google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, Apr 5th, 2014, Barry C. Silk

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Apr 5, 2014

Saturday, Apr 5th, 2014, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie

Words: 70 (missing J,Q,U,V,X)

Blocks: 30

   Well now, today's offering from Mr. Silk was still tough in some spots, but do we feel better about our crossword solving ability since the beating I think we all took from last week's bear~?   I did have to wait on the hefty answers while I did my first pass through the Downs, then I was able to get a grip.  Several "exclamations" in the grid today (*). Triple 11-letter stacks in the NW and SE, with four 10's and six 9's to round out the long fill of the grid:

1a. Performing poorly : FALLING DOWN - also a movie starring Michael Douglas; they "Stopped Serving Breakfast"


15a. Music lover's resource : iHEART RADIO - Don't care for anything "i" these days; "I" listen to Pandora Internet Radio, and I am sad to say that didn't fit the space....

20a. Think : CEREBRATE - Oooh, that's a $2 word you can use in passing today....

12d. Spider producer : ALFA-ROMEO - the latest Alfa as I have seen from watching the BBC show "Top Gear" is this one, the Disco Volante ( "fly wheel")


28. Aristotelian ideal : GOLDEN MEAN - The Wiki; I could argue that this is the principle of Alcoholics Anonymous as well; I am a card-carrying member

ONWARD~!

ACROSS:

12. Hematological system : ABO - Blood types; I am "B positive~!"

16. Crucible setting : LAB - I was concerned this might have to do with the novel at first

17. Accept financial responsibility : BEAR THE COST

18. Not to : FRO - cute; "To & Fro"

19. St. Louis bridge architect : EADS - Beautiful, but I happen to like bridges in general


22. RR crossing sites : RDs - Dah~! Went with STs first - Roads, not Streets

23. Chaotic scene : ZOO

25. Rum company founder Fred : MYERS

26. Onslaught : BARRAGE

29. Animal shelter : COTE - LAIR, CAVE, COTE  all worked

31. Satisfied : MADE GOOD ON - MADE ENDS MEET was too long

34. Latin 101 word : AMAT - "He loves" - had amaS to start

35. Pulitzer playwright Zoë : AKINS

36. Brooks of Hollywood : MEL - The man who brought us "Young Frankenstein" and "Stand-up Philosophers"

37. Dog in a horned helmet : SNERT - from the comic strip Hägar the Horrible

38. Qajar dynasty country, today : IRAN

39. Bar seller : CANDY STORE - ah, that kind of bar

41. Norton Sound city : NOME
 

42. Broken up : IN TEARS - emotionally broken up, that is

43. Food mfr.'s calculation : NET WT.

45. At 5,343 ft., Mt. Marcy is its highest point : NYS - huh - New York State - I live here, and did not know this - did you, Argyle?

46. HDTV brand : RCA

49. Netherlands port : ROTTERDAM

52*. Cries of discovery : "O-HOs~!"

53. Cuban Revolution name : CHE

54. They may come from ostriches : BOA FEATHERS

57. Craft whose name means "peace" : MIR - Russian space station

58. Picture in your head : MENTAL IMAGE

59. Batt. terminal : POSitive

60. Forensic technique : DNA ANALYSIS - with a semi-clecho to start the downs -->

DOWN:

1. Bit of forensic evidence : FIBER

2. Not trying to catch anyone : AHEAD - some crafty clechoing here, too -->

3. Doesn't have to catch anyone : LEADS - being 'ahead' in a race, e.g.

4. Norwegian-born chemistry Nobelist Onsager : LARS

5. NYC subway : IRT - gimme, being that I do live 60mi from New York City; the Interborough Rapid Transit

6. Degree in math : NTH

7. Wrestling style : GRECO-ROMAN

8. Freshwater fish : DACE

9. Suggestive quality : ODOR - did this puzzle has an 'odor' of "DNF"~?

10. Guys with gifts : WISE MEN - SUITORS fit, too

11. __ a long shot : NOT BY

13. MVP of the first two Super Bowls : BART STARR - had to dredge this one up from the depths.  Much cerebrating.

14. Wind up on stage? : OBOE - Wind, short e, not Wye-nd

21. Takes back : RECANTS

23. Turns abruptly : ZAGS

24. Montana motto word : ORO - Shout-out~!!!


26. Floyd __ Field, NYC's first municipal airport : BENNETT - great, another NYS learning moment for me - hey, I did know the name of JFK before it was called JFK Airport

