google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, May 10, 2012 Pancho Harrison

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May 10, 2012

Thursday, May 10, 2012 Pancho Harrison

Theme: "I crabbed about it, but wasn't cowed, fished my way around, and finally got it done...(I kid you not!)" Animals used as verbs, told in a cute sports short story.

20A. I ___ him about never playing Ping-Pong with me... : HOUNDED. "Dogged" is also a word similar to hounded, meaning persistently followed. From the German "hund", for "dog".

22A. I ___ over my string of victories at the rec center... : CROWED. Crows are raucous birds, and tend to make a lot of noise over their accomplishments.

29A. I always thought he'd ___ out on me in fear... : WEASELED. Weasels are very agile, and can slip in and out of tiny nooks and crannies, thus avoiding their predators.

46A. So I ___ him into a game. What a mistake! : BADGERED. Badgers are known to dig ferociously. Very persistent animals!

55A. I ___ to avoid his smashes, and I couldn't touch his serve... : DUCKED. From the Old English dūce or, "diver".

56A. In the end, the score was 21-0. I got ___! : SKUNKED. Did you ever try to win a battle with a skunk? Nope, didn't think so! So when you get skunked, you lose big -- almost, as if you didn't even try!

Marti here, to explain the rest of the entries in this fun puzzle from one of our regular constructors.

Across:

1. Covent Garden numbers : ARIAS. Covent Garden is a popular shopping and tourist area associated with The Royal Opera House, which is also known as "Covent Garden".

6. Drainage areas : SUMPS

11. Documentarian Burns : KEN. Winner of both Academy Awards and Emmys for his documentaries. Here is a glimpse at one of his latest films.

14. Common billing cycle : MONTH

15. '90s FBI head : FREEH. This guy. And yep, that's really how to spell his name!

16. Seine sight : ILE

17. Metal giant : ALCOA

18. Initial strategy : PLAN A. For my retirement, I am about as far as Plan Y right now...(Anyone have a tip on a good scratch ticket?)

19. Spanish root word? : OLE. HaHa, funny punny clue. "Root", meaning to cheer for.

24. Persian greeting : MEOW. Persian cat, that is.

25. Sudden insight : EPIPHANY. I had an epiphany when I finally sussed this answer!

27. Collar : NAB

31. Appian Way, e.g. : ITER. Latin for "road"

33. WWII transports : LSTS. Landing Ship, Tank(s)

34. Make even shorter, in a way : REHEM. In H.S., us girls would always have a needle and thread in our purse, so that we could "re-hem" our skirts as soon as our parents dropped us off at the bus stop.

38. Zilch : NONE. Hey, doesn't this clue / ans. belong in yesterday's blog?

39. Exams for future attys. : LSATS. Law School Admission Test(s)

41. Golfer Isao : AOKI. If you don't know this one by now, file it away: THIS INSTANT!

42. Cortés subject : AZTEC

44. Fla.-to-Cal. highway : I-TEN. Map, in pink. I have driven I-40 across the country, but never took I-10. Anyone else?

45. "The Man Who Fell to Earth" director : ROEG. Nicolas. He also directed "Walkabout" and "Don't look Now".

49. Ltr. afterthoughts : PSs. Post-Script(s). in letters.

50. Unsuccessful contenders : ALSO-RANS

53. Warring Olympian : ARES. I thought "Thor" at first.

59. Hosp. area : ICU

60. Sovereign decree : EDICT

63. Initiative : DRIVE

64. Globe : ORB

65. Chute material : NYLON. Did anyone else think of the playground slide, and "steel"?

66. "The Elements of Bridge" author : GOREN.

67. ___ salt : SEA. I use Maldon Sea Salt all the time. But I save the "Fleur de sel" (flower of salt) for the most delicate dishes.

68. Lathers : SOAPS

69. Log line : ENTRY. Also, "blog line"!

Down:

1. Asian pram pusher : AMAH

2. Chewy candy brand : ROLO. Caramel and milk chocolate in the US, but dark chocolate in the UK. Why the difference?


3. One trying to keep her seat, maybe : INCUMBENT. Oh gosh, I can't tell you where my mind was going with this one. Are we in a movie theater? A bus? A bar? A restroom?

