google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, February 27, 2014 Gareth Bain

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Feb 27, 2014

Thursday, February 27, 2014 Gareth Bain

Theme: "Breaking BARED"

Consistent country/money theme, with the money appearing as an anagram and clued appropriately.

17. *Place for a soak in Bangkok? : THAI BATH. "Bhat" is the currency of Thailand.

23. *Mumbai baby food? : INDIAN PUREE. "Rupee" is what the "Slumdog Millionaire" won a ton of.

36. *Low point in Oran? : ALGERIAN NADIR. "Dinar" is only 0.013 US Dollar.

47. *Stance in a Monterrey studio? : MEXICAN POSE. "Peso" is used in Monterrey, Mexico, but also Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, the Philippines and Uruguay.

And the revealer:

60. Emergency fund ... or what the second part of each answer to a starred clue ends with? : MAD MONEY. I was totally mystified while solving, because each theme entry seemed so straight-forward.  But when I got to the unifier, I became even more mystified. I finally realized that MAD was the hint - it referred to various currencies, all deranged. Aha!

The theme entries were noted with an asterisk, because of longer fill going across like HUMILIATE and SUPERHERO; and POMERANIAN and HALF-EXPECT going down - all great entries, BTW.

And here are the rest:

Across:

1. Sunshine State resort : BOCA. Raton. Late-week puzzles don't always indicate "for short."

5. Country in which Quechua is an official lang. : BOL.ivia. They replaced the PESO with the boliviano in 1864.

8. Transforms, as for a different medium : ADAPTS.

14. "Downton Abbey" title : EARL. Bill G., did you finally get to see the season ender?

15. Tablet maker : RCA.

16. Osaka-born violinist : MIDORIGotō.  At her 1986 Tanglewood performance, she broke three violin strings but didn't miss a beat, and Leonard Bernstein (the conductor) knelt before her in awe when she finished. Worth a listen, here.

19. Alligator cousin : CAIMAN. Cute little feller…


20. Abase : HUMILIATE.

22. Holy territory : SEE. From the Latin "sedes" meaning "seat." All sees are holy, but "THE Holy See" refers to the Vatican.

27. Musical ability, in slang : CHOPS. It originally came from a jazz player's ability to hit high notes with their mouth ("chops"), and later referred to any musical ability.

30. As well : TOO.

31. Mimic : APE.

32. Edward Jones Dome NFL player : RAM. The RAMs now play in St. Louis, after leaving Los Angeles.

33. Rank below abbot : PRIOR.

35. Oilers' org. : NHLNational Hockey League.

40. Sharable PC file : PDFPortable Document File.

41. Mah-__ : JONGG.

42. 2011 NBA retiree : YAO. Ming, the 7' 6" player for the Houston Rockets.

43. Porter, for one : ALE.

44. Effusive musical genre : EMO.

45. Knoxville sch. : U TENN.

51. Poker haul : POT.

52. Green Lantern or Green Arrow : SUPERHERO.

57. __ license : POETIC.

61. Mysterious : ARCANE.

62. Teacher, at times : PRO. Think golf.

63. Dig for 58-Down : MINE. And 58-Down. See 63-Across : ORE.

64. "We're outta here!" : LET'S GO.

65. Stop: Abbr. : STN. I usually think of the abbr. for "station" as "sta." That is what the US Postal service uses.

66. What the nose knows : ODOR. Fun clue!

Down:

1. Behrs of "2 Broke Girls" : BETH. She's the rich blonde. Funny interview on Conan. 1:41

2. Vans Triple Crown of Surfing locale : OAHU. No idea, but got it on a WAG.

3. Stuff : CRAM.

4. Et __ : ALII. Masculine form.  Female = aliae. Neuter = alia.

5. Mastermind : BRAINS. "He's the BRAINS behind the scheme."

6. Pie slices, often : OCTAD. I can't eat that many slices, so cut mine into sextets.

7. "Swing Shift" Oscar nominee : LAHTI. Christine.  The film also starred Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.

8. Film buff's channel : AMC. Originally, abbr. of "American Movie Classics," but now just AMC because of the shift in emphasis away from classic movies.  But you can still get your old movie fix over at TCM (Turner Classic Movies.) I bet HG watches that one.

