google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, February 28, 2013 Steven J. St. John

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Feb 28, 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013 Steven J. St. John

Theme: Pickup Lines

7A. With 22-, 37- or 48-Across, familiar line : HEY BABE...

22A. See 7-Across : COME HERE OFTEN?

37A. See 7-Across : YOUR PLACE OR MINE?

48A. See 7-Across : WHAT'S YOUR SIGN?

64A. Probable response to 7-/22-, 7-/37- or 7-/48-Across : GET LOST!!!!! Guffaw!  Great theme wrap-up!

SJ2 is probably young enough to be my grandson, but I still loved his pickup lines! There was some other clever stuff in there too, as you will soon see.

Oh, and best pickup line I ever heard? "If I were to ask you out on a date, would your answer be the same as the one to this question?"

Marti here, so let's get crackin'!

Across:

1. Send with an email : ATTACH.

14. It has its charms : VOODOO. To soothe the savage breast, perhaps?

15. Password accompaniment : USER NAME.

17. Mail for King Arthur : ARMOUR. Legendary British king in the clue gives a hint to the British spelling of "armor."

18. "Pull it together" : GET A GRIP. Great fill!

19. Fed. management and support agency : GSAGeneral Services Administration.

21. Fabric : CLOTH.

29. Ken and Lena of Hollywood : OLINS.

30. Tell-all account : EXPOSÉ. Do tell!

31. Mosquito-borne fever : DENGUE. Also called "breakbone fever." Typically spread by the A. aegypti species of mosquito. (OK, I 'fess: I had to google the mosquito.) (But I did remember breakbone fever!)

33. Islet : AIT.

34. Preschool downtime : NAP.

41. Disapproving sound : SSS.

42. Ballpark fig. : EST.imate.

43. Two-___ : SEATER.

44. Shrill laugh : CACKLE. I got the part of one of the three witches in our school's production of Macbeth, because I could do the cackle so well...hee, heee, heeeee!

47. Bookkeeper's deduction : OUTGO. Anyone else want debit?

50. Literature Nobelist ___ Bashevis Singer : ISAAC. Definitely a Thursday clue.  Monday would be clued with Stern, Asimov or Newton.

52. ___ Lanka : SRI.

53. Words often said with a fist pump : NAILED IT. Nailed it! [Fist pump]

57. Easy pill to swallow : GEL CAP. With a spoonful of sugar, maybe.

62. Where a shopping list may be jotted down : ENVELOPE. Nope, I use "Evernote" on my phone. Goodbye, scraps of paper that I always forget on the kitchen counter, anyway!

63. Word of exasperation : ENOUGH. (...already!)

65. Saved : STORED.


Down:

1. Gardner of "The Killers" : AVA. Based on a short story by Ernest Hemmingway.

2. NYY opponent, on scoreboards : TOR.onto, opponents of the New York Yankees.

3. Cat on the prowl : TOM. "Alley" wouldn't fit.

4. Excitement : ADO.

5. Forks over reluctantly : COUGHS UP.

6. ___ trade : HORSE. This one stayed blank, waiting on perps to help. (Scroll down the right hand menu to "Olio" and click on "Comments Section Abbrs" to see the meaning of commonly used phrases or abbreviations on this blog.)

7. An O may symbolize one : HUG. OOOO !

8. Odessa-to-Austin dir. : ESE.

9. To this point : YET.

10. Leaflike parts : BRACTS. Bracts are different from leaves, and have specialized functions.

11. "Life of Pi" director : ANG LEE. Still have not seen it.

12. Unseen "Red" character in "Peanuts" : BARON. I was thinking of that cute little redhead that Charlie Brown is so fond of.  Then I remembered Snoopy's nemesis.


13. Give off : EMIT.

16. N.T. book : EPH.esians, book in the New Testament. I hear it got good reviews on Amazon, but I think I'll wait for the movie...

20. "All bets ___ off" : ARE.

22. Buffalo Bill and the Wyoming city named for him : CODYS. One way to clue a plural proper name!

23. Kitchen spreads : OLEOS.

24. Frigid forecast word : MINUS. Brrrr...I am ready for spring!

25. Tech sch. grad : ENGR. Engineer.  I have seen this abbr. as egr., eng. and engr.

26. "Bingo!" : EXACTLY. Loved this clue/ans.

27. Andy's TV son : OPIE. Let me get it right this time: from the old "Andy Griffith Show." (Not "Mayberry RFD.")

28. Pics : FOTOS. Slang-y clue deserves equally slang-y answer.

32. To-be, in politics : ELECT. As in "President-elect," before actually taking office.

34. Capone associate : NITTI. I have no nits with this!

35. Words after crack or fry : AN EGG.

36. 1996 role for Madonna or Jonathan Pryce : PERON. They played Eva and Juan Peron in "Evita".

38. Sets a price of : ASKS.

39. Adjust, as to a new situation : REORIENT.

40. Prey for a Hauskatze : MAUS. German clue for "cat" and German answer for "mouse." In written German, all nouns are capitalized, whether they are common nouns or proper nouns.   (I guess they're also capitalized in spoken German, but I never really noticed.)

