google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday April 13, 2014 C.C. Burnikel

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Apr 13, 2014

Sunday April 13, 2014 C.C. Burnikel

Theme: "Breaking Par" - Par bookends each theme entry.

23A. Schoolyard promise : PINKY SWEAR

25A. Engrossing read : PAGE TURNER
 
36A. Molson Golden, e.g. : PALE LAGER

38A. Milwaukee Brewer in the Hall of Fame : PAUL MOLITOR. He grew up here in Minnesota. Graduated from the same school as Joe Mauer. Played his last season with the Twins.
   

66A. Time honoree : PERSON OF THE YEAR

96A. Economical vacation option : PACKAGE TOUR

98A. Arctic denizen : POLAR BEAR

112A. One interpreting lines : PALM READER

114A. Nothing to be afraid of, really : PAPER TIGER
 
Now I see Rich saved this puzzle for the Masters' weekend. It was accepted earlier than the "Home, Sweet Home" puzzle I made with Lemonade.

PAUL MOLITOR was originally PARTY POOPER. As you can see, the first three letters is an intact PAR. This is the kind of mistake I hope I won't make in the future.

You can read my original clues here.

Across:

1. Have a big mouth? : GAPE

5. Power yoga aftermath : ACHE. I don't practice yoga, but a friend does.

9. Proud papa's present : CIGAR

14. Feature of a bad air day : SMOG.  Lots of bad air days in Beijing. Way too many coal & steel plants in areas surrounding Beijing.

18. Together, in scores : A DUE

19. Circular : ROUND

21. City near Kobe : OSAKA

22. Skateboarder Hawk : TONY. I confuse him with Bode Miller.

27. Liberal arts maj. : SOC

28. JFK's UN ambassador : AES (Adlai Ewing Stevenson). "Owen's Law" moment. Bad fill.

29. Skin care giant : MARY KAY

31. Workout portmanteau : TAE BO

32. On display : SHOWN

34. Puzzle-solving asset : LOGIC. And 1D. Flaws in 34-Across : GAPS

35. Dodge __ : CITY

44. In the thick of : AMID

45. Farm expanse : LEA

46. In jeopardy : AT STAKE

47. Tech sch. since 1824 : RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). Oh, Spitzboov & Splyner this is how much I love you two :-)

48. Pitching stats : WINS

49. Old vitamin label nos. : RDAs. Now replaced by RDI.

52. "Project Runway" topic : STYLE

53. Lancelot's strong suit? : MAIL

54. Scotch datum : AGE

55. Stays under the radar : LIES LOW

58. Celestial altar : ARA

59. Two-time Oscar winner Michael : CAINE

60. Add : TOSS IN

62. Toledo snacks : TAPAS. Steve sent me a picture of the beautiful Aria from his Hilton Elara suite. Don't think he will miss their famous tapas bar.
 
64. Showed serious anticipation : DROOLED

70. File holder : CABINET

73. Auctioned autos, often : REPOs

74. "Am I the only one?" : IS IT ME?

78. Takes it easy : LOLLS

79. Pvt. address : APO. Army Post Office.

82. Beaming : RADIANT

84. Dashed : RAN

85. Stuck in __ : A RUT

86. Surprised jerk : START. Oh, I like this clue. Rich's of course.

88. February Revolution victim : TSAR

89. They're in one year and out the other : FADS

90. Sault __ Marie : STE

91. Some sightings : SAUCERS

93. Dakota, to Elle : SIB. Fanning. Elle towers over her older sister.


95. Chevy subcompact : AVEO

100. Dinner crumbs : ORTs

101. Have leftovers for dinner, e.g. : EAT IN

103. Bridal accessories : VEILS

104. Spread apart : SPLAY

106. Sticks it out : HANGS ON

109. Opening night nightmare : PAN

110. National Pizza Mo. : OCT. We'll celebrate then! Hopefully Dave will be in his pizza making mood.

117. "Dies __" : IRAE

118. Crepes for Putin : BLINI

119. Skyy shelfmate, familiarly : STOLI

120. Dior fragrance : DUNE



121. Alaska, once: Abbr. : TERR

122. Lisa of "Enemy of the State" : BONET

123. Role for Skippy : ASTA

124. Hunt for : SEEK

Down:

2. "Hasta la vista, pal!" : ADIOS AMIGO

3. They make you laugh, hopefully : PUNCH LINES

4. "A mouse!" : EEK

5. Weapons center : ARSENAL

6. Milk sources : COWS

7. Jade or ruby : HUE. Did you want GEM also?

8. Win over : ENAMOR

9. Mimics : COPYCATS

10. "Out of Africa" author Dinesen : ISAK

11. "Do What U Want" Lady : GAGA

12. Play __ role in : A KEY

13. First animal in the Chinese zodiac : RAT. Rich did his research. He always does. See here. Pig is the last. I'm a pig. What are you? Click on the year, let me know if the descriptions fit you.

