google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, March 24th, 2012, Steve Salitan

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Mar 24, 2012

Saturday, March 24th, 2012, Steve Salitan

Theme: None (well, a bit Indian, I think)

Words: 70

Blocks: 28

A little mix of everything today for me - some gimmes, some WAGs; some right-ons and some write-overs. A pinwheel of nines with two more climbers inside; got one by pure logic, the other pure luck -

9D. Hosp. staffers : E.R. DOCTORS - Had the first letter, "E", and the "-ORS", so....

31D. Mount high above Delphi : PARNASSUS - ah~! Greece~! Too early in the AM, I guess, and confused my DelPHi with DelHi (as in 44D). Had to WAG the second "S"; the rest was all perps; here's a map for you

Compared to last week's pummeling, I am pleased with how I did on this puzzle ~! I'd like to hear how you fared.

ONWARD ~!

ACROSS:

1. Diamond protector : GLASS CASE - Not Tarpaulin, so, sorry C.C., no baseball to start

10. Agra wrap : SAREE - Indian (Asian, like 44D.) garment; Agra is the site of the Taj Mahal - a crossword staple

15. A job ticket often accompanies one : WORK ORDER - seen my share of these; all my job tickets are numbered by my sobriety date; today is 80216

16. Southeastern town dubbed "Brick City" in the 1880s : OCALA - goofed here, too, thinking this was "ADOBE", but that's the South WEST; map

17. Deceptive football play : END-AROUND - I am not too familiar with football plays; the only ones I know are quarterback sneak, flea-flicker, and BLITZ~!!!

18. Inveigles : LURES - new word for me

19. Like arbitrators : NEUTRAL

20. Not straight up : OVER ICE - WHOA ~!!! Easy, Tin....

22. Packing gp.? : NRA - National Rifle Association, packing 'heat' - makes me think of this Blue Öyster Cult song.

23. Hairy TV cousin : ITT - the "Addams Family"

24. Bonds, in a way : CEMENTS - new this, but it took "DOCTOR" to give me the "C", and that altered my 10D.

25. Lawyer's thing : RES

26. Old gun across the pond : STEN - Image

27. Nice way to refer to you? : TOI - Nice the French city. As you know, meh, French for me (Nice, the city in France)

28. Some plants : SPIES - not this plant; mis-direction here

31. Sit (down) undaintily : PLOP

32. Blue genre : PORN - I hear one of the Republican candidates plans to "ban" pornography; good luck to him; he will NOT get my vote - any comments, lois?

33. Something to believe in : TENET - nailed it

34. __ ball: bad miss in hoops : AIR

35. Had, biblically : BEGAT

36. Disappearing sea : ARAL

37. Places for icons, briefly : CRTs - Cathode Ray Tubes, yeah I get it, but a bit of a stretch

38. Olympic speed skater __ Anton Ohno : APOLO - for the ladies

39. Some MDs : GPs - a WAG, but not too hard to guess - General Practitioners

40. Business word after "&," maybe : SONS - like P.C. Richard & SON (S)

41. It can lead to fisticuffs : IRE

42. Sister of Orestes : ELECTRA - a little mythology, if you care

44. Formicidae family member : ANT - I always wanted to have a whole wall of my house to be like 1A so I could have a really huge any farm

45. S.A.'s second-largest country : ARGentina

48. Sea nymphs : NEREIDS

49. Shooting marble : STEELIE - I put this in right away, tho I thought it was the ball from pinball....

51. Like a Frisbee's symmetry : AXIAL - not CONIC, and RADIAL didn't fit

52. Christian __ : SCIENTIST - not familiar with this one

54. Reagan attorney general : MEESE - The Wiki

55. "Rise 'n' shine!" : UP AND AT 'EM - crossing 46D. Out of the sack : RISEN

56. Blessed duo? : ESSES - bleSSed, very good

57. Common sedimentary rock : SANDSTONE

DOWN:

1. "Miracle on 34th Street" Oscar winner : GWENN - Ed #2, here - I have not seen this movie, go figure - but then again, I am "young"....

