google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday January 11, 2015 Pam Amick Klawitter

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Jan 11, 2015

Sunday January 11, 2015 Pam Amick Klawitter

 Theme: "D-Activated" -D is added to each theme entry.

23A. Excavation that went on and on? : SEVEN-YEAR DITCH. Seven-year itch. Three D's are added to starts of the second words, 4 to the first words.

44A. One-way chauffeur? : DRIVER OF NO RETURN. River of No Return. Not a familiar movie to me.

69A. Board game expert? : DART HISTORIAN. Art historian.

94A. Required course for stunt performers? : DANGER MANAGEMENT. Anger management.

117A. Stanley Cup filler? : ICE HOCKEY DRINK. Ice hockey rink.

15D. Effort to get pop elected? : DAD CAMPAIGN. Ad campaign. The only theme entry with a stray D.

68D. Moon-based cattleman? : LUNAR DROVER. Lunar rover.

Three of the original phrases in the theme set are movies. Wouldn't be cool if the other four are also movies?  That would be an incredibly tight set.

Pam used a classic Sunday grid set-up: 7 theme entries (total 95 squares), 5 Across and 2 Down.  No shock and awe non-theme fill, just clean & solid answers.

Across:

1. "__ and Son": storytelling segment on "The Bullwinkle Show" : AESOP.  No idea. All crosses.

6. Racetrack letters : STP

9. Chihuahua cheer : OLE

12. Coughed up, so to speak : PAID IN

18. In the loop : AWARE

19. Pad __: stir-fried noodles : THAI. Rice noodles.
 
21. O'Hare initials : UAL

22. Parish priest's subordinate : CURATE. I only know the verb meaning.

26. Frat newbie : PLEDGE

27. Leftover : REMNANT
 
28. Small-capped mushrooms : ENOKIS. This might be a difficult answer for some. But I use them in stir-fries occasionally.


30. Accessory for Beau Brummell : ASCOT. Wiki said "Beau Brummell is credited with introducing, and establishing as fashion, the modern men's suit, worn with a necktie. He claimed he took five hours a day to dress, and recommended that boots be polished with champagne." Nuts!

31. St. Thomas hours : AST

32. Tips to a lady, perhaps : DOFFS. Hat!

33. "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" musical : EVITA

35. C, D and E, perhaps : DO RE MI. Tricky clue for me. I'm musically illiterate.

39. First name in folk : ARLO

40. Remarkable deed : FEAT

41. L.A. commuter org. : MTA

48. Work : OPUS

49. Carte postale mountains : ALPES

50. Promote aggressively, in slang : FLOG

51. Expected 2015 Sue Grafton title starter : X IS. For what?

52. Mystery awards : EDGARS

54. Revolution period? : YEAR. Nailed it. Saw similar clue before.

55. Fiscal VIP : CFO

56. "Whee!" : YIPPEE

59. The same way : ALIKE

60. Ripped into : TORE AT

63. Carlsbad Cavern critter : BAT

64. Goes back (on) : RENEGES

66. Berkeley school, familiarly : CAL

72. Gov. Cuomo's domain : NYS. New York State.

73. Get the old gang together : RE-UNITE

75. Afore : ERE

76. Jaguar filler : PETROL

78. Dancer de Mille : AGNES. Here is our Agnes (Irish Miss)
Left to Right: Eileen (Agnes' sister) & Agnes, Nov 22, 2013

79. Stick up for : DEFEND

82. H.S. VIPs : SRs

83. O'Neill's daughter : OONA

87. Serious shortage : DEARTH

89. Bass tail? : OON. Bassoon.

90. New York county whose seat is Buffalo : ERIE. Shout-out to Abejo almost every week.

92. That is : TO WIT

93. Pie shortening : LARD

98. "Tight" NFL position : END

99. Brief missives? : LTRS. "Brief" suggests an abbreviated answer.

100. NASA approvals : A-OKS

101. Bit of education : LESSON

102. "Still Me" memoirist : REEVE. Never read it. The cover is haunting.


104. "Warrior" Oscar nominee : NOLTE (Nick)

106. Stewart of "The Daily Show" : JON

107. Fabled extraction : THORN. Which fable?

109. Shrimp dish : SCAMPI. This looks delicious. Barry G has a great seafood linguini. Click here for recipe. D-Otto, can you post your potato dumplings recipe again?


