google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, December 31st 2014 Alex Miller

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Dec 31, 2014

Wednesday, December 31st 2014 Alex Miller

Theme: I'Ve got an idea!

20A. King who supported Molière : LOUIS XIV. The Sun King didn't support him enough to intervene when the comedy "Tartouffe" was banned for five years for being overly critical of the Catholic church. Even French kings didn't mess with the cardinals if they had a hankering for some measure of longevity.

31A. Colorful mnemonic : ROY G. BIV. I always thought that this wasn't exactly the most memorable mnemonic, which kind of defeats the purpose.

49A. City name meaning "spring mound" : TEL AVIV. A learning moment for me.


Somewhere underneath this lot there's a mound
61A. Maker of Smart Target acne treatment : PROACTIV. It didn't exist when I was a spotty teen, fortunately I wasn't badly afflicted. Even so, my mother told me to use more soap and scrub my face with a pumice stone!

and tying the four theme entries together:

38A. Northeastern educational octet ... or, in a way, what the ends of 20-, 31-, 49- and 61-Across comprise : IVY LEAGUE. Phonetically I-V. If you want a mnemonic for the eight schools: BC-CD HAPPY. Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale.

Steve here, checking in for the last puzzle of the year. I think this is Alex's LAT debut. If that's the case, congratulations! It's fun to see that we're at the end of the year MMXIV, where the "year end" so happens to be today's theme. I don't know if Rich intended this when he slotted this puzzle in for New Year's Eve, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me if he did.

This wasn't totally plain sailing for me today, there were some unknowns, some self-inflicted stumbles, a groan or two and a WAG but everything came together in the end. All good fun. The 8-letter downs were all great. Thanks, Alex!


Across:

1. See the sites? : SURF

5. Parker who played Davy Crockett : FESS. I stayed at Fess's hotel in Los Olivos a few years ago before he passed away. The evening was spent in the lounge singing around the piano with him, his wife and the other guests. She had a great voice - she was a nightclub singer when they first met.

9. Vagabond : TRAMP

14. Dept. with a sun on its seal : ENER. Makes sense, I guess. Crosses for me.

15. Future D.A.'s hurdle : LSAT

16. Putting green features : HOLES. Hopefully the ones made for the purpose, not random gopher creations.

17. Tiny pond plant : ALGA. There can be some big ones - the sea-dwelling giant kelp can grow up to 50 feet long. There are kelp beds off the coast here in California.

18. Holiday lights site : EAVE. I jumped in feet-first with TREE here. That slowed things up for a while.

19. Slate of VIPs : A-LIST

22. Highfalutin sorts : SNOBS

23. Hoi __ : POLLOI

24. Egg-white omelet's lack : YOLK

26. Blotter letters : AKA. There's no better way to get a feel for a strange town than from reading the local police blotter.

28. Ryder Cup team : USA. Cluing this as "Losing Ryder Cup team" would have been too easy. The Europeans are on something of a winning streak.



29. "Mystery!" network : PBS

33. Line to tear along: Abbr. : PERF.

35. "Constant Craving" singer : LANG. Canadian singer/songwriter K.D.

37. Pontificate : ORATE

41. Big mess : SNAFU. Now here's an acronym I'm familiar with - Situation Normal - All "Fouled" Up!

44. Isle of Mull neighbor : IONA. Home of the wonderfully-named "Bay at the Back of the Ocean".


45. Beauties : GEMS

51. Naval off. : ADM. I had the "D" and tried CDR first, but I didn't like it much. I didn't like this any better, to be honest.

53. Welcoming accessory : MAT

54. Carpentry tool : AWL

55. Some, in Seville : UNAS

57. Two-gamete cell : ZYGOTE. Great Scrabble word too!

59. Blow away : AMAZE

63. Limber : AGILE

64. Snack in a stack : OREO

65. Singles bar conversation starter : LINE

66. Easily corrupted : VENAL

67. Badly need a bath : REEK

68. Squared up : EVEN

69. Anaheim's Honda Center, e.g. : ARENA. It was the Arrowhead Pond before Honda paid for the naming rights. I do miss the days when sporting venues were given a name and kept it.

