google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday December 21, 2013 Marti DuGuay-Carpenter

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Dec 21, 2013

Saturday December 21, 2013 Marti DuGuay-Carpenter

Mini-theme: Crossword turns 100-year-old today, hence our 3rd crossword tribute puzzle.

39A. The first one appeared on this date in 1913 : CROSSWORD PUZZLE

7D. Finish a 39-Across without a single mistake, e.g. : BE LETTER PERFECT
   
C.C. here. Poor Splynter is sick. I'm so used to getting a write-up in the Draft folder every Saturday when I wake up. This is the first time the Stud missed a blog since May 21, 2011. He's that dedicated and disciplined.

Mini-theme often consists of 2 entries, they're either intersected in the very middle like Marti's today or placed in the first Across & last Across or any opposite symmetrical spots.
  
Across:

1. Raises one's spirits? : TOASTS. Great clue.

7. Reasons for seeing double? : BIFOCALS. By the way, Jayce, you're confusing Katharina Böhm with Katharina Boehm, who's an accomplished golfer.



15. Rapt : INTO IT. Totally.

16. Easter activities : EGG ROLLS. Oh, non-food reference, Steve!

17. Whistler, at times : KETTLE

18. Paintball kin : LASER TAG

19. __ du Diable : ILE. Devil's Island.

20. Loser's word : LITE. Weight loser.

22. Surgical tube : STENT

23. Point of Grant Wood's "American Gothic"? : TINE


25. Hulu offering : NET TV. Do you call yours NET TV, Bill G?

28. Mythical archer : EROS

29. Ahead : ON TOP

31. Headache cause : STRESS

33. Marie Antoinette and Louise de Lorraine : REINES. Queens in French.

35. "It is the __, and Juliet is the sun" : EAST

36. Org. that employed Julia Child during WWII : OSS (Office of Strategic Services)

42. QVC rival : HSN (Home Shopping Network)

43. Nitpick : CARP

44. Deprive fraudulently, in slang : ACE OUT

45. Figure-hugging : FITTED. For River Doc. Loved your post last night.



47. Milne mom : KANGA

48. "Just the __, ..." : SAME

51. Host : HORDE

53. Sailor's port : LEFT

54. West Indian sorcery : OBEAH. Similar to Voodoo?

56. Didn't recover from a trip? : FELL. I was thinking of traveling of course.

58. Bit of a chuckle : HEE

59. Bunk : NONSENSE

62. Buck's Fizz cousin : MIMOSA. Never had Buck's Fizz: two parts orange juice to one part champagne. Maybe Misty serves it in her annual Christmas party.

64. "Hold your horses!" : JUST A SEC. You started with "Wait a sec" as well?

65. Silvery food fish : SMELTS. So why is this fish plurable? English irregularities regarding plurals drive me crazy.

66. Pitched : AT A SLANT

67. "A Writer's Life" author : TALESE (Gay). Also wrote "Honor Thy Father".

Down:

1. Backyard party decoration : TIKI TORCH

2. Routine fare? : ONE LINERS. Love this clue also.

3. Care : ATTENTION.  D-Otto always welcomes newbies to our blog. Thanks for the care, Tom!

4. Tosspot : SOT

5. Cultivate : TILL. So sweet of your farmer to send you roses, PK.

6. "A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose" author : STEIN (Gertrude). Loved "Charmed Circle".




8. Market chain based in Chicago : IGA (Independent Grocers Alliance)

9. OT enders, often : FGS (Field Goals)

10. Crops of the pick? : ORES. I don't get this clue. Why "pick"?

11. 1519 Yucatán arrival : CORTES (Hernán). Learning moment to me. He overthrew the Aztec Empire. I see lip liner.



12. Doctor : ALTER. Verb "Doctor".

13. The plain in Spain : LLANO. Rhyming clue.

14. Certain NCOs : SSGTs (Staff sergeant)

21. French possessive : TES. Your. So are MES & SES.

24. Ages : EONS

26. Like much folk mus. : TRAD (Traditional)

27. "Roman Holiday" vehicle : VESPA

30. "Home Alone" actor : PESCI (Joe)

32. Unable to go further : STUCK

34. What a scythe may cut : SWATH

36. Montreal Protocol concern : OZONE HOLE. Not familiar with Montreal Protocol, signed in Sept 1987, the exact month I had my first kiss. Where were you in 1987?

