google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday September 23, 2012 Alan Arbesfeld

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Sep 23, 2012

Sunday September 23, 2012 Alan Arbesfeld

(If your paper does not carry the puzzle we're blogging here on Sundays, Click it to solve on line or print out a copy.)

Theme: Inside Help - SOS spans across two words inside each theme entry.
 
23A. Infielder traded by the Yankees to get Alex Rodriguez : ALFONSO SORIANO. Now with the Cubs. Great leadoff man.


 33A. Bygone U.S. fuel stop : ESSO STATION

 42A. "How the Camel Got His Hump" et al. : JUST SO STORIES



 57A. Where Hope sprang eternal? : USO SHOWS. Bob Hope.

 80A. Japanese food staple : MISO SOUP. My grandma liked fermented soy beans. She never made Miso soup.

 95A. "CBS News Sunday Morning" host : CHARLES OSGOOD. Hard to find answers with S & OS spanning. Plenty of SO & S to choose.
 
 103A. Area in the North Atlantic : SARGASSO SEA

 116A. Lord Kitchener of Trinidad et al. : CALYPSO SINGERS

 120. Help found inside eight puzzle answers : SOS

On Sundays, I like to guess what the theme is by looking at the puzzle title. Often I'm wrong. Today I thought AIDE is contained in each theme answer.
 
Across:

1. Fowl poles : ROOSTS. Lovely clue.

7. Something for a rainy day : NEST EGG. I always associate this with retirement.

 14. Bad mark : STIGMA

20. Lenient sort : SOFTIE. I think Irish Miss is one. Hope your ice maker is working now.

21. Not quite par : ONE OVER. Bogey.

22. Snorkeling site : LAGOON. JD likes snorkeling.

25. Journalist Peter : ARNETT. Covered the Gulf War for CNN.

26. John Irving's "__ of the Circus" : A SON

27. Bit of derring-do : GEST

28. Obi-Wan portrayer : EWAN (McGregor)

30. Ratio words : IS TO

31. Fit to be fried : EDIBLE. Fun clue. Deserves a fun link from Dave. Such an unfaithful rat!


36. Like : A LA

38. Fair-hiring inits. : EOE

39. "Moon River" composer : MANCINI ( Henry). Forgot. Definitely googled his name before.

41. Ran into : MET

45. Select : TAP

47. Jets' former gp. : AFL (American Football League). 1960-1969.

50. Cuts short : ABORTS

51. __ of vantage: favorable position : COIGN. Never heard of this word before.

52. Literary lord : JIM. Conrad novel "Lord Jim". Drew a blank.

53. Court answer : PLEA

54. Lucy Lawless role : XENA

55. Coastal flooding cause : TSUNAMI.  Rooted in Japanese, literally "harbor wave".

59. Soft "Hey, you!" : PSST

61. Didn't quite win : PLACED. At the racetrack.

63. You can skip the flat ones : STONES

64. Stage remark : ASIDE

67. Part of a Maui welcome : LEI

69. Barber's challenge : MOP

71. Año starter : ENERO

72. Back from a trip, say : IN TOWN

74. Mideast native : SEMITE

78. One-named supermodel : EMME
 
82. "West Side Story" number : AMERICA. See hereA few doses of racial slurs.

84. Lift near a lodge : T-BAR. Ski lodge. I think Marti can be a stunt woman. She's so adventurous & fearless.

88. Purim's month : ADAR

89. Stock mkt. opening? : IPO

90. Lean cuisine lover : SPRAT.  Good clue. Never tried Lean Cuisine though.

91. Theater district : RIALTO

93. Address bk. datum : TEL

94. Modern address : URL

97. Smashed : LIT. Drunk.

99. Was of use : AVAILED

101. Excessively : TOO

102. Short missions? : OPs. Anyone else reading "No Easy Day"?

106. Fivesome : PENTAD

108. Grenoble girlfriend : AMIE

109. Problem's end? : ATIC. Problematic.

110. It may be used in a pinch : SALT. Clever.

112. Suspicious of : ONTO

114. Iowa and Indiana are in it : BIG TEN

121. Available for work : ON HIRE

122. Most avant-garde : EDGIEST. 5D Least resonant : TINNIEST. Sometimes constructors just could not make snazzier entries work.