44. Alpine dwelling : CHALET.

45. Battery not included, perhaps : AA CELL. Great clue!

46. Aurora, to the Greeks : EOS.

48. Refrain from claiming : WAIVE.

49. Prods : URGES.

50. Like Vivaldi's "Spring" : IN E. (Major.) Musical interlude. I know you like this one. 6:05 for Part 1. Click on the "Part 2" video on the right for the rest. 4:26

51. Joined the choir : SANG.

54. Scooby-___ : DOO.

55. Tape speed unit: Abbr. : IPSInches Per Second.

56. Hanoi holiday : TET.

58. John of London : LOO. Did the clue fool you?

59. Nasty mutt : CUR.

60. Birthday candle number : AGE. DH decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and put only one candle on my birthday cake this year.  Unfortunately, it was a 4" x 8" pillar candle...

61. Prof's deg. : PHD. "Piled Higher and Deeper."  (^0^)

'Til next week!

OOOO,
Marti

77 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Fun puzzle. I struggled with the theme at first because the wording of the theme reveal at 7A led me to believe I was looking for a single phrase that spanned four answers instead of four separate phrases. Took me awhile to realize what was really going on.

The NW was actually the trickiest section in general, due to BRACTS, BARON and EPH. The rest of the grid fell pretty quickly.

[rhstable]
[tiesxin]

TTP said...

Hey Babe, is your name Google ? 'Cause you've got everything I'm looking for.

ATTACH ? NAILED IT. Then saw the clue for 7A and thought this was going to be some kind of Quote-Acrostic puzzle.

Good thing I don't rely on pure knowledge to solve puzzles, or I would never have completed this one. DENGUE what ? ISAAC who ?

Fav misdirection was 42A Ballpark figure - ATTendance is normally in the box scores. I'd ESTimate it to be there 95 % of the time.

46D EOS - I thought EOS was only allowed on Fridays when Lemonade does the write up...

10D BRACTS is a new word for me.

No "Life of Pi" for me either, Marti.

Red BARON ? I didn't know he was forever unseen. I just thought I just missed the days he was present.

I love the word CHALET. I get visuals.

Thank you Steven S St John and thank Marti !

PS, Barry, it's a good thing you and I do not give directions based on rhumbs.

Hahtoolah said...

Good morning, Marti and friends. I generally don't like puzzles with lots of cross-references, but once I figured out COME HERE OFTEN, I found this rather amusing. Good line, TTP (is your name Google??!!)

I loved the John from London = LOO. I know we often see variations of this clue and answer.

I initially tried TSK instead of SSS for disapproving sound.

I also tried Tse Tse instead of DENGUE for the Mosquito borne fever.

I have no desire to either read the novel or see the movie of the Life of Pi.

Remember, Ken and Lena OLIN are not married or otherwise related.

While you may not know the name of ISAAC Bashevis Singer, you probably know some of his work. Several of his stories and novels have been made into movies, including Yentl and Enemies, A Love Story. The latter starred Lena OLIN.

My shopping lists are likely to be written on a napkin, as I often think of things I need while eating.

QOD: The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas. ~ Linus Pauling (Feb. 28, 1901 ~ Aug. 19, 1994).

[cslette]

Lemonade714 said...

What a fun puzzle and write up, no meh here. I guess the art of the pick up is being lost to the internet. I did enjoy doing natal charts back in the day.

Loved seeing HUG, Marti' s catch word and NAILED IT which is so C.C.

Thanks guys

Sfingi said...

Is it just me or is this a very good Monday puzzle?

Anybody read about the new Monkey Pox? Scary.

Anonymous said...

Simply terrific Thursday offering. Thank you very much.

"Battery not included, perhaps : AA CELL. Great clue!"

Hand up.


"OK, I 'fess: I had to google the mosquito"

Sorry to hear that.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Fun puzzle, SjSj. Chuckled at your write-up, Marti. No complaints today.

I have Evernote on my Android. But I write lists on envelopes, because I never have my Android with me.

I couldn't believe that Odessa is WNW of Austin. I had to look at a map of Texas. Yup! Oh well, I always went there via Southwest. It could've been anywhere.

That was a cute pic of Snoopy on his Sopwith Camel doghouse. Frank Nitti came to a dramatic end in The Untouchables with Keven Costner as Ness. And thanks, Marti, for the explanation on NYY-TOR. I didn't have a clue.

And before I forget, thanks go to AB for emailing me that WBBM in Chicago stood for "World's Best Battery Maker". I dug around and found out that one of the Atlass brothers was an early owner of WBBM, and he also owned a major chunk of Mallory Battery Company.

Tinbeni said...

Marti: Wonderful write-up & links. Esp. the Vivaldi.

SJ-SJ: Thank you for a FUN Thursday.
Sfingi: I "NAILED-IT" in Saturday time.
Needed every single perp for BRACTS, DENGUE, MAUS (ach! German!) & ISAAC.

I remember being asked: "WHAT'S YOUR SIGN?"
and I replied: "Keep off the grass." (As if THAT will ever happen ...)

Hope everyone enjoys celebrating "March Eve".

Cheers !!!

grams said...

Regina, I suppose you are referring tousle a few days ago?

Great puzzle! Had some trouble, but clever clues: prey for a Hauskatze, bookkeeper's deduction.

