google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday Dec 16, 2012 Gareth Bain

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Dec 16, 2012

Sunday Dec 16, 2012 Gareth Bain

Theme: "Less is More" - LESS is attached to the first word of each familiar phrase.

25A. Coward's path? : GUTLESS COURSE. Gut course.

32A. Sleeping watchman, say? : POINTLESS GUARD. Point guard.

44A. Bro who cracks insensitive jokes? : TASTELESS BUD. Taste bud. Are you familiar with W. Kamau Bell?

61A. Chores done altruistically? : SELFLESS CLEANING. Self-cleaning.

93A. Naive Romeo? : ARTLESS LOVER. Art lover. How tall do you think Romeo is? Short men tend to be very artful.

74A. Cruel school assistant? : HEARTLESS MONITOR. Heart monitor.

107A. Pixie whose dust lacks potency? : TOOTHLESS FAIRY. Tooth fairy.

116A. Stairway to heaven? : TOPLESS FLIGHT. Top flight. The answer cracked me up. Dennis would want a different clue!

Very consistent. LESS is added to the end of the first word of each theme entry. Gareth's themes are always tight. Meaty too. No light theme in his grids. He takes no gutless courses.

I mentioned before that gridding always gets tougher when you dedicate over 100 squares to the theme. This one has 110. 

Across:

1. PC core : CPU

4. NYC airport : LGA. Unusual to have the top/bottom divided into 5 parts. Easier to have more abbrs with 3-letter fill.

7. Shia holy man : IMAM

11. Short : CURT

15. Driver's economy meas. : MPG

18. __ Tin Tin : RIN

19. Its "Concise" version has more than 1,700 pgs. : OED

20. Orkan sign-off half : NANU

21. Sailing, say : ASEA

22. Uncommon size : EEE

23. Nine-circles literary locale : INFERNO. Hot spot.

28. Oregon's Douglas fir, e.g. : STATE TREE. Ours is Red Pine.

30. Uncertain : LEERY

31. General __ chicken : TSO'S

35. "Dead parrot" sketch actor : CLEESE (John). Funny episode.

37. London's __ Modern : TATE

38. Secret supply : STASH

39. Roman naturalist : PLINY

40. Letters for a British princess : HRH

42. Tennis legend : ASHE

49. Clumsy types : OAFS

51. Oncle's mate : TANTE. Aunt. J'ai trois tantes on my father's side. All illiterate. My grandparents were too poor to send them to schools. I miss my youngest aunt very much.

53. "Telephone Line" gp. : ELO

54. Vatican masterpiece : PIETA

55. Cute cases : ETUIs

57. Grasp : SEE

58. White hat, in oaters : HERO

60. Skewed : ASLANT

65. Oolong or souchong : TEA. What the heck is "souchong"? Never heard of it. OK, I just googled. Never heard of it.

66. Jam cause, maybe : TOLL

67. Subway opposites : ELs

68. Like much lore : ORAL

71. "That's refreshing!" : AHH

82. Capital affected by typhoons : TAIPEI. Immediately thought of my old haunt Guangzhou, also a capital city, also affected by typhoons. It has the best tea and tea houses in China. No "souchong"!

85. "The Highwayman" daughter : BESS. Was this a gimme to you?

86. Theta preceder : ETA

87. Like a good guess : CLOSE

88. Powerful god : TITAN

89. Classic Pearl Jam album : TEN. Guessed.

90. "Inside the NBA" analyst : O'NEAL (Shaq). Sir Charles too.