2. One unlikely to collaborate : LONER

3. Per __ ad Astra: RAF motto : ARDUA

4. Card game for three : SKAT

5. Most pathetic : SORRIEST

6. Certain Balkans : CROATS

7. __ education : ADULT

8. RFK, for three-plus yrs. : SENator - NYC renamed the Triboro bridge for him

10. Mirthless : SOLEMN - Had SULLEN to start

11. Words after seek or find : A CURE - find, yes, seek, meh

12. Champing at the bit : RARIN' TO GO

13. Kind of college : ELECTORAL

14. Gradually enters : EASES INTO

21. White House colloquialism : VEEP - VP, Vice President

25. Stagger : REEL

26. Thin apertures : SLITS

28. Acting handle : STAGE NAME - Splynter is my "stage name"

29. Baffles : PERPLEXES - Great fill, with an "X", too

30. Sequentially : IN A SERIES

32. Classical guitarist Romero : PEPE

35. Mixes well with others? : BARTENDS - another cute clue/ans.

37. Quantity destined to be burned : CORD - of wood, that is

40. Metro gates : STILES



41. Mean : INTEND - ah, the other meaning of mean

43. Cut out : CEASE

44. Indian, say : ASIAN - my my my ~!! Image

45. O'Connor's successor : ALITO - Supreme Court associate justice

47. "Understand?" : GET ME ???

50. Non-stateside state : ETAT - meh, French

53. Balancing pro : CPA - Busy busy busy; Certified Public Accountant

Answer grid.

For those who care to know, this was my first full week doing different trucks for UPS - I stayed union, and did not fall to the "DARK SIDE".... I am very happy with my new supervisor, assignment and drivers - and I had no mis-loaded packages for the first time in a long time - proof that I needed to change. Thanks for asking ~!!

Splynter (stage name)

64 comments:

  1. Greetings!

    Swell puzzle, Steve! Great write-up, Splynter!

    Funniest answer NRA.

    I can't recall having finished a Saturday puzzle before w/o getting impatient and cheating. Brain totally out to lunch, but got it done in 26 minutes! What an upper!

    Sympathize with your backache, Misty. Yesterday I went to the hair dresser's for major work after 4 months and had to switch from one uncomfortable chair to another many times. It took about 3.5 hours and my back has been screaming in pain ever since.

    Lemonade--really love the Jamie Lee Curtis match with Gibbs! She is perfect!

    Have a happy weekend, everyone!

    (Time to try to put back to sleep.)

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  2. surprisingly I found this easier than yesterday's. Thought diamond was referring to baseball, so that stayed blank for a long time. That, and not knowing "Miracle on 34th St" actors, made NW corner hard to get.

    Saw Agra wrap, said ah-ha and quickly put down dhoti. Refused to take it out even though nothing else would fit in, until "eases into" became extremely obvious. Then had to replace dhoti with sari var. saree.

    One other embarrassing thing is that I couldn't remember Ohno's first name, even though he's from Seattle.

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  3. One other thing I forgot to mention..
    The Ohno family runs a construction company called "Ohno Construction". I was in the construction trade, so I always found that humorous.

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  4. Good morning, folks. Thank you, Steve Salitan, for a very good Saturday puzzle. Thank you, Splynter, for the great write-up.

    This puzzle was not a cake walk, but fun and made me think quite a bit.

    The long answers were daunting at first, but once I got a few perps they slowly appeared.Did not know NEREIDS, GWENN, ARDUA, PARNASSUS, and PEPE. Perps fixed those.

    Enjoyed NRA. We had that recently. Had DSTEN recently as well. They are related.

    The ARAL Sea has been used a lot in puzzles. I looked that up once and it is a sad situation. It is not nice to fool Mother Nature.

    Off to Calvary Commandery #25 today and then Medinah Temple tonight.

    Abejo

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  5. Morning, all!

