google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 Dave Sarpola

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Mar 25, 2014

Tuesday, March 25, 2014 Dave Sarpola

Theme: Hello, Mr. Chips - The many faces of Mr. Chips.

62A. Nabisco cookies ... and what you might cry upon solving this puzzle's three other longest answers? : CHIPS AHOY. Chocolate chips.


17A. Place for a Hold 'em game : POKER ROOM. Valuable chips.


11D. Officer Frank Poncherello portrayer of '70s-'80s TV : ERIK ESTRADA. "CHiPS"



24D. Slogan seen on computer stickers : INTEL INSIDE. Computer chips.

Argyle here. Dave seems a bit more whimsical than his previous puzzles. I'm not sure of poker room being a valid term but I don't gamble. Now I see it is; the casinos keep the poker room separate from the rest. So the Black Jack tables may be on the main floor but the Texas Hold'em need a quieter atmosphere.

The two long columns gives the grid a different look. A couple of column entries I didn't get until laid them flat. Plus a little Natick at the start due to not knowing which G_P to use to get the tiny South Pacific nation. Guessed right. And no repeat on the types of chips either.

Across:

1. Ancient Egyptian pictograph, e.g. : GLYPH

6. Game, __, match : SET. Tennis.

9. Signs : OMENS

14. Tiny South Pacific nation : NAURU. Tiny, I'd say! 8.1 sq. mi.


15. High-tech film effects, for short : CGI. (computer-generated imagery)

16. Spreading like wildfire, as online videos : VIRAL

19. Breathing : ALIVE

20. Missouri tributary : PLATTE. Sandhill Crane habitat.

21. Approved of, on Facebook : LIKED

22. Golf club part : GRIP. "Grip it and rip it!"

25. Some evergreens : FIRs

26. Visualize : SEE

27. Hindu royal : RANI

28. Feels poorly : AILs

30. Lith. and Ukr. were part of it : USSR

33. Swear (to) : ATTEST

36. See 38-Across : POOR. 38A. With 36-Across, needy people : THE

39. Located in that place, in legalese : THEREAT

41. Arctic wastelands : TUNDRAs

43. Slippery fish : EEL

44. Baby bed : CRIB

46. Veterans Day tradition : PARADE

47. Trace amount : DRIB. We know DRIB.

49. Afternoon socials : TEAs

51. Garden locale : EDEN

52. __ de plume : NOM

54. Onetime Russian monarch : TSAR

56. DUI-fighting gp. : SADD. Founded as Students Against Driving Drunk, now Students Against Destructive Decisions.

57. Social division : CASTE

59. Trojan War hero : AENEAS. He seems like a strange hero.

61. Some highway ramps : EXITs

66. Long-extinct birds : DODOs. CSO

67. Assembly aid : KIT

68. Open-mouthed : AGAPE

69. Opposition : ENEMY

70. Sloppy farm area : STY

71. Bedbugs, e.g. : PESTs

Down:

1. Treasury Dept. variable : GNP. (Gross National Product, not Gross Domestic Product)

2. Mekong River language : LAO

3. Relative of har : YUK

4. Dressed more like an Exeter student : PREPPIER

5. Fling : HURL

6. Nova __ : SCOTIA

7. Self-serving activity : EGO TRIP

8. Broadcaster's scheduling unit : TIME SLOT

9. Racetracks : OVALs

10. Surroundings : MILIEU

12. Congregation area : NAVE

13. Snowy day toy : SLED

18. U.K. flying squad : RAF

22. Like Parmesan, commonly : GRATED

23. Newsman Dan : RATHER

29. Salad go-with : SOUP

31. Treelined : SHADED

32. Email again : RESEND

34. Wall Street watchdog org. : SEC. (Securities and Exchange Commission)

35. Tangy : TART

37. Genetic info transmitter : RNA

40. Dapper pins : TIE TACKS. For the well dressed ball player.


42. Equestrian competition : DRESSAGE

45. Single or double, say : BASE HIT

48. Deepest part : BOTTOM

50. Rational state : SANITY

53. Complicated, as a breakup : MESSY

55. Sales staff member : REP

57. Give up, as territory : CEDE

58. Nervous system transmitter : AXON

60. With all haste, in memos : ASAP

63. Owns : HAS

64. Get off the fence : OPT

65. Hoped-for answer to a certain proposal : YES


Argyle


71 comments:

  1. Morning, all!

    Pretty smooth solve today, although for awhile I was wondering what the heck TIETACKS had to do with CHIPS...

