google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, May 9th, 2015, Barry C. Silk

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May 9, 2015

Saturday, May 9th, 2015, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie~!

Words: 70 (missing J,X)

Blocks: 30

Dammit~!  I was doing so well with this one, but the NE corner had too many proper names for me to get any kind of start, and therefore, I had to cheat - and still struggled.  Oh well.  What a shame, too, because the SW corner had such a warm, fuzzy* feel to it.  I was feeling pretty sure we were getting a Silkie, and I did well on the last one, so I was overly confident today.  Triple 10-letter corners across, and triple 8-letter downs.  Two 12-letter spanners;

30a. Character in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" : QUESTION MARK - I got this via perps, but I got fooled by the "?" in the title - not the name of a person from the film....

39a*. Pie order : ANCHOVY PIZZA - I do love pizza, but have to admit, I have not had anchovy


Delaward~!

ACROSS:

1. Grooming tool : RAZOR BLADE - I let this one go to start; my friend Heather is a very popular dog groomer here on the North Fork of L.I., and so I was "sorta" stuck in that frame of mind

11. Holding pattern nos. : ALTs - Altitudes, the height in feet that a plane 'holds' over an airport - who else went with "ETAs"~?

15. Disappears : EVAPORATES - like my confidence in finishing without a cheat

16. 1974 N.L. batting champ Ralph : GARR - baseball for C.C.

17. Huge success : MONSTER HIT - Everything seems to be a 'monster hit' today

18. Morales of "Criminal Minds" : ESAI - doubled up from yesterday

19. In Paris, in Paris : ICI - Frawnche for "here"

20. For whom New York's Queensboro Bridge was renamed : ED KOCH - took me a second to remember this

21. Diamond discovered in the '60s : NEIL - ugh.  duped.  big time. 

22. Tight ends? : TEES - T ighT, get it~?

24. Weather report abbr. : SSE

25. Casual qualifier : SORTA

26. Child player : STREEP - oh.  JULIA Child, got it.  IMDb

29. "Camelot" Tony winner, 1961 : BURTON - OK, I cheated.  Shoulda known this

34*. Try to win : WOO - I tried to win the blue-eyed beauty who worked at the 39a. restaurant

37. Do a fixer-upper job : REPAINT - I am done with the repaint job at aMano restaurant, but there's more to be done at A Lure

38. Fed. property overseer : GSA - General Services Administration - the Wiki - I was thinking "HUD", but was pretty sure the "U" was not going to work

42. Family secret, perhaps : RECIPE

43. Best in a restaurant : OUTEAT

47. Creator of Heffalumps : MILNE - Winnie the Pooh


48. Fighter acronym : MIG - and more Cold War initials at 53d. Sputnik letters : CCCP

51. "M*A*S*H" actor : FARR - I think HuskerG is a big fan of "Klinger"

52. Surfeit : GLUT

53. Warning : CAVEAT - Latin "let him beware"

56. Realize : SEE

57. Bonanza : LODE

58. Capital on I-77 : CHARLESTON - West Virginia; takes me about 7mins to do the I-70 thru Wheeling on my way to Cincinnati


60. Through : OVER

61. Term coined by Hugh Hefner : CENTERFOLD - I did not know this

62*. Bonds : WEDS

63. Winnings : PRIZE MONEY

DOWN:

1. Pays : REMITS

2. Relative of a stilt : AVOCET - this bird has legs; and this one; and this one

3. Comparatively kooky : ZANIER

4. Photo __ : OPs - "opportunities"; I so hesitated to put this in, but it was correct

5. Learning method : ROTE

6. Gave rise to : BRED

7. Literary symbols of daybreak : LARKS - ah, not "COCKS"

8. One of a literary trio : ATHOS - The Three Musketeers

9. Prepare for takeoff, maybe : DE-ICE

10. O.T. book : ESTHer

11. 18 for graduating high school, e.g. : AGE NORM - today's "fun sponge"; I get it, but it just would not come to me, being in the 'down'

12. Combat game : LASER TAG - I have played the game in a local arena, played it in the woods with friends, but I find paintball to be a lot more exciting

13. Quislings : TRAITORS - Cheated.  I did, however, use the actual dictionary, and not Google

14. Colombo's country : SRI LANKA - Dah~!  I was stuck in South America for too long

23. Et __ : SEQ - more Latin, used in law, "and the following"

25. "Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak" writer : SUN-TZU

27. Atlas section : EUROPE

28. Bug : PEEVE

29. 1951 Reagan co-star : BONZO


31. Mole, maybe : SPY

32. 31-Down strategy : TAP - Wiretap, e.g.

