google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, January 25, 2013, Kurt Krauss

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Jan 25, 2013

Friday, January 25, 2013, Kurt Krauss

Theme: What the Yell?

Each of the theme answers concludes with a word which is synonymous with YELL, and is used to replace a sound alike second word of an in the language phrase in a punny fashion, creating a new and visually humorous phrase, all clued with the clecho CRY.  This is a more traditional four theme answer grid, though still using 46 spaces. This is Kurt's fifth effort at the corner, and the last two have been Friday features.I really enjoyed the combining of the pun and the synonym to create the theme. The rest of the fill was fine with some solid  6, 7, and 8 letter words like CLASS ACT, SOURPUSS, RAMPARTS, COCKER, and even one J, jest one.  I found it to be a reasonable Friday, so let's do this.

17A. Cry from a duped investor? : PONZI SCREAM.(SCHEME) (11). Sadly So.Fla. know all too much about the schemers, and the many who were ruined did scream.

24A. Cry just before dozing off? : SLEEPY HOLLER.(HOLLOW) (12). A LEGENDARY (0:32) clue.

46A. Cry from a superfan? : BOOSTER SHOUT, (SHOT) ((12) Appropriate for this flu season.

56A. Cry from a Jeddah native? : SAUDI SHRIEK.(SHEIKH) (11). The shriek was SILENT.(3:24).

Across:

1. Fair share, maybe : HALF. Split it down the middle, extremely fair.

5. Polite denial : NO MA'AM. You do not look fat in that dress.

11. Pro-___ : AMS. One of my thrills was playing with Champion Tour professional golfers and being on the practice tee with Palmer, Nicklaus and so many other greats.

14. Arch type : OGEE. Oh Gee not again.

15. Commensurate (with) : ON A PAR. More golf invading our lives.

16. Soaked : WET. Dennis, your thoughts? Maybe we need 50A. Hose : RINSE.

19. Brother : FRA.

20. "I" strain? : EGO. Freud's mental triumvirate with the super-ego.

21. Where to find Ducks and Penguins: Abbr. : NHL. National Hockey League. A moment of silence for Eddy B.

22. Eyes : OCULI. An eye reference on a Friday.

28. Eschewed the backup group : SOLOED. Many have failed when they left the nest.

31. Mrs. Gorbachev : RAISA. I will call your Michelle Obama and ...well you get the idea.

32. Influence : CLOUT.

33. Took in : ARRESTED. It is good to be back even with the anons who exposed themselves in their anxiety to irritate me; the last time I was blogging the Corner disappeared. Makes me nervous.

37. Lab medium : AGAR. This always reminds me of this CORPORAL.(2:53).

38. Thinking out loud, in a way : ASIDE. From Shakespearean theater days when the characters address the audience.

40. Farm father : SIRE. Not the Earl of Grantham, but the horse he rides on.

41. Anthem fortifications : RAMPARTS red glare, the bombs bursting in air....

43. Cupid's boss : SANTA. Deliciously tricky clue, not a horse, but the reindeer Cupid!!!

44. Free : UNTIE.

45. Dog named for the bird it hunted, familiarly : COCKER.  The were named for their hunting of the WOODCOCK, which makes the thought of splinters scary!

51. Dig in : EAT. How appetizing.

52. John, Paul and George, but not Ringo: Abbr. : STS. Saints, not Beatles you heretic!

55. Electees : INS. As opposed to the OUTS, not belly buttons but politicians.

61. Iron ___ : AGE. Which Iron(ically) was a time of

62. Troubled state : UNREST.

63. Vronsky's lover, in Tolstoy : ANNA. Karenina. CLIP. (1:28).

64. "Balderdash!" : ROT. We have had so many nice contributions from the Brits, like Steve.

65. Some aces : PILOTS. My cousin was a pilot; he worked in a warehouse unloading trucks. He would  pile it here and pile it there.

66. Kid : JEST. Can u text JJ? LMAO!

Down:

1. Clinton's birthplace : HOPE. I hope you all recalled this one.

2. Bug-eyed : AGOG.

3. Jay related to a peacock? : LENO. The NBC Peacock. We are clearly not going off half-cocked with this puzzle.

4. Casbah headgear : FEZ.

5. Had a little something : NOSHED. One of many Yiddish words which have become part of the language.

6. Frère de la mère : ONCLE. My mother's brother, en francais.

7. Dent, say : MAR.

8. Big lug : APE.

9. Travel org. since 1902 : AAA. American Automobile Association.

10. "Captain Kangaroo" character who told knock-knock jokes : MR. MOOSE. Never watched this Clara-belle the clown refugee.

11. Really bad : AWFUL.

12. Haggard of country music : MERLE. A little TUNE?

13. Flight part : STAIR. Not up in the air, but up the down staircase.

18. Ocean-bay connector : INLET. Rhymes with 48D. Start : ONSET.

23. Someone to admire : CLASS ACT. Perfectly matched with

24. Grouch : SOURPUSS. For our crowd.

25. Sung approval? : PRAISES. For some reason, PSALMS came to mind but it did not fit.

26. Prison area : YARD.

27. Bring on board : HIRE.

28. Injury reminder : SCAR. To B or to R? That is today's question.

29. '70s Olympics name : OLGA. All you need to know. LINK.

30. Good earth : LOAM. We have no dirt here in So.Fla. which is why our tomatoes have so little taste. Yes, it is our dirty little secret.

34. Pixie dust leaver, to Peter : TINKerbell. to the young master Pan.

35. Deco designer : ERTE. R.T. and close by 38D. Uffizi hangings : ARTE. Uffizi is the art gallery in Florence (Firenza).

