google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, Sep 27th, 2014, Mark Bickham

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Sep 27, 2014

Saturday, Sep 27th, 2014, Mark Bickham

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing W)

Blocks: 35

  Well, I saw Mark Bickham's name on this one, and figured I was in for the long haul, but then I noticed that the grid was not so daunting, and as a result, I have to say I just smoked through this puzzle.  Lots of "Z"s, and we got the "Q" and "J", but alas, no place for the "W".  Oh well.  Two spanners, and two 11-letter climbers, and not much else lengthwise.  Splynter is suffering from a prolonged head cold, and a stiff back from hockey, so it's going to be a short one today;

23. Popular '60s-'70s garb : BELL BOTTOM PANTS - threw it right in there, and it worked


46. Some sightings : CLOSE ENCOUNTERS - one of my favorite movies - the Third Kind, that is


4. Pioneers : TRAILBLAZES - The verb, not the noun - I couldn't get blazeRs to fit

27. "Chicago" song : ALL THAT JAZZ - I had the "Z" from OZONE, and that helped


OW, darn~!

ACROSS:

1. Early 20th-century Met baritone Pasquale : AMATO - With -M-TO in place, I went Italian....

6. City on the Nile : GIZA - ah, I forget it happens to be a city, and not just a plateau


10. "'Sup" : "HI YA" - I have a UPS logo shirt, but the letters are S'UP

14. Three-time Oscar-winning director : CAPRA

15. OS X basis : UNIX

16. Scholarly Islamic title : IMAM

17. Rasp : CROAK

18. Place to pick up some pets : NAPE - Dah~! Went with SPCA, knowing there was no abbr. in the clue - nice misdirection

19. Yankees coach Tony : PEÑA

20. 10% of MDX : CLI - I needed Husker's calculator again; 1510 x .1 = 151

21. Common file folder abbr. : MISCellaneous

22. Reno and others: Abbr. : AGs

28. Thick-trunked tree : BAOBAB


29. Put on a pedestal : IDEALIZE - IDOLIZE was too short

30. Bee product : QUILT - Dah~! Not HONEY, but I know better on Saturday

31. Followed : RESULTED

32. Makes a decision : ACTS - Not OPTS, but I was 50% correct

35. Word with lake or lick : SALT - Salt Lake, and salt lick - I had a bunny growing up

36. World's largest user of cheese, according to its website : PIZZA HUT - DOMINO'S was too short, but I bet they could give them a run for the title

40. Goes after, as flies : SHAGS - Yeah, baby, yeah~!!!!

44. Alternative-medicine staple : ALOE VERA - Fresh clue for a crossword staple - and the full answer, too

45. Fastball, in slang : HEATER - the season is running out, and the hockey is coming in~!

48. Airline with headquarters in Amstelveen : KLM

49. Energy source : ATOM - I tried WIND first

50. Improv session : JAM

51. Premium factor : RISK - like for your 17yr-old son's car insurance payment

53. Two-band : AM/FM

54. Bashes : GALAs

56. Etonic competitor : AVIA - Sneakers

57. Extend one's service : RE-UP - Military

58. __ layer : OZONE - Nailed it

59. One might be staked : TENT - Vampire did not fit....

60. Mallorca, e.g. : ISLA

61. Quetzalcoatl worshiper : AZTEC

DOWN:

1. Clemson Univ. is in it : ACC - All perps

2. Only actor to speak in Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie" : MARCEAU - The mime, and his only word is "No."

