google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, March 30, 2015 Bruce Haight

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Mar 30, 2015

Monday, March 30, 2015 Bruce Haight

 Theme: No Grey Area - Everything is black-and-white.

17. Black-and-white cruiser : PATROL CAR

25. Black-and-white puzzles : CROSSWORDS

30. Black-and-white music makers : PIANO KEYS

45. Black-and-white companion : DALMATIAN

50. Black-and-white flag : JOLLY ROGER

64. Black-and-white ocean predator : ORCA WHALE

Argyle here. Bruce seems to manage a different style of puzzle every time he visits us. Straightforward clues, six themed entries; easy Monday. A lot of 5-letter entries results in a lot of 3-letter entries but a fair trade-off.
          Something for Tinbeni.
Across:

1. Also : TOO

4. Hotelier Helmsley : LEONA. "Queen of Mean".

9. Make small adjustments to : TWEAK

14. Post-ER area : ICU. (intensive care unit)

15. First stage : ONSET

16. ABBA's "__ Mia" : MAMMA



19. High-tech prefix with space : CYBER

20. Memorial __ Kettering: NYC hospital : SLOAN * Cancer Center founded in 1884.

21. Teensy bit : A TAD

23. Word on a penny : CENT

24. Yin's partner : YANG

27. When doubled, a Pacific island : BORA

29. Actor DiCaprio, familiarly : LEO

35. "The Jetsons" boy : ELROY

39. Go over snow : SKI

40. Painkiller with a Meltaways children's brand : TYLENOL

42. "__ Maria" : AVE

43. 2014 film about civil rights marches : SELMA

47. Outfielder's asset : ARM

49. Brouhahas : ADOs

56. Take five : REST

59. October birthstone : OPAL

60. Curly-horned goat : IBEX

61. Happen : OCCUR

62. Really casual "No prob!" : "NATCH!". Tenuous connection.

66. Pal of Threepio : ARTOO. (R2-D2)(C-3PO)

67. Behave theatrically : EMOTE

68. Type : ILK

69. Way up or way down : STEPS

70. Meeting of church delegates : SYNOD

71. Albany is its cap. : NYS. (New York State) *Slight dupe with 20-Across clue.

Down:

1. Slightly sloshed : TIPSY

2. City in Florida's horse country : OCALA. We had this last Monday. Remember?

3. Released from jail until trial : OUT ON BAIL

4. Diving lake bird : LOON. Very apt for this puzzle.

5. Picture that shows more detail: Abbr. : ENL. (enlargement)

6. "Sesame Street" grouch : OSCAR

7. "Sweet!" : "NEATO!" 10D. "Totally awesome!" : "WAY COOL!"

8. Gillette razors : ATRAs

9. HBO rival : TMC. The Movie Channel (TMC) is a cable and satellite network that is owned by the Showtime Networks, a subsidiary of CBS Corporation

11. Campfire glower : EMBER

12. Modify, as a law : AMEND

13. Go-__: mini racers : KARTS

18. Tease relentlessly : RAG ON. "of unknown origin"

22. ISP option : DSL. (internet service provider/digital subscriber line) It's been hashed over before; just accept it and move on.

25. Like dense brownies : CAKY. or CAKEY. (Spell Check didn't like either.)

26. Little shaver, to Burns : WEE LAD

28. Dial type on old phones : ROTARY

30. Ltr. add-ons : PSs. (Postscripts)

31. Eisenhower nickname : IKE. Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President.

32. Days of yore, quaintly : ELD

33. Supporting vote : YEA

34. NBC show that celebrated its 40th anniversary in Feb. : SNL. (Saturday Night Live)

36. Cause an uproar of Biblical proportions? : RAISE CAIN

37. Fertility clinic eggs : OVA

38. Itch : YEN

41. Actor Sharif : OMAR. (Omar Sharif)

44. Shoplifter catcher, often : MALL COP

46. Handheld burning light : TORCH

48. Med. scan : MRI. (magnetic resonance imaging)

50. __ Brothers: pop music trio : JONAS. Come and gone.



51. Dizzying painting genre : OP ART

52. Coffeehouse order : LATTE

53. Bassoon relatives : OBOEs

54. Potentially infectious : GERMY

55. Former jailbird : EX-CON

57. Tarnish : SULLY

58. Tough hikes : TREKs

61. Didn't pay yet : OWED

63. Laughs from Santa : HOs

65. From __ Z : A TO


Argyle


88 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Got everything well enough today, but it was a bit on the slow side. Part of that is because it's Monday and I didn't get enough sleep (Hence getting temporarily stuck with WEE ONE instead of WEE LAD and IOTA instead of A TAD, for example), but part of it was just the clunkiness of some of the clues and fill. I balked at TMC (a non pay cable channel) being called a "rival" of HBO. An ORCA is a Killer WHALE, but I've never heard of ORCA WHALE before. Dense brownies are CAKY?

