google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, December 24, 2013 Ray Hamel

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Dec 24, 2013

Tuesday, December 24, 2013 Ray Hamel

Theme: i is for Apple - The start of each theme entry is a iPod type.

17A. Score before an extra point : TOUCHDOWN. iPod Touch.

25A. Ship deck game : SHUFFLEBOARD. iPod Shuffle.

41A. Microscopic bit : NANOPARTICLE. iPod Nano.

54A. Part of many a Mod wardrobe : MINISKIRT. iPod Mini.

61A. Popular Apple, versions of which begin 17-, 25-, 41- and 54-Across : iPOD


Argyle here. There are plenty of Raymond Hamel’s CrosSynergy / Washington Post crosswords but this appears to be his first LAT in recent years. He certainly shows an adept hand at construction. Perhaps he will drop by and give us an update on his status. I hope so.

Across:

1. Peak : ACME

5. Morning co-host Kelly : RIPA

9. Sub finder : SONAR

14. Paint layer : COAT

15. "An apple __ ..." : A DAY. Sly entry.

16. Japanese cartoon art : ANIME

19. Annapolis frosh : PLEBE

20. Slide down a slope : SKI

21. Artist's choice : OILS

22. Actress Sissy : SPACEK

23. Extinct emu-like bird : MOA

24. Ones who don't stay off the grass? : STONERS. A Christmas story.

                          LINK

30. Juan's "Enough!" : "NO MAS!"

31. Australian canine : DINGO

32. Put bucks on the Bucks, say : BET

35. Droid downloads : APPs

36. Fashionable beach resorts : LIDOs. "The Lido" is a byword for a beach resort. It started in Venice, Italy. History


37. Do away with, as a vampire : SLAY

38. Foot, in anatomy : PES

39. Bit of info : DATUM

40. Delivery specialist? : STORK. Good one.

43. Fan mail sender, e.g. : ADMIRER

46. Rower's blade : OAR

47. Grouches : CRANKS

48. Far from daydreaming : RAPT

50. Hawaii's Mauna __ : LOA. One of the five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii

53. New staff member : HIREE

56. Spring water brand : EVIAN

57. Screen symbol : ICON

58. On the briny : ASEA or 10D. Not 58-Across : ON LAND

59. Reckons : DEEMS

60. Instrument hit with a mallet : GONG

Down:

1. Takes steps : ACTS

2. Kitchen worker : COOK

3. Haleakala National Park's island : MAUI

4. And so on: Abbr. : ETC.

5. Firestone offering : RADIAL

6. Fan mail recipient : IDOL

7. Furry feet : PAWS

8. "Atlas Shrugged" author Rand : AYN

9. Japanese city that hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics : SAPPORO. Portland, Oregon, is a sister city.

11. Sister's daughter : NIECE. No idea what city that would be.

12. "America the Beautiful" shade : AMBER. "...amber waves of grain"


13. Stinks : REEKS

18. __ it: travels on foot : HOOFS

22. Antler sporters : STAGS

23. Museum curators' degs. : MFAs. (Master of Fine Arts)

24. California wine valley : SONOMA

25. Pic : SNAP

26. Keep the faith : HOPE

27. "Steee-rike!" callers : UMPS

28. Manuscript recipient : EDITOR

29. Make more expensive, as on eBay : BID UP

32. Political coalition : BLOC

33. Actor James __ Jones : EARL

34. Tot : TYKE

36. Pool paths : LANES

37. Use a swizzle stick : STIR

39. Grows dimmer : DARKENS. As it latens.

40. Baseball card figures : STATS

41. Common workday starting hr. : NINE AM

42. Rodeo skill : ROPING

43. Was sore : ACHED

44. Motivation : DRIVE

45. Nobelist Curie : MARIE

48. Loaded, in Lima : RICO. Rich in Spanish, Italian is ricco and French is riche. German is reich.

49. In a short time, quaintly : ANON

50. Speech therapist's target : LISP

51. Sandwich cookie : OREO

52. Ever so slightly : A TAD

54. Russian jet fighter : MIG

55. Chiang __-shek : KAI. He ruled mainland China for 22 years, and Taiwan for 30 years.


Argyle


72 comments:

  1. Today's theme was cute, but didn't lend itself to limericks very well. Maybe if I still had my hearing I'd be more excited by iPod models.

