google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, January 20, 2014 Matt Skoczen

Advertisements

Jan 20, 2014

Monday, January 20, 2014 Matt Skoczen

 Theme: Double Talk - Double up a word but use a different connector each time.

17A. Gradually and steadily : STEP BY STEP

26A. Like a private tutoring session : ONE ON ONE

39A. Back up talk with action : WALK THE WALK

52A. Considering everything : ALL IN ALL

64A. In person : FACE TO FACE

Argyle here with Matt Skoczen making one of his infrequent Monday appearances. He even gave me a shout out. A great start to the week.

Across:

1. Bailiff's repeated cry : "OYEZ!"

5. Captain's order to stop : "AVAST!"

10. Amo, __, amat : AMAS

14. Prefix with scope or meter : PERI

15. Like many pretzels : SALTY. Cute, too.

16. Money owed : DEBT

19. Nebraska tribe : OTOE

20. Fellow members : BRETHREN

22. "Ben-__" : HUR

23. 2000s White House nickname : DUBYA

28. CIO partner : AFL. (The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations)

29. Not used : NEW

32. Senior-to-junior address : KIDDO

33. Betty of cartoons : BOOP. Saucy wench.

35. Lantern fuel : LAMP OIL. FAQ

42. Make like new : RESTORE

43. Ventilates, with "out" : AIRS

46. "Ivanhoe" author Sir Walter : SCOTT. My middle name.

49. The Tar Heels of the NCAA : UNC. (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

51. Forget-me-__ : NOT

56. Stows away : HIDES

58. Naughty : BAD

59. Condition of being forgotten : OBLIVION. Oblivious - the condition of being soused. Have you heard it used that way?

62. Hosp. area for urgent care : EMERgency

68. Got to one's feet : ROSE

69. Not quite right : AMISS

70. Word after something or anything : ELSE

71. Mex. miss : SRTA. (seƱorita)

72. Eccentric : BATTY

73. Mass transit option : RAIL

Down:

1. Chances to get pics : OPs. Short for photo opportunity.

2. Up to now : YET

3. Before, in odes : ERE

4. Go past fast : ZIP BY

5. "__ sow, so shall ..." : AS YE

6. Expansive : VAST

7. Even if, briefly : ALTHO

8. Violinist Isaac : STERN

9. Melville work subtitled "A Peep at Polynesian Life" : "TYPEE"

10. "Much __ About Nothing" : ADO. Shakespeare

11. Way of doing things : METHOD

12. Teem (with) : ABOUND. Later in the week, rain hard.

13. Audio system : STEREO

18. Dietary fiber : BRAN

21. Finnish mobile phone giant : NOKIA

23. Blot gently : DAB

24. ET transporter : UFO

25. Squander, as a wad of cash : BLOW

27. Nabisco wafer brand : NILLA

30. Antlered grazers : ELKS

31. "W" on a light bulb : WATT

34. First installment of a miniseries : PART I

36. Old reciprocal electrical unit : MHO. (ohm backwards)

37. Lima's land : PERU. Down by Lake Titicaca.

38. Wilson of "Marley & Me" : OWEN. Marley is a dog.

40. "... __ man put asunder" : LET NO. But Marley might.

41. Compassionate : KIND

44. __ v. Wade : ROE

45. Ave. crossers : STs (street)

46. Cavalry blades : SABERS

47. Loud uproar : CLAMOR

48. Most senior : OLDEST

50. When doubled, tot's train : CHOO. Whoo Whoo!

53. BBC sitcom, to fans : AB FAB. Short for "Absolutely Fabulous".

54. Andes pack animal : LLAMA

55. Permitted by law : LICIT

57. Get by reasoning : INFER

60. Sleeveless garment : VEST

61. "The __-bitsy spider ..." : ITSY

63. "The Crying Game" actor Stephen : REA

65. Pie __ mode : A LA

66. CBS series with Miami and NY spin-offs : CSI. (Crime Scene Investigation)

67. Wriggly swimmer : EEL


Argyle

Note from C.C.:

Here is another precious picture of JD's  four grandsons. JD joined our blog when Truman was about one-year-old. Also, I hope you did not try the Balsamic Chicken Breast recipe I linked 2 weeks ago. I did not like the result. Nether did JD. The smell was very unpleasant.  JD said:

"I usually cut my chicken breasts into pieces, let them sit in an orange or some kind of bottled marinade for about an hour, then cook them quickly in a  frying pan (10 min. max) and put over rice. It's always moist."

