google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday July 13, 2014 Garry Morse

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Jul 13, 2014

Sunday July 13, 2014 Garry Morse

Theme:   "Lo and Behold!" -LO is inserted into each theme answer.

23A. Tango involving gates? : SLALOM DANCING. Slam dancing.

33A. Most shameful nonstudio films? : LOWEST INDIES. West Indies.

52A. Opinion piece by a sot? : LOOPED COLUMN. Op-ed column. Who's your favorite columnist?

69A. Song about a guy with his jug of wine? : FOR ME AND MY GALLO. For Me and My Gal.

90A. Vivaldi's styling business? : SALON ANTONIO. San Antonio. Antonio Vivaldi.

104A. Time for a weekly parade? : FLOAT TUESDAY. Fat Tuesday.

122A. Hit homers batting left- and right-handed? : CLOUT BOTH WAYS. Cut both ways.

No Garry Morse in our blog label, must be a debut. Quite a feat to make a debut on Sunday, as the grid is much more demanding. Tiny dupes like this happen often:

119A. Former : ONE TIME

103D. "Have an hors d'oeuvre" : TRY ONE

Rich & Patti normally do not allow those dupes.
 
Across:

1. Get at : IMPLY

6. Work with ice, perhaps : SCULPT. We also have 125. Ice removal tool : SCRAPER. Stunning


12. Gossip components : TIDBITS. Sohu (China) has an insane amount of gossip.

19. Sierra Nevada resort : TAHOE

20. Pennsylvania railroad town : ALTOONA. Is this an Indian name also?

22. Busts a gut over : ROARS AT

25. All together : EN MASSE

26. There's one next to Ventnor Ave. in Monopoly : UTIL

27. Musical liability : TIN EAR. That's what I have.

28. The ANC's country : RSA. ANC is the African National Congress.

30. Digs of twigs : NEST

31. Outcasts : PARIAHS

37. Cue : PROMPT

40. Typical Popstar! reader : TEEN

41. Reject : NIX

42. Peter Lorre role : MR MOTO. Wiki said the author "initially created the character for the Saturday Evening Post, which was seeking stories with an Asian hero after the death of Charlie Chan's creator Earl Derr Biggers".

45. Burning : LIT

47. Tear into : ASSAIL

49. Tax pro, briefly : CPA

55. Was humbled : ATE CROW. Or DIRT.

57. Test sites : LABS

58. Author __ Rogers St. Johns : ADELA. Also the girl in "A Passage to India".

59. Word of woe : ALAS

61. Fail to keep : LOSE

62. Magazine VIPs : EDs

63. Letters on a Cardinal cap : STL

65. Jungian inner self : ANIMA

67. Throws out : EJECTS

73. Pepperdine University site : MALIBU. Not familiar with Pepperdine University.

76. Followers : SHEEP. English is irrational. With sheep & deer.

77. "The X-Files" subj. : UFO

78. Red Guard leader : MAO. He encouraged those red guards to stir up some trouble.

81. Keats works : ODES

82. "House" actor : EPPS (Omar)

84. Truman's Missouri birthplace : LAMAR

87. The Taj Mahal, e.g. : TOMB

88. Like fine wine : VINTAGE

93. Close : END

94. 1939 Buck Rogers player : CRABBE (Buster)

97. "Just __" : ASK

98. Not back, perhaps : OPPOSE

99. Key letter : PHI

100. Cambodian capital : RIEL. Sihanouk died in Beijing. The international section of our evening news always had heavy coverage of Khmer Rouge & Gaza Strip & The Base (Al-Qaeda).


102. Loathing : HATRED. And 6. Extreme cruelty : SADISM. Dexter Filkins called those ISIS guys psychopaths.

109. Symbol of love : RED ROSE

113. Pool regimen : LAPS

114. ABBA's homeland: Abbr. : SWE

115. Saunters : MOSEYS

118. Crafts partner : ARTS

126. Choking cause : TENSION. Bases loaded with two outs situation, correct?
127. London length : METRE

128. Quarterly arrivals : SEASONS

129. "Tristram Shandy" author : STERNE (Laurence). Have you read the novel?

130. Creme-filled snacks : OREOS

Down:

1. "__ to you" : IT'S UP

2. Smallest European Union country : MALTA

3. Singer Liz : PHAIR. Splynter's type of girl.


4. Rewards for kids : LOLLIPOPS

5. USN clerk : YEO. Yeoman.

7. Highlands family : CLAN

8. __ Reader : UTNE

9. It makes all the stops : LOCAL

10. "Egocentric little creep" of a detective, according to the author who created him : POIROT. Again, from Wiki: "By 1930, Agatha Christie found Poirot "insufferable", and by 1960 she felt that he was a "detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep". 

