google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, September 20, 2013, Jeffrey Wechsler

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Sep 20, 2013

Friday, September 20, 2013, Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: "A" growing family. No A words, though.

For all of you who have noticed (or bemoaned) our recent run of Friday definition puzzles, this week one of our new regular constructors, Jeffrey Wechsler, gives us a progression of clues for grid spanning fill in another variation of the definition theme. I enjoyed this one immensely, as it featured lots of nice intermediate original fill, like,  ADAGIOS, ADMIRER, ALL HERE, BIG LOVE, GIGGLED, HIDEOUT, I BET YOU, I'M IN AWE, MANACLE, SMEAR ON, SUB-ARID, SWIVELS, USELESS, WE HAD TO. Of course when you have grid spanners, there will be some sacrifices, and JW chooses partials, abbreviations and inital-isms as his poison, so let's do our thing.

17A. A : HIGH LETTER GRADE.(15). My oldest went through college with nothing but A's.

27A. AA : TWELVE STEP GROUP.(15). Alcoholics Anonymous.

44A. AAA : US MOTORISTS CLUB.(15) American Automobile Association.

55A. AAAA : VERY THIN BATTERY.(15). I do not think there is any initial-ism here. Just a QUADRUPLE A.

Across:

1. Breadth of fresh hair? : WIG. It always disconcerts me when I do not get  1A.

4. 2000s HBO drama set in Utah : BIG LOVE. You want polygamy, you get polygamy.


11. "Figured it out!" : A HA. The best moment for a solver.

14. Longtime Parlophone record label owner : EMI. "Electric and Musical Industries Ltd was formed in March 1931 by the merger of the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company, with its "His Master's Voice" record label, firms that have a history extending back to the origins of recorded sound. " Per wiki, never heard of Parlophone, but how many three letter record labels were there?

15. Valentine sender : ADMIRER.

16. Submerge : DIP.

20. 2002 World Series champs : ANGELS. Anaheim? Los Angeles? California? They bought Pujols and Hamilton on the downturn.

21. Pawn : STOOGE. Nice word, but tricky clue.

22. Author Carnegie : DALE. The Power of Positive Thinking man.

23. CPR provider : EMT. CardioPulmonary Resuccitation from an Emergency Medical Technician.

25. Library sect. : BIOGraphy.

32. Venerable ref. : OED.

33. Moving line on the ground, maybe : ANTS. Nice visual ...................................................

34. Places to perch : ROOSTS.

35. Rosebud, notably : SLED. A Citizen Kane reference.


36. Lean and sinewy : WIRY.

37. Good thing to pass : MUSTER. From the military inspections.

40. When Bloomsday, which celebrates Joyce's "Ulysses," is observed : JUNE. This coincides with the date in the book. LINK.

41. "Just __ figured!" : AS I.

47. Profound : DEEP.

48. 32-Across cousin of arch. : OBS. Obsolete which is a cousin of archaic.

49. River through the Czech Republic : ELBE.


50. Canadian brewery : LABATT. Very popular beer in Buffalo.

53. Doughboy's helmet : TIN HAT. Tinman makes another appearance.

58. Prefix with tonic : ISO.

59. Restraining device : MANACLE. Nice old fashioned word.

60. Carnival setting : RIO.


61. Messenger developer : MSN.

62. Office chair mechanisms : SWIVELS. Also not a word you see often in the crossword world.

63. Email suffix : EDU.

Down:

1. "There was no choice for us" : WE HAD TO. A nice series of words.

2. "That's mind-blowing!" : I'M IN AWE.

3. Laughed nervously, maybe : GIGGLED.

4. Scene of a lost glass slipper : BALL. Ladies, were you Cinderella?

5. Time to beware : IDES. Be careful Julie...

6. Clock-setting std. : GMT. Greenwich Mean Time.

7. Stewed : LIT. There are so many ways to express being drunk.

8. Handel opera written in Italian : ORESTE. A now time for our musical INTERLUDE.(4:56).

9. Not hor. : VERTical.

10. Consequently : ERGO. Latin.

11. Slow movements : ADAGIOS. JzB want to take this one?

12. Place to lie low : HIDEOUT.

13. Make like : APE.

18. Command to Fido : HEEL.

19. Manhattan variety : ROB ROY. A manhattan (a rye drink) made with Scotch. Can't waste pinch with all that sweet vermouth.

