google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, May 22, 2015, Jeffrey Wechsler

Gary's Blog Map

May 22, 2015

Friday, May 22, 2015, Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: Add an E, and listen carefully. Sounds like JW is back punning away.

A quick return visit to Friday from Mr. Wechsler, with another punny effort, where the first word of each them answer is transformed by the addition of an “E” creating a sound-alike with a completely different meaning to the word and to the resulting phrase.  This effort is a classic-looking Friday with word count down and average word length in excess of 5 letters. Lots of original fill, with the NW corner featuring a beautiful stack of three new fill for the LAT (A TALL ONE, TIE BOLTS and SCRUPLES) crossing ALBUMEN. The SE has the new JOY OF SEX, little used ABORTIVE and YOU DA MAN, crossing the brand new GOLF TAN. To fill a grid with this much originality must be a dramatic amount of work. The theme fill are all funny and the I enjoy the visual look of the puzzle, which has many blocks also has lots of open squares. He does use two cheater squares to accommodate the two 14 letter themers in the 10-14-14-10 pattern, rather than the more common 10-13-13-10. He includes fill from many generations and interests which added to my enjoyment. How about you?

18A. Chorus of cows? : MOOED MUSIC (10). (MOOD Music). You think they practice in unison? LINK. (1:37).

25A. Environmentalist priests? : COLLARED GREENS (14). (COLLARD Greens). A stretch but I really like the play on COLLARD.

41A. Assessed penalties against nonconformists? : FINED THE WAYOUT (14). (FIND the WAY OUT). The trickiest, because you have to parse WAYOUT as defining an unconventional person.

53A. Barbie after a bit too much bubbly? : WINED UP TOY (10) (WIND-UP Toy). I am familiar with liquored up, not so much wined up, but then I might have been more impatient in my youth.

Across:

1. H.S. concerns : SATS. Scholastic Achievement Tests. I think the world is finally getting away from the idea that standardized tests are a predictor of anything. 56D. H.S. subject : ENGlish.

5. Place to pick up a kitten : SCRUFF. I will leave it to the cat experts to pick the link of a mother carrying her baby by the scruff of the neck.

11. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" threat : ASP.

14. Psych ending : OTIC. Just what the clue tells you-psychotic.

15. They may be seen on slides : AMEBAE. Many ways to spell this crossword staple.

16. Black __ : SEA.

17. He dethroned Carnera in 1934 : BAER. Max, who along with brother Buddy was a successful fighter. Max is probably more famous for losing to James J. Braddock, the Cinderella Man
20. Egg component : ALBUMEN. Reminds me of the old FOLK, POLK joke.

22. Make : REALIZE. I guess he means profit.

23. Relaxed pace : LOPE.

24. Cubist Fernand : LEGER. I am not familiar with this ARTIST.

31. Way to get a deal started : ANTE. card deal. Another quick turn around from yesterday's theme.

32. Cajuns' 18th-century ancestors, for example : EXILES.  Spicy READING?

33. Disarray : MESS.

34. Burkina Faso neighbor : BENIN. One of many African nations I have heard the name and know precious little else.

35. Noisy nesters : JAYS. Blue Jays are amazing. I have a tie just like that.


39. Apologia's opposite : TIRADE.

40. Mitch Miller's instrument : OBOE. From the early 60's, did you SING-A-LONG?

45. Rio Grande feeder : PECOS. Rivers; the Pecos being famous from all the oaters we see in puzzles. Black Bart, the meanest SOB west of the Pecos!

46. "Suit the action to the __ ... ": Hamlet : WORD. Loves me some Shakespeare. Cool phrase.

47. Slightly : A LITTLE.

50. Shade on the links? : GOLF TAN. Fun clue, and if you look at the farmer's tan both the men and womenb golfers have, you can enjoy this clue.

55. __ Valley: Reagan Library site : SIMI. A gimme to the left coasters.

