any of his novels, especially this one.

31. Highfalutin : LA-DI-DA

35. Steak order : T-BONE

38. High-tech party notice : EVITE

40. Jungle queen : SHEENA

41. Enjoy a 10-course Chinese meal : DINE. I'm going to Hong Kong shortly - Cantonese Food!

42. Categorize : ASSORT. This usage was new to me, I'd only known "assorted", which I take to mean "uncategorized". Nice learning moment.

52. VCR button : REW. I always have to wait for the cross to decide on REC or REW

53. Big name in transmission repair : AAMCO

54. Cardio-boxing workout regimen : TAE-BO

61. Intensely devoted : ARDENT

62. Shanghai setting : EAST ASIA. Mini-theme emerging here?

63. Woody's wife : SOON-YI Previn, married to Mr. Allen.

64. Mar.-to-Nov. setting : D.S.T. You never really save any daylight, you just move it around.

65. Count (on) : RELY

Down:

1. Put up with : ABIDED

2. Arizona neighbor : SONORA. South of the border, down Mexico way.

3. How board game players play : IN TURN. In my house my Mom always asked us to play nicely. Then she told us. Then we were sent to our rooms.

4. Ladies : SHES

5. First pres. to visit China while in office : R.M.N. Richard Milhous Nixon, World Traveler.

6. Farm song refrain : E-I-E-I-O

7. Sell for : FETCH

8. Hatch on the Hill : ORRIN. He's a 59D. He plays sonatas too!

9. Boglike : PEATY

10. Adobe file format : PDF. Portable Document Format if you want to get your geek on.

11. Bungler : OAF

12. Lab subj. : SCI.

13. And so forth: Abbr. : ETC.

15. Valuable rock : ORE. I confidently filled in GEM first.

18. Top rating : TEN.

22. Yoda, notably : JEDI

23. Venomous snakes : COBRAS

24. Wild way to run : AMOK

25. Numbered Chan relative : SON. From the Charlie Chan films. Movie buffs will know how many sons there were, I just count "lots".

26. Groundbreaking tool : HOE

28. Protein in wheat products : GLUTEN

29. Zap : LASE

32. Suffix with tact : ICS. Hmmm. A suffix? Need to be convinced about this one.

33. Code word : DAH. We had SOS yesterday, three DITs, three DAHs, three DITs in Morse Code.

34. Draft choice : ALE

35. A whole bunch : TONS

36. Former iPod model : MINI

37. Sport : WEAR. You can sport sportswear!

38. Academic Web letters : EDU

39. Bigwig : VIP. Very Important Person (such as Orrin Hatch?)

43. End of a threat : OR ELSE

44. Heat again, as water for tea : REBOIL

45. Like most streets : TWO-WAY

47. Lion-colored : TAWNY. Some of our regulars would prefer "Port-colored" here.

48. French-speaking republic : HAITI

49. CPR expert : EMT

50. Was sore : ACHED

51. Smidgens : IOTAS

54. First day of spring, to Vietnamese : TET

55. Miles away : AFAR

56. Total blast : GAS.

57. Au, on a Spanish periodic table : ORO. With luck your 15D has gold in it.

58. Tokyo, once : EDO

59. Bigwig on the Hill: Abbr. : SEN.

60. Post-WWII pres. : H.S.T. Harry S. Truman. No use looking up his middle name, the "S" doesn't stand for anything.
That's all from me!

Steve

1) Constructors' note:

"Go with the flow" is the motto for many of my generation, who grew up during the chaotic Cultural Revolution and were confused by (and then benefited from) China's "Open Door" policy. Don and I initially had FIRST BLOOD as a partner for JOHNNY CASH. Rich felt the blood meaning is too literal. So we re-worked our theme entries.

2) Happy 98th Birthday to LA Times' oldest constructor Bernice Gordon. Thanks Argyle for getting the exact date.

85 comments:

  1. Morning all,

    I don't mean to gush, but this is the kind of CW I like- more of a stretch than Monday or Tuesday but just right for Wednesday. Thanks, CC and Don.

    LADIDA needed perping, but I had tactILE instead of tactICS and NUKE instead of LASE, so that slowed me down a bit. But no red letter help needed and still finished in pretty good time.

