google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, Dec 8th, 2012, Doug Peterson & Brad Wilber

Gary's Blog Map

Dec 8, 2012

Saturday, Dec 8th, 2012, Doug Peterson & Brad Wilber

Theme: None

Words: 68

Blocks: 23

Another DP&BW duet - we saw their last collaboration Oct 13th, and.... this one had me stumped to start, with WAY too many empty squares after the first pass across and down.  Lots of names and Dan Naddor-style* two-word fills, but I WAGed a few spots, and took a gamble on some others, and slowly the grid filled in, from the bottom up - which is appropriate, since we have an "ascending" staircase pattern today (as I see it), with some chunky corners and four double-stacked spanners;

15. Frankie Carle signature song that became a #1 hit : SUNRISE SERENADE - I defer to JazzB for the link

17. Cast off inhibitions : LET ONE'S HAIR DOWN - Wonderful fill

46. Popular household reference since the 1930s, as it's commonly known:  THE JOY OF COOKING - who here at the blog is a regular "subscriber"~?

49. Helter-skelter : ALL OVER THE PLACE - and "Santa" can find a suitable musical clip for this one - you know me, I'll put up the Mötley Crüe cover

oN wArd ~!!!

ACROSS:

1. Got out of a shelter : ADOPTED - Aww, I want one~! (Mike, who collaborated on the solving of the last DP-BW puzzle has one of these)

8. Slender watercourse : RIVULET

18. Peppy : ALIVE

19. Ken Jenkins's "Scrubs" role : KELSO - Never watched it; this guy

20. __ Bo : TAE - the martial arts exercise, and our first "Bo" for the day (41A.)

21. Captain in an 1870 sci-fi classic : NEMO - Ah, not AHAB

22. "The Colossus" poet : PLATH - Ah, not PLATO

23. Unyielding : FIRM

24. Cube root of ventisette : TRE - no clue; foreign language math - Italian ³√27

25. Visibly touched : TEARY

26. Cyclist's challenge : GRADE - well, I knew we were talking about a hill, so I thought maybe CREST

27. Prison periods : TERMS - not YEARS

28*. Take part : JOIN IN

29. Genre that influenced Paul Simon's "Graceland" album : AFRO-POP - this was my favorite song from that album, and it's not "You Can Call Me Al" (may have to skip ad.)

32*. Flees : BEATS IT

33*. Redirecting sign : NO EXIT

34*. Irk : GET TO

35. Grandiose, as rhetoric : TUMID

36. Blanc and Pelat : MONTS - I was thinking colors, not that I know what French color is "Pelat", and the "N" was my last fill

37. Bring up the rear : LAG

40. Press : IRON

41. First dog walker, maybe : SASHA - did NOT fool me~!  This isn't the first dog in Eden, it's Bo, the dog the Obamas received as a gift in 2009

42. Sidekick role for Bruce Lee : KATO - not the KATO of the Pink Panther

43. Itinerary fig. : ETD - to avoid confusion with the words used in 3D.

44. __ Agnew, singer with Celtic Woman : CHLOE - new to me

45. Lake named for a tribe : HURON - Healthy guess, since I remembered the puzzle from last week~!

50. Queen's genre : MYSTERY - Ellery, that is

51. Cared for : TREATED

DOWN:

1. Italicized : ASLANT - our "A" word for the week

2. One who needs a second helping? : DUELER - So, who was Darth Vader's "second"~? What about Inigo Montoya?

3*. Flight board status : ON TIME

4. City near Sundance : PROVO - Utarrrgggh~!!

5. Jabber at the table? : TINE - not FORK; from now on, I am only eating my steak with a "meat jabber"

6. Tip of one's tongue? : ESE - if I am not mistaken, this refers to one's language - as in Chinese.  Notice how the "tip" moves around the globe?  Japanese, Vietnamese, American, Canadian, Mexican...Irish, English, Swedish....Irani, Iraqi, Hindi, and, um, French?

7. Dorm room buy : DESK LAMP

8. Land and buildings : REALTY - ugh, not ESTATE

9. Notre Dame squad, familiarly, with "the" : IRISH - DAR~!! My first thought, and I didn't fill it in

10. Florida's __ Beach : VERO - where is this on Husker Gary's map?

11. Coblenz conjunction : UND - My first thought, filled it in, and I took it out....

12. Countrymen who kick off their rainy season with a Rocket Festival : LAOTIANS - I had ---TIANS, and I was pretty sure it does not rain on Mars....

