google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, September 15, 2014 Don Rosenthal

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Sep 15, 2014

Monday, September 15, 2014 Don Rosenthal

Theme: Cheers! - A take on how you take your brewski.

17A. Window material : PANE GLASS

28A. "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas" author : GERTRUDE STEIN

47A. One coming in from the bullpen : RELIEF PITCHER

64A. Explosive situation : POWDER KEG

71A. Brew found in increasing quantities in the ends of 17-, 28-, 47- and 64-Across : BEER

Argyle here...under the table. I don't know this constructor but I like him already. Great debut but forgot the ultimate beer container. "NORM!!"

Across:

1. Story : TALE

5. Gauge on a dash : TACH. Shortened tachometer.

9. Lowest opera voice : BASSO. With just *S*SO in place, I briefly thought FATSO.

14. Landed on the runway : ALIT

15. Sunburn soother : ALOE

16. Starting squad : A TEAM

19. Beauty at the ball : BELLE



20. French friend : AMI

21. Rapture : ECSTASY

23. Marshland : FEN

24. Legendary skater Henie : SONJA. Three-time Ladies' Singles Olympic Champion and ten-time World Champion.

26. "If it only could be" : "I WISH..."

34. Indian or Chinese, e.g. : ASIAN

35. Nametag greeting : HELLO

36. Harbinger : SIGN

39. Hindu guru : SWAMI

42. Imitated : APED

43. Images on a desktop : ICONS

45. Bride's beloved : GROOM

51. Thigh bone : FEMUR

52. Feel around in the dark : GROPE

55. N.C. State's conference : ACC. (Atlantic Coast Conference)

57. Early metalworking period : IRON AGE

61. Hush-hush fed. org. : CIA. Shh, that's all I can tell you.

62. Centrally managed store group : CHAIN. That's why the IGA is an alliance; no central management.

66. Metamorphosis stage : LARVA. Metamorphosis - a profound change in form from one stage to the next.

67. Scat legend Fitzgerald : ELLA

68. "__ upon a time ..." : ONCE

69. Speak : UTTER

70. Optimistic : ROSY

Down:

1. Spanish appetizers : TAPAS

2. Texas mission : ALAMO

3. Every cloud's silver feature? : LINING

4. Somme summer : ÉTÉ. French summer.

5. Soft mineral : TALC

6. "Ah, me!" : "ALAS!"

7. What you pay : COST

8. Half a guy-gal argument : HE SAID. Other half, SHE SAID.

9. Infantile : BABYISH. The above argument, often.

10. Had dinner : ATE

11. "For Dummies" bookstore section : SELF-HELP

12. Reduced-price event : SALE

13. Harbinger : OMEN

18. Drive and reverse : GEARS

22. Stockholm's land: Abbr. : SWE. (Sweden)

25. Lady in the 1965 sitcom pilot episode "The Lady in the Bottle" : JEANNIE

27. Pot for clams : STEAMER

29. "__ better to have loved ...": Tennyson : 'TIS

30. How half-shell clams are eaten : RAW

31. Eel, at sushi bars : UNAGI

32. Land in la mer : ÎLE

33. Silent agreement : NOD

36. Knight's title : SIR

37. Cubes in a bucket : ICE

38. Wheels on the links : GOLF CART

40. Mohawk-sporting actor : MR. T

41. Biennial games gp. : IOC. (International Olympic Committee)

44. Advanced college course : SEMINAR

46. "Golly" : "OH GEE"

48. Cat's coat : FUR and on your coat, too.

49. Like capitalized nouns : PROPER

50. Legendary football coach Knute : ROCKNE. Knute Rockne (1888 – 1931) was a football player and coach, both at the University of Notre Dame.

53. Cake serving : PIECE

54. Like the idiomatic beaver : EAGER

55. Civil rights org. : ACLU. (American Civil Liberties Union)

56. Online dialogue : CHAT

58. __ contendere: court plea : NOLO. Doesn't admit guilt but doesn't fight it either.

