google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, April 27, 2015 Mark Bickham

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Apr 27, 2015

Monday, April 27, 2015 Mark Bickham

Theme: Thumbs

17A. Color named for a fruit : LIME GREEN. Green thumb, the ability to grow healthy plants.

37A. Legendary Lady Godiva watcher : PEEPING TOM. Tom Thumb, disambiguation There are several.

42A. Stiff from horseback riding : SADDLE SORE. Sore thumb, something you don't want to stand out like.

62A. Clumsy ... or what the ends of 17-, 37- and 42-Across are? : ALL THUMBS

Argyle here. Bit unusual to have entries longer than the themes but not confusing. They add some panache to an easy-peasy Monday.

Across:

1. Flat-topped hill : MESA. Not loma this time.

5. Bash thrower : HOST

9. Arctic or Antarctic : OCEAN

14. "Are you asleep yet?" response : "I'M UP". Would not be my response.

15. Not tricked by : ON TO

16. Modeler's wood : BALSA

19. Like a mosquito bite : ITCHY

20. "Ah-oo-gah" horn : KLAXON



21. __ rally : PEP

23. Howls at the moon : BAYS

24. "Hold on a __" : SEC

25. Seek the affections of : WOO

27. Stop producing opportunities, as a financial market : DRY UP

29. Prefix with red : INFRA

31. What a musty room needs : AIRING

34. Ancient invader of Rome : GOTH

39. Converse competitor : AVIA

40. Gets rid of, as weight : LOSES

41. Park path : LANE


44.Soon, quaintly : ANON

45. Set aside a day for : PLAN ON

46. Word before house or plant : POWER

48. Oafs : LOUTS

50. Tyke : TOT

51. Eric Stonestreet's "Modern Family" role : CAM. In his role as Cameron Tucker on Modern Family, Stonestreet has earned three consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (2010, 2011 and 2012), winning the award in 2010 and 2012. He also received three Golden Globe Award nominations (2010, 2011 and 2013) for his work on the series.

54. New Zealand fruit : KIWI

56. Affirmative vote : YEA The other side. 13D. Negative votes : NAYS

58. Pepsi competitor : RC COLA

60. Slip past : EVADE

64. Judge's hammer : GAVEL

65. Jacob's first wife : LEAH

66. Lewd material : SMUT

67. Go on tiptoe : SNEAK

68. Like centerfolds : SEXY

69. Glazed Easter meats : HAMS

Down:

1. Does a farm job : MILKS. I guess mucks isn't a Monday word.

2. Author Zola : ÉMILE. "J'accuse"

3. "Poison" plant : SUMAC

4. Peak : APEX

5. Cornucopia : HORN OF PLENTY

6. "__ Life to Live" : ONE. A soap opera that had a 43 year run. Any fans?

7. Dance move : STEP

8. Got into shape, with "up" : TONED

9. __-Wan Kenobi : OBI. Star Wars.

10. Agile thief : CAT BURGLAR

11. Yosemite monolith popular with rock climbers : EL CAPITAN

12. Pale as a ghost : ASHY

18. Red-carpet garment : GOWN

22. Commendable : PRAISE WORTHY

26. Black-and-white cookies : OREOs

28. Yang counterpart : YIN

29. "That never occurred to me" : "I HAD NO IDEA"

30. Ancient storyteller : AESOP

32. Forbidden act : NO-NO

33. Fed. agents : G-MEN

34. Quick inhalation : GASP

35. Running track shape : OVAL

36. Seaside disaster cause : TIDAL WAVE

38. 1995 Reform Party founder : PEROT. (H. Ross Perot)

43. Singer Reed : LOU



47. Engrave on glass, say : ETCH

49. Makes watertight : SEALS

51. Punctuation mark in large numbers : COMMA

52. Scrapbook : ALBUM

53. Supports for sails : MASTS

54. Tapped beer holders : KEGS

55. Tennis great Lendl : IVAN

57. Out of the wind : ALEE

59. Like an easy job, slangily : CUSH. (cushy)

61. Moose relative : ELK

63. Southern Cal. airport : LAX


Argyle


1) Belatedly Happy Birthday to Lea's grandma Kay (Kazie), who joined this blog the year I started. I'm awfully sorry that I blanked on Saturday morning, Kay! We've been in a frenzy to prepare for our card show next week. I hope Barry and you did something special.

