google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, April 11, 2013, Marti Duguay-Carpenter

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Apr 11, 2013

Thursday, April 11, 2013, Marti Duguay-Carpenter

Theme: Don't tense up, and pass the participle

Each of the 4 theme answers takes the first word of a two- word phrase and by adding D or ED creates past participles used adjectivally (fun for all our teachers!) in a new and whimsical phrase, the resulted first words all synonyms of "tired". Hey, marti did it not me. Each time the meaning of both words in the original phrase are changed completely. A simple, but fun theme, that was harder to describe than to suss. Lemonade sitting in for miss m, as she is too shy to review and praise her own work, So as Flip Wilson said, We are here to seize her berry.  not praise it. (Bill G, they were much kinder to you than to me when I posted some of mine). On we go.

20A. Post-marathon sounds? : FATIGUED PANTS. (13). Military style morphs into the breathing challenge after 26 miles.


37A. Golfer's outdated set of clubs? : TIRED IRONS. (10). See how the addition of the little "D" changes everything.

43A. Casualty of an all-night poker game? : POOPED DECK. (10). Now we see the added "ED." No Viagra jokes here, and no bathroom humor, provide your own..

55A. Problem for Sherlock when he's run out of tobacco? : EXHAUSTED PIPE.(13). Interesting two theme clues are car related.

Across:

1. Gives pieces to : ARMS. We begin with the subtle use of "piece" meaning a gun.

5. Space-saving abbr. : ET AL.

9. Academy teacher : PLATO. Not just any one, but THE ACADEMY.

14. Leak slowly : SEEP. These days, ideas seldom seep into my brain.

15. Prep, as apples for applesauce : PARE. Generally using a paring knife. Why not say Peel? Paring is more precise? Nothing like TARE.

16. Didn't despair : HOPED.

17. Support girder : I-BAR.

18. Teatro alla Scala highlight : ARIA. The famous Opera house.

19. From days gone by : OF OLD. Did anyone else see this as O Fold for minute? (This is one).

23. Salon supply : GEL.

24. Scottie's relative : WESTIE. The West Highland White Terrier, marti resolved the Scottie issue.

27. ID theft target : SSNSocial Security Number.

30. Wined and dined : REGALED. Treated like a king.

34. Messenger ___ : RNA.

35. Bygone depilatory : NEET. Nair wins, nair wins!

39. Egyptian leader between Gamal and Hosni : ANWAR.  This Nobel Prize winner. LINK, Killed in 1981.

41. MIV ÷ II : DII. One way to divide the Romans.

42. Pester, puppy style : NIP AT. Marti is using the Dan Naddor like short word combos to make the puzzle harder.

46. "___ be young again!" : OH TO. See. I told you she was.

47. SFO posting : ARR.ivals.

48. Welcome sight for early explorers : DRY LAND. Land Ho!

50. Poetic dusk : EEN.

51. "Thy Neighbor's Wife" author : TALESE. A nice GUY.

53. Ill-fated fruit picker : EVE. Cute clue, and more apple reference.

62. Eastern adders? : ABACI. Back again so soon?

64. Smart : CHIC. pronounced Sheak. (Avoiding 1940s condom humor).

65. Corp. money mgrs. : CFOSChief Financial Officers.

66. Sax range : TENOR.  I knew marti would get us to the SAX talk.


67. Rolling rock : LAVA.

68. Berlusconi's bone : OSSO. Italian

69. Is without : HASN'T. There are the haves and the have nots, I was explaining to one of my Y-chromosome deficient friends, there are the Ys and the Ynots.

70. One bounce, in baseball : A HOP. Not an A word, but more commonly a one hopper.

71. Kids : TOTS. Would they taste the same if they were called Tater Kids?

Down:

1. "A likely story!" : AS IF. Another one.