59. Leatherworking tools : AWLS

60. Down Under greeting : G'DAY

63. "__ got it!" : I'VE

65. Director Reiner : ROB


Argyle


42 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, gang - been up for a while already helping Linda get ready for her India trip, so I thought I'd check in on the blog, especially after reading the late 'anon' post last night.
This was a very smooth Monday speed run with a theme that revealed itself after the second theme answer. I fortunately don't drink beer, so while the theme didn't really resonate with me, I found it clever nonetheless. Regardless of whether it's a Monday-level puzzle or a Saturday stumper, I have great admiration for anyone who can put one of these together, and it was great to see one of our own (Steve) pull it off last week.
As to last night's post, anon, you're off-base regarding Lemonade. Completely. And your remark about nobody commenting? Well, nobody really cares, nor should they. It's just more 'blama' (blog drama) where there shouldn't be any.

Argyle, great job as always. Don't know how you do it.

Hope it's a great day for everyone. Tons of rain here (heard the weather guy use 'monsoonal' last night).

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Blew through most of this one in typical Monday time. I hesitated briefly at SONJA, wondering whether it needed an I or a J, but that didn't last long. A little more hesitation at SEMINAR. With SEMI in place, my brain was expecting something else I know not what. I guess I just don't associate SEMINARs with "advanced" classes, but then again the only ones I've ever attended were work-related and not in college.

PANE GLASS struck me as extremely odd. It didn't slow me down since the perps had already taken care of it before I even saw it, but still... PANE OF GLASS, sure, but PANE GLASS? Is that a thing?

OwenKL said...

There ONCE was a tippler, a sot,
A teetotaler he for certain was not!
He'd down GLASS or STEIN,
A PITCHER was fine,
A BEER KEG he'd drain through a knot!

Read on, I'll tell the sad TALE
Of the BEER he once bought at a SALE.
From the jug came out JEANNIE,
A genii (in a bikini!)
Who promised a wish for the ale!

HE SAID, after thinking, "OH GEE,
What I WISH is for brew ECSTASY;
No BEER-induced stupor
I think would be super."
So she changed all the drink to chai tea!

Martin said...

Sit right back and you'll hear a TALE
A TALE of an army troupe
Who served these United States
For a four year tour
A four year tour

They were accused of a crime that they
Did not commit
But they managed to escape from jail
And go on the run
They went on the run

Hannibal!
The Face-man too!
Mad Murdock!
And his sock!
B A Barracus will pity the fool
Who messes with...
The A-TEAM!

HeartRx said...

Good morning!

I really chuckled at your "ultimate beer container" comment, Argyle ! You are a hoot. Thanks for the lovely link for Leroy Anderson. His music was often played by the Boston Pops.

I had 2 minor glitches today - I misspelled ECSTAcY and put N. Carolina State in the SEC instead of the ACC. Perps were there to straighten me out, though.

I didn't even think to look for the theme until I came to 71-Across. Really neat how the increasing sizes were so well hidden in the theme entries. Thanks for a fun start to the week, and congratulations on your debut puzzle Don Rosenthal!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I liked this pzl. In fact, I like most things that have beer in them. "Norm!", cute, Argyle.

My only misstep was entering SEC for the conference when it should have been ACC. Is SEC a conference, or am I just confusing it with the stock regulators?

Have a great day, all. Off for that 3-mile march...

PK said...

Dennis, good comments about last night's anon. I couldn't figure out what he was talking about. Sounded drunk and hallucinating to me. We're all anonymous to some extent and long distance so there isn't much we can or want to do about his rant.

Great fun puzzle & expo. Thanks!

Mari said...

Good morning everybody,

Today's offering was a quick easy puzzle. I didn't know SONJA Henie or GERTRUDE STEIN, but they were pretty easy to fill in.

I bet Tin will have a blast with this one.

Have a great day!

Jerome said...

So... If Al Franken and Gertrude Stein co-wrote a song that sold millions of copies would that be Frankenstein's monster hit?

Barry G. said...

would that be Frankenstein's monster hit?

Yes. Yes, it would. ^_^

Jerome said...

Forgot to add... Dennis, I think you're mishearing "monsoonal" Meteorologists give hurricanes and monsoons names. I believe he was simply referring to "Monsoon Al"

inanehiker said...

My paper accidentally put in the puzzle for Wednesday today. All the time I was solving I kept saying-- boy this is a little more challenging than a usual Monday, plus this particular constructor is almost never in on Monday. Well, I got here and it was not the same puzzle-- so I went and looked in the fine print at the bottom of my puzzle and it said it was the puzzle for 09/17! So I now I need to get to work and will do today's puzzle on-line later, but I'm ahead of the game for Wednesday :p.

Lime Rickey said...

Dennis @5:30 said: "I fortunately don't drink beer".