Congrats to Bruce, btw, for being published in both the L.A. Times and the NYT today!

Lemonade714 said...

The daily double for Mr. Haight with the LAT a theme heavy but straight forward puzzle. If we had ZEBRAS and NEWSPAPERS we could have some old jokes as well.

WBS plus not being fond of cake or CAKY which my spell check accepts and is in the dictionary but sounds more like a made up word. I guess that is how all words start out.

Have a great week all.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning Argyle and friends. Fun speed run for this Ebony and Ivory puzzle.

I agree that CAKY seems a bit off, as does Go Over Snow = SKI.

I also initially tried OUT ON Bond before BAIL.

Nice, warm, sunny day here.

QOD: Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. ~ Vincent Van Gogh (Mar. 30, 1853 ~ July 29, 1890)

Betty Crocker said...

I would think that CAKY is less dense than chewy.

Chewy vs. Cakey Brownies

Argyle said...

The confusion about caky(cakey) comes from the wrong meaning of cake. As anyone walking on clay ground in spring will tell you, your feet will be caked with mud. Or think of the use as in a cake of soap. That's the type of caky that makes a brownie hard to eat.

Betty Crocker said...

A cakey brownie is one that is more like a cake and less like fudge. It has nothing to do with soil. Or soap.

Argyle said...

Excuse me but I've had brownies that were more like cakes of clay. They do go good with mud pies though.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Bruce Haight, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.

I am still working on Sunday's puzzle. Only the NW corner to go. I took a break from that to do Monday's puzzle this morning.

It was not a Cake Walk, or even CAKY Walk, but I got through it.

Theme was fine. Easy answers.

Remember LEONA Helmsley well. I assume she has passed on by now.

Liked 25A, CROSSWORDS.

I do not take TYLENOL, ever. A good friend of mine had a liver transplant from TYLENOL.

Not familiar with JONAS Brothers.

Our favorite razor again, ATRAS.

Now I will attack the Sunday puzzle and see if I can get that last corner.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Anonymous said...

One more Black and white tie for your enjoyment...Ave Maria!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Easy peasy Monday. Just right.

Our town just switched the patrol cars from white to b/w. Neighboring towns did, as well. Other entries which fit the theme: TMC shows some b/w movies, and the symbol for YANG is b/w.

With RAI in place I filled in RAIN STORM -- the 40-day/40-night variety. RAISE CAIN was cuter.

Hand up for thinking chewy is denser than CAKY.

Avg Joe said...

Pretty much a Monday speed run. No hangups, no erasures. Only pause was that Bond/Bail possibility mentioned by Hahtoolah. Perps to the rescue.

Today's Non Sequitur comments nicely on the frequent disagreements about what something actually means. :-)

Argyle said...

Google images for DENSE brownies. Not very cake-like.

Anonymous said...

Thank you anon@7:33. Sun is coming up to Pavarotti!!

Beautiful morning. Good stuff.

p.s. O sole mio plays next.

Yellowrocks said...

Pleasant Monday romp. No prob.
Here’s another meaning of no prob:
“Will you work with me on this project? “
“No prob. Natch. Naturally. That goes without saying. Of course, I want to help with this.”
I have known of caky (cakey) brownies for decades, but they are not my favorites. The interior is light and slightly fluffy, more like a cake. We are not cake fans. We even have pie instead of birthday cake.
IMO fudgy brownies are the dense ones, heavy and rich like a piece of fudge. Yummy.
Link brownie types

Barry G. said...

Google images for DENSE brownies. Not very cake-like.

Heh. Tried Google images for CAKY brownies and was told that I really wanted to search for CAKEY instead.

kazie said...

Great Monday puzzle. Thanks Bruce! For once I didn't have to struggle anywhere, so just as a Monday should be!

One point of possible interest: in Australia flashlights are called torches, and it took me an age before I could say flashlight without it seeming foreign. Aussie English explained

Barry G. said...

Seriously, forcing Google Image search to search on "caky" instead of "cakey" produces zero relevant results. And I found the following explanation of "cakey" brownies online:

While no two brownie recipes are exactly the same, they do tend to fall into two broad categories: chewy and cakey. Chewy brownies can range from soft to dense and fudgey. Cakey brownies are lighter and are often served with frosting.