Maybe JD will tell us what orange marinade brand she's using, but this recipe looks very appealing to me.


Left to Right: Dylan & his bigger brother Cameron, Truman & his little brother Grady

50 comments:

OwenKL said...

Commemoration:
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

STEP BY STEP did M.L.King
Work towards civil rights to bring.
He marched along to WALK THE WALK,
Preached tolerance to talk the talk.
And now his praises poets sing!

A human being, not without flaw,
Yet ALL IN ALL, the dream he saw:
When race no more would barrier be,
And friendships run from sea to sea.
A hero, to be held in awe!

He faced the bigots, ONE ON ONE
Armed with right, and not with gun.
FACE TO FACE he made his stands,
As man to man, made his demands.
The dream unfilled, still much he won!

And so on us the mantle falls;
We shall not straddle stone-cold walls.
Do we battle for human rights,
Or join the Klansmen in the nights?
Across the years the legend calls!

George Barany said...

Hi All! I wish you a good MLK day, whether at work or taking the day off to reflect on how different today’s world is from the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Except for a brief hiccup from being unfamiliar with 53-Down (my first guess was ALFIE, but that was easily fixed from the crossing words), I breezed through Matt Skoczen’s offering. The five theme entries are all sound, and mesh together well. Thanks too to Argyle for a fun writeup.

Contrast what we have all just solved to the insanely difficult 6x6 Perfect Square, which has no blocks! I originally constructed it to honor a key member of my “team,” but it is also rather apropos to today. Recognizing the flaws of that puzzle, Noam Elkies and I constructed the rather easier Perfect Triangle. After completing one or both puzzles (spoiler), or in case you just throw up your hands in despair, click here for the joint solutions and explanations. And if you are feeling truly adventurous, you might even want to take a crack at this unusual tribute puzzle, complete with a bonus puzzle and a “midrash.” I hope that you find this some or all of this worth the effort!

George Barany said...

Big shout out to Owen for demonstrating, in rhyme no less, that today's LAT puzzle was an MLK tribute after all! GB

(one small typo in my own posting, sorry about that)

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Fine Monday puzzle. Just enough zing to get my neurons firing, but nothing too taxing. Stumbled a few seconds by putting in LEGAL instead of LICIT, but that was about it.

I'm heading to the airport in a bit to head to Daytona, Florida, so I can give a presentation at a conference tomorrow morning. No direct flights from here to there, so I'll be spending a lot of time getting there just so I can talk for 45 minutes and then spend lots of time getting home. See you on Wednesday!

thehondohurricane said...

Good morning everyone,

Thought this was a tad on the difficult side today, but in the end I got it done.

Kept thinking Basketball defense/ MAN TO MAN must be coming up somewhere, but Matt must have it on hold for anther day.

DUBYA a new term for me. Gather it is a kind way of referring to Pres Bush as a dumb ass.

Wanted Ayes for 1A, but couldn't make it work & finally succumbed to OYEZ.

buckeye bob said...

@hondohurricane

I believe Dubya is a corruption of his middle initial "W".

HeartRx said...

Good morning Argyle, C.C. et al.

Thanks for the write-up Argyle. And especially for the link to LAMP OIL, which started out as “proPane” for me.

I never heard of oblivious meaning "soused." I always use it to describe someone who hasn't a clue what's going on.

Down south, hand up with BarryG for wanting “Legal” at first. But I went a step further and put “LegiT” before the answer finally morphed into LICIT. Whew!