23. Abbr. for dating enthusiasts? : ESTD. Established, seen on many buildings.

24. Hood et al.: Abbr. : MTS. Another recurring theme for the week?

26. Common cellphone feature, briefly : GPSGlobal Positioning System.

28. Manservant : VALET. Jeeves anyone?

29. Italian : gennaio :: Spanish : __ : ENERO. January.

30. Patterned cloth : PRINT.


31. Sticks with a horn : GORES. Short but very BRUTAL (0:36)  example, use your discretion in watching.

35. Visit : STOP BY.

36. Milquetoast : WUSS.

37. Pie material? : MUD. Yum, oh you meant literally.

38. Of no help : USELESS.

39. Apply liberally : SMEAR ON. Did any of  you all think of

40. Foresail : JIB.

41. Present and accounted for : ALL HERE.

42. Moderately dry, climatewise : SUB-ARID.

43. Challenging opening : I BET YOU.

45. Twisty pasta : ROTINI. There are many, many kinds. MORE than I knew.

46. It's mostly made of zinc : CENT.

51. Some NCR devices : ATMS. Automated Teller Machines

52. Spring occurrence : THAW.

53. Starbucks order : TALL. Which is small.

54. Followers: Suff. : ITES.

55. Pep : VIM.

56. Service abbr. : NAV.  To keep the Village HAPPY.(4:01).

57. Pre-A.D. : BCE. A real mixed metaphor, as Before Common Era, is used by those who do not accept Anno Domini.

A quick shout out to Mangesh  who in a collaboration with Doug Peterson created the NYT today. He was our first regular from India.

Well,, like I said I really enjoyed this challenge. I missed Happy Mid-Autumn, but for those who are in their sukkahs, enjoy. LINK.  Have a great week, thanks JW, lemonade out.


Notes from C.C.:

1) Further to what Lemonade said earlier, congratulations to Mangesh on his NYT debut. Please check his interview with Wordplay here. He has a LAT coming up next week also.

2) For those who enjoyed George Barany's Turing tribute puzzle, he co-constructed today's The Chronicle of Higher Education puzzle. Please click here. The first one: "Great Dane". Unfortunately, only puz file is available.


79 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Fun Firday puzzle. Nice theme and challenging, but not impossibly so. I managed to get most of the theme answers pretty easily, but struggled with TWELVESTEPGROUP. I figured the clue was referring to Alcoholics Anonymous, but kept trying to fit ADDICTION or ALCOHOLIC or RECOVERY into the answer.

Other minor stumbling blocks today included:

* Had no idea that SWIVEL was an actual mechanism; I thought it was just a description.

* Wanted SEMI-ARID. Heard of SUB-SAHARAN, but SUB-ARID just seems wrong.

* Did not know ELBE, which made the crossing with SUB-ARID that much harder.

* I know ENERO very well. Had no idea about gennaio, however. Finally made a guess after getting some perps.

* ORESTES was another semi-educated guess. Had no idea Handel wrote an opera called that, but was familiar with the mythological character.

* Had WIMP instead of WUSS for awhile, which made OBS very hard to see.

[UrchhPr]

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Boy, the first two downs were three-word entries. Not an auspicious start, in my book. I was dreading what would come next, but it turned out just fine.

Hand up for WIMP/WUSS. I also tried SAHARAN before SUBARID appeared. Otherwise, the rest of the puzzle was pretty straight-forward. Didn't Gennaio run for VP at one time?

pas de chat (from last night), yes I was finally able to hear Alma Mater. Thanks for the lesson. I could hear "Allen, Allen" as well. I think Marti "forced" him to read the blog yesterday.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. Challenging but fun puzzle. Not as intimidating as I feared. I knew I was on the right path when I immediately thought of WIG for the Breath of Fresh Hair.

My favorite clue was Pie Material = MUD.

I knew that Bloomsday was in JUNE (June 16 to be exact) only because the husband of a good friend is a James Joyce scholar.

Jeff Guinn recently wrote a BIOgraphy about Charles Manson. Guinn claims that Manson was heavily influence by DALE Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Today isDALE Chiluly's
http://www.chihuly.com/home.aspx birthday (1941). If you aren't familiar with his glass work, take a look.

QOD: Sex appeal is fifty percent what you’ve got and fifty percent what people think you’ve got. ~ Sophia Loren (Sept. 20, 1934)

[terrtrma]

HeartRx said...

Good morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.

Fun write up today, lemony. I liked your little line of ANTS...

This one was a real challenge for me, but only because I kept shooting myself in the foot. I plopped down “awesome” at 2D, so that entire corner remained blank until the bitter end.

Then I put “hang out” instead of HIDEOUT at 12D. Another corner left waiting…

At 23D I put “stay at” then “STOP at” before I finally put STOP BY. A third corner went waiting in the meantime.

At 42D I entered “semi***” hoping to get a toehold in the last corner…NOT!!

So I continued talking like a pirate today until I finally changed all my first guesses. I finally got the SW and worked my way back to the top to finish it. And I did like the clue for WIG, especially since it was almost the last thing I filled in…

TGIF!!

thehondohurricane said...

Hello from Dodo land,

The farther I got into today's puzzle, the less knowledgable I became. VERY THIN BATTERY did me in along with MANACLE & SWIVEL. I was trying to come up with some type of Lottery for AAAA. Had Lent for 52D and wouldn't let go. airintowLooking at the solution, Thin Battery seems a stretch. Tiny Ok, but Thin? I dunno.