So maybe Argyle is right and CAKY refers to the way mud cakes on your shoe as opposed to the cake you eat. Or else our editor Rich just made a mistake. Naaaah, that would never happen... ^_^

Barry G. said...

Still don't like ORCA WHALE, btw. I suppose you could think of it like PANDA BEAR, which is just as legitimate as PANDA, but to me it seems more like LEOPARD CAT or SPARROW BIRD. A Google search for "orca whale" (with the quotation marks) doesn't turn up any evidence that the phrase is in use as far as I could see. Again, though, I don't get out as much as I should so maybe this is actually a common phrase elsewhere in the country (or world).

OK, that's [more than] enough from me. Have a great day!

Argyle said...

I concentrated on the word 'dense' which I figured ruled out the brownies that come out like little pieces of cake. Personally, if I want cake then that's what I'll get, not a brownie. IMAO

Anonymous said...

One of the more appealing aspects of this blog is when we get our panties in a bunch over a clue/answer. I enjoy reading both sides of the discussion before I decide one side is just flat out wrong. CAKY, as clued, is 100% correct. It is supported by dictionary.com among all others I don't wish to link. Deal with it.

Barry G. said...

One of the least appealing aspects of this blog, on the other hand, is when anonymous trolls make snarky attack comments toward legitimate posters, usually with incorrect information.

For the record, CAKY isn't even mentioned at dictionary.com, except as an adjective form of CAKE.

Yeah, so I lied and posted again. Sorry.

Argyle said...

You have to realize that if the clue said fluffy brownies, the answer would still be the same. lol

Betty Crocker said...

If the clue had said "fluffy brownies" the answer would be accurate.

But the clue said "dense" so the answer is inaccurate.

Anonymous said...

Thank you BarryG for making my day!

You actually said, "For the record, CAKY isn't even mentioned at dictionary.com, except..." that it is mentioned!! As an adjective to "#4. a shaped or molded mass of other food"

You can't make this stuff up. Barry, I will speak of you much today.

HeartRx said...

Good morning everyone. I'll jump right into the fray by saying that when I did a google search on CAKY, it offered in the "Searches related to..." = KHAKI. LOL

Kazie, great link for the Aussie translations.

I enjoyed both of Bruce's offerings today. This one had some nice zing to it with phrases like NATCH, WAY COOL and NEATO. I liked the additional PATROL CAR links with OUT ON BAIL and MALL COP.

But wouldn't "Threepio's" pal be "Deetoo" instead of ARTOO? I mean, if we are going with last names, it should be consistent, right? ;-)


kazie said...

To my way of thinking, dense means hard packed, so I would expect dense brownies to be more cookie-like, and the cak(e)y ones to be softer and perhaps having risen more like a cake with more baking powder effects evident. Just saying...

Yellowrocks said...

I think Rich is wrong about dense equals caky when it comes to browmies.
From a recipe:
”Do you like Chocolate Brownies that are soft and cake like, rather than dense, chewy or fudgy?”
Argyle’s and Rich’s definition of caky is correct, but does not apply to brownies, like it does to caked mud. I found both definitons on the dictionary. Since we already have fudgy and chewy we need caky to describe the cakelike style.
I agree the clue should have been fluffy or soft.
I have tried the "cakey" recipes on the brownie mix boxes. The brownies always turn out cakelike, not caked like mud and not very dense. They are more fluffy like cake rather than dense. Meh! Rather than cakey or chewy, I look for FUDGY recipes, the fudgier the better.

Argyle said...

For Betty: 75 contronyms,— terms that, depending on context, can have opposite or contradictory meanings. Obviously, caky should be on that list.

Avg Joe said...

Hey, let's start a new fight.

I've got Ave Maria bouncing around in my head, and it occurs to me that the melody is reminiscent of Unchained Melody (or rather vice versa). Any thoughts?

Anonymous said...

Jeezus.

I think Rich is fine. But he could have avoided this whole mess if he just have clued 27a as 'Younger or older knight of Arthurian legend.' and 25d as 'Woodstock group, alternatively' (Crosby Stills Knash and Young).

kazie said...

Obviously Yellowrocks thinks of cakey as I do! Anyone else?

CrossEyedDave said...

Guys, enough with the Caky thing, I like Argyles explanation. To continue is to beat a dead dinosaur...

Also, my take on Brownies...

Kazie, great link! It might explain why I am Cross Eyed... How do I explain to these Americans that today is written 30/3/15?