33. Only Super Bowl won by the Jets : III

34*. Virtuous feeling : WARM GLOW

35*. R.E.M. hit, with "The" : "ONE I LOVE"

36. Blocked : OCCLUDED - like clouds

40. Ones saying "warmer," perhaps : HINTERS - "you're getting cold, colder, ice cold, warm, warmer, warmer...."

41. Justice Dept. agency : ATF

44. City near Bethlehem : EASTON

45. Specialized cactus branch : AREOLE

46. In : TRENDY

48. "Real Time" host : MAHER

49. 14th-century Russian prince : IVAN I

50. "Still Standing" co-star Jami : GERTZ


54. Sailor's direction : ALEE

55. Time spent in one's seat : TERM - political term

59. It's nearly 700 mi. south of Sea-Tac : SFO - Nailed it, but I knew Sea-Tac is the airport in Washington state

Splynter

59 comments:

OwenKL said...

The ways of women, Nate did not understand.
His girl made him guess where to put his hand.
It was cool, it was WARMer.
(She was child of a farmer,
Grew up far from the city, in HINTERland!)

I needed some hints this morning. Even after I resorted to red letters, the entire west coast remained white. I finally had to reveal not just one but two words to get enough perps for a toehold! After a fairly easy week, this one was a typical Saturday b***h that did not give any WARM GLOW!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

I was mostly on Mr. Silk's wavelength for this one. I surprised myself by starting with getting ICI right off the bat and then correctly guessing AVOCET. And I wasn't at all fooled by the clue for QUESTION MARK. I eventually AGE NORM and TAP, but they both bugged me (no pun intended).

The SE corner was the most challenging for me. Didn't know EASTON, didn't remember AREOLE (with a few letters in place I went with AREOLA) and couldn't remember how to spell GERTZ. Loved her in "Twister" but kept getting her name mixed up with Bernie GOETZ. Finally guessed at SFO and TERM, and that was enough to get me going and finish the section.

Barry G. said...

"I eventually AGE NORM and TAP..."

Make that "I eventually got AGE NORM and TAP."

Still didn't like either one.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Things looked bleak in the NW, but filled pretty quickly elsewhere. I fell into the ALDA/FARR trap, but otherwise avoided being scathed on this one. When I finally returned to the NW the coffee had kicked in and it almost solved itself. Loved the triple tens top and bottom and the triple eights down the sides -- not a clinker in the bunch!

Didn't recognize Still Standing, but remembered Jami GERTZ as the "We've got cows!" sex therapist in Twister. SRI LANKA was a gimme; it was home to Arthur C. Clarke.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

What D-Otto said, except that I didn't remember Jamie Gertz. Therefore I had MIA before MIG.

Morning Splynter, glad you caught the Julia Child reference. That one went right by me.

Hondo from yesterday - congratulations on the new member of your family!

Avg Joe said...

Probably a little slower start than typical for a Silkie, but perseverance won the day. Had to make a lot of wags and a number of erasures, but it worked out. Liked ATF, so Farr was the first guess. Bonzo started as Lanza. Esai was erased.....twice...before any perps proved it. Like you Splynter, I was thinking S.A. for Colombo, but when I finally wagged Question Mark, I had the S and the A on the extremities and the light lit. Final fills were the M and G in Mig.

I thought Age Norm was a real clunker. But otherwise it was all fair. All's well that ends.

HowardW said...

A typically tough one, but with a few lucky guesses got enough of a toehold to finish. Didn't know GERTZ, MAHER, AREOLE (in context). Completely misled by the clue Character in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?". [By the way, anyone else remember this ? ?] Rhyming name answers: FARR, GARR, MAHER.

A fun challenge from Mr. Silk. Nice write-up Splynter, and glad you could get in at least one leg photo.

