Theme: What's between your ears? - I think my mother might have chosen any one of these synonyms that start our theme entries to answer that question.
17A. Fill-in-the-amount document : BLANK CHECK
25A. Expanding bullet : HOLLOW POINT
37A. Uncomprehending look : VACANT STARE
52A. Like men modeling swimming trunks : BARE-CHESTED
61A. Insincere talk, and a hint to the starts of this puzzle's four other longest entries : EMPTY WORDS
Argyle here. This seemed easy when I solved it but after writing up the blog, there seems to be some wicked entries. Whether or not they formed some Naticks remains to be seen. Two strong corners are nice. Good in-the-language entries makes up for the random obscurity.
Across:
1. SoCal enforcement squad : LAPD
5. "12 Angry Men" star Henry : FONDA. (1957)
10. Swimming spot : POOL
14. Seat of Allen County, Kansas : IOLA. Motto: "Come home to Iola, Kansas...it's time"
15. Queen __ lace : ANNE'S
16. Cherub, in Chambéry : ANGE. Chambéry is a city in southeastern France.
19. Actress Ward : SELA
20. Made sure of : SAW TO
21. Dines at home : EATS IN
23. Place to check your balance, briefly : ATM
28. Feathery scarves : BOAs
30. Put down, in slang : DIS
31. Marinara sauce brand : PREGO
32. Bear witness : ATTEST
35. Stun, as a perp : TASE
41. French girlfriend : AMIE
42. Soviet newspaper : PRAVDA
45. Horoscope columnist Sydney : OMARR. (1926 – 2003)
49. Opening for a chorus line : TRA
51. Free from bias : FAIR
56. Family animal : PET
57. With perfection : TO A TEE
58. Roofing piece : SLATE
60. Prefix with sphere : ATMO
66. Wife and sister of Osiris : ISIS
67. Seated yoga position : LOTUS. And he is bare chested.
68. Increase, as prices : GO UP
69. Loch with a monster : NESS
70. Garden tool : SPADE
71. Crooner Williams : ANDY
Down:
1. Ad-__: improvise : LIB
2. Internet giant : AOL
3. Flat panel in many a sports bar : PLASMA TV
4. Funnyman Carvey : DANA
5. Ipso __ : FACTO
6. Waiting to talk to a real person, say : ON HOLD
7. Peoria-to-Green Bay dir. : NNE
8. End-of-year abbr. : DEC.
9. Out of kilter : ASKEW
10. Sunday speaker : PASTOR
11. Baby shower bodysuit : ONESIE
12. Leering at : OGLING
13. Makeshift shelter : LEAN-TO
18. Electric bill meas. : KWH. (kilowatt hour)
22. Pop up : APPEAR
23. Lawyer's gp. : ABA. (American Bar Association)
24. Day care attendee : TOT
26. Ignores the trash can : LITTERS
27. Mama bears, in Spain : OSAs
29. Dead __ Scrolls : SEA. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of texts discovered inside caves about a mile from the shore of the Dead Sea.
33. Not widely available : SCARCE
34. Scottish hat : TAM
36. Gas additive brand : STP
38. Nick at __ : NITE
39. WWII fliers : RAF. (Royal Air Force)
40. Tony-winning role for Patti LuPone : EVA PERON. Evita opened at the Broadway Theatre on 25 September 1979 and closed on 26 June 1983, after 1,567 performances.
43. Roller with pips : DIE. The little square that rolls.
44. Gallery showing : ART
45. Gain possession of : OBTAIN
46. China's __-tung : MAO TSE. (Mao Zedong)
47. One of the Musketeers : ARAMIS. His fellow Musketeers are Athos and Porthos.
48. Freshen, as the salad : RETOSS
50. Available for breeding : AT STUD
53. Sexy-looking shoes : HEELS
54. Steven's wife on "Family Ties" : ELYSE
55. Margery of kids' rhyme : DAW. Stopped in for a second visit.
59. Frat party wrap : TOGA
62. Unruly head of hair : MOP
63. School support org. : PTA
64. Flop : DUD
65. Undercover agent : SPY
Argyle
52 comments:
Staring at a BLANK puzzle or poem
My mind EMPTY until the words come
My eyes may look VACANT
My mind HOLLOW and vagrant,
Till the words are laid BARE, I am numb!
