google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, September 6, 2012 Jerome Gunderson

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Sep 6, 2012

Thursday, September 6, 2012 Jerome Gunderson

Theme: Lost in translation....

20 Across. Prickly undergrowth : THORN BUSH

24 Across. Prop for a safety briefing : SEAT BELT

52 Across. It's often a tough cut : STEW MEAT

60 Across. Verbally overwhelm : SHOUT DOWN

And the unifier:

40 Across. They lead you astray...and what the starts of 20-, 24-, 52- and 60-Across are? : WRONG DIRECTIONS. Aaah, our master of mis-direction and anagrams has done it again! Each of the first words of the theme entries is an anagram of the cardinal compass points: NORTH (thorn), EAST (seat), WEST (stew) and SOUTH (shout). Brilliant theme, and well-executed. Jerome had me guessing all through this one!! (I hope you will summon the strength to join us today, Jerome!)

Marti here, so it must be getting close to the weekend again? I am already in party mode, so let's get cracking on this beaut...

Across:

1. Cask stopper : BUNG. My favorite cask stopper, but better when removed from the keg! and 26A. Brewer's vessel : VAT...I am beginning to sense a mini-theme here?!

5. Conquest for Caesar : GAUL. Who wanted "vici"?

9. Serbs, e.g. : SLAVS

14. School that expelled James Bond : ETON. For making martinis shaken, not stirred?

15. Gustav Mahler's wife : ALMA. Not his mater?

16. Hilarious person : PANIC. A real knee-slapper! Unusual clue for a typically frightened reaction, but decidedly more fun!

17. Grandmotherly nickname : NANA. I called my grandmother "Mémé".

18. Protective trench : MOAT

19. Miguel's gal : AMIGA. Spanish for "girlfriend".

22. Pine secretion : RESIN

23. More than te-hee, online : LOL. Laugh Out Loud!

29. Implore : BEG. I beg you to stay with me on this...

31. Wheels : CAR

32. Mideast language : FARSI

34. Finish a gymnastics routine, perhaps : LAND. My flying instructor threw cold water on my elation at taking off in a Cessna for the first time...he said, "Yes, taking off is easy. It's the landing that's hard!"

37. Toward the stern : AFT

44. Brian of Roxy Music : ENO. Musical interlude. 4:07 (If you can stand it...)

45. "Yeah, sure" : I BET

46. Surpass : ONE UP

47. Washed-out : WAN

49. Bob Marley genre : SKA. OK, this is more my style! 2:45 (Caution: ear worm!!)

51. Place in considerable disarray : STY. Funny cartoon.

57. Fighting Tigers' sch. : LSU. Louisiana State University. I hope hurricane Isaac was kind to them.

59. Ness and others : LOCHS. Is there a monster lurking in there?

65. Dim : UNLIT

66. Small pie : TART

67. Time for action : D-DAY

69. Mother of Don Juan : INEZ

70. Kerry's home : EIRE. I thought he had a home on Beacon Hill??

71. Much of the RMS Queen Mary, now : HOTEL. Interesting You-Tube video and musical accompaniment of the conversion. 5:34. The composition accompanying the video is by Henry Purcell (1695), and is a march from the "Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary".

72. Bank (on) : RELY

73. "Seasons of Love" musical : RENT. Great song! 2:58

Down:

1. Not in good shape? : BENT. Great clue!

2. Natural Bridges locale : UTAH and 68-Across: 2-Down, for one : STATE

3. Second helping, to a dieter : NO-NO. Anyone else think of "Nanette"?

4. Twist : GNARL

5. Long shot, say : GAMBLE. Hey, if I lost my shirt at Saratoga, it wasn't on a long shot!!

6. Baseball's Moises : ALOU. Can I tell you, that this name has finally sunk in, and I actually remembered it?

7. It has a campus near the JFK Library : U-MASS. Gimme!!

8. Turning tool : LATHE

9. Ancient Athens rival : SPARTA. Filled it in, without a second thought.

10. Nitwit : LAME BRAIN. Fun fill, Jerome!

11. Ouzo flavoring : ANISE. Oh my - I just used this same clue in a puzzle I was constructing today. (Note to self: "Find different clue for 'anise'...")

