google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, March 15, 2012 Michael Doran

Gary's Blog Map

Mar 15, 2012

Thursday, March 15, 2012 Michael Doran

Theme: Capital Pun-ishment. Theme entries are crosswordese puns on "Capital".

17A. Capital of 62-Across : WELLINGTON. OK, not a pun. Literally, the capital of New Zealand.

11D. Capital of 62-Across : KIWI DOLLAR. Often seen in crosswords as mis-direction, this refers to the currency "capital".

29D. With 30-Down, capitals of 62-Across? : THE LETTERS
30D. See 29-Down : N AND Z. Another crosswordese pun, meaning the "capital" initial letters in the name of the country.

And the unifier:
62A. Where "The Lord of the Rings" movies were filmed : NEW ZEALAND. Land of the kiwi.

In addition to being a fun pun-fest, Michael Doran has given us a pangram, where every letter of the alphabet has been used in the puzzle. The only thing that could have improved this one is if he had added "The Beehive" as a capitol (building) of New Zealand.


But, he did give us another crosswordese pun that I just mentioned the other day:
58D. Flower in Bern? : AARE. The clue does not refer to flora, but the river that "flows" through Bern, Switzerland. So you see? I haven't been doing too many crosswords lately!

Marti here, chuckling all the way through this pun-ny puzzle. Let's see what tickled my fancy today.

Across:

1. "The Fiddler" painter Chagall : MARC. He painted many "fiddlers", but this is the one I thought of. Not exactly Zero Mostel...

5. Brooch part : CLASP

10. Scraped (out) : EKED

14. Miami River locale : OHIO. Not the one in Florida, this one is named for the Miami indians.

15. Postal scale unit : OUNCE. Also, Mary Jane unit.

16. Ristorante bottle : VINO. "Wine", in Italian. "Ristorante" in the clue hints at the foreign word.

19. Victorious cry : I WIN

20. Refines, in a way : SMELTS

21. List-ending abbr. : ETC.

22. Coffee bar stack : LIDS

23. Biol. branch : ECOL. ogy.

25. Too pooped to pop : TIRED. Cute clue.

27. First ones to spot the king's ghost, in "Hamlet" : WATCHMEN. Act I, Scene I.

31. "Stop bugging me!" : LAY OFF!

34. Eight, in Essen : ACHT. Eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben...

35. Bellyache : MOAN

37. Yo-Yo's strings : CELLO. Time for a musical interlude. I thought this was a very interesting video interpretation of "Sarabande". 3:09

38. Pronoun on the briny : SHE

39. Mark Twain, e.g. : PEN NAME

41. Overly permissive : LAX. Or, an airport in So. Cal.

42. Insanely cold : POLAR. Like a three dog night? 3:30

44. Icelandic work that influenced Tolkien : EDDA.

45. Swelter : BAKE

46. In any way : SOEVER. What's soever? (Don't bother looking it up. It's a word.)

48. Closed, as a sleeping bag : ZIPPERED

50. Sealing aids : TAPES

52. Greenish-blue : AQUA

53. "Bad Reputation" singer : JETT. A little something for everyone today! 2:41

55. "__ only money!" : IT'S

57. Mental grasp : UPTAKE. I'm usually pretty quick on the uptake, but I did a double take when I finally filled in the answer for this clue.

61. Clueless : ASEA

64. Actress Teri : GARR. Remember her as Inga in "Young Frankenstein"?

65. Bridge call : I PASS. Card game, not ship.

66. Activist Brockovich : ERIN. Immortalized in the movie starring Julia Roberts.

67. Dope (out) : SUSS. A favorite Crossword Corner verb!

68. Bother a lot : NAG AT. Yes, when I nag at him, it bothers DH a lot...

69. Stiff hair : SETA

Down:

1. Levels the playing field? : MOWS. Loved this clue!

2. Cutting-in word : AHEM

3. Grate : RILE

4. Amass : COLLECT

5. Simple soup : CONSOMME

6. Tote with difficulty : LUG

7. Starting money of a sort : ANTE. Start of a poker hand.

8. Dilbert creator Adams : SCOTT. One of my favorite cartoons. Boy, am I glad I am no longer in corporate America...

9. One may be seen behind an ear : PENCIL

10. Sinister stare : EVIL EYE. I won't link an image here. (I'm still trying to get the bling teeth image from yesterday out of my head...)

