google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday June 23, 2013 Pawel Fludzinski

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Jun 23, 2013

Sunday June 23, 2013 Pawel Fludzinski

Theme: "Now Showing at the Colosseum" - The number in each movie is replaced by a Roman numeral.

23A. 1993 drama for which Stockard Channing got an Oscar nomination : VI DEGREES OF SEPARATION. "Six Degrees of Separation".

40A. 2009 sci-fi Best Picture nominee : DISTRICT IX. "District 9". Unfamiliar to me.


71A. Kurosawa period film remade into a Western in 1960 : VII SAMURAI. "Seven Samurai". No plural ending S, Yellowrocks?

74A. 1988 baseball scandal movie : VIII MEN OUT. "Eight Men Out". About the Black Sox Scandal. Shoeless Joe's role is rather limited, to my surprise.

119A. Grant/MacDowell romantic comedy : IV WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL. "Four Weddings and a Funeral". I guess A is not a number.

7D. 1960 Rat Pack film : OCEANS XI. "Ocean’s 11". I only saw the remake.

31D. Hitchcock thriller remade three times : THE XXXIX STEPS. "The 39 Steps". Big number conversion here.

36D. Academy Award-nominated 1949 war film : XII O'CLOCK HIGH. "Twelve O'Clock High". Never saw it.

93D. 2003 Penn/Watts drama with "The weight of a hummingbird" in one of its taglines : XXI GRAMS. "21 Grams"



105. 1995 Tom Hanks docudrama : APOLLO XIII. "Apollo 13".

I figured out the gimmick immediately, you? Constructing crosswords has greatly improved my solving ability. I even know words that Barry G is unfamiliar with. 

Very skillful theme entry arrangement. Amazing intersections. 10 are not easy to grid, esp with 2 grid spanners & those X's and V's.

Argyle dug out this information about Pawel Fludzinski last time. I think it's our constructor.

Across:

1. Pianist Argerich : MARTHA. Gimme for Pas de chat. Wiki said she won the seventh Chopin Competition in 1965,

7. Counterbalance : OFFSET

13. Burdensome : ONEROUS

20. "... there's __!": Hamlet : THE RUB

21. Trounces : CREAMS

22. Forwards, say : RE-SENDS

26. Now, in Nicaragua : AHORA

27. Fish with bobbing bait : DAP. For Dave, though he might not solve this puzzle today. The "Fist bump" meaning of DAP stumped some last time.



28. Golden number : OLDIE

29. D-Day transports : LSTs

32. Columnist Coulter : ANN. I do like her hair. That's about all.

33. Soothsayers : ORACLES

35. Let go : AXED

39. Nicole Kidman's birthplace : OAHU. Nice trivia.

42. Trattoria starters : PRIMI. Plural of "Prima"?

43. Onetime "SNL" regular Cheri : OTERI

45. Thermal opening : EXO. "Outer".

46. Can plan : ESCAPE. Can = Prison.

48. AOL backs-and-forths : IMs

49. Points of view? : PIXELS

51. Islamic leader : IMAM. And 54. Islamic leader : EMIR. Do you how many times Allah appears in Koran?

55. Yiddish laments : OYs

56. Word with fair or opposite : SEX. Fun comments yesterday on Splynter's bed, PK. Totally agree with Linda. You do have a way with words.

57. Andean stew veggie : OCA. Haven't seen this word for a long time.

59. In need of wiping up : SPILT

62. Coterie : CIRCLE

64. Kane's estate : XANADU. Rosebud.

67. Effort before the effort : PRE-WORK. I guess you can Pre anything.

70. North Carolina university : ELON

76. "Devil Inside" band : INXS

77. Nobility : PEERAGE

79. Like the West Coast's U.S. Route 101 : SCENIC

80. Guinea pig : TESTEE

82. Prepared to propose : KNELT. Did you actually kneel down to propose to your wife?

84. Cabinet dept. created in 1965 : HUD

85. Spy org. until 1991 : KGB. What's Russia's CIA now?

88. Subway line to Columbia Univ. : IRT

89. Muffin choice : BRAN

92. Engels collaborator : MARX (Karl)

94. More upscale : POSHER

96. Bore, as a cost : ATE

97. Inclined : ASLOPE

100. Time-saving phone no. : EXT

102. Madrid monarch : REINA. Queen.

103. Two sheets to the wind? : TIPSY

109. Farming prefix : AGRI

110. Alleviate : EASE

111. Held lovingly : CRADLED

112. Rental car feature, briefly : GPS

113. First word of the Declaration of Independence : WHEN. "When in the course of human event...."

114. "Spider-Man" director : RAIMI (Sam)


