google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, September 24, 2012 Adam Prince

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Sep 24, 2012

Monday, September 24, 2012 Adam Prince

Theme: Alternative to soup? - Four entrées with a salad on the side, two of which came first and two that followed.

17A. Corfu or Crete : GREEK ISLE

25A. Salute heard at the Forum : "HAIL CAESAR"

37A. Classic Frances Hodgson Burnett children’s novel : "THE SECRET GARDEN"

45A. Once-common childhood ailment : CHICKEN POX

56A. Entrée go-with, or the aptly placed part of 17-, 25-, 37- or 45-Across : SIDE SALAD

Argyle here. Debut for our constructor, I believe. The grid spanning entry and the two long down fill is impressive. The overuse of plurals, not so much. The solid blocks in two of the corners is back on the impressive side again. I'll feel the fool if Adam Prince is an anagram for our editor.

Across:

1. Sitcom’s test episode : PILOT

6. Sitcom interrupters : ADs

9. Holy Roman emperor crowned in CMLXII : OTTO I. (962)

14. In on, with “to” : PRIVY. Yes, PRIVY can mean something else.

15. Keg attachment : TAP

16. “Yep” : "UH HUH"

19. Hopping mad : IRATE

20. Close again, as a Ziploc bag : RESEAL

21. Volkswagen sedan : JETTA

22. Scary Nile snakes : ASPs

27. Friend of Monica and Rachel on “Friends” : PHOEBE

29. Dumbbell abbr. : LBS. Abbreviation found on a dumbbell, not of a dumbbell.

30. Selfish sort : TAKER

31. Snow-block home : IGLOO

34. Ab __: from day one : OVO. Latin, literally, from the egg.

40. CIA precursor : OSS. (Office of Strategic Services)

41. Arkin and Alda : ALANs

42. Queen, in France : REINE. (feminine form of roi)

43. End of a professor’s email address : .EDU

44. Makes sense : ADDS UP

51. Flower stalk : STEM

52. Boca __ : RATON. Ever wonder about the name? Wonder no more. Wiki.

53. Young bird of prey : EAGLET. Are all the bird-cams shut down now?

55. Primitive calculators : ABACI. Yes, early but primitive...?

60. Spiced rice dish : PILAF

61. Cinque meno due : TRE. Italian. 5-2=3

62. Prefix with -dactyl : PTERO



63. Keep in the warehouse : STORE

64. IRS W-4 info : SSN

65. Saudi Arabia neighbor : YEMEN

Down:

1. NBA scoring stat : PPG. (points per game)

2. Like some reduced mdse. : IRR. (irregular)

3. Commit perjury : LIE

4. Supervises : OVERSEES

5. Trike rider : TYKE. Very similar.

6. On the ocean : AT SEA

7. __ Lama : DALAI

8. Wizard’s incantation : SPELL

9. Séance accessory : OUIJA BOARD

10. Good scores on par-fours : THREEs. I started BIRDIE before THREES.

11. “__ a wrap!” : THAT'S

12. “__ sight!” : OUTTA

13. “Word on the street is ...” : "I HEAR ..."

18. “__ Dead?”: Mark Twain play : IS HE. Written in 1898, published in print in 2003. Why the lag? Wikipedia.

22. Probably will, after “is” : APT TO

23. Persian sovereigns : SHAHs

24. Jabs in the ribs : POKES

26. Thick-soled shoe : CLOG. Cousin of a sabot.

28. Serrated kitchen tool : BREAD KNIFE


31. Pension supplement, for short : IRA. (Individual Retirement Arrangement) Update: (see IRS Publication 590, "Individual Retirement Arrangements")

32. First Bible bk. : GEN. (Genesis)

33. USN officers : LTs. Pay grade O-3, Lieutenant.

34. Keats, notably : ODIST

35. Change of __: trial request : VENUE

36. Early aft. hour : ONE PM

38. Game with rooms and weapons : "CLUE". And colorful characters.

39. Republican region, on a political map : RED STATE

43. Toyota Prius, e.g. : ECO-CAR. Ecologically Friendly.

44. Wheel-supporting shaft : AXLE

45. High roller’s game : CRAPS. Betting on the roll of the dice.

46. Nun’s wear : HABIT

47. __-Turkish War : ITALO

48. Homes in trees : NESTS

49. Sock purchases : PAIRS

50. Humorous poet Nash : OGDEN

54. Catch sight of : ESPY

57. NASA moon craft : LEM. (Lunar Excursion Module)

58. “We __ the World” : ARE. Video(7:43) Original recording from 1985, "USA for Africa". Now there is "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" and "We Are the World 25 for Haiti (YouTube edition)". I'll have to listen to them when I have more time.