92. 'Tis the season : YULE

97. Latin trio word : AMAS

99. Psalm 23 comforter : ROD. This might be Rich's clue. "Thy ROD and thy staff they comfort me."

100. "Under the Redwoods" author : HARTE (Bret)

101. AMD rival : INTEL

103. Kitten's plaything : YARN

105. Playground retort : ARE TOO

112. Cub with records : SOSA (Sammy). With *records.

113. Necklace gem : PEARL

115. One-legged ballet pose : ARABESQUE



120. Is connected : HAS PULL

121. Old MGM rival : RKO

122. Meat : GIST. Hard clue for me.

123. Put a handle on : NAME

124. Vague time frame indicator : ERE. Poetically.

125. Sargasso swimmer : EEL

126. German sunrise direction : OST. East.

127. Small bills : ONEs

128. Beethoven's nine: Abbr. : SYMS. Alright, symphonies.

129. First name in comics villains : LEX (Luthor)

130. QB's coups : TDS
        
Down:
1. Like fresh lettuce : CRISP

2. Patchy horse : PINTO

3. Not true : UNFAITHFUL. This "Ai Du" was featured in the movie "Unfaithful". Melissa Bee likes Ari Farka Touré.

4. Sissy's Oscar-winning role : LORETTA

5. Least violent : GENTLEST

6. Love : ADORE. I've been thinking of that "60 Minutes" Korean prisoner a lot. My family, specifically my mom, suffered tremendously during Cultural Revolution. But I never hated Chairman Mao. I was deeply brainwashed and I believed (I still do) many things I was taught.

7. Put away : INGEST

8. Egyptian __: spotted cat : MAU. Hi, cutie, do you know CrossEyedDave?


9. Army unit : ANT

10. Muslim theologians : MULLAHS

11. Examined, as a joint : CASED

12. 1979 Afghanistan invader: Abbr. : USSR. They failed, of course.

13. Use color-coded cans, say : RECYCLE

14. Lao Tzu principle : TAO

15. British Invasion genre named for Liverpool's river : MERSEY BEAT. River Mersey. Unknown fact to me.

16. Mexican change : PESOS

17. Honkers : GEESE. Lots lots of honkers in our neighborhood.

24. Sicilian high point : ETNA

26. Ballad's end? : EER. Balladeer.

27. Spork, for one : UTENSIL. I'm thinking of buying a garlic press. Do you all use it?

29. Reputed Dead Sea Scrolls transcribers : ESSENES. This word used to stump me.

33. Concert receipts : GATE

34. Ryder Cup team : USA. The 2016 Ryder Cup will be held here in MN.

36. Imitates Daffy : LISPS. Reminds me of Marti's "Going Daffy".

39. Arafat's org. until 2004 : PLO. Arafat died in 2004.

40. Breaks ground : HOES. Nice clue.

41. Assign stars to : RATE

43. Annoyance : HASSLE

45. Bird that migrates from the Arctic to Antarctica : TERN. That's interesting.

46. Sci-fi people : ELOI

47. __ Reader: eclectic magazine : UTNE

48. Facts and figures : DATA

50. Baker's verb : SIFT

52. Noir hero : TEC. Detective.

56. City NW of Santa Barbara, to locals : SLO. San Luis Obispo. New to me. Makes sense.

58. "__ Kitchen": Gordon Ramsay show : HELL'S. This guy is so hot-tempered.