    This also struck me as very much of a water element or water sign CW- water for tea, HAITI, OMOO, boglike, and even ALE.

    I think this illustrates the theme of going with the 'flow'. In more ways than one!

    Watch out for dangling participles!

    FLOW

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  2. Good morning, C.C. and gang - I got off to a slow start with this latest one from our dynamic duo; had to bounce to the NE to get a foothold, then back in to the NW. After that, it got better, with just a couple pauses and a bit of perp help.
    'Enjoy a 10-course Chinese meal' had me expecting something more than 'dine'. Wasn't fond of 'ics' as a suffix for 'tact'. 'Arizona neighbor' had me trying to put in 'NewMex'. Definitely felt an Asian sub-theme in the puzzle. Enjoyable eight-minute solve.

    Steve, great job with your first blog effort. Hope you'll become a regular Wednesday contributor.

    A very Happy Birthday to Bernice; hell of an accomplishment

    Off to the gym.

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  3. Morning, all!

    Just slightly more difficult that the last two days, which is perfect for a Wednesday. Great theme that was well executed. Most of the cluing was spot-on and there was a minimum of junk fill (I thought REBOIL was awkward and really could have done without PEATY, but that was really it).

    One minor glitch occurred when I put in RAT instead of REF at 5A and FENCE instead of FETCH at 7D. Everything else was pretty smooth.

    I agree with Steve that BONHOMIE is a wonderful word that should definitely see the light of day more often.

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  4. Good Morning, Steve and friends. Fun Wednesday puzzle. Once I had GO WITH THE FLOW, the other theme answers came easily.

    Like Dennis, I was expecting something more exotic for the 10-course chinese meal.

    I initially tried Gem instead of ORE for the valuable rock.

    Happy Birthday, Bernice!

    QOD: How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were? ~ Satchel Paige

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  5. Good day folks,

    Well this wasn't a walk in the park for me today, especially the middle section. But most of the difficulties were due to my own screw ups. For 29D I began with LOSE and ADDERS for 23D. I had three different choices for the TACT suffix. And Sabrina was the only jungle queen I could think of. Eventually MUSICAL WORK and UP IN THE AIR arrived and from that point on I sussed the rest of it ... slowly.

    The north and south were solved without too much trouble, but I too started with RAT for 5A. Perps solved that dilemma quickly.

    After finishing, i felt this was a fair Wednesday offering from CC and Don.

    Happy hump day,

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  6. Good morning! Congratulations on your corner blogging debut, Steve, and to C.C. and Don for another fine collaboration.

    There was a lot of fun stuff in the accross fill, but the downs were too easy. I filled the three letter downs and the theme entries were pretty obvious. With the theme entries in place, everything else fell in line. Maybe it was just in the way I went about it, but this one seemed easier than most Wednesday puzzles.

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  7. nice work Don and CC a good challenge to extrordinarily hard but not as simple as the last two days.

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  8. Hello Puzzlers -

    Just right for a Wednesday! Had to think a little here & there, especially at LADIDA, but with perps everything worked out. Had trouble getting ASSORT, it's a strange word to me. Didn't know SOON YI.

    Thanks DGCC for another fine collaboration. My hat is off to Steve for a solid blogging premiere!

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  9. Nice write-up, Steve. Hope you keep appearing. I thought this puzzle was a little easier than the typical DGCC.

    Hand up for RAT/REF, ENOTE before EVITE, and had GEM before the cockney lass appeared. I'd never heard of SOONYI, but the perps handled that problem.

    Nice to see that OMOO and EDO survived into the new year. I was worried about 'em.

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  10. I was looking for a baseball related answer and found it at 43d.

    Rich must have changed the clue. Maybe C.C. and Don had it as "Hershiser's miscue"

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  11. Don and CC great puzzle. Steve, welcome to leading the blog. Great start.

    Our square dance club's cachet is its BONHOMIE. It is bringing us increasing numbers of visitors, along with great callers and music and a lovely hardwood floor.

    I found this puzzle and its theme very easy, except for a small hangup in the middle. I stuck to TACTile for a tad too long. Giving it up soon led to victory.

    The word PEATY is often associated with a certain type of bog, a gimme

    Our neighboring Mex. states no longer fool me. The S triggered Sonora right away.