59. Mafia boss : DON


Argyle


80 comments:

  1. Morning, all!

    Stayed up late watching the Pats lose (again), so I'm a little slow on the uptake today. Nothing objectionable about today's puzzle and the theme was pleasant. Don't really remember anything else about it...

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  2. Good Morning, Argyle and friends. I loved this Healthy Choice of a Monday puzzle

    What are your favorite salads? I love the CAESAR Salads.

    Not only are ASPS Scary Nile Snakes, but we learned last week that they are also tools of execution in ancient Egypt.

    Julia Child was in the OSS.

    Were you being ironic, Argyle to call the IRA an Individual Retirement Arrangement?

    In honor of 50-Down, here is the QOD: A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of. ~ Ogden Nash

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  3. Howdy everyone,

    Nice start to the week. Puzzle was pretty straight forward with only a couple of unknowns which perps efficiently resolved for me. PHOEBE was one of them. Don't ever recall watching Friends. ITALO-TURKISH WAR a newbie too. Plan on researching it .

    Had the E & I for REINE reversed causing a minor delay., but RED STATE got me back on track.

    Adam missed my favorite, TUNA SALAD.






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  4. Good morning Argyle, C.C. et al.

    Interesting factoid about Boca RATON. My learning moment of the day. I sped through this one without even seeing half the clues, so it was nice to read your write-up to find out what I had missed!

    My favorite salad is spinach with a sweet & sour dressing, bacon bits, mandarin oranges and chopped candied pecans. We had one last night as a SIDE to our beef stroganoff.

    Everyone seems to be having repair issues. Our dishwasher wasn't cleaning the dishes at all, so we called a repairman to see how much it would cost. Without even knowing the problem he told us $250! So we went online and found video clips of how to repair our model. Following their detailed instructions, we were able to disassemble the dishwasher, clean out a bunch of gunk and broken glass, and put it back together. Total cost $0, and it now works like a charm !!

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  5. Easy, but I did learn a few new things today.

    Thanks Adam and Argyle !

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  6. loved the "side salad" theme, since at first I couldn't figure out a tie-in after guessing the salad types but they weren't all in the front or the back.

    If Adam is CC--she did a good job of covering....no baseball references.

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  7. Argyle, interesting discussion of Boca Raton. Also, your Individual Retirement Arrangement was new to me. Most people say Account, instead. I gleaned that Arrangement is the IRS term for it. Correct?

    AB OVO is interesting Horace used it refer to Leda's egg from which Helen was hatched. If there had been no egg, there would have been no Helen and no Trojan war to avenge her elopement with Paris.

    Horace advocated that poets begin in media res (in the middle of things) instead of ab ova (from the egg, referring to Helen and the start of the Trojan War.)

    Helen’s was the face that launched a thousand ships, the warships that came to rescue her.

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  8. A (human?) interest story.

    Bill G. Re: Yest. Graf Spee

    According to the above link:
    The Graf Spee turned out to be the Special Intelligence Service’s longest case in Argentina, where the entire crew of 1,150 was supposed to have been interned. Thirty-six were killed in the naval engagement off the River Plate and 850 were repatriated in February 1946, but the remaining 264 disappeared, and there were only six officers left to make the voyage home.

    Capt. Hans Langsdorff set off explosives on her and then shot himself a few days later.

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  9. Good morning, folks. Thank you, Adam, for a swell Monday puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for the equally swell review.

    Got up early and tried Cruciverb, but no cigar. So, I waited for the paper to arrive.

    This was a little tougher than a normal Monday puzzle. But, very doable and very good.

    The first word I got in the North was TAP for 15A.

    Was looking for a Latin word to go with CAESAR. Eventually entered HAIL.

    I read THE SECRET GARDEN a few years back. Enjoyed it.

    Had A POET for Keats for 34D. That did not hold up. ODIST appeared.

    PHOEBE was easy. I do not watch much TV, but years ago I used to watch the reruns of Friends late at night. I really got into that show.

    Never heard of the Mark Twain Play IS HE Dead. I will bet it is humorous.

    We came real close to a frost last night. Hard to believe we had the hottest summer ever this year.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

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  10. If this is a debut I think it's a beaut! OUIJA BOARD running down was a great word. Pretty smooth grid with 5 theme answers.

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  11. Nice Puzzle a great debut for a new puzzle maker. Unless of course some one is trying to pull a fast one. I found 2 Adam Prince's on line both are writers one on urban food and the other a writer of short stories and is working on a novel. Perhaps CC will enlighten us with an interview of this creator in the future.