13. Foe of Robert the Bruce : EDWARD II - Oh, I thought I had a shout-out, but RICHARD did not fit

14. Film noir setting : TENEMENT - not BASEment - hey, it could have been....

16. Wool-gathering aid : SHEARS - Weed-whacker wouldn't fit ?

22. "Waiting for __": Time magazine cover of 5/25/1992 : PEROT - LaLaLinda....HAR HAR, a play on the play "Waiting for Godot"

23. __-Lay : FRITO - chips and dips, baby

25. Warmish : TEPID

26. Fall guys : GOATS

27. Lionfish's weapon : TOXIN

28. Volkswagen compact : JETTA

29. First major Civil War battle on Union soil : ANTIETAM

30. When Santa calls "Vixen," in poetry : FOURTHLY - so timely~!  Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and fourthly, VIXEN, with one's hair let down?

31. Does over : REMODELS

32. Screenwriter called the "Shakespeare of Hollywood" : BEN HECHT - this guy

34*. Opposite of get tough : GO SOFT

36. Arthurian chronicler Sir Thomas __ : MALORY

37. Rustler's rope : LARIAT

38*. Opposite of whenever : AT ONCE

39. Kicked off the stage, in a game show : GONGED

41. Not as forward : SHYER

42. Friend of Oliver J. Dragon : KUKLA - before my time; more here

44. Pirate's recess : COVE

45. Optimism : HOPE

47. Scribble : JOT

48. "Now __ the one half-world / Nature seems dead": Macbeth : O'ER

Splynter



Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to Jazzbumpa (Ron), the coolest economist (He blogs at the Angry Bear), trombonist, baseball nut (Tigers & Mud Hens) & grandpa. Below are two photos from his big family Thanksgiving gathering. Click here for more.)


Left to right, his son Eric, daughter Karen, Ron (with a nice IPA), granddaughter Rebekka, her dad Doug and aunt Beth.

Front: Rebekka, Emily, Lauren, Samantha, Josh, Nate, Abby. Alexa.
Behind are Ryan, Amanda and Danny.



77 comments:

  1. This is a far cry from a Mötley Crüe cover but like this puzzle(and our solvers), this is a "everywhere" song(2:38).

    And for kazie, the original. Video(2:26).

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  2. Hello Puzzlers -

    Roared right through this one, at least as measured by Saturday standards.

    Just dashing off to catch a bus to New York City. See you on the other side!

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  3. Morning, all!

    Almost threw in the towel on this one due to time constraints after multiple passes and only a half-filled grid for my efforts. Finally guessed VERO Beach and that gave me LET ONES HAIR DOWN and that was the tipping point for me that let me get it done.

    So much unknown stuff today (CHLOE, MALORY, KELSO, TUMID, BEN HECHT) and too many tricky clues to mention. Thought "Queen" was referring to the musical group and really didn't want to let go of CALYPSO at 29A. Favorite clue was "first dog walker, perhaps" for Sasha.

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  4. This was too easy. (7:32)

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  5. Good morning Splynter, C.C. et al.

    Happy birthday Jazzbumpa!! I hope you have a real cool time today.
    .:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.

    Wow, this one was a total speed run for me, and I finished in half my typical Saturday time. I skipped over 1A but immediately filled in RIVULET. Took a hiatus at the two spanners until I had some perps filled in, skipped ALIVE, but knew KELSO, TAE-bo, NEMO and PLATH. From there, it was just fill in the blanks.

    I liked the misdirection of “Queen’s genre” for MYSTERY, and “First dog walker” for SASHA. I should have known BEN HECHT because I am a big fan of his movies. “Notorious” has to be one of the greatest thrillers ever written. I tend to go the kitchen when the credits are playing, so never notice who the screenwriters are…but I finally got it through perps. Fun puzzle, and nice exposé, Splynter!

    Have a wonderful day, everyone!

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  6. Good morning, all.

    Instead of a Saturday Silkie we got a Saturday Quicky. I agree with Marti, this one came in at about half the normal Saturday solving time.

    I think Graceland is Paul Simon's best album by far. My favorite song from it is Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes 5:48 The whole song is good, but the first minute is outstanding.

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  7. Argyle, I tried to watch your I've Been Everywhere link. I get the picture and the opening chord and then the screen goes black and the sound stops. That seems to happen to me often on YouTube. Is there some plugin that I'm missing?