Yellowrocks said...

This one beat me up. After using red letters for several answers to complete 3/4 of it, I gave up entirely on the SE. I should have know EASTON, I've been through there literally hundreds of times. I was in the right state but was stuck on Allentown, instead. (Too long.)
ALDA before FARR, HOPE before NEIL, COCK before LARK.
QUESTION MARK and AGE NORM were clever. Never heard of GERTZ. I was in the wrong part of the world for SRI LANKA. I didn't know there was a Colombo there.
When I have to use too many red letters it psychs me out and I can no longer think well. It was a fine puzzle, but not on my wave length.
I know that there are only 9 super bowls that do not begin with X. That narrowed it down.
I like anchovies on pizza, but request that they be patted dry before being placed on the pie, otherwise they are too oily and fishy.
Today is Alan's birthday and we had big plans for the entire day together. Unfortunately he fell and hurt his back yesterday and is in pain. In addition, he has a stomach upset today. We will do whatever he is up for and do the rest Sunday or Monday. Alan was so looking forward to it for weeks. I feel sorry for him.

Ergo said...


They're calling it the greatest natural disaster in the history of Nebraska. Avg. Joe, you likely got as much or more rain than the 7.6 inches we got in Lincoln. (Our basement was destroyed and countless neighbors/coworkers are reporting the same. Very sad about DeWitt Nebraska, just a stones throw from you, totally under water.

Husker Gary, I know Fremont was spared this time, but I also remember high school being let out in the late 70's because of the need for teenagers to help sandbag the town. We won that battle but barely, just barely.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Well, this was a Silkie on Steroids and then some. I started out like gangbusters and thought I'd finish in record-breaking time, but Mr. Silk dashed that idea. The southwest corner gave me the most trouble but, after much perseverance, I finished w/o help.

Over the last couple of months, my finishing time for Silkie's has been in the 30 minutes range. Today, however, it took an hour. Some miscues were average/age norm and Alda/Farr. Liked the misdirection for Diamond (Neil) and Question Mark (WHTBJ?).

Kudos, Mr. Silk, for a challenging, yet doable, Saturday stumper and thank you, Splynter, for an enjoyable and enlightening expo.

YR, Happy Birthday to Alan. I hope he feels better and is able to celebrate his special day, even belatedly.

Have a great day.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! I never expect to do well on a Silkie, so I don't sweat it, just red-letter runs until I get some kind of starting place. I needed lots of HINTERS on this one. So much was obscure to my world. I thought the QUESTION MARK clue was downright mean! Oh well, I got my mental exercise.

I used to love ANCHOVY PIZZA, but I haven't seen one offered out here in many years. I was the only person I knew who liked them and didn't pick them off. I used to scrounge them off my friends plates when I was young. Never even saw a pizza before the age of 18 when I left home. No Italians in my neck of the plains.

SEA-TAC is well known. I once spent eight hours there and got a great massage. Do other airports have masseuses? However, I tried LAX first then realized that was further away.

CAVEAT: Never knew what this meant. We had a city manager for a few years who drove me nuts using this word in conversation--probably incorrectly. He turned out to be someone to beware of when he ran off with another man's wife.

YR: Happy birthday to Alan from me too! I had been wondering how he was doing.

Bluehen said...

I like Saturday Silkies, and my experience pretty much mirrored HowardW's. I got the "tada" in about the usual Saturday time.

Sorry to hear about the terrible weather some of you folks are experiencing. As Chief Dan George said, "Endeavor to persevere".

YR, give our best to Alan on his birthday.

Cya.

C6D6 Peg said...

SW totally was blank. Started with VIE instead of WOO, and that did me in. Once WARMGLOW was seen, did happen to finish the rest of that corner.

Thanks, Splynter, for a great expo.

Husker Gary said...

I swear that lack of success on the first pass makes me want to give up, but Barry’s charm is that I can do his puzzles if I open up my mind (not that stilt or pie or M*AS*H character or…) and stick to it. I went SE, NE, SW and finally NW.

