google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, Jan 11th, 2014, Timothy, L. Meaker

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Jan 11, 2014

Saturday, Jan 11th, 2014, Timothy, L. Meaker

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing J,K,Q,V,W,Z)

Blocks: 37

   I have not had the opportunity to blog a puzzle from Mr. Meaker, and I did not see an interview from our "11d.", C.C.  I did review his other LAT contributions, and there seems to be a consistency in his cluing and answers.  I have to admit, this one was a pretty smooth solve for a Saturday, with an odd, patchy grid, and few long stacks; there were several unique answers, plus a generous amount of three-letter words.  Some of the longer fill for today;

12A. 1964 Glenn Ford/Geraldine Page romantic comedy : DEAR HEART - I started with DEATHTRAP, which fit, but was a 1982 film with Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve

54A. Ben & Jerry's, e.g. : TRADE NAME - IMHO, the best flavor, and not because I'm in NY


9D. Focus of a 1990 psychology best-seller : INNER CHILD - more here

25D. Idaho/Wyoming landscape : TETON RANGE - run with the buffaloes here~!


ONWARD~!!!!

ACROSS:

1. '70s quartet consisting of two married couples : ABBA - Well, how many 4-letter 70's groups were there with two men, and two women?

5. Wall St. strategy : LBO - Leveraged Buy-Out

8. Addams family nickname : TISH - Gomez's nickname for the 'wifey' Morticia

15. Seek protection from : RUN TO (you)


16. Cub leader : DEN MOTHER - I had DEN MASTER first - close enough to get a start in the NW

17. Laura of "ER" : INNES

18. Wait : STAY PUT - STAND BY fit, too

19. All thumbs : UNADEPT - my 'meh' word

21. See 59-Across : BOP; 59. With 21-Across, Cyndi Lauper hit : SHE - there was some controversy over this song, as it refers to masturbation....

22. Sequence often seen above WXYZ : MNO - I semi-cheated; I knew it was letters on the phone, but I had to look

23. Training systs. : RRs - um, not really sure; I believe this is about the P/RR/S weight training system, but it could also be about RailRoad trains, really....

24. Words with end or angle : AT AN

26. Get real : FACE FACTS

29. They may be tapped : ALES - had KEGS

30. __-Turkish War : ITALO

31. __ polloi : HOI - Greek for "majority", it now carries a pejorative sense of "commoners"

32. Portable storage container : TOTE BOX

35. 1948 Literature Nobelist : T.S. ELIOT

37. "Well, well!" : O-HO~!!

38. Actress Ryan : IRENE

40. Paris pronoun : ELLE

41. Complex : MANY-SIDED

43. They're not gentlemen : CADS

44. Letters concerning available space : SRO - Standing Room Only; I thought it might be S.FT, or SQ.I, as in square feet/inches

45. Eye : ORB - Poetry and crossword standard

46. Sci-fi escape craft : POD - ah, the escape pod - Star Wars, Alien, The Fifth Element...

47. "All greased up and ready to sing" '70s-'80s TV hosts : SHA-NA-NA - Osmonds fit, too, but they weren't 'greased up' - at least, not ON TV....

49. Early NASA probe : MARINER - The Venus missions

53. Delhi tongue : HINDI

56. Advocated : URGED

57. Deadlock breaker : EXTRA TIME

58. Road to the Forum : ITER - Straight Latin for road

60. More than just thought-over : ORAL - I don't really understand this clue/answer, but you should try putting the whole thing into Google - BE WARNED~!!!

DOWN:

1. Puts in : ADDS

2. Red shade : BEET

3. "Hulk" star Eric : BANA

4. Where to see major decisions? : ARMY BASE - major as in the rank and officer

5. Slacken : LET UP

6. 100 satang : BAHT - Thailand

7. No ordinary rock : ORE - No ORE-dinary rock?

8. Much of Siberia : TUNDRA - I didn't know there were that many Toyotas in Russia - oh, wait, never mind....

10. Reach extenders : STEP STOOLS - mini-ladders with no hand-rails, essentially

11. Party person : HOST - Splynter has a new interest in the hostess at the Italian restaurant - don't worry, C.C., I don't think she's Russian.... (From C.C.: Sweet!)