----------------------


Rotary brought back memories. Back in the late 60's, the restaurant downstairs was being demolished & I managed to pull from the dumpster part of a phone substation that was being discarded. I managed to save a bunch of stepper switches, a power supply, & rotary phones. I set up my own Phone System. It was fun to watch the the Stepper Switches & relays do their dance to the rotary dials pulses. Like This! (8:25)

Next time on "fun with Dave,"how transistors do exactly the same thing without any mechanical motion...

Madame Defarge said...

Thanks, Bruce.

Exactly WBS. I agree especially with Betty Crocker @6:48, but love the controversy about brownies. YUM! Chocolate Chip(that would be C.C.)cookies next?

Glad to be back after several assists with grandkids. Tired, too! Bless all of you who have been the primary childcare person for your grands!!!

Thanks Avg Joe for the Non Sequitur: perfect. Thanks, Argyle, for the run through and the brownie back up.

A welcome sunny day in Chicagoland. Yay!

kazie said...

CED,
I hear you--just one of many conundrums! (conundra?)

On another matter, we learned over the weekend that our second grandchild expected in August will almost certainly be a girl. So Lea will have a little sister! Can't wait to see her reaction!

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I was very surprised to see 32 posts by 10:00 am but it soon became evident why. I remain neutral in the "War of The Brownies" as I don't eat sweets: not caky, chewy, fluffy, dense, fudgy, or any other way.

Typical Monday romp; had and before too and alter before tweak, but both were soon corrected by perps. Nice CSO to Santa, Ho, ho, ho! Good job, Bruce, and neato expo, Argyle.

Had some snow flurries earlier and it's quite windy and chilly. Still waiting for Spring to arrive.

Have a great day.

desper-otto said...

Irish Miss, spring has definitely sprung down here in the southland. The trees are in full leaf, the hummingbirds are back, and the azaleas are in bloom. 11-1/2 months of the year they are just scraggly, ugly bushes, but for a couple of weeks in the spring they're glorious.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Mostly straight solve today. Loved the B & W theme. Other than TWEAK and its cross, AMEND, either of which could be spelled 2 ways, there were no issues; no look-ups, no strikethroughs. Good job, Bruce.

SLOAN - BH was treated there 6 yrs ago.

TORCH - I believe is Brit-speak for flashlight.

Have a great day.

Yellowrocks said...

Sorry, for the excessive brownie interest. I think I am just totally bored out of my cotton pickin' mind. I am doing a major thinning of my paper files. I served in the church in multiple capacities these last 10-12 years and now I am doing nothing there. I have all those files to dump but must look for the few nuggets of gold amid the dross and also shred what is sensitive.
In addition, I have been a square dance officer for 8 -10 years and don't need all that older stuff, so must sort and shred.
I keep checking the blog. You all help me keep my sanity.

Kazie, congrats on the expected granddaughter.
HG, I hope you re feeling better today.

Tinbeni said...

Argyle: Nice write-up. Thanks for the Black & White Scotch photo.

Enjoyed the theme very much.
Faves were CROSSWORDS and DALMATIAN.

Just curious ... is this discussion re: CAKY going to get more inane???

Cheers!

Zcarguy said...

Dense makeup = caky

Just a thought.!

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-101 DALAMTIANS inspired the purchase of them that are not really good with small children
-Others who were considered for LEO’s role of Jack in Titanic - Christian Bale, Billy Crudup, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Stephen Dorff, Matthew McConaughey, Chris O'Donnell, River Phoenix and -- wait for it -- Macaulay Culkin.
-My friend’s daughter is a deacon in a Lutheran SYNOD, but like Catholics, women can never be a minister.
-The LOONS! (1:53)
-IKE gave us the Interstate and Chief Justice Earl Warren
-Raising CANES in Omaha and Lincoln
-A MALL COP in Orlando caught two of my students shoplifting in Sea World. What a long day
-This “rule” does work for GERMY food
-In what schlocky 50’s TV sitcom did LEO G. Carrol play a role from 1937 movie?
-Thanks YR, one day at a time!

Lemonade714 said...

Congrats Kazie on another little KZ being on the way; I too have recently learned my granchild population will double, for me it is in Septmeber; still a long way to go for us to catch up with some here.

Mastroianni said...

Kazie, your 8:43a inquiry reminds me of a story...

Two rectangles are having a debate about CAKY. They arrive at an utter stalemate.

Along comes a circle, so they ask him to decide who's right. The circle listens intently, and replies with silence.

The two rectangles demand of the circle; "Who's side are you on?"

