google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, April 5, 2012 Don Gagliardo & C.C. Burnikel

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Apr 5, 2012

Thursday, April 5, 2012 Don Gagliardo & C.C. Burnikel

Theme: A Master Stroke! (And hopefully, what the winner does this week to win the tournament!)

I'll give the reveal first, so as to spoil the fun:

58A. Tournament that begins today (and collectively, words that begin 17-, 23-, 36- and 49-Across) : THE MASTERS. Every first word could begin with the word "master", hence, "collectively", they are all the "masters".

And the the entries are:

17A. One concerned with Times changes : COPY EDITOR. "LA Times", appropriately, for this blog. A MASTER COPY is one that you probably should keep in the safe.

23A. Offensive blueprint? : PLAN OF ATTACK. The offense would plan their attack carefully. A MASTER PLAN should probably also be kept in the safe...

36A. Beetle Bailey's boss : SERGEANT SNORKEL. The cartoon character was always trying to dodge his boss. A MASTER SERGEANT should be kept at a safe distance...

49A. Tonality indicator : KEY SIGNATURE. Major or minor keys in western music. The MASTER KEY should be kept safe in your bra. (Uh, unless you happen to be a guy...)

I just mentioned on Tuesday, that I enjoyed seeing Sam Snead and Arnie Palmer in the SJ2 puzzle, as The Masters tournament was beginning this week. And, WA-LA! Here appears a MASTERpiece puzzle from our own dynamic duo, that I get to write up!!

Hearti here, to do the honors...

Across:

1. Pig ___ : LATIN. Mo-hay, Mas-hay, Mat-hay

6. Out of the cooler? : FREE. "Cooler" is another euphemism for "jail".

10. Street prettifiers : ELMS

14. Kicking partner : ALIVE. As in, "I'm alive and kicking."

15. Maker of Old World Style sauces : RAGU

16. Wet bar : SOAP. Not the mini bar in your hotel room, but that tiny piece of stuff to wash your hands, on the hotel room sink.

19. Senate wrap : TOGA. Old Roman senate, that is.

20. "Roundabout" band : YES. I hope that this opens without an advert for you. 8:43 (Just listen to it in the background, while you finish reading the blog...)

21. Country club costs : DUES. The dues at Augusta National are quite "low": only $10,000 per year, because of all the income generated by THE MASTERS.

22. Related : AKIN

27. Diamond : INFIELD. Of course, we had to have a baseball shout out in this golf theme!

30. Disney girl with a seashell bikini top : ARIEL.




31. Dieter's catchword : LEAN. Cuisine.

32. Stomach discomfort : KNOT

33. Little devil : IMP

41. Navy VIP : ADM. iral

42. Wall St. deals : LBOS. Leveraged Buyouts.

43. Vintner's prefix : OENO. I am an oenophile, "So sue me!"

44. British Petroleum took majority ownership of it in 1978 : SOHIO. Standard Oil of Ohio was bought out by BP, I think in 1968?

46. Answers the call : STEPS UP. Every Wednesday night, that's what I do! And this is a chance to link some impressive STEPS that JD sent to me this week. This artist walks every day in the snow, to make amazing patterns. His name is Simon Beck, and you can find more patterns here.

52. Conde ___: Vogue publisher : NAST

53. Carvey of "SNL" : DANA.This was one of his auditions for "Saturday Night Live". 4:33

54. URL-ending letters : EDU. Anyone else fill in ".com" first, without checking the downs?

57. Rock ending : ETTE. One of these.

61. Part of ABA: Abbr. : AMER. American...er, Bankers Association, British Academy, Bar Association, Birding Association, Bookseller's Association, Bandmaster's Association, Baptist Association...(did I leave anyone out???)

62. Mouse pad? : HOLE. Fun clue!

63. Hair raising : EERIE

64. GOP rivals : DEMS

65. Receiving customers : OPEN

66. Quits : STOPS. I'm not going to STOP yet, I still have to go:

Down:

1. Like some lingerie : LACY. I bet this was Don's clue!

2. Sunscreen additive : ALOE

3. They may be pooled : TIPS

4. Wall climber : IVY

5. Poke fun at : NEEDLE

6. One you might 5-down : FRIEND. I would never needle Don and C.C. !!

7. "Midnight Cowboy" role : RATSO. Rizzo. The guy on the left.

