google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, October 2, 2012 Don Gagliardo & C.C. Burnikel

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Oct 2, 2012

Tuesday, October 2, 2012 Don Gagliardo & C.C. Burnikel

 Theme: Uh O's - The last word in each theme entry ends with ?O. No O ending answer for non-theme fill.

17A. Wagon boss's directive : "WESTWARD, HO!"

39A. Replay type, briefly : SLO-MO

61A. "See?" follower : "I TOLD YOU SO"

11D. "War on Drugs" slogan : "JUST SAY NO"

28D. Nickname in Olympics sprinting : FLO-JO. Florence Griffith-Joyner

34D. "Hold on!" : "DON'T LET GO!". Music video.(4:40)

Argyle here. That is a neat crossing in the middle. No duplication of the letter preceding 'O' either.

Across:

1. Funnylady Rudner : RITA
 
 


5. Pack the groceries again : REBAG

10. Eyes, to Juanita : OJOs. Spanish.

14. Oodles : ALOT

15. Condescend : DEIGN

16. Ivory soap ad word : PURE

19. Suffix with opal : ESCE. Makes it a verb.

20. Arnaz of "Here's Lucy" : LUCIE. Lucie Désirée Arnaz is the daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz

21. "Bewitched" witch : SAMANTHA. With Endora, her mother, and Tabitha, her daughter.

23. PennySaver listing, usually : SMALL AD. Anybody doesn't have a PennySaver in their area?

26. Pitches well? : SELLS

27. Lacking direction : ADRIFT

29. Home of Dolphins and Marlins : MIAMI. Football and baseball teams.

32. Bunch of bills : WAD

35. Potted herb spot : SILL

36. Deep valley : CANYON

37. Winged deity : EROS

41. Cabinet dept. concerned with power : ENER. (energy)

42. Symbolize : DENOTE

44. Cup of joe : JAVA. (battery acid, brew, caffeine, café, café au lait, café noir, cappuccino, decaf, decoction, demitasse, espresso, forty weight, hot stuff, ink, jamocha, java , joe, mocha, mud, perk, varnish remover)

46. Singleton : ONE. For those who would rather use a long word.

47. Failed to act : SAT BY. Usually idly.

48. One of the M's in MoMA : MODERN (Museum of Modern Art)

50. "The Hunger Games" actor Kravitz : LENNY. Actor and so much more. Wiki.

52. Places in a pyramid : ENTOMBS

56. Scrambled alternative : OVER EASY

59. Give a hoot : SHOUT. Like, hootin' and hollerin'.

60. River isles : AITS. British Dialect.

64. Prego rival : RAGU

65. Nixon staffer G. Gordon __ : LIDDY

66. Get ready, as for surgery : PREP

67. Food for hogs : SLOP. Slopping the hogs(0:55)

68. Close call : SCARE

69. Discontinues : ENDS

Down:

1. "Unmistakably Lou" Grammy winner : RAWLS
 
 

2. Intestinal section : ILEUM

3. Puccini classic : TOSCA

4. Head Hun : ATTILA

5. Dietary guideline letters : RDA. (recommended daily allowance)

6. Always, to Pope : E'ER. Alexander Pope (1688 – 1744) English poet.

7. Many eBay clicks : BIDS

8. Filled with horror : AGHAST

9. Pointy-hatted garden character : GNOME. One gnome's story. Link.

10. Talk show caller's opportunity : OPEN LINE

12. Theater sect. : ORCH. (orchestra) "Down in front"

13. "__ penny, pick it up ..." : SEE A. "and all the day you'll have good luck."

18. Uses a blowtorch on : WELDS

22. Soprano Gluck : ALMA.(1884 – 1938) She lives on in crosswords.

24. Give up one's seat, say : ARISE

25. Herb used in borscht : DILL. Not in all borscht recipes; for a simple beet soup, there sure are a lot of variations.

30. Big name in faucets : MOEN

31. Memo starter : IN RE

32. Marries : WEDS

33. Field of study : AREA

36. Witches' assembly : COVEN

38. Recovers from a night on the town : SOBERS UP

40. Whipped up : MADE

43. Actress Daly : TYNE. Still not appearing on TV's "Burn Notice". (Thank you, Irish Miss.)

45. Pretentiously highbrow : ARTSY

48. "__ River": 2003 drama directed by Clint Eastwood : MYSTIC. IMDb.

