google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, April 6, 2015 Bruce Venzke and Gail Grabowski

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Apr 6, 2015

Monday, April 6, 2015 Bruce Venzke and Gail Grabowski

Theme: Combination of the Two - The first part of the unifier is placed behind the first part of the starred entries to form an unrelated combination.

56A. Process for selecting theatrical performers, and a hint to the first word of the answers to starred clues : CASTING CALL

20A. *Manhattan site of Strawberry Fields : CENTRAL PARK. Central Casting, where all the movie extras come from.

39A. *Prepare for printing : TYPESET. Typecasting, what some actors suffer.

11D. *Untrustworthy, as a business : FLY-BY-NIGHT. Fly Casting, a type of fishing. Clip

29D. *Word processor error finder : SPELL CHECK. Spell Casting, just one of the classes at Hogwarts.

Argyle here. Every letter but the 'J'. Putting the uni-word in the middle of the answer makes it harder to spot. I felt the level of fill was slightly uneven but doable. Some room for cornerites to add their own spin. Have at it.

Across:

1. Halloween costume part : MASK

5. 640 acres: Abbr. : SQ MI. (square mile)

9. Longtime employee : LIFER

14. Death Valley's is the lowest in North Amer. : ELEV. 282 feet below sea level.

15. Mammoth feature : TUSK. Woolly mammoth.

16. China's Zhou __ : ENLAI

17. "Dirty Jobs" host Mike : ROWE. ...but somebody has to do it.

18. County Kerry's isle : EIRE

19. Deep chasm : ABYSS

23. "So long" : "BYE"

24. Young horse : COLT

25. One from Nairobi : KENYAN

27. Ultimate conclusion : UPSHOT. 1530's; originally, the final shot in an archery match, hence the figurative sense of "result, issue, conclusion". ~ Online Etymology Dictionary

30. Made of oak, e.g. : WOODEN

32. Small swallow : SIP

33. Pumps or clogs : SHOES

35. Thin piece of change : DIME

38. __ out a living : EKE

42. Guy's partner : GAL

43. Bank (on) : RELY

45. Glue in a hobbyist's kit : EPOXY

46. "Let me think ... " : "HMM..."

47. Utter madness : LUNACY

50. Michelangelo masterpieces : PIETAs

52. Tallied, with "up" : RACKED

54. Group after boomers : GEN X

55. "How relaxing!" : "AAH!"

62. Bit of luck : BREAK

64. Place for koi : POND

65. Prefix with distant : EQUI

66. Italian ball game : BOCCE

67. Woodworking tool : ADZE

68. Put on a pouty face : SULK

69. Filled (in), as a comic strip : INKED

70. Frog's kiddie-lit friend : TOAD

71. Yard event : SALE

Down:

1. Bygone Ford division, for short : MERC. A 71-year run ended in 2010.

2. Sunburn soother : ALOE

3. Stitched up : SEWN

4. Complain : KVETCH

5. Furtive : STEALTHY

6. Comforter to get comfy in : QUILT

7. Car sticker abbr. : MSRP. (manufacturer's suggested retail price)

8. Swedish furniture chain : IKEA

9. Didn't hold water : LEAKED

10. Having five sharps, musically : IN B

12. Course that's good for one's GPA : EASY 'A'

13. Ascended : RISEN

21. Barnyard perch : ROOST

22. MGM rival : RKO. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Radio-Keith-Orpheum)

26. Homer's nice neighbor : NED Flanders.

27. Password creator : USER

28. High-speed highway : PIKE

30. Teary-eyed : WEEPY

31. Bone, in Italian : OSSO

34. Oil gp. with 12 member nations : OPEC. (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries)

36. Papa's partner : MAMA

37. Stately shade trees : ELMS

40. Paid out : EXPENDED

41. Making, as a knot : TYING. Tying a fly.

44. Big laugh : YUK

48. Did some smooching : NECKED

49. Aquafresh tube letters : ADA. (American Dental Association)

51. Overabundance : EXCESS

52. Talmud expert : RABBI

53. Brother of Moses : AARON

54. Tokyo shopping district : GINZA

57. Petty quarrel : SPAT

58. Chore list heading : TO DO

59. Greenish-blue : AQUA. A little bigger clue/answer dupe (w/ 49D) than yesterday.

60. Temporary calm : LULL

61. Similar to : LIKE

63. Unreturnable serve : ACE. Tennis.


Argyle


55 comments:

  1. Morning, all!

    Not a lot to say about this one. I managed to get all the theme answers before getting to the theme reveal, but didn't appreciate what it was all about until afterwards. A little uneven, what with stuff like GINZA and BOCCE, but not particularly hard anywhere. KVETCH was nice.