70. Kings and queens : BEDS. Nice clue!

71. They may be tacked on : FEES

Down:

1. Blubbery baby? : SEAL PUP

2. Free : UNLOOSE. Personally, this one fits in my "well, it's a word, but not one you'd actually use" pigeonhole.

3. Like some verbs and gas : REGULAR

4. Hardly hardy : FRAIL

5. With some wiggle room : FLEXIBLY

6. Hollywood's Morales : ESAI

7. Shrewd : SAVVY

8. Canonized mlle. : STE. A French mademoiselle may become une sainte if she behaves herself.

9. Gift recipient's sentiment : THANK YOU

10. Lampshade-shaped chocolate : ROLO

11. Woodcutter who knew the magic words : ALI BABA

12. Camper's dining gear : MESS KIT. Painted myself into a corner with MESS TIN as my first effort.

13. West Coast hrs. : PST

21. Food for dunking : SOP

22. __-mo replay : SLO

25. Princess Leia's last name : ORGANA. Crosses to the rescue. I didn't know Ms. Earmuffs' family moniker.


27. City thoroughfare: Abbr. : AVE

30. Whistle wetter : SALIVA

32. First name of TV's Dr. House : GREG

34. World Cup org. : F.I.F.A. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Not a stranger to allegations of corruption.

36. Classical lead-in : NEO

39. Horn banned from the 2014 World Cup : VUVUZELA. And praise be that they were banned. I watched most of the 2010 World Cup with the sound muted. I don't know how the players managed to stay sane.

40. "Zounds!" : GADZOOKS. Wonderful Word of the Day!

41. RR stop : STA

42. Many an Enya fan : NEW AGER.

43. Hoarder's cry : ALL MINE

46. Showing strong feeling : EMOTIVE. I fell into the gerund clue trap and had "EMOTING" at first.

47. Day play : MATINEE

48. Justice replaced by Kagan : STEVENS

50. Having four sharps : IN E

52. One-named R&B singer : MYA. I'm going out on a blaze of glory with the wonderful "Lady Marmalade" cover from "Moulin Rouge". Cover the eyes of any minors, work through the 15-second ad and enjoy this.

56. Bender : SPREE

58. Treble staff symbol : G-CLEF. Here's the clef and the key signature for E Major from 50A



60. Logician Turing : ALAN. A heroic character.

62. Clarinet insert : REED

63. Actress Gardner : AVA

64. Ball : ORB

And there we are. The highlights of 2014 are here every day at the Corner. Unlike most other media today, it's impossible to pick out any "Top 10" moments from the 365 days of this year. Each and every one of us, commenters, solvers, anons, snarky anons, constructors, bloggers all keep this place alive and a go-to part of our days. Here's to everyone who visits and everyone who contributes - but one - special exception - a shout-out to C.C. who created this place and made us all welcome.

A Happy New Year to all of you.

Steve 


Notes from C.C.:

1) I echo what Steve said earlier: "The highlights of 2014 are here every day at the Corner" Thanks for your daily visits & contributions. I'm very grateful for your loyal support. 

2) In yesterday's blog, Rainman asked how to make a link at the blog Comments section. I know several newbies want to know the steps also. Please click here for the instructions.  Feel free to ask regulars for help if you encounter any problem. It's tricky at first and may take a few practice.

50 comments:

Lemonade714 said...

Thanks Steve for your usual fun write up and thanks and welcome Alex.

I found this to be a very doable Wednesday, ORGANA was in my memory bank only MAY and ALAN came from the perps.

Another year done and I too thank you all, especially our fearless leader. Party hardy but be careful out there

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

This was a delightful Thursday puzzle, a little on the easy side for me, and a great way to wrap up the year.