Musings
-NO to - HOPE diamond, Seuss, LAX, VIE, ETA…
-Nebraska hopes our Surfeit of water will soon EVAPORATE
-Yeah, Ergo, I remember that time as well
-Ralph played on TBS when cable was new and the Braves were mediocre
-Garth Brooks is a MONSTER HIT in Omaha and his one show has become 6 sellouts this weekend
-Joann loves men (Klinger) in drag, me, not so much!
-Sherman saved his worst for CHARLESTON, where the war started
-Joe Namath lived off that III win for his entire career
-Warmer, warmer is standard Easter Egg hunting hints
-What is it that Jamie GERTZ couldn’t not spare for Elaine on a Seinfeld episode?

JJM said...

Like the others, it took me longer than usual. Once I remembered R.E.M's ONE I LOVE that corner came in nicely. BTW I do love anchovy pizza. Have a good day all.

Java Mama said...

Good afternoon, all! Saturday Silkies are like granola – sweet, crunchy and satisfying. Really enjoyed this offering even though I needed several look-ups to finish. Thanks to Splynter for an enlightening expo.

I knew Meryl STREEP played Julia Child in the movie, but had the wrong Richard (Harris vs. BURTON) winning an award for Camelot. Then I re-read the clue and realized I should be thinking stage instead of screen. Great misdirection at 30A; that movie seriously creeps me out every time. Quislings = TRAITORS was today’s learning moment.

Congrats on the new puppy, Hondo. Looks like a real sweetie.

Best birthday wishes to Alan, Yellow Rocks.

Hope all of you experiencing heavy rains stay safe.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

tiptoethru said...

A bad blizzard brewing, a Silkie for Saturday and I should be running for cover. However, I was able to figure this one out until I ran into the NE corner and had to "cheat" by coming here. But I am always glad I've done so! Thank you all for your explanations, humor, and for making me feel less of a dolt. I'm off to shovel some snow. Mother Nature can be so cruel sometimes. TTFN

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

I'm with Splynter on this one; one of Barry's more difficult, less enjoyable offerings. Was annoyed about the TEES clue, but then with the right mindset, got QUESTION MARK easily. Wanted FLTS before ALTS but hesitated with ALDA to see if FARR was better. Had trouble sussing OUT EAT. Noticed the TEAT/AREOLA crossing - probably wasn't done on purpose. :-)
Also wanted Columbia SC before CHARLESTON loomed. Did not know BURTON, MILNE, GARR or SUN TZU. Did not know the 'stilt' answer either but somehow AVOCET bubbled up.

Misty said...

I rarely respond to Saturday Silkies any more, since they are always such disasters for me. Got a bit more in the north and middle than I usually do, so that was a relief. Had the same ALDA/FARR problem as others, and liked RECIPE as a family secret.

So sorry to hear about Alan's injury and tummy ache and disappointment, Yellowrocks. Will hope that you both have a sweet day tomorrow.

Have a good Saturday, everybody!

coneyro said...

This one was a killer!

My only saving grace is that I had exactly the same erroneous answers as everyone else. Puts me in good company with all the great minds of this blog.

That QUESTIONMARK entry was pure evil, but ingenious.

Who remembers the Jets' Joe Namath in pantyhose? I'll never forget that image. One of the sexiest athletes of all time, IMO.

Of all the NY mayors, Ed Koch was my favorite. Nothing political though. I loved his personality. He was a typical Jewish New Yorker and acted like your average citizen, with absolutely no air of superiority. Being in charge of the Big Apple is hard work, and his levity was sometimes refreshing.... RIP...

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone.

Lemonade714 said...

Per our discussion earlier in the week AN ACE

Bluehen said...

Re. Ed Koch: I have nothing against the man, but one reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard (Sub-Standard?)must have had. He dubbed the mayor "The Most Needlessly Photographed Man in America". His picture was in the paper quite a bit. I'm starting to feel the same way about the TV coverage of Bob Baffert on race days.

Ol' Man Keith said...

"HUZZAH!"
"Good work, Keith!"
"Nice job, ol' man!"

Why... thank you. No, that's OK. Please. Hold the applause.
"But why? You've never solved a Silkie quite so fast. It's a great achievement for a Saturday pzl, my lad! Why, look around: you're getting a standing ovation!"