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  12. Nice Monday puzzle. I also liked seeing OUIJA BOARD.

    For 37A I had THESE and couldn't figure out a novel by Burnett that started with "These". Turns out it was THE SEcret. Dang those spaces!

    RED STATE is a disturbing movie by Kevin Smith.

    I like a good cobb salad if you take out the avacado. Otherwise, I prefer a nice chopped salad.

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  13. Hi Y'all, Speed run today. Thanks, Adam & Argyle.

    Only hiccup was tacking an "a" on Pter_ first. Quickly remedied.

    For one moment I wondered what a POX Salad was. OH....CHICKEN! Right! Never had a GREEK salad either. I love salads but my guts won't let me eat much raw stuff. Sometimes I can tolerate coleslaw which I love.

    My paternal grandparents still had a PRIVY when I was a kid. Don't know how any of them survived the very cold winters with those things. Tougher than I. They had no running water in the house.

    I watched "The Best Marigold Hotel" (or whatever its called) the other night. Interesting. My brother whose daughter lives in India wanted me to watch it. Said the hotel reminded them of one where they stayed.

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  14. HeartRX @ 7:03 AM: I was working from home on Friday because our refrigerator was acting up. I had a technician come out and he couldn't find anything wrong with it. After running several tests he finally asked if I had any pets. The tech pulled the fridge away from the wall and ran a vacuum behind it and underneath it. Turns out the fridge was clogged with cat hair and just needed a good cleaning! Luckily it was under warranty, so the cleaning was free.

    PS: The fridge has been working great ever since.

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  15. Good morning, C.C. and friends.

    I thought this was a really nice Monday offering. Too often Mondays are too easy and too blah. This one had some nice non-theme entries like OUIJA BOARD and BREAD KNIFE. Interesting to have CRAPS and PRIVY in the same puzzle.

    Did you have CHICKEN POX as a kid? If so, have you had the shingles vaccine? I did and I have.

    YR, is that the source of that age old question, which came first, the Helen or the ova?

    PK, my grandmother also had a privy and an outdoor hand-pump for fresh water. During a Wisconsin winter, you'd really put things off as long as possible before facing the great white donut. In later years I wondered about the proximity of that privy and the well.

    Let's have a big hand for all the blogsters who are taking matters into their own hands with a pair of pliers and a DIY video. Well done, Marti.

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  16. Didn't see the theme!

    Finally bought a Kindle, but had to return it. It went to German and no one knew how to get it to English. Still don't know. Got another.

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  17. Thank you Mr. Prince for a nice, easy puzzle and Argyle for your always delightful commentary. Monday puzzles always renew my faith in humanity .... yes, puzzles are that important. (lol).

    Hahtoolah, if Julia Child was in the OSS ...(1) she probably did very little espionage work, what with her strenuous efforts to enjoy expensive French cooking, (at US Govt. expense - ) and then, jotting the recipes down ... and (2) I would be very worried and concerned following her culinary directions.... (lol).

    I had a little trouble with par-fours .... what with my fading eyesight, I first read it as par-fait, then I thought it was some sort of a card game, like whist. Was the hyphen really necessary ? It makes it out like its one word, when its really two separate words.

    The Pterodactyl is my grandson's most favorite pet. Fortunately, we can't get them from any animal shelter.

    In some Indian langs. 'Boca' means dog. So, in India, dogs dont go 'woof, woof' ... they go 'bock, bock'. So, in Indo-spanish 'Boca Raton ', would be dog (on a -) rat, or vice versa.


    ALT QOD:- When the inventor of the drawing board messed things up, what did he go back to ? - Bob Monkhouse.

    Have a nice week, you all.

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  18. HeartRx, good deal. Mari, we pull ours out and vacuum what we can, then reverse the airflow on the vac and blow out the remaining dust and hair. Runs much more efficiently.

    PK, was the movie Marigold ? About a B-list actress that travels to India for Bollywood ?

    Argyle, perhaps Adam Prince is really Manic Padre ? Or Panic Dream. Hopefully not Crap Maiden. Could find anything that would link back to Rich.

    Only 179 for my real first and last name. The best one was, er um, well, maybe not.

    Have Fun With This Link

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  19. Good morning, Argyle, C.C. and gang - nice, smooth fill today with hardly a glitch. The one hesitation came at 33D, 'USN officers', where I was trying to figure how the plural of 'Ensign' could fit. The rank of Lieutenant is one used by all services, not just the Navy.

    Other than that, pretty much a speed run, with a nice shout out to my new home, Boca Raton. Argyle, thanks for the Wiki article, which was a learning moment for me. Our new home is actually just north of Yamato Rd., and my wife works in what used to be the IBM campus that's referenced in the article. Also, we'll definitely check out the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, which sound impressive.