4. Make amends : ATONE

5. Tail : SHADOW. Or, "hound"?

6. Calif. force : SFPD. Not LAPD...the San Francisco Police Department.

7. Link letters : URL

8. Give-minute link : ME A...ummm, I have to think about this for a min--OH! I got it now!

9. Low-tech recording device : PENCIL. I roared over this one when it appeared. Clever clue!

10. Less dull : SHARPER. Like my low-tech recording device?

11. Oklahoma tribe : KIOWA. With 12,000 members currently.

12. Page of "Juno" : ELLEN. I just think she is so adorable! (Great movie too, BTW.)

13. Hard up : NEEDY

21. "State Fair" actor, 1962 : EWELL. Oh, c'mon. You know this guy, right? (He's the one on the right.) 1:26

23. "Heavens to Murgatroyd!" : OH DEAR. Oh dear, I just loved this clue!

25. Big properties : ESTATES

26. Annoy : PESTER. "Badger" fits, too.

27. Singer Simeone : NINA. "The High Priestess of Soul." Her smash hit of 1958 was this song from "Porgy and Bess". 4:09

28. The whole enchilada : A TO Z. "atoz" always looks so weird in the grid, doesn't it?

30. Give out, as roles : ASSIGN

32. Maker of Ex-O-Fit athletic shoes : REEBOK. I"ll take the red ones, please!

35. Dress that makes a slow dance difficult : HOOP SKIRT. But the polka is no prob! 2:16

36. Scratches (out) : EKES

37. Russian fighters : MIGS. Did you know, that the name is from the founders: Mikoyan and Gurevich? Now, it is called "Mikoyan."

40. Gridiron maneuver : SNEAK. Or, "weasel" your way past the defense?

43. Corners recklessly : CAREENS.

47. Beatnik's bro : DADDY-O. I had "daddio" at first. Arrgh!

48. Lowly worker : DRUDGE. Really? I think his reports are top-shelf!

50. "Later, Luis!" : ADIOS

51. Dinero : LUCRE. Filthy?

52. Salvage crew acronym : SCUBA. Self-Contained-Underwater-Breathing-Apparatus.

54. Infamous Houston company : ENRON. Let's not go there...

56. Short stops? : STNS. Stations, abbreviated ("short").

57. At all : EVER

58. Claim otherwise : DENY

61. Stevedore's gp. : ILA. International Longshoremen's Association.

62. Steal : COP. Cop a squat, cop an attitude...not that I would ever cop out on you!

Answer grid.

See you next week, same time, same channel...

Hugs and shrugs,
Marti

65 comments:

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

I have been working the puzzles at night and attempting to get to sleep. Not much success. Then I forget to blog during the day. So far no problem this week. Really enjoyed CC and Don's effort yesterday. Thanks for interesting puzzle today, Pancho, and jazzy exposition, Marti!

Took me a while to cotton to the animal theme. Favorite answer: PLAN A. Finally know AOKI!

The third huge dumpster is filled in my driveway. The termite people have really been cleaning up the place.

Was 100º today. I ran the air conditioner and fan.

Funny thing, electric bill did not go down. (Rec'd a few days ago.) Also, the LADWP cut the solar rebate amount by more than half. They sent me a check by certified mail, which, of course, was re-routed back to the P. O. I suffered over the weekend, imagining all kinds of horrible things that mail could be!

Be well!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Cute puzzle, today. I got a bit hung up with the tense on WEASELED (I really wanted WEASEL), but everything else was pretty smooth. My one other hesitation was at FREEH, which I had trouble remembering and which wasn't helped by the fact that I initially had LAPD instead of SFPD at 6D.

In the past, AOKI and ROEG would have given me fits, but I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks since both are now firmly embedded in my forebrain.

Mainiac said...

Greetings,

Been so long since I've posted the page has changed.

Typical Thursday struggle for me. LAPD was the first thing to erase. Got some footing in the SE with Skunked but that was as good as it got.

Have a good one!

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Marti and friends. It took me a while to suss the theme, but I had an EPIPHANY and the rest fell into place. I must have been on the same wave-length as you, Marti, because I had much the same reaction on many of the answers.