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  8. Oh -- and Happy Birthday to Jazzbumpa!!!

    [Seriously, though -- nobody else had a problem with TUMID?]

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  9. Barry, glad you mentioned that. Tumid doesn't even show up in spell check. Must be Ersatz!

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  10. This was not a walk in the park for me, but just a tad more than a typical Saturday. All the names in the top of the bottom third slowed me down. I guessed all but one.

    The N in Ben Hecht was my last fill, too. When I got Ben Hecht by googling I was abashed. I was thinking of a last name only. and there IS a Mort Pilat. I knew of Ben Hecht and MONT Blanc and Mont Pilat. GRR!

    TUMID is in the Kama Sutra. Do you guys read any racy books? In the puzzle it is right near GO SOFT. I have heard TUMID in relationship to SWOLLEN prose, but more as DF. My spell check accepts it.

    Thanks for a fun challenge Doug and a great write up, Spynter.

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  11. HBD Jazzbumpa!

    YR, if I'm reading you correctly TUMID isn't overblown, it's more pre-blown. Is that right?

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  12. Invigorating Saturday walk in the park. Thank you.

    "Seriously, though -- nobody else had a problem with TUMID?"

    No.

    "Tumid doesn't even show up in spell check"

    It shows up in dictionaries.

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  13. Well, there seems to be another "Al Cyone" here. Go figure.

    Anyway, I had the top half filled while the bottom half was mostly empty. And, for some reason, I had a mental block with FOURTHLY. And TUMID (?) was no help. A fun challenge. [19:28]

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  14. desper-otto, I have no idea. Is it just on those clips or are all the YouTube clips bad?

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  15. When I see a Doug and Brad puzzle with that much white space, I tend to cower. It might have been a little easier than their typical offering, but was certainly no cake walk. Got it done, but not without reservations. Tumid indeed. The T was my last fill. Never heard of it and will forget it by noon, but the perps were solid.

    I'm a fan of "The Joy". We have the 1979 and 1997 versions, and wouldn't be without either. The older one has more reference info, the newer has a greater variety of recipes.

    Happy Birthday, JazzB. Hope it's a great one!!

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  16. Tumid indeed. Yes, it is in the online dictionaries, but whoever heard of it? Thank goodness for perps!

    Happy Birthday Jazzbumpa!!!

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  17. Argyle,
    Thanks for that trip down memory lane. I was going to mention it but couldn't remember the singer's name. I think Lucky Starr does it a lot faster than the American Hank Snow version, and with place names a lot harder to pronounce.

    Happy birthday, Jazz!

    As usual my Saturday puzzle efforts were less than stellar, but I got about two thirds of it. Having ESTUARY/RIVULET held up my northern section and the perps there didn't help at all. The bottom came out fairly easily, but there were other blanks along the way too.

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  18. Clip I found with the lyrics.

    What's a bluey?

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  19. Argyle, a "bluey" is a hobo's pack. "Humping my bluey" means he was tramping around.

    Barry G. TUMID is often used to describe certain members in erotic novels, as YR mentioned. So I guess we both have been "outed"!!

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  20. Hi Everyone ~~

    And a HAR HAR to you, Splynter. ;-) Another wonderful write-up!

    Not as tough as some Saturdays, but a bit of a challenge for me in a few places. I guessed R instead of N at the crossing of MONT and BEN HECHT - I was thinking of BE... as the start of a last name - so, close but no cigar!

    ~ Like Barry, I thought of the musical group for 'Queen' so MYSTERY was slow to fill.

    ~ TUMID was a complete unknown but perps filled it.

    ~ I was fooled by 41A - 'First dog walker...' SASHA ~ loved the deception!

    ~ I taught 'Fourth' grade for many years but for some reason FOURTHLY seemed odd to me.

    ~ All in all, a very enjoyable Saturday puzzle ~~

    Happy Birthday, JazzB ~ wishing you the best as you "slide" into another year!

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  21. Good morning:

    For whatever reason, this was not a good week, overall, for puzzle solving and today was no exception. I finished but not without help. Themeless puzzle grid-spanners give me fits.

    Good job, Brad and Doug, and nice expo, Splynter.

    Happy Birthday, JazzB; hope it's a fun-filled day for you.

    Happy Saturday.

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  22. Not to be confused with "bluey", a "blue" is a fight. Then there's a blue-tongued lizard as well.

