google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, Nov 2nd, 2013, Barry C. Silk

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Nov 2, 2013

Saturday, Nov 2nd, 2013, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie

Words: 70 (missing X,Z)

Blocks: 32

    I expected a Saturday Silkie, and was not disappointed.  Today's offering was pretty straightforward, at least for me.  Not too many obscurities, and enough 'easy' crossings to take a healthy stab at the longer fills.  Interesting middle stack of a spanner and two offset 14-letter words, and triple 8's and 6's in the corners.  For today:

 33. Sirius B, for one : WHITE DWARF STAR - I knew we were looking for a "STAR" here, but on my first pass, I thought it was a BINARY, um, something-something STAR.  I am a huge fan of "Ancient Aliens", and the show repeatedly mentions how this star system has something to do with extra-terrestrials


38. Food safety aid : MEAT THERMOMETER

39. They included Chopin's "Prelude in E Minor," in a film title : FIVE EASY PIECES - funny, but now that I know the movie has a character who was once studying piano, the title makes much more sense....

!~DRAWNO

ACROSS:

 1. Some legal cases : ATTACHES - DAH~! Right off the bat, I got "43A", thinking this was a court 'case', not a brief 'case'

9. Its results commonly fall between 70 and 130 : I.Q. TEST - I was tested in high school; care to guess what my number was?

15. Take inventory? : SHOPLIFT - "Marriage is a punishment for shoplifting in some countries"  - What movie~!?!?!?

16. Shade : NUANCE - ooh, good Saturday clue for this word

17. Nurturing : MOTHERLY

18. Shilling spender : KENYAN - I threw in BRITON, but was pretty sure it was wrong - a Kenyan shilling is worth about .012 US dollars as of yesterday

19. O or A, e.g. : ALer - ARGH~!  Got me again~!  The Athletics and Orioles of MLB; I went with "TYPE", because they're both blood types; it wasn't until Aphrodite showed up (alas, only in today's puzzle ) did I give it up

20. Bottom topper : TALC - Ah, yes, a quick pat on the bum with the baby powder

22. Old-school lament : EGADS~!

23. Discharged British soldier : DEMOB - to be demobilized - got it

25. Electronic music genre : TECHNO - I like the electronic genre - odd, coming from a kid who grew up on Iron Maiden.  An electronica sample


27. Cologne article : DER

29. Sign of summer : LEO - Astrological sign; I've been reading my horoscope a lot lately - it seems to be a day behind, instead of ahead....

30. Roxy Music alum : ENO

40. Princeton Review subj. : GRE - Graduate Record Examinations, follwed by -

41. MIT Sloan degree : MBA - Master of Business Administration

42. Wheels : CAR - I'm going to have to wait on new wheels - I am officially "cut" as a driver on Jan 15th, and then all trainee drivers will be brought back s-l-o-w-l-y

43. Took in : MISLED - not the sewing/altered took in, not the "movie" took in

46. Staircase support : NEWEL - Meh - this is more of a stair handrail support, but I'm a nit-picking carpenter


50. Arabic for "struggle" : JIHAD - a WAG, but a sensible one - the SW was my last corner to fill in

53. Salts : TARS - Slang words for sailor

55. "The Diana Chronicles" author Brown : TINA

56. Fulfills a need : AVAILS

58. They get high on occasion : SOPRANOS - Har-har~!

60. More futile : VAINER

61. Ring : ENCIRCLE - the verb today

62. Makes hot : ANGERS - ah, not ANNOYS

63. 2012, e.g. : LEAP YEAR - partial hybrid solar eclipse tomorrow AM

DOWN:

1. Equally hot : AS MAD - ah, the same kind of "hot" found in 62A

2. Oarlock pin : THOLE - sticking up from the gunwales


3. Tribal emblem : TOTEM - this is what I wanted to fill in, but it was not agreeing with my "TYPE"

4. Venus counterpart : APHRODITE - sheesh~!  Check out from whence she was born....

5. Indians' home, on scoreboards : CLEveland - always a little baseball for C.C.~!  (BTW, "Major League" was on the other night - still funny, IMO )

6. "Cotton Candy" musician : HIRT - I'll let you link away

7. Key for some clarinets : E FLAT - fill in "FLAT", and wait....

8. Panache : STYLE

9. Newspaper supply : INK

10. Nickname for Leona Helmsley : QUEEN OF MEAN

11. Sierra follower, in the NATO alphabet : TANGO - see below

12. Singer born Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin : ENYA - crossword staple, and pretty much an educated WAG