    NAURU is apparently such a tiny island that I hadn't actually heard of it. I hate it when the NW starts off with an obscurity like that, but I came back to it at the end and filled it in via the perps. Fortunately, I was able to guess the crossing GNP.

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  2. Just an annoying puzzle. The only thing gave me a smile was the theme.

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  3. Good morning!

    SAMOA? Nope. NAURU! I managed to dredge that up, once G_P appeared at 1D. Based on its small size, it shouldn't take a very big dredge.

    Hi there, DRIB! Seems like only yesterday....

    Over all, this felt more like a Wednesday or even, possibly, a Thursday puzzle. Anybody else think the cookie was crunchier than normal?

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  4. Yes desperate-Otto much too crunchy for a Tues. When are we not going to need a jacket in H town?

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  5. Seemed about right for a Tuesday. No nits.

    [5:46]

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  6. Good Morning Everybody - it is Tuesday isn't it. I agree, this was a tough cookie for a Tuesday.

    Hands up for SAMOA instead of NAURU.

    MILIEU is an excellent word that you don't see very often.

    Have a great day!

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  7. Hello Puzzlers -

    Cruciverb seems more broken than usual. I guess the glitch-free month of February was just a fluke.

    Today's puzzle did seem a tad harder, but to be fair I was handicapped by the LAT site's crummy interface. Certainly enjoyed the theme - the tie-in to CHiPs was good for a smile!

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  8. Good morning, all! You always come through for us, Argyle. Thanks.

    Crunchy? I'm not sure we solved the same puzzle. This filled fast for me although admittedly the NW took a while. NAURU was an answer on Jeopardy some time ago and GLYPH emerged through perps.

    ERIK ESTRADA! Now there's a sight for sore eyes and he still looks good.

    DRESSAGE is familiar only because the wife of a certain presidential candidate participated during the campaign.

    Thank you, Dave Sarpola for today's entertainment.

    Have a wonderful Tuesday, everyone!

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  9. NAURU, AENEAS, DRESSAGE, MILIEU, AXON....on a Tuesday?

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  10. Howdy all,

    The NW corner did me in and yes, agree it was a little nastier then I would expect on Tuesday. GLYPH + NAURU did me in. I wagged Graph + Nawru. Well. I had to put something in and both were out of my wheelhouse!

    Started with MADD for 56A, but I was sure about DRESSAGE, so I went with SADD although I'd never heard of it.

    Otherwise, the rest was OK, but this was a struggle throughout.

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  11. This seemed like a normal Tuesday puzzle to me. Only Nauru was unknown and needed all perps, although, after the fact, it rings a tiny bell.
    Equestrianism has been a Summer Olympic sport every year since 1912 and did appear once before that. DRESSAGE is one of the events. I enjoy watching it.
    AENEAS is featured in the Aenid, a classic work by Virgil. He also appears in the operas, Les Troyens by Berlioz and Dido and Aeneas by Purcell. Aeneas is the son of Aphrodite, also called Venus.
    Most people are familiar with hieroglyphics, the pictographic writing system of the ancient Egyptians. HIERO means sacred, GLYPH means carving.
    The GLYPHS at Lake Powell, AZ are outstanding.
    Link glyphs
    MILIEAU is quite common in newspapers and magazines and other types pf popular writing.
    Snow, this evening? NOOOOO!

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  12. Nice Tuesday puzzle easier than Mondays offering.

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  13. Thank you for the puzzle, Dave. Thank you for the review, Argyle.