Otherwise, the rest of it went along smoothly with only a minor hold up or two. Learning moment for a technology nerd: Did not realize cell phones has GPS capability.

See ya Monday.

Yellowrocks said...

A worthy challenge. I progressed slowly, but steadily. It was great fun to have a puzzle that takes plenty of concentration and effort. Fun blog, Lemony.Thanks for explaining sticks with a horn. I liked your line of ants.
I didn't know BIG LOVE which took five perps and a wag for the O. ORESTE, also 5 perps and a wag for the O.
I've seen LABATT in the beer case, but never tried it.
Hahtoolah, I, too, read the Jeff Guinn bio on Manson. It is interesting the sinister use he made of Carnegie's book.

SUBARID is actually a term in climatology.
"Devised by the American climatologist and geographer C. W. Thornthwaite, this climate classification method monitors the soil water budget using evapotranspiration.[11] It monitors the portion of total precipitation used to nourish vegetation over a certain area.[30] It uses indices such as a humidity index and an aridity index to determine an area's moisture regime based upon its average temperature, average rainfall, and average vegetation type.[31] The lower the value of the index in any given area, the drier the area is.

The moisture classification includes climatic classes with descriptors such as hyperhumid, humid, subhumid, subarid, SEMIARID."

AAAA BATTERY, THIN as a slender cylinder, not flat.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler, for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade. for a fine review.

Wow! This puzzle seemed daunting when I first looked at it. I think my first word was VERT at 9D. Got OED for 32A. Lucked out and got WE HAD TO for 1D. Then I had a foothold. WIG, GIGGLED, etc.

LABATT was easy for 50A. I sometimes drink that when I am near Lake Erie, but only when it is provided at an event. When I am buying, it is Yuengling.

Wanted SLATHER for 39D, but LABATT and DEEP gave me SMEAR ON.

TIN HAT was east. That gave me CENT.

This puzzle worked out much faster than most Fridays.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

(diifebol)
(yofpas)

Abejo said...

Montana:

How's your week going?

Abejo

kazie said...

Had to pick my way through again today. I have never been inside a Starbucks, so whenever they come up it's a WAG for me.

Also have never heard of LABATT, had STOP IN for BY, so wasn't making sense for AAAA. Am not familiar with LIT or STEWED for drunk either. Also not familiar with the new fangled BCE, so wracked my brain for ever wondering what the third letter would be there. What do the freedom from religionites say for AD? Age of --?

Was also wondering what NCR stands for in relation to ATMs. Googling just brings up the abbreviation until you read the Wiki entry: National Cash Register Company. I'd never heard of it.

I had heard of Parlophone. Maybe it was more British?

No other problems.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Ah, Jeffrey, you stumper extraordinaire! Almost flipped my WIG before I got it, even when I had GIGGLED right away. I shoulda had breakfast before I tried this, but I prevailed and TADA.

Didn't understand LIT, MSN, or OBS until our hero Lemony 'splained them. Thanks also for the explanation of SUKKOT which was new to me.

Thanks also for the Handel who celebrates in song better than anyone else. Never heard of ORESTE.

I have such a problem with some abbrev. 9D I thought "hor" was HORrible (also a bad clue) so when VERT appeared, I was aghast.

19D the Manhattan thing: "chowder" didn't fit, then I got a "B" and tried "caBbie". I need to start drinking so I know these things. Good excuse?

Didn't know EMI or LABATT. But hey, I knew ELBE.

Last to fill were the "L" and "V" in LOVE. I don't have HBO. Poligamy is to marriage what gluttony is to dining. However, there were times on the farm when I had four little kids, a big garden, a big house to remodel... I would have welcomed a "sister wife".

PK said...

Marti, last night when Irish told you to whip up something special for Allen, I got a mental flash of you in boots and leather corset with a little dominatrix whip. Is that how you "made" Allen read the blog? LOL! A belated happy birthday to Allen.

Lemonade714 said...

They do not use AD, they use CE, (Current Era) to avoid any religious slant.

I also find HANDEL very soothing.

PK thanks for the image burned in my brain of marti and her whip, a different Kinsey than I had in mind.

desper-otto said...

Kazie, the freedom from religionites just say CE (common era) rather than AD, and BCE (before common era) rather than BC. Almost all science-oriented TV shows use these terms.

C.C., that Great Dane puzzle was much, much easier than the Turing tribute with it's eight two-letter blocks which became the "key" for decoding H R HALDEMAN into ALAN TURING. I thought that puzzle was brilliant. I'll bet it took a while to a suitable name that was the same length and had repeating letters in the same locations.

Mari said...

Good morning everybody! This one turned out to be a DNF for me. I enjoyed it and spotted some great clues, but I just couldn't work out the NW corner.

I liked:
- 37D: Pie Material? MUD
- 31D Sticks with a HOrn: GORES
- 43D: Challenging Opening: I BET YOU

I hope you all have a great day and a spectacular weekend!

