google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday October 13, 2013 Peter A. Collins

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Oct 13, 2013

Sunday October 13, 2013 Peter A. Collins

Theme: "Cross Country" - Two countries which share two letters are merged in each theme answer.

 23A. Border sharers of Europe? : SANMARINORWAY (San Marino & Norway)

 41A. Border sharers of Europe and Asia? : SPAINDONESIA (Spain & Indonesia)

 52A. Border sharers of South America and Asia? : CHILEBANON (Chile & Lebanon)
 
 69A. Border sharers of Europe and Asia? : UNITEDKINGDOMAN (United Kingdom & Oman)

 94A. Border sharers of Asia and Africa? : NEPALGERIA (Nepal & Algeria)

 101A. Border sharers of Asia? : MYANMARMENIA (Myanmar & Armenia)

 124A. Border sharers of North America and Asia? : JAMAICAMBODIA (Jamaica & Cambodia)

How observant of Peter to find this different approach to a country theme. He's one of the most innovative constructors in the country. You never know what to expect in a Peter A. Collins grid.

This is his Xword Info photo. Looks like some kind of music fest to me.



Across:

1. Family nickname : MOMMA

6. Waltz king : STRAUSS

13. Artificial surface football injury : TURF TOE. Commonly associated with players who play on artificial turf. Pain in big toe joint.

20. Places : AREAS

21. Kitchen worker's wear : HAIRNET

22. In the zone : ON A ROLL

25. Slows : RETARDS

26. Ignore : SNUB

27. Dyeing occasion : EASTER

28. Named person : DESIGNEE. You would think it's designatee.

29. Harry Potter's Hedwig, e.g. : OWL. I'm glad the clue is not asking for Harry Potter's owl. 
31. Building near a track, maybe : STABLE

34. End of many addresses : COM

35. Energize, with "up" : AMP

38. Frosty coat : HOAR

46. Ranee's wrap : SAREE

48. Relax, with "out" : VEG

50. Burn covering : SALVE

51. Birth of __ : AN ERA

55. Acronymous WWII gun : STEN

56. Three-star off. : LT GEN. No google. Guess who's the first ever LT GEN in the US?

57. Give a charge to : IONIZE

58. "Go placidly __ the noise ...": Ehrmann : AMID

60. With 17-Down, "Cross Creek" Oscar nominee : RIP. And TORN (17. See 60-Across). It's clued as a name because  TORE (13D. Hurried) is also in the grid. Ideally one of them should have been removed. 

62. Shore thing : SAND. Sure thing.

63. We're-together link : IN THIS. A rare 6-letter partial.

64. Start of something big? : MACRO. Prefix for "big". Microsoft = Microcomputer & Software

66. Dirt road feature : RUT

68. Jeans giant : LEE

74. Poetic body : ORB

77. E. Berlin's Cold War home : GDR (German Democratic Republic)

78. Chapel topper : SPIRE

79. Some Great Lakes natives : MIAMIS. Is this related to Miami?

83. Bit of salon artistry : COIF

85. "Gross!" : EEW. I use EWW.

87. Dirty : SOIL

88. Sun Bowl city : EL PASO

89. It merged with Molson in 2005 : COORS. Now Molson-Coors.

91. With 97-Across, like many catalogues : MAIL. 97. See 91-Across : ORDER. Do you use "catalog" or "catalogue"?

96. Recess retort : AM TOO

99. Sigma preceder : RHO

100. Music rights gp. : ASCAP

104. "__ it get to me" : I LET

106. Surprised cries : OHs

107. Thrice, in Rx's : TER. Learned from doing xwords.

108. Makes impure : TAINTS

110. Madonna, according to the stars : LEO. Not the stars I had in mind.

112. Boorlike : CLODDISH

116. Actress Headly : GLENNE. Unknown to me.


119. Dazzling duo in Dover? : ZEDS. Two Z's in Dazzling.

123. Pub-crawl : CAROUSE

127. Enigma machine user : ENCODER

128. Rapidly : IN A SNAP

129. Heavenly helper : ANGEL. Argyle is my Angel.

130. Most prized : DEAREST. And Dearest.

131. Enjoys a few ribs? : BANTERS. Jazzbumpa would love this clue.

132. Gaggle members : GEESE

Down:
 