My mind is a huge EMPTY grotto
Till the HOLLOW is filled by Erato
Shoulders BARE, in her youth,
Fills the BLANK as my Muse
Else my mind remain VACANT and blotto!
(As matching the theme, these get a A.
As poetry, at best a C-.)
IN HEAT before AT STUD, and unsure of the spellings, whether Arthos or Portos would fit in place of ARAMIS. Otherwise this puzzle was as difficult as an EMPTY obstacle course.
Morning, all!
Definitely some non-Tuesday words today (ANGE, IOLA, ARAMIS and the return of DAW), but I found the perps to be very fair and didn't really have any problem getting though the puzzle. Cute theme.
Good Morning, Argyle and friends. I thought this was a pretty easy puzzle. I had a bit of a stumble in the south-east corner, as I am unfamiliar with OMARR, but once I realized the Musketeer was not Mouseketeer, I could fill in the rest of the BLANK, HOLLOW, VACANT and BARE spaces.
We had several repeats in today's puzzle: MAO, DAW, DUD and AOL have all appeared recently.
Queen Anne's Lace is a member of the carrot family, but is poisonous.
One can view the DEAD SEA scrolls on line, or visit the
unique museum in Jerusalem.
QOD: Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise. ~ Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 ~ Sept. 23, 1939)
What a perfect Tuesday puzzle and write up. Thanks PAK and Argyle.
We have the return of IOLA a city which has appeared in many puzzles and ANGE but the rest flew by.
Hello again,
Pretty straightforward puzzle today with a nice theme. I did have pause with ONESIE though. Can't ever remember hearing the term when our sons were infants.
SE corner was a minor slowdown because never knew there was a Sydney OMARR in this world. Perps were all solid so I let it go.
Wanted One for 49A ( the song from Chorus Line) and still don't get TRA. Must be my sheltered upbringing!
Trees have finally begun to bloom in our area and it's looking like May. Very late this year. Thank you Old Man Winter!
Thank you for the puzzle, Pam. Thank you for the review, Argyle.
I agree, this was an easy, straightforward puzzle, about right for a Tuesday. I finished in my normal Tuesday time, but no ta-da. I re-read my answers and found no typos. I “stepped back” and saw I had 1D = LOB and 14A = OOLA. I didn’t know the Kansas town, but knew 1D had to be LIB. Ta-da!
I agree with unknowns IOLA, ANGE, OMARR, but the perps solved them.
I had CHIP before LAPD and HEMI before ATMO, but the perps fixed them.
Hondo, think TRA la la.
One of the more famous uses of "Tra-La-La".
Mockingbird Hill(3:06)
It's grids like these that show why the LAT will never have the reputation of the NYT.
If I want to do puzzles this "challenging," I'll do the USA Today.
Good morning!
I tawt I DAW a Margery! Can't believe I managed to remember her for two whole days.
Like Hondo, TRA escaped me. Got it, but didn't get it. Thanks, Buckeye Bob.
On trash pickup days we pick up LITTER and tote it to the nearest trash can. "Miss Chardonnay," who favors little 4-packs of Sutter Home, is still at it. She wraps the empties in a plastic bag and pitches the whole thing out her Mustang window as she cruises by. Classy!
Anon @ 7:25 --
The LAT puzzles get progressively harder through the week, so that all levels of solvers have a chance to finish the puzzles.
If you don't like it, skip the early part of the week and come back later in the week. Or skip the LAT completely.
Complaining here won't change your life. DO something about it.
Musings
-VACANT STARE? Oh, you’ve heard our PASTOR speak
-Certainly the most famous LAPD badge
-Did the 12 Angry Men get it wrong?
