google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, May 31st, 2014, Barry C. Silk

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May 31, 2014

Saturday, May 31st, 2014, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie~!

Words: 70 (missing Q,Y)

Blocks: 26

  Ahh, such a joy to see a puzzle from Mr. Silk~!  I did not get off to a blinding start, and there were a few geographical proper names that slowed me down, but a few perps and WAGs, and it was done, and in pretty good time.  Low block count, and triple 10-letter pinwheel pattern, with nothing longer than 8 letters on the inside.  Some of the longer fill today;

1a. California/Arizona border reservoir : LAKE HAVASU - So we start with West Coast geography; I had to wait.  I was pretty sure it was "LAKE" something, or something "LAKE"


14d. Type of headlight : SEALED BEAM - pretty dated, now


28d. Winter soil phenomena : ICE NEEDLES


57. Number that's physically impossible to write out in standard form : GOOGOLPLEX- that's 10 to the 10 to the 100 - more here

Onward to the Stanley Cup~!!!
 

ACROSS:

11. Has yet to settle : OWES

15. "Let a new chapter begin" : I'VE MOVED ON

16. Salinger's "__ Stories" : NINE

17. Yellow sticky, often : NOTE TO SELF - I tore off the skin from the back of my fingernail on a cardboard box yesterday, and said out loud "note to self; don't do that again"

18. With 3-Down, Wingey Wallace's comic strip girlfriend : ETTA - coupled with 3d. See 18-Across : KETT

19. __'acte : ENTR - Crossword staple

20. Pkg. measures : WTs - I can't wait for UPS to go back to being a "parcel" company; this time of year in my center, it's all patio furniture, grills, mowers, A/C units, dehumidifiers, hammocks, trampolines, etc.

21. Wife of Jacob : RACHEL - educated WAG on my part, and I was pleased to see it was correct

23. Ominous time : IDES

25. Smiley creator : LE CARRÉ - spy novel character; more here

26. Treated with malice : SPITED

29. 57501 preceder, on envelopes : PIERRE, SD - Great fill; I knew we were looking for a geographical location;  I know that NY zips are 1----, CT is 06---, Jacksonville FL is 32---, and Cincinnati, OH is 45---; I'm looking to move to 98207.  Map here

30. Place : LOCUS

31. __ ball : MATZO

32. A little freedom? : LIBeration

33. Lea grazers : EWES

34. Star of the 1931 film "M" : LORRE - got with perps

35. Film : CINE

36. Yet, poetically : E'EN

37. Toon lead singer in a leopard-print leotard : JOSIE - ah, Josie and the Pussycats - nothing subliminal here....I did not know they made a movie, too - IMDb

38. Outlook : VISTA

39. Building and grounds : PREMISES - COMPOUND worked, too - but are we talking drug dealer estate?

41. Comprehend : FATHOM - Nice

42. Post-reaping sights : SHEAVES

43. Japanese sandal : ZŌRI - I was trying to find a pic of James BOnd in Japanese garb from "You Only Live Twice" that included these sandals

44. Bunches : OODLES

45. Thrice, in Rx's : TER - I tried T.I.D., which was almost there; the Latin is "ter in die"

46. Egyptian Christian : COPT - another crossword staple, but I had to wait on perps for a reminder

50. Nonexistent : NULL

51. Blew up : BOILED OVER

54. "Gotcha" : "I SEE"

55. Liven up : INVIGORATE

56. Experiment : TEST

DOWN:

1. __ drive : LINE - baseball for C.C. - Of course, I am keyed up for the NY Rangers hockey team, who are on their way to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in 20yrs - and that last time, they brought it home~!