1. Serious service : MASS

2. Setting for Camus' "The Plague" : ORAN. Gimme for veteran solvers.

3. It's taken after an order is given : MENU. Big "D'oh"!

4. Fast ballroom dance : MAMBO

5. Simile center : AS A

6. Branch of Islam : SHIA

7. Salon services : TANS

8. Civil disturbances : RIOTS

9. Stops at the Sorbonne? : ARRETS. French for "stops".

10. Opens, in a way : UNWRAPS

11. "__ of Love": 1989 film : SEA

12. Porker's place : STY

14. Paris-based cultural org. : UNESCO

15. Reasoned : RATIONAL

16. Archaeologist's finds : FRAGMENTS

18. Renaissance faire word : OLDE

19. "Anything __?" : ELSE

24. Change places, briefly? : RELO

28. Regis University city : DENVER. What are they famous for?

30. Aftereffect of an overlong run, maybe : WHEEZING

32. Cote sounds : BAAS

33. Light tune : LILT

35. Computer code acronym : ASCII

36. Minorca's capital : MAHON.  Oh, look, it's also called Mao (Below Shangri-La). Never heard of it.


37. Lithograph, e.g. : PRINT

39. Co-star of Richard in "The Night of the Iguana" : AVA (Gardner). Richard Burton.



40. Distinguish from the original, as a corrected file : RE-NAME

42. "Casino" star : DE NIRO

43. "Love Story" author : SEGAL (Erich)

44. 2011 East Coast hurricane : IRENE

45. History Channel owner : A AND E. Tricky to parse.

47. Philanthropist Yale : ELIHU

49. Flip out : GO MAD

53. Other than : BESIDE

54. Minor furniture damage : NICKS

59. Dullards : DRIPS

61. Pound : PUMMEL

65. Often sautéed veggie : ONION. I made Apple & Sage pork the other day, Jayce. Recipe here. I used one Honeycrisp. We have lots of foodies on the blog: Steve, D-Otto, Marti, TTP, Lucina, Anon-T, Pizza Dave, Irish Miss & Dudley. Barry G seems to cook a bit. Never heard of Lemonade talks about cooking. Argyle does not cook at all.

67. Pregame party site : TAILGATE

70. Quake follower : TREMOR

71. Rosey of the Rams' Fearsome Foursome : GRIER. From Wiki: "After Grier's professional sports career he worked as a bodyguard for Robert Kennedy during the 1968 presidential campaign and was guarding the senator's wife, Ethel Kennedy, during the Robert F. Kennedy assassination. Although unable to prevent that killing, Grier took control of the gun and subdued the shooter, Sirhan Sirhan."



72. Oracle site : DELPHI

73. Mullets hide them : NAPES

74. William of __, logician known for his "razor" : OCCAM

75. Not at all tight : ROOMY

76. Organisms of a region : BIOTA

80. First name in medieval traveling : MARCO (Polo)

81. Basketball Hall of Famer Thomas : ISIAH. He always stumps some on our blog.

82. They're sold in bars : SOAPS. What's your favorite soap brand?

84. Knocking spot : FRONT DOOR

86. Friendliness : WARMTH. Made me think of Creature & LaLaLinda. They don't post often but they read us every day.

90. "This guy ..." : SOME DUDE. Cool!

92. Notion : IDEA

93. Director Riefenstahl : LENI. Also learned from doing xwords. She did some propaganda films for the Nazi.

95. Common letters in an email address : AOL

98. Auctioneer's helper : RING MAN. New term to me also.

102. Wakes up : ARISES

103. "About time!" : AT LAST

105. Grades K-5: Abbr. : ELEM

109. La Rive Gauche locale : SEINE. The Left Bank.

111. Imperiled layer : OZONE

112. Sent an email dupe to : CCed

113. Penny or passing follower : LANE

114. Aquatic predator : ORCA

115. Barcelona-born architect : SERT. José María Sert. Known for his murals at 30 Rock.

117. Tar Heel St. : N. CAR

118. Siestas : NAPS

120. Lawn border : EDGE

121. Peters out : DIES

122. Rep's goal : SALE

124. Three-sided sail : JIB

125. California's Santa __ : ANA

126. Major interest, slangily : BAG. Oh, hockey is not in my bag then, Splynter.


Speaking of Splynter, here is a new photo of the Stud with his UPS truck.