57. Like some Olympics milieus : ALPINE. Skiing marti?

58. Actor Peters of "American Horror Story" : EVAN. The only character in all of the EPISODES. Never seen it.

59. Paris' Pont __ Arts : DES. French - PONT Italian PONTE. Both mean bridge. The Paris one is a pedestrian bridge and the des just means of.

60. PLO chairman before Mahmoud : YASSER. ABBAS succeeded ARAFAT.

61. Spinoff of TV's "Hercules" : XENA. People love her for her X.

Down:

1. Buckwheat noodle : SOBA. Use your noodle in cooking NOODLES.

2. Bar order : A TALL ONE. I used to order these all of the time. LINK.

3. Industrial fasteners : TIE BOLTS.

4. What con artists lack : SCRUPLES. I wonder why they say 'artists.'

5. " __ thing" : SAME. Different day.

6. "Seriously?!" : C'MON.

7. __ Speedwagon : REO. The GROUP (3:50).

8. Outstanding, in slang : UBER. I am go under on the uber.

9. Lose energy : FADE.

10. The Muses, e.g. : FEMALES.
11. Give, as a job : ASSIGN.

12. Captures : SEIZES.

13. Bankers Life Fieldhouse athlete : PACER. More basketball for you marti; they did not make the playoffs this year.

19. To whom Chance said, "You're not workin' as many bees these days" : ULEE. You say BEE, I say ULEE.

21. __ culpa : MEA.

25. Rotating piece : CAM. Do not get shafted.

26. Bridge call : REBID.

27. Apply : EXERT.

28. Shore seen on TV : DINAH. Burt Reynolds' old girl friend and a true friend to the LPGA.

29. Ice-skate, say : GLIDE.

30. Fix up : RENEW.

35. 1972 Alex Comfort best-seller, with "The" : JOY OF SEX. Link.


36. Unsuccessful : ABORTIVE.

37. "Awesome job, bro!" : YOU DA MAN. The really common yell at a golf tournament.

38. Wimbledon unit : SET. Tennis anyone?

39. High school concern : TEST DAY.

41. Like Lewis' Aslan : FELINE. in Narnia.

42. Baker's variety : ICINGS. Lick the bowl. This one even tinman can tolerate.

43. Importance : NOTE. Easier with "of."

44. Punching tool : AWL.

45. Emulated a 41-Down : PAWED. Not to be confused with mawed.

48. 2003-'11 Brazilian president, familiarly : LULA. hard to comment with no politics, but LINK a can.

49. "House" actor : EPPS. Omar.

50. Out of the park : GONE. Baseball, it's going, going, gone! A home run!

51. Open hearing, in law : OYER. Still heard in some courtrooms.

52. Historic voyager to Hispaniola : NINA. Ah, Chris Columbus and his ships.

54. "__ the gift to be simple ... ": Shaker song : 'TIS. Not as exciting exit song, but here it is. Coincidentally, I lived in Ann Lee Cottage in high school. LISTEN. They were very simple people, but since they were celibate, they were very crafty. They needed to find something to do with their hands.

I had an exceptionally good time; some originality, some variety and some humor. Great way to start a holiday week end. Thank you Jeffrey. Do not forget to honor all who have died serving our nation, but also enjoy. Lemonade out.

47 comments:

  1. Hello Puzzlers -

    Really liked today's do-able Jeff Wex creation. Sussed the theme right away at Mooed Music, and that sped along the solve considerably. Lula was all perps, and Benin - well let's just say I was never good at African geography.

    Morning Lemon, very much appreciate the Elle McPherson. Those are quite some getaway sticks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Morning, all!

    Well, the good news is that, after nearly throwing in the towel halfway through this one, I did eventually get some needed footholds (mostly through sheer guessing) and finished unassisted. The bad news is just how many guesses I had to make to get there and how dissatisfied I felt as a result.

    The middle was the first train wreck. I had DINAH, but that was about it. I finally guessed that RENEW could mean "fix up" and that REBID was a "call" in bridge, which let me then guess that BENIN was near Burkina Faso.

