google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, May 1 2013, Erik Agard

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May 1, 2013

Wednesday, May 1 2013, Erik Agard

theme: BOARD GAMES - anagram of BOARD starts each theme answer.

20A. *General outline components : BROAD STROKES

37A. *16th/17th-century dramatic nickname : BARD OF AVON 

43A. *2009-'10 Lady Gaga hit : BAD ROMANCE

56A. Cruise ship game ... or how to start each of the answers to starred clues? : SHUFFLEBOARD
melissa here.

i imagine puzzle constructors see most everything through the filter of word games. most of us see the word 'shuffleboard,' and think … you know .. shuffleboard, not shuffle board

across

1. Aveeno's parent co. : J AND J. johnson and johnson. tough start.

6. Hebrides native : SCOT. also tough.

10. Madcap : ZANY. great puzzle word.

14. Olds's last compact : ALERO. 

15. Biblical prophet : EZRA

16. "En garde" weapon : EPEE

17. Louis of MGM : MAYER. metro goldwyn mayer.

18. Taps : CALLS UPON

22. Actor Aykroyd : DAN

23. SFO hrs. : PST. pacific standard time.

24. They may grade univ. papers : TAS. teacher's assistants.

27. __-di-dah : LAH



30. Shell-shocked : NUMB

33. Ad time : TONITE

35. Steamed : IRED

39. Scrawny sort : SCRAG

41. First person in France? : MOI

42. "Shrek" ogress : FIONA

46. Distance measures : FEET

47. 2003 self-titled folk album : ODETTA

48. Lawless TV role : XENA

50. Dr. with Grammys : DRE

51. Composer Rorem : NED

52. Windy City rail and bus org. : CTA. chicago transit authority.

54. "Community" network : NBC

62. Go motoring : TAKE A RIDE



65. Studio sign : ON AIR



66. Operating system developed at Bell Labs : UNIX

67. Sandusky's lake : ERIE. sandusky, ohio.

68. Short and probably not sweet : TERSE

69. Like the Nissan Cube : BOXY

70. Swabbing site : DECK. not ear.

71. Pounded the keyboard : TYPED

down

1. Door part : JAMB

2. Banned orchard spray : ALAR. banned in 1989.

3. "Miss Independent" R&B singer : NE-YO. Wiki: The stagename "Ne-Yo" was coined by Big D Evans, a producer with whom Ne-Yo once worked, because Evans claimed that Ne-Yo sees music as Neo sees the matrix.




 4. Can't contemplate : DREAD

5. "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" river : JORDAN

6. Schism group : SECT

7. Peter or Paul, but not Mary : CZAR. fun clue.

8. Ship's lowest 70-Across : ORLOP. new to me, lowest deck of a ship.

9. Consults : TALKS TO

10. Son of Cronus and Rhea : ZEUS

11. "Angry Birds," e.g. : APP

12. New beginning? : NEO

13. Japanese dough : YEN. were you fooled?

19. Hit the road : SET OFF

21. Intentionally fail to invite : SNUB. i see how it is.

24. Recorded, nowadays : TIVOED

25. Sorry sort : ATONER

26. Obama left it in November, 2008 : SENATE

27. Capital WSW of Madrid : LISBON

28. Game sanctuary? : ARCADE. nice.

29. Kept together, as sheep : HERDED

31. Doll's cry : MAMA

32. Place with a cheer named for it : BRONX. Bronx cheer.

34. Inexperienced one : NAIF

36. Zip : DART

38. Yahtzee need : DICE

40. "Tricked you!" : GOTCHA

44. Turned from green to red, perhaps : MATURED

45. Kin of -trix : ENNE

49. Costello's partner : ABBOTT

53. Blazing : AFIRE

55. Brooklyn's __ Island : CONEY

56. Quite the fox : SEXY

57. Abbr. in a bank ad : FDIC

58. Onionlike veggie : LEEK. hard to clean.

59. "To serve, not to be served" group : AARP. their motto, taken from the new testament book of matthew.