    TTP, obviously my first name anagrams to 'sinned', but I couldn't get anything meaningful out of the first and last combination. Probably just as well...

    Have a great day - do something fun!

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  20. Wow, TTP! I come up with 47,195 anagrams for my name. I only looked at the first thousand.

    Hahtoolah, your QOD applies equally to cats.

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  21. I didn't get anything interesting with my current name, so I added my middle name and my maiden name. Out of the 1,899 selections the best was "Family Fan Hurl". Which sounds like something like my siblings and I would have done as kids.

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  22. Loved puzzle. Ab Ovo new to me. Would like to see Mark Twain play. Always have trouble w/axel or axle? Have a good Monday.. Enjoyed write up...

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  23. Good morning everyone.

    My favorite SALADS are a nice fresh GREEK or a GARDEN SALAD with lots of cucumbers. Topped with creamy blue cheese sprinkled with blue cheese.

    Seinfeld's parents lived at Del Boca Vista. Can still see George's dad screaming it out. (Jerry Stiller).

    LTS was a gimme, having been one, once. Other rank abbreviations would have more letters.

    Fun puzzle to work on for the reasons Argyle and SJSJ stated. I wondered if the author's name was a pseudonym, too.

    Have a great day.

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  24. CED @7:46 I enjoyed your clip about the train that was launched into space. It reminded me of the many happy hours I spent with my grandson, Kenny, building tracks and playing out his inventive scenarios involving Thomas the Tank Engine and friends. Every holiday and birthday I bought him one more piece to the set.

    How did they arrange changing facial expressions on the train while it was in space? It does raise a bit of skepticism.

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  25. Isn't that anagram server fun ? We may be overloading it's capacity. It's now limiting the number of allowable characters from time to time...

    Also, @8:40, I intended, "... could NOT find anything that would link back to Rich" instead of "could find."

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  26. This was an enjoyable Monday puzzle. I didn’t solve it straight away, but perps made it easy enough. I had a great time in CA. Went to Yosemite and then to Monterey for beach, ocean, clam chowder and Aquarium (impressive!). Solved puzzles each night, but didn’t take time to blog. Read them late at night, however.
    Flew back to Montana where there are fires everywhere. State of MT website has even started posting hourly reports on air quality.
    30,000 acre fire on nearby Indian Reservation was stopped by a highway just west of my farm. I don’t live on the farm; I live in town.

    Have a good week,
    Montana

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  27. TTP,
    I had over 1800 anagrams for my name. I put in my son's name and he had zero. Entered a different son and he had 10.
    I am going to lunch with friends. We will all have Oriental Chicken Salads with fresh, hot breadsticks and an apple.

    Montana

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  28. Good morning everyone. (Got up early today – 7:10.)

    Tried to fit crystal ball until OUIJA BOARD showed up. Had a long time trying to figure out how to spell that! And that gave me OTTO.
    Nice Monday puzzle. Feels good to be able to do one. And not too many gimmes. Had to do some head scratching a few times.

    Have a great Monday.
    Cheers

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  29. Good morning and happy Monday. Fun puzzle to start the week, thanks Adam or whoever you are. Great write-up Argyle. I really like a good Greek salad, not so fond of the Caesar though. Most restaurants serve a chicken salad as an entree not a first course. Lot of Bocas here in Fla. Went out this A.M. To get paper and temps in the 60's and not so humid. Have a great day to all.RJW.

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  30. Good morning:

    A nice, easy way to start the week. Thanks, Adam, for a "tasty" treat and thanks, Argyle, for your usual sparkling expo.

    I was saddened to hear that the panda cub died; they are so delicate. It's hard to understand how a huge mother panda gives birth to a 4 oz. offspring. Also disappointed that "our" Shellie didn't win the Emmy, but he's still number one with me.

    Have a great Monday.

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  31. The anagram site was fun, TTP. Thanks.

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  32. How do they put that space shuttle on top of the 747?

    Endeavor Mated to SCA

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  33. Wonderful "easy-breezy" Monday morning puzzle, as Barry would call it. A great relief after that Saturday bear. So many thanks, Adam, and you too, Argyle, for the expansive AB OVO explanation (Leda, Helen, Paris, Trojan War, oh my!).

    Adam, if Steven St. John thought your puzzle was good, you've just gotten the ultimate compliment! He's a terrific constructor!

    Ironically, I had a totally disappointing Cobb SALAD at a restaurant last night. It promised chicken, egg, bacon, corn, beans, avacado and much more so I figured it would do for my entree. It turned out to be pretty much a bowl of greens. Oh well, I guess I should be thankful it was still lean and mean.

