google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, April 10, 2014 Jeffrey Wechsler

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Apr 10, 2014

Thursday, April 10, 2014 Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: "BERRY nice puzzle!"

This is a "definition" type theme with no revealing entry or unifier.  All of the theme clues are types of berries, but the answers are not.

17-Across. RASPBERRY : SOUND OF DERISIONHere's a quick lesson on how to get it just right. 1:49

26-Across. BLACKBERRY : WIRELESS DEVICE.  And we also have 11-Across. 26-Across download : APP.

43-Across. HUCKLEBERRY : TWAIN CHARACTER. The inimitable Finn.

56-Across. STRAWBERRY : REDDISH SKIN MARK. Also known as a "hemangioma," they usually appear at birth and often fade with time.

Two fifteens and two fourteens allow for some freedom in the fill. Some nice long down entries with A BIT SIMPLE and Dracula's WIDOW'S PEAK. Other nice shorter entries made this a pleasant diversion from the trials and tribulations of life...

Across:

1. "Find your own road" automaker : SAAB.

5. Bitter disagreement : STRIFE. If it escalates, it might become armed.

14. Minuscule lake plant : ALGA.

15. Wee hr. : FOUR AM. One or two AM? - too short. Three AM? - too long. FOUR AM - juuuust right!

16. Dude : BRO.

20. Vampire's bane : STAKE.

21. T-man, e.g. : FED.

22. Courageous : GUTSY.

23. Hermey of TV's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," e.g. : ELF. He wanted to be a dentist.

25. Take out : ERASE.

32. Newtonian elements? : FIGS. Fun misdirection.  They now have STRAWBERRY and Triple BERRY Newtons, but I still like the Fig Newtons best.

33. Is ready for business : OPENS.

34. Big runners : EMUS. Early week puzzles would have some kind of reference to "down under."

35. Bustle : ADO.

36. Natural resource : ORE.

37. Educational org. : PTA.

38. Chloé fragrance maker : COTY.

Imogen Poots - one of the faces of Chloé

40. Good-sized chamber ensemble : OCTET.

42. Baseball family name : ALOU. Even I, baseball-challenged as I am, remembered this family.

46. Goal line play : SNEAK. The quarterback sneak. The ball is snapped as usual, but instead of passing it off to another player, the QB himself dives for the goal line.  Usually done on 4th down and short yardage. Bart Starr used one to win the game in the 1967 NFL Championship.

47. Kitchen tool : POT.

48. Like wasted milk in Westminster : SPILT. American English spells spilt "spilled."

49. Its HQ is named for George Bush : CIA. The George Bush Center for Intelligence.

52. Schisms and chasms : RIFTS.

59. __ kwon do : TAE.

60. Sherlock Holmes' instrument : VIOLIN.

61. Small case : ETUI.

62. Wanted-poster letters : AKAAlso Known As...

63. Use : EXPEND.

64. Percolate : SEEP.


Down:

1. Fresh answers, say : SASS. Nice misdirection.

2. Oodles : A LOT.

3. Lago contents : AGUA. Spanish lago = lake, agua = water.

4. Ones showing varying amounts of interest? : BANKERS.

5. Facility about 350 miles NW of LAX : SFO. San Francisco International Airport.

6. Beau Brummel, for one : TOFF. Derogatory British word for an aristocrat.

7. Brusque : RUDE.

8. Steamed : IRED.

9. Word with cry or out : FAR.

10. Future citizen, perhaps : EMIGRÉ. C.C. was an emigré from China, and got her U.S. citizenship on June 2nd, 2010.

11. Not particularly challenging : A BIT SIMPLE.

12. "Law & Order" figure : PROSECUTOR.

