google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday May 31, 2013, Don Gagliardo and C.C. Burnikel

Advertisements

May 31, 2013

Friday May 31, 2013, Don Gagliardo and C.C. Burnikel

Theme: "Smile you are on Candid Camera."


How nice to welcome Hard G and C.C. back to Friday, their first visit to my patch since last May. Appropriately for C.C. as a baseball fan, we have the old hidden ball trick, where the name of a popular camera manufacturer is found spread between the words of each of the three theme answers, with a classic reveal. Some really sparkly fill like RNA spelled out, PLUMMETS, NITROGEN, DERISIVE and ARCANE just to name a few. We also have some clecho, some arcane stuff that's fun to learn  So let us do this.

19A. "This will get better, I promise" : IT GROWS ON YOU.(12) For some reason SONY jumped right out at me once I filled in the answer, which took a while, as I had to resort to doing the down clues first to get a toehold.  Did not know if perhaps TVs were going to be the theme.

31A. "That's surreal!" : CAN ONLY IMAGINE. (15) The CANON sure shot being perhaps the most advertised of all cameras.

39A. Substance usually abbreviated : RIBONUCLEIC ACID. (15) (RNA) LEICA  a very quality camera brand mentioned recently here.

53A. Surveillance device found in 19-, 31- and 39-Across : HIDDEN CAMERA. (12) It says it exactly, a camera hidden in each theme answer. A very conventional theme and grid with many fewer words than we have seen on Friday recently.

Across:

1. Manhunt msg. : APBAll Points Bulletin.

4. Facebook exchanges, briefly : IMSInstant MessageS.

7. Put up a fight : BATTLE.

13. Nose-dives : PLUMMETS. Whenever something is falling to Earth, it is plummeting. Nice word.

16. Frozen, maybe : AFRAID. Very misleading, and while fear makes people freeze in their tracks, it took perps to get this one.

17. Toy mentioned in "The Chipmunk Song" : HULA HOOP.

18. Shade at the beach : BRONZE. Umbrella would not fit, so it had to be a shade of skin tone. The clecho: 10D. Shade at the beach : TAN.

21. Executes : DOES. We are not killing anyone here, just doing things.

22. Sault ___ Marie : STE. Saint abbreviation in French.

23. Moves a bit : STIRS. Shaken not stirred?  I do remember when that sleeping alligator stirred....

27. Prepare for chewing : TEETHE. I loved this one, especially as Charlotte now has two bottom teeth.

30. PC hookup : LANLocal Area Network.

37. Calculating : SHREWD. Related to Shrew as in the Taming of?

38. Military fleet : ARMADA. Back this week as fill not clue.

43. "Microsoft sound" composer : ENO. Mr. Muzak, Brian-the man in your ELEVATOR.

44. Arkansas River city : PUEBLO. Why these are in Colorado, I do not know.

45. "Star Wars" title : DARTH. and the clecho 65A. "Star Wars" title : SIR. DARTH is Sith for Lord, as he was also called Lord Vader. In later movies (set earlier in time) we have Darth Maul which is a great name. Sir, I presume refers to Sir Alec Guinness who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi, who said, "Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?"

48. Detriment to team performance, maybe : EGO. Who are your least favorite athlete? Is it a big ego who did nothing, like Brian Bosworth, or someone on a successful team who wants all the credit.

49. Master of ___ : ARTS. For some reason, I first plunked in ARMS.

57. Not widely understood : ARCANE. From the Latin word meaning secret, I always thought of it as mostly forgotten knowledge, though it is a wonderful crossword fill, and talking point. Are arcane words fair game to use in puzzles?

60. Air, mostly : NITROGEN. Love this clue as well since 85% of our air is nitrogen.

61. Where lizards hang out? : LOUNGE. Very sweet clue; are they lizards because of their cold nature? Their forked tongues?  Their shoes?

62. Mocking : DERISIVE. Love this being right after Lounge Lizard. It...

63. Lifted (up) : PERKED. up my day.

64. '70s kidnappers: Abbr. : SLASymbionese Liberation Army. Think Patty Hearst.

Down:

1. Farm pest : APHID. I put this in immediately and then thought about the fact that these pests are all over flowering plants and had to check the perps to be sure.