13. Hayride invite : HOP ON - uh, yeah, hayrides....

14. Shortened : TRUNCATED - maybe Owen can come up with a DF poem using a great many of the clue/answers of today's puzzle

15. Narrow inlet : RIA

20. Much December radio fare : NOELS - not for another 11 months

22. Showerside item : MAT

24. Colorful top : ALOHA SHIRT - What I call a Hawaiian shirt, learned from doing crosswords

26. Loan offer : FIXED RATE

27. Opponent : FOE

28. Web extension? : SITE - Website

29. Energy source : ATOM

33. Start of an early Grafton title : B IS - for Burglar

34. Victim of Artemis : ORION - I love the time of year when Orion, the constellation, is visible, roughly Sept to March; the story goes that Orion was bitten and killed by Scorpio, and therefore in the 'other half' of the night sky

36. Provide a segue for : LEAD INTO

39. Great Plains st. : NEBraska - Hmmm, I think there's one or two guys from the blog there

42. Over there : YONDER

43. Jazz contemporary of Hancock and Jarrett : COREA - Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and the one I had not heard of, Keith Jarrett - a little piano piece from him

46. 1998 World Series player : PADRE - San Diego - beaten by the damn Yankees

47. Feng __ : SHUI - With the limited space I have, I try and practice this art; however, I do have a mirror and a flat-screen TV (both about the same size and shape) in the bedroom, and both face the bed - this is not good feng shui, tho I did know this, and could possibly hang a curtain in front of the mirror

48. Support : AID

49. Fermat's forte : MATH - another semi-shout-out to a blog regular

50. Hair-removal brand : NAIR

51. 1815 title character who "thought a little too well of herself" : EMMA - I tried EYRE, but that left me with TRADE NAYE and EXTRA TIRE - well, the latter could have been clued as "SPARE"

52. Stagger : REEL

55. Med. orders : RXs - Prescriptions

Splynter

68 comments:

John A. said...

nailed it!...fell for the obvious "TOTEBAG" at first, but figured it out fairly easy when "FIXEDRATE" emerged...nothing like the letter X to help you along...rare commenter who reads this every saturday after racking my brain...hope everybody had a great holiday season

OwenKL said...

Yo mama, she fat and insane.
Her INNER CHILD she say be to blame:
A kid that she swallowed
(And several more followed),
Now inside her they're playing a game!

Yo mama she fat and she drools
She say that she been through her schools.
She got higher ed
All stuffed in her head;
She got it by climbing STEP STOOLS!

OwenKL said...

Yo mama she too fat for her skirt.
On a cruise she had too much dessert.
Thought they saw Honolulu,
Turned out, twas a boo-boo,
Just yo ma in her ALOHA SHIRT!

Yo mama, she fat and she strange.
She wanted to cook, for a change.
But her talent, it be
In her bra (size DD)
So she burned her Grand TETON RANGE!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Not too difficult, especially for a Saturday, but I still struggled in spots.

Had KEGS instead of ALES at 29A and went with FINANCING instead of FIXED RATE at 26D. DEAR HEART was a complete unknown, TOTE BOX seemed like a totally made-up word and EXTRA TIME seemed like a poor excuse for OVERTIME. And then there was AT AN, which is a truly atrocious partial in my opinion.

But, other than those few bumps along the way, the rest of the puzzle was full of snap and sparkle, so a good time was had overall.

Dennis said...

Good morning, gang - this was quite a slog for me; had to walk away a couple times before finally finishing. As with John A., it took FIXED RATE for me to correct TOTEBAG, and I couldn't for the life of me see SHA NA NA even when I had SHAN. Very enjoyable puzzle, although I dislike UNADEPT.

Saw Lone Survivor last night -- a very, very moving (and extremely graphic)tribute to our SEAL warriors and what they're capable of. I had a terrible night last night because of it, but it really is a must-see. MamaLi, you said you were going last night too; what did you think?