Kay and her husband Barry on Tamborine Mountain, overlooking Brisbane

2) The real Big Easy sent me these pictures of Justin Rose, the winner (22 under par) of the Zurich Classics. Big Easy has been volunteering for the event for years.  The other Big Easy skipped the event.




68 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all (and Happy Belated Birthday to Kazie)!

Very smooth solve today. Had a minor brain fart down in the SE due to CAM being unknown, but that was about the only bump in the road for me today. I really enjoyed seeing those long non-theme answers in the grid.

Thanks for a fun puzzle, Mark!

Lemonade714 said...

What a wonderful Monday, with tight simple theme and fill like KLAXON, HORN OF PLENTY, CAT BURGLAR, EL CAPITAIN, PRAISE WORTHY, TIDAL WAVE and more but still a very doable grid.

What fun. Thanks Mark and Argyle.

unclefred said...

Fun puzzle. Great write-up, Argyle, thanks! Like Barry, didn't know CAM, but otherwise smooth sailing.

thehondohurricane said...


Nice start to the week with a fun solve. Like Argyle the clue/fill for 14A did not make sense. Maybe "Are you awake yet?"

Never had a clue about the theme until the reveal.

Happy birthday Kazie, hope you had a wonderful day.

CC, are you setting up or going on a buying spree? Is it the monthly mall show in your area?

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

This one was PRAISE WORTHY with some nice long downs and an elusive theme.

I don't recognize CAM, but then I've never seen Modern Family.

When I was a wee lad I had a little golden record (remember those?) with Sousa marches on it: EL CAPITAN on one side and Semper Fideles on the reverse. When I first heard of the monolith in Yosemite, I supposed it was named after the march. D'oh!

Happy belated birthday, Kazie!

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Argyle and friends. Interesting Monday puzzle with lots of long and interesting fills. I especially liked the HORN OF PLENTY.

My favorite clue of the puzzle was Punctuation Mark in Large Numbers = COMMA.

The correct answer in my house to 14-A would be: I am NOW!

A belated Happy Birthday to Kazie. Hope you had a good day and could spend it with the grandchild.

QOD: It is justice, not charity, that is wanting in the world. ~ Mary Wollstonecraft (Apr. 27, 1759 ~ Sept. 10, 1797).

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Hondo,
We're setting up for the monthly Sports Collectors Club show to sell our cards and collectibles.

Flea market season is almost here. We have better luck there due to low cost ($20 dollars), but we have to leave the house by 3:00am on Saturday/Sunday and I'm totally wasted on Mondays.

Madame Defarge said...

Happy Belated Birthday, Kazie!

I enjoyed today; thanks Mark. I agree Argyle-- a bit of panache. Thanks.

An easy run today judging by the lack of erasure blurs on the newsprint. Like Barry, I enjoyed the long fills. I struggled with IM UP also, but then I read it to mean "yes," which is probably what I would have answered. I liked COMMA. My former students once had a teacher whose mantra was "When in doubt, use a comma." I always knew which kids had her. Commas can be like carpet tacks. If you've ever torn up carpeting, you know what I mean.

I hope you are having a sunny day today.

Unknown said...

Another nice puzzle....I got stuck on KLAXON for a bit but the perps saved me.
That was a nice win for Justin Rose in the Big Easy...birdies to win it on the last two holes!!!

Tinbeni said...

Always enjoy the Monday puzzle. This one was PRAISE WORTHY.

Especially liked the long "non-theme" answers.

Of course my fave today was KEGS ... go figure.

Working on "The Ark" getting ready for the rain starting tonight through Wednesday.
Hmmm, guess I'll have to stock-up on something else, too.

Cheers!

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Mark Birckham, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.

Well, I finished a crossword or the first time in a few days. I started Sunday's and it is far from finished. Maybe later today.

Today's went quite easily. The theme came easily, as well. Had ALL THUMBS before any of the theme answers.

I, also, did not know CAM. Perps.

KLAXON gave me APEX.

I used to work a lot with BALSA wood as a youth. Made lots of model airplanes. Made a free flight plane once that we put too much gas in and it flew so far we never did find it.

Have not seen EMILE Zola for quite a while.

I have to finish cutting my grass. Started yesterday. Then, lots of gardening to get into. I think the frosts are about over. I have over 300 seedlings to get into the ground. Both here and in Pennsylvania.