    I wouldn't exactly call this one "brutal," but it certainly was a challenge for me. The NW corner was the toughest, primarily due to the fact that I had no idea what a "job ticket" was, didn't know the RAF motto (could only think of "ad astra per aspera") and had SCAT instead of SKAT at 4D. Plus, while I love football and know what an END RUN is, I've honestly never heard of an END-AROUND before. As for GWENN... Who???

    Lots of WAGs finally got me through, but it was touch and go until the very end.

    Elsewhere, I hesitated on the crossing of A CURE and LURES in the NE because (a) I simply didn't realize that LURES was a synonym for "inveigle" (which I always thought just meant to cheat) and (b) A CURE seemed awfully random to me. Yes, you can say "Find A CURE" and "Seek A CURE" but you can find and seek many things...

    Everything else went relatively smoothly. A few unknowns/obscurities here and there (PEPE, PARNASSUS, NEREIDS), but the perps took care of them in short order.

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  6. Seek and find REFUGE comes to mind.

    Since "Miracle..." is on several times each season, age can't be an excuse.

    That said, I still had GLENN instead of GWENN which messed up that corner.

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  7. Here is a quick END AROUND play. Watch the left end. Also, there is an end around reverse; QB hands off to one end coming around and then that end hands off to the opposite end going the other way. Requires having a good offensive line to keep the defense out of the backfield.

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  8. Fairly easy for a Saturday puzzle. Only had to look up RAF motto, Brick City, Oscar winner, and Delphi mount. I had never heard of a nereid-48A. Got it by the down clues alone.

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  9. Hello Saturday Solvers!

    This was easier than the typical Saturday. But, it could easily have turned into a DNF, since I had to WAG GWENN, ARDUA and ENDaround -- all unknowns.

    If somebody had mentioned PARNASSUS, it would have conjured up images in my mind of a Civil War battleground.

    Splynter, Christian Science is a religious sect. I'm not certain what they believe in, exactly, but they don't believe in doctors. It's said that when you're in a real bind you're like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis. They also have a well-respected newspaper, the Christian Science Monitor.

    Barry, INVEIGLE reminds me of a line from the Limeliters song Have Some Madeira, M'Dear: "He had slyly INVEIGLED her up to his flat -- to view his collection of stamps. All unperforated!"

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  10. Fav clue was Some Plants (SPIES).

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  11. Good morning everyone. Great write-up, Splynter.

    My Saturday goal is to try to solve without help, and barring that, to minimize lookups. Today I had to gg'l for GWENN, and, while atit, checked my haunches for OCALA and PARNASSUS. This puzzle had lots of great fill; PERPLEXES, BEGAT, ELECTORAL, and WORK ORDER. I also enjoyed the cleverness of the clues for TOI, NRA, OVER ICE, and even ESSES. The longer acrosses and downs were all words and phrases that are not uncommon. Great job, Steve. Thanks.

    Splynter: re: the vote. His statement bothered me, too.

    Have a good day.

    De Spitzboov (STAGE NAME)

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  12. My efforts were rewarded with an almost full bottom two thirds and NE corner without lookups. I finally succumbed to my numb brain fart on APOLO and googled him. That helped complete bARtends, and then I found UP AND AT IT had to be AT 'EM, because GETTE wasn't working.

    Then I retreated back to the NW, where all I had was LONER. I googled everything I still needed there: GWENN and ARDUA, and the rest fell into place after that.

    Better for me than most Saturdays, lots of fun and clever fill, but still no cakewalk.

    Good blogging Splynter, and glad you're happy with the job.

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  13. Good morning all:

    Great job, Steve, and nice write-up, Splynter.

    I found this to be a typical Saturday challenge. Finished w/o help, but, as usual, it took a long time. For some reason, I thought Gwenn was Gwynn, but perps corrected that plus many other unfamiliar areas such as Parnassus, Nereids, etc. (Tinbeni won't be happy with the you-know-what reference!)

    My day is starting off on the wrong foot. I have lost my voice, my nose is imitating Niagara Falls, my throat is scratchy, and I have a nagging cough. Allergies or Spring cold? I guess I 'll find out sooner or later.