Have a great weekend.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Easiest Saturday we've had in a while! Nice shoutouts to Fermat, Gary and Joe. Hand up for KEGS. And I thought the clue for ORAL was really strange. Splynter, I'm pretty sure it was railroads (RRS).

At 35A when I had TSE…. I couldn't for the life of me think of that Chinese guy's last name. D'OH! I did remember DEAR HEART; Henry Mancini did the music, and the title song was an M-O-R hit single.

desper-otto said...

Found this gem while trying to find Splynter's ORAL link…

"Why is it so important to solve crosswords ?
It is important to solve puzzles because it prevents Alzheimer's disease.
In addition, crossword enrich your vocabulary. Many studies have shown that people who solves crosswords successful job interviews more than those who do not resolve."

Yeah, I'm gonna bookmark that site.

Al Cyone said...

This was looking like a DNF but, despite a few speed bumps (e.g. I had SHE BOP before BOP SHE), after fifteen minutes I had everything but a completely empty NE corner. I had put STEPPE before TUNDRA so fixing that helped. And I was trying to think of a word that went before TOOLS instead of a word that went before STOOLS. And I wasn't sure whether it was INNES or ENNIS. But I somehow it all got straightened out.

This was one of those puzzles that felt like, though I started it, someone (or some thing) else finished it. In other words, I often surprise myself when my fingers type a word that my brain hasn't even thought of. At least that's how it seems sometimes.

[18:28]

June said...

Doing crosswords does help develop your vocabulary. My biggest improvement since starting crossword puzzles is not vocabulary but my knowledge of geography - rivers, mountain ranges, capitals, etc. I really enjoy wondering around the world to find an answer!

Anonymous said...

"More than just thought-over : ORAL - I don't really understand this clue/answer..."

Welcome to the club.

It makes no sense.

Avg Joe said...

This was no minor challenge for me. Had to labor through it all, but found it enjoyable as well. Didn't care a lot for unadept or extra time and don't think I've ever heard the term Aloha shirt, but it all perped out.

The Neb sky had a couple of amazing sights this morning just before sunrise. I saw a Bald Eagle looking out the window and dashed outside to get a better look. Once outdoors I saw about 80 degrees of bright pink shading to the clouds extending from the sun to the SSW. Some days you get the bear!

Barry G. said...

"More than just thought-over : ORAL"

I wasn't crazy about this one, either, but I did eventually make sense of it. I think. ORAL means "said aloud" in this context, not "relating to the mouth." So, if you have an idea and take it one step further than simply thinking about it, you would say it aloud. The next step, of course, would be acting on it, I suppose.

Meh.

Yellowrocks said...

This was easier than most Saturdays. SHE BOP, ORION, INNES and IRENE were unknowns and needed many perps.
Hand up for TOTE BAG before BOX.

UNADEPT is a perfectly legitimate word. Quote from NYT on 10/15/1990 on Eisenhower's Cenntennial:
"But no one who has read the literature now thinks he was simple-minded or UNADEPT. He had great conceptual capacity - a clear-headed man with a long horizon."

ORAL is OK with me, too. You didn't just think about it you expressed it ORALly. I believe that adding "over" to thought was an attempt to indicate that the answer was not a verb. I think THOUGHT-OUT would have been better to indicate an adjective.

JJM said...

Easy for a Sat. Still had a few bumps along the way.Not sure I liked UNADEPT. Once I switched EYRE to EMMA I was all good.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Barry for the explanation for the oral clue-- I agree - meh.
WEES about the Totebox--seems totally made up to fit the crossword. @JJM - I took it one step further - started at TESS then went to EYRE and finally ended with EMMA to get it right. The "oral" answer at the bottom took a long time, so didn't help with the perps for the nair/neet and the tess/eyre/emma answers.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Compared to last week's Silky, this was a stroll in the park. Well, there were a couple of bumps, kegs/ales, Neet/Nair, etc. but all finally fell into place. Disliked unadept (sounds clunky) totebox, and clue for oral.

Nice shout out to the Nebraskans and to Ferm. Thanks Mr. Meaker for a challenging but doable offering and thanks to Splynter for an informative expo.