Cold here, ready for a warm Spring!!




Roocamp

thehondohurricane said...

Good morning everyone,

A bit late today because SJ-SJ gave me a helluva challenge. I was ready to throw in the towel a couple of times, but perseverance won out.

Marti, terrific write up. LMAO when I read "Piled Higher and Deeper. I'm sure many of us recall those often boring lectures we had to endure by a pompous Prof.

Down perps were the order of the day. The across clues were not registering at all until some of the downs began to fill up.

Hand up for BRACTS and DENGUE being newbies. For 32A, I began with ATT too. My German is lacking, so MAUS was all perps.

There were a few clues or fills that I did not like. 47A OUTGO & 17A ARMOUR were the frontrunners. IMO, they are both passé. These complaint are minor though because there was so much to like today.

Marti, thanks for the Vivaldi link. His Four Seasons is a personal favorite, as is the composer.

Happy Thursday.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

NAILED IT today. (SJ)² composed a bright puzzle today. I normally don't like cross-referenced clues (I lose my place) but this one was fun and perps helped nail well-known pick-up lines. Only real guess was ISAAC. Liked long downs: COUGHS UP and REORIENT. Favorite fill was GET A GRIP.

MAUS - Same sound, as 'mouse'. Plural - Mäuse (vowel sound as oi in 'oil'.
Low German: Muus, pl Müüs. My point is, with many simple nouns, Germanic languages tend to make the plural via a sound shift. Grade school English taught us they were "irregular"

Enjoy the day.

URL said...

Aw, SJSJ this puzzle sounds like you need a mental HUG! (If he's using these worn-out pickup lines, I doubt he NAILED IT or pumped anything!) LOL! Fun one!

Fun expo, Marti! I'll go listen to Vivaldi after posting.

For Bingo, I tried Eureka, but soon changed it. Had trouble with all the initial clues. Didn't "get" them even when the perps handed them to me.

I had the R___ient and sure wanted Resilient at 39.

Got LOO immediately. First thing I look for in any new venue.

I dredged up BRACTS & DENGUE from somewhere.

I watched those Oscars & think ANG LEE got one for "PI" but couldn't remember his name without perps.

My shopping list is on a Post-it which sticks nicely to the top of my purse in the cart child seat where I can readily see it, hands free.

PK said...

HMM, gonna be a long day if I think my name is URL above.

Anony Mouse said...

I got a Thursday !!!@!##

Loved it, loved it, loved it. Thank you, thank you, thank you, SJSJ and God Bless. Please - Come here often.?

I never, never thought I'd get it - but I remembered all the 'pickup' lines, having never been to a bar in my life. I had scads/ lotsa/ tons of - errors .... Nil, Zip for 'O', (Red) haired girl, Ria/Rio for 'Ait', Ump/Ref for 'Est.', WNW for ESE (reverse orientation - ), and whats an N.T. ( No Time ?) ...

Marti, your lovely wit and humor. I bet you never had a problem getting a date. You probably had to fight your way out of one !!! from your circle of admirers ....

True story, .... my 20 something daughter in NYC, went to Vermont, last week, to try skiing, for the first time. She gave us the bad news over the phone .... I was absolutely stunned and flabbergasted .... I could only manage,' Don't do anything, Marti wouldn't do - '.

And, she's like, ' Who's Marti ?'.

I couldn't answer her. I was completely floored ..... How can you explain ?

(She upended, a couple of times, with her skis on top .... but as of yesterday, she's still good to go .... )


Have a nice day, you guys, and best wishes.

Mari said...

Good morning everybody,

I'm with Hahtoolah with TSK and LOO. I remembered that tse tse was related with flies, so the mosquito fever had to be something else.

Otto @ 7:10 am: Interesting about WBBM. I listen all the time and never knew that. In real life Nitti's end was a little less dramatic. He committed suicide on March 19, 1943.

Other than the LOO clue, my favorites were:
- 7D: An O may symbolize one: HUG
and of course
- 40D: Prey for a Hauskatze: MAUS

In accounting and finance I use the word outflow instead of OUTGO.

Time to GET LOST. Have a nice day!

LaLaLinda said...

Hi All ~~

What a great puzzle ~ thanks Steven J. St. John! Everything went smoothly for the first two-thirds and than I got bogged down - especially in the SW corner. The culprit ended up being one of my favorite clues: 45D - Battery not included / AA CELL. Loved it! Once I got that, the rest went quickly.

~ I had a couple of write-overs: 'Ria' / AIT and 'Tsk' / SSS.

~ I was really perp-dependent in a number of places: MAUS, GSA, DENGUE, EOS, ISAAC, BRACTS and IPS.

~ On 44A CACKLE, I could hear the witch in "The Wizard of Oz."

~ Like Lemonade, I thought of Marti and C. C. with HUGS and NAILED IT.

~ 5D - COUGHS UP has a whole different meaning in a house with three cats! =^..^=

~ Marti ~ I loved your write-up. I had to sit and think about the pick-up line you gave in your opening. When the light dawned, HAR HAR! (Hi Splynter)

I listened to Vivaldi while reading and writing - thanks for the link and all the explanations for my ? answers.

HeartRx said...

