google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, May 29, 2014 David Steinberg

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May 29, 2014

Thursday, May 29, 2014 David Steinberg

Theme: "Pawn Stars"

The reveal for this puzzle can be found at 38-Across. Game where the ends of the answers to starred clues are commonly heard : CHESS.

17-Across. *Aperture : LENS OPENING. The most important part of the game, where players set up their pawns and develop their pieces.

24-Across. *Words said between courses : KEEP YOUR FORK. Typically, this refers to a knight that attacks two different chess pieces.

46-Across. *It can be a painful reminder : REALITY CHECK. A direct attack on the opponent's king. It can be painful for a chess champion...

57-Across. *Sister's symbol : SORORITY PIN. When an opponent pins a piece, it means that the piece cannot move because doing so would expose another more valuable piece, like the king or queen.

11-Down. *Part of a class act : SCHOOLMATE. When a player is in mate (short for "checkmate"), it means that his king has no legal move, and he loses the game.

28-Down. *Place to see shell decorations : SAND CASTLE. A move done during the opening, where the king and rook swap sides. It can either be "long" (on the queen's side) where the rook moves three squares, or "short" (on the king's side) where the rook moves two squares:

Six long theme entries, with four intersecting each other, plus a reveal in the center of the grid. I'm as impressed with David's puzzle as I would be watching Kasparov play against Karpov!

The rest of the fill was pretty straight-forward for a Thursday, with only a few misdirections. 

Across

1. Chain named for two oceans : A AND P. I was thinking islands here, not grocery stores. Plus, I had "AGs" at 4-down, so this was the last to fill. Officially, A&P is "The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company."

6. Diet guru Jenny : CRAIG. Kirstie Alley is back as the spokesperson.

11. Slender slider : SKI. Nailed it! (Did you think of the little hamburgers?)

14. Patch plant : BRIAR. If you fall into one, you may need to patch your pants.

15. Cuban dance : RUMBA. Salsa or mambo would also fit...

16. "The Lead With Jake Tapper" airer : CNN.

19. __ polloi : HOI.

20. Suffix with Senegal : ESE.

21. First American to orbit Earth : GLENN. And a clecho at 10-Down. First Russian to orbit Earth : GAGARIN.

22. Oak product ... or source : ACORN. "Mighty oaks from little acorns grow."

26. Email again : RESEND. Do you sometimes regret the fact that you sent it in the first place?

29. Pie perch : SILL.

30. Seed-bearing organ : OVARY.

31. Many a preadolescent : TWEEN. In modern usage it usually signifies a young girl who is "in-between" stages of life: "Too old for toys, too young for boys." But J.R.R. Tolkien used it to describe Hobbits who were post-teenagers: "At that time Frodo was still in his tweens, as the hobbits called the irresponsible twenties between childhood and coming of age at thirty-three."

34. Hiker's reference : MAP.

37. Southernmost Ivy : PENN.

39. Bean used in falafel : FAVA. Served with veggies and tahini sauce - yummm!


40. Call off : END.

41. Underground anchors : ROOTS.

42. Turning part : ROTOR. Remember these?

43. Mine find : COAL.

45. Like some partners : SILENT.

51. Atelier fixture : EASEL.

52. Mission where Jim Bowie fell : ALAMO.

53. Hub WNW of LAS : SFO. McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, San Francisco Airport.  

56. Mohawked muscleman : MR T.

60. In the infirmary : ILL.

61. Hold water : ADD UP.

62. Maudlin : TEARY.

63. Lao-__ : TSE.

64. Irritable : TESTY.

65. Fast-growing school's need, perhaps : ANNEX.


Down

1. Seaman descriptor : ABLE.

2. God with a vulture symbol : ARES. He had lots of other symbols: Spear, helmut, dog, chariot, boar and flaming torch.

3. Diamond group : NINE.

4. Trial VIPs : DAs. What was I thinking by putting in AGs???

5. Scion : PROGENY.

6. Walk on tiptoe : CREEP.

7. Like noses, at times : RUNNY. My allergies have been given a break with all the rain lately.

8. Kind of acid in proteins : AMINO.

9. Hebrew : Ben :: Arabic : __ : IBN.

12. Stock market giant? : KNORR. Soup stock, that is.

13. Confident way to solve crosswords : IN INK. Many Cornerites solve this way. I'm not so confident!

18. Earnestly appealed : PLED.

23. Grey Cup org. : CFLCanadian Football League. Totally filled by perps.

24. "Show Boat" composer : KERN. I have linked "Ol' Man River" sung by Paul Robeson before.

25. Takes advantage of : USES.

26. It's often skipped : ROPE. Nope, "class" wouldn't fit.

27. __ number : EVEN.

31. Nevertheless, informally : THO.

32. Slippery, perhaps : WET.

33. Pothook shape : ESS.

35. Skin So Soft seller : AVON. It has been touted as a mosquito repellent, but DEET is the only thing that works for me.

36. Barbershop division? : PART.

38. Future stallion : COLT.

39. Traditional genre : FOLK. So many to choose from, but here is Woody Guthrie's classic "This Land is Your Land."

41. Gives a tongue-lashing : RAILS AT.

42. Cannoli cheese : RICOTTA.

44. World Cup cheer : OLE.

45. One usually keeping to the right : SEMI. Tractor Trailers are often prohibited from entering the passing lane.

46. Send in : REMIT.

47. British nobles : EARLS.

48. Barbecue venues : YARDS.

49. Influence : CLOUT.

50. Half-woman, half-bird monster : HARPY. Found in classical literature, and also in "The Game of Thrones."

53. Bridge : SPAN.

54. Blaze : FIRE. Hey, C.C.! Loved your puzzle yesterday!

55. Jet-black gemstone : ONYX.

58. Flowery composition : ODE.

59. Kyoto currency : YEN. I have a yen to play some more...

…but my time is up!