C.C.

51 comments:

  1. Greetings!

    Swell puzzle, Peter! Great expo, CC!

    Took me too long to figure out the theme. Not enough perps. Finally got it and the rest was easy!

    Bedtime for me!

    Have a great Sunday!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh. MIAMIS mostly filled by perps. MAHON complete unknown. Changed one word three times but don't remember which one!

    You are a handsome devil, Splynter!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good morning C.C. et al.

    Neat theme, but most of it went unfilled until I finally got a toehold with UNITEDKINGDOMAN. (“What the…???”)

    I liked seeing MACRO and MARCO near each other. I got a little hung up by putting deCODER instead of ENCODER at 127-A. But CC(ed) showed me the way. (As she always does, LOL!)

    C.C., the apple and sage pork chops sound great. And this is the perfect season to make apple dishes. Oh, and my favorite soap is liquid Neutrogena – not the BAR. It makes a great shower gel, too.

    Today we have to start working on the rental house we just bought next door. First order of business is cleaning out the gutters. Ugh! I hope you all have a “fun-er “ day than I have planned!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Morning, all!

    Couldn't figure out the theme for the life of me for the longest time, until it suddenly clicked and things got a whole lot easier. I blame the first theme answer since I just am not familiar with SAN MARINO as a country (but I do know about the city in California), so I wasn't sure what the trick was.

    Once I got the theme, things went pretty smoothly. Some stumbling blocks included RINGMAN (never heard of it), BAAS (was thinking doves and had COOS), MIAMIS (forgot this was an tribe), ARRETS (gotta love French -- I thought it was ARETES), MAHON (another complete unknown) and GLENNE (vaguely heard the name, but the spelling just didn't look right to me).

    [aybroard]

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  5. Good Morning, C.C., and friends. This wasn't my favorite Sunday puzzles, but I can appreciate the work that went into devising the improbable country borders.

    Shore thing = SAND was my favorite clue.

    Lots of misdirections. I wanted Go Ape instead of GO MAD, because my answer has appeared so often recently in the puzzles.

    I wanted Paris instead of SEINE for the location of La Rive Gauche.

    I wanted Unlocks instead of UNWRAPS.

    I thought of Skeletons instead of FRAGMENTS.

    I wanted COOs instead of BAAs for COTE, because it is generally a home for pigeons, but apparently other small domestic animals.

    I remember Rosey GRIER for his needlepoint. I was unaware that he was a body guard when Robert Kennedy was killed.

    SEA of Love was a thriller starring Ellen Barkin and Al Pacino.

    That George Washington was the first Lieutenant General of the US was a learning moment for me, C.C.

    UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

    QOD: Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides. ~ Margaret Thatcher (Oct. 13, 1925 ~ Apr. 8, 2013)

    [roseekl]

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  6. I struggled until, like Barry G., the theme clicked. In the end I had to resort to the most shameful of tactics, trying random letters on the keyboard to find the final (TaDa!) letter: the "G" in RINGMAN (new to me) and GLENNE (who?).

    [32:54]

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  7. Good morning.

    No real problems with this one other than the spastic bluetooth keyboard for my tablet. Sometimes it feels like typing a letter, sometimes it doesn't. I'm sure there must be some rhyme or reason to it, but I can't fathom what it is.

    Couldn't remember if it was OMAN or ORAN. I think people have trouble with ISIAH because it's pronounced the same as ISAIAH, but spelled oddly. Why do I think the three-times-a-day code is TID rather than TER? C.C., your onion dish is making me hungry...

    I'll bet Splynter is using that photo on his Facebook profile. He looks very debonair. Sorta like Ernie Kovacs.

