google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, Dec 14th, 2013, Barry C. Silk

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Dec 14, 2013

Saturday, Dec 14th, 2013, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie

Words: 72 (missing J,Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 34

    I really like the look of this labyrinthine grid - I hope it was not as hard for you to work through as it was for me - but I might just be tired.  I got blanked in the NE, had to Google a couple of things in order to get anything at all.  One grid climber today:

6D. The Falcons of the Mountain West Conference : AIR FORCE ACADEMY - Colorado Springs, CO

and some of the two pairs of 10's and 9's in the corners;

17A. Honda CRF, e.g. : TRAIL BIKE - one I had to look up; I pondered ELECTRIC CAR, but it ran out of juice

28D. Its English version has more than 3.5 million entries : WIKTIONARY - Started with DICtionary, and that was close enough

3D. Silly goose or sitting duck : NOUN-PHRASE - learning moment for me - the Wiki

54A. Loretta Lynn's father was one : COAL MINER - is a child who was bad this year going to be a "COAL MINOR" at Christmas?

ward on~!

ACROSS:

1. Fiji neighbor : TONGA

6. Round server? : ALE HOUSE - DAH~! I tried BARMAID, too short, BARTENDER, too long....

14. Cutter cousin : SLOOP - boats - or should I say, ships

15. Research activity : FIELD TRIP - I took a "field trip" this week; UPS sent me to Queens for two days to deliver - what a completely different operation~!  I spent my 10-hours yesterday on FOUR blocks, period, delivering 300 packages.

16. Hot-and-cold feelings : AGUES - meh

18. Cost : RAN TO - this one still gets me; needed some perps to remind me

19. Honda et al.: Abbr. : MFRs - slight clecho from 17A; manufacturers

20. 1969 Tommy James and the Shondells hit : "SHE" - The other one I needed to look up

21. Canadian road sign letters : KPH - Kilometres per hour - no, wait that's British....Columbia???

22. Recent delivery : NEONATE - I just couldn't think of anything but NEWBORN

25. Architect Mies van der __ : ROHE

26. Cellphone display : BARS - signal strength

27. Midwestern tribe : IOWAs

31. Like some discount mdse. : IRRegular

32. "Powerage" band : AC/DC - going with a gratuitous Hard Rock music link from their previous album

33. Go away : VANISH

34. Org. led by David Stern : NBA - All perps; don't follow basketball

35. Infuse with : STEEP IN

37. The Wildcats of the Big 12 Conf. : KSU - A bit of a redundancy with the grid climber

38. Composer Holst : GUSTAV - English composer, famous for "The Planets"; his "Mars" piece was the inspiration for this number from the godfathers of Heavy Metal

40. Is not misused? : AIN'T - Isn't, misused

41. Noir protagonist : TEC - Detective, from the genre

42. Power : STEAM

43. Troubling spots : ACNE

44. Drop : SINK

45. Haberdashery items : TIE TACS

47. On a roll : HOT

48. Devil : IMP

51. Bank deposit : LODE

52. Philatelist's purchases : PANES - of stamps

57. Get around : EVADE

58. "Li'l Abner" Tony winner, 1956 : EDIE ADAMS

59. iComfort maker : SERTA - hey~! NOT an Apple product~!

60. With equanimity : SEDATELY

61. "Shame __!" : ON YOU

DOWN:

1. Peter the Great, e.g. : TSAR

2. First International Gymnastics Hall of Fame inductee : OLGA KORBUT - seemed like the best WAG money could buy

4. "Faust" author : GOETHE

5. It roughly translates to "bearded" in Tibet : APSO

7. Picks up : LEARNS

8. Woman in a "Paint Your Wagon" song : ELISA

9. Aerobic exercise can raise it, briefly : HDL - ah, not BPM (heart-rate)

10. Wagering option, briefly : OTB - Dah~! not I.O.U.?

11. "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" screenwriter : URIS (Leon)


12. Punjab sect member : SIKH

13. It's almost pointless : EPEE - tough way to clue a crossword staple - I could think of so many items without a point - even considered "KNEE" for a moment

15. NSA headquarters site : Ft. MEADE

22. "Grimm" network : NBC-TV - I WAGed ABC-TV, and was 80% right

23. Red Sox Hall of Fame pitcher Luis : TIANT - I defer to our C.C., who is proabably jonesing for some baseball these days (C.C.: I drew a blank. Wiki shows he was with the Twins in 1970. Notice the wording of the clue: He was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame, not Cooperstown.)