2. Country's McEntire : REBA. Have they canceled this SHOW? (2:39)

3. Crux : MEAT. The heart, the gist, you get the idea.

4. Bit of mistletoe : SPRIG. If athletes get athlete's foot, do astronauts get missile toe?

5. Dress uniform decoration : EPAULET. From the French for shoulder, which comes from the Latin Spatula. Do you ladies want to go back to the 80's when your shoulders were so padded?

6. Empty-truck weight: TARE. Per wiki: The word tare originates from the Middle French word tare "wastage in goods, deficiency, imperfection" (15, from Italian tara, from Arabic tarah, lit. "thing deducted or rejected," from taraha "to reject" usually TARE WEIGHT.

7. Desertlike : ARID. You need an extra R for your underarm.

8. Route to an illogical conclusion : LEAP.

9. Expressed an opinion on "The Dan Patrick Show," say : PHONED IN. I debated this as a theme answer for a while.

10. Many converted apartments : LOFTS. Especially in big cities.

11. Sign of omission : APOSTROPHE. Sin of commission. Cool clue.

12. ___ Aviv : TEL. No way, I am not saying a word.

13. Like some socks after laundry day : ODD. I am on a 7 month win streak.

21. Whence BMWs : GERmany. marti just wanted to be back on the autobahn heading to the Alps.

22. Floored : AWED. As opposed to awwed.

25. Hard-wired : INNATE.

26. Crayola Factory's Pennsylvania home : EASTON. Also the birthplace of heavyweight champ, Larry Holmes.

27. Get testy with : SNAP AT. An another.

28. Madrid madam : SENORA. Be careful.

29. City whose average elevation is below sea level : NEW ORLEANS. Hence not a good place to be in a hurricane.

31. Dizzy with delight : GIDDY. This comes from the same German root word which we got our word G-d, as dizzy people were thought to be possessed.

32. Prospero's spirit servant : ARIEL. From Will Shakespeare's The Tempest. Study THIS.

33. High-end camera : LEICA. I wonder if JL likes this kind or the Nikon.

36. Borrow money from : TAP.

38. ___ Grande : RIO. River great.

40. Prophetic attire worn by most doomed characters on the original "Star Trek" TV show : RED SHIRT. The guest role was usually very short if they had on red.

44. De Matteo of "The Sopranos" : DREA. Also, of the short lived JOEY. Finally moved to Wisteria Lane. WATCH (0:54) if you dare.

45. Patella : KNEECAP. I am getting HYALGAN shots in my knees.

49. Netflix rental : DVD.

52. Sentence finisher? : EX-CON. They let you out when you finish, nice clue.

54. Florida attraction : EPCOT. Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.

56. Kareem's coll. team : UCLA. Actually, he was still Lew Alcindor in his UCLA days when he helped John Wooden become king of the hardwood.

57. Deposed ruler : SHAH.

58. Modern recorder : TiVO.

59. "Given that..." : IF SO. And the last.

60. Chime in at a blog : POST. A shout out to all of you!

61. Those, in Tijuana : ESOS.

62. Olympics entrant: Abbr. : ATHlete.

63. Actress Arthur : BEA. Maude or Golden Girl take your pick.

Well it's an extreme pleasure to get back to marti's work; there was a while I was blogging her at least once a month, but now that she is famous, and jetting all over we have to be grateful for what we get. Curious what you all thought, so I will shut up and read. I hope we have an exciting Masters. Congratulations Lady Huskies for your 8th NCAA basketball title. So amazing to me that these kids want to live in Storrs, CT. I did not not even when I was in school there.


L. out.


Note from C.C.:

Hope some of you could attend Marbles' 5th Annual Crossword Tournament. Click here for details.

56 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Fun puzzle today. I do love a good pun, doncha know...

I didn't get the theme right away, simply because I'm not all that familiar with fatigue pants. Once I got to TIRED IRONS, however, I was off and running. I hesitated briefly at DII, simply because I was too lazy to do the math, and wondered whether the OSSOS/ESOS crossing would have an O or an A, but other than that it was pretty much a speed run.