Happy Birthday, Kazie, and many more.

See you later today or tomorrow, or both.

Abejo

( )

Husker Gary said...

I thought there was some meat on this fun Monday bone, starting with KLAXON.

Musings
-Yeah, he was the only one in Coventry that PEEPED!
-ITCHY – “It’s gonna take an ocean, of calamine lotion”
-INFRARED imaging told the BPD that their search was over
-I can tell you how I LOST 25 lbs…
-Some think CAM and Mitch perpetuate gay stereotypes. I just think they’re hilarious!
-If I lived in Mexico, I’d try to EVADE the border patrol too
-Any suggested captions for this GAVEL exchange?
-Yma SUMAC is probably not Monday fare
-To “STEP around the floor kinda nice and light” is part of “Ballin’ the Jack”
-UNL has an indoor track OVAL with hydraulically controlled banked corners
-ENGRAVED glass in every science room
-My kids giggled when I called yearbooks ALBUMS like we used to do
-Happy Saturday Birthday Kazie! Was there any KIWI on the menu?
-Big Easy, it appears Justin is appreciating your advice!

CanadianEh! said...

I agree that this was a PRAISEWORTHY puzzle with just a few changes required to complete.

Filling in HORN OF PLENTY changed SHEDS to LOSES and AYE to YEA. I had NIKE before AVIA (not a familiar brand to me).

My answer to 14 A was I WAS!

Madame Defarge, I smiled at your comment about COMMAS.

Thanks Mark and thanks Argyle for the blossom photo.
We are waiting for warmer weather to bring them out. The house will get an AIRING also!

Belated HBD Kazie.

Jerome said...

I HAD NO IDEA that DIANE IDAHO is the sister city of Pierre South Dakota.

A zombie's finger food is ALL THUMBS.

In ancient China rich people put a vase by their bed. A PEEPING TOM could see them use the MING PEE Pot.

Song inspired by a blaze in a woodworking shop- "Great Balsa Fire"

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

An easy, breezy start to the week. Confidently filled in tangerine but perps quickly changed that to lime green. Other than that, smooth sailing. Thumbs up to Mark Bickham and Argyle for a fun Monday outing.

Belated Happy Birthday to Kazie; hope you did something special.

Have a great day.

Avg Joe said...

Fun Monday level puzzle. Lots of interesting fill with no dreck. Thanks Mark and thank you Argyle.

JJM said...

KLAXON… a good Monday word.

My 2 favorite covers of Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane"

1. Mott the Hoople's cover from the album "All the Young Dudes" (1972)

2. Cowboy Junkies cover from the album "200 More Miles - Live Performances 1985-1994" (1995)

Dudley said...

What Avg. Joe said.

Chairman Moe said...

"puzzling thoughts":

missed the end of last week due to travel; saw that MOE was used as a clue/solve on either Friday or Sat. Also, our Sunday paper carries both the LAT and NYT puzzles, and both puzzles were constructed by Don Hard G and CC! Very cool!

Today's puzzle was pretty easy despite some longer fills. Very nice for a Monday; challenging yet doable. A lot of it - including the "theme/reveal" was achieved via perps. I might be the only person in American who's never watched Modern Family, as CAM was a complete perp

Today's constructor had an interesting "side theme" going on, what with PEEPING TOM, WOO, BAYS, SEXY, NO-NO and SMUT being clue solves. I find that, PRAISE WORTHY!!

When I saw the Lady Godiva clue I remembered that an erstwhile British pop duo recorded a song by that name. Peter and Gordon were kind of a cross between rock and folk ballad genre.

JD said...

Good morning all,

This was a nice start to the week. I liked the longer fill.I think the only time I've heard klaxon might have been in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.It took a few perps to get lime green.Park paths to me are trails, so again I needed any letter there to wake up my brain.
My first thought for El Capitan was Half Dome, a completely different "rock". In January, 2 climbers actually scaled that granite monolith using only hands, feet and a safety rope. It made headlines in our paper.

Happy Belated birthday Kazie! ¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨* I thought about you on our most recent trip to Australia and NZ. What beautiful countries.

THANK YOU , Argyle for again explaining the theme. What, no green thumb in there?

Lucina said...

Hello, friends!

Belated happy birthday wishes, Kazie! I hope you celebrated.

What a nice Monday stroll from Mark Bickham. Fresh as a dip in the OCEAN.

