google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, September 5, 2012, Mel Rosen

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Sep 5, 2012

Wednesday, September 5, 2012, Mel Rosen

theme: GET OVER IT!

17A. *
(OVER)Saw : SUPERVISED

22A. *(OVER)Head : TENNIS SHOT

36A. *(OVER)Come : DEFEAT ADVERSITY

46A. *(OVER)Board : INTO THE SEA

56A. *(OVER)Do : EXAGGERATE

61A. Prefix missing from the starred clues : OVER

aside from the theme, which i needed the unifier to get, this was one of the fastest wednesday solves in a long time.

melissa here.

across:

1. Home to the Ibsen Museum : OSLO. didn't know this. any of our world travelers ever visited?



5. Online auction payment, say : E-CASH

10. Animation : LIFE

14. Part of a Clue guess : ROOM. the mystery board game clue. professor plum, in the conservatory, with a wrench.

15. Salsa holder : NACHO

16. Political pal : ALLY.

19. 1997 Peter Fonda role : ULEE. ulee's gold.

20. Like some stadiums : OPEN AIR. at&t park in san francisco is one, home of the giants.

21. Drove (on) : EGGED

26. Like prison windows : BARRED

30. Doesn't mention : OMITS

31. Toe the line : OBEY

32. Peach pit : STONE

33. Close, as a windbreaker : ZIP. or a mouth.

40. Glamour VIPs : ED'S. magazine editors.

41. Denmark's __ Islands : FAROE. part of denmark, in the north atlantic. beautiful.

42. Suffix with tip or trick : STER

43. Erin of "Happy Days" : MORAN. joanie cunningham, with the scarf.



44. Mathematician Pascal : BLAISE

49. Decree : EDICT

50. Tummy soother : ANTACID

55. One in a four-part harmony : ALTO

59. Gubernatorial turndown : VETO

60. Cassette half : SIDE A.

62. Composer Satie : ERIK

63. __ once in a while : EVERY

64. Like Broadway's Yankees : DAMN

down:

1. Inexact words : OR SO

2. Gazpacho, e.g. : SOUP

3. Easy run : LOPE. at my age, there are no easy runs anymore.

4. Hint of things to come : OMEN, and 26. Hint of things to come : BODE

5. Begrudged : ENVIED. never really thought of these as synonymous before.

6. Meaningful pile of stones : CAIRN. i have these all over my deck.



7. Bldg. coolers : AC'S. air conditioners.

8. "Steady as __ goes" : SHE

9. Mason's tray : HOD. so obscure, i had no idea. a hod is a container for carrying - so a mason's (or brick) hod is a three sided box to carry bricks:



and this is a garden hod.



10. Comic's rewards : LAUGHS. anyone listen to comedian marc maron's interview podcast?

11. "Any volunteers?" reply : I'LL GO

12. Sails force? : FLEET. cute.

13. Scrutinized : EYED

18. Award two stars to, say : RATE

21. Glyceride, for one : ESTER. dr. dad, are you out there?

23. Improper : NOT DONE

24. Start of a parliamentary proposal : I MOVE

25. Math ratio : SINE

27. Not yet stirring : ABED. not necessarily.

28. Game callers : REFS. referees.

29. Caraway-seeded bread, often : RYE

32. Comic Silverman : SARAH

33. Tubular pasta : ZITI

34. Urban addition : ITES

35. Ceremonial pile : PYRE

37. In progress, to Sherlock : AFOOT

38. Causing puckers : TART

39. Fed. benefits agency : SSA. social security administration.

43. N. Zealand's highest peak : MT. COOK. named after british explorer captain james cook. wow.

44. "Deep penetrating pain relief" brand : BENGAY

45. Subject to a penalty fee, maybe : LATE

46. Thumb twiddler : IDLER

47. Capone henchman : NITTI. frank. new to me.

48. More wise : SAGER. i guess.

49. Roof overhang : EAVE

51. 2007 A.L. MVP : A-ROD

52. Vena __ : CAVA. superior and inferior, veins in the heart.

53. Gossip column couple : ITEM

54. "Coming Home" actor : DERN. bruce.

56. Language suffix : ESE. i.e., chinese.

57. Letters for Louis Quatorze : XIV. quatorze is french for fourteen.

58. Lemony quencher : ADE

Answer grid.

melissa

78 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Running late due to computer problems this morning....

I was at sea until I finally got to the theme reveal. Had I gotten the theme reveal up front, I would have blown through most of this one.

Minor holdup at CAIRN when I initially put in STELE. Also, I read the "Hint" in the clue for 26D as a noun instead of a verb and therefore really resisted putting in BODE until the bitter end.

Man, the rain is coming down HARD this morning! Must be the remnant of Hurricane Isaac...

