google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, Mar 30th, 2013, Barry C. Silk

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Mar 30, 2013

Saturday, Mar 30th, 2013, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie

Words: 68 (missing F,J,Z)

Blocks: 28

  This one was a fun romp for yours truly today, as I was done well within my personal allotted time.  With the exception of one,  I found the answers dwelling deep inside my crossword cranium.  Triple 9- and 10-letter triple stacks in a pinwheel grid, with some notables:

31. Ambergris source : SPERM WHALE - ambergris is essentially "poop"; a substance found in the digestive system- the Wiki

42. Relatives of penny dreadfuls : DIME NOVELS - I got the "DIME" part, and novels seemed to make sense; some interesting reading; made me think of "pulp fiction" - but I'll refrain from a movie clip

57. Instigator of '70s-'80s wars : BURGER KING - I half expected this to be so variation of Coca-Cola or Pepsi; once the perps filled in, I recalled the 'other' war of the same time period - that between the answer and McDonald's.  I am a BK fan myself; they have sweet potato fries now~!

Onward~!

ACROSS:

1. Its goal is to include "all words in all languages" : WIKTIONARY - I don't usually visit this part of Wikipedia

11. Walker of the 1960s 76ers : CHET - all from the perps; not a basketball fan

15. Approaching the hour : A QUARTER TO - First line of a Blue Öyster Cult song (a quarter to 'five')

16. Bar mitzvah staple : HORA - feeling better, Lemon?

17. Retreats : RUNS SCARED

18. Without restraint : AMOK - not FREE

19. The Panthers of the Big East : PITT - from Pittsburgh

20. Bond first bought by FDR in 1941 : SERIES E - hey, I found a clip of the president pitching the idea~!

22. Heavenly approach? : STAIRWAY - No Stairway, denied~! (to Heaven, a la Led Zeppelin)

27. Open living rooms : LANAIs - why do I think this is called a "patio"?

28. Schools overseas : ECOLES - Frawnch for "school"

30. Spartan toiler : HELOT - I dug this one out from deep within my skull

35. Wiped out, with "in" : DONE

36. Texting nicety : THX - 'Thanks', and I am guilty of using it

37. Birds with colorful mates : PEAHENS - it's the male peaCOCKs (easy there) that have the plumage


39. Little break : NAP

40. Tim of "WKRP in Cincinnati" : REID

44. Dramatist Chekhov : ANTON - crossword staple, so I got it

46. Caved : GAVE IN

47. Ancient Mexican : TOLTEC - because AZTECS is more than one Mexican

49. Fertile Crescent area : NEAR EAST

53. Musical name that means "Love God" : AMADEUS - huh, well, that makes sense AMA, DEUS

55. Mid-second-century date : CLII - Roman 152; the second century was 101-200

56. Actress Rowlands : GENA - another crossword staple

62. Hydrocarbon endings : ENEs - propene, octene, etc.

63. Sign of a bad waiter : IMPATIENCE - went to a Japanese Hibachi restaurant last night - I dig the "stunt cooking" - the chef pitched broccoli florets to us to catch in our mouths

64. British side : MASH - bangers (hey now) and mash - sausage and potatoes

65. Take over : COMMANDEER

DOWN:

1. They may be found in board examinations : WARPS - HA~!!! I put in KNOTS first - carpenter's clue


2. Resigning words : I QUIT - felt like walking out at UPS today - not enough vans running for a holiday weekend

3. Kinte in "Roots" : KUNTA

4. More palatable : TASTIER

5. E-file org. : IRS

6. Nasdaq predecessor : OTC - just like the "Monday" cluing, this is Over-The-Counter finance

7. PBS benefactor : NEA

8. LAX datum : ARRival

9. They usually involve turns: Abbr. : RTEs

10. Singing cowboy's refrain : YODEL

11. Bound, in a way : CHAINED

12. Film in which Marv says, "He's only a kid, Harry. We can take him." : HOME ALONE

13. Caused by weathering : EROSIONAL

14. Act : TAKE STEPS

21. Fan sound : RAH

23. Ottawa-based enforcement gp. : RCMP - Royal Canadian Mounted Police - another Blue Öyster Cult song, also in the first line