9. Scattering of an ethnic population : DIASPORA. The most well-known is the Jewish DIASPORA, but there are many others.

10. Continental farewell : ADIEU.

11. Toy dog breed : POMERANIAN. Like a big fluffy pom-pom!


12. Melodic syllable : TRA…la.

13. Preacher's topic : SIN.

18. Brief upturn : BLIP.

21. Getting down : EATING.

24. It may come before one : NOON.  Unless your are talking about 1 AM.

25. "I Feel Bad About My Neck" writer Nora : EPHRON. The title is a reference to her aging, wrinkled neck - the one part of the body that cannot be "re-surfaced" with plastic surgery.

26. Long swimmer : EEL.

27. Carry protectively : CRADLE. I wondered about coddle, then cuddle before CRADLE appeared with perps.

28. Anticipate uncertainly : HALF EXPECT.

29. Bit of shocked text : OMG. "Oh, mgod!"

33. Evergreens with edible nuts : PINONS.

34. Lurid paper : RAG.

37. Escaping à la James Bond, perhaps : EJECTING.

38. Ovoid tomato : ROMA.

39. Microscope slide additive : DYE. This clue was right in my wheelhouse, but I still entered "oil" at first!

40. Nonstick brand : PAM.

45. Applied to : USED ON.

46. Time between inaugurations : TERM.

48. Little bits : IOTAS.

49. Inflation causes : PUMPS. Gas prices are creeping up again, but this refers to the pumps that actually inflate things like tires, beach balls or air mattresses.

50. Bridget Riley genre : OP ART. Move your head back and forth, sweeping your eyes across the picture, and you'll see why it is called...


53. __ erectus : HOMO. "Upright man" in Latin, he lived about 143,000 years ago.

54. Oklahoma city : ENID. 4 letter Oklahoma city? ENID. 5 letter Oklahoma city? Tulsa!

55. Attorney general after Barr : RENO. William and Janet.

56. __ and terminer: criminal court : OYER. "To hear and determine" in law. Gimme for Lemonade.

57. Sidekick : PAL.

59. Business VIP : CEOChief Executive Officer.

That's all for this week!
Marti



63 comments:

OwenKL said...

MAD Chester always mixed up his MONEY:
Paid THAI BAHT for Canadian honey.
Used MEXICAN PESO
To buy fine French bordeaux,
INDIAN RUPEE for an Easter (island) bunny!

This odd quirk at last reached its NADIR
When he dined at a rough Texas diner.
They kicked in his britches
And made him wash dishes
When he tipped in ALGERIAN DINAR!

[A bonus poem today!]

15 Across: Tablet Maker

A Sumerian on a cuneiform tablet did write,
God made two tablets for the Israelites.
Big Chief made the tablet I learned ABC in.
Doc told me to take two tablets of aspirin.
Computers shrank or cells grew, into Jobs' tablets.
Open too many windows, and tabs become tablettes!

OwenKL said...

Had to leave it for a while undone in the N & NW, and also middle S. Took a nap, and when I got back perps finally filled it all in. All people I didn't know: Beth Behrs, surfer outfitter Van Doren, shifty Lahti, Downton earl, Bridget Riley. Sunshine city I expected a whole name, not just a nickname. Tablet maker? First impulse was God, followed by Big Chief. Too many tablets: cuneiform, aspirin, writing, iPad. Heck, when the tabs on my browser get too cramped, I've got an app that squeezes them down to tab-lettes!

Lemonade714 said...

I really enjoyed the anagrams. Boca as a resort was quite surprised as it is a city. PINON fooled me for a while and Gareth always delivers. And so does Marti. Thanks

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Cute theme, which I did get upon reading the reveal, but the fill almost proved too much for me.

My woes started with PINONS (which I simply didn't know and wanted PINE TREES instead), continued with BOL (I thought Quechua was a dialect of Paraguay, for some reason) and ended in the entire NW section (which remained almost entirely blank until the bitter end).