24. Forever and a day : EON

25. Gymnastic event : RINGS

29. Gave the go-ahead for : ASSENTED TO - started with SAID ---- TO

30. Peel off : SHUCK - not SHAVE - that showed up at 44D

32. "Same here" : AS AM I - what's an "asami"?

33. Jungle features : VINES

36. Grasping organ : PINCERS - not very useful on those VINES in the Jungle, though.   Some singular/plural deception

39. Bit of ink : TATtoo

43. Like some Hindemith works : ATONAL - If Mr. Silk says so....

44. Cut off : SHAVEN

46. Fail to say : ELIDE

48. Secures : ICES

49. Way : MODE

50. Took care of, in a way : PAID

52. Chilean cabbage? : PESO

53. Junior on the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team : SEAU

55. Rural area : LEA

56. Door closer? : MAT - Doormat - I've seen some funny ones at work (some are a little crass)

Splynter


Notes from C.C.:

1) Please click here for a great tribute puzzle George Barany & Friends constructed.

2) Bill G, you did it! The first one on the blog. You rock!!

3) Here is a picture of our Farmer/Philosopher Windhover. Click on it for a clearer image. He said this on the blog:

"I'm not generally in the habit of wearing feather boas (again, not that there's anything wrong with that). The pic was taken at a recent Hallowe'en party. The Irish went as Little Debbie (the Atlanta-based snack food entrepeneuress, not the one who "Did Dallas") and I was a Swiss Roll snack cake. I figured no one would "get it", but I was wrong. They were all already drinking when we arrived, and as you know alcohol sharpens the mind. (I learned that from Cliff on Cheers)."

Click here to see a picture of his lovely wife Irish & my favorite picture of him.



53 comments:

OwenKL said...

Not good for me today. Had a few problems elsewhere, too, but that unholy foursome in the NW was the last to fall. I had AG-E-, RA-T-, NO--, & AP--, and couldn't get past them. Finally did, but only by a lot of trial and error and red letter dependence.
I was hung up on "bearded" for Lhasa APSO because the only word I know in Tibetan is "old man": yeti.

A NOUN PHRASE was a hard one to get to,
Though I could have used "Lhasa bearded APSO".
My English prof argues
Till it gives me the AGUES;
Don't ask what the doctor's bills RAN TO!

OwenKL said...

Paint Your Wagon came out in 1969! I was still a teenager then, but a recent convert to Mormonism, so I still recall it, vaguely. Don't know how anyone could be expected to recall Elisa, although a real woman, Eliza Snow, was prominent in that period of Mormon history. (Full Disclosure, I was in the LDS for many years, but no longer am.)

George Barany said...

Thanks for linking to our puzzle, which was constructed jointly with Michael Hanko, Martin Herbach, and Tom Williams, and pays tribute to one very much in the news.

C.C. is absolutely right, Luis Tiant did spend one season (1970) with the Minnesota Twins. However, his greatest days were in the mid-70's with the Boston Red Sox, and he had perhaps the most unusual windup in modern baseball history. If you have 16 sec to spare, watch this.

HeartRx said...

Good morning Splynter, C.C. et al.

I loved the doormat links, Splynter! Thanks for all the tidbits of wisdom today. I had a hard time with the “labyrinthine” shape of the grid, because when I got one section filled, it didn’t really offer a lot of help in others.