    Learning moment today was that Michelangelo apparently made more than one PIETA. Who knew?

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  2. Nothing to KVETCH about this puzzle from the veteran prolific constructing team of Bruce Venzke and Gail Grabowski. Thanks too to Argyle for the informative writeup.

    Before figuring out the actual theme, I saw CENTRAL_PARK with its clue about Strawberry Fields, and started thinking baseball (remember Darryl, better known for his slugging than his fielding?). After all, it's opening day at many a ballpark around the country.

    I then recalled a question that Brent Hartzell and I posed a year ago: What Do These Great Sluggers Have in Common? Readers of the L.A. Times Crossword Corner with overlapping interests in our two national pastimes may enjoy figuring out the answer.

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  3. Fun puzzle. My only correction was "sect" (abbrev. for "section") instead of "sqmi", but that soon corrected with perps. I love Monday puzzles! Not so much Saturday's.

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  4. Thought it was a speed run even for me but I have played many hours of BOCCE and the rest filled. Did not know the Frog and Toad books.

    I liked seeing RABBI and AARON juxtaposed, especially during the Passover holiday. Nothing to KVETCH about.

    Argyle thanks for the information about UPSHOT. MERC is used both for the defunct Mercury line and for the Benz which is sometimes confusing.

    Back to work hope you found all your golden eggs

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  5. Good Morning.

    NO KVETCHing here. With my first pass including Strawberry Fields in CENTRAL PARK and then CASTING CALL, the theme entries came easily. This usually doesn't happen for me as I tend to focus on entries rather than theme.

    I liked ADZE--takes me back to As I Lay Dying--or as my students called it, As I Die Reading--by Faulkner. Just think, TYPESETters had no SPELLCHECK! Have a good day!

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  6. Good morning!

    I was having coffee with unclefred this morning and also wrote SECT before SQMI showed up. Also tried to make XERS work further down. The origins of UPSHOT were interesting. Thanx, Argyle.

    We spent several days in Death Valley many years ago. We'd rented a FWD SUV in Las Vegas for the adventure. Even drove up to the "Racetrack" where stones move around the smooth surface seemingly by themselves. When we returned the car we got hit with an extra fee because we got it dirty. "If somebody rents a FWD vehicle, doncha think the renter ought to expect that it's going to go off-road?" He KVETCHed.

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  7. FWD may refer to:

    * Front-wheel drive, a common method of vehicle propulsion

    * An archaic term for four-wheel drive (4WD or AWD is preferred today)

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  8. Kvetcher, I'm archaic and lived just 7 miles from the FWD (Four-Wheel-Drive) plant in Clintonville, WI. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

    PK, from last night: Yes I'm color-blind, and no you can't catch it, and it's not curable. It's a genetic condition passed down from mothers to sons. It's relatively common. About 10% of men are color-blind to some degree. It's very uncommon in women. If you're interested, here's a pretty thorough Color-Blindness test. My condition is 87% deuteranopia: color-blindness resulting from insensitivity to green light, causing confusion of greens, reds, and yellows and 5% protoanopia, insensitivity to red light, also causing confusion of greens, reds and yellows.

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  9. Hey, desper-otto, you reminded me that I, too, tried "xers" first. Forgot about that error. Funny we should make the two exact same mistakes. Enjoy your morning coffee; I know I am. Iced, as always, here in hot and humid Fort Lauderdale.

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  10. Good Morning:

    This was a pleasant reprieve from the last few toughies. Had to wait for perps in a couple of areas but, overall, smooth sailing.

    Nice job, Bruce and Gail, and good expo, Argyle.

    We seem to be stuck in a nasty weather pattern, bringing chilly, dreary, and wet conditions. Looking forward to some warm, sunny days, soon, I hope.

    Have a great day.

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  11. Er . . . ah . . . just how many PIETAS did Michelangelo do?

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  12. Good morning everyone.

    Happy Dyngus Day (Day after Easter celeb. in Buffalo by Polish community.)

    WBS. Not much to add. I wondered about pangram but Argyle said no 'J'. Otherwise, easy, but nice mix of clues.
    640 acres - In the Midwest I believe that would be called a 'section' when referring to farm acreage. A common surveying term.