8. Star quality : EGO

9. It. is there : EUR. Italy is in EURope.

10. What's left : ESTATE. Ha! I'm going to spend it all, nothing left!!

11. Doubles : LOOK ALIKES. All babies LOOK ALIKE to me!


12. Potter's practice : MAGIC. Harry Potter, of course.

13. Hit on the rear : SPANK. Oooh, spank me!

18. Twofold : DUAL. See 11D, above.

23. Big name in golf clubs : PING. I have a Ping sand wedge. I bet some of the guys playing this week also have some Pings in their bags. You, Husker?

24. Summer coolers : FANS

25. "East of Eden" twin : ARON. Caleb and Aron Trask.

26. Former Yugoslav leader : TITO. A dynamic, enigmatic, controversial, but well-loved figure.

27. To whom Rick said: "The Germans wore gray. You wore blue." : ILSA. From "Casablanca". Have you seen it?

28. Call for : NEED. Need I say more?

29. Minor leagues : FARM SYSTEM. Of course, another baseball reference...

32. Gold meas. : KTS. Karats. for these:



34. Word after file or edit : MENU

35. Alka-Seltzer sound : PLOP...plop, fizz, fizz

37. K-12 : EL-HI. OK, bring on the complaints!

38. "It's not ___ deal" : A BIG

39. Midday : NOON

40. Dogie catcher : ROPE

45. Some blenders : OSTERS. My Oster blender quit after only 23 years...

46. Pollen bearer : STAMEN

47. Fast-swimming fish : TUNA

48. Wipes clean : ERASES

49. Work with dough : KNEAD

50. Words on a Wonderland cake : EAT ME. No comment...

51. Fred's first partner : ADELE. Astaire. Fred's younger sister, with whom he had a successful vaudeville act in 1905.

54. First name in architecture : EERO. Who can forget the Gateway Arch designer Saarinen?

55. Problem for a plumber : DRIP. Also a problem at a pick-up bar...

56. Versatility list : USES

58. Even if, briefly : THO

59. Short trip : HOP

60. Hanoi New Year : TET. Not to be confused with this. (Fooled ya, didn't I?)

Answer grid.

Hugs,
Marti

1) Note from C.C. & Don:

The theme came to me while thumbing through an old issue of Golf Digest. Don tried to spice up the unifier a bit, but we could not come up with a snazzier reveal of suitable length (11-letters or less, since we wanted 5 theme entries). A bit of trivia for you: Don caddied once for Jack Nicklaus (Six-time Masters champion) in 1976 at Muirfield Village. He said, "It was my first day there, it was late and I was tired, and wouldn't you know Jack came in and wanted to play nine holes. In that group was John Cook, who was attending Ohio State at the time."

(Marti's note: Waaaaay cool, Don!!)

2) Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to Irish Miss! So happy that you're feeling better. Happy Birthday to beer lover Abejo also! Have you heard that James Bond will be drinking beer rather than martini in the next movie?

74 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all! And a Happy, Happy Birthday to Irish Miss and Abejo!

Not as fast as the last few days, but still pretty speedy for a Thursday.

PING was a complete unknown, but was able to get it via the perps pretty easily.

Struggled a bit in the ABIG/SOHIO/LBOS section. Had IPOS to begin with. Changed that to LBOS but put in ABAD instead of ABIG. SOHAO looked wrong, so I guessed SOHIO (I've actually seen SOHIO before but forgot it).

Other than that, smooth sailing. Lots of typically tricky clues, but I guess I'm used to them by now...

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Cute effort, CC, Don and Marti!

Favorite answer: SOAP.

I have seen Casablanca many times!

Finished tax preparation today after an incredible number of hours!!! Still need to print and collate and get Harvey to deliver it to tax man.

Late getting to sleep!

Happy, happy birthday to Irish Miss and Abejo!

HeartRx said...

Good morning all!

Just popping in to wish Abejo and Irish Miss
Happy Birthday!

I hope it's the best ever for both of you!

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Marti and friends. What a fun Thursday puzzle. I got the unifier before I got most of the other theme clues. After getting SERGEANT SNORKEL, I though the Master's reference might refer to famous Artists (as in John Singer Sergent.) It took a while before I let go of that idea.

When I saw the Diamond, I knew immediately that it was a baseball reference. After all, this is a C.C. puzzle!

I loved Wet Bar = SOAP and Kicking Partner = ALIVE.

A big Happy Birthday to Abejo and Irish Miss~

QOD: Save a boyfriend for a rainy day - and another, in case it doesn't rain. ~ Mae West

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, C.C. and Don G., for a great Thursday puzzle. Liked it a lot. Thank you, Marti, for the great review. Enjoyed the snow artist shots.