    My ignorance of football is evident, but how does TOUCHDOWN qualify as "score before extra point"?

    "Ones who won't stay off the grass" was a good pun, though I wasn't misled by it. "Delivery specialist" partly fooled me -- I put down OBGYN first, since Splynter wouldn't fit.

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  2. Kudos to buckeye bob for inspiring this. Some of his thoughts on puzzle solvers yesterday were the basis for these stanzas, but these are just a start.

    Solving a crossword takes skills
    You're a detective (albeit less frills).
    When solutions seem distant
    You still stay persistent.
    When the answer emerges, what thrills!

    You'll build up your vocabulary,
    Becoming a live dictionary.
    Like Hecate's weird brood
    Will your spelling improve,
    Casting spells like some lexical fairy!

    Double meanings you'll see through like glass,
    Puns and wordplay revealed in a flash.
    You'll develop your own tricks
    To suss out each grid's ticks.
    Constructors, you'll face them with sass!

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  3. kjinkc: Just caught your 4:29 post on yesterday's comments. Glad I brought back those interesting memories for you. I wonder how many folks caught that BEAN everywhere! linked to two different songs.

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  4. Good morning, folks. Thank you, Ray Hamel, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for the fine review.

    Well, I was so tired yesterday after my trip to Mt. Pulaski, I hit the hay at 8:30 last night. Therefore, I got up at 5:00 AM and did the puzzle. Pretty easy, more like a Monday. Enjoyed it.

    OwenKL, when you score a Touchdown (6 points) in football, you qualify to try for an extra point (1 point) by kicking the ball through the goalpost uprights. Or, you can try for a 2 point conversion by running or passing the ball into the end zone. The Chicago Bears did a 2 point conversion on Sunday while losing to the Philadelphia Eagles 54-11.

    Only had four minor hangups this morning: SAPPORO, ANIME, and RICO. Got them with a couple perps. Had STARS for 40D, then fixed that to STATS.

    The rest were simple.

    The theme was easy. I think my wife and daughter have owned, or still own, all of the IPods mentioned.

    Liked PES for 38A. Any Latin I enjoy. It's the French that drives me nuts.

    Well, my thermometer says 0 degrees F. I still have to go Christmas shopping. Wish me luck.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    (flifula scrape)

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  5. Hello Puzzlers -

    Zoomed right through, even without knowing what a Lido was. Never owned any music player, iPod or otherwise, but the model names are familiar. Favorite clue & answer has to be for Stoners. There were lots of those in my high school.

    I know nothing about Spanish, but I assume that nouns have gender as they do in French. Hence, the difference between Puerto Rico and Costa Rica. Am I on track, Lucina?

    James Earl Jones certainly had a nice voice.

    Morning, Argyle, I had to smile at Darkens/Latens in your writeup.

    Cheers All

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  6. A fairly typical Tuesday puzzle. At the beginning I had, briefly, UBOAT before SONAR and, at the end, BFAS before MFAS.

    My Christmas Eve pet peeve? Referring to the entire day before Christmas as "Christmas Eve". I persist in thinking that Christmas Eve doesn't arrive until 6:00 PM.

    [6:12]

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  7. Morning, all!

    Not much to say about this one. Very smooth overall. Tried OB/GYN instead of STORK, but that was the only memorable misstep.

    Busy, busy day today...

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  8. Good morning!

    Only a couple of minor hiccups today. I started writing ADORER (oops, too short!) before ADMIRER. And I couldn't see how "Pool paths" could be LANES until Argyle didn't explain it. Hmmm, it must be so obvious. Oh, "in" the pool, not "to" the pool.

    My not-so-mod wardrobe does not include a MINISKIRT. I thought an IPOD was an IPOD was an IPOD, ala Gertrude. I didn't realize they had names. (I only learned that from Argyle, since I never read the clue for 61A -- it was already filled in.) And I thought LIDO was a specific beach in Venice, not just a generic word for beach.