Hahtoolah, loved your QOD ! It's kind of like constructing puzzles. If you make a lot of 'em, eventually Rich will break down and actually accept one...

Anony Mouse, if you told her not to do anything I wouldn't do, you are leaving her a loooooot of leeway, LOL!

Point of order said...

Debits are Income.
Credits are OUT Go.

American CPA said...

Points of order - I respectfully disagree.

In the USA, income is shown as a 'Credit' on the Income Statement (Profit and/or Loss St.), and you 'Debit' an expense.

Also (needless to say - ) you debit an Asset to increase it, and credit a liability to increase it.


The British, and "followed in the rest of the world" - its the exact opposite. Go Figure.

BTW, 'Debit' does not end in 'o', so didn't matter for the CW.

Anonymous said...

So when you say,'He's a credit to his race',

that's not something he should be proud of ?

Not a compliment at all ?

AnnieB8491 said...

Good Morning all - Loved the puzzle, cute theme - thanks Steven. As always Marti - great write-up.
LaLaLinda - my unknowns were same as yours. I love your term perp-dependent - many of my solves could be classified as this.
Because 2D clue was city and team NY Y, I was looking for another city and team initially, but ARMO changed my thinking. Debated on ARMORS/ARMOUR for 17A, but it finally clicked with the perps.
Hands up for TSK/SSS and wanted ODE before INE. I was also trying to think of a red-headed girl at first for 10D.
Put in RE right away for 39D and waited for the rest to fill in. Had to to thru alphabet for the O - duh!.
Not an easy one as it took me quite a while to fill in all my blanks, but enjoyable! I enjoy these just as much as an easy peasy one - great satisfaction when it's completed.

Have a great day all!

endmicor

Point of order said...

Gee, when money came in, I always Debited the Cash Account.
When money was paid out (deducted), I always Credited the Cash Account.

Go figure. lol

HeartRx said...

Re: US Accounting. It depends whether you are looking at the P&L or the cash account. Sales ("income") are shown as a credit on the P&L. But the cash from payment of those sales is debited to the cash account.

Glass half full, or half empty?

61Rampy said...

Whew! I thought this one was a toughie today! Never heard of DENGUE. I had the ___gue, so I thought of plaGUE. But I was sure CODYS was correct. Also wanted TSK, but soon ruled that out. Thought 18A was showGRIt. It wasnt. My first response to 64A was not something likely to be in a family newspaper. It would have started with F, and ended in OFF.
I just had to put new AAa CELLs in my keyboard to type this.
Good puzzle today, great write-up, Marti!
I do puzzles on paper, in ink, so no red letter cheating here!








Husker Gary said...

“Is it hot in here or is it just you?” probably would elicit the same response, huh? Just enough crunch to cause me to pause and work - e.g. HAUSTKATZE/MAUS. I didn’t know it but I knew it!

Musings
-It’s not HEY BABE but every HS band I’ve ever heard plays HEY BABY (1:38) at ball games. Can’t beat 50’s/60’s rock and roll!
-I wanted to soothe a savage breast (still willing) and Charlie’s girlfriend first too, Marti. OOOO to you and was surprised you had no après ski CHALET comment ;-)
-Do you think up crazy, complicated PASSWORDS/USER NAMES and then forget them?
-The GSA Scandal has come to typify what happens when you can spend other people’s (taxpayer’s) money as shown in this now iconic FOTO. ENOUGH!!
-I don’t like going to stores that just sell CLOTH
-She NAILED IT!
-Joann is amazed I can swallow a GEL CAP without water
-Abe’s using an ENVELOPE to write the Gettysburg Address seems to be one of those myths of history
-We’ve all been bitten by the fact that we should have SAVED a file. God bless auto-save!
-Have you ever heard the phrase “out TOMcattin’ around”?
-Oh, not the ODESSA on the Black Sea
-None of my former students with an ENGR degree are out of work
-Attendance EST’s are always tickets sold (which counts no-shows) not attendees
-The real Frank NITTI committed suicide but how did Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner) kill him in the movie?

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Steven J. St. John, for an excellent puzzle, once I got started. Thank you, Marti, for the great write-up.

First, to Hahtoolah, yes I remember when you recently informed me that the Ken and Lena Olins were not married. For years, via the crosswords, I thought they were. I appreciate your clearing that up for me and probably many others. I learn things every day here and love it.

Well, I looked around in the NW and promptly headed South. My first answer was SRI for 52A. Then I spread from there.

I must admit I was a little pessimistic about this puzzle and the theme, at first. However, I was able to come up with YOUR PLACE OR MINE quite easily after a few perps, and then COME HERE OFTEN fell. Then with a few perps I got HEY BABE. The rest were easy.

I, as well, confidently wrote in DEBIT for 47A. I am not an accountant, or anything close. I just thought that would be a great word and the letter-count matched. Frank NITTI became obvious for 34D, so I eventually came up with OUTGO. That turned out to be a big ink-smear on my newspaper. No problem, I get a lot of those.

DENGUE was not known to me. Perps fixed that.

Yes, I use ENVELOPES a lot for making notes. Of course my favorite item to use is the sticky note. I live with those. Congrats to 3M for inventing those. I heard the story once and it was very interesting, kind of an accident.