24. Amazed : WOWED

25. Ron Reagan's first secretary of state : AL HAIG - full name, nice

26. Cat's assent : "YEAH MAN~!"

29. Record holder : SLEEVE

31. Gambit : STRATAGEM

32. Events : PHENOMENA

33. Turnoffs : EXIT LANES - good misdirection; not 'bad breath', e.g.

34. Octa- plus one : ENNEA - I study the Personality Types of the Enneagram; I know Yellowrocks does, too - I am a Five with a Four-wing

38. Liszt's "Harmonies du __" : SOIR - this was the one that was totally out of my wheelhouse

41. A, to Morse : DOT DASH


43. Unlike crews : V-NECKED - The VN--- was there, and I thought "no....oh wait~!" - we're talking T-shirts here

45. Formerly : NEE

48. __ yard : CUBIC

50. Dress with a flare : A-LINE

51. Subsequently : SINCE

52. Clemson player : TIGER

54. Sport for heavyweights : SUMO

58. Dash letters : RPM

59. Pinup highlight : GAM - can't get out without linking some GAMS, you know me~!


60. Frat vowel : ETA

61. Film dog's first name? : RIN - tin-tin, that is; not ASTA

Splynter

64 comments:

  1. Hi Y'all, Am I really first? This went better than a Sat. Silkie usually does for me, but I did have three red-letter alphabet runs to get me going in trouble spots. I failed to come up with a theme and was glad to see that there was none.

    THX Splynter! Good tunes.

    Rumbles of thunder to start our day--or my night, since I've not slept yet. Went to Carlos O'kelly's for my week-late birthday celebration with my son's family. Got to hear about their Disney Cruise to the Bahamas. Good pictures!

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  2. Hello, all!

    A rather nice Silkie! Worked with red letters on but only encountered 3 of them. Especially liked STRATAGEM and PHENOMENA!

    I had a very long nap after my swim today. (Was behind in sleep!) Perhaps that's why the puzzle seemed doable!

    Thanks Barry, Splynter!

    I received 2 notes on the gate from DSL. I hope they will see that my helper put the signed note on the gate! Don't know much about this outfit. Comments, Splynter?

    Have a wonderful Easter sunday (regardless of religious beliefs)!

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  3. Morning, all!

    Man, this one really knocked me around, but I refused to say I QUIT and my STRATAGEM eventually payed off. Some unknowns today, including CHET and ENNEA, but mostly it was the cluing and the myriad of missteps on my part that made it so difficult.

    Had WASPS instead of WARPS at 1D. Not sure what, exactly, I was thinking, but it really messed things up in the NW for awhile. ANES instead of ENES in the SW was another near fatal mistake.

    Also, not being up on my singing cowboys, I had no idea that they were known for their yodeling. Or is this referring to one singing cowboy in particular? I seem to remember a joke in "Mars Attacks" where the only thing that could defeat the aliens was the sound of "Indian Love Call" sung by Slim Whitman. Not sure I would call it YODELing, but it was close...

    [yuildse]

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  4. Hello Puzzlers -

    Today's Saturday Silkie felt a tad easier than usual. Managed a no-peeky finish in record time. Helot was all perps, and Erosional didn't exactly feel right, but there it was. Toltec? Never heard of 'em.

    Many years back I read a little about Ambergris. Then as now I wonder: who first picked up a lump of the stuff and said "hey, I can make perfume with this!" ?

    Morning, Splynter! Time to go look at the links.

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  5. Good morning, Saturday soldiers!

    Barry did not disappoint today (and neither did Splynter). This was a fun romp, if a quick one.

    I had a couple of minor missteps: QUARTER OF/TO, ENES/ANES. I wanted DIT DAH for DOT DASH, but it didn't fit.

    PK, so far as I know, all of the LAT Saturday puzzles are themeless. Fermat, are you sure you didn't mean DHL -- Dewey, Huey and Louie? If Lemon is feeling better, would he be HORA-ble?

    I guess it's a generational thing. To me, Stairway to Heaven evokes this memory 2:46.

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  6. I'm w/u, desperatto, with the Sedaka song. Thx

    DNF for me for sure! Happy and Blessed Easter to all.

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  7. Good morning everyone.

    I had to drop to the center and SE to get started, but then was able to 'bloom' out the solve all the way to the top. Initial anchors were NEAR EAST, AL HAIG, ANTON, and TOLTEC. The NE came last; had to look up HELOT in my million word cw dictionary. Favorite clues were for WARPS, AMADEUS, and STAIRWAY. Barry followed his usual MO on the long acrosses and downs, by using fill that is in most persons' ordinary speech. Medium difficulty for a Saturday.