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, MelissaBee and friends. The theme didn't do anything for me, but I enjoyed the clues.

I know someone named BLAISE who is a mathematician. Maybe his given name was his destiny.

My favorite clue was Sails Force = FLEETS.

CAIRN is a word I learned through doing the crossword puzzles, although it had been absent for some time now.

Anyone else amused by the crossing of the Yankee A-ROD and DAMN (Yankees)?

QOD: I'm sorry, if you were right, I'd agree with you. ~ Robin Williams.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Not much of a struggle today, just a bit of head scratching over the themed clues until realizing the scheme.

I've seen a little of comedienne Sarah Silverman on YouTube. She can get a little raunchy, but she sure is funny.

Morning MB, enjoyed the links to beautiful places.

Argyle said...

Musical link to the clues. I had no idea there were so many songs called "It's Over".

Music video by Roy Orbison performing It's Over(2:50) (Monument Concert 1965)

Anony-Mouse said...

Thank you Mel Rosen for a very nice and challenging puzzle - got a Wednesday (!) - and thank you melissa b. for your wonderful blog and really nice pictures... especially the AT&T stadium ... wow !

Cairns, which I wag'ed, seem like a good idea for a garden. I was wondering if Cairn Terriers look like one, or guard them ? Wiki says about them ... 'Thus if one is kept as a household pet, it will do the job of a cat, specifically catching and killing mice .... '. For all you cat lovers, out there, ... a hint of things to come. (lol).

Mordechai ( Mottie) Hod was the Israeli Chf. of the Air Force in the 6 day war.(1967). I'm pretty sure its a different root word.

Esters are the organic 'salts'. An 'inorganic' salt is an inorganic acid ( say, Hydrochloric Acid ) neutralized by an inorganic alkali (say, Sodium Hydroxide, lye ) to form an innocuous substance like Sodium Chloride, common salt. An ester is an organic acid ( say, phenol) stabilized by an organic (alkali) ( say, Ethyl alchohol). Common, simple esters have fruity smells ( citrus, NOT Vanilla - ) and occur naturally or are manuf. industrially to be used as flavoring. TMI ?


ALT QOD:- The USA trails in gold medals because every time we win one we hand it over to China to pay off our debt. ~ Stephen Colbert.

No politics meant. Have a good week, you all.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning Melissa and all.

Got the NW and SE quickly but the spanning diagonal was cranky at first. Sussed the theme with EXAGGERATE, and that set the stage for getting DEFEAT ADVERSITY and TENNIS SHOT. The rest filled in quickly after that. I thought 'sails force' ➟➟ FLEET was quite clever, too. I love seeing pictures of the FAROES; cruise ships do call there (in Summertime). Math ratio augered for a trig function; SINE was first guess.

Among other things "Steady as SHE goes" is a helm order which means "Steer as needed to continue current heading". (The helmsman selects the amount of rudder to maintain the heading)

Enjoy your hump day.

Anonymous said...

"I've seen a little of comedienne Sarah Silverman on YouTube. She can get a little raunchy, but she sure is funny."

Yeah, she sure is...
unless one finds making fun of the mentally retarded to be anything but funny.

HeartRx said...

Good morning melissa, C.C. et al.

Like Dudley, it was a bit of a head-scratcher for me until I got to the theme reveal, then went back and filled them all in pretty quickly after that. Anyone else have Naticks at the crossing of 32D SARAH and 43A MORAN? Then there was 47D NITTI crossing 62A ERIK. Both of those crossings were pure WAGs for me.

The theme didn't do much for me. And I don't think TENNIS SHOT works for "(Over)head". Overhead shot, maybe, but not plain "overhead". I think of overhead as "cost of running a business", or "up in the air". (hmmm, UP IN THE AIR is the same number of letters as TENNIS SHOT.)

...also did not like the partial I MOVE and suffixes ITES, STER and ESE all in the same puzzle.

grumble...grumble...grumble...

Yellowrocks said...

This was an interesting puzzle. First I filled in the entire NW quarter, guessing SUPERVISED and perping DEFEAT. Then I dropped to the bottom and realized that OVER fit as the unifier considering the 2 partial themes I had in the NW. From then on it was a walk in the park.

Ibsen was Norwegian, but lived in Sweden in his last years, so Oslo was my first choice.

Years ago I was a big fan of Robert Stack as Eliot Ness in the Untouchables. Nitti was often featured in the show.

Erin Moran owed $315K on her home. When the bank foreclosed she refused to leave and was eventually evicted. I read she now lives in a trailer park.

I used to love playing Clue with my grandson, first with simplified rules when he was quite little. He soon got the point and we moved on to the official rules.

Thanks for the lovely pictures, Melissa.

Dennis said...

