google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday April 5, 2015 Kurt Krauss

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Apr 5, 2015

Sunday April 5, 2015 Kurt Krauss

Theme:  "Seeing Stars" - All theme entries are in the pattern of "Superb"+ noun, and are all clued as "Five-star" + noun.

23A. Five-star auctioneer? : BEST SELLER. I went to a barn auction once. So noisy. Had no idea how the owner had so many mini baseball bats (all stadium giveaways).

25A. Five-star bridal accessory? : MODEL TRAIN

36A. Five-star Ponzi scheme? : GREAT PYRAMID. We have a local Ponzi guy named Tom Petters, who owned Polaroid for a few years.

46A. Five-star pageboy? : PRIME CUT

65A. Five-star secluded getaway? : FIRST-CLASS CABIN. Lovely.


83A. Five-star flugelhorns? : TOP BRASS

93A. Five-star spiel? : PERFECT PITCH. Reminds me of Tony Robbins.
 
111A. Five-star competition? : IDEAL MATCH. Happy that Badgers won yesterday.

113A. Five-star headgear? : SUPER VISOR. Massive change from the original theme entry. I do rather like the result.

Last week we have 7 themers. This week 9. With the same theme squares, 9 is harder to grid than 7.  

Kurt Krauss must be a baseball fan. Look at these few entries:

10A. Houston ballplayer, for short : STRO. Astros. Our Vikings are called Vikes by some.

115A. Dodger manager before Mattingly : TORRE (Joe). I have lots of Don Mattingly cards.

8D. Nickname for baseball's Durocher : THE LIP. Leo Durocher. He used to argue with the umpires.

13D. 1993 A.L. batting champ John : OLERUD. He wore a helmet playing defense.


Also 89A. Tuxedo accessory : DICKEY. OK, not clued baseball-wise, but I bet R. A. Dickey was in Kurt's/Rich's mind.

Across: 

1. Ranted (at) : RAILED

7. Texter's "Oh, I should also mention ... " : BTW

14. Building blocks : LEGOS

19. Picador's target : EL TORO. "The bull".

20. "Bingo!" : AHA!

21. One might get caught off base : AWOL

22. "Waterworld" orphan girl : ENOLA. I forgot. Rich used this clue last month in a Barry Silk themeless. He does not use the same clue in the same month.
 
27. About to explode : IRATE

28. Like NASA and FEMA : ALL-CAPS

30. Clear up : RESOLVE

31. __ death: repeat too often : DO TO

32. Longest river in France : LOIRE

33. Sonata, e.g. : OPUS

35. They're hung by drivers : UIES. Sometimes it's UEYs.

40. Explosive experiment : A-TEST

41. Thai appetizers : SATAYS. With peanut sauce. By the way, JJM, I did not find your favorite Hot Giardiniera Relish at our local Walmart. I did get a bottle of Mezzetta Hot Mix. I then chopped the mix finely, added minced olives and made my own soon-to-be-world-famous C.C. Hot Giardiniera.


44. Author Follett : KEN

45. E.U. member : SWE
 
49. "Big four" record company : EMI

51. Leather ending : ETTE. Leatherette.

53. 0.0000001 joules : ERG

56. 1953 Pulitzer-winning dramatist : INGE (William)

57. "SNL" alum alongside Hartman and Carvey : NEALON (Kevin)