Marti

92 comments:

OwenKL said...

There was a CHESS player, high-rated,
Who hardly ever had MATEd.
Oh, he won every game,
The board made his fame;
But his gambits in the lounge were ill-fated!

There was a Grand Master from Prague
Who one night had a bit too much grog.
In a drunken charade
He wed a French maid,
And in the morn found his CZECH MATE was a Frog!

Across a nondescript table top
A battle by CHESSmen was fought.
A few pieces were misplaced,
But were quickly replaced
By a visit to a nearby Pawn Shop!

The White King was losing the battle.
One Knight was his remaining vassal.
He should have had more,
But an affaire d'amour
Kept the Bishop and Queen in the Castle!

Hungry Mother said...

In check and no legal move.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Either I'm getting dumber or these puzzles are getting harder, because I really struggled with this one.

I thought I knew enough about CHESS to get me through life, but I was completely unaware of FORK and PIN. Fortunately, I was able to eventually get both theme answers via the perps and the clues themselves without needing to know their relation to CHESS.

KNORR meant nothing to me, although after reading Marti's comments I finally get that its referring to soup.

Elsewhere, I found the clues infuriatingly vague in spots. "One usually keeping to the right" could have been any vehicle, not just a SEMI. Of all the things done on YARDS, is a barbecue really the best example (I barbecue on the patio, personally)? NINE is a diamond "group"? Again, though, I think they may have been infuriating simply because my brain is degrading and not because of anything wrong with the construction...

thehondohurricane said...


BG,

The NINE for a diamond group refers to a baseball team. Too bad there isn't one in Boston this year!

Captain Obvious said...

Barry G: The Diamond Group refers to the baseball diamond and the nine players in play.

Montana said...

This was a typical Thursday for me. I used red letter help. I usually need to for David's puzzles.
I did get the theme. Thanks for the expo, Marti.

Marge, from yesterday--I have watched "The World Wars" shows. I thought they were well done. If I had the H2 channel I would watch them again.

Off to a funeral today. 93-year old aunt. Last of her generation. Now I'm part of the oldest living generation of the family.

Have a good day,
Montana

Lemonade714 said...

Another puzzle from one of the teen titans of constructing, I enjoyed the trickery of : KNORR, CLASS ACT and the rest was filled quickly for a Thursday.

Like BG I had to work to get FORK which I did not remember, but the rest of the Chess terms appeared in episodes of Bones and CSI this season where remarkably each had child chess prodigies on staff.

Are there A & P stores still in operation? We had one until the flood.

OwenKL said...

Barry: "Slower vehicles keep right". How often we do see this sign. Often, though, the big rigs are the only vehicles on the road who adhere to it. They keep right except to pass.

buckeye bob said...

Thank you for the puzzle, David. Thank you for the excellent review, Marti.

I finished the puzzle in good time, but no ta-da. I have a basic understanding of chess, but didn’t know FORK or PIN. A few perps got SORORITY PIN, but FORK held me up a while.

I re-read my answers and found some in the NE that I didn’t like, KEEP YOUR BOOK / CBL / KNORO. KEEP YOUR BOOK made some sense with the clue 24A *Words said between courses, but BOOK didn’t fit the theme. ROOK fit the theme but didn’t fit the clue. Huh! I did mental alphabet runs, and got nothing. I finally decided the Grey Cup had to be the CFL, and then FORK / KNORR jumped out at me. Finally ta-da!

I didn’t realize A&P is still operating. They used to be ubiquitous in Ohio, but now it appears they are only in 6 E & NE states.

One day my father saw a teen-age me solving a crossword puzzle on paper IN INK, and he called it “the height of arrogance”. Heck, I could just see my answers better! But I still remember that quote. Strange what you remember...

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Marti, I'm shocked that you don't solve IN INK, though I suspect that's only because you solve online.

I never heard of KNORR stock, but I do like some of their sauce/gravy mixes. I got NINE right "off the bat;" I'm turning into a veritable sports whiz!

Who said, "It reminds me of the heady days of Sputnik and Yuri GAGARIN when the world trembled at the sound of our rockets."? And what movie character do you associate with FAVA beans?

Have you ever encountered REMIT anywhere except on an invoice? The toughest answer for me was COAL -- I was looking for Ores or Seam or Lode. COAL was just too obvious.

Lemon, are you saying that A&P is antediluvian?

TTP said...

Good morning all.

A wonderful puzzle to start the day. Finished under 30 minutes and only one cup of coffee. At the master level and no red letter help. Enjoyed hearing the TADA. Master level is a "Confident way to solve puzzles" but I suppose IN INK is fine for those that get a newspaper or like to use their printer.

Must admit that I had some help from DW. I couldn't figure out how to make chickpeas fit in the four squares allowed for "bean used in felafel."

After that, she started reading over my shoulder.

She gave me RICOTTA for cannoli as I paused on that clue. But I got the trickier KNORR very quick. I especially like the KNORR Jaeger (hunter) sauce on my schnitzel.

Oh yea, she also gave me MR T. And AVON for "Skin So Soft seller."

But I got it done and under 30 :>) (smiley face emoticon).

Southeast corner was the last to fall. I entered SJO instead of SFO on the first pass.

Way to go David. And HeartRx, thank you for the fine write up. I especially liked the explanations of the chess moves.

Time for that second cup. See y'all later !

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, David Steinberg, for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, Marti, for a fine review.