12. Watch : VIGIL

13. Barely sufficient : SCANT. Like this?

21. Slangy "Don't worry about it" : NO BIG (deal)

25. "High Voltage" rockers : AC-DC. Another fav musical interlude! 4:15 (What can I say? I have eclectic tastes in music...) Speaking of music, which Verdi opera did you watch last night, Misty? Aida? La Traviata? Rigoletto?...

26. Ex-GIs' org. : VFW. Veterans of Foreign Wars

27. Bern's river : AARE

28. 1982 sci-fi film : TRON

30. Superficially fluent : GLIB

33. Grumpy friend? : SNOW WHITE. Also, Doc, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy, Bashful or Dopey.

35. Exist : ARE

36. Mosquito protection : NETS. Nah, I still say my handy-dandy fly swatter does the trick better!

38. Unfriendly types : FOES

39. Fastener named for its shape : T-NUT

41. Have supper : DINE

42. Wedding reception highlight : TOAST

43. Catch sight of : SPY

48. Heineken brand : AMSTEL

50. All thumbs : KLUTZY. Great fill!

52. Winter puddle cause : SLUSH. All too soon, here in the Northeast...

53. Scout master? : TONTO. Old-timey clue. Remember Tonto's horse, "Scout"?



54. Elaborate display : ÉCLAT. Direct from the French "éclat", meaning "radiance" or "brilliance".

55. Up and at 'em : ASTIR

56. Scottish feudal lord : THANE. "The thane of fife had a wife..." (Name that play!)

58. Milker's handful : UDDER. Oh, I could go "udder-ly" DF here...but, it is all done by machines now.

61. Hurler Hershiser : OREL. More baseball. He was a 1988 Dodger's pitcher who went 59 consecutive innings without giving up a single run. Impressive!

62. Large-tongued comics dog : ODIE

63. Wave a red flag at : WARN

64. Nikita's no : NYET. Am I done nyet?

Answer grid.


Hugs,
Marti

73 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

I must just be in a grumpy mood this morning for some reason, The puzzle didn't put up much resistance and the theme (which I didn't get until I finished) is sheer elegance. And yet, while solving I kept having moments like, "Who the *%$@! knows the name of Gustav Mahler's wife?" and "Of all the possible ways to clue PANIC, this is what you give us? Who calls a hilarious person a PANIC?"

Of course, I was also offended by SKA being clued with reference to Bob Marley, which just goes to show the depth of my ignorance. I always thought of him as being purely a reggae singer and that SKA came after him, but a quick visit to Wikipedia showed me the error of my ways....

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Marti and friends. Very tricky theme to suss out, but Jerome is the king of anagrams.

Milker's Handful = UDDER was my favorite clue.

ALMA must have appeared in previous puzzles, because I immediately knew her name.

Seeing the clue for Grumpy's Friend reminded me of our old friend, Grumpy1. Has anyone heard from him recently?

Nice to see both UMASS and LSU. Hurricane Isaac was kind to LSU.

Marti, your Thane quote is from Macbeth.

I have never heard the slang expression "NO BIG." Wouldn't that more likely be NO BIGGIE?

Like Barry, I had never heard a funny person called a PANIC before.

The perps gave me TONTO, which didn't immediately register with me. I tried to make it into two words - TON TO. How is that a Scout Master? I wondered.

I recently became acquainted with SKA. It is a genre that grows on one.

QOD: Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem. ~ Henry Kissinger

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Whipped right through this one at bedtime, and didn't notice the theme. I admit it's clever.

Had trouble at PANIC, never heard it used that way.

Morning, Marti! Yes, I wanted VICI first. Thanks again for your hospitality.

desper-otto said...

Good morning, fellow travelers.

Marti, you were in fine form this morning. I got a kick out of your ALMA comment. By the way, she had a couple of other well-known husbands. Tom Lehrer wrote a song about her -- Here are the lyrics.

And be honest, Marti. Did you know the names of those other six dwarfs without looking them up?

BTW, still waiting on that truck of mine. The costs just keep getting higher and the repairs keep taking longer...

Sfingi said...

