google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, May 2 2012, Steven L. Zisser

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May 2, 2012

Wednesday, May 2 2012, Steven L. Zisser

theme: well let's not give it away just yet. here are the theme answers (pay attention to the highlighted words):

20A. 2002 DiCaprio/Day-Lewis historical drama : GANGS OF NEW YORK

28A. 1968 Davis/Lawford spy spoof : SALT AND PEPPER

45A. 1940 Grant/Russell comedy : HIS GIRL FRIDAY

did anyone get the theme without the unifier?

55. 1962 Rat Pack remake of "Gunga Din" ... or collectively, the ends of 20-, 28- and 45-Across : SERGEANTS THREE

ohhh, i get it. each of the theme answers are movie titles - and the ending words are names of a famous 'sergeant.'






SERGEANT YORK, according to wikipedia, sgt. alvin york was the most-decorated american soldier of WWI - the 1941 film starred gary cooper. SERGEANT PEPPER, title song of 1967 beatle's album. and SERGEANT FRIDAY, one of the lead characters (played by jack webb) in the original tv series dragnet. "just the facts, ma'am."


across:

1. Skiing need : SNOW. i tried boot first. and 62. 1-Across vehicle : SLED

5. Color Me __: 1990s R&B group : BADD

9. Wait for a light, perhaps : IDLE. we do that a lot in california.

13. Debate choice : TOPIC

15. Hardly __: rarely : EVER

16. French company? : DEUX. cute clue. french for two. and 60. German crowd? : DREI. german for three.

17. __ acid : AMINO

18. Lamebrain : DOPE

19. Behold, to 57-Down : ECCE

23. Ending with stamp : EDE. stampede.

24. U.S.'s Ryder Cup foe : EUR. golf competition between the US and Europe.

25. Letters from Greece : NU'S. 13th letter of the greek alphabet.

26. The past, in the past : ELD. new to me. a word, meaning old age, or olden days.

32. "Me __": "My name is," in Spain : LLAMO

33. Mrs. Gorbachev : RAISA

34. Big Island city : HILO. how many times have we seen hilo hello as a clue? this is rainbow falls in hilo. and 59. Island goose : NENE. hawaii's state bird.




37. Aquarium fish : TETRA

40. Fed. crash site investigator : NTSB. national transportation safety board.

41. Assured way to solve a crossword puzzle : IN INK. for me, an assured way to make many mistakes.

43. Moved, as a dinghy : OARED

49. First National Leaguer with eight consecutive 100-RBI seasons : OTT. mel. one of the players portrayed in the movie field of dreams.

50. Society page word : NEE

51. Pier gp. : ILA. international longshoremens association - maritime workers union.

52. Circle segment : ARC

61. Word after dog or lop : EARED

63. Memo words : IN RE. latin for in the matter of.

64. Franklin heater : STOVE. metal-lined fireplace named after its inventor, benjamin franklin.



65. Frizzy do : AFRO

66. General __ chicken : TSO'S

67. Members of the flock : EWES

down:

1. Put on : STAGE

2. Wanderer : NOMAD

3. Adds one's two cents : OPINES

4. Chicken snack : WING

5. A headboard is part of it : BED FRAME. i guess so.

6. Noted bell ringer : AVON. ding-dong, avon calling.

7. Rely : DEPEND

8. Drafted : DREW UP

9. Prefix with graphic or logical : IDEO. ideological.

10. Dilapidated : DECREPIT. it just sounds painful.

11. Like Vegas losers, so they say : LUCKLESS

12. Program file suffix : EXE. computer speak.

14. Sportscaster who wrote "I Never Played the Game" : COSELL. howard.

21. Lash __: attack verbally : OUT AT

22. Belgian river : YSER. could not find a good visual, but wiki says it originates "in the north of France, enters Belgium and flows into the North Sea at the town of Nieuwpoort."