60. Ascent : RISE

61. Stowe antislavery novel : DRED

62. Place to unwind : TUB. ahh.

63. Year in Madrid : ANO

64. Puffed cereal with a Berry Berry variety : KIX. might as well just eat the box.

melissa


68 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Fun theme today, once I got it. Most of the fill was straightforward, although ODETTA and NEYO were complete unknowns. The fact that the latter crossed the seemingly unknown JANDJ made things rough in the NW until I finally realized it was probably referring to Johnson & Johnson. Boo, hiss, BRONX cheer, etc.

Odd to see both DRED and DREAD in the same puzzle...

[rdsnPa]

Lemonade714 said...

White rabbit, white rabbit. Happy May to all. Erik has been quite prolific, and who would not love a puzzle that starts with two js. Anagrams,xs, as all in a Wednesday wrapper.

It all went well, either DRE, DRED and DREAD all making appearances. I never made the Michael Jordan connection before. Thanks mb

thehondohurricane said...

Good morning,

Got through today's puzzle without any major hold ups.

Liked CZAR for once rather then the more commonly used Tsar.

MB, always enjoy your contributions.

Keeping it brief today, don't want to use up all 500 words this early in the day.

HeartRx said...

Good morning Melissa, C.C. et al.

I think you are probably right about the way constructors see things, Melissa! I thought the reveal was perfect for anagrams. Just shuffle the words, and you have a puzzle!

My last fill was the crossing of EZRA and CZAR. It took me the longest time to see that last Z! I had no clue about NE-YO, but perps took care of him. I also didn’t have a clue about BAD ROMANCE, but the revealer helped me finish that one.

For 52-Across, I thought it was CRT (Chicago Rapid Transit??) for some reason. But no, that would be the familiar crosswordese “cathode ray tube” and would have been clued as “old PC component” or some such thing. Finally saw MATURED which changed it to CTA and gave me the lovely “A” word. Whew!

Happy May Day, everyone!

JJM said...

There were a few misdirections this AM, but all in all a fun puzzle. Beautiful day in Chi-Town! Have a great day.

desper-otto said...

Good morning and happy hump day for those of you still humping!

I didn't know NE-YO, so I wound up WAGging the "Y" (rather than "I") in MAYER. I had a TIVO years ago, but doubt many people use one today with the advent of the DVR provided by your satellite/cable company.

I didn't know that Michael rowed on the Jordan. I remember the Smothers Brothers: "Pull on those oars! Trim those sails! Michael, are you sailing or rowing?

"To serve, not to be served." Sounds like that episode of the Twilight Zone where the aliens wished to serve mankind. They wrote a cookbook.

Mari said...

Good morning everybody. Off to May - I hope it's a nice one for you, both weather wise and personally.

On to the puzzle. I liked this shuffling of the BOARD and then having the unifier being SHUFFFLE BOARD - very clever!

I enjoyed these clues for Peter, Paul and Mary, and I especially liked this one: 44D: Turned from Green to Red, Perhaps: MATURED. Ha! I love it.

I had a little trouble in the west. IRED, SCRAG, ODETTA - really? Using these words felt like a stretch, but maybe it's just me.

And away I go!

Husker Gary said...

Lots to like on a cold, windy day on the prairie!

Musings
-Who knew Spence was an ace at SHUFFLE BOARD? (:30)
-It’s been a while but I actually remembered ORLOP
-Did Peter, Paul and Mary ever play the summer palace? ;-)
-J AND J make Band Aids that have become what people say instead of adhesive bandage. Also Kleenex, Scotch Tape, Saran Wrap. Others?
-Did EZRA prophesize that the Jets would upset the Colts in ’69? I don’t think so.
-Who ya gonna call? DAN AYKROYD! (1:31)
-You’ve got NED Beatty and you go with Rorem? I hear banjos!
-I wonder if Mari hit the CTA this morning.
-TERSE? Not in this Doonesbury. This is usually how pols get out of GOTCHA questions. Don’t answer ‘em.
-A Big Mac costs 280 ¥
-LISBON is of course the desired destination for many people in what is called America’s greatest movie which is…
-Just a minute, it’s May 1 and I think someone has left a Dixie Cup with a pipe cleaner handle on my doorstep and I have to go run and catch her. Remember?

TTP said...

Good morning sleepyheads !

Well, maybe it was only me. Didn't wake up until 6AM this morning. And brain was not functioning at a high level, so Erik's enigma gave me good bit of false starts.