59. Thinks better of it : DARES NOT

61. Once called : NEE

62. Go-to guy : MAIN MAN. Argyle is my main man then. On and off the blog.

64. Cigar size : ROBUSTO

69. CNN news anchor __ Paul : CHRISTI. Looks familiar. But I don't recall her name.



72. Baronial headpiece : CORONET

73. Hardly around the corner : FAR

76. Put under : ETHERIZE

78. Knocks on : RAPS AT

79. Purina product : ALPO

80. Qing Dynasty general of culinary fame : TSO. Don't be surprised if you can't find General Tso's Chicken in China.

81. Deutschland donkey : ESEL. So surprised to see this word.

82. Slip-__: shoes : ONs

86. Backstabber : RAT

87. Acquisition transaction, briefly : LBO (Leveraged Buyout)

90. Carried on : RAGED

99. Times to get ready : EVES. And 108. Break for mom : NAP TIME. Tiny clue/answer dupe. Hard to avoid in a 21*21.

100. Five-O booking agent : DANO

101. Golden : AURIC

102. Magi origin : EAST

106. Mythological hybrid : CENTAUR. Part-man, part-horse.

110. Trumpeter Louis : PRIMA. Another stranger to me.

116. Bad end : DOOM

117. Like some phone nos. : UNL. Unlisted.

118. Designer McCartney : STELLA. Paul McCartney's daughter.

119. Related maternally : ENATE. "Related paternally" is AGNATE.

120. Massachusetts motto opener : ENSE. Learned from doing crosswords.

121. The Carolinas' __ Dee River : PEE

122. Strengths : ASSETS

Down:

1. Bridge action : RE-BID

2. Last Olds made : ALERO

3. Where __ : IT'S AT

4. Pick 6, for one : LOTTO GAME. Lovely long answer.

5. Language that gave us "galore" : ERSE

6. __-eyed : DOE

7. Cast selection? : BALLOT. Great clue.

9. Shout during a charge : WAR CRY. Battlefield charge.

10. Native corn porridge : SAMP. Never used this word. Same as grits I suppose, D-Otto.

11. Couple : TWOSOME

12. Hot __ : ROD

14. "Why don't we!" : LET'S

15. Coming or going : EN ROUTE

16. Deke victim : GOALIE. My favorite, of course!

Splynter the Goalie

17. Tapenade ingredients : OLIVES

18. Least likely to blow : SANEST

24. Like a fantasy land? : LA LA. La La Land. Hi there, LaLaLinda!

26. Beethoven's "__ Adieux" sonata : LES

29. Bubbly beginning? : AER.  As in "Aerator", adding air to the fish tanks.

34. Yearned : PINED. Did you ever meet with that Philly girl again, TTP?

37. Manhattan part : RYE. The drink.

38. Bailout key : ESC

39. Like, with "to" : AKIN

40. Slightly : A WEE BIT

41. Remedy from a doctor? : SPIN. Spin doctor.

42. "Alfred" composer : ARNE

43. Buster Brown's dog : TIGE

45. Photographer's accessory : STROBE. And 91. Fashion photographer Richard : AVEDON. He's incredible. Tina Brown brought him to the the New Yorker in 1992.

47. Fitting most people : UNI-SIZE. Like helmets.

48. Home on the range : TENT

49. Hebrew for "skyward" : EL AL

50. Rainier, for one : MONACAN

52. Port on Italy's "heel" : TARANTO. Any of you been there?

53. Some dashes : ENS. Or EMs.

54. "Balderdash!" : ROT

55. Flip side of Ronny & the Daytonas' "Hot Rod Baby" : GTO

58. Station for film buffs : AMC

60. Nearest star to Earth : SUN

62. Not see properly : MISREAD

63. Whistler, e.g. : ARTIST. This lady's son.



65. Old cry of disgust : FIE

66. Illegal payments : SOPS

67. Mortarboard sporters: Abbr. : SRs

68. A wall may need a second one : COAT. Fun clue.

69. This, in Toulouse : CET. Gosh, I've forgot most of what I learned. How is this different from Ceci?

70. Brooklyn __, N.Y. : HTS

71. Density symbol, in physics : RHO

73. Criticism : FLAK

74. Abbey nook : APSE

75. Looking up : ROSY

77. Actress Barkin : ELLEN

78. Rain protection : ROOF

79. Bow-and-arrow sets : ARCHERIES. Spell check does not like the plural form.

84. Wash. summer hrs. : PDT

85. Lighter name : BIC

86. Remedy for a freeze : RE-START

88. Back-to-back '90s Super Bowl champs : BRONCOS

90. Reel off : RECITE. My dad could recite every line of Mao's Little Red Book. He learned how to write his name only after he joined Chinese Army.

