google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, June 6, 2013 Jeffrey Wechsler

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Jun 6, 2013

Thursday, June 6, 2013 Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: "Double trouble..." 2:52

18A. Double : CARBON COPY. Remember the mimeograph machines in grade school?



21A. Double : IDENTICAL TWIN. Remember the twins from this gum commercial? (C'mon, you can sing it aloud!)



40A. Double : DOPPELGANGER.  Who's the guy on the left??



62A. Double : SPITTING IMAGEThis is an excellent explanation of the origin of the phrase, with a bonus mention of the next one:

67A. Double : DEAD RINGER. If you clicked on "dead ringer" in the previous link, you will know why I am posting this picture:


You "got" the theme, right? So, we have a 16 x 15 grid today, but I bet few of you even noticed that. The reason is the even-numbered central entry DOPPELGANGER. It's always odd-numbered at a 15*15. The stacked theme entries at 18-21 Across and 62-67 Across is quite impressive, I might add!! Plus some nifty phrases on the downs, just to keep it interesting: SLOW LEARNER, I DIDN'T FIT IN.

Marti here, to have fun with the rest...

Across:

1. Uncivilized : SAVAGE. Ah, but try music! "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast..."

7. Short "and so on" : ETCetcetera, etcetera! 2:54 (Translation, please?!?)

10. Marine layer phenomena, at times : MISTS.

15. King Arthur's resting place : AVALON.

16. Itinerary word : VIA. I often travel to Vienna VIA Zurich. On Lufthansa/Austrian Airlines. Best service in the business!

17. Give out : ALLOT.

20. Hotelier Helmsley : LEONA.

23. "Rights of Man" author : PAINE.

26. Tijuana tots : NENES.

27. Played the first card : LED.

28. What putting one's pen down in Final Jeopardy! usually means : I'M DONE. I bet Rich watches "Jeopardy!" every night...

30. White-collar worker? : PRIEST. Really fun clue!

33. Key econ. indicator : CPI. I wanted GDP, then checked perps. Nope...must be Consumer Price Index. This site will explain everything for you.

34. Worked undercover : SPIED.

39. Sister of Calliope : ERATO.

44. Jams : BINDS. (Because "Smuckers products" wouldn't fit...)

46. Planet earth : GLOBE.

47. Rest of the afternoon : NAP. Fun clue!

50. Promoting a new album, possibly : ON TOUR.

52. Former Sandanista leader : ORTEGA.

55. One lacking grace : OAF.

56. Food writer James : BEARD. Nailed it.

61. Bobbled grounder, e.g. : ERROR. Bobbled it.

66. Pledge from the faithful : TITHE.

71. ___ Sports Bureau, baseball's official statistician : ELIAS. No clue - n-e-e-d-e-d...e-v-e-r-y...p-e-r-p!!

72. Like mil. volunteers : ENL.isted.

73. Suffer : ENDURE.

74. Manhattan has many high ones : RENTS. Head scratching clue - how do "skyscrapers" fit into five letters???

75. Toper's trouble : DTS. A "toper" is a lush/sot/drunkard, etc. Delirium tremens. (Latin for "shaking frenzy.") If you go to the Huyghe Brewery in Belgium, you can have one of their signature "Delirium Tremens" beers.

76. Assent : SAY YES. "...to the dress!" (Inside joke.)

Down:

1. Animal pouch : SAC.

2. Charlton's "Earthquake" co-star : AVA. I went to the set at Universal Studios, and was one of the audience who was selected to appear in the escalator scene. They had a "green screen" behind us, so we couldn't see what was happening. But the audience was watching the actual dubbed version. With fake foam "rocks" raining down on me, I had to pretend that I was terrified as the building collapsed around me.

3. Alt. spelling : VAR.iation.

4. Sans melanin : ALBINO.

5. Mets pitcher who was 1984 N.L. Rookie of the Year : GOODEN. T-o-o-k...e-v-e-r-y...s-i-n-g-l-e...p-e-r-p!!

6. -ess kin : ENNE. As in adultrESS and comediENNE, signifying female roles. Not PC any more.