RCA makes a tablet? If you say so. Never watched "Downton Abbey", so couldn't figure out if 14A would be LORD or LADY (both of which were wrong). The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing isn't in BAJA. Never saw "2 Broke Girls." Etc., etc., etc.

I did finally guess THAI BAHT, which gave me a foothold in that section.

TTP said...

Had a hard time getting started. DIASPORA was my first sure fill. That led to a fairly quick solve of the east from top to bottom.

That NW corner was tough for me. Never watched a second of Downton Abbey. Guessed and tried to fill around DAME and LADY before working in EARL.. Then stumbled for a bit because I entered ET ALIA rather than ET ALII.

My V8 can to the forehead came from trying to find a 4 letter resort in the Sunshine State. I didn't even know there were any resorts in Kansas. And then it hit me. Kansas is the Sunflower State. Florida is the Sunshine State.

I'm going to have to start drinking some coffee before solving late week puzzles !

Argyle said...

RCA tablet, in case you're wondering what it looks like.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I really thought this one was tough! Hand up for Cuddle/CRADLE. My pie slice started out as a SIXTH. Could have sworn there was a second H in MAH-JONGG -- but no matter where I tried to put it, it just looked wrong. And I had Bridget Riley singing OPera before OPART made its entrance.

You probably won't believe this, but I actually got the theme at THAI BATH -- realizing that BATH was an anagram of BAHT. It was no help in Algeria; I wasn't current on their currency. I've spent all the others at one time or another.

Thought the long non-theme downs were really nice. This one took Friday solving time to complete. Not a good omen for this taxing day...

Al Cyone said...

Too many WAGs for this to be a satisfying completion for me. No idea who Bridgit Riley is (thought maybe an OPERA singer) and STN still doesn't make much sense . . . so that "T" was the last fill. And even then I couldn't figure out what an "O PART" was until a self-administered dope slap.

Hand up for not knowing RCA made tablets. I guess I don't get out to Walmart often enough (though I doubt that RCA actually makes anything anymore).

It got down to 0.3°F here in the beautiful mid-Hudson valley last night with no end in sight so I might be a little grumpy this morning.

[11:45]

Unknown said...

Good morning & thumbs up to Gareth! I really enjoyed this one...lovely to have real words included, such as diaspora, half-expected, ejecting,cradle etc. I find so many puzzles rely heavily on TV & pop culture trivia, & inane phrases. Also thought the theme entries were so clever.
So thanks, Gareth, for making me think!

Mari said...

Good morning everybody! This puzzle was a little rich for my wheelhouse. I caught the clues, but didn't see the money connection. Very difficult for me and thus a DNF.

I didn't know OYER or LAHTI.
I wanted CANON for PRIOR.
And I was totally lost with 21D: Getting down: EATING.

Oh well - I can't win them all.

We're back in the deep freeze in Chicago. This winter is just about killing me, but that will make me enjoy the spring and summer all the more.

Have a great day!

Yellowrocks said...

Gareth, I really enjoyed your puzzle, even more so after I figured out the theme at the very end.I had MAD MONEY early on, but didn't see the foreign currency. This had me skipping around more than usual, but I made it.
Thanks for a great blog, Marti. The poise and musicality of the very young Midori were awesome.
RCA and BOL were my last fills making BRAINS. I was thinking COL instead of BOL.
MAH JONGG is difficult for me to spell.
I thought EPHRON'S book was funny. I believe you have to be a woman of a "certain age" to appreciate it.
Lemon, I wonder why BOCA is so well known up here. I was surprised by your comment and looked it up. I see that it is not so much a resort, although one of the hotels has resort in its name.

Husker Gary said...

What a great time! PUREE/RUPEE gave me the theme early and then the wonderful fill as documented by Marti, our lovely lady of letters, doubled my fun. No need to APE her critique.