92. Family subdivisions : GENERA

93. Strut : PARADE

94. "The Purloined Letter" monogram : EAP (Edgar Allan Poe)

95. Dices : CUTS UP

96. Godhead, for one : TRIUNE

97. Blemish : PIMPLE

98. Java Freeze brand : ICEE

100. Doo-wop syllable : DUM. Thank crosses.

103. United divider? : AISLE. United Airlines.

104. Young salmon : SMOLT

105. "__ Bulba": Gogol novel : TARAS

107. On the safer side : ALEE

109. World-weary words : AH ME

110. Ryan and Benjamin: Abbr. : PVTS (Privates)

112. Big load : TON

114. Golfer Ernie Els' homeland : RSA. JD visited his winery there.


Happy Birthday to Irish Miss, our gentle & kind Agnes. Agnes always asks & follows up on the blog whenever a regular has some health, job or family issue. She also writes me privately whenever a regular is missing for quite some time (like Owen, PK and Jayce). We're so lucky to have a caring and attentive friend like Agnes.

Eileen (sister of Agnes) & Agnes, Nov 22, 2013

Happy Birthday also to Abejo (Bradley), who's always busy traveling and volunteering for various good causes. Brad worked in Iran for a few years before the Shah was toppled. Abejo is Persian for "beer". Brad loves and is very knowledgeable about beer. Oh, gardening too.  He's a master gardener.

Bradley and his Tuba, Church Fat Tuesday Event

43 comments:

  1. Hello Puzzlers -

    Wow, what an effort. It was kinda like moving a heavy safe over a bumpy floor. Lots of unknowns, and a few I just didn't agree with or expect. Smolt? Never heard of it. Archeries? Even spell check doesn't like it. However, with lucky guesses and workable assumptions, I got all the way down to the last SE corner, and...whump, the bottom fell out. Had to Google Prima and Taras just to get some closure. Technical DNF.

    Morning, C.C., I could have used your baseball knowledge today!

    Happy Easter where applicable.

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  2. Morning, all (and a Happy Happy Birthday to Irish Miss and Abejo)!

    Got the theme pretty quickly with this one, but still struggled to get most of the theme answers. Knowing the theme definitely helped, however.

    Some tricky bits along the way to eventually getting it done unassisted. Made a complete wild guess at the crossing of SMOLT and PRIMA. Almost went with SMELT, but SUPERVISER didn't look quite right. I think I've heard of SMOLT, but PRIMA was a complete unknown.

    Finished in the NE when I finally got the R in RESOLVE and that gave me the totally unknown OLERUD. I was very, very surprised to get the *TADA* at that point, let me tell you!

    Elsewhere, TARANTO, THELIP and CHRISTI required all their respective perps to get and I resisted ARCHERIES until the very last letter forced it upon me. I'm sure it's a thing, but still don't like it.

    On the bright side, I did remember AVEDON and ESEL with only a small amount of perp help, so that was nice.

    One nit: If the answer is EL TORO, shouldn't the clue be El Picador? Yeah, I know that would repeat a word in the clue and answer, but still...

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  3. Good morning!

    Whew, what a workout! Got it, but it was iffy for a while.

    Wanted some synonym for mountain for "Ranier" -- D'oh, it was Prince Ranier of Monaco. OLE RUD sounds like he should play for the Twins.

    Louis Prima and his at-the-time wife, Keely Smith, had a big hit in the late 50's with That Old Black Magic. Louis was a better trumpeter than singer.

    I knew SAMP, but can't imagine why. C.C., I think it's more like Mămăligă than grits. In other words, corn-meal mush.

    Happy Birthday, Irish Miss and Abejo. May your egg hunts be fruitful.

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  4. Louis PRIMA- 'Just a gigolo' was one of the few gimmes on this one. So many were solved completely by perps. The theme came through at GREAT PYRIMID but I struggled with this one and finally finished in about 45 minutes. The NE was the last to fall as SAMP, OLERUD, & ENOLA were all perps. My only other change was ENSE for ESSE.

    In the French Quarter last week, there was a STELLA yelling contest for the Tennessee Williams festival that is held yearly.

    CHRISTI Paul- unknown. CHRIS PAUL played point guard for the Hornets and now plays for the Clippers. DO TO death- never heard it said that way. 'Beat it' to death or use it too much. Other unknowns were NEALON, KEN Follett, CET, TARANTO, TRIUNE (or godhead), Richard AVEDON, LES Adieux. And DUM was just plain dumb.

    I also did not like ARCHERIES- I just had to look at it, knowing it had to correct but it looked strange.

    I thought the United divider- AISLE was a great clue. Didn't get it until I read C.C.'s explanation. I was thinking divorce court.

    Getting ready for a crawfish boil toady. Easter tradition in New Orleans. Adios.