The circle replies, "I'm sorry, I don't have a side."

Lucina said...

Hello, friends!

I enjoyed this quick and easy romp today. Interesting discussion about brownies and all I shall add is that I like dense, chewy ones not the cake like brownies.

My question is about GERMY. I have to accept that it is a real word, but it seems odd.

Thank you, Bruce Haight for your very clever puzzle and Argyle, TOO.

Have a fantastic Monday, everyone!

Lucina said...

Re: yesterday's puzzle. I finished it very late last night having worked on it off and on. I just could not get enthusiastic about it, so I slogged through it. Toward the end, I found it amusing and clever and especially liked the cluing of ABACI.

Lemonade714 said...

A 98 year old Mother Superior was in ill health in and had no appetite, so the sisters decide to lace her evening milk with some Jameson's Irish Whiskey to ease her pain.

After downing her milk, they asked the Mother Suprior if she wanted anything else.

She says, " Yes. please NEVER sell that cow!"

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

I will eat any given brownie.

Congrats to Bruce for the coast to coast double header. I'm very impressed with his timing.

Pleasant puzzle, easy solve. Very dense with themeage - does that make it CAKY?

Let's forget that and just go with KAKI

Cool regards!
JzB

Lemonade714 said...

I loved Topper as a child, and Leo G. was always a favorite through the Man From Uncle Days.

For newbies, the LOON is the official bird of the Corner (and Minnesota).

Pierre La Moyne said...

Husker! We love going to RAISing CANE's here in and around the Red Stick. It is a great story for those who have never heard of them. My friends all love to order the The 3 Finger Combo. The dipping sauce is a shocker.

Irish Miss said...

Kazie and Lemony - Congratulations on the expansion of your grandparent-hood. I'm sure Lea and Chatlotte will be delighted.

Gary, I hope each day brings some improvement.

Lucina, I didn't care for germy, either. (My autocorrect changed it to Gerry.)

C6D6 Peg said...

Nice puzzle today with a bit of crunch. Really liked the answer RAISE CAIN. Thanks, Bruce, for an easy, but interesting Monday.

Nice write-up, as usual, Argyle.

As for the Brownies, I'm not getting into the flap!

CAKY said...

Its a shame that neither BarryG nor Kazie get to have their just desserts.

Misty said...

My goodness, what a discussion!

I enjoyed the theme on this one and was especially delighted to see a self-reflexive CROSSWORD in our CROSSWORD PUZZLE. A first, in my experience, and a total delight! Many thanks, Bruce!

Argyle, your Scotch pic reminded me of my first dog, a Scottish terrier named Angus. I was thankful to switch to dachshunds after 12 years with that toughie. Am not sure I'd ever try a DALMATIAN.

Fun Scotch story, Lemonade.

Have a great week, everybody!

JJM said...

Here's my two cents on "BrownieGate". I don't care if they are CAKY or burnt… just as long as I get the end piece. This is what my wife and kids got me a couple years ago. Greatest invention ever!! Brownie Pan

Ergo said...


Thank you Bruce and Argyle.

Had a sluggish start with policeCAR for PATROLCAR. Smudged up the NW real good.

CAKY and GERMY sound more like renegade cousins of the 7 Dwarfs instead of legitimate crossword answers.

CrossEyedDave said...

Hmm,

So far, (aside from Caky)

Black & White,
Torch,
Old childrens shows,,,

This discussion thread reminds me of an early childrens show seen in the U.K. & Australia. Any Americans I have shown it to all say it has to be the creepiest thing they have ever seen...

Torchy, the battery boy. (Season 1, Part 2.)

The 1st attempt by Gerry Anderson, who later brought us Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray. The Thunderbirds, UFO, & Space 1999.


Also, An alternate clue for 63A...

coneyro said...

Fast Monday offering. No muss, no fuss. Also waited for BOND/BAIL.

Food is my area of expertise, so I will chime in on the brownie question. A dense brownie is of the fudgelike variety. They are heavy, chewy with no air holes. On the other hand, cakelike or caky(which, honestly, I always spell CAKEY in this reference) are moist, light and NEVER dense(unless overbaked). So there you have it....fudgy=dense and caky=light. So technically, from a baker's viewpoint, the clue and answer IMO is definitely incorrect. But they're fattening and delicious either way.

Odd how the answer ELROY was in both puzzles of my Tampa Bay Times today. The other puzzle I find a very dry run. It usually doesn't have a playful feel, and obscure and technical references even on a Monday. It's like Friday every day. The L.A. Times puzzle, while not always easy, is a wonderful experience. It feels like a community affair with all the comments of the bloggers to look forward to. Makes my day.

