google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, April 11, 2014, David Poole

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Apr 11, 2014

Friday, April 11, 2014, David Poole

Theme: Initial here please! Y-not?

By adding a vowel to the beginning of a word or phrase, also in progression like Bernice Gordon's wonderful Wednesday, we have five very different phrases, clued appropriately. I am not sure if they all create hyphenated words, but it looks cleaner to me that way. David has been on our radar many times and my last time blogging his work being a rather controversial effort, VIEW. This is a much tamer theme with two old favorites, the 'add a letter' and the 'vowel progression' in play. This is like a casserole of Bernice's vowels and marti's letter words. The fill had some fun like BARRELS, CURACAO, LEONIDS, MINARET, BETHESDA, PRORATED and TAXI DRIVERS. There seemed to be quite a few initialisms, but maybe that was deliberate in light of adding the letter. Okay, let's do it.

 
17A. Cost to join the elite? : A-LIST PRICE. (10) Does the concept of an "A" list bother anyone?

25A. Kindle download that's too good to delete? : E-BOOK KEEPER. (11). I think this is cute and it is consistent with 58A by breaking the word in two when the letter is added.

35A. Origami tablet? : I-PAD OF PAPER. (11). Cute but confusing clue. We used to call our composition books tablets.

49A. Expert on circular gaskets? : O-RING MASTER. (11). The circus meets mechanics, as the torus shaped ring appears.

58A. List of reversals? : U-TURN TABLE. (10). A table is like a list, but that only confuses me.

Across:

1. Hitching aid : THUMB. This answer stuck right out for me.

6. Journalist Paula : ZAHN. One time rising news star at most network news shows, she now hosts a show on Investigative Discovery channel. She left CNN after major scandal about her affair and marriage breaking up. In looking for her link, I ran across a site called wikifeet; most disturbing.

10. Silo occupant, briefly : ICBM. InterContinental Ballistic Missile. To qualify, the missile must have a minimum range of 3,400 miles.

14. Place to practice pliés : BARRE. Is a practice bar a place?

15. Arab League member : OMAN. Oh man, I learned CHAD is not a member, nor is IRAN (Persian, not Arabic); the choices were Oman or Iraq and that Q is pesky.

16. __ Tea Latte: Starbucks offering : CHAI. I like a Chai tea now and then, but no lattes for me.

19. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" composer : KERN. Jerome. Time for a musical interlude.


20. Pay for, in a way : CHARGE. no extra credit for getting this one correct.

21. Wonder Woman accessory : TIARA.

22. Stroke gently : PET. Most women resent being petted.

27. Like some felonies : CLASS A.

29. Seuss pond-ruling reptile : YERTLE. Interestingly, this turtle is now available in an E-Book. (7:49). Yertle does appear to be unrelated to 63A. Feigned : MOCK, and the  Mock Turtle.

30. Ready for FedEx, perhaps : BOXED.

31. Yahoo : BOOR. Calling someone a Yahoo seems outdated but I guess Boor is also.

34. Only 20th-century president whose three distinct initials are in alphabetical order : HST. This is interesting because Truman's  middle name was "S."

39. Common HDTV feature : LCD. Liquid Crystal Display.

41. Basic water transport : RAFT. Ask Tom Sawyer or yesterday's Huck Finn..

42. French royal : REINE. Queen, en Française.

45. California city on Humboldt Bay : EUREKA. from Archimedes, right Bill G. and Fermatprime?

48. Certain allergy sufferer's bane : POLLEN. That is why there are seasonal allergies.

53. Induced : LED. At least it is not another initialism.

54. Places for pews : NAVES.

55. Places for sweaters? : SAUNAS. Read "sweaters" as sweat-ers, those who sweat.

57. Makes certain of : ICES. And there was the cold place.

62. Jeanne __ : D'ARC. French for Joan of Arc.

64. Inventor Howe : ELIAS. The sad story of the man and the Sewing Machine.

65. Fair : SO SO.

66. Bellicose god : ARES. Bellicose is such a nice word.

67. They may be hammered out : DENTS. So can plans.

Down:

1. TV Guide abbr. : TBA. To Be Announced.

2. McRae of the '70s-'80s Royals : HAL. He became a manager and his son, Brian,  played in the majors as well. LINK.

3. Ocean State sch. : URI. University of Rhode Island.   Not far from where I grew up; main campus is in Kingston, I believe.

