google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, June 6 2012, Janie Smulyan

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Jun 6, 2012

Wednesday, June 6 2012, Janie Smulyan

Theme: DIVERSE DANCE DUDS. when i had can can and cha cha, i expected 20a was going to have the same pattern and the theme would be repeating syllables. wrong again.

20A. Short coat for a Spanish 51-Across : BOLERO JACKET. a short, cropped jacket. i usually see men wearing these, like matadors, but women sometimes wear them, too.


31A. Garment for a French 51-Across : CAN CAN SKIRT


38A. Shoes for a Latin American 51-Across : CHA CHA HEELS


and, without further ado, 51A. "Young and sweet, only seventeen" ABBA title girl : DANCING QUEEN

melissa here. who else loves matt? as of this writing, he is in seattle.

Across:

1. Reason for a flight delay : FOG. nailed it.

4. Part of EST: Abbr. : STD. eastern standard time.

7. Basic ballroom dance : TWO STEP. more dancing.

14. "Give __ whirl" : IT A

15. __ de coeur: pained outburst : CRI. french, literally cry from the heart.

16. Grainy cracker : OATCAKE. a type of cracker or pancake, popular in scotland, ireland, canada and parts of england.

17. Silky-coated dogs : BORZOIS. aka, russian wolfhound. never heard of it. borzois means swift in russian. looks like a long-haired whippet.


19. Served, as ice cream : SCOOPED

22. A-list : ELITE

23. Hydrating cream brand : OLAY

24. Most junk mail : ADS. the usps recently launched a campaign to save itself by increasing junk mail by five times. sigh. nobody asked me.

27. Ten, for openers? : DECA. prefix.

28. Cut of one's jib, so to speak : MIEN. learning moment for me. i've heard 'cut of one's jib,' but mien is new to me, seems kind of obscure. from dictionary.com: "one's general appearance, mien, or manner: I could tell by the cut of his jib that he wasn't the kind of person I'd want to deal with"


29. Very, in music : ASSAI

33. Cheerleader's accessory : POM-POM. also spelled pom-pon.

37. Pain-relieving drug : OPIATE

42. Piebald mount : PINTO. pied, or spotted horse.

43. __ mater : ALMA

44. Wall St. happenings : IPO'S, initial public offerings.

48. Word on a Chicago cap : SOX

49. Pierre's possessive : A TOI. Je suis tout à 'toi'

50. '60s-'70s TV Guide critic : AMORY. cleveland amory, so obscure.

54. Bit of the Big Apple : BOROUGH. map.

57. Supple : ELASTIC. adjective.

58. Shelter denizen, potentially : ADOPTEE

59. Well-used pencil : NUB

60. Ending with chlor- : IDE

61. Showy shower phenomena : METEORS

62. Lapsang souchong, e.g. : TEA

63. Scoundrel : CAD

Down:

1. Was a little false : FIBBED

2. "The Lion in Winter" co-star : O'TOOLE. peter.

3. Appetizing dinnertime smell : GARLIC

4. Make notches in : SCORE. no comment.

5. Quartet with an absentee : TRIO. cute.

6. Prevent the union of : DISJOIN. hmm ... seems like to disjoin is to undo after a union occurred, rather than to prevent it.

7. Region of central Italia : TOSCANA



8. Nutso : WACKY

9. Great Plains tribe : OTOE

10. Many a bagpiper : SCOT

11. Make use of : TAP. would have been nice to see this clued as a type of dance.

12. Barely make, with "out" : EKE

13. Crosswalk user, briefly : PEDestrian.

18. Letter on a sweater : ZETA

21. Novelist Waugh : ALEC. learning moment #2.

24. Giant panda's continent : ASIA

25. It has a sticking point : DART

26. Online destination : SITE

28. Doll's word : MAMA

29. Slithering symbols of the pharaohs : ASPS

30. Manage moguls : SKI

31. West Coast salmon : COHO

32. Superdome home, briefly : NOLA. new orleans, louisiana.

33. HMO doctor designations : PCP'S. primary care physicians.

34. Columbus's home : OHIO

35. Tailless feline : MANX

36. Inc. tax rate, e.g. : PCT. percent.

39. Concocts, as a scheme : HATCHES

40. "The Time Machine" race : ELOI. race of people in h.g. wells's novel.