    Marti, I solved the gutter problem. I found a mother looking for work for her teenage son on our city message board. I hired him to clean my gutters. Two hours and thirty bucks later it was finished!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Finally got it, without peeking or googling, but with a fair amount of red-letter help. Composing the limericks wasn't too hard (except for coming up with snappy punchlines -- my favorite was SPAIN's), but 7 of them took time, so I'm awfully late today.

    There was a lady in SAN MARINO
    Who plied her trade in the casino,
    Till a fellow from NORWAY
    Resisted her foray;
    He was Gay, but no way could she know!

    A senorita from SPAIN,
    Would always cry in the rain
    "My love, I can't see ya
    In far INDONESIA,
    But your friends here are easing my pain!"

    An Andean native from CHILE
    Where the altitude is quite hilly,
    When traveling to LEBANON
    He must keep his helmet on
    Else the oxygen level knocks him silly!

    An artist from the KINGDOM, UNITED
    To the Middle East was invited.
    He drew a crowd (as per plan),
    For his show in OMAN,
    But his drawing a riot incited!

    A Sherpa, from far-off NEPAL
    Had no sense of direction at all.
    Once lost in a cafeteria,
    He ended up in Algeria --
    He fly up if he ever did fall!

    A monk in old MYANMAR
    Let his astral-self wander too far
    He came down in ARMENIA
    Diagnosed: schizophrenia.
    Now his soul he keeps trapped in a jar!

    The tourist-strewn beach of JAMAICA
    The sand looks like diamond-cut silica.
    It seems like Utopia,
    But in ancient CAMBODIA
    The temples are carved with erotica!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good morning everyone.

    Once I saw how the theme fill was supposed to interlock, the solve went easily. Thought the theming was creative.
    ORAN in ALGERIA was a major supply port for the allies in WWII.
    MIAMI - is a place name in Ohio; Miami River (in SW Ohio), Miami County, and they have a Miami University.

    Have a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Good Morning:

    Once I got the theme, the solve went very quickly, but I went astray several times: Liz/Ava, coos/baas, decoder/encoder, Ger/GDR, loose/roomy, and (don't even ask) ignite/ionize.

    Kudos, Mr. Collins, and many thanks, CC, for your commentary. My fav soap is Dove, unscented.

    Very nice photo, Splynter, reminded me of a younger and MUCH thinner John Goodman. But I can also see DO's reference to Ernie Kovacs.

    Hatoolah, very timely quote.

    Have. Nice Sunday.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Good morning all.

    I was thinking that I didn't have my thinking cap on this morning, and should have had some coffee, but I see that some of you have had similar thoughts. 1:15:25. A cup of coffee surely would have helped after a restless night.

    Had a pretty reasonable number of fills after the first pass. However, a couple of those were woefully incorrect, such as having RUG BURN instead of TURF TOE for "artificial field injury", and SHUN instead of SNUB. Those two areas held me up.

    First theme fill was NEPAL ALGERIA as I started to get that area completed. That gave me the clue to study and fill the others, which sped up the play.

    In addition to being a member of the Fearsome Foursome, I remember Rosie Grier being on some of the talk shows and talking about his needlepoint. We had Deacon (Jones) last week. Haven't had Merlin (Olsen) for awhile. Can't remember the fourth for sure, but his initials were LL (I think).

    RING MAN was not a problem. I would conservatively estimate that I have been to a thousand auctions. Mostly antique and estate auctions. An Auctioneer can't see every bid on a hot item, and can't put down the mic to raise an object for better audience view.

    Fermatprime, maybe that word you changed 3 times was the same as mine ? "Give a charge to" was a tough fill for me, having EXCITE at first, and then IGNITE, before finally seeing IONIZE. D'oh !

    CC, I bookmarked that recipe into my recipes folder. I am a fan of roasted pork shoulder served with applesauce.

    Au revoir ! Hope everyone has a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  12. DENMARKINORWAY looked so right but I couldn’t figure out that darn I, MADS and OREN were doing. SANMARINO was a very satisfying AHA moment.

