google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, December 23, 2013 Patti Varol

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Dec 23, 2013

Monday, December 23, 2013 Patti Varol

Theme: Think! - The starred entries are headed up by a euphemism for head(our unifier).

17A. *Scoop for fruit : MELON BALLER

65A. *Single-minded auditor : BEAN COUNTER

11D. *Certain palm tree extract : COCONUT OIL

30D. *Pasta-based first course : NOODLE SOUP

62D. Noggin, and a hint to the starts of the answers to starred clues : HEAD

Argyle here. Interview with Patti here. Only 35 black squares. Definitely some interesting fill.

Across:

1. Given to back talk : LIPPY

6. Not together : APART

11. Org. in many Tom Clancy novels : CIA

14. Love lots : ADORE

15. Serious grime : FILTH

16. Former Boston Bruin Bobby : ORR

19. Photo taker, briefly : CAMera

20. Place to swim : POOL

21. Brand with a "Twist, Lick, Dunk" app : OREO

22. Holy images : ICONs

24. Post-OR place : ICU. After the Operating Room you might go to the ICU(intensive care unit) if you had serious surgery.

26. Like some bases and kisses : STOLEN. And if you add an 'L'...


28. Parade debris : CONFETTI

32. Slump in one's seat : SLOUCH. "SIT UP STRAIGHT!"

35. Stay away from : AVOID

36. The "I" in IBM: Abbr. : INTL. (International Business Machines)

38. However, for short : THO

39. Bishop's domain : DIOCESE

41. Earlier than desired : TOO SOON

44. Finish : END

45. Paris airport : ORLY

47. Totally out there : WEIRD. Wigged out, man.

48. Bank employee : TELLER

51. "M*A*S*H" star : ALAN ALDA. Full name.

53. Firstborn : ELDEST

55. Battleship letters : USS

56. "My Cousin Vinny" star Joe : PESCI

58. Pressure from the cops : HEAT

60. Govt. job-safety gp. : OSHA. Haven't seen this old favorite in awhile. (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)

64. Gen. Eisenhower's WWII command : ETO. (European Theater of Operations)

68. Bearded African beast : GNU

69. More pathetic, as excuses go : LAMER

70. French Revolution figure killed by Corday : MARAT. Jean-Paul Marat was murdered in a bathtub.

71. Tree juice : SAP

72. Piano practice piece : ÉTUDE

73. Walks with difficulty : PLODS

Down:

1. Bedside light : LAMP

2. Thought: Pref. : IDEO

3. Sport played on horseback : POLO

4. Very productive, as a writer : PROLIFIC

5. Currency of Japan : YEN

6. Many miles off : AFAR

7. Enters all at once : PILES IN

8. Distribute in shares : ALLOT

9. U.S. 66, for one : RTE.

10. Wave of excitement : THRILL

12. Tehran's country : IRAN

13. "A Farewell to __" : ARMS. A novel by Ernest Hemingway.

18. Prizefight : BOUT

23. Corporate VIP : CEO. (chief executive officer)

25. Hand over : CEDE

27. Norwegian metropolis : OSLO


28. Army trainee : CADET

29. Like ewes and rams : OVINE

31. Ballpark level : TIER

33. Musical triad : CHORD

34. Civic or Accord : HONDA which are 52D. Civic or Accord : AUTO

37. Texter's "until next time" : TTYL. (Talk To You Later)

40. Hopping mad : SORE

42. Possesses : OWNS

43. Like Christmas wrap and tree ornaments : SEASONAL

46. Approached bedtime : LATENED. We haven't had this word in a while.

49. Partners' legal entity: Abbr. : LLC. (Limited Liability Company)

50. Safe to consume : EDIBLE

54. SeaWorld orca : SHAMU

56. Wooden pins : PEGS

57. Europe's highest active volcano : ETNA

59. Land measure : ACRE

61. Houston MLBer : 'STRO. A slang term for the Houston Astros baseball player.

63. Liberal __ : ARTS

66. Do lunch, say : EAT

67. Official behind a catcher : UMP


Argyle


54 comments:

OwenKL said...