    In the end this puzzle took me about as long as a Wednesday puzzle, but much of it was Tuesday level for me. The perps provided help where I needed them.

    I’m never sure if it is MADD or SADD, but the perp gave me the S.

    At the end, I was missing 1 space. I had GLIPH and NA_RU / I_K. I knew the answer, but didn’t remember how to spell it. I did a letter run and nothing fit with I_K. Then the light dawned, I changed GLIPH to GLYPH, and I_K to YUK, giving me NAURU. Ta-da!

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  14. Musings
    -I didn’t guess right on DAURU/GDP
    -Tennis is so interesting in that Game, SET, and Match can be over in one stroke or last another two hours
    -CGI sure beats matte paintings and rear screen projection
    -The PLATTE is also my habitat as I live 1 mile north
    -A cheery tune about THE POOR (2:26) in Paris
    -Putin might want Lith. and Ukr. Back in the USSR
    -I hope SADD is on the case of this destructive behavior
    -I escaped the CASTE of THE POOR into which I was born
    -Those not of THE POOR in my school in 1968 were called PREPS or (high) crotches
    -Seinfeld took off after it got the TIME SLOT after Cheers
    -SLEDS were low mileage during our mostly dry winter
    -How General George S Patton played a role in saving the Lippanzzer Stalliion DRESSAGE Horses during WWII
    -Is calling a woman a TART positive or negative?
    -How is the adjective SHADED used as a baseball term?

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  15. Cruciverb worked on my iPad, but I admit to a DNF. Some clues I couldn't solve, even with perps.

    Montana

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  16. Guessed right with NAURU. Felt like the frozen TUNDRA here the last few days. Spring should be here tomorrow, with any luck.

    Nice GLYPH link, YR.


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  17. Thank you Lucina for reminding me that it was on Jeopardy that I saw Nauru recently. A Tuesday with a little twist.

    Tart is not a nice thing to call a female, only a pastry.

    SHADED is how they deploy the fielders in baseball. The centerfielder is shade to left...

    Thanks

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  18. A dreaded Tuesday DNF...

    (The NW totally flummoxed me.)

    Indeed that entire corner felt like a giant Natick. I can't believe I had "Poker"room, & tried to change it thinking that "hurl" might be "toss," & "preppier" might be "Snappier." (I had "yuk," & could not come up with anything better.)

    I won't go into Aeneas/dressage because at least researching Aeneas & Dido led to some interesting pornography in Google Images...

    HG, Thank you for the Lippanzzer Horses link, I found it fascinating!

    One other Nit, 18D UK Flying Squad = The Royal Air Force??? I may be biased, but I feel somehow insulted. I mean it's like calling the USMC a bunch of boy scouts...

    1D Treasury Dept. variable,,, I could not get the idea out of my head that the answer might be TAX...

    P.S. Where your tax dollars are going...

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  19. I like my chocolate CHIP cookies crunchy, and this puzzle seemed so to me. The NAURU/LAO/GNP corner was the last to fill, and it gives me an uneasy feeling when I have blanks in the top section of the grid on a Tuesday. The section could have easily been dumbed down by putting GROPE at 1A and OHARA at 14A.

    I finally did fill it in with a WAG at the "N" so I can't really complain too much.

    Husker G., I had front row seats at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna last June. The Lipizzaners are an amazing thing of beauty to watch. I never knew that they are always stallions (ladies in the stables would be too much of a distraction, I was told.) They are all black at birth, and do not get their white coloring until they are between 8-10 years old.

    So, where's OwenKL this morning? I'm missing my daily dose of poetry!

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  20. Roses are red
    Violets are blue
    Owen stayed in bed
    Too bad for you

    feel better?

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  21. Dudley@7:37: Re: Glitches.

    Have you tried the Mensa site? It's generally glitch-free (though awhile back they failed to update the puzzles for a few days).

    Montana:

    I just noticed the Dalmatian. Yours? I had one (a rescued stray) for about seven years. She was the best.