12. Sooner State city : ENID. Oklahoma.

13. Puts on : DONS. Or, "Gagliardo and others"...

18. Strong urge : ITCH

24. Italian director Sergio : LEONE. Oh c'mon, you know him. "A Fistful of Dollars"? "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"?

26. TV's "The Amazing __" : RACE

27. Scary nestful : WASPS. What's so scary about white Anglo-Saxon protestants? Why, some of my best friends...

28. Allergic reaction : ACHOO. (Gesundheit)

32. Oddball : FLAKE

33. Deceived : FOXED

36. 1976 Olympics headlines name : NADIA. Comăneci. First female gymnast to score a perfect 10.

39. Coach : PREP

40. Reference site for travelers : MAPQUEST. Don't leave home without it.

43. Images used by Wii players : AVATARS. Or by bloggers.

45. With "the," band with the 2006 remix album "Love" : BEATLES. Would anyone object if the clue omitted "With 'the,'"?

47. Keep under control : REIN IN

49. Metamorphosis stage : PUPA

51. Instructions opener : STEP A

53. Crying spells : JAGS. Not to be confused with these classic cars.




54. Old Testament twin : ESAU

56. Party loot : SWAG. We have a different meaning here on the Corner. ("Scientific wild-a**ed guess")

59. Make a wool cap, say : KNIT

60. "Mother Ireland" writer O'Brien : EDNA. She won the Los Angeles Times Book prize in 1990 for "Lantern Slides".

63. When repeated, a Gabor : ZSA. I wonder if that was an intentional crosswordese entry to round out this puzzle?

Answer grid.

Hugs,
Marti

67 comments:

  1. Morning, all!

    A few too many cross-references for my taste at first, but once I actually got 62A (which was pretty easy from the clue), everything fell into place pretty quickly. I liked the theme, since we often see "capital" in the clues and never know what sense is being used. The only one that gave me any trouble was trying to get NANDZ at 30D before getting 29D first.

    It took me nearly all the crosses to finally get POLAR. I was thinking FRIGID, ARCTIC, even GELID, but for some reason POLAR just didn't spring to mind readily. Of course, when it finally did I slapped my forehead since it was so obvious in retrospect.

    Knew CONSOMME, but had a lot of trouble spelling it. I think I actually had CONSUMME at first, which now looks ridiculous to me.

    SOEVER seems odd all by itself (as opposed to WHATSOEVER).

    Really wanted WAXES instead of TAPES at 50A.

    I've seen plenty of STEP ONEs, but never a STEP A.

    Had to guess at JETT, EDNA and THE BEATLES. Didn't know EDNA at all and was stymied by the clues for the other two.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Right at my edge of (in)ability. Good fun.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good day folks,

    What a fun puzzle! I was reeling for a while, but eventually, it all came together. Flower almost had me. I couldn't think of any Swiss blooms, but finally an AHA moment when AARE appeared. FLOW ER.... that's good.

    I also began with Step 1 before Step A became apparent. Seen them both used, but the numeric seemed more appropriate.

    I had CONSOOME for 5D and couldn't figure out what a WATCHOEN was, but another AHA moment when I added a second M and took o the second O out of the soup.

    Happy to see Sergio Leone. Once Upon A Time In The West one of my favorite Oaters and the background music is terrific.

    Levels the playing field/MOWS gave me a yuk or two.

    Marti, thanks for the fun write up. Have you become TEED OFF after you have TEED OFF lately?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Marti,
    I can't imagine how you find time for all those great links along with your internet problems of late.