37. Games with many runs : SLUGFESTS

38. Calm : SET AT EASE

40. "For here __ go?" : OR TO

41. Fervor : ZEAL

45. Big spreads : FEASTS

46. 34th POTUS : DDE. Easy. As I remember JFK is the 35th.

48. First name in skating : SONJA (Henie). Clear Ayes' favorite.

49. In the neighborhood of : ABOUT

50. Epitome of brightness : MENSA

52. Title loc. in five '80s films : ELM ST

55. Cure : HEAL

57. Bean named for a capital : LIMA. I grew a few rows of lima bean a couple of years ago.

60. DOD arm : NSA

61. Tester or Boxer: Abbr. : SEN. Jon Tester (Montana). Barbara Boxer.

63. Tillis of country : MEL



Marti also has a puzzle at George Barany's site. Click here to solve.

I don't know the exact date, but somewhere this year Rich Norris edited his 5000th puzzle  for the LA Times. Congratulations, Rich!
 
C.C.

54 comments:

George Barany said...

Congratulations Marti, on this puzzle that C.C. just blogged, and on Think Twice that C.C. just referred to and that I am proud to host. Regulars to the L.A. Times Crossword Corner will have a lot of fun with the puzzle, and should definitely read about its back-story once they have completed solving. Happy 100th birthday, crosswords!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Fun Saturday puzzle from our deal Marti.

Got a bit stuck after putting TOI at 21D and CORTEZ at 11D, leaving me ITRESZ at 31A. Took awhile, but I did finally get that sorted out.

When I didn't get the *TADA* at the end, I had to go back and look for my mistake. Ended up being HEH instead of HEE at 58A. Didn't notice it until I double-checked the down entries. I guess that's why they call it a crossword puzzle...

The capchas lately aren't blurrier for me. They letters are just crammed closer together, making it
nearly impossible for me to make them out. I may have to start relying on the audio versions soon. Or get new reading glasses.

[Hope Splynter is felling better soon!]

[romife]

OwenKL said...

The connoisseur of the CROSSWORD PUZZLE
Is oblivious to all outward bustle.
By his grid he's transfixed,
He must BE LETTER PERFECT.
Who'll chastise his errors? The Grammar Fuzz'll!

If you're talking about several fish of the same type, they would be SMELT. If you're talking about fish of two or more related species, or multiple species as a whole, they would be SMELTS. The clue at 65A can be interpreted that latter way.

10D A pick-ax is a miner's main tool, which he uses to harvest the raw rocks that he pries out of a mine.

13D The plain in Spain I started out with RAINY. Here in Santa Fe, if there weren't an arroyo blocking it, Calle Llano would be going right thru my condo.

A lot of great clues in this puzzle kept me going for quite a while, but eventually I got them all.

Get well to Splynter.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Marti must have had tongue in cheek yesterday when she wrote, "Hmmm, tomorrow is the actual anniversary of the crossword puzzle, but it is a Saturday. So I bet there will not be a theme. Well, there was no theme in the first one, either, so I guess that's appropriate!"

I was not LETTER PERFECT today -- I started with EGG HUNTS and CORTEZ. "Tillis of country" could have been MEL or PAM. I let the perps decide. Almost blew it with LAME/LITE and MES/TES. I finally snapped to the diet (LITE) reference and everything fell into place.

Today the Bosch dishwasher is due to arrive, and we'll see if I'm smart enough to install it. I'll let you know how it goes.

Get well, Splynter. You've gotta play Santa for a few more days. Last week, while making potato dumplings, I broke my niece's potato peeler. She emailed me yesterday that Santa (UPS) delivered a new one. I'm sure that's just what she was hoping to get for Christmas!

TTP said...

Good morning all.

Ditto Otto. EGGhuntS, and CORTES with a Z. My 34th POTUS was IKE long before he became DDE.

My favorite was Crops of the pick = ORES. CC, miners used picks to get to the ore.