Though I never got the theme, I sailed along until I hit the SW.
Did not know the liner became a hotel in CA; did not no this definition of ECLAT; but, mostly disagreed with SLUSH being the cause if puddles. Slush is the puddle. The cause is either thaw or salt. Gunderson must not be from the colder parts.

Also, had Outdo before ONEUP.

As for UDDER, "More than a handful's wasted."

Anonymous said...

This was fun. Learning moment: bung for a cask stopper.
Also I wanted to put T- men in for Ness and others, but needed an extra letter so got to lochs with perps help.
And Kerry is a county in Ireland, so didn't get thinking about the Sen. from Nebraska or Mass.

Mari said...

Hi all,

I didn't get the theme until I came here. Never saw it coming. I got WRONG DIRECTIONS first and then couldn't figure out how the others fit in.

WEES regarding PANIC and SKA / raegae. I didn't know that either, Barry.

My favorite clue was 53D: Scout Master? TONTO. Took me a minute to figure it out.

Have a great day!

Yellowrocks said...

Like Dudley I whipped right through this one. I did across and down together filling in solidly from top to bottom. The unifier in the middle helped with the last two theme answers, but wasn't actually needed.

Having the L in ALOU, ALMA just popped out. VICI briefly crossed my mind, but I had the A already, so no go. Remember Latin I? Omnia Gallia in tres partes divisa est.

With the N and C, I easily filled in PANIC. It is common with us to call an exceedingly funny person a PANIC. I've also heard. "She's a sketch." Funny,also, but not exceedingly.

At home we used doppig to describe a clumsy person.

Anony-Mouse said...

Thank you Jerome - I got a Thursday - yipeee ! ( I don't know how, but I'll take it, thank you very much -). Very challenging ... at this rate tomorrow is definitely out. I had CORK ( for Bung), ... and who is Mahler (lol). .. what Barry said. I had Laird for Thane, before I remembered some wisp of MacBeth. Marti you are incomparable, witty as always and a delight to behold.

We went to Boston six years ago, and I passed Nob's Hill on a tour in a duck shaped amphibious 'tank' .... Nobs Hill is upper class ? .... must be the location. We stayed, downtown, in a penthouse of a hotel ( don't ask me how or why ), next to the museum and in front of a park, near the John Hancock Bldg.... and then we sailed up the Charles river, in the duck-tank, and stuck out our tongues at Harvard and MIT....

I am so totally anagram challenged ( thank you Marti for the explanation - ) that I had absolutely no aide ( aide, get it ? ). I was so panicky getting through the forest, I didn't stop to admire the trees. Even after the unifier, I kept thinking, ... Thorn Bush ? ... must be some old liberal placard statement ....


ALT QOD:- My sister was in labor thirty hours. She got wheeled out of delivery, glanced at me, and said "Adopt". ~ Caroline Rhea.

Have a good week and weekend, you all.

Avg Joe said...

Fun puzzle Jerome. The theme didn't help with the solve, but I did figure it out afterward.

Resisted Ska, but knew it had to be. Panic seemed a little contrived, but still reasonable.

Loved the Alt QOD, Anonymouse. I can relate. With our first child, my wife was in labor 27 hours.

Hahtoolah said...

Anony-mouse: I think you are confusing Nob Hill in San Francisco with Bunker Hill in Boston.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning Marti and all.

No, I didn't get the %$#@&^ anagrams, but got the theme words anyway. Fair amount of misdirection to deal with. ie.I had 'Eliot' before LOCHS. Flirted with 'vici' before settling on GAUL. On 27d, when I had VAT and FARSI, [AA], I was expecting the clue to involve the Rhine or Bern(e), before looking at it and confirming AARE. One nit - 58d, 'milker's handful' - UDDER was gotten easily enough, but the actual 'hands full is 'teats'. You milk the teats, not the udder. Trust me on this. My favorite clue was for TONTO. Great job, Jerome. Always a pleasure.

Enjoy the day.

Husker Gary said...

Theme came late and then helped get STEW to start 52A and not have STEAK end it. What a delightful puzzle full of wit (e.g. loved GRUMPY cluing), ECLAT and challenge, Jerome! Coupled with Marti’s wit, wisdom and links - “that’s what I’m talkin’ about”.