    Too soon ault and too late schmart, I guess.

    I called a credit union yesterday and ran into an audio captcha -- before I could continue, the automated voice told me to enter a specific 2-digit number. I'd never run into that before. I had to call back later, and the 2-digit number was different.

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  9. I finished it but the O in SOLOMA and LIDOS was a guess. I wanted MANGA for ANIME. Of course I understand why the clue didn't specify animated cartoons.

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  10. The bottled water brand, Evian, is just "naive" spelled backwards. An adjective apt for many of us who live in metropolitan areas with good water from our taps but who buy it in bottles.

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  11. About that credit union: [Flame on] I had just joined them over the weekend, and was online attempting to transfer funds into a 5-year CD. (3% Interest, which I haven't seen anywhere else, and which is probably a better return than you can get in a bond fund for the next few years. But I digress.) The system balked because I'd entered my address with the complete nine-digit zipcode including the hyphen. It accepted it when I entered it, but refused to let me get past it now. It also refused to let me correct it online -- I had to call the 800 number and speak to a representative. When I finally got through on-hold hell, the lady told me she could fix it. I'd just have to log out and back in. I did. No, it wasn't fixed. I called back, waited through on-hold hell, and talked to another lady. She asked me to wait for a second, which turned into 5 minutes. When she returned, she apologized and explained that her security level wouldn't allow her to change my address. She had to locate a supervisor to do it. Finally, I was able to complete my transaction. I think they should change their name from Pentagon Federal to Paranoid Federal. [Flame off]

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  12. Merry Christmas Eve (morning!), all!! Especially to grumpy Al, above (^0^)

    Well, I have absolutely nothing to do today, since I stayed up late last night wrapping presents. DH and I don't do much in the way of gifts, but we do wrap silly things for each other to open. This year, he is getting a bottle of garlic-stuffed olives for his martinis. And a new drill with a lithium ion battery. (Is that like giving your wife a vacuum cleaner for Christmas??)

    I had the puzzle done early, then went to bed. I did enjoy the theme, and even suspected where we were going when I got to NANO PARTICLE.

    I had plenty of MINI SKIRTs in HS, to the nuns' dismay. My favorite was a white leather mini skirt with a matching cap. I thought I was the coolest girl in school! I do remember getting sent home to change into a "decent length" skirt one day.

    Maybe I'll go bake some cookies. Nothing like the spicy smell of Pfferneuse to make the house smell like Christmas!



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  13. No time yet to do the puzzle but wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone here!!

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  14. Good morning everyone.

    Fair for a Tuesday. No searches needed. One strikethrough, 'chef' before COOK. Interesting theme. Not conscious of it during the solve. Good job, Ray.

    YR - from yesterday. We did not use any descriptor that was similar to 'dopplich'. In Low German I would have heard something like 'bummelig' in the situation you describe. Maybe we get 'bumbler' from that? Language is interesting.

    Have a great day.

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  15. Musings
    -Theme was as obvious as a brick in a punchbowl after TOUCH and SHUFFLE
    -iPODS have gotten me through a lot of drudgery
    -Every school has a Sub Finder who gets people out of bed at 6:30 am
    -Seinfeld’s opening monologue with a funny take on Paint Layers
    -Sissy’s turn as Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner’s Daughter won her an Oscar
    -My mother went with the STORK explanation for a long time before my friend Dave (lived on a farm) clued me in
    -Most GROUCHES see the light in the final reel of a movie
    -Chefwen, how close are you to a volcano on Kauai?
    -Getting 15,000 miles on my bias ply tires was great before RADIALS
    -HOPE and ACTS are opposite concepts
    -Distinctive ways UMPS call strike 3
    -Auctions can have shills who try to BID UP the price
    -Isn’t it great when you pass someone who recklessly changed LANES to get in front of you
    -As the day LATENS, the sky DARKENS. Yuk!
    -I never thought any network would make fun of a LISP on a big time TV show

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  16. Argyle: Thank you for a informative write-up & links. (Hey! it is PES for Foot, in anatomy).