Thanks for posting the adorable pic of JDs grandsons, C.C. They are growing up so fast! And thanks for the link to the marinade - it sounds delicious! I make an orange stir-fry chicken with the same ingredients, but I also add a little cumin and curry powder, along with a bit of orange zest. Yummm!!

buckeye bob said...

Thank you for the puzzle, Matt. Thank you for the fine expo, Argyle.

I thought this was easy-peasy Monday easy. But for some reason it took me 5 minutes longer than my usual Monday puzzle. I completed the puzzle, but no ta-da! I re-read my answers and found 3 mistakes. I had WALK THE TALK and changed it to WALK THE WALK. I misspelled BRETHREN and changed it to BRETHERN. Ta-da!

What HeartRx said about oblivious.

JOHNSNEVERHOME said...

LittleByLittle
I got this easy Mon puzz.
Started out on the wrong foot with OYES (dictionary version)instead of OYEZ.

So don't hike out to your mailbox today ... MLK Day.
John

Husker Gary said...

A nice Monday exercise. LEGAL and LEGIT knew the wrath of my eraser on the way to LICIT which is one of those words like kempt that is better known in its “not” form.

Musings
-Building a team STEP BY STEP is not the Yankee way. It used to work but now they have some horrible salaries for some of the OLDEST players on the books and a mediocre farm system
-Richard Sherman did WALK THE WALK yesterday and then boorishly talked the talk (:31). ALL IN ALL – disgusting or “much ADO about nothing?”
-PERISCOPE images are not reversed like regular mirror images because they make images of images
-I love my BRETHREN and cistern, wait a minute…
-Getting hassled by paparazzi trying to find photo OPS is the price of making millions.
-“Have you lived here your entire life?” “Not YET!”
-I’ve seen many 13-year-olds BLOW a lotta cash in theme parks
-Unfortunately (or not) there are many vows that have gone asunder today
-MLK’s ideals and his speech are still among the best I have ever heard expressed. The scene in Downton last night with the black singer reminded us of what used to be and how far we’ve come

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

ALL IN ALL this was an enjoyable puzzle with much bright fill. Almost had a Natick at the ABFAB/BATTY cross but I WAGged the B correctly. Also was going with LEGal before the perps made LICIT obvious. No searches were needed.

Have a great day.

LaLaLinda said...

Hi Everyone ~~

A fun puzzle which went quickly until I got to the bottom middle. I, too, went through the Legal-Legit-LICIT sequence which slowed things down in that area.

After getting STEP BY STEP crossing ZIP BY, and then AVAST crossing VAST I thought the theme was going in a different direction - nope.

Another hold up was 56A - Stows away. I tried Lades but had to give in to HIDES.

Thanks for a great write-up, Argyle. I did notice your shout-out.

JD ~ such beautiful boys!

Magilla Go-Rilla said...

1A "OYEZ"??? Really??

55D I first went with "legal".

Anonymous said...


Bet you didn't see this coming. Internet will be billed like a utility.

Tiered Levels of Internet Service ($$$) In Your Future

CanadianEh! said...

Happy MLK Day to all. No holiday here.

This was not the usual easy Monday fare for me today. Hand up for LADES, LEGAL and WALKS THE TALK. We don't have NILLA wafers here and I didn't know the BBC Sitcom.

Things finally filled in with perps but I couldn't get the TADA and resorted to red letter help to discover that my Mexican miss SNTA should have been SRTA.

But it was fun and that is all that matters!

(I got caught up on Downton last night. Thanks Lucina.)

JD said...

Good morning Argyle, C.C. et al,

Not often does the theme jump out at me, but today I got it. True.. it is Monday. Only problem was abfab; I hesitated in putting the B onto batty, but no other alternative.Also spelled brethern with an A at 1st.

Is Nilla a brand, or Nabisco?

Owen, enjoyed your MLK tribute.

That picture of the boys would make a nice ad for Target where I have been able to buy matching shirts, but, alas, we can't put a brick on Truman's head to keep him small.
New recipe looks good, C.C. I will try it along with Marti's suggestions. The lazy me uses any bottled marinade that has orange, or lime flavoring. Just got a Lawry's Marinade that has a Hawaiian zest to it. Haven't tried. Depending on the marinade, I sometimes use some sesame oil in the pan.. not much.