111. Soaps, say : SERIALS

115. Caribbean metropolis : HAVANA

120. Pickup capacity : ONE TON

121. Piece of work? : ERG. Gimme for all our regulars.

122. Film __ : NOIR

123. Like much beer : ON TAP

124. It's a wrap : SARONG

125. Pastoral place : LEA

126. Whitney and others: Abbr. : MTS (Mountains)

127. Sudden transitions : LEAPS

Down:
 
1. Remote cells? : AAS

2. Painting pitcher : EWER
 
3. Set aside : SAVE

4. City on Utah Lake : OREM

5. Ayn Rand and Mark Twain : PEN NAMES. Holy moley. I had no idea Ayne Rand is a pen name.

6. Surgical tube : STENT

7. "Name __ Tune" : THAT

8. Scorecard number : PAR. Golf scorecard.

9. Giving rain checks for : OUT OF. I'd prefer a partial clue.

10. Wants for : LACKS

11. Pre-coll. : EL-HI. Here it is again.

12. General MD, to insurers : PCP (Primary Care Physician)

13. Café order : AU LAIT

14. "Soon will __, yes, forever sleep": Yoda : I REST

16. "Let __" : IT GO

17. Hair removal choice : NEET

20. Socialism, e.g. : IDEOLOGY

24. He shared the peace prize with Shimon and Yitzhak : YASIR

25. About to endure : IN FOR

29. Psychic : SEER

32. Crab Key villain : DR. NO. I had no idea where he lives. It's located off the coast of Jamaica, Google shows.

34. Rooftop spinner : VANE

35. Time of reckoning : D-DAY

36. Heraldic border : ORLE. I learned from doing xwords.

37. Big name in TV talk : RIPA. So cheerful.

38. Six-time U.S. Open winner : EVERT (Chris)

39. Solvent : AFLOAT

40. Coalesce : FUSE

42. Opposite of smash : TURKEY. Easy in retrospect.

43. Value : ASSESS

45. Put on the block : OFFERED

46. Brief exile? : EX-PAT

47. Best of the best : TIPTOP

48. Look in a bad way : OGLE

53. TV booking agent? : DANNO. "Book 'em, Danno!"

55. Pluto suffix : CRAT

57. "Peer Gynt" playwright : IBSEN

58. Land on the Red Sea : ERITREA

61. Shelley or Milton : ODIST

62. What "it" is in Sandburg's "It sits looking over harbor and city" : THE FOG

65. Corny cookout plateful : EARS. Ha ha, corny indeed!
 
66. Phone home? : CRADLE. I had to google. Did not know there's a term for that item.


67. Mediterranean arm : AEGEAN

 70. Castle of dance : IRENE. Irene Castle.

71. Pine products : RESINS

74. "The Big Bang Theory" type : NERD

77. Towers : LOOMS. Towers/Looms large.

80. Long spans : EONS

81. Involuntary downward movement : DEMOTION. The possible charge for Petraeus makes me sad. He suffered enough.

84. Is shy, in a way : OWES
 
85. Bogotá boy : NINO

86. FYI kin : ATTN

88. Man cave centerpiece : HDTV

91. Do a fall chore : RAKE

92. Tiger Beat subject : TEEN IDOL

95. Greek war god : ARES

96. Ed's pal of classic TV : RALPH. "The Honeymooners".

97. Morning __ : GLORY

99. Sean with the album "Friendly Fire" : LENNON. Not familial with the song.

103. Sister of Clio : ERATO

104. Shell lining : NACRE

105. Greek ending : OMEGA

106. Taunts : JEERS

107. Pres. Jefferson : THOS. Glue entry.

108. Juliette's role in "The English Patient" : HANA. I already forgot the plot of "The English Patient".

110. Where to see étoiles : CIEL. French for "sky".

111. Satiric segment : SKIT

112. "Alfred" composer : ARNE. Only know his "Rule, Britannia".