11. Old Opry network : TNN

12. Reward for a pet : TREAT. He loves his Kong.


13. K+, e.g. : ION

14. Farm female : DAM

15. Unnamed competitor, in ads : BRAND X

16. Japanese immigrant : ISSEI. The first-generation Japanese-American.

17. Café cup : TASSE

18. Editorial changes of heart : STETS

21. Goes along : AGREES

24. View from Portland, Ore. : MT. HOOD

29. IRS form entries : SSNS

32. Comic Johnson : ARTE

34. Withdraw : WEAN

35. Per se : IN ITSELF

36. "Aida" backdrop : NILE. And 56. Queen of the 36-Down, familiarly : CLEO

38. Slog : PLOD

39. Ceramic piece, perhaps : TILE

42. Fr. miss : MLLE

43. Country __ : ROAD

44. Surrounds en masse : MOBS. This dupes the previous EN MASSE answer. Hard to spot in a huge grid.

46. School severely damaged by Katrina : TULANE

48. Org. with towers : AAA. Tow-ers.

49. Swamp snapper : CROC

50. Mail : POST

51. Leaves open-mouthed : AWES

53. Relax : CALM

54. "Long Walk to Freedom" autobiographer : MANDELA. Iraq needs a Mandela.

59. Five-time Oscar nominee Adams : AMY. So pretty.


60. Fall back : LAG

63. Cry hard : SOB

64. Wayne's Oscar film : TRUE GRIT

66. Savanna grazer : IMPALA

68. Self-titled best-selling album of 2001 : J. LO

69. It may be pumped or bumped : FIST. First bump is called DAP.


70. Psychic's claim : ESP. And 72. It may be detected by a psychic : AURA

71. Relaxed responses : AHS

73. Relocate : MOVE

74. Court advantage : AD IN

75. Give conditionally : LEND

78. Like most pre-'60s recordings : MONO

79. "The Information" author Martin : AMIS

80. Slim woodwind : OBOE

83. Soup veggie : PEA. I love sugar peas.

85. Dance in a pit : MOSH

86. "She's a Lady" songwriter : ANKA

87. Excellent : TOP DRAWER. Top entry!

89. Sieben und eins : ACHT. I did not know Sieben is German for 7.

90. Tourney ranking : SEED

91. Beef from the weary : NO REST

92. Pranked, in a way : TP'ED

95. Tea or coffee : BREW

96. Divide equally : BISECT

99. Ristorante offerings : PASTAS

101. __ Cranston, a.k.a. "The Shadow" : LAMONT. Also new to me.

104. Oral-B product : FLOSS

105. Tilting pole : LANCE

106. Dvorák's "Rusalka," e.g. : OPERA

107. Netizens, say : USERS

108. Brooklynese pronoun : YOUSE. Plural of "you".

110. Declaim : ORATE

111. Start to foam? : STYRO. Styrofoam.

112. Assisi trio? : ESSES

116. Ruin Bond's martini : STIR

117. Jet-black, in verse : EBON

120. Newsworthy NYSE event : IPO

121. Fathers and sons : MEN

123. "__ Miz" : LES

124. Wellness gp. : HMO


C.C.

35 comments:

  1. LO, The Crossword

    I've been searching high and LO
    For this word that gives me woe.
    It's on my tongue-tip,
    I know it will fit,
    But my brain is just working so slow!

    I've been searching high and LO
    For this word I'm sure I know.
    It starts with S, or is it C?
    It's one of those, or else it's D!
    No wait, the crossing word says O!

    I've been searching high and LO
    For this word that long ago
    I knew it once
    So on a hunch
    A wild-ass guess I'll try and show!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've been searching high and LO
    For this word across, although
    The down word check
    Is wreaking heck
    It says that what I've got's no go!

    I've been searching high and LO
    But I give up, I'll eat some crow.
    It's an obscure word
    That I've never heard --
    Hold on, I've been looking off a row!

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Here's a Cryptic clue for one of the words in today's puzzle.

    African nation starting back up to become a surfing Mecca (6)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Quick hel-LO to tell you about Tim Croce's magnificent sports-themed tribute puzzle: Horse Power, that goes with a recent anniversary. After completing the puzzle, you are invited to read Steve Bachman's "midrash," which provides an inspirational perspective on the puzzle's theme.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Greetings!

    It's a minor miracle that I was able to do this puzzle. Found a website that doesn't use Adobe Flash. Unbelievable.