13. County fair mount : PONY.

18. Mark of rejection : DELE. Editor's rejection, that is.

19. Like James Bond : SUAVE.

24. Ubiquitous insurance spokeswoman : FLO. She annoys me.

25. To whom reporters report: Abbr. : EDs. Editors, who sometimes reject their entire story...

26. Dracula feature : WIDOW'S PEAK. Nice fill.

27. Brainstorming cry : I GOT AN IDEA. Nit: Technically, "got" is the past tense. You might say, "While we were brainstorming yesterday, I got an idea." But during the actual session, you should cry "I have an idea!" You could even use colloquial English and say "I've got an idea!" But I GOT is just poor English. Unless you're Spike Lee, and then you can say "He Got Game!"

28. Historical segment : EPOCH.

29. Simmons competitor : SERTA. Sealy also fit. Just sayin'...

30. Show contempt : SNEER.

31. Son of Isaac : ESAU.

32. Fundamental of science : FACT.

39. Harvest output : YIELD.

40. Spider-Man nemesis Doc __ : OCK.


41. Select : TAP. You can tap a friend for a loan. In that case, you probably should select one who is both generous and rich.

42. Occasionally : AT TIMES.

44. From around here : NATIVE.

45. Podiatrist's concern : CORN.

48. Mlle., in Monterrey : SRTA. Abbrs. for mademoiselle and señorita.

49. Recipe verb : CHOP.

50. Cruise destination : ISLE.

51. Related : AKIN.

53. You've got it coming : FATE. Do you believe in FATE? 54-Down. "No argument here" : TRUE.

55. Ignore : SKIP.

57. Pack quantity : SIX. Six pack. Beer or abs.

58. Senator Sanders of Vt., on ballots : IND.ependent.

So now I'll take my leave, and see you next Thursday!

Marti


67 comments:

OwenKL said...

There once was a fellow named Barry
Who made wine from the fruit of the cherry.
But when the pomace fermented
It was so evil-scented
Barry's berries they just had to bury!

George Barany said...

Thanks Marti for a lovely writeup of a very nice puzzle by Jeffrey Wechsler! Of course, Jeffrey left out possibly be best berry in the entire crossworld: PATRICK_BERRY.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

(I really should be trying to sleep! But thought it might be nice to blog before 7pm or such.)

Fun puzzle! Thanks Jeffrey and Marti! Liked the fruit theme.

Had to go around and around this one to complete it. But no cheats. Got a kick out of FIGS. Didn't like the GOT.

Cheers!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

I'd like to say today's puzzle was A BIT SIMPLE, but I actually struggled with it. COTY and IND were complete unknowns, I had no idea what a TOFF was, and I shot myself in the foot with missteps such as EMBRYO instead of EMIGRE and STIR instead of CHOP.

I'm still having trouble figuring out how OPENS is grammatically correct for "Is ready for business." Shouldn't that just be OPEN? Or "Gets ready for business"? It just doesn't seem right to me...

Barry G. said...

OK, never mind that last question. I guess "The store OPENS at 6:00" is equivalent to "The store is ready for business at 6:00." Kinda, sorta...

Al Cyone said...

This one was fun though the top three rows were the last to fill. A BIT SIMPLE seems like a bit of a stretch and I seem to recall a recent puzzle which generated a few complaints about a POT being described as a "tool" (or a something like that) but, having finished, it would be churlish to pick nits.

[12:30]

Argyle said...

I'm a Saab man and I don't remember a short-lived ad slogan from 20 years ago.

TOFF was an unknown but I do remember the Beau Brummels.

Just a Little(2:23)

Montana said...

A big DNF for me. Might be from no concentration with two little grandsons at my feet.

Have a great day, everybody,

Montana (from Connecticut)

Lemonade714 said...

We have seen a lot of JW on Thursday with Marti and I e enjoyed this latest effort. Did not remember the Vermont senator but TOFF was easy as I read John Creasey.

Two vampire clues was cute and SERTA and SRTA in the fill was fun.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

We also had SAAB as an answer and "cry" as a clue. Ok, that's a stretch...