    I enjoyed this, and got all the NZ references fairly quickly, since it is an old neighbor of mine. I did not know JETT, or which state is the sooner state, so my I WON didn't seem odd when it produced ENOD for ENID which is also an unknown to me. I also had EAT AT for NAG until perps told me I needed SWAG, though I've never been to that kind of (?) party. STEP A did seem odd to me too. JAGS was my last fill.

    Speaking of the BEATLES, I watched the story of George Harrison in "Living in the Material World" last night. Lots of nostalgia via the music and many interviews. Sad end to his life.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good morning, folks. Thank you, Michael Doran, for a great Thursday puzzle. It was tough, but it should be. Thank you, HeartRx, for the write-up.

    Could not start in the NW, so I went to the NE. Got a foothold there and just kind of spread.

    After some sussing and all I entered NEW ZEALAND. Had ZIPPED UP initially, then changed that to ZIPPERED. that gave me KIWI DOLLAR. After deep thought got N AND Z, then THE LETTERS became obvious. Pretty tricky, but once done it was enjoyable. I have never seen the movie.

    Remembering EDDA for 44A was a big help, as well as AARE for 58D. We get them both occasionally. They are in my head.

    Fun start for the day. See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ReplyDelete
  6. Beware the Ides of March!

    Fun puzzle again today. Marti, I thought of you with that "Flower in Bern." We sure have seen SUSSing a lot lately.

    I bogged myself down when I confidently penned in HENCHMEN for 27A. I already had NANDZ and I couldn't figure out what 29D could possibly be. Hand up also for WAXES before TAPES. I don't recall seeing SETA (or SETAE) recently. We used to see it all the time.

    KIWI DOLLAR started an earworm of Rum And Coca Cola in my warped brain...."workin' for the Yahnkee Dollah"

    Later...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Since I'm so high up in the comments list I know the rest of you are having trouble with this brain buster too.

    It was tough but great. I loved some of clues and answers.

    - Levels the Playing Field: MOWS.
    - Yo-Yo's strings: CELLO. (I didn't see the second Yo was capitalized.)
    - Scary Nestful: WASPS.
    - Starting Money of a Sort: ANTE.

    I'm with the grumbling on STEP A and SO EVER.

    I wonder if anybody else scratched their head trying to figure out what Nandz was ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good morning Marti and all. Thanks for pointing out about the pangram.

    Thought the NZ theme was kinda cute. Nothing weighty; just differrent takes on 'capital'. Overall, it seemed easy for a Thursday. My hardest entry was spelling AVATAR correctly. The flower clue was there again; AARE.

    SHE - I posted this a couple months ago, but here it is again; Why We Call a Ship a SHE, in case you missed it.

    Off to say I PASS in some Bridge.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good morning all:

    Kudos to Mr. Doran for a very clever puzzle and cheers to Marti for a great expo.

    Started out slow but with patience and perps, everything fell into place. Liked the clues for mows and Aare and the theme clues. A solid Thursday challenge.

    Happy TGIF eve!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I solved this one the way a toilet bowl flushes (at least, in the northern hemisphere). I started getting fills in the NW, moved over to the NE, down the right coast, then the SE, backwards across the S, up the left coast, and then circled around the middle a few times before finally filling in NANDZ.

    HH@7:32, I will be in Florida next week, and I plan to get plenty TEED OFF down there!

    Kazie@8:13, when children attend birthday parties, they are usually given party favors, or SWAG (loot, booty, goodies, etc). That’s how I interpreted it, anyway.

    Mari@8:58, that image is a lot less scary than some of the ones I found!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Since the theme was NEW ZEALAND I don't think ZSA was the crosswordese to get the panagram.

    Maybe that 'J' for JETT. my last entry. (Well that's my story and I'm sticking with it).

    Since we have PENNAME, it makes me wonder, do we also have PENCIL-Names?

    Husker: We AARE the Swiss here.

    Cheers to all at Sunset.