    Finally, I loved "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," and never tire of being reminded of it.

    Have a great Monday, everybody!

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  34. Greetings, Argyle and all puzzler friends.

    This was a lovely sashay, thank you Adam Prince. It was just right for a Monday.

    I love CAESAR SALAD and in fact, had one yesterday with my beef stroganoff.

    I also love THE SECRET GARDEN which my fourth graders read.

    If you haven't seen Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, I highly recommend it.

    REINE is similar enough to reina (SP).

    RE: my access to You Tube. Apparently I'm impatient and don't wait long enough for it to come on. I did it slowly and waited and it opened. Thank you all for your kind suggestions.

    Have a marvelous Monday, everyone! Time for me to start packing.

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  35. Monday, Monday...

    I got the theme early on. For my mother, a salad was a piece of lettuce or fruit with cottage cheese on top. I loved salads once I moved away from home. Soups too. Some restaurants put a lot of effort into their soups and salads. I always ask for anchovies on my Caesar salads. The chef can manage it about half the time.

    Marti, good job on the dishwasher. Your spinach salad sounds great.

    Digging a hole:
    I was digging a hole and Humphrey was bugging me as he often did "Well," he said appropriately, "how much deeper are you going?"
    "OK," I said, "You figure it out. I am exactly 5 feet, 10 inches tall. I am one-third finished. When I am finished, my head will be twice as far below ground as it is now above ground."
    How deep will the hole be when finished?

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  36. Good easy start to the week. I always think of one of my college room mates when I run into pterodactyls. He had proof positive that he was a direct descendant of a pterodactyl. I never really understood his proof but I could not dispute it either.

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  37. Pretty easy but ten abbr. on a Monday? Stop the cop outs next time. Wtf

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  38. Bill G., I guess the depth of the hole would greatly depend on whether he was lying in a casket when it was finished?

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  39. Bill G.
    The real question is:
    Why are you digging a hole that will eventually be 126 inches deep?

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  40. Good morning all,

    A nice easy start to the week, very few fills were new. Loved the long ones- probably because I got them right away.

    The Secret Garden is so well written that no movie or TV show has ever come close to retelling it.

    Friends is one of those shows that makes you laugh even if you only watch it for 5 minutes.. pretty much like Seinfeld

    Was anyone else a big fan of the ouija board in college?

    Learned to throw a good salad together from my dad. We have a slightly different one every night, but I enjoy going out and having a good ahi salad.

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  41. Very impressive for a Monday with an easy out for Ab OVO. Greek salad? Not so much on blue cheese. Don’t you hate salads where the lettuce is so big it has to be cut?

    Musings
    -“Hail Caesar” and then “Look out Julius! He’s got a knife!” Politics.
    -My siblings and I got CHICKEN POX, measles and mumps simultaneously months apart.
    -Old sitcom PILOTS don’t resemble the finished product
    -Our golf course has two PRIVY’s on the front and back nine
    -The slide lock to RESEAL is so much better than where I have to line up a ridge and a slot
    -Here is the live Falcon Cam on the Woodmen of the World Bldg. in downtown Omaha.
    -YEMEN fighting piracy
    -Wheethar is a bad SPELL of weather
    -I got that CLOG today even though I had to be reminded of SABOT yesterday
    -I’ve heard using a BREAD KNIFE with the hard bottom crust up works better
    -Rodney King and Timothy McVeigh got changes in VENUE in their famous trials
    -YouTube has a way to fix/screw up any repair
    -Love that salad too Marti!
    -Pterodactyls are another exhibit in the argument whether dinosaurs were more closely related to today’s lizards or birds

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  42. I didn't catch the IRA thing this morning. I just cut and pasted from a Wiki article which was based on this: IRS Publication 590, "Individual Retirement Arrangements.

    So yellowrocks to Yellowrocks; you nailed it.

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  43. FIW today :(
    I wagged wrong thinking it odest, with an "e". Beside, what the heck do i know about French queens?
    (say,,, could you introduce me to one?)

    Hatoolah@6:05 OMG! Julia Child really was in the OSS!

    YellowRocks, i went back & looked at that toy train video again. In the comments he mentions "after effects" & Photoshop. 2 programs that i must learn how to use. Also, there was another video of the boy & train when he was two. I was shocked & saddened by the the bad news at the end of the video...

    TTP, i hated anagrams when i found that website 5 months ago, i still hate them, seeing that the 1st thing up for CrossEyedDave is "decayed servo's."

