google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, April 1, 2013 Patti Varol

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Apr 1, 2013

Monday, April 1, 2013 Patti Varol

Theme: Themeless - April Fool! Four synonyms for fool.

16A. *Evangelist honored with a basilica in Venice : SAINT MARK

10D. *Trapshooter's target : CLAY PIGEON

24D. *Tapped maple fluid : TREE SAP

29D. *Lightweight, crinkled material used for suits : SEERSUCKER

60A. Cry heard today, and a hint to the ends of the answers to the starred clues : APRIL FOOL

Argyle here. No kidding. The large white area in the middle is a bit unusual. Nice eclectic fill but already an 'a'-word. It is in common use though.

Rabbit, rabbit.

Across:

1. Bouncing toy : BALL. Rubber Ball(2:19)

5. What waiters wait for : TIPS

9. Finishes making, as a black-and-white cookie : ICES. Black-and-white cookie : OREO. wait, not so fast.

13. ___ vera lotion : ALOE

14. Length times width : AREA

15. Arm of a sea : INLET

18. Resell at a big profit : SCALP. Thin line between legal and illegal.

19. Flatter the boss for personal gain : KISS UP

20. English class assignment : ESSAY

22. Huck Finn's ride : RAFT

25. Astrological edges : CUSPS

27. Pyromaniac's crime : ARSON

31. Lock horns (with) : ARGUE. The Lockhorns.

33. Figs. well above 100 in Mensa : IQ's

35. Marsh grasses : REEDS

36. BBC nickname, with "the" : BEEB. (British Broadcasting Corporation)

37. Juan's water : AGUA

38. Spawned : BRED

39. Ice show site : ARENA

40. "Hud" Best Actress Patricia : NEAL. "Hud" was a 1963 film starring Paul Newman.


41. Yours and mine : OURS

42. Dean's ___ : LIST

43. Inelegant laugh : SNORT

44. ICU personnel : RN's

45. Campaign sticker, e.g. : DECAL. Not very collectible once they're on the bumper.

46. Cold hard cash : MONEY

47. Cubes in a bowl : SUGAR

49. Folk icon Seeger : PETE

51. Spiteful, as gossip : CATTY

53. Antitheft noisemakers : ALARMS

58. Bracelet site : ANKLE. It use to be a fashion statement but now....

63. Deep trepidation : DREAD

64. Not hypothetical : REAL

65. "Not only that..." : "ALSO..."

66. Mayo holders : JARS

67. Beaver-built barriers : DAMS. Excellent alliteration.

68. Conserve energy : REST. Ok, a little nap before I continue.

Down:

1. Soak up the sun : BASK. But don't forget the SPF.

2. Jai ___ : ALAI

3. Superman's Lane : LOIS. Santa has his own Lois.

4. Binoculars part : LENS

5. ___ Bay Rays : TAMPA

6. Composer Gershwin : IRA. His younger brother is George.

7. Pay-___-view : PER

8. Sushi bar cupful : SAKE

9. Machu Picchu builders : INCAs

11. Snakelike swimmer : EEL

12. Longtime auto racing sponsor : STP. Often with an Unser driving.

15. Newsletter edition : ISSUE

17. Spins in board games, say : TURNS

21. Reef explorer's gear : SCUBA

23. Seamstress's purchase : FABRIC

26. Unhip type : SQUARE. Huey Lewis disagrees.

27. Ann ___, Michigan : ARBOR

28. "Seinfeld" episodes, now : RERUNS. And YouTube clips.

30. Betting info : ODDS. How are your brackets doing?

32. Soft-hearted : GENTLE

34. Thirst-inducing, like potato chips : SALTY

37. Year, on monuments : ANNO

39. Vigilant : ALERT

43. Aroma : SMELL

45. Passé : DATED

48. Grand parties : GALAs

50. Coin toss choice : TAILS

52. Scotland ___ : YARD

54. Quite a distance : AFAR. Legitimate 'a' word?

55. Actor's cameo, e.g. : ROLE

56. Forest-floor plant : MOSS

57. One-armed bandit : SLOT

58. Descriptive wd. : ADJ. (adjective)

59. Org. that created American Hunter magazine : NRA. (National Rifle Association)

61. Potpie veggie : PEA

62. Chrysler truck that sounds hard-hitting : RAM. The real deal.



Argyle

62 comments:

Dudley said...