13. Whole lot : SCAD

14. Place for an adder? : TENS - one who 'adds' uses ones, tens, hundreds, etc., columns to line up for summing

21. Wood shop device : C-CLAMP - great for doing you brake pads, too - which is on my to-do list this weekend

24. Author of the children's book "The Saga of Baby Divine" : BETTE MIDLER

26. Valiant : HEROIC

28. Therapy goals : REHABS - sober house goals, too

30. Major finale? : ETTE - majorETTE

31. Highland rejections : NAEs

32. Bruin great : ORR - Hockey; the NY Rangers are starting to improve; EddyB's Sharks are 10-1

33. Small dam : WEIR

34. Eat : HAVE - ah, not DINE

35. Make potable, as seawater : DESALT

36. Like some humor : WRY - minor change from Dry to Wry

37. Cabinet part : SECRETARY - Government cabinet, that is - I was in carpentry mode; stile, rail, panel, shelf, etc.

38. Plant activity: Abbr. : ManuFacturinG - industrial plant, that is

43. Bates College locale : MAINE - Oddly, I WAGed ORONO, because of the "O" from ANNOYS; HEY - I was in the right state~!

44. Oil holder : EASEL - ooh, a bit of a stretch, but yes, an oil painting can be supported by an easel

45. Go (on) dully : DRONE

47. Recoil : WINCE

48. Name on a WWII flier : ENOLA - Gay, dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima

49. Surgery tool : LASER

50. Language of software engineers : JAVA

51. Novelist Turgenev : IVAN

52. White House chief of staff after Haldeman : HAIG

54. Humane org. : SPCA

57. Yearbook sect. : SRs - Here's my senior pic, 24yrs ago



59. Criticize : RIP - and yes, you can "RIP" into my photo all you want~!!!

 SierraPapaLimaYankeeNovemberTangoEchoRomeo



Note from C.C.:

I'd to share with you this poem our regular poster Own wrote earlier this morning. If you click on the Comments button at the end of this post, you'll be treated with a daily puzzle poem from him.


Daily Challenges

Really, can you cheat on a crossword?
The fine line of what's cheating is blurred.
You alone are the judge
Of how much you can fudge,
Therefore being too harsh is absurd.

On Monday, the puzzle is easy.
The effort it takes will be breezy.
If you do it on line
Level "Master" is fine.
Ink's unlikely to make you feel queasy.

Tuesday is a little bit harder.
Some words will be puzzlement fodder.
After most clues decode,
Switch to red-letter mode,
You'll finish up like a marauder.

Wednesday a few entries get tough.
We'll see if you've got the right stuff.
From red level don't shrink;
Switch to pencil from ink.
This is where things just start to get rough.

Thursday is building up strong.
The wordplay is coming along.
Misdirection's in play,
Tricky clues rule the day.
A simple dictionary wouldn't be wrong.

Friday's the day tyros dread.
The brains seem to fly from their head.
You can sit there and doodle
Or call upon Google;
Else the end that you reach might be dead.

Saturday's grid is the worst.
Your skill will seem like it's cursed.
There's no theme to guide
Where solutions might hide.
The whole Web only helps when coerced.

Sunday's a modicum of relief.
It's not easy, but shouldn't cause grief.
The need for a reference
Might just be your preference.
Larger size is its difference in chief.

60 comments:

  1. Daily Challenges

    Really, can you cheat on a crossword?
    The fine line of what's cheating is blurred.
    You alone are the judge
    Of how much you can fudge,
    Therefore being too harsh is absurd.

    On Monday, the puzzle is easy.
    The effort it takes will be breezy.
    If you do it on line
    Level "Master" is fine.
    Ink's unlikely to make you feel queasy.

    Tuesday is a little bit harder.
    Some words will be puzzlement fodder.
    After most clues decode,
    Switch to red-letter mode,
    You'll finish up like a marauder.

    Wednesday a few entries get tough.
    We'll see if you've got the right stuff.
    From red level don't shrink;
    Switch to pencil from ink.
    This is where things just start to get rough.

    Thursday is building up strong.
    The wordplay is coming along.
    Misdirection's in play,
    Tricky clues rule the day.
    A simple dictionary wouldn't be wrong.