123. Earthquake prefix : SEISMO. Quite a long prefix.

124. Walk unsteadily : TOTTER

125. Strengthens : DEEPENS

126. Ridges in ranges : ARETES

Down:

1. Cape Town's home: Abbr. : RSA

2. Dancer enslaved by Jabba the Hutt : OOLA

3. When many trades are made : OFF SEASON

4. Put up with : STOOD

6. His, to Henri : SES

7. Long time follower? : NO SEE. Long time no see. This phrase is rooted in Chinese I think. We say this often.

8. Slaughter on the field : ENOS

9. Spanish muralist : SERT. José María Sert.

10. Vous, familiarly : TOI

11. One of the Peróns : EVA

12. Torah starter : GENESIS

13. Become gradually more desirable to : GROW ON. I have the feeling that "Gangnam Style" won't grow on Jayce. Quirky horse dance. But hey, we have an exciting new clue for PSY.

14. Bias : SLANT

15. Do road work : TAR

16. Start to burn : IGNITE

17. Abandons the band : GOES IT ALONE. Nice long answer.

18. Slogan : MOTTO

19. Dramatist Chekhov : ANTON

24. Gives more than the once-over : OGLES. Here. I've watched almost all parodies of the song, Army, Marines, Navy, etc.

29. The way things stand : AS IT IS

32. Raises : BOOSTS

33. Puzzle : ENIGMA

34. Pretty : SCENIC. Melissa linked this one before. So pretty.


35. Band booster : AMP

36. Comet competitor : AJAX

37. Garage job : LUBE

39. Marshmallowy treat : MOON PIE. A week from now on, I'll be eating moon cakes.

40. Plain font choice : ARIAL

43. Hidden entrance : TRAP DOOR

44. Ft. Worth campus : TCU

46. John of "Good Times" : AMOS

48. A smaller number : FEWER

49. Nab, in oaters : LASSO

52. Karate kin : JUDO

53. Frustrating series of calls : PHONE TAG

56. N.L. Central team : STL

58. Originate : STEM

60. Attaches, in a way, with "on" : SEWS. Boomer is attending a bowling tournament today, with a brand new bowling shirt with his name embroidered on the back.

62. Shade of green : EMERALD

64. Get in one's sights : AIM AT

65. Nasty : SNIDE

66. "There there" : IT'S ALL RIGHT. Another great entry.

68. Hockey great Phil, familiarly : ESPO

70. Upper-bod muscle : PEC

73. Dark genre : NOIR

75. Bag mate of a cleek and a niblick : MASHIE. Old name for 5 iron. Bobby Jones used this word in his "How I Play Golf" series. Cleek is 2 iron. Niblick is 9 iron.

76. Classic Chevy : IMPALA

77. __ Haute : TERRE

79. Strand : MAROON

81. Like a baseball home team : UP LAST

83. Manhattan suffix : ITE

85. Exam many examinees won't look at : BLOOD TEST. Tricky clue.

86. Over : ATOP

87. Fishing gear : RODS

92. Big name in gloves : ISOTONER

94. Hagen of Broadway : UTA

95. Falls : CASCADE

96. Leaves in : STETS

98. "That makes sense" : I GET IT

100. Spoken : VOICED

103. Cousin of a clog : SABOT. Root word for sabotage.

104. Essential acid : AMINO

105. More sound : SANER

106. Cabal activities : PLOTS

107. 1973 #1 hit for the Stones : ANGIE

110. Graf __ : SPEE

111. NCAA member?: Abbr. : ASSN. I like this clue also.

113. "Him __": beau's ultimatum : OR ME

115. Ahead of, in verse : ERE

117. Size above med. : LGE

118. Pound sound : YIP

119. Patience-virtue link : IS A. Patience is a virtue, esp in crossword construction.


C.C.

62 comments:

  1. Good morning C.C. et al.

    Thanks for filling in all the details on this one, C.C. I actually was looking at all the S’s and O’s and didn’t even pay attention to the title of the puzzle until I got to 120D. Duh.

    Mmmmm MOON PIE crossing “Moon River” composer MANCINI. Then we have COIGN of vantage crossing it too! Here is a pretty example of that.

    And of course my favorite: T-BAR !! Here is the T-bar trail in Solden, Austria. 0:52 It’s getting to be that time of year!!

    Have a great day, everyone.

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  2. Good Morning, C.C. and friends. I knew I was in for a good ride when this puzzle started out with Fowl Posts = ROOSTS. I needed the unifier, however, to help with the theme answers. I, too, initially thought of Aid instead of SOS. Now I can't get that out of my head!

