google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday October 26, 2014 Melanie Miller

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Oct 26, 2014

Sunday October 26, 2014 Melanie Miller

Theme:  "Give It a Go" - GO is added to each theme entry.

27A. Fruit found in the back of the fridge? : DIRTY OLD MANGO. Dirty old man. I don't put mangoes in the fridge. I treat them like bananas.

45A. Class on an African river? : CONGO COURSE. Concourse.

58A. Newspaper issue for arrogant readers? : EGO EDITION. e-Edition. I don't think we'll give up our Star Tribune unless they give up. I need a real newspaper on hand.
 
67A. Google an African nation? : LOOK UP TOGO. Look up to.

83A. Cruise for drummers? : BONGO VOYAGE. Von voyage. Poor Jayce. My high school chemistry teacher was equally discouraging.

95A. Pasta sauce checkout line? : PREGO REGISTER. Pre-register.

35D. Old MacDonald's signature dance? : FARMER'S TANGO. Farmer's tan.

40D. Inexpensive game with cards? : BARGAIN BINGO. Bargain bin.

Very tight theme set, every GO is attached to the end of the first /last word.

A bit of unusual grid set-up, as the first theme answers starts on Row 4 rather than Row 3. The fill reminds me a bit of Gail's Sunday grids, super clean & smooth. No obscure or junky fill. No shock and awe entries either.

Melanie Miller is one of the constructors for the Crossword LA tournament. You can click here to get the puzzle set for only $5. All proceeds go to Reading to Kids. Other constructors include Patti Varol, Byron Walden, Trip Payne, Merl Reagle and David Quartfoot. You'll also get two warm-up puzzles from Andrea Carla Michaels and Susan Gelfand. Amy Reynaldo was the Puzzle Wrangler and she got the very best constructors (all from California or with California ties) for the tournament.

Across:

1. Like many horses : SHOD

5. Wood used in guitar-making : ALDER. Ash too.

10. Bob up and down, say : FLOAT

15. Five tenths : HALF

19. Hefty volume : TOME

20. Fill, as old water bottles : RE-USE

21. Fiennes who played Lord Voldemort : RALPH. I like him in The English Patient.

22. Sandbox boo-boo : OWIE

23. Forearm bone : ULNA

24. Irritate : GRATE

25. Sharp mountain ridge : ARETE. I always think of Spitzboov when I see this word. He knows a lot of geographic term and iceberg related stuff.

26. Distribute, with "out" : METE

30. Lyrical homage : ODE

32. Month named for a general : JULY. Named for Caesar.

33. Russian-born Deco designer : ERTE

34. Given the lowdown : BRIEFED

38. Fish recipe instruction : DEBONE. Did you know that most of frozen salmon we have here in the US are sent to China to debone? So, the fish we eat are twice frozen, at least.

41. Claude's "Thanks" : MERCI

43. Salon service : HAIR CARE. Put some coconut oil in your conditioner.

44. Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium city : OMAHA. Gimme for Gary/Joe/Ergo.

47. Zodiac symbol : RAM

48. Get, as a degree : EARN

49. 1905 Peter Pan player Adams : MAUDE. No idea. The Bond girl is MAUD Adams.



50. Moderate pace : TROT

51. Kid's comeback : AM SO

52. Horse and buggy : RIG. This is a new meaning of RIG to me.

53. Slip : LAPSE

54. Suppressed : SAT ON

56. Belief system : CREED

57. '70s extremist gp. : SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army). They kidnapped Patty Hearst, who was granted a full pardon by Clinton.