59. No trouble at all : EASE

60. Farming prefix : AGRO

62. Comprehensive, gradewise : EL-HI. Let's accept it and move on.

63. "Shall we?" reply : LET'S

64. Polite reply : NO MA'AM

69. RSA ruling party : ANC (African National Congress). Gareth lives there, in case you're new to this blog.

70. Showy bloom : LILY

71. "__ girl!" : ATTA

72. "What a Piece of Work Is Man" musical : HAIR

73. Fulfill an urgent desire : HIT THE SPOT. Nice long entry.

75. Explorer Tasman : ABEL. Oh, the guy who discovered Tasmania.

76. Nevada casino city : RENO

77. Cong. member : SEN

78. Rickey Henderson, notably : STEALER. Henderson holds the records for most stolen bases.

79. Ambulance bandage : TOURNIQUET. Also new word to me.

80. 1952 Olympics city : OSLO

81. Oboe component : REED

83. Like tongue-against-roof-of-the-mouth consonants : PALATAL. Wish I had proper education on how to speak English.

84. Febrero preceder : ENERO. January/February.

89. Mao __-tung : TSE

90. Surg. branch : ORTH. Orthopedic.

91. Exposes : LAYS BARE

94. Makes a call : STOPS IN

95. Orchestra section : VIOLINS. Remember that time when Joshua Bell played incognito at a Washington subway station? From Wiki: "The experiment was videotaped on hidden camera; of the 1,097 people who passed by, only seven stopped to listen to him, and only one recognized him. For his nearly 45-minute performance, Bell collected $32.17 from 27 passersby (excluding $20 from the passerby who recognized him.")

96. Foe of Saruman, in Tolkien : ENT

98. Controversial high school health lesson : SAFE SEX

102. Makes happy : ELATES

104. Throaty sound : RASP

105. Space age toon dog : ASTRO. On "The Jetsons".

106. Corner pieces : ROOKS

107. First family before the Wilsons : TAFTS

108. Magic, on scoreboards : ORL (Orlando)

109. Saharan region : SAHEL. Arabic for "shore, coast". "describing the appearance of the vegetation of the Sahel as a coastline delimiting the sand of the Sahara."


110. Held power : RULED

111. Cheerleaders' repertoire : YELLS

114. In __: truly : ESSE

117. Group decision-making challenge : EGO

118. In high spirits : GAY

119. "Let me think ..." : HMM

C.C.



47 comments:

TTP said...

Thanks Gareth and thank you CC.

Every time I hear / read Mersey, I think of this song which was indelibly embedded in my ute.

Ferry Cross the Mersey

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Lovely theme today. I figured it out about 2/3 of the way through the grid and it let me go back and fill in a lot of empty spaces.

A few insane-looking (to me, at least) answers, including MERSEY BEAT and SLO, held me back for awhile, but the perps came to the rescue.

Unfortunately, the crossing of BESS, ABEL and TEN killed me in the end. I correctly guessed TEN [although it could have been TIN, TAN, TON or even TUN or TYN for all I knew -- heck, it could been TCN or TNN or TXN, for that matter...], but I went with TESS instead of BESS. That gave me ATEL for the explorer's first name, which in retrospect doesn't seem nearly as plausible as ABEL, but BESS just didn't occur to me.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone. Thanks, C.C. for an interesting intro.

Not difficult, today. I've come to like Gareth's cw's. Sussed the theme early on and inserted 'less' on each theme line after a few letters before knowing the complete fill. Guessed at MERSEY 'something' and WAGged PLINY because of the 'y'. Also WAGged HAIR. Knew TANTE from my HS French. Tante is also German; the 'te' is pronounced like a schwa. No searches were needed.

Have a great day.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

It's a rainy Sunday morning in SE Texas. Love it. We really need the rain.

Some of the answers, like CURT and GIST, immediately popped into my mind. HAS PULL, not so much. I'd written HAS AN IN.

Yes, BESS was a gimme as "the landlord's black-eyed daughter." And, yes, I use a garlic press. Real chefs, though, eschew them. They can achieve the same result with a knife.

A tourniquet is not the first choice of the EMT. It completely cuts off the blood supply, so the limb may later require amputation.

All of the theme answers made sense to me, except the first one. I'd never heard of a GUT COURSE. What is it?

I didn't know SAHEL and ERE was weirdly clued as "vague time frame indicator." I WAGged the "e" and avoided the dreaded DNF.

grams said...

I had a lot of lookups.

I think gutless course is taking the easy way out.

I, too, am in se Texas. Good to have the rain, however we're under "severe thunderstorm watch" till one pm.

As usual, enjoyed write up, CC ESP link to Mersey clue (complete unknown to me)

Al Cyone said...

Some fun clues. I hopped all over the place on this one but, as have others, once I saw that "LESS" appeared in the middle of the long answers I forged ahead. MAU was a complete unknown. Hope I can remember it. [17:47]

NYTAnonimo said...

