google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, June 27, 2014, Marti Duguay-Carpenter

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Jun 27, 2014

Friday, June 27, 2014, Marti Duguay-Carpenter

Theme: I am sorry, but it is necessary to perform an "N"ectomy on the patient.

Look what Blew in this week, marti blogging C.C., and then I get a Friday frolic with the mind of miss m with what was not a difficult extraction. Each of the four (4) theme answers has the letter "N" removed from a 4-letter word to create a new and side-splitting  phrase. For me, all add a letter, take away a letter puzzles depend on the humor of the new phrases and especially the wittiness of the reveal.  To transform BLOWN AWAY, a common phrase, into the evocative, BLOW 'N' AWAY, curls my puzzle solving toes. The 4 are all legitimate and fun (I like LOG DIVISION best). We have BREW for Tin and I,  some Shakespeare, OSLO for our Norwegian contingent, some pretty people and Dr. Seuss. I found it it a quick solve, with oodles of 3 and 4 letter fill to speed the process. Odd that BLOW would be central to two themes this week?

17A. Transport selling wieners? : HOT DOG BUNS, (9) The thought of a hot dog bus of course led to this image

24A. Woodsman's job? : LONG DIVISION.(11) Is there a short division? The LOG/LONG gave me the theme.

41A. Ma and pa's retirement dream? : LIVING OFF THE LAND.(15) makes me think of Todd Marinovich. I wonder if many parents have this thought? Do any of you watch America's Got Talent? Some of those young people are amazing.

51A. Tabloids? : LINE PRINTERS. (11) Are they lies? You mean Beyonce is not really having an alien's baby? and the reveal

66A. Totally amazed ... or, read another way, a hint to 17-, 24-, 41- and 51-Across : BLOW N AWAY.(9)

Across:

1. Bangers side : MASH. I made my non-British version of this favorite for my son and his wife when they came by to drop off their dog last week. With the hot dog clue reference we have a mini-theme of encased meat.

5. DOL division : OSHA. I might run out of red ink, Department oLabor begot Occupational Safety and Health Administration. I know OSHA is an acronym, but does anybody say DOL?

9. Concerns : FEARS.

14. Potpourri : OLIO. A SSO to C.C.

15. Stock answers? : MOOS. marti, so witty, that was a live one.

16. First : ON TOP. Of the standings, for example.


19. Willing : READY and able? Hmm, I am getting old.

20. Author among whose pen names was Theo LeSieg : SEUSS. Cute Friday clue, though marti nit number 1,  does anyone ever not say, "Dr. Seuss?

21. Not suitable : INAPT.

23. Stutz contemporary : REO. Early automobiles.

27. Church official : DEACON. A sub-priest I believe. I had so many links, Richard Deacon, Phil Silvers' brother, Queen bassist John Deacon, Deacon Jones, Wake Forest Demon Deacons.... so I left the linking to you.

31. Racer Fabi : TEO. Formula One and Indy driver. LINK.(1:10)

32. Countertenor's range : ALTO. Do not know music but this seemed easy. Do people say countertenor?

33. Sommer of "The Money Trap" : ELKE.


37. Outline : TRACE.

44. __ question : YES/NO. marti has used this before? yes? no?

45. Broadway opening : ACT I. Nice clue.

46. Buyer's boon : SALE.

47. Repeatedly, quaintly : OFT.

49. Eschews the cafĂ© : EATS IN. Where you stay home and eschew your food.

57. Growing field?: Abbr. : AGRiculture.

58. "... bombs bursting __" : IN AIR. Name that tune!

59. Nahuatl speaker : AZTEC. Incan Aztec, eh.

64. Danger : PERIL.

68. Round perch : STOOL. Avoiding more breakfast test commentary.

69. 21,730-pg. references : OEDSOxford English Dictionaries.

70. Logan of CBS News : LARA. This is the South African newswoman attacked and raped on camera in Egypt. No links. Horrible reality.

71. Pulls in : EARNS.

72. Pub order : BREW. Not likely to get much use in a real pub, as pubs have choices.

73. Mike Tirico's network : ESPN. He is CONTROVERSIAL.

Down:

1. Scratch-resistance scale : MOHS. Mineral hardness scale. Named for a German mineralogist, not one of the Three Stooges.

