google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday May 6, 2012 Patti Varol

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May 6, 2012

Sunday May 6, 2012 Patti Varol

Theme: "H-Hour" - H is added to the start of the first word of each familiar phrase.

26A. Presidential stylists? : HAIR FORCE ONE. Air Force One. John Edwards would have needed this, given his obsession with his hair.

45A. Helipad fee? : HOVER CHARGE. Overcharge.

71A. Fireside deity? : HEARTH GODDESS. Earth goddess. This one and 45A experienced sound changes.

97A. Punching range? : HARM'S LENGTH. Arm's length.

117A. Furs worn in a spring parade? : HIDES OF MARCH. Ides of March.

16D. Closet consultant's concern? : HANGER MANAGEMENT. Most shopaholics probably need this course. Anger management is the base phrase.

38D. What the winner of a catered wedding gets? : HALL-EXPENSES PAID. All-expense paid.

Easy to spot theme, isn't it? When I downloaded the puzzle and saw the title, I figured the theme entries might consist of 2 words, the first ends in H, the second starts in H.

The first theme entry on Sundays normally starts in Row 3, unless it has 19 or more letters. Today's first entry is of average length and it starts in Row 4. It's because the constructor wanted two 16's placed in Down slots and this gave her the best arrangement.

Patti Varol is Rich's assistant. I think this is her first LAT Sunday. Congrats, Patti!

Across:

1. Memorable touchdown maker, briefly : LEM (Lunar Excursion Module)

4. Girl having a ball? : DEB. Nailed it.

7. "Arabian Nights" woodcutter : ALI BABA. I just thought he was a thief.

14. Moral climate : ETHOS

19. Tchotchke holder : ETAGERE. Rooted in ETAGE (Floor). Tchotchke is difficult to spell.

21. CPU jointly developed by Apple, IBM and Motorola : POWERPC. Unaware of this joint effort.

22. Cook just below a boil : POACH

23. Intrinsically : AT HEART

24. First woman on the Supreme Court : O'CONNOR. Replaced by Alito. O'Connor was born in El Paso. An Avid golfer.

25. Sleeper's difficulty : APNEA

28. Apt. feature, in ads : EIK (Eat-in Kitchen)

30. "Criminy!" : EGAD

31. Plant deeply : ENROOT. New word to me. EN/EM prefix is so irrational. Why EMBED?

32. Banned pesticide : DDT

34. "Martin Chuzzlewit" novelist : DICKENS

36. Blond shade : ASH

39. Bk. read at Purim : ESTH (Esther)

40. Holdup : HEIST

42. __ beer: low-alcohol beverage : NEAR

43. Snowman's eyes : COALS

48. Humanities degs. : MAs

51. Perry of fashion : ELLIS. The model for Perry Ellis Night is very handsome. The Gucci Guilty guy has a wandering eye.




52. Narrow waterway : RIA

53. Filing aids : TABs

54. Like aged cheddar : SHARP

56. Kewpie, e.g. : DOLL

57. Still going : ACTIVE. Dennis just met & greeted The Beach Boys on Saturday night.

60. Canapé spread : PATE. Are those hot peppers on the left?

62. Enjoying a lot : INTO

63. Viscounts' superiors : EARLS

65. "I'm hunting wabbits" speaker : ELMER (Fudd)

67. Live-in helper : AU PAIR

69. Gift holder : BOX

75. Trick : GET. You got me!

76. Bird of prey : RAPTOR

78. Dalmatian, for one : CROAT. So the Dalmatian dogs came from this region originally?

79. Hasidic teacher : REBBE. Wanted RABBI.

81. Company that makes the Ektorp sofa : IKEA. What does Ektorp mean? Sounds like desktop.

82. "GWTW" plantation : TARA. "Gone with the Wind". And 58D. "GWTW" side : CSA. Should have been a full clue for former.