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  13. From Wikipedia:

    "In U.S. land surveying under the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), a section is an area nominally one square mile, containing 640 acres, with 36 sections making up one survey township on a rectangular grid."

    Interesting history.

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  14. Got it all fairly quickly but didn't suss the theme properly until Argyle explained it. I took a while in the mid north because I had DUVET before I gave it up realizing that I needed a Q at the top for SQ. MI., since I did remember that's what 640 acres was. I was also thinking more of birds for small swallow, until the perps got it for me.

    All round a good Monday. I looked for the J realizing that was all it was short for a pangram too. Usually I don't think too much about that, but after noticing the Qs, Xs and Zs, thought it should be one.

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  15. Nice Tuesday offering...a day early. Seemed a little crunchy, but it was fun overall. Needed the reveal to get the theme, but that's why it was there.

    Spitz, not to split hairs, but a section can be "short" and still be a section. Most counties have a vertical line of correction sections to account for curvature. These typically range from 320 to ~600 acres. Section would be a correct answer, but square mile is actually more accurate given the phrasing of the clue.

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  16. After being gone at my s-i-l's yesterday, we were able to Skype with the kids in Germany this morning instead, since they not only get good Friday off, but also Easter Monday. Why are Americans such workaholics with virtually no public holidays that the general public (i.e. not just government workers) get to have free? It's another "only in America" thing like no universal health care I guess.

    Just my KVETCH for the day!

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  17. (Peeks around the corner) Is it safe to come out again...?

    Saturday and Sunday puzzles sent me screaming into the darkness to hide under the bed. Sakes.

    Treading cautiously as we start a new week.

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  18. From "The Field Behind the Plow", a song by the late, great Stan Rogers:

    Watch the field behind the plow turn to straight, dark rows,
    Feel the trickle in your clothes, blow the dust cake from your nose,
    Hear the tractor's steady roar, Oh you can't stop now,
    There's a quarter-section, more or less, to go.

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  19. is just a generic term for a piece of art (generally sculpture) with the sorrowful Virgin Mary as the central theme.

    I am not sure how many, but certainly Michelangelo created more than one. LINK

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  20. Hi All!

    AAH, a Monday. I'm smart again. Well, as smart as I'll ever be...

    WEES re: hang-ups: Copying from DO & Unclefred's paper over coffee, I put in XERS too. Utter LUNACY!

    I agree there is some cruncy in this puzzle, but I quite liked Gail & Bruce's offering - esp BOCCE - I have a t-shirt from The Hill in STL that has, on the back, a little Italian with a sign "Will play Bocce for beer." Pop got one for all of us and it is required attire when we all get together.

    Kazzie - The kids are out of school today so I took a floater. We're going to binge on Back to the Future (I, II, & III) and fold laundry.

    Argyle - thanks for the UPSHOT on upshot. I did not know that.

    C.C. from 4am - With what you've done here, I'm sure you're doing better than your college mates as a person. Thanks for all you do.

    Cheers, -T

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  21. Hello Puzzlers -

    Hand up for Xers before GenX. Ginza was all perps. Otherwise, smooth sailing. Liked seeing Kvetch in the puzzle - as I've said before, lots of Yiddish words amuse me, and that one is a good example.

    Rainman and others from yesterday - I didn't know that horns could be made to sound at pitches below their natural fundamentals. I'll have to read up. Woodwinds can't, as far as I know.

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  22. Thanks to all for such a warm welcome Saturday. The bloggers here are always so kind. No awful kvetching going on! I appreciate all the pen and pencil tips. I'm a big scaredy cat, although I'm trying a pen on early week puzzles.

    I enjoyed today's puzzle. I had a big Yuk when it intersected Lunacy. The story of my life!

    Belated happy birthday to Irish Miss and Abejo!

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  23. Hi gang -

    What a nice Monday puzzle. Paused at entries starting with KV and RK. Some really outstanding fill, especially the verticals.

    Missed the theme until the write-up. Actually forgot to look for it.

    Had 18 relatives spanning 4 generation in the house for Easter yesterday. Wonderful time.

    Lots of excitement here in the D for opening day.

    Watched Cards at Cubs last night. Lester was not very effective, and the Cubs could mount no offense at all. 3-0 Cards.

    First pitch here in less than 90 minutes for Tigers vs Twins. Tigers will have David Price on the mound.

    I was happy to see Torii Hunter end up back with the Twins, where he started his career. I liked him even before he was a Tiger.

    Cool regards!
    JzB

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  24. Hello, friends!