All in all I didn't fare so well with this puzzle. I have a bit of a headache caused by STRESS from knowing that my CITI card info was stolen while shopping at Target. Never heard of ACE OUT, but I know that they can't max OUT that card. I cancelled it. Still...

Thank you Marti and CC for a bit of diversion this morning. Get well soon Splynter.

Eric said...

I was all set to 'reveal' the 10D clue's reference but I was beaten to it, possibly by JUST A SEC; I'd have been a bit quicker had I too not tried to work around "wait a sec" for much too long. A pick is used in mines to dislodge ore. Think of the 49ers (not the SF football people).

Avg Joe said...

Just a quick heads up. Merl Reagle is coming up on CBS This Morning in a few minutes (CST).

Husker Gary said...

Cleverness (TOAST, HORDE, FELL, ONE LINERS, ORES, et al) thy name art Marti! I am CARPless! What a ray of sunshine for this winter solstice with the least daylight. At least the hours of daylight will start getting longer now.

Musings
-On my second day with BIFOCALS I was singing and playing while reading sheet music in front of 800 people. No STRESS there!
-One Keith brownie point for each of us who knew EAST
-Pitched ball, Pitched tent, Pitched battle, Pitched idea, no, no no, no.
-Beautiful dialogue about aging containing …ATTENTION must be paid.
-Old Testament enders? Not so much.
-Howard’s “hog” on TBBT is the “second biggest VESPA they make”
-Home Alone was a breakout hit, its progeny, not so much
-I almost got my cart STUCK in some snow on the 3rd hole Tuesday
-In 1987 I was ABOUT halfway through my 42 year teaching career
-I almost said TO GO in the Arby’s drive through last week. DOH (cordage fiber)!
-Broke a potato peeler? You been workin’ out OTTO?
-What 1968 Doris Day movie has EGGROLL in the title?

desper-otto said...

That's right Husker -- faster than a speeding four-year-old, more powerful than a rusty potato peeler, able to leap small footstools in a single bound, it's a nerd, it's a pain, it's desper-otto! Oh, I was actually posting about the movie: With Six you Get Eggroll.

Java Mama said...

Good morning, everyone! Swell puzzle today, Marti – a fitting tribute to the 100th anniversary. Thanks for a great write-up, C.C. Hope you’re feeling better soon, Splynter.

Favorite clue/answers were Raises One’s Spirits = TOASTS and Whistler, at Times = KETTLE. Hand up for putting in EGG HUNTS before EGG ROLLS and WAIT A SEC before JUST A SEC. Took way too long to figure out Sailor’s Port = LEFT, especially since DH and I just returned from a short cruise to Key West and Cozumel.

We’re having our Christmas celebration a few days early today, since oldest daughter and her family are heading to upstate New York to be with SIL’s family on the 25th. Better get that ham in the oven!

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone. Hope Splynter get's well soon.

Congrats to Rich on his 5000th puzzle. Quite a milestone.

Another testament to the enduring pastime of Crosswords. Nice contribution, Marti. Solved most of it one word at a time. Guessing grid spanner CROSSWORD PUZZLE correctly helped a lot. Had wait a sec before JUST A SEC. SONJA helped with that. Some good misdirectional clues. LITE was the last to fall. The French possessive TES is used only with family and close friends and the modified noun must be plural.
With CORTES, I had to wait for the cross to recall whether it ended with an S or z.
Sonja - We walked around Sonja Henies Plass in Oslo. Not real special. It's very near one of the waterfront districts, and has an industrial"feel" to it.

The Winter Solstice comes at 1711 UT today.

Have a great day.

Avg Joe said...

OK, with the CBS piece out of the way after a lengthy pause between the tease and the airing, I can comment without fear of missing the show. It was a nice tribute to the the crossword fascination, but couldn't help but be disappointed that the LAT got no mention. Oh well. Cant' win em all.

Great puzzle today Marti. Had the same pitfalls others have mentioned, especially that Z in Cortes and starting with Wait a sec. And the across grid spanner was very helpful. Took a long time, but did manage to finish it letter perfect.

Yesterdays puzzle was one that typically would be too hard to enjoy, but given the anniversary I hung in there and did feel satisfaction at completing it. Had the same issues as most with the Doh/Ovo crossing, but the O is all that made sense after an alphabet run. As for the Sere/Nard cross, I had to run the alphabet 4 times before I took a complete wag on an R...turned out right, but that was just blind......luck.