2. 1930 Clyde Tombaugh discovery : PLUTO. The P from APB gave me this, but he seems very interesting, suggesting the need for the scientific study of UFOs.

3. Love handle? : BULGE. The never ending Battle.

4. Online "Just saying" : IMHOIMHumble Opinion. Not sure why the opinion needs to be humble.

5. "Got milk?" : MEOW. Cute, like our 'let me out' last week.

6. Self-named Fox Business show : STOSSEL. I liked him since watching his personal revelations about his struggle with stuttering. LINK.

7. New addition of a sort : BABY. Charlotte is now 7 months old; tempus really fugits these days.

8. Big dos : AFROS.

9. Rainbow ___ : TROUT. I wanted BRITE so badly.

11. Songwriter Phair : LIZ. She also is a PERFORMER (2:39) who many feel has not ever lived up to her potential.

12. Back of a stamp? : EDE. If this one licked you, do not worry, it is just a StampEDE.

14. Viking landing site : MARS. Two planets in one puzzle, cool.

15. On-again, off-again : SPOTTY.

20. Vintage pop : NEHI. Radar O'Reilly's drink of choice, grape please.

24. Of a hip bone : ILIAC. Not to be confused with the ILIAD.

25. CNN journalist Kaye : RANDI. This 'investigative' journalist. LINK.(0:18) you get the impression C.C, watches a lot of news? (From C.C.: Randi Kaye used to be the news anchor for WCCO here at Twin Cities.)

26. 1984-2002 honorary Masters starting group member : SNEAD. Slammin' Sammy, one of the trio of golf legends born in 1912 who were featured in this fine PUZZLE.

27. Dot on a map : TOWN.

28. Turn out : END UP.

29. Virus carrier, at times : EMAIL. Simple, classy fill.

31. "The East ___": 1960s anthem in 32-Down : IS RED. No doubt an important part of C.C.'s childhood, this SONG.

32. Nepal neighbor : CHINA. More hometown stuff for our leader, this buffer country between China and India is historically and politically important and now friendly with China. LINK.

33. Place out of the sun : ARBOR. We already had shade as a clue, so it had to be something else. Do they celebrate Arbor day where you love?

34. Revival prefix : NEO.

35. ___ Arena, former Sacramento sports venue : ARCO. The first sports venue named for a sponsor (Atlantic Richfield Oil, now part of BP, is in its second location, and is now called the Sleep Train Arena. Really!

36. "Today" rival, initially : GMAGood Morning America, not be confused with GMV.(2:07).

40. Signaled : CUED. Cue the dancing hippos.

41. Daniel Boone, e.g. : LEGEND. I was more a Davy Crockett kid.

42. Black keys : EBONIES. Not the IVORIES. (3:41). I hope the video tickled your fancy.

46. Show appreciation to : THANK. I thank C.C. for the Corner and her amazing creations, solo and collaborative.

47. Swinging joint? : HINGE. Not a busy bar, nor a place for couples to mingle and tingle, but...

49. Big name in cookies : AMOS. You might even say he is famous.

50. Longtime morning co-host : REGIS. Does Kelly miss HIM?

51. Eternal City fountain : TREVI. Or as we call it la Fontana di Trevi.


52. Less likely to lose it : SANER. As Thomas Eagleton said, "if they say I am 5% mentally disabled at least I can prove I am 95% sane."

54. Legal document : DEED. Real Property, and what I do for a living, part of the time.

55. Shortcut key : CTRL. Alt. Delete. Oops you are all gone.

56. Solo delivery : ARIA. Not horse or soap.

57. Mont Blanc, e.g. : ALP. The mountain, not the PEN. So do you like or hate the Mountain as he rides off with Arya?

58. CanapĂ© topping : ROE. fish eggs like from Shad.

59. Blackguard : CUR. I love the word Blackguard. Cur probably comes from ancient languages version of GRR, meaning to growl and first meant a mongrel dog. But is has become synonymous with bad people, for example Wyatt Earp called the Clantons curs in the movie Tombstone. (per wiki).