Musings
-We have lots of MAD MONEY at this point in our life but are loathe to spend it
-Garrison Keillor would say BOCA is a place in Florida that when Minnesotans go there it raises the IQ of both states
-Julian gave us Downton peeps a sweet ending this year. Nobody died!
-Tis the season when #1 basketball seeds HUMILIATE #8 seeds in district basketball tourneys
-My PRIOR was a FRIAR first. Would the former’s chef be a prior fryer?
-YAO’s finger never sported an NBA championship ring but she has his wedding ring
-Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Hays told me that Ronnie Howard took lots of POETIC license to juice up the movie version of their mission
-Yup, Marti, TCM is a favorite cultural museum for me
-Schuyler, NE has been the northern terminus for a Mexican DIASPORA and is now 50% Hispanic. Their soccer teams are now great!
-RENO will be forever tied to Waco
-in what 1992 movie is Nicolas Cage forced to throw his movie wife Sarah Jessica Parker into the POT?

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Straightforward solve today, though RCA did give me pause. No idea they were involved with tablets (thanks, Argyle!) or even that they were still in business, come to think of it.

Morning, Marti, thanks for the sparkle! Beth Behrs was another unknown, but the Conan segment improved upon that. I bumped into Midori at Tanglewood once, a few hours before a concert, when I was working with a sound guy from WGBH. That place has certainly had its share of soaring talent.

I'm with Mari about this winter. I don't recall this much cold around here all in one winter before, and it has gotten OLD.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Gareth Bain, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Marti, for the fine review.

This puzzle was more a Friday level. Pretty tough.

Got the NW corner easily. After that it slowed down.

Thought OCTAD for 6D was clever.

CHOPS was unknown, but with 5 perps it fell.

Tried ARABIAN for 36A, not enough letters. OMG gave me ALGERIAN. Already had NADIR.

New JONGG, just not how to spell it. RAG and EATING fixed that.

Tried PILOTS for 57A. ORE and CEO gave me the POETIC. That's the way the entire puzzle went. Very slowly.

OYER? Thank goodness for the 4 perps.

After I had it done I found the theme. Very clever.

5 degrees when I got up this morning. We are supposed to have 10 days in a row below freezing. I think this is some sort of record for this area.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

(24383683 1332)

Martin said...

I got the theme but I had NIGERIAN instead of ALGERIAN. Oops. SUPERHERO was a gimme.

LaLaLinda said...

Hi Everyone ~~

Gareth's puzzles always provide an enjoyable challenge and this one had me stumbling in a number of places. I unintentionally ran across the unifier which was a help and when I filled MEXICAN POSE, the others filled in easily.

~ Write-overs: Pipes / CHOPS and Genius / BRAINS.

~ New to me: CAIMAN and DIASPORA.

~ I liked HALF-EXPECTED - I don't think I've ever seen that in a puzzle before.

~ Last to fill was the area of BOL, RCA and OCTAD.

Thanks for the write-up, Marti ~ I hope your days are becoming more relaxing!

Big Easy said...

Perps and WAGs solved it for me. Even after I had MADMONEY I couldn't relate it to the starred clues. Favorite clue was anticipate uncertainty. The RCA tablet must be available at dollar stores or online because I doubt Wal-Mart or Best Buy carry this $49 jewel. I really don't relate EATING to 'getting down' unless you're eating a goose, feathers included. Having never seen Downton Abbey or 2 Broke Girls or Swing Shift, the answers came from perps. For 19A I had CAYMAN but realized that was the Porsche, not the animal. Nora EPHRON seems to be popping up in a puzzle as much as aril and jai alai and anil did years ago.

Montana said...

Good morning, everyone!

At first I thought I would have to report that I 'got' as many clues as you master solvers 'miss.' And that is only a few clues! But I persevered (thanks Marti) and I did a pretty good job on the eastern third of the puzzle, but the rest was nearly as white as our snow. So, a big DNF. I did complete it with red letter runs of the alphabet. Haven't had to do that in quite awhile.

I spend way too many hours playing MAH JONGG on my computer. I tried WEDGE for pie slices. My college roommate's sister, Christine Lahti (not the actress), was the only Montanan to ever make the final night of Miss America. I text, but I don't use the lingo. My children laugh at how I still type all words out. They say, "Just like a teacher, Mom!"

Have a good day. My area may set record highs that are low, the next 5 days. Predictions are that we will be 54 degrees below normal tomorrow and Saturday.

Montana

buckeye bob said...