    Isn't English counter intuitive sometimes?. The verb ASSORT means to categorize. The adjective ASSORTED can mean mixed or random or it could mean the opposite, arranged in groups.

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  12. Beer just doesn't seem to be going away, does it?
    John Barleycorn (5:34) by TRAFFIC.

    Here's TAWNY Kitaen, doing her sexy kitten act.
    Is This Love (4:29) - Whitesnake

    Thanks, PK, for giving Tool a try yesterday. And I agree with your assessment of Suns management. We're all hoping either Robert Sarver sells the team, or at least opens his checkbook a little wider to show he wants to win.

    Good job, Steve!

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  13. Good morning Steve, C.C. et al.

    What a fun puzzle, and a witty write-up to go with it. Welcome to the bleary-eyed blogging bunch, Steve!! I agree with you totally about BONHOMIE, and even smiled when I filled it in.

    I did the tactILE thing-y like everyone else, while trying to suss out MUSICAL WORK. But then I compounded the problem by putting in "dit" instead of DAH right next to it.

    Other then those two hiccups, it was smooth sailing. Once I reached the unifier, I thought "Oh yeah, there's a theme in here..." Clever one, too!! But I was having so much fun filling in answers that I got carried away and forgot all about it. Thanks guys!

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  14. I'm not feeling REBOIL. Maybe because I usually RENUKE my tea water in the microwave.

    I'm not feeling very BONHOMIE about LADIDA either.

    I must have the hump day blues.

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  15. Nice puzzle CC and Don. Steve-- congratulations on your first blog hosting. Excellent.

    I also wouldn't let go of tactILE. Knew that musical needed to cross it but tactICS just wouldn't come.

    Loved bonhomie--perfect for this group of people!

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  16. Good morning, folks. Thank you, DG & C.C., for a swell puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for the review. You are a new reviewer I perceive. Good job.

    I wanted AS IS for 1A, but held off because I could not find a crossword immediately. Went to 5A and started there.

    Did not know SOON YI. Had ORA instead of ORO. Missed that one square. My spanish is almost as bad as my french.

    I also liked BONHOMIE. I remember a ship named the "Bonhomie Richard" in some book or story or history from way back in my life. cannot remember the details.

    Liked FETCH/Sell for.

    Not sure who SHEENA/African Queen is. I remember the movie (Bogart/Hepburn) and the boat was the African Queen.

    See you all tomorrow.

    Abejo

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  17. A good Wednesday puzzle and fun blogging debut today.

    I got stuck having DAT/STEETA/LOTS for quite some time. Don't know SHEENA at all, so that slowed the appearance of other perps. But the theme answers appeared quite easily. Am not aware of AAMCO either, and wanted two Ms in bonhommi? for a while too.

    Happy hump day to all. My sore throat has turned into a full-blown head cold so I'm going back to bed for a while.

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  18. Sheena, Queen of the Jungle is a fictional, American comic book jungle girl heroine, published originally by Fiction House. The female counterpart to Tarzan. -- Wikipedia

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  19. Abejo, Bonhomme Richard was John Paul Jones' flagship back in the Revolutionary War. The name was French idiom for "Poor Richard", a pen name of Benjamin Franklin.

    A second ship of the same name was a WWII era aircraft carrier. I was assigned aboard that ship for her final WestPac cruise in 1970. It was the only carrier to make six deployments to Vietnam during our government's Youth-in-Asia project. The ship was moth-balled in '71 and was finally scrapped in the early '90's.

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  20. Enjoyed the puzzle, Don & C.C. Good start, Steve!

    I think SHEENA was a comic book character. I remember lounging in our treehouse pretending to be her when I was about ten.

    Wasn't the ship Bonhom Richard?

    Only real hangups for me were AAMCO, which I thought was ArMCO, and SOONYI, which I had but thought was wrong. I forgot about that little scandal.

    Wasn't sure how to spell LADIDA. Thought it had an "H" on the end.

    Ant, alas the Suns got beat by Kobe's big night! Thought they had a chance for most of the game.

    - PK -

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  21. PK, definitely the USS Bon Homme Richard.

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  22. Thanks, I stand corrected. DO posted while I was writing.