    PS Hondo, when your comment 'posts twice' you can delete one without losing the other.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Good morning, all. Great blog, Marti.

    Rows 1,2,4 and 5 practically filled themselves, then I switched to downs to get the cross referenced capital. As soon as WELLINGTON emerged I dropped to the bottom and filled NEW ZEALAND. Going back up to finish off the NE I thought I had misread something when 11d wanted another capital. That's when the lightbulb went on and I knew this was going to be a play on the various meanings of capital. It took a lot of perps for THE LETTERS to emerge, but everything else went well.

    SETA was the only entry that I just don't recall seeing before, but everything crossing was solid.

    I don't recall seeing UPTAKE in a puzzle before, but the phrase "a little slow on the uptake" came to mind. Sort of like my solving experiences at times. Agree SOEVER looks strange without what or who preceeding it.

    Congratulations to the constructor for a pangram without resorting to too much cliched fill.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Fun Puzzle. I liked the Kiwi references. Makes me want to visit New Zealand. Fun clues, too.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Marti, my take on SWAG was a little different. It envisioned political parties, and the SWAG as the under-the-table dealings/bribes/sops.

    Sergio Leone was undisputed king of the spaghetti western. And he certainly didn't do any harm to Clint Eastwood's career. Link for Hang 'em High would fit nicely here.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hang 'Em High was not a spaghetti western. No Italian actors or directors involved.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Desper-otto, how can you be so cynical about our political parties and SWAG... Oh, wait, that was my interpretation, too! >^:^<

    ReplyDelete
  17. Peaches, good catch! I've got DVD's of most of CE's movies, and I would have bet money that Sergio directed Hang 'em High. Fortunately, nobody taunted me with, "Well, are you feeling lucky? Are you, kid?"

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hello.

    Swag given to actors and others at
    pre-award shows. We also gave away swag at electronic trade shows.

    Just have to watch the Pens and the
    Rangers tonight. Sid returns.

    eddy

    ReplyDelete
  19. Greetings!

    Swell puzzle--took awhile but no need to cheat. Thanks, Michael. Fantastic write-up, Marti, as usual!

    No complaints!

    Spent 10 hours on taxes yesterday. Many more hours to go. I itemize medical deductions (including the myriad OTC purchases) and professional deductions also. There is the rub. Some companies do not send receipts occasionally.

    BFF Chris goes under the knife shortly to have torn this and that in right shoulder repaired. I am very worried. She is having general anesthetic. (Won't be any swimming for 6 weeks, needless to say.)

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Good day, Marti and gang.

    Thanks to Michael Doran for a really good puzzle. Didn't fool me with flower or capital, and it was fun seeing both of them.

    I sashayed through most of it but was slightly stumped in the SW because I wasn't quick on the UPTAKE of SOEVER and didn't know JETT.

    So that's why I knew Sergio LEONE. My DH loved those oaters and it jumped out immediately.

    Beware the Ides of March, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Good afternoon to all, thanks Marti for the insights and links. Tough at first but when I got 17 and 62A everthing else fell in with the perps. Loved the Three Dog Night link reminded me of the way I dressed then too. Whew! glad them days are in the past! Have a great Ides to all RJW. To Tinman things are looking up for our Bucs Eh? Can't wait for the fall.RJW.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I always approach Friday puzzles with trepidation and was delighted to find this one doable and fun. So many thanks, Mr. Doran, and to you too, Marti, for the great write-up. Only SETA still eludes me: how is that "stiff hair"? Am I missing some pun here? And, boy, am I glad I got you folks to explain SUSS to me a while back. It seems to pop up in puzzles every time I turn around these days.

    Have a good Friday, everybody!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Seems like many have a different take on SWAG. Makes me feel better about not being sure if I was guessing correctly or not.

    Thanks to all who explained the options.