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  22. Good Morning:

    This was definitely a tad crunchy for a Tuesday, especially for a Tuesday. The Northwest corner needed perps and a guess on GNP vs GDP. Anyway, all ended well so thanks, Dave, for a clever "treat" and thanks, Argyle, for your great expo.

    I had a lot of trouble with Cruciverb but finally got the download. It appears the Canadian middle man has been axed, based on the message I read on the home page.

    Off to get my hair cut and spend lots of dinero at the grocery store! Have a great day.

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  23. Please excuse the redundency (sp?) of my first sentence.

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  24. I agree that this was a "tough cookie" for a Tuesday (LOL, Mari). But I got it with a guess about the GNP/NAURU cross. Yay! But would never have sussed the CHIPS theme without your expo, Argyle.

    Nice fill-in for Owen, Lemonade.

    All the buzz about the "Good Wife" makes me wish we'd been following the series. But I hate this new trend where actors leaving a show get the characters killed off.

    I liked your redundancy, Irish Miss!

    Have a great Tuesday, everybody!

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  25. Hello everybody. I always start in the upper-left so like most everybody else, I had a hard time at first. NAURU was the big stumbling block. I had Tonga at first.

    Here are some favorite cartoons from The New Yorker. Many of them made me smile and/or laugh. Enjoy! New Yorker cartoons. (Click right or left.)

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  26. Good morning everyone.

    Good puzzle. A little chewier than most Tuesday fare, with words like DRESSAGE, MILIEU and GLYPH, but the perps made it easy enough. Nice shoutout to our Nebraskans with PLATTE.
    Liked the way BASE HIT crossing AENEAS. (Two totally different cultures)
    Letting the CHIPS fall where they may. Good crossword synonyms: talus, scree, rubble.

    Where is Owen? Taking a well deserved break? His verse has become a much appreciated staple of this blog. Very clever stuff.

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  27. Montana - If you were able to get a puzzle from Cruciverb today, or yesterday, that's a complete mystery to me. When I open the site, their right-side navigation bar shows the LAT Archive section as "temporarily offline". The current day LAT button just leads to a load failure message.

    Irish Miss - That's interesting! I'll try a few more times, out of curiosity. As for the site operator, well, a replacement might be just what the doctor ordered.

    Al Cyone - the Mensa site doesn't play on an iPad, apparently. That's the norm where Java Flash is involved. The LAT Arkadium interface used to be blank as well, until recently, when apparently a non-Flash version was added to the site.

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  28. There once was a cookie chock full of chips
    Savored and enjoyed as it passed by your lips
    But you know what they say
    For that moment you'll pay
    It now spends a lifetime attached to your hips

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  29. Liked the theme, but DNF. Could have guesssed Nauru, but used Dauru (GDP).

    Lemonade - nice fill in for OwenKL.

    Argyle - appreciated your writeup and pics.

    grams - looks like it may be a while longer for no jacket in Htown.

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  30. In 3D I saw that AUK would work and that 1A GLAPH looks plausible so a writ over free was wrong two days in a row.

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  31. Wood chips, potato chips, phone chips, paint chips;
    Micro chips, fish and chips, bargaining chips, corn chips.
    A chip off the old block,
    Buy up a blue-chip stock.

    Chip in, chip shot, butterscotch toll house chips,
    Bone chips, buffalo chips, cow chips, casino chips.
    Got a chip on your shoulder?
    Here's a chip from a boulder.

    Chip dips, pottery chips, ID chips, Pringles chips
    Chipmunks, poker chips, chipped beef, computer chips.
    Chip and Dale, Chippendales,
    Hunky beefcake chippy males.

    Salsa chips, tortilla chips, Goodby, Mr. Chips
    Ice chips, Chippewa, chocolate chips, RFID chips.
    Chip in with your two bits?
    It's time to cash this poem's chips!

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  32. Another nit,

    CW's constructed by Baseball fans...

    45D for instance, the clue was "single or double, say"

    The answer was "base hit."

    (I had bar shot, I think Tinbeni will agree, we need a puzzle constructed for Barflies...)

    Hold the ice pls...