Surely that was an unfortunate typo.

Anonymous said...

Barry G @ 5:42

It would have been quite clever had you said "With SEMI in place, my brain was half expecting something else"...

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Don Rosenthal, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.

Got through this one pretty quickly. Enjoyed the theme. Did not catch it until I got to the end and entered BEER. Then everything made sense. Great job!

I had some good beer this week in Philadelphia, Yuengling. One of the best!

TACH was a good clue/word.

Took me a while and a couple perps to get FEMUR. I was thinking of something more latiny.

ETE, the French word I always get.

UNAGI was an unknown. Perped it. And, I do not frequent sushi bars.

Should be home in a few hours. In Indiana at the present.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

(14000)

SwampCat said...

D-O at 6:56: about SEC...can you say LSU? Yes, there is an SEC, and not just those stock people. Geaux Tigers!

Husker Gary said...

Not one mention of those 99 BOTTLES of beer I sang of in my ute in Don’s very nice Monday puzzle. ;-)

Musings
-Rich, you used Harbinger/Omen twice. Oh wait, never mind.
-“Attention, Flight 1109 from Hartford has ALIT and will arrive at Gate 23”
-Elise’s middle name is Isabella and my daughter calls her BELLE
-This fits the Name Tag fill and the theme!
-Here’s a a good sized FEMUR
-GROPE – “Uh, I was just trying to help you button your coat”
-We try to avoid CHAIN restaurants when we travel. The Crab Pot in Seattle was amazing!
-Some historians posit that The Battle of The ALAMO turned out to be a pyrrhic victory
-Here’s the self-help book I need!
-When colleagues start calling you SIR, maybe you’ve been at this a while
-When my GOLF CART ran out of gas, I could not have been farther from the club house. Cell phone came in handy, otherwise I would have had to, gasp, walk!
-Joann had two cakes for MIL’s birthday. She discovered that everyone liked the lemon cake better than the chocolate and so the PIECES had to be cut smaller and smaller
-SONYA/SONJA got me again at first. Who was her big fan and got so excited in the M*A*S*H episode Baby It’s Cold Outside when her movie Sun Valley Serenade made it into camp?

desper-otto said...

Swamp Cat@9:15 -- Thanx. I'm not much of a sports fan, though I am familiar with LSU. I'm incapable of matching the school with its conference. Plus the names are so confusing -- the Big 10 has far more than 10 schools while the Big 12 has far fewer than 12. It's a wonderment!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Good to see Dennis' smiling face again, yesterday and today.

Easy slide today. Theme involved BEER, one of your basic food groups. Solve was uneventful proceeding from NW to SE.
Seemed to have a subset of Scandinavian motif: ROCKNE, SWE, SONJA. Queen Sonja is the present queen of Norway. We loved Stockholm, especially the outdoor museum, Skansen. Still talk about the cute white Arctic fox we saw there.

Noticed that the 8-letter downs each consisted of 2 compound words ending in unvoiced consonants.

Agree with Argyle; Don did a good job.

Lemonade714 said...

How cool to see Dennis the first poster, I was waiting for the this day in history.I must suggest BLAMA is your next submission to go along with CLECHO in the crossword slang dictionary. Well done.

Fun puzzle, not too hoppy with no aftertaste, and I do not feel bloated.

ACC is not the SouthEastConference even if FSU did win the national title last year.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

A fun, breezy start to the week. I'll bet Tin was in his glory except for that nasty little devil, _ _ _ at 37D. Hand up for SEC/ACC.

Nicely done, Mr. Rosenthal, and ditto to Argyle for the expo. I laughed out loud at the fatso/basso comment!

Have a great day.

Misty said...


This is going to be one of my absolute favorite puzzles of all time--thank you so much, Don! Hey, it managed to include GERTRUDE STEIN's whole name--she would have loved this! I taught "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas" for thirty years or more, so it was a delight to see it in a puzzle. I also loved the old TV show "I Dream of JEANNIE," so that too was a fun clue. And I even got such sports items as ROCKNE, MR. T, and GOLF CART without any problem. Yay! We also hosted a TAPAS party for 12 people on Sunday a week ago, so even that was a gift.

Always like your expo, Argyle.

Does Tinbeni like beer? I thought of him as soon as I got the theme.

Owen, fun limericks this morning. And LOL, Jerome, on the Al Franken and Gertrude Stein combo.

Have a great week, everybody!