This puzzle was perfect. A little difficult, but doable.

My first answer was RAGU, the next TOGA, then SPANK. Kind of jumped around the whole puzzle looking for gimmies.

First theme answer was SERGEANT SNORKEL. Then got THE MASTERS. The rest followed slowly.

HAD PICKS UP for 46A, then fixed that to STEPS UP. Oh well, an OTM (old telephone man) always thinks of telephone things first.

Had AMOCO for 44A at first, then changed to SOHIO. I remember when SOHIO was in Ohio, having lived in Ohio for about 5 years, off and on, many moons ago.

Today is the opener for the Cubs. We will see how they start. We always know how they will finish. I am going to the game next Thursday. Can't wait for a $7.50 beer.

HBD Irish Miss. I guess we share the day.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

Lemonade714 said...

HBDTY Irish Miss and Abejo; they say if you have more than 20 people in a room there will be at least one pair who match birthdays; I had one at two of the places I have worked in the last 10 years.

I am getting spoiled by the Don and C.C. puzzles written up by Marti; WHAT FUN. So many cute clues it would take more than 20 lines. As a golf lover it was nice to see the Masters get the shout out.What a year, so many can win, my dark horse in Alvaro Quiros. I hope the rains leave quickly

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I found this puzzle to be just as fast as yesterday's, but like Barry, I stumbled in the LBOS, SOHIO, ABIG area.

Marti, loved the WA-LA (doesn't it have two L's?) and the blue tit.

C.C. and Don, fun puzzle. Interesting clue for ILSA. For once the summer cooler wasn't an ADE, and the dieter's word wasn't LITE.

HBD, Irish Miss and Abejo.

Off to prepare taxes. Getting close to the end...

Fine 49er said...

HI Marti - I enjoyed your comments as well as your formidable puzzle skills.
"Spanking" unlocked so many childhood memories! My mother, who is now 93, used to spank me with the back of a hairbrush, a method I suspect she learned from her mother. It really hurt!
Then, in my private school, each teacher had his own personal paddle leaning beside his desk. If you stepped out of line, you got bent over a desk and walloped a few times. Fun! My friend Peter Bisell, who used to get it pretty regularly, wore multiple underpants to school to soften the blows.
We didn't seem to suffer severe psychological damage from these practices, although my wife might disagree. I realize now spanking has become a controversial topic. Not having kids, I never had to deal with it. However, IMHO, many young troublemakers would benefit from this ancient practice.

Tinbeni said...

Marti: Nice write-up & links.
Don G. & C.C.: Thanks for a FUN Thursday.

THE MASTERS being over HOLE was timely.
Liked the Wet Bar for SOAP clue.

Cheers to all at Sunset.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

What Barry said, right to the letter. That includes the birthday wishes to Irish Miss and Abejo!

D-Otto - I'm not sure I get the thing about two L's. "Wa La" is a corruption of the French contraction "voilà", which translates most closely to "see there" or "see here". "Wa La" really mangles the pronunciation.

Dudley said...

Forgot to mention ARIEL: I bet there was a huge uptick in little girls being named Ariel right after that movie came out. Anybody know?

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone. Nice write-up, Marti, as always.

Another great puzzle from our favorite dynamic duo. Knowing CC was a co-constructor KEYed me to look for baseball fill. Clever clues for INFIELD and FARM SYSTEM. The long acrosses came easily enough, including the unifier, but the exact hint direction of 58a, escaped me until I read Marti's comments. Du'h moment. Started with pig LATIN and WAGGED with ADM and SOHIO. I did not note any foreign words or place names. (Words like TET don't count)

KNEAD - I am struck by the silent K in English KN--- words. German is kneten, L. German is kneden. Obvious cognate words showing common language ancestry. (The K is pronounced)

Happy Birthday to Irish Miss and Abejo.

Have a great day

Mari said...

Many happy birthdays! I hope your cake doesn't say EAT ME! And I hope this isn't your cake.

I also went with AMOCO for 45A, and I misspelled SERGEANT SNORKEL, which messed up my grid.

I loved 16A: Wet Bar: SOAP! How creative! And I really got stumped on 34D: Word After File or Edit: MENU. That's a big "Duh" for me, since I sit in front of a computer all day.

Have a special birthday Irish Miss and Abejo, and let's all have a great day!

Seldom Seen said...

What kind of flowers are those Billy Bob?

