google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, October 9, 2014 Robert E. Lee Morris

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Oct 9, 2014

Thursday, October 9, 2014 Robert E. Lee Morris

Theme: "No rubbernecking!"


17-Across. *Tricky puzzle : BRAIN TEASER.

37-Across. *"Let me give it a shot?" : CAN I TRY.

59-Across. *Historic route west : OREGON TRAIL.

11-Down. *Unvarnished facts : PLAIN TRUTH.

And the reveal:

29-Down. Calamity, and what's literally hidden in the answers to starred clues : TRAIN WRECK.

Each starred entry has the letters in T-R-A-I-N all jumbled up.  Fun reveal, but I didn't need it to get the theme entries. When I came across the clue, I just glanced at what was already filled in: Check! Anagram puzzle!


Across

1. Kid-lit classic "__, Plain and Tall" : SARAH. A story of grief, loneliness and abandonment. Kid-lit? Really?

6. Dust Bowl refugees : OKIES. Think of the Joad family here.

11. Part of many a texting request : PLS. Short for "please."

14. Unborn, after "in" : UTERO.

15. "It's a Wonderful Life" director : CAPRA. Ah, my favorite movie, and personal mantra.

16. Pitcher rim : LIP. I am getting gun-shy, and was actually thinking of a baseball pitcher!

19. Tenn. neighbor : ALA.bama.

20. Commuter's woe : JAM.

21. Astronomy : Urania :: poetry : __ : ERATO. Respective muses.

22. Basic chord : TRIAD.

24. City between Paris and Marseille : LYONMap.


25. "Just this time ..." : FOR ONCE.

27. Mensa membership consideration, perhaps : IQ TEST. There are many different tests that would qualify you for membership, so "perhaps" is appropriate in this clue.

30. Most plucky : GAMEST. Not to be confused with "gamiest."

31. Myanmar, formerly : BURMA.

32. SeaWorld attraction : ORCA.

33. Stonestreet of "Modern Family" : ERIC. Never saw the show, so was not familiar with this actor, who plays Cameron Tucker.

36. Actress Wasikowska : MIA. Never knew the name of this actress, who played Alice in Tim Burton's movie version of "Alice in Wonderland." Needless to say, this section relied heavily on perps!

40. __ Today : USA.

41. Essentially fat-free : SKIM.

43. Credit report blot : REPO.ssession.

44. Film with dusty streets, typically : OATER.

46. Seconds flat : NO TIME. I really wanted "in" at the beginning.

48. Eight dry gallons : BUSHEL.

49. "Hiya!" : HOWDY DO. Let's sing to the tune of "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay":

It’s Howdy Doody time
It’s Howdy Doody time
Bob Smith and Howdy too
Say “HOWDY DO” to you
Let’s give a rousing cheer
’Cause Howdy Doody’s here
It’s time to start the show
So kids, let’s go!

51. Genesis creator : SEGA. Arcade game, not the bible book...

52. Pasture measures : ACRES.

53. User's shortcut : MACRO.

55. Meditation beginning? : PRE. Premeditation.

58. Marine pronoun : SHE. I'm sure that Spitzboov has linked the explanation of "SHE" referring to ships before, but I couldn't find it.

62. Noir hero : TEC. The '40s-'50s era of crime drama films often involved a detective ("TEC") or undercover cop .

63. Large jazz combo : NONET.

64. Tourist __ : MECCA.

65. Origin of an egg-shaped spaceship : ORK. "Mork and Mindy" ran from 1978-82. RIP Robin Williams.

66. Locations : SITES.

67. Praise : EXTOL.


Down

1. Alg. or geog. : SUBJ.ect.

2. Razor brand : ATRA.

3. 20 quires : REAM. Factoid: The quire got its name from Old English "quare," meaning "by fours." Four sheets of vellum or parchment would be folded in half -giving a total of 8 sheets, or 16 sides. When pulp paper made it easier to stitch pages together, this meaning was quickly lost, and a quire usually contained 24 or 25 sheets. The modern ream is made up of 500 sheets, or 20 quires.

4. First name in shipping : ARI. Onassis was a Greek shipping magnate.

5. Bee's nectar reservoir : HONEY SAC. I never heard this term.  It is also called a "honey stomach."

6. Vast expanse : OCEAN.

7. Longtime pitcher Jim with the nickname "Kitty" : KAAT. I defer to people who know more about baseball than the fact that it does, indeed, require a baseball for the game. Here's the wiki.