    I also liked You Can Skip the Flat Ones = STONES.

    Lean Cuisine Lover = SPRAT was a brilliant misdirection.

    QOD: When your mother asks, "Do you want a piece of advice?" it is a mere formality. It doesn't matter if you answer yes or no. You're going to get it anyway. ~ Erma Bombeck

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  3. Morning, all!

    Man, I was doing so well with this puzzle, making slow yet steady progress throughout, getting all the tricky clues, figuring out the theme... and then I turfed it at the end.

    The second most difficult spot was up in the NW where some guy named ALFONSO SORIANO was hanging out with an extremely minor character from Star Wars named OOLA. Add in an obscure book by John Irving and a little French (SES), and you have a recipe for disaster. Surprisingly, though, I managed to make it through once I replaced STAND with STOOD and accepted that TINNIEST was really a word.

    The spot I didn't get through, unfortunately, was the crossing of COIGN with TSU. Didn't know either word, so I went with TSU (Texas State University?) and SOIGN. Yes, SOIGN looked wrong, but COIGN doesn't look any better to me, sorry. Completely out of my wheelhouse, I'm afraid.

    I finally had to turn on the red letter help to get that C, so that counts as a DNF. Ah well. As I said, though, the bulk of the puzzle was very doable, albeit it still a pleasant challenge for a Sunday.

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  4. Stumped by OOLA, COIGN, SERT, and GEST but eventually guessed right and heard the fanfare at just under 30 minutes. I often surprise myself with my perseverance.

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  5. Angie(4:40)

    I was surprised to see Stones in a clue when it was also an answer. 63A and 107D

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  6. I found today to be a challenging but almost achievable puzzle. I guessed correctly on the interesection of SERT and GEST, but could not get SARGASSOSEA, even after being spotted _ARGASSOSEA. Oh well.

    By the way, after googling, it appears that a SABOT is a shoe, like a clog. Didn't know that either...

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  7. A fun puzzle, but made harder by my backwater newspaper's lack of accents and tildes among their sorts. 71A clue was "A-o starter", 11D was "One of the Per-ns". Argh.

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  8. Hello Puzzlers -

    WBS. I had to run the TDNF flag up the pole because I needed the red letters to get that Coign. Definitely not a word I use.

    Happy Sunday

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  9. Interesting puzzle, done in a half hour. Most of it was fairly easy. I was able guess all of the NW after I changed STAND to STOOD. Pride goeth before a fall.

    In the middle I goofed up one letter which I had no chance of finding on my own. Like Barry, I wrote TSU, never having heard of TCU. SOIGN looked odd, but then COIGN looks odd, too.

    ESSO on the big service station sign was one of the first words my elder son could read.

    My son attended King's College in Wilkes-Barre, PA, where the students called the townies ENIGMAs. They didn't know the meaning of the word and didn't know why. Just tradition, I suppose.

    I had my class write their own Just SO stories which I collected in a booklet. They were very clever.

    Enjoy your Sunday

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  10. Argyle @ 7:09, re "stones" STONES...that was what I was pointing out with the MOON PIE and "Moon River" clues, too.

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  11. And your's were as close together as it gets. 39 Across and Down!

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  12. Good morning C.C. and Sunday Solvers!

    I turned in a SORIANO performance today. I correctly WAGged the "R" at the SERT/SORIANO cross. But WBS/WYRS about the "C" in the TCU/COIGN cross. I don't believe I've ever seen that word before (and hopefully won't see it again). Marti, your link looks like Three Coigns At The Fountain.

    I liked Lean Cuisine Lover and Where Hope Springs Eternal. I totally misread the clue for MASHIE -- Bag made of a cheek and niblick. I wondered how a golf club could also be a bag. Hmmmm.

    Anybody else put ALEC before EWAN?

    Ah, well...into every life a little DNF must fall.

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  13. Tough puzzle, and completed it, but with red letter help. COIGN was not a problem. It was a "skip over" on the first pass, and the perps were all no-brainers, with MOONPIE the last to fall there. All Texan collegiate sports fans know the TCU Horned Frogs, and some know that it's Texas Christian. There is a Texas State University, but it's a small school. It's in San Marcos, half way between Austin and San Antonio.

