google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, July 16, 2012 C.C. Burnikel

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Jul 16, 2012

Monday, July 16, 2012 C.C. Burnikel

Theme: By the (old) numbers - When are Roman numerals not numbers? Hic et nunc!

1A. *"Sorry to say ..." : "I FEAR ..." (1)

9A. *Peaceful hand gesture : V-SIGN (5)

18A. *Novelty glasses in comic book ads : X-RAY SPECS (10)

30A. *Yellow Brick Road creator : L. FRANK BAUM (50)

48A. *Power sources for some toys : C BATTERIES (100)

60A. *Ones with a 1.0 GPA : D STUDENTS (500)

68A. *MGM Resorts reward program : M LIFE (1,000). If you would like more information, click here.

70A. Like each starred answer's first letter, when used as a numeral : ROMAN

Adsum, sum Argyle. If you did like I did and got the unifier first, this was a relative easy solve. But still, you have to be in awe of the construction. Finding entries starting with a single letter; going 1 to 1,000, in order; maintaining normal crossword symmetry. Wow! Very Scrabbley, too. Two 11-letter risers!

Across:

6. QBs' scores : TD's. Some football but there will be more baseball, you bet.

14. Winnie-the-Pooh's creator : MILNE

15. Years and years : EON

16. Cake invitation that Alice accepted : EAT ME. Only in Wonderland, guys.

17. Spaghetti sauce brand : PREGO

20. Dry, like some Spanish wine : SECO. or Portuguese.

21. Get ready to advance after a fly ball : TAG UP. See, baseball.

22. Cereal "for kids" : TRIX. Crazy rabbit!

25. Maniacs : MADMEN. Crazy guys!

35. "__ Lama Ding Dong": doo-wop hit : RAMA. Crazy, man, crazy! They don't write like this anymore. Link(0:15)(2:30)

36. D-backs, on scoreboards : ARI. What? More baseball. Arizona Diamondbacks.

37. Hard-time crime : FELONY

38. Picked from a lineup, briefly : ID'ed. Cute pairing.

39. Manly to the max : MACHO

41. http://www.latimes.com, e.g. : URL. Internet address.

42. Tire in a trunk : SPARE

43. Suffix with refer : ENCE

44. Dali or Degas : ARTIST. A surrealist and an impressionist.

46. MLB dugout boss : MGR. Major League Baseball.

47. Raleigh's state: Abbr. : N. CAR

50. Saint of Ávila : TERESA. Born the province of Ávila, Spain.

52. Dip in the pool : SWIM

53. Baghdad native : IRAQI

57. "One day only!" event : SALE

64. Piano foot lever : PEDAL

65. "__ and the Night Visitors" : AMAHL. Christmas classic.

66. Argentine aunt : TIA. Uncle : TIO


67. Pong maker : ATARI. I wonder if Forrest Gump ever played Pong.

69. Secret agent : SPY

Down:

1. Little rascals : IMPs

2. Pull the trigger : FIRE

3. Vehicle with a charging station : ELECTRIC CAR

4. Long-haired cat : ANGORA

5. Rock's __ Speedwagon : REO. Ridin' The Storm Out(4:15) I thought this is an appropriate song to link, given all the weird weather we had this spring.

6. Schoolbook : TEXT

7. Bilingual TV cartoon explorer : DORA

8. Stocking tear : SNAG

9. Big name in scooters : VESPA

10. Patsy : SAP

11. Suffix with Israel : ITE

12. Yukon automaker : GMC. This link sort of explains the difference with Chevrolet.

13. Super __: game console : NES. (Nintendo Entertainment System)

19. "Delish!" : "YUMMY!"

23. "Inside" dope : INFO. OK, this clue didn't make sense to me. INFO is INFO, whether it is "inside" or "outside".

24. '60s-'70s Jaguar : XKE

26. Faucet trouble : DRIP

27. Classic palindrome : "MADAM, I'M ADAM"

28. Come into view : EMERGE

29. __ Raiders: consumer advocates : NADER'S. Ralph.

30. Feel sorry about : LAMENT

31. English Channel country : FRANCE

32. Book jacket passage : BLURB

33. Main blood vessel : AORTA

34. Like a dark room : UNLIT

40. In this place : HERE

42. Hearty bowlful : STEW

44. Without __ in the world : A CARE

45. Ave. crossers : ST's. Avenue/Street

49. Meet, as a challenge : RISE TO

51. Edge along : SIDLE

54. Army insects : ANTS

55. Makeup smudge remover : Q-TIP

56. "My word!" : "I SAY!"