    Great shuttle video Spitsboov! Now can some one please tell me how on earth the got those topstones on Stonehenge?

    Marti, i mentioned recently i was a pack rat, as i type, in a box behind me, is a burned out dishwasher motor from the last repair. Why,,, i dont' know!!!

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  44. Always look forward to Monday puzzle. Across then down...done with some long fills and learning moments. My husband did Sunday's puzzle with me and then commented " I don't ever want to do that again," before returning to a marathon football weekend.

    Marti, your spinach salad sounds delicious. Do you make the sweet and sour dressing? If so, can I have your recipe?

    My favorite salad has become Jason's Deli salad bar. Does anyone have this chain restaurant in your area?

    CED, Thanks for WWII story behind GRAF SPEE. Unknown war story on my part.

    Argyle, enjoyed link to IS HE DEAD? I liked farces and Mark Twain's humor. It sounds like a play where all the problems are solved in the last 10, or so, minutes of the play.

    YR, thanks for learning moment concerning Helen of Troy and AB OVO. I got hooked on this blog because of all I was learning and to keep my brain active.

    Mari, don't think I will be seeing RED STATE any soon although sounds like a movie my son would watch.

    I've known my husband since I was six years old and remember my sister and I always playing the board game CLUE at his house.

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  45. Argyle: I though you were being ironic when you said Individual Retirement Arrangment. My post must have ended up In your spam filter.

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  46. No, I saw your's first. That is when I became aware of it. I'm just getting around to doing anything about it. Very lethargic today.

    Cute kitty.

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  47. Tinbeni, if I hadn't dug that hole, how would I be able to provide you with the puzzle? I'd like a little credit please!

    Marti, it would be a lot easier to solve your way...

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  48. Hola Everyone, Nice quick puzzle today. I had all the "salads" in so the unifier was easy. I like all of those salads. The curried chicken salad recipe I use is a combo of several different ones, and we have it about once every two weeks.

    I loved "Friends". It was a fresh, funny show which kept us entertained for so many years.

    A beautiful Fall day here in the West. Not too hot, but nice enough to want to be outdoors and not in doing housework.

    Off to the gym.

    Have a great day everyone.

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  49. Tutorial for Newbies,,,

    I know i use a lot of links on the Blog, & they can be very time consuming. Especially if you have to start over every time you click on one. What i never knew until the Blog, & have used ever since, are shortcuts, (like "control+F").

    If you are using a PC, hold you mouse cursor over the blue link & click the "right" mouse button. Choose 2nd from top, "open link in new window." When you close "this specific window," you are back exactly where you were before you clicked on the link!

    How you do this on an IPAD, i have no idea. Because i can't get the stupid thing to do what i want!

    Blue Iris @ 1:29 The Graf Spee incident was peanuts compared to the English destruction of the French Fleet @ Mers-el-Kebir. Many innocent lives were lost, & it did not have to happen! One of those "mistakes" that were swept under the rug during WWII. To fully appreciate the horror, you must see the 1 hour documentary on the History Channel...

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  50. TTP: The movie was "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" as Misty was kind enough to post. I knew there was another word in there, but couldn't think of it.

    Desper-Otto: I had chicken pox as a kid then shingles a few years ago. Horrible disease. Only relief was bathing the site with Neutrogena T-Gel anti-itch shampoo then applying Anbesol which is usually for cold sores but cold sores are caused by a similar virus. I print this in case someone reading has shingles. Your doctor won't tell you this.

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  51. A CrossEyed salute to 14A:

    Being a hiker, i fully appreciate finding one of these, even if it does not have walls!

    However, i am not sure i would want to use this one, which appears to be held onto the edge of the cliff with string!

    With apologies to Dr. Who.

    This one speaks for itself!

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  52. CED. Thanks, I went back and read the article about the boy and his train. Very interesting.

    My interest in AB OVO is that this month I read a fascinating historical novel about Achilles and the Trojan War. The Greek gods were subject to the same foibles and pettiness we humans are. I was surprised how many half human/half god offspring they created.

    I love baby spinach salad with bacon, hardboiled egg, red onion and sliced mushrooms dressed with vinaigrette. I am also partial to Greek salad with lots of cucumbers and feta cheese. One of my favorites is Caesar coleslaw which I learned from my son and DIL. it has chopped cabbage, garlic, anchovies, grated fresh parmesan cheese, lemon juice and mayonnaise.

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  53. Crass Eyed Dove, I mean Carves Odd Eyes, no, Dad Covers Eyes, no Cross Eyed Dave... So many for you. You didn't share that site at the time ? Or maybe you did and it was pre TTP.