14. Low-hanging clouds : STRATI

15. Laundering evidence : MONEY TRAIL

16. Seat usually in first class : ONE B

17. Athens street food : GYRO

20. Wet blanket : DRAG

24. Two-master : YAWL

26. Serviceable : UTILE

30. TV morning co-host : RIPA (Kelly)

33. Hefty refs. : OEDs (Oxford English Dictionary)

34. Results in : LEADS TO

35. "Life Begins Here" sloganeer : COKE

36. Probe in a catlike way : PAW AT

37. "Chicago" star : GERE (Richard)

39. Court org. : USTA. Tennis court.

40. "Star Trek" meas. : LT-YR (Light-years)

41. Affliction : MALADY

42. Speak out : OPINE

43. In a lather : RILED

50. Hooper's Store proprietor on "Sesame Street" : ALAN. No idea. Never watched "Sesame Street".

51. Deep sleep : SOPOR

53. One of New Zealand's official languages : MAORI

55. Legal claims : LIENS

56. Concerning, to a dictator? : IN RE. Dictation dictator.

57. Thin cookie : WAFER

59. Vacation destination : COAST

61. In need of mopping up : SPILT

63. Mar. honoree : ST. PAT

65. Silver checker : REIN.  Lone Ranger's horse Silver.

67. Great Sphinx, e.g. : STATUE

68. Mortar carriers : HODS

69. "The NFL Today" analyst : ESIASON (Boomer)

70. Hold tight : CLASP

71. Vital line : AORTA

72. Like Jeff Foxworthy's "Comedy Tour" : BLUE COLLAR. Never saw the show. Rich's clue.

75. Picture-packed presentation : TRAVELOGUE. Thought of Kazie.

76. Acted out publicly : MADE A SCENE

77. Belgian artist James : ENSOR. Learned from doing xwords.

80. Peace talks goal : PACT

81. Snack that's been a kosher food since 1998 : OREO

83. Seed cover : ARIL. Foodies all call pomegranate seeds as arils. This word won't be a crosswordese once the term gains steam, like Umami. Just remember, Uma= Delicious. Mi= Taste.


86. Droops : SAGS

87. John Wayne classic : TRUE GRIT

89. Teo of Formula One fame : FABI. Definitely "Owen's Law" moment. We need a more famous Fabi.

91. Creature seen on some antique wine cups : SATYR

92. Mmes., in La Mancha : SRAs

94. State bordering Austria : BAVARIA

97. "Seinfeld" goofball : KRAMER. Nuts.

98. Party gift holder : PINATA

99. Let : RENT

102. The best, or bests : TOPS

104. Patio cooking aid : SPIT

105. Rid of rind : PARE

106. California baseball cap image : HALO. Angels.


107. Court edge : AD IN

108. Island goose : NENE.  Hawaii's state bird.

109. Hit with hail, say : PELT

111. Slog : TREK

113. Dwindle : EBB

115. +, on a batt. : POS (Positive)

116. Verification docs : IDS

C.C.


58 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Perfectly serviceable puzzle from our dear leader today, but I have to admit to finding it a bit on the dull side. The theme didn't appear correctly in the application (I could only see "Breaking Pa") and, since "Breaking Par" means exactly nothing to me anyway, I didn't guess it. I got as far as noticing that all the theme answers started with P, but that was it.

I got hung up at the end with the crossing of PAUL MOLITOR (who?) with COKE and STRATI. I wasn't sure if it should be STRATA or STRATI and had never heard that particular slogan for COKE before. Plus, I was looking for a model of Dodge automobile for 35A, so CITY didn't leap out at me. I did eventually make the Dodge CITY connection, which got me COKE, and then correctly guessed at STRATI to get MOLITOR.

That was it for drama. Everything else was pretty standard fare.

HeartRx said...

Good morning C.C. et al.

Unlike Barry G., I really enjoyed this one. I noticed the theme right away, and smiled to think that C.C. had deliberately intended for this to be a Masters Tournament puzzle homage. But of course, Rich would be the one to think of that. He's a great golfer, and I bet he's watching the tournament this weekend!

No problems with the solve, as I went from north to south pretty much in one pass of both across and down clues. Thanks for a fun start to Masters Sunday - it should be declared a national holiday, IMO!!