41. Distinguished : EMINENT

44. Brash radio host : IMUS. i misread this as british radio host, and thought there must be some other IMUS i didn't know about. brash ... oh.

45. Flowery, in a way : POETIC

46. Golden Crinkles maker : ORE-IDA. i learned from michael pollan that industrial potato farmers have to put the potatoes in storage for six months to off gas all the chemical pesticides and fertilizers. no thanks.

47. Matched up, as a laptop and a smartphone : SYNCED. or as fred and ginger.

49. Infuriate : ANGER

50. Jordanian seaport : AQABA. don't have that one memorized.

51. Lowdown : DOPE

52. Geo or Reo : AUTO

53. Krazy __ : GLUE

54. Impact sound : BAM

55. Coleridge wrote one to dejection : ODE. if you're interested.

56. Go bad : ROT

Answer grid.

melissa


Note from C.C.:

Here is a beautiful picture of JD's garden. She said she spends LOTS of time there. I would too. That's orange tree on the right, correct? At first, I thought they were persimmons.

72 comments:

  1. Morning, all!

    Running late and extremely tired this morning. Struggled with this one right out of the gate and never really felt in SYNC with the constructor's wavelength. After floundering with the first couple of theme answers, I finally gave in and checked out the unifier at 51A. Which, not surprisingly, didn't help a bit...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good Morning, MelissaBee and friends. Interesting puzzle. What other dance attire is out there? I once had a BOLERO, that I really loved to wear.

    My favorite clue was Quartet with an Absentee = TRIO.

    It Has a Sticking Point = DART was also a fun clue.

    I learned that the Lowdown is not Dirt, but DOPE.

    We had NOLA recently. Always nice to see a local clue.

    QOD: Well I think they broke the mould when they made me and being humble is one of my great assets. ~ Larry Hagman

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  3. Good morning, MB, and Happy Hump Day to all.

    This one went fairly well, except for that dang dog crossing the sweater letter. Z or B? Neither one looked right, but I got lucky when I deciced the Z looked less wrong.

    Same likes and learn as Hahtoolah.

    BOLERO JACKET filled easily with a few perps and I had a hunch the theme would involve a dance and a clothing item.

    Thanks for the write up MB.

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  4. Melissa: Wonderful write-up & links.

    My DANCING QUEEN did the TWO-STEP through the grid.

    Pictured Peter O'TOOLE saying "AQABA !!!" from Lawrence-of-Arabia.

    My 'Nutso' was WACHo before OLAY made him WACKY.
    Also, my 'Scoundrel' was a RAT before becoming a CAD.

    Learning moments: The Silky-coated dog, BORZOIS and the obscure AMORY. Both all-perps.

    Liked the shout-outs to Hahtoolah/NOLA and Marti/SKI.

    All-in-all, a FUN Wednesday!

    Grumpy 1 (from last night) What? You're not going to wait 105 years for the next "Transit-of-Venus" ???
    It's ONLY 38,351 days from today.

    Cheers to all at Sunset.

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  5. Good morning melissa, C.C. et al.

    I was all over the place on this one, so thanks for giving me a coherent write-up to explain the theme, melissa! When I saw CAN CAN and CHA CHA, I thought it would be repeating syllables for the theme. But even then, I filled in the theme entries without looking at the unifier. When I finally did wend my way down south, I filled in 51A as "fashion" QUEEN. But that didn't work out very well with the perps, so I finally realized it was DANCING QUEEN and slapped myself upside the head.

    "Fox trot" before TWO STEP. Never heard of a BORZOIS - BORbOIS sounded OK to me. And CRI crossing DISJOIN gave fits. I agree with you, melissa, that it seems to mean take apart after being united. I did remember Cleveland AMORY and ALEC Waugh, but wondered if it was AMeRY and ALEx at first.

    Let's hope I have better luck with tomorrow's puzzle...

    JD, love the picture of your garden!

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  6. This was quick romp for a Wed. with no unknown words.

    I remember Cleveland AMORY for his love of animals, as well as being a TV Guide critic.

    My ex was into dogs, so BORZOI was familiar.

    At 51D I had DIRT, but the UGH cried out for BOROUGH, setting up the SW with DOPE and BAM.