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  33. OwenKL:
    So glad you "chipped" in! I'm now so inured (hardly every get use that crosswordese) to starting the day with your poem that it doesn't feel right without it.

    Lemonade:
    You're welcome. Learning happens from so many fronts and Jeopardy is by far one of my favorites.

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  34. Husker: Thought of you at the PLATTE "Shout-Out".

    CED: My first-thought exactly!!!
    Plus there was nothing in the grid to drink.
    Prohibition has taken over my crosswords!

    Hand-up for MADD before SADD.
    DRESSAGE took care of that snafu.

    Don't really think Har and YUK are related ... probably In-Laws by marriage.

    NAURU & AENEAS may be "later in the week" answers, but when they can both be easily perped, "Where's the beef?"

    A "Toast-to-All" at Sunset.
    Cheers!!!

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  35. Is anyone else anxiously awaiting news about Omar Sharif today?

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  36. How could I've forgotten Gene McDaniels.

    Chip, Chip

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  37. Hello everybody. Hand up for guessing GDP and DAURU. Thank you, everybody, for your contributions, which almost always make for interesti9ng reading. Best wishes to you all.

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  38. O.N. Cale, very cute poem. Thanks. And nice to finally get Owen's chips too.

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  39. Lemon & Cale: Thanks for filling in for me while I slept in today! Good jobs, both of you! (Maybe I should have added kale chips to my ditty?) To be honest, I was a bit ashamed of my banal effort today, but nothing else came to mind.

    Nauru.

    YR: those glyphs from Lake Powell were good. We've got some nice ones here in NM, too. I've visited Petroglyph park inside the city limits of Albuquerque several times.

    The Cruciverb site changes its LAT algorithm just a couple days after I reveal my hack of their site? Coincidence? I fear not. I feel guilty, so if I manage to crack the new algorithm, I'll keep it to myself next time.

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  40. Musings 2
    -Yep, Tin, I live very close to the mile wide/inch deep Platte, which is a Pawnee word for flat water.
    -Marti, very interesting info on those lovely animals. George C Scott sits atop one of these horses in one of the final scenes of Patton
    -Lemon, yeah, shading is moving an outfielder in one direction or the other to have him stand where scouts say the hitter is most likely to hit or this.
    -I’ve seen softball teams with great pitchers have their right fielder so SHADED that she is almost on the right field foul line.
    -Seeing and hearing a quarter million Sandhill Cranes landing on the PLATTE (:52) worth the trip.

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  41. Good puzzle from Dave Sarpola. Great review by Argyle.

    I agree with all that it was a tough Tuesday puzzle. Particularly in the NW. National weather showed the residents of the NW had a tough winter and now the mud slide. I'll pray for them.

    I also had GDP for 1 down so I had DAURU for 14 across. Since I never heard of either DAURU or Nauru, I left it in. I started with MADD but changed it to SADD when I got DRESSAGE. I got AENEAS after I got a few perps. I had read the Aenead in College, in Latin of course.

    Everyone, enjoy the rest of your Tuesday.

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  42. Now all at the corner know well
    To get your solving day goin'
    To finish the puzzle is swell;
    Let's you read the poem by Owen.

    The words are used with style
    While they do not always rhyme
    Surely they all make you smile
    And add to the readers good time.

    The reaction when he slept late
    Made all the cornerites feel bad
    Like getting stood up on a date
    Leaving them all so very sad.

    But just when we all headed home
    Appeared a familiar looking post
    A wonderful use of words - a poem
    Thanks Owen, as Maynard would say
    you are the most.

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  43. oh good, OwenKL finally chimed in. I thought some nasty, peevish comments, yesterday, had scared him off - and that would have been really, really, sad. Owen, dont let one or some nasty comments dissuade you from contributing your brilliant poetry. And thanks to Yellow Rocks and others. I miss Clear Ayes.

    Nauru was one of the richest island-nation in the world, with their rich rock phosphate deposits. They extravagantly wasted all their riches, and now they have agreed to voluntary trusteeship by Australia, and are now reduced to running detention camps, for the Australians, for illegal immigration asylum seekers. sad. Plus as one of article, above, states, they are deadbeats and renege on their sovereign debt.