MELON and COCONUT (is juice brewed?)
NOODLE and BEAN (in the pot stewed?)
It's cannibalistic
These terms euphemistic
All equating one's HEAD with some food!

Studio sign while Mr. Blank was recording? MEL ON.
Wolfman's line auditioning for Tarzan? ME LON.
Sad cross of fruit and doggie?
That would be MELONcollie.
Pittsburgh U. for tech garden? Carnegie-MELLON.

(These two are pretty lame. The rest will be better, I promise!)

OwenKL said...

Pasta with Bob's wife would canoodle,
Till Bob caught them, sans kit or caboodle.
When he fled from the scene
Not a stitch could be seen --
Henceforth he was called Pasta NUDEL!

In old Mexico, when the Aztecs did strut,
The peons from hot chocolate were shut.
The great Montezuma
Was the brew's sole consumer.
It was death to any other COCOa NUT.

Legume couldn't stay in his chair.
He had to travel to here and to there.
He toured the world over,
Zealand to Andover,
Yep, Legume is BEAN everywhere!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Got off to a bad start with this one. Really wanted SASSY for 1A and LIPPY just really, really bugged me for some reason. I was prepared to hate the rest of the puzzle, but it was actually quite nice. Well, aside from STRO, which I always hate...

MARAT needed all the perps, but fortunately the perps were solid. Had USN instead of USS initially, but that was easy to fix. And... that's about it!

In other news, looks like all my complaining has paid off -- he captcha today is a series of very readable numbers instead of blurry, crammed together letters.

[2634988]

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Either I'm not awake yet, or this was pretty tough for a Monday. The fill was very nice. As per usual, I didn't get the theme -- even with the reveal.

Does every Sea World have a Shamu? I'm only familiar with the one in San Antonio.

Barry, lots of folks in Houston feel the same way about the 'Stros, but they do complement the Texans with their winning ways. (Has any other NFL team ever lost 14 in a row?)

thehondohurricane said...

Hello all,

Not a speed run, but I PLODded along without any major holdups. Texters language is another foreign language to me, so for 37D I relied solely on the across fills. Looks like I succeeded.

Mash still is one of my favorite TV shows.

For 38A, wanted Yet, but THO arrived via perps. STRO should not be a difficult solve, especially an AL fan.

Thanks for the write up Argyle.

Not sure how often I'll be able to post thru Christmas , so to all of you who celebrate the day,
have a very merry one.

Yellowrocks said...

Happy Monday. I thought of SASSY for 1 A, but did all the downs first so no problem. My mom used to say,"Don't get lippy." Very straight forward and quick puzzle. No unknowns, no nits.
Off to do more baking and then clean the kitchen. I make a mess when I bake. After a doctor's appointment at noon, I will wrap the presents. I want to be finished today because my guests come tomorrow noon.
BTW I use diamond shaped cutter for my sand tarts because it is a simple shape to handle and it tessellates, so there are few scraps to re roll.

HeartRx said...

Good morning Argyle, C.C. et al.

Speedy Monday as expected. Thanks for the expo, Argyle! I started with sassy at 1-Across and when nothing else was going to fit, it morphed into LIPPY quite soon. But the rest was smooth sailing.

Have a lovely start to this vacation week, everyone!


Mari said...

Good morning everybo9dy! I also wanted SASSY for 1A, but then I read 3D and knew it had to be POLO. 1A was one of the last words to fall into place for me because I never would have guessed LIPPY.

I also was unfamiliar with MARAT, but the rest of the puzzle quickly and easily fell into place.

Have a great day!

buckeye bob said...

Thank you Patti and Argyle!

This puzzle took a little longer than a usual Monday puzzle, although it wasn’t harder. It must be me!

Hand up for 1A SASSY before LIPPY. The perps fixed that.

I have never heard of a STRO except in crossword puzzles, even though I am a baseball fan. But then I live near an NL city now and don’t really follow the AL.