Like OwenKL, I stared at the blank space where RANT_ intersected APS_ and for the life of me I couldn’t get it. I tried APSe, but RANTe didn’t make sense at all. I finally left and got another cup of coffee, and when I came back to the puzzle the “O” leaped out. Duh, RAN TO and Lhasa APSO…

Believe it or not, I remembered Luis TIANT from the Red Sox. My father used to love watching him play every Saturday. But he and Carlton Fisk are probably the only two players I can ever remember.

I hope everyone in this storm’s path intends to hunker down this evening. Personally, I see a glass of wine and a nice fire in my near future…

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Well, I almost managed to get through this one unassisted. Like Splynter, however, the NE proved to be too much for me. I was so sure that STUB was correct for 13D, and that really messed me up. Other missteps in that section included MARIA for ELISA and FIELDTEST for FIELDTRIP.

Time to make sure the snow blower is working...

[angdica]

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Nice puzzle today, but it almost did me in. I was certain the "Paint Your Wagon" woman was MARIA (They Call The Wind Maria), because that made the Hondas CARS. When I finally used Wite-Out on those two entries, New England finally appeared.

Excellent math skills today, Splynter. You get 100% on your 80%.

Baseball fan that I am, TIANT actually rang a bell in my cerebellum. On the other hand, it's a good thing I never read the clue for 53D. It meant absolutely nothing to me.

Blue Iris said...

Across with all white fill except TRAILBIKE, NEONATE, and COAL MINER. Thought about quitting, but since it's the middle of the night I kept going...Down with TSAR, OLGA KORBUT, NOUN PHRASE, AIR FORCE ACADEMY. I was on a roll. Still red-lettered to finish.

Haven't read your comment for about 5 days now. On the 2nd day of Prednisone and I'm still awake. Hope I feel like sleeping in the not too distant future.

Too ill to buy presents. Had Amazon ship crock pot to daughter and SIL in Florida. I know they are disappointed no baked goods are coming.
Found "50 yrs of DR Who" book for twin daughter.
Still trying to get husband to figure out something for our son.

I'm going to go lay down and listen to Christmas music on DISH. Really like music on DISH Christmas Message, channel 92 here.

TTP said...

Good morning all !

Whipped right through the northwest and west so fast that I thought it was Monday or Tuesday. "What a breeze this puzzle would be", he confidently thought. Then confidently entered SO AM I for the 'me too' clue at 32D.

That was the start of my travails.
I entered words and revised so many.
slowly and surely it filled.
Until the northeast which stayed empty.
So once again Barry C Silk prevails.

Is not misused - AINT. An AHA, V8 and D'OH! all rolled into one.
Bank Deposit - LODE - Liked this clue.
Door Closer? - Had MAN. Liked the link Splynter.
Peel Off - Strip, then SHave, then SHear, then SHUCK. Thank you KSU.
Cut off - SHAVEN. "I took the dirt road shaven and saved 25 minutes each way, but I'm a going to have to wash the car after that."

EPEE, It's almost pointless - Splynter, I get your point. So many possible items. I entered STUB. STUB of a pencil. Almost gone. Almost without a point. Kind of like this explanation. Took stub out when I remembered SHE.

Didn't help. Last 7 letters of the three words in the NE stayed white.

Anonymous said...

"Research activity : FIELD TRIP"

Please explain.

Anonymous said...

I would like to see a picture of Barry Silk.

Anonymous said...

"TIANT actually rang a bell in my cerebellum"

Declarative knowledge is stored in the cerebral cortex, not the cerebellum.

CanadianEh! said...

Saturday Silkie - toughie! Lots of helps required today.
Easiest clue was Canadian road sign letters=KPH (yes in Ontario too!)

1st child was 10 weeks early and spent 2 months in NEONATal ICU.

DH is shoveling snow right now and more to come today! Hope we make it to all the Christmas parties.

buckeye bob said...

@ Anon 9:24 a.m.