    Happy Saturday to all.

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  14. Hi All ~~

    I felt so smart filling in 'Tarpaulin' right off the bat (no pun intended) at 1A, and then begrudgingly took it out when perps told me I'm not that smart. I had some problems with the whole NW -> SE diagonal so I solved the other areas first. I had the same unknowns that Abejo mentioned but perps were of great help.

    ~~ I liked RARIN TO GO and UP AND AT EM.
    ~~ I thought of Lucina with 7D - ADULT education.
    ~~ My favorite was 35D - 'Mixes well with others' - BARTENDS.
    ~~ Not only is APOLO Anton Ohno nice to look at and a great skater, in 2007 he also won Dancing with the Stars!

    ~~ An excellent write-up as always, Splynter. Loved your comments, pics and links, esp. the kitty "plant spy!" >^:^< I'm happy to hear that things are going well for you at your job!

    Have a great weekend, everyone!

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  15. I got hung up with dhoti for the longest time too, partly because I had never heard of the variation of Saree, and I knew sari wouldn't fit as it wasn't a plural.
    Also originally wanted to put in Gwynn instead of Gwenn because of Fred Gwynne the guy in the Munsters and Car 54 where are you? Love the Miracle movie at Christmas, Argyle should know that 'cause he could be Edmund Gwenn (at least visually)

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  16. Pardon me for asking as I'm sure I could find out if I thought and searched hard enough, but what does WAG mean? The best I could come up with is "wild a%# guess."

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  17. I got maybe 2 or 3 answers. I needed help for the rest. Very difficult for me.

    I guess I should not have used the word "ridiculous" in my post yesterday describing some the clues that had me "puzzled." Therefore, one the clues that "puzzles" me is this one:

    Nice way to refer to you?
    TOI

    "Toi" is the informal version of you and I am not sure this clue best represents the answer. It is clever but I am not sure it best represents the answer.

    I can't wait until Monday for an easier puzzle. Tomorrow will be difficult for me too!

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  18. Hi Alex,

    Nice is a city in France. ;)

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  19. Alex,

    Tu is the informal subject form of "you." Vous is the formal. But toi is the object form of "you" (in English, both subject and object form are "you," but think "he" vs. "him.")

    In the clue, "you" is the object, so I thought it made sense.

    Nice is one of those crossword clues that always refers to the unexpected meaning, i.e., the city in France as opposed to "pleasant."

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  20. New to crossword blocs. What is WAG? Thank

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  21. Hello Puzzlers -

    Had to do a lot of rewrites on this one. That alternate spelling of SAREE had me befuddled for a long time. OCALA was slow to emerge, didn't know there were bricks anywhere in Florida. We've had SKAT before, but of course I couldn't remember it, and didn't know it was for three players anyhow. I made a WAG with WIST, which isn't the usual spelling thereof.

    Never heard of an ENDAROUND. WBS to that. Never played marbles and therefore didn't know a STEELIE was akin to a cueball. Kept plodding, though, and eventually finished.

    NW George - Ohno Construction does have a funny ring to it!

    Thanks for another Saturday enlightenment, Splynter.

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  22. Good afternoon all. Thanks for a great write up, Splynter.

    LaLaLinda, I was on the grounds crew with you and Splynter, tugging that Tarpaulin across the diamond. Fortunately, END AROUND was my first guess and enough perps fit that to point to GLASS CASE.

    Eager to go gave way to RARIN' TO GO. I just saw the variant spelling SAREE in another puzzle recently, so gave it a shot.

    Everything else fell in place easily (for a Saturday) except that cross of NEREID_/PARNA_SUS. I thought an E looked OK until I realized I needed more than one nymph.

    Lots of clever clues and fill. Thanks, steve for the brain exercize.