58. Tomb Raider's __ Croft : LARA. Video game far removed from Pong.

59. Tiger Woods's ex : ELIN Nordegren.


60. Hydroelectric facility : DAM

61. Tee size letters : S-M-L

62. __ chi: Chinese martial art : TAI

63. Old TV dial letters : UHF.(Ultrahigh frequency): 300-3000 Megahertz VHF (Very High Frequency): 30-300 Megahertz

64. Golf standard : PAR


Argyle

46 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Terrific solo effort by our beloved leader. Unlike Argyle, I did not get the unifier first, but it was still a relatively easy solve except for MLIFE, which I've never heard of, and TAGUP, which might as well be French given my ignorance of baseball terminology.

Bravo!

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Argyle and friends. Fun Monday puzzle. Getting the ROMAN helped with the M Life. I never heard of the MGM Resorts, much less their rewards program. I loved all the long answers such as ELECTRIC CAR and MADAM I'M ADAM.

Interesting having the FELONY immediately followed by being ID'ED.

I have had to use my SPARE twice in the past two months. The first time in all my years of driving.

For those of you needing rain, I hope you get some. (if I could share all the rain i have been getting, I'd send some your way.)

QOD: If you can't be a good example, they you'll just have to be a horrible warning. ~ Catherine Aird

Lemonade714 said...

Happy Monday, a truly wonderful puzzle with so much themeage and still so nicely symmetrical. Really nice choice of Latin in your write up A, and your TIA TIO comment got me thinking about feminine / masculine ending. Do you think it is the shape of the "A" and the "O' are representative of the shape of women and men?

Ave et vale.

Middletown Bomber said...

Easy solve speed run for me clever adaptation of the theme. Off to the beach for the next 3 days.

HeartRx said...

I SAY, way to go, C.C. !! I absolutely loved how you used every single Roman numeral, in order. Very elegant construction, and especially to be able to do this with a Monday level puzzle. It must have been an extreme challenge. But then, you are always up for it!

Happy Monday, everyone!

Mari said...

Great puzzle. I was unfamiliar with the palindrome in 27D and couldn't figure out what MADAM I MADAM mean't until I saw it here as MADAM I'M ADAM! Very clever.

Nice to see LAMENT and BLURB - cool words.

One of these I'll remember Super NES. Maybe I'm too old for video games. In my day you were luck if you had ATARI.

desper-otto said...

Very cute puzzle. Fun solve, too. My only misstep was immediately entering ABATTERIES then wondering what AAARE could be. Quickly fixed.

Thanks for not including baseball names, C.C. I'm terrible with those.

We're having a fungal frenzy in my little corner of the world. Mushrooms of all sizes and shapes are popping up everywhere. It's probably a sign that the rain should ease up -- at least for a little while. We got about 7" in the past week. (Lois, no comment.) Last year at this time we couldn't buy a raindrop.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi C.C. and gang -

Wow! Nothing to LAMENT today; but I'll still give you this. (9 minute clip - J.J.'s LAMENT is first.)

A little on the tough side for Monday. I worked mostly top to bottom, so didn't get the reveal too soon. Having all the ROMAN (Gloria's late father's middle name) numerals in order is elegant indeed.

We had a great day at the Jazz Fest yesterday.

Happy Monday, everyone.

Cool regards!
JzB

kazie said...

WBS and Mari too. I think this was the first time I've ever had to google on a Monday--for REO and GMC. I take no interest in trucks so thought KIA might be a Yukon at first. Other unknowns included NES, AMAHL and MLIFE, but they appeared from perps. I wanted SMS for SML, thinking it needed to be plural.

Avila is the only completely walled city we saw on our trip.

We also visited the TIO Pepe winery in Jerez, where they make sherry. This is the largest working wind vane in the world, showing their logo.

kazie said...

Too busy finding links to say congrats to C.C.! Great solo --so soon after the last one too!

James said...

In my neck of the woods, or my side of the world, Kymco and Yamaha are the big names in scooters. There are Vespas, but that would come in a distant 3rd to the other two.

UHF. Cult classic with Weird Al.

The Nintendo NES. Now that brings back some memories. Speaking of...