Barry Silk:
Barry Silk

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I started this late last night but didn't get very far. Picked it up again this morning and slowly, oh so slowly, I chipped away until I finally got the TADA. Didn't use any help, but needed perps and wags to complete it.

It's always a pleasure, Mr. Silk, if sometimes a painful one, so thank you. Splynter, thanks for your clear and concise expo.

Lucina, thanks for the tamale info. Sounds yummy.

Marti, I second your idea of dealing with tonight's foul weather except my glass will have Dewar's in it and lots of Tin's dreaded you-know-what! Cheers.

Stay safe everyone.

Husker Gary said...

MFRS and not MFGS (couldn’t see LEARNS) cost me one bad cell on this wonderful puzzle that found my hand on the rip cord to bail out a few times. Barry left COAL MINER and AIR FORCE ACADEMY Easter eggs for me to find and I worked off them to the end. Loved the write-up and the MATS, Splynter

Musings
-“Not’s” that fit – Round server – AMMO CLIP, CRF – CROSSOVER, Wagon girl – MARIA, Deposit – SILT
-COAL MINER’S DAUGHTER movie awards
-I’ve organized FIELD TRIPS to Orlando, FL, Hutchison, KS, SAC Museum in Ashland, our local coal-fired STEAM power plant and a skating rink in North Omaha. Kids remember these the most.
-Speed limit in Canada is 100, uh, KPH and summer temps are around 32°, uh, C
-I heard TEC used in a Bogart film once
-These are called sheets not PANES
-We have an unflappable neighbor who would act SEDATELY in a tornado
-URIS, OK Corral and Exodus? Interesting
-Tiant’s “turn his back to the batter” delivery was as famous as Marichal’s high leg kick
-I can’t imagine the strength needed to do this on the RINGS
-A recent survey showed that 76% of managers said TATS and piercings hurt chances at job advancement
-Nice snaps of Irish, you and the LEA, Wind!

desper-otto said...

Anon@9:32 -- Agreed. I knew that. But, cerebral cortex doesn't have the same "ring" to it.

desper-otto said...

Husker: SHEET vs PANES.

Unknown said...

LOTS of unknowns this morning! But stuck with it and finished in 27 Minutes. Never heard of WIKTIONARY--I use WIKIPEDIA a lot though. Filled in COALMINER quickly due to the song/movie of old and spread from there. :)

Anonymous said...

Windy gets younger as he grows up.

Magilla Go-Rilla said...

Sadistic puzzle maker!

David said...

I don't think composer Paul Hindemith with like his compositions to be described as ATONAL. The textbooks he wrote on Music theory and Composition were based on his belief in TONALITY as the musical expression of the undeniable forces in nature and science. His music might sound edgy and austere but it is strongly tonal.

buckeye bob said...

Luis Tiant began his major league career with the Cleveland Indians, where he spent 6 seasons before being traded. He had more success with better teams later. Johnny Cueto of the Cincinnati Reds is said to be emulating the Luis Tiant windup shown in George Barany’s short video. Johnny is the number 1 pitcher, but there have been questions whether that “turn his back to the hitter” windup has caused back problems.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Not my favorite Silkie today. Ended up with red letter help on SEDATELY. ALEHOUSE was a bear, too; had waitress, then 'the house, before finally sussing AIR FORCE ACADEMY. FT MEADE was a gimme, though, as was TONGA and ROHE. URIS was an educated guess. Actually, the NW and SE were gotten without much ado. Favorite fill was guessing APSO correctly.
We didn't study NOUN PHRASES. We had nouns modified by adjectives. That's how the sentences were diagrammed, too.

"Espouse elucidation."

Have a great day."

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Wasn't sure I could pull off a true no-peeky today, but kept pecking at it until completion. Didn't know about the Academy team, of course, 'cause that's sports and I don't do sports.

That said, living in Massachusetts in the 70's meant that I couldn't miss Luis Tiant. I recall that he was called "El Tiante" (sp?) in the press, and that he perfected the technique of twisting his head like an owl to look at all the bases, even First, before firing off a pitch. It looked sorta hard.