    Friday's the day tyros dread.
    The brains seem to fly from their head.
    You can sit there and doodle
    Or call upon Google;
    Else the end that you reach might be dead.

    Saturday's grid is the worst.
    Your skill will seem like it's cursed.
    There's no theme to guide
    Where solutions might hide.
    The whole Web only helps when coerced.

    Sunday's a modicum of relief.
    It's not easy, but shouldn't cause grief.
    The need for a reference
    Might just be your preference.
    Larger size is its difference in chief.

    No theme today, so instead of lims about this puzzle, how about a poem for LAT puzzles in general? I've noticed the most expert among us think it's a Did Not Finish if they have to turn on the red letters, while others will happily claim victory if they've been able to find the more difficult words with a search engine. And both of those are perfectly fine. Except for conventions, a crossword puzzle is a private contest between you and the grid. You set your own rules, you set your own handicap; the puzzle is inanimate so it doesn't care.

    [Regarding today's puzzle, I think it was the fastest one I've had all week. Just lucky coincidence that I knew many of the more obscure clues. After I finished, though, I spent a lot of time trying to find out what an ALER was. I finally deduced it was American League-er after seeing this list.]

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  2. Wow! So much fun and so fast for a Silkie! Were you MISLED by the clever misdirections? My favorites were ATTACHES and SOPRANOS.

    Splynter, I enjoyed your expo. I hope your "cut' is very short term.

    I had DEMO and dredged up DEMOB from somewhere, giving me BETTE.
    I didn't know BETTE MIDLER wrote a children's book. When I WAGged the surname I was able to fill in the SW corner.

    Nice poem,Owen. You must write your poems the night before in order to post so early.

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  3. Morning, all!

    Very smooth puzzle today. I was right on Mr. Silk's wavelength and enjoyed the "tricky" cluing immensely. Had to make a few guesses (HIRT, MAINE, HAIG) but it was all good.

    [BTW, you've certainly outdone yourself today, Owen!]

    [ttesess]

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  4. Good morning S. and C.C.

    Hail my Saturday Hero! I got misled by the “O or A” clue as well. I immediately thought of blood “types” and thought, “It can’t be that easy – it’s Saturday, for cripes sake… “ I ate my own words shortly thereafter.

    I knew Leona’s nickname because I was just reading about her the other day for some reason. And BETTE MIDLER was a gimme, based on the clue containing the word “Divine.” Knowing big chunks like that in each section really made it a speed run. Thanks Barry!

    Owen, I loved the poem!

    Have a great day everyone.

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  5. NUANCE is everything in crossword clues.
    If you consider staircase support to mean support OF a staircase. NEWEL doesn't quite fit, as Splynter pointed out.
    But if you think of a staircase as the entire structure, steps rails, newel and all, staircase support could mean a support that is PART OF a staircase.

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  6. Fun run today, once I got ATTACHE the rest just filled in. Nice to see a divine reference, eh Marti?

    Owen, I hope you are compiling your work.

    Splynter, nice pic.

    Off to another baby birthday party.

    Cheers

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  7. Good morning!

    Wow, Barry threw us a softball today, pretty much a speed run.

    Owen, nice poem. Sums up the weekly cw's very nicely.

    Splynter, Orono is a college town, as Hahtoolah will quickly tell you, but it's not the home of Bates College. Knowing that you're an RPI grad, my guess as to your IQ would be somewhere north of 130. Is this "cut" because the holiday package traffic drops off after January 15th? Your comment, "The title makes more sense…", didn't you mean "The title means something other than what I was thinking?"

    Learning moment: I always thought it was a T-hole in the oarlock. It actually lispingly rhymes with bowl, coal, etc. News to me.

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  8. Help...past 2 days I have not been able to connect to Cruciverb....it says the site has crashed and needs to be repaired. Any suggestions?

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  9. Mr. Silk makes a very nice puzzle and, oh yeah, Scarlett Johansson has some lovely features! Gimmes at 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 down helped! Pleasant enough WHEELS (1:58) for background while reading.