Nice cat (MAU) picture cc. That was a new word for me. Managed to figure it out but also messed up the ABEL/BESS crossing. Enjoyed the puzzle, write up and comments. thanks Gareth and cc. Now to finish the NYT xword!

Avg Joe said...

My reactions were nearly identical to yours C.C. The theme relevance came with that first answer and was very helpful. Still, I was done in by the E cross at SAHeL and eRE. So I cheated and called it a day.

Mersey Beat was a complete unknown and all perps, but like TTP, that Gerry and the Pacemakers song instantly lodged in my ear once it appeared.

I've had 3 or 4 garlic presses. I don't like them. The cheap ones are a complete waste of money. They don't work well and don't hold up. The expensive ones are, well, expensive and still don't do a great job. And they all require more effort to clean than they save in time. With a decent chefs knife you can accomplish the same result with far less work, and you most likely have had to use the knife for something else, so there's no extra cleanup. Another option is to simply buy minced garlic in a jar. Trader Joe's, e.g., sells an 8 oz jar for $1.79 and it's wonderful. It takes an initial leap of faith, but once you've done that, it's pretty hard to go back to whole cloves.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic Sunday offering. Thank you.

"Short men tend to be very artful."

Same for unattractive women.

HeartRx said...

Good morning C.C. et al.

Great puzzle! Like others, once I “got” the theme, I could go back and fill in a lot of blanks. SAHEL and MAU were new words for me today. Loved SELFLESS CLEANING – my DH does a lot of that. I also thought of a very different clue for TOPLESS FLIGHT…

D-otto, GUT COURSE = “easy A.”

C.C. I have a garlic press, but don’t use it because they are a pain to clean. I do use a chef’s knife, but I don’t like getting garlic on my hands when I scrape it off the blade. But then I was given my favorite kitchen toy one Christmas, and use it exclusively for garlic now. It looks like a little toy car, with blades inside. Just roll it back & forth, and the garlic is magically minced. Love it!

Master Chef said...

This works wonders for crushing garlic cloves and is easy to clean.

Lucina said...

Hello, puzzlers. Thank you, C.C. for enlightening some of the obscure fill, MAU, for example. Had no idea.

I also like Gareth Bain's puzzles as he has a slightly different perspective on geography. But WBS, as I'm unfamiliar with BESS and could't recall Tasman's first name, ABEL. It stayed ATEL.

Otherwise most of the fill was a nice sashay as LESS easily completed the theme answers.

I have a garlic press but rarely use it. Like AvgJoe, I buy the already minced garlic in a jar. It's quite potent so not much is needed.

Have a great Sunday, everyone!

Avg Joe said...

Marti, that little car looks pretty neat, but it still looks like a PIA to clean.

Master Chef, now that looks like a very good idea. Like Jummy Buffet said: "Two slips, a slide and a snort! So simple it plumb evaded me."

Irish Miss said...

Good morning:

Enjiyed the puzzle but needed help with Sahel/ere/Lex. Nice job, Gareth, and wonderful write-up, CC.

I use a garlic press often; it was expensive but I've had it for years and it works well. Recently, I used the chopped garlic from a jar for the first time ever and it gave the marinara sauce a very odd flavor. (Maybe I used too much but I wouldn't use it again. Fresh minced garlic is better, IMO.)

No one has commented on TBBT lately but I just watched this past Thursday's episode and thought it was one of the worst of the season. I am getting tired of the vulgar "humor" and the ridiculous story lines. It's a shame because it was a very funny and entertaining show.

Happy Sunday.

Husker Gary said...

No clue on Highwayman daughter, Pearl Jam and Tasman’s first name left me guessing two blanks on this otherwise fun romp. GUT COURSE?