113. Words with match or fire : LIT A.  I did not see the plural s.
 
114. Selfie, e.g. : SNAP

116. "The Ice Storm" director Lee : ANG

118. Dot follower? : COM

119. Some GI duties : KPs. KP = Kitchen Police.


Let's meet Rainman, who used to own a Cessna as well. Rainman is an avid tennis player. Please click here for a few more pictures.

 Ray and Linda


 Transit of Venus, June 2012.  It was cold at 6,000 feet near Tehachapi.


C.C.

51 comments:

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Took a bit longer than usual, but in retrospect, looks rather easy!. Thanks Pamela and CC!

Theme easy, but had to search out those D's.

Sure need to go to sleep!

Worked Merl also. Wash. Post doesn't let you type in a "3", so I solved the whole phrase in each case and hit "solve word." You paper people won't have a problem! Otherwise less difficult than our puzzle.

Cheers!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

This was one of the fastest Sunday solves I can recall lately. I got the theme almost immediately and was able to fill in all the theme answers with a minimum of perp help (despite the fact that I've never actually heard of "River of No Return" before).

Everything else was smooth sailing. Plenty of enjoyable clues, but nothing that tripped me up today.

Lemonade714 said...

Perhaps the most famous of Aesop' s fables is Landlocked and The Lion

A really fun reference and Velcro.

I also did not remember the show was named after Bullwinkle and not both of them.

Lemonade714 said...

Oh I hate autocorrect

Androcles and the Lion

Madame Defarge said...

Thanks C.C. Nice puzzle--Ms. Pam. It just took me too long. I knew DDay would be here, but never saw it when I got there. Just silly stuff: I wanted hype for FLOG and so on with errors such as that. Lots of re-do. I liked DANNO as booking agent! Never saw the new 5-0, but I chuckled with this clue.
Sandburg was a gimme. Did you see "the fog [come] in on little cat feet" during the Bears-Eagles game in 1988? It was amazing. Must have been an omen. . . . Well, maybe the football gods will let the Bears move on at a better PACE.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Pam tricked me up with UAL; I was expecting ORD. And my TIPTOP began life as TOPTEN. With the ICE HO___ in place, I was thinking ICE HOUSE DROOLS rather than ICE HOCKEY DRINK. Wouldn't pass the breakfast test, though. Nice to see our old friend ORLE again. CRADLE and DANNO were supposed to be mis-directs, but they were my first thoughts.

SARONG got me again! Today I thought it was a SERAPE and the other day in the NYT I thought it was MUUMUU..

C.C., that THORN is a tie-in to 1a. AESOP. In Androcles and the Lion, Androcles removes a thorn from the paw of a lion. Later, the lion has a chance to kill him, but doesn't.

Rainman said...

Unlike Barry G, I made some mistakes so it took a while to finish satisfactorily. I had YASer instead of YASIR and refused for the longest time to change it because I was so sure of DOREMe. Sometimes the easiest ones just don't come to me, such as AAS, for AAs, batteries, even though it's right there. Was not familiar with AESOP and sons on Bullwinkle, is that a cartoon? Another mistake was PAIDIt instead of PAIDIN. Guess I wasn't worried about the perp, NEET being teet. Had PLUTOnium for PLUTOCRAT, bah.

FAVE today: CRADLE, clued as Phone home? Very good, and very good puzzle. Finally got the fanfare I wanted. Thanks, Pam and C.C.

Stay warm. (Hey, maybe hell froze over... because it's been raining in Bakersfield, harder than I've ever seen. Yea.

Rainman said...

Just looked over the linked photos C.C. posted. In the photo "Looking at sun thru solar filter" you can easily see Venus passing across the sun's disk, a fairly rare event happening maybe twice a century or so. As I recall, it took Venus about six hours to make the transit. Very amateur photography!!!

Lemonade714 said...

I liked the CSO to Kazie' s sweet little Lea.

Anyone else think of this actor looking at Rainman' s pic Bewitching?

Unknown said...

The Week in Review:


M 4:43 T 5:26 W 9:55 T 7:38 F 11:52 S 17:35 S 19:02

A very enjoyable week (puzzle-wise, not weather-wise), especially the last two days. Most noteworthy was my hasty entry on Saturday of HOLE IN ONE (for "rare pro golf feat"). I normally wouldn't put in such a long fill without some corroboration (i.e. perps) but how could it not be right? (and I'm a bit surprised no one else mentioned it). Anyway, it slowed things down until perps fixed it.