Al Cyone said...

A nice, satisfying Sunday puzzle with lots of clever (i.e. unusual) clues but, alas, no "TaDa!". A long typo hunt was unsuccessful so, at my self-imposed thirty-minute time limit, I turned on the red letters. Turns out I had HANGS IN instead of HANGS ON (and I never noticed that TOPS would have made more sense than TIPS).

So, close but no CIGAR.

[DNF]

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Lately a C.C. has been my nemesis. This one makes it three in a row. To quote Tevye, "Unheard of, absurd!" But true.

I went with STRATA and NIKE where COKE should have been, so the dude was PAUL MILATOR. Worked for me. And to make matters worse, like Al Cyone, I had HANGS IN and never read the down clue -- TIPS looked good. Bzzzzt! It was not my most auspicious moment, to say the least.

I hope you fared better.

Middletown Bomber said...

great Puzzle and write-up from CC for this Sunday. Like Barry I only saw the theme as Breaking PA. But as a baseballer in my youth I got Paul Molitor after I realized Robin Yount was a no go. Was able to pause inorder to think about clues as I am in the process of making chicken stock for my Matzo Ball soup for tomorrow's Passover Sedar. Happy Passover for all those who celebrate/observe; as well as a Happy Easter to all of those who celebrate.

buckeye bob said...

Thank you for the puzzle and the review, C.C.

Hand up for could only see “Breaking Pa”, so the theme didn’t help me.

What Al Cyone said, except I turned on red letter help to find HANGS IN / TIPS after 45 minutes.

Favorite clue / answer was 53A Lancelot's strong suit? : MAIL.

There were a number of unknowns, such as TONY Hawk, Elle and Dakota SIBs, DUNE, ALAN Hooper, ENSOR, FABI, but the perps helped me get them.

All in all, a good challenge and fun to solve.

TTP said...

Good morning all !

I caught on to the theme, despite the missing R in the title. That helped auto fill the P in PINKY and PALE.

No problem with PAUL MOLITOR. He had a great eye and bat control. I believe over 3100 hits, and I heard that Derek Jeter just passed him in career hits. Like Middletown, I first mentally spelled out Robin Yount, another favorite.

Like D-O and Al, no tada here either, and I didn't spot them. 3 errors when the game was changed to regular. Had a C as a remnant of icK in EEK. My Seed Cover was an ARuL so Dakota's sister was a SuB. ??? And finally, I hit the adjacent L rather than the K at the intersection of SEEK and TREK.

CC, thank you for a wonderful puzzle and write up this morning. In the words of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, to answer your 13D query,
I'm a monkey
I'm a monkey
I'm a monkey man
I'm a monkey man
I'm a monkey...

Great lyricists ?

Part of it fits, and it nailed my job role !

Back to the drywall mudding. Have to get this coat on before the Masters television coverage begins later today.

LaLaLinda said...

Hi All ~~

I had such fun solving this ~ thanks, C.C. for a terrific puzzle and write-up! The "Breaking Par" title gave away the starts of the theme answers but I don't think it was necessary to fill them in.

All went smoothly, with just enough to pause at to make it interesting.

~ Write-overs: Mitt before SPIT, Orate before OPINE and Gem / HUE.

~ ENSOR would be an unknown regardless of whose clue was used. :-)

~ Favorites: 33D - Hefty refs. / OEDS (I was thinking of Sumo wrestling - hah), and 56D - Concerning to a dictator / IN RE. I also liked Rich's clues for 86A and 89A, and DROOLED was most unexpected and fun!

~ As I filled in 69D, I thought - Another Boomer!

~ I thought of Bill G. with the LIES LOW answer - it's likely that 'Lays low' is a common mistake.

Thanks for an enjoyable Sunday morning workout, C.C.!

thehondohurricane said...


Good morning,

Decided to take a day off and attempt to solve a Sunday puzzle. Glad i did because I ,like Marti, enjoyed it.

Other then the P, I never picked up on the theme because I never remember it's Identified on Sunday.

PINKY SWEAR was a question mark, but the perps were solid, so I acquiesced to it. PAUL MOLITOR took a nano second or two after realizing Robin Yount wouldn't fit. Can't even remember off hand if Robin is a HOF'er.

FABI, TAEBO, RDAT, TOPOR, and BLUE COLLAR were all not-to-sure-ofs for me, but they eventually proved out.

TRUE GRIT got John the Oscar he so much deserved, but there were other movies of his I enjoyed as much, especially those with a bit of comedy. John and Maureen O'Hara were as good together as Tracy & Hepburn, IMO.