I had 53A OLDEST, which it turned out kept me from getting the ta-da! I went back and reviewed every answer looking for misspellings until I found 30D NOODLOSOUP. Oh! I changed the O to E and finally ta-da! More coffee now…

desper-otto said...

Here's the only comedy skit I've ever heard about GNUs: Tommy and Dicky 2:27 -- just listen to the audio and ignore the distracting cat video.

Back in the 60's Judy Collins recorded an album (In My Life) which included a song about Marat 5:42 -- yeah, it's long, but it's good. Again, ignore the video and just listen to the song.

Lucina said...

Good day, all! You're in good form, Argyle, thank you.

Last night I reread the fruit cake recipe from RAZZ that you linked and laughed until I hurt.

My first thought was for SASSY but then I saw that LAMP wouldn't conform so just waited for LIPPY to emerge. LIPPY and LATENED seem awkward to me and I see that spell check doesn't like the latter.

This seemed just a tad crunchy for Monday but I liked seeing CONFETTI, DIOCESE and PROLIFIC in the grid.

I like the way HONDA and AUTO complemented each other as both Civic and Accord are HONDAs.

In San Diego, the orca is also named SHAMU.

Last night I received word that my stepson had a stroke and is in serious condition and unable to walk. I can only hope and pray that he recovers.

Have a wonderful Monday, everyone!

Razz said...

Morning all you DFers & DFettes...
It's been a long time since last post so I'm not up on everything happening here in CC land.

Enjoyed the way today's effort HEADed off in a few unexpected directions. Great job Patti.

TTFN

buckeye bob said...

Thoughts:

A crossword puzzle solver –

- Is a good detective
- Has a good vocabulary
- Is a good speller
- Has broad knowledge (or builds it)
>> History
>> Geography
>> Art
>> Literature
>> Music
>> Sports
>> TV shows and movies
>> Pop culture
>> The Bible
>> Greek & Roman mythology
>> Roman numerals
>> Greek alphabet
>> Some basic Spanish, French, German, and Latin words
>> et cetera…
- Has a good memory (some crossword answers are like comets!)
- Is persistent
- Questions answers that don’t look right
- Learns and expands his knowledge by solving crossword puzzles

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Patti Varol,for a swell puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for the swell review.

Did this in a car on my way to Mt. Pulaski, IL, for a funeral. Easy puzzle.

Also wanted SASSY for 1A, but held off until I had a down word. LIPPY worked after POLO.

I used a MELONBALLER recently to make small meatballs.

Remembered MARAT. Did not know he was killed in a bathtub.

OSHA was easy. Back in the early 90's, I worker was killed in the factory where I worked. OSHA descended on us like flies.

Theme was easy.

Also finished Saturday's puzzle. My paper was so messed up from trying it on Saturday that I started over. Got it this time. I may report in on that date.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

(atedfor seems)

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Basically easy but I found the top to be a tad crunchy. One strikethrough; had sassy before LIPPY. My first choice on 55a, since battleship was mentioned, was BB's. But USS is, of course, a satisfactory answer. It just applies to all named ships in the US Navy.
Thanks Patti for a good challenge.

Have a good day.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Baseball’s most famous LIPPY personality
-A SteadiCAM at a football game
-Old joke – Picabo Street financed a hospital recovery room that is now called the Picabo ICU
-Throwing CONFETTI by hand? Not these guys!
-Our DIOCESE has gained many lovely Hispanic families in the last 20 years
-Are you going to Christmas gatherings where you’ll see kids who seemed to have gotten older TOO SOON?
-The Mr. Banks in fabulous Saving Mr. Banks was based on P.L. Travers tender but flawed father whose drinking got him demoted to a bank TELLER
-P.L. was PROLIFIC but had to let Disney make her Mary Poppins unrecognizable to pay her bills
-Don’t we ELDEST children have certain characteristics?
-Do you know a funnier scene with POLO in it? (2:17)
-This article argues that Neville Chamberlin was right to CEDE Czechoslovakia to Hitler
-OVINA, NE was so named because of large herds of, well, you know…
-Whose famous commercials contained the line, “Many part of the pine tree are EDIBLE”?