3. Ill-fated 1967 mission : APOLLO I - Capsule fire took the lives of three astronuats; Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee

5. Poison __ : OAK - OAK or IVY~?  IVY or OAK~?

6. Hit the gas : GUN IT

7. Agitated : IN A STIR

8. Routing aids : ZIP CODES - Yesterday I caught a package bound for Southold, but with a Brooklyn address - bad zip code

9. Send packing : AXE - Dah~! Not CAN

10. Not square : HIP

11. "Seriously" : "I MEAN IT"

12. Asia's longest river : YANGTZE - got it with the "A" and "T" in place; the Three Gorges Dam displaced 1.3 million people; more facts here

13. Got a lot of : AMASSED

21. __ mentality : MOB

23. Summer party invitation letters : BBQ - DAH~! Not BYO....

24. Part of Wayne's world : BATCAVE - Clever misdirection, and I did not fall prey to it; BRUCE Wayne, not Wayne & Garth

25. Neighbor of Tempe : MESA - Cities in Arizona

26. Eponymous skater Axel : PAULSEN - The Wiki

33. What you once were? : THEE - Cute - "...but I wish I could wrap myself / in thee"


34. Last things written on applications? : SURNAMES - Har-har

36. Super saver? : PACK RAT

37. "No harm done" : "I'LL LIVE"

38. Enhances the details : ZOOMS IN

39. Considerate : TACTFUL

41. Got stuffed, maybe : ATE A LOT

42. Material : GERMANE - by definition, relevant; pertinent

43. Yearbook sect. : SRs

45. Buzz : HUM

47. __-Loompas: Dahl characters : OOMPA - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

52. Dennings of "2 Broke Girls" : KAT

53. NPR journalist Shapiro : ARI

54. __ long way : GO A

55. Hardly a long time : SEC

Splynter

Note from C.C.:

I got below sweet note & picture from Irish Miss last night. Never saw Ruth or Mantle play in person, I have to agree with what Jorge Posada said about Jeter. To me, he is the #1 Yankee, on and off the field.

"My great (grand?) nephew and his wife went to see the Yankees vs the Red Sox game tonight.  They first had dinner in the Italian North End of Boston and who was there, dining alone, but Derek Jeter.  Since the main reason for them attending this game was to see Jeter, this was an added plus, more so because he didn't play tonight.  However, being the class act that he is, he very graciously posed with my g-nephew's wife."




47 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Definitely a challenge for me today, what with a few unknown names (PAULSEN, AMATO and PENA) and a whole lotta tricky cluing. My first pass through the grid yielded only CLI at 20A, which is kind of sad...

Some of the cluing seemed a bit off to me today, not just tricky. I didn't think ALOE VERA could be a "staple" of "alternative medicine" since it actually does have legitimate medical properties, whereas "alternative" medicine -- by definition -- does not. But maybe the clue is talking about people who eat ALOE VERA as some sort of cure-all instead of using it as a soothing balm.

I also thought the clue for ACTS was a bit off and agree it should have been OPTS. There's a big difference between choosing to do something and actually doing it, at least in my opinion. YMMV.

Technical DNF for me today. Had a typo at the crossing of YANGTSE and IDEALISE and didn't get the *TADA* a a result. Finally hunted it down, though.

Lemonade714 said...

Alternative medicine is just that, a different choice. To suggest that there is no merit in the practices from ancient China, India as well the work of holistic Doctors who use every natural means to cure the cause of did-ease rather than creating a 'medicine' that may remove your symptom and have a little side effect like bleeding or death. Many people drink Aloe Vera.

I had forgotten about the incredible Baobab tree, fill we have not had since 2008, though I do recall the MONKEY BREAD .

Despite being a lifelong Yankee hater Derek Jeter is a totally remarkable, admirable man and player.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Things looked bleak for quite a while, and I feared the worst. Finally the two grid-spanners became obvious and things started to fall into place. My biggest problem area was Minnesota where I had IVY before OAK and REV UP crossing VETS where GUN IT crossing NAPE needed to be. ZIPCODES showed me the error of my ways.

We don't have much choice in PIZZA around here. Pizza Inn gave up and that space is now a Church's Chicken joint. There is Dominoes and Pizza Hut, but they're 9 miles away and don't deliver. That leaves only Papa John's at 5.4 miles; they deliver. I see a lot of their boxes on the curb on trash days.

DW often has Chinese students in her classes, and once mentioned the YANGTZE River to a sea of blank expressions. Turns out they call it the Chang Jiang.

The bicycles await...

OwenKL said...

