google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, May 16, 2013 Jeffrey Wechsler

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May 16, 2013

Thursday, May 16, 2013 Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: "I WANT CANDY" 1:49

18-Across. Where Cal Ripken's consecutive game record was set : CAMDEN YARDS. I just linked this stadium a couple weeks ago. And I actually remembered it!

24-Across. Color named for a bird : CANARY YELLOW. My favorite.

40-Across. "Calm down!" : CONTROL YOURSELF. Straight from the Dalai Lama's mouth.

50-Across. Taxing period, usually : CALENDAR YEAR. Some years are more taxing than others...

62-Across. Immature 20-something, say : CALLOW YOUTH.

"Youth is wasted on the young." 
George Bernard Shaw.

And if you didn't get the theme by now, there is a reveal to help:
69-Across. Sweet, or, read another way, a hint to five long puzzle answers : CANDY, or "C" AND "Y". Each phrase consists of two words, beginning with those two letters.

Marti here. Pretty straightforward theme, and some interesting fill made this an enjoyable puzzle for me. Let's see why.

Across:

1. Big head : EGO.

4. Fancy dance : BALL.

8. Bad hair day feature : FRIZZ. Like this?

13. Hauler's unit : TON. I'll have sixteen of those, please. 2:33

14. Beatnik's dough : BREAD. Does the dough have to be cooked before it becomes bread?

16. French name meaning "born again" : RENEE. We often see "nee" in x-words, but I never connected the name RE-NEE to being born again. Cool!

17. Day off from sch. : HOL.iday.

20. Brief mea culpa : I DID. (it?)

22. Candidate list : BALLOT.

23. Repair quote: Abbr. : EST.imate.

27. Showy lily : SEGO. I thought of fermatprime with her blue calla lily.

28. "Godmother of Punk" Smith : PATTI. Doesn't sound very "punk" to me. 3:38.

32. Back in time : AGO. Disco Ago-go?

33. Bitter : ACIDIC. Like LSD?

39. Ray or Flay : CHEF. Two of my favorites on The Food Network. Rachael Ray and Bobby Flay.

43. Ristorante menu word : ALLA. I like to BBQ alla Flay.

44. Pitch add-on : BLENDE. Pitchblende, source of Uranium.

45. ___ Khan: Rita Hayworth's husband : ALY.

46. Peaceful scene : IDYLL.

48. Newspaper section : ARTS.

57. Scary snake : ASP.

60. Copy room supplies : TONERS.

61. Plucked strings, in Padua : ARPA. You are probably familiar with this.

65. Vampire's alter ego : BAT. "Die Fliedermaus" ("The BAT") is one of my favorite operettas by Strauss.

66. Sap : DRAIN.  I was going in the other direction: Patsy? Chump?

67. Actress Dickinson : ANGIE. She was a big hit with the guys in the 70's. I wonder why?


68. Profitable rock : ORE. Like pitchBLENDE.

70. Hyphenated IDs : SSNsSoc-ial Sec-ur-i-ty Num-bers.

71. Cadillac luxury sedan : XTS. "Car and Driver" review.

Down:

1. Personal creed : ETHIC.

2. Reliable : GOOD AS GOLD. and 31-Down. Not reliable : IFFY.

3. Like many magazines, nowadays : ONLINE ONLY.

4. "East Enders" airer : BBCBritish Broadcasting Corp., or "The Beeb," as we have come to know and love in xword puzzles.

5. Sheikdom in a jazz standard : ARABYFats Waller did it as good as anyone. 3:08

6. WWII Air Force general Curtis ___ : LEMAY.

7. Minestrone server : LADLE. Anyone else want Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi"?

8. Grill on a stove : FRY TOP.

9. Blues-rocker Chris : REA. Lots of music today!

10. Brief words? : IN RE. Legal brief, that is.

11. Heart of a London puzzle? : ZEDS.  In the US, we call them "zees."  Do Brits "catch some zeds" when they need a nap?

12. Joie de vivre : ZEST.

15. Wooded valley : DELL.

19. Lon of Cambodia : NOL. Marshal Lon Nol led the coup against Sihanouk in 1970.

21. NYC's ___ Hammarskjöld Plaza : DAG.

25. Guffaw : ROAR. I love to guffaw - it's good for what ails you!

26. "My best soldiers": MacArthur : WACSWomen's Army Corps.

29. Loge : THEATER BOX.

30. Knows the difference between : TELLS APART.

32. Beneficial berry : ACAI.

34. Picnic discard : COB.

35. Peaked : ILL. Do you pronounce it peekt or pee-kid?

36. Turn blue, perhaps : DYE. If you are really peaked.

37. Physicist's particle : ION.

38. Chewed-over material : CUD.

41. Soapstone, mostly : TALC.

42. Place for stragglers : REAR.

47. Rte. for many a red-eye : L.A. - TO - N.Y. Anyone have a hard time figuring out what a "LATONY" was? (From C.C.: Thanks, Marti, I googled LATONY afterwards and could not make any sense of it!)