Musings
-Hudson is the starting POINT GUARD today in his first basketball game
-Our state tree is not very desirable in many ways, especially if you have screen doors, but it grows anywhere
-TOLL road stickers/readers expedite jams
-Hey, Bess and tEn were right! How ‘bout dat? I’ll take a 100%.
-Shaq may be the largest human being to play sports at a high level - Incredible picture of Shaq and his girlfriend
-I’d be shocked if Sammy makes the Hall of Fame. He feigned not understanding even rudimentary English in front of an investigating committee which is a running joke of sports talk shows.
-I had HAFT before NAME for handle. Anyone else?
-Interesting perspective on MAO, Mom and brainwashing C.C.
-If you haven’t seen thiswonderful movie on USSR in Afghanistan,, rent it today!
-Marti, what’s your MPG (miles per garlic) with that thing?
-BTW, I took Hudson to Skyfall Saturday night and it was great! The story is not based on any of Ian Fleming’s work and the Broccoli family continues to make movies in this franchise.

Mikey said...

What Barry said, all the way. Great minds...

HeartRx said...

Husker G., LOL at you MPG quip!!

I also thought "Charlie Wilson's War" extremely well done, and one of Tom Hanks' best performances. But it was Philip Hoffman who garnered the awards.

Pinto said...

Minced garlic in a jar?!? Hardly the same.

Alton Brown on Garlic Garlic press info @ 7:00

klilly said...

Funny you mentioned Alton brown.. I am sitting here watching him. He is doing shows on fruitcake and Christmas cookies. He says all spices should be bought whole and grind them yourself...

I am also outside of Houston.. Enjoying the rain..

I also have no heard of gut course..
I enjoyed this Sunday puzzle..finished quickly for me

Klilly

River Doc said...

Good Morning to all at The Corner,

Six squares away from a Ta-Da today. But, as I‘ve said before, if I can get all the theme answers in a Sunday puzzle, I consider it a small victory. Unknowns to me were utne, oste, and tante (and therefore essenes).

There was a 60s band from Liverpool called the Mersey Beats. This answer took awhile, though, since I kept thinking of a more war-like British Invasion….

My favorite quote from Dante’s Inferno was pasted above the door to the pot wash area of the central kitchen I worked in at Cal – “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here, for this is the pit of the damned.”

Speaking of abandoning hope, Bonds, Sosa, and McGwire should abandon any hope of entering the Hall of Fame in their first dozen or so years of eligibility, imho….

Reno is often referred to as the biggest little city in the world.

And finally, hoes, like my ex, have been known to be unfaithful….

Spitzboov said...

"Nach Tante Meier gehen" in Liverpool -- Going to the Loo.

Lucina said...

Fascinating video on garlic! I guess I'll have to switch to fresh.

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Gareth bain, for a great puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for the swell review.

First, let me say, I like that garlic rocker. Nice discussion.

Second, the state tree of the state I reside in is the white oak (IL). The state tree of the state I am from, and hope to move back to, is the eastern hemlock (PA).

I think my first answer was LORETTA. That was a great movie, Coal Miner's Daughter.

This puzzle for the most part was very doable. The theme helped a lot, being able to plug in four known letters all over the place.

IMAM and MULLAH crossing was interesting. I remember those guys.

MAU came with perps.

As others have said, SAHEL, for 109D, was a tough one. Perped and wagged it. Worked out. Read C.C.'s explanation and map. Makes sense.

MERSEY BEAT for 15D was interesting. Makes sense. Now I know where that river is.

I wonder if Tasmania was named for Abel Tasman? I bet it was.

We had our annual Christmas dinner with our church friends last night. 15 people and a great Honeybaked ham. I love that chunk of meat. Not cheap, $120.

Lots to do today, as every day.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo



PK said...

Hi Y'all, Great puzzle, Gareth, but if you're lurking come in and explain GUT COURSE to us. Is this like an intestinal track or something hard at college?

C.C. very interesting about your family. Do you still have contact with them. Have you been back to visit China since you came over? Great blog.

Only one error today: TASTE--BaD which made sense to me 'cause they al'ays sayin' "You bad!"

Hands up for not getting GIST out of "Meat".