84. Church ceremony : RITUAL

87. Yemen neighbor : OMAN

90. Gives in : BENDS

92. Bits of wordplay : PUNS

94. Down for the count : OUT

95. Gun-shy : LEERY

96. Nav. rank : ENs

101. Palmer of the links : ARNIE. Hopefully he'll be at the 3M Championship this year. Was so happy to see Tom Watson last year.

102. 572-year-old school : ETON. Quite old.

104. Sets, as a trap : BAITS

105. Neurol. readouts : EEGs

107. Ink spots, briefly? : TAT (Tattoo)

108. Hollies hit featuring a shared umbrella : BUS STOP. Argyle will find you the perfect link.

111. NYC subway org. : MTA

112. Longtime "Sexually Speaking" host : DR. RUTH

114. View from Neuchâtel, to locals : ALPE. , Wikipedia says Neuchâtel is the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel.

115. Courtroom VIPs : DAs

122. Cal __ : STATE

124. It's based on past legal decisions : CASE LAW

126. "If you ask me ..." : I, FOR ONE. I like this answer.

127. Like Samuel Beckett : IRISH. Hi there, Irish Miss (Agnes of Troy)!

128. Off the charts : EXTREME

129. Geico spokespeople with a short-lived sitcom : CAVEMEN

130. Puts on cargo : LADES

131. Has a conniption : SEES RED

132. Nor. neighbor : SWE

133. "Doctor Who" creatures : ETs

Down:

1. Sister of Rachel : LEAH. Both were married to Jacob.

2. Jazz legend James : ETTA

3. Half a food fish : MAHI. Got a good recipe for mahi-mahi?

4. "Children of a Lesser God" subject : DEAFNESS

5. Box score statistic : ERRORS

6. Affiance : BETROTH

7. Yeats's "__ to His Beloved" : A POET. Guessed.

8. Bonkers : LOCO

9. "Hmm, maybe ..." : I WONDER

10. Eggs __: brunch fare : BENEDICT

11. Prince Valiant's son : ARN. His wife is ALETA.

12. Fraternal org. : BPOE. For Abejo.

13. Nose-burning : ACRID

14. Org. concerned with climate change : EPA

15. Sunflower State capital : TOPEKA

17. Main : OCEAN

18. Roe sources : SHADS

20. "Brooklyn's Finest" co-star : GERE (Richard)

27. Partner in crime : COHORT

29. January honoree : KING

33. Like some road sign symbols : T-SHAPED

35. Ho-hum grades : CEEs

36. Solved with ease : ACED

37. Chorister's big moment : SOLO. And 88. Operatic 37-Down : ARIA.

40. Likely consequence of kicking dirt at the ump : HEAVE HO. Fun clue.

41. Knight wear : TABARD. New word to me. See here.

44. Philanthropist Wallace : LILA. No idea. Wiki said she co-founded "Reader's Digest" with her husband.

46. Sundial number : VII

47. Trio before U : RST

49. Clarinetist Shaw : ARTIE

50. Good-time Charlie : SPORT

55. Fanny pack spot : HIP

57. All eyes and ears : ALERT

59. "Pomp and Circumstance" composer : ELGAR(Edward)

61. Gallery stand : EASEL

64. P-like letter : RHO

66. What bored people may go through, with "the" : MOTIONS

68. iMac-to-iPhone connector : USB

69. Grease, as it were : BRIBE

70. Like bourbon barrels : OAKEN

72. "Keep on Truckin'" cartoonist : R. CRUMB. I just solved a puzzle with his name in the other day.