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  5. Happy Birthday Irish Miss and Abejo! Yo Yo Ma once said if you get to the music room last in school, you get the biggest instrument! Were you late, Abejo? Not late enough to get the tuba.;>) Cute photo.

    Pretty even run. Won some and lost some. I could not get on track with the theme, so there was a lot of horizontal white space. Not enough sleep last night? In the end, it was a nice puzzle; thanks Kurt. C.C., thanks for the expo and the links. Happy Spring, everyone!

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  6. The Week in Review: M 5:29 T 5:31 W 8:11 T 12:47 F 12:52 S 19:38 S 32:56

    Monday: DALMATIAN!

    Saturday: WAGs and perps. The NW was last and I didn't see PALEHOSE as "White Sox" 'til I read the write-up (though, after hearing the "TaDa!", I really didn't give it much thought).

    Sunday: WAGs and perps. ONIONS before OLIVES, NEWMAN before NEALON, RHONE before LOIRE, SMELT before SMOLT. I try not to guess too early or without one or two confirming perps. Once a square is filled there's a subconscious tendency to think that it's filled correctly and a consequent reluctance to change it. I imagine it's even worse for those solving on paper.

    See y'all next weekend.

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  7. Happy Birthday to my favorite Irish Miss and tuba-totin' Abejo! Your birthdays are both special this year, and I hope the Easter bunny tucked an extra jelly bean or two in your baskets. ;-)
    ¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫¸¸¸.•*¨*♫♥♫

    I was halfway through when I started thinking "This is a real slog, and I'll never finish." Then slowly the snow began to melt and before I knew it, the whole thing was filled in.

    But there were some strange looking words in there that gave me pause as I was filling in the perps, like AWEEBIT CUTSUP UNISIZE MONACAN.
    Did not know THELIP, STRO SAMP or OLERUD, which made filling the north central bit a little hairy.

    And ESEL? Really?

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  8. Happy Easter to those who observe it!
    And happy birthday Agnes and Abejo! What a special day for a birthday.

    Since I awoke at 3:30 and the newspaper was here by4:30, I started working on it and finished A WEE BIT more than half. I returned to bed trying to think of Paul McCartney's daughter's name and during sleep dreamed of him calling after her, "STELLA." When I awoke, went right to it and filled it.

    The theme really helped on this one once I grasped it. OLERUD looked very strange but the perps confirmed it and I finally recalled ENOLA from the last time.

    I also remembered TORRE and have read every one of KEN Follett's books. He is a master.

    CHRISTI was a pure WAG after I had -STI.

    Thank you, Kurt Krauss and you, C.C. for your illuminating analysis!

    Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone!

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  9. Hi everybody! Happy Easter! Very happy birthday wishes for Irish Miss and Abejo!

    Some group must have leased the local high school stadium for a sunrise service. Some modern quasi-religious music has been blasting for hours.

    Jordan found the four yellow Easter eggs I had hidden in the branches of the lemon tree.

    Barbara made crepes for breakfast.

    Re. the puzzle, WEES. It took a long time with too many unknowns. But I persevered with a little red-letter help.

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  10. For $4800/5 nights you can stay at a Five Star secluded getaway, not in a Tent on the range, but in a Yurt, 50 miles south of me in my county.

    Happy Birthday, Abejo and Irish Miss. Always fun to read your comments each day.

    Montana

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  11. Hi Everyone:

    Thanks so much for the birthday wishes. And a very Happy Birthday to Abejo on our shared day.

    Late to the dance due to brunch at my sister Peggy's. (She cooked 9 lbs. of bacon, 8 dz. sausages, scrambled eggs-9 dz., home fries, Canadian Bacon and ham steaks. Rounding out the menu was assorted pastries, donuts, rolls, and a huge fresh fruit platter. Naturally, Bloody Marys and Mimosas kicked off the festivities!)

    I had a FIW due to raved/raged and smelt/smolt. Wasn't really my cup of tea but hats off to Mr. Krauss and to CC for making everything clear. A sincere thank you, dear CC, for your kind and complimentary words on my behalf. I consider myself lucky to be part of this wonderful "family."

    I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter and Passover celebrations.