    MB, thanks for the dancing duds pics.

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  7. Behold As Goblins Dark of Mien
    by Robert L. Stevenson

    Behold, as goblins dark of mien
    And portly tyrants dyed with crime
    Change, in the transformation scene,
    At Christmas, in the pantomime,

    Instanter, at the prompter's cough,
    The fairy bonnets them, and they
    Throw their abhorred carbuncles off
    And blossom like the flowers in May.

    - So mankind, to angelic eyes,
    So, through the scenes of life below,
    In life's ironical disguise,
    A travesty of man, ye go:

    But fear not: ere the curtain fall,
    Death in the transformation scene
    Steps forward from her pedestal,
    Apparent, as the fairy Queen;

    And coming, frees you in a trice
    From all your lendings - lust of fame,
    Ungainly virtue, ugly vice,
    Terror and tyranny and shame.

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  8. Hi, Melissa! Thanks for your excellent expo. Hello, puzzlers.

    Well, it's back to school for me. I was in a FOG about BORZOIS and BORBOIS looked fine. CRI makes me cringe as French is still so far off my radar.

    I can't recall ever seeing AMORY before. Other than that I swished like the DANCING QUEEN. Loved the pics of the JACKET, SKIRT, and SHOES, MB.

    In today's styles the shrug is almost like a BOLERO, don't you think? I have three of them which I enjoy wearing.

    My granddaughters watched Alladin over the weekend so AQABA was fresh in my mind.

    Loved the cluing for DART, SKI, and ASPS.

    JD: What a beautiful garden! You definitely have a green thumb.

    Back to bed for me. I wish you all a wonderful Wednesday!

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  9. Rich, is your calendar broken? This workout didn’t seem to be a Wednesday puzzle but came to a satisfying conclusion after MB tells me if I did okay.

    Musings
    -Nope, BORZOIS is nowhere near my vocab and I thought SERRE might work as a tortured form of serrated, BETA/ZETA and CRI got by me too. That’s three squares wrong.
    -Piebald, ATOI, ALEC (Waugh) and ASSAI no walk in the park but got ‘em.
    -The word BOLERO conjures up a certain 10 to me!
    -What movie girl of questionable morals was named Cha Cha?
    -The TWO STEP is all I got!
    -TOSCANO not TUSCANO with OATCAKE (UATCAKE, Gary? Really?). I’m down 4. Our Italian guide told us he is a citizen of Florence first, of Tuscany second and of Italy last.
    -If you want to see a lion in winter, go to a nursing home
    -Omaha’s Zoo bought the old Rosenblatt Stadium property across the street and wanted to put up a PANDA house. Too expensive!
    -Sheldon had an imaginary meeting with the ELOI in a dream sequence in Big Bang after the boys bought the time machine from the movie of the same name.
    -I had the DIRT before I got the inside DOPE
    -JD, your garden defines the word IDYLLIC!
    -QOD corollary, “They broke the mold when they made you and they beat the crap out of the mold maker too!”
    -Oh well, I’m doing better than the Miami Heat!

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  10. Beautiful garden, looks like a nice place to spend time with a good book.

    Fun puzzle today, with some good clues. I also liked 25D: It has a sticking point: DART, and 5D Quartet with an absentee: TRIO.

    54A had me stumped for a bit. I had a lot of the letters but they didn't look like any word(s) I knew. Finally I got the B for BOROUGH.

    I've learned to dislike the song DANCING QUEEN very soon after my marriage. When people learn my last name they often start singing that song.

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  11. Is it really only Wednesday? This puzzle felt like a Friday, and a DNF to boot!

    Things started out badly when I wrote EASTERN (from EST) where TWOSTEP was supposed to go. My RAINBOW took forever to turn into METEORS. And SYNCUP took awhile to straighten itself out.

    I remembered Cleveland Amory, and I knew there were two Waugh brothers. My downfall was BORBOIS/BETA. I let it stand. Why does BORZOIS remind me of Russian Opera?

    Oh, well. I don't know nuthin' 'bout birthin' no babies, but tomorrow is another day.

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  12. Good morning all. Good comments, MB. Thanks for depicting the theme ideas.