Lots of wonderful clues today, including "Eastern adders" for ABACI. "Rolling rock" for LAVA and "Sentence finisher" for EX-CON.

And in honor of 40D, I present the following:

Red Shirt

[ojamcc]
[allfet]

Barry G. said...

Oh -- and I'm actually feeling a bit more human today, but my wife is going to take another day off due to feeling worse...

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Seemed pretty easy for a Thursday. I zipped and zoomed right through it. Even got the theme at FATIGUED PANTS.

Nice shout-out to Hahtoolah. Who is the J-L in the LEICA reference, John Lampkin?

Today's the final taxing day. Gotta get a move on...

61Rampy said...

One letter DNF today. Had OSSe/ ESeS in the SE. Had to WAG several answers, but for the most part, all flowed smoothly. Got the theme at POOPED DECK.
Off to a 12 hour workday today.

Anonymous said...

EX-CON? I didn't get this one.

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 0740, Lemonade explained this : Sentence finisher .... once you 'complete' ( finish - ) your prison sentence, and are 'released' back to 'society', you still remain an 'ex-con'.

A difficult Thursday, but I completed, hence 'enjoyed'. Thank you, Marti. Thank you Lemonade for your polite, if repressed, remarks. Have a good week and weekend all.

Mari said...

Barry, that shirt link is halarious! I never noticed that the Red Shirts often bit the Martian dust, but it makes sense. They were the low men on the totem pole, correct?

This was a great puzzle! So many fun clues and words. I really enjoyed it. My favorite clues were:

- 1D: Gives pieces to: ARMS (I never saw this one coming)
- 53A: Ill fated fruit picker: EVE
- 67A: Rolling Rock: LAVA
- 52D: Sentence Finisher? EX CON*

I also liked seeing the word APOSTROPHE. An ODD word!


*I work at a large bank, and as you know, large banks have a habit of buying out small banks. When I first started here it was called Continental Bank. After many takeovers/mergers, we are now called something else. However, the old timers who have been here since the "old Continental days" refer to themselves as "Ex-Cons".

On that note, have a great day!

Mari said...

The Marbles tournament looks fun. I wonder where they get the puzzles - do they create them? Are they from some puzzle creaters we've seen around here?

I doubt I'd ever finish the puzzles first, but it might be fun to check out.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Marti, for a good Thursday puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for a swell review.

I tried downloading to my IPad, but no cigar today. So, I printed it from the Chicago Tribune. Hope the clues are consistent.

This puzzle actually went a little faster than most Thursdays. Got started up North with SEEP and ET AL.

Liked the theme. Very clever.

Thought 36D TAP and 43A POOPED DECK crossing was clever.

Had BOY for 34A. That was my toughest to get RNA. EASTON, PA fixed that for me.

Was able to get ABACI even though my printed puzzle did not have the clue. It was cut off.

NEW ORLEANS was easy. I am going there the end of June with a church group to help with the clean-up/restoration from the hurricane.

Did not know DREA for 44D. Perped it. I was not a fan of the show "The Sopranos."

The SHAH seems to be our most-used Deposed Ruler in crosswordese.

Off for a blood test to see if I am relatively healthy.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

(obeirld)

kazie said...

WNES (WHAT NOBODY ELSE SAID). I failed miserably in most of the SW, starting as high up as NEET, and ending with LACKS for HASN'T. Never figured out the theme, didn't know about red shirts, and anyway SHIRT wasn't going to fit with LACKS. Didn't know DREA or TALESE, and had SASS AT/SNAP AT. Couldn't come up with NEW ORLEANS because I was stuck somewhere in Holland.

Elsewhere I had no problems.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone. Nice commentary, Lemonade.

Good one, Marti. Difficult but a great ride all the way. No look-ups needed. Began to 'get' the theme with POOPED DECK, my favorite fill today. Liked the 10 letter downs, especially APOSTROPHE.
We didn't have EPAULETS, just 'shoulder boards'.