The XRAYSPECS. I do remember seeing them in the back of comics. But even more I remember seeing ads for lizards, hovercraft that run off vacuum cleaner parts, and one that offered "1 square inch of Texas". I fell for the lizard one. It was chameleons actually. I sent away my $2 and never heard back from them. That was 30 years ago. Ah well.

From Isla Formosa, I bid everyone a good day!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning Argyle and all.

I didn't pay much attention to the starred clues; they filled in easily enough. Smiled when I saw the unifier. Liked the long downs and acrosses interspersed with shorter fill. It gave the puzzle a nice cadence. Chuckled at the clue for MADAM I'M ADAM. Palindrome meant the end was the reverse of the beginning, so wrote in MADAM at the end when the front was sussed. Madam is a palindrome within the palindrome. The puzzle seemed flush with M's as well. Thanks C.C. for a sparkling start to the week.

Irish Miss said...

Good morning:

Well, after solving this gem, I believe CC stands for Clever Constructor! Kudos, CC, for a fun, fresh-themed Monday offering and thanks to Argyle for his neat expo. A very nice start to the week.

Hatoolah, I wish you could send some of the rain our way. We did get some over the weekend but we could use a lot more.

Happy Monday everyone.

Montana said...

Thanks CC and Argyle.
Monday puzzles are such a great way to start a week. Did this puzzle vertical clues first. Filled in blanks going across and was done. Loved it!

Montana

Unknown said...

I enjoyed the theme of this puzzle. Had fun with it (for a change).
I remember the X RAY SPECS in my Superman comics. MADMEN is one of my fave shows. Had to get MLIFE and NES from perps.
Clouds are coming into the Rogue Valley. Thunderstorms possibly tonight. I hope we don't have any wildfires.

Nick said...

Dang, I parsed 27D as "Mad am I, madam."

After looking up LFRANKBAUM, I pretty much had to dip into the red for most of the SW, as I knew neither AMAHL, UHF, or MLIFE, and all looked foreign just in letter patterns.

At the end of the day, however, this is probably the best theme of 7/16/12, but I only fear this shall be a tougher week in LATXWP.

Ron Worden said...

Good morning to all and happy Monday.Nice construction C.C. and thanks Argyle for your musings. Speaking of rain going on here right now with a few thunder claps too. We have had rain every day now. Have a great day to all. RJW

Anonymous said...

Good morning everyone.

Compliments to C.C. Very clever puzzle, but a bit tough for a Monday. I had to get DH to figure out 60D DAM, even though I had the middle A. And a wag for 36A. Couldn't figure out what ARI was about until I came here.

As always, great write up, Argyle.

Cheers

Anonymous said...

hi sallie,
looks like you got the crabs judging from your avatar

Lucina said...

Hello, Argyle, and all. Congratulations once again, C.C. and as Irish Miss said, Clever Constructor is what you are. I like that you think outside the (puzzle) box.

Elegant is the word of the day for this lovely puzzle. It's the work of an ARTIST.

it was a quick sashay though I wanted XRAYVISION and when it didn't fit waited for the perps. I liked that MADMEN crossed MADAM I'M ADAM.

Still a DNF at MLIFE as I erroneously filled UHL not UHF and had not heard of the former.

Here in ARI(zona) we have had four, count them, four days of rain!! That should help our six inch deficit. Normal rainfall: 7 inches.

Have yourselves a grand Monday, everyone!

lois said...

Good morning Argyle, CC, et al., Outstanding performance on both accounts CC, and Argyle. Thank you for the fun and all the links, esp that REO Speedwagon link. One of my favorites. So well done on both of your parts. Great fun.

Desper-otto, 8:24, LOL …no problem. I’d rather RAM-A needle in my eye, set myself on FIRE, get run over by an ELECTRIC CAR and eaten by MADMEN wearing ANGORA sweaters than to offend you. Now, with that being said...

As for the weather in OK we haven’t had so much as a DRIP and the DAM is so low ANTS are having picnics on the riverbeds without A CARE about knowing how to SWIM. In a SECOnd, I’m goin’to TAG UP and go ROMAN around dark, UNLIT dank places in the mtns where water & shrooms hang out. I’ll wave the V SIGN to the mtn fELINes that I FEAR and hope to find at least 7” of water & some MACHO morel mushrooms pleading “EAT ME”. I think we both could RISE TO that occasion. I’m on the fENCE about this, but I might have to PEDAL to A-MAHL if those 7” morels are out of season or too SML. I FEAR it might even be a FELONY to pick the big ones now, which really crIMPS my style. I’ll still load up on 7” of water tho’ –hopefully on SALE. It's been an EON since Ive had 7". Some of us are luckier than others. Life just is not fair but IT'S ALL GOOD!