2. "The company for women" company : AVON

4. Honored retiree : EMERITUS - nailed it

5. Selling fast : HOT

6. Swore : AVOWED

7. Sleeveless garments : VESTS

8. Summer quaffs : ADES

9. Nuevo __: Peruvian currency : SOL - the only letter I got wrong was the "S"; I went with "N" to start

10. Remove restrictions from : UNFREEZE

11. Like many a garage : ONE-CAR

12. Enthusiastically : WITH RELISH

13. Signs, as an agreement : ENTERS INTO

22. Start to bat? : ACRO - ACRObat

24. __ Arc, Arkansas : DES - another geographical

25. Petrol purchase : LITRE - I watch my BBC Top Gear, so I know that gasoline is "petrol" across the pond, and bought by the litre - in fact, there was a Fiskers Karma in the Riverhead Home Depot parking lot yesterday, and I knew it right away

26. Weighs options : SLEEPS ON IT

27. Dominant team : POWERHOUSE - The Chicago Blackhawks tied their NHL series with the LA Kings last night, so we still have one last game to decide who we are playing next Wednesday

29. Trojan War figure : PARIS

31. Law recipient : MOSES - Ah, THOSE  Laws

34. Takes a bath : LOSES BIG

35. It merged with Travelers in 1998 : CITICORP - I remember the name because of this NYC skycraper, and here's a little story on why it was built on stilts


37. Tease, in slang : JIVE

38. Irreg. spelling : VARiation

40. Xylophonist's tool : MALLET

41. Antecede : FOREGO

43. 1983 Woody Allen title role : ZELIG

45. TV watcher's convenience : TIVO

47. Like zero : OVAL

48. Best of the Beatles : PETE - Pete Best was the original drummer

49. Big natural history museum attraction : T-REX

52. Bride in 1969 news : ONO - More Bealtes

53. N.Z. currency : DOLLar

Splynter

73 comments:

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Anonymous @3:10 & 5:12pm yesterday,
Several regulars, including today's blogger Splynter, prefer to find out the constructor themselves. Please do not disclose the next day's or the future constructor again.

Argyle said...

UNCLE!

OwenKL said...

It's a town with no equal, no peer,
Though it has, for its tour-boat, a
pier,
Just aim your conestoga
To sunny South Dakota,
And its capital on the Missouri, PIERRE!

There's a spot on a border so blue
(Though drought may reduce it to a slough)
On the Colorado, between Arizona
And thirsty California,
It's a LAKE made by man, HAVASU.

You can't have too much boodle, ex-
Cept when the OODLES vex
The proletariat
Who must help you carry it;
Elsewise you could earn a GOOGOLPLEX!

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Unbelievably, I figured this all out without any cheats!

Thanks Barry, Splynter! Of course it took 38 minutes, which is way more than I care to spend on these turkeys!

Just guessed at ICE NEEDLES. Don't have these here, thanks be!

Had some letters for PIERRE SD and guessed the rest. LAKE HAVASU is where London Bridge is (or at least it used to be--we visited it--really small).

Any puzzle with EMERITUS in it is worth a try!

Knew LORRE. DES Arc, was perped.

Guess I should really try to get some sleep, but, hey, I'm stoked!

Cheers!





George Barany said...

Greetings! This was a tough puzzle by Barry Silk, where even easy words like NINE had difficult clues. Plus, we don't have to go past 1-Across to find something that I have never heard of previously. Thanks Splynter for an illuminating writeup and discussion.

Here in Minnesota, we are getting increasingly excited about our upcoming tournament, as you can glean from C.C.'s occasional notes. The actual date, Sunday June 22, is a mere three weeks from tomorrow. One of the constructors for the tournament is Tom Pepper, and you can get acclimated to his style by trying "Rhymes with ..." For sure, Tom's puzzle is considerably easier than today's Silk, but that too is an art to surround five theme entries and a reveal with accessible words that are clued in interesting yet straightforward ways. I hope you like it!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Definitely a challenge today, but a fun one and ultimately doable. I don't mind a challenge, but I hate it when half the answers don't have clues and you have to figure out the theme first to understand what is going on. Which is to say I liked this one much better than yesterdays...

Plenty of unknowns today, including LAKE HAVISU, SOL, ZORI, NINE (as clued) and SEALED BEAM. IN fact, SEALED BEAM was the last thing I entered into the grid. Never heard of it and couldn't understand what the difference between a SEALED and an unsealed beam would be. Aren't all headlights SEALED?

Anyway, despite the unknowns, the perps were all fair (and clued!) so I was able to eventually get through. I struggled in the NW when I confidently entered POST IT NOTE at 17A and TAPE for 1D, but that worked itself out eventually.

thehondohurricane said...