This is the second time I have tried to report in on the blog this morning. My IPad kicked me out a while ago and had to start over.

OwenKL: Enjoyed your open, especially the second verse.

This puzzle was outstanding. Theme gave me a little problem since I did not know FORK or PIN as chess terms. I do play chess, but at a low level, I guess.

1A was excellent. A AND P. The cluing was great. I think A AND P stores are still,around. The Jewel Tea Company became the Jewel Supermarkets in Chicagoland and, they both sell Earl Grey Tea.

ACORN had excellent cluing.

Got both astronauts easily, GLENN and GAGARIN. Is John Glenn still a Senator?

I tried NASTY before TESTY. Figured it out.

EASEL took me a while since I was not sure Atelier was.

We have recently had IBN. That's OK?

KNORR had clever cluing. Took me a while.

Creeping along through Indiana (I think).

Spitzboov and I almost had a quick meeting last night in upstate NY. We couldn't put it together. Maybe next time.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

(athisli dragoon)


Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone. Nice breezy informative write-up as always, Marty. Thanks.

Got the whole NW including the unifier without difficulty. SE was a little crankier but eventually the chickens came home. Like FAVA beans but wasn't sure they were in falafel. I have not used the chess speak: FORK and PIN, but certainly use the tactic they describe. The fork tactic is an important way to capture the queen or rook; pinning works, too.
Some great clueing such as for KNORR and PART.

Off to play some bridge.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-A chess novice beating a genius with very funny alternate nomenclature (1:07)
-One Lincoln restaurant wanted to charge us $25 if we brought in a birthday cake for our daughter last night. The one we chose brought us plates and clean FORKS (we didn’t have to keep ours)
-Being north of 65 brings many REALITY CHECKs
-A CNN personality posited the Malaysian airliner was pulled into a black hole. No, really!
-At 77, GLENN also became the oldest man to orbit the Earth in the Shuttle for no apparent reason
-10 ALAMO facts versus the legends
-Marti, great write-up as always, but I thought you were an “IN INK” kind of solver
-My detasseling buses full of sweaty, muddy kids also was infused with the bouquet of Skin So Soft because it is a good mosquito repellent
-First line of the best baseball poem, “The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville NINE that day” Lovely reading by James Earl Jones. (6:10)
-Anthony Hopkins’ character had those FAVA beans as a side dish
-What fabulous movie has the line, “Now, can you tell us by what you see in this picture, if the defense's case HOLDS WATER?”

Yellowrocks said...

This neat puzzle was solved quickly with no holdups, doing across and down together. I WAGged KEEP YOUR FORK with only a few perps, although I didn't realize FORK was a chess term. My mind was into dinner courses from the start.

I shop in the A&P, which is a medium sized store here. Our A&P has plenty of choices. I don't like the huge supermarkets. When I run in for just a few items, it is too far to walk all those aisles and it is too hard to find things.

I solve in ink, even on the most challenging or nearly impossible puzzles, so I can see what I write. When in doubt I write very lightly. I just over-write the cells when I am wrong, even if they were written heavily.

I am allergic to Skin So Soft and also hate the smell. I couldn't stand to hike near anyone wearing it as mosquito repellant.

I don't use KNORR stock, but its soup mix makes great spinach dip.

Barbeque can refer to the event itself. If its large enough, it overflows the patio and spreads into the yard. Monday after our small group ate, we all moved to comfortable lawn chairs in the yard to gab.

Husker Gary said...

Errata
-My detasseling buses full of sweaty, muddy kids WERE infused with the bouquet of Skin So Soft
-Where's that syntax checker when I need it?
-FORE. In Columbus, Nebraska today.

buckeye bob said...

At Abejo 7:48 AM --

No. John Glenn was a U.S. Senator from Ohio from 1974 to 1999. He declined to run in 1998.

HeartRx said...

d-o and HG, sorry to disappoint you about my crossword solving methods! I do solve in "Master" mode online, if that counts at all...

I thought "Diamond group" for NINE was self-explanatory to everyone else but me, who is baseball-challenged. My first thought was "Neil Diamond formed a band??"

Abejo said...

Thanks, buckeye. I should be more on top of my politicians. Of course Illinois kind of drowns out all the rest, if you get my point.

Abejo

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Yes, typical Thus. Looks impossible at first, but then slowly yields.

Marti - Unless he's stopped recently, Neil Diamond has been traveling with the same band for decades.

Slight nit, Marti. CHECK is an attack on the king. If either it can't move out of check, or another piece can't be interposed to break the check, then it is check MATE and Leonard ends the lesson.

Bigger nit. If you think SEMIs keep to the right, you need a REALITY CHECK and should spend some time on I-75 between Detroit and Toledo.

Sunny here, but cool this morning.

Sunny regards!
JzB [was never any good at CHESS]

Jazzbumpa said...

OWEN -

Maybe your best ever.

Cheers, MATE!
JzB

David Steinberg said...

Thanks for the great write-up, Marti, and for all the nice comments, everyone!

This puzzle has an interesting backstory. I was having lunch with Rich Norris and asked him if there were any entries he'd always wanted to see in an LAT puzzle, and he mentioned KEEP YOUR FORK. When I got home, I started brainstorming themes around this entry, and I eventually thought of tying it into chess. I found more theme entries that would work and was thrilled to discover that I could make some of them interlock!

I then added CHESS at the center of the grid, filled and clued the grid, and submitted the puzzle to Rich. Rich accepted the puzzle, and the rest is history!

By the way, for those of you in Southern California, I'll be giving a talk on crosswords at the Newport Beach Public Library on June 23, 2014, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The event is free--hope to see some of you there!