TTP said...

Shoot. Went to correct my typo and inadvertently lost my post. DOH !

Oh well, great job Lemonade and great job Jeffrey.

Abejo, I also had slather, then smother, then I let the perps dictate SMEAR ON.

I couldn't get 1A quickly, but got 1D almost immediately.

desper-otto said...

Lemon, I guess you were posting while I was cogitating.

In my previous post, there should've been a "find" between "to" and "a suitable."

Hahtoolah said...

PK: I, too, had the same image of Marti and her husband!

Also, from your comment about giving a gift and not receiving acknowledgement. A couple of years ago my husband and I flew to the wedding of the daughter of my close junior high school friend. We gave the couple a nice and rather expensive gift. Never received any acknowledgement of either our presence or the gift.

BCE has appeared in the puzzles before. It is used by non-Christians. When I got my bar license from the US Supreme Court, I was given the option of having AD or CE as the year.

Husker Gary said...

Subbing and must blog on the run! 6th grade ANGELS today. VERY CHIC EATTERY/VERY THIN BATTERY cost me two cells. Hey, CAV worked for service and I don’t wanna talk about ACMS.

Musings
-Lemon’s summation paragraph works for me!
-The original big WIG
-Polygamy? Is having more women telling what to do all that desirable?
-There is some satisfaction seeing teams like the ANGLES try to buy a pennant instead of building a team like the ROYALS
-That ADMIRER on the web who wants to give you $30,000,000? Don’t count on it
-TV’s most famous self described WIRY character
-Grandkids love my SWIVEL chair
-MacArthur thought WE HAD TO invade China. HST fired him.
-VA LAY’ or VAL’ ETTE?
-Yeah, getting GORED in Pamplona sounds like a great idea
-Joann and her sister used to add eggs from the hen house for their mud pies until mom decided that was not a good idea
-Gotta give a spelling test!

Yellowrocks said...

Just because I find it charming and playful. I submit the following:

The Railway Train by Emily Dickinson.

I like to see it lap the miles,
And lick the valleys up,
And stop to feed itself at tanks;
And then, prodigious, step

Around a pile of mountains,
And, supercilious, peer
In shanties by the sides of roads;
And then a quarry pare

To fit its sides, and crawl between,
Complaining all the while
In horrid, hooting stanza;
Then chase itself down hill

And neigh like Boanerges;
Then, punctual as a star,
Stop--docile and omnipotent--
At its own stable door.

Boanerges: a name Jesus gave to the disciples James and John, meaning "sons of thunder"; also, a loud preacher or orator;
I think, in this case, it refers to a thundering orator.

OwenKL said...

Theists can read CE and BCE as "Christian Era", while others read it as "Common Era", so it's not as controversial as it could have been. At least no one suggested having one designation marking the start of the year on the IDES of March, as it was in Caesar's time.

48A I read as 'OED equivalent for architecture', so figured OBS meant 'Oxford Building Standards' or some such until I read the blog. Had to depend on perps for a lot of starts, and even then didn't know what the answers meant at OBS, EMI, MSN, ENERO (nor gennaio). In fact, I still don't know what MSN is. I used to work with National Cash Register, so ATMS came easy, but I grew up in Portland, OR, and ashamed I didn't get MT Hood before perps revealed it.

River Doc said...

Happy Friday everybody!

TDNF today. Got stuck, so turned on the red letters to show me that AERIES was wrong. Filled in ROOSTS and was able to finish in the NW at last....

Hands up for SAHARAN and TINY....

Also had MOLSEN for LABATT, since I thought it was LABATTS....

Favorite clue = Breadth of fresh hair....

Gotta ADMIRE the four grid spanners in today's puzzle....

Never will forget the 2002 WS, since the Giants manager (Baker) let his starting pitcher (Ortiz) go a couple of batters too long in Game 6, and in doing so allowed the Rally Monkey Halos win the game and eventually the Series....Arrrrrrrrgh!

Wonder if those TIN HATs were OSHA-approved....

Doc Out....

Tinbeni said...

Lemon: Excellent write-up & links.
Jeffery: Thank you for a FUN puzzle.

Just wouldn't get off VERY TINY (THIN) BATTERY for the longest time since 'Spring occurrence' THAW isn't something that happens here in the Tampa Bay area.
(What's a THAW ... probably has something to do with ice ... ugh!)

My faves today, of course, were LABATT, ROB-ROY and LIT. (Who would've guessed?)

Sunscreen is something people SMEAR-ON very liberally here at the beach.

Husker: Good one with WIRY. Barney Fife was my first thought also.

A 'toast' to ALL (and the winning New Zealander's) at Sunset.
Cheers!!!

Al Cyone said...

I had MOLSON before LABATT but perps fixed that. I have to take issue with describing a ROBROY as a "Manhattan variety". While it could be described as sort of a "Scotch Manhattan" (and I've even done so when instructing apprentice bartenders), it's no more a "variety" of a Manhattan than a Manhattan is a variety of a Rob Roy. A dry Manhattan, on the other hand, is is a variety of a Manhattan.