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  12. Hi Y'all! This was one of those puzzles that would have been impossible for me without red-letter redirection. Over half of the entries turned red the first time and some, several times. But the theme was enough fun that I kept at it. Groaned a few times.

    I was so proud to get the PEE DEE & LOIRE rivers with no hesitation. DANO, EAST, ALERO were a few of the clues I got on first try.

    Bubbly beginning: not a prefix to the word "bubbly"? Groan.

    AVELON before AVEDON. Groan.

    None of the baseball names were in my ball park. Neither were some of the other names. Do I live on the same planet?

    C.C., Very interesting about your dad. Is he still living? What would he think about his very educated daughter living in America?

    Happy birthday to Agnes and ABEJO. Always enjoy your posts.

    My nine-year-old grandson very reluctantly took part in the annual Easter egg hunt in their small town. They found out he is color blind. He picked up orange eggs only which he thought were golden. At the bottom of his basket was what he said was "just an old silver egg". That silver egg was actually "gold" colored which when opened had a note saying he was winner of a new bicycle.

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  13. Happy birthday wishes to you, dear sweet Irish Miss, and to you, hard working, always-on-the-go Abejo.

    This was a hard puzzle today. Again I could not finish without looking some things up, such as TORRE and NEALON. I should have known Nealon, though, as he has been appearing very often lately with Arnold Palmer in a television advertisement for a prescription drug of some sort.

    I love the word ETHERIZE. It is used to excellent effect in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot.

    ARCHERIES makes me think of how the British might call what we Americans call archery, like the way they say "maths" instead of "math."

    Best wishes to you all.

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  14. PK, interesting story about your grandson. I wonder how most people discover that?

    Here is a photo of Jordan/Lemon tree/Yellow Easter egg (Double click)

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  15. Greetings!

    Great work, Kurt and CC! Neat theme!

    Was really struggling with this one. One cheat to get out of a funk: OLERUD. Probably won't remember this one.

    Lots of WAGS. DANO was cute, though I was conflicted, thinking it surely should be DANnO.

    Happy, happy birthday, Agnes and Brad.

    Easter Sunday all alone. (Hopefully caregiver will come for a bit, though.) I remember an Easter many years ago when the choir had to be there at 5:30 AM for sunrise services. Maybe that was the service for which I sang "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth" (from the Messiah). Got my history a bit mashed up here!

    Cheers!

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  16. A very happy b-day to Agnes and Abejo!!

    This was a tale of two puzzles. The NW corner solved without moving on, so the gimmick was in hand. But it slowed badly after that. I knew enough things "for sure" like The Lip, El Al, Broncos and Nealon to keep me moving along, but there were so many obscurities that it caused a lot of wags, erasures and took a long time to crawl to the finish.

    And thank you Jayce for reminding me of why I knew Nealon. It was right there, but I had no idea why. Sometimes it isn't just brain lint.

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  17. A very late Easter greeting to those of you who celebrate it! And happy birthday to Abejo and Irish Miss.

    This puzzle felt about average for a Sunday. Theme was apparent early. What everyone else said about ARCHERIES; glad that there wasn't much doubt about the words crossing it.

    Another one with a lot of baseball in it: THE LIP, OLERUD, TORRE all were gimmes. I was thinking that if I were in England (say) and they threw soccer references around, how much of a disadvantage that would be. It's hard enough when the pop culture references are to TV shows of the 90s or later.

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  18. Bill G, in answer to your question, I found out I was colorblind in 4th grade. The teacher held up a card and asked what word was printed on it. As the class in unison chanted "Color," I could be heard saying "Onion."

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  19. Good afternoon everyone.

    What Dudley and others said. Bumpy all the way.
    But it had bright spots for me. Knew TARANTO and ESEL which I was surprised to see, too. With Durocher, it took awhile, but finally remembered THE LIP.
    70d - HTS - Brought back memories of my youth. Visited my uncle at Brooklyn HTS several times in the 50's; once to see a Dodgers game at Ebbets Field. The Brooklyn Navy Yard which duty called me to visit several times was just up the East River from the HTS.
    ESEL - Grew up hearing that word. Synonym would be Dummkopf, when ESEL meant fool, dolt or jerk. Guess the donkey's image is derisive in many languages.

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  20. Oh! Forgot.

    Happy Birthday to Agnes and Abejo.