Jazzbumpa said...

Gary's link to Casey at the Bat reminded me of this.

BTW, I prefer fava beans with a nice Chianti.

Cheers!
JzB

Lemonade714 said...

D-O, love your flood comment.

Having Glenn and Gagarin reminded me of the April NYT tribute to the Mercury Seven; can you name them all?

Lucina said...

Greetings, puzzlers!
This is great material from David and Marti. Thank you both!

It was a romp almost from start to finish. The NW held me up and BRIAR was slow to germinate, though NINE, an easy fill as we have seen it many times. But my head almost exploded when the light finally turned on at A & P!! I wanted AGS for 4D, knew it couldn't work then quite slowly the light dawned.

All the rest filled smoothly though SCHOOLplay preceded SCHOOLMATE but was intercepted by AVON and FAVA. Also, I love to use KNORR products in cooking. They have a large variety of items.

The best FAVA dish I've had was in Spain, worst was falafel. No, thank you. Once was enough.

The CHESS terms didn't figure in my solve, but I saw them later. Thanks for explaining, Marti. FORK and PIN were unknowns.

Jenny CRAIG and her husband donated an athletic center at my alma mater, U of San Diego. Apparently staying slim fattens wallets.

Have a spectacular Thursday, everyone! I'm going to be crowned today, on a tooth, that is.

TTP said...

Lucina, you should have had a felafel rather than a falafel, and then you might have enjoyed it.

It's my spell check that accepts felafel but does not like falafel. Go figure.

You can get falafel at many places around here, but DW had to have it from the Falafel Drive In when we were in Jan Jose. The place was featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.

I don't know whether they made their falafel with Fava beans or chickpeas. Maybe both since the menu mentions fava in the Foul and garbanzos in the Hummos...

http://www.falafelsdrivein.com/falafel_special.html#falafel

Misty said...

I thought I'd never get this one because the NW corner totally stumped me. I too thought "Chain" referred to a group of islands. I had PROGENY and could only think of DAS for the trial VIPS, but what word ends in DP? I had a hunch about ARES but nothing to support it. I was about to give up when in desperation I tried the alphabet routine. A . . . BR__R--and, Tada, I got BRIAR--and that filled everything else in. Only I still didn't get that A AND P was a grocery chain until Marti's write-up. Whew, a real challenge, but it all worked out in the end, thank goodness!

My favorite clue: Stock market giant for KNORR.

David, I put your Newport Beach date on our calendar. We live nearby in Laguna Beach, but rarely go out at night. I'll have to see if Rowland thinks he can manage this. We'd love to hear your talk.

Have a great Thursday, everybody!

Bill G. said...

I enjoyed this puzzle. Thanks David and Marti. I liked seeing pin and fork in the puzzle. I have tried to teach Jordan to play chess. He gets the idea and can play OK though he's no prodigy.

Every now and then I come across a puzzle by Matt Jones. He seems to be a successful constructor but I always have trouble solving and enjoying his puzzles. There is nothing obviously wrong with his puzzles but his brain and mine (whatever is left) seem to be on different wavelengths. Plus, I seldom find his cluing to be fun and clever. But since he is successful at his craft, it's probably just me.

TTP said...

The video of Guy Fieri's triple D visit to the Falafel Drive In shows that they make theirs with chickpeas, not fava beans.

So Lucina, it may be that you had a great Fava beans dish, and the falafel you had was made with chickpeas....

Not sure that either are especially pleasing to my palate.

OwenKL said...

Jazz: That Casey parody (or homage) was great! It reminds me that I was surprised earlier in the week that no one linked to Tinker to EVERS to Chance when that famous poem was referenced in the puzzle.

GAH! Here's my captcha! Ya know, it must keep track that I only enter the letters or number, and always ignore the photo, because it now usually gives me JUST a photo, so I have to enter it.

Bumppo said...

Re 18D: The past tense of "plead" is PLEADED, not PLED. Most lawyers – even most judges – seem not to know this.

Yes, "pled" is in the dictionary, but listed as a colloqiualism, along with its misspelled cousin "plead" with a short e. Isn't it customary when calling for colliquialisms or variant spellings to append a "col." or "var." to the clue?

Steve said...

Fun puzzle, thanks David - and thanks for the expo, Marti.

WMartiS about Neil Diamond and his band!

I think I'll get a chess set - it's been years since I've played.

john28man said...

I have always liked Wednesday and Thursday because they are just hard enough to be challenging but not almost undoable.
This one, in my opinion brilliantly qualifies.

Rick said...

Again I am overawed at the continuing excellent quality of these puzzles. Six long entries two of them interlocking! As a constructor I am humbled. And the answers to the clues were interesting but not obscure. Difficult task; it takes hours to find the best combinations of words and phrases. KEEP YOUR FORK was a tricky but it had to “mate” with SCHOOLMATE. And REALITY CHECK crosses SANDCASTLE.

Got through it all pretty well. Had to peek at 1 across; forgot all about A AND P. Am still not sure about 1 down’s Seaman descriptor: ABLE; could anyone tell me what this is supposed to mean?

Kevin said...

Thanks for an amazing puzzle, David. I am an avid chess player and I think of chess when putting in crossword fill, as my eyes scan horizontally and vertically (and even diagonally at times), while counting open spaces. I typically have to wait until after teaching to complete Thursday puzzles, but I could not put this gem down. Sorry students for my lack of lesson planning today.

My favorite gaffe today was when I penned in IN PEN for 13D. I laughed ironically at myself thirty seconds later when I had to write INK over PEN. For me, it is not a matter of confidence: quite simply, I hate pencils. I wonder if there is a specific name for the phobia of cracking lead tips.