    Ray Hamel: I enjoyed your FUN Tuesday puzzle very much.

    OK, I'm a little under the weather today ...
    Was 'Up-Late' last night celebrating FESTIVUS (for the rest-of-us).

    SHUFFLE BOARD was a gimmie.
    I live only a few miles from the "World's Largest Shuffleboard Club" in Downtown St. Petersburg.
    At its peak it had 110 courts and 5,000 members.

    Fave today (of course) was STONERS ... I wonder why??? lol

    Merry Christmas Eve to ALL ... and to all a good night.
    Cheers!!!

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  17. Dudley@6:14 -- I believe James Earl Jones still has that voice. I first remember hearing it in Dr. Strangelove 4:23 back in the early 60's.

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  18. Fun puzzle today.Favorite was stoners, although my 1st thought was pot head, but it was singular and I had the ....ers.

    Mini skirts were in when I first started teaching and the "older" teachers thought they were scandalous. Hence, along came the matching pants suits. Wearing pants to work? Lordy, that was almost as bad.LOL

    Lois, so good to hear from you.

    Owen, enjoyed your poems and the Australian version of song.

    Lucina, so sorry about your step son. Hope he recovers fully.

    Merry Christmas to all. Hope many of you are able to have some time off to be with family.

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  19. Hello all,

    Nothing much to comment on today that hasn't already been addressed. A fun solve that was quickly done. I never have, nor will I, time myself in solving. I want it to be enjoyable, not a speed run.

    Agreed. James Earl Jones has one Helluva voice. I especially liked him in Field Of Dreams.

    Celebration began last Friday for us. Newburyport contingent arrived on their way to NYC to spend Holiday with DIL's family. Tomorrow youngest son and current lady friend will be here and they are doing the cooking. Which is good because Lucy has been having some aging issues.



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  20. Hi gang -

    Nice puzzle today, but I missed the theme completely. I have an i-pod, but I haven't touched it in a couple of years.

    Family starts arriving in a few hours. I shoveled about 1/2 inch of fresh fluffy snow from the driveway.

    Merry Christmas, Happy Festivus, Kwanza, or solstice celebration of your choice.

    Hope all your holiday memories are fond ones. Especially of Christmas.

    I heard Santa say this
    to his team of reindeer last year after he dropped of my lump of coal

    White Snowy Cool Regards!
    JzB

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  21. Good Morning:

    A fun, easy sashay, ala Lucina, no nits, only write-over was obgyn before stork.

    Thanks, Ray Hamel, for a Tuesday treat and, thanks to Argyle who is in great form with his expo.

    It's very cold here but at least the roads are clear for all those who will be traveling.

    Hope everyone enjoys their Christmas Eve, however one may celebrate it. Personally, I would love to be part of a traditional Italian fish/seafood feast. Yum!

    Have a great day.

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  22. Good day, puzzlers! Santa, are you ready? Tonight is your big chance to shine.

    WEES. You've said it all. This was a fun and easy puzzle. Thank you, Ray Hamel.

    I also have an I-POD and have touched it recently but only to move it from one place to another.

    Seeing APPS makes me ask, do any of those i-gadgets have them? Or is it only i-phones. I really don't know.

    When MINI SKIRTS became popular, I loved them! Of course being size 5 and weighing just 105 llbs made them fun to wear.

    Laughed at STONERS. But sometimes they lead sad lives.

    JD:
    Thank you.

    Off to finish baking cookies.

    Have a safe and frantic-free day today! I love the numerical captchas.

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  23. Hello everyone! Thanks, Ray, for the fun puzzle. Thanks, Argyle for the review.

    I had a couple false starts but perps fixed them quickly. I saw the theme, for a change. I forget to look.

    Tonight DH and I are going to an Italian restaurant for their Feast of 7 Fishes buffet. Irish Miss, would you like to join us? I hadn't heard of it until DH mentioned it to me.

    Have a wonderful Christmas Eve, or a wonderful Tuesday eve, whatever you celebrate.