27. Make __ in : ADENT

30. Usher follower? : ETTE - usherETTE - my 'meh' clue for the day

31. Key : MAIN - ah, not ISLE

32. LeBron James' birthplace : AKRON, OHIO - mostly perps on this one

33. Circle measures : DIAMETERS

37. Cold War gp. : SSRs - I have a bit of a nit with the plural nature of the answer

39. French auto pioneer : CITROËN - André-Gustave, read about WWII sabotages and more here
 
40*. "Way to go!" : "YAY~!"

44. Site with a Symptom Checker : WebMD - I have had reason to stop by this website

46. Flightless birds : RHEAs

47. Cardigan or Pembroke dog : CORGI - I had the "C", took a W.A.G.

48. Burden-bearing team : ASSES - I'd like to see this clued 'another' way....

49. Law org. with an annual Musical Ride tour : RCMP - Royal Canadian Mounted Police

50. Actress Delany : DANA

51. Mennen lotion : AFTA

52*. "Wow!" : "OH MY~!"

55. After : A'LA - as in styled "after"....

56. Up to, briefly : (un)TIL

Splynter





















 
 
 
Notes from C.C.:
Happy Birthday to dear Irish Miss & Abejo, two of our very loyal and caring regulars. I still feel guilty forgetting their birthday last year. 
Here is a picture of Irish Miss (Agnes) with her sister Eileen. The picture was taken on Nov 22, 2013 at their sister Peggy's house. Any special plans today, Agnes?

Eileen & Agnes


Let's meet Abejo (Bradley):

Abejo & Harvey

Abejo said:

This is a photo of myself and Fermatprime's friend Harvey about a year and a half ago. I am on the left as you are looking at the picture. Harvey is on the right. We were in Virginia together. This organization, the Knights Templar, is what I do in my spare time.


58 comments:

HeartRx said...

Good morning Splynter, C.C. et al.

And Happy Birthday to dear Agnes and Abejo (It’s nice to finally “meet” you, Abejo! You handsome devil, you!)
¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫

I have to say up front that I just love Barry Silk’s Saturday puzzles! There is always one area where I can get a toehold, and work outwards from there. And there are always “AHA” moments. Splynter – I also considered lair and cave, before COTE became apparent.

The NE was the first to fall:
- ABO blood groups? Worked with them all the time as a former immunohematology specialist.
- ALFA ROMEO? I used to have an old Morgan, and people often confused it with an Alfa Romeo.
- BART STARR? Who doesn’t know one of the greatest football QBs ever to play for the Green Bay Packers?
- And we have seen “Wind up on stage” many times for OBOE, so that didn’t fool me at all.

Fun start to what will be a not fun day at all – tearing out the rest of the dining room ceiling so my workers can install a new one on Tuesday. (I just cross my fingers that there will be no more surprise leaks…)

Barry G. said...

Morning, all (and Happy Birthday to Irish Miss & Abejo)!

Definitely a challenge today. Tough all over, but the NW corner nearly did me in. After filling in the rest of the grid, I just stared at all the white space in that corner until things finally started to click and I made some WAGS. A lot of the problem was wrong guesses at first. I had EERO instead of EADS, I thought 1A involved FAILING instead of FALLING, I guessed that 17A was TAKE something instead of BEAR something, etc. Plus, I totally didn't know I HEART RADIO or LARS at all. I had ____MEN and couldn't think of WISE for the longest time, and CEREBRATE? NOT BY a longshot!

As I said, though, I did finally get rid of EERO, which let me get AHEAD in LEADS, which was enough to get me going and guess at I HEART RADIO and LARS, and the rest eventually came.

In other news, I've never been a fan of SSR in the singular and like it even less in the plural. Do you know what you call a group of SSRs? That's right -- the USSR!

Al Cyone said...

Well, my streak had to end eventually. I got more than I at first thought I would but I never cracked the NW. Tomorrow's another day.

Mt. Marcy? I stood on the summit back in my upstate NY college days.

[DNF]

Lemonade714 said...