Expecting heavy rains today which should wash away the remaining snow. Temps in the 50's. Oh well, I'll enjoy it while it lasts, until Old Man Winter comes back with a vengeance.

Have a nice Saturday.

C6D6 Peg said...

After going through all the clues, there was little I had put in... and I thought it was going to be a DNF. The many two-word clues (I counted 20) was the main challenge. Did finish in about 35 minutes.

Splynter, I too, had to look at the phone for the answer. Good write-up!

Good puzzle all around. Congrats to Timothy.

Husker Gary said...

I wonder if my trial and error solving style is comparable to a Saturday constructor’s task where they “throw it against the wall and see what sticks”. A challenging but rewarding journey today.

Musings
-Ben and Jerry political beliefs
-I love the Laramie Mts. In eastern Wyoming and the Tetons in the west. Not so much the drive between
-My research last month revealed some shocking facts about my Grandma TISH
-All well and good Bryan but I’ll take Bobby Vee’s RUN TO HIM (2:06) (even lip-synching)
-IRENE Ryan starred in vaudeville, radio, Broadway and film but she’ll be remembered for this character
-HAL would not open the POD bay doors (2:31) for Dave Bowman
-My first date was on a HAY RACK RIDE
-I have added “LoriRo” and “Nother Husker” to our cwd roll call map this week out here on the frozen NEB TUNDRA. - 50°F tomorrow!
-EXTRA TIME is a very familiar term in soccer, my girls had TOTE BOXES in elementary school and I taught refraction for years as what happens when light strikes a surface AT AN angle.
-What fictional sergeant headed up the motor pool at the ARMY BASE Fort Baxter?

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

A little easier than some Saturdays, but I felt at a disadvantage with at least 5 references to modern music, although I got ABBA easily. I guess I started to remember them when I realized one female singer had the same 1st name as my mother.
But, otherwise, the perps were helpful. Had the same question about ORAL as others, but perps showed the way. Favorite clue was for ARMY BASE. Favorite long fill was TETON RANGE.

Have a great day.

desper-otto said...

Husker, I'm guessing Sergeant Bilko (Phil Silvers)?

desper-otto said...

And, Husker, I don't believe you when you say it's going to be 50 below in Nebraska tomorrow.

TTP said...

Good morning all.

Couldn't get flow with this one, but finished it.

Hand up for having DEN MastER at first. Note to self: Scout Master, Den Mother.

I have no problem with TOTE BOX. Just google carpenter's tote box and look at the images.

As a word, UNADEPT is awkward. I would avoid it at all costs. As a word choice ? EDIT. DELE. Definitely not STET... ORAL was a normal word that fit the spaces and the crosses, so I left it and moved on.

Hand up for never having heard of or read ALOHA SHIRT.

Had a bit of trouble parsing "Seek protection from" = RUN TO even after filling it in. If I wanted to seek protection from Godzilla, I wouldn't RUN TO him(her)(it). I'd go to court and get an order of protection to keep the beast away. But if that didn't work, I guess I would seek protection at the ARMY BASE.

Nice gem, Desper-otto. I couldn't resist, so I went there to read more.

Splynter, thanks for the write up and the Bryan Adams song. Long time favorite of mine.

Argyle said...

We had ALOHA SHIRT back in November, 27-Across. Link

Argyle said...

Well, good. I see the blog search is functioning again.

CanadianEh! said...

Some challenges today but it got finished!
I wanted UFO not POD and CAP not MAT at first.
Smiled at the crossings of STAY PUT, LET UP, HOP ON and also RUN TO.
Have seen many RXs in my time.
Rainy here today.

Lucina said...

Hello, Weekend Worders!

I had this about 3/4 finished very early then returned to bed and quickly finished the NW. ARMY BASE hit me while going to sleep.

It was a slow slog but enjoyable to complete the long terms especially TRUNCATED, my favorite long fill. I thought UNADEPT very awkward which is the word I originally wrote.

Great shout out to Fermatprime and the Nebraska guys.

Hand up for DEN MASTER before DEN MOTHER and looking at the telephone for MNO.

I thought WBS about ORAL, to say after thinking.