Lucina said...

HELLO, posters!

There's a sudden balance in the universe! What? Oh, Dennis is back on top. Yea!

If this is Don Rosenthal's debut puzzle, hearty congratulations! Very well done. I don't care for BEER myself but it's a well executed theme.

It's quite amazing to see GERTRUDE STEIN's complete name and on a Monday, too.

Dennis:
Thank you for recommending the NY Times puzzle yesterday. That is a really clever and ingenious composition. I enjoyed solving it.

Have a ROSY Monday, everyone!

Dennis said...

PK, it's always something here, huh?

Jerome, you haven't lost a step. Great to see you. I'll be watching for Monsoon Al now.

Lime Rickey, no typo. I exercise like a fanatic now, just to keep up with my appetite, and I'm not good at moderation. If I drank beer, that battle would've been lost long ago.

Spitz, thanks. I'm still waiting for another book in that series.

Lucina, I'm glad you found that puzzle as amazing as I did.

Lemon, here ya go: On this day in history (1968), the USSR launches Zond 5, which becomes the first spaceship to orbit the moon and reenter Earth's atmosphere. Also found these fun facts:

- It is illegal to kiss for more than five minutes in Iowa.

-Talking 'dirty' during sex is illegal in Oregon.

And worst of all....

- In Indiana, it is illegal to be in a state of sexual arousal in public. (Think I'll scratch Indianapolis off my 'visit' list.)

That's it from the resident outcast. Off to find some food.

CanadianEh! said...

This CW started out quickly but bogged down (is there such a word as fenned down?) in the SW.

Initially had OMEN in the wrong spot of the 2 HARBINGERs. Debated between SLICE or PIECE of cake.

Don't eat many clams here and not sure whether they are better steamed or RAW!

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2
-May I join the chorus of welcome for Dennis. It’s good to see/hear/read you again! I like the word “blama”. “Doctor, doctor, it hurts when I do this”…
-Public consumption of Viagra must be a felony in Indianapolis
-I am careful to tell my NASA program audiences that the USSR was the first to orbit the Earth with a space vehicle (Sputnik), put a living being in orbit (Layka the dog), put a man in orbit (Gagarin), put a woman in orbit (Tereshkova) and get a space vehicle to the moon. After that…
-No beer at my house because I grew up with that smell permeating the house where dad was usually passed out from over imbibing. At least he was a passive drunk and tried to make it right when he dried out and I was already 30.
-Colonel Potter was the big Sonja Henie (I would have bet my hiney it was Heinie) fan in M*A*S*H.
-FYI, I can’t log on to this site in this school system because of the internet filter but I can blog if I have this site up when I leave home and then it appears when I awaken (unsleep?) the laptop. If I leave the site, I am SOL.
-Trying to blog with my iPhone has been a disaster! Does anybody know how or what I need to do?
-Somebody just let in 24 twelve-year olds in the room and so I guess I’ll have to start subbing.

Chairman Moe said...

My "puzzling thoughts" for a Monday:

**this was about a 6min:45sec "sprint" for me, as this time I started with one across and went left to right, top to bottom. Might have had one or two "write-overs" as the spell-checker in my brain was still asleep
**As a few others commented, the "theme" answer (BEER) was my last fill; and I, too, liked the fact that each beer "container" got larger as the puzzle developed
**congrat's to Don for his "inaugural" crossword; thanks Argyle for a concise and clever recap - Your comment about "Norm" as the ultimate BEER container was funny
**Speaking of beer drinkers, how about this, for today's limerick:

A local bar legend in Winnipeg,
Directly drinks BEER from a Molson KEG;
Needs not STEIN nor a GLASS,
All his ale to amass;
Because it flows straight to his "hollow leg"!

Ol' Man Keith said...

Morning, all!

A smooth, quick one to start our week.

Neat limerick, Moe - I didn't expect your rhyme scheme to land (ahem) on A.

CrossEyedDave said...

Glass

Stein (& a shout out to Argyle!)

Pitcher

Keg?

BEER!

& as Argyle pointed out, The ultimate beer container...

Ergo (a.k.a. Husker Chuck) said...



Not sure why but I found this one to be a bit of a challenge for a Monday (15 minutes). ORATE instead of UTTER didn't help the cause.

Oh well, lots on my mind. No meaningful jobs online to apply for and still waiting to hear back on the gig I interviewed for last week.

Oh well, it's the bad days that make the good days all that much better.