The temps might edge up above freezing next week but I'm not counting on it. If I could sleep for two months and wake up in March I'd do it in a heartbeat.

See y'all next weekend.

Big Easy said...

Rocky & Bullwinkle, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, Dudley D-Right, Fractured Fairy Tales and AESOP & son. That's how I remember it.

Along with AGNES and IRENE I danced all around this puzzle after the overture of easily finding the theme with Marilyn Monroe digging her SEVEN YEAR DITCH. Ultimately it was a failure, a DNF due to my own mistake of thinking of a cattle driver, as in LUNAR DRIVER instead of DROVER. I never even noticed LUNAR because the crosses filled it out. Although I got HANA correct, the'Patient' was a complete unknown and I was brain dead wanting an answer for the extraction of a THORN. I couldn't pull it out of my head. Such is life.

12D-PCP- isn't that better known as 'ANGEL DUST'?
51A- knew it ended in __IS
36D- has anybody ever seen ORLE anywhere but a crossword puzzle? I haven't.
20D-when you run out of other people's money
KP- I don't think they waste soldiers time doing that anymore.

Other perps & wags were NOLTE, REEVE, ENOKIS, ARNE, ASCOT.

E.T Phone Home- I bought a $12 corded phone for my daughter last year for Christmas because her family never bothered to place their cordless phones back in their CRADLEs to recharge them. But those four never put caps back on toothpaste, aspirin bottles, water bottles, and continually lose their car keys at their house but not my house. I will not let them lay them down anywhere. I take them so I will not get blocked in my driveway.

HeartRx said...

Good morning!

Fun puzzle. As C.C. mentioned, nothing to make me say "wow," but solid fill is always appreciated.

Like Rainman, I had DO RE Me at first, but after checking the puzzle over, realized that I had spelled YASSIR incorrectly. So, quick fix and done.

Lemony, I had to chuckle at your auto-correct. I thought you were being pun-ny by referring to the fable as "Landlocked." At least now I'll never forget the slave's name!

HeartRx said...

Forgot to mention, thanks for the pics, Rainman! That must have been an incredible experience to watch Venus crossing the sun.

Yellowrocks said...

Interesting puzzle. Just two snags.I had to run the alphabet for the P in STP and PAR. I hadn't thought of golf.
DANNO and TIPTOP were slow to come until I WAGged DART HISTORIAN. I was thinking of table board games.
Lemonade, I puzzled over your Landlocked and the Lion. Oh! Androcles!
DIL ans son cook with all kinds of mushrooms, including ENOKIS.
The Episcopal church has many CURATEs.
Busy, stressful day. Will check in later.
Ray and Agnes, nice to "see" you.

maripro said...

Good Morning!
Thanks to C.C. and Pam for an enjoyable write-up and puzzle.
For anyone interested, Ayn Rand was born Alice Rosenbaum on February 2, 1905. She changed her first name to "Ayn" while traveling to America in 1926. It was the name of a Finnish writer whom she hadn't read but she liked its sound. She wanted a new name for her new life. The "Rand" part came a little later; her typewriter was a Remington Rand.

Lucina said...

Hello, puzzlers. Thank you, C.C., for your review. Crosswords taught me that Ayn Rand is a PEN NAME.

And thank you to Pam Amick for a smooth sashay today. It moved right along with not many pauses, CPA/CFO. Most fill was straight forward. I loved 66D, phone home, CRADLE. On a corded phone it's an easier visual because of its shape, like a CRADLE.

I had no idea what letter Sue Grafton was on so waited for perps, just had IS. SARONG is clever too, it's a wrap.

Lemonade:
I thought I knew AESOP's fables, so Landlocked and the Lion surprised me. Glad you explained.

Rainman and Agnes:
Great pics. Good to associate faces with names.

ORLE seemed like an old friend; haven't seen it in a long while. I guessed CIEL but what is etoiles?

Have a fantastic Sunday, everyone!

desper-otto said...

Lucina, etoiles are stars.

Anonymous said...

Earworm for the day ....."book'em Danno!"

OwenKL said...