Musings
-In 8th grade we saw slides of car wrecks (hey, it was 1959) and not having a SEAT BELT was a major contributor to most of the gore. Yuk!
-SHOUT DOWN? Have you watched FOX or MSNBC lately? They all want to ONE UP the other person more than advance a cogent argument.
-I had VICI almost off the bench too, Marti. My dieter’s second was NONE, uh, first.
-Remember when instrumentals like this WHEELS were all over the radio?
-Oh, that Ness, not Eliot.
-We toured the Queen Mary in Long Beach but didn’t stay there.
-Haven’t we all kept a VIGIL while people we know are dying?
-VFW were royalty in my small town growing up
-A wedding TOAST where a best man who has been over-served “wings it” can be rather unfortunate
-We had a friend that always said clutch instead of KLUTZ and France fries.
-“Nikita, got any missiles in Cuba?” “NYET!”
-What fun movie had a recurring scene where the star kept stepping off a curb into a pool of SLUSH?
-QOD, Is that a premise for The Peter Principle, Hahtoolah?
-Otto, it looks like a truck can be a money pit! Wow!

HeartRx said...

D-Otto @ 7:01, sleepy, sneezy, doc, dopey, grumpy, and happy are always easy for me to remember, but "bashful" is one I usually have to look up!

Anony-Mouse @ 8:43, LOL at you "aide" quip!

HeartRx said...

Husker G., did you notice that one of the other songs on that album is titled "PANIC Button". (Isn't that hilarious?)

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2
-No, I didn’t see that, Marti. I think they were OHW’s (One Hit Wonders) but I always think of them when I see WHEELS. How ‘bout those suits and haircuts? No wonder the Beatles who had hair, gasp, over their ears stirred up the world. Didja ever hit the panic button in that Cessna?
-BTW, I have heard a funny person referred to as a PANIC or a Stitch, but not a Sketch, YR
-Enjoy these Tonto/Kemo Sabe cartoons.
-Senator Kerry has returned to Nebraska from New York City to run for senator and trails big time to a conservative woman rancher from the sandhills. He can’t shake the carpetbagger label.
-This just in, I had thOne/tOrt before I read Marti’s write-up. Dang, an hour late and a cell short!
-FORE!

Anony-Mouse said...

Thank you Hahtoolah, you are partly right ... Nob's Hill is in SF, but Bunker Hill is a historic place in Boston .... I should have written 'Beacon's Hill' - where Sen. Kerry stays.($7 Mil.townhouse)

We stayed at the Westin - Copley Plaza, facing Copley Park, across from the Boston Public Library. I would not stay there, if I had to pay for it. The hotel was so exclusive, I was hesitant to use our own toilet.... the shops in the area are so fancy, if you have to ask the price, they silently laugh at you. I did visit the MIT museum ( fabulous ! ) and walked the 'infinite mile' of the corridors through the main bldgs. at MIT.... like being in heaven on earth for an engineer.

Otto, I feel your pain about your truck expenses. I spent over $ 600 in some useless pollution sensors on my car to pass an E-Check .... adds no life to my car. I am currently researching a question:- How much do you discount a 2 yr. old model (2010) of a car, which has less than 5,000 miles on it ? ... its obviously new, but yet old. Any suggestions ?

Irish Miss said...

Good morning:

I found this less difficult than the usual Thursday fare, but it was quite clever and I caught onto the theme as soon as I read the unifier. Nice work, Jerome, and nice, witty expo, Marti.

We are still enjoying summer-like weather but I'm sure Fall will arrive soon. I, for one, am looking forward to cooler temps and brisk Autumn days.

Happy Thursday.

Lemonade714 said...

What a joy to see a new Jerome anagram special; hey J-man hope you are well.

We have had Alma Mahler before, but now that D-O has linked the great Tom Lehrer ballad, I for one will never have to hesitate again. I may look for a biography to read.

I have stayed on the Queen Mary since it became a hotel as part of a promotion when I owned a travel agency. It was nice, but weird not being at sea.

My son plays SKA so that was a gimme, and the AIDE/IDEA was very cute.

Jerome/mejore!

Lemonade714 said...

BTW, if you look in the dictionary, you will find PANIC meaning funny, as the 4th choice.

Also, A-M, go to KELLY BLUE BOOK for a sense of vehicle value.