4. Richie's mom, to Fonzie : MRS. C. Cunningham.

5. National Institutes of Health home : BETHESDA. Maryland.

6. Don Diego de la Vega's alter ego : ZORRO. I liked this ONE (1:47) better than the movies.

7. Pal of 6-Down : AMIGO.

8. Czech diacritical : HACEK. No clue, the perps filled the spaces, but I looked it up. Way more than you wanted to KNOW.

9. Terre Haute-to-South Bend dir. : NNE.

10. More repulsive : ICKIER.

11. Event offering superficial pleasure : CHEAP THRILL. Awful, who would want a superficial pleasure? Dennis, Lois where are you when I need you.

12. Crude containers : BARRELS. Not badly made, but crude oil.

13. Muezzin's tower : MINARET. I am unfamiliar with the clue, but I know the tower, so...

18. Early sunscreen ingredient : PABA. Para-AminoBenzoic Acid.

21. Tapered support item : TEE. Not my first mental image.

22. Chem. pollutant : PCB. PolyChlorinated Biphenyl. This Bad Boy.

23. "Evil Woman" rock gp. : ELO. Electric Light Orchestra.

24. Hacks : TAXI DRIVERS. Hack probably comes from the British Hackneys.

26. "The Closer" star Sedgwick : KYRA. Who is she married to? WATCH and brush up on your Italian.

28. Libra's mo., perhaps : SEPtember. My youngest is one.

31. Glitzy wrap : BOA. The feathery kind, not the crush and eat you kind.

32. On vacation : OFF. Cute how on leads to off.

33. Stop wavering : OPT.

36. Wee bit o' Glenlivet, say : DRAM.

37. Apportioned : PRORATED. What needs to be done with real estate taxes at closing.

38. Unagi, at a sushi bar : EEL. A C.C. favorite.

39. November meteor shower, with "the" : LEONIDS. 2013. I just watched a PBS show, I think.

40. Liqueur named for an island : CURACAO. One of the ABC islands in the Netherland's Antilles.
The blue one.

43. Once known as : NEE. Referencing the female birth name, before marriage. From the French.

44. "The World's __": 2013 sci-fi comedy : END. No idea.

46. "Romanian Rhapsodies" composer : ENESCO. A very accomplished violinist as well. The name probably was Enescu, but I will let our musical people address his work.He was an answer on Jeopardy Thursday.

47. Metric wts. : KGS. Kilo grams, 1000 grams, or 2.2 pounds.

48. One of the Ivies : PENNsylvania.

50. Fur tycoon : ASTOR. John Jacob

51. Ristorante potful : SAUCE. Well, it depends because many Italians call it 'gravy' even if it is red sauce.

52. Iraqis' neighbors : TURKS.

56. Word with white or fire : SALE.

58. Thurman of film : UMA.

59. Recycling vessel : BIN.

60. Delt neighbor : LAT. Muscles, deltoid (shoulder)and latissimus  dorsi (back).

61. Superhero symbol : ESS. The big S for Superman.

I guess it is time for me to head off into a phone booth and fly out of here for another week. Hope you had a good time.  Lemonade out.


70 comments:

OwenKL said...

Two Thematic Acrostics
::: :::::::: :::::::::
Anonymous

:::::::::
Again a theme that turns on vowels.
Enough, I say, the gimmick howls!
It's getting boring,
Occasions snoring,
Used overmuch, the fun it fouls!

Thumper
:::::::
A puzzle theme I get for once,
Evading feeling like a dunce!
It was sussed so quickly,
Oh, I felt quite prickly --
Using vowels delights its audience!

Al Cyone said...

Another fun puzzle and, for me, easier than most Fridays. Though the SW corner was a little sticky until I (uncharacteristically) noticed the vowel progression (probably thanks to Wednesday's discussion) and got O-RING.