CCW had nothing yesterday, and only a couple partials today
Along the bottom row in each, LAT 59a: TENT,
and ST 60a: MESS TENT.
LAT 26d: eponymous skater Axel = PAULSEN
ST 10d: Louis Braille and Les Paul = EPONYMS

I saw something weird today on the street
Something I never again thought I'd meet.
As strange as you'd imagine a being from Mars,
Or a CLOSE ENCOUNTER from out in the stars,
So odd was this -- thing -- that noticed my stares
Though others passed by and seemed unawares.
It came over to me before I could retreat,
And looked me over, from my head to my feet.
Then it spoke in a voice so young and so high
I couldn't be sure it was a girl or a guy.
"You look old enough," with San Francisco accents,
"I'll bet you once wore unisex BELL BOTTOM PANTS!"

HeartRx said...

Good morning Saturday Soldiers!

Whew, like d-otto I thought it was going to be a DNF today. I think I only had four entries on the first pass that I was "absolutely" sure of: ACC, UNIX, BBQ and QUILT. Then the ZZZs started to kick in, and everything just flowed from there.

2 down was eluding me because I only had *ARC*AU. It took me the longest time to remember AMATO, and the mime finally spoke up!

Bill G. from last night, I can usually come up with a solution, even if it is from out in left field!

Have a great day everyone - more painting for us, but we are nearing the end. I'll have to post a before/after pic when we are done. And then, we are going on vacation!!

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Such a challenge! But ended up enjoying it. Thanks, Mark! Thanks, Splynter! The ALOE in the cw may have helped what ails you. LOL!

I have an OS X basis, but didn't know sic-em about UNIX. Tried a "T" instead of "X" which gave me AtE instead of AXE which kinda worked, but didn't. Duh!

Took me a while to make sense of QUILT from a bee. Duh II!

Amstelveen was a new name for me, but it sounded Dutch. KLM was all perps though.

Wayne's world wasn't "basement". My son brought that movie home too many times. The BA gave me a start to BAT CAVE though.

WBS about the names. Energy source wasn't "coal" or "wood" or "food" but ATOM. Groan! POISON___ wasn't "pen" or "ivy" but OAK. Hit the gas wasn't "floor". (Keep trying, girl, you'll get there.)

But hey, I confidently wrote in YANGTZE with no perps on the grid. See I'm not totally stupid! Yay ME!

I ate breakfast on the Ryder Cup golf course (via satellite). Got to see a spectacular shot by Ian Poulter. Hard to remember I'm supposed to be rooting for USA then.

Watching the news last night, I wonder if history will someday write that Saddam Hussein was a stabilizing force in the middle east? Things just get terribler and terribler.

Anonymous said...

18A NAPE "A place to pick up pets?" I don't get it.

Yellowrocks said...

This one beat me up and took my lunch money.I just couldn't get on Bickham's wave length. Finally I solved it with many red letters. I usually got it on my second try. The only alphabet run through was O, my last entry, for OAK and AMATO. I was demoralized by that time and just wanted to finish. I never thought of oak or ivy.
Yesterday was fine for me and tomorrow's another chance.
Irish Miss, how wonderful that your G _nephew and wife got to meet Derek Jeter, my hero. He's a real class act.

desper-otto said...

Anon@8:52 -- a mother cat will carry her kittens by grabbing them in her teeth by the nape of the neck.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
--The east surrendered gracefully but the west held out before finally giving it up
-APOLLO I was a gimme. NASA had to slow down and redesign the Moon rocket for a year but still made JFK’s “send a man to the Moon before the decade is out” timetable
-Two takeaway’s for me from wonderful Close Encounters were 1) Aliens need not be warlike, 2) They might be so advanced that communicating with us might be like us trying to talk to our cats
-TRAILBLAZERS like Rosa Parks have to have courage
-I mistakenly thought the word “geezer” came from GIZA
-This UNIX code looks like a snap ;-)
-That calculator helped me unlock the NW corner too, Splynter
-Poor Janet RENO, the Elián González affair was truly a Catch 22
-It helped to figure out that today’s flies and bees didn’t have wings
-Hey, PIZZA HUT could have been CHEETOES ;-)
-The KC Royals are in the MLB playoffs because of their pitchers’ HEATERS. They are last in home runs.
-AM radio - Love him or hate him…
-I RE-UPped for 42 teaching terms
-Newman on ZIP CODES
-Earth ZOOM (:26) with superfluous explosion at the end. Big Brother is watching!