My "broad outline component" started out with ROMAN NUMERAL until I saw it was plural, so I fit in BULLET POINTS, but the perps wouldn't allow that either.

Lady Gaga's hit was BED ROMANCE for awhile until I finally realized ARCADE. Great clue. The C helped reveal SCRAG and the D filled ODETTA.

Much to like about this puzzle. I liked the crossing of CALLS UPON and TALKS TO. And I nailed XENA right off the bat. The unknowns like NEYO, ORLOP and FIONA and a few more were filled by the perps.

Knew Spitzboov wouldn't pause a millisecond in getting ORLOP.

40 minutes, 11 secs with no help. So after my weak 0 fer last week, I'm 3 for 3.

Melissa, thank you.

Time to get to work.

Yellowrocks said...

A little crunchier than the usual Wed. I got it all, but it didn't go "like a house afire" as my mom would say. These puzzles make me aware of how many idioms we used at home.
For 40D I had ETTE. XETA didn't work, so finally I changed it to ENNE.
NEYO was all perps. Solid downs at 27,28,29,36, and 40 gave me ODETT and BADRO, I wagged the ROMANCE, which led to MATURED (cute one) the final A in ODETTA.
Stream of consciousness thinking here:.Gary’s mention of the “summer palace” and “czar” for an answer reminded me of the tsarina in the novel “Winter Palace”. It was about the rise of Catherine the Great to the throne in Russia and all the palace intrigues that accompanied it. The book was on several Best Seller lists. Great book. Have you read it?

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

The reveal at 56a helped me realize that the starred fill started with an anagram of BROAD, so that helped with BARD OF AVON and BAD ROMANCE. I thought this was a little hard for a Wednesday. i stubbed on TUB; had 'pub' first.

ORLOP - We've had this before. It is the lowest full-length deck of an early sailing ship., and yet, the word is heard on some modern merchant vessels.

Nice puzzle, Erik.

Have a great day.

Anony Mouse said...

Thank you Bill G. for the 3 math puzzles yesterday. I was going through yesterdays posts, and just happened to see it right now.

Since the answer to (a) was not revealed, re: the 4 dogs eating half the cookies, plus one, apiece, until none was left, may I suggest a possible solution.

The 4th dog ate half plus one, and no cookies left. Thus the total beginning number at his level was 1+1 = 2

The third dog had (2+1) x2 = 6 at his beginning level.
The 2nd dog had (6+1) x2 = 14 at his beginning level.
The first dog had (14+1) x2 = 30 at his beginning level, and thus the beginning of the puzzle.

Who says you can't apply algebra to real life ? (lol) Now, if only I had 4 dogs. My sole feral cat seems to have gone amissing - I only pray she/he has found better quarters or happier hunting grounds, either way .... somehow I don't think our 6 man township police force would take kindly to a report of a missing feral cat .... they have more important things to do - like guarding on our sole surviving donut shoppe from possible terroristic threats.

AnnieB8491 said...

Good Morning all - Fun puzzle today - thanks Erik. Great write-up Melissa. Always appreciate the time you all put into the puzzles. 1A was empty for a looong time, as well as some of the mid north. Had to look up 'Lowest deck' but that let me fill in EZRA and complete CALLSUPON.
Knew ALERO - it was my dad's last car. Also had to look up 'Aveeno's parent co". I had both J's and could not come up with the middle three letters. Will I ever learn to try to fill in AND when first and last letters are unusual. :( Only mistake was with NAIF - I filled in WAIF, but what is TOWITE??? Duh Also wanted SCRAP (as in SCRAPPY) before SCRAG, but GOTCHA took care of that.
Clever theme - liked the unifer - helped with BROADSTROKES and BADROMANCE.

Happy May Day everyone!

Azealmmi

Irish Miss said...

Good morning:

A little crunchy but quite doable with a few necessary perps. Misread clue for Windy City rail etc. and put in els. Clever theme, Erik, thank you. And thanks to MelissaB for the neat expo.

Another beautiful Spring day to begin the merry, merry month of May.

Happy Wednesday.

desper-otto said...