Well BG, you may have blown it. It's not Havisu, it's HAVASUA. Either your post is in error or the puzzle.

No charge for my auditing services.

desper-otto said...

Good morning, fellow weekend warriors!

Either I'm getting smarter, or Barry Silk is making 'em easier. I'm certain it's the latter. This was a quick solve for a Saturday. I do have a strip of Wite-Out down the center where HELEN, TRAY and ZELDA gave way to PARIS, TIVO and ZELIG.

Splynter, I also recognized that Fiskers Karma image almost immediately. The car, not so much. I know what you mean about the parcels. This past week I ordered a shepherd's crook, wrap-around squirrel guard and 20lbs of sunflower seeds from A-to-Z. Maybe this will keep the squirrels safe so they won't be bothered by those pesky birds!

Yes, some dude bought the London Bridge, dismantled it, shipped it to Arizona, and put it back together at Lake Havasu. I drove to see it, expecting something like the Tower Bridge, and was disappointed.

I once took a WWII history course from a Professor EMERITUS. Learned my lesson. Never again. That's one case where history wasn't going to repeat itself.

HeartRx said...

hondo, did you blow it, too? It's HAVASU…no charge for my auditing services!! (^0^)

Loved this one, and was able to finish in typical Saturday time. I know that BS puzzles always have common phrases clued with tricky misdirection, so I just let my mind wander until I hit on each answer.

Have a fun Saturday, everyone!

Avg Joe said...

I looked at that sea of white and my hopes fell. I looked at the first clue across and said "I know that". And it was off to the races. Can't say I've done a quicker Silkie...20 minutes.

But alas, it was a FIW. Went with Emeritas, giving me Local and Del, and those seemed good enough. Still, it was fun to be on the right wavelength right out of the chute for a change.

Anon-T from last night. Yep. Martin Mull from approx the time of Fernwood Tonight.

Barry G. said...

Thanks for the service, Hondo! Don't worry, though -- I'm just a really bad typist and frequently make errors in my posts.

There's some sort of law of the Intranet, btw, that says it's impossible to correct somebody else's spelling without making a mistake of your own... ^_^

Barry G. said...

Found it!

Skitt’s Law

"Any post correcting an error in another post will contain at least one error itself."

Argyle said...

OK.

42445 preceder, on envelopes ?

Al Cyone said...

I'm starting to scare myself. The SE was bleak until I realized I hadn't noticed the Woody Allen clue. ZELIG opened things up and all that was left was to clean up some "typos" in the NE.

Anticipating a Saturday DNF, I had lined up this link to an interesting blog post called, "You're Probably Using the Wrong Dictionary". It was included in the "Top Five Longreads of the Week".

[19:37]

Husker Gary said...

Barry is like Sally Rand. He gives you just enough to keep you going and when you want to give up, gives you a little more. And, oh yeah, you need a lot of imagination. What brilliance!

Musings
-Brother lived and friend lives in LAKE HAVASU and I still had to get 8 of the 10 letters first
-I’VE MOVED ON
-We all write a mental NOTE TO SELF after a bad golf swing, but…
-Jerry tries to return a jacket for SPITE (1:06)
-I prefer footwear than requires a cobbler not a carpenter
-If you think you would die for Jesus, you can TEST that idea by being a COPTIC in Egypt
-100-yr-old ONE CAR garages were built for Model A’s not SUV’s
-Pithy dialogue from Grease. Danny: “Oh bite the weenie Riz!” Riz: “WITH RELISH”
-We had to wait for the sprinklers farthest from the house to UNFREEZE before all our stations worked
-LITER had to change to LITRE which made LOREE change to LORRE
-Daughter decided to SLEEP ON IT after the first offer for her house yesterday
-We all know Barbara Billlingsley talks JIVE @ 1:14 (2:39)
-VAR? – Amy, Ami, Amee, Aimee, Ame, Amey, Amie, Aymee. “Mr. Schlapfer! You misspelled my name.”
-It does not appear Woody will win any awards for the role of “father” or ONO for, well, anything
-In what movie does Katherine Hepburn find OODLES and OODLES of strawberries along the old town road?