Back to the grind. Hope to be back up before the end of next week. By the way, if anyone is in the Hartford area today, at 4:00 PM, there will be a parade honoring a couple of pretty good basketball teams. Need I say to whom I am referring?



Yellowrocks said...

I could only see Breaking PA,for the title too. I realized that the theme answers began with P and ended with R, so I sussed PAR which helped a lot.
I enjoyed the misdirections: Silver checker/REIN, Lancelot's strong suit/ MAIL, Pvt. address/APO. Many clues were unusual and interesting.

Thanks for the great puzzle and expo, CC. I looks like many of your clues survived the edit. I liked your Party animal/PINATA better than Party gift holder. The loose candy in the pinata doesn't strike me as a gift, but I guess you could stretch to go there.

I had BLUE for Foxworthy and kept thinking of his BLUE language, so COLLAR took a while DOH!

I'm an OX. I am not particular;y skillful with my hands. Otherwise the description is okay.

Splynter said...

Hi there~!

I, too, could only read "Breaking Pa-", and so I ended up getting the theme by actually solving the puzzle first.

Hand up for no "ta-Da~!" because I missed hangs In, and not hangs On....

I am a PIG in the Chinese horoscope, and the description is pretty much spot-on~!

Splynter

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I enjoyed this puzzle but I had more write-overs than usual: sis/sib, gem/hue, eras/wins, ram/rat, grasp/clasp, strata/strati, etc. But I finished w/o help, albeit in almost an hour.

Thanks, CC, for doing double duty with such detail. You continue to amaze me with the breadth of your knowledge in such varied areas. Brava!

Congratulations to our local Union College hockey team for winning their first National Championship last night. This achievement is even more impressive as Union doesn't offer any athletic scholarships and the tuition is $60,000+ per year.

Have a relaxing Sunday.

Big Easy said...

Well, it's Master's Sunday. Let's see who in the final groups can BREAK PAR. I hope it's Kuchar( who blew it last week on the last hole) or the young kid Jonathan Spieth. Anyway, I shot par on this puzzle, which is something I'll never be able to do on a course. It took longer than usual due to some nice misdirected clues. So many options GEM or HUE, ERAS or WINS LAZES or LOLLS START or SPASM TRATA or STRATI and some unknowns that were solved by perps. BLINI DUNE ENDOR FABI. The clue on 8D 'win over' had me writing ENDEAR as I have always heard ENAMORed as to be GAGA over. My mind was thinking cars with the clue DODGE and I was thinking OMNI or NEON or BALL, not Kansas. When my brain starts moving in one direction, it doesn't want to change. One of these days I will remember how to spell ISAK and know the difference between ANIL and ARIL.

So the RADIANT constructor and reviewer had a lot ATSTAKE on this Sunday so I think she should be nominated as PERSONOFTHEYEAR.

Husker Gary said...

Two things were crunchier than usual this morning: CC’s lovely puzzle about my great white whale of breaking par and the cherry turnovers that I baked that came out, uh, slightly past golden brown.

Musings
-After this cover, buh, bye Time for me
-My proud papa gifts
-AES’s famous UN “until hell freezes over” speech (2:21) begins at 0:59.
-There are several of these MARY KAY cars in our town
-Sheldon’s take on RDA vitamins (:29)
-Joann cleaned out our file CABINET last week. Bye, bye receipts from 1975.
-“Am I the only one?” Anons – It’s not us it’s you.
-FADS? I’ve owned bell bottoms, a Nehru jacket, gold chains, earth shoes, double knit pants, wide ties…
-SAUCERS is not a WEAK SAUCE fill
-My friends and I now just say the PUNCH LINE like “Hit the ball, drag Bill, hit the ball, drag Bill…”
-Major Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter when his ARSENAL bldg caught on fire
-Why is the politician ENAMORED of that idea? Follow the MONEY TRAIL
-GERE’s “Office and a Gentleman” is a fav for this boy born into poverty
-The Boomer Esiason Foundation offices in the World Trade Center were empty on 9/11/01
-Kosher? All my Jewish friends love bacon and meat on Friday ain’t sending me to hell
-What top ten 1962 song has this lyric, “One little wrong LEADS TO another”

Barry G. said...

Oh, yeah -- I am a horse (of course, of course).

My son, Joshua, is a Monkey (but just barely, since his birthday is at the end of January just before the start of the new year). I've always felt a bit sorry for him, because we've always told him that he's a monkey, but Chinese restaurant place mats will forever be telling him he is a chicken instead.