[10:10]

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Delightful puzzle. I figured out the theme early on and, as a result, was able to throw down, IPADOFPAPER, ORINGMASTER and UTURNTABLE based solely on the clues with no perp help needed. Everything else was very crisp.

I haven't seen "The World's End", but it's on my short list of films to get on DVD. It's about of guys in England and a night of pub hopping that gets interrupted by a robot/alien/zombie invasion of some sort.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. This was a fun twist on the Vowel Progression. Getting E-BOOK KEEPER then the iPAD OF PAPER allowed me to fill in the vowels in the other theme clues.

My first thought for the Basic Water Transportation was Pipe instead of RAFT because I have been working on water pipelines recently for work.

My favorite clue was Hacks = TAXI DRIVERS.

QOD: I learned that it is the weak who are cruel, and that gentleness is to be expected only from the strong. ~ Leo Rosten (Apr. 11, 1908 ~ Feb. 19, 1997)

OwenKL said...

Technical win. I had to turn on the red letters (which I allow myself for Thur-Sun) when I didn't get a td-da. CURACAO, ENESCO, and the usage of ICES gave two naticks that I WAGged wrong the first time, but nailed the second. 19a was also a problem. I started out with HART (of Rogers & Hart), then went to HERT (thinking Al Hirt). The H fit ICHIER, and I was more sure of HERT than I was of MItARET. Once the red letters showed my errors, I redacted them without further trouble.

ICES is really obscure. It's the 5th entry under the verb form in AHD or 1st under idioms, and the only allusion to it I found in other sources (urban dictionary, etymology online, free dictionary, wiktionary, dictionary.com, merriam-webster) were vague "bribe," "bribe to police," and fait accompli.

The leading letter gimmick was ingenious, but coming so soon after the FAN/FEN/etc., I'm afraid the carping attitude of my Anon limerick comes closer to my own today.

Montana said...

This Friday puzzle was easier for me than most Wednesday puzzles but sometimes one knows answers others find tough. Still a DNF for a couple letters but left me with a great feeling when I finished.

Have a good day, everybody,

Montana (still in CT)

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

This seemed super-easy for a Friday. Not a single write-over. Quick, too.

Anybody still have a turntable? I've got one in the closet. The trick nowadays is to find an amplifier with a phono input. In a similar vein, I just bought an optical-to-analog convertor so I can plug the audio from my fruit-based computer into the outdated music system in my office.

BRIEFLY depends on one's point of view. Some of those ICBM's sat in the silo for decades. And "induced" seems an odd clue for LED. LED coma, anyone?

Lemonade714 said...

I think it is induced like "LED ASTRAY" but truthfully it was peeps.

Montana said...

I still have a turntable.
I live near a lot of those ICBM silos. We drive by them on our way to anywhere west or south.

Montana

Dennis said...

Good morning, gang - for me anyway, it's like Thursday and Friday were reversed. Except for needing all the perps for ENESCO, I got through this one without any trouble. Simple but effective theme.

Lemon, fun write-up, and yes, cheap thrills are better than no thrills at all.

Spitz, the elevation and azimuth did it; found Mars right away. Thanks to you and Bill G for the help. This has prompted me to go look for a decent telescope.

Going to the Barrett-Jackson classic car auction in West Palm Beach tomorrow in my never-ending GTO search. Maybe this'll be one...

Hope it's a great weekend for everyone; do something fun!

Big Easy said...

Good Morning. Beautiful day to end up at the French Quarter Festival tonight with Dr. John, the Night Tripper, along with 1400 other musicians playing this weekend. Did I mention it's FREE. This puzzle was too easy for a Friday. There were a few unknowns that easily solved by perps. The long answers were easy guesses and my only early questions were LCD or LED ( which was solved by 53A),OUT or OFF, KGS or mgs and DEALS or DENTS. HACEK YERTLE ENESCO- never heard of before.

laissez les bon temps rouler

TTP said...



Good morning all.

Thank you David and thank you Lemonade.

I never noticed the theme or vowel progression. I was wallowing in self pity after being humbly defeated so I didn't look. Ultimately, not knowing 16 and 19 across CHA- and KER-, and not knowing "Muezzin's tower : M--ARET were the clues that kicked my butt.