Thank you for the challenging puzzle, Gareth. Thank you for the excellent review, Marti.

I finished this in less than normal Thursday time, but it was a challenge. I enjoyed the theme. THAI BATH was last to fall. I was thinking there were 2 Ts in BAHT, but it didn’t fit, and the north central perps weren’t there yet.

I also only know BOCA as a city. I was asking myself, Where is Quechua spoken? Mexico? Peru? I really wanted Peru, but it didn’t work for the perps. RCA makes a tablet? Football or hockey Oilers – NFL or NHL? STN or STA?

33A I had FRIAR before PRIOR, ET ALIA before ET ALII, TCM before AMC. Hand up for thinking there was another H in Mah-Jongg.

There were a lot of unknowns – MIDORI Gotō, Beth BEHRS, Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, Edward Jones Dome, Bridget Riley, OYER. I have never watched Downton Abbey, so is it duke, lord, or EARL?

I didn’t know the meaning or origin of CHOPS, and why a teacher is a PRO. Thanks, Marti!

I had SER before SEE because I had POMERANIAN spelled wrong. When I corrected that, I finally got the ta-da!

Looking back, this could have been downright awful, but the perps made it doable and enjoyable.

C6D6 Peg said...

Enjoyable puzzle by Gareth Bain, and fun write-up by Marti!

Theme came quickly, although it was a DNF. Didn't know CAIMAN or DIASPORA.

Lemonade714 said...

I want to reiterate my feeling s and thank GB for a truly wonderful puzzle, as everyone has said so much sparkly fill.

I also loved marti's alternate title with the anagram of BREAD (BREAKING BARED). I have a close Thai friend so BAHT/BATH got me going early.

BOCA has long been portrayed as a place for retirees (see Seinfeld etc.) so the resort clue stymied me. I think of Disney as a resort, or even Marco Island or others but not Boca Raton which is just a place where a lot of old people, and a lot of rich people live.

The last time we had a court cry it was by Gareth in a Friday puzzle, which was also anagrams back on April 19 last year. Then he filled with OYEZ.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Had some rough spots but finished w/o help but no TADA. Couldn't find any typos so asked for all errors to be removed and, LO and behold, I had ser instead of sin, so a FIW for me.

I caught the theme early on, before seeing the unifier but still needed perps. Learning moment was caiman and did not parse op art so I kept wondering what opart was.

Nice Thursday challenge, Garth, and spot-on expo, Marti.

BTW, Lemon, Charlotte is as cute as can be.

Have a great day.

Lemonade714 said...

Irish Miss, thank you; she just had her first trip to Disney World and some of those pics are great.

Anonymous said...

It's difficult to put my finger on why, but this constructor's late-week puzzles generally are not fun solves. I can appreciate the technical aspects of the construction, which he apparently does well, but the puzzles are not enjoyable. I see some folks enjoyed it, so is it just me?

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi Gang -

Marti - BREAKING BARED is a brilliant title. Seriously - WOW!

Great puzzle from Gareth. Tough going, though.

I surprised myself by sussing the theme with PUREE, which gave me BATH, and a big AHA!. DINAR filled in but I didn't know where it was from, so ALGERIAN took a lot of perp help.

Had to google Bridget Riley. Stared at STN, the last to fill, for a while before it sunk in.

Lots of great fill.

POMERANIA is a region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea, spanning modern Germany and Poland. The word comes from the Slavic for "Land of the Sea." The LW's maiden name is Polish for Pomeranian.

Fajne Pozdrawiamy
JzB

Jazzbumpa said...

Anon @ 11:05

Yes, it's you.

I've had that kind of experience.

Different strokes, etc.

YMMV.

Cheers!
JzB

GarlicGal said...

WES. Alia/Alii. Diaspora? A word I have heard, but didn't know how to spell or its meaning. Extra H in Mah Jongg? Friar before Prior? And the theme was a total mystery to me. Thanks for the explanation, Marti.

DNF because I had to drag out the M-W Dictionary. (Yes, I do the puzzle in the newspaper with a pencil.) Yikes! Old school...just like my Mom did, only I don't have a cigarette along with my coffee.