27. Not at all colorful : DRAB

29. As a companion : ALONG. along for the ride.

30. __ this world: alien : NOT OF

31. Bamboo lover : PANDA

34. Onetime Ritz competitor : HI HO

35. Per se : IN ITSELF

36. SiriusXM subscriber, say : LISTENER

38. Once-in-a-blue-moon events : RARITIES. anyone else think of this?




39. Seed covers : ARILS

42. High card : KING

44. Online connections? : E-DATES. rarely satisfying.

46. Change further, as text : RE-EDIT

47. Gets the lesson : LEARNS

48. Peter of Peter, Paul & Mary : YARROW

53. Christopher who played Superman : REEVE. also in a lesser-known, hilarious movie, noises off.

54. Gives up : CEDES

56. Take from the top : RE-DO

57. Fabled fiddler : NERO

58. Can't stand : HATE

59. Secretive org. : NSA. national security agency.

Answer grid.

melissa

71 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Struggled a bit with this one. Did not know SALT AND PEPPER or SEARGENTS THREE, so the theme didn't exactly spring to mind. Also didn't know BADD, had trouble with the spelling of DEUX and didn't want to accept AVON with out "lady."

My biggest problem of all, however, was caused by a simple mistake on my part. I misread the clue for 3D and put in OPINED instead of OPINES. That gave me DALTANDPEPPER for 28, which I parsed as DALTAN D. PEPPER. I couldn't believe that was a movie title I was expected to know, but all the perps seemed rock solid (after all, OPINED is a perfectly legitimate word and it didn't set off any bells when I reviewed it).

*sigh*

Wasted 5 minutes or so trying to figure out why I didn't get the *tada*. Finally had to actually reread all the clues to find my error. Had I solved on paper, that would have definitely been a DNF for me today.

thehondohurricane said...

Good day folks,

Excepting the NE corner, got thru this one rather easily, but with a heavy dose of perp assistance. DEUX & ECCE were my issues in the NE for across clues and IDEO & EXE were the down issues. Finally went with "my gut" and was right for once.

GANGS OF NEW YORK was the only movie I was familiar with, but the perps got me the other three. I liked today's theme.... it was clever and fresh.

Wondered about LLAMO, whether it is grammatically correct or not. Too many moons since Spanish classes

.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, MelissaBee and friends. Interesting puzzle. I never heard of SERGEANTS THREE (IMBb actually lists it as Sergeants 3), but after figuring out the other theme clues I recognized that YORK, PEPPER and FRIDAY were all Sergeants.

The only Bell Ringer I could think of was Quasimodo, but his name is more than 4 letters.

NENEs used to make frequent appearances in the Boston Globe crossword puzzle.

My favorite clue was Letters from Greece = NUs.

QOD: Your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that. ~ Lauren Bacall

Lemonade714 said...

Hi mb good to see you and your work. This was a fairly straight forward Wednesday, with fewer challenges then yesterday. I was leaning toward a York Pepper Mint Patty theme but, not to be. Lots of nice N words, and the DEUX and DREI clues were cute.

Enjoy

Limonada setecientos catorce

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Steven L. Zisser, for a great puzzle. Thank you, Melissa Bee, for a very fine write-up. Nice to have you here again.

Started easily in the NW. Thought this would be a cake walk. No cigar. It was a little tough in spots.

In the NE, ECCE came easily. So did EXE. Wagged IDLE and it worked. That gave me IDEO, DECREPIT, and LUCKLESS. With all that DEUX became obvious with four perps. Thank goodness.

RAISA was easy for 33A. Remember her well. Her husband Mikhail Gorbachev was in Elgin, IL, a couple weeks ago at Judson University.

32A LLAMO was a snap. All I had to do was get ALONG, COSELL, OUT AT, BEDFRAME, and NOT OF first.

Really liked IN INK for 41A. That is how I did this puzzle and no write-overs for a change.

Theme appeared with SERGEANTS THREE. That helped with the other three long answers.

OK, Lemonade, now I know how to say 714 in spanish. Not sure I will remember it tomorrow, however.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

Anonymous said...

Started out slow with pole for skiing need and bedstead for the headboard question, but sorted it all out.

Knew all 3 movies at the top which made this much easier than it could have been, but didn't know Sergeants Three so initially trying to think of a movie with the whole rat pack in it like the original Ocean's Eleven.

Grumpy 1 said...

Happy hump day, all.

I didn't get any of the theme answers from the clues but they emerged easily enough with the perps. I didn't figure out the theme until after the unifier was in place. I thought ity was a clever theme.

I needed perps to decide between HILO and Kona.

Hand up for BEDstead before BEDFRAME. I'm with you, mb, on that clue. It should have been 'may be', not 'is'. Many beds have no headboard or footboard, but what supports the boxspring and mattress is still a bedframe.

If that's my only nit on a Wednesday, it must have been a pretty good puzzle.