Tinbeni said...

Without a doubt ... this was my favorite "Monday theme" puzzle this year.

Misty: I don't like BEER ... I LOVE BEER, along with Scotch!
(That can't be said about a libation like a Godiva Chocolate Martini ... give me a break!)

Irish Miss: At least that "_ _ _" was still in a bucket.

Hmmm, the theme reminded me ...
"It's time to wander over to the 50 Craft Brew's on Tap Pub."
Cheers!!!

Avg Joe said...

Funny romp today. If it's a debut, it's a good one. Didn't even look for a theme until I got to the reveal since it was going so smoothly.

Looks like Reg Smythe had this puzzle in mind when he wrote today's Andy Capp

john28man said...

The Big Ten had many schools join and leave but in my childhood in Chicago there were nine schools, Purdue, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio State, Indiana, Iowa and Northwestern. Michigan State entered in the late Forties. in 1990 Penn State did and recently Nebraska, Maryland,and Rutgers.

I found this one to be rather easy even for a Monday. Many perps just appeared from the earlier fills.

Anonymous said...

Congrats, Don Rosenthal, on your debut puzzle! It was an easy, fun Monday; a great way to start the week!

Argyle, thanks for the expo. I got a couple theme answers, then forgot to look for the rest.

WEES. Nothing new to add.

Happy Monday!

Pat

Marge said...

Hi all,
Well, its so good to read the blog again.I haven't read it for many weeks. My lap top has not been working well, in fact it hasn't worked for many weeks. So I use my DH's computer when it is available.

Actually, I haven't been getting the puzzles done either, not even the Monday's. But today the puzzle was much easier and I really enjoyed it.

I did the same as many of you, I had SEC before ACC.I also had the most trouble in the SW.

Dennis, it is nice to see your blog again.I wasn't sure if you had been here recently but the comments told me you just started again today.

Have a great day!
Marge from Wisconsin

Avg Joe said...

Dennis, I'm not trying to top you on your return. And I hope your return is NOT temporary.

However, as a playful anon has been hinting, there is a notable revival today. As Jeopardy begins the new season, Alex Trebek's mustache is back!

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Nice puzzle, Don! Great expo, as usual, Santa!

Here's a story from the Wash. Post.

Hopefully, Harvey will come today and tighten the brakes on my wheelchair before it kills me.

Cheers!


Dennis said...

Oh, Dennis is back on top. Yea!

Lucina, that's always been one of my favorite things to hear a woman say...

Marge, Gary, thanks for the nice words.

Avg Joe, thanks, and as everyone knows, the mustache trumps all! Good to see it back.

Lemon, I no longer have any control over what's put in our list of abbreviations/unique terms, so I doubt seriously 'blama' will make it, even though it seems very appropriate for our blog at times. Such is life.

Lucina said...

Dennis:
You do make me laugh!!

Dennis said...

Well now, see, THAT'S not always a good thing to hear.

Anonymous said...

Dennis, you sure seem to be adding to the blama here recently. With you coincidentally returning to post just after returning from Minneapolis and then conveniently revealing your rift with C.C.. Now you inexplicably comment that since you no longer have control over what happens here the correct actions will not be taken. Phew, what a PANE in the GLASS.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Ah, TAPAS and BEER - what's not to like? Congrats & thanks Don! And thank you too Argyle for keeping the fun going.

I had a bit of an issue in SW. I wanted GROPE at 1st, but cross-checked it w/ 53d. Slice changed my mind about 52a so I put in GRasp. An EAGER Beaver came along to finally help fix it.

No one else started bronze_ (crud) at 57a? Just me?

Fav (other than BEER) SIGN over ICONS and MR-T (CSO?) w/ A-TEAM in same pzl.

I won't UTTER a RAW word re: CIA online :-) I (don't) WISH to ALIT(?) in a dark damp cell.

Argyle - Loved the mental image of fatso BASSO :-)

CED - Thanks for Norm clip! IWISH when I walked into the local cantina they'd all say HELLO to me that way (Sam the bar-keep does but I tip her well :-))

Some nice lady told me the other day that at a glance I kinda looked like a young Paul McCartney. She was at least 20 yrs older than I so I'll take her word and, ALAS, make an appointment to GROOM this mop.*

Cheers! -T
*I don't like hair cuts, esp. when they start the clipper noises after they're done w/ the scissors. Odd, I know.