73. Classic muscle car : TRANS AM. Not a car person. I don't know what makes a car a muscle car.

74. Division of time : ERA

77. Wee bit : TAD

80. Dutch South African : BOER

83. When some Tauruses are born: Abbr. : APR

85. Jerk : TUG

86. Vocalizes : UTTERS

89. Kremlin vote : NYET. No!

91. Bar order : SHOT

93. Leaves no footprints, in a way : SLITHERS

95. Checkmate, e.g. : LAST MOVE

98. "And giving __, up the chimney ..." : A NOD

99. Web merchant : E-TAILER. Do any of you shop at Etsy?

100. Derring-do : HEROICS

103. Dangerous fly : TSETSE. The half fly was a staple at Wayne R. William's old puzzles.

106. Hearty chuckle : GUFFAW. I think this couple if fun to be with.

108. Spaghetti sauce herb : BASIL

109. Violet opening : ULTRA

110. Tries to walk off nerves : PACES

112. Like morning grass : DEWED. Spellchecker does not like this word.

113. Hound's prey : HARE

116. __-Altenburg: old German duchy : SAXE

118. Helen Mirren's title : DAME.She is so beautiful. My friend Maggie met her in a restaurant in Paris last year.

119. "I, Claudius" setting : ROME

120. Popular tech review site : CNET

121. Coop crowd : HENS

123. Quizzical sounds : EHs

125. Canonized Fr. woman : STE

Answer grid.

I'll Have Another! Thanks for the tip, Tinbeni. I wish I bet more against Boomer's Union Rags.

C.C.

34 comments:

  1. Greetings!

    Wow! Cool Saturday puzzle! Thanks Patti and CC!

    Loved the theme. Favorite answer: HANGERMANAGEMENT. No cheating whatsoever (or running through letters to get the Whoopee.)

    Time to try to enter the arms of Morpheus.

    Happy Sunday!

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  2. (I had a muscle car once. An 8-cylinder '85 Firebird. Lots of power, stick shift. Didn't make as much noise as the corresponding TRANSAM, though. Had to give it up when it became to difficult to enter and egress. Boy did that baby whoosh up and down the 200 ft. driveway!)

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  3. Good morning C.C. et al.

    Thanks for informative write-up, C.C., and the shout out at “Hearty laugh”. Did it bother you that the clue root was also found in the answer at 23A, AT HEART?

    This simple “add-a-letter” theme really helped fill in the blanks quickly, once I realized what the gimmick was. Fav by far was HANGER MANAGEMENT.

    I had problems in the west coast, because I put condor at 76A instead of RAPTOR, and just didn’t want to give it up. I finally figured out OAKEN, and filled in BRIBE, BENDS and ENS to finish this one up.

    Should be a nice day finally, so I’ll be out digging in the dirt. Have a good one, everybody!

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  4. Morning, all!

    Got the theme pretty quickly and it helped immensely as I traipsed through to grid. The theme answers were uniformly good, although I was surprised at 71A since HEARTH GODDESS is a real thing (the ancient Greeks had Hestia and the Romans had Vesta).

    I thought 17A was very odd. TCHOTCHKE is a Yiddish word, but the answer is a French word. Ah well, I guess both have entered the English language to some degree so they belong together. Sort of.

    It took me awhile to figure out CSA at 58. I kept thinking along the lines of potato salad or cole slaw...

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  5. Hi There~!

    I was pretty sure what the theme was from the title, too, but I still skipped the theme clues so I could try for them with more letters in place.

    My first was "HALL", and I am posting this pic of me and my brother at my wedding 5 years ago, since we had TABARD, a new word for me as well - mom made these "tabards" for us. Such a great wedding, spent all our good karma there, I guess.

    Funny, I had fAlcOn for bird of prey, with the A and O in the right places as rAptOr - boy did that mess things up ~!

    Splynter

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  6. Good morning, all!

    C.C., thanks for explaining EIK (which I've never seen abbreviated) and TAT (which I should have gotten, but didn't).

    Hand up for CONDOR before RAPTOR, even though I knew the CONDOR is more of a vulture than a bird of prey.

    And which road sign symbols are TSHAPED? I can't think of any.

    Still it was a fun puzzle and a good start to Sunday. Thanks, Patti.

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  7. I enjoyed Patti's puzzle. The theme helped solve it quickly in an odd pattern. i went straight down the east, straight up the west and then down the middle. Thanks for the info. CC.

    Barry, I pondered the T shaped sign and then realized it asked for the T shaped symbol in the sign, as for a T intersection.