So people, that's my Monday commentary. All that food talk is making me hungry. Guess I'll go remedy that right now.

The best to all of the "best".

Jayce said...

Fun puzzle. I enjoyed solving it, but I did shake my head at ORCA WHALE. Well, it's a crossword puzzle, after all, deserving of a little leeway.
Best wishes to you all.

desper-otto said...

Dang, Lemon beat me to the Topper answer. Husker, at first I thought you'd screwed up with the "Two Loons" video -- the beginning looked like two old coots.

AWAD had a great QOD last Thursday which for some odd reason showed up in my in-box today. It seems appropriate for the "caky" discussion:

When two opposite points of view are expressed with equal intensity, the truth does not necessarily lie exactly halfway between them. It is possible for one side to be simply wrong. -Richard Dawkins, biologist and author (b. 26 Mar 1941)

Steve said...

@ZCarguy - there was a British cop show in the 60's called "Z Cars" (pronounced Zed-Cars, NATCH). It was based on the (gaps!) amazing concept that police could patrol in cars and be linked to HQ by (gasp!) radio!

The theme music is still played at premier league soccer's Everton home games when the teams come out onto the field, no-one knows for sure why.

Anonymous said...

A nice, easy Monday puzzle. Thanks, Bruce and Argyle.

I enjoyed the Black and White picture. We've been owned by two Scotties.

These days, as long as the brownies are gluten-free, I don't care if they're chewy or cake-like.

The public schools are on Spring Break this week. At least half the residents here go to Florida so dining out and shopping are nice experiences. Stores and restaurants are empty.

Have a great week.

Pat

Chickie said...

HOla everyone, A quick run today.
Apart from putting in Police Car instead of Patrol Car, the rest of the Crossword fell into place nicely.

I had forgotten "The Jestson's" boy/Elroy, but that name filled in with the perps. Other names came from somewhere. I'm not usually good at remembering band, song, and movie names.

I faltered on the Post ER Unit. I always think of the ICU as a Post OR Unit. When you go to the ER you don't always end up in the ICU.

Yellowrocks, My husbands favorite birthday "cake" is Apple pie.

There were 61 entries this morning when I logged on. People were really up early.

Have a great day, everyone.

Steve said...

Oh - Bruce Haight also appears in the NYT today for a Monday double! The grid design is interesting - instead of the usual left/right or top/bottom symmetry it's diagonally-symmetrical, something I've not seen before.

Chickie said...

Yellowrocks, I hear you about old records. In going through two elderly relative's files, I ended up shredding several large boxes of old paperwork. Everything from cancelled checks to court documents. It took ages to get it done. I'm on a tear to get our old papers taken care of so our kids don't have the same problem.

Congratulations, Kazie, on the new grandchild to be. Lea will be a big sister and maybe she'll opt for a puppy, too, like the little girl in the Cheerio's ad.

Chickie said...

Congratulation to Lemon, also, on the new grandchild. I hadn't read that far on the blog.

This is time for announcements. Two of our grandchildren have become engaged.

Busy day today. I have to get ready for the painter tomorrow. We finally see the light at the end of a long tunnel.

CanadianEh! said...

Well I see that I am late to the party today with 65 entries already.

I did finish up the weekend CROSSWORDS and smiled at all the Canadian references on Sunday with LORNE GREEN, VANCOUVER and the BARE NAKED LADIES!

Fun Monday puzzle. Hand up for POLICE CAR before PATROL CAR. I wanted CINCH before NATCH.

Such excitement for those with new grandchildren coming or engaged. My youngest grandchild will be 1 year this week and is almost walking. They grow so quickly.

desper-otto said...

Interesting, Steve. I hadn't noticed the NYT symmetry. I went back to look at it. It does look like a flock of birds heading northwest in the spring.

I've never understood why crossword puzzles need symmetry. Of course, there have to be some black squares; otherwise all included words would have to be 15 characters long. But what's so important about the symmetrical placement of those black squares? Tradition?

Lucina said...

Oh, my! I see that congratulations are in order to Kazie and Lemonade on the impending birth of grandchildren and Chickie on the engagement of grandchildren. Those are wonderful and exciting milestones. I'm happy for all of you!

In somewhat unhappy news, I read that series 6 of Downton Abbey (next year's) will be the last one! Boo hoo. It's been a delightful program.

Jazzbumpa said...

Symmetry.

Cheers!
JzB

Yellowrocks said...