49. Handwoven rug : RYA.

51. Vile : LOW.

52. Former member of the Irish band Clannad : ENYA. Another song for today.

53. Old Dodge compacts : NEONS.

54. What dispensaries dispense : DRUGS.

55. Sean who played a hobbit : ASTIN. He played Frodo's friend Samwise Gamgee.

56. Has status : RATES.

57. ELO relative? : AC-DC. Cute comparison! You get your pick of songs here: Electric Light Orchestra 4:21 or AC-DC. 4:15

58. Paretsky who writes V.I. Warshawski detective novels : SARA. Detective novels are not on my reading list, so this was all perps.

59. Think ahead : PLAN.

63. Trunk cover : LID.

64. Blokes : HES. I didn't even see this entry as I was solving...and that's a good thing.

That's all for now. See you next week!

Hugs,
Marti

Note from C.C.:

Happy 92nd birthday to Jazzbumpa's amazing mother! Jazzbumpa (Ron) took this photo last Sunday. I hope you have a wonderful celebration today!

Mother's Day, 2013

This is another great picture from her birthday last year. Click here to read Ron's musing.

85 comments:

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

No speed bumps today, though I did pause a while before filling in Callow Youth 'cause I wasn't sure I had the phrase right. Rya was a complete mystery, had to wait for perps there. Morning Marti, and thanks!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Running late due to computer issues. LATONY? HES? BLENDE? XTS? UGH!

thehondohurricane said...


Howdy,

Until I read Marti's write up, I was positive I had several mistakes. I darn near fell over upon discovering I had nailed it. I picked up the theme early on so those answers were not my problem today, it was all the three and four letter words.

34D thru 38D all were slow in arriving. I thought peaked/ILL was particularly nasty. ELO/ACDC?? Hell, I thought ELO was some kind of rock group.

LATONY brought back memories of many LA to Hartford trips, arriving at 10:30Am and heading to the office with a terrific temperament. My "crew" was not exactly overjoyed by my arrival. The next days coffee break goodies were always my treat.

Have a good day.







TTP said...

Good morning all !

Thank you Jeffrey and thank you Marti !

Very enjoyable, but tough for me in a few areas. Had all but 13 letters at 25 minutes, and finally finished in 5 minutes more than the number of holes Husker Gary played yesterday.

Perhaps the NE corner clues and answers was intended for another continent ? 2 French, 2 English and a Latin thrown in for good measure. Finally got FRY which led to FRIZZ and she finally fell. Whew !

Had a wayland at intersection of Parestky and Sap, but walked the alphabet to get the R. Then palm to the forehead.

Ditto at the intersecting A in RYA and ARPA, but thought I remembered RYA from an earlier puzzle. We have a friend that is a professional musician and has 3 or 4 of those ARPAs. She's very good.

Did you know that before the internet there was the ARPANET ?

ZEDS in Canada too, EH CANADIAN ?

Almost forgot to mention that it looks like someone is playing with a Tesla coil.

Have a good day all !

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I struggled with New England, mainly because I was sure ELAN was correct. Nope, ZEST. CAMDEN FIELD? Nope, YARDS.

For persons of a "certain age" DAG is probably the only UN Secretary General they can name. That would be about my age.

Marti, I enjoyed the Fats Waller, but for me, that song will always remind me of Rudy Vallee.

Anonymous said...

What happened to Hatoolah?

Spitzboov said...

Good morning all.

Nice pix of JzB's Mom.

Had to look up 58d, SARA, but I got everything else. Never did fully suss the theme until reading Marti's intro. D'uh. PitchBLENDE helped save the center. Liked reliable GOOD AS GOLD and not reliable IFFY. Did not know MacArthur said that about WACS, but it is something he would say. Had 'rig' before TON .
I don't subscribe to ON LINE ONLY magazines; too hard to take to the bathroom.

Have a good day.

Husker Gary said...

I play golf with someone who told me he does the LA Times puzzle only on M – W and this challenging puzzle is Exhibit A. What a nice exercise Jeff and expo, Marti!

Musings
-Woody Allen’s quote “Showing up is 80% of success” certainly applies to Cal
-Colleague Jacquie Frisbie was “Da FRIZZ”
-As I said earlier this week, a load on a truck can also be a JAG
-Oh, RENEE. Now I get it
-When pols are on the BALLOT they are going to change everything. Taint easy McGee.
-Middle school kids love ACIDIC (citric acid) candy
-The 104°F heat and strong winds here Tuesday could SAP anyone
-What is it about beautiful women holding a gun? Dr. Freud?
-We request seats in the LOGE to get off the floor
-Wanna see joie de vivre? Visit a first grade room.
-My wife and her twin are easy to TELL APART. Aren’t they?
-“We don’t PLAN to fail, we…”
-Mom wears 92 very well, Jazz!