TTP said...

Good morning all. Hopefully, the third time is a charm.

Well, so much for my streak.

I too thought this was a bit easier - in some places - than a typical Silkie. The NW and NE corners, and east sides fell quickly, despite the quaff trickery. Yes, I momentarily had AlE, one of my favorite libations. I thought of Fermatprime as I entered EMERITUS.

The center was a bit trickier. A couple more self inflicted slowdowns. Harder to find than correcting ales to ADES.

I had UNF to start 10D, "Remove restrictions from" and entered UNFetter. Knew that was wrong with the the rock-solid Le Carre, and shortly thereafter RACHEL.

I had LITRE and ACRO going down, so with that --T-O, I figured that "____ ball" had to be LOTTO ball. That made Trojan War figure HORSE, which fit with LORRE but not later with JOSIE, which I nailed, along with LOSES BIG. It took quite a while to straighten out that center area mess, but I got it.

The West and Southwest fell pretty quick. The one comment I would make there is that I couldn't decided whether I wanted 56A "Experiment" to be a noun or a verb. It didn't matter as the answer had both a noun and a verb form.

My downfall was the Southeast. I was especially fond of Mr Silk creating synonymous answers at 41A and 41D. "Comprehend" = FATHOM and "Antecede" = FOLLOW. FATHOM = FOLLOW. I wasn't going to let it go. NOTE TO SELF. Antecede is not the opposite of precede.

No TADA today. 4 incorrect entries, but I just couldn't recover from the last one.

Splynter, thanks for the illumination.

Argyle said...

The LIB in "a little freedom" might stand for LIBERY, i.e. shore leave.

TTP said...

OK, I give up. Am not going to be able to post it without errors. There's yet another error in that one. It should have been, "I couldn't decide..." Must be some VAR on Skitt's Law, although I didn't correct anyone.

Argyle, I'm not picking up what you are putting down.

At 4:49 AM you posted, "UNCLE!" Why are you crying uncle ?

And at 8:22 AM, you posted, "OK.
42445 preceder, on envelopes ?"

Oh wait. I just got the second one. Didn't see the correlation at first.

Still don't get the "UNCLE!" one though.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Started out with a sparse fill. Seemed a harder Silkie for me today. Guessed ONO, TREX, RACHEL and some others. Guessed at PARIS which eventually led me to PIERRE SD. First was looking for a state only, but - no P states with 8 letters.. Have to be patient with B Silk. Knew that the source of Google was spelt a little differently, but had to wait for the perps. Same with ZELIG (Selig?)
Now that my brain has passed muster again I can MOVE ON.

HeartRx said...

Argyle, did you mean LIBERTY? (I am being very…very…very careful with my typing on this post)

C6D6 Peg said...

Always love a Saturday Silkie, and today was no different. Thanks, Barry, for another great one!

Loved your write-up, as always, Splynter!

HeartRx said...

Garrrrgh!! I forgot the period.

buckeye bob said...

Thank you for the puzzle, Barry. Thank you for the excellent expo, Splynter.

Maybe the only good thing I can say about this puzzle is that I fared better than I did last Saturday. There was plenty of misdirection, some of which I thought through, and some of which I fell for. I finally got the puzzle without searches or cheats, but it took some red letter help.

I had POST-IT NOTE before NOTE TO SELF. And I was confident. But after I got a few perps, I had to take it out, and eventually put in NOTE TO SELF. Aha!

I had all but the West and SW complete, with no ideas. I paused the puzzle, came back later, and still no answers. I turned on red letter help, and found HAMMERS was wrong, even though I was very sure of that one. Nope! I took it out, and eventually changed to MALLETS after a few more perps emerged.

All of which makes it not the best I’ve done a Saturday Silkie, but still pretty rewarding.

Yellowrocks said...

Mostly this was an easier Silkie than usual. I got LAKE HAVASU from just the H and the V. I was going great guns until the last three long answers on the bottom slowed me down. For some reason I didn't want to accept FOREGO, confusing it with FORGO. So I went to the gym. When I returned all three answers dawned on me right away.