[15:11]

HeartRx said...

PK @ 8:21...ummm, I think I will plead the fifth on how I "made" him read the blog.

Steve said...

Loved the puzzle. Great write-up, lemonade. I believe the first Beatles records were released on the Parlophone label in the UK.

Yellowrocks - the author T.E.Lawrence (he of Lawrence of Arabia fame) was an avid motorcyclist, and he named his bike Boanerges.

kazie said...

Thanks to D-Otto and OwenKL for expanding my knowledge of BCE and CE. I really have a problem with all the PC changes we have to remember lately. It's hard enough at our age to remember what to call things in the first place!

Irish Miss said...

Hi Everyone:

For the most part, I thought this was a tad easier than a normal Friday. Enjoyed the theme and cluing. Thanks, JW, for a challenging but doable offering and thanks, Lemony, for your always concise and informative write-up.

It's supposed to reach 80 degrees today but our streak of beautiful weather ends tomorrow when the rains come in. Oh well, I'm sure we'll have some nice days in the coming weeks and into October.

I read that Sheldon, Leonard, and Penny are trying to negotiate a salary increase from their present $300,000.00 per episode to $1,000,000.00. That's a lot of

Have a great day.

HeartRx said...

I just did George Barany's CHE puzzle. How does he come up with such clever ideas?? I particularly like the circles in this puzzle - they really were pertinent to the theme. Now I'm off to do Mangesh's.

Irish Miss said...

What happened to "That's a lot of Bazingas!? That's what I typed but Bazingas disappeared!

desper-otto said...

Irish Miss: Autocorrect probably thought you were referring to bazongas, and decided that was too racy for this blog.

Lucina said...

Hola, amigos y amigas! You never fail to impress me, Lemonade, with your knowledge and wit. Thank you.

I love a puzzle that forces me to think beyond the norm and this was it! Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler.

Some fill, very little, actually, was straightforward and literal but most required imaginative design which is a bow to the creator of this fine grid.

Since I don't have HBO, BIG LOVE is not something I watch, but I'm familiar with it. Then I just sashayed around here and there until slowly but surely it came together.

The bottom held me hostage for a while as I was passing the BUTTER until MUSTER came along and MUD fell in which filled out US MOTORISTS CLUB, most of which was already set in picket fence fashion.
(Memories of Clear Ayes).

Originally I thought VERY THIN BATTERS would be 65A but of course it wasn't and the light bulb went on with I BET YOU and BATTERY emerged.

But now for the careless endings which happens when I don't carefully check my work. BIOS instead of BIOG gave me SPS and since my first fill at 41D was ANSWERS, I failed to erase the last S and missed EDU. Oh, but it was satisfying to finish anyway.

I wish you all a very fine Friday!

Lucina said...

PK:
I will now forever have that image of Marti!

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I had to work hard to solve this puzzle. Half the time I didn't know what the heck the clues were talking about, such as Not hor and cousin of arch. And some of the answers, even after I got them filled in, made no sense to me, such as MSN.
On the other hand, I thought some of the clues and answers were very clever and funny, such as ANTS and WIG, for which, by the way, I originally wanted something like MIL (one thousanth of an inch.)
I thawt I THAW a puthy cat.
Another boat race (or 2) today.
Best wishes to you all.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Good day, all!

An appropriately tough xword for Friday. Happy to say "AHA!"

Most of it fell into place, although slowly, but then I stumbled around for a long time with 55A, the southern-most and, for me, toughest of the "A" theme clues.

I had OSTERY for my ending because my initial "Starbucks order" was TO GO. Then, after I changed that to TALL, I had MASTERY, or so I thought, because my answer for "Followers: Suff." was ISTS. It was only after getting the first 2/3 of 55A, with VERY THIN, that I wised up to add BATTERY and adjusted the perps appropriately.

Well, that's a pretty boring tale, but maybe some aficionado can use the info for his/her master's research in Puzzle Theory. You're welcome!

CanadianEh! said...

Not bad for a Friday puzzle. Was not on the right wavelength for Rosebud. Wanted MOLSON for LABATT - both good Canadian beers! Also wanted TINY instead of THIN Battery. We have CAA here so clear cluing for Auto Association was helpful. We got rid of our pennies in 2012 and now we round up or down to the nearest nickel. Since 2000, they were 94% steel (98% zinc before that). It was apparently costing more to make them than they were worth!

Ol' Man Keith said...

BTW, the LA Times misprinted the clue for 31A. Readers only saw "Sticks with a" and then the number 35, which was obviously misplaced from the line below.

Whatever has become of the compositors of yore? Egad. Fellows of the Stationers Register would have found such slapdash bumbling appalling!

Anonymous said...

Would a slapdash bumbler notice the clue was 31D (not across) with the misprint?