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

A very smooth Monday romp, after sassy became lippy. Nice job, Patti V. and good expo, Argyle.

Another rainy, gloomy day. Much snow has been washed away, but there are still some pretty high snow banks.

To those busy folks who may not check in after today, have a very Merry Christmas.

Have great day.

Tinbeni said...

Argyle: Nice write-up & links.
Patti: Thank you for a FUN Monday puzzle.

Misty: I hope you had a wonderful birthday yesterday.

Liked the "shout-out" to fermatprime at POOL.

D-O the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost there first 26 games ...
So the Houston Texans are only half way there at 13.
The 2008 Detroit Lions are the only team to go "0 - 16" (They were 4-0 in pre-season that year).

Really enjoyed the 'HEAD' theme.
... was called a BEAN-COUNTER many times during my career.
Now I confess, I counted many things as an Auditor ... but never once any beans. lol

A Christmas Eve (Eve!) "toast" to ALL at Sunset.
Cheers!!!

Martin said...

I wanted SASSY for LIPPY, TTFN for TTYL and AREA for ACRE. I also had trouble spelling PESCI. The perps cleared things up.

I also did Friday's puzzle today but first I googled "First crossword puzzle". That made it doable.

Dudley said...

Husker -

Good ol' Euell Gibbons it was who said , "Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible!" before letting us know about Post Grape Nuts. Don't like the stuff, myself, but the missus puts it on yogurt.

desper-otto said...

Ironically, Post Grape Nuts are not made from grapes nor from nuts, nor from any part of the pine tree. They're made from wheat and barley. Go figure.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Hand up for Sassy before Lippy. (Remember Lippy the Lion and Har-Dee-Har-Har?) Enjoyed the Honda clue duplication. That Marat guy didn't even register on the memory radar, so he was all perps. I do recall a character on ER called Elizabeth Corday, but she was more of a surgeon than a killer of social dissidents.

Morning Argyle, thanks for bloggin'.

Anonymous said...

I think this is the fastest I've solved a LA Times puzzle! What I didn't know, perps had filled in. Thanks, Patti, for the fun. Great write-up, Argyle.

From last night/early today: the fruitcake recipe has been emailed to YR.

The '08 Lions did everything they could to make sure they got the first draft pick.

After 4 days of 60* temps we're back to a normal 34*.

OwenKL-- I always enjoy your work.

Happy Monday. I'm off to the chiropractor.

Pat

thehondohurricane said...

HG,

The picture of Durocher is not too clear, but it sure does not look like him. Maybe it's because he is in a Dodger uni.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! I agree this was hard for a Monday, but found it enjoyable, Patti.

Great expo, Argyle! I remembered that painting of Marat when I had MA... so the rest came easy.

Hands up for "sassy". Talk about great minds...

Took me awhile to equate Post-OR-place with ICU. I think the dashes threw me. I was thinking horse racing. Duh!

DO: I saw Shamu in SanDiego 15 years ago.

Lucina: prayers for your step-son! Your thanks for the fruitcake recipe confused me. I had written an email to a friend about the fruitcakes I used to make on the farm, but no recipe. For a minute I thought I'd posted it here instead. Nah! I told her I didn't use citron (no one liked it), used more chopped dates, candied cherries/pineapple than usual then poured lots of home-made elderberry wine over the loafs & froze them for a month or more. Addictive.

HG: all I got from your LIPPY link was a blood-red screen with "bang bang bang" which became a Kellogg's ad.

Euell Gibbons looked 20 years older than his age when he died. DH & I always thot it was the nuts.

lois said...

Good Afternoon, Santa Baby, CC, et al., Excellent job, Santa Baby.
I thought this was a fun puzzle, fast & easy, except for Latened??
and Lippy, as has been pointed out. Anything dealing w/'head' I think is great...
being in psychology & all. Why, what were you thinkin?