36. Beloved : DEAR. Really, I need to be more careful of my use of dear. Otherwise I might

39. Hubbub : STIR. up trouble.

42. Pays to play : ANTES UP.

43. Into a state of decline : SOUTH. This is not a condemnation of all below the Mason-Dixon line, but a common phrase.

45. Ocean borders : COASTS.

46. Patch plant : BRIAR. Uncle Remus, ou Oncle Remus.

47. Rock's ___ Boingo : OINGO. This CLASSIC. (3:33).

49. One may follow a casing : HEIST.  We all know from TV that criminals case the place they plan to rob.

52. Trig function : SINE.

53. XXX, at times : TENS. XXX is on whiskey and in porn.

54. Three-handed game : SKAT. I will let Kazie speak of this national card game of Germany.

57. Singer DiFranco : ANI. She say she is not a PRETTY GIRL (3:42).

58. Bookmarked item nowadays : URL. Uniform Resource Locator.

59. "Gloria in Excelsis ___" : DEO.

60. British rule in colonial India : RAJ. The HISTORY

Well we have made it through the entire write up without the site disappearing; great to see all the lurkers commenting here and with HG. Lemonade signing off wishing you all a great day and week end.



Notes from C.C.:

1) Please email me (crosswordc@gmail.com) if you encounter "Dangerous site" warning when accessing this blog.

2) Please bookmark my Ginger Roots blog. In case the Corner blog has trouble again, we'll discuss puzzles there.

100 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, gang - I seem to be back among the living after an interesting stretch. Had pretty good headaches for several days while my body was fighting something, and then it finally said, ok, let's get this over with, and I got whatever it is that's going around down here. Past couple days have been 90% sleep, which I hate, but it appears to have done the job. This is a pretty good strain of flu; it's the first time I've been sick in years.

As to the puzzle, this was one of my faster Fridays for some reason. The only problem I had was with 25D, SUNG APPROVAL, because I took SUNG to be a verb, and the 'D' at the end of PRAISED just wouldn't cut it in BOOSTER SHOUT. Nice misdirection.

Perps got me MR MOOSE and ANNA, and the rest just flowed. Very unusual for me for a Friday, but it was enjoyable.

Lemonade, I suspect you already know my thoughts on that picture.

Hope it's a great day for everyone.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

What Dennis said about wanting PRAISED instead of PRAISES. Also had trouble getting SOUTH from the clue, so BOOSTER SHOUT was the one theme answer I struggled with.

Elsewhere, the clue for 22A gave no indication the answer was in Latin, so I confidently put in OGLES and left it there until I finally had to remove it at the end to finish the puzzle. Everything else was super smooth today.

Loved seeing MR. MOOSE in the grid. I grew up watching Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Moose, Mr. Greenjeans and, of course, Bunny Rabbit. Loits of fond memories there...

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Great puzzle, Kurt; swell expo, Lemon!

This one went rapidly. Perhaps because I had an unexpected long sleep.

Did not get a chance to comment on Thursday offering. Kept getting interrupted until I feel asleep. That one was a DNF as I recall. Had never much urge to watch comedies on TV, the exception, which I still watch, is Frasier. Thus was really puzzled by OPIE clue.

From a previous blog, agree with Pas de Chat and one other about apostrophe and Burns.

Was disappointed that POI was a rerun!

I read all of the Braun Cat books. Was somewhat frustrated by their "tameness" but was really hooked! Was very disappointed when in 2007 she retired from writing. (She died at 97 in 2011.) Start reading from the beginning, if you are interested. Life goes on and the 40 year-old cats are not aged, even in the last book!

Have a happy weekend!

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Kurt Krauss, for a great Friday puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for the great review.

Just leaving Cleveland. Finished the puzzle a couple hours ago on my IPad. Fun puzzle.

Could not get started easily and bounced around with a word here and a word there. First theme answer was SLEEPY HOLLER. Then got SCREAM, PONZI had to wait. Figured it out after a while.

Liked FEZ for 4D. I own about five of them.

RAMPARTS was good. Very clever.

Good learning moment on COCKER, the dog name. Thank you for that.

Never heard of OINGO. Perped it.

Liked RAISA. We get her now and then. Gorbachev was just in Elgin, IL a short while back.

See you tomorrow from Erie.

Abejo

fermatprime said...

That took 5 tries. Will hope for better luck with this! Meant to mention that Castle is one of my favorite shows! Nathan Fillion is just superb! (So Bill and I will just have to disagree!)

Al Cyone said...

A balmy 6.2°F at sunrise here in the beautiful mid-Hudson valley. A surprisingly smooth puzzle for a Friday and a fun theme. I spent a couple post-fill minutes looking for what I'll generously call a "typo" until I found NFL and changed it to NHL. TaDa! [10:53]

(Like Barry G., I grew up with Captain Kangaroo and will add Grandfather Clock to his list of characters.)

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. What a fun Friday puzzle. I loved the Screaming theme. The PONZI scheme was named after Charles Ponzi.

A nice shout-out to Abejo with the FEZ.

I watched Captain Kangaroo as a kid. I remember him talking to MR. MOOSE and Bunny Rabbit.

I was thinking of the Onion patch instead of the Brier Patch.

NPR recently aired a story about Florida-grown tomatoes. Because of the sandy soil, the tomatoes grown there are not very tasty, even though Florida grows about half of the winter tomatoes that Americans consume.

I am feeling much better today. It's amazing how nearly 24 hours of sleep can make one feel. Now if only this catcha-ma-thingie recognizes me as a human and not a robot.

QOD: When you choose your friends, don’t be short-changed by choosing personality over character. ~ W. Somerset Maugham (Jan. 25, 1874 ~ Dec. 16, 1965)

thehondohurricane said...

Good morning folks,

Everything flowed easily until I got to the South, at which point I became "brain dead".

Five clues, two of which were themes, got me. For 43D I had SOOTS, PRAISED for 25D, BOOSTERD HOOT ??? for 46A, SAUDIS SHIEK for 56A & HAJ for 60D. I don't think I ever could have convinced myself 25D ended in an S.

Everything else was a skate.