    Try DesperOtto. A lot of good ones with that one. I also like the anagram hall of fame at that site.

    It wouldn't be fair using that site when playing Bananagrams.

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  54. Lucina @ 11:17 - funny that you had beef stroganoff with your salad last night - that's the same thing we had!

    Blue Iris @ 1:29, yes, I do make my own hot bacon vinaigrette. I just emailed you the recipe.

    Desper-otto, I got the chicken pox when I was 21!! I was working in the AIDs ward at the hospital and contracted it from a patient who had shingles. Fortunately, it manifested as chicken pox, but it was still extremely painful. I am debating about getting the shingles vaccine. I am not "immuno-suppressed", so am not sure if I really need it? At $250, it is quite pricey! (Insurance deductable is $500, so no help there.) And there's no guarantee that it will prevent shingles, either...

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  55. HeartRx, MIL and former work colleague both developed shingles, and both described it as the worst experience of their lives. I decided that a couple hundred bucks for a vaccine that might prevent shingles was worth a shot -- no pun intended. It's my understanding that if you've had chicken pox, then you're at risk for shingles.

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  56. Argyle, when Hahtoolah mentioned 'Arrangement' for IRA, I assumed you were just being witty ( to be expected - ) - I didn't know an IRS Publ. called it precisely that. Kudos to Yellowrocks....what prescience ! ... with the economy, being what it is, some people could call it an 'Agony'.

    Thank you TTP for the Anagram site - I got several very interesting combinations for my family. the best I could get for myself was 'Khaki girls ruin' and 'Sari hiking lurk' ! (... not very complimentary ... ).

    Thank you CED, for the 'Graf Spee' ... I had seen a movie long ago, but obviously it was from the British point of view. The Germans were just as patriotic as the Allied powers, but alls fair in love and war, ... and it brings out the best in us, ....it also brings out the worst in us.... and then there were the concentration camps and all that misery and inhumanity.

    Thank you CED for the Train and his boy.... brought me to tears ... what a lovely, lovely video ...and the accompanying one by the same Dad. Those two videos have made my day and melted my heart !!!!!! What a brilliant videographer !!!! Yellowrocks, he used photoshop to put the eyes on the engine .... What I can't understand is how kids can attached to inanimate objects like train engines as opposed to people dolls etc.

    Its links like the above that make this the best blog ever.

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  57. Desper-otto. LOL, maybe I'll give it a "shot"...

    Oh, and CED - one of the anagrams that came up for me was "RECREANT ARMPIT"...

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  58. CED,
    Thank you for the shortcut to links in the blog. I just practiced on several (on my computer).
    I often use my iPad, and just keep going back to home and back to bookmarked blog, every time I click on a link.
    Most times links work on the iPad, but if they don't and sound interesting enough, I go to my desktop to see them. At least one or two per day, don't come up on my iPad.
    Lately, I have been getting local politician ads with the utube links. Any suggestions about how to avoid them?

    Montana

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  59. Hello everybody. Nice puzzle today, with some awesome long fill. I love long fill. Some cool letter sequences, too, such as the UHHU in UHHUH, which in itself, come to think of it, is a neat-o sequence of letters. Mari, indeed, dang THESE spaces!

    Argyle, thanks very much for the various links. Were it not for this blog and the links so many of you provide, I wouldn't look that stuff up and learn about it. Fascinating about Boca Raton.

    HeartRx, good news about fixing your dishwasher.

    As for salad, I like a simple passel 'o' greens, with tomato wedges, maybe sliced sweet onion or scallions, maybe some sliced radishes, sprinkled with plain ole olive oil. When dining out, I like blue cheese dressing since they always give you vegetable oil, not olive oil, when you ask for plain oil, and only after having given you an "are you crazy?" look.

    I hope we get more puzzles from Adam Prince.

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  60. Montana, so glad you enjoyed your visit to California. Yosemite Park and the Monterey Aquarium are both spectacular, though in different ways (nature vs man-made.) LW and I have so far not tired of either of them.

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  61. Bill G. Re:your puzzle... If x is the full depth of the eventual hole, and y is the ht. of the man, from the top of his scalp to ground datum level, above ground, in the partially completed hole, and z is the ht. from the top of his scalp to the ground datum, in the completed hole... the equations would be

    x/3 + y = 70 (inches), x = 70 + z and finally x = 2y.

    Three equations, three variables, x=126, y=28, z=56. I saw Tinbeni already got it, first. In Reality, for a man to dig himself into a hole, deeper, whilst standing in it, is very difficult ... eventually impossible... but governments do it all the time ... in fact, I can think of one, right now, right off the bat.