Low-Tech Recording Device = PENCIL was brilliant.

My first thought for the Cali. Force, however was CHiP, but California would have been in both the clue and the answer.

Persian Greeting = MEOW was my favorite clue. Guess why!

My grandmother's house was heated with coal, so Coal was my first thought for the Chute Material.

I live off I-TEN and have driven a good portion of that route.

Just an observation, one of the current ALSO RANs is celebrating his 54th birthday today.

QOD: We can't take any credit for our talents. It's how we use them that counts. ~ Madeleine L'Engle

Hahtoolah said...

Mainaic! So good to see you again! You have been missed.

thehondohurricane said...

Good day folks,

Wondered if today was National Animal Rights day, if there is such a recognition. Clever puzzle from Pancho with some unique cluing. My eraser had a bit of a workout getting it done.

Also guilty of beginning with LAPD. My EPIPHANY was SKUNKED. That set the tone for the other theme clues. ALSORANS were the name of the horses I used to bet at the race tracks. Remembered Freeh, but not the spelling.

Never knew a lowly worker was a DRUDGE. I'm sure MONTH is correct, but I would have preferred seeing the LY on the end. Tried hard to fit silks in 65A. Perps wouldn't allow it and NYLON won out. Where did the term "Hit The Silks" originate?

Oh well, enough stalling.... lots of stuff to do today, rain or not.

Lemonade714 said...

Good morning: Pancho always delivers us a fun puzzle with some really well thought out cluing, which has already been highlighted. Like the rest FREEH was not really in my brain, but the perps do it again. Marti, you have such a unique voice when you tell your Thursday tales, it is always a pleasure to listen to your take.

Mainiac, I agree it is good to see you; how did things work out with Hank?

HeartRx said...

Morning, all.

Great to see you Maniac!!

Hahtoolah, loved your QOD...so true! Madeline L'Engel struggled with her writing career, and sent her first book to over two dozen publishers before it was finally accepted. Now that's what I call persistence!

HeartRx said...

uh...I meant to say, "No that's what I call DOGgedness"...

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thankmyou, Pancho H., for a great puzzle. Thank you, as well, Marti, for the great review. However, my IPad won't let me see the You Tubes.

Hey, Mainiac, welcome home!

Got started in the NW with AMAH, ALCOA, MONTH, and ARIAS. Then got the rest up there.

Had LAPD at first. SUMPS fixed that to SFPD. I have SUMP stories that could go on all day. Have been flooded many times for many Sump Pump failures, or AC failures. Got a battery backup and it eventually burned up. Such is life.

Thought OLE was excellent. Took me a while to get that one.

Yes, I have traveled I-10. Not from coast to coast, but for years in California and Arizona. Never forget the day I got two speeding tickets within about one hour on I-10. One in California and one in Arizona. Both by airplanes. Probably the same plane. Tricky.

GOREN was easy. I used to read Bridge articles in the paper. I always wanted to learn how to play the game, but none of my friends play. So, I never did.

AZTEC came easy, which gave me A TO Z.

For 65A I was thinking of SILKS first, because the original parachutes were made of SILK. Then NYLON appeared with perps.

Hope to finish cutting the grass today. Did the front half of three lawns yesterday, hope to get the back halves today. Right now the sun is shining.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

Anonymous said...

Thanks Marti for a wonderful blog. I now begins to sees what I couldn't possibly understand.

Regarding your question as to why Rolos are 'dark chocolate' in the UK, and 'milk chocolate' in the US, maybe I can offer a possible explanation. As I'm sure, you are well aware of, chocolate ( and indeed all candy and food items - ) are far more expensive in the UK and the Continent than out here. Despite the cocoa being grown in (previous) British and French colonies, for numerous reasons, too detailed to list here, chocolate has always been much more common and cheaper state side. For reasons, that will appear obvious, there are numerous complex legal govt. regulations ( yes, regulations ) as to the minimum Cocoa (liquor ) content in confectionery, in the UK and the Continent - something we hardly pay attention to in the US. Thus, not only are we used to a sweeter, milder chocolate and ( also)the price competition, (here) is more fierce. But in places where candy is expensive to begin with, consumers tend to be more discriminating, in their tastes, and its makes more commercial, marketing sense to stick to higher standards.

desper-otto said...