I saw that tangerine would fit but waited for perps and a good thing, too.

Yesterday my granddaughter went shopping for a prom GOWN. She looks like a Greek goddess according to one of her cousins.

I miss having pictures to put in an ALBUM. Digital ones aren't much fun.

Have a marvelous Monday, everyone!

Bill G. said...

That was a very pleasant Monday puzzle. It's always relaxing after the weekend puzzles.

Madame Defarge, fun comment about commas. I used to put a comma at the last item in a list. After being told about the local newspaper's preferred style manual, now I don't.

Gary, I agree about Cam and Mitch. I think the whole show is funny. It's just about the only comedy I watch regularly. Of course, it isn't quite up to WKRP but what is?

I agree about photo albums. They're more trouble but more fun to look through.

It's gonna be warm here; around 80. Have a good day!

Comma Sutra said...

I'm a fan of the serial comma (aka the Oxford comma).

W.K. Kellogg said...

I'm a fan of the cereal comma: Snap, Crackle, and Pop.

Sal Dali said...

I'm a fan of the surreal comma.

Misty said...

What a fun Monday puzzle, I join all your other fans in thanking you for it, Mark. Lovely pic of that LANE, Argyle, and the GOWNs were pretty nice too.

We love "Modern Family," so had no problem getting CAM.

Happy belated birthday, Kazie--hope it was wonderful.

Hope you'll get some much needed sleep, C.C.

Have a great week, everybody!

C6D6 Peg said...

Very easy speed run today, even with the long entries. Loved CATBURGLAR and HORNOFPLENTY. Not often on a Monday do we get the nifty long fills. Thanks, Mark for a smooth workout.

Argyle, loved the picture of your Lane.

Back on track after being out of town. Only have 3 more puzzles to finish from last week!

coneyro said...

Puzzle was Monday level no brainer. Had to go back over it. Didn't read most down clues.

Modern Family is unknown to many bloggers? I really can't believe this. IMO, included in the "best comedy of all time " list. Represents how a "real" family acts, warts and all. What show do you bloggers enjoy? Would be interested to know.

As to One Life to Live. Watched it for almost forty years, along with A.M.C. and G.H., among others. With the invention of the VCR, I was able to record all my shows while at work. My downfall came when I added new serials, and became overwhelmed. Had to eventually go cold turkey. Giving them up was as hard as quitting cigarettes. But I did love them. Take a peek once in a while on G.H. Everyone is so old! But the strorylines never change.

That's it from me today.

chin said...

Lady Godiva rode side-saddle through Coventry. That's why the people on the left side of the street shouted, "Hurray for our side!"

Spitzboov said...

Good afternoon everyone.

WEES. An easy romp today; No lookups or erasures.

Have a great day.

Jayce said...

What Dudley said.

Lucina said...

I like Modern Family but sometimes their neuroses annoy me and I take a break from them for a few weeks. They are funny, though.

Last Man Standing and Cristela are two of my favorites. They are truly funny and don't rely on sexual references for comedy.

What I really love are the British dramas on PBS, Dalziel & Pascoe and usually whatever is on Masterpiece Classics.

BillG:
Yesterday we had the family April birthdays so haven't had a chance to watch Sunday morning which I record. Sometime this week I'll watch it. Thanks for the tip.

Dudley and Jayce:
You are two funny guys! Nice of AvgJoe to write for you.

Lemonade714 said...

Happy Birthday and many more to Kazie one the most loyal of the Cornerites. Keep those grandbabies coming/

Lucina: Go to Walgreens.com or CVS and upload your pictures and you will have an album before you know it.

Avg Joe said...

I was a little rushed this morning. Forgot to wish Kazie a Happy Birthday!

Dudley and Jayce also extend their birthday wishes. :-)

Rainman said...

Exceptiional job, Mark. Thanks to all.

Anonymous said...

Ah, Monday puzzles. A smooth, easy way to start the new week. Thanks, Mark and Argyle.

My only write-over was because I put an answer in the wrong place. Dumb!

Belated birthday wishes, Kazie! I hope it was a wonderful day.

I enjoy all the comments here--well except for the snarky ones. Thanks to everyone who posts.

Have a good week.

Pat

CrossEyedDave said...