Argyle said...

I asked about JOHNSNEVERHOME in Jan. 2012. Took two years to get an answer! Good to see you.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

A very nice start to the week from Matt S. Easy and fun. Had legit before licit but then a clean finish followed. Good write-up, Argyle.

Handsome boys, JD; how they've grown!

I wasn't that interested in which teams made it to the Super Bowl, but thanks to the behavior of Richard Sherman post-game, I will be heartily cheering for Peyton and the Broncos. Class vs crass.

Nice tribute to MLK, Owen.

LaLaLinda, nice to have you posting again. Same for Blue Iris and Sallie, when possible.

Have a great day.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Hand up for Legal, Legit, Licit. Otherwise, a nice Monday breeze.

Adding to Husker's 9:20 Periscope fact: designers of optical systems go to great lengths to avoid left/right image reversal, by arranging for an even number of reflections through the whole system. Sometimes it just won't work out without the use of some trick, such as introducing a special prism in the mix.

The series premiere of Sherlock certainly had our attention last night. We think Benedict Cumberbatch is superb as a modern-day, Ć¼ber quirky Holmes.

Lucina said...

Good day, puzzlers! Great SCOTT, it's always good to see you and all is well for a Monday.

WEES. Very easy sashay today with only one bump. Yes, LEGIT/LICIT but otherwise a walk in the park. I was surprised to see OYEZ but then we have seen it many times before.

OBLIVION as soused has been used in some books I've read. Speaking of that, I just finished The Aviator's Wife and highly recommend it. Apparently Charles Lindbergh, though he was a genuine hero, was not a very good man.

CanadianEh:
You're welcome. I'm glad to know you are now caught up with the story.

JD:
What adorable boys with such intensity in their eyes.

Have a pleasurable Monday, everyone!

Lemonade714 said...

Fun Monday, thanks Matt S. and Argyle; I had no trouble at all with OYEZ or LICIT, only LAMP OIL slowed me at all, KEROSENE just would not fit. OYEZ is a pretty common CW fill, appearing here more than once a year, and it is still actually said in a few court situations.

JOHNS NEVER HOME, I agree with Argyle, good to see you.

IM, I agree it is nice to see posts from people who have become part of the Corner family.

JD you have some good genes working with those boys, and yes much has changes since 6 years ago today when C.C. decided she was going to comment on the Tribune Media Services puzzles. Happy 6 years C.C., and I wish you as many more as you want. I think this is the most fun CW blog ever with lots of very supportive people and some amazing people. Like all families we have our crazies but I am grateful you all have been here and very grateful for C.C. for helping me learn so much more about the CW puzzle.

Lemonade714 said...

Oops it is still Monday the 20th....
Happy one day early

Lemonade714 said...

I do love Cumberbatch who is much more in keeping with the Conan Doyle creation than the morose posing star of Elementary . Downton is back in full force and I am also watching Episodes on my DVR.
Castle has become unwatchable, and sadly it looks like the Mentalist is lapsing back into massive conspiracy silliness.

Football games had their moments, but the officiating was abysmal; interesting to have the ex-official in the booth trash the refs.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

WEES, except I missed the LEGIT option.

Owen - excellent poem today. You're always up to the challenge.

Yes, big strides forward, but still so far to go . . .

Officiating was horrible in the Seahawks - 9ers game, but I don't think it influenced the outcome.

Should be a great superbowl.

Cool regards,
JzB

john28man said...

Hands up for not looking at the perp when I put in WALK THE TALK.
I did not know ABFAB either but its about a decade since I will in the UK,

Misty said...

Terrible computer problems this morning. Crash, back-up computer isn't working either, and only now have I (hopefully) gotten a primitive old laptop to work.

So, for today's puzzle--delightful speed run, Matt--and I'm especially grateful because I'm having an otherwise rotten day. You too, Argyle, many thanks.