Well this week and this puzzle flew by, though I savored the solving, it was nice to see so few 3/4 letter fill. A pleasure blogging our Dynamic Duo, and maybe off to watch the new Star Trek movie. Good to see how many newbies are becoming regulars and always great to see any of the 2008 crowd. Sorry to see San Jose lose, just for Eddy B.

Seen, Creature, hey.

Peace out. Lemonade 714

56 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Challenging Friday puzzle for me, although the difficulty was a bit uneven. Parts seemed very easy today, but other parts nearly killed me.

I didn't see the theme at all while solving, but thought it was brilliantly done once I figured it out afterwards.

Had ISLE instead of TOWN at first, which messed me up for a bit. Also misspelled 6D as STOSSLE at first (hey -- I'm just amazed I even knew who he is!) RANDI was a complete unknown.

I also tried NEPAL instead of CHINA at 32D, but the perps soon set me straight. Sorry, C.C.!

SIR is a "Star Wars" title? Yeah, I suppose you could argue that it refers to one of the actors, but that seems a bit lame to me...

[ssemell]

thehondohurricane said...

TGIF Everyone,

Another failure and it's becoming a complete pain. Next week..... 100% solves for Mon thru FRI.

Almost gave up today, but slowly the grid started to fill in. Once I had the theme answer, things began to roll. 31D, THE EAST IS RED was my last fill. Had Ono for 23A & GIBON.... for 39A. , but decided The East is God would never pass muster. RED arrived and lived.

But my goof was 63A PERKED. I entered Picked, never thought twice about it, so Roi & Cuc were never questioned. Careless on my part for a shoddy review.

From yesterday, Irish Miss, great news about your niece.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

There were several science answers which helped me zip through this one. "If air is 85% Nitrogen, then the other 21% must be Oxygen," he said DERISIVEly. RIBONUCLEIC ACID came trippingly off my pen point when I realized there was no room for DEOXY.

I had _U__LO, so the Arkansas River got moved to Mississippi: Tupelo. Didn't last. Hand up for ISLE before TOWN. With TEETHE in place, "turn out" became EVERT before END UP showed up.

I never could figure out how to work a HULA HOOP. I made and sold some as a kid. All you needed was a length of garden hose, a piece of dowel and a couple staples. Mom wasn't happy about the garden hose, though.

Mari said...

Good morning everybody, and Happy Friday!

I'm with Barry on this one - it was easy and hard. But that's what Friday's are all about.

I liked these clues:
- 16A: Frozen, maybe: AFRAID
- 27A: Prepare for chewing: TEETHE
- 29D: Virus carrier, at times: EMAIL
- 33D: Place out of the sun: ARBOR (I wanted shade - as in the verb, to shade)

Great words: ARCANE and EBONIES

I wanted OREO for AMOS and, of course I had to PERP RIBON....., but otherwise this was a most enjoyable prusuit.

I hope your day is enjoyable as well!

kazie said...

Lots of challenging unknowns for me, but perps and WAGS got me through it unscathed. I was looking for my own camera--NIKON at CANON, but came through that pause too. I never really knew what RNA stood for. I've never studied biology, so what I do know is mostly from here and reading.

Gotta run, but nice end to the work week--thanks C.C. and Don hard G!

HeartRx said...

Good morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.

Fun puzzle from C.C. and Don G. today, and I never saw the theme coming until it hist me in the face. I loved how the hidden cameras were spread over two or three words, instead of being buried in only one word. The fill was especially nice, as Lemony already mentioned.

Hands up for spelling STOSSle wrong, Barry!
And hand up for plopping in RIBONUCLEIC ACID without batting an eye, d-otto. After last night's spelling bee, that one seemed like first grade stuff to me!

Have a great day everyone - TGIF!

Husker Gary said...

Ya gotta love a puzzle with RNA spelled out hiding LEICA! Wow, what a fun labor very aptly summarized in Lemon’s first paragraph – no need to gild the lily.