Good morning, Melissa Bee, C.C. and gang - great blog and pics, and an interesting puzzle today. Once I had 'supervised' for 17A, 'Saw' and had my WTF moment, I went looking for the unifier, and then the rest of the puzzle went quickly. Only problem was with 44D, 'Deep penetrating pain relief', where my answer didn't fit.

As C.C. evidently mentioned earlier, we're in the process of purchasing a home down here, finally. Should be in by mid-October. I'm a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of varieties of local flora on the property, which include Hibiscus, Gardenia Bougainvillea, Night Blooming Jasmine, Bird of Paradise, Mexican Petunia, Plumbago, Ficus, Croten, Dwarf Palm, Coconut Palm, Areca Palm Bamboo, Lemon, Lime, Mango and Avocado trees. Anybody have any expertise/suggestions/warnings on any of these? Other than the obvious, of course (hire somebody).

Have a great day; do something fun.

Anonymous said...

San Franciscans can take pride in being very health conscious and selective in their diets.

If you specifically magnify the ATT stadium picture, lower left side - the blonde guy, in the white and orange Tee shirt - lower left foreground, is eating cereal and milk with a spoon - at a baseball game. That's healthy eating personified.

Blaise, which means lisp or stutter - is also a name for females. St. Blaise is the patron saint for sufferers of sore throats.

Mari said...

Nice puzzle. A bit tough for me, it took me longer than usual - even after I figured out the theme.

CAIRN was new to me. Once I had CAIR I added an O to make CAIRO. I thought maybe the clue referred to the pyramids, etc. in Egypt - certainly meaningful piles of stones.

I have a 1924 and a 1929 Chicago telephone book in my collection. Back then they listed your occupation along with your name, address and phone number. Apparently in the 1920s a common occupation was to be a HOD carrier.

Frank Nitti was the financial brains behind the Capone organization. Unlike Capone, Nitti was quiet and conservative. He quietly assumed the reigns after Capone went to prison. In 1943 Nitti found himself in some hot water, and rather than go to prison he committed suicide. Nitti and Capone are buried a stones throw away from each other in Mt. Carmel Cemetery.

kazie said...

I thought this was a bit hard for Wednesday. I felt I was shooting in the dark as the theme answers appeared one by one with perps. Then when I got to the unifier, and it looked like it would be OVER, I had to go back and test it with the themes I already had before the Aha! hit and I quickly completed 36A and 46A. I also tried STELE before CAIRN.

Montana said...

I worked this puzzle across and down, across and down, over and over until I finally finished it. I struggled in the NE corner for a long time. Got the unifier, but that didn’t help me. Needed Melissa’s explanation before it made sense.
Shortly after a son got married a few years ago, I flew to AU. My DIL and I flew to NZ where she took me on a quick tour of the South Island by train, rented auto, bus, boat and 5 passenger plane. I was most interested in the glaciers, not the mountain peaks, but we saw a lot of NZ in our travels.
Have a good day, everyone,
Montana

Argyle said...

The somewhat famous cairn on Walden's Pond. You can bring a rock or take a rock is the way I remember it.

Yellowrocks said...

While hiking in the U.S.A. and Europe we found found numerous CAIRNs marking the trails where there were no trees for blazes. Especially in Scotland where much of the landscape is wide open we were happy to find them to keep us on track.

There is a tennis stroke called an OVERHEAD demonstrated here.
Link Tennis,anyone?
Mari, interesting info about Nitti.

Art said...

One expensive CAIRN.

Unknown said...

Did a pretty good job on the puzzle, but never got the theme. I'm so glad I can come here and get it explained to me:}

kazie said...

If you look again at Argyle's linked pic of Mt. Cook, you'll notice its signature double peak which makes it easily identifiable. Much of NZ's scenery is easily as spectacular as any I've seen in Switzerland or elsewhere.

Last week, we were in Door County, WI. Along the Lake Michigan shore, there were several beaches and rocky areas where people had created little groups of "cairns" just for the fun of it, presumably to see how long they'd last before being tumbled by the waves.

CrossEyedDave said...

The puzzle was a tough go until i finally sussed "tennis shot", then the theme unifier. The theme answers then fell quickly, but some of the fill i had never heard of (nitti?) & 43D could have been "AORAKI" ( is it obvious i had to Google Mt. Cook?)

I often use Google Earth to research my hikes, & the included "Panoramio"
shows peoples photos of the locations, like this one titled "mother of all cairns" on an unmarked trail in Harriman/Bear Mtn State Park, N.Y.

Hope you all have smooth sailing,,, steady as she goes

Nick said...

I'm gonna remember MTCOOK as "Paramount logo". (Lemme guess, that's not even correct.)

Had NOTFINE and couldn't really figure what came after DEFEAT. Had LINE for math ratio, as I kept thinking TUNNELSHOT or something. I associate "Overhead" with cinematography.