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  23. DNF for me this morning. In addition to backache (thanks for the sympathy, fermatprime 4:27, and mine to you, since yours actually sounds much worse) I now also have a terrible cold. (Hope your symptoms are allergies, Irish Miss 9:49, this cold is miserable). So not a great morning. I'm just praying my husband doesn't get the cold, since the last time he ended up in the hospital.

    Enjoyed many of the clever clues, Steve, and happy you like your new job, Splynter. Was GWENN the actor who played Santa Claus? And what does ARDUA mean? Was Apolo Ohno on 'Dancing with the Stars' a season or two ago? I remembered he was an Olympian but would have spelled Apolo with 2 'l's.

    Have a good weekend, everybody. Ours promises to be not so much, I'm afraid.

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  24. Good afternoon to all and happy weekend. Thanks for the write-up Splynter. Glad to hear your job is better and you stuck with the union. NIce puzzle for Sat. Endaround runs really are not very deceptive anymore with the speed of the defense they rarely work. Not straight up is not for Tinman,and also to let you know I am going for another fitting next week. Going to watch the race from St.Pete tomorrow love to see the old home town on T.V. A great day to all RJW.

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  25. First of all, I want to say congratulations three times to you, Splynter. For staying sober, for finding a new and comfortable place in your work, and for a terrific writeup to this difficult to solve and difficult to describe puzzle.

    Now to read the rest of all your comments.

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  26. Nice write-up there, Splytner! 80216 can't be the number of days unless you're very very old - what is it?

    DNF for me today - spelled SKAT SCAT and didn't know GWENN. I stared at ?ORCORDER and just couldn't see past what I'd filled in, I knew something had to be wrong but I had the blinders on today.

    Happy Saturday!

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  27. Misty@12:45 Ardua
    Adversity/struggle (Click search, next to images on the link for a Wiki explanation.)

    Wees
    (What Everyone Else Said)

    I've got those Red Letter cheatin' Blues...

    Splynter, you never saw Miracle on 34th St? Then you missed that great line:
    "But... but maybe he's only a little crazy like painters or composers or... or some of those men in Washington."

    Frisbee...Axial??? all i know is you should never do THIS with a frisbee...

    I thought Kazie might like this Pic.

    And, for all you Newbies out there, this is how i feel trying to fit in with all the puzzle solving Masters here on the Blog

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  28. Hello everybody. I can imagine how tricky it must have been for Splynter to describe his experiences and processes in solving this puzzle. It's like "had XYZ at N-across, but that ruined ABC at N-down, which remained unresolved until I wagged M-across and erased B-down, replacing W with Y ..."

    For me this was definitely a step by step process of across then down then across then down, wagging incorrectly, erasing and refilling, etc. But it sure was fun! And I feel pretty doggone good for not having to look anything up.

    Like some of you, I had sullen at first and had to change it to SOLEMN, which is a niftier fill anyway. Limestone had to metamorphose into SANDSTONE, and sure enough Gwynn should have been GWENN. I remembered the actor but misspelled his last name.

    NEREIDS was an unknown, obtained solely from the perps, but for some reason I had no trouble with PARNASSUS once I got the A, N, and S. In fact it was its presence that morphed limestone into sandstone.

    And so it went. Altogether a challenging yet fun and doable journey.

    I cannot praise the high quality of the LAT puzzles enough.

    Best wishes to you all.

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  29. CrossEyedDave, love that frisbee pic!

    By the way, "Agra" fooled me. Once I got Con-Agra into my head, I couldn't shake it. Also, wanting "eager to go" instead of RARIN TO GO almost, but not quite, was my downfall in the NW.

    Apolo Anton Ohno was very very good on Dancing With The Stars, especially his Paso Doble. Wow.

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  30. Thanks to all of you loyal puzzle solvers who take the additional time to share your daily experiences on this site.

    Kudos should also go to Rich Norris, one of the most capable puzzle people ever in the history of this business. His work is deeply imbedded in every puzzle.

    Have a great day,

    Steve Salitan

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  31. Cross-eyed Dave,
    Thanks for the Uluru link. That other one was cute too!

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  32. Thank you Steve for stopping by.