Lemonade: excellent thinking on the male/female signs. I ‘firmly’ and ‘whole’ heartedly agree.

Enjoy your day!

Don G. said...

Hello, everyone. Argyle gave expert insight into what is an elegant idea and marvelous construction. It seems amazing that this theme has never appeared before (at least in my vast experience), so a lot of credit goes to C.C. for seeing something that has eluded us constructors for eons. Congrats!

Misty said...

Great Monday puzzle, C.C.--many thanks! I got that the first letters were ROMAN numerals, but not that they were single letters, until Argyle's write-up. And I didn't get that they were in numerical order, until HeartRX's comment. So the puzzle was even more complex and sophisticated than at first glance! Bravo!

All the names today played into my love of children's literature--'Alice in Wonderland,' 'The Wizard of Oz,' 'Amahl and the Night Visitors.' An extra bonus!

Have a great week, everybody, with clement weather all around. And a recognition that something needs to be done about climate change.

Bill G. said...

Great Monday puzzle! I enjoyed the theme but not until after I got the reveal.

Hahtoolah, do you have a regular tire for a spare or is one of those little thin guys?

"Whatcha up to Norm?"
"My ideal weight if I were eleven feet tall."

Hahtoolah said...

Bill G: it's only the little donut that gets me to the tire store.

Husker Gary said...

I sprained something trying to get the theme, C.C. but had a good time in the process. I share Argyle’s praise and assessment.

Musings
-That V SIGN is a ROMAN ordering 5 beers.
-Those XRAY SPECS got our adolescent hormones roiling
-Some of those 1.0 students flunked out after 1 semester to try to stay out of Vietnam
-Grazie! PREGO!
-Some of those SPARE tires hang over swimming trunks
-MLB MGR Ozzi Guillen’s mouth gets him into trouble quite often. Praising Fidel Castro while managing in Miami ain’t smart as he soon found out.
-A furniture store here in town has been having a going out of business SALE for about a year now.
-Does anyone out there remember this use for ANGORA wool
-TEXT books are soon going to be outdated
-Some of the most beautiful women in the world ride VESPAs in Rome!
-Ralph NADER’s ego keeps him running for prez
-ELIN swings a mean 9 iron and will have no financial worries for the rest of her life.
-I had 6 PARs, a bogey and a double for a 39 this morning
-Fun gender idea Lemon. The paper today said the new unisex USN ships will have no urinals.

Bill G. said...

I am working on an old saved puzzle from Ben Tausig. One of the clues was "Most special." I had ---QUEST. I stared at it for a long time before entering UNIQUEST. I'm not very happy about that clue and answer.

Two little puzzles:

Name an emotion that is an anagram of a homonym of an antonym of a homonym of an anagram of wolf.

If an LED clock is the only nightlight in your bedroom, at what time of night is it darkest? Brightest?

Anonymous said...

1:11 and 10:08

Spitzboov said...

Anagram of wolf = fowl
Homonym of fowl = foul
Antonym of foul = fair
Homonym of fair = fare
Anagram of fare = fear

Blue Iris said...

James @ 8:36- Unfortunately, in my world the big names in scooters are hover-rounds and rascals :(

Anonymous said...

Put VHF first cause my old tv only had vhf 1-12. UHF came later. So depends how old you are I quess.

Jazzbumpa said...

Spitzboov -

Congrats on sussing out that puzzle. I got hopelessly confused by the question.

Bill G -

You're right UNIQUEST is a terrible, awful, really bad, ghastly blunder. UNIQUE means "one of a kind" and does not admit comparative nor superlative formations.

A propos of nothing, here are some amusing illusions that might appeal to one's DF side.

Cheers!
JzB

CrossEyedDave said...

Wees

Thanks
C.C.
it's been a while since i have been able to suss out a whole puzzle in ink on paper!

X-Ray Vision Beer Commercial (1:05)

Spitzboov said...

JazzB @3:55

On WOLF, all I sussed out was a Google hit that had the whole derivation.

Marge said...