    Musings
    -Brilliant Sirius A greeted me this morning as part of the Winter Triangle as I retrieved my newspaper. Along with Jupiter and Mars.
    -My MEAT THERMOMETER takes 30 seconds to finally stop rising
    -After 5 times last week a woman finally got caught SHOPLIFTING out of the east door of Menard’s and walking back in the west door demanding a refund without a receipt
    -DER Weiner Schlinger (:11) at Husker FB games
    -“I’m AS MAD as hell and…”
    -A superintendent told my principal who was upset at the local paper, “Never argue with people who buy paper by the ton and INK by the barrel”
    -My dad never went through REHAB. He only dried out after the DT’s and nearly dying.
    -DESAL(t) plants aren’t always popular
    -Lemon, I of course applaud Owen’s panache, but I’m not sure he needs compilation. He seems to be able to produce on demand and on deadline. More’s the amazement.

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  10. An astronomer who was very curious
    Met a star that was very mysterious
    Debunking its claim
    Of Canis Major fame
    He said “Surely, you can’t be Sirius”

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  11. Good morning everyone. Nice intro, Splynter. Spot-on limerick about the puzzles, Owen.

    An easier Silkie than usual today, but fun as always. The NW was last to fall with APHRODITES' help. DEMOB was the last entry. Agree with Splynter about E-FLAT.

    Have a great day.

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  12. What is cruciverb?

    How do C.C. and Splynter compile their summaries without it yet Lemonade cannot?

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  13. somewhat simple silkie today. Only hangup was in the NW corner.

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  14. Hi again~!

    Yes, D-O, the cut is because the volume crashes dramatically - I am at least guaranteed to go back to the pre-load job I did before driving, but that's back down at 20hrs and $13 pay. ouch.

    Oh, and I am not really sure what I was thinking for that movie title....

    Splynter

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  15. Hello Puzzlers -

    Didn't quite complete on my own today, mostly because I couldn't suss Demob. Put me down for a TDNF.

    About clarinet keys: the modern clarinet family has two sopranos, one each in the keys of B-flat and E-flat; an E-flat alto; and a B-flat bass. The B-flat soprano is by far the most common; it's the "licorice stick" seen in marching bands, or in Benny Goodman's talented hands.

    Splynter, thanks for clearing the fog today.

    Anon 8:40 - you are not alone, I get the same crashed message from Cruciverb. The site has a long history of small foibles, but this failure runs deeper than prior ones. I hope they get it patched up soon. I rely on Cruciverb because I know of no other outlet for the .puz format my iPad requires.

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  16. Why do puzzle solvers believe that others want to see their senior photo? It is called "ego."

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  17. I have never much enjoyed Saturday themeless puzzles but I kinda liked this one. Red letters steered me away from mistakes so I won't win any prizes. Still, I thought many of the clues were clever and I managed to finish.

    A girl cancelled tutoring last week because of Halloween. I don't know why tutoring at 3:30 and Trick or Treating at 7:30 caused a problem but it did. I got an e-mail last night that she was stuck trying to learn Distance-Rate-Time word problems and could I help her this weekend. I felt like saying "I knew this was going to happen!" but I refrained. No big deal. I'll be seeing her at 1:30 today.

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  18. Good Morning:

    A Saturday Silkie is always a treat and today was no exception, even though it was a DNF for me, thanks to the NW corner. I had shole and couldn't suss Hirt so attaches remained unseen.

    Anyway, thanks, Barry, for an enjoyable challenge and thanks, Splynter, for your always-entertaining expo.

    Cruciverb rises from the ashes yet again. For how long is another matter.

    Have a great day.

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  19. anon@11:14

    How about "guess my I.Q."?

    Now that's self centered!

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  20. Greetings, super solvers! You are our bright STAR, Splynter. Many thanks. Too bad about the reassignment.

    Barry Silk, I like your STYLE! This was not only entertaining but fast, too, though not exactly a sashay.

    I was MISLED in a few places such as DRY then WRY but knew THE QUEEN OF MEAN. She had plenty of press back in the day.

    My last fill was GRE until I accepted "plant activity" as a manufacturer, not a botanical plant.

    Owen, your star continues to shine.

    I loved the cluing for ATTACHES, SOPRANOS and TALC. C CLAMP of course made me think of Splynter.

    Today I'll be baking two pies for the Book Club meeting. Has anyone else read The Light Between Oceans? It's excellent.

    Have yourselves a sensational Saturday, everyone!

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  21. Jeffrey T, according to your profile you're a student at Woodrow Wilson High School in Tacoma. You're the first gray-bearded high school student I've ever "met."