I won't wear ZORI or any thong sandals. I hate the strap between my toes. The Japanese sometimes wear tabi with them. They are like socks with a separate toe. Ugh! I also can't stand those silly socks with all ten toes separated the way gloves separate fingers.
Link tabi and zori

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Today's Silkie looked daunting as usual, but before long I got some solid fill and chugged right through. Confidently put in Post It Note first but it started arguing with the neighbors.

Barry 6:28 - Sealed beam headlights are the type in which the filament, reflector, and envelope are all one piece. Prior to WWII, headlights used socket-mounted light bulbs, positioned within a reflector; there were practical limits to the amount of light thus produced. Sealed beam units have been around for decades now, but with today's halogen lamp technology, there has been a shift back to removable bulbs in a reflector. Tighter tolerances (compared to the old days) and better sealing have made this arrangement practical.

Splynter said...

Hi again~!

YR, I totally agree - I can't wear flip-flops ( or zori ) for the same reason; that irritating strap between the toes. My toes curl up just thinking about it~!

Splynter

Skitt said...

Your all wrong.

unclefred said...

Really, really struggled with this one today. I knew, too, that 57501 must be a zip code, yet even after I had it filled in with perps, looked at "pierresd" and still didn't see it. Guess I'm still not quite firing on my V-8 today.

Lucina said...

Greetings, Super Solvers!

Barry Silk's puzzles INVIGORATE me and I start them WITH RELISH then feel like a POWER HOUSE when they're finished. They are so tricky but doable.

LAKE HAVASU is a hugely popular LOCUS in the summer, both for swimming and boating. The London Bridge is simply a side attraction.

ZORI has netted me some large finishes in Scrabble when I'm lucky enough to use it.

And we've seen ZELIG in puzzles quite a few times. Woody might not be father of the year, but he's a mighty fine writer and director.

Thank you, Barry and Splynter! This was fun.

Have a special day today, everyone! WARM wishes from AZ.

Lucina said...

Here in the scorching hot desert, almost everyone wears thong sandals, shorts, T-tops and anything else that mitigates the heat.

Dudley:
You are so smart!

desper-otto said...

I can never keep it straight -- are they PICTS or are they COPTS? Take your pick(t).

AC -- great post about the dictionary. I am now in the 30-minute waiting period to see what develops.

Husker, I've learned that a 2004 2-car garage isn't deep enough for an F150. So, I park my tablesaw and router table there, instead.

River Doc said...

Happy Saturday everybody!

Always a challenge on Silkie Saturdays. Got all the 10 letter answers except one, so that's a moral victory for me....

GET HOW for FATHOM, COWS and DEER for EWES,
AVERED for AWOWED, and HAY BALE for SHEAVES....

Just RELISH and good mustard on hot dogs for me....

Been a long time since I've seen a ONE CAR garage....

Finally, really enjoying the dominant team in my avatar these days...!

Bumppo said...

54A "Gotcha" = ISEE? I don't think so. "Got me," maybe. . . .

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I had a devil of a time with this Silkie offering. I was just not on the same page as Barry. I had horse/Paris, Lotto/matzo, Liz/Ono, Garbo/Lorre, Havana/Havasu, etc. I did finish w/o help, but needed lots of perp help and a Wag for the S in Havasu. I won't say how long it took me, though.

Thanks, Mr. Silk, for a real mental workout and thanks, Splynter, for explaining it all so well. (I, too, thought of Ferm at Emeritus.)

My Netflix DVD of Philomena arrives today, so I'll have something good to watch tonight. (Worthwhile Saturday night TV fare is almost non-existent.)

Have a great Saturday.

IHateNegativeNancys said...

Bumppo, after an explanation, the response might be, "Yeah, I gotcha now." Perfectly acceptable clue/answer.

Misty said...

I can't believe I ALMOST got a WHOLE Silkie! Goofed on only two letters--NOL instead of SOL for the currency (I thought the LAKE might be HAVANA, then, aarggh, HAVANU, since I've never heard of HAVASU)and DOO instead of DOL since I never heard of GOOGOLPLEX. But that's still pretty great for me. Sounds as though others found it an easier Silkie than usual too. A great relief to have my Saturday morning not start as a disaster.