Have a great day.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

What Barry said.

Morning, Marti, I wondered when this puzzle would appear. I recall discussing Exhausted Pipe clues over at your place last August, during construction. Well done!

Mari 7:50 - loved your Ex-Con story!

Cheers All

Mari said...

Kazie @ 8:40 am: WINES - I love it!

Husker Gary said...

You know what I hated about this puzzle? I ran out of cells. The NE took some time and the payoff was well worth it. Cluing was fresh and fun – APOSTROPHE, EVE, ABACI, EX CON, ET AL, et al. POOPED DECK fav theme answer.

Musings
-My IRONS may be 30 years old and TIRED but mistakes are due to the swinger not the swingees
-Drying books at University of Nebraska at Kearney library when rain SEEPED/ran in this week
-I HOPED I could use those tired irons this week but welcome rain/snow aced me out
-A naughty birth control limerick of my youth begins: “In days OF OLD, When knights were bold…”
-We often get emails asking for SSN’s, bank acc’t numbers, etc. I was born at night but not last night
-Disney REGALED me once but couldn’t pay me enough to come down there to write curriculum
-The Jimmy Carter Library in Atlanta has a prominent display of him brokering peace between Anwar and Menachem, but ALAS like so many agreements in that part of the world, it appears doomed
-My age – CCCXXX ÷ V
-Talk about being deliriously happy to see DRY LAND
-A Berlusconi’s bone joke seems to write itself
-We had a button to TARE out our scales in the chemistry lab
-The Miami Heat are just PHONING IN the last games of the season by resting James and Wade
-Some kids’ behavior are just Hard wired – that explains the behavior but doesn’t excuse it
-Hey, let’s build a city below sea level. What could possibly go wrong?
-Even after 40 visits to EPCOT, I’d go again tomorrow!

CrossEyedDave said...

Re: Yest...

Dennis, sorry I can't sympathize about your alligators, we have our own problems up here in the North...

lois said...

Good morning Lemonade, CC et al., Fun, creative, clever puzzle by our Marti. My fav's are the same as Barry's. Really very clever.

Lemonade: well done but missed the wide open style. enjoyable nonethe less. I thought 'tired' would've been the theme too, but I'd be wrong.

Husker: Disney wanted you to write curriculum for what? I too love EPCOT. Fav place down there.

Was just stealing away for a brief moment...TIRED of grading and nonssense. What's wrong w/ the right to 'bare ARMS' on a hot day?
Tsk tsk tsk.

Enjoy your day.

JD said...

Good morning Lemonade, C.C., et al,

My first run through was not pretty until I changed mash>peel>pare and tarp>tare and filled in the pants. Got the theme with the tired irons which made me laugh. Great clues all the way through, and as clueless as I am, it took a bit for me to steam through. So much I thought I didn't know, I actually did...given a few (or many) letters.Perped those doomed red shirts.
Fav clue: eastern adders

Marti, thanks for a fun Thursday!

LaLaLinda said...

Hi All ~~

A really fun puzzle, Marti! I had a tough start - just couldn't get 1A - Gives pieces to - but when I finally saw the light, I loved it! At 1D I started with 'I bet" for 'A likely story' and that further messed things up. But after straightening out that corner I was able to move along much more smoothly. I caught the theme with FATIGUED PANTS and that helped with the other theme answers.

My favorites have already been mentioned by Mari, esp. 52D - Sentence finisher - EX CON.

Thanks for a great write-up, Lemonade ~ I'm always amused by your comments.

From last night ~ Bill G. - Irish Miss was right. In December my husband had a leg infection just below the knee (he has no problems with the knee itself) and oral antibiotics did nothing. Even after admitting him to the hospital, and IV antibiotics, there was no improvement. Finally after an ultrasound showed that the infection was encased behind the knee, he had surgery to remove it and all went well after that. I hope Barbara's problem can be remedied more easily and that she can soon go ahead with her knee replacement.