Happy birthday CWP!!

Lemonade714 said...

Winter is coming and so is Downton Abbey .


Warti you sneaky creator with your butter won't melt in your mouth comment last evening. Congrats on your first Saturday .

WES a different solving experience.

Get well soon Splynter. It was 83 when I boarded the plane but 19 when we landed in Denver. The good news was I arrived to be present at the opening of STATION 26 BREWING where my son is now working.

Yellowrocks said...

Wow, what a delightful puzzle. The NW was just loaded with puns.I was moving along a little faster than a usual Saturday when I had to stop to cook. I had four clues in the SE left to solve.
I made warm German potato salad for a party and mixed up two batches of cookie dough to roll out later.
When I took a breather I forgot I hadn't finished and went right to the blog, spoiling my solve.
Busy day. Off to the races.

Al Cyone said...

I couldn't access the Mensa site but found the puzzle on the Chicago Trib site (though the interface was inferior). LITE was the last to fall for me also (I had thought DIET earlier so was in the ballpark but then reverted to thoughts of losing races, etc.).

By the way, if anyone hasn't checked out the Google crossword Doodle (mentioned here yesterday), it's worth checking out.

[19:57]

BarbieMom said...

I wish I could say I was "letter perfect" today, but my eraser got quite a work out. Mimosa, smelts and Talese were the last to fall. I just had my first mimosa last Sunday. I may have another on Christmas. Here's to 100 more years!

Anonymous said...

On 10 Down, the answer is ORES because you would use a pick-axe to get the ore out. Get it now?

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

What a pleasant surprise to see our Marti at the helm of a Saturday challenge and the on the 100th anniversary, no less. Great job, Marti, with clever cluing and sparkling fill. Lite was my last entry and still didn't "get" it until reading CC's cogent expo. Well done by all, and congrats to Rich on his monumental achievement.

Get well wishes to Splynter. And Splynter and Spitz, one of the astronauts who is space-walking today to repair the ISS is an RPI graduate.

Have a great Saturday.

River Doc said...

Happy Saturday everybody!

I'm going to call today's test a FWH - finished with help. Red letter and Google help after ~75% complete....

Same missteps on HUNT, Z, and WAIT, but then again, it's a Saturday, so that was to be expected....

Other do-overs were MOVIE for NET TV, LAME for LITE, ERAS for EONS, and SHUNT for STENT (just goes to show I'm no Doctor....)

Thanks for the shout out C.C., and thanks for Jennifer....

D-O, I hope you remembered to keep some of the connection material from the old dishwasher, as new ones do not typically include them....

Finally, eagerly awaiting CEDs best birthday cake ever for the Crossword Centennial...!

Bill G. said...

Happy CW 100th anniversary! Having Marti (or others here) construct a Saturday puzzle improves the themeless solving experience for me. Good job Marti and CC.

CC, no I don't use the expression NET TV. Usually just cable. I have used Hulu a couple of times to watch early episodes of Downton Abbey but I don't like watching TV on my computer as much for some reason. I guess I'm a creature of habit. And yes, I started with "Wait a sec" instead of JUST A SEC. I wasn't crazy about the clue "Crops of the pick." I assume it was a jokey reference to going after valuable ore like gold with a pick and shovel. It was too much of a stretch for me. I'm one of the few people who really likes lima beans. Years ago, when I had a nice plot in a community garden around the corner, I planted pole lima beans next to the corn seeds. The climbing vines would grow up the corn stalks. Twice the vegetables in the same space.

Feel better Splynter!

I never did get on the Mensa site last night but kjinkc bailed me out. Thanks!

I like my bifocals, especially the kind with the line. I tried the blended kind but didn't like them. I kept having to move my head up and down to get exactly the correct focus for reading.

HeartRx said...

Good morning C.C. et al.

I hope Splynter gets well soon! It must have been a shock not to see his post this morning, C.C. But you filled in admirably! “Crop of the pick” was my clue for ORE, so you can blame me.