ERIK and IMOVE essentially sum up the only true Naticks (my dictionary helped me with CAIRN and a couple others).

FWIW, BLAISE from Harry Potter's last name is "Zabini". As a mathematician myself, I definitely have to prefer good old Pascal; a lot of irrational thinking could be avoided if people used his methods.

Yellowrocks said...

Art @ 9:48, after watching the artist's video explanation, I find the concept fascinating, but I kind of choke on the $700,000 price tag.

CED, I have seen many cairns in the Harriman/Bear Mtn area, but probably not that one. Impressive.

Kazie, in 2011 in the cottage area of Blackwater Falls State Park, WV, we saw where the visiting children created numerous cairns on the porch steps and beside the road just for fun.

Seldom Seen said...

Guy Code 101:

If you spot a fellow fellow's fly open, you do not mock, point or otherwise bring attention to it. Simply and discreetly tell him to ZIP it.

Lucina said...

Good day to all. Thank you for explaining the theme, Melissa.

I sashayed fairly quickly through most of Mel Rosen's puzzle with just a very long pause at NITTI / MT COOK which I eventually grokked. However, I had ABOUT at Sherlock's in progress and never reviewed it so DNF there. Drat!

Clever cluing at sails force, FLEET

CAIRNS are plentiful in Scotland and were explained in my guidebook at the time.

Have a happy Wednesday, everyone!

ARBAON said...

Dennis: On our property in the St. Pete area, We fertilize our fruit trees once a year with a citrus fruit compound. Use a spreader and fertilize out to where the branches end (that`s to where the roots reach). Might better look into a good lawn service now. They are hard to find and you`ll need one year-round. If the only way you`ve ever eaten avocado (ours grow as big as smaller egg plants)is guacamole, look up some recipes on the net. One of our favorites is avocado and grapefruit in a salad...AND slicing it on any cold cut sandwich is wonderful. My favorite way: Peeled, sliced, salted. BTW: Save your Christmas poinsettias...they grow down here/there! What I enjoy and hate the most is wearing shorts and flip flops @ Christmas. (Aloe vera are good plants to have and they are quite prolific!) Your MAIN foes will be moles, gnats , ants and moss! (It`s a parasite and will kill fruit trees and other plants.) Carry on!

desper-otto said...

I had finished the puzzle at the dentist's before I figured out the theme, and before being called into "the chair." Look ma, no cavities!

We've got about a dozen cairns in our woodlot -- pet cemetery. Every now and then DW has to go out and buy some more river stone to replenish the ones stolen by the coons, and occasionally to mark a new grave site.

You can see why they call those NZ mountains the Southern Alps...and why Peter Jackson decided to film The Lord Of The Rings there. Stunning.

Hatoolah, I think maybe your mathemetician's destiny was to become an arsonist. Or perhaps a fireman.

I too remember NITTI from the old Untouchables TV show with Robert Stack.

Bill G. said...

Fun puzzle and theme.

Marti - having played a lot of tennis, the shot is most often just called an overhead, not an overhead shot.

Bougainvillea is pretty but is hard to control and has seriously painful thorns.

Bob Healy said...

S.O.B. (Sweet Old Bob) here and there.
I'll fess up. Been reading the blog for 1+yrs. About time to say, Hello. Not a hard go today but
did enjoy it. Dennis, magical garden if attended to.
Mt. Cook - W-O-w in deed. Strangler Cairn - the
beauty and violence in nature. Well said and a
most interesting concept. We get a family of field
mice around here from time to time. Thought of
getting a cat but we have a number of bird feeders so have not. Perhaps a Cairn terrier would work, Yankees are giving Sox fans
something to cheer about. Cheers to all

Anonymous said...

A surprise to this non-native: Citrus trees have thorns!

Husker Gary said...

Clever and helpful theme once I got it. Fall feels like it is here with cool air and fresh north breeze. An good OMEN?

Musings
- CAIRN and FAROE new to me
-Congressmen and Senators Toe The Line if they know what is good for them
-No ANTACIDS here with omeprazole in the morning
-Did all of you grow up without A/C? How’d we do it?
-NFL will start season without their referees and will use replacement REFS. Could be interesting.
-Roy O is my fav balladeer!
-Our church used to invoke the name of St. Blaise and put crossed candles on the throat along with a blessing to cure or prevent sore throats. I thought/think it is silly but if someone finds comfort in it…
-There were no CAIRNS at Crazy Horse memorial but you could take a piece of the mountain out of a box for a contribution of some sort
-Seen, mom used to say, “Your barn door is open”

Misty said...

Delightful puzzle, Mel--many thanks--even though I only got the reveal at the end. Thanks for the picture of the Ibsen Museum, Melissa. I love Ibsen's plays and don't know how I missed that museum when my mother and I visited OSLO many years ago. I also loved both pix of the HOD.