    Musings
    -Husker’s starting quarterback has not played for three games because of TURF TOE but Huskers are still ON A ROLL
    -What process might require you to RETARD the spark?
    -We went to a very awkward wedding last night that involved SNUBS, a groom whose oldest daughter was the same age as the bride, all manner of garb and where the bride’s real and step dad were not there.
    -The wedding did have a SAND ceremony
    -Joann passed on the bachelorette pub crawl
    -A bad smell led us to a missed EASTER egg in June a few years ago. EEW!
    -HOAR (Jack’s relative) frost came here for the first time last night
    -Desiderata is a fav. It’s a lovely listen (4:16)
    -Marty Robbins’ lovesick cowboy got shot for returning to EL PASO
    -I LET IT GET TO ME is a sometime bad mantra of mine
    -These MENUS are usually left on the table
    -My Cote residents were COOing at first
    -I have a Word template for my musings here but RENAME it when I save it
    -Auction Ring Men
    -Off to a brunch for last night’s wedding. I’m packing heat! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Peter! I got the theme with the first one and thought it was clever after I quit trying to fit together countries that actually adjoined. I was almost finished except for the SW block when the puzzle disappeared. Aargh! I called it up & just redid the bottom tier so I'd see the SW, but didn't get to study it. Lots of WAGs that paid off. Some unknowns. Hey, I knew OCCAM & ELIHU.

    Thanks, C.C., for your time & efforts. I didn't parse A AND E right. I thought it was a funny name.

    Didn't read Harry Potter. Saw only the first movie so didn't know hoot about the OWL's name.

    Never having run in my adult life, I didn't know about WHEEZING. Gasping & fainting didn't fit.

    I rarely cook more than eggs since I live alone. I used to cook dinners for 25-35 relatives and haul delicious meals to the wheat harvest fields. I'm retired.


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  14. RINGMAN was a gimmee. I've been involved in preparing for four auctions for family estates. I've also been to a good many auctions. Without good RINGMeN to catch the subtle bids, the auctions would stall. However, I sometimes thought people against whom I was supposedly bidding were non-existant and the RINGMAN was faking it to drive up the bids. In our rural neck of the plains, a lot of antique/used goods dealers frequent the auctions and the auctioneer's crew know who is likely to bid on certain items.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi there~!

    I caught on at NEPAL/ALGERIA, but SAN MARINO was slow to show. Did not get my Ta-Da because I had macHo for "start of something big"; dHips did not make any sense.

    I had never heard of Ernie Kovacs, and so I just spent some time looking at his bio and images from TV shows gone by - all the stuff I grew up on got their inspiration from him....I can see the resemblance, D-Otto~!

    And, once again, for 67D. and all you football tailgating, back-yard fun and sporting types, you must check out this challenging game coming in November (yeah, the date got pushed back - and I'm promoting Mike's company, not my appearance~!)

    ORDER YOURS TODAY~!!!

    Quarterback Touchdown

    Splynter

    ReplyDelete
  16. PK
    Thanks for the mention yesterday (and I liked your Friday midday comment a lot). I still read every blog, though often a day or two late because it ruins the solving experience if I read before I get the puzzles, which my wife prints at her work and brings home.
    I haven't commented much lately because (contrary to my anon shadow/tormentor) I don't feel as though "everyone has a right to my opinion". I do have a couple though (opinions), and when they gnaw at me sufficiently, I spit them out. :)
    As I've said before, your remembrances of farm life (especially those of more private nature) always resonate with me. There's more to "Life on the Farm" than John Denver ever suspected. Keep 'em coming.

    ReplyDelete
  17. pun intended

    sign in word - gadless. Close.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hello, friends. I'll read your comments later, C.C.

    Not much time to post except to say how much I enjoyed this puzzle by Peter Collins. What a clever theme! It was a nice surprise to work out the overlapping countries.

    It took me longer than it should have because of some missteps but they eventually were corrected and voil`a, I finished.

    Have a very special Sunday everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Glenne Headly- Wife in Mr. Holland's Opus. Also from The Mini series Centennial. Usually appears as a brunette.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hello Puzzlers -

    A bit here and a bit there, plus catching on to the theme early-ish, and I finished a no-peeky. Quite unlike yesterday.