    Pat

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  24. Good morning, Santa Baby,CC, et al., An almost perfect puzzle with a perfect write up. Santa Darlin', you made me LOL a few times. Love your sense of humor. Wanted 40A'delivery specialist'to be SANTA for you, but STORK is appropriate too. It is a birthday afterall and with that in mind, LOL'd at 17A, thinking of Notre Dame's stone mosaic TOUCHDOWN Jesus. What an IDOL! It's beauiful and worth the DRIVE by or sail by depending: one if ON LAND; two if ASEA. Guess those builders were true STONERS..thank u for that C & C link. LMAO!!! According to them, Santa Baby, you've gone underground. I prefer to call it 'under cover'....you DO know what I mean. Bring some extra gold stars tonite, ok, Santa Baby? It ain't OREOs you'll be having. Do GingerSNAPs and Molasses COOKies sound good? Carrots for the reindeer while they rest their HOOFS and you PAWS ATAD to catch your breath before the ACME of the night is reached. Safe Travels.

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  25. Good day all !

    A quick and enjoyable puzzle. Exactly what I needed today. Hand up for OBGYN and BFAS.

    Just finished wrapping the last of the gifts. Not my forte, although DW complimented my efforts again this year. Took extra care to make sure I didn't wrap anything in birthday paper as I did last year. Unfortunately, I now know that one of the papers I picked was wedding paper. Sure looked Christmasy to me.

    Hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas eve !

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  26. Desper-otto@9:06

    I watched your Dr. Strangelove clip with great zeal, thinking, Awesome! I don't have to watch the whole movie!

    I was really bummed when it ended too soon...

    So, here is the rest of the clip!

    Yesterday I did the puzzle, read the Blog, & spent hours scouring the web for funny head/noggins pics. Nothing would pass my high standards...

    Today, I just don't care! (must be the eggnog...)

    Touch

    Spitzboov, last nite (10:56pm) you said you play bridge. I am in awe, I just don't understand the game....

    Nano. (I see what you did there Apple...)

    Mini. ( best Mini I've seen...)

    & Apple

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  27. D-Otto, Hondo, and company - oops, a misstep there. I though James Earl had died.

    So presumably he still sounds impressive. Field of Dreams had a good role for him!

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  28. You might be interested to know that James Earl Jones is a person who stutters/stuttered. I believe he would consider himself a person whose stuttering is controlled rather than "cured".

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  29. Always in search of the perfect picture...

    Happy Holidays!

    (p.s. - press the play button...)

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  30. Merry Christmas all! A really good puzzle. I thought it was easier than yesterday and missed reading some of the clues like PLEBE. All perped in. The theme didn't mean anything to me. I don't IPOD. I was annoyed for a sec because I am very tired of pop-up ads, commercials and anything that smacks of commercialism.

    STONER clue brought a laugh. It got me!

    SAPPORO and SONOMA had to wait for perps. LIDO was a new term to me.

    Can they play SHUFFLE BOARD on a rolling ship deck, Spitz?

    Around here work day starts at 8 a.m. or earlier if construction or farm related.

    D-O: Transferring money to a CD can't be done on the phone here. You have to go in person. I'm fine with that, being paranoid, except that I don't get in to do it. 3%? Wow! I'd go in for that. 1.25% here for a 5 yr. And I'm so old I remember one year when we got 14%. No I'm not STONEd.

    My daughters are ringing in a bell choir at church tonight and invited me to go. Too slick and too many germs in the church. I'll save my health for when the rest of my grandsons come Friday since I missed Thanksgiving while sick.

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  31. Abejo, do you read the comments? Last night I asked a question about an unusual instrument in the tuba Christmas pictures. What is it?

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  32. About 15 Captchas in a row have been a new style and completely unreadable to me (until this one). I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

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  33. I hope all of us have a really great Christmas holiday season and a wonderful New Year to come.

    Fond Regards,
    Bill

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  34. pje @ 11:09 - How I wish I could join you! Think of me while enjoying all that delicious seafood. Enjoy your special evening.