And HG, I had “Wolowitz’s ride” as one of my clues for VESPA, but Rich went with a “Roman Holiday” connection. Speaking of Rich, I wonder how he manages to keep puzzles seeming fresh and fun after 5000 of them? Wow!

When I submitted this puzzle, I assumed that he would have tons of others to choose from on the anniversary. I was shocked when he picked mine. And he didn’t ask for any changes to the grid. The only revision he asked for was to “Make the clues harder.” I hope I wasn’t too hard, though! But what makes this puzzle even more special for me is that it is my first Saturday themeless. Thanks for noticing, Lemony! You and desper-otto are on to me. But I couldn’t resist making that comment yesterday…

I’m looking forward to longer days, finally. Yay!

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Must admit to a Technical DNF, confound it. I was mostly zooming right through and feeling pretty smug about it, being a Saturday and all, but got mired in the SW. I couldn't dredge up Obeah, even though we've had it before, and never heard of a Senator Tester. A few red letters broke the logjam.

What luck that "Crossword Puzzle" has fifteen letters! That's just the sort of thing that clever Marti would notice, of course. Really liked the crossing, centered wall-to-wall theme fill!

Morning C.C., thanks for filling in today. In September 1987, I was a young engineer working for a company I came to despise. At that time, however, the work was interesting, and I was doing a lot with NASA and other Shuttle program companies.

Happy Solstice, everybody!

MaryLou said...

Congratulations Marty on your first Saturday, on the 100th anniversary of the puzzle no less-quite an achievement! Enjoyed the writeup too cc. Also enjoyed the extra puzzle and the story behind it. That had to be a let down for you Marty, after all the work you put into it. Thanks to George Barany for posting the links. Also congrats to George for the NYT puzzle he coconstructed with Michael Shteyman published this past week. So many great puzzles/crossword stories out there to read and enjoy (And so many other things I should be doing!).

Hope everyone is having a good weekend and not too harried before the holiday.

Misty said...

My heart just quailed when I saw a Saturday puzzle from Marti! I love Marti puzzles, but what if this turned out to be "d....." like a Silkie? And sure enough, at first I got practically nothing except STEIN, and even there I first put ALICE (for Alice B. Toklas, Stein's partner) who had "a rose is a rose is a rose" printed on their dinner plates. But then I decided to use Marti's PP method (Patience and Perseverance) and Voila! It worked! I eventually got the WHOLE thing without cheating! A Saturday Marti, without cheating--Hurray! It doesn't get any better than this. I might even have to have a MIMOSA to celebrate! (Thanks for the shout-out, C.C.).

So thank you, Marti, and thank you C.C. for filling in, and Rich, for editing, and Mr. Wynne, for creating crossword puzzles. And Merl Reagle, it's time you start paying attention to C.C. or you're going to start losing some long-time fans.

My biggest hang-up was EL..." in movie titles. El Salvadore? Surely not. El Camino Real? No, can't be. Took me forever to get ELM ST. That's what happens when you don't like horror flicks.

Speaking of Christmas party drinks, C.C., we experienced a spectacular mishap at a lovely Christmas dinner hosted by one of the members of our Gourmet Club on Wednesday. Awaiting us, when we came in, was a large punch bowl full of bright red warm Glogg. Before I had a chance to get a glass for Rowland and for me, there was a crash. The bottom of the beautiful punch bowl had simply fallen off, and there was red Glogg all over the counter, the floor on both sides, the drawers underneath, the clothes of people standing nearby. It took six or seven of us with rolls of paper towels to finally get it soaked and wiped up. That's why we serve only bottled drinks at our Christmas party!

Have a great weekend, everybody. I'll be back on Monday but then away until next Saturday.

Dudley said...

Marti - oops, I overlooked the part about your Saturday debut. Congratulations!

For some reason I thought you had already "hit for the cycle" or whatever that phrase is. :-)

MaryLou said...

Also congratulations to Rich on editing his 5000th puzzle-wow!

Dudley said...

Misty - I had to look up Glogg to be sure what it was, and I see now that it's a Scandinavian variant of Glühwein, something Marti and I both enjoy. Mmmmm! Sorry you didn't get a cup before the big disaster!