7. Electronic ballot : E-VOTE. I thought I had heard all the E-words!

8. Short basket : TIP IN. Not a big fan of basketball since Larry Bird retired.

9. Psychic Edgar : CAYCE. Nailed it. I actually have read "The Sleeping Prophet."

10. Retail haven : MALL.

11. "Would ___ you down?" : I LET.

12. One in need of a tutor : SLOW LEARNER. Like me, when it comes to baseball!

13. Most stylish : TONIEST.

14. Get ready, in military lingo : STAND TO. I wanted "stand by," but that would be TV lingo, right?

19. "AC360ยบ" channel : CNN. WAG.

22. Indiana Jones terrorizer : ASP. He hates snakes! 1:22

23. Flick : PIC.

24. Band aid? : AMP. Fun clue. Rock band.

25. "That wasn't the group for me" : I DIDN'T FIT IN. Hard to suss.

29. Forward-looking claim : ESP. Extra Sensory Perception.

31. Fill-up choice: Abbr. : REG.ular.

32. Anger : IRE.

35. "___ o' My Heart": 1913 song : PEG. So many versions to choose from...2:21

36. Bugged by a bug : ILL.

37. Mediator's challenge : EGO.

38. Delicately apply : DAB.

41. "Star Trek: DSN" changeling : ODO. Bullying scene...1:38

42. Sch. in Oregon's most populous city : PSUPortland State University. Not to be confused with Pennsylvania State University, which seems to have gone out of favor as a clue since the scandal. Or, the lesser known Plymouth State University in Massachusetts.

43. Prefix with natal : NEO.

44. Rah-rah fan : BOOSTER.

45. Like dirty laundry : IN A PILE. Yes, I have A PILE of it downstairs!

48. Previously : AGO.

49. 3, 4 or 5, usually : PAR. Rich is an avid golfer.  Husker G., you in?

51. Box score stat : RBIRuns Batted In. Does Hank Aaron still hold the record?

53. Saskatchewan's capital : REGINA.

54. Now : TRENDY. Took a while to get past "at once."

57. Drew to a close : ENDED.

58. Go-between : AGENT. His challenge might be an EGO.

59. Tehran bread : RIALS. Remember two weeks ago? Orani, Irani and Yemenis?

60. Driller's letters : DMD. Doctor of Dental Medicine.  So why is is not DDM?

63. Yonder item : THAT. I paused for a while, thinking I should enter "THAr."

64. Hardy lass : TESS. "Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented" is the complete title.

65. Mars, to Greeks : ARES. Greek and Roman gods of war. Mars is the son of Zeus and Hera.

68. Dude : GUY.

69. Before, before : ERE.

70. Second notes : REsDo, re mi fa sol la ti do! 5:33

And with that note, I shall leave you until next time!

Hugs,
Marti

51 comments:

Lemonade714 said...

I really like this puzzle.SLOW LEARNER and I DIDN'T FIT IN are sparkly, the theme answers fun and Marti' s words and links fill out the experience.

Hurricane season is upon us, enjoy all.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Cute theme today. All the theme answers were common phrases, so I was able to throw them down quickly with only a minimum of perp help.

The rest of the fill was mostly easy, but I got hung up a bit in the NW. GOODEN was a complete unknown, I had trouble remembering PAINE and, like Marti, I wanted GDP at 33A. The last one was the hardest because even after getting PI_ at 23D I simply couldn't come up with anything reasonable. I've heard of CPI, but PIC didn't make any sense to me since I was thinking of FLICK as something you do with your finger and not as slang for a movie. I see now that PIC is an abbreviation of PICture, but shouldn't the clue indicate that an abbreviation is called for?

Ah well, a minor nit (pick)...

[referine]

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Fermatprime,
Click here for Paul's website Crosswordese. Click "Daily Email" to subscribe.