Sad, sad story about Erin MORAN, Yellowrocks. How can that be? Don't actors get residuals or something for such popular old TV shows? Sad.

We're going to watch a Verdi opera DVD with one of our widow friends tonight--along with having pizza. Sounds like a good evening, doesn't it?

Have a great Wednesday, everybody!

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

I struggled with this one today, but am not at my best. Needed perp help everywhere. Not thrilled with the fill-in-the-blank theme, but will give high marks for creativity.

A French clue for a Roman Numeral neatly captures a lot of what I hate in a puzzle. High marks for compact concentration.

for some reason TART gave me all kinds of trouble.

SARAH Silverman is raunchy, funny, and very, very thin.

I won't have to be EGGED into taking an afternoon nap.

Happy Midweek and
Cool Regards,
JzB

Anonymous said...

Good afternoon everyone.

Thanks for an interesting puzzle, Mel, and a colorful write up, Melissa.

I DNF because the SE corner had me.
But my favorite was I MOVE because I enjoy parliamentary rules and act as parliamentarian at my church's annual meeting. (But I'm not a real one.)

Truly enjoyed today's workout.

Cheers

Abejo said...

Well, I sent a lengthy paragraph and it did not take. If I have time I will re-write it.

Abejo

Dennis said...

ARBAON, you're probably right about the lawn service. I was hoping to do it myself, given my temporary free time, but it's no doubt best left to the experts. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

I can't agree that HOD is obscure. For example, a quick check of the web showed that Amazon sells a hod for plaster work. But TTTT, I'm a very poor judge of what others will consider obscure. This is a constant headache in my puzzle composing.

Never been to Oslo but ... Ibsen was Norwegian so OSLO was an easy guess.

Loved the theme and when I came upon the revealer I used it to help the last couple of theme entries.

Gerry

CrossEyedDave said...

Seen @ 10:17am

Took me a while to realize you were referring to 33A, but it did make me remember the Friends episode about putting the mouse back in the house.
(5:33)

Tinbeni said...

Melissa: Wonderful write-up & links.
Mel Rosen: Thank you for a FUN Wednesday offering.

A bit of a slog until I figured out the theme reveal OVER (and how it was being used).

Hahtoolah @6:17: AROD crossing DAMN (Yankees) got LAUGHS from me.
Especially with the "Evil-Empire's" play against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Marti/HeartRx @8:03 Erin MORAN and SARAH Silverman were gimmies.
Also, I figured over 25% of the solvers knew at least one ... so NOT a natick (per the Rex Parker definition when he coined the term).

Only write-over: For 14-A, Part of a Clue guess, I had ROPE (the weapon) before ROOM emerged.

Cheers to all at Sunset!

MR ED said...


Dennis,
Where are you moving to?

Seldom Seen said...

CED/Husker: Funny thing about that video clip from last night's game: the T.V. commentators thought that Dusty and pitching coach Bryan Price were discussing whether or not to bring in a lefty to face Chase Utley. Didn't know until this morning that Price was simply telling him that K-mart was open. Occam's Razor?

Irish Miss said...

Hi Everyone:

Late to the dance due to busy morning.

For some reason, I zipped through this puzzle in record time, especially for a Wednesday. Never saw the clue for the unifier because I was filling the downs and never bothered to check the across clues. Thanks to Melissa's great expo, I saw the light! Nice work, Mel Rosen.

Happy Wednesday!

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. What Barry said about entering STELE before having to change it to CAIRN.

Actually, CAIRN should have been my first choice, since I was acquainted with and friends with several of them; I'm referring to people, namely the huge Pitcairn clan of northeast Philadelphia. They apparently liked to name their houses (mansions actually, castles even) this-or-that cairn, eg Cairnwood, Cairncrest, Glencairn, etc. My classmate and lifelong friend and I competed for the attentions of another classmate of ours, Marcia Pitcairn. Nope, she married neither of us.

Jayce said...

Melissa, did you take that photo of AT&T Park? It sure is one heck of a view!

Mari said...

Irish Miss: Better late than never. Glad to see you made it to the party!

Anonymous said...

Hmmmmmm, lemony quencher.....

Bill G. said...

A friend from Fort Bragg in northern California recommended a book which she then sent to me. I was dubious since I typically read fiction but I'm almost halfway through and loving it. It's called "Heartbeat of the Sun" by Bob Berman. Even if this doesn't sound like your cup of tea, I think you might enjoy it anyway. Did you ever audit a class in college because the professor had a reputation of being a great speaker? I did. This is like that. He writes about his subject authoritatively, lovingly and with wit. I have learned a lot and enjoyed the process.