My family and I frequently use the word GERMY.
Don't eat that after it fell on the floor. It's GERMY.
Jeremy in one of my classes strongly objected to the eliding of the second e in his name, Jer'my. He'd yell,"I am not GERMY."

Anonymous T said...

Wow - the Corner is hot today...

I TOO had issues w/ CAKY, but by JOLLY, I got it. WEES re: 17a - ink blot.

Has anyone checked on Bruce? Does he need a few CENTs? PATROL CAR, OUT ON BAIL, MALL COP. Many ADOS. Was Bruce TIPSY and RAISE'n CAIN? (HG - I've had their chicken finger in the red stick - yum!).

CED - Your ROATARY dial clip was WAY COOL - this is coming from a phreaker (I C U). Anyone have the urge to Dial-0 and ask for Wilmore 3-3467? Aha, Bell Labs is gone - Musk and The Google guys have to take it fwd.

Favs: LEONA xing OSCAR the grouch - LOL! CYBER - It's in my title (I must be from the future - weird) CROSSWORD in a xword - priceless.

Kazzie - thanks for the link to expand our Bard's language. I really did enjoy it (and got most Auzie-isms right!)

Ergo - your 9 dwarfs cracked me up, er, also.

What is black and white, black and white, black and white, and goes thump, thump, thump? A nun falling down the STEPS... (sorry Lucina)

Cheers, -T

Jerome said...

Desper- The main reason is that symmetry is more pleasing to the eye. Picture a crossword grid with theme entries and black squares simply placed willy-nilly all over the place.It would look rather messy.
However, every crossword rule is broken quite often. I believe one of the greatest constructors of all time is Joe Krozel. His legendary "Lies" puzzle has no symmetry. But, if you're going to go out of the box and break convention, the theme or gimmick better be extraordinary.

Cakey is a more common spelling than caky, but there is dictionary backing for both. I think it's quite obvious that when the clue says, "Like DENSE brownies", caky in Argyle's sense is what was intended. If I ask someone, "Using all the definitions for 'caky', if I use that word to define dense brownies, am I correct?" There's no other answer but "Yes".

Bill G. said...

There is no sense for my continuing to feed the brownie kerfuffle further. However, my vote is for 'caky brownie' to mean dense like mud caked on ones shoes.

Speaking of cake-like, I'm a cornbread fan. I do not like the present-day trend of making sweet cornbread with so much added flour and sugar that it comes out tasting like yellow cake. One of my favorite recipes is right on the cornmeal box with smaller amounts of both flour and sugar.

It's beautiful here today. The temperature is in the high 60s with blue sky, low humidity and a wisp of a sea breeze.

Off to get a car wash and to go for a bike ride.

Anonymous T said...

Jerome - I do like symmetry but lack of it can be fun. Yous guys are making me want to stop at the corner store and get the NYS paper.

OK, since it poked at Nuns, it's time to poke at me...

I just gots Italian tires on my car. Dego through water, Dego throgh mud, and we de flat, Dego WOP, WOP, WOP, WOP.

Cheers, -T

Yellowrocks said...

Jerome, sounds like a specious argument to me.
For example, one definition of DUSTING is "apply a powdery substance to", as dusting the cake with confectioner's sugar or dusting the crops with bug repellant.
However, when we talk of dusting the furniture everyone knows that we are not adding a powdery substance , but rather removing dust from.
The same reasoning goes for caky brownies. No one who bakes brownies, like one our master chefs on the blog,CONEYRO, uses Rich's definition.

Jerome said...

PS- Since I'm a technical caveman I can't post it for you, but you can go to XWord Info, scroll down to "Constructors", type in Joe Krozel to see "Lies". It's in the 16th row from the top. Also, you can see how many of his puzzles have no symmetry.

Anonymous said...

I did the puzzle last night. It seems to be available quite early now. No problems.

We had a wonderful Dalmatian for 13 years. He was not good around little kids, though.

Husker, our Lutheran church here has a female minister.

I still have a rotary phone in our basement. Never changed it out. Works fine if someone is down there and needs to use a phone.

Incredibly nice weather in Montana, however, farmers would like some rain--didn't get enough snow.

Have a good evening,

Montana

Jayce said...

We keep a rotary phone on hand for times when the power goes out. It works like a charm.

Avg Joe said...

Crikey! Enough caky! Time to declare a truce.

Bill G, I'm hardly a gastronome of cornbread, but I've tried lots of "from scratch" recipes and methods as well as a variety of box mixes. When all is said and done, I still like Jiffy the best. It's cheap, it's good, and it tastes like cornbread should taste. You might even say it's cakey. :-)

Bill G. said...