I actually struggled with this one. STRIFE did not come easily and the North Central region was the last to fall. But like yesterday at the doctor's office, I got it in the end.

Lemonade714 said...

D-O that is all too not funny, as I was at the urologist yesterday.


Mari said...

Good Morning Everybody. This was a good puzzle for me today, I was able to complete it easily - but it wasn't too easy.

I have both a BLACKBERRY and a smart phone. I call the BLACKBERRY my "Dumb Phone".

I liked the clue at 32A: Newtonian elements? FIGS (even though I don't like Fig Newtons).

I didn't know AGUA, TOFF or IRED, but I filled them out and read the meanings here.

Have a great day everybody!

Dennis said...

Good morning, gang - certainly not a speed solve today; I had some of the same problems Barry had, plus a few others.

After getting SFO for 5D, I confidently put in FIVE AM for 'Wee hr.', not even thinking of four am. Since STRIFE didn't come readily, that area took a while to sort out. And as with Marti, (excellent write-up, btw), it took me a while to accept I GOT AN IDEA because of the incorrect grammar. Fortunately, the theme answers were pretty easy, so I got decent traction; overall still a fun solve.

Lemon, I hope your visit was more pleasant than mine.

Bill G., from last night, thanks, I used that same approach - it was basically what the papers here were saying as well, but to no avail. It might be because I was looking for something much brighter, and as you pointed out, it evidently doesn't stand out as much as I thought it would. I'll look again tonight since it's supposed to be cloudless.

Have a great day; off to a very large go-kart track later this morning with a friend to see who buys lunch.

Anonymous said...

Remember Seinfeld's "Bubble boy episode"? That's pie country up there.

CanadianEh! said...

It took some red letter help to finish this because I was running out of time. But I still enjoyed it.

Hand up for EMBRYO before EMIGRE and I had CURT before RUDE.

I smiled at clues for EMUS and BANKERS.

kjinkc from last night: I must try out the Vitatops!

BLACKBERRY is a Canadian company based in Waterloo, Ontario. Stock value is low compared to halcyon days a few years ago but company is trying to rebuild.

HeartRx said...

Bill G, I saw Mars around 4 AM – It really was bright because the sky was absolutely clear. Thanks for the tip on finding it!

Re: The Heartbleed Bug. It doesn’t matter what type of computer you have. The virus actually affects the web sites that you visit, and could steal your passwords. Major financial institutions like Bank of America were not affected, but others like Facebook, Google and DropBox were. Those sites have fixed the security breach, but you still need to log in and change your password. Use different passwords for each site, and make them strong with Capital letters, numbers, and weird spellings.

Here is a link explaining the bug:
Heartbleed Bug

Here is a link with a list of affected sites. Note: if the site has fixed the breach, then you can change your password. If they have not fixed it, you should NOT change your password until they have done so:
Site list

Morning Joe said...

This Masters link may change as the day moves on. For now, its a video of three fine gentlemen reliving their glory days. I would have gladly set my alarm for FOUR A.M. in order to be at the course on time to witness this.

Many sport fans agree that this event is the culmination of the finest week of the year for a sports fan. We get Major League Baseball's opening day, NCAA's Final Four and The Masters.

For your morning coffee

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Marti’s summation works for me on this just right Thursday offering
-Daughter was told she couldn’t play the flute because her top lip had a WIDOWS PEAK
-Other daughter called my pre-iPhone flip phone a “brickberry”
-Comedy Central’s take on use of n-word controversy in HUCKLEBERRY FINN
-Letting go of LIGHT for Dracula’s foe and SHUN for ignore unlocked opposite corners
-Penny’s fun take on NEWTONIAN physics and cookies (:16)
-Some PTA’s are on a mission to get A LOT of iPads into classrooms
-Baseball? Lou, Lou skip to ALOU. Yeah, I’m keeping my day job.
-Bank interest rates on savings are laughable
-A snafu told me I both had AND didn’t have a sub job this morning. I called to straighten it out and could have been Brusque and IRED at 6 am but wasn’t. The lady felt bad and so what’s the point?
-SUAVE and debonair became swayve and deboner in my witty lexicon as a ute
-Me too, Marti. You can DELE FLO and that ubiquitous gecko anytime!!
-Spidey and DOC OCK duke it out (1:10) in Islands of Adventure commercial
-What quirky movie featured this t-shirt logo about NATIVES?