Aw..., well aw shucks. (Modestly) I appreciate the support. But I have to thank Barry C. Silk, Splynter, and of course my wife and sons, my grandkids, and all the little people who...

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

Nice write up Splynter. Your intro was spot on for me. I admit to cheating on something I know will never pan out, like anything by R.E.M. All I know about them is they emptied their bus sewage in the Chicago River as they passed over an iron bridge.

I was ready for a Silkie since I had a pretty easy time of it this week. Thank you.

Favorites: Trying to remember something about the cast of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? While knowing the diamond wasn't Hope, I was trying to recall some Taylor/BURTON find since Richard was already here. Never saw NEIL til the NE played out! COLOMBO came to me from a novel I read y-e-a-r-s ago. Fun Puzzle.

Have a grand Saturday!

Jayce said...

Whew, this was a hard puzzle! I was finally able to finish it, but not without looking up several items of information and resorting to red letters. Evil cluing, indeed!
Swamp Cat, I'm glad you are enjoying the Kate Shugak novels by Dana Stabenow.
Best wishes to you all.

Lemonade714 said...

Speaking of golf, two days after Calvin Peete died, Pete Brown, the first black golfer to win on the pga tour died. Today I learned Lee Elder the first black to play the Masters, lives in my backyard. I watch Kevin Na, an Asian,a,,, lead in Ponte Vedra. All this in 50 years.

What will the next 50 bring?

Anonymous said...

Husker Gary: She couldn't spare a square (of toilet paper). G in IL

Anonymous said...

Another tough Silkie, but unlike other constructors he always makes it solvable - even when I cannot finish.
Today I did, but the amount of white space after the first pass through was daunting.

A note to Husker Gary - Sherman never got to Charleston, and it's really debatable that he burned Columbia. He is really hated down here, but you cannot rely on my fellow SCers to think clearly and accurately when it comes to the Civil War. Did you know, according to them, that slavery had nothing to do with the Civil War? Nope, it was about States Rights. To have slaves, apparently.

Yellowrocks said...

Well, Alan, my best Mother's Day gift ever, is recovering. We will celebrate his birthday on Mother's day, instead. His tummy has settled down and we are ordering out for dinner from his favorite Italian restaurant. I baked a cherry pie yesterday instead of a birthday cake.Ibuprofen has finally soothed his pain in the hip, not his back. (His complaints are so inexact.) We will sit tight and hang out at home until tomorrow so as not to aggravate it.
Thanks you so much for your concern and birthday well wishes.

Big Easy said...

Today was just a 'no can do' puzzle. Too many proper names. The cross of SUN-TZU and BURTON wouldn't happen. EASTON and AREOLE were new to me, along with GERTZ and IVAN the FIRST, which didn't allow CAVEAT to come to mind.

So the SE was a flame-out, but I filled the rest.

Other unknowns were MILNE, QUESTION MARK, and lark. ATHOS, ED KOCH, ONE I LOVE- all three were WAGs.

Ralph 'Alligator' Garr grew up in N. Louisiana, one of the few baseball players I know.

Uncle on this one.

Jerome said...

Trouble is, Lemonade, golf is a pricey sport considering the cost of clubs and green fees. It doesn't take hundreds of dollars to buy a basketball, football, or a baseball and glove. I'm afraid the PGA is pretty much going to stay lily white. At least in America.

Good names for golfers-
Archie Bunker, Jeremy Irons, Minnie Driver, Captain Hook, Al Green, Lucille Ball, and George Sand. Oh, and Betty White.

PK said...

But Jerome, PGA isn't lily white. How long has it been since you watched it on TV? Today I've seen the big Fijian, Jhonattan Vegas, Tiger Woods, Day, KJ Chong, and several other Asians. I don't know what color are the members of the golf clubs where they have these tournaments. And the "white boys" are pretty tanned so they all kinda blend in.

BarbieMom said...

Fun puzzle. I put in one word (ici) on the first pass. But I ended up finishing without googling at all. Last word to fall was "outeat".

Paul in Montebello said...

Easy because...well...um...I got "centerfold" (hugh hefner) first....after that, the rest came easily.

Jerome said...