    Just noticed SEMITE was an answer. Same as solving COIGN above. I think this puzzle could have been completed without red letter help if there had been just a few more sports clues. Nailed each of those, but perhaps there weren't enough of them :>(

    Thanks for the 24D link CC. I hadn't seen that one. I played it twice because it was so short. The US Swim team is still one of my favs.

    There were a few that weren't the mundane answers we normally see. I also probably would have had the wrong tense for 4D, but ALFONSO told me different. 103D Cousin of a dog threw me for the longest time. Is the online font ARIAL ? Just read a few ref's on THERE, THERE IT'S ALL RIGHT and THERE, THERE IT'S OK idioms and speculative etymology. Interesting.

    JzB - Sox fading. Tigers creeping closer. Buccos have been eliminated and are 3 games under 500. looks like it may be a 20th consecutive losing season. All since Leyland left. Aargh !

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  14. Sunday puzzles are just soooo long, (heavy sigh)

    I just can't wait. Please take this in the stupidity in which it is given:

    Proof that cats are better than dogs.

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  15. CED: I loved your Cats vs Dogs video!

    Our newspaper reported this horrible story about a poor woman who took her cat to the vet for a Link text flea bath with a tragic ending.

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  16. Hi Y'all, Thanks C.C. for some good comments and links. PSY sure can hippity-hop.

    I struggled with the names on this. I WAGd wrong on the "RI" in Soriano. In the SE I put EllE, couldn't get OSGOOD, RIALTO, or BLOOD. I struggled a long time with PENTAD but finally got it.

    A real challenge, but I liked the puzzle since I had most of it. The SOS helped in a couple spots.

    Forgot for a sec there was a "T" on Tsunami.

    What is GRAF SPEE?

    Lean Cuisine is a staple of my diet most weeks.

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  17. Good morning:

    This was a workout for me which required some red letter help. Got the theme early on but still had some problems. I'm not familiar with Coign and for some strange reason I had Mariano Soriano instead of Alphonso.

    Anyway, thanks to AA for a Sunday stumper and to CC for a great expo. And thanks to CC for the shout out; my ice maker is making ice so fast that I may have to ship some to Tinbeni!

    Looking forward to the Emmy's tonight. I hope Sheldon wins his 3rd straight award. As he would say, "It's what I do!"

    Have a great Sunday.

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  18. No SOS’s here. My baseball knowledge is good but one name models, Spanish muralists and book titles took a while – something for everything. Gotta love Fowl poles, Fit to be fried, Lean cuisine lover, Used in a pinch

    Musings
    -I’ll bet the Yankees wish they had SORIANO and the millions they paid and will pay AROD back
    -I thought Select was TOP at first as “best”
    -We are the ants (as opposed to the grasshoppers) who have put away a NEST EGG.
    -I had no idea on COIGN and kept it despite trying to change it. SABOT also new to me.
    -Except for two minutes on the first Saturday in May, horseracing in America is pretty much done.
    -So many people today still want to be in America
    -Big 10 is looking very subpar this year
    -On the playground, I don’t know when I am teetering and when I am TOTTERing. Now after a few glasses of wine…
    -Don’t cry for me EVA!
    -Getting unSLANTed news is hard today.
    -Coming back from the Black Hills we had to choose between 80 mph on boring I-90 or 60 mph on SCENIC two lane Hwy 2. We OPTed for the former.
    -We TBBT fans know who MOONPIE is.
    -Most famous TRAP DOOR scene in a movie?
    -PEC not LAT. Oh, Strand as a verb!
    -Hitting a Cleek is hard!

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  19. My new neighbors are strange acting.

    I was out watering the other day when the man drove in his drive. He has dark tinted windows so you can't see in at all. I kept watering for another ten minutes, and he didn't get out of the car. When I got done I went in the house and glanced out the window. He jumped out of the car and ran in the house like he was late to the bathroom.

    The woman came out on the back patio the other day when I was consulting with my plumbers, looked scared when she saw us. I smiled and waved and she ran back in the house.

    Yesterday I went out with my bucket and squeegee to wash windows. She was on the phone on the patio with her dogs who started barking. She jumped up and ran to the door. I smiled and waved. She stood and looked at me. Since she was still on the phone, I just started washing the windows. When I moved to the windows closer to her she was gone.

    Did she think I might leap the fence and assault her with my squeegee? Or is she afraid I'll infest her with curmugeon cooties?