BESS--"plaiting the deep red love knots in her hair" waiting for her lover to come by moonlight tho hell should bar the way. (Shiver!) Love that poem.

Learned new geography with SAHEL & MERSEY River.

SAFE SEX: They teach it younger than high school. My friend had a boy about 11 or 12 who came home and asked her to get him some condoms so he could start wearing them and not get aids. He thought you had to do it all the time. Completely missed the sexual contact part which he couldn't believe anyone would want to do.

PK said...

The picture of Shaq and his girlfriend blew my mind. I hope she doesn't try to have his baby. We had a huge bull once and lost a lot of calves too big for the cows to deliver. Lost a couple of cows too. SHUDDER!

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Also had difficulty at the crossing of SAHEL and ERE. It was the last space I filled, and I didn't get the "happy pencil," so I tried many other letters of the alphabet, all to no avail. It turns out I must have accidentally hit the "H" key instead of the "N" key at the crossing of TOURNIQUET and YARN, which I only discovered by turning on red letter help. Turns out SAHEL was correct after all.

Enjoyable puzzle. Thank you, Gareth.

Straight A Student said...

PK: A Gut Course is a class that is supposed to be an Easy A. I took a lot of Gut Courses in college.

Gareth Bain said...

Since I've been summoned from lurking...
GUTCOURSE is an American phrase I've learned from crosswords. I'm not sure where some of you were when the lesson was given ;). It's similar in meaning to easy a / rocks for jocks.
TOPLESSFLIGHT was originally a "Chilly trip in an ultralight?". RN felt it too risque. I guess I was already pushing my luck with SAFESEX
Of course the most famous Merseybeat band would be The Beatles, although they soon diversified their sound (a lot!)
Have a good day all! Here's a youtube audio of The Highwayman set to music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX1o1yLIvak

Jayce said...

I, too, love The Highwayman. I used to recite it aloud as I walked to and from school, especially liking the "riding, riding, riding" rhythm of it.

I used to drink Lapsang souchong (拉普山小種) tea when I lived in Taiwan. I didn't like it much; it has a very smoky taste. I prefer a tea such as English Breakfast tea. A Canadian company called Red Rose makes a delicious "pekoe and orange pekoe" tea, which is my favorite.

One fond memory I have of Taiwan is spending hours playing wéiqí (圍棋), known as Go in Japanese and English, with old retired gentlemen at a wéiqí club. They served "flower blossom" tea in a tall glass, which they would refill with hot water from time to time. After nursing the same glass of tea for hours, and after many refills of hot water, the flavor obviously became very weak, and the tea leaves swelled up so much they almost filled the entire glass. Good times!

By the way, I suck at wéiqí, never having ever even come close to mastering the game. It was the conversation and camaraderie with those "lao youtiao" that I valued.

Argyle said...

The Highwayman

PK said...

Gareth, thanks for the explanation and link which Argyle then made easy for us to access. Thanks, Argyle!

PK said...

Thanks TTP for the Ferry Cross the Mersey. Never heard it before but liked it. I loved riding the ferry across Puget Sound.

Avg Joe said...

Pinto, after watching the entire video, I saw nothing that condemns jarred garlic. Sure, it's not the same thing as whole cloves, but I've had good luck using it when I'd be crushing it anyway. I still grow my own hard stem garlic and have a lot of whole cloves around for part of the year, but when that's gone, I usually buy a jar from Trader Joe and that gets me through til late June. It's from Gilroy, it only has citric acid added and it's tasty.

Lucina said...

AvgJoe
I agree the video didn't mention or even hint at jarred garlic, but I like all that physical aspect of cooking: peeling, crushing, slicing, etc. I'm known for cooking from scratch. In fact, my daughter used to bring her high school mates to watch me cook! Apparently their mothers all bought ready made or frozen food.

Pinto said...

My reason for linking the video was to show how complex garlic can be. Wholes gloves have a different flavor from slightly smashed cloves which have a different flavor from sliced garlic which has different flavor from minced garlic. Varying heat also produces varying flavors as does cooking time. Substituting minced jar garlic in most of my favorite recipes would be a disaster.