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  8. I have been getting much better at Saturday Silkies, but this one set me back to square one. I used lots and lots of red letter help.

    Splynter's writeup is worth getting online for, though, so here I am, admitting defeat on this puzzle.

    Off to my daughter's for dinner tomorrow. Have a good weekend, everybody!

    Montana

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  9. Started out with liberty instead of series e which of course caused major problems in the north east. Got "dime novels" and "gave in" but vn just didn't look right. All in all I thought it was a very enjoyable challenge before I start my cooking for tomorrow's brunch. Our son is home from France and the table is set....

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  10. Usual Silkie problems -nine Googles and DNF in the NW. Never got PITT, and took ages to get WIKTIONARY, neither of which produced anything from Googling.

    @Good question on ambergris. I would guess that it began as a fuel and was experimented on.

    The Toltecs, which supposedly preceded the Aztecs (according to them) are those guys who cut hearts out at the top of pyramids wearing fancy feathered headgear and had some neat art.

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  11. Good morning Saturday Silky Solvers!

    Thanks for a splendid write up, Splynter! My musical taste are pretty eclectic, so I appreciated your links of Blue oyster Cult. But I also love Liszt. Here is the 2001 winner of the Liszt Prize playing "Harmonies Du Soir."

    I stared at the clue for 12D and was trying to think of a "Dirty Harry" movie that might fit, when it dawned on me they were talking about HOME ALONE. I had STRATEGy at 31D, but yASH didn't make much sense, so MASH won that corner.

    All in all, a nice smooth Saturday solve. Have a good day, everyone!

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  12. Enes are olefins, hydrocarbons are anes.

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  13. Good Morning:

    A typical Saturday Silkie but one I DNF because of Dime Novels. I had heard of penny dreadfuls but all I could think of was the Penny Saver, so I had Dime Savers which made for some odd crossings but I stuck with it until I didn't get my TA DA!

    I really like the misdirection cluing, some of which is so obvious but, just as often, really misleading, but fun. Thanks, Barry, for another Saturday stumper and thanks, Splynter, for your usual spot-on expo.

    Have a super Saturday.

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  14. Anon@9:37 -- Since olefins are unsaturated hydrocarbons, I'd think either suffix (ENE/ANE) could be correct.

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  15. Good morning, folks. Thank you, Barry Silk, for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, Splynter, for an excellent review.

    I got going on this and thought it was easier than yesterday's Friday puzzle. Until I got to the SW corner.

    DOT DASH was easy, since I know Morse Code, or knew it, and still remember most of it. The three long ones were bears. Got STRATAGEM first. EXIT LANES second, and PHENOMENA last. I had to resort to my trick, standing up and looking down at the puzzle from a bird's-eye view. For me it is easier to see the big picture. I had a good share of the short horizontals. That helped.

    The NW and SE corners were relatively easy once I got a lot of the short words. The BURGER KING thing delayed me for a while. I was looking for a real war, guns, tanks, etc.

    The center was pretty easy, RCMP, AL HAIG, SLEEVE, etc.

    I will be working outside today, planting my peas, some blueberry bushes I bought, erecting my greenhouse, raking some old leaves I missed last fall, etc.

    See you tomorrow. Happy Easter. We will be going to an Easter brunch tomorrow after church at the Shrine Temple.

    Abejo

    (scpgrea)

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  16. Planting Onions, too.

    Abejo

    (sagesic)

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  17. Well, I promised myself that if I didn't have anything nice to say about a Saturday Silkie, I wouldn't say anything at all. 'Nuff said.

    Have a lovely Easter weekend, everybody!

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  18. Who knows what knowledge lurks in the hearts of (wo)man? The Barry knows! I got this amazing puzzle done but soon discovered what separates me from ACPT participants – TIME. Thanks for the buggy ride Mr. Silk!