Glad I'm not the only one who had LEGIT before LICIT. Never heard of AB FAB. But otherwise, no major hangups.

Owen, nice poetic tribute for MLK. Nice to have the Corner honor him on his day.

Oh, Downtown Abby. Poor Bates, poor Anna.

Hope you all have a better week than I fear I'm going to have. The Corner helps, in any case.



Glad to see I'm not the

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Matt! Thanks, Argyle. WEES.

Bravo, Owen!

Ol' Man Keith said...

OK, back to earth with a Mon. pzl, a fittingly soft landing after that ugly Seahawk-49ers collision yesterday.
Mr. Skoczen has given us a nice theme and even a couple of surprises along the way. (Hands up for LEGIT before LICIT and PILOT before PART I.)

Jazzbumpa is right about the NFC game officiating, but I have to disagree about it not affecting the outcome. The refs didn't make Seattle repeat their touchdown to allow a legitimate score, and they didn't make them return the ball after recovering a goal line turnover. Those bizarre calls made a material difference.
Still the 'Niners held their heads high. What a great season they gave their fans!

Ol' Man Keith said...

In honor of Dr. King, here's a post to commemorate a few of his views that do not always get the attention they deserve. As years go by, there is a great tendency to smooth his rougher edges. Those of us of a certain age will recall that he was more than a mild irritant to mainstream civil righters. May this help us to REMEMBER.

Lemonade714 said...

AB FAB has been show on PBS for years, I believe it lasted 20 years on BBC, LINK .

CrossEyedDave said...

Definitely tough, but doable puzzle for a Monday. In addition to Legit/licit, & 56A stows away = lade/hide, I was sure those were Necco Wafers until it was perped into oblivion...

Never heard of Dubya before, but the Urban Dictionary explained it...

Mho was interesting. As it was a unit of conductance. Here is what happens when you put Mho, & Ohm together...

Anonymous said...

If Dubya was a “dumb ass” what is the current guy with his smarmy smile, a $17T debt, uncountable scandals, a true unemployment rate of 14% and divisive policies? Politics, get thee be gone from here!

Anonymous said...

A nice, easy Monday puzzle. A good start to my week. Thank you, Matt and Argyle.

I fell into the legal/legit/licit hole. Also had pilot before Part I.

Favorite clue 46A: "Ivanhoe" author Sir Walter SCOTT. My maiden name.

My older brother and sister have passed away so now I am the OLDEST of the siblings.

Great poem, Owen.

Sunny and 45* right now. Tomorrow, snow and frigid temps again for a couple days. I'm ready for spring.

Pat

Yeah! My captcha is legible numbers!

Tinbeni said...

Nine clues with the "___" was a bit much ... even on a Monday.

Nothing to drink in-the-grid, so I can't say I had much FUN solving.

Nice to see "JohnsNeverHome" drop by.

Hmmm, maybe some Pinch could take me into OBLIVION. lol
Cheers!!!

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks for swell puzzle and expo, Matt and D. Scott!

Nice, easy theme. Hand up for L, L, L problem.

Downton certainly depressing. Sherlock, OTOH, was incredible! Plan to watch again tonight to savor some of the missed details!

Really adorable grandkids, JD. From whence the matching shirts?

Cheers!

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, Owen, a touching tribute to MLK today. A Challenge for everyone.

Hands up for not knowing AbFab. But the answer filled in nicely with the perps. Also I entered Legal instead of licit. Other than that everything else was fast and easy. I liked the theme answers. They all fit very nicely into Owen's pome today as a tribute to MLK.

JD, those boys are cuter and cuter.

Our 49er's lost yesterday, but we still had a nail biting game to watch.

Irish Miss, I also wonder where sportsmanship has gone? Sherman should know that dissing the losers and bad mouthing players--after you've won--is not acceptable.

Have a great day, everyone.

Susan said...

I haven't posted for over a year, but I thought I would say hello to everyone today. I hope I can use this new-to-me system of getting on.99426435

fermatprime said...