Good morning, all.

I confidently penned in PGA for the Link Letters. That lasted about 5 seconds. It was a good puzzle, though, and just right for a Thursday.

Noted the shoutout for the Wisconsin BADGERs.

WAGged the second "L" in ELLEN, because, I never got the clever cluing for Spanish root word.

I've driven I-10 from Mobile to Phoenix, but never the Florida or California ends of it.

Hondo, parachutes were made of silk until mid-century, but the high cost caused manufacturers to switch to the newly invented NYLON.

Yellowrocks said...

Marti, great explanations of the theme . I liked the animal friendly entries. I saw Ken's National Parks series. Great stuff. I especially enjoyed the scenes from those parks I have visited.

Heavens to Murgatroyd!! It's Hanna Barbera’s Snagglepuss!

Loved PENCIL and MEOW.

I, too, thought of coal chute before NYLON, Daddio before DADDYO.

EPIPHANY is one of my favorite words. I knew it first as a season on the Christian church calendar.

Anonymous said...

yesterday we had NLE. today we've got LSTS on top of LSATS! i think Rich is loosening up a bit. for better or for worse...

thehondohurricane said...

Mainiac,

Nice to hear from you. How are things these days?

Grumpy 1 said...

Good morning, gang. Excellent expo, Marti. My reactions to many of the clues echoed yours.

I'm not overly fond of the 'story' type of puzzles, but this one combined the story with a theme and made the solve pretty easy. I liked all of the theme verbs being consistant in the past tense, but I interpreted he'd as he would instead of he had until I studied it a bit more.

I knew it would be LAPD or SFPD, so waited for the perps. Louis FREEH took far too long to recall, though.

From last night, Thanks, Hahtoolah, Sallie and Lemonade, and, yes, that is the same granddaughter that won the Shakespeare contest.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone. Good write-up, Marti

I'm not CROWing, but I seemed to be on Pancho's wavelength today. Got the theme with BADGERED. Cute. Wanted AZTEC right away but waited until I sussed 28d, A TO Z. Favorite fill was EPIPHANY. Overall I thought it was a little on the easy side for a Thursday.

Congratulations to Grumpy on his grandkids' achievements.

Off to put some of Mr. GOREN's elements into play.

ADIOS

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

There are 24 non-theme entries of 6 or more letters in yesterday's puzzle. All you noticed is NLE. Don't you make sacrifices in life?

Pancho/Rich would not have had LSTS on top of LSATS had they have better options. The theme entries are rather short today, and the constructor put them all Across, which dictated that he could not fill in any non-theme entries longer than 8. Not an easy job.

Anonymous said...

have not puzzles been rejected for less?

Steven J. St. John said...

Nice theme and execution. I caught onto it early, which helped. Had trouble in the NW so started from the NE. Was hoping to get a cheapy with the bridge question, but my paper carries Sharif's bridge column, so all I knew was "Darn, it's the other one!" I also liked the PENCIL clue.

Mari said...

Good morning everybody.

I usually don't like sentence clues, but the animal answers were so cute I can't complain.

I also loved MEOW and PENCIL. (Low-tech recording device had me scratching my head until I perped that great answer.)

We have 2 positions open at work, and I'll be interviewing candidates all day today. Ugh! Long day away from my desk while work piles up. But I'll look at the bright side - Happy Friday Eve!

Husker Gary said...

I didn’t have to monkey around much with this puzzle as I wolfed down my breakfast before a grueling half day of subbing here in Arlington.

