google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, Aug 23rd, 2014, Barry C. Silk

Gary's Blog Map

Aug 23, 2014

Saturday, Aug 23rd, 2014, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie~!

Words: 72 (missing J,Q,V,W)

Blocks: 32

   Well, I have to say I just smoked through this Silkie~!  The cluing was relatively unobscure, and there weren't too many cryptic answers, either.  It could be argued that I was on Mr. Silk's wavelength today....Triple 10-letter corners, with two 12-letter climbers on the inside today;

10. Significant butter component : SATURATED FAT - fairly certain it was going to end with "FAT"

20. 2005 National Toy Hall of Fame inductee : CARDBOARD BOX - it's a prize for some kids, and cats....link away~!

on-(Back?)-ward ~

ACROSS:

1. Pitcher's goal : SALE - Good start for me; I did not go with the baseball version

5. Natural wisdom : HORSE SENSE - Too bad there's little COMMON sense around these days

15. Pearl Buck heroine : OLAN - Forced readng in Junior High, and a crossword staple

16. Agents : EMISSARIES

17. Key not used alone : CTRL - on your computer

18. Great Pyramid of Giza material : LIMESTONES - eh, I wanted LIMESTONE, and it was too short - and this is not LIME STONES - those would be called 'seeds'

19. Tapped item : KEG - ah, not ALE

20. Gary, e.g. : CITY - In Indiana, e.g.


21. "I'm here to help" : "USE ME"

22. Like gross wages, e.g. : PRE-TAX

24. Plot component : ACRE - Oh, very good - I was thinking story plot, and the "R" filled via perps

26. Racing family name : UNSER

27. Ottoman officer : PASHA

29. Tripe : ROT - my first thought, but I did not fill it in

32. Measured roughly : PACED - HA~!  I "PACED" off the area for the benches, and came up with 39 feet; fortunately, I have a survey tape ( bought at a garage sale for $1 ), and I used that to verify - only 36' 6" of space.  The finished unit comes in at 36' 5" - HA~!












33. Surprise of a sort : UPSET - in sporting events usually

34. First name in Notre Dame football history : ARA

35. Collaborative educ. group : PTA - Saturday cluing

36. Initiate by purifying : BAPTIZE - Nailed it

38. Ringo Starr's drummer son : ZAK - I have linked him before - plays for A.S.a.P. - the side project of Adrian Smith, the guitarist from Iron Maiden


39. Fish with no pelvic fin : EEL - I went with "GAR"

40. Final notices : OBITs - Obituaries; I guess this is so common now that 'abbr.' is not needed

41. Buzz : DRONE

43. "Four Quartets" poet's monogram : TSE - T.S. Eliot

44. Appropriate : ALLOT - the verb, not the adjective

45. Seat of Cass County, North Dakota : FARGO

46. Mil. field rations : MREs - Meals, Ready-to-Eat

47. Slight arch : CAMBER - the only CAMBER I know is the automotive tire alignment version


 48. Use as an excuse : PLEAD

51. Coll. senior's exam : GMAT

53. Old Ford : LTD

54. Wedding figure : RING BEARER - there was a bridal shower at the restaurant Thursday night - skirts, legs and heels overload for me - sweated more watching them parade in than I did building the benches

57. Diet : FARE

58. Reasonably soon : IN GOOD TIME - Great fill

59. River to the Baltic : ODER - perps and a crossword regular

60. Certain copier supply : XEROX TONER - the second "X" was there from "...BOX", and once I put "PRIX" in, this was a gimme

61. Queen's subjects : BEES - not the one in England - er, well, there could be a queen bee there, too....

DOWN:
       
1. Shari Lewis creation : SOCK PUPPET - the Wiki on "Lamb Chop"


2. Subs : ALTERNATES - Substitutes, that is

3. Epic : LARGE SCALE

4. Like mil. volunteers : ENListed

5. Spring, perhaps : HELIX


6. Skip : OMIT - WAG

7. Frosted : RIMY - Wow; an extreme WAG that stayed

8. Weather report spec. : SSE - nice "ALTERNATIVE" for 'wind direction'

9. Slalom path segment : ESS - Ah; went with "LEG"

11. Jagged : EROSE

12. The digits in all but one of its two-digit multiples add up to it : NINE - OK, I got this, but I am not sure of the "one"; 18 (1+8), 27(2+7), 36(3+6)....so are we talking about 90(9+0)? - or 09?  Even three-digits, 108 = 1+0+8 = 9, etc.