-My dad went to a swimming HOLE (when there was one) in the dirty 30’s
-I can ATTEST to screwy weather – frost last week and 92°F tomorrow
-Some law enforcement officers get TASED to know how it feels
-Da, comrade, according to PRAVDA we are not hungry
-An old colleague’s response to a child saying, “That’s not FAIR” – “FAIRs come in the summertime”
-I’m taking my ball TO A TEE at 9 am today
-Andy Williams featured the Osmond Brothers (1:53) doing barbershop over 50 years ago (Donny came later)
-What are you doing on the phone Gary? I’ve been put ON IGNORE.
-LEAN TO or carport? Your call.
-I thought a Putdown was a DIG. In my haste, didn’t respect the female Spanish bear sufficiently
-Roller with pips took some cogitatin’ AFTER I filled it in
-My aunt Arletta died last week and my memory of her is playing the piano and lustily singing Mockingbird Hill .Tra la la, tweedle dee dee dee…
Good morning Argyle, C.C. et al.
Thanks for the write-up and explanations, Argyle. I hardly think the words could describe what’s between your ears, though!!
I had to check the down clues for POOL – it could have been POnd. Did not know IOLA, and couldn’t remember OMARR so more cross-checking. And GOUP just looked odd. Other than those hesitations, I finished in TTT (typical Tuesday time.)
Lots to do today, so I’m off!
Good morning, Folks. Thank you, Pam Klawitter, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.
Buckeye Bob: Good comeback. I agree with you.
Puzzle was great. Zipped through in fine fashion.
One big inkblot on my paper, 10A had HOLE, then changed that to POND, finally wrote in POOL after OGLING appeared. Phew!
Not sure if RETOSSing a salad makes it fresher. It just looks better.
No MOP here for 62D. I am pretty MOP-less. Comes with age and heredity.
LITTERS was a good word, but with a bad connotation. I am fervent about picking up various litter as I walk. Sometimes I carry a plastic bag to put it in. The other day I walked to the library to get a book, about a mile round trip, and picked up 10 of those little vodka bottles (50 ml), plus other stuff. I am sure people get a pop at a fast food place and head down the road while dumping a shot of vodka into it, and then throwing the empty little bottle out the window.
Puzzle theme was fine. Good job!
Almoner meeting this morning. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
(occasionally rturynan)
I had a good time with this one! favorite clue was ''baby shower bodysuit'! Those were getting popular
when our son was born. Wonderful little garments.
PREGO is DH's favorite spaghetti sauce. I find it a little sweet, but the texture is nice, and it's better with a little drier red wine (RE)TOSSed in.
We were always told not to be a litterbug when we were growing up. Wonder if parents teach that now? (wasn't there a cartoon character or something called a litterbug?)
Good morning everyone. Good intro by Argyle as always.
Easy as others have said. But I had to bounce around a little and probe the perps; ie. SPADE/MOP area in south. IOLA, OMARR, and SELA were gotten from the perps. Gettable theme and sweetened with chewy downs like PLASMA TV.
Have a good day.
Nice, smooth, puzzle with a fun theme. Thanks, Pam.
Nice write-up, too, Argyle!
Re: PREGO sauce. Check the first ingredient: tomato puree. Same with Ragu. Best low-cost sauce? Barilla. First ingredient? Tomatoes.
Good day, Argyle, et alii!
Finishing this while the coffee was brewing reminded me that even a beginner wouldn't have a problem with this.
Hand up for POND before POOL but otherwise done TO A TEE.
I don't recall seeing IOLA but perps filled it as well as ANGE.
Yesterday I attempted a modified LOTUS position and did FAIRly well.
On to a busy day. Have a terrific Tuesday, everyone!
Argyle, I loved the pictures you used to represent LOTUS and ONESIE. Same pose, same expression. It almost looks as if the two are related. Was that done on purpose?
Recently we were discussing the highest points in each state. Here is the list with photos. I have visited the highest points in NH, NY, WV, and NJ.
Link text
http://local.msn.com/outdoors/highest-points-in-each-state
Good Morning:
A very enjoyable Tuesday offering Cute theme with some nice, fresh fill. Good job, Pam, and nice expo, Argyle.