Misty said...

Well, I got it all--with only a little extra work in the SOUTH (or is that SHOUT?). But didn't understand the reveal until Marti's anagrams. Jerome, I loved the way you placed the direction words in the RIGHT and not in the WRONG position!

Anyway, a fun way to start a Thursday morning. Shared Barry's nit about PANIC, and tried T-men, Eliot, and versions of Feds before I got LOCHS. But it's fun to be misled--keeps us all from getting too presumptuous in our old age.

Have a good one, everybody!

HeartRx said...

Lemony - Jerome/mejore - great!!!

Jerome said...

Marti- Couldn't you do a little editing magic when the puzzle grid was posted and gotten rid of those damn cheater squares!

HeartRx said...

HaHa, Jerome - they are called (ahem) "helper squares" in my world !

Glad to have you join us today - great puzzle, and I was really scratching my head to figure out the theme until I saw the anagrams. Brilliant!

Zcarguy said...

Anony-mouse

Not all cars are equal when it comes to discounting , you have to factor in the incentives or rebates on each particular model , e.g. if a car has $5000 in rebates , you discount the rebate plus say 20% for 2 year old plus 20-25 cents per mile.

You must also be aware of year model changes, you want to stay clear of a ( last year body style ) try buying a 1st or 2nd year current body style,

If you have a certain car in mind , email me , and I'll give you the ( true market value ) of any car , auction report and such,

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

I am not making this up. After I got up this morning, as I was coming down the stairs, I was thinking about Jerome.

Hey guy, the Corner's not the same without you. I'm going to call you Cookie - you were a wafer so long.

Totally missed the anagrams in the theme - no surprise. But it is so totally Jerome/mejore!

Last fills were in the NW corner. Lots of trouble for me there.

Love SNOW WHITE and LAME BRAIN.

Desper-otto beat me to Tom Lehrer, but I get to set the lyrics to music.

Cool Regards!
JzB

desper-otto said...

Anony-Mouse, that sounds like my FIL's car -- a 2010 Honda Civic with less than 5K miles. He's moved into a retirement community, and at 94 he decided maybe it was time to quit driving. (I've ridden with him, and I agree.) He just sold it to a dealer in Alexandria, VA.

ARBAON said...

PK: She (curiously spelled "nosily") asked: "Are you a what your initials/blog name implies?

Lucina said...

Hello, my friends. Marti, you are a PAINC with your lively wit!

Hey, Jerome, this was masterful! Fun every step of the way down to the NW where I stumbled the same as everyone else.

Love the anagrams though had to wait for Marti's translation. GAUL fell in because I mentally filled the top center and knew that would be a GAMBLE.

Brewer is our governor's name so "vessel" momentarily had a different connotation.

Great job, JR!

Have a terrific Thursday, everyone!

Yellowrocks said...

JzB and D-O, thanks for the Alma song. I Googled Alma Mahler because I wondered whether the writer, "did her wrong." I found the lyrics are basically true. She had multiple lovers, affairs, and marriages while acting the muse for artistic men.

Misty, thanks for pointing out that the cardinal direction theme words were in their correct place in the puzzle. I missed that device.

Abraon, I, too, thought that PK was a PK (preacher's kid) as I am.

john28man said...

I am not an expert on the Spanish Language but wouldn't a better definition of "amiga" be female friend.

I also had trouble with the SW until I get that Ness was not associated here with Eliot.

Tinbeni said...

Marti: Wonderful write-up (you're a PANIC in my book) and links (ear-worm planted!).

When I saw that the constructor was Jerome ... my first thought was ANAGRAMS!

This anagram theme was perfect! Thanks Jerome for a FUN puzzle.

OK, my first thought for Bob Marley was Reggae (probably due to my 50+ trips to Hedonism II, Negril, Jamaica) but then I remembered it's precursor was SKA.
Either way, reggae wouldn't fit ... so SKA must be the answer.
And I doubt that I would ever say:
"I was OFFENDED" by any correct answer being clued adroitly.

Spitzboov: I agree on the 'teats' ... major write-over to UDDER.

A TOAST to all at SUNSET!
Cheers!

ARBAON said...