HeartRx said...

Good morning melissa, C.C. et al.

Fun theme today, and equally fun write-up, melissa. Thanks for jogging my memory about "Noises Off". I agree, that one was hilarious!

I liked that all four entries were movies. Very nice consistency. But there wasn't much sparkly fill. A prefix IDEO and non-"suffix" EDE, a couple partials OUT AT and NOT OF, topped off with the dreaded EDATE lowered the enjoyment factor of this one for me.

I did like "Skier's need" for SNOW (we didn't have much of that this winter) and "Famous bell ringer" for AVON. I agree with Barry that it wanted "lady" added to that answer, but still a fun clue.

Happy hump day, everyone!

desper-otto said...

Happy Wednesday, all.

As usual, I did today's puzzle IN INK, and BEDSTEAD/BEDFRAME was my only over-write. I found this one to be easier than yesterday.

ECCE, YSER and NENE are old friends. I liked the DEUX/DREI pairing. And MelissaBee, thanks for the learning moment. I had always assumed that INRE meant IN REgards to.

Anonymous said...

You can see what kind of a puzzler I am when I put in very confidently "cheat" for 41 across : ) OBVIOUSLY, I'm not one to do my puzzles IN INK.

Irish Miss said...

Good morning all:

I though this was a fun, clever puzzle. Knew two of the movie titles so that gave me a good building block. Loved the Deux and Drei clues.

Thanks, Steven, for a nice Wednesday challenge and Melissa B for a great expo.

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone.

Husker Gary said...

Ain’t it funny how one bad entry can hold a whole section hostage? NSTB instead of NTSB held up the NE until DECREPIT made itself obvious! No, MB, I needed 55A for the theme on this fun puzzle!

Musings
- Deux sont l'entreprise, drei sind eine Menschenmenge
-His Girl Friday was hilarious and so was the Walter Matthau/Jack Lemmon remake Front Page
-Skiing need wasn’t LAKE because most of those aren’t steep enough!
-NU in Nebraska plays football
-Mom did puzzles in INK
-COSELL was the first TV sports talking head that saw athletes as human with both talents and shortcomings. He rode ALI into stardom.
-Four letter word starting with YS, hmmm, I wonder what it could be?
-Traveling Companion in Russian is SPUTNIK
-Nope, I thought of RARA AVIS and was feeling pretty smug for a while
-In what very famous Gloria Swanson/William Holden movie did Jack Webb play Holden’s best friend?
-Wind, et al, I looked over this sign yesterday and still can’t find any reference to my golfing prowess ;-)!
-Off to sub in history today. They'll probably have a music person teaching calculus!

Avg Joe said...

It's OK Gary. There's still hope for Hooper. :-)

Mari said...

Anon @ 8:14 am: Too funny! :)

Good puzzle, even though I couldn't figure out that these guys were seargants. I've heard of His Girl Friday and have seen Gangs of New York. The rest were PERPS and WAGS.

I liked 23A: Ending with Stamp: EDE. It had me guessing.

I messed up by entering Rowed for OARED, and for some reason I thought Howard's last name was Costel. Oh well, can't win them all.

Have a super middle of the week. Today in Chicago it will be 85 deg and rainy.

We had some May Day action here yesterday with various protest groups. Working for a big bank we're always a protest arget.

How about in your corner of the world? See anything interesting yesterday?

Husker Gary said...

You got it Joe! I offered to buy Splynter a great prime rib dinner at The Office in Hooper but I don't think it was on his way to Vegas!

HeartRx said...

Just went back and finished reading yesterday's comments. Husker G @ 3:41, Meredith Wilson also did "The Music Man" - an all-time favorite of mine, as well. But today's movie question @8:18 has me stumped. Must not be a musical...

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Did this one IN INK. Counted 6 cheater squares. BH helped me with LLAMO. Liked DEUX is company; DREI is a crowd. Thought 57d might be NERO, so wagged 19a, ECCE. Cool. Theme was interesting. MB displayed the Army insignia for SGT (E5). Favorite fill was DECREPIT. Overall, it wasn't easy but got thru it with no strikethroughs and no other lookups.

Have a good day.

Lemonade714 said...

was it Sunset Boulevard?

desper-otto said...

Lemon, wasn't 714 Sergeant Friday's badge number? Is that why you've got it as part of your "handle?"