13. Appear : SEEM

14. __ quam videri: North Carolina motto : ESSE

23. Basic top : TEE

24. It's worth one point in hockey statistics : ASSIST - God, only 6 weeks to go....

25. Bistro awning word : CHEZ

27. Ones who have class? : PUPILS - Har-Har

28. Is __: likely will : APT TO

29. It may be disposable : RAZOR BLADE - Nailed it - OK, the "Z" was there already

30. Grove grower : ORANGE TREE - the thing, not the farmer

31. Wait at the diner, perhaps : TAKE ORDERS - the staff that waits, not the customer

37. Fit : ABLE

42. Butter on a farm? : RAM - Butt-er

46. 1997 Nielsen title role : MAGOO - IMDb

47. Sympathetic sort : CARER

48. Grand __ : PRIX

49. Short note : LINE

50. Software pro, in want ads : ENGR - eh, OK.  ENGineeR

51. Beam : GRIN

52. Hand raiser's cry : "ME~! ME~!"

55. Va. summer setting : EDT

56. From __ Z : A TO

57. Watch chain : FOB

Oh, and one more thing - I have to add this pic, as there was some controversy over the use of "this" word in crosswords; seeing it on the package made me smile~!

 Splynter


Notes from C.C.:

1) Happy Birthday to Tinbeni! Hope your gal pal makes it extra special for you today. Did you sneeze yesterday? Gary and I talked about you, of course! Thanks for the daily toast at sunset.


2) Boomer and I met with Husker Gary and his lovely wife Joann yesterday. Now I know why his students loved him. Just as he is on the blog, Gary is warm & witty. He also has a deep & resonant voice, very Joe Buck-y! Joann is a master gardener. They have an abundance of cucumbers and tomatoes this year. I've yet to see my first cucumber. Thanks for the great time, Gary, also for the red Go Big Red Huskers T-shirt. I felt your hug also, Marti!


 Left to Right: Boomer, Gary, C.C. & Joann

Gary & C.C.

61 comments:

  1. Wow. The first Saturday crossword I've been able to finish without help in about two months. (The number you're looking for is 99).

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  2. Good morning!

    Happy birthday, Tinbeni. I bet I know how you will be celebrating at sunset! Matter of fact, I think I'll have a toast to you as well!
    ¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫

    Who was forecasting a Saturday Silkie yesterday? Misty, I hope you didn't throw up your hands as soon as you saw the constructor - I'm sure you would be able to finish this one, because it really was as smooth as Silk!!

    I can't believed you entered RIMY at 7-Down, Splynter! That one took me the longest time to figure out. I wanted "iced" (like a cake), then "sore" (angry). It didn't help in the NE that I had "arc" for my slalom curve. When ****cTONES appeared at 18-A, I finally realized that 9-D was ESS, and the whole corner filled without further ado.

    C.C. it was so nice to see the pics of you and Gary. and I'm glad he delivered my hug!!

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  3. For Splynter:

    When factors one tries to divine,
    There's a simple rule for nine;
    The digits must add
    To a multiple of nonade,
    Like 18 comes from 90 and 9!

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  4. Good morning!

    This one was a real Saturday softball from Mr. Silk. Other than CAFE/CHEZ and XEROX PAPER/TONER it was a smooth top-to-bottom solve. Finished in good Wednesday time.

    Splynter, I didn't "get" the math question either. After finishing I had to look up "appropriate" to verify that ALLOT was one of it's meanings. I only recognized the "seize" meaning of the verb.

    HBD, Tinman. Hope you get a large piece of .... cake.

    Husker, looks like you had a good time in Mpls.

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  5. Happy birthday Tin. You have my permission to celebrate Sunset earlier today,,,,,,,,,, say tenish or so.
    And maybe the Yankee's and Rays can conjure up a win............. or maybe you should get the Pinch out now.

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  6. First Saturday I finished with some help!!!

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  7. I couldn't pass up a HBD Tinbeni, so I spent some time trying to link with this &$@&$ iPad.

    Cake, bacon & Scotch!

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  8. Oops, I knew I screwed up somewhere. The scotch has ice in it...

    Sorry Tin, I will keep looking..

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  9. HBDTY Tin and many more.