    Musings
    -First word – DICTIONARY. Last word – changing it to WIKTIONARY
    -I even thought of those pesky Prussians for 70’s/80’s war mongers but it turns to be a burger battle
    -My “QUARTER TO” song is when Frank gets “one for my baby and one more for the road.”
    -Gotta love this RUNNING SCARED (2:34)
    -Never heard of penny dreadful but it hadda be DIME NOVEL
    -I don’t parlez-vous français (not capitalized) but learned ECOLE in these environs. Mon Dieu!
    -Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal frequent our feeder and share the showy/non showy plumage of our pea fowl
    -I have many faults but IMPATIENCE is the worst, especially when outside women’s restrooms.
    -The most famous cinematic COMMANDEERings occurred to Captains Bligh and Queeg
    -Saying “I QUIT” after 42 years of teaching was hard. “Hey, what’s that hand writing on the wall?”
    -Do you sometimes feel that you are the only one paying the IRS what you should?
    -HOME ALONE was fun and then it demonstrated why sequels usually are a bad idea
    -Everybody’s favorite RCMP’s theme song (:22)
    -YEAH MAN, slip me some skin!
    -stratAgem/stratEgy? Hmm…
    -Crew socks, crewmen, crew cuts, crew boats, rapper’s posse, clothier, past tense of crow ;-), nope…
    -Betty Grable’s GAMS reminded WWII GI’s what they were fighting for

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  19. Hi Everyone ~~

    I always look forward to Saturday Silkies and even though I wasn't able to finish this, I enjoyed it. My big trouble spot was in the area of V NECKED - DIME NOVELS and NEAR EAST. My one look-up was for SOIR and after that I managed to get the rest in that section.

    The crossing of STRATAGEM, MASH and ENES did me in. I thought I had the Anes/ ENES things figured out but I guess not. MASH and TOLTEC were unknowns.

    ~ I really liked 'Cat's assent' - YEAH MAN - I knew it wasn't going to be my kind of cat. =^..^=

    ~ I never thought of AMADEUS in the way it was explained here ~ interesting.

    ~ Fun misdirection with 'Turnoffs' - EXIT LANES and 'Unlike crews' - V NECKED - this one really stumped me!

    ~ Thanks for a wonderful write-up, Splynter ~ I had lots to learn today.

    Happy Easter / Passover to all!

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  20. LaLaLinda, your avatar has one of those "I can't believe she did this to me" expressions. Funny!

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  21. After opening up the paper and seeing a sea of white squares, I knew this was a Saturday Silky. Like Spitz, I started in the center and filled it in fast. Thinking I was on Barry's wavelength today, I zipped through everything. Except the SW. And the NE. Slowly, I filled in the SW, changing EXITrAmpS to EXIT LANES. But then I put STRATEGEy, leading me to wonder what yASH was. Moving to the NE, I had to look up CHET and SERIES E. Once in place, the rest fell into place.
    ACK! I come to the Corner to find that I have a DNF because of my poor STRATEGEM. Hey, at least all the squares were filled in.

    nestedh

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  22. Reckon I purserveered like the rest of yuse, and gottit all figgered out in the end. Yippie aye oh ki yay!

    Another cowboy tune with a kinda yodelly refrain for y'all's benefit, an updated version of an old classic, courtesy of Dan Hicks.

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  23. Tim REID's best scene from 'WKRP in Cincinnati":Link

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  24. Lots of learning moments, I never knew about "Helots." I wonder if anyone has ever made a movie about "their" story?

    The ultimate answer to the Burger Wars.

    Mar Attacks, a very silly movie, definitely a CED thumbs up! But I thought they made up that horrible yodeling song. So I looking up Barry G's reference of Slim Whitman, Indian Love Call, & it was the same, note for note!

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  25. Hello, Word Warriors!

    Splynter,I enjoyed your brisk and witty blogging.

    Yowza! What a wonderful Saturday Silkie which ultimately stumped me in several places. I've never heard of WIKTIONARY so the W eluded me as did PITT which I should have WAGGED.

    The center deceived me into thinking all would be well. The same with the SW and SE. Both corners filled with some hesitation, EXIT RAMPS before EXIT LANES which GENA Rowlands and TOLTEC changed.

    I'm very familiar with TOLTEC from having studied much about Mexico. Sfingi is completely correct about the sacrifices they did thinking the heart of a brave man would give them courage.

    Even though I had DIME, I couldn't suss NOVELS because ENNNEA was not known to me but finally I limped to the end in the NE. I hate resorting to Google but it's the only way to learn and finish the puzzle.

    Thank you, Barry, for the challenge which though difficult is pleasurable with its many misdirections.

    Have a lovely Saturday, everyone!

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  26. I don't usually do well with Silkies but I got about half of it before I hit a wall and had to go red letter.

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  27. Well we got the Saturday Silkie we all needed. Speaking of knees, mine are not currently up to tackling the Hora, but I am on the mend.