Musings
-She used a HIDDEN CAMERA in her business (7th paragraph)
-Did you see this guy PLUMMET to Earth off Everest in NEPAL this week?
-I had a “plane that loops the loop” and a “hula hoop”
-People that invested with Warren Buffet years ago turned out to be SHREWD. Those with Bernie Madoff – not so much
-My favorite thing thing on/over the Arkansas River
-Sports people I respect said Carmelo Anthony’s EGO stymied the Knicks this year
-Eddie Murphy’s PLUTO Nash is always listed as one of the worst movies ever but the Murphy/Piscopo SNL skit is a favorite of mine
-My good shots that END UP on the green can be SPOTTY
-My swinging HINGE joint was an ELBOW first
-4 letter cookie – OREO you’re out, AMOS you’re in
-In what famous TV series set in the early 50’s had an episode where a curmudgeonly man refuses to invest in a hula hoop or Frisbee?

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

What a nice surprise from our DD and on a Friday level, yet. Slow start but with just enough firm anchors like TREVI, HULAHOOP, and EBONIES, the solve was able to fill out. Liked ARCANE and MEOW. Couldn't get the NE started although I guessed at BABY, but finally looked up LIZ in my CW dictionary. That gave BRONZE and TROUT, and finished it.
With HIDDEN CAMERA an early fill, it was fun finding the camera in the other 3 theme phrases. Well done!

Have a great day

Java Mama said...

Happy Friday, everyone! Thanks C.C. and Don G. for a real challenge that was plenty fun, even if it ended in a DNF for me. Had to rely on the blog and Lemon’’s expert expo to finish. Enjoyed the Candid Camera clip.

Favorite clue/answer by far – Where Lizards Hang Out = LOUNGE. My solve-from-the-bottom-up strategy for difficult puzzles gave me the HIDDEN CAMERA reveal early on, which helped with the long theme answers. Too many missteps in the midsection (ONO instead of ENO, ILIAR instead of ILIAC) kept the spelled-out RNA from appearing.

Have a great day, y’all!

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Tough going today. but I bull-dogged my way through it. Brilliant theme, and lots of great fill.

But -- where's the baseball?!?

Had ELBOW for "swinging joint." Thinking baseball I guess. LOX before ROE.

Grandson Nate always puts up a BATTLE before striking out.

We had SANE yesterday and SANER. today.

Saw kids playing with a HULA HOOP on Monday.

In my experience, "shade at the beach" IS RED.

Nothing DERISIVE here.

Cool regards!
JzB

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Well, the Corner Crowd had a trifecta this week with Marti, Jerome, and CC. Plus the added bonus of Don G. It doesn't get any better than that.

Great puzzle, Dynanic Duo. The theme and execution are very impressive and the fill shines. While some areas were challenging, overall, everything fell into place. Loved Got Milk?= meow and where lizards hang out= lounge. Lemony, your expo was spot-on.

Again, thanks for all of the shout outs for my niece. You are all very kind.

It's supposed to hit 92 today; no relief until Monday.

Happy Friday.

Montana said...

What a fun Friday puzzle for me. Thanks CC and Don.
I didn’t know what I didn’t know until reading your blog, Lemonade. Thanks.

I couldn’t think of APB but took a guess at APHID. Keep going with the down clues and got 27 of them! And on a Friday! (I must read the Corner every day?)
I did have red letter help on so when I put C in for dot on a map it was wrong, so typed in TOWN. I also spelled SNEAD with two Es so had to fix that. Technically a DNF but I never had to run the alphabet—only a letter here and there that I needed to redo.

I was good with a hula hoop in my youth. Tried it with my grandkids a couple summers ago—not good at all anymore. None of them are as good as I was! I had ACID and started with the scientific name for LSD. I had CHINA & ARBOR already there, so needed to change it. My 7th graders had to learn RIBONUCLEIC ACID before they could abbreviate to RNA. I got the theme at _CANON_ but I have never heard of LEICA, but got it with perps.

My husband tossed a coin over his shoulder into TREVI fountain in 1953. In 2003 he took me there. He said he really didn’t believe the legend the first time, but it ended up being true for him. I absolutely did not get Viking landing site was MARS; I filled it in with perps and still though it must be some Norse word for land or beach or something. DUH!! When I read it written horizontally, Lemon, it sunk in. I really felt dumb.

Off to walk a mile in the lovely rain,

Montana

CrossEyedDave said...