49. Pessimist's phrase : "NO HOPE"

51. Catches red-handed : NAILS

53. Weep for : MOURN. Don't Cry for Me, Argentina.(5:54) Elaine Page.

54. Cleared tables : BUSED. Just one S because BUSSED as a whole different meaning.

55. Calls it quits : STOPS

56. Rowboat pair : OARS

57. Perfume container : VIAL

58. "Star Wars" philosophizer : YODA. "Do, or do not. There is no 'try'."

62. Pres., for one : LDR. (leader)

63. Hide the gray, maybe : DYE


Argyle

1) Note from C.C. & Don:

Don came up with this theme. This is our original grid. As you can see, we have more theme entries, but also EGO, USO, ERATO and other O ending non-theme entries. Rich thought the theme is subtle and should not contain any O-ending non-theme fill. So, a total re-do. Twice actually. The grid was challenging to fill without OREO, ONO, ADO, and other small *O words that we depend on so often.

2) Yesterday Boomer and I met the delightful Lucina and her three lovely sisters at Mall of America. Click here to see a few more pictures. Lucina is just as warm and witty as she is on the blog.

 

74 comments:

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Just the right amount of pepper in this new DGCC collaboration. A few surprises here and there, such as the Lucy/Lucie distinction. Forgot Aits, but perps took care of that. Bused looked strange with one S, but then I had no idea there was a difference in meaning. Live and learn.

Cheers!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Hrrrmmmm...

What can I say? I love C.C. and Don, but this one just felt flat to me. I was expecting tons of tricky clues when I saw who the constructors were, but didn't really get any.

"Words ending in 'O'" doesn't really seem like much of a theme, to be honest, and I wasn't even sure that was the theme because there were some long answers that didn't end in an "O" (like SAMANTHA, SOBERS UP and OPEN LINE).

SMALL AD doesn't seem like real phrase to me, and NO HOPE seems equally awkward (at least the way it was clued). Everything else was fine, but nothing really popped for me. And there seemed to be an unusually large number of names today (LUCIE, SAMANTHA, RAWLS, LIDDY, LENNY, ATILLA, ALMA, FLOJO, MOEN, TYNE, YODA).

Ah well. It certainly wasn't a bad puzzle by any means. Sorry I can't be more positive about it.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Argyle and friends. Interesting puzzle, but, like Barry G, the theme didn't grab me. Some fun clues, though.

FLO-JO, tragically, died at the very young age of 38.

I was amused by the intersection of STOPS and ENDS.

No OVER EASY eggs for me. I prefer my yolks fully cooked. How do you like your eggs cooked?

No DILL in my borscht. As Argyle noted, there can be lots of variations.

Lucina: Nice photos. How nice you and your sisters were able to meet up with C.C.

QOD: There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in. ~ Graham Greene (DOB: October 2, 1904)

thehondohurricane said...

Howdy folks,

I had a difficult time getting started today because the North gave me fits. I wanted LUCEE for LUCIE, the D in 15A & 5D ended up being a wag, for 19A I had ENCE instead of ESCE. All in all, it took some doing to clear the North. The Central & South were much easier although for 54D I wanted to squeeze in BUSSED. BUSED just doesn't look right to me.

With all that going on, I never even thought about whether or not I liked the offering. But unlike Barry & Hahtoolah, no complaints. Considering my issues in the North, it was a bigger challenge than a normal Tuesday offering. That made it more fun.

My other dilemma was 33D Field of Study. AREA doesn't seem right to me. Sorry, too early for me to come up with alternatives to the fill.

desper-otto said...

Good morning, all!

I started off wrong in the NW corner. "Unmistakenly Lou" made me thing of Lou GRANT played by Ed ASNER, and the answer was 5-letters long. It just had to be...not!

C.C, great photos of you and Lucina. Looks like you're having a ball at MOA.

"Don't Let Go" reminded me of this song.

The names didn't bother me today -- only FLO JO was sports-related, and I actually knew that one. LIDDY would be a gimme for anybody who followed the Watergate fiasco.

Best misdirection: Scrambled Alternative. Hatoolah, I like mine poached with the white totally set, but not the yoke. I guess that's poached overeasy.

Dennis said...

Good morning, Argyle, C.C. and friends - I found this to be a solid Tuesday-level offering; the fills came easy with minimal ambiguity. Loved the crossing of 'FloJo' and 'SloMo'.

hondo, 'area' has become pretty common crossword fill for 'Field of study'. It's had a lot of play over the years. Also, as with you, 'Bused' never looks right to me.