Rabbit rabbit

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Man, this one totally destroyed me. Three passes through and it was still almost all white spaces. I finally had to turn on the red-letter help and even then couldn't finish it without manually going through every letter of the alphabet in spaces. What a beast!

;^)

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Argyle and friends. White Rabbit! and don't get fooled today.

Loved this Speed-run today. Had to go back and read many clues because I already had so many answers filled in.

Nice shout-out to our friend, Tinbini with the TAMPA Rays.

Pete Seeger will turn 94 in about a month.

QOD: People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election. ~ Otto von Bismarck (April 1, 1815 ~ June 30 1898).

[ndangeds]

downtonabbey said...

Rabbit rabbit!

Baseball season is here. Lovely puzzle and neat writeup Argy. Didnt cook yesterday so we will eat our meal today. Good to see your post last night Blue Iris.

Take care.

fermatprime said...

Hello, all!

I assume that Barry's post is an April Fool's Day joke!

Puzzle a bit crunchy for a Monday. But fun! Thanks Patti, Argyle.

Did anybody watch the new Masterpiece yet? Would love to hear from anyone who did.

Cheers!

Middletown Bomber said...

Thank you argyle for the "themeless" puzzle solve, and to Patty for a tasty april fools day puzzle (nearly a speed run for me )may no one here be a sap, pigeon,mark sucker or a fool today. I suspect Barry had a monday speed run and is now thinking about the international crossword championships. Here's looking forward to listening or reading about a good april fools joke today. Enjoy monday and go phillies.

anrjach
milail

HeartRx said...

Rabbit, rabbit.

Nice to see you back, Hahtoolah!

Fun puzzle from Rich's assistant Editor. Way to go, Patty! I liked the pinwheel placement of the theme entries, which provided a nice visual change-up. But it's a Monday, so no tricky clues or obscure entries to talk about. Just a nice, clean walk in the park.

Have a fun day, everyone!

Lemonade714 said...

Well done BG. Argyle, you never play the fool, wonderful words. Rabbit rabbit. Did you see the 50 pound rabbit on GMA?
Baseball is back and we have the final four, two weeks until the Masters and the Heat won without many starters and then the NFL draft. Quite the month. Oops almost forgot hockey.

grams said...

Fermatprime, yes did watch part of Selfridge --couldn't keep track of the many story lines -- but haven't given up. Will try next episode. Happy April Fool's Day.

desper-otto said...

Good morning! Looks like everybody in Texas got up early today. 7:30 and I'm late to the party.

This was a nice top-to-bottom zip. Yes, Argyle, I do think AFAR is a valid "a" word -- He was shy, so he admired her from afar.

Question: When did RAM trucks stop being Dodge RAM? Did I miss something? That'd be a first if I missed something.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Patti Varol, for a swell Monday puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for the swell review.

OK, Barry G., you had me going for a minute.

Zipped through this puzzle. Very refreshing.

Nice to see ALOE, our old friend.

NRA and CLAY PIGEONS in the puzzle. Very good.

FABRIC reminds me of what I have been doing for the past day. Helping my wife dye 15 pair of bib overalls for the high school play. She is the costume person for the play. Joseph, and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. have more to do today.

TREE SAP. I love maple syrup.

Anyhow, I have to fire up the turkey fryer out back and boil 9 gallon of water for the next pair of overalls.

Today is my brother's birthday. I will have to give him a call.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

(ucasue)

Anonymous said...

My newspaper printed a totally different puzzle, one by Patti Varol.
This happen to anyone else?

Mari said...

Good morning everybody. I wasn't FOOLed by this one! Easy breezy.