116. "__ Crazy": Paul Davis hit : I GO

117. Riveting icon : ROSIE

127. Stinkers : MEANIES

128. Rear : BOTTOM

129. First in line, perhaps : ELDEST

130. Deep down : AT HEART

131. High-hats : SNOOTS

132. Gave lip to : SASSED

Down:

1. "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll" launch of 1981 : MTV

2. Yellowfin tuna : AHI. 18. Side for 2-Down : UDO. See here for more info.


3. Common color in national flags : RED

4. Cherish : TREASURE

5. Actor Laurie : HUGH. So talented. Genius doctor. 

6. Using a passport : ABROAD

8. TV sites, in realty ads : FRS.  No idea. Argyle said it's "Family Rooms".

9. Russian basso Chaliapin : FEODOR. Stranger to me.


10. Honeymoon adventure : SAFARI

11. Typographic measure : EM SPACE. I wonder if PK got this quickly. I just could not see it.

12. J.A. Prufrock's creator : TSE. And 122. Literary monogram : GBS. George Bernard Shaw.

13. Degree requirement, maybe : ORAL EXAM

14. Dorks : NERDS

15. Actor Morales : ESAI

16. Injure again, as a ligament : RE-TEAR

17. Covert maritime org. : ONI. Office of Naval Intelligence.

19. ID in MDs' records : SSN

24. Banks on a diamond : ERNIE. Mr. Cub.

25. Enforcement group : POLICE

29. Froot __ : LOOPS

30. Composer of gnossiennes : SATIE (Erik). I don't even know what "gnossiennes" means.

34. Pennies: Abbr. : CTs

37. Country singer Harris : EMMYLOU. Is she your type, D-Otto?

38. Minority opinion : DISSENT

41. Some cats : TOMS. We have a few TOMs on the blog. Nice cats.

42. Prefix with scope : PERI

44. Actress Massey : ILONA. Long time no see.

47. Double espresso, say : PICK-ME-UP

50. Darts : SCAMPERS

52. Rome's __ Way : APPIAN

53. Salyut successor : MIR

58. In unison, in music : ADUE

60. Parking garage section : LEVEL A

61. Light opening? : TWI. Twilight.

63. Baroque painter Guido : RENI


65. Part of ADA: Abbr. : ASST

66. Portrait finish? : URE. Portraiture.

68. Grafton's "__ for Outlaw" : O IS

69. Sumptuous : RICH

71. Spoil : VITIATE. New word to me.

72. Subject of Newton's first law : INERTIA

73. Ararat arrival : ARK

75. Ewok's planet : ENDOR

78. Masterpiece : GEM

81. Auction site : eBAY. I'm just so distrustful of those Lady Gaga pink lipsticks on eBay. Too bad Mac discontinued the product.

83. Cretaceous giant : T-REX

86. Class : GENRE

87. Jellyfish's lack : BRAIN. Wow, I don't know. I liked pickled jellyfish.

90. Chicken Little, notably : ALARMIST

91. Half a workout mantra : NO PAIN

95. Common coastal arrivals : SEAWEEDS

98. Okra unit : POD

99. "Invisible Man" author : ELLISON (Ralph)

101. "It's on the __ my tongue" : TIP OF

104. Composed : SERENE

106. Smooth, musically : LEGATO

107. Tooth: Pref. : ODONTO. A rather long prefix.

108. Promulgates : ISSUES

111. Drink from a press : CIDER

115. 1998 Sarah McLachlan hit : ADIA. I love her "I'll Remember You". So beautiful.

118. At Staples Center, briefly : IN LA

119. "__ little teapot ..." : I'M A

120. Lab inspector? : VET. Lovely clue.

121. Crib cry : WAH

123. Period, for one : DOT

124. Hi-__ monitor : RES

125. "Peer Gynt" widow : ASE. His mother. Learned from doing Xwords.

126. Inc., in Ipswich : LTD


Boomer and I attended a local constructor gathering last Wednesday. The beautiful Andrea Carla Michaels was in town. 

Left to right: Tom Pepper (He has a puzzle in Rich's queue); Marcia J. Brott (Hope to see your LAT soon); George Barany (He made that amazing Turing tribute puzzle last June); David Hanson (He had one puzzle published by the NYT); DK (Andrea's friend, a psychologist); C.C. (sleeping); Andrea (She is so caring and sweet); Boomer & Victor Barocas (He's made a few brilliant puzzles for NYT, LAT and CHE).