HeartRx said...

d-otto, I have to agree with you about the UN Secretary Generals. I remember DAG and maybe Boutros Boutros-Ghali (sp?)...oh, and U Thant. But that's about it.

TTP, I think I have used RYA in one of my puzzles. I used to have a rya rug in my dining room. They were originally meant as bed covers in Scandinavia, because the thick pile had excellent insulating qualities. Nowadays, they are usually quite colorful as you can see in
this link.

HeartRx said...

Jazz, you mom looks so sparkly - now I know where you get your wit and humor!!

Husker Gary said...

p.s.
-I was going to pose the very easy question - What fabulous song contains the word CALLOW? Answer (3:24) here sung by Lenny Briscoe and not Ed Ames.
-However, in my search for other songs, I found PATTI Smith (4:37) used it in this song (@ 2:30) full of other interesting lyrics as well

LaLaLinda said...

Hi Everyone ~~

I loved this puzzle! I caught on to the C - Y theme early but had no idea of the "candy connection" until reaching the clue at 69A - clever!

No real problems, although after reading Marti's write-up, I realized that several things filled in, luckily, because I wouldn't have known them: LEMAY, NOL and ARPA. I didn't realize that ARPA was a harp and was thinking that the plucking was being done on a violin. Duh. Thanks for that info, Marti and the interesting tidbit on RENEE. I really enjoyed your write-up!

At 35D - Peaked, I was thinking of the "reaching the top" meaning not the ILL that was needed. So I was pronouncing it 'peekt' and it should have been 'pee-kid.'

Great photos of your mom, JzB ~ she looks so beautiful and happy!

CrossEyedDave said...

I got the theme, but I still have a couple of holes in the fill that I am not ready to give up on yet, so I have not read the Blog yet.

Montana sent me an Email which I think is very educational, & therefore belongs on Blog! Musical Leaf. I am so intrigued that I am going to give it a try.

& since I do not want to waste any lines in 1 of my 5 posts (max), here are some unrelated clips:

Joyfull Elk. (no sound)

& a musical interlude while you go find a leaf to blow...

desper-otto said...

LaLaLinda, I agree with you 100% as to when it's peekt and when it's peekid.

Husker, I knew the song immediately without looking at your answer. BTW, how hard was it repairing those 45 holes yesterday? ;)

TTP, did you mean Van de Graaff generator rather than Tesla coil?

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Well into the day already. Next stop, T-town to see my mom. Later and closer to home, my grandsons' band concert.

I'll try to find some time for the puzzle.

I'm blessed to have my mom still around. Just heard an interview on BBC radio with a British guy who still runs his family business at age 94. Every year he takes a trip to New Zealand, for hiking and hill climbing.

Yikes!

Cool regards!
JzB

kazie said...

Despite knowing none of the names, nor RYA and FRYTOP--both unheard ofs, I got most of this after a slow start. I had DALE/DELL, but guessed POL/NOL, got the FRY TOP, so had CA-DAPYARDS.

I began with CREDO/ETHIC, CEO/EGO, and RUN/TON, so the NW was much harder for me than the NE. I thought ZEDS for heart of puzzle was tricky, but I had it fairly easily.

Never got the theme though.

Jazz,
Great looking lady, your Mom!

Husker Gary said...

-Otto, were we ever “tender and CALLOW fellows?”
-PATTI’s use of that word was in a song that was definitely sans joie de vivre.
-It was a beautiful day, I had a cart and good company and was all caught up on my chores. I am about 20 rounds behind where I was last year.
-Only 18 today
-The hair-raiser in my classroom was a Van de Graff but we had a Tesla Coil that threw a heck of a spark!
-I remember the same Secretary Generals, Marti. I wonder how many parking tickets he had torn up.
-FORE!

Dennis said...

Good morning, gang - definitely a fun puzzle today with a decent amount of challenges. I thought LA TO NY was absolutely brilliant, and caused me no end of confusion. Had some unknowns as well; didn't know SARA Paretsky or Sean ASTIN.

Got a kick out of seeing LEMAY; anybody else remember "Bombs Away with Curtis LeMay? He was a bit, shall we say, aggressive. And I enjoyed seeing AC/DC and Enya, two of my favorites, albeit at opposite extremes.

Marti, a most enjoyable and education write-up, as always.

I somehow got talked into going along on a ten-day road trip next month with my wife, who has to visit Toronto, Minneapolis and Denver in that period. Any suggestions on things to do in those cities would be much appreciated -- I've never been to any of them.

Have a great day -- almost weekend.

TTP said...

Marti, Thank you again. Very helpful.

I intended to look up RYA images but forgot while looking up FRYTOP and FRYTOP images.

I now interpret the grill part of the clue as a noun rather that a verb, but have never heard the term FRYTOP before. I thought it was called a griddle. No holes or slots, versus Grill having holes or slots or raised ridges to let the liquids or grease flow or air to circulate. I know I can make pancakes on a griddle, but don't think I could make them on a grill. We use an Emeril or Rachael Ray cast iron reversible grill/griddle combo.