We are slated to bring Glühwein to a combination Christmas/Birthday party on Friday. I'm tempted to try my hand at Glogg because it sounds so good.

john28man said...

I do the puzzle in the newspaper first but on Saturday I mostly have to go to the MENSA site and finish it there. Marti's fabulous offering allowed me to get about 3/4 done on paper. CORTEZ & my trying to get SEDATE... in 38D.

PK said...

HI Y'all! Brava Marti! Encore! A TOAST to your successes! Thanks, C.C., for all you do!

TOASTS & CROSSWORD PUZZLE were my first fills. The down long one had to be perped as I went along. BIFOCALS was my last fill despite having CALS early. Computers forced me into triFOCALS.

Lots of good misdirections such as for FEAST. Apt since we'll be having one next week.

Buck's Fizz? Doesn't sound like something to drink. I need to become a tosspot so I'll know these alcoholic beverages.

With two "t's" and a "c" showing on the grid, I managed TiKi TORCH and shuddered remembering my neighbors' wild party summer before last when a torch fired the bushes. They put it out with beer.

In Sept. 1987, I was madly painting, papering, and finishing beautiful antique wood trim & louvered doors after my major renovation of our 100+-yr-old stone house on the farm. We needed to move back in before winter. Made it. Exhausting.

Lucina said...

Greetings, puzzlers! What a happy surprise to see you, C.C.! Thank you for pinch hitting.

Splynter, get well soon. Presents are waiting to be delivered.

Wow! So many debuts and milestones today. Congratulations all around to Rich for 5000 puzzles! To Marti for her first Saturday! To Arthur Wynne for 100 years of CROSSWORD PUZZLES!

This was a great puzzle, Marti and almost did me in but I was determined to be LETTER PERFECT. It's a busy day so I had to lay it down at intervals and return to work on it.

The NW and NE quadrants were easiest, but the SW gave me fits. Started with SONJA and JUST A SEC but something seemed off so erased that, started over with WAIT A MIN.

Finally I cleared it again and rewrote my first fill then it came together. In the SE,TALESE, however, never entered my mind and had to Yahoo for it then ELM ST appeared. SET AT EASE was the longest to emerge as was OZONE HOLE.

I loved the clue, crops of the pick, and got ORES right away. In AZ the symbol for the PICK Lotter is a miner with one on his shoulder so perhaps that's why it came to mind.

Have a special Saturday, everyone! I have guests coming in a few hours so have to get busy again.

Tinbeni said...

Splynter: Get well soon!
C.C. Excellent job "Pinch-Hitting"!
Marti: I can honestly say: "I had FUN solving your 100th Anniversary Tribute."

BE LETTER PERFECT ... wish I could say I was ... alas, a Rorschach Ink Blot DNF worthy of a Saturday.

My faves today (of course) ... TOASTS crossing SOT.
I've been known to make the former (at my daily Sunset ritual!) ...
And accused of being the latter (which I'm NOT really) ... but ...
HEY! Everybody should have a hobby! Right???

MIMOSA was another fave ... I wonder why?

A "Hearty" TOAST to ALL at Sunset.
Cheers!!!

Lucina said...

Oops. That should be PICK Lottery.

In 1987 I was teaching in Phoenix about halfway through my teaching career. My daughter was 10 and life seemed good.

Magilla Go-Rilla said...

DNF but DPW (did pretty well).

willow said...

Recently someone linked the original puzzle from 100 years ago, if I remember right, but I can't find the link. Could someone please remind me where it is, or relink it?
Thanx!

Yellowrocks said...

In Sept. 1987 I was taking my first square dance lessons, leading to 26 years years of Fun, Friendship, Fitness and Yellow Rocks set to music.

CrossEyedDave said...

Sigh...

Slept in late...

The paper was wet, & I had to wait for it to dry out...

Some one let the cat out, & did not tell me. She is getting old & when she did not appear at the door for our customary walk down the driveway to get the paper, followed by breakfast, I got worried. I spent the mid morning searching the house for her body thinking the worst. My best surprise of the day so far was seeing her the other side of the door when I finally gave up & went for the paper.