    We are enjoying very unusual temperatures here in WI. I've been taking my walks earlier than normal to avoid the heat. We had 78 for our high yesterday and lower 70's expected for the next week or so.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Fermat, be careful with those OTC deductions. Medicine you buy without a prescription (or prescriptions you have filled in another country) are not considered tax deductible by the IRS.

    If you're not doing so already, you should keep track of your mileage to/from your doctor visits. You can deduct $0.19/mile for mileage prior to July 1, and $0.235/mile for mileage July 1 to year end. The rate for 2012 will be different.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Misty, SETA (plural SETAE) is a biological term for a type of bristle -- thus "stiff hair." It used to appear frequently in CW's. Not so much lately.

    ReplyDelete
  26. This is my earliset chance to see the blog. I've been out all morning visiting the doctor and other errands for my son. We ate lunch out. When we came home I had to lie down and ice my knee.

    I did the puzzle while sitting in the car waiting for my son to finish. I loved the theme and all the puns, plus Marti's witty comments. I had waxes before TAPES. I thought of kid's birthday party SWAG. Now i am reminded there are many other kinds of SWAG.

    STEP A didn't fool me. Although using Arabic numbers for steps is most common, using letters is next in frequency. I resaoned that using Roman numerals, as in STEP I, is even more uncommon.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Misty, as Desper-otto said, a SETA (pl. setae) is a stiff hair-like bristle on many species of plants and animals. Here is a picture showing prominent setae on some cute Siteroptes (mites). Taken from (appropriately) the New Zealand Journal of Zoology!!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Good morning all,

    ah, to completely finish an "end of the week" puzzle on my own..not yet.
    WBS, except I left too many holes in the SW...soever, step A, a sea, polar, & the letters.

    Thanks for everyone's take on swag- am not familiar with the term..only as a piece of cloth, or that 60's hanging lamp (?).

    Always fun to read your write up Marti.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Many thanks for the SETA explanation, Desper-otto 12:19 and HeartRx 12:28, and also for the link. Cool that you found a New Zealand SETA! These learning moments are part of what makes this blog so much fun.

    ReplyDelete
  30. @yellowrocks, you make too many typos.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous @1:00 PM I know! I know!
    The Spell Check icon does not appear while I am in this blog. I reread several times and catch some, but do not catch them all until after I publish. I have repeatedly asked for help with no result. Please advise ASAP.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Misty:
    You may want to check your calendar; I did a double take after reading your post because I was fairly sure it is Thursday, but your comment shook me a bit!

    And I forgot to offer thanks for the various explanations of SWAG which did have me puzzled. New learning for me.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Hi everybody. This was fairly tough for me. Even after getting everything including NANDZ, I didn't fully appreciate the theme until coming here. Thanks for the informative writeup.

    I went to the local Target today to pick up a prescription. I saw a favorite ex-student from maybe 35 years ago. I recognized her and she recognized me immediately. We had a nice visit for five or ten minutes. Nobody gets rich being a teacher but being able to keep in touch with favorite ex-students has always been a nice perk for me.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Oops! I must really be ready for the weekend, Lucina!

    ReplyDelete
  35. I remember the commentators at the Oscars talked about the "swag" that the nominees come away with.

    The best Evil Eye I can remember is that given by Dolores, the wife of Harry, the hardware store owner, on Tim Allen's "Home Improvement" TV show. It could turn an inferno Polar.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Not sure if Al Capp started it all, but my earliest knowledge of Evil Eye came from Evil Eye Fleegle, a minor character in Lil Abner. IIRC, the strip always indicated him using his power via a lightning bolt.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Yes Mari a Fun Thursday, but since I was away, I too have no idea what day of the week it is. I better gear up for it being Friday tomorrow, or you will all be left wondering....

    if you use firefox, it keeps the spell check for comments, otherwise you will need to check on your own

    ReplyDelete
  38. Another smart ass composer trying to stump the chumps. Being a Thursday was wise to the spelling of the Capitol and Capital so I breezed through this. We had simaliar clues last week with a capital . Liked Nadia clue, brings back memories. Loved lord of the rings. I would like to visit new Zealand one day I hear it is very beautiful. Cheers all

    ReplyDelete
  39. Hello everybody. I liked the New Zealand theme and the various usages of "capital." Mostly not too difficult for me today, except that I finished it wrong, entering STEP I instead of STEP A, and assuming NIG AT was correct. ("Nig" being related in my mind to "niggling").