8. By its very nature, in law : IPSO FACTO. The embedding of a wiki link does not, IPSO FACTO, turn me into a baseball expert!

9. Afore : ERE.

10. "Being and Nothingness" philosopher : SARTRE. Jean Paul.

12. Fragrant bloom : LILAC. I have both white and purple ones on my property.

13. Fictional falcon seeker : SPADE. Sam Spade, "The Maltese Falcon."

18. Relaxed pace : TROT. Unless you are trying to find the W.C.

23. Left the runway : ROSE.

24. Apollo lander, briefly : LEMLunar Excursion Module.

26. General Bradley : OMAR. One of the very few five star generals in U.S. history.

27. AT and PS/2 computers : IBMS.

28. Nestlé __ : QUIK.

30. Complain : GRIPE.

32. "Be right with you" : ONE MOMENT. I had to check perps before deciding between "minute" or MOMENT.

34. "Ah! Say no more" : I SEE.

35. Poet Sandburg : CARL. One of my favorites is this poem:
Fog

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

38. Like New Mexico's climate, largely : ARID.

39. "Darned if I know!" : YOU GOT ME.

42. Style : MODE.

45. Cool-cucumber link : AS A.

47. Poultry magnate John et al. : TYSONS.

48. Alpine capital : BERN. Béarnaise sauce is also sometimes spelled "Bernaise," leading people to believe that it originated in Bern, Switzerland. But there is no truth to that. Béarnaise is strictly of French origin.

49. Must : HAS TO.

50. Yellowish pigment : OCHERRGB 204.119.34

51. Highland Games participants : SCOTS.

54. "A Death in the Family" author : AGEE. Such a vowel-friendly name.

55. Agreement : PACT.

56. Wealthy, in Juárez : RICO.

57. Ben Gurion airline : EL AL.

I totally missed these last two clechos, because I had filled them in with the across answers:
60. King at Versailles : ROI.
and
61. King in old Rome : REX.

Tag, you're it!

Marti

51 comments:

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Not much resistance today; straightforward fill. Paused a bit at Kaat, because I thought it was Katt. Knew Erato from her frequent appearance in puzzles.

Morning Marti, I smiled right out loud at your baseball comment. It reminded me of the time I set out to order wine by telephone from a California outfit. I wasn't sure what variety I wanted, and when asked if I knew about wines, I said "well, I know that they're generally liquid". The agent knew right away my level of ignorance.

Kitty Kaat reminds me of another fun nickname: that of Amy Pohler, whose SNL cast mates called her Pohler Bear. Cute!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Definitely not a TRAIN WRECK of a puzzle today, although there were some rough spots...

I had HONEYSA_ and still couldn't guess the answer until I finally got CAN I TRY at 37A.

Never heard of KAAT. Based on the clue, I guessed KHAT. Fortunately, CAPRA took care of that.

Other than that, no real GRIPES from me!

Lemonade714 said...

Jim Kaat was probably the best fielding pitcher of all time as well as being an entertaining announcer. His career spanned four decades. Strong ties to Minnesota as one of the Wahington Senators who became a Twin when they moved in 1961.

Did not recall Quire, don't think I ever heard of HONEY SAC but the rest went well. I always think of Ocher as a brownish color...ah well thanks Mr. Morris and miss m

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

One SECOND. Oops, that's an M. One MINUTE. Oops that's an O. And that part of the grid looks like a TRAIN WRECK. Otherwise, things went pretty well for a Thursday.

PLAIN TRUTH reminds me of those religious tracts that folks used to peddle door-to-door. We had great fun attempting a Southern preacher accent and reading them aloud. Mom was not amused.

OwenKL said...

All CCW has today is TRAIN CAR in ST vs. TRAIN WRECK in LAT. But a few words from the last two days of LATs showed up in the Seattle Times.
52d. ____effort : E FOR
41a. What makes a top stop? : ESS (crosswordese)
32d. Clarification lead-in : ID EST
8d. Nearly perfect : A-MINUS (Tuesday's LAT had B-PLUS)
I may have missed a crosswordese word or two, but they don't really matter much anyway.

Who else thought of this Bushel?

George Barany said...

Cute puzzle by Robert Morris, and fun to read Marti's writeup, especially the throw-away line about the great Jim KAAT. Lemonade is right about this particular pitcher who was no glass of water, right here in Minnesota.

Those of you who are still up for another puzzle might want to try Go Gophers!. Befitting its theme, the grid is shaped like a gridiron. Brent Hartzell is a long-time collaborator on sports-themed puzzles, especially those dealing with Minnesota, and Karen Kaler is the "First Lady" of the University of Minnesota. We hope you like it!