2. Natural balm : ALOE. In Florida, after too much sun, it is the bomb.

3. In __: as originally placed : SITU. Made famous by TV and CSI type shows.

4. Coal scuttles : HODS. Not hard, except for Bostonians.
5. Texting gasp : OMG.

6. Ferber novel : SO BIG.

7. Harass : HOUND. Game of Thrones?. LINK.

8. Verdi adverb : ASSAI. This could be very hard if you do not know Italian or music.

9. Ruby anniversary : FORTIETH. My son just had his wooden anniversary.

10. Opposite of 67-Down : ENE. Cheesy cross-reference with 67D. Opposite of 10-Down : WSW.

11. Big arcade name : ATARI.

12. Sport based on vaquero skills : RODEO. Vaquero is I believe Spanish for Cowboy; I hear they are riding motorcycles instead of horses now.

13. Keep under surveillance : SPY ON. No politics.

18. Home of the Munch Museum : OSLO. Like his most famous work, the place is surreal.

22. Cpl.'s subordinate : PVT

25. Heist unit : ONE G, I guess you decide how many thousands you get.

26. Most likely to groan : SOREST. Most sore, not so rest.

27. Carson of "The Voice" : DALY.  A TV STAR.

28. Writer Wiesel : ELIE.

29. Rugged rides, for short : ATVS. All Terrain Vehicls.

30. Needing quarters, perhaps : COIN OP. Really?

34. Mauna __ : LOA. It is lower than KEA, which is higher than LOA..

35. Popeyes rival : KFCKentucky Fried Chicken.

36. Juvenile salamander : EFT.

38. "__, I am not coop'd here for defence!": "Henry VI, Part 3" : ALAS. Act V, SCENE I.

39. Colombian city : CALI.

40. Early cover-up site? : EDEN. Really cute fig leaf clue.

42. Basic : NO FRILLS. There is no truth to the rumor Spirit Airlines is selling toilet tissue by the square.

43. Bowl level : TIER.

48. London can : TIN. Another Shout out. Maybe Steve can bring us a tin of roe when he travels.

50. Slippery-eel link : AS AN. Is this a partial?

51. Backslide : LAPSE.

52. "__ Kick Out of You" : I GET A. How about some BLUE EYES (3:09)?

53. Flub : ERROR.

54. Big shot : NABOB. Are the nattering?

55. Floor worker : TILER. I wonder why there

56. Undermine : ERODE.

60. Jewelry entrepreneur Morris : ZALE. Did not know this MAN.The Z made it simple.

61. "__ the night ..." : TWAS. An Argyle SSO.

62. Tombstone lawman : EARP.

63. Primary printing color : CYAN.

65. It's always charged : ION.

No charging for me,  I am going to have to pay cash as I had my pocket picked at the gas station, and my wallet and credit cards gone. You think it can't happen but it did and I had no clue. I did however pull myself together to unravel these clues and hope you are all doing well. I blame Mercury.

Lemonade out.


63 comments:

OwenKL said...

It's important correctly to parse
When punctuation is sparse.
To read BLOWN AWAY
As BLOW "N" AWAY
Could lead to a lexical farce

Your Cryptic clue for one of the answers in today's puzzle. Guessing the answer should be easy. The real fun is figuring out how it's derived from the clue.
Harlan's concern was initially kindness for children

OwenKL said...

Each henchman was a rather dim yegg.
And the HEIST was planned over a keg,
So the bank with the loss
Was the local Red Cross,
And their loot, not ONE G, but O NEG!

The Devil wears a big grin,
He thinks of the souls he will win.
The saints are too greasy,
But the evil are meaty.
At dinner, the fiend will EAT SIN!

Beware of a scam going on.
Phony G-men will show up at dawn.
Say they're looking for pot
Then steal your whole lot --
The feds call it the D.E.A. CON!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Always a good sign when I can get 1A with no hesitation (I actually tried Bangers and MASH when I visited London, although I didn't get around to trying spotted dick).

Took awhile to grok the theme (after getting 17A, I thought it was a letter substitution, but it became clear with 24A). Once I grokked it, though, it was mostly a delight. I say "mostly" only because "Line Printer" doesn't mean anything to me so I needed all the perps to get LIE PRINTER.

Cross references at 10D and 67D were annoying at first, but once the perps filled in ENE then WSW it became obvious.

Never heard of Mike Tirico, but with _SPN in place it wasn't hard to guess his network.

LARA was a complete unknown, but the perps were solid. Never heard of Morris ZALE, but ZALEs is my wife's favorite jewelry store so it wasn't hard to guess.

Wanted LOO instead of TIN at 48D.

Barely remembered TEO, but PVT was pretty easy to get so it didn't matter.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

This was smooth sailin' for a Friday. Like Lemon, I got the theme at LOG DIVISION and the romp turned into a speed run. Thanx, Marti. I did not fall for your LOO/TIN herring.