LaLaLinda said...

After filling the NW corner and most of the top quickly, I thought I'd glide through this ~ not the case. The rest of it filled more slowly with lots of stumbling around. I often doubted my first thoughts which turned out to be correct.

Also slowing me down were the issues already brought up by others: I GOT? Ugh. Wanted OPEN rather than OPENS - agree with the "kinda, sorta," Barry G.

~ For 41D - Select, I went from Opt to Top to TAP. TOFF was new to me

~ I really enjoyed the clever cluing /misdirection in a number of spots, especially Newtonian elements / FIGS, and You've got it coming / FATE.

~ The Beau Brummels brought back good memories, Argyle.

~ Thanks for the workout, Jeffrey Wechsler, and thanks, Marti, for a wonderful write-up ~ loved your title! :-)

Off to the vet for kitty #1's monthly blood work!

Anonymous said...

I keep begging my newspaper to get rid of the LA times crossword.
This is just another example why.
These puzzles are just not fun, and for me, that's why I do them.

Lemonade714 said...

I enjoyed the theme but he forgot my favorite GOOSE BERRY.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

I was on Jeffrey's wavelength today so I only needed a moderate amount of white gunk, to correct my guesses. No gunk needed on the theme spanners. Largely worked my way up from the bottom. Favorite clue was that for FIGS. The ALGA/AGUA cross in the NW got that area going. Thought OPENS was fine. No searches were needed.

Dennis - Glad your test went well. I had a similar experience about 6 years ago.
We can't have a Marine not able to find Mars.
At 9 pm local time, at your location, Mars should be at about 34º elevation and 116º T. azimuth. The bright star Spica should be near it; below and slightly to the right. Good luck.

Dennis said...

HG, that would be What About Bob. I only remember it because the movie had two favorites of mine, Murray and Dreyfuss.

Argyle, great Beau Brummels link; as with LaLaLinda, it brought back memories. In my case, it was sitting in a mess tent in Chu Lai. Always amazed me how a song can put you in such a specific place/time.

Speaking of, apologies if this has been linked before, but it's the best site I've seen yet for 50's and 60's music. Someone put a lot of work into it.

Spitz, thanks, I'll line that up tonight. And yes, I should've paid more attention during the celestial navigation course.

TTP said...

Good morning all.

Thanks Jeffrey and Marti.

Not easy for me. Never heard of TOFF. Had schism for bitter disagreement at 5A, so north central was going nowhere until I read the clue at 52A. My goal line play was a stand before it was a SNEAK, so that didn't help either.

Challenging enough to stretch the old gray matter. Had to change the game to Regular which showed me that stand was incorrect. It was the only thing I had to ERASE or DELE.

Barry, inre "Is ready for business" = OPENS. "Is" helped me accept it. The prep work is all done. Time to tun on the neon, flip the placard, and unlock the door. Wow ! Look at the line of people waiting for their cronuts.

Argyle, I don't recall that Beau Brummels number, but it seemed as if the teenage girl across the street played LAUGH LAUGH in every stack of 45s she put on the spindle.

Marti, You might want to keep your schedule open this August. The Simpsons - 552 episodes over 12 days. It will be the longest marathon in the history of television. You will never pause for a Simpsons related clue again !

Dennis, glad it was much ado about nothing, but still better to get tested than ignore it.

See all y'all later.

kazie said...

I found this to be quite a challenge, but in the end I "got" it all without assistance. The last two days I was absent because of running to Madison with DH for his first cataract surgery and the next day follow up appointments. However, both puzzles got done then too, despite my not getting here.