HeartRx said...

OwenKL @ 7:11, love that song! And it was particularly appropriate to today's theme because of these lyrics:
"I love you a bushel and a peck
A bushel and a peck though you make my heart a WRECK
Make my heart a wreck and you make my life a mess
Make my life a mess, yes a mess of happiness..."

Middletown Bomber said...

Not a bad puzzle. I recall watching a Phillies game on tv in the mid to late 70's where Jim Kaat came on to relieve a Phillies pitcher who had gotten hammered in the first inning and he pitched 8.2 innings to win the game.
It was just an amazing performance.

inanehiker said...

A speed run today for me, with the unknowns filled in by perps. Thanks for the write-up Marti!

The Bushel and a peck song reminds me of my grandma who would sing it to us kids, but would substitute "you bet your DIRTY neck I do" and we would roll on the floor laughing and assuring her that our necks weren't dirty!
And now I'm going to imitate Husker Gary and ask: What stage show/musical was that song from??

desper-otto said...

Inanehiker@8:08 -- I'm guessing Annie, Get Your Gun. I think I remember DD looking silly wearing fringed buckskins in the film version. Of course, it could just have well have been Paleface. Dang, now I'm going to have to go to Mr. G to find out which.

In my first post I forgot to mention the CSO to BillG at BRAIN TEASER, to which the obvious response is YOU GOT ME.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks, Robert and Marti!

Rab through this. Perps took care of unknowns.

Cannot go to sleep and have taken entire medicine cabinet. Teeth problems have me going crazy. (I have been brushing vigorously with Sonicares for ages. am really stressed out. won't be able to eat for some time.)

Cheers!

Ergo said...


--> Avg. Joe and Husker Gary: My folks listed their home in Fremont for sale at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday of this week. By 5:00 p.m. yesterday it had sold at 100% of the asking price. Holy smokes! Talk about a sellers market!

kazie said...

I got an education today with many unknowns: SARAH, KAAT, TRIAD, ERIC, MIA, SEGA, as well as others my memory had lost and had to fish out of deep water.

I never did sort out the midwest, ending with TRIM for SKIM, so IBMS and MIA didn't emerge. I also took a while to decide whether it was MINUTE or SECOND, before I got MOMENT.

One long-standing problem was having ARK for ARI, thinking of Noah's ark, and how clever and tricky that clue was. Finally I gave up on that after realizing the theme demanded an "I" there, so BRAINTEASER was the last theme answer to fall.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-TRAIN WRECK - You’ve seen my golf game?
-ERIC/CARL or ERIK/KARL – didn’t know the former but was pretty sure about the spelling of the latter
-Where the OREON and Mormom Trails joined and split
-I’ve seen many of those SARAH’s
-Scale - Do, Re, Mi. Triad – Do, Mi, So. Try it.
-These kill me on IQ Tests
-Leo the LIP was the GAMEST player you ever saw
-Burma is one of three countries not on the metric system
-Hokey ACRES (1:05) with apologies to Grand Wood at the end
-I could EXTOL the virtues of this SITE
-HONEY SAC not POT, sorry Pooh.
-Jim KAAT is remembered for winning 16 of these
-LILACS form the back border of our yard
-Doncha just hate hearing “ONE MOMENT” before you even get to speak after someone finally answers the phone
-I learned SCOTS throw a CABER years ago here and haven’t used it since
-Hiker, I had to look up the musical for Bushel and a Peck and it was the last one I would have suspected (definitely urban and not rural). I see it was not included in the movie.
-Ergo, houses sell pretty well around here but not for what they ask in Santa Rosa, CA!

CanadianEh! said...

Sailed through this one in good time for a Thursday. Enjoyed the numerous clues that were common expressions like CAN I TRY, ONE MOMENT, YOU GOT ME.

Got held up in the SW corner because I spelled OCHRE the British/Canadian way and then could not figure out what TRC and OEK were. Lightbulb moment!

Argyle said...

A clip from the movie, "Sarah, Plain and Tall". For me, it was one of those films that suffer from having big name actors. Christopher Walken, as the farmer, and Glenn Close, as Sarah, did not ring true. Excerpt

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

I thought this was a somewhat mild BRAIN TEASER for a Thursday. First fill was OKIES/KAAT. KAAT was a color announcer on the Yankees network a decade ago. Interesting theme, but like some others, I don't care for anagrams.