    PK: hand up for enjoying your anecdotes about farm life. I bet it'd be interesting to sit by a fire and listen to more.

    Cheers All

    ReplyDelete
  21. This was a puzzle where the theme answers were a breeze and the fill was trickier-- partly because my son and I like to play trivia games at Sporcle.com. We especially like the geography quizzes and so little countries like San Marino, Andorra, Liechtenstein are always showing up as well as Kyrgyzstan--but I've never seen that in a crossword.

    I smiled at Hatoolah's comment, because I remember Rosey Grier as the huge football player doing needlepoint.

    ReplyDelete
  22. -The brunch was delicious but the atmosphere could be sliced along with the banana nut bread. Bride and mother were not talking and groom’s family might as well have been eating back in Ottumwa, Iowa. Mom was drunk at last night’s dance and answered daughter’s admonition that she should not be taking down the tables by herself by saying, “Well his family sure as hell aren’t going to help” for which she might as well have used a bullhorn. I didn’t need a STEN or a SNEE but it was uncomfortable. Veni, Vidi, Edi, Cessi – I came, I saw, I ate, I left.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Happy Sunday everybody!

    What Others Said about COOS, DENMARK, etc. TDNF today - had to turn on the red letters in the SW....

    MARCO Polo - Most Annoying Pool Game Ever....(imho)....

    COORS and Molson merged? I thought it was Coors and Miller that merged a few years ago.... I guess it's one big world-wide brewery these days - thank God for IPAs....

    HG - ignition timing, another lost art....

    My RELO is coming along nicely. Should be permanently moved by year end....

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  24. TTP: Word I kept changing was eventually COIF!

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  25. ernitIlOn prescriptions you usually see:

    Take T.I.D. for three times a day.

    ReplyDelete
  26. d-otto, the gutters were so packed with debris, that there was even a small maple sapling growing in one spot! But it's all done. I even installed gutter guards. These nifty rolls can be cut with scissors, and fit nicely onto the gutter. Hopefully, I won't have to do that chore again for a looooong time!!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Good Afternoon All:

    I wanna play, but just another old NYT in our paper today. I sent a letter to the reader-rep, but got the same non-response as from my congressman. /sigh...

    Re: Football - a good buddy in HS was all-state 1st string offense and all-state 1st chair viola (I still have the tape of him doing William Tell's overture). He was also an Eagle Scout in my troup. Great guy. All people have multiple dimensions...

    See you Monday when HOU gets a LAT to play with...

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  28. Windhover, good to hear from you again. You are right, farm life is a lot more interesting than city kids know. Everything is so verdant and burgeoning with life, things can be a lot steamier and healthier than you'd find in a night club. The men have to be strong and smart to survive the life, so are usually sexy too. Working together on dirty, sweat-provoking projects can be a real turn-on. Then there are the vibrations of big machines that resonate throughout the entire body. My, my, my!

    Thanks, Dudley for your kind comment.

    Marti, I hope your gutter debris was dry for removal. Some of that wet stuff REEKS so bad your COIF would stand on end without the gel for days. I need to get some of those gutter guards. My yard man walks on the low roof and uses a blower to clean gutters. In fall, he can't keep up.

    I'm filled with joy now that my front grass has finally come up. Over two weeks to germinate! I have never planted grass this late before.

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  29. HG, reading about the nightmare wedding, one wonders why they didn't elope.

    One wedding I went to, the bride's father was very upset about the cost of the extravaganza the mother insisted on having. People leaving the dinner & dance were coming around to thank him for his hospitality. His reply was, "Well, I'm broke now and I'm leaving (my wife) tomorrow." They all laughed, but I had heard he was serious.

    I finally pulled him aside and had a heart-to-heart talk with him. I told him his daughter's marriage wouldn't stand much of a chance if she thought her wedding caused them to split up. I asked him to hang on for a year to give the young couple a chance. That was over a decade ago and the parents celebrated their 50th about a year ago. The kids are still together too.

    Dad scared the mom so bad, threatening to leave, she got a job right after the wedding to pay some of the bills.