Idle weekend coming up so I imagine I will have time to let a couple of weekend constructors kick my butt. Sunday we get to meet youngest son;s latest gal friend. Must be serious about her.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

We've got a house guest sleeping across from my office, so I'm trying to post this from my tablet. Typing with a stylus is really a pain.

I also fell into the PRAISED trap, so my SHOUT started out as a HOWL. Didn't last, though. And my BRIAR patch started out as a MELON patch. Bet that was also Dennis' first thought.

This was a good, solid Friday outing. Enjoyed it.

desper-otto said...

Went back to read last night's late posts and got a dangerous site warning. Got another when I switched back to today. Apparently the Google issues still aren't completely resolved.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

D-Otto,
What browser are you using?

Does anyone else also see dangerous site warning sign?

downtonabbey said...

This one took a bit longer than last Fridays speed run. Thanks Lemony, C.C., and Kurt. Answers were simple once you got the clue.

Have a great day!

downtonabbey said...

No I didnt C.C. and i went back forth also.

Yellowrocks said...

Very fast Friday puzzle, no wags or unknowns. I have heard of OINGO Boingo, but knew nothing about it. That happens frequently, but it does provide the answers.
I first filled in the 4x4 upper left of the grid. PONZ gave me PONZI SCHEME right away and so I had the theme. I thought of PRAISED, but quickly switched to S. I know of no yell beginning with D, except DUCK!!
OCULI is part of the English language now, just as NOSH is.
Shout out to Santa.
I never cared for Captain Kangaroo.
Witty expo and links, Lemonade.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Michele,
Thank you!

If anyone encounter D-Otto's problem, please let me know ASAP.

Diane said...

Great Friday puzzle, challenging yet doable! I had a little trouble in the SE because "taj" just didn't work.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Please bookmark my Ginger Roots blog. Just in case the Corner blog has trouble again, we'll discuss puzzles there.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everybody.

Starting to like Kurt's puzzles. Fun theme. Had to sing a little 'anthem' to get RAMPARTS. Only 4-letter trig function I could think of was SINE. Some gimmes like RAJ and HOPE. NOSH may be Yiddish, but the Germans have 'naschen'; "to eat sweet things". We used it as kids all the time. Great word. Wanted 'shores' for COASTS, at first. Liked the BRIAR clue.

Have a great day.

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.

Well, at least you didn't make everything come crashing dow, Lemony, so congratulations on that!

I enjoyed this theme, and before I knew it, it was all over but the shoutin' !!! I had "Ogles" before OCULI ["Eyes"] at 22-A. That was my only write-over. Loved seeing CLASS ACT symmetrically to SOURPUSS.

Just an observation on SCAR vs. SCAB:
Whenever the clue says something about "healing", the answer is usually SCAB ("Sign of healing".) Whenever the clue says something about "reminder" or "memory" the answer is usually SCAR, since the wound has already healed and no longer has a scab.

Just sayin'....

TGIF!

Mari said...

Hi guys and gals! I had fun with this one, a lot of great clues here for a gloomy Chicago Friday.

My top favorites included:
- 20A: "I" Strain: EGO (none here)
- 43A: Cupid's Boss: SANTA
- 3D: Jay Related to a Peacock: LENO
- 53D: XXX, at Times: TENS (get your mind out of the gutter!)

Some Friday level toughness with just the right amount of good clues. Well done Kujrt Krauss.

I got a late start this morning, so I'm just now going to read your posts from this morning and last night. I hope everybody has a nice day and a great weekend!

kazie said...

Despite my many unkowns, several of the puns revealed themselves easily and I guessed my way through the rest with few slow spots. I had difficulty associating Cupid with SANTA, never really having learned the more rarely mentioned reindeer names, but when nothing else worked I accepted it.

Also had trouble coming down to earth with STAIR, mainly because I hadn't at first used the Latin plural for OCULI and had no idea how to finish Pro-AM? There were plenty of other WAGs here, but eventually the whole thing was complete.

A nice end to the weekday week.

Java Mama said...

Good morning, everyone! Lots to like about today’s offering from Kurt Krauss. Favorite theme answers were SLEEPY HOLLER and PONZI SCREAM. Thanks for the adorable SOURPUSS pic for all of us Corner cat lovers, Lemony. Although I’m not much of a country music fan, I really enjoyed the MERLE Haggard clip.

Pretty smooth solve for the most part, with fewer speed bumps than usual for a Friday. At first thought the bird being hunted at 45A might be a duck, but DUCKER made no sense. Liked seeing ANTES UP instead of just ante for a change. Hand up for wanting OGLES before OCULI. Thought the clue for SANTA was very clever -- spent a long time trying to remember my Roman mythology to come up with Cupid’s “boss” before the light bulb went on.

Glad you are on the mend, Dennis and Hahtoolah.

Have a great Friday, all!

Tinbeni said...

Lemon: Nice write-up and links.
Kurt: Thank you for a FUN puzzle.

This was weird solve.
The top HALF felt almost like a Monday. I was looking at the RAMPARTS & SANTA before two sips of java.
The bottom HALF felt like a Saturday and became a "perp" fest.
Wanted Onion as my "Patch plant" (along with "Iron" Ore) before BRIAR & AGE appeared.

C.C. I use Google Chrome. No warning here.

A "toast" to all at Sunset.
Cheers !!!

LaLaLinda said...

Hi All ~~

I enjoyed the clever theme of this puzzle and especially liked the first two theme answers. I thought of you, Lemon, with another Friday eye-related clue - OCULI. Hope things are going OK. I think the only reason I didn't have 'Ogles' is because I already had the _ _ _LI. Loved your write-up esp. the SOURPUSS. =^..^=

~ What Java Mama said about 'Cupid's boss.'

~ It seems OLGA has made frequent visits recently.

~ Write-over ~ Pro 'Tem' before AMS.

~ Favorites: 25D 'Sung approval' - PRAISES - thought of "singing one's praises." 49D - One may follow a casing - HEIST and 52A - STS (not Beatles.)