Finished, but no ta-da. Pressed the check button, and got flagged on YASeR+DO RE Me. Bah, guess that means FIW. Still, pretty close for no red letters. Did it after watching cartoons this morning, instead of last night as I normally would, so just finishing up now.

Lucina said...

Desper-otto:
Gracias. French just baffles me.

Anonymous said...

Had a bad start with Dune Rancher for 68D...ha!

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I really enjoyed the theme and lots of the clues and answers, with phone home=cradle the fav. I went astray several times: deacon/curate, diesel/petrol, mesh/fuse. Alas, it was a FIW due to Yaser/Do Re Me and art instead of erg.

Thanks, Pam, for a fun Sunday solve and thanks, CC, for your sparkling write-up and the CSO and picture. CSO, also to Abejo (Erie) and to Tin with that dreaded, dastardly _ _ _ (D)rink!

Very nice photos, Rainman. You do your avatar justice, even if there is a "little" more gray on top! 😉

Have a delightful day.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Fun theme today. Based on fairly well known phrases. Rest of it was more crunch. But eventually it was done.
90a - ERIE. Lived in Erie Co. for 19 years. First, Buffalo, then Eden, NY. 3 of our kids were conceived there. Almost biblical.
97d - GLORY. Here is an example of a Morning Glory Spillway: Morning Glory Spillway . (Near Sacramento)

Husker Gary said...

A challenge and fun in every nook for me. Wonderful DO RE MI fill had to wait until the ANDES became the ALPES and RIPA (no big name here) appeared.

Musings
-The ERIE Canal was an eight-year ditch project
-ICE HOCKEY DRINK prices by team. Yikes!
-I PAID IN $800 last April 15. Hope to better this year
-UAL – Did’ja hear about the couple that wanted to fly united but the flight attendant wouldn’t let them?
-Are they yelling YIPPEE?
-Two lovely look ALIKE sisters, Irish!
-I’m sure the literary legions here think of this poignant poem when seeing DEARTH
-NOLTE was in trouble as an Omaha teen too
-I tried to watch her soap SERIALS with Joann but…
-A pol’s VANE is a wetted finger in the air
-Looks like a great way to SAVE
-What’s left of retail in ORUM, NE
-Scroll down for the 11 most expensive American cars put on the block
-It took us 1.5 hr to buy a new smart HDTV yesterday
-Great pix, Rainman!

Husker Gary said...

Dang it, Owen, I had DO RE ME too. I never did like old YAS/AR/ER/IR and so there ya go. I’ll take a 1 bad cell out of 346 too. Now if the master will allow me this limerick:

My work wasn’t quite up to PAR
Although I wasn’t off by far
But I’ll call a foul
For using the wrong vowel
Oh well, close but no cigar

Bill G. said...

Hi everybody! Parts of this puzzle seemed harder to me that for most of the rest of you guys. I got stuck in different places but enjoyed some success when crossing words helped out. Some clever cluing to appreciate too. Thanks Pam and CC.

It's been raining almost constantly for 24 hours. Much appreciated.

Lots of football to watch today and another great game on tap for tomorrow. I'm on Oregon's side. Their hurry-up offense is a beautiful thing to watch, unless you are their opponent that is.

Solving 21 x 21 puzzles can be exhausting. I had some oatmeal cooked the old-fashioned way with a little brown sugar and half-and-half. Very tasty. I feel a nap coming on.

Anonymous said...

Just something that has puzzled me for a long time: Why is the word crossword abbreviated x word instead of + word.

Don

Lime Rickey said...

Because "+" would be read as "plus"?

Think of "PED XING".

Hahtoolah said...

Good Afternoon, C.C. and friends. I must be rusty because I found this to be a difficult puzzle. My first theme fill was the Lunar Drover.

I wanted Let IT BE instead of Let IT GO.

I assumed that Beau Brummell was French, so confidently wrote down Beret. Instead, George Bryan "Beau" Brummell was an Englishman who fancied ASCOTS.

I am rather intrigued by Landlocked and the Lion, Lemonade. I bet that would make an interesting fable!

It's terribly cold here, and we aren't even experiencing the worst of the cold weather. Stay warm everyone.