HeartRx said...

Dudley @ 8:54, I just said to C.C. that I wondered if you would remember helping me with that theme clue! Thanks for pushing me in the right direction.

Barry, glad to hear you're feeling better - I hope your wife gets back on her feet soon, too. And Bill G., have they done an MRI on Barbara's knee? Hopefully, the IV antibiotics will clear it up.

Husker Gary said...

Lois, Disney has a Y.E.S. (Youth Education Series) program and I took my kids through it for a few years but quit because it was horrible. Imagine 15-year-olds sitting outside in 68°F January weather drawing pictures on paper with colored pencils for a half hour in the most fabulous parks in the world. Not good! The last year I could read the faces of my kids and just said they could leave the Y.E.S. program after an hour and hit the parks with the information I had given them for the last 5 months. It was offensive to the Disney minimum wage “instructors” who simply read and did what they were told but my kids cheered and sprinted away.

I offered some suggestions about using the amenities of the park and on my next trip as I walked around with some Disney peeps but they couldn’t offer me enough money to leave Nebraska, take a big pay cut and live in central Florida.

I submitted a four page, single-spaced program for an EPCOT educational program that took advantage of the incredible facilities in the park and my contact wrote back saying, “Thanks for your submission Gary, but our policy is to reject any intellectual property submitted by non-employees for legal reasons. Therefore we discarded your proposal.”

Irish Miss said...

Good morning:

Well, Miss Marti, you gave us a run for our money with this sparkler! Clever theme, great cluing, and some terrific, long fill. Nicely done and nice expo, Lemon.

Our weather has turned nasty again: windy, rain, cold temps, dreary skies and possible snow or sleet tomorrow in the higher elevations. Mother Nature is not being very motherly!

Abejo @ 8:19 - I wonder why you couldn't download to your iPad; I had no trouble downloading it last night. I did have a problem on Monday but none since then.

Mari, loved your ex- con story!

Happy Thursday.

Misty said...

I loved this puzzle and thought I had nailed it until I came to the blog. Then realized I had A POP instead of A HOP which gave me SHAP instead of SHAH--really dumb (of me). Guess I just don't know my baseball. But the theme answers were so funny--many thanks, Marti. And fun expo, Lemonade. Only I wish you had 'splained what EXHAUSTed PIPE has to do with Sherlock? (I'm a big fan of "Elementary" and just watched the latest episode last night).

Barry, so glad you're feeling better, and warm wishes for your wife's recovery.

I'm off to teach a class about the Harlem Renaissance at the Senior Center this afternoon.

Have a great Thursday, everybody!

Lucina said...

Hello, solvers. It's always good to see and read you, Lemonade, whether Thursday or Friday. I liked your puns.

Great job, Marti, and thanks for making this a fun romp. I did most in one pass. LACK before HASN'T and CSAR before SHAH were me only write overs. EASTON had me wondering as I had not heard of it. Thanks for confirming it, Lem.

I love seeing the long fill, APOSTROPHE, NEW ORLEANS and REGALED.

Barry, I'm glad to hear you are better and I hope the best for your wife.

Though I've not read any of Gay Talese's works, he has such a curious name that I remember it.

Have a super Thursday, everyone!

Lemonade714 said...

The original Sherlock Holmes would puff on his pipe while ruminating on a solution to problems presented to him. A difficult case was a three pipe problem. After that much use, the pipe would be worn out.
The imagery of the pipe smoking is a big part of the Holmes legend, along with the deer stalker hat, which is ignored in Elementary but made fun of in the new PBS version. .

Anonymous said...

did anyone else see the irony of having CFO and EXCON in the grid? Enron, MCI, Commonwealth, Madoff, ET AL?

Ol' Man Keith said...

Pretty easy, or maybe just about right for a Thursday challenge.

I was going to say that there usually seems to be ONE really tough corner which, today, for me, happened to be the NE section. But of course there will always be one part that holds out longer than the others, and I guess that last part always SEEMS to be unusually unyielding and stubborn.