I really enjoyed this, the thrilled the puzzle unfolds in bits and pieces make the Saturday Willie special.

I watched the national touring company musical American Idiot by Billie Joe Armstrong and GREEN DAY last evening, anyone else seen it?

Happy Saturday

Big Easy said...

This puzzle had my brain going all over the place. With some many complete unknowns it required many perps and WAGS to even get started. ZIG-ZAG POS-NEG YAY-YEA AHA-OHO STS-RDS COTE-CAGE-CAVE INEARS-INPARTS. NW was the last to fall. I had bear the cost but until EADS was in place I was stumped. I only know IHEARTRADIO from their commercials. For the life of me I can't understand why people go to the internet on their smartphones, and use up their allotted usage,when they could just turn on the radio. But back to the puzzle. BARTSTARR was a gimme as I saw both games. CEREBRATE is a word that I have never run across and will probably never see it again after today. I learned from doing puzzles that RCA is alive (in name only)and this gave me CORGI. AKINS, LARS, and DANA came stictly from perps. This was the first Saturday puzzle I have completed in a while.

desper-otto said...

Good morning, and happy birthday to Irish Miss and Abejo.

I couldn't find a toehold in the NW, so like HeartRx, I started in the NE and worked my way back around to the NW. Hand up for STS before RDS. My first entry in the NW was BEAR THE COST, but when nothing came to me, I used my Wite-Out on the BEAR. Finally had to put him back in.

I actually knew BART STARR. When it comes to sports, I have better luck with names of players from a half-century ago.

In my ute the highest point in Wisconsin was Rib Mountain, an impressive hill looming above Wausau. Later it was discovered that Timms Hill a nondesclript spot in the middle of nowhere was actually higher.

Splynter, were you referring to Idlewild? I have no idea how it got its name, though.

Anonymous said...

"GOLDEN MEAN ... I could argue that this is the principle of Alcoholics Anonymous as well; I am a card-carrying member"

I don't want to turn this blog into an AA forum, but your remark is confusing. In what way(s), specifically, is the golden mean "the principle of [AA]"?

Thank you.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Happy Birthday Irish Miss and Abejo.

Woke up to a Silkie, today. I was lucky to gain several small strategic footholds, early; EADS, Mel, and NYS, gimmes, TIL, ABO, and SNERT. Knew Floyd BENNETT Field, a former Naval Air Station. Rotterdam is a major shipping port of NW Europe. NOME, ALFA ROME3O and CITROËN were also good guesses. Finally remembered all of BART STARR.. The rest came as good hints from the perps.
Favorite clue was for OBOE.

Fuji Blimp lifting off from Floyd BENNETT Field.

Anonymous said...

United States State High Points

Anonymous said...

Who woulda thunk that Kansas had a higher elevation than say North Dakota. Just click on the respective pictures and tell me your guess on which one is higher. Looks can be deceiving.

Splynter said...

Hi again~!

As for the "Golden Mean" and AA, IMHO the true nature of the program is to find a bridge back to life - I don't want to drink to feel 'accepted' in society anymore, but at the same time I am not going to hide in the bedroom under the covers afraid to face the world - in other words, I am looking to find a 'neutral' outlook on life.
That's all I meant.

Splynter

Spitzboov said...

Splynter's comment on Mt. Marcy. A study in contrasts. Mt Marcy is in the Pre-Cambrian shield, (Canadians call it the Canadian Shield) over half a billion years old. Long Island is mostly a terminal moraine dating from the end of the last ice age.

RCMP - I was privileged to see the RCMP Musical Ride at the Canadian National Exposition in Toronto in the early '60's. Great show.

Anonymous said...

Much better today! This old lady failed in NW corner but got the rest!

Yellowrocks said...

Happy birthday, Irish Miss and Abejo.
I completed Friday's puzzle without help in 35 minutes.
Today the NW was a sticking point. After an hour I became impatient and Googled LARS and EADS. I had thought of FIBER for 1 down. Had I tried it, I probably wouldn't have needed to Google at all. Fun, regardless.
I really don't see the nit about SSRS. It is used by intelligent writers. SSR is even more common. From Wiki:
"The republics were part of a highly centralized federal union that was dominated by the Russian SFSR. After the USSR's collapse in 1991, all 15 SSRs became independent countries."