~ For no particular reason I liked having CLASS ACT in the puzzle - maybe it's just that I don't recall seeing it before.

~ Marti ~ Good hint on SCAR / SCAB.

Stay warm & stay well, everyone!

Irish Miss said...

Good morning:

I agree with Tin about the top half being a breeze and the bottom half being a bump in the road. I started out like gangbusters and thought, "Wow, this is too easy for a Friday," but then I came to a "shrieking" halt. Patience and perseverance saved the day for a finish w/o help.

I always put Ana instead of Ani for Miss Di Franco and Dio for Deo. How could we ever forget that Bill Clinton came from Hope? I wanted shores before coasts, also. Had jeer before jest and Sir before Sts.

Good job, Mr. Krauss; a clever theme with fine cluing. Thanks, Lemony, for your great expo and links.

Dennis and Hatoolah, glad to hear you are on the mend.

Have a great Friday.

Anony Mouse said...

Thank you Kurt Krauss, for a very challenging puzzle. Thank you Lemonade for your humor, wit and remarks. Really enjoyed your explanations.

Re: Tomatoes in Fla. - in many 'developing' countries, vegetables, especially spinach and lettuce, are often planted and grown in night soil - and the flavor is ( said to be - ) outstanding. Aside from E. Coli and other concerns, I wonder if there might be a connection.

Have a good weekend, you guys.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-PONZI SCREAM? If it seems too good to be true…
-As we drove through Tennessee toward a Jack Daniels Distillery, I looked up every HOLLER and wondered how many amateurs were brewing up competition.
-Our doctor is on a crusade for BOOSTER shots for shingles
-The grasshopper wanted HALF although the ant did all the work
-My good friend’s maiden name was Danielle OGEE
-My OCULI see sunshine but cold air today
-George Burns always had ASIDES on TV when dealing with Gracie
-The Mideast seems to have been in a constant state of UNREST in my lifetime
-How long must company stay before you offer a NOSH?
-Which is more AWFUL, the Lance Armstrong or Manti T’eo stories?
-Bates and his fellow inmates aren’t allowed to talk in the YARD
-You’re right, Lemon, HON, Sweetie, Dear… are verboten except for family
-Many of our bloggers seem to be on or near the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf or Great Lake COASTS
-How ‘bout Tom Terrific and Might Manfred the Wonder Dog?
-Same experience as Tin vis-a-vis top and bottom
-No problems here on Windows 7, OSX or IOS.

Al Cyone said...

Re: Tomatoes @6:29 and @9:57:

Here's the link to the NPR story.

" . . . what's really going on is that consumers just plain prefer Mexican tomatoes — tomatoes ripened on the vine instead of with ethylene gas, which he says Florida growers use."

TTP said...

Thank you Kurt and thank you Lemonade.

Really really really late start today after too much fundraising last night. Argh. Ich hab Kopfweh.

Flight Part not STAge and Influence not CLOUd both slowed me down. Fair amount of misdirects, and I was reading into some when they weren't there. May follow a casing ? I was thinking about the casing around a door or window.

I nailed RAISA once I had the AI.

"I'll fix your flat tire MERLE. Don't want to get your sweet country pickin' fingers all covered in erl. You're a honky I know, but Merle, you got soul, so I'll fix your flat tire Merle."

Anthem fortifications clue puzzled me, but RAMPARTS answer did not. Just couldn't parse why Anthem ? Thanks Lemonade. Never would have picked it up without your expo.

Liked Took in = ARRESTED, and the twist with Cupid's boss = SANTA, and Jay tied to a peacock, which also really threw me for a loop.

Yellowrocks didn't you just get your Kindle at Christmas ? 10 books already ?

CC, no problem here. Using Mozilla Firefox. Web of Trust rating for the Corner is green.

Avg Joe said...

I didn't enjoy this one as much as most of you seem to have. My first theme solve was "Boosters Hoot". While I later realized that was wrong, it fit and I thought they would all have some sort of similar switch of the s to the first word and add a letter to the second. "Ponzi Scream" finally got me past that, but I really shot myself in the foot by clinging to Ward instead of Yard for the prison component. Got it done, but needed a nap afterwards.

On tomatoes, I agree with Al. Even locally grown tomatoes that weren't vine ripened are plasticine and inedible to me. I eat them by the plateful in summer from my own garden, but won't let a "pink" tomato pass my lips.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Anonymous 10:23am,
You heartless jerk! You continue to distress me and Lemonade at this very difficult time. You're no different than terrorists.

JJM said...

Today's puzzle felt like a WED, and WED's puzzle felt like a FRI. Or, maybe it's just me. It's weird how your brain acts sometimes.

jill in california said...

Captain Kangaroo and Captain Midnight....."Plunk your magic twanger Froggie..Hiya kids, Hiya, Hiya!" Great puzzle today, great write up. Happy Friday

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Does anyone have the Android / Chrome / Lookout software combo?

D-Otto came across warning when he tried to access the puzzle write-up from the Blog Archive section.

Misty said...

Wow! Wow! This was practically a speed run for me, and on a Friday yet! I often don't even get the whole Thursday, let alone a Friday, so thank you, thank you, Kurt Krauss! And I loved the theme and those clever clues! The LENO clue was a delight, as were many of the others. And I was happy to be reminded of the RAJ QUARTET, which gave us one of the best Masterpiece Classics of all time, "The Jewel and the Crown." Anyone remember that?

Thanks, Lemonade, for explaining COCKER to me. Never knew that. Hey, you're watching "Downton Abbey," aren't you?

My husband is a devoted "Castle" fan.

Glad you're feeling better, Dennis and Hahtoolah!

Have a great Friday, everybody!

Lucina said...

Hello, cyber friends. It feels good to have our normal cycle running again. Thank you, Lemonade. You inject just the right amount of zest into the blog.