I read the book "Life of Pi." It was outstanding! I intend on seeing the movie. For the entire book thought it was a true story. Not until the very end did I realize it was a novel.

Off to Glenview tonight. see you tomorroqw.

Abejo

(orrengo)

Cpa, again said...

Point of order -

When you get "money in", you debit 'Cash', because 'Cash' is an Asset on the balance sheet, and you are increasing it - and on the other side of the 'T' account, of the adjusting journal entry -

you credit, the same amount, to 'Income', (if that is what it is - ), on the income statement, to increase the Income.



When money is 'paid out', you are left with less money, (reduced), Cash. You credit the Cash (Asset) to reduce it.

On the 'other side'of that journal entry, - if that money was paid out, to pay for an Expense, say Rent, you debit the Rent expense, thus increasing it.


Debits increase Assets .... and Expenses.

Credits increase Liabilities .... and Income.

BTW, when you get your bank statement, from the bank, the statement is from the 'Bank's point of view' - your cash balance, is a liability for the bank, they owe you that much, so , therefore, is shown as a credit. The checks you write, are shown as 'debits', because it reduces the bank's liability to you, and they owe you less money as a result.

To non-accountants and others, my apologies.

Unknown said...

Hello to all at C C !
Created my Google persona, so now I can post!
Great theme today. Got the closer before the unifier, was trying for "pickups" but perps showed that a failure.
Was also trying for something to do with " red haired girl " for 12-D, But other fills finally gave me BARON.

Dennis said...

Good morning, gang - nice to see the familiar faces. I decided to go 'computer-cold' for a while and also take advantage of my new jumping-off point to do some traveling, including a mini-reunion in Atlanta. Been a great couple of weeks; I highly recommend getting away from the computer on occasion, if only so that the 'computer-stupid-stare' doesn't lock in.

Fun puzzle today -- I loved seeing the old pickup lines, and used to enjoy watching women's reactions when someone tried one of them. You spend much time in a bar, you learn that many guys are, um, less than creative. Fortunately, I can't remember any of my lines other than one that can't be repeated here.

I needed all the perps to see MAUS, then after looking more closely at the clue, I caught on. Didn't remember BRACTS, and needed perps again to see where Austin was in relation to Odessa. Enjoyable solve, as always is the case with SJSJ.

Hope it's a great day for everyone; always good to come 'home', although this stay will be brief.

Lucina said...

HEY,puzzlers! Great expose' as always, Marti. Thank you and a big thank you, as well to SJSJ.

Initially I was sure this would be a flop for me, but by skipping around and filling in the obvious ones I was gradually able to join the pickets on the fences and finish nicely.

YOUR PLACE OR MINE was the first theme answer and I knew then what the game was about and went to complete the other partially filled pick up lines.

MAUS/OUTGO was my last fill because like some of you, I was thinking of DEBIT or CREDIT but it all worked out.

As for DENGUE' my first thought on seeing the clue was MALARIA but of course it didn't fit. CODYS provided the answer.


What a good time this was, Mr St. John!
Have a great Thursday, everyone!

Irish Miss said...

Good morning:

This was a toughie for me but eventually everything fell into place. Clever theme and some tricky cluing made the long- awaited TA-DA worthwhile. Thanks, SJSJ, and thanks to Marti for a witty, wonderful write-up.

Oddly enough, before I opened the puzzle in Cruciverb, I thought we were due for a SJSJ and the same thing happened last Saturday with the Silkie. Strange!

Have a great day.

Misty said...

I got excited as soon as I saw this was going to be an SJSJ puzzle. But then one long theme stretch after another with only self-references rather than clues left me almost in despair. Thank goodness for ANG LEE (just watched the Oscars) and the Red BARON to get me started. I knew DENGUE fever but didn't remember how to spell it. SRI gave me URGES which gave me GELCAP. And so it went, slowly, slowly filling in until I got WHAT'S YOUR SIGN and it all began to dawn on me. I must say this was incredibly clever constructing, so many thanks, Steve. And Marti, your expos are always a hoot!

Did have a few nits. Do Brits really spell ARMOR as AMOUR? I thought only the French did that.

Never heard of an AIT in my life.

Why do I think of CACKLE as a low, rasping laugh rather than a loud shrill one? Guess I didn't watch "The Wizard of Oz" often enough.

TTP you Google cracked me up.

Welcome Michael Barrett!

Have a great Thursday, everybody.

Husker Gary said...

Debit/Credit conundrum? How this one in physics? There is no such thing as cold; there are only differing amounts of the presence or absence of heat energy. It became a running joke where on cold days kids would say, “Gee Mr. Schlapfer, there is a real absence of heat out there!” And don’t even start me on how something can have a high temperature but hardly any heat energy (e.g. a thimble full of boiling water) but something can have a low temperature but high heat content (e.g. bathtub full of tepid water). Black is not a color, it is the absence of color (not pigments which is a whole ‘nother issue)? Don’t ya luv semantics?

Y……..M….C….A, it’s fun to go to the Y….….M….C….A!

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Not like a Monday for me. Worked bottom up. S l o w l y . Thought I had it all but couldn't figure out what MENUS had to do with frigid forecasts. Dang those OLENS!

VOODOO has it's charms -- WTH?!?
Ditto AIT.