Owen: great poem!

Lemonade714 said...

Susan nice to see you, The Red Violin was such a haunting movie. I am out of comments, see you tomorrow

Bill G. said...

Did you see the segment on 60 Minutes last night called "The Lost Boys"? It was a partial repeat of a wonderful story about refugees from Uganda. Even though I'd seen part of it before, I enjoyed it all over again and was in tears by the end of it.

I am going to withdraw my invitation to have coffee with Richard Sherman. Normally, I don't much care which team wins the Super Bowl but like Irish Miss, he convinced me to root for Denver.

HeartRx said...

Totally agree with Irish Miss and Bill G. My vote goes to Denver for the Super Bowl!!!

CrossEyedDave said...

Sorry, it was a slow night on the Blog, & I got bored...

Step by step

One on one?

Walk the walk

All in all

Face to face

JD said...

Misty, I worry about you. Hopefully "this" will pass. I am also upset about Anna and Bates. It was always the one bright spot...and do you think that poor Edith signibg those papers is foreshadowing of another doomed romance for her? I think he may not return. Glad Edna is gone.

pje- we are waiting for winter. The ugly dead leaves are still clinging to the trees.

Fermat, Target always has matching shirts, etc, but only for the little guys.

I agree, Denver has our support.I was proud of our 9ers.

Lucina said...

Since Edith signed his papers, if he doesn't return, she will have full control of his assets. And I believe one or all three of those ladies will have one of those nine month surprises. High drama at Downton Abbey!

Anonymous T said...

G'Eve all my Puzzle Pals:

Mr. Skoczen provided an odd Monday puzzle for me. I think I've seen OYEZ once and PERI was so hard to come by until I filled the NW with WAGS. Argyle, you made my day when WAGS became - "huh? I got it?" :-)

The south was easy but same Legal/LIgIT/LICIT as others, but otherwise easy. However, everything north of 20a would not fall. flyBY @4d had me stumped for a while as did ASwE @5d (wrong translation?). And who knows the violinist or a Melville book not about Smee or Ahab?

MHO - Mmmm... I never saw that in my EE classes... OHM sure - even before I got to university.

Re: DUBYA - I've heard that 'round these parts and seen little oval "W" stickers on peoples' cars. I don't think it says anything about "W"'s wit but attempts to southernize him to take away the ivy-school "stain."

I agree with Tin re: a bunch of "_ something" clues (ALTHO 5d got me).

I can't wait to catch-up on Elementary. DW and I enjoy it.

Speaking of "TV" shows - has anyone seen past episode 2 of Lilihammer (a Netflix only show). It seems like it's getting more violent. Does it?

Cheers, -T

Anonymous said...

Maybe someone should start a blog about Downton Abby??? Just sayin'

OwenKL said...

I don't understand the mystification: AB FAB was in either a clue or grid 3 times last year (Apr.20, May 2, & Oct.11, 2013) and I shared 2 links to the show, AB* FAB*, when it came up in discussion just 2 weeks ago, Jan 8.

Aw, _ell! Hand up for L-L-LICIT.

CED: Always good, but that cat on the doorframe was an especial hoot!

Shout-out to me on 38d. Argyle, thanks foe clarifying that my namesake wasn't the dog.

* With quotes like "Ooo, she's so cold, sweetie! I'll just bet she has her period in cubes." & Edina: "Inside of me, there is a thin person just screaming to get out." Mother: "Just the one, dear?"

Anonymous T said...

OwenKL:

Darlin' Sweetie, Sweetie Darling can you get mommy's bottle? Please... AbFab was easy for me, but DW & I watched almost every episode released to the US.

I agree with you on CED's links - his and HG's are always fun / informative. Actually, everyone's add one more thing to the blog.

If I wait 2 more minutes to post, I can say HB to C.C.'s blog -- and get it right, LEM :-).*

Cheers, -T
*just poking fun

Anonymous T said...

The CAPTCHA was so fuzzy it took the two minutes!

C, -T

Anonymous T said...

Here I found a W sticker.

C, -T