I thought they were all fun so far this week.

C6D6 Peg said...

Enjoyed the puzzle. Top was smooth, bottom was challenging, but got it done.

Thanks, Jeffrey, for a fun puzzle, and Marti for a fine expo.

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2
-Got it Dennis. I have a counseling degree and am a little bit like Dreyfuss when I interact with someone portrayed by Murray who seems so hopeless. BTW, I have had that procedure and now Asacol keeps that symptom in check for me.
-Getting a condition checked out gives lie to the male philosophy of “Ignore it and it’ll go away”
-Did anyone else think the Cruise Ship’s destination was a medical facility?
-“If it’s on the internet, it must be true” – There is a hoax on the web that predicts Mars will be bigger than the Moon at some point in time. People have called me for confirmation. Really?
-The Masters starts today without Tiger. I’ll watch some but it’ll be like a BLT without the B
-Fig Newtons are one of those love/hate foods. I’m in the former camp.”
-EGO – I presented to 60 fourth graders yesterday and three kids asked for my autograph.
-Fore!

Frankie Lee said...

FATE? You've Got Another Thing Comin'

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Very nice Thursday offering with just enough bite. Fav clue was for figs, even though I don't care for Fig Newtons.

Thanks, JW, and great write-up, Marti.

Blue skies and lots of sunshine. If we could only get rid of the left-over March winds!

Have a great day.

Misty said...

Wow! A doable Thursday toughie from Jeff Wechsler along with a Marti write-up--it doesn't get any better than this. Thank you both! I loved the theme and the Dracula references and all the other fun stuff in this puzzle. It did take me a while, what with all those long words, but it really was totally doable in the end. I even got ALOU without perps.

My computer had no internet access for a while this morning--total panic for me. How did we ever live without all this stuff back in the dark ages?

Have to take the ten year old Subaru in for a check-up this morning.

Have a great Thursday, everybody!

HeartRx said...

TTP, really? 552 episodes? I think my eyes would glaze over before the first one was done...

Anonymous said...

11. Not particularly challenging : A BIT SIMPLE.

CONTRIVED.

TTP said...


Ah Marti,

I don't think I'll ever be able to get you to appreciate The Simpsons. 25 years... Longest running television show, longest running comedy, longest running cartoon...

I haven't watched most of them, but the satire and adult oriented humor in many of the episodes I've seen cracks me up. It's safe for kids to watch, but it also pokes fun at just about everything.

Well, enough of a midday break for me. Back to my drywall work.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Sort of a common Thursday experience for me - puzzles looks impossible at first, but with a lot of chipping, it eventually falls.

Impressive theme, lots of great fill.

I GOT AN IDEA - let's just except that to get the rest of this terrific puzzle. Think of it in terms of cost and benefit.

EMIGRE(S) - not a word you encounter every day, but two days in a row here.

TOFF, a total unknown, was hard to accept.

Love the RASPBERRY clip.

SUAVE - sure. But Bond is do many things.

I like the way SPILT is SPELT.

Cool regards!
JzB

Jazzbumpa said...

Ach - if only I could type. [sigh]

john28man said...

I always star the puzzle on paper and my goal is to complete it that way. Today I got about 75% and then went to the Mensa site where the SE was the last to fall.

I like Wednesday & Thursday because they. for me are doable.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I liked this puzzle today, as well as Marti's writeup.

Tinbeni said...

Marti: Excellent write-up and links.
Jeffrey: Thank you for a FUN Thursday puzzle.

Misty & John28man: I agree. Today was "doable" but also a "perp-fest".
Geez, what a slog ...

Nothing to drink (Again!!!) but a great FIGS clue.
Newton also worked with figures.
And that's a FACT ... Jack!

Well the Sun is "Over the Yardarm" ...
Cheers!!!

Lucina said...

Good day, all! Thanks for the cute theme title and amusing blog, Marti.