I do love TCM, though. I received a subcription to the monthly mag for Christmas.

Off to do errands.

Yellowrocks said...

Joey (Jaws) Chestnut became the world champion competitive eating record holder by DOWNING(EATING)69 hotdogs with buns in 2013. This was his 7th consecutive world championship.

Lemonade, I supposed I was able to guess BOCA right away because I didn't know whether or not it was a resort. Sometimes not having precise knowledge about a clue is most helpful. The snowbirds must have made it famous here.

Bill G. said...

Referring to Anon (11:05), I enjoyed the puzzle OK but I can understand what you are getting at. This was probably the hardest puzzle for me in recent memory. I'm guessing it would have been a DNF without the occasional red letter. I couldn't make any sense of the theme answers until I got to the reveal.

Marti, yes I've gotten to the season ender of Downton Abbey. I'm about 20 minutes short of the end. I've been switching between it and Foyle's War.

Lots of rain last night. I enjoyed the sound of it on the skylights. More due tonight and tomorrow. Good!

retired lineman said...

Tough puzzle today; almost finished. Crypto spoiler alert; today's crypto also had Algerian dinar in the solve.

Tinbeni said...

Marti: Great title and write-up.

DNF ... but at least I'll admit it. lol

Husker: Honeymoon in Vegas.

Hmmm, ALE and POT in the same grid.
Cheers! (and) Smoke'em if you Got'em.

Misty said...

I love Gareth Bain puzzles even when I goof up on a few of the items. This morning was no exception. Got the theme early, which helped a lot. I guess having to be careful with it for most of my life, I know my money even if the only one of the clues I've ever spend was the PESO. Fun write-up, Marti--loved the pic of the cute POMERANIAN.

Some of my goofs were ridiculous--couldn't get the OCTAD pie slices to save my soul. Had FRIAR instead of PRIOR--Catholic background notwithstanding. But I did get some initials that surprised me, like NHL, PDF, and OMG. I must slowly be edging into the 21st century.

RCA. My dad started to work for RCA in 1955, just as they were getting into color TV production. But the plant was sold to GE before his retirement and later bought by a private investor. So I too am surprised that RCA makes tablets.

C.C. I think of you and that cold weather every night when we watch the news. Hope you get a warm spring thaw soon.

Have a great Thursday, everybody!

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, I feel like a rank amateur after the last two day's puzzles! I had a big DNF today, and one blank after another yesterday.

I usually can get most of the puzzle without help, but these last two have left me wondering if I've learned much at all!!!

However, coming here to the Corner always helps with questions, answers, and fill. Thanks to our posters and bloggers for all the help.

I've been a bit under the weather with a bad neck and back, so I'll give that as my excuse for not being able to concentrate. Not a good excuse, but I'll stick to that!

The lower SW corner was my first complete fill with Poetic, Arcane, and Lets Go. Before that I had just bits and pieces in so I couldn't finish much of anything. I'm afraid I don't "see" anagrams so the Mad Money theme eluded me today.

What Garlic Gal said!!

Stay warm all you snow bunnies.

Have a great day, everyone.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Hallelujah!

Didn't think I'd get through this one. Slow going through all the theme answers. It took forever although I got the MAD MONEY clue easily enough. Finally, I prevailed!

My longest hang time was at 50D because I mis-read Bridget Riley as Bridget Jones and so had DIARY hogging the place of OP ART. Only after the crosses insisted on OPARY (at least!) did I finally twig onto my error.

I am a big fan of the TCM movies. I love how old films serve as a real "time machine," letting us look right at the shenanigans and dramatic conventions of our grandparents.
We already understand something of the behavioral loop that leads us to mimic "stars" in our personal interactions. How will this affect our species down the road? Imagine if we had film of daily life in classic, medieval, or renaissance times! Our great-great-great grandkids will have more than static images and writings to know just how we handled ourselves.

Anonymous said...

so many three letter fillers.

Argyle said...

Those of you of a certain age (not I, mind you) see "60A. Emergency fund " and think PIN MONEY?

LaLaLinda said...