    Really fun that Gary got to spend some time with C.C. The pictures are great.

    I loved seeing SOCK PUPPET and CARDBOARD BOX in the same puzzle. It reminded me how much fun we had long before WII or XBOX using our imagination to bring things around the house to life.

    OBIT, OMIT, USE ME, ME ME happy weekend all

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  10. Project looks impressive Splynter, do not know how you find the time to work build and Chase the ladies.
    Then you blog the hardest puzzle of the week.

    Thanks

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  11. Fastest Silkie ever-- I have an event at church this morning and thought I would have to get a start and return later. I'm done!! Loved the cardboard box answer- so much fun for the kids

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  12. Wednesday level, Silkie. Fun. Great write up, Splynter. I really liked the The Good Earth by Pearl Buck and read it several times, but not as a teen. The first time I was emotionally involved with and very sympathetic to O-LAN. The next time I was fascinated with the peek into the Chinese culture of the time.

    Recently I read Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, the story of well to do sisters in Shanghai whose father faces financial reversals and sells the girls as brides to Chinese living in America It is a story of mother love, romantic love, and love of country with much historical insight into pre WWII Shanghai, the Japanese bombing of the city and the Chinese immigrant experience in America. Its sequel, Dreams of Joy, follows the daughter/niece of the sisters back to China to find her roots and exposes the horror of the Chairman Mao's era in China. The characters and the history are well written. I thought CC and others might like these novels.

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  13. The Silk must have been off of his game when he created this one. First time I have been in a while I have finished a Saturday puzzle in Saturday speed run time, and a Silkie no less. Enjoy the weekend all.

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  14. Hi again ~!

    Oh, DUH~! I danced right around the "one" number, didn't I~?

    Happy Birthday Tin~! I will toast to you with a Frost Monster - if that's OK by you~!

    Great pics of your visit, HuskerG and C.C.~!

    HeartRx - guess I am really looking forward to winter....

    Ode to Splynter? Thanks, OwenKL~!

    Thank you for the compliments, Lemon - gotta admit, its the chasing of the ladies that uses up most of my energy~! I will say I took a personal day from UPS yesterday; besides, sleep is over-rated~!

    Splynter

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  15. Splynter, it will be here before you know it...

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  16. Marti you are so right, in less than a month there will be more night than day.

    I was never much of a sleeper either, let's you live and learn lots of stuff.

    As they say on GOT "Winter is Coming"
    So is football and tv season.

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  17. Happy Birthday, Tinbeni!
    I remember when I first joined the Corner and I also started playing Words with Friends, letters my first day were: TINBENI in that order.

    There are SNOW warnings for above 5000' in Montana today! Highs only in the 50s at lower elevations.

    I found the puzzle quite difficult. I had to use many red letter runs of the alphabet.

    Montana

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  18. Good morning everyone.

    Didn't even try this puzzle. It looks like I should have.

    Happy birthday Tinbeni. My DH and I enjoy your comments daily.

    Cheers, especially to Tinman.

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  19. We had a discussion here some time ago about words that look alike but are not related, a relationship assumption we make about words from foreign languages we do not know well, but also as native speakers about English words.
    UNSER means OUR in German. As in
    Vater unser, der du bist im Himmel
    (Father our, who you are in heaven)
    (Note that this word order is actually correct, but unusual grammar in German.)
    The more current grammatical usage is Vater unser im Himmel.
    Knowing the Lord's Prayer in German since childhood,the first version, I have been wondering what the name UNSER might mean.
    I discovered that the name UNSER does not mean OUR.
    "UNSER North German: habitational name for someone from a place called Unsen, near Hameln."

    Happy birthday, Tinbeni. I enjoy your posts. Great picture of Gary, Joann, CC and Boomer.

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  20. Good Morning:

    While this wasn't a speed run, it was an easier Silkie than usual. (Maybe he decided to give us a break from the hair-pullers!). I had rime at first until I realized that cite for Gary was wrong.

    Thanks, Barry S., for a silky Silkie to end our week and thanks, Splynter, for your peppy expo.

    Happy Birthday, Tin, I'll offer my first toast to you tonight!

    So glad Gary and Joanne got to meet and spend some time with CC and Boomer. The pictures are great!

    YR - I read Shanghai Girls several years ago and enjoyed it very much. The author also wrote Snowflower and The Secret Fan, which was also enjoyable..(I have both books.)