I started in Kurt Krauss's wave length throughout the west and PONZI SCREAM told me the theme, but then came to a screeching halt in the east when it all went SOUTH, saved by RAISA and WEES about the corners. I had the same write overs as most of you.

RAJ is well known to me from reading many books on India and that part of the world.

I, too, start with ANA DiFranco and slowly it becomes clear that it's ANI. I wonder if it's an abbr.

DEAR and DOLL have been lurking this week. I call my daughter and granddaughters by both.

Mari:
I loved those same clever clues.

Have a fine Friday, everyone!

Yellowrocks said...

Ave, Joe, I agree that the winter tomatoes are inedible. The grape tomatoes are somewhat better, but not at all like summer ones. I buy them from time to time. In the summer I eat several of my own home grown tomatoes every day and never tire of them.

ANON at 10:23 is really very rude. He (she) has an axe to grind with Lemonade and exposes hundreds of blog readers to his private spiteful battle. It is as unpleasant for the rest of us as being at a party where a husband and wife battle loudly all evening. Anon, please don’t involve all of us.

Yellowrocks said...

TTP, yes I did receive my Kindle for my birthday at Christmas. Now you know why, if I want a specific title or author, I have to resort to print books. Because I read 100books a year I need to find free or $0.99 ones. The library I joined has an extensive collection of books for Kindle, but allows only one patron to access a particular book at a time. Many popular books are on long holds. I have found many great books available. I just can’t be choosy.
My small town doesn’t support the county library system and so I must go to a neighboring town and pay $100 a year to use that library and the county library. No other local libraries are included.

Husker Gary said...

Some interesting links on a day when I’m stuck inside with no golfing or subbing.
-After our Fresnel Lens discussion of last week, here is someone wearing them
-Guess which college football team has the longest streak of consecutive years with a player in the Super Bowl. Duh, who’d ya think I was going to bring up ;-)?
-A very funny (all great humor has some element of truth in it) weather comparison sent to me by Montana - cold weather comparison
-I’m off to do my vacuuming! Gotta earn my keep around here.

TTP said...

Yellowrocks, wow.

Similarly, the local town wanted to build a new library years ago, but they couldn't get enough votes to pass the tax hike. So they annexed unincorporated areas as part of the library district and got the bill passed. It was good for us as we no longer had to pay an annual fee that was higher than what the new tax assessment became.

Love homegrown tomatoes sliced thick in a mayonnaise and tomato sandwich. And can follow it up with a bowl of sliced tomatoes sprinkled with a little sugar.

Vairnut said...

I found that most of this puzzle was rather easy, until I got to SAUDI. Wanted hAJ instead of RAJ, and I wasnt sure about TENS or SKAT. Once I figured out SANTA (great clue) and COCKER, the rest fell into place. No lookups, no Google. Whoo hoo!

AnnieB8491 said...

Hello All - Thanks for a fun puzzle and theme and great write-up. Only a few unknowns today - Not familiar with OINGO Boingo or ANI DeFranco, and kicking myself for not remember RAISA. Also had TEM for AMS in 11A, OCULI came to me with a few letters filled in. Had SRS (as in Seniors of Juniors) even though I couldn't think of any junior kids lol. I didn't 'get' SANTA until I read the write up - another 'duh' for me.
fermatprime - I also love Castle and missed it this week - guess I didn't realize it was back on.
I agree about Florida tomatoes. Love the ones we grow in our garden in NYS but haven't found any tasty ones around here. Am going to try the farmer's market in town tomorrow.
I use Google Chrome and have had no warning issues.
A happy weekend to all!

Husker Gary said...

-My BIL plants nearly 100 tomato plants here in good Nebraska LOAM every spring and they are spectacular. TTP, you forgot the B and the L in your BLT!
-Take out your “tomato” from your Big Mac or Whopper, take a bite and I defy you to detect any tomato taste. Any tomato taste in your burger is in the catsup. BTW, my MIL says cat’ sup and not ketch’ up.
-Well my vacuuming is done and it’s 42°F, sunny and no wind. Fore! Yup, even in these “freezing for Tin” temps!

Tinbeni said...

Husker @11:33
That photo looks like 50 degrees in Tampa Bay (one degree below "our" freezing point) ...
and your 50 degrees in Nebraska.

Well "It's Five O'clock Somewhere!" Soooooooo ...

Cheers !!!

CanadianEh! said...

Tough work today but I finished. Knew the American anthem (RAMPARTS) from NHL.(Hubby is glad they are back playing)
Was misdirected by John, Paul and George and Beatles wouldn't fit! Didn't understand the Santa clue even when it filled in from the Perps but then the light dawned.
Did anyone else think FRA for Brother was somewhat vague clueing??

CanadianEh! said...

I grow my own tomatoes in good Niagara LOAM and love a toasted BLT with mayo made with them!

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed todays puzzle and like so many of you got snagged on eyes- ogles, went back and rethought that corner and finished. For a Friday it seemed more doable tha most, but was still great fun.
I am so disturbed to know there is some trouble going on with your blog. I don't know what exactly has or is happening, but I sure hope it doesn't shut down this site. Like many of the lurkers, I am addicted to checking in daily, but not comfortable posting too much, but I want you all to know how much I appreciate what you do on a daily basis and how informative and entertaining the posts are. Thankyou Thankyou! Dog Mama

River Doc said...

Good Friday Morning everyone!

Wow, a Thursday AND Friday Ta-Da for Da Doc – woo hoo!

WEES about the past tense of Praise. Thankfully, once the puzzle theme revealed itself, the last part of 46A just had to be SHOUT.

I’ve never been a big fan of booster shots, flu season or not….

Favorite clue: John, Paul and George, but not Ringo. Poor Ringo, he’s always being left out of all the fun….

Lots of memories from watching Captain Kangaroo as a kid. The Tom Terrific cartoon looked like it was done on an Etch-A-Sketch….

No problems here with Chrome.

Vairnut said...