    Got a slow start but finally got in SYNC with the puzzle flow. Interesting theme, once sussed out. After I got the een in 51a, I quickly filled in DANCING QUEEN. AQABA became a gimme. At 51d, I had 'dirt', then 'dour', then DOPE for 'lowdown'. But that got me BOROUGH and ADOPTEE, and I was done. Just that one strikethrough. Favorite clue was 'manage moguls' SKI. Some great fill like OPIATE, BORZOIS, and MANX. Looking forward to Janie's next one.

    Enjoy your hump day.

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  13. I share the frustration of others today, not knowing it should be ZETA not BETA, BORBOIS looked OK to me.CRI came easily, though I thought more of dernier cri (latest fad) than cri de coeur.

    AMORY is a total unknown, and I had to guess the C to end ALEC, not having heard of Evelyn's brother. like Melissa, I expected repeated syllables rather than BOLERO, which thankfully did appear unaided.

    Tough Wednesday, I thought.

    JD,
    Beautiful, peaceful garden!

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  14. Good morning, folks. Thank you, Janie Smulyan, for a really tough puzzle. I agree with others this could have been a Friday puzzle. Thank you, Melissa B., for the swell write-up.

    Got started easy enough, but that change quickly. Got FOG, STD, and TWO STEP.

    For the dog I had BORBOIS and BETA for the Down answer. Had no idea what that dog was and BETA sounded like a good sweater letter to me.

    The theme answers fell slowly, but I got them.

    Remembered ATOI from the other day. That amazed me.

    Did not remember AMORY, but did remember AQABA. So that corner worked.

    Technically a DNF for me due to the Russian Dog. Bummer.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

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  15. Good morning all:

    Thanks, Janie, for a good Wednesday workout, and to Melissa for a fine write- up. I finished w/o help and only write- over was ine instead of ide for chlor ending. I was familiar with Borzois and Alec Waugh and everything else just fell into place because of the theme.

    JD, your garden is beautiful.

    Hg @ 8:04-Sheldon and The Time Machine episode was on last night-hilarious.

    Mari-any prediction for Rosie's killer?

    Happy Wednesday everyone.

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  16. First post for me but I've been reading this blog for a few months and really appreciate it - thanks.

    Do the puzzle on line and my goal is to not switch skill level from "master" to "regular" 'till Friday. No luck today.

    Had Beta, thought something dumb like foofoo jacket, didn't like fibbed, so NW was a mess

    I do remember Cleveland Amory in "the guide" smoking a pipe...

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  17. I enjoy a challenge, but I did not like this puzzle at all.

    Maybe it's years of disdain for ABBA, but I think the puzzle itself just was not fun.

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  18. Good morning to all and happy hump day. This one took me a little longer,but it was still a fun puzzle. The Bolero by Ravel was a great piece, especialy for horizontal dancing,and Torvel and Deans olympic Ice free dance. Have a great day to all. RJW.

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  19. I actually had a rare trifecta this morning: crossword puzzle, sudoku, and kenken all worked perfectly. Yay! A great way to start a Wednesday--many thanks, Janie, and Melissa, for the fun write-up. I can think of worse things than having "Dancing Queen" with an image of a dancing Meryl Streep in my head all day. Also Ravel's "Bolero" and image of Bo Derek--thanks to Husker. Movies sure find a home in our brain, don't they?

    Yellowrocks--thanks for posting the intriguing RLS poem. And JD, that truly is a lovely garden!

    We woke up yesterday morning and remembered it was our 18th wedding anniversary. Hadn't prepared cards or a celebration or anything. When I posted on Facebook, we ended up with close to 50 congratulations from friends, family, colleagues, former students--it doesn't get any better than that.

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  20. Melissa, as always a pleasure. Ms. S. who is an avid blogger and puzzle commenter under the deceptive "Sam Donaldson" has put together a fun wednesday, which you all have critiqued well. Maybe it was a New England thing but Cleveland Amory was a gimme and I guess Borzoi rhymes with BOLSHOI .

    Meanwhile, Bolshoi has been invaded by an American .

    The Borzoi, with the picture of the dog right above SCOOPED forced me to this LINK .

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  21. Good morning group. Thanks Melissa for your write up, links and the explanation for 28A.