Them Asters

Seldom Seen said...

Did you hear about the new fishing tackle box?

Yeah its called the Plano Fat Tack

Mari said...

Fine 49er @ 7:40 am: My mother's weapon choice was a wooden spoon.

When she was a child my grandma used one of these on her.

They'd both be in jail if they tried that today.

Husker Gary said...

It’s opening day everywhere in baseball and what does C.C. do - collaborate with Don on a golf theme. Very cool! HBD to Irish and Abejo!

Musings
-All eyes are on Tiger again at the Masters. Love him or hate him, he puts butts in front of TV sets!
-The warm winter has the azaleas all done blooming in Georgia. There will be more green than usual this year.
-The cost of food at the Masters will stun you!!
-I had a sKank/soaK crossing first, wet bar/hit on rear, hmmm…
-A mere $10,000 in dues won’t get you a tee time at private clubs around here
-Marti, somehow I don’t think your oenophelia would make you act like a snob. You’re not that kinda girl!
-DANA is a liberal arts college 15 miles from here that ignored economics and went bankrupt two years ago. Now a green energy company has purchased the campus to start preparing people for 21st century jobs.
-That looked like a nice LACY sleepover, Marti! No comments so as not to offend the prude patrol!
-Uh, I’m all Taylormade equipment, Marti. At least in my golf bag!
-Great cluing for ILSA and I can now live with ELHI! Hey, it’s C.C.!
-We’ll go to new Werner Park in Omaha this summer to follow the KC Royals FARM SYSTEM
-FORE!

desper-otto said...

Dudley, I was referring to the discussion a few weeks back. You must have missed it. Sessed Lah Vye, as we say in Texas.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Hondo,

Can't find your email address. But I need your help. Do you deal with this year's Heritage? We need these numbers to complete the Chrome set (Chrome numbered to 1963).

HP5 : Miguel Cabrera

HP31: Mark Reynold

HP55: Doug Fister

HP91: Michael Pineda

HP98: Rookie stars

Husker Gary said...

p.s. A paddle was standard issue when I started teaching in 1968. I used it once and was so repulsed I threw it away the next hour! I never hit my own kids and I wasn't about to start hitting other people's children.

As a sub I was asked to show one of my fav movies Casablanca for two consecutive days to 12 year olds with no prep or follow up. You guess the results. Hey, I took my $270 and went home.

Marti, what vintage would you suggest to go along with my PB & J (Skippy Extra Chunky/Welch's Grape on toast)?

FORE, really this time!

Grumpy 1 said...

Another fun CC and DonG puzzle and a Marti blog. Getting to be habit forming, isn't it.

Happy Birthday, Irish Miss and Abejo. Hope it's a really great one.

I was lured into the ABad/ABIG trap, too, but as soon as I saw the SOHIO clue I knew the A had to go.

My very first credit card was a SOHIO gas card. Several years later it became a BP gas card, then it became a BP branded VISA card. It still remembers its roots, though. "Cardmember since 1965" is stamped on the face.

Nothing else too tricky in this one. I finished it and then went back to see if I could MASTER the theme.

As soon as I saw the diamond clue, the thought process went CC > Baseball > INFIELD.

I guess I should start on my taxes one of these days...

Irish Miss said...

Good morning everyone:

Thank you all for the birthday wishes and a very Happy Birthday to you, Abejo, on our shared day. (Some other April 5ers include Gregory Peck, Bette Davis, Michael Moriarty,and Colin Powell).

Great write-up, Marti, and fun puzzle, CC and Don. Favorite clues: wet bar (soap) and mouse pad (hole). I thought the level of difficulty a tad easier for a Thursday.

For all fans of The Big Bang Theory, the previews for tonight's show look hilarious, with Sheldon wearing a tutu.

Have a great Thursday all.

Avg Joe said...

A fun and appropriate outing for the opening day of The Masters....and with enough baseball clues to be fully inclusive. Lot's to like.

Remembered Standard Oil of Ohio immediately, but had long forgotten the abbreviated name. And for some reason could NOT come up with Amoco. That helped in not getting side tracked.

"Casablanca"? The best movie of all time on many, many lists. I agree. In fact I was fortunate enough to see it on the big screen my first time....at the 50-cent theater. Well worth doing if you get the chance no matter how many times you've seen it.

HeartRx said...

Desper-otto @6:59, I guess if I'm going to mangle the pronunciation, I can mangle the spelling, too!

Seen, good ones!