Musings
-We have been HOUNDED by push polls for a month – “Will it affect your vote since it has been proven that Mr. X has favored using kitties in place of shuttlecocks in badminton?” Thank goodness we vote on Tuesday.
-11 – 0 is getting SKUNKED in ping pong – mercy rule.
-Sump pumps have been required for years here in Fremont. They are very necessary in a town where the water table is so high people have pumps in their yards to pump perfectly good water out into the streets.
-PLAN A? Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans!
-Steel slides are verboten around here, Marti. It’s all plastic. Great line on INCUMBENT! Me too on DADDIO.
-I had _ _ _ P S for 5Across and thought of CHIPS for CA police but that was 5 Down. Dang details!
-I have abandoned mechanical pencils and now my little crossword nook is stocked with #2 Ticonderoga PENCILS and a $5 electric pencil sharpener. Low tech can be the best.
-I agree, Juno was a fun night in the theater
-Whole enchilada? We had a $6 low cal one at Carlos O’Kelly’s the other night. Just right after all the free (no extra charge) chips and salsa.
-ENRON took my Uncle’s retirement account and his soul.
-My kids always said he COBBED my pencil not COPPED. Don’t know the genesis of that.

RD said...

I got the word badgered but it makes no sense to me in it use in the sentence. I have driven all of I-90,I-80,I-40,I-20 and I-10 east to west and I-75,I-95 and most of I-5 north to south. I am not a trucker, just travel a lot.

RD said...

I forgot al of I-8, it's short in Ariz and Calif

Yellowrocks said...

Heavens to Murgatroyd at 1:32
Link Snagglepuss

Lemonade714 said...

NLE and other little topics. We had this same fill earlier in the week, and while I understand it is not sparkling fill, why dwell on the negative? The puzzles are meant to be fun, and as can be clearly seen from marti's write up, the corner is not only to dissect the clues and explain the fill, but to entertain. I have not been here the whole existence of the corner, but I do know most of us like having fun, even if it is risque, or silly. Find a puzzle without any crosswordese or initalisms if you can.

I-10 from Jacksonville to Tallahassee and FSU, then on to Mobile, Biloxi, New Orleans, Beaumont, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso; that is as far as I got. I took I-70 to Colorado.

Yellowrocks said...

Anyone know the screen name "akibner" who emailed me at my blog account? The title is HEY. I didn't open it thinking it could be spam.

Husker Gary said...

Amen, Lemon. I'd like to AVER/AVOW what you said! I am in awe of our constructors and just love to participate in the puzzles and the camaraderie and learning at our little corner of the linguistic world.

From Natchez to Mobile, from Memphis to St. Joe... Wait a minute, that's something completely different! Never mind!

CrossEyedDave said...

Heavens to murgatroyd, i DNF!

Irish Miss said...

I just finished my lengthy post, hit the preview button, and, poof, it disappeared into thin air. Oh well, I will try to recreate it as best I can.

Good morning everyone.

Thanks, Pancho, for a fun and clever puzzle and to Marti for an equally fun and clever expo.

Loved meow for Persian greeting but was stymied by the whole enchilada, atoz, not seeing it as A to Z. Did go astray with unsuccessful contenders by putting has beens instead of also rans.

Marti's suggestion of badger for pester reminds me of when we were building a house in Flordia and we would go to the site every few day to check the progress. One day we stopped at the guard house to sign in and the new guard asked our business and I said, "We're here to badger the builder," to which he replied, "We don't have any builders named Badger."

Happy Thursday to all.

Husker Gary said...

Irish, et al, I have had a similar experience with lost messages and so I started opening up Word simultaneously with the Corner. I type my postings there using Alt+Tab key to toggle back and forth between the write-up and my prospective text. When I am done, I simply copy and paste my text into the Leave your comment box and hit Publish... If the tech goblins eat up my priceless posting, I can simply go back and try again. Considering my memory, this is a good practice.

Here comes my last set of kids and then FORE!

Anonymous said...

I-9 to 5 and go home

Misty said...

Pancho--this will be my favorite puzzle for a long time to come! Hey, I'm an animal lover and as soon as I got HOUNDED and WEASELED I had the theme. The rest was just a pure pleasure with all the fun clues. A great job--followed by a sparkly write-up from Marti. A great way to begin a busy Thursday!

Have a good one, everybody!

Ron Worden said...

Good morning to all and happy thursday. Thanks Marti and Pancho. It took me a while to get a foothold then i got 56A and things started to come into light. I have driven I-10 from Fla to San Antonio, also have been on it in El Paso but flew there initially. Have a great day to all.RJW.

Lucina said...