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  44. Lovely poem(s) Lemonade. Some day, when you have finished all your contract(ual) work ...

    Very nice sentiment in the poems.

    Very lovely grand daughter. She could be in the movies.

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  45. Hi Y'all! By the clock, only one minute 23 seconds more to solve this over Monday. Good one, Dave Sarpola! Thanks, Argyle!

    CHIPS AHOY are my favorite purchased cookie. I get a little cup of mini-chips as a reward for grocery shopping twice a month. A big full package would distort my figure.

    THERE "in", "on", "of"? Nope, AT.

    AENEAS: tried several spellings. Except for the "S" it's a palindrome. I'll remember that next time. Sure I will...

    Self-serving activity? Sorry, I went DF for a minute, guys!

    NAURU: hand up for both Samoa & Tonga. I think "Survivor" was filmed there one season.

    I like to watch DRESSAGE on TV. Once saw a touring company of Lipizzaners. Magnificent! I was surprised that most of the riders werea female.

    YR & Owen: Enjoyed the glyphs & Southwest pictures.

    Owen, thank goodness you didn't take that snarky criticism to heart and go away pouting. Envious people like to CHIP away at one's self esteem. We enjoy you here as a bonus even if we don't always say so.

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  46. Lemon - I just noticed the new picture of Charlotte. She is beautiful and looks very angelic.

    I'm not sure which is lighter: my head, from the overdue haircut, or my wallet from the supermarket spree!

    Kudos to all the Tuesday poets.

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  47. This is the first time in a loooong time I had a df on a Tuesday puzzle. Was unfamiliar with Glyph and Nauru. Otherwise, everything went really fast.

    Hey, anon @1:10 p.m., very funny -- not. How about giving it a rest?

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  48. Lemon @ 2:36, What a delightful poem.
    Owen, I was glad to see your poem today. I liked it. When fabulous people like you get flamed I realize that I am foolish to let ANON's hold me back from posting.
    Owen, I would love to see your NM glyphs. I am very interested in our native American history and in archeology of any type.
    Lake Powell was one of my all time favorite trips. It's been close to 15 years ago that my sister and I visited many of the Western National Parks, including Glen Canyon. I loved boating on Lake Powell and, with an experienced guide, exploring the many arms of the lake. I especially enjoyed the petroglyphs, rock carvings by the ancient ones.
    I was dismayed to read that in later years Lake Powell had drooped precipitously and that much of what I loved there had disappeared. I have also read that the lake has become quite a pollute ares, with park rangers assigned to picking up human feces on a regular basis. To you locals, it is worth a return trip?

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  49. Natick'ed by NAURU and GNP - unlike Argyle, I guessed wrong with a D.

    Thanks for the expo, Argyle. Enjoyed the theme and laughed when I got the reveal. Fun Tuesday, thanks Dave!

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  50. I am realizing from reading the Corner that every area of the US has its natural catastrophes such as floods, hurricanes, droughts, earthquakes, mudslides,blizzards, etc. We all seem to choose to live with the "devil we know" rather than risk the "devil we don't know."
    Tonight is square dance night. People travel many miles to join us and the forecasts are very regional. The forecast is for either, snow, snow, showers, intermittent flurries, black ice or nothing. One club was sued when the the parking lot turned icy during the dance and someone fell and broke a shoulder on the way out. I canceled tonight's dance while the sun was shining brightly. I can't believe that I am hoping for a small amount of glaze to justify the decision. This is the only responsibility of this position that I hate. School superintendents have similar issues. Any call, whether too conservative or too risky is questioned after the fact by Monday morning quarterbacks, although I realize that I am my own worst critic.

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  51. Hi gang -

    I finished, but it was with a struggle and some luck. The NAURU - GNP natick is unfair, and I only got it with a swag.

    Learned something, though. Had no idea the Treasury Dept was responsible for economic growth. Thought that was the Fed.