Have a good day everyone!

buckeye bob said...

Rick at 12:15 PM --

Civilian:
"An able seaman (AB) is an unlicensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. An AB may work as a watchstander, a day worker, or a combination of these roles."

Able seaman - civilian

Military:
"In the British Royal Navy in the middle of the 18th century, the term able seaman (abbreviated AB) referred to a seaman with at least two years' experience at sea. Seamen with less experience were referred to as landmen or ordinary seamen."

Able seaman (rank)

Unknown said...

That is the best one yet!!
Keep them coming and maybe publish!!

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, My first post disappeared so I'll try again.
I, too, thought island chain rather than grocery chain, so the NW corner was the last to fall. Kudzo was the only patch plant that I could think of. So I didn't finish without help today as I looked up Island Chain. Once that was in the rest fell into place.

Some nice mis-directions today. My favorite was diamond group. I had MLBB (Major League BaseBall) at first, but that didn't work.

I've never played chess and most of the terms I've learned doing crosswords. Thanks, Marty for your explanations. I still don't understand the game, but things did make a little more sense.

Our first great granddaughter, Cecilia Rose, was born yesterday afternoon. Mother and baby, (and Dad) all came through with flying colors. We are grateful for that.

Have a great day, everyone.

Lucina said...

Back after lying prone on the dentist's chair for 90 minutes. I can tell you, it was drilling.

TTP:
I believe you're right. The falafel I ate was made with chickpeas. That's just not enough bite for my spice-driven taste buds.

Lucina said...

Chickie:
Congratulations on your great-granddaughter! Cecilia Rose is a beautiful name.

Bill G. said...

Chickie, congratulations on your first great-granddaughter, Cecilia Rose. Great name by the way! I hope things are going well for all concerned.

I never had chickpeas/garbanzo beans until I came to California. Here, they showed up often in salads. They're the main ingredient in hummus. I've come to like them very much although, as Lucina said, their flavor is bland.

BV Ahlers said...

This was an easier-than-usual Thursday puzzle as I completed it in "record time" (for me!) w/o any look-ups.

Onyx may be black but not always. Onyx is a banded agate; can be of many colors. Generally all-black stones are chalcedony. I collect and polish rocks.

tiptoethru said...

I, too, fell into the NW corner and kept trying to put a whole lot of Peas in a patch-even though I had the baseball nine down! So, I turned here for help and marvelous explanations,and a giggle or two, and to say thank you, crossword puzzle masters! I solve in ink in the local paper and write and rewrite over the answers at times until only I would ever be able to figure out the answer.

tiptoethru said...

A quick shout to BV Ahlers, I'm a rock hound, too and have been for a long time. There are so many beautiful rocks here in SD and so many neat places to hunt. Lots of chalcedony, jaspers, agates, fossils. I think of obsidian when I think of black stones. Plus, rocks are a great hobby because when you're tired of them, you can toss them in the back yard.

CrossEyedDave said...

Chess! (CED Style...)

Unknown said...

This was an easier Thursday puzzle than usual. No write-overs. Although I've never played chess, I was familiar with all the theme answers except FORK and PIN.

A AND P appeared recently (within the last week or two) with cluing about being named after two oceans. I don't remember if it was LA Times or one of the other crosswords I do.

CrossEyedDave said...

Chess Tinbeni Style

(Well, sort of... at least there is no ice!)

CrossEyedDave said...

Ok, Ok! Who is responsible for this?!?

Anonymous said...

Falafel is made from garbanzo beans known also as chick peas. I don't know what fava beans are. Garbanzos are used in Israel and in the USA for falafel. Also used for hummus.

Lemonade714 said...

Oh, Bummpo

Why must there be only one answer?

pled [pled] verb
a simple past tense and past participle of plead.

Dictionary.com Unabridged

or how about ABA opinion.

Lemonade714 said...

Barbara B. to what do you refer?

David S. Thanks for stopping by, I urge all you So.Cal cornerites to listen to this young man.

Jazzbumpa said...

Chickie -

Congrats on Cecilia Rose. That's GREAT!

Owen - I recognize Tinkers to Evers to Chance as a great DP combo from baseball history, but did not know bout the poem.

Great fun. [when your team wins]

Cheers!
JzB

TinoTechie said...

Great puzzle and solve. I am going to the Falafel Drive in for lunch tomorrow. Meeting my old work friends. Nice to see it mentioned here.

HeartRx said...

Jazzb @ 9:35, I thought that was what I said about CHECK vs MATE? And I meant that I thought Neil Diamond had formed a new group or something. I don’t think I have ever seen him in person, and I think of him as a solo singer. But I guess you are right – he does have to have backup instruments. (Really? For decades, the same group?)

Chickie, congratulations of the first great-granddaughter!! I hope we’ll soon have pictures?

CED, great chess links – I cracked up at the “Kasparov-Karpov” one.

David, thanks so much for stopping by today! It has been almost a year since I had one of your puzzles to blog – always a pleasure!

Marti

HeartRx said...

CED - sorry, I heard the "Kasparov" in the link, but didn't catch the name of his opponent? I just assumed it was Karpov messing with his head...

Irish Miss said...

Hi Everyone:

Late to the dance due to 5 1/2 hours in the ER. Woke up at 3:00 am with excruciating pain in my side. I have a fractured rib but absolutely no idea how it got fractured. Oxycodone and Tylenol every six hours should help calm the worst of the pain which, earlier, literally took my breath away.

On a happier note, thought the puzzle was clever and fun, not too difficult for a Thursday. Fav clue was barbershop division=part. Thanks, David and Marti, for a job well done.