Yellowrocks: Is he/she a PK or not?
"One never knows, does one!"

TTP said...

Great puzzle today and great write up Marti !

As H G said, "Remember when instrumentals were all over the radio ?"

How about Sleepwalk ?

Back from San Jose and chores await.

CrossEyedDave said...

Definitely a fun puzzle today, & informative Blog. I have so many saved links on my task bar from the Blog to view later, that i will be busy into Friday!

HG,,, Groundhog Day! ( i must watch it again, & again, & again.)

AnonyMouse, i am still trying to find the link about Hydaulic Ram Pumps i saw a year ago. But there are so many more now it is hard to find. This gentleman raised water to his house 200'. The water only dripped out at the top, but running 24/7 was enough to fill tanks for his shower. Very easy to maintain as it has only 2 moving parts, but his biggest problem was that he used plastic hose for the riser pipes, & the raccoons kept chewing holes in it. He solved this by wrapping them in chicken wire!

Which brings me to perpetual motion... Marti, maybe an idea for a cw! unifier = perpetual motion, & the the theme answers rotate in a square all around the puzzle & are connected, with the last letter being the same as the 1st???


Hmmm,,,

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Jerome, for a swell puzzle today. Thank you, Marti, for the great write-up.

Could not get started in the NW. Thought of BUNG and CORK. Could not get a crossword to verify so I went on.

Of course, my first entry was VICI for 5A. That seemed to be the rule today. Fixed that later on to GAUL.

SLAVS was easy for 9A. PANIC vcame with perps.

I also had ELIOT for 59A. Fixed that later to LOCHS. Seems like we are all thinking alike.

FARSI came easily for 32A. I used to be fairly fluent in that language. Learned to read it and write it before I learned most of the words. It was quite easy.

Went to a wedding once on the Queen Mary in Long Beach. That was a memory not to forget.

Got the theme unifier, but not the scrambled words. I missed that.

Again, I could not download the puzzle to my IPad. It works about 75% of the time.

Yesterday my comments somehow erased themselves. I hope today works better.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

HeartRx said...

CED, that "perpetual motion" idea would certainly make an interesting puzzle, but I bet the execution would be a bear. I think I have seen something like that before, though. Now you've sent me off on a hunting trip to find it..

ARBAON said...

With apologies to Fats Waller who I misquoted:
"One never knows, do one?"

PK said...

More on my wavelength than yesterday although I aced both. Thanks, Jerome! I, too, was most puzzled by the theme clues & unifiers until Marti came to my "idea". Good one, Marti!.

Hands up for "teats". As for Ness, I had "HS" so tried mytHS. STEWMEAT? Good gravy, how'd that get in there?

Wasn't ALMA's maiden name Gluck? That's harder to forget.

ARBAON @11:37: No I am not a Preachers Kid, if that's what you mean. I was at one time a Passionate Kisser, which is much more enjoyable.

desper-otto said...

I think I must be out of tune with you guys. I immediately thought of GAUL (not VICI) and LOCHS (not ELIOT).

I notice that TART returned for an encore performance. They cause lots of problems for politicians.

Anybody have a thought as to why Disney called them Dwarfs and not Dwarves?

Here's a 1965 instrumental you might remember...Horst Jankowski

Bill G. said...

I enjoyed the puzzle but I never noticed the anagrams until all was explained. D'oh! I too was thinking about Eliot Ness. I loved the TONTO clue.

Groundhog Day. A favorite movie. I've watched it several times.

I well remember Wheels and A Walk in the Black Forest. Old melodies like those were catchy and likely to cause earworms.

A mention of the seven dwarfs always leaves out a few; Sloppy, Snoopy and my personal favorite, Sleezy.

Anony-Mouse said...