Manac, I read your post from last night. Good thing YR posted that Jedi link or I wouldn't get the darkside comment. First thought Darkside by Eddie and the Cruisers, then Dark Side of the Moon, then 'oh yea, Jedi, Star Wars stuff'. BTW I don't mean to be rude by not responding. More often than not, I'm sleeping by 8:30 or 9.

Desper-otto, yes sir, you are correct. I was thinking of Van de Graaff and wrote Tesla Coil. That could be considered a hair-raising or shocking mistake to make.

Husker Gary, 18 are often enough for me anymore. Used to do 36 regularly. As long as we didn't get bogged down by slow moving vehicles in front of us.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Had a few rough spots but perps and WAGs saved the day. Didn't make the C and Y connection until reading Marti's excellent expo. Nice Thursday offering, Jeffrey.

Lovely picture of your Mom, Jazz; you have much to be thankful for, as you so acknowledge in your haikus.

Have a terrific Thursday.

Anonymous said...

In 33 across, why is ACIDIC clued as bitter? In my mind, acidic should be sour.

Irish Miss said...

BTW, for the first time ever, my previous captcha was an actual word - "hungers"! This time, it' "elwork".

Vidwan827 said...

Thank you Marti, for an excellent review and many songs and tunes. I could not complete the puzzle.

I always thought of 'acidic' as not bitter, but rather assumed it to be tart or sour. I was looking for 'acerbic', perhaps. BTW, 'acerbic' also means bitter OR sour.

I also learnt that peaked (peek-ed ? ) means gaunt or ill. Who knew ? Does that pea-ked rhyme with wicked ?

Not familiar with 'Rya' rugs - that 3 letter answer was most confounding. I assumed most rugs were hand-woven, is it not ? Unfortunately, silk rugs from Iran, India, Pakistan etc. - especially those of the highest quality, need a large number of multiple small knots - which mean deft and 'little' fingers - which inevitably leads to the sinister exploitation of child labor. By the time the child is about 14 years old, his or her fingers are too 'big' to be useful. Very sad.

C.E.D. - thanks for the leaf flute recital link. I was very impressed by the chinese man's virtuosity - but I was even more impressed by his genuine simple modesty. That is a very cultural attitude and can only be acquired at a young age.

Have a nice day, you all.

Vidwan827 said...

Dag Hammarskjold was the only Nobel Peace prize winner who was invested with the medal posthumously. No Nobel prizes are ever awarded to dead people, notably as, perhaps, in the case of, Gandhi. Dag's name had been previously announced, but he died in a plane crash before the actual ceremony - so his widow claimed it, for him, in his name.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeff Weschler, for a swell puzzle. Thank you, Marti, for the swell review.

I liked this puzzle for the most part. My greatest triumph was getting RENEE with no help or perps. I knew NEE from reading many Obits and RE seemed logical. RENEE. I am so proud of myself. However, ZEST came with only four perps.

Of course I wrote in DARTS for 53D. Fixed that to NEONS. One of my three write-overs.

Caught the theme easily. Very clever of our constructor.

Remembered LEMAY. I thought it was the Army Air Corps when he was a general. Of course I was not born then, but my dad was in the AAC. B-17 pilot.

Enjoyed Jazzbumpa's mother's photo. She looks great!

Been on a few Red-Eyes from LA to CHI. Years ago.

Much to do today. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

(udyareat)

Abejo said...

As a follow-up to DAG, I think the plane he was on was either shot down or exploded by the Russkis. That was the word on the street.

Abejo

HeartRx said...

Anon @ 9:55 and Vidwan827, I wondered about the clueing of ACIDIC as well. Bitterness and acidity are detected by entirely different mechanisms on the tongue. Acidity is detected through ion channels, while bitterness is detected using Type 2 taste receptors in the taste buds.

JJM said...

Regardless if something is too bitter or too sour, my mouth reacts the same way and pickers up and I shake my head. EZ puzzle for Thur. Love LATONY fill.. very clever.

My son's Hockey Team just won the Midwest NAPS Tournament (North American Prospects Showcase). Going to Boston in June for Eastern NAPS!

GarlicGal said...

Hands up for Dag, U Thant and Kofi Annon.

WEES. LATONY, I agree, brilliant! I did have a DNF though. I couldn't get ILL (acerbic) and BLENDE. Tsk. Tsk.

Jazz, your Mom looks a little impish. And I mean that in a good way! The sparkle in her eyes, can't be denied.

Off to have lunch with some old high school friends. Enjoy your Thursday, everyone!

Lemonade714 said...

Late to the party again; a fun Jerry W. puzzle and as always a marti masterpiece. LA TO NY was evil, and I was accused of being a Callow Youth when it was probably true.

Yes, Hahtoolah, you have been inexplicably inconsistent, and how can we move on without knowing our quote of the day?

HG, I can tell them apart but why are they supporting the Florida Gators at a Nebraska game?