I always thought falafel was made with chick peas. I've never had it, but have had hummus which is okay.

Chickie, Congratulations! What a beautiful name.

Time to pop those pills! Have a good evening.

CrossEyedDave said...

Wees, very clever puzzle. I was "at it" for quite a while, & the only thing I boldly put in was "in ink." Everything else was the lightest chicken scratch of the pen until I could be sure of the perps. I kept putting it down & coming back, getting more & more each time, but alas, the NW did me in... I only had DAs & progeny, everything else was such a WAG I didn't dare use my pen.

I thought it might be nine,
I thought it might be Briar, but I thought it was spelled/spelt Brer'. (Hmm, spell check doesn't like Briar?)
I thought Lens might be Iris for some strange reason...

(OH, if only I had a pencil!)

I always wondered about those Chess Clocks, & this 5 minute video explained it beautifully. But nowhere (not even Wiki) could I find an explanation of why a 30 minute game has to start at 5:30?

I have always wanted to know how to play 3D Chess. (Oops, sorry, wrong image.) 3D Chess like in Star trek. But none of the tutorials I have seen so far make any sense to me.

Alan Shepard, 1st American in space is in one of these 60 photos I saw today. (I thought I had a nit, but his flight was suborbital...)

Yellowrocks said...

“…favism* , an inherited enzymatic deficiency occurring among some Jews — mainly those of Kurdish and Iraqi ancestry, many of whom came to Israel during the mid 1900s — proved potentially lethal, so all falafel makers in Israel ultimately stopped using fava beans, and chickpea falafel became an Israeli dish.”
*People with this deficiency can experience anemia as a result of exposure to fava beans.

Falafel contains dried hot pepper. The amount of hot pepper used determines the spiciness, so, Lucina, I think the hotness varies. You could try making your own mixture extra hot at home. In Israel there were many, many toppings, mostly raw vegetables and tahini sauce made from sesame seeds. I enjoyed falafel immensely on my first trip to Israel. On the second trip we ate it every day and I was sated.
The same was true in Costa Rica. I enjoyed red rice and beans and a side of plantain immensely, but when we had it for lunch every day, I was sated.

I enjoyed James Earl Jones's reading of Casey at the Bat (what a marvelous voice)and JzB's parody. Thanks.

A&P was an immediate fill. Those of us in a few Eastern states had an advantage.

Bill G. said...

I taped Craig Ferguson late last night because he had on two actresses that are favorites of mine. Both are a bit off the usual beaten path of the talk show circuit; America Ferrera and Honeysuckle Weeks. Both came across as intelligent and charming. Honeysuckle Weeks plays the driver on a favorite show of mine, Foyle's War.

Lemonade714 said...

Chickie:

GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER!!! Wow!

Yes we look for pictures soon.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! This turned out to be fun despite a number of unknowns. Thanks, David! Great expo, Marti!

I played chess briefly 50+ years ago with a boyfriend who went away to college and wrote me that he was learning to play "chest". He was not the sharpest guy I ever knew. Of course, we all had a good time about "playing chest". He tried to teach me the board game but was furious every time I beat him, worse than Leonard. FORK him, anyway.

APERTURE: one I was sure of as a former photo-journalist.

Had no idea what cheese was in cannoli, never having eaten any. I've escaped consuming falafel. Doesn't sound appetizing.

"One keeping to the right" was a stumper. I was thinking religion or politics. Sister's symbol wasn't "nun's habit". A few perps set me straight.

Underground anchors weren't "pilings"? Well, ROOTS makes more sense.

Silly me: I thought for a minute "atelier" was a wine steward. DeBeers didn't fit for the "diamond group".

The ALAMO is so haunted, I couldn't stand to be there very long.

desper-otto said...

Chickie, congrats.

Irish Miss, sorry to hear about the rib. Dimple Pinch might make it feel better....or not at all.

CED, your video reminded me of a stunt we used to play in my ute. We'd sprinkle a little salt on the tabletop in a restaurant booth. Then we could prop the salt and pepper shakers at weird angles on the salt. Finally we'd blow away the excess salt to remove the "evidence" of our wrong-doing. I say "we", because "I" would never do such a thing!

I'm already up to captcha #12. I think the robot gods are against me today...

Anonymous said...

Bumppo v. Lemon

I'll side with Bumppo.


Past, present and future walk into a bar. It was tense.

Yellowrocks said...

Irish Miss, I am sorry to hear about your fractured ribs. I know how painful that can be. Because it happened to me, I can sympathize.

Chickie, congrats on Cecelia Rose. What a lovely name. I hope you get many chances to watch her grow and give her hugs.

From Wiki:
"Black onyx is perhaps the most famous variety, but is not as common as onyx with colored bands. Artificial treatments have been used since ancient times to produce both the black color in "black onyx" and the reds and yellows in sardonyx. Most "black onyx" on the market is artificially colored."

I didn't know that much onyx is artificially colored. It seems to me that most onyx jewelry is black.
When onyx is used as a color adjective it means jet black. "His onyx eyes were staring at me."

Lucina said...

YR:
The first and only time I've eaten falafel was on my recent trip to Israel and I learned there that it was made from chickpeas. The place where we ate had no visible bottles of any spicy product and I wouldn't have thought of asking for any. Suffice it to say, it's just too bland for me.

CED:
You are priceless!

Lucina said...

IrishMiss:
I'm so sorry to hear about your fractured ribs. I'm sure that must be painful. Do what the doctor says! Or what desper-otto said.

Tinbeni said...

CED ... I like your "CHESS" style. Esp. the ones @ 2:54 & 2:56.