    I'm in the process of making French Onion Soup from an adapted Julia Child recipe. I've made it before and it's very good. Tin, you would like as it has white wine and brandy in it!

    CED - If you ever have the time, could you email me the procedure for linking from an iPad? Thanks.

    Have a great day.

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  21. Happy Saturday everybody!

    I too had an easier than usual Silkie experience today - but I'll still take the Ta-Da. Current score: Silk 100s, Doc 4....

    Do-overs = ANY TIME NOW for IN GOOD TIME, CAFE for CHEZ, FAST for FARE, ANNOINT for BAPTIZE, and HAND for SOCK (PUPPET), which led to HOME for SALE....

    CC, nice pix, especially the "pinch!"....

    There's a math relationship I use at work all the time that says that if the total you were expecting is off, and the number it is off by can be divided evenly by NINE, that means you have transposed numbers somewhere in your column of values....

    If Billy Bob Thornton doesn't win an Emmy on Monday for his acting in FARGO, there's something terribly wrong with the television voting universe....

    Finally, a Very Happy Birthday to Tin, whose opinions I often strongly agree with. In your honor, sir, I've made my morning coffee Irish...!

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  22. River Doc,

    Bookkeepers and accountants use that same technique.

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  23. Good morning all,

    Loved the pictures,C.C. of your meeting with Gary.

    HBTY, Tin...bottoms up!

    A silkie is a silkie...always takes me an hour..or more. Even though I groan when seeing one, I always enjoy the mental exercise.

    Yellowrocks, I read and enjoyed both of those novels, also "Snowflower". If you haven't read Alan Brennerts' novels, Honolulu and Molokai, I think you would like them too.
    Molokai was my favorite. It is story of a girl, who at 7 contacted leprosy, and was sent to live on Molokai.
    Honolulu told the story of a "picture bride" who came to Hawaii in 1914 for a better life. At that time in Korea girls born were not impotent enough to be given a formal name...so some were called Regret or Pity.

    Have a lovely weekend.

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  24. Woohoo! Woohoo! Hurray! I did it, I did it, I did it! I actually got a Saturday Silkie! Yay! And it was so much fun. I still can't believe it! Thank you, thank you, Barry! (May I call you Barry?). I am so excited. And thank you for having faith in me, Marti!

    Loved many of the clues, but SOCK PUPPET and CARDBOARD BOX were clear favorites. Many thanks for the pic of that sweet Lamb Chop, Splynter!

    Never heard of CAMBER--that was a new one for me.

    Tinbeni, have a wonderful birthday. I was going to offer a virtual champagne toast, but am not sure how you feel about champers.

    C.C. loved the Gary visit pics. What a lovely occasion.

    Have a great Saturday, everybody! I'm certainly having one!

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  25. Hello Puzzlers -

    I'm glad to join the general jubilation today...breezed through today's Silkie with just a few hiccups. Love those long downs! Saturated Fat was the first to unfold, with my favorite - Cardboard Box - soon after.

    I sorta recall reading about the cardboard box thing, and having happy memories of the box our old (avocado!) Westinghouse dryer came in, I'm glad the humble box has been recognized.

    Howdy Splynter - judging by the color of the benches, you must have finished the job. Nicely done.

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  26. Molaka' i by Brennert is a very wonderful book which tells the story of exile, despair and survival. It has so many layers of meaning. Rachel is a well drawn character. My cousin taught there foe a few years and remains close with her Hawaiian friends.

    JD you have me all sad about the poor impotent Korean girls; it is wonderful so many have learned to play golf and become successful.

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  27. YES! I was predicting a Saturday Silkie yesterday.

    I haven't had time to complete it yet or read the blog. Too busy canning my pickles. I have ONE cucumber plant that must have produced 70 cucumbers by now. Every neighbor gets some. Tomatoes and beans are plentiful also. And the green peppers are bringing up the rear.

    Hopefully I'll have time later to complete the CW and get back here.

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  28. Misty, HA!!! I knew you could do it!! I think that calls for another toast...

    Hand up for loving the book Molaka'i. I also read Snowflower and the Secret Fan - another excellent book. Has anyone read The Orphan Master's Son? It won the pulitzer prize last year, and is about life in North Korea under the repressive government of Kim Jong Il.

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  29. Happy birthday Mr. Inebnit. You're still not as old as me, I'll wager.