I had COINO_, and it took foevah for that P to appear. I've never thought of the machine as "needing" coins. Is ATARI still a big name at arcades? I've never been to one. I assume they're not playing Pong.

Barry there used to be high speed, impact computer LInE PRINTERS that literally printed an entire line in one swell foop -- clack, clack, clack.

Time for that 3-mile march...

PK said...

Hi Y'all! I was on Marti's wave-length for this fun puzzle and got the theme with the first two. I found it easier than usual for Friday although it took some mulling over and added perps to get several fills.

I tried "tome" before deciding that such an exact number of pages must signify a certain OEDS.

I got a chuckle out of the string of answers: OMG SO BIG HOUND with the postscript below of the groaning SOREST. I don't care if it's before breakfast.

Did anyone view the NBA draft first pick last night? I can't believe he wore a jacket with stylized flowers on it. Wonder who picked that out? His name is Wiggins from Kansas, but you wouldn't see a macho guy on the street there in that jacket. As big and talented as he is, they probably won't tease him, but his new team mates in Cleveland sure might.

Al Cyone said...

Well, the North proved to be a bit sticky. PFC kept me from seeing LOG DIVISION. I (a one-time English major) should have known the Ferber novel but didn't. No idea about the Verdi adverb either. Finally, though I had HOT DOG and had figured out the theme, BUS somehow eluded me for awhile. It all worked out in the end.

[17:37]

PK said...

Lemonade, great expo! Has that nasty anon followed you to the gas station? He's tried to "get your goat" so often, he's probably not beyond picking your pocket. Sorry this happened to you! The world is a crazy place anymore.

thehondohurricane said...


Good day everyone,

A successful Friday for me is not too common! But, I got 'er done without any major hold ups. Hand up for Loo before TIN. Picked up on the theme early on and it certainly helped.

Had one nit..Bowl level/TIER. To me, a Bowl is a stadium that is rowed from top to bottom, like Yale Bowl or the Rose Bowl. TIER comes into play when the stadium is multi leveled. It's no longer bowl shaped. And, yes, Webster and I are in disagreement......again.

Hope you folks in the flooding areas are safe and dry.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Marti, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for a fine review.

I never heard of Bangers and MASH, so I had HASH for 1A. My last entry in the puzzle was changing the H to an M. The screen lit up and I was finished.

I got LIE PRINTERS and then later on got BLOWN AWAY. That gave me the theme. Then the others appeared easily.

No idea of the SEUSS answer until I had about 4 of the letters. Then I wagged it.

MOHS was not known. I had HOHS because of HASH. When I fixed that MOHS appeared. Maybe I will remember that for the next time.

OSHA was easy. In our company we used to refer to them as Our Savior Has Arrived. On a sad note, when we were just closing our factory, 2.2 million square feet of it, a fork lift driver was killed in an accident. OSHA descended on us in no time.

OwenKL. Liked your poem, especially the blood bank part.

Did not get yesterday's puzzle done, or even started. Too busy. We are traveling to Massachusetts today, maybe I will get it done on the way.

Weather is supposed to be fine today. Have had loads of rain.

See you tomorrow from Attleboro.

Abejo

(127)

Big Easy said...

This was a very easy puzzle for a Friday. I don't speak Italian, so ASSAI came from perps. I loved the 7D answer for harass, in which HOUND almost crossed DOG. My "Henry VI knowledge in nonexistent so ALAS was a perp, along with Carson DALY. The clue for COIN OP was misleading but I guess 'operated' would be too long. Are the Nahuatl speakers still getting revenge? If so, they can go to my first thought on 48A, London Can, which was LOO but turned out to be TIN.

Popeye's rival; not Brutus but KFC. Little Al Copeland just this week sold his father's ( Big Al Copeland) recipe to the owners of the chain for $43 million. The fight over ownership goes back 25 years with Popeyes having to purchase all their seasonings from Big Al, who started the chain for a few million a year. That's not bad money for cayenne pepper and flour.

http://www.nola.com/dining/index.ssf/2014/06/al_copeland_jr_discusses_selli.html

Husker Gary said...

All right, I saw the fun gimmick from the start and thought no reveal was necessary but that, it turns out, was fun too! Bravo Marti, is there no “N” to your talents?