Lucina, C.C., great pictures. The Mall of America's on my (rather lengthy) bucket list.

One week until closing. I'm gonna miss the hell out of living on the beach, but it's been a great six months. At least we're keeping this place until the end of October, so I can wean myself off slowly.

Have a fun day.

Barry G. said...

Oh -- and with regard to BUSED/BUSSED...

It's true that BUSS means something completely different from BUS. However, BUSED and BUSSED are both acceptable past tenses for BUS.

But yeah, BUSED just looks wrong to me as well...

Anony-Mouse said...

Very Nice and somewhat challenging puzzle by our dynamic duo, CC and Don. G. Thank you. Your pictures at the Mall are a delight - you all look very, very pretty, and so very chic. ( - if I may say so - ).

Thank you also, Argyle for your interesting commentary.

ALT QOD:- A cop nailed me in a car pool lane. He said I was driving alone, but I told him to check the trunk. ~ Doug Benson.

Have a nice week, you all.

Tinbeni said...

Argyle: Great write-up. Really enjoyed the RITA clip.

Don G. & C.C.: Like Dennis said, I also thought this was a solid Tuesday offering.
Wonderful theme, liked it A-LOT !!!
(Plus, I wouldn't DEIGN a puzzle, since I'm not a constructor).

Were they trying to clean up the the East sex-biz when they said: WESTWARD-HO ???

Hmmmm, SOBERS-UP ... yeah, like that is gonna happen.
But I do like my morning JAVA.

Cheers to all at Sunset.

Mari said...

Good morning everybody, this was a pretty quick turn for me. No complaints.

I also thought of Lou Grant for 1D.
I liked seeing FloJo, I always thought that was a cute nickname. It's sad how we sometimes hear of athletes in excellent health who die suddenly. The Chicago Marathon is coming up here. Sometimes healthy marathon runners die during or shortly after the race.

Maybe I should quit going to the gym and start guzzling JAVA and some eggs OVER EASY, although I prefer OVER HARD. Or a good omelet. Hmm...now I'm getting hungry!

MYSTIC River is an excellent book by Dennis Lehane.

Mari said...

PS: Nice photos! I went to the Mall of America several years ago. I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked, but DH did take a turn on the roller coaster.

How about you gals, did you enjoy any rides while there?

Anonymous said...

Sorry the puzzle bored you, Barry. Looks like you'll just have to find your excitement tonight at the Drool-n-Stool.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. thank you, C.C. and Don G., for a swell puzzle. thank you, Argyle, for a great review.

Hahtoolah. I like my eggs Sunny Side Up, with the snot cooked.

Liked this puzzle. Seemed appropriate for a Tuesday.

Got the theme after I was done.

Took a while to get DEIGN. Not a word I really use.

Liked Argyles words for JAVA. Lots of truths in those.

Who can forget G. Gordon LIDDY, or the rest of the gang.

I actually remembered COVEN. Scary isn't it?

ILEUM reminds me of that test I had last fall that I will not mention, but that I will never forget. I passed.

Off to the eye doctor for my six month tests. I am committed to him for the rest of my life. Glaucoma can be disasterous.

Then off to PA later.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

Abejo said...

Oh, by the way, good photo of C.C. and Lucina. Hope you had fun in Minnesota.

Abejo

PK said...

Hi Y'all,

In this fun puzzle lots (18) of "O's"--which is what ONE says when ONE finally "gets" the clue! Only thing missing is "Uh OH Spaghetti-Os". Light-hearted morning start, C.C. & Don, thanks.

Great links, Argyle. I had never seen Rita Rudner. Funny!

Did you notice also that the ENDS/STOPS cross halts the puzzle? AITS? OOOh!

Hands up for Asner first. Gee, I thought Lenny Kravitz was some old wrinkly guy. Don't watch either rappers or award show enough, I guess.

I like DILL in potato soup. Creamed chopped hard-boiled eggs on toast was always a family favorite on Easter morning to use up all those colored eggs.

No PennySaver here.

C.C., Thanks for sharing the jaunt with Lucina and crew with us.

Dennis said...

Ok, I'll bite - what's a 'Drool-n-Stool'?

Argyle, I forgot to mention - great job with the blog. Was fun to read.

No PennySaver here either.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone. Good commentary, Argyle.