    A perfect, easy romp today which filled almost exclusively going across. Only the bottom briefly required perp help.

    Argyle, thank you for explaining UPSHOT. I often wonder about how some phrases originate.

    The amazing feature of the PIETA is how small and delicate it is and with all those folds, how carefully Michaelangelo had to wield his tools. It's truly a masterpiece!

    Does anyone still use EPOXY?

    And how appropriate to see RISEN on the day after we celebrate the resurrection.

    Thank you, Bruce and Gail and Argyle!

    Have a delightful Monday, everyone!

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  25. Happy belated birthday, Agnes and Abejo. I hoped you enjoyed your day.
    Blue Iris, too bad you missed seeing your daughter on Easter when she was all alone.
    The GINZA is a place of bright lights and frenetic activity well into the wee hours. It was interesting experiencing it twice, but not exactly my cup of tea or sake. I would only return if it were a stop on a general tour.

    There are BOCCI courts down the shore. BOCCI is quite popular in some places.

    I am surprised so many of you know the Yiddish KVETCH.

    Argyle, interesting info on UPSHOT.
    Lemony. I didn't realize there were several Michelangelo PIETAS.

    I returned to the gym today. Fun, but I found it more aerobic and tiring than it was last January. I walked 1/2 mile, held back only by my non-treated knee. Tomorrow it's back to the pool. Yay!. Fermataprime, I can sympathize with how you miss the pool when you cannot go.

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  26. Good morning all,
    Thanks to Bruce and Gail for an easy Monday with some smiles attached. And, to you Argyle for always explaining the theme.
    had only 1 write over: looney> lunacy. perps helped with easy A. I began thinking of all the classes there were for that easy A. I took Camping Ed....so much fun. We called it Camp Lohocla, although I don't recall if we even had any booze.

    My Frog and Toad books have been recycled from my daughters to my grandsons... Easy readers.

    never thought of myself as a "lifer", but I guess I was with that definition. Loved every day of those 40 years.

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  27. "puzzling thoughts"

    Desper-otto - thanks for the color blindness test link; I am 0% deuteranopia (got 31/31 correct). So I guess I can't use the "color-blind" excuse anymore with my DW! Although I still profess that my crayon box had only 8 colors . . .

    Pretty smooth sailing today with the puzzle; no hiccups that I recall.

    I noticed as the last clues were solved, that most of the "odd" letters were used (X, Q, Z, K, V), so I checked and saw, too, that J was the lone letter left out. I pored over the grid looking for a spot where the "J" could've been substituted; none to find - just wondering if those who are crossword constructors DO try at times to create a pangram, or if this was coincidental . . .

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  28. Are you all tuckered out from this weekend?..Now, back to business.

    WEES to XERS before GENX. The unknowns to me were ROWE (and that's my nickname, so it's funny to me that I couldn't WAG it. Had ME_C but the answer didn't come) GINZA, UPSHOT(perps filled them in). How I knew PIETA was a surprise to me. Sometimes my dormant knowledge emerges at just the right time.

    The theme was easy, if a little dry. Sorry. The only chuckle was KVETCH. Love my Yiddish!

    Who else is into the TV show "Mad Men"? The last few episodes and then, no more. One of the most authentic, accurate 60's era productions ever. Like a journey back to my good old Manhattan working days. Going to miss it. As a child of that era, everything afterwards has been an afterthought. Maybe I'm afflicted with a "peter pan" type of syndrome. Oh, well....

    That's about it for my Monday musings. Ta ta til tomorrow.

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  29. A Monday Limerick:

    My dog Spot, on the couch liked to stretch,
    Even though I was known to KVETCH
    About his laziness,
    (though I have to confess)
    Been awhile since we've played toss and fetch!

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  30. In honor of the holiday season, some memorable church bulletins:


    The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.
    --------------------------
    Scouts are saving aluminium cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
    --------------------------
    The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'
    --------------------------
    Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
    --------------------------
    Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
    --------------------------
    Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
    --------------------------
    For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

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  31. --------------------------
    Next Thursday there will be try-outs for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
    --------------------------
    Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
    --------------------------
    A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.
    --------------------------
    At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.
    --------------------------
    Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
    --------------------------
    Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered..
    --------------------------
    The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.
    --------------------------
    Pot-luck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.
    --------------------------
    The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
    --------------------------
    This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
    --------------------------
    The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the Congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
    --------------------------
    Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM . Please use the back door.
    --------------------------
    The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM .. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
    --------------------------
    Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.
    --------------------------
    And this one just about sums them all up
    The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new campaign slogan last Sunday:
    'I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours.'