QOD: Wonder rather than doubt is the root of all knowledge . ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel (Jan. 11, 1907 ~ Dec. 23, 1972)

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling Thoughts"

From the limerick "CURATE" of these blogs, Husker Gary, I thought your lim was smokin'!

What others said, today's puzzle was more of a marathon than a sprint for me. Got the theme quickly but it just took longer than normal to fill in the gaps.

Our Sunday paper prints the answer to Sunday's puzzle on the following page so Google isn't necessary when I have to search an answer; just need to flip the page. I've gotten really good at finding only the solve I need without looking at others. Selective vision to go along with my selective hearing! LOL

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Pam Amick Klawitter, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.

Well, I got this done, but not without some errors, so technically DNF.

I had SERAPE for 124A. Let it stand because none of the Downs looked odd to me, even though I did not know them.

Had TOOTH for 107A. Same reason as above.

Theme was outstanding. Got most of them easily, which helped with the puzzle a lot. Except for the ones I missed.

ERIE was easy for 90A. There are actually three ERIE Counties. One in NY, one in PA, and one in OH. Plus a lake and canal. Plus an indian tribe, Eriez. I forgot, plus a city, ERIE (my home town). Several of you remembered. Thank you.

I had LUNAR DRIVER at first. Then changed that to LUNAR DROVER which gave me TOOTH, which turned out to be wrong anyhow. So went this puzzle.

STENT always brings back sad memories. If they had been invented when my dad had his heart problems, he might still be alive. He died 25 years ago this month at age 66.

Have some things to do. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Argyle said...

Plus, a fort. "Fort Erie is a town on the Niagara River in the Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada."

Lime Rickey said...

Here's a great song, sung by a great trio: Johnny Stewart, DROVER

Jayce said...

I enjoyed this puzzle, though I found a few places extra puzzling. For example, I had OTB for Racetrack letters (6A) and couldn't fix it even though OTENT didn't look right. (BAR looked okay to me,though.) When STENT finally screamed itself into my brain, I changed the O to S but left the B. No loud Tada for me today. Fun theme, though. And I really liked Phone home.

Ray, great pics! You too, Agnes and Eileen! We'll be driving right past Bakersfield, as we always do, on our way to Arizona next week. Don't know whether we'll go over the Grapevine or via Tehachapi; depends on the weather and road conditions.

Autocorrect is astoundingly lame.

Best wishes to you all.

Anonymous T said...

Hi all!

No puzzling for me today but I wanted to come by and say thanks to all of you for this weeks post.

Backstory - I got something that put me down for four days. Such malaise, I didn't even feel like playing a puzzle. But I did visit and everyone's posts kept me feeling engaged with the world. I'm back now!

Big Easy @8:23a - OMG, DW is the same way. Even her "backup" iPhone battery isn't charged. I try to keep my own tube of tooth-paste squirreled away.

Lime Rickey - DW had a friend that pronounced xing While walking, DW's friend said "How cute, a duck zing!"

Cheers, -T

Avg Joe said...

This wasn't overly easy for me, but the theme came instantly and was very helpful. Got seven year ditch with only seve in place. The biggest stumbling blocks have been mentioned...hype before flog and OTB before STP. But it all got sorted out.

I can never remember the spelling of Yasir, but the perps got me there. Since Imus came up earlier this week I couldn't help but be reminded of a bit he did several times on radio that confused pictures of Barbra Streisand with Yasir. Hilarious, but maybe you had to be there.

37d also reminded me that I was incredibly fortunate to have Kelly Ripa's cousin assigned to me in the OR as the on-call surgeon when I broke my back a few years ago. He's the best Orthopod in our state, IMO, and I doubt I'd be ambulatory without his care.

Enjoyed seeing the pics today. I had to look up Tahachapi on the map to know precisely where it's at, but will always remember the name......forever linked with Tonapah.

Speaking of California, look out folks. One of our twins will be moving to Santa Monica in the next 2 months.

Lucina said...

I just went to see the movie, SELMA. Yowza! What a powerful experience! David Oyelowo(sp?)could be his clone! It's all well done, well scripted and well acted. I'd vote an Oscar for it.

Bill G. said...

AnonT, I'm sorry for your malaise but I'm glad you're back.