Hand up for perps filling HACEK. Had trouble in the southwest working out LEONIDS and CURACAO, and then ENESCO almost did me in, but perps to the rescue.

"They may be hammered out : DENTS. So can plans." I had DEalS. At Ristorante potful : SAUCE, I first had pAsta, then SAlsa, befire finally finally finally getting SAUCE. For Fair : SO SO, I first had juSt, but couldn't justify any answers ending in J. Not that there aren't. Moreso that none looked appropriate there...

I corrected those errors, and there were a couple of other areas that really slowed me down, so by no means was this a speed run or easy for me.

Oh well. Time to sign on to work to take sign out on vacation again today. Finish the drywalling today and start the mudding and taping.

Have a good day all !

Anonymous said...

ICES, I think, is used to refer to when a player "ices" a close game by making a play to secure a victory late in a game. The field goal with one minute left, iced the victory for the home team because they were already up by 6, making it a two possession game for the away team. Or something like that.

Yellowrocks said...

i agree this was quick and easy for a Friday and the vowel progression made it even easier.
We love to camp at WORLDS END State Park in PA.
Our trees and shrubs are so late to flower this year. With the predicted warm weekend, the buds will all burst open at the same time, giving us a huge dose of POLLEN.
If you stretch it, SAUCE could break Tin's dry spell.
I have frequently seen ICE in sports news used like the example below.
Merriam/Webster:
ICE to make sure, certain, or safe With that win, the team has pretty much iced a spot in the play-offs.
Synonyms assure, cinch, guarantee, guaranty, ice, insure, secure

I just read ANON @ 8:32. We seem to agree.

LaLaLinda said...

Hi Everyone ~~

I enjoyed this puzzle and because I got EBOOKKEEPER before any other long answer, that led me to the theme ~ a clever one! Knowing the theme did help with the other answers and everything else filled easily in most places.

~ HACEK was new to me and I, too, had Deals before DENTS.

~ I thought I remembered the spelling of 46D to be ENESCU, so that area was slow to fill. Perps to the rescue.

~ In my newspaper the clue for 61D was "Superhero" without the word 'symbol.' I made sense of it after it filled.

~ I was puzzled a bit at 34A - HST because I thought of DDE but then just now realized that it called for distinct initials. Aha! (Not Oho) :-)

Thanks for a fun challenge, David Poole, and thanks, Lemon, for an informative, enjoyable write-up.

Enjoy the day!

HeartRx said...

Good morning all!

Fun theme from David today. Thanks for the scintillating write-up, Lemony! I noticed the vowel progression right away, and went down the list filling in the first letters of the remaining theme entries. Piece of cake!

I do enjoy vowel progressions, and there are so many ways to do them. This one seemed unique because it was the individual letters added to common phrases that gave a punny entry. My favorite one was E BOOK KEEPER. Cute!

TGIF...

C6D6 Peg said...

Loved this puzzle! Thanks, David, for an enjoyable solve.

Great expo, Lemonade!

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I caught the theme on the first entry and from there on, it was easy, breezy with a few perps needed. I had Kahn before Kern (Cahn is the correct spelling) and DVR before LCD. Tin will be happy with "a wee but of Glenlivet" but not with 57A, _ _ _ _!, plural, no less!

Thanks, David Poole, for a fun Friday, and thanks, Lemon, for a super expo.

Sunny, mild, and no wind. Hooray! Have a treat day.

Irish Miss said...

Sorry, great not treat.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

A bear today. Finally got small foothold in the S and the solve 'bloomed' upward. Sussed out the vowel progression early so that helped. Favorite fill was for SAUNA. Much bright fill; incl. YERTLE, CURAÇAO, and ZORRO. HACEK was a new learning.
I thought this was a masterful construction.

Full eclipse of the moon next Tuesday the 15th(UT).
Here's the poop. Total Eclipse of the Moon. For those in Eastern US it begins after midnight and ends near sunrise.

oc4beach said...

WOS (what others said): today's puzzle was nice and easy for a Friday, more like a Wednesday puzzle. I enjoyed it.