Nice picture of two beauties adorning this morning's intro. Great that Lucina and C.C. could meet up. We stopped at Mall of America in 2001 during our return from a Navy reunion in Medora, ND, Quite a place.

Got most of the cw fairly easily and most theme fill with the 'o' ending. Misspelt ILEUM at first and wasn't sure about RAWLS so it took a little while to 'see' WESTWARD HO. Did not know DILL was in borscht but it made sense. A WAG. Interesting that the '--O' fill is balanced on the diagonal acrosses and downs. The work is evident. Nice shoutout to the COVEN. No nits, no lookups. BZ to the constructors.

Yellowrocks said...

Don and CC, I found your puzzle interesting and worthwhile. I didn't catch the theme.

We use DEIGN ironically. So you deigned to honor us with your presence. LOL

I liked pitches well=SELLS.

The names were no prob,, especially compared to Saturday's tough names.

SINGLETON in bridge is common, referring to holding only one card in a suit, SINGLETON ace for instance.

Sunny Side Up, with the snot cooked? Yuck! How inelegant! My son calls the seeds and juice of a fresh tomato, snot. It turns me off.

WESDTWATD HO, I love novels about the wagon trains and, especially the Oregon Trail. The women usually had no say in whether to leave their homes or not. They were very hardy, brave souls.

Great pics Lucina and CC.

Tinbeni said...

Mari @ 8:09
Dennis Lehane is one of my favorite authors.

Came across him with his first book, "A Drink Before the War."
(With a title like that, how could I pass it up?)

His latest (Live By Night) is due any day ... and takes place in Ybor (part of Tampa) and its connections to the underworld (the Tampa branch of the mob).

Dennis @ 8:38
Don't you get "The Flyer" weekly PennySaver with your "other" junk mail ???

As for my daily reaction to these grids ...
Oh well, I guess I'm just an optimist.
I really ENJOY my morning LAT crossword puzzles.
I appreciate the time and effort the Constructors & Editor give to create something that gives me such pleasure to solve.

Cheers !!!

Mari said...

Tin @ 9:05 am: I'm looking forward to reading Live By Night.

Dennis @ 8:38 am: I'm also wondering about the "Drool-n-Stool".

Yellowrocks said...

We taught in American grammar that when single syllable verbs end in one vowel and one consonant, you double the final consonant before adding –ed and –ing: “bat, batted , batting.” “Bus, bused” is a rare exception. “Bussed” referring to clearing tables is listed in the dictionary, but the Associated Press Stylebook prefers “bused.”

In verbs of two or more syllables the above rule applies only when the final syllable is accented, for example: “prefer, preferred, rebel, rebelled, allot, allotted, debar, debarred.”
The final syllable is not accented and thus not doubled in “cancel, canceled, travel, traveled, label, labeled, pilot, piloted, offer, offered.”

"Cancelled and travelled" are British spellings. They are in the dictionary and are not flagged by spell check. However, the AP Style Book does not accept them. To be safe, if you follow the above rule, you will seldom err in American grammar, (except for "bus, bused.)"

I’d rather be bussed or given a yellow rock, than being bused to work or school. Oh, honey!

kazie said...

lovely pics, C.C. and Lucina!
Hope the weather is holding for you, Lucina.

Today I thought was going to be hard for a Tuesday, but then I got a toehold and managed it all with no real problems. Several unknowns though: RAWLS, ILEUM, SMALL AD ( no penny savers anywhere I've been, so unheard of) and AITS.

I also was slow to get RITA, as I couldn't get past GILDA (Radner), and wondered why Desi wouldn't fit for LUCIE. I was never turned on by Lucy after her initial shows either--later on they just seemed too dated. All the actors seemed to be yelling at each other all the time.

The Wizard said...

Having a Russian wife and having spent several years (off and on) in that country, I have come to realize that borscht is the Russian equivalent to American chili, i.e., everyone has their own recipe. It is very regional and depends on what is in the garden, market, or fridge at the time it is being made. As with chili, the debate rages on as to what is REALLY borscht. BTW, I have never tasted one I didn't like, chili or borscht!

kazie said...

I want to mention this--it's my reason for not getting here sooner today and not having much time. I received an email this morning purportedly from Delta, confirming a flight booking I had not made. I immediately called the airline to check that nothing had been booked in my name, and they confirmed that the ticket number in the email was invalid and that nothing had been booked. There was a link of course, which I did not open, but which would presumably have led somewhere allowing the scammers to get into my computer. I also checked all our credit card accounts and came up with no false charges.