    ReplyDelete
  32. Always love seeing a Bruce and Gail puzzle and this one was an enjoyable Monday. Like everyone, I was surprised by the plural PIETAS and wish Argyle had posted a few pics so we could compare them. Expected the theme to be all about acting and so was surprised by the FLY and SPELL CASTING.

    Have a great week, everybody!

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  33. Thanks Bruce & Gail for an easy puzzle with some nice fill. Didn't get the theme right off, and had to study it. Wasn't familiar with Central Casting. But worked it out.

    Argyle, thanks for the write-up. As always, love your pics of foreign places, today's being Ginza.

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  34. Thanks to Gail, Bruce and Argyle for your work which gives me pleasure. End of the week puzzles are over my head so I enjoy the easier ones.

    I had no idea that Michelangelo made more than one Pieta. Thanks for the learning moment. Also, didn't realize that Ford had discontinued the Mercury line of cars.

    The weather was beautiful this weekend and I got some outside work done. I'm on my way out again to get more done because it looks like rain for the rest of the week. Wish I could redirect it to the southwest.

    Belated birthday wishes to Irish Miss and Abejo.

    Pat

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  35. Lemonade:
    As often as I've read those "bulletins" they still make be laugh! Thank you.

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  36. Anonymous T,
    Glad to hear someone here got it off! Our school district actually had a week of spring break for the first time in over 30 years this time too, but I think they're back this week.

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  37. Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, great expo! Fast & fun. Theme okay.

    Hand up for trying "sect" before SQMI. This was familiar since I was typing farm real estate descriptions last week while redoing my will.

    Longtime employee = LIFER? Nah? Don't like that definition.

    D-O, Thanks for the color blind info. I still wonder why we didn't discover my grandson was color blind when he was supposedly learning colors. I have a son-in-law who is color blind. He is a chef and I wonder how not recognizing red affects knowing when meat is cooked to the proper doneness? He uses a thermometer more than any other cook I've ever known.

    C.C., I'm sorry your dad is deceased. I bet he would want you to return to China just so he could see you more often.

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  38. Easy going with just enough bite to make it interesting. Loved some off hem we fill like Kvetch and Bocce. And it was appropriate that Risen and Aaron were in the same puzzle after this past weekend.

    I laughed at the clue for 29d ,"Word processor error finder" when the answer turned out to be Spellcheck. NOT! Mostly my spellcheck changes what I have written into something wrong. And don't get me started with auto-correct!

    Loved Typeset in this same puzzle. Type setters had no problem with spellcheck!

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  39. Didn't even see several of the downs due to filling in so many across answers so quickly. Cool puzzle. Good ole Bruce Venzke and Gail Grabowski; you two are real troopers.

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  40. Wow! My second sentence above was murdered by auto- correct! I rest my case!

    I just meant that I loved some of the new fill like Kvetch and Bocce. Oh, ferget it!

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  41. Musings
    -AHH/AAH, AARON, ARRON took a while but pretty obvious.
    -640 A here is also a SECTion
    -Our town’s ELEV drops about 8’ in four miles west to east
    -Gary, blah, blah, blah, blah, the UPSHOT is you need an operation
    -Due to vandalism, Michalangelo’s PIETA in St Peter’s is now behind bullet proof glass
    -Fun flok song where a FROG gets called a TOAD at the end (2:45)
    -Jimmy Stewart played a lawyer who was TYING flies during the trial in Anatomy Of A Murder
    -Elvis sent a letter after “a lover’s SPAT” but it kept coming back as Return To Sender
    -Name that tune, “I ain’t got a nickel and I ain’t got a lousy DIME, She don’t come back, I think I’m gonna lose my mind”
    -Off to see one of my doctors

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  42. I have to say I don't understand all these complaints about AutoCorrect (which I don't have). Can't it be turned off? Can't you preview your post (and fix it) before publishing?

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  43. I enjoyed the puzzle, the writeup and all of the comments.

    Dudley, speaking of amusing Yiddish words, I like 'Verklempt.' Oy! Saturday puzzles often leave me all verklempt.

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  44. Yes, verklempt is among my favorites, along with schlep. I like to use blended phrases such as "trans-schlep" when moving stuff aside.

    Lucina 10:56 - yes, epoxy is widely used in industry today. I use a few types in aviation and in manufacturing.