STEPSTOOLS are a necessity for me to reach the higher shelves. And my war was GRECO-Turkish before it became ITALO-.

I loved seeing the TETON RANGE when we went to Yellowstone Park.

This was good fun. Thank you Timothy L. Meaker and Splynter.

Have a stupendous Saturday, everyone! Book Club today and I'll enjoy the 70 dgs because summer comes too quickly.

TTP said...

I didn't recall ALOHA shirt.

Searched it and read the WIKI on it after my earlier post.

Checked that puzzle link from Nov. I don't recall that one and didn't comment. Must have played hooky that day.

Back to the weekend chores.

MamaLi said...

As a novice, this was a tough puzzle - mostly because of multiple word answers. And after seeing "Lone Survivor" I just did not have the patience to slog through this puzzle this morning.

Dennis, I agree with you 100% about the movie. I had been waiting years for this movie to be finished. Did you read the book? Although the movie did some composites, like the final village scene, all in all I think they did an excellent job in portraying what happened that day.

I have great respect for the men who are willing to serve in the special forces AND "F***" our government for their ridiculous rules of engagement! Although, it is very much against our American values to kill a child - hence the catch 22.........

MamaLi said...

OOPPPS I apologize sincerely. I put some politics into my previous comment. I will try to edit the comment.

MamaLi said...

Novice question: What do the yellow and blue highlighting in the puzzle answers mean? Sometimes I get the connections, but today it makes no sense to me.

buckeye bob said...

Thank you Timothy Meaker for a challenging but rewarding puzzle. Thank you Splynter for a great review.

I must be the contrarian for today’s crossword puzzle. It seems many early posters found this easy. Moi? Nope!

I don’t think it was as hard as a Saturday Silkie, but it was right up there. I worked on it for 45 minutes, and found myself stymied on the rest of the clues. I turned on red letter help, and took out my red letters. That opened my mind and allowed me to quickly finish the west half. I worked through the clues and perps and finally got the SE, then finally got the NE. Tada! at 59 minutes. I enjoy the solving process, so that’s OK.

I thought many of the clues / answers were vague, adding to the difficulty factor. I needed a lot of perp help today.

I had many unknowns: DEAR HEART, INNES, SHE BOP, BANA.

I had IPO before LBO, TSE TUNG before T S ELIOT, ARMY POST before ARMY BASE, A IS before B IS, HMM before OHO, VOUS before ELLE.

Hand up for checking MNO.

I agree UNADEPT was clunky. (It may be legit, but who says that?) Seek protection from = RUN TO seems odd to me. Agree OVERTIME is far more common than EXTRA TIME. Training Systs. = RRS also seems clunky. On the other hand, I thought ORAL was very OK.

Is it NAIR or NEET? I always need a perp to point the way.

Overall, difficult like a Saturday puzzle is supposed to be, but doable and challenging!

retired lineman said...

This was a goc ( got one correct) for me. Handed off to dw and she completed half of the puzzle. Desper-otto@7:10; sounds like i better start solving these xword puzzles.

buckeye bob said...

@ Lucina 11:24 a.m.

I agree. I also loved seeing the Tetons after visiting Yellowstone.

There are many places I have not been, so my opinion may be restricted by my travels, but IMO the Tetons are the most majestic and beautiful place I've seen.

And a bonus was that we drove along Jenny Lake, and our eldest daughter is Jennifer.

Argyle said...

The yellow and blue highlighting is from doing the puzzle online then snipping an image of the completed grid. The last word will be highlighted.

Misty said...

Well, I found today's Saturday puzzle easier than yesterday's Friday bear, although I still cheated by looking up two items. If puzzles improve our brain, then a couple bad days in a row of course make us worry that we're losing it. Say (pray) it ain't so! But I was happy that I did better than yesterday--thanks, Tim.

C.C., how did you survive the cold weather last week. Every time we listened to the news reports on the weather I thought of you, way up north there. Hope it wasn't too daunting and that it's better at the end of the week.


Have a great weekend, everybody!

Lucina said...