    This Saturday Silkie was challenging but fun; much better than the NYT puzzle which I found impossible, even with some red-letter help.

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  30. Bill G., I absolutely loved the NYT today. It took a lot of picking and pecking to come up with some recognizable letter combinations, but once I "got" the trick, it was really fun to figure out each clue.

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  31. Happy Birthday, Tin-man, I'll toast you shortly!

    @Splynter and Misty - "camber" in this sense describes the property of, for example, a roadway which is slightly raised in the middle and falls off to either side so that it drains - the road is said to be "cambered". Football fields have a camber for the same reason.

    @Bill G and Marti - I finished it but it just felt to me like hard work!

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  32. This was a fun puzzle. I had one write-over: cafƩ before CHEZ.

    I have also read and really enjoyed Molaka'i.

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  33. HBD, Tinbeni!

    Like Splynter, desper-otto, YRocks and many others, I nailed this Sat Silkie DOWN! "Well done, Keith!" I hear everybody saying.
    (See me modestly acknowledging adulation-- with a royal back-wave of my hand. Now hear me cheering YOU.)
    I had ICY before RIMY, CAFE before CHEZ, and MEMO before LINE, but in all else I was perfect the foist time.
    The only real hesitation I had was over CARDBOARD BOX, not wanting to think of it as a toy. But all the perps made it come true ...and real life followed!

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  34. Marti, so what was the trick? I didn't expect a trick on Saturday and I finally gave up. Steve, that was my reaction too.

    Here's a song I came across (from the era of Oh Brother, Where Art Thou) that I always liked a lot. Simple and pretty. Try to ignore the ad. :-(
    My Dear Someone

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  35. You haven't girded your sphincter until you fly into an off-camber turn on a motorcycle.

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  36. It's close enough to 5:oo o'clock for me. Tinbeni, HBD and many happy returns. Here's a toast to your health.

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  37. Hi Y'all! I knew this was either easier than usual Silkie FARE or I'm getting more CW ABLE! Judging by the corner critics, it was easier. I was still doing some red-letter runs, but almost liked this Silkie. Rare for me.

    I wanted IN due TIME but was one letter short.

    EROSE? New word for me.

    I can't tell you how many times I used the "divide by NINE" clue to balance my books. No computer.

    Happy birthday, Tinbeni.

    Wish we could all join Gary, C.C. & Co.

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  38. Late checking in cuz I couldn't come up with the appropriate tune for Tin. More on that later.

    The puzzle beat me up badly, despite the claim by so many that it was easy. The I-95 corridor would not come unglued due to FeeD or FooD for diet. Couldn't get a toehold, so finally googled for Zac and that broke it open. In the NW I had Save and Key in lieu of Sale and Keg...and I let it stand. Probably fatigue. At any rate, a FIW with 2 bad cells and a cheat, so no win for me.

    For a birthday tune for the Tin Man, I focused on Tin Pan Alley. Carole King was prominent in my considerations, but she was actually a very late in that game. So I finally settled on a Gershwin standard, but performed as a cover by Doc Watson, Summertime Happy happy BDay, Tin. I've toasted you several times already.

    BTW, Blue Hen, I find it useful to know that in Newfoundland, it's 1 1/2 hours ahead of EDT or EST. So, in the central time zone, it's 5 o'clock somewhere on the continent when it's 2:30. Any old rationalization in a storm :-)

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  39. Avg Joe,

    Thanks for sharing "Summertime." The Doc Watson version is perfect for a lazy summer afternoon.
    ~ Kf

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  40. Husker Chuck (a.k.a. Ergo)August 23, 2014 at 5:13 PM

    Hello all,

    A rare Saturday completed in its entirety! Things were looking very grim after an anemic harvesting of low hanging fruit, but it was just enough to complete a few perps.

    I actually had success working in a counter-clockwise direction and ended up back at NW where SUBS was kicking my butt. I had all the perps but two and finally had to rely on alphabet runs. Boy did I feel foolish when it emerged.

    I liked PUPILS and found queer satisfaction in puzzling out XEROXTONER.

    Great puzzle!

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  41. Anon@3:28
    I know the feeling well, I used to strap my backpack flat behind me on my motorcycle, & I was coming home down 9W in the left lane doing a left turn at 60 when the backpack decided it wanted to go straight. 3 lanes later I was in the right lane & my ass felt like it ate a lemon.