For those who are interested in looking at the stars and satellites, there are a number of very good Apps for IPhones, IPads and Android phones and tablets that show the celestial sphere and some tell you what you are seeing when you hold the phone up to the sky. Some of the Apps are "Planets", "Stars", "Satellites", SatelliteAR, to name a few. Enjoy the skies.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi Gang -

Managed to tease out the brilliant theme, but still a DNF. Also discover a couple of silly errors [which will remain undisclosed] while reading Lemon's excellent write up. So, today the bear got me.

But, still, a THUMB up. I'm very impressed with this theme. Wow!

I'm tempted to call foul on HACEK, though. That is too obscure a foreign word. Fortunately, perps revealed it.

As a kid, I was a huge ZORRO fan.

As the supervisor of the elastomers group, I had two CLASS A O-RING MASTERS working for me, so I found these entries quite satisfying.

Otto - The "briefly" is a hint the ICBM is an abrv.

If I ever pray again, I'll be sure to say, "INDUCE us not into temptation."

I know nothing about ENESCO. That fill was one of my better SWAGS.

Cool regards!
JzB

Bill G. said...

I was pleased with myself that I didn't use any red-letter help on a Friday. It felt good, being successful on a Friday. Thanks David and Lemon.

Lemon asks: EUREKA. from Archimedes, right Bill G. and Fermatprime?

Dunno for sure. Contrary to the opinion of some of my ex-students, I wasn't there. That's the story though.
==========
I recently asked my buddy Bart to loan my wife and I some money but he seemed disinterested in helping us out. I found his behavior problematic since he was a masterful free-lance writer, made alot of money and was usually notorious for his generosity; which begs the question of why he turned us down. I was so upset at first that my head literally exploded. I had to lay down to let it all sink in. It turns out that his investments had been mostly comprised of pork belly futures. It turns out his timing hadn't been fortuitous and his savings had been decimated leaving him penniless. We felt so badly for him but virtue is it's own reward. He flaunted the common-sense rules of investing so often I thought he had probably gotten his just desserts. :>)

Misty said...

I got BETHESDA right away, since I lived there for a year in my late teens, but after that this looked like another impossible Friday puzzle to me. But I stuck with it this morning and can't believe I ALMOST got the whole thing! Yay! I got the theme pretty early, and that helped a lot. Didn't know either ZAHN or HACEK and missed a few other letters here and there. Wanted PIPE before RAFT, but had a bit of luck with the LIBRA month, which I couldn't remember. While agonizing over that one, I noticed that the Horoscope is printed right above the puzzle in the LA Times. I just had to look an inch higher to get it. But I'm most proud of not letting that SWEATER clue fool me. I just knew that didn't refer to clothing and sure enough, the answer was SAUNAS.

So, thanks David, and Lemonade for your always fun expo.

Have a great Friday, everybody!

Tinbeni said...

Lemon: Nice write-up. David: Thank you for a FUN Friday puzzle.

Major write-over was Wonder Woman accessory from lasso to TIARA.
Only needed 4 perps for KERN and 6 perps to get ENESCO.
Isn't HACEK a Hockey Goalie who use to play for the Chicago Blackhawks?


YR, I didn't need to stretch SAUCE to END my "Dry-Spell".
That DRAM o'Glenlivet scotch was just fine!!!

Another fave today (of course!) was CURACAO.

Even ICES, in the clue's context, was acceptable today.
Just so-long as it never gets in my Pinch.

Cheers!!!

Inanehiker said...

The theme made it an easier Friday than usual. I got hung up putting "O ringleader" instead of ringmaster, but eventually headed down the right path.
Spring is finally here for good, but off course with it comes the "pollen" from all the flora bursting forth.
Fun puzzle, thanks Lemonade!

Lucina said...

Good day, good buddies! Thank you, Lemonade, for the page-full of information and laughs.

I daresay, it seems contradictory to call for help with CHEAP THRILLS when PET was derided. eh?

This was fun and I did sashay through half of it but then the SW stumped me with ENESCO, CURACAO and had to check on LEONIDS. It just seems that my mental acuities have departed and are OFF somewhere else.

I loved the misdirection for SAUNAS and since both my daughter and granddaughter studied ballet, BARRE was easy.