    Splynter you really have the themeless write ups down.

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  28. After entering few answers in the northwest corner , I was like , what the heck is going on here , looking at the capitalized letters below, I'm sure you can see my confusion , here's what I had to start with....

    D I C t i o n a r y
    a q U a
    r u N s
    T I T t
    s t a i r w a y
    e
    r

    At that point I didn't know if I should continue with the puzzle , didn't know what to expect ..

    Happy Easter !

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  29. I get more done on Saturday because I don't waste any more time on a puzzle I could NEVER finish.
    I got 5 answers....yup, 5.

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  30. Hi gang, my wife and I got '1890' score on the online version today, does anyone understand the new point method?

    BTW, The newsprint copy of the puzzle had a different clue for 19A than the online, in the San Jose Mercury version 19A clue was "The Panthers soon to be of the ACC" vs. the online 19A: The Panthers of the Big East.

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  31. Pas de chat dont get discouraged. These are the toughest puzzles. I dont ofte find myself on the wave length of Sat Silkies either.

    Thanks for writeup Splynter. Good links. Anyone cooking tomorrow? Yellow rocks I didnt see a post from you. I hope you are just busy getting Easter prep done.

    We chose to stay home this year but I miss being with family. Is Easter celebrated inChina CC? Have a Hoppy one!

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  32. Onions are in. About 115 sets. Now for the peas.

    Abejo

    (ngtwaje)

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  33. Elegant puzzle today. Thank you Mr. Silk for another magnificent construction. Lots of thinking to solve it. Amazing fill!

    Gonna roast a leg of lamb tomorrow.

    Best wishes to you all.

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  34. Saturday! I liked this puzzle about as much as I like most Saturday puzzles; that is, not as much as the weekday themed puzzles. If it weren't for red-letter help, I probably wouldn't even attempt them.

    Jayce, leg of lamb sounds delicious.

    Barbara wanted to go out to a local
    Thai restaurant for lunch. She always wants the same thing; coconut soup with seafood. Excellent! Also, a crisy shrimp roll of some sort, mixed vegetables with pork and crab fried rice. Good stuff!

    Nobody commented on the unusual way of multiplying I posted late last night. You don't go back and read the late posts? You get turned off whenever you see the word 'math'? Uninterested? Something you have seen before? Not well enough explained? I always enjoy showing that to my students because it seems so odd that it works at all.

    [crappysoop]

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  35. Lucina, You said you had antecedents from Spain. Do you also have ancestors among some of the native cultures in Mexico too?

    One of my favorite books that I've read several times is "The Olmec Head". Can't remember who wrote it. So I tried to put Olmec, who were earlier in Mexico, in this puzzle before Toltec.

    I had a group of Mexican students in my home years ago and we discussed the different ancestries of the various ones. Most of the group were from Yucatan and had Mayan ancestry.

    One young man who had a decidedly different facial structure was from Mexico City and had Aztec ancestry. His profile looked very much like some of the ancient Aztec carvings and paintings which I had supposed were like caricatures.

    I really enjoy looking at people's facial and body structure to study geographical and tribal ancestry and dominant traits. I once interviewed a woman who looked spookily like my dead MIL and who lived in the area where my MIL's ancestors came from in Germany.

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  36. Bill G@3:20 -- I did read your math post yesterday. Interesting, but seems to be more work than it's worth. Have you been able to figure out why it works? (Apparently you don't like coconut soup, based on the pseudo Captcha.)

    Hang in there, Pas de Chat. Saturday Silkies are an acquired taste. But after sampling a few, they become quite delicious.

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  37. BillG: Do you think your Captcha "crappysoop" is like crappie the fish or has someone been making soup from ambergris? LOL! (I know. Pretty dumb!)

    As for the puzzles, I'm sorry to say that anymore anything with math and my mind goes tilt. I still do my own bookwork and taxes, but that is super simple now. Your efforts and mental sharpness are appreciated, but I don't measure up.

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  38. Bill G. ~~

    OK - ya got me to go back to your puzzle. I do read late night posts, often the next day, but the whole thing just looked long and confusing. Then when you said it wasn't useful, that kinda convinced me to skip it. :-) I'm more into word play anyway ... BUT ...