There seem to be a lot of Chicago area bloggers on here...anybody remember Frazier Thomas, Garfield Goose and Romberg Rabbit? They were on WGN long ago.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Glad to see some of our stalwarts are climbing back out from under the weather. Tough week here in Bumpaland, but everything went well.

Quite a work out in today's puzzle. But I am a bit tired and rusty. Clever theme, and lots of excellent fill.

Fine write up from our citric associate.

I think brother = FRA is OK for a Friday.

It's been very cold here, single digits to teens. Warmed up into the 20's and now it's snowing.

I'm ready for Spring and baseball.

Cool regards,
JzB

Sfingi said...

@Dennis - sounds like what Hubster had - lasted 2 weeks. He had the shot, I did not.

I was surprised I got as far as I did. I left one space (Natick) SANTA crosses CLASS ACT. But, I had CLASSIC T. Didn't know what that was, but figured it was some youth thing. Forgot Cupid was also a reindeer. Got all the theme answers. Some tricky stuff, in a good way.

With the Beatles clue, kept thinking, Oh they were all knighted except Ringo. I guess it was only Paul.

Blood oranges are in season somewhere and appearing here - a favorite of mine.

I've had my Kindle - basic kind - for less than 2 months and have 12 items. They cost me form 0 to $2 each. There are tons of freebies at Amazon Kindle, plus I "borrowed" one mystery.

Dennis said...

Sfingi, I didn't get the shot either.

....."Plunk your magic twanger Froggie..Hiya kids, Hiya, Hiya!"

jill in california, jeez, I had forgotten all about that frog - but wasn't he on during the breaks in some western-type show? I have a vague recollection of Andy Devine hosting it.

Lucina said...

CanadianEh:
After solving crosswords for a long time, the clue of brother for FRA, i.e. monk, becomes commonplace.

I have to add my two cents worth about Castle. Nathan Fillion is definitely SUPERB! Love it.

No problems with Chrome or Firefox.

Dennis said...

I just answered my own question -- according to Wiki, it was the Andy Devine show, sponsored by Buster Brown shoes (remember Tige?).

I think Froggy only plunked his magic twanger in private, lest the show be overrun with tadpoles...

Yellowrocks said...

Sfingi, yes there are many freebies for Kindle which I have gotten. There are many more waiting for me to try. For my $100 library membership I can borrow digital books, too, and I have borrowed quite a few. Now I want some SPECIFIC books and SPECIFIC authors, not available free or under $2 except in print. When a get a "bee in my bonnet" it keeps buzzing until it is satisfied. I went to the library today and got 2print books I have been dying to read, one by Crossan and one by PICOULT.

HG, I loved your cold weather comparison picture. How true!. This afternoon 21 degrees feels quite comfortable after the single digits. Of course, I still need my winter coat.

My mouth is watering for a good tomato sandwich or BLT with many months to wait. You can't beat those Jersey tomatoes from the Garden State.

Sfingi said...

@YellowRocks - Your library charges $?

Oh, well. Our library, which is architecturally grand, has a cafe and many PCs, now. Kids still like to be read stories.

I've been giving away wooden books. 800 2012, 1000 in 2011.

Sid said...

Things began to move quite a bit more quickly when I realized, at SLEEPYHOLLER, that the 2nd half of the theme entries was gonna be a synonym of "cry" and not an actual part of the cry itself as I had entered at PONZISChEme.

A list of old TV ASIDES that begins with HG's 10:03 reference to George Burns would have to include Betty White's non-verbal headshake when asked by the announcer "Aren't you ashamed?"

Also Cleo (the basset hound) on Jackie Cooper's "The People's Choice" which often included a hindleg-dragging step or three.

Lemonade714 said...

Welcome AnnieB and all others who have joined the conversation.

Speaking of Chicago, the first check I ever received was from WLS for bedtime stories I wrote for Art Roberts. I cashed the check but I think I still have the envelope.

willow said...

I founf the theme very helpful today. Fun puzzle, not as difficult as some Fridays.

willow said...

No warning as I signed in. I'm using Goggle.

Jayce said...

I suspect the "dangerous website" messages may be generated by one's anti-virus software, such as Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky, AVG, etc. rather than by the browser. I know, for example, every time I get a warning about a website being dangerous, the warning comes from AVG. I propose everyone report on which anti-virus software they have rather than which browser or OS they are using. I'll start. I use AVG Free and it has no objection to this website.

Java Mama said...

Hello again. Had to chime in on the home-grown tomato discussion. My dear departed stepdad loved to garden ... but refused to eat most vegetables, including tomatoes. He would grow a splendid crop every year and then give them away to his lucky stepdaughters and any neighbor who dropped by. Can still remember how delicious they were -- nothing like it at the supermarket.

Sfingi, I'm also a fan of blood oranges. They seem to have a pretty short season, so I'm enjoying them while they last.

Bon Appetit!

Java Mama said...

Good idea, Jayce. No problems with Norton.

Jayce said...

Re the puzzle, I had much the same experiences with it that Dennis and Barry G reported. I liked the puzzle and thought it was fun. At first I thought the theme was to add an "R" sound, such as scheme to scream, hollow to holler, and sheikh to shriek, but shot to shout didn't fit that pattern.

jill in california said...

Dennis - you are right, it was Andy Devine who called on Froggie to plunk. Also , vague memory..."This is my dog Tige, he lives in a shoe, I'm Buster Brown, look for me in there too." My gosh, how I have dated myself!!

PK said...

Hi Y'all, I didn't cry over this one. Clever and enjoyable, Kurt! Your comments & links were a real hoot, Lemon! Thanks!

Thrilled to get a Friday--almost: 13D had STeeR. Agh!

Couldn't think of that fairy's name in Peter Pan for the longest time.

1A Fair share? Seems like too many people aren't satisfied with that. They want it ALL!

Lemon, did you notice how similar Cpl. Agarn's war dance was to Gangnam Style?

Just when the sheik scene was getting good.....