Big Easy said...

As I started on this puzzle the entire left side was blank with the exception of KLM UNIX and CAPRA. 5D could have been poison GAS and I was also thinking BYO and VELVEETA because DOMINOS didn't fit. When I played tennis I use Fred Perry shoes by Etonic, and wanted to write NIKE before AVIA, KAT being an unknown along with AMATO, PENA PAULSEN OOMPA BATCAVE & ARI.

The right side filled fairly easily and after I had NTS, BELL BOTTOM PANTS was easy. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS wa also an easy fill and these two long fills let me finish.

Lemonade- The FDA might be slow in approving some things, but any way you look at it most alternative medicines are hocum, voodoo, huckster driven regimens. Completely untested and unproven but do no harm so they are not banned. I am also a lifelong Yankee hater because they have always bought the best players.

Husker Gary said...

-Answer to yesterday’s HOAGY question - To Have And Have Not (1:40) is the movie where HOAGY Carmichael (Cricket) is the piano player in the bar for Bogey and Bacall like Dooley Wilson (Sam) was for Bogey and Bergman in that other movie… Oh man, the name of that other movie was right on the tip of my tongue… ;-)
-Circular slide rule that was also referenced yesterday, replete with formulae (how ‘bout that plural) insert card. The periodic table was on the back. Ah, low tech!

Chairman Moe said...

My "puzzling thoughts":

**Worked the puzzle while watching the Ryder Cup
**ThIs was a tough test but not too punishing; my print version has a few write-overs, since my pen does not have a spell-checking APP!
**My lone look up was, of all things, GIZA in 6A

Been watching the golf matches since 3:00am EDT. The morning matches were pretty amazing; Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson made everything in sight. Had Kucher and Bubba played any other twosome they would've won hands down.

I was glad to see Tom Watson go with Spieth and Reed in the afternoon (Foursomes) games; it's too bad, though, that our guys just don't seem to be able to perform well at the alternate shot format. Europe has the edge so far ...

Chairman Moe said...

OT: Ryder Cup

Confirming that I really am getting tired of listening to Johnny Miller as a commentator. The man is definitely not a "glass half full" kind of guy. Maybe I will hit the mute button on the remote ...

JJM said...

Funny, I finished this in no time. Easy for a Saturday (at least to me) Yesterday it took me 40 min. and I struggled the whole time.Sometimes you're in the zone…. sometimes your not.


Derek Jeter is a class act. He transcends Baseball.

Have a great weekend.

Steve said...

Nice puzzle, took a little time to get going but the BELL BOTTOMS went in early and made a nice dent in the empty top half.

@Chairman Moe - I'm watching two live soccer matches (TV and phone app), the Ryder Cup (the other TV) and doing the NYT crossword (laptop). Miller got the mute button treatment quite some time ago.

Ergo said...


Man... What an absolute train wreck. I filled maybe half the puzzle before conceding. And that which I DID FILL, half-a-dozen were wrong.

Oh well, there's still the Cryptoquote.

Chairman Moe said...

@Steve - the US boys are looking tired; hindsight is always perfect vision, but it now looks as if sitting Walker and Fowler might have been a good idea, as well as sitting Kucher.

If the US doesn't watch it, they'll lose 4 points this afternoon, and then, it's all over but the shouting

Avg Joe said...

This was a tale of two puzzles for me. I knew Marceau right off, so the NW fell easily. Moved on to the E central, then down to the SE, and that was when it stopped being easy. Had SAS instead of KLM, so that slowed me down. Finally tried to google for the Pizza Hut answer, but all I could find were references to this puzzle on my first pass, and I didn't open any of those. Then Oompa finally dawned on me and everything else sort of opened up.