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  21. Irish Miss,

    Love that menu!! Lots of work for a birthday girl! I'll bet you had a well deserved grand day,

    Cheers!

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  22. Bill G,

    Just way too cute!!!

    Happy Easter!

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  23. Ack!

    Tough puzzle,

    I just took a time out from a houseful of family to take a look at (my internet family) & discovered the Birthdays...

    Happy Birthday Irish Miss!

    HBD Abejo,,, I do not know why this came up under "Abejo." But I am going with it...

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  24. BillG, Jordan's expression is priceless! I just sat and looked at it and laughed.

    I'm wondering if color blindness develops in growing boys or they are born that way. I don't remember ever reading books about colors to my grandson, but surely his mom did. She was good about reading to them daily and helping them learn stuff they needed for school. Does anyone know?

    Desper-Otto: Onion? Too funny. Are you really color blind?

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  25. Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Kurt Krauss, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.

    This is the third time I have started writing on the Blog. My IPad, while I am rolling on I-88, keeps resetting.

    I worked this puzzle from kAnsas City, MO, to Dixon, IL, where I finished it. Great puzzle, but tough.

    Theme was slow in coming, but once I had it it did help a lot with the puzzle.

    Got EL TORO and AWOL right off the bat.

    ENOLA was tough because it was not tied to a B-29 Superfortress.

    LEGOS was easy. I always remember stepping on them with ba feet. Ouch!

    ALL CAPS was not easy. I was looking for ACRONYM.

    ENATE was easy. Always remember that word.

    ROBUSTO came slowly. Am not usually a cigar smoker. Maybe once every two years.

    Finally got TIGE after a couple perps. It was right on the end of my tongue for about 300 miles.

    Thank you, everyone, for the nice birthday wishes. My phone has been chirping all day with the same from Facebook.

    Happy Birthday to you, Irish Miss. I did remember that we shared the day.

    Madame DeFarge: You are correct about why I play the tuba. I was last in and had no instrument of my own. I am glad it worked out that way because I really enjoy it.

    We were at the Knights Templar Easter Sunrise Service in Kansas City. Thus the reason for my trip. It was nice, but very cold and windy.

    Should be home in an hour.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ( )

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  26. Musings
    -Having company, a good golf tournament and some weariness prolonged the process but the superlative theme made it fun.
    -The Wisconsin win against Kentucky last night was PRIME, TOP, SUPER, IDEAL, FIRST CLASS, etc
    -Happy Birthday Brad and Agnes
    -Interesting info about your dad C.C.

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  27. Abayo,

    Can't take any credit for that. I learned that from Yo Yo Ma. I wish I played an instrument. You are blessed to be able to do so!!!

    Happy Day. Getting ready to watch the Cubs so they can ruin my day.

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  28. For you Cubs fans, I'd recommend watching MST3K the movie. There's a scene where they are in a spaceship flying above a river, with a stadium visible on the horizon. The voice over is: "Oh look. You can see the Cubs losing from here." Priceless.

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  29. Returning to the party: Abejo and Irish Miss, Happy Birthday! I was hurrying this morning and left that out. I hope you were both able to celebrate in grand style!

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  30. Didn't have time for the puzzle today says...

    Happy Birthday IM & Abejo - you both provide witty and knowledgeable comments. I value y'all's input on the Corner. I hope you day was swell.

    Bill G. Jordan's got your number!

    Colour blind? Nope just different nomenclature, red is 780nm or #FF0000 :-)

    Someone put me on to Eddie Izzard this week - so in honour of Abejo - The Tuba (@4:26). JzB, I hope you like it too.

    Cheers, -T

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  31. Madame Defarge @ 5:33 and Dudley @ 7:22 - Your comment made me smile as "grand" was my mother's favorite descriptive, whether it was about a wedding, a funeral, a dress, or a meal. Everything was grand! And I did have a lovely day, thank you.

    Thanks, again, for the birthday wishes. CED, I loved my cake; wish that age was mine! Loved Abejo's, also. Thank you.

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  32. Very happy birthday to both Agnes and Bradley and many more.

    What is a four letter word starting with E?
    ESEL
    ENSE
    ERSE
    EAST
    EVES
    ETTE
    ELAL

    when....

    SMOLT,ENATE, RANDall tough

    The reason the CNN reader looks familiar is they all look the same.