    I have been on a puzzle vacation for a few weeks and this was a tough one to start off with. I thoroughly enjoyed it though. Thanks Janie.

    Had the same missteps as others - Foxtrot, Beta and Dirt before DOPE. Hand up for not knowing BORZOIS. It also took a long time for DISJOIN to fall into place.

    I had EMORY crossing EQUBA, but they looked fine to me since I was in the dark about both. So I just let them be.

    MANX, PINTO, POM POM and ADOPTEE seemed like a nice little mini theme.

    Beautiful garden JD!

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  22. I liked the theme with the addition of TWOSTEP, to go with the dancing theme, and POMPOM to go with CANCAN and CHACHA

    I don't think GARLIC is an appetizing smell, though it tastes good.

    Think Russian Wolfhounds would have been a better clue for BORZOI

    The clue for DISJOIN is off target

    Can't make the connection with Flowery and POETIC

    Reo should have been clued REO

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  23. Good morning Melissa, C.C. et al,

    Danced through this one pretty easily, but have to say the perps gave me the dancing duds. Caught on a little too late. Having heard of borzois, it drove me crazy that I could not come up with the right word for awhile.

    All of those musical terms are not in my head, but listed in my spiral of new words.Yea, I had to look.

    Aqaba was a gimme, as my class had to draw and label a map of Egypt. The kids always thought the 2 gulfs and the Red Sea looked like a snail.

    Melissa, great write up.We do know fog, as it magnificently rolls over the tops of our mts and delays flights out of SFO.

    Thanks for the garden compliments. 35 yrs.ago the trees were small and that area was all a vegetable garden; too much shade now.The climbing roses really blossomed this year.That orange tree provides us with juice almost all year long.

    yoga time.......

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  24. Wow, for a Wed. this was hard. I had the dictionary out for quite a few clues.Oh well, at least I finished in a long 25 min.

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  25. Okay puzzle. I too was put off and turned off by the repetition in two out of three non-unifier entries. TOSCANA, CRI, COHO, PCPS, AQABA, and AMORY seemed a little excessive in a Wednesday grid whose theme sports two 13s and two 14s; but I thought the perpage was handled well. For me, it’s unattractive to, for example, have TWOSTEP nonsymmetrically placed in a dance-themed puzzle; I think it detracts from a puzzle‘s sophistication.

    Melissa, thanks for introducing me to Matt; I was unaware of his existence. What an enjoyable website. He seems to be very down-to-earth, and up front and honest in a way that isn’t pandering--which is so refreshing. There’s a great air of casual integrity about his endeavors.

    The part of the “Big Bang Theory” Time Machine episode where Leonard is in the machine and pretends to start it up, so the other three guys immediately, and without provocation, start mimicking time-travelly background behavior--that’s my favorite scene of the whole series.

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  26. Hello everybody. I liked this puzzle a lot! Something in it to please everyone. I am always impressed with seeing three 6 and 7-letter words side by side, especially such cool words as GARLIC, ADOPTEE, METEORS, and POETIC, for example. Well constructed and very enjoyable!

    Z in BORZOI, J and K in JACKET, Q in QUEEN, W and Y in WACKY, X in MANX, hmmm, are we going to have a pangram?

    I learned that it is ASSAI, not molto, and is chlorIDE not chlorInE.

    I actually held off putting the T into A TOI, sorta kinda hoping it might not be the overworked A TOI and that maybe, just maybe, it might be, maybe, A MOI or even A SOI for a change. Ah well. By the way, would it be "legal" if it were MIEN? (C'est le mien = it's mine.)

    Thank you, melissa, for your writeup, and best wishes to you all.

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  27. hi, all -- and thx for all the feedback -- good, bad and indifferent! knowing that this has put a smile on some of your faces is indeed happy-making for me! gotta thank rich and patti for their encouragement -- and keen editing sensibilities -- in seeing this one through to publication today. yep. it does take a village.....

    point of clarification, however: jeffrey (at amy's blog) was being his dry, jocular self when he conflated sam donaldson and me. believe me: sam and i *have* been seen in the same room together! (but man -- this is definitely how rumors get started!) ;-) i blogged the crossynergy puzzle for two years; sam took over for me april a year ago.

    even if one can't please all of the people all of the time, awfully nice seein' that one *can* please some of 'em *some* of the time. and the beauty part of the daily xword is that "tomorrow *is* another day"!