I was on the right wavelength at 1D when I was thinking the answer had to do with whale calves, and SEAL PUP leapt to mind after I got a perp or two.

I knew VUVUZELA, but needed to wait for some [OK, a lot of] perp help to get the spelling.

IONA was unknown, especially based on the clue, but it's a name I've heard of and the perps were fair. MYA, on the other hand, was completely unknown even with another clue. Once again,k though, the perps came to the rescue. Everything else was smooth sailing today with nary a nit to pick [linguistic tidbit of the day: for years, I always thought "nary" meant "not many" and just recently discovered it actually meant "none"].

Wishing everybody a fun and safe New years Eve!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

My solving experience was somewhat different from Lemon's and Barry's. Things went well until I got to the Carolinas. Those stacked 7s just wouldn't fill themselves in! Didn't help that I thought the "welcoming accessory" was a LEI. When I finally WAGged Justice STEVENS, things started to come together. Yes, I know he's not a welcoming accessory.

But in the end, I still managed a DNF. And not where I expected. I thought that island was IOLA and ORGALA looked just peachy. Bzzzzzzt!

Wish you all a happy new year, and may 2015 be the best year ever!

desper-otto said...

Some year-end observations:

I'm pretty sure I've never seen VUVUZELA in a cw before today. I'll be fine if it doesn't show up again.

Enron Field is a good argument in favor of renaming sports venues. Now it's Minute Maid Park.

How did those sports outfits decide on Bowls and Cups as the appropriate event receptacles? Why not Gravy Boats or Spittoons? (One of the teams could call themselves the Cuspidors.)

And have you ever heard anyone say GADZOOKS aloud? And did you know that it's in the Gosh Darn family and is supposed to mean God's hooks?

HeartRx said...

Oh my, what a way to finish 2014. With a DNF, and on a Wednesday, no less!!!

Like d-otto, it was the crossing of K.D. LANG and ORGANA what done me in. "Lane" and "Oreana" looked just fine to me...bzzzt!

But I did love the puzzle, especially with VUVUZELA and GADZOOKS in it!

Happy New Year's eve, everyone!

OwenKL said...

There is somewhere the IVY twines
And butterfly to flower inclines
Where spring is warm and summer hot --
But damn it, that's where I am not!

Is my SAD showing? I'm homebound for the most ridiculous reason. I drive my wife all over, since she gave up her driver's license (see my facebook page for that saga), but to get to the car I need to cross a driveway. A driveway that's always in shade, and so harbors ice and black ice patches. Even with my walker, those 10 or 12 feet are too dangerous for me. So until our temps get above freezing (sometime next week at the earliest) she's taking a cab to work, and I'm a total shut-in. At least I have puzzles and your company to help keep me sane! Missteps today were SEAL CUB>PUP and O'CONNOR>SOeUTER>STEVENS.

A colorful fellow is ROY G. BIV
He's over the rainbow from where you live.
A 6-letter mnemonic
Was not very phonic
So Purple now Indigo and Violet is!

inanehiker said...

Generally smooth sailing, though I wasn't sure VUVUZELA was spelled right until the perps confirmed. Spent a lot of time not knowing how to finish the SE because I, like D-otto, had put in LEI first.
Thanks to Steve for the write-up and CC for the blog in general! Happy New Year to everyone!

Lucina said...

Greetings, puzzlers and a happy New Year's Eve to all!

Owen:
Impressive limericks!

What an interesting puzzle but WEES on ORGANA/LANG. I know of K.D. LANG but not her songs and didn't even realize Leia had a last name.

However, constructors never cease to AMAZE me and I loved some of the fill: ZYGOTE, GADZOOKS, VUVUZELA, and MATINEE. All those seem new to puzzledom, for me anyway.

I wish you all a happy ending to 2014, safely and peacefully!

JCJ said...