What kept me from getting the NE corner until the end was that I had KOED (KO'ed) instead of AWED for "Floored" for the longest time. That kept me from getting WESTIE, the "T" of which was necessary to break through on APOSTROPHE. But it all tumbled through eventually, so we're fine chez Fowler....

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. The puzzle today was a total delight, eliciting smiles and chuckles throughout. Thank you, Marti, and best wishes to you all.

Dudley said...

Marti 9:55 -

I don't actually remember having been a help, but...you're welcome! :-)

Montana said...

It’s Thursday so I used my iPad and red letter help.
A DNF but enjoyable. Marti’s puzzles usually are as are Lemon’s expos.

Montana

Anonymous said...

Good:

Static on the line: PHONEDIN

TSA move at John Wayne Airport: SNAPAT

Not so good:

Grassland between Prairie O and Prairie Q: LEAP

Little known Cincinnati baseballer AL: REDSHIRT

Really bad:

Hated crosswordese for elope: AWED

Tinbeni said...

AS-IF, OF-OLD, NIP-AT, SNAP-AT, OH-TO, A-HOP & IF-SO ... a couple "short word combos" would be OK.
But I think seven is five too many.

Wined and dined, had 'romance' before GIDDY showed me it should be REGALED.

Thanks for the EX-CON explanation Lemon.

Cheers!!!

Misty said...

Thanks, Lemonade. I didn't know (or notice) that about Sherlock and his pipe.

PK said...

Hi y'all! Lemon on Marti: couldn't get much funner than this! Great puzzle! Great expo!

Got the theme on the first one. Helped with others.

Wanted Nikon because that was my professional camera, but knew Leica was more expensive.

Lemon, are the hyalgan shots helping your kneecaps? Mine are killing me, especially when these storm fronts go through. Much rain the last two days and I didn't want to leave the recliner. You can smell the bengay when you come in the door.

TOTS: I tried sweet potato TOTS the other day. Once is enough, I think. I rarely eat fried potatoes of any kind.

Weiner said...

LEICA made it into a scene in the season premier of Mad Men. With all the chatter here about DA, TBBT, ET AL, I'm surprised Mad Men doesn't get any praise.

Maybe its too man-centric for this crowd. I personally think it is the best show on tv.

Still in the 60s said...

I loved Mad Men until this season's debut. I don't know if they changed writers, but it was two hours of nothing. I'll give it one more shot Sunday.

Bill G. said...

I enjoyed the puzzle but I knew I would when I saw the name of the constructor. I had trouble with the upper-right corner. It was the last area to be completed for me. (I just saw that Keith Fowler agreed with me.)

Thanks for everybody's concern about Barbara's infection. The IVs seem to be doing the trick. She's had two infusions with three more to go. No big deal except for the driving and the worry. Thank goodness for Medicare and good health insurance.

After my mention of Ricky Jay last night, who should be a guest on The View today but Ricky Jay talking about a little history of magic and doing a new clever card trick. He's got to be one of the best of all time. For me, his style is so much more enjoyable than the big illusions of magicians like David Copperfield.

The Lakers are still hanging on by their fingernails. The Dodgers look to be improved from last year. Hope springs eternal...

I'm off to get a tuna salad sandwich at Subway.

fermatprime said...

Hello, all!

Great puzzle, Marti! Very amusing write-up, Lemon! Thanks to you both!

Woke up with tummy ache. Maybe more later!

Pookie said...

Thanks Marti. This was lots of fun.
Kind of amusing to think of exhausted inanimate objects! :)
Thanks,Lemonade for your commentary.
Had the plumber here to clean out the main line.
Just had the toilet fixed on the 1st.
I told him I hope I don't see him anytime soon.
Now to tackle the "tax crap" so we can take it to the "tax crap man" on Saturday. Hah!

Abejo said...