    I've never had neighbors who wouldn't at least smile and wave and engage in over-the-fence civilities. Very puzzling!


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  20. PK,

    Perhaps they are newbies in a Witness Protection Plan ?

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  21. Hello, Sunday solvers! Hi, C.C. How nice to "see" you.

    This was ALL RIGHT (love it when it's spelled correctly) for a Sunday sashay and gave me many smiles along the way.

    fowl poles, ROOSTS
    it may be used in a pinch, SALT
    lean cuisine lover, SPRAT
    where Hope s;prang eternal, USO SHOWS

    Those were brilliant clues!

    SABOT has long been used in crosswords so I'm surprised anyone is unfamiliar with it. And hand up for ALEC before EWAN though I wondered about it. Changed it with SLANT.

    Ditto, too, for SOIGN as COIGN did not even enter my mind. Strange word.

    What a fun time today. Thank you, Alan Arbesfeld.

    C.C. have the leaves started turning color in Minnesota? I am so looking forward to seeing that spectacle next week. I have seen that only once before in New England.

    You all have a super Sunday, everyone! Group birthday party today with my sorority.

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  22. PK, that is weird. My first thought, like TTP, is that they were in witness protection. But maybe they're just asocial.

    GRAF SPEE was a German admiral during WWI. In WWII there was a German warship named for him.

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  23. Good morning C. C. and all.

    COIGN was a new word for me too. Otherwise, WEES. Slower than normal progress all the secondary and alternate descriptions. But they were fair.

    PK @ 1015 - Re: Graf SPEE. In addition to what D-O said, the Brits cornered the Graf Spee in the Plate Estuary at Montevideo, Uruguay, a neutral port. It later steamed out of port and was scuttled by the Germans in De. 1939.

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  24. Friends with no benefitsSeptember 23, 2012 at 12:09 PM

    PK, I kept thinking of how you could get your neighbors to 'open up' -

    1. Leave a crumpled note with illegible handwriting on your sider's front porch. Use a Kinkos/Fedex/UPS/DHL note pad paper, if you can get one. Tell then there is an 'important' package waiting, - kept with you. If they do turn up, insist that they have tea while they wait for you to find the package - then give them a small packaged cake, addressed to 'John Doe'.
    2. Ring their doorbell and pretend you are a Jehovah's Witness/Mormon or Amish, there, to do some proselytizing.
    3. Tie some Mylar, helium filled balloons to their mail box - it'll at least get them excited. Old Valentines Day balloons can still be got on a big discount.
    4. Take them some chocolate chip cookies - but put some small blue spots - all over your own face. Observe what happens.
    5. Leave some Govt. handouts from the US Immigration/IRS/U.S. post office 10 most wanted posters on their doorstep. Try to observe what happens.
    6. Prepare some notices of a 'garage sale' - with their address - and insist, in the handout, that the buyers (must) ring the doorbell. Tack the notices all over the nearby telephone poles. Then try to be the first buyer there, and insist on 'looking at the goods'.


    I've run out of ideas.( I have some other ideas, of dubious legality, which I dont think I should post on the bolg.)

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  25. I have had my share of personal naticks, crossings of reasonable entries that just were not in my wheelhouse, things that I should learn.

    I am inclined toward describing 44D/51A as an actual natick. How many know COIGN of vantage? I'd wager very few. On investigating I see that the words are in a line from MacBeth and are also the name of an online game.
    And how well known is TSU outside of TX? I knew T(exas) and U(niversity) and guessed that S was wrong, but C(hristian) never occurred to me.

    Now that I look it up. I vaguely recall seeing quoin(coign)without the vanatage part used to mean cornerstone.

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  26. We too have new neighbors just two lots over and they do not socialize at all and, as an extra-added bonus, they let their lawn die in this neighborhood where lawns are pretty lush. Then they built the one and only fence in the ‘hood around their back yard. Coupled with the fact that there are lights on in the house at all hours of the day and night (you men north of 55 now about getting up at all hours), it is the ENIGMA of the block. Hint taken.

    Friends with no benefits, I enjoyed your suggestions! I’m afraid the grandkids will hit or throw a ball over that fence. What then?

    Hopefully, smoke rising from backyard is a barbecue and not goat sacrifices.

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  27. LA Times Sunday Merl Reagle

    MR filler = NOPQ
    What's MR and what's NOPQ

    Thanks

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  28. the letters nopq fill in between the letters mr

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  29. It's an alphabetic run. Start
    with M, fill in NOPQ, end with R.
    M NOPQ R

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  30. Thanks Anon and Yellow.