    - PK -

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  23. Welcome to the band of bloggers Steve.

    Tanya Roberts, one of the replacement Charlie's Angels of the original series, played (R Rated link) SHEENA in the movie version. R rated and 1:42. I last recall her on that 70's show as a mom.

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  24. Nice puzzle, DG and CC. Just right for sailing in under my allotted time.

    I was slowed down by thinking LADIDA had an H at the end.

    ORO in any language is my very favorite metal!

    The three letter word TET comes to the mind of anyone of my generation when Vietnamese holiday is used as a clue. So many damaged young men returned from that not-a-war...and so many didn't return at all.

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  25. It’s a cold and blustery day on the prairie but my daughter’s health is good and I am reminded yet again that life is a gift, not a guarantee. Thanks again for all the support!

    Musings
    -Don and C.C.’s lovely offering also a humpday brightener
    -Granddaughters are “GOWITHTHETRAFFIC” people but grandson can make a snap decision and become intractable. Know any big peeps like that?
    -Some questionable REF actions in the last week affected games
    -Titling your books with lots of vowels will get you in puzzles, Herman
    -If I used BONHOMIE, my wife would say, “LADIDA!”
    -Double A, beep, beep, M C O
    -As a verb, Shanghai setting could be a bar
    -DST means an extra hr for the corn ;-)
    -Haiti seems to be a country that one would not put on their Carribean itinerary.

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  26. Hello.

    Up a little early today.

    Top and bottom were also filled first. The only nit was "Dah" as
    code word. Dah represents the letter T.

    Colds are no fun.

    Take care. eddy

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  27. Has anyone hear ever read Typee or Omoo?

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  28. Fun Commentary, Great Wednesday puzzle. I, as a single malt scotch drinker, loved PEATY, got a kick out of LADIDA but had trouble with TactICS and ASSORT but eventually it all fell in line. Also, who could forget that perv Woody Allen having an affair with Soon Yi, his adopted daughter while married to Mia Farrow?

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  29. Hello, puzzlers. Thank you, C.C. and Don G. for a lovely puzzle. Congratulations, Steve, on your blogging debut. I enjoyed your BONHOMIE!

    I sashayed right through this one with just slight pauses at tactICS, REF, wanted REB but finally FETCH corrected that.

    I also wait for the perps before finishing RE_ at 52A.

    LA-DI-DA came slowly and I recalled SHEENA but vaguely. It was fun to go WITHTHEFLOW.

    In December I met shoppers from SONORA (Hermosillo, actually) who leave much ORO (in the form of pesos) at our malls.

    Yesterday I was UPINTHEAIR for many hours but a smooth flight brought me home.

    Have a fantastic Wednesday, everyone!

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  30. Hi everyone. Thanks for the kind words on my blogger debut; all the kudos should go to C.C. for her coaching.

    I'm looking forward to coming "off the bench" when needed, but my hat is firmly off to all the regular bloggers!

    NPR is today reporting a furore over one of the clue/answer combos in the NYT last Saturday, evidently constructors and editors must tread very carefully!

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  31. Unfortunately for me I was on totally the wrong track today. Nice puzzle, but I was stumped in many areas. Sometimes your luck GOES WITH THE FLOW, but today it was against it I guess.

    Clueless on BONHOMIE, but what a nice word. LA-DI-DA was spectacular but I couldn't parse that out either. PEATY was awful tuff too. And I wasn't thinking ALE at all for draft choice, I was thinking the military. Once in my head it wasn't going out.

    Oh well, was a nice puzzle though in the end and hats off to the two of you who constructed it.

    Nice job Steve on your debut.

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  32. Steve: Excellent write-up !!!

    Don G. & C.C. I think this is my favorite solve from you guys.

    OK, not a fan of ICE-IT ... I hate Ice.
    New word, the EVITE, I hate these "E" words.
    Hand-up for Gem before ORE.

    Fave today was that 10 course Chinese meal, DINE.
    In fact, I liked it so much, I entered it again 30 minutes later.

    Husker: I had that "Double A, M-C-O" ear-worm rolling (and beeping) in my brain the whole solve.
    Beep-Beep!!!

    Mari: Yeah, I read TYPEE & OMOO. Boring!