C6D6 Peg said...

Loved having a "Silkie" today after the past 2 Saturdays.... Got the SE done first. NW was the last to fall, but it was a nice challenge!

Loved the write-up, as usual, Splynter!

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Went through sort of clockwise starting in the NE corner, and had an easy time of it until getting around to the NW. Took ages to suss Ahead and Leads, and I've never heard of iHeartRadio. Tried Public Radio there, and soon sensed trouble. Figured it out eventually.

Happy Birthday Irish Miss and Abejo!

LaLaLinda said...

Hi All ~~

Well, I worked at this for a long while, left it, came back and still couldn't get that NW corner! LARS and EADS did me in ~ I had to look up both. I was then able to finish that area.

As always with Silkies, the simplest clues/answers cause me the most problems, i.e., 2D and 3D - so easy once I get them!!

Write-overs: Mob before ZOO and Ahas before OHOS - I still have yet to hear anyone say OHO! Ugh.

Thanks for your write-up, Splynter ~ I always agree with your assessments and am entertained by your comments.

A very Happy Birthday to Irish Miss/Agnes and Abejo/Bradley ~ two of my Corner favorites! I hope you both have a happy, healthy year ahead. Loved your pics!

JJM said...

My favorite clue was Spider producer- ALFA ROMEO. Great clue. Loved it. First pass not too many fils, but after that it came quickly.

Happy B-Day Irish Miss.

Lemonade… wish I had seen that last night. I like Green Day

Misty said...

Happy Birthday, Irish Miss and Abejo! Hope you both have a wonderful day!

Bill G. said...

I haven't read the writeup or any of the comments yet but here's my initial impression. This puzzle was HARD for me, the hardest in recent memory. If they all were this hard, I'd give up crossword solving and look for another way to relax and exercise my brain. I just am not good enough for a Saturday puzzle of this level of difficulty. OK, now to read the other points of view.

*****

Happy Birthday to Irish Miss & Abejo. I appreciate your CW input (and other input too!).

Well, I can see many of you are more skillful at these enigmas than I am.

The Golden Mean or Golden Ratio is an interesting mathematical concept also.

Irish Miss said...

Hi Everyone:

Thank you all for your kind birthday greetings. Happy Birthday, Abejo, on our shared day.

I consider today's puzzle a birthday treat from Mr. Silk. He is one of my favorite constructors, even when I have a DNF. Today was a typical Silkie: first pass, uh-oh; second pass, aha; third pass, Eureka! Finished without help but with much satisfaction. Mt. Marcy and Floyd Bennett Field were gimmes.

Thanks, Mr. S., for a most enjoyable solve and thanks, Splynter, for your entertaining expo.

My sister, Peggy, is having a birthday party for me tonight. The food is coming from our favorite Italian restaurant: an ante-pasta, Clams Casino, Chicken piccata, Pasta with shrimp and broccoli, garlic bread, and, for dessert, a coffee ice cream cake. Sounds good to me!

Have a super Saturday.

BarbieMom said...

Fun solve. I got nothin' with the first run through. Finally I started to get one or two words. I was in the car, husband had on radio and I heard the words "iheartradio". Now that was convenient. Had to slog my way through, but it finally came together when I saw "made good on." Now on to enjoy the good weather!

Lucina said...

Good day, Splynter et al!

Happy birthday, Irish Miss and Abejo. I enjoy commentary from both of you and hope you have a wonderful celebration.

The bottom, from 19 and downward was a fairly quick sashay for me. ROTTERDAM jumped out instantly and I've learned MIR means peace from crosswords and all the rest fell into place except NYS. I had NHS thinking of New Hampshire.

However, not knowing iHEART RADIO or IST caused a DNF and DACE never occurred to me. Also I had BEAR THE DEBT so no cigar there. I did CEREBRATE for a long while and that word came easily.

Like d-otto, I know sports stars from the past more than current ones and BART STARR is one.

Loved the clue for OBOE. CITROEN is mentioned often in novels.

A fun time. Thank you Barry Silk and Splynter, too.

Have a great Saturday, everyone!

CrossEyedDave said...

1st, a visual of my attempt to complete this puzzle...