As Hondo said, the trees are starting to fill out with greenery and the temps are getting up to Spring-like levels. At long last, winter has finally gone away. (I hope!)
Have a pleasant day.
CC and Argyle. This time my link worked. I erased the HTTP and copied the remainder into the form. I have been trying that and not succeeding. Thanks.
I found this puzzle more interesting than usual for a Tuesday.I started in the NW corner and then the SE corner. I soon had the reveal which helped with the themes.
I think ONESIES became popular in the 1980's when my children were in their twenties. ONESIES are still as popular as ever, 30 some years later.
SELA has become crosswordese.
The only unknowns, OMARR and IOLA, though new to me were easy to get.
When I was a kid we swam in a swimming hole in the creek. Actually it was more fun than a pool. Of course, we couldn't do laps. We had lots of fun horsing around with our friends.
I did notice the similarity between the two Lotuses but only after I was done.
Frost warning for tonight but not likely to hurt anything.
Hi gang -
Nice puzzle. Appreciate it more now that I've finished it.
HOLE before POOL for some reason.
Not much to add.
Yes, Barilla is good. Trader Joe also has a good low cost sauce.
Owen - you always get an A for creativity.
Cool regards!
JzB
Nice Tuesday puzzle. I only had a few erasures and I didn't wear any holes in the paper.
Hand up for HOLE instead of pool because like YR I swam in a "swimmin hole" as a kid. Also HEMI vs. atmo, and I knew that the horoscopes were written by Sydney OMARR but I thought there were 2 A's instead of 2 R's, so it took a few minutes to get it right.
As Hondo and Irish Miss said it's nice that the greenery is turning green. However, it was a rough winter on my shrubbery with many below zero days and tons of snow. I lost a few large centrally located shrubs that I will have to dig up and replace. Oh well.
A little history on Prego sauce: The parent company, Campbells, originally started making it under the Campbell name and it bombed miserably. People associated it with Campbells Tomato soup and it just didn't sell. They took it off the market and released it later under the Prego name which sounded more Italian.
Have a nice day everyone.
Blank Check? (more interesting is what kind of place charges $48.00 for a beer?)
Hollow points are not funny...
This guys vacant stare is getting on my nerves...
I gotta get a tie like this!
Not just empty words.
Argyle, perfect pic of Queen Anne's lace with the tiny purple flower in the center!
Hatoolah@6:02 Queen Anne's Lace (also known as Wild Carrot) is edible, but never, ever, eat any wild plant that was identified by some one you don't know over the internet!
How to identify Queen Anne's Lace.
Poison Hemlock! Can you tell the difference?
Another very similar plant that is poisonous: Fools Parsley.
Hola Everyone, Even with unknowns, such as Omarr, Iola, and Ange I was able to fill this puzzle in without too much trouble. Two days in a row I feel very smart. I didn't leave any vacant spaces.
I originally had Gym for Place to check your balance, but that was quickly changed to ATM. Made more sense than going to the Gym to Check your balance. Though I did go to the Gym and balance was one of the main reasons!!
I didn't know that Queen Anne's lace was poisonous. Thanks, Hahtoolah for that piece of information. I have picked it for wild flower bouquets, though.
Have a great day, everyone.
Thanks Argyle and Pam.
In soviet-era Russia there were two newspapers - Pravda "truth" and Izvestya "news" leading people to say "there's no truth in the news and no news in the truth".
@CED - the check comes from a bar in Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong - I'm pretty sure I've been there. Exchange rate from HK to US $ is about 8:1.
You're right, CED. I'll only eat Queen Anne's Lace if it's been identified by somebody I know over the internet.
Steve, even at 8:1 that's still expensive "nothing."
Fun Tuesday puzzle with a delightful theme--many thanks, Pam. Not a speed run, though, since I didn't know IOLA and a few other items. But it helped that I even remembered the spelling of OMARR. Argyle, that's a stunning photo of QUEEN ANNE'S LACE. Thanks for posting it.