SHE - Marti, I'm not sure what I posted earlier either, but I like Adm. Foley's take on Why We Call a Ship a She.

A Navy site says this:

Why is a ship referred to as "she?"
It has always been customary to personify certain inanimate objects and attribute to them characteristics peculiar to living creatures. Thus, things without life are often spoken of as having a sex. Some objects are regarded as masculine. The sun, winter, and death are often personified in this way. Others are regarded as feminine, especially those things that are dear to us. The earth as mother Earth is regarded as the common maternal parent of all life. In languages that use gender for common nouns, boats, ships, and other vehicles almost invariably use a feminine form. Likewise, early seafarers spoke of their ships in the feminine gender for the close dependence they had on their ships for life and sustenance.

Lucina said...

Hello, puzzle people.

SARAH, Plain and Tall was a fourth grade favorite book and gobbled up when the film was made; Christopher Walken and Glenn Close were wonderful as the main characters and brought the story alive.

I had no idea about KAAT but it perped easily as I sashayed through this, filling the eastern side first then working my way back upwards. I could not think of Nestle QUIK as SLIM stood in my way and I left it. Drat!

Thank you, Marti for your expert review and thanks to Robert for a fine challenge.

Have yourselves a lovely Thursday, everyone!

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

This is one of those Thursdays that look like a huge DNF, but finally falls after a lot of packing and scratching.

Or so I thought. Put in SLIM for "Essentially fat-free," thinking, oh, a person not a food stuff, and didn't check the perps. So Nestle's QUIL. Didn't realize QUIK was spelt that way.

Got this one from the bottom up. Upper extremities were last to fall.

Excellent puzzle, only a couple of nits.

Cool regards!
JzB

Yellowrocks said...

Great puzzle and expo.
Our 4th grade students read “Sarah Plain and Tall.” I see lesson plans on the Internet for grades, 3, 4, and 5. I enjoyed it myself.
Here are the lyrics from the sound track of Guys and Dolls. There are other versions. They all say, “Bet your “purdy” or “pretty” neck I do.” Mom used to sing it to us, too.
Link Lyrics
HG, lovely yard. Lot’s of loving, tender care. This year for the first time, I didn’t plant anything. I enjoy gardening, but my knees hate it. Silly me, I can't find the lilacs. What line and row are they in?
HG, I find the spatial relations part of the IQ test difficult, too. To my cruciverbalist mind, Miller’s Analogies are much easier. Thanks, Marti, for pointing out that the MA test could qualify for Mensa membership, too.
I am into the stories of the pioneers who traveled westward,including, among others, the Oregon Trail, the Chisholm Trail, and Lewis and Clark. I have read their journals, biographies, and historical fiction accounts of their journeys.

desper-otto said...

Husker, I think my IQ must've slipped into oblivion. To my way of thinking:

Question #1 = C
Question #2 = A (but the third "given" symbol is mis-drawn)
Question #3 = D
(Actually, it looks like the answers and explanations they list for #1 and #3 are the correct answers and explanations for #3 and #1).

kazie said...

Spitz,
You said "In languages that use gender for common nouns, boats, ships, and other vehicles almost invariably use a feminine form". However, in German a ship is das Schiff, das Boot = boat, and in French, le navire or le vaisseau.

Other vehicles: das Auto, der Wagen, das Flugzeug in German. L'auto is feminine in French, but l'avion (plane) is masculine.

However, I guess Latin might actually be the true culprit, since ship is navis, a feminine word. An even odder linguistic turn is the Latin word for sailor, nauta, which is one of the feminine 1st declension words.

Lime Rickey said...

Speaking of gender, I've always found it interesting that some countries are the Fatherland (e.g. Germany) while others are the Motherland (e.g. Mother Russia). And then there's the hideous "homeland" which I don't recall ever having been used to refer to the U.S. until the post-9/11 madness.

Unknown said...

The pajama game!

HeartRx said...

d-otto, phew!! I thought I was losing it. I got the same answers as you did for 1 and 3, and did a "huh??" when I looked at the third "given" drawing on #2.

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2
-Yup, the explanations aren’t matched with the correct answers. Uh, maybe I should have checked this out first. Nah!
-All right, -here’s 15 Miller’s Analogies to take a swing at (at which to swing?)
-The Korean Lilac border is in the lower left hand picture and obviously not in bloom. My neighbor is putting in a big swimming pool just behind them next spring.

Irish Miss said...