Santa Baby, it's about your time to shine. I've been very very nice (at least they told me that even when I was being naughty)so, I think I belong on your NICE list. Your cookies are baked and my chimney is swept and kept perfectly ready for you to come in. It's 'latening' but I'll be waiting up. Abso-dang-tutely!

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it and Cheers to all anyway.

Lucina, I'm so sorry about your step-son. I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers.

desper-otto said...

Lois, it's great to see you haven't changed. You need to stop by more often.

Husker, did you happen to think of the edible parts of the pine tree because of Yule Gibbons?

Tin, I could have sworn it was 14. Wishful thinkin', I guess.

CanadianEh! said...

Finished this one in good time with only a few hiccups along the way. Hand up for SASSY (we have seen this answer so many times, we enter it automatically - how could it not be correct!?)
Didn't know LLC (maybe we don't use that term in Canada??)

Favourite clue today: LIKE SOME BASES & KISSES = STOLEN

GNUs are also called wildebeests and my 2 year old granddaughter commented on seeing the migration in Kenya that they needed to shave! LOL!

After years of canning, I discovered this fall that a MELONBALLER (small end) is just the right size for cleaning the core out of the pear halves ready to can.

I agree with buckeye bob @8:26 definitions of crossword puzzle solvers.

Husker Gary @8:29 - as a youngest child, I can attest that ELDEST sisters seem to have certain character traits. They "rule the world" in a good way, taking responsibility for their younger siblings, organizing family activities. (My mother, sister and daughter all fall into this category and seem to fit)

River Doc said...

Happy Monday everybody!

Gotta love the speed runs that are the early week puzzles...!

Only write overs were the SASSY/ LIPPY one everyone else seems to have stumbled on and IDEA for IDEO, until PAOL had to become POOL in order to get the Ta- Da....

Favorite clues involved STOLEN bases and the 'STROs for obvious reasons. I did notice the the clue for 61D was Houston MLBer instead of ALer or NLer, which is okay because they just switched leagues last season....

My second car was an Accord that became an Accordian when I inadvertently T-boned someone....

Attended a couple of 49er victory parades, but don't remember seeing confetti being tossed, or even ticker tape (how's that for an obscure reference...?)

I've also noticed that every 4th or so captcha is numerical, and therefore a look easier to grok...

TTYL - Da Doc

Lucina said...

Lois:
It's great to hear from you! Do stop by more often. You are missed. Thank you for thinking of my stepson. YR, you too, thank you.

I rarely see him as he lives in KC but we stay in touch.

RiverDoc:
You made me laugh about the "accordian" comment. What an image! And yes, the numerical captchas are much easier to read.

Irish Miss said...

Lucina- I'm so sorry to hear of your step-son's ill health; please keep us posted.

Argyle said...

Oh, Lois,

You are so on my naughty list...with a gold star.

Bill G. said...

Me too for sassy first.

Lois, it's so good to hear from you again. How's the weather in Virginia? I miss a little snow in the winter.

Lucina, best wishes and good luck for your stepson and his family.

Gary, I don't remember Poloponies though I watched a lot of the Honeymooners. Nowadays, I wonder why I was willing to enjoy all of his yelling and abusive behavior. 'Cause it seemed funny at the time I guess.

More digits for the Captcha. They sure are easier to decipher.

Yellowrocks said...

HG Whenever someone ac CENTS the wrong syl LA ble my brother recalls ED Norton's Po LOP o nies.

I need to pack it in for today. This evening everything I touch falls, breaks, or spills. So I sat down to have a glass of Merlot and spilled it twice in 15 minutes. Spitz, we call that dopplich in PA Dutch.

Lucina, I just now caught up with the blog. I am so sorry about your step son. I wish for healing for him.

Vidwan827 said...

Argyle, thanks for the blog. The puzzle was quite easy.


Lucina, best wishes and prayers for your step son. I hope he gets better. Next to ones spouse, an illness to a child in distress is so very sad and heart wrenching, indeed.


Razz, Former known as Razzberry .... Thanks to Argyle .... Yesterday's late night post, I got to read of your 4 year fruitcake recipe.

Normally I just gloss over recipes .... But I decided to read it, since Argyle seemed so insistent.