Here's a little Archimedes puzzle: Suppose you’re sitting in a boat in a very small pond, just you in the boat with some large rocks. The weight of both you and the rocks is causing the boat to float very low in the water. You decide to toss the rocks into the pond. (I suppose the only logical reason they were in the boat in the first place is so I could pose this problem.) When you toss them into the pond, will the water level in the pond rise, stay the same or go down? (This is a theoretical math puzzle. Any actual change would be small and hard to measure.)

Dennis said...

MR ED, already here - Boca Raton, FL. We've been renting for several months while we looked for a home, and hopefully have found one.
BTW, I don't know if any of you have done it, but I'm using the G.I. Bill for the first time, and good Lord, do they make you jump through hoops. Worth it, though -- got 3.2%, which beat the hell outta everyone else.

PK said...

Thought the puzzle was clever, but I sure muddled about in it. Never got the NE corner because I had LIvE and ILLdO. After the OVER reveal kept trying to plug some word for expenses in the TENNIS line.

First had CAche for CAIRN. My daughter has two CAIRN terriers. She tells me that Scots marked their territory lines with CAIRNs and breed their wee dogs to keep the little critters out of them. Her two dogs go nuts every time they see a squirrel. The squirrels know it and like to sit out of reach and tease them on walks. Never have caught one.

Teaching parliamentary procedure to 4-Hers was a continuous goal. The hardest to remember for them was to say, "I MOVE we do...." They wanted to say, "I make a motion we do..." since the president would answer by saying "We have a motion to do..."

DUH moment: I wondered why I'd never before heard Louis XIV's last name of Quatorze. Groan!

ARBAON said...

Finally finished the puzzle! Favorite clue(s)? NONE of the theme answers!
10 and 64a plus 1, 9 and 57d are all clues better used on Th and Fri. In 18a, I missed the second "to" and spent way too much time trying to figure how to "award two stars."
Not meaning to be political but how can SS benefits be considered "entitlements" when we paid the money into it?
Lunch dessert today: Mix two, large instant van. pudding with 16 oz sour cream (reg or low fat). Add an undrained, 16 oz can of crushed pineapple. Mix well (no other liquids). Pat into a graham crust and chill for two hours or over night. Larrupin!

PK said...

ZIP it: As editor of my high school yearbook I got in a little trouble because I failed to notice an open fly on a front-row guy in a group picture we used in the book. He was mortified when he saw it after publication. He was always so arrogant, it struck everyone else funny. It was an honest OVERsight. Wasn't it?

Great blog, Melissa!

Anonymous said...

ANON To each his own. We liked it.

windhover said...

Hahtoolah:
A corollary to your quote:
"I could agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong".

HeartRx said...

Bill G. @ 2:21, "Eureka!" I think I have it!

And thanks for the info on TENNIS SHOT for (Over) head.

BTW, if moss is a "problem" in your yard, you can always turn it into an asset. DH and I fought moss in a backyard garden before we finally got smart, and started cultivating it, instead! Now we have a beautiful Zen-type space with hostas, ferns and heucheras growing happily in a bed of moss...

Irish Miss said...

Melissa, I just checked the pictures of AT and T Park and Mt. Cook. Absolutely stunning, although the one of the Park hit my acrophobic button!

Long-ago neighbors had a Cairn Terrier by the name of Dustmop which was quite fitting as she looked like one and her "parents" were in the house-cleaning business. One of my nieces has a Bernese Mountain Dog named Barley Moe, a chocolate Lab named Mudsy, and a yellow Lab named Sudsy. People come up with all sorts of names for their pets.

Hahtoolah said...

Windhover: I do miss your wit!

CrossEyedDave said...

Bill G. @ 2:21

I knew your Archimedes puzzle was a sneaky one, & not the obvious answer, but it takes about an hour of youtube videos to prove it. Along the way i discovered Pascal's principle, very interesting!

All this reminded me of something i found about a year ago. How would you like to pump water 300 feet uphill, using only gravity. No fuel, no electricity. Sound impossible! Check out the Hydraulic Ram Pump! (7:44)

For those who cannot wait out the 7:44 minute proof, here is how it works in a 45 second animation.

Now, if you will excuse me, i am sure that electromagnetism is somehow tied in with gravity. I hope to be back soon with video's of my antigravity device...

Spitzboov said...

Bill G - The pond level goes down.

Lemonade714 said...

Mel and mustang mel together again for the first time. All day at the county rrecorder's office; they do like to take their time. Dennis, VA loans are a pain but they do save money; be sure you have an attorney look things over as the process in Florida is different from NJ or NY. Despite their claims most tile companies do not know how to close a VA loan. Taking care of grass which is crabgrass growing sand is alos not worth the effort; an expert is needed.