I thought I had finally completed one of the harder dynamic duo puzzles, but reading the Blog reveals I picked instead of perked. (which reminds me, my coffee machine broke, & I have to buy a new one, or buy 2 different specialty screwdrivers to take the dang thing apart! Why do they do that! I can see special lugs on tires to prevent theft, but special screws on coffee machines? Damn!)

Oh, sorry, that rant just slipped out...

Uh, where was I? Oh yes, I do not remember putting armada in the puzzle. I know I had "alco" instead of arco, & no "R" in randi. I must go dig the puzzle out of the recycle bin to see what on earth I put instead of "stirs."

Oreo b/4 Amos, & I thought that dot on a map was a "city" at first. But I am glad I am not the only one who put "elbow" before "hinge."

Hmm, I think I know why elbow came to mind before hinge...

Anonymous said...

fun fact: The Arkansas river starts in Colorado but ends in Arkansas at the Mississippi- 6th largest river in the US. The people in Arkansas prounounce it like their state, but the people in Kansas and Colorado prounounce it like - "Are- Kan'sas" the last part of it like the state of Kansas. I wonder how people in Oklahoma say it where the river also traverses....

Sfingi said...

Gooogly.

Had Oreo before AMOS.
Strange collection of goegraphies: Arkansas River, Nepal, Sacramento.
and young women I don't know: RANDI, LIZ.

I always like the duplicated clues: Star Wars Title and Shade on the Beach - 2 this time.

Anon 1131 Now. how would you know this?

Misty said...

Wow! Two Dynamic Duos in one week--it doesn't get any better than this! And on a Friday yet! Yay!

On top of all that I came THIS close to getting five in a row this week, plus a Diabolical Sudoku, this morning. But hit a Natick only with RANDI and LAN. Still this was too much fun to complain. The fun began when I got HULA HOOP right off the bat. Do I know my Chipmunks, or what? Then I hit a real snag when I put EBOLA for the virus instead of EMAIL. I think that was a case of repression because I worry much more about EMAIL viruses than EBOLA ones.

Couldn't believe the grid spanner was RIBONUCLEICACID! Wish my biochemist husband would have done this puzzle. He would have loved that!

Gorgeous photo of the TREVI fountain, Lemonade, many thanks.

Have a great Friday, everybody!

61Rampy said...

I swept through the top of today's puzzle at Monday speed, slowed down only by misreading 1A as Manhunt ORG. PLUTO and HULAHOOP were my first fill-ins. Had a bit of trouble with TEETHE, as I too thought of ISLE. Things began to get SPOTTY after that, filling in bits and pieces, but it eventually all came together. Did not see the theme right away, but after getting HIDDEN CAMERA, I was able to add CANON to 31A. After that, the rest was pretty easy.
I may have to try CED's method of reading the Captcha!

River Doc said...

Happy Friday everyone!

Done in today by Eureka CA. Still an enjoyable ride tho....

Hands up for CITY. Also had HYDROGEN instead of NITROGEN. Upon further reflection, that would make for some pretty lousy air, now wouldn't it....

And while we're at it, I entered TIBET and then INDIA instead of CHINA, which is why the West did me in.....

However, some strange reason HULA HOOP and LOUNGE filled right away....

Are we going to have a Silkie mañana...?

Lucina said...

Hello, Lemonade, and all.

Freaky Friday! This was no sashay down the lane although the east end did fill nicely and quickly without a BATTLE. I liked TAN and BRONZE as twin clues.

The bottom filled like the ARKANSAS River, which I have heard pronounced both ways. My cousins in Kansas say it like the state.

Every cell in the West was hard fought until the light dawned at MARS not OSLO and BULGE helped IT GROWS ON YOU.

Hand up for TIBET then CHINA, very SHREWD cluing for TOWN. I had ISLE, too.

And like Hondo, I PICKED up not PERKED and never looked back. Drat!

Thank you, C.C. and Don and Lemonade, too.

Have yourselves a fabulous Friday! I have to replace my garbage disposal today, that is, my son-in-law will do it.

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, C.C. And Don G., for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for the great review.

Sitting in Buffalo and just finished the puzzle. Enjoyable.