Dudley said...

Irish 11:33 -

Wow, I had no idea that actors' fees could get that big. It doesn't seem rational. I hope they settle for something less.

PK said...

Keith, A really good proofreader is a thing of the past. Now too many communications are in abbreviations and code. I proof my stuff, but this morning I couldn't spell polygamy to save me even though my MAC red-lined the spelling I had.

When I saw "sticks with a horn", for some dumb reason, I was thinking of a drummer who also played a trumpet. Then I rationalized if he was sticking with his horn he wouldn't fool around with a drum. When I got GORE, I thought I didn't know he was a musician. Boy, do I get loopy when my blood sugar gets too low.

Lucina, Mea culpa! I feel so bad about tarnishing Marti's image. But I probably just gilded it with some of the guys.

Alex Vratsanos said...

Reading about TV stars' salaries, I think it's worth mentioning that Jerry Seinfeld turned down NBC's offer of $5 million an episode to return for 1998-99.

More importantly, I really do appreciate that many of you have taken the time to George's and my puzzle. We both put a lot of time and effort into it, and I think it has paid off... I hope you've enjoyed it.

Maverick said...

Fun Friday puzzle, with lots of misdirects. Was I the only one who was taking the 17A "A" to The SCARLET LETTER? I too had MOLSON as my 1st choice for a 6-letter Canadian brewery. (I personally prefer Moosehead, which also happens to be Canada's largest fully Canadian brewer). Army ants? ::::::::::::::::::::::

Pookie said...

Today was way more fun and successful than my Thursday bumbling.
Finished it all and finally got THIN instead of Tiny BATTERY.
Kept trying to fit auTO instead of MOTORIST'S.
Fusili, or Rotelli and finally ROTINI.
Molson first before LABAAT (sp.)
Corrected to LABATT.
BUT, Got it done!
L.A. Times wrong clue on 31D
31 Sticks with a 35
Visit....Whaaa?
D-Otto, glad you got to hear Alma Mater.

Irish Miss said...

Dudley @ 1:25 - Ashton Kutsher is paid $750,000.00 per each episode of Two And A Half Men. Draw your own conclusions. (-:

Bill G. said...

Hello everybody.

I really enjoyed this puzzle. Dunno why exactly but almost everything clicked with my brain and the cluing seemed clever to me; 'Good thing to pass' >> MUSTER for example. I have never heard of an AAAA battery but it seemed plausible. Jeffrey seemed to have the knack of cluing the multi-word answers in such a way that they just jumped into my head right away.

Congrats Dodgers!

Jayce, I too hope to watch some racing today. The boats are like cheetahs on the water. The scenery is terrific. Thank goodness for high definition TVs!

Alex Vratsanos said...

Also, George has a puzzle celebrating a special sports anniversary today... find it at the top of the list here: http://www.chem.umn.edu/groups/baranygp/puzzles/. Enjoy!

Lucina said...

PK:
It's ok. I'm sure Marti will grace us with a photo of herself in full ski regalia and that will cure me. She is that elegant.

Many years ago when the cast of Friends went on strike demanding $1,000,000 per episode I quit watching it. It wasn't THAT good. I believe they won, though.

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, I usually don't do the Friday puzzle--or if I do, I seldom finish. I was in the latter mode today.

Hands up for all the errors others made. Slather, Saharan, and Drop by were all tried before the right answers came up. I also had some errors others didn't. I tried Cam(camera) then Aps, before GPS finally came up for Common Cell Phone feature. My cell phone doesn't have any of those features, so I have to rely on what I've seen and heard!!

Wig was my favorite clue today. It was also my first entry. But that sure didn't help with two of the three long downs in that NW corner.

I'm suffering from lack of sleep, so that's my story today and I'm sticking to it. This was hard going today, but I loved the theme, and knew that some phrase for battery, our insurance company, AA and grades had to be involved. It was just a matter of getting enough crosses to suss out the correct wording.

Have a great day everyone.

Chickie said...

Hatoolah, We've noticed that the social media sites--Facebook, Twitter, etc. have become the new thank you centers for gifts.

Our friends children (Mostly 20 somethings) have posted pictures of a gift received, the name of the person who sent it, and the thank you for same on Facebook. That seems to be the norm these days. A bit tacky to my thinking. What ever happened to a good old-fashioned thank you note? Probably wouldn't take much more time to write out a simple thank you and send it off by snail mail.

Yellowrocks, I loved the poem you posted today. Keep them coming.

D-Otto, I thank you too for the CE and BCE explanations. That last E in BCE was really hard to understand.

I think I'll go out and make some mud pies--garden--some this afternoon. That should help to keep me awake until time to start dinner.

Chickie said...

Oops! Friend's Children. My story still holds. Lack of sleep.

LaLaLinda said...

Hi Everyone ~~

For the past few days I've been occupied with aches, pains, and appointments. I've managed to keep up with the puzzles, although I usually don't get to the blog until later in the day.