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  33. Good afternoon, weekend solvers. And thanks so much Splynter for your untiring expos and links. Congratulations on all counts: your job satisfaction and your sobriety. Kudos!!

    So late to this party because my toddler granddaughter was here all morning and did the puzzle in between chasing after her.

    EASED INTO the bottom and finished that easily once BEGAT, APOLO and IRE settled in. PARNASSUS rolled right out of my brain.

    The SW, too, as MEESE is for some reason unforgettable. He and Nancy were in a spat and apparently she wanted him out.

    Hand up for DHOTI and EAGER TO GO as well as SEEPS INTO but ELECTORAL corrected that. Did have to look for ARDUA and the spelling of GWENN. I agree that Argyle is a look alike.

    However, my extreme DNF was GRASS CAGE and since sports lingo is foreign to me, it sounded all right.

    I hope your Saturday is fabulous, everyone!

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  34. Splynter, congratulations on your job change. Hope you enjoy it. I'd been wondering how that went, but thought you'd tell us if there was good news. Thanks for a good write-up and continuing to take on an always difficult day.

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  35. Good afternoon Splynter, CC, et al., Loved your write up, Splynter and almost fell off my chair w/your comment on 32A Porn. Far be it from me to judge anyone or support any censorship. And thank you for the pic of Apolo. He's got great gams..great everything. He's an amazing young man on many levels.

    Had to laugh at BEGAT crossing
    PORN, RARIN TO GO, UP AND AT EM, and EASES IN TO. The BARTENDS serving PEPE (as in Lopez) know that tequila acts as LURES, OVER ICE or not, but CEMENTS even NEUTRAL relationships for any ANTsy pAIR, even TOI et moi. Yeah, you know, those meetings INTENDed to be quiet and not needing a WORK ORDER or a GPS guide; those STEELIE meetings INTENDed to be A CURE for the ADULT unRISEN problem that PERPLEXES some men. Yeah,some of those meetings have TENETs written in SANDSTONE. I'd like mine OVER ICE...like APOLO!!!

    Enjoy your night.

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  36. Forgot:
    Congratulations, Splynter, on the new position. I'm glad you're happy. I wish you continued success.

    Steve Salitan: thank you for stopping by. It's always nice when the constructors take the time to talk to us. I really like your compliment to Rich Norris. Well done.

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  37. This was a better Saturday than some. Took 2 hours before I gave up and came to Splynter. Got about 3/4 of it, but the NW corner was limited to ERDOCTORS. Finally looked up GWENN, but still wanted Grass-cover of some kind. I tarped.

    My first fills that weren't erased were PLOP & AIR. With those the Crossword Gods bestowed PARNASSUS on my weak brain.

    Saree came easy because of a Kindle game I play. I had actually heard the "Brick City" title recently on some TV show, but it took awhile to come back.

    What is RES?

    CED, once again you provide the belly laughs of the day with your three birds. I'm still chuckling over the roses. I hope that poor dog hangs up on the bush there. How do you find these clips?

    Splynter, I can help make your glass wall dream come true. I'll ship via UPS these little boogers crawling on my kitchen counters since it rained for four days--as soon as I can corral them.

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  38. Splynter: Wonderful write-up & links.

    Yippee Ki-Yay on a Saturday!!!
    Only write-over, the 'E' in GWENN (had gwYnn).
    These are more FUN when NOT an Ink-Blot-Test.

    When I see 'Nice' in a clue I immediately think it is a reference to the French City.
    Just wish I knew more french so I didn't have to suss out every answer. TOI, ETAT ... c'est-la-vie.

    UP-AND-AT-'EM, RARIN-TO-GO, EASES-INTO & PORN.
    A mini-theme ???

    OVER-ICE, are you kidding me, OVER-ICE?
    I just groaned and thought ... "rookies!"
    At Villa Incognito you CANNOT get a Pinch, OVER-ICE!

    Cheers to all at Sunset!

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  39. Hello.

    Looks like Chevy power will rule
    at St Pete tomorrow.