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  35. To all the wonderful people on the Corner:

    Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays! Eat lots of good food and enjoy the company of family and friends!

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  36. Best wishes to you all this special and festive time of year!

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  37. This dialect quiz had me pegged more closely than others I've tried. It had me (growing up) on the east coast from Virginia to the Carolinas.
    Dialect quiz

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  38. Bill G.
    I took your "Dialect quiz" ... it had me located in Madison, Wisconsin.

    I've NEVER been to Madison, Wisconsin ... though I once dated a girl named Madison.
    (No wait ... make that twice! ... Wrong again, it was three times!!!)

    Probably its the influence from my Mother, who grew up in Winnetka, Illinois (near Chicago).

    I do remember that I never said "y'all" until AFTER I did a 2 month Audit in Birmingham, Alabama.

    We 'joke' around here (in Tampa Bay) that we're not really 'part-of-the-South' ... that ends around Ocala.

    Go figure ...

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  39. @ Bill G 2:30 p.m.

    It turns out that if you take the dialect quiz twice, some of the questions are the same, and some are different. No, I didn't plan that!

    Both times, my 3 Most Similar Cities included Cleveland, OH.

    And, I spent 13 years growing up in... Cleveland! Dialects are amazingly predictable!

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  40. JD: It's good to see you too. With Shuffleboard in the puzzle today, Carol and you were my first thoughts. I think of you often w/your grandbabies. Hope all are fine and looking forward to a fun holiday. We'll talk.

    Bill G: no snow here yet..or even ice. Richmond has had some but not us nearer the water. My cowboys in OK have had a gut full of ice to be sure. 4 days of no school already. We can't catch a break here for anything. So, I'm with you. I miss snow once in a while too.

    D-O & Abejo: thank you. It's good to see you too. It's always good to be seen.

    Lucina: the news about your stepson sounds so hopeful. please keep us posted.

    CED 12:23: that happy holiday link is hilarious! Learned 1 more positive thing about growing older - seeing clearly isn't all that it's cracked up to be. I just have to take off my glasses and POOF....It's all good!!!

    Santa Baby: Cheers to you tonight...continually!



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  41. Even though I grew up in the midwest and the northeast, I guess I've lived in California long enough to have lost those dialects; the dialect quiz says my dialect is closest to that of Oakland, California, which is pretty close.

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  42. Bill G - The Dialect Quiz showed my most similar city as Rochester, NY ( correct state, anyway) followed by Madison, WI (Tin, we must sound alike!) and Rockford, IL. I thought we New Yawkers had our own dialect. Caaaw-fee, anyone, or would you prefer tea? (-:

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  43. Lois, so good to see you! I BET you can't wait to get your PAWS on Santa tonight. (Let me know how that works out for ya…)

    Bill G., I took your dialect quiz and was amazed to see that it pegged me near Boston, Providence and Worcester…

    Hmmm, that would be a good question on the quiz:
    How do you pronounce "Worcester"?
    - With three syllables like "war-chess-ter"
    - With three syllables like "wor - cess - ter"
    - With two syllables like "Wiss-tah" (Bzzzt! Got ya, you are definitely a local!!)

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  44. The Dialect Quiz shows eastern Nebraska/mid-Iowa for me but the maps are colored similarly across eastern MT, ND, and northern MN. Guess that is close enough for me.

    Later,
    Montana

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  45. Jazzbumpa, are you personally in the videos you posted?
    I played clarinet in a similar group, called a 'stage band' while in high school. We entertained at many community functions.

    Montana

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  46. The dialect quiz put me in Madison/Rockford/Milwaukee. Well, I spent several years in Madison, never lived in Rockford or Milwaukee, but I did live just south of state line, south of Milwaukee for a couple of years. I think it was the "bubbler" that gave me away. That's a Wisconsinism if there ever was one.

    I've been dipping into the holiday spirits, so before I forget, Merry Christmas to those of you who observe it. Happy Holidays to those of you who observe some other holiday. And happy end of December to the rest of you curmudgeons!

    Yea -- a numerical captcha I can actually read!