    Also didn't remember what a SETA is, but probably will remember from now on. Well, for a month or two anyway.

    Hands up for feeling a bit strange with SOEVER, and for filling in ZIPPED UP at first. GMTA!

    Never heard Joan Jett perform, but having gotten the J and the final T I guessed it.

    Loved the same clever clues as you all did.

    Marti, thank you for your witty and interesting writeup.

    Tinbeni, good question about pencil name. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  40. New Zealand is indeed beautiful. they used to hype it as the "Pocket World", since many of the world's best known sights seem to be duplicated there. You'll look at Mt. Egmont and think you're looking at Fujyama, active volcanoes in the North Island and boiling mud pools at Rotorua, white sand beaches, trout streams, a whole range of ice capped mountains and glaciers in the South Island as well as fjords like Milford Sound that rival those of Norway. The Maori people are Polynesians who can trace their heritage back to which canoe their forefathers arrived in from Tahiti.

    Definitely worth the 13-14 hour flight from the west coast.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Hi Y'all,

    Really enjoyed this since my daughter was in NZ and we studied the place a lot. She also played the cello so enjoyed the YoYo clip, Marti! Thanks!. Also had presented Marc Chagall as a picture lady. On the right wave length to fill all the squares today. Yippeee!

    RE HYBRID of yesterday: Lucina, Websters 7th New Collegiate Dictionary (ca 1960) definition states: "1. an offspring of two animals or plants of different RACES, breeds, varieties, species or genera 2: a person produced by the blending of two diverse cultures or traditions. ..." My understanding of hybrid was so different from yours, I had to check. Wikipedia was almost not understandable.

    ReplyDelete
  42. There are also swags in draperies!!!

    ReplyDelete
  43. Anon @ 2:54 pm: "Stump the Chumps", is that our new name? I kinda like it!

    TinoTechi @ 2:43 pm: I couldn't find any good links to Harry's wife, so this will have to do for an Evil Eye!

    ReplyDelete
  44. I found a clip of "The Look", from Home Improvement, on facebook. The actual look occurs at 4:00 minutes into the clip. Enjoy.

    The Look

    ReplyDelete
  45. Irish Miss March 14, 2012 @ 5:23 PM: I'm looking forward to season 2 of The Killing!

    ReplyDelete
  46. Tino Techie, that clip of "The Look" reminds me how funny Home Improvement was and how much my wife and I liked it. Thanks for linking to it.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Tinbeni,

    Thanks for today's learning moment.

    Hondo

    ReplyDelete
  48. Re 14a: I understand it is clued for a Thursday level misdirection effect but I still think it is wrong.

    There is a Great Miami River, a Little Miami River and a Miami Valley but there is no Miami River in Ohio.

    I still filled in OH-IO immediately.

    Having visited N.Z. in Dec of 1991 made this a fun puzzle for me.

    The crossing in the north east could be a Jeopardy "before and after" clue: Styes on your disapproving wife. What are EVILEYELIDS Alex?

    ReplyDelete
  49. PK:
    In theory that may be correct but I doubt it would be considered a compliment without qualifying it.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Mari @ 4:12-Nice to hear from another fan of The Killing. A lot of people were so upset (that's putting it mildly) about the non-ending, that they claim they won't watch any more episodes. IMHO, several cast members delivered some of the finest acting I've ever seen.

    And then for our comedic fix, we have our Dear Sheldon, et al which I am watching right now (re-run). Current show is not on tonight because of BB tournament. Same applies to another of my favorite shows, Person of Interest.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Gee, Irish Miss,
    Isn't that a bummer. I just raced home from a dinner out with friends--our group calls itself the "Old Broads"-- to see Sheldon and co. I checked and we must have the same game on tonight, so I guess I'll have to satisfy my comedic urges with reruns too. I suppose it means "Person of Interest" is preempted too. Multiple swearwords!