Argyle ~ that's it! I knew I didn't think of MAD MONEY in the sense it was used here (more as a kind of splurging thing) but I couldn't think of the other phrase. Thanks!

Ol' Man Keith said...

Argyle @ 1:33:

I do remember "Pin Money" as a gender-specific small amount. I just checked and, yes, the first dictionary definition I saw was "Historical|an allowance to a woman from her husband for clothing and other personal expenses."
I guess MAD MONEY is unisex.

Anonymous said...

The peso boliviano was the currency of Bolivia until 1986. A new monetary unit, the Boliviano, was created in 1986. This new Boliviano replaced the peso boliviano at 1 Boliviano = 1,000,000 pesos bolivianos.

J.A.G.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! I always like Gareth's puzzles although this was a tough one. Something about RUPEE and POSE tickled my mind so that, AHA!, I got the anagram thing this time. (Usually don't.) However, I was all done and had to study it awhile.

Thank you, Marti! You had to explain OP ART to me. The artist's name wasn't familiar.

For the Sunshine State, I was on the wrong coast in California. When perps filled in BOCA, I thought I didn't know there was a BOCA in Cal too. Duh!

Yesterday we had one of the smallest basketball players and today, one of the tallest. At least, I knew YAO since he is more recent.

I wanted "eighth" for pie slice. Right track wrong word.

Montana, what is your avatar of today? Another disaster? Whose car is full of snow? I hope it isn't yours, dear lady! You probably wish you'd stayed in Denver.

Keith, films of today are already affecting our youth. Monkey see, monkey do: guns & violence.

Tinbeni said...

MAD MONEY is a show on CNBC at 6:00 pm hosted by Jim Cramer.

thehondohurricane said...


Hi Folks,

Finished the South, everything else was like my yard... a sea of white. A big time DNF.

Never came close to figuring out what the theme was all about, nor did I get to the point where I cared. Oh well, tomorrow will be a better day. I hope.



john28man said...

This was technically a DNF since I needed a few RED LETTERS to finish. I never recognized the currencies since I have been in all three countries on business.

The East and South went well but it was a struggle else ware.

Kentucky Kate said...

A Thursday challenge for me! And almost got there, except for BOL and RCA. Thanks for the good puzzle and the even better explication! I'm gonna keep working on thinking Anagram when things don't otherwise make sense, but I don't naturally think that way.

Montana, at 9:45: I'm so glad to know there's someone else addicted to the silly computer Mah-Jongg. It got me taking a class last fall and now I'm playing the real thing once a week (though still a newbie, so no betting, yet!). It's fun!

I do have a nit about MAD MONEY, though. I don't think either MAD or Pin money is for an emergency. Perhaps it could have been clued as "Fun Fund".

Bundle up, everyone...unless you're getting out the umbrella in California. Hope it falls slowly enough to avoid mud slides.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. What a bunch of terrific puzzles this week. It is amazing to see so much creativity and imagination from the constructors. My fave puzzle this week was the LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD one. I liked the ingenuity of the money theme today, too. Unfortunately I couldn't finish because (1) I had BEL (for Belize) at 5A and (2) couldn't accept that RCA made a tablet, so I simply couldn't suss what 5-letter word (at 6D) could describe pie slices. I was also stumped by several of the 3-letter abbreviations. Thanks, Marti, for your fun-to-read writeup. Best wishes to you all.

HeartRx said...

Anon @ 2:38, thanks for the correction! The PESO Boliviano was introduced in 1864, not replaced! My face is red…

Bolivia has had a history of financial crises, and has changed currencies several times. I tried to research the exact timeline, but it gets a little blurry. But here's my take (feel free to correct me if you come up with different facts!!)
1864 - 1963, Boliviano
1963 - 1986, PESO Boliviano
1987 - Present, Bolivian Boliviano

Yellowrocks said...

I use MAD MONEY for money set aside for something frivolous or fun, but it can also be used for emergency money. So many of our words and expressions have several meanings. It must be frustrating to those new to the language.
From dictionary:
-money for contingency or extravagance:
-a small amount of money set aside for emergency use or for frivolous self-indulgence

I am being asked to set up a security code for our square dance Hotmail account or it will be canceled (along with all our folders). I had a new code set to my AOL email. It has 4 digits. When I type it in, I am asked for a 7 digit code. in six days I will lose all that history.