Ron Worden said...

Good morning and happy hump day to all. Thanks MelissaB and to Mr.Zisser for a fun puzzle. For me the last to fall was the NE corner,but after I got drei deux came to me and all was well. I always go for ink a uni-ball microfine is my favorite pen as I can get an occasional write over that is still legible. Have a great day to all.RJW.

Husker Gary said...

-Yes, Lemon, it was Sunset Boulevard that has one of the most iconic scenes in movie history – Gloria Swanson descending the staircase as the completely delusional Norma Desmond. Jack Webb did have a career before he wanted “…just the facts, ma’am.”
-Marti, Music Man is my favorite musical and it was the crown jewel of Willson’s career. He captured a lot of the sense of small town life and hypocrisy that survives to this day. Unsinkable did not have the memorable tunes. Hey, even the Beatles recorded ‘Til There Was You”.
-The Occupy Lincoln people have lived on the mall in front of the state capital for months and the mayor said this past winter that they must be gone by May 1. Today they, their tents and trash are gone and they will take their quixotic endeavors elsewhere or maybe even rejoin society.
-Man that’s a lot of italics for me.

Spitzboov said...

Our bird feeder has been visited the last couple days by a couple male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. They seem to pause on their way North to the summer breeding grounds. Last year we did not see any.

CrossEyedDave said...

Very enjoyable puzzle. After the 1st pass, i had very little & thought i was in for a tough go. Not wanting to look anything up, i started WAGging. I think this is the 1st time i ever WAGged my way thru a whole puzzle! Still, perps made me correct a lot of spelling mistakes. (i thought it was decrepi"d" & s"a"rgeant) but no wonder i'm confused, i still spell color, "colour", & write the date day/month/year.

Still a bit fuzzy on Argyle "cheater square" explanation yesterday. Spitzbooz? can you point out a before & after example in todays puzzle?

Susan, i hesitate to say anything about your cat. (too many memories) but my experience has been when they are hurt, or frightened, they go into the deepest darkest hole they can find. Lets hope yr cat has not used up all 9 lives yet.

Speaking of (38D) rarities, a Ray William Johnson =3 that is not obscene, or political...

Spitzboov said...

CED - If I understand your question, the cheater squares are at left of SALT AND PEPPER, and right of GIRL FRIDAY, below EDATES, and above COSELL; 2 +2 + 1 + 1 =6. Removing them would not change the word count. (But of course the fill would have to be changed accordingly)

Mari said...

Jayce @ last night: I use WEES when I mean "What Everybody Else Said". It's sort of a knock-off on the ubiquitous WBS.

Speaking of birds, we mostly have cardinals and blue jays in my yard. DH and I toss out peanuts for the squirrels and have a ball watching the blue jays dive for them.

Bill G. said...

Husker Gary: I agree with you about many things and for another, about The Music Man. It's my favorite musical by far. Good story and almost every song is appealing.

Murky here again. I'm supposed to meet an old buddy for lunch. I hope it pans out.

The Dodgers have a new owner. It's about time. Go Lakers!

Anonymous said...

Much easier today than yesterday, though Monday was an all time easy one.

The company and crowd clues were excellent. "Me llamo" required dusting off cobwebs.

When I had "... New York" & "... Pepper" I thought the theme was going to be steak related. Must just be near lunch time....

Anonymous said...

Are there puzzles constructed that require punctuated or spaced words to work down and across, e.g. since 66A ended 'S, then 38D would need to end with 'S, and the same would apply to multiple word answers?

Yellowrocks said...

After flirting with bedstead for a short time, LLAMO and TETRA quickly led me to BEDFRAME.which seemed fine to me. All my bed frames are only three sided and need the headboard to complete the frame.

AVISO, ECCE, YSER, NENE, NEE, OARED, TETRA, etc. provided lots of old crossword staples.

GANGS OF NEW YORK reminds me that we saw West Side Story at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, last night. It was very well down. I had forgotten how dark the story is, in spite of the love interest, beautiful songs and great dancing.

Misty said...

Well, I got my trifecta of puzzle, sudoku and kenken again today, but only with a lot of effort. I got none of the movies until late in the game and so had to depend mainly on perps which did not come all that easily. But I don't want to be grumpy about the difficulty of this week's puzzles anymore, even though they're sure giving us a workout. So thanks C.C. and Don for yesterday, Steve for today, Argyle for yesterday's write-up and Melissa B. for explaining the theme to me today. I kept thinking the whole thing had to be Beatles and so didn't get that it was the Sergeants I should be focusing on. Is it just the gloomy weather here on the coast, or are my little gray cells slowing down?