60. Lacking manners : COARSE

61. Muslim leaders : IMAMS

63. Place for worms? : CAN. And 64. Places for outlets : WALLS.

65. Chilean lady : SENORA

71. Shop __ you drop : TIL. I can shop for hours without buying anything.

74. Striped cat : TABBY

75. Grammy winner Lena : HORNE

76. Radio station, say : AIRER

77. Excitement : ADO

78. Mayberry sot Campbell : OTIS. I think Gary or Tinbeni mentioned this guy before.

79. Hr. portions : MINs
 
80. Super-small : EENSY

81. Holier-than-thou sort : SNOB
 
82. Web portal letters : MSN

86. Bird with a hooked beak : EAGLE

87. Events with tiaras : PAGEANTS. Have any of you watched Here Comes Honey Boo Boo?  So glad it's canceled.

89. Ryan of "The Beverly Hillbillies" : IRENE

90. Adorn in relief : EMBOSS

91. Newspaper fillers : STORIES

92. Spanish liqueur : ANIS

93. High male voice : ALTO

94. Historic Nevada city : ELY. Historic because?

100. 1998 Apple debut : iMAC

103. Pitchfork feature : PRONG

105. Pay : REMIT

106. More than some : A LOT

108. Remove forcibly : OUST

109. Bangladesh neighbor : INDIA

110. IRS requirement for many : E-FILE

111. Big-time blow : GALE

112. Plate cleaners, at times : UMPS. Great clue. The Royals have to win tonight!

113. Stun gun : TASER

114. Farm fathers : SIRES

115. "__ Enchanted": 2004 film : ELLA. Anne Hathaway movie. She's a good singer.

Down:

1. RV connection? : STU. Alphabet.

2. Own : HOLD

3. Bus lead-in : OMNI

4. Last letter? : DEAR JOHN. Kids nowadays break up via text.

5. Diamond pattern : ARGYLE. Hi there, Santa.

6. First name of boy detective Encyclopedia Brown : LEROY. Is he the inspiration for Bad, Bad Leroy Brown?

7. Like some college majors : DUAL

8. Formed, on a bus. sign : ESTD.  I read it as "Bus sign".

9. Surface again : RE-EMERGE

10. Wrought-up : FRANTIC

11. __-screen TV : LARGE

12. Baking ingredient : OLEO. Never had it before. Does your wife eat butter, Jayce/Barry G?

13. Likely : APT

14. Creative thinker : THEORIST. I guess those guys are creative.

15. Household skills class : HOME EC

16. More than impress : AWE
17. On, in a way : LIT

18. Entry price : FEE

28. Sandwich fish : TUNA

29. Western U.S. service station chain : ARCO

31. Ominous : DIRE

34. Business tycoon : BARON. I was stunned by Mark Zuckerberg's fluent Chinese last week.  He conducted a 30-minutes Q & A in Chinese. Both Facebook and Twitter are blocked in China, by the way.

36. Clears : ERASES

37. Out of fashion, in France : DEMODE. Démodé.

38. Bundles of energy : DOERS

39. Terminal communication : EMAIL.  Terminal made me think of airport.

41. "Eek!" evoker : MOUSE

42. Put a halt to : ENDED

43. Georgian Bay's lake : HURON

45. Tough heads : CAPOS. Mafia bosses.

46. Maestro Klemperer : OTTO. I've been to Appleton, D-Otto. I remember they have a Cracker Barrel there.

49. Volcanic fluid : MAGMA

51. Shrunken inland sea : ARAL

53. "Rescue Me" star Denis : LEARY

54. Commercial interest : STAKE

55. Native of Hokkaido : AINU. Here it is again.

56. Rose or violet : COLOR

59. Picture of an envelope, e.g. : ICON. Wow, so easy in retrospect. Mail me.



60. Cleverly guarded : CAGEY

62. Riot squad concerns : MOBS. China executed 8 Muslim extremists earlier this year for their terrorist act in Oct 2013. In America, the procedure would take forever.

64. No __ for the wear : WORSE

65. Treads heavily : STOMPS

66. Greatly bothers : EATS AT

67. Hungers : LONGS

68. Roughly speaking : OR SO

69. Many a church song : PAEAN

70. Bit : TINGE

72. Fan favorites : IDOLS

73. Hoops may hang from them : LOBES. Earrings.

75. Subtle suggestions : HINTS

79. Financial drain : MONEY PIT. Great fill.

80. Dilapidated buildings, say : EYESORES. Another great one.

81. Deliberate destruction : SABOTAGE. Three in a row.

83. Leave in a hurry, slangily : BAIL

84. Oil partner : VINEGAR. My grandma used to make persimmon vinegar with the persimmons from our front yard trees. Xi'An has a big Muslim Quarters where the persimmon cakes are must-eats. No unrest there. We've been living peacefully together for centuries.