Anonymous said...

I was thrown off by "Drillers letters", thinking of Dentist, but typical degree is Doctor of Dental Science (DDS). Perps helped in the end.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Marti and friends. I had fun with today's puzzle. After getting COPY CAT, I was off and running. Lots of great, fun clues including the long fill of I DIDN"T FIT IN.

Some of my favorite clues included:
Rest of the Afternoon = NAP
White Collar Worker = PRIEST
Band Aid = AMP
Manhattan has Many High Ones = RENTS

As this woman shows, it is possible to find a cheap apartment in Manhattan. I don't think I could live this way, though.

Stay safe, Lemonade. We are now in that "5th season" of hurricanes.

QOD: Each man is in his way a treasure. ~ Robert Falcon Scott (June 6, 1868 ~ Mar. 29, 1912)

[pracee]

Anonymous said...

Got off when I put in bebes (french) for nenes, but eventually came around.

When I think of "etc.", I always think of Yul Brynner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JHH6iwgIek

thehondohurricane said...


Howdy,

So endth my goal of a week without a DNF thanks to DOPPEL GANGER, whatever the Hell it is. Failure came because of two letters. For 29D had ESt and 41D was -DO. One of these days I should get familiar with the Star Trek and Star Wars casts. They always seem to be causing me headaches.

Otherwise a fun puzzle that didn't slow me down at all. Many fun clues.

The CAYCE/NENES crossing was a SWAG. Really tried to make a case for EVOTi so Ninos would work. Ended up with EVOTE because nothing else made sense. CAYCE was a ????? , but I decided it must be OK.

Enjoy the day.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I zipped through this one, but had doppLEganger for a while. PEG fixed it. I don't think I've ever seen the letters DMD on any dentist's diploma. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure I've ever seen a dentist's diploma. D'oh!

Marti, thanks for 'splainin' RES. I had it, but didn't have it. And you're telling me that Larry Bird has retired? Who knew?

We're off on an adventure...

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

The theme was obvious early on, so I hoped that Doppelgรคnger would show up someplace - and there it was! Hand up for Bebes before Nenes. Spanish is not my strength. Forgot about Avalon until perps made it obvious.

Morning Marti, I'm with you - Elias was unknowable as clued!

For those who are keeping track: first we had Ed the Enthusiastic Blaster, in February, to loosen up some ornery rocks on my property. Then came Rob the Reticent Excavator, a man who doesn't say much but really moves dirt (and busted-up rocks). Now we've had Tom the Terrific Concrete Guy, and voilร  - we have us a foundation! Wahoo!

Mari said...

Good morning everybody.

Enjoyable puzzle, but a few too many sports referances for me. Other than the obligatory OTT, ERA and RBI I know nothing about crossword sports clues.

I liked the clues Hahtoolah liked.
Great words today: ALBINO, and DOPPEL GANGER.

Like 28-Across: I'M DONE. Enjoy your day, and stay safe.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Easier than many Thursdays, despite several unknown WEES! Thanks, Jeffrey! Really enjoyed this one.

Thanks, Marti, for explaining what I had but didn't understand (CPI, DMD).

I tried to make "oathe" work for TITHE! Duh!

Hahtoolah, I got claustrophobia just watching that Manhattan apartment link. I started the side link on the guy living in a dumpster and had to quit. I'm glad I live in the wide open spaces.

Lemonade, I'm anxious about hurricane season and I'm half a continent away. My oldest daughter & granddaughter are in Florida somewhere, scheduled to get home June 20. This is the daughter of a farmer who, never-the-less, never watches a weather report. She gets in some real predicaments. She headed north from Oklahoma and got caught in that first horrible storm last month. I tried to phone her and email her yesterday for her birthday. No contact.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler, for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, Marti, for the great review.

Is Jeffrey's last name spelled correctly? Looks odd. I would have thought Weschler.

Bounced around. Caught the theme easily. Got most of them easily once I had a few letters.