Snowblowers (2) and John Deere are fueled and ready to deal with it. Effing snow.

Husker Gary said...

-Thanks Otto. I wanted to buy my Alex P. Keaton look-a-alike grandson a sheet of currency for Christmas until I found out the prices for various sizes of sheets of $5 bills
-Spitz, I agree about adjectives modifying nouns and this left-brained math/science guy really liked diagramming and don’t know why it is not taught anymore. Check out this bad boy diagramming!!
-Buckeye, I could see where Luis and Juan might have had problems with their extreme windups. For longevity you can’t beat a knuckleball.
-I’d love to know some FIELD TRIPS our bloggers have organized or been participants. I accompanied a trip to Europe with teenagers but was not the sponsor and would have had a whole different way of dealing with some 16 year old girls and their attitudes. They opted to play miniature golf in Munich rather than go Salzburg, Austria. Sorry girls, not optional.
-I can’t get George’s puzzle to print out in .pdf format. All that prints is the URL at the top of a sheet after it shows me the puzzle in Print Preview for a half second.

Dudley said...

Bill G from last night -

Careful, there, fellow! Clean Undies didn't give a clear indication of gender. Could be a dude. Ewwwww!

:-)

George Barany said...

Hi everyone. Perusing the comments, has anyone besides Husker Gary had trouble accessing our puzzle? You can send me a private e-mail to barany@umn.edu and I can help trouble-shoot. Also, someone asked for an explanation of the FIELD_TRIP clue. I don't think it's anything particularly complicated; think geologists doing research, and going out in the field to collect rock samples. Another picture of Barry Silk, and a fun brief biosketch, may be found here. Finally, I've enjoyed reading various reminiscences about Luis TIANT, and I particularly appreciated learning of a more current player who emulates Luis' unique windup.

Linda said...

Stopping by to wish my blog friends and CC a most blessed of Christmas seasons (although He was more likely born in early fall...oh well.) Remembering those who left us this past year, too. "I thank God on every remembrance of you all" (proof positive that Paul was a southerner or at least a PopEye cousin...as in "I am what I am" :)
Looking very chic, Windhover! (and I haven`t had a drop! except in fruit cake :)

Dudley said...

Hey Puzzlers -

The little woman found this Season-appropriate clip last year. We laughed and laughed! I bet you will too.

Handel would be proud

Enjoy!

Tinbeni said...

Splynter: Thank you for an informative write-up explaining my Ink-Blot.

DNF ... I'm NOT entering a certain word ... even if it is plural.
I like my grid to (also) be NEAT !!!

Marti: Based on the 'Weather Channel" I would think a BOTTLE of wine would be more like it.

Husker: The only "teenagers" I ever took on a FIELD TRIP were three bottles of Pinch.

Looking forward to "The Best College Football Game" ... Army-v-Navy.
I know MY TEAM will win.

Cheers!!!

windhover said...

Anon @ 10:10:
If only ! :)

john28man said...

I did very well on this Silkie; didn't finish it tho. I must have been on his wavelength. of course the fact that I live only six miles south of the AIR FORCE ACADENY might have had something to do with it.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Had MOTOR BIKE before TRAIL became necessary. Had to Google for TIANT and even for COAL MINER --because my memory mixed up Loretta Lynn with Stacey Spacek!

Otherwise this was much fun. I especially enjoyed "Is not misused" for AIN'T. Sure, I've seen it before, but I like it every time.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! I usually sigh and whimper a lot trying to do a Silkie. Today was no exception. However, he did throw me a few gimmees. First pass through I had only TSAR on the top half.

I was whining, "How am I supposed to know who are the Falcons of the Mountain West Conference." Then there flashed into my mind a picture I took and published 25 years ago of an Air Force Academy Cadet with a hooded Falcon mascot on his leather-clad arm. Hey, I know this.