    Tried various solutions to problem over the weekend. Paid to download Mac OS 10.7 onto one of my attached hard drives. Twice. It never appeared. (I have, of course, sent them an email.)

    Cruciverb gave me an Across Lite puzzle that evidently could not be read due to an error. Oh, goody!

    Anyway, thanks for the puzzle, Garry! And thanks as always to our CC!

    Took quite a while, as I am pooped out from being so frustrated! But, succeeded in the end!

    Shall have to go back and read two previous blogs.

    Cheers!

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  5. PS. The web site that I used for puzzle only works with Google Chrome.

    ReplyDelete
  6. fermat': so tell us what this website is anyway! Google pushes Chrome so much a lot of us have it even though we almost never use it. And Flash is buggy with my Firefox, it freezes up often.

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  7. Morning, all!

    Tale of two puzzles this morning. Just couldn't get started in the NW and much of the left side remained a sea of white for awhile, but the right side went down very smoothly (until I got down to the bottom and hit SALONANTONIO, at least).

    I grokked the theme pretty early on, but it only helped in spots. Some of the underlying phrases just weren't known to me (never heard of "For Me and My Gal", for example).

    Lots of useless partial clues today, I thought. "Country ____", "____ to you!", "Just ___"... OK, so maybe not "lots", but enough to be annoying...

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  8. An enjoyable puzzle with a helpful theme. As is usual with Sunday puzzles, it ended with a typo hunt though this one was brief.

    (AAA didn't make any sense until I read the write-ip; clever mis-direction.)

    [22:33]

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  9. Good morning!

    I had to fight with this one, but it still came in right on time. I had a self-inflicted wound thinking the rewards for kids were GOLD STARS. Took some fixin'.

    I wondered how TENSION could be a choking cause. C.C., you nailed it. I wasn't thinking sufficiently sideways. I don't think ALTOONA is an Indian word, though.

    Barry, For Me and My Gal was a Judy Garland movie vehicle. Before your time. Mine, too.

    Never heard of PHAIR. Then there was that DAM/EWE debacle.

    If this was a debut puzzle, I say "Bravo!"

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi there~!

    Right on, C.C.~! That's my kind of gal~!

    No Ta-Da until I found BRAND B needed to be BRAND X.

    "STL" had me fooled - but I just watched Angels & Demons, so....not that kind of Cardinal.

    'Digs of Twigs' was great - but all I could think of was a beaver dam....D'oh~! V-8 can.

    Splynter

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  11. Congrats to Garry Morse on his Sunday debut. I did not know Liz PHAIR either. I've been called on dupes also. Noticed yesterday's puzzle had OILER and OIL LAMP though. Enjoyed the puzzle and write up. Thanks Garry and C.C.

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  12. Good Morning:

    No real hang-ups and only write-overs were Adele/Adela and brush/floss. Caught the theme early on which helped with the solve.

    Congrats to Garry on his debut and thanks to CC for the spot-on expo.

    T-storms expected later today and a cooling off into the 70's. It's been a roller-coaster summer, so far.

    Have a great day.

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  13. Good morning C.C. et al.

    I also wondered about choking cause for TENSION, but then I decided if you are really tense, you might choke...like Adam Scott at the 2012 British Open, where he went into the last four holes with a 4-shot lead, but ended up bogeying every one of them, and lost to Ernie Els.

    My favorites were SLALOM DANCING and FOR ME AND MY GALLO. The rest was pretty uneventful, save for wondering whether the Oral B product was brush or FLOSS, and if the Ristorante was serving pesto or PASTA.

    Have a relaxing Sunday, everyone!

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  14. C.C. said: "Tiny dupes like this happen often:"

    I disagree. These dupes rarely happen. Maybe a couple times a year.

    And using EN MASSE in a clue and an answer?!?


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  15. Musings
    -Wonderful theme answers. Helpful in unlocking NW corner
    -How far south to go to retire – Drive until someone says ”What the hell is that?”
    -ALTOONA vaudeville memoir
    -Tiger Woods went from hero to PARIAH to…
    -Gotta love this PROMPT, eh Keith?
    -Very famous EJECT scene (:17)
    -I’d love to visit the Taj Mahal but it involves going to India
    -Call old clothing VINTAGE and you’ve got a business
    -I used the alphabet to get “K” for AS_/AN_A. Duh!
    -An EU member must be a free market democracy. Ergo, Vatican City is not a member.
    -Proofreading marks less serious than STET
    -We’ll be at MT HOOD on July 26th
    -WEAN me off coffee? Good luck with that!
    -The guy on the right has the desirable LAG in his golf swing
    -I just celebrated my 50th reunion of graduating from AHS
    -Name the famous 1942 movie with this headline being read to a young girl from a hammock

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  16. If you are interested: For Me and My Gal from 1917, recorded by Van and Schenck. (2:56)

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  17. Hello, puzzlers! Nifty blog, C.C., thank you.