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  22. Splynter, thank you for the origin of Aphrodite. Who knew.

    So, naturally, .... When somebody cutoff Uranus' t-------s .and tossed it into the sea, to 'make' Aphrodite, ... What was left ? .... why, Uranus, of course.

    OwenKl. Your poetry is fantastic. You ought to make a compilation and sell it at the ACPT. Rich maybe interested.

    Splynter, I met a real nice UPS lady yesterday. She didn't seem to know you, but , from I gathered, she's 'available'.

    I wish you good wishes and good luck on your job future. The Wall Street Journal reports that's the unemployment next year is projected to rise by 6 percentage points, to 13% , because of the employer health care mandates that kick in next January. Well, let us see.

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  23. I too expected a Silkie today but I was shocked that I got about 70% of it on paper using a few Googles.

    It helped most that I got IQTEST and KWNYAN Rather quickly.

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  24. Ah, a very satisfying, just-hard-enough puzzle from Mr Silk!

    Yes, it was quite doable, requiring no helps, and I learned another use for the word THOLE. I first came across it as a verb in the Heaney version of "Beowulf," and keep trying to find a use for it in a lecture. (Always a good way to keep students alert.)

    Like desper-otto, I would hazard a high guess as to Splynter's IQ. In my day, we were tested in the 6th grade. I hated it because I was surprised that I came in at a high number (No, not telling, and definitely NOT bragging, not in a room full of Xwd solvers!) and my *&#@! teacher *announced* my number to the whole class! Of course, she was not supposed to do that, but I think she blurted it because it shocked *her* that the quiet kid had any brain. In any case, I blushed beet red and knew I wouldn't hear the end of it from my class mates--and I didn't. Not for the rest of that eternal school year.
    *Reminder* to teachers:
    No kid wants to be different, in *any* way.

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  25. Happy Saturday everybody!

    Oh… mY… GOD! FINALLY finished a Saturday Silkie without any help! Cross that off my bucket list…!

    DIKE for WEIR, DRY for WRY, PAST for LEAP, and DALE for TINA were the only write-overs….

    Couple of WAGS needed to finish in the SW, namely HAIG and MAINE….

    Does this mean this LEO passes the IQ TEST…?

    Hands up for thinking of blood types….

    Finally, FIVE EASY PIECES contains this hilarious scene where Jack Nicholson outwits a smarmy waitress….

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  26. Ah, that reminds me of a quote from George Bernard Shaw.

    Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.

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  27. Hello everybody. I had scads of fun solving this puzzle today, which I guess is better than having just one SCAD. Even after I got DEMOB filled in I didn't know what the heck it was, probably because I kept hearing it in my mind as deMOB (as in removing a person from the Mafia) rather than deMOBE. Also, hand up for thinking of O or A as blood types. Loved how SOPRANOS and TALC were clued. Best wishes to you all.

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  28. Could someone please explain:
    TDNF WAG GRE GIMME SUSS
    and some of the other acronyms used for this total tyro??

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  29. Well River Doc, my bucket list remains unchanged...

    Splynter, I am a huge fan of Ancient Aliens too! Even though some of their conjectures are embarrassingly absurd. But just learning about mysteries like Puma Punku and Temple of the Condor really make my day. Just how did they make these walls?

    My personal conjecture was using diamond studded twine (The Inca were great rope makers) but then I came across this video. Note btween the 2 & 3 minute mark, whatever they used to cut this rock was only about 1/8th inch thick???


    ----------------------------

    For Manac, from todays paper:

    Thought For Today:

    "If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons." - James Thurber (1894-1961)>

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  30. Anyone feel MISLED by our fearless “you can keep your policy” leader and “we’ll find out what’s in the ACA after we pass it” Congress? Unemployment, expensive premiums and high deductibles are going to be the norm until we get to the lousy, single payer socialized medicine that has been Barack’s aim all along.

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  31. Hi Y'all! I, too, found this SatSilkie easier than usual but it took some doing. One had better have a good IQ TEST score to even try a Silkie. First one I ever enjoyed, but we were well MISLED on many clues. Hand up for blood type.

    Splynter, I enjoyed seeing your senior picture! You know you've risen to high status when the heckler trolls start in on you!

    Didn't know TINA -- either book or author. Nor did I know where was Bates College. I perped an M and tried Miami. THOLE? I've only been in a rowboat once in my life when I was 17. Was more concerned with the A-hole trying to row.