    Hmmm, it's raining ... is there still a Sunset?
    I'm not taking any chances, Cheers!
    (Right now! Hey, it's 5:00 somewhere).

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  33. @Mari, like @Tinbeni, I have read both Typee and Omoo, but unlike Tinbeni, I like them very much, especially Typee (Omoo is a sequel).

    As a youth in the 50's, I was enthralled by the likes of Jack London and Robert Luis Stevenson, and, after reading Typee a couple of years ago, I wondered why these Melville works hadn't been in the same section at my local library.

    I think the reason is that Typee (Omoo not so much) is one of the most sublimely erotic, Euro-man falls in love with exotic native island woman in all of literature. Although tame by today's standards, it was pretty steamy stuff back then. Still packs some punch.

    It's also an enchanting portraiture of a South Pacific Island people before European contact, a theme that runs throughout a lot of Melville's works.

    If someone was new to Melville, and ask me what to read first, I would recommend Typee. Did I say I liked it a lot?

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  34. Exciting to see first, a puzzle by the Dynamic Duo, and then Steve hosting the work-up! Great day for the Corner!

    Perfect Wednesday puzzle! I usually work from top to bottom, but got nothing until OMOO got me started. Then the bottom filled in slowly and only then, the top. But am proud of myself not to have had a single erasure this morning. That'll change by Friday and Saturday when my solving will be a mess, as usual. Meanwhile, I think I'll just GO WITH THE FLOW!

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  35. OAF- Noel Norwegian saint

    OPPOSE- What one might strike

    REBOIL- Dermatologist's memo heading

    HAITI- The one despised

    AFAR- What Jamie is

    DANGLE- Words after a shorebird poops on your head

    ASSORT- Result of sitting on a crumb

    Would you rather play golf with Woods ORELSE?

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  36. Anoa-Bob and Tinbeni: Thanks for the Melville info. I figured I see Typee and Omoo in the CWs so much, I might as well know what they were about.

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  37. Hi all. Thanks Steve for a great debut write up! Thanks to DG and CC for another fun solve.

    I'm finally getting back on puzzle track after the holidays.

    Almost smooth going for me this morning except for a bit of mess in the NW where I spelled EIEIO wrong. I put in EEIOH. What was I thinking? I also had ICE before ORE so BONHOMIE was not making an appearance. Finally realized my mistake when ICE IT showed up. I also misread "Man in Black" as "Men in Black" and wanted to write in Will Smith at 22 A. It all ended well. I had no idea where the theme was going until the unifier. Cute! Woody's wife, SOON YI was a tad disturbing.

    Husker Gary - good news about your daughter. That must be a huge relief for your family.

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  38. Good afternoon everyone.

    Haven't tackled today's puzzle yet. Just did yesterday's. Am I a bit behind?

    Such great news Husker. Made my day when I read your comment.

    And belated Happy Birthday Frenchie.

    Now for lunch and maybe an afternoon Wed. puzzle attempt. Liked Tuesday's very much in that I could do it.Took a while for ANTI to emerge.

    Cheers

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  39. Virginia, I wondered how I could forget the Woody Allen-SoonYi thing, too. Guess it's because I really can't believe Woody ever rose to the occasion to have an affair. He would keep verbalizing his angst so long he'd never get around to getting woody. Nor can I imagine any woman wanting him to. (Shudder!)

    - PK -

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  40. Hi all

    Little more difficult for me than Wednesday's usually are. I did have some hair pulling and V-8 can moments...34D was a big one! I wanted some word to do with THE draft (military).

    Morse code may as well be in Greek, I will never understand it.

    20A ICE IT....I always thought ACE (ACED) IT was the common term.

    I did feel bad about stumbling over 22A....I read it as Men in Black (a TV show I've never even seen)so I was thinking 'theme song'. Arrghhhh!

    I had better myself together so I don't make a fool of myself at shuffleboard today....I may partake of an ALE, who knows? Naaaa, it's too bitter. The place we go does not have that delicious raspberry ale I love.

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  41. I actually thought of Arlo's mom--Woody Guthrie's wife first. I wondered: have I ever heard her name? Then perps made me realize it was the other Woody. I agree with PK, I can't imagine how anyone gets turned on by Woody Allen. I don't even find him funny.