    The entire south section was an even bigger train wreck. I could not parse WAY OUT as referring to "nonconformists" and simply couldn't come up with FINED THE WAY OUT as a result. YOU DA MAN was way too slangy to come to mind at first. Didn't know the Hamlet quote. Eventually got that Aslan was FELINE (wanted LEONINE, but it didn't fit), but PAWED? And then there was LULA? And OYER? And EVAN? DES? Lots of obscure stuff down there. Not to mention ICINGS, which was just ugly.

    Still, I stuck with it and somehow pulled it off. I think it was guessing at FELINE that finally gave me the toehold I needed. It helped that I knew EPPS and XENA and guessed correctly at A LITTLE, SIMI and GOLF TAN.

    As for the theme, I love a good pun, and three of the the theme answers were very good puns indeed. So that was nice.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Had to rely heavily on red letters,, but eventually got it all with no look-ups. Red letters warn me what's wrong, but give me no hint what's right, so I don't consider them cheating. At least, not as much.

    Took a while to suss the gimmick, changing D to ED to create a homonym, and then make a pun on it, but once I got it, an old joke occupied my mind, to become a poem.

    The dark blue dye that long ago
    By caravan had far to go
    From India, where sacred cows
    Upon its plant serenely browsed
    Then with a jazzy beat, mooed indigo!

    ReplyDelete
  4. After some 25 minutes and not even half finished, I glanced over Lemonade's rundown. Very clever, Jeffrey Wechsler. This was one where I thought getting the theme first was absolutely essential since there were so many esoteric and difficult misdirections. Of course, once it's filled correctly, you think, oh sure, why not.
    On the first pass, I was proud to guess correctly at SOBA, ALBUMEN, PECOS, GLIDE, et al, but missed DINAH (I had PAULY for Shore) and ICINGS (I put YEASTS).
    Lemon, I agree Jays are amazing birds but something blocked your commentary about them. Part of the corvid family (ravens, crows, magpies, jays)... I always wanted to use it as a theme but haven't been able to as yet. I've watched scrub jays hide peanuts in the yard and triangulate each nut's location, then remember it for a later snack time. I also "trained" one scrub jay to land on my (or anyone's) finger for a nut. Aggressive avians.
    Thanks for the writeup, Lemon. Very good.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. Ouch! After yesterday's fairly easy puzzle, this one hurt my head! I loved the puns, though. My favorite was WINED-UP TOY.

    Max BAER's son, Max Baer, Jr., was Jethro Clamped from The Beverly Hillbillies.


    QOD: If I do a good job, people won’t care if I am green or have three heads. ~ Harvey Milk (May 22, 1930 ~ Nov. 27, 1978)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Some people are simply destined to be friggin' unhappy. Sheesh.

    Thank you, Jeffrey, for starting my day with three big grins and one large laugh for WINED UP TOY.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good morning!

    I thought this one was going to do me in. Almost did. Took the full regulation time, but at least it didn't go into overtime.

    Interesting links today, Lemon, but your link for A TALL ONE took me to "403 Forbidden."

    YASSER, tough puzzle, but I like it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hello,

    Well, a complete DNF for me this morning. I'm checking in so that I may see what you have to say, if I decide to give this one another chance later--with new eyes and maybe more coffee.

    Later.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Enjoyed all the punny theme answers. SW corner stymied me for awhile, but then got FELINE and PECOS and was back in it until the end.

    Great puzzle, Jeff and write-up Lemonade! TGIF - headed to KC for the Royals/Cardinals game tonight - taking the men in my family who are home for their birthdays. I hope its a good one!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Had to cheat. Spent about 40 minutes and had most of it, but couldn't get off Padre for 13d. So hit the g spot for that and that corner came together, living blanks only in the NW. Cheated on Baer to finish.

    Lots of erasures and a DNF, but the punnishment made it worthwhile.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This one was a toughie, even though the theme was evident early. Loved COLLARED GREENS. Had the most trouble in the NE where LEGER was unknown, and couldn't come up with PACER or ULEE, among other things. Wanted MOOED RING instead of MOOED MUSIC - perhaps an echo from earlier this week.