I love Alton Brown's Good Eats. His nerdy approach to the science of food helps to explain mistakes of the kitchen. Why the souffle fell, why the steak is tough, why the gravy seperated, why the marinara is garlicky and not sweet etc... I often google his videos for reminders before tackling a tough recipe.

Did you see that garlic bread in the video? It is the ONLY way to make it. Amazingly sweet.

Anonymous said...

real food vs. packaged food:

"the more human hands that are on a food and the more machinery that have come in contact with a food, the more likely it is to be recalled. We see more manufactured product recalls than we do in the fruit and vegetable arena."

Trader Joe's recalls

Jayce said...

I'm guessing Romeo was probably about 5'6" tall, because he was supposedly about 15 years old (not full grown) and people at that time were generally smaller than we are now, based on the sizes of the various extant suits of armor.

Bill G. said...

Well, that was a pleasant diversion. I've tried souchong tea once. Very smoky. CC, I found your remarks about Chairman Mao's influence on you very interesting. Is that something you'd be willing to elaborate on a bit more?

Virginia's state tree/flower is the dogwood. We had lots of trees in our yard. They are really pretty in the spring.

I saw MERSEY and it reminded me of this clip from a Merseyside radio quiz show. It's funny, partly just because of the Liverpool accent. Even if I can't understand all of it, it makes me laugh. Potato quiz question.

Jayce said...

Potty toes! hahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Bill G. said...

Jayce, since you liked that one so much, here's another classic where a woman (in Liverpool) was asked about what European country do people drive on the left side. More Merseyside quiz show.

Jayce said...

Thanks, Bill G. G'night, all.

CrossEyedDave said...

Just read the write up, & the 1st thing i was going to link was Ferry Across The Mersey. ( But TTP beat me to it by like,,, about a day...)

Thanks TTP, because every how to play it on YouTube has it wrong! Now i know, Bar Chord E 7th Fret & let the low E ring!

Took me a while to get here because i had to watch Alton Brown (again),! 20 minutes! Sheesh! & not once did he mention the easiest way to press Garlic is with a Chefs Knife! & a little salt to use as an abrasive.

The only reason to use a Garlic Press is if you are trying to lower the salt in your diet, but then you still have to use the Chefs Knife to scrape the Garlic out of the Press!

95D made me think of Joni Mitchells "For Free". It sounds sad, but if you listen to the words, it is very poignant. (a word not found in crosswords very often.)

Bill G. said...

It seems as if most folks have gone to bed or at least turned off their computer while I am watching the Lakers with a chance to possibly have a big winning streak (maybe two in a row!). I'm still curious about Mao's influence on CC and everybody's reaction to the two Mersyside radio quizes. To me, there's something funny about the scousers accent that makes almost anything they say seem funny.

Another great British accent is from Yorkshire. That can get so thick that I need subtitles/translations.

Irish Miss said...

Bill G - I am still up and enjoying your links. I had heard the potato exchange before but still got a good laugh and ditto for the driving on the left clip. Much more enjoyable than your math puzzles! -:)

Manac said...

Bill,
Not all have.
I'm watching the Pat's getting their asses kicked! anyways I had a client who's brother came over from Scotland while I was working there. They were both speaking English ( I suppose ) but I needed my client to translate for me because of the heavy accent he had. The only thing I understood from him was "Want another beer?"

JJM said...

Finished quickly, but I swear I could see the word TOURNIQUET a thousand times and still not spell it correctly when asked. MERCEYBEAT... I like that! I only got that because I thought British Invasion--> Beatles---> Stones-- Gerry and the Pacemakers--> and then their song "Ferry Cross the Mersey" It's good to have older brothers and sisters when you're six. They turn you onto a lot of "new" stuff.

aka thelma said...

PK... :) which way was your crossing... :) made a few of those trips myself... my sis lives in port orchard now... great country... :)

thelma