Hi Everyone:

I thought this was relatively easy for a Thursday, but enjoyed it very much. Thanks, Mr. Morris, and thanks, Miss Marti for a fun expo. Actually, I thought of you, Marti, when I read the clue for Kaat!

Does anyone else have a sore arm after their flu shot or am I just a wimp?

Have a great day.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Filled this three minutes faster than yesterday, very satisfying. Thanks, Robert! Great expo, Marti!

Last to fill were PLS & LIP. CAPRA & SARTRE, KAAT & ERATO along with IPSO FACTO took perps & WAGs. Never heard of KAAT or MIA but IBMS seemed right for the latter. The only names that came easy today were OMAR & CARL.

Didn't even see GAMEST until Marti listed it.

Raining today. The sanitary workers dumped my recycle bin today while it was dry and left the lid down. Now I'll have to wrestle the big container to dump the water out and leave the lid open to dry completely. My cat may get a big surprise when he leaps up to lounge on top of the thing on my porch.

"SARAH, Plain & Tall" is a movie I've liked enough to watch several times. I didn't think Walken made a believable farmer though. I'd even forgotten the title role was by Glenn Close. Thought she did the part well.

Spitzboov said...

Kazie - The quote was from a Navy site - not my words. I look to you as the grammar expert but I think when referring to the names of specific ships, the feminine article Die is used as in : Die Berlin, Die Prinz Eugen.

As a practical matter, for official usage "she" is used less these days. Lloyd's now uses the pronoun "it" to refer to ships.

Misty said...


Delightful Thursday puzzle, Mr. Morris--many thanks! Any puzzle that has SARTRE and CARL Sandburg is terrific, IMHO. Then Marti made it even more fun by giving us HOWDY DOODY and reminding us of MORK and MINDY. Love these mixes of high and low culture, the things that make life worth living (well, among a lot of other things).

Thanks for the explanation of "she" for ships, Spitz.

Hope your toothaches get better soon, fermatprime, you poor thing.

Have a great Thursday, everybody!

GarlicGal said...

First off, a belated Happy Birthday to Jayce. I missed the boat yesterday. Maybe one of these days you'll be able to join the CA Coven for coffee!

Delightful Thursday puzzle. I enjoyed the train theme. Ditto - "second", "minute", "moment".

Irish Mist, I got my flu shot last week and no soreness or after effects. :)

Warm days, cool nights and mornings. My favorite time of year.

TTFN

CrossEyedDave said...

Definitely a fun puzzle today, I started it just to get a 1st pass across & down & thought I would get to work, but I couldn't put it down until it was done!

Now I have been looking at all manner of train wrecks all day, but cannot find a single one I would want to post. (Train wrecks are not funny...) And Thomas the Tank Engine bloopers were too silly (even for me!)

Oh well,at least on the Bamboo Railway in Cambodia they seem to have solved the train wreck problem...

I have been wondering, hasn't this been done before? I mean in the past 100 years of crossword puzzling some one must have done something similar. How do Editors & constructionists check the originality of their puzzles???

While your puzzling that, maybe just one train wreck.

Sallie said...

Good afternoon everyone.

I missed 37A because I was an English teacher. I had may I TRY, not Can I Try, which is incorrect. Can asks if you have the ability; may asks if you have permission. Tsk.tsk.

DNF because Thursdays are too hard for me. Did get about half done correctly except 37A mentioned above.

Cheers

CrossEyedDave said...

Now why would you put your video camera there? it has got to be the most boring footage ever! Boring!... wait,, is this kansas?

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Much the same thoughts about this puzzle that many of you had: (1) not a fan of anagrams, (2) second/minute/moment, (3) honey sac, (4) tsk tsk at Can I Try, (5) etc.

Marti, terrific writeup.

Irish Miss, you are not a wimp. Last year my arm was sore; this year no soreness at all. No correlation with wimpiness.

Best wishes to you all.

Jayce said...

George Barany, cool puzzle, even for this sports illiterate guy.

Ergo said...

Agreed CrossEyedDave, the footage of train vs. tornado was unremarkable. Citations put it in Illinois.

Prof T said...

Somewhat difficult but fun puzzle, but a DNF for me. I whittled away it at it and finally filled everything except the very lower right. I could not pull EXTOL from the back of brain for whatever reason.

Avg Joe said...

I enjoyed this puzzle and found it just right for Thursday difficulty. Not a fan of anagrams, so the theme just kind of laid there, but plenty like otherwise.