MERLE's "Silver Wings" is apt. I learned last night my AF son is to be deployed for six mos. The last two times he was overseas they didn't tell me until he got back. Don't know now where he's going. Scream! I like to know things.

Nathan Fillion is adorable (DEAR)! Only crime drama I can stand to watch.

desper-otto said...

Stinging -- "wooden books" -- love it!

Jayce, I'm the one who keeps getting the warning messages, and I'm using Lookout on an Android tablet -- the pay version. Anybody else using that security software? If so, tell me what happens when you try to access the blog archive.

desper-otto said...

That Stinging was Sfingi until this #&$+!!@ spell corrector (oxymoron) fixed it.

TTP said...

Husker Gary@ 1:03, I agree, adding bacon and lettuce (and toasting the bread) takes that mayonnaise and tomato sandwich to a whole 'nother level.

You all made me so hungry I had to go get a "footlong" at Subway. I didn't measure it. I ate it.

There's a new strain of Norovirus (GII.4 Sydney) that is rapidly circulating through the US as reported by Time and NPR and many others. Heard about it on CNN this AM. What some would call "stomach flu." Hygiene, hygiene, hygiene.

My captcha entry was urntow, :)

CrossEyedDave said...

Loved Agarns "war dance."

Unfortunately i was busy today, & did the puzzle red letter, in a rush. Not satisfying at all, I should have saved it for after work. If i had i might have reacted more like this...

But, perhaps it is for the best, you know how obsessive i can get. Imagine me trying to explain a puzzle about shouting to everyone. (not a good idea...)

I am using Norton Via Google Chrome, no warnings.

Lucina said...

YR and others:
Here in the big city we have dozens of libraries and I have access to both Phoenix and Scottsdale systems. My daughter helped me to access it and it was darned complicated for her who is a whiz on the computer.

So far I have borrowed one book and am not eager to try again if I have that much trouble. Did anyone else find it difficult to get into the system?

Husker Gary said...

-Just back off the course. The forecast was for a high of 39F but it got to 48F and I was sweating in a t-shirt and hoodie. The only compromise I had to make was to use broken tees because the ground is frozen a few mm down. Don’t go there Tin ;-).
-TTP, bacon on anything is muy bueno!! Well maybe not liver…
-That footlong sounds great! Omeprazole (generic Prilosec) has made me gastronomically bulletproof.
-Andy Devine and “plunk your magic twanger, Froggy” brings back good memories.
-Java, are tomatoes a fruit or vegetable to you. The Oxford Dictionary equivocates.
-Bob Hope had a lot of ASIDES in hit Road… movies
-Vegas, the Tom Terrific cartoons could look so bad because the plots were so compelling ;-)
-Off to Omaha!

Ol' Man Keith said...

OK. Yes. Fine.
Good enough for Friday.

Manac said...

Complete speed run for me today. Wasn't fooled by the misdirections. This blog does educate one.
I think this was Oingo Boingo's signature song and
I know I posted this recently but thought it was appropriate for today.

HeartRx said...

HG @ 4:29 said "bacon on anything is muy bueno!! Well maybe not liver…"

What, you never had fried liver and onions WITH BACON?? You are missing out on one of my "brings me back to fond childhood memories" moments. Mother had cooked up some bacon and liver with onions for dear old daddy, but told us kids that we were getting something else because that was a "special dish" only for him. Needless to say, the next time she made it, we ALL wanted some!!
/
/
/
/
The old "reverse psychology" trick...worked like a charm, every time!

Yellowrocks said...

I have Norton Antivirus. I was only blocked from some links, not from the blog. I think it was the antivirus.

Sfingi, See my 11:15 blog at the bottom as to why I must pay. Our library's digital books are easy to access but they allow only one patron at a time to read a particular book. Madness!
Here is the Boy in the Shoe jingle:

Link text

Avg Joe said...

OK, now you've done it Marti.....reignited the variety meats conversation. I really like liver and onions, but can't say I've had it with bacon.

FWIW, I use Norton AV. No problems here.

Capcha is ccours. I think that one was meant for Tin.

Anonymous said...

I struggled with about 6 clues but once I got the theme I rolled with this one, a doable challenge. Nice.

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, When I filled in the entire NW corner with hardly a pause, I thought this was going to be a fast Friday puzzle. Was I ever wrong!

I had Pro (Tem) instead of Ams and Prison(Cell) instead of Yard and like Dennis had a D at the end of praise. That threw off the intire rest of the puzzle. I was looking for synonyms for cry and had scream and holler, but with my mistakes the other two theme answers eluded me.

With the help of my CW dictionary I finally finished the entire puzzle but not without going South in several places and having a great deal of unrest. I had to put the whole thing aside and come back to it several times before I finally finished up.

It was a good experience for me as I always consider it learning for next time!

It was interesting to see dear again today. Yesterday clued with Hon and today with Beloved.

Loved Cupid's boss clue as well as "I" strain. Both very clever and misdirecting.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Yellowrocks said...

Does your shoe have a boy inside?
What a funny place for a boy to hide.
Does your shoe have a dog there, too?
A boy and a dog, and a foot in a shoe.

Well, the boy is Buster Brown,
And the dog is Tige, his friend,
They're really just a picture,
But it's fun to play pretend.

So, look, look, look
in the telephone book
for the store that sells the shoe
with the picture of the boy and the dog inside,
you can put your foot there, too.

HeartRx said...

Avg Joe @ 5:09, try it...you'll like it!! I think she would fry the bacon first, and then do the onions in the bacon fat, with the liver going in for the last minutes. It is important to get the right cut of liver, and not to cook too long, otherwise, it just becomes rank tasting shoe leather. "Almost" pink on the inside, for me, is the best.

Lemonade714 said...

Fun day, thank you all for your comments.If anyone, anon or otherwise has a topic to discuss with me unrelated to the crossword, my email addresses are accessible. I have received many interesting emails over the years from the commenters and some constructors. It is all good, I know who I am.