Musings
-Re: LIE PRINTERS
-I watched some kids under six face their FEARS yesterday and jump off a diving board
-Jerry Seinfeld had a line wondering if police sketch artists start out by TRACING dead bodies at crime scenes
-Has there ever been a car dealership or furniture store that wasn’t having a SALE?
-Could Marti have eschewed the diacritical mark in café? I started out thinking coffee. ;-)
-Our AGR businesses were in the throes of a drought a year ago but we just got another 3” last night to add to the big rainfalls we have already had. How’s your part of the country doing?
-Our superintendent in our small town of 27,000 “EARNS” a salary of $198,572 with $42,976 in benefits. Are you BLOWN AWAY by that?
-My moll and I were packing heat when we pulled the heist and got ONE G. Now we’re on the lam and hope a stoolie doesn’t finger us to some gum-shoe who’ll put us in stir.
-A high center of gravity, narrow base and stupidity make an ATV ripe for a rollover
-NO FRILLS in Omaha
-In what movie was the life of PVT Santiago put in PERIL by a crazy colonel?

Yellowrocks said...

Very clever and punny, Marti. Easier than an average Friday. Lemonade, great blog. Sorry about your wallet.
In re Dr. Seuss from Wiki:

You're wrong as the deuce
And you shouldn't rejoice
If you're calling him Seuss.
He pronounces it Soice[60] (or Zoice)[61]

Geisel switched to the anglicized pronunciation because it "evoked a figure advantageous for an author of children's books to be associated with—Mother Goose" and because most people used this pronunciation.

For books that Geisel wrote and others illustrated, he used the pen name "Theo LeSieg", starting with I Wish That I Had Duck Feet, published in 1965. "LeSieg" is "Geisel" spelled backward.
As a grandmother and a kindergarten teacher, I remember seeing this pen name on I Wish I Had Duck Feet

Yellowrocks said...

LIVE OFF THE LAD - Many of my colleagues had the opposite sentiment. They were angry that their retired parents were spending
their offsprings's inheritance on travel and other non necessities. I suppose mom and dad were expected to live a NO FRILLS life style. I was aghast at my colleagues selfishnes.

ASSAI was all perps.

desper-otto said...

Husker, that movie'd be A Few Good Men -- still a fun flick to watch if you can handle the truth.

Our NO FRILLS supermarket is called Food Fair. We refer to it as Food's Fair.

YR, interesting about Soice/Seuss. And LeSieg -- shades of Serutan.

CanadianEh! said...

PK - that NBA 1st choice is all over the news here because he is Canadian (from Toronto). But we don't all dress like that. I think he might have been watching too much of Don Cherry. LOL!

LaLaLinda said...

Hi All ~~

A thoroughly enjoyable Friday puzzle, Marti! I had an idea of the theme with HOT DOG BUS, but it was confirmed with LIVING OFF THE LAD - great! I'm always amazed at the cleverness of themes such as this and like C.C.'s yesterday ~ how do you come up with these wonderful ideas??

I stumbled right away with 1A - Hash before MASH, but MOHS set me straight. Perps were needed for ASSAI and ZALE. Other than that, smooth sailing.

Favorite was 'Early cover-up site' / EDEN.

Lemonade714 said...

YR,
Thanks for reminding me that LeSieg is GEISEL backwards.

BG if you Google "Line Printer" you get 42,100,000 hits.

Congratulations to the US World Cup team for making it to the round of 16, maybe they will be full strength for Belgium.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Once again, thanks to all who wished us well on our anniversary yesterday. You are a great group of people.

Now Marti, following on the heels of C.C., serving up another great puzzle. Ended up proceeding counterclockwise. Got the unifier, BLOWN AWAY, and finally parsed it correctly to get the theme: BLOW N AWAY. Only white-out was I had LOO for can before TIN. OMG!
OSLO was a gimme. and there were many, other, good guesses that worked. Puzzled over PVT vs PFC but LOG DIVISION decided it. Also figured out DOL - Dept. of Labor - after getting OSHA from the perps.
BZ to Marti.

Have a great day.

Anonymous said...

"Forgiveness brings freedom – freedom from being controlled by the past,
freedom from the emotional ties to the offender,
freedom from the continual inner conflicts of bitterness and hate,
freedom to become whole and enjoy the fullness of life."
-Idle Hearts

TTP said...

Good morning all.

Fun and clever puzzle that required perps for ASSAI.

My first theme fill was HOT DOG CAT and I thought we were dropping the R today. There are plenty of hot dog carts in Chicago. I quickly erased CAT.

It didn't help that I also had INePT rather than INAPT. I went from an incomplete to a TADA when I finally realized ---ND would be HOUND for clue "Harass."

Marti, thank you for the challenge this AM and Lemonade, thank you for the writeup. I must admit that I loaded the Elke Sommer clip and started watching. About 15 minutes or so in, I stopped it.

I better get moving. Talk to you all later.

kazie said...