I pulled a minor gag on DH this morning. I get up before he does, so I moved a few of his things around before I left for work.

Years ago when computer mice had roller balls on the bottom we put a piece of tape on my boss' mouse ball so wound't roll. He got really mad until he figured out why his computer wasn't working.

One gal I once worked with pried off all the letters of someone's keyboard and popped them back on in the wrong places.

The folks I work with now are probably a bit too serious to mess around with.

Anybody have any good gags planned for the day?

Anonymous said...

Aren't ankle bracelets called anklets? A bracelet would probably be too small to fit around an ankle

Java Mama said...

Rabbit Rabbit! LOL at Barry’s April Fool joke. Thanks, Patti, for an enjoyable puzzle and fun theme – had to wait for the reveal to see the timely connection. Thanks for a snazzy write-up, Argyle.

Only hiccup was spelling SAKE wrong at first (I had SAKI), but perps showed me the error of my ways. Favorite fill was KISS UP, which made me SNORT. A former boss always wore SEERSUCKER suits in the summer. Now that Opening Day has arrived, I expect to see plenty of enterprising folks on the street corners trying to SCALP tickets. I’m not going to the game, but I’ll be sure to sneak away for a bit to watch the parade at noon.

Play Ball!

desper-otto said...

"Years ago when computer mice had roller balls on the bottom..." I still see plenty of mice with their balls on the bottom, computer mice that is. Personally, I like a Trak-Ball mouse with a ball on the top.

I took a programming seminar from a guy who hated it when anybody used his keyboard. He was a touch-typist, and he mixed up all the keys on his keyboard on purpose. The center row now spelled GRUMPFISH, so that's how he signed his emails.

kazie said...

Wonderful April Fools puzzle with no stumbles. Easy but enjoyable. Have fun with all your tricks today everyone.

kazie said...

Lemonade,
I forgot to say what a cutey in your avatar! Great photo!

Husker Gary said...

After two days near 60°F, the robin I saw hopping around in our ½ inch of snow must have thought he was the victim of an April Fool’s joke! Oh well, it’ll be gone by this afternoon and temps are heading up.

Musings
-“Mr. Schlapfer, your shoe’s untied” passed for wit on April 1 with 8th graders
-What waiters wait for - _ I _ _? I had to erase WIFE ;-)
-The floors in Saint Mark’s are very uneven from all the pilings still shifting unevenly
-Hilarious Black and white cookie reference in a Seinfeld RERUN
-Kramer also had a SALTY line, “These pretzels are making me thirsty”
-Legally, Stub Hub, et al don’t SCALP but how do they get all those before the hoi polloi can
-Failing to KISS UP cost me some minor things I thought I wanted. Turns out, I really didn’t. You?
-ESSAY questions are so easy to construct and administer and a bear to correct
-We took a boat (not a RAFT) ride at Hannibal, MO last week. Meh…
-Did Mrs. O’Leary’s cow ever do time for her ARSON?
-Is Spanish cologne AGUA de baño like eau de toilette?
-The dean had a LIST? Who knew?
-One girl here in town played a role in the musical with an ANKLE bracelet clearly visible under her stocking. The school had no choice.
-The only PAY per view events for which I have shelled out MONEY are Husker games
-If you picked all of these teams in the final four, I’d like to take you to a local SLOT machine

Argyle said...

"Easy but enjoyable." You nailed it exactly.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Happy April Fool's Day.

To those of the Polish persuasion and those in the Buffalo AREA, Happy Dyngus Day!

Neat theme today. Apt. Breezed right through; no look-ups, no strikethroughs. Good change of pace to reset our sanity from the last few kerfuffles. Nice clean puzzle, Patti.

REEDS - Another word to remind us of English's Anglo-Saxon roots.
German - Ried
Low German - Reet (pronounced 'rate'). The material to make thatched roofs. Heard a lot of "Reet' stories while growing up.

But I digress.

Have a great day.

LaLaLinda said...