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  47. I think I remember Yellowrocks saying that she pronounces Mary, Marry, and Merry differently. Interestingly, I pronounce them all the same. My dad always called Worchestershire Sauce "Wirshter" Sauce. And of course, to my Philadelphia friends all long sandwiches are "hoagies." I never even heard of a "sub" or "subway sandwich" until coming to the west coast. Heck, I had never heard of a nacho until I lived in Texas (San Angelo).

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  48. -Bill, that dialect quiz put me in Omaha or Lincoln and heck; I’m at least a half hour from both ;-).
    -Marti, we say wuss’ tuh sure
    -If you show up at 6 pm or later for Dinner around here, be ready for leftovers
    -Anyone remember the 1964 movie that started with a man placing people within a few miles of their birthplace by their dialect and creeping them out?

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  49. Amazingly the dialect quiz shows me to be from Phoenix, or the general western area. I'm stunned that it's so specific.

    Lois:
    I see that you still have that quirky sense of humor. I love it!

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  50. Jayce - I pronounce it "wuster". It amuses us Brits to hear non-natives trying to pronounce it "war-sester-shyre".

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  51. Husker:
    I remember "My Fair Lady" ...


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  52. Lucina:
    I'm stunned also ...
    Afterall, Madison, Wisconsin and Tampa Bay area are practically "on top of each other".
    LOL !!!


    And that was another beautiful Sunset.
    Cheers!!!

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  53. Nice puzzle , thank you, Mr. Hamel.

    Thank you, Argyle for a very nice blog.

    Thank you CED for a cute picture, to end the year.

    Merry Christmas! best wishes, seasons greetings to all.

    P.s. Lois, nice to hear from you, and your fun posts.

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  54. That dialect quiz is really interesting - bear in mind I have an English accent - the quiz offered San Francisco, Irvine and Oceanside as "most likely". I live between those places in Los Angeles! Pretty neat!

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  55. I agree, that was a very interesting quiz. It had me pegged right in the Bay Area. It labeled Stockton (Dodo's city) only 2 hours east from me.

    Jayce, I didn't know you spoke ebonics. ;)

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  56. The dialect quiz didn't do well with me. I grew up in Portland, Oregon and spent my adult life in New Mexico, and the closest city it placed me in to either was Salt Lake. I tried to answer with terms I grew up with, but some were things I'd never heard of until I spent a couple college years in Mobile. The heat map for me had Portland a light orange, and New Mexico white.

    Montana: Like the new avatar, though not as much as the snowman.
    HeartRx: your Snow Job avatar is nice, too!

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  57. JD, haha, I be pretty bad at Ebonics :)

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  58. The dialectical quiz corectly predicated I was a coyote wetback from Nogales, Aruzona. Thank gods they sure don't know where I now am.

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  59. The latest USS Destroyer built ..


    The new generation of sum waltz class destroyers! to be delivered from the Maine bath works, in late 2016.


    U S S Zumwalt.

    The ship looks like the USS Ironsides, from the civil War.

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  60. Hi all,

    Boss man let us off 1/2 a day, so to the store for mid-night snacks and brined the turkey for tomorrow. Finally, to the puzzle, and what fun! I didn't get the theme until 61a - perfect! Thanks Ray.

    TYKE before 40a delivered STORK. I wanted moose for 22d, with pothEad (JD - my hand is up) in place, but STAGS won out and STONERS took over. PEd went to PES when the UMPS called strike two.

    SAPPARO is good beer, I didn't know it was a city too.

    From yesterday - Mr. BEAN is my fav. bean :-)

    Argyle - Love the link... "Magic Dust man", "Yeah, Man Magic Dusss" I've listened to that since highschool. :-)

    Marti - Tools != (not equal) Vacuum. Men love tools. I've got tools that fix tools, I've got tools (+1 for who said that). When I got my shopvac I happly "swept" the wood floors w/ my 1.5hp beast. Wai, Wha, Oh s***... I was tricked!

    Lois - Can't say that I know you since I just started this summer, but your posts make me LOL. You are the nicest naughty ever!