Thanks for posting the map of the LAKE, Splynter.

Got EMERITUS because I'm an EMERITA myself--retired in 2011.

My dumbest struggle: I knew PETER LORRE played in "M" but put PETER at first because I had LITER instead of LITRE. Duh!

Irish Miss, you sound like you're feeling better. That's great!

Have a wonderful weekend, everybody!

Irish Miss said...

Misty @ 11:27 - No more nausea because I haven't taken any meds. If I stay still, I'm fine, but it's the movements that bring the pain. This, too, shall pass. :-)

Argyle said...

I cried uncle because Barry had me in a headlock and my brain was hurting.

Yes, I meant liberty, after a night in the bars, it becomes libery.

29-Across might as well been, Some location in the US.

Small time solver ... said...

I googled "57510 zip code" instead of 57501 and got Paris, France (!), the 'down' answer !@#!

Actually I got Hoving and Ernstvillier (sic) - but that's close enough to Paris for me. Coincidence ? .... I don't think so ....

The Frawnch done gone stolen our zip codes !!! I demand that we dump all their champagne in Boston, into the harbor !

I think there is something suspicious going on in this here puzzle - some sorta secret code, zipping along, perhaps.



Argyle, you spent a night at the bars ? You've got to slow down man - you're burning the candle at both ends. Just think, Monday
and Tuesday are just around the corner.

JJM said...

I thought it was tough today because I had never heard of some words like SEALED BEAM or GOOGOPLEX, but I finished.

What a great Hockey game last night! Can't wait for the game tomorrow night here in Chicago! Even non-hockey fans will enjoy the game tomorrow, if for nothing else than the competiveness.

GO 'HAWKS

Anonymous said...

No Saturday tuneage*, Splynter?

After rescanning the clues and answers, I get it now. Nothing really screams "link me!"

Oh well, Enjoy the weekend.

*Relax Joe

Steve said...

Darnit - I thought it was GOOGELPLEX and wondered why I'd never heard the word FOREGE before. Zounds!

Thanks for the challenge Barry, and the write-up, Splynter. Your link to the Citicorp building page was fascinating - often when I'm in NYC I stay at the Hilton on the corner of Lexington and 51st pretty much right next door to the tower. I was always intrigued by the design.

Maverick said...

Yeowch! -7L/-9W! This puzzle was TOO COMPLEX for me today, or just wore me out. Most proud that I figured out the Zip Code for PIERRE, SD and that it helped back up my initial call of RACHEL. I'd changed to ESTHER then was at a loss until I got the Zip and changed UNFETTER to UNFREEZE. Had EMERITUS but changed it to EMERITAS to keep it LOCAL (not LOCUS) and DE' L Arc, AR (not DES Arc). Had IRRATIONAL until I got forced into a PLEX, but all I got was TOO COMPLEX and LOSES BET. Had SORI (not ZORI) and DOM (not DOL, what can you expect from Kiwis? Oh Yeah ZELIG, might've seen it, not memorable.

Anonymous said...

You should consider 98225 instead

Steve said...

@HeartRX and others - following up (very late!) on the "herb" pronunciation conversation from Wednesday - I say basil, oregano (and tomato) in the US fashion now, but still use the British style for "herb" because "erb" just sounds plain wrong coming out of my mouth.

Thanks for the Eddy Izzard clip - he's one of my favorite comedians. This links to my all time favorite Lego animation to one of Eddy's riffs - it's called "Death Star Canteen", and is R-rated for multiple F-bombs. It cracks me up every time I see it.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! I did much better on this Silkie than I did yesterday and enjoyed it more. For once, I seemed to be on his wavelength. That's almost scary! Thanks, Silkie. Thanks, Splynter!

I thought of Tahoe before HAVASU but it didn't fit so I was off and correctly running.

Thanks to my recently reading of "The Red Tent", I knew RACHEL immediately. Then I got ZORI thanks to reading "Memoirs of a Geisha". Since both of these enjoyable books were recommended by blog members, I have them to thank for these small successes.

Had some people from PIERRE, SD who wanted to buy my farmhouse and stopped in several times, so that was a gimmee. Why I remembered their zip from 12 yrs. ago, I'll never know.