Nice catch on the War Dance and Ganagman; and while Walking with a Dead Man may be the signature OB, the MOVIE made the song more famous.

HeartRx said...

Oh, and she always served it with mashed potatoes...

HeartRx said...

Sorry, Lemon, didn't mean to interrupt your comment!

Chickie said...

Fermatprime, I loved the Braun Cat books. You're right, though, the characters and cats never aged.

Several years ago a library bond allowed our city to remodel and build several new libraries in local neighborhoods. However, three of those brand new buildings never opened because of financial problems. Yesterday our local paper announced that one of the three libraries will open this weekend. The other two later this year. Sad that these buildings couldn't be opened because they couldn't stock them or provide personnel for them. The people in these neighborhoods have had to travel quite a distance to get books to read.

My whole comment disappeared when I tried to edit a misspelled word. I hope this one doesn't just evaporate, too.

CrossEyedDave said...

Hmm, ok, this may go over like liver & onions,,, but here goes!

Fonzi Scheme

Sleepy holler @ the 1:00 mark there are some good "sleepy hollers" but the rest is a cautionary tale that you really do not need to see...

Booster Shot

& Saudi Shriek??? I have no idea what the heck this is, i just hope it is not some secret ritual of terrorists that i have unwittingly posted.. CC: Maybe you should delete this post for me...

why do i post this stuff???
( i blame the liver & onions...)

Avg Joe said...

Anyone west of CST, make a point to see the "On the road" finale to CBS Evening news today. Great story!!

Marti, I agree on cooking liver....and for that matter, most things. Nothing is good when overcooked. I grew up with grey beans, so I speak from experience. A good Vet could save most meat that I cook.

TTP said...

Avg Joe, I just saw that story 35 minutes ago, and I agree. That was a great story.

PedantTheBrit said...

Good puzzle today. Luckily my (American) wife was with me today, so she helped with Captain Kangaroo. I'd heard of the show, but it never made it across the pond.

Didn't anybody else have a nitette about AMS for Pro-? It seemed a little bit like sneaking a 2-letter word into Scrabble by making it plural.

I hate CAPTCHA! (CAPTCHA is in capitals because actually it's an acronym, but one of those pseudo-acronyms where the name was thought of first and then they made up what it stands for - "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart"). There's a much more user-friendly technique to cut down on Spam called reverse CAPTCHA. Rather than making humans prove their not robots, this technique is invisible to the user and instead tricks the robot into revealing it's not human. I don't know if that is an option on Blogger.

There was an item on NPR a while back about tomatoes. It seems that someone found a strain of tomatoes that had a gene that caused it to be a uniform red color without a greenish area around the stem. Shoppers preferred these so they became by far the most prevalent variety sold in shops. However, they subsequently found out that this same gene also makes the tomato lose most of its flavor. Some growers are trying to re-introduce the older varieties, but shoppers need to be convinced that the tomatoes that don't look so nice will actually taste better.

Anony Mouse said...

CrossEyedDave Gotta love your Saudi Shriek link.

BTW, those are Arabs, but I do not think they're Saudis. A couple of them are also carrying lil tomahawks .... on an airport tarmac (!). Maybe security is not a big problem out there, what with everybody being so heavily armed with Kalashnikov, AK-47's.

Good, strong, vibrant voices though - I thought they were practicing Crazy Horse's whoops.

As Bob Hope once said, (in 1958, during the cold war - ), 'Russians also love to watch 'Cowboys and Indians', on TV, but they root for the Indians ...'.

Or, maybe its their national Anthem, complete with 'Over the Ramparts we watched, ....'.



Marti,

if you can see this .... my feral cat gang has now increased to three, all black, all blue eyed. They have taken to caterwauling on my front sloop front steps, and have already broken one of my twin front lights. I wonder if the insurance company will accept liability by cat damage as an acceptable covered risk.... They are also using our front door as a scratching post. Can cats scratch plate glass windows ??

Steven J. St. John said...

A fine puzzle. Many good ones this week; wish the site had been working so I could give my compliments. Glad you're back!

Bill G. said...

Vine-ripened tomatoes. Yum. I usta grow some really good ones. Locally, there is a source called Lark Farms that grows great tomatoes (including heirloom varieties) in the soil in summer and almost-as-good hydroponic tomatoes in the winter. They taste and smell like tomatoes whereas the supermarket tomatoes look OK but are tasteless and odorless.

Marti, I agree about liver, onions and bacon. Great stuff and, like you said, ought to be cooked just a little rare.

Did anybody catch the recent Nova about drone aircraft. Really interesting and a little bit scary.

Manac said...

Anony Mouse,
Yes, Both cats and dogs can scratch the heck out of glass over time. Your feral cats reminded me of this.
Every spring with the thaw, two Mallards would swim out in the back of the house and Nicole would go out and feed them bread. If no one saw them they would fly to the front and the female would walk up the porch steps and quack at the door while the male stood guard til someone "answered" and fed them. Haven't seen them for a few seasons but am looking for some pics I have of them.
Still get ducks here in the spring but none as bold as those two.

Bill G. said...

I saw this video on my wife's Facebook page and it really brought a smile to my face. Talking animals from the BBC.

Manac said...

Bill, Freaking Hilarious!

I missed the inauguration but did hear about the lip syncing.

And no, not a grandpa yet but I did
tell my two daughters that they have my permission to Elope!

downtonabbey said...

C.C. I USE LOOKOUT ON ANDROID. Dont let them get to you because that is what they want by making rude comments.

Husker Gary said...

Marti, there isn’t enough bacon, onions, grease, or cooking directions, or Heinz 57 on this planet that would make liver palatable to this carnivore;-(

downtonabbey said...

HG:
I agree about the liver! Can't even smell it cooking. But now bacon....ah I fell off the vegetarian wagon for it. lol

downtonabbey said...

Bill,
Loved the video.

fermatprime said...

I ran across this review of
TBBT. Unbelievable!