Been stuck in planes with nothing but crosswords to do; you would think I would be fine tuned for a Wednesday puzzle but Princess Leia and K. D. LANG did me in.

thehondohurricane said...


As 2014 ends, some things remain the same............

A year end DNF for Hondo. Never really got into it today and had issues everywhere. Can't believe there were fourteen kings named Louis. Thought the French were as little more creative in naming their future "Rois".

I left my blot downstairs along with my pencil that is in need of a new eraser, so I can't mention a specific complaints.

We are off to lunch at Max Fish in Glastonbury today and then home. We've avoided going out on NY Eve for a while. Now that we are officially seniors, it is not as much fun a night as it was in years past!

Happy New Years to all.

KentuckyKate said...

I'd like to wish a Happy New Year to C.C. and all the fine folks who make this such a nice place to visit, even though it's been quite intermittent lately.

Lani/Oriana looked good to me, though I should I figured out Lang. Love her work. So who knows when and where we should have learned Leia's last name?

Here's to a fine 2015 for all of you.
Cheers,

KentuckyKate said...

My visits have been intermittent, that is.

Montana said...

Thanks, CC, for this daily blog. It's been a great couple years getting to know folks on the Corner.

May you all have a great eve, and have a Happy New Year in 2015.

Montana

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Alex Miller, for a fines puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.

Barry: It is only Wednesday.

Puzzle was great. Got through most of it easily.

Tried IT'S MINE for 43D. ALL MINE won that battle. 1st inkblot.

Tried LEI for 53A. MAT appeared later. 2nd inkblot.

Tried FLEXIBLE before FLEXIBLY won out. 3rd inkblot.

Liked TEL AVIV. Took a moment to come up with that. Having the IV helped. Then it made sense. TEL must mean mound and AVIV must mean spring.

Never heard of cooking eggs without the YOLK. Must be a health thing. I actually eat very few eggs for the same reason.

Remember FESS Parker well as a youth.

I put no lights up on my EAVEs this year. As I had the shingles I just was not up to it.

4 degrees when I got up this morning.

Happy New Year's Eve!

See you tomorrow. We eat pork and sauerkraut tomorrow. Tradition all my life.

Abejo

( )

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Hand up for a DNF, at that same junction. I had Lane and Oreana. I haven't seen the original Star Wars in decades, and sure don't recall Miss Buns' last name being mentioned.

Otherwise, easy going.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

This was a little tricky in a couple of places (Lang/Organa) but perps solved any hiccups. I, too, had lei/mat and emoting/emotive. Liked A List above snobs, followed by (Hoi) Polloi. Also, Ave and Ava. Fav clue was Kings and queens=Beds.

Nice job, Alex, and super write-up, Steve.

Thanks to all who make this Corner a fun, welcoming, informative and entertaining home-away-from-home. I appreciate the time and hard work that goes into the daily analysis so many thanks to Argyle, Steve, JazB, Marti, Lemonade, Splynter, Husker Gary and, most of all, CC, who created this special place and continues to amaze us all with her dedication and talents.

Best wishes to all for a safe and fun-filled New Year's Eve. BTW, Marti, if your temps are anything like ours, you might want to double up on the long johns tonight. Brrrr!

Have a great last day of 2014!

Big Easy said...

Well after a string of defeats last week I finally finished one. But I had my doubts because the NW was blank with the exception of USA and ENER. I wanted TOUR for SURF and for some reason did not read the clue for POLLOI.

I completed the puzzle down to one letter, the crossing of ORGANA and LANG. I didn't know whether it would be OREANA & LANE or ORGANA & LANG. Luckily, I guessed correctly.

Other WAGS & PERPS were IONA, UNAS, PROACTIV, GREG, ALAN, MYA, and especially VUVUZELA, which was a word that I had never heard or seen before (not a soccer fan).