When my elder son was a H.S. senior and drummer in the band, we took two busloads to the AFAcademy band day. As editor of the local daily newspaper, I wangled my way on as parent/chaperone and official photographer. Really fun trip. Got some of the best pictures of my life. Good thing, because my boss had sold a sponsored two-page broadsheet spread of those pictures. Most of the band members were related to business people who wanted to share in the trip via pictures.

Also in the puzzle was KSU. Lots of my money went to Kansas State University (Go Wildcats) with my 2nd son who was commissioned an Air Force officer from the ROTC program at that school.

As a NBA basketball fan, I know David Stern who has announced his retirement date.

PK said...

Thanks, Splynter, for your expo. Delivering all those Christmas cheer packages makes you Santa's most studly elf, I guess. You probably don't have to work out with bar bells after lifting all that stuff.

PK said...

DesperOtto, you might not have seen my late comment asking if your sister's illness was serious. I wish the best for both of you.

OwenKL said...

TTP: That was an excellent bit of poetry! I recognized it as being in the form of an homage to a classic poem, but can't place which one -- something by Robert Frost?
Lucina: you got off a really good one late evening yesterday with the iTired tee-shirt. :-)))

Bill G. said...

Hi everybody. I'm never a fan of themeless puzzles but I turned on red letters and soldiered through. I didnt understand Door Closer >> MAT and still don't. KPH isn't so much British or Canadian; it's mostly everywhere else but the US. Honda et al. >> MFRs seemed a little unfair.

I love music with a melody, chords, etc. including classical music by Mozart, Brahms, Bach, etc. But I've never warmed up to the more modern music by people like Hindemith, Mahler, etc. My Pandora page includes Scott Joplin, classical guitar music, The Manhattan Transfer, Western Swing, Chet Atkins, Dixieland and such.

How can I change my Profile without clicking on my blue name? How can I find somebody's e-mail address without going through old posts to find their blue name?

desper-otto said...

PK, I saw your post and would have emailed you…but you don't have a blogger profile, so I couldn't. (Why don't you email me?)

desper-otto said...

BillG -- I always enter addresses I may want again into my contacts list. Then I don't have to look up their "blue" name. BTW, "door closer" is like "door follower" -- you can put "mat" after "door" and come up with a doormat.

I complained to George Barany about a Natick in the puzzle that C.C. linked. One space is the second initial of a person's name,
both across and down. If you don't happen to know the second initial of either of those people, you're stuck. Turns out there were supposed to be circles in the .puz file which would have eased that problem. Mr. Barany has since fixed it. So if your .puz doesn't have circles, download it again.

thehondohurricane said...

Bill G..DOORMAT..MAt is the last letters of the word.
Lame cluing IMO.

Dudley, thanks, Hallelujah Chorus a favorite my favorite, Another presentation that will be bookmarked. And it gave me lots of chuckles.

After quickly getting OLGA K..., TIANT, COAL MINER... & AIRFORCE.... I figured this would be a Silky solve, but my grid ended up like the view outside my window,,,a yard full of white.



Bill G. said...

Gary, I agree about teaching formal grammar and diagramming sentences. It gave me a visual picture of the correct way for words to interact. English teachers at my school defended teaching grammar only within the context of writing. It sounded good at the time but now we've got a bunch of people who see nothing wrong with "Can you go to lunch with my wife and I?"

I agree with Keith. "Is not misused" for AIN'T is always a favorite.

If yesterday's Clean Undies was a guy wearing lingerie, then I was had. I was hoping for a Victoria's Secret model who had gotten behind in her laundry. How come Windhover and others of you know what CD means and I didn't?

HeartRx said...

Dudley @ 11:46, thanks for sharing. I almost peed my pants (er, Pirates of Penzance…) laughing!!

Spitzboov and HG., I have to agree with you about diagramming sentences. HG, that was one helluva diagram for the first sentence of the Declaration of Independence!