HeartRx said...

I forgot to say - I'm a rabbit. So I guess Einstein is in some pretty good company, eh?

OwenKL said...

DNF. 38a et loci RIpA ✜ pAuLMo LiTOR ✜ uSTA were naticks, and coKE ✜ cITY ✜ STRATi would have been too, without red letters. I was expecting a tourist place instead of COKE, thought the plural of stratus was STRATA, and after Dodge BALL and DUTY didn't pan out, was expecting a car model. For the rest, WEES.

62a I was thinking Toledo, Ohio, and wondered what a Mexican dish was doing there. Even though I'm in New Mexico, I don't think I've ever seen tapas on a menu here, and I didn't really know what they were, though I see them in crosswords a lot. So I looked it up in my dictionary: the inner bark of the mulberry tree, or the cloth made from it. Hmm, that can't be right. Check an online dictionary: [Hinduism] Religious austerity. No, try again: [French] tap dance, tap-dancer, tap dancing. Fourth time's the charm?: [Cookery] a. light snacks or appetizers, usually eaten with drinks; b. (as modifier): a tapas bar. [from Spanish tapa cover, lid] How did it go from lids to hors d'oeuvres?

Tiger, but the description bears little resemblance.

Anonymous said...

Meet James Ensor...

Belgium's famous painter!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRggbAsmUUc

VirginiaSycamore said...

I liked this puzzle as a nice Sunday morning break. I did use red letters and cycled around letting WAGS help me.

I am old school, Mr. Hooper ran his store. I think Alan took over when Mr. Hooper passed (both the actor and the character). I think they handled it on the show.

I learned about R.P.I. in the nonfiction book, The Great Bridge, by David McCullough. John and son Washington Roebling, built it, the father dying from tetanus in the early stages of pre-construction.

The son had gone to R.P.I. before the Civil War. The book mentioned R.P.I. as a really tough school with some student suicides each year.

Argyle said...

Link

Lucina said...

Good day, C.C. and all! C.C., I believe Big Easy said it well, you should be PERSON OF THE YEAR! Good job on this one and fun to solve as well.

It was a slow and gentle sashay today and for some reason I have heard of Boomer ESIASON but not PAUL MOLITOR who was MOLOTOR for me since STRATI didn't make it.

All else fell in easily. I liked Silver checker, REIN and Lancelot's strong suit, MAIL especially. Very clever clues.

What is "Owen's Law?"

And today is Master's Sunday? For me, it' s Passion or Palm Sunday.
I'm sorry, Marti, but it wouldn't get my vote as a national holiday.

PACKAGE TOUR and TRAVELOGUE are dear to me, too, as I have that wander lust.

In the Chinese table I am an ox and being in excellent health makes me strong as one, I suppose.

Have a stupendously great Sunday, everyone!

KentuckyKate said...

Thank you CC for the Master's puzzle. Was a bit of a puzzlement as the theme answers seemed too easy and some of the fill pretty tough. But worked all the way through and the only error in the end HalO/BOnet. I had an E and couldn't figure out why HALE would be insignia and my baseball-loving DH didn't get it, either, (but I don't think he concentrates much on my questions.

Big question: "Portmanteau" for Tae bo? that would be a gym bag (or some such). I suppose Rich used it because of the combined arts, but I think it's a bad clue. And I agree with Yellowrocks as to PINATA.

Otherwise, loved clues for REIN, INRE. Thank you from this TIGER. (I can see some connections in the description).

Lucina said...

OwenKL:
Re: TAPAS. In Spanish, yes, tapas are covers and they are small breads "covered" with all sorts of delicious foods, such as sauteed mushrooms, grilled veggies and other good stuff.

In Spain they are available in bars but be warned: the price depends on whether you stand or
sit.

Yellowrocks said...

A tapa is a lid or cover. In the early days of tapas, a slice of cheese or ham was given with your drink and placed over top of it. There is some debate over why exactly this was done:
To keep out the flies.
To hide the smell of the bad wine.
To keep the wind from blowing your drink everywhere.
Most likely it was to keep out the fruit flies. Over time this "cover" evolved into fancier snacks.

Wiki gives an interesting discussion about why TAPAS covered drinks. Glasses of sherry were covered with a slice of bread, cheese or ham to keep the fruit flies out of the drink. Check out TAPAS in Wiki in the Etymology section..

Yellowrocks said...

A portmanteau word is formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two or more other words. Also known as a blend.

A portmanteau word fuses both the
sounds and the meanings of its components, as in smog, coined by blending smoke and fog, or motel, from motor and hotel.