2nd, a Mt. Marcy Hike.
To be honest, I thought this would be a good video for the hiking challenged. But when I saw it was 10:18 long, & involved a 3,000 foot climb in elevation, it made me so tired i had to take a nap. So, if anyone watches this, pls tell me if I should watch the whole thing... (I spent all my energy looking for cakes..)

HBD Irish Miss! Not the prettiest cake, but apparently it packs quite a kick! Check out the website, (scroll down) for the recipe for this explosive gastronomic adventure...

HBD Abejo!
Sorry for the generic cake, but when I Googled Happy Birthday "Abejo" cake, there were so many images from the Crossword Blog, it made realize that you must be quite a fixture here... Or Google's search engine is broken.. I don't want to cerebrate to much on it.

buckeye bob said...

Happy birthday to Abejo and Irish Miss! I hope you enjoy your special day!

Irish Miss said...

CED - Your cake choice brought a smile but your "train wreck" brought a hearty belly laugh. Thanks for both.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. A really fun puzzle today; I had fun working it. Like several of you, I looked up EADS and LARS. Only then was I able to solve the NW corner. Gotta go. Happy birthday, Irish Miss and Abejo.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! My trouble with a Silkie is that he's so New York/East Coast and I am so NOT! Despite that I managed to fill the puzzle with red-letter redirection.

I tried to "foot" THE COST. Took awhile for the BEAR to amble in. Not "returns" or "reneges" but RECANT, what a lot of pols & celebs seem to do lately. LARS, not Olaf.

CEREBRATE led me to expect a theme in which "R" is substituted for "L". Nope. Shucks!

"Wind up on stage": or likely in the orchestra pit.

Happy Birthday Agnes & Abejo (sounds like a new sitcom). You both enhance the blog with your comments. Abejo, do you actually have any spare time? You sure sound busy.

CED, re: the picture collage. Which one of the blog regulars is the guy in the red speedo?

Thanks, Splynter! Keep up the friendship with Bill W. Proud of you!

PK said...

Marti, What's that saying: "a house is a hole in the atmosphere into which one pours money." Good luck!

Ol' Man Keith said...

Happy b'days to Abejo & Irish Miss!

I was proud of my WAG abilities on this Silkie. ALFA ROMEO was an early hit but BOA FEATHERS was a prouder moment, as it came to me with just the "F" in place.

Easy ones were GOLDEN MEAN and DANA. Nothing in common, just easy.

Still I only scored 95%, as I looked up BENNETT (to correct it) and DACE & iHEART RADIO (to confirm). I worried the longest time over LAB, as I'd first focused on Arthur Miller's prize-winning drama and not the obvious. (I had a very bad time in HS Chem Lab-- something to do with an exploding test tube of acid. Don't ask.)

I really get a kick out of those moments when something about which I thought I hadn't a clue ends up triggering a sudden recollection. Today it was just simple ones-- COTE & SNERT.

~ Kf

PS. My apologies to those who say my new avatar is unpleasant. Please hang in there, and see if you can get used to it. I have a great affection for Japanese theater, and this demon mask from the Noh Theater reminds me of a narrative tradition that inspires me -- the idea that one's story may someday be told by someone once considered insignificant.

Ol' Man Keith said...

desper-otto,

My hand is up for STS before RDS. And like you I was quick to recall BART STARR. Age has its advantages. Rarely. But sometimes.

Barry G, Lucina, Yellowrocks, &c.: I see that it was the NW sector that caught most of us short of a smooth solving. Nice to know that in our weaker moments we are truly a band of brothers--and sisters!

Irish Miss said...

PK @ 2:05 - Thanks for the second belly laugh with your "sound like a new sitcom" comment. You have a way with words!

Thanks to all for my birthday wishes.

PK said...

But Keith, why would you want to represent yourself as being that "horny"? LOL!

Husker Gary said...

What a relief after my SE futility last Saturday that made me feel like Keith’s avatar. This time the NW took time and I used the computer at the end to verify rather than to give because I had to be out the door by 8 am. Now we’re home and headed out again, but I had to come not to bury Barry but to praise him. I hope to muse later. HBD Irish and Abejo, pix were very welcome!

HeartRx said...

Keith, thanks for explaining your avatar. Knowing that it represents such a high art form as Noh theater makes a huge difference. I looked it up and found that the name for it is the "Hannya" mask, and it represents a female who has become a demon because of jealousy or obsession.