85. Copier insert: Abbr. : ORIG

86. Rescue team, briefly : EMTs

88. Builds : ERECTS

90. Upper crust groups : ELITES

92. Golfer with an "army" : ARNIE. He was at the TPC here a few months ago for the Champions Tour.

93. Nimble : AGILE

95. Sci-fi carriers : PODS

96. Interest-lowering option, briefly : RE-FI

97. Kuwaiti ruler : EMIR

98. Israeli carrier : EL AL

99. It's called in class : ROLL

100. Note in lieu of cash : IOU. Thought of the poor Madame Bovary.

101. Not exactly talkative : MUM. Are you still reading us, LaLaLinda?

102. Dangerous reptile : ASP

104. Genetic messenger : RNA

107. Drink from a bag : TEA. Good for tired eyes also.

C.C. 


37 comments:

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

A little here, a little there in today's big grid. No real stumpers, but quite a few not-so-obvious answers. Glad we've had Arete before, I'm starting to remember it.

Are there still ARCO stations? Around here, they had a distinctive look, which can often be spotted in re-purposed buildings. The only former station near me has been turned into a cafe.

Morning C.C., I've never had persimmon vinegar or cakes, but they sound tasty.

George Barany said...

Looks like it's Miller time! Way to Go, Melanie! And thanks for the clear explanation, C.C.

Debut constructor Charles Flaster and I have been watching a lot of sports lately, and offer Even Odds for a still-ongoing competition. Hope you like it!

OwenKL said...

By request:

There was an old man who really had to go
Though he didn't want anyone else to know.
But his sought-out seclusion
Was just an illusion
When the curtains opened up and he was part of the show!

Sorry, I've got a colonoscopy scheduled later this week, and I'm NOT looking forward to the induced "dire-rear-a".

Barry G. said...

Morning all!

Got the (fun) theme early on and had an enjoyable solve as a result. The only one I struggled a bit with was E-EDITION. Wasn't familiar with the term and thought I had made a mistake at first.

I wonder whether anybody in the history of the English language has actually used AIRER in a sentence (other than one like this which exists just to question its status as a real word)...

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Shoutouts galore -- Argyle, the Nebraska contingent, and even one to me. Perhaps OTIS plus LOOK UP TO was a PAEAN to Tin.

C.C., I have no idea why ELY is considered Historic. Maybe somebody should write the Book of ELY

Shop TIL you drop? Nope! I don't go into a store unless I plan to buy. I find what I'm looking for, buy it, and I'm OUTTA (formal spelling) there.

E-EDITION was familiar. I get home delivery Wednesday-thru-Sunday, but only the E-Edition on Monday-Tuesday. I can print out the puzzle from that, so I can paper-solve every day except Sunday.

Al Cyone said...

The Week in Review:

M 5:38 T 6:01 W 5:45 T 11:32 F 12:10 S 16:43 S 28:46

Thursday: It took me a few minutes to figure out that TERTLE (?) should be YERTLE (the Thai dish was an unknown).

Friday: The Latin was fun and familiar enough to not be a problem. Mom (who will be 96 on Wednesday) used to say "tempus fugit" when we were running late for school. Back then I though it meant "hurry up!".

Saturday: As with all Silkies, it looked formidable at first but WAGs did the trick.

Sunday: I quickly entered JUNE (my birth month) which held up ARGYLE which left DIRTYOLDMANGO as the last long fill. Then it was just a matter of correcting ERNIE (who?) to ARNIE to generate the "TaDa!".

See y'all next weekend.

Lemonade714 said...

English is such a fun language as we can see with ARETE next to METE. You explain to your Thai girl friend why they do not rhyme.

I was in SHOD and AWE of this fun puzzle, which also had CSO to each of my parents.

Owen I am sure you will give them a good show

68 and breezy here. Lots to do

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Getting the theme almost immediately made me think this would be a piece of cake. Not so! Due to careless mistakes, which are too embarrassing to mention, this was a big, fat FIW.

Very nice job, Melanie, and very informative write-up, CC. Loud and clear CSO to Santa.

Have a great day.

Anonymous said...