WHAT'S YOUR SIGN? is so 70's.

34A should be Retiree's down time.

EXACTLY crossing the pick-up lines is perfect, and this is EXACTLY why.

The whole pick up scene is totally foreign to me. I've led a much too sheltered life.

anon @ 8:47 - actually, no. In fact, it's quite condescending.

Granddaughter Rebekka is featured tree #2 in the Wizard of Oz the next two weekends. I hope she gets to throw an apple at the Scarecrow. Her dad is Uncle Henry and the Emerald City Guard.

Cool regards!
JzB

Dennis said...

Just wading through emails and I want to give a sincere THANKS to all who wrote asking if I was OK; much appreciated, and the answer is still "never".

I need to pick the collective brain of this diverse group: I still have to go back up north and sort through a small warehouse of household items, clothing, hobby stuff, etc. I'm guessing that what I'll be left with would fit in (give or take) a 14-15 foot U-Haul Truck. The thought of driving one of those back from NJ (about 1100 miles) isn't really blowing my dress up, so to speak. I've looked at PODS, but they want over $2500 to get it here. Does anyone know of any other alternatives? Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Jazzbumpa said...

Gary -

Somehow, saying, "A real absence of warm regards" just doesn't have the same cachet.

Cool regards!
JzB

Anony Mouse said...

Thanks TTP for your comment at 6:15,

Hey Babe, is your name Google -you have everything I'm looking for.

( You can check out her humor and her general knowledge, all at the same time. ) Absolutely Hilarious !


Hahtoolah, see if you can check out, 'The annotated and Illustrated, Double Helix' by James D. Watson, edited by Alexander Gann & Jan Witkowski,@2012, Simon & Shuster, ISBN 978-1-4767-1549-0 at a local library. Linus Pauling missed his 3rd Nobel by just that much. Mr. Watson confesses to spending so much chasing girls, one wonders how he got anything done, leave alone solving the code for mystery of life, and being a shoo-in for the Nobel Prize - before he was 25 !

PK said...

CPA: You made me remember how much I loved doing
double entry bookkeeping with pen, journals and ledgers. So practical and logical with such beautiful symetry. One tends to forget all this with accounting on the computer which does much of the hard stuff for you.

buckeye bob said...

@ Anony Mouse 7:55 AM --

N.T. = New Testament

thehondohurricane said...

Dennis,

Hire someone looking to go to Fla that will do the driving for you.

See if the rental company will allow you to return the vehicle to a Fla location.

Should be a lot less expense then a POD.

Or if there is nothing like family heirlooms, etc, try to auction it in Jersey or donate it and take the write off.

How's the golf coming along?

Latin Lover said...

Misty said at 10.46

Do Brits really spell ARMOR as AMOUR ? I thought only the French did that.

Misty, the Brits ( and most of the rest of the world ) spell 'armor' as 'armour', 'honor' as 'honour' and 'color' as 'colour'. And since their language is older than the American, perhaps they are entitled to it .

The French spell Armor as Amour ONLY if they feel love can be a suitable personal protection in battle, or that love conquers all. (lol)

I'm just making a little fun of your typo, so don't feel so bad.

Don't worry, be happy. ;-)

Husker Gary said...

I too would like some assistance. We are taking a tour to see this SE part of America and wonder if anyone could write me at gschlapfer@gmail.com (NOT on this blog, please!) to tell me any good books, videos, movies, web sites or such that could better prepare us for sites we will see there. Thanks!

Ol' Man Keith said...

Twenty-two minutes, start to finish-- longer than the first time I timed myself. This one started well, with those three-letter blanks filling in quickly. I might have tied my 20-minute goal if it hadn't been for the NE corner. The long pickup lines filled in faster than the shorter 7-across HEYBABE line. I knew I wouldn't get BRACTS through memory and let myself get blocked by the HUG clue. I should have cracked HUG, but wasted time trying to go around it.

General said...



1. Fry bacon bits

2. Eat some grits

3. If allergic to peanuts, skip over Georgia.

4. Pack and pick a guitar and get a drawl

5. Have a whole lotta fun, all y'all

6. And don't tell the natives what Itolja'

Pookie said...

I like SJSJ's puzzles!
But Marti, don't know if I could recognize his work if the name wasn't there! LOL!
All fun and games remembering those tired lines.
"If I told you have a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?"
Got stuck thinking "What is the red-haired girl's NAME!!!??
Ballpark figure started with "E"...
HAS to be ERA!! WRONG!
OLeNS and TSK got me MENUK..Whaaa?
LLLinda @ 8:02 re: COUGHS UP LMAO!
Anyway, FUN puzzle, now to check out some of the links.

Husker Gary said...

p.s. Jazz, I'll bet the music you play is very "deficient in heat" ;-)!

My "highest heat" regards to you to you and Rebekka!

Husker

Bill G. said...

A pleasant Thursday solve. I enjoyed the puzzle, the theme and the writeup. Thanks (SJ)^2 and Marti.

Count me in as a Vivaldi fan.

I didn't get "Battery not included perhaps" until it showed up here a couple of times. Too clever for me at first but now that I get it, I really like it.

PHDs can be boring or not. My bane was professors who wrote a text and then lectured from it. I got a chance to be bored twice.