My tax file has long since been BOXED and put away for this year with a nice refund that was handy for the trip to see TURKS and others.

Oops! I had the Spanish REINA instead of REINE and that spoiled the END for sure.

POLLEN has hit forcefully in our parts causing the tissues to be spread throughout the house.

I hope you are all having a delightful Friday!

Bumppo said...

24D A hack is a taxi, not the driver.

Frenchy said...

Confused about ENESCO. Sources give ENESCU as the composer, which doesn't work. By the way, Ionesco,
the writer, was the answer on Jeopardy recently, a totally different person, though also Romanian.

john28man said...

I definitely needed red letter help today which is not unusual on Friday and Saturday for me.

My most troublesome area was the middle north but remembering Paula ZAHN broke it open for me.

Thank you David and Lemony.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Fun puzzle today. I liked the way the theme worked, as well as the longer answers. It took me too long to get ZORRO and AMIGO, because at first I wanted EL CID, then the OO in EBOOK made me want CISCO and PANCHO. OMAN finally broke open that logjam.
Yep, wrote in DEALS and had to change it to DENTS.
Is YERTLE a MOCK turtle?
Left the last letter of ENESCO's name blank until SOSO decided it. I love his Romanian Rhapsodies (I only know 2 of them).
I guess I would sit in a pew to contemplate my NAVES.
Best wishes to you all.

Anonymous said...

Hmm, Bumpo. Consider 'hack' used thusly, as an example of metonymy.

Lemonade714 said...

Well Romanian is not my strong suit.

Bummpo, I think the clue for HACK is valid based on HACK .

Tin, I like your thinking, but DOMINIK become a star when he played for the Buffalo Sabres.

Bubba said...

Today, Phil Mickelson is a HACK.

Yellowrocks said...

From Wiki:
George Enescu (known in France as Georges Enesco ; 19 August 1881, Liveni – 4 May 1955, Paris) was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher.

So that's where the o comes from.

Bumppo said...

"Suit" for executive and "White House" for President are metonymy. "Hack" for "cabbie" is putting the cart upon the horse.

Ol' Man Keith said...

A tough go today. It took me two sittings to finish. 96% - with several re-writes (ZINC to PABA, SIT to OPT, PEANUT to POLLEN).
I filled but still don't understand iPAD OF PAPER. How does an iPAD relate to Origami? Is there a blog or some other online connection to Origami creations? The other theme answers are conceivable items, but you just can't fold an iPAD into a crane or a flower. Were we supposed to imagine folding paper into the (boring) shape of an iPad?

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, David! Not easy, but engrossing. Great expo, Lemony! Any day with Nat King Cole crooning in my ear seems brighter.

The SE corner was troublesome for me. "C" in CURACAO was last to fill, mainly because I'd forgotten CURACAO was an island. I thought the clues in this section were too far off base. I had TAXIDRIVER & NAVES. The rest were WAGs.

I could see the Muezzin tower in my mind, couldn't remember the name for a bit. Put in "mosque" first. Nope.

CHEAP THRILLS are when someone "charges your battery" without charging you for it.

Ah, ZORRO! Someone gave us a little old black and white TV when we lived in an apartment in Massachusetts. No antennae. For some reason, we could only get ZORRO with lots of "snow" (in Mexico?).

Don't know why I kept trying to start LEONIDS with an "A". Kept turning red.

I remembered the Jeopardy question as ENESCU.
There was another recent Jeopardy answer about that Bethesda facility. Aha! I knew watching that show wasn't a waste of time.

ORING was a gimmee for an old BOOKKEEPER to mechanics.

Ol' Man Keith said...

How about "Safari ream?"
Or "Firefox quire?"

Bill G. said...

Earlier, I tried to write a paragraph with as many usage errors as I could manage. I guess it just seemed like my usual error-filled drivel.

Lucina, has your weather cooled off? It's in the 60s here.

Lucina said...

BillG:
No, the weather is in the 90s and high 80s (88, 89, etc.) and will continue. Today is overcast but that has not helped to cool it. I was hoping that some of your rain would drift eastward, but noooooo

Tinbeni said...