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. As expected, I found this to be a pretty hard puzzle. Had to change WAITRESS to ALEHOUSE, NEWBORN to NEONATE, and DICTIONARY to WIKTIONARY, among others. Reading Honda CRF as Honda CRV messed me up, too. At least GUSTAV, SIKH, GOETHE, and COAL MINER were gimmes. Didn't know any of the sports figures. With help from Google I did solve the whole thing, so all is good. Best wishes to you all.

Jayce said...

Dudley, I add to Marti's my thanks for sharing that video. Well worth watching.
My wife's initials are CD. She always tells people who ask that they stand for Christian Dior.

Bo Darville said...

A comment on another blog raised an issue with the KPH answer.

It seems that all official road signs in Canada use km/h abbreviation on their road signs.

Even their dash speedometers(ours too) use km/h.

I am surprised this slipped by.

Anonymous said...

Also saw something of interest to many people here. Tomorrow's broadcast of CBS Sunday Morning will have a segment on crosswords.

It will feature interviews with Dan Feyer, Will Shortz and the daughter of Arthur Wynne. Maybe it will solve the great mystery of how to pronounce Wynne.

CrossEyedDave said...

Bo Darville

Apparently the "P" in KPH stands for "per" & is the original way of writing kilometers per hour. Km/h however is required to conform with "SI", or the "International System of Units.

KPH Wiki

SI Wiki

George Barany said...

H i again. It's been a busy day, and I appreciate how many of you visited our tribute puzzle entitled Elba Was He ... As desper-otto rightly noticed, the puz version of the puzzle posted as of this morning was missing 6 circles that are essential to complete the puzzle. This has now been fixed.

If you are still in the mood for another puzzle, They Sure Managed has just been posted. It has a sports theme, so be warned.

Regardless of whether or not you do that puzzle (but trust me about the order of steps), you may want to read this article which is now online and will appear in tomorrow's (Sunday, December 15) edition of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The article was timed to lead up to the 100th anniversary of the first crossword puzzle, and focuses on the very strong constructing community in the Twin Cities. As you all know, C.C. is one of our absolute stars. Due to production deadlines, the reporter only had time to interview Victor Barocas and myself, but you can see the whole group in this series of captioned photographs.

Thanks for your patience in reading this. You are a wonderful on-line community, and I want to wish all of you all of the best for the holiday season!

TTP said...

Owen.

You sir, are too kind.

Resemblance to any poet ?
That's coincidental.
If it could be called poetry... not so sure.
It is so mundane and pedestrian,
it's really residential.

I shall quit now while I'm behind, but thank you for the kind words.

buckeye bob said...

@ George Barany 11:21 a.m.

I love that website you referenced! It looks like Xword Maker Profiles is a very useful site for crossword puzzle solvers! Thank you.

Bill G. said...

It was nice to see the photos of the Twin Cities crossword gang.

This is a spectacular photo of Jupiter and its four brightest moons emerging from behind our own moon. I would like to think Galileo might have seen a blurrier version of this somewhere along the way.

Our moon, Jupiter and four of its moons.

(Click on the "See here" link underneath the photo for a bigger, clearer version.)

Lucina said...

Good evening, all! I'm sure you have all posted your wit and wisdom on this Silkie. It was tough! But I'll read you after I post.

Today was again very busy. Since I was gone all day Friday and working on the meat Thursday, my house was a disaster, so had to concentrate on that first.

My first pass on the puzzle yielded the NW. For some reason AGUES immediately came to me and I worked around that.

Off and on all day I completed one quadrant at a time. The SW was next but I did have to look for Mr. Holst's first name. Also looked up TIANT. There is no way I would have known that.

DICTIONARY was my first fill in the SE but of course the D had to be changed when IOWAS emerged.

This was definitely a head scratcher but in the end Ks did me in, CORBUT/KORBUT, WIKTIONARY not WICTIONARY as I had no idea about KSU. Sigh. Those sports clues just get me.

Loved the clue for AIN'T and sadly knew about Junior SEAU because of his untimely death.

I hope you all had a stupendous Saturday!