    We have an Elk St. near here. I always think EIK (eat in kitchen) when I see it.

    When we were just a little naughty, Mom would say fondly,
    "You're a little Dickens." In another sense of the word, she would say, "The neighbor will give you the Dickens for stepping on her flowers." (You'll get a big scolding.)

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  8. T Intersection -- D'oh! Thanks, YR.

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  9. The Arabian Nights story is :"Ali Baba and the 40 thieves." He`s not included in the nefarious group. The stories were supposedly told to delay the prisoner`s execution...so long as the prisoner could entertain the caliph with stories, the prisoner lived another day.

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  10. In everyday conversation, I do not hear DEWED, but I know it is a proper word. I hear DEWY, instead. In novels I often see BEDEWED.

    In the novel I was reading last night, as in many other novels, there was an ARAB in the horse corral. The arab, it had no capital letter, stumbled into a hole and tumbled the protagonist's little grandson to his death.

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  11. Good Morning, C.C. and friends. This was a pretty easy Sunday Puzzle. Since the puzzle was titled as H-Hour, easily knew the gimmick.

    I had a former colleague who was so obsessed with his hair that we called him HAIR FORCE ONE. Behind his back, of course. He was terribly concerned that he was aging, so kept the same hair style that was in vogue 25 years earlier. Little did he realize, that it was the style that truly aged him.

    I saw the play BUS STOP this past year. It is a play by Inge, who makes frequent crossword appearances.

    Desper-Otto, I, too was confused by the T-Shaped road signs, so I googled and found this sign, which happens to be, according to its label, a Japanese road sign.

    QOD: A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world. ~ John le Carré

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  12. The NW corner mocked me for quite a while but I got ‘er done except for TerI/GerE and Inroom/Enroom! Egads! What a workout but very doable and enjoyable with misdirection and a bunch of new words for this solver. HOVERCHARGE gave me a laugh and the theme. Thanks Patti!

    Musings
    -NTM (new to me but “gettable”), REBBE, POWERPC, EIK, ENROOT, AFFIANCE, TABARD
    -Mr. NASA here struggled with the LEM touchdown. Too much football!
    -A sports analyst said last week that as soon as Mike Tyson met fighters with a bigger HARMS LENGTH, his career was over. He said Ali would have toyed with him.
    -I finally have all the hangers with notches on top out of my closet
    -ETAGERE, ETAGERE, ETAGERE! Gotta ENROOT that one!
    -The banning of DDT has caused millions to die of malaria. There are arguments on both sides.
    -3.2 beer was popular NEAR BEER when I was young
    -My neighbor wears an ELMER FUDD hat when he mows
    -If Geico, State Farm, Progressive, Farmers, All State, et al are all charging less, who’s cheating us?
    -I had kids in Fla. over MLK holiday for years.
    -Nothing says tourist like a FANNY PACK
    -“Going through the MOTIONS? Wife’s thoughts during coitus, “White, I think I’ll paint the ceiling white.”
    -Helen’s got it goin’ on at 63!

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  13. Good morning all:

    Thank you Patti for a clever and challenging Sunday, and thank you CC for your great expo and nice shout- out.

    I had early problems which eventually were corrected by perps, but I think this was a little more difficult than a usual Sunday. At least for me it was.

    Kudos to Tinbeni for his Derby pick. I read that the horse's name represents the owner's expression every time his wife bakes cookies. "I'll Have Another."

    Have a super Sunday!

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  14. Two Patti Varol puzzles in ten days, fun. The title really made it theme easy and the long fill set up the whole experience which did have lots of sneaky difficulty already noted. The history and current use of REBBE is explained here.

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  15. Tin, If your winnings can buy you a trip to Lincoln, Avg Joe and I will treat you at the city's most famous steakhouse along with some Pinch neat!

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  16. Husker, I hate those hangers also. Didn't think about the notches when I bought 'em at Wally-World, but learned from experience that they're no good for hanging shirts. What're those notches for anyway? Sun dresses?