 I woke up in this one.

40 comments:

  1. Happy Sunday everybody!

    This one was rated XXX for me. Got all the movies, just done in by a few singletons lurking in (song, proper, etc.) names I didn’t know, crossed by other unknown (language, terminology, etc.) answers….

    Yes, I’m bagging on you, FEODOR, DAP, ILONA, OCA, ADUE, LEGATO, I GO, IRT, and VITIATE !!!!

    Two of the movies were absolute positives, followed by furrowed brows and angry erasures as there just weren’t enough squares to complete the titles. Went away for a drink of water, looked at the theme again, and that’s when the light came on….

    After grokking the theme, I spent too much energy waiting for XII ANGRY MEN to appear….

    So tell me, does all the above qualify as crying over SPILT milk…? WAH…. Guess I’m being way too TESTEE today….

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  2. Good morning C.C. et al.

    Great pic of you and the other constructors! I bet that was an interesting group…

    Thx for explaining FRS, C.C. because I had no clue. Well, actually there was a clue - # 8-Down. But I just didn’t “get” it! And DAP got me again this time. And I wanted En SPACE instead of EM SPACE . And so on and so on.

    This was a real slog for me, and I ended up googling films I had never heard of (DISTRICT IX, VIII MEN OUT, XXI GRAMS.) So not a real fun puzzle today. I’ll just leave it at that!

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  3. Morning, all!

    The title in Across Light appeared as simply "Now Showing at the," so it took awhile for me to get the Roman connection. Before I figured it out, I was thinking there was an awful lot of x's in this puzzle for some reason, but then I had my V-8/light bulb moment.

    Fortunately, I knew almost every film mentioned in the grid ("21 GRAMS" was the outlier), so once I understood the theme I was able to make short work of the theme answers.

    I have to agree with Doha Doc, though, that the large number of obscurities (especially names) really dragged me down a bit. FEODOR, RENI and ASE were the worst offenders as far as I was concerned.

    Favorite clue award today goes to "Riveting icon" for ROSIE.

    [sualze]

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  4. Hello Puzzlers -

    I got bogged down too. Must admit to a DNF. Almost finished, but not quite. Vitiate and Inxs did me in, and nearby Testee was hard to see because of Assn rather than Asst.

    Morning CC, liked the pictures!

    Cheers All

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  5. Good Morning, C.C. and friends. I quickly caught on to the gimmick with 6 Degrees of Separation, so I knew to look for Roman numerals in the other theme clues.

    There were lots of other misdirections, however, to keep the puzzle challenging.

    I know I am not the only one who wanted Spine instead of BRAIN for the Jellyfish's lack.

    I also tried DUKE for the North Carolina University.

    I really liked Points of View = PIXELS.

    Drinks from a Press = CIDER now seems so obvious, but it took a while for that answer to appear.

    Stay cool, it will reach over 90F today.

    QOD: We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done. ~ Alan Turing (June 23, 1912 ~ June 7, 1954)

    [ckedocis]

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  6. Good morning, all!

    I failed to read the title (D'oh!), so I didn't get the theme until I finally worked out XII OCLOCK HIGH. Then things went pretty well, until I got to the deep south. I hung onto ASLANT (ASLOPE), SEDATE (SERENE) and BEHIND (BOTTTOM) much too long. The A in RAIMI was my final entry -- a lucky WAG.

    APPIAN WAY was a gimme. We've got a street of that name in our little burg. VITIATE was a word that I've seen, but had no idea what it meant. And DAP, to me, is still that gooey stuff that you buy in a tube at Home Depot (Lily-Land).

    C.C., I've never seen a second S in SAMURAI. It can be used both ways. There's no need to to make it plurable. And, yes, I've been an EMMYLOU fan for at least 40 years. I checked the index on my music server -- there are XVII Emmylou albums on it.

    Time for that bike ride...

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  7. 'what is russia's cia now?'

    answer

    they were onto the tsarnaev brothers but we were too arrogant to listen.

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  8. The best thing about today's puzzle is the posting of pictures of your get together.

    Happy Sunday all

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  9. Hi Y'all! I got 'er done with red-letter help. This was clever but offset by being ONEROUS. My BRAIN likes a NO PAIN Sunday. Thanks tho, Pawel. GREAT, C.C.