Ergo, I know exactly nothing about the Fremont market. But I see plenty of instances in Lincoln where houses sell within a day or two. In fact for the past 30 days, the median time on market for all residential sales countywide was 17 days. Inventory is lower than what would be healthy, so buyers are acting quickly. But don't believe the tripe you read in the papers about increasing values. That's merely a measure of median sale prices, not actual demonstrable increases in the value of individual homes. Houses are not a commodity in the sense where each is the same as the next like a barrel of oil or a bushel of wheat. And with a different unit mix each month or year, a move in the median price doesn't translate into a move in the value of each component. Remember, there's lies and damn lies. Then there's statistics.

Tinbeni said...

Caught on to the TRAIN WRECK letters being jumbled in the other theme answers early ... but I wouldn't call this an anagram puzzle.

Needed ESP to get SARAH, PLS, MIA & ERIC. Guess I'm not up on "Kid-lit", testing phrases, or actors I've never heard of, nor watched their shows. Go figure ...

My only GRIPE ... well there is no booze in the grid.

Cheers!

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, I must have been on Lee Morris' wavelength today. I had this puzzle done in record time with only a couple or erasures. The perps helped me fill in a few unknowns and even gave me a couple of answers before I had read the clue.


I couldn't sus the answer TEC for Noir hero, but the explanation cleared that one up. I also had put in REY for REX so Extol didn't come right away. All in all a fun puzzle. I even found all the Train Wrecks.

Thanks Marti for a great writeup.

A belated Happy Birthday to Jayce. I hope you had a great dinner with your LW. Where did you go so that we might try it out sometime?

"Sarah Plain and Tall" came easily as I've taught that to our 4th graders.

Have a great day, everyone.

kazie said...

Spitz,
Thanks for that clarification. I'm glad that Lloyds is coming to its senses!

Jayce said...

Tinbeni, true. Well said. It's a jumble, not anagram.

Chickie, LW insisted on going to Scott's Seafood downtown, even though I had expressed a desire to try Alexander's Steakhouse. She wanted scallops, which Scott's has, being a seafood place, and since they have no rack of lamb I got the dry aged New York steak. Both of us were disappointed. The food wasn't bad; it just wasn't all that outstanding. Traffic to get there was awful, as expected, but parking was surprisingly easy, and free, in the underground parking garage. We won't go back; it's just not worth it.

CrossEyedDave said...

Ergo@2:03

Unremarkable?

I agree the 1st minute is as boring as hell, but did you watch the 2nd minute?

GarlicGal said...

Jayce, you probably would have had better luck at Peggy Sue's! (oops, no scallops) Il Fornaio, maybe? We had a wonderful dinner at Phil's Seafood Restaurant in Moss Landing last week..though it might be a tad too far for you San Jose folks on a "school" night!

Avg Joe said...

There's a place in Palo Alto that serves a very fine lamb shank. Don't remember the name of the place, but it was excellent. Highly recommended....although a bit beyond the typical budget of plains dwellers like my bride and me. Still, it was worth it as a rare indulgence.

HeartRx said...

Avg. Joe @ 2:33, I once took a course called “Lying With Statistics.” (I still want to spell it as “lieing”…) It served me well as an international marketing director, though.

Tinbeni @ 3:08, actually, you are quite correct. It is just a “jumble” of the letters. A true anagram would create different words made up of the same letters. So, thanks for the clarifying comment!

Jayce said...

Garlic Gal, Moss Landing is a neato place. I'll check out the places you mentioned. Thanks!

Abejo said...

Good evening, folks. Thank you, Robert E. Lee Morris, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Marti, for a fine review.

Well, I got ATRA and REAM in the NW, right off the bat. The rest had to wait.

OKIES was easy.

After that I just bounced around and filled in as they appeared. Eventually had the puzzle done. Took about and hour and a half.

Never got the theme until I was finished and then took a close look. Got it. Very clever.

I had OCHRE as Canadian Eh did. Then fixed it. Only two inkblots. This was one.

The other was IN A MOMENT, which I eventually changed to ONE MOMENT.

Good learning moment, 8 dry gallons equals a BUSHEL.

Anyhow, I am done for the day. Hitting the hay early. I am heading to Springfield early in the morning. 5:00AM.

See you tomorrow, from Springfield, via the IPad.

Abejo

(123)

Anonymous said...

Sarah Plain and Tall is about overcoming grief and learning to love again. It is a beautifully written story, telling much in few words.

Bill G. said...

GarlicGal and Jayce, we have an Il Fornaio near here and like it very much in every aspect. Dunno if they have scallops though. I love 'em too.