Overall, pretty tough, but an interesting challenge.

Bill G. said...

I got 'er done with a little help as usual on a Saturday.

My wife has become an avid quilter but I still didn't see 30A right away.

I agree, Derek Jeter is a great guy and an excellent baseball player but let's keep his place in Yankee history in perspective. How does he compare with Ruth, DiMaggio, Gehrig, Berra, Mantle and a few others? He might be in the conversation but he's not obviously at the top of the list. Barbara's a big fan.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

After much time and effort, I finally finished w/o help, but it took forever. I just couldn't get any toeholds to help with the long fill. I was almost ready to say uncle, but I hate to give in, so P and P prevailed.

Thanks, Mark B., for a challenging Saturday stumper and thanks, Splynter, for the expo. Feel better soon!

Have a great day.

EdieB said...

Since the American plural is attorneys general, shouldn't 22 across by ASG??????

Misty said...


Well, I was full of hope this morning because I got the east/right half of the puzzle without any problem, thanks to the OZONE/AZTEC ZZs which gave me ALL THAT JAZZ. But the west/left just eluded me even though I got a few items like CAPRA and APOLLO I. At least I got both grid spanners, BELL BOTTOM PANTS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS. Still, frustrating to get off to such a good start but with no satisfactory solution. I knew that the only speaker in "Silent Movie" was the Mime, but couldn't remember his name. Never heard of BAOBAB, but should have gotten QUILT (kept thinking of what Aunt BEE on the Andy Griffith show might have said).

But coming on the blog and seeing Irish Miss's great Derek Jeter photo and Owen's poem helped cheer me up. Desper-otto, thanks for explaining NAPE, which made no sense at all to me. And thanks for your always fun expo, Splynter.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Anonymous said...

Some (idiotic) people pick pets up by the back - nape - of the neck.

Open Minded Person said...

Barry G. - As Lemonade said - Alternative medicine is not entirely useless. You can't fool all of the people, all of the time.

Granted, there is not enough of research being done in Alternative Medicine, but surely there are at least some cures that have some efficacy. Alternative medicine is at the cusp that regular western, allopathic medicine was, say, a 100 years ago.

Some drugs like Aspirin, acetyl salicylic Acid, and Quinine came out through alternative medicine. Also digitalis, the cardiac glycoside, digoxin was initially procured from the foxglove plant, thru alternative medicine. So, to make such sweeping blanket statements like you just did, does not behove you.

PK said...

I had one grown cat that we could never get into a crate to take to the vet unless we picked him up by the nape. He'd curl up just like a kitten. Then if we were quick enough and didn't brush any part of him against the crate, we could lower him inside. If a foot touched the crate, he was all fight and we had to start over.

Nothing works with the cat I have now. I've quit trying. It's too painful.

Lucina said...

Greetings, Weekenders! Thanks, Splynter, for taking one for the team by blogging though you are ailing.

I started this earlier and was humming right along, finished the eastern seaboard but then was interrupted by visitors! On a Saturday morning.

So 90 minutes later on resuming, it all came together fairly quickly for a Saturday. Good to see all of ALOE VERA and like others, the succession of ZZZs got me off to a flying start.

How well I remember those BELL BOTTOMS!

While it's true that the plural of attorneys general is correct, the plural of the abbreviated AGS is also correct.

AMATO, UNIX, PENA and even AVIA were pure WAGS and perps. The rest were general knowledge and fun to see long words, GERMANE, SURNAMES, etc., and whole phrases. Good job and thank you Mark Bickham.

Have a delightful Saturday, everyone! I'm taking granddaughter shopping for homecoming.

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle. Sorta hard, but not as hard for me as yesterday's.
Penciled in Poison GAS at first.
Awesome, Irish Miss.
desper-otto, maybe the Chinese students in your wife's class had blank expressions because she pronounced it Yang (rhyming with hang and gang) Tsee. Or maybe not.
Husker Gary, love that circular slide rule.
Our son and his wife routinely consume zinc and echinacea.
I wish the FCC had never allowed prescription drugs to be advertised on TV.
Best wishes to you all.