    My first theme fill was XII OCLOCK HIGH. Then perps gave me VI DEGREES etc. And the theme dawned on me which helped. I'd seen XANADU, IV WEDDINGS and APOLLO XIII. Never heard of several of them but WAGd & perped the rest. I'd heard of THE____STEPS, but couldn't remember the number.

    SAFARI? Not my first choice for a honeymoon. Ever.
    Also no one KNELT to propose to me. If he had I'd probably have had to patch the knees in his pants sooner. I did a lot of that.

    I was the ELDEST of five. #DOS mama.

    I thought Nicole Kidman was an Aussie.

    IN LA: a gimme after all the Laker's games I've seen

    VITIATE? Okay, I hope Splynter doesn't VITIATE his chances with the lovely Home Depot Doll by procrastinating. As for the mattress remarks of last night. Splynter set that up so beautifully, I couldn't resist.

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  10. Nicole Kidman's parents were in Hawaii when she was born.

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  11. Good Morning:

    To give credit where credit is due, and because he is an RPI graduate, kudos to Mr. Fludzinski for an interesting puzzle theme. Other than that, what Thumper said. Nice photos and smooth expo, CC.

    Have a super Sunday.

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  12. Good morning, gang - I can't remember the last time I struggled with a Sunday puzzle, but this one......this one smacked me from the very first clue, and continued to do so almost to the very end. I thought the perps would see me through, then I discovered that I needed perps for my perps, and so it went. More unknowns here (for me) than I can ever recall having in a puzzle, especially on a Sunday. Still a lot of fun trying to plow through it, though, and with the help of the G-spot, I finally finished it. Clever theme, which helped fill in some big chunks of white.

    Yesterday, as part of our 25th Anniversary (Monday) weekend, I surprised my wife with a spa day, and got myself a 90-minute hot stone massage as well. If you've never had one, I highly recommend it; the hot stones reach down further into the muscles than just hands do, and the end result is almost a feeling of rejuvenation. Certainly not as good as a Melissa B massage would be, but pretty damned good. Oh, and I think she said she realigned my Chaka Khan, and you certainly don't want your Chaka Khan going off in different directions...

    Off to Ft. Lauderdale and a day on the water; hope everyone's having a fun weekend.

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  13. PK, loved your flying mattress story.

    Spitz (from last night), loved the bear video. That host is hilarious, and those cubs were really cute.

    Irish Miss, I thought of you when I saw that Mr. Fludzinski was a graduate of RPI.

    I do think somebody should link an Emmylou Harris song. OK, I'll do it. Leonard Cohen wrote the words. This song is about at lot more than a runaway horse

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  14. Good morning everyone. Nice intro, C.C. and great pix of your group.

    I got the theme gimmick early but still needed ample perp help on some of the theme fill. A good solid puzzle but a few too many 'names' for my taste. I did get ASE though - remembered it from before. Kudos for finding crosses for all the 'X's'. Interesting that Pawel found numbered titles to fill as grid spanners.

    OYS are Finnish LTDs.

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  15. Hi All ~~

    Wow ~ this puzzle exhausted me. It was almost too much work to be fun. I like a challenge, but for some reason most of this one just frustrated me. Maybe if I had caught on to the "gimmick" sooner ... I finished with no look-ups but with a number of lucky guesses.

    Right off the bat starting with 23A - All is could see was VIDEGRE... and was looking for a word or words beginning with those letters ~ I never saw the VI as Roman Numerals. It wasn't until way down at 105A - APOLLOXIII that I finally caught on and was able to go back and fill in some of the others that baffled me.

    ~ A few write-overs - 46A - Can plan - Parole/ESCAPE and 123D - Period, for one - Era/DOT.

    ~ At 65D - I was thinking of ADA as having to do with dentists so that slowed things down there.

    ~ The D at the crossing of FEODOR and DAP and the A at the crossing of RAIMI and ADIA were lucky guesses.

    ~ Favorites: 28A - Golden number / OLDIE and 117A - Riveting icon / ROSIE.

    ~ Thanks for a wonderful write-up, C.C. ~ love your comments. You look cute in both pics!

    Off to watch the final Red Sox/Tigers game!

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  16. Hmm... I posted about a half-hour ago ~ I saw it, and now it's gone!?

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  17. Linda,
    Sorry. You were trapped earlier. So was Lemonade in the morning.

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  18. Mr.G won this one. I can't remember when I Googled so many clues which VITIATEd any sstisfaction this puzzle might have given me. (That was one word I knew cold.) I was feeling fairly down on myself until I saw many others Googled or red lettered. I got the theme fairly early, but I never heard of five of the movies.
    The Japanese don't change the spelling for plurals, therefore there is never an S plural. OBI is singular, OBI is plural. Kimono is singuar and plural, etc.