Poor Christopher Reeve spent his last years paralyzed from a fall off a horse, didn't he? But he had the support of a loving family.

Have a great Wednesday, everybody!

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Hand up for The Music Man! It was one of the first movies I ordered when signing up for Netflix.

Also ordered HIS GIRL FRIDAY early on, liked the movie but couldn't remember the title for today's puzzle. Was surprised to learn how tall Cary Grant was!

Dudley said...

By the way, do we have any "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" fans here?

The connection is that I met Carl Kasell last night at a banquet where he was guest speaker. In addition to having a marvelous broadcast voice, he has a good sense of humor!

Tinbeni said...

I always do my crosswords on-paper, IN-INK.
Sometimes on Saturday the ink-blots are x-rated. lol
Like Spitzboov my fave today was DECREPIT.
Thought the cluing for AVON was just perfect. "Ding-dong, AVON calling!"

Of course, living in Tampa Bay, our "Skiing need" is a boat.
Somehow we never get enough SNOW for the kind of skiing HeartRx enjoys.

Cheers to all at Sunset!

Lucina said...

Hello, all. MB, it's always so great to see you and enjoy your blogging.

Thankfully, with enough crossword staples I could WAG my way through this. Unless it's been recent and/or memorable I can't remember movie titles. But having seen only one of these made it that much harder for me. HIS GIRL FRIDAY is very funny though I don't recall too many details.

Don't we say AVON calling? So there's not always a need for lady there.

Me LLAMO is completely correct, HONDO.

Thought French company, DEUX and German crowd, DREI were clever clues now that I can remember them.

I know many of you do crosswords IN INK but I HATE messy puzzles so I prefer pencil, a sturdy artist's one so I can see it plainly. AAh, can't wait for the cataract surgery.

RAISA's husband, Gorbachev was here, too, at ASU so he must be on tour. $75 for the ticket.

Thanks, Steven Zisser, for entertaining us today.

Have a super Wednesday, everyone!

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Not an easy go, but an interesting challenge. Great theme. Some fresh down fill, including RARITIES.

But I agree with Marti's nits.

Ending with stamp is particularly lame. "Letters from Greece" is a great clue for a BADD entry.

Had BLUE for BADD - not good.

DRAFTED was slow to arrive.

Pier Gp is terrific - obviously Longshoremen. What are the other 2 letters, and in what order? Perp help!

Jeff Frandoeur threw Jhonny Peralta OUT AT 3rd last night, for the 3rd time in two seasons. Great arm and pin-point accuracy.

Howard COSELL was a genuinely good person and a great boxing announcer. But he was awful on Monday Night Football. A silly mistake that should have been forgiven got him canned from a job he should never have had.

Life is funny that way.

Cool regards!
JzB

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I, too, liked the theme, but didn't get it until after it was too late for the theme to help me, since I already had so much filled in.

Liked the DEUX and DREI, cluing. I felt like a DOPE because even after immediately getting DREI, "French company" fooled me.

Like Hahtoolah, I wanted to squish Quasimodo into those 4 spaces.

Ah, it was YARROW, not Stookey.

DECREPIT and RARITIES are great fill.

The Music Man and West Side Story are my favorite musicals. The best music Willson and Bernstein ever wrote, I think.

Lucina, when is your cataract surgery going to be done?

Jayce said...

Man oh man, I think I prefer our gloomy west-coast weather over Chicago's 85 and rainy!

ARBAON said...

Wednesday isn`t usually such a tuff day to re-enter puzzledom...usually being the operative word..
A strange river, such an obvious ski need that it took me the rest of the puzzle to get it, some Latin, Greek, Spanish and German, a "new" way to move a boat all were places I stubbed my pencil. Most clever clue (IMHO :) Noted bell ringer.

My dad liked to use the word "decrepit" and he would combine it with his own version of another word he pronounced :"collapidated."
With both of them he got his point across nicely.

Sent to me by a friend: " ):) I don`t know how I feel today."

ARBAON said...

Forgot "French!"

(A regular united nations puzzle!)

reneeraney said...

Why is the T in SERGEANTS THREE in a yellow square on the answer grid??