So soon we forget.... It appears nobody here remembers Odetta. The song doesn't actually start until the :45. Love the way she says "Whup!"

Husker, are you talking about Casablanca?

Lemonade714 said...

Did many of you get IRED by the fill IRED?

We could also have had DECK and DRECK.

Husker Gary said...

-Sure Otto, everyone in Casablanca was willing to do anything (murder, roulette, bribery) to get those letters of transit signed by Charles de Gaulle so they could fly to LISBON and then on to America or could obtain unfettered travel around Europe. Who knew Rick had a conscience or that ILSA would get on that plane?
-C’mon, am I the only one who gave/got these on May Day? Fess up!
-YMCA, it’s fun to go to the YMCA!

Montana said...

Good morning, MelissaB and CC. I learned some new things reading the expo to this puzzle.

A DNF, as I had some red letter help. I did immediately put in J AND J, but there were other clues I didn't get. Also, understood the theme right away, but that didn't help me finish the puzzle on my own.

Husker, in my town, kids still do the May basket thing. I, however, bought 4 flower/seed baskets to give to a few friends of mine. They are May Day baskets, but can be set into the ground, as is, for more flowers this spring.

Manac, from last night: MT doesn't have a primary seat belt law for adults or children. One must be stopped for some other offense before getting a 'no seat belt' ticket which is $20 and doesn't go on your driving record. (We do have a speed limit now, though.)

Have a good day. It's snowing in Denver!

Montana

Husker Gary said...

-Just a brief musing during this time that the Jackie Robinson movie 42 is making us all aware of how baseball used to be and is now (and for our many baseball devotees here on the blog).
-During the KC Royals win last night, the TV camera showed three men in a shot: a Venezuelan-born man leading off second base, a Cuban-born shortstop behind him and the first Mexican-born MLB umpire in the foreground. ¡Muy bueno!

kazie said...

The fact that I only got here at almost 10:30 and there were still only 18 comments seems to imply a degree of unusual difficulty on a Wednesday.

Couldn't he find any more proper names to include? I think Erik was aiming for every clue and/or answer to have at least a reference to one.

I had too many hold ups to mention them all. Needless to say I had to WAG my way through all of this. My final effort was missing only one cell though: the N in J AND J. I've never heard Johnson and Johnson abbreviated so couldn't make any sense of the rest of what I had there. I had a write over at BROAD, having tried BRIEF before I caught on to the anagram.

Also, why is ad time TONITE? Anyone who turns a TV on at any time is likely to have to sit through 5 minutes of ads, day or night before they see any of the program they are seeking.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Erik Agard, for the swell puzzle. Thank you, Melissa Bee, for the swell review.

Needless to say, I did not get much in the NW corner to start. Just ALERO, MAYER, and JAMB.

Bounced around. Caught the theme SHUFFLEBOARD, even though I have never been on a cruise ship, nor do I ever intend to be on one. I have played shuffleboard. The best kind is the one they use in taverns, with pucks on waxed boards.

Theme helped with the other starred clues. I liked BARD OF AVON.

I had WAIF instead of NAIF for a while. TONITE was slow in coming, but fixed that area.

My tough part was J AND J and NEYO. Tried different letters until it worked.

My favorite lake is present today, ERIE. Sandusky is the home to Cedar Point. Great amusement park and the place where Knute Rockne developed the forward pass.

JJM: Where are you in Chicago?

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

(Oakley)

Montana said...

How does the Captcha work now, please?
I have tried typing the first word or the second word, but I can only post if I type both being case specific.

Montana

Ol' Man Keith said...

A good tough one for Wednesday. I almost gave in to a DNF, but a little extra perseverance paid off.

The first big one to fall was SHUFFLEBOARD, a very obvious answer for a ship game. The rest was uniformly hard for me, especially because I so wanted BULLET POINTS for 20A. Finally, working the crosses paid off, leaving me with only one that I had to wait to check here. Fortunately, that one-- ORLOP-- turned out to be a real word. Another lexicographic boon for us!

Misty said...

Good morning, everybody. Fun Wednesday puzzle, many thanks Erik. Unfortunately, I missed a single letter--had XETA instead of XENA because I didn't (and still don't) get ENTE FOR 'TRIX. (I had ETTE).