Got the theme HIDDEN CAMERA before any of the theme answers. Got them all. The RNA one was last. I was trying to get the DNA version but saw the light.

Had MOUTHE first for 27A. TEETHE appeared after some thought.

Had SHADE for 33D. That whole area was messed up. TEETHE came into mind and worked.

LOUNGE lizard was easy.

Had TIBET for Nepal neighbor for a bit. That whole area was messed up. Finally tried CHINA.

Did not know the East IS RED, but wagged it. Made sense. Now the East is green. Green with our money.

Liked MARS for the Viking landing place. Clever and difficult.

Fun Friday. See you tomorrow in Pennsylvania.

Abejo

(edoveme)



Abejo said...

I meant ARBOR not TEETHE. Oops.

Abejo

Ol' Man Keith said...

The toughest of all for me was EDE. Duh. I could not for the life of me see that it turned the clue word, "stamp," into StampEDE -- until, of course, it did.

PERKED bothered me too, until I could see it as a form of "lifted"--as in lifting one's spirits. These seemingly easy fills gave me the hardest time. Funny how that happens.

Kf

Pookie said...

Thank you C.C. and Don.Almost gave up. WEES about Isle, PicKED Makes me mad that I had ROE from the start.
Thout CAMERA would be in anagrams in the answers. Then thought SONY would be there in all.
Cannot believe you two got the complete spelling of RNA in an answer. Yikes!
Great fun. Thanks, Lemony!

Irish Miss said...

Doha Doc @ 12:35 - We must be on the same wave length as I predicted to my sister, a fellow cw fan, just last night, that I thought we were due for a Silkie Saturday.

We haven't heard from Hatoolah, Avg. Joe, or Anony- mouse in ages. I hope they are just busy and not having any problems.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Oh, and this is the first time, I believe, that I have ever known what RNA stands for. The moment I had reached as far as RIBON, I knew it would be trouble, as that's no way to spell "Ribbon." Finally, I got it, and thanks to today's puzzle, will never forget RIBONUCLEIC ACID.

Jayce said...

Very cool puzzle today. Liked it a lot. Some terrific words! Damn clever cluing. Laughed out loud at LOUNGE lizard and MEOW. Wanted TIBET for a long time, but at least I figured "dot on a map" was going to be either city or town, although I also thought of isle.

My almost-Natick was having two unknown proper names, RANDI and SNEAD, side by side, although after I got a few letters I was able to finally get SNEAD, which made sense after I figured it out.

This is exactly the kind of puzzle I like: seemingly daunting at first, yet ultimately solvable without having to look anything up, with plenty of 5-or-more-letter words and phrases, clever, funny, misleading clues, and a fun theme.

Miss Beckley said...

I have rafted under the Royal Gorge bridge five times. The last time I did it was the first time for our guide, it had rained the night before so the Arkansas river was pretty high, and we figured we would, if graded, receive an A Plus. So I figured I'd never have to do it again, because it's pretty scary at times. I thought at first the link was going to be something about Christos covering the river with fabric, which he finally got permission to do from the locals. They fought against it like crazy, which is strange because the area really could use the money it's going to bring in.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! When I saw Don & C.C. were the constructors, I was expecting hard. I struggled a bit, but got 'er done. Great puzzle! I got the hidden camera theme but took me awhile to accept that SONY has a camera. I,too, was looking for my Nikon.

Great expo, Lemonade. EDE licked me until Lemon 'splained.

EGO: my least favorite athlete is Kobe Bryant who is not a team player, but a grandstander.

Rainbow pride/Brite/ oh, TROUT!

Wanted Bhutan, but didn't fit as well as CHINA which gave me IS RED.

I thought we were trying for LSD instead of RNA, but perps disabused me of that.

Sleepless night with a big roaring hail storm which left the ground covered with marble-to golf ball-sized ice! Beat a lot of leaves off the trees and my rose bushes were beaten down but not broken. Not much wind in the storm, thank heavens. Two big heavy rain/thunderstorms went through. This is getting to be a nightly occurrence. I was glad the tender little plants I purchased this week were still on my porch and not in the ground.

Jerome said...