If you like to read about Frank Nitti etc. Max Allan Collins writes very interesting historical mysteries, with Nate Heller the Chicago character. LINK He is a very prolific writer who you may know from Road to Perdition which began as a graphic novel.
lykkelig Wenesday.

Lemonny quencher; thanks Mel and you too anon

Anony-Mouse said...

Bill G., Re your Archimedes problem. You haven't made clear whether you are looking at,

1. The pond water level vis-a-vis ( the sides of -) the boat.
OR
2. The pond water level vis-a-vis the shoreline.

If we assume the water density (or specific gravity in Metric units, which is the same ) at 1.0 , ...... Rock ( which mineral ??) density about 2.2 to 3.2 grams/cc - say 3.0....... Human density is approx. 0.98 to 1.062, say 0.98... Density is in grams per cubic centimeter (c.c.) or Kilograms per litre. One litre being equiv. to 1,000 cc's.

A rock of 30 kilograms weight (mass), at a density of 3.0 will have an 'actual' volume of 10 litres .... but will 'occupy' volume of 30 litres of water, 'equivalent displacement' whilst in the boat.

1. Dumping the rock into the water will allow the boat to rise,( ride higher ), so the water level of the pond vis-a-vis the sides of the boat, will FALL relevant to the boat.

2. However, the water level in (2. above ) .... of the pond relevant to the shoreline will REMAIN THE SAME .... because although less water is being displaced by the sunken rock, ( only 10 ltrs. 'actual' volume compared to 30 ltrs.of 'equivalent' volume)... the difference is made up by the lower boat displacement, by riding higher.

Now, if human beings, in chains, were being thrown overboard, as in the scene from 'Amistad' .... somewhat more complex, will depend upon the average combined density of the human body and the (per man - ) chain metal.

PK said...

Arbaon, Please clarify which type of moss you mean is a parasite. I'm guessing you mean the gray Spanish Moss which drips from southern trees, not the ground-hugging very green moss we see farther north.

Dennis, if you are into do-it yourself, maybe they have a county ag-college extension program which would have pamphlets on local growing situations and an agent you could talk to. Or a Floridian-written gardening book.

kazie said...

Anon @ 11:35,
I have a dwarf lemon tree in a pot, and it also has thorns which develop into leaves, twigs and branches if left alone long enough.

Dennis,
Congrats on the home purchase. Glad to see you finally settled. that garden sounds like a dream too. have fun with it!

Lemonade714 said...

PASCAL was a truly important figure in mathematics, physics, economics, philosophy amd religion. Fermatprime may be also a pascaline...

Seldom Seen said...

Still stuck on the fly:

Three letter fill has been suspect lately. Do you think that "letters on a fly?" would be an acceptable clue for YKK?

Or is YKK even acceptable fill?

Anony-Mouse said...

CrossEyedDave, thank you, thank you, thank you for the 2 youtube videos on the Ram pumps. I would not have believed it until I saw it with my own eyes ( on Youtube, no less ! ). That people are actually using it means it is a so-so-commercially viable and practical utility, under certain conditions.

Movement of water takes power, ( Newton's 1st law)... to use gravity maybe useful in our toilets and such - but with the long ( 800'!) narrow pipes, in the video - would cause high friction loss of power, major viscosity and eddy current losses - it is a miracle that the water even reaches its destination. Whoever discovered or invented this is a genius, and applied to certain 3rd world nations, could get a Nobel Prize.( The water would still have to be purified - ).

In Switzerland, which has very little fossil fuels, coal, oil etc. they run the thermal power plants at full steam, day and night - and in the night, when the power requirements are low - they convert the extra power, by pumping water uphill 900' to reservoirs - and they let the water flow down, during the day, when the power requirements are higher - and make the extra electric power using hydroelectric turbines. ... But we are talking state of the art, Swiss technology at very high efficiencies (over 80%)... This has been done for the last 30 years.

Dennis, congrats on your new house ... I trust your DW has recovered from her adventure. We buy a type of moss, called Rock Fungi, which is delicious in Chinese cooking ... I wonder if it can be grown in your garden. Good luck in your new house.

PedantTheBrit said...

Dennis @ 8:23. Please, please, ON NO ACCOUNT should you eat ANY of the lemons, limes, mangos or avocados from your trees! Wrap them up carefully and send them to me, and I will make sure they are disposed of properly...

Re: Rollbars from yesterday. I bow to your superior knowledge - I put it down to yet another example of Brit vs. Yank usage. In my own defence (or in your case, defense), I did take a quick look at Wikipedia before writing that post and it said:

Roll bar, also known as anti-roll bar or sway bar, a torsion spring bar that reduces vehicle roll.

Roll-over bar, similar in purpose to a roll cage and fitted to many convertibles and similar open-topped cars.