    Phx at San Jose tonight. Do or die.

    Been looking all over for 19.2 volt
    Ni Cad batteries for my Craftsman
    tools. Need to build a new gate.

    Feels like it is going to snow anytime now.

    Also have that nasty cold and achy
    body.

    eddy

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  40. Please, please explain how CRTS goes with ICONS????

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  41. Hola Everyone, I almost finished today's puzzle. This is the first day this week that I've had to do a puzzle and read the blog.

    My results were better than the usual Saturday try, but I still didn't finish. Hands up for Sullen, and Saris, instead of Saree. I thought the long answers were easier in some respects than the tricky short answers. Spies, and Res were two that kept me guessing.

    Thanks, Splynter for a great explanation to the puzzle today. Also, congratulations on finding your niche in your job. Sometimes a change is just what you need.

    This has been a super busy week, with grandchildren here for spring break, then a 600 mile round trip to take one back home. We did have a wonderful time, though, and she read part of the "Hunger Games" to me on the way home. I'm not sure what my feelings are about the books, but the kids REALLY like them.

    Fermatprime, Loved seeing Jamie Lee Curtis on NCIS last week. Will love seeing how this plays out.

    Have a great rest of the weekend everyone. I have 11 college students and some alums here for Bunco tonight. Have to go get the pizzas!

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  42. Anon @5:06
    Back in the day (when computer screens were CRTS) ICONS were those little symbols for your programs.

    As Splynter said ... a bit of a stretch.

    But 'fair' for a Saturday level puzzle clue.

    CED
    Nice shot of ULURU

    Cheers!

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  43. Anon. 5:06, CRTs are Cathode Ray Tubes, the screens for old computers and TVs. Since a computer screen is a place for Icons, hence the connection. I think it would be better to always clue CRTs as old technology since very few computers and TVs have them anymore.

    I seen Tin has already answered this while I was typing but why waste all of this effort. :>)

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  44. icons on a computer screen

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  45. Anon@5:06 i agree with you & Splynter, 36A "places for Icons=CRT's should have been referenced as archaic, because 99% of computer screens today are LCD's/LED's, but how would you clue CRT?

    Lois, great stuff, but you reminded me, where is HuskerGary today? i miss his wit, thanks for taking up the slack.

    I think it was here on the blog that i learned Edmund Gwenn not only played Santa on Miracle on 34th st., but also played the professor in THEM

    Which reminds me, Ant? are you still out there?

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  46. Oooh. Forgot to comment on NCIS. I love that Jamie Lee Curtis is the new love interest for Gibbs and as Chickie said, can't wait to see how it plays out.

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  47. Hi there~!

    I wanted to stop in and thank everyone for their comments, and thanks to our constructor Steve for popping in, too.

    As for some of the write-up, I made adjustments before I posted, only to find out that I made them on my side of the blog (orthorunics), so my comment on "Nice" being a French city is on the wrong page.

    Yes, I choose to "pass" on the very many chances to watch '34th' - as I do with 'Wonderful Life', too....

    Thanks for all the "smart move" thoughts about my work choice~!

    LaLa - I am glad SOMEone caught on to my "plant spy" ~!!!

    80216 refers to this being the 16th day of the 2nd month of my 8th year of sobriety.

    I done missed the whole PORN/BEGAT/
    RARIN' TO GO/EASE INTO
    connection in that one corner - thanks, lois~!!

    And thanks to all who posted the great pics - loved the rooster~!

    Splynter

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  48. CED, I would say all clues about CRTs should be worded something like, "Older places for icons".

    I had a great Subway sandwich for lunch a while back. Then some grocery shopping. I bought a nice little bunch of irises to brighten up the kitchen. Then a lottery ticket purchase and an espresso. Rain is due for tomorrow. I'm hoping for a lot but I'm usually disappointed.

    I like Jamie Lee Curtis too. It'll be fun to see how that plays out. No wonder Gibbs has been divorced three times. I think both Gibbs and Mark Harmon would be difficult to live with over any long period of time. Apparently though, he is still married to Pam Dawber (Mork and Mindy).