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  42. Hi All ~~

    A fun theme and easy puzzle today ... thanks Don & C.C. Nice job on the write-up, Steve. Congrats to all!

    It was smooth sailing with just a few pauses ... TactICS, 'Nuke' before LASE and was unsure of the spelling of LADIDA. SONORA and SOONYI were both filled with perps.

    ~~ I, too, thought of the "double A-beep-beep" for AAMCO.

    ~~ I liked the clue for SON and the misdirection of 'Sport'- WEAR.

    ~~ Seen ~ Great observation re: ORELSE! I was looking for a baseball clue and was surprised when I didn't find one. :-)

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  43. Well, as for Woody Allen--when he makes a good movie, it can be a delight. My husband and I really enjoyed the recent "Midnight in Paris." And after changing partners constantly for years, it was actually a surprise this morning to infer from the puzzle that he was still married to Soon Yi after all this time. I haven't heard or read anything about their relationship, but I'm inclined to give her a lot of credit for settling him down and having him make good movies again.

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  44. OK, -ICS is a suffix meaning "the study of", but in this case we run into a problem. The word "tactics" is not an English formation. We got the word, as-is, via Latin (tacticas) from the Greek tektike.

    Tektike is the root Tek- (to arrange) and the suffix -tike (the study of). We do derive our suffix -ICS from the Greek suffix -tike. However, the English word "tact" has a totally different etymology. It is from the Latin tangere "to touch".

    So, if -ICS were the suffix the word "tactics" would mean "the study of touch" rather than "the study of arranging".

    LASE is also used incorrectly (you LASE the emitter, the emitter emits a laser, the laser blasts the target) but it's become so common an error as to not matter.

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  45. Congratulations, C.C., Don and Steve. Nice job all the way round. Gary, I was so happy to hear the good news about your daughter. Excellent!

    No red letters or Google needed. I initially got stuck with RAT for Whistle blower. I didn't like that much, equating whistle blowers with rats, but I was wrong and was pleased when REF showed up.

    Fun video Len.

    The Lakers are starting to look a little better than they did initially. Sorry about that, PK.

    I never faulted Woody Allen for getting married to Soon Yi. They weren't related by blood. If she loved him back, who was I to judge? So far as I can tell, they are still married. He's made some really good movies as well as some I didn't care for.

    Have a nice Wednesday, everybody.

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  46. Good afternoon, all. Great commentary, Steve.

    A little late posting today. I. too, felt the puzzle was just a little on the easy side for a Wednesday, but there were Wednesday-like fills: REDACT, SONORA, and the theme phrases, themselves for which I needed perp help to get started. Also some knowledge of computer use req'd: EDU, PDF, E-VITE. But it had a nice freshness and was fun to do. Note that initials of 2 presidents, Richard Milhous Nixon, and Harry S (initial to please both grandfathers, Shipp and Solomon) Truman were clued, as well.

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  47. I know this is a different puzzle, but the San Francisco one has me stumped today.
    Maybe you can suss out the theme?

    I see it has a title, so it should have a unifying theme in the long answers,
    but I don't see any connections.

    Any ideas?
    "Par For The Course"
    http://i39.tinypic.com/2199cue.png
    http://tinyurl.com/7jr4lk2

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  48. Bill G:
    That is my opinion of Woody Allen, too. It is not for me to judge; she was not his blood relative and I believe he and Mia were never married.

    I enjoy his wit and humor. Still have not seen Midnight in Paris, but shall do so.

    Steve:
    You will absolutely love the food in Hong Kong. We went to exclusively Chinese restaurants, no other tourists there, and I can still savor the meals.

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  49. This was harder than it should have been for me. Looking back, it seems right for a Wednesday, and yet the NW corner gave me more trouble than it should have. I got BONHOMIE right away, but the past tense of ABIDE eluded me and made me rethink the word in wrong ways. ERR escaped me for too long. I "knew" it was right but I resisted changing wrong SONOMA (N. Cal) into right SONORA (N. Mex.).
    Two factors must influence Woody's devotion: the solidity of their initial romantic bunker (we two against the cosmos) and the septuagenarian settling-in.