How nice to see a reference to "Family Ties," one of my favorite sit-coms for many years. Michael J. Foxx played the smart, conservative teenager on the show, and he was terrific. I was so disappointed that his new show was canceled before the season had even ended.
Gloomy day today, but we can't complain after our lovely sunny weekend.
Have a great day, everybody!
Perhaps I spoke too soon about Spring-like temps; as Argyle mentioned, there is a frost warning for tonight. OTOH, the trees ARE "wearing their greenery" more and more each day.
CED, love your Vacant Stare guy!
Hi all!
Thanks to Pam & Argyle. This puzzle would have been Wed/Thurs hard w/o the solid perps. Rich, are we to see the same c/a later in the week?
I had a false start in the NW w/ hoc (h?PD)? Finally fixed that and got 14a. Other misstep - DIg before DIS.
D-O - Yo DAWg! Me too. I can't believe I could remember, I almost had DeW at 1st, but, wait, that's a real word...
H-G - Thanks for the Webb link...
Re: picking up others' LITTER; my kids think I'm a weirdo for putting it in my pocket for later. I just say "Have some pride where you live even if other's don't."
I hope those aren't EMPTY WORDS on deaf ears.
Gotta run. I'll check in tonight.
Cheers, -T
This is the Keep America Beautiful ad that I remember from the 70s.
No offense but we had two Cornerites identify Omarr as the SE corner. Do we need a compass rose :-)?
Just a few words in response to the comment about the difficulty level of the puzzles.
I think it's wonderful that there are grids for those of us who are not seasoned pros. Wasn't everybody a tyro at one point?
And what's the deal with the NYT's comparison. They are also progressively more difficult as the week goes on but Monday - Tuesday are similar to LAT. I think the LAT offers a nice middle of the road difficulty level that suits many of us (I still can't solve the Fri or Sat without help).
If the early week puzzles are too easy, fork out $40 for a NYT's subscription and go to the archives and do their Fri - Sat grids. That should take care of the "too easy" problem you're having. In the meantime you might want to give your enormous ego a rest and let the rest of us just enjoy our simple pleasures (albeit while wallowing in our inferior solving skills) without insulting everyone. If you don't like the game, simply don't play!
This was a fun but easy Tuesday. I had one write over: KWT to KWH. IOLA and OMARR were solved by perps.
Misty, you can catch Michael J. Fox on The Good Wife.
Nit-picking here, but a die is a CUBE made up of 6 squares.
EVITA is one of my favorite shows. I am not an uncritical fan of Broadway musicals. I tell myself it is because I love music--as an "appreciator"--and prefer to hear it in the service of significant themes.
The political stability of a nation is among our more important topics. The marriage of that idea with the theatrical transformation of a big-hearted hooker is packed with an irony that felt "real" to me when I watched/heard Patti LuPone play it back in 1980 or '81. It was the kind of event that couldn't be captured in the screen version.
You just had ta been there.
Yellowrocks - Thank you for the link to the "Highest points in each state." That was interesting and mostly beautiful or gorgeous. I was disappointed that "my" mountain, Mt Rainier, 4th highest, did not actually show the "peak" as it would be awesome. On non-cloudy days I see it 40 miles away from my back deck.
Hi Y'all! Fun & fast, Pam! Thanks, Argyle! I caught on to the theme with the 2nd one which helped on the rest.
I knew ARAMIS, but spelled it with the last two vowels exchanged at first.
The only time I ever tried the LOTUS position, I was largely pregnant. Someone told me the exercise would help with later labor. My husband heard me yelling and came to untangle my legs. My bod was not Yoga friendly.
My little bros wore ONESIES back in the '50's but we didn't call them that then. Mom called them ''rompers", I think.
When I was in in HS, PREGO meant some girl was "in trouble".
80*+ this week. Maple seeds are coptering down in droves. I took my winter clothes to the out-of-season closet and brought back the short sleeves.