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  30. PK, great story about the man who was upset about the extravaganza for his daughter's wedding.

    ...and yes, there was plenty of "gunk" in those gutters. I even found an earthworm. So tell me, how in the h*** did he get in there??? I can picture him with full climbing gear, nailing pitons into the side of the house to hoist his way up to the top. He must have had some really bad neighbors down in the garden, to go to those extremes! (Oh wait, I think I know what happened...)

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  31. Yea! Windhover:
    Echoing PK, how nice to see you!

    Judging from all the comments I had much the same experience as the rest of you though I thought the themes were easier than the surrounding fill,especially those pesky three letter ones.

    C.C., thank you for the GDR explanation as it was a big question mark for me.

    ARRETS stopped me in my tracks for a long time until NORWAY bridged it all with SPAIN. That was fun.

    Have to agree with desper-otto about ISIAH. It seems to need an extra syllable but it's perpable.

    Dove is my favorite SOAP, either in bar or gel form. Caress is a close second.

    I may try your recipe, C.C. One of my favorite hobbies, in case no one has noticed, is to try new recipes.

    I'm off to a party with my granddaughter. An aunt of my nieces is visiting from Virginia and when we last saw her early this year it was for her parents' funeral so this will be a happy occasion.

    TTP:
    I went back to read your remarks about Quayle the other night. Interesting.

    Bill G:
    Very likely I won't watch Sunday morning until tomorrow.

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  32. OwenKL:
    You are in top form! I really chuckled at today's limericks.

    PK:
    Yes, that is very interesting about the lavish wedding. You must be a persuasive advisor!

    ReplyDelete
  33. HeartRx said: "So tell me, how in the h*** did he get in there???"
    Maybe a senile older robin forgot it had the worm in its beak and dropped it on the roof. Don't some birds regurgitate food to feed the little ones? Maybe he was 'en route'

    PK - RE: farm machinery. ROTFLMAO.

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  34. Hi everybody! This took me a while but I enjoyed the process. Thanks Peter. When the puzzle was CCed, I enjoyed that too. :>)

    Gary, I had an old (1953) BSA that had a spark retard so you didn't get your ankle broken when you kick-started it.

    PK, regarding your wedding story, here's how I approached that problem. When our daughter started planning her wedding, I gave her a check for what seemed like a generous amount. I told her she could choose to spend it how she wanted. If the wedding cost more, she was responsible. If it cost less, she could keep whatever was left over. It worked out very well for both of us. No fuss, no arguing.

    I know I shouldn't, but I enjoyed these videos from late last night so much that I'm posting them again for those few people who might not have seen them.
    SpaceX hop

    Tractor/drummer

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  35. FermatPrime,
    I guess the odds were against us that we would each have the same word.

    HG, OMG ! Well, let's hope the kids knew what they were doing. 50 % according to Judge Judy...

    PK,
    Please try to keep it PG-13. (3:17PM) :>) Great wedding story.


    HeartiMarti, I think you are right about how the worm ascended to that great height.

    Lucina my dear, 'twas not I that spoke of Quayle. Although, there was a feature story on one of the cooking shows this early AM about a quail and eggs over easy brunch that I watched during my restless night.

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  36. Marti, are you sure it wasn't just a skinny caterpillar?

    That Gutter Guard stuff looks great! $4-/20 feet?, The stuff they sell in NJ they are asking for $4.00/foot!

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  37. Bill G & weddings: we did the same thing for what groom's families usually pay for. (Rehersal dinner was about our only obligation.) Handed them a check and said the same thing you did. Youngest son eloped to nearby Reno and used the money for washer/dryer and small kitchen appliances.
    We did, however for one wedding, rent a huge house in Kauai, and told all of our kids that if they could get to Hawaii, lodging for a week was free. Also, big kitchen meant food costs could be kept low. All our family came.

    Montana

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  38. OMG!!!!!!!!!

    What a game between the Patriots and Saints tonight!!