Steven J. St. John said...

Anonymous said...

Are there puzzles constructed that require punctuated or spaced words to work down and across, e.g. since 66A ended 'S, then 38D would need to end with 'S, and the same would apply to multiple word answers?

May 2, 2012 11:18 AM

---

Normally it is within the "rules" of crosswords to ignore spaces and apostrophes as if they don't exist.

However, I have seen specialty puzzles where respecting punctuation is part of the theme. One example of that is Pete Muller's NYT puzzle in which a space was used across and down, and the across clues all hinted at the theme (but the down clues simply used them).

Hopefully non-subscribers to xword.com can use this link to see the puzzle:

http://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/6/2006

Anonymous said...

BTW:"llamo" comes from the idiomatic phrase "me llamo" meaning "I call myself" which we translate: "My name is." My beginning Spanish students always wanted to put "me llamo es" which means "I call myself is" wrongly thinking "me llamo" meant "my name is."
Can any of you name some English idioms? (I did not say "idiots." :)

Anonymous said...

"Tie one on" "Have a ball" "She is hot." Do those count as English idioms?

Steven J. St. John said...

Sorry, I should have made linkable my NYT reference:

Pete Muller's space puzzle.

Lemonade714 said...

DO, great catch on the Jack Webb tie to BADGE 714 but my nom de plume is a product of my generation and the use of Quaaludes by many in the seventies.


Speaking of the seventies, many of us were long addicted to the SPENSER novels written by Robert Parker which were begun in the seventies. When Parker died in January 2010, we all felt the 39th novel SIXKILL would be the last. However, today, Lullaby written by Ace Atkins who was chosen by Joan Parker and the estate to continue the series. I read an excerpt and look forward to the comments of others.

Husker Gary said...

Musings after subbing
-Howard Cosell was the Sheldon of Big Bang Theory of his day. He would assume a moral and intellectual superiority and say whatever came to his mind and be astonished if someone took offense or questioned him. He was refreshing from the usual “jock chat” that ruled the air then. Now every move athletes make is observed, videoed and discussed. Mickey Mantle’s drinking and carousing would be exposed today.
-Here is what Cosell said that got him in trouble.
-Tony Kornheiser is wonderful on the radio but also did not translate to MNF. Same for Dennis Miller.
-Thanks for the puzzle link Steven. Wow!
-Fore!

kazie said...

Very late here today, but spent the morning with a computer problem on the desktop model I use for most things, and had to leave it at the local computer hospital and resort to my new laptop I'm not used to yet. Then spent the rest of the morning chasing my tail with arranging things that needed arranging, hooking the printer and scanner up to said laptop, etc.

Finally returned to what had been an impossible CW earlier and eventually got it all except for misspelling DECREPID/NDSB, having no idea what the latter was.

Haven't read the other comments yet, but want to say that ELD is related to elders, and comes from the German Eltern (parents) or literally, oldies. I should also add that älter is the comparative of alt meaning old, and is pronounced the same as Elter would be.

Splynter said...

Hi There ~!

Well, I completely WAGed the L in LLAMO that crossed COSELL, I thought 'how cruel on a Wednesday to cross a proper name and a foreign word like that~!?!?' - but I shoulda remembered him....

Depending on whether I am driving the car or towing the car, I am still on for that Prime Rib in Hooper - I hope to see the BOTH of you there, HG and AJ ~!

Splynter

Blue Iris said...

Just finished yest. and today's puzzles. Feel like I just did brain sit-ups. Both days had clues and answers that were "rarities" which I enjoyed very much.

My husband uses "per se" frequently when he "opines"--Maybe next time I'll say, "as in itself"??

Thought 60A was clever cluing for drei. What little German I know was learned from WWII movies.

Lucina said...

Jayce@1:07:
Thanks for asking. My cataract surgery is scheduled for Thursday, June 7. My doctor was booked until that date.

Blue Iris said...

Spent time watching hawk feed her chicks this afternoon. Caught yesterday's live link at a good time. Very interesting!

Just learned of Junior Seau's death on Fox news. Praying for his mother.

Yellowrocks said...

DECREPIT and NTSB, while used cleverly in this crossword, are words on my blacklist right now.