CC. ~ I really enjoyed your TWINS puzzle and also the twin write-ups, Steve and JazzB.

Today's puzzle went fairly smoothly - just a few write-overs and second guesses, most of which have already been mentioned. I really liked the theme and the many multi-word answers. It's fun to have to think things through and consider clues from a different angle.

What a great photo of the NE group at their Monday gathering! You had great weather and it seems you had a wonderful time.

I've been working on the extra puzzles that C.C. was kind enough to link for us ~ lots of fun - keeping me busy!

Pookie said...

Well, another chance to link my favorite ballet!

ADAGIO from GISELLE
C.C. Did you celebrate the Moon Festival last night?
Chinese student gave DH a mooncake from tao tao ju. I think that's the bakery? It had a brown filling and egg yolk, Not overly sweet and a little salty. It was GOOD!

中秋节快乐 ?????

LaLaLinda said...

Lemonade ~ I forgot to thank you for your write-up. I always enjoy the detail in your explanations and of course, your comments regarding the answers!

Lemonade714 said...

I have no firm opinion as to celebrity compensation, as in an absolute world the idea of being paid $22MM to do a tv sitcom for 5 months, and then received residuals the rest of your life seems indefensible; on the other hand, the people paying obviously are making more than that, and it inherently the American way to ask to be paid the most you can justify. But then why do teachers makes so little, and politicians get life pensions? Tiger Woods changed golf forever, raising the prize money many fold, but is he worth the $1BB he has generated?
As a professional, do you use feel shy in asking for fees?

Misty said...

Sadly, a DNF for me this morning. Got most of it, but just couldn't crack the bottom middle, even though I was close. And this wasn't even a dreaded Saturday Silkie! Oh well, you win a few, you lose a few. But I did get SUB-ARID, go figure!

And I did absolutely get JUNE 16, 1904, for Bloomsday, the date on which James Joyce's "Ulysses" is set. Great link, Lemonade--I attended many of those Bloomsday celebrations over the years. I published my last book on "Ulysses" in 2011, almost forty years after I first read it in graduate school. Hahtoolah, see if the husband of your friend can guess who I am? I was President of the International James Joyce Foundation from 2004-2008. And no, my name isn't really Misty.

Have a great Friday, everybody!

PK said...

The worst thing about stars receiving that kind of big bucks is that more advertising has to be sold to pay for it. Then we are expected to sit through all those inane ads for stuff we're never going to buy anyway. How much insurance, etc., do you need?

HeartRx said...

Lucina @ 3:03, here ya go!

Bing said...

Hello Margot!

Any relation to Rich?

CrossEyedDave said...

Breadth of fresh hair?

Reading the Blog, everyone seems to get this??

Favorite clue???

Dang it! this is REALLY wiggin me out! Can some please explain how 1A breadth of fresh hair can be a wig????

(I just don't get it...)

(unless you mean width of replacement hair...)

Oh!

Double Dang-it!

(I much prefer an Aha! Than an Oh!)

Lemonade714 said...

MN,

My son and dil were at SUNY Buffalo, it is where their Masters Degrees are from. We will keep your secret.

Lucina said...

Thanks, Marti. I love it!

My, we do have some seriously professional people on the Corner.

buckeye bob said...

C.C. -- This works for me:

http://games.washingtonpost.com/games/daily-crossword/

Hahtoolah said...

Chickie: if the Bride had made a Thank You on Facebook, I would have been satisfied. I agree it's a bit tacky, but even more tacky not to acknowledge a gift. I learned my lesson, though.

Tinbeni said...

Well those Kiwi's will have to wait until tomorrow to earn their Sunset Toast. lol

geez, that 1st Race today, with the lightest winds to date in the regatta, was a 'major yawn'...
(Good thing for Oracle when the 40 minute race-limit hit ... and they were only about 1000 meters behind).

So tonight, Team Oracle gets my Sunset Toast ...
Hell, I'll 'toast' them NOW!
Cheers!!!

Qli said...

A DNF for me, but I had a lot of fun reading the blog! Got a kick out of ANTS.

One little nit; wasn't Norman Vincent Peale the Power of Positive Thinking guy, not Dale Carnegie?

Now to gear up for the Saturday puzzle.

Argyle said...

Yes, you're right. Dale was How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Anonymous T said...

G'Eve All:

WEES - My experience was closest to Misty's; bottom center just wouldn't break - DNF. My unique errors were ALA for 13d and SMS* for 26d - lots of ink smudged over there.

Hahtoola - Love Chiluly's work. I saw his exhibit in SF a few years back. I was more worried about the 4 & 6 yr old boys that someone brought. I was just waiting for Crash!

LEM - thanks for the writeup. I see Friday Snark is still on duty. I don't feel shy about my rate. I do the work and add value.

I did know BIGLOVE as DW watched it. I hated it; it always brought those hypotheticals that you don't want to answer:

"Do you want more than one wife?"
"Do I get final word in the house?"
[pause - I can see the answer is still no]
"No, dear, one of you is more than enough.
Ouch!"