But that's small potatoes compared to the fun of lots of cool clues and answers. And thanks for posting "Annie Hall" for LAH-DI-DAH. Will never forget Diane Keaton in that movie!

Have a great May, everybody!

desper-otto said...

Kazie, I think it means that in an ad you're likely to see "Tonite" rather than "Tonight." It's similar to the "personal time" we had a few days ago.

Montana, I only type the squiggly word, ignoring the one that's easy to read. I enter it in all lower case, and seldom have any problem.

Lucina said...

Happy May day!!

A nice offering by our boy genius, Erik Agard. Not exactly a speed run but still fairly quick and with some spunky words in it, JAMB,ZANY, SCRAG, BOXY,NAIF, etc.

Had never heard of NEYO but it emerged as did ODETTA. Loved the cluing for MATURED, ARCADE and CZAR.

I believe TONITE refers to the spelling as used in ads. What do you think?

I've never played SHUFFLEBOARD but knew it upon reading the clue.

All of the above excellently explained by Melissa. Thank you.

Have a glorious Wednesday, everyone!

CrossEyedDave said...

Definitely crunchy, while I worked my way out of difficulty in many places, I was done in by a c"s"ar & a biblical prophet below decks...

(off by 2 letters, missed it by this much.)

Desper-otto, Tx for the ad time= tonite explanation.

38D Yahtzee need = dice. I have the empty box from a Yahtzee game that I have had for 20 years & never used at the top of my basement steps. It is there to remind me that my kid stole all the dice for a school project, & I must get them back just in case in need to play Yahtzee sometime in the next 20 years.

56D quite the fox = sexy
(Hmm, you know I can't pass up that link.)

kazie said...

Desper-otto,
Thanks for explaining TONITE. That certainly makes sense!

Yellowrocks said...

Johnson and Johnson has its headquarters in NJ. We frequently call the company "J and J," but we write it with an ampersand,J&J. "J and J" in print does look funny.
Link J&J

I think the feminine suffix was ENNE as in comedienne. It had NBC crossing it.

Sfingi said...

Had pUB before TUB, changED before MATURED.
Never heard of SCRAG, CRT or NEYO. Assumed the last was a woman.
Never noticed the theme.
Had to Google for BAD ROMANCE and J AND J.

ODETTA definitely in my era.

How much do those CUBE-like cars affect gas mileage?

SHUFFLEBOARD - another reason not to take a cruise.

CrossEyedDave said...

Manac! This is all your fault!

My cat caught me watching all those dog videos, & now look whats happened!

( Oh well, at least she plays fetch now...)

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Well, SHUFFLEBOARD definitely opened the door to BADROMANCE, which I otherwise would have had much more difficulty solving. Quite a few unknowns for me today, mostly in the area of pop music, such as NEYO as well as the aforementioned Lady Gaga song.

After reading a book about the way Johnson and Johnson covered up the problems they had with contaminated Tylenol, and the suffering they inflicted on so many people, I totally lost any respect for that corporation I may have ever had.

I enjoyed the remarks connecting Michael and Jordan.

Fingers squished in a door JAMB will get NUMB for a while, I bet.

Keep amovin', DAN. Don'tcha listen to 'im, DAN...

Yellowrocks, my mom also used to say "like a house afire." She also often said, "you're room looks like a cyclone struck it." For years I wondered what a "strucket" was.

Mari, do you ever ride the CTA?

Best wishes to you all this fine first day of May.

Pookie said...

Hi all, Missed it by one lousy letter! :(
It was my own fault, spelled it TZAR.
What a dope! I have to learn to double-check my answers.
May Day basket of flowers in my day.
Need to check old posts. Long days now on Mon. and Tues.

Jayce said...

Silly me, I meant, "Your room..."

Anonymous said...

What is with kin of -Trix and Enne

desper-otto said...

Anon@1:50 -- they are both feminine suffixes. ie: executrix, comedienne

Bill G. said...

Good puzzle. I agree that "Turn from red to green perhaps" was a great clue.

Anony mouse, I'm glad you enjoyed the puzzles. Good job on the dog biscuits one.

I agree with desper-otto; I only type the squiggly Captcha all in lower case. It works fine if I can read it correctly in the first place. If not, I click the recycle icon to get another one.