    Think there's usually a hyphen when puzzles do that. Maybe that's why I was perplexed.

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  31. Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Alan Arbesfeld, for a great Sunday puzzle. thank you, C.C., for the swell review.

    C.C., I believe SABOT is a shoe. As is a Clog.

    Got started slowly up North, so I headed South. Pretty much filled in the middle first, then spread out.

    COIGN was an unknown, but with five perps I couldn't miss.

    First theme answer was CALYPSO SINGERS. Soon after got SOS at 120D. Now I had the theme. That helped with all the others.

    Thought BLOOD TEST was clever.

    Lord JIM came easily after JUDO appeared.

    TOI at 10D came with perps.

    Had EEO at first for 38A. Fixed that to EOE.

    Enjoyed 63A STONES. That is my favorite pastime when I am at Lake Erie, Skipping stones. I am not a fan of swimming.

    Nice day in Illinois. I am going to work outside for a while. The Bears are winning 10-0 at almost half time.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

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  32. PK: Why not TP their house? That is actually of sign of respect for teenagers.

    Oops, Bears are now winning 10-3 at the half.

    Abejo

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  33. CC, did you see this one?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLraLnaXEl8

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  34. Hello everybody. Wow, everybody's calling me, maybe! And yes, I agree that PSY guy sure can hippity-hop. "The song is characterized by its strongly addictive beats and lyrics, and is thus certain to penetrate the foundations of modern philosophy." Suuuuure it is.

    Pretty challenging puzzle today. The crossing that stumped me was SORIANO and SERT. Had to turn on the red letters to get it. For some reason COIGN came to me, not in that context, but "au coign de la rue" (on the corner of the street) was a phrase we learned in French class long ago.

    Another phrase I learned early was "long time no see" in Chinese. Yep, it sure is said a lot. Also, "have you eaten?" And that all-purpose answer to almost everything: "good! good!"

    My favorite clues are the same ones several of you already listed.

    Hand up for ALEC, then EWAN. Also wanted ELLE before EMME. Also thought of IMAN. At least TYRA uses her last name.

    Haven't read "No Easy Day" but saw the author interviewed on 60 Minutes. He sure was cool and matter-of-fact. Like cops are: "The individual was deceased ..."

    Later!

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  35. We recently had a very interesting discussion about sabots and sabotage.

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  36. Happy Sunday everybody! I hope you're all doing well. (I hope you're doing good too.)

    Sunday puzzles certainly take a big chunk out of my day. I enjoyed it though. My choice for a title would have been dit dit dit dah dah dah dit dit dit. Too long I guess.

    CED, I loved your video. Gary, I remember your trap door scene. There's a movie I haven't seen in a long while.

    "Call Me Maybe" is a catchy little song. The girl who is making a lot of hay from singing it was on Ellen. She got a standing O. It just shows my fogydom with regard to today's popular music.

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  37. "Call Me Maybe" grows on ya. I think it did indeed "penetrate the foundations of modern philosophy" far more than "Gangnam Style" ever will. I wish Carly Mae Jepsen much success.

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  38. SOS
    I'm having trouble opening links on you tube. When I double click on the arrow, nothing happens. Any ideas? Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Lucina, I certainly don't know how to fix your problem but I would try turning off your computer, letting it sit for a few minutes as restarting it. I hope it helps.

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  40. Lucina, recently I had to upgrade my version of my browser in order to continue accessing youtube.

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  41. Argyle!! wake up!! anon at 1:30 listed a you tube video but no link, that's where you come to our S.O.S! unless its a "call me maybe" link, then never mind

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  42. Hi again, loved the suggestions about my neighbors. Too funny! LOL Don't think they are in the witness protection program. There were a lot of people moving them in a month ago who didn't look like federal agents.

    They are fairly young 20's-30's and don't seem to me to be a couple. They come and go at such different times in separate cars. Might be college related. They wear nicer clothes than students usuallly do though.

    I'll probably just keep smiling and waving and otherwise ignore them. That house has such a turnover of "guests" it's not worth expending much effort. I'm a bit shy too of invading weirdo space. They have a boxer dog.

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  43. Hmm, CC really gave me a tough challenge, wholesome, yet edible, yet fit to be fried? Man, this is giving me trouble. My research so far...