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  49. Steve,

    Thank you for stopping by, it is nice to know the creators are watching us comment on their work. This was well done as was Splynter's contribution and of course, Lois'

    Thought my Gators were going to sneak in like UConn last year, ah well...

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  50. OK, you guys from strange lands! A steelie is not a shooter! It is verbotten because steelies will chip other marbles! Steelies are only allowed for lagging! Where did you learn your marble rules. __

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  51. I knew that but what is lagging?

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  52. Hutch opines- Lagging is when you stand abreast and throw to be nearest to a marker. The nearest steelie to the marker gets to shoot first at the good marbles in the cicle- but not with the steelie. He shoots with an "aggie"--if he can afford one.

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  53. Thank you. Like lagging a putt in golf, maybe bocci, too.

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  54. Pitching pennies is a very difficult sport! Particularly, if you don't have too many pennies.

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  55. Good night all.

    I didn't every try today's, but I enjoyed the write up Splynter.
    And congratulations on being sober for so long. Do you still have cravings? The reason I ask is that when I quit smoking I had cravings for 11 years. Then at a dinner party I decided to have one. It tasted awful; I haven't had any cravings since then.
    And I'm glad to read that your job is going so well.

    Cheers

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  56. i don't know where marbles came into it, but it reminded me of playing in the schoolyard, we drew a circle in the dirt, and the rules were pretty much the same is this except we had a dug out hole in the center, i can't remember if this was "jail", or a safe spot?

    Splynter, i did notice your spy cat, but you do not want to get me started on cats...but since you mentioned it...
    SpyCat
    SpyCat
    SpyCat
    SpyCat
    & why i should stop blogging

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  57. Santa and Hutch: as lagging in playing pool? It all sounds
    similar to me dxcept for the KIND of ball used. I'd always prefer a steelie, baby!

    Chickie: I LOVE Bunko. Play every month w/the "raunchy ladies". We laugh soooo hard. The Funny of it is that to know who they are in the community would make it be even funnier. Our time together is a catharsis, confidential, and absolutely sanity saving. Such a good time! Love the game!

    Cross-eyed: LMAO great links; trying to fit in? hilarious!

    NCIS fans: JAMIE LEE CURTIS AND GIBBS? Oh hell yeah, if it can't be one of us!

    Desperato: thank you. You are soo sweet!

    Lemonade: thank you as well.

    Santa darlin': that END AROUND video showed UT taking it to TT (my 1st alma mater)..hurt me some more. What I would like to show YOU is the OU (my 2nd alma mater) version of END AROUND whenever you're ready. UT does not have the full grasp of the concept. Just say when.

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  58. LOIS, you are lucky to have a group of raunchy ladies to laugh with. I left my ribald friends when I moved to the city. I hadn't noticed before how strait-laced most of my family are. Not only do they think innuendo is not funny, they don't get it. Sex is so serious a subject, I feel sorry for them. I think I must be adopted and they gave me someone else's babies. One son has the right attitude, but also young son's that repeat everything.

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  59. PK; interesting question as to origins of humor and its appeal. I'm sorry you lost your 'funny' friends. That is truly tragic. Wish you were near me. I'd grab you up in a hot NY sec. Isn't it interesting how family members can be so different..diametrically opposed..180. no accounting for taste. I hope you keep searching for friends that make you laugh, and I would plug parrot kid's ears....or stuff his mouth so he couldn't repeat anything. old socks work really well. LOL

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  60. I haven't been doing Saturday puzzles much but had some extra time tonight. This one may have been my easiest Saturday ever. Only real slow area was where I put ERASE in for CEASE and was stuck on ELECTRA and NEREIDS. That opened up with PERPLEXES and the puzzle was completed. Could of been even faster where I wanted to pop in RARING TO GO with no letters but it didn't fit. Very smooth puzzle, worst clue for me was for CRT, staler then old bread.

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