WCMS (What Chairman Moe Said) sorta,,,

I was in Georgia yesterday for a wedding, & grabbed the hotel paper on the way out as an afterthought. I was pleasantly surprised to find two Sunday puzzles in the Atlanta paper, both of them Don & CC! I did the LA Times on the plane, but I am saving the NY Times for my next trip...

Happy belated birthday Kazie! Sorry, but I couldn't just look at that cake for two days!

Green Thumb?

Peeping Tom?

Sorry, I got tired of looking for a good Sore Thumb pic.

& in a lame effort to get Irish Miss to stop calling me Mr. Meow...

Irish Miss said...

CED @ 3:04 - My stomach hurts from laughing so hard at your links, especially the first one and, even more so, the last one. SUP?, indeed! (I thought Mr. Meow was kinda cute, but I guess you don't. Actually, I thought it was Purr-fect!) đŸ˜¢

Lucina said...

Lemonade@1:49:
Thank you! I didn't know that.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Mark! Great expo, Argyle!

I zipped through this one then got stumped in the SW corner. DUH! I've watched the show several times but didn't remember Stonestreet's character was CAM. I've heard of CUSHy but not CUSH so that was a stopper. But couldn't come up with COMMA (read the clue wrong) or ALBUM. Finally went to HAMS & SMUT and worked back up.

COMMAs: I'm redoing my trust/will papers and the run-on sentences with umpty-two COMMAS is driving me nuts as I type it. As an old newspaper editor, I keep trying to edit the unwieldy sentences to no avail. BTW I think serial COMMAS are unnecessary if preceding "and".

I saw an interview with Stonestreet where he said he is married to a woman and definitely not gay. No wonder he got acting awards for it.

Justin Rose won?! Begorrah! I forgot to watch the bloomin' golf tournament yesterday. I turned it on Saturday and it was rained out. I get my news on the blog first a lot of times.

Happy birthday, Kazie, and many more!

BillG: we called him "Yos-might Sam", too. A funny miss-pronunciation I remember was my aunt calling Deborah from the Bible story, "d-BORE'-ah. Her childhood Sunday School teacher called it that and the whole town went along. We were contemplating a name for my mom's expected baby at the time. He would have been Debra.

Bill G. said...

Happy birthday Kazie!!!

Eric Stonestreet (CAM) isn't gay but the other guy playing Mitchell is.

Sofia Vergara (Gloria) is drop-dead gorgeous especially once you know she is 40 years old and she is smart and funny.

One of the math teachers at our school mispronounced a lot of words. I always wondered why. When I have a student come for tutoring who pronounces 'parabola' as 'pa-lab-o-ra', I know they had this teacher for math the year before.

41-year-old said...

Bill G said: Sofia Vergara (Gloria) is drop-dead gorgeous especially once you know she is 40 years old.

Spitzboov said...

Oop, forgot.

Happy Birthday, Kazie.

Bill G. said...

Dear 41-year-old: Apologies. Ya got me. My brain wandered off track for a couple of seconds. BTW, please include a photo with your next post... :>)

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

YEA, almost a DNF with my farm hands MILLing @1d and not knowing what 20a was (learning moment), I was sure it was jalopy related and had nothing to do with a llama. But, NAY, no DNF - an alphabet-run brought in the MILK.

What C. Moe said re: sub-them - SEXY. Moe EVADEd CAM banging is little GAVEL (Python). DW likes Modern Family so I've seen a few episodes; they're fun but cringeWORTHY.

WEES re fabulous fill. Just wish I had a Moon Pie to go w/ my RC COLA :-) RC COLA and a Moon Pie - not the original, but I like it.

Two THUMBS UP. Very well done Mr. Bickham. And, I'd be remiss not to mention Argyle as our Monday HOST. Thanks.

HBD Kazie!

PK - DeBra?

HG - Captions: "OK, but just for today" (Boehner) or "Really? They love me, they really love me." (Peloci). Both are HAMS.

I'll try to SNEAK in later.

Cheers, -T

SwampCat said...

Glubb....The Big Easy is the Big Flooded today!

Thunderstorms passed through and left Hurricane-WORTHY street flooding, downed trees and power lines, and general mess. Several rail cars were blown off the railroad bridge over the Mississippi River. By the wind! Who knew wind could do that and not be called a hurricane?

But I was dry inside doing the smile-inducing puzzle and reading Argyle's laugh out loud expo. Thanks, guys!!

Loved the long ...but discernible...fills, and Aesop and Klaxon.