    No, that's not fried, that's "baked!"


    No, that's not fried, it's just silly!

    Maybe a musical alternative? (Naw, too long, i can't listen to the whole thing...)

    Of Course! i should have gone with my stomach! This recipe is great if you just dip the whole thing in flour, egg, & then panko breadcrumbs & deep fry the whole thing!

    P.S. CC: I am having trouble understanding 13D - psy - gangnam style,,, can you provide a translation pls? the chorus to me sounds like "open condom star"???

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  44. PK @ 10:15,,, this may not be the best clip, (too much propaganda) but if you really want to know, i am sure the side links will give you the whole story.

    Can somebody please explain 90A,,, Sprat??? i don't get it...

    79D Strand:maroon,,, reminds me of a really bad joke.

    2 ships sailed across the Atlantic, 1 was carrying a cargo of red paint, the other carrying a cargo of purple paint, they collided mid ocean, but not to worry, everyone survived,,, they were just marooned!

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  45. Jack Sprat could eat no fat
    His wife could eat no lean
    And so betwixt the two of them
    They licked the platter clean.

    Anon@4:53 You called it.

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  46. Greetings!

    Interesting puzzle, Alan. Nice expo, CC,

    Had one google and no red letters. Took quite some time. Pondered over COIGN for the longest time. Hand up for ALEC.

    Friday's puzzle was fun. No cheats. Did not try Sat.

    Have been very blue. White cat was run over and killed in my very long driveway up near the gate. This one had recovered from kidney problems. (Wrote about him before.)

    Have an enormous columnar cactus in front of house. Someone came in gate and lopped of several arms. (You can root these if you know how.)

    Add this to the fact that someone with a green vehicle drove up to the gate and smashed the front fender of my Silverado.

    Sorry to be so whiny.

    Cheers!

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  47. Fermatprime:

    Mercy stars, Lady! Do you think one perpetrator did the cat, cactus and pickup in one trip? You seem so vulnerable to careless and nasty people, it must be worrisome to you. I know I worry about you. You need a place with greater security, if there is such a place.

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  48. Thanks for the Graf Spee info. I had a vague thought of it having something to do with a ship and war, but could not remember particulars. I think I may have read a book about it 40 years ago.

    I was surprised to know the Stones were singing about "Angie" in that song. I remember hearing the song, but never could understand what he was saying. Too busy at that time of my life to care.

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  49. Fermatprime, sorry to hear about your cat, your cactus and your Silverado. Sounds like a bad couple of days. Here's hoping for better luck to come.

    CED, I watched the Graf Spee video. What happened to the crew?

    Jordan and I have been relearning math facts forgotten over the summer. The subject of dividing by zero came up. I told him it wasn't allowed and didn't have an answer. He wanted to know why. Good for him. I tried to explain it in terms that a third grader could understand.

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  50. CC, you should find a hobby other than this blog.

    Bill G, who says you can't divide by zero?

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  51. I do among others. What does your calculator come up with?

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  52. fermatprime,
    if you had a dog like the scary looking mutt that chan has,you could put him/her on the driveway and scare those vandals away. that mutt you have looks too friendly.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Apparently some Anon hasn't had his bran today!

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  54. bill g.,
    dividing is separating, to separate something zero times, you are not separating it at all. maybe he would understand it that
    way. what do you think?

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  55. manac,

    stick to woodworking

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  56. In elelmentary arithmeic with real numbers:
    12 divided by 3 = 4
    12 divided into groups of 3 gives you 4 groups.
    12 divided by 0
    12 divided into groups of 0 gives you how many groups? Pure nonsense.

    Using the inverse, multiplication proves division.
    12 divided by 3 = 4 3x4=12
    12 divided by 0 = 12 (NO!!) 0x12=0

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  57. Censorship?

    The Ministry of Truth is now in control.

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  58. Excellent explanation YR! I would have changed your last example slightly to read 12 divided by 0 = n, so 0 x n = 12 ??? As you said earlier, that's nonsense.

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  59. Good night everyone.

    Fermatprime: You have had a terrible bunch of happenings. I feel truly bad about your cat. Pets are precious.
    Can the cactus regrow its arms?

    Best wishes for better times ahead.

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  60. Bill G, Our third graders weren't introduced to n yet. So replacing n with various examples makes the point.

    Fermatprime, what a terribly awful time!

    ReplyDelete

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