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  23. Hi gang -

    Thanks for the BD wishes. I might take a shot at the puzzle later. Busy day.

    Concert came off better than anyone could have expected last night. Very exciting performance.

    Gotta run.

    Cool regards!
    JzB

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  24. Congrats to all of you who found this very easy. In the words of that lyrical 60’s philosopher from Hibbing, MN, “It Ain’t Me Babe!” but I got ‘er done after finding ALL OVER THE PLACE at the bottom and working up ala Splynter and refusing to give in. Loved it Doug and Brad!

    Musings
    -Ironically, Joann wants to ADOPT a kitty today
    -ALIVE/brisk, PLATH/plato, TRE/due, AFROPOP/african, TUMID (spell check has no issue)?, TINE/fork, REALTY/acreage,
    -My cycling concerns are more about my anatomy than the topography
    -Somehow Let’s Roll KATO (@:58)has become what is said at this house before leaving. Talk about taking a lot of time to get going!
    -Ellery QUEEN not Freddie Mercury
    -We baseball peeps associate VERO Beach with the old Dodger’s Spring Training Site
    -I wish FRITOs loved me as much as I love them
    -Is Billy Buckner the biggest GOAT in modern baseball history?
    -If Splynter did road trips, who wouldn’t love to have him for a REMODEL?
    -Desperate, penniless pirates live again in the COVEs of East Africa
    -HBTY Jazz and what a wonderful looking family!

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  25. Good morning Saturday Solvers! Not exactly a speed run for me, but finished without Googling or coming to the blog for help. Thanks Doug and Brad for a challenging puzzle. Great write-up, Splynter. Absolutely loved the “Boy in the Bubble” link. The video has a very Salvador Dali feel to it. Here is my favorite from Simon’s latest album, “So Beautiful or So What”.

    New word of the day was TUMID. Reading Yellow Rocks’ definition reminded me of a similar word (turgid), which made me think of this guy (who is unlikely to ever GO SOFT). Like Splynter, my film noir was set in the BASEMENT before it moved to a TENEMENT, mostly because I couldn’t think of a watercourse that ended in “b”. My trusty copy of THE JOY OF COOKING has saved me from a few culinary disasters.

    A very Happy Birthday to our musical maestro JazzBumpa! And a belated Happy Birthday to Hahtoolah; I always look forward to your Quote of the Day.

    Have a great weekend everyone!

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  26. Java Mama, Hahtoolah's birthday is tomorrow.

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  27. Good morning everyone. Good comments, Splynter.

    Happy Birthday, JazzB. Nice photos.

    Got this without red letter help. Good for a Saturday. After a spotty start, I got the 2 stacked spanners near the bottom and LET ONES HAIR DOWN near the top. Built out from there. HURON and VERO were WAGS. Liked GOATS for Fall guys. While I sussed out SASHA, I think the 'D' in First dog should have been capitalized. It's a specific dog and sort of a nickname. Can't find a citation, though. BTW, Bo's registered name is Amigo's New Hope. Maybe that'll be in a cw some day. Kudos to Messrs Peterson and Wilber for an interesting challenge.

    Have a great day.

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  28. Happy Birthday Jazzbumpa! It was your write ups that made me have to find out how to link things. & now i am looking for a birthday cake to link, & i was stopped dead by the results of a Google Image Search for Happy Birthday Jazzbumpa! What an interesting recap of pictures...

    The puzzle? (way over my head.)
    To give you an idea, 26A Cyclists challenge, i had GR---? Groin? No, it can't be...

    Dudley? a bus with WiFi? How?

    Desperotto, i had similar problems using Chrome, & discovered the problem disappeared when i changed my browser back to explorer. Turned out the problem was caused by an APP from Adobe for that did not work well with Chrome.

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  29. Greetings Weekenders! Splynter, thanks for all that good info.

    And, thank you, Brad and Doug for a lively challenge. I was on their wave length almost instantly with RIVULET and recalled EDWARD II from seeing Braveheart so many times. Then I was ALL OVER THE PLACE until the picket fences started to fill in and it was done though TOXIN and NO EXIT escaped me and I had to peek.

    What, no link to SUNRISE SERENADE or did I miss it??

    WEES. Most of the names here were unfamiliar to me but they WAGGED easily. The IRISH is a nice shoutout to Windhover's DW.

    TUMID?? Oh, the opposite of GO SOFT, Marti?