YR,
Geisel means "hostage" so not a great name to begin with. Your verse is correct about the Seuss pronunciation too, so maybe he was trying to shake the German-ness of both names.

Yesterday I had a much harder time and a busy day meant I didn't get it all out until so late it wasn't even worth coming here.

Today, despite many unknown names, I succeeded fairly quickly, but it certainly wasn't a ride in the park. Thanks for the fun theme, Marti. That really helped me.

Anonymous said...

Re 51 down, I would suggest that erosion is a form of mining, not undermining.

Re 51 across, it is true that you will lies in tabloids, but you will find them in broadsheets (and on Fox News) as well; and we need to remember that the New York Daily News, the New York Post and the Chicago Sun-Times are tabloids, and that the National Enquirer was the first to tell the about John Edwards.

Finally, where is the abbreviation indication in 30 down "Needing quarters, perhaps" = COIN OP?

Mari said...

Good morning everybody.

Wow, the theme was too tricky for me. Never saw the N connection.
I liked 35D: Popeyes rival: KFC, and 40D: Early cover-up site? EDEN.

I didn't know Stutz, The Ferber novel, Verdi adverb. Had to PERP ZALE.

Have a great weekend!

Anonymous said...

CORRECTION (the html italic tags did not work):

Re 51 down, I would suggest that erosion is a form of OVER-mining, not undermining.

Re 51 across, it is true that you will find lies in tabloids, but you will find them in broadsheets (and on Fox News) as well; and we need to remember that the New York Daily News, the New York Post and the Chicago Sun-Times are tabloids, and that the National Enquirer was the first to tell the TRUTH about John Edwards.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I had to smile when I saw Marti was the constructor, one day after CC. Alas, this was a FIW due to inapt/assai crossing. I had inept/assei and no TADA.

Really liked the theme and theme answers, especially Hot Dog Bus! Hand up for loo before tin. Fav clue was Stock answers=moos.

Have a fun Friday.

Abejo said...

Spitz: Happy Anniversary #49 to you and Betty. I saw that when I just did Thursday's puzzle.

Abejo

Yellowrocks said...

Sometimes homes are undermined by coastal erosion. We see the homes hanging partially in midair over a cliff with part of their base undermined by erosion.
One of the roads I travel to visit my sister lies next to a creek which frequently rises during storms and erodes the soil underneath the roadway. Then the black top collapses because it has be undermined.

C6D6 Peg said...

Love the back-to-back C.C. and Marti puzzles! Fun work this morning, Marti, and very nice commentary, Lemonade.

Favorite clue was Popeyes Competition. Didn't fool me a bit!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Lucina said...

Good day, Puzzlers. Yowza! What a treat to have C.C. followed by Marti with commentary by Lemonade!

I was on Marti's wave length so quickly I thought it might not be Friday but it is and the romp continued.

MOOS gave me a chuckle and I was on a speed run. We've seen SO BIG a few times before as well as ELIE and ELKE. KFC almost sent me in the wrong direction but ACT I opened the door for me.

ENE/WSW and ASSAI were largely perped though I hesitated long and hard at RODEO as I don't regard it as a sport in itself.

Lemonade I can't believe you have been influenced by the current fad of using I after a preposition; I'm sorry, I just had to mention it because it seems out of line for you.

A DEACON is the penultimate step before the final bestowing of the Priesthood in Holy Orders.

Have a fabulous Friday, everyone!

Lucina said...

Lemon:
I also didn't understand your reference to "Incan Aztec" at Nahuatl speaker.

Misty said...

Woohoo! A Friday Marti puzzle following a Thursday C.C. puzzle! It doesn't get any better than this! And what fun! I was actually sure I had nailed this one but forgot to check one thing: I had BEER instead of BREW. Would have fixed it if I had looked again and seen TILEE instead of TILER. But at least I almost got the whole thing.

Of course fell into the LOO/TIN trap for a second. And struggled with COIN OP which didn't compute until there was no other choice. But loved the missing N products. So, many thanks, Marti!

Fun poems this morning, Owen.

We too are hooked on "America's Got Talent."

Have a great Friday, everybody!

Tinbeni said...

Lemon: Nice write-up & links.
Marti: Thank you for a FUN Friday puzzle. I was BLOW-N-AWAY.

Gee, I thought Barry G. would have enjoyed "spotted dick" when he was in London.

Fave today, of course, was TIN ... go figure.

Hmm, Rays Double-Header today starting at 1:10. I'm sure a BREW will make an appearance.
Cheers!!!

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Not so easy for me, but I made it through.

Great theme, Marti. My fav was LOG DIVISION.