Dennis, my son lives in Denver and one of his jobs is at HOPS & PIE, which will be featured this month on an episode of Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. I think it is last episode of the month. Anyway, if you like beer they have a ton of choices and the food is quite yummy. Just ask for Devin, he will take special care of you and the Mrs. Dennis. He probably knows many other places as well.
.

Lemonade714 said...

JzB, it is wonderful to see your mother and the joy you share.

HeartRx said...

JJM, congrats to your son's team! Where will they be playing in Boston?

CED @ 9:00, I forgot to mention how much I enjoyed that musical leaf clip. I listened to the whole thing and was amazed at the sounds he made from such a simple instrument. Then I had to look at the video that shows how to do it. Now I am intrigued, and will have to go find myself a leaf to play, too!

chin said...

As for zed, as far as I know, the USA is the only English-speaking country in the world that uses zee. Radio amateurs, even in this country, always use zed.

Misty said...

My first DNF after a great puzzle-solving week. But I don't care, the theme was so cute and I got it early. So many thanks, Jeff. And you too, Marti, for the fun write-up.

It was the middle that did me in. Didn't remember ACAI and so had the "Calm down" answer start with DON'T rather than CONT... That of course messed everything up. I agree with Hondo that PEAKED/ILL was nasty. And I kept thinking that PITCH had to refer to either baseball or advertising, so of course I didn't get BLENDE. And like others, the cross of RYA and ARPA totally eluded me.

But as I said, it was still a lot of fun. And I loved seeing the sparkly photo of JazzB's mom.

We have a new substitute caregiver arriving while I'm off teaching my class on Djuna Barnes at the Senior Center. Am hoping all will be okay when I get back.

Have a great Thursday, everybody!

Lucina said...

Hello, puzzlers with ZEDS!

I loved this puzzle and found most of it smooth sailing as I sashayed around until the SW and NE corners stumped me. ELAN was firmly set and I couldn't give it up until finally I erased the whole corner and started over when the light turned on at ZEDS! Then it all fell together. Ironically, RENEE was my first fill but ceded it to ELAN and then ZEST made more sense.

In the SW I tried ABBA first but when CALLOW YOUTH became apparent so did ACDC and LATONY made me chuckle.

Great work, Jeffrey Wchsler and equally great commentary, Marti, thank you both.

Jazzbumpa:
Your mother looks beautiful and in good spirits. You are lucky to still have her.

I truly hope you are enjoying a fantastic Thursday, everyone!

kazie said...

Dennis,
In Minneapolis you should definitely look up C.C., visit the Guthrie Theater, have a picnic in the park at Minnehaha Falls, stay away from Mall of America, walk around the St. Paul downtown and visit the Capitol building, walk across the Stone Arch Bridge (near the Guthrie Theater), walk around the Sculpture Gardens at the Walker Art Center, view the historic homes and the Cathedral in St Paul. Easy to fill a weekend or more!

61Rampy said...

Toughie again today, but made it thru most of it except the NE. But, after I walked away from it for a while and came back, it all filled in nicely.
Renee is a beautiful name. Speaking of walking away, and Renee, This is one of my favorite songs.

Dennis said...

Lemonade, thanks for the tip -- thank God neither of us drinks beer (as my Grandma said, "If it ain't hard, it's off the card"), but if Guy's been there, the food's gotta be great.

Kaz, thank you as well, but I had to laugh at "stay away from the Mall of America" as we're both diehard shoppers. It's someplace we've wanted to see for quite some time. I'll be alone during the days, and hopefully can rent a bike to do some of the sightseeing you've recommended. I also got an email suggesting Como park zoo, and the Science Museum. All of that should be more than enough to keep me busy for a couple days. Thanks again.

JJM said...

I think the Tournament is in Marlborough,MA ??

Bill G. said...

That was a good Thursday challenge though I agree, ACIDIC is sour, not bitter. I sometimes notice that a few people seem to judge a puzzle to be 'bad' or 'ugh' if it contains some words that they are not familiar with or couldn't figure out.

==========

Here's a little game (puzzle) for you. You can start on any zero in the grid below and make four moves. If you end up on "my" location (one chance out of 16), I win; any other place (15 locations), you win. OK? (My answer is at the end of this post below.)

X O O O
O X X X
O X O O
O X X X

You can choose any zero to start. You will make four moves that might go across one character (X or O) or several. Ready?

Pick any O to start.

1) Move left or right to nearest X.
2) Move up or down to nearest O.
3) Move diagonally to nearest X.
4) Last, move down or right to the nearest O.

Barbara got some fresh cherries yesterday. I ate about eight or nine. Too many I guess. They seemed to have upset my digestive system a bit.

Answer: If you landed on any of the other 15 characters, you win. But, if you landed on the O in the third row and third column, I win!

Jayce said...

Dennis, I recommend going up the CN Tower in Toronto.

Anonymous said...

Hey Bill, don't worry about post size. I mean, heck, you ignore the 5 post limit, so why not ignore the line limit too?