Even more interesting to me is the art involved in the creation of such a mask - it has to look frightening when viewed straight on, but when it is tilted downwards, it appears sorrowful. Amazing, that a mask can represent the gamut of human emotions!

Anonymous said...

On the Southwest slope of Mt Marcy there is a beautiful lake called Lake Tear of the Clouds.
Lake Tear is considered to be the beginning source of the Hudson River. There are some stunning pictures of this lake on the internet. Enjoy!!

CrossEyedDave said...

Whew! i just did the Mt Marcy hike. & at the end saw a sidelink that makes it look like a pantywaist run.

Huashan Trail in China

Anon @ 4:08, Thanks for the tip! I am still looking for the best pic of Lake Tear of the Clouds, but I feel another strenuous armchair hike coming on...

jimmd68 said...

I think I would translate disco volante as flying saucer. Not my favorite Alfa, in any case.

Lucina said...

OLKeith@2:34:
How nice of you to put it that way and I know I'm in good company. Although I feel frustrated at failing to complete this puzzle, I know that I can't know everything but it's a great time trying yet I can usually suss out the unknowns. But not today.

Anonymous said...

The Alfa is a Spyder, with a y, not naI

CrossEyedDave said...

(I was just doing the ironing while listening to the radio) when a commercial for some DIY car repair came on claiming they could help you get your wife to "leave the seat up for you."

In the interest of "truth in advertising," & because this is my "go to" place to ask smart people puzzling questions, I ask you:

What could you possibly do to make your wife leave the seat up for you?

Note: Young whippersnappers with false bravado need not respond. We are talking married 25 years with 3 kids puzzlement here...

Well, gotta dress up for a dinner out with friends. I await your response to this serious question, however, knowing my wife, the only way she would leave the seat up is to make me fall in...

:) (Obligatory smiley face needed here)

buckeye bob said...

Anon @ 5:12 –

I think you are confusing Spiders with Spyders.

Here is the Alfa Romeo Spider.

Alfa Romeo Spider

There are in fact Spyders, such as Porsche, Maserati, and Spyder itself. But the clue / answer seems correct to me.

Al Cyone said...

CED@5:52: "What could you possibly do to make your wife leave the seat up for you?"

I never understood why guys treated their home toilets as if they were urinals. They're not. Sit down like a human being. Relax. Read a book.

If you want to use a urinal, go to the bus station. Or the ballpark.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Another red-letter day for me. Very frustrating. Never heard of many of the answers.

HBTY Agnes and Brad! (Look in your mailboxes!)

Cheers!

Bill G. said...

A few hours back, I got a call from a friend of mine. He had scored some free tickets to today's Dodgers game. They were pretty high up but otherwise good. Close parking. But the Dodgers lost. Oh well...

River Doc said...

Happy Saturday everybody!

Puzzle kicked my derrière up one side and down the other. In other words, typical Silkie experience for me. Not complaining, just can never seem to get on Mr Silk's wavelength....

HBD to Abejo and Irish Miss...!

Finally, Bill G, maybe we could go to a Dodger / Giant game in the future....? But only if you will protect me in the parking lot....

CrossEyedDave said...

OMG! I think Al Cyone is a girl!

Lucina said...

BillG:
What's the story on your stop watch? I'm just curious.

PK said...

CED: For a number of years, I lived in a house with three big strapping males when my sons were teenagers. I left the seat up because it was easier to put it down for just me than to waste energy nagging them all. I learned to always feel to see if it was down when I went in on a dark night.

My DIL solved the problem by installing her own bathroom which her husband and sons aren't allowed to use.

Bill G. said...

RDoc, there was a gaggle of enthusiastic female Giants fans a couple of rows back. Wow, could they make noise! Really sad about that parking lot assault a couple of years back. There's no excuse for jerks like that.

Lucina, thanks for noticing. I bought that Hamilton Railway pocket watch from a local jeweler last week. It's about 90 years old. I don't know why I decided I wanted it but I did. It's a beautiful old mechanical mechanism. I just enjoy admiring it. It keeps good time; it gains about 15 seconds a day. I know it can be adjusted to do even better but I'm not sure if I can persuade the jeweler to fiddle with it like that. I'm not sure if I can see well enough or am skillful enough to fiddle with it myself.