Husker, I traded in my Taylors for Callaways a few years ago, and added at least 20 yds to my drives. But I clung to the Ping wedge, which has gotten me out of lots of tight spots around the green. Glad you liked the lacy image (^0^)

Wine pairing with PB&J? Hmmm, how about a nice Thunderbird? For vintage: any month will do.

Montana said...

Hooray! I finished a Thursday puzzle by myself.
Abejo's post could be mine, even liking the Cubs.

Have a great day,
Montana

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

HBD, Irish Miss and Abejo.

Fun puzzle. Discovered I don't know how to spell either SERGEANT or SNORKEL. KEY SIGNATURE is a great entry.

FARM SYSTEM - Went to the Tigers-Mud Hens exhibition game yesterday. Great fun, and 100% of the proceeds to charities in Detroit and Toledo.

Verlander on the mound for today's season opener. Tigers should score a lot of runs this year.

64A - Politics?!? Oh, my!

Wooden spoon in Hungarian is one of my favorite words: fakanál. Use with discretion.

Re: spanking - like most things, it works for some and not for others. Never believed in it, and my kids grew up fine.

Gary - With your PB&J, skip the vintage, and go for a beer like James Bond. I recommend Detroit Lager or Yeungling.

Cool regards!
JzB

the blog filter said...

Marti: Nice write-up & links. Don G. & C.C.: Thanks for a FUN Thursday. THE MASTERS being over HOLE was timely. Liked the Wet Bar for SOAP clue. Cheers to all at Sunset.
By Tinbeni on Thursday, April 5, 2012 Don Gagliardo & C.C. Burni... at 7:48 AM

Hahtoolah said...

Marti: I was listening to The Splendid Table recently when the discussion was about wine pairings. The wine expert recommended pairing champaign with potato chips. He thought the salty chips and bubbles went well together.

Dudley: just don't confuse the little girls named Ariel with yesterday's Arial font.

Seldom Seen said...

Thanks Don & C.C. and Marti.

I'm off(but you already knew that.) to the Reds/Marlins game. Opening day is kind of a big deal around here. Its basically a holiday. Clouds are lifting and its going to be a great day. Hopefully!

HeartRx said...

Hahtoolah @9:46 Actually, champagne would also pair well with PB&J !! (It goes with anything, IMHO)

Dudley said...

D-Otto - oh, I missed that discussion entirely! Didn't know there was Corner history there. My bad.

mtnest995 said...

Happy birthday to Irish Miss and Abejo. Hope it's the best ever.

When I saw that the constructors were the Dynamic Duo, I, too, expected a baseball theme. What a pleasant surprise. Great work C.C. and Don. Sterling review as always, Marti. Thanks to you all.

Favorite clue - What's left/estate.

Have a great gttw (gateway to the weekend).

Ron Worden said...

Good morning to all. Thanks Don and C.C. for a fun Thur. puzzle,and Marti for your write-up. I really liked cluing for soap and toga. Walking a little more each day and I am able to drive and operate the pedals with no problems. Looking forward to a nice Easter Sun. hope everyone else is too. Have a great day to all. RJW.

Anonymous said...

Good morning everyone. (Got up early today.)

Happy birthday Irish Miss and Abejo. Hope you both have a great time.

My fav today was mouse pad: HOLE.

It took me a long time to come up with SERGEANT's last name. Didn't even know it lurked in the recesses.

Cheers

Ron Worden said...

P.S Happy birthday to Irish Miss and Abejo. RJW

LaLaLinda said...

Hi Everyone ~~

A really enjoyable puzzle today ... thanks, Don and C.C. and thanks, Marti for a wonderful write-up. I got side-tracked by the great links! I did look for a baseball theme at first but THE MASTERS is just as good, with a few baseball clues for an added bonus.

I had no problems but did have a couple of write-overs before checking the perps - Sexy/LACY, Ipos/LBOS and Smack/SPANK. Loved the cluing today - esp. 'Wet bar' - SOAP and 'What's left' - ESTATE.

Opening Day is finally here! At 1:00 today my Red Sox play my husband's Tigers in Detroit. Should be fun ... for him. With Verlander on the mound, we don't stand a chance! I guess after their "epic collapse" last year, I'm not too optimistic. :-\

A very Happy Birthday to Irish Miss and Abejo ~~ I hope you both have a very special day!

Misty said...