Chickie, congrats on Cecilia Rose arrival.

Irish Miss: Did you ever think that maybe those "rocks" you add to your Dewar's caused the 'rib' problem?
The Oxycodone should alleviate any pain.

But to be "on-the-safe-side" ... I'm already consuming Dimple Pinch and made a "toast" to your health.

As such ... my ribs feel fine ...
Cheers!!!

Steve said...

@Anonymous 4:29:

The bartender said "We don't serve faster than light particles in here".

Two Higg's bosons walk into a bar.

Chickie said...

Irish Miss, I'm so sorry to hear about your broken rib. This is so painful. Rest a lot and take those meds.

Thank you all for the Congrats on our new granddaughter. I'll hope to have some pictures soon.

Has anyone else had just the house numbers to put in for their publishing of comments? First time for me.

TTP said...

Chickie - congrats ! Also, on my desktop, I seldom get anything but numbers or house numbers. On my laptop, I most often get nearly indecipherable letters.

Irish Miss - ouch ! Cracked ribs are not fun.

Steve, that's the best "walks into a bar joke" I've ever heard. My Fermi friends like that kind of humor.

HG, looks like a great golf course. I'd like to play it. I think I could break par there. I'm thinking I'd break par by the middle of the second nine.

Tinbeni said...

Chickie, Yeah, I've had "just the house numbers" a couple of times.
Made "proving I'm not a robot" a lot easier.

I was amazed that 3-d, Diamond group, was called "infuriatingly vague" since we have had that clue before ...

Associating, NINE, with a Diamond, during Baseball Season, is about "as easy as it gets!" ... JMHO

HeartRx said...

Irish Miss, OUCH!! I feel your pain. I got two fractured ribs simply by leaning out on a branch to cut a broken limb one time. Took me forever to recover, and all I could do for the pain was drink wine - I just can't take pain medications. So, CHEERS!

Chickie, I mentioned the other day, that all those "Captchas" that we solve on a daily basis actually have a valid purpose: They are photographs of street shots from Google maps, that "auto recognition" software cannot solve. So, Google is asking for your help in deciphering what they actually say! I can't remember who supplied the link for that info - (maybe TTP or CED? Please step up and take a bow, whoever you were!), but it was an eye opener for me!!

HeartRx said...

Man! Is anyone else watching the Scripps National Spelling Bee?? Those kids are just amazing. So far, I have watched ten words, and never heard any of them!! Hmmmm…maybe I should write them all down, and make them into a crossword puzzle. Ya think, maybe Tuesday-Wednesday level????

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2
-Back from a great day of golf on a VERY woody course where Cottonwoods are “shedding like crazy”.
-In our group of 14 golfers, there was much discussion of joint replacement and medications.
-Really? No one knew the line “Does the defense’s case HOLD WATER” came from My Cousin Vinnie.
-Mercury 7 – Shepard, Grissom, Glenn, Schirra, Carpenter, Slayton and …
-Dang, I had to look up Gordo Cooper!
-These guys were rock stars
-Marti, it seems sad that we HAVE a Spelling Bee and our language isn’t more logical in its spelling. Of course, I say this knowing full well that we here are pretty good about offbeat words.
-Black ONYX was the stone for my high school Class of ’64 ring

OwenKL said...

CED: analog chess clocks are set so that the game ends when one of the minute hands hits the 12:00 position. To keep the hour hand out of the way, they traditionally start at 6:00 minus the time allotted for each player. For an hour-long game, that's 30 minutes per player, so 5:30 is the start time. For a 2-hour game, they'd start at 5:00

The Star Trek "3-D chess" wasn't real, just a way to show off a bit of futuristic-looking sculpture. Fans added rules after the fact, so I'm not surprised they read like fizzbin.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

WEES - NW was a bugger. I ended with A_NDP?? And knew I'd messed up big-time with DP so I finally through in the towel to find out an alphabet run would have only taken one step :-) Thanks for the puzzle David & for stopping by.

Marti - Thanks for 'spalain' KNORR. I was wondering what company / mutual fund that was the ticker for. The irony, I have a box of their bullion in my pantry.

Chickie - Congrats on CR!

CED - Chess video LOL!

PK - Never had a cannoli?!? I'm so, so sorry. Best Cannolis are in Boston's North End.

IM - I'm more sorry for you and your rib.

Steve - I picked up a very nice alabaster chess set in Cairo. I can't recall the stone the black men are made of - any hints BV A?

Owen - Love the Pawn Shop poem.

I love Chess. I love FORKing my opponent. PINing gains board control.

Cheers, -T

Irish Miss said...

Thanks for all of your kind words and best wishes.

I'm glad you toasted me, Tin, because I had to skip my Dewar's tonight. Oxycodone and alcohol=trouble. Glad your ribs are okay.:-). And my _ _ _ is blame free!

Marti, I like your pain killer choice better than mine! The Oxycodone works great on the pain, but I feel loopy and sleepy. I'll be due for another dose at 11:00 which should send me to dream land, post haste. (I hope.)

Tinbeni said...

Marti:
It was Al Cyone who provided the info about the "Captchas" a couple of weeks ago.

I remember, one time, he pointed out that "our" Avatar's should be "something" that "identifies" us.

Probably the reason I've never changed my Avatar ... it's perfect.
(Plus Avatar wouldn't let me. lol!)

Irish Miss:
My Pinch is NEAT ... always "_ _ _ free" ...
My ribs are OK ...
Coincidence ???
I think NOT !!!

Cheers!!!
Yup, I'm still partaking ... hoping it eases Irish Miss pain.
I realize that is probably convoluted logic ... but it's the only logic I have ... LOL !!!