It is said the bravest human ever was the first one to eat an oyster. I believe the bravest constructor's ever put RIBONUCLEIC ACID in a themed 15x, weekday puzzle and didn't worry about the editor wondering if they were crazy.

Five stars!

Lemonade714 said...

Jerome, your comment about RNA is interesting, as Gareth at the Fiend thought the set up was like a themeless.

The last time I mentioned we were having a Silkie Saturday I got yelled at severely.

Vidwan827 said...

Lemonade, I am in another place and another time zone, totally disoriented - maybe in another time warp, for all I care - but I could not let a 'Friday Blog', pass, if possible, without saying Hi to you.

Your commentary was excellent and superbly witty, as always.

Best wishes to all of you.
















































Spitzboov said...

vidwan @ 1611 - Your note has a huge imbedded picture of a Polar Bear in a Snowstorm. Did you mean to include it?

Jerome said...

sLemonade- Not sure what Gareth was alluding to other than it has a low word count... 72, and a lot of wide open space for a LAT weekday puzzle. Those six letter stacks in the NE, SW corners and the eight letter stacks in the NW and SE corners create a grid that's tough to fill. It seems to me, and I could certainly be wrong, that Rich has amped up the difficulty level of Friday, Saturday puzzles. I hope this is true.

Qli said...

A DNF for me, but after the reveal, I got a big kick out of this puzzle. Thanks, Dynamic Duo and Lemony.

WEES about city before TOWN and elbow before HINGE, Oreo before AMOS.

Husker, did you ever tell what TV series had that episode about a hula hoop and a curmudgeon?

Lucina said...

Would that be Barney the purple dinosaur?

Husker Gary said...

Qli, no I did not mention that show. It was M*A*S*H and here is the synopsis:

“A fourth running joke is Klinger's get rich-quick schemes: only one (11.5) has a real chance to succeed, when Klinger tries to have Major Winchester invest in a hula hoop prototype; unfortunately for Klinger, Winchester's ego ruins any chance of success. Quote Major Winchester, "My God, Klinger! You've invented the circle!"

At the end of the episode Charles unwittingly picks up a lid and throws it like a perfect Frisbee and the screen freezes just before the closing credits. Oh for two!

Manac said...

That would be Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester on MASH who refused Klinger's offer.

Loved the puzzle!

Guess I picked the wrong weekend to split and stack about 4 cord of wood.

Bill G. said...

Thanks to all. It was a very enjoyable puzzle that was hard for me. I have nothing new to add since it's even later in the day than usual.

I spent most of the morning shuttling Barbara to her doctor's office for the first after-surgery visit. I liked him and he was pleased with her progress. Apparently, there's no reason she can't start showering and driving now. Stairs are still hard but doable.

I haven't had any shad roe in years. I miss it. I think I will try to substitute a hunk of scrapple on my next trip to the market.

Anonymous said...

Comments here always leave me shaking my head. You old teachers are always chiming in about 'kids these days' and how their grammar is not Awesome.

My question today is; how does anyone graduate from high school and not know what ribonucleic acid is? Dangling on purpose... how about deoxy? ...nevermind.

Why does that make a constructor, let alone an editor brave?

Would fill like "ONOMATOPOEIA" freak you out also?

Jeeeeez! Jerome...

Btw, I am impressed by EVERY puzzle published. I just don't patronizingly gush about it.

TTP said...

Thank you Don and CC, and thank you Lemonade.

Worked on this gem for about 30 minutes this morning before leaving for my annual physical. EKG looks like a copy from two years ago. That is a good thing. Still prescribed a stress test. Hah ! Told him that it seems I have a stress test at work every day. Oh, the other kind.

Came home and had a message on the recorder. Our tenant couldn't find the garage door opener to the condo, and felt someone may have taken it. Quick trip to the hardware store to get another, then 30 minutes to delete the old codes and reprogram the new one and also recode the wireless keypad outside the garage door. If someone did purloin the opener, it won't work now. All parties are now relieved.

Finally was able to get back to the puzzle after deciding to take the day off. Was confident that I could get this one without aid, but it didn't work out that way. In retrospect, I should have just started over with a clean slate. I couldn't make sense of so many fills, and changed the game to regular.