    For a Sunday, this was a quick sashay and finished under record time for me.

    No problems until ACHT which was perped although I surmised sieben was seven. But for some unknown reason I spelled EJECTS as EgESTS and didn't realize until reading the blog. Drat!

    Very clever, Garry Morse, thank you.

    Have a sensational Sunday, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Good morning! I enjoyed this puzzle a lot. I sussed out the theme early on and that helped too. Some clever stuff. Thanks Garry and CC.

    Marti asked for this one so here ya go. (Did you try the other one I posted a couple of days ago?)

    The person who sent this to me said it was attributed to Einstein. Personally, I doubt it but it’s a good puzzle anyway. There are five houses in a row painted in five different colors. In each house lives a person of a different nationality. These five house owners drink different beverages, smoke different brands of cigarettes and keep different pets.
    • The Brit lives in a red house.
    • The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
    • The Dane drinks tea.
    • The green house in on the left of the white house.
    • The green house owner drinks coffee.
    • The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
    • The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
    • The man living in the center house drinks milk.
    • The Norwegian lives in the first house.
    • The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats.
    • The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
    • The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
    • The German smokes Prince.
    • The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
    • The man who smokes blend has a neighbor who drinks water.
    Who keeps fish?

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  19. Of all the words to end with, for me it was 1A. Liz PHAIR was unknown to me, and I didn't see YEO for the 5D. Thought 52A was a very clever clue; ditto to 69A. 127A was a bit curious as I thought the Brits used feet, yards and miles for measurement. And the spelling of METRE vs METER was a bit of a surprise.

    Sorry I rambled yesterday, C.C.

    Here is my limerick for today's puzzle theme:

    To those who are fans of JLO,
    You'll remember her fashion "no-no".
    When she tried to impress
    With a Green see-thru dress
    At the Grammy Awards Winner's show!

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  20. Good morning everyone.

    Kind of a cute theme. Got it half way through. Liked seeing YEO and ACHT. (L. German söven is close to English seven.)
    Overall, fun puzzle to work on; No searches needed.

    Have a great day.

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  21. Bill G. - Ans: The kids for about 3 days and then the fish is dead...*

    Yet another letter to the Chron pleading for the Sun LAT. I have 2 subscriptions (one for me, one for MIL). You'd think as one of their last print readers, I'd have some sway.

    C.C. Just curious - do you get the China Daily Weekend edition up there? If so, what do you think about it? I read it every week and have my own won't-post-here thoughts. Yours?

    Cheers, -T
    *I'll play your puzzle after the vincas and firecracker plants are in (and maybe a nap)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Good morning all.

    Nice puzzle Garry. I wanted MCGUFFEY Reader at 8D. Too many letters and a different technology.

    I did not know the Taj Mahal was a TOMB. I probably would have guessed it was a temple while choking under the TENSION of a Final Jeopardy wager.

    Thank you CC. I didn't get AAA until you explained it. I read the WIKIPEDIA on Altoona. Not an Indian name, but it also wasn't clear on the source of the name.

    I'm pulling for Germany in today's Football championship. In tennis parlance, they beat Brazil "sieben und eins" the other day. This should be a more evenly matched game.

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  23. BIll G. I think I got it! Now I gotta get to DW's flowers. Cheers, -T

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  24. Hi Y'all! Interesting puzzle, Garry! Hard but doable though frustrating. Great expo, C.C.!

    I got the theme right away, but resisted SLALOM because I never heard of SLAM DANCING.

    My last fill was "P" in the IMPLY/PHAIR cross. I tried o'HAIR. "Get at" as a clue for IMPLY? Meh! Other unknown names: AMY, STERNE, AMIS, ANTONIO (Vivaldi has a first name?), UTNE, ANIMA.

    I actually got ISSEI! Woohoo! LAMONT was a gimmee. As a kid, I'd lay on my bed and listen to "The Shadow" on my little plastic radio.

    I thought Truman was born in Independence, MO. I've seen his house there, but didn't go in.

    Hand up for "brush" before FLOSS. I got STYRO with perps but didn't understand it was a prefix. Duh for the day.

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  25. Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Garry Morse, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.

    This puzzle took me longer than usual. But, finished OK.

    Got MALTA and TAHOE in the NW. The others appeared. PHAIR was last. Never heard of her.