    D-O: I've been away a bit, how is the Bosch?

    Bill G. I'll take that test after guests leave tonight. Sounds like a hoot to see if they can peg me.

    Tomorrow's the "big day." The youngest just found out a week ago re: Santa. It's kinda sad, but this year daddy gets to sleep past 5:30a [or I take all the toys back!] :-) Actually, youngest gets a Win8 "convertable". She's gonna wet her pants.

    Merry Christmas* and Peace to All!

    Cheers, -T
    *If you don't celebrate, just play. I like the idea of Jesus (like what Pope F. says), but I'm still not keen on the idea of his dad. So just let it be a day of selflessness and hangin' out with friends with a winter feast.

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  61. Tinbeni re: spectacular sunsets: My home faces East; the back yard slopes up so I never get to see a sunset. Some evening, would you please enjoy a sunset for me? My preferred libation is chardonnay, but Pinch is fine, too.

    I grew up in the Ann Arbor area, spent a short stint in Minneapolis, and have called Cincinnati home almost as long as both of them combined. The dialect test placed me in Toledo, OH; Rockford, IL; and Grand Rapids, MI. I guess southern Ohio has the same dialect as the northern portion has.

    Manac, thanks for the links!

    Good evening,
    Pat

    I love the numerical capchas :)

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  62. Mele Kalikimaka all.

    Husker Gary - Nearest Volcano is on the "Big Island" of Hawaii.

    I think whoever makes up these capchas is one having trouble keeping off the grass.

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  63. PK @1302 said: "Can they play SHUFFLE BOARD on a rolling ship deck,?" I dunno why they would want to when they could be playing bridge.

    BTW - My dialect test said I hailed from upstate NY or either side of L. Michigan. The area must have made a deep impression on me the summer of 1964 when I had a training cruise there on USS Havre (PCE-877) based in Michigan City, IN.

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  64. It is very typical for this area to have warm and pretty weather for Christmas. I know not to expect snow; a little rain would be OK though. But instead, it will be about 78, low humidity and with blue skies. The pretty weather will usually continue right through until the Rose Parade which you will notice on television while watching the floats.

    Weird Captchas again with a black blotch. They're really hard to read for me. I'll just keep hitting recycle until I get the digits again.
    ==========
    I rear-ended a car this morning...the start of a REALLY bad day! The driver got out of the other car and he was a DWARF!! He looked up at me and said "I am NOT Happy!" So I said, "Well, which one ARE you then?" That's how the fight started...

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  65. Bill G @ 10:22 - It took a few seconds for it to sink in, but when it did, I laughed so hard I was near tears. I assume it's a joke. If not, you belong on late night TV.2

    ReplyDelete
  66. Bill G - I just took the quiz, and it correctly put me near Springfield, MA. Impressive.

    As I posted recently, Massachusetts has a broad range of accents; those of us in the west have some of America's least accented speech.

    Liked the joke, too!

    Merry Christmas to all what celebrate it!

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  67. Home from Denver, great time. Dialect test had me in Providence, pretty close.

    Merry Christmas all, and now for a long winter's nap

    Lois, as always...

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  68. Enjoyed the puzzle... even I found it pretty darned easy... :) not sure I will get to tomorrow's puzzle tho... hope you all are ready for a really peaceful and happy holiday....

    As far as the dialect test goes.... I think they must have gotten my test confused with someone else..... the closest I have been to Omaha may have been in the middle of the nite driving thru... don't recall Wichita and have never been to Lexington... born and raised in Seattle..... go figure... :)

    thelma :)

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  69. Heh heh, yes, it's a joke. I found it on my wife's Facebook page and had a reaction similar to yours.

    I may never be able to post again if they keep giving me these new Captchas. RATS! HELP! CC? Am I the only one getting these new ones with the blotch? Apparently Irish Miss, Dudley and Lemon are doing OK. It's a plot...

    ReplyDelete
  70. Bill,
    This Captcha thing is out of my control. It's Blogger software. Wish I could remove it, but the spammers would go amok. I don't want to experience another blog shut-down again.

    ReplyDelete

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