    Lots of back & forth across & down to fill in perps & WAGs. I'm slowly getting better most days.

    Does any citizen really keep track of the names of W.H. Chiefs of Staff? Rob Emanuel is the only one I could name and he's quit.

    The foliage here is really gorgeous, reaching peak color.

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  32. Anon@1:18 -- what do you think "no politics" means? Are you really Ted Cruz?

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  33. Anonymous@12:18

    ... and those who can't teach, kvetch.

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  34. Anonymous @ 11:14

    Sometimes I think we have all THOLEd too much.

    Aren't there at least two aspects to posting "senior pictures"? One is surely to flaunt one's Ego (damn, I wish I looked as good as my pic!)? Another is the same as posting one's *name*-- to take public responsibility for what one writes.

    In that we may be on a par with Taggers.

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  35. Recognize the gal sitting across from Jack Nicholson in River Doc's 12:17 post ? She had a Worldwide Hit With This Song ear worm warning

    Yes, easiest Saturday puzzle in a while, but that's ok.

    Did you know who the Queen of Mean was indicted by ?

    PK, it's Rahm rather than Rob. He's Chicago's mayor now. The Discovery Channel just ran a special that I enjoyed called The Presidents' Gatekeepers that was pretty good. Of course, HAIG wasn't on it. He's been dead for a few years now.

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  36. Anoymous @1:05pm,

    TDNF: Technical Did Not Finish

    WAG: Wild Ass Guess

    GRE: Google yourself.

    GIMME: Think "gimme part in golf"

    SUSS (out): Figure out.

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  37. Yellowrocks,
    I just finished yesterday's comments. Regarding your three-peats of UP comment yesterday, it happens rarely in LAT. We occasionally see dupes of little words like "up", "the", "on", "in", "no", etc. John's grid is extremely demanding.

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  38. PK, we finally have our most brilliant fall colors this week, too. The season started very early, four weeks ago, so some of the trees are bare while others are at peak.

    Anon @ 1:05 I use gimme to mean extremely easy, requiring no thought.

    Keith @1:42, I was just about to write, "Those who can't teach kvetch" You beat me to it.

    I like the pictures of my virtual friends in their 'ute."

    River Doc @12:17, Hilarious waitress scene.

    IMHO many things other than, or in addition to IQ, go into making expert puzzle solvers, i.e. much experience with crosswords, some with more difficult puzzles, experience with a particular constructor and/or editor (Do you sometimes pick up on Rich's wave length?), clues being in one's wheelhouse, love of words, interest in a variety of fields, wide ranging and voracious reading, researching answers, especially those one missed. CC's blog, perseverance, never say die, luck, and more.

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  39. YR: Is should be typed as, "Those who can't teach, kvetch."

    ReplyDelete
  40. Anon @ 4;13, please come and edit for me. I need a secretary. Oops, I just caught a mistake in preview mode. I really need you.

    Another idiom is, "Those who can't teach, make laws about teaching."

    In a slightly different context, it certainly looks to me that those who make NJ laws about people with disabilities do not know how diverse the disabled population is. One size does not fit all.The laws do not take into consideration people like my son. We are fighting for them.

    Looking over my last post, I realize that it applies to the vast majority of epert solvers. It applies to many of the experts here. I cannot explain those who win all the crossword puzzle contests. I don't know how they become so expert.

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  41. Anon @ 4:13, see, I needed you to tell me h0ow to spell expert in my last post.

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  42. YR@ 4:58 & 5:02,

    Are you sure you want Anonymous to be your editor? At 4:13, s/he wrote "Is should be typed" instead of "It should be..." etc.
    I notice you did not kvetch, nor did you balk. Were you being polite? Or were you offering employment in full knowledge, as a kind of affirmative action?

    ReplyDelete
  43. HG @ 9:25 (OK, I’m a little late on the uptake…), GUFFAW at your poem!!

    Lucina @ 11:57, yes, we read “The Light Between Oceans” a few months ago. I thought it was a brilliant philosophical conundrum, with the assumed “orphaned” baby. How would you have reacted? I loved the book!

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  44. Hey all,

    I'm kind of late today, but thought I'd post anyway. I found this one to be easier than yesterday's puzzle and managed to finish without outside help.

    I like the poetry, Owen. It amazes me how you can keep them coming as you do, and keeping the quality up.