The name Tae Bo is a portmanteau of tae kwon do and boxing. Furthermore it is a bacronym for:
T-otal commitment to whatever you do
A-wareness of yourself and the world
E-xcellence, the truest goal in anything you do
(the) B-ody as a force for total change
O-bedience to your will and your true desire for change

Bill G. said...

CC, as I would expect by now, I enjoyed the PAR puzzle and writeup. Thanks for everything you do.

At the gentle urging of Lucina and YR yesterday, I printed out this puzzle and tackled it with pencil. Probably a bad idea to start with a big Sunday puzzle. I really liked the feeling of satisfaction when certain words came together for an AHA! The smaller print was hard to read. All in all it was a good experience. I think I will try pencil and paper on Monday through Thursday or Friday and leave Saturday and big Sundays for the computer. I appreciate the encouragement.

I'm a snake and as in all things horoscopic, part of the description fits me to a tee and part of it doesn't. It's all in good fun unless you start to let it influence your life in a serious way. Nancy Reagan and some others come to mind.

Al Cyone said...

KentuckyKate@11:04: A portmanteau is a word made by combining two (or more) words. Tae Bo is formed from tae kwon do and boxing. Though I suppose one could argue that Tae Bo is (are?) two words.

emjay said...

Great writeup and puzzle, C.C. IMHO, especially in light of the connection to the Masters, your 1 down clue of "Missing links" is better than Rich's.
How did you come up with the idea of breaking par? It's always interesting to know where inspiration comes from. And I love seeing your original clues.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Succeeded in pulling off a no-peeky, but it was a long pull today. Lots of unknowns that were a tad hard to perp.

Morning, C.C., thanks for another big Sunday. I'm a pig too, but the description is only a so-so match for me, as far as I can tell. The biggest divergence is probably tolerance. I don't (usually) suffer fools gladly.

We're inching toward Tuesday's Meeting of the Minds. We hope the day is nice enough for folks to gather on the porch, but the forecast suggests otherwise. C.C., do you ever get out East? If so, we hope you can visit.

KentuckyKate said...

Yellowrocks @ 11:34 and Al Cycone @ 11:35. Many thanks for the clarification. Clearly, my previous "portmanteau" references have been limited to ancient French novels. When I checked the definition, I looked at the Merriam Webster one and only the first definition showed up on my screen. Since it matched my understanding, I didn't go further. Shame on me.

Thank you for taking the time on this clarification and all the other ones you do. They are one of the things make this blog a regular visit after working the puzzles.

River Doc said...

Happy Sunday everybody!

Pretty much WEES. Technical DNF today, due to two squares incorrect, but all the themes were revealed eventually....

PAPER TIGER - good book by George Plimpton, not so good movie with ALAN Alda....

Hands up for thinking of Robin Yount at first....

Finally, speaking of baseball, this (rally?) monkey went to his first game at Angels Stadium yesterday. The HALOs ended up losing in 13....

Steve said...

Very nice! I thought Rich would have known to put this alongside Master's weekend.

I go the theme early and was saved by the crosses in quite a few places - Paul Molitor was the last theme fill for me.

Appropriately, C.C. it was TAPAS that was my final fill - I'd had SONOR first and TANAS wasn't going to cut it. And yes, I did eat at Julian Serrano's restaurant in the Aria, one my my favorite dining spots in Las Vegas!

Spitzboov said...

Good afternoon everyone.

Finally got 'er done. Enjoyable and it had a 'mature' feeling. Great theme for this weekend. Paused at 94d BAVARIA. In US English, state can mean 'country' which Austria is one of. But waited until the V showed up and entered Bavaria. In Germany, the states are called Länder. Good clue inviting at least a brief mis-direction.
47a, Nice RPI shoutout. Here are 2 RPI alumni.
79a, APO. The Navy equivalent is FPO (Fleet Post Office.)

81º here for awhile this afternoon.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Very meaty and challenging puzzle, but satisfying. Bravo, C.C.! Very fitting to have our Master Puzzle Maker featured on the final day of the Masters.

Just when I thought I had the PA theme figured out, along came PE, PI & PO, so I had to look at it longer & came up with AHA.

Duh of the Day: I persisted in parsing 55A as LIE SLOW, having the SLOW filled first. Decided it must be because going fast in a car would attract cops. DUH!

Does DUNE sound like a funny name for a fragrance to anyone else? Or IS IT ME? Who wants to smell like a sand hill? Didn't know ENSOR, FABI, PAUL MOLITAR, ESIASON.