Thank you all, Lemon, St Zalameh and others for help for my car. Alas, the procrastinator that I am, its too late - I already dun bot it. We go to a dealership ... a 30 something, in a flimsy dress ( I am told it's Vera Wong ) sashays in with a 2010, loaded with everything except the john and the kitchen sink... and 4,552 miles ...and trades it for a uber loaded 2013 (!) ... why ? ... because she likes to 'stay up to date'. My salesman tells us to come tomorrow and 'bid' on the car... the next day, we arrive early, we are number 3 on the waiting list, with 2 couples signed in after us... the salesman tells us (1) the car will be precertified, by the dealership and with full warranty, (2) as Billy Crystal would have said, its strictly 'Retail', from now on, ... (3) the car will sell within 2 days, max ... and (4) we have 20 minutes to negotiate a deal...He says the car is like an (extra) wife - if you don't love it passionately, I'll show you another 50 cars...faced with such brutal, blunt, candor, we bot it. I hope it lasts at least 10 years, so I can amortize the excess we paid over Blue book/Nada/ Edmunds value at 10 percent per year. ( that's a lame joke - ).

D-Otto, my friend has a miniature model of a 'Sterling' (cycle) engine that runs on 'AIR', and pushes a piston and chug-chugs, and turns a flywheel from the heat of a candle. No other fuel. Doesn't produce much power though. High efficiency, but totally impractical. You may find one on youtube.

Anony-Mouse said...

oops, thats 'Stirling' engine ... and there are 10 examples on youtube.

Steven J. St. John said...

My only complaint with this puzzle was that I'd been working on this theme (but with CHANGE DIRECTION as the connector). Nicely constructed.

Jazzbumpa said...

Desper-otto -

The name of that Horst Jankowski tune is much more fun in the original German: Eine Schwartzwaldfahrt.

Cheers!
JzB

HeartRx said...

SJSJ, don't you hate when that happens??

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. WBS.

CrossEyedDave said...

Bill G. Yest. 7:51pm re: Sophia
OMG! my face hurts from laughing so much!

Desperotto, interesting bit of trivia re: dwarfs/dwarves. i don't know if it's true or not, but i never knew it had anything to do with Tolkien!

Eton expelled James Bond? ( i must do some research!)

I guess if they can call a funny person a "pistol", i guess they can call them a panic, or anything else they want?

Marti, i was thinking of a mini square perpetual theme run, i.e.: runing/walking, however all those "ings" would make an easy Monday puzzle. Maybe using Apogee/perogee etc, might push it to a thursday puzzle. But how to get it up to 15 letters!!! that would be tough!

OMG! i was looking for funny links for "bung", & i can't even post them here! but it is keeping me pretty busy...

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, I came back to the puzzle several times before I finished it all. I managed to suss out everything on my own, but had a few blips along the way. I put in teats instead of udder,
ala Spitzboov and Tinbini and didn't know Gustav Mahler's wife or Don Juan's mother. Both of those eventually emerged with the perps.

I'm terrible at anagrams, so thanks, Marti, for the explanation of the theme. It was indeed brilliant. If I had thought about it a bit more I would have known Jerome might have anagrams within the puzzle today. Good going, both of you.

Also Marti, I loved the link to the song from RENT. Brings back memories of my grandson singing same in his college production. Great play--sad, but great.

My favorites today: "High Voltage" rocker/ACDC, Grumpy friend?/Snow white and Scout Master/Tonto. Tonto is indeed a much used crossword answer, but the clue was fresh today.

Have a great day, everyone.

Marge said...

Hi all,

This puzzle was fairly hard but I managed to get 3/4 of it.

When we were in Jamaica serveral years ago on a mission trip, we went past Bob Marley's statue. I had never heard of him at that time.

If there were no udder there wouldn't be any teats. I think.

I wonder if 36D is refering to NOTHING BUT NETS ORG. where they (we) raise money to send mosquito nets to Africa and other countries where malaria kills thousands of people every year, specialy children.This has been done for several years and Malaria deaths have been cut in half.

I loved that Alma song- so funny.

I am not a PK but my kids are.

Have a good evening!
Marge.

I hope I get this thru - my first one didn't go, my password wasn't acepted.

Anonymous said...

Funny pictures site with the most hilarious posts

[url=http://www.ploxr.com/]Funny pics[/url]

desper-otto said...

JzB, I always loved the signs in Germany -- Einfahrt Verboten. (Swei Fahrt OK?)

Anonymous said...

Before Betty could protest that she did not want her hair to stand up, "Where the purple mullet and gold-fish rove." his sword to Nebuchadnezzar, and whom he greeted in a poem, a surviving

CrossEyedDave said...