Sorry,PK, but you're close to 100 percent wrong.
Of the 102 PGA executives there are two African-Americans and two Hispanics.
Of the 28,000 touring and club professionals One-half of 1 percent are black. As a whole, less than two percent are minority.
It's been fifty years since non-whites been allowed to join the PGA... and the above stats are as far as we've come. Pathetic

CrossEyedDave said...

Saturday Silkie, what a red letter slog... So many names, & even the characters are not people (?) I look forward to the day when I can complete a Silkie puzzle, so, Barry,,, Bring it on!

( Except anchovy Pizza... Yuck! )

Coneyro, I looked & looked, but could not find Joe Namath in pantyhose. This is about as close as I got...

HAppy Birthday Alan! I guess the best thing for an upset tummy, is a cake you can't eat....

Bill G. said...

When we go out to a restaurant and have a choice of a Caesar salad, I always ask if they can add a few anchovies. They usually will. Sometimes when I've added anchovies to a pizza, they put on too many (much?). I still eat it OK though.

My father (we lived in northern Virginia) always told me that the cause of the Civil War was states rights. When I said as much in a compulsory ROTC military history class at Cornell, the teacher found that assertion almost laughable.

Is this the ad with Joe Namath that you remember? Broadway Joe

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2
-Dang! I knew it was Columbia and not Charleston, I just got lazy on the “C” cities. We were in both cities 3 years ago.
-Anon 2, yes Jamie GERTZ could not “spare a square” for Elaine in the bathroom stall! Elaine exacted her revenge in, pardon the pun, the end!
-Broadway Joe let his drinking get the best of him on the sidelines in 2007

Ol' Man Keith said...

Funny. I don;t care for much fish. I go for tuna, but that isn't really fish, is it? I think of it as the binder that holds the mayo, celery bits, green peppers and onions together.
Still, I enjoy occasional anchovies --and caviar. I think of them as the fishiEST of all the sea harvest. And yet somehow I like them. Not too many, though. There is a limit.

Avg Joe said...

This conversation is getting awfully close to the edges, but what the hell. I'll wade in.

Hard core Southerners maintain to this day that the Civil War was about states rights. And they do have a point. The Feds were telling them what they could and could not do. We've got a number of present day corallaries. Gay marriage, marijuana laws, the affordable care act. And by extension, even politcal contribution laws.

In a multicultural world, there has to be enough latitude to allow opinions that are offensive to some to be harbored by others. And let's face it. the entire world is multicultural. We're clearly not at a utopian point, but there is a glimmer of hope.

Or we could just blow the whole damn thing up....and that's where it looks like we are heading.

Flame off.

Bill G. said...

Have you noticed that our spoken language is becoming more and more dramatic? People aren't 'affected' by something anymore; they are 'impacted.' Many people, when they are agreeing with you, instead of saying 'yes,' they say 'absolutely!' Things aren't 'special'; they are 'unique.' There are more but they don't come to mind right now. I wonder if it's the effect of advertising?

Yellowrocks said...

CE DAVE, Alan loved his cake. It was so thoughtful of you to post it.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Tough one for me. Had to cheat.

This, in contrast to yesterday's offering, which was a piece of cake.

YR: Say happy birthday to Alan for me. And feel better soon.

Cheers!

Blue Iris said...

Bill, it seems to have become more dramatic in other ways like teenagers running to hug friends even though they saw them yesterday. It doesn't particularly bother me. I just wish they would treat their parents in the same manner.

I wasn't going to even try a Silkie Saturday, but my husband said " Come on, I'll help." We still had to use red-letter help. He fell asleep in the chair immediately following.

Blue Iris said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALAN!!! I hope you heard me. Since your hurting today, I hope you have double the fun tomorrow. Give Mom a big hug for Mother's Day!

SwampCat said...

The puzzle, while clever, defeated me. The expo was great!

Jayce, I forgot you gave me Kate Shugak. (Did I spell that right?!). Thanks.

Bill G, thanks for Broadway Joe! That's what I remember. And he had a great haircut, too!

Ave Joe, point well taken....but let's not blow it up quite yet.


PK said...

Jerome, I have absolutely no idea what you mean. I can only suppose that those guys actually swinging the clubs on TV are not "members" of the PGA then. All I see are some racially mixed guys slogging along after the balls, chasing the big money.