    Theme would have eluded me without the unifier.

    We just returned from a long driving trip last night. Still tired.

    Speaking of Gene McDaniels -- did any other 60's pop song so prominently feature a trombone?

    Cool regards!
    JzB

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  52. I thought this was a typically easy Tuesday puzzle. Thanks, Dave. I didn't get the theme, so thanks to Argyle for pointing it out.

    Somewhere, sometime ago, I heard of NAURU, so I got that one. For 8D Self-serving activity I had EGOTism. Perps corrected it and the rest was done in short order.

    Hat's off to all the poets! Excellent work!

    Snow showers today, some of them almost white-outs. Oh, to be done with winter.

    Have a nice evening.

    Pat

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  53. HI ALL,
    Every week I tell myself I am going to do at least one blog and then time gets away from me. But here I am!

    Yesterday's puzzle was fun, so was todays but it was a little harder.

    We had some snow last night but it is all melted now. We sure hope that was the last one. It is cold though and supposed to be windy. That weather is now heading to all you people east of us.

    Speaking of har, our last name is Harr. When our kids were in grade school the other kids called them Har de Har Har. There was a cartoon at that time using that name. Our kids didn't seem to mind, they thought it was funny.

    Have a good evening all!
    Marge

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  54. Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Dave Sarpola, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.

    Did this puzzle on the train this morning at 5:00 AM, and just got home to check in here.

    Great poem, OwenKL. Keep truckin'.

    As others said the NW was a blank for a while. I moved on.

    The rest was pretty easy. We studied PESTS in gardening class, but not bedbugs. More like Aphids, etc.

    I remember AENEAS, but did not read it in Latin as someone said earlier.

    AXON was easy from a class I took many years ago. The only reason I remember it is that it appears in crosswords now and then.

    Finally got GLYPH and NAURU with perps and a wag.

    Someone asked about Omar Sharif. Is he ill?

    Cold and windy here today. Supposed to go down to 14 Degrees tonight.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo.

    (2 99559255)

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  55. 98% because I didn't know the blasted name of that obscure little SP island. I see that many of my peers failed in the same way, so the Schadenfreude should be minimal. The perp, GNP, could just as easily have been GDP, and that caused me to name the island incorrectly.
    Boo. Hiss.

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  56. Abejo:
    Someone erroneously reported that Omar Sharif had died but he is very much alive.

    Those hoaxes abound on the internet.

    Lemonade:
    Charlotte gets more adorable with time. What a beautiful new photo.

    The poetry muse is working overtime. Great poems everyone!

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  57. GLYPH was easy. I've been looking at my brothers work out on Ancestry.com. Very impressive. I believe he's been at it for over 15 years now.

    In the last year, we had NAURU on Thursday Jun 13, June 13 (Micronesia nation once called Pleasant Island - Julian Lim). First I'd ever heard of it. Kazie mentioned that she met someone from Nauru. Also had it on Sunday Dec 22,2013 (HBD Misty!) (Pacific island republic - Pam Amick Klawitter. I believe I have also seen it at least twice in the last couple of weeks at the Washington Post puzzle site.

    Have also been seeing a lot of gerund lately.

    I really did get glyph right away, but it had nothing to do with my brother. He's not that far back (yet).

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  58. Lucina, regarding the presumed death of Omar Sharif ....

    This was presumably started by a MassMedia website - looking for a ploy for an advertising blitz, and for a way to become 'known' on the net.

    Its just ridiculous and downright dangerous ... but because of 'freee specch' laws, they will probably get away with it.

    So, Omar Sharif is STILL ALIVE ( as you correctly stated -)


    BUT, his partner in Lawrence of Arabia, PETER O'TOOLE did die today, at 81.. He had been ailing per his daughter, Kate O'Toole. and you can confirm this on Google. RIP ---- Peter O'Toole.

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  59. Plain Ole Joe, AGAINMarch 25, 2014 at 8:40 PM



    SORRY, Peter O'Toole died

    December 14, 2013...

    ( I must have been sleeping ....)