Late to the party today because of dentist appt. for cleaning but found I need a crown in the very near future. Between my mouth and my 10 yr. old Nissan, money is bleeding out. No big trips for a while.

Really great puzzle from Jeffrey Wechsler of which half was done before leaving but then too distracted afterword to really concentrate so had some inexcusable errors.

However, in reading about Beau Brummel I learned that he first introduced long pants for men. How about that? Or am I the only one ignorant about it?

Loved the clue for FIGS and I am in the minority, apparently, as I love FIG Newtons.

I hope your Thursday is going terrifically, everyone!

Dennis said...

Back from channeling my inner Mario Andretti. Go-karts have gotten significantly faster since the last time I did this; lotsa fun, but I have a feeling I'm gonna be pretty sore tomorrow.

HG, are we talking about two different procedures? The one I had is called a cystoscopy, which is 'front-loaded' as opposed to what I think you're talking about, which is 'back-loaded'.

TTP, you're right -- much better to be proactive with this stuff, rather than reactive.

Lucina, I didn't know that either about Beau Brummel, and am most happy that I no longer have any use for his 'discovery'.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Jeffrey! Great Expo, Marti!

I really liked the BANKER clue.

Not Isaac Newton or Wayne Newton like my brain was thinking but one of my favorite cookies. Haven't eaten any for years. Even when I perped FIG, I was wondering if Newton was sitting under a FIG tree when he discovered gravity? Nah! Duh!

Head quarters named for Bush? Didn't the CIA keep that secret? I didn't know it.

This filled for me without any red-letter alphabet runs which are usually necessary for me on Thurs.

YIELD, not "crops" and CORN was on feet, not on ears. It's Thursday all right.

Don't see many SAABs here or SAAB commercials on TV, so that was a hard start for me.

I too had trouble thinking of STRIFE but DERISION was easy. WIDOWS PEAK wasn't the first thing I thought of for Dracula. No "fangs".

Did anyone else see the remarkable video of oar fish? They look like 12 ft. silver eels. Rare and really amazing swimming around a kayaker.

Bill G. said...

Along with kjinkc, I did this late last night and enjoyed it. WEES including enjoying fig newtons. Thanks Jeffrey and Marti.

Mars shouldn't be hard to find if you live in an area with dark skies but it won't be spectacular under any conditions. It doesn't even look especially interesting in a small telescope. However, I have fond memories of getting my first telescope as a Christmas present. Looking at a half moon, Jupiter and it's moons and Saturn with the rings was almost a life-changing experience.

I just stumbled upon this website. There was a really good article that I'll bet many of us will enjoy that discussed the meanings of various words that often get misused including: disinterested/uninterested, literally/figuratively, fortuitous/fortunate, dilemma/difficult decision, masterful/masterly, problematic meaning to have a problem with, begs the question, notorious/famous, decimate/destroy.
Word Meanings

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, No cheats, though I did go to Google to verify Doc Ock and couldn't find that. I'm glad Marty knew where to look!

Loved the berry theme. Great second definitions for the berries.

I struggled with the North mid section so started around clockwise and filled in from there. Goal line play and Doc Ock were both unknowns and they just happened to cross so this was a WAG.

I have to agree with Fermatprime as I got an idea sounds wrong.

Have a great day, everyone. Off to run errands before my trip this weekend.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Fun Pzl!
I really got a kick out of Mr Wechsler's unusual answers (WIDOW'S PEAK) and word choices (EXPEND, EPOCH, TOFF).
The theme answers were nicely unified yet different. It was tough in places requiring re-writes (EMBRYO to EMIGRE; STEAL to SNEAK; SEALY to SERTA), but that seemed just right for Thursday.

Maci45 said...

Didn't have an easy time with this one. No idea on TOFF, and several others had me looking thing up.

I have a question...on all the puzzles ,it says who created it, but it also says 'edited by' as well. Is this done to look for typos? Once again, basking in my ignorance.