    Finished with a lot of help with my perps and enjoyed the misdirections as in 18A Kenyan (Briton?) and 19A O or A (I also thought type but didn't understand ALer until Splynter's explanation. And me being baseball minded! D'oh!

    WAGS other than ALER included , WEIR, DEMOB,THOLE and IVAN. As to Ivan, the surname sounded Russian so Ivan seemed to fit and in this case, it did. :)

    27A: Cologne is in Germany? did not know.
    7D: Wanted b-flat clarinet as that is the instrument I played but I also remembered there is also an e-flat version.
    36D: I wanted DRY but it was WRY instead.
    12D: ENYA. IMHO, Some of these puzzles later in the week can be as difficult as to figure out as the lyrics in an Enya song.

    Have a nice last half o' the weekend, everyone!

    Burrito34

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  45. Gary: Sirius-ly great limerick today! I'm getting a Vega feeling that you're getting better than me!

    I once had a German-made car.
    I hitched my (Volks)Wagen to a star.
    It could go very fast,
    And didn't need gas --
    It was powered by Betelgeuse from afar!

    Does Rich Norris ever look in at these comments? I wonder what he would think about my doggerel.

    I've been compiling my conversations here, (your comments as well as my lims) but strictly for my own use. I'm bi-polar, so I'm hoping reading this over will provide therapy next time I'm feeling down. In HS, my IQ was 10x a power of 2, but between atrophy and medication side-effects, I'm positive it's considerably lower than that now.

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  46. Keith @ 5:54, yes, I need help. Thanks for your support. I did not even notice the critic's (hypocrite's)mistake. I will not choose her (him). My primary focus is on making meaning. Only later do I look for typos. I find them more readily in print than on screen. After decades of teaching I am attuned to editing print. I never typed a paper or essay that I did not review on paper.

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  47. Just got caught up on the last few days.

    Great poems Owen !

    Anon - T, no, no suet in DW's chili.

    Irish Miss, I'm sure your little necks were better than my roast chicken. !

    CC, D-O's answer for a subroutine is far better than I could have 'splained.

    The daily write ups have been great !

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  48. Did not expect this for a Saturday!
    Was looking forward to a long romance and just got a quickie ;)
    Misled was a good one.

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  49. Nice poem! Thanks.

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  50. Yellowrocks, you might notice that you are over the post limit here on the blog. Following directions is a basic tenet of teaching. dyt?

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  51. I hate to post anom but don't know how to get an avatar and I'm usually not doing this til late night after putting granddaughter to bed so feel posting would be unread. I just want to say today is my b-day and I really enjoy reading all the comments and feel as is I know some of you after reading comments for a few months now. Owen is Awesome, as are many of you. I enjoyed seeing the HS Sr photo and thanks for posting one of my favorite ever movie scenes from 5 Easy Pieces.

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  52. I'm over my whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa???????

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  53. C.E.D. To the rescue ....

    The blog is safe ....

    Sanity has been restored ...

    CED, you cake is musically delicious.

    It's almost 11.00 EST, 2300. And everyone's gone to bed. If they're sane that is. And someone's actually counting posts ? Who cares ?

    Just move your clocks back in an hour.

    Luv u all.

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  54. Anon @ 9:22 pm. Let not your heart be heavy. Late posts are read routinely, And as for me in the morning, the rest of the old posts are read before the new day stuff is looked at.

    Happy Birthday!

    Oh and welcome aboard.

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  55. Happy birthday anonymous and all posts get read, late or otherwise.

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  56. Anonymous@9:22
    Happy birthday! I hope you soon join the BLUE group here.

    Out West we read the late and very late posts or read them the next day.

    Marti:
    Everyone in the BC loved The Light between Oceans and all believed we would report the baby immediately, but then we considered the circumstances. It was a really good discussion.

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  57. TTP: Good grief, I knew it was Rahm and that he was Chicago mayor now. Where I came up with Rob, I've no idea. When I say I have half a mind to do something, its because that's all I have left. Duh! I had been getting ready for company and my mind wasn't really focused on this.

    Lucina: I read "Light Between Oceans" when it first came out and liked it. Very different.

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  58. Anon at 9:31pm,
    Not funny. Identity thief! You're the meanest of all.

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  59. "Those who can do
    those who understand teach"


    McBeal

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