50D- IN E The order of flats is BEADG and the sharps are reversed-GDAEB. The only place I have ever seen the term G-CLEF is in crossword puzzles; just TREBLE & BASS.

After I got ROYGBIV & PROACTIV, I guessed TEL AVIV & LOUIS XIV and that helped me complete the NW.

I really did like some of the clues in this puzzle. 'Whistle wetter' and 'Highfalutin sorts' followed by 'Hoi_____'.

As the saying goes, 'See Ya next year'.

Yellowrocks said...

I am glad to be in such fine company. DNF because the G in ORGANA and LANG did me in. Marti,I also had LANE and OREANA. Otherwise it was an interesting puzzle and write-up.
Our restaurants will serve whites-only scrambled eggs and omelets, if asked. The supermarkets sell pasteurized egg whites.
I agree that VUVUZELAs are tremendously unpleasant!
Wasn't GADZOOKS one of Batman or Robin's sayings?
I found dozens of references to UNLOOSE in prose, but not so much in everyday conversation or poetry.
The memorable ROY G. BIV (envisioned as a name)was helpful both to me and my students.
Marti, thanks for the offered New Year's Eve drink yesterday. I will pour you one in return tonight at the annual house party I attend. Most of us guests have embarked on tours together and the majority are or were teachers. I will wear white slacks and a three quarter sleeve red satin top. No long johns, too hot in the house. I'll turn up the car heater.

Husker Gary said...

What a fun workout to end MMXIV (Dang, Steve saw that too ☺)! Yay me, Unas/vuvUzela is right, I’m gold!

Musings
-Who played Fess’s sidekick, George Russell on that Disney series?
-Occasionally our State Lakes here can get this ALGA warning
-Joann decided to forego my climbing up to our 17’ high EAVE for Christmas lights
-We watched last year’s finale of Downton at this PBS site to get geared up for the season 5 start next month
-I had to promote my ENS to an ADM
-Hilarious Welcome MATS
-Big underdog Notre Dame AMAZEd LSU yesterday
-I have used counselors to tell kids they REEK
-Doncha think they need a King or Queen?
-Should it be “He hath Unloosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword?”
-Poignant, funny performance by Carrie Fisher (1:16:43 with Spanish subtitles) on her life as Debbie Fisher’s daughter, Princess Leia and an addict. You’ll get hooked.
-I echo Steve’s summative statement and so Happy New Year from the frozen tundra!

Avg Joe said...

This was about the right level of difficulty....for a Friday! Had to really work at it from the onset. Some things known solely because of this bad crossword habit I've got, like RoyGBiv, Alan, Polloi and Ali Baba. Others were just lucky guesses. Had that same trouble at the end of Lang, since I didn't know the song, but G seemed like the better guess as well as a song she'd sing, and I went with it. Final fill was ADM. Had the D from Gadzooks, but had naticks on the other two. CDR was my first guess, but it didn't feel right and ADM took a while to dawn. But....I guessed my way to a correct completion.

Happy Year End to everyone, and thanks to all who do so much every day to keep this place entertaining.

Magilla Go-Rilla said...

62D: Being a clarinet player myself, i view this as a bad clue. The reed is not an insert. It does not go inside the instrument. It is attached to the outside of the mouthpiece. Some puzzle designers just don't do their homework when they refer to music.

desper-otto said...

Husker, that was the same guy who didn't play the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz.

Rainman said...

I'm going to be kind to my little self and say I got through this okay, only slightly scathed since I had to go down the alphabet on several clues.

I'm not used to seeing (k.d.) lang's name in capital letters, and that makes me wonder if there is some way to type lower case on these sites, or are they all the same? I needed LANG to get ORGANA, a total unknown.

Although I noted the Vs, I never got the theme until finished. Couldn't remember zilch today... ROYGBIV, VENAL, the aforementioned ORGANA (seriously?), FIFA, and the list just kept going.

Thanks to C.C. for the link... I'm anxious to check it out.