Never noticed the HALO on the big A for Angels. Never looked that often.

Big storms PELTing some areas nearby with hail. So far they've gone around us here, but I hear thunder. Oops, now it's pouring rain.

Jeff Foxworthy doesn't use BLUE language. His humor can be watched with one's children. BLUE COLLAR refers to working man humor.

PK said...

Snake is my sign. However, I am not malicious although being truthful sometimes seems like it. I do tend to be solitary.

When I could still travel alone, I loved PACKAGE TOURS.

Unknown said...

Great puzzle, even though I had two cells wrong. The theme didn't appear on the Yahoo LA Times version, and I never remember to look for the theme as I'm doing the puzzle. Thus, I didn't look for breaking par. Ensor and Fabi were completely unknown names. I had Ensol and Fasi, which made my across entry POLAR SEAL. Thought that was possible. Oh, well. Tomorrow's another day.

Argyle said...

FYI: Cruciverb Archives are back online.

Lucina said...

BillG:
Good for you! I hope you enjoyed your paper solve today which was, in fact, a good puzzle for that, IMHO.

PK:
I was reluctant to fill DUNE as the name of a fragrance and thought just as you did, who wants to smell like sand?

Yellowrocks said...

PK, In the past I have frequently enjoyed Foxworthy's very clean act on TV. I liked his You know you are a redneck when... and his Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader. I mistakenly thought he was one of those clean cut TV guys who have a blue alternate persona at clubs. Researching him I see he really is a clean cut, regular guy all of the time. So refreshing. Thanks for your input.
PK and Lucina, I never heard of Dune fragrances either. It seems a strange name. I crossed my fingers and left it in.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I liked this puzzle, but found it to be rather difficult. I couldn't "click" with the Jumble today, either, so maybe it's just me. I'm a snake and the horoscope describes me pretty accurately. However, I have long ago grown out of the jealousy and possessiveness I had as a youth. My jealousy and possessiveness, if they can be called that any more, are now aroused only in matters of being given credit where credit is due. I totally hate it when somebody steals an idea of mine and calls it is own. I am also overly sensitive to matters of fairness and get overly upset when I see injustice. Best wishes to you all.

Bill G. said...

Oooh! I just got this from a retired English-teacher friend of mine.

Grammar: The difference between knowing your sh%t and knowing you're sh%t.

PK said...

Fellow snake Jayce, I can't stand injustice either.

I'm not really a jealous person which was to my benefit when my husband's eye would stray. I'd laugh at him and joke him out of doing anything rash. (Whew!)

The only time I could stand someone taking credit for my idea was when I could convince a local politician to think it was his own idea to do something that badly needed doing. Being quietly influential was a satisfying next to best.

Irish Miss said...

I, too, found Dune a strange name for perfume and I've never heard of it.

Jayce, I am also a Snake and while I'm neither prone to jealousy nor possessiveness, I share your deep-rooted sense of fairness and I have no tolerance for injustice or unequal treatment of anyone.

Bill G @ 4:51 - Funny! :-)

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C. (again) for a fine review.

Got started early, but went to church. Then went to see Shrek the Musical and worked on the puzzle before and after the show. Then finished it home.

That musical, at the local high school, was outstanding!

Same for the puzzle.

I could not get started in the North at all, so I headed South. Started at the bottom and worked up. My first word was IRAE for 117A. Then SPIT and PARE appeared. And, off yo the races!

First theme was PAPER TIGER. I had the theme Breaking Par because I use the newspaper, now that I can no longer get Cruciverb. I am going to have to look into that.

ADIOS AMIGO was easy. Finally a foreign answer that I could easily figure out. Give me something in Farsi sometime.

Liked CIGAR for 9A. I have two children and gave cigars at both their births. My second involved more cigars because I was involved with a group that smoked them at their meetings So, I bought about a hundred dollars worth for that group. Now we cannot smoke cigars at the meetings because of Illinois laws. That's OK.

Took me a while to get STATUE for some reason.

Had PIERRE SALINGER, the initials, for 28A. I was thinking of Secretary of State. Finally got AES after I read the Clue again. Not even sure if Salinger was a Secretary of State, but I think he was.

Liked the Pomegranate photo in the write-up. I love those. We called them Anar for three years.

I did not get Friday's or Saturday's done. Too busy. Maybe I will get them later.

Off to band rehearsal tonight. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

(99949244 204)

Spitzboov said...

Re: Chinese Zodiac. I seem to have been born in a year of the Tiger. Finally drilled down to a description of Tigers and I would say it is quite apt in my case. I don't normally do zodiac stuff, so the observations were interesting.