Spitzboov said...

Dennis - What Jayce said about the CN Tower in Toronto. Many excellent restaurants there. International flavor. (Don't forget your passport.)

CrossEyedDave said...

OK, what held me up was I could not believe rya/arpa was correct. I found "frizz" after guessing 12D might be zest, which gave me the unheard of Frytop. (Which even the caption calls a gas griddle...)

Interesting research adventure wound up in a dead end. I was looking for a funny frytop, & one of the pics looked like a lingerie ad & mentioned "french frytop." I thought this might be an interesting tidbit for the Blog, thinking that a "French Frytop" might be a strapless bra, or a frilly elastic band on some panties. I rushed to the site to confirm my suspicions, & was terribly disappointed when this is what came up:

Frytop

Thank you Montana for the leaf blower! (I think I can do some wounded animal calls with it too!)

I do not remember who mentioned National Geographic's "Brain Games, but I have been watching it, & it is awesome! They advertised going to natgeotv.com/braingames for more fun, but I cannot get it to work. (It gives you this) Your best bet is to poke around the main site.

HeartRx said...

JJM, that would make sense - there is a huge ice skating arena in Marlborough. Their other big draw is the Solomon Pond Mall.

Bill G., I think you cheated at that game...I want to try it again! (^0^)

Bill G. said...

There is a lingerie boutique in this area called Boobology.

Marti, I enjoyed your Fats Waller link. He shows up on one of my Pandora stations.

Gary, I've seen The Fantasticks several times and I used to play Try to Remember on my guitar.

CED, I really enjoyed the leaf song. I like the musician and the choice of song.

JzB, great photos of your mom.

Q: What do you call a person without a body and with no nose?

A: Nobody knows!

Do you remember the good ol' days when pill bottles (aspirin, etc.) came with a wad of cotton stuffed into the top? But no more. Why, do you suppose, it used to be thought necessary and why did the pill makers change their minds?

desper-otto said...

CED, if you scroll down at (It gives you this) there are a couple of things to try. I think the "count the 'f's" exercise is interesting.

Those two videos at the main site -- the train of thought and the rubber hand experiment are also pretty good.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! CANDY? Hard hard CANDY! 3 minutes before I got my first fill: BALLOT. But I finally got a toehold near the bottom and finished. Thanks, Jeffrey!

Thanks for the music fest, Marti. I didn't understand ZEDS or LATONY until your interpretation. Duh!

Pookie said...

CANDY? Aaarggh! C AND Y. (grumble)
Got the puzzle with a bunch of WAGs I was going to give up, but things just came to me eventually.

JazzB, your mom looks mah-velous!
Give her all of our best for her birthday,please.

Lucina said...

Dennis:
By all means try to hook up with C.C. and Boomer. She is adorable and he is a blast.

And do take your passport for Canada. Gone are the days of easy border crossing with only a driver's license.

I guess plurals like Secretary Generals will soon replace Secretaries General if they have not already done so.

Sfingi said...

I actually used the theme to solve.

But, who the heck is L.A. TONY?

Some people taste things differently from others because taste buds aren't all as grouped as was previously thought. If I get too much salt, it tastes bitter, z.b.

Dennis said...

Jayce, Spitz, thanks for the CN Tower suggestion - that's a must-visit for sure.

Also, Spitz/Lucina, thanks for the reminder about the passport; it's usually at the top of my 'don't forget' list whenever I fly, but I frequently lose the list...

Bumppo said...

11D: ZEDS? I still don't get it. Can anyone offer an explanation?

Bill G. said...

Marti, I have gotten used to having to 'cheat' at games. When I play something with my grandson, Jordan, he sometimes gets frustrated if I win. So I have to work extra hard and 'cheat' to make sure he wins most of the time.

ZEDS is the British word for the letter Z and the heart (two center letters) of the word puzzle.

Since many of you seemed to enjoy the video yesterday of the 32 metronomes becoming synchronized, here is another amazing example of resonant refrequency run amok. It's a video of the Tacoma Narrows bridge in 1940 having a natural resonance affected by a moderate wind ending up in disaster. Galloping Gertie!

HeartRx said...

Bill G., my mother was just the opposite - she would play her hardest, at whatever game we played, so that she would win. Whenever one of us actually won a game, we knew that we had really accomplished something!

kazie said...

Dennis,
OK, hit the Mall if you must, but don't let it get in the way of some of those other things. Do it at night so you can both shop there. The Science Museum is good too--I just wasn't sure how much of a museum fiend you were. The St. Paul Cathedral only takes a few minutes to wander through, and it's really different--church in the round, reminds me of the larger one in Berlin, and it's close to many of those historic mansions too.

CrossEyedDave said...

Lemonade@11:48, your Hops & pie link contained a real earworm that I have been humming all day. I am going to add it to my repertoire (I am learning French too,,,) but I am having a little trouble with the words. B-double E double R U-N beer run ver 2 looked pretty good, but I felt the chords were wrong in the 2nd verse. So I checked the other versions, & they seem to think the words are B-double E double "are you in" beer run! What a dilemma, I am going to have to get a 6 pack & figure this out...