Bill G.
I enjoyed a nice "Laugh-Out-Loud" at your "usage errors" paragraph.
My first thought was ... "Did he get all nine of them in from that link a few days ago?"

OMK
It's just a "play-on-words" with "A Pad Of Paper" into an Apple ("I") Product.
(and the "A" had already been used).

Remember, on Friday there is usually an "Add-a-letter" or "Change-a-letter" gimmick to create a wacky-phrase day.
(In other words, please don't over-think the themes).

Yellowrocks said...

Bill G. I was shocked! shocked! I read it three times because these were the errors you always rail about. I thought you might have written tongue in cheek. I came back just now to see who protested. No one. Maybe we all thought, Bill G, the grammarian! How embarrassing to point out his mistakes.
Keith, I too, thought IPADOFPAPER was a bit off for the same reasons. It seems much weaker than the other theme answers

Yellowrocks said...


A LIST PRICE is the cost of being kept on the a list.
E BOOK KEEPER is a person who hangs on to Kindle books and doesn't delete them.
O RING MASTER is one who is good at making O ring gaskets.
U TURN TABLE is a list of u turns or ueys.
What the heck does an I PAD TABLET have to do with origami? The I doesn't compute. The A,E ,O, U vowels add meaning to their new phrases. The I does not. Beside that, origami is not usually made from a pad of paper, but from individual sheets,

Al Cyone said...

PK@2:49: "CHEAP THRILLS are when someone "charges your battery" without charging you for it."

I think I speak for the rest of the group when I say - tell us more!

CrossEyedDave said...

Hmm, it's tough to find funny stuff when the theme is vowel progression, so here is what the end of the theme answers brought to (my) mind.

Why your mechanic is one of the elite...


Old school "too good to delete...."

I-Pad of paper???

How the heck????

So, what did you do with your old turntable?

Lucina said...

Okay. I'll add my Lincoln's worth to this debate. While it's true that I-Pad TABLET doesn't actually relate to Origami, all the themes start with legitimate phrases:
A-LIST, E-BOOK, 0-RING, U-TURN and I-PAD. That looks consistent to me.

Irish Miss said...

Bill G - I just read your very funny spoof on the language mangling we all cringe at. Thanks for the laugh!

LaLaLinda said...

Lucina & YR ~ That was my take, also. Many things are constructed from origami representing actual objects. I imagine someone could construct an origami sculpture that looks like an I-PAD (tablet.) Or am I missing what you're asking?

Anonymous said...

not that it matters much to anybody but me I guess, but you do realize, don't you, that Harry Truman did not have a middle name? (34 across).

He just used the "S" because it sounded good to him.

That's what I heard anyway. Can anybody set me straight if I got it wrong?

buckeye bob said...

My two cents worth on 35A Origami tablet?: I-PAD OF PAPER:

I do think it is a clunky clue, but it fits the theme.

Tablet clues us to I-PAD. Easy.

Origami involves making objects out of PAPER.

So, I-PAD + PAPER gives us I-PAD OF PAPER.

And pad of paper is a common phrase the constructor could add a vowel to make a new phrase.

As Tinbeni said, don’t overthink it. And hey, it’s just a puzzle for fun!

Spitzboov said...

YR and others: The fill is IPAD OF PAPER. An IPAD is a tablet. Ergo an origamist might be using a 'pad of paper'. Let's not try to overthink this.
I think Lucina has a bead on it, and BEB nailed it.

Dennis - Glad my vectoring could help. Hope S. Florida is not too hazy for your telescope.

Many of you - I, too, was blown away by the Ocean Liner stretcher-outer clip of yesterday. I guess the work was done at the Blohm & Voss yards in Hamburg. The inserted section was fabricated at Bremerhaven and transported up the Elbe to Hamburg.
PK pointed out all the welding necessary in such work. The clip seemed to gloss over this very important phase, both of cutting the vessel apart, and then welding in the inserted section.

buckeye bob said...

Anon @ 5:06 PM –

Close, but not quite. It’s true his middle initial "S" did not stand for anything, but his parents gave it to him. Apparently it was to honor his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young.

See the Early Life and Career section in the Wiki article.

Harry Truman Wiki

Yellowrocks said...