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  39. Marti,
    That went down to the wire!
    Never say die. Go Pats!
    I won't mention anything about your tight end:-)

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  40. Manac, my cats have all left the building....I think I screamed too much!! (^0^)

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  41. Somewhere Tom Brady is dancing. Well, maybe not, but I bet his wife, Gisele , is.

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  42. Hello everybody. Been a busy and fun weekend at the Jayce household, keeping me away from doing any puzzles until this afternoon. First I tackled yesterday's Silkie and couldn't finish it. Then the Sunday NYT, only because it's right there in front of my face in the newspaper. Then today's LAT puzzle, the theme of which I liked, and which I was able to completely solve with no lookups. Took me an hour, though. I like taking my time on puzzles, like sipping wine, to savor the flavor. Speaking of flavor, apples with pork are good together. So is sage on pork, And on lamb. And on turkey. Rosemary is good on chicken.

    Love your Cantinflas mustache, Splynter.

    Glenne Headly was positively ravishing in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

    No Google. I'm going to guess the first Lt. Gen in the USA was George Washington.

    More later.

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  43. Looking forward to seeing what food Commissario Montalbano is going to be interrupted from eating tonight.

    Went wine tasting yesterday with a couple of other couples. Lots of fun, but tiring after 6 hours. Tasted some $50 and $60 wines, and I hate to admit it but I didn't like any of them. I felt the wine masters were trying too hard.

    Irish Spring and Dial soap. BARS of soap.

    Best wishes to you all.

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  44. Barbara buys cakes of soap at Trader Joe's. They are lavender and we both love lavender.

    Barbara's a big fan of Hallmark movies. I've seen a few of them and I like a few of those I've seen. Their brand-new one is about romance in the Dead-Letter Office. I recognized a couple of the actors right away. So far (15 minutes in), the story looks very enjoyable.

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  45. For Agnes:

    When Fall Comes to New England by Cheryl Wheeler.

    And the other thing is Monday, not Tuesday.

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  46. Marti, once we had what looked like fruit fly worms eating something that was definitely not fruit. I asked the veterinarian if that could be possible. He said, "With worms, anything is possible!"

    TTP: If you are worried about me staying PG13, don't clic on Anons link at 7:12.

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  47. I was driving back from my bike ride in my old Camry (mostly used for driving my bike back and forth to the beach so as not to have the bike rack scratch up my newer Camry) when there was a bang near my left ear. I thought maybe some kid had thrown something at my car though that seemed unlikely considering the neighborhood. Then I discovered the electric window wouldn't roll up. So it's off to a mechanic tomorrow. I hate to spend money on such an old car (1993) but it serves a useful function. Oh well, it's just money.

    Do any of you watch Masters of Sex, biopic of Masters and Johnson? I can't tell it's a pretty good series or smut masquerading as art.

    I haven't seen anything really inappropriate around here almost forever.

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  48. TTP:
    I'm so sorry. I think I meant AnonymousT.

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  49. Bill G - I didn't get to play pzl today, but still lurking to see how everyone was doing.

    M&J on SHO is both art & smut from what I've heard. There was an interview with the guy that wrote about M&J last week on Fresh Air and they discussed this. If the SHO stays biopic it should be a good story. M & J had a complicated relationship, but did do real science on sexual responses in the body.

    Jayce - I've done the wine tasting too. I'm usally too shy to say that it's so bad I wouldn't feed this $100 bottle to the dog. I pretend it has nutty undertones or fruity toppieness. Some of the best wines are $10/ea and, after a glass or two, no one cares anyway.

    Re: soap. Nothing but Ivory in this house. I hate smelly stuff (DW gets those Glade things and I unplug them as soon as they offend). Best smells to me - wet dirt, tomato(e?) leaves, and basil. PK - I think we would get get along ;-)

    Lucina - you confused TTP & me again (Quayl(e?)). Remember TTP is cold in Chi-town and I'm picking tomatoes in H-town... Cheers, -T

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  50. Lucina - Somehow you beat my post. Don't be sorry, we all have too many T's in our lives (or way too many if Thursday comes to pass without agreement in DC). I'm sure TTP is thick-skinned enough to handle confusion with an silly-person in her old home-town :-) Cheers, -T

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