40 D EDEN, because CROTCH doesn't fit.

The LW and I were shopping for birthday cards this morning, and saw one with a picture of ADAM proudly sporting his new leaf. The snake leans down from a tree branch and says to EVE, "Do you want to tell him it's poison ivy, or do I get to?"

Did Insp. Clouseau want to SPY ON ELKE Sommer, or was he just he just doing his job?

ASSAI is an augmenting modifier Allegro ASSAI means "very fast."

ASSHAI is where Melisandre comes from.

Do You GET A kick out of this?

Cool regards!
JzB

Bill G. said...

Good morning! I enjoyed this puzzle with its clever theme. I started off just flying through the upper-left corner but when I got to the upper center with ASSAI, SO BIG and INAPT, I ground to a halt. I never heard of 'So Big' so I tried 'Giant' instead. That area was my worst sticking point.

I'm sorry to hear about your pocket being picked. Good luck! I used to use write checks for everything. Then I switched to my credit card so I only had to write one big check. Since I get paid for tutoring in cash, I hardly use my credit card anymore. Cash and carry, that's me!

Yes I enjoy AGT as I've said several times. I've even gotten to like Howard Stern.

Lara Logan made a mistake and apologized. Apparently that's not enough for some of her co-workers. So I guess she's mostly been fired unofficially. Too bad...

There is absolutely short division. It's very fast and handy when dividing a large number by a single digit divisor; something like 372945 ÷ 5. If the five were changed to a 35, then you would need long division (or a calculator!).

Lucina, heh heh! I noticed that too.

Spitz, I'm sure you must have explained it before but what's the significance of BOOV?

Lucina said...

Jazzb:
Thank you for "allegro ASSAI." That's good to know!

Lemonade714 said...

Lucina, I apologize. If I ever get to saying imply and infer interchangeably please have me horse whipped. I just added the "I' when I was redoing my coments and I will try to be more careful. I admit I am probably falling victim to modern ways.

Sorry, Idid not mean to link more than the trailer of the Elke movie.

JzB, you linked my favorite scene of hers, as well the ASSAI explanation, musically, which I did not want to undertake. Thank you

Tinbeni said...

Bill G. ... FYI
Lara Logan is officially back to work at "60 Minutes" after a seven-month leave of absence.

“Lara Logan has returned to work," CBS News spokesperson Sonya McNair said in an email.

Logan and her producer Max McClellan took leave following public pressure over an Oct. 27 report in which security contractor Dylan Davies claimed to have been present and active at the Sept. 11, 2012, raid on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.
Reports later indicated that Davies had told both his contractor and the FBI that he was not present at the compound on the night of the attack. Logan later apologized, and "60 Minutes" retracted the story.

The news that Logan was back to work was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday.

Spitzboov said...

Bill G @ 1129 - No significance per se. Sort of a root word that when translated into standard German means bub or lad. Not normally used alone in L. German.
When combined with spitz its usual meaning is something like: rogue, imp, or bandit. Depending on usage, it can have an affectionate cast to it.

Ol' Man Keith said...

A delightful write-up from Lemonade!

This was an easy Friday, once the theme was clear--which happened for me when I cracked LIVING OFF THE LAD. For a brief time I thought there might be some unrecognizable answers--as maybe some exotic Spanish name for a Vaquero's skills, or a weird nom de plume for LeSieg, but then...
Isn't it fun when you re-discover how much you already know?

Lemonade714 said...

Keith, I have that epiphany almost every Saturday when I am convinced I cannot do half of the puzzle and then, a letter here, a word there and it is all filled. Of course when I do the Saturday NYT, I reminded of what I do not know often.

Irish Miss said...

Apparently I was not fully awake when I posted earlier because I forgot to thank Marti for the fun puzzle and Lemony for the fun expo. Thank you both.

HeartRx said...

Good afternoon everyone!

I have to wonder if Rich purposely schedules CC and me in the same week...

I'm glad to see many enjoyed the puzzle. ASSAI was one of those words I would normally try to work around, but felt it was fine for a Friday puzzle. It seems to have taken a few of you off guard. Learning moment?

Thanks for the fun write up, Lemony! "N" ectomy, indeed! Sorry to hear about your wallet, though. I had a friend whose purse was stolen out of the front seat as she was pumping gas on the other side of the vehicle. So now I always lock my car doors when I pump gas. There's a lot of brazen thieves out there!

History buff, of sorts, said...

Part 2 - CONTINUED

OwenKl's cryptic question.. on "Harlan's concern was initially kindness for children"

My first choice was PERIL ( 64 Across.) Why ?