Another of the reasons to love crosswords: it takes me out of my comfort zone, sports and science, for example. If it weren't for these puzzles I would never think about any sport and not much about science, but I appreciate expanding my mind.

Bumpo:
From late last night. I agree with you about EXES/EXS.

buckeybob:
Lucky you and your daughter to see Jenny Lake. I have been fortunate enough to travel a great deal but there is something haunting and appealing about the TETONS as they stand regally on a vast plain.

Ol' Man Keith said...

This was hard and, unfortunately, not very illuminating. I mean there were no clever misdirections and none of the newly discovered meanings that make tough pzls worth the time. Some paired words felt forced (TOTE BOX, UNADEPT).
There were other words that triggered some debate (ORAL, EXTRA TIME, AT AN) but, to me, they are all acceptable to the extent that they (a) are necessary and (b) can sustain an argument. One other factor-- (c) cleverness-- is what separates the mediocre from the brilliant.
I know none of these is easy to create, so thanks must go to Mr. Meaker for his effort.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Not an easy puzzle, but it flowed along for me a few letters & WAGs at a time. Liked it better than a Silkie. Thanks, Tim. Thanks, Splynter!

Yo Owen, very weird! What yo' smokin'? LOL!

Last fill: LBO/BAHT cross, a natick for me. Took an ABC run.

I wouldn't have known Fermat's forte without our own namesake.

When I had DEA... the song started playing in my head & I confidently wrote in DEAR HEART, tho I have no memory of the movie.

I thought the Hulk's name was BANner. Didn't know INNES. Never heard of the ITALO-Turkish war.

Had to laugh aloud when SHANANA filled in with perps. "All greased up and ready to sing" is so apt. I'd forgotten about them. How could I?

PK said...

I had seen the Tetons from the ground, but got really excited when I spotted them from an airliner window. We were flying high east and north of them which left them looking small but recognizable.

Tinbeni said...

Splynter, Thank-you for an excellent, informative write-up & links.

Easy start, with a "shout-out" @ 1-A, to our Mari ABBA.
Plus the "shout-outs" to fermatprime, Husker and Avg.Joe.

PADRE crossing MARINER reminded me that Spring Training starts in 34 days.

I, for one, am glad the NOELS have stopped until next year.
(Did Grandma really get run-over by a Reindeer? Ahh, "the classics"!)

Fave today was ALES ... go-figure.
Cheers!

Yellowrocks said...

UNADEPT is another word found in writing much more frequently than in everyday speech. I have researched dozens of examples of it in articles for common consumption, as opposed to more abstruse (recondite, esoteric)articles. One common example was my citation from The New York Times. Seeing it context never strikes me as odd.

I read that, aside from its use in writing, it is found in only the most educated speech. But Saturday crosswords contain all types of language, including the obscure. Rather than MEH, my reaction to this type of word is, "I can learn something here."

In addition. ADEPT as a noun is a person who is especially skillful at something. UNADEPT as a noun is a person who is decidedly unskillful at something.

River Doc said...

Happy Saturday everybody!

DNF here as well. But then again, it is a Saturday, so....

WEES regarding the clunkiness of AT AN ORAL, and UNADEPT....

Like Tin I enjoyed seeing PADRE cross MARINER - our annual Spring Training trek is the third week of March....

My FIXED RATE is 4.125....

Was introduced to Chick COREA and Return to Forever in high school - what an incredible group of musicians...!

Well I've got to hit the ITER - Ta Ta...!

CrossEyedDave said...

Unadept?

No Problem!

Hmm, Teton range, looks like a nice place to take a flight.

Jayce said...

I can think "meh" about something AND learn from it too.

Jayce said...

Chick Corea is among my favorite jazz pianists. What really blew me away once (at least 10 years ago) was seeing him play Mozart's Piano Concerto #20, which I have a feeling he did only because Bobby McFerrin persuaded him to. He did very well indeed! The top-off to that wonderful concert was an amazing rendition of Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue by Marcus Roberts and a large ensemble. Wow.

Yellowrocks said...

CED,I loved your cat with thumbs. It is interesting that "all thumbs" means awkward and UNADEPT, when the more common problem is NO thumbs.
My problem is half an arm.