    Sorry, for the wrong information.

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  60. Late today. WEES. MADD before SADD. Difficulty in the NW with NAURU/GDP.

    Husker Gary: we say the Lipizzaner horses at the stud farm at Piber during our Switzerland/Austria tour. Beautiful animals.

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  61. Plain ole Joe:
    Thank you for your response. I was aware of Peter O'Toole's death as it was widely reported in the public media.

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  62. Lots of rub outs today. No idea on the island, SAMOA didn"t work. Had BARSHOTS before BASEHITS. MADD before SADD. Trojan war hero I didn't know. About par for my Tuesdays, I guess.

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  63. Hello Crossword Corner community,

    I just wanted to say thanks to Argyle and to all of you for this blog. I often have a browser window open to this site when I am constructing puzzles. It provides a great history of the LAT Puzzle. Thanks and keep up the good work.

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  64. Lucina... did you catch any of the dust storm today... ?? nothing here, but my phone must have warned me about it a bazillion times...... :) what I saw on the news looked pretty bad....

    Puzzle went well today.... same problems as many others.... never heard of Nauru and didn't know the cross...

    Hope you all are having a great late evening..

    thelma

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  65. Oh, and thanks, Anonymous T for the Netflix advice. I'll give them a call and see how it goes.

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  66. thelma:
    A very strong wind blew late in the afternoon but not much dust. I'm glad because cleanup is a bear after it's wake. Sorry you got caught in it.

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  67. Lucina....

    Actually we got nothing.... not even the wind... but they do say another one tomorrow... glad it was no worse at your house than it was.... I just know how nasty they can be and how hard the wind can blow... :(

    Dave S thanx for stopping by...

    thelma

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  68. Hi all:

    The only thing that saved me from a WEES in the NW was leaving my puzzle at the office. I'm a DODO.

    So, I got another paper on the way home. I re-entered the grid and left the NW alone. Speed run! :-) Then I noodled on the NW. So, instead of entering INTerest rates for 1d, and icon... (oops) for 1a and Texas (hold 'em) ROOM. I finally ended with a almost win (a YaK isn't a har's kin? What's a har? I went with it. Like I said - DODO.

    Coincidental spoilers from yesterday (CSY?). DRIB was left on the PLATTE - an nice OMEN. I LIKED it. Maybe CSY will go VIRAL (at least here :-)).

    I gotta say if J. Kerry's wife didn't have a horse in the olympics that Colbert parodied as showing his CASTE, I wouldn't have a GRIP on DRESSAGE. Not my cup of TEA(S).

    Argyle thanks for tying together Dave's puzzle. I missed the chip connection - I was thinking of the TV show and looking for motorcycles or something.

    Dave thanks for stopping by - what was the inspiration? Was it a POOR glass of milk w/o cookies?

    OwenKL - thanks for waking up. Your poem was a hoot. [C.C. I can't think of a snarky blue here - I really hope it's not me. I know I'm cute by <1/2 many times (ask DW) but its all in love.]

    HG - that (flat H2O) explains Pawnee Illinois! Those kids could play BASEball. The kicked us in the USSR (sorry) every time.

    OKL Admirer - Thanks! Asylum seekers - I heard a story about that a few months back - unfortunately it was NPR and not NYT - so I had no idea how to spell it. NAARU work'd for me :-)

    FLN (from last night) - CED: I heard things in my head today. Music coming from all around...* The CHiPS theme-song was there for some reason...

    Cheers,
    -T
    *I think it is the frequencies of the air-vents rattling that I turn into patterns in my head and hear music that I know. This happens often and it's a bit freaky.

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  69. @AnonT
    What's the frequency, Kenneth?

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  70. @12:36a

    REM - Nice! Thanks for the ear-worm and the smile.

    I forgot to ask D-O and grams if they saw the article about how our hometown heros are taking 13 pitchers into the season? That's >1/2 the team! LMAS.

    Let's see how long they stay ALIVE...

    Wait'll next year I guess...

    C, -T

    ReplyDelete

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