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  50. BillG, Agree that the Lakers are looking better. I watch their games too. Watched Clippers beat them twice with amazement. Don't know what has been bothering Pau. But poor Kobe has injuries that make you wonder how he functions. He said pain shots last night. I gotta wonder if playing through the pain will cause more damage. He looked pretty ragged when he sat down during one time out. 48 points wore me out just watching him. Guess he had to prove to himself he was better than Nash who was MVP one time more than Kobe.

    - PK -

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  51. When Woody came up in the puzzle, my first thought was the cowboy in Toy Story.

    - PK -

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  52. For those who groaned at REBOIL, maybe it could have been clued as: Lee's Lubricant

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  53. @Unknown - you've got me stumped with that one, I don't see any connection at all, let alone with "Par for the Course".

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  54. @unknown, try substituting the word 'course' for the second word in the three theme answers. You'll come up with three common phrases ending in 'Course'. E.g. 'racecar' becoumes 'race course'.

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  55. My first thought for Woody's wife was from Woody from "Cheers" but it doesn't fit.

    Kelly(1:37)

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  56. Unknown-
    In addition, those longer down-entries, EASTENDER and TOOTHSOME, are
    not part of the theme, which may have been throwing you, er, off-course.

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  57. Hola Everyone, A great puzzle from our C.C. and Don G. I didn't have to look up anything, but the e in Tae Bo didn't come easily. I looked at or-lse for the longest time and thought that there wasn't any word that could mean the end of a threat spelled that way. Well, there isn't. It's two words--Duh and double v-8 cans for me!

    I did get the theme, but only after filling in the unifier. I also had trouble in the NW corner as I tried Nevada, then Mexico for Arizona neighbor and had to give up until I had filled in more around the word Sonora.

    My learning moment for today was Soon-Yi. I had forgotten about Woody Allen's wife. All in all a solid Wed. puzzle.

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  58. Hatool, I enjoyed your QOD today. It reminded me of my MIL. She moved into a Senior apartment complex at age 94. Her first week in the dining room she commented to us that everyone in this place is soooo old! We could hardly keep from laughing out loud. She never felt that she was OLD, because she didn't feel old. Inside she was still young. I think that is what kept her going strong until almost 102 years of age.

    Sooo, you are only as old as you feel, right? Satchel Paige was spot on.

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  59. Unknown- San Francisco? What puzzle are you referring to?

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  60. Hi gang -

    This one beat me up pretty badly.

    Great puzzle, though.

    Now, to read the comments . . .

    Cheers!
    JzB

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  61. Well ladida and so forth! Great puzzle C.C.!
    This was a fun one for Wednesday.
    It's as cold here today as a well diggers' fanny! Add the rain and well, it was a good day to stay inside.
    Thanks, Steve!
    Gotta go because as Elvis would say, "get in the kitchen and rattle those pots and pans!"

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  62. Thanks Grumpy 1
    (My prior post was called Unknown)

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  63. ~~ Spitzboov ... loved the Yoga Cat! I have one who would be great at this! >^:^<

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  64. Mom @4:06:
    I believe it was Bill Haley who said that.

    Woody's love life?
    None of my business, as long as no animals were harmed.

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  65. Chickie: My grandmother was the same way. When she was a young bride, she and 5 of her friends organized a little group that got together about once a month for nearly 70 years. Nana was the second to the youngest in the group. When she was 92, she complained to me that there were only four of the group left!

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  66. Windhover: Could animals have still been involved as long as they weren't hurt?

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  67. WH (6:01) good for you - Bill Haley would thank you. Loved Shake, Rattle & Roll....played it till the record was transparent, much to my parents distress ;0

    As to poor ol' Woody - I am having trouble imagining him in a 'love setting' with or without animals. What is that old saw about 'name recognition'??? Or, there is 'something in a name'....ah well, I'll leave it there.

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  68. Fun puzzle and write up! Took me awhile, but finally it came together. This puts me three for three this week @ 100% without cheating. Can I make 4, and does anybody care? (lol)

    I really loved the Yoga cat as a cat lover & owner. Absolutely amazing!

    I did not understand CC's comment re: First Blood as a partner for Johnny Cash - wonder if it's some rock group. As usual, behind the times.