Love handle was not belly. Don't know what I was thinking there. IMHO was not FWIW. Shade at the beach was not spf. Place out of the sun was not shade. Swinging joint was not elbow. Cookie name was not oreo. Legal doc was not writ. Mont Blanc was not MTN (duh).

Removing all the wrong answers helped tremendously. As I found better fill, it came together slowly but surely.

Until I visit Pueblo, I shall forever associate it with the old PSAs for free information Consumer Information Catalog, 1981

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 6:56

You are correct. Its just silly!

GarlicGal said...

RIBONUCLEIC ACID!! I spent 20 min. alone trying to make it FIBONACCI SPIRAL! I wasn't going to be fooled... (The East Is Fed?) Once again, too smart (HA!) for my own good.

CC and Don G. nice work. This was a puzzle I had to leave unfinished and come back to after work. Diabolical but totally enjoyable in my opinion.

TGIF!

Jazzbumpa said...

Yes, it really is awful, the way regular commenters here show appreciation for what the constructors accomplish, especially when it is something not only technically strong, unusual, and original, but also remarkable.

C'mon you Corner denizens - what are you thinking?

Cheers!
JzB

Manac said...

JzB

Well Said!

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Late to the party again. I had the pleasure of working on this gem with a younger friend who is new to crosswords. Thanks DGCC for giving us a good workout.

Loved seeing Leica buried in ribonucleic acid. Brilliant! And a convenient grid spanner at that!

It seems I'm being pressed to appear in court as an expert witness in an aviation matter...I'm not altogether thrilled about it because he case is to be heard in Manhattan in midsummer. On the other hand, I would find myself conveniently near those lovely Reuben sandwiches at Katz's. mmmmmm

Cheers all

Anonymous said...

PK: Better have your roof checked...hail can do much damage...and if the roof starts to leak...more INSIDE damage!

Husker Gary said...

Manac, how did Nicole's visit with the coach go?

Manac said...

HG, You remembered that!
It went surprisingly well.
The coach was very personable.
We chatted the entire game and Nicole got a RBI and a double.

Tomorrow is a playoff game. Damn its gonna be hot!

Beats stacking wood I guess...

PK said...

After my last fiasco with roof replacement, I'm not eager to do that again. I put on heavy duty shingles and they look okay to me, but who knows.

My daughter is in Florida. I went over to see about her 2 yr. old car in the driveway. It has about a dozen nice little dimples on the hood & top, but the glass is intact.

I've been watching the reports of tornados around Oklahoma City tonight and have emailed my AF son
to let me know if they are okay. Haven't heard back, but who knows whether they have electricity or communications towers in that mess. They are north of OKC... They have a nice underground shelter if they get to it in time.

I heard that the TV storm chasers near OKC got their vehicle flipped and the airbags deployed but no serious injuries. It's a wonder none of these chasers have been killed. I'd rather not know some of the things they risk their lives to show us.

PK said...

I had an email from my son as soon as I got off the blog. They are okay. One's children never get too old or far away for a mom to quit worrying.

Kalendi said...

I have a question for the regulars out there. I know what DNF is, but what is WEES and Natick
Thanks

Earlier anon said...

i had to reset the captcha five times to dechipher it!

anyway, i forgot what i was so upset about...

Irish Miss said...

PK - So happy to hear that your son and family are okay. I thought of them as soon as I put the news on. I hope the loss of life is minimal; so far, I have heard of two, a mother and young child. Tragic.

Bill G. said...

Manac, I'm glad it went so well. You were going to try to find me a photo...

Kalendi, WEES is What Everybody Else Said. A Natick is more complicated but it boils down to a junction where the across and down words are both too difficult or arcane.

Dudley said...

Kalendi - to add to Bill G's reply, you may have seen a similar shortcut: WBS. It means What Barry Said. It's handy for those frequent times when Barry G, one of the early-in-the-day posters, has worded a very similar solving experience.

Bill G. said...

I will know I've reached the promised land when I finally see WBGS...!

I kinda like Chicago Fire but there are too many characters and plot lines to suit me. It's hard for me to follow everything and everyone.

Our daughter picked up some take-out chile rellenos.