Although John Marshall Harlan was from a Kentucky slave owning family, he eventually became somewhat sympathetic to the blacks after some time on the U S Supreme Court. In his famous dissent in Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) in re the question of segregation, he stated that that was a 'badge of servitude'. But whereas, he was somewhat sympathetic to the blacks, he was utterly contemptuous of other races, especially the Chinese.

But his only 'kindness for children' (?) in his famous case United States vs. Wong Kim Ark (1898) in which he famously dissented. The case concerned a chinaman, who had been born in the US to non US citizens. WKA claimed US citizenship, because he was born in the US, but was denied. Mr Harlan said, despite the 14th Amendment, certain races, especially Chinese should NEVER be allowed to be US citizens because "the idea that this race is utterly foreign to us and will never assimilate with us" ( ad verbatim), and "vast numbers of chinese would have rooted out the American population". I don't know whether this constitutes a 'kindness for children' but it was referred to as the chinese 'PERIL'. Fortunately, Mr. Harlan was in the minority and Wong Kim Ark did get his US citizenship, and the precedent was set.

This was what I got from an entire morning, totally wasted. So There.

Lemonade714 said...

marti, if I lock my car, I cannot get in to the gas tank....

Abejo, so why are you in Attleboro and did you email any of our many NE cornerites to get them to entertain you?

Argyle said...

I knew about MOHS because just yesterday I was reading about Herkimer diamonds. Why I was reading about Herkimer diamonds, I don't remember.

Lemonade714 said...

History buff, you leave out that Mr. Harlan was named for Chief Justice John Marshall .

CrossEyedDave said...

MArti, Marti, Marti,

Don't let them kid you, this Friday level puzzle was nowhere near easy...

Late to the party due to Friday chores, but I took a break at lunchtime to take a crack at it. I deftly inked in "mash" thinking this was going to be easy, but was quickly relegated to chickenscratch guesses & 1st letter only "maybe's".

Funny how the pronunciation of the word Nahuatl was incomprehensible, & yet once the answer was derived, it just flows off the tongue... (why is that?)

Pint before brew...

Living off the lad gave me the reveal blow"n"away, but was no help at all in revealing the other long answers. I really hated "coinop" & I was looking for another N to drop before I finally resigned myself to lie printers. But now looking at it from the other side of puzzlement, coinop & its clue were really good. (although lineprinters still seems weird.)

Popeyes rival, I only had the K, which droves me nuts until KFC made me smile...

Vaquero was an unknown, but now I know, thanks!

In the end, a DNF because even when I tried to copy the mid north onto the Mensa site to use red letters, it took forever to change my SGT to PVT, & my THEME to TRACE to finally figure out whatever ASSAI means...

(Sigh) Someday I will join you guys... (without all the chicken scratching)

Lemon? The whole movie? You know I have to check out every link! (Rats! I'll be back in a couple of hours...)

(I know, really long, I will count this as two posts.)

OwenKL said...

Didn't particularly like RODEO clued as A sport, it's a whole collection of several different sports.
Lemon: nice photo -- Munch museum makes me want to scream that it's toppling!
EDEN, hadn't thought of the fig leaf, just the passing of blame.
The Incan language was Quechua, the Mayans either Quiché or Yucatec. The Toltecs did speak Nahuatl though.

And with a text-style spelling, the whole puzzle could be wrapped up by the last clue in the bottom right:
I'm blue, but C YA, N!

History Buff: Wow, massive overthinking, but an interesting article, so it wasn't wasted. The only Harlan I knew of besides Sanders was SF writer Harlan Ellison!
Harlan's concern was initially kindness for children
[Harlan Sander's business, i.e. KFC] was [initials of] [K]indness [F]or [C]hildren

Avg Joe said...

"Outside of a dog, a book is mans best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx

I'm pretty confident that it would be too dark to read, as well as too toxic to survive, in a gas tank. :-)

Fun puzzle today Marti. Liked the punnishment. But alas, a DNF. Had a brain fart on Lara Logan and dubbed her Sara. I know of her, but it just didn't come to me when I had the ara in place. Didn't think to check for alternatives for the jeweler, so it stayed as Zase. Arghh! I hate it when that happens.

PK said...

Marti, I lock my car when pumping gas too, partly because of my purse on the floor and partly because there were a rash of carjackings at service stations while the owner was hanging up the nozzle. Lemony, I lock the door then leave the door open until I take the gas cap off then slam the car door.

CanadianEh, I didn't know Wiggins was from Canada. I should have said he played college basketball at Kansas University.

Lucina said...