Hello, super solvers. Marti, loved your blog!

Well, I sashayed with my low tech recording device right into Pancho's wave length. LOL!! Love that clue!

Some great fill, INCUMBENT, EPIPHANY, HOOP SKIRT not to mention the animal antics which were fun.

The north central stumped me for a long while as I could not recall FREEH, wasn't sure if the areas were SUMPS though I've heard of SUMP pumps. Finally, SFPD and URL seeped into my brain and PLAN A fell into place.

Yes, I remembered AOKI but perped ROEG. (My mental mnemonic will be "raw egg").

I have to love the cluing for OLE and A TO Z.

Maniac, it's so good to hear from you!

Adios, amigos! Have a DUCKY Thursday!

Tinbeni said...

Marti: Nice write-up. My McAfee Anti-Virus Plus "warned me" ... so I didn't check the links.

Pancho, Thanks for a FUN puzzle. Really enjoyed the animal themes.

PENCIL next to SHARPER was clever.
Also liked the LSTS over LSATS and SCUBA going down into the SEA.
Hand-up on daddio before DADDY-O (which kept me from silks and gave me NYLON off the 'Y').

A 'toast' to all at Sunset.

HeartRx said...

CED @ 10:14, interesting link to the derivation of Murgatroid / Mergatroyd / Mergatroid. Who knew?

Irish Miss @ 10:35, I have to laugh...I always write my posts in Word, then copy into the publish box. Just now, I decided to just write a quick post, and when I hit "publish", POOF! The dang thing disappeared!! So now I have to start over (in Word, for sure).

It is interesting to hear about all your travels on I-TEN. I seem to remember that I-Forty was endless miles of plains, with an occasional gas station thrown into the mix. It was the first time that I had ever seen a swarm of locusts, late one night during a pit stop. They totally freaked me out, and I refused to get out of the car. Boy, was I sorry about that little decision a few hundred bladder-filled miles later...

eddyB said...

Just the LA/PHX segment. Took 40 and 70 to Pittsburgh.

Use a Papermate Sharpwriter.

Taking heparin as a precaution. Going in for a scan and pick up meds that they won't ship.

Game 7 on Sat.

Cutting grass and ivy still on hold.

Thank you for you know what.

Take care. eddy

DaffyDill said...

Have the last two days’ puzzles been easier, or is my fog clearing? Yesterday’s seemed like a Monday and today’s like Tuesday.

The only difficulty was rayON instead of NYLON. Took a few minutes to find it to get the TA DA! Oh, yes, I knew FREEH and could even see his face, but couldn’t remember the “H” until SHARPER fell into place. The rest of it nearly filled itself. Favorite clue is Persian greeting: MEOW.

I’ve taken I-10 from a point south of us to Panama City, FL. when son and family lived there. Also to New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas several times.

We are having lots of good rain last night and today. Temps mid-50s. Great weather if I overlook the joint pains it causes. I used to think that was an old wives’ tale, but this old wife is here to tell you it is true!

Anonymous said...

Good afternoon everyone.

This is the cleverest puzzle I have ever seen, even though I did not get any of the animals and did not realize it told a continuing story until Marti told me. Sigh. I hate to be so stupid. I very much like the ones I did get, like PENCIL and EPIPHANY.

Excellent write up, Marti. Thank you.

Good to have you back, Mainiac.

Cheers

Lucina said...

The I-ten is a main drag through Phoenix so it's well traveled and of course my car practically drives itself on it to my sister's home in Highland, CA. I've also been on it to link onto the 20 driving across to Charlotte, NC, though I-40 was our most usual choice as it's a bit shorter.

This weekend on a trip to Las Vegas, NV, we shall try the newly reshaped road which is supposed to shave off almost an hour of drive time. Has anyone been that way yet?

Bill G. said...

I really enjoyed this puzzle. WEES. And the writeup of course. Top notch.

I thought I might stop by George's house a few miles away for coffee and cigars after the dinner I can't afford. Do you think there might be any traffic?

Do you notice the Ken Burn's effect is used a lot these days? Even in an iPhoto slide show.

I agree about Ellen Page. Did you see her second movie about a girl who wanted to join Roller Derby?