Jayce said...

A hearty handshake to my fellow snakes.

Anonymous said...

What is the sign for the grammar snobs ?

JD said...

Good evening C.C.,

Another try with my millionth new password. Google doesn't like my iPad when it travels..and I think I know why it wouldn't accept any ...my phone was always off when they wanted to confirm that I was not an intruder.

Loved your CW today . Drooled mad me laugh. No par for me...more like a snowman.I find it amazing that I always have a long list of brand new words, and then there is the list of words we know but take a letter to jar the memory.

Any other goats/sheep? I avoid decision making, would be happy with no material goods, and love nature.

Kudos to Lemonade!....and you too, C.C. It is pretty exciting every morning to see whose puzzle we get.

JD said...

WOO HOO!!!!

CanadianEh! said...

Very late to the party today. Started the puzzle on paper last night and completed this afternoon but didn't get here til now. Thanks C.C. for puzzle and explanations!

I saw the theme with PINKY SWEAR but then wanted P at front and AR at the end until PAUL MOLITOR straightened me out. I did know him because he was a Toronto Blue Jay (1993 to 95) and helped them win their 2nd World Championship in 93.

Hand up for GEM. Lovely SPILT milk again. MOLSON GOLDEN or Molsen Canadian - which is better?

I'm a rabbit along with Marti.

kjinkc said...

HG - I don't think you got an answer to your music question. How about Gene McDaniels - Chip Chip? Some of his tunes I liked better were 'Tower of Strength' and 'Hundred Pounds of Clay'.

Dodge City came easily as I spent a few days there when #2 son was recruited to play football at St. Mary of the Plains. He ended up not liking it there...I think it must have been the noise. The 3 days I was there, the wind never stopped blowing. I guess in time your would get used to it, but it made me feel a bit disoriented (ok, I give, it made me feel CRAZY).

Tony Hawk was easy as one of my grandsons is a skateboarder and was huge fan of his.

Michael Caine has been a fav of mine ever since 'Alfie'.

Silver Checker - best clue of the day IMO.

Nene a gimme as I lived in Honolulu during a 6-month contract and RPI was just across the river from Latham where I lived for 9 years.

I am a rooster...Chinese Horoscope

Passionate, Resilient, Patriotic, Industrious, Courageous, Protective
-----------------
Conceited, Blunt, Rude, Bossy, Aggressive, Impatient

Mostly true except I don't think I'm rude or conceited, however I am very impatient.

CC - great Sunday puzzle and writeup. Thanks for all you do and I concur with BigEasy for "Person of the Year" award.

Bill G. said...

Growing up in Virginia, our yard was about 1.5 acres and had lots of dogwood trees. They would be flowering and beautiful this time of year. I was watching the Masters in Augusta, Georgia and kept noticing azaleas and dogwood trees in the background. Here is what one tree in my yard in Virginia might have looked like. Dogwood trees

kjinkc said...

Bill G. in re 'dogwood trees'. We have them in our subdivision lining every street. They sit on every property line between the sidewalks and the street. They started blooming 2 days ago and with luck will bloom for about 10 days. This year is looking so good as we have the forecast is calling for snow around 3AM(another reference to my fav song, but I digress). What with rain, hail and high winds today, we'll be lucky if they survive for a week, but still they are beautiful. BTW, this is the Missouri State Tree.

kjinkc said...

Correction - This year is NOT looking so good for lasting blooms on dogwoods.

Bill G. said...

kjinkc, I would love to see your street in bloom. I sure have fond memories of our yard in the spring. Depending on the temperature and other conditions, sometimes the leaves would come out about the same time as the blossoms and the trees were white and green. However, the prettiest conditions were when the blooms preceded the leaves and the trees were all white. Then there are the red berries in the fall.

Bill G. said...

Lucina, I finished the Monday puzzle on paper easily. Thanks for your encouragement. BTW, it reminded me of something you've commented on in the past. :>)

kjinkc said...

BillG - My photo skills are sketchy however, once the rain/snow stops, I'll see what I can do. And yes, in the Fall, the dreaded berries. I say that because we get them all over the sidewalks and our shoes and track into the house if we're not careful.

OwenKL said...

Lucina: I was interested in seeing how someone else would respond, but it looks like no takers. So, what C.C. has named Owen's Law is from one of my limericks (3/13/14):
The crossword Ted made had no flaw.
Its perfection would hold all in awe.
But the editor said nope,
There's a Reg. that it broke;
Every puzzle must have nits, it's a LAW!