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  19. Hi C.C. and everyone.
    Yes, I got MARTHA, was just listening to her the other day.
    LEGATO, and the dreaded A DUE!!!!
    (grumble grumble)
    Gnossienes should have been CAPITALIZED!! The word doesn't exist except for Satie's compositions.
    No wonder you don't know what it means. Nobody does. Satie made up words for his compositions, like the most familiar Gymnopédies.
    NUMBER 1
    What Thumper said, for me today. I want to ENJOY the Sunday puzzle, not get beat up by it.

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  20. Good afternoon, folks. Thank Pawel Fludzinski, for an excellent puzzle, albeit quite difficult. Thank you, C.C., for the swell review.

    Almost to New Orleans. 2 1/2 hours to go.

    This puzzle was one tough puppy. Worked on it for hours. Took me a long time to get the theme. OCEANS XI was my first answer. However, I wrote it OCEANS II the first time and thought it odd that the constructor was use numbers instead of letters. Slowly I saw the light.

    The theme being movies was my downfall. I do not see many movies, especially new ones. I know, I should get out more.

    Thank goodness my traveling companion knows them all. She helped me with a couple I did not know. For example, I had IV MEN DIED AT THE FUNERAL. It did not seem to jive. I was thinking of Cary Grant as the actor. I asked my friend and she said it's IV WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL. Well they both fit. So, I did get some help on this puzzle. She also helped me with INXS at 76A. I never heard of that group. Also ADIA. Never heard of that song.

    Like EMMYLOU. She is also a favorite of mine.

    I like ANN Coulter. More than just her hair.

    Looking forward to this week in New Orleans. Will be working hard.

    On a sad note, my phone died again. Thought I was out of the woods.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo.

    (hecrtt)

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  21. Ocean’s II popped to my mind and I thought, hmm…, two I’s for 11? Nope, XI. What a fun clever puzzle. I was thinking Rich might give us MCMLXXXIV or XXIASPACEODYSSEY or FAHRENHEITCDLI and I’ll bet he considered them. Delaying making the Lab a dog was my only slowdown.

    Musings
    -DISTRICT IX was a depressing movie that somehow we slogged through
    -I had dinner with Fred Haise who was on Apollo XIII
    -The EXOthermic reaction that heats soldier’s MRE’s will make them too hot to handle
    -Nobility _ _ _ _ A G E was not COURAGE and M _ A N _ _ S were not MOANERS for Stinkers (bad jokes).
    -Does MTV even play rock and roll anymore?
    -I always thought you had to show your Passport to travel in Europe.
    -A SAFARI for a honeymoon?
    -My last job interview was ORAL and I just shot from the hip. I was hired the next morning.
    -Seeing the APPIAN Way and realizing its age was mind boggling
    -Vitiate and Legato were two words I didn’t know I knew
    -No Pain/No Gain is nonsense! Listen to your body.
    -INERTIA demos always wow kids. Even this simple one. (:07)
    -The American version of 7 Samurai gave us this wonderful Elmer Bernstein theme (5:36)

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  22. Oops, make that MMIASPACEODYSSEY. Other candidates. Gotta go mow. Another inch of rain last night has my yard growing like crazy and AGRI people smiling from ear to ear.

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  23. Happy Sunday! I finished the puzzle and admired the theme but didn't enjoy the rest of the puzzle that much. I'm guessing that ARGERICH, FEODOR, DAP and ASLOPE had something to do with it. I don't like Ann Coulter either (even though she went to Cornell) but having Emmylou Harris in the puzzle balanced that out. I never saw the appeal for "Four Weddings and a Funeral." So I better start emulating Thumper.

    I saw an article on NBC entitled "Too much #hashtag! Time to wise up about the pound sign." I read it but didn't understand it completely. I thought a hashtag (#) was something used to delineate a subject in a Tweet (which I don't do). Is it more than that?

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  24. OY vey! C.C.: I neglected to comment on your photos. How nice to be able to participate in a constructors event and to see so many of you. Nice photos.

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  25. Well, I guess it would not be fair to do the puzzle now that I have read the Blog...

    Just lurking today, LaLaLinda, you may see your profile views going up, because every time I see your Avatar I think it is a cat wearing a Snoopy WWI flying helmet, & I have to click on it. (very stylish kitty by the way...)

    Spitz, LOVED the bear video yesterday, thanks!