I see ASEA is back with us. Welcome back!

I am an Oxford comma devotee. Sometimes a series will include one entity with X and Y. So....A, B, C, X and Y...is not the same as A, B, C, X, and Y.

Yes...sigh...I know there are arguments on the other side. I've herd them....

SwampCat said...

Oops....heard, not herd!

Anonymous said...

I had this video all teed up ready to link for equal representation because I would have bet the farm that Mr. Meow was going to go all CAT BURGLAR on us today.

Oh well, still had more cat links so here goes...

How to move a pool indoors when you are ALL THUMBS.

Anonymous T said...

Swamp Cat - I'm w/ you on the Oxford COMMA (@1:48). DW says we can be LAX with 'em. BTW - we had that rain in HOU yesterday - could hardly PEEP through the windshield driving home.

One thing I forgot to mention is how I liked OREOS keeping my MILK from getting lonely. Sorry, that's the best I could find. EL CAPITAN CED, the HORN OF PLENTY links, likely has better.

Cheers, -T

Big Easy said...

Well after leaving the Tournament after watching Rose shoot a birdie on the last hole, this has been my last 24 hours.

Go to play golf at 7:30.
Hear thunder about 9:30. The horn blows.
As soon as I am in the clubhouse,my wife calls and says there are TORNADO WARNINGS for New Orleans.

Tornado hits about 5 miles from the golf course after I leave.

As soon as I get home, we lose electricity. After three hours, I pull out the generator in case I need to hook up the freezer and refrigerator (ice-box for us older folks).

I check my phone for radar and read about 8-10 RAILROAD CARS BEING BLOWN OFF THE Huey P. Long bridge.
http://www.nola.com/weather/index.ssf/2015/04/huey_p_long_bridge_cleanup_of.html#incart_river

Go tutor my granddaughter in Chemistry for an hour & half.
Power came back on around 4 p.m.

Oh, and worked the puzzle in the dark (it was really dark) with a flashlight. I didn't get the reveal until the end, but it solved easily, as a Monday's puzzle should, with CAM being my only unknown.

Pictures of Justin Rose were during the Pro-Am last Wednesday.

Madame Defarge said...

Love all the COMMA-ments.

Do remember Faulkner's sentence in The Bear. Some say the longest in the English language.

Grammar is fluid as the many style sheets illustrate. I had a tendency to use Strunk and White for it's Miesian approach to writing. I found it good for high schoolers, but I insisted they remember to follow the style sheets of their various college departments and jobs.

My son failed a first year history class at an Ivy because he used MLA on a final paper, which the required form throughout high school, rather than APA. He had the summer to rewrite the paper citing in APA style. His professor knew he wasn't cheating, but rules are rules. A learning experience for that now diligent attorney.

I loved reading all the comments today: particularly jolly.

Irish Miss said...

Anon @ 6:07 - A perfect example of "dogged determination!" đŸ˜‰

Big Easy said...

Swamp Cat- Had to drive down Clearview Pkwy this afternoon and the RR cars blown off the bridge were the shipping containers from ships that were double-decked on flatcars. Directly behind Copelands and Jaegers restaurants.

Coneyro- "Modern Family" and most other shows are unfamiliar to those of us who do not care about watching television dramas a comedies. So, CAM was a total blank to me. Maybe if the clue were "_____-shaft" but the television shows just do not interest me.

Yellowrocks said...

An especially interesting, easy Monday puzzle with the long downs. I didn't know CAM, but it and LOU were completed before I got to them. KLAXON was a gimme.
Lucina, isn't it exciting to watch our grandchildren grow up? I'll bet your granddaughter looked gorgeous. I will go to see my almost 17 year old grandson's play on Saturday. He loves to sing.
Happy belated birthday, Kazie. I hope it was delightful.
Branch Brook Park in NJ is noted for the largest collection of cherry blossom trees in the United States, having over 4,300 in more than fourteen different varieties. (More than in Washington DC) The blossoms are spectacular. More than 1000 additional trees will be added by next year.
Link lovely
I went for an MRI tonight. The faxed prescription was no where to be found. I need a new appointment. This snafu caused me to missed Jeopardy for nothing Grrr!

kazie said...

Sorry I missed you all today. I was gone all weekend at a convention in Milwaukee, and since my return things have been so hectic today that after finishing the CW this morning I just got busy with several situations that all hit at once and I never came here.