It was the funniest piece of writing, I have read in recent months. Thank you. As I continued to read, the preparation, I could feel myself getting drunk, as I was reading the recipe ..... and I don't even drink.

Now, I am motivated, to go and get myself a quart or two of some quality whissky. How do I make out if it's good whissky ? Someone said, you should hold it to the light and see if the gold glitters down to your eyes. I musth try it sometime.

Have a Good day, all

Anonymous said...

Lucina, I'm sorry to hear of your stepson's stroke. I hope he has a full recovery that progresses fairly quickly.

Pat

Abejo said...

Lucina: Hope your stepson pulls out of this.

Lois: Nice to see you're blogging again!

Abejo

(trubmas crosby)

Husker Gary said...

-At Sea World, a Shamu is a Shamu is a Shamu…
-Leo the LIP’s biography. Don’t know what happened to the first link.
-Otto, yeah, I thought of Euell first
-ELDEST child characteristics. Scroll down two screens for list.
-Bill, a lot of things that seemed funny aren’t any more.
-Lucina, my thoughts are with you too.

Abejo said...

TTP: Caught your note from yesterday, regarding the Tuba Christmas. I opened the link and listened. Yes, I was there. We played 13 songs, plus had a small group that played "Santa wants a tuba for Christmas." Thanks for linking that.

Abejo

OwenKL said...

SASSY & ALONE

STRO, LATENED = crosswordese back-formations (whether that's good or bad -- ?)

IBM I for some reason mis-read as IntercontineNTaL Ballistic Missile.

Liked OREO app, STOLEN (which I always think should have been "stolden" to match its pronunciation)

buckeye bob: nice Thoughts. A bit long for a meme, but think I'll hold on to that list to base a few poems on on slack days!

Spitzboov: there are un-named ships in the navy? Even rowboats got names!

HG: Loved the Durocher quotes!
Is Pinesol an edible part?

Tin: My SIL is a bean-counter. She works for the census bureau, so I guess she's a human bean counter.

PK: Posr-OR-place I was expecting a pun on Poster place (bedroom wall?). Horse racing would have been good, too.

d-o: Yule - nice. Bet he lived in a Yule-log cabin!

The fruitcake recipe reminded me of one I used years ago. Just looked it up, and don't recall if this was exactly the same, but it's close. mcGyver Cookies

I haven't seen the numerical captchas yet, never had more trouble with them than usual. Now I'm starting to feel deprived about it!

TTP said...

Good evening all ! Thank you Patti Varol and thank you Santa Argyle !

SASSY, ALONE, SLR, FIRSTS, YET, CRAZY were all no thought / no proof entries on the first pass that ended up wrong. Sometimes entering the first thing that pops into your mind (and that fits in the squares) increases the level of difficulty of the puzzles.

I can explain the others readily enough, but I still don't know why I typed in FIRSTS for 'some bases and kisses'...

Speaking of HONDA... I am not at all familiar with Michael Bolton. He's in all of those HONDA commercials on TV. Is he spoofing himself or is all of that hamming it up for the CAMeras indicative of the way he really is ? Emoting ? I really don't know.

Speaking of fruit cakes... May I recommend Collin Street Bakery ?

Abejo, here is We Wish You a Merry Christmas also from this year. And here is another of Jingle Bells from a different angle than the earlier one. Not as many as last year. ABC News said this was the 25th year and there were 400 tuba players.

Lucina said...

TTP:
Hi. I'm glad you're still here.

RE: Colin Street Bakery. Until about three years ago I ordered fruit cakes from them for myself and as gifts. However, around that time they suddenly changed in texture and lacked moisture whereas before they were the best I had ever bought. That's why this year I decided to make my own.

Thank you all for the good wishes for my stepson. He called earlier and sounded quite clear. He reported that he is beginning to feel a little sensation on the left side. I truly hope that bodes well for his recovery.

TTP said...

Why thank you Lucina. You are always so nice.