As soon as I saw the Dynamic Duo as constructors, I knew this would be a fun puzzle. And it was! Interestingly, the East fell into place first for me today. Then SERGEANT SNORKEL helped with the rest. I may not know my sports, but I know my comics! And I finally put 'Casablanca' on my bucket list. I've heard so much about it, and seen so many clips that I feel I know it--even though I don't think I ever watched the whole thing.

Great write-up, Marti, and thanks for flagging Irish Miss and Abejo's birthdays for us. Have a great one, both of you!

CrossEyedDave said...

AAAaacckk!!

Under attack,

Antivirus crashed...
disconnecting from internet to avoid spread of contagion.

i finished the puzzle,
luckily i keep a master key in my "Bro"

wish me luck!!!

Lemonade714 said...

RW:

More great news about the driving. Excellent. No Red Sox talk from LaLa linda? You think Bobby V. is the answer? No Papelbon and now wjhat?

eddyB said...

Hello.

This and that:

Feeling better. Headaches going away - vision returning.

After 80 games played it comes down to back to back games with LA.

No Pings in the bag. Do have a Sam Snead PW that I love.

Baby eagles starting to explore
the nest. They keep falling down.

(Just like me.)

Take care. eddy

HeartRx said...

Ron Worden, great news! Glad to hear things are moving along for you.

Eddy B, take care of yourself! I just love watching those baby eagles. I was thinking of putting up a "kitty cam" so I can see what the cats are doing. But then I decided it would be easier to just tack a picture of them sleeping on my computer...same thing!!

Anonymous said...

OK,who wrote "ades" instead of "fans" for 24 down, summer coolers? You know who you are.
And for the record, this is Opening Day, and I predict that the Cubs will have the worst record in baseball this year, thereby perpetuating their 103 year record of futility.
Everyone knows that the White Sox are going to win it all this season. BWAHAHAHAHA!

Lucina said...

Hello, friends! Hello, Marti, and thank you for your usual sparkling blog.

Happy birthday, Irish Miss! Happy birthday, Abejo! I hope you both have a superb day.

Have I seen Casablanca?? Ask me how many times! It is my favorite movie of all time.

Loved solving this puzzle from the Dynamic Duo with so many clever clues for FANS, SOAP, MAGIC, TIPS, NEEDLE and others.

Initially I misspelled SERGEANT and hit a bump on 38 and 39D but soon ralized it and corrected that.

A fun sashay C.C. and Don!

Have a blessed Maunday Thursday, everyone!

Mari said...

Irish Miss @ 9:13 am: Can't wait for the Big Bang tonight! (get your minds out of the gutter)

Ron Worden @ 10:59 am: Hope you have a wonderful Easter. I love the Vigil service at my church Holy Saturday evening.

CED @ 11:17 am: Good luck with the virus.

EddyB @ 12:15 pm: I hope the baby eagles don't get hurt in their fall and are returned to the nest safely.

HeartRX @ 12:20 pm: Love your "kitty cam" comment. I have 3 "sleeping beauties". Everyday my little boy tunnels a path under the bedspread and turns himself into a cute little burrito.

A toast to Tin @ sunset.

CrazyCat said...

Haven't been here in while. Hi everyone. Thanks for your recap Marti. Happy B'day to Irish Miss and Abejo. Hope you both have super days.

This was a fun, kind of chewy puzzle. Thanks C.C. and Dan. I had quite a few missteps including ZINC before ALOE, ACHE and ACID before KNOT. I will never learn how to spell SERGEANT. Favorite clue, Mouse Pad/HOLE. Cute!

I agree with Marti about Champagne, but the potato chip pairing sounds pretty tasty!

mtnest995 said...

CrazyCat - try potato chips drizzled with a little melted chocolate and caramel - so yummy.

muskie said...

Can't believe they haven't made a movie about Beetle Bailey. Would not have finished this puzzle without my brother's help.

Bill G. said...

Another really good puzzle from C.C. and Don. Thanks. And thanks to Marti for the always enjoyable writeup. And I won't complain about ELHI. :>)

Hands up for Casablanca. Misty, I would recommend watching it twice. I missed a lot of subtleness the first time or two.

The Gateway arch is sure both interesting and beautiful. They have a video about how it was built. They built both sides from the ground up leaving a gap at the very top not quite wide enough for the final piece. They used jacks to push the two sides a little farther apart and then dropped in the final segment with a giant crane.

I'm sure those snow drawings were made by aliens but the 'artist' took all the credit.