GOOGOLPLEX? I'm still perplexed over that. Perps.

One does not see many post-reaping SHEAVES anywhere these days. At least not out here. Maybe a few SHEAVEd cornstalks put together as Halloween decorations by suburban ladies.

Didn't know the comic strip. All perps.

Avg Joe said...

PK, it might surprise you to know that I've actually threshed. Well, I helped anyway, cuz I was pretty young. But I'd drive the tractor and toss the shocks into the wagon. We farmed until '68 and only had our oats combined the last year. Before that, a group of farmers would pool their equipment and labor and thresh everyone's oats. No wheat in NE Nebraska in those days.

OwenKL said...

Al C: Fascinating article on dictionaries. As it happens, I'm still using a copy of the American Heritage Dictionary (1992) bought back when I got my first windows machine, and looking up some of his examples, AHD compares favorably. {“The antique flash and trash of an older southern California have given way to a sleeker age of cultural hip” (Newsweek)}, {“Everything about her shimmered and glimmered softly, as if her dress had been woven out of candle-beams” (Edith Wharton)}. Online, I have my search box connected to thefreedictionary.com, which gives me results from multiple dictionaries, as well as etymonline.com (Online Etymology Dictionary) & urbandictionary.com (whose user-input format results in too many vulgar expressions I often suspect are spurious). But I've now added the Websters suggested in the article machaut.uchicago.edu/websters as well as the Rogets Thesaurus fulltext search machaut.uchicago.edu/rogets at the same site.
The article gives exhaustive instructions on adding Websters to an Apple or smartphone, but may I heartily recommend firefox.maltekraus.de/extensions/add-to-search-bar as a simpler way (at least for Firefox).

Argyle and/or TTP: 42445 = Princeton, KY -- significance?

HeartRx said...

Steve, your Eddie Izzard link cracked me up. And I'm sure I will also laugh every time I see it again!!

Ol' Man Keith said...

Hah! The joke's on moi. I thought I had knocked this one outta the park, despite its complexities and my need to check a coupla answers.

BUT Mr Silk GOT me.
I settled for SLITED at 26A as a weird spelling of "slighted." I was pleased with it because it gave me for "Dominant team" at 27D the marvelous answer of LOWER HOUSE. Anyone who is sufficiently irked by the way our House of Reps or the Brits' Commons dominates national issues will side with me in holding them up for exposure for running the show when they should be engaged in constructive cooperation.
[grump] [grump] [grump]
'Nuff said.

Unknown said...

This took me quite a while to finish, and in the end I had one incorrect cell: Rosie instead of Josie.

Our last house (which we sold four years ago) was a midcentury modern that had a one car garage and a carport.

My husband wears tabis and zoris (with his kimono) when he takes his Japanese tea ceremony lessons.

Argyle said...

Owen, there is no significance and that's my point.

PK said...

AvgJoe: So you were threshing around as a kid? Very interesting about no wheat in NE Nebraska in 1968. In 1971 I went with my husband and year old son to scout for wheat custom combining jobs in Nebraska.
He ended up custom cutting wheat around Venango & Sidney, NE for the next 20 years for the same farmers each year. They became like family to him. I stayed home and raised the kids. He brought home much needed money.

Manac said...

Tricky but almost solvable Silkie
for me today. For 1A I had HAVA in place so it had to be Something HavaNA, right???
Had Local for 30A and wouldn't give it up. Isn't locus those grasshopper thingys that fly around?

On the lighter side of the news...
I thought I was in some deep dog doo doo when my daughter informed (reminded?) me this AM that it is my 28th wedding anniversary today. ( Thanks a lot kiddo! Where the hell were you yesterday when that small tidbit of info would have been a little more helpful?)
Anyways, My wife was happy just to do some takeout tonight so I sent the brat to go get it just now ( The daughter that is )

BV Ahlers said...

It might be easier to "see" the googolplex number by saying it is "1" followed by one hundred zeros.

I doubt any prescription these days contains the word TER, or the words TER IN DIE. Now it's always TID = 3 times daily.

Avg Joe said...