Irish Miss: No idea why sometimes my IPad will not download the puzzle. Just the way it is, I guess.

Abejo

(iddreo)

lois said...

Husker: first of all, I admire you so much for dealing w/ and teaching the 15 y.o. age group. I didn't even like my own kids at that age. (JK) I much prefer the older ones all the same.

2ndly, Disney's rejection of your info/help is so beyond sad it's laughable. What were they thinkin'? I throw down my yellow foul flag and yell BS to all of that. What a pack of bullhockey! Are they afraid they might incite a riot of intellectualism or something? or stimulate a young eager mind? I am so sorry for your wasted time, and esp for the loss of your fantabulous expertise. That's one for Anderson's Ridiculist! What did you do w/that letter? I'd've framed it and put it on my "Wall of Shame...-On-Them", front and center. Makes me wonder what Walt would've said or done. I hope his grave was quaking.

Bill G: I truly wish Barbara a speedy recovery. You both are in my thoughts and prayers.

JD: meant to tell you that your pictures are wonderful. Gives me a huge hankerin' to get the 'H' out of Dodge.

klilly said...

Great puzzle and write up

What a great story about Disney and Epcot. Disney is very protective of their brand. When I was teaching computer courses I would always warn the kids about using anything disney without permission. With the Internet my students didn't quite get what was wrong with using anything that was posted.

I love Mad Men.. I like that it is a little uneven.. I love the writing.

Husker Gary said...

Lois and klily – Omaha has a Walt Disney Elementary School and they are forbidden to post Disney pictures on their walls. They named the bloody school after Walt!!

No one does entertainment and theme parks better than Disney but the peeps who designed their “curriculum” had not one damned idea about how to teach kids let alone how to use the incredible resources on their property, e.g. we had one sad little girl trying to show light from a flashlight (with bad batteries) traveling down an optical cable in bright sunlight. Just behind her was Spaceship Earth that had optical fibers throughout the ride! They were using pea shooters when they had F-22’s in their arsenal!! Of course my kids had studied the transmission of light through fiber cables in my classroom and the other concepts they were trying to “teach”. My discarded proposal emphasized pre and post materials to complement what to do while in the park and I wish I had saved a copy.

There are some of us who are HARD WIRED to teach middle school and I loved it for 42 years and still enjoy them the most when I sub.

CrossEyedDave said...

Usually, by Thursday, I have to go red letter as I just do not have the time. (or the brain power.) But being a Marti puzzle, I stuck with it in ink. Whenever the puzzle got too hard, I went back to work... Whenever the work got too hard, I went back to the puzzle, which helped considerably as there were 2 areas I was not sure of, & finally came to the Blog and discovered that my WAGs were correct!

1st, I always mix up my au/ua's (i.e. gaurd/guard) so when I put Exhuasted, & not knowing anything about Basketball, I thought56D Kareem's coll. team was ATLA (Atlanta?) But perseverance & perps finally paid off.

68A Berlusconi's bone had me thinking Anatomy, (but luckily I always think with my stomach...)

24A Scottie relative,,, I had (blank)ESTIE. I didnt care for floored=awed, so I spent a lot of time trying to change "westie" into "Nessie' ( I.E. Loch Ness...)( Scottie? No?) But in the end, apostrophe would not let me.

Last nite,,, Ricky james = OMG!

CrossEyedDave said...

Barry G! Loved yr link!
red shirt reminded me of a Galaxy Quest, an underrated Tim Allen film about washed up actors doing Sci-fi conventions. The whole movie is hilarious for Trekkies, but I am sure the Blog crowd would get bored, So here is the best parts in 10 minutes.

Note that the unknown actor, Guy, (not wearing a red shirt) has a breakdown at 5:30 to 6:30...

HG@9:18 Re: drying books.
If it were me, I would have lined them up like domino's.

Finally! A theme I can work with!
Fatigued pants

Oh well,,, I had a pic for tired irons, but the owner beat me to it.