DOPPELGร„NGER is a complete unknown to me. Only took twelve perps. Could someone explain that word.

NENES was not easy. I thought that was a Hawaiian goose.

Wanted High RISES for 74A. That was my last corner. When entered RENTS it all came together.

TIP IN was clever. GOODEN was tough. Wagged it after a few letters.

Got my garden planted yesterday (finally). Today it is raining. Good for the garden. Still have some work to do on the fence.

Today I have to fix a lawn mower that lost the engine mount bolts. Then plant some plants for my wife's cousin. Hopefully the rain will abate.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

(bykdsca)

Husker Gary said...

Every section had a little challenge and the WAG bearD/Dmd crossing will take an explanation from our gentle lady Marti.

Musings
-I married an IDENTICAL TWIN, who is the SPITTING IMAGE of her sister and also…
-I can’t imagine the tension of typing to make a CARBON COPY with my keyboard skills
-Presidential DEAD RINGERS can lose their income after an election
-My uncle always called us kids little SAVAGES
-Etc., Etc. Etc. (:13)
-Ah, OAF, ERE and IRE - three of the Swiss Army Knives of crosswords (EKE, etc.)
-The shortest distance between two points on a globe (blue path) is not a straight line
-The Nebraska softball girls lost each game in the NCAA tourney because of a last inning ERROR
-ELIAS reports that Ed Grimes (who?) holds the MLB record of 17 consecutive games with an RBI. If CC knew that, I’ll buy everyone here a drink ;-)
-I've had kids do that low tech Earthquake scene too, Marti. The ensuing BART ride was better!
-My wrist should heal after V8 moment on TIP IN!
-STAND TO must be the opposite of STAND DOWN
-I tried Kiwanis – I DIDN”T FIT IN
-Par? What is that again? My teacher group is headed here today.

kazie said...

Great links in the blog today--thanks Marti!

I have heard the Aussie expression "ring in" as in "THAT'S A RING IN", but never knew the connection to two sided pennies. This must be a reference to old soldiers who still play "(YouTube explanation of) Two-up" on Anzac Day every year when they meet after the parade in Sydney. It's illegal on every other day of the year because historically people could lose so much money in so short a time. It involves throwing up two of the old pennies that were the largest coin we had before changing to dollars and cents. If they both land with the same side showing and you have bet on (backed) that side you won. Obviously, a "ring-in" would be an advantage to use for this.

My puzzling today involved quite a few WAGs because of unknown names: GOODEN/PAINE, CAYCO/NENOS, which obviously were wrong, and BEARD/DMD.

kazie said...

Abejo,
Doppelgรคnger is literally German for "double goer". It is used pretty much as we would use "double" in English, a copy, or "ring-in" for another person.

Anonymous said...

DTS is an abbrev of delirium tremens so shouldn't the clue contain an abbrev as well?

HeartRx said...

Morning peeps!

Dudley, that must be really exciting to see your new house going up. You must invite me over for the grand opening!! Loved your description of the workers! We are waiting for Paul the procrastinating fence fabricator to come and put a new fence around our property - it has only 2 months, so I guess I shouldn't complain!

Abejo, I always have to look very carefully at the spelling of Jeffrey's name, too! "Wechsler" is the German word meaning "exchanger" (wechsel = exchange.) So his ancestors may have been in the banking business - (or money laundering!) (^0^)

HeartRx said...

Anon @ 9:09, I think it is because "DTs" is usually said as the letters, rather than the full name. Just as "fax" has become standard lingo, and doesn't need an indication that it is an abbreviation for "facsimile."

Barry G. said...

Speaking of hurricane season, I just found out that the second named storm for this season is scheduled to be "Barry." Mixed emotions about that. Not that I want my name to be associated with a storm that causes widespread death and destruction, a la Katrina or Sandy, but I wouldn't mind seeing a few headlines like "Barry gains strength" or "Barry strikes fear in the hearts of many."