Hi all,
A very nice puzzle, got most of it with perps. My DH also helped.

C.C. I am always amazed at the puzzles you construct and Argyle you had a great write up also.

I knew Amahl but forgot the spelling. It is usually on during The Christmas holidays.

30A: I knew Baum, but had to strugle for his first name.

Rain-rain, if only we could get some. The corn is really suffering, there will not be much to harvest. Some farmers have insurance but a lot don't.

Thank goodness for AC. It 102 degrees today.

Have a good evening!
Marge

Blue Iris said...

C.C.- Exactly what HeartRX said @ 7:30. I could not think of a more eloquent compliment. Putting Roman numeral in order wowed me. Also enjoyed childhood memories while doing crossword....
MILNE( My favorite children book collection )
XRAY SPECS ( Always sending away for comic book or cereal offers that never worked as promised )
L FRANK BAHM ( Wizard of OZ was watched yearly on TV. First saw it in color about 1969 )
EATME (Disney version not near as scary )
TRIX
SWIM
PEDAL ( My sister and I left on our bicycles and didn't come home until suppertime )
YUMMY ( The sack full of penny candy we bought @ the local store )
ELECTRIC CAR (Always wanted a child-size one but that was just a dream, not reality )
MGR ( my Dad managed our girl's softball team )
SML ( Team T-shirt. We were the Royals before Kansas City stole our name )
No ATARI or DORA.
Don't have to buy TEXTbooks anymore. (I-Pad is required in freshman semester now.)
C-BATTERIES ( Always had to buy extra for my kids Christmas toys )
D STUDENTS (Didn't happen. See Hahtoolah's QOD )

Argyle said...

Here, take a train ride. Link.

dodo said...

Hello everybody, What a thrill tobe present at Fledging C.C.'s first solo flight! C.C, you're the best! Congratulations! I'm not sure which is the greatest, you're being a solo constructor or the wonderful blog you creaated!Both are wondrou s achievement. I'm so glad I picked today to to look in!

Love you all, kiddoes! dodo

Argyle said...

This is C.C.'s third puzzle. The first was on Tuesday, June 5th.

Blue Iris said...

Thanks Argyle for the train ride link. I bookmarked the site so I can watch more videos when I have time.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Clever puzzle, CC! Swell expo, Argyle!

A real speed run for me!

Argyle, loved the trains. Was the first one the Royal Hudson? I was up in Washington presenting a video and planned to ride it (in Canada). However, it was ill those days. So bought a nice oil of it.

Oral surgeon not in today. $700 dental visit, which was fruitless, left me in even greater agony.

Cheers!

Bill G. said...

I guess the latest solar flare has given you northern folks a nice light show. Auroras.

Argyle, I really enjoyed the train slide show. There's something really romantic about those old steam locomotives. Have you seen the movie "Murder on the Orient Express"? It's a great whodunit and the photography of the train trip is beautiful.

Jazzbumpa said...

Speaking of palindromes, I got this in a an email today.

Cheers!
JzB

CrossEyedDave said...

The comic Rhymes With Orange matches up perfectly with today's puzzle!

(if you are reading this tomorrow, & the comic is not about Rome, go back a day to Monday's comic.)

Abejo said...

Good evening, folks. Thank you, C.C., for a great Monday puzzle. It was especially good. Thank you, Argyle, for the very good review.

Well, I am tuning in late because I could not download the puzzle on my IPad this morning in Pennsylvania. So, when we got to Illinois a short while ago, I did it ink on paper.

Got started and went through most of the puzzle, not realizing what the theme was. Then I checked as I got close the bottom and wallah! What a clever puzzle! Roman Nunerals.

Thought 41A, URL, was excellent, relating to the source of our daily puzzles. http://www.latimes.com I guess only us on the blog would relate to that.

Now I know a new palindrome. 27D MADAM I'M ADAM. Excellent.

Did not know L FRANK BAUM Perps to the rescue.

It was fun doing the puzzle on paper. I had been using the IPad for a while, traveling so much.

We had a good trip to PA. Fun family reunion. Brought back 4 cases of Yuengling Beer (2 Traditional Lager and 2 Porter) and 1 case of Misery Bay IPA.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

Anonymous said...

I loved this puzzle, and I don't usually love Monday puzzles. It was easy, but it was not aimed at morons. It was elegant in its simplicity. Thank you C.C. Burnikel, whoever you are.