So now I'm breathing easier, but I wanted to warn you all to be on the lookout for something similar. I imagine some people might be tempted to see more by clicking the link before checking any other way first.

Anonymous said...

Isn't Barry G. the one who uses "dross" to demean others' efforts? Isn't there a saying about the pot and the kettle?

Dennis said...

Kazie, that's an excellent point. Other tipoffs are "Dear Customer" instead of your name, and/or the website that comes up when you move your cursor over their link. If it's not the right name (in your case, 'Delta.com', don't click it.

Sfingi said...

I wasn't impressed with this puzzle (sorry).
First, it was like 3 separate puzzles which could stand alone with a couple changes. The NE and SW puzzles were connected by 2 expressions only. This reminded me of NY Post puzzles which are always substandard.
Also, I didn't notice a theme. Was there really one?
And is LDR really a legitimate abbrev.?

I like my eggs well done, not bloody.

Thanx Kazie, just in case. I suffered the Estonian virus which didn't involve $ but cost me plenty to clean up. Also, agree on Lucy. Not much love here.

@Yellowrocks - that's also related to the way to determine long or short vowels. In the singular, long vowels are followed by an E. So, tape, tap; taped tapped.

chin said...

Fun puzzle today but no real problems. I first had G. Gordon Libby but I must have been thinking about my Aunt Libby! Love the word deign, should use it more often. No Penny Saver here but I have lived in places where it was published. Wish the Rita Rudner clip had been longer. Her delivery is spot on.

Qli said...

Such a treat to see one of my favorites, RITA Rudner, as the opening clue of this puzzle! Thanks, C.C. and Don (and Arglye for including the clip). We saw her in Las Vegas; beautiful AND hilarious.

Knew Lenny Kravitz as the son of Roxie Roker from The Jeffersons. Classy lady, Roxy. SAMANTHA, TYNE, and YODA are other favorite characters/actors. Guess my tastes are somewhat eclectic. I also like eggs OVER EASY.

What wonderful pictures of the girls at the mall. My sister lives ten minutes from there. On our last visit we had some great fish tacos at a little tropical-themed restaurant. Wonder if the fish was walleye, being in Minnesota and all?

DILL in borscht is something my paternal grandma used to do. Yum! we called it "Grandma Soup" when we were little.

BUSED didn't look right, but the perps were solid, so I went with it. Nice to have some spelling rule refreshers from some of you who know about such things.

Misty said...

I'm always delighted when I see that it's a Dynamic Duo puzzle and look forward to C.C.'s further info and explanations. This one was a speed run for me, and although I got the theme, I didn't get all of the O words. So thanks, Argyle, for that help, and for all that coffee! I needed that this morning.

My faucet is delighted to have been featured in a puzzle.

And Lucina and C.C., you look terrific!

Have a great Tuesday, everybody.

Anonymous said...

This puzzle had Monday written all over it. Pretty lame over-all. It's quite a let down when it doesn't even take 5 minutes of your time to fill it in. I expected better.

Dennis said...

Ah, jealousy rears its ever-so-ugly head again...

Bill G. said...

Hot Tuesday here. I enjoyed the puzzle but got stuck for a bit in the lower-right corner. Also found BUSED to look odd.

I've never met an egg I didn't enjoy eating; over medium, scrambled, soft boiled, hard boiled, omelets, etc. I haven't had a frittata but I hope to soon.

Puzzle for today: Humphrey’s Mom and Dad finally let him get a motor scooter. He got out a screwdriver and put on the license plate. Then he drove over to his girlfriend’s house. She noticed that Humphrey had put on the license plate upside down. As he was fixing it, she said, “Look at that! Your new license plate has five digits, all different. When it was upside down, the number was larger by exactly 7,920 than it is now when it’s right side up.”
Can you figure out the number on Humphrey’s license plate?

Gunghy said...

As Barry noted, there are a LOT of names. And when you cross RITA (who?) LUCIE (Who in Heck?) and RAWLS (Oh, yeah, him) in one corner, I'm screwed. And SMALL ADS just ain't used in my corner of the world.
Actually, there's something wrong with my Mac and it randomly kicks me back a page. I had everything done except that NE corner and it spared me the agony of quitting by kicking me out to the answers.
Rest was a very doable Tuesday.

Ron Worden said...