Irish Miss said...

I forgot one part of my lost post which read:

Welcome back, Mainiac. How is your dog?

Husker Gary @ 10:47 and Marti @ 11:33. Thanks for the advice but I use my iPad for my posts. Also, after the original post disappeared, I had to sign in all over again. I think Mr. Google was in a "badgering" mood.

Bill G. said...

I don't compose my posts on Word but I do Select All and Copy what I'm writing every few lines and certainly before I hit Preview and Send. It only fails me when I forget occasionally.

Mainiac said...

Thanks for all the welcome backs! Been hitting the grids steady and missing the comments here.

Besides the page, other changes that stuck out were Lemonade's avatar. Is that a grand baby? If so congrats! And my fellow UMaine alum has added to her name. Hatoolah, oolahlah!!

Hank heeled himself...sort of. Anti inflammatory meds and his doggy mcl healed. Unfortunately an x-ray showed arthritis appearing in a hip already. He's only three. He's still thrashing away with his sister.

Wicked rains here today. Not a bad thing. Put my peas in last weekend.

Have a great evening.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Wow, what a terrific puzzle today! Loved it! Had pretty much the same reactions you all did to the nifty fill and clever cluing. I drew a big smiley face next to the "Spanish root word" clue. And like you, Marti, I laughed out loud when I filled in PENCIL.

My only significant mistake was blithely putting in HOYLE instead of GOREN since I already had the "O" from ENRON. Oops, wrong card game.

Thanks for a fun and entertaining hour, and best wishes to you all.

Jayce said...

Like Lucina's car, mine almost drives itself along I-10 from about Redlands, CA, to Phoenix and Tucson, AZ. When my parents were still alive they lived in Tucson, and our son and his family live in Phoenix (Tempe, actually), so we drove that route often. One segment of I-10 I'm glad to be able to avoid recently is the segment eastward from L.A. to the aforementioned Redlands, CA. Thank goodness for the new I-210, which is a much less unpleasant drive. Interestingly, some of I-210 is so new that it is not on our car's navigation map; it looks on the navigation screen like we are driving through blank space. (Yes, we'll buy an updated map database one of these days.)

One of our favorite stop-off places used to be the little town of Quartzite, AZ, until it grew too much and morphed into a kitschy tourist trap. Now we just keep on driving right past it. Shoot, it doesn't even have a decent gas station anyway any more.

Jayce said...

Lucina, isn't there a new bridge across Lake Mead so that it's no longer necessary to actually drive on the Hoover Dam itself to cross between Arizona and Nevada? I haven't been that way in a couple of years, so I haven't seen it. When you go to Las Vegas, let us know about that, will you?

Jayce said...

Mainiac, nice to see you again. You noticed Hatoolah's lengthened name too, eh?

Bill, G, that's what I do, too. And every time I forget to copy my posting before previewing it, sure enough that's when it goes poof.

Every time I see or hear "Heavens to Murgatroyd" I think of Ed Wynn, although I bet he never actually said those words.

TinoTechie said...

Jayce, Yup, there is a new bridge over the canyon, just south of the dam. The Mike O’Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. You can still drive down to the road over the dam, but it is now a dead end. Very pretty bridge. So much faster than the old road.

Greg

Yellowrocks said...

Windhover, I enjoyed the Crossan book you recommended. I have pondered some of the same questions. You might like books by John Selby Spong. You can get a taste of him on Wiki first. You may email me if you care to.

Anonymous said...

Wow. No probs. Very easy for me today. Was this a thursday? Loved persian greeting. Never tried dancing with someone with a hoop skirt, maybe square dancers do. Loved oh dear clue, cant remember the cartoon lion who stated it all the time "heavans to murgatroid!!"

Jayce said...

TinoTechie, thanks. Now I remember that bridge and seeing an aerial photograph of it.

HeartRx said...

Anon @ 7:38, I forgot to say thank-you for the explanation of milk Vs. dark chocolate on the Rolos. Having travelled many times to Belgium, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, I can only agree with you about the quality differences in the chocolate in Europe Vs. what we "call" chocolate here in the US. It has gotten to the point that if I ever have a chocolate craving, I am more likely to ask one of my friends over there to ship me a fix of "the good stuff". Really not a fan of US chocolate, in any form.