I bet that our resident former inmate could teach a CON COURSE on how to SABOTAGE a savings and loan.

maripro said...

Nice puzzle, Melanie, nice write-up, C. C.
My favorite theme answer was "bongo voyage."
I just looked up "Ely" and it seems that the one in Cambridgeshire, England fits the clue due to its cathedral begun in 1083; its architecture is considered one of the most notable in England. I didn't find anything historic for Ely, Nevada. Maybe someone else will have better luck.

thehondohurricane said...

Good day all,

First crack at a puzzle in a while and an unsuccessful one. A big DNF.

The central west was the main problem. MAUDE, LAPSE, EGO...., MAGMA, CAPOS, & LEARY were the culprits.

And one screw up.. for 83A had Ringo, BONGO never crossed my mind & I did not know..ELY. Perps would not register sooooo.....

Otherwise, all else was A OK. Didn't keep notes, so my issues, deliberations, etc are long forgotten. but it was a fun offering, win or lose.

Looking forward to Monday. Need a few successes. Hope next weeks constructors cooperate.

Go S F "Jints"! HG, won't be too disappointed if KC wins. What they have accomplished this year is GREAT for baseball.

Avg Joe said...

A very clever theme for it's type today. And yes, C.C., Omaha was a slam dunk. Thanks you both, Melanie and C.C.

Had plenty of struggles, but the worst was in the NW with June in place. Couldn't think of Julius as a General. Finally tried July and that broke open the log jam. Also had trouble with SDS instead of SLA, but that didn't last as long. Favorite theme answers were Dirty Old Mango and Farmers Tango.

Husker Gary said...

You know those puzzles where you’re on the constructor’s wavelength and breeze through? Not for me today but I “got ‘er done” and the wonderful theme fills were a hoot!

Musings
-I once got 50 kids in the wrong CONCOURSE at MCO
-Golfer’s TAN and foolish TAN
-Yup, Jayce, you can correct a kid without taking his dignity
-Remember saying - “You’re so swave and DEBONER”
-’Nuff said about the Henry Doorly Zoo
-Some papers have SAT ON stories about people they like
-How a will wanted to CEDE assets opened up a can of WORMS twice for Joann’s family
-OTIS was the happy face of alcoholism
-The iMac just came out in 1996? Wait a minute, that was 16 yrs ago! Tempis fugit!
--These shoes I wore in 1960 are not DEMODE in 2014
-Their ads on sport’s shows boast of using water from The Georgian Bay as you can read here. Skoal, Tin!
-STOMP w/basketballs (2:29)
-Athletic slogan where last syllables all rhyme with “eye”

Husker Gary said...

-Yes, the Royals have accomplished a lot this year and built their team mostly “in-house”. 15 members of this team played in Omaha on their way to “the bigs” including Alex Gordon who played at Lincoln Southeast High School, also played for the Huskers and still lives in Lincoln.
-Big payroll teams with big name stars didn’t make it in.
-KC’s mediocre starting pitching and middle relief got rocked last night.

Irish Miss said...

Nice family photo, Hondo.

Lucina said...

Hello, friends.

This was a clean sweep with no major OWIEs. My only hang up was at DIRTY OLD MANGO until I ERASEd CEDAR, got ESTD and found ARGYLE.
Nice CSO to Santa and to OTTO!

I also had ACHES before LONGS.

A big thank you to Melanie Miller and to C.C. for today's fun. Both did more than impress.

Have a special Sunday, everyone!

TTP said...

Hi all

Shout out to ARGYLE

63A Place for worms ? GER(many) ? No, no capitalization of the W. Pretty town in Rhineland Palatinate. Martin Luther was deemed a heretic in Worms.

Hokkaido native. CC told us to commit AINU to memory.

I liked 34A Given the (soft French cheese) lowdown; BRIE FED.

38d bundles of energy. I entered ABEJO. Then I saw it was plural. Voted early yesterday. Kind of expected to see Abejo there as an election judge..

Much to do today. But will probably watch football instead. See you all later.

Yellowrocks said...