    ReplyDelete
  52. Oh boy! What a day to promise myself to give up the red letters. On top of that, i thought it was Wednesday!

    Well, i'm so late to the party that all the good swag had been taken. (They use the term "swag" for the goodies you find in Geocaches also.) Anyway, i have so many items circled for checking at the Blog that i can barely read the puzzle. Hands up for WEES, but i must mention that 5D simple soup started out as CONSUME, but i could not figure out where to put the missing letter, or why looking at it made me hungry. Step1 bothered me into putting "digat", which made me think it was "reined", which made me change my already inked "ipass" into "Epass." with 3 perfectly good answers i could only think it was short for East Passes, or they invented "E"lectronic Bridge or something. (you know,,,like EZpass???) & 42A insanely cold=Polar? you couldn't clue it better like somehow referencing bipolar,,,um mental illness,,, um,, er,, (AW NUTS)

    Well, you can see this puzzle drove me nuts, (like a good puzzle should), but the coup de grace was i came here to learn what city NANDZ was, and find out i never put the "X" in lax/foxer!

    DNF,,,(rats)

    ReplyDelete
  53. Lucina: from my experience on the farm, hybrids are superior to non-hybrids. For example, hybrid corn is a much improved plant from the original maize grown by indigenous people years ago. I'm not understanding your thinking it is no compliment. It is what it is. Half black and half white is hybrid. I want the half white considered also.

    ReplyDelete
  54. "Once a jolly SWAGman camped beside a bilibong..."--in honor of the down-under theme.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Late to the party and it's all been said, but let me add "Like" to both the puzzle (which seemed very fresh to me) and Marti's commentary.

    Now, as I'm late, and I normally don't like to cross-pollinate or pollute, but can someone explain an answer in the NYT puzzle today? The blogger on Rex Parker's site didn't explain it, so I'm assuming either it's so blindingly obvious I'm dim, or she didn't understand it either.

    The clue was "Kind of short", the answer was "SNL".

    I've looked and looked at it up, down and sideways and I"m stumped. Anyone?

    ReplyDelete
  56. Jolly Swagman 3:03

    (He plays Waltzing Matilda at the end.)

    ReplyDelete
  57. Saturday Night Live(SNL) has pre-taped videos(sometimes animated) called "shorts".

    ReplyDelete
  58. So I watched this SNL short last night...

    Hey, who spelled my name incorrectly?

    ReplyDelete
  59. The REAL Lorne

    And these L.A. Times (THE BEST IMO) clues get such flack? Puleez

    your welcome

    ReplyDelete
  60. The other guys are probably right but it occurred to me that SNL is an abbreviation and therefore, a kind of short.

    It coulda been Martin ___ and electrical ___.

    What do the electric blanket, the Oreo cookie, Life Saver candies, the prize inside the Cracker Jack Box, LL Bean, the sinking of the Titanic and the Girl Scouts all have in common?

    ReplyDelete
  61. Bill G@ 10:32-They are all celebrating their 100 th anniversary this year.

    Congratulations to all!

    ReplyDelete
  62. PK and Cross-eyed Dave,
    The jolly swagman in "Waltzing Matilda" is Australian--not Kiwi. Though both countries are in the Antipodes and share some idioms of language, they are each unique and do not have exactly the same culture. New Zealand was also the first country in the world to give women the right to vote--in 1893!

    I suppose to many Americans, Down Under is all the same, but when you live there you know the differences.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Sorry Kazie, sometimes I combine the two.

    ReplyDelete
  64. @SLNers - thanks for the explanation, but that clue/answer is so lame it needs putting out of its misery.

    ReplyDelete

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

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

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

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

No politics, no religion and no personal attacks.