The last storm named Barry back in 1983 was little more than a tropical depression.

Vidwan827 said...

Thank you Jeffrey Wechsler for a very challenging puzzle. Couldn't complete it - but enjoyed it never the less. Thank you Marti for your charming commentary.

I've owned 2 Toyota Avalons, before moving a lil higher. My wife loves her Avalon. I'm sure she will be thrilled when I inform her, that the name is synonymous to a cemetery ....

My wife is a fraternal twin - so does that make her an asymmetrical, isomeric, double ? Personally, I thank my stars, every day, for these little differences - I don't think I could handle two of hers. One is quite a handful, by herself.

Have a nice day, you all.

Husker Gary said...

Just when you think it can’t get worse
-The driver in this week’s horrible drag racing accident that killed three 16 year old boys a half mile from here was a grandson of a former colleague of mine and had only been driving for a month and a half. Further, the ’66 Mustang convertible he was driving had been purchased new by my colleague and handed down over these many years as a sort of family heirloom. Lyle’s wife is incapacitated and in a wheel chair and they had lost a 3 year old daughter to leukemia when I started teaching with him. I’m sure he can trace his lineage back to Job.

Dennis said...

Barry, careful what you wish for. I can tell you from personal experience (Hurricane Dennis, '05) that your friends will besiege you with any newspaper/magazine clippings that have your name and words like 'blows', etc.

Lemonade714 said...

For those who did not know doppelganger, if only you watched How I Met Your Mother you would have seen it may times, as it is a sub-plot on the show. Trash tv teaches too.

H., can you call one room an apartment? I guess you walk around the city often.

Edgar Cayce first reached some fame by trying to locate the Lindberg baby.

Dudley said...

Marti - tell you what, bring a bottle of something and you don't have to wait til the big party!

As it happens, we do hope to throw a block party afterwards that they'll still be talking about years from now...

Misty said...

Wow! A Thursday (almost) speed run! Loved the theme and many of the clues--many thanks, Jeffrey. And you too, Marti, for the always fun expo. Loved your "Earthquake" story!

Only question: did you really last see a mimeograph machine in grade school? I'm pretty sure I used my last one when I was already in college. Either my schools were not techie at all, or I'm aging faster than I thought!

Like Abejo, I thought NENES were Hawaiian geese. I wanted to put NINOS or NINAS (El Nino? Doesn't that refer to a baby boy?)

Barry, hope you get a fun hurricane and not a disastrous one.

Dudley, that sounds like a terrific party coming up.

Thank you again, everybody, for the lovely anniversary wishes yesterday. They were all so sweet--and, Cross Eyed Dave, yours totally took the cake!

Have a great Thursday, everybody!

Abejo said...

Thanks all for clearing up DOPPERGANGER for me. I will never forget it. (ha ha)

Abejo

(ifitanc)

Lucina said...

Greetings, super solvers. Thanks, Marti, for your upbeat review.

And thank you, Jeffry Wechsler, fir a sparkling puzzle. I sashayed through most of it and knew CARBON COPY, SPITTING IMAGE and DEAD RINGER but came to a screeching halt at DOPPELGANGER where I had all the letters but no idea what it meant. Of course, it's synonymous with the other theme fill but ay, ay, ay, the German.

For some of you Spanish is a weakness and for me it's German and French.

I went through a phase of rabid curiosity about psychics and so have read Edgar Cayce's books. I still have them, I think.

Widwan:
AVALON is not a cemetery. It's a fantasy village where mystical phenomena occurred, including Merlin's birth and so is very special in the King Arthur lore. A wonderful book, The Mists of Avalon, contains all you would want to know about it.

Hahtoolah:
Like PK, I got claustrophobic just watching that living space. I couldn't live like that either.

I liked some of the cluing, same as Hahtoolah listed.

Have yourselves a thrilling Thursday!

Milton Berle said...

funny that you used a nicolas cage picture where you did as i've heard he has a huge DOPPELGANGER.