Anonymous said...

Why not just set up a new password (aka security code) with 7 digits?

Dudley said...

Today's comments have me thinking I've misunderstood mad money for ages. I always thought of it as a small contingency fund, sure enough, but I thought it was specifically for a woman to take with her on a date; in case she got mad at her date, she could use the money to get home without having to accept a ride from him. Anybody else?

Beachcomber said...

Click on link to book a stay at Boca Raton Resort & Club Boca Resort link

In case you are wondering, their url is bocaresort.com.

I believe this property is a resort located in BOCA. It is called BOCA Resort.

Any questions?

Yellowrocks said...

Beachcomber, that was what I was referring to this morning, but I realized that having a hotel with resort in its name doesn't make the area a resort.
ANON, thanks, but I would have changed my password hours ago if that was the answer. Piece of cake. In addition to the password you must use a security code which THEY SEND to you. My problem, as I said, is they sent me a 4 digit code several times when they require a 7 digit code. I Goggled this. Others are having problems, too.

Point of Order said...

Yellowrocks and Lemonade,

From dictionary:

noun
noun: resort; plural noun: resorts

1.
a place that is a popular destination for vacations or recreation, or which is frequented for a particular purpose.
"a seaside resort"

I guess I don't understand either of the arguments made by you two.

Anonymous said...

Now, now, lets not resort to semantics.

If they believe its not resort, than it isn't.

Even though it is...

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Chewier than usual Thursday. Thanks Gareth, Marti!

Just worked puzzle. We had enough rain last night to knock out my internet! Very frustrating. Always love it when I have 90 emails to cope with. (Hah.)

Woke up three times during the night. Must have scratched my right eye. Very difficult to see. (And caregiver forgot to go wash my glasses.)

It was nice to have 3 new programs to watch (all at 10 pm Monday). (Thank you, DirecTV!) Finished them last night.

Cheers!

Tinbeni said...

Dudley @5:28
That was my thought TOO.

Bill G. said...

Rats. I was on a bike ride, went to the coffee shop afterwards and my old Camry decided not to start anymore. So I'm getting a ride to rescue my bike and AAA tomorrow to get a tow to the garage to get the car fixed. In heavy rain. Rats.

PK said...

didn't anyone else see Montana's new avatar which looks like the inside of a car filled with snow?

Argyle said...

Yes I did and it is.

Anonymous T said...

G'Day all:

Arggg, I didn't have the CHOPS for Gareth's puzzle today. Thanks Marti for putting me out of my misery.

I sussed the south and got the theme, but up north its a mess of ink. 6d Pie charts maybe - raTio, since it was Bra for Brazil at 5a. I finally looked up BETH to get BOCA (instead of BahA in the (duh!) Golden State.

That really messed up INDIAN as did siTING for 21d. I knew by now that I needed a Rupee and maybe Mumbai is a new name for some city (like Bombay)*. Argggg....

20a never came to light because at 3d CRAp was obvious. It's my "stuff," your crap... RIP Carlin.

Yes, I saw Montana's snow filled car. I do hope it's a pic from the net and not hers...

OK - I saw this at the global meeting this week and had to share this. A commentary on service; listen, then fix... :-)

Cheers, -T
*Yes, I know...

Maci45 said...

Just chalk me up to a big FAIL for today. Couldn't get a majority of the puzzle, landed on the grid here to see what I missed. I missed Plenty. :-(

Bill G. said...

Lucina, I'm guessing you going to have our leftover rain coming your way over the weekend. It looks as if it is going to rain a lot here over the next two days. Yippee!

Arthur Chu wins again. I don't find him very likeable (dunno why) but he knows a lot of stuff and is fast on the trigger.

Bill G. said...

AnonT, I really enjoyed your video. Well, I didn't enjoy it so much 'cause it's a little painful but it is so well done and very insightful.

KentuckyKate said...

Yellowrocks at 4:52
Thank you for the full definition of Mad Money. I still like Fun Fund as a clue. :-)