Bill G. said...

Irish Miss, I hope the painkillers do their job. I've had cracked ribs and separated rib cartilage. Very painful. Sneezing was the WORST!

Gary, I agree that our language isn't very logical. I guess it's because it has its roots in Spanish, French, German and lots of others. There have been lots of little efforts to make English phonetic but I think it would lose its heritage. I am happy to live with its idiosyncrasies.

GarlicGal said...

Really late tonight, but I had to send along my congrats to Chickie. Hope we get to see photos on our "field trip" next week.

And...my husband took me to the Falafel Drive-In in San Jose on our first date. What a guy, right? When ever my Ann Arbor Daughter flies home that's the first place we hit on our way from the airport.

It's such a dumpy little place, too.

Anonymous T said...

Bill G. I agree that we shouldn't try to change the spelling - even though I have a really tough time with it. When I was much younger I tried to create a "how it sounds" dictionary. Then I hear Ca Tak on NPR. My mid-west dialect wasn't going to work. :-)

The more one learns about the language the more we can watch words morph. CHECK MATE is a bastardization of Arabic "the king is dead." Or so I think. Learning things like that makes the language fun. Of course, George Carlin had the most fun with it (no worries, I won't link).

IM - take good care of that rib!

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

This is some cleaner fun w/ language.

Anonymous T&T&TNT said...

Anonymous T - since its late, past midnight, and all decent folks have gone to sleep - I thought I would engage in some chatty conversation ....

First, thanks for the sayings/ morals/ great philosophical questions as above. Really enjoyed them.

The word for 'checkmate' is the Persian - 'Shah-mauth' - Shah=King; Mauth=death(of).

Please note it says Death of the King, not Death to the King .... that came later, in 1979, (Argo - ), under Khomeini. (lol) ;~D

The penultimate rules for chess were from Iran ( then, Persia) - the final rules were from the UK, France, Germany and Russia.

I had a little trouble with Jet-black gemstone. The answer I thought should be .... ( drum roll, please - ) .... Jet.

I collect and grind some mineral and other stones for use in unique jewelry and I have come across ...

Black - Beryls, Pearls, Diamonds
- Hematite, Sapphires, Garnets, Zircon, Onyx,
- Tourmaline, Spinel, Moonstone, Obsidian, Jasper, Fluorite.Etc.

Much of the commercial Onyx comes from Pakistan, and almost all of the objcets d'Art, are non-black. The only semi precious stone that is definitely black is Jet,( ... and Hematite), but Jet is generally too soft on the Moh's number and tends to get easily scratched.

Anonymous T said...

Anonymous T&T&TNT:

Feel free to call me Anon -T :-)

The team just got off-line w/ Singapore, but yes, all the decent folks I know are in bed (DW & kids)...

Thanks for refreshing my memory on CHECKMATE's etymology.

I think the CASTLE rule was added way after the game left Persia as was en-passant (sp?). I assume the latter was the the French. CHESS is a beautiful game just like baseball. Set your pieces up, move them about, and test your strategy. Another fun game is Go.

As far as the black stone - the black men in the pieces I purchased were made in / near Cairo, but I can't recall the name of the stone. None of your suggestions rang a bell. They are are fairly dull-black.

Cheers, -T

Bill G. said...

AnonT, any chance they could be ebony? It's not a stone of course but ebony is dull black and softish compared to most stones.

Lucina said...

Does anyone else watch DCI Banks? I thought tonight's episode was particularly good.

HG:
I have to chime in about English and what BillG said. Its richness derives from the plethora of contributions by almost every language on the planet. As far as I know, English has more words than any other language, numbering in the millions. That's a lot of room for expression!

That illogical spelling is a consequence is unfortunate,but one that most people can overcome with some diligent study. And it's not easy to learn, but is fast becoming the most spoken language on earth.

Anonymous T said...

Bill G.:

No, no, nope.... it's not ebony. I just e-mailed my buddy in Cairo - he'll remember. What's gonna really burn?; he says ONYX.

Has anyone listened to Ask Me Another on NPR. I believe their promo goes like this...

"Do you do crossword puzzles IN INK? Was Harvard your safety school? Well, come play along on Ask Me Another."

DW and I were in Bean-Town last month and visited Harvard and I said that aloud. DW lost it laughing.

Time for this decent person to put an END to this. G'night.

Cheers, -T
[smseuv not] - so do I type it? :-)

Anonymous T said...

Lucina -

We posted around the same time. No, I don't watch much TV. Sorry

Even with dillagent [sic] study - they'res [sic] just too many ways to make the same dern words. Especially for a dyslexic like me. I do keep trying (that's why I do x-words).

But I do agree; the bizarro spelling adds to the richness and keeps history fresh as we look deeper into English. Bill Bryson had a great book on this (I'd have to go find it to remember the title (house?)). But as soon as one digs into why/where, we learn about the history of a word and western history.

YR keeps us informed on eastern language history.

OK, I'm likely over my post limit, so...

-T out. Cheers.

Anonymous T said...

Oh, heck...

Lucina: Do you know what a Plethora is?

Sorry folks for the over post. C, -T

Anonymous said...

AnonT

Add 7 posts to your baseline annoyance factor equals #shutthehellup.

Lemonade714 said...

HG you had Gordon Color LAT, for me it was Carpenter who came to mind last.

I did not see myself in competition with Bummpo, merely suggesting our language does not feel as static to me. What makes things interesting are the differences of opinion.

Bumppo said...

Thank you, Anonymous @4:29 pm Thurs. The ABA Journal article linked by Lemonade actually supported my point (on PLEADED vs. PLED).