Jayce said...

PK, that same thought about Saddam Hussein has entered my mind from time to time. Some of the leaders who accomplished the most in stabilization and unification and were considered great, were ruthless despots: China's First Emperor, Alexander the Great, Ghengis Khan, Emperor Constantine, many of the English kings, etc.

Unknown said...

While reading the comments from yesterday afternoon and evening, I got sidetracked by the sidebars for Leon Russell (who was one of my favorites back in the day), so I'm a little late posting.

This was an enjoyable puzzle. My first fill was CLI followed by BELL BOTTOM PANTS. I did have two write-overs: opts before ACTS and Cat before KAT. Everything else filled pretty easily.

Bill G. said...

Here's a pretty photo of my hometown. The Manhattan Beach pier

Jayce, I agree about not liking advertising of prescription drugs on TV, especially since at the end, they do their CYA stuff and have about 20 seconds of warnings of possible grisly side effects.

Speaking about picking up young cats by the napes of their necks, I saw a video of a cat at the vet's office. The vet put a large clip on the cat's neck. The cat immediately went limp and could be examined and treated easily. It must be a reflex so when the mother cat picks up the kitten, the kitten doesn't struggle and is easy to carry about.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Like Avg Joe, I had SAS before KLM, and that slowed me down in the SW sector.
And I agree with Barry G that ACTS is not as precise an answer as OPTS for the clue.
Otherwise this was not very tough for a Sat pzl. Slow going, but all doable. The early gimmes were CLI and AZTEC. ALL THAT JAZZ filled next after I flirted for a (short) while with RAZZMATAZZ. I've seen CHICAGO so often on stage and screen and tube you'd think by now I'd remember song titles. But the fact that ALL THAT JAZZ enjoys a separate existence as its own movie threw me off.
On another track, I am enjoying reading David Mitchell (author of Cloud Atlas) again these days. His new novel, The Bone Clocks gets a tad too surreal for my taste, but if I have to be exposed to the latest fads in super heroes and mighty immortals, I'll go with him. From that, I took up his earlier Black Swan Green, and am glad I did. The hero is a thirteen year old poet with a stammer living in Worcestershire during the Falklands era.
It's ace, mate.

PK said...

BillG, I enjoyed the picture of your pier alongs with many of the others in that album. Where do you ride? Is there a bike path or down on the shore or on the long pier itself?

LOIS said...

From Fri:
OMG, Santa Baby, I LOVE that old hillbilly banjo pickin' bluegrass music! Can I be your Salty Dog, Santa Baby..or maybe a substitute when ya get 'chili'? Thank you for that window into yesteryear and the thrill of that knee slappin, toe tappin, hand clappin' music. You know I'm very musically inclined. If you want, I could help you play the jugs, if ya need any lessons, that is.
Dennis is probably the resident expert in that field, but group lessons are so much more fun, don't ya think?

How's this year's list comin', Santa Darlin'? Need any help ranking me in the Naughty or Nice column yet? I'm lookin' forward to seeing you.

Bill G: Thank you. Good to see you too. VA is good. My
neck of the river is at least open to swimming. Bugs are gone. Bunnies are in, as are the hawks. Tree frogs weren't so bad this year and my flower gardens are still beautiful! The Fall colors ought to be some kind of pretty this year w/all the rain we've had. How are you doin' out there?

Lucina: One night stands are more consistent than I am. If I do any thing twice in a row, I call it a routine. If I do something three times, it's a lifestyle. But I am newly retired and should have more time to play soon.

Thank you for the nice comments.

Anonymous said...

Demise of Saddam Hussein, be careful what you wish for.

Barry G. said...

Here's a joke:

Q: What do you call alternative medicine that actually works?

A: Medicine!