Oh, & Desper-otto, I cannot find "Rubber Hands", were did you see it? (it is not after the train clip.)

Bumppo said...

Actually, Kazie, ZED, not ZEDS, is the British word for zero, but: I still don't get it. Can anyone offer an EXPLANATION for 11D?

Abejo said...

Bumpo:

The center (heart) of the word puzzle are two Z's. Pronounced ZEDs in England, Canada, etc. we usually pronounce them as ZEEs.

Abejo

Java Mama said...

Hello everyone! Terrific Thursday puzzle, Jeffrey – really enjoyed it. Caught onto the C and Y theme, but didn’t realize until the reveal that it stood for CANDY. Bonus! Always look forward to your sparkly expo, Marti.

My mother frequently used PEAKED to mean “not feeling one’s best”, so that was a familiar term. Pitch-BLENDE was a total unknown. MY BAD wouldn’t fit at 20A, so had to settle for I DID. Put in LTD for the Cadillac model, then remembered the LTD was a Ford – had to wait on perps for the correct XTS. Got it done in the end, after a fitting end-of-week amount of effort.

@Sallie from yesterday – best of luck to you with your chemo treatment. JzB, lovely pics of your Mom.

Have a great evening, all!

CrossEyedDave said...

Bumppo@5:23pm

I had a hard time believing 11. Heart of a London puzzle? : ZEDS. But it is true that the British pronounce "the letter" Z as Zed, as well as zero. You cannot deny that the 2 Z's in puZZle are at the heart of the word, but when it comes to the plural,,, Hmm,,, you may be onto something here! Is the plural of Zed, Zeds? I am not so sure, based on the discussion after Tuesdays puzzle 1A "Jedis", perhaps the best plural of Zed is Zedi???

desper-otto said...

CED@4:36 -- There's a scrolling group of "featured videos" at the top of that screen. The "rubber hand experience" is next to last in the list.

TTP said...

Sfingi @ 3:41, LA TONY is possibly southern California's answer to Leisure Suit Larry.

Marti at 4:10,

I wholeheartedly agree. I think some people truly believe they are doing the right thing by swaddling their children from birth through the legally defined age of adulthood and longer I think that they are doing them a great disservice. I believe there are some children that need to be left behind, and I believe that some of the scraped knees and bruises and disappointments along the way helps a child achieve maturity earlier, and with a better sense of compassion and empathy, and much less self centered. Bambi's mother was killed. I don't think every child deserves a trophy or the same trophy. Children need to learn the concepts of winners and losers and we should provide them with the tools and thirst to forge their own roads based on their experiences and learnings.

We don't need to continue to build callow youth that lasts into some peoples 30s and 40s and for some, for their lives. We don't need any more Colorado killers like James Holmes and have countless pundits opine at how it came to be. Learning to cope with failures and disappointments and loss, especially in the formative years, helps a child far better that shielding them from every stubbed toe and hurt feeling.

On the other hand, I also recognize that there are those children that have special needs, that need special programs to help them function as best they can in a world that is so much different than what they know or comprehend, and that these children grow and age and some will possibly always need assistance.

Oh yes, and my mother trounced me in Scrabble time and time again, and I was in my late 20s before I ever beat my dad in a game of horseshoes. I learned early on to not quit trying, and that if I wanted something, I had to earn it.

I apologize for the diatribe.

Bumpo, look up up bacronymn.

Manac said...

Don't know what the fuss is over Zed?
I looked it up and came up with This
Works for me :)

kazie said...

When spelling aloud, Brits and Aussies alike will say "double zed", "double l" "double t", etc., whereas here people say zee zee etc. I've never used zed to mean nought, zero, zip or none.

HeartRx said...

Kazie, interesting about "zed." I don't use "zee" to mean zero, zilch, zip, either. Zee is zee. It is a letter at the end of the alphabet, after "y." Sometimes I will use it to say "cutting zees," as in, "taking a nap." My question in the write-up was, do you use "cutting zeds" in the same context?

Anonymous said...

Dictionary
zed (plural zeds)

1.(UK, Canada) The name of the Latin script letter Z/z.

Husker Gary said...

-Back from 18 with 10 other guys on a windy, warm day.
-Lemon, I never thought of that picture as being Gator-friendly. The girls were there to support our nephew’s team from this Omaha High School. The sisters are pretty easy to tell apart, aren’t they?
-Marti, we catch Z’s around here rather than cutting Z’s. Youse guys in the NE talk funny ;-)!
-I agree on teaching your kids that the world can be tough and even though you love them more than you can say, letting them win is not doing them a favor. When Huddie and I play golf, I play as well as I can and the day will come soon enough when he will clean my clock. If everyone were the same, we wouldn’t keep score. Too many people grow up expecting/demanding equal outcomes rather than equal opportunities.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Tough enough to be nasty.