Hi All ~ ~

Fast and fun today ~ thanks Patti Varol. Yep, Barry, ya got me too for a minute with your post. ;-) Nice write-up, Argyle.

~ I didn't really see a theme as I was working this and at first thought it might be baseball related. I peeked at the unifier and saw "Cry that..." and thought it would be "Play ball!" Nope.

~ Glad to see you back, Hahtoolah.

~ I like Seinfeld RERUNS better than a lot of what passes for comedy shows these days.

~ My March Madness bracket is kaput. My husband could win if Syracuse wins next week. We both have Louisville taking it all. Anyone see the horrific leg injury in yesterday's Louisville-Duke game?

~ Getting ready for Opening Day against the Yankees. I'm trying to be optimistic about this year ~ after finishing in the cellar last year, it's gotta be better!

Husker Gary said...

April Fool’s joke gone bad-
We were in the midst of a canned food drive and every room was full of tin cans. A colleague stacked all his cans in a pyramid in front of my other colleague’s closed door thinking that when the bell rang, the cans rolling around on the floor would be hilarious.
Well, the best laid jokes of men and mice… This turns out to be the day there was a fire drill and so when the alarm went off, every door burst open and kids were falling all over the place. It gets worse. Guess who came around the corner at that moment - the principal, superintendent and the Nebraska State Fire Marshall. They were not amused and my friend got a severe reprimand.

Misty said...

Great April Fool's Day, puzzle, Patti! Many thanks! A speed run, but I didn't get the theme until the reveal. Barry, you must take us for easy MARKs, SUCKERs, PIGEONs, and SAPs! Always nice expo, Argyle. And Husker, fun musings and bittersweet school story.

Have a great Rabbit day, everybody!

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Who fooled the rabbit?

Nice April Fools puzzle today. Best theme entries were vertical.

I fooled myself by making two entries in the wrong places, and twice mistyping an "S" as an "A." Makes for some weird perps.

One rather sizable nit: George was the composer, IRA was the lyricists.

Brief snow this morning. Partly sunny now, but not warm. Tigers open at Twins today at 4:00 EDT. Verlander on the mound today vs phormer Phillie Vance Worley.

Wolverines rocked in the NCAA over the weekend. Buckeyes not so much.

Cool regards!
JzB

JD said...

Good morning all
Almost home...finally was able to visit the island of Grenada where my late sister had built 21 villas overlooking a bay of white sand, back in the 70s. it was an emotional trip for me as I knew how much she loved her little island, a photographers paradise.

It was fun getting back to our crossword corner..especially on a Monday when I can zip right on thru. I will try to catch up on any news in the next few days. Thanks Argyle,as always ,for the nice write up.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Thanks, Patti, for a fun and easy start to the "Cruelest Month." Clever theme and cluing and nice and breezy to boot! Good expo, Argyle.

Have a great Monday and watch out for the pranksters!

Zcarguy said...

Morning all,

My Father In Law always wants to pay the tab whenever we go out to a restaurant , so my wife and I decided to play an April's fool joke on him last year,

We told the waiter to make the tab like 4 times higher than it should be ....... He was not a happy camper ....everybody in the restaurant had a good laugh and so did we .

CrossEyedDave said...

Fun Puzzle today!

I tried to find a YouTube April Fools Joke for you, but all the school/teacher ones were so amateurish that I was disappointed. So when I came across Johnny Carsons prank on Joan Rivers, I thought you might enjoy a "professional version."

(note:) @ 11:11 it is very long winded, but if you do not want to watch the whole thing, you must at least watch the last 30 seconds!

& from the other side of the pond, a BBC newsclip about the "spaghetti harvest."

CanadianEh! said...

Nice Monday puzzle. Happy April Fool's Day to all.
Hand up for wrist and Saki but perps corrected me.
Lots of hype up here for Toronto Blue Jays this season.

Lucina said...

Happy, April Fools Day! LOL, BArry!