    I just tried it and it worked! I used to love doing "number play" kinds of things with my fourth-graders ~ they were always fascinated - especially the more advanced kids. I think they would have had a good time with this ~ thanks!

    desper-otto ~ I can't imagine my kitties allowing me to dress then in ANY way. I'm lucky if they let me brush/comb them once in a while. The "costumed" ones are cute, though!

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  39. TOLTEC - I am reminded by 'Trains' magazine that Toltec is also a New Mexican. Yup, it's a town in extreme northern New Mexico sitting astride the regional narrow gauge Cumbres & Toltec scenic railroad.

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  40. 61Rampy @ 12:02, Glad to see I'm not the only one who had STRATAGEY at first!! ("Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word obviously lacks imagination!"

    BillG., I read your multiplying post and even understood it, but didn't feel qualified to comment, LOL! Have you ever heard of Tractenberg math? He developed his system for teaching math to underachievers while he was a prisoner of war.

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  41. Bill G @ 3:20

    I always go back to read the late night posts, just as I always "leapfrog" right over your math puzzles; otherwise, I would need an Excedrin. (-:

    Jayce, I envy you having that leg of lamb! I haven't had roast lamb in years, as it's not something one makes for one's self. Is American lamb available to you?

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  42. d-abbey and d-otto:
    You are both very kind and encouraging!
    It's not that I don't appreciate the skill B. Silk possesses in construction, it's that I really can't spend that much time STARING at the puzzle.
    I really did get some things accomplished!
    Cleaned off the desk and table, getting ready for the tax guy next week.
    What I MOST enjoy are those of you at the CC's corner.
    Haven't decided what to have for Easter dinner...it's just the two of us.
    Happy cooking, everyone!

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  43. Another very challenging offering from Mr Silk. The wrong end of the Ticondeoga gat a major workout this morning, but I did manage to get it done with nary a google.

    PK, with an interest in facial structure as it relates to heritage, you should check out the site All Look Same. While the name isn't entirely PC, the site is entirely serious and challenges the reader to identify people of various Asian derivation based only on appearance. For its size, Lincoln has a large and diverse Asian community, and I thought I could do well since I attempt to pay attention to such details. Boy was I wrong!

    Jayce, a leg of lamb does sound wonderful. I'll be envious while we make do with ham.

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  44. WOW! I got 1/2 a Saturday Silkie! Thank you, sir, for the workout. Thank you, Splynter, for filling in my blank spots.

    Have a wonderful Sunday, however you may celebrate it.

    Pat

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  45. D-O, yes it is more work and isn't really useful. Maybe that's why I like it. Just an odd and interesting way of multiplying that works but I can't explain it easily. You can find explanations online involving binary arithmetic but I just enjoy the mysterious algorithm that doesn't seem to make much sense.

    PK and Marti, last night's post wasn't really a puzzle. Just something easy to try and then end up with "Hey, that's crazy! I wonder why it works?"

    LLL, yep. It's easy and it always works. Why? I can see a bright fourth-grader finding it interesting and puzzling. I'm glad you tried it.

    Avg Joe, I just tried that Asian quiz and only got seven correct. :>(

    I did like the soup. Ignore my feeble attempts at Captcha humor.

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  46. Bill G., I never said it was a puzzle...?

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  47. Irish Miss, my wife found a beautiful leg of lamb when we went grocery shopping yesterday. (She does all the choosing; I just push the cart. Hey, it gets me out of the house and up and moving.) I think it is from New Zealand.

    Avg Joe, ham is good too. We came within that much of getting a ham for ourselves until we espied that lamb leg.

    I'm going to cook it "Greek style," with slivers of garlic inserted into numerous slits that we cut into the meat all around, then slathered in olive oil and lemon juice and marinated for a couple of hours. Simple but tasty.

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  48. Avg Joe, my wife swears up and down she can spot a Vietnamese person just by his or her looks. I honestly don't think she can, because she has often been wrong, but she can't seem to recall those times. I sure can't.

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  49. Jayce, show her that site, she might change her mind. I thought I could too, but was proven very, very wrong. And fwiw, I was introduced to the site by a young Vietnamese gentleman.

    The leg of lamb recipe I've used most over the years is also a Greek style, but it involves two days of marinating in buttermilk. A serious PITA, but it's delicious. I may have to break out that recipe soon, I'm hungry for lamb. Where's Windhover when we need him?

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  50. PK@3:42
    If we do have Mexican heritage, it must be very far back because our features are very Spanish. In fact when I was in the region of Andalusia I thought I was looking at my brothers, sisters and aunts and uncles.