Sfingi said...

Liked it, though there were many things new to me.
Too much sports, but the expressions were on my wave length.

When I first run through I put Xs in front of things I don't knw, but can be Googled. Then as I solve, I turn the Xs to blobs. I began with 12Xs and ended with only 2 that I had to actually Google: ELIAS and ODO.

Also thought NENES were geese, but studied only German, Italian and Dutch.
Also liked SLOW LEARNER and DIDNT FIT IN at opposites,

I like puzzles that go this way, so right on Wechsler (never change, except to your DOPPELGANGER). I'll let Dudley deal with umlauts.

TTP said...

Hi sports fans !

Finished this puzzle very early this AM, but just like yesterday afternoon, it was heads down at work and little time for anything else.

A funny thing happened on the way to this solve. At about 32 minutes in, I was complete excepting the PA in PAINE, the CP in CPI, PIED in SPIED and GLOB in GLOBE. I inadvertently closed the window and lost it all. So I started all over and in about 6 minutes had reentered all of the answers, and automatically entered SPIED. I think I also must have spelled it DOPPleGANGER rather than DOPPELGANGER the first time through, because I quickly saw ILL, EGO and DAB, which gave me GLOBE.

AMP followed quickly for clever clue Band aid, and that gave me CPI which led to the slap on the forehead for both PIC and PAINE.

to be continued..

TTP said...

No problems or hesitation with Doc GOODEN or ELIAS Sports Bureau. NENES was a gimme since we've had it multiple times in the either/or fashion. It helped that I had NEN from the perps. On the other hand, ODO, ENNE, and CAYCE T-o-o-k...e-v-e-r-y...s-i-n-g-l-e...p-e-r-p!!

Thank you Jeffrey Wechsler and thank your Emporiumi ! I mean Marti ! Finally got to the writeup over lunch.

When I saw your theme link, I thought maybe you were going here SRV & Double Trouble 3:41. "She's my sweet little thing, she's my pride and joy."

Then I got to CPI and took that link and went off reading until now. Keep squading the truth JzB. Re your June 4th comments... The lack of relevance and context in (some) arguments is... well, TRENDY. Maybe it always has been.

PK, I think your daughter and I must share the same birthday. Hope you hear from her soon.

Anonymous said...

"Now : TRENDY"

Crap.

Steve said...

Very nice puzzle! Pretty much WEES. Great write-up Marti, and I'd have never noticed the 16x15 grid if you hadn't pointed it out - thanks for that!

Pookie said...

Hi everyone, Liked the theme and most of the puzzle, but crashed and burned in the South.
I was not on Jeffrey's wavelength for Dirty laundry, NY high RENTS
(RiseS).
Complete unknown for ODO and ELIAS.

How many abbreviations are too many?
I count 11: ETC,CPI,ENL,DTS,VAR,CNN, ESP, REG, PSU, RBI, DMD.
Seems like a lot to me.

Lemonade714 said...

HBDTY TTP, and many more.

Irish Miss said...

Hi Everyone:

Late to the dance due to haircut, errands, shopping, etc.

I enjoyed this puzzle even though it was a tad crunchier than a usual Thursday, but perps and WAGS saved the day. WEES about the theme and several great clues. Thanks, Jeffrey W. and thanks, Marti, for your fine efforts.

HG @ 8:31 - Making one carbon copy is no big deal, but making 4 or 5 is challenging, to say the least. I had to do this more often than I care to think about.

Enjoy the rest of the day. But no napping! (-:

CrossEyedDave said...

I had to look up the Capital of Saskatchewan, & Tehran bread, but otherwise got it done. Haven't we had doubles as a theme before? I seem to remember looking at these funny pics before:

Double DNF?

I think you can carry this Double thing too far...