My meniscus surgery on my knee is healing okay, but now I have severe tendinitis in my ankle, causing a great deal of pain and hobbling around. Instead of giving me hope of returning to what is normal for me, it seems to be the opinion of the orthopedist and the PT that a DECREPIT person of a "certain age" like me shouldn't except to do the things I was doing easily just 6 months ago. I was always so active and full of vim and "can do." Bummer.

And NTSB, oh my! Whenever there is an accident involving a plane, our TV programs are repeatedly interrupted to announce an eminent NTSB update. Then when the update comes, interrupting the programming for 20 minutes or more, the message is, "We have no new findings." Arrgh!

CrossEyedDave said...

Spitzboov@10:52

Re: Cheater Squares

Thanks, that helps a lot. You are the first person who ever said " (But of course the fill would have to be changed accordingly)". That changes my visualization completely. Somehow i got the idea that cheater squares were to break up multiple word answers.

(of course i still have no idea how to spot, or count them...)

on a different subject, i wish i could get my cat to guard my bike. (watch the end!)

CrossEyedDave said...

todays Rhymes with Orange

Argyle said...

CED, just look for the L-shaped blocks. The rare blocks in a corner are cheaters too.

Argyle said...

reneeraney @1:40 PM
Why is the T in SERGEANTS THREE in a yellow square on the answer grid??

The online capture of the grid shows the last word, ergo, the last letter that the solver used.

I know of one spot I can capture a unhighlighted answer grid but unfortunately, it doesn't have the numbers in the corners.

Jayce said...

I am grateful for the explanations to various questions you all provide here.

Yellowrocks, sorry your knee is giving you such grief, and glad you don't consider yourself to be decrepit. I'm probably old enough to be your older brother (I won't say father, LOL) but don't consider myself decrepit, yet.

Avg Joe said...

I consider myself crotchety. And I wear that badge with pride.

But no. Not decrepit. At least not yet.

Hahtoolah said...

Dudley: I love "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" I download it on my iPod and listen to it each week.

TinoTechie said...

Karl Kasell rocks on "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!". We often have "Driveway minutes" when the show is on our local PBS station (KQED). I would love to have his voice on my home answering machine.

Greg

Dudley said...

There were some fun door prizes at banquet. The most popular one, determined by drawing: "Carl's voice on your home answering machine!"

The was a big round of hoorays when that was announced. I didn't win. Dammit.

Lucina said...

Hahtoolah:
I did a double take when i saw your Avatar then realized it was the Marilyn Monroe statue that has been featured in the news!

Anonymous said...

Fermatprime: I need your expertise.
I read a word problem that said: "A bat and a ball cost $1.10. If the bat costs $1.00 more than the ball, how much does the ball cost?" According to them, the answer is 5 cents. Please explain that to me. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

anon, are you serious? the ball cost .05 and the bat cost 1.05

Bill G. said...

CED, I enjoyed your dog video. I figured the dog was going to jump into the basket on the front.

I was going to help with anon's math question but another anon was speedier. Or maybe the same one answering his/her own question.

I went out for lunch with an old buddy of mine. Good company and good food.

Anonymous said...

...but if the bat cost $1.00 and the ball 0.10, wouldn`t that still be $1.00 more? Can you do an equation to show me...and yes, I`m very blond!

Argyle said...

$1.00 minus $.10 = $.90

The bat would be only $.90 more than the ball.

$1.05 minus $.05 = $1.00

Bat is $1.00 more than the ball. Combined they are $1.10

Spitzboov said...

Anon @ 9:21 pm. Argyle is right.

At the question is stated, we can write:

x + (X + 1.00) = 1.10

where x = ball cost and (x + 1.00) = bat cost.

combining we get:

x + x + 1.00 = 1.10

rearranging we get:

2x = 1.10 - 1.00 = .10

divide by 2 :

x = .05 = ball cost

.05 + 1.00 = 1.05 = bat cost.

QED

Anonymous said...

anon: imagine you have a dollar bill. You also have 2 nickels. the bat cost one dollar more than the ball. how do you buy both? understand? ! nickel here, one nickel there plus the dollar bill. get it?

jjinfl said...

I always do the puzzles in ink, but sometimes have to write lightly till I see that they're correct. I still don't recognize #40, NTSB. Not good on acronyms.I wanted "out of" with "this world" rather than "not of"; had to go back and change it. Thought "sergeant" had an "a" in the first syllable, like "sarge." Oh, well.

Argyle said...

National Transportation Safety Board.