A list. E book, O ring, U turn are all essential parts of the theme ANSWERS. I PAD does not relate to the theme answer at all, it relates to the CLUE. This is not consistent.

Jayce said...

Whoo. I just got finished changing my passwords at various websites I use. The hardest part was dreaming up good "strong" ones. Other than that the process was pretty easy and straightforward. Turns out I had to inform my iPhone of my new email password, too. The trouble with using the recommended strong passwords is that it's hard to remember all the capital letters, digits, and punctuation marks. I do have them written down, lest I forget, which I know I will.

Tinbeni said...

It was a "Vowel Progression Puzzle" ... after A-List and E-Book the next theme had to be an "I" thingy ...
'nough said!!!!


If we're going to beat a "Clue/Theme/Answer" to death ...
let's get to the Heart of the matter.

36-D was "Wee bit o'Glenlivet, Say" for the answer DRAM.

Why the hell wasn't this "Wee bit o'Pinch, say" ??????????????

This Scotch loving "inquiring-mind" wants to know !!!!!!!!!!

And I can assure you, my arguments regarding THIS SUBJECT are a hell-of-a lot more interesting, compelling and TASTY (!!!!!) than this discussion re: I-PAD theme answer.

Cheers!!!

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, For once a Friday puzzle with only a few lookups. For me that is a feat. I did get the vowel progression.

Learning moment for me was Hacek. I missed the name of that diacritical mark somewhere in my earlier learning.

Favorites today were Hitching aid and Places for Sweaters. Both very misleading.

Just about everything has been said about the puzzle by this time of day.

Have a great rest of the evening, everyone.

Unknown said...

I thought this was a little easier than most Friday puzzles. I did need perps for Hacek and Enesco. Otherwise everything went smoothly.

I still have a turntable that's been in a drawer for the past 16 years. I guess it's time to get rid of it.

Lemonade714 said...

Sell the turn table Nancy. It keeps the young people's head spinning

Chickie said...

'Ol Man Keith--When I received a pad of origami paper for Christmas one year, I tore off one leaf at a time to fold something--a crane, a lily, etc.

the papers were all different colors and designs.

Therefore "I Pad" and "(Pad) of paper"--The pad being a notebook of paper for making origami items.

Anonymous said...

Leo Rosten is full of it

PK said...

You can delete books on a Kindle? I haven't figured out how. Step-by-step instructions would be appreciated. I have 480 books on mine.

Al Cyone: I'll never tell. Use your imagination. LOL!

PK said...

Well, they're not all books. Some of my Kindle items are puzzles that are finished and not reusable.

Bill G. said...

So how many mistakes in grammar/usage/spelling/etc. did I make? More than 10? More than 15? Maybe I got carried away and made some I didn't even intend...

I always liked Harry S Truman. He seemed like a regular guy who tried to do his best to provide leadership. He sure had a tough decision to make.

aka thelma said...

cezerlyJust read the I as "one" and then you have one pad of paper..... :) :) just sayin'....

DNF for me... but I enjoyed trying... hope all is well with you all.... :)

thelma :)

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks for fun puzzle, David, and detailed expo, Lemon!

Caught the theme rather quickly. HACEK was all perps. Faster than the usual Friday!

Lemon: thanks for the shout-out. But it really should be to experts in hydrostatics, I think.

Could not finish your paragraph, Bill. Was expecting a joke!

Expected an Italian word instead of SAUCE. Puzzled me for a bit.

Really hot here! Hope the squash will grow rapidly!

Cheers!

JJM said...

I don't know if I could ever sell my turntable. Brings back too many great memories! Plus, vinyl is making a comeback. I guess if you keep something long enough, it comes back into style.

I had some trouble with the SW corner because of ENESCU being spelled wrong. Kinda threw me off.

Lastly, to Tibeni: Dominik Hašek played a couple years for the 'Hawks, but really made his name with the Sabres & Red Wings.

Bill G. said...

I don't see how anyone can watch this video without smiling and laughing. Happy baby

fearthebetenoire said...

wikifeet is not as disturbing as some sites...

Argyle said...

fearthebêtenoire, did you mean to post on Friday's blog?