    Burkina Faso (in the clue for 34A) contains my favorite place name, Ouagadougou. It just sounds so lovely. When I learned geography in 7th (?) grade, the country was Upper Volta, and BENIN was Dahomey. I only learned the modern names when my kids had the same subject many years later.

    ReplyDelete
  12. WINED UP TOY is a great visual. Picturing Barbie as a lush- with A TALL ONE in her hand.

    Speaking of A TALL ONE, I couldn't parse that at all... I saw ATALLONE, checked the crosses, was sure it was right, and figured it was either a new hip cocktail or a really old cocktail from Ancient Greece or something.

    Theme answers were great! Thanks, Jeffrey.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Re 20A: When did we decide to misspell ALBUMIN? A "(var.)" in the clue would have been nice.

    ReplyDelete
  14. @Anonymous: I initially went with ALBUMIN as well before the perps forced ALBUMEN on me. Having since looked up both words in the dictionary, however, it looks like one is not just a variant of the other.

    ALBUMEN is defined specifically as "the white of an egg." ALBUMIN, on the other hand, is a bit more general and is defined as "any of a class of simple, sulfur-containing, water-soluble proteins that coagulate when heated, occurring in egg white, milk, blood, and other animal and vegetable tissues and secretions." So ALBUMEN is probably a better fit for the clue provided, since ALBUMEN is an actual "component" of an egg (whereas ALBUMIN is one of the components of ALBUMEN).

    ReplyDelete
  15. Dudley and DO, I have replaced the link at A TALL ONE; not sure what happened.

    BG, do you think ANON 7:45 now has egg on his/her face?

    ReplyDelete
  16. PK @12:07 AM

    I'm glad you looked up more on the LEVEES. I didn't mean to get into a discussion of it!

    It may not be obvious just looking at them that sheet piling is driven 45 feet into the ground, and on top of that is the reinforced concrete wall, 17 feet high. The reinforcement Hatoolah linked yesterday was to protect the dirt berm around the concrete wall. The wall is the real "levee".

    The levees failed in Katrina, not because they were not high enough , but because there was not enough support under them. The water washed under them and they collapsed in on themselves. As Anonomous T said, they worked for a long time, but the water from Katrina was too much pressure.

    Again, I hope we never have to test them!


    ReplyDelete
  17. Fun puzzle by Jeffrey W. Got off to a slow start, but like Dudley, sussed MOOEDMUSIC, and then was off to the races. Even the proper nouns were perped. Thanks, Jeffrey!

    Nice write-up, Lemonade. Thanks for all you do.

    ReplyDelete
  18. This one took longer than usual to NOT finish because SOBA was an unknown and even though I got ( and need) A TALL ONE, TIE BOLTS, & SCRUPLES, even after doing an alphabet run on _ATS, SATS wouldn't sit in my brain.

    Max BAER, father of Jethro on the Beverly Hillbillies. And I thought Mitch Miller's instrument was the Bouncing Ball.

    The entire North was initially a white sea on the first pass. The SW filled easier and when I filled WINED UP TOY, the theme came out immediately. Not exactly knowing where Burkina Faso was made me hesitate between BENIN -GABON. Same for PADRE-PACER, FADE-TIRE, and DINAH-PAULY. Unknowns filled by perps were TIRADE, LEGER, EVAN, JOY OF SEX. Never heard the term GOLF TAN except in a crossword puzzle.

    I originally wrote LAST DAY instead of TEST DAY, considering today is the last day of school for many.

    I thought it was a very good, solvable puzzle. I just had a brain fart of 1A & 1D(and unknown)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Swamp Cat - the levees failed here because of multiple reasons. Number one is because the water rose higher than it ever had. Number two was the levees weren't high enough. Number three was they weren't thick enough because politicians couldn't bring themselves to take over people's property that abutted the canals. $100 billion cost to the US taxpayers.

    Concrete T-walls are a joke and will snap if water gets to the top, and if you think differently, go look at any dam in the world and see if they are constructed that way. My friends from Holland think the Corps Of Engineers are idiots for allowing them.