Bill G. said...

Lucina, I never knew much about old 'Beau' but he can keep his 'introduction' as far as I am concerned. :>)

Yes, the oarfish look amazing. I had never heard of them until a few months ago.

"I got an idea" sounded wrong to me too at first. But if you were looking for inspiration and found a good idea on a website, you might say "I got the idea from Facebook" or something similar. Seems OK...

Mary, this is just my opinion, not a statement of fact. Rich Norris has been the crossword puzzle editor for the LA Times for a number of years. He chooses the puzzles, decides which ones are appropriate for Monday, Tuesday,...Saturday, etc., makes sure all the guidelines are followed, reworks many of the clues and is ultimately responsible for the final product. He does much more than look for typos. So he gets some of the credit along with the puzzle constructor.

HeartRx said...

Bill G. @ 2:35, thanks for the link. I love reading about words, and the origin of the word "decimate" was fascinating to me.

@3:31, "I got the idea from Facebook" uses "got" correctly - it is in the past tense.

Mary Keller, Rich Norris is the editor of the LA Times crossword puzzle, and one of my heroes. He is the person who decides which of the submitted puzzles he receives (and I believe there are hundreds each month) would be acceptable for publication. Then he works with the constructor (author) to tweak some fill he considers undesirable. Sometimes that requires re-doing sections of the grid to get rid of the undesired words(s). He also sometimes works with the constructor to come up with better theme entries. And of course, he almost always re-writes many of the clues that were originally submitted. So yes, his name on the title page is very much well-deserved! Thanks for asking.

CrossEyedDave said...

Definitely a put it down & come back puzzle...

It was "I got an idea" that threw me, but I did not know why. Thanks Marti!

Opens seemed weird also. Thanks Barry, that makes some sort of sense.

I couldn't find anything (that I) thought was funny about the theme, so I will just go with this... But in looking, I did have pause at this tiny thumbnail, which I had to enlarge to find out it was a hedgehog with a raspberry.

I went online to see (if I could see) mars tonite, & thought this looked familiar. Did somebody post this recently?

Scientifically speaking, little known facts about Hermey...

Unknown said...

This was a fun solve today. Toff was an unknown, but I got it through perps. I thought 32A was referring to Isaac Newton, and I couldn't figure out what figs had to do with him. Wow, did I feel stupid when I read Marti's expo. I didn't even think of Fig Newtons. Maybe because I don't like them.

Nancy

Nancy

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Jeff Wechsler, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, HeartRx, for a fine review.

Really got started slowly today. Finally headed way South and started there. My first couple were TAE and ETUI.

My first theme answer was WIRELESS DEVICE. The rest were slow in coming.

AGUA took a while since I did not know that LAGO was a lake. But, I got it.

When I was started with the third theme answer I had RAFTER for the tail end. I knew Huck Finn was a river rafter, so I thought I had a good start. Then I got TEAIN for the front end, but could not tie them together. I had FOOT for 45D (Podiatrist concern). Finally got CORN for 45D. Then Character appeared. No idea who OCK was, but it fit. Phew!

WIDOWS PEAK was a good one.

I did most of this in a car on my newspaper heading to a funeral on the way south side. Oak Lawn and Alsip. Three of us that went wound up being pallbearers. By the time it was all done, I had finished the puzzle.

We stopped at a great restaurant in Summit, on Harlem Ave. Grand Duke's Restaurant. It was Lithuanian cuisine. Food was outstanding!

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

(5140 68585634)

Anonymous said...

Thanks, HeartRx and Bill G! I really had no idea the complexity of the "editing" job for crosswords. You are right, he does an amazing job!

These captchas are gruesome sometimes! Maybe my glasses need stronger lenses!

Maci45 said...

Okay....the above post was from me....no idea when Anonymous jumped in.....:-(

Not a doctor ... said...