This time the theme was a tremendous help to me.
I thought of ash before alder,but it was too short.
Maripro, I, too, thought that ELY in England is much more famous.
Lemonade, I have never heard ARETE, only read it. You piqued my interest, so I looked it up. The middle vowel is a long A. I see that ARETE comes from the French for fish bone and from Latin (arista) beard of grain.
Croce released Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown in 1973. Encyclopedia Brown predated it by 10 years, but I doubt there is a connection. My students read Encyclopedia Brown stories.
I have used oleo in baking for some things. It is definitely not good for butter cookies. It bakes differently and doesn't have that melt in your mouth flavor.
TTP, I, too, was reminded of Luther and the Diet of Worms.
I asked my DIL if she was related to the AINU and she was insulted. OOPS!

Bill G. said...

Hi everybody. It's 9:30 am here when I am starting this comment. I started the puzzle late last night and got about 60 percent finished. Parts of it were easy and I was filling in letters as fast as I could push letters on the keyboard. But I got really bogged down in the lower center with EENSY, TINGE, IRENE, CAGEY, ORIG, etc. I liked the theme.

I finished a very simple/tasty breakfast; a half-grapefruit, a half glass of V-8, two steamed eggs, one piece of sausage, a half English muffin toasted and a cup of coffee. I LOVE English muffins.

I haven't started Sunday Morning yet. It's always enjoyable and informative.

We have plenty of Arco stations around here. They won't take credit cards though.

Anonymous said...

RIP to Jack Bruce, bassist and vocalist for the legendary power trio 'Cream'. There just to many accolades to list here but if you are interested both wiki pages are fascinating, well at least to me. Ella? Did not know that.

Was having trouble on which song to link until I found this one. It has a nice little bio at the beginning and notice the performance date in the description! 46 years ago today! Kismet. I will be viewing all 11 parts of this concert at some time today.

The Puntiff said...

I used to wonder why Martin Luther was punished by being put on a Diet of Worms. Maybe it had something to do with nailing feces to the door of a church? At least he wasn't gored by the Papal bull.

Anonymous said...

Correction, rubbing the sleep from my eyes...

'too many accolades'

and

'46 years ago plus a month!'

Yellowrocks said...

puntiff, HA HA
But Luther was gored by the papal bull, at least figuratively. From Wiki:
"Pope Leo X issued the Papal bull Exsurge Domine ("Arise, O Lord"), outlining forty-one purported errors found in Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses and other writings related to or written by him." Then Luther was summoned to a hearing where he was expected to recant.

Bill G. said...

The classical guitars I was thinking of are made of Brazilian rosewood, spruce, cedar but no alder or ash.

Avg Joe said...

Thanks Anon at 12:21. It's no small irony that Ginger Baker outlived Jack Bruce. RIP Jack, Saddened to know you've closed down your shop. :-(

Pressed Rat and Warthog

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Melanie! Great expo, C.C.!

Read the title and got the theme early. Many chuckles. This went pretty fast for a Sunday.

I had trouble with DUAL for college majors and OLEO for baking ingredient. Didn't use that for baking when I used to bake. Also was slow to come up with BARON. Wanted "titan" or "tsars".

Learning moment: Never heard of Georgian Bay so it took four perps before I WAGd an "H". I wouldn't have ever guessed it was in Canada.

AINU: why can't I remember you?

Owen: hope you "come clean" and have a good report.

Just finished the new John Grisham book, "Gray Mountain". Interesting, but I'd seen the subject of coal mining on TV.

Royals had better rally big time. I watched a little of the game again last night. Three times I've struck out by going to sleep after two innings. I think baseball is a lost cause for my viewing.

Blue Iris said...

ELY,Nevada was an historic because it was the intersection of the Pony Express and the Central Overland Route. Tourist info say they have a very small casino in the old jail. They set up tables in the jail cells for dining. Sounds like an interesting dining experience.

I've been keeping up with physical therapy since July and then sleeping to recover. I read the blog most days, but too late to comment.

We have been rooting for the Royals. Last night was a disappointment. We still remember the 1985 team down 3-0 and then winning the last 4 games to win.

Spitzboov said...

Good afternoon everyone.

Good write-up, C.C. - I agree with your comments about the puzzle construction, Felt it while solving, but you expressed it well.