    Irish Miss @ 10:30'

    I would email you, but I have never done such a thing
    on an iPad. I only just found out that the reason my iPad screen goes blue all the time is because I leaves my thumb on the glass which triggers the copy mode... But it is not the copy mode you need to post links..???

    So if you find an image you want to link, hold your thumb on it until it goes blue & click save.

    Then you have to type the HTML code (a href Etc...) the proper caret symbols can be be found by pressing the lower left 123 button, & then just above it to the left where the shift key used to be is a #+= button with the < > thingies you need.

    Which brings me to my apologies to Tinbeni...

    Scotch,,, neat!

    P.s. I could not have posted this without the help of my daughter. I suggest if you want to link using an iPad , you get a teenager to help you...

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  42. Hearty happy birthday greetings to you, Tinbeni.

    I entered ORCHARDIST for 30D which really messed me up in that area of the puzzle. Lots of erasures and backtracking. Had to look up some things that I didn't know, so learned some new information.

    Wanted TO GO ORDER or TAKE OUT ORDER for 31D, and was reluctant to fill in the correct answer.

    LAMBCHOP wouldn't fit in 1D, so I had to get a perp before being able to decide if it was HAND PUPPET Or SOCK PUPPET.

    Altogether a difficult, challenging, and enjoyable puzzle for me.

    Best wishes to you all.

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  43. Hello to all,
    I am so happy that I finished a Silkie in 25 minutes that I just have to brag! Yes, I know most of you finish in a much shorter time....but I'm sure you are also much younger!!
    Happy Birthday,Tin Man

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  44. Husker Chuck (a.k.a. Ergo)August 23, 2014 at 5:57 PM

    Addendum,

    I'm toying with the idea of being a constructor. I checked the links here but couldn't find the resources I was hoping.

    The LAT is always a standard 15 x 15 grid, correct? Is there a site where I could print off a blank 15 x 15 to position my theme and supporting answers as a starting point?

    Thank you

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  45. Hi All!

    I didn't spend a lot of time on this puzzle and it shows. But at least it was finally a Silkie! CARDBOARD BOXes are my favorite - a fort, a cat-house (literal folks; get your mind out of the gutter), a space-ship...

    I'm still watching The Simpson's marathon w/ eldest. I think my IQ has dropped 10 points to 981*

    CED - Liked Tin's second pic; very glassy, er classy. FYI for about $70 you can get a logitec keyboard for your iPad. It makes typing easy unless you want to enter special characters.

    And the only reason I'm posting today:

    Happy Birthday TIN! I love your posts and your toasts.

    Cheers, -T
    *Doh! I read it upside-down...

    (Still it isn't even that high, but Lisa's apparently is. Back to the Simpsons' marathon)

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  46. Thanks for the info, Avg Joe. Like I need an excuse. As the song says, "It's five o'clock somewhere", which is the theme song for our tailgating crew. It's always the first song out of our boom box. I always like to pose the challenge to the rest of them, especially when we're setting up and cracking the first beer to Alan Jackson at sometimes 10:00 AM, OK so just where is it 5:00 PM right now? (I always know because I looked it up the night before!)

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  47. Glad to be of service Bluehen and Keith.

    And yes AnonT, I've been sucked into the Simpson Marathon time vampire. Wasted at least 3 hours today that could have been put to better use. But the numerous chuckles were worth it.

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  48. Seven hours later we are home from Minneapolis and after unpacking had a nice time with this Silkie.

    Musings
    -More about meeting with C.C. and Boomer and our gay wedding after I get over driving 810 miles since Thursday. Did I mention she is way cool?
    -Due to bad typing, CTRL + Z is a big part of my keyboard skills
    -Niece did not get TAPPED by her desired UNL sororities on Thursday. She is down in the dumps.
    -If your plot is an ACRE or more, you need one of these
    -If I PACED off 36 ft., it’d be right at 12 steps
    -It is NOT true that the use of the word UPSET originated when a horse of that name did surprisingly beat Man ‘O War in a race
    -One All In The Family episode showed Archie sneaking his grandson out of the house to get him BAPTIZED when atheists Michael and Gloria were not going to
    -5-letter ND city – Who ya gonna call?
    -The RING BEARERS last night were men and since there was no groom, they called themselves Bridesmates
    -Taking the ESSES at over 80 mph, OMG!
    -My Mr. MAGOO will always be this guy. You too?
    -I’ve got to go drop C.C. a LINE and include some pix we took.
    -HBD, Tin. I said mostly nice things about you yesterday! ;-)