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, Technically a DNF for me today as I had to look up Freeh so the Top middle section was the last to fall. Loved the Low-tech recording device clue for pencil as well as the Spanish root word/ole clue and answer.

I did see the theme, though, and thought it was soooo clever. I enjoyed doing this puzzle a lot. Thanks, Marti, for a great writeup.

I've been doing the puzzle every day this week, but not until after dinner. This has been a good week and a terrible week both at the same time. My grandson, from the Peace Corp. is on vacation and was here for a visit overnight. We were up to a daughter's for 4 days to see "Oklahoma" done by the Chico State U. players. My grandson's girlfriend had the lead. All four of our daughters were in Chico to see the play, too.

But when we got home I had a message on my e-mail that a dear friend--only 20 years old--had been killed in a head on accident last Sat. night.

I had to run errands this morning which had gone begging all week, and then I'm off to Katie's memorial service at 5:30 this evening. Her accident is every parent's worst nightmare.

Thanks for letting me vent.

HeartRx said...

Chickie, I am so sorry to hear about your friend. I agree about "every parent's worst nightmare". Hugs and prayers to you and her family.

dodo said...

Hi there,

Nice work Marti, as usual. Nice puzzle, too, Pancho. Didn't quite make 100% due to 64A. It was 31A that caused all the trouble because when I go 'ite_' for 64A, I couldn't seem to figure out a last letter other than 'r'. I only had the 's' for 'sneak' so there was no help there. A mess! Strange hou your mind can get hung up on an ides that has implanted itself in your brain. Or is it only mine?

Yesterday I got my hearing aids hopped up a bit. just in time for the testing of our new fire alarms, which went on for a couple of hours today. Great timing!

Hahtoolah said...

Bill G: You don't have an extra $40K ($80K) just sitting around for a big night out?

Chickie: I am so sorry to hear about your friend. It is so tragic to see a young life cut short.

Bill G. said...

Barbara saw where Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf was having a dollar special on ice-blended drinks. So instead of my usual macchiato, we headed up to CBTL and got two ice-blended drinks for $2. Good deal except all the high school kids had just gotten out and were in line ahead of us. Oh well...

Hahtoolah, I'll be happy to chip in a few dollars for the cause but I think I'll have to pass on the full dinner. I wonder if Scarlett Johansson and Sophia Vergara will be there...?

Jayce said...

Holy cow, Bill G, Scarlett Johansson and Sophia Vergara and Hahtoolah? Oh man, decisions decisions ...

LA CW Addict said...

I'm a bit late tonight as I comtemplated...

I just want to say a couple of things before going night night, as I say to my Dog.

What an absolute delight today's puzzle turned out to be! I just loved every minute of solving. Panicked at first, because I saw several hispanic clues, and did not have any idea what the story could be about (kept saying I don't know that) but at the end, the only letter I missed was the "g" in MIGS. Was looking for the actual name for Russian soldiers, not the plane. Did not know ROEG, so that was the problem, but like the rotten egg reference that one of the bloggers mentioned tonight!

Argyle: Your Monday Monday earworm is still there, but I am humming and enjoying!

CC: Remember, there is always one. You get my drift.

I am so happy that I found this blog because it is helping me become more peaceful since my late Father's death. He died on 12/29/10, and I miss him everyday because we were very close, but the puzzles and this blog give me something to do and concentrate on, and helps me feel less sorry for myself. You guys are just the greatest. Please don't ever go away.

LA CW Addict said...

Forgot one more important point - these puzzles and commentary give me something to look forward to. This is so very important - I still work for a living, but have learned what is truly important vs what I once thought was important.

HUTCH said...

Best legal advise I ever got from an old time country lawyer was--"You cant win a P***ing contest with a skunk!

Bill G. said...

My advise that comes randomly to mind at the moment is, "Don't try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it annoys the pig."

Lemonade714 said...

Mainiac, glad to hear Hank is hanging in. The pic is my grand niece Mia, though my first grand child (I have 2 grand pups) is due in October.