    ReplyDelete
  20. What a workout!

    Definitely Friday level. Was spoiled by the easier entries this week. Today's was 'ruff.

    Loved MOOEDMUSIC. The visual is hilarious. Same with a drunken Barbie doll. Ken took the keys to her pink car.

    Dinah Shore was a great performer. Remember watching her show with my parents. The slogan. "See the USA in your Chevrolet" and her big kiss to the audience, comes to mind. She, Perry Como, and Milton Berle, among others, were family viewing events. I wish they brought back some of the variety format shows. Nowadays they are nonexistent, except for holiday specials.

    I miss the show HOUSE. Some of the main actors are now involved in popular TV shows. Omar EPPS was last seen in RESURRECTION. It unfortunately was not renewed for next season. He gave a great performance in TORCHWOOD.

    Lucy Lawless (XENA) hasn't slowed down since her show ended. I heard her singing awhile back and she has a very sexy voice. She was most recently on MARVEL, AGENTS OF SHIELD, and killed it on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. Kevin Sorbo (HERCULES) has been guest starring in numerous roles.

    What programs bring back good memories to you? Would like to hear some good stories.

    My contribution for TGIF is over. Another week flew by. Great, interesting comments by the gang, as usual. Wish for good weather this weekend. You all deserve a pleasant weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  21. PK, SwampCat, Big Easy and anyone else interested in levees: read Rising Tide, by John Barry. Although it is about the 1927 Mississippi River Flood, the politics surrounding flood protection remain the same.

    ReplyDelete
  22. 1st attempt was pen on paper, 2nd attempt was using the computer. I don't know why the answers just pop out at me on the computer, maybe it's because I put it down & came back?

    Red Letters in the end...

    All I know about Cajun exiles I learned from The Band. (Arcadian Driftwood 6:42)

    Great write up, lots of links! (Even singing cows!)

    Collared Greens must still deal with bureaucracy

    Fined the wayout?

    Wined up doll?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hatoolah, Rising Tide is one of my favorite books. Thanks for mentioning it. That same John Barry is still fighting politics and politicians,

    Big Easy, all that you say is true. I wasn't in any way defending the levees or the Corp. I was just explaining...very briefly! ... how the new levees were designed. PK seemed to think they were just dirt because that's what you see.

    There is certainly criticism enough to go 'round about the whole mess, starting with Congress where the money gets bottled up.

    But that's politics and we are getting waaay beyond the rules here!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Time to get the PB out !

    Speaking of that 1927 flood, this "... blues song
    (was) written and first recorded by husband and wife Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie in 1929."

    It was the last song on the English rock group's untitled 4th album that was released in 1971.

    ReplyDelete

  25. GRR day all,

    A big, fat, freaking DNF. The NW corner filled in pretty easily and I thought I was off to the races. After finishing my first pass through I had two or three more fills...Baer and the rest were of the three letter variety.

    So I said the heck with it and cheated. Mr Google gave me enough of a foot hold so that I had roughly 90% filled in when I raised the white flag.

    Wishing everyone a happy holiday weekend. I hope you have pleasant weather, fun cook outs, & a parade to honor our fallen hero's & living vets.

    No business this weekend, so I'll probably give the puzzles a shot. Can't be any worse then today was.



    ReplyDelete
  26. If we're gonna link songs about the great Louisiana flood, we've gotta have this one Louisiana 1927 (3:02).

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hi Gang -

    Smaller DNF than i thought I was in for. Sussed the theme with COLLARED GREENS; got a chuckle from MOOED MUSIC. Figured out WAY OUT and UP TOY but couldn't FIND FINED nor WINED.

    Great theme. Some days the puzzle gets you.

    I absolutely love it when some anon pops in with a complaint and gets it totally wrong!

    Love me some Led Zep! Noticed that they played a bit of the rather obscure Immigrant Song at the hockey game last night.

    Tigers blew a 5-0 lead against the Astros, then won it with a HR in the 11th. I think the Astros are like Wiley Coyote and don't realize there s nothing solid under them. They will not hold up over the long season.