Bottom line for me: I really enjoyed this puzzle. Thanks, Alex and Steve, et al.

But at one point today, I thought of just giving up, but knew I couldn't do that, so I trudged onward, thinking "how did I come up with that answer?" or "I didn't know I knew that." So I'm going to remind my diminutive brain that when the going gets tough, the synapses repair themselves. Sometimes.

I can't wait to see the Rose Parade on TV tomorrow and watch all the princesses, majorettes, etc., deal with the freezing cold. I'm guessing they'll don their parkas just beyond the viewing stand.

I'm over 20 lines... sorry. Stay warm!!!

Happy New Year!

SwampCat said...

After racing through the top half,and even getting the theme, I struggled with the bottom. I got the "hard" words like zygote, but went brain dead over things like fees and agile. Go figure!

But it was an enjoyable puzzle, and a witty write up. Thanks!

Owen, your poetry today was great!

Happy New Year to all, and a special thanks to C.C. for giving us this corner of the world!

Big Ea$y said...

Notes from C.C.:

1) I echo what Steve said earlier: "The highlights of 2014 are here every day at the Corner". Thanks for your daily visits & contributions. I'm very grateful for your loyal support.

What C.C. should have said is THE TOP RIGHT CORNER OR THE WRITE-UP, as in

PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!

...... DONATE.........

Don't be a cheapskate- DONATE

OwenKL said...

At the end of episode III, Senator Bail Organa adopted Leia, the daughter of Padmé Amidala (who died in childbirth) and Anakin Skywalker (at that time presumed dead). Her twin, Luke, was raised by Anikin's half-brother, Owen Skywalker. How the siblings were unaware of each other is never explained. For more info, see WookieePedia.

Dudley said...

Owen - thanks, that clarifies things a lot. I kinda wondered why Leia wasn't named Skywalker.

Madame Defarge said...

Thanks to Steve for the solve and Alex for the puzzle. I liked the IV today. My son played football at Penn, so with the theme and Louis XIV, I had a bit of an easy time today. I could not for the life of me see "in E" and knew I must of been missing some key musical shorthand. Duh! Win some and lose some. I moved out of lurkerdom this month, and as Marti said while offering me some help, it's more fun to be in the blue. I agree. Hope to get to know you better in this new year. Thanks to all of you for so much crossword fun! Happy New Year!

Magilla Go-Rilla said...

I too wondered about it not being Skywaker. I first tried Obiwan but soon knew it was incorrect. Actually that was not even a last name in the series (that I am aware of). I only saw the first episode in its entirety.

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling thoughts"

Owen - loved the limerick today!

WEES, this was un-Wednesday like, but fittingly difficult for the final day of 2014; I FIW by not getting SOP / PBS and ORGANA / LANG. But in the positive side, I had no ink blots!

Loved the solves: GADZOOKS, ZYGOTE, et al. THANK YOU Alex Miller for a great challenge.

HNY to all on the corner; I'll leave you with this "boo" 5 liner:

A dyslexic builder named Steve,
Was finding it hard to believe,
That it wasn't a goof
When he finished the roof
On the morning of New Year's EAVE!

Misty said...


I couldn't believe how tough this was at first, and kept thinking, if I can't get a Wednesday puzzle, I'd better just quit. But on a second try after a second cup of coffee it slowly, slowly came together, and was very clever in the end. So thanks, Alex, and you too, Steve, for your always helpful expo. But I'm with all of you who struggled with this one.

Had LEI before MAT, like others, and never heard of ORGANA or PROACTIVE or MYA. Found King and Queen BEDS smart and funny.

Have a great New Year's Eve, everybody!

HeartRx said...

Madame Defarge, I find it amusing that one of your hobbies is knitting!
(^0^)

Magilla @ 10:19, don't you have to "insert" the reed into the ligature?

Ol' Man Keith said...