Lucina said...

desper-otto@11:20:
Oops. Sorry I guess we were typing at the same time re: TONITE.

Yellowrocks said...

Jayce,, "What's a strucket?" HA HA.
I, also, was told that my room looked like a cyclone struck it.
It's funny what kids hear. I thought there were a lot of angels named Harold. Hark the Harold angels sing..

desper-otto said...

YR, don't forget round John Virgin.

Lucina, no need to apologize. That stuff happens all the time.

Oops, that's five. I'm outta here.

Jayce said...

Yep, that ole angel Harold and that Round John Virgin. And Reverend Bluejeans. And that musical about Annie Gitcher Gunn.

For years I thought "misled" was the past tense of "misle" (pronounced my-zul).

Anonymous said...

CTA I'm a Man

HeartRx said...

Jayce, I agree about J&J losing its reputation, and I think it came from the very top. William Weldon is now history, having retired in shame last December (he was on the NYT "Worst CEO's of 2011" list, and is actually a case study at Wharton on unethical management.) ...the Johnsons must have been rolling in their graves!

The new CEO, Alex Gorsky, was a West Point graduate and hopefully will be a more shining example to the employees.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Fun puzzle & expo. I sped through the whole NW first with redirects from red-letters. I put in all the downs except for one and WAGed the N because I couldn't think of any other letter that would make sense.

CED: my cat sounded like that barker all last week. It was because he had brought about the demise of four squirrels in five days on my front porch and eaten almost everything--bones, claws, fur, etc.--except the tails and a few other nasty parts. I'm sure some of it was sticking in his craw. I was so mad at him for all the mess on my porch, he almost lost a home. I scolded him as I cleaned and he looked at me evilly with tail twitching. He knew I was mad.

No more dead squirrels since. Not sure if that means he'd already cleaned out the entire family from our nearby maple tree, or he understood what I'd told him: one more gruesome porch decoration and he was history.

Montana said...

Trying just the squiggly Captcha. I have only had trouble since numbers were replaced with neatly printed words.

Thanks for the advice,
Montana

Montana said...

Now, can anyone shed insight on why, on my iPad, I get big white, blank areas in the original post where clearly something was linked, often UTube. This just started in the last couple weeks.
If I go to a computer, I can look at what I missed.

Montana

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, I got the theme with the word Shuffleboard. That helped me with Bad Romance. I'm not up on Lady Gaga hits.

The perps helped me fill in Orlop, Terse, Oedtte, and Neyo, but Tonite would not come for all the life of me. I misspelled Tivo (tevo) and put in A Loner for atoner. I wouldn't give up A Loner so that group of three words kept me from getting it all today.

Putting in Ripened for Matured kept me working and reworking that Mid section, also.

Naif was my learning moment for today. I presume a Naif is Naive.

Ezra was a given, as that was my father's name.

Thanks, Melissa B. for the writeup. I always enjoy your links, and comments.

Have more errands to run this afternoon. Have a great afternoon and evening, everyone.

Chickie said...

Annie B. I'm so glad someone else had a Waif instead of a Naif. With my spelling error for Tevo, I had Towete. What in the world could that be?

I don't think I've ever used the word Scrag. Scraggly, though, I used quite often.

Husker, I miss the May Baskets we used to get/give on May 1st. We were very excited making them and then putting them on people's door knobs, ringing the door bell, and running away. A legitimate way to play doorbell duck!

Jerome said...

You're right, Melissa. Constructor's have this devilish little imp running amok in their heads, screaming "No, no no... look at it this way, you fool!" I always see "board as "bored" Like, "I was fired from the laundry for always ironing bored" Or "I was canned from the casino because I always shuffle bored"

(See a theme here, Marti?)

Jayce said...

HeartRx, I agree, and I hope so too.

Irish Miss said...

Montana @ 3:38 - I have the same problem with my iPad. It just won't work on certain YouTube links. And many times it will play a video for a second or two and then stop and start and stop. It's annoying but if I really want to see the link, I go to my laptop.

Norman Greenbaum said...

So you still call yourself a constructor, eh Jerome? When will we see your next creation?

Blue Iris said...