Then a couple of hours ago, I saw C.C.'s email letting me know you'd all been sending me birthday greetings, and I promised to come here then, but again I was distracted by a drawn out session on the phone and online with an insurance question.

I had lots of help celebrating on Saturday since the state president announced to everyone that it was my birthday, and they all sang HBTY to me. Then when I got home yesterday, DH had some nice gifts for me, and we enjoyed a great meal together.

Thanks to you all for the kind wishes, and I'm sorry I wasn't here all day to respond until now!

Yellowrocks said...

Ah, those "a" words do have an everyday use. In news of the Baltimore riots we hear cars were set afire and shops were ablaze. Maybe the "a" words seem strange in isolation, but I have heard and read most of the a words that have been panned used in contexts like this. In these kinds of contexts the "a" words seem natural.

CrossEyedDave said...

Anon@6:07

Ack!, how could I let Cat Burglar slip by...

Anonymous T @ 6:31

Double Ack!!

I had that same Word Crimes link lined up to go, & you beat me to it!
(Oh Well, I only saw it because it was a side link to one you posted a couple of days ago.)

Speaking of side link, This Moon Pie & RC Cola is for you!

SwampCat said...

Thanks, Big Easy, for your explanation of the shipping containers on the RR flat cars . Makes sense. I wondered how a few, but not all, rail cars could be derailed without pulling the whole train off the tracks. Especially as it was on an elevated bridge.

The pictures on TV were just a mess of metal, and the commentators kept saying Railroad Cars.

And I, too, do not watch TV comedies. They never seem funny somehow.

CrossEyedDave said...

Anonymous-T

Can I ask you to please not post Monty Python links. While I love the links you do post, I am a side link addict...

You see, one leads to another, and before you know it, (commas included for emphasis,) you hit one that makes you wish you could get that 10 minutes back...

Anonymous T said...

I guess IM UP...

CED - Sorry for the diversion. Yeah, not their best sketch that - but funny if you think of the history/discovery of mustard gas (ok, not funny, but a humorous juxtaposition). Thanks for the Moon Pie / RC COLA link. We had those up north, but DW says it was a staple in her neck of the the woods (Farmersville, LA - how'd we ever meet?).

YR - I was lucky to be in DC during the blossoms in 2012 while consulting for USDA. Absolutely gorgeous. USDA - How to catch ONTO farmer spys(?).

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

doh - spies. I was paying too much attn to getting the link to USDA GMEN right...

I just noticed another sub-(marine) theme... OCEAN, ALEE, SEALS, MASTS, BAYS, TIDAL WAVES, and shipping LANES around the HORN OF... (ok, that's a streatch).

C, -T

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks, Mark and Santa!

My fastest LAT solve yet, I think! (NetWord was 1 minute aster.)

CAM was unknown, but had C_M. Pretty easy to fill!

Happy belated birthday, Kazie!! Many happy more!

Cheers!

CrossEyedDave said...

Anonymous-T

I went looking for the Mustard Gas sketch,
but I got side tracked...

Chairman Moe said...

This is MY favorite LANE. I suspect it will be Jordan Spieth's COMMA too!

Chairman Moe said...

CED - WCMS? Love it! Thanks for the SO

Bill G. said...

CED, I'm glad you didn't get that 10 minutes back. I enjoyed that Monty Python sketch about the joke all over again just as much as the first four or give times I saw it. Their best stuff (Dead Parrot, etc.) is among my favorite humorous sketches ever. (Include Fawlty Towers too.)

Anonymous T said...

Frogs... MIL told me about a recent Python appearance on Fallon's show but I couldn't find the full interview from 4 days ago - so here's one from 2012. CED - cope :-)

M. Defarge - Thanks. It was MLA that DW tried to get me to follow, but I showed her IEEE's std's and she gave up. Neither could address URL citing in '93 so I just made WAVEs (read - I just made it up).

Hope all is quiet and well in LA now for SwampCat and Big Easy.

Bill G. re: Faulty Towers. Dad & I would watch that every Sat. Fav line: "Would you like the hotel moved a bit to the left dear..."

Cheers, -T

Bill G. said...

Re. Fawlty Towers: There was too much good stuff for me to single out one favorite. One memorable one involved a crotchety old lady with a hearing aid who was complaining about her room. And then there was Manuel... Too much good stuff.