Blue Iris said...

Happy Birthday, Agnes and Abejo!
Agnes, maybe your sister can make CED link for cake recipe sometime.

I thought about giving up at first glance, but then plugged away a little at a time. Hubby helped me with long sport and car fill-ins. I did notice that it would have been useful to live in the eastern states. It would be nice if they could see each other more often.

CED, thanks for Mt. Marcy hike. I have accepted the fact that my hiking days are over and enjoy living vicariously through you-tube experiences.

Our twins are both home this weekend. My daughter is hoping to find a job in KC, Wichita, etc. She just graduated with PhD in Toxicology and trying to be closer to home. My son graduates from Kansas State this Spring and has been accepted into graduate school and offered a job at KSU.

Blue Iris said...

BillG, my husband has always wanted a pocket watch. Your 90 yr old watch sounds like quite the find.

Maci45 said...

I'm in agreement with Bill G. I see Silk and I go straight to the blog just to see what the others think of it.
Watched the blimp over Dodger Stadium and was glad I wasn't in the traffic on Sunset.

Happy b'day to Abejo and Irish Miss!
The Hard Copy of the LAT has the big puzzle on Sunday, so I'll work on that and then look forward to Monday.

Blue Iris said...

Oh my, that " it would be nice if they could see each other more often" was suppose to be after the last paragraph. How did that happen?

Bill G. said...

Blue Iria, you can find other pocket watches like this on eBay so I'm sure you could find one for your husband. They are not that rare. The trouble is that you won't be sure about their mechanical condition. That's why I bought this one from a local jeweler rather than eBay. I'm sure I could find something similar and cheaper on eBay but I liked the idea of having a local jeweler I could depend on.

Mary, as you may already know, the hardcopy of the LA Times has the Merl Reagle puzzle on Sunday. It's usually a good one too but it won't be the one discussed in this blog.

Abejo said...

Good evening, folks. Thank you, Barry Silk, for one tough puzzle (as usual). Thank you, Splynter, for a fine review.

Well, I had an all day meeting today. Worked on the puzzle off and on. Got about 90 percent of it and decided to go for help. The NW corner did me in. Wanted to check in before midnight.

Really liked this puzzle. It was certainly challenging, but when I got the words they made sense.

Had BED FEATHERS for 54A. Finally BOA FEATHERS worked better.

Liked RCMP. That one took me a while. I was thinking of police in this country for quite a while.

AKRON OHIO appeared slowly. Got OHIO first, then AKRON after a couple perps made it obvious.

Tried PEUGEOT for 39D. Thought I was pretty clever to think of that. Not one of those letters worked. Eventually CITROEN became the answer. Lots of thinking to get there.

I have been over the EADS bridge at St. Louis. Remembered it.

BART STARR was easy. We had that recently.

Anyhow, I am done for the night. I mentioned that I had to look up a few. Given more time I may have beat this one.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. Also, to Irish Miss, nice to see we share a birthday. Enjoy your input, always. I will try to remember next year.

Thank you, C.C., for all you do. The photo was nice.

C.E.D.: I opened your link on the search. Unbelievable amount of pictures. Probably all tied to the crossword blog. One of those, the Shahyad Monument brings back many memories. Saw it in person many times near Mehrabad Airport.

This was a happy day for my birthday. My wife, daughter, her boyfriend, and I went to Outback for a nice dinner. It was great. Love the Bloomin' Onion.

On a sad note, I had two good friends pass away today. Knew them both for decades, in my fraternity.

See you all tomorrow.

Abejo

(1393 4249894)

Lemonade714 said...

I am getting old, happy birthday Irish Miss and ABEJO and many more

kjinkc said...

Splynter - I too am a B+. It's approx. only 9% of population have this type. My husband was A+ and I had hoped my daughter would be an AB, but alas she's just an A. How does that happen? I tell her there was a mix-up at the nursery...She doesn't see the humor in it.

Enjoyed your write-up. I lived in NYS for 10 years and went to Lake Placid several times and never heard of Mt. Marcy. Went to top of Mt. Washington on the cog railway but of course that was in another state.

HBD to the birthday folks. April 5 was my husband's bd in the year of '36.

Off to tackle Sunday's puzzle.