Cheers, -T
*SMS - Short Messaging Service for text messages.

Hahtoolah said...

Misty: send me an e-mail.

Avg Joe said...

Some days it's far more interesting being a lurker on this board than a participant.

This has been one of those days.

Lucina said...

Bill G:
In the better late than never category: one or two days ago you asked which scientists we admire and I meant to post that but got busy and forgot so I'm doing it now.

Marie Curie is a scientist I hugely admire for her work on radiation and with her husband discovering two elements, polonium and radium. She was the first woman to receive a Nobel prize. Her daughter also received a Nobel in chemistry.

That's five for me, so until tomorrow.

Avg Joe said...

Rarely being one to shrink from a challenge, here's the best I've got for today, K. An offering by Steve Earle:

Amerika V 6.0

Avg Joe said...

OK, K. One more pearl, then I gotta go. Nighty night.

Iris DeMent

Vidwan827 said...

Lemonade, very nice blog. I am late, but I managed to complete the puzzle, with a little help from my online friends. (There, there, that's not so difficult, is it ..... ? )

I've seen two Israeli movies in the past week, one is Tehilim ( psalms, songs of praise ) 2007, so-so movie, 5 / 10.

And the other Ushpizin (. Sukkoth guests -) 2004. Pretty good movie , 8 / 10.

You can read about them in Wiki.

The latter movie, impressed on me, that the Etrog - the citrus like fruit MUST be chosen, very, very, very carefully ........ for its shape, it's beauty, it's closeness to perfection, ......

..... It's skin must be perfect with no bruises, and it's pistil end, the protruding nipple, pitom (?) , must be " on" it, and must be intact ...... Oy, oy, oy ..!!!

Anyway, that movie, was very enjoyable.

I once bought an Etrog-like fruit, in southern India, .... It weighed about 4 pounds, and had, in all, only about a teaspoon full of lime juice ..... And a 3 inch thick rind.!!!! Made a pretty big twist for my vodka drink.....

Have a nice weekend, and an enjoyable holiday.

Lemonade714 said...

V. Great citrus story. Sorry for the misinformation about Dale Carnegie.

For all the nice words, thanks. For my fan, really?

As for no thanks for wedding gifts, manners must be taught

Yellowrocks said...

PK, honey, I enjoy your posts very much. Tonight some snark signed in as PK. An alert administrator immediately took down the post. Did you know that if you turn blue you do not have to fill in the form or add an avatar? You need not reveal any more info about yourself than we already know. There will be no additional exposure whatsoever and snarks will not be able to use your screen name.

aka thelma said...

I don't think anyone has commented on this as of yet.... #61 A..... for those that said they didn't get it....... MSN is Microsoft Network and they developed "Instant Messaging" that allowed you to send to and from (to more than one person if you wanted) immediately all on the same screen... seems that was some time ago now... :)

Enjoyed the puzzle.... thanx Jeffery and Lemonade.... I enjoyed it of course because I finished it.... :)

CED... I didn't really understand wig either.... and on top of that I was reading it as a "breath" of fresh air.... doh..... and I still eventually wrote in wig... :)

Have a gret day and evening all.... and Honor our Veterans today and everyday.....

thelma

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks for the challenging puzzle, Jeffrey, and thorough expo, Lemon!

I, too, don't get the WIG thing. Nonetheless, I persevered and got the ta-da w/o cheating.

Alex has left and depression has worsened. Must be having really fitful nightmares as poor Charlie wakes me up but does not want to go out! Chris's 2 month trip has collapsed as her husband is in too much pain to drive. (This trip was his hare-brained idea.) She should be here Saturday so that I will not have to continue my swimming regimen alone. Harvey still laid up with very high blood pressure. Have not seen him in 2 months. Alex suggested that we go see him but there is really no place to sit in his living room. (He has a hoarder-like small house.) Thanks to anyone who bothers to read this epistle!

Think TBBT stars are really greedy. Not sure that I want to continue to watch.

Cheers!

Misty said...

Fermatprime, so sorry to hear about your depression. Sometimes it seems as though all the sad things that could possibly happen just converge at the same time. I wish we could say something to help, but can only offer caring and a hope that you can find courage for dealing with all this sadness and disappointment.

Bing, no, no relation to Rich, as you could probably guess from all the DNFs and goofs in the course of my solving. Lemonade, totally cool that your son went to SUNY Buffalo--a great university, to my mind.

See you all tomorrow when we tackle the tough Saturday puzzle!

Bill G. said...

Yep, the Kiwis got unlucky in the first race. The US looked like world beaters in the second race. Go figure.

Lucina, good choice.

Dudley said...

C.C. - What D-Otto said way back at 9:03.

That Alan Turing tribute puzzle was a delight. Thanks for linking it! Next time you see George Barany, please congratulate him for me.