Saturday I had a delightful supper in a microbrewery in Yardley, PA with my son, DIL and grandson. DIL and I had a sampler of 4 craft beers brewed right there, all very good and out of the ordinary. DIL and I preferred the golden wheat beer. I can't carry a tune in a bucket, so if I had tried to sing I could have been called a “sharp (or flat) drinker.”
Then we attended Hair Spray, the Musical staged by my grandson's high school. My grandson played the role of Seaweed. I loved his singing voice in "Run and Tell That." He surely did not inherit his talent from me. It is so amazing to watch your grandchild grow up and accomplish things. Now I enjoy our discussions of the books he reads.
In bottled spaghetti sauces I like Barilla or Francesca Rinaldi. For a quick supper when I don't have time for homemade, I "doctor up" bottled sauce. I saute ground meat with onions and garlic and add spices along with the bottled sauce. It only takes 20 minutes and greatly improves the taste.
Nancy, that's great, that Michael J. Fox is still performing! Thanks for letting me know.
Buckeye Bob......
I wanted the highway patrol also since the clue didn't indicate any certain area in so cal..... and LAPD only has jurisdiction in LA county.... so much for over thinking....... :)
Enjoyed the puzzle...... thanx Argyle and Pam
thelma :)
Karl - your link was broken for me. Is this (1:01m) what you were talking about? If so, I remember it too... C, -T
So, trivia about the Anonymous T link at 5:18:
1. What was the stage name of the actor featured in that ad?
2. What was his ancestry?
3. Extra point if you can name the announcer!
Buckeye Bob,
1. Iron Eyes Cody
2 & 3 ???????????????????
Good questions Buckeye Bob.
I guessed Graham Green and Jack Webb. Both wrong, but I felt pretty good about the second one. Googled to get the answer, so I won't spoil anything
Good evening all,
Since I am so late I will write and then go back and read, so I can enjoy all the poems and little extras.
I was flying through this one, but ended up with a DNF because I did not know the Soviet newspaper and the perps only got me so far. "Roller with pips" is not a clue that I understand, even with Argyles's "the little square that rolls". I did the abc thing and 6 letters could have fit so I left it blank ON A TUESDAY!! Not good.
Otherwise, I had fun and enjoyed the theme. "Babyshower bodysuit" was my fav clue. Not too many write overs:dig to dis, and I really laughed when I realized what goup really was.
After celebrating Lei Day in Maui, we are now back home living the real life.
It’s been a while, so here are the trivia answers.
1. Iron Eyes Cody. Congratulations, Hondo!
2. Italian ancestry. He was born in Louisiana, to parents who emigrated from Sicily to the U.S.
3. William Conrad (a story in himself)
Iron Eyes Cody Wiki
This puzzle was no DUD but suited me TO A TEE after a long day at work. I was happy to spell DAW properly today.
I had ATTAIN before OBTAIN and had to wait for perps to fill in ELYSE.
JD, I did not understand the DIE clue either until lightbulb moment! The DIE is one of a pair of Dice that have pips on them and are rolled. LOL!
YR thanks for the link. I have seen Mt Washington.
Steve, you beat me in answering CED's query about the bar. But here's a trick many of you might not know: that 48.00 for beer. The number 97 in the name of the establishment refers to the 1997 handover of Hong Kong from the UK to China.
Thank you CanadianEh!!! I thought one of the 2 dice was a di, although now that I look at it, it does seem wrong... and now I know what a pip is. Thanks again!!! Pip must be one of those words with LOTS of meanings...I will look it up and not forget.
Interesting story about Prego, oc4beach. I have used Prego to add to my sauce when I have needed more.
Ok, since no one linked, I'll do the obligatory LAPD link.
Owen - I failed to mention yesterday's prose, but very well done. Todays, well, you were your worst critic.
Canned sauce?!? Ok, I confess - Classico when I'm short on time. YR - my doctoring takes even less time - just a few basil leaves from the garden.
Steve - I loved you're take on PRAVDA. I've noticed my Russian friends cut though HOLLOW POINTS politicians make way faster than I. I guess growing up with obvious BS, they recognize it. Our BS is more couched.
OK, back to fighting the wily hackers...
Cheers, -T
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