Nice one. I missed only Princess Leia's last name (and its LANG cross). I was never a fan of Star Wars. Or of Carrie Fisher-- as an actor. She was an entertaining memoirist.
But I think the movie (#1 of the series) came out when I was too old to be suckered and too young to be tolerant. I was a young dad then and had to explain to my firstborn that rocket engines don't make noise in space.
Once you start being that picky, it's just downhill all the rest of the way...

Anonymous said...

Hi all,

Thanks for the kind comments!

FYI, I originally had "ariana" (for ariana grande) instead of organa. Not sure if that would've made things easier or not.

Anyway, happy new year!

-Alex

Magilla Go-Rilla said...

In the flats you stopped too soon. Tack on Cb and Fb. the corresponding keys are. FBbEbAbDbGbCb

The key of F has one flat that being Bb. The key of Bb has two flats those being Bb and Eb, etc.

And I don't know why you said "In E" and then proceeded to give the flats. The key of E is 4 sharps.

In the sharps you gave the keys and not the notes as you did on the flats. The order of sharps (by notes) is FCGDAEB corresponding to the keys of GDAEBF#C#

The key of G has one sharp that being F#. The key of D has two sharps those beng F# and C#, etc.

Barry G. said...

Barry: It is only Wednesday.

I did it again, didn't I? Vacation will do that to me, I guess...

Jayce said...

UNLOOSE the Kraken!

Some awesome fill today, including GADZOOKS and VUVUZELA.

Did not like the crossing of IO-A and ORGA-A, but wagged the N, unlike desper-otto who wagged an L.

Happy New Year's Eve, everybody.

Magilla Go-Rilla said...

Not really. It's just a misleading clue. If the instrument was trumpet then the answer would be "mute" because you actually insert it into the bell if the horn. The reed does not go into the clarinet. Yes the lig holds it in place but the reed is actually outside the instrument. Some symphony musicians don't even use ligatures. They wrap string around the mouthpiece to hold the reed in place. It's ab archaic method but sum musicians prefer this method because it doesn't clamp down on the reed with a piece of metal and allows the reed to vibrate more freely. It's personal presence. Bottom line, the reed is not an insert to the instrument.

Sorry for the diatribe. I just have to make my point regarding the clue.

Happy New Year 🎉🍸

Magilla Go-Rilla said...

Sorry about my typos but I think you can get passed them😄

Magilla Go-Rilla said...

Originally Buddy Ebsen was hired to play the Tin Man. He was allergic to the metallic paint that had to cover his skin and was replaced by Jack Haley.

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year's Eve! Thanks for the puzzle, Alex, and thanks for all your help, Steve.

Didn't know ORGANA, LANG and VUVUZELA so those gave me a DNF for today.

Thanks to everyone who contributes to the Corner. You provide me with entertainment and education every day.

Have a great evening and a wonderful 2015!

Pat

thehondohurricane said...


Husker,

Buddy Ebsrn was Davy's pal

chin said...

If you do not care for ROYGBIV, try the British version, Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain.

Ergo said...


Thank you Alex and Steve.

What a disaster. Filled in maybe 50% of the squares and even some of those were wrong. An apt conclusion to the year that was.

CrossEyedDave said...

Roman numerals, I don't have much to add, except maybe...

fore!

Also, puzzle seemed a little dry, so this is for Tinbeni...

Sorry I do not have much to add, I am traveling & linking with DW's iPad is a real PIA!

Steve said...

@Moe - I've got EAVEs on the brain now

Madame Defarge said...

Reply to HeartRx:

What other hobby could Madame Defarge possibly have?!

��. Happy New Year! ��

Dudley said...

Well, Puzzlers, it's 2015 in my time zone, so Happy New Year!

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks, Alex and Steve! Great work! Got through this OK. No problems. However, it did take a whole 18 minutes! More like Friday!

Happy New Year!

SwenglishMom said...

Thanks! Can't wait to see the write-up on Jan 1! Just so much fun.