Good afternoon to all, thanks Don and C.C. For a fun puzzle. Great write-up Argyle. I didn't get the theme but filled in the squares without any smudges.
Whether driving a bus, or busing tables,I have done both, neither is all that much fun.
Hatoolah I like mine poached on an English muffin.
Have a great day to all.RJW.

Anonymous said...

I like my eggs all in one basket.

Spitzboov said...

Blond license plate.



SO A PIRATE WALKED INTO A BAR...

A pirate walked into a bar, and the bartender said, "Hey, I haven't seen you in a while. What happened? You look terrible.""What do you mean?" said the pirate, "I feel fine."

"What about the wooden leg? You didn't have that before."

"Well," said the pirate, "We were in a battle, and I got hit with a cannon ball, but I'm fine now."

The bartender replied, "Well, OK, but what about that hook? What happened to your hand?"

The pirate explained, "We were in another battle. I boarded a ship and got into a sword fight. My hand was cut off. I got fitted with a hook but I'm fine, really."

"What about that eye patch?"

"Oh," said the pirate, "One day we were at sea, and a flock of birds flew over. I looked up, and one of them pooped in my eye."

"You're kidding," said the bartender. "You couldn't lose an eye just from bird poop."

"It was my first day with the hook."

Gunghy said...

Drool and stool: Visit an industrial area that requires early morning deliveries. Somewhere in there you will find a bar that opened at 5:00 AM. If you stick your head in around noon, you will understand the term.

Our favorite troll is demonstrating once again that he is the definition of dross.

Dennis said...

Gunghy, thanks. Yes, much more the definition of 'dross' than that used elsewhere...

Spitz, both laugh out loud funny.

CrossEyedDave said...

Yay! Another $85.00
(Oh well, $42.50 anyway.)

Wees, but not wEes. I liked the puzzle theme, but did not really notice it as i was too busy scratching my head about things like 48A Moma could be museum, or modern. ( i put in the 1st M & the E, & came back later.) I was sure "overeasy" was going to be "omelette," or is it "omelets." I have seen both ways in the dictionary, but i have no idea why?

52A places in a pyramid was a nice piece of misdirection. I Googled it (after i finished the puzzle, i didn't cheat, i was looking for something funny. Sheesh!) & this came up?

My biggest problem is i think i need new glasses, "a cup of joe" looked more like "a cup of ice" with a slight smudge.

NW was the last to fall, as i had no idea who Rudner was. Thanks for the clip Argyle.

Spitzboov,,, you asked for it!!!

A pirate walks into a bar with a large ships wheel sticking out of the front of his pants. The bartender says, "what's going on with that?"

The pirate says, " i don't know, but it's driving me nuts!"

Mari said...

Spitz @ 12:32 PM: A guy walks into a bar and bets the bartender $5.00 that he can bite his own eye.

The bartender thinks, "That's impossible!!" And takes the patron up on his bet.

The patron promptly takes out his glass eye, bites it, and pockets the $5.00.

A moment later the same patron bets the bartender $10.00 that he can bite his OTHER eye.

The bartender thinks, "Oh come on! That's impossible. The guy walked in the bar unaided, so I know he's not blind."

So the bartender takes the patron up on his bet, and places $10.00 down on the bar.

And then the patron promptly takes out his dentures, bites his other eye, pockets the cash and leaves.

Hahtoolah said...

An 85-year old man walks into a bar and sidles up to the younger 65-year old woman and says to her, "So tell me, good-looking, do I come here often?"

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Well, I liked this puzzle. I found it to be Tuesday easy but no so easy that I didn't need a perp here and there.

Rudner is such a unique last name, which, along with the clue "funny lady," immediately led to RITA. I have liked her for a long time. Once having the R in that upper leftmost square, coupled with the clue that there was a Grammy involved, I knew it had to be Lou RAWLS. I've liked him for a long time,. too.

I didn't fully get the theme until coming here. I saw WESTWARD HO and I TOLD YOU SO and never noticed the other theme entries. Now that Argyle pointed it out, I am filled with PURE appreciation. The FLOJO and SLOMO crossing is inspired.

I am amused by the DILL and SILL crossing. I guess Hahtoolah and I are easily amused.

I love eggs almost any way at all, but I usually scramble myself a couple every morning. I scramble them "soft," so there's just a hint of runniness left. Of course LW always uses Chinese "pi dan" (preserved egg) when she makes zhou. I think the character "pi" means skin. Maybe "leather egg" would be another possible name?