The second best surprise was when the paper dried out enough to see the constructors name on the puzzle! Congratulations Marti! What an honor to be picked for the 100th Anniversary puzzle! I did well for a Saturday, doing about 50% before I had to toss the pen & redo it on the computer to use the red letters.

River Doc @ 11:09, I wasn't going to post a cake today because I already made tribute earlier in the week, & it's not really for a person. But if you insist... (I assume it can't be a scrabble cake because of the pencil & coffee?!?!?!...)

Uh oh, whats this, an email from my cable company threatening to disconnect my internet because some one from this address has been downloading copyrighted movies!?!?!? (*&*$#@ Kids..)

Oh crap! I don't need any more surprises. If you don't hear from me for a while, you will know what happened...

Al Cyone said...

willow@2:22: You can find the first crossword puzzle here.

willow said...

Thank you, Al!

Paul from Canada said...

IMHO you can say smelts if you can say mooses or mouses. Never heard of it and notwithstanding that plural is provided in a number of dictionaries I think it's an error. There. I feel better.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I loved this puzzle, and could recognize Marti's personality in every word of it. I am impressed with how much thought, effort, and talent are evident in it. The only thing I had to look up was OBEAH. And sure enough, hand up for putting in WAIT A SEC first and then having to change it.
I got TOASTS, TINE, and KANGA immediately, because I recognized Marti's cluing technique.
And sure enough, my BIFOCALS did indeed get me confused between Katharina Böhm and Katharina Boehm.
Best wishes to you all.

HeartRx said...

You guys make this "job" worthwhile. I love reading all your comments, and even when I don't show up for a while, I still follow everything that goes on here in the corner.

I always like to add interesting information to my clues whenever possible. For 11-Down CORTES, my original clue was “Conquistador who was buried eight times.” I found that to be a fascinating bit of trivia. (See the third paragraph under “Last Years and Legacy” here.

Misty, I am so happy you finished it – I would hate to be the “Dreaded Duguay-Carpenter” to you!!

Tin, glad you noticed TOASTS crossing SOT. I specifically had you in mind with that fill! (Really!!)

Misty said...

Splynter, we're so sorry you're under the weather and are thinking of you. Have a quick recovery!

Dudley, thanks for the information on Glogg. Makes perfect sense since the Christmas Dinner was Swedish-themed. Gluehwein I know from my childhood in Austria. Is the glow (Glueh) the warmth of the heated beverage, or what you feel after you've had a few cups of it? Our friends speculated that the punch bowl at the Swedish dinner broke because the Glogg was hot and the glass wasn't tempered for heat. Anyway, I'll have to look out for a Glogg when we go on our little Christmas vacation next week.

Bill G. said...

CED, back in the day, we had a huge pine tree in the front yard. Even when it wasn't raining, often the dew would drip from the tree limbs and soak the newspaper. I had good luck with putting it in a warm oven or in the microwave for a bit.

Here's a slide show of closeups of snowflakes. Slide show

Ol' Man Keith said...

Thanks, Marti.
and CC too.
(and a Happy Crossword Centenary and a Merry Solstice to all!)

Oh, this was a tough one. It felt like all of the clues were sly misdirections, either major or minor. It wasn't until the very end, for instance, that I managed to get James McN. Whistler and his Mum out of my head.
I too labored over WAIT A SEC before JUST A SEC, and HUNTS before ROLLS.

But the big holdout for me was the NW corner. It wasn't until I actually committed to TINE (after a long time thinking that sharp and slightly obscure word would be an improbable particularization) that the rest of that section fell into place.

Halfway through I nearly despaired, but yet made myself think, "No doubt, we'll bring it to a happy issue." And finally (ta-da!)-- a strong finish. "All's Well that Ends Well," someone once said.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Dudley, Misty, et al,

Your mention of Glogg brings thoughts of our upcoming Twelfth Night Party. We always have a Plum Pudding or two and a King Cake and other Christmastide treats for our friends. Years ago, searching for a tasty and practicable (do-able) recipe for Wassail, I came across Yule Glögg, and we have been serving that ever since. The combination of red wine, orange peel, cinnamon, and other flavorings is a real winner, plus our guests love to see the flaming of the punch on the stove before we pour it into the punch bowl.
So far, there have been no accidents with the bowl. (Fingers crossed!) But I do have to keep an eye on the Glögg level, to be sure to keep it topped off!