Well,,, i found out why my "Bung" links were unacceptable!

but being udderly shameless i am going to post anyway!

My PC crashed, & i lost all the tabs i had open to view later. But one that was a sidelink to the Queen Mary that got my attention. (by the way, the Queen Mary link was great)

dead ships

(Spitsboov, don't look,,, it will break your heart!)

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Great effort, Jerome! Terrific expo, Marti!

Haven't read the comments yet. Woke up about every hour. What's with that?

Must rush to get to rheumatologist appt., already postponed.

Cheers!

Manac said...

Afternoon All, Breezed through this one today. Hesitated to put in vici knowing too easy for Thursday. Farsi came right away cause I had to learn it in my two year stay in Teheran during the Shah's reign. Which reminds me.. Marti, some of the best skiing I ever experienced was in Iran.
The two most popular were Shemshak and Dizin. Cannon Mt. is a distant second to Shemshak and Killington comes somewhat close with Dizin. Dizin was higher up the Mt. chain and the air was so thin you had to stop at the halfway house to catch your breath. I thought it was more dangerous to make the drive up to the Mts. than to ski them. Never did learn how to read and write it, just speak it. Don't remember any of it now.

Hahtoolah said...

PK: I don't think being a Preacher's Kid and being a Passionate Kisser are mutually exclusive!

PK said...

Hahtoolah, so I've heard. Couldn't think of any other good thing that PK might stand for.

I just finished dealing with my most frequent gentleman caller--the plumber who roto-roots the roots out of my sewer line. No Passionate Kisses there. However, he's been here so often we're on first name basis.

They still haven't replaced my sewer line as requested in June because the paper work got missplaced! With the hot dry weather I didn't push it like I could have. My slab foundation has been shifting so the door to the garage wouldn't shut until the last rain shifted things again. Wonder what it's doing to the plumbing stubbed through the concrete?

Yellowrocks said...

Hahtoolah @ 4:23, right on!
Link young love

Spitzboov said...

Marge @3:37 and 3:44. UDDERLY true.

JazzB @ 2:30 and D. O. @ 3:58. And the Feast of the Ascension is called Himmelfahrtsdag. In Norway it is known as Himmelfartsdag.

PK said...

Don't exactly know what Doris Day has to do with a PK of any kind, but the song is nice, YR! Thanks for sharing.

PK said...

Did anyone see that old WWII movie where the Allies parachuted mannequins dressed like soldiers over one part of France to make the Nazis think the invasion would take place there instead of on the Normandy beaches?

My sister and I giggled for years over the German voices yelling about "goomy poopets". Don't know how the German's spelled it, but that's the phonetic pronunciation.

HeartRx said...

Chickie, so glad you liked the "Rent" link - it really is one of my favorites songs / Broadway plays.

Manac - skiing in Iran? Hmmm...will I have to break out my burkha to go there? And if there is no après ski drinking - I AIN'T GOIN'

Spitzboov said...

PK - Gummi puppen. rubber dolls. From the movie "The Longest Day" about the Normandy invasion.

Hahtoolah said...

Son of a Preacher Man.

Manac said...

Marti, Now a days probably. Back then in the spring we would ski shirtless and in shorts. The fairer sex were in bikinis. Ahh to be young again. The biggest problem was that at that altitude the the sun would rip your hide off you before you even knew it. I knew people who got their eyeballs sunburned because they forgot their goggles or sunglasses. Still, good memories.

melissa bee said...

jayce, from yesterday - i did not take the pic of at&t park, found it online. but i can say, i have been there and it really is that stunning.

Lemonade714 said...

I do miss Jeannie

Jazzbumpa said...

Desper-otto -

You're inviting a drei fahrt opportunity, but I'll bottle up that crack.

Spitz -

Heaven travel day. I like that.

Cheers!
JzB

Bill G. said...

What a warm moment when Gaby Giffords led the Pledge of Allegiance earlier.

Anonymous said...

Everyone mentions a theme but no one says what it is. I couldn't detect and connection between the answers. No theme at all.

Jerome Karam said...

Thanks Jerome you now have me hooked on crossword puzzles.

Jerome Karam said...

Jerome,

After a month of doing crosswords before bedtime I have finally finished! I will start on the next one now!