An oldie, but a goodie

Doppelganger


I learned the meaning of doppelganger from this movie (original title was Doppelganger.) by Gerry Anderson of Stingray/Fireball XL5/Thunderbirds/UFO/Space1999 fame. The user review title says it all (Flawed but fascinating. Possibly the most underrated SF movie of the 1960s.) Imagine an undiscovered planet in synchronous orbit with Earth, but on the opposite side of the Sun. An expedition crash lands in presumed failure because they are still on Earth, yet things are different, & why is the writing backwards & can only be read in a mirror???

Jim in Norfolk said...

I liked today's offering, even though I had to look up ODO and PSU (I thought PSU must be too obvious). Even then I missed NENE. I was looking for NINA or NINO. Is anyone here fluent in Spanish? When I did my post-puzzle postmortem, it looked like this is Portuguese for tot, and means boyfriend in Spanish (nena for girlfriend).

Argyle said...

We had the NENE discussion before. LINK

Yellowrocks said...

TTP Happy birthday for yesterday. I hope you had a wonderful day.
Happy anniversary, Misty and Mister.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Tough go today. I needed perps to get the perps. It finally all came together though.

Really excellent puzzle, great clues and sparkling fill. What more could you ask for?

Marti -

Imagine my surprise when I clicked that link. I don't have many answers. Just lots of questions, even more strong opinions - oh - and, of course, snark. Thanx!

Tigers won today.

Strange White Sox - Mariners game last night. Scoreless for 13 innings; then each team scored 5 runs in the 14th. Sox finally won 7-5 in the 16th. Yikes!

Cool regards!
JzB

Lucina said...

Jim in Norfolk:
NENE, as Argyle pointed out has been discussed in the past. It is the only form; there is no NENA form. It is a term of endearment for a baby.

Argyle:
I thought of you a day or so ago when the Jeopardy! answer was ARGYLE.

TTP:
How did I miss your birthday? I hope you had a wonderful day.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Enjoyed the puzzle and appreciate the skill, talent, and artistic sensibility that went into constructing it. Nothing to add to what has already been said. Best wishes to you all.

Manac said...

Husker Gary,
Thank you. That and her academics are two reasons I am so proud of her.
Those were no $60 batting gloves ( $15 at best) but the composite bat was a bit more :~)

Dudley @ 7:38
Now what you need is Manac the Magnificent to build it. But alas, I think you may be out of my commuting range. Oh well...

Bill G. said...

The puzzle and write up were very pleasant ways to spend some time.

Does it ever seem to you like some of the people who make it in show biz aren't too bright? Maybe they are bright but put on a not-so-bright act. Maybe they aren't very bright but are funny and appealing. Or maybe they aren't very bright but got lucky. Three that come to mind are Steve Harvey, Owen Wilson and Tracy Morgan.

PK said...

TTP: A belated Happy Birthday! Being a Gemini goes along with the theme today. Maybe Jeffrey Wechsler & Rich planned that. I have a niece born on June 6, too. Both girls have big charismatic personalities and are artistic.

Misty said...

Hope I'm not too late to offer PK and TTP wonderful, wonderful birthdays! Hope you had lovely celebrations with your families, and much happiness for all the good years behind you!

Lucina said...

BillG:
I offer an observation on your comment about the intelligence of some celebrities. They might seem to be less than bright, but think of what it takes to reach the top of that profession. I believe it's more than just dumb luck. They have to be canny, intelligent, able to choose proper agents and other people with whom to work.

I've heard the same about Sylvester Stallone. But how can a person write, direct, and act in a movie which wins awards and not be highly intelligent. It might be an act.

Dudley said...

Manac - Thanks for thinking of us, but we have Dave the Determined Builder on the case already.

We also have a case of decision fatigue. Wow, there are lots of things to decide...and we're just starting.

fermatprime said...

Hi, all!

Great puzzle and write-up, Jeffrey and Marti!

Really liked the theme!

Dentist horrible yesterday. More bad news. Hairdresser today, after 6 months. Back really killing me.

Happy belated birthday, TTP!

Cheers!

Bill G. said...

I missed giving birthday wishes too. I hope you guys had very excellent days!