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  17. Irish Miss:
    I had heard about the owner's request for an additional cookie "I'll Have Another" ... believe me when I have used the expression it was for more Pinch.

    I told Gal-Pal about my prediction and she forced me to go to Tampa Bay Downs to place a bet.
    She said it sounded like 'Karma' to her. (Glad she did! We had a great time.)

    Needless to say, the term: "I'll Have Another" did come into play after the race on more than just drinks.

    Cheers!
    (to my hangover?)

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  18. desper-otto @ 10:14, yes, sun dresses and tank tops and camisoles...but then again, you probably don't have many of those!

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  19. A muscle car is typically defined as an American-made high performance car with a powerful V8 engine sold at a reasonable price. Think Mustangs, Camaros, Firebirds, Chargers, and GTOs. My first car was a 65 Mustang 2 + 2 and her name was Betsy.

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  20. Greetings, weekend solvers. Lots fo good information, C.C., thank you.

    Fun puzzle today from Patti Varol. I PACED myself and SLITHERED along until finished though I did have to look up ARTIE Shaw as I had CON for trick and it took a while to see HANGAR MANAGEMENT.

    We have seen REBBE before though I started with RABBI but EASEL changed that.

    Loved the H theme!

    Have relaxing Sunday, everyone!

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  21. Good Morning (oops it's afternoon now) Nice job, Patti, in both senses of the word. If anybody is ever in the Sarasota FL area, try the Casey Key Fish House for delicious grilled MAHI mahi.

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  22. Good afternoon everyone. Good comments, C.C.

    WEES. The usual Sunday stemwinder but easy. No lookups needed. Light on navy stuff today; ENS. EIK was new to me, but perps got it.
    BOER is the Dutch/Afrikaans word for 'farmer'. The 'oe' has a long 'u' sound. Low German - Buur; German - Bauer. In cards, I've heard the Jack called a bauer; especially in Euchre. But I digress.
    Good puzzle, Patti; keep 'em coming.

    Have a great day.

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  23. Hello everybody. Fun puzzle today. Like most of you already said, figuring out the gimmick helped to at least fill in the leading "H" in the question-mark clued entries.

    Hands up for wanting RABBI at first. When HANGER MANAGEMENT forced the last letter to be E, then I wanted REVYE for some reason. Getting BOER (a gimme, which I should have filled first) fixed it. I really don't know cleric/teacher/elder titles very well; wouldn't know a monsignor from a father from a sahib from a vicar.

    Never owned a muscle car, but had fun driving some owned by friends.

    The ETAGERE, GERE, ENROOT area was my downfall, resulting in a DNF with 2 unfilled squares.

    Yellowrocks, I hope you saw the answer I posted last night in response to your question.

    Best wishes to you all.

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  24. Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Patti Varol,for a great Sunday puzzle. thank you, C.C., for a great write-up!

    Really enjoyed this one. Could not finish this morning because I went out selling Vidalia onions. Got it about 90 percent. Then the sky opened up and down came the rain, thunder, lightning, and all. So, we packed up and went home. Only have about 20 bags left to sell. We will kill those this week. Then I finished the puzzle.

    Started in the NW with LEAH, ETTA, and MAHI. That gave me LEM, which I did not know. Actually thought it was a football player's nickname. Eventually got ETAGERE, AT HEART, and then HAIR FORCE ONE gave me the theme. HOVER CHARGE came easily as well. These helped with the rest of the puzzle. At least I had some automatic "H"s.

    Did not know POWERPC, but got most of the downs in that area, which helped. BPOE was easy since I am a member, Erie PA #67. We also call it the "Best People On Earth."

    NE corner was easy.

    Took me a while to get ENROOT. I had A POEM for 7D. Finally got ENROOT and changed 7D to A POET.

    Did not know 4D, but figured it out with perps, DEAFNESS.

    Did not know 72D, but perps got it all, R CRUMB.