Lucina, sounds great. The two lead actors from Selma were are Ellen yesterday. I think I remember that they're both Brits which seems hard to believe.

Avg Joe, so one of your twins will be about 12 miles north of here. What should I expect? Tornadoes? Earthquakes? What does he/she do?

The rain has let up so I will squeeze in a short bike ride and espresso. Then more football...

CrossEyedDave said...

Sorry guys, I spent Saturday driving Daughter #2 back to college in Washington DC, & Sunday driving back with a flashing check engine light & a slipping transmission. So my puzzling was of a different nature this weekend.

Weird thing is, I just restarted the dang thingie, & now the car is completely normal. Do I take it to Honda & have them charge me $110- to find out what the check engine light meant, even tho it is no longer lit? Or do I sell the dang thingie & tell the new owner the car once sneezed?!?! (It's not sick, it's better now...)

Speaking of sneezed, CC, I cannot allow you to get by on perps & crosses. So here is Bullwinkles Aesop & son for your edification...

Avg Joe said...

Bill, he's an EE, and in general parlance, will be working for a national concern as an engineer/corporate rep dealing with testing and industrial quality control equipment. I'd prefer to be no more specific in a public forum. I did mention your city as a possible location, but he has other ideas. House hunting will take place in the next 3 weeks, so who knows exactly where he'll end up.

Anonymous said...

I spent the day with siblings, cleaning out our parent's home, so no puzzle for me today.
Enjoyed the write-up, C.C.

Rainman: Hell freezes over every winter. Hell, Michigan, is northwest of Ann Arbor; today's high was 31*. I chuckle when people say "When Hell freezes over". And, I can say that I've been to Hell and back!

I hope everyone has had a good weekend. I'm looking forward to getting home and doing tomorrow's puzzle.

Pat

Rainman said...

Jayce,

Yes, we hate autocorrect but disable it and see how long you can go without it.

And I have some questions and trip information for you.

Pat, thanx. The only Hell placename I've been is on Grand Cayman. MI sounds less hospitable.

TTP said...

Hi all,

Great puzzle and great write up.

Anonymous T said...

Bill G. - Thanks. DW says it was the flu; the nurse at the CVS said stomach bug. Either way, I was drained of all will.

pje - I've just added Hell, MI to my bucket list. That way I won't need to visit when I die.

Ave Joe - An EE? Oh, no, I've got one of those. Look out Bill G. -- tempest protect all electronics.

CED - Make yourself a walk-about check list.

Headlamps - Check
Turn signals - Check
et.al
lift the hood...
Engine - Check.

There done. It's a Honda, it will be fine.

Cheers, -T

Avg Joe said...

AnonT, I'd agree with your advice. I'm a Toyota fan, but the rules are pretty much the same. As for the EE, it's NI. Currently in Austin.

TTP said...


CED,

Sounds like a sensor. Take it to your local auto parts store for a reading.

Anonymous said...

Anon T @ 6:26: that's a real LOL! Good luck with it!

Pat

CrossEyedDave said...

Thanks everyone, but to CC, I think the moral to the Aesop & son link is that my car is psychotic...

Bill G. said...

I am enjoying The Golden Globes award show so far. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler so outclass the People's Choice award show. I was delighted to see Anna from Downton Abbey win. I love her character. I was pleased to hear Tina Fey use 'comprise' correctly. You can see it doesn't take much to make me enjoy a show like this one. It's a pleasant break from football games.

Anonymous T said...

Ave Joe:

I've tried for 40 minutes to figure out what EE NI means - so far - well, I won't go down that road (bikini wax came up once!). What does NI mean?

I guess your progeny is at UT? If so, good for you... Though there is OU (Boomer!).

To whomever commented on avatars while I was adrift; yeah, that's me :-)*

Cheers, -T
*C.C. I'll get you another pic, though it won't be from Giza.

OwenKL said...

Check Engine Light
1) So first thing first: Check to make sure your gas cap is on and give it a few more clicks to tighten it up.
2) The Check Engine light sometimes doubles as the maintenance reminder or service interval light. These lights illuminate when a routine service is due. They are usually triggered by mileage, amount of fuel consumed, or some other type of vehicle-use measurement.