    ALTOONA was easy. Been there several times. The Horseshoe Curve on the old PRR tracks is very impressive. Not sure of how the name evolved.

    Theme appeared after a couple answers. I think I got FLOAT TUESDAY first.

    Not familiar with STERNE, even though I have heard of the book.

    SWE was easy for 114A. Swedish is 3/8's of my heritage. Bringleson

    Took me a while to get TP ED. After that I got SALON ANTONIO.

    Remember Buster CRABBE very well.

    I do not think a "MANDELA" in Iraq would work as long as there are Shi'ites and Sunni's there at the same time.

    Liked NO REST from the weary. Good one.

    Off to my day. Going to an 80th birthday party for a good friend.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    (363)

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  26. Anonymous @ 9:08am,
    I meant in the construction process. Dupes happen frequently & they're marked red in the construction software so constructors can spot them.

    Anon-T,
    Nope! No way I read English for Chinese news when I have Chinese version available a click away. Why do you read China Daily?

    Moe,
    Welcome!

    ReplyDelete
  27. This was a fun puzzle. Got the theme early on. There were a few unknowns, but they were solved by perps: ADELA, ANTONIO, STERNE, and LAMONT.

    Off to do the NYT crossword.

    Have a nice rest of your Sunday.

    Nancy

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous T@4:57: I think it's best not to disclose the answer without some sort of SPOILER ALERT.

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  29. Al Cyone - you're right. I though your link was a spoiler so just opened my big mouth. The link wasn't explicit. Comment gone. C, -T

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  30. One of my fave columnists these days is Leonard Pitts Jr.

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  31. I went for a bike ride with my friend Ralph on Friday. We had gotten to the northernmost point, got a drink of water, turned around and were heading home with more difficulty than I would have expected. No headwind. Hmmm? I ask Ralph about my tires and he noticed that the front tire was just about flat. So it was about trying to continue to ride back to the car or have Ralph ride back to the car and drive it to meet me. I toughed it out for about 45 minutes. It was hard to pedal and hard to steer. Geez.... I finally made it back to the car and I drove to the bike shop for a new tube. Tired legs today.

    I headed off the the supermarket to buy a few things after the World Cup. When I went to pay the cashier, no billfold. Uhoh! I was about to drive back home to get sme cash or a credit card when I remembered I had gotten a macchiato at the Starbucks inside earlier, so I had the billfold there. I went back to the Starbucks and came across two young women who seemed pleased to see me since they had found my billfold. I thanked them effusively and they said that I was welcome equally effusively. After I paid for my groceries and was heading home, I got to thinking if I should have offered them a reward? I would have been happy to do it but I wonder if it might not seem insulting to try to reward someone for being honest. Dunno...

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  32. Bill G.:

    I would have least offered.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anna-lytical Geni-assJuly 13, 2014 at 10:17 PM

    To all those who post complicated logic puzzles and cryptics and math twisters and such other mind bending whodunits on the blog.

    My (quick and dirty) statistical analysis, based on actual responses and posts on this blog, over the past few months, seems to reveal the following:

    It seems to show that there is a universe of a maximum of 7 people on this blog who even read your puzzles seriously enough, with a mean, mode and median of just 3 people and a std. deviation of one person. So about 2, or 3 or 4 people are actively trying to solve your puzzler. This is not meant to disrespect you posters, or to insult or dissuade you posters, ----- its merely stating the obvious, in hopefully a gentle manner. The fact is that the skills required to solve a crossword with a prodigious memory and ability to parse words does not easily transfer to solving math and logic puzzles. IMHO, that requires a different conceptual ability altogether.

    So, even if one of the persons should come across the answer somewhere else on the cyberspace or post his own answer - its going to upset probably, two other people, who might be even thinking of trying to attempt for a solution. And, of course, they, - are welcome to ignore the answer post in toto.

    On the other hand, there may be another 2 people who would just like to know the answer, but not badly enough, to wait for the next day. (( ---- I would be one of them.)) So, a posted spoiler / answer/ logical reasoning would be serendipity for me. So, a timely posted answer, with the logic, does serve a purpose. BTW, if I am over the 20 line limit, just ignore the last paragraph. Thankx. ;-D)

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  34. It's been a couple of years since I completed the Sunday LA Times in its entirety. Totally fulfilling moment.

    Second totally fulfilling moment was discovering a post from "Husker Gary." Ha! I grew up in the same home town and probably had you as a teacher!

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  35. Ergo (Husker ChuckJuly 15, 2014 at 5:44 PM

    Test post

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