    Happiest of birthdays, Jazzbumpa! I love seeing the pictures of your family. They look so delighted.

    Have a super Saturday, everyone! I'm off for a birthday lunch for me with my girlfriends.



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  30. Desperotto, I solved my YouTube Probs by typing the nature of my problem into YouTube, & up popped a video of how to fix the problem!

    Speaking of YouTube, i have noticed lately the right side links may bot be the same for everyone, now that they try to customize them to your viewing history. Bummer! To top it off, yesterday they changed the whole format! I can't even use YouTube anymore! The browse button is gone! Most popular Science & tech/Pets & animals/recent... ALL GONE! (So i guess i will not be posting any more latest vids,,,Sorry!)

    Argyle, side link on my thingie from your link was this (must show the 1 @ 2:00 to Sptizboov!)

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  31. True Story:

    I go out my front door this AM to get the paper, & there is DW 1/2 backed out of the garage! I asked her what was wrong, & she said she thinks she ran over something. Sure enough, under the car we find a 2 x 3' 6lb box from DWs sister. (Her Xmas Present!) Apparently UPS had leaned it up against the closed garage to keep it out of the rain.

    Now, i have been in the house 21+ years. during that time we added a porch. I have had the UPS guy break a leg because he lost his footing in the grass trying to bypass the walkway to the front door, but i have never had anyone lean a box against the garage door.

    Now DW is going to be hopping mad when she gets back, so i called UPS to warn them to get out of Dodge. Gave them the tracking #, & they informed me it was not one of theirs. (Whew! i was hoping it wasn't Splynter!) Turns out it was USPS.

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  32. Good afternoon everyone.

    Happy birthday, Jazz. And congratulations on yesterday's performance. It sounded serious. The pictures of your family are great to see. Thank you.

    I give up quickly on a puzzle like this. I did get eight correct answers of 10 attempted. I fell for Godot and thought the FL city would be Coco Beach.

    Have a fun filled (and busy I'm sure) Saturday everyone.

    Cheers

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  33. Java Mama, I had turgid, too, for a minute until I needed to REMODEL.
    In even the most innocuous novels today at least three or four pages of racy episodes are de rigueur. I know many of you read Jean Auel's Earth's Children (Clan of the Cave Bear, The Mammoth Hunters) series. That had quite a bit of explicit sex.

    Happy Birthday, Jazz. I like you musical offerings on the Corner. I wish I could have attended your wonderful concert. Has it been recorded? I watched my grandson's concert on his computer. Have a great day.

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  34. Why are fall guys goats? I feel pretty dense today, woke up for three hours in the middle of the night. And yeah, tumid.

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  35. Happy Saturday, happy birthday and happy unbirthday depending on who you are!

    A better than usual Saturday puzzle for me.

    Last night I was idly looking at the channel guide and I came across one of my favorite movies that I had forgotten about; The Full Monty. There is a scene about halfway through that is one of my absolute favorites. Do you want to hazard a guess as to what it is? I had a friend who wasn't interested in seeing the movie when it first came out. He said he didn't care for male nudity in movies. I finally convinced him that there wasn't any nudity in the movie and that it had much more to offer. He finally gave in and he enjoyed it very much.

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  36. i am glad some didn't get tumid either. dictionary.

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  37. Stuff I forgot ~~

    ~ Like Lucina, I thought of Windhover with 9D 'The IRISH'

    ~ Beautiful family photos, JazzB!

    ~ HuskerGary ~ Thanks for the Corner map. I like to picture where people are "coming from" when I read their comments.

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  38. Hello everybody. Loved this puzzle today but it was definitely not a speed run for me. I fell for almost every misdirection there was, starting with Sundance Wyoming. At least there were enough gimmes to get me started, such as TAE and NEMO, but I still eventually had to go to the internet to learn about CHLOE Agnew. It was the only googling I had to do, since it advanced me over the "hump" so I was able to finish.

    Really wanted DETOUR instead of NOEXIT, TAHOE instead of HURON, BYRON instead of PLATH, FORK instead of TINE, and BALMY instead of TEPID. Obviously I was in deep trouble at that point. I was not fooled by Ellery Queen, though, so there's that.

    Bottom line: an excellent, challenging, yet fair and doable puzzle. Thank you, gentlemen, happy birthday, JazzBumpa, and best wishes to you all.