    My youngest sister, on the on the other hand, had a Mexican father and has the characteristics of many Mexicans. We don't know much about him because he absconded the minute he found our mother was pregnant. We suspect he had another family over there.

    Now I'm going to try the Asian quiz. I believe I can diferentiate among the various Asians.

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  51. AvgJoe: i tried to access All Look Same. They wouldn't let me in without disclosing all sorts of personal info that I could see no reason for them to need. Always activates my suspicious mind.

    Lucina: Very interesting. My great grandfather from Ireland looked like a Spanish Don. It was said that his earliest male ancestor had swum ashore from the wreck of one of the ships of the Spanish Armada. His sons looked like their short round-faced Irish mother. His grandsons were taller and looked like Spanish Dons.

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  52. I have to admit, I stared at that lower right hand corner (especially the "instigator of '70's-80s wars). Finally I stared hard enough and it suddenly finished. And why do I always forget about the "Toltec" and try to hit it with Olmec or Aztec or just Wreck? Fun puzzle. ;-D>

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  53. PK, I haven't gone on that site for the better part of a decade, and hadn't run that gauntlet. I see what you mean, and see no reason why they might "need" that info. Sorry for the oversight.

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  54. This one got me staring a lot. Finally finished, but took longer than a usual Saturday.

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  55. Pinto, I enjoyed that scene from WKRP. I have fond memories of that show.

    Avg Joe, I went to that site too. I was a bit surprised by the questions but nothing that I was worried about answering. As usual, I gave them a little-used Yahoo e-mail address. Otherwise, no worries except my poor performance on their quiz.

    Geez, I'm such a *&%#@ing cellular dinosaur. For several years now I've had a TracFone in my car for emergencies. I guess they don't happen very often because I ran out of my two years of service with huge minutes left over. I got a renewal message on my seldom-used Yahoo e-mail and by the time I noticed it, my service had expired. So I spent $150 with my credit card and bought two more years of service that I won't use.

    I normally wouldn't own up to any of this but I figure you guys won't hassle me too much.

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  56. PK@6:35
    That is also very interesting. I find it amusing when people assert they have "pure" blood in their heritage. I'm not sure that anyone does. As one of my friends says, "Where soldiers have been they've left their genes." And then consider all the wars, conquests, take-overs and crossing of borders throughout history.

    BTW, I did abominably in the quiz. Very disappointed in myself.

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  57. Bill G - Why don't you go with Virgin Mobile - - $5/ month and you can charge against the $5. If you don't use it it just accumulates until you do. Piggybacks on the Sprint backbone.

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  58. Bill G., PLEASE stop bitching about people not reading the late-night posts. It appears that most posters here faithfully read the previous night's posts, and if they want to comment on something you wrote, THEY WILL. Stop begging for acknowledgement.

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  59. I could not for the life of me parse A Quarter To or Series E but still got her done!
    Bill G. Looks like you you'll have two more years to decide, but pay as you go phone service works fine with me.

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  60. Spitz, I'd never heard of Virgin Mobile. Thanks for the tip.

    OK, I just went online and can't find a Virgin Mobile plan like you are describing. Maybe you could point me to it?

    Manac, pay as you go service would be fine for me too. What are the details? Who is the carrier? How much? Maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to renew. Still, $150 for two years of service is probably about as low as it gets.

    Lucina, interesting comment your friend made about soldiers and genes. I'd never thought of that but it seems right to me.

    BTW, what do you guys think about that signature line I saw on an e-mail a couple of days ago? It was, "Words I live by: Never explain or apologize. Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe you any way." It seemed kind of cold to me.

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  61. Bill,
    Yes it seems like $150 for two years is a great deal. Don't know how many minutes are involved though. But for what your usage is, seems worth it. My daughter's phone is a pay as you go with unlimited text for $15 a month.$10 for the text and $5 for voice. If not it would be .20 per text. Hell! she can do over 100 texts a day just in school. More when tests are being taking:)

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  62. Right. It's $150 for two years and something like 1500 minutes, way more than I'll ever need. I'm such a cellular dinosaur that I don't even know if I can send and receive test messages with my old flip phone. I've never felt the need for it. But then again, I probably didn't feel a need for a DVR when they were first available. Now, I would hate to be without it.

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  63. Michelle,
    We don't celebrate Easter in China. Chinese are not religious.

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