I had to set this aside for several hours before I could finish. PITCHBLENDE is a spelling I wasn't familiar with. Not beinmg a baseball fan, I had CAMDEN DOWNS for the longest time before changing. I couldn't "get" LA TO NY -- couldn't transpose the five abbreviated words from LATONY -- until all else had failed. The theme didn't help at all. I just thought it had something to do with double-Ls.

But I'm a poster boy for perseverance.

kazie said...

Hearti,
I guess not. I just take a nap, or lie down for a while. I never heard "catching" or "cutting" in that context before I was here.

Bill G. said...

Time magazine says that teens and young adults send and receive on average of 88 texts a day. Holy crap! Have they forgotten how to talk to other people face-to-face? When do they have time for important stuff like TV and crossword puzzles?

Several of you have made some good points about letting kids win that encourages me to rethink my approach. But that approach also depends, I think, on the personality and temperament of the child. Also, I can't believe it's a good idea to compete with your kids or grandchildren and ALWAYS play your hardest even though that's what some of you implied. Imagine playing a little one-on-one BB game in your driveway or at the local park. I can't believe I or any of you would play your best and block the kid's every shot. For me, I would play basketball with Jordan with both of us just shooting and playing, not competing. When I play chess with him, I don't use every opportunity to take his queen or checkmate him and I don't believe most of you would either. So I would opt for the happy middle ground where we each have fun but he isn't being coddled. Bill Maher made a good point too when he said US students continued to be behind many other countries in math achievement, etc. but score very high in misplaced self esteem.

Manac said...

Kazie, You never heard of catch some Zee's ??
ZZZZ or
one for me or
one foe CED
And Finally
One for Spitz

fermatprime said...

Puzzle quite workable, once I abandoned ELAN. Thanks Jeffrey, Marti! Read mysteries! Saw Fantasticks!

Appreciated clip of Jerry Orbach!

Jazz: your mom looks wonderful!

Harvey was going to (finally) take (last remaining) cat to the vet today as she has terrible (rug-devastating) diarrhea. However, she did not show! He is going to Bakersfield for Masonic 5 days, but won't be around for a week. Drat.

Cheers!

Manac said...

Bill, I feel it is all age appropriate. Giving them the sense of success early on gives them the desire
to continue and strive harder. I honestly would not want to go up against these girls now in a game. I try to play catch with her now and she just jokes " Is that all you got old man?" Boy! I could learn to dislike her :)

kazie said...

Manac,
I said I'd never heard it before I came here--i.e. to the USA, 41 years ago!

Anonymous said...

BillG, that misplaced self-esteem is a direct result of rarely losing in competition.

p.s. Bill Maher talking about misplaced self-esteem? Well, he is an expert...

Bill G. said...

Manac, playing against the girls might be fun if they played slow pitch just for a lark. Otherwise, I'd be lucky to get a foul ball...

Did you try the little game (puzzle)?

Don't cha just love some anons? Experts in everything negative from behind a mask of anonymity.

Manac said...

Kazie, My apologies,
I misread your post.
Still, gave me the opportunity to
link a cat and a dog in one post. I like the dog one better though. :)

Manac said...

Bill, Even if you could get the girls to play slow-pitch... They could still beat that anony-a$$ @9:23 to a pulp!

Anonymous said...

Its sad when one has to resort to name calling and threats to make a point. Btw, Manac, what was your point?

Blue Iris said...

I am an IFFY contributor to the blog, but I learn so much here. I don't make a PLAN anymore, but just take the day as it comes.

JzB, Has anyone told your mother she is 92 yrs old? If not, don't tell her. She looks wonderful! HBD to her!

HG, you couldn't TELL my identical twin brothers APART until adulthood. Now one is a family man with a desk job. The other one is very fit with an outside manual labor job. No problem knowing who's who now. I bet people still confuse your wife and SIL when they are not together.

It's interesting how beauty standards change over the decades. I don't imagine ANGIE Dickinson could compete with Bill G's favorite Sofia Vergera or other well-toned beauties now.

I have soap stone candlestick holders and small elephant I brought back from Kenya and didn't know they were made from TALC until now.

I can't imagine a situation where this Kansan would take an LA TO NY flight. Never say never, I guess.

Blue Iris said...

Talking about coddling children... My children always tell me we raised them with "tough love" and that is a compliment. If I ever have grandchildren, God help us. I just want to love them and leave the tough part to the parents!

Bill G. said...

Blue Iris, I don't think of you as IFFY at all. When you have grandchildren, it will be a fortunate and happy circumstance for all concerned I'm sure.

I hope you take a Kansas to LA flight one of these days...

Lucina said...

BlueIris:
Did you ever see Angie Dickinson when she was young? She would go to the head of the line, beyond today's beauty queens. Angie was a knockout!!

Men, what do you think?

Anonymous said...

BillG, I have a fun math problem for you. Count to five. I know, I know, its tough. Try and try again.