What a pleasantly easy puzzle from Patti Varol with only two write overs, BOOB (tube) then BEEB. But BOOB would have fit the theme. The other one was SAKI/SAKE, I can't remember which is which but ESSAY saved me.

This is not a joke, but sounds like one. Heard yesterday from the Mother of a friend. Our friend said her mom uses LOL constantly even with serious themes such as husband's surgery. When asked why she said, "because it means Lots of Love." That brought the house down and we teased her all afternoon.

JD:
It's good to see you back. You, too, Hahtoolah.

Fermatprime:
I watched Mr. Selfridge and enjoyed it. Learned quite a few new things about him. Jeremy Piven is a consummate actor.

Have an amusing April Fools Day, everyone!



PK said...

Hi Y'all, This puzzle was so simple any fool could have done it. Even me without any red letters but the SAKi(E). Thanks, Patti! Thanks, Argyle!

The puzzle was a speed run, but it took me much longer to get on the puzzle site. All I got were about two dozen ads. Almost annoyed enough to give up and go to bed when the puzzle finally came up. Maybe the puzzle hadn't been posted yet?

LaLa, I didn't see the basketball injury happen, but I tuned in as the Louisville coach was telling the media rep about it. He said the leg was fractured and the bone exposed. As the kid was carried off, he told his teammates to win and they did! What a thing to happen during a national tournament. But as hard as they play, one wonders how anyone stays healthy.

PK said...

Abejo, what color are you dying those bib overalls and why? I thought that play was Biblical and everybody wore robes. You are a great guy to help your wife with such a chore. And to chance the ruination of your turkey frier. Your next turkey may be dyed too.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Fun puzzle today. Enjoyed the theme. Some very nice fill. Only writeover was to change LANA to LOIS.

Good to see you all today, and best wishes to you all.

Anonymous said...

A fun, fast puzzle today. Thank you, Patti Varol. A witty write-up. Thanks, Argyle

Maybe not a speed run, but pretty darn near. No hang-ups.

Favorite clue: Ann ARBOR, MI That's where I grew up.

I'd like to BASK in the sun, but 47* is a bit too cold.

Opening Day! Go Reds! Go Tigers!

Pat

Anonymous said...

Good afternoon everyone.

Wonderful puzzle – I could do it all with no help from DH.
That's the only good thing today: I go in tomorrow to have 8 inches on bowel removed. Therefore no solid food today and this afternoon I have to do the prep again. Ugh! Everyone: be sure to get your colonoscopys.

Cheers

Bill G. said...

I enjoyed the puzzle. Most of you are probably much faster than I am at solving but this was one of my faster times I can remember, about 8 minutes 30 seconds.

Sallie, best wishes for you for sure. Good luck with all that. I'm hoping to hear back from you as soon as possible.

Opening Day! Go Dodgers! Hope springs eternal...

I enjoy the Mensa CW site. It's the old format I'm used to and no ads. It's perfect for me.

[aprilfoop}

Lucina said...

I just thought of a mnemonic for sake/saki which has been problematic for me, SAKE for goodness sake. Don't know why I didn't change the mental pronunciation earlier.

Sallie, prayers are on the way for you. Please let us know how you fare.

Pookie said...

Nice fun puzzle!
Barry had me goin' there.
Thanks for the write-up, Argyle.
Sallie: Hope all goes well tomorrow.
DH had a re-section at least 28 years ago and he is just fine.
I trust all of you who cooked yesterday were rewarded for your efforts.
I made meatballs and sauce for DH.
He was happy. :)

Tinbeni said...

Pinch Pinch

Glad to see Hahtoolah and her QOD.
Sallie: Best of luck with your surgery tomorrow.

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

fermatprime said...

Here is something that I received in my email. Thought it was cute!

Misty said...

Just saw Sallie's message about her surgery tomorrow. Our thoughts and prayers will be with you, Sallie

Like pje, I love Ann Arbor. Worked there for eleven happy years!

Wonderful spring flowers in our garden this year. They make me happy every time I look out the window. Spring has sprung!

Jazzbumpa said...