    CC, I tried to fish our flooded Passaic River from a bridge a couple of days ago. (My usual fishing spot is now about 20 yards into the river.) I tried everything in my tackle box, spinners, lures, poppers, flashy add ons & noise makers to attract fish in muddy waters,nothing worked! The last thing I tried was this beautiful imitation of a firefly, that I dangled from the bridge, & made dance on the water like a bug that was stuck. I was sure something would go for it! (nothing!)

    I had no idea I was "dapping."

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  26. Roman numerals are an L of a problem...

    Will the NFL be "L"osers when Super Bowl L comes around?

    WSJ Article

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  27. I usually at least try the Sunday puzzle...the Roman numerals plus the fact that there have been very few modern movies (in the last 15 years) that I was willing to pay to see, had me at a severe disadvantage. My admiration for finding crosses for all those xes knows no bounds,Mr. Fludzinski, if that is really your name.
    CC: I like your hair longer. Very becoming.
    Sign in name (A) (R)ose (B)y (A)ny (O)ther (N)ame

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  28. Oy, me too! That is, I should have said that I enjoyed your photos also. Such a pretty table BTW.

    This is my absolute favorite Emmylou Harris song. It makes me want to cuddle with her every time I hear it. Together Again.

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  29. Thank you all for your comments. I am glad that (most of) you enjoyed solving the puzzle - I certainly enjoyed creating it. It was a challenge finding crosses for all 10 Xs. I worked hard to avoid FEODOR and VITIATE, but in the end, could not find an alternative. I considered 48 different movies in creating the puzzle, and chose the 10 because a) I had seen them all; b) most had been nominated for Oscars; and c) their ability to work in the puzzle. Now onto the next puzzle!

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  30. PS - I also made sure that even with all of the Xs and Vs, there were no other roman numerals in the puzzle other than the themed answers. Thanks again everyone!

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  31. Good of you to stop by. And you're so right; gratuitous Roman numerals sets a lot of people on edge.

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  32. Diabolical, Mr. Fludzinski! I wasn't put off (off set?) by the Roman Numerals at all. I thought is was a fun twist on the movie titles.

    JD, Chickie and I had a conversation on the way to Stockton on Thurs. about Roman Numerals and how they are rarely taught in elementary school now. How are these kids going to do x-words when they grow up???

    My fav clue = TV sites. ACK!

    Big Sunday night...MadMen season finale and a crazy guy tightrope walking across the Grand Canyon. That's entertainment...

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  33. Hi, all!

    I really liked this puzzle, Pawel! (Hope that you read the late posts!)

    I picked up the theme at VI DEGREES OF SEPARATION rather quickly (as I work downs and acrosses simultaneously). Thus most of the other movies were easy! (All my movies come from TV.) It amazes me that some of you who worked yesterday's disaster (for me) had to cheat on this one. (40 min., no cheats here).

    Great expo, CC! Nice pix!

    Am enjoying the classical links! Thanks all!

    Finally got to swim today. Was supposed to be yesterday. However, the pool house was left in an abominable condition (I skip a paragraph here). Also, the water was only 70 degrees. Had to have my caregiver spend one of her precious hours here cleaning (delicately--so as not to get tons of dust in the pool). Tomorrow the temp should be up to snuff for me.

    Cheers!


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  34. Am happy that Copper returns tonight. Some of the links remind one of this!

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  35. Having lived with 3 generations of pianists, I am amazed that I had not at least heard of Eric Satie. He was not popular with my family or their teachers apparently. Thank you for the music links.

    C.C., you always manage to look fashionable and youthful. You are truly amazing.

    Pawel, most of us like to expand our vocabulary. See I was even able to use VITIATE in a sentence here. Probably won't get to work it into regular conversation because my regular contacts would look at me like I had invented the word. That happens if I say "exacerbated". They think its a dirty word.

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  36. Pawel, thanks for dropping by. I can only imagine how difficult 10 Xs and no other Roman numerals made the creation of this puzzle. Next, what about one with 10 Qs? !0Q? You're welcome!

    You guys love animals, so here are some SLEEPY ones. I've seen the last one before but it cracks me up every time.

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  37. In New Orleans. Got my bunk. Had supper. Bought a trac cellphone to get me through the week. $32.00 plus minutes.

    Ready to work tomorrow.

    Abejo

    (oittay)

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  38. andrea carla michaelsJune 25, 2013 at 1:09 AM

    CC, SO great to meet you and your husband. Believe me, the feeling is mutual! Overcome by your smarts and charm and warmth. You are an inspiration!

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