A slight amendment to the birthday question. The probability of two people in a room having the same birthday is less than 50 percent if there are fewer than 23 people. With more than 23 people, the probability is better than 50 percent. With 40 people or more, it's almost a sure thing.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. What a great start to the day! Terrific puzzle and writeup, interesting and informative comments. Thank you all.

dodo1925 said...

Greetings everybody,

Just checking in because I finished this one and now I have to run. I loved this one! Thanks C.C., Don, and Marti. The puzzles have all seemed harder to me, lately, so I'm feeling really good about this winner!

Later, I hope.

Bill G. said...

With regard to spanking; I'm convinced that children can be brought up successfully by parents who are intelligent, thoughtful and loving with or without an occasional spanking. I think the problem arises when parents are ultra permissive and don't set consequences for their children. The result often produces the situation like we experienced recently at a restaurant. A child (maybe pre-school age) was screaming petulantly and the parents provided no consequence and seemed to be oblivious to other people in the vicinity.

Our daughter hasn't spanked Jordan but speaks to him firmly, takes away priveleges and puts him in time-out if necessary.

Argyle said...

Back on the farm we had a tenant house and had a permissive family in it for awhile. The boy could do whatever he wanted. When told not to stand so close to the back of this one particular cow, he informed me he could do whatever he wanted.

Ole Bossy never read those parenting books and laid him out with a hoof to the gut. I didn't have to deal with him for quite some time after that.

CrazyCat said...

mtnest995 - LOL! As if we need to make potato chips anymore sinful than they already are!

Mari said...

Love your Avatar CrazyCat!

Husker Gary said...

-Back from 36 holes on a spectacular day!

-Beer is not on my menu. That smell conjures up some very bad images of a dad who drank Falstaff long necks at 8 am and all day Sunday. Odors can be very powerful!!

-I would be 30 lbs lighter if potatoes had not been invented. I can eat ‘em anyway you fix ‘em. Potato chips with chocolate cake w/chocolate frosting is a little slice of heaven.

-My daughter negotiated with grandson more than I would but he has turned out fine sans spankings. Parenting is tough and kids aren’t born rude and disrespectful.

-Globetrotters w/grandson last night in Lincoln was fabulous!

Yellowrocks said...

Don and CC, I enjoyed your puzzle. Marti, every Thursday I look forward to your sparkling comments. Don, CC and Marti all on the same day are a real bonus. It was smooth sailing today. I did think of ADES before FANS, but waited as it didn't match the downs.

Irish Miss and Abejo i wish you a very happy birthday.

CED, too bad about your computer problem. I hope you can resolve it quickly.

Eddy, I hope for your continued improvement.

RJW, fantastic progress. Keep it up.

Mari, I think the Holy Saturday Vigl service is lovely. Unfortunately we stopped celebrating it.

Yellowrocks said...

HG I love Casablanca, but I am really perturbed at the "just show the movie" assignment. Too bad that in HS it is so difficult to match the subject with the specialty of the sub. In this case, even if there were a match, there were no real plans to follow. When my son was in HS they gave subs lesson plans like that for two months in a row for the same classes. This situation seldom happens in elementary school. We left real plans and insisted they be followed on pain of being black balled for future assignments. Several mornings I sat at my computer sick as a dog modifying my plans so things would run smoothly and the children would have an enlightening day.
End of rant!!!

LaLaLinda said...

Well, the game's over. Tigers over the Red Sox 3-2. My Tigers-fan husband is happy and I'm happy ... I expected so much worse! ;-)

Lucina said...

Re: spanking
When I was about 9 my father spanked me hard with his razor strop for back talking to my mother. That's all it took. Never had a problem after that.

I spanked my daughter on the legs a few times as she was extremely stubborn, but she is now a lovely and wonderful adult. She doesn't spank her children but then she is a psychology major and gets in their heads.

CrossEyedDave said...

I wanted to rave about the puzzle, but instead i am ranting about this &$^%$( computer!

I am not sure its a virus, the antivirus update seems to be stuck halfway. Kind of scary when you're in Safe Mode, and a msg pops up stating "System Restore will not solve your problem" & the only option is to click "OK"?

Anyway, Sys/restore fixed the main problem, but now the (*&%&%$ antivirus is trying to update itself again.

Irish Miss Happy Birthday

Abejo Happy Birthday

Unbelievable Golf Shot to get you in the mood for the Masters...

CrazyCat said...

Mari - Thanks. That's Zinfindel (Zinnie for short). I think I was boring her, thus the big yawn.