PK, I've got a close friend in Greeley County that's still raising wheat (and milo, and sunflowers and whatever). I'd be curious to know how close your younger life may have overlapped his...or if you might even know him. If you're comfortable, send me an e-mail. But I understand if not.

Now for some tuneagement. I've developed this habit the last couple of months where I watch cheesy old westerns on Saturday afternoon on channel 4. Gunsmoke, Rawhide, Bonanza, Wanted Dead or Alive and The Rifleman. It's hardly great drama, but it's not half bad entertainment. And there's always a moral.

At any rate, it puts me in the mood for This as well as That

Bill G. said...

Hey BVA, I think you may have confused a Googolplex with a Googol. From Ask Dr. Math:
"Now a googolplex is a 1 followed by a *googol* of zeros. That's a truly humungous number. In fact, if you took all the atoms in the *entire universe* and lined them up, put a l on the first one, and 0's on all the rest, you still would not have been able to write down a googolplex, since there are only 10^80 atoms, and you need to write 10^100 zeros."

Pat Donahoe said...

Ditto to Argyle for his 85546 with the clue for 29a. There are many other ways one could clue 57501 so 85321 did Rich/Barry choose to 55732/54929 themselves with such a 72366 06690?

Just being a 42056, I guess...

Al Cyone said...

Skitt@10:10:"Your all wrong."

Your you're is...

Oh. I SEE.

65631.

OwenKL said...

PatD.: Your post doesn't make much sense.

"Ditto to Argyle for his [Safford, AZ] with the clue for 29a. There are many other ways one could clue [Pierre, SD] so [Ajo, AZ] did Rich/Barry choose to [Embarrass, MN]/[Clintonville, WI] themselves with such a [Marvell, AR] [invalid zip code]?

Just being a [La Center or Gage, KY], I guess..."

Spitzboov said...

3000 Reindeer crossing a strait in northern Norway.
Teen age Lapp girl takes care of business.

PK and AVG Joe - Hand up for participating in threshing operations. My dad used a reaper and binder until I was about 7. First the sheaves had to be stacked in shocks in the field to continue drying out. Then a few days later loaded on to wagons to be unloaded again at the threshing machine. Grain and straw wrestled away after that. My main job was to stay out of trouble.

PatD said...

Sorry Owen.

I guess that is what happens when the federal govt gets involved with a website. So if you like your translation, you can keep your translation. No need to wait in line for my solution...

The answer key I used:

Gripe = 85546
Why = 85321
Embarrass = 55732
Embarrass = 54929
Turkey Scratch =72366
Clue = 06690
Monkey's Eyebrow = 42056

Lucina said...

sptizboov:
That's a phenomenal feat by the reindeer as well as the girl. Thank you for posting it.

PK said...

AVGJOE, Greeley Co., NE? Don't think I've ever been up that way nor do I know anyone from there. My farmland is much further south. We raise the kind of crops your friend does except we haven't had sunflowers for many years. Too much trouble, I guess.

Avg Joe said...

No. Greeley Co KS.

PK said...

I came along too late for SHEAVES. The big combines were in use by the time I gave up being a town girl and married a farmer. My husband purely loved to harvest grain, especially wheat. Long hours, dusty job and a great feeling of elated success at once more getting a world-feeding crop into the bins.

PK said...

Greeley Co., KS is much further west than my farms. Don't think I know anyone out there now. Does he irrigate from the Ogalalah Aquifer?

Avg Joe said...

Only on one quarter that i know of, and it's rented. Everything else is dryland. And boy oh boy do I hear plenty of carping about the conditions these days.

Dudley said...

Spitz - fascinating!

Lucina 10:28 - aw, shucks! Actually, illumination was a big part of my engineering career. I didn't do much in Automotive, but it's in the family.

I am SO not a robot.

Anonymous said...

Am I the only one who wanted SpitzBoovs link to be "teenage lap girl takes care of business?"

TY said...

Anon@851p

That's the funniest thing I've read on this blog in months!

fermatprime said...

BillG: 1 followed by a google of zeros would be a google!

There is a lot of crap on the internet!

rossphir said...

Go Kings Go! Winner of Sunday's game takes the cup. Sorry Rangers!