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  39. Desper-otto @ 8:30,
    I'm voting for you for the Comment of the Day award. I'm sure others got it; they just have too much class to mention it. I, of course, don't. :-)

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  40. The Brave Little Tailor: From Tumid to Tumescent in One Blow.

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  41. Phew. Feet tired from tramping around Manhattan. Couldn't get near the WTC Memorial - it was jammed, and you have to get a reservation ages in advance online. Oops. Resting feet in a Starbucks with WiFi.

    CED 11:10: the bus with WiFi is one of those luxury tour coaches, not a transit bus.

    I want a Reuben. Now.

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  42. I always thought it was "The Joy of Cooking". It's actually "Joy of Cooking". Hence the clue "Popular household reference since the
    1930s, as it's commonly known"

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  43. Good morning all,

    Who would have known that filling in only 8 words on my 1st trip across would enable me to finish the puzzle. The DOWNS seem to work easier for me. I actually had to guess the last letter on 3 or 4 unknowns to complete this. Oh, and I did G Sunrise Serenade.

    WONDERFUL clues: kicked off stage in a game show, and jabber at the table

    expanation needed---fall guy=goats

    Fourthly for Vixen, a stretch, but great for you Sat brainiacs.

    HBTY, Bumpa. Such a great family picture. I still remember the one taken about 4 years ago with the 11 little ones and both of you. I was amazed that you could get them to sit still.Have a great weekend.

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  44. A fall guy is a scapegoat, which I suppose is a kind of goat.

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  45. Dudley, a Reuben is one of my favorites too. I had one a few days ago but it wasn't up to par. Still, a not-so-good Reuben is still pretty good.

    My favorite scene in 'The Full Monty' involves Donna Summer's song, Hot Stuff.

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  46. Oh, Elation! All my WAGs turned out to be right for once on Saturday! I feel like the Thunder basketball player last night who had five 3-point shots go in (a rare thing) to beat the LA Lakers. Thanks, Doug & Brad. For once I got all the looong ones.

    However, I did get hung up on the SW block. Never heard of AFROPOP. I wanted euROPOP. I failed to get tumID--wanted "florid" which didn't fit. As soon as dear Splynter gave me AFRO, I saw ANTIETAM and REMODELS and was done.

    On Queen's, I was torn between the band and the borough.

    JzBmp: May the day be full of joy!

    Kazie: that blue-tongued lizard looked remarkably like my husband's sister-in-law that he called "little venom tongue". Real trouble-maker, that one.

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  47. Evening all,
    This one beat me around a bit. Was feeling smug when I got The Joy of Cooking and All Over the Place quickly
    but the rest took awhile.
    I remember watching the Gong Show (Trust me,only for the really DF crowd here.)
    Dave, I agree, the new youtube format sucks! I find going there not logged onto any account helps a little.

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  48. An hour and a half til the Nebraska/Oregon volleyball game. Dose anyone have a recipe that makes chicken taste like roast duck? We're trying to have an appropriate meal:-)

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  49. Lots of 3/4 fills that I had to guess on. Especially BEN HECHT, TUMID, SASHA, CHLOE, & KELSO. Everything else went smoothly.

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  50. The last thing we would do if we could spend a day in Mahattan during the holidays would be to spend any time in a corporate coffee shop with my eyes glued to an iPad. Must be at least a million better things to do.

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  51. Following up on yesterdays link to a Steve Goodman/John Prine song, I went prowling. I didn't realize they'd had so many collaborations. One of my favorite John Prine songs has always been Souvenirs where Steve is featured heavily. There's many others.

    I also found this: Go Cubs Go that's sort of a mini documentary on Steve's relationship to the Cubs and the revival of the song long after he'd passed. Worth a watch, it's 3:31.

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  52. Hi again~!

    CED, the "good" drivers usually bag up boxes to keep them from getting wet or snowy, and as a driver helper at Christmas for two years, some drives and walks are very tricky, especially in icy conditions.

    I have leaned heavy packages against the garage, but never the door....oh that USPS, just seems logical to me~!

    Splynter

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  53. Jazzbumpa: Hope you had a Happy Birthday, actually hope it was wonderful.

    Just "toasted" you (and "The Usual Blue Suspects") at my fabulous Tampa Bay Sunset.

    Splynter @4:47 said: "especially in icy conditions"
    Well I can assure you, here at Villa Incognito, there are NEVER ... ICY conditions,

    Cheers !!!


    PS A puzzle with, FIRM, BEATS-IT, JOIN-IN, TUMID, GO-SOFT ... is considered themeless ???