    Cool regards!
    JzB

    ReplyDelete
  28. Toughest Friday in a while. Didn't help that I read ASLAN as ASIAN and never corrected. A DNF but I got further than I thought I would and just ran out of time.

    ReplyDelete
  29. What is Jerome complaining about now?

    ReplyDelete
  30. Max BAER is prolly more known for his crossword appearances than his actual career.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Busy day here. I see Tom beat me to the punch on posting the Randy Newman tune. But it only seems appropriate to add a little "Mooed Music"

    She Moos in Mysterious Ways

    ReplyDelete
  32. SwampCat: No, I didn't suppose that the levee was only dirt. I felt the grass and mat finish wouldn't hold up in high water like y'all had down there. I was glad to learn that the building seemed more substantial than it might have been.

    We live in an area with much less water and they finish most dam surfaces here with soil cement or huge rocks called riprap. My husband (a bulldozer guy) and I had watched dam building and had toured several big ones in other states. We lived downstream from a relatively small dam.

    Before Katrina, I had read a book or article predicting levee failure for New Orleans. I was haunted by that for years. The forces of nature are so much greater than man & man's puny efforts especially in Louisiana.

    My husband irrigated from a river. I was involved in state water issues and on a river basin advisory council for several years in a much dryer state than yours. I wrote countless articles on the subject. We fought the political entities and got a law we could live with. But each new bunch of pols need to be retrained. I'm out of the political scene now. I am just more interested in water issues than most women.

    I have the Aaron Neville recording of "Louisiana 1927". Makes me cry every time I hear it.

    ReplyDelete
  33. As for the puzzle: WHEW! What a workout! Major learning experiences, but punny enough to redeem its worth. I'll forgive about anything for a few laughs these days.

    Hey, I knew YASSER, XENA, ULEE, DINAH, OYER (really I did). I'm over proud when I get some hard ones.

    Had a baby jay down in my yard yesterday. He didn't look mature enough to fly. The next time I looked, he was gone. Hope I was wrong about the flying. Didn't see any feathers on the ground.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Oh my, I am really late to the party today. So first of all, WBS!!

    Lemony, loved your write-up today. And yes, ALPINE was my first thought for some Olympic milieus. And for 13-D, I had PAC**, so PACER wasn't too far of a stretch for this feeble basketball- and baseball-challenged mind. ;-)

    I did like seeing GOLF TAN, with the Senior PGA championship this weekend.

    TGIF!!!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Hi All!

    The puzzle was a SEA of white until I reached out to the great Google - after 3 I TITT. I got the punny theme so that was fun. Thanks Jeff for the challenge and Lem for finishing off A__INE @57a - YOU DA MAN. DNF for me.

    The errors of my ways, 1) TIS an extra 'e' in cr(e)oLES. Tried Pauly Shore 1st (80's comic (not funny) and was rude to DW), and Arafat before REALIZing 1st name.

    Fav - WINED UP TOY. CED's link completed the picture in my head.

    Has no one linked REO Speedwagon (Ridin' the Storm OUT).

    JzB - you threw the gauntlet... and likely are right Yikes! Go 'Stros!

    On deception, Lem, there is an art to it. Social Engineering (the new word for con) is easy if you get folks to think they are helping (just A LITTLE). Carry a heavy box behind someone or smoke out on the dock w/ 'em - they will gladly hold a door and grant access. Call an exec's secretary and say how you're trying to help the exec fix an issue but forgot the password - you'll get it 1/3x. And they feel good about helping you out. I have SCRUPLES so I do this w/ a white-hat donned.

    Not to get political, but ABORTIVE next to JOY OF SEX xing WAY OUT? What's your agenda Jeff? :-)

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  36. Between the meds I’m on, a medical procedure (ending in scopy that showed I am one step closer to my reversal) this morning and a plethora of proper nouns, I humbly cry “Uncle”, Jeffrey. Twas still a fun struggle despite my first real DNF for quite a while.