Dennis, I just read that your doctor's visit had some good news.

Best wishes for the future.

OwenKL said...

WEES-EA (Except Anonymouses).

Anonymous said...

With a little bit of help from my friend, Marti, I was able to finish this one. Thank you, Marti. And thanks to you, too Jeffrey Wechsler. It was an enjoyable experience.

Dennis, thanks for the link to the oldies! My kind of music!

Today was sunny and temperature was 77*! Finally got to work in the yard. Next week we go back to late winter/early spring chilly temps. Enjoy it while I can.

Happy Thursday evening.

Pat

Spitzboov said...

"The fringed curtains of thine eye advance"

Placing a Center Section in an Ocean Going Cruise Ship time lapse; about 3 minutes.

CrossEyedDave said...

Spitz,,, Oh Wow!

But why would they do that?

(& how do you cut a ship in half?)

Argyle said...

A big set of Ginsu knives.

Yellowrocks said...

My son and I spent a delightful day on a bus trip with my friend and her fellow club members. We went to Spring Lake down the shore to Doolan’s, a dinner theater type place, but they serve it at noon. We had a delicious dinner and were entertained by a very funny standup comic followed by a great singer backed up by a combo. He sang an olio of Broadway hits from the 1920’s through 2014 and had great fun and rapport with the audience.. It was a 1 ½ hour drive in the AM and a 2 ½ drive at evening rush hour. We spent the extra hour sitting on the Garden Sate Parking Lot. Oops, I mean the Garden State Parkway.
Lucina, I sympathize. My 9 year old Nissan, 187,000 miles, was beginning to drain my bank account every time I took it in for service. I bought a new one last week. At least, I have something good for all that money I was throwing away on the old one, There will be no big trips this year.I am also gutting and redoing a bathroom that has water in the walls.

Marti, thanks for the Heartbleed advice.

Yellowrocks said...

I look on I GOT AN IDEA as regional vernacular, not literary, but, like slang, representing one facet of our language as it is spoken by many.
"Mark Twain . . . transformed elements of regional vernacular speech into a medium of uniquely American literary expression and thus taught us how to capture that which is essentially American in our folkways and manners. For indeed the vernacular process is a way of establishing and discovering our national identity."
(Ralph Ellison, Going to the Territory. Random House, 1986)
"[W]hen I interrupt the velvety smoothness of my more or less literate syntax with a few sudden words of bar-room vernacular, that is done with the eyes wide open and the mind relaxed but attentive."
(Raymond Chandler, letter to Edward Weeks, Jan. 18, 1948)
Link I GOT Rhythm
Link I Got Plenty of Nothing

Lemonade714 said...

Mary Keller, if you go to C.C.'s write up of the Sunday April 6,2014 puzzle, she posted the original clues which we had submitted as well as the final clues and you can get a sense of what the editor does.

Anonymous said...

I didn't realize that Sunday's puzzle was by LemonAde714! Wow. That's terrific.

PK said...

Spitz, I enjoyed the ocean liner stretch-out. I wish they had showed the welding/joining process. My husband was a welder. One of our friends taught welding at the local vocational school. We enjoyed hearing him tell about working as a welder in the big shipyards in California during WWII. I was wondering if they use a more automated larger welding procedure now instead of a bunch of guys lined up with their torches in 1940's. I'm also assuming they cut it apart with a big cutting torch(es) which we didn't see. I wonder how long the work actually took to complete?

Bill G. said...

Spitz, what an astounding thing! I wouldn't have thought it was reasonable or even possible.

Maci45 said...

Lemonade714, thanks for the info on where to find the breakdown of Sundays puzzle. I really had no idea what goes into the creation of our crosswords! Wow!

Lucina said...

Spitzboov:
I just watched the video of the ship's surgery. That is astounding! I had no idea something like that could be done and how efficiently. Thank you for posting it.

Dudley said...

Spitz - I am positively in awe of that ship lengthening operation. Wow!