Avg Joe, I'm no expert on cornbread either but I know what I like. Jiffy is OK but it's sweeter than I like and it has more flour than I prefer. I like that gritty cornmeal taste. Yum!

I went to get an exterior car wash and it turned out I was due for a free one, so my car is clean inside and outside. Excellent! Off for a bike ride now. Then espresso, then tutoring. This retired life is TOUGH...

Anonymous said...

Did you hear about the teacher who was helping one of her pupils put on his boots?

He asked for help and she could see why.

Even with her pulling, and him pushing, the little boots still didn't want to go on.

By the time they got the second boot on, she had worked up a sweat.

She almost cried when the little boy said, 'Teacher, they're on the wrong feet.'

She looked, and sure enough, they were.

Unfortunately, it wasn't any easier pulling the boots off, than it was putting them on.
She managed to keep her cool as, together, they worked to get the boots back on, this time on the correct feet.

He then announced, 'These aren't my boots.'

She bit her tongue, rather than get right in his face and scream, 'Why didn't you say so?' like she wanted to.

Once again, she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet.

No sooner had they got the boots off when he said, 'They're my brother's boots. But my Mom made me wear 'em today.'

Now she didn't know if she should laugh or cry.

But she mustered up what grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots BACK onto his feet again.

Helping him into his coat, she asked, 'Now, where are your mittens?'

He said, 'I stuffed 'em in the toes of my boots.'

Anonymous said...

Jeremy spoke in class today. Pearl Jam

Occasional Lurker said...

This was the easiest puzzle yet, and the blog ( Thanks, Argyle ! ) was longer than the actual puzzle. I was surprised to find 82 responses ... wow ! I wonder what the ado was all about. Okay, okay, its all about brownies and cakes.... could have been worse.

On Australia, I came across a joke - a visitor to one of the cities down under, was asked by the airport immigration agent ...' Have you ever been convicted of a serious crime or spent any time in jail ?'.

To which, he murmured ... 'In this day and age, .... I didn't know it was still a requirement'....

And he found out, that that response was a code word for a free nights worth of room and board.


Next time, we an ask CED to link a caky brownie instead of a birthday cake. (My spellcheck doesn't like it either ....)

Bill G. said...

Gary, I hope things are going well for you health-wise and that you are feeling better each day. I know a lot of us are suffering from various maladies, aches, pains, etc. so those good wishes are directed toward all of us who can use them.

I went out to start up my old car that I just use to drive my bike and me to the beach. Everything was thrown all around the inside of the car. Apparently I had left it unlocked and somebody had ransacked it. They took about seven dollars in change, a sweatshirt I wear on bike rides if the weather turns cold and the car registration card. Why they chose to take the registration card I haven't a clue. So I'll have to call AAA tomorrow and get a new one. Rats...

My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.

Anonymous said...

NOT ALL THIEVES ARE STUPID


1. LONG - TERM PARKING
Some people left their car in the long-term parking at San Jose while away, and someone broke into the car. Using the information on the car's registration in the glove compartment, they drove the car to the people's home in Pebble Beach and robbed it. So I guess if we are going to leave the car in long-term parking, we should NOT leave the registration/insurance cards in it, nor your remote garage door opener. This gives us something to think about with all our new electronic technology.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Fun & fast, Bruce! Good one, Argyle! I liked the black & white theme.

I was expecting something more technical than GERMY before I figured out the flag name.

I tried Dooby Bros. before JONAS perped up. Wasn't sure how they spelled Dooby though.

All the talk about brownies was torture for someone like me who loves them and is trying to cut back on goodies. I got to drooling so bad, my keyboard was in danger. I had to stop in the middle of reading all the posts and go watch Jeopardy and the news and DWTS. I come back and we're still talking about brownies. Aaagh! I haven't craved something so bad since I was last pregnant in 1976. Quit it, y'all!

Lovely spring day here at 72* with spring flowers and trees blooming. Made going to the grocery store not such a chore.

Anonymous T said...

(snicker) PK said Doobie and brownies... /snicker

Anonymous T said...

Whomever recommended the NYT today, thanks. I picked it up at the corner store; the fill was fun. Bruce gets double kudos for his CROSSWORDS.

Bill G. Anon@8:41p is right - this thief has the skinny on you. Take the extra safety STEPS over the next few days.

My appologies Argyle - I never gave you the nod you richly deserved today. Fun from the ON SET.

Cheers, -T