    ;-)

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  28. Fun puzzle and writeup. Pretty much WEES.

    JD, I too compliment you on the pretty garden area. Is that a Valencia orange tree? We had one years ago. When an orange fell off the tree (or was ready to), they were wonderfully sweet.

    I bought a small bunch of peonies at the market yesterday. I had heard of peonies before but don't remember ever seeing them. They are pretty though I'm guessing they won't last long. Oh well, then I'll find something else pretty to buy and put in a vase.

    Go Kings! Go Dodgers!

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  29. Misty @ 11:16 am: Make it 51 congratulations!

    Irish Miss @ 9:58 am: At the end of every episode I have a new favorite suspect. I was thinking it was that Indian woman, but now I'm leaning towards one of the congressman's aides. For all of it's dragged out frustrations, the show sure is keeping me interested!

    Placematfan @ 12:50 pm: I caught part of that BBT episode last night. Unlike many other shows, I can sit through BBT reruns and laugh just as much as I did the first time I saw them.

    Lemonade @ 12:07 pm: I love my cats but I hate being the designated pooper scooper!

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  30. Out of curiosity I picked up "You Have The Right To Remain Puzzled" by Parnell Hall from my library. One of the main characters is a crossword puzzle constructor. Has anybody read this series?

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  31. Did you know that otter pups have to be taught how to swim? This is a very cute video of the process. Swimming lesson.

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  32. awww Bill, that was just too cute!
    not sure if my tree is a Valencia; know it is not a naval. It smells divine for the 3 weeks or so that it's in bloom.
    As I'm munching on my artichoke, I wonder what wonderful meal you had today..

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  33. Musings

    -Mari, I had to do some fancy network to find your last name and laughed when I found it. Mama Mia, that is great! However, my computer would not let me email you and so I am writing this in the blog and I also wanted to find out how to pronounce Mari. Maybe I can figure out how to email you yet or you could contact me.
    -How can you disdain ABBA?
    -Make it 52, Misty
    -We just got back from a funeral for a Vietnam era vet and after some stodgy old hymns the congregation recessed from the church to the strains of this wonderful song on a CD.

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  34. I was in a hurry today and the puzzle made me grouchy. Should have saved it for later. Thanks, Melissa for the enlightenment.

    My first fill-in was "Dancing Queen" thanks to my watching the movie ninety times.

    I got FIBBED so filled in Faa. Didn't know FOG caused delays with instrument ratings flights. I do remember a very dicy landing with my pilot husband in thick fog in a single-engine Cessna. It was clear on take-off, but socked in on return. I prayed hard all the way down.The runway magically appeared out of the soup just where he wanted it.

    Salukis was my first dog choice so the last two letters were right when "B" showed up. I could see the right dog in my mind but wanted a "G" in the "Z" slot. gETA on a sweata didn't get it.

    Thought PCPS were nasty chemicals in transformers the government outlawed.

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  35. Hi gang -

    Janie - nice of you to stop by.

    PK - those were PCB's.

    JD - love your garden.

    It's still remotely possible that I might have a wheelhouse somewhere, but this was not in it.

    Easy for some, hard for others, including me. Couldn't suss CHA CHA HEELS and got a DNF.

    Well, I'm late, and it's all been said.

    Went to Nate's game last night. He was the starting pitcher, giving up one run in each of his two innings. Team fell apart later though, and played very poor defense. Lost their bats, too, along with the game.

    Emily finished Kindergarden today, and they had a nice little program, and sang a couple silly songs. Great fun.

    Cool regards,
    JzB

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  36. Bill G., great link to the otters! So cute!

    Husker G., love, love love that song in your link. And what a great memorial to those who served us in Viet Nam...thanks for sharing.

    Misty, here's # 53 !!

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  37. Misty, congratulations. Coming up on 47 here.

    JD, sorry to disappoint but lunch was pre-packaged salad and half a deli tuna sandwich. Naval oranges are bigger and easier to peel; Valencias have some seeds and taste great. They are really sweet when they're ripe. I think they also do better in the cooler climate around here.