So I do feel somewhat vindicated. Although I am going to continue to say to-mah-to and you can't make me say to-may-do!

ARBAON said...

Of course it`s Spanish moss...sorry...non-natives would wonder.
My Dad, a born-there native, would nearly wait under the oaks daring any to fall on his yard or drift to his citrus trees!
My Mom, another born-there native, would use the moss to designate "walls" in her play house when she was a girl. (that`s when children still had play houses!

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, Hands up for needing the unifier to finish the theme answers.

I couldn't remember Erin Moran so that middle section was the last to fall. The Faroe Islands were completely unknown. I also had put in sour for tart, so the eraser got a good workout today.

Thanks MB for the great writeup. I loved the link for the Feroe Islands. So beautiful.

I thought of Spitzboov when Fleet emerged.

I'm taking an exercise class for improving balance and muscle strength. I've really gone down hill and I'm now a member of the Y. I didn't get to the puzzle until late today, as the class cuts right into the middle of my day.

We just had quite a thunder storm roar over our house. A little shower followed. For an area that sees maybe two thunder storms a year, this was an event. Also, the last rain was several months ago. I think Fall is coming fast.

Anonymous said...

Michele

Blaise was new to me. I didn't get the them either which is unusual for me. Enjoy reading the blog and will sign up when I can!

Chickie said...

Dennis, the Creeping fig variety of (ficus) can be very invasive if you have a brick or stucco wall. It likes to climb and makes a mess of things. Other than that all the tropicals sound wonderful.

You'll have year round blooms if you have all of those plants in your garden!! Sounds glorious.

Welcome Bob Healy. If you've been lurking for over a year, you are already acquainted with most of us.

Dennis said...

Thanks for all the advice; I've noted all of it.
Just a point of clarification: it's not really a garden, all those different varieties are scattered throughout the property, front, sides, and back yard. And Chickie, fortunately there's nothing growing on the walls. However, I may be climbing the walls if I attempt to take care of everything.

Bill G. said...

I've mentioned before that I'm a BIG fan of Sophia Vergara. Pretty, sexy, smart, sexy, intelligent, sexy, funny... I had never heard of her until about eight months ago. I just came across a rerun of her appearance on the Ellen Degeneres show and I laughed all over again. Here it is. Sophia.

Here's my answer to the Archimedes puzzle: When the rocks are in the boat, their weight is being exactly balanced by the buoyant force of the displaced water. The amount of displaced water weighs the same as the “floating” rocks. When the rocks are tossed into the pond, they sink and displace an amount of water equal to their volume. Since the rocks are more dense than water, the amount of water equal to their weight is greater than an amount of water equal to their volume. Therefore, they are displacing a greater amount of water when they are in the boat and the water level in the pond will fall slightly when the rocks are tossed overboard. This is probably more about Archimedes than you ever wanted to know.

Spitzboov said...

Dennis - Congrats on the new house. We have some hardy hibiscus in our yard. Very showy; a close relative of the Rose of Sharon. Should easily attract hummingbirds.

Anony mouse - Switzerland does not have a lock on pumped storage. We have a large pumped storage facility here in upstate NY, Blenheim-Gilboa with 1000MW nameplate capacity as built in about 1973. The upper reservoir has about 12000 MWH storage. When the complete pump cycle and generation cycles are combined, and allowing for electrical/transformer losses, the combined efficiency usually does not exceed 70%..

Bob aka SOB, welcome aboard.

Chickie.- As long as you are thinking about a naval FLEET, I feel honored. The other Fleet involving a certain posterior injection; not so much.

Yellowrocks said...

Dennis, I would love your property but would find the landscaping problems daunting enough to hire help. Otherwise I would not dare to buy it. I’m chicken.

Pedant, my sense of popular usage says that ROLL BAR was used correctly in the puzzle. My research was like yours, but still I was unconvinced that ROLL BAR was wrong. Perhaps it is a Brit vs. American thing, as you said.

My intuition accepted OVERHEAD as a standalone tennis shot. My research (see my link) and Bill G. confirmed it.

We used to say, Your barn door is open. We also said You're slipping when your slip was showing.

Yellowrocks said...

Before you can jump on it, I meant YOUR slip.

Bill G. said...

CED, thanks for the info on the hydraulic ram pump. I had never heard of that before and I find how it works interesting.

ARBAON said...

Always glad to hear when a deserving veteran gets to use a program made for them. Nam vets (just like middle east war vets) didn`t/havent get/gotten the satisfaction of winning a war even with all their sacrifices...you/they deserve so much more...
A good example of why!

PK said...

Arbaon @8:30: great link on veterans. Thanks

Argyle said...

Musical link to the clues. I had no idea there were so many songs called "It's Over".

Jimmy Rodgers wrote and sang It's Over(2:40). Elvis recorded it later.