Got the theme fill ok but didn't fully suss how the 'go' gimmick worked. No LOOKUPS including TOGO were needed.
25a ARETE - Is a form of mountain ridge formed from cirque or other glacial erosion on both the front and back of a mountain. The ARETE shape gets its razorback form when the eroded surfaces meet each other.
74a TABBY - Wanted tiger until the B's showed up.
46d OTTO is the father of Werner Klemperer of "Hogan's Heroes"

Big Easy said...

The clue for 5D should have been "Crossword Blogger"

Coming to the party late today. Loved watching LSU beat Ole MISS last night in a very exciting game. The theme was easy after solving DIRTY OLD MANGO, even though I thought LEROY Brown was big and bad, not a boy detective that I didn't know. My only writeovers were EENSY for TENSY (duh, I know that is spelled TEENSY-6 letters), DOERS for GOERS, and POD for UFO. I thought about SDS instead of Patty Hearst's kidnappers but didn't write it in.

Creative thinker- that's the new buzz word for private liberal arts colleges with declining enrollment to try to justify there ridiculous tuitions. Theorist came easily with RALPH being an unknown. I really liked the clues for 15D, 40D, and 17D. I think ALL students, male and female, should be required to take HOME EConomics. There are way too many people getting out of school functionally (and financially) illiterate. Other unknowns were ANIS ( anise?), ELLA, LEARY (Timothy?) OMAHA, and I will end my COARSE disCOURSE FOR TODAY.

Dudley- an ARETE is formed by two glaciers, one on each side. A HORN is formed by three glaciers- Matterhorn.

TTP- the only place I have ever run across AINU is in a CW puzzle. Along with ANIL, ARIL, Jai ALAI,

C.C. down here in South Louisiana people learn to DEBONE fish at an early age. Redfish, Snapper, trout are FRESH ( put on crushed ice) and I can pick up large shrimp for under $3.50/lb at the docks. Crawfish in late winter, we buy 100lbs LIVE and boil em and peel em ourselves.

Avg Joe said...

Big Easy, there's one thing I miss about Tampa. Shrimp! (Well maybe crab)

Chairman Moe said...

Big Easy - yeah, it was a lot of fun to watch LSU come back to win last night's game. Surprised to see our fans rush the field at the end of the game, though. We've been there before ...

Owen - I had both an upper and lower "scopy" back in May. Thank goodness I don't need another for 10 yrs; the day before is a whole heck of a lot worse than exam day. Here's a limerick to help you get ready:

When the Doc wants to look up your rear,
To make sure that your "plumbing" is clear;
Just beware the first step,
Which is known as the "prep",
And make sure that the bathroom is near!

Barry G. said...

[i]Does your wife eat butter, Jayce/Barry G?[/i]

Sorry I missed this earlier. Yes, my wife eats butter and margarine. Not sure she's ever tried OLEO before, though... ^_^

Yellowrocks said...

Although OLEO has other meanings, it is a colloquial term for MARGARINE. In the 40's we called it oleomargarine.

Chairman Moe, I have been ducking my next colonoscopy for that reason. Good luck.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I enjoyed solving today's puzzle. Laughed out loud at DIRTY OLD MANGO and Place for worms?. Wanted ASCII for Terminal communication and TIGER for Striped cat.

LW can shop for hours, but can never resist buying something. It seems her sole criterion for what she chooses to buy is price, whether or not either of us needs or wants it. She also eats butter, but in extremely (to me) small quantities. She won't let me fry my own eggs because she thinks I use too much butter. Okay, so she worries. I opt to interpret it as an expression of love.

Hooray for Mark Zuckerberg!

When I get outta here I'm gonna look up ELY.

Best wishes to you all.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Too late to post, I suppose. But want to go on record saying thanks to Melanie and CC. Great work! Loved the theme.

Barry: should you read this--use triangular brackets instead!!!

I bought Apple stock in 1998 after I saw the blue iMac. Had to sell it too soon.

Russian friend and family bringing me dinner tonight. Oh, boy!!!

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Wow!

If the Royals pull this out, that catch by Cain will be the moment they all talk about.

Anonymous said...

Awesome!

I love how those lyrics roll off the tongue

' Stand beside her, and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.'

Bumgarner is dealing.