    Have a great evening all!

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  69. A. Lover,
    What happens in the barn, stays in the barn.

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  70. Anon:
    Not really. We've been making a living on sin for a long time. We've got alcohol (bourbon), gambling (horse racing), and tobacco.
    The only difference between us and the rest of you is we've learned to relax and enjoy it. And even better, we tax it.
    But we do mind our own business, not someone elses. Try it, you might like it.

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  71. You forgot moonshinin', cock fightin' and marijuana growin'.

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  72. hello all!! longtime lurker, first time poster...

    today must have been a good day or something because i blew thru this one without any hangups - even tho i thought OMOO was certainly wrong, the perps said otherwise.

    hands up for "double a, honk honk, m, c, o".

    kinda sad no baseball references from cc but i'll forgive this one time :)

    favorite clue: lion-colored TAWNY because my name is TAWNYA and this is how i teach people how to spell it!

    didn't know who SHEENA the African Queen was, this is my favorite Sheena

    happy evening to all! snow, snow, snow in the ozarks tonight - glad i don't have to drive tomorrow. being from SoCal, i can drive in fog, but not any real weather :)

    thanx to all you contributers, i've certainly learned TONS you!

    t.

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  73. Jerome, the San Francisco puzzle can be found at www.sfgate.com

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  74. Hi, Loved your cwp CC&DG, Wednesday perfect!! Kudos Steve and thanks for posting the story about Will's article, I read it last night on three different sites.

    The line from GAWKER "Lest we spark war between two of the internet's most rabid fanbases--crosswordpuzzle obsessives & hip-hop heads-we're not even going to try to adjudicate this" had me laughing all day!!

    Thanks for everything

    Happy for yall Husker

    Argyle, Whenever I meet a Kelly, I sing that song to myself!

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  75. Spitzoov I *loved* the yoga cat video. That is exactly why I gave up trying to do my yoga practice at home. Add two dogs into the mix and you can imagine what a disaster that was. I spent more time on the floor laughing than down dogging. Try doing pigeon while having your face licked!

    Wow - and the comments go on.......

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  76. Hi Steve, C.C., Don et al,

    Couldn't sleep at 2 am and paper had not arrived.Knew at that point I'd need red letters.Was clueless about theme, until it was revealed by Steve. Never would have parsed it. I kept looking and even saying traffic ... cash ... work ... aloud. Nada.

    This may be the 1st of the Dynamic Duo's that I have finished without a visit to Mr.G, but then I did get many red letters on my first guesses many times. I'm so glad my computer doesn't have a buzzer.

    Favorite words- la-di-dah, dangle (reminds me of a dirty joke ;-) and bonhomie.

    T-Bone,a very sweet yellow lab, lives across the street.On occasion he sits in the middle of our court refusing to go anywhere.

    Len, enjoyed the article. Even cruciverbalists dicker over the many definitions of words.. and I got caught up over fence.

    ale-enjoy a dark smooth one ;-)

    gluten-gotta be careful when my sister dines with us...more and more choices are out there.

    oops...sorry C.C.

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  77. That's Spitzboov ( I think). Its going to take a while for me to get to know all of you. What a great group.

    Steve Are you the former StudioCity Steve from the other blog? Just wondering.

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  78. I wonder if Johnsneverhome is out there somewhere.

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  79. Hi,
    Good job CC. I enjoyed it. Good write up, Steve!
    Wow, there are so many new people!
    'redact' is a new word for me.
    'lase' is an interesting word, too.
    'bonhomie' reminds me of bonhomme which is French for old man. Where I grew up, you'd hear an older woman refer to her husband as 'le bonhomme.' It also reminds me of the scouring cleanser my mother used to use, Bon Ami.

    Thanks again for thr birthday wishes!
    Frenchie

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  80. Spitz, my wife and I loved the Yoga Cat. Thanx!

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  81. Welcome TAWNYA, nice to see a lurker.

    Also two days in a row from Frenchie? Incroyable@

    I read Typee and Omoo and liked Typee better, but like Billy Budd more

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  82. Kate to the party again, but niiiice puzzle except ICS. LADIDA & LASE - TASE>DANGLE stuck for me, but got it. TAWNY came slow, too.

    Cheers

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