A pooped deck is a very serious thing! (so why are these idiots smiling?)

There are a lot of YouTube vids out there where people put condoms on tailpipes as a joke, but I realize that people reading the Blog are a little more upscale.

Oh, & don;t let the guy at Midas con you into letting them clean your tired exhaust pipe...

Point of order said...

CED @9:27 re: The beaver attack link.

THAT is the moment a man was bitten to death by a beaver.

A Russian fisherman spotted the beaver on the side of the road and he attempted to take a picture.

But the beaver turned on the man and the moment he was bitten in the frightening attack was captured on film.

The angry rodent bit into the man's thigh and it severed a man artery.

Despite desperate attempts from his friends to stop the blood flowing out of his wound, he bled to death.

Beavers have been known to attack humans, but they are rare.

It is thought only ones that are rabid will try to bite

Ree said...

Thoroughly enjoyable puzzle today, including the theme! Like the clues for apostrophe and ex-con. Drea pops up like Elia as far as first names, liked her performance on The Soprano's. Beautiful day here in CT, daffodils are in full bloom. Our neighboring town has a park filled with them and has a festival named for them. Can't wait to see them! Sorry to hear of bad weather for others, hope you all get to enjoy good weather soon!

fermatprime said...

If you read further under the beaver attack video, you will find that that particular attack was not fatal. Evidently another one was. Who woulda thunk it?

I have seen Galaxy Quest at least three times!

Tummy and other parts much better now. Was freezing to death and now am too hot. Wonder what causes this sort of thing? (Missed my swim, drat!) Anyone have ideas?

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Wow, fermatprime, you seem so chipper!

Nice to see you so happy.

Manac said...

I thought this was going to be a " That Carpenter Person! " puzzle today, but it all eventually fell. Nice job Marti. I did hesitate at asif and ifso thinking foul but it is just a game.

Hmmm... Scotty always wore a Redshirt and he never bought the farm!

lois said...

CED: Dear Heavenly Fathers! Ricky James? never heard of the guy! I'm sure he's bannned from LV, Reno, Atlantic City! Wherever! What a phenomenon! Such fun! What a slick trick he is! His Dad has to be so proud of him! His mom may be terrified! Thank you for all the links.

CanadianEh! said...

YES! ABACI again.
Loved the clue!
Fun puzzle.
It looked like fairyland here with ice on the tree branches. Would have been beautiful if it hadn't been April 11! Spring just won't come.

Bill G. said...

CED, I assume you mistyped Ricky Jay as Ricky James. I agree. He is fantastic. You can lose a half hour or more just by perusing YouTube videos about him and by him.

Lemonade714 said...

Thanks all, have more fun tomorrow with Marti as she blogs Friday.

CrossEyedDave said...

I am terribly sorry, I thought I was just posting a funny clip, & never knew the man attacked by the beaver actually died! I just checked & it is all over the news. If I had known I never would have posted it.

Bill G. Yes I did mistype. The correct name is Ricky Jay, & thank you for mentioning his name last night. I just watched some side links from that clip & discovered tutorials explaining how some of it was done.

Bill G. said...

CED. Barbara and I have seen Ricky Jay in person twice when he was much younger. (Now that I think about it, we were much younger too.) He is a great card manipulator and as I said last night, he makes it look effortless, like Fred Astaire made dancing look effortless. Ricky Jay can also throw cards better than anyone I've ever seen and he is obviously intelligent and funny to go along with his magic. That's what makes his act so enjoyable. After seeing him years ago, I tried to learn how to throw cards. I got to where I could do it pretty well. I could throw a card across a room and a couple of times, it was hard enough to put a little scar in a wooden closet door.

Manac said...

CED, We have beavers out back here. What they can do to a young tree or sapling overnight is amazing. Those teeth are razor sharp and skin and bone are no match for them. Some stumps you look at and wonder if it was done with an axe because of the size of the chips. Yet they waste none of the tree. It all goes to their dam.