    Musings
    -ITunes Radio on my Apple supplies all the MOOD MUSIC I need
    - Mitch Miller’s early karaoke
    -Common GOLF TAN
    -SIMI Valley is a spectacular setting for the Reagan Library
    -Con artists hit both the greedy and the unsophisticated
    -My first sense of UBER
    -Good employees get ASSIGNED more jobs. Competence is always punished
    -Yup, Bee + Cwd = ULEE
    -Don’t most of us remember the car DINAH pitched?
    -In the 2010 Wimbledon Isner defeated Mahut 6 -4 , 3 – 6, 6 – 7 (7 – 9), 7 – 6 (7 – 3) and the last SET was an incredible 70 – 68. The match took 3 days - 11h 5 min

    ReplyDelete
  37. I am pretty sure I linked this before, but I cannot let "Mooed Music" slip by without mentioning:

    Cows With Guns (5:08)

    ReplyDelete
  38. CED - Have you check'd out Phineas & Ferb yet? We seem to have the same warped sense of humour. As soon as I realized WIN'D UP TOY, I couldn't not think of the Wind the frog! scene in TOY Story.

    C, -T

    ReplyDelete
  39. I appreciate that this was an extremely well-constructed puzzle, buy I confess I didn't like it much. Not until Lemonade's writeup did several answers make any sense to me. I felt some clues were stretching it too far, such as how PAWED was clued. I did very much like the theme, though.

    What do you get when you add 1 to "Tennis, anyone?" "Elevenis, anytwo?" (All credit for that goes to Victor Borge.)

    Best wishes to you all.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Hola, friends!
    I almost missed the party. Lots to do today, helping my daughter with tomorrow's grad party for her daughter. We should celebrate her, too, as she just aced her ORALS!

    The puzzle was definitely on the back burner all day. Every now and them I sneaked a look and filled one or two cells. It was sloooooow and took forever to suss the theme. COLLARED GREENS was first.

    NW and NE corners emerged first then GLIDEd downwards, A LITTLE at a time.

    Looked up Alex Comfort's title, couldn't suss it. SIMI valley, yes that was quick. I would never go there myself, but have friends who revere the man.

    Loved PAWED and FELINE for Aslan.

    Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler and Lemonade. Yes, we sang along with Mitch and his bouncing ball.

    I hope your day has been fabulous, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  41. (22:40 later...)

    Anonymous T, I was not aware of Phineas & Ferb. That is totally bizarre! (poor Candace!) One episode is like, strange. But if every episode is like that, I can see how you could get hooked! (what could possibly happen next?)

    & whats with that platypus?...

    ReplyDelete
  42. Jayce,

    Loved the Victor Borge quote.

    Vanity plate: 10SNE1

    ReplyDelete
  43. Husker Gary
    Glad to hear your "thingy" went well today.
    Get Well Soon !!!!

    As for the puzzle ... It made a nice Paper Airplane ... and flew across the room.

    A "toast" to ALL who sacrificed for OUR country to be free.
    Cheers to all of our Veterans!

    ReplyDelete
  44. Greetings!

    Thanks, Jeffrey and Lemon!

    Took forever, but no cheats!

    Kept falling asleep while reading the blog. (Keep waking up at night with an annoying dry cough.)

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  45. CED - thought you'd enjoy it. And yes, every episode plays w/ the same format / theme. I used to watch it all the time w/ my kids. The two guys that wrote it are Python fans. Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  46. Lots of fun with this one, even though it took me two days to finish!

    ReplyDelete
  47. Sorry -- "uber" from the German, even in U.S. slang is used as an adverb - compare to "very" or "extremely."

    Hence - "outstanding" is the wrong tense, even for kids these says.

    ReplyDelete

For custom-made birthday, anniversary or special occasion puzzles from C.C., please email crosswordc@gmail.com

Her book "Sip & Solve Easy Mini Crosswords" is available on Amazon.

Please click on Comments Section Abbrs for some blog-specific terms.

Please limit your posts to 5 per day and cap each post length at about 20 lines in Preview mode.

No politics, no religion and no personal attacks.