Husker Gary said...

We had to wait an hour to tee off this morning due to frost on the greens but it was sunny and fabulous when we finished at noon. I shot 9 good holes, 9 horrible holes and then 9 great holes.

Musings
-Blew by the theme (looked for directions after WESTWARD HO) but had fun
-It’s hard to remember when SLO MO was not used in athletic contests. Huskers needed it on this lousy call
-RITA makes you laugh with wit and class
-Joann has REBAGged our groceries when I put too much in one bag
-LUCIE played a wealthy cosmetics mogul in a Law and Order episode entitled Bitch
-The Miami Marlins are drawing the fewest fans in a new stadium in 30 years and have a manager that praised Fidel Castro in Miami. Yikes!
-Give me my morning coffee and nobody gets hurt.
-I always teased Joann about saying easy over instead of OVER EASY. Now she gets scrambled.
-I’ve got the high bid so far on a 5 Hybrid on eBay as of now.
-What movie had the line “see a penny, pick it up…” precede a character being knocked out by a car door?
-We watched the wonderful Clint Eastwood baseball/daughter movie Trouble With The Curve yesterday and it is now third to Field of Dreams and A League of Their Own for my fav family/baseball movies.
-It’s my job to set and BUS the table here and Joann does the stuff in between.
-Great pix of Lucina, her sisters and our fearless leader.

Jayce said...

BTW, I think I recall Jazzbumpa has also used the term "dross" in his comments.

Thanks for the photos, C.C.

We don't have PennySaver here.

Spitzboov, loved your pirate joke!

Irish Miss said...

Good afternoon everyone:

Late to the dance due to eye doctor appt. and lunch with sister Eileen. My vision is still blurry from the dileation drops so I had a little trouble doing the puzzle, but, after a shaky start, finished strong.

Put beet instead of dill! Duh. I guess my brain was as blurry as my vision. Liked the intersection of slow/mo and FloJo, and Ragu over slop. Nice job, CC and Don, and nice expo, Argyle. BTW, it is Sharon Gless who is in Burn Notice, Tyne Daley's partner in Cagney and Lacey.

Lucina and CC, you look terrific. It's great that you were able to meet each other.

Happy Tuesday.

Jayce said...

Husker Gary, are you familiar with the hepatitis C "outbreak" that happened in Fremont, NE, a few years ago? The reason I ask is because I'm considering whether to download a book called "A Never Event" which is about that outbreak.

Irish Miss said...

Sorry, dilation. Still can't see very well.

Jerome said...

C.C. and Don are unmatched as a crossword writing duo. Their non-theme phrasing is simply masterful.

Husker Gary said...

Jayce, not only do I know about the outbreak, a friend and colleague got hepatitis from that. The cheap SOB/DR had the nurses reuse needles. Once they got it nailed down he was back in Pakistan and out of the reach of local law enforcement in a heartbeat.

Some of his local employees who were following directions lost their licenses.

I had not heard of that book.

Bill G. said...

Spitz, loved the pirate joke. Actually, I liked all the jokes. Not a dross one in the bunch.

Lucina and C.C., great photo. Lucina, I'll bet it's cooler there than in Arizona.

desper-otto said...

Spitz, loved your pirate story. It's so much better than those groaners you were posting a while back. The license plate was cute, too.

Argyle, your Rita Rudner clip was very funny. I knew the name, but had never heard any of her routines.

Bill G, I spent an inordinate amount of time on your puzzle, and finally threw up my hands in defeat. Please post the answer tomorrow.

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2
-I agree with what Jerome said (says). I admire puzzle constructors and know I will come in for much “nitpickery” when I try one on my own.
-Tin’s new theme (with apologies to the McGuire Sisters) – “Coffee in the mornin’, liquor in the evenin’, sugar at suppertime” ;-)
-Dean Martin auctioned off his fake glass eye in Sons of Katie Elder. The George Kennedy character was not amused.
-All BUSSING did in Omaha before it was abandoned was get people mad and fill up the parochial schools to overflowing.
-We have a 2 egg poacher that produces perfect poached eggs after you use it in the microwave for 45 seconds (as per Otto’s description).
-I love seeing pix posted by our merry little band!
-A man walks into a bar. He incurred several bruises and contusions.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

I really liked the puzzle! Thanks to CC and Don! Thanks also to witty Argyle. No problems, but had to stare awhile to get theme.