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  49. Irish Miss, HeartRx,Lemon, JD, thanks for the novel suggestions. I will look for them. Irish Miss, Dreams of Joy wraps up many threads left hanging after Shanghai Girls. You would enjoy it.
    My sister and I also liked The Piano Teacher by Janice Lee, set in Hong Kong in the 40's and 50's during and after WWII. It was either found to be page turning or boring by reviewers. We loved it. This is not the sadomasochistic novel of the same name by Jelinek.
    Today I learned that a rarer type of limestone was used for the outside casing stones of the pyramid at Giza. It was polished to a smooth lustrous surface which was visible for miles around. Today almost all of this casing stone is gone.

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  50. AnonT and Avg Joe, well, it's your faults. I've wasted an hour watching the Simpsons. I'm always embarrassed that I get such a kick out of it. Where else can you find a subtle reference to SeƱor Wences and the Coriolis Effect in a cartoon show about a dysfunctional family.

    Than I came across a cricket match. I need somebody to explain cricket to me...

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  51. Lemon...LOL, I'd say life has really changed for those"impotent" women.
    Marti, will look for that novel...thanks.

    YR, I believe that the 3 pyramids at Giza were capped at the very top with gold. My 6th graders were always fascinated with the mummification process, as probably we all were when 1st reading about it.

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  52. BillG, I thought the oblique reference to a Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window was a highlight, Well, that and the reason Mrs Flanders provided for her time spent at camp.

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  53. Anonymous T said...
    YR - Now I recall! I got LIMESTONE and thought "??? no, I saw them - it looked adobe to me" but your mention of the glisten & erosion brought back the faint voice of our guide / security detail saying just that. Thanks.

    Bill G - don't hang with the bad kids; we'll bring you down to our level :-)

    HG - Welcome home and, speaking for all, we are looking forward to more pix.

    Simpsons was interrupted for a viewing of To Kill a Mocking Bird (Peck) w/ MIL, eldest & DW. But they're gone / in bed now so, Whoooo, Whooo, Whooo!!!

    Cheers, -T
    //somehow posted w/o review

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  54. Hey! All of a sudden my Captchas got a LOT easier to read for a few minutes!

    Avg Joe, sorry I missed those. I just couldn't bring myself to keep watching or record it all.

    AnonT, regarding your warning about the bad kids; the other kid doesn't seem that bad... :>)
    And, the other kid doesn't seem that bad. :>)
    Words of wisdom regarding The Simpsons; Non illegitimi carborundum. Also, Don't lie down with dogs if you don't want to wake up with fleas.

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  55. Bill G - I know Ave Joe is a good guy. Me not so much letting my 15 yr old watch it with me at 1:30 in the morning when she has to wake at 7 to sing at church.

    Ave Joe - Having "paused" the channel while watching Mocking Bird on Netflix, I saw the Stewart / Wonderful Life reference - funny stuff.

    So, wondering if Larry Brooks was Mel's son, I looked him up. Assuming Wikipedia is correct, he's not but was behind many great shows including MTM & Taxi.

    No Tin today? He must be having a really good time on his B-Day.

    Cheers, -T

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  56. Husker Chuck (a.k.a. Ergo),
    Get the Crossword Compiler software.

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  57. Husker Chuck (a.k.a. Ergo)August 24, 2014 at 9:33 AM

    Thank you C.C.

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  58. Math tricks :
    If you add the digits of a number and the total is divisible by 9, the original number is divisible by 9. If the total is divisible by 2 and 3, the number is divisible by 2 and 3.
    Vettedoe

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  59. The bend in skis is called camber

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  60. Hi all,
    Did not finish on my own, Silkies are tough cluing. Had about 80% done then went for help. Tripe got me cause we eat it down here in south Louisiana. 12D refers to the nine as in 9 times two = 18 then 8+1=9 \ 9 times 3=27 then 2+7=9 and so forth, but 9 times 0=0 so that's the one 12d is referring to. I showed this to a math professor at LSU and he wasn't aware of it. You can times 9by any number and the answer will always add up to nine. Bon Matin from Cajun Country !!

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