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  38. Misty, congratulations on your 18 years together.

    Jazzbumpa, howdy.

    JD, how was that artichoke? What do you like to slather it with, if anything?

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  39. Janie

    Thank you for stopping by and for the puzzle. I was glad to be reminded of Cleveland Amory, who appeared to be a truly fine person. Teach me to believe what I read. look forward to your next efforts, we have quite a nice coterie of constructors here at c.c.'s corner.

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  40. Misty, add me to the list expressing admiration for your staying power.

    Mark S., Annie, seereeferd and any other newbies. welcome to the world of self expression. Crazy cat, good to see you here again, thought maybe someone had left the door open.

    mari, i give up, what is your last name? I am sure not pooper scooper.

    mark b. keep up the comments.

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  41. Misty, happy anniversary. Here's to many more.

    Bill G. I loved your otters learning to swim.

    JD, what a lovely garden you have. It shows much tender loving care and hard work, also a great aesthetic eye.

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  42. Ooh yes, Jayce reminded me I forgot to ask about the artichoke also. I use either melted garlic butter or even mayonnaise.

    Do any of you watch America's Got Talent? Apparently the country singer exaggerated or lied about his war experiences. I like magicians OK but not when they lie about reading your mind or having extrodinary mental powers. Remember Uri Geller who was exposed on Johnny Carson? The unusual opera singer seemed to be a social misfit until he opened his mouth to sing. I hope he does well.

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  43. I thought this was a fun puzzle - took awhile before I picked up on the dancing theme, but that was part of the enjoyment. Only letter I missed was the A in Amory because I'd never heard of him, or Aqaba as far as that goes. I looked it up on the map (Jordan's only port) so hopefully, I will remember for next time.

    30D - I do not understand this clue, MANAGE MOGULS. Could someone please explain?

    Yellowrocks, thx for that great poem from RLS, certainly describes life to a "T".

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  44. Would have been a pangram except I did not see a "v".

    Hate to sound ignorant, but who is JD?

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  45. I'm a dog show freak, so I'd heard of borzois. One of my favorite movies is "Best in Show," a spoof on dog shows. I'm still relatively new to crosswords, but have started being able to solve Monday and Tuesday puzzles without TOO much help. I did okay on this one, but had Tuscany for Toscano, which made for a couple of interesting crosses.

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  46. Lemon: the dancing queen band is the same pronunciation as daddy in Hebrew.

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  47. Misty: Congrats on your anniversary. Hope you have many more years!

    Bill G: I loved that otter link - just amazing. I never had any idea that otters did not innately know how to swim!

    Also, peonies last quite awhile once they bloom. I have seen them last 2-3 wks unpicked on a plant, depending on the weather. Your picked ones should last at least 1 1/2 weeks in a vase if they were fresh when you bought them. Enjoy their lovely scent! They will perfume you entire home.

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  48. Mari:
    Congratulations on 18 years! May you enjoy many, many more together.

    Bill G:
    That video of the otters is so cute! I also did not realize they were not natural swimmers.

    LA CW Addict@5:20
    JD is a regular poster who lives in California. She has those three darling grandchildren whom C.C. posted yesterday and she's a vivacious person as I can tell you.

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  49. LA CW Addict, re 30D - MANAGE MOGULS. Moguls are bumps, or mounds, on a ski slope, which a skier must "manage" lest the skier falls.

    Bill G, very interesting about the otters.

    I like artichokes with butter.

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  50. Speaking of perfuming your entire home, my wife brought home a bunch of star lilies (I think that's what they're called) and man oh man they are fragrant! Peonies are, too.

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  51. All this talk of borzoi and bolshoi makes me think of a very funny song by the very funny Tom Lehrer. Fermatprime might especially get a kick out of it.

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  52. The traffic's going to be a nightmare in downtown Los Angeles this evening. The Kings' game starts a little after 5 pm and President Obama just flew into town for a fundraiser. My invites to Obama's dinner seemed to have gotten lost in the mail. Rats! Oh well, at least I won't have to fight the traffic and parking woes.

    You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

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  53. Misty-Happy Anniversary. Best wishes for many more.

    Bill G-That otter clip was precious.

    Janie S, thanks for stopping by.

    Have a good evening all.