My dad had the Deluxe shipped to us every year for beau coup years until he died, which was about 8 years ago. So I haven't had one for awhile. I was never a huge fruit cake fan, but I always liked those. So much better than than Swiss Colony. Yes, best wishes for your stepson.

PK said...

Thanks for the tuba links. My son played in one in our state when he was in high school and I didn't get to go to my disappointment. Abejo: What is that very bass darker colored thing the guy standing on the left is playing? It looks like a blunderbuss cannon. I've never seen one.

Michael Bolton is always like that. Women love him and men usually don't. He used to have long hair. Looks better now.

Now I'm so hungry for good fruit cake, I could die. I won't get any either. Maybe I'll just eat a few dates and hope that suffices.

Dudley said...

Gee PK, if you keep eating your dates, people will stop asking you out on them.

Just kiddin'! :-)

Spitzboov said...

Played bridge tonight so couldn't reply until now.

Lucina - good wishes for your stepson.

For Owen:

Today's Navy Regulations define the classification and status of naval ships and craft:
1. The Chief of Naval Operations shall be responsible for ... the assignment of classification for administrative pur- poses to water-borne craft and the designation of status for each ship and service craft. ....
2. Commissioned vessels and craft shall be called "United States Ship" or "U.S.S."
3. Civilian manned ships, of the Military Sealift Command or other commands, designated "active status, in service" shall be called "United States Naval Ship" or "U.S.N.S."
4. Ships and service craft designated "active status, in service," except those described by paragraph 3 of this article, shall be referred to by name, when assigned, classification, and hull number (e.g., "HIGH POINT PCH-1" or "YOGN-8").
-- United States Navy Regulations, 1990, Article 0406.
ie. Small tugs and lighters wouldn't normally have names.

Laughing at Lois' comment.
Seagoing definition of 'head':

From Merriam: b : a ship's toilet; broadly : toilet

PK said...

Dudley, My last date was Dec. 4, 2002 and was too old and sour to be very tasty. That's why it was my last one. LOL! Most of the men my age need a nurse or mortician rather than a date.

aka thelma said...

PK :) you always make me smile..

thelma

Anonymous T said...

Hey Puzzle Pals...

Another late one for me, but Patti's Monday puzzle was a peice of (fruit) cake. Argyle, thanks for the write-up...

Hand-up for SASSY/LIPPY, TTFN before TT?L (didn't know 45a, so a 1 square DNF -- sigh).

Ever be so sure of a perp (TTFN) that you second guess your NOODLE? "Maybe it is AnAN ALDA?... mmm..." :-)

PESCI - we just had him the other day, so I could spell it (with LLC in place).

GNU - I always think GNU = GNU Not Unix (a recursive acronym for free open-source software). Good stuff that runs much of the Internet.

WEES re: Sparkle in the grid. Fun words.

I think it was D-O that mentioned the home-town 'STROs were NL until 2013. This year we called them "The Last-ros" (say it aloud).

Lucina - Postitive thoughts to your stepson. I hope it's a good sign that he's already talking.

Cheers, -T
wow - 8 digit CAPTCH + 3 digit address

Anonymous said...

Re: the s0-called panic

nevermind

kjinkc said...

Owen - I'll probably post another shout out to you but wanted to say, I just watched the 'I've Been Everywhere, Man' link from today and realized that I have been to at least 15 or more of the towns mentioned as I lived in Australia back in the early '90s for 1 year. I tried to visit as many places as I could. Made it about half-way across the country, from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Ayers Rock, Alice Springs, Hobart, Canberra, Cairns (great Barrier Reef), Townsville, Launceston, and also took in a trip to New Zealand. I have to say, I've never heard the Aussie version of this song, so thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Hello C.C.

U r n early?

[ndyeetio]

Argyle said...

in and gone.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Two great puzzles! Thanks to Santa and authors!

Belated birthday wishes to Misty!

Best wishes Lucina concerning you Step son.

Went to the doctor Monday. He gave me 10mg Ambien replacement. So far no good. Have to rush over to DMV (birthday Christmas Day) today. But head not working properly!ish me luck!

Cheers!