Today I was able to take the ornaments off the tree, using with my left hand more than usual, and then put them on trays on several tray tables.This would have been impossible a few days ago. Alan is unadept at helping with this. He did unscrew the stand while I held the tree and then he lifted the tree onto a plastic tarp. We dragged it to the garage and he took it to the curb. Alan will drag the boxes from the closet and bit by bit I will stow away all my decorations. It will be impossible for me and probably impossible for him to get the full boxes back into the closet in a compact way that enables the door to close. At least the very dry tree is out of the house in time for pickup on Tuesday.

CrossEyedDave said...

Hmm,, Yellowrocks, you just reminded me. DW made me take down the tree before our trip a week ago, but would not let me put it at the curb due to expected high winds while we were away. So I stuck it under a tree in the front yard, where it promptly froze to the ground until today.

Raining all day, but I braved it to put the unfrozen tree at the curb, being extra careful to step over the upside down garbage can lid collecting water all day.

Of course I kicked the dang thing, water went straight up my pants as I fell into the tree...

Unadept,,, hmmm, why does this word follow me around....


Oh well, at least my daughters are not unadept, from left to right, daughters #1, 2, & 3 singing O Holy night this Christmas.

Avg Joe said...

Not to harsh your buzz, YR, but from everything you've said about that shoulder, I'd guess you'll need rotator cuff surgery if you ever want full range again. It took me 6 weeks completely out of commission and another 8 weeks of rather grueling PT, but I'm extremely glad I had it done.

desper-otto said...

CED, your daughters are very talented. You have a right to feel very proud.

chefwen said...

CrossEyedDave - WOW! Beautiful AND talented, what lovely voices.

Jayce said...

Wow, CrossEyedDave, your daughters sing beautifully! And not one of them swallowed at an inopportune time :)

OwenKL said...

MamaLi: Your question about the highlighting piqued my curiosity, so I went back to check (this has probably come up before, but I've been here less than a semester). All our analysts except Lemonade and Argyle leave one word highlighted and one letter in yellow (Mensa site) or Khaki (LAT site). (I prefer the Across Lite format (from Cruciverb) which lets you select the colors.) Argyle highlights all theme words with what looks like a yellow hand-held pen. Lemonade highlights all theme words digitally in cyan, and a red outline on whatever letter his cursor was on. Thank you so much, Argyle & Lemon! Those highlights are great, and often helpful (e.g. that QUICK BROWN FOX the other day would have been clear for those without circles). How about sharing your methods with the rest of the solvers, so we can have the theme entries all highlighted every day?

Add me to the group who thought RUN TO, TOTEBOX & UNADEPT were, well, unadept. RRS & ORAL I think Rich just got mixed up on, and gave them the wrong clues.

CED: you tell a good LOL story!

Avg Joe said...

Yeah CED. Wow!!

TTP said...

CED,

Very impressive. My wife came upstairs as it was ending and asked me to play it again. She was rapt and said to tell your daughters that they have beautiful voices.

Manac said...

CED,
Absolutely wonderful! Proud papa you have every right to be.

Thanks for sharing that.

( I'd fire the camera man though ) :)

Pats game is starting.

Dennis said...

CED, your daughters are damn good; you have every reason to be proud.

MamaLi, I followed the movie's progress from the time Marcus announced it. I agree about varying a bit from the book, especially in shortening his solo trek across the mountains, which was one of the most harrowing ordeals I've ever heard of.

And with no apologies to the PC set, I would've taken out the three 'captives' and worried about the consequences later. The mission was too critical, as was the safety of his men, and the only way to ensure both was to terminate the shepherds. Would've caused a lot of future angst no doubt, but that's what I would've done.

Irish Miss said...

CED:

I could not stop laughing at your Thumbed Tomcat. That silliness dissipated when I watched and listened to your beautiful and talented daughters. They look very close in age; any musical careers in their future?

Weekend Reader said...



CED ... Your daughters are absolutely lovely, and talented ... And have such perfect confidence, and resonant voices ... God bless.