    Reminds me of an old joke... A Russian father takes his son to see Red Square, and points out the sights. Suddenly, the son asks,'Dad, how high is the Russian government ?'... the father is just going to correct his son's mistake, when a passerby declares ....'The government is 5 feet high'.

    When the father asks the passerby how he knows that, the passerby says...'I am 5 feet 10 inches tall, and I've had the government upto here !' (my chin)....


    On an unrelated matter, Hahtoolah, I should apologize for making fun of Julia Child ... I now see and read that she got the US Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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  62. Some really good ones for Lemonade as well.

    CC, we know you are going to enjoy the Moon Cakes. But do you care for buns ? In other words are you a BUN LIKER ?

    OK all, I promise, no more anagrams from me.

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  63. Loved puzzle. Ab Ovo new to me. Would like to see Mark Twain play. Always have trouble w/axel or axle? Have a good Monday.. Enjoyed write up...

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  64. Good job everybody with the hole puzzle. I have no problem with digging the hole I'm standing in deeper and deeper. When I was younger, I managed it often.

    After a lot of false starts, I solved it with just one variable. Let x equal the height his head is above the hole in the beginning. Then his feet are at 70 - x below the surface (the depth of the hole at the beginning). Later, his head is twice as far below the surface, so his feet (hole's depth) are at 2x + 70 down. Since he was one-third done at the start, he must be three thirds deep at the end or three times as deep. So 3(70 - x) = 2x + 70. Solving gives x = 28. The total depth of the hole at the end is 2x + 70 = 2(28) + 70 = 126 inches or 10 feet 6 inches.

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  65. I almost forgot to spoof the theme!
    I will try to keep it short with small side salads.

    You know i can't resist cats.

    How about a lobster salad?

    Ugly salad?

    I don't know what it is?

    Dysfunctional salad!

    Angry bird salad.

    Uh, i'm not sure...

    Now here's a salad i can get into!
    Screw the hot dog... (what am i saying???)

    Probably what you want to do to me for putting up so many salad links!

    And finallyy...

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  66. CrossEyedDave, you da link king! You da maniac, MAYniac of da linkers! Tossed salad and scrambled eggs. Whoo!

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  67. CED, I really enjoyed your salad links. Thanks.

    Tossed salad and scrambled eggs. Whoo!

    Oooh, a sneaky Frasier reference! Very excellent!

    Off for a short bike ride and a macchiato. Later...

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  68. Hi

    Very late to the party but I enjoyed the puzzle and all the fun' Congrats Adam. TTP; your anagram machine left out two of my favorites for lemonade; LONE DAME and NEED LOAM.

    The article about BOCA was interesting; when I had had my travel agency my biggest corporate client was IBM, flying people in and out of Latin and South America, Then in 1995 the airlines starting cutting commissions and IBM closed the Boca facility, so there went that business.

    Dennis, the Morikami is really cool, though you wonder about immigration and how locations get popular with certain groups. I still am trying to understand why so many from Cuba ended in Kansas.

    SJSJ, always nice to see you and any of our special friends.

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  69. Hey Jeannie, that one was for you, even if it was totally accidental.

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  70. CED: You get some of the strangest links! LOL As a mother and someone who spent many body-punishing hours working a garden & preserving the produce, I want to scream, "Stop playing with your food!" LOL!

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  71. CED, You are a trip! My husband arrived home right as I'm tearing up from laughing at salad links. Thanks!

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  72. Lemonade: In 1998 I was negotiating to buy a local travel agency when my daughter & I were in a wreck. By the time I recovered from a cracked sternum and sprung ribs, I was out of the mood to run my own business. Shortly thereafter, people were going to the internet for travel accommodations and that travel business folded. I decided the accident was a lucky break (pun intended) to keep me from going broke.

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  73. Apropos of nothing, here is how Punctuation saves lives.

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  74. Abejo - You can get the Los Angeles Times puzzle at Daily Crossword - chicagotribune.com

    No charge!

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  75. Hahtoolah, being a grandpa, I appreciated your punctuation lesson.

    I have sexdaily...
    I meant dyslexia

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  76. Hahtoolah @ 7:31 Here is an old joke on punctuation.
    The principal was observing a language arts teacher's lesson on punctuation. He remarked to one of the students who was having difficulty, "Never mind, punctuation isn't that important.” The teacher wrote on the board:
    the principal says the teacher is wrong
    Then she added punctuation."The principal," says the teacher, "is wrong."

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  77. My eyesight isn't so good in this light. If that is a period after teacher, it was meant to be a comma.

    Good night, all.

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  78. That was a very unfortunate and regrettable end to the Packers/Seahawks football game.

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