I didn't really find long theme answers fun to solve. I didn't get theme until coming here for Melissa's help. Wonder if I would have seen BOARD shuffled if I would have tried.

I did get SHUFFLEBOARD easily. When I was a camp nurse, the counselors were assigned an activity every week. The one who drew the short straw got shuffleboard for the week. It was a running gag.

The twins next door always hang a cone-shaped May basket on the front door. I think last year it had dandelions in it.

I'm back in a recliner in the middle of my kitchen dealing with tendonitis again. I have a ortho shoe and stronger pain meds now. Sleeping a lot so haven't commented much. I read write-up everyday and enjoy your comments.

Finished watching Season 3 of Downton Abbey and wondering when Season 4 begins on PBS??

Jerome said...

Got a few in the pipeline, Norman. As for exactly when, you'll have to ask the spirit in the sky.

Lucina said...

BlueIris:
Downton Abbey airs in the U.S. in January after it's British debut. I read that many new cast members are being added for extra spice.

HeartRx said...

Jerome, definitely a possibility, LOL! You do the work, come up with the theme entries, design a grid, I'll take a stab at filling it, and then you can fix all the dreck fill, clue it, and we'll be on our way! (^0^)

Blu Iris, so sorry to hear about your latest tribulations. Why is your recliner in the kitchen instead of the living room?

Blue Iris said...

Thanks Lucinda...I'll be in Downton Abbey "withdrawal" until next January, I guess.

HeartRX, the recliner is usually in the basement family room. My upstairs TV is above the frig in the kitchen.

Manac said...

Evening everyone,
First of all, Neyo? Someone here once said the next new name would be Ida Ho. Close enough.

Montana, I believe Mass. and other states have secondary seat belt laws also, but I meant that in NH you can't be ticketed for not wearing one no matter what. There is no law requiring the use of one.

Dave, Well it's always my fault at home so why should here be any different? Thanks Dad!

fermatprime said...

Time Warner came to put a whole house TV box in for me. Somehow, they managed to remove my internet account. I has taken 3 days to get someone out to fix it!

I go crazy w/o internet. TV not nearly as important. Will work puzzle later!

Rabbit, rabbit!

GarlicGal said...

Well Manac, Ida Ho may not be far behind the rapper Flo Rida. (I kid you not!)

Bill G. said...

I had a passable lunch eating al fresco at the Hermosa Beach Pier Avenue Plaza. The weather was beautiful. I was surrounded by tattooed people paying more attention to their cell phones than the people they were with. It always strikes me as rude behavior but their companions didn't seem to mind.

There's a big fire northeast of here.

There was a medium on Ellen today supposedly helping people communicate with their relatives who had passed away. I hate to see people taken in by that kind of fakery. At least it didn't cost them any money.

Manac said...

GarlicGal, So it was you. I remember the Flo Rida answer in a puzzle and the Ida Ho
Remark. I still chuckle thinking about it :)

JD said...

Good evening Melissa, C.C., et al,

Took a long time and some Googling to get a foothold today.Kudos to Erik for a snazzy theme. He loaded it with lots of unknowns:Odetta, NeYo, Orlop, Bad Romance, and then there were those tricky clues that I didn't connect with the answers, like enne.Desper-otto @ 1:58-THANKS!

Melissa, wouldn't have gotten the real meaning of shuffleboard without your comments.

Like Kazie, J and J was an a-ha moment. The lady who spiked the OJ with rubbing alcohol on Monday at Starbucks, worked for Janssen, a subsidiary of J&J.

Jayce @1:11 LOL!! Can U name this tune? Oh a tree in motion.....

Blart said...

Jerome, stop overreacting. You are being silly. There was nothing racist about any post tonight.

Jerome said...

Instead of Blart, you should have just signed in as Don Imus.

Blart said...

Have another beer Jerome.

Bill G. said...

I can't see anything vaguely racist that's been posted today. Now inane however, I'm probably guilty often.

Where I enjoy going for espresso these days, who was there also having coffee but movie actor little man, Jason Acuña. His cherry Impala (probably about 1964 vintage) was parked outside.

{repoopdoop}

Manac said...

Hmmm?
Any Don Ho jokes out there?