    78A, Dalmatian, threw me for a while. Was trying to think of a mascot, or dog, or something like that. Finally had enough letters and wagged CROAT, for Croatian. My brother-in-law is Croatian. I will have to ask him that bit of trivia.

    Did not know a TABARD, for 41D. Got it with perps.

    Splynter: Looked at your photo of you and your brother. Pretty snazzy. Wondered why you are using the sword with your left hand?

    Fun puzzle. Thank You.Patti!

    See you tomorrow. Tomorrow night I leave for Pennsylvania. Will be doing this from the IPad or via printing from the Chicago Trib web site.

    Abejo

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  25. Well, I got 'er done at last. It took me a while and it seemed harder to me than it did to most of the rest of you.

    The Dodgers' game is in a rain delay.

    I am watching "The Man in the Iron Mask" recorded from TCM.

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  26. Children of a Lesser God is a very good movie and would be worth renting.

    I just returned from lunch with a friend who is retiring and whose celebration I shall miss next weekend. The restaurant, Arcadia Farms has a wonderfully delicious signature strawberry chicken salad which we both enjoyed. The place was packed as it's very popular.

    Next, a free concert with another friend. Nice Sunday so far; I hope yours is as well.

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  27. Yes Lucina, ours is too.

    We just got back from lunch at our local Cuban restaurant. We got what we always get; roast pork with grilled onions, black beans, rice, fried plantains and flan for dessert. It's hard to beat! Now I've got to do some serious relaxing while I digest.

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  28. Hello everyone. I enjoyed today's puzzle, Thank you Patti. I hope we see more from you. C,C,, thabjs fir a great exokabatuin. I did this online because we don't have it in our Sunday paper. I never remember to click 'print' before I enter the last letter, so I lose the puzzle. I do like having it to refer to when reading the comments. Oh, well.it was pretty straightforward and I got the theme early, which helped a lot. I liked "hovercharge".

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  29. Oops! I skipped the proofing. Sorry.
    It should read,"C.C., thanks for a great explanation". My bad!

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  30. Dodo @5:11 I was able to decipher your post anyway. One day I was almost out the door when I remembered I needed to email our Vicar. The result looked like yours, but with an odd mix of capital and lower case as well. I had no time to correct it. She deciphered it and remarked that it looked like a ransom note.

    My ex loved "Man with an Iron Mask," so I've enjoyed it many times.

    Lucina, Children of a Lesser God raises the issue of whether the deaf should learn to speak (oralism) or whether they should remain true their deaf culture, using only sign language, and having their culture respected and accepted. My sister in law, who is an interpreter for the deaf, and I have discussed this often. . I can see arguments for both sides.

    Jayce, I have been gone ever since I posted early this AM until now. Thank you for your reply. I have emailed you about it.

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  31. Wees, pretty much all been said.

    My paper was wet this morning, so i had to do it online. Strangely i got no "tada" when completed, that never happened before. I turned on the red letters to see if i made a mistake, but the whole puzzle was filled, & in black!

    AvgJoe 5/5 yest.@8:26pm "The Cape"
    It's only happened 2 or 3 times that i like a song the very 1st time i hear it. This is one of them. "But", i hear another songs words, same music note for note, just different words from a different song. It's going to drive me nuts until i can remember the name. (what artist wrote Pooh's corner?)

    Keep on truckin

    more R. Crumb

    Etagere with Tchotckes

    Elmer Fudd

    now i've seen everything

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  32. Good evening all.

    The upper left quadrant stumped me. I had Ruth and I thought about Leah, but clues like Tchotchke were F O R E I G N to me. Also noticed that it doesn't pass spell check...

    6 Misses Total:
    1A, 1D, 6D, 11A, 20D, 23A

    Did anyone see the super moon? Too bad it was cloudy where I live.

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  33. The super moon was nice but then, all full moons are nice. This 'super' one was just a few percent bigger and brighter; not enough to notice if you hadn't read about it.

    The best thing is to buy a good-quality telescope (or find a friend with one. Look at the moon when it's about half full. Spectacular! Jupiter and its moons are great too.

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