Lem:
You do not have to apologize to me; it is I who owe it to you and did so. It just seemed out of place coming from you.

History Buff said...

Argyle, I am not going to pretend that I am a mind reader - but possibly you were reading about Herkimer diamonds because (a) they're found in your state, and close to you, and possibly (b) because of a blog posting at another web site, which you frequent, on linked 'Herkimer diamonds' on this Tuesday. Someone mentioned on having worked in East Herkimer, NY. ( does that jog your mind ?)

Lemonade, thanks for the additional info on John Marshall. In retrospect, considering how U S Supreme court justices were chosen in the good old days I am charmed ( and appalled - ) that they made (some good - ) decisions that most of them eventually did. There were some giants, and then again, some mental pygmies.

What ! CED, your posts are not as lively as normally expected. Buck up, man, you're losing your touch.

PK: "Lemony, I lock the door then leave the door open (?) until I take the gas cap off then I slam the door."

Thats when I notice my car keys on the seat, inside, and no earthly way to get back into the car. <;-O)

CrossEyedDave said...

History Buff @5:23

Sorry Man, It;s been a long day,
& Marti wore me out....

(i'm too tired too correct my punctuation...)

Lemonade714 said...

I am sorry CED I really only meant to link the movie trailer.

CrossEyedDave said...

Lemon, Just kidding,,,

but after watching the intro, I'm hooked! Seriously, I have to watch this whole freakin movie!

PK said...

CED, don't apologize. You add so much to the blog and being human, you can't be expected to be energetic at all times.

HistBuff: I stop and consider and practice behaviors so that I don't lock my keys in the car anymore. Now that I live alone and don't have backup on whom I can rely, I am very, very careful.

Yellowrocks said...

Both my My PA Dutch (German) grandmothers made potato dumplings, similar to pirogis, dough filled with mashed potatoes and seasonings. They called them boova shenkel or boys' thighs, confirming Spitz's meaning of boov. The pockets of dough where shaped like thighs.
I don't have the fuel door dilemma. I can click the latch to open the fuel door, get out and lock the car,holding the key, of course, remove the gas cap and fuel up. But I had no problem picturing PK's description. Taking her keys along, she flips the switch to lock her door, but leaves the door open while she removes the gas cap. then she closes the door which locks. She fuels up and unlocks her door with the key.
I am more conscious of this now in my new car because the fuel door is on the passenger side. I have yet to need to worry because I have only fueled up in NJ where I remain behind the wheel while the attendant pumps the gas.(On vacation I will need to be careful.

Argyle said...

SEATTLE -- An attempted carjacking in Seattle failed when three carjackers found they were in a vehicle with a manual transmission and none of them knew how to drive a stick shift.

Nancy Fredrickson told KIRO she was getting something out of her trunk Saturday when she turned around to see a gun in her face. Three teens demanded her keys and jumped in her Kia.

They tried but failed to get it to move and then ran away.

The 70-year-old was in tears when she called 911, but later laughed at the inept carjackers. She never imagined a stick shift would prevent a carjacking, but she's happy she and her car were unharmed.

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, Late to the puzzle today, so WEES as far as comments go. I had a DNF because of Assai-Sigh.

I did enjoy doing a C.C. puzzle yesterday and then a Marti puzzle today. We were given the best presents ever this week.

As for locking the car when pumping gas. I always lock the car, but we have a numbered keypad entry on our cars, so that isn't a problem when locking keys in the car. I have gotten so used to this, that I'm afraid if I had a different kind of key lock that I'd be calling AAA once a week!!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Argyle said...

"Roarin' outta Harlan.
Revving up his mill..."

Avg Joe said...

Going Back to Harlan With Emmylou(sigh), but written by Anna McGarrigle and featuring Kate McGarrigle on banjo.

And for those that might remember, when we heard the unfortunate news of the passing of Clear Ayes, I offered this tune as an homage. Darlin' Kate, written for Kate when she suffered a similar fate.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Keep forgetting to blo these days.

Great puzzle, Marti! Worked in almost Al Cyone time with no problems. Thanks for write-up, Lemon.

I, too, had to change Beer to BREW. ASSAI was no problem as I was for many years a musician.

Cheers!

Bill G. said...

I never got an answer from any of the constructors here about differences between the NYT and LAT (or other publications) about what puzzles are acceptable, rules, standards, differences between ones interactions with the editors, etc. My limited impression is that the NYT puzzles are a little harder but otherwise pretty similar. I know Rich won't accept puzzles where a square can contain multiple letters (or something like that). My guess is that they are more similar than different. Are there some constructors who will only work with one but not the other? Any other insights?