Seriously, every clinical trial of stuff like acupuncture, acupressure, homeopathy, reiki, etc., shows that it works no better than a placebo (often worse than a placebo, in fact). Which either means that placebo is pretty powerful stuff, or else all these so-called "alternative" or "complementary" treatments are bogus. Any positive effects these treatments have are either anecdotal at best (meaning the results can't be replicated), the result of self-limiting conditions like a cold or occasional pain getting better on their own, or else pure placebo effect of people feeling better because they think they are receiving real medicine (and even then, it usually only has an effect on extremely subjective and hard to measure problems like "pain" which can be diminished simply by distracting the patient).

Yes, some herbal treatments (including some forms of Traditional Chinese Medicine) have legitimate medical benefits, but those are the ones that have been studied, refined and turned into actual medicine.

Anyway, my only point was that I was surprised to see ALOE VERA listed as a staple of "alternative" medicine simply because it has been extensively tested and is now included in many legitimate medical treatments, at least for rashes, burns, etc. If people are drinking ALOE VERA juice thinking it will cure cancer or regrow hair, however, I can understand why it would still bear the taint of "alternative."

Bill G. said...

We are not supposed to ride a bicycle on the pier itself. The bike path runs perpendicular to the pier. It's at the end of the pier running north/south right right along the edge of the sand.

PK said...

One of the problems with any kind of medicine, alternative or generally accepted is that it doesn't work the same on all people. Topical ALOE VERA gives me hives and rash.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Hooray! I struggled through another Saturday w/o cheats!

Thanks Mark and Splynter! Feel better Splynter!

First pass gave very few entries. AMATO was unknown. At first had ivy instead of OAK.

Looking forward to Outlander tonight. Perhaps it will be less boring! A friend of mine is on book 4 out of 8 and is really bored!

Cheers!

Lucina said...

Why would anyone continue reading a series that's boring? I'm afraid I don't understand that.

I tried one Outlander book and gave up after about a third of the way. It's not for me. With so many authors available, it's easy to find a good one.

Now, Martha Grimes can keep me entertained the whole day.

Lois:
Congratulations on your retirement. I look forward to your future posts.

Sallie said...

Good night all.

Didn't even try today's puzzle, but I did want to say welcome back Lois. I have missed you and your comments. Enjoy retirement. DH & I do.

Cheers

Blue Iris said...

I availed myself of red letter help today.
Learning moment-BAOBAB tree

Flew on KLM in the later 70's. Stiil remember the pilot, in a dutch accent, announcing, "We have now entered the United States of America" and everyone clapping and cheering. We were very happy to be home after 'roughing it' in Africa.
I'm confused a bit, because I thought SAS had bought out KLM. Anybody know more about this?

I had to take a 30 hour course on Complementary and Alternative Medicine for RN re-license. No mention of ALOE VERA. Chiropractic medicine is still considered alternative although pretty mainstream now. Massage is seen as helpful now and many clients take herbs now. Western and Chinese medicine sometimes clash because Western medicine believes you intervene and Chinese medicine believes less is more.
I used a lot of food products because Missionary/school/camp nurses don't have access to some drugs. For example warm salt gargles, cornstarch for skin rashes , baking soda rinses for canker sores, baking soda paste for bee stings, milk to preserve knocked out teeth, etc, etc.
Has anyone here ever tried acupuncture and found it helpful? Never tried it, myself.

Blue Iris said...

Barry G, I liked your joke and will try to remember for the future.

Lucina said...

Blue Iris:
My daughter tried it for migraine headaches and found it relieved them. She would have continued but the cost was prohibitive.

Bill G. said...

Lucina, since you mentioned it and since I was needing a new book, I downloaded a Martha Grimes book. I should have asked you which one. I picked "The Anodyne Necklace."

I am watching the new Miss Marple mystery on PBS. I fondly remember the dotty old Margaret Rutherford movies. I'll have to get used to this new version.

Lucina said...

BillG:
Any one of Martha Grimes' books is enjoyable, from her vivid descriptions to the way she can turn a phrase, I believe you can't go wrong. I hope you like it.

Los Tallot said...

Barry G - I think the reason Lemony got so defensive is because the lawyerly work he does could be considered Alternative Practice.