    Helmets all the same size? Not on our football teams

    Thanks C.C. and K. K.

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  33. Happy Natal Anniversary, Agnes. Looking good, sweetheart. Both of you.

    Have a fine birthday, Bradley. (That's a fine tuba you have there. Fine.)

    A former trombonist, I learned (finally) how to do pedal notes (very low notes) similar to a bass horn, and recall a couple of times my concert band needed extra oom-pahs for some silly piece and we became Souzaphone supporters, sort of. I always appreciated the kids who played bass... I thought they got out of a lot of practicing. Maybe they just didn't need as much as we did.

    Makes me wonder if a tuba has its own pedal range? Doubt it.

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  34. CC, great write up. I failed miserably after staying up too late last night with my friend Sam Adams watching the Wisconsin Badgers beat the Kentucky Wildcats. CC, no, we never got in touch again.

    Happy Birthday Agnes and Abejo. I have had the honor of meeting Abejo. He is a fine man and a true gentleman. He insisted on buying our drinks. Next round is on me.

    Chairman Moe @ 12:51 (Saturday)

    Yep, for me, the big dog stayed in the bag for most of the 1st 9 at Pheasant Run. With 8 of the 1st 9 holes OB left on a very, very tight course, my normal draw was suspect with the driver.

    St Andrews ? I know it well. That's where I ran the other golf league for years. We moved that league from Arrowhead (Wheaton) to there when Arrowhead wanted all players to pay a full years greens fees in advance to start the season. Dw and I rang in Y2K there. She hit the first person to hit a ball (a tee shot) to start the 2000s.

    Time to call it a day.

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  35. No, that wasn't right. She didn't hit the first person to hit a ball. She's a Chicago girl and she is tough, but not mean. I meant to say she was the first person to hit a golf ball to start the 2000s.

    Now I know it is time to call it a day.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Rainman - yes, it does. On a BBb tuba the fundamental of the open horn is an octave below that of the trombone, and you can work your way down from there using the valves, same as moving the trombone slide out. The lowest ones are quite difficult to get to speak clearly, but achievable with practice.
    Speaking of which, how good you sound and how well you can play depends on how much you practice, on any instrument. If your goal is just to make as much noise as possible on a Sousaphone, that doesn't take a lot of practice. Learning to play musically with a beautiful sound does.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Mike, thanks. Are you a tuba player? Good points!

    The pedal notes I refer to are those in a lower register completely. I had little skill but could blatt one on occasion. The very low notes weren't reachable with just the slide or valves. Some composers and arrangers thought they were, so they were oftenwritten in.

    ReplyDelete
  38. I did the puzzle in the early morning hours before finally going to bed. I got the theme half way through and still took me an hour and a half to finish it.

    I"m hoping Abejo and Irish Miss had wonderful birthdays! Has Easter fallen on your Birthday at other times in your life? I'm thinking that it might be rare.

    I always look forward to Easter as the most joyous time of the year. Since pain has caused me not to be able to attend church or cook for family it seems diminished somehow. We didn't even eat at the table this year since my son needed to get back home Sunday(today).

    We considered going to Iowa for the weekend since my daughter is single with no family there. We didn't go because she had a Chinese student ask her to take to a Easter service because she was wondering what Christianity is about. We just found out the single's dinner was canceled and her friend canceled this morning. She spent all day alone. Of course nothing to be done now.

    Bill G, I'm still praying for you as you get through this year's family holidays.

    ReplyDelete
  39. BillG:
    Jordan looks adorable! And how clever of you to hide yellow eggs in he lemon tree!

    ReplyDelete
  40. Blue Iris, I appreciate your thoughtfulness and concern. Things are mostly getting back to normal though sometimes that makes me feel a little guilty. But old habits kick in and life goes on.

    Did you see the 60 Minutes article on Wikipedia? It reminds me how much I appreciate it for being able to provide mostly accurate information on almost anything, both quickly and without advertising. I have contributed to them in the past and I did again tonight. I encourage you guys to consider contributing too if you hadn't thought about it before.

    ReplyDelete
  41. PK,
    My dad is no longer in this earth. Most of my college classmates in China are doing way better than me, so he would have probably asked me to come back home.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Louis Prima and Keely Smith
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRUFP8bZ7xI

    ReplyDelete

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