I love seeing a batter's body language when Verlander gets a called 3rd strike with a huge curve ball.

Torii Hunter 2 for 2.

Tigers 3-0 in the 3rd.

Cheers!
JzB

PK said...

Sallie, prayers for your successful recovery. Also a
successful cleanout. I hate that prep process.

Dennis said...

Sallie, good luck tomorrow. I hope you get to read the good wishes here between sprints...

Irish Miss said...

Sally, best of luck tomorrow.

Misty, spring may have sprung where you live but our weather today feels more like Nov. 1, not April 1! I guess this is Mother Nature's way of saying April Fool!

Bill G. Vegas is now on on Friday nights at 9:00, starting this Friday. It precedes Blue Bloods.

Tin, what happened to our Yanks? (No comments necessary, LLLinda!)

LaLaLinda said...

Sallie ~~ My best wishes and prayers are with you for your surgery tomorrow. Hope to see you back at the Corner real soon!

LaLaLinda said...

Irish Miss ~ I know no comments are "necessary," but after the last two awful years, I just hafta give a small "yay." I'll be quiet about it from now on. :-)

HeartRx said...

Sallie, good luck tomorrow!

I took the winter tarp off of our fountain yesterday, but it is going to be in the 20s later this week, so I guess I will defer filling the pool for a few days. One year, it was so warm in March that I started it up on the fifteenth. By the twentieth, I had an ice castle in the front yard!! The neighbors must have said to themselves..."What was she thinking,????"

Bill G. said...

CED, that Johnny Carson/Joan Rivers clip was great! I'd never seen that before. I miss Johnny. Leno/Letterman are pale imitations.

Pookie said...

OK, This one is just plain cute.

Singing puppies to sleep

Sfingi said...

Had MOola before MONEY, is all.

In 2010, the April Fool's joke was Johns Hopkins deciding it was overdue time to change their name to John Hopkins, accompanied by film of the "S" being painted out all over campus.

Jay Leno said...

We have our moments:


Easter Chick

Irish Miss said...

Pas de chat @ 5:46

That certainly brought a smile to my face. I love how they use each other as pillows.

Jay Leno - Too funny!

Misty said...

Irish Miss, 4:46--Oh dear, all that snow and cold up north makes me sad for everybody. Didn't mean to make anyone jealous--just give you hope! Surely it will have sprung for you too before long!

Blue Iris said...

Barry, good one!

Fermatprime and orange peeler...
My husband loves gadgets and every once in a while finds something useful. He found me a kitchen tool that has an X-shape that cut up ground beef. I usually purchase in 6 to 10 lb packages, fry up, and freeze in one lb. containers.

No campaign or bumper stickers allowed on our cars. Even the kid's college stickers must be easy window peel-off DECALs.

CED, loved the spaghetti harvest :)

Pas de Chat, cute sleeping puppies. Wonder if he makes house calls for insomniacs?

Wish we could enjoy "Easter chicks" and rehydrate only when convenient!!

Hope the 1st week in April sees warmer weather for all the peeps here!

Spitzboov said...

Sallie - Hope your surgery tomorrow is successful and that you have a speedy recovery,

Hahtoolah said...

Sallie: All the best to you tomorrow. I hope to see you back here soon and well on the road to recovery.

Argyle said...

I understand some people had trouble with 58-Across. Bracelet site : ANKLE. It use to be a fashion statement but now...., that bracelet is meant for the wrist. But now we have these ankle bracelets.

Bill G. said...

Pas, really nice. Thanks.

Dear Jay, I do watch bits and pieces of your show from time to time. I think the best part of your show is the 10 minutes or so between your monologue and your first guest. This clip was fun and I enjoy Jaywalking.

You will love this rock and roll classic. I kinda forgot I was looking at a puppet instead of a white Little Richard. Lucille

Lucina said...

BlueIris:
I'm with you on bumper stickers! Not allowed, ever!

Bill G. said...

Yep, Blue Iris and Lucina, not on my cars either.