Gary, I totally understand and agree with your mini-physics lesson. You can add misunderstandings about suction and centrifugal force.

Here's a cute little puzzle: Brothers and sisters
A girl in a family notices that she has the same number of sisters as brothers. Her brother observes that he has twice as many sisters as brothers. How many girls and boys are in this family? (Please either encode your answer somehow or send it via e-mail. Thanks.)

[qnutspoopxphooey]

HeartRx said...

Bill G., I just emailed you my answer. Wow, I think I actually got one, for a change!

Agree totally about professors. I did have one professor that I thought was really cool (deficient in heat?) - but I was dating him at the time, LOL!

Java Mama said...

Good afternoon, everyone! Fun, fun, fun SJSJ puzzle today, with a very clever theme. Reminded me of our discussion of Leisure Suit Larry a while back. Got a kick out of your husband’s solution to the birthday candle dilemma, Marti.

Had to CACKLE at LaLaLinda’s comment @8:02 re: COUGHS UP – my kitties have a l’il surprise waiting for me on the carpet nearly every evening. Hand up for immediately thinking of C.C. on seeing NAILED IT. Putting in EUREKA instead of EXACTLY muddied up the mid-section for a bit. Thought 45D was going to be AA-LESS (no AAs included) but luckily I waited for perps before filling that in.

Have a lovely evening, all!

Anonymous said...

Bill, Actually someone should tell that man to " put a helmet on that soldier!"

CrossEyedDave said...

Sorry HG, I saved this when i read desperottos' post @ 7:10

The Royal Guardsmen had several different Snoopy & The Red Baron songs, which do you like better?

I never had much success with pick up lines, I was never sure who to try them on?

(I wonder if a tatoo might help?)

Misty said...

My goodness, Latin Lover, I didn't even notice my typo until I read your post. Clearly I still have Valentine's Day on the brain even though we're at the end of the month.

And of course, you're right that ARMOUR is analogous to all those other OUR British spellings.

HeartRx said...

C.C. re: the ACPT in Brooklyn on March 8-10. DH and I are planning to go! Will you be there? I will be so excited to finally meet Rich!! Anyone else going to be there?

HeartRx said...

P.S. Do thy allow "red letter help" at the ACPT? (^0^)

Pinto said...

CrossEyesDave: Why is your "pick up lines" link written in captcha font? ;)

willow said...

Fun puzzle, great write-up! BillG, the family in your quiz is just like my family, but w. genders reversed.
Can anyone explain 33A:Islet=ait?
DH & I have been remodeling/enlarging our house w. a semi-CHALET look. Very happy w. it so far.

TTP said...

Pickup lines. How about this one ? "You know me. I'm the same as you. It's two in the morning and I don't know nobody." From what movie, buffs ?

I never saw the clue for disapproving sound, so never had a chance to enter tsk.

Snoopy helped ring the opening bell on Wall Street this morning. He's no CUR.

Dennis, I hear you loud and clear. I often feel tethered to the keyboard. Enjoy your journeys. But, I also hope you don't find us jejune. (Had to find a way to use that word. It was a new one for me from yesterday.) I also learned an anagram for Axl Rose from Steve and then Jazz taught us about double tonguing and gave us a picture of a pair of areolas. Oh, the things we learn and see by blogging.

If you don't want to do the move, I'g get an estimates from the big boys like Mayflower, Atlas, Bekins. You're not in a hurry for it right ? Try to negotiate a lesser fee for a variable delivery date if you have a smaller load that will be just filling out one of their trailers. It's in their business model to consolidate loads, but the variable delivery helps them out... If the movers are still too expensive, call around to some of the freight companies like Roadway, ABF, Werner etc. Some may offer crate packs or can refer you to crating companies. There are knock offs of PODS type containers that they may refer you to. I shipped a big heavy BBQ smoker up from Uvalde Texas via Roadway, but it didn't need to be crated. Good luck.

Husker Gary, Heckuva shot by that cheerleader !

Welcome Michael Barrett.

CC, Marti, not me. Not yet ready for prime time like the ACPT.

Pookie said...

TTP @ 4:58
But, I also hope you don't find us jejune.
Sheesh, I already forgot what it means.
Here's a challenge. If you can avoid looking at the crossword constructor's name tomorrow.....
Can you guess who it is?
Funny links today.
And that cheerleader was fantastic!

HeartRx said...

pas de chat, I hope it is someone we have never seen before...I am feeling the need for fresh meat!

downtonabbey said...

Thank you for the expose, today. Like many others I had some learning moments today. For John of London I had SIR so that held me up for a bit. Learned BRACTS. Also wanted saved before STORED. SJSJ thanks so much for a fun puzzle. This would've been nice to do following C.C.'s last puzzle.

Welcome to our new member!
Every have a great nite.

Jayce said...

Man oh man, so many times I have had "Buzz off, creep!" snarled out at me.

Thanks, SJSJ, for a terrific puzzle.

Steven J. St. John said...

Irish Miss--

It's funny you said you thought we were due for one of my puzzles... because I completely forgot we were due for one of my puzzles! (A first.) Rich sends the schedule for a whole month a few days before the month starts, so having only one puzzle on the last day was apparently too much to remember. Hilariously, I was looking at the write up of the NYT puzzle which I'd just solved and, not wanting to ruin it, I scrolled down just enough to see the constructor's name on the LAT before I started solving that one. Oops, I wrote that one.