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  54. Way too easy: (1:43) (That's hours and minutes!) Fun puzzle with some tricky clues, but I don't believe TUMID is a real word. It sounds like something that's floppy and moist.

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  55. Pedant @ 1724 - That would be it alright.

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  56. Hi again -

    Oh geez, Tin, sorry....heaven forbid that horrible three-letter word ~!!!

    Splynter

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  57. Spitzboov:
    That condition would be post-tumid, would it not? :)

    And Fred:
    It seems you and Cal have nothing better to do than eavesdrop on the musings of a group of people whose biggest thrill every day is solving a crossword puzzle and then TALKING about it. I would say the two of two are several degrees more excitement impaired than we are. At least we're gazing at our own navels.
    But all the world loves a critic (except in Manhattan) so have at it, and next time you guys are really bored you might regale us with some tales of what a dynamic duo like yourselves do for excitement when you're not reading an obscure blog and then commenting on it. Looking forward to the chills and thrills that will bring.

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  58. Epiphany! That was my first New York Reuben! Katz Deli, Houston Street.

    People, there IS a difference. Mmmmmm

    ReplyDelete
  59. Dudley:
    Is that the Deli where "When Harry Met Sally" was filmed?

    ReplyDelete
  60. Lucina:
    Of course it was Katz's Delicatessen.

    This clip is just for you ...

    Yes, Yes, Yes ...
    (2:53)

    ReplyDelete
  61. And Billy looks a little bit TUMID ...

    ReplyDelete
  62. Manac and Tinbeni

    Thanks for linking. I have never seen that before.

    ReplyDelete
  63. That roasted corn was ok. Nothing like hushing a hometown crowd. Hope they don't serve roasted duck at the KFC Yum! Center. :)

    ReplyDelete
  64. Anon @ 7:36
    Maybe if you you got out of your parent's basement and stopped playing World of Warcraft you might actually see something.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Hi again -

    Just back from T-town. Gloria and I had a nice dinner with my mom and sister.

    Thanks again for all the good wishes, and especially to pas de chat for the wonderful J.J, link. He is one of my heroes.

    Dave - your link was a revelation. Lots of pics from my blog, from here at the corner, including from the BD's of other denizens, C.C. with a huge American flag celebrating her new citizenship, and lots of stuff I've never seen before. Or at least don't remember.

    Today
    I'm 66:
    Two thirds beast?

    Seeing Amanda and Em in the Nutcracker tomorrow.

    Cheers!
    JzB

    ReplyDelete
  66. Manac

    Maybe I should remove tongue from cheek. That clip has to be the most linked youtube video here at the corner. And today for a special treat it was linked twice. I'm putting a gold star on Dec.8th on my star trek calendar that hangs near my waterbed. Again, thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  67. CED, that was such a fun trip thru memory lane for many.Geez, I wish we knew how "Lolita" was doing, and Tarrajo. Glad you had a good day "Bumper".

    Jayce, thanx. I sometimes can't separate the sheep from the goats. :0

    ReplyDelete
  68. Interesting solve with it taking me a bit to get a toehold in the puzzle. Once I did there was plenty that I didn't know but it all came together amazingly smooth with few head scatching moments. I was pretty sure on my spelling of ANTIETAM but I did look over TUMID a couple of times. Hard to get the engine running but once it did it was a smooth ride. Tad harder then last week but still not as stiff as the prior two weeks before that.

    ReplyDelete
  69. I couldn't believe it. Tonight I was playing a word game on my kindle and had a space i couldn't fill. Plugged in "tumid" and, voila, it was right. I'd never seen the word before today. I suppose now it will rear its ugly head every time we turn around.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Tinbeni and Manac:

    I LOVE THAT SCENE!!

    ReplyDelete
  71. Greetings!

    Hope you had a wonderful birthday, Jazz!

    Solved this puzzle after looong nap after swimming. (Not much sleep night before.)

    Unbelievably, had more patience than usual and had NO cheats! 35 min. Thanks Brad and Doug and Splynter!

    Have 3 copies of JOY OF COOKING in bad state of disrepair. (Have huge collection of recipe books that I can no longer use. 25 of these are photo albums full of written, typed or clipped recipes.)

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  72. David, even though it is a day late, I appreciated your luminescent linguistic use of "harder" and "stiff" to evoke the tumescent pic.

    ReplyDelete

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