Fort Sumpter in Charleston harbor was one of the most "haunted" places I've ever visited. I couldn't stand the agony of the place. I had to go back and sit on the ferry. The only other place I have ever had such a reaction was in the Alamo.

Bill G. said...

Blue Iris, I know what you mean about huggy teenagers. Along that same line, whenever a guest ins introduced on a talk show like Ellen or ...?, they invariably get a standing ovation. A hip hop artist with one mediocre hit under his belt gets a standing O just like Tony Bennett or Bette Midler.

SwampCat, et al, I wonder if you guys would be willing to flesh out your profile? I have never found any downside to sharing that information (click on my blue name). In some cases, I don't know if I'm sharing thoughts with a male, female, teacher, farmer, East coaster, etc.

Yellowrocks said...

Thursday my elder son and family sent me a beautiful bouguet of pink tulips and blue irises. Lovely. Iris is my favorite flower. Alan bought me a hanging basket of New Guinea impatiens. Also lovely.
Yesterday, the UPS gave Alan a package which I opened immediately because it said perishable and I refrigerated it. It was chocolate covered strawberries. We ate a few. Although there was no gift card I assumed it was from my elder son, so today I thanked him. He said he didn't send it. When I inspected the label I saw it was addressed properly to my next door neighbor. How embarrassing! I called UPS and who said they will look into it. I will take the remnants to my neighbor tomorrow. I think UPS should pay the sender to deliver a new box of berries. We frequently receive misdelivered mail and UPS packages.

SwampCat said...

Bill G. I had no idea I was incognito! When I Went Blue I just filled out the minimum I guess, just to get started.

I'm an ole retired gal on the outskirts of New Orleans with not much to brag about. I still do substitute teaching when I am called, but I no longer live on my sailboat or take part in local festivals ...Jazz Fest wears me out! I do as much Mardi Gras stuff as my kids and grandkids make me.

I'll update my profile!

Anonymous said...

In re Avg Joe @5:19, if the federal government had dropped its opposition to slavery, the states rights issue would have disappeared, so slavery was the ultimate cause.

Fact Checker said...

Anonymous @8:43:

The federal government wasn't opposed to slavery. Slavery was legal in the southern states. The federal government was opposed to armed rebellion.

Does Fort Sumter ring a bell?

Jerome said...

Pk- Good for you. All is well in your world. Life is good. I'm happy for you. Really.

Anonymous said...


Minnie Driver ?

She SORTA favors Rosie the Waitress... (Reva Rose)

Camay Soap Commercial With Avery Schreiber and Rosie The Waitress


Anonymous said...

Federal guidelines are one size fits all.

Some people in Alaska need to take a gun with them to use the restroom! Residents of Washington D.C. are the worst offenders of local gun laws. Crime is rampant.

I vaguely remember the US Govt. withholding highway tax dollars until their demands were met. Something about speed limits on rural highways.

Gay marriage should be legal in all States, absolutely.

Tuneagement

Bill G. said...

An amazing act, from Britain's Got Talent.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Busy day and tough puzzle - got some but still too much white left. Oh well, par for me on a Sat. Thanks Berry. And thanks for the answers (and birds!) Splynter.

I love ANCHOVIE PIZZA and it keeps the family away from it so I get my left-overs. I also like an extra one or two in my Caesar.

AveJoe - hardly a flame nor can I say I disagree.

Blue Iris - I picked up eldest from her choir trip and went to CVS for last minute Mother's Day card. Eldest's friend's dad had same idea - the two girls saw each other at CVS and hugged like they hadn't seen each other in years - they just got off a bus ride / weekend trip to Dallas together! Seriously, they ran to each other...

Bill G - yeah, and the standing-O for less than mind-blowing is getting annoying. Every kid's performace gets one. Where's my participation trophies for standing ('cuz DW nudges me)... :-) /end grump

YR - HBD to Alan!

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

Bill G - that BGT link performance does deserve a standing-O. Thanks for sharing. Cheers, -T

Steve Lewis said...

It's taken me two days, but I finally finished this one, without Googling once. Barry Silk's puzzles are always tough but fair, and this was no exception.