I'm with Husker G on the potato front. I never met a potato I didn't like. I'll take them baked, fried, au gratin, roasted with olive oil and rosemary, you name it. On the other hand, the DH is the only person I know who can leave a side order of fries untouched on his plate.

I spanked my son once when he was four because he was being so wretched. I warned him several times and finally resorted to swatting him on the butt to get his attention. The next time I told him he was making me so mad I might have to spank him, he said, "Can we just wait until Daddy gets home and he can do it." I had to go in the other room so he didn't see me laugh.

Jayce said...

Lucina, about your "gets in their heads" remark, man oh man I hear you. Spanking almost seems less barbarian and damaging than a parent "getting into the heads" of their children. Psychological manipulation and control is extremely powerful and easily abused. As Argyle said, maybe a good, simple kick in the butt is more effective. At least it doesn't give mixed messages and confuse the child.

HeartRx said...

Crosseyed Dave@ 5:54, I am going to store both of those video clips for future use! What a fun way to wish "Happy Birthday" to today's special celebrants!!!

And the Fuzzy Zoeller shot - was that real??? I'm sure I would have remembered that one...

Misty said...

Thanks, Bill G. 1:45. I can't promise to watch it twice, but you convinced me to put 'Casablanca' near the top of our Netflix queue.

Irish Miss said...

CEDave @ 5:54-Thanks for your Happy Birthday link; it's quite funny.

Also, thanks to everyone for your kind wishes; they are much appreciated.

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, Rather late in the day to add anything new to the comments about the puzzle. I did finish but not until I had returned from my Thursday Antique Collectable's class. I'm learning a lot about what not to buy, what not to sell, and what to hang on to.

I enjoyed C.C.'s and Don's effort and Heart RX's write up. Thanks to all of you.

HBTY, HBTY, HBD to Irish Miss and Abejo, both. I hope you'll have a wonderful day. Life if short, Eat Cake (Dessert) first.

Have a great rest of the evening, everyone.

mtnest995 said...

CrazyCat and Husker G, I am so there when it comes to spuds - all of the above and cheesy garlic mashed. Don't forget Ruffles or Wavy Lays with or without the chocolate and caramel!

This is all making me very hungry. Tonight's delicacy, giant cheeseburger with LTM, pickles, and homemade fries. Yum!

Bill G. said...

Our furnace hasn't been working properly the last week or so. I got a recommendation and called a local heating contractor and repairman. He isolated the problem and replaced a part that had become defective. He replaced the filter while he was at it. With the mild weather here, we don't use the furnace that much but it's good to get it working right again.

placematfan said...

Enjoyable puzzle. If there were a beauty pageant for prefixes, oeno- would get my vote. Didn’t know LBOS or PING or SOHIO. I question the question mark at the end of the unifier clue, indicating a pun. “Wet bar” is an awesome clue. Didn’t understand the “What’s left” clue. I figured spanking was going to be a topic today, but it kinda went in a different direction than I’d anticipated.

Thought the Dana Carvey audition video was interesting. Tried to watch a Phil Hartman audition video, too, but . . . Is it just me or has YouTube gotten slower since the beginning-of-the-year PIPA/SOPA stuff went on, wherein a significant amount of the Netscape changed concerning ads, information exchange, copyright issues, etc.? I know PIPA/SOPA were more a consequence and not a cause of . . . whatever happened, whatever it was that came to a head, but things have been different on the Web, for me, since then, one of those ways being that YouTube has lost a degree of utility. But I hate to whine about stuff that’s free, so I’ll quit.

I was thinking that Barry Manilow--the man who gave us “I am stuck on Band-aids“ and “My bologna has a first name” and “Like a good neighbor, State farm is there” and “Wouldn‘t you like to be a Pepper, too?”--wrote the “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz” theme, but Google says otherwise.

Mark

Lemonade714 said...

Fuzzy Zoeller shot was real. Fuzzy was a member in a course I used to play down here, very funny nice man.

Plop, plop Fizz Fizz is way older than Barry Manilow, or BM as I like to call him; it was composed by Tom Dawes who sang in the band Cyrkle, famous for Red Rubber Ball.

Lucina said...

Jayce:
Maybe my phrasing was misleading. What I meant was that my daughter uses positive affirmation with her children to instill or rather, direct toward positive behavior. It seems to be working.

Mahatma said...

Lemon! How are you doing!? Its been a long time! Good to see you!

Lemonade714 said...

Gandhi, geeeeee

E. Presley said...

Gahndi?....Lemon?....how are you guys doing?