Rita Rudner is my favorite comedienne.

Swell pictures, CC and Lucina, et al.

Cheers!

Argyle said...

Irish Miss, I think that is the second time I've tried to put Tyne Daley in "Burn Notice". Fifty lashes with a wet noodle for me.

Bill G. said...

Desper-otto, here's how I approached the license plate puzzle. I started by figuring out what digits could be used upside down. I came up with 1, 6, 8, 9 and 0. I also noticed that the digits would be upside down and reversed left to right. I decided six and nine would have to be on each end so that when they were flipped and reversed, they would produce a zero in the ones place and the ten-thousands place.

Argyle said...

I love my eggs deviled.

Anonymous said...

Good evening all.

Late to the party. Busy day. I thought this puzzle was more like a Thursday. (Sorry C.C. and Hard G.) DNF, obviously. Of course I didn't catch the theme.

Great pictures of all of you. Thank you Lucina and C.C.

Missed TOSCA which seemed obvious, but I couldn't put LUCIE in when Lucy was in the clue. So I was clueless. Loved the ones the leaped out like LIDDY, MODERN, EROS, etc.

Cheers

ARBAON said...

Have a new printer and have done everything but the cables. Can`t figure them out. SO no longer sees well enough to help :( I plugged in the one I thought was correct and I got the message "does not recognize usb cord.") Anywho (sic)...don`t have time to do the puzzle on line...I like to print it and do it as a take rest stops. This one looks interesting!
CC, you are so adorable and Argyle, you are so naughty! :)

Lucina, so nice to put a face with the recipes...wonderful smile!

Yellowrocks said...

Argyle, you devil you. I agree, although, I love eggs almost any way at all.

Anonymous said...

Taking a stab at "drool and stool". A shady bar with maybe a pole dancer and people who get wasted pretty badly. How close did I get?

aka Thelma said...

Gunghy 12:12

My mac does the same thing. Really nice when you are in the middle of doing something. :( Tho this one has other quirks also... :)

Pookie said...

A man walks into a bar, sits down and orders 3 glasses of beer. He drinks all three beers then leaves.
The next day he comes into the bar, sits down and orders 3 glasses of beer. Curious, the bartender asks why he orders 3 glasses of beer each day. The man replies, "I have 2 brothers in the armed forces. We each drink a beer for each brother that isn't here,in case one of us doesn't make it back alive." Having drank his 3 beers,the man then leaves.
This goes on for a few weeks, the same thing happening each day. One day he only orders 2 glasses of beer.
The bartender, realizing that one of his brother must've died, offers his condolences. The man replies, "Oh no, my brothers are fine. I've just quit drinking."


Re: BUSED. The solution is "BUSDED"
as in "DROWNDED". I hope that settles it. :-)

klilly said...

Thank-you yellow rocks for the explanation about bused. I really enjoy this blog because I always learn so much.

desper-otto said...

Arrrgh! Bill G, I included 2/5 in the "reversible" group and concluded that in order to get 2 in the 10's place I'd need an 8 and a 6. Therefore, 9 couldn't be at the end. Things went downhill from there.

Seldom Seen said...

Check out our U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles on 9/11/12. You can see me around 1:16 in sec. 131, row g, seat 2.

Video Watch in full screen for great hd quality

Pookie said...

Don't think that Lou Grant could win a Grammy for this
Lou Grant singing

Lemonade714 said...

Very enjoyable puzzle, I always enjoy the theme answers being both across and down to add spice to the chase. By now people should understand common proper names are proper clues/fill.

C.C. and Lucina y sus hermanas, muy encantador.

Love all the jokes, thanks for starting Spitz.
Too busy but I'lllll be back. (Is Arnold the biggest idiot you have seen lately?)

Lemonade714 said...

Jeannie, I hit again! All buy accident.

Anonymous said...

buy accident insurance? why?

rita said...

My favorite

My grandmother asked when she would be a great-grandmother, I told her when she did something outstanding

Misty said...

Okay, guys. I just spent fifteen minutes downloading all your pirate and other jokes for my disabled husband. His walking may be impaired but his sense of humor isn't. Many thanks--he'll love them!

Anonymous said...

Lemonade714 No. Barry G. comments here everyday!

Irish Miss said...

Argyle @ 4:03 - No wet noodle lashes necessary; we all make faux pas. Like my beet instead of dill! :)