They're ...like the Kardasians ? n or, maybe not ... I really don't know who the k's are, but they're always I the papers. If they're ,anything like Paris Hilton, then they're evil.

But I congratulate your wife and you on on such lovely DNA and the right genes and upbringing. I hope and trust this augers something even much better for the future.

I would invest Ina double barrel shotgun and an Uzi, fer sure. Also see if you can hire Dennis on a pat time basis.

Good luck.

buckeye bob said...

@ Jayce 2:45 p.m.

I agree wholeheartedly!

@ CED 3:32 p.m.

Your daughters have wonderful voices! You should be very proud of them!

Lucina said...

CEDAVE:
Kudos to your daughters! What beautiful talent and poise. Yes, you should be very proud.

Irish Miss said...

Weekend Reader @ 8:08 - The Kardashians make Paris Hilton look like Joan of Arc, if that tells you anything.

Manac said...

Lucina, From last night...
You kill me ! More people should adopt your sense of humor!

I Love It !

Weekend Reader said...

Thanks, Irish Miss, I've learnt my lesson...

Don't mention anybody, unless you've read then up thoroughly.

Sorry CED. Didn't want to offend you in any way.

I faintly remember the kar dashing somehow, Either one of them won an oscar, or one of them had eight kids, all at once. Anyway, no big deal.

The name kar... Has now been irradiated from my memory, so if anyhow of you constructors come up with kar dash as a clue, I am going DNF. Now to read up on Joan of arc.

PK said...

CED: Brava to your girls! Lovely voices! I'm sure they have more common sense than the Kardashians! That comment was just insulting or ignorant.

kjinkc said...

I'm not sure if anyone ever answered the Training Systs clue today...a little googling returned a website for Recruiting and Retention School with this explanation: Train and develop agile leaders and Soldiers who provide recruiting and retention support to the force. Website is: WWW.RRS.ARMY.MIL Maybe the constructor will drop by and validate or some of our military folk?

Owen - your entries today almost felt as if you were rapping...have you taken on a new talent?

Okay, I know I'm late again and most won't read but I still enjoy. It's been a long hard winter for me and the temp finally was high enough to get me out of the doldrums today.

Anonymous T said...

Hi all...

DNF for me pretty much, um, everywhere. I did get DENMOTHER, SHEBOP and most of the south, but ABBA never came to mind as a married couple-couple.

I used to think Cyndi Lauper was bubble-gum pop, but then I heard this interview on OTM while driving on family vacation (don't worry, every one was already asleep). I'ts an hour interview, but worth the time.

MamaLi - I think many of us feel we have had an UNADEPT gov't since the '70's. Afghanistan isn't a war anymore, it's a ?? fili-in the blank. My brother was there for two tours after IRAQ. So, you've noticed your over-politicalization post, 'nuff said.

CED - talenet and beauty is there - keep cultivating. My eldest has been doing voice / choir since she was 8 - thank goodness. She loved to sing, but a bucket couldn't care that tune. She's now near angelic like your girls.

kjinkc - we still read even this late / early.

Cheers, -T

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Owen,
Argyle does Answer Grids for Mondays & Tuesdays. I do the rest.

Saturday's Answer Grid often highlights a long Answer I like. Other days, one of the theme entries is highlighted, often the reveal entry.

For intricate grids like Lemonade's PANGRAM puzzle, all key entries are highlighted. I use Mensa website because I can include the constructor name in the grid. In days when there are circles or other gimmicks involved, I use my Compiler to highlight the Answer Grids.

Abejo said...

Good Sunday evening, folks. Thank you, Timothy Meaker, for a swell puzzle. Thank you, Splynter, for the fine review.

Well, I could not get this yesterday. I was busy all day at a meeting, but worked on it on and off. Could not finish. So I hit it tonight during and after the Broncos/Chargers game and finally got it done. Probably spent 5 hours total.

Lots of tough ones. Since no one will probably read this, I will not list all my thoughts. Good puzzle, though. Just a toughie.

C.E.D.: I really enjoyed your daughters' singing "O Holy Night." They were great! Also enjoyed watching the priest go through his Communion Rituals during the song.

See you tomorrow (Monday).

Abejo

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