For the curious, please feel free to check it out--> Yule Glögg It's of Swedish origin, so you know it's a worthy cold-weather punch!

Dudley said...

Keith - just read that link. All I can say is: Yum! I've got to try that this year.

Misty - I think your friends are on the right track. Presumably, the punch bowl was a common molded glass article. Its ability to tolerate heat, especially rapid changes of temperature, would be dicey at best. What a shame that a tasty hot punch was lost. Mind you, I'd have been tempted to fetch some straws and vacuum up any suitable pools of the stuff...:-)

Manac said...

WOW! What a treat to see Marti's name
on a Saturday puzzle and today of all days, no less.
Savored every minute of this solve.
Like others, Lite was the last to fall, Doh!
For 9D I knew it was a football reference but wouldn't let go of TDS for a while because of the recent rule changes.
Enjoyable solve all around.

Great Job Marti!

Anonymous T said...

Good Eve all!

I had so much to do today and figured I'd never be able to solve the Sat. crossword, so why bother.

Then I saw Marti's name and had to give it a whirl. I got 1a & 1d right-off and thought, "I can do this, I know Marti's puzzles!" I was right, the 1st time - I should have left it alone :-) Too hard for me, most everything below 45d is still mostly empty.

C.C. thanks for filling in for Splynter (get well soon!) and Marti - congratulations on your 1st Saturday on the Crossword's 100th! What I did suss out was fun. Thanks!

Also Marti thanks for telling us the true insperation to 1a & 4d (Tin came to mind when I got it, really.).

CED - Nice Cake. I think it was for someone's mother. (Sister, Mom, Wife all in the grid).

D-O - let us know how you like the Bocsh.

I don't know what Glogg is - it sounds good, I'll look it up later. My wife's side doesn't partake, so it will be just for me :-)

Back to cookie making - 1 doz ea Choc. Chip & Oatmeal Raisin and 200 pizelles so far...

Cheers, -T

Tinbeni said...

Marti:
I kinda "knew" TOASTS crossing SOT was a "shout-out" but ...

Couldn't you have snuck PINCH into the grid somewhere???

No Problem ...

I snuck some of it "into me" during my Sunset Toast ...
Cheers!!!

OwenKL said...

Soo many! So very many! So many more!

Well, actually Google, Yahoo, and Bing give pretty much the same results.

Merl Reagle, talking about why the Google Doodle puzzle had to go thru two versions, mentioned that Matt Gaffney had constructed a similar one. Anyone have a link to Matt's puzzle or to Merl's first draft?

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, Really late to the blog today, so everything that I experienced has already been commented on by others. A DNF for me today, though the letters I had in were perfect, and I filled in the missing parts with C.C.'s excellent help. I always consider it a learning moment for me if I have to rely on the blog for answers.

We had a double good time today with the puzzle from Marty and the blog by C.C. Thanks to you both.

Get well Splynter. Those packages need to be delivered before Wed!

I, too, am wondering if my Credit Card info has been hacked at Target. I shop there very seldom, but a group I belong to had Target Gift Cards on their wish list for our Charity giving. I went to Target specifically to get this gift card, and used my debit card to pay for it. Sigh. I'll be checking my bank account daily for the next few weeks. I understand that the card numbers have been sold on the Black Market already.

I had fun doing the Google crossword puzzle today, also. Quite an anniversary celebration for our favorite pastime.

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend, everyone.

Manac said...

Dave, Good news about your cat
Seriously

Kids Huh? The little pirates!

Bill G. said...

Chickie (and others), we also shop at Target from time to time and often use our Visa card. I checked the statement online and saw nothing suspicious. We just got a note from our credit card bank that they were going to issue us a new credit card. That's probably the safe thing to do. We'll have to deal with the notices from various companies that our old credit card number no longer works. Oh well...

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Many thanks to our marvelous mischievous Marti! Great puzzle! No cheats necessary!

Thanks also to CC!

Get well soon, Splynter!

My very first completely enjoyable Saturday effort!

Still having trouble with raging insomnia. This despite a 1/3 mile swim on Friday.

Cheers!