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  54. Greetings!

    Nice puzzle and expo, Jamie and mb!

    No problems!

    Loan people here today. Have talked me into reverse mortgage to pay off previous loan and horrible termite bill. Anyone else have a recent reverse mortgage? They seem to have changed significantly.

    Have to go easy on repaired tooth with temporary for three weeks. What to have Harvey pick me up to eat is a conundrum. Suggestions?

    Thanks for poem, YR!

    Cheers!

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  55. Fermatprime: How about some pasta dishes, soft salads (tuna, seafood, egg, etc.) fish, quiche, puddings, jello, etc. Good luck!

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  56. Fermat - I would be very careful. You might want to check out this Link. I've never heard anything good about them for most situations.

    The otters were cute. How aboput these magnificent Frisian horses?

    Mari - Happy anniversary. All the best. Our 47th is coming up on the 26th.

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  57. Anon. Thank you, I am familiar with ABBA and IMA as anglicized versions of Hebrew for Father and Mother, I just have never met anyone (before now) with the last name "ABBA" or father or mother.

    Mari, you should be the poster child for DeVry.

    I guess I otter watch the cute link.

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  58. Hi puzzle peeps

    Tough one today for me but being
    Irish and of course that means stubborn I Stuck with it, felt like a Friday though.

    Remember Cleveland Amory very well

    JD love your garden

    Bill G those otters are adorable

    Husker G. and HeartRx brought
    this to mind.

    On this 68th anniversary of D-Day 1944

    Here is Taps played in its entirety. The original version of Taps was called Last Post, and was written by Daniel Butterfield in 1801. It was rather lengthy
    and formal, as you will hear in this clip, so in 1862 it was shortened to 24 notes and re-named Taps. Melissa Venema is playing it on a trumpet whereby the original was played on a bugle.

    Taps

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  59. Sorry, the http isn't allowed, not sure what that means so here's the link to cut and past. It's with Andre Rieu

    http://www.flixxy.com/trumpet-solo-
    melissa-venema.htm

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  60. I love Abba! Ditto to everything else.
    xoxo

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  61. Some of the latest New Military Acronyms....


    ARMY ---- Ain't Ready to be Marines, Yet

    LOST ---- Looking Over Strange Terrain


    MARINES ---- Muscles Are Required, Intelligence, Not Essential

    MRE --- Meals Rejected by the Enemy

    NAVY --- Never Again Volunteer Yourself


    .... and in case anybody thinks I'm being unpatriotic, from ... militaryposts.net via the Readers Digest.

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  62. Anony-mouse, please delete those offensive remarks.

    ReplyDelete
  63. spitzboov:
    Those Frisian horses are gorgeous! They are so beautiful and graceful and I don't recall ever seeing such thick, long manes and tails on other horses. That must be their characteristic.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Not a thing offensive about them. Good stuff.

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  65. Anony-mouse - USNR - - U Shall Never Retire

    Lucina - Yeah, I was blown away when I first saw the clip.

    For N J IRISH - trumpet -solo

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  66. BillG: There is one moment in the clip where the pup has a lot of white showing around the dark in his eye. He looks otterly terrified.

    Looks like the Friesen pairs march in stride lifting the right legs together then left. Do all horse pairs do that in teamwork? So gorgeous!

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  67. Misty~happy anniversary!! Spitzboov, you have us beat by a few years. Our 43rd is on Flag Day.

    Bill and Jayce, extra beautiful crop of artichokes this year.If hot I like butter or mayo. When cold I need nada. Saving those calories for wine.:-)

    Bill, not a fan of the America's Got Talent auditions, so I tape them and roll thru.

    Anything by ABBA makes me happy

    Jayce, enjoyed Tom Lehrer

    Fermatprime ~ risotto with spinach, Parmesan.....

    Lucina, grazie amico mio

    Yellowrocks, thank you. My garden is a little of this, little of that. Lots of plants for hummers and I pretty much welcome anything that sprouts up, although I do transplant to keep some order.Every week it looks different...same squirrels though.

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  68. Fermatprime: about reverse mortgages, read and re-read every word before you sign. Then have a trusted attorney read it.

    ReplyDelete
  69. To Spitzboov: Thank you, not sure what I did wrong, thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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