I feel cheated! Because I love dropping in early in the day here to see what you all thought. Thanks for the feedback as always.

Bill G. said...

Back for tutoring from a short bike ride. Boy, it's going to be hard to beat today's weather around here; low 70s, clear crisp air, slight breeze, just perfect for me.

Tutoring was enjoyable, for both of us I think. I try to make math fun for him, not just a lot of tedious rules and it seems to be working.

Jayce, we must have met a lot of the same girls/women!

Good job on the puzzle; Marti, Tinbeni and Tom. Four girls, three boys.

Ron Worden said...

To HuskerG I can't believe no one answered the untouchables question. Why he pushed him off the roof of the courthouse. The line after that was priceless He's in the car.
RJW

Lemonade714 said...

SJSJ, do you solve your own puzzles, which likely have had some changes made by Rich, and of course the passage of time? Are you up for being marti's grandson? You know we enjoy your comments both on your own work and the work of others; did you come out pro or con on the NYT? You always have interesting things to say bout puzzles and clues.

Time to leave work early (8:00PM?)

Steven J. St. John said...

Lemonade714 -
I've solved a couple of my own puzzles, but I usually don't. Most of the time I do, though, check each clue against my submitted version so I can learn more about Rich's style (and appreciate some clever changes).

I was born in 1971, so I may be a little older than you think! (Which is why my pick up lines are so old fashioned.)

As for commenting on other people's puzzles, I try to always keep it positive. Joe K., today's NYT author, has been nice to me and other newer constructors. Usually I don't like puzzles where the gimmick seems more for the constructor than for the solver, but in this case I'm sure many solvers will have enjoyed the gimmick. If you got the top row early (which I did) it's like having a puzzle full of filled-in helpers. As a constructor, I am definitely impressed at all of the work that had to go in making it. I didn't finish the NE (which is why I went to look up the solution in the first place), but for the most part it was a surprisingly smooth fill given the constraints.

CanadianEh! said...

Misty @1046 and Latin Lover @1:31
I was raised with the British spelling for ARMOUR, COLOUR and usually have to remember to remove the U for CW answers. It was a lovely change to have the "proper" spelling today. LOL
Canadians now tend to use either spelling.

fermatprime said...

Hello all!

Was able to swim today! Hooray! (Poor girlfriend in terrible pain came over to babysit me. She seems better when she has someone to talk to, other than her unpleasant husband.)

Nice offering, SJSJ! Great expo, Marti! Took a while but persevered w/o cheats. Major hangup getting VOODOO.

I hope that I did not spend 43 years being a jejune math professor! (Not particularly fond of "piled higher and deeper"--had a nasty unrelated uncle who made fun of my PhD.)

Cheers!

Dennis said...

Hondo, TTP, thanks for the ideas; I'll let you know how I make out.

PK said...

Jayce and BillG: I can't believe either of you gentlemen had "Buzz off, you creep" said to you. Must have been some low-class women with no taste at all.

Anonymous said...

Dennis: My adult son and I drove all my furniture from Denver to Naples in a UHaul trailing my car. I had no problem driving even though I had had no prior experience. I did get a moving company to load it and another to unload it. Saved a bunch of money. Couldn't figure how to back up, but it was possible to avoid that problem.
I was 57 at the time.

JD said...

O's to Marti and SJSJ! Loved the puzzle.. so much better than yesterday's.

Needed all perps to fill Nitti. Actually had to WAG outgo to finish.

maus... a cute a-ha!

hand up for tsk

Haven't seen Life of Pi either, but loved the book.

Cody, WY is on my bucket list.

Speaking of lists,I am not comfortable unless I have paper /pen with me. I can't imagine not having a grocery list on my frig, but I rarely need to bring it with me.

Welcome back Dennis!

61Rampy said...

TTP: that movie was "The Sting". Robert Redford said it to the new waitress, who turns out to be a hitwoman. Another of my all-time fave movies.

Lucina said...

Jayce and BillG:
Nor can I imagine any woman saying such things to you. Both of you seem to be gentlemen with class.

JD:
You must have a remarkable memory. I usually have a grocery list and heaven help me if I forget to take it.

JD said...

Lucina, far from having a good memory, but writing things down is a must for me.I have a hard time at the end of the novel telling anyone the names of the characters. So many words in cw's do not surface in my brain if I have only seen or heard them.The pencil is my friend.

Bill G. said...

Lucina and PK, thanks. Kind words indeed. However, it has been my experience that some women (especially of the younger variety) aren't necessarily attracted to the classy type. From years ago, I remember a secretary from Hughes Aircraft Company. She was telling my friend and me that she thought men were dirtbags. After getting to know her a little, I could see why she thought that. When an intelligent, thoughtful, not especially cool guy would ask her, she would decline in favor of a more cool, studly, macho-man type who often treated her badly. Her opinion of men was a self-fulfilling prophecy it seemed.

Argyle said...

Husker, the General said@2:07 PM, things you should do to get ready for your trip. It was in the spam filter but you might find it relevant.