    Rainman and other horn players: I've been reading about low notes in brasses, and it looks like I've misunderstood something for decades. I always thought that the fundamental notes (determined by the length of the air column) were easy to hit, and that every note upward in the harmonic series got a little harder. Apparently, that's not quite right. One guy on YouTube demonstrated that the first harmonic is easy, but the fundamental, one octave below, is hard to sound. According to him, pedal tones are those low fundamentals; the horn can produce them naturally but it takes effort.

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  45. Dudley@2:50
    Thank you! I thought perhaps some of the newer products might have replaced EPOXY.

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  46. Thank you all for the continued birthday wishes.

    Enjoyed the limerick, Moe, and the bulletin bloopers, Lemony.

    The dead iPad was due to a faulty charger which I deduced on my own after a 45 minute phone call and 2 hour chat session with Apple customer service. I will try to regain some sanity with a Dewar's on the you-know-what!

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  47. Since I likely won't get to say this again - 'Stros have a winning record (1-0) w/ 2-0 win over CLE. I LIKE the sound of that.

    Since no one linked... Fly By Night from Rush (can't wait 'till May!).

    Cheers, -T

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  48. Good evening, Folks. Thank you, Gail and Bruce, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.

    Went through this pretty easily. Caught the theme early on. Liked TYPE SET. An old skill no longer used. I knew a Type Setter from the Elgin Courier News. He recently died, but did that all his life. He was in my Golden K Kiwanis Club.

    Needed some help with perps to get SQ MI. I knew that 640 acres translated into something, but could not remember what. I will remember that.

    Our old friend the ADZE. I like tools as Words.

    I have played BOCCE. Not for beer, though. Just fun. My brother-in-law is Italian. He has the game.

    Never heard of GINZA. Never been to Japan except to change planes, en route to Taiwan.

    Thank you for those day-later Birthday Wishes. That is really good. It extends my happiness.

    I am an election judge tomorrow. 5:00 AM to 8:00 PM, which includes set up and tear down. We are open from 6:00 AM to 7:00 PM.

    Watching the Wisconsin/Duke Final Four Game. Rooting for Wisconsin, since they are right up the road a piece.

    See you tomorrow from the Polling Place. I will take my IPad and Blog from there if I get a break.

    Abejo

    ( )

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  49. Speaking of verklempt, did any of you see Dancing With the Stars tonight? The dance by Noah, the American soldier with missing parts, was so moving I wonder if anyone could watch without tears. Bravo!

    We feel so fortunate that my son served his country for 15 years and came home whole. He retired in Dec. and is devoting himself to raising his four sons.

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  50. DesperOtto,
    Naughty naughty! You knew what I meant!

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  51. Greetings!

    Thanks, Bruce, Gail and Santa!

    Fun puzzle, just a tad chewier that normal Monday. Hand up for hers first.

    Saw a person about refinancing this afternoon. Very complicated!

    Cheers!

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  52. Cute and challenging puzzle. Loved it. Also loved Argyle's take on it. Great blog, thank you.

    Took the color blindness test. The test answer summary called me a four letter word - I didn't know they could do that ..... I kept seeing nekkid wimmen behind all those grids. I must have a particularly rare case of some form of color blinded neanderthal Darwinism ...

    Desper-Otto - thanks for the test that I thought I had to take. I'm sorry you suffer from some sort of color blindness - remind me not to drive with you. Who tells you about the red lights when you are alone in the car ?

    Meanwhile I just happen to have these brand new red U.S. $ 100 bills that I could sell you on the cheap ...

    Loved your church jokes Lemonade. I have a feeling some of those jokes were purposely made up by church typists to give the 'careful reading parishoners', a chuckle or two ...

    Finally, a jewish joke, I heard some days back.
    A guy is driving with his wife and two daughters. Suddenly one of the girls screams, and says, "Dad, keep your eye on the road and watch your driving ... you drove through 2 stop signs and a red light ...!'.
    What .... I'm .... driving ?!

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  53. PK - To your son Salute. My brother served 3 tours and he's still whole too. He's on is way to Italy in a week.

    Here's a side of Mike ROWE you may not know about from a TED talk (PG13 at least).

    Kid's and I only got through one BTTF before they wanted to play with their friends. The UPSHOT - I got a nap. A good PTO day all around.

    Cheers, -T

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  54. AnonT, I really miss Dirty Jobs. I love Mike Rowe. He is smart and funny. And I think he has training as an operatic baritone. Quite a guy. I've heard that story before and it's very instructive I think regarding what we think we know.

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